Thursday, January 28, 2016

Eve of Destiny by Maya James


PURCHASE LINKS


Summary
Adam vanishing from her life hasn't been as easy for Evette to forget about as she'd hoped in this finale to the novella, Fate: Adam & Evette.

No matter what distractions Evette creates for herself, the memories of her short but intense love affair refuse to fade. An unexpected encounter with someone from Adam's past reveals the awful truth of his fate and the plane crash that has plagued Evette's subconscious. New and old friendships converge around her for support and with them comes a new purpose, the sole survivor of the accident that took Adam. A young man named Mark Zimmerman, with his devoted father at his side, becomes Evette's obsession. But with Mark's recovery and entire future offering no promises at all, is she placing her heart on an impossible hope?

Unexpected love, forgotten revenge, lifelong secrets, forgiveness, loss, and unrelenting passion all await Evette on her path from fate.



EXCERPT
"Nothing in this world will ever compare to how I see her. Take every wonderful moment of your life, every sunset, every birth of a child, every kiss, every single thing that has ever brought you a moment of peace and happiness in this life, and put it all together—that is how I see Evette every time I look at her."


Impressions
The perfect book to make your heart skip a beat, sigh from the sweetness of the characters romantic feelings and get an heart attack from the cliffhangers!
All in once, this story will not let you indifferent!

Divided in different parts, you will follow Evette after she has learned what happened to Adam just few minutes after their incredible moment together.
To be honest, the outcome was predictable but the author's words and emotions make you turn the pages eagerly. And you meet new secondary personages that are irresistable.

Then, you start to wish you have met someone in your real life, that has a beautiful creative soul as Adam.
When you begin to tell you that the story will be ending in a cute way, the author wake you up with a clever illusion and description of a scary cliffhanger.

Was really caught by the author playful way of dealing your her readers while she was telling them beautiful love stories.
Great sequel and cool series!

Author Bio
Indie Author of contemporary romance and suspense novels such as the Charity Series (Charity's Warrior, Charity’s Secrets, and Charity’s Passion) and a novella titled Fate: Adam & Evette.

East coast born and raised, I'm married, extremely happily, with 4 kids, 3 of which are now young adults (not sure when that happened).

I’m a COO in my technology-based "day job,” which requires a mix of technical and creative writing for both internal and client-facing materials, but it was not satisfying my artistic spirit. Writing the “Charity” series has been absolutely fulfilling and exciting.

My favorite writing takes place on my phone while lying on the Southernmost Beach in Key West, where I try to go at least twice a year.
AUTHOR MEDIA LINKS



Tuesday, January 26, 2016

The Scoop on Good Grammar by Margie Blumberg

Summary

In THE SCOOP ON GOOD GRAMMAR, each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of culture: exploration, art and invention, food, sports, classic movies and TV, poetry, and travel.​ By pairing grammar lessons with such cultural touchstones as a baseball, a telephone, a painting by Renoir, and a slice of pizza, learning becomes enjoyable! ​ 

Note: The original eBook version of this title has been revised for this first print edition.

Impressions
To be honest, the funny cover attracted me at first. I've also wanted to improve my grammar so I've decided to have a look at this book.

Through culture, quiz or pictures, you are learning about grammar. If the lessons are made to be fun and attracted a large public from children to adults, sometimes the stories told were distracting.

I remember reading about "adjectifs and adverbs" and to stay stuck on the female version of the world "pizzaiolo".
I was asking myself why are you telling me about this?

Of course, it's a great information but it has nothing to do comparative and superlative forms the lesson was talking about.
Sure, it's a grammar book and it's not always sexy to read about grammar but it's confusing enough when you are not a native speaker to not distract me with other details.

Same with a French translation in a middle of English lessons that is not correct. I talk about "After Tour Coffee" that doesn't mean anything if you translate it literally into "Après-Tour Café". It has made me frown and focusing on the badly translated title instead of the lesson.

Don't get me wrong, the book is interesting and try to make grammar seems fun. But by wanted to be original, the author has confused and distracted me from the lessons a little to often.

Source
*Arc provided by Netgalley
I received this book in exchange of a fair and honest review.


Saturday, January 23, 2016

Maya James Blog Tour



It has been a long time since I've decided to participate to a blog tour.
Busy busy... I know it's a lame excuse but it's a valide one when you have to respect a schedule. :-D
But I couldn't stay away from Evette and Adam adventures.

"Fate", the first volume, was a really cool romantic read with a cliffhanger that was unpredictable and almost made me shed some tears.
I've really appreciated the ending.

So when I've learned there was a sequel, I was really curious about it.
And you will learn about my impressions very soon as this blog tour will stop by my blog thursday 28th.

Have a great weekend!







VOL 1
FATE: ADAM & EVETTE BY MAYA JAMES



Purchase links

Friday, January 22, 2016

The Art of Fashion Illustration by Somer Flaherty Tejwani

Learn the techniques and inspirations of today's leading fashion artists *Plus, tear-out fashion silhouettes to create your own stylish designs!

Summary
Includes tear out sheets to practice your own fashion illustration.

The Art of Fashion Illustration is the ultimate guide to fashion sketching. Inside, you'll find more than 150 beautiful illustrations from the international community's masters of illustration and rising stars including Adriana Krawcwicz, Sarah Beetson, Pippa McManus, Sarah Hankinson, Nuno Da Costa, Lovisa Burfitt, and Erin Petson. Peek behind the cloth and enjoy interviews with the illustrators, commentary from influencers in the industry and a discussion of illustration techniques. Expert stylist and fashion writer, Somer Flaherty Tejwani, provides your with an inside scoop on over 30 illustrators.

Along with interviews with the illustrators and fashion influencers, you'll find additional fashion illustration techniques - how artists infuse movement and attitude in their drawings, watercolor versus pencil, insider information, fashion silhouettes and more. Create your own illustrations by using convenient tear sheets that are included in the back of the book.

Fashionistas and aspiring designers will love the inspirations found in this book! You'll be creating stylish and contemporary looks in no time!



Quotes

"Really find your style. It defines you and makes you stand out from the crowd."
Erin Petson
"I couldn't imagine a life without drawing in it."
Nuno Da Costa
"Not everyone will like what you do, and to be honest, it would be a boring world if evryone did!"
Niki Pilkington

Impressions
For me, fashion design was always about sketching and drawing to let your ideas out before deciding to create a model. Seeing this book, I thought it was perfect way to learn more about the profession and what is behind the stage.

Let me tell you that I was really impressed by the diversity of the art, the quality of the artists and the way the book was made.

I've liked how you are introduced to the creators with a bio, their advices and motivational quotes to beginners, who will be interested in a carreer in the fasion industry.

Of course, they all have their specificities and I was draw to some of them more than others. But I've really enjoyed reading about their works and how they see it.

You can also see the designers using differents medium: watercolor, sketch, collage, digital, even some street art style. Work with colors or black and white. There is not really a difference with another artists. It's just their attention that is focusing on clothes, materials instead of canevas, packaging or a book cover.

It was a very enjoyable read. Interested. Full of great illustrations, advices and a nice way to see fashion..

Source
*Arc provided by Edelweiss
I received this book in exchange of a fair and honest review.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

The girl on the stool


The girl on the stool

She was ready to walk away
Glass empty, no reason to stay
Desillusioned, a little blue
Tired of life, of what she knew
Alcohol could not make her forget
Only love but she was afraid to bet 
Then, the wind has carried her name
From lips promising sins and flame
Will she succombe to temptation?
Or stay a coward with safe option... 

Lucie
16/01/2016

Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy New Year!



Happy New Year!

Since 2015 was very challenging and hard on myself, I'm happy to be able to turn this new page and start fresh.
Hope I will be able to read much more than last year and to accept, once again, book tour and book promotion.
Was too busy this past year to really do so.

But I've been able to discover new fabulous authors and it's always a cool experience.
Hope I will be even more surprised in 2016!

Thanks for following my reviews/posts and wish you all to enjoy a wonderful year!