The Sunday Salon Cause It's Been Awhile

Welcome to the new Sunday Salon. A sometimes weekly update post about my boring life. ;)

Weather Small Talk: I'm so freaking sick of it getting cloudy and then not raining! Don't tease me like that! 

Music Discoveries: Nothing uber new lately. I have been enjoying the new Keane album. Especially the song Disconnected. What do you think? 

On The Idiot Box: My summer series are almost over. I watched Teen Wolf on MTV and was just as entertained as last season. The cliffhangers are horrible! I have one episode of Burn Notice, Suits and Falling Skies left and I'm really worried the latter is going to have the worst cliffhanger ever! And just when all these shows end we have a whole new season of network shows. So much TV! 

Weekly Reads: I managed to finish Ender's Game which was complete torture and I'm working on The Maze Runner too. 

Crazy Kitty: Is so needy! She misses me now that I'm at work all the time. The other day she was sitting near my stuffed animals (yes, I still have a few) grooming herself when she suddenly looked up angrily at my Eeyore from Whinnie The Pooh and bit him on the nose followed by a lick. It was hilarious!  

This Week: I had my family reunion. We went camping. During a game of kickball I pulled something and I'm STILL sore. I'm getting so old! I also had book club and found out I wasn't the only one who thought Ender's Game was boring. Yay! 

Movie of the Week: I've seen lot's of movies since I've posted a Sunday Salon. I might have to do another movie review post. Yep, I think I shall. That'll give me something to post until I finish a book for review. ;) 

Food Talk: Finding lunches that are easy to bring to work sucks! I used to work at a hotel with a full kitchen and time to cook. Now I have a microwave and that's it. Sigh! 

Soccer Sightings: Today the new season of La Liga starts!!! Are you ready for me to start talking soccer again? Cause it's coming. ;P 

Plans For The Week: Work, work and more work. :( I also plan on finishing The Maze Runner. I've been working on it for far too long. 

Review: Ender's Game

Title Ender's Game (Ender's Saga 1)
By Orson Scott Card
Genre YA scifi
Pages 322
Recommended by Book club

First sentence "I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one."

Synopsis
Boring, boring, boring, training, training, training, 40 pages of "action" and then it ends. There. Beat that synopsis.

What it has going for it
All I can say for this one was I get it. I can see why so many people like it. I got the symbolism. I get that the world building was "cool". Innovative, before it's time. Blah, blah blah.

What's lacking
This is the shortest review I've ever written on this blog. I wasted days forcing my way through the boredom that was this book; I'm not going to waste even more time writing about it. It was like a playing a really boring video game...no, it was like watching someone else play a really boring video game. 280 pages of nothing happening? I just don't have time for that anymore. Sorry.

Favorite moment
I actually was shocked at one point and considering I usually had a glazed expression on while reading, that's something.

Yea or Nay?
Apparently this is one beloved book so don't take my word for it. You might really like it.

Author Interview!

Hey, guys! Today in honor of Utah Book Month I have the great pleasure to interview author Becca Wilhite. I'm so excited because I loved both her books. Thank goodness, right? ;) I tease, I tease! Becca is the author of Bright Blue Miracle and My Ridiculous Romantic Obsessions which I reviewed just last week here.
Now on to the interview, shall we?

I have to ask. What are some of your favorite books?
 I am a compulsive re-reader. If I love a book, I'll read it over and over. This year's favorite is, hands down, John Green's "THE FAULT IN OUR STARS" which I've already read twice in six months and talked about obsessively. It's gorgeous. Every sentence I read makes me (think I'm getting) smarter. I breathe in his words and live in envy of his brilliance. And his humor. And the romance, the pathos, the tragedy. (Are you convinced that you should try it?) Other books I've read till pages fell out and I had to buy new copies? "THE BOOK THIEF," "THE POISONWOOD BIBLE," "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE," "PEACE LIKE A RIVER," "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD," and "LES MISERABLES."


I was very excited to discover that My Ridiculous Romantic Obsessions was about a college student, not a high school student. It's hard to find books with college aged characters. Was there a reason you chose to make Sarah older?
I wanted to write something for the kid I once was - the girl ready to move toward the next step. In this case, college. I had heard about "new adult" books (not much since I wrote this one, though) -- books aimed at the age group between YA and adult fiction. I love that age. I loved being that age. But I remember (all too well) the angst of insecurity. (Incidentally, editors apparently say there's not a market for this age group. They may be right, but I'm not sorry to have put Sarah and Ben in college.)

I really love the covers of your books! I know authors don't often have a say on what their covers look like. Did you? And what do you think of the covers?
I cried when I saw them. Tears of worry. I got over it, both times. :) With "Bright Blue Miracle" I wondered who would ever pick up a book with feet on the cover. I mean, FEET? Come on. But I did get over it before too long. About the time I bought all the blue OPI nail polish I could find.

And with MRRO, I gasped at that beautiful, thin, long-necked redhead. In my head, Sarah is ... rounder. A lot. And she has wicked black curls. But then this willowy Sarah started to grow on me. So even though I'm not actually a fan of humans on covers, I have come to love it. Both of them.

I didn't have any say in the covers, but the publisher did send me digital mock-ups a few months before the books were printed. It was perfect -- just enough time for me to learn to LOVE them. :)

When you're not writing what else do you enjoy doing?
I have a really great husband. And 4 kids. So I do a whole lot of family-ness. I have a part-time job. I teach writing classes. I love to cook. And eat. And read books. I take walks and mow the lawn and clean a fishbowl (because I don't do furry pets. Or furry-green glass fishbowls.)

What's next? Are you working on anything new?
I signed with an agent (Meredith Kaffel with DeFiore & Co) this spring. She's terrific. She's very editorial, and is holding my hand through a rash of revisions. Hopefully I'll be ready to submit this YA fantasy masterpiece this fall. :) (I'll let you know.)

Thank you so much, Becca. I'm so excited to hear more about this new book coming out. 

My Ridiculous, Romantic Obsessions

Sarah Howard's first year at the university is everything and nothing she expected especially when a very cute boy named Ben in her Art History class starts to show interest in her.

Sarah feels like she's an average, normal, everyday girl. So, when Ben (to whom she secretly refers as Adonis because she thinks he could be a Greek god) begins to take interest in her, Sarah is in denial. For one thing, last year she was deeply crushed and humiliated by Jesse James a guy who she thought liked her.

She's determined not to get burned again. But in her heart of hearts, what she really wants is a Jane Austen kind of romance. Ridiculous, right? That kind of romance doesn t exist anymore . . . or does it? Sarah is smart and fun to be around and even pretty, despite her Medusa-like red curls. She even plays the guitar. (So does Ben!) Yes, Sarah is everything Ben has wanted. He's crazy for her, but Sarah is just not getting it. She's playing hard to get, and if she s not careful, she s going to lose a real hot gentleman -- her 21st-century Mr. Darcy. (From Goodreads)

Bright Blue Miracle

Seventeen-year-old Leigh Mason is not sure she's ready to share her mom, her bedroom, and her little sisters with her new stepsister, Betsy. And she's definitely not ready to share her best friend, who happens to be a boy! Coping with a blended family is not easy for either Leigh or Betsy, especially during their senior year in high school. Each step brings them nearer to a crisis that will either send them running in different directions or bind them firmly together (which, let's face it, would take a miracle).Bright Blue Miracle is a new young adult novel that has everything a girl wants: a hero (more specifically, a really cute boy), a villain (who happens to be a stepsister), comedy, despair, pedicures, ice cream, love, hate, tennis, revenge, and, of course, a couple of surprises that might send you for some tissues. (From Goodreads)

Blogger Interview!

Hey, everyone! As part of Utah Book Month we Utah bloggers got the opportunity to interview each other. It's been quite fun as both my interviewer and interviewee were both strangers to me. So I got to meet two new bloggers from my very own state. Fun, huh? Anywho, I was interviewed by Krista at Cubicle Blindness (in case you missed it) and today I get to interview Shanda from LDS Women's Book Review! Enjoy.

Hey, Shanda Welcome to my blog! Let's get started, shall we?

Hi! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a wife, mother of four children (3 daughters, 1 son), and lover of good books.

I have always loved to read. My mom told me I was reading the TV Guide before I started kindergarten. The first “grown-up” book I read was Shadow’s Song by Dorothy Keddington. My best friend, Hillary, loaned me her mother’s copy in junior high. I loved it, reading the rest of Dorothy Keddington’s books shortly after. I was hooked on the “good story.” I’ve spent the last 15+ years looking for and finding it. I love fiction, especially stories that are so well written you can’t stop thinking about the characters as if they were real people you know. It helps if there’s a good romance, too.

I also enjoy scrapbooking, photography, movies, walking, being in the mountains, crocheting, instrumental music (especially Celtic music) and dark mint chocolate. Happy reading.

How long have you been blogging and why did you start?

I actually started reviewing books and interviewing authors on the LDS Women's Book Review podcast before starting the blog. We've been podcasting for 6 1/2 years so the LDSWBR blog is just a little younger than the podcast.

I founded LDS Women's Book Review because I had started reading again (my kids were getting older and less demanding) and I had no one to talk to about the books I was reading. My hubby told me about podcasts and I knew what I wanted to do. What started as three women talking about books on a podcast turned into author interviews and book reviews promoting good clean reads and a lot of local and LDS authors. I love it!

What has been your favorite or most memorable moment blogging?
Oh, wow. It's hard to choose just one.

LDSWBR has been able to present a Whitney Award each year for the last four years and that is a huge honor for us. Rob Wells was the first author we ever interviewed on the blog, and now that he has been published nationally with VARIANT it's nice to have that claim to fame. And James Dashner has been to my house. We podcasted with James Dashner and J. Scott Savage while James was working on Maze Runner and now both are national authors.

The best part of what we do is watching all of the local authors we have interviewed and met over the years find success after all of their hard work. We love to promote and support local authors.

What else do you do besides read and blog? Other hobbies, etc.
Is there anything else besides reading and blogging? Just kidding. :)

I like photography and scrapbooking, but can't tell you the last time I finished a scrapbook layout. I have been known to crochet on occasion. I've recently started writing, but I'm not sure how that will end up. Taking the kids to the park to play volleyball, baseball, frisbee, etc, and snuggling on the couch with my hubby is how I've spent most of my not-reading-or-blogging time lately. Thinking about this question has made me realize how boring I am. :)


What's been your favorite read of 2012? And why?
I had to cheat and go look on Goodreads to remember the 70+ books I've read so far this year. If I could only pick one, it would be I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells. I loved I Am Not a Serial Killer and Mr. Monster, and IDWTKY was the perfect wrap up to this fascinating, brilliant series. I did not expect to cry, but cry I did. On a side note, Dan Well's Night of Blacker Darkness is hilarious and I highly recommend it. I laughed out loud so many times my hubby didn't know whether to be annoyed or jealous.

 If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why?
IRELAND. I really don't like flying but I would get on a plane to go to Ireland. (Valium, anyone?) I love the countryside, the culture, the history, the castles, the music, the people, the accent. Not sure about the food. My ancestry says I am mostly German but that drop of Irish in my blood overtakes everything else. My two littlest are redheads and the youngest, my 3 year-old daughter, has naturally curly red hair. They even have Irish names that I chose before I ever knew they would be redheads. So, yeah, Ireland.

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Thank you, Shanda. I love your answers! I too love Dan Wells' books. I've yet to read Night Of Blacker Darkness because it's only on audio book right now but soon I'll get my hands on it. I also loved learning I wasn't the only one with an obsession with Ireland. I really want to go there too. I have a strong Irish streak in my blood and a strong English streak too. You can imagine the confusion that causes. ;) We seem to have a lot in common. It's been fun getting to know you better. 

Did You Know?

What with the new job and very little time to blog let alone read, I won't be doing a whole lot of posts this month in celebration of Utah Book Month. I'm not doing any mini challenges, I don't have time to read more than a few books but I'm trying, people, I really am. Anywho, I did want to do this post, though.  I thought I'd share some books you might now know were written by Utah authors. A sort of, did you know thing. ;)

And that's just the tip of the iceberg! You can check out a much more extensive list here. And technically Dan Wells, Orson Scott Card, and Kiersten White don't live in Utah any more but I still claim them. ;) Did you know these books were written by Utah authors? Pretty cool, huh? I feel very honored to live in the same state as so many awesome people.