Nobody's Cuter Than You - Teaser Tuesday and First Paragraph / First Chapter

Nobody's Cuter Than You: A Memoir About the Beauty of Friendship arrived in the mail as a surprise gift from my good friend Sandra Allen, co-author of I.O.U. Sex, and I've just started reading it. So far, it's sweet and funny, and I've seen lots of passages that I can identify with. The book is a memoir about friendship, especially the author's friendship with Amy Gulley. It's classified as "Christian Living" on its Amazon page, but it isn't preachy so far. Thanks for a delightful gift, Sandra! 
      Here's how the memoir starts (after an introduction):

First Paragraph:
      I dropped off my daughter, Caroline, at camp for the first time ever yesterday and am in the midst of what can only be described as an emotional hangover. Perry and I helped her get her room for the week all set up, and then I hugged her good-bye as her little eyes filled with tears. At that point I basically had to sprint down the hallway without daring to cast a look back over my shoulder lest I be like Lot's wife and dissolve into a pillar of salt. Or maybe just tears. 

Teaser Tuesday (from Page 29 - trade paperback):
(FYI: Melanie has started a new school in seventh grade.)
Junior high girls aren't generally known for their kind and welcoming ways, and my experience proved to be no exception to this rule. These are the years that are a bad cocktail of insecurity, hormones, and believing you know all there is to know about life while you incessantly worry about whether your boobs are ever going to show up. 

Genre: Memoir / Christian Living
Length: 200 Pages (plus Appendices)
Amazon Link: Nobody's Cuter Than You
Melanie Shankle's Blog: Big Mama


Synopsis (from Amazon):
There is nothing as precious in life as a friend who knows you and loves you in spite of yourself. Yet over the last couple of decades, we’ve substituted the joy of real friendship with cheap imitations. We settle for “community” on Facebook and Twitter and a series of text messages that allow us to communicate with someone without the commitment. We like each other’s beautifully filtered photos on Instagram and delude ourselves into believing we have a community. But real friendship requires effort. It’s showing up, laughing loud, and crying hard. It’s forgiving and loving and giving the benefit of the doubt. It’s making a casserole, doing a carpool pickup, and making sure she knows those cute shoes are 50 percent off. Written in the same comedic style as the New York Times bestsellers Sparkly Green Earrings and The Antelope in the Living Room, Nobody’s Cuter than You is a laugh-out-loud look at the special bond that exists between friends and a poignant celebration of all the extraordinary people God had the good sense to bring into our lives at exactly the right moments. From the friendships we develop over a lifetime to the ones that wounded us and the ones that taught us to love better, Melanie Shankle reveals the influence our friends have on who we were, who we are, and who we will become. And on a day when our jeans feel too tight, our chins have decided to embrace hormone-related acne reminiscent of our teen years, and our kids have tested the limits of our sanity, they are the ones who will look at us and say, “Nobody’s cuter than you!”

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea

Charmed, I'm Sure - Saturday Snapshots

Several days ago, while searching for an old pair of bluejeans, I came across my charm bracelet from high school. I thought I'd lost it! 

Did you (or do you) have a charm bracelet? What do you think mine reveals about my teenage years?

*****

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 

click HERE or on the box below. 

To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 

have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 

for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 

Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Pompeii - Saturday Snapshots

This past Thursday my husband and I traveled back in time to 24 August, 79 AD to the ancient city of Pompeii and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius - via Seattle's Pacific Science Center. Here are a few of the many photos I took of the exhibit. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

I wonder what the philosopher (on the left)
is contemplating.

Beautiful mosaic table and section of floor,
along with murals portraying life in Pompeii

Amphora used to store wine, grain, water, etc.

Armor

Most compelling of all to me were the casts of people caught in the volcano's ash and lava.

Top to bottom: a pregnant woman,
a child, and a man

The exhibit also featured displays of cooking utensils, jewelry, art, oil lamps, surgical tools, and even a recreation of a brothel. Near the end of the exhibit, we were ushered into a room with a huge movie screen filling one wall. Here's what happened, as described on the museum's website:

Then, as the floors shake and the walls rumble, relive the volcano's catastrophic eruption through an immersive CGI experience, culminating in the reveal of 6 full body casts of twisted human forms, asphyxiated by extreme heat and noxious gases and forever frozen in time.

The shake and rumble were created by sound, and plumes of water mist simulated the noxious gases, but it was still a cool experience.

For an interesting video that encapsulates Mt. Vesuvius's most famous eruption, check out the video on History.com: HERE

Twitter: @SandyNachlinger

Facebook: sandy.nachlinger

*****

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 

click HERE or on the box below. 

To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 

have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 

for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 

Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Dancing at the Rascal Fair - The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings on Friday

I've never been to Montana, but I feel like I've seen its wide open spaces and soaring mountains after reading Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig. This second book in Doig's Montana trilogy (it stands alone) made me a fan of his writing, and I've read almost all his books. Unfortunately, Mr. Doig passed away earlier this year at age 75.

Book Beginning (It starts with a newspaper story.)

Scotland and Helena

     Harbour Mishap at Greenock. Yesterday morning, while a horse and cart were conveying a thousand-weight of sugar on the quay at Albert Harbour, one of the cartwheels caught a mooring stanchion, which caused the laden conveyance and its draft animal to fall over into the water. The poor creature made desperate efforts to free itself and was successful in casting off all the harness except the collar, which, being attached to the shafts of the sunken cart, held its head under water until it was drowned. The dead animal and the cart were raised during the forenoon by the Greenock harbour diver.
-- Glawgow Caledonian, October 23, 1889

     To say the truth, it was not how I expected - stepping off toward America past a drowned horse.

The Friday 56 (from Page 56 in my trade paperback edition):
     Past the rear of his saloon and across a wide weedy yard he led us toward a two-story frame house. The house needed paint - this entire town needed that - but it sat comfortably between two fat gray cottonwood trees, like a mantel clock between pewter candlesticks.  

Genre: Montana Historical Fiction 

Length: 400 Pages (trade paperback edition)

Amazon Link: Dancing at the Rascal Fair

Author Website: Ivan Doig

Synopsis:

     The central volume in Ivan Doig's acclaimed Montana trilogy, Dancing at the Rascal Fair is an authentic saga of the American experience at the turn of this century and a passionate portrayal of the immigrants who dared to try new lives in the imposing Rocky Mountains.
     Ivan Doig's supple tale of landseekers unfolds into a fateful contest of the heart between Anna Ramsay and Angus McCaskill, walled apart by their obligations as they and their stormy kith and kin vie to tame the brutal, beautiful Two Medicine country.

                 

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
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The Other Side of Heartache - Teaser Tuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph

 

    The Other Side of Heartache tells the story of two women - a mother (Penny) and her daughter (Grace). The book starts in the present in Grace's point of view, then goes into the past as Grace reads her mother's diaries. The switch in time was easy to follow, and I was caught up in both stories. 
     Sarah Jo Smith did a great job of showing attitudes towards premarital sex as well as the expectations placed on teenage girls in the early to mid-1960s (before The Pill). The author goes deep into her characters - something I always enjoy.

First Paragraph:
Oak Valley
August 2000
Grace pulled into the driveway of her childhood home, pea gravel crushing beneath balding tires, and turned off the ignition with relief. The waistband of her shorts cut into soft flesh, and her right knee locked into place for six hours as she pressed the gas pedal, ached to distraction. She twisted the rear view mirror toward her and groaned, wishing she'd kept that last hair appointment. Sweaty bangs clung to her forehead like little ropes, a result of the car's air conditioner that shot out sporadic blasts of heat. She tried fluffing her honey blond curls but nothing helped. She turned her head one way and then the other, examining herself with a critical eye, yet the result was the same. Exhaustion pulled at her, especially around the mouth. At thirty-two, she was too young to look this drained, but mirrors don't lie.

Teaser (from 41% on my Kindle):
Last year a senior girl left during Easter break and never returned. The talk was she went away to have a baby. 

Genre: Women's Fiction
Amazon link: The Other Side of Heartache
Book Length: 344 pages
Author's Amazon Page: Sarah Jo Smith

Synopsis:
     Grace’s well-ordered world shatters when she loses her unborn child and her mother within a few months. Summoned to her childhood home to sort through Penny’s belongings, the timing couldn’t be worse. Grieving over her losses and exhausted from a demanding teaching schedule, she worries that her marriage is collapsing under the pressure. While packing her mother’s closet, Grace discovers a box filled with mysterious keepsakes and old diaries written in Penny’s hand and takes them home. After reading pages filled with typical musings of a teenage girl from a generation ago, she stumbles upon a dark secret and is devastated to learn that what she believed her whole life about her family was based on lies.
     As Grace digs beneath the Rose family tree, she unearths more than one skeleton buried there. All the while, she must endure the wrath of her grandmother, Eleanor, who is determined to block her efforts to find out what happened when Penny was seventeen, as well as the underlying cause of her premature death. Yet Eleanor harbors a well-kept secret of her own, one more deceitful and calculating than Penny’s sin. Grace’s journey through an emotional labyrinth of passion, shame, and manipulation not only leads to more shocking revelations but also changes the course she had mapped for her life. 
     Through a story told in alternating voices between the past and present where old morals and double standards from the historical 1950s and ‘60s clash with modern day values, Grace must decide if it’s worth taking an unforeseen risk to reaffirm her belief in the power of love. BOOK GROUP GUIDE INCLUDED.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea

Hood Canal, WA - Saturday Snapshots

A couple of years ago my husband and I spent two nights in the beautiful Selah Inn B&B at Hood Canal, Washington. The setting was lovely, the breakfasts were delicious, and we found plenty of sightseeing within easy driving distance. Although the B&B was only an hour's drive from our home, we felt as if we were hundreds of miles away. Here are some of the photos I took during that stay. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

The water was just a short stroll away.

We shared a bottle of wine with other guests
in this comfortable common area.

A delightful setting for breakfast.

Delicious seafood dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Food seems to taste better when it's
eaten outdoors, doesn't it?

Driving around the area
(Olympic Mountains in the distance)

Plus beautiful sunsets at the end of the day.

I'm definitely ready to go back!

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 

click HERE or on the box below. 

To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 

have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 

for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 

Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Elizabeth's Landing - First Paragraph/First Chapter & Teaser Tuesday

Interested in environmental issues? How about sea turtles? Maybe neither subject captures your imagination but if you like a good story, then you'll enjoy Elizabeth's Landing by Katy Pye. I had fun getting to know 14-year-old, aspiring photographer Elizabeth Barker as she tries to adjust to life in fictional Port Winston, Texas. I also enjoyed learning more about sea turtles, the shrimping industry, and the effects of commercial and residential development along our coastlines. This is a terrific young adult novel that's full of adventure, insight, and well-researched information. It's award-winning and G-rated too.

First Paragraph/First Chapter:

Port Winston, Texas

Saturday, April 3, 2010

     "Straighten that girl out before it's too late, hear?" Grandpa's trapped Dad inside the swayback garage behind our dump of a rental house. Another one of his "I know best" lectures spews out the open window. Only this morning's gripe isn't about dragging for shrimp, Dad's landscaping job, or Mom being gone. It's about me.

     I straddle my bike, bend low, and roll in close, listening for one more reason to hate this place.

Teaser (from 73% on my Kindle):

     Dad steadies the boat as we ride up the wave, then dip down the other side. The sky flashes white from another lightning hit.

     He's going to die. We're all going to die.

    

Genre: Young Adult
Length: 354 Pages
Amazon Link: Elizabeth's Landing
Author Website: Katy Pye

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea