Cover Reveal: Now That You're Here by Amy K. Nichols (w/giveaway)

Now That You're Here

by Amy K. Nichols

Danny and Eevee are meant to be together . . . Just not in this universe.

Eevee Solomon has high school down to a science. Get the grades. Get the recommendations. Get into an Ivy League college, and eventually land a killer job at NASA.

Then Danny Ogden enters the equation.

Danny is a street-smart graffiti artist. He’s always managed to stay out of serious trouble, but this time he’s out of luck. One minute he’s running from the cops, and the next, he jolts awake in an unfamiliar body–his own, but different. Somehow, he’s crossed into a parallel universe. Now his friends are his enemies, his parents are long dead, and coolheaded Eevee is not the brazen girl he once kissed back home. Then again, this Eevee may be his only hope of getting home.

Eevee tells herself she’s only helping him in the name of quantum physics, but there’s something undeniably fascinating about this boy from another dimension . . . a boy who makes her question who she is, and who she might be in another place and time.

About Amy Nichols: Amy has been crafting stories for as long as she can remember. She earned a Master's in literature and worked for years as a web designer, though, before realizing what she really wanted to be was an author. Her first novel, YA sci-fi thriller Now That You're Here, will be published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on December 9, 2014. The follow-up, While You Were Gone, will be published in 2015. She is mentored by award-winning crime novelist James Sallis.

Amy is represented by Quinlan Lee of Adams Literary. She's an active member of SCBWI and SFWA, as well as a member of the Class of 2k14 debut authors. 

Social Media Links:

Website 

Blog 

Twitter

Facebook

Class of 2k14 

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Waiting on Wednesday (Jan 29, 2014)

 "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  It spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Servants of the Storm
by Delilah S. Dawson
Expected publication: August 5th 2014 by Simon Pulse

A year ago Hurricane Josephine swept through Savannah, Georgia, leaving behind nothing but death and destruction — and taking the life of Dovey's best friend, Carly. Since that night, Dovey has been in a medicated haze, numb to everything around her. 

But recently she's started to believe she's seeing things that can't be real ... including Carly at their favorite cafe. Determined to learn the truth, Dovey stops taking her pills. And the world that opens up to her is unlike anything she could have imagined. 

As Dovey slips deeper into the shadowy corners of Savannah — where the dark and horrifying secrets lurk — she learns that the storm that destroyed her city and stole her friend was much more than a force of nature. And now the sinister beings truly responsible are out to finish what they started.

Dovey's running out of time and torn between two paths. Will she trust her childhood friend Baker, who can't see the threatening darkness but promises to never give up on Dovey and Carly? Or will she plot with the sexy stranger, Isaac, who offers all the answers — for a price? Soon Dovey realizes that the danger closing in has little to do with Carly ... and everything to do with Dovey herself.

Teaser Tuesday (Jan 28, 2014)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• 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!

The moment we stepped inside, we were in yet another world. The sound of pinging slot machines, the smells of air-conditioning and sweat, the flashing lights above the pits: it was total sensory overload. (p92, First Love by James Patterson) 

Tuesday Intros (Jan 28, 2014)

First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are reading or are thinking about reading.  Link up at Bibliophile by the Sea and check out some other firsts!




I will be sharing the first paragraph from The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.

May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month.  The days are long and humid.  The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees.  Red bananas ripen.  Jackfruits burst.  Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air.  Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, fatly baffled in the sun. 

A Winter's Respite Update Page (Jan 27 - Feb 2)

Well, my free day of reading got sidetracked!  I have yet to pick up a book today, so figured would go ahead and create my tracking page.  I plan to start reading as soon as I am done with this!

Monday:

Read: 2 hours 15 min
Pages read: 193
Books finished: Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

Tuesday:
Read: 1 hour
Pages read: 58
Books finished: None

Wednesday:

Read: 30 minutes
Pages read: 23
Books finished: None

Thursday:
Read: 0  :(

Friday:

Read: 0 :(

Saturday:

Read: 2 hours
Pages read: 190
Books finished: First Love by James Patterson

Sunday:
Read: 30 min
Pages read: 40
Books finished: None

A Winter's Respite Read-a-thon (Jan 27 - Feb 2)

A Winter's Respite Read-a-thon starts tomorrow and runs through Feb 2.  I had been waiting to sign up to see how my week was going to look and whether or not I was going to have my glasses.  Well - Both of the places I work at are closed tomorrow due to the weather (and most likely Tuesday as well), I got my new glasses today!!  and my son is having a friend over to play tomorrow for a few hours so this all adds up to EXTRA READING TIME!  

The read-a-thon is hosted by Seasons of Readings and is pretty loose as far as rules.  You can read anytime throughout the week - novels, novellas; adult, young adult, children's books also (as long as you have read some adult books!)  You should sign in at the sign up post and do a wrap up post at the end. There will be a starting line sign in that you must sign in at.  

I hope to finish these books this week:

And possibly start these:

Happy Reading Y'all!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Jan 27, 2014)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. 

I got my new glasses yesterday (Yah!). Doc says that they changed about 20% (in just two years!) and that could definitely have been causing my headaches.  This and the fact that they have already cancelled school here tomorrow and closed the library that I work at means a free day of reading!  Woot!

Temp forecast for Monday morning 8am: -2, feels like -24 with temperatures continuing to drop throughout the day. 

Currently reading (Still):

Through the Ever Night
by Veronica Rossi

AND

The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy

Bathroom Book:

Finished The One and Only Ivan and will be reviewing soon.

First Love
by James Patterson

An extraordinary portrait of true love that will move anyone who has a first love story of their own. Axi Moore is a "good girl": She studies hard, stays out of the spotlight, and doesn't tell anyone how all she really wants is to run away from it all. The only person she can tell is her best friend, Robinson--who she also happens to be madly in love with. 

When Axi spontaneously invites Robinson to come with her on an impulsive cross-country road trip, she breaks the rules for the first time in her life. But the adventure quickly turns from carefree to out of control after the teens find themselves on the run from the police. And when Robinson suddenly collapses, Axi has to face the truth that this trip might be his last.

A remarkably moving tale very personal to James Patterson's own past, FIRST LOVE is testament to the power of first love--and how it can change the rest of your life.

E-read (Still):

Last Night at the Blue Angel
by Rebecca Rotert

Haven't gotten much further in this book due to my tired eyes - but hope to change that this week with my new glasses!

Life as We Knew It
by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Wanted to start this last week, but just got the nod that it was waiting for me to download from our library - so hopefully will get this one going this week as well!

Working on:

I have done absolutely nothing on either one of these projects this week. . .
no excuses. . .

Waiting on Wednesday (Jan 22, 2014)

 "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  It spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Two Sisters

by Mary Hogan

On Sale Date: March 4, 2014

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

A powerful and poignant debut novel about two sisters learning how to live with the emotional damage caused by years of keeping family secrets

The third child in a family that wanted only two, Muriel Sullivant has always been the outsider. Single, twenty-three, she's living in a New York City rent-stabilized walk-up, a bird's nest of an apartment outfitted as much by serendipity as by intent: note the three-legged bedside table, her squat hand-painted pine dresser, a splotchy framed mirror, the spindled bathroom corner shelf-all found curbside on garbage day.

Her perfect older sister, Pia, lives in an endless house in Connecticut with her handsome, thick-haired husband, Will, her tween daughter, Emma, and a frothy, russet-colored Labradoodle named Root Beer. Pia is altogether Muriel's opposite. Muriel eats takeout from the carton; Pia makes salads from the microgreens in her garden. Pia takes "me" time to pray and do yoga. She believes every word in the bible, her faith pure and unquestioning. Pia is remarkably like their mother, Lidia. Or so Lidia would have Pia believe. Muriel knows better. Years earlier she discovered the truth about her mother's lies-not that she'll ever tell.

The story begins on an ordinary Saturday which turns out to be anything but. When Pia calls Muriel out of the blue, Muriel expects the same lecture about slimming down, toning up, highlighting her hair, getting a better job, and moving into an elevator building. Only this time it's different. Distressingly so. Pia takes the train into the city to visit her sister and leave her with-yet another-terrible secret she is sworn to keep.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Book Review)

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

by Elizabeth George Speare

first published in 1958

Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1687.  Alone and desperate, she has been forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met.  Kit's unconventional background and high-spirited ways immediately clash with the Puritanical lifestyle of her uncle's household, and despite her best efforts to adjust, it seems that Kit will never win the favor of those around her.

Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be true to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place, and just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit.  But Kit's friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty.

I chose this book to read as it is a Newbery Award winner.  I was pleasantly surprised how a book written in 1958 - about 1687 - still touched on many issues that can be found in today's society - prejudice, religious freedom/persecution, trying to find out where we fit in, love and loyalty.  Why is it that the more things change, the more they stay the same?  The persecution of the Quakers in 1687 - Jews in Hitler's Germany - and some would say Christians in America today. And I bet that everyone could name at least one person who had suffered prejudice in some way, shape or form.

Kit is targeted as being a witch on the ship over by a mean-spirited woman for the simple reasons that she can swim and read. Evidently if you don't "sink" in the water, it means you are a witch. Being raised in Barbados though, Kit grew up in the water and swimming was second nature to her. She was forced to leave Barbados though when her grandfather died and she was forced to sell off everything to pay his debts.

She makes her way to the home of her mother's sister, a woman she has never met, but to whom she has corresponded. They were not aware that she was coming for a visit, let alone an extended stay. But as she is family, they cannot turn her away.

Kit has a hard time fitting in her new family.  Her clothes are more flamboyant than the Puritan community where she now finds herself.  She has no work ethic as she had been allowed to run free on the island until her grandfather died.  She feels she is working from sun up to sun down and is still a burden on the family.  With what free time she does have, she finds herself in a nearby meadow befriending an old woman, Widow Tupper.  Because she is a Quaker, the townspeople believe she is a witch and avoid her at all costs.  She also has garnered the unwanted attention of a local boy, William, who seems to have set his sights on her as his future wife.

Whew, how much can a teenage girl handle in just a few months?  I really enjoyed the final conflict in the book and how loyalties are shown and love is offered. I am glad that I chose this book for my first Newbery Medal Winner to read.

Teaser Tuesdays (Jan 21, 2014)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• 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!

Now the man's leathery face almost made her smile. Bodies on the outside wore experiences like souvenirs. (p 32, Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi)

Tuesday Intros (Jan 21, 2014)

First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are reading or are thinking about reading.  Link up at Bibliophile by the Sea and check out some other firsts!

I will be sharing the first paragraph from Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Rotert. 

Prologue

Naomi Hill stands center stage in a pool of light. Silver sequins teeter on the surface of the pale dress, her white arms rise like ribbons, palms facing the crowd as though to say, I can hold you all, I will. A note comes out of her--fills the room, clean, unwavering, unending--until a little vibrato appears near the end like a shiver, much the way David shivered over her in another life.  Tonight is her last show at the Blue Angel and you cannot tell by looking at her just how much has gone wrong. That our life, as it was, is over.  Her face says: I know exactly what I am and what I'm good at. It's this right here, right now.  My voice.  And your eyes on me.  There is nothing else.  Not anymore. 


Would you be hooked?

School Happenings

It has been awhile since I have posted any of the bulletin boards that I have done for the elementary school library that I work at - so please enjoy these pictures from November, December, and the one currently up:

November: Whooo is thankful for books?

Owl closeup

December: Reading Makes You Bright

Do you like his orange "carrot" nose?

January: Just updated the phrase to: Snow is falling and Books are calling.

Closeup

It's Monday! What are you reading? (Jan 21, 2014)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. 

Ok,so it is really Tuesday.  Whenever there is a school holiday on Monday it whacks my schedule on me.  I haven't read much lately as I think I am in need of new glasses.  My eyes are tiring very easily and start to burn when I read more than 20-30 minutes at a time.

Temperature check at 8:30AM: -1/Feels Like -20 degrees.  Good day to stay in and read!

Currently reading: 

Through the Ever Night
by Veronica Rossi

This is book two in the Under the Never Sky series.  We are introduced to some new characters right off the bat and am just starting to get everyone straight. 

Now Aria and Perry are about to be reunited. It's a moment they've been longing for with countless expectations. And it's a moment that lives up to all of them. At least, at first. 

Then it slips away. The Tides don't take kindly to former Dwellers like Aria. And the tribe is swirling out of Perry's control. With the Aether storms worsening every day, the only remaining hope for peace and safety is the Still Blue. But does this haven truly exist?

Threatened by false friends and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night? 

In this second book in her spellbinding Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi combines fantasy and sci-fi elements to create a captivating adventure-and a love story as perilous as it is unforgettable.

The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy

"They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much." 

The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, fraternal twins Esthappen and Rahel fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family. Their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu, (who loves by night the man her children love by day), fled an abusive marriage to live with their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), and their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt).

When Chacko's English ex-wife brings their daughter for a Christmas visit, the twins learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever, beside their river.... 

Bathroom Book:
I had been reading Agent of Influence by David Aaron.  I decided I really didn't like it and didn't want to waste any more time on it, so returned it to the library.  So this is my current read:

The One and Only Ivan
by Katherine Applegate

This one is a lot better suited for the few minutes that I actually get to read - it is a cute, humorous story so far. 

Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.

Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.

Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.

Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.

E-read:

Last Night at the Blue Angel
by Rebecca Rotert

Random Choice Read.  I have started this one, but my eyes are more irritated when I read online - so not getting far into it at this time. 

Set against the backdrop of the early 1960s Chicago jazz scene, a highly ambitious and stylish literary debut that combines the atmosphere and period detail of Amor Towles' Rules of Civility with the emotional depth and drama of The Memory Keeper's Daughter, about a talented but troubled singer. precocious ten-year-old daughter, and their heartbreaking relationship.

It is the early 1960s, and Chicago is a city of uneasy tensions-segregation, sexual experimentation, free love, the Cold War-but it is also home to one of the country's most vibrant jazz scenes. Naomi Hill, a singer at the Blue Angel club, has been poised on the brink of stardom for nearly ten years. Finally, her big break arrives-the cover of Look magazine. But success has come at enormous personal cost. Beautiful and magnetic, Naomi is a fiercely ambitious yet extremely self-destructive woman whose charms are irresistible and dangerous for those around her. No one knows this better than Sophia, her precocious ten-year-old daughter.

For Sophia, Naomi is the center of her universe. As the only child of a single, unconventional mother, growing up in an adult world, Sophia has seen things beyond her years and her understanding. Unsettled by her uncertain home life, she harbors the terrible fear that the world could end at any moment, so she compulsively keeps a running list of practical objects she will need to reinvent once nuclear catastrophe strikes. Her one constant is Jim, the photographer who is her best friend, surrogate father, and protector. But Jim is deeply in love with Naomi-a situation that adds to Sophia's anxiety.

Told from the alternating perspectives of Sophia and Naomi, their powerful and wrenching story unfolds in layers, revealing Sophia's struggle for her mother's love with Naomi's desperate journey to stardom and the colorful cadre of close friends who shaped her along the way.

Sophisticated yet poignant, Last Night at the Blue Angel is an unforgettable tale about what happens when our passion for the life we want is at sharp odds with the life we have. It is a story ripe with surprising twists and revelations, and an ending that is bound to break your heart.

Books I plan to start this week:

In the last post I had mentioned starting The Shade of the Moon by Susan Beth Pfeffer.  I did start it, and realized that I had forgotten too much from the series so am going to reread them.  I am waiting for Life as We Knew It to be returned to the library so I can start over. 

Life as We Knew It
by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.

Finished:

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

by Elizabeth George Speare

Reviewing soon. 

Working on:

Still working on my snowman - am making him a little hat now.

I also dug out a needlepoint from last year.  This is called Baltimore Bride: Shimmering Hearts.  Not sure I like the teal colors that were recommended with the purple, but we are going to go with it and hope the overall looks good.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Jan 6, 2014)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. 

Ok, I have FINALLY posted all of the challenges (though who knows which ones could pop up at any time).  I have created new bookshelves for each challenge at Goodreads and have even added some books to the bookshelves that I would like to read for the challenges - so now I should actually start reading, right? 

Temperature check at 2pm: -12/Feels Like -39 degrees.

Currently reading:

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

by Elizabeth George Speare

This won the Newbery Medal in 1959.

Orphaned Kit Tyler knows, as she gazes for the first time at the cold, bleak shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the shimmering Caribbean island she left behind. In her relatives' stern Puritan community, she feels like a tropical bird that has flown to the wrong part of the world, a bird that is now caged and lonely. The only place where Kit feels completely free is in the meadows, where she enjoys the company of the old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, and on occasion, her young sailor friend Nat. But when Kit's friendship with the "witch" is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear, and anger. She herself is accused of witchcraft!

Bathroom Book:

Agent of Influence

by David Aaron

Not sure that I like this - but am far enough into it that I want to know what happens.

Written by the author of "State Scarlet", this thriller is set in Washington, Moscow and Wall Street. A media conglomerate has been targeted for takeover but the more Lyman learns, the more shady the deal seems. He is convinced that America's huge press empire could end up under Soviet control.

Books I plan to start this week:

The Shade of the Moon

by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This is the fourth book in The Last Survivors series.  I have read the rest of the series and just learned recently that another book had come out last year.  I have to reread through some of my reviews to familiarize myself with the characters again!

It's been more than two years since Jon Evans and his family left Pennsylvania, hoping to find a safe place to live, yet Jon remains haunted by the deaths of those he loved. His prowess on a soccer field has guaranteed him a home in a well-protected enclave. But Jon is painfully aware that a missed goal, a careless word, even falling in love, can put his life and the lives of his mother, his sister Miranda, and her husband, Alex, in jeopardy. Can Jon risk doing what is right in a world gone so terribly wrong?

Through the Ever Night
by Veronica Rossi

This is book two in the Under the Never Sky series.  I finished the first book last month.

Now Aria and Perry are about to be reunited. It's a moment they've been longing for with countless expectations. And it's a moment that lives up to all of them. At least, at first. 

Then it slips away. The Tides don't take kindly to former Dwellers like Aria. And the tribe is swirling out of Perry's control. With the Aether storms worsening every day, the only remaining hope for peace and safety is the Still Blue. But does this haven truly exist?

Threatened by false friends and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night? 

In this second book in her spellbinding Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi combines fantasy and sci-fi elements to create a captivating adventure-and a love story as perilous as it is unforgettable.

Last Night at the Blue Angel
by Rebecca Rotert

Random Choice Read.

Set against the backdrop of the early 1960s Chicago jazz scene, a highly ambitious and stylish literary debut that combines the atmosphere and period detail of Amor Towles' Rules of Civility with the emotional depth and drama of The Memory Keeper's Daughter, about a talented but troubled singer. precocious ten-year-old daughter, and their heartbreaking relationship.

It is the early 1960s, and Chicago is a city of uneasy tensions-segregation, sexual experimentation, free love, the Cold War-but it is also home to one of the country's most vibrant jazz scenes. Naomi Hill, a singer at the Blue Angel club, has been poised on the brink of stardom for nearly ten years. Finally, her big break arrives-the cover of Look magazine. But success has come at enormous personal cost. Beautiful and magnetic, Naomi is a fiercely ambitious yet extremely self-destructive woman whose charms are irresistible and dangerous for those around her. No one knows this better than Sophia, her precocious ten-year-old daughter.

For Sophia, Naomi is the center of her universe. As the only child of a single, unconventional mother, growing up in an adult world, Sophia has seen things beyond her years and her understanding. Unsettled by her uncertain home life, she harbors the terrible fear that the world could end at any moment, so she compulsively keeps a running list of practical objects she will need to reinvent once nuclear catastrophe strikes. Her one constant is Jim, the photographer who is her best friend, surrogate father, and protector. But Jim is deeply in love with Naomi-a situation that adds to Sophia's anxiety.

Told from the alternating perspectives of Sophia and Naomi, their powerful and wrenching story unfolds in layers, revealing Sophia's struggle for her mother's love with Naomi's desperate journey to stardom and the colorful cadre of close friends who shaped her along the way.

Sophisticated yet poignant, Last Night at the Blue Angel is an unforgettable tale about what happens when our passion for the life we want is at sharp odds with the life we have. It is a story ripe with surprising twists and revelations, and an ending that is bound to break your heart.

Working on:

Ok, I know it doesn't look like much right now - but it is going to be a little snowman.  Felt like a good day to work on it!

What are you reading on this cold Monday?