Saturday, April 26, 2014

Cinnamon Roll Cake

I needed a recipe for a Breakfast Potluck last week. I found this Cinnamon Roll Cake recipe on Cookin Up North Blog. I thought I could handle this recipe, since it was basically baking a cake!

I started by mixing all the cake ingredients together -
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp.salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted

Then I poured the batter into a 9" x 13" greased baking dish.


While I was making the cake, I took out 2 sticks of better to soften. I usually sit these on top my stove while it preheats to speed the softening up. It was then that I realized this breakfast had THREE STICKS OF BUTTER! I knew it would be delicious.

I creamed together the ingredients for the topping - 
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Then I swirled the topping into the batter.


I baked the Cinnamon Roll cake at 350 degrees for 32 minutes, maybe even a little longer. It took a while for the cake to set up in the middle. 

I mixed the 2 cups powdered sugar, 5 Tbsp. milk and 1 tsp. vanilla and made the glaze. 

When I took the cake out of the oven, I used a skewer and poked multiple holes throughout the surface of the cake so the glaze would ooze throughout. Then I poured the warm glaze over the cake.


I wish I had taken a picture of a slice of the cake but it was gone before I had a chance! Everyone loved this breakfast item! I will definitively make this again. 

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Rusty Nailed Pre-Order Contest


Pre-Order RUSTY NAILED by Alice Clayton (@alice_clayton) from any site and submit proof of pre-order or receipt to giveaways@aliceclayton.com to be entered to win Caroline's favorite KitchenAid Artisan mixer (in any color you choose!)

Contest open until 6/24 (release day!)

International and Domestic entries accepted.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Sweet Filthy Boy Pre-Order

The New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful BastardBeautiful Stranger, and Beautiful Player starts a brand new story of friends, love, and lust with Book One of the Wild Seasons series.

One-night stands are supposed to be with someone convenient, or wickedly persuasive, or regrettable. They aren’t supposed to be with someone like him.

But after a crazy Vegas weekend celebrating her college graduation—and terrified of the future path she knows is a cop-out—Mia Holland makes the wildest decision of her life: follow Ansel Guillaume—her sweet, filthy fling—to France for the summer and just…play.

When feelings begin to develop behind the provocative roles they take on, and their temporary masquerade adventures begin to feel real, Mia will have to decide if she belongs in the life she left because it was all wrong, or in the strange new one that seems worlds away.

Pre-Order Sweet Filthy Boy on Amazon or Barnes & Noble Today!

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Book Tour: The Accidental Socialite




The Accidental Socialite
by Stephanie Wahlstrom
Release Date: 04/15/14
Swoon Romance

Summary from Goodreads:
Quirky and clumsy twenty-two-year-old Paige Crawford arrives in London on a cold Saturday in January. Just when Paige starts to think that moving thousands of miles away from home with no real plan was a bad idea, Jason Frost appears. Confident and classy, Jason is the complete opposite of Paige and just what she needs in her life, or so she thinks.

But before their romance has time to blossom, Paige trips and falls into the arms of a mysterious man on a drunken night out. She’s snapped by paparazzi, and newspaper headlines the next day suggest that she’s having an affair with a married footballer.

Paige finds herself instantly elevated to tabloid celebrity status which isn’t exactly a picnic, particularly when trying to juggle her new job at Fashionista magazine, a catalog of dating disasters and a nagging doubt that she maybe she can’t conquer London after all.

When a trip back to Canada for Christmas reminds Paige why she left her old life behind, she returns to London with renewed vigor realizing that while jobs, flats and men may come and go, friends in London are forever.


My Review

In London I could be Paige Crawford,(fill in awesome life here), not Paige Crawford, wanna be current events journalist, weird Jackie's little sister and all around ordinary girl.
It's sad but true that someone could become famous over night by accident!

What a fun story! Paige might be a crazy mess, but she has a great spirit. She makes some bad choices (drinking, Jason, more drinking) but shes a young 20 something in a new place - LONDON!

Nothing is ever truly permanent, so I need to get my ass diversified.
All Paige needed was to go home to Canada and reboot, then she was ready to take on London!

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars! This was a cute, fun story, with a happy ending for Paige. A great summer read!

Buy The Accidental Socialite on Amazon

About the Author

Growing up in Edmonton, Canada, a significant amount of Stephanie’s time was spent making up and acting out stories. She was studying to be an actress when she realized there weren’t any parts for women being written. So, Stephanie wrote herself a short screenplay just to be in it, and quickly realized that writing was her true passion. She graduated from the University of Alberta with an English and Sociology degree and she also has a Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts from Red Deer College. After a fateful trip to Mexico in 2006, Stephanie decided to move to New York City to work in film development. A year later she went back home to write My Green House, a factual TV series. Stephanie moved to London in 2008 and aside from being obsessed with eggs benedict, fruit roll- ups and travelling, she also works in children’s television. The Accidental Socialite is her first novel.
Goodreads  |   Twitter  |   Blog  |   Facebook  |   Author Page

Giveaway

1 ebook of The Accidental Socialite & $10 Amazon gift card (INT)
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Blog Tour Organized by:
YA Bound Book Tours

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Book Tour: The Romeo Club


The Romeo Club
by Rebekah L Purdy
Release Date: 03/25/14
YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Summary from Goodreads:
THE ROMEO CLUB is Hitch meets The Secret of My Success.

What happens when you agree to help your brother “de-nerdify” so he can catch the attention of the popular Chloe Anders, and to everyone's surprise, he actually lands her?

And what if his equally geeky friends come running with girl wish lists of their own, offering money for your services?

Well, if you’re sixteen-year-old, Delyla Denson, then you start The Romeo Club. A secret club where she’ll teach these guys how talk, act, and be cool around girls. It’s a win-win situation.

She’ll get enough money for the awesome prom dress she’s had her eye on, and the guys, well, they’ll get dates and maybe learn how to do something other than beat the next level on their video games.

There are only two problems with this plan. One, her quarterback/track star boyfriend is getting jealous of how much time she’s spending away from him and decides to try and figure out what’s going on. And two, Delyla is kind of falling for her brother’s BFF, Trey who she’s been hanging out with a lot more. And who thanks to her help, has caught the attention of the beautiful, perfect, and popular, Portia Rickard. With Portia and Trey heating up, Delyla realizes that maybe the person she’s meant to be with has been in front of her all this time.

But falling for Trey means she’ll have to take drastic measures including sabotage, with a capital S.


My Review


What a cute, feel-good story! What high school girl hasn't thought of making over a nerd into a hottie. I think what made The Romeo Club special was that Delyla was already friends with these guys. And in the end, they taught her more about being true to herself than she taught them. 
For the first time, I wondered if maybe they should be giving me lessons in how not be shallow, or better yet, how to embrace showing off my inner nerd.
This was a fast paced read with some fun, quirky characters! I love a story with a happy ending! Both Delyla and Trey made some wrong choices, but in the end true love prevailed!

I’d finally found my Romeo. And he was a giant nerd. But I was okay with that. Because in truth, I was one too.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars! I really enjoyed the message of this book - don't be afraid to be yourself!

Buy The Romeo Club on Amazon or Amazon UK.

About the Author

Rebekah Purdy grew up in Michigan, where she spent many late nights armed with a good book and a flashlight. When not hiding at her computer and getting lost in her stories, she enjoys reading, singing, soccer, swimming, football, camping, playing video games and hanging out with her kids. She loves the unexplainable like Bigfoot, the Dogman, and the Loch Ness Monster (lots of good story material)! She admits to still having all the books she bought throughout her childhood and teen years, and she may or may not have an obsession with anything chocolate.
Website  |  Goodreads  |  Twitter  |  Facebook


Giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour Organized by: YA Bound Book Tours