I Learned Something About Myself Today...

...I do NOT enjoy having the bedroom door slammed in my face. While I've read several sweet romances where the love scenes take place behind closed doors I can't say I've ever read a book before where the door is figuratively slammed in my face.

I just finished reading Lori Copeland's Promise Me Today which was a actually a very cute story and lovely light hearted western. HOWEVER, this was the first book I've ever read where there is a huuuuge build up to the the love scene and then the author gets thisclose to the h/h finally making love only cut out right before the good stuff happens. Now I'm not saying I need sex in my romances - I don't - I've enjoyed quite a few romances that were kisses only but this is different. I honestly thought for a moment that I was missing a section of the book I mean how do we go from this to that?? Why is she alone all the sudden?? And how exactly did our extremely talented hero (aren't they always tho?) manage to take the innocent heroine's virginity standing up?? Yes that's right I even know how they were planning on doing it since they were already in position before the author insisting on closing that damn door.

I can't help it I feel ripped off. That is such a big part of the story especially considering the conflict between the two leading up to this particular scene. Was he gentle? Did he talk to her? What did he say? Did they resolve anything or did they just ignore it and enjoy themselves? Did they talk to one another after? Was she happy? Was she ashamed? Was he?How the heck am I supposed to know this? It certainly wasn't made clear after the fact. The more I think about it the more frustrated I get.

Nope. I don't like this. Not one bit.

All Over The Map Here

So it's been almost a month since I last posted - what have I been up to??? Mostly reading - lots and lots of reading. Here is what I've been reading since my last post...

Contact - Susan Grant

A BEAUTIFUL CO-PILOT WITH A TERRIBLE CHOICE...

A DARK STRANGER WHO HAS KNOWN NOTHING BUT DUTY...

A LATE NIGHT FLIGHT, HIJACKED OVER THE PACIFIC...

It amazes me how much my hormones can play a role in my enjoyment of a book. I was only luke warm on this book for almost the entire first half. I didn't care for any of the characters but wasn't bored enough to quit but then BAM!!!! It was like overnight I went from indifferent to enthralled. All the sudden I loved Jordan and Kao and HATED all those whiny useless passengers (honestly I was hoping someone would just open a hatch and dump them all into space). Anyhoo, I'm not sure if I loved the book or just thought it was okay or if it's somewhere in the middle but either way it's definitely a book worth trying if the subject matter (alien hijacking) sounds interesting to you at all. The romance was very well done and the end of the book had me on the edge of my seat and up far past my bedtime. I don't want to give away any spoilers but the only problem I had (after my overnight change of heart) was that the story could have continued on rather than ending when it did.

Ice Blue - Anne Stuart

Museum curator Summer Hawthorne considered the exquisite ice-blue ceramic bowl given to her by her beloved Japanese nanny a treasure of sentimental value—until somebody tried to kill her for it.The priceless relic is about to ignite a global power struggle that must be stopped at all costs. It's a desperate situation, and international operative Takashi O'Brien has received his directive: everybody is expendable. "Everybody." Especially the woman who is getting dangerously under his skin as the lethal game crosses the Pacific to the remote and beautiful mountains of Japan, where the truth can be as seductive as it is deadly….

I haven't read any other Anne Stuart books outside of the Ice Series (I know, I know I'm getting there) but man do I ever love the heros in these books. The heroines tending to be rather interchangeable but the hero's definitely make up for it. I know people tend to find problems with these books but I enjoy them so much while I'm reading them that I don't notice any of them. I'm just along for the ride and I love every second of it :)

Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong

Forget the cackling green hag in "The Wizard of Oz", forget Samantha from "Bewitched". Real witches are nothing, NOTHING like this. For years real witches have hidden their powers, afraid of being persecuted. They have integrated so well into the community, you could have a witch living right next door and never know about it. Take Paige, for instance, whom we first met in Kelley Armstrong’s novel Stolen. Just an ordinary twenty-something who runs her own website design company, worries about her weight and wonders if she’ll ever find a boyfriend. Okay, so she’s leader of the American Coven and guardian of Savannah, the teenage daughter of a black witch. Really, life is ordinary. But then a telekinetic half-demon, Leah O’Donnell, shows up to fight for custody of Savannah. And although Paige is ready for her, she’s not quite so prepared for the team of supernaturals that Leah brings with her, including a powerful sorcerer who claims to be Savannah’s father.When all hell breaks loose -- literally -- and Paige is accused of witchcraft, Satanism and murder, the Coven, fearing exposure, abandons her. Cut off from her friends, Paige is forced against her better judgment to accept the help of a young sorcerer lawyer. And she quickly comes to realize that keeping Savannah could mean losing everything else.

I put off reading this one for well over a year despite how much I liked the previous two books. I really had no desire to read a story about Paige. I did not care for her in the last book and I wasn't sure how Armstrong was going to change that for me. Well, first off in the year between books I was able to forget a lot of the things that bugged me about Paige. Second of all getting inside Paige's head gave me a much better perspective of Paige and what made her tick and you could see where she was coming from and why perhaps she came off rather grating in the previous novel. I really liked Paige she was sarcastic and funny and tougher than she appeared to be - she was also easier to love than Elena was because she doesn't have that bitterness there. I also loved Paige's love interest Lucas Cortez he was quite different from the male werewolves. A charming, slightly geeky, smart alec sorcerer who is also a lawyer. Ahh loved him, loved him, loved him. There is a scene right after Paige and Lucas have sex for the first time (one of the best love scenes I think I've read to date actually) where I went from just really, really liking Lucas to bumping him up into my Top 10 heros.

I went to the cold cellar and grabbed a bottle of wine. When I returned, Cortez was still wrapped in the clean sheets, watching me.

"Good?" I said, holding out the bottle."Hmmm?" He blinked, then looked at the bottle. "Oh yes. Wine. Good. Great."I laughed. "I suppose I would be insulted if it was the wine you were staring at."He grinned then, a slow lazy grin that did something to my insides."Guess I'm still in shock" He said."Don't tell me I'm the first damsel in distress who's ever seduced you.""I can say, with absolute certainty, that you are the first woman who has ever even tried to seduce me, on or off a case."

Why did that scene make me love him so much?? I don't really know I think it was very refreshing not to have the typical totally gorgeous hero who has had sex a million times and seduces the heroine because he knows how much she wants him.Anyways, great book and I think it's my favourite in the series so far. I'm especially happy to see that their story is continued in the next book.

Recent DNF's

The Silent Rose - Kat Martin

This was a real disappointment. Especially since I have two other books by her in my TBR pile. The first chapter of the book was written very well and was incredibly spooky. I really thought this book was going to be great. Well - after that it was just boring. I got about a 100 pages in and couldn't take it anymore. I didn't like the hero or heroine at all and nothing happened. It's a shame really.

Ghost Story - Peter Straub

Once again BORING. I wasted 200 pages of time on this before deciding that whatever most people found scary about this book just didn't scare me.

Stardust of Yesterday - Lynn Kurland

Another author who I have multiple books in the TBR pile that I've never read before. Well - this book was just silly. I didn't really get the appeal of either the hero or the heroine. She wore feety pajamas for God's sake. I didn't even think they made those in adult sizes. It was also very boring the two of them fell in love almost right away and then a whole lot of nothing happens (you know something is coming though if only it got there sooner). I gave up after a 100 pages.So in that last month I read an entire books worth of pages that went no where. Quite frustrating actually. Thank God for the 3 amazing books that more than made up for it.

What I'm reading Now.

Currently I'm reading the first Sookie Stackhouse book ( I know I'm way behind on this one) and I'm really enjoying it. I'm not completely sold on Sookie yet but I think I'll come around to her. Bill and Sam I quite like and I'm interested in seeing more of Eric.

What else have I been up to... My husband and I are currently working on Freedom35. We figure if we aren't having kids, already own a house and we're both fortunate enough not to have any student loans to payback we really should be able to retire at 35 :) Anyhoo, this means I'm living on a "Till Debt do us Part" budget and storing the weekly money in labelled jars. I only get $12.00 a week for books so for the last 5 weeks I've been saving up my book money to do one big shop. I couldn't wait any longer and rather than going to the UBS where I could stretch my money farther I decided to go to Chapters with all those wonderful new book smells.Well am I ever glad I did that Chapters was having their buy 3 get 1 free paperback sale PLUS all young adult books were 20% off PLUS the 10% I get with my IREWARDS card. I was in book heaven. I managed to pick up 8 new paperbacks plus a young adult novel for $60.23.It was awesome. Here is my new loot.