Nicole Hadaway's Blog

Hampir semua orang, sudah pasti menginginkan rumah idaman mereka segera terwujud, salah satunya yaitu pada model rumah minimalis. Berbagai macam kendala sudah pasti ada namun walau begitu mempersiapkan segalanya dari awal tentunya menjadi hal yang tepat bagi anda untuk memulai pembuatan rumah itu sendiri. Sebagai langkah awal, pembuatan design interior bisa jadi menjadi hal yang tepat dalam pengerjaan rumah anda yang selanjutnya. Sebuah design rumah, tentunya bisa anda buat sesuai dengan daya imajinasi atau mungkin anda bisa juga meminta bantuan arsitektur dalam pembuatan design untuk interior rumah idaman milik anda.


Bagi anda yang hidup di perkotaan, membangun tempat tinggal dengan model rumah minimalis pilihan, merupakan cara yang tepat terutama jika kota yang anda tinggali kini penuh dengan perumahan dimana lahannya semakin berkurang. Untuk mewujudkannya, anda perlu design untuk Interior rumah minimalis yang tentunya bisa dikreasikan sesuai dengan keinginan anda. Perlu diingat, rumah bukan hanya akan kita tinggali dalam kurun waktu yang singkat melainkan dalam ukuran waktu yang lama atau bisa jadi seumur hidup kita, karena itu mewujudkan rumah yang akan kita tinggali secara cermat dan hati- hati menjadi hal yang tepat yang harus anda lakukan.

Ukuran rumah yang minimalis, bisa dibuat menjadi lebih bergaya serta berkesan elegan dengan pembuatan interior rumah minimalis yang tepat. Untuk masalah interior, tentunya menyangkut semua bagian dalam rumah yang anda miliki. Bisa meliputi ruang- ruang utama atau bisa pula perabotan rumah serta berbagai hal yang lainnya yang bersangkutan. Untuk masalah perabotan, tentunya anda bisa memilih barang yang sekiranya anda butuhkan serta menyingkirkan barang yang tidak diperlukan. Hal ini merupakan cara tepat untuk menghindarkan anda dari rasa sesak serta kekurangan ruang gerak, lihat Gambar Rumah Minimalis 2 Lantai.

Pembuatan design interior rumah mencakup pula penggunaan cat yang ada pilih dalam pewarnaan tembok bagian dalam rumah. Bagi anda yang senang dengan warna yang berkesan bersih maka penggunaan warna putih bisa jadi menjadi pilihan tepat. Namun beda lagi jika anda ingin kesan yang lebih segar maka disarankan memakai warna- warna cerah pada rumah. Demikian yang dapat kami sampaikan, jangan lupa untuk membaca artikel menarik mengenai Contoh Rumah Minimalis 1 Lantai dan Bertingkat Modern

Reviews, Giveaways, Excerpts, Interviews and more, from March 25 - April 5th.  Yes, I'm nervous about the reviews, but totally thankful for the bloggers who are hosting Release.  And extra special thanks to Xpressobooktours for organizing the whole thing (I cannot recommend Giselle enough -- she makes everything so smooth.  All I had to do was write the posts!).   Here's the list and dates, for those of you who'd like to follow along:


March 25th-ReadingDiva's Blog >> Review
-A Diary Of A Book Addict >> Review
March 26th-Proserpine Craving Books >> Excerpt-A Diary Of A Book Addict >> Review
-Free eBooks Daily >> Guest Post 
March 27th-Bookish Comforts >> Review-The Book Mark Blog >> Review
-Lily Pond Reads >> Interview
March 28th-Read and Reviewed >> Review + Guest Post
-The Aussie Zombie  >> Review + Excerpt
-Overflowing Bookshelves >> Review
March 29th-Lost in Books >> Review
-Girls *Heart* Books >> Excerpt
-Books and their Wordly Realm >> Interview
April 1st-Book Loving Mom >> Review + Guest Post-Darkest Addictions Book Reviews  >> Review + Excerpt
-Gabic Reads >> Review
-busy moms book reviews >> Review
April 2nd-Vampandstuff >>  Review + Guest Post-Bookluvrs Haven >> Review
-YaReads >> Review + Excerpt
April 3rd-What's Beyond Forks? >> Review + Interview-Buried Under Books >> Review + Excerpt
-Fae Books >> Guest Post
-Offbeat Vagabond >> Review
April 4th-The Bibliophile's Corner  >> Review + Interview
-deal sharing aunt >> Review
-Curling Up With A Good Book >> Review
-Whatever You Can Still Betray >> Excerpt
April 5th-I Eat The Books!!! >> Review + Interview
-Intoxicated By Books >> Review

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It is with great pride and pleasure that I feature Keldane the Cursed by Jeff Hollar today on this blog.  Please note that this book will appeal to adults and IS SUITABLE for MG readers as well -- yay!!!

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The boy rose from the stool he’d been sitting on and bowed his back as he stretched. His spine cracked loudly with the relief of stiffness the stretch provided. He thought, for not the first time ever or even the first time today, ‘My father is going to kill me!’
His gaze returned to the pages of the enormous book on the workbench before him. The runes all seemed to flow together in a jumbled mess. With a sigh of frustration, he slammed shut the cover of the grimoire. A plume of dust billowed from the ancient book causing him to sneeze violently and repeatedly.
“It’s no use guys. I can’t find what I need in this stupid book! I’ve been through it over and over and it’s just not here!”
He spoke to the two animals sitting on the table in front of him. The large greenish frog, Desmond, looked at him with a mournful gaze and croaked softly. The ginger cat, Lydia, looked at Keldane with a malevolent gaze, her tail swishing angrily from side to side.
“You guys KNOW transmogrification isn’t my best subject. I’d change you back in a second if I could only remember the bloody spell.”
The frog croaked more loudly and the cat hissed menacingly as if to say nothing was Keldane’s “best subject”. Although he was the son of THE most powerful wizard in history, Keldane was, unfortunately, so inept even his wizarding instructors openly referred to him as Keldane the Cursed.
*While it’s unlikely your father would actually kill you, I doubt he’ll be pleased with this latest in a long series of disappointments.*
The boy glanced up to the rafters at the immense vampire bat hanging there.“Barnabas, you HAVE to help me!” the boy moaned, “You’ve served our family for over 20 years. There has to have been a problem like this happen before.”
*No, I don’t think any of your siblings quite managed an embarrassment of this caliber. Although I’m not especially hungry, I suppose it’d be easiest to just suck them dry and you can toss the remnants into the rubbish bin. No one need be the wiser.*
Neither the frog nor the cat was privy to the exchange between the boy and his bat, but they WERE both a bit on edge. Thusly, neither was as surprised as one might expect when the bat swooped down to feed.
Before Keldane could intervene, his friends took matters into their own hands, so to speak. Barnabas learned firsthand why they called them “catlike reflexes” as Lydia ignominiously slapped him out of the air. Desmond jumped on to the chest of the dazed bat and held him down while Lydia, daintily, tore his head from his leathery shoulders.
Both animals settled back on to the bench with expressions simply daring Keldane to protest.
“Yes indeed. My father IS going to kill me.” The boy mused as he plopped back down on the stool.
Purchase information:  Amazon; Barnes & Noble; and Kobo

Thanks to BB Designs for their patience and talent!!!

I've been a fan of Preston & Child's brilliant creation, Special Agent Pendergast, since 2007 when I accidentally stumbled across The Book of the Dead in a Monegasque bookstore (it was one of the novels for sale in English.  Yes, I also purchased and read novels in French, but sometimes, it was nice to read English ;-).  Unbeknownst to me, that tale was part of the Diogenes trilogy, which I promptly started reading when I returned to the US, then I went back and read from the beginning (Relic), all the way through the current installment in the "series" -- Two Graves.

The last installment, Cold Vengeance, left me wanting.  The traits that draw me to the series is it's pseudo-science, as well as Pendergast's eccentricities, oddities, super-human qualities at times -- he can be a bit of a Mary Sue because he's so perfect (in some ways) and totally gets out of bad situations in amazing, super-human ways.  Cold Vengeance was lacking in those traits.  I'm happy to report they are back in Two Graves.

Two Graves leaves off right where Cold Vengeance ended -- Pendergast was about to meet his long-thought-to-be-dead-wife, Helen.  He does meet her, briefly, before she is kidnapped.  Pendergast tracks her down, and makes VERY surprising finds along the way.  VERY SURPRISING.  Almost "jumping the shark", but not quite.

Pendergast is in top form as everyone's favorite FBI agent who gets away with rule-breaking, intimidation, and general misbehavior just to get the job done, and it's a joy to read.  The signature Preston & Child "science" is back, which reaches right to the edge of your suspension of disbelief.  It sounds like it almost might work.  Another super-human character is added as an antagonist to Pendergast, from a most surprising plot twist (I had suspected, based on things said in previous novels, but, well...!).  And last but not least -- Nazis.  Everyone's favorite villains.

I do suggest re-reading Fever Dream and Cold Vengeance before delving into Two Graves, as this book makes many references to the past two (usually, Preston & Child novels can stand alone, but it certainly helps to have the background of the previous two in mind when reading this one).  There are also pleasant side-stories involving Corrie and Constance that are suspenseful and satisfying for the characters.

I'd give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

No, not really, it doesn't get any better than a show about a Poe-loving serial killer who starts up his own cult to do his "work" while he's in prison.  Especially when said serial killer is played by the ever-seductive James Purefoy (loved him as Marc Antony in HBO's Rome a few years back).

And it's got Kevin Bacon in it!!!  And Shawn Ashmore from the X-Men movies.  Great actors delivering great performances.



Basically, The Following centers on serial killer Joe Carroll (Purefoy), who was a college professor with an extreme love for Edgar Allan Poe.  So much that he killed people, trying to emulate Poe's work as the ultimate artistic endeavor.  The killings weren't pretty and the victims suffered much (as their eyes were ripped out).  Bacon plays the FBI investigator, Ryan Hardy, who tenaciously hunted Carroll and caught him, single-handedly, back in 2003.  Of course, Hardy has mental and emotional scars from the hunt and encounter, which could interfere with his current assignment.

Hardy was brought in again when Carroll escapes from prison in the first episode (set in present-day).  But, things aren't so easy anymore.  Carroll's not working alone.  He's got a "following".  He made good use of his time in prison, visiting with former students/admirers, charming people on the internet, people who have the inclination to hurt and to kill.  People who view Carroll as a mentor, an artist.  Yeah, there are some dangerous people out there.

So now, Hardy's got to discover just how far Carroll's web reaches.  Because even though Carroll's in prison, people are getting hurt out there, tortured and killed.  And Carroll's followers have just kidnapped Carroll's own son (whose mother, Carroll's ex-wife, had an affair with Hardy after her husband was sent to prison and she filed for divorce.  Uh-huh, complicated).

The plot is mostly unpredictable (I find that if you read enough/watch enough, whenever something "new" comes out, you're generally disappointed because you know what's going to happen next.  There's no suspense).  True, I did have my suspicions about certain people in the first episode, but I totally didn't see another one in on it, and now, I'm wondering just how many people Carroll has in his web.  Like, "good" guys, or people you think are supposed to be the good guys -- but is it all a facade, and are they just working for Carroll?

Who knows, but it's going to be a wild ride this season.

And Edgar Allan Poe's team, The Ravens, are playing in the Superbowl this Sunday!!  Go Poe!!!

 



I had the intense pleasure of seeing Mama last weekend and thoroughly loved it (except for the ending, which was disappointing, but up until the last 5 minutes of the movie, it's totally full of WIN).
Is it scarier than The Woman In Black (I had to sleep with the lights on for several nights after that).  Probably.  WIB is still my fave, for the gothic sets, actors and story, but Mama -- scared the bejeezus out of me the whole time I sat in the theater.
Seriously, I watched this movie with my hands on my face, ready to do the finger-filters at any given moment.  There are some scenes in which I'm still not exactly sure what happened because my eyes were closed.  All I can tell you is that it was something very bad and very scary!
Mama is the story of two feral children who are found after a five-year search by their uncle.  What they were doing in a cabin in the woods all by themselves is part of the story I won't reveal, but suffice it to say they were orphaned and raised by someone they call Mama.  After a custody battle in which their maternal aunt tries to gain the two little girls, the girls are able to live with their uncle (father's brother) and his bass-playing girlfriend (for whom motherhood couldn't be further from her goals). 
Of course, one would think that raising children who had been left to fend pretty much for themselves in a cabin in the woods since ages 3 and 1 is enough of a challenge.  But Annabel and Lucas are in way, way over their heads, thanks to the presence of Mama, who just won't let go of her little girls.
The little girls won't let go of Mama either at first.  She's really the only caring presence they've known in their short lives.  However, slowly, the older daughter, Victoria, begins to accept Annabel and Lucas as her new parents.  This, of course, upsets Mama.  And the last thing you want to do is make Mama mad.
The movie is appealing on many levels.  The characters are developed well.  When we first 'meet' Annabel, she's thanking God that her pregnancy test is negative.  It's very interesting (and believable) how her character turns around throughout the movie.  Victoria, the eldest child, is also interesting to watch as she moves away from Mama and towards Annabel and Lucas.
The plot is paced superbly, with downtime in between the "jump out of your seat" moments.  You never know when Mama is going to make an appearance -- thankfully, many of these instances are foreshadowed, but even when she does turn up, it's hair-raising.  There is some gore, and the movie does rely on computer-generated effects (which make Mama very fast and ultra-creepy), but there are also moments of scenes that are cleverly done that end up raising the hair on the back of your neck.
There are weak points; a psychologist who goes looking for a ghost in a remote cabin in the woods at night (who does that?!  Has he never seen a horror movie?!), and Lucas is absent throughout much of the film, having taken a bad spill early on.  The ending could have been done very differently to be  much more satisfying, but overall, if you need a good scare, go see it ;-)

Do you have a story of horrific, perhaps humorous, slightly gross love?  In honor of Valentine's Day, Visionary Press is seeking submissions for their new anthology -- the Bloody Book of Grotesque Love.  It will contain shorts by several Visionary Press authors, as well as outside authors -- and it pays, $10/story.  The word count is 1,000 - 3,000 for a story and 250 - 1,500 for a poem.

Click on over to THIS WEBSITE for submission details (but not after you check out the awesome cover below ;-).  You can also click on the Banner to the right of this blog, just under my titles ;-).

Fret not, paperback lovers -- give us a few weeks to get the formatting correct, and you'll be able to hold a copy in your hands, too!

http://www.amazon.com/Release-Tales-D...

Many thanks to all who've supported me -- Visionary Press Cooperative, Julie (#1 fan!), W.J. Howard, JoAnne Kenrick, Rhiannon Frater, Phatpuppy Art, Jess Capelle, Taliesin Meets the Vampires, Zahir Blue, and bloggers hosting my book on their blogs (including Giselle and Bookish Brunette who did the type).

Hope you enjoy it!!!

Thanks to the lovely and talented JoAnne Kenrick!!!