Review- Real Vampires Don't Sparkle by Amy Facteau

Let me begin by starting very clearly I'm not a professional book reviewer. I happen to like to read and I read all genres. My goal is to read a book a week and thanks to some brain at Amazon, I can now read for free. 

I bet every author who ever slaved over lines of prose is real happy about everyone being able to read for free. I never did understand how giving away books is the way to make money, but it's a different world from my youth. Anyway - let me tell you about this book I read. I got it free off Bookbub. 

Real Vampires Don't Sparkle by Amy Facteau. 

Matheus Taylor didn’t ask to be murdered. To be fair, the percentage of people actually asking to be murdered is probably small enough to be safely ignored, but he felt it was worth stating regardless. His life might have been ordinary, but it was his life and he wasn’t done with it yet.

Quin didn’t care. A seventeen-hundred old Roman, Quintus Livius Saturnius had a different view of morality than most people. Killing Matheus and hijacking his undead existence seemed perfectly acceptable to him.

Now, Matheus spends his nights running for his life, questioning his sexual orientation, and defying a mysterious new threat to the vampires within his city.

Not that he set out to do any defying; he just wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately, that was never going to happen.

I like a good vampire story. This one got off on the right foot with me simply by spelling vampire with an "i" and not a "y".  It opened with Matheus being attacked by the vampire and went on to detail his transformation woes, of which there were many. Matheus tried to be tough, but it was pretty clear he fell in love with his sire. 

Here you'd think the author would roll out the sex, but no. (The book is remarkably lacking in that department for my taste but it kept me reading in hope.) A quirky cast of characters is introduced, the dialogue takes off, and the author builds a grandiose shadow-world right in suburbia's back yard. 

The author is very good with witty, sarcastic dialogue. The first half of the book certainly entertained. But after awhile, Matheus' snark wore a little thin. Railing against that which cannot be changed is immature. I expected him to act that way immediately after the transformation, but he didn't work past it. 

It was also at the halfway point the author got a little "wordy." I was reminded of the Book of Matthew. Matthew's scribe never used ten words when thirty would suffice. The prose could have been shortened, much like this review. 

All in all, a good read that held my attention all the way through. The author might be too wordy which is a shame because all the snark gets in the way. She's got a good vocabulary but the smartass dialogue makes it come across as condescending at times. Teenagers would probably love it. 

My major complaint - the story simply stopped. Boom. Done. I'm on the fence about buying the sequel for fear it, too, will end in the middle of nowhere. 

TW

Retirement come, retirement put on hold

A few years ago I retired from the work force. 

It lasted about two months until my ex-employer called me and begged me to un-retire. (Seems my replacement lied about experience.) I went back with the understanding I'd work two or three days a weeks, and I got to choose the days. 

That lasted about six months and all hell broke loose. Business was booming and I was very reluctantly working full time again. 

Now the wheel has turned and I'm scaling back again. This time, I've agreed to ease into my departure. Beginning in August, I'm on a four-day workweek. As soon as a new hire comes in, it'll be three days a week. Then two. 

And then, please God, may I please actually and permanently enter my post-employment years and become The Lady of the Manor? 

TW

PS. I may even get around to reviewing some of the better books I read. 

So this is what happens when you forget you've got a blog

Yes, I forgot I started a blog. Perhaps it's disappointment with my inability to finalize my retirement. The universe has conspired to keep me working due to its own nefariousness. I'm certainly ready but every time I set a date, people start to weep. 

Other people. Not me. 

So maybe some day I'll actually be able to blog about books, politics and life. SOON. I need it to be SOON.

The Hidden Impact of Obamacare

Anyone with a brain knew this. Read it before the leftist elite takes it down - because it's true. 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hidden-impact-obamacare-economy-103000621.html

Everything you've worked for all your life - you're about to lose it. 
Who has money to buy it?
Folks, it won't be someone born in the United States.

The Hellbound Train

Once again - raise your hand. Who didn't know we're on the Hellbound Train?

Read it quick before the elite press pulls the plug on the page.

http://news.yahoo.com/builders-obamas-health-website-saw-red-flags-070429400.html

Once again - who didn't know this would be the new reality?

At the risk of getting Yahoo all pissed off at me - you know how those left-wingers are - here's a link to an Obamacare story. Hope you can get to it before they pull the plug on the story.

http://news.yahoo.com/1-800-t-o-t-l-f-l-070000807.html

http://news.yahoo.com/1-800-t-o-t-l-f-l-070000807.html

Make sure you read the last paragraphs, kiddies. It sums it up in two words: Obama lied.

And if you think we're not all being watched, you should have been looking over my shoulder as I tried to get that link to actually work.

I've died and gone to hell, right?

I've died and gone to hell, right?

Vladimir Putin has an editorial in the New York Times. (I'll never spend money in the Big Apple again, either, by the way.) I can't read it because I don't have an account, nor will I ever now, but I don't need to read it. Just the mere fact it happened tells me all I need to know.

I would hope the Democrats and other Liberals are smart enough to realize what just happened, but I know they're not.

We just handed the reins of the planet over to the RUSSIANS.

Way to go, Mr. "President." Way to fucking go.

Paula Deen - I''ve got to ask...

.. Does no one appreciate the fact she did NOT lie under oath? 

If this is any kind of a lesson to anyone at all, the lesson is that it's safer to LIE than to be truthful. You bet your ass I'll remember it. I feel sorry for her that:

#1 She grew up in a place and a time it was okay to use words we now consider inappropriate. Too bad her crystal ball didn't show her how the world would change. 

#2 She grew up in a time when privacy was respected and it was acceptable to NOT go on facebook and tell the world the intimate details of your health. Too bad for every one alive there is no value placed on privacy today. 

#3 She now has the option of retiring and spending her days in her garden and taking care of herself. Who in their right mind would want to live like that? 

This is but a little blip in the life of Paula Deen, but it serves as a wake up call to America. 

You must CONFORM OR BE CAST OUT. 

If you have a brain in your head, you'll be frightened of where this society is headed. 

Why is it wrong to teach the Constitution?

With apologies to the AP, I'm stealing a paragraph from this article: AP Exclusive: IRS knew tea party targeted in 2011. Find the whole article at http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-irs-knew-tea-party-targeted-2011-190852283.html


Okay - here's what bugs the fuck out of me and why I have to apologize to the AP. Just read this one:

On Jan, 25, 2012, the criteria for flagging suspect groups was changed to, "political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement," the report says.
The bold and underline are mine.

The IRS flagged groups that provide education on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?

What the fuck?

Being Green, which has nothing to do with being Kermit

This came from a friend this morning. Internet "jokes" don't thrill me much but this one has a message we should stop and think about. Several messages, in fact, says the Lady of the Manor with the plastic water bottle beside her keyboard.  

-------

Being Green

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in our day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.

So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings.  Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person...

 

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off...especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

More gun control won't fix it

I'm a middle class white woman of retirement age.

I'm a law-abiding citizen.

I have no criminal record.

I was the victim of a violent crime involving a handgun in my youth.

I do not support new firearm control measures.

I do not monetarily or politically support the National Rifle Association.

I plan to purchase my first handgun and a permit to carry within the next two weeks, before the right to do so is stripped from me by someone I didn't vote for and who does not represent ME in the state legislature. Call it a form of protest. 

The men in my family have always owned firearms so I grew up around guns. Firearms are not toys and I never misunderstood that they were. The toy pistols my little cowgirl self played with were the only "guns" I played with because never, ever, never did any of the adults in my life leave a gun where I could pick it up and play with it.

When I was about eleven or twelve, I was allowed to accompany the men to target and trap shoot. They taught me my first lesson - NEVER let the barrel of the gun point at anyone. Second lesson - how to make sure the safety was on. As you may imagine, those lessons were taught simultaneously. It was only after I demonstrated I could find the safety on the various firearms they had was I allowed to handle an unloaded handgun. And it was a few target shooting trips later until I was allow to actually point a rifle at anything, and later still until I got one with a cartridge in the chamber.

At the very core of our past, current and future weapons control debate lies the fact no one wants to be responsible for their own actions anymore. No one wants to take the time to teach their children how to be responsible and no one wants to be held accountable when their children do bad things through lack of parental instruction.

The government is not a substitute parent.

The Second Amendment as ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, is worded as follows: A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

I concede the point I'm not part of a militia, but should the need, God forbid, ever arise, I could be. I see in the first half of the Second Amendment a clear call that as an American I should stand ready to defend my home and my freedom at all times because my country has acknowledged the action may be necessary.

And because this action may become necessary no one shall have the right to deny me "arms." Which we all know in the language of those times means firearms.

But back to why I can't support new gun control laws.

Laws are made by and for lawful people. It is the lawful that uphold the law. When I purchase a handgun I expect to fill out multiple forms and jump through multiple hoops. It's annoying, but I'll do it because it's the law. And because I abide by the law, I'll be able to purchase a handgun. 

(Maybe I'll get a surprise and they won't give me a permit, at which time I'll know in my gut America is truly dying and dystopia is closer to reality than I feared possible.)

The checks and balances we have in place are enough to ensure law abiding citizens continue to have the right to bear arms. They are cumbersome and bureaucratic and waste time and money and I think it's been proven they don't stop criminals or someone bent on killing from doing whatever they damn well please whenever they want to do it. More laws will simply impact and infringe on the law-abiding citizen.

Enough, already. Let's live in the real world, stop the political posturing, and fix what really needs fixed - people.

People. The beginning and the end of everything.

People.

Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath

One of the things I wanted to do in my retirement was read more. I've been a little slow getting to that because I've been a little slow getting my retirement. By that I mean I tried to retire but my employer kept calling me, begging me, to please come in for the morning or please come in for the afternoon, or please come in well so-and-so was on vacation. You get the picture. Now I'm finally at a point where I seem to have more days at home than I do filling in. Now I that I finally have time to set aside an afternoon or two a week for reading, I’m loving life. And since I promised myself that I would review some of the books I've read, I’ve found the place to start 2013 - Whiskey Sour by JA Konrath.

Whiskey Sour is book one in a series followed by Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, and Cherry Bomb.  The author has quite a few more books but for right now I'm just want to read the six book series. His author page at the Big A says the books don’t need to be read in order, but I like order. Order is good. I’ll read them in order.

Our lead is homicide detective Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels. She's mid-forties, very average, and believes what she does might just one day make a difference for someone. The character is written as a woman who has embraced her maturity and realizes life isn't a rose garden. She wins some, she loses some, but she keeps right on going and that's one of the things I liked about her. She felt real in a lot of aspects except for how well she threw a punch.

The cast of characters was a bit cliché, but I didn't feel like Konrath pandered to an audience accustomed to bumbling FBI agents and other bureaucrats. Some of the scenes and dialogue were flat-out funny to the point I actually laughed. Konrath is a bit irreverent but I like that.

I didn't want to give away any plot spoilers, but I will say there is a little bit of, well, gore.  It's downright bloody, but I didn't want to put it down but some people get really hung up on that so I thought I'd mention it. Personally, if it fits the story line, much like homicide detective Jack Daniels, I can deal with it. But be warned that the perpetrator is more than a little insane and acts accordingly as he hunts young women. He didn't get nearly the ending he deserved being that it was too quick and he didn't suffer nearly enough. And I know Konrath has the ability to write a really detailed scene so I can only guess he saw those two words writers love - The End - approaching and he got in a hurry.

I wouldn’t call this book a short story but I did devour it in a long afternoon. I couldn't put it down. Between that and the fact that I've already purchased Bloody Mary (book two) and have cleared my calendar for an afternoon to read it is probably the best recommendation I can give Whiskey Sour.

Good book and well worth your time.

I'd have put a picture of the book up here but I don't know Mr. Konrath and didn't know how he'd feel about some amateur swiping his stuff for on her blog.

After the election

With yesterday's election over, I'm left with only four things to be grateful for.

1. Thank God I have access to fresh spring water.

2. Thank God I have a woodstove.

3. Thank God I have enough land upon which to grow a garden.

4. Thank God I have a gun and deer, squirrel, wild turkey and rabbit for meat.

I may buy a pair of goats and some chickens while money is still worth something, too.

Speak its name

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/05/13/Newsweek-Obama-first-gay-prez

This article speaks volumes.

This says it all

This sums up for me the biggest problem in the United States today - PEOPLE and the GIMME attitude.

In fifty years of being in the workforce, I collected one, count 'em - one - week of unemployment benefits. No medical bennies. No free eyeglasses. No free dental work. No grants. No scholarships. No welfare.

I have a mortgage free house. I have a 100% paid for car in top running condition. I have a retirement fund. I have an investment fund. I pay cash for everything.

How did I manage to accomplish these things?  I WORKED a JOB, and not the system.

Don't pat me on the back. I didn't do one damn thing special. I did what every citizen of the United States should do.

I took care of myself. I didn't expect someone else or the government to do it for me.

And I'm a better person for it.

American obituary?

I've read this before in a publication sent out to ministers, and it contains a scary grain of truth. I see this happening around me, and pray I don't live to experience the end of it. - TW

* * *

In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.

A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.

From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through  the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;

  

From spiritual faith to great courage;

  

From courage to liberty;

From liberty to abundance;

  

From abundance to complacency;

  

From complacency to apathy;

From apathy to dependence;

  

From dependence back into bondage."

Personal choices

Those 'pass it on' emails. They keep you informed on what.... on what? I'm not sure. I got one in my email this morning from a close friend. She's a Democrat, but I try not to hold that against her. We rarely discuss politics because the urge to slap.... um....it's better to stay friends with them than point out how stupid they can be.

There's an old joke that's not very funny when you think about it. I'm using the "he" pronoun for readability. Get over it, girls.

A Democrat sees something on television he doesn't like. He calls on the government to pass a law to ban it because, in his opinion, the American people shouldn't see it, hear it, know it, and it's up to the government to tell the people what's best for them.

A Republican sees something on television he doesn't like. He changes the channel.

The point, in case you didn't get it, is about personal choice. 

Roe vs. Wade turns 39 today.

It doesn't matter what you think is right or wrong in someone else's life, only your own.

Try to use your head and think about that for yourself. Don't base your opinions on religious or political rhetoric. Reach down into your gut and imagine the loss of personal choice in the kind of coffee you drink or the kind of car you drive. Imagine your neighbor having the right to dictate to you the color of the flowers you can plant in your garden.

Think.

A $4.1 million vacation??

This is INSANE.

So, just how much will President Barack Obama’s Hawaiian vacation cost this year? That‘s a question that can’t be definitively answered until the costs are in and the trip has concluded, but an assessment of the numbers shows that it will likely be the 44th president’s most expensive vacation to date.

The Hawaii Reporter has estimated that travel, alone, will cost $3,629,622 — a startlingly large figure considering the length of the trip. And, yes, in case you were wondering: Taxpayers will be footing a chunk of the bill. After all, it‘s not cheap to ensure that the world’s most powerful leader is safe as he travels and enjoys time away from the grind..........

Read the rest of the article from The Blaze for a lot more bad news at
http://news.yahoo.com/footing-bill-obama-family-4-million-hawaii-vacation-124806817.html

I get more and more disturbed

Sorry to be engaging in Internet piracy, but this disturbs me greatly.
From the Yahoo network. Check out the article at
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-marginalizes-christmas-christians-173600711.html

Here are other instances that underscore Obama's unwillingness to back Christians:

* On the 10^th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, prayer was banned at the official ceremony to honor the rest of America's dead.

* In Egypt, the army opened fire and armored vehicles plowed through crowds of Coptic Christians who filled the streets in protest of recent attacks on their churches. Dozens were killed. Obama said nothing.

* In northern Nigeria, 150 people were killed in a series of gun and bomb attacks on Saturday. The Islamist Boko Haram sect claimed responsibility. Obama said nothing.

* In 2009 and in 2010, Obama celebrated Hanukkah at the White House.

* This past April, Obama didn't even bother to send out the White House Easter proclamation to the nation, the liberal-loathed Fox News reported. But he did release an eight-paragraph statement heralding Earth Day and statements recognizing the observance of major Muslim holidays on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha.

And from the same article:

Obama hasn't observed the National Day of Prayer once since he became president. But 2012 is an election year, so he will. Bet me.

I'm more and more disturbed.

Steve Bridges as Obama

This is too funny not to share - but there are some very serious undertones, too.

http://www.stevebridges.com/obamavideos-promo-july2010-lg.html