Bridal Title #4: '51 Ways to Save Money and Still Have a Chic and Fabulous Wedding!' by Laura Pepper

Official Summary:

There are plenty of ways to save money on your wedding day. But chic and tasteful ones? '51 Ways to Save Money and Still Have a Chic and Fabulous Wedding!' introduces these to you in this entertaining how-to guide. There's nothing tacky or distasteful here: just good old fashioned money saving tricks that you might not have thought of before. You'll save the price of this book, plus much much more! If you want a chic and fabulous wedding, and still enter marriage with enough money to enjoy newly wed life, then this guide is for you!

Review:

When I downloaded this title the last thing I felt like I needed to do was check the page count, but at $2.99 for a forty-two page book - that with all the extra tall "section headers" and double spacing it end up being less than 20 pages of actual information - I couldn't help but feel ripped off. But that's both a blessing and a curse in this particular instance.

On one hand the it would have been nice to have the longer, more in-depth explanations of her money saving tips. Things like "23. Serve Wedding Cake as Dessert. ‘Cos who really needs two desserts anyway?" were as curtly delivered as they were offensive in their numb obviousness. While we're on the topic of Laura's tips, most of them fall into the category of 'DUH' teetering on the edge of 'WTF?'. Nothing struck me as being chic and/or fabulous and every last one of them could have been copied directly out of any wedding forum anywhere on the internet. But don't just take my word on it, go take a quick spin on Google and search 'Wedding Money Saving Tips', and if you don't find an army of people suggesting you hold your big day in a friend or family members back yard, making your own flower arrangement, having your wedding on an off day (or season), avoiding any holidays or borrowing, begging and stealing anything and everything you can possibly get your hands on than I'll eat my hat.. well, A hat anyway. And at the end of the day I guarantee that the advise you get from that one quick web search will be more thoughtful and useful than the quick one- to two-paragraph quips that Pepper gives in this guide.

On the other hand, at least the title only took about 15 minutes of my time to read - so not the worst experience I guess.

Bottom Line: A rip off of epic proportions that says absolutely nothing insightful about how you can save money on your big day. Do yourself a favor and keep to the forums and the $2.99.

'Once Upon a Guest Post' a Guest Post by Jordan Link

Hey, I’m Jordan, and my debut novel, The Sacrificed, is being released on May 6^th with Entranced Publishing. With that said, I’m flattered to be on such a popular review blog!

Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, I found myself dreaming. But replace those elegant gowns with sweatshirts, those arching rainbows with deep gray skies, and you have reality. Of course, I’m not one to dwell on the real world. I have never been, and I never will be.

A few years ago, I found retreat in novels. It didn’t take long for me to discover their magic, especially the magic of fantasy and science fiction. Embodying their brittle pages were places: places where I could go when the comfort of friends was nowhere to be found. My imagination expanded like a wildfire. My own dreams were trapped doves, eager to escape their temporary cages. Friends were no longer a must. There were bounties of characters that could tear at my heartstrings, could make me despise them with every grain of my being. A character, no matter how cruel, would never tell me to close the book and leave.

When I first came up with the idea for my manuscript, which would eventually reach that final rung so many authors aspire for, it was not a fairy tale. It was a dark, romantic tale of rebellion, starvation, and the divisions of a society that would never exist unless I wrote it there myself.

The result was the City of Centsia, the homeland of 16-year-old Emerald Hayden and her winged counterpart, Dusk. Though at first its surface appears to be glittering and pristine, like Snow White’s poisoned apple, it doesn’t take long for worms of the city’s corruption to chew through to the surface.

In the end, a real world Cinderella got everything she could ever wish for: a published novel, a glut of trustworthy friends, and another blank Microsoft Word document just waiting for the next enchantment of her fingertips.

Thank you for stopping by Jordan & best of luck with the upcoming release!

More about Jordan Link: 

Jordan Link is currently contracted with Entranced Publishing for her novel "The Sacrificed", which will be released on May 6, 2013. She won first place in Jack L. Chalker's Young Writers Contest of 2012 for her short story “The Bubble”, and attended Balticon 46 last year. She earned an honorable mention on December 3rd for the Young Voices Foundation Short Story Contest and will be published in their anthology "Oh, the Stories They Tell!" which will be available on Amazon. Her early love of reading inspired an equivalent passion towards writing, and she plans to continue doing so.

Jordan can be found at the following internet watering holes: Facebook, the Twitersphere, her blog & good ol' Goodread  

And don't forget to follow @TheJessle or subscribe to TTP to make sure you don't miss tomorrow's bridal title train wreck! 

Cover Reveal: 'Sleeper' by S.M. Johnston

Today we've got something pretty awesome for you: the never before seen cover to S.M. Johnston's 'Sleeper' (Book I in the Toy Soldier Series).

Not too shabby, right?

More importantly, the story behind the cover sounds intriguing and has already been added to my (ever growing) TBR pile.. too bad it isn't released until December 2nd of this year! 

After a life saving heart transplant, eighteen-year-old Mishca Richardson is plagued by nightmares and an urgent desire to find her birth parents, which she puts down to post-operation depression. But her new heart seems to bring more than a second chance at life in the form of speed, strength and love at first sight.

Now if you aren't familiar with S.M. Johnston here's a little about her:

Sharon is a writer from Mackay in Queensland, Australia who has short stories published in anthologies and was also runner-up in the Australian Literary Review's Young Adult short story contest with KARMA. By day she is a public relations executive and by night she writes weird fiction and soulful contemporaries while her husband, two sons and cat are fast asleep.

And if you'd like to find out more about the title and author - well I've gotcha covered there too. Jump to her Facebook page or follow on Twitter @S_M_Johnston. Once you've done that, check out her website or swing over and see what happening on her blog.

Oh and don't forget to follow @TheJessle or subscribe to TTP to make sure you don't miss tomorrow's guest post from Jordan Link, author of 'Sacrificed'!

April Postmortem Plus May Prologue

With only five posts in April, well, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry might be a good start but I won't sugar coat the truth or try to feed you a line of crude either. I selfishly spent the month catching up on things like Dresden, and rereading parts of the Southern Vampire Mysteries in preparation for the release of the final book on Tuesday.*

Heck, I even read a wedding title, but was so underwhelmed that I didn't bother getting around to putting up a review. Don't worry though, I will... mainly because I don't want anyone else wasting their hard earned dollars on that garbage.(If you haven't guessed, it's going into the DNR bin for sure.)

So, that leaves me with the outstanding question of what am I actually going to get reviewed this month:

• 'Dead Ever After' by Charlaine Harris. This will most likely be the first, proper review that goes up in May. (Aside from the catch-up post for the terrible waste of e-ink bridal title that's going up)
• The entire 'Into the Dark' series by Milly Silver will be going up as well. And I'm super excited about it to boot - so major plus there.
• Lastly, I'll be grabbing a title off the top of the TBR pile by the name of 'The Misremembered Man' by Christina McKenna. The title alone has me intrigued - so it jumps the line.

You'll also want to keep an eye towards TTP for 'Sleeper' by SM Johnston cover reveal tomorrow. Oh, and this month's bridal title? After the last catastrophe, I'm reaching for the well regarded 'The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day' by  Lisbeth Levine & Mindy Weiss. 

*And yes, I've come across the ending spoilers that lay rampant across the landscape. And yes, I'm upset. But in preparation I'm taking a few days off from work so I can have a proper cry and get on with my new, Viking-less universe.

'Love at Absolute Zero' by Christopher Meeks

 Official Summary:
...[A] comic romance about Gunnar Gunderson, a 32-year-old star physicist at the University of Wisconsin who's determined to meet his soul mate within three days using the Scientific Method. As he channels his inner salmon for speed dating, he accidentally steps on the toes of a visiting Danish schoolteacher--and his life turns upside down.


Review:
In an effort to be as thorough with my exploration of the romance genre as possible, I decided that the last book I'd subject myself to peruse would have a male author. It seemed only fair, really, ...even a tad bit scientific. So after a quick spin through some Goodreads recommendations I landed firmly on 'Love at Absolute Zero' by Christopher Meeks, a title where the scientific method is called out by name in the synopsis. The premise seemed lighthearted enough, promising a splash of comedy and the plot seemed to consist of more than "girl meets boy and girl drops panties." To say the very least, it appealed to my substance-demanding side, and apropos given the summary, so I gave it a whirl.

So what were my findings? Well, some of you may be a sight bit disappointed to learn that it hasn't managed to make a romance genre convert out of me but it did help to reinforce a very important lesson, a lesson that's taken a few titles to truly solidify: Not all romance novels are bad. The trip through "Romance Land" also helped me to identify a couple of titles, and authors that I may actually seek out in the future.

But enough about the genre as a whole and more about this work by Meeks, eh? It's a solidly written work that kept my interest up until the very end, rooting for Gunnar and his mission to find a soul mate from right around page one. And let's just say that while focus of the story does eventually stray from this ludicrous three-day soul mate discovery, it shifts to a much realer, soul searching exploration that still managed to keep me chuckling. It has a diverse cast of supporting characters that never feel superfluous to the plot and a wonderful sense of place and honesty that I haven't come across particularly often.

Bottom Line: If you're a fan of books like 'Flat-Out Love' by Jessica Park this one will resonate with you. With it's offbeat sense of humor and brutally honest depictions of the kinds of people that can make up a life, it's well worth the time spent. If, however, you're more of a "girl meets boy and girl drops panties" kind of reader, well, it's probably not your cup of tea.

'The Wild Ones' by M. Leighton

Official Summary:
The darling daughter of a champion Thoroughbred breeder, Camille “Cami” Hines has a pedigree that rivals some of her father’s best horses. Other than feeling a little suffocated at times, Cami thought she was happy with her boyfriend, her life and her future—until she met Patrick Henley.  “Trick” blurs the lines between what Cami wants and what is expected of her—and he just happens to be so sexy she can’t keep her hands off him. While they both know that Trick would lose his much needed job on the ranch if anyone finds out, they can’t resist the lure of their scorchingly hot encounters. But when Trick stumbles upon a note from his father, it triggers a series of revelations that could ruin what he and Cami have worked so hard to overcome. It turns out there’s more to Trick’s presence at the ranch than either of them knew, and secrets with the power to tear them apart…  


Review:
Author M. Leighton comes up as a recommended writer fairly often in the reading circles I frequent. I even reviewed Madly, another title of her's, here on TTP a number of months ago. That title was actually pretty good (if anything it was too short), and even though I've never had the chance to read further in the series it's something I do plan on getting to when I have a slightly shorter stack on the TBR pile.*

That said, The Wild Ones didn't leave me inspired to read any more of this series. You see, this book was filled with characters that I just wanted to throttle for their lack of courage, commitment or general intelligence - Cami in particular needed a big slap in the face for being an indecisive, cheating idiot who calls her father 'Daddy' (gag). A weak female character that let's him, and for that matter every other man in her life, make all the decisions for her. Let's put it this way - if she were a real person I'd get annoyed just talking to her for five minutes at a bus stop. Trick on the other hand was only slightly less obnoxious - at least he has goals and seems to have some level of morals (that he's constantly breaking with just about every interaction he has with Cami) even if he's basically thrown out his initial goal of completing vet school by the end of the novel.

Bottom Line: Why are books like this so popular? I guess if all you're looking for in your next read is a trite and contrived love story than go ahead and pick this one up. If you're more like me, and you like the characters in the books you read to grow and have bigger obstacles than a girl caught in the throws of a "but my Daddy doesn't like him as much as this other guy" whinefest, than don't go near it with a ten foot pole. 

*Not that it ever manages to shrink to anything smaller than sky scraper proportions...  and with a re-reading of the Southern Vampire novels first and foremost on my mind in prep for the final book coming out in less than a month (sqeeee!) it's probably not happening for awhile yet - but I will get there. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Guest Post : SYTTENDE MAI - by St. Bende & Part of the 'Elsker' Blog Tour!

Hei hei.  I’m ST Bende, and I enjoy baking, skiing, watching IndyCar races, and all things Scandinavian (but not fish).  I love writing about Norse mythology, and my debut series, THE ELSKER SAGA, has just released from Entranced Publishing.  It’s great to meet you!

Since ELSKER’s release coincides with Syttende Mai, Norway’s independence day, I thought I’d share one of my favorite Scandinavian celebrations.  On May 17^th, Norwegians get together to celebrate their country’s independence.  Those lucky enough to have bunads -- traditional outfits distinguished by region, and passed down from generation to generation -- wear them proudly.  My favorite is the bunad of Trondheim, with its pale blue and silver fabrics and red accents.  *sigh* 

If you happened to be in Norway in May, you’d find children’s parades, with cherubic celebrants proudly waving their flags.  And in communities across the world, those of Nordic descent get together to honor their heritage.  I’ve gone to several celebrations, some more structured than others, but my favorite is an informal event held on a field.  Friends of Norway gather, some in their beautiful bunads and others in picnic-attire, all with flags in hand and Ja Vi Elsker (the Norwegian national anthem) on their lips.  After a blessing, revelers queue up behind a local high school band and march around the field three times.  The parade has no spectators since everyone’s marching together, waving flags, telling stories and laughing.  Those with extra energy go for a fourth lap.  Afterward, everyone enjoys hamburgers and Norwegian waffles (so, so good), handmade crafts and the three-legged race.  It’s simple, joyful, and absolutely perfect.

I always mark Syttende Mai with a fresh batch of Norwegian waffles.  They’re the perfect blend of sweet and savory, the ultimate comfort food.  I’ve served them to everyone from toddlers to great-grandparents, and they’ve always been a hit.  Waffles even play a bit role in ELSKER, so I included my favorite Norsk waffle recipe on the last page of the manuscript.  I wasn’t sure if it would make the final cut -- who puts a recipe in their novel? -- but my editor kept it in.  *Thank you, Eden Plantz!*  Hopefully you’ll love it every bit as much as I do.  Oh -- if you’re feeling rebellious, try using Nutella instead of a tart jam.  It’s not traditional, but boy, howdy is it delicious.

THE ELSKER SAGA is available now from Entranced Publishing.  

TUR, the prequel, can be downloaded for free at http://www.entrancedpublishing.com/imprints-2/blush/elsker/

ELSKER, Book 1, is available from Entranced, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Find ST Bende on Twitter, or at http://stbende.blogspot.com/

Author Bio:

Before finding domestic bliss in suburbia, ST Bende lived in Manhattan Beach (became overly fond of Peet’s Coffee) and Europe… where she became overly fond of the musical Cats.  Her love of Scandinavian culture and a very patient Norwegian teacher inspired The Elsker Saga.  She hopes her characters make you smile and that one day pastries will be considered a health food.