Whimsical Wednesday ~ Flu Edition

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Whimsical Wednesday

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How A Rush To Judgment May Have Happened At Lincoln Memorial Park On 1/18/19

A Lovely Example of the Lack of Respect For Others That Just Keeps Growing in This Country. Thank You Gronda For Another Well Researched Article.

Gronda Morin

Like any faith-based entity, there are those who operate on the extreme fringes like with the Black Hebrew Israelites. Some could be heard acting out in racist and anti-Semitic ways, who were present at the vicinity of a March for Life rally held in Washington DC, on the 18th of January 2019. There were involved in an incident that has become embroiled in controversy.

As per the August 2008, Southern Poverty Law Center publication,” Around the country, thousands of men and women have joined black supremacist groups on the extremist fringe of the Hebrew Israelite movement, a black nationalist theology that dates back to the 19th century. Its doctrine asserts that African Americans are God’s true chosen people because they, not the people known to the world today as Jews, are the real descendants of the Hebrews of the Bible. Although most Hebrew Israelites are neither explicitly racist nor anti-Semitic and…

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day ~ 2019

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”Dream”, Lenny Kravitz, Martin Luther King Jr.

If you can’t fly, then run.

If you can’t run, then walk.

If you can’t walk, then crawl.

But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.

 

Patriots Win AFC Championship!

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2019 AFC Champions, New England Patriots

After leading the Kansas City Chiefs 14-0 at halftime, the game turned into a nail biter that went into overtime before the Pats finally prevailed in overtime 37-31.

I swear I spent the entire second half doing this:

I’m just getting too old for this stuff!

Anyway, I know that most of the country except for New England was rooting for the Chiefs, but as I’m a die-hard Patriots fan I hope you’ll forgive me for celebrating.

Super Bowl LIII will have the Patriots facing off against the Los Angeles Rams on February 3rd—which just happens to be my birthday! I’m sure you can guess what I’ll be wishing for!

Holy Guacamole!

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Gymnastics, Katelyn Ohashi

Last Saturday, UCLA’s Katelyn Ohashi competed in the Collegiate Challenge in Anaheim, CA. After completing a spectacular gymnastics floor performance the 21-year-old rightfully earned a perfect 10 and the video has gone viral. If you haven’t seen it, give yourself a treat and check it out.

 

Broken Heart Attack (Braxton Campus Mysteries #2), by James J. Cudney ~ 5.0 Stars

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Adult Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Humor

I’d like to thank the author for providing an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

272 Pages

Synopsis: When an extra ticket becomes available to attend the dress rehearsal of  Braxton’s King Lear production, Kellan tags along with Nana D and her buddies, sisters-in-law Eustacia and Gwendolyn Paddington, to show support for the rest of the Paddington family. When one of them appears to have a heart attack in the middle of the second act, Nana D raises her suspicions and asks Kellan to investigate who killed her friend. Amidst family members suddenly in debt and a secret rendezvous between an unlikely pair, Kellan learns the Paddingtons may not be as clean-cut as everyone thinks. But did one of them commit murder for an inheritance? 

Kellan’s back in his second adventure since returning home to Pennsylvania. With his personal life in upheaval and his new boss, Myriam, making life difficult, will he be able to find a killer, or will he get caught up in his own version of stage fright?

Oh my goodness! I said in my review of the first book in this series, Broken Heart Attack, that Jay hit it out of the park. Well Academic Curveball is even better! My one critique of the previous book was that I thought it slowed down a bit in the middle. Well, that certainly didn’t happen here. I started reading this after supper and finished it an hour and a half later. It’s fun, amusing, full of strong and quirky personalities, and the mystery is twisty and unpredictable and will keep you guessing. It’s amazing how much Jay packs into a cozy that’s under 300 pages.

Broken Heart Attack is the fourth book I’ve read by Jay and I’ve loved all of them. It’s not often you have the privilege of seeing someone start out at the beginning of their career and watch them develop into a superstar. Jay is a brilliant author, one of the best I’ve come across in my many years of reading and I just cannot recommend his books highly enough!

Whimsical Wednesday ~ Bad Day Edition

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Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst, Paul Simon, Whimsical Wednesday, You Can Call Me Al

Yesterday was just one of those awful days when NOTHING seemed to go right. I know we all have them so I thought I’d dedicate this week’s Whimsical Wednesday post to this topic. One of my favorite children’s books is “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” Written in 1972 by Judith Viorst, and illustrated by Ray Cruz, it’s as timely now as it was back then. 

And if Alexander doesn’t put a smile on your face, I hope Paul Simon’s 1986 hit, “You Can Call Me Al” will. If not, we could consider moving to Australia!

 

R.I.P. Carol Channing ~ 1921 – 2019

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Broadway Legend, R.I.P. Carol Channing

Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward.

 

White Stag (Permafrost #1), by Kara Barbieri ~ Blog Tour & Book Review

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Norse Mythology, YA Fantasy

There’s been a lot of buzz about White Stag during the last several months, so I am thrilled to be participating in this blog tour!

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

386 Pages

Synopsis: As the last child in a family of daughters, seventeen-year-old Janneke was raised to be the male heir. While her sisters were becoming wives and mothers, she was taught to hunt, track, and fight. On the day her village was burned to the ground, Janneke—as the only survivor—was taken captive by the malicious Lydian and eventually sent to work for his nephew Soren.

Janneke’s survival in the merciless court of monsters has come at the cost of her connection to the human world. And when the Goblin King’s death awakens an ancient hunt for the next king, Soren senses an opportunity for her to fully accept the ways of the brutal Permafrost. But every action he takes to bring her deeper into his world only shows him that a little humanity isn’t a bad thing—especially when it comes to those you care about.

Through every battle they survive, Janneke’s loyalty to Soren deepens. After dangerous truths are revealed, Janneke must choose between holding on or letting go of her last connections to a world she no longer belongs to. She must make the right choice to save the only thing keeping both worlds from crumbling.

Let me start by saying this story has a lot of abuse, including rape and torture, so some readers may have trouble reading it. While I don’t usually mark down because of that, in this instance I am. All the horrible things that Janneke goes through never seems to actually play into the development of her character. Instead, the rape is brought up repeatedly and I had the sense it was done more for shock value than anything else. The other problem I had, was although I liked Janneke and Soren as individuals, there was no believable chemistry and I never was able to buy into them as a couple.  

The world building is promising, but in this first book there wasn’t enough to differentiate it from other fantasy books. And finally, I found the plot confusing at times, especially at the beginning when I felt as though I was dropped into the middle of a story. 

Overall, while I was disappointed in White Stag, I do think there is some promise for the series, so I most likely will try the second book. And I have to give the author kudos for making the jump from self-publishing, to landing with a major publisher. I hope as her writing career progresses, some of those rough edges will be smoothed out. I also want to point out that there are many readers who loved this, so I’d advise going on Goodreads and Amazon to check out some other reviews before you decide whether you’d like to try this.

About the Author: Kara Barbieri is a twenty-two year old author with a love for the weird and mystic. She enjoys weaving ancient mythology into her stories and writing characters who are strong yet vulnerable at the same time. In her free time she trains with the same weapons her characters use, studies as a linguistic major, and generally tries her hardest not to be normal.

 

 

On the Lighter Side

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Humor

Y’all have to check out these two adorable teen brothers try to figure out how to use a rotary phone. It’s things like this that put everything else going on in the world into perspective.