So I haven't read a lot this year

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

I plan a New Year's resolution to read more, talk less, post more reviews, and participate more in the blogging community starting right now!

I am currently reading two Holiday Collections of which are very affordable and will help you get into the Christmas Spirit.

Love, Christmas, and Christmas in the City II, are two very fun and fabulous anthologies developed by authors with pizazz.           Click to Tweet

Christmas in the City II by Samantha Chase

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If I had, to sum up, Christmas in the City in just three words it would be, Fantastic, Fun, and Festive.
So far, I am enjoying it immensely.

Christmas Once Again by Samantha Chase is about Hunter Ashton and Lexi Hayes. They are practically High School sweethearts who are reunited after they'd broken up eight years prior. How could Hunter, who still loves her, fix Lexi's broken heart? By being honest and trustworthy and by growing more balls when it comes to his overbearing, pestering, mother, Susan.

Like Christmas by Ashlee Taylor is different in that Emmeline doesn't know who Sebastian is, contrary to Sebastian knowing everything about Emmeline. He has loved her all her life. I must say I am very intrigued by him. I am very curious to read more.

I liked Ugly Sweater by Elizabeth Hayes. It had lots of winter fun in the snow. Two girlfriends meet two gorgeous men. They fly to Aspen for a weekend and go Tubing and Skating, and well, hot-tub. Both men were wealthy as fuck.

A Change of Heart was different from the others in that it was about suffering and terminal illness. I liked Hunter, though, and I am looking forward to reading A Heart of Time.

Christmas break by Misha Elliott I didn't like. I didn't care for the characters

Joyful Temptations by Janine Infante Bosco would appeal to the hard rock, hard sex type of which I'm not that. Harley bikes and Satan's Knights. Really? I'd rather not think the devil as good in any way. Blackie and Lacey. Leather and Lace? I don't know that song reference. I also didn't like the sex. I thought it was gross.

Dancing Snowflakes by Madison Street
to be cont...

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Love, Christmas - Holiday stories that will put a song in your heart!

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The song "Do You Hear What I Hear?" was written as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the middle of the Cold War.

Now Christmas is just around the corner and live-in-lovers Shelley and Jake are in a cold war of their own. Detective Shelley Caldwell has all wonderful memories of Christmas, while Jake DeAtley, born of a mother turned vampire while pregnant with him, has none. They’ve come to a compromise that she can decorate “her half” of every room, but no Christmas tree. Then a case of hit-and-run leaves a dead body and a magical Christmas tree that Shelley can’t resist bringing home, heating up the war between her and Jake. There is more to the tree than either knows. When they discover the truth about it, will it bring them together or keep them farther apart?

I just finished Do You Hear What I Hear in the Love, Christmas Collection and I loved it! I appreciate the paranormal element in this novella. It was a very well written story by anyone's standards. If you like paranormal fantasy, you will like this. Mind communication, cute lovely fairies, and two cats in the yard! Sarge and Cadet. Also, Jake DeAtley, whose mother became a vampire when she was pregnant with him, so that's exciting! I liked the romance as well. Their troubles weren't so far away from real life. Shelley and Jake had their differences when it came to celebrating Christmas but who doesn't have their arguments over family Traditions and such things? I enjoyed this story, and that is why I wanted to share it with you. You can't find this story anywhere else but in the Love, Christmas Collection.

Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them is an Incredible Film!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I saw the movie in 3D Imax and I didn't like there were many unanswered questions. Like who exactly is Newt Scamander? or Grindelwald in relationship to the wizarding world. I knew of Grindelwald from the Harry Potter series but not much. There was a write up about him in Rita Skeeters book I would've like to read along with Hermione :) What I found was that Newt was a student of Hogwarts who got kicked out for endangering a person with his creatures.

I was not fascinated by the creatures, in fact, some of them were hideous, but others held more promising qualities such as a pick lock aka bowtruckle

At one point I wanted to walk out of the theatre, but I sat and watched while being bored to death. I did not even care for the creature who loved shiny things, the Niffler. I thought he was more of a mischief maker for stealing and thieving jewelry.
I also didn't appreciate the period. 1920's. New York. If it were in London in the 1920's I might have enjoyed it but it was boring. The bank scenes were a bit livelier than the newspaper room, but evidently, Newt got his suitcase mixed up with Jacobs. Jacob was applying for a loan to open a bakery, while Newt should've been more careful with his magical suitcase and guarded it like a hawk. Had he learned from his mistake? Apparently not.

He was careless, and when Jacob opened it and accidentally let a few of the beasts escape into the city, he hurt himself in the process. Newt did not obliviate his memories and the no-maj, human muggle, befriended them instead.

I found the two girls also annoying as fuck. Their characters rubbed me the wrong way. Queenie and her sister Tina were not very impressionable with their magic wand skills. At least that is how I felt. Tina was not very good at her job as an Auror either. She majored in being a blundering idiot. Yes, and Samantha Stevens she was not! How nice is it to be able to twitch your nose and flick your wand and let the magic do all your domestic chores for you? I cringed. I mean the only place we saw dishes washing by itself was in the Weasley household in the Burrow and in Bewitched!~ That was fun but to see it again in 1920 New York was not amusing. Big deal. It was boring up until Newt weirdly crawled into his suitcase. So then I decided to stay and watch.

Inside his luggage was a fantastic world full of odd creatures, and there, is where you will find fantastic beasts. Inside his suitcase was another world. Here, Newt studied magical beasts. We see giant insects and bugs, different looking birds, a bowtruckle named Pickett, Erumpents, Lions, and a giant Thunderbird whose name is Frank. The Thunderbird is the reason Mr. Scamander was in New York.
I do not understand what was wrong with that Mary Lou character. It seemed to me she wanted all wizards burned at stake or something like in the Salem Witch Trials. That is how medieval I perceived this movie was. Mary Lou beat her kids and was a total bitch, and I mean witch. She lobbied against wizards and witchcraft. I understood her son was a wizard. I did not warm up to that woman president Seraphina Picquery, of the wizarding world in America. The Macusa is like the ministry of magic. I did not understand who Tina was in relationship to the MACUSA either. She said she used to be an Auror? Like, Mad-eye Moody? More background about the Macusa would have been helpful, but then again I can only take so much in small doses.

Dougal is an invisible creature and Newts Demiguise. He was somewhat cute and furry. He is the last one to be recaptured. Oh but there was an Occamy snake-like creature. All these animals, Newt considered harmless :/

Meanwhile on the dark side of the force lol j/k, there is something called an Obscurus that is destroying the city. Percival Graves, played by Colin Farrel, is blaming all the destruction on the beasts but Credence Barebone is attracting this Obscurio, or HE IS the Obscurio! I wonder perhaps if it is because he was abused by Mary Lou, his adoptive mother. Credence could also be Tom Riddle's ancestor or relation somehow. IDK.

As I went to see the movie before I read the screenplay, it was hard to make sense of it all on screen as far as all the names of the beasts and what was happening in the film. As I was writing my review, the book came in the mail and I read it in one sitting. I saw it differently and I no longer hate the actors and the characters they portrayed. I found I learned a few things by reading the book.

But I read the screenplay just to get the facts straight and I Loved it!

Since I've read the book twice it made me reconsider how great the film is.
The full review is published on my blog

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Frosty the Snowman

Frosty the Snowman by Mimi Barbour

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description 

Strangers, Hali and Terry, and a cute but mischievous Samoyed puppy are stranded in the Alaskan bush due to a freak snowstorm that forces him to land his small Cessna. From the beginning, she's never known a man so independent and rigid in his need to have things done his way. And he's never known a woman so willing to help, stepping on his pride in such a lovable way that he can't take offense. The frigid temperatures are brutal and when he falls through the ice to save a puppy, the stakes for survival become enormous. Can their blossoming mutual attraction withstand their multiple challenges? 

My Thoughts
Frosty the Snowman, is part of the Love, Christmas Collection
I'm not a fan of survival stories and Frosty the Snowman was indeed about survival in the Alaskan wilderness.
What I liked about it. A white samoyed dog of Hali's called Frosty
What I didn't like about it : The puppy was more of a hindrance in a life and death situation. I hate camping so I didn't like their makeshift camp and the freezing cold weather. I also didn't like the fact Terry was dealing with an infection and Halie had an injury as well. It didn't make me love their character more. I couldn't see myself dealing with either of them if I was stranded like that. sheesh.
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We Need A Little Christmas

We Need A Little Christmas by Leanne Banks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Description

When handsome cynic, Justin Dane Burgess rescues big-hearted Lilly Johansen in the snow, his life is turned upside down. Accustomed to avoiding intense relationships and the whole sticky Christmas season, he finds himself drawn into her life and learns to enjoy everything from drinking hot chocolate to decorating a Christmas tree and helping Lilly's elderly neighbors. An orphan from a young age, Lilly has learned to create her own family wherever she is. Although Justin seems anti-Christmas, he sure is generous to her. She has been misled by men before. Can she trust her feelings for Justin? Or will a bad choice Justin makes ruin their chance for forever love?

We Need A Little Christmas is a heartwarming romance that is perfect for the Holidays. It is the first story in the Love, Christmas collection of 20 romantic stories based on Christmas Carols.
I appreciate a well written story, filled with details without making it drag on. Straight to the point. Lilly and Justin's love story will warm your heart this Christmas.

What I enjoyed most about it was that Lilly gave warm coats to the homeless and the fact Justin had lots of money that allowed him to take Lilly on a sleigh ride.
What I didn't like about it was when tragedy strikes during the holidays it takes the joy out of Christmas and makes people hate Christmas just like Justin had. The car accident was a downer as well.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child #notanovel

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two by John Tiffany

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is amazing and the story begins pretty much where we were left in the Deathly Hallows.

The Cursed Child is a reference to Harry's son. We meet him on platform 9 3/4 at the end of The Deathly Hallows part two. Remember? It jumps to the future. In this installment, we are in the future. Harry is in it along with Ginny. Ron and Hermione and even Draco Malfoy. I forget the boy's name, but he is rebelling against being Harry Potters son. He goes back in time against his father's orders and gets himself in trouble. First of all his best friend is Draco's son. They go in search of this period Turner. They plan to change the present and bring back Cedric. Cedric who didn't deserve to die. They want to save him somehow. The story fits well with the others. J.K.Rowling does a bang-up job of that. It twists and turns, and there is even a new villain. Ginny and Harry are worried sick about their son who went missing, as was Draco Malfoys son. They lost each other during the time turner thing. They both encounter people in the past and even their mother and father I think.

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Party All The Time

Book Tour + Giveaway: Merry Mary by Ashley Farley

Merry Mary by Ashley Farley

Release date: October 15, 2015 

Buy Links: Amazon Barnes and Noble iBooks Kobo

Goodreads Synopsis:

A young woman longing for a child stumbles upon a Christmas miracle.
Investigative journalist Scottie Darden is photographing the homeless for her Lost Souls series when she makes a discovery that could change her life forever. Under a makeshift tent in subzero temperatures in a downtown city park, she finds a woman's dead body with her infant child. Without her cell phone to call for help, Scottie makes the split-second decision to take the baby home. Her initial instinct is to provide the baby with food and shelter until her family can be located. But as her fondness for the baby grows, she finds herself facing a life on the run or worse—prison time for abduction.
Curl up with Merry Mary this holiday season. A heartwarming story of the powerful connection between a caring soul and an innocent child in need. 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love the title and the cover of this holiday novella. The story consists of a biological clock and a catch-22 situation.

After rescuing a baby from the cold, Scottie Darden considers what would happen if she chose to leave the baby in foster care or worse; with the babies alcoholic grandparents. On the other hand could she be arrested for kidnapping?

Under the assumption she was doing the right thing Scottie Darden takes the baby home with her. She always wanted a child of her own but to hear things like "the mother would've wanted it that way" are only words to convince her to keep the child but Scottie's husband wanted nothing to do with it. I mean what she did wasn't terrible although lying to her family and friends was. She needed to come clean for her sake and the baby's and the cops didn't need to know.

In over her head now, all she could think of is to take the baby and run. With the help of her supportive family and brother Will, she allows herself to return Merry Mary to where she belongs.

Merry Mary is the sort of child anyone would want and Scottie Darden was an angel.

About the Author:

Ashley Farley is a wife and mother of two college-aged children. She grew up in the salty marshes of South Carolina, but now lives in Richmond, Virginia, a city she loves for its history and traditions. After her brother died in 1999 of an accidental overdose, she turned to writing as a way of releasing her pent-up emotions. She wrote SAVING BEN in honor of Neal, the boy she worshipped, the man she could not save. SAVING BEN is not a memoir, but a story about the special bond between siblings. HER SISTER'S SHOES—June 24, 2015—is a women's novel that proves the healing power of family.

 Author Links: Website Twitter Facebook  Goodreads 

Excerpt from Merry Mary

“Shh, don’t cry,” she said, rubbing the baby’s tummy.

What would become of the baby? Scottie didn’t think the Commonwealth had the authority to place the baby up for adoption without permission of next of kin, which meant the baby would be placed in a foster home until the police could track down the father. If the father even wanted the child. If the father even knew he was the father. The baby began to wail, presumably with hunger. “Don’t worry, little one.” She picked the baby up and held her tight. “We’ll get it all sorted out. In the meantime, I have plenty of formula and diapers to keep you comfortable.”

By the time Scottie got the baby inside, and mixed up a bottle from the supplies in her baby cabinet in the kitchen, the little girl was screaming, flailing her arms and legs in hunger. Scottie plopped down on the leather sofa in the adjoining family room, propped her snow boots up on the coffee table, and brought the bottle’s nipple to the baby’s mouth. The infant took the nipple between her lips, then thrust it back out with her tongue. Scottie turned the bottle upside down on her arm, letting a few drops of formula leak from the hole in the nipple, before returning the nipple to the baby’s lips. When she tasted the formula, the baby began to suck greedily. “Careful now, baby girl. Don’t drink too fast or you’ll upset your tummy.” The baby stared up at Scottie with bright eyes. “We need to give you a name, don’t we?”

Scottie had been in the process of picking out names for her baby when her daughter was stillborn at thirty-one weeks. She’d been torn between Kate and Liza, after her grandmothers Katherine and Elizabeth. She ended up calling the baby Angel, which seemed appropriate for an innocent child who never drew her first breath. Scottie’s eyes traveled the room, coming to rest on the nativity scene on the mantle above the fireplace. “Why don’t we call you Mary after the Virgin Mary?” She caught sight of the needlepoint pillow Brad had brought down from the attic—a green background with Merry Christmas in curlicue script in red across the front. “Or Merry, which seems appropriate for a spunky little girl like you.”

The baby stopped sucking and smiled up at her. “I agree,” Scottie said. “I like them both as well. Merry Mary it is, then.

Chapter 1

The first rays of pink sunshine ushered in another day of suffering for the people who called Monroe Park in downtown Richmond home. An early winter storm had dumped six inches of snow on the city. With no clouds to blanket in warmth, temperatures had dipped into the teens for the third night in a row. Scottie Darden parked her 4Runner alongside the dirty snowbanks on Main Street. She pulled her stocking cap down over her blonde mane and tucked her camera inside her down coat. Grabbing the two Bojangles’ bags and carton of coffee from the backseat, she trudged through the snow to a cluster of men and women huddled around a burning trash can. Eyeing the bags of food, the group of five homeless people navigated toward Scottie. She handed out sausage biscuits and paper cups of coffee. Scottie had stumbled upon the Five by accident a year ago while investigating a series of muggings in the area. Their despondent faces had such a profound impact on Scottie that she’d returned the next day with warm blankets and buckets of fried chicken from Lee’s. Their gratitude had moved her even more, and over the next twelve months, she’d stopped by on a regular basis, always delivering nourishment and supplies. She’d seen others come and go, but this core group of five banded together like a family. “I brought extras today.” Scottie held up the second bag. Mabel gestured toward a row of makeshift tents fifty feet in front of them. Her name wasn’t really Mabel. At least not as far as Scottie knew. With gray hair pulled back from her café au lait face, the old woman reminded Scottie of the housekeeper who once worked for her grandmother. Scottie had never exchanged names with any of the Five. She’d grown to know them by their physical appearances instead. Buck was a strapping black man of about thirty, the one Scottie feared the most because of the temper she sensed smoldering just beneath the surface Then there was Pops, the oldest male, with leathery skin the color of dark chocolate. While he never showed his teeth, Scottie often detected the hint of a smile tugging along his lips. She’d named the woman with the plain face and dull green eyes Miss Cecil after her third grade teacher. She referred to the man in the wheelchair, with both legs amputated at the knee, as Dan, after Lieutenant Dan in the movie Forrest Gump. Scottie offered each of the Five another biscuit before moving to the makeshift tents. She passed out biscuits to women and men who were buried under blankets and sleeping bags. She heard the faint sound of crying outside the fourth tent. She tapped lightly on the cardboard door. When no one responded and the crying grew louder, she pulled back the cardboard and peeked inside. “Hello in there,” she called in a soft voice. “Can I interest you in some breakfast?” The crying intensified to a squall. Beneath a threadbare blanket, Scottie made out the unmoving form of an adult-size body and the flailing limbs of a smaller figure next to it. “Hello.” Scottie dropped to her knees and crawled inside. “Can I hold your baby for you while you eat a biscuit?” When the adult body remained still, Scottie peeled back the blankets to reveal a baby—three or four months old if she had to guess—with blonde peach fuzz on top of her head and a beet-red face. A girl, judging from the dirty pink fleece sleeper she was wearing. She pulled the covers back the rest of the way and gasped at the sight of the woman’s gray skin and purple lips. Scottie assumed the woman was the baby’s mother. She backed slowly out of the tent. “Someone, please help!” she cried. “I think this woman in here is dead.” The Five fled the scene, along with every other homeless man and woman in sight. Scottie patted her pockets for her phone, then remembered she’d left it connected to the charger on her bedside table. She surveyed the area for help—a policeman, a student, a businessman on his way to work—but the park was deserted. Scottie crawled back inside and picked up the baby, rocking her back and forth until she settled down a bit. She scooted over closer to the baby’s mother and checked her wrist and neck for a pulse, but there was none. The woman had been dead long enough for her skin to grow cold. Her eyes were closed, but her rosy lips were turned up into a smile, as though she’d seen an angel. Poor woman was probably no more than twenty years old. Scottie pulled the blanket over the woman’s face and said a silent prayer. Getting to a phone to call for help was the only thing on her mind when she zipped the baby inside her coat and made a dash for her car.

Tour Giveaway:
Ashley is giving away $50 gift card (INT) choice of Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Paypal.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Link to Merry Mary Tour: http://wp.me/p3vHcl-if