Sweetness on Sunday - Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Ready to munch on something completely scrumptious?? Well try these:
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

These are super delicious and so easy. The best kind of YUM.
Made a batch of these for Thanksgiving and they were a bit hit with everyone.

Original recipe is from BettyCrocker.com. It's been slightly modified. :)

Preheat oven to 375○ F.
Ingredients:
For cookies
•1 pouch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
•1 tbsp flour
•1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pie mix!)
•1/3 cup softened butter
•2 tsp cinnamon
•1 egg

For Filling:
•1 cup marshmallow creme
•1/3 softened butter
•2/3 cup powdered sugar
•pinch of salt

~In a large bowl, mix together cookie mix and flour. Add the rest of the cookie ingredients and stir until a stiff dough forms.

~On an ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart. You should be able to get 36 cookies out of it, but really, you just need an even amount. Flour your fingers and slightly flatten each cookie.

~Bake 8 to 10 minutes until set. Cool for a few minutes and then move to cooling racks. Let them cool completely while you make the filling.

~For filling, in a medium bowl, beat all ingredients together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

~For each pie, put about 2 teaspoons of filling (or more if you want!) to the bottom of one side of a cooled cookie. Top with a second cookie and gently press together.

Eat, eat, eat!! Enjoy! :P

(As an alternative, try these with your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe for the filling instead!)

In My Mailbox {45}

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where we all share what we got during the week!

So,...major haul this week. Why? Because the Sacramento Friends of the Library has the BEST warehouse sales. Because I happened to be in Concord so I had to stop by Half-Price Books. Because Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Hyperion are made of awesome. That's why.

You know, the coolest part about buying all these $1 books at the sale is, I get them home, remove the library plastic covers and see that they are almost always in near-perfect condition. I don't know how, but they are. If not for the small library stamp inside, I'd think they were brand spankin' new books!

Ok, on with the show...

For Review:
Vixen by Jillian Larkin
Oooh, anything set in the 20's has my interest. :)

Wither by Lauren DeStephano
Second copy---I'll either be putting this one up for trade or holding a giveaway.

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins
Eek!! This was official "happy dance" book of the week!!

Bought:
The Jumbee by Pamela Keyes
Been curious about this one for awhile now. Those eyes looking through the mask creep my out, though!

The House of Power (Atherton #1) by Patrick Carman
The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman
I must be drawn to this author's books,...when I bought them I didn't even realize they were by the same author!

Library check-outs:
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
The cover got me on this one...the look on the girl's face is so determined and set. I love it.

The Swan Kingdom by Zöe Marriott
I am highly anticipating Zöe's 2011 release, Shadows on the Moon, so I thought I would check out some of her previous works.


Book Sale Scores!! Each of these was $1 each!!!
Jinx by Meg Cabot
Ok, I admit it...I've never read a Meg Cabot. So I'm excited to try this one out.
A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd
Bird by Rita Murphy

Before I Die by Jenny Downham
General Winston's Daughter by Sharon Shinn
Peeled by Joan Bauer
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
Dreamhunter byElizabeth Knox
Undercover by Beth Kephart

Second Sight by Gary L. Blackwood
The Water Mirror by Kai Meyer
Paper Towns by John Green
A Drowned Maiden's Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz
Thornspell by Helen Lowe

And lastly, from Netgalley:
Lost Voices by Sarah Porter
SO excited to read this one!!

Many thanks to Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hyperion, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt---and also the Sacramento FOL for holding such amazing book sales!!

(hehe, I decided not to comment on every single book sale book---this post would have been a mile long!)

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!!

Review: Banished

Banished by Sophie Littlefield

publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

released: October 12, 2010

hardcover, 304 pages

intended audience: Young adult

source: from publisher for review

rating:


description:
Sixteen-year-old Hailey Tarbell can't wait for the day she'll leave Gypsum, Missouri, far behind, taking only four-year-old Chub, the developmentally-delayed little boy her cruel drug-dealing grandmother fosters for the state money. But when a freak accident in gym class leaves a girl in critical condition, Hailey feels drawn to lay her hands on the injured girl and an astonishing healing takes place. Before Hailey can understand her new powers, a beautiful stranger shows up...just in time to save her and Chub from hired killers. A desperate race begins, with Hailey as the ultimate prize: there are those who will stop at nothing to harness her gifts to create an undefeatable army of the undead. Now it is up to Hailey and a small but determined family of healers to stand up to the unbelievable and face the unthinkable.

Review: This was so thrilling! The story branches off into some really interesting directions that I never expected, but in hindsight, made perfect sense! I really enjoyed the story, the action, the suspense, the characters...the whole thing. Hailey Tarbell was a great protagonist, a girl who has pretty much excepted her lot in life and tried to make the best of it until she is old enough to get away. I really felt for her and her living situation with her awful drug-dealing grandmother, Alice. It tends to tear my heart out when a character's only family is someone worthless and uncaring. My stomach would turn when Alice would allow her drug customers to make passes at Hailey. By absolute necessity, Hailey has to become very self reliant, not only for her sake, but for the four-year-old foster child that Alice took in to collect the support check for and then lost interest in. I loved Hailey and Chub's relationship. She is the only mommy he knows and she lives up to that the best she can, and in turn he gives her something to live for.

When Hailey discovers her ability to heal, she really has no one to turn to. Then she starts to notice strange men lurking around her house and her local hang-outs, asking questions. Thank goodness for the sudden appearance of a stranger who can help her with her abilities and with the creepy men. And the chase begins, as Prairie and Hailey, with Chub and their dog Rascal in tow, are running for their lives from both the ghosts of their past and evil men who want to use Hailey's healing ability to shape the future!!

This one had me laughing and worrying and cheering for this little group on the run! I really loved Prairie's friends, Anna and Kaz---definitely hope to see more of them in the future books! The cliffhanger ending was surprising and abrupt, but will definitely have me clambering for the next installment in this thrilling story!

Visit Sophie Littlefield's website here.

Purchase Banished at: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository

Waiting on Wednesday & a 2011 ARC Giveaway !!

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

Shadows on the Moon
by Zoe Marriott

releasing July 2011 from Walker Books

description:
"On my fourteenth birthday when the sakura was in full bloom, the men came to kill us. We saw them come, Aimi and me. We were excited, because we did not know how to be frightened. We had never seen soldiers before." Suzume is a shadow-weaver. She can create mantles of darkness and light, walk unseen in the middle of the day, change her face. She can be anyone she wants to be. Except herself. Suzume died officially the day the Prince's men accused her father of treason. Now even she is no longer sure of her true identity. Is she the girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother’s new husband, Lord Terayama? A lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama’s kitchens? Or Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Everyone knows Yue is destined to capture the heart of a prince. Only she knows that she is determined to use his power to destroy Terayama. And nothing will stop her. Not even love.

My thoughts: Zoe Marriott describes her upcoming book as "Cinderella, turned on its head and set in a faerytale version of Feudal Japan". That was enough to catch my attention! I absolutely love books that are rich with the culture and history of the Orient, and if you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I have an absolute love for fairy tale retellings!! This sounds like its going to be the best of both of those worlds! Add in the stunningly gorgeous cover and you have a book that I am literally counting down the days---well months---to!!

But WAIT! There's more! The author, Zoe Marriott, is giving away three,..you heard it right...THREE ARCs of Shadows on the Moon on her blog!! All she asks is that we help her get to 200 followers---if she reaches it by Christmas, she will pick three of those followers to receive those ARCs! Check it out HERE.

So what are you waiting for this lovely Wednesday?

Gratitude Giveaway Winners!!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my Gratitude Giveaway! And welcome to all my new followers! I hope you decide to visit often!! :D

So, on to the winners!!

Winner of Matched:
#218- Kate

Winner of Please Ignore Vera Dietz:

#36- Cynthia

Congrats!! You both have emails from me in your inboxes!
For those who didn't win, don't be sad!! I'll be holding another giveaway in the next few weeks!
Thanks to every single one of my followers!! I love you guys! :D

Recommend{2}Me - New weekly feature

This will be a new weekly feature here at Stories & Sweeties! For Recommend{2}Me, I'll feature an already-released book that I have my eye on, it's caught my interest for one reason or another, but before I spend my money or go through the trouble to track it down at the library, I want to hear from you!! Have you read it? What did you think? Love it? Hate it? Don't waste my hard-earned cash? Sure I can just check store sites for reviews but, you know what? I trust the word of my fellow book readers and bloggers more than anyone else!

So here is this week's Recommend{2}Me pick:

Falling by Sharon Doger
(Chicken House Ltd., 2009)

Description:
Neesha is afraid - haunted by the fragments of a nightmare about a girl falling, far away and a long time ago. Just when the echoes in her head threaten to overwhelm her, a boy unexpectedly comes to her rescue. Handsome and talented, Sammy finds himself strangely drawn to Neesha - but it's only when they come together, that they begin to realize why. Are they falling in love or being pulled into the past - fated to replay a love affair that ended in blood?



So what do you think? Have you read it and recommend it? Haven't read it but want to? Hated it and I should put down the credit card before it's too late?? :D Let me know what you think in the comments!


Would any bloggers out there like to do this feature with me?? If so, let me know and I'll make a button and set this up as a meme! :)

Cover Story: Wildefire & Ladybird, Ladybird

Two gorgeous covers were revealed this week, and I am beyond excited about both of these books!!

First up, there is Wildefire by Karsten Knight. This is Karsten's debut novel, being put out by Simon & Schuster in summer 2011. What puts this at the top of my list of highly anticipated 2011 reads is the fact that it's about Polynesian Goddesses. WAY cool. I was a hula & tahitian dancer for years and I have always loved the Polynesian culture and legends, so this subject holds a very special place in my heart. ♥ When i saw this cover, I was even more excited. It's gorgeous! I loved the smoldering lily in the center and the eerie black lilies all around---to me, if you look at it from a distance, the black lilies almost look like the wavy black hair of a hawaiian goddess.

Also revealed this week, was a new one from Knight Angels author, Abra Ebner! Ladybird, Ladybird is set in the country and tells the story of Samantha who was raised as a "cursed child" by her unloving father and can hear her dead mother through keys (?? That part has me completely curious!!). She has one friend, a quiet farm boy with a broken heart and demons of his own. This one sounds charming and spooky and amazing all at the same time!