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.