What I've been reading

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

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...

...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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.