Review: The White Princess

The White Princess by Philippa Gregory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*Little Spoiler*
The intrigue and the plotting of the court were ever present. Elizabeth of York was either plotting but only in her heart and never acted against her husband the king except to not be completely truthful with him. It was hard to witness the love that Henry had for her and the love that she didn't reciprocate for a long time and then it was dashed because of all the distrust. It was very good, but I was always hoping for Elizabeth to act differently. Obviously, Henry could have acted differently, but she was much better than him in every respect and could have been a help to her husband more. But that is really just the romantic in me because I always want romance to win out. This was a compelling book, and I finished within 18 hours with almost no sleep.

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Why Not?

Why not spend time answering these questions instead of studying for the bar? Hope I don't have to shamefully admit all my distraction ended with me failing it...Yikes.

@robinhillwrites tagged me to answer 11 questions. She's a writer of erotic romance novels.

Started by: Erica Lynn

“The Sunshine Blogger Award is a “get to know the writer better” type of blogging exercise, with a couple of rules attached:
Answer all 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you.
Nominate eleven bloggers in return and write eleven (possibly fiendish) questions for them to answer.”

Here goes...

1. Best Halloween costume you’ve ever donned? I went as a sexy doctor in college. I wore fishnet pantyhose, stilettos, a White lab coat (borrowed from Biology major friend), stethoscope, and black bra and panties and a name tag "Dr. Love"
2. When’s the last time you did something really stupid? hard to pinpoint because I probably do something stupid each day. Especially if math is involved.
3. Who do you stalk on social media? not really stalk but love reading about and seeing new stuff about @SamHeughan and @Outlander
4. What book would you like to see made into a movie? Well, because while writing my book The Swallow, I saw it play out as a movie in my head, I would love that. But other book I've read that I'd like to see as a movie is Big Girl Panties. I love Holly's transformation and the hottest guy ever to play Logan. Sexy and funny and sad.
5. F&ck, marry, kill: Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, —or— Chandler, Ross, Joey? Joey, Chandler, Ross
6. Jim Morrison, Van Morrison, or no Morrison? Jim Morrison, only because I saw the movie "The Doors" and he was played by Val Kilmer. nothing more to say.
7. Favorite place you’ve traveled? Germany
8. Last book that turned you to mush? Queen of Always (Stolen Empire, #3) by Sherry D. Ficklin
9. Last book you wanted to throw across the room in a heated rage? Ladies Night by Mary Kay Andrews. I got to chapter 6 and I couldn't go on. So frustrating and unrealistic. Her husband locks her out of the house and community after she catches him cheating. So many issues that could be resolved in a simple way, but the main character must be an idiot! Hated it.
10. Favorite book cover? Outlander but the one with Jaime on it, not the original one. It's the reason I read the book.
11. Favorite book by a new writer?! Big Girl Panties by STEPHANIE Evanovich (not the other famous and prolific Evanovich). LOVE LOVE this book. I've read it twice now and I can't say enough about my love for Logan Montgomery and sweet funny Holly.

Okay so here are my 11 questions for the authors to answer?

1. What are you top five favorite TV shows right now?
2. What is the book that you've re-read the most?
3. If you could take your next dream vacation where would it be?
4. What are your favorite genres to read?
5. Do you work when you aren't writing and if so, what do you do?
6. What are you scared of?
7. Five words to describe your personality?
8. What was the inspiration for your first book and latest book?
9. What is your guilty pleasure?
10. What is one thing you wish you could change about yourself?
11. What makes you laugh the most?

Tagging Eleven People:

1. Jessika Fleck @jessikafleck
2. Kelly S. Marsden @KSMarsden
3. Mercedes Fox @MercedesFoxBook
4. Rochelle Jackson @locherre
5. RG Kerr @rgkerrbooks
6. Caille Fox @CailleFox
7. Lacey London @thelaceylondon
8. Suki Sather @SukiSather
9. Darren Deegan @DDeeganAuthor
10. Aspen Bassett @achickadee9
11. John J Higgins @JohnJHigginsEsq

Speech

All of my children have had to attend speech in school. They inherited their mother and father's poor childhood speech delays. Currently, my four-year-old (is absolutely adorable by the way) makes many incorrect speech pronunciations. My favorite is "I'm just killing mommy." I repeat it back to her "killing," and she shakes her head, "No, mommy I said kid-DDing."

I correct her at times but others I let go because I love it. I love the mistakes, the mispronounciation of words, the way an adult phrase sounds coming out her little sweet mouth. She astounds me with the little sayings and things she says. I know I'm gushing because she's my last. She will be the last child of mine that I can reveille in the "lup, mommy" instead of "yup."  I make video recordings of her and my others when they comply so I can capture their cute innocence while it lasts.

She is also a chatty Cathy; this little girl talks to everyone and nonstop. I spend most days with her all day while the other kids are in grade school, so I do my best to engage but many times I find myself asking her, "Can you play the quiet game?" (with herself) and she gladly responds, "Yes, mommy I'll be a sneaky ninja." She kills me with her cuteness. My husband jokes that I'm partial, but I know I'm not, it is just that she's the last, and she's at that adorable age of four that all of my children went through, and you just want to eat them up because they're precious.

I just came across a video of my older daughter that is now six-years-old. In the video, she was four. She is just as adorable as my current four-year-old. She was telling me about why she doesn't like to sweat and get yucky. It is also so fitting that my youngest was talking in the background nonstop even then and eventually started yelling because I wasn't paying attention to her as I was filming my older daughter. Not much has changed...

Reading slump

Have you ever experienced a reading slump? I am in one right now. Because of my personal obligations, I can't be reading every day like I normally do and it won't let up until August. But when I have read a book it's just been okay or "eh" and I want to fall in love with a book. I've tried some authors that I loved in the past and the current books just wasn't as great. I know that this happens but if you read my reviews there have been like five books in a row that I gave a 3-star to and that's a low score for me. That means I got through it, and it was okay. If I can't get through it which happens on occasion, I'll give it a one or two stars and I'll rant about why I didn't like it. So I've had to go back and re-read some of my favorite books to get through this reading slump.

I also have times of a writing slump when I just don't want to write, or I am bored with the story, usually because I want it to be done. I get somewhat impatient with writing, and I speed through and write lots for a week or two then don't touch it again for a few more weeks.

Right now, I just feel blah because I'm not able to do what I want but rather have to finish some obligations that take almost all of my time.  The obligations are taxing, and I don't feel good about the situation, but they must be done. So I must get back to it as I've spent the last few minutes writing this on an unscheduled break.

Review: Outlander

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Could I love a book more? Maybe, it wasn't perfect, but it was so close. The dialog, the witty remarks, the hot and sexy Jamie Fraser. The book started out slow for me until she crossed over, but I can also see it as a good practical reason to believe that she wouldn't go back because she while she loved Frank, there was something missing and lacking in the relationship.

It kept me on my toes when she was in 1743 because I didn't really know anything about the book before reading it. I saw the cover with her wrapped in Jamie's flannel of his kilt, and I thought I want to read this. I did read a few reviews to give me an idea, and that's the only way I knew that she would time travel, but I kept waiting for the moment to arrive and wanted it to because as I said before that the beginning was slow for me. She also did a great job of hiding who the love interest would be because she kept referring to him as a young lad or something like that.

The dialog with the Scots was great, and I love how witty and sweet Jamie is. Clare's vehemence at times was a little dramatic, especially saying "Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ." But on the whole, I loved it and despite the slowness of the first 40-50 pages, the rest of the over 700-page book was fantastic!

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Procrastination

I am a procrastinator. This is not surprising to my many friends and family but the extent of it may be. I just finished law school and I have to start studying for the bar. I have to find a part-time or full-time job after I take the bar and then I need to find legal employment after I become a lawyer.

I want to sit at home and be on the computer, reading, writing, watching, and listening. To anything but not reading job posts, writing my resume, watching videos about job interviewing skills and especially not listening to experts tell me what I need to do to get a job.

This will be a difficult next few months...

Summer Book Amazon Giveaway

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/da13e9f389be4927

Follow the link to enter to win 1 of 2 copies of The Swallow. 

Ends tomorrow, June 13th.

Amazon $25 Gift Card Contest

Read: The Swallow 
Review: Write a Review @ http://ow.ly/YWqiN
Email: reviews@isabellejoshua.com

Rules: 

1. One entry per person and per household.
2. Must be 18 years old to participate.
3. The review must be your own original work.
4. All reviews entered in the contest may be published on our website.
5. You must write a review of The Swallow by Isabelle Joshua on Amazon.com and email the same review toreviews@isabellejoshua.com by June 30, 2016. 
6. The last day to enter the contest is June 30, 2016. The winner will be announced on this page by July 15, 2016.
7. If you've previously submitted a review to Amazon.com, to be entered into the contest, you must email the review toreviews@isabellejoshua.com by June 30, 2016.