MOVIE REVIEW - HYSTERIA

Genre: Romantic Comedy
Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy and Rubert Everett
Release: 2011
Lenght: 100 minutes

It's 1880 and a progressive doctor scorn by the old fashion medical industry is about to invent the first vibrator.

Yeah, you heard me. 

The movie is funny, witty, little awkward and embarrassing but also informative on the state of women their right and the lack of them in end of 1800's. It's as shocking as hysterectomy court ordered for women said to suffer from Hysteria.

Mortimer Granville's a great character, totally clueless of woman's orgasms, and when he joins Dr. Dalrymple's practice things get seriously funny!

Charlotte Dalrymple's character is the women's rights forerunner who refuses to mold to the Victorian princess, she's loud, arrogant and lively - a woman who's modern in the age of meek and quiet society wives.

Like Jane Austen with a little bit of naughty and funny then Hysteria is for you! I sure loved it, Maggie Gyllenhaal is perfect as sassy Charlotte and Hugh Dancy is great as the upright, polite young doctor inventing the vibrator for medical use on women with hysteria.

A romantic comedy in Victorian London with newly discovered electricity, pleasurable medical solutions and vibrators!

Rating :

GUEST BLOG: THE TABOO OF MENAGE

The Taboo of Menage

by Cassandra Carr

One of the most common reactions I get when I mention I write menage books is eyebrows jumping into hairlines, followed by nervous laughter. I shrug it off because I know most people either don't understand menage relationships or they've been taught to believe it's wrong to be with more than person. That's fine--it's why my stories are fiction.

Polygamy is neither legal nor accepted in "polite society". Does it happen? Of course. If you were a part of a permanent, committed menage relationship, would you be upfront about it or would you try to hide it? I think that's hard for a lot of us to say, even if you're pretty open-minded about sex. One of the biggest needs humans have is for acceptance, and we naturally shy away from anything that will get us shunned by society. There are exceptions, but there always is, right?

So why do I write menage if it's a taboo subject and not one that's accepted by society? Because it's fantasy. What woman hasn't thought about two (or more!) hunky guys focused exclusively on her pleasure. You haven't? Liar. ;-)

My job as an erotic romance writer is to bring the fantasies women have about sex alive in a safe way. That's why I write menage.

What do you think about menage in real life? Do you know anyone living this lifestyle?

Cassandra Carr lives in Western New York with her husband, Inspiration, and her daughter, Too Cute for Words.

When not writing she enjoys watching hockey and hanging out on Twitter. Her December 2011 release, Caught, was named Best BDSM Book 2011 by LoveRomancesCafe.

For more information about Cassandra, check out her website at http://www.booksbycassandracarr.com, "like" her Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCassandraCarr or follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Cassandra_Carr.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT - PASGANKEE

"An isolated village, remote and vulnerable.

A series of brutal murders.

And a vengeful spirit born of tragedy, reawakened after a centuries-old massacre.

Three distinctly different people must come together, racing against time and their own personal demons in a desperate attempt to stop an unstoppable killer and save their town.

Welcome to Paskagankee, Maine. You may not survive the visit."

"...absolutely fantastic...The story moves along at a good pace, dripping with atmosphere. The frights come at you hard and fast...A great story, believable characters, tension, atmosphere, frights galore, blood, and a nice twist at the end..."
   —Literary Mayhem

"A scorching supernatural thriller—Allan Leverone does it again...he is a writer on the rise. Check out Paskagankee. You'll be glad you did."
   —Mark Edward Hall, author of APOCALYPSE ISLAND and SERVANTS OF DARKNESS

I've been fascinated by the power of the written word my whole life, penning my first thriller somewhere around the age of ten. In this short story, a young man gets lost in the woods during a fierce winter snowstorm and his body is found months later huddled against a tree, a single teardrop frozen onto his dead cheek. I suppose this gives you a fairly accurate insight into my genre sensibilities.

I attended the University of Notre Dame with the intention of majoring in newspaper journalism before changing direction after my freshman year and majoring in Business Administration, a degree I received in 1981 and have to this day never put to use.

After graduation, and despite having never set foot inside an airplane, I was hired by the Federal Aviation Administration and began training as an air traffic controller, a job I have held ever since, working in Providence, Rhode Island, Bangor, Maine, and, for the last twenty years controlling traffic at Boston's Logan International Airport.

I am a proud member of the International Thriller Writers, New England Horror Writers and Short Mystery Fiction Society, I live in Londonderry, New Hampshire with my beautiful wife of nearly thirty years, Sue, our three children, one granddaughter, and Midnight the Miracle Cat, who has survived more adventures than the rest of us combined.

Connect with Allan:

Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter

Free today May 30th on Amazon.com! 

Go get your copy!

SECOND CHANCE - REVIEW & INTERVIEW

"Emily wants Colin in her life and her bed. Enlisting the help of Colin's teammates and Madame Eve's 1Night Stand dating service, she plans to prove to Colin he can have everything he lost once again."

Author: Debbie Gould
Pages: 36 pages
Publisher: Decadent Publishing on January 2012
Form: E-book (from tour for an honest review)
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance (+18 Only)
Series: 1NightStand
Amazon: Buy / $3.99 (Kindle) ( EU price, click to see yours )
Barnes & Noble: Buy / $3.99 (Nook)
Smashwordss: Buy / $3.99 (E-book)

"Lieutenant Colin Beckett, US Air Force special ops, lost his wife in childbirth while off on a mission. Two years later, he’s still trying to come to grips with the guilt that tortures him. And to complicate matters, he finds himself undeniably attracted to his wife's sister, Emily. Struggling with his desire, he tells himself he doesn't deserve a second chance with such an amazing woman.

Emily wants Colin in her life and her bed. Enlisting the help of Colin's teammates and Madame Eve's 1 Night Stand dating service, she plans to prove to Colin he can have everything he lost once again.

Will their one night lead to the happy ending she longs for or the loneliness he thinks he deserves?" ~Goodreads

Colin's story is quite dark, his wife dies giving birth to their daughter while he's away in the special ops. He breaks down, gives the girl to his wife's sister to raise. He truly doesn't believe he deserve his daughters love and the fact that he's beginning to have feeling to Emily scares him to the core.

Colin and Emily's story is short but I actually liked Emily's determination to help Colin until it truly is over. Colin's team mate Bobby making Colin jealous over Emily was fun to read as well!

Short, redeeming and somewhat sexy Second Chances was good but was missing either that extra sexiness or bit more sexual tension to be addictive.

Rating :

Niina : Welcome to For The Love of Reading, Debbie Gould, I’m glad you could stop by!

Debbie Gould : Thank you so much for having me today.

Niina : Let’s get started! Can you tell my readers here 4 fun unknown facts about you so we can break the ice?

Debbie : Lets see, I'm Scottish, my left thumb is double jointed, I'm recently single and I love skinny dipping. Oh, wait, this isn't a dating site is it?

Niina : Tell us little about your novella Second Chance, what’s it about?

Debbie : Ahhhh, Second Chance. It's really about just what the title says, but also about forgiving yourself and letting yourself move on. My hero lost his wife in childbirth while he was away on a mission and had never forgiven himself for not being there when she needed him. I've actually caught a little flak from a few readers. Because of the guilt he felt, he distanced himself from the infant daughter that was born that night. But the way I see it is we all grieve in our own ways and men react to situations totally different than women do. He felt, if he was in her life, he'd end up letting her down too or losing her someway. To some readers, they felt this was the wrong way for him to handle things. They are totally right, but like I said, men in particular are not known for using their emotions wisely, lol.  BUT, he does come around and make it right in a big way.

Niina : What made you want to write for the 1NightStand series? (I’m a fan myself, I love the series)

Debbie : I'd read a few of them and just LOVED the idea. So I started plucking away at my own.

Niina : What scene did you most enjoyed writing and why?

Debbie :They scene where Colin's best friend, Bobby, basically tells him what an idiot he's been and to smarten up or he'll go after the girl himself. Bobby really tells him straight up how it is and is willing to literally pound it into him if he has too, lol.

Niina : What do you think makes your hero sexy?

Debbie : Beyond his gorgeous body, the man really does have a heart of gold, misguided though it may be. When he loves, he loves deeply.

Niina : What are you working on right now? Can you give us a sneak peak?

Debbie :  My writing partner and I are actually working on Bobby's story right now. Lemme see if I can find a little tid-bit to share of Bobby.

A fierce craving shot through Bobby, arrowing straight to the growing bulge that strained against his pants zipper. Damn, she was hot and gorgeous and, hell yeah, he wanted her. All that blonde hair, those wet lips, and luscious curves—a guy would have to be dead not to. Instinct screamed that he throw her to the floor and bury himself deep inside her, but thank God his brain had the good sense to demand otherwise. He needed to watch for her cues, or the whole thing could go south.

Niina : Now to more personal questions! What’s the sexiest article of clothing on a guy?

Debbie : Carhartt pants. They snuggle right up to a guys butt perfectly. Love em.

Niina : Would you rather meet real vampires or werewolves?

Debbie : Vampire, I guess. They seem sexier than werewolves somehow.

Niina : Your favorite dangerous fictional bad boy, and why him?

Debbie : Mark Wahlberg in FEAR. Oh my gosh he was a THE dangerous bad boy in that movie. He started off as THAT bad boy all the girls would go for, edgy, dark, sexy. Then he turn psychotic, lol. Great movie and he played the heck out of that part.

Niina : What is your favorite guilty treat/pleasure?

Debbie : Red Velvett cake. Love the stuff!!!!!

Niina : Before we finish, here are some Quick Fire Questions:

Night or day?  Night
Pick-up or Mini-van? Pick-up
Boots or Heels?  Boots
Beer or Wine? Beer
Cocktails or Shots? Shots
M&Ms: With or Without Peanuts?  Without
Treats: Sweet or Salty? Salty
Date: Going to Park or Going to Movies? Park
Winter or Summer? Summer
Jewels or Chocolates? Chocolates (White, and don't tell me that's not a chocolate.)
Men: Alpha-male or Submissive? Alpha
Men: Clean Shaven or Stubble? Clean shaven
Men: Bad boys or Good guys? Bad boys
Tattoos or Piercings on a guy? Tattoo's here and there VERY sex, but not TOO many.
Brunettes or Blonds? Brunettes
Romance: Vampires or werewolves? Vampire
Romance: Fallen Angels or Sexy Demons? Fallen Angels
Romance: Cops or Cowboys? Come on, I've been good about the whole pick one thing but do I REALLY have to choose here??? Fine, I guess the cowboy wins. Now if you'd asked Military, it'd been all over with. :-)

Niina : Thanks for visiting the For The Love of Reading, Debbie! Any news would you like to share with your readers, or websites they can check out?

Debbie : Check me out at www.authordebbiegould.com and the blog my writing partner and I have, http://www.garland-and-gould.blogspot.com/

BARCODE: LEGEND OF APOLLO / AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Niina : Welcome to For The Love of Reading, Kashif Ross, I’m glad you could make it!

Kashif Ross : The pleasure is mine.

Niina : Let’s get started! Can you tell my readers here 4 fun unknown facts about you so we can break the ice?

Kashif : 1) When I was in undergrad, I used to carry a red bear on my backpack from Victoria Secret. Written across its belly were the words, "Sexy little bear." I thought it was fitting because I was short and I think I'm pretty damn attractive.

2) Just last year, I was training to be an animator with professionals from Dreamworks. I couldn't afford to continue doing it, but it was fun and taught me a lot about bringing characters to life.

3) I'm a damn fast writer. I've written a 75k novel in a week. I've also written three 100k+ books. Each took me three weeks to complete.

4) I often refer to myself as a ninja in my day-to-day conversations. For example, "How'd you get here so fast." My response, "I'm a ninja." It adds some spice to my life.

Niina : A VS teddy, huh? ;) Tell us a little about your book “Barcode: Legend of Apollo”, in five sentence or less?

Kashif : The story was written to appeal to people sick and tired of the standard hero's journey where good triumphs over evil and a vampire/wizard boy saves the day. Do not read this if you're looking for a happy ending because it's for readers that want something different. Barcode is based on humans that can harness the powers of gods. It's about a boy that wants nothing to do with his destiny, but he can't run from it, no matter how much he tries.

Niina : What chapter did you most enjoyed writing and why?

Kashif : There's a chapter where one of the villains gets his butt handed to him by a guardian of the arena. However, I'm not happy he gets smacked around, I enjoyed writing the tension and the shock on the audience's faces when they watch him stand up to their hero.

Niina : Which way are you going with series?

Kashif : Down a dark and twisted path. The more you read the story, the more deaths will appear. Though it's a fantasy, I'm trying to keep things "realistic" in a sense. I don't want all the heroes to make it out safely just because they can. I want to create a level a tension where readers can't predict what will happen next. Some characters may even come back to life.

Niina : Dark and twisted is good! What character did you most enjoyed writing and why?

Kashif : It's a close call between Kode and Michelle. Though I loved creating a strong female character, I really had a thrill making Kode full of mystery and murderous intent. I purposely made it difficult for readers to get a grip on him. I even made things more twisted in the end, but that's where I had the most fun.

Niina : I absolutely loved Michelle myself. :) What sparks your inspiration?

Kashif : Music! I play certain songs in order to draw out specific emotions in the readers. For this story, I played a lot of Paramore: "Ignorance" and "Monster." For the intimate and emotional scenes, I used Trey Songz, "Me 4 U." For the second book, I used "Monster," but it was by Jay-Z and Kanye West. I also used Paramore's "Misery Business."

Niina : Kanye West has some awesome music, very author friendly. ;) How did you find your cover and if you didn't take part in the search, what is your opinion of it?

Kashif : I asked a college friend to design the cover for me, Stephanie Yang aka Sheep. She partnered up with Glynnis Koike. I sent them ideas of what I wanted from other anime shows or album covers and they did the rest. It requires a lot of teamwork to get the cover done. They ask a lot of questions and turn my words into ideas. It's fun and challenging, but in the end they created some delicious nom-nom!

Niina : The cover really got me, I was wondering who's the alien, until I started reading and went, 'wait not an alien!' Err... so, what’s the best and worst advice for writers you have received?

Kashif : I can't really narrow anything down. Everyone has advice, but I take it with a grain of salt. Really it's all about what you do with the information you receive that's important.

Niina : Can you tell us five fun/quirky things about the hero that we didn't learn from the book?

Kashif : These contain minor spoilers - 1) Spencer is intentionally a jerk. I made him that way because I wanted his character growth to be awesome. That leads me to,

2) Spencer's character was built around Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. I wondered how much more interesting HP would've been if the story began with the prick that no one liked.

3) Spencer is actually slowly becoming evil like Anikin Skywalker did in Star Wars. He's not meant to be a good guy. Some readers wonder why they still don't like him in the end, though he did so many great things. It's because there's evil in his heart.

4) Spencer was one of the last characters added to the story. It was originally written without him in mind.

5) He's a breast man.

Niina : I liked Spencer being such a jerk, it added depth to the story and it was bit odd. ;) Now to more personal questions! Would you rather meet real vampires or werewolves? (not the Disney versions)

Kashif : Grr...neither. After Twilight, I'd like to stab one in the heart with a stake and shoot the other with a silver bullet. That's a friendly warning to any sparkly eyed fantasy pretty boys that try stepping in my neighborhood.

Niina : LOL! What is your signature dish?

Kashif : I make a mean plate of Italian sausage spaghetti, but that's not for everyone, so I have to give it to my fajita grilled chicken burrito.

Niina : What is your favorite guilty treat/pleasure?

Kashif : Women with nice butts...that's probably not what you meant, huh?

Niina : LOL! I'll accept it. Not even the raciest answer I've gotten! (the raciest rhymes it bildos) What’s on your night stand?

Kashif : A teddy, ink cartridges, and change.

Niina : Before we finish, here are some Quick Fire Questions:

Night or day?  Day
Pick-up or Mini-van? Pick-up...rawr
Boots or Heels?  Heels if she has sexy feet.
Beer or Wine? Meh...non drinker here.
Cocktails or Shots? You alcoholics always want to know about drinks.
M&Ms: With or Without Peanuts?  With! Are you crazy? Who buys the one without? You have no soul.
Treats: Sweet or Salty? Sweet. Salty makes me feel...dirty.
Date: Going to Park or Going to Movies? *Gasp* Can't choose. *Hides in corner and hugs knees* Can't choose!
Winter or Summer? Summer.
Women:  Talkative or wallflowers? Wallflowers...dammit I hate when people don't know when to hush. Plus, mysterious floats my damn boat!
Women:  Curvy or Slim? Curvy. Sorry for those of you without a figure. Somebody loves you.
Tattoos or Piercings on a woman? I love art so I'll go with tats. Plus, Barcode is all about intricate tattoos.
Brunettes or Blonds? Is this really a questions? Brunettes. Dark and mysterious always wins with me.
Cops or Cowboys? Native Americans.
Time-Travel or Sci-fi? Aren't they the same?
Romance or Erotic Romance? Erotic. How can life really happen without something kinky going on in your pants?
Male POV or Female POV (Point Of View)? Male. I love strong female POV, but most stories are written with weak women that I'd be tempted to slap in real life. Just saying.
Times New Roman or Courier? TNR

Niina : Thanks for visiting the For The Love of Reading, Kashif! Any news would you like to share with your readers, or websites they can check out?

Kashif : Of course. What author wouldn't tell more of what's to come? I'm currently finishing Barcode: Cavern of Youth. I expect it to release on June 2nd. If you want to read updates, head over to kashifross.com. Thank you very much for this opportunity. I love this website.

Niina : Thanks! Glad you came by!

Review of Barcode coming up soon! 

Unfortunately this blogger is feeling quite under the weather and hadn't pre-written this review so hang in there it's coming up as soon as I feel good enough to write.

SHAPE - APRIL 2012

If you are like me and sometimes don't get to mags right away then you might have this April Edition still unread. Though this time in my case the Finnish store I went to didn't yet have the "current" edition - which is why I decided to order Shape again!

The first thing in the cover that got me was Alison Sweeney, I love her in The Biggest Loser ( yes I do watch that show! I'm a huge Jillian Michaels fan ).

The second was The Hunger Games Workout - I was expecting some running, climbing or something to go with the mood of the book! But no, what I got was just the actresses who played Glimmer doing moves, bummer. :(  Get in to fighting shape, okay I did get that and the moves were really strength building.

The Sexier By Summer workout I loved! I love doing the 2. Booty Booster move, it's easy but efficient and who doesn't want a perkier butt! A hint, the lower angle your knees butt and feet make the more bunch the lift and point has to your abs as well. ( click for a bigger pic )
Also 5. The High-Kick Dips were a workout for the arms and butt!

Of course my favorites are the Success Stories and the Weight-Loss Diary girl Yasmin. It's the best source of inspiration! I especially loved Kathy's 80 pound loss with Wii Fit and kick boxing.

I think the most emotional article in this issue was My Boyfriend Almost Killed Me - I've always had trouble believing that a strong woman could get bullied and abused but this story really told how it happened to her, bit by bit, and now I have to say it really can happen to anyone who meets a manipulative man, if they don't know these warning signs : Gets serious too quickly, easily jealous, blames his exes, pressures to spend less time with family and friends, wants to move far from said family and friends, criticizes and puts you down subtly ( you're not as smart, or as pretty or as slim as... ).

Another great 164 pages! Shapes always has the best test on apparel and footwear, but also the beauty tips, and health tip - like did you know to buy asparagus with the tips close together instead of open for more flavor... well I know now! And did you know that with more iron in your system your exercises will be more efficient and your moves faster? Now you do!

Let's get fit!

P.S: Want a Weight-Loss Success Story to read to inspire you today, here we go! Beyonce lost 60 pounds after baby!