Evermore by Alyson Noel

A friend of mine advised me to read Evermore because it had some eerily similar things in it to the manuscript I completed. Okay, my mouth was hanging open, unattractively at that, after reading the first couple of pages because Evermore's couple meets in the back of a high school classroom as the heroine takes a seat after being taunted by the popular girls. My couple meets in the back of a high school classroom as the heroine takes a seat after being taunted by the popular girls. Crrr-aaap!

Then I read on and the similarities ended, thank you very much, cuz I was literally dying and thinking I was going to have to rewrite everything. Ugh!

But the two stories have nothing in common so we are all good. Not that Ms. Noel had anything to worry about, it was all me, but you know...

Anyway, Evermore is a fantastic read with surprises. I like that. At first it seemed a lot like Twilight, you know, girl meets incredible looking boy who is mysterious and we think he is a vampire, only the actual writing is far tighter and better. Then just when I thought I had the plot pigeon-holed--BAM--it's not what I thought at all. I totally love being caught by surprise like that. Well done, well done. I can see why this book is so popular.

Trip to see my sisters

My sister Bekie is the best. She flew myself and my younger sister Heather out to visit her in Arizona simply because she knew we needed it and wanted to see us. I can't begin to describe how much fun we have and how little sleep. You'd think we would have exhausted our topics after a few hours, but not us, we gabbed so much hours at a time flew by. It was heaven. No kids, no husband, no responsibilites. Here's some of the highlights:

Newest Cover

I love my newest cover. I think it captures the whole essense of the story with the horseman racing across the plains. Kimberlee Mendoza did the cover and I think she got it right on. What do you think?

Mum's the Word




The first time I saw a true Southern mum, I grabbed my husband's arm and said, "What. Is. That?" This lithe teenage girl walked across the parking lot with a monstrosity of ribbons and jangling streamers and flowers and teddy bears exploding off her chest. I'd never seen anything like it and couldn't comprehend the purpose in torturing this poor young child.





Dear Heart glanced over. "Oh, yeah. It's Homecoming Week." As if that explained everything. Now, a few states up north where I was raised, we did corsages, dainty little flowers with baby's breath that we went to great pains to make sure our dates matched to our dresses. The wrist corsage was in favor as it didn't take away from our dresses.

However, the phrase "Everything is bigger in Texas" takes on legendary proportions when it comes to Homecoming mums. If it doesn't cover your entire chest, make you need a back brace and is so heavy it is held up by ribbons worn like a necklace, then it just doesn't cut it. There are one mum mums, two mum mums and then the whopper three mum mums. And do not believe for one minute that they are not a status symbol. People will spend $500 or more to have an outstanding mum. The more ribbons stacked upon each other the better. Said ribbons are stylized with writing of sports and grade level and school and whatever. The teddy bears are dressed in sports or cheerleading or whatever uniforms. Boas, mediallions, cow bells, whistles, bubble blowers hang down with the ribbons.







And don't think that boys are spared from these torture devices or the "your girlfriend doesn't love you so much" if their mums are not very big vibe. They wear mums strapped to their forearms with garters. Then the mums are worn all day at school, to the football game and then to the dance. Pity the students walking the halls with no mums or smaller $50 versions. Sheesh.

As my Texan born and bred children (I'm the only non-Texan in our family) are sprouting into teenagehood, I've come to terms with the fact that like many parents here who aren't about to fork over hundreds of dollars for these superflucous flowers, I'm going to need to learn how to make them and the gawdier the better. Fortunately, the craft stores have everything on hand to create the busiest, heaviest mums that will make any teenagers chest look like it just threw up a stomachful of ribbons. Here's my first mum creations, completely white and silver since that is the color signifying Seniors. We went for the gawdy three mum mum. I have to admit I enjoyed turning the little bear into Drill team bear with the little hat and boots. Everything else I just rolled my eyes at as A kept saying, "more, more, more ribbons, mom."
Playin around with a banner maker. This is a free one from Bannersketch I made for my Dear Heart's band. Not bad for someone who's never made a banner before.
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