Addison Mizner: The Architect Whose Genius Defined Palm Beach by Stephen Perkins, James Caughman

Addison Mizner was an architect who designed and changed the look of Palm Beach and other towns of South Florida. His buildings are beautiful. They are designed in the Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles.

The book is filled with pictures of some of his impressive buildings as well as pictures and the story of Addison Mizner. I actually chose this book for the pictures but once I started reading it I was enthralled by Addison's vision and thoughts.

I am a huge fan of architecture and love learning about the differences between the different styles. I very much enjoyed learning about Addison's personal touches to the these styles as well.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

Fix, Freeze, Feast, 2nd Edition by Kati Neville

This yummy book of 150 recipes that will make dinner time so much easier was awesome. i love how simple this book makes tasty meals so much easier for me. Yes the prep day is a kind of a pain but once it's done you can eat well in very little time. You gather all the ingredients, put them in freezer containers or bags toss them in the freezer and when you know you are looking at a busy day set one of the meals out over night in the refrigerator, toss in a pan when you arrive home and in under 30 minutes you have a home cooked meal ready to serve and eat.  Some of the meals are ready crockpot ready as well, just dump the bag or bowl in and when you arrive home you house smells amazing and you can feed your family a yummy home cooked meal, without getting your hands dirty.

I travel a good bit and my poor hubby stays at home. I just returned from a trip and while I was gone I used some of the recipes in this book. I made up the bags and bowls before I left and he was able to have fresh cooked meals without any fuss while I was gone.

Some of the recipes make several meals with one prep. For us since it's just him and I home now, I got 10 to 12 meals instead of 6. On some I just cut the recipe down by halves or quarters, since I do not have a deep freeze anymore to store so many meals. I also cut some way back just to try and see if we liked them or not before I make the full recipe. Waste not want not.

The mango-cranberry chicken is to die for. It was delicious. Next time I will make the full recipe so I can have this on hand. It does have a tiny bite to it but is mild enough even for smaller children. The recipe make 4 meals of 4 servings, and takes 15 to 20 minutes to cook and serve.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

Willow Woods Academy for Witches by R.L.Weeks & Skylar Mckinzie

Willow
Woods Academy for Witches

Willow
Woods Book 1

by
R.L.Weeks & Skylar Mckinzie

Genre:
YA Fantasy Mystery

An
unforgettable YA novel filled with mystery and magic. Fans of Harry
Potter and Beautiful Creatures will love this series.

Kat
and Angie have just enrolled at Willow Woods Academy for Witches
against their parent's wishes. They're thrown into a magical,
mysterious world that is everything they dreamt it to be. However,
when an ancient book falls into their laps, their worlds are turned
upside down.

10
years ago, a rivalry between the covens of Willow Woods Academy and
Morwood's School cost many their lives and cast a dark shadow over
the academy. Now, Morwood's has opened again for the first time since
the incident, and mysterious happenings are occurring - and they all
seem to be surrounding Kat.

School's
never easy, and with her exams coming up, a stalker in the trees, and
her family name shadowing doubt over what side she's on, the first
year of school is more of an adventure than she had ever anticipated.

Goodreads
* Amazon

BOOK 1 EXCERPT

Katarina Ash shimmied down the drainpipe of her parents’ plantation-style home in St. Francisville, LA, and dropped lightly onto the flower bed below her bedroom window. She quickly glanced around to make sure none of her parents’ staff was wandering the grounds, grabbed her duffle bag, and sprinted down the long, winding driveway to the road where her best friend would be waiting. The gravel of the driveway crunched under her feet in the quiet of the darkness. The fight with her mom and dad at dinner tonight had been the catalyst for her and her best friend to finally take action. A security guard strolled up the path in front of her, so she ducked behind one of the huge trees that peppered their property. Her mind drifted back to earlier that night. Her father had been determined—from the time she turned twelve and found out about her parents’secret—that she would never learn of her heritage or set a foot into North Carolina, much less the Willow Woods Academy for Witches. When she asked them why, her dad’s response was always a plain “never happening” and her mom’s was “it’s for the best.” Tonight, however, she was determined that those answers weren’t enough. They were going to explain to her what was so bad about the academy, and why her mother and father had turned their backs on their families and heritages, or she would find out for herself. She walked into the dining room with her head held high. “Tomorrow is my fourteenth birthday, and I will be going to the academy, with or without your blessing.” Her mother sighed, burying her head in her hands. “You’re upsetting your mother, Katarina. You’re not going, and that’s the final word on the subject. We want nothing to do with witchcraft or the school that ruined our family,” her dad said, his eyes clouding over as he spoke the words. Katarina crossed her arms, for once intent on defying the father she had once thought could do no wrong. She tossed her long black hair over her shoulder defiantly, her brilliant green eyes shining. “That’s just not good enough, Dad.” Her father gave her a warning glare. “Katarina—” Her mother hit the table with her fists so loudly that dishes clattered. “Because, Katarina, that school and those people killed your sister. Now, march up to your room and don’t come out until you have a civil tongue in your head.” She thrusted her arm outward, pointing upstairs toward Katarina’s room. “GO!” she yelled, when Katarina started to speak. She turned and fled back up the stairs, as much from the shock that her gentle mother had raised her voice at her as the revelation that she had revealed. She didn’t have a sister and never had. Pulling her mind back to the present, Katarina made her way slowly to where her best friend waited. “Well, it took you long enough. Geez, Kat, what did you have to do?” Angelina Dupree stepped away from the curb, rolling her expressive blue eyes at her best friend. They had been tried and true friends since the day Angelina had beat up little Brian Pillman for pushing Kat down on the playground. Angelina’s mom had been the one to tell both girls about their family history, as Mrs. Dupree was proud of being a witch and her heritage, though they still refused to sign the permission form for Angie to go to the academy. She said it was fair. She had also stopped Angie’s older brother from attending Wandor’s Academy, and would stop Damian, Angie’s younger brother from attending next year too. Angie was the only one determined enough to just go and do it, permission or not. “I’m here now, Angie. Are we going or not?” Kat said, not wanting to get into trying to explain now. “It looks like someone doesn’t want to be left behind.” Angie pointed to where a solid black cat with tons of fur was winding his way around Kat’s feet. She bent down to scoop her cat up, his piercing green eyes seeming to ask her why she thought she could leave without him. “Well, I can’t leave him out here, and I can’t very well take him back to the house or we’re busted.” Angie laughed. “Well, Sebastian, it looks like you’re going on a trip.” “Yes, more of one than I think even we imagined.” After putting Sebastian in her book bag and leaving the zipper open, Kat got out a map of North Carolina and studied it for a moment. “I guess it’s now or never. Our bus leaves at midnight.” Kat took one last look at the rambling plantation house that could be seen in the distance and swore never to come back there again. Her parents may have thought they could stop her from fulfilling her destiny, from becoming what she was meant to be, but they were wrong. She grabbed Angie’s hand and gave it a squeeze before they walked off into the night. “Willow Woods Academy for Witches, here we come.”

Willow
Woods Academy for Witches and Wizards

Willow
Woods Book 2

An
unforgettable YA novel filled with mystery and magic - Fans of Harry
Potter and Beautiful Creatures will love this series.

The
girls are back at school, but Angie's dreams about a secret order may
be more than just dreams. 

Lara
Ash is about to find out that all choices have consequences, and that
being back from the dead isn't as fun as she first thought. She
catches the eye of Angie's older brother, Grayson, and clings to him
as her world falls apart. The rift between her and Angie Dupree, her
sister Kat's best friend, causes Kat and Angie to fall out for the
first time. 

Angie
meets two new friends, the peppy Isolde and secretive Lizzie.
However, they seem to be holding secrets of their own. 

When
it comes to crunch time, can the group work together to stop an evil
from destroying their lives, or will their own secrets be too
much? 

This
book is recommended for readers aged 13+. 

Warning:
This book deals with bullying and has scenes of mild violence.

Goodreads
* Amazon

R
L Weeks
is the bestselling and award-winning author of the Dead Loves Life
Series, Bloodlust, The Fallen, Willow Woods Academy for Witches,
Cursed, and the owner of Enchanted Anthologies, publisher of
Fractured Fairytales Books 1 & 2, A Deadly World: Vampires in
Paris, Things Only the Darkness Knows, and Christmas Nightmares.

She
lives in a small village in the UK.

When
she's not writing, she's traveling, reading (paranormal, fantasy and
horror being her go to genres) and designing covers for Dark Wish
Designs.

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Skylar
McKinzie
lives in the small town of Screven, Ga. When she’s not writing,
she’s cooking, baking, reading, and spending time with her family.
She also loves long walks and sitting by the bonfire in October,
which is her favorite month of the year.

She
writes horror and paranormal romance. She is working on her next
novel due to be released by the end of the year.

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the tour HERE
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Long Live Dead Reckless by Safari Spell blog tour

Long Live Dead Reckless
Safari Spell
(Long Live Dead Reckless #1)
Publication date: July 19th 2016
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Romance

Talor Gardin may be a princess, but her life is no fairy tale.
A year ago, her mother died and her father burned down their house. Now with a father in and out of a mental ward, she’s working a minimum wage job to finish her last semester of college. To make matters worse, she gets itchy every time a guy makes a move on her. The itch could be anything, really: a desire to escape her haunted hometown, a financial windfall, the name of some vampire…or all the above. Whatever the reason, she thinks the answers are written in the freckle constellations of her cute new coworker, Sage Talis.
Sage is the quiet, polite type with plenty of secrets – like fangs and a price on his head – and Talor can’t figure out what makes him so irresistible until she hears him sing. But when cryptic letters appear on her wrist, Talor is thrust into a world where fantastic creatures lurk just below the skin, strangers keep calling her a princess, and everything she’s been through is nothing compared to what’s coming.

Goodreads / Amazon

{Excerpt #1}

Evo

He cried out in pain or anger, maybe both; it wasn’t clear. With that, darkness started to spread and thicken across his skin, forcing him down on all fours. His body twisted and heaved in such desperate, unnatural contortions that I was afraid he was going to break his own back. My blood ran cold as it hit me – this is what the evo looks like. He was becoming something right now. He pawed against his skin in hysterics, trying to stop the process. I watched in suspended belief, unable to even scream. But when those cold, black eyes fixated my way, I knew it was time to go.

A rush of adrenaline flooded me all at once and filled my ears with a high-pitched hum. I took off at a full gallop, completely unaware of where I was heading. My arms pumped as my spinning legs had me running on air in a leap over the porch steps. I barreled across the empty yard in the dark, hair flying madly behind me. My only light was the full moon above and while it was bright enough to see by, it was no friend of mine tonight.

I bolted, giving no thought to the fact that I didn’t drive. A heavy rhythmic, repetitive thud charged after me. I didn’t look back. I knew who it was, but not what it was. I gulped in air, nearly choking on the breaths. With each step, I silently begged my body to go faster than was physically possible.

Faster, faster, please go faster!

Nothing motivated my muscles to risk ripping apart so I could escape, and I realized my mistake too late. There were no other houses on the isolated street to run for help. I had a split second to decide on taking the dirt road or heading into the forest. I made my way into the tree line at the edge of the property. It was the longest hundred-yard dash I’d ever run, but it was probably my fastest time. Still, I never felt so slow.

I couldn’t say what prompted me to seek shelter running into a dense pine forest, but I wasn’t me in those moments. I was the survival instinct incarnate. The panic clouded my concentration long enough for my shoulder to half slam into a tree, the rough bark of the pine leaving its revenge on me in a long red scrape down my arm.

It spun me around in wobbly circles as I stumbled and tried to catch my balance in motion. During a turn, I caught the billowing black fur and teeth and eyes shining as the creature pursued. The sight jolted me with a fresh batch of adrenaline.

I looked for a tree to climb or a light somewhere in the distance, but only dark pines and thorn bushes surrounded the path. Glancing up at the treetops, I could feel them watching, but they took no pity looking down on me. Weary, I weaved through the thickening trees of the forest until I looked back to see him closing in.

The sweat poured down as I made one last ditch effort to outrun the creature chasing me. My next step found me without footing as I came upon a huge drop off at the edge of the Flint River. Instinctively, I flailed for a tree branch when a massive, vicious claw came swinging at me. Falling back, I closed my eyes, expecting a blow – a blow from the claw, a blow from the water, something. But nothing came. Quiet. Just the sound of labored breathing. Mine. His. Its. Instead, a tight grip on my forearm whipped me into a sudden, jerky stop.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was suspended mid-air by a hand reaching out from the darkness of the woods. My feet bounced involuntarily against the ledge as my legs trembled from adrenaline and exhaustion. I looked to see what was holding me. The hand was human. The rest was not.

Author Bio:
Safari Spell is a native of Albany, Georgia. She has a BA in Journalism from Valdosta State University. She currently lives in North Georgia with her husband, hilarious daughter, and a backyard jungle harboring all the dinosaurs everyone thinks are extinct. Her dreams include chasing autumn around the globe, owning a wallaby, and riding a camel for at least nine seconds.

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Paradise Girl by Phill Featherstone

Genre: Nominally YA/NA, general fiction

Release Date: 27 January 2017

Publisher: Matador

Kerryl Shaw has always kept a diary, but this one is different because she knows
she is going to die.

A highly infectious and incurable virus spreads worldwide. Seventeen-year-old
Kerryl lives with her family on a remote farm. They think they will be safe, but
the danger advances. One day a stranger arrives, and it soon becomes apparent
that he has brought the plague to their door.

Kerryl is sure it’s only a matter of time before she catches the infection and dies,
and decides to record what she thinks will be her final days. She realises that
her diary will never be read, so she imagines a reader and calls him Adam.
Loneliness and isolation affect the balance of her mind. Little by little Adam
comes alive to her, and she sets off across the moor to meet him.

EXTRACT

Introductions are boring, but unless I take time to explain things it will be
confusing for you. Me first. Not very polite, I know, but it’s probably the best
place to start.

My name is Kerryl – or that’s what my family and friends call me. My proper
name is Cheryl. Cheryl Alison Shaw. They call me the Paradise Girl. Don’t get
excited – it sounds sexy but it’s not. I’m seventeen years old and still a virgin.
I’m not a nun, I’ve been out with loads of boys – Tim, Mark (two of them), Nathan,
Jake, Tristram, Steve – but I wasn’t that keen on any of them and they didn’t last.
The exception was Mark II. He was older than me, fearsomely good looking and
he had a nice car. I thought he was really hot. When I wasn’t with him I was
thinking about him. But it seems he wasn’t as keen as me, and one day my best
friend, Josie, told me that he was going out with Monica Woodbridge and saying
I was a frigid cow. It seems everybody knew I’d been dumped and I was the last
to find out.

The worst thing was the shock. I thought Monica Woodbridge was my friend.
As well as that, all the girls in our group had been going out with the same
boys for a long time, but I seemed to keep a boyfriend for only a few weeks.
Was there something wrong with me? To be honest, I’m not a great beauty. I
don’t mean I’m a train wreck or anything. I’m not bad looking, but I’m not
like Charlene Brooker or Suzy Simmonds. They’re electric, both of them.
Charlene could be a model, and Suzy’s always surrounded by a gang of
drooling boys.

They’re gone now: Charlene, Suzy, Josie, Monica, all of them.

Sorry for the break there. I had to stop to have a little weep. I’ll try not to do
too much of that. I suppose I can console myself with one thing: with everyone
else dead, I must be the most beautiful girl in the world!

BUY LINKS

AMAZON UK - http://amzn.to/2zMAq9a

AMAZON US - http://amzn.to/2zMdQQb

TROUBADOR - http://bit.ly/2ATT0wq

WATERSTONES - http://bit.ly/2jw1uFR

WH SMITH - http://bit.ly/2A48wbL

BUY DIRECT FROM THE AUTHOR AND GET IT SIGNED! http://bit.ly/2hE3lHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Phill Featherstone was born and brought up in the north of England. He trained as a
teacher and taught English in comprehensive schools. In the late 1990s he and his wife,
Sally, founded a publishing company specialising in education books for the early years.
In 2008 the business was acquired by Bloomsbury, after which they moved to Yorkshire.
He now spends his time writing, travelling, on the arts and on conservation work.
Phill has degrees from Cambridge and Leicester Universities, and is a member of the
Society of Authors. Paradise Girl is his third novel, although the first to be published.

Paradise Girl recently won a CHILL WITH A BOOK AWARD!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhillFeathers/

Twitter: @PhillFeathers

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16347499.Phill_
Featherstone

Blog: http://phillfeatherstone.net/news/

Website: http://phillfeatherstone.net

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From Chaos to Cosmos by John Kaniecki

From
Chaos to Cosmos

by
John Kaniecki

Genre:
SciFi

A
collection of 9 short science fiction stories by John Kaniecki.

GROG
VERSUS GROG

One
of the world's fiercest assassins fights his worst foe ever, his
clone.

Grog
is cloned and he wants to kill his clone before his clone kills
him.

THUNDERBIRD

The
Wheel of Life is in spin and the United States government wants to
rig the game.

ThunderBird
is the center of an intense government program. His every breath and
heartbeat is monitored as the Native American's mind is manipulated.
After all ThunderBird has a godlike power that whatever he writes
down on paper becomes reality.

SHIFTING
SANDS

A
story of an extremely intelligent fool.

Walter
Gardner is an archaeology student at Earth University. Not only is he
super intelligent but he is a hard worker as well. A combination that
should spell success turns into ruins as Walter seeks to find the
truth in history, and truth is dangerous to a government built on
lies.

THE
DRONES OF VENUS

The
Drones of Venus are the most beautiful ladies of the universe but
they come with a high price.

Harold
Levy is a rich businessman that has everything in life except true
love. Thus he covets the marriage of the most beautiful group of
ladies ever 'The Drones Of Venus'. Harold's quest brings him to the
moon to conduct his illegal business, where he learns a harsh lesson
in true love.

ANARCHY
IN THE YEAR 4020

To
be a visionary in a blind world.

Planet
Earth is doing just fine as long as you don't have any morals! But
Michael McGhee and his small anarchist collective plan to change the
world with their liberating message. There is certainly anarchy in
the year 4020 in more ways than one.

THE
FURY OF THE SHEEP

There
is corruption at the highest ranks.

Ed
Nokes shows a remarkable ability to encourage his workers. As such he
gets the attention from his higher ups in the union. But not only
does Ed get inspected but Ed gets a rare glimpse at the upper echelon
of the union and sees their betrayal. Thus the union must answer to
the 'fury of the sheep'.

THE
INTELLIGENCE OF DOCTOR GOODMAN

Doctor
Goodman prisoner of the military industrial complex by his brilliant
mind.

Doctor
Goodman is the mind that creates the bigger bang in the bombs of
United States military. When he becomes disillusioned and wants a
vacation he is denied and becomes a prisoner of the military base he
does scientific work on. But don't count out 'the intelligence of
Doctor Goodman".

IF
I BE HUNGRY

Selena,
a powerful business woman, has a dead heart that comes alive in a
rare moment of compassion.

Selena
is visiting yet another world on a business trip. After insulting
some loser in a bar she is told that the bum is the brother of a
local Mafia chief. Selena giving some mobsters a slip goes into a
church where she hears a message that changes her life, at least for
a moment or two. 

TIME
BOMB

What
kind of bomb could destroy the whole world? Find the secret of the
Time Bomb.

Two
F.B.I. agents are on a stakeout but one and one equals zero. Despite
finding the target with the 'time' bomb they are not allowed to make
the escape. The two agents speculate that somehow C.I.A. involvement
have ulterior selfish motive and are willing to risk a big bang in
the process.

**Only
.99 cents!**

Add
to Goodreads

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John
Kaniecki was born in Brooklyn, New York. Though having no memories of
life there, John is proud to be called a Native New Yorker. John was
raised in Pequanock Township, New Jersey. At age twenty John was
baptized and became a member of the Church of Christ. Presently John
resides in Montclair, NJ and lives with his wife of over twelve years
Sylvia. The happy couple attend the Church of Christ at Chancellor
Avenue in Newark, NJ. John is very active in outreach and teaching as
part of the leadership of the congregation.

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Shopping for a Billionaire by Julia Kent blitz

Shopping for a Billionaire
Julia Kent
(Shopping for a Billionaire #1)
Publication date: June 2nd 2014
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

When mystery shopper Shannon Jacoby meets billionaire Declan McCormick with her hand down a toilet in the men’s room of one of his stores, it’s love at first flush in this hilarious new romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Julia Kent.

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FREE for a limited time only!

—

EXCERPT:

Whoosh! Whoosh! I flush both urinals, then rush over to toilet #1. Whoosh! I stand in front of the stall to #2 and get ready to flush that one.
I’m in my own little world and let my guard down to ponder the question. I am also exhausted and most definitely not in top form, because I let a few seconds go by before realizing that someone is coming in the bathroom. Out of the corner of my eye I see a business shoe, and that becomes a blur as I scurry into one of the stalls and shut the door.
Heart pounding, I stare at the dented back of the stall door. Then I look down. Chipped red nail polish peeks up at me from my open-toed navy shoe. Aside from being outed as a transgendered person in here, there’s no plausible reason why any men’s room stall occupant should have red toenails.
I quickly scramble to perch myself on the toilet, feet planted firmly on either side of the rim, squatting over the open bowl like I am giving birth. Because I am genetically incapable of balance—ever—and as my heart slams against my chest so hard it might as well be playing a djembe, I lean carefully forward with one arm against the back of the stall door, the other clutching my phone.
The unmistakable sound of a man taking a whizz echoes through the bathroom. I can’t help myself and look through the tiny crack in the door.
It’s Mr. Sex in a Suit, his back to me. Thank goodness, because if I got a full-frontal shot right now, then how would I answer the “aesthetically pleasing” question from a strictly professional standpoint?
The tiny bit of shifting I do to peer through the crack makes my right foot slip, and I make a squeaking sound, then lose my grip on my phone as my arm flails.
Ka-PLUNK!
You know that sound, right? I know, and you know, that I’ve just dropped my smartphone in the toilet, but he thinks the man—he assumes it’s a man—in here just delivered something the size of a two-hundred-year-old turtle into the toilet.
I look down. My phone is still glowing, open to the question “Is the bathroom aesthetically pleasing?”

Author Bio:
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge. From billionaires to BBWs to new adult rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every contemporary romance she writes. Unlike Shannon from Shopping for a Billionaire, she did not meet her husband after dropping her phone in a men's room toilet (and he isn't a billionaire). She lives in New England with her husband and three sons in a household where the toilet seat is never, ever, down.

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