Review: The 17-Day Diet by Dr. Mike Moreno

by Carol2 Comments
Like many people, I could stand to lose more than a pound or two, so when The 17-Day Diet came out, I thought I'd give it a try. The 17-Day Diet is set up in 4 cycles , each of which lasts 17 days. I'm still in the first cycle, Accelerate. It's designed to give you a quick start to losing weight. In theory, you can manage any plan for only 17 days, but I probably shouldn't have started it the week before Easter. It is a very easy to follow plan, but look at all those yummy Peeps and chocolate eggs and  cherry pie. Back to the book. Basically, it gives you a list at the beginning of each cycle of the foods you can eat. The first cycle is mostly poultry, fish, a bunch of vegetables and some fruits. He also want you to drink green tea and eat two probiotic servings a day. Now I hate yogurt and...
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Review: The Seven Songs of Merlin by T. A. Barron

by Carol2 Comments
(Middle school / Young adult) I read this out loud with Amber (11) over a week or two, and we finished it last night. This is the second in the series, but we read the first, The Lost Years of Merlin, about a year or so ago, so it wasn't fresh in my mind. I was able to catch back on pretty quickly, though. At the beginning of The Seven Songs of Merlin, Merlin is 13 and is given the task of traveling across the island of Fincayra, using a magical harp to rejuvenate the land which had been devastated in the first book. The problem is he's a teenager, thinks he knows best and abandons his job to bring his mother, Elen, through the mist to be with him.But within minutes of her arrival, Elen is poisoned by a deathshadow that the evil Rhita Gawr had meant for her son. Merlin spends the rest of the book, learning the discovering the...
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Review: The Shimmer by David Morrell

by Carol7 Comments
Mysterious lights out of Rostov Texas draw hundreds of spectators each night, including police officer Dan Page’s wife, Tori. When Page follows her to Rostov and the viewing platform, they become witnesses to a massacre. A gunman shoots dozens of bystanders, but that’s just the beginning of the bloodshed. The lights are also connected to a secret government research project. But no one realizes how powerful the lights can be. The Shimmer revolves around the lights, their effects on townspeople and tourists: some see them, some don’t, some believe the lights can heal, others are driven by them to kill. It’s an engrossing thriller, good escapism, but can be a little gory in parts. I listened to it on audio, and my one complaint was that the narrator never let up. Just his tone of voice kept insisting “tension.” It fit the story-line, which was constant action, but annoyed me after a while. I think I would have preferred to read the...
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Refuge (flash fiction)

by Carol11 Comments
Artwork: 3D Fantasy Art Refuge by Carol 375 words Calmly Iloena raised her bow, aiming at the travelers walking on the road in the valley, watching the three men intently. She released the arrow, hitting the oldest of the men first. Quickly she killed the other two in turn. This was her land and she refused entry to strangers, a well-known fact. Even if the men had entered the area in all innocence, Iloena believed that the safety of her land and those she protected was worth too much; she would eliminate any threats. The regal white unicorn galloped across the field to Iloena’s side, whinnying. She solidly patted the creature’s shoulder, comforting it as much as possible. Death always upset it. It seemed to grieve every loss of life, friend or enemy. It stared at Iloena for a moment, then ambled away. It was rare that Iloena had to deal with strangers. Usually, the tales of giants and dragons roaming the hills discouraged foreigners, but...
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Friday’s Tale: The Raven and the Goose

by Carol5 Comments
Photo: Alaska-in-Pictures.com I enjoy folktales and legends that explain why our world is like it is.  Today's tale is a fun, little example. "The Raven and the Goose" from Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen tells how the raven became black. On the day when all the birds were getting their patterns and colors, the raven and goose agreed to paint each other. The raven painted the goose first, a nice nice black with a lovely white pattern showing through. The goose was quite pleased, and began to paint the raven in the exact same way. But then the raven fell into a rage, and declared the pattern was frightfully ugly, and the goose, offended at all the fuss, simply splashed it black all over. So that's why the raven is black, at least according to this story. I'd be pretty upset if I was the goose, too. The goose thought the pattern was nice and was trying to make the raven beautiful too,...
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Spring’s Serenity Mini-Challenge

by Carol4 Comments
Michelle is hosting a a fun mini-challenge at The True Book Addict.  She asks us to take at least three (or more) of our planned read-a-thon books and write a short paragraph using the first line of each book.  Thankfully she says it does not have to make sense. Here's my paragraph. I can't believe I'm really going through with this. We only have a few hours, so listen carefully.  Alex Stafford was just like Mama said. Sentence 1: Howling for My Baby by Beverly Rae Sentence 2: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan Sentence 3: Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers No as bad as I thought it would be, really....
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