Review: Dangerous Dream

Catch up with Ethan, Lena, and Link as they finally graduate from high school and get ready to leave the small Southern town of Gatlin. But when Dark Caster Ridley makes an appearance, the sometime bad girl can't resist picking a fight with her sometime boyfriend, Link. Angry and rebellious as ever, Ridley ends up alone in New York City and becomes entangled in the dangerous underground Caster club scene, where the stakes are high and losers pay the ultimate price.

Where's a Linkubus when you need him?

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Novellas can be the perfect way to check out a series.  They are usually fairly quick reading and can be rather enjoyable as long as you don't expect a lot of depth.  This particular novella was number 0.5 in the series so I expected it to be a prelude to the series which would give me some glimpses of the characters as well as a taste of the authors' writing style.  And it did both.

I think who ever numbered this novella in the series was on something good.  I spent the first half of the story totally confused because it was assumed that I had already read the series.   Once I managed to figure out just who was who, I found that I enjoyed the tale.  It was quick paced and Ridley is that bad girl who tries so hard to actually be bad.  

DANGEROUS DREAM did just what it was supposed to do.  It interested me in the series which I am going to have to check out.  Just don't expect to read this novella first and make sense on what is happening from the beginning.

I remember when

It amazes me to think that I have been playing around with beads for almost ten years now.  I remember that when I first started out, I didn't feel that I had a creative bone in my body.  In fact, I had people ask me what I created since my husband is an author and I told them that while I can clean things up on the back-end there was NO way I could start with nothing and come up with a finished product.

And then it happened.  I remember going in to pick up some yarn so that I could work on an afghan during the slower times at work. As I wandered around the store, I found myself in the beading section and I found a kit that had everything I needed to make a necklace and a couple pairs of earrings.  The rest they say is history.

I really wish that I still had the pictures of those pieces I made way back then but I had a hard-drive meltdown and that was before I knew about backing everything up online.  So the earliest pics I have are actually from a couple years ago. 

I still remember my first class which I took at out local bead store, The Bead Factory.  It was on how to wire wrap pearls and chain.  I still retain my love of both pearls and wirewrapping to this day though I tend to knot pearls rather then using wire.

I remember how excited I was when I got in my first order of beads from Fire Mountain.  In those days, I really had no idea of where I was going to picked up a little bit of everything.  Some of it, I still have left but most I have donated since I wasn't really using it.  I don't know that I have really found my niche yet but I do tend to avoid the plastic beads as well as the lower quality gemmies.

Do I have a certain style that is recognizable as me?  I would have to say no.  I am still looking for a signature style.  What I have found is that I am addicted to artisan lampwork, ceramic and polymer beads.  I want every piece that I design to be unique and those artisan components help me to achieve that.  I also tend to mix in semi-precious gemstones with my work to both highlight the handmade and to keep the cost down. 

When I look through my stash, I do have to say that it is rather eclectic mix of vintage lucite, artisan beads, semi-precious gemstones, chains and wire.  About the only thing you won't find is the color yellow.  It's a color that I don't wear and I am just not attracted to so I don't tend to purchase it either.

I do feel that I have grown as a jewelry artist and that I have a lot of growing left to do.  I would love to finally find my signature style.  I would love to learn to solder as well as enamel.  Heck, I would love to learn to make lampwork beads since I love playing with fire but I don't think my body would cooperate there.  I do have to say that I can hardly wait to see where the next ten years takes me.

Now I guess that I really should explain what brought on all this introspection.  You probably guessed it.  Yep I am taking part in a blog hop sponsored by Bead Peeps and this is one of the fun juried hops where the hostesses will be assigning us partners, we chat, exchange beads and then get to show off our designs.  And some of the questions that they are asking on the groups caused me to take a look that where I came from and hopefully where I am going.  I hope that you have enjoyed this little jaunt down memory lane.

Ramblings

• We had our potluck on Saturday and it really struck me how we are all getting older.  Since our last potluck, which was actually a couple months ago due to the holidays, one of my friends had broken both of her legs and another had a heart attack.  They were both feeling up to joining us though so I felt blessed.  These incidents do make me want to gather my friends closer to me. It's too bad that I am such an introvert that I really only get to see them about once a month.
• I always tend to forget just how much more difficult brass wire is to work with them sterling or copper.  I am wirewrapping a some beads up with brass and my hands are just yelling at me.  Why can't my muse learn that I can only use brass in the summer?
• I am being perfectly horrible this month on posting.  Can I blame it on my love of Iron Bull in the DragonAge game?  The only video game I tend to play is the DragonAge saga mainly due to the character interactions.
• It amazes just how our skies can go from grey to blue depending on the day.  The picture above was taken at the same location as the one last week.