Bedtime Story: Grampa-Lop

Synopsis from Goodreads: "Serendipity books have warmed the hearts of young and old for over two decades, becoming classics in children's literature. Each beloved tale teaches youngsters how to deal with the challenges of their world, providing them with positive solutions to difficult problems"

My Review: I absolutely love this one, its a tear jerker even though it is just a short little children's book.  I absolutely adored the stories my grandparents told and can't imagine anyone thinking it was a bad thing.  How can a little fantasy and magic be bad for a kid? A great message of love whether old or young and keeping a bit of magic in your lives.

My Rating: A great book, probably one of the more emotional ones of the serendipity set. It earns a rating of Four Paws!


Good Night, Sweet Dreams!

Follow Friday & In My Mailbox

1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers - Jenni Elyse & Caught in the Pages
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. LINKY TOOLS IS BACK! I paid for the subscription - finally so now you can add the links to your own post!!! To add the code to your own post click on GET THE CODE here under the list of names.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

Q. In books like the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) series the paranormal creature in question "comes out of the closet" and makes itself known to the world. Which mythical creature do you wish would come out of the closet, for real?

Well I had to think about this one for a bit, but my answer was pretty clear. I would love to have Shapeshifters around, especially big cat ones. This probably comes from all the wereanimal romances I have read but who wouldn't want to cuddle up to a big black panther on a cold winter night an know for a fact that it wasn't going to hurt you!

 

 

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In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by The Story Siren that I have decided to participate in.

How IMM works:
Make your own IMM post! You can post about books you've bought, gotten from the library, received for review... books don't have to arrive via your mailbox.
I post every week, but you don’t have to. You can do one week out of the month or every other week it’s up to you.
You don't have to call your post In My Mailbox... (some people don't even have mailboxes!)
I post my IMM on Sunday, but choose a day of the week that works for you.
Once you have your IMM posted, come back to The Story Siren on Sunday and add your link to the list.
Try to post a comment on other bloggers IMM posts. I don’t expect you to post a comment on every single one, but pick a few!

All book bloggers are welcome, while I’d like to keep the theme to YA literature it’s NOT a requirement.

There is no right or wrong way to do In My Mailbox, you can vlog, you can take fun picture, you can use the books cover art, it’s up to you!

Most importantly HAVE FUN!

This makes two weeks in a row of being a good girl, even though I haven't really gotten any reading done this week, but with a hurricane coming I am sure I will have plenty of indoor time to read this weekend!

Wednesday Write

So Wednesday is my official writing update day. I have so many story projects going on and I need a push to get some done. So I will be trying to post each Wednesday about how my writing adventures are going (and I may need a swift kick in the pants by you guys sometimes).

Current Active Project:

Princess Bs - 25,243 words

A story about a woman, recently divorced and returned to her home town to figure out what is next. She encounters an old friend and spends a weekend with him and his daughters. Feelings that are long since buried are rising up again, but are her recent loss and his current life going to stand in the way of their happily ever after?

I swear it is impossible to get caught up once you are behind! I nearly got caught up at the end of last week but didn't get anything done over the weekend so now I am around 13,000 words behind again. But . . . I have passed the halfway point!! This is the furthest I have ever gotten a story!! Hurray for me!

Other Works in Progress:

Tamlyn Marie's Grace - 12,072 words

Think Cinderella only with a matchmaker ;)

 

The Last Mountains - 15,352

A equine shapeshifting family is being hunted to near extinction and the young new leader must go against all her lessons and approach the elite council for aide. Will they help her? How will she keep her family's traditions and values alive, let alone her herd?

 

Night Rider - 17,229

Alice is a recent high school graduate who is a very accomplished competitive rider in Hunter/Jumper, Dressage, and Western/Rodeo. Her parents had arranged for her to attend a private college on the east coast geared specifically to equine professions. However, Alice wants to focus on her studies in English Literature. When she arrives at the college she hides her riding abilities, but can she keep her talent and love of horses hidden?

Other Ideas Plotting:

The New Old Home

A lottery won and what is decided to do with the money.

Bloodsoar's Story

A pegasus struggles through life, ejected from the herd, near capture by humans.

The Assassin's Assassin

A student learns what the school is really teaching and sets out to destroy those who support the program.

I couldn't find an appropriate teaser for you guys in this weeks typing that wouldn't give too much of the story away. Sorry!

Top Ten Books I Never Reviewed

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
Don't forget to add your link and visit other Top Ten lists!

I know I don't normally participate in Top Ten Tuesday but this week was an irresistible topic. We were asked to list our Top Ten books we have read but didn't review for whatever reason.

This is a difficult list for me to narrow down so I have made some of the numbers complete series ;)

1. Song of the Lioness Series by Tamora Pierce - This was the series that originally got me into fantasy books, I gobbled them up at my local library when I was a teen.

2. White Magic series by Caitlin Brennan - Another great series I read a few years ago that combined everything I love, horses, magic, royalty, strong woman characters and a little romance.

3. Paths to Camelot series by Sarah Zettel - A fantastic set of books that pulled me into Arthurian Legends a few years ago, I had to hunt down the fourth book because it wasn't released in the US (it may have since then though). I am actually thinking I might do an Arthurian challenge next year so stay tuned ;)

4. Golden Filly series by Lauraine Snelling - This is a fantastic 10 book middle grade series. A christian series that follows a girl through the grief process of loosing her father and her struggles at achieving her dreams of becoming a jockey. I had read a couple of these books when I was younger and only in the past few years tracked down the whole series.

5. Merry Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton - this series I have been following for a few years, it really pulled me into modern fantasy and paranormal genres. I must give warning though it is very risque.

6. Rhiannon's Ride Trilogy by Kate Forsyth - I recommend this fantasy trilogy to anyone who will listen (even actually forcing my copies into their hands). I got so invested into the characters I actually found myself mad at my husband for no reason other than the MC was mad at the hero.

7. Divine Comedy by Dante - I read these in my Epic Poetry class my first semester in college and fell in love!

8. Firethorn by Sarah Micklem - a fantasy, historicalish romance that is believable, its not all pretty and flowers. No real happy ending there just real life. I just managed to get my hands on the follow up book Wildfire.

9. Dewey the Small Town Library Cat by Vicki Myron - this was an incredibly emotional book for me. I got it on CD and thank goodness I did because I was absolutely bawling by the end and couldn't have read the words if I had tried.

10. Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey - Another Arthurian tale, but a fantastic and believable one. One that I think I need to read again.

There are so many other books I probably should have added to this list (some I will be re-reading and reviewing later in the year so I left them off).  So what are your top ten books you never reviewed??

Poetry Pause: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

I am working in the poetry section of my own 2011 Reading Challenge. I had planned on posting the poems for you to join me in reflecting on them; however, I am not entirely certain on the copyright laws regarding some of the poets we will read. So to be on the safe side I decided to try to link you to the poem I will be reading.

Another option, if you are looking to purchase a book of poetry, I suggest Half Hours with the Best Poets (Barnes & Noble or Amazon)

 

This is a fantastic collection of poems, nearly all of my top poems are in this one book!

So the next poem is

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

The title is a link to the poem

This is a simple descriptive poem that can be read in so many different ways. It has been influential in so many people's lives and so many graduation speeches! My favorite line is

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence"

Years and years down the road we will all look back on the decisions we made, some were good and some were bad but they are the choices we made.  So do you choose to take the road not taken?

Making Reading Plans

Its Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Shelia at Book Journey. Share what books you have finished in the last week, are currently reading and what might be coming up next!

I decided to join in this meme for my sanity and your own to keep track of what books have bookmarks in them!

What I Read Last Week:

Links will take you to my review

Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner

O Captain My Captain by Walt Whitman

Nobody's Prize by Esther Friesner

Wyoming Wildfire by Elizabeth Lane

Little Mouse on the Prairie by Stephen Cosgrove

Night of Fire by Barbara Samuel (no review sorry)

Currently Reading:

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - PB - on Page 92 of 331

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke - PB - on page 6 of 348

A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin - on my Nook, page 20 of 1439

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - PB - on page 23 of 269

Next Books to be Read:

Grampa Lop by Stephen Cosgrove - Childrens/Bedtime stories

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo - Middle Reader/ 2011 Challenge

Sabriel by Garth Nix - YA/ 2011 Challenge

Road not Taken by Frost - Poetry/ 2011 Challenge

Bloodmaiden by Christine E. Schulze - Young Adult

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So I did a lot of reading last week but not on my challenge books, I just haven't been in the mood for them lately. Hopefully this week I will at least get The Secret Garden done and Bloodmaiden.