Believing in Horses by Valerie Ormond

"First, the move to Maryland. Then Dad's deployment to Afghanistan. Sadie is in trouble. Then she gets Lucky, a new young horse who proves to be a handful. But that's just the beginning. Together they encounter horse thieves, Maryland storms, and unwanted horses destined for auction and uncertain futures.

Sadie makes it her personal mission to save them. Along the way she meets other people who are dedicated to rescuing horses. She also learns that some people in the horse industry are driven by greed.

She's twelve.
Can she save the horses in time...and herself?"

Loved it! Amazing! If you don't like horses, then you probably won't like it that much. BUT, I know about a dozen little girls that would die to read this ASAP. If you have a horse lover in the household, this is a definite recommend for them! I read lots of pony pals and another series (the name escapes me right now...saving ginger or something like that.) Absolute must-read for all horse fans!

Au Revoir Crazy European Chick (Perry & Gobi #1) by Joe Schreiber

“It’s prom night—and Perry just wants to stick to his own plan and finally play a much-anticipated gig with his band in the Big Apple. But when his mother makes him take Gobija Zaksauskas—their quiet, geeky Lithuanian exchange student—to the prom, he never expects that his ordinary high school guy life will soon turn on its head. Perry finds that Gobi is on a mission, and Perry has no other choice but to go along for a reckless ride through Manhattan’s concrete grid with a trained assassin in Dad’s red Jag.
Infused with capers, car chases, heists, hits, henchmen, and even a bear fight, this story mixes romance, comedy, and tragedy in a true teen coming-of-age adventure—and it’s not over until it’s “au revoir.”

WOW. What a crazy whirlwind. I loved the format! It starts as a college application style question/answer form. But you can tell, Perry just get’s too caught up in this chain of events to answer the questions seriously. He just rolls with it! There was some explicit sexual implications coupled with pulse pounding action. I absolutely adored the style of the story, the way you discover Gobi, and the way Perry discovers himself. You want to grit your teeth, cheer, and scream…sometimes all at once.  I read this on the staircase at my place, and finished it within an hour. I thought I knew what was going to happen…then I didn't….then I did. But at the end, it didn't matter if I saw it coming or not. It had a Mary Poppins ending (it was practically perfect in every way!) This book could be read as a standalone or, like me, you’ll look forward to Perry’s next adventure. I was wholly satisfied with this read and would recommend it to any action junkie.

Feature & Follow #1 (Parajunkee's #159)

I've never participated in any of Parajunkee's meme's before, so I have no idea what I'm doing.... but I'll pretend I do.

This weeks question is:

Q: What do you do with your books after you are done reading them?

If I loved them, I keep them (me and my sister read them.) If I can stand to be parted with them, I give them to Goodwill, where someone less fortunate might find them and enjoy them! I also sometimes donate to the library (but only if I'm sure they won't throw them out, like a lot of libraries in my area are doing because they don't have the funding or space to put them.)

If they are religious in nature, I give them to the community church's library! 

And yet another option, is that sometimes, I ship them to my best friend! We live over 3,000 miles away from each other, but if the book is special enough, I spring for the envelope and send it to her!

I'll admit, I can be selfish with my ARC's. I usually keep them, because I rarely get one that I don't like (read: get attached to.)! 

~
As a side note, I prefer to be followed via RSS. Here is my feedburner:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/RachelsBookReviewsFeed

Tired and Two more gone.

I've been sick lately, so I've been sleeping on the couch in the living room.
I had taken some medication the night before, so I could (hopefully) finally have a good night's sleep.

At about 7 in the morning, I was awoken by conversation between my mom and my sister.
I had been briefly conscious when they went out to feed the horses this morning. I heard

"I think we should wake Rachel up and tell her," Said my mom.
" -m-" Olivia was cut off, as my mind let me wake up totally.

"What?" I asked

"Something sad happened last night." she said.

My mind went to my dog.
She's 14 human years old, diabetic, blind, and has a recently discovered lung problem (akin to doggie asthma)
It was plausible that she had passed away in her sleep.

"Maggie passed away in her sleep last night?" I asked.
"No, the goats died last night. A Coyote got them." She said.
She continued "Granny got up this morning to let Taz (her West Highland Terrier) out and he barked and scared them away. They hopped over the fence, but the goats are dead."

I got up. I put on yesterdays work clothes (jeans shorts and a camp-halfblood T-shirt.) I grabbed a ponytail holder and my bandanna. I put my hair in a messy bun, put my bandanna on and went with my mother and sister to fetch Pablo (a boy my sister's age that helps us with the tougher chores around the ranch.)

We ate a sparse breakfast at McDonald's, and came back home.

I had only let out a few tears. I was determined not to cry when we had company.
But when I took out the trash, I decided I had to see. Did they suffer? These goats were like my dogs! They were family, and I had to know.

I turned back out the door, already crying and ran to their pen. I knew they were dead, but my eyes were expecting to see them standing, wiggling their fluffy tails back and forth, perhaps pushing each other away from their stack of hay.

They were lying there, legs straight out. Eyes wide open. Rigormortis had set in. Ants were interested in their tongues, and the flies had honed in on their bodies. It registered that they didn't suffer as much as they could.

Tinkerbell didn't fight. Her neck was broken, but no blood had spilled.
Columbia fought a little, and along with her broken neck, a patch of blood spilled on to her salt and pepper fur.

I looked at Tinkerbell's gazeless eyes, through my blurry ones again.

I turned away and hugged the nearest horse's head. She licked my arm and nickered at me.

Horses know grieving. No one can tell me differently.

My mom hobbled out from our newly painted fence, and hugged me. The horse didn't leave us.

I wanted to dig their grave, but mom told me I wouldn't be allowed. My lungs are suffering, and I had an appointment at 'my hospital' up north the next day. It was a sweltering 100 degrees and my mom didn't want me to pick up Valley Fever on top of whatever I already had going on.

So I came in side, cold all of the sudden.
I wrapped a blanket over my shoulder, cried some more and notified my long-distance best friend. (probably wrecking her vacation in the process.)

I cried some more. I stared at my books... and I stared at the outside. I thought about the loads of time I woke up the goats when they were sleeping...because they were so still I thought they had died.

I thought about the ribbon I won at the county fair with my photo of Columbia.
I thought about feeding them flowers, and them getting buckets stuck on their heads.
I thought about when they scratched their backs with their own horns. I thought of them bleating, and how it sounded like children screaming.

I'd never see them do those random things again.

My sister and Pablo dug the grave, under my 'miracle tree' (a special tree to me.) and laid them to rest there.

Animal Control stopped by, and we told them the story, as well the stories my grandmother had been told since the events of this morning (neighbor's four baby goats were killed, the rabbits down the road disappeared, and an entire shed of chickens were slaughtered by a canine.)

We don't live in the city, if you haven't gathered that yet.
He gently reminded us that we have the right to shoot to kill.

I typed up a short message on my computer and printed out 32 of them. One for each door in our small neighborhood, notifying our neighbors that they should be hyper aware for their kids, pets, and livestock's safety.

Pablo, my sister and I taped them to the house's doors. We talked to all the neighborhood characters and all of them said the same thing.

We have firearms. If I see it, I'll shoot it. (I love my eccentric neighbors.)

A neighbor even chased us down the road (she was inside when we taped the messages and figured we weren't far.) She told us that a stray Siberian Husky had been stalking her during her early morning walks.

I believe her. My dad once had the title of Sniper in the military (based on his accuracy. He never actually took on the position of one.) Me and my sister want him to teach us.

God willing, we'll never need to use the skill. But what would our excuse be if we didn't know it, and needed it?

We wouldn't have an excuse. Based on neighbor's accounts, this thing is getting more aggressive.
It won't be long before I'll be feeding the horses, on my own at four at night. While my grandma usually watches from her window, there's not much she could do in the event of an attack. I won't stand by and watch my animals killed.

I won't.

To be prepared, doesn't mean I'll have the opportunity to do anything about it. After all, the goats were completely silent last night. But it will make me feel better. It would sooth my mind.

Especially after I had to scramble on top of the hay stacks, to get away from an aggressive dog two years ago. Imagine if I was in the same position, except next time, it was after my sister, or the horses, or my dog...and neither of us could reach the cover of the hay, or the shed?

I've even been bit by a dog before. on the face (mangling my lip.)
Logically speaking, it's dumb for me not to be prepared out here.....
And dumber if something did happen while I was unprepared. Knowing me, I'd grab a rake or whatever I could, and I'd try to beat it. This thing, jumped over a fence that's taller than me. What's the likelihood I could beat if off with a rake? Maybe I could, but the odds aren't spectacular.

The other question that occurred, was, why would it all of the sudden target our area, so fast and so vicious? It only ate the rabbits....it just broke the necks of all the others and left their corpses. Like it killed just for kicks.

I think I have an answer.
The highway construction. It's steamrolled right over the last remaining patch of undeveloped land in between us and the desert. It's two blocks away.
It's home has been disturbed and it's angry and hungry and homeless.
Dangerous times call for desperate measures friends.

I'm tired. I feel sick in more than one way, and I would give anything to pet their fur again, or here them 'scream' as I cool them off with a hose.
Pay special attention to your loved ones. You never know when they can be ripped away from you by the jaws of a killer.
Human, or otherwise.

The Great Illustrator Project

A while back ago, I was emailed by a guy named Tom Anderson about his new project. I'm really excited to talk about this project and I knew that a lot of my viewers would be interested in it.

I especially think this project will be of interest to my Children's picture book authors and to my viewers who can't wait to fulfill their dreams of writing illustrated novels. 

Tom's project (which you kind find here if you want to cut to the chase,) is all about making author's live's easier. The project will take archives of artwork from dozens of authors (45 artists last I checked!) and let you use them in a functional app, to sew together story and art. 

 Beautiful!

I can see many facets to this project, and many ways it can be used to your advantage. Here are a few sweet and to-the-point bullets:

• A freeing, yet economically efficiant way of illustrating your novel with original designs
• Letting the little writers in your life get free reign of their imaginations (go creativity!)
• familiarizing yourself with art, and gaining a better perspective of the vast spectrum of art (not just pencil's anymore folks!) 
• Creative presentations
• Rough draft story boarding (Ok, this is kind of a 'creative presentation, but it's definitely different because I put it on a different bullet point. *winks*)

The best thing about a creative app like this, is that art is endless and it's expression infinite. If you can come up with a good way to use it, that isn't listed....guess what? You can use it that way.

Seriously. 

If you've been around me long enough, you know that I'm usually completely incapable of  'average.' Even if the road less traveled does kick my butt from time to time, creativity (and being different in general) is a big part of my life, and it will always remain so. I like the idea for this app because it takes a typically hard industry (that being, the art of words) and applies it to it's opposite (technical mathematics, in the form of an app.) 

If you'd like to support this endeavor, and receive goodies in return, check out the official kickstarter and donate!

Click here

UPDATE: We've raised $8,000 so far! The higher we go, the more the app will have (for specifics, see the kickstarter!)

If you would like to hear an almost-author's view of how this app could have been applied if she'd had it a year earlier, click here.

The Time I Dealt With A Rude Famous Illustrator

First, I'd like to say that I won't be naming names. That's not what this post is about.

On to the story!

Once upon a time, my sister wanted to be an author. She was eight (and a quarter, thankyouverymuch) years old. At the time, we were both enrolled in a 4H (um...tribe?Club? It's been so long!) as clovers.

We joined a club called 'Book Making' were we listened to a short lecture by out teacher, and then received assigments.

My sister was a whiz kid. She had the highest calculated vocabulary (out of all the kids, of all ages in that group...) and she wrote a book called The Horse Heroes.

It was a funny/energetic story about the horses at the ranch we volunteered at. In the book they were all superheroes behind the human's backs and each had their own superpower.
Rough Rowdy,
Karate Cookie,
Luscious Lacy
Super Sissy
Agile Annie
Sheriff Cody
and the side-kick Gloria the Goat. (she had a superhero moniker too, but I can't remember it at the moment.)

And then, she picked me to illustrate it! It was wonderful and fun for an 11 year old to do!

Last year, I ran across the book (the pages had been laminated and bound.) And my mom thought we could actually publish it (it's an adorable story, and it has an impressive range of events in it.) But I wanted to have a proffesional illustrator to do it nice.

I contacted an illustrator (his illustrations appear in one fairly high profile middle grade novel), and we volleyed emails back and forth about the subject of the story and etc.
Then he told me he was going on vacation and he wouldn't be emailing me for a couple weeks.

So I waited a month, and re-emailed.
I waited another month and re-emailed.
and eventually he emailed back and said he wanted nothing to do with my venture.

How rude.

I know in my heart he must have had his reasons.... but it was mean to lead me on for months...conversing about the novel and etc.

I one day hope to pick it back up again and seek out it's publication.
and perhaps I have an option to look at.

There's an app being developed by Tom Anderson. It's called The Great Illustrator. You can pick the background and insert different characters to illustrate a book or project of any kind! I'll seriously consider it!

Had this app existed a year ago, it might have saved me the heart ache of being treated like poo by someone I respected.

If you'd like to read more about on it's kickstarter page! Click Here