Tags and Awards: Summertime Madness and Creative Blogger

Fiddler Blue tagged me in the Summertime Madness Book tag, and Jane @ Greenish Bookshelf gave me the Creative Blogger Award tag.  Thanks, ladies!

FTC Disclosure

Let’s start with the Summertime Madness Book tag.  And I must say from the outset that summer does nothing for me.  I thrive in Fall and Winter and am ever hopeful that the heat around here will take a hike sooner rather than later.  I realize I am in the minority with these preferences lol.  However, summery books do have their own special appeal so here we go …

Show a book with a summery cover.

Because, after all, nothing says “summer” like a beach wedding.

You can read my review of this fun book here.

Pick one fictional place that would be perfect for a summer vacation.

Gonna have to go with Hope Harbor, Oregon!

On the itinerary: multiple visits to Charley’s fish taco stand (mostly because I want to hang out with this endearingly mysterious character… i honestly don’t care for tacos of any sort lol) along with a definite stop or two at Tracy’s cranberry farm.  I might also see if I could find Father Kevin and Reverend Baker loafing around somewhere and observe their friendly bickering for a while.  And of course I would stay in Anna’s annex and hope for some cookies 🙂 Um… but if Floyd and Gladys come anywhere near me, I’m going to run away. (I have a bird phobia. Which may or may not be relevant here.)

Click to read my review of this book by one of my favorite-favorite authors.

You’re about to go on a flight to your summer vacation. But you want to read a book that lasts for the whole flight, what novella do you choose?

I always love whatever Karen Witemeyer writes!

You have a case of Summertime Sadness. What happy book do you pick up to shine a smile on your face?

This book (and actually anything by Jen Turano) makes me laugh and swoon – sometimes both simultaneously!

Click here to read my review of this hilariously romantic book.

You’re sitting at the beach all alone, which fictional character is your beach babe?

That would be have to be my James (as modeled here by Henry Cavill), from Carla Laureano’s RITA award-winning romance Five Days in Skye.

You can watch me drool over my James in my review.

Also click over to Relz Reviewz for a great character analysis of my James.

P.S. – I think my book crush on my James is becoming a tad unhealthy…. 🙂

To match your ice cream you want an icy cool sidekick! Which fictional sidekick do you pick?

Lily Cate from Laura Frantz’s newest release, The Mistress of Tall Acre

I don’t know that she fits the “icy cool” portion of this question, but she’s definitely a character I’d want to have with me for an ice cream break!  So adorable!

Read my review of The Mistress of Tall Acre.

That concludes the Summertime Madness portion of our blog post 🙂 Onward with the Creative Blogger Award!

Rules:

• Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog. (Thanks again, Jane!)

• Share 5 facts about yourself.

• Nominate some bloggers in return and notify them about their nomination.

• Keep the rules in your post to make it easy for everyone to know what to do.

1.  I’m married to my best friend (15 years this month – yay!) and we have no kids except Zuzu, the quirkiest dog in the world. 

2. I’m the long-distance “cool aunt” to NINE nieces and nephews, ranging in age from 21 years to 4 months old.

3. In my other non-blogging/non-bookish life, I teach English as a Second language to adults. Sometimes I have students from as many as 15 different countries in my class! And, like a typical American, I really only speak English. How does that work, you might ask? Well, it’s highly entertaining for passing observers 🙂

4. My first word was “book”, believe it or not. In fact, my parents say that I would walk around with one in my hand, sounding like a chicken as I repeated the word until someone had pity and read to me lol. “Book, book, book, book.”

5. One of my favorite quotes is by C.H. Spurgeon – “Visit many good books but live in the Bible.” A reminder for me to make time daily for what’s most important even when (especially when) my TBR stack threatens to overtake me.

Whew! That was a lot of info in a short amount of space lol.

I nominate for either/both/whichever:

• Emily @ Midwestern Book Nerd
• CJ @ Not Another Dumb Blonde
• Rachel @ Bookish Rachel
• Aerykah @ Expressions of Me
• Yvette @ Bookworlder

As always, if you don’t want to participate, no worries 🙂 It’s just a fun way to get to know each other and meet more bloggers!