Must Love Mistletoe by Christie Ridgway

 What does a person do that hates Christmas and is constantly reminded of the holiday day after day due to their own name being Bailey Sullivan? Why you go to your hometown and help out your mom during the holiday rush due to family issues.

Bailey has agreed to come home and help her mom run the Christmas shop that has been in their family for generations and is a landmark in the town. Her mom and stepdad are going through a rough patch and neither one wants to be in the store at the same time for fear of seeing each other so Bailey, being the good daughter that she is, agrees to come home for a couple of weeks to help out until Christmas day and then she was leaving.

While there she runs into her old flame from high school, Finn and the memories come racing back. She isn't sure she is ready to see Finn and finally tell him the reason she left him all those years ago.

Finn in the past ten years has made some major changes and Bailey is not sure who the new Finn is and if there is still anything left of what she remembered from her past.  Finn has come home on a leave of absence from his job to take care of his grandmother and he and Bailey meet up again after ten years and he has some questions for her and he is not sure if he wants to hear the answers or not.

This is a wonderful book and I loved the story line of how Bailey and Finn meet once again and maybe will get the answers they need. The next in the Holiday Duet series Is Not Another New Years and I can't wait to read this one.

At Hell's Gate Volume 1

At Hell's Gate, Volume 1, is a collection of short stories by various authors who all write about what happens when Zombies have risen and taken over. All the stories are based on the zombies having arrived and terrorizing ordinary citizens.

Each author has written a different zombie story and how the humans handle the invasion of the zombies and how they survive. Each story is very unique and tells the story of how humans handle the zombie apocalypse and whether they would survive or be turned into zombies and start attacking their friends and family.

All proceeds from this anthology go directly to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund which is set up to help take care of injured soldiers and their families. They also help families of deceased military members. The book is available in ebook and now in print.

Please help a great cause and read some interesting stories of what happens when the zombies finally arrive.  Beware of the zombies and take notes of how to survive the arrival of the undead.

Lady Triumphs-The final book of the Black Rose Trilogy

Renee's final story has been told. Lady  Triumphs is the third book in the Black Rose Trilogy. We finally get the answers we have been waiting for with anticipated breath and find out if Geoffrey, Lord Trent finally gets the just desserts he deserves. Does Raven, a.k.a. Lady Serena Welcott, finally win? Will Serena and Phillip finally put the past behind them and get together and live happily ever after? And we are introduced to a new character, Adam, Trent's nephew.

When Adam arrives there is another plot to the story of will Serena stay with Phillip or will her heart lead her to Adam even though he is related to Trent, her arch nemesis.  It was as always a wonderful read and kept me wanting to turn page after page to find out what would happen. Now I want to go back and re-read the entire trilogy together for a wonderful adventure again. For those of you who hate waiting for the next installment, like me and bite their nails waiting for the next piece of the puzzle, you can purchase the Black Rose Trilogy as a boxed set on Amazon.

I would love to see another story come out of this and see what other adventures Serena and Phillip get into and I would like to see Adam get his own story also. He deserves and I loved what happened to Geoffrey it was a fitting end to his campaign against Serena.

Mark-The Callahan Brothers

Welcome back to Brazos Bend, Texas. The Callahan brothers are up to mischief again. This time it's Mark. He's on a rescue mission with his brothers when he meets up with his past. His wife, Annabelle, is also on a rescue mission of a different kind and when they meet up the sparks fly. He's trying to rescue a friend of the family's daughter and she is trying to rescue another girl who is being held against her will. While they are trying to figure out the best way to rescue each of the girls another figure from Mark's past arrives and he is in a conundrum of how to get out there alive and fulfill his promise.

Annabelle ends up being his help in distracting the enemy so he can get his friend's daughter out safely and let's his brothers create a distraction to keep everyone occupied. They both make it out alive and Mark is not sure how to handle the appearance of his wife.

Someone from their past is killing people who were connected to them through a group they worked in and so Mark and Annabelle have to team up once again to solve who the murderer is and why they are killing off their former colleagues.  While they are trying to find the murderer Mark has to come to grips with his past and overcome his fears and make peace with his past in order to have a future with or without Annabelle.

I can't believe I hadn't read Emily's books before and now I'm glad to have had the chance to read her first in the Callahan brothers series which was Luke and now I have read Mark and loved it so I need to go back and order Matt and find out what kind of trouble he gets into.

I had a hard time putting this down and kept turning page after page wondering what was going to happen next and would Annabelle ever forgive him?

I can't wait to see what Emily's newest series will be like. I am sure it will be just as amazing as the Brazos Bend series and I can't wait to get started on a new series and dive into a new adventure. I highly recommend picking up Emily's books. I need to great a to be read pile of her books and find the time to read them all.

Unique: A New Breed

Unique: A New Breed
A Traversing Eternity Novel by Reyna Pryde.


After five years of being held in a horrific prison by an age old vampire name Meiji, Jessica is freed and becomes Jessica no more. From the time she is rescued by an unknown person she becomes Unique and heals and becomes trained in the art of Kenjustsu, Japanese sword techniques, and lives up to her name.  After being rescued and trained she sets out on her own to hunt vampires and kill them. She is on a mission to find the one who tortured for all those years and threatened her family.



While fighting and killing vampires she meets Nitten, an age old vampire himself, who has been sent to find her. Nitten has been sent by Lilith, the mother of all, to talk to Unique about helping her take care of Meiji once and for all. At first Unique is ready to kill Nitten when she realizes he is a vampire but as time goes on she realizes he is not who she thought he was and reluctantly agrees to help Lilith.

After she agrees to help Lilith, Nitten takes Unique to his home and trains her on how to fight vampires the right way and the both learn new things about each other. Before she left she had seen her friend Alix and he thought she was in trouble and attacks Nitten but Nitten is okay and Alix finally finds Unique and can't believe his eyes when he sees Nitten and Unique together and then realizes how they feel about each other even if they don't. Later  Alix gets hurt and Unique takes the blame for his being hurt so she hunts down those who took him. She believes him to be dead but she isn't sure.

The story is well written and I loved just like I loved her other book, Bound by Sacrifice. My only complaint is when is the next installment????????????????????????????????????????? I want to know if Alix is indeed alive and does she finally get Meiji?  I give this book a definite 5 out of 5 stars and it kept my interest from beginning to end and I was like oh no not funny leaving us hanging like that but then again I understand because now I want to go and find the next one.

Alamo City Comic Con 2014

Although this is not a book review in a way it is about books. Where would we get our wonderful ideas for iconic characters if for not the written word. I had a wonderful time at Alamo City Comic Con in San Antonio, Texas this year and so I thought I would give you guys a glimpse into my wonderful adventure to ACCC. This was my first year going and this was their second year of putting the show and they did a wonderful job and I can't wait to see who might be on the line up next year. I mean it's hard to top Stan Lee if you are any type of comic fan but to me the highlight was Robert Englund, Mr. Freddy Kruger, himself and Andrew McCarty, one of the many crushes I had in high school but the one that stayed the longest and is considered Future Husband #1.

My adventure to San Antonio begins with a bang. Never fails that I have an adventure every time I head to the wonderful city of San Antonio. As usual I make plans to leave at a certain time to get to the event and not miss anything but it never fails I fall behind.

I got up that Friday morning and got all my little things done like packing, one more load of laundry, fed the dogs, let Mikie out for the 150th time, let Bandit out front for his morning walk by himself and get everything done and car packed and head into town for the last minute errands I had to do that day.

I got into town and got my errands done and the car gassed up and met my friend for lunch, who was supposed to go with me but couldn't at the last minute. I finally get ready to leave and it's 2 p.m. and Robert is supposed to be starting autographs at 3 p.m. so I am hoping I make it in time.

I get to San Antonio at 3 p.m. and thought of going straight to hotel to check in but change my mind and head over to the Henry B. Gonzales Center where the convention is being held. I get near the convention center and my boss texts me that Robert's plane is late so they are going straight to panel at 4 p.m. and then do autographs afterwards. I am like okay dodged a bullet there but it took me fifteen minutes to find a parking space after circling the block looking for parking spaces outside of the garages but no such luck so I go into one of the parking garages and get in.

I make my way across the parking garage and out on to the street where I have to cross and then go through a hotel lobby just to go across the street again to get to the convention center. As I stand there waiting for the light to change I can feel my heart start to race with excitement of all the stars I am about to see and maybe talk to and get an autograph. I make my way through the maze of people who are going inside either dressed to the nines as a character or just regular joes like me. I make my way into the ticket line and get my pass for the day. I text my boss and let him know I finally made it in and he lets me know they have gone to the panel and so I make my way back over to the Lila Cockrell Center for the Nightmare on Elm Street panel and finally catch up with my boss. They are getting on an elevator with another couple who also have a small child and a stroller so we make a trip up to the third floor thinking the panel is in there and nothing so we go back down to the second floor and still nothing. So we head back to the first floor where we came in and low and behold the doors are open for the panel and we can hear the music. So we all make our way into the doors and down to seats and sit and wait in anticipation of getting to see the great Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp and Amanda Wyss.

We get settled in and my boss and his wife and little girl are on one side of me and the other couple is on the other side since they both have strollers. While we are waiting for the panel to start the two little ones start talking to each other in their own language that babies understand and then the moderator walks in and we all get excited. Yeah, we finally get to hear Robert Englund and the rest of the panel. Too bad Johnny Depp wasn't there because he was in the first movie and got killed by Freddy, (Need to re-watch that one again).   We had a wonderful time listening to them all and listening to the questions that were asked and after about a half an hour later we make our way back over to where the convention is being held.  As we are walking back over to the convention center where hear someone we thought was imitating Freddy's voice saying, "Finish the damn film." We just laughed it off thinking it was someone being funny but when I turned around it was Robert Englund and he was walking in the crowd with all of us making his way back over to the signing booths. He had his entourage with him and I was inches from him in the crowd. My boss was like, "Touch him." and I was like, "No way I don't want to end up in jail." He threatened to push me into Robert but he didn't. Before getting in line I had to make a detour  and so my boss and his family headed on over to get in line. I wasn't too far behind him and so we had a long wait ahead of us.

After three hours of waiting, yes three hours, we finally made our way up to the line for Robert. There were actually two lines since there were so many people there to see him. In the time that I was waiting I saw the Walking Dead Group but only Scott Wilson, Hershel, was there so I ran over and got his autograph for my son, Dominic and while I was waiting to get his autograph I kept my eye on the line so I didn't miss out on getting moved over to the new one. While I am standing there waiting to get Scott's autograph I feel someone walk behind me and as I turned to my right I see Future Hubby #1 pass by me and I nearly fainted. That would have been pretty funny to see but I was like so close to him to touch and I didn't.  So much closeness to celebrities I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

When we make it to the final line of Robert's autograph section I can see Andrew McCarthy's table and I can see Johnathan Silverman and Terry Kiser and John Kassir , the Crypt Keeper, and I am like okay I can make a bee line to Andrew's table and get an autograph and then head back to Freddy's but the line wasn't getting much shorter for Andrew and I just decided to wait it out. I did try to get a picture of Andrew when he walked past again but it didn't take. So when I was able to step out of line for a second I ran over to Andrew's table and asked if he was coming back and his assistant said no he was gone for the night. I was hurt and I was like okay, try tomorrow since I had a way in the next day. Finally about 7:45 the volunteers came through and said those who had Friday passes go to the line on the left and those who had the VIP, three day passes, to stay in the line on the right and they would get vouchers to get to the front of the line on Saturday to get Robert's autograph since it was getting late and the convention ended at 8 p.m. that night. We made it up to meet Robert and got our DVD collections signed and a picture with Robert. We told him he needed to be a judge on Face Off and he said they had asked and I told him I loved him on Supernatural when he guest starred and he said he would love to go with the boys (Sam and Dean Winchester) to Japan because they love Supernatural over there.

 


I was so psyched to have met him and was walking on cloud nine to my car that night. I made it to the hotel and it was raining so I was glad I didn't leave to check in and then walk back. I tried to sleep that night but was so wound up and finally slept and got up the next morning to head back over to the convention center to try and get to Andrew's line first. When I finally got back to his table he had left for the Weekend at Bernie's panel and would be back at noon to sign autographs so I wandered around the convention center and got pictures of the original batmobile and the Tardis and some cosplay people and others just in costumes. Finally around 11:45 I started making my way back to Andrew's table and stood in line to get his autograph, He hadn't changed a bit except for maybe a little bit of gray in his hair but that was it. I was like I am dreaming, pinch me quick. I can't believe I am about to meet one of my crushes. I head up and pay my money for autographs and get him to sign my Pretty in Pink DVD and thought I only had to pay one price for all autographs but I was wrong and Andrew had already signed a picture for me and he told his assistant that I could have the picture anyway, I was like now this is a reason that I love this man. Then I got my picture with him and swore right then and there I was not washing that shirt. It said Team Blane, he came alone and I wore it specifically to meet him. I made my way out of the line in a daze and wandered over to the other stars and say Anthony Michael Hall from a far and walked over to Camden Toy's booth and said hello when I realized he had played one of the Silent Ones from the Buffy Series. He said give me a hug and I did and I got my picture with him.

 

After making my way through the celebrities I wanted to see I went to some of the booths and got to see some cool stuff, I even had a picture taken with some zombies from the 13th floor who do a haunted house every year and then made my way to the other side where I got a quick picture of George Takei  and saw all the cool things over there and then I headed home after a while.

 I had a great time and want to go again next year if possible.  I can't believe the line up that was there this year. They had Mr. Stan Lee as the guest of honor, and Clark Gregg, from Agents of Shield. I didn't get to see Ernie Hudson, Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales or a lot of the others but it was fun to see who I did and to see how much time some of these people put into their outfits. It was great and I am glad I got to go even if it did rain the entire time I was there at least I was inside and got to experience something amazing. Way to go Alamo City Comic Con. Bring on 2015 and hopefully one day they can convince Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins to come down for a Supernatural panel or even Hugh Jackman for an X men panel.  Johnny Depp would just be the cherry on top.