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.

I Learned Something About Myself Today...

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

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

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

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

All Over The Map Here

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

Contact - Susan Grant

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

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

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

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

Ice Blue - Anne Stuart

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

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

Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong

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

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

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

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

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

Recent DNF's

The Silent Rose - Kat Martin

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

Ghost Story - Peter Straub

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

Stardust of Yesterday - Lynn Kurland

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

What I'm reading Now.

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

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