Blog Archives

Bear Creek Rodeo Series

8/28/2019

RESISTING THE COWBOY

Saddle bronc rider Luke Reno is taking the PRCA by storm, until he's thrown off of a horse ending up unconscious.

Straight-laced doctor Daisy Blackwell avoids taking unnecessary risks, both in and out of the Bear Creek Community hospital.

When Luke regains consciousness in the ER and saves Daisy from an attack by an unstable patient, she finds herself agreeing to dinner but never expects the feelings that follow. When she finds out about Luke's dangerous occupation her instincts want her to run but her heart has other plans.

AMAZON

HOW TO DATE A COWBOY

Promoter Kayla Barnes just scored her first real job, creating buzz for the Bear Creek Rodeo. Looking to make a name for herself and increase attendance numbers like never before, she talks the star bull rider, Casey Jennings, into being the prize in her biggest contest yet.

One lucky winner gets a date with Casey, but as they work out the details and grow closer Kayla realizes she wants to be the number one contestant.

AMAZON

BETTING ON THE COWBOY

ER doctor Daisy Blackwell never dreamed she’d fall for a saddle bronc rider or be running from a hitman. After relocating from New York City to small town Texas to escape her past, it has caught up with her in Sin City.

Luke Reno is riding his way to the top. A win in the rodeo finals will make him the number one saddle bronc rider in the world, but there’s more riding on the competition than a title…his life.

When an argument at a craps table pulls him into a confrontation with a mob boss, Luke makes a deal. Bet on Luke to win the rodeo finals and collect a big payoff. But everything changes when hitmen from New York find Daisy and the Las Vegas mob.

Will Luke and Daisy beat the odds and make it out of Las Vegas unscathed or are they destined to become another casualty of Sin City.

AMAZON

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Happy National Ice Cream Pie Day!

8/18/2019

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Cookie Ice Cream Pie Recipe

A Taste of Home Recipe

*Total Time*
Prep: 25 min. + freezing

*Makes*
8 servings

Ingredients

10 Oreo cookies, crushed
3 tablespoons butter, melted
14 whole Oreo cookies

Filing

1/2 gallon white chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream, softened, divided
1/2 cup prepared fudge topping, divided
Fresh raspberries, optional

Directions

In a small bowl, combine crushed cookies and butter; press onto bottom of a 9-in. pie plate. Stand whole cookies up around edges, pressing lightly into crust. Freeze until set, about 1 hour.
For filling, spread half of ice cream over crushed cookies. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of fudge topping. Freeze until set, about 1 hour. Spread remaining ice cream on top. Drizzle with remaining fudge topping. Freeze several hours or overnight.
Garnish with fresh raspberries if desired. Let pie stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before cutting.

Nutrition Facts
1 piece: 763 calories, 45g fat (24g saturated fat), 201mg cholesterol, 448mg sodium, 81g carbohydrate (62g sugars, 3g fiber), 11g protein.

Originally published as Cookie Ice Cream Pie in Taste of Home June/July 1993

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Book Spotlight- The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

8/12/2019

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The 5th Wave
Rick Yancey

The Passage meets Ender's Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

Editorial Reviews

"Remarkable, not-to-be-missed-under-any-circumstances."
--Entertainment Weekly

“It has the dark, swoopy adrenaline of The Hunger Games, but the elegiac tone of The Road. Who cares what shelf you find it on? Just read it.”
—EW.com

“Makes for an exhilarating reading experience.”
—Tor.com

“Wildly entertaining.... I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.”
—Justin Cronin, The New York Times Book Review

"A modern sci-fi masterpiece... should do for aliens what Twilight did for vampires."
—USAToday.com

"Step aside, Katniss."
--The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Action-packed intrigue."
—MTV.com

*"Gripping!"
--Publishers Weekly, *starred review*

*"Nothing short of amazing!"
--Kirkus Reviews, *starred review*

*"Yancey's heartfelt, violent, paranoid epic, filled with big heroics and bigger surprises, is part War of the Worlds, part Starship Troopers, part Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and part The Stand . . . a sure thing for reviewers and readers alike."
--Booklist *starred review*

"This is DAMN and WOW territory. Quite simply, one of the best books I've read in years."
—Melissa Marr, New York Times bestselling author

"Breathtakingly fast-paced and original, The 5th Wave is a reading tsunami that grabs hold and won't let go. A postapocalyptic alien invasion story with a smart, vulnerable heroine."
—Melissa De La Cruz, New York Times bestselling author of the Blue Bloods series

"A fantastic read. The 5th Wave is an electrifying page-turner."
--Kathy Reichs, New York Times bestselling author

"Prepare to set everything else aside when you launch into this one. The break-neck pace and high stakes will draw you in, but it's the characters who will keep you turning pages. It's been a long time since I've read a story this compelling."
--Cinda Williams Chima, New York Times bestselling author

About the Author

Rick Yancey is the author of the New York Times bestseller The 5th Wave, The Infinite Sea, several adult novels, and the memoir Confessions of a Tax Collector. His first young-adult novel, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal. In 2010, his novel, The Monstrumologist, received a Michael L. Printz Honor, and the sequel, The Curse of the Wendigo, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. When he isn't writing or thinking about writing or traveling the country talking about writing, Rick is hanging out with his family.

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

CREDITS:

All pictures and information was obtained from the following:

Rick Yancey's Website at http://rickyancey.com/

Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Rick-Yancey/e/B00J1C4DVK/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

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Books to Read (August 2019)

8/4/2019

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City of Girls
Elizabeth Gilbert

"Life is both fleeting and dangerous, and there is no point in denying yourself pleasure, or being anything other than what you are."

Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love.

In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves - and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. It will also lead to the love of her life, a love that stands out from all the rest.

Now eighty-nine years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life - and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it. "At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time," she muses. "After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is." Written with a powerful wisdom about human desire and connection, City of Girls is a love story like no other.

AMAZON

The Unhoneymooners
Christina Lauren

For two sworn enemies, anything can happen during the Hawaiian trip of a lifetime—maybe even love—in this romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling authors of Roomies.

Olive Torres is used to being the unlucky twin: from inexplicable mishaps to a recent layoff, her life seems to be almost comically jinxed. By contrast, her sister Ami is an eternal champion . . . she even managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a slew of contests. Unfortunately for Olive, the only thing worse than constant bad luck is having to spend the wedding day with the best man (and her nemesis), Ethan Thomas.

Olive braces herself for wedding hell, determined to put on a brave face, but when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. Suddenly there’s a free honeymoon up for grabs, and Olive will be damned if Ethan gets to enjoy paradise solo.

Agreeing to a temporary truce, the pair head for Maui. After all, ten days of bliss is worth having to assume the role of loving newlyweds, right? But the weird thing is . . . Olive doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, the more she pretends to be the luckiest woman alive, the more it feels like she might be.

With Christina Lauren’s “uniquely hilarious and touching voice” (Entertainment Weekly), The Unhoneymooners is a romance for anyone who has ever felt unlucky in love.

AMAZON

Never Tell
Lisa Gardner

#1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Gardner returns with an unpredictable thriller that puts fan favorites D.D. Warren and Flora Dane on a shocking new case that begins with a vicious murder and gets darker from there.

A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun.

D.D. Warren arrives on the scene and recognizes the woman--Evie Carter--from a case many years back. Evie's father was killed in a shooting that was ruled an accident. But for D.D., two coincidental murders is too many.

Flora Dane sees the murder of Conrad Carter on the TV news and immediately knows his face. She remembers a night when she was still a victim--a hostage--and her captor knew this man. Overcome with guilt that she never tracked him down, Flora is now determined to learn the truth of Conrad's murder.

But D.D. and Flora are about to discover that in this case the truth is a devilishly elusive thing. As layer by layer they peel away the half-truths and outright lies, they wonder: How many secrets can one family have?

AMAZON

The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before - and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Collins delivers equal parts suspense and philosophy, adventure and romance, in this searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present.

AMAZON

If I Stay
Gayle Forman

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, this will change the way you look at life, love, and family. Now a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

AMAZON

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Keeping Up

Bear Creek Rodeo Series

RESISTING THE COWBOY

HOW TO DATE A COWBOY

BETTING ON THE COWBOY

Happy National Ice Cream Pie Day!

Cookie Ice Cream Pie Recipe

Book Spotlight- The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

The 5th WaveRick Yancey

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Books to Read (August 2019)

City of Girls​Elizabeth Gilbert

​The UnhoneymoonersChristina Lauren

Never TellLisa Gardner

The Hunger GamesSuzanne Collins

If I StayGayle Forman

Author

Archives

The 5th Wave
Rick Yancey

City of Girls
Elizabeth Gilbert

The Unhoneymooners
Christina Lauren

Never Tell
Lisa Gardner

The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins

If I Stay
Gayle Forman