Oct 30, 2014

#TGIT Recap Week 5

To see last week's post click here.
Shondaland's Thursday Night Lineup continues.  We know that there's a lot that goes on each show, which means that there's a lot to forget each week. Here's a good summary for each so you can be ready to watch the next episodes tonight!  This #TGIT Recap starts in 3... 2... 1...

Sorry... There's no Grey's Anatomy this week... :(
Don't feel sad... Go enjoy the Halloween special It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!  ;)



Get ready for another great episode!  
Scandal
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The Key
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  Olivia thinks that Jake is avoiding her.  Since she has nothing better to do, she decided to tag along with Quinn.  After awhile, they witness a murder, which causes the case of the week.  After she's home, her dad shows up.  Their conversation is very awkward and they kind of realize they can't be like a normal father and daughter.  She tells him that she doesn't know if Jake is safe or not and he tells her that he may just have needed a little bit of space.  If only she knew...
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  Olivia starts to look for Jake since he's been gone for almost two days now.  She calls Fitz, since that's the last place Jake was, but he doesn't tell her anything.  She tries Cyrus, but no luck.  In her desperation, she calls Abby, who denies her, saying she "only does favors for friends".  Cyrus visits Olivia later and tells her everything.  He seems to be pretty cool about it considering Jake killed his husband, so hopefully this is helping him move on.  If that doesn't, dancing on Jake's grave probably will.
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  Later on in the episode, Olivia visits her father at work and accuses him of everything.  He quickly spins it all on Jake, saying he was obsessed with her.  Why did he never tell her any of this?  Because she was going to the island of course!  He even let Jake go because he knew that he would keep him safe.  
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  In other news, we finally find out what happened between Huck and Kim. Huck is still stalking his family, and she wants him to go.  She doesn't believe anything he's told her and she thinks he's gone insane.  He tells her that if she lets him see his son one, then he'll leave them alone.  She agrees to the deal, but she wasn't really giving off a cool vibe when she did it.  Huck vamps up something for Javi and tries to wrap it for him, but Quinn ends up doing it for him.  When he goes that night to see his family, he sees Kim, who brought a psychologist type person to "help" Huck, who was not happy about it.
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  At the White House, Mellie is beginning to get on Fitz's last nerve. When he misses their 2:30 appointment to visit Jerry's grave, she freaks out on him.  He snaps back, slipping out that he was trying to get a confession out of Jerry's killer.  Now that she knows he was murdered, Mellie begins to put together the whole puzzle.  It automatically clicks for her, and she's almost back.  She compares Jerry to a soldier.  He died so they could win the election, he died for them.  At that point, Fitz is done with her, and tells her to become the Mellie he recognizes before they talk again.  That finally stuck a chord in her because she ends up getting in the shower at the end of the day.  Go Mellie Go!
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  Throughout the episode, David keeps talking to Abby, generally while he's drunk.  When he visits her office, he's sober, and tells her about blackmailing people to get where he is now.  He says he feels guilty because he indirectly killed someone with the B613 files.  He was "trying to be Olivia Pope" and killed someone in the process.
  Abby is pissed and goes to see Olivia at her apartment.  She goes off on a rant at Olivia, saying that she ruined David and that she's poison.  At that point, Olivia breaks down and tells Abby everything that's been going on. She says that there's a lot of evidence proving Jake killed Harrison and Jerry, but she doesn't think it's true.  Abby gives her a hug.
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  Deep, deep down, in the depths of the Pentagon, Jake is being held for the murder of the President's son.  After a good amount of waiting, and listening to his interrogator's only question, the President finally shows up with some food for Jake.  Jake thinks he's getting the special treatment because of this.  Fitz denies that, saying he wants Jake to confess, and to make sure he eats before he signs his confession for legal reasons.  Jake thinks that Fitz knows that he didn't do it, but that he's jealous because of events that transpired when Olivia left with him to the island.  Jake says that she loves them both and that it should mean something to Fitz because of that.  
  At the end of the episode, Fitz comes back to pay Jake a visit.  He has Jake stand up.  He asks if he killed Jerry.  Every time Jake denies, he gets punched.  While he's being beaten up by the President of the United States, he goes to his happy place... the island.

Images: @ScandalABC

 Lastly... 
How to Get Away with Murder
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We're Not Friends
Flash Forward:
  We've seen the scene where Frank calls Laurel just about every episode now, what we haven't seen is the call after that.  Since they're currently burning Sam's body, she decides to answer in order to help solidify the bonfire alibi.  Laurel admits to sleeping with Frank while she was still dating her boyfriend.
  Later on, we revisit the drama surrounding Michaela's lost engagement ring.  The group still has to return the trophy to Asher's place.  She has to stay and look for her ring, so Laurel decides to take on the task herself.  She ends up turning to Frank to help her do it.

Flash Back:
  This episode gives more insight on Laurel, and we start it out with her standing up to Keating.  There's yet another attack at her when she "shows off" when answering a question.  Laurel finally tells her that she was just answering her question and sits.  We also see her tampering with the jury on the case the firm is working on.
  Remember where we left off last episode?  The last 9 words that dropped your jaw to the floor? Male genitalia, dead girl's phone... super exciting! Well, not too long after that happened, Sam admitted his affair. We find out that Annalise was actually the reason Sam broke up with his first wife.  There's a little more fight/argument and then we see Bonnie heard it all.
  Annalise goes to talk to Nate, who accuses her of making him lose his job.  In his anger, he basically admits to the fact that he lied before, that Sam was gone the night Lila was killed.  Sam verifies that later, saying he went to go check on her to see if he was okay.  When Bonnie goes to talk to Annalise about her argument with Sam, Annalise reveals she knows how she got Rebecca's confession tape, and she's not to happy with Bonnie right now.
  Keating tells Wes that she doesn't want to give up the phone just yet. What she doesn't tell him is that she wants to see how much Rebecca knows and if she knows it's Sam on the phone.  At the end of the episode, Rebecca comes over to have a "psychological evaluation" performed by none other than Sam Keating.  All she really has to answer about is how much she knows about the phone's content, although she has theories about why Lila was murdered.  She doesn't know who's on the phone, but she doesn't know it's him until after she sees the wallpaper (matching the wallpaper in the picture) on the way to the bathroom.  At the very end, she talks to Wes on the phone, telling him not to trust Annalise.  Now she's M.I.A. and Wes told Keating he knows she lied to him.     



There you have it!  Now that you're caught up, don't miss TGIT tonight starting at 8/7c on ABC!




Oct 29, 2014

Diamonds in the Rough by Michelle Madow ~ Book Blitz






Diamonds in the Rough (The Secret Diamond Sisters #2)
by Michelle Madow 

Release Date: 10/28/14
Harlequin Teen448


All-access doesn't mean no problems.

The three Diamond sisters survived the summer in style after coming to live with their long-lost billionaire father. But making a place for themselves at their exclusive new Las Vegas private school is throwing them any number of gold-plated curves. Savannah's YouTube stardom turns into a Sweet Sixteen reality show extravaganza—with complimentary enemies on the side. Dangerous flirtations don't keep Peyton from a gamble that will risk far more than she planned to bet. And when Courtney and the sisters' archenemy, Madison, uncover two explosive secrets, it will rock even this town of glittering illusion—and turn their lives upside down all over again.

Sisterhood, first crushes, and scandalous secrets explode in book two of Michelle Madow's riveting series, The Secret Diamond Sisters.


Buy Links:

Sequel to:
(cover linked to Goodreads)

Buy Links:



At fifteen years old, Savannah is the youngest Diamond sister. Her older sisters have sheltered her for her entire life. Despite her rough upbringing, she’s optimistic and wants to think the best of people, although this can sometimes lead to her coming off as naïve. She wants to fit in at school, but has always felt like an outsider. She tends to feel overshadowed by the people around her. She trusts easily, and it sometimes leads to her getting hurt, but she’s always there for her sisters and friends when they need her!


Savannah loves singing, and has a fantastic voice, so it’s her ultimate dream to be a famous pop star. She’s been stage fright since a talent show disaster in middle school, but wants to record cover songs and post them on YouTube to try to get a following, like the YouTube stars she idolizes. She also plays guitar, but is self-taught, so she’s still learning how to improve. She mainly plays to accompany herself while singing. She’s athletic, and played on the JV volleyball team in her school in her hometown. She hopes to make Varsity as a sophomore. 


She loves shopping and wearing anything that sparkles—dresses, nail polish, shoes, eye shadow, you name it! She loves reading fashion magazines and trying to duplicate the high-end styles worn by the models. Her favorite meal of the day is breakfast, and her favorite food is pancakes. Savannah has never had a serious boyfriend, and wants more than anything to believe that true love is possible! 



About the Author


Michelle Madow was inspired to write The Secret Diamond Sisters series while walking through her favorite hotel in Las Vegas. The next book in the series, Diamonds in the Rough, launches in October. Prior to The Secret Diamond Sisters, she successfully self-published The Transcend Time Saga. A tireless promoter of her work, Michelle is active on social media networks and has toured across America to promote her books and encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing. A graduate of Rollins College, Michelle lives in Florida ... but she loves going to Vegas.

To chat with Michelle and other fans about her books, join Michelle Madow's Street Team on Facebook!



Author Links:
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Oct 27, 2014

Memory Lane Monday #31 ~ Review ~ Linger by Maggie Stiefvater


Memory Lane Monday is a weekly meme that Amber at Paradise of Pages and I, Kristalyn at The Sarcastic Palmtree, came up with. We have been wanting to re-read some of our favorites but feel overwhelmed by all the other new books coming out that our re-reads get put to the side. We have decided we don't want to put them aside anymore, so we will be taking turns putting up our reviews on our blogs throughout the month. This does not mean we won't keep up with recent releases, it just means we will make more time for those we have read before as well.


Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #2)

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. 
Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. 
For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.
You can read my memory post of Linger here.
At First Sight
I love the covers in this series.  I actually love the old versions better than the new although this is one cover change that didn't bother me too much.  I found Linger's cover to be very fitting.

Characters and Relationships
In Shiver we get to know Sam and Grace really well and while this is essentially their story, I absolutely love the relationship that is brought about with Isabel and Cole.  I think without their striking personalities and histories this book would have been very flat.  I love Isabel for her snark and quick thinking and Cole for all of his self-centered attitude.  It was so interesting to watch the evolution of Isabel and Cole from the beginning to the end of the book.  Cold especially is trying to escape a life he hated yet finding a way to actually help others in the one he has ended up in.  

Sam and Grace continue on in much the same fashion as in Shiver, their relationship being tainted by whatever illness there is plaguing Grace and also by her parent's disapproval of Sam in her life.  I actually can't stand her parents for the sole reason that they have been so absent from her life and I believe at 17 they can't just expect her to suddenly do as they please suddenly.  They are the poster children for absentee parenting at it's finest.  

Is this a kissing book?
Some kissing...yes, but the story isn't driven by the romance element of this series.  Nothing that I would consider inappropriate for anyone under age 12.

Don't leave me hanging
This is book 2 out of a 3 book series (with also a spin off book) so obviously we are absolutely left hanging at the end of Linger.

The Best Gems
  • Resoluntions
  • Paper Cranes
  • Bad Kisser
  • "The Boy"
  • Seeing the doctor about wolfism
  • NARKOTIKA

The Sum Up
Linger was is an excellent book and quite a great book to continue this series.  I loved it the first time I read it and I think I may have enjoyed it even more this time.  I think the first time around I didn't appreciate Cole for all he was and because I knew this time more what to expect from his personality I was able to fully appreciate him better.  

I would obviously recommend Shiver to most anyone age 12 and up.  I love this series so much and look forward to moving on to Forever and then I am excited to finally get to Cole's book Sinner soon after.  I truly forgot how much I love him as a character!




Here's how Memory Lane Monday works:
  • Each week the co-hosts will trade off with recapping when it is a re-read or what they have heard so far about the book and the other co-host will put up their review. 
  • The participants can read anything that they remember reading in the past, or something that they have wanted to read that has been around for a while and just haven't gotten around to reading it yet for whatever reason.
  • Participants can decide if they want to recap the book before reading it or just put up a review of what they read.
  • Anyone can join in, just please link back to our blogs as well as add your name to the linky so we can hop around and see what everyone is reading.
  • Please put our banner on your post as well, so we all look the same!
  • We ask you kindly to follow BOTH of our blogs.
  • Most importantly remember to just have fun! :)



We will be providing each week a linky that you will be able use to link your posts for us and everyone else to see as well. All we ask is for you to put up our banner as well as a link back to both hosts on your post. 

Oct 23, 2014

#TGIT Recap Week 4

 To see last week's post click here!
Shondaland's Thursday Night Lineup continues.  We know that there's a lot that goes on each show, which means that there's a lot to forget each week. Here's a good summary for each so you can be ready to watch the next episodes tonight!  This #TGIT Recap starts in 3... 2... 1...

To start things off...
Grey's Anatomy
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Only Mama Knows
  This episode focused a lot on what happened back in 1983 when Ellis got pregnant.  Ellis and Richard decide to tell their spouses that it's over.  Only Ellis ends up doing so and on the following day they meet at the carousel and break up.  Ellis tries to kill herself, but 5 year old Meredith calls 9-1-1 and saves her.  Why did Richard spontaneously break up with her?  He didn't want to live in jealousy in whole life, which is respectable.
  At the beginning of the episode, Meredith is watching her mom's Harper-Avery Award acceptance speech.  The next morning, they talk about D.C. once again and Meredith tells him again to take the job and go so they can both shine.  He ends up saying she's just like her mother, which doesn't go over well and later on she does the same thing to him.
  Despite the fact he lost the fight for the board seat, Ales is still hired again.  When he finds out the vote was unanimous, he asks around trying to find why.  Arizona ends up telling him that it's so he can take her job while she's a fellow.  Meanwhile, Maggie has told the board she's quitting.  Bailey, the new board member, keeps questioning Richard about it because they've been hanging out a lot.  He gives in and tells her Maggie is his daughter, which gives Bailey relief. 
  Derek is also on a mission to find out why Maggie is leaving.  She keeps on telling him to talk to Meredith about it.  After many times of asking, she finally just tells him that she's Meredith's sister.  He immediately welcomes her warmly into the family by giving her a big hug.  This weirds her out a little because she hasn't had this happen yet.
  Meredith gets one of her mother's journals from Richard to help with putting things together.  She shares what she found with Maggie at the end and they have a cool half-sister bonding time.  At the very end, we go back to Ellis' speech.  The question "Where were we?" follows a long pause.

Image: @GreysABC
*Spotlight*
Scandal
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Like Father, Like Daughter
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    First Daughter Karen, now played by actress Mary Mouser (who did a really good job BTW), calls Olivia to pick her sorry drunk self up at a party.  On the helicopter ride home, they discover a sex tape starring Karen and two random guys from the party.  When they find the one boy's parents, they ask for money in return for deleting the video.  When they meet again to make the deal, they ask for more money. Olivia ends up threatening to press charges for child pornography, and they immediately get rid of it and end up losing their $2.5 million in the process.
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  Mellie is back to her new norm.  When she sees Olivia in the White House, she freaks out and goes to argue with Fitz in the Oval Office.  He gives her a nice long rant, as you can see in the picture above.  Once Fitz and Olivia get their first moment in the Oval together, he asks her why she'd leave everyone all by herself.  She made the mistake of not going along with it.  That's okay though, because once they kiss she tells him Jake went with her.
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*Quick Advertisement!  Gettysburger has an awesome promotion right now:       When you buy 4 burgers, you get the 5th one for free!  :D
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  Tom and Rowan have a nice meeting in the park.  Tom has to kill Jake because he knows too much, and if he doesn't succeed, he'll take Jake's place.  Jake goes to sit with Tom once Rowan leaves in order to get him on his side.  After this, Jake goes to visit David and asks him to reveal the B613 files to the public if anything happens to him.
  Uh Oh!  Red flags go up concerning Tom's whereabouts on the campaign trail.  He gets taken in for questioning and no more than a minute into the interrogation, Rowan walks in.  Tom is forced into telling the truth since there is solid evidence he killed Jerry.  What he lies about is Jake Ballard giving him the order to get the virus.  Jake is obviously arrested ASAP and sent to some secret location we don't know about yet.  It'll probably be the same place that they sent Huck to in season 2 for "attempting to kill the President".

Images: @ScandalABC
 What are the last 9 words? 
How to Get Away with Murder
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Let's Get to Scooping
    Defending Rebecca seems pretty hard right now since she was forced into confessing for a crime she didn't commit.  Throughout the episode, Bonnie tries her hardest to get the confession tape.  She finally has to get it through blackmailing the guy in charge of evidence.  What did she blackmail him with you ask?  Well, she just happened to see Keating's ex boyfriend snooping around in Sam's car.  Once they get the tape, it's quickly proved that it wasn't the truth and the good guys have one again!
  This episode was focused more on Connor, mainly on the flash back side of the story.  On the flash forward part of the story, he cheats on his IT guy with another one in order to get information on the current case that day.  That guy shouldn't be a problem anymore because he killed himself shortly after he was made.
  Flashback Connor has completely lost it!  He's acting very crazy and he's just being weird right now.  The next morning, he heads over to IT guy's house and starts having a panic attack, saying he's completely screwed up.
  Back to the flash forward side of the story.  Wes finally found out was was on Lila's phone from Rebecca.  He decided to take it to Keating after that, and she makes it clear that nobody but the three of them can know about it.  After a whole minute-long dramatic scene of her taking off all her makeup, Sam walks in and she asks him her last nine words of the night.  I'm not going to tell you what they are though because that kind of ruins the mystery of the nine words.  Plus, if you already seen it... you know what they are.  


There you have it!  Now that you're caught up, don't miss TGIT tonight starting at 8/7c on ABC!




Oct 21, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday ~ New Series I Want To Start

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by 

This weeks topic: Top Ten New Series I Want To Start

in no particular order:



















This is a 4 book series that only has one book out right now.  Book 2 comes out November 11 and I sure do love my hockey books especially by Lindsay Paige and Mary Smith!


That's my top ten list this week.  Leave me your links so I can visit and see what series you are looking forward to reading!