My God it's HOT

We just got back from a mini-vacation with the RV. I've been away from blogs since last Wednesday and I feel so behind. Kristie and Cindy both tagged me and so I'll try to post tomorrow. I've been hellaciously busy at work too so haven't been able to 'cheat' by blogging during the day.

We took the RV over to the Olympic National Park area and camped in an RV park right on water. But, jeezus, we discovered what the rest of the nation is suffering with the heat! Normally, in the Pacific NW we have natural air conditioning with the onshore flow breezes from the ocean which keeps us pretty cool in the summer (too cool sometimes). We usually don't get the really hot days till August and even then the temps rarely go into the 90's. Last year I don't remember a single day over 90. Well, we have had 4 straight days around the mid-90's. Humidity is not too bad (about 40%) so it's not all horrible. I know all of you are saying "huh, big deal, that's nothing" But the thing is that the majority of homes here don't have air conditioning (and we are one of those) and man we are all suffering. We have a tri-level home and the upstairs bedrooms have skylights with no covering. Shit! it's hot up there, must have been around 100 degrees. So I slept (very poorly) on the downstairs family room couch where it finally cooled down to about 75 degrees by 4:00 am. Really, I wish I had one of those plastic kiddie pools so I could fill it up and lay in it.

We also discovered that the air conditioner in the RV is not working properly because it just wasn't getting cooler than 85 during the heat of the day. So off to the service dept. it's going before I make another trip in it.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, but the heat is making me cranky. I did get a bunch of reading done. Finished three books:

The Gate to Eden by Cathy McDavid
This book was a nice surprise. I have never heard of McDavid but Kristie recommended it and I since I like Am. Historicals I had to try it. I sometimes have problems with heroine thief characters but Maddie's actions were forgivable and understandable. The plot was fast paced, believable and the characters were well drawn with a very good hero. I wouldn't mind trying another by this author.
My grade: B

Extreme Exposure by Pamela Clare
After getting past the first chapter where the heroine gets drunk and acts like an idiot with her gross questions to the hero (no woman I know would say stuff like that), I thoroughly enjoyed this book. With an 'Erin Brockovich' type story which was fascinating and some very hot, steamy love scenes, this book was hard to put down. The plot was intricate but not too complicated. I loved the kick-ass heroine (FAVORITE SCENE: when she tells off her obnoxious boss), an investigative reporter, and the hero, a state senator. She's also a single mom raising her son (who was also excellently drawn). In fact all the characters were well done. Clare has yet to disappoint me.
My grade: B+

To the Edge by Cindy Gerard
There is something about plots with a poor-little-rich-girl whose daddy insists on a bodyguard that is getting on my nerves lately. I think I have read 3 or 4 with this premise this year and I'm tired of them. The H/H were OK but nothing special and I noticed that there was too much mental talk and not enough actual dialogue. The plot was fast paced but not very believable. This is my first book by Gerard, but I really would like to try another one in this series. A few people on the AAR RtR board (Kristie too I think) thought the best one of the series is To the Brink so I have it on hold at the library.
My grade: C+

I'm also working on a review for The Outlaw by Nicole Jordan.

Reading now: The Indiscretion by Judith Ivory. I'm a huge JI fan and I sort of promised Keishon that I would read this (DNF for her I think) and I'm already bogged down and having a hard time getting into it. *sigh* I'll give it 50 pages at least.