Paisley Monday

my Short & sweet review of the juliet spell

2011-08-16T11:44:00.003-04:00

The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to preview this before the publication date"

Um.....so far, VERY light & fluffy. I mean VERY. Not sure if this book is me. I do like the premise, so I will keep reading :)

**Update: Yes, it remained light & fluffy & cute. The writing was choppy and the pace was way off. The way some of the characters reacted to certain things that, in real life, would need days to wrap your head around, was entirely unrealistic. And the mom, she's perfectly fine with everything that is happening with her teenage daughter. What?!? I mean, why would she have any questions or concerns about the guy from Elizabethan England staying with them? And Edmund, I think he adjusted to the whole situation far too quickly. It was all too easy. I think the writer could have done SO much more with the premise.

I'm sure there will be loads of readers that will love this book. There are some sweet moments, I'll admit, but not enough to carry the whole story or make up for the pacing problems.

All of my Short & Sweet Reviews can be found on my Books page!
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My Short & Sweet review of A beautiful dark

2011-08-13T12:06:00.006-04:00

A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to preview this before the publication date"

So far, this book is just "ok". Nothing to write home about. I'm having a difficult time connecting or relating to any of the characters, they all seem kind of flat. I'm almost halfway through and not sure if I even care what happens to these characters, not a good sign for me. The writing is not bad, it just has an overall generic feel to it.

**Update: Finished the book and my feelings about it have not changed. It didn't get much better, in my opinion. It took half the book to get to the actual gist of it and when it got there, I was left wanting more. Flat, one dimensional characters. The mythology was interesting, but not enough to make me love the story. It just wasn't for me. I'm sure some people will love this, though.

The writing is fine, I just didn't connect with it. The artwork on the cover is beautiful. The book definitely ended in a way that pretty much guarantees this will be a series. I don't think I'll be reading the next book, if there is one, I just can't muster up enough feeling to care about what happens to Skye, sorry.

All of my Short & Sweet Reviews can be found on my Books page!
View all my Goodreads reviews

My Short & Sweet Review of Cold Kiss

2011-07-20T17:01:00.003-04:00

Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The premise of this book definitely has the creepy factor and going into it I knew it had the potential to be disturbing. Boy, was I wrong! I'm so glad I read it. From the first page, I was drawn in to this story. When Danny, the boy she loves with all her heart, dies in a terrible car accident, Wren is devastated and lost and ends up doing something that will change her to the core. See, Wren is different and she's always known that but not to what extent. She comes from a line of women who have "powers" but she's just learning the extent of that and what she can really do.

When she loses Danny, her first love, she performs a ritual that she hopes will bring him back from the dead. It works, much to her surprise, and what follows is such a beautiful story of heartbreak, longing, and love and the lengths that some will go to hold on to what they love most.

I was never creeped out by undead Danny, even though he's basically a walking corpse. It all gets to be too much for her, though, hiding Danny away from the world, especially when undead Danny starts remembering things. Eventually, Wren realizes she needs to right what she has done...this is a character that definitely matures through the course of the story. With help from the new guy at school, Gabriel (who also has some powers of his own) she's able to finally say goodbye to Danny and start to mend her broken heart.

Wren is such a real, fleshed-out character, it was easy to see why these two guys would fall for her. I loved all of the flashbacks to the time before the accident, little glimpses into this young relationship. I never once thought any of it was far-fetched. The ONLY thing that bothered me, and I mean literally only one thing, was not having the issue with her father resolved. Why didn't we find out where the father was and why he'd left? All in all, a beautiful, sad, and lovely book. If you're the emotional type, I'd recommend having a few tissues handy :)

All of my Short & Sweet Reviews can be found on my Books page!
View all my Goodreads reviews

My Short & Sweet review of Bones of Faerie

2011-07-14T16:16:00.003-04:00

Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner

Summary:
The war between humanity and Faerie devastated both sides. Or so 15-year-old Liza has been told. Nothing has been seen or heard from Faerie since, and Liza’s world bears the scars of its encounter with magic. Trees move with sinister intention, and the town Liza calls home is surrounded by a forest that threatens to harm all those who wander into it. Then Liza discovers she has the Faerie ability to see—into the past, into the future—and she has no choice but to flee her town. Liza’s quest will take her into Faerie and back again, and what she finds along the way may be the key to healing both worlds.

My Thoughts:
Let me just say upfront: I'm a huge fan of faeries...the fey are probably my favorite supernatural-type. But that does not skew my opinion of this novel because I've read a whole slew of doozies when it comes to books about fey. This book, however, is not a doozy :) I'd read mixed reviews of this book and I was a bit hesitant to buy it. But I did and I loved it! It's not the perfect fey book, but it's definitely up there. The writing is superb, to begin with. The premise is unique and sets up a starkly beautiful tale of survival, betrayal, and love in a post-apocalyptic setting. It's also a coming of age story as Liza, our protagonist, is discovering things about herself and her life while grappling with what it means to truly trust someone. Liza is a survivor and feels alone, but along the way, learns that to truly live, you must let those who love you in.
Fans of Melissa Marr & Holly Black will most likely enjoy this :)

Paperback, 256 pages
Published: January 2009
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic
Reading level: Young Adult
Series: Book 1
Would I read the next book? Absolutely!
ISBN: 0375845631
Buy Now!

All of my Short & Sweet Reviews can be found on my Books page!

Poe-licious!

2011-07-14T12:29:00.000-04:00

For awhile now, my Poe Nevermore designs have been a favorite amongst my customers. So, I thought I'd do a post to highlight several of those designs!

All of the designs are original and designed by me. This is just a sampling of what I have in my stores.

Some of them are available on black scrabble tiles, as well.

Check out my Ebay or Etsy store for purchasing options.Or contact me for more information.

New Giveaway...It's GLEEful!

2011-07-12T13:11:00.001-04:00

I'm super excited about this giveaway! If you're a Glee fan or know someone who is, you must enter to win this completely unique pendant + necklace!! Go to my Giveaways & Freebies page to enter.

Have fun and tell your friends! These are NO LONGER available in either of my stores, so get yours here.

Amazing Giveaway @ Paperback Dolls!!

2011-04-29T14:36:00.002-04:00

Yes, I said amazing...you must check it out! Books, books, and more books...and did I mention a Kindle? Go on over there and enter to win!

http://www.paperbackdolls.com/2011/04/were-celebrating-our-blogoversary-and.html

Owl-y Goodness

2011-04-29T11:48:00.000-04:00

It's no secret...I love owls. Real and not so real. I create and sell many owl related things. There's just something about them. So, I've put together some of my favorite owl items, from me and other sellers and a couple of pics I took of a family of Eastern Screech owls that lived in a tree in our backyard the winter before last. First off, this is a custom wall plaque I just shipped out to a customer:

Isn't it sweet? It is a custom graphic that I created with the personalized name adhered onto a white painted plaque to hang on the wall. I loved the way it turned out :)

This is a set of prints available in my Piccadilly Lily shop. I know one is a bird, but it's a matching pair. This set is $9.00 and you can view the listing here.

This is a super cute Owl Earflap hat...how cute is this?? I love it and if I still had little ones, I'd snatch this up. The price is $29.00 and the listing is here.

This is an oh-so-sweet nursery wall decal...oh my goodness! If I had a baby, this would be mine!! It's a bit pricey but seeing the size of it, I think it's worth it. $73.00 - find it here .

Here's one from my shop Paisley Monday. Very cute & whimsical, price $6.00, find it here.

Funky & fresh, this owl stands out! Price $6.00, find it here

This one has a very retro feel...I like it :) Price $6.00 find it here

And finally, the pics of my family of owls. The pics aren't great because I took them from my back deck and the hole in the tree they were in was about 60 feet up. One owl is the common brownish-gray, but the other is the more uncommon reddish-brown. They were there for about a month and a half and I literally looked at them everyday!

So there you have it. Check out some of the awesome owl products and have a super day!

Cheers :)

Giveaway + Some Random Things...

2011-04-27T12:54:00.000-04:00

First things first, the giveaway. I'm excited, can you tell? I'm giving away a newly designed Paris Necklace.

I think it's so pretty! You can see all the details about on my Giveaways & Freebies page. It's easy to enter & no purchase is necessary. Plus, I give you multiple ways to enter to win it.

So, I've been super busy lately making new jewelry and making a whole bunch of stuff for my other etsy shop, Piccadilly Lily. I sell mostly printable digital scrapbook stuff and custom designer art prints there. Here are a few paper packs:

This one is Spring Pasture Mod and I have a matching alphabet to go along with it. They're really easy to use if you do digital scrapbooking or paper scrapping...because they're printable! They can also be used for blog backgrounds, cards, invitations, you name it. I have an easy personal & commercial use policy as well.

I'm having a lot of fun creating these paper packs. A lot of the designs come from my auction template designs. I have scaled WAY back on selling auction templates on Ebay as of late, for various reasons, and this is a good way to utilize all the hard work that went into the initial designs. I have literally hundreds of template designs, so the possibilities for paper packs are endless. Plus, I'll be creating new designs as well. Here's another:

I may even offer some of these as giveaways, we'll see. I do offer a buy 3 paper packs, get 1 paper pack FREE in my shop. So check it out if this is your thing :)

Ok, I finished City of Fallen Angels yesterday...simply amazing! I know there are a lot of mixed reviews, and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I really enjoyed it. It did have a different "feel" than the first three books, I'll admit. And at first, I didn't care for the jumping back and forth between characters, but then I started to like it. And I know a LOT of people think she should have just left the series alone and ended it at the third book as originally planned. I would've been happy with that ending, but I'm even happier still to have more books coming, more chances to experience the wonderful world Clare has created for us. And happy to spend more time with these characters I've come to love so much. I think a lot of people are being nitpicky, to be honest. Frustrating ending, which I tweeted about, but I really liked the ending. I hate having to wait a whole year for the next book, but what can you do, right? Cassandra Clare is trying to kill me here with that ending! I loved getting more of Simon's point of view, he's pretty awesome. I know a lot of people had complaints about Jace's behavior in the book, but did they even read it? There were extenuating circumstances, it wasn't just Jace acting like an idiot. Anyway, I loved it and can't wait for more, so there :)

Well, that's about it. Cheers :)

Jónsi Iceland Inspired Bracelet

2011-04-15T16:51:00.000-04:00

Jonsi is perhaps one of my favorite artists ever. This bracelet is inspired by my love of Jonsi and his beautiful music.

The bracelet features colorful glass cabochons that spell out his name, along with 2 painted lines cabochons, 2 pearly cabochons, and 2 flower cabochons. And, dangling from the bracelet, is 1 silver leaf charm and 1 glass leaf charm to finish it off. The whole bracelet measures 7.25". I can extend the size if needed.

You can purchase it in my etsy shop:
--Silver Jonsi Sigur Ros Bracelet -- Iceland Inspired--

You can visit his website here:
http://jonsi.com/

And Sigur Ros here:
http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/

Antique Typewriter Necklace

2011-04-15T16:39:00.001-04:00

Who doesn't love the look of an antique typewriter, whether you're a writer or not? I know I love them and I'm always tempted to buy one when I see them at tag sales or thrift shops.

Well, forget the heavy metal antiques! You can have your own piece of nostalgia with this charming necklace set!

This necklace is made with a 1-inch square glass tile and a custom graphic. It also has a sweet skeleton key charm, which measures 20mm. The coordinating Antique Bronze, vintage style, petite ball chain necklace is 22".
You can purchase it in my etsy shop:
Vintage Typewriter Cream and Skeleton Key Pendant and Necklace

It's been awhile

2011-04-13T17:56:00.000-04:00

So, it's been a bit of time since I last posted anything and there are various reasons for that, which I don't really need to get into. What it comes down to is laziness and the fact that I also had a Paisley Monday website that I was working on at the same time. The website sort of took precedence over the blog because, well, I was paying for it :)

I've since cancelled the website because with an Ebay & Etsy shop, it really was a waste of money. I also didn't like the design of my blog at all and didn't have much time to change it much...and those kinds of things bother me...immensely! But I now have it the way I want it and I'm going to start my blog again, a grand re-opening, if you will.

In the coming days, I will be having a splendid giveaway so stay tuned! What am I giving away, you ask? Well, jewelry, obviously ;) One of the ways to be entered is to follow my blog, so why not get a head start now? I'll have more details in the next few days.Cheers All!

Win a Scrabble Tile Pendant + Petite Ball Chain!!!

2010-05-28T22:16:00.000-04:00

I love giving away free things!! Don't ask me why, it's just in my nature to do so :) So, I guess that's what made me want to do this contest.

This is a brand new pendant design and I like to name each and every one of my designs. So, instead of me naming it, you're going to! You can browse through my store to see examples of my different design names.

Here's how it works:
► Simply tell me what you think would be a good name for this particular design by commenting on this post. The design name should be between 2-4 words long. It needs to be relevant to the actual design. Make sure you leave an email address so I can reach you if you're the winner.

► I will look through all of them and I'll pick the name that I think best suits the design and the winner will receive this brand new Scrabble Tile Pendant along with a 20" Satin Nickel Petite Ball Chain!!

► You can enter your design name anytime between now and midnight, June 15th. You can enter multiple names, if you'd like more chances to win.

► Please only enter one design name per comment. If there are multiple names entered in any one comment, I will disqualify that entry.

► The winner will be announced here on June 16th.

Tell all of your friends where they can enter to win a free pendant and necklace!!

HUGE Memorial Day Sale!!!

2010-05-28T11:57:00.000-04:00

All weekend long, from today until Monday evening, you can save 25% on any pendant in my eBay store!!
http://stores.ebay.com/Paisley-Monday

Kindle, Cupcakes, and stuff...

2010-05-20T10:45:00.000-04:00

Ok, I've sooo been meaning to get this blog up and running. And I will. It's been crazy busy with my etsy stores and ebay stores! Sheez!! Why did I think having so many multiple stores was a good idea? Plus, the writing has been going a lot better...yay!
I made some super cute new cupcake designs for my pendants (see pic) and some really pretty art prints as well. I'm thinking about maybe using some of that artwork from the prints and making auction templates with them. We'll see.

I haven't made too many new template designs in a while because of my other stores. They keep me busy and I'm so thankful for it. I have a few custom orders I need to work on though. It's basically been pendants galore over here!

My step-sister, who I hadn't talked to in ages, contacted me a few weeks ago and it was so good to hear from her. She ordered some of my pendants and it was so much fun creating them for her :) I also made some for my mom and she loved them! OOh, I also made some of my original art prints into pendants, here's an example:

I think they're really pretty, I hope others do as well.

Well, I got some funny news from my ever faithful customer, who shall remain nameless for her own protection, that the OFK (from now on this is what Kelli shall be referred to as, Obsessed Freak Kelli) is still talking about me! I'm just flabbergasted....too bad there isn't a way for me to profit from her using my name all the time! I'd be livin' large by now :) Anyhoo, I told her I didn't want any details, I don't have the time or lack of maturity to hear about it. Apparently, the weirdo can't get me out of her head or something. Yawn....

Have I already said how much I love my Kindle?? No? Well, I do. It's like the best thing ever invented. I know there are other e-readers out there and probably better ones at that, but I just love my Kindle and feel I need to be loyal to it :) I've read so many more books since I've had it it's crazy! I got it in December of 2009 and I've already read more than 80 books! I still buy real books, as well, but this just makes everything so much easier.

Oh, City and Colour will be on Last Call w/ Carson Daly on May 27. Yay! Can't wait.....Dallas Green has one of the most amazing voices. You know what I've been listening to a LOT lately? Death Cab.....I hadn't had them on my ipod in a very long time, but I got the urge a few weeks ago and oh how I've missed them!! It's been a delightful reunion.

We're going to see the US Men's National Soccer team vs. The Czech Republic this coming Tuesday in Hartford. Can't wait!! It's just a friendly, but it's a warm up for the World Cup. I can't believe it's already been 4 years since the last World Cup....geez! Time flieas and all that.

Ok, off to get some actual work done.

Cheers all!