Advent Calendar Giveaway - starting December 1st

 

ADVENT CALENDAR GIVEAWAY

December 1st-25th

Goodies Given Away Every Day Totaling $350

https://ellenmint.blog/advent-calendar/

It’s Christmas every day with this romantic Advent Calendar giveaway. Twenty-Four authors have teamed up to bring you over $350 worth of prizes. Every day another door opens and another giveaway chance for you to win!

Each day, return to the site to click on the calendar and open the door to another fantastic prize. Be swept away this holiday season by gripping romance, pampering treats, cozy gifts, and an amazing offer hidden inside the calendar.

The giveaway is sponsored by these wonderful authors:

Ellen Mint • January Bain • Katherine McIntyre • Erzabet Bishop • Rosanna Leo • Jaqueline Snowe • Tracy Krimmer • Mary Kit Caelsto • Mona Karel • Megan Slayer • Tanith Davenport • M.C. Frank • Maggie Blackbird • Seelie Kay • Caroline Akervik • Melissa McClone • Ayla Asher • Lorelei Confer • Gayle Irwin • Cassie O’Brien • D. F. Jones • J.J DiBenedetto • Lyndell Williams • First For Romance 

Recipes from fiction books that I want to try

 This topic from Long and Short Reviews was interesting. In terms of specific detailed recipes, I couldn't remember any. I can, however, remember a number of dishes I've seen mentioned in books that I would love to try if I could figure out how to make them.

The first was in Tipping the Velvet, a lesbian novel about an oyster-girl who becomes a masher. Nancy mentions seducing her girlfriend over a dish of oysters rolled in flour and stewed in cream. I have never been a lover of raw oysters but I've never tried them cooked, so when I read this I got on Google and hunted for a recipe, but without any luck. I've seen oyster stews a couple of times but nothing specifically like this.

The second was the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There are a number of recipes online for this but as yet I've never tried one. At least one of them boiled down to a pint of top shelf, which might well be a head-splitter of a cocktail but sounds like it would taste terrible.

And finally there were vanity cakes from one of the Little House on the Prairie books. I believe there are recipes for these online but I've heard negative reviews of quite a lot of them, stating that they don't match up to the delicious description in the book. Mind you, I'm not sure that much would. They sounded spectacular.

So what recipes would you like to try?

Funniest things that have happened to me

 It's funny how it works. I'm sure there are hundreds of things in my life that have been funny, but when Long and Short Reviews asked for some of them, suddenly I was completely unable to think of any.

So I stuck with something that is a constant source of amusement - people's reactions to my blue hair.

People often tell me I'm brave for having bright blue hair. I don't know about that. It definitely draws attention - I've often had comments about it from complete strangers, and frequently hear little kids squealing "Look mummy, blue hair!" For some reason medical professionals always say the same thing about it, which is "You look like a mermaid!" It's almost always positive, so I don't mind it.

It has, however, been negative three times.

Once from the bloke in the corner shop near my old house, who felt the need to tell me I would look much better with a more natural colour while I was waiting for him to stop talking and hand over my change.

Once from a car salesman who asked me "Did your mother bang the Cookie Monster?"

And once from a charmless idiot last Saturday as I was crossing the car park to go to the supermarket. Mr Loudmouth pulled up in front of me in his car and shouted out of the window "You Smurfy-looking fuck!"

Everyone's got an opinion, apparently.

So what funny things have happened to you?

Movies that were better than the books

 I'll be honest, I very rarely find films to be better than the books they adapted, and I have a theory as to why that is. With many adaptations it feels to me like one person read the book and wrote a series of bullet points on it, followed by the screenwriter reading the bullet points and writing a script that covers all of them but doesn't include any of the plot or character development that occurred between them. It would certainly explain why so many film adaptations have events occurring out of the blue instead of emerging organically from the plot and characters, and why in some cases (such as the version of "Persuasion" I saw recently) pivotal plot points are actually swapped round so that they no longer make any sense.

So the only film I could come up with for this was the Daniel Radcliffe adaptation of "The Woman in Black".

I read the book after seeing the film, and I'm not sure if it was technically better, simply because they were two very different animals. Other than the fact that the film contained a woman in black and a rocking chair, there were very few similarities between them. However, the film did include an excellent performance from Daniel Radcliffe and was genuinely scary, which I didn't feel the book was - it's rare that I'm scared by a book.

So have you seen any films that were better than the books?

Favourite songs or musicians

This topic from Long and Short Reviews was an interesting one. I have a fairly wide-ranging musical taste and will have songs I like from most genres, with the possible exception of dubstep, which I have never yet managed to enjoy. However, my favourite genre?

Rock.

My absolute favourite band is Queen, but I also love The Darkness, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams and most other classic rock band. I've seen a lot of bands in concert and would almost be able to say it's impossible not to be entertained at a rock gig, were it not for that dire Motley Crue gig I went to a few years ago. If not for the rotating drum kit I'd have fallen asleep.

Choosing particular songs is more difficult. My husband and I like to spend the evening on YouTube taking it in turns to pick songs to play, and this can very easily go on into the early hours because there are so many we love. My favourite Queen track is "Don't Stop Me Now", but there are many other tracks that have meaning for me, including several which are attached to old stories of mine in my brain.

The current track connected to my latest WIP is Peppercorn's "Hyperventilating". It gave my WIP its name, and I'm hoping to have Hyperventilating finished next year. But in the meantime, give the song a listen. It's great.

So what are your favourite songs or musicians?