Book Review: Bitter Springs by Laura Stone

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Jude Sierra

Okay. M’kay. Let me just…take a breath.

There are so many things to love about this book. The prose is just beautiful. Stone has a gift for creating a rich backdrop for her stories so that the whole experience feels well loved and well rounded. I always learn from her stories. The level of detail and obvious commitment to research make this story shine and are a testament to how very much Stone cares for her craft.

Now let’s talk about what she crafted. Renaldo’s family is EVERYTHING. They made me miss my family so much. The love and care they have for each other was so palpable. Even when both Renaldo and Hank were terrified of what would happen, as a reader, I trusted that Renaldo’s family would love him unconditionally.

Renaldo…oh lord. What a sensual and romantic man. I wish I had a man in my life who spoke to me like he does to Hank.

And HANK. Oh man do I have a sweet spot for complicated, lovely men. His reserve, initially, spoke so well to his vulnerabilities without Stone every having to state them. She showed us. And as the story unfolds, watching Hank unfold, demonstrating how sweet he is, how much he needs and wants love…UGH. MY HEART. His commitment to being an honest and upstanding man was really moving as well.

Bitter Springs is currently available for sale at the Interlude Press webstore, Amazon, All Romance and many other retailers.

A case of the Sunday mornings

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Jude Sierra

Oh my god, I just wrote a huge post and it got eaten. Fucking hell does that annoy me.

I doubt it would have been thrilling for you all, unless you have a hankering to hear about my real life, so we could do a little getting to know you thing. Speaking of which, should you have a burning desire to get to know me, you’ll learn that I quote movies and shows all the time. A *lot* of that might be quotes from Friends, which is like…the best thing ever. Hence, why I’m going to link you to this video. The quality is weird, but listen, old school musicals are just fantastic and if you haven’t seen this movie, do so. Yes, now. I once was in a production of The King and I, when I was ten. I even had a line: “And I do not believe Siam is this big”. I should have been an actress, I nailed the tone perfectly.

Winning.

I thought I’d use this space today to warn of of things you *might* be seeing on this blog that aren’t book related. Me talking about pop culture things, particularly TV shows I watch or songs I am obsessed with. I’ll talk about the *crazy* of my life, including the adventure of life with a threeteen year old (Yes, three. It’s a crazy age) and pantsing squirrel adventures (more on that later!). Also, books I am reading. I read like crazy, especially when I’m not in school. You can always scroll down to see what I’ve recently reviewed on Goodreads, but I’ll always link in the blog post when I talk about what I’m reading.

Right now I’m enjoying Tea Rose, by Jennifer Donnelley. The prose style is fantastic, and I’m really interested to see what happens. I’ve only just started. The print is TINY though, fuck I’m so old (33) I can’t read it easily. I’m also re-reading Forever Man by A.J. DeWall. I love that story so much, I’ve read it several times. If you haven’t read it, I’m going to light a fire under you because fuck it’s great. (I won’t literally light a fire, I’m such a pacifist).

Today I have to see if the hubs is willing to watch the kids alone before going to work so I can buckle down on two projects I have looming deadlines for. I have a badass case of The Sunday Mornings though. Tonight is a party, and I’ll be making Sangria, so that’ll be lovely to look forward to as a reward.

Exciting Stuff

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Jude Sierra

Yay WordPress!

I’ve moved on over to wordpress, which is super yay for me right now. I’m still fiddling with my widgets and blog rolls and all the like, because I am super fucking picky about details that probably no one cares about but me. I might be building a reputation for this. Oops? I am generally not at all detail oriented but for some reason webpage layouts are my kryptonite. My tumblr pages have been tweaked in their massive html codes until I go blind, and then in a few months I start to hate what I have and start over again. Although my current fan tumblr has been the same for a while. After years of searching and tweaking, I finally found something I love over there!

There’s a lot of really exciting stuff happening with my publisher, Interlude Press — new books are coming out with the new year, and I’m way excited about those. You’ll be hearing more about that as I fangirl over books I’ll be reading at release with you all!

If you’re interested, I am reading a ton of random stuff anyway — you’ll find my Goodreads info at the bottom here. I share this because I’m an avid reader who loves recommendations, and if you do too — there ya go!

Two bloggers with books coming out I’m watching avidly are KateFierro, who is doing a weekly countdown playlist of songs that inspired her book. I am a sucker for this sort of thing, as songs are pretty much always responsible for my plot bunnies. I love reading about what inspires other authors. Check her posts out! Another blogger I know is crazy inspired by music is Mimsy Hale. And if anyone is a spotify fan, the authors behind Starling and Doves, my new obsession (check them out at Avian30) have Spotify playlists for both books — which about slayed me when I listened after reading.

Also, with the release of her first original novel, Right Here Waiting, I’m enjoying K.E. Belladonne‘s blog posts of squee.

Hopefully you’ll be seeing more of me in the coming weeks — I have a lot of exciting stuff coming up personally! For now, enjoy looking into other authors who have exciting things coming up.