In case you missed it, Jeaniene Frost, Melissa Marr, and Kelley Armstrong recently released an anthology titled Hex on the Beach.
The audio book of Jeaniene’s story, A Grave Girls’ Getaway, came out today from Audible. It is read by Talia Hilbert.

Vampire Cat Crawfield is experiencing a new role as a mother. Turns out, trying to manage a perfect domestic life for her daughter is more…challenging than Cat ever imagined. Since things have finally quieted down in the undead world, her husband, Bones, suggests that Cat recharge by spending a girls-only getaway with her best friend, Denise.
Cat and Denise intend to spend the week doing nothing more than dancing, drinking, and sightseeing. Unfortunately, they stumble across a deadly summer solstice ritual performed by powerful witches who have no intention of letting their uninvited guests live to reveal what they saw. Will this girls-only getaway turn out to be the last vacation – ever! – for Cat and Denise?
Buy links: Audible | Amazon | Apple Books
As an aside, here is something to keep you from thinking that I am smart. This little doohicky |. Some years ago when I was first making websites, I saw | between the buy links and I really liked it. But I didn’t know how to make that symbol. I thought maybe it was one of those special characters that you have to code for or press some arcane combination of keys like Æ or Ë. So for about a year, I would copy someone else’s buy links and recode them just so I could keep the | between the retailers.
Then one day I looked at the keyboard.

Deep sigh.
Anyway, I hope you like BFF Jeaniene’s audio book. I really enjoyed it, but then of course, I am deeply biased. We have the same sense of humor. Today I called her and was describing the scene and said “and so this idiot wants to prove that his baby batter is just as good as his brother’s” and she laughed for a solid minute and said, “Please tell me you used that exact phrasing.”
So anyway, Jeaniene’s audiobook is out. Yay!
Count me in!!
Yeah I am a FIRST! Not a Curran kinda First, but a blog stalking, gotta check in and see what’s a posting, I need a IA fix kinda FIRST!!
Cat and Bones had a kid???? Wow, its been 4-5 years since I followed that series time sure flies. Maybe I’ll pick this book up, just to see the end of the series haha
I so badly want to explain but it would be spoilery ????
I bought the book and really enjoyed it! I wasn’t familiar with the other series, but it was a fun read. ????
You have described the scene and your comment “and so this idiot wants to prove that his baby batter is just as good as his brother’s”
Now I feel like I need to rethink who I thought would be cussing when they are normally composed….Cornelius maybe
I’m thinking this is unrelated to the lost-composure scene, and I think the person who flies off the handle is Penelope. Everyone else is too predictable. And Cornelius already had his savage frying pan moment. 🙂
I loved Girls Getaway. But I really wanted to read the next scene, after she cracked her neck.
Nerdery ahead. That little doohickey | is called a pipe. Makes a great divider. It’s also used sometimes to parse csv files into columns when the more common alternatives like the comma aren’t appropriate. But it’s not a default in Windows. You have to dig down about 4 levels to change the setting, and then you have to change it back once you’re done.
When I set a temporary password for someone, I use the pound key in the password. I can’t tell you how many people have had to hunt around the keyboard looking for the pound key. It’s not so much that they don’t know the term (I’ve only had to use the term hash key a couple of times) but that they just don’t know where it is on the keyboard.
Ah, my woes with the pipe… it is quite often needed when working with Linux. But try creating it when you are working on a Mac through TeamViewer and a virtual machine console … and add in non-American keyboard layout. Unfortunately, all to often I have to ask the customer to type in a pipe for me…
And # in passwords can be quite a problem with non American keyboard layouts… you might think you included a #, but then you find out it was translated to something else you will never be able to find out…
Telling us you don’t work with people who grew up around Twitter. It’s # anything these days!
LOL, I don’t think it helps when the # has 3 names as well (pound sign, hash symbol and number sign).
And sharp and octothorpe.
Sheet music is my second language, third is French.
I have no idea where octothorpe came from, my spouse mentioned it when double-checked with him that it is indeed a sharp. (I am so tired. )
Yay two!^^
I lost track of her series for a while but i think is time for me to visit Cat and Bones again
Yay!
I think this post might confirm its Bern.
This strikes you as a conversation Bern and Leon would have? 🙂
A conversation Leon might have, but probably not with Bern.
Is “baby batter” a euphemism? I occasionally run behind on new slang. 😉
https://www.yourdictionary.com/baby-batter 🙂
I had figured out that much from the context. This is another of those things guys worry about? Bless their hearts. A ruler won’t work for this one, obviously.
Ok, it was what I was thinking of. So if we’re trying to be vague around little kids then we can say he’s shooting BBs, right? Or using special hair gel/mousse, I guess.
Eye dropper, shot glass or measuring cup?
That is nearly as repulsive to me as “gentleman’s relish”.
Well, take your pick 😀 for a different favourite: https://thoughtcatalog.com/jim-goad/2015/09/100-euphemisms-for-semen/
???? You’re welcome, everyone.
Personally, I think “hemulsion” is unbeatable (snort).
I thought #28 and 52 were rather creative.
I honestly had no idea there were that many different euphemisms for semen. Learn something new everyday! Thanks for the laugh Mod R!
I think we should all agree that #91 (Wang Pus) is the most repulsive.
OMG ‘Hemulsion’.
????
*died*
Best one I’ve ever heard!
The image on the website! OMG!
Wow.
I kind of wondered if it was a typo.
Mod R, you have expanded my world. I think you have earned your paycheck.
I thought it was batter, like in baseball, so it was the “bat”. I didn’t even think about it being batter, like in pancake batter. ????
Thank you, Mod R…I was totally baffled by that term!
I read the book, it was really good! Would recommend
+100! ????????????????????????
Pipe delimiter or verticals bar. Used a lot as a field separator in text files. Enjoy! ????
OMG Baby batter!!!!
Password special character – the Euro symbol ‘€’. Try finding that on some keyboards {sob}
CTRL+ALT+E 🙂 but that’s prob because I’m in Europe hehe.
So that’s the secret to obtain the € symbol with the computer keyboard!
Thank you Mod R ????
That’s good to know if I ever have to use the Euro sign for money. Thanks Mod R! ????????
Well, putting the symbols side by side on a physical keyboard could be a little confusing for those who grow up with touch screens or an iPad generation instead of laptop/desktop. Makes it seem like a long press might do the trick when it will just be \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ ongoing.
Different countries also have different keyboard layouts. Sometimes the locations or accents and the bigger tetris like enter for ISO UK formats can make it a hunt and peck deal.
Totally off topic, but go to YouTube and search on Cats Bohemian Rhapsody.
I guess not totally off topic — it has cat and audio.
I’m not an audio book person, but I have this collection and it’s so, so good! Highly recommended 🙂
I’ve been reading Kelley Armstrong and Jeaniane Frost forever, but this one introduced me to Melissa Marr, whose work I’m now catching up on.
Thank you ModR. I have learned something today.
I’m an attorney and learned about | from this post!!
Apparently, I am not smart either. Deep sigh indeed. Thank you for showing me the keyboard that I have been using for nearly 40 years.
Bought it. Thanks!
So I just learned about the doohickey when I read this post. Had to check my computer keyboard to be sure it was there and lo and behold, it is. Smh.
Am I the only one who consistently uses the Alt Code for the divider thingy AKA Divider bar or Pipe? (Alt 124) ????♀️
Thanks I have always been a fan of hers anyway and was looking forward to this book. The link just makes it easier. Thanks again
Alas…unless the audio book comes with “closed captioning” for the hearing impaired, I won’t be able to get it. When will this book be out in print?
Hi JLee,
This already exists in print ????, it is the audiobook version of Jeaniene Frost’s novella in the Hex on the Beach anthology.
Buy links and excerpts can be found here https://ilona-andrews.com/2021/hex-on-the-beach-giveaway/
I hope this helps ????
Is it wrong that I’m excited to read about people arguing g over Baby Batter?
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post. I thought it was funny too.
You have no idea how much better it makes me feel that I’m not the only one late to the game realizing | is right there on the keyboard. *sigh* And I’m a copyeditor.