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Category Archives: Sunday Loves

Sunday Loves – 13.07.2014

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How’s your True Blood watching going?

Episode 4 preview…

Our True Blood nights seem to be flying by. We’re already staring down the barrel of episode 4?!!!! Extra depressing since this final season is only 10 episodes long. Anyway I thought I’d take a quick minute to discuss the happenings…

WARNING IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE FIRST 3 TB EPISODES DO NOT READ ON!!!

I’M SERIOUS! DON’T READ ON!

FINAL WARNING!

….

Ok, firstly… BOOOOOO!!!!! Why did they kill off Alcide! I care about him as a character a lot more than I care about characters like Lettie Mae (Tara’s mum) and even worse than the fact he was killed off, why did they kill him off in such a non-scene. It seemed a wee bit of an anti-anything to have him shot in a passing camera angle. His character definitely deserved something more. If you’re going to kill off a character like that then do it with some effort. Tara was also killed off in a non-way (her death didn’t even get camera time except for the before and after) But that I could live with, it was a different way to approach it. Now after adding Alcide to the non-event death it just seems a wee bit bitter. Lets hope more characters don’t get added to the body count… Also, I would like to note… Like Kristal and I discussed, as IF Alcide and Bill wouldn’t have heard the shooter in the trees. Ridiculous.

This brings me to Sookie and Bill, Alcide is out of the picture now, seemingly so is Eric (more on that soon) So now suddenly Sookie and Bill are having deep and meaningful conversations about life and love? And conveniently he’s ‘not the same vampire who did terrible things to her’ since he was drained last season? If this is a play to have these two end up together I am unimpressed.

Now to the next issue. Eric. I’m sure you all were hoping Eric would be back after last seasons events…

 

Good news is that he is back. Bad news is, seriously they’ve given him Hep V?! And for some reason that’s turned him into some wuss of a vampire that’s just laying around waiting to die? That is not the Eric that has been portrayed right through this series. Not at all. So not only do I feel a bit miffed that he’s got whatever that zombie vampire illness is, but I now have to put up with him being a shadow of his former character. Come on, us viewers need a little smidge of good to get us through the last ever season!

And who the heck had even heard of this ‘Sylvie’ before episode 3’s flashback scenes. I’m not buying it.

I’ve decided to finish on a good note, with the things/characters that have Kristal and I enjoying TB… Lafayette. Honestly, love this character. Always have, he’s just freaking awesome. Jason Stackhouse. Hilarious, love that he keeps the humor ticking over that this show needs. (especially this season) Also his eye-candy appeal is not hurting either. Pam!!! Who doesn’t love Pam. I wish that she was getting way more screen time this year so I’m hoping we start to see more of her soon. And finally, Kristal and I both agree that it’s so good to have the story based back in Bon Temps. The last few seasons have seemed like they’ve been everywhere BUT Bon Temps, so we’re loving it.

So we haven’t quite decided where this is going yet… we do have a few ideas. A few hopes and a few fears. Luckily a lot can change in the last 7 episodes… otherwise, could we possibly be looking at the apocalypse? I’d love to hear your thoughts. What are you loving? What are you not?

 

 

Sunday Loves – 06.07.2014

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My Sunday love this week is dedicated to the very awesome Moonrise Book Blog who are celebrating their 1 year anniversary with all sorts of good things going on! One huge reason that Kristal and I started this blog was to chat and interact with like minded people about books, reading and randomness. So being asked to join in with events like these is so awesome for us.

Please take a moment and pop over and visit Moonrise and check out her posts and enter her competition… It’s very worth it!

Sunday Loves 29.06.2014

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Ah, I’m just writing randomness for Sunday Loves this week. Think of it as a miniature collection of entertainment type loves from the past week….

1.

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22 JUMP STREET – I don’t think I was a mega Channing Tatum fan…however after seeing 22 Jump Street I feel like maybe I am ONLY a Channing Tatum fan?!!! Oh and Jonah Hill! Those two are just absolutely EVERYTHING together on screen. Seriously, if you haven’t checked it out and you need to laugh for 120 minutes then go and see this movie!

2.

AMAZING READING THIS WEEK  – Neanderthal Marries Human is still whizzing around in my mind. I LOVED this book! So nice to read something that just makes you smile… And luckily for me it seems to have just been the start of hopefully a very long amazing book run because I’m currently 1/3 of the way through Shadow of Night (All Souls 2) and am loving it, just as I loved the first. These are long books so I may be MIA for a few nights but I’ll definitely be filling you all in…

3.

TRUE BLOOD – My BBH already re-capped the first episode so I wont repeat that. I’m just excited it’s finally started up! So I’ll quickly and efficiently note down my important points…

  • OMG THERE IS HOPE FOR ERIC!?!
  • EW, zombie vampires!
  • Did you all notice that Jessica’s boyf James is not the same? Google it. I honestly feel if you’re going to sign up to a show like True Blood as an actor, then you should expect all possibilities.
  • Pam is BADASS
  • Oh and. Sheesh! Tara. What an end!

Sunday Loves – 22.06.2014

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So last week I finally had a reason to make a brownie recipe that I’ve had written down for literally years. But have never made. And HOLY MOLY I can still taste the goodness. So I’m sharing my recipe for my Sunday Loves this week. It’s the first episode of TB in a couple of sleeps so maybe you might want to cook this bad boy up and have it on hand juuuuust in case Eric doesn’t make an appearance… pretty sure that’s my/our plan!

Oh and btw this recipe does come with a warning: It is extremely extremely decadent. So when it says cut into small squares you literally want tiny small squares. I know this from experience since last week I decided to taste test the brownie before Kindy pickup… It wasn’t a good look me showing up with a chocolate hangover! Totally worth it though.

 

Choc Cheesecake Brownie!!!

Pure indulgent deliciousness...

Pure indulgent deliciousness…

INGREDIENTS:

BROWNIE:

150g butter, melted and slightly cooled

1/2 cup cocoa

3 eggs, room temperature

11/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup dark chocolate chipes

TOPPING:

250g cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

 

METHOD:

  • Preheat the oven to 170C. Line an 18cmX28cm tin with baking paper.

  • To make the topping, beat the cream cheese, egg and sugar together until fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and beat again until combined. Set aside.

  • To make the brownie, pour the melted butter into a large bowl and sift over the cocoa. Whisk together until combined. Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence. Whisk vigorously for about 30 seconds until the mixture becomes creamy and slightly paler in colour.

  • Sift over the flour and baking powder. Use a spatula to combine gently. Fold in the chocolate chips.

  • Spoon half the brownie mixture into the base of the prepared tin, smoothing it out with the back of a spoon. Place dollops of the topping over the brownie, then fill in the gaps with the remaining brownie mixture.

  • Use the point of a knife or a chopstick to zigzag through the brownie and swirl the two mixtures together.

  • Bake for about 45 minutes until the brownie is pulling away from the sides of the pan and is not wobbly in the centre. Cool in the pan and cut into small squares to serve. KEEP REFRIGERATED.

 

Sunday Loves 15.06.2014

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Sunday Sunday Sunday!!!

It’s Sunday already! This week I’m just going to do a quick round up of our book lives/lives! We’ve had a busy week here at OUBB, my BBH is still without internet and my family and I are mostly recovered from illness and slowly catching up on sleep (thank goodness!) My husband is currently at the movies (no Tom Cruise for me thank you very much!) and I’m already in bed, about to try and finish my scary ghost book (Eeep! Kristal will be hearing about this tonight I can tell) so I can get going on my new author obsession Penny Reid’s newest book: Neanderthal Marries Human. Beyond excited for this one.

I have a review to put up for The Girl with all the Gifts…ZOMBIE book. I kid you not, we all know how I feel about zombies… I finished it over a week ago but I’ve been too freaked out to write a review for it yet! Actually, I really have had the worst luck with books that are too scary for me lately, I think I need to pull back into my comfort zone for a bit to calm down! If anyone has any really great lighter reads please send suggestions my way. My TBR list is out of control, but I like mixing it up with spur of the moment choices so feel free to help me out!

I know that Kristal has some great reviews to put up once she is reunited with the internet (!!!) She’s been reading a story with a different take on Alice in Wonderland, from what she’s told me I’m so intrigued I can’t wait to read her review! And since she reads roughly 5 million books a week no doubt she has many more reviews to come as well. So no rest for the wicked here, I better get back to my Kindle, he’s starting to look like he’s missing me…

 

Sunday Loves – 08.06.2014

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More True Blood goodness…

Yes, I know… MORE True Blood posts. But it’s June now which means we are on the countdown to the first episode of the LAST season! So in a few short weeks my BBH and I will be settling in to start watching/eating…

Kristal and I...

Kristal and I…

So Last week Trailer #2 was released for the upcoming season, many of you guys have probably already seen it but in case you haven’t….

My only issue, (apart from the vampire zombie thing, we all know how I feel about that…Ahem…) is once again where the EFF is ERIC!!! True Blood you better not mess with us, he better be coming back!

Eric Northman AKA Future Ex Husband #2

Eric Northman AKA Future Ex Husband #2

Swoooonnnnnn…….

So take this as a warning… there will be much more TB discussion here at OUBB… It’s just that time of year!

Sunday Loves – 01.06.2014

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So here’s a fan-girl moment for you all… Jack White and I have a long history together… He makes music and I listen to/love his music. I have all of his albums from all of his bands which of course include the very amazing White Stripes. He has a new solo album due out June 10th. WHICH IS 10 DAYS TIME PEOPLE!!! I cannot tell you how much I am dying for Lazaretto to be released. I’ve heard bits and pieces of songs over the last couple of months and it’s sounding good. Like really good.

My amazing photography skills Sydney 2012

My amazing photography skills Sydney 2012

His last album was Blunderbuss, released in 2012. I made my husband venture to Sydney, Australia to catch him in concert. I was deathly sick with a seriously horrendous throat infection (which upon landing back in NZ I ended up in A&E for) that hit as soon as we landed in AUS, but no way was I missing that concert. So after spending all day dying in our hotel room I dosed myself full of painkillers and went to one of the best concerts of my life. This man knows how to pull every ounce of life out of his music, and even more so when you watch him live. It was one of those concerts you go to and you just want to relive it and relive it. Amazing.

So you can be guaranteed that if he ventures even close to us here in NZ for his current tour I will be going (and I will be posting about it!) For now though, here is the latest released track from the album…

Sunday Loves – 25.05.2014

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Charley Davidson love!

 

Tonight my BBH and I are starting our buddy read of the sixth Charley Davidson book, Sixth Grave on the Edge by Darynda Jones. To say we’re excited is possibly a big fat understatement. So, with this in mind (and with the fact I am DYING to get reading!) I am dedicating tonight’s Sunday love to our favourite Grim Reaper…

Here’s the blurb for First Grave on the Right… (Goodreads) This should give you a taste of the amazingness to come…

 


This whole grim reaper thing should have come with a manual.
Or a diagram of some kind.
A flow chart would have been nice.

Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning, she sees dead people. Really. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (like murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an entity who has been following her all her life…and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely. But what does he want with Charley? And why can’t she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in?

With scorching-hot tension and high-octane humor, First Grave on the Right is your signpost to paranormal suspense of the highest order.


If you like UF or even if you just like a read that will make you laugh, love and be brave then you will seriously LOVE this series. Charley has the perfect amount of hilariousness and attitude to make you wish you were her best buddy. You seriously wont get enough of her… and her penchant for naming inanimate objects. Also, just as a warning… you will absolutely end up with a book boyfriend from this series. He is hotter than hell itself. Swoon. Seriously. Read it. And when you have, swap notes with us!

Third Grave Dead Ahead

By Darynda Jones

 

Oh and just in case you get as hooked as we are… here is the seventh book due out later this year….

 

Sunday Loves – 18.05.2014

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Let the countdown begin…

BUT SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHERE IS ERIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just need some reassurance that he’ll be showing up,,, I’ll even make a bargain, if they bring back Eric then I wont whinge so much about the fact that I’m pretty sure I see zombie-vampires…. Ahem….

More Eric. Less zombies. That is all.

Sunday Loves – 11.05.2014

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I’ve just seriously sat here for nearly 2 hours wandering through Amazon and Goodreads. Oops! But once I started I couldn’t stop! From this (very well spent) couple of hours of browsing I’ve made a little list of a few books that are being released this coming week that I personally wish I had the spare time to read! A few have actually made it onto my wish list so I’ll keep you posted!


May 13th 2014

Everyone in Bell Harbor thinks career-minded plastic surgeon Evelyn Rhoades needs a husband. Everyone, that is, except for Evelyn…sort of. Even if she did want a husband (which she doesn’t…most of the time), she’d never let something as intangible as fate determine who she marries. No, if she’s going to find someone to spend her life with, she’ll do it scientifically: with a carefully crafted list of criteria and an Internet dating site.

But when intoxicated, law-breaking Tyler Connelly crashes into her life by way of a stolen Jet Ski, unruly emotions defy common sense. Sure, he’s sexy, charming, and determined to win Evelyn’s affection, but all evidence points to him being the worst possible choice. He’s too young for her. Too irresponsible. Too underemployed. And, oh yeah, he’s her patient.

But Tyler knows firsthand how the best-laid plans can crumble under the weight of destiny. Now all he needs to do is to teach Evelyn that, in matters of the heart, love often supersedes logic.


May 13th 2014

Reporter Stacy Justice has finally stopped resisting who she really is?a powerfully gifted witch. And now that the Council has appointed her Seeker of Justice, she feels stronger and more attuned to her magic than ever before.

But Samhain?the night when the veil between the worlds thins?is approaching and something strange is brewing. First, a fairy with a sweet tooth appears in town unexpectedly. Then, a mysterious stranger shows up at Stacy’s newspaper, seeking info for a true crime expos? he claims to be writing. But most disturbing of all, a bloodthirsty, sexy demon has escaped the Otherworld, determined to invoke a curse that has plagued Stacy’s family for generations. Fulfilling her role as Seeker and finding out how all these pieces fit together may tear her relationship with her boyfriend apart. But if she doesn’t find answers soon, her love life won’t be the only thing in danger.

This fifth book in the Stacy Justice series offers more of the dazzling magic and heart-stopping thrills that have left listeners spellbound.


May 13th 2014

Bellweather Rhapsody

By Kate Racculia

A high school music festival goes awry when a young prodigy disappears from a hotel room that was the site of a famous crime, in a whip-smart novel sparkling with the dark and giddy pop culture pleasures of The Shining, Agatha Christie, and Glee

Fifteen years ago, a murder/suicide in room 712 rocked the grand old Bellweather Hotel and the young bridesmaid who witnessed it. Now hundreds of high school musicians, including quiet bassoonist Rabbit Hatmaker and his brassy diva twin, Alice, have gathered in its cavernous, crumbling halls for the annual Statewide festival; the grown-up bridesmaid has returned to face her demons; and a snowstorm is forecast that will trap everyone on the grounds. Then one of the orchestra’s stars disappears—from room 712. Is it a prank, or has murder struck the Bellweather once again?

The search for answers entwines a hilariously eccentric cast of characters—conductors and caretakers, failures and stars, teenagers on the verge and adults trapped in memories. For everyone has come to the Bellweather with a secret, and everyone is haunted.


May 13th 2014

Guns N’ Roses fans know the Use Your Illusion tour went on nonstop from 1991 to 1993. They know that concerts sold out in minutes all over the world so fans could hear chart-topping singles Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child of Mine, Paradise City, and November Rain live. They know the Use Your Illusion tour was the last for the band with Slash and Duff. But they’ve only heard rumors of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans.

Fortunately for fans, Craig Duswalt hasn’t just heard rumors—he knows what went on backstage on one of the longest and most popular music events because he lived it.

As Axl Rose’s personal manager during the ridiculously long world tour, Duswalt experienced things that would make most people run the other way and never look back. And in Welcome to My Jungle, he shares the sometimes hilarious, sometimes just plain reckless, and always insane actual happenings on the tour.

A true must-read for Guns N’ Roses fans, Welcome to My Jungle delights readers with hilarious and entertaining exclusive firsthand stories like:

•The day Axl Rose, Kurt Cobain, and Courtney Love got into a “huge war” backstage at the MTV Awards
•Why Guns N’ Roses are forever linked to Charles Manson
•The night Liz Taylor walked in on a very nude Slash—and stayed a while

Featuring little-known facts for the ultimate GN’R fan, Welcome To My Jungle gives an inside look at what it’s really like to live and work with a hugely popular band, from the middle of a rock and roll hurricane.


May 15th 2014

In a world where an industrial revolution is powered by magic, Tyen, a student of archaeology, discovers a sentient book in an ancient tomb. Vella was once a young sorcerer-maker, until she was transformed into a useful tool by one of the greatest sorcerers of history. Since then she has been gathering information, including a vital clue to the disaster Tyen’s world faces.

Elsewhere, in a land ruled by the priests since a terrible war depleted all but a little magic, Rielle the dyer’s daughter has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels. Yet she knows from her ability to sense the stain it leaves behind that she has a talent for it, and that there are people willing to teach her how to use it, should she ever need to risks the Angels’ wrath.

Further away, a people called the Travelers live their entire lives on the move, trading goods from one world to another. They know that each world has its own store of magic, reducing or increasing a sorcerer’s abilities, so that if one entered a weak world they may be unable to leave it again. Each family maintains a safe trading route passed down through countless generations and modified whenever local strife makes visiting dangerous. But this is not the only knowledge the Travelers store within their stories and songs, collected over millennia spent roaming the universe. They know a great change is due, and that change brings both loss and opportunity.