REVIEW: Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas

SETTING/TYPE: Victorian Historical Romance
COPYRIGHT: 2008
SENSUALITY: Hot
SUMMARY:

Love has designs of its own.…

To all of London society, Lord and Lady Tremaine had the ideal arrangement: a marriage based on civility, courteousness, and freedom—by all accounts, a perfect marriage. The reason? For the last ten years, husband and wife have resided on separate continents.

But once upon a time, things were quite different for the Tremaines….When Gigi Rowland first laid eyes on Camden Saybrook, the attraction was immediate and overwhelming. But what began in a spark of passion ended in betrayal the morning after their wedding—and now Gigi wants to be free to marry again. When Camden returns from America with an outrageous demand in exchange for her freedom, Gigi’s decision will have consequences she never imagined, as secrets are exposed, desire is rekindled—and one of London’s most admired couples must either fall in love all over again…or let each other go forever.

THOUGHTS/OPINION:

I have several book themes I look for when picking romances and "troubled marriage" is one of my favorites. In fact, I have a tag for these types of plots in my LibraryThing account. So after reading all the buzz about Sherry Thomas' debut book, Private Arrangements, I had to try it and I'm glad I did because I found it very impressive.

Gigi, Lady Tremaine, has been separated from her husband, Camden, for 10 years. Gigi loves her husband but she is tired of waiting for him and has decided to get on with her life and remarry someone else for some small chance at happiness. Camden doesn't want her but doesn't want anyone else to have her either. Especially dim-witted Freddie, her intended fiance. So Camden demands that they live together for one year so he can get an heir off her in exchange for the divorce she wants. And Gigi agrees.

The story goes back and forth between the past and the present and slowly reveals why these two imperfect and somewhat unlikeable characters are so bitter and cruel to each other. When they first meet both characters are immature and Gigi has no self confidence in her beauty or personal attributes needed to attract a man aside from her considerable fortune. Camden is on the verge of proposing to another girl and Gigi is very determined to have him so she plots and schemes to bring Camden to propose. On the eve of their wedding Camden discovers her deception and is very angry (and I suspect, very hurt). He decides to proceed with the wedding and consummates the marriage, then very cruelly humiliates and rejects her. Of course, in this way he can throw her out and still have access to all her lovely money. Let's just say I was not too fond of Camden at this point. Especially after Gigi grovels and begs for him to take her back. Gigi is at fault for her deception but I found her much more sympathetic and I actually liked her quite a bit.

The weaving of the past with the present was smoothly done and the use of language by Thomas was superb making this book hard to put down. When Camden and Gigi first marry they are very young and so I gave their initial poor behavior some slack, but it is now ten years later and Camden is still bitter and angry and seems to still want to punish Gigi for making him fall in love with her. Gigi has grown up and acts much more honorably towards Camden and I found her a much more sympathetic character.

There is a lovely romantic sub-plot involving Gigi's mother, Mrs. Rowland, and a reclusive duke who lives next door. Mrs. Rowland tries to bag the duke for her daughter but ends up falling in love with him herself. A very amusing and well done sidebar to the main plot.

Overall this was a somewhat deep historical with three dimensional characters and a very satisfying and romantic ending. Everything I enjoy in a romance. I enjoyed this book so much Thomas is an auto-buy for me now. I have read Delicious and have Not Quite a Husband on my wishlist.

GRADE: A-

Under construction

I found a new template I like and I have been tweaking my blog. So excuse the mess. Also made a new animated widget for my Library Thing. I used to have my Smart Bitch title icon on my blog and lost it. But I just found the .jpg file on my other computer so I can post it again. Also I need to add some new bloggers.

April Reads

REVIEW: Broken Wing by Judith James

COPYRIGHT: 2008
SETTING / TYPE: Regency Historical Romance
SENSUALITY: Hot
REASON FOR READING: KristieJ.... In her review from last October she gave it a 6 out of 5! When she speaks so highly of a book, I sit up and pay attention because KristieJ is one of my reading gurus (along with CindyS). We don't always agree but I would say most of the time we do.

SUMMARY:

Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, Gabriel St. Croix has never known tenderness, friendship, or affection. Although fluent in sex, he knows nothing of love. Lost and alone inside a nightmare world, all he’s ever wanted was companionship and a place to belong. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy façade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all that is about to change. The boy’s family has found him, and they are coming to take him home.

Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother’s disappearance. When he’s located, safe and unharmed despite where he has been living, Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own.

Becoming a mercenary pirate and a professional gambler, Gabriel travels to London, France, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again and all he knows of love. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey, and the greatest gamble of all, is within the darkest reaches of his own heart

THOUGHTS / OPINION:
Wow, a very remarkable book from an author I had never heard of before. I'm not going to rehash the plot because there are oodles of reviews written out on the blogs and review sites, thanks to our dear KristieJ and her Questors. Check out her sidebar for a list of people under the label "Questors" who have reviewed this book. While not everyone loved it as much as KristieJ, I think the majority gave it a very positive review. Both AAR and TRR gave it an A.

I have read many of the reviews and I have to agree with some of the less than positive criticisms - it was not a perfect book - none of that bothered me. I found myself completely enthralled with the story and couldn't put it down. My reason for loving it so much can be credited to the H/H who are two wonderful extraordinary well-written characters.

Gabriel appears hard and cynical but inside he is a damaged child and very fragile. Gabriel could be a study in how an abused child becomes an adult with his overwhelming feelings of worthlessness and self destruction. He cuts himself which was disturbing and I think realistic for someone with his abused background. And Sarah through her soothing sweetness and gentleness can be credited with helping him heal.

Sarah is an unusual character as well and a perfect match for Gabriel. Her mother was part Gypsy so although she is born noble is not accepted into society. She was married off at an early age to an older man and she leaves him after a week (you go girl!). Fortunately for her he dies. She wear trousers and raises horses and does what she pleases. But she is sweet and kind and sees the goodness in Gabriel when no one else does.

The friendship that develops between them goes slowly... no popping into bed at the first signs of attraction ... which was appropriate given Gabriel's history as a prostitute. They truly become friends and care about each and and get to know each other. And they fall in love. Just as Gabriel begins to get some feeling of self worth back he sets off on an adventure to prove to himself that he is worth loving. And this is where the book takes a turn and has an epic feel. This part of the book is all about Gabriel.

There is a long separation when Gabriel has some adventures traveling around the world as a pirate and a gambler. Eventually his feelings of worthlessness come creeping back and when he makes his way back to England he doesn't get in touch with Sarah who thinks he is dead. Now this is where some reviewers wanted to smack him upside the head and I agree with them. Get in line! But keep reading folks, cuz the scene where Sarah discovers he is alive and shows up on his doorstep was a highly emotional tearjerker (man, I need to go back and read that again). But I forgave him just as Sarah does and ... sigh, what a great ending. I can see why KristieJ loved this book so much. Some people hated the long separation but I actually enjoyed it. It just made their reunion and reconciliation that much sweeter.

I recently read Kinsales' The Shadow and The Star and was struck by the similarities of the hero Samuel to Gabriel, both were sexually abused as children. While James is not quite in the same league as Kinsale as a writer, she makes a pretty good run at it, and for a first book BW is amazing. I see from KristieJ that James' next book is out soon. I definitely need to get that one.
If you are the the only person left on the planet who hasn't read Broken Wing, go out and find a copy. A great emotional read mixed with some adventure and a satisfying ending.

GRADE: A-

March Reads

I just learned a really neat trick on how to create a table in blogger. So I'm showing off. Here is a table of my March reads.




The next trick I want to learn is how to create a column on the left with images of the book covers. Not sure if that is possible. Never could get that to work in Excel.

Update: I figured out how to add images but it was a lot of work resizing them.

Now I suppose I should write a review or two or a dozen. I have 3 half finished. One of them is for Kristie on a very favorite book of hers.

All of the the B+ books were great but Breathless by Laura Lee Guhrke was outstanding and almost an A if not for a couple niggles that bothered me but still a great read.

100 books

Here I am. Trying to get back to normal and catching up with blogs. I have been reading quite a bit out of my TBR and decided to check my spreadsheet to see how many books are left there. Imagine my surprise when it came to 100!!!! I have made progress it seems. The last time I had checked it came to about 200. I think that was two years ago.

Here is my secret... you must read more from your TBR than you buy! Doh!

Since I'm unemployed I have been reading more from the library. When I see a book I want, I first check my library catalog. I have found that our library keeps a great selection of romances. Out of the 28 books I have read so far this year, 14 were out of my TBR with a couple bought new and the rest were library books.

P.S. I have been out of the blogging world lately and am desperately trying to catch up. I thought I saw a comment post by Maili over at DA. Was I imagining that this is our same Maili from mcvane.com? Someone (Kristie?) set me straight. She's been gone a long time (but not forgotten).

Family emergency

Sorry, I haven't been around lately but Bob and I have been trying to deal with his mother's serious health issues. Bob's Mom and Dad live in North Dakota and Mom has had pneumonia and congestive heart failure (she's 89 years old, btw). She was in the hospital for about a week and then sent to a rehabilitation facility and then sent home. Home is an assisted living facility in Minot and they give pretty good care.

Well, she took a turn for the worse and was back in the hospital because she was having an extremely difficult time breathing and her kidneys were failing. His father and sister called us, both in tears, and we got an email from his aunt basically telling us that she was not expected to live. Well, Bob and I caught a flight out there fully expecting to attend a funeral. But somehow over the course of that week she got better. She started breathing better and could go to the bathroom on her own and sit up in a chair for most of the day. But she still was not eating much. The nurses were calling her "miracle girl".

After about 6 days in the hospital the doctors thought she should go into a nursing facility (which I was in favor of) but the assisted living facility assured Dad that Mom could be cared for there. Dad wanted her home and Mom hated the idea of a nursing home. So home she went. We stayed two more days and just got home yesterday (Sunday).

But ... bad news... today she is back in the hospital with failing kidneys. His sister called again in tears, and Dad is not doing too well either. He caught a bad cold and can hardly talk plus his gout is acting up and he can hardly walk. I'm feeling exhausted and depressed about the whole thing but that is nothing compared to how Bob is feeling. It is so hard to have sick parents and be 1200 miles away. It cost us about $2000 in airfare even with their "special" medical emergency fare. We will see if she makes it through the night. Dad is 86 and getting terribly forgetful and his hearing is just about gone. Right now I just feel like having a good cry. I love both my in-laws very much and this is just so hard.

Update: I got the call at 1:30 am (today, March 17th) from Bob's sister... Mom passed away. Her heart stopped and they tried to revive her (which surprised me cuz I thought they had a 'do not resuscitate' order). Bob called our son and daughter first thing this morning. I just talked to my daughter and tried to be strong but I ended up breaking down in tears and made her cry too (she was at work). I adored my mom-in-law and feel just as bad as when my own mom died 10 years ago. She was a wonderful mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother and will be greatly missed.

TBR Challenge: REVIEW: The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale

COPYRIGHT: 1991
PAGES: 449
SETTING: Historical - Victorian (set in Hawaii & London)
TYPE: Straight Romance

SENSUALITY: Hot

REASON FOR READING: Well, because it's Kinsale and because it's a DIK at AAR (and appears in the Top 100 Romances consistently) and because this book has been mentioned numerous times on various blogs and message boards and it's considered a classic by many romance readers.

SUMMARY:

From nationally acclaimed bestselling author Laura Kinsale comes a boldly original, breathlessly unforgettable tale of honour, adventure and undying love.

The Shadow is wealthy, powerful and majestically handsome, he is a man of dark secrets - a master of the ancient martial arts of an exotic distant land. Scarred by a childhood of shocking degradation, he has sworn to love chastely ... but burns with the fires of unfulfilled passion.

The Star is lovely, innocent and nearly destitute, and drawn to him by a fevered yearning she could never deny - following her enigmatic 'shadow warrior' into a dangerous world of desire and righteous retribution.

THOUGHTS / OPINION:
I bought my copy of TS&TS many years ago but I just could not motivate myself to read it until recently. That is probably due to the fact that it is 449 pages long with very small print and my limit seems to be less than 400 page these days. So I knew I needed to devote a chunk of time to reading it so I procrastinated. Plus the cheesy cover put me off.

But as they say... don't judge a book by it's cover. TS&TS turned out to be a real treat and a keeper. There is so much to love about this book I don't know where to start. I love that some of it is set in Hawaii. I love the tortured dark hero and wonderful heroine. I love stories about the redeeming power of love. And I love Kinsale's writing and how she can evoke such a range of emotions.

Samual Gerard was rescued from a sexually abusive childhood by the wealthy Ashland family and brought to Hawaii and where he is shown love and accepted as a member of the family. But he still feels unworthy and overwhelmingly ashamed of his past. Their Japanese butler, Dojun, who is a master in martial arts takes him under his wing and trains him in the techniques and philosophy of martial arts which helps him heal from the trauma from his childhood. But as Samual grows into adulthood he becomes horrified with his increasing sexual awareness of women jumbling these natural feelings with the degradation of his past abuse. As a result he regards his sexual side as something to guard against. Samuel uses the rigid control of the ancient arts to quiet his inner turmoil and maintain a celibate lifestyle.

Leda Etoile is a prim and proper English woman who works as dressmaker's assistant in a London shop. When Samuel and his foster mother and sister visit the shop, he is confused by his strong physical attraction to Leda. When Leda is unfairly dismissed from her position she repeatedly fails to find employment as a typist. After a series of encounters Samuel eventually hires her as his private secretary to help him in his secret campaign to close child prostitution houses. Leda is an intelligent character, a bit naive but very sweet and oh-so-proper. I loved how she calls Samuel "Dear Sir".

The unfolding of their relationship is intensely emotional but in some ways very subtle. Kinsale is a master at this. And their first love scene is amazingly erotic even though both H/H are virgins. They are forced to marry and both of them seem afraid to show each other their true emotions even though their physical relationship is so passionate. Leda is confused by Samuel's seeming distance after losing control during their lovemaking. The story has many twists and turns which I don't wish to spoil. Let me just say there is not one wasted word. I wouldn't shorten it a bit.

As you can tell TS&TS is not a "quick" read, but it's complex fascinating characters, compelling story and intensely emotional love scenes are like savoring a piece of my favorite chocolate truffle.. rich and satisfying, leaving you with the feeling of heaven on earth. Kinsale is not for everyone but after reading Flowers from the Storm, I had to try this one and I'm so glad I did.

GRADE: A

Psst.. I like this new cover from the re-issue much better:

TBR Challenge: REVIEW: Winter Woman by Jenna Kernan

COPYRIGHT: 2003
PAGES: 296
SETTING: Historical - American West
TYPE: Series Romance
SERIES: None
SENSUALITY: Warm

REASON FOR READING: I really enjoyed High Plains Bride so when I heard good things about WW, I had to buy it. But it's been languishing in my TBR since February 2004. WW is Kernan's debut book.

SUMMARY:

Her prayer was simple: "Dear God, let me die!"

But Cordelia Channing — preacher's wife, preacher's widow — lived and was born anew as Winter Woman, a woman of power who'd survived the deadliest season in the mountains alone.

She knew she could never do it again. Though perhaps there was no need, for Providence had sent her Thomas Nash, an enigmatic Mountain Man who stirred the deep places of her questing soul.

Nash had come west to lose himself, to rail at the fates that seemed ready to destroy his life at every turn. But somehow those same fates now saw fit to put Delia in his care…. And though he was fighting it at every turn, Delia was transforming his life in ways he'd thought forever lost…!

THOUGHTS / OPINION:
Yay! I remembered to post a review for Keishon's TBR Challenge. Last year I think I only got 3 done. Here's hoping I do better this year. Anyway...

I'm a big fan of Harlequin Historicals and this is another good one. Cordelia Channing is probably one of the strongest heroines I've ever come across. She and her preacher husband were heading west to minister to the "savages" when they became separated from their wagon train somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Her husband was killed after leaving her alone to hunt for food. And somehow she survives the winter alone in the mountains. When a group of Flathead Indians find her half-starved in the spring they take her to the only white man they know, Thomas Nash, a trapper and give her to him. Nash has no choice but to take her but he's not happy about it. Cordelia wants to return back east but Nash can't take her until fall after he has finished collecting beaver pelts which he sells to earn his living.

What follows next is quite a rip-roaring adventure. Delia and Nash don't like each other much at first but they come to depend on each other for survival. Delia becomes indispensable to Nash even learning how to set the traps and skins the animals. Wow, what a woman! After Nash is attacked by a grizzly bear, Delia nurses him back to health as well as doing the cooking, hunting, and trapping. The descriptions of scenery with rapids, waterfalls, and dangerous Blackfoot Indians were fascinating and beautifully written. I also loved the details of their survival in the wilderness although sometimes it was a bit gruesome but that just made it more realistic.

These two are both lost souls. Nash is still hurting from a tragedy five years ago but his heart evenutally thaws toward Delia and they form a strong emotional attachment. He doesn't want her to leave his side ever. Delia finally realizes she is in love with him but she does not want to live in the mountains. And who can blame her after what she has been through. After they make love Delia feels very guilty and feels she has sinned and turns away from Nash and of course he is very hurt, feeling that she is rejecting him because he's not good enough for her. I dislike misunderstandings like this. But they work things out eventually and the ending was wonderful.

If you like a well-paced adventure about the early American west (set in 1835), be sure to find a copy of Winter Woman. Two very strong characters and a story that will keep you turning the pages.

GRADE: B

Sick kitty

My kitty, Bailey, is sick. :(

She has been acting very strangely the last three days. Not eating or drinking. Throwing up small amounts of liquid. Hiding behind the couch. She always sleeps on our bed but the last three nights she has been missing - doesn't seem to want to climb up the stairs.

I took her to the vet today and she says she thinks it could be her kidneys failing! So she took some blood tests and tried to get a urine sample but her bladder was empty (bad news) and gave her an injection of fluids and some anti-nausea medicine. And gave me some pills to give her for the nausea. I get the test results tomorrow. She is 11 years old and considered an older cat and the vet says this sometimes happens. I figure if it's kidney failure that there is not much they can do, but I hope it's something else that they can maybe fix or give her a pill for. But I'm preparing myself for the worst.

UPDATE: Bailey is going to be fine. The blood test results were good. Kidneys are fine. She went 5 days without eating. I finally coaxed her to eat a half of a Greenie snack on Thursday and Friday. But then on Saturday she ate a tiny bit of tuna. And everyday she eats more and more. Today it's been about 10 days and she is almost eating normally. The vet thinks it was some kind of virus or bacteria. Kinda like a kitty version of the flu. She's sleeping (and purring) on our bed again at night. Only problem now is to wean her off the tuna and back onto her regular cat food. She doesn't want to touch to cat food. Spoiled kitty.

Road Trip

Yes, we're heading south tomorrow. Straight shot through Washington, Oregon and California. I think we'll go through Palm Springs on our way to Arizona to visit my dad in Yuma. Then tour Arizona a little, head out through Sedona and points north. Just Bob and me. He has a week of vacation he needs to use up and since I am unemployed right now, this seems like the perfect time. We are both sick of the cold, and snow. Another 2 inches today (Christmas Day).

I'm all packed and ready to go. Of course, lots of books are packed too since I love to read in the car. I can hardly wait to get some sun and stock up on my Vitamin D. Funny thing is during my annual checkup this year they checked my Vitamin D level (along with cholesterol and a bunch of other stuff). My vitamin D is WAY low. Around 20 when it's supposed to be 30 - 150. So this is a sign I must need a vacation in the sun, don't you think?

Here's the books I'm bringing along:

• Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh
• Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins
• Flat-out Sexy by Erin McCarthy
• Midnight Run by Lisa Marie Rice
• A Bucket of Ashes by P. B. Ryan (an historical mystery - last in the Nell Sweeney series)
• Seize the Fire by Laura Kinsale (this one has been in my TBR forever)
  

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had a wonderful time at my sister's. But it was a close call. Almost had to cancel. She lost power around 10 am due to all the heavy snow that was falling but fortunately it came back on. Backup plan was to have it at MY house. Yikes. We also got a couple more inches of snow today and our lights were flickering. But it turned to rain thank goodness and the roads were slick as snot with rain on top of ice/packed snow. I hope it's all melted by the time we get back.

Snow!

For those of you who don't know, I live in the Seattle area. Now we typically have very little snow. Some years, none at all. And I can't remember having a white Christmas in all the years I have lived here. Until this year....

Last Thursday we had about 10" of snow at my house. And instead of melting right away, like usual, the temperatures dropped and it has been cold ever since. We had another big snow storm on Saturday night and Sunday with winds 40 - 50 mph and about 6 more inches. Monday got up to about 33 degrees so some of the roads melted, but mostly the roads are covered with packed snow and ice. It's just a real mess driving since we have very few snow plows in this area. But I love my Chevy Trailblazer with 4-wheel drive. I can get around anywhere and driving is no problem.

The snow is supposed to stick around through Christmas Day so we get a white Christmas this year. They canceled church last Sunday (first time ever in the 25 years I have been going there) and may cancel Christmas Eve service. The church parking lot sits in a kind of "bowl" so getting in and out is a nightmare with about a foot of snow uncleared.

Here are some picture of my house with some looking out the back door at the deck:
















Notice the water faucet with the hose attached (next to the watering can at the bottom of the picture). Bob forgot to put the faucet covers on this fall. Good thing that faucet is next to the dryer vent so it stays warm. Another good thing - he's married to me and I noticed and harassed his ass about it. Sheesh!









Here's the pergola Bob built on the back patio:








It's pretty but I know I'm going to get sick of it soon.


Merry Christmas, everyone!

UPDATE: If you click on the top picture of my house and notice a strange object slumped near the left side of the garage (kinda looks like an old blanket suspended on a rope), well, that's the "Grinch". It's one of those blowup characters that are so popular now. The neighbor gave it to Bob last year. Very appropriate. I had to guilt him into putting up a couple strands of lights.

Best of 2008 List

So far. I still have a few more 2008 books to read that are sitting on my nightstand. (I "stole" this idea from DearAuthor).

• The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne, Grade A
  
• Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh, Grade A-
• Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas, Grade A-
• Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas, Grade A-
• Moonstruck by Susan Grant, Grade A-
• Delicious by Sherry Thomas, Grade A-
• Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare, Grade B+
• The Last Twilight by Marjorie M. Lui, Grade B+
• Sex, Straight Up by Kathleen O'Reilly, Grade B+
• Tempted by Megan Hart, Grade B+
• Tall Tales and Wedding Veils by Jane Graves, Grade B+
  
• Fire and Ice by Anne Stuart, Grade B+
  
• Exposing Casey by Deanna Lee, Grade B+
• Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin
• Cutting Loose by Tara Janzen, Grade B+
• Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase, Grade B+
• Demon Night by Meljean Brook, Grade B+

Whew. That's quite a lot of books. I still have a few 2008 books to read before AAR's annual poll that may end up on this list. Most notibly:

• Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh (love every book I have read by this author)
• Broken Wing by Judith James (Kristie loved this book so this one has possibilities since she and I think alike so many times)

Reading Now: Guess what!? Broken Wing! I just cracked the first two pages. I better get back to reading :)

Recent good reads

I was looking through my book spreadsheet and discovered I have read an amazing number of books so far this year ... 135 (with 30 published in 2008). But I have only reviewed 20 books (8 published in 2008) this year. Pretty pathetic. Another interesting fact ... I have read 81 books from my TBR this year, some of which have been living in my closet for years. A couple of years ago my TBR had over 250 books. Now it's down to 107.

No chance of getting full length reviews done for all of my reads this year but here are some quickies of three 2008 books that are worth checking out:



TITLE/AUTHOR: Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase
SENSUALITY: HOT!

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS: Chase has demonstrated her genius yet again. Set in 1820's Venice, YSW is a wonderful book full of charm and wit. Francesa Bonnard is an unapologetic courtesan. In fact, she calls herself a "great whore". After she is publicly humiliated and divorced by her husband, she flees to the Continent and becomes a notorious and much sought after woman. James Cordier is a spy for the English government and is anxious to retire and return to England. But his last assignment is to steal a packet of letters from Francesca that are potentially damaging to her ex-husband's political career. Francesca and James are wonderfully intelligent characters, the dialog is witty and the setting was so unusual and realistically portrayed. The humor is wonderfully written as well. This is a very funny book. Here is the first paragraph:

"Penises. Everywhere."

Ha! That caught my interest immediately and the story never let me go. And the sex scenes are nice and steamy. But there is a lot of depth to this story too.

GRADE: A


TITLE/AUTHOR: Death Angel by Linda Howard
SENSUALITY: HOT!

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS: I'm having a hard time figuring out how to describe this book. It has an odd paranormal element to it that kinda freaked me out but overall I think I liked this book.

Drea Rousseau is a mistress to Rafael Salinas, a very dangerous crime lord and malicious killer who hires assassins to do his dirty work. After one such hit job, the assassin asks for a few hours with Salina's mistress as part of his payment so Salinas just gives Drea to him, and they spend some hours in some scorchingly hot sex. Whew! The assassin is a cold blooded killer and the "hero" of the book and we eventually find out his name is Simon Goodnight. Hmmm, so both the "hero" and "heroine" are both thoroughly unlikeable characters. Drea has been playing stupid in front Salinas for a long time but now she is desperate to get out of her situation. She outsmarts him and pulls some sneaky moves and gets away with a mountain of money. But Salinas sends "The Assassin" after her.

I don't want to spoil the story for you so I'll just say that Drea ends up turning her life around and totally redeems herself. Simon eventually realizes he loves her and protects her from Salinas. I really came to like Drea. Now Simon is a total mystery and we never find out who he really is and what makes him tick. The ending was rather abrupt but I liked it anyway. I don't think this book will appeal to everyone but Linda Howard is a must read for me. And the sex scenes alone are worth the price of the book (paperback only - due out in April 2009 - otherwise get it from the library). But then I'm slutty that way.

GRADE: B-


TITLE/AUTHOR: Tribute by Nora Roberts
SENSUALITY: Warm

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS: Roberts is a very consistent author and her skill is evident in this book and I really enjoyed it quite a bit. A lot of her recent books have had paranormal elements with ghosts and whatever but this one had none of that and I was so glad. I think she should stick to straight contemporary because ghosts just don't do it for me.

Cilla McGowan is a former child star with a lot of baggage. She returns to her famous grandmother's old neglected house in Virginia and decides to renovate it. Cilla is a pro at remodeling houses and I was fascinated by all the details of turning a run down disaster into a beautiful home. Roberts definitely did her homework in that area but if house renovation is not your thing, you should probably skip this book because while the story was good, it wasn't all that gripping. Ford Sawyer lives across the street and writes graphic novels. The story hinges around a mystery involving the death of Cilla's grandmother many years ago and was pretty tame but was so well written I enjoyed it anyway. Cilla is a very strong, smart woman and very likeable. Ford is what I would call a beta hero but yummy in his own way. A pretty good read all around.

GRADE: B



Sorry for the shortness of these "reviews". I have a few more 2008 book to review so those should be coming up shortly.

Reading now: Under the Wire by Cindy Gerard. This is a romantic suspense with a younger man plot line (one of my favorite). Very good so far.

New favorite song

Yeah, I know I promised a post about books (and I working on it - seriously) but this song keeps running through my head thanks to my aerobics class. I may have mentioned this before but anyway I'm a crazy Jazzercise fanatic. I love it. I go three or four days a week. I love the dance the best but it's a terrific all around aerobic exercise program that incorporates stretching and strength training with the dance. When I was a little girl I was a little ballerina (a chubby ballerina). Then in high school (a bit more slimmed down) I really loved gymnastics and modern dance in PE class. Anyway, Jazzercise got me back into dancing since I could never get Bob to dance EVER after we got married. And I get great exercise.

The Jazzercise routine set to That's Not My Name by The Ting Tings is my current favorite and I can't get the tune out of my head.



Here I am at Jazzercise class. Can you spot me?



I'm in the back row near the middle. Chin length blond hair wearing a white shirt.

I still alive

Yes, I haven't dropped off the planet. Just a serious case of writer's block. I would log into a new post and then stare at that blank page until I cried. Another problem... I had a serious obsession with the recent elections, both state and federal. I have many favorite political blogs I would check daily plus the online news sites. And though I'm not a big TV watcher, I tuned into CNN and MSNBC daily. Wow, I got sick of those political ads. So glad the election is over. As a result I did very little checking on my favorite reader blogs (bad Renee).

But October was a beautiful month weatherwise in the Seattle area. I was out in the yard almost daily pulling weeds, raking leaves, trimming perennials, and planting 200 bulbs. I can hardly wait till spring to see all those tulips and daffodils.

I also made some time to do some volunteer work at my church so I'm not a complete slouch. And I just finished painting Angie's old room. Next project... replace the electrical outlets and switches. I bought fabric to recover my dining room chairs and just decided I hated the fabric I picked out. *sigh* Back to the fabric store.

Remember how I had my living room, dining room and entry way redecorated last June (before Angie's wedding)? Well, the designer posted before and after pictures on her website. Here is the link in case you want to take a look. Unfortunately, there was no picture of the dining room which I liked the best.

I'm still unemployed but my elbow is starting to feel better so I'm not in a big hurry to find work. Bob hasn't pushed me out the door yet but I think the time is coming.

Next time I promise to post about some books.

Recent Book Order

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments about my "laid off" news. And for reminding me that other people have it worse than me. I'm pretty lucky. Bob and I paid off our mortgage in 2003 which is probably the smartest thing we ever did. Bob is part owner of a business but he has no retirement so my salary was basically our retirement money. Our biggest worry is the value of our retirement money due to the stock market crash. *sigh* My stomach can't handle any more worry so I choose not to think about it now.

I have been updating my resume, filing for unemployment (I get $541/week... not bad, really), and working on recovering my dining room chairs, and cleaning out some closets.

Plus I bought some new track lighting for the living room. It's just too dark in there and I thought it would brighten it up. Bob put it up yesterday with some help from me. Whew! Man, I can't tell you how many times I heard the f-bomb and other assorted cuss words. The living room has a 12-foot ceiling and he had to crawl up in the attic with all the insulation and pull wiring through the wall while I pushed the wire from down below. I came close to being knocked out when a metal rod fell from the ceiling! Bob came downstairs yelling "Are you OK, I could have killed you!" Nice, honey. Missed me by a whole 2 feet.

Anyway, I have been doing lots of reading too. And I spent my gift certificate money that I won from Cindy. Here's what I bought:


Warrior: The Time Hunters by Angela Knight






Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh






Delicious by Sherry Thomas

Yum! I already finished this one and loved it. Setting is a Victorian Historical with heroine who is a chef and hero who is a MP. Made me hungry and put me in the mood to do some cooking. I may have to write a review of this one.


Reading now: The Marriage Bed by Stephanie Mittman.
This is an oldie (1996) that I just found at a UBS. Can't remember how it got on my list. Somebody raved about it on their blog (maybe Kristie or Cindy? - can't remember). I've only read a couple pages and I can tell it will probably be a tear jerker - which I love. We'll see.

Suckitude

Let me quote the Urban Dictionary: "Something that sucks to a higher level of sucking. This is called suckitude."

Okay, so "why has she been MIA?", you ask. I got laid off on Monday. As you can imagine I have been feeling a tad depressed. I have been complaining about this job and have been meaning to update my resume for a while now, so looking at the bright side, this is a good thing. I'm getting 6 weeks severance pay plus they are paying my insurance through the end of October.

It's just the way they did it that pisses me off. My boss's boss calls me in at about 10:15 am with the HR rep and basically says you are no longer employed as of this very minute. Pack your stuff and leave. Or I could leave right now and come back later to pack. Well, of course, I gave them a piece of my mind. I have the most seniority of all the test engineers, but he sheepishly confessed that lots of other testers were being laid off too. Basically, my job has been outsourced to China. Wonderful, huh? Anyway, I was out the door (in shock) by 10:30 am and will go back to pack my stuff on Friday. Wasn't able to say goodbye to any of my friends.

Turns out they laid off 20% of the employees that day. The company has been making a series of bad management decisions (IMHO) and had a drop in sales last month. Best of luck to them (NOT).

My elbow problem has been much better lately. I have been going to physical therapy twice a week and I think it has helped. My insurance covers the whole thing but now that my insurance will be cut in half (Bob's plan still covers me), I may have to give that up. But then I'm not typing so much now anyway. I took a picture of the brace I have been wearing.




Oh, well, life sucks sometimes. There's some saying about lemons and lemonade I'm too stupid to quote right now. But you know what I mean. I have been making lists of projects I want to work on like painting the spare room, and reupholstering my dining room chairs. After updating my resume and job hunting (yuck). But I have more time for reading and blogging. Say a prayer for me to find job quickly. :)

I'm a winner!

Yes, I won a contest at Cindy's. Woohoo!! $25 gift certificate for online bookstore of my choice. I loved the video she made of the drawing. Cody is so cute. Thanks, Cindy!

I'm on quite a roll lately. I just found out the other day I won a book at LibraryThing. I signed up for their Early Reviews program where you get can get free ARCs. Problem is there are very few romances. I requested this book and won:

I have no freaking clue what kind of book this is or who this author is. Has anyone read her? I should do some research. Some of the tags are "urban fantasy", "vampire", "paranormal". I should check out her website. I hope it has some romance. Oh, well, it's free.










Oh, yeah, and I won this book from Katiebabs in one of their Guess That Book contests: Demon Kiss by Eve Silver. A signed copy! Thanks Katiebabs and Kristie for having these contests.






I also won another book at LT's Early Reviewers a couple months ago:


I have no clue who this author is either. It kind of looks like chicklit. I have it sitting on my nightstand. Part of the expectation of winning the books is that you will write a review and post it on LT or your blog or wherever. I will probably crack it open after I finish my current book.







I can't believe how lucky I've been lately. I enter lots of contests and rarely win anything.

Elbow update: Went to the doctor today and she gave me a referral to an occupational therapist who specializes in hand/arm problems. I think that will be just the thing. It is settling down and feels a bit better but still aches when I type too much. It's now telling me to get to bed.

Reading now: My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne
Good so far. Not quite as gripping as The Spymaster's Lady but I love the heroine. Smart and tough and a real fighter. Hero is a sea captain and very yummy.

Elbow problems

Well, I'm still having pain in my right elbow so, consequently, I'm not typing much. I finally made a doctor's appointment for this Friday. I'm not sure I'll be able to post much this week (not that I've been doing much anyway). I have been wearing a brace and it helped a lot at first but not so much anymore. To top it off I banged my elbow on the door and that didn't do me any good (damn it - I'm a klutzy idiot!)

I'm working on this spreadsheet at work and it's going slow. I'm not setting any speed typing records. And I'm trying to use my left hand for my mouse which takes some of the strain off using my right hand. My left hand has not quite got the knack of left click and right click. My mom was ambidextrous but I am definitely NOT. God, I hate this!

Anyway, I'm still around reading a bunch. And trying to keep up with bloggers.