Showing posts with label book pictures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book pictures. Show all posts

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Fantasy Love February: Fan Art


So I'm not good at this sort of thing, by any means ... but I'm doing this for part of a challenge! In this one, you must do some kind of fan art for a fantasy book (or series) you've read.

You can read more about this particular mini-challenge created by Grace @ Fictionally for the Fantasy Love February Reading Challenge HERE.

And behold, my rather poor attempt at giving Tricia Mingerink's amazing fantasy series a photo shoot ... *wink*






This month, I got the chance to beta-read Defy, book three of this series, THE BLADES OF ACKTAR. I read it as part of the fantasy reading challenge, and absolutely loved it!! <3 I don't think there's a release date yet, but I will let you know when Tricia Mingerink gives us that information! *smiles*

If you would like to know more about this series, visit Tricia's site! Also, feel free to read my reviews of Dare and Deny, the books featured in my photo shoot! ^_^ 

Sunday, July 12, 2015

The Bookshelf Tag!

     Excited to do The Bookshelf Tag today!! ^_^ I was tagged by Deborah O'Carroll . . . well, not officially. But she claimed to tag everyone, so of course I counted myself as one of the tagged! :D

     Without further ado, here we go!

Describe your bookshelf (or wherever it is you keep your books-it doesn’t actually have to be a shelf!) and where you got it from: I bought my bookshelf from . . . Walmart maybe? when I was like sixteen. It's black, and about a head taller than me.
Do you have any special or different way of organizing your books? Yep! I do fantasy and dystopian first, and then I organize the rest according to date. Which is kind of hard, because some books don't specifically elaborate on what era their story is set in. And I'm not the most wise about historical stuff. But anyway, it's fun! Then I have my self-help/devotional type books stacked in the bottom corner. On the very bottom shelf, there's movies, journals, and other such things! :)

What’s the thickest (most amount of pages) book on your shelf? Hmm . . . I'm thinking Resistance by Jaye L. Knight

What’s the thinnest (least amount of pages) book on your shelf? Where Do I Start? An Overview of Indie Publishing by Molly Evangeline

Is there a book you received as a birthday gift? Fairer Than Morning by Rosslyn Elliott

What’s the smallest (height and width wise) book on your shelf? The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz

What’s the biggest (height and width wise) book on your shelf? Even though it's really four-books-in-one . . . The Canadian West saga by Janette Oke

Is there a book from a friend on your shelf? My dear friend, Betty, gifted me with a copy of Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, because she knows I love books and am writing Christian allegories! ^_^


Most expensive book? I don't usually spend much on books (which is a bit shameful, considering that I'm an author and understand how much work is put into making a book!!!) But anyway, I recently bought The King's Scrolls by Jaye L. Knight. It's like 14.99

The last book you read on your shelf? In Good Company by Jen Turano. It was a review book from Bethany House Publishers; and while it wasn't a favorite, I still like it enough to keep it on my shelf! :)

Of all the books on your shelf, which was the first you read? Um . . . I don't really know. But since The Hardy Boys were like the first chapter books I read, and I started reading Nancy Drew soon after, I'll go with The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene.

Do you have more than one copy of a book? No, I don't think I actually do . . . Too many other books to be buying double copies! ;D
Do you have the complete series of any book series? Yes! Quite a few, happily! But much more that I'd like to collect! As for what I have . . . The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder; Charles Towne Belles series by Marylu Tyndall; The Sisters of Bethlehem Springs series by Robin Lee Hatcher; The Grand Tour series by Lisa Tawn Bergren; and The Canadian West series by Janette Oke

What’s the newest addition to your shelf? That would also be In Good Company by Jen Turano, I believe! :)

What book has been on your shelf FOREVER? Ooh . . . Meet Felicity by Valerie Tripp? I got it when I was nine, along with the American Doll, Felicity

What’s the most recently published book on your shelf? I'm going to go with my own novella, A Dream Not Imagined. The paperback version was just published last month!! ^__^

The oldest book on your shelf (as in, the actual copy is old)? Let's see, I think the oldest one I have is Never Miss a Sunset by Jeanette Gilge, published in 1978. Not terribly old at all, haha! (was published like a little after my mom was born). But that's all I got!

A book you won? Her Good Name by Ruth Axtell

A book you’d hate to let out of your sight (aka a book you never let someone borrow)? Perhaps Courting Morrow Little by Laura Frantz. That's one of my favoritest books; I've read it like three times, which is really good for me these day! :D Other books . . . Resistance and The King's Scrolls by Jaye L. Knight, Tales of Goldstone Wood series by Anne Elisabeth Stengl, and The Grand Tour series by Lisa Tawn Bergren. I mean, I let my family members read them; but to actually let them leave the property, eek! ;P

Most beat up book? Freedom Crossing by Margaret Goff Clark. It's missing a cover and everything. I might have gotten it with a missing cover . . . I don't quite remember. But anyway, it's a lovely story!! ^_^

Most pristine book? I have a few of those . . . but probably Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

A book from your childhood? My mom bought me The Correspondence of Elizabeth Walton and Abigail Matthews by Nancy Lesourd when I was younger. I really enjoyed the story!

A book that’s not actually your book? Uh . . . don't have any of those. Besides maybe a self-help book of my mom's.
A book with a special/different cover (e.g. leather bound, soft fuzzy cover etc.)? I guess this edition of The Message would count. It has really thin pages too. I've never actually read this version of the Bible, as I understand it's not as accurate as the other versions. But I might read it sometime, :)

A book that is your favorite color? The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen has some pretty blues in it

Book that’s been on your shelf the longest that you STILL haven’t read? Probably Minnesota Brothers by Lena Nelson Dooley

Any signed books? Three that I found! =D Dauntless by Dina L. Sleiman; Tried and True by Mary Connealy; and Her Good Name by Ruth Axtell




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     Well, that was really fun!! I'm just going to copy Deborah here, and tag everyone! If any of you reader/bloggers out there would like to do this post, please do! And leave me a link in the comments, so I can read your post! ^_^

Saturday, February 28, 2015

A Bit of This and a Little of That

     ***Updated Version***    

     Hello dearest readers! :-) Just wanted to do a bit of an update post today... since I feel like I've been doing nothing but book reviews these days!

     My writing is not going as well as it could (should) be. But I have hopes that I'll find some quiet time to write today. Diamond Dark is currently at a count of 15,617 words. I keep getting ideas for it, but I usually end up just jotting down notes, since it all happens later on in the story!! Grr. I'm struggling with the whole, How is it going to measure up to the first book?? thing too. But... I have hope!
     Here's some inspiration pictures (found on Pinterest) for the main characters of this story:
ARIANA
 
MIRABELLE
 
EAGLE
 
KARALEE
     Hopefully those pique your interest! Perhaps they'll urge me to get back into the story too! ;-) In truth, I am happy to be once again with my dear characters from Book One, Silver Rose; and to be meeting some new ones as well! It's all grand fun, though a bit nerve-wracking at times. Ha!
 
     Speaking of Silver Rose, editing is going well. After I started reading Silver Rose to some of my younger siblings, I felt the uncontainable urge to re-write the beginning. ...It was just, bad. So I did, and my editor was very gracious about it all! :-) I'm so thrilled to see this story coming together so beautifully!! I really need to start thinking seriously about the cover. EEP! I just can't wait to share Karalee and the others' stories with you all! :-) :-)
Here's a short, unedited snippet:

     Don’t panic! Karalee turned in a full, dizzying circle. All around her a looming, gray forest stretched as far as the eye could see. Her heart picked up its beat until it was fluttering wildly against her chest. This feels too much like— Karalee squeezed her eyes shut, cutting off the thought. No. Don’t think about it. She breathed in deeply and turned in a slower circle. Yes, she was in a gray forest. Lidepia had vanished into thin air. Something strange was definitely going on.
     The crack of a stick sounded a few yards away.
     Karalee’s skin prickled. She peered into the dark foliage, but couldn’t make out anything threatening in that direction.
     Another crack.
     Everything is fine— Wait, was that a shadow looming behind the bushes? A scream caught in Karalee’s throat. She started running before anything else could happen. Her heart thundered in her ears, chest constricting painfully.
     Ghostly footsteps echoed behind each frantic, fleeing step she took.
     “King Adonai!” she gasped, reaching out to slap aside gray branches in her way, “I don’t know what to do!”
     A huge, fallen tree seemed to appear out of nowhere in the middle of her path. She lifted her skirt and pushed off the ground with her feet, leaping over it at the last moment.
     Gray fled past her vision. Heavy breathing seemed to sound all around her.
     Karalee.
     Karalee did scream then. Her stricken voice echoed over the forest.
     In the next moment, she ran head-on into something solid, dark, and unmovable.
     Another terrified scream pierced the air.
(From Silver Rose by Shantelle H.)
 


     Reading. I'm about halfway through Dauntless by Dina L. Sleiman, and I've been enjoying it so far. After I'm finished that book, I'm so excited to get back in King's Warrior by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt, which I briefly started. Lovely books.
 
 
      Ooh, and while we're on the subject of novels, I should mention a FREE book! Waltz into the Waves by Sarah Holman is a kindle freebie for the next few days!! :-)

 
     Forgot to add this the first time around. I re-organized my bookshelf recently, doing it according to date. What fun!! I totally fell in love with this new system! :-) Of course, the fantasy just have their own special section, and the self-help type books...
My lovely bookshelf. Sometimes I could just look at it and sigh for hours... ;D
Some of the books didn't have dates, so I'm not sure if I have them all in exactly the right order. But I did my best. And its surprising how many books actually do have dates!
First and second shelves...
Second and third...
And last. That my American Girl Felicity doll that I got at nine-years-old... thence came my love of the colonial/Revolutionary War era!! :-)
 
     Hey!! I recently got a twitter account: @shantellemary! I've been told its good to be on all those social media sites, to kind of get your name out there and all. So I went ahead and signed up for twitter... even though I had pretty much no idea what it was. Haha. I think I've learned a bit since then, ;-) :-)
 
     Well, I think that's all for updates today. I hope everyone has a good book in hand, :-), and that all the other things of life are going considerably well.
 
     Blessings! <3
 
     "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." Proverbs 31:30