Clan of the Cave Bear

THE STORY:

Takes us to back 25 000 years to a time when Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon walked the earth. We follow the story of a little 5 year old girl, orphaned when her family gets killed by an earthquake and she is the sole survivor of her clan, left to fend for herself. 

She wonders for a number of days through forests trying to survive as best as a five year old can and just when she is about to succumb to death after falling prey to a cave lion, she is saved by a Neanderthal woman of the Clan of the Cave Bear.Fabulosity Reads: Clan of the Cave Bear

Holiday’s, Prizes, Thank you’s

Holidays

Today South African’s are on public holiday. Youth Day marks a rather macabre event in our history. I suppose you could call it the day it all came to a head. South African black students staged an uprising that put the gravity of South Africa’s apartheid system to the world. And so as we go about our little daily chores, being grateful for one less day of work and our children being ever so happy to get four whole days of no school, let is all remember to take a moment of silence, in remembrance and gratitude towards those 176 young heroes and heroins who never made it past their schooling years for the sake of our freedom.

Prizes

As you may have seen in my last review posted on this blog, I indicated that I’d be moving all my book activities (well most of them anyway) to Fabulosity Reads. I’ll be hosting my first Give Away soon and am looking for Prize Sponsors. So if you are an author, agent, publisher, etc and youd’d like me to help promote your product, please drop me a line on fabulosityreads@gmail.com. I’m also interested in featuring whoever is going to sponsor prizes as a guest author or in an interview. I’m very excited about this project and the prospective publicity it will generate so please help me out.

Blog Awards

Lovely Darlene @ Darlenes Book Nook has nominated me for this decadent award and I just want to say thank you ever so much. Iam so please by your gracious gesture.
Darlene's blog is becoming my info. center. If you want to know what's happening at Blogsville then do yourself a favour and head on over there, the girl has her fnger on the proverbial pulse.
Darlene I hope you will not be offended but I cannot divulge anymore information about myself otherwise my blog friends will stop coming to my blog for lack of intrigue. I have shared far too much already, I hope you don't disqualify me.

For this Blog Award I am nominating:

Another Look Book Reviews
EK Family Books
My Life In Stories
I refuse to go quietly
In Accepting the award you have to:

1. Share 5 unknown facts about yourself and 
2. Pass it on to however many blogs you want to share it with. Good Luck

Last but certainly not least, please don't forget to head on over to Fabulosity Reads, it lonely over there.

To be or Not to be...I suppose that's the question

I don't know how many times a married person asks themselves this question and here I confess that I certainly have and not once. There have been times in my relationship that I’ve said to myself (although this is really the first time I say it to anyone else, never mind the hundreds of people who will read this) that marriage is not all it’s cracked up t be. Which is actually exactly the problem? What is it supposed to be cracked up to be and who set that benchmark? I suppose we have Barbie and Ken to blame.

And there have been times that out of frustration I also thought, there has to be more to life than this, and then a day later be thinking I could not love life more than I do right now, right here. I have said to him, I want my life as it was, I can't go through another day of this and then with all that forgotten I could be caught saying: I can’t imagine life without him, it would be unbearable. More often than not I have felt quite schizophrenic, never knowing who and what I am from one moment to the next or even knowing what I want.

I'm sure you must be wondering by now, what on earth is she on about. Well. I'm going on about being married or single.

I am a thirty something year old female, been married for five of those and raising a family with what I consider to be a very good man (most of the time). I mean I wouldn't be terribly honest if I said I think him wonderful all the time because one of my girlfriends may pitch up here and remind me off all the times I said he was the last person I want to see before my day of reckoning. But yes mostly I think he is a wonderful man, everything I deserve and more. 

I also find myself observing my single friends who seem to spend half their time staving off paranoia stemming from a paralysing fear and suspicion that they’re never going to find the one to share their dentures with and the other half pretending they don't need him, possibly out of sheer exhaustion from looking . I was woken to this shocking fact while speaking to a school friend late last year whom I had just reconnected with through skype. We had been in primary together are the same age.  The conversation went something like this: 

Wendy how many kids do you have now?

3 I said.

Oh wow, I wish I could be you.

Me who looks at her life and thinks "is this all there is" said: Why would you want to do that to yourself? Do you know how much hard work this is and what a thankless job it is? At least you have your life. (ok I was very stressed last year, I even had a heart scare as a result of work pressure.

Her retort was: Wendy, I am in my early thirties, there are no marriageable men out here, I am still dating and getting into relationships that fizzle out after a couple of months, how long will I keep going on like this....what example am I setting for my nieces because even my youngest sister is now married. 

I just want someone whom I can love and will love me and work towards something together.

This put a new perspective to my situation ( this is what I had gotten and was now perhaps taking for granted)......so in that 30 seconds after her response I saw my marriage through lenses I hadn’t put on for a long time, maybe a couple of years.

 Just last week I went to lunch with a friend, one of my best friends and inevitably things moved on to the subject of men and children for a moment. Somewhere in the talk I said to her: Can you believe what IT did....and so I go off on a tangent about my domestic irritations whose sole origins are my other half....after my rant I ask, by the way, how's it going with your boyfriend....I am expecting anything from which one to we got engaged but no, I get: am taking an oath of celibacy. 

At 35!!!!!!!!!!!

That will be like trying to get off a Swiss chocolate addiction but I do not say this. This is gonna be painful. I put on my: Oh no, things will get better don’t give up face, _but I’m not sure I’m pulling this off convincingly. All I want to say is:

What is going on out there?

I don’t actually have an answer or a solution here but am wondering, is this a dilemma that affects others too? Do people ever talk about it? Does everyone walk around looking like they have the recipe for the perfect relationship while inside are haunted by a niggling worry that all is not as it should be in their private little world?
I am really beginning to suspect that there is no ideal state of being outside of the one you are in. Being happy or sad while single or married is a direct result of what you decide to put into either state. I don’t know whether if I was a single thirty something I would be happy being single but neither do I really feel like being married is like having conquered the world. I suppose it feels like the right place to be at the right time for me....a natural progression in my journey of life because I strongly feel that my inner most desire is to love and be loved. So I suppose for better or worse, I'm in it for the long haul.

BLOOD REACTION BOOK REVIEW

I've decided to remove most of my book reviews from this blog specifically because I kinda feel like they are getting lost in all my other stuff and I really want to have a dedicated space to learn and do interviews, blog tours for books and Give Aways.  I hope you, my dedicated posse', will  follow my reviews and ventures on Fabulosity Reads in addition to Fabulosity Nouveau, my baby to be loved unto death and beyond.
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My latest read is DL. Atha's Blood Reaction and I must say she has made my vamp fiction experience all the better. You will find my review on this fabulous book on Amazon, Good Reads, Bookblogs and Fabulosity Reads. Please visit the latter to orient yourself and stake your claim on the follow badge.

Buy this book

THE STORY
The author takes us to the bundus somewhere in rural America. A doctor living with her daughter finds herself involuntarily having a house guest of a supernatural kind. The vampire (Asa) forces the good doctor into bargaining her life away to save her daughter from the clutches of pure evil.

WHO'S WHO
There are two main characters:
• Annalice is a doctor left alone at home while her daughter is on holiday.
• Asa is a nomadic vampire angry at the world and intending to let anyone who crosses his path knows it.

THIS WAS HOT
• The beginning of the book I found quite impressive. In fact I absolutely loved it. The author doesn’t dilly dally. She is very quick to introduce the main characters and the plot and moves on to the crux of it without leaving out important details.
• The story is told as a first person narrative and I really like this because I felt it took away long explanations and she tells the story so well it’s like watching events unfold with the teller.
• The medical approach, I’ve read quite a number of vampire novels and not many make extensive use of medical backgrounds but it was used so well in Blood Reaction it complimented and gave credibility to the tale by merely highlighted the narrator’s expertise in the field.
• The doctor looks at her “infection” as a medical experiment”. I think this gave great insight into what  “happens” when one is being turned into a vampire, again not many books of this genre explain this in convincing detail.
• Her last thought which is towards her mother in the end is really quite shocking and intriguing.

NOT SO HOT
A number of gramma and spelling errors and repetitive use of specific words and phrases. I think a good thesaurus would be handy.
Lack of conflict/struggle to adjust in the end after she turns felt too convenient (in fact this reminded me too much of Bella’s change in Twilight which I felt was lack lustre). It does feel a little hurried considering that the entire story has been leading to this point.

OVERALL
I like this book, I really do. I read it in a day and although I’m left in the dark about how things end, I’m glad the author left us wondering because for a moment towards the end I was worried that a great story was going to have a mundane ending.
I noticed that that DL is very good at tying up lose ends, there’s never a thought or event left dangling, so the fact that the end has questions and we haven’t heard the conclusion of the detective's involvement leaves me wondering whether the saga continues.
This is a great read that gives a lovely fresh angle to vampire fiction.

Top Blog Tips....Advise...well, its a blog something.........

I've never written a post on blog advise before because I never felt I had enough experience. But you know, I've been blogging for almost 6 months now and I feel I've had enough time to reflect on what worked for me even if i'm still falling short of being an expert.
Thank you to my fellow Book Bolgs Ningers who responded to my Blog Tip Question on my  page. This helped stimulate my thinking.

I also have to mention that there are four specific bloggers whose blogs I rely on the most for such advise and in no particular order they are: 
Karen G
Rach Harrie
Myne Whitman Writes
Pro Blogger


So what pearls of wisdom am I dispensing today? Well let's see:

1. Write for yourself and readers will appreciate it. The only time I ever really felt compelled to waffle for the sake of getting something on my blog was with the A-Z Blogfest and I suspect that this is the only time that other bloggers would dare excuse blog laziness by coming by to visit again. Writing good and unique content is the one sure way of keeping yourself inspired and others interested.
2. Do not lose yourself: Its easy to get tempted to blog about what others are blogging about, but remember why you started blogging. The more blogs and ideas I'm exposed to the more difficult I find it to remember this. My blog break has been a good opportunity to reflect on who I am and why I'm doing this. That being said, learning new things means we evolve into more and better (well I hope this is so), so make room to accommodate development but don't leave that which sets you apart behind.
3. Design for yourself. Your content and blog look  must reflect your individuality. They say less is more with regards to look and feel. You did catch the bit where I said_ They Say _ right? Whenever I organize things on my blog I try to get rid of one or two gadgets (especially when I'm adding). I test the effectiveness of a gadget by asking: what purpose does this serve? Does it add value to my blog/ message/voice?  So use gadgets perhaps more prudently than I do, I'd be on Prozac if my blog where to look stark, I don't carry the desert look well. 
4. Very very important, give credit where its due. Never use someone's work without giving credit in a meaningful manner and I don't mean just mention their name. You must mention their name, link to their blog/site and if possible by all means redirect the reader to their blog (I feel the redirect bit is particularly important if you are using another bloggers work).  Using someones' work in a way that prejudices them in whatever manner is unacceptable and reflects trailer trash mentality that should be reserved for your interview with Jerry Springer. PS! It also doesn't hurt to mention to the other blogger in their comments that you will be reposting their feature or using their material on your blog. 
5. Disable word verification.....and I suggest you do it quick, this is very irritating. I've also given up posting comments on certain blogs because of this. You think your comment is captured and move on. Only later when you check on whether the blogger responded to your comment, you find out it never went because you were suppose to check for the word verification pop up  after submitting. Its a terrible waste of time when you have 100 other blogs to check and Blogger is very good with spam.
6. Treat others as you would like to be treated. If you want comments, you comment on other blogs first, if you want followers, besides writing great content, follow other blogs and give constructive input on those blogs. Visit other blogs but especially your followers blogs. A trend I noticed with myself early on is that I tended to visit the blogs of the most recent followers more frequently because those appear first. Now I rotate my start points. One day I start from the very beginning, another from the middle and last from the latest. It's impossible to visit everyone on a single sitting and not planning your visits will leave some followers unvisited and uncommented on.
7. Always respond to comments. This is one of the first things I read from Karen's advise posts many moons ago. You don't have to respond to each one  but make sure that your audience knows you're paying attention. I feel that when you don't do this, its like being invited to a dinner party and then having the quests entertain themselves because the host left the party. I also think its a good habit to copy your response to the commenter's email address time allowing. Some visitors may not return to see your blog to see your response because they neglected to click on "the follow comments to this blog post" prompt. I've missed this prompt a number of times to my great irritation and I appreciate it every time I get a direct response from the poster.
8. Very important, always welcome your followers, I follow quite a lot of blogs and its only a handful of those that acknowledge your follow with a welcome. I think this is incredibly ungracious and discourteous. That person does not owe a visit or allegiance to your blog and it is only a sign of good breeding and character when you take a moment to thank a new face on your follow gadget. Unless you get 50 followers a day, you should endeavour to find the time to send a brief welcome and thank you email at least within that first week of their arrival.
9. Lucy Rock's tip really really hit hard for me.  She says:  do not to be a slave to your blog and make it work for you rather than the other way around :-) write regularly but don't get too stressed out and make time for your reading as well. If you write people will follow.. I have been a slave I regret to say, so hard to kick an addiction but kick it I must.
10. And just because I have to have a 10: Use Graphics in your posts. Interesting and relevant graphics give visual appeal, help facilitate comfortable communication and encourage greater understanding. I suppose this is the most biased of all my points because I am a visual person. I see a long post with no pictures or clips and I sincerely promise to return later to read but somehow never get there. But show me that same post with interesting pics and things interspersed and I'll read to the end. 

BookBlog.Ning blogger additions

• Write for yourself and share with others! 

  http://parismusings.blogspot.com

• Quality over quantity ManOfLaBook.com

• Pick a consistent theme and stick with it. DrAmyR 

• Keep it simple. Keep it regular. Keep it fun. Thanks for the word verification tip. Stephen Lawrence

        Brayton 

• Post regularly.  Be original.  Jump right into it.  Who needs the summary? William (Bill) Torgerson

• Go out of your way to respond kindly and courteously to people who may have inquires about anything

         concerning your blog. My respect for some bloggers has grown immensely simply with the way they    

         responded far beyond my expectations to questions I had as new blogger. I think this is invaluable! Eva

• Bloggers having their email available, I also advise creating an email just for your blog.

        Network, comment on other blogs, if participating in mems, participate, don't just post. 

        Enjoy it, don't let it become a job or you will get burnt out, read for the love of it, don't read to blog. 

        Marce

• The best advice I have received so far came from my husband who advised me to blog only 'for myself' 

         and only when I am inspired. My best pieces are the ones that come naturally.cookiesbookclub

• 1. Be honest.  2.  Arrive at an opinion - don't dance around and make the reader wonder whether you     

         liked the book in question or not.   http://josephsreviews.wordpress.com/

• "Do what you love" _Over the years, this has become my blogging mantra.  David Gutowski

The French Nocturne Book Review _ by Roland Yeomans

Hello friends and friends to be. I've been away for a while, still away in fact, sick as a dog but I'm long over due for a blog update and I thought the best thing would be putting up my FQN review  as it will have a couple of days exposure before I can update again. South Africa is sooooo cold right now it ridiculous. I think I've now caught an infection in my chest, its aflame......Please get a hold of an FQN copy, it's well worthwhile.
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Buy this book.

THE STORY:

Sam McCord is the dark hero of this epic tale of death and destruction inNew Orleans by the cataclysmic Katrina. Katrina not only leaves a hurricane ravaged city behind but unleashes all sorts of supernatural enemies of man all out for his blood and soul.

WHO'S WHO:

There are two main characters:

• Sam McCord the conflicted hero.

• Father Renfield, Sam’s best friend and right hand man with vampire qualities.

THIS IS HOT:

• The complexity of the characters: I found the main characters well developed and the layers being peeled away as you get into it are definitely worth the time spent glued to the pages. Its one of those books where you simply have to know..... 

• The writing style is rich and you can’t help but be both amused and awed by the double entendres littered throughout or the sagacious reasoning of the protagonist. I think the writer is quite philosophical and poetic which is in my opinion adds depth.

• Suspense  - There are great scenes  and those really hold the audience in a grip. Like the scene where Sam meets the serpent (I loved me idea of a serpent that’s vulnerable, Rind). This scene is so tightly woven that when the Padre’ jumped in with a witty remark I felt like a coiled spring being sprung loose. Or the one moment when Marie Laveau exchanges eyes with her boa constrictor. I read this and thought this book is freak galore (in a good way). What goes on in Roland’s mind?

• Father Renfield’s past that leaves me feeling he is the most badly dealt by fate. He is a man of the cloth yes _ but at what cost? Which is a real contradiction because priesthood is a calling and that should be a blessing?
• I have a number of favorite quotes that will stay with me forever. 

This is one of them, not necessarily the most outstanding but very appealing to me: 

“Her female intuition told her that you became a worse husband in direct proportion to your becoming a better man. In the last years I must admit you have become something of a nauseating saint, a man with all the virtues I despise and none of the vices I admire.”

NOT SO HOT:

•  The gramma and spelling errors. A round of editing  would be very good for this book but mind you, this does not detract much from the great read that it is.

• I also would have liked more development around certain themes for example, like Rind and her species, she is central to who Sam has become but so is Elu and his mother and the question is how and why. I have the when as somewhere in the last 180 years.

• I thought Sam McCord indulges his own thoughts a tad bit much. 

OVERALL:

The idea of a bad hero is very exciting and quite fascinating to watch. The great conflict is between the natural pull of the dark side within our hero and his desire to believe in what he calls the great Mystery (God), who remains an elusive concept to a great extend. But as all of us are both good and evil, McCord can’t help but make sure that goodwill is done for those most vulnerable in society and this pits him against powerful government figures and the master of all, Day Star, who has illusions of being Lucifer himself. You can imagine what happens when you have a delusional all powerful.

 I can’t wait to see what happens in the next instalment (Croal Nights) which the author was kind enough to send my way.

If  you enjoy urban fantasy that is brimming o'er with dark vengeful supernaturals, then I think this book is a must read.

Blog Haitus

I'll be away from blog-ville for about a week or so due to some pressing business. I wonder how I will cope without everyone here. But I take heart in leaving you with the kind of love felt for Uncle John........... This is the best of all loves. LOL

'Twas Ever Thus

(In invitation of Thomas Moore)

I never reared a young gazelle, 

(Because you see, I never tried);

But had it known and loved me well, 

No doubt the creature would have died.

My rich and aged Uncle John

Has known me long and loves me well,

But still persists on living on-

I would he were a young gazelle.

I never loved a tree or flower;

But, if I had I beg to say

The blight, the wind, the sun or shower

Would soon have withered it away.

I've dearly loved my Uncle John,

From childhood to the present hour,

And yet he will go living on-

I would he were a tree or flower!

Henry Sambrooke Leigh