Streamlining my Blogs

Hello All!

I've decided to streamline my two blogs, this one (LKHill) and the second one (Musings on Fantasia). I'm trying to figure out a custom redirect, but until I do, if you want to read my latest content, just head over HERE, to Musings on Fantasia. All the same features--Historical and Crime Tidbits, Tuesday lists, Thoughts for Thursday, Follow and Funny Fridays, as well as reviews and writing posts--will all still be present, just at that URL rather than this one.

Thanks a ton! Hope to see you all over there! :D

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Friday Funnies

Welcome to Friday Funnies! Because everyone needs a good laugh on Friday.

Evil Author Plan!

Funny story! :D

SOOO want to say this to people sometimes!

Oh so creepy! (Source)

Some GoT humor!

This had me and my sisters giggling for WAY too long last night! :D

Hope one of more of these gave you a laugh. Everyone have a wonderful, safe weekend! :D

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Book Review: Midnight Dreary by John Evangelist Walsh

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The full title of this book is Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe. I've had this book on my shelf for some time and finally got around to reading it. Like many before me, I am fascinated by Edgar Alan Poe, and studied him at some length while in college. So, when I heard about this book, I knew it was one I would want to read. Unlike most of my reads, it was a non-fiction.

Discussion/Plot: Walsh takes what little remains of Poe's personal correspondence and the well-documented facts of his life, as well as those surrounding his death, and analyzes them. This includes whether or not Poe's drunkenness truly could have caused his death, what women he was involved with at the time of his death (women, as much as booze were a trial for him) and what can be read between the lines of surviving letters.

He also examines some unfortunate prejudices that have sprung up in popular Poe culture, which have long clouded the issues that must be explored in order to understand the poet's death.

Conclusions: At the risk of spoilers, I won't give the exact conclusions Walsh comes to, in case anyone would like to read for themselves. Besides, Walsh does a good job of explaining the characters that populated Poe's life at the time of his death, and without the history he furnishes, the conclusions would be near-meaningless. 

That said, I found his conclusions to be compelling. He makes a good case for his argument, and I think he may just have it right.

Overall: An easy, thoroughly enjoyable read for anyone who's ever wondered about the mystery of Poe's death. While of course there is a certain amount of conjecture involved, it's all based on established fact. Most people don't understand that in order to truly understand history, conclusions must be drawn. And more often than not, when someone is searching for a specific answer, and does an in-depth study, the inspiration they receive is all kinds of accurate. Because of this, I love reads like this one. I would highly recommend it!

Has anyone else read Midnight Dreary? What did you think of Evangelist's conclusions?

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Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Books I Didn't Get To

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To (All covers courtesy of goodreads.com)

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Cover Reveal: Desolate Mantle (Street Games #2)

I'm finally getting ready to release Desolate Mantle, book 2 of Street Games! I've seriously been trying to get this book out for a year. But life happens and it kept getting back-burnered. Well, it's finally time! I'm aiming to get book 2 out in February, though I don't have an exact date yet. 

Meanwhile, courtesy of the the great Kelean Patrick Burke, here is the cover of book 2. Enjoy!

Desolate Mantle (Street Games #2)

Synopsis:

In the most dangerous city in the country, one controlled by the sadistic Sons of Ares gang, Kyra Roberts recently crossed paths with detective Gabe Nichols. She dismissed any liaison with him as impossible, but telling him the truth may prove inevitable...

Walking the Slip Mire nightly, dressed in her disguise and trying to infiltrate a homicidal gang, Kyra sees plenty of things she can’t explain. When she begins to suspect a serial killer might be at work, she decides to approach Gabe again.

Gabe has plenty to keep him busy: a bizarre missing persons case, a new development in his brother’s cold case, a new neighbor, and the grisly murders that are a nightly ritual in the Slip Mire. When Kyra shows up unexpectedly, he jumps at the chance keep her around, but it’s harder than he bargained for. She’s not an average source any more than she’s an average Mireling.

Their partnership crumbles, but when things become even darker than usual in the Slip Mire, they’ll need one another get survive a hellish situation. If they can’t work together to shoulder their burdens, they’ll find themselves utterly alone. In Abstreuse, it’s not a matter of not coming out of the darkness, but of being absorbed by the darkness itself…

(Check out book 1, Dark Remnants HERE)

What do you think of the cover?

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Friday Funnies: New Years Resolutions

Welcome to Friday Funnies! Because everyone needs a good laugh on Friday.





I'm actually a bit proponent of New Years Resolutions. I know most people don't keep them, but they're a great way to set goals, and for those who do keep them, they can be very beneficial. Despite that, these are funny, so I wanted to share them. Warning: there may be a great deal of snark below! :D

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Thoughts for Thursday: Resolutions

Thoughts for Thursday is a feature hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

This week's theme is New Year's Resolutions. Check out my other blog for more quotes.

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Book Review: Mojave Green

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So I finally got around to read the sequel to the Brothers Washburn's debut, Pitch Green. I loved the first book and, thankfully, Mojave Green, Dimensions in Death #2 is more of the same!

*Despite discussing things like plot and ending, this review will be largely spoiler-free. I tend to discuss how I liked what happened, rather than giving details about what actually happened.*

Plot: Mojave Green picks up roughly a year after Pitch Green ended. Cam and Cal--our best friend MC duo with the potential to hook up some day--are now college age and hope that the terror of the previous year is behind them. But unfortunately for them, that's wishful thinking. The terrors of the mansion return to haunt them, this time bringing new horrors and new monsters to duck. Cam and Cal had better watch their backs or their old nemeses might just catch them unawares, which would be deadly.

Characters: I loved these characters in the first book! They're just both so likable and human. I had no trouble at all relating to them. We get more of those lovable in this book, which I was glad of. We also got some new characters, my favorite of which was probably Lenny, who had a vocabulary that was made of up mostly of the word, "Dude." He made me laugh.

I will say that the "agents" in the book aren't always one hundred percent realistic. With the exception of the main one, who is friends with our MCs, they are portrayed as somewhat dim-witted, but in a YA novel, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Just be aware that this is a YA novel, and not a super-realistic adult novel where the law enforcement officers are concerned.

Writing: I think one of the reasons I was so impressed with the Brothers Washburn's debut novel was the writing. I suppose my expectations must have been low or something. If so, that wasn't intentional. I didn't even realize they were low. I read it and loved the writing. It's just so easy to read and I can totally see the story playing out in detail in front of my eyes. Such a joy to breeze through! Mojave Green was no different. Not a difficult read at all, and fun enough that you just want to keep reading until the end.

Ending: The only thing that I know may bother some readers is that the ending of this book is by no means closed. It ended on somewhat of cliffhanger with a clear intention of another book. That doesn't bother me much--except that I want to know what happens next--but I know some people aren't all about the cliff hangers. For me, I'm excited for what book 3 may hold. (Green Death is slated for release July 2015)

Overall, I really loved this book, and it's predecessor. It's clean YA horror and tons of fun to read. I would highly recommend it. :D

Has anyone else read Mojave Green? What did you think of it?

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Teaser Tuesday: A Midnight Dreary by John Evangelist Walsh

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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This week's teasers come from Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe by John Evangelist Walsh. This is a non-fiction, but it reads like a novel and so far, I find it fascinating. :D

"When her disbelieving eyes first fell on the Whig's stark notice, Elmira could not have guessed it, but at that moment, Poe had been in his grave one entire day. In the Presbyterian Cemetery of Baltimore, at four o'clock on the afternoon of October 8th, a dark, raw, dismally wet day, the earth closed over all that was mortal of the man many people in sincere admiration had begun to simply call The Raven." (pg. 35)

What are you reading this week?

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2015 Goals and Resolutions

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2014 was a great year for me in many ways. I felt like I learned and grew a lot, had lots of fun times, made lots of new friends, and even learned a lot about myself.

If I had one complaint about this past year, it would concern my writing. Last year at this time, I made a bunch of lofty goals and was super-excited to get started on them. But then life hit me and I ended up working a job for most of the year that made it really hard to make much progress on my writing. It was all I could do to keep up with my reading and blogging. I got very little done on the writing front.

Luckily, I'm in a better position to do more with my writing this year *fingers crossed* and I hope to accomplish more. 

Last year I wanted to:

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