THE WINNERS FOR MARY: THE SUMMONING .....ARE...

a Rafflecopter giveaway AND a Rafflecopter giveaway

AUDIO BOOK REVIEW FOR - PLAYED FOR A FOOL - BY STEPHANIE BLACK

pic and description taken from Goodreads

DESCRIPTION:

Three years ago, the small town of Britteridge was rocked by the senseless murder of Gail Ludlum. Now the people most affected by the tragedy have returned to the place where it all began, and the scene is set for the perfect revenge . . .
Megan O’Connor’s life was shattered when she was unwittingly drawn into a kidnapping plot that ultimately led to the murder of an innocent woman. Though the road to redemption has been long, she’s finally found happiness with her recent engagement to a wonderful man, a pillar of the community. But amid the chaos of wedding planning, the return of Gail Ludlum’s son to Britteridge sets in motion a disturbing sequence of events. Soon Megan finds herself the victim of a series of cruel deceptions that indicate one thing: her past mistakes have not been forgiven or forgotten. As the mischief escalates to dangerous levels, it becomes clear that someone is determined to avenge Gail’s death. And he won’t rest until he’s taken a life for a life. 

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

Okay, let me start by stating yet again, I didn't know that this was book 2.  UGH.  Having said that I don't think I missed all that much from book one.  Okay, probably not true, but I didn't feel lost.  Does that make sense?

I bought this book on CD to listen to in my car.  Sometimes I have my ipod with me (well most times), but sometimes I just like to pop in a CD and listen.  My kids usually end up enjoying the books as well...so it's good for all.

I enjoyed this story.  I really did.  I did NOT like the narrator.  So, IF you decide to read this book take my advice and read it.  Don't listen to it.  A bad narrator for me can ruin a book.  Thankfully I liked this one enough, that I let the annoying voice slide.  It's not that she didn't read well, I just didn't think she conveyed the intensity of the book very well.  It seemed too "ehh" for me.

This was an exciting book.  I have always wanted to be a twin.  I never thought about having an evil twin.  Probably because I would have been the evil twin..hehehe.  Any way, to have a twin who tried to kill you.  Umm, no thank you.  

Megan's life is complicated, and seems to get more so when Bryce is let out of jail for his part in the kidnapping of her now fiance's sister Rachel. With Megan's sister in jail for life in her part of the kidnapping and murder, the Drakes, and Megan thought the worse was behind them.  Bryce may be out of jail, but he seems to be doing what he is suppose to.  Yet, Megan is getting threatening letters, and someone is out there trying to make her look bad.  

There are still plenty of people who probably don't want Megan to marry the most eligible bachelor of their small town Trevor Drake, but Megan had no idea the lengths people would to go to make sure it didn't happen.

The story has lots of twist and turns, and is exciting.  I was blow away at the lengths some people would go to jut to get back at someone they thought did wrong.  Granted Megan was not innocent at the beginning of this whole scheme, but had made up for it when she found out the depth of the deception.  Attempted murder, mayhem, kidnapping, you name it, it probably happens in this book.  It's so exciting.

I love how it came together and how well it was done.  I just wish I would have read it, and not listened.  Oh well, the book itself was still really good.  

I hope you take the chance to read it.  It's an exciting, clean, intense book.

Source:  I bought this CD for myself from Deseret Book.  I was not compensated in any way for this review.  These are my own Personal thoughts on the book.

MY RATING:

WHERE TO BUY:

    

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

pic from Goodreads, bio from Deseret Book

STEPHANIE BLACK has loved books since she was old enough to grab the pages, and has enjoyed creating make-believe adventures since she and her sisters were inventing long Barbie games filled with intrigue and danger or running around pretending to be detectives. She is a three-time Whitney Award winner for Best Mystery/Suspense, most recently forCold as Ice (2010). Stephanie was born in Utah and has lived in various places, including Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, and Limerick, Ireland. She currently lives in northern California and enjoys spending time with her husband Brian and their five children. She is a fan of chocolate, cheesecake, and her husband’s homemade bread.

SOMETHING WICKED RISES - INTERVIEW WITH HILLARY MONAHAN AND GIVEAWAY

I am so excited that I get to be part of this, this year.  Welcome to my stop for Something Wicked Rises.  Today we have the awesome, and talented Author Hillary Monahan.  She is the author of the Bloody Mary series, that I have loved so much.  I am so excited that she was willing to take the time out of her busy schedule to do an interview with me, to share today.  I am not a Halloween Fan, but I love scary movies, and I love scary books, and they just so happen to coincide with Halloween.  It's exciting when all the "scary" books start to come out.  So without further ado, here is author, Hillary Monahan.

ME:   What made you decide to write about Bloody Mary?

MONAHAN:  When I was a kid, our town had a local spin on Bloody Mary called Mary Jane. It was said she was a student at our middle school who died during the school fire in the fifties. If you said Mary Jane three times in the mirror in the school bathrooms, she'd appear and scratch at your face. I remember various girls turning off the lights, in the school bathrooms and then freaking themselves out, screaming that Mary Jane had appeared to them and scratched them.  I never had the courage to do it myself. I'm pretty sure that means I win at Darwinism. 

ME:  Which character was your favorite to write about in both Mary books?

MONAHAN:  Mary herself.  I like villains who have a reason for being a villain and can be, when painted in a certain light, sympathetic.  Mary Worth let me flex those muscles. 

ME:   What are you working on right now?

MONAHAN:  My next Eva Darrows book called Dead Little Mean Girl.  It challenges the Mean Girl trope and how, dismissing a girl as a mean girl, makes her Not People.  It's a snarky black comedy. 

ME:  What is the hardest thing to write about for you?

MONAHAN:  Relationships and especially sex.  It's so different from person to person, the emotions that go along with it, and there's always that worry that you're either going to go too clinical and sound like an anatomy textbook or The Other Way (AKA Full Porno.)  It's finding the happy middle and staying there. 

ME:  What author (or if you are like me what authors) inspired you to become a writer?

MONAHAN:  E.B. White for a writer people would know.  I read Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little so many times as a kid, I can't even count.  Also: my grandmother.  She was a professional writer.  In her later years it was mostly greeting cards for Hallmark, but she was always in her writing room, tapping away at a typewriter that weighed as much as I did. 

ME:  Tell us how you came up with the covers (Which are FABULOUS by the way)?

MONAHAN:  I didn't!  Authors have very little to do with their covers.  (See: nothing which can be problematic when the author hates the cover and is told OH WELL.)  In traditional publishing, marketing and design come up with the covers and say TA DA.  I just won the cover lottery for horror books.  Hyperion did a great job. 

ME:   What are your top 5 favorite books that you like to read?

MONAHAN:  THE MISTS OF AVALON, LONESOME DOVE, THE SHINING, THE WITCHING HOUR, and The Black Jewels Trilogy though I know how uhhh.  I have issues with the books but every once in a while I go through a trilogy reread. It's like a junk food addiction. 

ME:  What do you love most about being an author?

MONAHAN:  Working from home surrounded by smelly basset hounds. 

ME:  How can our readers find out more about you?

MONAHAN:  Ask me!  I'm on Twitter under @HillaryMonahan and I pretty much answer everything lobbed at me. 

ME:  Do you write full time or part time?

MONAHAN:  Full for now.  We'll see if that sticks in the future. Girl's gotta eat.

FUN FACTS:

1.  Coffee, tea, or soda?  COFFEE.

2.  Ice Cream or Yogurt? Ice Cream!

3.  Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, or White chocolate? Yes?  Can I just say yes?

4.  Favorite Food?  My mother's homemade apple pie.

5.  Introvert or Extrovert?  I'm the most outgoing introvert you'll ever meet.  But I am an introvert. 

Thank you Hillary.  It was so much fun to get to know you better.

If you haven't read her Bloody Mary series, you should!  You can fine my reviews for the books by clicking on the covers shown below.

  

Description for MARY;  THE SUMMONING (Book 1)

There is a right way and a wrong way to summon her. 

Jess had done the research. Success requires precision: a dark room, a mirror, a candle, salt, and four teenage girls. Each of them--Jess, Shauna, Kitty, and Anna--must link hands, follow the rules . . . and never let go. 

A thrilling fear spins around the room the first time Jess calls her name: "Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. BLOODY MARY." A ripple of terror follows when a shadowy silhouette emerges through the fog, a specter trapped behind the mirror. 

Once is not enough, though--at least not for Jess. Mary is called again. And again. But when their summoning circle is broken, Bloody Mary slips through the glass with a taste for revenge on her lips. As the girls struggle to escape Mary's wrath, loyalties are questioned, friendships are torn apart, and lives are forever altered.

A haunting trail of clues leads Shauna on a desperate search to uncover the legacy of Mary Worth. What she finds will change everything, but will it be enough to stop Mary--and Jess--before it's too late? 

Description for MARY:  UNLEASHED  (Book 2):

Mary in the mirror.
Mary in the glass.
Mary in the water.

Mary lurks in the emptiness, in the darkness . . . in the reflection. That is, until Jess unleashes her into the world. Now Mary Worth is out and her haunting is deadlier than ever.

No one is safe.

Shauna, Kitty, and Jess must band together to unearth the truth about Mary's death to put her soul to rest for good. Their search leads them back to where it all began-to Solomon's Folly, a place as dangerous as the ghost who died there a century and a half ago. Quick sand, hidden traps and a phantom fog are the least of their worries. To stop Mary, they need to follow a dark string of clues and piece together a gruesome mystery that spans generations.

But time is running out.

As chilling facts come to light, Mary inches ever closer to her prey. Can Jess, Shauna, and Kitty break Mary's curse before it's too late? Or will history repeat itself until there is no one left to call her name . . . 

================================

I am also giving away a copy of MARY:  THE SUMMONING.  You have to have a valid mailing address for the book to be sent to you from Amazon.  You must live in the USA (sorry, I will do one for Kindle also that is only for INT).  You must respond to the email letting you know of your prize withing 48 hours.  If you don't respond a new winner will be chosen.  I will announce the winner on the blog and contact the winner as well within 48 hours of the giveaway ending.

I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did.  It was just what I was looking for in a scary book.  Monahan is such a wonderful author, and I have really enjoyed the chance to get to know her a little better.  I hope everyone else did as well.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

INTERNATIONAL ONLY:  I am giving away one kindle version of MARY:  THE SUMMONING.  You must have a valid email address, that can accept email from Amazon.com.  You must respond to the email informing you of your winnings within 48 hours.  If you do not a new winner will be chosen.  I will inform the winners withing 48 hours of the giveaway ending.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BOOK REVIEW FOR - DIARY OF A HAUNTING - BY M. VERANO

pic and description taken from Goodreads

DESCRIPTION:

When Paige moves from LA to Idaho with her mom and little brother after her parents’ high-profile divorce, she expects to completely hate her new life, and the small town doesn’t disappoint. Worse yet, the drafty old mansion they’ve rented is infested with flies, spiders, and other pests Paige doesn’t want to think about.

She chalks it up to her rural surroundings, but it’s harder to ignore the strange things happening around the house, from one can of ravioli becoming a dozen, to unreadable words appearing in the walls. Soon Paige’s little brother begins roaming the house at all hours of the night, and there’s something not right about the downstairs neighbor, who knows a lot more than he’s letting on.

Things only get creepier when she learns about the sinister cult that conducted experimental rituals in the house almost a hundred years earlier.
The more Paige investigates, and the deeper she digs, the clearer it all becomes: whatever is in the house, whatever is causing all the strange occurrences, has no intention of backing down without a fight.

Found in the aftermath, Diary of a Haunting collects the journal entries, letters, and photographs Paige left behind. 

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

I am devoting the last two weeks of October to reading "scary" or suspenseful books.  If I can.  I am sure there are enough out there to keep me busy, but sometimes a light and fluffy wants to sneak in.  I hate Halloween more than anything, but I love scary movies, and scary books.  So I figured, to help me not hate Halloween so much and try to get into the "spirit" I would read some creepy books :).

I really enjoyed this book.  Paige moves from LA to Idaho.  She goes from a life of luxury to a life of country living.  I think I would like it, but who knows.  I think when it was mentioned she moved to Idaho, that I knew things would be bad.  hehehe.  Idaho is not one of my favorite places.

I started this book today, and could not put it down.  I love reading books that read like this.  Paige goes from being the "cool" girl at school to the social pariah.  Her only "real" friend is a girl named Chloe.  Chloe thinks that Paige's house is haunted, and wants to check it out.  

Paige invites her over one day, since she doesn't have any real friends anyway.  Paige and Chloe stay up late one night and decide to take a field trip around the house.  They find a stair way with a door that has a glow coming from it.  Automatically Paige stiffens in fear.  There is a hum coming from her brothers room, that no one seems to hear but Paige.  Logan keeps waking up at night and coming into Paige's room.

There are things going on that no one can explain.  Paige keeps a running tab of journal entries that kept me turning pages.  Each night something happens.  Spiders, flies....there really is so much going on in this house and no one can see it.

This story unravels in a way I totally didn't see coming.  I probably should have.  Most people might have, but I didn't.  This is an exciting book, it kept me on my toes the whole time, was just creepy.  It's a great story for this time of year.  Or anytime really....but especially this time of year :).

Source:  I borrowed this book from my niece.  I was not compensated in any way for this review.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

Content: There is some swearing and the f-bomb is dropped a few times, but it didn't distract from my enjoyment of the book.

MY RATING:

WHERE TO BUY:

  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

taken from amazon.com (not much about him)

M. Verano has been searching for evidence of paranormal activity for most of his career. He is currently preparing another diary to further prove his theories.

AUDIO BOOK REVIEW FOR - SIX MONTHS LATER - BY NATALIE D. RICHARDS

pic and description taken from Goodreads

DESCRIPTION:

She has everything she's ever wanted. But not her memory...

When Chloe fell asleep in study hall, it was the middle of May. When she wakes up, snow is on the ground and she can't remember the last six months of her life. 

Before, she'd been a mediocre student. Now, she's on track for valedictorian and being recruited by Ivy League schools. Before, she never had a chance with super jock Blake. Now he's her boyfriend. Before, she and Maggie were inseparable. Now her best friend won't speak to her.

What happened to her? Remembering the truth could be more dangerous than she knows...

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

Man....oh man....oh man.....  This was such a great book.  It messed with my head and made me crazy, in all the right ways :).

Chloe fell asleep in school one day and when she wakes up six months has gone by.  She has  the boyfriend she has always dreamed of having, she all of the sudden is at the top of her class, has new friends.  She seems to have it all.  There is something missing though.  All of the sudden she isn't best friends with her life long friend Maggie, and she is having weird lapses in memory.

Chloe spends time with her new (well new to her memory) boyfriend Blake, but doesn't feel like it's right.  Everything seems to be off.  Chloe keeps having dreams and glimpses of memories back and none of them seem to coincide with what is going on in her life.  

Chloe is trying to maker her parents understand there is something more going on than just memories being gone.  She's seeing a counselor, and making things up because she doesn't want everyone to think she has gone crazy.

She runs into Adam, the local bad boy, and when he touches Chloe, a memory comes to her.  That is what starts Chloe's journey to find out what is going on.

I cannot imagine loosing my memories.  I already don't' have a fantastic memory.  I can look at pictures though and remember where we were, and even remember the feelings that went along with the day.  Chloe couldn't even do that with anything involving the last six months.

She is determined to make up with Maggie, or at least find out what happened between them.  There really is so much going on in this book.  It is so fantastic.  It was so exciting.  It made my head spin and gasp a few time :).  

In Chloe's search to find out what is going on with her, she realizes there is something much more disturbing going on.  It's a wonderfully spun web of lies and deceit.  Get ready for a page turning, bumpy, intense, at some times scary, emotionally charged ride.

Source:  I bought this audio book for myself.  I was not compensated in any way for this review.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

 MY RATING:

WHERE TO BUY:

    

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

pic and bio taken from amazon.com

Natalie D. Richards won her first writing competition in the second grade with her short story about Barbara Frances Bizzlefishes (who wouldn't dare do the dishes.) She later misplaced her writing dreams in a maze of cubicles and general office drudgery. Natalie never forgot about Barbara or those dishes, and eventually she found her way back to storytelling, following the genre of her heart, teen fiction. When she's not writing or shopping her manuscripts, you can probably find her wading through the towers of dog-eared paperbacks that have taken over her bedroom. Natalie lives in Ohio with her amazing husband and their three children, who inspire her every day to stick with her dreams.

AUDIO BOOK REVIEW FOR - ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD - BY KENDARE BLAKE

pic and description taken from Goodreads

DESCRIPTION:

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life. 

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

Cas is a ghost hunter.  He and his mother move around to new places in search of ghosts.  Some are ghosts people report seeing and want to get rid of them, and some are ghost Cas happens upon.  Cas's mother is a witch, that comes in very handy during some very crucial moments in this book.  Cas's late father was a ghost hunter as well, and when he died his weapon called an athame was passed onto Cas.  

Cas has been summoned to another town that is haunted by a horrible ghost that has been killing people for 60 years.  Anna. 

Cas's introduction to Anna was by a group of people at a party he went to "to get to know" people.  Cas starts asking questions about if the town is haunted (which he knows it is, but he wants to gather as much info as possible).  The kids start going on about this house that is haunted by a ghost they call Anna Dressed in Blood.  The kids tell Cas that once someone goes into Anna's house they never come out.   A few town Jocks and a friend he just met decide to drive to Anna's house to scare Cas. 

What follows is an interesting story.  This book kept me on my toes.  I wish I could say it scared the pants off me, but it didn't.  Although it was a really, really good book.  Once Cas meets Anna, the whole town seems to be turned upside down.  Cas  cannot figure out what makes Anna the way she is.  She is a killing machine.

While Cas has faced Anna she proves to be far more difficult to kill than he planned on. 

I cannot even say much more, because I know I will give too much away.  I don't know if it was because I listened to it, and the narrator sounded very young, but it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.  It was more suspenseful.  It was very well done.  I enjoyed it from the minute I started and it was always hard to turn off.  

If you like "ghost" stories this will be a great one to pick up and read.  There is a lot going on in the book.  It's a lot of fun to follow.  I am anxious to see what the next installment brings :)!

Source:  I bought this audio book for myself.  I was not compensated in any way for this review.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

Content:  There is some swearing and If I remember correctly the f-bomb is used a couple of times.  Not excessive.  It didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book.

MY RATING:

WHERE TO BUY:

  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

pic and  bio taken from Goodreads

So, I write books. Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares are horror, The Goddess War books are mythology, and Sleepwalk Society is contemporary. Different genres, because the world don't move to the beat of just one drum. Love to read, too. Fiction, philosophy, good books, bad books, because you take the good you take the bad you take them both and there you have a stack of books and stuff. I mean, you've got to be adventurous. There's more to life that what you're living, so take a chance and face the wind.

There's more coming soon like Slasher Girls and Monster Boys and Ungodly in 2015, so don't waste another minute on your cryin. We're nowhere near the end.

My likes include animals, food, and nostalgia. I mean, whatever happened to predictability? The milkman, the paperboy, the evening TV? Used to be everywhere you look, there's a heart, a hand to hold on to.

Anyway, I love to hear from readers so drop me a line here or at my website and we'll talk about friends to know, and ways to grow, and great authors to be in charge of our days, and our nights.

We can also talk about all the sitcom theme songs in this bio. Sha la la la. 

REVIEW FOR - BEFORE THE CLOCK STRIKES THIRTY - BY AUBREY MACE

pic and description taken from Amazon.com

DESCRIPTION:

With wedding festivities swirling around her, the bride's fortune-telling aunt transfixes young Shannon Fielding. The gypsy woman foresees love in the girl's future: before her thirtieth year, Shannon will meet the man of her dreams. The promise of romance is absolutely thrilling it's almost enough to compensate for the groom's annoying younger brother . . .

Shannon has remembered, and loathed, Nathan since their childhood meeting at the wedding reception that set her on a never-ending quest to find her Mr. Right. When Nathan steps back into Shannon's life, she is forced to reconcile her memory of the obnoxious boy he once was with the endearing man he's become. Nathan quickly becomes the best friend a girl could ask for but when their friendship threatens to develop into something more, can Shannon give up the idea of the mysterious soul mate she's sought for so long?

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

This was such a cute book.  Shannon is convinced that when she was a little girl a gypsy told her that she would meet her husband at a wedding reception before she was thirty.  Little girls will believe anything when they are young.  

So since childhood Shannon has been convince that it will happen just that way.  One day she meets a boy that she knew when she was young, and thought she would not give away who she was until he mentioned that he knew her first.  This never happened.  She was convinced he was the same jerk she knew as a kid.

As she gets to know who she calls "jerkface" most of the book, she realizes he's not as bad as she thinks.  They start to hang out a lot more and become very good friends.  

This story made me laugh.  I cannot imagine still believing something from when I was a kid.  I always dreamed about what my wedding would be like, and I can even remember picking out my wedding dress, and everything.  Those things when I was young changed with age.  Shannon is convinced that what this "gypsy" told her is how she really is going to meet her man.  

It's hard to read a book when everyone around them knows whats going to happen, but the characters won't catch on.  Seriously frustrating.

This book was a fluffy, feel good book.  I am trying to read as many as I can before I dedicate my reading to scary books for the rest of  the month.  This was a sweet romance.  It's a typical boy meets girl, and falls in love story.  The couple finding the way to each other is fun to read about.

Source:  I bought this book for myself.  I was not compensated in anyway for this review.  These are my own PERSONAL feelings on the book.

Content:  CLEAN :)

MY RATING:

WHERE TO BUY:

    

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

pic and bio taken from Amazon.com

Aubrey Mace lives in Sandy, Utah. She attended LDS Business College and Utah State University. When she is not writing, she enjoys cooking, traveling, gardening, playing the cello (badly), and spending time with her family and psychotic cat. 
Aubrey has four published novels: SPARE CHANGE, which won the 2008 Whitney Award for Best Romance, MY FAIRY GRANDMOTHER, SANTA MAYBE, and BEFORE THE CLOCK STRIKES THIRTY. She also has a novella, "The Science of Sentiment", included in the Timeless Romance Anthology Spring Collection.
You can visit Aubrey at her website, www.aubreymace.com.

BLOG TOUR FOR/REVIEW - PARTY STYLE - BY GEMMA TOUCHSTONE - HOSTED BY GEMMA TOUCHSTONE AND CEDAR FORT PUBLISHING & MEDIA

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Make memories your children will treasure forever. As the creator of PartyStyle.com and editor-in-chief of Party Style magazine, Gemma Touchstone knows how to make children’s celebrations memorable. And with her help, you’ll want to find any excuse to party! Packed with easy and elegant DIY craft ideas, cool themes, and must-read entertaining tips, this book shows you how to party in style.

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

This book is A.W.E.S.O.M.E.  I don't quite know how else to describe it.  It's like this book was written just for me.  I don't host many parties, but when I do I like to be prepared.  Now I don't have any excuse not to be.  This book has everything you can think of to plan a party.

The author suggest these 5 things when preparing a party.  I am putting them in the order they are in the book.  The "WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHO AND HOW".  That's how your party planning should start.  The author also suggests having a "planning folder" for each event.  I have to admit I already do that.  If I am planning a baby shower, or bridal shower, I keep everything together.  It helps me a ton.  

This is an author after my own heart!  I don't particularly like hosting parties, but when I do, I am not the type that can fly by the seat of my pants.  I have to be organized.  I cannot be "thrown" into something or it stresses me out and I don't have a good time.

There is a "Party Style Quiz" and I took it.  I just had to laugh.  I rated as "over the top / visionary".  Any one who really knows me that I try to make every thing as easy as possible.  So according to the descriptions in the book I think I rated "Party Stylist / DIY".  I chose this one because when I do host things I like to make the invitations myself, and the food by myself.  I like to put someone else on decorations because I do not know how to decorate worth beans.

The author suggests starting 6 weeks ahead of time.  Now that is organization.  Which I love.  I don't know if I could handle six weeks of preparation though, because planning it self stresses me out...hehehe  I know.  It's kind of an oxymoron.  I HAVE to be organized, but I cannot plan that long, or I get too stressed any way.  What's a girl to do...hehehe

Based on the ideas and all the "stuff" that goes with them, my parties are not "real" parties anyway. BUT, this book puts it in to little steps that make me feel like I "can" do sweet parties now.

I had to giggle at the suggestion of how many party guest to invite.  For kids it's suggested that 1 child per age plus one.  Ya, NO WAY will I ever have 13 boys in the same house at the same time.  hehehe   OR 17 girls at the same time.   But it's a good suggestion to keep it manageable.

This book literally has EVERYTHING you could think of for party planning!  Seriously.  The author has game ideas, drink ideas, food ideas, with recipes to back them up.

The pictures in this book are amazing as well.  She has table setting ideas.  I could go on forever.  I loved every single thing about this book.  It was fun to read.

If you like to throw parties, and get stressed out or just cannot come up with ideas, this book is for you!  It's fabulous.  FABULOUS!! 

=======================================================

Here are some tid bits about the author and ideas for printables for planning a party.

• You can get over $2,500.00 worth of exclusive party printables with your Book purchase for download off of the www.ILovePartyStyle.com web site 
• The Book Kick off party for the PARTY STYLE book will be in orange county, ca at the CAKE expo at tickets are available on Living Social get more info www.cake-expo.com 
• Gemma Touchstone will be teaching pin worthy parties at the pinners conference in Salt Lake City, UT and you can save 10% on tickets with ticket code partystyle
• Gemma Touchstone will be speaking at ISSE along with  Colin Cowie and some other amazing speakers and you can save $500.00 on your ticket when you mention PartyStyle Book Tour
• Find Gemma at the OC DATE NIGHT MARKET https://www.facebook.com/DATE-NIGHT-Market-964563633581813/timeline/?ref=hl
• For more dates on her Tour around the USA Please visit the Blog www.GemmasPartyStyle.com 
• Gemma's Next HOLIDAY HOSTESS is already in the works and will be out in time for the holiday season in 2016 

- Sneak Peek - http://gemmaspartystyle.com/sneak-peek/ 

- Look Inside - http://www.amazon.com/Party-Style-Kids-Parties-Sweet/dp/1462117171 

 Buy the book Here - http://gemmaspartystyle.com/product/party-style-book-autographed-copy/ 

=======================================================

MY RATING:

GIVEAWAY:

- Giveaway runs till the Blog Book tour is over from October 1st thru November 15th.

THE GRAND PRIZE is a kitchen aid mixer, IPAD Air, Honeycomb Decor Pack with multiple sizes and colors, Bakers Bling sanding sugar in several colors, $100.00 gift card to Home Goods, $100.00 Gift card to Michael's Craft Store an d and Autographed copy to the book. 3 ft LOVE Balloon Set. These are Gemma's Must haves for the perfect party.

 - a Rafflecopter giveaway