Colleen Houck


“I took hold of that scourge -filled ship and crushed it between my limbs, hurtling it into the second sun, the red one that gave me strength. But I was too late." Terraformer

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  • My 2015 Book Boyfriends

    December 26, 2015


    Anyone who’s read me knows I like romance. For that reason, I’ve decided to dedicate a blog post to my top ten book boyfriends of 2015. In no particular order, here they are!


     

    Jace Wayland

    The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

       

    “There is no pretending,” Jace said with absolute clarity. “I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there is life after that, I’ll love you then.”


    Elias Veturius

    An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

       

    And she has no idea how pretty she is – or what kind of problems her beauty will cause for her at a place like Blackcliff. The wind pulls at her hair again, and I catch her scent – like fruit and sugar.
    “Can I give you some advice?”
    Her head flies up like a scared animal’s. At least she’s wary. “Right now you…” Will grab the attention of every male in a square mile. “Stand out,” I finish. “It’s hot, but you should wear a hood or a cloak – something to help you blend in.”


    Carswell Thorne

    Cress by Marissa Meyer

       

    “I promise, I will not let you die without being kissed.”


    Aladdin

    The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

       

    “The things that were once sweet to me are now bitter. The sun is not half so bright. The stars seem dimmer. All this wealth and luxury feels meaningless. All the world is in your shadow, Zahra. I cannot help but see you when I close my eyes.”


    Khalid Ibn al-Rashid

    The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

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    “Shazi, I prefer the color blue to any other. The scent of lilacs in your hair is a source of constant torment. I despise figs. Lastly, I will never forget, all the days of my life, the memories of last night—For nothing, not the sun, not the rain, not even the brightest star in the darkest sky, could begin to compare to the wonder of you.”


    Raffe

    Angelfall by Susan Ee

       

    “It is not the gentle kiss of a couple on a first date, nor is it the kiss of a man driven by simple lust. He kisses me with the desperation of a dying man who believes the magic of eternal life is in this kiss.”


    Malyen Oretsev

    Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

       

    “I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I’d catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I’d seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I’d realize that you weren’t there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I’ve risked my life for you. I’ve walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I’d do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don’t tell me why we don’t belong together,” he said fiercely.”


    Ash Darkmyr Tallyn

    The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

       

    “His forehead bumped softly against mine, his brilliant silver gaze searing into me. “I plan to keep you, from everyone, for as long as I’m alive. That includes Puck, the false king, and anyone else who would take you away.” One corner of his mouth quirked, as I struggled to catch my breath under his powerful scrutiny. “I guess I should’ve warned you that I have a slight possessive streak.”


    Luc

    The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan

       

    “Ingrid deserved better than selfish kisses and an empty, hopeless future. Even if the Dispossessed allowed it, she deserved to be more than Luc’s human obsession. He would end it, cut himself off from her. He could better protect her then. That was all Luc was. It was all he could ever be. Her watchman. Her guardian. Her gargoyle.”


    Flynn Cormac

    This Shattered World by Aime Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

     

     

     

     

     

     

    “You’re the most important thing in this universe. You; this vessel; the people of this planet; lovers, warriors, artists, leaders, dreams more numerous than stars. Each mind unique, each thought created for an instant and then broken apart to form new ones. You don’t understand the unbearable beauty of being you.”


    There you have it! Who were your book boyfriends this year? Do you have any recommendations for me? Let me know in the comments below.

    This entry was posted in Featuring Authors, Top Ten Lists.

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    Colleen Houck

    New York Times Bestselling author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, paranormal, science fiction, and romance. When she's not busy writing, she likes to spend time chatting on the phone with one of her six siblings, watching plays, and shopping online. Colleen has lived in Arizona, Idaho, Utah, California, and North Carolina and is now permanently settled in Salem, Oregon with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers.

  • Last Minute Christmas Ideas for Him and Her

    December 23, 2015


    Merry Christmas! 

    Image result for Christmas presentsMany of you are last minute Christmas shoppers, and I’m going to help you out.  You don’t want your present to look last minute so take a few minutes and read this blog and get some great ideas.

     

    First there are some things you need to know about gift giving.  We all like receiving and giving gifts but now think about that special person.  This means you need to spend a few minutes thinking about the person.  Is your brain already exploding because you don’t know, or you know your time is limited and that there is no time to think.  Alright, alright, just look at some quick ideas below.


     

    Women=Are nurturers and give, give, give.  How do you give to a person that gives all the time?  You do something to take care of her.

     



    #1 Spa Treatment

    You can go big or little here depending on what your budget is. You can pick up a couple face masks, sweetly scented lotion, a little nail kit, and a new nail polish. Or you can go to your local spa’s website and print off a gift certificate. Like our spa at Gadabout who has many facials, manicures, pedicures, massage, and hair treatments.

     


     

     

    #2 Perfume that matches her other scents.  Does she like warm, sweet, fruity, or floral?  Perfume is a great option.  There are so many options out there.

     

     

     

     

     

     


     

     

    #3 Something to give her some of her own time back.  A cleaning service (either by you or a professional), a gift card to Amazon, Chipotle, movie tickets to that thing she loves.  Remember this video?

     


     

     

    MEN=In my almost 20 years of marriage have found that boys still like toys, but just more expensive ones.  What is their hobby?  What are their interests?  No time for that, ok, then just check out my ideas below.

     


     

    #1 Games.  What do they play on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Computer? Star Wars is a life long love for my husband so it was easy with a new game coming out a few months ago.  What does your guy like?

     

     

     


     

     

     #2 Speakers 

    A new Blutoothooth speakers.  They are everywhere.  Add an ITunes gift card and you are set.

     


     

     

    #3 Rockets.  Weird, right!  This has been a hit every time, and a great family activity.

     

     


    Now get shopping….you are really behind!

     

    Merry Christmas!

    This entry was posted in Top Ten Lists.

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    Shara Lane

    I'm Shara, a wife, mother, bargain shopper, and I love to critique everything from food to mascara. I'm a sister of Colleen who lives in the desert of Arizona. My favorite time of day is when I pretend my kids are asleep upstairs, and I can catch up on my favorite shows with my handsome husband. Once Upon a Time, Dr. Who, Mythbusters (husband's choice), Big Bang Theory, Sherlock, and Castle. I turned 40 but feel around 30ish, and wonder where the time has gone. I love new clothes, new make-up, new food, and anything new to try out and critique. It's not mean, I promise, I just really like to figure out how to make things better :-)

  • Colleen Houck Book Club 2016 Picks!

    December 21, 2015


    Hi Everyone!

    I’m very excited to share with you my CHBC picks for 2016. There are some fabulous authors and books on the list so pick these up and then join me for the conversation. If you’re new to the Colleen Houck Book Club, it’s super easy to join. I host the club on Goodreads and each month you get the chance to ask authors questions. You can ask anything from what they like to eat to what they’re writing right now. You don’t have to read the book to participate and every month I choose one lucky person from the chat to win a prize. The prize includes the book or books I’ve read from that author that month as well as your pick of any of my books as well as some extra fun stuff I throw in.

    You can check out the past chats on the group board with amazing authors like Beth Revis, Tera Lynn Childs, Sophie Jordan, Kimberly Derting, and many more, and you can also ask me questions there as well. Hope you can join the club this year!

    Now for your 2016 sneak peek. Here are my Book Club Picks!


     

    January

    Alexandra Monir

         

    A modern-day twist on the classic thriller, Rebecca, with a dash of the supernatural, a powerful romance, and a deadly family mystery.

    “There’s something hidden in the maze.”

    Seventeen-year-old Imogen Rockford has never forgotten the last words her father said to her, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family’s English country manor.

    For seven years, images of her parents’ death have haunted Imogen’s dreams. In an effort to escape the past, she leaves Rockford Manor and moves to New York City with her new guardians. But some attachments prove impossible to shake—including her love for her handsome neighbor Sebastian Stanhope.

    Then a life-altering letter arrives that forces Imogen to return to the manor in England, where she quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind Rockford’s aristocratic exterior. At their center is Imogen herself—and Sebastian, the boy she never stopped loving.

    Combining spine-tingling mystery, romance, and unforgettable characters, Suspicion is an action-packed thrill ride.


     

    February

    April Genevieve Tucholke

         

    The intrigue of The Virgin Suicides and the “supernatural or not” question of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer coalesce in this young adult mystery, where nothing is quite as it seems, no one is quite who you think, and everything can change on a dime.

    Every story needs a hero.
    Every story needs a villain.
    Every story needs a secret.

    Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.

    What really happened?
    Someone knows.
    Someone is lying.

    For fans of Holly Black, We Were Liars, and The Raven Boys, this mysterious tale full of intrigue, dread, beauty, and a whiff of something strange will leave you utterly entranced.


     

    March

    Rysa Walker

         

    The Cyrists are swiftly moving into position to begin the Culling, and Kate’s options are dwindling. With each jump to the past or the future, Kate may trigger a new timeline shift. Worse, the loyalties of those around her—including the allegiances of Kiernan and the Fifth Column, the shadowy group working with Kate—are increasingly unclear.

    Kate will risk everything, including her life, to prevent the future her grandfather and the Cyrists have planned. But, when time runs out, it may take an even bigger sacrifice to protect the people she loves.


    April

    Melinda Salisbury

      

    Return to the darkly beautiful world of The Sin Eater’s Daughter with a sequel that will leave you awed, terrified . . . and desperate for more.

    Ever since her brother Lief disappeared, Errin’s life has gone from bad to worse. Not only must she care for her sick mother, she has to scrape together rent money by selling illegal herbal cures. But none of that compares to the threat of the vengeful Sleeping Prince whom the Queen just awoke from his enchanted sleep.

    When her village is evacuated as part of the war against the Sleeping Prince, Errin is left desperate and homeless. The only person she can turn to is the mysterious Silas, a young man who buys deadly poisons from Errin, but won’t reveal why he needs them. Silas promises to help her, but when he vanishes, Errin must journey across a kingdom on the brink of war to seek another way to save her mother and herself. But what she finds shatters everything she believed about her world, and with the Sleeping Prince drawing nearer, Errin must make a heartbreaking choice that could affect the whole kingdom.


    May

    Julie Kagawa

       

    Ember Hill left the dragon organization Talon to take her chances with rebel dragon Cobalt and his crew of rogues. But Ember can’t forget the sacrifice made for her by the human boy who could have killed her—Garret Xavier Sebastian, a soldier of the dragonslaying Order of St. George, the boy who saved her from a Talon assassin, knowing that by doing so, he’d signed his own death warrant.

    Determined to save Garret from execution, Ember must convince Cobalt to help her break into the Order’s headquarters. With assassins after them and Ember’s own brother helping Talon with the hunt, the rogues find an unexpected ally in Garret and a new perspective on the underground battle between Talon and St. George.

    A reckoning is brewing and the secrets hidden by both sides are shocking and deadly. Soon Ember must decide: Should she retreat to fight another day…or start an all-out war?


    June

    Amy Christine Parker

       

    Ocean’s Eleven meets the star-crossed lovers of West Side Story. Grab some popcorn and get ready for an adrenaline-filled heist!

    LEXI is a rich girl who loves a good rush. Whether it’s motorcycle racing or BASE jumping off a building in downtown Los Angeles, the only times she feels alive are when she and her friends are executing one of their dares. After her father’s arrest, Lexi doesn’t think twice about going undercover at his bank to steal the evidence that might clear his name. She enlists her hacker brother and her daredevil friends to plan a clever heist.

    CHRISTIAN is a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. The local gang has blackmailed him and his friends into robbing banks, and he is desperate for a way out. When the boss promises that one really big job will be the last he ever has to do, Christian jumps at the chance for freedom. In fact, he’s just met a girl at the bank who might even prove useful. . . .

    Two heists. One score. The only thing standing in their way is each other.

    Told in alternating points of view, this caper is full of romance and fast-paced fun. Hand to fans of Perfect Chemistry, The Conspiracy of Us, and Heist Society.


     

    July

    Renée Ahdieh

       

    The much anticipated sequel to the breathtaking The Wrath and the Dawn, lauded by Publishers Weekly as “a potent page-turner of intrigue and romance.”

    I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust.

    In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse—one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid’s empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan.

    While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn’t yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love.


     

    August

    Jessica Brody

       

    When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage―alive―is making headlines across the globe.

    Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

    Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.
    Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?
    From popular young adult author Jessica Brody, Unremembered is the start of a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.


     

    September

    Josephine Angelini

      

    This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergiesmake it increasingly difficult to live a normal life, and after a completely humiliating incident ruins her first (and perhaps only) real party, she’s ready to disappear.

    “Come and be the most powerful person in the world.”
    Suddenly, Lily finds herself in a different Salem. One overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women―including Lillian, this world’s version of Lily.

    “It will be terrifying. It was for me.”
    What made Lily weak at home, makes her extraordinary here. It also puts her in terrible danger. Faced with new responsibilites she can barely understand and a love she never expeceted, Lily is left with one question: How can she be the savior of this world when she is literally her own worst enemy?


     

    October

    Lori M. Lee

       

    Kai always believed the only danger to the city came from within. Now, with a rebel force threatening the fragile government, the walls have become more of a prison than ever.

    To make matters worse, as Avan explores his new identity as an Infinite, Kai struggles to remind him what it means to be human. And she fears her brother, Reev, is involved with the rebels. With the two people she cares about most on opposite sides of a brewing war, Kai will do whatever it takes to bring peace. But she’s lost her power to manipulate the threads of time, and she learns that a civil war might be the beginning of something far worse that will crumble not only Ninurta’s walls but also the entire city.

    In this thrilling sequel to Gates of Thread and Stone, Kai must decide how much of her humanity she’s willing to lose to protect the only family she’s ever known.


    November

    Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

       

    This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

    This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

    The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

    But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

    Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.


     

    December

    Mary E. Pearson

       

    A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

    She flees on her wedding day.

    She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor’s secret collection.

    She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

    She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

    The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can’t abide. Like having to marry someone she’s never met to secure a political alliance.

    Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.


     

    There you go. My 2016 Book Club Picks. Let me know if you have suggestions for 2017. I reach out to authors pretty early and will start filling in spots soon! And don’t forget to check in this month. My featured author is Diana Peterfreund!

    book club 2016

    This entry was posted in Colleen Houck Book Club, Featuring Authors, The Modern Ink Society.

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    Categories
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    Author Bio
    Colleen Houck

    New York Times Bestselling author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, paranormal, science fiction, and romance. When she's not busy writing, she likes to spend time chatting on the phone with one of her six siblings, watching plays, and shopping online. Colleen has lived in Arizona, Idaho, Utah, California, and North Carolina and is now permanently settled in Salem, Oregon with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers.