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Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

OIP During 1940, artist Anna Dale won a contest to paint a mural for a post office in a small rural town called Edenton, North Carolina.  Having just lost her mother, she decides to accept the offer and heads there for what she thinks will be a three day stay.  There she is greeted by some folks with excitement, as they have never known a woman artist, but others, such as their own local artist Martin Drapple, who also had entered the contest but lost, and his wife, are not only not thrilled by her presence, but angry. Anna decides to stay in Edenton and create the mural there so she can include all of its people and landmarks.

As she begins the mural, she gets assistance from a few local high school children, one of whom is African American.  But race relations in this small town is very tense and sides seem to be drawn as to whether whites and blacks should be allowed to work together.  Anna decides to listen to herself rather than the townsfolk and ignores their warnings.

And that is where Anna Dale’s story seems to mysteriously end.  No one knows what ever happened to Anna Dale and no one knows where the mural ever ended up.

In 2018, Morgan Christopher who is in a North Carolina jail serving a sentence for a serious drunk driving accident suddenly gets an unexpected new lease on life.  In college Morgan had been working on an art degree.  When she is given an offer to restore an old mural by a certain date for her freedom from jail, she jumps at the chance.

Why she is the one who was chosen is just the first of many mysterious questions surrounding this mural and it’s artist Anna Dale.  As Morgan begins to adjust to her newfound freedom, and tries to come to terms with her former life, the restoration begins to take over her life.  What she starts to uncover under all the dirt, makes no sense.  It’s as if there are clues which have been hidden for some reason, but why?

Is Anna Dale just a crazy woman who had a breakdown while working on a mural? Or is there some deeper dark story she left behind which needs to be deciphered?  But how can you decipher something the trail of which went cold over 40 years ago?

Diane Chamberlain is a master of getting one’s attention and keeping it. From the very first page of Big Lies in a Small Town I was riveted as Chamberlain took mixed up pieces of a puzzle, by flipping back and forth chapters from Anna to Morgan, and began to fit them together one by one so we could find the beautiful secret picture being told.

Thank you to #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #DianeChamberlain #BigLiesinaSmallTown for the advanced copy.

Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict

OIP  Lady Clementine is the story of Winston Churchill’s wife Clementine and how her relationship with Churchill went beyond your average love story, but included a secret partnership between them which helped to dictate history.

Lady Clementine’s roll in Churchill’s life went far beyond just having his children and planning meals for statesmen.  She was Churchill’s confidante, public relations person, speech writer and perhaps most important of all advocate for the men and women (especially the women) of England.

Barely tolerated by Churchill’s cabinet, Clementine attended all meetings and sat with Churchill during most working dinners digesting all that was being said.  She and Churchill would then as equals go back and make many state decisions.  Sometimes even persuading him in another direction when she felt he was off track. She was a strong voice for a man who needed advice.

But even in her capacity as a powerful voice, Clementine was also a woman with anxieties and doubts about maternal instincts.  Unsure how to raise children and always traveling, she never felt a bonding with her children.  And as a mother who lost a child at the age of two while she was away, never fully recovered from these beliefs. She also had jealousies and was insecure being a woman in a man’s world.

During World War II Clementine was the most powerful voice for the people of England.  She was the designer of better bomb shelters for the families who had lost their houses during the raids.  She demanded upgraded resources in them so the families would not feel as if they were living in poverty.  She understood that most of these families had someone fighting in this war.

She was a strong force against most of the Cabinet to get women working in the factories while the men at war.  She demanded that her family stay in London during the war instead of moving to the countryside.

Against all orders, Clementine would take her turn at night looking for fires from the bombs being dropped as a fire watcher.  Although Churchill insisted she have security, when they were in London she participated.  She truly was his secret weapon.

One of the most poignant accounts begins when Clementine Churchill meets Eleanor Roosevelt. When President Roosevelt was unable to travel for meetings with Churchill he instead sent his wife.  At first leery of each other, they soon realized they were very similar in nature with strong backbones to their respective powerful husbands.  They develop a respect for each other no one other than they could fully understand.

Once again Marie Benedict finds another powerful, embolden woman to write about in her effective storytelling way.  A woman who was certainly way ahead of her time.

Thank you #NetGalley #SourcebooksLandmark #MarieBenedict #LadyClementine for the advanced copy.

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Tweet Cute_Blog Tour Banner Tweet Cute is a young adult novel which tackles, very nicely I might add, issues high school seniors face as they begin to ponder their futures, the pressures parents unintentionally place on them, how trying to be perfect can be totally overrated and how figuring out what you really want can come in surprising ways.

Pepper tries to be perfect. She is at the top of her class and definitely headed to an Ivy League school when she graduates.  She has no time for friends. Being on the swim team, keeping her grades up and working social media for her divorced parent’s growing fast-food business leaves her only a little time for exhaustion.

Jack seems to be a happy go lucky kind of guy.  He is expected to take over his family’s deli business because he believes his twin brother Ethan who he feels isOIP the favorite is expected to go on to great things. Unfortunately Jack does not feel the same way.  He is very good at creating apps.  He knows this is where his talent’s lie, but feels he would disappoint his parents if he tells them.

Pepper and Jack are not exactly friends.  They barely tolerate each other.

But, unbeknownst to them, when their respective parent’s companies begin a twitter war over who owns the name of a grilled cheese sandwich, each is picked to do the mean tweeting at their adversary.

While all this is happening Pepper and Jack are becoming more than friends on an app Jack has created called Weasel where students at their high school can text each other and remain for a certain period of time anonymous until they get to know each other.  And they don’t even know it!

But chaos ensues when they figure out they have been at war with each other on twitter. Being used by their parents to outdo each tweet with a worse tweet. As the secrets start to come out, they blame each other for the situation, which seems to be getting worse for them each day.  Will this food war ever end? Will Pepper and Jack ever be able to be anything more than friends? Or could this all blow up in their faces like a microwavable hot dog?

Tweet Cute is an adorable rite of passage, life lesson story with believable characters and many relatable teenage problems.

Emma Lord

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming — mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.

Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

All’s fair in love and cheese — that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life — on an anonymous chat app Jack built.

As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate — people on the internet are shipping them?? — their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.

Author bio:

Emma Lord is a digital media editor and writer living in New York City, where she spends whatever time she isn’t writing either running or belting show tunes in community theater. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fan fiction from the back row. She was raised on glitter, grilled cheese, and a whole lot of love. Her sun sign is Hufflepuff, but she is a Gryffindor rising. TWEET CUTE is her debut novel. You can find her geeking out online at @dilemmalord on Twitter.

Early Praise:
Tweet Cute delivers in every possible way: a perfect enemies-to-lovers romance, a whip-smart plotline, and endearingly real characters. I devoured it.” – Francesca Zappia, author of Eliza and Her Monsters

“Sweet and fun! An adorable debut that updates a classic romantic trope with a buzzy twist.” – Jenn Bennett, author of Alex, Approximately and Serious Moonlight

“A witty rom-com reinvention for the Twitter age, Tweet Cute pairs delicious online rivalry with deeply relatable insights on family pressure and growing up. This fresh, funny read had us hitting ‘favorite’ from page one.” – Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, authors of Always Never Yours and If I’m Being Honest

Buy Link:

Social Links:  @dilemmalord (Twitter/Instagram)

What was your inspiration to become a YA writer?

I don’t think I ever set out to be any genre in particular, but what draws me to YA again and again is probably that a lot of the fandoms I was in growing up featured strong teen leads — I spent most of my time writing about teens when I was a teen, and then I guess I never really stopped!

What is your favorite show tune?

Oooh, love this question! This is a tough decision for me but I think I have to say “Astonishing” from Little Women — I think anyone who’s ever had a dream that has felt bigger than them can relate.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My parents, for sure. They’re both pretty prolific writers and storytellers, and they raised me and my siblings to let our imaginations run wild. No other parents were as delighted as mine to hear about all bajillion pages of fan fiction their kid was uploading every other day growing up.

Bookishly Nerdy

How did you come up with this idea?

I actually tweeted the whole idea for a plot as a joke in 2017, saying there should be a story about two social media managers from competing accounts falling in love. It wasn’t until the tweet got picked up by a few bookish friends and people started saying that someone should write it that I was like, “Oh! I guess that person could be me!”

What books influence your writing?

In terms of books, I’d say anything from Anne Brashares or Rainbow Rowell — but to be honest, a lot of influence came from my favorite fan fiction writers, who were the champions of banter-y dialogue and breaking conventional YA rules long before they were getting recognized for it.

Do you use twitter a lot?

Oh, boy howdy. I’m on Twitter WAY too much. But I think it’s okay for me, because even though I do get some of my news on it, I mostly use it for friendship and memes. At the moment my timeline is basically just Baby Yoda, Spider-Man, and Hufflepuff jokes.

Book Chelle

When the idea for Tweet Cute came into fruition, did you imagine the characters or the plot first?

This was a rare moment that the plot came first! I tweeted the idea as a joke a few years ago, and then was tasked with making characters that would fit the bill. It was a little harder for me because it’s not my usual process, but I was happy with how they turned out in the end.

Do you listen to music, soundtracks, or any ambient sounds when writing? If so, what do you listen to?

I do listen to music while I’m writing, but it’s surprisingly mopey! Lots of singer/songwriter acoustic songs, the kind I can appreciate the prettiness of when I do happen to pay attention. I’m pretty sure my Spotify Discover thinks I walk around dressed in all black with a rain cloud hovering over my head. (In real life I am much more cheerful than my writing playlists would suggest!)

What is your favorite romance trope?

Yikes on BIKES am I a sucker for enemies-to-lovers. It is my baguette and butter. I am also a big fan of the secret identity trope, courtesy of being obsessed with all things superheroes, so I’m very pleased I got to work that into Tweet Cute!

Kitty’s Book Spot!

Do you write to music?

I do! It tends to be slower, more acoustic music while I’m doing the actual writing, and more bops when I’m plotting. These days it’s a lot easier to find good music to write to, with other writers sharing playlists on Tumblr all the time.

Do you make music playlists for your works?

I’ve recently gotten into making character playlists for works, at the suggestion of other writer friends. I tend to listen to those when I’m walking around and daydreaming about the plots, though, since I find that the music I think my characters would listen to isn’t often the kind of music that helps me focus on actual writing. I’m have a WIP right now that has six different character playlists and is probably about to get more, my poor Spotify account is just a big mess of character names!

What would you tell us about yourself that no one knows?

I saw the Star Trek 2009 reboot in theaters seven times. (My friends thought it was six. I lied.)

The Book Marauder

What’s the most exciting part about being a writer?

Oh, for sure whenever someone mentions my characters’ names out loud to me. It’s wild to think that other people are living in the same little world you created, even if it’s just for a few hours. It’s like you opened up your brain and other people hopped in.

What is the first book that made you laugh?

Junie B. Jones!! I remember my kindergarten class howling with laughter when our teacher would read it out loud in class. I can’t remember a single one of the plots in adulthood, but I do remember everyone just losing their marbles at them.

Who is your favorite ”Tweet Cute” character and why?

Oooh. I don’t think I have a favorite, but I will say that the one I relate to most is probably Taffy, the overworked Hello Kitty-loving millennial trying to run Big League Burger’s social media. She gets mentioned very briefly, but it was a way of sneaking myself into the book for sure.

Swoony Boys Podcast

What was your favorite part of TWEET CUTE to write?

I think my favorite parts by far were whenever Pepper and Jack bantered with each other in person — there’s a scene early on when they do that in a cafe, and one mid-book where they’re bantering in the pool, and those were my favorite to write. The latter scene I especially loved because it was the first time I’d gotten to use all those years of high school swim team for any kind of purpose in the “real world” — teenage me may have hated it, but adult me is glad to have had some experience to draw from!

Tell us about Pepper and Jack.  We want to know all the things!

Oh BOY. Okay, Jack is a Cancer, and Pepper is a Capricorn. Both are Hufflepuffs (Pepper with a Slytherin bent, Jack with a Gryffindor one). Jack is a firm believer in never walking and texting. Pepper has way too many socks, but they always, always match. Jack does coffee, Pepper does tea (hallmark of a “bad New Yorker,” as I’ve been told by my coffee-guzzling friends). Pepper’s favorite color is rainbows (hence, the color coding of everything in her life, from her closet to Excel spreadsheets to planners). Jack is the only person in his family who hates cilantro and as deli owners and foodies it brings them all deep shame.

If you could introduce one of your characters to another character from any other book, who would it be and why?

I feel like Jack and a young James Potter would have plenty to talk about re: scheming.

Awkwordly Emma

With TWEET CUTE based around a Twitter battle, how do you think social media has changed modern teen romances?

I think it’s given teens an entirely new language to communicate — like, literally, teens are crafting their own slang, creating infinite new types of memes, crafting their own unique forms of syntax and grammatical rules. I think it only broadens the opportunities you have to get to know and relate to people, having this shared language that is tight knit and highly relatable, and takes a lot of the pressure off interactions that might otherwise cause anxiety. Social media has its pitfalls, sure, but at its best it gives teens a low stakes, high reward way to connect with each other, whether it’s for friendship or romance or just to share some laughs.

Did any rom-coms influence you while writing TWEET CUTE?

Oh, for sure You’ve Got Mail — or at least, what I knew of it. (As soon as people started likening the idea to the movie, I wouldn’t let myself watch it so I didn’t rely too much on its plot!)

Pie or cake, and what kind?

What an excellent question that I have a highly specific answer for!! Cake, and the best kind I’ve ever had was a yellow cake that was filled with three types of frosting between each of its three layers: a peanut butter cream cheese frosting, raspberry jam, and chocolate ganache. I never would have thought of it on my own, but I used to work in a cake bakery, and when they were chopping off the ends of this particular cake to shape it into a football they let me eat the leftovers. I still DREAM about it. But truly, I’m here for any cake except chocolate cake (I’m ashamed to say it — I’m more of a chocolate frosting lady, unless the chocolate cake is like, absurdly rich, in which case it has my attention).

The Nature of Pages

Did the plot or the characters come to you first when writing this novel?

This one was an odd one for me because the plot came LONG before the characters, in the form of a tweet I made in 2017 joking that there should be a rom-com about social media managers from warring fast food chains falling in love. Usually I’ll think of a character first and build plot around them, but I had to go through about five iterations of characters before landing on Pepper and Jack.

What was your favorite part about the process of writing Tweet Cute?

For sure writing with my friends! We try to meet up once a week and are constantly bopping around in the group chat. I wrote Tweet Cute in a month and a half while holding down a full-time job, so my brain was basically just leaking memes by the end of it, but those sessions we spent writing in coffee shops after work were my best memories of the process.

As a debut author, what was a surprise when it came to writing your book?

Uh, people READING it. That was profoundly surprising to me. Like, logistically you understand that people are going to read it if it’s getting published, but usually I’ll write something, stick it on a fan fiction platform anonymously, and that’ll be the end of it. I’m still not over the surprise any time someone reads the book and tags me in something about it!

What inspired you to write Tweet Cute? How did you come up with the idea?

The idea actually started out as a tweet — I’d been laughing at some of the Twitter wars between brands, and thought it would be a funny concept if two of the social media managers from competing accounts fell for each other without realizing it. Once people started saying they wished it was a book, it all kind of took off from there!

How would you describe your writing process? What part do you focus on the most or take you the longest to work through?

I would describe it as organized chaos. I try to sit down and plot, but more often than not the plot comes when I’m walking to work or in the shower or somewhere deeply inconvenient. Usually I’ll just start writing the first two chapters to see what comes out of me, then stop and figure out where it’s going until about the 40,000 word mark, then stop and adjust the plot outline and start again.

What Hogwarts Houses are some of the characters?

Oh, everyone’s a Hufflepuff. I’m busting into the YA world with an unrepentant Hufflepuff agenda. Pepper’s a Hufflepuff with a Slytherin moon; Jack is a Hufflepuff but a Gryffindor rising; Pooja is a Hufflepuff with aggressive Ravenclaw tendencies; Paul is about as Hufflepuff as it gets. But they are all unquestionably Hufflepuffs, and I think that’s going to be the case with most of my YA going forward.

What parts of online culture were important for you to showcase in Tweet Cute?

I really, really wanted to inject the fun of social media in Tweet Cute — the bantery, laugh-out-loud relatability of it, and how it can be full of surprises. I think we’re often so fixated on the bad qualities of social media that we forget the ways it brings us together.

Which came first – the ship name or Pepper & Jack’s name? How did their ship name fully form for you?

MWAHAHAHA. So this was a happy accident, really. I had the name Jack, and I could not for the life of me figure out a name for the girl lead. I tried four or five of them but when I was typing them they all seemed wrong. I think I’d fully finished two chapters and just hit a dead end with it when my brain cells finally crashed into each other and were like “PEPPER!! PEPPER AND JACK!!!!!!!” And that was that.

What do you hope readers take away from the story?

I want the book to feel like eating a really good, deeply satisfying, thick slice of cake. But also, I want readers to consider the kind of pressure they’re under to be a certain way, or pursue certain things, and separate that pressure from what they think is actually best for them — the characters deal with that a lot, as do most of us, and I think that’s something we can all check in with ourselves on every now and then.

The Elven Warrior

For both Jack and Pepper (I adore those names!) what would you consider their core character trait? The thing that makes them solely THEM?

Hmmm — for Pepper I’d say it’s her drive, and for Jack I’d say it’s his empathy. I think they both have a lot of both of those elements, but those seem to be the factors that spur their decision-making in the book and lead them into all their mutual shenanigans.

Sending your first book out into the world and being a debut in general can be nerve wracking. But it can be an amazing! What has been the best thing about this experience?

Is it cheating if I say the whole thing? Everything is new to me — getting to work with a team on edits and marketing and how things look, getting a cover, meeting other authors, having people legitimately read something that I wrote and know that I wrote it (unlike the bajillion years I’ve spent writing fan fic). It feels like every day something happens to me that’s never happened before.

If you had to choose between working in a bakery, a sandwich shop, or as an author, which would you choose and why?

Fun fact: I’ve done ALL THREE of these. I spent my post-grad years working in a sandwich shop, and then a bakery, and then a whole bunch of other things (lol, job market) before becoming a digital media editor and eventual author. I’d say I’d rank them as author (you get to play god to a bunch of characters you made up!), bakery (FREE STALE CUPCAKES EVERY DAY!), and sandwich shop (great coworkers, but not as delicious, and I always came home reeking of basil).

Reading, Writing, and Me

Social media is obviously a huge part of this story. Were you ever hesitant or concerned about trying to capture internet culture in a book? Did you do any kind of research to prepare?

Oh boy, I did almost zero research. I was working as an editor who wrote and assigned daily content based on things going viral both in the social media and food space, so I was already aggressively online. I think my primary concern was mostly trying to keep the book from feeling too hyper specific to the time I was writing it, but also keeping it fresh — I was careful to try and choose the more “lasting” memes than the memes of the week.

One of the major threads of the story has to do with Jack’s app Weazl. How did you get the idea for Weazl? Was it important to you to show the really positive side of social media with this app because I really enjoyed that focus.

I knew I wanted some element where they were getting to know each other without any pressure, so that’s kind of where Weazl came in. I also did want to emphasize that although there are always cases of social media being used for bad, there’s so, so much good that comes out of it too! I really loved the idea of these kids who were forced to be so hyper competitive all their lives coming together in a place where they could help each other out and band together, because ultimately that’s what a lot of these social media platforms and tools help teens do.

Jack and Pepper are both quite complex, well drawn characters that complement each other perfectly. Do you have any advice for writers looking to further develop their own characters, and do you have any advice for people writing multiple points of view?

I think what really helps for me is just figuring out who the characters are by mentally putting them in all kinds of situations that may or may not ever actually land in the book. I think of life experiences I’ve had, or my friends have had, and I ask myself, “How would this character have reacted to that? Would it have been similar or different to the way I did, and why?” That also helped with figuring out the fundamental differences between the two characters when I was switching POVs; I was definitely worried in the beginning about making them sound too alike, so figuring out what set them apart was definitely a priority when I was first shaping them up!

Books Real When Shared

In your opinion, which is one of the best Twitter wars in history?

Hands down, without a doubt when Moon Pie smashed Hostess during the eclipse. Hostess tweeted saying that Golden CupCakes were the official snack of the eclipse, and Moon Pie simply quote retweeted “Lol ok …” and I have been DYING ABOUT IT EVER SINCE. Sometimes I’ll just be walking down the street and think about it and start laughing to myself. We stan the Moon Pie Twitter social media manager from now until the end of time.

Are you a fan of baking like Pepper? And if so, which is your go-to dessert?

Yes!! I’ve been baking my whole life. I can’t say I’m all that good at it, but I sure do love it (one of my little sisters is the true genius who has the actual patience for complicated things). My go-to is anything involving cookie dough; I’d say my favorite dessert on the planet is the “Sex Positive Brownies” in the book, which are the already popular combo of brownies, Oreos, and cookie that are all slightly underbaked. (I also like to add a pinch of salt to mine!)

The twitter war in Tweet Cute is primarily between a fast-food chain and a deli regarding an iconic grilled cheese sandwich. While Pepper is working behind the scenes to defend Big League Burger, Jack is stern on stating the fact that this sandwich recipe belongs to his grandmother who worked hard behind the deli. How did this idea of back-and-forth debating in 280 characters emerge?

The idea actually started at as a tweet! Back in 2017, I made a joke about how there should be a rom-com where two social media managers from competing accounts fell for each other without realizing they were Twitter battling. I knew I wanted it to be over something I already was familiar with, and I was pretty much raised on a steady diet of grilled cheese and Eggo waffles, so grilled cheese became the central focus. It helps that everyone who loves grilled cheese has strong opinions about how it should be made (I have yet to find a single grilled cheese opinion that’s wrong, though — it truly is the most delicious canvas of all).

Tweet Cute also entails some emotionally important themes like the rat race to good grades or college admissions, living up to the academic expectations set up by parents, figuring out everything by the end of senior year in high school, and being unresponsive to the pressure of familial responsibilities. What would you like the targeted young readers to take away from such aspects of the story?

I think the main takeaway I want is for young readers to know that everything is never set in stone. The things you study in high school, the colleges that accept you right out of the gates — it can all just be a blip if you let it. It’s easy to transfer schools, to change your course of study, to start all over again if you want to (trust me, I did all three of those things, sometimes more than once). Pepper and Jack deal with a lot of the pressure of thinking their futures are decided for them because they’re already committed to a certain path, but the truth is that path only gets more forked with options the older you get and the better you understand yourself.

Lastly, which of the two main characters Pepper or Jack do you see more of yourself in? The over-achiever girl with social-media managing ability and baking talents, or the goofball boy with the coding aptitude and a sweet-tooth?

Oh, boy. I think I’m a Jack-esque goofball when I’m out with my friends, but I’m so, SO much like Pepper in the privacy of my own brain. I think that’s why I was especially worried about how people would react to her — that was very much me, both in high school and now, even if it’s not necessarily the personality I project when I’m not working. That said, I could not code my way out of a paper bag. (Jack inspired me to take some free coding lessons for fun, though, so we’ll see!)

Casual Fangirl

What is your favorite part of the writing process?

I love when you think you have the whole thing plotted out and then midway through the draft a character surprises you and is like, “Nah, I’m not gonna do that. Here’s what I’m gonna do instead.” Never a dull moment!

What is your go-to writing snack?

I’m actually terrible at snacking and writing, but I am definitely a tea gal. I’m part of the 5am writer’s club, and tea is the one way to bribe my lazy butt out of bed. That said, my entire life and times is basically sponsored by Taco Bell. When I hit word count for the day you can almost always find me in line for a spicy tostada and chips and guac.

What is your favorite Rom-com (book/tv/film)?

I love love love the movie About Time, and the book Something Borrowed. Those are my main comfort watch and comfort read for sure. I think there is something innately Hufflepuff about the main characters in both of those works, and being inside their brains is a cozy place to be because of it.

In Between Book Pages

Tweet Cute featured a Twitter brand war, something we have seen (and laughed at) before [e.g. Taco Bell vs Old Spice, Burger King vs Wendy’s]. Were you inspired by any IRL Twitter brand war?

I wasn’t inspired by any one Twitter war, but definitely Twitter Brand War Culture. I work in digital media, so I was covering a lot of them in pieces I was writing and assigning out. Plus one of my very close friends is a social media manager, and it was always funny to get insight on her side of the Twitter curtain and find out what’s really going on behind the scenes. A lot of that factored into the decision to write the book.

Even though Tweet Cute is mostly sweet and fluffy, both Jack and Pepper was put through the wringer having to deal with school, their families and friends, and deciding what they want to do. What do you want your readers, especially the younger ones, to take away from your story? And if you could give them an advice, what would that be?

I guess one of the takeaways that felt important to me was that nothing really truly gets “set in stone” in high school; even if you’ve set yourself on a certain path or feel obligated to follow one someone set out for you, you’re allowed to change your mind. Also, the thing you’re meant to do and truly love might be the last thing you expect! Definitely let your heart lead you, whenever you’re lucky enough to find things you’re passionate about.

Finally, using three memes, describe Tweet Cute.

OKAY MY BODY IS READY. My number one is based on that text post meme that’s like “on the outside I am human on the inside I am pasta and sin,” except for Tweet Cute it’s “on the outside i am human on the inside i am cheese and tweets”.

Number two is the “is this a pigeon?” meme: Annotation 2020-01-18 112607

Number three is the Captain America detention meme, and it is not aimed at Pepper and Jack, but at me.

Annotation 2020-01-18 112607 - Copy (2)

A Glass Of Wine

What gif do you feel best describes Tweet Cute?

I don’t know if this is a meme or a GIF, really, but the Elmo fire one comes to mind. I think it’s sort of come to represent a weird intersection of joy/pain/chaos/hilarity, and I think Tweet Cute’s got all of that in the mix.

If a signature ice cream were to be made for Tweet Cute what might be included?

OOOOH. I think the base would be a classic vanilla, but it would be stuffed to the gills with Rolos, Reese’s, Oreos, and rainbow sprinkles like Monster Cake from the book, and have ribbons of caramel and a healthy pinch of salt and oh my god I am so hungry now, BYE.

Tweet Cute is inspired by You’ve Got Mail. What are some of your other favourite rom-coms?

I love About Time above all, I think, but I’m also a fan of Crazy Rich Asians, The Proposal,  27 Dresses, Bride Wars, Love, Rosie, and the woefully underrated period rom-com, Mrs. Pettigrew Lives For A Day. I’m sure I am missing about a gazillion that I also love.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy and being a part of the Tweet Cute book tour.  The book will be out January 21.

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

OIP An Unwanted Guest is a thrilling who done it in the genre of Agatha Christie’s masterpiece And Then There Were None.

The story begins as strangers from different walks of life check into the Mitchell’s Inn in the Catskills for what is suppose to be a relaxing weekend of skiing, drinking and relaxing by a fireplace. Unfortunately as they arrive there is a terrible blizzard raging outside.

As they begin to get to know each other that first evening, the power suddenly goes out cutting them off from the outside world.  They decide to turn in for the night, only to wake up in the morning to someone screaming as one of them is found dead at the bottom of a set of stairs.  They are unsure if it was an accident or foul play.

With no way of calling the police and now with no heat in the Inn all they can do is wait for the return of the power so they can leave.  They try to keep there spirits up and continue to get to know one another. They all try to put one a brave face.

But when a second guest dies they must come to the undeniable conclusion that there is a murderer amongst them who seems to be killing them one by one.  How is it possible for this to be happening when they are strangers? And why?

As the reader, who through the inner dialogue of each character gets to know what they are thinking, it is hard to believe anyone is the murderer.  Then they find an unmade-up room with no one staying in it.  Is it possible someone is at the Inn and stalking them?

This is a wonderful murder mystery whose ending does not disappoint, and whose clues are so subtle and well placed you will want to reread the book!

Lapena, who is the author of another terrific chiller, The Couple Next Door, which I have previously reviewed on my blog, has certainly found a formula which not only surprises the reader, but keeps them coming back for more.

The God Game by Danny Tobey

OIF The God Game is an extraordinary thriller which looks into how virtual reality computer technology could possibly be a human’s downfall when put in the hands of coders who code in the darkest areas of the web. It is also a story about teenagers and their parents and how life’s pressures can influence anyone into making wrong choices.

The novel is the story of a group of misfit high school teenagers who are in a computer club.  They call themselves The Vindicators.  The group consists of outcasts who are bullied at school, but who also face incredible home-life pressures such as getting into the best college, the loss of a parent and child abuse.  They are mysteriously invited by an anonymous source to join an on-line web game created by coders of the dark web.  The adventure is called The God Game.

As a group, they all decide to accept the invitation, curious as to what kind of game will be played.  What starts out as an all for one, one for all fun game where you accumulate points to buy items and entry into new levels, quickly deviates into a game of survival of the fittest, or have your real life destroyed.

In the game, if you obey the artificial intelligence known as God, you are rewarded.  If you choose to not accept a task or request you are punished, only your punishments and rewards affect your real life reality.

They then discover God is creating horrible tasks which if rejected will harm someone in their life.  God also begins to play a separate game with them by pitting the group against each other, making them think they are working against each other rather than as a team.  They begin not only to turn on each other, but are then required to make choices which could hurt or kill others, including each other. When one of them asks how to leave the game they are told the only way to leave is to die…for real!

How on earth will they be able to quit without causing irreparable harm to the people they love? Who is God and why did he seem to change the original rules of the game?

This very fast paced all consuming story will keep you on the edge of your seat and rooting for this group of friends well after its conclusion.

All I can ask from its author Danny Tobey is MORE PLEASE!

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and the incredible press kit that went along with the advanced copy.  The book is out today.

#St.Martin’sPress #DannyTobey #TheGodGame #SurviveTheGodGame


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[Buildroot] [PATCH 2/2] core/instrumentation: shave minutes off the build time

Peter Korsgaard peter at korsgaard.com
Sun Mar 18 16:33:45 UTC 2018

>>>>> "Yann" == Yann E MORIN <yann.morin.1998 at free.fr> writes:

 >> - It doesn't work for packages using rsync to install,
 >> E.G. skeleton-init-common as rsync also sets the mtime to match the
 >> source files

 > We could maybe tell rsycn not to do that, then?

Yes, possibly.

 >> - It breaks for <pkg>-reinstall

 > Well, we can't guarantee anything except with a clean build from scratch
 > anyway.

True. We could potentionally do a touch on the stamp file before running
find, but it is somewhat icky.

 >> I don't think either of those are really big issues compared to the huge
 >> slowdown, but it is worth noticing.

 > Well, the -reinstall was already not working correctly, because the list
 > pf files before/after would be alsmost the same, and the md5-diff would
 > miss all the laready-installed files for the package.

 > The rsync issue is new, but we can "fix" it in a later patch, then, for
 > those packages like the skeletons, by using the --no-times option for
 > example.

Yes. I guess we cannot use --no-times unconditionally in SYSTEM_RSYNC,
as the mtime shouldn't be touched for source files so OVERRIDE_SRCDIR
doesn't rebuild too much.

 > However, if a third-party package internally uses rsync as its install
 > method, we're screwed. But who would be insane enough to do that? ;-]

And even so, the breakage is not so bad.

 > Alternatively, we could use ctime instead of mtime, maybe? Or check
 > both?

ctime would presumably miss modifications to existing files, so that is
no good.

 >> > +define step_pkg_size_inner
 >> > +	cd $(2); \
 >> > +	find . \( -type f -o -type L \) \
 >> > +		-newer $($(PKG)_DIR)/.stamp_built \
 >> > +		-exec printf '$(1),%s\n' {} + \
 >> > +		>> $(BUILD_DIR)/packages-file-list$(3).txt
 >> What find version are you using? My fileutils find (and the busybox
 >> applet) use 'l' for symlinks, so I've changed it to that.

 > Doh, the s/L/l/ is still uncomitted here. Dang...

Bye, Peter Korsgaard

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TEAM-ADA Archives

Team Ada: Ada Programming Language Advocacy

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Alan E Brain <[log in to unmask]>
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> > Ah, the luxury of having the bandwidth to upload the entire code set
> > :).

A whopping 4k Bits per sec for 15 mins a day. OK, so it takes a week, perhaps 2 if there's lots of telecommands to process.

> "Patchability" can become a driving factor in the software design and
> tool selection
> Changes to data structures present the biggest problem when patching
> flight software.  Ada provides a lot of options (access functions,
> reserving space with 'Size rep clause, etc.), but the safest approach
> seems to be uploading a new flight image (which may require multiple
> orbits).

Multiple orbits is right. Several hundred if the bird's in Sun-synchronous orbit and you only have 1 ground station. It's only in view one orbit in 13, and only for 10-20 mins. Agree that even with these constraints, upload of whole images is the way to go. KISS. Otherwise if anything goes wrong, the program could be in an indeterminate state, and just determining the configuration to recover from on error would be an interesting task.

"In space, no-one can press CTRL-ALT-DEL"


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Sunday, May 29, 2016

Adam Phillips's six favorite books

Adam Phillips is a British psychotherapist and essayist. His latest book is Unforbidden Pleasures. One of the author's six favorite books, as shared at The Week magazine:
Purity and Danger by Mary Douglas

Here is a remarkable book from a time — the mid-1960s — when anthropologists had the most interesting ideas about how to live and how not to talk about other people. It may be impossible to recover from her claim that dirt is "matter out of order." She makes it abundantly clear how much terror is created by the will to purification.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue


text:
Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) Hindi

Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) Hindi

Oct. 30, 1997India179 Min.Not Rated
Your rating: 0
9 1 vote

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Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) Hindi Movie Watch Online HD Print Download Watch Full Movie Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) Hindi Online in HD Movie DownloadHub Pc 720p Movie Download, Watch Drama Bollywood Movie Download, 1080p Funny Full Movie Download, 720p 480p watch online movie free HD Print watch Bollywood Drama Full HD 720p Movie Download Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) Movie Watch in HD Print DownloadHub

Dil To Pagal Hai indulges in its romanticism but what I found great about it is its totally realistic portrayal of young artists. Chopra strikes an amazing balance between contemporary culture and poetic romanticism. While some of the dialogue is a bit cheesy, most of it is actually very real and has some sense of everyday reality. Chopra portrays the troupe of Shahrukh as a totally modern one, while the character of Madhuri and her soft romantic nature is actually deprecated even by some of the characters in the film itself. But the whole theory of the film, which tries to convey a message that somewhere someone is made for you, is quite interesting and inspiring despite its cheesiness. The film is never overly melodramatic or gushing in its emotional quotient. It tries to present itself as a simple love story, which does not work with a larger-than-life story but rather an episode in which true romance comes in the middle of happy-go-lucky, hardly-romantic people.

Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) Hindi
Original title दिल तो पागल है
IMDb Rating 7.0 21,084 votes
TMDb Rating 6.8 102 votes

Yash Chopra

Farida Jalal isAjay's mother
Ajay's mother
Deven Verma isAjay's father
Ajay's father
Aruna Irani isPooja's Teacher
Pooja's Teacher
Ameesha Patel isBackstage Speaker
Backstage Speaker
Shahid Kapoor isDancer (Uncredited)
Dancer (Uncredited)

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Sermon – March 10, 2019

untitled (1)

John 5:19-24 – The Equality of the Son (mp3)

The Jews rightly realized Jesus’ claim to equality with God. But Jesus wants to make sure that all know rightly his relationship to his Father. So today, we look at what it means for Jesus to be the true Son of God, how this impacts his relationship with the Father, and how this makes him equal with God. Such teaching will touch at the very heart of the Trinitarian relationships and essence, and as such is mentally taxing and challenging. However, desire to know the nature of God should not be viewed as crass intellectualism, but rather a act of faith by which we love God with our minds. Today, then, let us consider the equality of the Son by looking at

1. The essence of the Son
Jesus is clear: the Son can do nothing on his own. We should not understand this statement as a mere choice, as though the Son simply chooses to not act on his own. Rather, the essence of the Son is such that he cannot act outside of the Father. But Jesus wishes to make something else clear: the Son, by virtue of the Father showing him all he does in love, can do all that the Father does. The Son acts alongside the Father in all things, for while they are distinct, they each have the same essence – both are fully God.

2. The employment of the Son
Why does God use this somewhat complex arrangement? Why does the Father not just come down to us on his own? Wouldn’t that make our understanding of him easier? No! It would cloud our understanding of the true and living God. If God is to reveal himself, he must reveal himself through the Son. So, God will make us marvel through even more wondrous acts that healing a lame man – he will raise even the dead. In that act (the raising of Lazarus) we hear Jesus thanking God so that all would know that the Father sent him. The miracle draws our amazement to the nature of God through the employment of the Son.

3. The esteem of the Son
We might be mistaken, with all of the “giving,” “showing,” and “sending” language of John that the Father is indeed greater than the Son. Their relationship is somewhat uni-directional, always moving from the Father to the Son. Yet, God gives the Son something that undermines such thoughts: judgment that is to lead to honor. All judgment is given to the Son, who is able to judge with the perfection of God. The Father does this so that the Son might be honored just as the Father is honored. The equality of the Son is seen in how the Father esteems the Son.

4. The effect of the Son
Because of the above, the effect of hearing the Son, and believing in the signs given to him through the one who sent him, is nothing short of everlasting life. The way to life goes directly through the Son. Let us be clear why Jesus can promise this to us, and why we can secure it only through him: because he is equal to the Father, as the true and unique Son of God, begotten before all ages and sent to redeem us. Here is the true Sabbath – a rest from all our efforts and ease from our burdens. Let us place our hopes in him!


text:
Reading Shadow and Bone so you don’t have to

Hello book lovers! If you lurk on the book side of social media then you probably know by now that Leigh Bardugo’s book series Shadow and Bone has been turned into a Netflix series and we can expect the show to premiere in April. I am a big Six of Crows fans so when I heard this news I knew I needed to read Shadow and Bone too!

If you’re curious about this series and want to know what it’s all about before the show premieres, well I got you covered…

*This post contains affiliate links. If you click one of my links and complete a purchase through bookshop I earn a commission.

This week’s blog post is a bit different than my usual post because it’s in video form! Yes I’ve finally made the jump to YouTube!

In my video I spoil and give my thoughts on the first novel of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone series. If you would like to watch me spoil the first novel go ahead and watch my video. But if you want to read a spoiler free version and still get a general idea of the first novel keep reading.

Alina Strakov is just an orphan. She has no special powers or good looks- that is until her team attempts to cross the fold. Alina miraculously saves her fellow soldiers by conjuring light and fighting off the flesh-eating shadow monster, known as Volcra. As a result, she catches the eye of the Darkling, the most powerful Grisha who ever lived. The Darkling takes Alina under his care and escorts her to his home at the little palace. Now Alina must maneuver her way through the court while learning to summon her newfound skill, and tamp down her feelings for the Darkling. Although, the Darkling isn’t all that charming as he appears.

I was rooting for them. The Darkling’s power compliments Alina’s so well! Why must this man insist on being an ass?! I have conflicted feelings for this man, mostly rooted in my need to see him redeem himself! I love power couples with complementary powers, and I just had a small taste of it. But the Darkling sucks!

Where do I even start with the Darkling? I loved the way he’s written as a misunderstood dark prince that everyone feared. I thought that was an interesting take, and it made me forget that he was the villain in the story! When that moment came, I was shocked, not gonna lie. He fooled me.

“I’ve been waiting for you a long time, Alina” He said. “You and I are going to change the world.”

Leigh Bardugo Shadow and Bone

Spoilers ahead:

But that scene when he completes his plan, it was a big yikes. I like the villains and love interest, but a villain enslaving the love interest and gaining the ability to control her was a big no for me. I understand he is super evil, but I prefer my villains as simps for the love interest.

End of spoilers:

However, with the twist at the end of this novel, I’m curious to see how the Darkling and Alina’s relationship will change. I really like how their relationship changed so quickly in this novel and I can’t wait to read more.

Now onto Alina. Alina hesitates too much for my liking, and she puts herself down a lot. I know it’s part of her journey, but it’s still hard and, at times, boring to read.

Alina can do better, but I’ll admit I’m not a big fan of her other love interest. Sigh. If only the villain was less evil, then my enemies to lovers and Villian + hero heart would soar. However, if you love the best friend to lovers trope and mixed in with a strange love triangle with the villain, this book series may be for you.

“They are orphans again, with no true home but each other and whatever life they can make together on the other side of the sea.”

Leigh Bardugo Shadow and Bone

The last thing I want to note with this review is that Leigh Bardugo’s writing is different it’s more novice and unpolished. It’s probably because this was one of her first novels but I really noticed it after having read the Six of Crows and Ninth House. Don’t judge Bardugo’s writing from this novel though I feel as though she really found her voice afterwards.

CW: minor character deaths and implied rape

If you want to purchase Shadow and Bone , check it out on my bookshop! Every purchase on bookshop supports authors and independent bookstores. If you would like to check out more of my favorite novels, you can find them all on bookshop.

until next time I’ll be living in libros,

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More Shadow and Bone Reviews

8 thoughts on “Reading Shadow and Bone so you don’t have to

  1. I read the original series after Six of Crows and I definitely think it isn’t as good. The duology is just so tight with such a good cast and a stellar plot and the original trilogy feels…overdone. It’s a chosen one story. I didn’t hate it but I wasn’t in love.

  2. So cool to get to see your YouTube review along with your blog review! I read Shadow and Bones a while back and, yeah, Alina and Mal are a bit…underwhelming as a couple. And I like the friends to lovers thing, so I don’t think that was the issue.

    I did find a cool prequel about the Darkling’s childhood called The Demon in the Woods. It doesn’t excuse his attempts to enslave Alina, but it does provide some context for the person he became.

    • Omg there’s a prequel?! Okay the lack of back story for the Darkling was a big issue for me. I recently finished the last book and I was bit frustrated that we never saw the Darkling’s backstory. I’ll keep that prequel in mind if I decide to make a post video lol. Right now, I’m a little disappointed with the series and need to reading something else xD

      Liked by 1 person

      • Ha, I know what you mean about needing a break! I finished the Shadow and Bone series just kind of…because, but I liked King of Scars much better. Especially after your comment that Bardugo’s writing felt novice in that first series, I’m thinking I should check out more of her recent work, like Six of Crows. I’ve heard so many good things about that!

        Also, just fyi, I read that prequel through my local library’s Overdrive subscription, so I think it’s only available as an ebook.

      • Yes! Six of Crows is really good! I also loved Ninth House but it’s a hit or miss for some people lol. Yay I’m excited to start King of Scars!!

        Thanks for letting me know! I’m gonna track it down through my own library system.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Hahaha this is wonderful! I think that it’s really interesting to read this series after having read Leigh’s other books. It’s a totally different perspective vs someone like me who read her books in order. But I do love your thoughts, they remind me of my first time reading them hehehe

    Liked by 1 person

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Your daily cup of morning coffee is a soothing and invigorating ritual already, but what if your coffee could give you more in every sip? For a delicious roast that supports an energized body and a calm mind, pour yourself a cup of Green Roads’ Hemp Flower Coffee in Kennewick, WA. Our small-batch CBD coffee uses Colombian beans sourced from a protected paradise. We then combine it with American-grown hemp. Each drop provides a smooth flavor with hints of chocolate and hazelnut, along with all the benefits you get from cannabinoid-rich hemp. Lab-tested and artfully-crafted, every bag lists the cannabinoid profile of the specific hemp flower used for it. Enjoy a cup of CBD coffee with your favorite breakfast on a Sunday morning or on-the-go on a busy weekday to help give you the energy and calm mind you need to face the day. Green Roads Hemp Flower Coffee is now available in Hazelnut and French Vanilla flavors, too.

Learn the Benefits of Green Roads CBD Tea in Kennewick, WA

CBD-infused tea from Green Roads blends the therapeutic benefits of chamomile and CBD to deliver a soothing experience and aroma. Each single-serve bag of tea contains about 7 mg of CBD, steeped into a balanced blend of vanilla, peppermint, and chamomile — allowing you to experience the properties of CBD in a delicious and familiar way. Simply add your tea bag to a cup of boiling-hot water, steep it for 5-7 minutes, and enjoy! Similar to other Green Roads products, a licensed pharmacist formulates each batch of CBD tea and an independent lab evaluates it to confirm quality and purity. Find the perfect cup of CBD tea from a Green Roads supplier in Kennewick, WA.

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High-quality CBD coffee and tea like our Hemp Flower Colombian Coffee and peppermint and chamomile CBD tea are incredibly accessible. Find out where to buy CBD coffee and tea near you in Kennewick, WA. Whether you need a cup of CBD coffee to help stimulate your body and mind before you start the day or a freshly brewed cup of CBD tea to help you destress before bedtime, Every Green Roads product is formulated by a pharmacist and tested by an external lab to put the power of plants in your mug! There's no better time than the present to start working on becoming the healthiest version of yourself. Explore the full spectrum of Green Roads CBD products and their beneficial properties at a Kennewick, WA CBD store.


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Find CBD Creams & Lotions in Eau Claire, WI

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Are CBD Creams Right for You?

Topicals Nothing should get between you and your goals, especially not tired joints and limbs! Topical CBD lotion or cream may be the right choice for you if you need direct relief to help you focus on the task. Our CBD muscle and joint creams are specially-formulated with soothing botanicals and hemp-derived CBD extract, and they're available in many forms to help you get relief where you need it most! Start working the power of plants into your daily routine.

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Still reeling from yesterday's workout? Or are your limbs and joints just feeling weighed down by another long day of work and play? Green Roads CBD products offer topical lotions and creams of all kinds to strengthen your spirit as you overcome routine physical soreness. With cooling and heating CBD roll-on options for sale in Eau Claire, it's easy to pick a CBD topical cream that aligns with your lifestyle.

For heated relief in a no-mess container, throw one of our Muscle & Joint Heat Relief Roll-Ons in your gym bag! Need targeted TLC for the areas that continue troubling you? Apply a pump of our CBD Muscle and Joint Cream with lavender extract to your overworked joints and muscles. For a double-whammy approach to recurring physical stress, get our most potent Muscle & Joint Heat Relief Roll-On with a self-heating mixture of pepper compounds and menthol.

Whichever Eau Claire CBD topical you go with, all Green Roads CBD products are pharmacist-formulated to a gold standard of potency, and lab-tested for harmful microorganisms, heavy metals, and pesticides. Put your body and mind at ease. Use your phone to scan the QR code on Green Roads packaging to learn more about its purity and potency!

Why Try Topical CBD in Eau Claire, WI

What if you could take your "best" self to a whole new level? By supporting your body as it works to maintain homeostasis, you can help your system help itself! Homeostasis refers to your body's natural, biological rhythms that's been tied to physical, mental, and even emotional health. CBD may help your body maintain homeostasis by working with your endocannabinoid system to support internal processes relating to all aspects of life, from rest to hunger! Applying CBD lotions or creams directly to the spots on your body that need assistance is an easy and convenient way to familiarize yourself with the benefits of cannabinoid extract. Start by finding the right CBD topical near you in Eau Claire to get to know the benefits of CBD.

Ready to Buy Green Roads CBD Creams and Lotions in Eau Claire

You don't have to go far to get familiar with CBD products and topicals in Eau Claire, WI. (Probably just around the corner!) Green Roads award-winning CBD salves, edibles, and other products are for sale in many Eau Claire juice bars, health food stores, yoga studios, and even pharmacies. Enter your ZIP code into our CBD locator above to find a Green Roads CBD distributor near you!


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When you're shopping for a set of tires in IA, your Tires Plus near Long Grove has your back. After all, "Tires" is in our name! Our professional tire experts can outfit your vehicle with the perfect tires. From all-season to off-road tires, you can find a new set for any occasion from top names in tires like Bridgestone Primewell, Toyo, Falken, and Firestone. We also provide services for tire alignments, flat repairs, and rotations. Book an appointment online or by calling or heading into Tires Plus near Long Grove to find the right tires for your vehicle! Get Tire Pricing

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Key Aspects For Sweden Mail Order Bride – A Background

Swedish mail order brides are without equal. Respect for friends is without doubt one of the main methods to personal hearts of Swedish ladies, as they value friendship very a lot. Moreover, no girl wish to meet a man who doesn’t respect her mates Even if you do not like them, simply do not discuss it and do not complain. Just like yours, her mates – an integral a part of her life. Due to this fact, she is going to all the time respect your friends if she sees you respect hers.

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Swedish women are merely just ok to undoubtedly become aware of you before they bounce immediately right into a relationship. Conclusions: A new simplified methodology assessing meal pattern revealed that the variety Swedish Girl of reported intake occasions throughout a ordinary day was greater in overweight ladies in contrast with controls and the timing was shifted to later within the day. These findings needs to be thought-about within the therapy of obesity.

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On Wednesday 8 September, the House of Lords is due to debate a motion by Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative) that:

this House takes note of the Report from the International Relations and Defence Committee ‘The UK and sub-Saharan Africa: prosperity, peace and development co-operation’.

What did the report say?

On 10 July 2020, the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee published a wide-ranging report on the UK’s relationship with sub-Saharan Africa. The report covered several areas, such as:

  • The UK’s Africa strategy, including the co-ordination of Government departments, communication of the UK’s approach and the Integrated Review.
  • Africa’s regional organisations, such as the African Union and the Commonwealth.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic development, including employment and business opportunities.
  • The UK’s economic relationship with sub-Saharan Africa, including its use of official development assistance (ODA), its trade with, and investment in, the region and the diaspora.
  • Peace and security in sub-Saharan Africa, such as challenges the region faces and its impact on women.
  • Human rights, democracy and governance in sub-Saharan Africa.

In its summary, the committee said the UK should “take a greater interest in and seek a stronger partnership with” the region. It said the Government’s ‘strategic approach’ towards sub-Saharan Africa, first announced by then Prime Minister Theresa May in September 2018, is “not a strategy, but rather some broad ideas and themes”.

The committee made a number of recommendations across all topics covered in its report. These included the following:

  • The Government should publish a clearly articulated list of its priorities for its engagement with Africa, and an action plan for meeting them.
  • The Home Office should review the UK’s approach to issuing visas to people from Africa.
  • The Government should work to lower the cost of remitting money to Africa.
  • The Government should embed consultation with diaspora communities into policy making.
  • In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government should support the African Union’s call for a two-year standstill for African countries’ public and private debt.
  • The Government should work with the 19 African members of the Commonwealth to seek ways in which its work in the continent could be strengthened.
  • The UK should work with international partners, such as France and China, on issues such as debt, health, climate change and trade.
  • The Government should use the Integrated Review to consider how the UK can best use its resources and influence to develop longer-term strategies to prevent conflict and support regional partners.

The committee also called for assurances that the merger of the Department for International Development (DFID) with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) would not represent a change in the UK’s approach to ODA spending in sub-Saharan Africa.

What has the Government said?

Response to the committee’s report

The Government responded to the committee’s report on 10 September 2020. Addressing the recommendations set out above, the Government said:

  • It had published its strategic approach in the Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry ‘Beyond Aid: the UK’s Strategic Engagement in Africa’ but that it is reviewing the approach in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing Integrated Review.
  • The Home Office has no plans to review its approach to issuing visas, but the UK Visa and Immigration service (UKVI) is looking into opening application points in more African locations.
  • It is “working to address the market constraints responsible for high remittance prices”, including working with key stakeholders like the World Bank, and through actions like digitisation, transparency and improving data quality.
  •  It is committed to furthering its engagement with diaspora communities. It said that, as the host, it will use COP26 to boost African voices and highlight evidence from research across the continent.
  • It supported the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), which was agreed by global finance ministers in April 2020. The DSSI paused debt payments from the poorest countries during the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • It will engage with African Commonwealth partners on how the work of commonwealth institutions can be strengthened in Africa, as part of its regular engagement with them.
  • It takes a “nuanced and differentiated” approach to China’s engagement in Africa, in which the Government seeks to maximise the positive impacts of its relationship and mitigate the risks.

The Government also stated that the merger of DFID with the FCO would bring together its overseas efforts to maximise the UK’s global influence. It said that it had undertaken a review of aid spending due to the economic impact of the pandemic, in order to ensure that it could meet its commitment of spending 0.7% of the UK’s national income on aid. However, the Government subsequently announced a temporary reduction in the overseas aid target to 0.5% (see below).

UK-Africa Investment Summit 2020

On 20 January 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosted the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London. In attendance were heads of state and ministers from African governments, CEOs and representatives from African and British businesses, investors, financial institutions and other interested parties.

At the summit, the UK Government set out its ambition to increase trade and investment links with Africa. In particular, it said it would:

  • Increase trade between the UK and Africa.
  • Support African countries to transform their economies, including by empowering women and young people.
  • Mobilise sustainable finance, including a step-change in work on infrastructure financing and a new partnership with the City of London.
  • Enable Africa’s clean energy potential.

A number of financial agreements were also reached during the summit. Commercial deals of over £6.5 million between UK companies and African partners were announced. In addition, there was a commitment from the UK Government of over £1.5 billion in UK aid-funded initiatives, which the Government expected would mobilise over £2.4 billion of additional private investment for Africa.

The Department for International Trade held an African Investment Conference in January 2021. The event was held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. During the conference, Boris Johnson reaffirmed his ambition “for the UK to be Africa’s investment partner”.

The conference focused on four sectors:

  • sustainable infrastructure;
  • renewable energy;
  • financial and professional services; and
  • agriculture and agri-tech.

What has happened recently?

Reduction in the UK’s spend on Official Development Assistance

As part of the Spending Review on 25 November 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak stated that ODA would be reduced from 0.7% of the UK’s national income to 0.5% of its national income for 2021. He said that it was the Treasury’s intention to return to 0.7% “when the fiscal situation allows”. Commenting on this, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said that the reduction in aid spending may be guided by “a desire to balance the current budget”, which it believes may not be achieved until at least 2025/26. Due to this, the IFS concluded that the reduction of ODA may “last for several years”.

In a statement to the House of Commons on 21 April 2021, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab detailed how the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) would spend its £8,115m of ODA allocation, accounting for approximately 80% of the UK’s total ODA spend. He said that the FCDO will spend around half its budget in Africa and also committed to the UK remaining the largest donor to the African Development Fund.

Publication of the Integrated Review

In March 2021, the Government published its Integrated Review into security, defence, development and foreign policy. The review highlighted key trends which may have significant impact on sub-Saharan Africa in the coming years:

  • Global poverty: whilst absolute poverty is estimated to be almost eliminated in Latin America and Asia, Africa will increasingly be left behind. By 2045 it is likely that around 85% of the poorest billion people will live in Africa.
  • Demographics: global population growth to 2030 will be greatest in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Climate change: the effects of global climate change will be felt most acutely in sub-Saharan Africa, South and East Asia and the Middle East.
  • Terrorism: poor governance and disorder in Africa is likely to increase space for terrorist and extremist groups to operate.

Focusing on the UK’s relationship with Africa, the review stated that the Government will partner with the African Union in areas such as climate and biodiversity, free trade, conflict prevention, and promoting good governance and human rights. It said it would work in particular with South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Ghana. It highlighted that South Africa and Nigeria account for 46% of GDP in sub-Saharan Africa and 60% of the region’s trade with the UK.

The review stated that it would continue to support conflict resolution efforts in Somalia and Sudan, as well as supporting United Nations (UN) and African peacekeeping operations. The Government also said it would support French operations in the Sahel.

UK presidency of COP26

In 2021, the UK, in partnership with Italy, is president of the UN Conference of the Parties (COP26). The UK will host the UN’s climate change conference in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021. The Government has set out its goals for the conference, as follows:

  • Secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach.
  • Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats.
  • Mobilise at least $100bn in climate finance per year by 2020.
  • Work together to deliver.

Ahead of COP26, the House of Commons International Development Committee launched an inquiry into the Government’s progress in putting climate change at the centre of its aid policy. The committee’s call for evidence closed on 10 May 2021 and it has held a number of oral evidence sessions. However, it has not yet reported on its findings.

What have commentators said?

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has commented on many of the issues raised in the committee’s report. In written evidence provided for the inquiry, the group called for a Prosperity Commission, convened by the UK and Africa, to build on the momentum from the UK-Africa investment summit.

Responding to the merger of DFID and the FCO, experts from the ODI had mixed views. Whilst some criticised the Government’s decision, arguing that “having one institution with two goals is a recipe for costly muddle and mess”, others said that it was an opportunity to reset relations between the UK and Africa. Dirk Willem te Velde, principal research fellow and head of the International Economic Development Group, said that the new combined department “is ideally placed to support a coherent UK strategy for Africa”.

The ODI also highlighted issues with the UK’s visa system, noting that it is less costly and time consuming to obtain a visa for travel from Africa to the US, EU or China. It said that these issues are “damaging to the country’s long-standing historical ties with Africa” and suggested three practical measures the UK could introduce to combat the “perceived discrimination” against African visitors, such as:

  • Visas should be easily accessible for legitimate visitors. The fees for such visas should be reduced and the minimum validity period should be increased (from 30 days to 24 months).
  • Student visas should be the simplest and most accessible type of visa.
  • The UK should sign bilateral reciprocal agreements with the governments of individual African countries waiving visa requirements for diplomatic passport holders.

It also argued that the UK should conduct a comprehensive review of the visa system.

The Royal African Society, alongside the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Africa, has considered the challenges and opportunities for post-Brexit trade between the UK and Africa. The group argued that the UK should learn lessons from the EU’s trade arrangements with Africa and move beyond the historical reliance on the export of minerals and primary goods and the import of high-value goods and services in Africa’s trade with the UK.

The group also set out several recommendations for UK policymakers, such as:

  • Future trade arrangements should be based on mutual recognition and should support Africa’s regional integration and development plans.
  • The UK Government should seek to encourage engagement on these issues beyond a small number of African countries. It should also include the views of African trade partners as well as the devolved administrations of the UK.
  • Trade and investment policy should be aligned with the UK’s development assistance programmes.

Read more

Cover image by James Wiseman on Unsplash.


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Derbyshire Dog Walks – Monsal Dale

A little disclaimer before we start. Everyone’s first priority right now (and always) is to STAY SAFE. Practice social distancing and self isolate where required. In this post I am simply remembering a favourite walk that we have done on previous visits to Derbyshire.

We all, of course, have our favourite locations when taking the pooch on a day out. Sometimes we change it up and go somewhere different and then others we’ll want to know exactly what we are up against. Monsal Dale is that go to, long walk, out in the open for us. It has everything from open green space to water which we can’t keep Mia out of and a little uphill section. The route is even in a good spot for a drink or bite to eat after too. There is plenty of parking at the top of the route and we always tend to use this and walk down.

There are a couple of steep hills on the walk and I am not a fan of going downhill but I would say for me, it is worth it every time. My favourite spot along the trail is probably right at the end of the route in the field below the viaduct.

On one previous walk we were able to get right up to the weir and take a couple of photos. On our last day out here it was fenced off and you could not get near it. I am completely guessing but I take it this could be for safety purposes to stop silly people walking along the rocks to get a photo for the ‘gram, just a thought. There are some beautiful spots on route, as there is with most of Derbyshire, and the large viaduct and the weir are just a couple of them.

Mia, our chocolate labrador, also loves splashing around in the water here. She is a complete water dog and we haven’t the heart to stop her, even if it does mean a wet car on the way home.

The route ends by going up a fairly steep hill back to the car park (and food!) and this is where Mia also manages to make us laugh. The hill is on a bank with a slight tilt to one side which carries on down the hill. If she stops and you shout her name she always manages to look at us with her head tilted in the same way of the banking.

The trail can sometimes be a little muddy so we mainly wear our walking boots and take some extra shoes in the car. We have also been known to stop in Monsal Dale and open up a few snacks along with a flask of tea.

Is there anywhere you love to walk in Derbyshire?

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