What A Mess -- What A Mess!!

Moving is the pits!  And now that hubby and I are in deep with the 39th move of my life, I am more convinced than ever that anyone who undertakes a move is really a bit on the crazy side.  We are 24 hours away from the arrival of the moving van and we are still looking at stuff waiting to find a home in a box.  What a mess!

Somehow I am trying to keep positive thoughts.  It isn't easy but I have to admit that I am encouraged after a couple of my kids showed up yesterday, had the efforts of some granddaughters who did lots of good stuff, and the help of a friend who is like a wind-up toy--you start him in a specific direction and he just keeps on going like the Energizer Bunny.  But it is almost overwhelming to think that in 30 hours or so this house will be empty and we will be looking at a four day drive to Tennessee.  Never thought I would live "back East" but I guess it's going to happen.

Funny though, when speaking with the loan officer at the bank that is handling our house loan, I was reminded that my maternal grandmother's family arrived on our shores in the 1600's, moved years later to South Carolina, then to Tennessee, and finally to Western Kentucky.  So in a way I am returning to my roots.  Having been born in Georgia, and even though I only lived there until I was six years old, I am absolutely positive that there is a southern accent buried somewhere deep inside me.  I think with a bit of coaxing it will surface and then I won't sound like a "yank" anymore.  No hope for my Iowa-born hubby, though.  I guess he will just have to remain an honorary Southerner.

Thanks to all my followers who check in from time to time and realize that I haven't posted anything for a while.  Just more things to do than hours in the day.  But I have been sneaking in a bit of reading and will be posting some reviews and comments very soon.  Just let me get to Tennessee and then things very well may return to normal.  By the way, the town where we are moving is Dinah Shore's home town.  I always like her and her music.  Keep us all in your good thoughts and prayers.

A Really, Really Good Freebie and a Full-length Novel As Well! Who Would've Thunk It?

Brains before Beauty, that's Rachel Newberry's motto, especially when her quiet, orderly life is interrupted by international rock star, Jaydon Hawke. And true to her word, brains take center stage when she discovers Hawke has a lot more on his mind than beautiful music. Targeted by a madman, Rachel puts her trust in Hawke, a move that may cost both their lives.

I seriously doubt that there are any of us who don't roam the book sellers and publishers for good free reads.  Most are short stories--some are so short I don't even think of them as short stories.  Miniscule snippets seems a better description to me.  Yet once in a while there comes a long a really good book, not often, mind you.   I always feel like I am really getting a treasure when I find one of those and especially when it is a full length novel.  

Mia Dymond is a new author for me, and I have to admit that I found this book on Amazon and the description and reviews sounding intriguing.  So I downloaded it thinking it could be a clunker and if so, I can always delete it.  Well, as it turns out, it was anything but a clunker, and it turned out to be a book that was vastly more entertaining than expected.

It is also the beginning of a very good four-book series, one that I ended up buying and which turned out to be as engaging as this first book.  Each of the guys who are the heroes are former special ops/SEALs and each is powerful, formidable in their abilities and mental strengths, and of course they are all gorgeous sexy alpha males.  This first book introduces us to a man who has the entertainment world by the tail, has women coming out of his ears as fans, and yet he has a whole different personna, a hidden life that doesn't come out until the reader is well into the book.  It's all good stuff and the kind of ingredients, the kind of story that makes for a novel that grabs one's imagination and just doesn't let go.  Add in the fact that it was a "gift" and you just can't not like it.

It was released late in 2011 so it isn't all that old.  The subsequent books in the series all feature individuals first encountered in this first book and the following stories keep the reader "up" on the ensuing activities of all the characters.  It's a great piece of writing and it mixes some suspense, some romance, so very hot loving, and some undercover stuff all together and makes it a novel that is never very quiet.  It's intense and entertaining and turns out to be the kind of book I really like.  So I hope you will investigate this author and maybe even download this book.  It's really worth it and would still be a "keeper" even if it had cost anything.  Enjoy!

Free At Last, Yes, Free At Last!!

And with apologies to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, I can say with deep feeling, " . . . thank God Almighty, I am free at last!"  Yes, as of 12:01 AM, Januay 1, I have begun a new life, and it feels wonderful in many ways and very strange in others.  For nearly 30 years I have worked with and been involved in the lives of some wonderful people, and now that phase of my life is over.  Right along with the new year comes my new life.  It involves a new location -- can't afford to stay in Southern California anymore -- and some new friends, finding a new church, getting to know my new neighbors, setting up relationships with a new bank, getting new license plates for our cars, a new driver's license, and on and on it goes.  2013 represents lots of newness in my life.

But actually, new beginnings never get old.  Those of us who read and review lots of romance writings know that authors are always bringing in new beginnings. For many it is the new location, a new job that takes one of the characters out of harms way or puts a bad love affair or marriage behind them.  For others it represents a second chance to find deep and authentic wholeness amid the ashes of a crashed relationship.  In all cases, it is the new beginning that we all sometimes covet.

Each year we have that opportunity--a chance to try once more to get a grip on life in a new and meaningful way, to do better with relationships, to re-connect with those who have wandered away or from whom we have become estranged.  It is a time for reordering priorities, getting a grip on what is really important and setting aside the trivia that tends to overwhelm when we are least looking.  And most of all, 2013 represents another new beginning in which we can take advantage of all that comes our way--all that is positive and character-building, all that makes us better people, all that stimulates us to never stop growing within ourselves and in our connections to others.

So, Happy 2013 to all my followers and all who stop by here on their wanderings on the Information Super-highway.  May your days be filled with that sense of life well lived, and may the blessings of a prosperous life be evident in as many ways as possible.