Rainy Days With Amanda

   About the Author Carol A. Taylor is a Texas poet whose work has appeared or is upcoming in a number of print and online journals, including Light Quarterly, Iambs & Trochees, Rattle, First Things, Per Contra, 14 by 14, The Barefoot Muse, Susquehanna Quarterly, Lighten Up Online, Trinacria, Tilt-a-Whirl, Concise Delight, and Umbrella Journal , and in several print anthologies  She has put out three chapbooks, " Saving for the Future" 2003, " Houston Skyline" 2006, and a bilingual collection of sonnets, " Sonetos del Inglés " in 2011.  Other credits include guest-editing the Fall-Winter 2002 issue of Light Quarterly which featured an anthology of classic jokes written into original poems collected and edited by Carol and fellow poet Tim Murphy, and serving as Administrator of the online workshop Eratosphere from 2001-2007 and as Light Verse Editor of Umbrella Journal's Bumbershoot division from 2006-2008.  Her poem “Texas Is Singin...

    HOME TO COMFORT By Kimberly Fish Women’s Fiction / Contemporary / Cozy Mystery Publisher: Fish Tales Publishing Pages: 382 Publication Date: October 10, 2024 SYNOPSIS ════════════════════════════════════ ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　 ︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹ Gloria Bachman has pivoted so many times this year she has whiplash. Now, in the middle of winter and drenched in Mexican sunshine at a five-star resort, she has a role to play: Mason Lassiter’s “arm candy” in a sting to nab his not-actually-dead, first wife, Patsy. It didn’t make any sense to her either, but who argues with government officials offering an expense-paid trip and a reason for a new beach wardrobe? With Patsy leading resort security, FBI agents, and Mason on a merry chase, Gloria knows that if you want to catch a woman of a certain age, you have to think like a woman of a certain age. Thankfully, she’s got the credentials. If only she could understand the other peo...

    THE GHOST OF WHISPERING WILLOW Second Edition by AMANDA M. THRASHER Children’s Horror / Fantasy / Magic / Chapter Book Publisher: Progressive Rising Phoenix Press Page Count: 246 Publication Date: January 9, 2024 SYNOPSIS Stewart sees a ghostly figure out of the corner of his eye. He and his friend, Andy, begin a ghost investigation that leads to an adventure of a lifetime.  Coming face-to-face with a ghost, the boys make a decision to join forces with a group of girls, who have encountered a ghost of their own. The kids soon find that the ghosts that they've encountered are in imminent danger and need their help. Can the kids devise a plan to help the ghost in time? Will they be able to reunite a ghost with his lost family? Complete with a ghost village and a feud, this story takes on a life of its own. BOOK TRAILER CLICK TO PURCHASE ABOUT THE AUTHOR Award-winning author Amanda M. Thrash...

 Last year, my favorite read of 2023 was Middlesex , a book from Jeffery Eugenides about the effect of a mutated gene on three generations of a Greek family, causing momentous changes in the protagonist's life. It's a really insightful and interesting read that I gobbled up pretty quickly. If you're interested in learning about that, you can find that book talk here ! Anyway, I knew that I would have to read Jeffrey's other works at some point and this past month was the month. Here's my full book talk on Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. About the Author Jeffrey Ken Eugenides is an American novelist and short story writer who has written numerous short stories, essays, and a few novels including The Virgin Suicides , Middlesex , and The Marriage Plot . In 2018, Eugenides joined New York University's Creative Writing Program as a tenured full professor and the Lewis and Loretta Glucksman Professor in American Letters. Eugenides has been inducted into The Amer...

    JUST A HAT By SHANAH KHUBIAR Young Adult / Coming of Age / Jewish Fiction / Small-Town Texas / 1970s Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Page Count: 254 Publication Date: July 18, 2023 Scroll down for giveaway! Action-packed, humorous, and bittersweet, this 1970s-era coming-of-age novel is more relevant than ever--exploring how a second-generation immigrant kid in a new hometown must navigate bullying, unexpected friendships, and the struggle of keeping both feet firmly planted in two very different cultures. It's 1979, and thirteen-year-old Joseph Nissan can't help but notice that small-town Texas has something in common with Revolution-era Iran: an absence of fellow Jews. And in such a small town it seems obvious that a brown kid like him was bound to make friends with Latinos--which is a plus, since his new buds, the Ybarra twins, have his back. But when the Iran hostage crisis, two neighborhood bullies, and the local reverend's beautiful daughter put him in all sorts ...

    MAGICAL ELEMENTS OF THE PERIODIC TABLE PRESENTED ALPHABETICALLY BY THE ELEMENTAL DRAGONS Magical Elements of the Periodic Table, Book 2 By Sybrina Durant Children’s Picture Book / STEM / Chemistry Publisher: Sybrina Publishing Page Count: 44 Publication Date: March 9, 2024 Scroll down for a giveaway! In this unique alphabet book, members of the Elemental Dragon Clan present 26 Magical Elements of the Periodic Table in alphabetical order. Each member of the clan has an element tipped tail. They also have magical powers based on the properties of their metals. There are no more perfect groups than unicorns and dragons to familiarize yourself with elements from the Periodic Table. Their theme is: "No Metal -- No Magic. . .and No Technology." In this book, Antz starts out the book by introducing the very necessary metal, Antimony on his element page. Zora rounds out the alphabet by presenting scientific facts and other fun information about the metal, Zirconium, on her eleme...

    TO RESCUE A WITCH By LISA A. TRAUGOTT Historical Fiction / Action & Adventure / Fantasy Coming March 1, 2024 CLICK TO PRE-ORDER It’s 1739. An abused girl accused of witchcraft must be defended by a man married to an actual witch. William MacLeod, a fierce Scottish lawyer with a kind heart, takes on a daunting task—rescue young Annaliese from the clutches of her tormentors in the untamed wilds of Virginia colony and deliver her safely to her aristocratic father in London. But lurking in the shadows are enemies eager to expose MacLeod’s own wife, Fiona, as a witch with a dark secret. Their perilous journey takes an unexpected turn when their ship wrecks, and Annaliese’s haunting nightmares and unexplained “Devil marks” trigger suspicion among the crew. Tension peaks when MacLeod must become Annaliese’s unwavering protector in a witch trial, where Fiona’s clairvoyance and a murder are unveiled. To Rescue a Witch navigates themes of betrayal and redemption, in a spellbin...

 Hey Everyone and Happy New Year! I'm back with another book that caught my attention at Barnes & Nobles and they were having a sale, so I thought, why not? What I ended up picking up was a story about going through the motions of establishing generational wealth and just establishing yourself in a new country and how each generation keeps walking up the ladder. Where does the ladder end? No clue. Here are my thoughts on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. About the Author Born in Brooklyn, New York to German immigrants, she grew up poor in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These experiences served as the framework to her first novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943). After marrying George H. E. Smith, she moved with him to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he pursued a law degree at the University of Michigan. At this time, she gave birth to two girls and waited until they were in school so she could complete her higher education. Although Smith had not finished high school, the un...

 He ya'll! We're back again with another book from the Stephanie Plum series. I actually read this one a tiny bit out of order. I was supposed to be reading the St.Patrick's Day "in-between" book, but I wanted to save it for closer to St.Patrick's day, but I had an itch to read some Stephanie Plum, so I went rouge and went on to the next book. But don't worry, I'll get back to St.Patrick's book when it's closer to February/March. Anyways, let's talk about this book. About the Author Janet Evanovich has been and still is a #1 New York Times best seller for multiple books she has put out over the years. Her first installment of the Stephanie Plum series is called One for the Money , which was released in 1994 (the year before I was born), and is still going with Dirty Thirty, the 34th book in the series. Fearless Fourteen is the 17th book in the Stephanie Plum series (inlcuding the Holiday specials) which came out in June 2008.  If you ha...

MUMENTOUS: Original Photos and Mostly-True Stories about Football, Glue Guns, Moms, and a Supersized High School Tradition That Was Born Deep in the Heart of Texas by Amy J. Schultz Nonfiction / Photo-Driven Memoir / Women’s History / Pop Culture / Texana Publisher: Atmosphere Press Page Count: 178 pages Publication Date: April 25, 2023 Scroll down for a giveaway! The closest you'll ever get to seeing someone actually wear their heart on their sleeve is in Texas, every fall, at the local high school homecoming game. They're called homecoming mums. They are as bodacious as football, as irresistible as a juicy rumor, and as deep as a momma's love. Over a hundred years ago when the custom began, mum was short for chrysanthemum, a typical corsage that boys gave to girls before taking them to the big football game. But through the decades, mum went from a simple abbreviation to a complicated shorthand for an eye-popping tradition that's as ingrained in the culture as it is c...