Top 5 Things to Love About Summer by Jess Anastasi – Guest Blog

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Jess Anastasi who is celebrating the recent release of Locked Down, the second book in her Texas Heroes series.

Top 5 Things to Love About Summer

Summer is by far my favourite season. You know what’s even better than summer by itself? Summer in Australia! Here in the land of Down Under, the weather is starting to warm up and I couldn’t be happier.

1) The Beach
When you think of an Aussie summer, a beach is one of the first thing you picture, right? Sparkling crystal waters, white sand for miles and endless blue sky. You can bet it’s as gorgeous in real life as it is in the photos. There’s nothing quite like sand beneath your toes, salt on the warm breeze and the sun glinting off a beautiful Aussie ocean. Even better? An ice cream melting from the cone over your fingers faster than you can eat it. Nothing beats ice cream at the beach in summer.

2) BBQs
Is there anything better than a few snags on a barbie in the backyard with a couple of mates on a summer evening? To translate, that would be a few sausages on a BBQ with friends. So you might need to burn a few citronella candles and cover yourself in bug spray to keep the mozzies (mosquitos) from biting. And you might be forced to eat with one hand because your other hand is constantly batting flies away. And your beer (or chosen drink) might get warm within two minutes because it’s so bloody hot. But that’s what makes it so Aussie!

3) Christmas and Holidays
Anything other than snow and a white holiday season probably sounds like the weirdest thing ever to people in the northern hemisphere, but there is something really awesome about the holiday season coinciding with summer. Kids are on school holidays from early to mid-December until the beginning of February. Many families celebrate their festive holiday lunches outside on a patio or in the garden, sometimes by the pool. Its always a long, lazy afternoon, and since we have the public holiday of Boxing Day after Christmas, we get extra time to recover from out indulgences.

4) Summer Fruits
Some of my favourite fruits, including stone fruits like cherries, become available at this time of years and end up forming an integral part of deserts for the holidays. I’m generally a big fan of fruit, and in summer I love nothing more than to head to the grocery store (or occasionally a farmer’s market) and pick out all the tropical fruits, berries, citruses, grapes and stone fruits I’ve missed all the long winter. Even better if you have a tree or two in your own backyard where you can pick the fruit at your leisure.

5) Thongs
Not THOSE types of thongs. I’m talking about the quintessential Aussie footwear. Unless you have several different types of thongs – dressy thongs with things like diamenties on them, casual thongs, and your well-worn backyard thongs—then you can’t really call yourself an Aussie. Thongs will go with anything for any occasion and I refuse to believe otherwise. It’s so much easier to slide your feet into a comfortable pair of thongs on your way out the door instead of messing around with socks or laces or buckles or who knows what other type of footwear. If I lived in Queensland where its warm all year round, I probably wouldn’t have any other types of shoes in my closet.
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There you have it. The top 5 things I’m looking forward to as the weather warms up and we head into another Aussie summer.

A charming, confident FBI analyst gets more than the fling he bargained for when his lover lands smack in the middle of his investigation.

Gabe Lopez travels to Everness, Texas, to investigate and profile a dangerous group of white supremacists living on the outskirts of the small town. As far as he’s concerned, the assignment can’t end soon enough. When he stops to help Matt York with a flat tire, he anticipates a sexy distraction—nothing more. But Matt has a knack for getting himself into trouble, and soon Gabe is torn between protecting Matt and doing his job.

Matt left a successful life and business back in San Francisco to fulfill a promise to his aunt: find his runaway cousin and bring him home. But Tommy is on a dangerous path, and someone is trying to scare Matt off—or worse.

When the situation escalates, Matt turns to Gabe, who doesn’t like mixing business and pleasure. But in Everness, the secrets are buried deep, and like it or not, Matt is at risk of being buried right alongside them.

About the Author: Jess Anastasi has been making up stories ever since she can remember. Though her messy handwriting made it hard for anyone else to read them, she wasn’t deterred, and now she gets to make up stories for a living. With a multi-award-winning science fiction romance series to her name, her books feature larger-than-life heroes with relatable vulnerabilities who find themselves in situations that push their resolve to the limit. Jess is a tea addict who loves loud music, dancing in her kitchen, and a good book on a rainy day. A fangirl at heart, she probably spends too much time watching too many TV shows. Jess lives in regional Victoria, Australia. Find out more about Jess and her upcoming releases at her website.

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Buy the book at Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, iBooks, or Kobo.

My Top 5 Quotable TV Shows by Jess Anastasi – Guest Blog

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Jess Anastasi who is celebrating yesterday’s release of Take Down, a Texas Heroes book.

Top 5 Quotable TV Shows

Let’s be honest. Who doesn’t enjoy a good snarkfest? I certainly can’t go past snappy dialogue from a character with just the right amount of attitude, so today I thought I’d share with you my top 5 favourite quotable TV shows.

1) Supernatural

Ah the Winchester brothers. So much to love. So many years of snark. Sam and Dean have been filling our screens with spookiness, gore and humor for 14 years now. Its certainly going to be the end of an era when the 15th and final season airs later in the year. I’m extra sad about it because I’m the same age as the brothers and it’s been kinda cool to have that one TV show with characters of a similar age to go back to again and again. Not only do we get all the brotherly love in Supernatural (the jerk/bitch thing never gets old) but we’ve also been treated to Dean’s particular brand of commentary (“I’m Batman!”) and memorable episodes like the time Sam was cursed with a rabbit’s foot and had a string of comical bad luck (“I lost my shoe.” *insert sad face emoji*) and who could forget the time Dean died over and over in increasingly ridiculous ways? Supernatural has always managed to strike the perfect balance of humor, tension, fear and heartbreak. There’s probably never been a show quite like it and likely never will be again.

2) Killjoys

If you haven’t checked out this SyFy gem yet, you’re seriously missing out. I can’t even begin to paint a picture of the snark that is Dutch, Johnny and D’avin. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Dutch and Johnny are Killjoys, which are basically like futuristic bounty hunters and they fly a cool spaceship. In the pilot episode, Johnny has to go rescue his older brother, D’avin, from what amounts to a prison/slaver ship. Johnny has an adorable entertaining-banter-type relationship with their ship’s AI, named Lucy (which included an episode where Lucy was downloaded into this android bot thing and was a woman for a few hours. Easily one of the best eps). Not only is this show is filled with snappy one liners (“I think I prefer regular bitchy Dutch to creepy nice Dutch” and “That guy is the dickiest dick that ever dicked.”), but the banter back and forth between the characters—including the secondary characters—is just brilliant (D’Avin: “No offense, but I always pictured my last stand blaze of glory being with my brother. Not you.” Fancy Lee: “I heal, remember? You’re the one having an existential crisis. Don’t worry, I’ll tell everyone you died sexy.”) This show has a really great balance of series-arcing story line, action and humor that keeps the plot spinning.

3) Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Where to even begin? Similar to Supernatural, I was the same age as Buffy when it started way, waaay back in 1997. While I know that some people watch Buffy now and point out all the ways its problematical, for its time, Buffy really was revolutionary. It proved to viewers and critics alike that a show primarily from the feminine perspective could be sharply humorous while enjoying a swath of pop culture references and constant dismantling of horror movie clichés. For myself, I always think Buffy was one of the first signpost for me becoming an author. I was addicted from the first episode. It just amazed me that something could be so fun and clever and emotionally wrenching (“I may be dead, but I’m still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you.”) all at the same time. It made me think differently about how stories could be told and I think Buffy’s unique style of dialogue and storytelling created a long legacy for books and TV shows going into the 2000s

4) Firefly

Yes, another Joss Whedon entry. Another cult classic with undertones of issues when looked at with 20 years hindsight, but take Firfely’s clever dialogue (“I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.”), space western feel and cast of characters, and its easy to see why this became an obsession for many people after its premature (and probably short-sighted) cancelling by Fox. I can say with all certainty that Firefly had a hand in inspiring me to write my own sci fi series, along with many other authors who no doubt were frustrated by the abrupt way the show had to end and all the questions that were never answered. While Firefly had really great snark, it also went the extra mile with sarcasm (“Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.”) and hyperbole that was just enough to be entertaining, but never over the top (“You know what the chain of command is? It’s the chain I go get and beat you with until you understand who’s in ruttin charge here.”). And like Buffy, Firefly was able to find a really great balance of emotional angst, humor and action, with the added bonus of intrigue over things like River Tam and Shepard Book. This one is always an easy go-to when I’m feeling nostalgic and wanting to re-watch some of my favourite TV shows.

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Teen Wolf was a really great drama, surprisingly aired by MTV. One of the elements that probably made this show, however, was the character of Stiles Stilinski. First introduced as the goofy sidekick and humorous counterpoint to the main character Scott’s more serious and sometimes brooding personality, Stiles ended up owning the role and a good portion of the audience in his long-time ship with Lydia. He transcended the typical sidekick role to become a cornerstone of the series, but always stayed true to character (“I’m 147 pounds of pale and fragile skin and bone, okay? Sarcasm is my only defense.”). What the writers did with Stiles was almost art. He was there for some of the most tense, emotionally charged moments, but could always be relied on to break the tension when the audience needed to take a breath (“Well, I shouldn’t say I told you so, cause it’s not strong enough. How about, I’m always right and you should listen to whatever I have to say, and never disagree ever for the sake of your wolvlihood.”). I always really loved how Teen Wolf played to its character’s strengths and weaknesses, making for compelling stories week after week and season after season.

So that’s my top 5 favorite quotable TV shows; snark, angst and action all the way. What more could you want from a story?

Take Down is now Available!

Attraction sizzles when Danny Jones sets eyes on Deputy Jake Perez, despite meeting over the discovery of a mutilated corpse. But being with Jake could cost Danny his family, and being with Danny could cost Jake the very thing that brought him to Everness, Texas—revenge against the man who killed his brother. How much will Jake sacrifice to take down a psychotic criminal and finally see justice served?

After college, Danny thrived as a gay man in Houston. But when his mom’s cancer brings him back to small, conservative Everness, he must go back into the closet or risk the wrath of his abusive father—a choice made even harder when Danny starts to see a future for him and Jake.

As the body count rises and Danny becomes a target, Jake is caught between his vengeance and protecting the man he loves. He never wanted to end up in a backward town like Everness, but Danny is the best thing that ever happened to him. Jake needs to keep Danny safe as his secrets catch up to them—especially when the threat might be closer to home than they imagined.

About the Author: Jess Anastasi has been making up stories ever since she can remember. Though her messy handwriting made it hard for anyone else to read them, she wasn’t deterred, and now she gets to make up stories for a living. With a multi-award-winning science fiction romance series to her name, her books feature larger-than-life heroes with relatable vulnerabilities who find themselves in situations that push their resolve to the limit. Jess is a tea addict who loves loud music, dancing in her kitchen, and a good book on a rainy day. A fangirl at heart, she probably spends too much time watching too many TV shows. Jess lives in regional Victoria, Australia.

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram

Buy the book at Dreamspinner, Amazon, iBooks, or Kobo.