Books I Didn't Write Feature: Regan Black and Tracking Shadows

Regan Black is one of my Twitter Peeps (tweeps for people in the know) and when I did the Blog Tour de Force Menage a Blog (seriously, it was a hot as it sounds), I had the pleasure of touring with her.

Regan is not only a great author, but she is super supportive of other authors as well.  I can't wait for the day I meet her in person.  She will get all the hugs!

Remember, the point of this feature is to gush over my fave books and Tracking Shadows is AWESOME!  I don't read a lot of sci-fi or futuristic books. But since I was in a Blog Tour with this incredible lady, I had to see what my competition was bringing to the table.

Tracking Shadows made me a little nervous.

The first line sucked me in and I couldn't put my Kindle down. Murder, smugglers, a little dry humor. This book had it all. I don't think I'd make it in Chicago 2096 at all. No sugar...no coffee; you know I'd be Slick Micky's top customer :)

There were a few times I had to go back and re-read a few things (was he invisible?) but other than that I really enjoyed the book.  I didn't even know it was the 4th book in the series so of course I went back and bought the other 5 books.

If you love urban fantasy, please check out Regan Black (click here for her website).  She's also taking part in the Women's Literary Cafe Year of the Indies Celebration

Check out Regan's books on Amazon or her website.  Have a Kindle?  I'm also gifting a copy of all 5 books in the Shadows of Justice series to one lucky winner.

I'm not really a Grinch...I promise

It's here.  That time of the year where I swear off retail stores and regular scheduled programming (unless it's the 24 hours of A Christmas Story or Elf) and retreat to my Internet Hideway and Amazon for all my Christmas gifts.

I promise...I don't really hate Christmas.  I hate what Christmas has become.

No, I'm not talking about Giftmas or losing the meaning of Christmas.  That is a topic I refuse to entertain on my blog.

Christmas and Thanksgiving are especially hard for me because I remember what they used to be for my family.

From Thanksgiving until January 2, my once close knit family used to spend so much time together.  We put the meaning in EAT, DRINK, and BE MERRY.  Winter was the best time of the year for me, my sisters and our host of cousins.

Fast forward ten years and what once was a large, happy, slightly dysfunctional family is completely broken.  We're spread apart all over the world, we barely talk to each other, and cousins don't even know each other. I've never even met any of my cousins born in the last 7 years.

Tragic, I know.  Some families come together and grow stronger when tragedy strikes.  Mine didn't.  Maybe it was too much too fast and we just couldn't handle it or maybe my grandmother really was the glue that held the family together as she always used to say.

I don't know.  But I miss my family.  I wish I knew a way to bring us all together, at least once, to have Christmas dinner at least.

But until then...there's going to be at least 10 NBA games coming on Christmas day and Pizza Hut delivers.

Music Monday

I recently heard this song...

Yeah, I know...I should have been had the new Coldplay album.

But it's perfect for Music Monday, don't cha think?

How to defeat Monday

It's Monday...again.

*Deep sigh*

Am I the only one who wakes up on Monday morning wishing we could skip Monday and go straight to Wednesday?  I'm talking "do not pass go; do not collect $200" type of skip it.

Leave no traces of Monday behind.

I don't think I'm the only one.

Good news.  Monday is not invincible.  As much as she tries to be a badass, she can be brought to her knees with a swift kick in the groin (this works on males & females, btw)

Here's how.

Always look for the positive.

I bet you were hoping for something profound and insightful.  Or maybe you were hoping I'd reveal some kickass ninja secrets to beat down this day.  #sorry

Besides, I don't reveal my ninja secrets.  Are you kidding me?

Actually, it is profound.  We often get so caught up in how much Monday is going to suck that we don't notice the good things.

Monday morning traffic in Atlanta usually sets the tone for the rest of the day for me.  I mean seriously, who wrecks their car at 6:30 in the morning and backs up traffic for 20 miles?  But it happens every Monday.

Today was no exception.  As I sat in my car, staring at the bright red brake lights in front of me and tow trucks removing totaled cars from the shoulder, a strange voice I'd never heard before whispered in my head.

"At least that wasn't you."

There it was.  That seemingly unprofound statement that changed the way I look at Mondays.  Sure traffic sucks.  But I didn't wreck my car.  I made it to work on time.  The extra thirty minutes I had to give myself in order to get to work allowed me to see the sunrise over the city of Atlanta.

Look for the positives.

It's Monday.  I have a ton of work to do.  I have edits to make in my book.  There aren't enough hours in this week and my hair is doing this weird frizzy curly thing that it's never done before.  And it took me 20 minutes to decide what black top matched up perfectly with my black pants.

But guess what.

Starbucks didn't mess up my coffee.  I found a missing pair of heels in my trunk. And this tops makes my boobs look awesome.

#positves