Historical Tidbit: The (Somewhat Creepy) History of the Jack-in-the-Box

**If you haven't yet, be sure to enter my Epic Giveaway! The grand prize is a Kindle Paperwhite! Click HERE to enter!**

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Did you know...

That the jack-in-the-box has its origins in the Middle Ages?

So at my writer's group last week, there was a story that contained a jack-in-the-box element. It actually wasn't a creepy story, but a literary one.

Anyway, at some point, the question was raised, "When were jack-in-the-boxes first sold?" So we, being children of the internet age, looked it up. I expected the answer to be somewhere around the 1930s. Oh how wrong I was!

The origin of the jack-in-the-box dates back to the 14th century, and a man named Sir John Schorne. He lived in Buckinghamshire, England, and a was great leader and healer in his small village. Folklore says he captured a devil in a boot, and he's often pictured holding the boot with the devil popping out of it. 

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Review Day: If I Die and Never to Sleep by Rachel Vincent

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Last week I read book 5 of Soul Screamers, If I Die by Rachel Vincent. It was great! I wouldn't have thought the series could get any better but, you guessed it, it did!

Plot: This picks up where the previous book left off. Nash and Kaylee are still struggling with their relationship, but are starting to get to a better place, even if Sabine is still in the picture. At the beginning of the book, Todd pays Kaylee's dad a visit with some grim (get it?) news: Her time is up. She's come up on the reaping list and is scheduled for death in less than a week. Meanwhile, girls at her school are getting pregnant, having horrifying miscarriages, and Kaylee suspects one of her teachers may be a Netherworld creature trying to propagate his own species using high school girls. Kaylee must race against the clock to get rid of this creature before she dies, come to terms with her own, apparently unstoppable death, and help others in her life do the same. High school's never complicated, though. :D

Characters: There's a "surprising" turn of events in this book as far as the characters and their romantic relationships go. I actually wasn't all that surprised, myself. I suspected that a certain crush was happening several books ago, but I couldn't tell if it was just me or if that was where the author was going. Well, now I have my answer. I have to say, it was a very risky thing for the author to do. She introduced a love triangle between major characters a full five books into the series. She ran the risk of fans hating the idea. I have no idea whether many of them did or not, but it wasn't a problem for me. I sort of liked it. Once it happened, I was instantly rooting for the other couple. :D

Ending: I liked the end. Between two possible outcomes, it did the one that was the most provocative and kept the reader going until the final page. It's also the ending that puts the most interesting potential into the next installment of the series.

Overall: I loved this book! Out of the entire series so far, I think this is my favorite! So great! Can't wait to dive into the next volume!

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Never to Sleep (Soul Screamers 5.5)

Plot: This short story between installments begins near the end of the last book, but it's told from Sophie's (Kaylee's snotty cousin) point of view. Basically, Sophie has her first Netherworld experience--that she is conscious for and remembers, anyway--and meets a boy who happens to be Necromancer along the way.

Characters: I'll admit I didn't think I'd like this short very much. Kaylee's cousin is a mean-girl super-princess who the reader has been primed to hate in the regular series. Why would I want to read something from her point of view? Yet, I was pleasantly surprised at how readable the story was. Written in Vincent's trademark, high-school-girl style, we actually learn a lot about Sophie and her motivations. Don't get me wrong, how shallow Sophie is, is also driven home plenty of times. But given her personality and the world she was raised in, you can at least see why she believes and acts like what she does.

Ending: I really like how his ended. In a matter of 70 pages, Sophie gains strength of character and the ability to stand up to her even-snottier friend and competition for dance team captain. I liked that she came away from the experience feeling stronger and more confident. Very well-executed character arc.

Overall: Really enjoyed it. It just makes me want to dive into the next installment that much more to see how Sophie's role in the story will change, now that she knows all about the Netherworld.

Have you read the Soul Screamers series?

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Teaser Tuesday: Never to Sleep by Rachel Vincent

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 book 5.5 (Never to Sleep) of Soul Screamers.

Maybe we were both crazy. Maybe we were really sharing a delusion in some real-world psych ward. Maybe my ex-boyfriend was in the room next door. Maybe Kaylee was the sanest person I knew. 

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head--that was the scariest thought I'd ever had. 

"I'm a necromancer," Luca said, and I opened my eyes to look at him. "But that doesn't mean what most people think it means. 

"Well, I'm not most people. I have no idea what that means."

Make sure to check out my check out my epic, celebratory give away HERE for a chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite! 

What are you reading this week? We're you able to guess any of the historical pictures from yesterday?

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Epic Giveaway, Including Kindle Paperwhite!

Happy Monday, Everyone!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. Great news : There are all KINDS of exciting things going on. I have tons of reasons to celebrate!

1) Friday's post over at Musings on Fantasia was my 500th! That's right. 500 posts. I can't believe enough time has passed for me to post so many times. It's crazy! My first post on this blog was on April 19, 2012. It's been almost 2 years since I started blogging. Since that time, I've done 3-5 posts every week without fail (uh, you know, except for around the holidays when I always take 10-14 days off :D).

Which leads me into my second reason for celebration:

2) April 19th--roughly three weeks from now--is my 2nd Blogoversary. Yea! I didn't do much for the first one, so I think this one calls for a Par-Tae!

3) My first historical fiction book, Citadels of Fire, will be out May 27th. It's coming at me fast.

4) Book 2 of my crime fiction saga, Desolate Mantle, is almost ready for release. It probably won't be out for another couple of months (date pending) but I'm getting ready to do a cover reveal.

5) The Botanist, another stand-alone crime fiction, won't be out until next spring, but my publisher wants to do a big cover reveal when I get enough to-reads on Goodreads.com, and I'm still working toward that goal.

So, to celebrate all these things, check out my epic giveaway below. Each prize will go to a different entrant, so the more entries the better. The grand prize is a Kindle Paperwhite!

But first...let's celebrate with the creepy author's dance:

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Okay, I'm better now. Here's the Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Thoughts for Thursday: St. Patrick Day

Thoughts for Thursday is a new 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!

I know I'm a few days late, but this week's theme is quotes about St. Patrick's Day!

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Crime Tidbit: The Infamous Case of Lizzie Borden

Lizzie Borden (Source)

Did you know...

About the infamous case of Lizzie Borden? 

I've done posts about plenty of famous, unsolved crimes, but the Lizzie Borden case might be the most well-known and obsessed-about case yet.

On August 4, 1892, a wealthy local business owner native to Fall River, Massachusetts named Andrew Borden and his wife Abby were both found dead in their home. Both had been bludgeoned to death about the head with a hatchet or ax-like weapon. Mrs. Borden received nineteen blows to the head, while Mr. Borden, killed while napping on his couch, only took ten or eleven. 

It was a gruesome murder scene, and only a few hours passed before the police zeroed in on Lizzie, Mr. Borden's thirty-year old daughter, as a suspect. 

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Teaser Tuesday: If I Die (Soul Screamers #5) by Rachel Vincent

Before we get to this week's teasers, here are the answers to yesterday's historical quiz:

A. Albert Einstein   B. Martin Luther King, Jr.   C. Amelia Earhart   D. Napoleon Bonaparte   E. Mother Theresa   F. J.R.R. Tolkien

A few guessed Napoleon--guess the outfit gave it away, huh?--and someone got Martin Luther King as well. (Great job to everyone who hazarded guesses, by the way!) The one that really floors me is Mother Teresa. She must be seven years old there. Crazy!

Teaser Tuesday

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!

This week's teasers come from If I Die, book 5 of Soul Screamers, by Rachel Vincent. 

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"Promise me, Dad. Promise you'll leave this alone."  

"You know I can't--" 

"Promise," I insisted, and his stoic expression crumpled beneath a burden of pain and responsibility I couldn't imagine. 

"Fine, I promise," he said at last, and I let him fold me into a hug.  

As he squeezed me, his heart beating against my ear, I knew only two things for sure: I was going to die, and my father was lying.

What are you reading this week? We're you able to guess any of the historical pictures from yesterday?

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