Apologies

I've been absent for far too long. I wish I could report that my absence was due to something fabulous. Sadly, I can't. 
These past few weeks I have wallowed in the mire of parenting and all the drudgery that comes with the twenty+ year contract that goes along with it. 
I did find time (this past Friday) to go have my eyes shot full of laser beams. I'm happy to report that the miracle of Lasik has given me twenty/twenty vision!
Before surgery, I was legally blind without my Mr. Magoo spectacles, so I consider this proof that science is an amazing thing that we should continue to fund.
On to my review.

1. Wingless, Book One by Holly Hood.

Eve's life was never perfect, she knew this. If only her family realized the same thing. The loss of Marcus, her brother, The one person who made life tolerable was gone, death stole him away from her. And she was angry, sad, and emotionally beaten.
Eve's only wish now in life was for death to take a hike, but that was never going to happen. Because death found Eve to be simply perfect, everything anyone could ask for in a girl. That was Eve.
When Eve's brother Marcus dies, she knows there will never be another person that compares to him. She is sucked into a debilitating depression that she fears she will never survive. She never feels the same after his loss. And after a few years, the pain has found a way to turn into a nagging state of contemplation for her.
And when she feels she will never find a way to gain her sense of normalcy back, she meets an unusual guy who keeps her on her toes, and longing to know more. But, there is nothing normal about him and this pulls her into his world. He is the part of life Eve has been trying to get past, a part she never thought existed in real life- Death. And when death literally walks the earth, and creeps into your heart, it is very hard to see any part of life the same way again.
Wingless is a book about life through the eyes of a young girl who simply wants to live. It takes a look at life through deaths eyes. And you see the struggles for two beings to love one another when that shouldn’t be possible. Would it be possible to love someone who could hurt you as nobody else could? Would you love a person who could take everything away from you? Wingless lets you see that not everything is what it seems. And it can have you maybe for a quick moment look at things from another point of view. In all the chaos that is life, it is possible to find love amongst all the ugliness.?

Cover: A
I like this cover. The original cover was not as appealing. This one screams, it was a dark & scary night... I'm not clear on why the author changed it, but I think it was a good decision.
Story: C 
The concept for this book: A material. The delivery brought it down to a C. It is a great concept. As far as I know, 100% original; but execution matters. I enjoyed the book, but at times I struggled to follow it. I also thought the two main characters (Eve and Evan)spent quite a bit of time YELLING! and flipped from being loving, content, & happy to violent on a dime. I like dark stories. I've even written a few. This one just felt inconsistent. I'm happy, I'll beat the crap out of you, I'm totally content...all in the time span of thirty seconds.  This book could easily be tightened up, smoothed out & re-released for a much higher grade. 
Overall C
I know, the cover is an A, which should leave the overall grade a B- at the lowest.I just couldn't bring myself to go all the way to a B due to a great photo. I would love to revisit this book in the future if Ms. Hood makes revisions. It is a YA series, and I'd love to hear the opinion of some other YA readers too. Maybe YA just isn't my thing?
If you're looking for a dark story with a unique twist you can find Wingless on Amazon.com for $0.99. At that price, you can read it, decide if I'm spot on (or way off), and send me a love/hate note. I'll be waiting... 

2. Some people just don't get it
Last week, I had the distinct honor of being a featured blogger on Mamapedia. 
They took my piece, Living Off the Crumbs, which is about (as you might guess) the pain of motherhood and well, living off the crumbs.
For those of you that don't follow my Skirt Blog, you probably aren't aware that I blog (sarcastically) about my life, pretty much every day. No one in my family is safe from ridicule. In fact, my husband refuses to read it, claiming the harmony of our marriage is at stake.
That's fine. I get it. But, so does he. He knows that I love my life, husband, kids, & projectile vomiting cat included. He understands that when you have to scrape shellacked boogers off the drywall...sometimes you just gotta vent.
Most of the Mamapedia readers got it.
Most.
But, there were a large handful of Nancy Do Gooders that came out and roasted me like a marshmallow at a Girl Scout campfire. They proclaimed their undying devotion to diaper changing and dirty dishes. To them I say, "Liar, liar, pants on fire." Nobody gets through 20+ years of servitude to eating machines without a little snark...or possibly a closet pitcher of margaritas?
To the lovers: XOXO. Hang tough, ladies. You can do it!


3. Release
Yep, it's time.

 
Released on Amazon.com, Smashwords, & other assorted e-book stores!
I will be furiously posting links over the next couple of days. In the meantime, check it out! (Click on the pic) And don't forget to stop by tomorrow night (June 1st) 8:00 p.m. @ the Empire bookstore.
It's a virtual event, so really, if you're anywhere near a computer, you can attend!
Be there.
Cheers!