Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July full of family, fun and celebration!  We had a wonderful BBQ with my parents here at my house.  We let off fireworks after our tummies were full and proceeded to watch the towns aerial fireworks from our front yard. The only thing that I didn’t enjoy was daylight savings time.  My youngest figured out that if you get to stay up until dark it is much later than it should be bed time.  Now she wants to stay up until its dark! Darn kid is getting too smart!

I wanted to take a moment to pass on some things that are going on at my Affiliates sites this week.  I hope you will check them out and decide to join their sites if you haven’t already!

Liz is currently taking a small vacation but she did wrap up some contests before leaving.  She announced the winners for her CSN giveaway and Necromancer giveaway.  Did you enter? You might have won! Go check out her site and see. While you are there, check out her last Treasure Trove Tuesday! I so need that T-Shirt she found!

Froggy recently gave Iron Daughter a fabulous review! She gave it 5/5 flies! She also included a link to where you can download Winter Passage for free for a limited time. You better hurry though, because it ends soon.
She also announced some upcoming events as well.
Blog Tour: July 26th Deadly Fear
Blog Tour: August 2nd Wicked Intentions
Blog Tour: August 5th and 6th Secrets on Lake Drive
Blog Tour: August 9th Captured By Desire
So that’s about it! I will be posting some reviews later today. Right now, I am trying to get them all typed up to share with you!  I had sort of a read-a-thon this weekend and read a ton while I could.

Yes, I am one of those lonely souls who had to wait to go watch the movie Eclipse.  Since I didn’t have a babysitter until today for my youngest, I had to be tortured with everyone’s reviews of the movie. Well, I finally got to go today and get to torture some one else with MY review! *insert evil laugh!*

When I read the Twilight Saga books, Eclipse was my favorite by far.  To me, the action was great in this book, and the movie did not disappoint either. Here are my pros and cons of the movie.

PROS:

1. THE ACTION!  The action was so much better in this movie.  Yes, there is still the dizzy-fast speed that makes you go cross eyed, but the way it was done didn’t give me nausea like the last time. The build up of excitement was fast paced as well. I loved all the action that was going on throughout the movie, even before the big battle towards the end.

2. THE TRAINING SCENE! Oh.My.God! It was great!  The witty dialogue, the action and best of all , the Cullen’s and the wolf pack working together to train.  The best of both worlds all in one scene sequence! PLUS Jasper with a Southern Drawl….yum!

3. THE HISTORY!  We finally get a glimpse into the stories of the Cullen’s and the Wolf Pack.  We get to see Jasper’s story unfold up to where he meets Alice. Damn, he looked good in that Confederate uniform riding that horse!  Even better, his hair even appealed to me in this one. We even get to see Rosalie’s story told as well.  I would hate to be on the end of that girls revenge rampage! Loved the wedding dress dramatics as well Rosalie!  We even get to see the campfire scene where Bella gets to hear the story of The Wolf Pack.

4. THE ACTING! The actors have really embraced their roles in this movie. It only took them until the third one to start feeling comfortable with their roles! Well, except for a few of them, but that is listed in the cons section. Charlie is still my favorite by far.  This actor was the perfect fit for this role!  He knows when to use the Daddy eye roll in the right spots and he knows his acting!  He had me cracking up with his scenes!

5. THE FIGHT SCENE FINALE! My oh my. What the wolf pack and Cullen’s can do when they want to unite.  I loved it!  From training to the actual battle, I was in awe.  The wolves were so much better in this movie.  What was the best part was actually getting to have Seth in this movie! Finally! Also, the stunts were amazing along with most of the “killing” of the vampires! I loved how forceful and fun it was to watch those evil suckers die! Think shattering ice sculptures!

6.  THE LAKE SCENE! Riley. Coming out of the water. Looking hot! Enough said.

CONS:

1. VICTORIA! I am so sorry Bryce, but you are no Rachelle.  I loved Rachelle as Victoria and no one could have played her better in my eyes.  Plus, Bryce looked like she stuck her finger in a light socket to get that poodle do and then poured red Kool-aid on her head. She also couldn’t act.  I was very disappointed with her, and thank goodness she gets to feel the heat near the end.

2. WE NEED MORE CULLEN’S!  Yes, I admit, the Cullen’s are seen and hear from alot in this installment. Yet, we still didn’t get to see that much of Emmett and Esme. It’s like their little dialogue was added in as an afterthought. Although, Emmett did have some great lines and action scenes, Esme was still in the background. She has one scene near the end when they are talking with the Volturi and not much beyond that.

3.  BELLA’S HAIR: Ewww.  That had to be Jacobs wig from New Moon. The costume department really needs to get rid of that ugly thing and return it back to the Halloween store.

4.  ALL THE ROMANCE! I am going out on a limb and hoping you don’t hang me for this, but I was getting really tired of Bella and her poor me scenes. Plus how many times do I have to see her up on that screen kissing Edward when I know he is thinking of me!  Eclipse is all about the action, and the romance kept sparking my jealousy getting in the way.

5. THE VOLTURI! They are just plain mean. Torturing poor Bree like that was so not necessary. I know they are the evil guys, but come on.  Can’t they play nice just once!?  Actually, I liked that they were in this one. I just don’t like looking at Dakota Fanning being so mean. She is such a sweetheart that I cry when she looks so evil.

6. JESSICA! Valedictorian? Since when? I don’t remember her getting that honor in the book, but I could be wrong. I will have to double check that fact and see. She is a ditz, but I guess you never know.

Now, there is a lot more I would love to talk about, but I seriously don’t want to spoil it too much for others who haven’t had the chance to see it.  I begged my hubby to take me, and had to give certain…ummm..*cough* favors for him to go sit through it with me, but it is so worth it! I even tried to get him to hide with me somewhere in the theater so we could sneak in an watch it again. He wouldn’t go for it though. He was playing Mr. Good and Honest Man today. Darn it!


OVERALL RATING OF ECLIPSE: 5 STARS!!

A WEATHER REPORT! LMAO!!!!

OMG! What was I thinking when I let my parents move me to this God Forsaken Desert long ago? I know, I didn’t have much choice when I was like 6 years old, but COME ON!  I just looked at the temp outside, and can you believe it is 105 in the freakin shade??!!  What makes it worse is the damn water pump in our swamp cooler just went out! So yeah, it feels like 115 in the house.  Hubby came home from work and fixed it thank goodness!

When people refer to Dry Heat and such, don’t listen! There is only one kind of heat—FREAKIN HOT!  That’s right! HOT!  It is so hot outside my house right now that when you take one step outside you have instant sweat and its hard to breathe.  I hate that all winter long I whine about the cold, and then in summer I whine about the heat.  But here in our Southern California town, we have 2 seasons.  Hot and Hotter. Anyone else feeling the summer yet?? Is it Winter time yet??? Whats worse are the kids are on summer break and wanting to sit on my lap to complain about the heat. HELLO? Get the hell out of my lap because you are making me hotter!! They want me to cook them food and I tell them to go get a sandwich! I am not freaking cooking in this heat!

Okay just had to vent…resume your blog hopping! LOL