Brazen Broads Book Bash

At Christmastime, we Broads love to watch Christmas movies and specials.  It puts us in the mood for tinsel and trimmings, and there's nothing like the smiles we get from Ralphie, Miss Piggy, and Opus.  So for our December Top 5, we give you the Christmas shows that make the holiday for us. Alexandria/Moira 1.  The Year Without A Christmas/A Christmas Story 2.  The Muppet Christmas Carol/It's a Wonderful Life 3.  A Wish For Wings That Work/The Bishop's Wife 4.  Scrooged/White Christmas 5.  National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation/The Muppet Christmas Carol   1.  Alexandria:   When I was a child, my favorite Christmas cartoon wasn't Rudolph or Frosty but the one with the Miser Brothers-I'm Mr. Heat Miser; I'm Mr. Sun.  I'm Mr. Heat Miser; I'm Mr. Hundred and One.  I just loved those brothers!  As someone who hates the cold and snow, of course I liked the idea of a green Christmas, but the Freeze Miser was just fantastic too.  Still now, year

We are happy to welcome Katrina LaCroix, author of Loose Lips Sink Ships , to the Brazen Broads Book Bash today.  To read our review of Katrina's darkly humorous book, click here .   BB:   Where did the inspiration for Avery Leigh come from? KL:   I've come to the conclusion that there are far too many sane characters in fiction, and that's a shame because crazy people are the most fun to read about! I just wanted someone who had no inhibitions, no morals, no restraints to keep her from getting what she wants. That's how Avery was born. Looking at her on the page, the most shocking part about her might be how confident she is despite being completely out of her mind. BB:   What is your favorite scene from  Loose Lips Sink Ships? KL:  This is a hard question. I can't tell you how many times I laughed thinking some of this stuff up. I do love the sex scene, but I also love the scene when Avery finds out her younger sister is pregnant. Part of me wonders

A Book About Why We Speak As We Do We tend to read a lot of fiction here at the Brazen Broads Book Bash, so it's always nice to get our hands on some good nonfiction books almost as a way to cleanse our palettes sometimes.  Ralph Keyes book, Euphemania ,  is the perfect mix of informative yet interesting.  In it, he shares the reasons why we use euphemisms so often in our daily speech.  The main idea behind the book is that euphemisms are used to make the uncomfortable more comfortable.  Therefore, they're very common in discussions about sex.  One anecdote offered in the book refers to Jesse Jackson's threat during the 2008 election in which he stated he wanted to "cut off Barack Obama's nuts."  Keyes explains that the major news organizations struggled with how to report this, using euphemisms such as Jackson wanted to do something to his sensitive areas.  (It escapes the Broads why they couldn't just say Jackson wanted to castrate him.) Euphemania

Tales Of A Part-Time Driving Instructor, Or Personal Manifesto?......... Life in the Slow Lane is mostly a collection of Thomas Sullivan's high-falutin' ever-so-progressive ideals; ideals which he implies all lower forms of evolved species (a.k.a. conservatives, rednecks, and those bastard capitalists who drive large SUVs) should embrace.  One example of which is found on page 81..... ".....town reeks of boredom and teenage pregnancy.  This is the type of place where people vote for republicans who don't care about them after the elections....... " Sullivan spends much of the 166 pages of his book staring down the end of his nose, most certainly clad in hemp trousers, a chai tea concoction (in a recycled cup, no doubt) in his left hand while hugging trees and chanting some mantra about saving bacteria from extinction at the hands of greedy mega-corporations and their damned super-antibiotics - all the while certain that readers actually give a damn about his p

Some Eat To Live.....Others Live To Eat Pat and Gina Neely, with Paula Disbrowe, share their recipes and their life experiences in their humor filled way.  Pat chronicles his family's humble beginnings and the love filled home he was raised in.  Losing their father at a young age, the Neely boys worked hard alongside their mother to make ends meet.  With their Grandmother's help, the brothers opened their first restaurant on February 29, 1988, and their success story is well known.  The couple share their love story - which is quite endearing.  It is obvious as one progresses through the book that the couple have a great deal of love and respect for one another, for their girls, and for their families.  Both Gina and Pat share anecdotes on each double page spread along with a recipe or two.  Some are sweet, remembering a favorite Aunt, some informative, and many are seasoned with terrific wit and humor.  There is an additional section on barbecue meats handled by Tony Neely

Now That's a Brazen Broad..........  Avery Leigh's life is in turmoil after her boyfriend, Carter, breaks up with her, and she determines that by hook or by crook, he will be hers again.  And so begins LaCroix's dark comedic glimpse into the life of a dysfunctional teen aged girl. From the first, LaCroix writes with unabashed black humor.  Her main character, Avery, is pure malevolence, dealing friends and foes alike her brutal tactics to achieve her goals.  The character works, however, as LaCroix writes a hilarious version of the truly unrepentant bitch.  Avery becomes laugh-out-loud likable throughout the story as the reader discovers the bizarre home environment she must deal with and its effects on her young life.  LaCroix also scores a win - in that Avery, while ultimately remaining a true brazen broad, does grow (just a bit) over the course of her hysterical adventures with her minions....ahem, I mean friends. Katrina LaCroix's story will not appeal to eve

Should Have, Could Have, Would Have....... Shocked when her husband of ten years, Frank, announces that he is leaving, Kennedy Andrews must pick up the pieces of her life and start over.  With a teen aged daughter in open rebellion, partly because of the separation of the only parents she's known, and in part from curiosity at finding her biological father, Kennedy agrees to help Maya locate him.  When both Maya and Amanda, the younger daughter, visit Frank for a weekend, Kennedy decides to revisit the neighborhood she used to live in with Marco, Maya's father, and then alone with Maya after their breakup.  Walking the changed streets, she hopes to rediscover the bold independence she felt during that time of her life.  But Kennedy gets more than she bargained for when she visits McGlynn's, the restaurant and bar she worked at all those years ago, for her former boss, Declan McGlynn, is still the man that sets her heart a flutter, and he's single.  Kennedy had loved