November Book Haul!!

jacqui_monet
November 18, 2016

 

So, I absolutely love to read as you all know. This has lead to some interesting opportunities for me lately. I have been asked by up and coming authors to beta read their manuscripts, sent ARCs to read and I’ve been asked to make videos reviewing books by the authors who wrote them. What?! Starting this blog and actually starting to do what I love has been amazing. So amazing, that I’ve decided to start a Booktube channel!

For some people I’m sure that could have seen it coming, but I didn’t. I had no idea that I would end up here! Anyway, I want to say thank you for supporting my blog and interacting with me on social media. You all are amazing.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do for my first video and after doing some brainstorming I decided on a book haul video! I went to Barnes and Noble and accidentally spent more that I planned and didn’t even buy what I went in for. Ah, such is the life of a bookaholic.

Check out my first video below:

MIA: A Sad Story and Other Things

jacqui_monet
October 2, 2016

So it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted. I know, I suck.

As you know by day I’m an actress and I’ve started another school tour run which will transfer to a big playhouse in the middle of this month. The  three person show I’m in only rehearsed for 2 week before opening.  We perform anywhere from 10 to 15 times a week at 5 to 10 schools. My day goes a little like this: wake up early, meet the van, drive to the school, unload, build the set, perform, Q and A, tear down the set and drive to the next school. Blah, blah, blah. It’s tough on the body and the brain, but it’s totally worth it.

Last week The Husband and I had our own craziness at home. We got the keys to our new apartment (YAY!), started to move our stuff in (ugh) and last Sunday The Husband and I suffered a miscarriage.

It was scary, and painful and I spent time in the hospital. But, like they say, “the show mus go on”, and it did. Last week I performed 9 shows. It was really hard to be around children, but I did it. I only cried a few times while at the schools, but I made it through. His mom sent me beautiful flowers and gave me her medical wisdom the whole way through and my mother spent the weekend with us to help us during these transitions.

So, that my friends, is what I’ve been up to  these past couple of weeks.

awareness

Fireworks and Tea Parties

jacqui_monet
August 5, 2016

Okay, so I went to Broken Bow, Oklahoma to visit The Husband’s family and man was it something else. Now B-Bow, as they call it, is one of those towns that’s so small you have to continually zoom in on  google maps and even then you might give up before you find it. It’s the type of place where you wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t lock their doors and people literally “drive in to town”.  At night it pitch black because they don’t have street lights and the bugs try to murder your ankles. It’s a nearly 19 hour drive from where I live, but it’s totally worth it!

While there I saw fireworks and had the chance to shoot them off for the first time. Where I live, it’s totally illegal to do that. I totally freaked out because I just knew I was going to catch my hair on fire; it didn’t help that I witnessed a kid accidentally shoot my Father-in-Law in the face with a bottle rocket. The Husband and I did take time for ourselves, though, at the local library and a tiny coffee shop called Adam and Eve (which totally had a better Caramel Macchiato than Starbucks).

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I also threw a small surprise tea party for The Husband’s maternal grandmother. She loved it even though she hates surprises. I almost got a little misty-eyed when she told me she’d never had a birthday party before. Not one in her whole 78 years life! God, I was grateful that I spent hours and hours baking in my sister-in-law’s kitchen.  The party was  “girls only” which was nice because everyone was comfortable and Grandma P told us stories about her life and I couldn’t help but be thankful for the experience and the time spent with such a wonderful woman.

Look at all the food!
Look at all the food!

Enough gushing and onto the food. With a little assistance from the Mother-in-law, I made glazed croissants, scones, meat pies, individual strawberry cheesecakes, red velvet cupcakes with cutout hearts, Judy’s Trifle Cake and BLTs. I also cold brewed several flavors of green tea for a tea tasting. I don’t know about the other girls but I was a fat baby bird by the end of it!

Alright, that’s all for now. Remember, if you have a book you think I should read and review suggest it to me on my Goodreads!! https://www.goodreads.com/ReadEatDrink.

Kisses

What Goes Around

jacqui_monet
June 12, 2016

This time last year, I was sitting on a plane headed back to Phoenix when I struck up a conversation with my seatmate. She was a pretty black musician going home to Montana. We talked about  music, the gig life and other randomness. Then the man sitting next to my left begins to converse with us because he just had his novel, which takes place in Billings, published. We talked for a good hour or so and it was a very cool experience to see an author out in the wild like that. Later I bought The Porcupine of Truth and I’ve been holding on to it in hopes that one day I would meet the author again and have him sign it.

Here we are, a year and some days later, and it happened! I saw the Bill Konigsberg would be at a Barnes and Noble signing is books and speaking. When I got there, I sat in the car to put on some lipstick and I got way too excited and dropped the open tube on my white shirt. Grrr! Anyway, I approached the door to the bookstore and there he was, holding it open for me. I played it cool though and acted like a normal person. I walked around the store for a while and then set out to find him again.

Long story short: I didn’t act like a total fool, Mr. Konigsberg signed my book and remembered me! He even remembered that I was an actress; he was super cool!

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PCC Day 4

jacqui_monet
June 5, 2016

So, I skipped Saturday so I could sleep and recover from the hours upon hours of walking. The fourth and final day, though, proved to be fulfilling. I cosplayed as Catty Noir from Monster High and got a lot of positive remarks on the pink hair. I was also a panelist for the Farewell to Downton Abby which was fun. We discussed the timeline of the show, favorite arcs and characters, how the deaths affected the show and the modernization of the estate as the show progressed. I’ve decided that I absolutely prefer panels in which the audience is encouraged to participate. Maybe it’s the actor in me, but I crave the instant feedback that a lively crowd provides.

After my own panel I was able to sit in on a panel called Brighter Tomorrow featuring authors Jason M. Hough, Alexandra Olivia, Lexie Dunne and Patrick Hemstreet. They discussed how science fiction used to be about optimism and futurism  and whether or not we can go back to that era or  continue on the path in which apocalyptic and dystopian novels prevail. It was pretty enlightening to hear their thoughts and they took a lot of question from the audience. I got a chance to ask a question, which was pretty cool. I wanted to know  about their views on racial diversity and disabilities as it pertain to utopias. All four of the authors took turns answering but what Jason Hough had to say, stood out to me. He said that he is afraid of the hive mind that is already starting to present itself via the internet on sites like facebook. He said that when he was young and when his parents were growing up you only really spoke to  the people around you and you learned to discuss your differences of opinion civilly. Today, however, you can go online and virtually only talk to like-minded people. You can viciously argue against those whom you disagree or block them entirely and only speak to and hear from those that think the way that you do. Mr. Hough said that was the dark side to utopia and that he is trying to raise his children against the hive mentality.

After the panel, I was able to have Mr. Hough sign the copy of his book that I picked up on Thursday and I was also able to obtain a signed copy of Alexandra Olivia’s debut novel The Last One which sounds very interesting. Its about a woman who is on an outdoorsy reality competition and when things start to go really wrong, she still thinks its all a part of the show.

Well, that’s all for now. Check back for a new book review post next week!

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PCC Day 2

jacqui_monet
June 4, 2016

Today was pretty fun. I took The Niece for the first time to have one of our many bonding excursions. We saw movie cars like Lighting McQueen and the Mystery Machine. We also sat in on a panel about one of my favorite shows Eureka (Syfy Channel), which was fun although not as lively as the panel I sat on yesterday. This was not the fault of the panelists though, it was just a very different crowd.

Today I got the chance to meet an author whose work I have really enjoyed over the past few years: Frank Beddor! What?!  The author of The Looking Glass Wars and all that has since followed. It’s a pretty cool series, so if you are into Alice in Wonderland, steampunk, revenge, intrigue, love and awesome action sequences, check it out!

Also, I was dressed up as Miyuki the mechanic from the anime Basquash. Frank Beddor touched my jacket and said it was soft and fancy. I didn’t squeal in delight, but sadly I did smile way too big when we took a picture together. But, whatever. Who cares?! See you at con. <3

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Me and Frank Beddor.
Suede jacket by Tia Hawkes.
Suede jacket by Tia Hawkes.

Phoenix Comicon Day 1

jacqui_monet
June 2, 2016

IMG_4411This weekend I’m at Phoenix Comicon. Day one was victorious! I  was a panelist this afternoon debating whether or not the villains from Disney’s Once Upon a Time deserve to have a happy ending. This was my very first time serving as a panelist and my cohort had never been a panelist either. We were both nervous  that no one would show up and I have to say I had a case of the first timer jitters. But, the room was packed and lively and everything went off without a hitch!

After the panel, I walk the Exhibitors Hall and picked up some swag! I love getting free books. I also got to meet Sebastian A. Jones the creator of the new comic book Niobe which he co-wrote with Amandla Stenberg from the Hunger Games movies. Did I mention that I cosplayed as Serena from Pokemon XY?

All in all, I had a pretty good day today. If you run into me at PCC this weekend, make sure to always and definitely say hi!

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