Cia

One big tip for cooking. Don't use salt! If you just have to have it, use it after, especially for meat. Salt dries things out so the only thing I add any to is boiling water for pasta. Most diets let you eat green beans all you want and they're excellent additions to your dinner plate to really fill it up. Fruits are good but have a LOT of natural sugar. With a recommended gram intake of just 62 a cup of cantaloupe and a banana are close to 30 together. A cup of cucumber slices and a serving of baby carrots only have 5 grams. It's spendy in the off season but there have been times when my lunch consists of cucumbers, carrots, and cauliflower with 2 tbsp. of ranch. The crunch is amazing and my "3C" meal makes me feel good about myself. Good luck on your diet, we're rooting for you!!

I love the foreign feel to this story. The life of a simple fisherman that wasn't quite so simple. Great job!

Wow, great review, thank you! I love strong men but the strongest exterior can hide a gentle inside. There is nothing better than a man who can break you like a twig but treats you like you're precious. If that's not too girly of me ;*) More will be coming soon!

Oh, see I thought I was doing bad by the longer than a week gap, glad I didn't let you down then The Snake Clan intrigue me because of their differences from other Carthera. We haven't really gotten into that yet and I'm surprised no one has mentioned the fact that UN-mated Dav already has Snake characteristics when other characters don't until they bond. Usually. Velaku and Natham were a bit different as well. I can't wait to keep sharing Dav and Ellis' story with you guys. Thanks so much for the great review!!

OH my evil mind is working overtime on these guys, yes it is!! Glad you liked the chapter!

This started from actual anger but then the thoughts of the story and the characters grew in my head and flew across the page. I actual wrote this one on paper first and I think my hand was cramped for hours. Definitely one of the most emotional pieces I've written. Why am I not surprised that personal balance is the choice you'd take, Thanks for the review Nephy! Hugs!!

Perfectly snaketastic that tongue is Dav is... conflicted. We all know I can be not so nice to my characters so we'll just have to see what comes of that, lol. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing, as always!!

I know. I've seen it on body mod shows and the idea of it naturally is like... yum! The tongue is a muscle after all. Thanks so much for the review!!

Chapter 3 is now posted! Enjoy!!

He hissed. Honest to gods, hissed with his fangs bared as he glanced out the bedroom door toward the living room. Of course, the sight of his fangs made me harder. His head swung around toward the door and then his tongue flicked out and the end separated into two points; that really got my attention. "What the...?" His tongue flicked back into this mouth. "It's Benny." I just stared at him. He looked down at me and frowned. "He knows I'm with you and he wouldn't interrupt without a goo

Big question... do you ever have sex without feelings? No. Well, I don't in answer to my question. You can't just write the mechanics of what goes where and thrust, groan, orgasm, and have a scene resonate with the readers. Then, the overly flowery 'we came together in a shower of stars and super novas as the heavens collided as we joined as one', just makes me laugh. I mean... I've never felt that way and maybe another reader has but it's just so... corny sounding. To me a good sex scene must detail what goes where in some ways. Everyone has spots they like to be touched, a preference for the contact, light, tickling, firm, slightly painful, and positions/types of sex they like. If you want your character to be real you have to find that out about them and share it in as realistic way as possible. You don't have to write full out sex to have a scene be sexual but imo, if you are going to add intimate scenes into the story you should stay true to the storyline and the characters you have. Also, unless you want your characters to be in a sexual rut, you have to mix it up. The same thing over and over gets boring and can ruin what could be a very important part of your story.

Hi! Thanks so much for the review. I did try to keep the story in character for the different points of view I used, particularly the teenagers. I'm guessing the scenes where I point out Alan's plans are the ones that pushed the foreshadowing. I have been told putting this story solely in Dane or Tap's pov, or both, would have been a better route. More 'mystery' for the reader, certainly. All in all, I liked writing the story, and this was the format I used, but I definitely like getting reader feedback and why this style did or did not work for them and how I can improve. Next time I'll work on revealing a little less of the plot beforehand. Thanks so much again for the review!!

Yes, I do plan to include more of Grecia's story. She wasn't just a convenient character to throw into this story, she has a very real presence in the haitas. The complications of Stelian being the first Hultan in thousands of years and not having a teacher will factor quite a bit into the new story (no more spoiler than that, sorry). I'm really glad you liked the story and want to read more, getting comments and reviews only pushes me to contine writing it. Thank you so much!

Well, I have chronic heart/blood pressure issues and low potassium. All my life I would get woken up with muscle spasms at night, especially in my legs and feet. Increasing my potassium intake is one way to help both conditions but I didn't always have potassium rich fresh foods on hand so I drank ketchup growing up. It's not the highest potassium rich food, like tomatoes, papaya, potatoes, some yogurts... but it did in a pinch. My daughter seems to have similar spasm issues and she eats grape and cherry tomatoes like candy.

I go for the using the big bottle and squeezing it in my open mouth routine. Don't seem to have too many issues with that. (For those who think I'm nuts, try waking up screaming with dual muscle cramps in your calves. You'd drink ketchup religiously too!) Plus, I like it anyway. Thought my southern grandma was going to have kittens when my hubby put it on her pot roast though. Sacrilege!

Were you trying to hide your b-day? Hmmmm? Another year older... Happy Birthday hun!!

Very good information to share Louis. I've writen up some similar information on this for another forum and how body language and the words we choose to indicate postures and movements when we write affects how the reader feels and relates to a character. I'll paste it here, in a spoiler as I feel it compliments your topic a bit but I don't want to hijack it. I hope you don't mind. These are not hard and fast rules, especially when writing fantasy worlds, more guidelines to consider.

Well... I'm going to get technical, and try not to be explicit, in case you really didn't have this explained to you. When a woman isn't dilated they usually have them go in early the night before, 10 pm-12 am and get them all set up, then apply a chemical via different internal methods that can help things get going before they start the pitocin IV medication the next day. Just giving a woman pitocin when her body isn't dilated hurts, I know, I had it done to me with the 2nd one because your body goes from nothing to full labor and it has more work to do than one that is already going on it's own a bit. They expect parents to get more rest while they wait for the chemicals to work, though dads get the short end of the stick with sleeping options. Of course they aren't about to... well, I won't get explicit on that either. Anyway, just think of it as a preview. I bet you guys will be so jazzed once you have her you won't even notice that you're exhausted, covered in facial stubble and reek of the hospital sanitizer you are going to demand everyone use before they come close to her I can't wait to hear your stories and see the pictures!

I agree with you on several points. The story doesn't end naturally here, not with the way it kept going in my head. However, it was a stopping point and did have a beginning, middle, and end to the main plot of the story which was the bond between Stelian and Tucker. I also agree that Tucker has to evolve as a stronger character and Stelian will become more balanced with him as well. Relationships are give and take and they'll find a balance. The transition... well, it was in the midst of battle. I felt the detail there of the back and forth would have made a transition too much for the scene. As for errors, I try to avoid them but even I miss stuff. I'll go back through and give it another look for editing mistakes, thanks for the heads up. I appreciate the criticism and the comparisons. Some things, like the phone conversation which was aimed at being vague, were deliberate but I also see your point on the lup/lupes issues. Thanks for the honest review dear. I'll definitely keep your comments in mind as I write further.

That is cute! I'm constantly changing mine I'm a woman, I hate shoes and purses so it's my outlet! lol

Another blank review? *cries* Well, you opened the chapter at least lol! Thanks.

Thanks so much Michael. I do try to give dribs and drabs of the plot and not just lay it out there, the whole 'show, don't tell' philosophy! I'm glad you liked it, I had a lot of fun writing it too. Thanks for the review!!

This is why I can sometimes obsessively research topics when I write. I set a story in the jungle in South America and I researched weather patterns, plants and animals, geography... I've also researched an hour before for a plant based poison that had a single mention in a story I wrote. That said, sometimes I could screw things up without realizing it. Simple things like in another story I noticed mentioned a review that different states use different acronyms for their child welfare services, such as DHS or CPS. A lot of people will research exotic information for their stories but assume that basic societal 'norms' are the same elsewhere. I've found quite a bit of that when people write fiction set in the US or England and they are not from there, in particular. if it's on GA I often send the author a pm or mention it in my review so that they can fix the discrepancy. After all, if you don't tell them, how will they know they did it wrong?

Thank you so much Renee. Obviously my stories only get better when you help me with them, so thanks for that, as always!! What does this mean??? Snickers. Trust me, Tucker is no pussy! I try not to make my male characters feminized versions of real men but you guys can have a softer side so nyeh! You'll see, because I think I have to continue this or you all might hurt me. That or they might take over my dreams, cause their story is clamoring pretty loud.

Well that's not something I was really original on. Their wolves are part of them and yet their own entity. They share their bodies to some extent, with the human half more in control when human and the wolf ascendent in wolf form. Thanks for pointing that out, I will go more into that in the next installment of Stelian and Tucker's story. Thanks for the review Linxe!