Welcome back! Let’s see what Shannon has to say today.

KA: The setting of this book is dream worthy, from the beach to the B&B. I’ve always been fascinated with B&Bs. Was the one in this book based on one you’ve been to, or did this come straight from your imagination? I want to go there
SG: Yes, the Pepper House is loosely based on a B&B I stayed at in Bermuda. Full of inspiration.

KA: When did you know you wanted to write?
SG: I was a late bloomer and actually dreaded reading/writing in school. This is my 12th year writing and I’m still amazed to be doing it.

KA: I am kind of a creature of habit and a bit of a scaredy cat. I don’t know if I would have been able to make the decisions that Em makes in this book, especially at such a young age. What is the biggest life altering decision you have made?
SG: Becoming a writer. I hadn’t been trained to do it, had no formal education, and had barely read any books other than text books. It was a huge leap for me.

KA: What is the next book on your plate?
SG: I’m writing one right now that takes place in Florida. It’s a YA romantic suspense.

KA: If your book was picked up to be a movie, which actors/actresses would you choose to play your characters?
SG: Hm, for Cade I’d say the teen version of Scott Speedman. For Em, I’ll go with Camilla Belle.

KA: What are you currently reading?
SG: Simone Elkeles’ Fuentes trilogy.

To check out the blog tour for The Summer My Life Began, click here.

To learn more about Shannon and her books, click here.

But then Em gets a letter from her aunt, inviting her to spend the summer on the beach. Em didn’t even know she had an aunt and her mom and grandmother are very stern and secretive when asked. Em decides for once in her life that she is going to do what she wants rather than what is expected and will have the summer of her life learning more in a month than she has in 18 years.

Along the way she meets a cute boy, finally gets to cook as she pleases and learns a deep dark family secret that will change her life forever.

Shannon Greenland has written an awesome kickoff to summer book! It’s fun and summery and there’s love and secrets and a B&B! Who doesn’t love a B&B? That’s actually one of the things that I am so in love with about this book. Since watching Gilmore Girls for years, I fell in love with bed and breakfasts. They are so charming and unique. I’ve never stayed in one, but it’s on my list of things to do. Excited list, huh?

From the beginning of this book, I was one with Em. She grew up in a good family, worked hard and as a teenager was preparing for her future. My parents weren’t nearly as strict as Em’s and with help a little guidance, they let me make all of my big decisions from school to career and job. But I understand where Em is coming from. She has a name to live up to and wants to succeed. Failure is not an option in her family. There are very high expectations and she will meet them, because that’s who she is. She will go into law because that is what is expected of her, although her passion is cooking. Growing up, other than sports, I never really had a passion that I had to put down to pursue a career. At this stage in my life, I would love to write and open a little shop and do crafts for a living, but like Em feels, that is not really an option.

This is definitely a book about following your heart and following your passion no matter what road is already paved ahead of you. Granted, it may cause some heartache and you may no make it, there is no guarantee you will fail unless you don’t try.

This book has kind of given me a little hope this spring. I’ve been writing for a couple of years now and have been sending out letters to agents, with no luck. But this book urged to keep the fire going and even work on some of my other passions, like crafts and knitting and see where they take me.

This is a great book for teenage girls who are trying to find their way in life and figure out who exactly they are and who they want to be as women.

I give The Summer My Life Began 5 bookmarks.

Stop back by tomorrow to see my interview with Shannon!

Amazon B&N Goodreads
Released:
Author Website
Kari got this book as part of a blog tour 

When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own—for everything that matters to his family. At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope.

Man Kristin Hannah sure knows how to write an awesome book and every single one of them I read/listen to proves this even more. In every Hannah book I have read/listened to, there has always been an awesome female lead, or two. Her books always push the limits on friendship, strength, family and even life. They are always tear jerkers and always make you sit back and think, whether it be about making sure your marriage doesn’t take the same path as one that is troubled in these novels, or whether you would make the same life altering decisions that some of these characters had to make. If I can relate to a book in any way, shape or form and it makes me think about my life at any time, I am in.

Now when it comes to relating, I have not much of anything in common with Jolene in this book and I mean throughout the entire book. Her parents died, she became a soldier, she spends her days flying helicopters and taking care of her children, she and her husband have a very strained relationship….oh and she goes overseas to fight in a war. So, as I said, nothing in common. But I felt a very strong connection with her. She is such a strong woman that you cannot help but admire her and then when “tragedy strikes” it completely changes and you have already grown so close to her that you want nothing more than that strong wall to crumble.

Jolene isn’t the only one your heart breaks for. Michael is a working man. He spends several hours a day at the office and a couple of hours a day on the road to and from work. He gets home late and really has no idea what all his wife goes through on a daily basis. I am not saying this to be biased about a woman’s job at home. This proves to be true and Michael admits it when he becomes the mom and dad of the household when his wife fights for freedom. I think there is much to be said about a man who can learn and grow and that is exactly what Michael does in this book and my heart grows for him throughout it.

We have all seen the commercials and news stories about soldiers leaving or coming home. You may even know a family or two who has been through this. But since this isn’t something I see often in my personal life, I don’t necessarily think about the mothers going overseas and leaving their children behind. This book definitely opened my eyes to a world that I have heard about, but have not seen with my own eyes or heard first hand. Although I know this is fiction, it was so real and so heartbreaking, you can’t help but want to hug a soldier when you are done.

I give Home Front 5 bookmarks.

Amazon B&N Goodreads 
Released: January 31, 2012
Author Website
Kari got this audio book from the Bossard Memorial Library

I talked with a couple of shop owners and some report their earnings, others don’t. I checked with an accountant to see what my legal obligations were and decided to check out the paperwork to get it started. I don’t have the greatest luck and knew that I would be the one person in the state of West Virginia to get in trouble for not claiming what I did. I said I had a guilty conscience! I got the paperwork, talked to a couple of people about what all I had to do, got completely overwhelmed and canned the whole idea.

I was so excited about it and it completely broke my heart. *Girl Moment* I sat in my car and cried at office to turn in the papers because I felt like it was such a waste of time and money. I probably jumped in a little fast, but I felt like I spent a lot of time researching and checking out different options.

Unfortunately I decided it was going to be too much work to add to my plate.

But that was months ago and I have spent quite a bit of time still toying with it in my head. After a while of forgetting about what was required and rereading all of the documents and discussing some ideas of what all I could sell with my mom, I think I am ready to jump in again…. soon.

I have a list of at least six varieties of items I hope to sell, and hope to increase that list. And I’ve made some changes to my original plan. Instead of selling the whole lamp, I’m just going to do the shade. I made one an entire lamp for someone a while back and mailed it out and it cost me about $25 to make it and my shipping was $40. Wah Wah! So there are definitely some things to rethink.

But I want to make sure I am really ready to go with this when the time comes. I want to spend some time at the flea markets and knitting and build up my stock a little so that when something sells, I have other things to fall back on and list. I am hoping to have a couple of scarves ready to go (which means I need to finish the one I am working on and get another one done) and have supplies for the rest of my options.

I feel like I am being completely paranoid, but I guess I don’t feel like I can be faulted for not wanting to have to deal with $100 a day fines if I don’t follow the rules. And I am definitely taking my time this time around.

Do you have an Etsy shop? If so, what advice can you give me?

I’ll let you guys know when I get up and going and what all you can find in my shop. I am excited, but treading lightly.

I have always been active. When I was younger, I did everything from gymnastics to cheerleading to basketball to track to volleyball to cross country. What? I said I was active!

I loved track, and always ran the short sprinting races until my junior year. The summer before my junior year, I had a bit of a falling out with my volleyball coach and decided to run cross country instead. Before starting cross country, the most I think I’d ever run was a mile and that was at a very slow pace. I liked running short distances, a lap at the most. Now, I was running 5 miles, just for training. What a change, right? The first year I HATED IT! I looked like a fool running, I cried after every meet and I was placing nearly last on the team. While I was physically pooped, my pride was hurt because I wasn’t used to not being the best. #firstworldproblems But my second year, it all turned around. I was actually good and enjoyed it and was placing high on the team. After crossing the line in my last cross country race my senior year, I had no idea that would be the last race I ran in.

During my senior basketball season, my love and passion, I tore my ACL and my Meniscus and I was done for the season and done for track and pretty much done for good. Granted my doctor told me I would be good as new in a year or so, it still freaked me out. For years after I was supposed to pack away the little athletic brace, I wore it all through college when I played intramural basketball, the summer I played (and scored the winning touchdown) in a coed flag football tourney and even through my failed attempts to run.

For the past few years, since graduating college and getting settled into work life, I’ve tried to keep a workout consistent, but it’s not been extremely strenuous. I have an awesome pilates workout that only takes 10 minutes but works wonders. My cousin and I always play a little Just Dance… or a lot… like an hour and 20 minutes at a time every time we are together, burning more than 1000 calories. And my mom and I walk 3 miles a few times a week at a pretty good pace. I could walk for days, but can’t run more than a couple of block before being ready to pass out!

Well the other day, I was inspired to push myself a little further. My bloggy buddy Jess posted about her remarkable training and running 5Ks and 10 milers. She mentioned a Couch to 5K app, so I decided to check it out. I have no intentions on running in a 5K necessarily, but would like to be in a little better shape and would definitely like to know that if I was ever running to save my life, I would have a few extra miles of survival Don’t laugh… I really think about that.

So I downloaded the app, which is an 8 week training program. The first workout starts with a couple of minutes of walking, then 15 minutes of alternating between walking and running and finishing with a 5 minute cool down. The training is three days a week, working up to running 3 miles. The app has a countdown of how much further you have left of walking, then running etc. And it talks to you and tells you when to start running or walking and tells you when you are halfway done. I love talking apps.

So far, I have finished the first two workouts and am proud to say I have felt GREAT after both.

The first few workouts are free, then you can upgrade to the full app for $2.99. I hate buying apps, but will definitely be buying this one when it’s time.

Now when it comes to working out, you have to have some good music to keep you going, right? Well with this app, you can have your music going and your app still running  so it will turn the music down when it’s time to change from walking to running or vice versa. I looked up a few albums on iTunes and found some that sounded great. Who would have thought that there would be so many exercise albums to download?? I thought I could go without buying one and just turned on my Rihanna Pandora station when I started, but soon realized that wouldn’t cut it. So, I downloaded one and I am so glad I did. I love it and can’t imagine a hard workout without it. All of the songs have been remixed with very high beats per minute to urge you to keep up.

Can’t pass up 35 songs to get you running! After two workouts, I haven’t even made it halfway through. Here’s a list of the songs.

1. We found love
2. Sexy and I Know It
3. Someone Like You
4. Pumped Up Kicks
5. Without You
6. Moves Like Jagger
7. Mr. Know It All
8. Stereo Hearts
9. Party Rock Anthem
10. You Make Me Feel
11. Paradise
12. It Girl
13. You and I
14. In the Dark
15. Cheers (Drink to That)
16. Rolling in the Deep
17. Love You Like a Love Song
18. Just a Kiss
19. Give Me Everything
20. Every Teardrop is a Waterfall
21. Turn Me On
22. Domino
23. Nothing
24. Set Fire to the Rain
25. How to Love
26. Night of Your Life
27. Little Bad Girl
28. Skyscraper
29. Never Gonna Leave This Bed
30. Don’t Stop the Party
31. Tonight Tonight
32. The Edge of Glory
33. Last Friday Night
34. Life a G6
35. S&M

There are so many awesome songs on this! And there are several albums to choose from if you don’t like these ones and they are pretty reasonably priced… like $10-$15.

I am just hoping that I can keep this up. I started on a Sunday and did my second workout on Tuesday. It was Election Day in West Virginia that day, which is a pretty big day in the news world, so I had to work an evening shift. I got up and went and worked out even in a sprinkle. Who am I? LOL

Has anyone else used this program??? I tweeted about it and had some people write me back saying that they loved it!