I love Friday

I have nothing to blog about lately. Maybe I should post a picture of my cat because, God, I'm boring lately. I'm not being sarcastic or dissing all of you who post pictures of your cats because I really love cats. Seriously.

Here's the only picture I have of my cat, Bailey, on my work computer and it's kind of blurry. I'll post a better one later. Sitting by the back door watching for birds with her paws tucked under her.

She's a grey tabby and a total girly girl cat, meaning she likes us girls (me and my daughter) and hates the guys (Bob and my son). Smart cat :) Except for when she wants to be petted in the middle of the night and comes into our bedroom with her purr engine revving up. Then she snuggles next to me and nips at my hand to wake me up and make me pet her. Shit.

CindyS has a very cute picture of one of her cats and the story she wrote with it made me laugh. Really, Kitty Klaus? OK, sorry, I'll shut up. hehe.

Nicole's Gambit looks much like my Bailey.

OK, enough about cats. Remember my bragging about getting a window office? Well, I'm being punished for my obnoxiousness. The air conditioner in the building is on the frizz. Today it is 75 degrees outside and inside my office it's a whopping 85 degrees and rising. My office is located on the west side of the building and the sun just beats in. Oh, well, they'll figure it out. My sweaty fingers are sticking to the keyboard. But we get pizza and beer this afternoon at 4:00 for some reason that I have forgotten. I don't need either one, but it's a nice thought.

I have about 100 reviews to write so maybe I'll work on one tonight. Maybe. I usually end up falling asleep on the couch on Friday night after working SO hard all week :)

Currently reading: Heart of Deception by Taylor Chase and LOVING it! Some of you told me it was a gem so thank you, thank you, thank you.

More TBRRP

Here are some more books read from my TBR this month. I'll try to make it short.

The Bequest by Candice Proctor
This book was quite a disappointment. My first and only Proctor (excluding her new mystery) was Night in Eden which I absolutely adored. So I had high expectations on this one choosing not to believe all the negative things I had read about it. Well, damn, everyone was right. It wasn't horrible but the plot and characters were just so trite. The virgin inherits a whore house (of course, a virgin) who wants to turn it into a school (yeah, right), the hooker with a heart of gold, the evil villain, the dark hero. It all seemed so ordinary and flat. Even the dialog was hackneyed and had me rolling my eyes. What a contrast to NIE's unusual setting, wonderful 3-D characters and interesting plot. TB wasn't bad but I expected so much more.
My grade: C

Granite Man by Elizabeth Lowell
This was CLASSIC Lowell with an uber-alpha jerk. I used to really LOVE these male characters she writes but I think I have grown up because I wanted to kick his a** at one several points. Cash believes all women are sluts because his ex-wife was a slut. He has sex with the heroine, Mariah, believing he is sterile but low and behold, guess what, she gets pregnant. Of course, she must be a slut. Nevermind the fact she was a virgin, she must have started f*cking around on him immediately to get herself preggers. I used to like this kind of plot (for some unknown reason) if there is some good groveling involved when he declares his love. BUT Cash doesn't grovel, not nearly enough for me.
My grade: D

Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie
Light and fluffy with a bit of suspense. The funny snappy dialogue along with the adorable dogs made this book a fun read. This was your typical story of heroine whose life is in danger and hero cop moves in with her to keep her safe. I wasn't too crazy about the ditzy heroine. The cop hero was only OK until he does something that just melted me. He sees a filthy starving stray dog, buys a hamburger and coaxes him to eat. He takes the stray home to the heroine, just because he knew that's what she would want. He had me right there. I have a huge soft spot for big macho guys who are kind to animals.
My grade: B-

Dark Knight by Donna Kauffman
This book starts out very well. Heroine is the commander of a special forces group (Dirty Dozen - silly name) and she breaks into a cabin to neutralize a possible threat to their most recent operation. This threat is a gorgeous hunk asleep naked in the cabin's only bed. After a brief tussle she injects him with a drug and handcuffs him to the bed. This guy is no dummy and manages to turn the tables on her. In between there is lots of very witty dialogue and I really liked both characters. Somewhere around the 2/3 point when they both start revealing their pasts to each other, it started getting boring and lost its freshness. Too bad, there was lots of good potential. Very steamy too.
My grade: C

Major excuses for Kristie

Oh, crap, I'm on Kristie's sh*t list. I promised (I think or maybe it was an order - yes, ma'am) to watch the movie Last of the Mohicans last weekend.

And I tried... I really really really tried. Really, Kristie. I went to Blockbuster armed with my coupon for a free movie rental and SCOURED the store for a copy. SCOURED I tell ya. I looked in Action/Adventure. Nope. I looked in Drama. Nope. I even looked in Comedy. Nope again.

Where else could a person look? I looked in the Previously Viewed row, and the sales displays too. No such luck. But I didn't look in the NEW displays. It wouldn't be there, would it? Uh-oh.

So I put it at the #1 spot on my queue on my Blockbuster online account. I just returned a movie (Must Love Dogs) and so I hope to get it before this weekend. If it doesn't get here by Friday, I SWEAR I will scour the city for a copy. Yes, I know I made promises before which I didn't keep, but this time I will find a copy. I promise. Really.

Things I got done this weekend:

1) Boxed up all my 2005 bills and receipts. I save this crap every year for some unknown reason. Every once in a while I'll go up in the attic and throw out a bunch of the oldest crap.

2) Sanded and painted the inside of the window frames in the living room and dining room.

3) Went to Lowe's with Bob and bought fifteen 12' long MDF baseboard moldings. Next weekend I'm going to have to paint all of them. (crap!)

4) Three loads of laundry.

5) Sewed on the clasp on my favorite pair of chocolate colored slacks. This was on my to-do list for 3 months. Took a whole 5 minutes.

6) I've been forced to turn on comment verification. Got sick and tired of deleting spam.

7) Finished three more books from my TBR. The best one was A Burning Touch by Patricia Ryan. She is a new-to-me author and I was very impressed. Great book. Heroine was hit by lightning and gets back her psychic abilities she had as a child. She meets the hero, a detective, when she helps him solve a crime involving a serial arsonist. He thinks she is running a con but his boss forces him to work with her. Excellent deep characters and a quick read. Very steamy too. Not a keeper (Sybil, you want?) but still highly recommended. My grade: B+

I was so relieved to find this one so readable since I have 4 others by Ryan in my TBR. Another case of glomming before reading ANY by a new-to-me author. See, it can work out!

TBR reduction project (TBRRP)

We software people love to make up acronyms ;) We're very addicted to them, in fact, we can't talk to each other without them. This drives Bob nuts because whenever I use one he can't understand what I'm talking about. Uh, honey, it's not the acronyms. You man, me woman. OK.

Anyway, I've made some progress on my goal of making a dent in my TBR this month by reading books that have been there the longest (pre-2002).

Unforgettable by Meryl Sawyer
I loved the setting of this book on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Greg is part of the Maui search and rescue team and is training a disaster dog when the dog discovers an injured woman in a car at the bottom of a ravine. The woman is unconscious and appears to be dressed as a prostitute. At the hospital they find that the woman has a rare form of amnesia, is wearing a dead woman's shoe, and the car she was found in was stolen. Greg has been burned in a past relationship so he has trust issues and wants nothing to do with her. But he gives the woman the name 'Lucky' and helps her uncover the mystery surrounding her identity. This was the first book I have read by Sawyer and I was not very impressed with it. A bit long winded and I'm not that fond of amnesia plots or heros who believe the worst of a girl just because she's dressed like a hooker :)
My grade: C


Manhunt by Janet Evanovich
This book was filled with snappy hysterically funny dialogue that really worked. My problem came with the heroine. She's such a ditz. She gives up her East Coast high power job and beautiful condo to trade homes with a quirky Alaskan who owns a fishing and hunting store. He takes her condo and she takes his house. Yeah, right. She heads to Alaska to find a husband and discovers that her new home is a log cabin with no plumbing, not even an outhouse, no electricity and is filled with mice. But she is thrilled with the place, absolutely loves it. Yeah, right, this is totally believable, don't you think? Uh, huh. The next door neighbor is a cute hunk who does not want to commit and she spends most of her time at his house where she cooks and showers. The hero is commitment-phobic and I disliked the heroine, but the snappy dialogue saved the book. This is an oldie of Evanovich's before she turned to writing mystery.
My grade: B-


The Bargain by Mary Jo Putney
This book is a re-write of a regency 'The Would-Be Widow' first published in 1989. In order to keep her fortune, an heiress marries an officer dying from his wounds suffered at Waterloo. But he doesn't die and completely recovers unexpectedly from his injuries! This was a terrific story with wonderful characters. I have a soft spot for marriage of convenience stories where the H/H grow to love each other. Deep well drawn characters with smoothly flowing plot.
My grade: B

Baby, I'm Yours by Susan Andersen
This is a mistaken identity road-romance story. Bounty hunter Sam McKade from Florida arrests the wrong woman, Catherine MacPherson, in Seattle. Sam mistakes Catherine for her twin sister, Kaylee, a showgirl who is hiding from the mob. They embark on a cross country bus trip. During the trip Catherine tries to convince him he has the wrong woman, and of course he doesn't believe her for quite some time. Catherine has a chance to escape when Sam becomes extremely ill from food poisoning but she sticks by to take care of him. This was a light-hearted funny quick read with some nice sexy love scenes. About the time I was ready to clobber Sam for continuing to believe Catherine is Kaylee, he finally figures out he has the wrong person. I liked both H/H and even slightly airheaded Kaylee.
My grade: B

Forbidden Fantasy by Tiffany White
This book is set in France. Feeling abandoned by her cop husband Zoe flees to Paris after the breakup of her marriage to grieve and heal. She meets a stranger/stalker type in Paris who convinces her to become involved in a steamy fantasy affair. As I'm reading I'm totally not enjoying the affair with a total stranger plot. OMG, I am such a dorky doofus. I did not figure out the identity of the stranger till almost the very end. *head smack* I'm an idiot. The clues were staring me in the face but I just didn't get it. When I finally realize who this guy is, I actually liked the characters and the plot. The only bad part for me was that the bedroom door is closed on all the love scenes. If the author had kept the door open with some nice steamy sex scenes, this could have been so much better. But as it was, I felt a bit gyped.
My grade: B-

Ooo, this is getting too long. I'll continue on another post.

Book Alert is Back!

YAY!

Book Alert is Back!

This popular service from my library system (King County) that notifies you about new additions to their collection has returned. I have no idea why it was discontinued but I'm glad it's back.

Here's how it works:

1) Indicate your reading preferences.
2) Twice a month I will receive an email with titles of new arrivals that match my preferences, including a link to place a hold.

Here are my preferences (out of 53 available):

Fiction:
1) Romance (of course)
2) Suspense & Thrillers (in case RS was not included above)
3) Historical (I like an occasional historical fiction)

Non-Fiction:
1) Handicrafts & Hobbies
2) Home & Garden

My library system is huge with 43 community libraries and it has been very well supported. All library bonds have always passed by the voters. I can get any new hardback, CD or audio book I want and the holds lists aren't too bad usually except for the BIG names (Nora, Howard, Brockmann). In the last 3 or 4 years they have significantly increased the amount of new paperback romances they purchase too. Looking forward to my first email. Aren't libraries great!

LIfe is good

Yes, taxes are done and in the mail!!! I hate doing them and this year was even worse. Bob's company changed health insurance which now has an HSA (Health Savings Account). So this requires that I include a special form (8889) with the tax return and the instructions for this form are nearly incomprehensible. I filled it out as best I could but screw it! I spent probably 3 or 4 hours reading VERY carefully and looking on the IRS website for help. At this point I could not care less whether this form is correct or not.

Next year, I swear, I'm going to hire somebody to do the taxes.

I forced Bob to come to church on Easter Sunday. My daughter and I both play in our church handbell choir. I think it's more fun to play than listen because sometimes we suck. Her boyfriend and Bob sat together. Then we all had breakfast downstairs put on by our youth group. Bob goes to church so seldom he gets mobbed by all our church friends, but I think he likes the attention.

We had my daughter and her boyfriend, and my son and his girlfriend over for dinner. I fixed lasagna, salad, and garlic bread for Easter dinner. Bob can't eat ham anymore and I didn't feel like cooking a turkey (I have a 20 lb. one in my freezer since Christmas. Bob's company gives away turkeys to their employees every year. Sheesh.)

Very fun but kind of weird. Makes me feel old. Bob helped vacuum and made the dining room presentable. Both kids brought me bouquets of flowers... so sweet. I raised them right! Angelfood cake, strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. I did not buy any Easter candy this year, can you believe it?

While I was doing taxes I cleaned out and organized all our financial records in our den/office. Feels so good to go in there now and just sit and admire it.

I also fixed my blog template. I noticed that I was getting "errors on page" messages and it kept crashing IE, so I figured it out and its all fixed I hope. If you see any problems, let me know.

I'm reading The Bequest by Candice Proctor. The beginning was very cliché but it's getting better. Virgin convent-raised young woman inherits brothel from mother she did not know. Co-owner is a gunslinger with a dark past who likes to dress all in black. I was rolling my eyes at the dialogue but I'm up to page 68 and I'm liking it better. We'll see if I make it to page 100.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Happy Spring!!

This is a picture of my planter beside the front walkway. Tomorrow is Easter and I'm in a springy mood. I found another free template called 'Spring' which I hacked all to bits to come up with what you see here. I'm not creative or talented enough to design something original but I'm pretty good at copying other people's code.

This template incorporates partially transparent PNG images for the sidebar and body but Internet Explorer cannot display PNG files properly so they look solid. For best results, use Netscape 7.0+, Mozilla 1.7+, or Firefox 1.0+.

Back to the grindstone. Still working on taxes :(

Happy Friday

It's lunchtime and I'm sitting here nibbling on my sandwich from Subway (6" turkey, no cheese, deli mustard, lettuce, tomato, olives, S&P) and decided I better get my ass in gear and post something. Last night I stayed up late to finish A Woman Scorned by Liz Carlyle. My copy was a library book and the only one in the entire library system. I thought that AWS was considered very HTF (and I never had any luck finding one) so I can see why they have hung on to this very battered copy whose last 50 pages are falling out. But I see from Carlyle's website it has a new cover so I'm assuming it was finally reprinted (although I liked the old cover better). Here's the new one.



Anyway, I thought AWS was wonderful! The plot flowed smoothly and was deeply emotional. I have a tendency to skim when I'm bored but no skimming was done on this one. Jonet is not your typical widow. She has a very strong forceful personality and goes after what she wants and needs. Captain Cole Amherst is a soldier who is also a scholar and trained as a curate. A fascinating man. Their scenes together sizzle culminating in several very erotic love scenes. Jonet's children played only a minor part even though there was a mystery surrounding attempts on their lives. Jonet and Cole were a perfect match for each other. I'm glad AWS has been reprinted because I wouldn't mind having my own copy. My grade: B+.

I also recently finished another library book The Silver Rose by Susan Carroll. Although I enjoyed the book overall, I liked it less than the other two in the trilogy. The plot seemed to ramble and I started skimming. And I got impatient with the long separations of the H/H. The ending finally came together and was very exciting. The book takes place 10 years after the end of The Courtesan and tells Miri (the youngest Cheney sister) and Simon's story. Was it my imagination or did it seem like there were some unanswered questions making me think there is another book in the series? (Maybe Wolf and/or his daughter?). Anyway, my grade: B-.

That's the last of my library books. I have been tackling my TBR with a vengeance this month and have made a slight dent. I'll post on them tomorrow (I hope... must finish income taxes this weekend... yuck!!... keep me in your prayers :)

In the Cold by Jeanie London

I am always on the lookout for a good romantic suspense. But I'm a bit picky about certain things. I don't like lots of graphic description of blood, mutilations, torture, child abuse, animal abuse and I really don't want to be inside the head of a crazed psychotic perverted killer. If I liked that kind of thing I'd read true crime. OK, I admit I'm a sissy wimpy girly-girl. Linda Castillo is a good RS author but she kind of skates on the edge of my comfort zone sometimes. I can usually skim over the squicky parts in Castillo's books because she doesn't drag it out over the whole book. Linda Howard is another favorite RS author but a bit uneven lately. Of course, Anne Stuart is the Goddess of RS. She focuses more on the suspense aspect rather than blood and guts and her heroes are to-die-for. Yummy!!

I have never read Jeanie London but several people raved about this book on the AAR boards (and KarenS too I think) so I had to try it. London has written for Harlequin Blaze and ITC is JL's first effort at RS and a very good one.

What Claire de Beaupre knows could kill her . . . again.

Simon Brandauer, head of the elite U.S. intelligence agency Excelsior, blames himself for the capture and execution of his top team of agents during a covert mission in the Balkan Republic. Now, three years later, Simon is shocked to discover one agent survived.

Claire endured months of brutal torture and remembers nothing of her past. But Simon must risk her fragile memory to unravel the mystery. When an unknown assassin wants Claire dead before her memory returns, Simon realizes he's no longer safeguarding agency secrets, but protecting the woman he loves.

ITC is a compelling spy thriller/suspense that delves into the terrible torture and ethnic cleansing that went on during the Bosnian-Serbian war. London described the horrible atrocities and traumas that Claire suffered without going into graphic detail. Claire and Simon are realistically drawn characters, both very strong and intelligent but by no means perfect. Both of them were damaged in their own way; Claire from her months of torture and Simon from his survivors guilt and I felt pain for both of them. The plot grabbed my attention immediately and didn't let go, although at times the spy adventure aspect overshadowed the romance. The love scenes are steamy but as usual I found myself wanting more of them :)

We know right from the beginning who the bad guys are but the element of suspense along with Claire's struggles to regain her memory kept me on the edge of my seat. The action really kicked into high gear when Claire and Simon return to the former Yugoslavia to retrieve some critical information. The aliases for the operatives in the spy network were a bit corny and the plot was a tad convoluted near the middle, but I still enjoyed the book very much. ITC was hard to put down and if she keeps up this level of work I predict London will join my list of fav RS authors along with Stuart, Howard, and Castillo.

My grade: B+

April TBR Challenge

Title: Love Lessons

Author: Cheryl Holt

Year published: 2001

Why did you get this book? This is one I picked up at random from a library used book sale. I had heard that Holt writes hot and steamy books so in the shopping bag it went.

Do you like the cover? The feather is kind of pretty and is better than a clinch cover I supposed but not much. Sort of uninteresting.

Did you enjoy the book? Well, sort of, up until about the 3/4 point.
Abigail Weston is a 25 y-o virgin spinster who wants to advise her younger sister about maritial relations to prepare her for her wedding night. She approaches the very notorious and naughty James Stevens who owns a gambling establishment to teach her about what goes on between men and women.

The plot was completely implausible. Abigal's motivation for seeking out James was so weak it was almost laughable. No way in hell would a virgin in the regency period act this way. No. Way. But I loved the sexual tension building to some very sizzling sex scenes. James' descriptions of male body parts and his erotic sketches was very titillating. It was very explicit at times but no worse than The Lady's Tutor by Robin Schone. Then it started getting stupid.

Abby is transformed from a naive virgin spinster to a wanton sex kitten in the blink of an eye. When Abby's brother finds out about the affair and banishes her to the country she turns into a wimpy snivelling doormat even though she has her own forture so she's financially independent. She really pissed me off when after claiming she loved James, she refuses to acknowlege him in public. James has some unheroic tendencies like sleeping with other women while he was tutoring Abby. LL was touted as being hot, steamy, and very erotic. It certainly was, but The Lady's Tutor was much better.

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Yes, she was new to me and I'm not sure if I'll read something else by her. If I see a good review for another book by Holt, I'll probably pick it up but I have not seen one yet.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? It's going bye-bye.

Anything else? I have had this book in my TBR since before 11/2002. My grade: C+ (the plus is for the hot, steamy sex)

Marital bliss

We've been having internet connection problems at home so I have been out of commission lately and I miss blogging. Wed night when I got home from work my daughter was in a tizzy because our internet connection was down. She is taking an online class and you can see her dilemma. So I fiddled and fiddled reseting the modem and router, restarting the computer, reinstalling the modem driver, etc. etc. It connected, then disconnected after a few minutes *grumble, shit, grumble, grumble* most of the evening. I eventually disconnected the router and got the internet to connect for the rest of evening.

During that time Bob hollers from the rec room "what's for dinner?" ....

WTF??

You want to know what I thought ?? ..."he better hope I outlive him, because if I die first he'll starve to death shortly thereafter" the jerk!!! Sometimes I think strangling is too good for him. I hollered back "I'm busy!!!!!"

So he made himself a bowl of canned chili which I don't like so I did not get dinner that night. Oh, I had a bag of low fat microwave popcorn. Does that count? Who needs protein or vegetables anyway.

The next morning the connection is down again so I call Comcast customer support. We went through his entire script of things to do (most of which I had already tried). No luck. We have the modem plugged into the USB port so as a last resort I tried connecting to the ethernet port and tada.. it worked... I is smart. Not. Evidently the freaking USB port went bad. Grrr.

Last night I still had not reconnected the router (because I need to go buy a crossover ethernet cable) so Bob was not able to use his wireless laptop again. And he kept bugging the crap out of me so I tried to explain what the problem was. But he can't understand what I'm talking about anyway so it was wasted breath. He was forced to use the wired computer (which he hates... poor baby... sheesh).

And Thursday he broke the front door handle (??) so I had to go buy another one ($110 yikes).

Plus my car's electrical system is acting up again. The dash warning lights for "check 4WD", "ABS", parking brake indicator all light up off and on. And the heater fan won't come on. And warning bells ring intermittently. Shit. It's really screwed up. I told Bob to take it in weeks ago but he never believes me when I tell him something is wrong with the car.

As you can tell we are short on marital bliss this week.

Just ranting. Go back to what you were doing.

Treasure or trash?

Here is a partial list of my TBR. All of these were purchased prior to 11/2002 when I started keeping a spreadsheet. I got most of them from the King County library used book sale (25 cents each). I picked out some of them because I had read something by that author or had vaguely remembered reading about the author on AAR, others I just tossed into the shopping bag just because... I have no clue. I have heard good things about some of these books (e.g. Flowers From the Storm, Shattered Rainbows) but I'm too lazy to look up reviews.

So any gems here? Or some real stinkers I should get rid of?

Andersen, Susan / All Shook Up (10/19/07, B)
Andersen, Susan / Be My Baby (12/26/06, B-)
Andersen, Susan / Baby, I'm Yours (4/1/6, B)
Andersen, Susan / Exposure (2/7/07, B+)
Ashworth, Adele / My Darling Caroline (11/5/2007, B+)
Austen, Jane / Persuasion
Beverley, Jo / Dragon's Bride
Beverley, Jo / Devil's Heiress
Beverley, Jo / Hazard
Beverley, Jo / Forbidden Magic
Brockmann, Suzanne / Body Language (11/29/06, A-)
Brockmann, Suzanne / Freedom's Price (11/24/06, B+)
Brockmann, Suzanne / Undercover Princess
Canham, Marsha / Pale Moon Rider (DNF)
Chase, Taylor / Heart of Deception (4/29/06, A)
Crusie, Jennifer / Getting Rid of Bradley (4/21/06, B-)
Crusie, Jennifer / Manhunting (8/22/06, A)
Deveraux, Jude / The Black Lyon
Dodd, Christina / Candle in the Window (12/29/2007, B)
Dodd, Christina / Rules of Attraction
Dodd, Christina / Rules of Engagement
Dodd, Christina / Runaway Princess
Evanovich, Janet / Manhunt
Farr, Diane / Fair Game
Farr, Diane / Falling for Chloe
Feather, Jane / The Least Likely Bride
Foley, Gaelen / The Duke(1/19/2008, A-)
Foley, Gaelen / The Pirate Prince (8/3/07, C+)
Foster, Lori / Caught in the Act
Garwood, Julie / The Gift
Garwood, Julie / Castles
Garwood, Julie / Saving Grace
Garwood, Julie / The Wedding
Gibson, Rachel / It Must Be Love
Gibson, Rachel / True Confessions (2/9/07, B)
Gibson, Rachel / Simply Irresistible (10/30/2007, B+)
Gracie, Anne / Gallant Waif
Grant, Tracy / Shores of Desire
Grant, Tracy / Rightfully His
Holly, Emma / Beyond Innocence
Holt, Cheryl / Love Lessons (4/3/06, C+)
Hunter, Madeline / By Possession (2/13/07, B+)
Hunter, Madeline / By Design (2/21/07, A-)
Hunter, Madeline / By Arrangement (4/15/07, B)
Hunter, Madeline / The Protector
Ivory, Judith / The Indiscretion (7/30/06, B)
Jensen, Trish / Stuck With You
Johnson, Susan / Forbidden
Johnson, Susan / To Please a Lady
Johnson, Susan / Wicked
Johnson, Susan / Pure Sin
Jordan, Nicole / Heart Breaker (5/8/06, B+)
Justiss, Julia / My Lady's Pleasure
Justiss, Julia / The Proper Wife
Justiss, Julia / A Scandalous Proposal
Justiss, Julia / The Weddng Gamble
Kauffman, Donna / Dark Knight (4/22/06, C)
Kauffman, Donna / Tease Me (4/2/06, DNF)
Kelly, Leslie / Night Whispers (3/31/2008, DNF)
Kinsale, Laura / Flowers From the Storm (10/26/07, A)
Kinsale, Laura / The Shadow and the Star
Kinsale, Laura / Seize the Fire
Kleypas, Lisa / Because You're Mine
Kleypas, Lisa / Midnight Angel
Kleypas, Lisa / Only in Your Arms
Krahn, Betina / Caught in the Act
Landis, Jill Marie / Day Dreamer
Law, Susan Kay / The Bad Man's Bride
Law, Susan Kay / Marry Me
Litton, Josie / Dream of Me
Litton, Josie / Believe in Me
Litton, Josie / Come Back to Me
Lowell, Elizabeth / Untamed
Lowell, Elizabeth / Forbidden
Lowell, Elizabeth / Enchanted
Lowell, Elizabeth / Granite Man (4/19/06, C-)
Lowell, Elizabeth / Warrior (4/30/06, B-)
Lowell, Elizabeth / Sweet Wind, Wild Wind (DNF)
Lowell, Elizabeth / A Woman Without Lies (DNF)
Martin, Kat / Innocence Undone
Navin, Jacqueline / Meet Me at Midnight (DNF)
Phillips, Susan Elizabeth / Hot Shot (4/25/06, B-)
Phillips, Susan Elizabeth / Just Imagine
Proctor, Candice / The Bequest (4/19/06, C)
Proctor, Candice / September Moon
Proctor, Candice / Whispers of Heaven (2/5/07, A-)
Putney, Mary Jo / Angel Rogue
Putney, Mary Jo / Shattered Rainbows
Putney, Mary Jo / The Bargain (4/5/06, B)
Ryan, Patricia / A Burning Touch
Ryan, Patricia / The Sun and the Moon
Ryan, Patricia / The Return of the Black Sheep
Sawyer, Meryl / Unforgettable (4/7/06, C)
Simmons, Deborah / The Devil Earl
Simmons, Deborah / The Fortune Hunter
Simmons, Deborah / The Last Rogue
Simmons, Deborah / The Gentleman Thief
Simmons, Deborah / My Lady de Burgh
Simmons, Deborah / My Lord de Burgh
Stuart, Anne / The Widow (5/13/06, B-)
Sutcliffe, Katherine / Darkling I Listen (3/2/07, B)
Sutcliffe, Katherine / Hope & Glory
Veryan, Patricia / The Riddle of the Reluctant Rake

It's spring!

It's a beautiful warm sunny day today (and I really love my window office). I'm in the mood for a new blog template. I found a free one I like so I'm going to work on it and get it published soon. It has a 'Spring' theme. Perfect. The template uses .PNG images and they warned that the Windows version of IE does not display these types of files properly. Does anyone know anything about that? Update: I figured it out. The .PNG files are partially transparent. Firefox displays the transparent images while IE shows them as solid so the template looks better in Firefox. Hmmm. Maybe I should use a different one.

I love spring. The daffodils and hyacyths are blooming in the front yard planter. I should take a picture.

Blockbuster online sucks. They're raising their rates for the plan I use (3 dvds at a time - no time limit) from $14.99 to $17.99 per month. Their email said that I was at the 'introductory' rate and that was now over. Well, screw it! So I changed my plan to 1 dvd at a time for $9.99 per month. It takes about 5 days to swap out a dvd so maybe I can get 5 or 6 dvds a month max. That's plenty for me.

I finally got a stat counter. I realized there is a bunch of stuff out in the blogging world I am completely clueless about.

Reading now: The Bargain by Mary Jo Putney. I found a review at AAR and they gave it a B+ (that's good) but only a Subtle rating (not so good). *sigh* I was in the mood for something steamy.

Defeating the TBR

I can' stand it any more. I have to tackle the TBR in a major way so I have decided to ONLY read books from my TBR for the month of April. There are about 300 books there some of which have been there for years.

How did this happen? Well, about 5 or 6 years ago I discovered AAR and with the help of the King County Library used book sale, I went on a binge of indiscriminate buying. As a result about a third of my TBR was bought prior to 2002 when I started keeping a spreadsheet.

CindyS mentioned that she is not worrying about her TBR for the month of April and will only re-read favorite books. It's a great idea and I thought about doing this but my TBR is calling to me. Maybe I'll do that this summer on vacation.

Here's my plan... Pick out a stack of books that I bought prior to 2002. Then give them the 100 page test. If they fail, I chuck into the PBS/Trade pile. Most of them have not been reviewed by AAR or TRR and I have no clue why I picked them out except for the fact that they probably only cost me about 25 cents at the library used book sale.

Realistically, I probably won't be making much of a dent in the TBR pile since I only read about 12 books a month. But it will make me feel better. I started on Saturday and have already read two and DNF on a third. Okay, that's progress ;)

Oh, yeah, and I have three library books to finish too. *sigh* OK, I'll finish the one I started (The Silver Rose by Susan Carroll) and take the rest back. I can check them out again later.

Update: I just realized that I have already completed AngieW's April TBR challenge. Cool.