Sweet Shadows by Tera Lynn Childs

*** 1/2

From Tera Lynn Childs:

Gretchen may have known she was a descendant of Medusa long before her sisters—after all, she’s spent her life fighting the monsters that escape the abyss—but that doesn’t mean it will be easy to teach the other girls the ropes. Can she rely on Grace and Greer, or even trust herself to keep them safe?

Greer has pressing social commitments on her plate and precious little time to train in her newfound powers. But that wretched second sight won’t leave her alone, and her fabled heritage seems to be creeping into her fashionable life.

Grace has worries closer to home—like why her brother, Thane, has disappeared. He’s hiding something. Could it possibly be related to the secret heritage the triplets share?

With the warring factions among the gods of Olympus coming for them, the creatures of the abyss pushing into their world, and the boys in their lives hiding secrets at every turn, the three girls must figure out where their fate will take them and how to embrace the shadows of their legacy.

The Bad:

Sweet Venom and Sweet Shadows are both told from the point of view of all three sisters, Grace, Greer & Gretchen.  I enjoy the multiple point of views but occasionally it leaves me feeling a tad disjointed. 

The Good:

Tera Lynn Childs is a great writer.  Sweet Shadows is a fascinating and cleverly written re-imagining of Medusa's mythology.  Shadows is full of foreshadowing and Tera's ability to cast doubt and suspicion over even the most lovable characters is amazing.  I thoroughly enjoyed Sweet Venom and Sweet Shadows and recommend both to anyone who enjoys new twists on old myths.  

We have one more "Sweet" book to come - I wonder what the title will be...

~Shel 

Q & A with Tera Lynn Childs - TLC Week!

As we continue our week dedicated to Tera Lynn Childs and her fantastic books, we are happy to give you a little peek into the psyche of Tera as she answers random and nonsensical questions! 

I have enjoyed Tera's books for years.  Last year, shortly after we began the blog, Nat, Bel and I were lucky enough to meet Tera (with Sophie Jordan) at a signing held by a local bookstore.  I immediately became an even bigger fan because Tera is possibly the sweetest person alive.  Tera and the BiblioJunkies crossed paths again at this year's Romantic Times Convention where she tormented me with Sweet Shadows.  We were thrilled that Tera agreed to come out to the blog to play with us this week and if she didn't live across the country, we would totally invite her along for our next movie & pie adventure (I am sure it will shock you all to discover that our next movie & pie adventure will be for Magic Mike next weekend!)! 

So enough about us, I give you Tera Lynn Childs!

BiblioJunkies:  Fruit Loops or Captain Crunch?

TLC:  Fruit Loops (I like to keep the roof of my mouth intact, thank you very much)

BiblioJunkies:  It drives Shel nuts when people use the word literally to describe something figurative - what word or phrase do you think is over/incorrectly used and should never be used again? 

TLC:  It's not so much overused as just something I don't like reading. I hate the term "caused." As in, "The fierce wind caused her to fall over." How about, "The fierce wind knocked her over." Or "She fell over in the fierce wind." I'll even take, "The fierce wind made her fall over." It's just the caused that bugs me…

BiblioJunkies:  Your characters are all descendants from mythological beings with special abilities – From which mythological being would you most like to be descended?  And what special abilities would you most want?

TLC:  Well, I'm not supposed to play favorites… But I'm a research junkie—I'm obsessed with the History Channel, the Science Channel, the Discovery channel… you get the idea. I've always felt the most connection to Athena. I'd love to have her wisdom and, also, the ability to autoport. I love to travel, so I'd love to be able to visit anywhere in the world in a blink.

BiblioJunkies:  What is your favorite story in mythology?                                   

TLC:  Aaaah! There are so many to choose from. I've always loved the story of the golden apple, of Eris throwing it into the circle of goddesses and letting them duke it out over who is the fairest. And my other favorite would be the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. It's heartbreaking how he made the journey into Hades to retrieve her, but couldn't stop from checking over his shoulder to make sure she was there.

BiblioJunkies:  Do you read your own books?

TLC:  No, of course not. *looks shifty left and right* Oh, okay… sometimes. But not all the way through. I almost always read through the opening pages when I get the first real copy, and then the ending to make sure I did a good job.

BiblioJunkies:  We are big fans of pie (cupcakes and really any treats) here at BiblioJunkies HQ – what is your favorite treat?

TLC:  Vegan cupcakes! I love making them almost as much as I love eating them. *stares longingly at oven*

BiblioJunkies:  Who is your literary crush?

TLC:  Besides Colin Fir—I mean, Mr. Darcy? I am ridiculously in love with Simon Basset from Julia Quinn's The Duke and I. But my first literary crush was Logan from The Baby-sitter's Club series.

BiblioJunkies:  Action flick or comedy?

TLC:  Action flick! I'll take something blowing up or people planning to steal stuff or zombies eating peoples' faces off over a cutesy girl movie any day.

BiblioJunkies:  What summer movie are you most looking forward to?

TLC:  It's bad, right, that I had to go check IMDB to find out what the summer movies are? I've been in deadline/moving/getting ready for a summer of crazy mode so I have barely even been watching TV, let alone thinking about movies. (Anyone who knows me knows that there is something seriously wrong if I'm lacking TV time.) But, after a quick check, probably the ones I'd most like to go see in theatres would be Brave (I love anything Disney), Snow White and the Huntsman (um, Charlize Theron anyone?), and either the Bourne Legacy or Total Recall (gotta get my action in somewhere).

BiblioJunkies:  What 3 books would you want with you on a deserted island?

TLC:  Pride and Prejudice, The Hunger Games, and a survival manual.

We want to give our heartfelt thanks to Tera for participating in our insanity this week and for donating her fabulous books and swag for giveaways.  I hope you all enjoyed our silliness and entered to win the  fabulous prizes.  Our winners will be chosen soon- so enter now!

Make sure you pick up your very own copies of Just for Fins (available on 7/3/12) and Sweet Shadows (available on 9/4/12) and remember, Tera's other books are available now, so you have plenty of time to catch up for the new releases!  You can visit www.teralynnchilds.com for more information on what Tera has in store for us next. 

~Shel

TLC's Yummy Green (Drink) Salsa

We may have mentioned that we met Tera Lynn Childs and Sophie Jordan last fall at the Magic Tree Bookstore.  We had the chance to talk with these two awesome ladies for quite a while and it was a blast!  I think we pretty much covered every subject under the sun - including books, boys and pie.  At the time Tera mentioned a salsa/dip she made with cucumbers.   I was intrigued.  It sounded delicious.  I meant to ask her for the recipe but the conversation moved onto something else and I completely forgot. 

When we were planning fun things to do for Tera week I suggested asking for a favorite recipe.  Our previous conversation for some reason didn't occur to me so my subconcious must have been at work.  My subconcious must have also be talking to Tera's subconcious because she sent the recipe!  Seriously.  Coolest. Author. Ever.

So here is the recipe along with photos of my first attempt of the deliciousness that is....

TLC's Yummy Green Drink Salsa

Ingredients 

Looks so summery!

·         1 cucumber

·         1 tomatillo

·         1 ripe avocado

·         1 jalapeno pepper

·         ½ Cup fresh cilantro

·         1 Tbsp lime juice

·         2 tsp garlic powder

·         1 tsp salt

Directions

1.       Peel cucumber and cut into cubes.

2.       Remove tomatillo husk and stem.

So THAT's what a tomatillo looks like on the inside...

3.       Remove avocado rind and pit. (I cut it into quarters, pull out the pit, and then peel off the rind.

4. Remove jalapeno seeds and stem.

Pretty green chopped veggies...





5. Place all ingredients in food processor or blender. Blend until smooth with small chunks.

I doubled the recipe. Good thing I didn't try to use the mini-chopper. It wouldn't have fit!

6.       Season to taste.

I almost forgot the lime!

Much Better!

7.       Enjoy with your favorite tortilla chips. (I prefer Baked Tostitos Scoops.)

A double batch made 4 cups.  That is a LOT of delicious flavor!

This was so good that the first thing I did was text Shel and Bel and tell them that I was going to marry Tera.  Right after I married her Green Salsa.  Tera isn't kidding.  This is so delicious, you could drink this.   I am contemplating a Green Salsa Martini with a tortilla chip garnish.  Hmmm...I might be on to something...

Eye Candy by Tera Lynn Childs

* * * *

Lydia Vanderwalk has an obsession with candy, so when she invents an NEB--non-existent boyfriend--who turns out to be the male hire-a-date equivalent of a jumbo box of Hot Tamales she knows she’s in trouble.

Lydia has worked hard to have the right job, the right wardrobe, and the right everything else, in the quest for the appearance of perfection. Fed up by conversation #3,524—not that she’s counting—about long-since-exed fiancé Gavin, Lydia goes to drastic measures to change the subject. When she needs her NEB for a golden career opportunity, she enlists a talent agent friend’s help to produce perfect date Phelps. He was supposed to be pure eye candy, but there’s more going on beneath the surface than Red Hots looks and Pop Rocks spontaneity.

Throw in a banking wunderkind ex-fiancé, a trio of cutthroat couture-climbers, and a designer of questionable orientation and origin, and Lydia soon learns that what you see is often much less than what you get when it comes to people and not everything in life can be solved by a Jolly Rancher and a trip to Ann Taylor.

I have a confession to make.  I am not a chick lit fan.  The exception being the Stephanie Plum series.  And even then I really have to be in the mood.  But after reading Straight Talk and Eye Candy by Tera Lynn Childs, I just might be a convert. 

Eye Candy was a delicious read.  With a secret locked drawer full of candy and an antique silver soup tureen full of gummy bears, Lydia is a girl after my own heart.  The sticky situations Lydia finds herself in are laugh out loud funny and kept me turning the pages to see what happened next.  The constant allusion to candy might be too much for some but I ate it up.  I think Hot Tamale and Double Bubble Damn will probably be making it into my everyday vocabulary. 

And, oh, the ending.  The ending will catch you by surprise.  All I can tell you is that in the words of one of Lydias’s beaus, Tera is a “naughty, naughty girl.” 

I loved both of Tera’s adult contemporary romances.  They are original and fun.  I highly recommend them.  They make for excellent summer reads.

Nat

Straight Talk by Tera Lynn Childs

* * * *

Southern bell turned city girl shop owner, Bethany Lange knows a thing or two about gay men. She’s dated five of them.

On top of her failed romantic life, she’s trying to keep her SoHo boutique ahead of the creditors and on top of the trends. When an old friend offers her a consulting job on a new gay makeover show, she snatches up the golden opportunity faster than you can say, “Never wear stripes with paisley.”

Color her déjà blue when one of the cast members turns out to be her latest ex. Well, she doesn’t believe for a second that he’s gay. He’s a lying louse and she’s going to prove it, even if she has to stalk him to get the proof.

In the meantime, she’s battling a growing attraction to the show’s kitchen god, Chris, despite knowing beforehand that he’s gay. He’s sweet, sexy, and funny. The perfect guy. And things only gets worse when he joins in on the stalking. Long, late nights in the cramped quarters of her car are not exactly fostering emotional distance.

As the stalking and her attraction to Chris escalate, can Bethany prove to herself, once and for all, that she’s not the closet cleaner she fears she’s become? Can she stop falling for unavailable guys and find one that’s a lifetime keeper? Only time—and stalking—will tell.

If you have ever met Tera Lynn Childs you will understand when I say that Straight Talk is just as darling as its author.  We have met Tera twice before – once at a signing at The Magic Tree Bookstore in Oak Park, IL and more recently at the Romantic Times Conventions.  She is super fun and sweet.  And those are the exact words I would use to describe this book.  

Bethany is a fashion guru with a fledgling boutique in SoHo.  Although not thriving, her business is surviving…unlike her love life.  In that area she is doomed.  Four of her last five boyfriends have broken up with her because they are gay.  When an old friend offers her a dream job as fashion consultant for the new reality show, One Straight Guy at a Time (think Queer Eye for the Straight Guy), she doesn’t hesitate to grab the opportunity that will boost her business.  What she didn’t expect was to find ex-boyfriend #5 (the straight one) playing the gay interior designer.  She KNOWS he’s not gay and she is bound and determined to “in” him to the world.  On top of dealing with her current mission she is falling for a man that she already knows is gay - Chris, the gay chef on the show.  What follows is a series of mishaps that will leave you smiling and laughing.  Although you will figure out much sooner than Bethany what is going on you will still be surprised by the ending.  Swear to god, I didn’t see it coming.   

Seriously, this book was just plain fun and it would make an excellent movie.  Hint, Hint, Hollywood.  Get on it, will you?  While Reese Witherspoon is still young enough to play the lead?  See there, I already did some of the work for you.  If you are looking for additional casting help I am available and can be paid in books, boys and pie. 

Bethany was a loveable character.  More than a little clueless but still lovely.  Kit was a total tough cookie.  She was also what best friends are made of.  A good friend will give you a shoulder to cry on when your boyfriend breaks up with you.  A Kit will wholeheartedly help you stalk the boy that broke your heart.   

Then there are the boys in this book.  Love. Them. All.  We all know that I love the forever boy.  And every single male character in this book is a forever boy one way or another.  Even ex-boyfriend #5. 

You can probably tell that I loved this book.  It left me with a smile on my face and I think it would do the same for you. 

Straight Talk is one of Tera's self-published books and can be purchased at smashwords.com, bn.com, and amazon.com.

Nat