It's Thursday... What are you reading?

Hello My Lovelies,

It's Thursday again and I would like to know what everyone is reading. I was a bad bad girl this week.. I totally went over my book spending allowance, but it was so worth it. There was some great new releases this week in the e-book world. I had planned on buying some, but I went in a book store that will remain un- named, and spent all my money. On a happy note.. Who am I kidding? I'm happy anyway.. Moving on.. I did pick up a lot of books for the price I paid, and that's always a good thing. So now to the reason for this post.

I am reading...


 Pleasure After The Pain by Savannah Chase

Blurb:

What is your wildest fantasy about getting a tattoo?

A night out on the town with a friend ends up bringing Serene to a tattoo parlor. There she discovers a tattoo that takes a hold of her. Something about it calls to her. Body art can bring pleasure to its owner but this tattoo brings more pleasure then Serena ever imagined.


Will Serena's tattoo give her more pleasure than she could imagine or will it be a fleeting moment of pleasure after the pain?

I had to pick this book up after I read the blurb, and excerpt. I love tattoos, and I had read Savannah's Taste Of Passion and LOVED it. I will definitely let you guys know my thoughts on this book.

I am also reading..

 Ascension by Caris Roane

Blurb:

On The Wings of Desire

Alison Wells is no ordinary woman. Born with super-natural powers, she can never make love to a man without putting him in grave danger. But when her special vision reveals a glorious muscled man soaring overhead on might wings, she feels an overwhelming attraction she cannot resist-even as he tells her “I have come for you. Your blood belong to me.”


In the Heat of Passion

KerrickKerrick has cravings of his own-a forbidden longing to open his heart and veins to Alison. To share his blood…satisfy his thirst…and seal their fates forever.

O.K. I picked this book up simply, because I love the cover. I knew it was another vampire-angel romance, but I couldn't put it down. I'm glad I didn't.. I'm really getting into this book, and I love the world building. I am looking forward to writing the review for this one.

So.. That's my rundown.

What Are You Reading?

Recipe Saturday - Chicken Enchiladas Suizas

Hi All,

It's been a while since I posted a recipe, but I couldn't resist posting this one. My good friend Shawn gave me this enchilada recipe a few weeks ago. My family just loves it. It takes a little work, but it's well worth it.

Chicken Enchiladas Suizas



Ingredients

2 skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
3 to 5 sprigs fresh cilantro, plus more for topping (optional)
Kosher salt
2 pounds plum tomatoes
1 or 2 serrano chile peppers, stemmed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus 1/2 cup for frying
1 large white onion; 2/3 diced, 1/3 sliced into rings
1/2 cup Mexican crema or sour cream, plus more for topping (optional)
12 corn tortillas, preferably white
3/4 cup crumbled queso fresco
 
Directions
 
1. Put the chicken in a medium pot with 3 cups water, the broth, garlic, bay leaves and cilantro; season with salt. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and gently simmer, turning the chicken as needed, until cooked through, about 30 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate to cool. Discard the bay leaves and cilantro and reserve the broth and garlic.


2. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler. Put the tomatoes and chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet and broil, turning, until charred, about 12 minutes. Wrap in the foil to catch any juices, then cool slightly. Peel the chiles and transfer to a blender with the tomatoes and collected juices. Remove the garlic from the broth, add to the blender and puree until smooth.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Increase the heat to medium high and stir in the tomato-chile puree and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes. Stir in 3 cups of the reserved broth and bring to a simmer. Partially cover and cook about 20 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon salt; keep the sauce warm.

4. Discard the chicken skin and shred the meat. Toss the chicken with the crema and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Soak the sliced onion in a bowl of cold water while you prepare the enchiladas.

5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spread 1 cup of the tomato-chile sauce in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Heat 1/2 cup vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry a tortilla until puffed, about 15 seconds per side, turning with tongs. Quickly spoon 2 tablespoons chicken onto the tortilla, roll it up and put seam-side down in the baking dish. Fry and fill the remaining tortillas, arranging them side by side in the dish.

6. Pour 2 cups of the tomato-chile sauce over the enchiladas and top with the queso fresco. Bake until warmed through, about 20 minutes. Drain the sliced onion and scatter over the enchiladas. Divide among plates and top with more cilantro, sauce and crema, if desired.

ENJOY!!

Review: MATCHED - By. Ally Condie

Heidi Cheramie

Matched Review
Ally Condie-Author
Dutton Books-Publisher

BLURB:

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one… until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow — between perfection and passion.

REVIEW:

Matched has been crowned the new IT book in the YA genre. I actually read a review in Entertainment Weekly praising it and printing the huge payment the author received for this book which is the first in a trilogy. The article already mentioned movie rights so I thought not another cloying Twilight.

I am also a huge fan of The Hunger Games trilogy so I was a little hesitant in reading another YA about a dystopian society. However I downloaded the E book figuring I would start reading it one day. I read the first page then couldn’t put the book down.

I am pleased to state that I really enjoyed this book. The dystopian society initially appears as a utopian world but you soon realize it is as horrifying as The Hunger Games society. The Heroine, Cassia Reyes lives in a world where the government controls everything. Everyone wears uniform clothing, eats meals prepared by the government so no one is too thin or too fat, regulates personal belongings, euthanizes the elderly, controls what job you will do and decides who your perfect spouse will be and matches you to them.

The story begins with Cassia on her seventeenth birthday attending her Matching Banquet. Ally Condie’s description of the banquet is what hooked me. I found the ceremony where the government matches people according to their shared interests, personalities and characteristics similar to Facebook or dating websites today. Scary! Also all the citizens carry pills with them so they never have to experience strong emotions especially anxiety. Very similar to our societies use of antidepressants and anti anxiety drugs today. This controlled, futuristic society was another character in the book and I found the idea of people giving up all control over their lives to avoid any discomforts or twinge of worry extremely appropriate to today's issues.

Cassia is matched to her childhood friend, Xander and everything seems perfect. Xander is a very likable, intelligent young man. When Cassia plugs in her data card to see Xander’s information another face pops up. A boy named Ky. Ky is a boy from the Outer Provinces that is an aberration. This means he can not be matched due to some infraction to government rules in his past. Quickly the officials explain to Cassia that it was an error and she was never matched to Ky.

Cassia is soon torn between Xander and Ky and begins to question her society for the first time. The suspense builds as the government seems to know everything Cassia is going to do. Whenever she does something out of the ordinary an official states they predicted she would act that way.

There is very little action in this book. It is not the Hunger Games which is non stop action and fighting. I expect a lot more action in the second book. However there is plenty of internal struggle and this book really made me think. Made me ponder many moral and ethical issues. It raises many philosophical questions.

I enjoyed Cassia, Xander and Ky and the characters seemed much more realistic to me than the cloying, obsessed Twilight trio for example. Matched is romantic, suspenseful with a touch of mystery. I am looking forward to the second book and I enjoyed Ally Condie’s use of poetry and the power of words. Matched is about freedom of choice and how individualism should be prized not discouraged.

I give Matched 4 STARS!! Enjoy!



Product Details

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; First Edition edition (November 30, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0525423648
ISBN-13: 978-0525423645
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches

Tuesday Is Poem Day! I Dream A World - by. Langston Hughes

I Dream A World

I dream a world where man

No other man will scorn,

Where love will bless the earth

And peace its paths adorn

I dream a world where all

Will know sweet freedom's way,

Where greed no longer saps the soul

Nor avarice blights our day.

A world I dream where black or white,

Whatever race you be,

Will share the bounties of the earth

And every man is free,

Where wretchedness will hang its head

And joy, like a pearl,

Attends the needs of all mankind-

Of such I dream, my world!

~ Langston Hughes ~

It's Thursday... What are you reading?

Hi All,

It's Thursday, and I want to know what everyone is reading. I have been reading a lot lately, and I've been spending a lot of money on books. I blame it on all the new release post that goes up on Tuesdays. I see all the pretty covers, and get caught up in the excerpts. The next thing I know, I'm hitting the one click button on Amazon, or checking out at MBAM. *sigh* It's OK.. I love to read, so it's justified.  OK, back to the subject of this post.

This is what I'm reading now.

 Seducing The Saint - by Melissa Schroeder

Blurb:

Liberty Wainwright needs a man and not just any man. She needs Brady St. James, otherwise known as the Saint. His skills and knowledge make him the only choice to rescue her father. Now, if she can convince him to help her, she'll just have to ignore her cravings for the man she's never forgotten. Brady is stunned the woman who left him high and dry is back and asking for his help. Their affair had been doomed from the start. Libby liked to live by the rules and Brady lived to break them. He'd sworn she'd be back, but he hadn't expected it to take over six years for her to return. The moment he accepts her mission, they discover their passion for each other is still smoldering. Unable to resist each other, their attraction sparks into an inferno that threatens to overpower all rational thinking. Libby and Brady realize they still might have a chance at love and happily ever after. If they don't get themselves killed first.

I really like Melissa's Harmless series, I really enjoy her writing style. I am only about 1/3 way through Seducing The Saint, but I can already tell that I'm going to love it. I will definitely let you all know my thoughts on it.

I am also reading..

 Be My Vampire Tonight - by. Renee Field

Blurb:

Book one in the Darklander Lovers series.Bidding on a masked man at an auction is all for a good cause, but what happens when he turns out to be a vampire who has the power to unleash the wild woman lying dormant inside you? As a Darklander vampire, Mitch has spent a century living in a bleak world, but all that changes when he sees Tina. The beast living within Mitch wants to stake his claim. Mitch knows taking Tina-s virginity will change her forever, but try explaining that to a woman whose passion cannot be denied. Tina holds the key to his freedom, but Mitch will be damned forever before he turns her over as a slave for his master.

This book is getting so good, I hope to have it finished this evening. I have never read anything by Renee Field's, but I know I will want more after this. I'm definitely looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you.

Well... That's my rundown.

What Are You Reading?

Tuesday Is Poem Day! Refrain - by. Helen Hunt Jackson

Refrain

OF all the songs which poets sing

The ones which are most sweet

Are those which at close intervals

A low refrain repeat;

Some tender word, some syllable,

Over and over, ever and ever,

While the song lasts,

Altering never,

Music if sung, music if said,

Subtle like some golden thread

A shuttle casts,

In and out on a fabric red,

Till it glows all through

With the golden hue.

Oh! of all the songs sung,

No songs are so sweet

As the songs with refrains,

Which repeat and repeat.

Of all the lives lived,

No life is so sweet,

As the life where one thought,

In refrain doth repeat,

Over and over, ever and ever,

Till the life ends,

Altering never,

Joy which is felt, but is not said,

Subtler than any golden thread

Which the shuttle sends

In and out in a fabric red,

Till it glows all through

With a golden hue.

Oh! of all the lives lived,

Can be no life so sweet,

As the life where one thought

In refrain doth repeat,

"Now name for me a thought

To make life so sweet,

A thought of such joy

Its refrain to repeat."

Oh! foolish to ask me. Ever, ever

Who loveth believes,

But telleth never.

It might be a name, just a name not said,

But in every thought; like a golden thread

Which the shuttle weaves

In and out on a fabric red,

Till it glows all through

With a golden hue.

Oh! of all sweet lives,

Who can tell how sweet

Is the life which one name

In refrain doth repeat?

~Helen Hunt Jackson~