Teaser Tuesday

I'm getting today's Teaser Tuesday, hosted by Miz B., from Gilt by Katherine Longshore. First, a synopsis from Goodreads:

When Kitty Tylney’s best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII’s heart and brings Kitty to court, she’s thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat’s shadow, Kitty’s now caught between two men—the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat’s meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

And here's my teaser (page 62-63):

"I need your help, Kitty. Please. Make sure no one from this household ever breathes a word of my life here. It's your duty. To our friendship. To our sisterhood. The men of my past must vanish."

She let go and I swallowed.

"What men?" I whispered.

"Good girl."

The Best TV This Summer

Who says there's nothing to watch on TV in the summer? Some of my favorite shows are on right now.

Wait, I'm supposed to talk about writing, you say?

Too bad.

There have been so many great things on TV that I've been crazy for lately that I just can't help sharing them.

1. So You Think You Can Dance

If you don't watch this show, you really should. Okay, maybe dancing isn't your thing. Maybe Mary Murphy and her screams annoy you a little. But then again, you can see awesome dance numbers like this one, one of my faves from last season:

2. Hell's Kitchen

Yes, Gordon Ramsay bleeps a lot. And he's so mean. He would make me cry in about two seconds flat. Actually, if I ever just walked into his kitchen I'd probably cry if he so much as looked at me. But this show is so darn entertaining, it's awesome. And it makes me want to eat Risotto and Beef Wellington.

3. Breaking Pointe

Again, if you don't like dance, chances are you won't like this show either. But I have to mention how much I LOVE it. Yes, it can be cliched at times, but it's real dancers dealing with real problems. I absolutely love the dynamic between the dancers and seeing the world of ballet from backstage is super exciting.

And my absolute fave this summer, which actually isn't on TV right now, but who cares...

4. Downton Abbey

What took me so long to watch this show??? It is AWESOME. So addicting. I started watching it while on the treadmill but couldn't stop and ended up finishing both seasons in one week. I've got just the Christmas Special left to watch and then it'll be one very long wait until January for next season. ARRRGGGH! (That's me dying over here.)

Season One Trailer

Season Two Trailer

A Winner!!!

I've picked a winner for my 200 follower giveaway. And I did it in the newfangled and very technical way of writing all the names on a piece of paper and two of my daughters each picking a name which they had lots of fun with, although it didn't last long enough for them and they wanted to keep picking names. Haha.

Anyway, the winner of City of Lost Souls is Krista McLaughlin.

The winner of Insurgent is Sara Biren.

Congraaaaaaatulations!!! (I'm totally hearing that in my head like that boxing announcer dude.)

I'll be stopping by your blogs to let you know so you can email me your addresses.

Now, instead of writing an actual post, I'm going back to Downton Abbey. My mom lent me the DVDs and I'm kinda obsessed. Have a great weekend!

The Summer After Grad

Today's YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday question is:

How did you spend/how will you spend the summer after graduation?

I wish I could say I took a road trip with friends or backpacked across Europe. Truthfully, I did, oh, um, not much.

However, the April before I graduated, I took a trip to a small town in France called Perigueux. There I visited places like this:

(kinda wish the dates weren't on them all)

There is one thing I did the summer before I headed off to BYU. I was in a community production of West Side Story. It was a lot of fun. I got to play both a Jet girl and a Shark girl, wear an awful wig, and one of my handful of lines was, "Ooh, ooh, oobley-ooh." I sang some songs (no solos) and danced a whole bunch. It was a blast and I'm still sad that I never got my hands on the DVD. All of my pics are of us doing crazy things backstage, so this is the only one I'm gonna share.

That's me on the right with my fugtastic wig.

What did you do the summer after grad? Anyone have more interesting stories than me? It's not hard...

And don't forget, if you're a follower, go to my Monday's post and enter to win a copy of Insurgent or City of Lost Souls!

Teaser Tuesday

It's Teaser Tuesday time, hosted by Miz B. Today's teaser is from The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa:

"I warned you this was no simple quest. I told you before, you and Goodfellow have no idea what lies ahead." He twitched an ear and shifted on the rock, still watching the fire. "You feel it, do you not? The anger. The darkness." I blinked in surprise, but Grimalkin paid no heed. "It will only get worse the farther we go." (page 56)

So what are you reading right now?

And don't forget to go to yesterday's post here to enter to win Insurgent or City of Lost Souls for my 200th follower giveaway!

It's Giveaway Day!

Yep, I've reached 200 followers!!! So it's Giveaway Day!!!

So, if you want to win one of these shiny, new, never-been-read books, all you have to do is be a follower and comment on this post! Let me know which book you'd prefer as well. On Friday I'll randomly draw two names and then announce the winner on my blog, as well as hopping to the winner's blog to give them a heads up!

Oh, keep in mind- in case you've been living under a rock or something- these books are in the middle of their series, just in case you haven't read the first one(s).

Good luck! And happy Monday!

Just Keep Reading, Just Keep Reading

Today I've got a question for you:

If you're not loving a first, even second, chapter of a book, do you give up on it?

I'm thinking about this because yesterday I started Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier. Now, I'm NOT the kind of person who gives up on books. I can think of maybe five instances IN MY LIFE when I've done this, three recently. Four out of the five of those times I decided not to read the book because I didn't care for the subject matter. The fifth, I took a chance, bought a book, and just couldn't get into it.

Most of the time though, even if I'm not gung-ho about a book, or even if I'm like, ah, I should read because I gotta finish this book already so I can get to something really great, I still finish. There's a book I read recently that, well actually it started great but I fast grew sick of the author's style. I seriously wanted to chuck that book across the room. But I didn't, I finished it, because I was interested enough to know how the story ended. Another read took me almost halfway in to really understand what was going on and get into it. It turned out to be one of the best books I've ever read.

So yesterday I started Ruby Red and wasn't blown away by the first chapter. I set it down and did other things. During the day when I thought, I could read right now, I just didn't. I wasn't anxious or eager to pick up the book again. When I finally picked it up last night for my usual before-bed reading time, I read. And I read. And I read. By the end of the second chapter I was into it. I didn't want to put it down.

It just got me thinking that if I was the kind of person who gives up on books because the first chapter isn't automatically enticing, look what I would have missed out on! Just the thought of starting and not finishing a book is almost foreign to me. It's VERY difficult for me to do.

So I'm really wondering if I'm a minority, or if people really do axe a book if it hasn't won them over almost right away.

Do you?