Author: Deanna

White Chicken Chili Ingredients

White Chicken Chili Recipe (Review)

Deanna Book Talk

On Thursday, February 18, 2021, Harlequin posted their first episode of Harlequin Books and Cooks, a new YouTube cooking show where the host, Princess Elmore, cooks a dish with a featured author. This week, Princess and guest author, Brenda Jackson, made White Chicken Chili. Since I’ve personally never made it or tried it, I thought I would make it and share my efforts here in a new feature called, Cooking with Harlequin. I can’t promise I will always cook the recipes or even like them once I do try them, but I might do both, who knows. Either way, I think it’s a fun new show and a great way to get to know some wonderful authors in a brand new way.

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Todd Kohlhepp (Research Thursday)

Deanna Book Talk

Todd Kohlhepp is a former South Carolina real estate agent and convicted serial killer. In this post, I share a graduate school paper I wrote about his childhood background and how that may have led to his criminal actions and behavior. I also discuss his part in John Douglas’s 2019 book, The Killer Across the Table, published the year after I wrote my paper for my class in school.

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Weekend Update

Weekend Update 02-14-2021

Deanna Book Talk

This is where you can find the latest book news from around the web over the past week or so, as well as a weekly recap of our own blog posts. Since we missed last weekend, we’ve made this post with all the news from the past two weeks, including cover reveals, publishing sales, and book to film announcements.

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The Power of the Actor by Ivana Chubbuck

The Power of the Actor by Ivana Chubbuck (Research Thursday)

Deanna Book Talk

Looking for a good book to help with deepening characterization? What about how to tie your own emotions to those of your character so that you can deepen the emotional resonance of your story? The Power of the Actor by Ivana Chubbuck can help with that, specifically with how to take the idea of a character and turn them into a three-dimensional person that leaps of the page and into the imagination of those who read your work. Originally intended for actors, it has a lot to offer authors, too, and it is a book I highly recommend for aspiring authors to read. Click on the link to read more…

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Book Haul January 2021 (Book Buys and ARCs)

Deanna Book Talk

This is actually a returning feature here at Okie Dreams, where I discuss and share all the books I bought and purchased throughout the month. For January 2021, there are a lot of books I bought (in print and in digital) or received in ARC form. Instead of talking about each individual book, I listed them and linked them all to their Amazon page. Unfortunately, there were way too many to discuss individually this time. But you can still see what I’ve been buying and reading this month, and also what is coming up in the next few months in terms of reviews and discussion posts. Because I have plans, ya’ll. Lots and lots of plans.

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The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (Crime Friday)

Deanna Book Reviews

A serial murderer known only by a grotesquely apt nickname–Buffalo Bill–is stalking women. He has a purpose, but no one can fathom it, for the bodies are discovered in different states. Clarice Starling, a young trainee at the FBI Academy, is surprised to be summoned by Jack Crawford, chief of the Bureau’s Behavioral Science section. Her assignment: to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter–Hannibal the Cannibal–who is kept under close watch in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Dr. Lecter is a former psychiatrist with a grisly history, unusual tastes, and an intense curiosity about the darker corners of the mind.

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The Rebel by Kendall Ryan

The Rebel by Kendall Ryan (COVER REVEAL)

Deanna Book Talk

Eden’s entire life changed in an instant. After enduring a messy breakup and the death of her grandfather, she’s the new owner of his business, a struggling hockey franchise. Bad things happen in threes, right?

Not one to back down from a challenge, she jumps in with both stilettos. There’s just one tempting and sinfully handsome problem . . . her new head of security, Holt Rossi.

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Take Me Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Take Me Cowboy by Maisey Yates (Thursday Throwback)

Deanna Book Reviews

Have you read Take Me, Cowboy by Maisey Yates? It came out years ago, but if you missed it, you’re in luck because it’s still available in e-book and it’s freshly available in print as a bonus read in the back of the author’s most recent Harlequin Desire release, The Rancher’s Wager. But be forewarned, this book has some steamy-hot, seriously well-done love scenes between two people who deserve much more than they let themselves believe they should have.

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