Tag Archives: Long and Short reviews blog challenge

April 8, 2020 · 3:38 am

#longandShortReviews #Weeklybloggingchallenge 4.8.2020

If you’ve ever read any of my blog posts, you know I can talk.

A lot.

About a great deal  of stuff and not only related to writing.

So today’s topic prompt: Topic(s) I could give an impromptu speech on just sings to me.

Let’s start with the anatomy of the eye and then move on to contact lens care and keeping ( of your eyes and the lenses).

I worked in my husband’s clinic as a Contact lens technician for 20 years. I retired when my first book was published, but I can still give a lecture I wrote for doctors and patients verbatim if asked to right now.

Next. Want to talk about organizing stuff? Marie Kondo ain’t got nuthin’ on me! Containers, culling, and cleaning  are all topics I can ramble on for hours about.

I get excited when I think of all the ways I can stack and store stuff!

Lastly, I was the nursing care coordinator and head of an Alzheimer’s in patient unit before I had my baby. Memory loss, the aging brain, and new techniques and studies for improving cognition and quality of elder life are topics near and dear to me and I could spew on for hours just about memory techniques.

So, that’s it just for starters!!! Let’s see what some of the other authors in this challenge can wax prolific about: L&SR

I lovelovelove Long and Short reviews so much and this is just a tiny example of why: this fabulous 5 star review the recently posted for my recent Match Made in Heaven book, TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS! Read the review here: TTAReview

and if the review intrigues you, you can get your own copy here:

Available at these fine online retailers in Ecopy or Print: Amazon // B&N // Applebooks   // Rakuten-Kobo // google play // Books-a-million //

Also available at the TOADSTOOL BOOKSHOP in Keene, NH

and if you’re looking for me, I’m usually here: Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me// Triber// Book Me

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March 18, 2020 · 3:13 am

#LongandShortReviews #weeklybloggingchallenge 3.18.2020

The weirdest thing I learned reading fiction is today’s topic.

Hmmm…..this one requires real thinking on my part- something I’m not known for ( hee hee)

Okay, in THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES  I learned all about making honey, bee anatomy, and just how precious bees are to our environment and food supply.

Other than that I can’t think of anything WEIRD I’ve learned reading a book.

Now doing research for a book is different. For my own book, THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, I learned that  cows have 4 stomachs, I learned a horse has a gestation period of 11-12 months, and that emotional abuse can take many forms.

Let’s see what some of the other authors in this challenge have learned – and I can bet it’s way more than I have!! L&SR

Until next time ~ peg

and if you’re looking for me I’m out trying to learn stuff from reading here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me// Triber// Book Me

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February 26, 2020 · 4:04 am

#LongandShortReviews #Wednesdaybloggingchallenge 2.26.2020

Today’s topic prompt is: My favorite memory and why.

Easy Peasy. My favorite memory is tied to a Christmas gift 40 years in the making.

I don’t get a lot of gifts. I didn’t as a child and I haven’t as an adult. I tell you that so you’ll know how precious the gift I’m going to tell you about really is to me.

Obviously, I’m a girl. Duh. I was a child in the 1960’s a time when stereotypical gender roles were still very much in place. Boys got baseball cards, BBguns, and sports equipment for Christmas and birthday gifts. Girls got Barbies, Easy Bake Ovens, and board games like Mystery Date.

I hated all those girly-girly toys. Still do, to be truthful. Even back then I knew they were designed to keep girls in their places, hoping and dreaming of the perfect boy/man to come along and take care of us for eternity.

Gag me now. I so did not buy into that dream. But that’s a blog for another day. Today’s is about my favorite memory.

When I was eight I asked Santa ( that’s right. I still believed in Santa at 8. Still do, in fact.) for a toy I’d seen advertised on Saturday mornings during the cartoon hours. It was aimed at the boy buying market but I didn’t care. I asked Santa that year for Rock’em Sock’em robots!

Lordy, I wanted that toy!!! I said a prayer every night that Santa would leave it for me. I was extra good around the house, doing my chores and even doing things I wasn’t asked to do just to score some brownie points with Old St. Nick.

Christmas morning came and….no robots. I think I opened a new outfit or two for the Barbie doll he’d brought me the year before – the one I NEVER played with, and some Barbie coloring books.

Devastated is too tame for how I felt. My mother asked me why I was so pissed ( and yes, she did say it like that to an 8 year old. Is it any wonder I am the way I am today?) I told her I’d asked Santa for Rock’em Sock’em Robots and couldn’t understand why I didn’t get it. I’d been good, did well in school, went to church. Did everything I was told and supposed to do.

Her explanation was very telling. She shrugged, took a puff of her cigarette and said, “‘Cause you’re a girl, not a boy. Santa doesn’t give boy toys to girls or girl toys to boys. That’s not right.”

See? Telling.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I told you that story. Stick with me and you’ll understand why.

Flash forward 48 years. I’m sitting at dinner with my entire in-law family a few days before Christmas and we go around the table telling stories about Christmas’s of the past. My father-in-law asks me what the best gift I ever got was. I told him, instead, about the Rock’em Sock’em Robots debacle and how much I’d really wanted that toy and how upset I’d been when I didn’t get it. On to the next person for another story.

Christmas morning comes and we are spending it with my in-laws. I wake up and we all start to unwrap gifts. My husband hands me a huge box wrapped with a big red bow and a tag that said, “to Peg, from Santa”. Since I hadn’t asked for anything that year, I was in a quandary about what it could be. When I opened it I started bawling my eyes out. Yup – you guessed it. He’d given me the toy I’d always wanted. Apparently, after hearing the story I’d told a few nights before, he’d sent my brother-in-law to Toys R Us with instructions to get it for me.

Is it any wonder I love this man and have for over 30+ years?

Since this is a blog challenge, click on to any of these author sites to see what they have to say: L&SR

And if you’re ever looking for me, I’m usually here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me// Triber// Book Me

ANd don’t forget to vote in the L&SR Book of the Year Contest. My book, DEARLY BELOVED, is a finalist. You can vote here: L&SRBOY

 

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February 12, 2020 · 4:28 am

#longandShortReviews #Weeklyblogchallenge 2.12.2020

This week’s topic is another goodie and I’m sure it’s gonna be controversial. Not is a bad way – but in a get people talking way.

This week, we’re talking about BOOKS I REREAD OR WANT TO REREAD.

I have several friends who typically say once they read a book, that’s it. Done. Fine. Put it on the shelf and forget about it.

Whenever I tell these friends that I’m rereading a book they look at me with horror  slashed across their faces and the first question out of their mouths is, “You couldn’t find anything new to read??”

Well, yes, I could. And I’ve got my next new book lined up on my Kindle, thank you very much. But I wanted to reread this book.

Curiosity ensues and it never ends well, believe me.

I’ve reread GONE WITH WIND 5 times. The last time I was especially cognizant of how racially horrible the book is since we are living in the time of socially consciousness. While it is a terrible book about hatred and racism, it is at it’s heart a love story between Rhett and Scarlett, unfortunately set in the most heinous time our of American History.

Pride and Prejudice is another book I’ve read at least 10 times and each time I do I fall in love all over again with the English language.

I’ve reread every single IN DEATH novel 5 times, starting a marathon read each time with the first book and moving all the way to whatever book is current. Right now, that’s number 50 – Golden in Death. Reading these books is enjoyable, yes, but it’s also a masterclass in how to write a fictional series, character development, world building, and a marriage/love story between two people who are wrong for each other but are sosososos right! My favorite ( and I’ve read it 10 times) is NEW YORK TO DALLAS ( the only book without the IN DEATH moniker.) And yes, every single time, even though I know it’s coming, I cry my eyes out at the last 5 pages.

That’s it for my list. List see what some of the other authors in this blog hop have to say about re-reading. I bet we’re gonna get some really diverse opinions and books! L&SR

And don’t forget I’ve got a brand new ROMANTIC SUSPENSE out, the first in a new series titled, A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: RICK.

 

Until next week, peeps ~ Peg

And if you’re looking for me I’m usually here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me// Triber// Book Me // Watch me

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January 29, 2020 · 3:15 am

#longandShortReviews #bloggingchallenge 1.29.2020

Happy Wednesday, all. Today’s Long and Short Reviews blogging challenge is one I can get behind: Best book/movie/TVcouples.

I’ve got one of each! hee hee

BEST BOOK COUPLE:
Hands down ( for me) it’s Eve Dallas and Roarke from the IN DEATH Series by JD Robb ( Nora Robert’s doppelganger). Both are in their 30’s and have had horrible, dark pasts. Once they find each other in the first In Death book, neither ever looks away. Their heat level together is off the charts, but though the sex is great between them, what I love more than anything is the way Roarke cares for Eve. He makes sure she eats when the responsibilities of her job make her forget to. He makes sure she sleeps and when nightmares attack her he’s right there to hold her through them. He helps her when she needs help whether she asks for it or not, and he truly is a touchstone in her life. I could read about these two and their escapades for the rest of my life!

BEST TV COUPLE:

Now, realize  when I tell you who I think make the best TV couple that I am not 20. Not even 40 or 50. My favorite TV couple of all time is Lucy and Rick Ricardo. Why? Again, I go with the love first. Despite being a ditzy, non-thinking, always up for anything wife who gets into trouble more than she is out of it, Ricky LOVES Lucy with all his heart. That love shows in every single episode of their groundbreaking television show. Real life couldn’t compete with tvlife, though, and these two divorced. But by all accounts they loved one another until the day they died.

 

BEST MOVIE COUPLE:

Again, not 20, 40 or even 50, kids! My favorite movie couple of all time is Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in every single movie they did together in the 1930’s and 40’s when romcoms were king and movie stars really were stars and not celebrities! From Bringing up Baby to the Philadelphia Story ( a personal fav) these two epitomized the zany, wacky, and convoluted scenarios they where thrown into on screen. Laugh out loud funny, wildly chic, and always heartwarming, these two could do no wrong on the big screen.

Let’s see what some of the other authors in this challenge have to say. L&SR

And because self promotion is king of the hill in publishing nowadays, don’t forget I’ve got two new books out, one of them the first in a new series.

TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS ( A Match Made in Heaven, bk 2)

Lawyer Cathleen O’Dowd wants to break free from her boring image. Widowed young, she’s toed the good-girl line but now wants a little fun and laughter in her days…and nights. Living in a small town, though, she can’t do anything that would tarnish her professional reputation. Mac Frayne’s tragic past has turned him into a sullen loner. In town to write a book on the city’s founder, his plan is to get it done, then head home to his solitary existence. When circumstances force them to work together, their opposing personalities clash, but the sexual attraction between them is palpable. Can a simple affair with an end date be just the thing to brighten up their lives?

and A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: RICK

Elite bodyguard and P.I. Rick Bannerman’s job is to protect. He doesn’t get emotional with his clients, but when a woman from his past is threatened, his next job becomes personal.
Family lawyer Abigail Laine is the target of a client’s vengeful husband, but refuses Rick’s offer of protection. He walked away from her four years ago, and she swore to forget him.
Now her reluctance to accept his help could cost Abby her life.

Until next Wednesday, peeps ~ Peg

Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me// Triber// Book Me // Watch me

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November 6, 2019 · 3:36 am

#LongandShortReviews blogging challenge 11.6.19

I missed a few weeks of this challenge due to editing and writing commitments, but I’m back now!!!

This week’s topic is a goodie: Books I’ve recommended and why.

Oh, mama, I’ve a million of them. But, for brevity’s sake, I’ll only name a few.

  1. Harry Potter and the Sourcerer’s Stone. The first time I heard about this book I was watching the old ROSIE O’DONNELL show with my then 8 year old daughter and JKRowling was a guest. Rosie went ape-crazy talking about how much she loved the book so my daughter and I decided to buy it and read it together. Well, after we finished it I recommended it to every single mother in my little girl’s classroom and all my friends as well. That sparked a whole reading frenzy in our school – something  I am thrilled about! Opening up this incredible magical world to people who routinely didn’t read much was wonderful.
  2. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. This book was such an eye opener to me about Mormonism and it’s origins that I read it in less than 2 days and then actually went out and bought copies of the book to give to people. Riveting, informative, and excellently laid out,  Krakauer did a phenomenal job at exposing the Mormom church and it’s founders.
  3. Midnight in the garden of good and evil, by John Berendt. Again, the moment I finished this tale of a murder in a tight knit community complete with a cast of characters that a writer COULDN’T make up, I went out, bought copies, and gave it to all my friends. The movie was such a disappointment because it could never convey the actual suffocating familiarity these people lived under. The upperclass mores, class distinctions and prejudices, and even the food, were all described so perfectly in the book. I read it three times. Truly.
  4. Devil in the Windy City by Erik Larson. An historical look at a serial killer during the world’s fair of the early 20th century. Told with precision accuracy and in depth emotion, this book kept me up three nights so I could finish it. Not for the squeamish, to be sure!
  5. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. A story of family, friendship, and enduring love set during WWII and the aftermath, this story just spoke to me on so many levels: female friendships, mother and daughter angst, interpersonal relationships, cultural snobbish. The perfect blend of fact and fiction.

Let’s see what some of the other writers in this challenge recommend: L&SR

Until next time ~ Peg

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September 18, 2019 · 4:11 am

#LongandShortReviews #Weeklybloggingchallenge 9.18.19

So, this week’s prompt is a thoughtful one: WHAT IS MY SUPERPOWER?

Easier asked than answered.

I can tell you what it isn’t:

I can’t –

Fly, read minds, become invisible, breathe underwater, teleport.

I don’t –

have xray vision, bat-hearing,  a dog’s sense of smell,  inhuman strength,  eidetic memory, or the ability to heal  someone with a simple touch.

I’m not –

strong, agile, quick/fast, charming or compelling, brilliant, telepathic.

What I CAN do is simple and extremely valuable, though: I’m a human bullshit detector.

I can spot a lie coming from a liar’s mouth after one sentence.

With this superpower I’ve been able to spot con-men, cheats, narcissists, thieves, and psychopaths in a heartbeat.

I’ve known when children are lying to get out of being punished for naughty behavior and adults are lying to avoid censure for bad deeds.

I’ve known when someone is bullshitting me, flattering me for nefarious reasons, attempting to steal from me, and sucking up to me for their own ends.

It’s a gift more than a superpower, I think, and one I am sososos thankful for. It’s helped me remove myself from tricky situations and helped me shove people who were up to no good from my life. It’s saved me from being a lemming many times, too!

I flirted with being a lawyer or an FBI agent for about 5 minutes when I was in my 20s due to this talent. But I liked Nursing more.

Let’s see what some of the other authors in this challenge consider their superpower; L&SR

Looking for me? I’m usually here:

Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me// Triber// BookMe // Monkey me //Watch me

Until next time ~ Peg

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September 11, 2019 · 4:30 am

#LongandShortReviews #BloggingChallenge 9.11.19

This week’s topic is BOOKS THAT I KEEP MEANING TO READ ( but haven’t).

In all honesty, I could make about 5 blogs out of this one topic! My life is so busy ( as most of our lives are) that my reading for pleasure has taken a back seat to everything else.

If I were stranded on a deserted island that happened to have a library somewhere in the jungle, I’d be able to get to these books that have been on my TBR list for eons:

The Handmaids Tale, by Margaret Atwood. I love the HULU show so much, I’d like to actually read the book for a more indepth knowledge of Gillead

The Stand, by Stephen King. Every teenage boy I have ever known who’s read this book has loved it. I want to know  why.

The complete collection of NORA ROBERTS books  in order of publication- all 679,000,000 of them! hee hee.

The complete works of Shakespeare. I’ve read about 10 in my lifetime.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. The movie was good, but I heard the book was better,

The complete works of Susan Mallery.   She’s a oneclick author for me!

The complete works of Sarah Morgan  Another one click!

That would get me through the first month of my stranded-ness (!)

Let’s see what some of the other authors in the blog challenge want to read: L&SR

Until next time ~ Peg

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August 21, 2019 · 3:20 am

#longandShortReview #wednesdaybloggingchallenge 8.21.19

Now here’s an unusual topic. I don’t think I’ve ever given consideration to this before. What do I read when I’m not feeling well.

If I use a little literary ( hahah PUN!) license, I can say that feeling well doesn’t necessarily have to mean sick, like I have the flu or a bad stomach cramps from overeating Milano cookies. In fact, the reason I ate the Milanos – because I was feeling depressed and sad – could be construed as feeling unwell.

I know…sometimes I surprise myself as well. ( hee hee)

Anyhoo…

When I’m feeling down, dejected, sad, or depressed, sometimes I don’t reach for the Milanos, I re-read a book instead. I really do, I just never realized it could be  blog topic before!

In no order – either the depth of my “illness” or the love of the book, I re-read and have re-read these books several times during my lifetime.

  1. NEW YORK TO DALLAS, JDRobb. I’ve mentioned this book so much on this blog that people are probably sick ( hahaha PUN) of it by now, but the book is not only a great futuristic procedural, it also has he best last 3 pages of any book I’ve ever read. Check out this blog post for what I mean: NYTD
  2. TO HAVE AND TO HOLD, Lauren Layne. I’ve read this four times since I discovered Lauren Layne. Whenever I’m feeling down in the dumps I reread it – even just a few chapters – because the story is so witty, urbane, and upbeat.
  3. LITTLE WOMAN, Louisa May Alcott. growing up an only child of divorced parents I was lonely for siblings, sisters most of all. I must have read this book 15-20 times from the ages of 10-20. To this day it makes me feel joyous about family!

There are a few more, but I think I’ll leave it at these top three for now. Let’s see what the other authors in this challenge use as book-medicine. L&SR.

You can follow me here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me// Triber// BookMe // Monkey me //Watch me

and don’t forget – DEARLY BELOVED is still on sale until 8.23. For just #99cents!

get your copy here:

amazon // B&N // ibooks

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August 14, 2019 · 3:55 am

#LongandShortReviews #WeeklyBloggingChallenge 8.14.19

I love these weekly challenges because the topics SPEAK to me sososo much! Today, it’s Books I had to read in school and didn’t like.

Kids, there were hundreds! Hundreds, I tell you!

The number one book I hated was CATCHER IN THE RYE.  I hated Holden, I hated the premise of the book, I hated the theme that was supposed to be universal and was sososo not! I struggled to read it and when we had to write a thematic opinion book report on it, I was scathing with my words. Got an A+, BTW, on it!

Didn’t like the GRAPES OF WRATH because it was sosososo depressing. And yes, I get that it was written in the depression, but still…just sayin’.

1984 seemed a little farfetched in 1972 to my 12 year old mind, and I couldn’t get into it.

Great Expectations was too sad and lugubrious a read for me. I struggled to finish it and write my book report.

War and Peace was a month of  my life I will never get back. Plus, it was boring!

The Picture of Dorian Gray. I really wanted to slap somebody silly when I read this one. Again, a scathing book report and another A+.

Maybe I should have been a book critic instead of an author….

Nah!

Let’s see what books the other writers in this challenge struggled through in school. L&SR

Hey, don’t forget I’ve got a book sale going on. Before book 2 in my MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN series releases, book 1 DEARLY BELOVED is on sale for just 99cents until 8.23. If you need one more book to complete your summer reading list, this is the one for you!

Colleen O’Dowd manages a thriving bridal business with her sisters in Heaven, New Hampshire. After fleeing Manhattan and her cheating ex-fiancé, Colleen still believes in happily ever afters. But with a demanding business to run, her sisters to look after, and their 93-year-old grandmother to keep out of trouble, she’s worried she’ll never find Mr. Right.

Until next time ~Peg

 

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