September TBR Challenge

Title: The Admiral's Bride (SIM #962, TDD book #7)

Author: Suzanne Brockmann

Year published: 1999

Why did you get this book?
I collected the entire Tall, Dark and Dangerous series about 4 years ago after reading a couple of her books and enjoying them. I have been slooooowly making my way through them and have only 2 left in this series to read.

Do you like the cover?
Not really. Flowers, lace and a wedding ring don't do anything for me.

Did you enjoy the book?
It was pretty good. I gave it a B-. I don't particularly like older man/younger woman stories especially if the age difference is more than 18+ years. My first thought is that the hero is old enough to be the heroine's father and that's just icky. In TAB the age difference is 20+ years and was probably the worst aspect of the book for me. But Admiral Jake Robinson was a terrific hero. The first chapter was a flashback to one of his many heroic deeds from the Vietnam War and was a grippingly realistic account and a great way for the reader to get to know and love the hero. Now 52, Jake is a widower whose wife died from cancer three year before. He leads a SEAL team in covert operations and is a fully fit hunk (think Harrison Ford). Zoe Lange is a scientist who specializes in biological weapons and also works in covert operations. Jake's repeated angst because of his concern over the age difference was rather tiring. There was a fake wedding between Jake and Zoe that was arranged in order to get her into the compound (and so they can have hot sex of course) where he is working undercover. It was a rather trite plot device that you find frequently in series romance (and which I secretly love). The suspense was pretty good with most of the action taking place at the end. All in all a readable book. I think I would have liked it better if the age gap had been much smaller.

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? No, not new to me. I plan to read my last two in this series (Identity: Unknown & Get Lucky) plus three other old Loveswepts I found at a thrift store. But I have lost interest in the Team Sixteen books and the endless parade of characters spanning many books. I just don't care anymore.

Are you keeping it or passing it on?
I'll hang onto it until I finish the last in the series. Then maybe I'll sell the whole set on eBay. All of them are the orginal editions (not the reprint) so maybe it's worth something to collectors. Or maybe I'll just keep it. There were a couple in the series that were keepers and I hate to break up a set.

Anything else?
I just realized that I forgot to sign up for this month's TBR Challenge at AngieW's blog. Better go do that.

My brain has left the building

I'm such an idiot. I belong to this committee at my church that meets every three months. Our meetings are the dullest snoozefest on the planet and I HATE going to them. I really should quit but I promised to serve for a 3 year term and I have 2 years to go.

Anyway, the chairman of the committee always calls to remind me three days before the next meeting PLUS he sends email reminders. Well today I went to aerobics class after work and on the way home I stopped to pick up a prescription for Bob. When I walked in the door it hit me that I was supposed to have been at this dreaded meeting at 7:00, it was now 7:45. Damn it! No one else on the committee ever misses a meeting and I think I have done this a couple times now. I'm a flake.

I did have some good news. After reading Nicole Jordan's Heart Breaker and The Outlaw recently, I immediately put The Savage and Wildstar (both HTF) on my wishlist at PaperBackSwap. I just got a notice from them that The Savage is being mailed to me. Yay! Great bodice ripper cover too :)

I also found a copy of Lover Awakened finally. But I'm saving it for later. Just about everyone has already read it and loved it so I know I will too. It's nice to know I have a really good book just sitting there whenever I hit a reading slump.

Reading now: Irresistible by Susan Mallery and enjoying it. H/H from Delicious make a brief appearance. The book has a cupcake on the cover and it's killing me (I've been dieting on Weight Watchers since Monday - need to lose 10 pounds - 20 would be better but not realistic). I'm hungry.... I need a snack.

Update: Blogger sucks lately. Having a hard time publishing for the last couple days. 0% just keeps going round and round. Trying again.

Cover of Night by Linda Howard

I'm a huge Linda Howard fan and have read everything she has written. Some I have loved (Duncan's Bride, Dream Man, Mackenzie's Mountain, etc.) and a couple I have hated (An Independent Wife (F), Sarah's Child (D)) and the rest have been good reads of some degree or another. So of course, I had to read this latest offering (from the library since the HB version is $25.95 - ouch).


Trail Stop, Idaho, is a tiny isolated town connected to the outside world by a single road. Cate Nightingale is a widow with four-year-old twin boys and still mourns the loss of her husband who died three years earlier. After his death she moved to Trail Stop and bought the local bed-and-breakfast. Calvin Harris is the town handyman who helps Cate with the many problems that seem to plague the old house. Plumbing, carpentry, whatever, he can fix it. Cate thinks "Mr. Harris" is an extremely shy man who never opens his mouth. But Cal is not what he seems. He is a former marine who came to town to visit his former commanding officer. When Cate moved into town, Cal found himself very attracted to her so decided to stay and make his home there. Cate thinks that Cal is just a rather uninteresting man who gets extremely tongue tied around her and blushes uncontrollably whenever she speaks to him. The whole town is aware of Cal's attraction to her for the last three years and tries to throw them together, but Cate is oblivious.

One morning Cate discovers that Jeffrey Layton, one of the B&B guests, has disappeared out the window of his room leaving his personal possessions behind. A few days later Cate and her friend Neenah are held at gunpoint by two men who had checked in as guests. These men demand Cate give them the possessions that Layton left behind. Cal gets the jump on the two villains and ends up kicking their asses and they slink out of town.

But the trouble is just beginning. These thugs come up with plan to hold the entire town hostage until they get Layton's possessions which they believe contains one of those little flash drives (about the size of a pack of gum) with some mob secret files. They blow up the bridge leading to town, cut off their electricity, and start shooting townspeople at random. This part of the plot was rather farfetched and not realistic at all.

Amazon's review uses phrases like "breathless action", "gripping suspense", and "intense romance". Uh, no. Not quite, people. Slight exaggeration here, but it was a good book, just not her best. The first third of the book contained a lot of character setup with antics of her 4 yo twins who were not overly cutesy but acted like real boys. Cate's mother takes them away for a visit to her home so they were out of the way when the action begins. Cal was an unusual hero for Howard. He appeared to be a beta with all his blushes and stammering, but when the gunmen appear his marine training becomes evident and he starts acting more like an alpha male. The suspense was good and interesting and kept me turning the pages. The romance was a bit on the light side but still very good although it developed so quickly over the course of a couple of days. And I enjoyed the secondary romance. Many Linda Howard fans may find CoN rather dull but LH's dull is better than many author's best. She knows how to tell a story well and keeps you turning the pages.

My grade: B-

Two wallbangers (maybe)

Today is our wedding anniversary. Just thinking about how many years we have been married makes me feel ancient. Don't know where Bob is taking me to dinner. I told him to surprise me.

I'm not having much luck finishing a book lately. Two books have hit the wall (figuratively speaking because they were library books). Are my expectations too high after reading two keepers?

Problem book #1

Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot

This one was written in first person and usually that's not a problem for me but for some reason the heroine's inner voice just grated on me. Reminded me of the time my fifteen year old daughter had a slumber party with 10 of her closest friends. Aaaaaccccccckkkkkkkk. Lizzie Nichols's biggest problem is her mouth. She babbles, which has gotten her into trouble many times (foot-in-mouth disease). Lizzie is a recent college graduate who flies off to London to spend the summer with her British boyfriend. She hardly knows him (having only spent 24 hours with him) so when she arrives at the airport she doesn't recognize him. I'm still in chapter one and I am ready to strangle her. Maybe the problem is that the heroine is too young. Or maybe ChickLit is just not my thing. Whatever. AAR gave this book an A- so I had high hopes.

Has anyone else read this?

Problem book #2

Whispers of the Night by Lydia Joyce

I love LJ's voice and have enjoyed all her previous books. In this one the heroine, Alcyone Carter, has agreed to marry a nobleman in Hungary sight unseen. Her father is an extremely wealthy industrialist who wants his daughter to marry a titled peer. Since he is unable to find an English title, he settles on a foreign one, Baron Benedak. Alcy travels across Europe on horseback for days to her fiance's remote castle. No sooner does she set foot in the castle, then she is rushed to the chapel where the wedding ceremony is performed in a language she doesn't understand. We are told that Alcy is very strong willed and highly intelligent but I'm just shaking my head here. What woman (other than a doormat) would allow being rushed into a wedding ceremony in travel stained clothes smelling of horse? OK, it gets worse.

At their wedding dinner Alcy finally figures out that the "Baron" does not look like the miniature picture that was sent to her. The "hero" is actually Dumitru Constaninescu, a Rumanian count, a rival neighbor of the Baron. He has tricked Alcy and stolen (or kidnapped) her away from the Baron to wed her because he needs her huge dowry to restore his crumbling estate. At this point Dumitru's goal is to consummate the marriage, otherwise it can be annulled. Alcy feels betrayed and hurt, and tells him that if he forces her she will kill him, if it takes a month or twenty years. Dumitru is left in no doubt that she means it. More argument ensues. Eventually she says "You arrogant ass", then grabs him and kisses him! Then they have wild hot sex. Does that make sense to you? OK, it gets worse(r).

Dumitru later figures out that part of her dowry from the marriage is tied up in her bridal portion which is hers alone. If he wants to use it he must ask for permission and that doesn't sit right with the M.C.Pig in him. Alcy overhears him plotting with his steward to steal the money thereby making her completely dependent upon him. The bastard. This is about where I wanted to strangle him.

Joyce's last book, The Music of the Night, also had an jerk of a hero, but he redeemed himself somewhat (although some of you disagreed). But I don't know if I can continue reading this crap. Kidnapping, lying, and now stealing from the heroine are not attractive personality traits. I love an anti-hero as much as the next person, but I have serious doubts that he can be redeemed enough for me. I'm on page 137 and I'm putting this one aside for now. Anyone else read this? Does he redeem himself?

So I have two DNF books which I will probably take back to the library. Or I might try again later.

Updating my blog

I'm starting to think I need a new blog template. A person can only stand a pink background for so long. I'd really like one with three columns so must start looking around for a new one.

Finally getting around to updating my sidebar. I updated the link for KarenS and added some new-to-me reader blogs (I hope I have the links right). Most of them have been around for awhile and I've just discovered them. It's starting to get hard to keep up with all these blogs so I have been trying to update my Kinja account too and hopefully things will get easier.

Nath
Devonna
Mailyn
Dylan
Kimber
Fiona
Valeen
Dancechica
Alie
Rosie
C2
Jennie

I wish Maili would show up again. I hope she's just taking a break and has not abandoned her blog completely.

In other news... I'm the Test Lead this week at work and have managed not to set the building on fire or get myself in trouble YET. But I have had a stomach ache all week so I think the stress is getting to me. I really want a long vacation but we'll probably wait till Christmas. Bob wants to go to North Dakota to visit his folks but I'm balking at the idea. Spending four days driving in the car (two days each way) and then being cooped up in their little house while the snow blows with below zero temperatures is NOT my idea of a vacation.

Reading today: Cover of Night by Linda Howard. This is a book on tape and I'm about at the halfway point. I'm enjoying it so far. Plot seems a bit farfetched though.

Two keepers

Don't ya just love it when you read two keepers back to back? One, a new release, and the other a timeless classic. I then followed these up with another enjoyable read, Marriage By Design which I reviewed in my previous blog entry. All in all a great reading weekend.


Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

Just got back from CindyS and KristieJ blogs and they both finished reading Slave to Sensation this weekend and loved it too. How weird is that! I swear I have some kind of ESP connection with these two. I figure that leaves me off the hook for a review, right? OK, maybe just a few of my thoughts.

This book is causing quite a stir in blogland and deservedly so. Wonderful book! I loved the world building and I can't wait to go back there with the next one. StS is set in an alternate reality Earth with three species: Psy, changeling and human. The Psy are an interesting species of psychics who are all connected through the PsyNet which is sort of like an internet for their minds. Due to serious problems with insanity and serial killings, the Psy have instituted a program of surpressing all emotion from birth. Sascha Duncan is Psy and knows she has been different all of her life because she has emotions and is desperately trying to keep it a secret. She fears 'rehabilitation' if her ability to feel emotion is discovered which would wipe out her mind. But lately she is having a harder time keeping her emotions under control. Lucas Hunter is a changeling who is a member of the DarkRiver pack of panthers. Changelings feel emotions and are proud of it.

The sexual tension between Sascha and Lucas was incredible and the dream scenes set the pages on fire. The characters were all well drawn and the plot fast paced. My only quibble is that I was a bit confused near the end when Sascha 'surfs' the PsyNet searching for clues to help find a serial killer since it was hard to tell what was going on. Other than that I thought the book was nearly perfect and I can't stand the thought of having to wait for the next book. I'll need to keep this one around so I can re-read it before the next one comes out.

My grade: A-



Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer

Thanks to Kristie, CindyS, and several others, for recommending this book to me. For some reason I thought this was a western but it actually takes place in Georgia in 1941, just before Pearl Harbor. MG was an emotional book about two very damaged people and the healing power of love. Both of them were unloved growing up and their story was heart wrenching and uplifting. Eleanor Dinsmore is a pregnant widow with two small boys living on a rundown farm. Will Parker is an ex-convict just fired from his job when he answers Ellie's advertisement for a husband in the local newspaper. The way these two grow to love each other over time was wonderful.

The secondary characters were three dimensional and vividly real. I especially loved Miss Beasley, the town librarian, who was crusty on the outside but had a heart of gold. My only quibble on this book was that I found it hard to believe that they could sleep together in the same bed for all those months and not have sex. But Will is such a beta hero that thinking about it further made me realize that this would be realistic for his character. And when they finally consummate their relationship it was rather subtle but nice just the same. I wanted some hot steamy sex! *sigh* Spencer just doesn't write that way. But I'm keeping this book to share with a few of my friends and my sister. They gotta love it.

My grade: A-

Back home

Just got home from our 4 day mini-vacation to Winthrop, Washington. We camped with our RV at Pearrygin State Park where the deer have taken over the park. They came strolling through the campground at all hours of the day and had no fear of humans. They were mostly mama deer and their babies but we did see one buck. At any given time all you had to do was look out the window and spot a deer. I attempted to take a pictures to show you but the battery on my camera went dead. Figures!

Winthrop is the cutest little western town complete with wooden sidewalks and touristy shops and lots of restaurants. It seemed like all we did was eat, eat, eat. There is a fabulous little bakery/candy store with homemade cinnamon rolls and caramel apples. We ate dinner at Jack's Saloon (the oldest saloon in Washington - so they say) which had wonderful food.

Bob golfed twice and I finished three books (YAY!), all three were enjoyable with two of them keepers.

Marriage By Design by Lynn Michaels
Very cute, funny book with a large cast of characters. I'm usually a tough sell when it comes to humor in romance but this one worked for me. No silliness or slapstick (which I normally dislike), just lots of snappy, witty dialogue. In fact, some of it went over my head at first causing me to stop in puzzlement, re-read a passage, and chuckle a bit at the clever writing.

The plot takes place in Kansas City, MO, and gives the reader a glimpse into the world of high fashion bridal design. Mia Savard is a top designer in her father's bridal design company. But she is tired of designing bridal gowns and is trying to convince her father to move her to the trousseau department where she can design a variety of garments. Unfortunately, there is a traitor in their midst. Mia's newest bridal gown design for the govenor's daughter is stolen and appears in an ad for their competitor. Mia's father, Lucien, hires Joseph Kerr, a private investigator, to find out the identity of the traitor. Mia and Joe are immediately attracted to each other and love soon follows.

I liked Mia who was rather sassy but very intelligent. Joe was harder to figure out but I think the problem was that there was not enough story from his POV. The underlying mystery of who stole the design was pretty good. One of the villains was obvious but his accomplice took a bit longer to figure out. My biggest complaint is that there were too many confusing characters to keep track of but I still found this a light, humorous, enjoyable read.

My grade: B

I'm running out of steam. More to follow on those two keepers.

New (to me) UBS

I managed to make it to a UBS yesterday and found two books that were recommended to me by Cindy (and several others) when I posted my reads from AAR's 100 favorite romances list. This UBS was a new one for me and was a great find. It is about 20-25 minutes away, and is quite large with a nice friendly guy behind the counter. But like a big dummy I forgot my list. Damn. I'll have to get back over there with my list in hand soon.

But I remembered these two:

Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer

For My Lady's Heart by Laura Kinsale

Who knows when I'll get around to reading them.

Bob and I are taking a short vacation, leaving Thursday and coming back on Sunday. When I get back I have to fill in for my boss. Yikes! We shipped our product today *happy dance* so it shouldn't be too tough (I hope). I can't believe they are actually putting me in charge for a week. Whose dumb idea was that?

Reading now: Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas. Pretty good so far, but I don't think I'll love it as much as Devil in Winter. Last night I finished a wonderful old Loveswept category by Glenna McReynolds. Turned out to be a keeper. It qualifies for AngieW's TBR Challenge for September so I'll write up a review for it. I never got around to last month's TBR Challenge because I couldn't get up the energy to read a non-romance. Too busy with work anyway (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

Just For Kicks by Susan Andersen

Just For Kicks is the followup to Skintight (which I haven't read yet) and was a light and fluffy read.

Carly Jacobsen is a Las Vegas showgirl who rescues stray animals. Wolfgang Jones is the number two in command in the Security Department of the casino where they both work and just happens to be Carly's next door neighbor. As the story begins Carly has sprained her ankle when a little old lady toting a big-ass purse slams into her knocking her off her high heels. Wolf comes to the rescue and offers to give her a ride home. Carly and Wolf can't stand each other. Carly thinks Wolf is an uptight, driven, animal-hater (the worst sin in her opinion). Wolf thinks Carly is flighty, irritating and irresponsible.

Wolf has had a tough upbringing as a child. Because of his father's job, Wolf and his family had to move many, many times in embassies all over the world. He was never able to make close friendships and has issues of acceptance. As an adult Wolf still has almost no friends. But he has a plan... he's going to become head of his own security department, find a nice woman to marry and settle into the perfect life. Even though he thinks Carly is very hot, she is not his type at all. Wolf comes across as very regimented and cold and I found him unlikeable at first. When Wolf's teenage nephew, Niklaus, comes to live with him he is determined to make a good home for him, but Wolf has a very difficult time talking to people about how he feels and causes some misunderstandings with Nik and Carly. I liked Nik and how he schemed to bring Carly and Wolf together. Slowly Wolf loosens up and comes to realize how totally wrong he is about Carly. I enjoyed how her pets seem to adopt him as few humans had. Kind of symbolic and very sweet.

Carly comes across at first as a bit of a ditz. She also had a tough upbringing and has no plans to marry. Carly has a heart of gold and I really liked her. She fosters stray animals from shelters and then trains them to be good pets for others. She volunteers at the local children's hospital and brings her pets to share with the children who are cancer patients and even gives them up for adoption when she feels it's right. One quibble... she liked to call people 'Toots'. Funny the first couple times, after that a bit of an overkill.

This is a character driven story with some fairly good secondary characters. Near the end there is a stalker storyline that seemed sort of tacked on but it wasn't distracting and didn't ruin the fluffiness of the book. JFK had lots of hot steamy sex and was a fun, quick read.

My grade: B

Manhunting by Jennifer Crusie

Manhunting is Crusie's first book and her incredible talent is obvious from the first page.

Kate Svenson is your typical uptight career woman on the fast track but she has one problem. She's lonely. So Kate and her best friend devise a plan. Armed with a detailed list of qualifications for the perfect husband, she sets off for a Kentucky golf resort that is prime hunting ground for eligible bachelors.

Jake Templeton is part owner of the resort and the most laid back hero I've ever come across. A former tax lawyer who has left the rat race behind, Jake is now the resort's handyman. He and Kate meet and immediately decided the other is not what they are looking for. Jake thinks Kate is too driven and too much like his ex-wife. Kate thinks Jake lacks ambition and does not meet any of the requirements on her list.

Of course, Kate's plans to find Mr. Perfect go wrong time after time with one dating disaster after another with scenes that were absolutely hilarious. Her dates end up either falling in the pool, hit over the head or in the emergency room. And none of it was her fault :) I'm not a real fan of slapstick humor in romance because I think it's too visual and most authors lack the writing talent to pull it off. But this book is the exception. Crusie succeeds superbly and I found myself literally laughing out loud (and scaring the crap out of my cat, thank goodness Bob wasn't home). The only other author who can make me laugh like that is Evanovich with her Stephanie Plum books.

This was a completely character driven book with a charming and engaging H/H. My favorite scenes were those that take place out on the lake. Kate invites herself along with Jake when he goes fishing in a leaky old boat. Jake fishes without bait because he is too lazy to actually want to catch anything and uses that time to nap. The sassy dialogue during these scenes practically sparkles off the page. All that banter made delightful sexual tension culminating in some yummy sex scenes. It was a wonderful moment when these two seeming opposites realize they are perfect for each other.

Manhunting is a deliciously delightful book. Although Crusie's inexperience shows with a bit of head hopping, I enjoyed it from the first page to the last. It's very short so I think I finished it in a couple hours. When I found myself re-reading favorite passages, I realized I had a keeper on my hands. It ranks right up there with Anyone But You and Welcome To Temptation.

My grade: A-

Happy Labor Day

Don't ya just love three day weekends?

Went book shopping at Borders on Saturday looking for the latest new books for September. They haven't had a very good track record of stocking new romances and things were no different this time (but I was hoping). I was particularly looking for Lover Awakened but came up with nada. I'm so jealous of all of you (Cindy, Tara, Sybil.... etc.)

I also looked for Slave to Sensation in the new books section and still no luck. Went over to the romance stacks and there it was! One lonely copy in the entire store. I grabbed it up fast and headed for the checkstand. I know, don't say it, I got out the door with only one book. Hard to believe, but true. But I was a bit pissed at them for not having LA.

I could try the Barnes and Noble but they aren't that romance friendly over there with a bunch of snooty sales clerks. Most of the indy bookstores have gone belly up around here but I remember there was one over at Factoria Square Mall. So I'm heading over there soon.

I'm on a mission!

I have to find it soon because we have our neighborhood Labor Day potluck at 3:30 and I have to be back to cut up fruit.

Miscellaneous crap

The worst is almost over at work. We ship our product on Sept. 1st soon so life should get back to normal for me. I don't have to work this weekend! Woohoo! I better get a raise out of all this crap going on, but *gasp* that means I have to go through a performance review first. Shit, I HATE those.

Went shopping at Target and Borders and bought some more books last Saturday (paid full price and everything :).

Bob loves anything NASCAR so we went to the movies on Saturday and saw Talladega Nights and it sucked big hairy monkey balls. A couple months ago I was awarded free movie tickets for doing something good (?? yeah, I was surprised too) at work so I'm very glad I did not waste my own money on this asinine movie. Well, to be honest, the last half was actually kinda funny and we ended up having a few laughs and the bloopers at the end were funny.

SCORE! I stopped at the library to pick up a book and stopped into their little bookshop that sells used books and found a copy of A Woman Scorned by Liz Carlyle (original print version, not the reprint). I have been looking for this one for a long time and I only paid 50 cents (okay, the cheapskate in me is showing). Don't ya just love it when you finally find a book that you have been searching and searching for and ... there it is for a measly 50 cents. Perked me right up. I actually looked over my shoulder cuz it almost felt like I was stealing :)

I was going to update my sidebar with some new reader blog links but I'm feeling lazy right now. Later.

Anyone update to the new Blogger Beta? I was going to but you need a Google account and I was feeling paranoid. Looks like it has some nifty new features (e.g. Labels). When I'm feeling braver I'll give it a try.

To the Brink by Cindy Gerard

I read the first book in Gerard's Bodyguard series, To the Edge, and wasn't that impressed with it (gave it a C+) but decided to try the 3rd book in the series after hearing good things about it. Whoever recommend this on their blog, thank you! TTB is a jungle story combined with a second chance story, two of my favorite storylines.

The series is centered around a family security agency called E.D.E.N, Inc. founded by the father and named after his four children (Ethan, Dallas, Eve and Nolan) who are now employed by the agency. As the story begins, Darcy Prescott, Ethan's ex-wife, is in trouble. She works in the diplomatic service in Manila. When a co-worker leaves her a tape just before being killed in an alleged hit and run accident, she calls her ex-husband, Ethan, begging him for help on his answering machine. But before he can return her call she is kidnapped off the streets by terrorists.

Ethan and his siblings all have experience in covert operations so he was the right person for Darcy to call. But Ethan and Darcy have a past which is slowly revealed in several flashbacks. The couple met in Lima, Peru, and fell in love at first sight and marry. Darcy is employed by the diplomatic corp and Ethan is a special forces soldier so they see each other infrequently. After an incident in Tel Aviv when Darcy is attacked and Ethan kills her attacker, their marriage falls apart and they divorce. When Ethan hears Darcy's message and learns of her disappearance, he gathers a rescue team and tracks her to the jungles of the Philippines.

Of course, Ethan and Darcy have never stopped loving each other. I liked both these characters and they made a very likeable couple. Ethan has issues and like a typical male :) doesn't like to talk about them. The action was fast paced and edgy which kept my interest and made it hard to put down. The flashback scenes were interspersed throughout the action and showed how their relationship developed from the beginning with sizzling loves scenes through their breakup. These flashbacks could have been distracting but weren't at all. They helped explain how these two got to the present state of their relationship and I think it was an excellent piece of writing. Gerard's writing reminded me quite a bit of Brockmann's best. The secondary romance was also intriguing but I don't believe that book (#6 - Into the Dark) comes out until next year (damn).

My grade: A-

I'm hoping the first book in the series was a hiccup because I plan on finding book #2, To the Limit (Eve's story) and book #4 - Over the Line. Book #5 - Under the Wire, is scheduled for release in December.

20 X 20 Meme

I've been a lousy blogger lately. My sidebar needs updating, I have some meme's to post and some reviews to write. I suck. I am behind in visiting everyone's blog and leaving comments.

This will be my first weekend home in a month because we have either been camping or I have been working. So I hope to get caught up but the weather is nice so I want to do some yard work, also go to Target, buy some BOOKS (yes, I purged 29 books from my TBR so far), balance my checkbook, and get my hair cut. I think I'm being overly ambitious.

I went to Costco after work last night and bought two books.

Just For Kicks by Susan Andersen

Irresistible by Susan Mallery

Before tossing them in the cart I practiced my mental talk like CindyS suggested (I deserve it, I deserve it, I deserve it). It worked! And I made it through the checkstand with them. She is also the one who came up with the idea to make a list of our 20 favorite books by 20 different authors. I have to cheat because I tried to keep it to 20 but ended up with 25 like KristieJ. Some of these are the same as hers (Ride the Fire - yes!). I put them in alphabetical order according to author since my brain could not handle ranking them this late at night.

Pride & Prejudice (Austen)
The Notorious Rake (Balogh)

Out of Control (Brockmann)
All Through the Night (Brockway)
Lord of Scoundrels (Chase)
Ride the Fire (Clare)
Duncan's Bride (Howard)
Red Adam's Lady (Ingram) (The best medieval romance evah. Very old - 1973 - and very hard to find - I've read it at least a dozen times, maybe more)
Sleeping Beauty (Ivory)
All Night Long (Jerott)
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand (Kelly)
Dreaming of You (Kleypas)
Fallen From Grace (Leone)
It Had To Be You (Phillips)
Night in Eden (Proctor)
Thunder and Roses (Putney)
After the Kiss (Ranney)
The Older Woman (Reavis)
A Fine Work of Art (Reed)
One Summer (Robards)
Naked in Death (Robb)
Sea Swept (Roberts)
Joe's Wife (St. John)
A Rose At Midnight (Stuart)
Passion (Valdez)

If I'm not mistaken CindyS has yet to post her list (*tapping foot*). OK, I'll be patient.

Books and RVing

We took the RV out last weekend. Bob picked the camping spot over near Yakima and unfortunately there was one thing not mentioned on their website: MOSQUITOS!!!! Yikes! I slathered myself with insect repellent cream and didn't get any bites. The last day we packed up to leave and I ran from the RV to the car with no repellent (took a total of 5 seconds) and got 4 bites!!! Damn things.

I only managed to finish one book, The Red Heart of Jade by Marjorie M. Liu, over those two days but it was long and had a complicated plot. With 369 pages and non-stop action, I found it slow reading because there was so much going on that I had to re-read portions occasionally. The first chapter made absolutely no sense at all. Dean Campbell is a clairvoyant who works for the Dirk & Steele detective agency (3rd book in the series). He's having a dream where he's burning alive and it took me a while to figure all that out. There seemed to be more blood and guts in this one with an evil dragon shapeshifter that rips people apart and burns them alive. One scene where he rips off a guy's ear and pops it in his mouth to crunch like a potato chip really turned my stomach. That was probably the worst scene.

Mirabelle Lee is a professor of archeology who hasn't seen Dean for 20 years. In fact they were childhood sweethearts who each thought the other was dead. I'm not going to go into the plot because it was very intricate. I loved the setting that starts out in Taipei and moves to HongKong and mainland China. My biggest problem with the book is that it does not have enough romance in it. I would classify it as a paranormal with a smidge of romance.

As a romance I give this one a C, but as a paranormal I give it a B+. Hmm, well, that averages out to about a B-. If you love paranormal, give this one a try, but for those who want romance you will probably be disappointed like me. I plan on reading the next one though and hope for more romance in that.

Top romances meme

Stole this from Tara and Rosario. Here is AAR's list of Top 100 Romances from 1994 2004 (what can I say... I was half asleep).

Bold the books I have read
Italicize the books I intend to read (some are on my TBR)
Plain text for the books I have not read

1. Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
2. Flowers From the Storm by Laura Kinsale
3. Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
4. As You Desire by Connie Brockway
5. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie
6. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
7. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
8. Over the Edge by Suzanne Brockmann
9. All Through the Night by Connie Brockway
10. Sea Swept by Nora Roberts
11. It Had to be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
12. A Summer to Remember by Mary Balogh
13. Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer
14. The Proposition by Judith Ivory
15. A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught
16. Ravished by Amanda Quick (I have no memory of reading this but it was in the spreadsheet. All her books seem the same after awhile.)
17. Frederica by Georgette Heyer
18. Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly
19. MacKenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard
20. Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard
21. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
22. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
23. The Bride by Julie Garwood
24. Devil's Bride by Stephanie Laurens
25. To Have and to Hold by Patricia Gaffney
26. Born in Fire by Nora Roberts
27. Winter Garden by Adele Ashworth
28. Gone Too Far by Suzanne Brockmann
29. The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
30. Saving Grace by Julie Garwood
31. My Dearest Enemy by Connie Brockway
32. In the Midnight Rain by Barbara Samuel
33. The Windflower by Laura London
34. Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
35. Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught
36. Nobody's Baby but Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
37. A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux
38. Paradise by Judith McNaught
39. The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale
40. Dream Man by Linda Howard
41. Out of Control by Suzanne Brockmann
42. Silk and Shadows by Mary Jo Putney
43. See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson
44. Shattered Rainbows by Mary Jo Putney
45. Thunder and Roses by Mary Jo Putney
46. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
47. Heart Throb by Suzanne Brockmann
48. For My Lady's Heart by Laura Kinsale
49. Honor's Splendor by Julie Garwood
50. Lord Carew's Bride by Mary Balogh
51. Untie my Heart by Judith Ivory
52. Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
53. The Secret by Julie Garwood
54. This is All I Ask by Lynn Kurland
55. Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh
56. One Perfect Rose by Mary Jo Putney
57. To Love and to Cherish by Patricia Gaffney
58. Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
59. Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
60. Venetia by Georgette Heyer
61. Daughter of the Game by Tracy Grant
62. The Prize by Julie Garwood
63. Reforming Lord Ragsdale by Carla Kelly (I've been looking for this one for years)
64. Prince Joe by Suzanne Brockmann
65. The Notorious Rake by Mary Balogh
66. Heartless by Mary Balogh
67. Son of the Morning by Linda Howard
68. Sleeping Beauty by Judith Ivory
69. Where Dreams Begin by Lisa Kleypas
70. The Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer
71. The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
72. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegar
73. With This Ring by Carla Kelly
74. The Lion's Lady by Julie Garwood
75. The Rake by Mary Jo Putney
76. Fallen from Grace by Laura Leone
77. Always to Remember by Lorraine Heath
78. Castles by Julie Garwood
79. One Good Turn by Carla Kelly
80. Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts
81. By Arrangement by Madeline Hunter (TBR)
82. Perfect by Judith McNaught
83. My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth
84. The Defiant Hero by Suzanne Brockmann
85. The Unsung Hero by Suzanne Brockmann
86. Guilty Pleasures by Laura Lee Guhrke
87. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
88. Kill and Tell by Linda Howard
89. After the Night by Linda Howard
90. More than a Mistress by Mary Balogh
91. Born in Ice by Nora Roberts
92. Miss Wonderful by Loretta Chase
93. The Charm School by Susan Wiggs
94. Scoundrel by Elizabeth Elliott
95. How to Marry a Marquis by Julia Quinn (Done with Quinn)
96. Angel Rogue by Mary Jo Putney
97. Trust Me by Jayne Ann Krentz (Done with Krentz)
98. Dancing on the Wind by Mary Jo Putney
99. Once and Always by Judith McNaught
100. This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Wow, I can't believe this! I've read 76 with 7 in my TBR and 17 not read. I plan to read Morning Glory and Reforming Lord Ragsdale (if I can ever find a copy) but I'm not sure of the other 15. I've given up on Quinn and Krentz, and I'm holding off on more Garwoods because I'm not sure I'm going to read the ones in my TBR. I read The Bride and wasn't too crazy about it but I'd like to give her one more try before giving up on her.

Wouldn't it be nice if someone at AAR would volunteer to update this list? I bet it would look completely different now. Someday I'm going to make up my own 100 favorite romances list. Uh, wait a sec, that sounds like work.

Purging books from Mt. TBR

I'm really making an effort. Well, for me anyway.

Looked at spreadsheet: 128 categories romances. Yikes. No wonder I'm feeling guilty.

Where should I start? Alphabetically, of course. Hmmm, the A's, so that means first one at the top of the spreadsheet was Guarding Jane Doe by Harper Allen (HI). AAR gave it an A but this was an amnesia story. Ackkk! Into the purge pile it goes. Next up... Hot on Her Tail by Karen Anders. This is a Harlequin Blaze about a bounty hunter who's looking for a woman accused of embezzling from a bank. Handcuffs are involved and you know what that means *wiggles eyebrows* :) I skimmed it and it wasn't too bad so I sat down and did a fast read. The thought of sex with handcuffs makes my wrists ache. Not very sexy to me.

The problem with Blazes is that the idea of a category with HOT SEX sounds pretty good, but really most of them have been disappointing. Plots are too contrived, sex turns out not to be very hot, characters are flat. But not all of them are bad, I have 4 or 5 in my keepers.

HOHT wasn't too bad except I kept shaking my head at the fact that the heroine repeatedly escaped from the hero bounty hunter (like 3 times) and always went back to the same place where he would pick her up again. Duh! Anyway, I give it a B-.

So I have formulated a plan... get rid of all Blaze and other categories with plots I have come to hate:

Amnesia stories (tired of them, overdone)
Bodyguard stories (ditto)
Virgin sex therapists (give me a break)
Uptight businessman (yawn)
Uptight businesswoman (double yawn)
Thieves as H/H
Secret baby stories

That's just a start. I may think of more as I go along.

CindyS gave me some good advice. Anything I've been looking at for more than 3 years must GO! Okay, I'll try, but no promises. Get out the kleenex.

Book Shopping

Went book shopping today and came home with.... nada, zip, nothing. *sigh* There is something seriously wrong with me, I swear. I think I need a therapist or some kind of intervention.

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to spend money on books lately. Remember that cartoon where the little angel is sitting on one shoulder and the little devil is sitting on the other? Well, that's how I felt today while visiting two UBS's and Borders Books. Every time I picked up a book (urged on by the little devil) this little voice (the angel) in my head said "you don't need anymore books with over 200 in your TBR". At Borders I had three books in my hand that I really wanted but I put them back and walked out the door. Why, why, why!?! Okay, I know I have issues with spending money on myself. I'm very thrifty. No, not a tightwad. I enjoy spending money on my kids and husband for birthdays and Christmas. In fact, I go overboard a little and they are spoiled rotten.

I am the oldest of 4 kids and we were poor. Seriously. We lived in the projects up until I was 6 years old. My mother used to tell us kids NEVER to mention that fact to anyone because she was very ashamed of it. Okay, I better backup. My parents were married in December of their junior year of high school and I was born the following June. Yup, I figured out the math on that one in Junior High. My dad could not get a job to support his wife and kid so he lied about his age and joined the army which kept food on the table. They proceeded to have 3 more kids one year apart. But after the army my dad went to school on the GI bill, got a real job, my mom went to work full time and we moved out of the projects.

That time must have made an impression on me because I have always been more of a saver than a spender. I hoarded all my allowances and babysitting money and was very careful about spending money on myself.

Bob has the opposite problem and I reign him in sometimes so we balance each other out. He likes to buy me things that are too expensive that make me feel guilty. Remember that gorgeous Brighton purse he bought me for my birthday? I kept it in the box for 3 weeks, on the verge of returning it several times. I eventually worked through it and I use it but try not to think about the price. :)

Where was I? Oh, yeah, books. Sorry, I went way off topic.

I want to keep up with the newest books. My library has a great selection but they don't have everything and they are slow to get books into the catalog. I really need to go buy some books! But every time I do I have the same damn voice reminding me about my TBR. I know there are people out there with bigger TBRs and some of you have told me you have given up feeling guilty, but guilt is my middle name.

So it's time to do a major purge. I did whittle it down last spring but it was only a dent really (about 30 books). My idea is to cut it in HALF and the first place to start is probably the categories. I used to read quite of few of these but the only series I read now are an occasional HH. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Outlaw by Nicole Jordan

After reading and loving The Heart Breaker recently, I was absolutely convinced I needed to track down it's prequel, The Outlaw. It was a bit hard to find but I got lucky and snagged one from PBS. I am so glad I did because I loved it too, but I have to caution you, this book epitomizes the term 'guilty pleasure'. Here is a book that breaks a bunch of my unwritten rules for romance yet I can't help but love it.

The Outlaw almost felt like an older bodice ripper what with the overly alpha hero and stubborn self centered heroine. But don't get me wrong, this book is NOTHING like those horrid books by Coulter, Lindsay, et al, *shudder*. It is an older book published in 1996 (copyright by Anne Bushyhead ??? ok, no snarking) which probably accounts for it.

This is a Romeo and Juliet type of story. As the story begins Caitlin and Jake are young lovers but their families are mortal enemies. There is a range war that has been going on for twenty years between the cattlemen (which includes Jake's family) and sheep ranchers (which includes Caitlin's family) so they must keep their love secret.

I fell in love with Jake in the first chapter with that gorgeous body, devilish smile, and sense of humor. He is head over heals in love with Caitlin and determined to marry her. But she is afraid to tell her father, a bitter angry man with a violent hatred of cattlemen. After Caitlin leaves their love tryst at a mountain pool, Caitlin's father and brother confront him and he kills the brother in self defense. Caitlin is told by her father that Jake murdered her brother, and she does not believe he is guilty at first. Jake barely escapes with his life and he runs away when Caitlin's father frames him for murder to eventually become a hired gun. Since Jake ran away, Caitlin starts believing her father's story and this is where I start gettting pissed off at her.

Four years later, Jake is back in town and, unbenownst to Caitlin (who now has a son), has cleared up most of the false charges against him. But time and again she believes the worst of Jake and I wanted to smack her! But he never gives up on her and she goes back to him and they have a lot of sex. :) My feeling was that if she really had loved him she would have known he was not capable of all the crimes he was accused of, but maybe that's me living in romanceland. But on the other hand, I can understand her wanting to keep from exposing her son to criminals and violence. When she accuses Jake of being like her father, I thought she went too far and was ready to jump through the pages and strangle her.

So why did I love this book? Well, first of all Jake was a wonderful hero to die for. He never gives up on the heroine even though she deserved it. And a small part of me could actually understand her thinking. She was really a self-absorbed bitch, but she was trying to be a good mother, so I give her points for that. Oh, and did I mention that the sex was H. O. T. ? From page one. It was a fast moving story with good dialogue and 3D characters. This one is a keeper to go on the shelf next to The Heart Breaker and I'm giving it the same grade. Not perfect books but I still loved them.

My grade: B+

Now if only Jordan would write Wolf's story I'd be happy. She promises but has yet to deliver. Like Sybil, I'm trying to find a couple other oldies by Jordan, Wildstar and The Savage but they are very hard to find.

Work Sucks

Apologies to everyone for being such a lousy blogger. Work has been killing me and I'm not a happy camper right now. I'm on my 16th day straight of work and it's only Tuesday. By Friday I will have worked 19 straight days and I'm taking the weekend off come hell or high water.

Last year about this time I was complaining about being bored with nothing to do except write test plans. Well, I'm not bored anymore. I like being busy but this is ridiculous. We are in a crunch period right now and I'm trying to do my part and contribute to the team effort but I have HAD IT. To top it off we are having beautiful weather and I can't get out and enjoy it. We don't get that many warm sunny days and I'm spending them inside. I want my life back. I want to be able to do laundry (can't believe I said that), water my plants, weed the garden (yes, I enjoy that), go to dinner with friends, go shopping, visit blogs, and MOST IMPORTANT.... READ.

OK, shut up, Renee. Enough whining! Sorry, again. :)

I managed to squeeze in some reading time and finished Crazy Love by Tara Janzen and LOVED IT!!! This is the 5th book in the Crazy series with Dylan Hart, Special Defense Force commander, and Skeeter Bang's story. Although appearances are made by several past characters, they played a minor part. It was very fast paced featuring three storylines that were all very well done. All the action with muscle cars, high tech gadgets and weapons kept me on the edge of my seat and there was never a dull moment. But don't think the romance was short changed because Dylan and Skeeter's story was wonderful. Janzen has a way of writing a single love scene that is so sensuous and so drawn out to perfection that it feels like three or four love scenes. The secondary characters, Travis and Red Dog (Gillian), also have a hot love scene. Dylan is very tortured but has had the hots for Skeeter for a long time. Skeeter is a kickass heroine who doesn't take any crap. Some bloggers didn't like this book but it is my favorite of the series. A keeper! For those who a looking for a great summer beach book, this is it.

My grade: A-

The 6th book in the Crazy series, Crazy Sweet, is due out soon and features Travis and Gillian's story. Janzen's website mentions that she is writing another SDF Steele Street book titled On The Loose but I'm not sure if it is a continuation of the Crazy series.

Reading now: The Nightingale's Song by Kathleen Eschenburg and loving it. Thank you Wendy & Kristie for mentioning it. Very emotional so far and I think it gets even more so (ok, I peeked for just a couple sentences).

The Marcelli Bride by Susan Mallery

After seeing AAR's good review and enjoying Delicious a few weeks ago, I wanted to try this book. It's a continuation of the Marcelli Sisters series featuring the children of Marco Marcelli. I read the first book in the series, The Sparkling One, and it was a B read but I never got around to the next two. This book tells Joe's story. Joe is the son Marco and Colleen Marcelli gave up for adoption when they were just teenagers. His adopted parents died and he ended up in foster care until adulthood when he joined the Navy and ended up as a SEAL. Somehow he was reunited with his biological parents before this story began (maybe in a previous book which I missed). He is still very bitter and resentful towards his 'real' family and he keeps them at arm's length while they are desperately trying to show him they love him and want him as part of the family. He's not buying it though.

Darcy Jensen is the President's daughter and after a kidnapping attempt the Secret Service need to stash her someplace safe. Through some kind of connection (which I never really got) they decide that she will hide out with a team of SS agents at the Marcelli winery. Do you buy that? Well, I didn't... When Joe's SEAL team screws up, he gets assigned to head the team of SS agents at his family's winery as some sort of punishment. Weirder and weirder...

The plot was totally implausible and while that has never stopped me from enjoying a book (eg. Janzen's Crazy series) additional problems with the H/H kept me from liking this book at all. Joe was distant and angry and never convinced me that he was attracted to Darcy let alone fell in love with her. Except for his anger and resentment he was pretty much emotionless. Darcy was a bit better but I didn't like her much. The sex scene which the family overheard on the intercom made me uncomfortable. And there was no emotion in any of the sex scenes. There were lots of quirky characters but I just didn't care about the whole family. Blah! There are four sisters all together and I have only read one of their stories, but I have no interest in reading the rest of the series. Mia (the last sister) will have her story in an upcoming book but unless somebody in blogland convinces me otherwise, I'm not wasting my money.

My grade: C-

Dartmoor

Would this make a good bed?

I was curious what heather looks like in Dartmoor where The Indiscretion took place. So I found this picture from the Dartmoor National Park website.

Still doesn't look like someplace comfortable to make love. Just saying.

Pretty though.

The Indiscretion by Judith Ivory

This was an unusual book with unusual characters but turned out to be a very good read. It was divided into two parts, Part One: The English Moor, and Part Two: The Negotiation.

In Part One we meet the H/H who are from completely different worlds. Lydia Bedford-Browne is the pampered, overly-protected daughter of a viscount. Sam Cody is an American from Texas complete with a Stetson and cowboy boots. The book is set in the turn of the 19th century England where Lydia decides to set off alone across the boggy flatlands of Dartmoor by coach in the first real adventure of her life. The only other passenger of the coach is Sam who is drunk and battered, having missed his own wedding when he stopped to rescue a woman from muggers and got a beating from the thieves.

I'm a huge JI fan but for some reason I had a hard time getting into this book. The characters didn't grab me and I just couldn't care about them. Ivory writes very lush descriptions and at first I found myself skimming through the first 2 chapters. But when their inebriated driver loses control of the coach crashing them into the marsh, the book finally captures my attention. There is a very funny scene when Sam climbs out of the window of the wildly careening coach to get the driver's attention only to discover the driver has fallen off!

Sam and Lydia are stranded and lost in the moorlands for several days and their developing relationship along with the sexual tension was marvelous. The dialogue was good and seemed exactly right so that I started to love these characters. OT: On a side note... I really don't get the making love in the heather scenes I read in some books. It's supposed to be soft and downy comfortable, but the heather in the PacNW is prickly and, man, there is no way I'd lie down in it and make love. OUCH! Must be a different species in England. Anyway, it pulled me out of the story every time making love on a bed of heather was mentioned (and they did it a lot!). I suppose I should google 'heather'.

The second part of the book comes after they are rescued and Liddy returns to her world. She must come to terms with what is expected of her by her parents, family, friends and society and what she wants and feels. Sam knows what he wants and pursues her vigorously suffering many rejections by Liddy. Here's where I shed a few tears in sympathy for Sam. But I never blamed Liddy either having been raised in a straight laced Victorian society, and realizing that breaking away from that upbringing was difficult. But she learns and grows and finally understands her own power and goes after what she wants. The last chapter was so good, I may want to read it again.

Several other reviewers liked the first part more than the second part but I found myself liking the second part more. Sam and Liddy are very good characters, the dialogue is excellent, and the sensuality is hot. Not quite a keeper but very good.

My grade: B+

Next up: Review of The Outlaw by Nicole Jordan. I'm having a tough time with the review because there were so many elements that I should have hated about it, but I ended up loving it! Now I'm trying to figure out why :)

Double tagged!

Kristie and Cindy both tagged me while I was on vacation so here goes (a bit late).

1. When did you first start blogging and why? Just had my one year blog-iversay on July 17. Maili, Keishon and Rosario were the first blogs I read and I was thrilled to find fascinating entertaining people talking about books. Up until then I had visited AAR message boards but rarely posted because all those flame wars terrified me. Loved to read them, but no way would I stick my neck out. Anyway, around April of last year Maili posted a 'How To Blog' which I bookmarked and it took me until July to get up the nerve to create one.

2. What don't you talk about? Like most people I avoid religion and politics. I don't mind talking about my personal life because it's actually theraputic. Nice to get the rants out in the open so they don't fester :)

3) Are you and your blogging persona the same person? Yeah, pretty much. Although I come across a bit more serious in my blog than I am in person.

4) How do you use blogging to build friendships? It's been surprising easy to make friends from all over the world because romance readers are so friendly. I started with Maili, Keishon, and Rosario and found more bloggers from their sidebars leaving comments all over the place. Then these bloggers visit me, along with new bloggers and the circle just keeps getting bigger and bigger! I was nervous about posting on blogs at first because I figured everyone already knew everyone and I was crashing the party but it's not like that at all. It's funny how I talk about my online friends with my hubby and in-person friends just like I really KNOW them, which I do. I just have not actually MET them in person. (Bob knows his twin, also names Bob, is alive and living in Canada).

5) How would you describe your writing style? What style? Oh, you mean the bad grammar, run-on sentences, dangling participles (love that phrase), sentence fragments, spelling errors and overuse of the word 'I'? Yeah, that's me.

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.

July TBR Challenge

This month's TBR Challenge is to read a romantic suspense. I have had this one in my TBR since March. A relatively short time considering some of them have been there for eons.

Title: Dead Wrong

Author: Janice Kay Johnson

Year published: 2006

Why did you get this book? I've read several Harlequin SR written by JKJ and really enjoyed them. I'm rather picky about the categories I read and she seems to be one of the better Harlequin authors. This one is a Signature Select which are longer in length than a category with 326 pages and some extra bonus stuff in the back.

Do you like the cover? Nothing special, but it does reflect the mood of the plot. It's a RS about a serial killer in Elk Springs, Oregon and takes place in the 'dead' of winter. Get it? Dead? I'm so clever (shut up).

Did you enjoy the book? Yes, very much. JKJ is a very consistent author and this longer length allowed her skills to really shine. Will is a lawyer working in the DA's office. Six years ago his girlfriend was brutally raped and murdered and the suspect arrested and sent to jail. Will left town after that not being able to face the guilt he feels. He has just returned to town when another girl he used to date is found murdered in the exact same way as the previous crime. Will's mother, Meg, is the lieutenant of the police force and picks Trina to work on the case with her. Trina has been in love with Will since the age of 12. Will is two years older and one of the popular crowd in HS and never noticed her.

This was a fantastic mystery/suspense that kept me riveted to my chair, especially the last 20 pages. However, the romance took a back seat to the mystery as often happens in RS but it was still enjoyable. When Will and Trina finally get together in a very sensual love scene, you can really understand how Trina feels in heaven when the man she has loved for years finally notices her and wants her. It was also a bit rushed but I'm not complaining, I loved it. Will is a bit of a self-centered jerk to his mother and father but he completely redeems himself when he apologizes. The villain was not obvious and not easy to figure out till the last quarter of the book. The epilogue was very good too (no babies mentioned :). If you like mysteries with some romance then this is the book for you.

My grade: B

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? No, as I said, I have read several by JKJ. I rec Whose Baby? (a babies switched at birth story) and What She Wants for Christmas. I will definitely read more by her.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? Passing it on. Good but not a keeper.

Anything else? I realized after I started this book that there was a series written leading up to it. It's called Patton's Daughters and features Meg (Will's mother) and her two sister who all make appearances in DW and all of them categories (Harlequin SR). Now I really want to go find them. No need to read them before DW, if you're worried about reading series in order.

Happy blog-iversary to me!

One year ago today I started this blog and was initially afraid I wouldn't have enough interesting stuff to say. Turns out I can ramble on and on saying almost nothing.

It's been fun talking about books and sometimes theraputic to talk about other stuff like my hubby, cat, kids, work, and my boring life. I've met readers from all over the world which is so cool.

Thanks everyone for making this such a great experience.

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas

Yum, yum, yum. This was a very good book. Not quite as good as my favorite (need I name it?... ok for those of you living on another planet and are just visiting for the day...) Dreaming of You. DIW is the third book in the Wallflower series and was the best one so far.

This is Evie Jenner's story. She's the shy one who stutters and is an absolute sweetheart. Shy does not mean doormat by any means. Evie approaches Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent, and asks him to marry her so that she can escape the clutches of her greedy, abusive family who are trying to force her into marriage with her repulsive cousin so that they can control her fortune. In return for marrying her, Sebastian, a true rake and fortune hunter, will instead get Evie's money. Her only condition is that she be allowed to care for her dying father. So they set off for Scotland in a long arduous journey and during the trip forge a bond between them. Sebastian is the villain of the previous book, It Happened One Autumn, where he attempted to kidnap the heroine, Lillian, and was stopped by the hero, Lord Westcliff, who beat him up. Oh, yeah, Evie makes one more condition.... no lovemaking after the wedding night.

After the wedding Sebastian realizes he is extremely attracted to Evie and she challenges him to remain celibate for three months before she'll go to bed with him again (love this girl ... she's got spunk). In the meantime they arrive back in London and Evie rushes to her father's bedside. Her father is a gambling club owner (chief rival of Derek from DoY) and Sebastian (who has never done a day's work in his life) takes over management of the club.

This is a wonderful book. I loved Evie, shy and sweet, with an inner strength who takes no crap from the hero. And Sebastian.... *sigh*... wow, he completely redeems himself and then some. He is slowly transformed from a hardened amoral rake as he falls in love with Evie and becomes so protective of her. I see why so many are comparing him to Derek Craven. Most agree that he is ALMOST as wonderful as DC (impossible to beat DC in the hero department). Very sigh-worthy. All the secondary characters are very well drawn and the plot was excellent, especially Cam, the part-gypsy croupier from the gambling club. I wonder if he gets his own book. I hope so. Also the subplot drama was good about a former employee of the club who means to harm Evie. And the love scenes were hot. A KEEPER!

My grade: A-

Sex, Lies and Online Dating by Rachel Gibson

After reading several dark historicals and paranormals in a row I was in the mood for a lighter contemporary book. SLAOD filled the bill fairly well. Also Gibson always delivers something hot and sexy and I'm always in the mood for that.

My fav Gibsons are Truly, Madly Yours and See Jane Score but SLAOD didn't quite live up to those for me. I enjoyed it but it definitely had it's problems. Although a bit on the fluffy side with a completely implausible plot, the characters were well done and the humor was good. It was a fast easy read and I finished it quickly.

Lucy Rothchild, a murder mystery writer, is working on a new book that features a female serial killer who meets her victims online. In the name of research she decides to do some internet dating with guys with online names like "luvstick" and "bigdaddy182". Quinn McIntyre is a police detective working on a case involving a female serial killer who meets her victims online and kills them using erotic asphyxiation (what a coincidence - just like the plot of Lucy's unpubbed book!) and he creates a persona "hardluvnman" and trolls around picking up women searching for the killer. Quinn and Lucy meet online and agree to a date at the local Starbucks. Both Lucy and Quinn are pretending to be something they're not: she says she's a nurse, he says he's a plumber. But they are instantly attracted to each other.

Quinn is convinced Lucy is lying about being a nurse and she seems to know too much about the crime he is investigating. So she becomes his number one suspect. I had a bit of a problem with the scene where Quinn, still suspecting she's a serial killer, tries to lure her into trying to kill him. He has his house wired for sound and video. There was a lot of kissing, groping, sighing and moaning and he brings her to orgasm, all of it recorded on audio tape. He had maneuvered her into the hallway so not all is on video but still it bothered me that a guy would do all that in the name of catching a killer. Before they get to the bedroom, he is called away by a phone call. The real killer has struck again. Lucy is very hurt when Quinn reveals that he suspected her of being a killer. I had a real problem with the fact that Quinn did not GROVEL nearly enough to satisfy me. When Lucy's life is threatened by the real killer, she goes running back into his arms way to easily. Also Lucy had a TSTL moment near the end but I don't totally blame her.

However, I did enjoy the book over all. The sex scenes were yummy and the action was plentiful but did not take over the romance. Just not Gibson's best IMHO.

My grade: B-

Shadow Touch by Marjorie M. Liu

I really enjoyed this unusual paranormal thriller that was loaded with action, adventure, intrigue and enough romance to satisfy. This book which follows Tiger Eye is the second one in the Dirk & Steele series about a secret private detective agency whose employees all have extraordinary paranormal talents; e.g. Shapeshifters, psychics, empaths, etc.

The setting was unusual and I won't give it away because the reader doesn't figure it out till about halfway through the book (but you can guess from the cover). The characters were fascinating and complex.

Dirk & Steele agent Artur Loginov is an empath who can sense a person's emotions and memories by touching them or an object they have touched. He is a very damaged man with a dark, ugly past as a former member of the Russian mob and is now using his talents to help rather than harm others.

Elena is a psychic healer who can get inside the minds of injured or sick patients to help them use their own mental powers to heal themselves.

Both Elena and Arthur come to the attention of an evil organization called The Consortium that intends to use people with these special skills for their own dastardly purposes. So Elena and Arthur are drugged and kidnapped (separately) and taken to an underground prison to be brainwashed into using their skills for evil.

The story was riveting and I finished it in one sitting. I'm a bit squeamish about blood and torture and I didn't care for some of the torture that was described. I also thought the prison scenes which went on until about the midway point took up too much of the book. During this time the reader doesn't knows were they are being held and I kept wondering 'where the hell are they?' And the identity of their jailers was also kept from the reader. All was revealed very slowly and made for a captivating and sometimes frustrating read. Artur and Elena meet in the hallway of their prison and make a psychic connection. Eventually they escape together with the help of some shapeshifters and that's when the action intensifies. Unfortunately, the suspense and intrigue overwhelm the romance which took a back burner, but it was still enjoyable with some hot sexual tension and steamy love scenes.
My grade: B

The third book in the series is The Red Heart of Jade just released this month. I haven't heard anything about it but Liu has been consistently good so I'm going to find this one.

A few reviews

Still feeling fuzzy headed with this damn cold. I HATE being sick. But I went to work anyway and am now barracaded in my office. No one has come to visit me so that's a good thing. Just as easy to communicate with email and IM.

I went to Subway to get a sandwich at lunchtime and when I opened my mouth to place my order no sound came out. After much coughing and hacking (I think I may have spit in his face - poor fellow) I managed to croak my order to him. You should have seen the look on his face!

Reminder to self: Never take Nyquil again! That stuff is brutal. I took a half dose night before last and I still feel light headed. Better off with just Tylenol.

Bob was wise enough not to ask "what's for dinner?" last night. Took many years but I finally trained him not to ask that question while I'm lying on the couch looking like death warmed over. He even offered to make me a barbecued turkey burger, but all I wanted was a bowl of oatmeal.

Okay, so someone tell me where KarenS went because I lost her. Thank you. I need my KarenS fix.

Anyway, on to the books before I crash and burn:

Hope's Captive by Kate Lyon
I have never tried Lyon before but I love a good American Historical and this book was wonderful. It will fit right in with my favorite Cheryl St. John books. The heroine, Carolyn Whitley, was kidnapped and brutally tortured by the Kiowa tribe when she was very young. Eventually rescued by the Cheyenne she feels a fierce loyalty to them. Zach McCallister is searching for his son who he believes was taken captive by the Cheyenne in a raid that left the boy's mother dead and he needs Caroline's help to find him and bring him home. This gut wrenching book was almost too painful to read about how she was abused and tortured for years. Carolyn is a tough frontier woman and a fantastic heroine. Zach was a decent honorable man and such a good match for her. The Cheyenne were portrayed very realistically too. Lyon did her homework on this one. My grade: B+

The Music of the Night by Lydia Joyce
I really loved the setting of Venice which was excellently done giving an authentic ambiance to the book. The entire story was focused around the hero's need for vengeance against a man who he was convinced raped his young illegimate daughter. Normally, I'm not too fond of revenge stories but Joyce makes this one work because of the setting and an unusual heroine. I never did warm up to the hero, Sebastian Grimsthorpe, but I loved the heroine. Sarah Connelly carries scars on her face from a case of small pox she suffered as a child. Sebastian mistakenly believes she is the mistress of her employer's son and he publicly seduces and humiliates her. What an a**! Why is it that a hero out for revenge always picks on the completely innocent heroine. Sheesh! She is essentially ruined and is forced to flee her employer's household and confronts him. He realizes his mistake and offers her a position as his mistress and housekeeper of his decaying Venetian villa. He never redeems himself in my eyes, but I loved how intelligent and strong Sarah is as she takes over the refurbishing of the house. Joyce's lush descriptions of Venice was captivating and the sensuality was steamy hot. My grade: B

The Cobra & the Concubine by Bonnie Vanak
Normally I avoid sheik/arab stories like the plague but after Kristie's recommendation, this one caught my interest. I'm glad because it was pretty good. The hero, Khepri, was adopted as a young boy by the Khamsin tribe of warriors when his family are killed in Egypt. Badra was sold as a slave at the age of 11 to a sadistic sheik and suffered years of rape and torture. Reading about this type of abuse was rather difficult and made me cringe but the author's note reminds the reader that this type of thing still goes on all over the world. Khepri is actually Kenneth, heir to an English dukedom (why is it always a duke?). When Badra is captured from the evil sheik, Khepri swears to protect her and he falls in love with her. Badra had many traumatic experiences and it takes her a LOOOONG time to overcome them as one would expect. I loved Khepri, totally yummy. But Badra was too meek for my taste. My favorite part was the camaraderie and teasing about 'male parts' between Khepri and his foster brothers; a nice touch of humor. Badra finally overcovers her fears culminating in some very hot sex scenes! The decriptions of life in the desert were fascinating too. All loose ends were tied up rather tidily including burning down the brothel where Badra was imprisoned. My grade: B-

Home Sick

I'm home sick today from work and I feel like crap! But here I am snuggled with on the couch with the laptop computer so I thought I would blog since I'm bored out of my tree. I tried reading but I can't concentrate. It started out with a tickle at the back of my throat on Saturday, then worked into a sore throat on Monday. Yesterday was our big 4th of July bash in our front yard with the whole neighborhood which was a lot of fun. But I talked too much and now today I sound like a frog and I can hardly swallow. Couple that with my head congestion and I figure this must be a summer cold.

I can't remember the last time I stayed home sick from work but I couldn't get out of bed this morning. I hate being sick.

I'm about halfway through The Cobra and the Concubine and I'm enjoying it although for some strange reason I thought this was a paranormal which it is NOT.

Other books I recently finished:
Hope's Captive by Kate Lyon
The Music of the Night by Lydia Joyce
The Shadow Touch by Marjorie M. Liu

All of these were good reads. I'll try to write some quick reviews when I'm feeling better. I'm tired now. I need a nap.

Update: Blogger sucks today. Can't get anything to publish.