Music Monday (31): Banks, Gorillaz, and Ameriie

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I haven’t participated in Music Monday in a while, because I honestly wasn’t listening to anything new. Well, during my absence, I’ve listened to everything from youtube channels that make songs based off video games—like NateWantsToBattle and JT Machinima—to Banks’s sophomore album, The Altar. For today, I’m going to just stick to Banks, specifically, The Altar. It’s not a new album since it came out back in 2016. It’s taken me till now to listen to the entire album, and I just have to say that I love it!

27 Hours is my first pick. Arguably, it’s my favorite song from the album. I love the sound of it. The beginning is good, but once the beat drops I’m just like “Yes.”

My second pick is Poltergeist. I also love this song for its sound. It just fits with the vibes given off by the rest of the album. I’m not going to lie. I’m a total fan of it.

Adri: For this Music Monday, I’m choosing two song that kept me up, literally. Towards the end of last week I delved into a sewing project that required attention to details. Consequently, I decided to stay up later than usual, so I needed songs that didn’t cause a snooze fest. Now, of course I listened to a lot of music, but these are two songs that I kept coming back to. These songs are Strobelite by Gorillaz feat. Peven Everett and Gotta Work by Ameriie.

On a side note, although the last video was posted in July, Ameriie has her own Youtube channel which consist of videos about books and beauty.

What are you listening to this week?

Favorite Recipe: Eggless Sugar Cookies

What do you do when you don’t have vanilla extract? Obviously, you make eggless sugar cookies...

Today, I’m here to talk about another one of my favorite recipes to use. And let me tell, this is a versatile recipe—more on that later. So, what are eggless cookies? Obviously, cookies that don’t use egg but are still delicious anyway. I’ve had my fair share of hit and misses, but I’ve narrowed my collection down to a few recipes that work the best for me. The one I’m talking about today is: Fluffy Eggless Sugar Cookies (Breathtaking Delicacies).

Since this is kind of a smaller batch of cookies, I typically double the recipe. It’s also incredibly easy to make, which is great because I love making food—particularly breads and desserts—that don’t require too much time. Hence, this recipe will always be one of my favorites.

I’ve made it a bunch of ways including substituting the butter for margarine or Crisco, and adding things like chocolate chips, raisins, and chopped nuts—sometimes all three at once. I also use the milk interchangeably with just regular old water. The most recent batch I made didn’t actually involve any vanilla extractor butter, because, as it just so happened, we were out of those two ingriedients. So, I went ahead and made the cookies anyway using margarine, extra water to make up for the lack of vanilla, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp of nutmeg to give the cookies some flavor. They turned out just fine. The edges were crisp, the top was crinkled with cracks, while the inside was light and fluffy. Honestly, I didn’t even miss the vanilla extract since the flavor was vaguely cinnamon roll-ish. It was the best result I could have hoped for, because you never know what the outcome will be once you start tinkering with a recipe.

Cover Reveal Blitz & Giveaway: Haven by Mary Lindsey

Today Mary Lindsey and Rockstar Book Tours are revealing the cover for Haven, which releases November 7, 2017! Check out the gorgeous cover and enter to win an ARC! On to the reveal! 

Title: HAVEN

Author: Mary Lindsey

Pub. Date: November 7, 2017

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 400

Amazon, B&N, TBD, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play Books, Indiebound, Goodreads

Synopsis...

Sometimes beauty is the beast…

"We all hold a beast inside. The only difference is what form it takes when freed."

Rain Ryland has never belonged anywhere. He’s used to people judging him for his rough background, his intimidating size, and now, his orphan status. He’s always been on the outside, looking in, and he’s fine with that. Until he moves to New Wurzburg and meets Friederike Burkhart. Freddie isn’t like normal teen girls, though. And someone wants her dead for it. Freddie warns he’d better stay far away if he wants to stay alive, but Rain’s never been good at running from trouble. For the first time, Rain has something worth fighting for, worth living for. Worth dying for...

Early Praise...

"Dangerous, dark and a definite page turner. Mary Lindsey rocks this book.”

- New York Times bestselling author C.C. Hunter

“A smoking hot hero and spine-chilling mystery = total win.”

- #1 New York Times bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout

"This electrifying tale will take you on an unexpected journey into a secret world of witchcraft and shape shifters. Romance, adventure, and magic! Lindsey leaves you breathless and wanting more."

- Adriana Mather, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Hang a Witch

"This is not your mama's paranormal! Sexy, dark and intense. Unputdownable!"

- Sophie Jordan, New York Times bestselling author of Firelight

"Lindsey writes a hero with fire and gasoline. Then she lights a match with break-neck pacing, and scorches a path to readers' hearts. Don't blink for a moment."

- Victoria Scott, bestselling author of Fire & Flood

"Gripping and gritty, HAVEN had me glued to the pages from beginning to end! Rain is the best kind of hero -- tough, sexy, sweet, loyal. He charges through this action-packed tale that had me tearing up more than once, and I was perfectly happy to follow!"

- Pintip Dunn, New York Times bestselling author of Forget Tomorrow.

"An utterly gritty and satisfying resurrection of the monster genre.Rain is an intense narrator and you won't know whether to scream or swoon. Haven is an instant classic!"

- Courtney Moulton, author of Angelfire

"Darkly compelling and deliciously chilling, Haven hooks you from the first line and never lets up. Gritty, spine-tingling, and full of nail-biting tension.”

- Amalie Howard, bestselling author of Bloodspell

"Dark, different, sexy, and edge-of-your-seat intense."

- Shawna Stringer, bookseller

Mary Lindsey is a multi award-winning, RITA® nominated author of romance for adults and teens. She lives on an island in the middle of a river. Seriously, she does. When not writing, she wrangles her rowdy pack of three teens, two Cairn Terriers, and one husband.

Inexplicably, her favorite animal is the giant anteater and at one point, she had over 200 "pet" Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. The roaches are a long story involving three science-crazed kids and a soft spot for rescue animals. The good news is, the "pet" roaches found a home... somewhere else.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest |  Goodreads

5 winners will receive an ARC of HAVEN, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray

Title: Defy the Stars
Author: Claudia Gray
Source/Format: Borrowed from the Library; Hardcover
More Details: Young Adult; Science Fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Little Brown Books For Young Readers; April 4, 2017
Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads...

She’s a soldier.

Noemi Vidal is seventeen years old and sworn to protect her planet, Genesis. She’s willing to risk anything—including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she’s a rebel.

He’s a machine.

Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel has advanced programming that’s begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he’s an abomination.

Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true.

I haven’t read a book by Claudia Gray in years. The last book I recall was Evernight, and I read that back before I started blogging. So I was eager to try Defy the Stars since science fiction is one of my favorite genres to read, and I’d heard a lot of good things about it. It took me a couple of days to read Defy the Stars, but I wasn’t disappointed by the story. Actually, Defy the Stars is now one of my favorite books.

You know, there are stories that deal with traveling from one place to another. Those types of stories can go either way for me. I’m specifically talking about ones that take place in space. Defy the Stars is one of the good ones. There was a lot of travel, but I kind of appreciated that because it gave the characters an adequate chance to get to know one another.

Defy the Stars was about an interstellar war with a daring plan. So there were battles, space ships, intelligent machines, and an interesting take on how technology would potentially advance in a future setting. I was expecting that. However, there were some things brought up in Defy the Stars that were almost like a mirror to current society. Especially how the stability of the environment is taken for granted. So, there was a moral conundrum going on that played into the philosophical element of the story. I wasn't expecting the philosophical aspects, but I liked how it actively challenged the characters and their way of thinking. It called their beliefs into question, and put them in situations where they had to take a second look at what they knew about the worlds they called home. It was an interesting direction to take the story, and it ultimately paid off.

I liked the main characters, Noemi and Abel. There was a clear difference between the two, and not just because of their respective allegiances. She was an ordinary person, and he was a Mech. Putting the two of them together in the same environment was entertaining, to say the least.

All that being said, the beginning was exceptionally good but my favorite part of the book didn’t happen until the later chapters. The end was phenomenal, and I’m excited to see where Gray takes the story in the sequel, Defy the Worlds.

Thought Corner: Canson Watercolor Paper

Campany: Canson 

Type of paper: Watercolor
Source: Purchased

Other info: 140lb; 300g

Size: 9in X 12in

Number of sheets: 30

Walmart     Michaels     Blick Art Materials    

More information:

Ideal for watercolor, acrylic, ink, and other wet techniques. Surface sizing to control absorbency. Durable surface allows for reworking. 

Today, I have a different kind of review to share on the blog. I'm going to be talking about one of my recent purchases: Canson Watercolor Paper. The example I’m going to be using for this post are from a page of birds that I painted on August 16th, 2017. Birds are actually sort of one of my weaknesses, and usually I'll draw quick simplified ones that don't require much of anything at all. I had a lot of fun with this page; although, I feel like I could have done a little better with the Christmas Robin. But it is what it is. Luckily, I'm only using the pelican as a example. The European Robin is just the sad bird that hangs out in the corner of a couple of the pictures.

Some things to know...

• Like with any paper, you really have to test it out for yourself to see what works best for you. This post is my opinion based off of my experience.
• Price was fair for thirty individual sheets.
• I used Reeves Watercolor paint for these paintings.

Canson is a brand that came highly recommended—thanks Adri—and I was eager to try their watercolor paper for myself. Here's what it essentially looks like. Outward appearance is pretty normal for what you would expect from watercolor paper. The size is also pretty standard when compared to what I've used before.

However, that being said, I do like the interior design. When you open the cover it’s not directly attached to the paper, so you can fold it back and have it out of the way. I found that to be incredibly useful since my desk has a very limited surface space left over between my laptop and art supplies. This feature is particularly useful when I don't necessarily want to take the page off of the stack.

Now, the paper is basically the selling feature. I've used 90lb cold press, and let me tell you it's nothing like the 140lb. For one, the latter is a lot sturdier. Two, I liked the way the paint dried. Reeves already has a matte finish, but between this paper and the one I was using, Canson was noticeably smoother. Three, it handled the water well. It does warp under heavy saturation, but if you have tape around the edges it'll be fine. And four, reworking top layers of paint is easy.

The progress of the Pelican from left to right...

The progress of the pelican shows what I mean about the potential for reworking. This is the only bird I didn't work on continuously. I set it aside for a least an hour before returning and it was easy to get right back to smoothing out some of the edges—particularly in the brown and blue areas along the head, neck, and wing.

 =   
(Finished pelican was touched up with a bit of white Sakura Gelly Roll gel pen around the blue part beneath the brown of the beak.)

Overall, I‘m really happy with this paper and will be buying more from this brand in the future. One more thing: Puffins are now my favorite bird. They’re adorable. I didn't get the progress of the puffins on camera, but I wanted to post them anyway. So, here are a pair of bonus Puffins. If you look in the corner of the picture on the left, the European Robin makes another very small appearance, LOL...

Have you tried any of Canson's paper? If so, tell me about your experience in the comments down below. And if not, would this be something you would be interested in? Or what is u our favorite type of watercolor paper.