~Sunday Stew - June 19th, 2011~

Sunday Stew is a Weekly Meme hosted Here at Books Devoured

First of all, I want to wish all of you, fathers, mothers, daughters and sons alike...a very HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! :)

Bookmark of the Week

This week, I've been using the "Sweet Venom" by Tera Lynn Child's bookmark, that I received courtesy of Yara from Once Upon A Twilight (THANK YOU!). I just found out that Loretta of Between the Pages has been using the same bookmark this week as well, and I thought that was so cool! :) There's something very simple but alluring about this bookmark - it completely draws you to itself. I especially love the braid and it's mysteriously curling ends, set against the contrasting pale skin, it's simply beautiful, and I love it! :)

Around The Web:

 

 

 

 

Reading Angel, Pure Imagination, and Candace's Book Blog are at it AGAIN!  A while ago, they'd brought us a Spring-time Blog Hop, and this time, it's a Read-a-Thon. I just recently completed my first read-a-thon, and I'm ready to get on the horse again! :) I'm signing up, for sure...what are YOU waiting for? Click on the banner above, and go sign up NOW! I can assure you that it's going to be SUPER fun! :)

 

 

 Around Me: 

 

 

It's Father's Day, and as some of you may know, it was also my Dad's birthday yesterday! So this weekend is super special in our home, and of course, super busy!  My mom and I take special care to fuss a little extra on my dad, because in all honesty, he's the kind of guy who never requires any fuss throughout the year. My dad's one of the most easiest-going, laid-back, cool-operators kinda dudes in the world...and he almost NEVER spends anything on himself, and I can't remember the last time he made a request for anything special and what not. His focus has always been us...and he's always telling my mom and I that we should go get ourselves something, and if you ever ask him if he wants something, his answer is always something along the lines of, "I have everything, what more do I need?" My dad's been my anchor, my best friend, my confidante. In some ways, even more than my mom...but I guess only because as a teenager, I thought tormenting my mother was part of some rite of passage, and I simply did it to irk the crap out of her, so our bonding really began after I returned home from college. My dad has always been my best friend since I was a child. I made this card up there for him last week, while I worked with some kindergartners - I did buy him a card as well, but he seemed far more attached to this one, and I know why...he's always loved my creative side; he says I got his creative genes from him (I must have only gotten half a set or something, coz I'm really NOT that creative! LOL). Anyhow, I'm an only child, and a complete Daddy's Girl (subsequently, mommy's boy too, in some ways! lol :P)...so I dedicated my "About Me" section to my dad today! 

 

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this week's ~Sunday Stew~, I definitely enjoyed writing it. With this, I conclude this week's Sunday Stew post! Thank you for reading, feel free to leave me any comments/feedback you may like. I wish you a blessed rest of the week, and that you'll continue to visit! :)

 

~Spring Into Summer - FINAL UPDATE~

Update:

• Total Books Read: 3
• Total Pages Read: 1070 Pages
• Books Read Since Last Update: .75 Book (LOL)
• Pages Read since last update: 231 Pages
• Total time read: 13 Hours (but not in their entirety).
• How I'm currently feeling: Feeling pretty good. Still sick, but glad I participated in the Read-a-Thon. Realized how much work it is! lol :P
• Books read: Finished "The Sweetness of Tears" by Nafisa Haji, by reading the remaining 231 pages, at the end. Began with "The Midwife's Confession" by Diane Chamberlain, and "Very Bad Men" by Harry Dolan.
  
  

What is your favorite book you read during the read-a-thon?

• Hmmm, this is a difficult question, since all three books belonged to three different genres, and were three totally different experiences. I honestly couldn't choose, all three were pretty fantastic! :)

Did you participate in any mini-challenges? Which ones?

• Yes, I participated in pretty much all the challenges, except the one illustrated in update 10, but that's because I was on the road, driving, during those hours! *shrugs*

Which mini-challenge was your favorite?

• Hmmm, I really liked the Book Titles Make A Sentence one, and the Which Book Do You Think You'd Want Students to Read and Why challenge. I love writing, so the ones involving writing were great, but the other ones demanded creativity, and I liked that too.

What has been your favorite thing about the read-a-thon?

• Well, in all honesty, that I strove hard to get some reading done. Not that telling anyone around me that I was participating in a "virtual read-a-thon" would have gotten me any leeway, but mentally, I pushed hard, so that was good.

Are you satisfied with how much reading you got done? Did you do more than you expected? Less?

• The first day was disappointing for me. But it was a weekday, and there were "real life" issues (gag!) that needed my attention. Then today, it was my Dad's birthday, so I didn't really get a chance to read as much. In all honesty, I think I read a decent amount - I just had imagined that being in the read-a-thon would allow me uninterrupted time to read. *Smacks forehead* Silly me, I forgot...I'm not that lucky! lol :P But I'm happy with however much I read...I read, and that's all that matters to me! :)

What did you think of the updates? Too close together? Didn't like the time limit?

• I think the updates were a great idea, but setting them so close together really did make them far less enjoyable (sorry!). I think the IDEA of it is absolutely perfect, but I think the updates should go in a different post, and the mini-challenges ought to be in different posts.

If you could change one thing about the read-a-thon, what would it be?

• If I had to re-do this, and do it my way, I guess I would keep everything the same (so you did a GREAT job at organizing Enna!), but I'd just make the requirement TWO update posts made anytime during the day (following a certain format provided at the beginning of the read-a-thon), and mini-challenges posted every four hours, which the participants can choose to participate in, or not. I think the mini-challenges should have a time-limit, but the updates should not - because I certainly don't want to be obligated to break from reading to make a post, and I don't want to be dishonest, and just schedule a fake one, either, you know? Other than that, it was perfect - REALLY creative with the challenges! :)

Would you participate in another read-a-thon hosted by Squeaky Books? Why or why not? (Again, I won't cry if you say "no")

• Yeah, sure. Why not!?!? This was my first read-a-thon, so I don't know if they are done differently on other blogs/sites, but I really enjoyed myself, and I'd participate again, for sure! :)

Any last comments on the read-a-thon?

• First of all, I just want to say a big THANK YOU to Enna of Squeaky Books for hosting this Read-a-Thon, and also, thank you to all the participants who engaged in this read-a-thon with me. Also, a SPECIAL Thank You to all those who visited my blog, and left their comments, their concerns, and showed their support - I love you all. A big WELCOME to all the people who subscribed to my blog, and HAPPY READING to all :)

~Spring Into Summer - Update #11~

Update:

• Total Books Read: 2
• Total Pages Read:  829 Pages
• Books Read Since Last Update: 1
• Pages Read since last update: 301 Pages
• Total time read: Ummm...I've lost track of time? lol :P
• How I'm currently feeling: Okay, so I left home, and that allowed me to be able to spend some time with my book, and allowed me to get a decent amount of studying done. I did, however, miss Update #10, for which I'm extremely sorry.
  

Mini Challenge:

If you could live in the world of one book, which would it be and why?

I know I should probably be naming yet another action/fantasy/thriller. But in all honesty, if I could, I'd be living in the Regency Period, in the times and life of Jane Austen and her characters, especially the characters of Pride & Prejudice. My second choice would have to be the Shakespearean or Elizabethan era. I believe those times of the past may have been dangerous, and difficult, and a cauldron of communicable diseases, but it was also a colorful, lively and a more robust era - not one where the entirety of life would be spent just trying to rush to the next place, prepare yourself for the next task at hand, strive for that next promotion, etc. It may have been a complicated time, but the needs and expectation of men (and women) were simpler. Now, nothing is simple! :(

~Spring Into Summer - Update #9~

Update:

• Total Books Read: 1
• Total Pages Read: 528 Pages
• Books Read Since Last Update: 1
• Pages Read since last update: 0 Pages
• Total time read: 4.5 hours
• Currently Reading: "Very Bad Men " by Harry Dolan
• How I'm currently feeling: I knew that I wouldn't be able to do much once my dad wakes up. He woke up and we surprised him with his presents, and birthday cards. Also, I made him his favorite breakfast, and we all sat and ate together. Then we sat down to watch some TV together - so I haven't gotten ANY reading done since the last update :(
  

Mini Challenge:


So, I used this really cool website CLICK HERE to create an anagram out of my name, and here is the (HILARIOUS) result! =)

~Spring Into Summer - Update #8~

Update:

• Total Books Read: 1
• Total Pages Read: 528 Pages
• Books Read Since Last Update: 1
• Pages Read since last update: 0 Pages
• Total time read: 4.5 hours
• Currently Reading: "Very Bad Men " by Harry Dolan
• How I'm currently feeling: I knew that I wouldn't be able to do much once my dad wakes up. He woke up and we surprised him with his presents, and birthday cards. Also, I made him his favorite breakfast, and we all sat and ate together. Then we sat down to watch some TV together - so I haven't gotten ANY reading done since the last update :(

Mini Challenge:

If you had bookshelves FULL of all of your favorite books, how would you organize them?

If I had a bookshelf chock FULL of my favorite books, I would organize them first, by genre. And then, on a secondary level, the books now sorted by genre would then be sorted by author's last name. And on the tertiary level, say if there are six books in a series, or six books by one author, they'd be organized in chronological order, according to the flow of the story (even if the prequel came later!). Chronology is very important to me! :)

Since we're on the subject of bookshelves, I just wanted to share with you guys, my dream bookshelf/library *le sigh*

Admont Benedictine Monastery-Library

Isn't it absolutely beautiful, and doesn't it look just like the library from "Beauty & the Beast"? 

But yeah, DREAM ON, right!?!? For that, I'd first have to buy a huge mansion. But, I guess I could compromise for something simple like this...

Look at that oak paneling, and the warmth of that corner. I mean, that would be the favorite part of MY house! I wish!!! *le sigh* Haha, okay, okay...I'll stop...coz I could continue dreaming...HAPPY READING! :)

~Spring Into Summer - Update #7~

Update:

• Total Books Read: 1
• Total Pages Read: 528 Pages
• Books Read Since Last Update: 0
• Pages Read since last update: 115 Pages
• Total time read: 2.5 hours
• What I'm currently reading: "Very Bad Men " by Harry Dolan
• How I'm currently feeling: Mom & Dad are sleeping, and I have some quiet time before Dad wakes up, and we wish him a Happy Birthday, and create a big fuss over him! =) I know I'll get sidetracked then, because I am a total Daddy's Girl/Daddy's Little Princess being an only-child, so for now I'm just clamoring to get as much reading out of the way as I possibly can!

Mini Challenge:

Name one book you think should be taught in school, grade of your choice.

19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult 

You can read my Goodreads review of 19 Minutes , but I am presenting this book to you, not as a reviewer or a blogger. As a matter of fact, I think this has become about more than just the mini-challenge, at this point. I am choosing this book because I find it to be so important, and it is so very close to my heart. I think that 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult is the kind of book that must be MANDATORY reading for high school level students. As a matter of fact, I believe that it should be the first book that 9th graders, or all Freshman should read as soon as they return from their summer vacations to start high school. On the surface it merely seems like a sad story about a high school shooting, but beneath the surface, this book explores the entire inter-personal mechanism of a student population, and the dynamics of personal relationships, such as friendship, mother-child relationships, romantic relationships etc.

I know you are wondering to yourself, "But why? What is so important about this book?" Speaking not merely about the harmful effects of bullying, but of the perils of coming of age and the rifts it creates, this book was truly an insight into the young and fragile psyche of teenagers today. The constantly changing and evolving canvas of the teenage life is chronicled in such a subtle, yet effective manner, that I felt akin to every character in this book, regardless of his/her age. Also, it presents the perspectives of both the victim, and the victimized - and never judges you for the opinion you hold. What I love best about the writing of Jodi Picoult is that she never presents a one-dimensional argument - she allows for their to be love and acceptance for all characters, even if they are at odds with each other, or are standing on two different sides of a line. 

I think reading this book would help teenagers realize what kind of power their words, and their actions, hold - how the warp of merely 19 Minutes can totally tilt the axis of their world, all because they couldn't show respect, tolerance or acceptance to one person. I believe not only would this book be educational, it would be a meaningful way for teachers and students to bond, as well as for a way for students to make more meaningful connections, and engage in open discussion and dialogue regardless of their clique, their race, their age, etc. I know, for a FACT, that my children would most definitely be advised to read this book, when they reach the appropriate age - I would definitely want to teach them acceptance, tolerance, pride in oneself, the importance of communication, and the detrimental affects of bullying. I believe young adults AND adults, alike, ought to read this book.

~Spring Into Summer - Update #6~

Update:

• Total Books Read: 1
• Total Pages Read: 413 Pages
• Books Read Since Last Update: 1
• Pages Read since last update: 112
• Total time read: 1 hour.
• Currently Reading: "Very Bad Men " by Harry Dolan
• How I'm currently feeling: I finished "The Midwife's Confession" last night, and just began "Very Bad Men" - more hopeful about getting more reading done today! :)
  
  

Mini Challenge:

Put two characters from different series together (romantically or otherwise) and describe why they would be good together.

I know this just sounds silly, but I think it would totally rock if Eric Northman of "The Sookie Stackhouse" novels mated with Rosalie Hale of the "Twilight" saga. I mean, can you IMAGINE the babies they'd make. They'd be the new "Brangelina" of our times - but like, ten times paler, more beautiful and more deadly! ;)

~Spring Into Summer Read-a-Thon - Update Day #1~

Okay, so Day #1 is coming to an end - I mean, sure I have more time to read, but it's time to update, and let the world know how far I've gotten this day (trust me, not very far!). So, without further ado, here's my update:

1. First of all, give us an end-of-day status update.
   Answer:  I read "The Midwife's Confession" by Diane Chamberlain, which is an extremely interesting book. I've read about 315 pages so far, and it is coming to a close, and I'm excited to pick up my next book. I'm struggling to keep up with the posting, which sucks - but it's my first read-a-thon, and I suspect I'll learn! :) Also, I've been sick all day...and my fever is not really relenting, so I don't know how long I'll be able to stay awake. Also, it's my dad's birthday tomorrow, so I am sure I won't be reading very much tomorrow either - so I can kiss that coveted grand prize goodbye, but that's okay...I'm just happy to be participating. This is fun! =)
   
   
   
2. What is the favorite thing you have read today?
   Answer: "The Midwife's Confession" is all that I have read today, but in all honesty, I absolutely absolutely am loving it. So I guess that would be it!
   
   
   
3. Which mini-challenge was your favorite?
   Answer: I think the last mini-challenge with the book titles making a sentence was the most fun for me. Although I really enjoyed the one that prompted me to write - but then again, writing is my passion. This challenge was the most different one for me.
   
   
   
4. What has been your favorite thing about the read-a-thon?
   Answer: Just reading along with people; knowing that there are other readers/bloggers out there participating in the challenges, and striving to read alongside me! Also, the mini-challenges have been fun too.
   
   
   
5. What has been your LEAST favorite thing about the read-a-thon?
   Answer: I like everything about the read-a-thon, but if I really must complain and whine, the only thing I wished for, was a little more time for the challenges. Actually, I suppose the time was enough, but given there are so many different things that needed to be done - I would sometimes check the mini-challenge post late, and thus be scrambling to create my post for the mini-challenge. And it's not like you can schedule the posts either, because you don't know what the mini-challenge is before hand. But then again, I guess that is why they are called "Challenges" lol =P
   
   
   
6. Are you on track to meet your goals?
   Answer: ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Haha, I thought I'd be reading so much faster and so much more. But that's okay. It's not a marathon. I always tend to enjoy my books. In fact, the longer I linger on a book, chances are, the more I like it. I usually spend more time with a book BECAUSE I like it very much! =)
   
   
   
7. Will you be participating tomorrow? Do you have any new goals?Answer: My goal for tomorrow is to NOT have a fever, lol =P This is so that I don't feel sluggish, and sleepy. That totally interferes with my reading. Also, since it's ACTUALLY the weekend, and I don't have to work, I guess the goal is to check the mini challenges on TIME! =)
   
   

~Spring Into Summer - Update #5~

 Update:

• Total Books Read: 0
• Total Pages Read: 301 Pages
  
• Book I'm Currently Reading: "The Midwife's Confession" by Diane Chamberlain.
• Books Read Since Last Update: N/A
• Pages Read since last update: 141 Pages
  
• Total time read: 7 hours
  
• How I'm currently feeling: Only 301 Pages in 7 Hours. Needless to say, I am feeling incredibly annoyed! :(
  
  
  Mini Challenge:
  
  Okay, so I needed to create a sentence using only book titles, and needed at least 3 books! This was HARD...but it's funny because the more I began searching, the more I got into this challenge. Here are some of the sentences I came up with - let me know if you like them! =)

The Midwife's Confession Scars Tabloid City

 The Mockingbirds Abandon A Young Wife

 The Murderer's Daughters Abandon 22 Brittania Road

Sins of the House of Borgia Wither The Forest of Hands and Teeth

~Spring Into Summer - Update #4~

Update:

• Total Books Read: 0
• Total Pages Read: 160
• Book I'm Currently Reading: "The Midwife's Confession" by Diane Chamberlain.
• Books Read Since Last Update: N/A
• Pages Read since last update: N/A
• Total time read: 5 hours
  
• How I'm currently feeling:  Feverish, and sluggish. Took a break to have lunch so am even further behind on my reading, but enjoying the challenges and my book! :)
  
  Mini Challenge:
  
  Below is a puzzle made up of pictures - but the pictures actually denote the title of an upcoming book. Hint: It's an adult novel published by Simon & Schuster, set to release on July 5th, 2011. Leave your answers in the comments section if you figure it out! I'll provide the answer in my next update! :D Have fun...
  

~Spring Into Summer - Update #3~

Update:

• Total Books Read: 0
• Total Pages Read: 105
• Book I'm Currently Reading: "The Midwife's Confession" by Diane Chamberlain.
• Books Read Since Last Update: N/A
• Pages Read since last update: N/A
• Total time read: 4 hours
• How I'm currently feeling: Tired. I've been sick with a fever & a sore throat, and as much as I want to continue reading, my head is heavy, and I'm feeling sluggish and tired. My pace has been super slow because of being sick too! :(

Mini Challenge:

The Shaman wiped the sweat off of his forehead, and squinted in concentration. But being a 7th generation Shaman, he knew that all of his work was merely a combination of science and faith. One without the other, and the charm of it all dissipated. He aimed the laser at the emaciated billy goat in front of him, and fired. After a resounding pop and a bright flash of light, out of the goat's butt popped out a lime!

"Drat!" He glared at the poor, indifferent goat, and reprimanded him. "I need you to be dropping lemons, not limes!"

~Spring Into Summer - Update #2~

Update:

• Total Books Read: 0
• Total Pages Read: 84
• Book I'm Currently Reading: "The Midwife's Confession" by Diane Chamberlain.
• Books Read Since Last Update: N/A
• Pages Read since last update: N/A
• Total time read: 2 hours.
• How I'm currently feeling: Again, I'm worried that I'm not really reading fast enough (as you can tell by my updates) - but it's because there's so much to do, I'm only reading in between my errands/work. It's not 2 straight hours of reading - but I wish that was the case! :S

Mini Challenge:

Create a "Wordle" - The wordle for my blog is pretty well-suited to my blog. Apparently, "books" is the most commonly used word (are you surprised!?), and then "read", "supernaturally", "love","shopping" etc. I'd say that's pretty darn accurate! :) So here's my Wordle - hope you enjoy! 

~Spring Into Summer - Update #1~

Update:

• Total Books Read: 0
• Total Pages Read: 67
• Book I'm Currently Reading: "The Midwife's Confession" by Diane Chamberlain.
• Books Read Since Last Update: N/A
• Pages Read since last update: N/A
• Total time read: 40 minutes.
• How I'm currently feeling: Worried I won't be able to complete my goal given that I have so many things to do later on during the day. But going to continue to read.

Mini Challenge:

What is your favorite and least favorite movie adaptation of a book. 

Favorite book-movie adaptation: I believe my favorite book-to-movie adaptation was Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. You see, as much as I absolutely LOVE the Harry Potter adaptations, because they are so creative, Jurassic Park was my first foray into a "fantasy" like novel, which was turned into a movie. It was the first book of it's kind that I had read, and it being brought to life was just so absolutely exciting for me. Plus, as much as the book had made me interested in dinosaurs, I still didn't do half the research that the movie had employed; the result of which was the absolutely life-like dinosaur models, which totally surpassed my expectations. I loved it! 

Least favorite book-movie adaptation: My least favorite book-to-movie adaptation was "The Scarlet Letter", which starred Demi Moore. The Scarlet Letter was one of my most favorite classic novels, and the script was not an adaptation of the book at all. So MANY facts were changed, and I never really saw a reason why this was done. The beauty of that book lay in the amazing literary devices employed in it - such as allegory, and some of its biblical illusions. None of those were properly explored in the movie. I absolutely despise it when they change facts, historical facts at that, because that's not innovation, that's re-invention - and you cannot re-invent a classic! 

~Spring Into Rummer Read-a-Thon~

This post is to announce to the world that I'm participating in the Spring into Summer read-a-thon hosted by Enna Isilee of Squeaky Books!

This read-a-thon is going to be so great! It's two days where you try do NOTHING but read. It's a great chance to get rid of some of those books that have been sitting on your TBR pile forever.

But that's not all! There will also be awesome mini-challenges and a TON of giveaways! In fact, just for signing up you are entered to win a $25 gift card to Amazon! SO GO SIGN UP! And if you say that HIRA HASNAIN sent you, you'll get 5 extra entries to win that gift card! CLICK HERE to enter to win, and know all there is to know about the read-a-thon.

Here's my goal:

I plan to participate on: both days, the ENTIRE weekend, really.
I plan to read:  At least 830 pages
I hope to read: "Midwife's Confession" by Diane Chamberlain and "Very Bad Men" by Harry Dolan, and possibly finish "The Sweetness of Tears" by Nafisa Haji

Well, have you signed up yet? DO IT NOW!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

~Sunday Stew - June 12th, 2011~

Sunday Stew is a Weekly Meme hosted Here at Books Devoured

Bookmark of the Week

This is not actually a bookmark but is, in fact, a piece of cloth. I had been shopping with my mom at Jo-Ann's one day, and I saw it, and instantly fell in love. It totally reminded me of my uncle's darling (albeit slightly temperamental) Tibetan terrier named Cedric (pictured below). Of course, my mother saw no reason for me to have it, since we don't have any pets - but the lady at the counter was a darling, and cut me a piece, and I now use it as a bookmark. 

Around The Web:

 

"DREAM" is a soon to be launched free book giveaway site bringing book lovers FREE copies of new books released via authors and publishers. All you have to do share the book on Twitter and Facebook, and write a short review on it - that's easy peasy, right? They are projected to launch towards the end of June, or early July. So keep an eye out for them! But in order to receive an invite from them, you have to be on their invite list, for which you have to sign up. So, what are you waiting for? Click on the "DREAM" banner up top, and sign up right NOW! You can also find the "DREAM" Team on Twitter - make sure you follow them for any and all updates! :)

Around Me: 

Okay, not very much has been going on around me, yet again. I did, however, go shoe-shopping last week. Actually, the truth is, I went shopping for my DAD! It's Father's Day, and in addition to that, his birthday is coming up (on the 18th of this month!). I went with my mom, who (for a mom) has some AMAZING taste. I mean, I'm not too into dressing up and what not. But I love shoes, make-up and purses/bags - and my mom has excellent taste in all those (and clothes too, me...enh!) so she's almost always my shopping partner. I bought the following beauties.

I fell in love with these heels, I felt sexy just wearing them along with my ratty screen tee, and my ratty jeans! lol :P But the next pair are the ones I ABSOLUTELY fell in LOVE with - because not only are they sexy, but incredibly comfortable as hell well.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this week's ~Sunday Stew~, I definitely enjoyed writing it. With this, I conclude this week's Sunday Stew post! Thank you for reading, feel free to leave me any comments/feedback you may like. I wish you a blessed rest of the week, and that you'll continue to visit! :)

The "Supernaturally" Awesome Giveaway by Kiersten White

Kiersten White is the tiny, albeit infinitely adorable, author of "Paranormalcy" and her book "Supernaturally" is out next month! In honor of the release, Kiersten is giving away THREE copies of "Supernaturally" to three lucky winners! :) 

All you have to do is look at this GORGEOUS cover of "Supernaturally", and write a FAKE SYNOPSIS of 150 words of less, about what YOU think this book would be about. Now, remember, this is a fake synopsis - not a guess at what is really happening in this book! 

Make sure to check out the rules and guidelines, and to enter the contest, over on Kiersten's blog. You can read the ACTUAL synopsis for the book here. And without further ado, I present to you, MY synopsis of "Supernaturally" by Kiersten White.

"Supernaturally" by Kiersten White

The clock is about to strike 12:00 midnight, and Kierra is stuck in this unkempt field of flowers, waiting on Prince Charmin (he's the prince of the toilet paper conglomerate, duh!) - who is three hours late. She's tired, she's hungry, and she's uncomfortable in this dress fashioned out of her stepmother's drapes. To make matters worse, she has a mysterious rash on her neck which she isn't sure is because of the dress, or because she's allergic to perennials.

Will her Prince arrive before her glass slippers turn to furry bunny slippers? Will he kiss her passionately, and will his kiss release her from indentured servitude to seven really tiny men? Will it be a kiss of true love? Or one of mild, easily-fizzled-out infatuation...and how will she tell the difference?