Sunday Soup - September 27

In The Soup This Week... Roselynn Cannes, Josie Kerr, Barbara Bretton and Jeffe Kennedy.

Soup Dish:  on my mind
✽So I need to apologize for the lack of Reading Until Dawn features over the past couple of weeks.  It turns out that authors sometimes have deadlines that are more important than mine, if you can imagine that.  With the con less than 2 weeks away (!!) I'll be wrapping up the features pretty soon, and we should see the conclusion of the two amazing stories in progress.  Stay tuned!

✽September is always a busy month around here.  It's back to school, and two of our family of four have birthdays, and we have end-of-summer projects to get completed.  Seattle has had a record-breaking warm and dry summer, and I've been very glad to see the return of cooler, damper weather.  It's great for reading.

✽I've been a little off social media lately -- what's the buzz?

What I'm reading
✽Fallen, by Roselynn Cannes, was a really good read. Set in a Greco-Roman alt-history world, I loved this militant heroine and the man who is a match for her.  I will caution that the author does not class this a romance, and it doesn't not have an HEA. There is a pretty compelling set-up for another book, and we may eventually get there. In the meantime, I'd just call it alt-history fiction, without anything magical or supernatural to put it into fantasy territory. Perhaps similar to some of Guy Gavriel Kay's less mystical novels. Because I didn't know exactly which genre to peg it into, I did wonder where it was going at times.  I tried to just be open, but it turns out I rely a lot on knowing what category something is in-- which is more a commentary on me and my ways than the book.

✽A Bad Bit Nice, by Josie Kerr. Full disclosure, I've been "internet friends" with this author for a ridiculous number of years, so I was REALLY excited when she published this, her first romance.  The heroine is a 40-something, tattooed IT professional with a foul mouth and a soft heart (I relate), and the hero... oh my, the hero.  He's everything you'd want in a hero.  Tender, gorgeous, creative, protective, understanding; he's the still-waters-run-deep type.  If you like Penny Watson, I think you might like this. If I have a criticism, I'd say there's a lot going on in this story, and maybe didn't need quite as many of those extrinsic plot points.  But I liked the characters and the romance quite a lot.

✽Shore Lights, by Barbara Bretton. An angsty contemporary with a TON of women's-fiction type family drama.  Not bad at all.  There is an HEA, but there is also a second book that starts with wedding planning.  I read the first chapter or so and kind of didn't want to know the rest. Perhaps a theme with me, I think I just didn't like the break in my comfy familiar pattern.

✽I have finally, FINALLY started reading Mark of the Tala, by Jeffe Kennedy and I seriously want to call in sick tomorrow so I can hide somewhere in a cushy chair and read it all the way to the end and then download the next book and read that one too.  I have read an enjoyed Kennedy's erotica for quite a while now but hadn't nabbed this one. I'm enjoying it all the more for the wait.

Attention Seattle!

View image | gettyimages.com

There's a lot of book-lovin' things going on around here in the next few weeks!

LitFic
If you lean toward the hipster/lit (litster?) side of book events, check out LitFic's September 23rd event at the Rendezvous.  They come around quarterly, so if you miss this one, you should pencil in December 9 and watch the site for details.

UF and Sci-Fi
The University Bookstore always has tons of author and other bookish events, in both their Seattle and Bellevue locations.  A few that are catching my eye in October are Jim Butcher, Greg Bear and Ann Leckie, and Laura Ann Gilman.


Romance
The annual Greater Seattle RWA conference will be held in Bellevue from October 16 through the 18th.  Since I'm not actually an author, I don't attend the conference, but I am really looking forward to the reader appreciation event on the 17th this year.  They're changing it up from the usual big giant book signing.  I'm not sure what exactly to expect but it sounds like fun.

Urban Fantasy
While not Seattle proper, in nearby (ish) Port Townsend, if witchy books are your thing, you can "Meet The Witches," an event that includes an historic tour, food, readings and signings, and even a séance.

The authors Cindy Stark, Tiffinie Helmer, Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthia St. Aubin invite you to celebrate the release of their second collaborative novel, Which Witch Is Wicked the thrilling sequel to The Witches of Port Townsend to be released October, 2015! In the novel, four identical sisters are prophesied to hold the fate of the entire world in their powerful hands.

Conference Madness!
But mainly, of course, I am COMPLETELY wound up for Reading Until Dawn, which isn't actually in Seattle. 

 

However, I am going to be taking a little bit of Seattle with me to the conference, in the form of a prize basket full of Seattle goodies.  If you are a Seattle author, and you would like to get a little exposure to this all-genre crowd of SUPER READER SUPER FANS, and help a good cause at the same time, then this is the deal for you:

Donate books and/or swag to the Seattle raffle basket, and I offer to you in thanks a promo spot here on Alpha Heroes in the form of your choice:  promo/press release, cover reveal, guest post, or review; to be scheduled at a mutually convenient time (I'm pretty flexible).

This is kind of a big deal for me to offer because I rarely do pure promo.  But I'm having fun with this whole thing and the featured blogger gig has me stepping out of my comfort zone a little anyway.  The baskets will be raffled with proceeds going to The Wild Animal Sanctuary, considered one of the top animal welfare organizations in the world.

If you would like to participate, please contact me at nicola327@hotmail.com.  I would like to have all items received by the end of September.  Thank you so much!

Reading Until Dawn Featured Author: Danica Favorite

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE... 
of the Reading Until Dawn Con author features here at Alpha Heroes.  

The features continue! As a Featured Blogger (ahem) for the Reading Until Dawn conference, it is my pleasure and my sacred responsibility to showcase the delightful authors that will be hanging out and playing embarrassing SUPER FUN AND AWESOME games with us in October.  We're not doing panels.  We're not doing pitches. We're seriously not doing serious. We WILL be doing games.

If you've read Alpha Heroes for very long, you know I'm not too into author interviews. I'm not very good at them, to be honest. So just pretend this is a game instead of an interview.  I gave my authors a Mad Libs^TM style questionnaire, and here are the results!  (note: truthiness is optional... these are fiction writers after all!)

Please welcome Danica Favorite:

waits for applause from crowd to die down....

Hi Nicola, thanks for taking the time to stalk me through cyberspace and hunt me down when all other methods of contact were failing you. Just for that, we should go for cupcakes sometime. Since this is my first introduction to Nicola and her blog, I’m going to go a little long here.  I’m Danica Favorite, and I write inspirational historical romance for Love Inspired Historical. Hey! Keep reading! I know a lot of the stuff I’m seeing here is a little sexier, um, okay, a lot sexier, but I have a lot of moments of really good, intense, um, longing… yes, we’ll call it longing. Uh, yeah… so anyway… I’m one of those readers who reads just about anything, and I hope you’ll all enjoy checking out something on the other end of the spectrum. I’m a little biased, but I think I write pretty good books. And if not, I’m still a really fun person who loves cupcakes, so let’s just all have a cupcake and it’ll all be good! But if cupcakes aren’t enough to entice you, go visit my website at www.danicafavorite.com and have a look at my chickens. Everyone loves chickens, right?

OK, so here we go!

1. No one ever beats me at the game of __um, nothing, actually. See answer below____. (sad trombone sound here)

2. Please fill in these blanks: "When I was a kid, and they were picking teams for sportball, I was usually:
a) picked right away
b) not picked right away 
c) one of the captains  

yeah, sorry. I promise to do my best if we’re on the same team for a con game! I think everyone who attends RUD con is a winner, so it’s all good. Team Danica for the Awesome! (And cupcakes! Are cupcakes on the menu?) - looks like we need to make sure that they are!

Later in life, I found myself __praying I never get sent to prison because I’ll end up being the um, rhymes with witch, to some crazy lady named Big Bertha__, and I think it was all because of how the sportball teams were picked.  Hey, whatever keeps you on the straight and narrow, right?

3. The most embarrassing/hilarious game I ever participated in was _potato gun wars _.  Everyone was laughing at _.the fact that my husband’s gun blew up instead of shooting the potato.   I swear I will never hear anything about a potato gun without thinking of JR Ward's scene between Butch and Vishous...   

4. In an alternate universe, I am George R. R. Martin, only my fabulously successful 700-page epic book is titled "Game of _Awesome_." it is about _a mild-mannered but deeply awesome inspirational romance writer who got sick of losing at all the games and finally found the gumption to take over the world and become its benevolent, but occasionally fond of blowing random stuff up (sorry about your house), dictator (slightly autobiographical)_  Hey, did I mention there are cupcakes at my house?  all the time? You don't want to blow up the cupcakes, do you? (Note to self: buy cupcake mix at Costco)  

5. Once,  __My husband__ suggested that we __we buy a house in the mountains__, and I could only respond, GAME. ON.  Then what happened? Well, I’m glad you asked. Because we are living the dream, baby, living the dream. When we aren’t chasing bears out of our kitchen, mice out of the rafters, and ants out of my bed. I wish I’d just made that stuff up, but no. That’s actually my life. Right now. In case you’re wondering, we named the bear Humphrey, and yes, I do have photographic evidence. Which reminds me. I need to go make sure my back door is locked. Well, that sounds pretty exciting!

6. Would you like to play the 5-words game? Sure! Yay!

The 5-words game rules:

The fabulous E.D. Walker challenges you to use the following 5 words in a piece of flash fiction, as long or short as you wish. Don't overthink it :-)

Then, give 5 words for the next victim, er, interviewee to use.  They will have the option to build on your piece or do a stand-alone.

Your words are: scooter, kiosk, zucchini, fan, dinosaur

Meet Belle, P1 from Roselynn Cannes
And THEN this happened, P2 from Katee Robert
Followed by hijinks..., P3 from Aaron Ritchey
A Twist! P4 from ED Walker

And now, Part 5!

The stranger yelped, drawing the attention of the proprietor of a nearby kiosk. A fine time for someone to notice that something might be amiss in the market. Belle shook her head. They don’t notice an explosion, but the man’s whining over a little bite suddenly has everyone on alert. She glanced over at him. Okay, maybe it wasn’t such a little bite after all. She’d feel guilty over the blood gushing from his wound, but at this point, she knew she only had a minute, if not seconds, to get away before they sent others.

“Do you need some help?” The man in charge of the kiosk, wearing a zucchini green t-shirt with the face of a dinosaur with an all-too happy grin, approached.

Salvation.

Ordinarily, Belle wasn’t a fan of members of the Order of the Reptile. They talked incessantly of things that were hopelessly boring, but she’d been told that in bind, they’d help her. She glanced back at the stall where he’d been hawking his wares- flimsy cast-offs that people wouldn’t pay good money for, except to support the reptilian cause. But… one item caught her eye.

“Is that your scooter?”

He looked at her like she’d just told him his dinosaur was stupid. Belle sighed. The man she’d bit moaned and started staggering to his feet. She did not have time for this. Quickly, she murmured the secret phrase that was supposed to get the cooperation of Order members.

The man cursed, but nodded, then handed her his keys.

Finally! Something was going her way!

Order of the Reptile? I smell a spinoff series!

Thanks so much, Danica!  Can't wait to have a cupcake with you in Denver!

=====================================

Are you registered for Reading Until Dawn Con? 

If not, why not?! Join us for fun, games, snacks and possibly pants-optional dancing.  

Register here, and see you there!

Be sure to keep up with all things Reading Until Dawn, by following it via your own personal social media drug of choice: Facebook |Twitter | Google+ | Up All Night Reading Challenge | Pinterest | Tumblr | RSVP at the Facebook Event.

Sunday Soup - September 13

In The Soup This Week... Kelly Moran, Barbara Bretton, and KJ Charles

Soup Dish:  on my mind
✽I'm not sure this actually rated as a kerfuffle, but a woman on Twitter sent around the text of an emailed review request she got, that just really made me angry.  KJ Charles had a great response. I cannot believe the author in question had the nerve to tell bloggers that including a line similar to "I received a free book from the author in exchange for an honest review" is a "turn-off" and shouldn't be done.  Although, strictly speaking, since she was only offering the book for a positive review, I guess you could say that "in exchange for an honest review" is not actually true.  Hmmph.  If there are any newbie blogger/reviewers out there reading, please never fall for bullshit like that, and please refuse any review request that is framed that way.

✽I really enjoyed this article over at Heroes and Heartbreakers by Kelly Moran, about how characters behave as therapists to other characters sometimes, or how authors and readers might also do that.  It's an interesting take on how to execute a character arc. Makes me want to pick up something that she's written.

✽I'm incredibly tempted to try to read my way through all 101 of these Best Romances.  Hmmm.  Very very tempted.

✽Also, National Book Festival happened in Washington DC, and I completely missed it.  Apparently this is the first year they've had anything about romance.  It sounds like they had a lot of interesting bookish things across the board. And Buzz Aldrin! wow!  

What I'm reading
✽Over the last two weeks, the book that consumed most of my reading attention was The Desert and the Blade, by SM Stirling. It's part of a long-running post-apocalyptic fantasy series.  The series itself kind of waxes and wanes and meanders quite a bit, but every September I look forward to a little visit to this world.  This particular book grabbed me pretty hard and I might actually do a full review.

✽I finished the Kim Harrison short story I mentioned, "Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" from the Holidays are Hell anthology, which was quite nice.  It was interesting to see Rachel as a teenager, still struggling with the debilitating illness which informed her character and character arc throughout the series.

✽Currently reading Barbara Bretton's Shore Lights, which I picked up as an Amazon freebie (still free as of this writing).  Very emotional, and equal parts "women's fiction" to the romance: the mother-daughter relationship features as prominently as the romance, all set to the background of two close-knit, colorful, gossipy extended families. Enjoying it so far, but it's way up there on the divorcee-where-did-I-go-wrong angst scale.

That's it for today -- what are you reading? anything exceptional?

Reading Until Dawn Featured Author: E.D. Walker

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE... 
of the Reading Until Dawn Con author features here at Alpha Heroes.  

The features continue! As a Featured Blogger (ahem) for the Reading Until Dawn conference, it is my pleasure and my sacred responsibility to showcase the delightful authors that will be hanging out and playing embarrassing SUPER FUN AND AWESOME games with us in October.  We're not doing panels.  We're not doing pitches. We're seriously not doing serious. We WILL be doing games.

If you've read Alpha Heroes for very long, you know I'm not too into author interviews. I'm not very good at them, to be honest. So just pretend this is a game instead of an interview.  I gave my authors a Mad Libs^TM style questionnaire, and here are the results!  (note: truthiness is optional... these are fiction writers after all!)

Please welcome E.D. Walker, author of The Beauty’s Beast fantasy romance series of fairy tale retellings.

The Reading Until Dawn Con is different from typical fan conferences in that it will feature tons of games.  So here are my game-themed questions (truthiness is optional).  

1. No one ever beats me at the game of __Jenga____. (My husband kicks my butt at Scrabble EVERY TIME, but I dominate when we play Jenga.) 

2. Please fill in these blanks: "When I was a kid, and they were picking teams for sportball, I was usually:
a) picked right away
b) not picked right away (to put it mildly)
c) one of the captains   Later in life, I found myself __despising sportball__, and I think it was all because of how the sportball teams were picked.  I so feel you there.

3. The most embarrassing/hilarious game I ever participated in was _dirty Scrabble _.  Everyone was laughing at _...just how many dirty words we could think of.   We ARE going to do this at RUD Con, right? Right. Let's make it happen.   

4. In an alternate universe, I am George R. R. Martin, only my fabulously successful 700-page epic book is titled "Game of _Scones_." it is about _a baking shop_  Mmmmm, scones.  

5. Once,  __my best friend__ suggested that we __go clubbing on a Monday night__, and I could only respond, GAME. ON.  Then what happened? Shockingly, there are very few places to get your dance on on a Monday night. Go figure. I'm pretty sure the last time I tried this, Al Gore wasn't done inventing the internet, and the hottest dance tune in the place was this. Not in a nostalgic way.

6. Would you like to play the 5-words game? Sure. Yay!

The 5-words game rules:

The inimitable Aaron Ritchey challenges you to use the following 5 words in a piece of flash fiction, as long or short as you wish. Don't overthink it :-)

Then, give 5 words for the next victim, er, interviewee to use.  They will have the option to build on your piece or do a stand-alone.
Your words are: lush, ball-bearings, plunge, caterwaul, uvula Meet Belle, P1 from Roselynn Cannes
And THEN this happened, P2 from Katee Robert
The latest installment, P3 from Aaron Ritchey

And now, Part 4:

Belle brushed past Guztavus and hurried down the street, hoping he would get the hint.

Instead he plunged after her into the street. "Where are you off to, ma Belle?" Gustavus let out a loud laugh, clearly pleased with his own cleverness. His mouth opened so wide she could see his uvula swinging at the back of his throat.

Belle restrained a low growl of annoyance. Unassuming maidens did not growl. Unassuming maidens also did not rip people's throats out. More's the pity. "I have an appointment, ah, at the church. Please, don't let me keep you from your shopping."

"Nonsense." He tossed a Clementine from one hand to the other. "I'll walk with you. It's a fine day to walk with a fine lady."

Lord spare me from the wit of Gustavus. But, seeing no graceful way out, she continued walking with him down the street. Her heart thumped with tension with each step they took together, and she glanced around, waiting to catch that ringing sound again. Maybe she'd heard wrong, maybe they hadn't found her, after all.

But, even as she had the hopeful thought, she caught the sound again, a bright ringing of soft bells. The sound should be cheerful, but it only made her stomach lump with dread. She picked her pace up again. A skittering started down the street with a flash of something that caught the sun-- a mass of small, shining ball-bearings rolling toward her. "Gustavus, look ou--"

With a flash, the ball bearings exploded around her, cutting her skin and blinding her with light. Gustavus barreled into her, knocking the two of them down to the hard pavement together. He was howling with pain or fear, a regular caterwaul of sound that grated on her nerve endings. Belle shoved at his shoulder to get him off her while he whimpered in a ball on the street.

Her clothes were torn and she bled from many cuts, but one of the few virtues of her…predicament was an accelerated healing factor. She took off at a run. Maybe there was still time, maybe she could make it to the willow--

Someone slammed into her from the side, slamming her against the wall of the nearest building. She thrashed to throw her attacker off, but he only let out a deep, warm laugh. "Now, now. I just wanted to chat."

She froze, arrested by the rich baritone of his voice. The fiend had deep blue eyes, a chiseled chin like granite from the local quarry, and the fullest, lushest, most kissable lips she'd ever seen.

"You're a very difficult woman to catch up with you know." The stranger smiled as he said it, and her heart sped a little at the sight.

She let her body melt against the wall and he instinctively relaxed his grip on her. "Is that so?"

He smiled again, pleased and smug about her compliance.

That was when she bit him.

Go Belle!  I have to admit it, I love these stories!

A bit more information about the author:
E.D. Walker (a.k.a. Beth Matthews) is a Southern California girl, born and raised. She’s a total geek, a movie buff, and a mediocre swing dancer. She lives in sunny SoCal with her husband and two of the neediest housecats on the planet.

Links:
Website: http://edwalkerbooks.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iambethmatthews
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/E-D-Walker/128616687160916

=====================================

Are you registered for Reading Until Dawn Con? 

If not, why not?! Join us for fun, games, snacks and possibly pants-optional dancing.  

Register here, and see you there!

Be sure to keep up with all things Reading Until Dawn, by following it via your own personal social media drug of choice: Facebook |Twitter | Google+ | Up All Night Reading Challenge | Pinterest | Tumblr | RSVP at the Facebook Event.

Sunday Soup, August 30

In The Soup This Week... Katrina, book lists, gas ranges, and some so-so reading...

Soup Dish:  on my mind
✽Hurricane Katrina was ten years ago yesterday. I just have no words for the sadness at the destruction and loss.

✽I'll read anything Loretta Chase writes, including any kind of interview or op-ed piece like this one.

✽There are so many lists published about what to read, it's hard to find one that resonates.  I have a pretty good idea of how much work it takes to put together a post like this one at Under the Covers book blog (note to self, this post is much better on the site than in your feed reader) and my hat is off to the folks that compiled it.  But I am actually pretty partial to this one, curated by the inimitable KatieBabs.  Ten is a number I can wrap my head around, and once I peel off a few that aren't my thing, I could conceivable make a pretty good dent in this one.

✽Randomly:  I'm in the market for a new gas range. I need a 30" width, and a dual oven is a very nice option, though i guess not 100% required.  Consumer reports gives me contradicting information, with reviews of some pretty bad experiences all over their top recommendations.  Meh. I have internet-review-induced paralysis.  Anyone have one they love?

What I'm reading
✽I downloaded a Violet Duke title, Resisting the Bad Boy, based on a special price promotion, and I've seen some buzz about the author. I liked the story fairly well but I did not realize that it wasn't an HEA book, but the first in a trilogy (or possibly more).  I'm further turned off by the fact that the next book pits the hero of the first book's brother against him in a love triangle, so I'm out. No issues with the writing or characters, but I guess I'm traditional enough in my genre formula that I don't want to read this kind of book.  It's still a freebie on Amazon though, so if you want to give it a try, now is the time.

✽I found myself starting another short story this week, an oldie from Kim Harrison in the Holidays Are Hell anthology.  Haven't finished it yet, but I likely will in the next day or two.

✽I'm still grudgingly making progress on the Regency I've mentioned, which I'll go ahead and name: it's I Loved A Rogue, from Katharine Ashe's Prince Catcher series. This is my first title from Ashe, and I have to say I expected better.  I can't quite put my finger on what is dragging me down on this one, but it looks like I'll finish it, so maybe I'll have a perspective on it at that point.

Sunday Soup - August 22

In The Soup This Week... Gaiman and Ishiguru, John Scalzi, Ilona Andrews and more...

Soup Dish:  on my mind
✽ One of the best articles on genre I've ever read: Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro : Let's Talk About Genre.  Ishiguro is not an author I typically read, but the book that prompted this discussion, The Buried Giant, just went to the top of my "acquire and read" list.  There's so much good material in this article, I could pull quotes from it all day long, but this one is probably my favorite, from Ishiguro:

I don’t have a problem, necessarily, about reading for improvement. I often choose a book because I think I’m going to enjoy it, but I think also it’s going to improve me in some sense. But when you ask yourself, “Is this going to improve me?” what are you really asking? I think I probably do turn to books for some sort of spiritual and intellectual nourishment: I think I’m going to learn something about the world, about people. But if by “improving”, we mean it would help me go up the class ladder, then it’s not what reading and writing should be about.

✽A major highlight this week was seeing John Scalzi speak.  I recently (about a year ago) made a move to work for Microsoft in Redmond, and the company hosted a private session.  Scalzi spoke about the similarities between science fiction and high tech work - which incidentally, Ishiguro also brings up in the article above.  A little personal synchronicity, perhaps.  Scalzi also spoke about his choices to speak up about inclusivity and I've got to tell you, I could not like this guy more.  On a lighter note, I have to say that one big highlight was an impromptu Shatner impersonation. 

✽A couple of book-ish blog post that caught my attention this week:

• Phyl (one of my most ancient online friendships!) on the Hardcopied challenge. Which  a topic that interests me quite a bit.  I might check out the next challenge round.
• I always enjoy Pamela's posts, and her latest is no different. In depth, thoughtful, no spoilers but an enticing description of In Wilderness, by Diane Thomas.
• I really liked Francesca's musing on the evolution of her reading taste, over at Under The Covers book blog.

What I'm reading
✽I still have the paranormal and the Regency in progress that I mentioned last week.  Their likelihood of becoming a DNF is growing. I've also got one for review that I really can't DNF that I really want to. #reviewerproblems

✽When you get stuck like that, the best thing to do is to pick up a sure thing. Ilona Andrews just released the latest in the Kate Daniels series and that would fit the bill perfectly. When I went to buy it though, I realized that I hadn't picked up the previous one yet, so Magic Breaks was my choice. The great thing about that is, as soon as I finish the review book and the review, I am going to reward myself with Magic Shifts. I should add that I dearly loved the short story with Julie as the main character at the end, and I am looking forward to more!


✽From the RT14 thumbdrive, I read The Sixth Lover, by Alice Gaines, which was quite good. If you have a fondness for Victorian erotica (authentic or "in the style of"), you'll enjoy this piece. It has much of the style of that genre, but without the non-con aspect and with enough of a plot and emotional content to remain engaging beyond the erotic scenes.

✽Ever since I did the Antholopalooza years ago, I stay on the watch for inexpensive print anthologies.  I keep one in my car at all times for time-killing emergencies.  Recently I found The Other Side, anchored by JD Robb, for a dollar at Half Price Books.  I needed something to read but didn't want to start a full novel, so I read The Other Side of the Coin by Mary Blayney, a new-to-me author. It was a short story about a Regency couple who swapped bodies, courtesy of a mysterious coin, a la Freaky Friday. Not bad, but it didn't blow me away.  Cute premise, a nice emotional wrap-up, but an awful lot of internal narrative "telling."