Tune In Tuesday {29} Lucero

Tune In Tuesday is a fun weekly post hosted by Ginger at GReads.  It's a great way to see what kind of music other people are loving.  I’ve seen these around and just had to join in the fun.

Back home a co-worker (and dear friend) and I had daily jam sessions.  We had a mix of songs that were "customer friendly".  We had different music taste and would share them with each other.  She introduced me to this awesome band and I've been hooked on them since. 

Lucero is an American punk/Texas Country infused rock band (from wiki) from Tennessee.  They currently have 9 albums.  These are a few of my favorites.

My Best Girl

Johnny Davis

Nobody's Darlings

Hope you enjoy!

Tune In Tuesday {28}

Tune In Tuesday is a fun weekly post hosted by Ginger at GReads.  It's a great way to see what kind of music other people are loving.

This weeks pick is a band that's very new to me. If it wasn't for Glee (yes...I watch Glee, I love Glee, now lets move on) I might not have heard them...at least for a while. I fell in love with the song We Are Young when the Glee kids  performed it on the winter finale and had to go google to find out who it was by. And I found fun. fun. is an indie pop band from New York that formed in 2008. And they are made of win. Their second album will be released this year. I've recently added them to a playlist on spotify and can't stop listening. 

Fun. We Are Young

Glee Cast We Are Young

The "You Scratch Lorena Dureau's Back, I'll Scratch Yours..." Blog Post

Lowenstein Associates is releasing a lot of formerly-out-of-print books on Amazon. To get the word out, Meredith Barnes is offering a query critique to anyone who spreads the news via twitter and their blog (or any two platforms). Details here. Below are two the their authors (direct from Meredith's site) that are now available on Amazon.

• Lorena Dureau (Historical Romance: American Colonial South and West. Very Sexy)
• Dan Streib (thrillers with a James-Bond-meets-Anderson-Cooper main character)

TGIF {19}

TGIF is a fun post created by Ginger at GReads.  It’s to recap what you’ve posted about through the week and Ginger asks a fun book related question.




Friday, Jan. 20th - Recommend It: Which book from the last 10 you've read would you recommend to a friend?

Hard question, at least for me. I'm looking at my list (and also thinking about other books I've read just before) and it's hard to not want to recommend them all. I tend to read books other people recommended or have enjoyed that I have similar book taste with. It's rare for me to just see a book and pick it up (mainly because my to-be-read pile is so incredibly long).

Here's a list of the last ten books I've read:

1. A Million Suns by Beth Revis
2. Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski
3. Looking for Alaska by John Green 
4. ANEW: The Archers of Avalon, #1 by Chelsea Fine

5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

6. Dream Smashers by Angela Carlie

7. Crossed by Ally Condie

8. Matched by Ally Condie

9. With or Without You by Brian Farrey 

10. Sophie & Carter by Chelsea Fine

The one I'd recommend to EVERYONE would be A Millions Suns. Seriously. This book rocked! If you have not read Across the Universe, go do it so you can read A Million Suns. I don't know if I've ever read a sequel that was as good as this one! 


If you love contemporary then you'll love my list! My favorite from these ten is Sophie & Carter! It was short, sweet, and tugged on my heart like no other book (Chelsea . Looking for Alaska was both funny and tragic, Ten Things was a wild ride, and With or Without You opens your eyes to possibilities and new ideas.


The two books I'm iffy on are Water for Elephants and Dream Smashers. First, Water for Elephants is not for the tenderhearted animal lover. If you want to try, just skip over the bad animal scenes as best as you can. Other than that, great book. Dream Smashers was good, but I found the different POV shifts choppy. They didn't swap every other chapter, and just between two characters, but whenever the author seemed to need to tell something a different way. I found those chapters jarring. If you can overlook that then it's really a wonderful story.


Currently reading: Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley and loving!


What books have you read and recommend?

Tune In Tuesday {27}

Tune In Tuesday is a fun weekly post hosted by Ginger at GReads.  It's a great way to see what kind of music other people are loving.


My pick this week is a group that my husband got me interested in. I heard his music blaring through his earphones and couldn't help but interrupt and ask what he was listening to. I was hooked and immediately borrowed his copy of Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons to add to my collection. I then listened over and over. Have to say though, Little Lion Man is my favorite. Enjoy!

TGIF {18} Must Reads of 2012

TGIF is a fun post created by Ginger at GReads.  It’s to recap what you’ve posted about through the week and then Ginger asks a fun question.


Friday, Jan. 13th - 2012 Must Reads: Which books are at the top of your list to be read this year (new or old releases)?


Top of my list. Wow. That's a hard questions! First will be Of Poseidon by Anna Banks (release date May 22, 2012). Though I've read this book as an ARC (and a few drafts before it was ever picked up to be published), I can't wait for it to be a REAL LIVE BOOK and available for all. Yeah, you'll be hearing about this book from me A LOT until it releases. Can't even tell you how proud I am of my sister-in-law!


Two other must read books are due out in May 2012. Both on May 1st to be exact. Shine by (the amazing) Jeri Smith-Ready. After the YA crush tourney last summer, Ginger and Jamie convinced me to read Shade and Shift and I am SOOO thankful. Love these books and can't wait for the final book. Then there's Insurgent by Veronica Roth due . I LOVED Divergent and can't wait for the sequel.

Two more books due on the same day (April 24th) by a couple of friends. So excited for them and their journey to the  shelves. Blood Born by (one of my amazing critique partners) Jamie Manning and Oldsoul by (a great friend) Dan Haring. 


Summer 2012...Something Like Normal by (the super friendly) Trish Doller, Surrender by Elana Johnson.


Books out in the fall...The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore, Shatter Me #2 by Tahereh Mafi, Outpost by Ann Aguirre, Matched #3 by Ally Condie. 


A book that is out that I MUST own...Where Things Come Back by (the hilarious) John Corey Whaley


Books I already own..., The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Summer Series by Jenny Han (though still need 3rd), The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld...and many, many more! I really just want to read a lot of great books this year.


I think I have a good mix...Dystopian, SF, Paranormal, Contemporary...And I know I'm forgetting some....so what are some of the books your can't wait for?

Tune In Tuesday {26}

Tune In Tuesday is a fun weekly post hosted by Ginger at GReads.  It's a great way to see what kind of music other people are loving.

Last week I posted about the iTunes release of SafetySuit's new album "These Times" and I'm continuing this week since today the album is out on CD (and other download sites). I picked on of my new favorite songs (also the album title) These Times. For this video, the guys reached out to their fans and asked for there help in creating, in my opinion, and epic video (G herself actually appears around 3:02 in the video). I'll also add you might want to grab a box of tissues. 

These Times

TGIF {17}

TGIF is a fun post created by Ginger at GReads.  It’s to recap what you’ve posted about through the week and Ginger asks a fun book related question.


Friday, Jan. 6th - Reading Resolutions: What are some of your reading goals for the new year?

I didn't start a reading goal until March last year. After getting through 10 books on a week long vacation, I set it at 50. By November I had reached 50 and with another week vacation I passed 55, so I bumped my goal up to 60. I finished the year out at 61. This year I'm not going to go as high, I'll still have vacation, but I've got actual plans this year (if they don't fall through). I'm going to set it for 30. If I reach it early, I'll see about changing it. 

The next is to get through the Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian Challenge. It's to read 15 Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian books between June 27th 2011 to June 27th 2012. Unfortunately the challenge started after I read a TON of Dystopian, so I had to find more. Darn, I know...haha (love this sub-genre). So far I've got through 5 (Matched, Crossed, Hollowland, Hollowmen, and Shatter Me). There are a TON of Dystopian books coming out in the next few months that'll help bump up my numbers: A Million Suns, Fever, Pandemonium, Insurgent, and Surrender. Still need to make it through 5 more. I do have the entire Uglies series (4) and Blood Red Road on my book shelf so I'm hopeful!


I also want to try and read more books by new authors. And not debut authors, but authors that have been around but are new to me. Like John Green. I've heard of him and his books, but never read them. I'm fixing that this week with "Looking for Alaska" and "Will Grayson, Will Grayson". Last year it was Melina Marchetta, Jennifer Echols and Sarah Dessen. A few more I plan to add this year are Jenny Han (I have 2 of the Summer series by her), Lisa McMann (I have Cryer's Cross and the Wake Trilogy), and Scott Westerfeld (I have The Uglies series and the first two books in the Leviathan series).


What are some of your reading resolutions?

Tune In Tuesday {25}

Tune In Tuesday is a fun weekly post hosted by Ginger at GReads.  It's a great way to see what kind of music other people are loving.


I'm sure I won't be the only one doing this, but I'm going to anyway. My Tune In pick this week is SafetySuit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seems fitting since Ginger is the one who introduced me to this band and their amazing music AND it's the exclusive iTune release date of their newest album These Times. It's available now! I got my copy last night. Now go forth, purchase, listen, ENJOY!

Let Go