Wednesday 27 November 2013

What's up Wednesday

What's up Wednesday is run by the lovely Jaime Morrow and her sister Erin L.Funk. You can check out their blogs by clicking their names. It's a really simple blog fest. Each week we answer the questions below and you get to learn a little about what we are up to.
  1. WHAT I'M READING
  2. WHAT I'M WRITING
  3. WHAT INSPIRES ME, RIGHT NOW
  4. WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
Another week another What's up Wednesday :) I have kind of been struggling with my blogging of late. In part because of NaNoWriMo but also because I've just not been up for talking much about what I am up too. I guess because there has been quite a lot of upset and stress in my life lately and I'd failed to stay positive which really sucks as I am normally pretty good at that. 

At any rate I am slowly trying to get back into things but I apologies if I am a little slow responding to comments right now. 

Any who, lets get started. 

1) What I'm reading: 

My reading has been a little slow of late. Again because I am in this whole I just can't be bothered place. I have however been reading lament by Maggie Stiefvater. I am enjoying it when I am reading it, in fact really enjoying it.

I have been thinking a lot lately about reading Alice in wonderland. We watched both the animated Disney version of Alice in wonderland and the newer movie recently and I was thinking about how much I enjoyed them both and yet had never actually read the book version. Which is rare for me as normally if I know there is a book version of something I like I am diving for it with relish. 

The problem is that I tend to find classic books a bit to long winded and drawling. Lolita for instance. Love the movie but really struggled with the book. Not helped by the fact that the main characters comes over as a completely self obsessed fool. Perhaps that's because he was. I have no idea if the book is actually based on a true story and real people or not I may have to look into that. 

It frustrates me too that I do not get on with the classics. I feel like I should be swooning at their pages or something when in reality all I do is think seriously, did no one every tell you to keep things tight. Yes I know this from the woman who is currently rambling away like crazy, on that note, lets move on. 

2) What I am writing: 

Well finding Kelsey for NaNoWriMO of course, which is going okay. Although I have kind of hit one of those points where I am constantly wondering have I built the tension enough here or is it to weak or maybe just maybe it is way to long winded and I'll just be boring my readers to death. A bit like this post I guess lol. 

This is the problem I find with NaNoWriMo, in your hurry to reach your word count you let the quality of your work slip. This may be my last NaNoWriMo for this very reason. As I was doing really well keeping my work nice and polished before I started and now it is just a mess of bad grammar, run on sentences and bad dialogue that I am dreading having to go back and fix. 

Because of this I started a new project that my publisher asked me to consider a while back in the form of a children's book. Called Barely Able Bailey about a polar bear and snow fairy. 

The upside of this was that me and CJ had great fun running around SL looking for polar bears and he got the cutest polar bear avatar. The down side I realised that the thought of writing a children's book terrifies me. I just keep asking myself, am I dumbing this down to much, or am I using words that are to difficult for a child. It doesn't help that my own son, thanks to living with a writer, already has a pretty good grasp of the meaning of some of the more difficult words and even uses them, not always correctly lol, but still it is dead cute. 

Any who to cut a long story short. I am writing right now but I am not feeling good about any of it. Grrr so frustrating. 

3) what inspires me right now. 

All the people who have completed NaNoWriMO. I will too, only 5000 odd words to go now but I just wish I was completing it on a high instead of just looking at my manuscript and thinking. I am seriously going to have to rewrite the entire thing. 

Seriously does anyone else feel that NaNoWriMo just leads to a heap load more work in the end than it would have taken had you have just taken your time with it and done it right. 

Urg feel so bad talking about NaNoWriMo in that way especially given the fact that my first Novel Insane Reno was written during my first NaNoWriMo. 

4) What else have I been up too. 

Stressing. Pretty much just stressing lol. About my dogs death and his illness before that, about Christmas and my husbands lack of ideas when it comes to what he wants. About NaNoWriMo and the state speed writing has left my WIP in, about my own illness which has left me feeling terrible the last few weeks and well a few more things besides. 

Plus side my lack of I can't be bothered has led to me spending more time meeting new people in my bid to procrastinate and I have actually made some really nice new friends. 
Every cloud a silver lining and all that. 

Well that's me. How about you? 
Happy rest of the week all. Love and hugs Joss. 

P.S sorry no pics but I really need to get on with my NaNoWriMoing, may add them later. 



Dangerous depths blog tour.



Dangerous Depths is the second book in the Sea Monster Memoirs series by Karen Amanda Hooper. For those of you who don't know, I am a massive fan of Tangled Tides, the first book in the series, and have been waiting with baited breath to read Dangerous Depths. I have now had the privilege of being one of the lucky few who got to read it prior to its release and it did not disappoint.

Even better is the fact that you can now read it, too. Oh, yes you can! As it was released for everyone to enjoy on the 20th of November. YAY!!!!!!!

Now, given the fact that Tangled Tides is my favourite book, alongside Dangerous Depths, now, (obviously) I really wanted to do a blog tour post that would really do them justice. I though and though about how I could go about it, but they are so amazingly awesome. I am just not sure that anything I could say could fully do them justice; however, I am going to try anyway.

First of all, I want to talk about the theme. I love fantasy and myths, I do, and I am pretty much up for anything in that genre, but lets face it, a lot of what you see now is vampires, werewolves, witches and wizards and it has pretty much all been done to the point where you just think enough is enough,(is enough. I can't go on. I can't go on no more, now. Did you sing it? hehe)

Now, don't get me wrong. I love the Twilight books and Shiver, linger, and forever by Maggie Stiefvater, but I wanted something different. Some new mythical creature to tantalize and tease me through the pages and that is exactly what Karen Amanda Hooper gave me with Tangled Tides. Her merfolk, selkies, sirens and gorgons sucked me whole-heartedly into their world and left me gagging for more.

To come back to them again in Dangerous Depths was like coming home. I had missed them, so much.

On top of this, Karen's stories flow brilliantly. There is no need to go back and re-read, because something tripped you up a bit. In fact, you'll be hard pressed to even put these books down. Her dialogue is amazing and thought provoking, her characters believable and incredibly loveable, and her plot, simply brilliant; always keeping you on your toes and longing to travel through this magical underwater world and discover all of its secrets.

I was in love with these books from the very first page to the very last and the story lives on in your heart, long after you have read the last page. In fact, it hasn't left me, since I first discovered these amazing characters and their amazing world.



Now, I have never been great at telling people about a book without the spoilers, so I am going to refrain from telling you about it and leave the little snippets above to tempt you into picking these amazing books up.

If you like adventure, love, passion, and discovering  new and tantalizing worlds then you must get these books because they really do deliver all of that and so much more besides.

You still want to know what it's all about though, don't you? Well, let me give you the back cover blurbs from both.

Tangled Tides-

Yara Jones doesn't believe in sea monsters--until she becomes one.

When a hurricane hits her island home and she wakes up with fins, Yara finds herself tangled up in an underwater world of mysterious merfolk and secretive selkies. Both sides believe Yara can save them by fulfilling a broken promise and opening the sealed gateway to their realm, but they are battling over how it should be done. The selkies want to take her life. The merfolk want something far more precious.

Treygan, the stormy-eyed merman who turned Yara mer, will stop at nothing and sacrifice everything to protect his people--until he falls for Yara. The tides turn as Yara fights to save herself, hundreds of sea creatures, and the merman who has her heart. She could lose her soul in the process--or she might open the gateway to a love that's deeper than the oceans.

Dangerous Depths-

Hell hath no fury like a selkie separated from his true love.

The gate to the sea creature realm is finally open. Rownan assumes the worst is behind him when he returns home after years of waiting to be reunited with his wife, Vienna. Only to find out that Vienna didn’t wait for him. She traveled to the evil realm of Harte years ago, hoping the legend of another gateway to Earth’s realm was real, but she was never heard from again. Rownan claimed he’d go through hell to be with Vienna, and now he must prove it.

Yara wanted to bask in the glow of her happily ever after in the magical realm of Rathe. She planned to explore Medusa and Poseidon’s world and dive deeper into her relationship with Treygan, but as the new leader of Rathe, her powers are needed to save more than one member of her own kind. Treygan vowed to always be Yara’s guardian, but long ago he also swore to go any lengths to protect his brother Rownan. Now, he must fulfill his promise to both of them.


Rownan, Yara, and Treygan are about to put their lives and souls at risk by traveling to the most dangerous realm of the worlds. Love should conquer all, but no one has ever conquered Harte. 

One of the amazing things Karen has put together for us lovely bloggers to play with is a sort of soundtrack to the book that actually fits specifically with different scenes. I was so enthralled by this that I had to share, but please do heed the warning at the beginning.

DANGEROUS DEPTHS PLAYLIST
Song list in chronological order of when they take place in the story.
WARNING: Some vague spoilers!
1.) Waves of You- Eric Turner (Rownan to Vienna beginning of book)


2.) Sail- AWOLNation  (drunk Rownan in his dark place on the beach)
3.) Drifting- Plumb feat. Dan Haseltine (Yara & Nixie to Rownan--another way)

4.) If I Lose Myself- One Republic (Treygan to Yara the morning of their trip)

5.) The Sea- Morcheeba (Traveling and arriving)
6.) Storm- Lifehouse (Rownan to Vienna when he’s alone in Harte)

7.) I Want You Here- Plumb (Vienna on her beach with the driftwood)

8.) Waves- Blondefire  (Yara and/or Vienna)

9.) Little Talks- Of Monsters and Men (Yara & Treygan in the last half of the book)

10.) Together Again- Evanescence (Yara when she becomes separated from Treygan)

11.) Hazy- Rosi Golan feat. William Fitzsimmons (Vienna & Rownan duet)

12.) Down- Jason Walker feat. Molly Reed  (This one tugs ta my heartstrings. I picture each character: Rownan, Yara, Treygan, and Nixie, on their own singing this song. It flashes between each of them during seemingly hopeless times during their fight to get out.)

13.) My Last Breath- Evanescence (Nixie & Yara)

*BONUS SONG: Hero- David Crosby & Phil Collins (This was a song from my TANGLED TIDES playlist. It’s an oldie, but it was so perfect as a song that Rownan would sing about Treygan. Right down to the “when the hero kills the maiden with his kiss” line. This song still gives me goose bumps when I listen to it.)

We also have some deleted scenes for your reading pleasure. 

Dangerous Depths Deleted Scene #1

*Treygan and Yara had a lot of unnecessary conversations in my first draft. Mainly because I love them together. This was one of the many scenes cut from the first third of the book because I needed to pick up that pace. Told from Yara’s POV.*

“Speaking of questions.” Treygan reached across the table and held my hand. “How are you handling all these changes? I’ve been worried about all your different instincts constantly tugging at you.”
“What do you mean?” I knew what he meant, but I wasn’t ready to admit I was having a hard time handling my conflicting sea monster sides.
“It can be difficult for me to keep my gorgon side in check sometimes. When I was young it was nearly impossible. You haven’t even had a week to adjust to major changes within yourself. It concerns me.”
“What concerns you, exactly?”
“Traveling to Harte. A place where the strongest and most secure soul would have a hard time keeping it together, and you’re going through a big adjustment period.”
“I’m secure and strong.”
His eyebrows lifted. “I didn’t say you weren’t. I only meant you’re gone through major adjustments. Physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
I rolled the fruit back and forth on the table, focusing on it instead of Treygan. Sometimes, when we looked into each other’s eyes, it seemed like he could read my mind. I didn’t want him to see how doubtful I was of my own abilities, or how I worried I’d never adequately fill the role I agreed to inherit from Medusa. “It’s tiring at times. My mer side craves the suns, my selkie side craves the moons, when I’m too warm I crave cold, when I’m cold I crave warmth.”
“If it’s anything like what I went through, it will eventually balance itself out. It just takes time.”
“So what’s it like if it’s balanced? Doesn’t one side always win out?”
“No, for me I usually teeter in the middle between mer and gorgon. How can I describe it?” He rocked his chair back while thinking about it. “I’m comfortably numb.”
“Numb?” I let my head fall against my forearm on the table. “That sounds so…blah.”
“Let me try to describe it better.” His eyes searched the air above him. “Back on Eden’s Hammock, you had really hot days and some cold days, correct?”
“Kind of cold. I’ve heard about places where it snows, but I never experienced that.”
“Okay, well did you ever have days that you didn’t think about the weather at all because it wasn’t too warm or too cold?”
“Yes, because most of the year it was comfortable weather.”
“There you go,” Treygan said. “Eventually you’ll get to that point. When you don’t give any thought to your warm or cold side because the place in-between will feel so natural.” His fingers traced a vine hallmark running up the inside of my arm. “Like being with me. At first, you were internally battling your feelings about me, but now it feels natural for us to be together.”
I smirked, enjoying the feel of his touch as always. “There was no battle. I was attracted to you even when you were brooding and acting like an ass.”
He laughed. “You hid your feelings well.”
“So did you. If I hadn’t asked you to kiss me, who knows where we’d be right now.”
“That’s the thing about fate, you can’t fight it. What’s meant to be will be. Just like your new abilities, and like us.”
Silently thanking fate, I leaned in and kissed him.



Dangerous Depths Deleted Scene #2

*Originally I had a sub-plot where the siren sisters, Otabia and Mariza, wanted to take two of the water sprites hostage in exchange for telling Nixie secret information. But it created a lot of drag in the beginning of the story so the whole sub-plot had to go. The sirens are always wickedly fun so I thought I’d share this scene from the cutting room floor. Told from Nixie’s POV.*

“Bring us your two little friends,” Otabia said. “Kelsey and Gemma.”
“Keeley and Jenna,” I corrected through gritted teeth.
“Yes.” Otabia waved her talons dismissively. “Those two. Bring them here. Mariza and I each get one for the night.”
“What?” I shrieked with horror. “Absolutely not!”
“Oh, hush, you harpy. Let me finish.” Otabia tapped her talons on the arms of her chair and crossed her legs, kicking her thigh-high boots as she continued. “They stay here with us, in our nest for the night. It will assure that you stay here to protect them. It would be a shame if our hunger pangs forced us to drain them of all their blood and memories.”
Mariza licked her lips. “I bet they taste salty like tears.” 
I cringed. No way would I ever let them harm Keeley and Jenna. “Forget it. Whatever it is you’re keeping from me, it’s not that important.”
“Oh, it is that important,” Otabia purred. I could feel her ecstasy filling her at the thought of whatever secret she possessed.
Mariza sat beside me, rubbing my thigh. “Indeed, Yara and her tagalong pals are in for the shock of their lives.”
I sprang from my seat in the window and stomped over to Otabia. “If you know something that relates to Yara’s safety, I demand you tell me.”
“I offered to tell you.” Otabia pressed her boot against my stomach, keeping me from getting too close to her. “But you must hold up your end of the deal.”
“There was no deal.”
“The two tiny creatures, here for the night, released tomorrow with no harm done to them as long as you keep your blabbering beak shut until tomorrow at low tide.”
“But low tide would be after they’ve crossed through the gate,” I argued. “If I know something that would help them in Harte, you can’t deny me the chance to tell them.”
“I swear to you.” Otabia pushed me backward with her foot. “It’s information they can’t take with them.”
Otabia and Mariza both cackled with laughter. Otabia never swore unless it was absolutely true. That was one noble trait about her. I glanced nervously between my two menacing sisters. “I’ll bring them here, but they stay with me. Not one hair on Jenna or Keeley’s head is touched. No tastes, no memories taken, you aren’t even allowed to lick your lips at them or I immediately fly them out of here.”
Mariza let out a sinister mmmm.
“As long as you stay here,” Otabia batted her long lashes at me. “And keep your mouth shut, then we have an agreement.”
“You swear?” I rose into the air, spreading my wings and hovering over Otabia.
“I swear.”
I couldn’t believe I was doing it, but I went to the window, stepped onto the sill and dove into hazy the night sky. On my way to ask Keeley and Jenna to help me unearth Otabia and Mariza’s secret.

 I know, I know. With deleted scenes as amazing as that, you just have to rush out and buy the book. If you haven't by now, what are you waiting for? Do I need to cry? Because, I will, if it will save you from missing out on this epic new world and it's wonderful characters. 

I still have one card up left up my sleeve with which to temp you. (insert imaginary drum roll here, or you could drum on your desk for added effect) 

COMPETITION, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

ONE Grand Prize Winner will get a Sea Monster Memoirs prize pack, including a signed paperback set of Tangled Tides & Dangerous Depths

OMG!!! I think I just wet myself a little. What, TMI? Well, I did tell you I love these books, right, and did you see, did you see, not just a signed copy of Dangerous Depths. OH NO!!! You get Tangled Tides, too. 
I want to be really selfish here and say no one enter or I may be forced to hunt you down and kill you; but, sadly, I am no killer and I just can't be that mean. 
Maybe If I beg. Would begging work? 
No?
OK then, I guess we will just have to battle it out together. 

Now, there is an embedded code thingy but I have absolutely no idea how to do that, so I am going to give you a lovely linky link to the competition instead. 


If I had a face like this, would you have refrained from clicking? 
No, you're right. It was just too great a prize. 
CRIES!!!

Now, before you rush off, let me tell you about the amazing author who gave us these epic Sea Monster Memoirs, the lovely Karen Amanda Hooper (APPLAUSE and CHEERING. Ooooh, and was that a WOLF WHISTLE? I think we have a cheeky chappy in the audience.) 


About the Author:
Karen was born and bred in Baltimore, frolicked and froze in Colorado for a couple of years, and is currently sunning and splashing around Florida with her two beloved dogs. She's addicted to coffee, chocolate, and complicated happily-ever-afters.

Karen has been making up stories for as long as she can remember. Due to her strong Disney upbringing, she still believes in fairy tales and will forever sprinkle magic throughout all of her novels.

Author Links:
Amazon / Goodreads Facebook / Twitter / Blog / Website

Credit where credit is due. This Amazing blog tour has been hosted by: Enticing Journey Book Promotions 

Well, that is all from me. I am off to bed to dream of merfolk and selkies, but I do hope you enjoy this amazing book as much as I did, as both Tangled tides and Dangerous Depths really are two of my favourite books and I hope they will be yours, too.


Love and hugs, Joss xx

Wednesday 20 November 2013

What's up Wednesday!

What's up Wednesday is run by the lovely Jaime Morrow and her sister Erin L.Funk. You can check out their blogs by clicking their names. It's a really simple blog fest. Each week we answer the questions below and you get to learn a little about what we are up to.
  1. WHAT I'M READING
  2. WHAT I'M WRITING
  3. WHAT INSPIRES ME, RIGHT NOW
  4. WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
So let's get started. 

1) What I'm reading. 



I'm currently reading Lament by Steifvater. Nearly finished now and have really enjoyed it. It was a little slow to get into at first but didn't take overly long for me to get hooked and attached to the characters and so I'm really looking forward to getting started on Ballad once I am done. As well as probably picking up Tangled tides again, in preparation for reading my paperback of Dangerous depths once it arrives. Love the sea monster memoirs and am very excited that today is the official release day for Dangerous Depths. 

2) What I am writing. 



Since Monday I have been writing like crazy trying to get my word count up after some serious writers block. My WIP at the moment is finding Kelsey and now I have broke through the block I am really enjoying writing again. 
Especially as I am currently writing a very special boy into the plot my beautiful Rottie Hooch who sadly passed away, age 13 on Monday. RIP baby. 


3) what inspires me right now

My amazing dog Hooch who is sadly no longer with us but who spent his life bringing Joy and happiness to everyone he met and also showing people that it's not about breed, it's about the people who raise them because any dog has the potential to be amazing or the potential to kill and no dog starts out vicious. 

Also the wonderful Karen Amanda Hooper. She is such an amazing author and seeing all the enthusiasm for her amazing books today has really inspired me to keep honing my craft. Yay Karen! and congrats on your awesome release day. 

4) What else I've been up too. 
Well as I said already we sadly lost our wonderful Rottie, Hooch Monday evening. It was such a difficult time for our family as he has been with us so long and be so amazing. We couldn't have asked for a more sweet natured and loving pooch. 
He was 13 which is a very good age for a Rottie and sadly had intestinal problems that due to his age were not fixable. We had hoped that he would be okay as he had started to improve but with in a matter of hours Monday morning he went from relatively normal to finding it very hard to stand and just looking very very poorly. 
We hoped that he would be okay, but sadly the vet felt it would be unfair to try further treatment and that it was kindest to put him to sleep and we felt the same. You could just see that he had, had enough bless him. 

Since then I have been trying to keep busy and do something positive in order to remember him and so I've smiled and cried as I've carefully written him into the plot of Finding Kelsey. Ensuring, I hope that his funny antics will entertain others as much as they have entertained us over the years. 

Today I have also been enjoying celebrating the release of Dangerous depths. CJ and I even got into the true spirit of things by becoming mermaid and in CJ's case merman, on Second Life for the day. I'll leave you with some of the pics that we took in our merfolk forms. 

I hope you are all happy, healthy and well. 
Love and hugs 
Joss xx 













Dangerous depths release day YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Today is the release day for the amazing Dangerous Depths, the second book in the sea monster memoirs series. Being a huge fan of Tangled Tides, the first in the series, I am overjoyed to at long last be able to get my hands on the second installment and highly recommend that you read both Tangled Tides and Dangerous Depths if you are looking for some brilliant reads.

Being part of the release day tour is an absolute honour as I can think of no book I could possibly want to help promote more.

You should have seen my happy dance when I found out I was getting the ARC of Dangerous Depths. My husband thought I had lost the plot lol. Anywho, without further ado, lets get on with the promoting.


Dangerous Depths by Karen Amanda Hooper.

Hell hath no fury like a selkie separated from his true love.

The gate to the sea creature realm is finally open. Rownan assumes the worst is behind him when he returns home after years of waiting to be reunited with his wife, Vienna. Only to find out that Vienna didn’t wait for him. She traveled to the evil realm of Harte years ago, hoping the legend of another gateway to Earth’s realm was real, but she was never heard from again. Rownan claimed he’d go through hell to be with Vienna, and now he must prove it.

Yara wanted to bask in the glow of her happily ever after in the magical realm of Rathe. She planned to explore Medusa and Poseidon’s world and dive deeper into her relationship with Treygan, but as the new leader of Rathe, her powers are needed to save more than one member of her own kind. Treygan vowed to always be Yara’s guardian, but long ago he also swore to go any lengths to protect his brother Rownan. Now, he must fulfill his promise to both of them.


Rownan, Yara, and Treygan are about to put their lives and souls at risk by traveling to the most dangerous realm of the worlds. Love should conquer all, but no one has ever conquered Harte.

About the Author:
Karen was born and bred in Baltimore, frolicked and froze in Colorado for a couple of years, and is currently sunning and splashing around Florida with her two beloved dogs. She's addicted to coffee, chocolate, and complicated happily-ever-afters.

Karen has been making up stories for as long as she can remember. Due to her strong Disney upbringing, she still believes in fairy tales and will forever sprinkle magic throughout all of her novels.

Author Links:
Amazon / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Blog / Website

Credit where credit is due. This Amazing blog tour has been hosted by: Enticing Journey Book Promotions 

I hope you enjoy this amazing book as much as I did. It is truly one of my best reads of 2013.

Love and hugs, Joss xx

Monday 18 November 2013

quality time.

I am sorry that I have been missing a lot of my weekly blog post of late. As some of you will know my Rottie has been very unwell and I have been spending a lot of quality time with him. He is 13 years old which is a really good age for a Rottie and has problems internally. Antibiotics seemed to pick him up for a little while but sadly he has really gone down hill in the last couple of hours and there is a very real chance that he will not be coming home with us. When he goes to the vets later. 
The vet hasn't actually come out and said it, but he did say that he felt that it was best to wait until my husband came home to give him some quality time with hooch before he was brought in. When I expressed that I was willing to pay for the vet to come to us right away. Which to me seem like a bad sign. I am really hoping that I am wrong but we were warned by the vet that he probably didn't have to much time left. 

So instead of doing an express yourself post today as I ought too. I wanted to take the time to talk about Hooch, because I am worried should we lose him tonight it will be too hard to do so after he is gone. 

Hooch is a pure bred Rottweiler. There are two kinds of Rottweiler ones that are bred as heard dogs and ones bred to guard. Hooch was bred from hearding stock so is very tall and strong. Where as the guard tend to be shorter and more rounded we have had both types in our family and they are both amazing and very similar in character. If raised right. 

We got Hooch when he was around 6 years old. He came from Kent where I was born. We were up visiting my mum who lived there at the time when we went to have a look at him. 

He has grown up along side my son and has been so patient and gentle with Kye allowing him to climb all over him and even ride  on his back like a horse with never a complaint or a grumble. He adores kids and is incredibly patient with them. 


His previous owners had come into financial difficulties and had to move into a smaller home where they did not have the space for Hooch. They were amazing owners and brought him up to be such a lovely dog and I can't not thank them enough for letting us have him as a part of our family. 

While he has been with us he has given us a lovely litter of puppies, with the help of our other Rottie we had Lady. Who was also a babe. He was a wonderful daddy. Very patient with the pups and they were eight bundles of mayhem :) 

He has also put up with out little border collie Ludo when he was going through his puppy stages. gnawing on his ears and jowls and generally jumping all over him without any complaint and has kept ludo amused for hours each day. 

He has been there through some really tough times in our life and was always ready and willing to come have a cuddle when we needed it and to just be quietly by our sides through it all. 

He has been the best gift we could ever ask for and saying goodbye to him will be one of the hardest things we ever have to do. 

So today we will wait with baited breath to see if our old boy will be coming home with us tonight or not but whatever happens he will always be in our hearts because he is truly an amazing dog. 


love and hugs all Joss xx

ps. Please keep our poochie in your prayers today. Thank you. 









Love you hoochie poochie xx

Monday 11 November 2013

Cover reveal for The Rogue King

I am pleased to be able to reveal the cover for the Rogue King by Aldrea Alien. I always love a good cover reveal and this is a brilliant cover. Very intriguing. I can't wait to check out the book itself.



If you are interested in learning more, then have a read of the back cover blurb. It's even more intriguing than the cover. :) 

Outside is dangerous.

Such is the warning Koral has heard for twelve years. Born a product of genetic manipulation, he knows little else of the world beyond the steel walls of his home.

But when fate gives him the choice between certain death and the unknown, there's no question in what he must choose. And he is about to find out the sands he must brave are full of more than mere monsters.

Providing the desert doesn't kill him first.

This is a world ruled by instinct, where innocence is drowned in blood. Here, men are offered up to the great Serpent God, Lorric, only to emerge as the most feared 
killers on the planet: The Rogues.

With the god's sights set on turning Koral into a legend, he must sacrifice himself to survive and be reborn as...

The Rogue King

Wishing you all happy days. 

Love and hugs, Joss xx 


Friday 1 November 2013

Celebrate the small stuff.



It's Friday and that means it's time for another Celebrate the Small Stuff. YAY!!!!

I've got lots to celebrate this week, too.

1) NaNoWriMo has begun; hence the lateness of this post. Apologies, but at least it is still Friday, so that's a plus. Things are no doubt going to be late on a regular basis on my blog, due to NaNo, but I will get there in the end, so please be patient with me.

2) I am also celebrating my dear Hooch's return to health. Well, I say return to health. He still has some pretty nasty stuff going on internally that ultimately does mean his life-span is now limited, but for now he is doing better and putting weight on, eating, and even playing. Every extra day, week or month we get with him is a blessing.

3) Game night. My husband and I bought a load of games this week and are having a game night tonight. He is currently watching Big Bang Theory, so I've nipped on here to do this, but we will be back to the games shortly. I am really excited about game night, as we got the new Word Search game, which I really badly wanted and I have to say it is awesome. We also got Phase Ten, classic Dominoes and have pulled out some of the games we already had.

4) One of the biggest celebrations has to be for the the 21 grand, now sitting in our bank account. Feels like we have been waiting an age for this to come through and we can now finally get our house done up.

5) New sofa. This weekend we are going to be picking up our new sofa. I've missed snuggling so bad.

6) The vole that outwitted our cat. Our cat is terrible for taking mice, voles and other small mammals into the bath, where she pretty much torments them like crazy. Tonight, as I was having a bathroom break, a vole clambered out of the plug hole, unscathed, if a little shaken. Clever vole. Maybe Tizzy will stop taking them into my bath now. :)

7)It's Friday and that means the weekend YAY!!!!

Happy weekend all. What are you celebrating?

Love and hugs Joss xx

For those of you who don't know, Celebrate the Small Stuff is an awesome blog hop, hosted by The Vikilit's writing blog.  It enables the blogger community to come together every Friday and check out what everyone is celebrating this week. If you want to join in or find out what others are celebrating, just click the link (in blue above) and sign up to the linky link on the Viklit's blog.  :)