If I Could Be...

The wonderful Talli Roland is releasing her 2nd book in ebook format today. Of course you remember her great debut novel, The Hating Game. Her new book is Watching Willow Watts and it is fabulous!! The main character, Willow, decides to take on the identity of Marilyn Monroe in the book, so Talli thought it would be fun to have a blog party finding out who we'd like to be. Check out Talli's blog for a list of everyone who is participating today :)

In reality, I'd choose to be myself, but I love this kind of thing, so let's play. Lots of choices immediately come to mind. Michaelangelo, whose mind would be an incredible place to visit. Roberta Bondar the first woman Canadian to travel in space. Nora Roberts whose books have brought such enjoyment to so many. JRR Tolkein so I could live in the mind that created Middle Earth. Billy Joel or Elton John - to know the power of such musical talent. Jacques Cousteau whose explorations of the sea are legendary. Jane Goodall. David Suzuki. My grandmother...

And then there are the characters: Anne Shirley. Jo March. Sam Gamgee. Katniss Everdeen. Maniac Magee. Nancy Drew. Hercule Poirot.

So many great choices! I should probably choose a real person, but, for today (I might change my mind tomorrow!) I'd choose to be...

Lessa from Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern series. I've loved this series for years. Can you imagine riding a gold dragon and fighting thread? Lessa didn't lead the easiest life - none of dragon riders do - but it was also full of challenge, joy, and dragons! Love it! (I'm frest out of dragon rider leathers, so I took the easy way out and posted a picture instead!)

Don't forget to check out Talli's new book - here's the link to Amazon.com.
So, tell me, who would you be?

Let's Get Sappy!

In honour of Valentine's Day, let's get a little sappy. Let's talk about our favourite couples in the books we've read. Here are a few of mine...

Favourite Classic Couple: Anne Shirley & Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables. These 2 are such fun. Anne is one of my favourite all-time characters. She's fun, feisty, gutsy, kind, and has such an imagination. Gilbert almost loses his chance for good by pulling her pigtails and calling her Carrot Top, but it all works out ... eventually!

Favourite Book-Turned-Movie Couple: Aragorn and Arwen from Lord of the Rings. I was so worried when they decided to make movies from these books. But, they did a great job. They kept the feel of the novels, the characters were all so well done! And who wouldn't want Aragorn to be happy? :)


Favourite Chick Lit Couple: Mattie & Kyle from Talli Roland's The Hating Game! This is such a fun story-line - filled with laugh out loud moments, "I can't believe she did that!" moments and, "Awwww," moments. If you haven't read Talli's book yet, check it out!


Favourite Romantic Suspense Couples: This is a favourite category of mine, so I'm including 3 authors! Eve Dallas & Roarke from JD Robb's In Death series. Frankie & Ryan from Terry O'Dell's When Danger Calls. Jules & Robin (& so many more!!) from Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooters series. Great stories all of them!


Favourite Couple That's Not a Couple: Alek & Deryn/Dylan from Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan are a wonderful pair! They are so very different and yet have much in common. They're both courageous and willing to learn and take risks. This is an awesome Steampunk read and I HAD to include it! :)

So, maybe not so sappy afterall!

So, tell me about one of your favourite literary couples of all time ... or, of the moment!

Mini Updates

I've promised updates over the past few months on a few things, so here we go...

1) My Kindle. I'm still loving it! It's so easy to use. I love buying books - especially new releases - right away. I also like being able to support my blog buddies who have their books in e-versions only. I have about 15 or 20 blog buddy books on my Kindle right now and know I'll be buying more. The prices are usually better on the Kindle which is nice too. I still buy a ton of 'real' books - I'm a bit of an addict, especially for my classroom - but I'm loving the ebooks too.

The battery is great. It actually seems to hold longer when I'm using it frequently which is kind of odd. The charge tends to last several weeks.

The only down side I've experienced so far is downloading. Some books don't instantly arrive. Others do. I have a 'lite' internet connection and I think that's the problem. It sometimes takes me several attempts to get the book onto the device. I have to resend it from the Kindle site. All of the books eventually arrive, but it can take a bit of time.

Overall though - loving it!

2) Word Verification. Ages ago I asked my fellow bloggers how they felt about having to type in word verification. The results were mixed. A few friends had real nightmares and have VERY good reasons for having both word verification and comment moderation. Overall most people hadn't experienced many problems though. The first week I removed the word verification, I had a few comments from people who obviously didn't read the blog - and really just wanted me to click their link. Don't know if there was anything evil lurking at the other end of the link because I never clicked. It was painfully obvious these weren't real commenters interested in my site. Since then I've had zero incidents.

Hope I didn't jinx myself.

3) Blog Buddy Books. I've read several now and I've gotta say - I've gotten to know some mighty talented folks! My most recent reads are:

Dogsled Dreams by Terry Lynn Johnson - a fantastic MG adventure - my students are LOVING it!
The Hating Game by Talli Roland - a laugh-out-loud romantic comedy with fabulous characters
Breakthrough by Stephen Tremp - a wild science fiction adventure into the land of wormholes
When Danger Calls by Terry O'Dell - an awesome romantic suspense with characters you think you know
CassaStar by Alex J. Cavanaugh - fabulous sci-fi adventure with tons of suspense

These are all great reads!!! Hope you have a chance to read them too!

Next up?

The Prairie Grass Murders by Patricia Stoltey
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Perilous by Tamara Hart Heiner
Chasing the Dark by Lisa Rusczyk
Veiled in Shadows by Allan Russell
Notes From Nadir by Lisa Maliga

There are so many more great books I'm waiting to buy from my other blog buddies, but I'm still paying off those Christmas bills! I'll get to everyone - promise!
So, now you're updated! What's new in your world??? :)

Talli Roland's The Hating Game

Help Talli Roland's debut novel THE HATING GAME hit the Kindle bestseller list at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk by spreading the word today. Even a few sales in a short period of time on Amazon helps push the book up the rankings, making it more visible to other readers.

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

No Kindle? Download a free app at Amazon for Mac, iPhone, PC, Android and more.

Coming soon in paperback. Keep up with the latest at http://www.talliroland.com/.

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About THE HATING GAME:

When man-eater Mattie Johns agrees to star on a dating game show to save her ailing recruitment business, she's confident she'll sail through to the end without letting down the perma-guard she's perfected from years of her love 'em and leave 'em dating strategy. After all, what can go wrong with dating a few losers and hanging out long enough to pick up a juicy £2000,000 prize? Plenty, Mattie discovers, when it's revealed that the contestants are four of her very unhappy exes. Can Mattie confront her past to get the prize money she so desperately needs, or will her exes finally wreak their long-awaited revenge? And what about the ambitious TV producer whose career depends on stopping her from making it to the end?

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Sounds like a great book, doesn't it? Click on a link and help Talli make a Splash!! I know I am :)

I started Talli's book last night and it is a fun read! Love the characters!! :)