Month: June 2011

general

sugar lips

abby mumford

when you hear the nickname “sugar lips”, you’d probably turn around and flip off the person who called you that. unless you actually HAD sugar lips, in which case, you’d probably nod your head at the truth of the statement. unless you were a zombie and if you nodded, your head fell off. then you’d have to figure out where your head rolled to. and you’d have to do so by flailing your arms around because (as you well know) you’ve now lost your sight, taste, hearing, and scent senses and are only left with touch. and then, provided you found it, you’d have to reattach your head using some sort of zombie voodoo because by this point, you’d be hungry again and brains are not that easy to come by.

“what’s this all about?” you ask, delicately refraining from adding, “sugar lips.”

they say you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but when your cover looks like this, how can you not?

my judgement? evocative.

i confess i don’t know much about zombies, nor do i know how they’d get lips like those especially since i always assumed they ate brains; brains which are more gelatinous matter than sugar crystals…but what’s my point? this cover? this book? I WANT. i want it like a football player wants a touchdown or a tackle (position depending). i want it like a zombie wants brains. i want it like kate grable wants the antidote.

(see what i did there? i made clever plot references. read here for a full book description.)

fortunately, i don’t have to wait much longer as it’s being unleashed in the wild on JULY 12, but while we wait a little bit longer, the author, carrie harris is having a contest. here’s the post where she details the rules. basically she’s asking her “readers” (i use the term loosely because we haven’t read her work yet so in reality, we’re her future readers. hey cool, i’m coming to you live from the future!) to spread the news about the book’s imminent release. so consider yourself updated and make sure to go to the bookstore on or around JULY 12 to get this book before it gets you because when dealing with zombies, it’s always better to strike first.

(also, you should click the link because her website is beyond amazing.) (and also, ALSO, you’re going down, Breakey. this contest is mine!)

and just in case a zombie apocalypse happens before TUESDAY JULY 12, i’m headed to the nearest candy shop to buy the biggest sugar crystals and coating my lips in them because if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em and if you’re too wimpy to beat ’em and too scared to join ’em, it’s best to try to blend in.

how’s my camouflage?

p.s. no, that is not me. i wish i teeth like that. all the better to eat you with.

wait, wrong story.

book club

BOOK HUNGRY: kiss of snow

abby mumford

who says you have to be crowded into the living room, kitchen, and/or dining room to hold a book club? we are ladies of the 21st century. we don’t need no stinkin’ couches. so pull up a blog and join in the conversation.

the members of the BOOK HUNGRY are (alphabetically): patty blount, kelly breakey, karla nellenbach, vanessa noble, alyson peterson, cynthia reese, elizabeth ryann, and myself. here’s the deal. we pick a book to read. we discuss via email. we post a review on our individual blogs on the same day (3rd thursday of the month). we link to each other. done. i know, genius. click on each one of their names (above) and it’ll take you to their review. browse. enjoy.

this month’s BOOK HUNGRY selection is:

KISS OF SNOW by Nalini Singh


what it’s about from amazon: Since the moment of her defection from the PsyNet and into the SnowDancer wolf pack, Sienna Lauren has had one weakness. Hawke. Alpha and dangerous, he compels her to madness.

Hawke is used to walking alone, having lost the woman who would’ve been his mate long ago. But Sienna fascinates the primal heart of him, even as he tells himself she is far too young to handle the wild fury of the wolf.

Then Sienna changes the rules-and suddenly, there is no more distance, only the most intimate of battles between two people who were never meant to meet. Yet as they strip away each other’s secrets in a storm of raw emotion, they must also ready themselves for a far more vicious fight…

A deadly enemy is out to destroy SnowDancer, striking at everything they hold dear, but it is Sienna’s darkest secret that may yet savage the pack that is her home-and the alpha who is its heartbeat.

my opinion: uh, yeah. you can judge this book by its cover. HOT. it’s a shame i was too far down the waiting list at the library and so had to order it on my kindle app on my phone and thus, didn’t get to see the cover. the things i do for BOOK HUNGRY.

anyways, this story was pretty great. i thought singh handled the main relationship with a finesse you don’t see very often, (i say boldly because i’m not widely read in the romance area.) sienna is young in age (and in love), but has lived an extraordinarily difficult life up til now and so is mature beyond her years. when faced with the grand, but sometimes daunting, romance with the leader of the changeling wolf pack, she embraces it, but doesn’t discredit her occasional fear. it rang very true for me that she’d have a bit of hesitation when faced with an all consuming love with a man who is a powerful, dedicated, and busy leader. she took the time to figure out how she’d fit into hist heart and his life. it was a more practical approach than i’d seen before, and i liked it! it was a lot of fun to see their relationship unfold.

in other areas of discussion, this book is a later one is a series, of which i haven’t read any. it made for a great study in sequels because i know it’s always a challenge for an author to decide how much information s/he should incorporate from the previous novels. for dedicated readers of the series, too much information is boring, but there needs to be enough backstory so that readers who are new to the series won’t get lost. as for this specific book? singh did a decent job, but i do think i would have enjoyed the story a bit more had i read and truly understood all of the political undertones, as well as recognized the multitude of characters who appear throughout. there are a lot of characters (!) and while i did get a vivid sense of who they are and how they fit together (tee hee), i probably would have been more thrilled to see them on the page had i met them in earlier books.

and, as for the ending, no no, don’t worry, i’m not going to spoil it, but i do think it tied up a little too neatly AND she left it open for this world to continue on into another novel. she’s got to bring home the bacon somehow.

verdict: this author is well-trained and as Elizabeth said, just because it’s a romance novel doesn’t mean the characters and world building aren’t fascinating, innovative, and well rounded. i’ll definitely be checking out some more of her works, you know, when my current TBR pile diminishes a bit.

join us next month as we tackle THE BEYONDERS by Brandon Mull.

//

convos with strangers

conversations with strangers #6

abby mumford

even though my mom taught me not to, here’s why i’m talking with strangers.

i pulled into the grocery store parking lot and got out. unfortunately, my finger didn’t move as fast as the rest of me and as a result, got smashed in the car door.

a few seconds later, i could breathe through the pain, but looked at my finger and there was blood everywhere. i couldn’t exactly go into a store like that, so i plunked my purse onto the trunk of my car and got out tissue. i noticed someone out of the corner of my eye and it’s the guy putting away the shopping carts. he was making his way over to me (i parked next to the cart holding area), so i’m not exactly sure if he was just doing his job, coming over to comment on my stupidity, or was maybe going to offer some concern? when it was clear he had something to say, i looked away from my damaged finger and over to him.

him: i was just trying to read your jersey.

me: oh. um, well, it says devils lacrosse club.

him: are you a good player?

me: i was. this is from high school.

him: where was that?

me: new jersey.

him: oh, yes like the [new jersey devils] hockey team. are you going to play in the Olympics?

me: i wish. it’s not an Olympic sport yet.

him: it’s not? too bad.

i couldn’t agree more, and it has been a lifelong (unattainable) dream of mine to be in the olympics, but come on, look at me in this moment. i couldn’t be less of an Olympian. i just shut my own finger in the car door. clearly, i’m going to need some more time.

perhaps i’ll be ready for the 2016 summer Olympics.

and, for the time being, at least the guy took my mind off the incredible pain of my stupidity.

writing

aMUSEing (or i just had an AH HA moment.)

abby mumford

i had planned another post for today, but then i came across THIS ARTICLE by sarah fine and it was so brilliant, i had to write about it. it’s short, so i’ll wait for you to click through and read it.

ok, done? the thing that’s so great about that post is that it applies to a whole lot of creative endeavors.

writing
running
reading
cooking
listening
drawing
music-ing
knitting
dancing
taking pictures
painting

all of these things can be improved upon if you focus on the relationship between things rather than just one specific item. how much sassier would that still life painting be if, instead of just the orange sitting there, it’s about the orange and the table and how close it is to the edge?

see? electric.

so yeah, to quote Oprah, i just had an AH HA moment. the idea of squishing, ordering, and/or expecting your muse to show up in the form of one person or one place or one idea is ludicrous (to me), but until i read that article, that’s exactly what i was anticipating would happen. i don’t know where i came up with that idea because as i sit here and think about it no one i know exists in their life as just one person. we’re supported and surrounded and sometimes forced to deal with friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances and strangers and it’s all of these interactions that shape our responses, our days, our world. it’s these occurrences that make our lives and stories interesting.

as a writer, the way i express my creativity is through time spent alone because how else am i going to get the words out? i can’t do that in a room full of people expecting me to engage in conversation, but being social is something i like to do, so this idea that my muse involves a lot of people and a lot of relationships and the electricity between them, well, hell, i’ll go to that party.

and suddenly, just like that, the writing time isn’t so lonesome. AWESOME!

in other news, there is one other thing that charmed the pants off me (yes, pants. it’s mid-June and i’m still wearing pants. come on, New England!) is this quote that kelly breakey shared with me: “Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book!” oh my! how true that is. gosh, don’t you just love to read?