A Christmas Survey

    I found this little survey (via Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf, via Lindsay's Library) and since it's still (technically) Christmas week, I thought, what the hell? People are still pretending Christmas! I apologize for starting with the first two answers; if this was my list, they wouldn't be on here. Just skip to the happier #3 question, if you like.


Favorite Christmas song(s): Honestly? None. Well, that's not exactly true. I can tolerate (note the word tolerate) the classical songs ("Gloria in excelsis Deo", and stuff like that), but not much else. Generally, I'd rather not listen to "Christmas" themed music...by anyone, anywhere, ever! Especially this pissy year, Holly Jolly nonsensical songs just depressed the hell out of me. Ugh. (To hell with you, 2016!)

Favorite Christmas movie(s): Again, not much. Bad Santa comes to mind and there was one Hallmark romance movie (yes, it's true) from ...a few years back, that I enjoyed, but I can't for the life of me tell you the title. I think, after a quick scan through Google, that it was called Christmas with Holly. I wouldn't say either one is my "favorite" but I can watch them. Unless we add Star Wars, since it generally releases in December. Then yes. That. Star Wars. :)


Best and/or most memorable Christmas gift you ever received: My mom found an old pic of my family and framed that. Also, my first word processor,without which...you know I wouldn't have so many books published.

Real tree or artificial tree?: Artificial. I like real, but because of my husband, Allergy Boy, artificial is best.

What tops your tree? Star? Angel? Bow?: An angel that looks like it was made out of stained glass.

Do you send out Christmas cards? Do you go photo card or traditional?:Yes, I do still send them out. And I go traditional.

When did you stop believing in Santa?: I don't remember 2nd? 3rd? Fourth grade?

Do you have any special Christmastime traditions?: I don't turn the Christmas lights on until Solstice.
Do you have a favorite type of decoration -- snowmen, trees, Christmas village, etc.?: My Christmas tree. I tried to do a more Victorian look, except for the lights, of course.

Do you have any sentimental decorations or ornaments?: That angel I mentioned. I inherited it from a friend of ours who passed away quite a while ago.

White lights or colored lights? Big old-fashioned lights or mini lights?: Colored mini-lights.

When do you start decorating for Christmas?: I try to put the tree up within the first weekend or maybe second week of December; any earlier than the that is too early. But like I said, I don't turn the lights on, officially, until Solstice night.  
Favorite Christmas treat: Peppermint coffee creamer. :)

Do you like sugar cookies? Gingerbread cookies?: Yes.

Do you say cocoa or hot chocolate? Do you like your warm chocolate-y beverage with marshmallows? I say Hot Chocolate and sometimes, I like marshmallows. I have to be in the mood, I guess.

What do you eat at your Christmas feast?: We usually do ham of some sort, and black beans and rice, too. But most importantly, I look forward to mom's lasagna. :) The Italian side of me needs it! ;) She usually makes it special for me to bring home.

Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve or do you wait until Christmas morning?: We wait until Christmas morning.

Favorite Christmas-y scent:? Baking cookies.  
If you could ask Santa for any gift this year -- and know that he'd bring it -- what would it be?: Mechanical fingers like Ghost in the Shell so I could type more without the fingers dying. ;)   

Guess what? I didn't get them. *sigh* Oh well. Gotta do this the old fashioned way. ;) Anyway, those are my answers to the survey. Hope those first two answers didn't depress you. Have a good day and New Year!     ***   Juli D. Revezzo is the author of the MOURNING DOVE LOCKET, the latest in the Antique Magic paranormal series, also the Celtic Stewards Chronicles fantasy romance series, as well as the Gothic romance LADY OF THE TAROT. Her books are available at Amazon and elsewhere.   *** header pic: Christmas Notebook.© Frbird | Dreamstime.com/Ghost in the Shell pic Copyright Masamune Shirow and Production IG (I think)

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Top Ten Books With X Setting--fantasy settings I'd love to visit.

A meme by the Broke and the Bookish.



The question for this week (and yes, I realize I'm late!) was your Top Ten Books With X Setting (top ten books set near the beach, top ten book set in boarding school, top ten books set in England, etc) you'd like to visit.

I chose fantasy settings. :)

Temple Dragons, Thailand by Simon/All Free stock photos

My top ten Fantasy settings
(in no particular order, really)

1. Camelot. Come on, think about it. King Arthur, knights. Avalon? Enchanted Wells? King Arthur? Why wouldn't I want to visit (and probably stay in!) Camelot?

2. Michael Moorcock's Melniboné. This is set in the beautiful and corrupt world of Melniboné, and is rife with dragons and sorcerers. who needs more? :) I didn't know it when I first read the books, but now that I look back on it the Dreaming City of Imrryr feels very baroque, to me.

3. The Duke's East, Three Firs and their surrounding counties, from Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Paksenarrion. This series is set in a gritty countryside kingdom. Its landscapes remind me of the rolling farmlands of North Carolina in certain ways.

4. Petaybee from Powers that Be by Anne McCaffrery. This one took place in a futuristic Alaska, but add in beautiful waterfalls and the existence of ...well, no spoilers but "certain creatures" and I'm sold! If its inhabitants could just do something about the incredibly cold weather, I'd be there.

5. The world of Game of Thrones. The landscapes are diverse and vast. I think I'd like to visit the Southern Islands, myself.

6. Neo Seoul from Cloud Atlas. I have to admit, this book is still on my TBR list, but I love the movie. So yes, I'd like to visit Neo Seoul. (not sure you'd be able to get me out on one of those extending walkways the rebels use, however. Eep!

7. Tolkien's Rivendell. The pastoral, peaceful beauty of it, the very artistic houses, wouldn't it be a lovely place to spend a week in. It's relaxing just thinking about it!

8. Tortall. The Medieval-esque world of Tamora Pierce's Alanna series. I'd love to see the castles and schools.Also, a visit to Port Cayann might be fun. :)

9. Anne McCaffrey's Pern. I'd love to visit the dragon caves, and see Thread falling, as well as seeing the Dragon Riders at work!

10. 10 was hard to come up with. There are a lot of books that tumble through my mind--I'd say Piers Anthony's Xanth, but it's basically Florida so.  Ha! I'm there. I've seen it. More come to mind like Melanie Rawn's Lenfell from Ruins of Ambrai, (except for the slavery they engage it it'd be wonderful) the world in Michael Moorcock's Corum series (which I can't remember or find the full name of, but yes. That world), even (and I hesitate to add this because of the icky controversy surrounding her) Marion Zimmer Bradley's version of Avalon.Thus, we cycle back around to Camelot. :)

What are your top ten fantasy world destinations?

Related Posts:

10 Books On Your TBR pile From Before You Started Blogging...

New dark fantasy (horror) novelette

Interview with fantasy author Annie Lima Douglass 

Daniel R. Marvello--A Little Romance with Your Fantasy

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Seeking a nest--Snapshot--April 25th

I know, I've been quiet lately, folks. I've been editing my little fingers off! Yes, those several books I've been talking about, they're all in various stages of edits right now. (Mourning Dove Locket, the next Antique Magic book is on its way, I promise!) I've also got some guests scheduled to visit here, soon, so, be on the look out for that. In the meantime, I had my camera out. So it's time for my

We had a lot of rain here, the other day, not good for taking pictures, of course, but when we stepped out the next morning, we found a little surprise.

This nest. I guess all the rain knocked it out of its tree. It doesn't look like it's even been used, so I feel better about that, but pity the little bird who built it. Don't you know that poor thing went back to the tree, and thought, "Now, where the heck did I put that nest? I know I built it. Am I going crazy? Didn't I build a nest? Where is it??"

*laughs* Poor thing, but anyway, it's not something I get to see, much, even though we sometimes seem to have flocks of birds around here, so I couldn't resist grabbing the camera. (I wonder if it belonged to one of our myriad mourning doves? Herm....muse at work? Possibly!)

  So, that's my contribution to Saturday Snapshots, this time out. Have a good weekend!

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Tuesday Teaser--Tournament of Chance by S.G. Rogers

This is from Suzanne G. Rogers' latest release, Tournament of Chance

This is my teaser for the day (review forthcoming).

“Swim to that cave.”

As she swam into the mouth of the cave, Heather took care to avoid an enormous, barnacle-encrusted ship’s anchor lodged to one side. Although the surf was relatively calm, she was relieved to reach solid ground. Exhausted, she climbed onto the flat rocks at the cave opening, shed her boots and collapsed in the late afternoon sun. Joe kicked off his boots, then removed his shirt and twisted it to squeeze out the excess moisture. If Heather had been alone, she would have done the same.

“Are we safe here? Won’t the king’s guards follow us?” she asked.

“Nah,” he replied. “They don’t want to run into my little friend.”

“Who do you mean?”

“You’ll see.” Joe turned his head toward the cave, cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled, “Hey, Lizard Lips!”

Something stirred in the depths of the cave. Despite her fatigue, Heather jumped to her feet in alarm. As she peered into the darkness, she saw an enormous creature undulating in her direction. Lunging for her boot, she pulled her hunting knife from its hidden sheath and took a fighting stance. Joe’s laughter was disconcerting.

“Relax. Shimmer won’t hurt you as long as you’re with me.”

The creature emerging from the darkness was a huge black dragon, large enough to dwarf her family’s stone cottage back home. Heather blanched. The dragon ignored her, and bent his head down toward Joe.

“Hello, Your Highness. Is this female my dinner?” the dragon said.

Heather bristled with fear, but she wasn’t going into that gullet without a fight. Barefooted and soaking wet, she brandished the knife in her hand.

“Just who’re you calling dinner?”

****
*g* Poor Heather!

If you'd like to try Tournament of Chance, it's available from Amazon, I hope you enjoy it!

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Showcase Sunday

My Showcase Sunday #4 entry is up here. Come see what I got this week. :)

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Wicked Wednesday--Seeking A Scribe

Wednesday again? My how time flies. So...well, here's my weekly post. Ready? Good.


Rules: First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic. Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28. Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

 This week, I'm reading Seeking A Scribe: Enchanted Bookstore Legend One by Marsha A. Moore.

This is a Kindle book, so...sorry. I'm not sure about page numbers. It's 7% through so, page 28, maybe?

Lyra paused, unsure if she should ask how the store changed locations.
"And will the store be on Elm or Main, or somewhere else?" Silence followed. She held her breath.

Finally he cleared his throat. "I didn't realize you were having difficulties locating the store. Um, I don't know where it will be tomorrow. I realize how strange this must seem, but I'll help you understand when you're here. Truly, there are answers which will make sense. I apologize for the inconvenience. I really hope you'll come."

"Yes. Around nine," she stammered.

They exchanged goodbyes and Lyra stared at the phone as if she'd heard something impossible. He knew the store changed locations, but Tessa hadn't seemed to notice. Did it actually move? More than that, his voice echoed in her mind; she'd heard that exact cadence and tone before. She had to know more about that man....

If Seeking A Scribe: Enchanted Bookstore Legend One sounds interesting to you, it's available at: Amazon.

For more about Marsha see and follow her here:
Website: http://MarshaAMoore.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MarshaAMoore
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/marshaamooreauthorpage 
Fantasy Faction staff page: http://fantasy-faction.com/staff-members?uid=38 
Goodreads author page http://www.goodreads.com/marshaamoore
Google + https://plus.google.com/u/0/100564214132835514192/posts 

And her new book, in case you're interest, Heritage Avenged: Enchanted Bookstore Legend Two, is out now too--so belated happy book birthday, Marsha!

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Follow Friday March 16th

My Follow Friday post is up here:

Follow Friday March 16


Please feel free to follow either blog.

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Tuesday Teaser--March 6--mini review

A Meme by Should Be Reading

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From Almost A Bride by Kimberly Llewellyn
p. Um, this is an kindle book so I haven't figured out how to translate their calculations to actual page numbers yet. but it's somewhere in the first third.

"With one hand, Kip tipped up her jaw. He locked his gaze with hers, demanded her undivided attention. She'd ooze into a puddle if he held her for too much longer.
"I'm glad we have this understanding," he said, "and I'm glad we talked."
"Talk is good."
"Oh, and one more thing, I need your name."
"You know my name."
He gifted her with a patient grin. "You obviously know my full name. Tell me yours."
"It's against the rules of the study," she asserted.


So my pick for teaser this week. Let me just give you a quicky review. The thing here is that Ivy was due to marry this dude who turned around one day and told her she wasn't hot enough in the bedroom for him. And the cad dumped her. So she's poking around trying to pick up the pieces and finds this "too much Madonna" comment of the Ex's quite irksome so she decides she wants to shuck that reputation. To do so she signs up for a sex study put on by a nearby college. She lies on her application, but that's okay right? No one will ever know she doesn't know a thing about handcuffs and Ben Wa balls...right? Well, she's paired up with this guy, Kip, who is a little bit of an alley cat. ;) To make matters worse they have some rather risque assignments to deal with... but they need to accomplish each, without falling for each other. No biggie. That should be easy.

Not.

What happens? Well, you'll have to read it to find out. :)

The book, if you'd like it, is available for Kindle at Amazon.

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Mailbox week of February 6

Ack! I'm totally behind here, So my picks and days specific posts for this week are all a jumble.

So! Mailbox:

Did I mention this? I received a copy of Heather Burch's The Halflings this week. It's a YA urban fantasy, Angels falling for humans love story. :) I've known Heather for a while so have been  looking forward to this release! Congrats, Heather!

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WW28: Jezebel's Wish

Sorry I'm late on this...is it another Wicked Wednesday already? Well, here's my pick for the week's WW28,

From Jezebel's Wish by AJ Nuest


P.28

The next thing she knew she was waking up at her mother’s house in Wisconsin, the banging noise of an irritated horse jolting her from her dreams.

Hmm....sounds like she's in for quite a day, doesn't it?

Here's a bit about the book from Good Reads:

Haunted by nightmares, tormented by guilt, Jezebel came to Redemption Ranch to escape the past-except now she's stuck in the middle of nowhere with no redemption in sight. When her mother pushes her into riding lessons with local veterinarian Matthias Saunders, Jezebel balks. Sure, the doctor is gorgeous, but he's completely obnoxious and knows how to push every one of her buttons.

Only her deep connection with The Reverend, a gentle stallion who guards her darkest secrets, has her agreeing to spend any more time with Dr. Saunders. Caring for the stallion is the first bright spot in her life in months, and if being around the horse means she has to deal with Matthias Saunders, then so be it. Surely a city girl like her can handle one country vet-even one with disturbing blue eyes. Can't she?

Want to read more? You can find out more on AJ's site: AJ's Tattered Pages. The book is available atAmazon.com in paperback and for the Nook. I hope you enjoy it! :)

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Teaser Tuesday

(A Meme by Should Be Reading)

From Dragon Haven
by Robin Hobb.
p. 249
"You're splattering mud all over me. Stop it!" Sintara lifted the frills along her neck, confident that her own display was at least as intimidating as his.*

This is book two in the Rain Wild Chronicles, with, according to Robin Hobb's website, a third and fourth volume coming in 2012. If you're interested in reading more of Dragon Haven, it's available at local bookstores, and of course online at Amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com


****
*This quote came from the ARC sent to by the folks at Eos. I don't have a published copy, so I don't know if this line is still in the published book itself.

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Waiting on Wednesday (1)

(This is a meme by Jill at Breaking the Spine)

There's always something interesting coming out in the bookstores, and the online retailers, right? Here's a few I'm looking forward to this week:

Kathy Lane's Linked by Blood (the second in her SFR Bloodsworn series), from The Wild Rose Press.

Julie Leto's new Blaze, Too Wild To Hold. (August 23)

Fantasy author Melanie Card's Ward Against Death (August)


Caitlín R. Kiernan’s  Two Worlds and In Between (coming September from Subterranean Press)

Romance author Rosalie Lario's Blood of the Demon (Augst)

Mystery author Lisa Unger's Darkness My Old Friend, due August 9


And doesn't it seem a slow season since these are all I could find? Enjoy.....

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addendum to What are you reading Monday

I keep forgetting to add this here (my apologies), but I am also working my way through Kathy Carmichael's Kissing Kelli, a sweet romantic comedy ebook that Kathy's recently self-published on Kindle and has been getting rave reviews of. I hope to have that finished up and reviewed for you sometime soon too.

Her new book in the series, Stuck on You, just came out in May.

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WW28: Haunted

First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic.
Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28.
Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

I'm going to do something slightly different here and, since this particular page from author Debra Glass' recent YA release is a short page, I'm going to excerpt the whole thing for you.

Eternal by Debra Glass


Pg. 28

I froze.
And then gasped as a flash of bushy-tailed, black fur fled out the
door and past me. “Mr. Stella!” I cried, relieved. I blew out the breath I had
been holding. My cat had finally made up his mind to come out from under
the book case.
After my pulse returned to normal, I gripped the toggle knob,
determined to close the door again but decided instead to leave it as I had
found it.
Slightly open.
A tingle swept through me. While I wasn’t ready to explore my ghost’s world yet, I wasn’t totally opposed to him visiting my world again.


Okay, not naughty, but....shiver inducing, right? :) I'll have a fuller review of this one up soonish but for now, if you'd like to see more, you can check out Debra's Eternal site here: http://ghostlyeverafter.wordpress.com/ and if you'd like to, you can pick up the in print  and ebook Amazon.

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Musing Monday

Lori at Escape Between the Pages asked, are you a mood reader....

I have to say, oh, definitely. I love reading, but I admit it, sometimes I have to be in the mood to pick up a book--especially depending on if it's a HEA or a heavier dark Fantasy or something with dark, dreary, bloody overtones (think Tom Harris more than Stephen King type). And these days...well, long time friends you know what I've been dealing with here lately? It's only been lately that I've been coming out that cloud and able to pick up HEA's again. *sigh* Ones I tend to return to over and over though are more classic literary, Alice in Wonderland, Virginia Woolf, or classic fantasy, like Michael Moorcock. As dark as ...well, the second two are, they're my comfort reading. So yes, I'm definitely a mood reader. How about you?

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Weekly Mailbox

Based on meme by Mailbox Monday

This has been a wet week, but I did happily find one in my box. Miss Alayna Williams sent me a copy of her new book, Rogue Oracle, won from her blog stop at Marsha A. Moore's blog Illusions of Intimacy. Thank you, Ladies! :)

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This week's mailbox

A Meme by Mailbox Monday

Late again on this but I do have a couple things that have been added to the pile. Two ARC's came in this weekend, both by Romantic comedy author (and my good friend :)) Kathy Carmichael:
Kissing Kelli and Angel Be Good. They both look so adorable and I can't wait to get to them.

And a copy of Julianna Sage's new release for the Wild Rose Press, To Kill A Vampire.

Also ... I forgot to add this last week. I got an ARC of Harlequin author Angi Morgan's latest Romantic Suspense .38 Cailber Coverup.

Also, from Ellora's Cave, we got an arc of Desiree Holt, Cerise de Land, and Allie Standifer's Something Borrowed.

So thank you to all these folks for the copies and I will get them read asap. :) What'd y'all get??

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Mailbox January 18

(A Meme by Mailbox Monday)

Well, I haven't got much lately, for review anyway, but I did pick up a few things with ye ole Christmas Barnes and Noble gift cards. What were my choices, you ask? well, I'll tell you. A fantasy/post-apocalyptic (possibly Steampunk??) novel, Lamentation by Ken Scholes.

and Otherland by fantasy author Tad Williams (as I've heard it has Alice in Wonderland overtones, of course.)

and Kitty Takes A Holiday by Carrie Vaughn...

and last but not least a friend of mine got me curious about Karen Marie Moning's Fever series so I picked up Darkfever,

. So look for reviews (or maybe not, depends on what I think of them) for those books eventually.

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Mailbox

Oh, while I'm at it. I got a few things in the mailbox this week.
This Meme conceived by Marcia at the Mailbox Monday.

So let me see....what's been in my mailbox lately....

1) a copy of Carly Phillips' Lucky Streak, won from Jessica of Jessica Rabbit's Corner
2) A copy of Joanne Rock's new Blaze novel Under Wraps
3) a copy of Joanne Rock's forthcoming Harlequin Historical title In the Laird's Bed (both of the above were sent by the author herself)

So, if I'm not mistaken, that's what everything that's come in the last week. What'd y'all get?

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Monday Mailbox

(A Meme by Mailbox Monday)


Welp, there's not much to report this week, but I did pick up a few freebies at Pink Petal Books that I'm looking forward to perusing. They are

Christmas Hookup by Lex Valentine
A Very Cougar Christmas by Lex Valentine
and
Mistletoe Magic by Christine Pope

Can you tell what all three of these have in common? Come one. One guess.

Yes. That's right. Ye gods! Is it that time of year again already???????? I thought we just took down all the Christmas ...erm, stuff. Anyway, look forward to some Christmasy reviews if all goes well, within the next month or so....

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