SimplyMaggies

I didn’t quite realize I was a fan of this type of novel—sensual thriller or a fantasy romance (I guess it depends on how you look at it…). Well, until, by pure chance, I picked up a copy of “Scent of Darkness”, that is. And I was instantly captivated by this world where reality bends rules and some humans are blessed (or cursed) with the ability to change form at will.

It is a first part (and you know it, I can’t wait for the next ones to come out!) of a series of stories of an ancient evil that still roams the earth in modern times. One of the main characters, Ann Smith is quite taken up with her boss, Jasha Wilder so she conceives a daring plan to seduce him. But to achieve that, she must surprise him in his mansion where he hides from the world of business. Her plan, however, goes south when she finds herself facing a powerful and terrifying wolf, which changes into the very man she loves right in front of her petrified eyes.

Trying to escape, Ann realizes that there is this deeper-than-nature bond between them. And as they fight for their lives, they discover that Ann is destined to break the curse that has been put on Jasha’s family. Since “a thousand years ago a brutal warrior roamed the Russian steppes and struck a sinister bargain. In return for the ability to change at will into a coldhearted predator, Konstantine promised his soul—and the souls of his descendants—to the devil.” (the back cover of the book).

Will Jasha’s family succeed in their battle against darkness or will they face damnation? Will Ann be able to trust the man she’s been in love for so long and is destined to stand by in the crucial times of their lives?

You will find the answers to these questions and so much more if you read “Scent of Darkness” by Christina Dodd. It’s really well-written (and I do appreciate a high quality language) and you will find yourself absolutely engrossed in it. The characters, both main and secondary, are captivating, which combined with a fascinating plot and enough romance and sexuality to make you flush, make this novel a very enjoyable read. Excellent choice for your summer vacation, I might add.

And as Lisa Kleypas wrote: “A book by Christina Dodd is like a glass of champagne… sparkling and sinfully delicious.”

We all know the saying, and it really goes when it comes to weight loss or gain… It’s a common knowledge nowadays what we should eat and what we should stay away from if we want to drop a couple pounds. But is it also true when it comes to pain control, for instance? Research shows that 90 million Americans are affected by chronic pain… That is a huge number! And imagine this—they all reach for pain killers.

If you’re anything like me, you don’t like taking pain killers or any pills, for that matter. I only take them when the pain becomes unbearable. However, there are a number of people (obviously!) who would pop the pill whenever they feel a slightest pain. But have you ever wondered if there are alternatives to drugs that work as effectively and perhaps are safer? Well, yeah—drugs are supposed to be good for you, but have you noticed they all come with warnings?

I, personally, am a fan of natural therapies and my sister has an extensive knowledge on the subject, so you can imagine I call her a lot… Besides, many doctors agree that there is something to our grandmothers’ remedies. Hey, wouldn’t you prefer to simply eat a fruit or a spice instead of popping pills all the time? Heck, I would!

So for those who want to turn away from conventional drugs towards a more natural approach, here are a few facts:

What’s good

• Arthritis—chicken soup and cayenne pepper.
  Chicken soup (which is also good to treat cold) has collagen that helps to fill bones, however store bought soups aren’t good for that since they aren’t made with bones. So make your chicken soup at home but remember to use pieces of chicken with bones. AS for cayenne pepper, it blocks pain reflectors in the joints, so add it to your dishes.
• Back pain—pineapple and blueberries.
  Pineapple is really the best for back pain since it contains bromine, which has an anti-inflammatory effect and works like the best pain killers on the market. Blueberries are also most powerful anti-inflammatory kinds of food and they help block pain as well.
• Stomach ache—peppermint, ginger.
  Fresh ginger blocks nausea and helps with stomach aches and any digestive upset. Peppermint has similar effects as far as any digestive upset is concerned (try a mint tea, it works like a charm!)
• Rheumatoid arthritis—grapefruit. Studies show that ingredients found in grapefruit may actually stop and even reverse rheumatoid arthritis.
• Cold, flue and pneumonia—chicken soup, garlic.
  Chicken soup helps loosen the mucus in your sinuses and garlic is just a miracle cure. It is really good for colds, flues and such since it ahs antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. If you find yourself sick as a dog, take a clove of garlic every 4 hours but do it only for two days since raw garlic in huge amounts may upset your stomach. To help your immune system, eat small amounts of garlic on regular basis.

What to avoid

• For arthritis—give up tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant as well as white flour and white sugar since they lead to inflammation, which you’re trying to avoid.
• Stomach aches—dairy products. Many people suffer form lactose intolerance but if you have upset stomach, it is advisable to stay away from dairy products for the time being since lactose can aggravate your symptoms. Moreover, milk is the most common allergant.

Today I heard a phrase (sadly, not for a first time, I might add) that made me wince. A woman on a show I won’t name here said: “But I gifted them a set in exchange for the gear” Ooh, how I wanted to scream at the TV set again. Sometimes I think that if I could see myself from outside of my body (wouldn’t that be cool?!), I’d most likely think I was totally insane. Because what kind of sane person screams at the TV set on regular basis?

But lets’ go back to the issue at hand. This is an example of yet another common error Americans make while speaking. Sometimes it seems to me that to most people it really doesn’t matter if a word functions only as a noun; they will make it work as a verb and to hell with the language rules. The scary part is that nobody corrects them either for fear of being rude or because they simply don’t know the proper way and don’t want to make fools of themselves.

Even though I’ve been observing these episodes of total disregard for quality of language for a while now, I am still quite baffled at the reasons behind and, of course, the frequency of occurrence. I will solve this puzzle one day!

Anyway, have you even realized why the sentence I quoted is so unacceptable? There are so many reasons I don’t even know where to begin… Firstly, ‘gifted’ means “talented, showing that somebody has great natural talent or intelligence, as in ‘a gifted performance’ and exceptional” (according to Encarta Dictionary). Secondly, ‘a gift’ is either something given to another person, a special talent or an act of giving, e.g. her gift was…

While ‘gifted’ does function as a verb, it is formal and used only in written language, especially journalism (in British English), and in this function it means “to give something to somebody without their having to make any effort to get it”. I did find, however, in one of the American dictionaries, an explanation of ‘gift’ as a transitive verb meaning “to give or concede something to somebody as a gift”. As much as it offends my senses (since I was trained in the British English mainly, although we did have classes on the differences between British and American), I supposed the sentence I quoted earlier is quite acceptable in American. I, for one, am not going to acknowledge this as a valid verb (in the strictly American usage).

So I guess this is how it goes (when it comes to Americans): if you that often enough and if enough people will pick it up, eventually it will make its way to a dictionary and thus the main stream.