no surprises here

These are my Amazon Quick Picks over the last two days. I think they've got a pretty good read on me, don't you?

Also, these movies remind me that the Christmas movie season is just around the corner. Yippee! The Hallmark Channel will begin showing Christmas movies on November 1. Two months of Christmas movies ... I can't wait!

dumping netflix

I joined Netflix in the summer of 2007. At the time, streaming video was fairly new, and members could stream 1 hour of video for each dollar they paid per month (or something like that). There wasn't much available to stream then, but Netflix soon began devoting large amounts of money to acquiring streaming content.

When Netflix announced its price hike in 2011, I ditched the DVDs and selected a streaming plan. And I remained happy with Netflix.

I'm still happy with Netflix ... but as of July 7, I will no longer be a subscriber. Why? Well, the answer is twofold. First of all, I'm buying a house, so I'm trying to save all the money I can. Netflix is far from being a necessity. Secondly, I also have Amazon Prime (which I get at a reduced price through Amazon Student). Prime includes free two-day shipping and free streaming of select movies and television shows. Amazon's selection has improved vastly in the last year, and now that Amazon Instant Videos can (finally!) be streamed through the Wii, I've been watching more Prime videos than ever. Prime doesn't have as many movies or TV seasons as Netflix, but there's more than enough to keep me occupied. In fact, I'm currently watching two shows that aren't available on Netflix: Covert Affairs and 7th Heaven. Couple that with the fact that I only watched three of the last 100 things streamed on my account, and I have to conclude that my money would be better spent elsewhere. (Multiple family members use my account ... and apparently they use it a whole lot more than I do!)

Of course, as I've been sitting here typing, I've been thinking about the myriad of items in my queue. Felicity isn't on Amazon Prime. Neither is Nikita. Or The Artist, which I've been intending to watch for the past year. And that's the key—I have 330 items in my queue, but how many of them will I actually watch? Maybe 5 or 10 percent? Just last night, I queued up an episode of Felicity, thinking that if I ever wanted to finish the series, I should do it now. I watched about two seconds before switching to Covert Affairs through Prime. I honestly can't think of one thing that I would be bummed about missing if my subscription ended tomorrow instead of three weeks from now.

As of right now, I think I'll come back to Netflix someday. But maybe I'll discover that I don't miss it much at all.

kindle book sale!

If you love Karen Kingsbury's books or have always wanted to check them out, today's your lucky day: Amazon is having a one day sale on Karen Kingsbury books! Today, October 27, you can get the Kindle version of any (or all) of the books featuring the Baxters and Flanigans (except for the final book, Coming Home) for $1.99 each!

And remember, you don't need a Kindle to read a Kindle book—you can get free Kindle reading apps for your computer, tablet, or smart phone.

Happy reading!

free book: "city of prophecy" by peter dudek

I am thrilled to report that my friend Peter's book City of Prophecy, is free on Amazon today through Sunday (9-21 to 9-23)!

I read and reviewed this book last year, and I loved it! If you're a fan of fantasy, you'll love this book ... and if you're not, it's free, so why not give it a chance? I wouldn't be at all surprised to find you love it.

Get it here !

free book: "heiress" by susan may warren

I was thrilled this morning to discover Susan May Warren's excellent book Heiress is free for Kindle. These deals are usually just for a day or two, so get your copy right away!

I read and reviewed this book last year, and here's some of what I had to say:

I simply could not put this book down. And when I had to (you know, for things like work), I found myself thinking about it. Susan May Warren has long been one of my favorite authors, and I especially love her historical fiction. I thought it couldn't get any better than Sons of Thunder (which just won a Carol Award), but she really outdid herself with Heiress. You know what I love most about it? The characters are real – human. Their humanity, in all its messy imperfection, jumps off the pages. They lie, have affairs, run away from responsibility, and treat each other horribly – just like real people do. And when the book wraps up, not everyone is living out their "happily ever after" – again, just like in real life! 

I also named it my favorite historical fiction of 2011 in my "Best Books" post. You really don't want to miss this one—get it here!

free book: "glamorous illusions" by lisa t. bergren

Lisa T. Bergren's new release, Glamorous Illusions, is free for Kindle through Friday! I'm currently reading it for the Litfuse tour, and I'm greatly enjoying it. It's the story of a young woman who suddenly learns she's not who she always thought she was, and she gets swept off on a Grand Tour of Europe with relatives who can barely stand her.

Get your copy here! Following the promotional free period, the book will be on sale for two weeks—$2.99 from June 9-15, and $4.99 from June 16-22. So be sure to grab your copy soon!

free fiction: "unleavened"

Last fall, I had the privilege of being one of the first people to read a draft of Peter Dudek's new novel, Unleavened. Peter has just released it as an eBook via Amazon, and you can get it free through tomorrow, April 22. After that, it will be $3.99—still a pretty good deal for a book!

Here's the synopsis of the book from Peter's website:

A widowed father. 

A homosexual son. 

Brad Miller, small-town newspaper writer, is numb to the sensation of love. Since his wife died, his once thriving relationship with God has degraded to a distant acquaintance. The only solace he finds is writing anonymously at his blog, a place where invisible readers offer him a safe sounding board to express his detached emotions. 

But after he finds out his son is homosexual, he is forced to ask himself, and his readers, how can homosexuality be reconciled within the Christian faith? Mixed advice from two very distinct church cultures makes him a central point for division among his Christian brothers and sisters. Confusion and distrust abound. 

To save his relationship with his son, Brad must surface his long hidden wounds and emotions and make himself vulnerable to both his church family, and to God.

Here's a bit of what Dudek has to say about his subject matter (for more, see his blog):

Homosexuality is one of the primary “sins” preached against in the Christian church. It is a very taboo topic, but it is not one that should be considered through one-dimensional glasses. Any issue of sexuality is deeply complex and emotional. Christians should realize that even people with whom they hold disagreements are still real people with real hurts, wounds, fears, needs and joys.

I think we can agree that those of us who claim to be Christ followers are often adept at "hating the sin" but struggle with "loving the sinner," and Dudek does a great job of addressing this topic through fiction.

Unleavened will push some buttons. You probably won't agree with every point Dudek makes. (I didn't.) You might even squirm a little. (I did.) This is not an easy, fun read like most of the books I talk about on this blog. But one thing this book will do is force you to think—I finished the book four months ago, and I still find myself thinking about it from time to time.

If you'd like to read it, you can get it here. (And remember, you can also get Dudek's fantasy novel City of Prophecy—which I loved—for just $2.99.)

free books from francis chan!

Three books by pastor, author, and speaker Francis Chan are currently free for your Kindle! This is a deal you won't want to miss—so hurry; these deals don't usually last very long!

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit

Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up

"blue moon promise" by colleen coble

About the book: Lucy Marsh is at her wit's end after her father's death and her step-mother's abandonment which left her with custody of her half-brother and sister. Once she loses her job due to layoffs, she doesn't know how she can possibly make ends meet. Then her father's friend Henry Stanton shows up with a proposal she can't refuse—he wants her to marry his son Nate by proxy and move with her siblings to the Stanton ranch in Texas.

When Nate first meets his new wife, he is furious. After all, he signed the proxy statement so his father could sell his cattle, not find him a wife! But her hard work and tenacity soon begin to win him over. However, his harsh words upon Lucy's arrival caused her to believe she could never become the wife he wanted. Can he convince her of his love before it's too late?

My take: Most of Colleen Coble's books combine intrigue and romance, and Blue Moon Promise is no exception. I enjoyed the blossoming relationship between Nate and Lucy, and the interplay between Henry and Lucy's sister was sweet. However, there was a twist near the end of the book that I just couldn't buy (the intrigue part I mentioned before)—based on what we'd seen earlier in the book, it didn't quite make sense. (Yes, I'm being intentionally vague here, but I don't want to spoil anything for you!)

This isn't my favorite of Coble's books (that would be Lonestar Secrets), but it's still pretty good. I give it 3-1/2 out of 5 stars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product free for review from Amazon.com through it's Vine reviewer program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.

"i am second" by doug bender & dave sterrett

About the book (from the back cover): Countless stories. One incredible ending.

A major league baseball player. A Tennessee pastor. A reality TV star. A single mom. A multi-platinum rocker.

What do these people have in common?

They've all hit bottom.

And none of them stayed there.

Famous or unfamiliar, these are the stories of real people who reached the end of their strength, the end of their control, and found the most surprising truths.

It taught them not to rely on self or substance but to lean on the only completely reliable source of love, hope, and freedom: the God who created them. Shocking in their honesty, inspiring in their courage, these testimonies are critical reminders that no one is too far from God to find him.

Join these and thousands more who have discovered the life-changing power in putting God first and proclaiming, "I am second."

My take: The twenty people profiled in I am Second come from diverse backgrounds—some are famous (like Sam Bradford, Bethany Hamilton, and Michael W. Smith); some are people you've never heard of.  Each story is inspirational in its own way—it may be the story of an affair, drug abuse, criminal activity, or pride. But all the stories are ultimately about just one thing—choosing to place Christ first in your life.

This is essentially a companion book to go along with the videos on the iamsecond[dot]com website, and the end of each chapter lists the URL for the video that goes along with each story, as well as listing other videos that follow the same theme. (There are also QR codes for each video.)

Also, the gospel is clearly presented at the end of the book—a must for a book that talks about placing God first in your life!

While the videos are much more engaging than the written out stories in this book (nothing compares to hearing a person's story in his or her own words), I think one of the book's purposes is to make people aware of and drive people to the website—and that it accomplishes very well! I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Here's my favorite of all the "I am Second" videos I've watched ... and if you know my background, you'll know why! Scott Hamilton - I Am Second

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product free for review from Amazon.com through it's Vine reviewer program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.

free christian fiction for your kindle

Every day, I get two newsletters informing me of free or discounted Kindle books. The first, from eReaderIQ.com, lists the top 25 free Kindle books of the day. (I talked about this newsletter in August, so I won't rehash it here. I have some concerns about the service, which I mentioned in my post.) The second newsletter has proven to be the more helpful of the two. It's from inspiredreads.com, and it lists both free and discounted Christian titles. (You can sign up for the newsletter by following this link.)

Today, I was very excited to find the book Sixty Acres and a Bride on the list of free books. I'm on the Litfuse tour for the book, so I'll be posting about it in a few weeks. In the meantime, though, you can read the book, too! Here's the summary from the publisher:

With nothing to their names, young widow Rosa Garner and her mother-in-law return to their Texas family ranch. Only now the county is demanding back taxes and the women have just three months to pay. 

Though facing eviction, Rosa falls in love with the countryside. She can’t help but stand out, though, and her beauty captures attention. Where some offer help with dangerous strings attached, only one man seems honorable, and Rosa must decide to what lengths she will go to save her future.

It looks like a great book, and I'm excited to read it. I hope you enjoy it, too ... but hurry—sometimes books will be free one day and full price the next. Here's the link to the book on Amazon. And remember: you don't need a Kindle—you can read the book on your computer.

time for some christmas music!

'Tis the season for Christmas music. I love Christmas music, and sometimes I buy too much of it (kind of like how I buy too many Christmas movies). However, Amazon makes it easy to get my fill of Christmas music without breaking the bank, thanks to its $5 Christmas albums. In November, 100 Christmas albums were available for $5 each, but I didn't see anything that caught my fancy. Fast forward to this morning, when I looked at Amazon's $5 albums for December. Not only are two of my favorite Christmas albums (Michael W. Smith's It's a Wonderful Christmas and Amy Grant's Home for Christmas) on the list, but there is an album that made my inner giddy teenager come out, and I bought it as soon as I got home from work. Which album, you ask? *N Sync's Home for Christmas! I have wanted this album since I was 17. It has always hovered around $10, and I have a hard time justifying spending that much on music I only listen to 30 days out of the year. But $5? Totally worth it!

Check out the whole list of $5 Christmas albums. There's so much Christmas goodness here I hardly know where to begin! I recommend the following albums because I have (and love) them: A Charlie Brown Christmas (Vince Guaraldi Trio), Peace on Earth (Casting Crowns), What a Night! (Harry Connick, Jr.), Let It Snow Baby ... Let It Reindeer (Relient K), and Christmas Cheers (Straight No Chaser). But there's a ton of other good music out there, too—albums by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Avalon, Mandisa, and many more.

Mariah Carey's two Christmas albums, Merry Christmas and Merry Christmas II You, are some of my new favorites, and Merry Christmas is actually Amazon's mp3 Deal of the Day today. I know by the time most of you read this, it'll be tomorrow (or later), but sometimes Amazon's mp3 daily deals last a bit longer than a day. Merry Christmas is definitely worth your $3.99! (And yes, I know that Merry Christmas came out in 1994, so it's not exactly "new." I'd never listened to the whole thing until last year, so it's new to me!)

Also, be sure to check out Amazon's 25 Days of Free. Each day, a new free Christmas song is added to the list. Today's song is by Celtic Woman.

And just so you know, the Christmas album I'm dying to get this year is Michael Bublé's Christmas. But at $11.99, I'll just content myself with streaming it through Spotify for now!

What's your favorite Christmas album? Which one are you trying to rationalize buying this year ... or which one did you already buy?

november kindle book deals

Amazon has started offering monthly Kindle book deals (similar to the $5 mp3 deals that I'm such a sucker for!). This month, they have 100 books for $3.99 or less. I just glanced through the list, and there are many Christian books there—including The Art of Romance (which I loved) for $1.99, A Heart Most Worthy (which I liked) for $2.99, and Learning and Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury for $2.99 each. Also, several other books by Kingsbury are on sale for $2.99, but they're not on the monthly list, so I don't know how long the prices will last. You can see those books here. (Can you go wrong with Kingsbury? I don't think so! Though if you're caught up in the Bailey Flanigan saga—of which Learning is book two—you're probably ready to bash some heads together by now!)

You can check out the full list of discounted titles here. Happy reading!

why i love amazon: reason #4368

Did you know that if you're a college student--as in enrolled in at least one course at any college in the United States--you qualify for a free Amazon Prime membership? You do need to have a .edu email address, but doesn't every college give those out these days?

I am enrolled in school again (see 35 before 35 #20 ... yes, I'll post about it soon!), so I signed up for Prime today. It's a free 6-month membership, and if I choose to continue with Prime after that (which I don't anticipate right now, but I suppose I could change my mind), I can get a year for $39--that's half price! The one disappointment is that Prime videos are not included in the free subscription, but as I chose to keep Netflix streaming, I don't really need that service, anyway.

Having Prime (which gives free 2-day shipping) could be a good thing or a bad thing. See, I never pay for shipping when I buy from Amazon. I just wait until I have $25 worth of products to buy, and then I use the free Super Saver Shipping. Here's the problem, though; sometimes I have something I really, really want (or need), it doesn't cost $25, and I don't want to (or can't) wait until I need something else. So instead of paying for shipping, I browse the dvd and book sections until I find something that will push my total to $25. This very thing happened to me last week, and I ended up buying the Tori Spelling movie Family Plan because it pushed me over $25. Do I like the movie? Yes. Back when I had cable, did I have a strange compulsion to watch it every time The Hallmark Channel ran it? Yes. Was it on sale? Yes. Did I need it? No.

The way I see it, Prime will be a nice service that could save me money. No longer will I be worrying about how to get an order up to $25, but I also may be more likely to click "buy" on something I don't really need because I don't "have" to make a $25 order.

Also, it's worth noting that Amazon Mom also has a free trial of Prime. And if you're not a parent or student, you can still try Prime free for one month.

When you order from Amazon, do you feel compelled to order enough to qualify for free shipping, or do you figure it's better to just get what you need and pay a little extra for shipping?

a deal for your kindle

You know I love telling you about books. (Eighty-three book reviews and counting!) You know I love Amazon.You may or may not know that Karen Kingsbury is my favorite author. So I'm especially excited to tell you about this deal: Right now, the Cody Gunner series--A Thousand Tomorrows and Just Beyond The Clouds--is currently available for your Kindle (or free Kindle app) for $1.99!

Admittedly, A Thousand Tomorrows isn't my favorite Karen Kingsbury book (it may even be my least favorite), but a "bad" Kingsbury book is still better than most other books I've read! A Thousand Tomorrows is Cody and Ali's story. They meet and fall in love on the pro rodeo circuit, but tragedy awaits. Because it's been several years since I read the book, I can't remember what exactly I didn't like--except I do know I didn't like Ali very much. I also remember bawling like a baby at a pivotal moment, so Kingsbury still gets to my emotions even when I'm not enjoying the plot!

Just Beyond the Clouds, though, is a different story. I really enjoyed this book, although I was hesitant to read it due to my negative reaction to its predecessor. This book picks up after (GIANT SPOILER ALERT!) Ali's death. It centers around Cody's brother, Carl Joseph. Carl Joseph has Down's Syndrome, and in the wake of Ali's death, Cody becomes incredibly overprotective. (Apparently Carl Joseph was also in A Thousand Tomorrows, but as I blocked nearly everything about the book, I didn't remember that when I read Just Beyond the Clouds.) Carl Joseph's teacher, Ellie, believes he should be independent, putting her at odds with Cody. There's also a wonderful subplot involving Carl Joseph's love life. This is a book that I highly recommend!

Here's the deal: $1.99 for a Karen Kingsbury book is amazing. $1.99 for two? Fantastic! If I didn't already own Just Beyond the Clouds (and have this thing about owning physical copies of Kingsbury's books), I would buy these books in an instant! Even if you find that you, like me, don't really enjoy A Thousand Tomorrows, Just Beyond the Clouds will more than make up for it. Enjoy!

after these messages, we'll be right back!

Original content on this blog has been lacking lately. My goal is to post three times each week, and I'm not doing a very good job of meeting that goal. My book reviews are important, and I know that the majority of the traffic coming to my blog is due to the reviews, but I'm not ready to make this a "book review only" kinda place, so I'm working on several other posts right now – about my 30th birthday, country music, and 35 things I want to do before I turn 35. Nothing is close to being ready, though. (Why? One word: School.) So, while I continue working on those other posts (and while I keep reading and reviewing – I should have at least three reviews go up in the next two weeks), here are a few "internet" things I want you to know about:

• Remember when I told you about Perfect Romance? No? It's the movie where Desmond from LOST falls in love with a woman he meets online, and it's so cute! For the next 10 days, you can catch it on Hulu. Watch it. You'll thank me later! (Unless you're a guy who hates chick flicks. Dearest brother, I'm pretty sure this is too sappy for you. However, someone from Stargate does make an appearance, so at least something in the movie might interest you.)
• One of my most popular posts (it's #3 this month and #2 since Blogger started keeping track) is the one about My Girlfriend's Boyfriend. I still love introducing people to this movie – I even watched it last night with two of the dorm girls at NC. Seriously, I feel like the film's biggest cheerleader! Now it's free on Hulu, so you have no excuse for not watching it. Just do it!
• If you want other movie recommendations, check out my "Movies to Watch" tab – especially if you like chick flicks.
• If you saw the movie Something Borrowed – which is not on my recommended list – you might be interested in this post by author Jenny B. Jones. (She wrote Save the Date, which I loved.) She makes a valid point, one that Blendy and I discussed at length (SPOILER ALERT!): why on earth would you cast John Krasinski in the role of the guy who doesn't get the girl? 
• Have you heard of Spotify? Not only is is super cool – you can listen to just about any music you want, and you don't have to listen to a bunch of things you don't want in order to get to that one song you do want (à la Pandora) – but it also can save you money! How, you ask? Well, say Amazon is running a sale on an album you're interested in. You listen to the samples, but how much can you really tell from 30 seconds of a song? So instead of taking your chances on an album you may or may not really want, you can listen to the whole thing on Spotify before deciding! I've saved at least $3.99 – I'm looking at you, Matthew Morrison! – and I'll be checking out all future purchases here, first. If only I'd had Spotify when looking for "Forever," I would have known the version Amazon was offering wasn't the John Stamos version and saved 99¢ ...
  
• Since I brought it up:
  

Thanks for sticking with me, and I'll try to do a better job of posting regularly!

kindle freebies!

As you may know, publishers often offer ebooks for free through Amazon and other sites. (Since I have a Kindle, I just use Amazon--check out bn.com if you have a Nook.) I check out the top 100 free Kindle books here a few times a week. I also signed up through ereaderiq.com to be alerted whenever new free ebooks are added (Thanks, Karen!). You have to wade through a lot of junk, but sometimes you'll find a real treasure. (Did you hear me? A.LOT.OF.JUNK. Don't say I didn't warn you!) When I'm going through ereaderiq emails, I usually just scan through the publishers; if I'm on Amazon, I click on the books that look like they come from Christian publishers. (I can almost always spot a Christian book by its cover. Strange, maybe, but when you've read as many books as I have ...) I've noticed that many of the Christian publishers will add new free ebooks around the first of the month ... and today was no exception! Here are a few that especially interested me:

Miss Match by Erynn Mangum is the first ebook I ever read ... and I read it in one sitting! I'd just downloaded Kindle for PC, and Miss Match was one of the freebies available. It has a bit of an Emma vibe to it, and it's witty and fun with lots of pop culture references. As soon as I finished Miss Match, I ordered books two and three in the series. Also, Mangum surprised me with where things ended up, something that's difficult to do when you've read as many Christian romances as I have! If you like chick lit, you should give this one a chance.


As soon as I learned Ransome's Honor by Kaye Dacus was free, I hit "buy." Dacus is an author I've just discovered, and so far, I love what I've read! (According to Dacus, this one's only free through the 15th, so get it now!)



Full disclosure: I've never read anything by Stephanie Grace Whitson. However, I have heard her speak--she put on a writing workshop at the school I work at a few years ago. Plus, she's from Nebraska (you know I'm all about the Husker connection!), so I'm very excited to read Sixteen Brides!

In addition to these three, there are many other quality books for free right now. You just have to know where to look. And remember, you can read ebooks without a Kindle, Nook, or other ereader ... you can download Kindle for PC here (for free, of course).

what did i miss?

I've had an odd experience regarding the last book I read and reviewed, The Constantine Codex. I was less than impressed with the book, though I did find some good things to say about it. So I posted the review on my blog and then went to Amazon to post my review there. And what I saw absolutely astounded me! Of the 15 other reviews, 10 are 5 star--which is the highest ranking Amazon allows reviewers to give, 3 are 4 star, and 2 are 3 star. My review is the lone two-star review.

This is the first time that I can remember having an opinion so very different from other reviewers. Sure, some of the items I've reviewed have been met with mixed feelings by other reviewers. But here, the opinions are so overwhelmingly positive that I'm left with four possible conclusions:

1. Reviewers are afraid to give a negative review, so they either disguise their true opinions or don't post their review on Amazon. I sincerely hope this isn't the case, but I can see how it could be--especially if people are concerned with their Amazon reviewer ranking. Sometimes, supporters of a product, be it book, movie, or other item, will vote "no" to Amazon's "was this review helpful" question when a reviewer has something negative to say about the product. It's petty, but it happens. And honestly, the thought did cross my mind that I may get "no" votes on my review which would hurt my "helpful vote" percentage. I posted anyway, though my reasons weren't entirely altruistic--this book is part of Tyndale's Summer Reading Program, and in order to get credit for reading a book, participants must post a review in three places. Amazon was one of my three. (If you'd like to give my review some love--or hate--you can find it here.)
   
2. It's a case of "Christian movie syndrome" ... you know, where Christian films are truly terrible as works of art due to bad acting, bad editing, and--in some cases--bad story lines, yet Christians buy and watch them because they are "safe" and have good messages. I'm not afraid to give a Christian movie a slot in my Netflix queue ... yet I apparently don't have the same tolerance for Christian books. I (as you're well aware if you've been a reader of this blog for more than a week) read mountains of Christian fiction. Most of it is well written, entertaining, and thought provoking. So when I come across one that doesn't quite live up to my expectations, I'm disappointed, and I'm not willing to "give it a pass" just because it's Christian.
3. It's still early, and the more critical reviews will come later. The blog tour for this book is going on today, so more people will probably be posting reviews throughout the day (though a review on Amazon isn't a must). As more people read the book, more will review it, and there are bound to be others who see the book the way I did.
   
4. I missed something. It's entirely possible that these other reviewers truly loved the book, and I just didn't get it.

If you read The Constantine Codex, what did you think? Am I on track, or did I miss something important? Do you hold Christian books to a higher standard than Christian films? Why or why not?

things that made me smile

I had a great weekend. Seriously, I can't remember when I last had so much fun in one weekend (probably because most of my recent weekends have been consumed by speech ... but we won't go there!). So here's what made me smile:

• Saw my words in print--in a place other than my blogs, the NC Advance, or Amazon! On Friday, I got author Denise Hunter's newest e-newsletter, and in it ... she quoted my review of A Cowboy's Touch! Granted, she didn't say it was me, so no one else knows, but oh, the thrill of seeing my words in her newsletter! I work hard on my reviews, so to have an author say she liked it, well, that pretty much made my day!
• Spent Saturday "babysitting" in the girls' dorm. I was there from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and while I will get paid for my time, it didn't even feel like work. (Isn't that the best kind of job?) While there, I ...

• Finished reading Heart of Ice. It's a good one--check out my review (which probably won't get quoted by the author ...)

•  Watched My Fake Fiance with some of the girls. I'm probably too old for it, but can you go wrong with Blossom's Joey and Sabrina the Teenage Witch? I don't think so!

• Went on an Easter Egg hunt! I'm pretty sure the last time I hunted eggs was eight (?) years ago when cousins Kate and Beth and sister Val came out to visit me at Grace. By the way, my team "won" by collecting the least amount of eggs, and we got all the leftover candy! I ate far too many Starburst jelly beans and then left the rest of my share at the dorm.

The winning (or losing, depending on how you look at it) team: Lindsey, Jessica, and me. We collected a whopping TEN eggs (out of 200)!

• Found a movie music station on the dorm parents' DirecTV. I love movie music, and it provided the perfect accompaniment to my reading!

• Played DDR ... and possibly became addicted! I bought the game from Amazon because I thought I would enjoy it (plus, it was over 50% off), but after playing it once decided it really wasn't for me. I'm not incredibly coordinated ... Then Janet (the girl who spent the last two Christmases with me) asked me to bring it Saturday. She played for hours, and she finally convinced me to try it. It's so fun! I've played four times in the last three days :-)

• Chatted on the phone with college roomie Jen. It had been far too long since we'd spoken, and it was great to catch up! (Note to self: Do a better job of keeping in touch with friends.)
• Took a nice ... windy ... walk with Blendy. We need to do that more often! (Dear Blendy--I'm linking to your blog, so you should probably update it!)
• Went to the dentist this morning. (I can see those questions now: Yes, Monday is still sort-of the weekend because we don't usually have school on Mondays. No, dentist appointments don't usually make me smile.) No new cavities is exactly what I wanted to hear! (Plus, I didn't get the flossing lecture. So either my mouth looks better than it should, or my dentist is giving up ... )
• Had lunch with Jo, a girl I've known basically since she was born nearly 18 years ago. We're going to be starting a Bible study if we can ever get our schedules to mesh ... but for now, it was nice just to spend a 30-minute lunch with her!

catching up

Speech officially ended on Friday with the state meet. I had three students compete, and one, a freshman extemper, got fourth place! (I think extemp is the most challenging of all our speech events because you draw a topic one hour before you speak and write a speech about it, using articles you've previously clipped from magazines or printed off the internet. Most topics are political in nature. Almost all the extemp speeches I listened to yesterday--and I heard twelve--were on the US economy or the recovery efforts in Japan. Since he made it to finals, Scott had to write three 5-7 minute speeches yesterday!)

Here's a look at the people I've been spending countless hours with for the last three months!

I have been doing a few things other than speech ...

• I read my first non book review book since, well, I can't even remember when. I bought Dining with Joy a few months ago, but I always had just one more book review book to get through. On Tuesday, I read the last one I had, so then I picked up Dining with Joy. To be honest, I bought the book for its cover. I had read books one and two in the series, and while they were decent, I didn't love them, and I had no intention of reading any more of author Rachel Hauk's novels ... until Amazon started recommending Dining with Joy. It was the cover. Seriously, I've never been one to be influenced by a book's cover (though I've been embarrassed by one before--click on over here to see it!), but now it's happened twice--first with The Mountains Bow Down and now with this! Fortunately, the book was as enjoyable as the cover. I finished it yesterday ... the same day I got another book review book in the mail.
• Last week, I got an invitation to join the Amazon Vine program! This is Amazon's product review program, and you must be invited in order to join. I guess posting all those book reviews paid off :-) I've received and reviewed my first two products--a Jamba Juice energy drink and Lost and Found, a graphic novel by Shaun Tan. Here's a link to my review of Lost and Found. I may eventually start reviewing Vine products on my blog, but it's not a requirement of the program, so I'll wait for now.
• I now have five (yes, five) living plants! This is something of a victory for me, as you may recall. Granted, the aloe plant isn't looking too great, but it's still kicking. My newest plant I bought today--"Royal Hustler" Ivy. I've never had an ivy plant before ... let's hope it's pretty hearty!
• Thanks to Netflix, I've caught up on Parks & Recreation. If you ever enjoyed The Office, you'll probably like Parks & Rec. Many people (read: critics) say the first season is pretty rough, but I thought it was hilarious from the beginning. If you don't have Netflix, you can watch the most recent episodes on Hulu ... and I'll be happy to fill you in on any background you need!
• I've been asked to transition into a slightly different role at my job. I'll have more to say about it later, but I'm really anticipating the change!

I think that's about it! I'll have another book review coming in just over a week (the sequel to Hand of Fate, which I reviewed last year). I guess I've procrastinated long enough ... time to hit the taxes!