The Bah Humbug Blahg Fest

This made me laugh. I couldn't resist participating in Grumpy Bulldog's Blahg Fest. I've been known to be a bit of a humbug now and then. Less so now that I have a child, but the humbug still creeps out on those dark December nights.

The rules are simple. Answer this question:

What are the 12 things I hate most about the holiday season?

1. Fruitcake. It's one of those things that make me inwardly cringe. It looks like... Well, I won't say. I don't want anyone else experiencing nausea when looking at those things. Blech.
2. The commercialism. Yes, I know we all hate it. It should go unsaid, but, well, I'm saying it anyway.
3. Family guilt trips. My family lives in Canada. My husband's parents are divorced. We have to decide between three different places to spend Christmas. Those we aren't with at Christmas give guilt trips. This year, we're staying home and not traveling. The guilt trips are coming in like a blinding blizzard.
4. Mothers should not buy their adult daughters Christmas panties. Every year it happens. Socks, please. Socks are a much better option. I never want my mom thinking about something only my husband and I will ever see.
5. The awkward moment when someone unexpected gives you a gift and you haven't bought anything for them. You try to be gracious and apologetic. But they know there's nothing you can say to make up for the fact they got you something and you didn't get them a thing. I've seen the Facebook updates. I know what they say after the fact.
6. Mistletoe. The perfect excuse for a drunken neighbor or a creepy uncle to let his lips linger too long.
7. The Elf on the Shelf. My brother and his wife gave us one last year. My son loves it. The thing gives me the willies.
8. Shopping. I don't like shopping to begin with. I tried to do all my shopping online this year. I didn't succeed. People are so much ruder and aggressive this time of year at the stores. My sympathy to those of you who work retail.
9. Christmas cards. I like to send out cards and I like to receive them. I make sure they're all addressed and ready to go before December. I send out about 60 of them. On average, I get about 15 back. It makes me pout.
10. Advent Calendars. Only one chocolate a day? Oh no, I don't think so. At least a dozen would make it more worthwhile.
11. Early Christmas hype. At least wait until after Halloween!
12. The idea that Christmas is just for children. The rest of us want to enjoy it too!

Don't forget to enter David Salnave's holiday giveaway! No humbugging from him.

Pay It Forward Blogfest

Today is Matthew MacNish's awesome blogfest.

This is what he says about it: The idea is to introduce everyone to everyone else. We want this to be an easy post that allows you to meet and follow as many other bloggers as you can. In your post, we would like you to please list, describe, and link to three blogs that you enjoy reading, but that you suspect may fly under the radar of a lot of other bloggers. Or they can be famous blogs, as long as they're awesome.

 

Here are my three:

 

1) Amanda at Ramblings. Wonderfully inspirational woman. She blogs for herself and it makes her posts all the more interesting. Fellow stay-at-home mom, book lover and Harry Potter fan.

2) Prerna Pickett at The Sands of Writing. She's a YA paranormal romance and urban fantasy writer. A fellow Campaigner too. She has great reviews and interviews, and thought provoking posts.

3) Tania Walsh at T.F. Walsh. She's a fantasy writer, the darker the better, and a fellow Campaigner. Member of Romance Writers of Australia. She posts Mondays with her Mythical Creatures series and Wednesdays with her Guilty Pleasures meme. She's smart, funny and shares several of my geek tendencies.

Favorite Summer Reads Blogfest - part 2

 

This is my second installment for Cherie Reich's Favorite Summer Reads Blogfest. I couldn't help but pick more than one book. There's so many great books out there right now.

Fantasy:

George R.R. Martin is one of the greatest fantasy authors out there today. He's brilliant. Bloody brilliant! He breaks all the rules and makes it work. A Dance With Dragons is the latest installment in the Song of Ice and Fire series. I've waited a long time for the book to come out. It didn't disappoint. He's a genius world creator and can twist a plot like you wouldn't believe. Then his characters, oh, his characters. I've met him and attended a few seminars at a convention where he was on the panel. I like that he says "there are no good guys or bad guys in my books. There are only characters with flaws." Some characters that you hate at the beginning of the series, you start to like as it goes on. Ones you thought were good turn out to be not so good. You don't expect it. Martin does what you least expect and it makes his series epic.

Urban Fantasy:

You can never go wrong with the Dresden Files. Ghost Story is the latest book in Jim Butcher's spectacular urban fantasy series. It's funny, dark, magical, amazing, and something I can't talk about it. Yes, it seems weird, but if I even describe the premise of this book, it would give spoilers as to what happened previously in the series. Let's just say that Harry Dresden is In Between and a lot of weird, scary stuff happens.

The summer isn't over yet! I have two books I'm waiting for from the library:
1) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I've heard fantastic things about the book. The cover is creepy and the book trailer, well, you have to watch it for yourself!
2) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I realize I'm a little late getting on board with her trilogy, but a baby keeps you busy!

Favorite Summer Reads Blogfest

Cherie Reich's Favorite Summer Reads Blogfest has already begun and will go through Saturday. Join up! It's a lot of fun! Here's the description: All you have to do is pick a favorite read (this year, this summer, years past) and write why it is your favorite read. It'd be nice to have the cover art of the book, but that's it. Pretty simple. Oh, there is also a little form you should fill out, so we know where your blog is to discover new reads. There are also prizes. I will announce the winners on Monday.

Yes, you read right. Prizes!

I can't pick just one book that's been my favorite this summer. I'm going to do one for each genre I've read.

Paranormal romance:

Karen Marie Moning's Shadowfever. The final book in the Fever series. Right now, it's my favorite paranormal romance series. I read this at the beginning of the summer. I'm at a loss for words with this one. In the first book, the heroine, MacKayla Lane (Mac) annoyed me. Yet the story drew me in. I can get past certain protagonists if the story is intriguing. Mac grew on me, though. Grew on me until I wanted to be her. Then there's Barrons. Mm, delicious. Tall, dark and mysterious. One of my favorite paranormal heroes ever. Humans vs. Immortals. The Fae. An evil book with the power to create and destroy worlds. Monsters. Barrons. Did I mention him?! He's so gorgeous. Even more so that he owns his own book store!

YA paranormal romance:

I just finished reading the first book in Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series. I was a little hesitant about trying a new YA series. I've been disappointed by other ones in the past. I also expected this might be like a vampire Hogwarts. It's nothing of the sort. It's original and well written. Rose is a wonderful, strong protagonist. So far, I think she's a good role model for girls. (I think that's important in YA novels.) The romance isn't overdone. I like it when a relationship builds over the course of a series. Here's Richelle Mead's brief synopsis of the series: Two races of vampires walk our world. One, the Moroi, are alive and wield elemental magical. The other, the Strigoi, are undead and evil--feeding on the innocent to survive. Rose Hathaway--a half-vampire with poor impulse control--is training to be a bodyguard for a Moroi princess. Learning to decapitate and stake is hard enough, but Rose's real danger may lie in an illicit romance with one of her instructors.

Steampunk Romance:

Yes, there is such a thing as Steampunk romance! Though, this is the only one I've ever read. It took me a little bit to get into the story, but once I got a handle on the world and the romance started firing up, I was hooked. Katie MacAlister's Steamed is unique and fun. Katie is better known for her Dark Ones and Aisling Grey paranormal romance series, but she's found something new and intriguing with this one. The hero, Jack gets thrown into this strange world through one of his nanoelectromechanical system experiments. Say that five times fast! Here's what Katie says what happens next: He wakes up to see a woman with the reddest hair Jack has ever seen—and a gun. Octavia Pye is an Aerocorps captain with a whole lot of secrets, and she’s not about to see her maiden voyage ruined by stowaways. But the sparks flying between her and Jack just may cause her airship to combust and ignite a passion that will forever change the world as she knows it.

Favorite Summer Reads Blogfest to be continued tomorrow.