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"Waiting on" Wednesday (on a Monday)

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly feature started by Breaking the Spine blog, where upcoming and anticipated books are spotlighted -- there's a massive sign-up list where you can visit all the bloggers who are participating in the event, so if you want to check out more up-and-coming books, do head over there and take a look! 
 
Since this is my first time participating and because I'm posting on a Monday instead of a Wednesday, I'm not going to add my name to the list (yet!) but do click through and check out the blog where this originated. 
 
Typically, only one book is showcased at a time, which is making it incredibly difficult to choose which one to talk about...but I'm going to go ahead and start this off with one of my publisher sisters' books that I can't wait to read.
 
Fear My Mortality -- Everly Frost

Releases: April 5, 2016
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC 
 
 
 
Description from GoodReads:
 
The future is bright for 16-year-old Ava Holland and the residents of Evereach. They don’t have to worry about old age or even getting sick. In their world, humans regenerate, heal, and live for hundreds of years. Mortality isn’t something to fear. Disease has been all but eradicated.
 
Everything changes when Ava watches her brother die and he doesn’t regenerate. Ava’s genetics are called into question by the government, scientists, extremists, and Ava herself. Could her genes hold the answer to mortality? Is she an anomaly or something to be feared?
 
Determined not to become anyone’s guinea pig, Ava doesn’t stick around to find out. She wants answers too, but the only person who can help her is 17-year-old Michael Bradley, the boy who killed her brother.
 
If either of them have even the slightest chance of survival, they must find the genetic keys hidden in Ava’s DNA before it’s too late.
 
 
***
 
I can't wait to read it! Check out Everly's website here.

Friday Flash: "Trying to Bowl"

Iiiiit's Friday Flash!
 
Bang! Zwap! Ka-pow! Okay, maybe it's not THAT exciting, but I hope you're enjoying the stories. I don't have a real intro to this one, other than it's one of my favorites from my old storypraxis binder. 
 
I hope you like it and thanks for reading!
 
***
 
TRYING TO BOWL
 

At sixteen years old, she’d lined them up like pins. Get a boyfriend, fall in love, get married, become a marine biologist, have a baby, read all of Shakespeare’s plays, see the Eiffel Tower, own a dog and a house and a yellow VW Beetle. Not one of the ugly, too-sleek modern ones either. An original, restored and only-modified-to-drive-on-North-American-roads Bug.

She got pregnant at nineteen, but it didn’t matter. One pin down, nine to go. She fell in love with the baby’s father, if only momentarily, but it didn’t matter either. It counted. Two pins down, eight to go.

The boyfriend came two years later, met during on-campus registration for the distance ed. courses she’d need to start working on a science degree. She pulled her arm back and released, ready to knock two pins in one stroke. She knocked one, clipped the other. Marine biology didn’t happen overnight.

Halfway through Shakespeare’s plays, she got bored and admitted she’d skimmed Titus Andronicusanyway and didn’t have a clue what was going on ninety-percent of the time. Gutter ball.

She bought a puppy and it bit the baby, so she gave it away. Accidental backward release. That same night, A View to a Kill came on TV. She watched James Bond chase a villain off the Eiffel Tower, and sighed.

Three years later, she met someone while standing at the edge of the mall parking lot. She held her daughter’s hand and, from afar, admired the antique cars from the local car club’s monthly get-togethers. He asked her if she’d like to see them up close, and he let her daughter sit in the front seat of his restored yellow VW Bug.

Eight months later, they were married in a tiny chapel, where her daughter played flower girl and ring-bearer. He had a house. They moved in. Three pins down, the rest called foul or illegal pinstrike.

Almost there. But marine biology was a process, and her guilt over Shakespeare’s plays urged a fresh start. Her new husband talked of travel to Europe, adopting a dog, and moving to another house where they’d have a spare room… just in case.

Her twenty-five-year-old self smiled, tasks complete, and tore up the list.

And after nine years and six points, she took charge and reset the frame.


 

Pancake Power!

It's Shrove Tuesday!
 
That means...pancakes! Okay, so that's not actually what Shrove Tuesday means, but here's a quick guide to help you (and, uhm, me) out: 

  • Shrove Tuesday precedes Ash Wednesday, so the date is determined by Easter (which changes each year)
  • "Shrove Tuesday" gets its name from shrive, meaning absolution for sins by doing penance
  • "Shrove Tuesday" is the tradition of trying to be 'shriven' before Lent
  • Pancakes are made as a way of using up rich, perishable foods, like eggs, milk, and sugar before Lent (traditionally, 40 days of fasting)
Cool. Look, I'm down with any excuse to eat pancakes...but which recipe to use? I have so many favorites, and I'm hoping you guys will let me know about some of your favorites. I posted a whole bunch of pancake pics on Insta last year (I know, I know...but I like sharing "new recipe" pictures as it helps me out to remember which ones went well and which ones, er, didn't).
 
But in case you weren't following me on Instagram last year (you can do that HERE!), here are some of my favorite pancake recipes (pancakecipies? ...nope) and how they turned out. Share yours with me in the comments!
 
 
Mmm...pancakes...so, who's indulging today? :D