The Lonely Bookworm

TBR Challenge 2011

2011-01-19T20:27:00.000-05:00

Sleepless at Midnight - Jaquie D'Alessandro

When did I buy it? Aug 1, 2007 (yes that's three + years ago and that's from the middle of the pile - I have a book buying problem)

Why? Cause I read The Bride Thief back in May of 2007, quite enjoyed it and promptly bought up most of D'Alessandro's backlist.

The Blurb

The ladies in London are abuzz over Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, especially Miss Sarah Moorehouse. Her imagination is fired up, so when she spies Matthew Devenport, Lord Langston, mysteriously sneaking home in the wee hours clutching a shovel, she simply must investigate. Impelled by curiosity, the adventurous lass steals into his bedchamber—only to be caught red-handed by the impossibly handsome and totally naked nobleman.

Lord Langston has more important things to worry about than a group of literature-loving ladies. But Matthew’s grand plan to rescue the family from ruin could be lost when he discovers Sarah hiding behind his bedroom curtain. What is this meddlesome woman up to? And why are his desires inflamed by a chit who is too inquisitive for her own good? Well, two can play at this game…and when Matthew captures the beguiling Sarah in all her naked glory, the night of mischief has only just begun.

My Review

I know technically the category for January was Category and I was sure I purchased "The Mysterious Miss M" quite some time ago but darned if I can find it now. So I read Sleepless at Midnight.

I knew there was a reason I bought up every Jacquie D'Alessandro book I could find back in 2007. I have to say I absolutely adore her characters. The plot could be a complete pile of garbage and I think I would still enjoy the book because I love her characters so much. Are there actions historically accurate? I don't know and in this case I don't really care. Matthew and Sarah are both very fleshed out characters and are completely believable.

I loved the premise of this book when I read it on the back cover and it was not disappointing in the least. It seemed very original to me (I do try and stay away from European historicals so I'm not sure how original it actually is) and I found the interactions between Sarah and Matthew sweet and funny.

I'm not usually a fan of the bespectacled blue stocking but Sarah turned out to be one I quite enjoyed spending time with. D'Alessandro does a wonderful job of showing you exactly why the dashing Lord Langston would fall for someone who wasn't described as particularly beautiful in the book (and no she doesn't all the sudden become a knock-out when she takes her glasses off).

This was over-all a delightful book - there is a bit of a mystery surrounding Matthew and it was quite well done and the author did a good job throwing a red herring in there that completely led me off course.

The ending seemed a tad rushed and tied up a little too easily for me but that's only a minor quibble and one I have quite often (maybe I just don't like to see good books end). Either way I'm very excited about reading the rest of the series.

2010 - The Year in Review

2011-01-07T21:30:00.000-05:00

Now that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season has died down I actually have a little bit of spare time to myself and I can sum up my 2010 reading year.

Total Number of Books Read - 58 - Woohoo!! That's the most I've managed to read in a year since I moved out of my parents house in 2006 and I made a point of not paying attention to how many I was reading throughout the year.

Total Number of Pages Read in 2010 - 23,710

Ratings

5 Star - 13
4 Star - 24
3 Star - 19
2 Star - 2
1 Star - 0

DNF's - 1 (The Silent Rose - Kat Martin) I'm pretty sure that was last year and not 2009. I don't keep track of dates on books I don't finish so I'm not sure.

Genre Breakdown

Mystery - 11
Historical Romance - 11
Fantasy - 6
Contemporary Romance - 5
Romantic Suspense - 4
Paranormal Romance - 4
General Fiction - 3
Young Adult - 3
Romantic Fantasy - 2
Suspense - 2
Historical Fiction - 2
Futuristic Romance - 2
Thriller - 1
Paranormal Mystery - 1
Sports - Non Fiction - 1
Urban Fantasy - 1

So which were the best?

This was by far the best book I read this year. I think this is one of the first years I can remember my favourite book not being a romance. I loved this book to bits. I honestly did not want it to end. It's one of the funniest bits of fiction I've ever had the pleasure to read and got me kicked out of my bedroom a couple of nights in a row because I was laughing so hard.

I always love Catherine Anderson and Annie's Song was no exception. It really was a beautiful story.

Oh my God I loved the hero and heroine in this book. What a great love story. Thanks again to Kristie J. for bringing it to my attention.

Loved this entire series. Even when Jake was acting like an asshole.

Definitely my favourite of Armstrong's women of the otherworld stories. Which surprised me because I didn't care for Paige in the previous books.

I know I really liked this because I gave it five stars but I'm having trouble remember much more than the grovel scene at the end (which was awesome)

Another awesome romance I let sit on my shelves for far too long.

Ditto to what I wrote for this series above.

Loved the plotting and the way this book was done.

Perfect ending for the series. Loved it.

I don't know if this deserves 5 stars. I read this when I was 18 and loved it to pieces and tried to re-read the series this year. I managed up to book four (above) then couldn't continue after starting book 5. I think my rating for this one had more to do with sentimentality that actual enjoyment.

If you like mysteries even a little bit and you haven't read this yet - you must go out and find it and remedy this immediately. A more delightful amateur sleuth I have yet to read.

This book is exactly why I read Westerns.

Totally Off Topic - Hallelujah

2010-12-23T12:47:00.001-05:00

I'm going to go off on a tagent now about something that has been consuming most of my time over the last few days.

It's the song "Hallelujah". I Love It. Love it. Love it. It gives me goosebumps.

I know it's been getting a ridiculous amount of attention recently on T.V. and movies etc. etc. but thank God for that because otherwise I doubt I ever would have heard this song. Even so I'd only heard little bits and pieces of it and thought to myself - I should really download it.

So finally - the other day I actually remembered I wanted to download it while sitting at my computer and went into ITunes - only to find a million different versions of the song. According to Wikipedia there are 200 different versions of the song. 200!!!

So I tried listening to previews of the songs on ITunes which is hardly helpful since it's only 30 seconds of a random section of the song so how can you possibly compare them. Then I went to youtube and listened to the full songs there (and finally realized the incredible awesomeness that is this song) and eventually narrowed it down to 3. So I just downloaded all three but I think I may end up downloading more.

So for your listening enjoyment here are the three I chose.

First - Jeff Buckley because it's beautiful and soulful and I could listen to it for hours.

Second was by the Canadian Tenors because they sound great and they're Canadian yea!!! It comes across a little different because it's more powerfully sung.

And the third - which actaually surprised me was Susan Boyle's Version. I'm not really a fan of hers but a female sung version was different enough from the other two that I thought it would be less overkill for me plus her voice really does sound lovely.

Crystal Passion - Jo Goodman

2010-12-21T09:39:00.000-05:00

So.

As you probably already know - Wendy has a weekly feature known as Random Romance Sunday where she randomly selects a romance novel and posts it up on her blog. A week ago sunday that random romance novel was Crystal Passion by Jo Goodman. I picked this book up at a used book store along with 8 other Jo Goodman books without even glancing at the back cover blurb - it's Jo Goodman - she's an autobuy so why would I bother.

Well last week when I saw Wendy's post and read the blurb...

RAPTURE'S BRILLIANCE
When Ashley awoke from her drugged sleep, she found herself in the bedchamber of a dark-haired, steel-eyed stranger. Before she could escape, his powerful hands had pinned her to the bed--before she could scream, his lips had captured hers. Before she could explain that her guardian had tricked them both with a vile and ruthless scheme, the rapture of his searing, searching caresses drove all thought from her mind. All she could feel was hunger for his touch, thirst for his kiss, and yearning for ecstasy's endless pleasures...

LOVE'S SPLENDOR
Captain Salem McClellan was amused to discover that the Duke of Linfield's hospitality included a lithe young beauty to warm his bed. Tangling his fingers in her ebony hair, exploring the creamy satin of her flesh with burning lips, he felt the fire of Ashley's response beneath him. Too late, he realized her innocence and knew he could never leave her to the Duke's mercy. For he was enchanted by her fierce pride, ensnared by her rare beauty, and enthralled by the night of shimmering CRYSTAL PASSION

I couldn't believe it - this isn't the same Jo Goodman I've read and loved before it can't be! Then I was afraid to ever read and just thought I would keep it so I would have the full collection on my shelves but then I thought No. There is a whole pile of Jo Goodman books with ridiculous titles and over the top blurbs and if I don't read this one I'm not going to read any of them.

So I read it.

And...

Thank God. The blurb is way off. That scene doesn't happen like that at all. There are no forced seductions. Although there is a non-consensual sex scene it is well after the scene that is noted in the blurb above and doesn't make the hero a domineering asshole (trust me on this). I wouldn't call the prose purple - there were no turgid members to be found anywhere (although there was some sipping and laving going on). It was kinda lavender I guess you would say - all flowery language used to get around saying what was actually happening. It was quite boring actually and I ended up skipping most of the sex scenes.

And just to fill everyone in on the synopsis of the story since the blurb tells you a whole lot of nothing. The book takes place during the American Revolution and Salem (Jerusalem) McKlellen is a colonial captain who is in England looking to purchase one of the Duke of Linfields horses for his father. The Duke of Linfield is a seriously disturbed individual who happens to be the guardian of the heroine Ashley Lynne. The duke is marrying her off to an impotent 80 year old man and just for his own enjoyment plans on having Ashley raped by the next man who stays at the Linfield residence. Lucky for Ashley this is Salem and he's not interested in forced sexual encounters (despite what the blurb wants you to believe) Anyhoo, once he realizes what a sicko the Duke is Salem decides that he wants to marry Ashley and get her away from her guardian and the two have to escape the Duke and try to make it back to America together. Oh and as a mini-spoiler there is a portion of the book where Ashley believes that Salem is her brother (although Salem is pretty certain it's a lie) and that was kinda icky for me.

I enjoyed both the hero and heroine. The heroine was able to be naive without being TSTL and the hero was an all around great guy. My only problem with the book was that it seemed to stall at about the half way point and never really picked back up again. I found myself skimming over much of the last half of the book and I'm having trouble even remembering much about it other than the fact that I was ready for it to be over a good 100 pages before it was.

This was one of her first books though and I know how good she can be so I'm not going to have a problem picking up the rest of her books regardless of the ludicrous titles, cover art and blurbs.

The Gold Coin - Andrea Kane

2010-12-15T09:16:00.000-05:00

This is the first book I've read for the winter 2011 challenge.

Back Cover Blurb

As children, identical cousins Anastasia and Breanna Colby swore always to protect each other. Now that Anastasia's beloved parents have died, she has come to live with Breanna...and Breanna's father, whose raging temper has locked his daughter into a life of fear. What is more, Anastasia soon realizes that her uncle is involved in a sinister scheme that places both young women in deadly danger. Fearing most of all for her cousin, Anastasia turns to the only help she can think of, the man who holds the reins to her considerable fortune-the fascinating, enigmatic Damen Lockewood, Marquess of Sheldrake.

From the moment Anastasia and Damen meet, blazing passion flares between them. But in the face of overwhelming peril-and threats on Anastasia's life-thoughts of love cannot be indulged. Not unless the mystery that entraps them is solved will they at last be able to pursue the future their feelings command them to share. But is the danger stalking them really gone?

My Thoughts

I liked somethings about the book (plot) and disliked other things (characters). First my dislikes,

1. Identical cousins? Really? I know their fathers were twins and their mothers sisters but to be alike enough that their parents can't even tell the two apart? Come on. Only a minor qiuibble I know but annoying enough to jerk me out of the story anytime it was mentioned.

2. Too perfect characters. There were no shades of grey in this book. You had the good guys (where you could all but see the glowing halo's over there heads) and the bad guys who you could imagine walking about in a cloud of their own toxic miasma they were so evil.

3. Romance? What romance? Yes there was a couple in the story but that was it. This is the amount of time devoted to the romance.

Anastasia: Hi, I'm Anastasia I'm incredibly smart, business minded and I won't let you boss me around.

Damen: Hi, I'm Damen. I find your intelligence and business-sense incredibly attractive.

Anastasia: I love you.

Damen: I love you.

Breanna: Thank God you showed up Anastasia to take this rich, charming and incredibly handsome gentleman off my hands. Too think I almost had to marry him - the horror!

And that's it. Yes for awhile Anastasia had to pretend to be Breanna so Breanna's father wouldn't find out but that's it. And there was no conflict in the relationship since they were both perfect. How can there be?

4. Wallpaper Historical - while I don't consider my self an expert on history by any stretch of the imagination I find it incredibly hard to believe any of the characters in this story acted true to the time period. Viscount's and Marquieses as business men. The girls had entirely too much freedom with zero consequences.

After all this what did I like?

The plot moved along quite well. It was actually quite a good suspense plot although I'd consider it suspense light since you always knew what the bad guy was planning and so did the good guys so you could be pretty certain it was going to work out well for the good guys. Even so it kept me turning the pages and was left on a bit of a cliffhanger so although I'm luke warm about the characters I'll be reading the second book. I'm hoping to enjoy the next one a little more as Breanna didn't appear to be the "fiesty" heroine stereotype that Anastasia was. I also hope her hero has some flaws and they have a few internal challenges to work out.

Winter 2011 Challenge

2010-12-13T16:55:00.000-05:00

I've joined the winter 2011 challenge in the Readers of Romance Group over at Shelfari.

This is my list.

1. Reader’s Choice - The Gold Coin by Andrea Kane
2. Reader’s Choice - Beyond the Rain - Tess Granger
3. Reader’s Choice - nothing yet
4. Read a book by an author you’ve been wanting to try, but haven’t yet - Venus by Jane Feather
5. Choose a cover with a headless model - Not Quite a Husband - Sherry Thomas
6. Read an Enemy story http://likesbooks.com/enemy.html - Keeper of the Dream by Penelope Williamson
7. Read a book by Jill Shalvis or Nancy Warren -
8. For MLK Day: Read a Title with 'Dream' in it - The Dream Hunter - Laura Kinsale
9. A book where one of the main characters has a weird/uncommon name - The Perfect Match - Kimberly Cates
10. Read a Christmas themed book OR an author that first or last name begins with C http://likesbooks.com/christmas.html - Sea of Fire by Carol Caldwell
11. Read a book that has 2 words in the title - Sweet Release by Pamela Clare
12. Read a book by picking one off your Shelfari’s friends shelf (and list who you got it from to make it fun!) By Design by Madeline Hunter (Kristine G)
13. Read an American Indian themed book http://likesbooks.com/native.html - Tall Cheif by Dinah McCall
14. Read a book that has been on your shelf for a while (Out with the Old!) Key of Light by Nora Roberts
15. Read a book that was published in 2011 -or Dec of 2010 (In with the New!) - nothing yet

Between this challenge and the TBR 2011 challenge I should have plenty of reviews to post to my blog. There are a few other challenges I may join as well. It will definitely make it easier to choose which of the books in my enormous TBR pile I should read next.

2010 AAR Top 100 Results

2010-12-12T07:40:00.014-05:00

Okay, so I managed to get my top 100 romances ranked into list form for AAR (although #40 - 100 are probably pretty interchangable). Anyhoo, if my math is correct:

I've read 35 of the top 100 Romances
25 of my top 100 Romances made the list
Only 2 of my top 10 made the list (Outlander - Gabaldon and Knight in Shining Armour - Devereaux)
29 of the Top 100 are in my TBR pile
There are only 2 books I have no intention of reading on the list (On the Way to the Wedding - Quinn and Ransom - Garwood)

Here is the full list of AAR's Top 100 with my ratings/comments below. I'm sorry if it's hard to read. You have no idea how much time it took to figure out how to get this table into blogger without having to re-do the whole thing with HTML.

Okay - I can't get it to work properly. It shows up in preview then disappears when I publish the post. This may have something to do with the reason I keep dropping out of blog land. I spend hours trying to get something set up on the blog - it doesn't work and then I don't want to look at it anymore. Boo.

Okay so I sort-of got something to work. Don't ask me how I managed to get the first one so easy to read and then not the rest. I don't know and I'm not going back to do it again. If you click on each picture it opens a little bigger.

Back Again

2010-12-08T18:50:00.000-05:00

Who is the lonely bookworm? If you asked me in 2009 I'd tell you to read my side blurb. If you ask me now... she's a slacker!!! Holy Moses - no posts since August and only a pitiful handful of posts all year.

Well - I'm back again. It's been a busy/stressful year and I've had trouble finding time to read any of the other blogs let alone write my own. I've filled most of my spare time with reading which is so very relaxing for me after spending so much time on the computer at work.

But I miss writing about my books and I tried the handwritten journal but it's just not the same so I'm back and I'm going to try to post more often. I've joined the 2011 TBR challenge so that should guarantee at least 1 post a month. I also joined a challenge over on Shelfari and will be posting those reviews here as well so you never know maybe even two a month.

It used to be easier for me to post at work prior to my "pro"motion (you know the kind where you get more responsibility, longer hours and the same pay??) but when I was moved to my own office I got stuck with the slowest computer in existence so doing anything internet related on my lunch is beyond frustrating.

Anyhoo, onwards and upwards. I'm going to be posting about AAR's 2010 100 Top Romances List next but I'll need sometime to compare it to my own list and already read pile.

E-Book Deal and Recent Reads

2010-08-08T19:21:00.000-04:00

It's been a very busy few weeks for me. I was on vacation last week and of course with the joys of full time employment that means double the work before I leave and double the work when I get back from vacation so I've been busy little bee.

In the meantime I have managed to squeeze in some reading. The first book I read was To Speak for the Dead by Paul Levine which is the first book in his Jake Lassiter series. If you've read some of my previous posts you may know that I'm a huge fan of Paul Levine's Solomon vs. Lord series (even though I loathe Victoria). I'd been scouring used books stores trying to find the first book in the Lassiter series and having no luck. Some time ago I'd signed up for Paul Levine's newsletter and a few weeks ago I recieved an e-mail that said Paul had re-released 3 books in e-book format. The first two Lassiter books and one stand alone. Not only that but they have been released at the (temporary) very attractive price of $2.99 - that's right $2.99 and what's more is that proceeds from the sale of the first Lassiter book goes to the Four Diamonds Fund which supports cancer treatment for children at the Penn State Hershey Childrens Hospital. It's a win-win I had to buy them.

I've since read To Speak for the Dead and while I didn't enjoy it as much as the Solomon novels it was still a very good read and if your interested in courtroom legal thrillers I'd recommend scooting over to the website and purchasing the e-book.

I also read Missing Pieces by Joy Fielding - I spent the whole book waiting for something to happen and then it finally did and it was over in 2 pages. Basically the writing was okay, the characters were thoroughly unlike-able and the suspense was non existent - just an overall mediocre read for me.

The last book I read was for the book club and I didn't expect to enjoy it but it's one of my best reads so far this year. I'm going to post a full review on it later but The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton was totally awesome. I finished the book and could not think of one negative thing about it.

Sookie and the Trouble Shooters

2010-07-20T12:51:00.000-04:00

Well last week I read two more installments of series I have on the go. The first one I read was All Through the Night A Trouble Shooters Christmas by Suzanne Brockmann and the second was Living Dead in Dallas by Charlene Harris. I had mixed feelings about each of them.

Lets start with the Trouble Shooters. While I did enjoy reading more about Jules and Robin I was a little dissappointed to reach the middle of the book and realize this really wasn't a romantic suspense at all. It was very much a contemporary romance with a bit of drama thrown in at the end. Which is fine. If I'm in the mood for a contemporary romance. Which I wasn't. I'm sure if I'd done a little digging around I would have realized this prior to starting but when I see Brockmann and Troubleshooters on the cover of a book I tend to assume things. Otherwise I did quite enjoy the story. I wish Will and Dolphina's story was a little more fleshed out since I really like Will from the previous book he was in but it is a novella so I can see why it was a tad abbreivated.

Now on to Sookie. After I read the first book I mentioned that I had trouble warming up to Sookie. I found I liked her quite a bit more in this book and I found the action/mystery was able to hold my attention more in this book as well. My only problem this time is Bill. He just seems so blah - like there isn't a whole lot of personality in there. Eric on the other hand seems far more developed as a character and I find I enjoy the scenes with him far more than those with Bill but maybe that's intentional. I haven't read a whole lot about this series other than that lots of people seem to like it so perhaps Sookie is going to go in a different direction. I don't know but I don't really see whats so great about Bill.

Book Clubs

2010-07-16T06:58:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I joined a book club with my cousin. I'd been wanting to join a book club for quite sometime but I was never able to find one in my area. My cousin won't read "those" books so we joined a general fiction club and since then I've discovered two things.

1. I enjoy general/literary fiction less than any other genre

and

2. I seem to be a very different type of reader than readers of general fiction

I've never been a big fan of general fiction but every now and then I will pick one up that sounds interesting or that I've heard a lot of buzz about - 9 times out of 10 I don't get what all the fuss was about. Well as I go to these meetings I'm realizing that the other people in the group seem to take away a lot more from these books than I ever do. They find all kinds of hidden meanings and parallels to their own lives, life lessons, things that change their perspective on this or the next thing. Meanwhile I'm sitting there and my biggest contribution is "I thought _________ was a jack ass."

Okay - so there's a little bit more to my comments than just that but I don't notice all those other things in the book and I've been really trying. I notice the characters and their growth, the authors storytelling ability, the plot, the actual story, writing style which the others may note in their observations but there certainly isn't a lot of discussion on it.

There is a certain amount of book snobbery going on as well. It's not blatant "genre fiction is trash" snobbery but when last months women's fiction choice was originally announced there was a certain amount of eye rolling that went along with it and although most of the members did enjoy it they were certain to say "even though it had no substance" or something along those lines. Also someone mentioned that there were a few other book clubs at the store and one of them happened to be a paranormal romance book club. When one of the older ladies questioned what a paranormal romance was the general answer was "Oh it's basically sex with vampires". Well no it's not and I find it irritating that someone who works in a bookstore can have that opinion. There is an employee there who is always sticking her ______ recommends sticker on paranormal romances and she has enjoyed some very good ones. I would think that you could at least maybe say "Hey ______". "I don't get this genre but since a lot of customers seem to enjoy it maybe you could recommend a good one to me so I have a better understanding of it".

Oh well. What can you do? I've thought about joining the paranormal romance book club but they seem to be reading a lot of book 2's, 3's, 4's etc. which would mean having to read 2 or 3 books prior to the book club book and that would be a bit of a paranormal over dose for me.

What I've been reading

2010-07-14T12:27:00.000-04:00

So like I mentioned earlier I have still been reading I just have not been all that excited about it. Here are the books I've read since my last posting waaaaaaaaaaay back in April. This may be tough since it doesn't look like I've updated the books I've read on my Shelfari account since April and I don't have access to bookpedia at work but here it goes.

Night Keepers - Jessica Anderson

I don't remember a whole lot about this book other than a general feeling of Meh. I seem to recall the hero being a ridiculous wuss who moaned and groaned and tried to avoid his responsiblity to save the world for the majority of the book. I know, I know anyone would probably have to wrestle with the whole saving the world thing but that's not how I want my god-like heros.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Alan Bradley

Oh how I loved this book. Flavia de Luce is the wonderfully precocious 11 year old amatuer sluth in this mystery series which surprisingly is aimed at adults. Flavia is awesome. That's all I have to say. I love this girl. If you have any interest in mystery series I strongly suggest you these ones a try.

The Shack - William Paul Young

I had to read this one for a book club. For me quite frankly it was awful. Although I was raised catholic 12 years of catholic education has made sure I'm not practicing. Anyhoo, didn't like it and wish I could get back the time I spent reading it. In a nutshell the narrators daughter is horrifically murdered and the narrator loses his faith in God. God invites him to meet him at the shack where she was murdered. God is there in the form of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and they continue to patronize the narrator (I forget his name) and talk about how much they love everyone for the rest of the book. Blech.

While my Sister Sleeps - Barbara Delinsky

This was another book club read. I also didn't particularly enjoy it. I disliked most of the characters and I didn't particularly care about "What Robin would have wanted"

The last Three Adrien English Mysteries - Josh Lanyon

I thourougly enjoyed all this entire series - even when Jake was being a total dick. At least he stayed true to his character. I am very sad there will be no more of them though. I sense a Josh Lanyon spending spree in my near future.

Annie's Song - Catherine Anderson

I read this back in April and although I admit that I don't remember a whole lot about it, I do remember that I loved it while I read it. I believe I gave it a 9/10 in my log.

Industrial Magic - Kelley Armstrong

I didn't enjoy this one as much as Dime Store Magic. I liked the story but I wish there had been more Paige and Lucas relationship to the story.

Dead Beat - Jim Butcher

Another solid installment of the Harry Dresden series. Man I love Harry and all his sarcastic hilariousness.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan

I had high hopes for this one but about halfway through I realized I really didn't like it. I still finished it but my main problem was the detached way the author wrote. I never understood why some people didn't like first person narratives. Now I do - when it's done like this it's extremely difficult to care at all about any of the characters.

I also re-read the first four books of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series in anticipation of finally buying the last three books and then finishing the series - which now I probably won't be doing. I started reading the Count of Monte-Cristo (which is gigantic) and I was enjoying it but it's one of those books you have to work at reading because it was written so long ago and translated and I really needed a break. One day I'll go back to it though. Otherwise I really can't remember what else I read. I know there is more but I'll be damned if I can think of them now.

Wildest Dreams - Rosanne Bittner

2010-07-12T13:35:00.000-04:00

As you may have realized from my last post. I loved this book. It was a 10/10 for me. I can't think of one thing that bothered me about it. It also had the wonderful intangible quality that some books have that just grab you right from the beginning and don't let you go.

Blurb from Fiction Database

Lettie MacBride knew that joining a wagon train heading west was her only chance to begin anew, far from the devastating memories of the night that had changed her forever. But though she might leave the past behind, she never believed she would escape the pain of innocence lost, nor feel stirrings of desire for any man .... until she met Luke Fontaine.

Haunted by his own secrets, Luke could never blame Lettie for what had happened in the past. One glance at the pretty red-haired lass was enough to fill the handsome, harddriving pioneer with a savage hunger. This was the woman he wanted by his side as he fought to build an empire -- to tame a land that only the strong could take and only the courageous could keep.
Against relentless snows, murderous desperadoes, and raiding Sioux, Luke and Lettie would stand together, bound by a passion that ran deep. But violence and tragedy would stalk them, and in this time of endless tears and brutal challenges, they would face a heartrending choice -- to abandon a lawless land before it destroyed them, or to fight for their ... Wildest Dreams.

When I first started this book I wasn't sure I was going to like it. Bittner does something a little different at the beginning and has Lettie and Luke meet then skips forward 7 weeks to a point where the two are already in love with one another and just haven't let the other know. At that point I thought to myself - I'll give it a hundred pages - if I'm not buying this relationship by then I'm out. Ha! I don't even know when I hit the 100 page mark because by the time I came up for air the first time I was already almost 250 pages in. Luke and Lettie still have so much more to learn about one another and so much to go through you see them fall in love again and again over the course of the novel.

On to Luke and Lettie. Luke is Alpha in all the right ways and Beta when it comes to how he treats Lettie. And even with all that being said Bittner still manages to give Luke flaws that make him real and all the more likable for it. Lettie is a wonderful heroine and so very strong. From being able to overcome her traumatic past and love her son to being there every step of the way to support Luke even if it means having to shoot someone.

These two don't have it easy. There are some terribly heart wrenching moments in this book and there are also some really touching happy moments. It is definitely a roller coaster but it is so worth it to get to the ending. In my opinion this book was everything a good western romance should be.

I was stuck in Limbo...

2010-07-12T13:17:00.000-04:00

...and now I'm back! I hope.

I'm not sure what happened but I seemed to get stuck in this bizarre slump. I was still reading and still enjoying reading but I just couldn't get excited about it. I didn't want to write about what I was reading, I barely kept up my book log with dates and ratings, I stopped visiting the reading blogs/message boards and I wasn't even particularly interested in buying books.

It was weird.

Thank God for Rosanne Bittner. I needed a really good, angsty, great big thick western saga to pull me out of it and Wildest Dreams definetely fit the bill. I can't remeber the last time I was this sucked into a book - to the point where I was cancelling plans with friends just so I could read more of it. I finished all 600+ pages in two days and would have been shorter if I could have gotten around a few of the inconveniences of real life.

This book reminded me of why I love westerns so much. I love how so much of the conflict comes from the dangers of living during that time and not foolishness from the hero/heroine. The women had to be tough to survive back then so you are almost guaranteed a wonderful strong heroine (not fiesty - strong). The men were not always rich and had to work to feed and protect their families.

I'm so happy that the last time I was at the UBS there was an entire shelf of Rosanne Bittner novels. As soon as I've saved up my money I'm heading off to scoop them all up.

Escape Artists

2010-04-14T23:14:00.000-04:00

See these two adorable bundles of fur??

They look cute right? HA!

They are my nightmare.

The black and white bunny on the higher shelf would be Brodie - he's the original bunny. The con-artist. The one who tricked me into thinking rabbits were totally awesome. He's also deaf.

The dark brown bunny on the lower shelf is Abbie or as I like to call her Destructo-Bunny. She only has one eye (she came like that I swear).

So a little background information. I'm a huuuuge animal lover and I always, always, always have multiple pets. When my hubby and I moved into our first apartment I was there maybe 5 minutes before I started investigating what kind of pets would suit. I managed to convince Steve (hubby) that a rabbit would be perfect - the main selling point... we could clicker train him!!! (Yes, you did read correctly earlier he's deaf so that worked well).

Anyhoo, we adopted Brodie from a local rabbit rescue and he was a fantastic apartment bunny. He was free range, never destroyed anything and always used his litterbox. So then I got it in my head that Brodie would be happier with a friend. And really what could be better than one bunny?? TWO!!!

Enter Little Miss Abbie Sunshine. It was love at first sight for these two. Which was great- until Abbie got all nice and settled in. Then she brought out her alter ego - Destructo-Bunny. Nothing was safe from her. Books, carpet, furniture, cupboards, surround sound systems all were defenseless victims of

this ones teeth and claws. Then do you know what happened???? Brodie joined in - he thought it was the greatest thing since bananas.

Now on to the original point of my post. These two holy terrors live in my basement. In an area that is larger than any of the extra bedrooms in our house - on the far side of the basement (away from the stairs). Carpeted on one side/floor on the other, lots of toys, all the hay they can eat - trust me these bunnies are living it up down there.

So tonight when I get home from work I make my way down the stairs to feed them their dinner and who is waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs??? Brodie. At the bottom of my stairs on the wrong side of the gate. Wonderful. Do you know how many places there are for a rabbit to hide in a basement that is largely used for storage and laundry??? TONS!! Thank GOD Abbie didn't figure out how to escape because she does not care for us humans. She is a pet store bunny and had little to no interactions with humans at all for the first year and a half of her life and she does not care for us all that much now - unless we have food and we don't touch her.

So 40 minutes later I'm still chasing this cheeky little bugger around the basement - the most aggravating part - it's not like he's hiding the whole time he comes right out to see you, head butts you, bites your sock but damned if you're getting your hands anywhere near him. So suddenly I have a brainwave... NANNERS!!! Why the heck didn't I think of nanners earlier??? So I go upstairs and get myself a banana and plop myself on the floor by the gate and proceed to share my banana with Abbie. It takes a few minutes since he can't hear me but suddenly there it is between those two boxes - a nose and it's twitching. Sure enough here comes the little stinker right across the floor up into my lap and helps himself to my banana. It took a total of 3 minutes to get him that way. Wow - did I feel foolish.

Despite all this they are still the cutest bunnies in the world so I guess I'll continue to feed them (that's a joke please don't call the humane society on me). They are two of my babies and I adore them despite their stress inducing behaviors but bunnies most certainly are not for everyone :)

Back Cover Blurbs

2010-04-11T08:30:00.004-04:00

Okay,

A couple weeks ago I picked up this book at Chapters for two reasons 1. I thought the cover was gorgeous 2. The back cover blurb made it sound fantastic.

This is the blurb

In 19th century Britain, Lavina Huntington's husband seems to appreciate her lively intellect and is eager to expand his wife's education from nature studies to the bedroom arts. Lavinia absorbs all he has to teach and glories in the birth of their son.

In 21st century Los Angeles, geneticist Julia Huntington studies the human genome, seeking the origins of human emotion. As passionate about her marriage as she is about her life's work, Julia is delighted to discover that she is pregnant.

Separated by nearly 150 years, Lavinia and Julia suffer the same shock when their men abandon them. Their powerful love becomes painful hate; their intense passsion transforms into icy logic. The genes of the Huntington women have formed their emotions - now their life experiences drive them to make decisions which they, and those they love, may not survive.

Now in edition to the blurb these are the little review snippets that were also included on the cover

"A must read for fans of smart, sexy books" - RT Book Reviews

"Steamy sex scenes make this a page-turner" - Booklist

"Part murder mystery, part psychological thriller, part commentary on genetics and human behavior, sexual jealousy, and betrayal, Soul is both provocative and unputdownable" Good Reading

SPOILER ALERT - FYI there are going to be a number of spoilers below so if you don't want to know stop reading.

I know blurbs are usually somewhat incorrect and I know not to believe all the glowing quotes on the books - HOWEVER, I do still use them to get a general idea of what is in a book.

Let me break these down

Okay, so far so good. This isn't too far off. I wouldn't say he is eager to expand his wife's education to bedroom arts since you know he's actually gay a Lavinia's youthful body is close enough to a boys that he can manage to perform on enough occasions to knock her up.

This one they actually got right but really it's pretty vague I imagine it would have been more work to try and make it wrong.

Separated by nearly 150 years, Lavinia and Julia suffer the same shock when their men abandon them.

Well first off this gives me the impression that Lavinia's husband abandons her in 19th century Britain - I found this intriguing what did a woman do back them when their husband leaves them? Well just to be clear Lavinia's husband doesn't leave her he just stops having sex with her once her body becomes to womanly for him but still remains a pretty decent husband. He admires his wife's intelligence and allows her to assist him in his studies and still treats her very much as a treasured companion. Understandably, this isn't enough for Lavinia but I mean really when most marriages among the aristocracy were marriages of convenience I imagine she was better off than most other wives.

Julia's husband does leave her - for her best friend - while she is pregnant. Class act he was. I was actually looking forward to his death through the whole book.

Their powerful love becomes painful hate; their intense passion transforms into icy logic.

Ummmm, not really. There wasn't a whole lot of hate through the book lots of time with Lavinia and Julia feeling sorry for themselves and still being in love with their undeserving husbands but not a whole lot of hate. Icy logic - okay they can have that one but since it was absent for more than 3/4 of the book I don't think it counts.

The genes of the Huntington women have formed their emotions - now their life experiences drive them to make decisions which they, and those they love, may not survive.

What??? Where was this in the last 25 pages of the book? Whoop de do. Something that barely makes up a fraction of the book should not be a selling point on the back cover.

"A must read for fans of smart, sexy books" - RT Book Reviews

I like to think I'm a fan of smart, sexy books. It may have been smart but it was pretty low on the sexy scale.

"Steamy sex scenes make this a page-turner" - Booklist

I don't know what book I was reading because there were a couple of sex scenes which came across as emotionless and detached but I'd hardly say they kept me turning the pages of this book.

"Part murder mystery, part psychological thriller, part commentary on genetics and human behavior, sexual jealousy, and betrayal, Soul is both provocative and unputdownable" Good Reading

This is the big one for me. This is what sold me on this book and caused me to put back Meredith Duran's Bound by Your Touch and pick this one instead.

Murder Mystery - NO. There was nothing murder mystery about this at all. NOTHING. No one even died until the very end and their was no doubting who did it.

Psychological Thriller - Sure if your biggest fear is being bored to tears this may be terrifying.

Commentary on Genetics and Human Behavior - I guess I can give them this one. Sort of.

Sexual Jealousy and Betrayal - Okay they can have this one too but even that's not enough to sustain an entire book.

Provocative and Unputdownable - umm I guess that's subjective so I can't really argue but I wasn't feeling it. I'm also pretty sure unputdownable isn't a word.

Now overall this wasn't really I bad book. I finished it so it couldn't have been horrible but I was so annoyed by the time I finished it that it really knocked my enjoyment of the book down a few pegs.

The fact is this is a book about how two women in different times deal with their husbands abandonment on a day to day basis. They didn't do this by plotting elaborate murders then trying to get away with it. They did it by moping and feeling sorry for themselves for 400 for the 430 pages.

I'm really really annoyed at the Publisher right now. Although two of my most favourite fantasy series ever were published by Tor and out of 17 total books read I have only 3 with grades below 8/10. I can't see myself picking up another book by them unless I've done considerable research on it first.

I Learned Something About Myself Today...

2010-03-23T21:16:00.005-04:00

...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

2010-03-20T12:35:00.006-04:00

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.

Reading and other stuff

2010-02-23T21:13:00.000-05:00

I was totally expecting to slide into a book slump after finishing Broken Wing. Not only was Broken Wing awesome but I've read quite a few very good books in a row. That usually means a slump is coming. Not so this time. After finishing Broken Wing I jumped right into Josh Lanyon's Adrien English Mysteries. I read about these for the first time on Kati's blog and since they peaked my interest I decided to download the first two for my e-book reader since the two in one is only $6.99 on fictionwise. Wow. I wasn't planning on getting too into these since it was such a drastic change in genre's etc. plus it was on my ebook reader and that just doesn't feel the same but holy moly I enjoyed these books thoroughly. I don't care how much of an ass he is I'm in love with Jake he totally makes these books for me. From what I've read on other blogs I think he turns into an even bigger jerk but I have faith that he'll figure out how awesome life would be with Adrien.

So anyhoo, now I've read both of those and I'm browsing through my books trying to decide what I want to read next. I've come to realize that I really dislike the whole process of starting a new book. I want to be in the middle of it, immersed in it not trying to figure who is who and what is what. I just don't care for this particular stage of reading when I can't decide what I feel like or if a particular book is going to work for me etc. etc. Oh well - if that's my biggest problem I really shouldn't complain :)

Completely off topic but happy news for me. My lovely little ball python Corwin has come out of his winter semi-hibernation early and is peeking at me while I type away on the computer. Last year he didn't eat from September right through to March and we rarely saw him come out of his hut on his own at all. This year he didn't disappear until November and now he's out already :)

Broken Wing - Judith James

2010-02-21T11:37:00.000-05:00

I have to thank Kristie J for leading me to this book. I read her review for this book almost a year ago and it's been on my TBB list for the entire time but I only just picked it up last week. Why? I have no idea for some reason I never actually saw this book at a bookstore. I don't know if it wasn't stocked or if it just didn't jump out at me but until I brought my wishlist to the USB store with me I just didn't see it. Which leads me to believe that if it hadn't been brought to my attention previously I probably never would have read it - and that would really suck!

Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, Gabriel St. Croix has never known tenderness, friendship, or affection. Although fluent in sex, he knows nothing of love. Lost and alone inside a nightmare world, all he's ever wanted was companionship and a place to belong. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy façade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all that is about to change. The boy's family has found him, and they are coming to take him home.

Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother's disappearance. When he's located, safe and unharmed despite where he has been living, Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own.

Becoming a mercenary, pirate and a professional gambler, Gabriel travels to London,

France

, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again and all he knows of love. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey, and the greatest gamble of all, is within the darkest reaches of his own heart.

Oh my where do I start?? I suppose I'll start with Gabriel since this is essentially Gabriel's story. Let me just refer to my checklist of favourite hero traits shall I? Wounded and tortured? Check. Reluctant Hero? Check. Alpha minus the asshole? Check. Gorgeous? Check. Completely devoted to the heroine? Check. Really what more could a girl ask for from her hero?? Not much I think and I think it's obvious that Gabriel most certainly worked for me on so many levels. I adored him even when I wanted to knock him over the head with a frying pan near the end of the book he still broke my heart. I loved watching him slowly falling in love with Sarah and growing as he discovered he may actually be worth something after all.

And Sarah! She is most certainly one of my most favourite heroines EVER! Even though she did take a back seat to Gabriel in this story (it is his story after all) I found that she was such a strong character to begin with we didn't need to follow the same character growth etc. that we normally see from both the hero and the heroine. Sarah had already suffered her trials and she had grown from them and become the person she was prior to this story ever taking place. Her history was what made her so perfect for Gabriel and probably the one and only person who could truly love and appreciate everything Gabriel was as well as show him his self-worth. She also came across to me as a very realistic social rebel. She had grown up with a close and loving family and when that was all taken from her she was released from all the constraints of polite society as she came to realize that there were far more important things than public opinion. Put simply I adored her and her inner strength, self-knowledge and her unconditional love for Gabriel are what made the happy ending for these two possible.

Now for the story. It was beautiful. The first half of the book is magical and wonderful as we watch Gabriel slowly come to realize that Sarah may actually care for him and that he may actually be worth her love. There is very little conflict for this part of the book aside from Gabriel's self-loathing but that doesn't stop him from "selfishly" falling head over heels for Sarah. Now for most of the second half of the book there is a looooong separation. This may bother some people but is quite frankly one of my favourite plot devices when it is done well. I feel it was done very well in this book. I cried for almost the entire last two chapters and it's not often a book affects me like that.

Thank you again Kristie for bringing such a wonderful book to my attention. Now I just have to get my hands on Highland Rebel.

Rating 10/10

New Loot and Two Reads

2010-02-19T11:00:00.002-05:00

I've spent the last week of my holidays at home reading, cooking, shopping and relaxing. Over the past week I finished two books and picked up a few new books at the UBS.

The Secret Pearl - Mary Balogh

Blurb

Fleur. That was her middle name. The name she told the man to whom she sold herself out of desperate want. But her full name was Isabella Fleur Bradshaw, gently born and brutally expelled from her sheltered life. His name was Adam Kent, Duke of Ridgeway, the wealthiest lord in England, but scarred in war, bitterly betrayed in marriage.

She feared his overpowering physical passion. He fought to keep from loving her. They each had so much to teach each other and so much to learn... 'n a drama of desire played out on a vast estate - where a man and a woman come closer and closer to their moment of heart-pounding truth...

There really isn't much that I can say about this book that hasn't been said before in many other wonderful reviews of this book. It's enough to say that I loved it. Adam broke my heart. The story was beyond romantic and although I didn't totally love Fleur I still very much enjoyed the story.

Natural Selection - Dan Freedman

Blurb

A shocking biological discovery. A previously unknown predatory species. Evolving just like the dinosaurs. Now. Today. Being forced out of its world and into man's for a violent first encounter. Weaving science and thriller in a way not seen since Jurassic Park, Natural Selection introduces a phenomenally dangerous new species that is rapidly adapting in a way never before seen A mystery. A chase. A vast expansive puzzle. A team of marine scientists is on the verge of making the most stunning discovery in the history of man. In their quest for answers, they engage a host of fascinating characters. The world's premier neurology expert. A specialist on animal teeth. Flight simulation wizards, evolution historians, deep sea geologists, and so many more. Along the way, the team of six men and women experience love, friendship, loyalty and betrayal. Together, they set off to exotic locales. Literally to the bottom of the ocean. To a vast and mysterious redwood forest. To an unknown complex of massive caves. When people start dying, the stakes are upped even further. Then the real hunt begins ....

Awww what can I say? This book was fun - ridiculous but lots of fun. If you like cheesy monster movies you will probably enjoy this book but just be warned you have to seriously suspend your sense of disbelief but in the end it's worth it.

Similar to most thriller novels I've read the character development seems to be sacrificed for the sake of story telling. I've gotten used to it so it doesn't bother me as much as before but I'd really like to read a thriller where the characters were more than just space filler. The writing style and story line make up for it though. Even during the first half of the book when the scientists were doing little more than tracking the new creatures through the sea I was hooked. The mystery of the new creature and the discovery of exactly what it is and what it was capable of kept me hooked. Actually I enjoyed that part more than than the action packed second half of the book. The second half still kept me interested but it did get a little silly and frustrating at times as the creature behaved in ways that seemed quite bizarre. I actually think this story would have been more effective had the creature actually stayed a predator in the water rather than coming out on land but...

Anyway, it was quite a bit of fun and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good monster story - just don't take it too seriously!

Book Shopping

I also picked up the following new books this week.

Two Recent Reads

2010-02-08T20:41:00.000-05:00

The Name of the Wind

This is a huuuuge book but it's awesomely huge. I have to say my not being concerned with the number of books I'm reading has so far worked very well for me. I was able to take my time with this book and really enjoy it.

Summary

My name is Kvothe, pronounced nearly the same as "quothe." Names are important as they tell you a great deal about a person. I've had more names than anyone has a right to.

The Adem call me Maedre. Which, depending on how it's spoken, can mean The Flame, The Thunder, or The Broken Tree.

"The Flame" is obvious if you've ever seen me. I have red hair, bright. If I had been born a couple of hundred years ago I would probably been burned as a demon. I keep it short but it's unruly. When left to its own devices, it sticks up and makes me look as if I've been set afire.

"The Thunder" I attribute to a strong baritone and a great deal of stage training at an early age.

I've never thought of "The Broken Tree" as very significant. Although in retrospect, I suppose it could be considered at least partially prophetic.

My first mentor called me E'lir because I was clever and I knew it. My first real lover called me Dulator because she liked the sound of it. I have been called Shadicar, Lightfinger, and Six-String. I have been called Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller. I have earned those names. Bought and paid for them.

But I was brought up as Kvothe. My father once told me it meant "to know."

I have, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during the day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

So begins the tale of Kvothe - from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic. In these pages you will come to know Kvothe as a notorious magician, an accomplished thief, a masterful musician, and an infamous assassin. But THE NAME OF THE WIND is so much more - for the story it tells reveals the truth behind Kvothe's legend.

That isn't so much a summary as it is the introduction to Kvothe's story in the book but it really does sum everything up perfectly.

This is the first of three very large novels in Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles and it's largely just backstory on how Kvothe came to be Kvothe but it's wonderful backstory. This is most definitely a character driven fantasy novel. There isn't a whole lot of action going on but it keeps you turning the pages constantly. Rothfuss is a fabulous story teller. This was one of those books that just completely pulls you in and wraps you up in the story.

I loved Kvothe. I love him in all his egotistical self absorbed glory that has apparently gotten on a few peoples nerves I can honestly say he didn't get on mine. If the second book was released I would gladly dive right in to another 600+ pages with him. He is probably one of the most well written characters I've ever read and very complex. I can't even begin to explain him but I love him but then I've always been a fan of the anti-hero and while Kvothe is pretty much just hero material at this point there are hints of a darker side in there.

There were a few slow points in the book but other than that I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait for the next book to come out. Whenever that is...

Rating 9/10

The Marriage Bed - Claudia Dain

It starts with a kiss, an explosion of longing that cannot be contained. He is a young knight bent on winning his spurs; she is a maiden promised to another man; theirs is a love that can never be. But a year's passing and a strange destiny brings them together again.

Now he is a monk desperately fleeing temptation, and she is the lady of Dornei, a woman grown, yearning to fulfill the forbidden fantasies of girlhood. They are a couple with nothing in common but a wedding night neither will ever forget.
Eager virgin and unwilling bridegroom, yielding softness and driving strength, somehow they must become one soul, one purpose, one body within the marriage bed.

First off can I just point out how hot this cover is? I don't normally care for half naked lovers on the covers of the books but I'll make an exception for this one.

Holy Moly - this book was intense. In every way this book was intense the writing style had everything very short and too the point and while it took a little bit to get used to it after the flowing wonderfulness that was the style of previous book I read it really worked for this story. The relationship between the hero and heroine is intense and a complex mix of lust/love/hate but this was far more believable lust, love and hate than what you usually find in romance novels. There is alot of shared hurt between these two and alot to overcome. Neither of these characters are perfect and at times you want to strangle them but it does make them real and very authentic for medieval characters. Religon plays a big role in this story and there is a fair amount of violence but it all comes together to make a very satisfying medieval romance. This isn't a terribly long book and I read almost the entire thing in one sitting and I was tense the whole time. Even though I knew it was going to have a happy ending I had a hard time believing the author was going to get there with these two.

Which leads me to my one quibble with the book. The ending completely fizzled out for me. Maybe I was so tense through the reading that I couldn't keep it up anymore - maybe my mood just fit the tone of the book better when I started it - I don't know. I think I wanted more angst in the ending it almost seemed too easy. Who knows it could have been me or maybe it was the book but I do know I was dissappointed. I'm equally disappointed to realize I traded in The Temptation a later book in the series because I couldn't get into the first time I tried. I'm glad I pushed through my initial trouble with the writing style because I ended up really enjoying the book and now because I wasn't quite as persistant the last time I'm going to have to go out and re-buy The Temptation again.

Rating 7.8/10

Heaven, Texas - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

2010-01-25T06:50:00.000-05:00

Come heck or high water, Gracie Snow is determined to drag the legendary ex-jock Bobby Tom Denton back home to Heaven, Texas, to begin shooting his first motion picture. Despite his dazzling good looks and killer charm, Bobby Tom has reservations about being a movie star -- and no plans to cooperate with a prim and bossy Ohio wallflower whom he can't get off his mind or out of his life. Instead, the hell-raising playboy decides to make her over from plain Jane to Texas wildcat.
But nothing's more dangerous than a wildcat with an angel's heart in a town too small for a bad boy to hide. And all hell breaks loose when two unforgettable people discover love, laughter, passion -- and a match that can only be made in Heaven.

This just might be my favourite contemporary novel yet. It's a very close race which includes Crusie's Bet Me and SEP's Kiss an Angel but I think this one might just sneak into the top spot. Bobby Tom was just the right mix of jack ass and lost little boy that he was still endearing. I thought Gracie made a great heroine she was strong willed and wasn't afraid of putting Bobby Tom in his place when he needed it (which was often). The relationship between these two seemed very natural and was quite funny at times. My only minor, minor quibble is the same problem I had with Lady Be Good by SEP. The heroines personality does a complete 180 near the end in order to facilitate the totally awesome ending - yes it's kind of annoying in a "Big Mis" kind of way but the pay off makes it worth it. This is probably one of the best endings to a romance novel yet. And even better? There was no epilogue!!!!!

Rating 10/10

Hello My Name is Danielle and I'm a Slacker

2010-01-16T12:13:00.000-05:00

Wow, what can I say other than it was a very busy December and has been a very busy January. Obviously I haven't been blogging and I haven't done very much reading since December.

As my first actual new years post - late I know but like I said I'm a slacker. I can't say I'm sorry to see the end of 2009. It was all around a pretty crappy year. 2010 however seems to be starting off with a bang. Our first big news of the new year?? My husbands previous employer who laid him off over a year ago finally has more work picking up and hired him back!! Yea!!! No more minute taking or penny pinching for this chicky. So on that note here is my 2009 year in review.

Total number of books read 52

Total number of pages read 20,169

Genre Breakdown

Historical Romance - 11

Sub genres - Western/American - 4

- Medieval - 2

- Regency - 4

- Victorian - 1

Romantic Suspense - 7

Mystery - 7

Historical Fiction - 5

Fantasy - 5

Paranormal Romance - 6

Contemporary Romance - 4

Romantica - 2

Suspense/Thriller - 3

Young Adult - 2

Horror - 1

General Fiction - 1

Non-Fiction - 1

Ratings

5 stars - 14

4 stars - 26

3 stars - 10

2 stars - 1

1 star - 1

The large number of high ratings has a lot to do with the fact that I rarely force myself to finish a book I'm not enjoying.

The best of the Year

My goals for 2010 - Read!

That's it no number goals, no genre goals I'm just going to read what I want when I want and see how that works for me. The last few years I've given myself number goals and I think that causes me to always pick shorter books (even though I love looong books) and to put books that I'm not enjoying all that much aside too soon. So this year I'm just going to read what I feel like and not pay attention to numbers all that much.

My 2010 so far.

I've only read two books

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

This book was okay. It was a fairly long book and kept me interested but I wasn't really blown away. I may try something else by him in the future.

Here is the blurb from Amazon

"American Gods" is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped around a deep examination of the American spirit. Gaiman tackles everything from the onslaught of the information age to the meaning of death, but he doesn't sacrifice the razor-sharp plotting and narrative style he's been delivering since his Sandman days.
   Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book.
   Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details that make this such a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.
   More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country--our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what's real and what's not. "--Therese Littleton"

Trial and Error - Paul Levine

This is the fourth book in the Solomon vs. Lord series and my second favourite of the four. Victoria was way less hateful then she was in the last two. My only complaint is that it was a touch too short and that there is no fifth book due out in the near future.

Blurb

When Steve Solomon is awakened from a sound sleep beside his lover and law partner, Victoria Lord, the last thing he expects is to find himself in a high-speed chase against dolphin-kidnapping ecoterrorists on Jet Skis. But that is what you get when your nephew hangs out at water parks and speaks cetacean–a.k.a. dolphin. By morning, a person is dead and Steve has a new client: none other than one of the animal liberators. There’s just one loophole: Victoria is on the case too—on the opposite side.

No wonder Larry King says that this is “mystery writing at its very best” and Dave Barry says Paul Levine writes a terrific courtroom drama that’s also funny as hell!”

December is a write off...

2009-12-11T08:00:00.002-05:00

Sheesh, between having two jobs, getting ready for Christmas, two family birthdays and football sundays. I'm having serious trouble finding much time for anything. I have read a couple books - here are my mini-reviews.

All You Can Eat - Emma Holly

This book was okay. It wasn't bad and it was certainly hot but I just didn't connect with the characters very well and preferred the heroines fling to the actual hero in the book. I didn't really by into the romance portion all that much either but it was entertaining.

Grade 6.5/10

The Lake - Richard Laymon

This was a horror novel which I found out after the fact was found amongst the authors things after he passed away and then published. Well - whoever made that decision did the author a serious disservice because I for one will never spend my hard earned dollars on a book by this man again despite the fact that most people feel this was a first draft that should never have been published and pales in comparison to his other works. You think you've read some pretty TSTL characters in romance novels or seen them in your typical horror movie? Trust me these two morons really take the cake. I'll just give you a small sample of beyond stupid things they did. Just a little background this is a mother and daughter. The daughter's boyfriend was just murdered by a psycho-path who then chased the daughter through the forest with a meat clever only she was lucky enough to hide and then make it to the police station. It is also made very clear to her that it appears she was a target and this wasn't a random attack. There are some spoilers here FYI.

1. Mother and daughter believe the psycho path may be in the house so they call the cops and hide in the bathroom. Sounds smart right only the cop who is coming is kinda hot right? So the mother turns on the hair dryer and starts blow drying hair before he gets there.

2. Daughter now knows there is a crazy man out to kill and decides that since she can't sleep she would take a kitchen knife and go out for a 1:00 a.m. run through the forest. Then she runs into some guy who thinks it's normal to walk is dog at 1:00 a.m. and rather than thinking Wow - I'm lucky he didn't attack and rape me I won't do this again she decides that he's really pretty cute and (her boyfriend has already been dead for a whole 7 days you know) she's going to go out again the next night in the hopes that she will run into him again then she goes to his house to have hot chocolate.

3. Another random psycho is trying to kill the daughter. The mother, daughter and another cop all know who it is and why and what he plans to do. They go home to the house where they have continued to live during numerous attacks on their lives, which the crazy killer has a key to (and the daughter is well aware of this) which is very remote and in the forest. Then the mother and the cop all have "emergencies" they just have to leave for and they leave the daughter in the house alone!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me????

I should also mention these were the two horniest women I've ever seen in my life. I don't think there was a moment in the book where they weren't getting "excited" about something that was happening. Not to mention the weird happenings that would pop up out of nowhere have nothing to do with the story then just dissappear never to be heard from again.

This book was horrible even if it was a first draft. The way the women behaved in this book was beyond ridiculous. I couldn't even tell you why I finished it but I did and I will never ever ever buy a book written by this author again.

Rating 0/10

Yeesh - on a happy note I'm currently reading By Design by Madeline Hunter and I think I may be enjoying it even more than By Arrangement.

Bibliopornography

2009-11-29T16:05:00.005-05:00

It was a busy weekend in the lonely bookworm household. The christmas lights are up outside, the christmas decorations and christmas tree are up inside and most importantly one entire year after my wonderful husband started building my bookshelves they are finally complete!!! No more books stacked on the floor or stored away in boxes they are all up on shelves. These are the ones he built for me in our bedroom. They are not completely finished but they are complete enough to hold books.

Then I stole my old bookshelves from my parents house to handle the overflow and lucky me I only filled two of the three so I have an entire shelf of space left.

I also had my husband and my father move my humongous reading chair from downstairs up into our extra room (my reading room) upstairs.

I'm definitely in my happy place this weekend :)

WTF Giants?!?!?!

2009-11-26T23:10:00.001-05:00

Wow. What the heck happened to my Giants?

I hate this chick

2009-11-26T08:23:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I'm reading Wild Swan by Celeste DeBlasis which has been in my TBR pile for well over two years and was on my TBB list for at least 4 years prior to that. When I finally stumbled upon the whole series in a USB in Michigan I bought them all. Why? Well for one I'd spent four years looking for these books and damned if I was going to spend another four looking for the next book and two it had soooo many things going for it love triangle (my favourite plot type), it was huge and epic (I love big books), plus it had a glowing review on AAR and sounded right up my alley.

Well - as my title suggests (okay who am I kidding - screams) I hate this chick. I can't stand her she is just soooooo perfect and self-sacrificing it makes me want to puke. It seems like everytime I turn the page Alex is doing something else that is going to make her own life miserable but will undoubtedly improve someonelse's. To me this is not a strong heroine this is a martyr needlessly sacrificing herself on the alter of her own happiness. I mean jeez lady when your husband treats you like dirt for 6 months instead of stoically enduring it because of all he's been through step up and tell him he's hurting you instead of waiting for one of his friends to do it for you. Yes, yes, yes this is a common theme throughout romance novels but when the actual hero of the novel is standing there saying I will take you and the children away from this total douchebag who isn't good enough to lick the dirt off you're perfect feet and her response is "I love you more than anything but I can't do that to Sinje (yes please use your pet name for your husband when you are rejecting your lover) even though I don't think he loves me and has been treating me like a common whore I must stay with him for his own sake unless he chooses to leave me". Yes that is paraphrased but that's pretty much what she said.

Okay that was a huge run on sentence and this is turning into a very long rant. I'm obviously irritated but none-the-less I'm enjoying the book so I'm crossing my fingers that she evolves into something I can tolerate and the real hero actually finds someone better. It will never happen but a girl can dream.

Crimson City - Liz Maverick

2009-11-25T08:41:00.003-05:00

This is another older review but I still haven't found anything that truly fills the Anita Blake void.

Sigh... I'm still trying to fill the void in my reading life that the current Anita Blake books have left. I had such high hopes for this series. I loved the idea of having different writers for each book in the series but having the same setting and characters. Unfortunately, here is yet another paranormal series that has fallen flat for me.

The story takes place in an alternate reality L.A. nicknamed Crimson City after the last war between species. The species in question are Werewolves, Humans and Vampires. Currently their is a tentative peace between the species but when a human killing machine (a mech) takes out the two head vampires leaving our heroine Fleur (dela something or other) as a defacto leader, Crimson City is teetering on the brink of another species war.

Dain is a member of some kind of night patrol for the military down on the humans level and for reasons I still don't understand (don't leaders of one society generally go talk other leaders when crap hits the fan?) Fleur and Dain form an alliance to try and figure out who sent the mech in the first place and who is responsible for all the random killings of vampires and humans.

My first problem with this book is that the romance between the h/h was really weak. Outside of the fact they were both ridiculously attractive I can't figure out why these two fell in love with one another and I certainly didn't see it. There was plenty of mental lusting going before the declaration of love but it didn't seem like the author put a whole lot of effort into the relationship. I still wasn't discouraged though I like lots of books that don't even have a relationship as long as the plot is interesting and action fast paced I'll still enjoy it.

As far as plot and action go this book was pretty meh. I don't know how to explain it but I couldn't get into the fighting scenes I just didn't care. I ended up skimming the last half of this book because it was just not holding my attention.

I don't know if I will pick up the next book or not even though it's by a different author I really don't care what happens to the characters or Crimson City. If your looking for an exciting paranormal series you may want to look elsewhere.

Rating 5/10

What I've been up to...

2009-11-19T23:13:00.004-05:00

Holy crap this minute taking has been kicking my ass. As soon as I look at a computer I start to get a headache. It doesn't help matters that the particular board I've been minute taking for does not get along and their meetings don't start until 7:30 and they are 3+ hours long!! Then I have to wake up in the morning and sort through 11 pages of petty bickering yeesh - I'm getting a head ache again.

Anyways, on to book stuff. I'm so not in the mood to write actual reviews so I'm just going to ramble a bit about what I've been reading.

Gone - Michael Grant

This book was awesome. Not perfect but awesome.

This is the blurb.

In the blink of an eye.

Everyone disappears.

Gone.

Everyone except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not a single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Gone, too, are the phones, internet, and television. There is no way to get help.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen and war is imminent.

The first in a breathtaking saga about teens battling each other and their darkest selves, gone is a page-turning thriller that will make you look at the world in a whole new way.

I don't normally browse the young adult section of the book store so I generally only pick them up when something on one of the display tables catches my attention. This one caught my attention because I thought the cover was ugly. After reading the back though I had to break one of my cardinal rules and purchase a stupid trade paperback. It was so worth it though. I loved this book. The story flew along and I mean flew. The action was pretty much non-stop through the whole thing and I actually cared about the characters. The bad guys were very bad and although I think the female characters could have been a little better fleshed out the male characters were very well done and multi-dimensional. I am so looking forward to the second book which is only out in hardcover right now and I absolutely refuse to buy. As soon as it comes out in paperback though you better believe I'll be picking it up.

Blood Rites - Dresden Files #6

Summary: HARRY DRESDEN--WIZARD
Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations.
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or
Other Entertainment.

For Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, there have been worse assignments than going undercover on the set of an adult film. Dodging flaming monkey poo, for instance. Or going toe-to-leaf with a walking plant monster. Still, there's something more troubling than usual about his newest case. The film's producer believes he's the target of a sinister entropy curse, but it's the women around, him who are dying, in increasingly spectacular ways.
Harry's doubly frustrated because he got involved with this bizarre mystery only as a favor to Thomas, his flirtatious, self-absorbed vampire acquaintance of dubious integrity. Thomas has a personal stake in the case Harry can't quite figure out, until his investigation leads him straight to Thomas's oversexed vampire family. Harry's about to discover that Thomas's family tree has been hiding a shocking secret: a revelation that will change Harry's life forever...

Ahh what can I say I love Harry Dresden. The fact that it took me an entire week to read this book just goes to show how busy I've been. I think this is my favourite in the series so far but they are all totally awesome.

Twice Loved - LaVyrle Spencer

2009-11-14T13:39:00.002-05:00

The thing I love about LaVyrle Spencer is that she writes compelling emotional stories about ordinary people. There are no dukes, tycoons, millionaires, movie stars, golf pro's etc. these are just ordinary people involved in extraordinary love stories.

Laura and Rye Dalton have been in love with one another for as long as they can remember. When Rye's whaling ship goes down with no survivors Laura is left pregnant and alone. Dan Morgan is Rye's best friend and has loved Laura from a far since they were kids. Dan naturally steps in to help Laura and the two find comfort in one another.

When Rye returns five years later he is surprised to find that Laura is not present waiting for him when he gets off the ship. He is certain she must have received his letters about being put off his ship because of small pox and then being hired on to travel on the Omega. Of course Laura never recieved the letters and Rye returns home to find a son he never knew he had and his wife married to his best friend. To make matters even more difficult Josh (Rye's son) believes Dan is his father and has never been told about Rye.

Oh my heavens this book was gut renching. It's been a long time since I had a book take up so much of my time spent not reading. I couldn't put these four people out of my mind and I kept wondering how this could possibly come out happily.

I loved all the characters in this book they were so incredibly realistic. None of them are perfect and they all made mistakes some big, some small, but you still cared about and wanted everything to turn out all right.
Spencer has also done her research for this story and the island of Nantucket came alive in this book. If I didn't know any better I would think she'd lived there her entire life.

If you're like me and enjoy lots of angst in your books I highly recommend you pick this one up.

Rating 10/10

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-11-11T21:03:00.002-05:00

I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted. I've started taking minutes at board meetings after work and typing them up on my own time to make a little extra cash and all this extra time on the computer has taken a bit of the fun out of blogging. Here are some mini-reviews anyways until I'm back to a somewhat regular schedule.

The Damsel in this Dress - Marianne Stillings

Blurb

Port Henry Ledger Book Review by Betsy Tremaine: WRONG GUY HAS THE WRITE STUFF IN TORRID LOVE STORY
Let me tell you, dear reader, I've rarely been subjected to such drivel as I have in the novels of bestselling tough-guy cop-turned-author J. Soldier McKennitt. The man himself, however, is considerably more interesting. Having finally met him at a recent writers' conference in Seattle, I am pleased to report that Soldier is a tall, dark, and gorgeous hunk of literary superstar. To my surprise, he became quite the charmer once his self-righteous indignation evaporated ... Could it have been this critic's blonde hair and hourglass figure that brought about such an abrupt turnaround? Or perhaps our Soldier boy was simply vanquished by this reviewer's intelligence and caustic wit. In any case, due to the recent emergence of a crazed stalker, this plot has since thickened uncomfortably, and Detective McKennitt has brashly assumed the role of my knight in shining Brooks Brothers.
Bottom Line: The only thing standing in the way of a beautiful relationship in this love story is the fact that the two protagonists are so deliriously, passionately wrong for each other!

This was a very cute and enjoyable book. It didn't blow me out of the water or anything but it was a fun and quick read. Betsy made for a strong and likable herione. There wasn't a whole lot of suspense but what there was was well done. The mystery was pretty easy to solve but then that could have been intentional. The only quibble I had was with Soldier (my cousins' dog is named Soldier so that was hard to get used to) plus he really did think like a girl trapped in a mans body. I don't have the book with me at the moment but when he first meets Betsy he thinks to himself that she made his heart go "twitterty pat" like the rabbit from Bambi. Really, what super manly hardened detective thinks in terms of Disney characters?? Otherwise, I enjoyed it and it made for a very nice weekend read.

Blurb

Sports agent Myron Bolitar is poised on the edge of the big time. So is Christian Steele, a rookie quarterback and Myron's prized client. But when Christian gets a phone call from a former girlfriend, a woman who everyone, including the police, believes is dead, the deal starts to go sour. Trying to unravel the truth about a family's tragedy, a woman's secret, and a man's lies, Myron is up against the dark side of his business—where image and talent make you rich, but the truth can get you killed.

This is the first book in Harlan Cobens Myron Bolitar series and it was awesome. There was a perfect balance of humour, suspense and character development. This was a really really good mystery too. There were plenty of twists and cliff hangers through out the book and it was seriously difficult to put the book down. I had no idea who the bad guy was. Everytime I thought I had it figured out something new would happen and only leave me with more questions. Really, this book was brilliantly plotted. I loved it and I can not wait to get the next one.

Currently reading

Gone by Michael Grant

In the blink of an eye.
Everyone disappears.
Gone.
Everyone except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not a single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Gone, too, are the phones, internet, and television. There is no way to get help.
Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.
It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen and war is imminent.
The first in a breathtaking saga about teens battling each other and their darkest selves, gone is a page-turning thriller that will make you look at the world in a whole new way.

I'm not finished it yet but honestly this book is awesome and I just found out it was a part of a series double awesome. I can't believe how invested I am in this book. It's starting to fill in the void the Harry Potter series left. Once it's finished I'll post a more detailed review because really more people need to read this book!!!!!

Dark Obsession - Allison Chase

2009-10-31T10:36:00.000-04:00

Dark Obsession - Allison Chase

The Plot - Nora Thornegoode's mother always told her that her painting would get her in trouble. When Nora arrives at her first showing she is horrified to find that her "teacher" has painted a picture of her naked and informed the crowd that he is having an affair with her. Of course none of this is true but to society it doesn't matter Nora is damaged goods and her reputation is in tatters. Grayson Lowell is haunted literally by his brother Tom and his brothers wife Charlotte. After Tom had confessed to Gray that he had gambled away the entire Lowell fortune they had a terrible row - after which Tom's body turned up battered at the base of a cliff. Although Gray was determined innocent it is believed by most everyone that it did in fact kill his own brother and is little more than a cold blooded killer. Nora needs to marry to save her reputation and Gray needs to marry for money to make sure there is an earldom for his nephew Jonny to inherit. Nora's father quickly arranges for the two to be married. Although there is mutual distaste for the hasty reasons for their marriage both Nora and Gray accept there circumstances and find themselves quite fond of one another. This all changes when they leave for the Lowell estate in Cornwall. Grayson continually becomes more withdrawn and distant as he deals with the guilt over his brothers desk and the ghostly sightings become more frequent. Nora is confused unable to decide which Grayson is the real Grayson the one she spent her wedding night with or the cold, angry Grayson she is currently residing with. The two must unravel the mystery of Tom's death if they ever wish to have there happily ever after.

The Hero - Grayson is definitely tortured, he is wracked with guilt over his brothers death. He also feels guilty for the way he always treated Tom when they were growing up and the way he blew up at his brother when he came to him for help. However, you never get the feeling throughout the book that he actually murdered his brother. He is still a good man even with his quick temper. The only problem I had with Gray was his self-loathing got to be a bit much. The whole I'm a tainted horrible person and Nora deserves so much better argument got old after awhile - especially because really now that they were married what was she supposed to do? It's not like they could have gotten a divorce and she could have gone off and met someone else. If you really think she deserves better shape up and treat her better! Gray was the same way with his nephew Jonny - he feels so responsible for his Jonny not having a father that he leaves him in Cornwall to be raised alone by servants? Huh? The poor kid is so traumatized he hasn't spoken in a year and you think the best thing is to leave? Jeez, anyhoo other than that Grayson was your typical romance hero nothing about him really stood out but he fit with the story just fine.

The Heroine - Nora is a great heroine. She comes from "new money" and is not afraid to stand her ground and fight for what she wants. What she wants is the Grayson she made love to on her wedding night and she's determined to bring him back. Although, Grayson continuously tries to scare her away for her own good. Nora is able to think about what he's doing and trust her own instincts enough to know that he's not a cold blooded murder. There wasn't a lot of growth for Nora in this novel but she didn't really need to grow anyways. She came to Gray as a self assured and confident woman who didn't need a man to feel complete but who found a perfect partner in Gray.

What worked - The ghosts of Thomas and Charlotte were well drawn but not spooky. They were driven to save a Gray and Jonny and didn't do this by terrifying people but by appealing to them for help. I also really liked Jonny - your heart just bleeds for this poor little boy who has lost his mother and his father and has been left alone to be raised by servants. The mystery of what happened was also really well done. The author kept me guessing through the whole story. I would be so sure it was this person because of that reason and then three pages later it would be something else. I also didn't guess it before the end so that was a nice surprise.

What didn't - Gray's self sacrificing that did nothing but hurt other people. I was also a little disappointed it wasn't spookier. I thought this would be a good halloweeny type book and it wasn't really scary at all. Other wise I really enjoyed it.

Should you read it? This is really only the second gothic romance I've read and I've really enjoyed both of them but I'm not sure how this book stands up to the rest of the genre. The first book I read was far spookier than this one - even so I'd still recommend it as a very good historical romance.

One other note - I was quite excited after reading this book because right on the front it says "A Novel of Blackheath Moor" to a series whore like me this is gold a brand new fabulous series to read and considering this is the authors debut novel it's likely to only get better. Unfortunately, after visiting the authors website she has only published one other Blackheath Moor book and has moved on to a new series. It's unclear as to whether she will come back to this series but I find that very disappointing. I will check out the other series though.

Rating 7.9/10

Sometimes I do stupid things...

2009-10-24T09:32:00.000-04:00

In 2001 my second cousin got really into reading fantasy. She showed up at our house one day with a huge pile of fantasy novels she'd just picked up at Chapters and I made the teensy tiny comment of maybe I should try one of these. Well that launched us on a two hour book buying binge that ended with me leaving with the first books of about 20 different series. (I miss the days of unlimited disposable income). Anyhoo, I have a number of those first books which are still unread - that book buying binge sparked a weekly visit to Chapters for me where I began to amass my now ridiculously large collection of unread books. So last week I picked up The Diplomacy of Wolves by Holly Lisle which I bought during that first trip to Chapters. Fantasy novels have been mostly miss for me lately but I decided to try it anyways and it was really really good. So I'm thinking to myself "Sweet an awesome new series to read". Yeah...No. I get to the end of the book and it's a huge cliffhanger - like gigantic, enormous I can't read a book between these two because I need to know what happened cliffhanger. Now did I mention I bought this book in 2001?? That perhaps I should have made sure the following books were still somewhat readily available? Cause guess what - they aren't. I've searched high and low on the internet and I'm not able to find a copy of Vengeance of Dragons or Courage of Falcons anywhere that doesn't have a ridiculously high shipping charge (yea Canada Post!!).

So now I'm pissy -I'm sure I'll come across it eventually but I'm one of those instant gratification people and I don't wait well. Of course this happens right after my husband put me on a very strict book budget - very strict meaning you have 1200 + books you do not need to buy anymore - budget.

Boo.

MIA and The Phantom

2009-10-22T07:14:00.000-04:00

I've been missing in action for awhile. There is something about being sick that completely zaps all my motivation. I see in my absence someone who appears to have even less of a life then me left a very "witty" comment on my last post. What a charming fellow.

Anyhoo, on to the review.

Phantom by Susan Kay

When I was 10 years old my mother took me to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Pantages theatre in Toronto. To say that experience had an effect on me would be an understatement. I lived and breathed all things Phantom for the better part of my pre-teen existence. I received the soundtrack (on tape) along with Gaston Leraux's original book for Christmas that year and I don't think I could ever be found without one or the other. Even as a 10 year old I still couldn't figure out why the heck Christine would leave The Phantom for sissy boy Raoul. Actually, come to think of it perhaps this is where my love of love triangles as a plot device came from...

So - I heard about Phantom by Susan Kay quite some time ago and I put it on "my list" (this was a printed out list three columns wide and three pages long of books I wanted based on things I read on the internet). The list has since been retired and I know keep track of books on my bookpedia wishlist. There were probably a dozen books on that original list that I gave up on finding Phantom was one of them. So imagine my excitement when my cousin drops me off two large boxes of books and at the very bottom of the second box is Susan Kays Phantom. Trust me it was huge - hubby still isn't sure if he should be jealous of this book.

This isn't just a re-telling of the Phantom of the Opera - using the few pages of background on the phantom that is provided in Leraux's original novel Kay expanded on it and wrote The Phantom's (Erik) biography. The novel is told in a narrative style and is divided into sections based on the storyteller. I really liked this style of writing and it was interesting to see Erik through his own eyes and then through someone else's. I especially like Raoul's section at the very end. I don't want to give away any spoilers but although the story is still tragic there is just a little twist about what happened after Christine and Raoul left the theatre that I loved.

I know some people were annoyed about how the ending was tweaked but she really didn't stray so far from what happened in the original novel she just added to it a bit - and I for one really appreciated it.

Christine was the same weak-willed ninny she always is (I've never been a fan of Christine and figured the Phantom could have done better) but she does grow up a bit at the end of the novel and the glimpse into her diary we get makes her a little more sympathetic.

Erik is tragic. His story is always tragic but reading about his life before the events of the Opera make it even more so. It is no wonder Erik had no regard for human life there were very few people with redeemable qualities in his life.

The only quibble I had about this book was that I was a little disappointed in the Christine/Erik section. It was actually kind of slow for me but perhaps that was because I had built it up so much in my mind and I couldn't wait to get there.

This book is most definitely going up on my keeper shelf.

Rating 9/10

My Top 16

2009-10-16T16:31:00.000-04:00

I read on Kristie's blog here - that she saw a challenge on Jessica's blog here to list your top 16 romances. I'm sure there are plenty more lists out there but I haven't had much time to blog hop today. I admit this is the first time I've heard of Forever Amber but I'll have to keep an eye out for it now.

Here's my top 16

1. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon

I don't know if there will ever be another book like Outlander for me. I have yet to find another book that even comes close to having the same effect on me as Outlander. I also haven't been able to find another hero that is on the same level of awesomeness as Jamie.

2. Heart of the West - Penelope Williamson

It's very hard for me to rank my favourite romances but Heart of the West is as close to No. 1 as you can get in my books without being Outlander :) This is still my absolute favourite Western and is also the first book I read with the love triangle (one of my favourite angst devices).

3. The Way Home - Megan Chance

Another western with a love triangle - what can I say I'm consistent. Love love love this book Aaron is the most perfect beta hero.

4. For My Lady's Heart - Laura Kinsale

This is my absolute favourite medieval - it's pretty much perfect. Perfect hero, perfect heroine, perfect couple, the most romantic book I think I've ever read.

5. Midnight Honour - Marsha Canham

Most people seem to prefer the first two books in this series but Midnight Honour was heads and tails above the other two for me. Coincidentally it also has a bit of a love triangle going on...

I also don't think I ever cried more than I did when I read this book.

6. Almost Heaven - Judith McNaught

I just read this book recently and was absolutely blown away by it. I loved Ian and Elizabeth. This is probably the second most romantic book I've ever read.

7. By Arrangement - Madeline Hunter

Another fabulous medieval - David is one of my favourite heros.

8. Twice Loved - Lavyrle Spencer

Surprise, Surprise another love triangle!! Lots of angst in this one.

9. Silk and Secrets - Mary Jo Putney

This was my favourite of the silk series and my favourite MJP so far.

10. Devotion - Katherine Sutcliffe

I loved everything about this book. Even the ending. And I don't want to talk about Obsession.

11. The Enchanted Land - Jude Devereaux

Another western with lots of angst, big misunderstandings and long separations.

12. Hummingbird - Lavyrle Spencer

Okay, even I'm surprised there is another love triangle on my list. Apparently I like these even more than I realized.

13. A Kingdom of Dreams - Judith McNaught

If you've read it you know how wonderful this book is. If you haven't you simply must go out and find it right now!

14. Bodyguard - Suzanne Brockmann

Another book where I differ from the majority. This is my favourite Brockmann and I've read the majority of the troubleshooters series. It's also the only non-historical romance to make it to my list.

15. A Knight in Shining Armour - Jude Devereaux

I also loved everything about this book - including the ending. Unlike most people it seems.

16. One Sinful Night - Kaitlin O'Riley

I'm still shocked by my reaction to this book. I did not expect to love it as much as I did.

A Reason to Live - Maureen McKade

2009-10-10T14:16:00.004-04:00

In order to avoid reading slumps I try to vary genres and sub-genres so that I don't ever feel burned out on anything - which in theory works well. Sometimes in practice however, it doesn't work so well. I was worried about over doing it with western romances so I tried everything but in an effort to keep away the dreaded reading slump - what happened I ended up in a slump because all I really wanted was to read a western so of course nothing else worked. So guess what? I read a western and it was awesome.

A Reason to Live - Maureen McKade

The Plot - The story takes place shortly after the end of the civil war. Laurel Covey had been a confederate nurse during the war and has taken it upon herself to personally deliver the death bed messages of 21 soldiers to their families. Creede Forrester is an ex-gunslinger turned rancher who is looking for Laurel because he heard she may have been with his son when he died. Laurel is most fortunate that Creede happens upon her when she is attacked by two men on the road. Although Creede is disappointed that Laurel doesn't have any final words from his son after witnessing the earlier attack he refuses to allow Laurel to continue on her own. Having little say in the matter Laurel reluctantly agrees and the two begin their journey across the southern states.

The Hero - Creede has had a seriously difficult past and I mean difficult. Everyone he loves has been killed or taken away from him and he's left alone. Once he'd lost the very faint hope that Laurel would tell him there was a mistake and his son was really alive the need to protect Laurel on her journey is the only reason he doesn't spend the foreseeable future drowning in whiskey. Creede is your typical western hero and I mean that in a good way. I can't think of a more perfect fantasy. Creede is the strong silent type, he's incredibly capable and (my own made up word here) a take-care-of-er. He takes care of Laurel and he takes care of anyone else who needs him. However, for all Creede's wonderfulness he wasn't fully there for me as a character. To me this was very much Laurell's story and Creede seemed to not be quite as fully developed. Like I could swap him with any other number of western hero's and the story wouldn't miss a beat. I find this is something that quite often happens with heroines but I don't believe I've ever read a book before where it happened with the hero.

The Heroine - Based on the blurb and what I'd previously read about the book it seemed to me Creede would be the tortured soul who needed saving - don't get me wrong he was tortured but he would have eventually come around without Laurell to save him. Laurel is an incredibly strong heroine but she was so strong she was intent on destroying herself to keep from losing anyone or anything again. She lost her family when she married her husband against their wishes and then she lost her husband to the war. After witnessing the grief of mothers and fathers who lost their sons in the war she is determined to never care about anything again. Laurel is also suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - not that she realizes that of course - and believes she is going crazy. Even as she develops feelings for Creede she could never force him to saddle himself to someone who is losing her mind. Although, Laurel was stubborn and tough to love at times she's managed to worm her way into being one of my favourite heroines. This is no easy feat since very few heroines ever actually stand out enough for me to remember them shortly after I've finished the book. I completely believed Laurels reasons for not wanting to love Creed. The flashbacks from the war were so well written and tragic I couldn't help but understand exactly why she felt the way she did.

What Worked - Like I said previously I loved Laurel and she really stood out in the story for me. The relationship that developed between her and Creed was believable and filled with plenty of angst. These two were so broken and damaged and they healed one another slowly and realistically. There were a few other sub-plots that were brought in and resolved quickly so most of the story focused on Laurell and Creede and their developing relationship. Something else that worked for me THE EPILOGUE! It's the first one that I can remember that has actually completely fit with the book and it wasn't overly sappy and sweet and I felt added sooo much to the book.

What Didn't - I had very few problems with this book - although Creed was a very likable hero he did kind of fade into the background when compared to Laurel. The only other tinsy problem I had was the ending (prior to the epilogue) seemed a tad rushed and a bit too easy. The scene in the middle of the book with Seb and the mule (I won't go into to much detail since I don't want to enter spoilerish territory) brought tears to my eyes and I expected more emotion at the end of the book. The epilogue did a good job of bringing that back though.

Should you read it - I think most people who like Westerns will really enjoy this book it's gritty, heartwrenching and there is plenty of angst.

Grade 9/10

Wandering Aimlessly Through My Book Shelves

2009-10-07T06:37:00.002-04:00

I can't remember the last time I had so much trouble finding a book to read. You would think that with almost 1200 books 2/3's of which are unread I'd be able to find something - but no. I've tried romance, fantasy, historical ficiton, non-fiction and horror yet nothing is holding my attention for more than 50 pages. I don't know if it's the books I'm picking or just that I'm in the mood for a particular kind of book I just haven't figured out which one. Either way I've already wasted a week of reading with nothing to show for it.

I did happen to come across a copy of Susan Kay's Phantom (which I gave up looking for years ago) in the boxes of books my cousin gave me perhaps I'll try that next...

Good News and Not So Good News

2009-10-04T10:31:00.002-04:00

Good News - my cousin just decided she didn't like how much space her "already read" book collection was taking up and gave them all to me. Yea!!! It's mostly horror and fantasy (no romance at all) and she does horrible things to her books but it's two huge boxes of free books!

Not So Good News - I'm so not enjoying "The Golden Compass" it's got 15 more pages to prove to me that I do in fact want to read it and then I'm moving on.

Banned Books Week

2009-10-01T20:47:00.005-04:00

I almost missed it but I read about the ALA's banned books week on Wendy's Blog. Although I'm in Canada I still think it's important so I searched high and low on the web to find a book in my collection that has stirred up some kind of controversy. Low and behold I found one - and the controversy was even close to home! In honour of banned books week I'm reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.

In case anyone is interested I found this information on the "controversy" at http://www.freedomtoread.ca/docs/challenged_books_and_magazines.pdf

Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass

2007—After receiving a single complaint, the Halton (ON) Catholic District School

Board ordered the withdrawal of these fantasy novels for young readers from the open

shelves of libraries in elementary schools. The books were collected at library circulation

desks, and students who wished to read the novels had to ask librarians for copies. The

board also formed a committee to review the books. Within days, the Roman Catholic

school board in Peterborough (ON) received two complaints about the novels and

withdrew copies from school libraries. In Peterborough, school employees denied

students access to the novels while the board set up a committee to review the novels.

The Durham (ON) Catholic District School Board followed suit. The Calgary (AB)

Catholic School District told employees to pull the novels from library shelves, not use

the novels in classrooms and exclude the books from Scholastic book fairs. In Calgary,

the school board also established a committee to review the novels.

Cause of objection—The stories, which are set in an alternative universe populated with

talking animals, undermine belief in God and organized religion and promote atheism.

Challenged Books and Magazines Page 9

Update—In 2007, the Halton (ON) Catholic District School Board ignored the recommendation

of its review committee and voted to ban the novels from schools. The board’s

order proclaimed, “Philip Pullman’s trilogy of atheist ideology, carefully couched within

the realm of fantasy for young readers, is in direct opposition to the mission statement

and governing values of our board.” But a few weeks later, in 2008, the board of the

Calgary (AB) Catholic School District decided to use The Golden Compass in schools.

“There is no doubt that the text is harsh in terms of its language about organized religion

and that it presents a consistently negative view of church, clergy and faith-based institutions;

however, there are glimpses of light with opportunities for positive reflection,”

the review document said. The board urged teachers, when using The Golden Compass,

to use instruction guides to ensure “a carefully planned approach” and a Catholic focus.

Unbelievable. Like Wendy said - some people really are asshats.

Force of Nature and new review style

2009-10-01T06:42:00.005-04:00

Since it appears that most of my posts are going to be written in the wee hours of the morning I've decided to try some different review styles to see if I can't get a handle on my ramblings and actually write something that makes since.

Force of Nature - Suzanne Brockmann

The Plot - Ric Alvarado is an ex-police officer who is now working as a private investigator. He has just hired Annie Dugan, his best friends younger sister to work as his receptionist/assistant in the office. Unfortunately for Ric, Annie doesn't want office work she wants to assist him in the field. In an effort to keep her from quitting Ric allows Annie to accompany him on what appears to be a routine missing persons case and they end up being "escorted" to the home of one of Florida's most dangerous crime bosses Gordon Burns. Ric and Annie end up being hired on to protect Gordon's less than intelligent son Gordie Jr. Meanwhile in Washington DC FBI agent Jules Cassidy has just been informed that Gordon Burns is planning to smuggle an Al-Quaeda operative into the country to carry out a very large terrorist attack. So Jules hops a plane to Florida where he discovers 1) that an ex-police officer he's worked with before was seen at the Burns mansion and 2) the "in the closet" actor he's been in love with for years just happens to be attending the Sarasota Film Festival and is their best chance at infiltrating Burns' lair. Once Ric and Annie learn what Burns is possibly up to they agree to work undercover to stop the potential terrorist attack.

The Hero - Which one? No really I mean there were three in this book. Let's start with Ric - he's very much a Brockmann hero - Alpha without being a jerk, capable, gorgeous, protective, smart and very kick ass. I thought he was great although I was hard pressed to find any faults with him so he was a little too good to be true. Jules - I've always loved Jules and have been waiting for his story for a long time (of course isn't that always the case with Brockmann). Robin - Well where Ric was too good to be true Robin had so many issues I was worried about Brockmann being able to convince me he was going to be worthy of Jules. Not only is he in the closet thus not being able to have the open relationship Jules needs but he has a serious drinking problem a very very serious drinking problem. Of course I worried for nothing Brockmann did a fabulous job with Jules and Robin.

The Heroine - Annie - what can I say about Annie. Annie Dugan is not your beautiful, skinny, long haired temptress - she is curvy, with short curly hair and she after spending 6 months building stone walls she isn't exactly what you would call delicate :) However, Annie seemed to be the least developed of all the characters. I mean everyone else in the book kept saying how great and wonderful she was but I didn't see it. There was nothing bad about her she was just blah.

What Worked - Jules and Robin. I'm pretty sure they were the secondary romance in this book but man did they take over the book. I've read quite a few M/M romantica e-books that had very hot sex but I was never able to buy into the love story. I bought Jules and Robin - there was so much emotion involved with their relationship along with the crazy hot sexual tension they far out shadowed Annie and Ric. The plot also worked and kept me reading into the early morning. In typical Brockmann fashion these were not card board cut out villains. They were serious baddies and there was plenty of suspense. The last half of the book flew by with me thinking - OMG how are they going to turn this around it can only end badly - even though I knew I would get my happy ending.

What didn't Work - Annie and Ric's relationship fell a little flat for me. Annie's mistaken belief that Ric was a total hound dog was kinda hard for me to buy. I mean she knows this guy so well they can communicate whole conversations with a mere glance at one another but she doesn't know his history with women? and then even when she's told by one of his best friends who knows all the details of his past relationships that he doesn't hump everything that moves she refuses to believe it. Like I said I didn't buy it. The conflict between these two just seemed too contrived for me. Thank God for Jules and Robin.

Should you read it?

If you haven't read previous Troubleshooters Books I would recommend you go back and start with the first book Unsung Hero. There are so many plot lines that are stretched out over this series it would take away sooo much from the book if you didn't read those first. If you have read them and haven't been that happy with the previous few books I'm not sure if you will love this one. I really enjoyed it but every troubleshooters book has been an A read for me. If you have been dying to read Jules's story then this book is totally worth reading even if you hate everything else about it. They make this book.

Rating 8/10

Beating the Book Slump

2009-09-30T07:03:00.002-04:00

I've been MIA for the last few days trying to squeeze one more book into September. I powered through Force of Nature by Suzanne Brockmann and I sucessfully avoided falling into a slump. Yea Me!!

Anyhoo, I'll be back to post my review either tonight or tomorrow a.m. but I'm running out of time this morning after answering the discussion questions on Almost Heaven *sigh* for the Shaymless Aymless Romance Book Club here.

Don't Look Down - Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer

2009-09-28T07:15:00.003-04:00

Blurb from Amazon
It sounded simple. Go to Savannah. Finish directing an action-adventure film. Earn some quick money. Get a chance to see sister Daisy and niece Pepper. Instead, as soon as Lucy Armstrong arrives on the set of Don't Look Down, she discovers that nothing about her current job is simple. The cast is lackluster. What she has seen of the script is, even by Hollywood standards, unbelievably incoherent. The stunt coordinator is none other than her annoying ex-husband, Connor Nash, and her sister seems to have become a zombie. Bryce McKay, the movie's leading man, turns up with Captain J. T. Wilder, whom Bryce has personally hired to be his stunt double and military consultant. The last thing Lucy needs is a taciturn, too-sexy-for-his-own-good male like J. T. on her set, but once the going gets tough, someone like J. T. turns out to be exactly the kind of person Lucy decides she wants in her life. This first collaboration between best-selling romance writer Crusie and adventure-thriller writer Mayer is a rare delight. Mayer's delectably dry sense of humor perfectly complements Crusie's brand of sharp wit, and together the two have cooked up a sexy, sassy, and smart combination of romance and suspense that is simply irresistible.

My Review

I went into this book not expecting to like it very much. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself greatly enjoying it. Maybe because I'm not a hardcore Crusie fan I was able to accept the change in writing style easier than most.

The plot was fast moving and kept me interested and J.T. was so wonderfully realistic. I imagine that was Meyers doing and I really appreciated having the male point of view so very.... male. The romance didn't really work all that well for me and I would have been happy if the book just ended with the two being together. I didn't need the declaration of love and spending the rest of their lives together after three days - that's just creepy.

I don't always enjoy kids in the books I'm reading but I really enjoyed Pepper. She was a spoiled brat and hilarious. I don't think I would have enjoyed the book nearly as much without her.

I'm looking forward to their next collaboration "Agnes and the Hitman" which I think will be even better. I actually read the preview in the back of Don't look down and that is something I never do.

The Down Side of Really Great Books

2009-09-24T07:05:00.002-04:00

If you read my post from yesterday I'm sure your aware that I looooooved Almost Heaven by Judith McNaught. Or maybe you aren't - these 6:00 a.m. posts are not exactly my most concise writings...

Anyhoo, Almost Heaven was the best book I've read so far this year - I loved everything about it. However, I'm now finding myself in the same conundrum I usually find myself in when I read a book that I positively fall in love with. I can't find anything else to read. I want to read another romance but that really wouldn't be fair since I'd be continuously comparing the couple to Ian and Elizabeth and lets face it they can be an even more wonderful couple and have a more wonderful story but it won't matter because my brain wants Ian and Elizabeth. Okay - so romance is out I don't even want to switch sub-genres because it still won't be fair. Well, I have lots of other genres in my 600+ TBR pile just pick one of those. So I did. I picked several and I can't get into any of them why?? because I want another romance. So I look at the romances again... but no we already know why I can't pick a romance.

Do you see the circle of hell I've created for myself now? I've been here before it can take weeks for me to find my way out of it.

So what do you to get over those really great books? Do you re-read them? Read books by the same author? Just take a break from reading? I need help over here!!!!

Almost Heaven - Judith McNaught

2009-09-23T06:34:00.003-04:00

Wow.

I haven't read a Judith McNaught book in a very long time and now I remember why. My goodness these books put you through the ringer. Yes I love every minute of it but I really need a break afterwards.

Elizabeth Cameron has barely ever been away from her country home prior to making her debut into society. Unarguably the most beautiful young lady of the ton Elizabeth attracts many suitors as well as the attentions of the most unsuitable Mister Ian Thornton. Elizabeth meets Ian at a weekend house party which is being thrown by one of her friends sisters. The guests at this particular part are a very "fast crowd" and Ian assumes that Elizabeth is far more experienced and knowledgeable than she is. One thing leads to another and Elizabeth and Ian are caught in a very compromising position there is a duel, a big misunderstanding and a two year separation.

Two years later Elizabeth is a social outcast, her brother has disappeared and she has had to sell off almost every possession she had in order to keep her home. Her guardian (her slimy uncle) is sick of footing the bill for her childhood home and sends out letters to all 15 men she had offers from during her season asking them to spend the weekend with her to see if they still "suit." Only three men respond and one of them is Ian. Unfortunately for Ian his secretary mixed up his correspondance and rather than ignoring the letter Elizabeth is offered an invitation to his Scotland home. Of course once Elizabeth arrives it's impossible for her to go back to her Uncle's right away so she must stay and try to fight her feelings for Ian until it is time to leave.

There are very few authors who can make me feel every single emotion that the characters are feeling as well as McNaught. I laughed, I cried, I ground my teeth and punched my pillow in frustration numerous times while reading this book. The weekend party where Elizabeth and Ian first fall in love with one another is probably my favourite part of the whole book. I don't know how to better explain it but I was falling in love with Ian right along with Elizabeth.

Ian is one of my favourite types of hero's - he's older, cynical and although he enjoys women Elizabeth completely turns him inside out... and I believe it. The standard romance scenario where they sleep with one another and its AWESOME and it's never been like that with any other woman before so she must be the one is not what happens here. In Almost Heaven every thing and I mean every little thing Ian does from the moment he first meets her shows that he is completely out of his element where Elizabeth is concerned and although he doesn't understand it - he's going with it.

I also loved Elizabeth - she is a very intelligent and smart girl but she lacks experience and it is understandable how she gets caught in such a compromising position. Over the course of the story you see her grow into a very admirable young woman who is perfect for someone as experienced and worldly as Ian.

Some people may have issues with the book because there are a few big misunderstandings. I love the big misunderstanding plot - as long as it's well done. What does that mean exactly? I don't know but I know it when I read it. The final scene in this book where everything is finally put to rest is so heartbreakingly wonderful to read and it wouldn't be there without the big mis.

I really really loved this book. It's going up on my keeper shelf right beside Something Wonderful, A Kingdom of Dreams and yes - Whitney, My Love.

Grade 10/10

Too Deep for Tears - Kathryn Lynn Davis

2009-09-22T18:09:00.002-04:00

Too Deep for Tears is one of those big meaty historical novels you can really sink your teeth into. It seems to have been marketed as a historical romance but this is somewhat misleading. Although there are love stories within the book it is not a traditional romance novel. It is historical fiction with romantic subplots.

The book is the story of Charles Kittredge's three daughters. Charles was a British diplomat who traveled the world and was forced for different reasons to abandon all three of his daughters. The novel is divided up into 4 separate smaller books. One book for each of the daughters and a fourth when they all return to Scotland to meet one another and their father.

Since the book was set up as four small novels I'm going to review each separately as I felt differently about each one.

The first book is about Ailsa the daughter of Charles and Mairi - Charles was married to Mairi but there relationship ended soon after as Mairi could not bring herself to leave the glen in Scotland and travel with Charles. This book was by far my favourite. It was longer then the the other three books and part of that may be why since I spent so much more time with Ailsa. Ailsa story starts out with her in Scotland and has her leave the man she has loved all her life to marry an English man who promises to show her the world. Ailsa and Williams story is very bittersweet it is obvious he is head over heels in love with her and although Ailsa cares very much for him her heart is still with Ian in the glen. This story was so well written I felt everything Ailsa felt and the ending of this story was one of the most perfect endings I've ever read.

Li-an is Charles second daughter who he had to leave behind in China when the government - fed up with all the foreigners taking advantage of them tried to have him killed. In order to escape with his life he was forced to leave Li-an and her mother and never come back. This was very hard on Li-an as her and her mother were always under suspicion after that - also Li-an's blue eyes gave her away as a foreigner and she was forced to always hide who she was. I found it very hard to connect with Li-an and this was my least favourite story of the four. Li-an's hatred of her father and her heritage are a large part of what makes her who she is and it makes her hard to like. Li-an's story is also very tragic but I found I was not all that much affected by it. The relationship between Li-an and Chau was developed over a fairly short period of time and I couldn't believe their relationship.

The third book was about Genevra whose mother had an affair with Charles which resulted in Genevra. Genevra lives in India as part of the British colony. Charles was present in Genevra's life until he was once again forced to leave the country as he was needed elsewhere. After he left Genevra's mother who suffered with depression hit her breaking point and confessed to her husband. Her husband threw both her and Genevra out of his home and Genevra was eventually abandoned with her unloving Aunt and Uncle. Genevra life was always difficult as she battled many of the same demons her mother did and was ostracized by the british community living in India and found herself relating more to the indians which only isolated her further. Although Genevra was filled with alot of the same bitterness as Li-an she didn't allow it to completely change who she was and I was able to sympathize with her.

The fourth book has all three sisters traveling to Scotland to see their father before he dies. This part of the book I found sort of anti-climatic as Charles is very ill and isn't able to really work things out with his daughters as he should.

Although I had a few minor quibbles (Li-ans story and the fourth book were only so so for me). As a whole I really enjoyed this book. All three sisters have the gift of second sight and throughout all the stories when they were in desperate need of comforting they would visit one another in their dreams. The way the abandonment by their father has shaped each sister was also done very well and you could see how it shaped the women they became.

If you like really in depth long historical novels I highly recommend this one.

Grade 8/10

Take that HTML

2009-09-21T07:07:00.001-04:00

Woo hoo! I beat HTML!! I think.

I'm not sure if I like this template though... maybe it needs to grow on me....

The Final Confession of Mabel Stark - Robert Hough

2009-09-18T11:26:00.003-04:00

Blurb from Amazon

In the 1910s and '20s, during the golden age of the big top, Mabel Stark was the superstar of the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, and one of America's most eccentric celebrities. A tiny, curvaceous Kentucky blonde in a white leather bodysuit, Mabel was brazen, sexually adventurous, and suicidally courageous. The Final Confession of Mabel Stark is Robert Hough's brilliant, highly acclaimed novelization of her fantastic life. It is 1968 — Mabel is just turning eighty and is about to lose her job at Jungleland, a Southern California game park. Devastated by the loss of her cats, she looks back on her life and her five husbands: the fifth would one day be tragically mauled by her one true love, her ferocious yet amorous 550-pound Bengal tiger Rajah. Starting with her escape from a mental institution to begin her circus career as a burlesque dancer, Mabel's exquisitely voiced confession is a live wire of dark secrets, broken dreams, and comic escapades. It is a brilliant, exhilarating story of an America before television and movies, when the spectacle of the circus reigned and an unlikely woman captured the public imagination with her singular charm and audacity.

My Review

Well... it was different...

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say I'd enjoyed this book but it has stayed with me for two days now since I finished reading it. I had to wait to write this review because I wasn't sure how I felt about and needed to let it sink in for a few days.

First off I didn't have the same experience I find most people had while reading this book. Some of the words I saw in reference to this book were fascinating, ribald, fun, humorous and compelling... huh. It's times like these when I wonder if I'm missing something. Personally, I had a few problems with the book that kept me from really enjoying it. First off it was Mabel. I just plan didn't like her. I realize the grit it must have taken to be a woman in a typically male driven profession in those days but she was really abrasive and when I wasn't out and out disliking her I was feeling sorry for her. To me she lead a very lonely and sad life. Everytime things were starting to look up for her if something didn't come along and ruin it for her she'd make sure she ruined it for herself. Which I think was part of the reason I disliked her so much.

I also found the book got bogged down quite a bit in the middle and would drag on with paragraph after paragraph of Mabel listing which city she went to next and when she went there and maybe a sentence or two about something that may have happened with her act. I didn't find any part of the book fun although certain parts were interesting I don't even know if I'd go so far as to call it fascinating mostly I just found it frustrating.

However, I do find that anytime I read a book that is based on a true story or a real person quite often that book stays with me for a long time. This book is no exception the author did a fabulous job of creating a voice for Mabel and I kept forgetting that a man had actually written this book and not Mabel herself. Over the last couple of days I've had a hard time getting Mabels voice out of my head and I've even been rather melancholy at times when I think about Mabel and everything she went through in her life. Which is why it's hard for me to give a grade to this book - I didn't like Mabel and didn't really get any fun out of this book but it's been staying with me day in and day out not to mention I finished it so I must have been enjoying it on some level but at the same time I don't want to go near this book ever again...

Reliquary - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

2009-09-17T07:30:00.004-04:00

Blurb from the Authors Website

How to write a sequel that could follow Relic, one of the most successful techno-thrillers ever written? That was the problem facing Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child when they agreed to write Reliquary. What setting could top the New York Museum of Natural History?
That was when Preston and Child realized there was only one solution. And that was to follow the Museum Beast itself. And that way led underground. Deep underground...
Hidden beneath Manhattan is a warren of tunnels, sewers, and galleries, mostly forgotten by those who walk the streets above. There lies the ultimate secret of the Museum Beast...

When two grotesquely deformed skeletons are found deep in the mud off the Manhattan shoreline, museum curator Margo Green is called in to aid the investigation. Margo must once again team up with police lieutenant D'Agosta and FBI agent Pendergast, as well as the brilliant Dr. Frock, to try and solve the puzzle. The trail soon leads deep underground, where they will face the awakening of a slumbering nightmare.

My Review

As I’m sure you can tell from the blurb this book is a sequel to Relic and the second book in a series of books involving Special Agent Prendergast.

I enjoyed this book almost as much as the first one. My only quibble with this was the beginning was just a little slow. It took me almost a week to get through the first 1/3 of the book and then 2 days to finish it. In Relic there was plenty of suspense beginning to end. In Reliquary the first 150 pages is made up all most entirely of investigations by police officers, political bickering, scientific experiments and lots remembering going on. There were only a couple of scenes with the monster(s) and these were usually only 1 or 2 pages long. Once this book got going though holy moly was it a quick read.

One of the main reasons I liked the first book so much was the characters and this book was no different. A lot of the time with thriller/suspense type novels so much effort is spent on the action that I find the characters lacking. Not so with Preston and Child. These are really good, well written characters. They are all multi layered and well developed and you find yourself really caring about the good guys and rooting for the bad guys to get their just desserts. Even the characters who are only present for a small part of the story are wonderfully drawn.

Agent Prendergast is still my favourite character out of the books and I was disappointed that he didn’t have a larger part to play in it.

The style of this book really works for me as well. For the most part (there are some exceptions) the book is divided up into fairly big chapters and each chapter is a different character in a different place and the endings are almost always left on a cliffhanger. I find cliffhangers effective anyways but you when you have to get through three or four chapters with different characters all being with cliffhangers before you can find out what happened in the first chapter you read… well it makes it very difficult to put down the book and finally get to sleep! Unless of course the battery in your book light dies and your too freaked out to go downstairs and find a new one J.

Overall if you liked the first book you will most likely enjoy this one as well. If you haven’t read the first one I would definitely start there. They do go over a lot of the info from the first book in the second so you wouldn’t be totally lost but I think you would lose a lot of what makes these characters so special.

By Arrangement - Madeline Hunter

2009-09-16T11:38:00.009-04:00

Back Cover Blurb

The lady and the commoner...

Lady Christiana Fitzwaryn was not opposed to marriage. But she demanded to be married on her own terms, not as punishment for a romantic indiscretion, and especially not to a common merchant. Yet she was in for a shock when she met David de Abyndon. For she was confronted by no ordinary merchant but a man of extraordinary poise and virility. He was unaffected by their difference in social status. And even less affected by her well-thought-out arguments against their upcoming betrothal. Instead, it was Christiana who felt uneasy in the presence of this naturally lordly man behind whose cool blue eyes she sensed the most uncompromising of passions.

David de Abyndon understood Christiana's dilemma, for he too harbored a secret pain. How could he tell her that there was more to this arrangement than met the eye? How could he tell her about his deal with the king-a deal that meant he had all but bought Christiana sight unseen?

What's more, now that he had seen this beautiful, spirited woman, how could he convince her that the love she sought was not in the callow knight she had romanticized but in the flesh-and-blood arms of the man who may have bought her body-but in the bargain lost both his heart and soul?

My Review

Wow. This book completely blew me away. I've read one other Madeline Hunter book and that was By Possession which I enjoyed but never really connected with the characters. I went into By Arrangements with similar expectations and was pleasantly surprised.

First off the characters. Christiana and David are definitely up there in my top 10 couples. At first I was worried that Christiana was going to ruin the book for me since she was so incredibly naive and girlish at the beginning but part of what makes this book so great is the character growth you see from Christiana by the end of the book she has turned into a woman who is totally deserving of David. As for David, I think he will be a hard hero for some people to love. He has a definite dark streak and can be ruthless at times but with the exception of one incident he is gentle and kind with Christiana and it really shows what a good person he truly is on the inside. I love complex heros and angsty books so David worked for me on so many levels.

This was also one of those "butterflies in the stomach" love stories. Watching these two fall in love with one another against their own will was romantic and the love scenes were well written and passionate although they could be a little "purple" at times.

The other thing I should point out that may turn some people off is that this book does have a "Big Misunderstanding" in it. This isn't a plot device that bothers me though because I find the scenes where the characters get back together some of the most emotional. This book is no exception the last scenes in this book had tears welling up in my eyes.

All in all this book is definitely a keeper for me and for anyone out there looking for a solid Medieval Romance I would highly suggest you pick this one up.