Blog | Carol Moncado | My Ramblings as I Journey Through Life – as a Child of the King, Wife, Mother, Teacher, and Indie Author

What I’ve Read Wednesday: Mangum Edition, Part 3

November 24, 2010 Carol Moncado

Setting this one up early too so no updated statuses etc :).

From the Back Cover:
Lauren Holbrook, matchmaker extraordinaire, takes credit for four successful couples now. With her dad happily married and life settling down around her, Lauren feels quite content. That is, until the tables are turned and she’s on the receiving end of the matchmaking!

Lauren and her boyfriend, Ryan, devise a plan to make it look as if they’ve broken up so people will get off their backs about marriage. No problem, right? That’s of course until Lauren realizes she’s in love.

What I Liked:

Lauren is still Lauren, but now her friends have turned on her and Ryan and are playing matchmaker. Lauren and Ryan are still sort of play dating – not that either of them is dating anyone else…
Love her family and friends, including her new stepmom who is wonderful.
Love that Lauren’s plotting and scheming backfires so that she gets what she wants all along – she just didn’t realize it was right there under her nose.

What I Didn’t Like:

This is a niggle specific to me, I’d bet. Or pretty close. I never got the ‘foot popping’ sense from Lauren about Ryan – even after the proposal. They’d been dating or sort of dating for years by that point and never even a little tingle? No real hand holding, no kisses, no anything. That struck me as a bit odd but didn’t ruin my overall enjoyment of the series.

Overall:

More fun, rom com, chick lit stuff J. Love it. 8 out of 10 stars.

Reviews

What I’ve Read Wednesday: Mangum Edition, Part 2

November 24, 2010 Carol Moncado

Setting this up early so no new status updates ;).

From the Back Cover:

With two matches under her belt, Lauren’s ready to get back to work. Lucky for her, her job at The Brandon Knox Photography Studio makes it even easier to work her magic on her best friend and boss, Brandon, and the adorable receptionist, Hannah. And since she’s at Shawn’s cafe every day anyway (a girl’s gotta feed her caffeine and chocolate addictions, doesn’t she?), why not look for his perfect match as well?

But with all her love-connection luck, Lauren’s thrown for a loop when her dad announces that he’s heading out of town for a singles retreat. But in the midst of panicking about her dad and potential future stepmom, there’s also the matter of Ryan–love interest or friend? Only time, vats of coffee, and pounds of chocolate will tell!

What I Liked:

Still love Lauren – though I was convinced that she and Brandon should end up together. In this one, she’s determined to get Brandon, her boss and best friend, together with Hannah, the photography studio’s receptionist, Lauren’s other best friend and Ryan’s sister.
Ryan – still a pretend boyfriend. Becoming a best friend especially as her relationship with Brandon changes as he and Hannah grow closer together. While they remain close, Lauren and Brandon’s relationship has to change as he falls in love and prepares to get married. Ryan fills the void for Lauren.
Love her family and quirky assortment of friends.

What I Didn’t Like:

Still think Lauren and Brandon could have been good together ;).

Overall:

Another fun, chick lit, rom com easy read. Lauren is still Lauren and still so much fun. Another 8.5 out of 10 stars.

Reviews

What I’ve Read Wednesday: Mangum Edition

November 24, 2010 Carol Moncado

Current Facebook Status: is thankful for doctors [and PNPs Bobbie Boyd!] who know what they’re doing. Three years ago on the day before Thanksgiving, Christopher has what was likely life saving surgery. So very thankful he is so healthy today!

Currently Playing In The Background: Special Agent Oso – Playhouse Disney. Shocking.

Yeah – so I can’t keep track of volumes, so going with something else ;). I’m posting three reviews throughout the day today – all three of Erynn Mangum’s Lauren Holbrook series. They’re not real in depth reviews but hopefully enough to get a sense of them. Tomorrow, I’ll review her Maya Davis series – book 3 was a free influencer copy ;).

Miss Match – Erynn Mangum

From the Back Cover:

Lauren Holbrook has found her life’s calling: matchmaking for the romantically challenged. And with the eclectic cast of characters in her world, there’s tons of potential to play “connect the friends.” Inspired by the recent success of matching her sister and new husband, Lauren sets out to introduce Nick, her carefree singles’ pastor, to Ruby, her neurotic coworker who plans every second of every day. What could possibly go wrong? Just about everything. When Lauren’s foolproof plan begins to unravel, she learns that a simple introduction between friends can bring about complicated results. And as she reconsiders her new role as Cupid (as well as her vow to stay single forever), will Lauren finally decide that God’s plan is always good enough?

What I Liked:

Lauren Holbrook – she’s sweet and funny and only cares about the happiness of those around her; she’s great at customer service [having worked fast food for years, I can appreciate an employee like her!]
Her cast of fellow employees and friends – I liked all of them from her quirky coworkers and best friend of a boss to Ryan to her sisters and their families – and her overprotective Dad of course :).
Ryan – her coworker’s brother and fake boyfriend – he’s a grounding force
Even the more difficult customers came around. That’s always nice :).

What I Didn’t Like:

Nothing in particular

Overall:

Miss Match is a fun, easy read – a chick lit, rom com book. Lauren is, overall, secure in her faith and that comes through. Movie quotes are great, but Bible verses abound as well. This was my first Erynn Mangum book but won’t be my last :). 8.5 out of 10 stars.

Watch for the other two Reviews later today :).

Reviews

Flash Fiction Friday for NaNo Week 3

November 19, 2010 Carol Moncado

Current Facebook Status [from early this morning]: is going to have several kid free hours at home today. The purpose? To do some deep cleaning. The reality? May be to take a nap ;).

Currently Playing the Background: Nothing [just finished the new Star Trek though]

Current NaNoWriMo Status: Way far behind, 13854 [may try to hit 14K before bedtime or may go to bed really really early since I didn’t get any of that naptime earlier]

Well, better late than never! Jan and I did this about 6 hours ago but then, well, the kitchen sort of caught on fire and I got distracted by that… [I didn’t do it; someone else turned the wrong burner on and it had a plastic milk jug on it at the time…] I’m nearing the halfway point in A Passion Most Pure and it is getting harder and harder to set it down. Julie Lessman rocks. Plain and simple. And she thinks I’m cute so that’s bonus points ;).

Anyway, here it is :).

She couldn’t fall asleep. All she could think about was how different her life was going to be after tomorrow. She tossed to the other side and stared at the blank white wall of the room she’d be sharing with Nick after the wedding. She was going to marry him. It was the right decision. She knew that intellectually but part of her was still warring over it. She had a peace about it most of the time and she really believed that this was what God was telling her was the right thing to do, but there was a part of her that wavered.

She and Nick were attracted to each other – she’d known that since she first sat next to him on the airplane between San Diego and Chicago. The first accidental brush of her hand against his forearm had sent chills throughout her body. The good kind of chills. The ones that had led to asking Nick to spend his storm lengthened layover at her apartment. The ones that had given her Nicky nine months later.

So there was physical attraction and the passion that went along with it. She didn’t anticipate in problems with that part of marriage. But the rest… The relational aspects of it… Nick had been watching Sunday morning preaching with her in the little safe house where they’d been moved a week after “the incident” as they’d taken to calling it. He even looked at her Bible with her when the preacher referenced it. She’d also been listening to her former pastor’s sermons on the Internet every week, having been reassured that there would be no reason for anyone to suspect that she, one of hundreds who downloaded his podcasts every week, was anyone special.

There you have it!

Flash Fiction Friday, NaNoWriMo

What I’ve Read Wednesday, Vol. 6 [I Think]

November 17, 2010 Carol Moncado

Current Facebook Status: glares at the ‘to be continued’ from last night’s NCIS and wishes she’d waited a week to watch it like she had to last week.

Currently Playing in the Background: tonight’s Criminal Minds

Current NaNoWriMo Status: 13003, won’t mention how far that is behind but it’s progress!

I have begun A Passion Most Pure!!!! I have been looking forward to this for a while – Julie Lessman is way cool! I’ve emailed with her a bit and comment chatted on Seekerville a number of times and really, really hope I get to meet her in St. Loo next year. As in like, time to chat a bit and not just shake hands and take a picture. I am loving APMP so far! I may have to be ‘sick’ on Thanksgiving and hide in my room with a flashlight under the covers because at the rate I’m going I’ll still be working on it :p. I got the next two of Julie’s for my birthday and I have finally finished Erynn Mangum’s books so next week should be ‘I’m thankful for Erynn Mangum’ week ;).

But, for today, we’ll stick with Karen Kingsbury!

From the Back Cover:

A forgotten secret.

A shocking discovery.

A sacrifice of love that will bring Connor Evans to his knees.

Airline Captain Connor Evans has nearly forgotten that stormy weekend in Hawaii ten years ago when he broke the greatest promise of all. Now Connor has the perfect life with his wife, Michele, and their two daughters, and the secret of that long-ago time is his alone.

But an ocean away, a flight attendant is raising her young son by herself when the plane she’s working on crashes into the Pacific. Her will is very clear about one thing–before the child can be given over to the state, his father must be contacted.

The news rocks Captain Evans’ life, and in the process he is presented with a choice: Refuse the child and never hear from him again, or take him for two weeks and decide whether to claim the boy as his own. Now, the family is on the brink of destruction. Can Michele and their daughters ever forgive Connor for what went wrong all those years ago? Or will the presence of one lonely child destroy everything?

What I Liked:

Max. He’s a sweet boy who is stuck between a rock and a hard place – and just wants to be loved.
Michele. By the end.
Connor. While I certainly can’t condone what he did or the keeping of the secret, he did finally come clean and did the best he could under the circumstances.
Connor and Michele’s daughters. They were more accepting of Max than Michele was, though they didn’t truly understand why he was there.
Ramey. She’s a faithful friend to both Max and Kiahna – and Michele and Connor throughout.
Connor’s father. When push comes to shove, he is the bigger man. Sure, he was probably right all those years earlier, but he finally takes the first step.

What I Didn’t Like:

Michele’s reaction to Max. While I understand it, I didn’t like it. Particularly the subterfuge.

Overall:

I liked this much better than I did One Tuesday Morning and will give Kingsbury more chances based on this than I would have based on that one. This is a story of redemption and healing and second chances. If this is more of an example of Kingsbury’s writing than One Tuesday Morning is, I’ll be reading more.

Uncategorized

Flash Fiction Friday on Tuesday

November 16, 2010 Carol Moncado

Current Facebook Status: Tuesday. Cold, rainy Tuesday. Would be perfect if she could stay home, but alas, she must leave.

Currently Playing in the Background: Last week’s NCIS – Ziva got her US Passport!

Current NaNo status: Uh, yeah. Let’s not talk about that ;).

So here is last week’s Flash Fiction Friday! It just kind of… ends, but so goes Flash Fiction ;).

She liked to think there’s a reason for everything, but no matter how she twisted this around in her mind, she couldn’t come up with a reason why God would allow this. Allow her to be kidnapped, her son drugged and left alone in a diaper that he’d had on way too long, forced to tell the father of her child the truth – after he’d first heard it from a mobster – and now on the run for their lives.

“For I know the plans I have for you, saith the Lord. Plans to prosper and not harm. Plans for hope and a future.” She whispered Jeremiah 29:11 over and over as she leaned against the counter in the bathroom. She was going to have to do a search of some kind and find all sorts of promises like that in the Bible. She was going to have to cling to them. Write them on notecards, memorize them, hide them in her heart and do her best to live them.

She prayed that there would be a good church where they were going. Whatever town they lived in. Surely there were good, Bible teaching churches throughout the United States and most communities would have one, right? Would she be able to find one? Would she be able to worship freely? Or would she always be wondering who was watching her and what were they thinking?

And what about Nick? If they went wherever it was they were going to go together, would he go to church with her? Would he be open to learning about Jesus and the sacrifice her Savior had made?

“All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose,” she muttered. Another good one. Romans 8:28. She was going to scour the Psalms and the Proverbs and try to find a good internet connection as soon as she could.

There you go!

Flash Fiction Friday

Catching Up

November 14, 2010 Carol Moncado

Current Facebook Status: stayed home from church after a long weekend in KC, a 7yo who has a hack-y cough and a hubby who doesn’t feel great. Had a great time in KC though :).

Currently Playing in the Background: Backyardigans, Secret of Snow – until the 3yo falls asleep then onto something more grown-upish 😉

Nano update: 11710, should be at 23338 so am 11628 behind

AH! The last week and a half has been pretty crazy! So much has happened, and that’s a big part of the reason why the blog hasn’t been updated.

Wednesday last week, Matt’s great-uncle passed on. It wasn’t unexpected but still sad. He went to St. Louis with his family last Sunday and Monday for the services.

Thursday last week, the brake light in the van started blinking at me. More on Friday. Talked to my mechanic and he said to bring it in on Monday. He even said he’d get me home from the shop and bring the van by later [it’s about 2 miles away though it seems shorter – plus Brent rocks ;)]. Matt was out of town Monday, remember?

Sunday, after Matt left, the van wouldn’t start. We ended up having AAA take it to Brent’s. A neighbor watched the girls while the neighbor wife and I took C and went to get the car from Matt’s mom’s house. Sis came over and we all went to Walmart for groceries and winter accessories for the kids.

Monday, we spent about 470 bucks fixing the van :p. It’s the front brakes, not the back ones like we’d suspected [the thing hit 179K last week and has never had the rear brakes changed as far as we know]. Matt can do the front brakes himself so that’s good. What it needed was a good tune-up and we have expensive spark plugs :p. Of course.

The door handle also broke. It was fine when it left my house and when Brent went to go open it, it was broken. The tow truck driver denies responsibility. That said, the other two door handles were already broken so it may have just been a matter of time before this one went, too. We’ll be replacing all three in the next few weeks. One of them is already at the house.

Thursday, I left for the HACWN conference in Kansas City! My first writer’s conference! Thursday and Friday were fine. I learned a lot. Cried myself to sleep Friday night but apparently a lot of people had a rough night Friday night. Saturday was much better! The EIC/CEO of an indie publisher requested a FULL MANUSCRIPT! I liked her a lot and I think she liked me, too :). We have a ’10K Day’ tentatively planned for the Saturday after Thanksgiving to help us with our NaNoing :).

So both good and bad the last week and a half, but mostly just busy! I didn’t have much internet access the last few days so no FFF. Jan and I did do it on Wednesday but I didn’t get the post set up before I left so… I’ll post it early this week, perhaps.

Have a blessed Sunday!

Family, NaNoWriMo, Writing

Flash Fiction Friday, Vol. 8

November 5, 2010 Carol Moncado

Current Facebook Status: has been so blessed! And she has a date tonight!

Currently Playing in the Background: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse [are you shocked?!]

Current NaNoWriMo update: continued FFF and ended up with 1211 words for the day so far and 6274 total. By the end of today, I need 8335 to be on track and I am currently 2061 short.

Yep. I have a date tonight! My birthday is Monday and Matt is taking me out tonight. My sister is keeping all three girls all night. My mother-in-law is keeping the boy for several hours so we can go out. I can’t wait. Until then, I am ignoring the laundry that needs folded and put up. Actually, I’m getting ready to do it once the boy goes to bed. Then the LR will be clean so we can watch a movie or something later – guilt free!

Today’s FFF is part of my NaNo [yes, I picked a prompt that helped with that – and it worked so well!] so if you read on, expect some spoilers about my as yet unfinished, may never be done much less published lastest WIP. 😉 Here is Jan’s contribution.

The FFF rules

He paced the hospital hallway praying for a miracle even though he didn’t believe in them.

Nicky was in there. He was being looked at by doctors and technically Nick didn’t have any medical standing with the nurses or doctors. He swore under his breath and glared at the nurse who had told him he’d have to wait until the child’s mother updated him. He wasn’t on any of the paperwork.

Yet.

He was going to be a part of his son’s life if he had to sue Debbie to get it done.

He didn’t really think it was going to get that far. She seemed to want him to be a part of Nicky’s life now that he knew about his son. He’d never believed in real miracles, but if that’s what it took to save his son…

But really, if there was a God, wouldn’t he have made sure Nick knew about his son from the beginning? He should have.

Instead, his son was… He didn’t even know for sure how old his own son was. He could do the math and get a pretty good idea, but he was too worried about whether Nick was going to be okay. And too tired. He’d been asleep less than two hours when Debbie had called. He’d been anticipating a romantic rendezvous with Lisa but when she’d called to say her plane was delayed again, he’d had a beer while watching the end of the baseball game – rain delay followed by extra innings – and finally collapsed about one in the morning. He’d taken the day off to spend it with Lisa. Instead, he had no idea if she’d even arrived. If she’d made it to his apartment, he wasn’t there.

His phone had been turned off. In case the mob had a way to track it. They – whoever they was – didn’t think the mobsters did, but it was better to be safe. He’d have Rick find out and let Lisa know that he was okay and would talk to her soon.

***

What about you? Do you have a story for us using the first sentence as your prompt? Set the timer for five minutes and… go! Feel free to share in the comments!

Update, 3:22pm: 2280 for the day, 7344 total, 991 words off the pace

And now time to get ready for my date! Or more accurately, get the girls ready to spend the night at their aunt’s house ;).

Flash Fiction Friday

What I Read… Whatever Day I Read It ;)

November 4, 2010 Carol Moncado

Current Facebook Status: has lots to do and still no motivation to do it. Where’s the chocolate?

Currently Playing in the Background: Castle from Monday night

I was going to post this last night but was distracted by a phone call [I’ll mention the topic later this week; let’s just say it was bad news and leave it at that for now]. That took up a fair bit of the rest of the evening so this is getting posted today.

Next week will be Erynn Mangum week! I got my influencer’s copy of Double Shot so… All six of Erynn’s books will be reviewed! Wish I had like a giveaway or something to go with it but since I have like four readers*, and I know all of them, that would be kind of pointless anyway ;). Maybe by this time next year!

Kingsbury Every Now and Then

This is the third [and final?] book in Kingsbury’s 9/11 series. The first two are One Tuesday Morning and Beyond Tuesday Morning. Unlike the other two, this one takes place solely in California, about three or four years after book 2.

From the Back Cover:

Well, there’s nothing on this back cover either, so here’s the description from Zondervan’s website:

A wall went up around Alex Brady’s heart when his father, a New York firefighter, died in the Twin Towers. Turning his back on the only woman he ever loved, Alex shut out all the people who cared about him to concentrate on fighting crime. He and his trusty K9 partner, Bo, are determined to eliminate evil in the world and prevent tragedies like 9-11.

Then the worst fire season in California’s history erupts, and Alex faces the ultimate challenge to protect the community he serves. An environmental terrorist group is targeting the plush Oak Canyon Estates. At the risk of losing his job, and his soul, Alex is determined to infiltrate the group and put an end to their corruption. Only the friendship of Clay and Jamie Michaels—and the love of a dedicated young woman—can help Alex drop the walls around his heart and move forward into the future God has for him.

What I Liked:

I liked the characters. That wasn’t my problem with the other two books. I liked the characters but I thought the plot, especially in the first one, left something to be desired.
I love seeing Jamie and Clay and their family and what’s happened to them. Same with Eric and Laura.
I enjoyed getting to know both Alex and Holly.
Bo. I loved Bo.
I was glad to get away from the 9/11 stuff to an extent – that’s odd because I’m still enthralled with it. I think it has more to do with this series than 9/11 itself.
Alex as a K-9 guy and his investigation.

What I Didn’t Like:

Nothing in particular in this one either.

Overall:

I think this is the best in the series. I don’t know if she’s planning on more or not [I’m thinking not], but I think getting further away from the relative absurdity of the plot in the first one has helped quite a bit. I like the characters and their lives, but not crazy about the plot of the first one so getting away from it – something like seven years removed at this point – has helped a lot. Despite the rating, I probably won’t buy it just because it’s book 3 of a series and I’m more likely to just get it from the library.

8 out of 10