Petey Cat, odd thoughts and a good book...

Petey Cat likes the new sink.

Twenty pounds of not too smart cat, but he's the sweetest, most lovable, big baby.

Four questions:

1. Can anyone explain how the screw on the handle of a pot loosens while it's sitting on the drain board? I have two pots this happens to, it just seems rather odd.
2. Do I really need 20 tablecloths for my dining room table?
3. Why can't my husband put anything into the sink or the garbage pail? Everything seems to make it within a couple of feet of the destination, but somehow things end up either on the counter or table.
4. Why does my husband complain about junk being on the kitchen table, when he puts it there? We've got an old farmhouse table that we use like counter space (the house is old and we've not renovated the kitchen yet and to be honest, I like the look of the table, but I digress--LOL). Every morning the table starts out nice and clean, then he gets home from work and what ends up on the table...his lunch box, the mail, his dirty travel coffee cup, his damned pepper plants (which can't stay out at night yet--too cold)...do you see a trend here?

Two reasons why I probably shouldn't complain:

1. Our home office usually is in need of organizing. It's really an oversized closet, shelves of books, shelves of linen, an extra dresser and the dirty clothes hampers (one for whites and one for darks). But, I can close the door and not look at it--I can't do that with the kitchen table.
2. I've been to My Husbands Crap. And, I can honestly say it's not that bad--LOL.

I finished Kiss Me While I Sleep while the President was on last night. I didn't expect to like this book, which would be a first because I love Linda Howard, normally I wouldn't be willing to wait for a LH to come out in paperback, but I wasn't too sure about this one. I was pleasantly surprised. I've read other romantic suspense's with heroines that are assassins or hit "men" and I've not liked them. LH was able to make Lily sympathetic enough and Lucas, while being an alpha, he wasn't over the top.

Off to the garage today for an oil change and an inspection, so I've got to go...

Have a great day, happy reading.

Nothing to say today

If you ask my husband, he'll tell you I rarely have nothing to say. Nothing new, nothing exciting, and I'm not getting on a soap box today. I did figure out how to put pictures side by side, which really isn't all that impressive.

I picked up two books this morning. I'm about a third of the way through "KISS ME WHILE I SLEEP" (for some reason, unknown to me, bold and italic doesn't seem to be working correctly today).

Have a great day and happy reading.

Let Down Ahead

My son must have had a bad dream about Goldfish, not the actual fish, but rather those cheesy, cracker snacks shaped like goldfish. He showed up in our room at 4 am mad that I had thrown them out. After tucking him into our bed, I headed to his with my copy of Connie Brockway's My Surrender, determined to finish it before I had to get up for our morning rituals.

Well, I finished it and it was worth getting up before the crack of dawn. For me it was by far the best of the "Rose Hunter Trilogy". I'm a lousy at writing reviews, so I'll leave that to the people who are good at it. This is the last Brockway historical for a while, which disappoints me as she is one of my favorite writers and my list of favorite historical writers is seriously dwindling.

I feel a let down coming. I've now glommed the last of the books on my TBR pile that hold any interest for me, in fact I'm seriously thinking about retiring what's left on the pile and starting fresh. My mom gave me a Daniel Silva book, it seems like the only book I've left worth reading and I'm not in the mood for a suspense. I'm in serious trouble here.

Over the years, I've read equal quantities of contemporaries and historicals, I honestly prefer historicals, when I look at my keeper shelves for every contemporary I probably have 10 historicals.

Though I read all different eras, medieval and Regency periods have been my "favorites" for several years.

I love medievals, but what happened to them, when I went searching for reviews of new ones over at AAR there are only 3 medievals reviewed in the last month. I realize that the "industry" is rather cyclical, but how long are we going to wait for medievals to be back in "style". With so many authors going over to contemporaries or writing "Regencies" will they every be back and popular. I'm sure fans of westerns feel the same way.

My love of the Regency period has seriously waned. Over the last couple of years there has been such a glut of them that unless the book is outstanding it becomes rather run of the mill. So many characters and story lines are interchangeable that the books have become boring. Don't get me wrong there are and will always be authors that can keep this period fresh (Eloisa James is the first that comes to my mind). But, I bet we can all name a few authors we wish would try something new.

I just realized, I'm back on a soap box and who needs that.

Check out Maili's column over at Romancing The Blog, she's commenting on the over abundance of "good" reviews and why this hurts the reader, writer and industry in general.

Now, I really am done.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Reading Binge Over

Well, my reading binge is over, not by choice, but rather necessity. I'm half way through the new Connie Brockway--excellent so far.

School day, means errand day.

8:45 pick up Michael

9:00 drop boys off at nursery school

9:05-11:15 :

1. Stop at the bank
2. Stop at Post Office
3. Get gas
4. Drop clothing at church thrift shop
5. Drop toys at animal shelter thrift shop
6. shopping--card store

11:30 pick up boys at school

So, does everyone think I can do it? Why go to 2 thrift shops. My dad shops for toys at the church thrift shop, when my son is done playing with them, or I am completely over run by toys I drop them off at the animal shelter thrift shop, so my dad isn't buying the same toys over and over.

If time is tight, I'll go to the card store on Thursday. May is a busy month for our families. I had to make a list to keep track of all the cards and gifts we need.

• 1 Communion Card--1 gift
• 5 Birthday Cards--4 gifts
• 5 Anniversary Cards--2 gifts
• 7 Mothers Day Cards--4 gifts

And, for some reason in the middle of all this chaos, my husband decided we're going on a mini vacation right smack in the middle of the month. We're taking our little guy to Strasburg, PA--Train USA. Our son is a train fanatic, absolutely loves the "Thomas the Tank Engine" series and anything remotely related to trains.

Got to go or we will be late for school.

Have a great day, happy reading.

Why is it...And other thoughts

Why is it that a 3 year old fidgets and can't stop talking, and I mean talking loud not a whisper or even a stage whisper, while in church, but take him to an all you can eat Chinese food restaurant and he's an angel? Okay, maybe not an angel, but at least better. And, once again, the "bathroom browser" hit in both places yesterday, at least in church he really had to go a little, at the restaurant we stood there for 3 minutes just looking at each other.

On the way to the restaurant, I made my husband stop at the mall so I could go into Waldenbooks. Somewhere I saw something that interested me--of course, I couldn't remember the title, but I did remember the release date of April 26th. Pathetic, I know, but I figured I'd remember it if I saw it. Didn't happen, which either means nothing jogged my memory or the release date really is the 26th. But, all was not lost. I picked up 2 books Till Next We Meet by Karen Ranney and My Surrender by Connie Brockway.

I must be on another reading binge, I finished Christina Dodd's Close to You yesterday afternoon (it was very good) and started and finished Till Next We Meet last night. And, even started My Surrender before I fell asleep.

Till Next We Meet is a fabulous "Cyrano De Bergerac" type tale. The review over at http://www.likesbooks.com/cgi-bin/bookReview.pl?BookReviewId=1159 is great. If that link doesn't work it's under new reviews at AAR. I love Karen Ranney's books, her characters are often off-beat and untypical of romance novels.

One more thing, make sure you take some time to pop over to McVane and read Maili's "Reader Interview" with Jorie., it's great. (I'm still tremendously computer challenged--how the heck do I put the accent thingy over the a in Maili?). Jorie mentions one of her peeves is "too feisty to live" heroines. I so agree with her. For me TSTL heroines come in two categories those that are absolutely without a clue and continue to be clueless through the entire book (I'm fine with a heroine who starts out clueless and grows to actually have a clue--LOL).

But, the heroines that truly annoy me and are really TSTL are the "TOO FEISTY TO LIVE" ones. They do stupid things to prove independence and usually need some kind of rescuing, and they remain "feisty and stupid" through the entire book. They are also the morons in Slasher films that go out into the woods by themselves only to be killed by Jason or Freddie. Talk about really being clueless. If the word "feisty" appears in the blurb on the back cover, it goes back on the bookstore shelf. I know, I know--Bitch, Bitch, Bitch. That was today's complaint.

Sorry, this one was kind of long.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Today's thoughts--a mish, mash mess...

THE MOTHER'S CURSE:
I don't deserve it, the mother's curse. My mother didn't curse me, my MIL cursed my husband, "I hope you get one just like you..." It's not fair I wasn't expecting this--LOL. It's really not that bad, our 3 year old has his fathers temperament and my sarcasm, at times it's a deadly combination.

HE ATE LIKE A HORSE:
My little guy had an upset stomach Friday night, went to bed very late and yesterday he was still a little off, not real hungry. Well, today he woke with a huge appetite. Before we went to church he had an apple. After Mass he had the whites of a fried egg, 3 slices of bacon, 2 turkey breakfast sausages and a waffle. I swear his right leg must be hollow, where the heck did he put it. It's 9:40 in the morning and now he's asking for Goldfish.

CHECK OUT THIS BLOG:
Squawk Radio, it's a riot. Several authors (I read all of them, which is great) including, Connie Brockway, Christina Dodd and Eloisa James. These ladies are a riot. They're still getting things situated, but it's worth a read.

CLOSE TO YOU:
I'm reading Christina Dodd's Close to You. I'm enjoying it much more than the last one in the series, I'm about half way through it and it's great.

BOOK HOPPING:
I discovered a couple of other bloggers did the book hopping thing. Check out Blog Happy and Romance Novel Central.

VIRGIN vs EXPERIENCED HEROINES:
If you're at all familiar with the romance reading blogging world, there are huge "discussions" going on regarding the sexual experience of heroines. I'm not grasping this--shouldn't the heroines experience fit the story line, and not some "romance writing rule"? Let the authors write what they want.

Have a great day, happy reading.

Book Hopping a la Maili

I was over visiting and Maili had posted a fun game "Book Hopping."

Directions:
1. Take first five novels from your bookshelf.
2. Book 1 -- first sentence.
3. Book 2 -- last sentence on page 50.
4. Book 3 -- second sentence on page 100.
5. Book 4 -- next to the last sentence on page 150.
6. Book 5 -- final sentence of the book.
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph.
8. Feel free to "cheat" to make it a better paragraph.
9. Name your sources.
10. Post to your blog.

So, here goes:

He needed a woman. I think, what soft lips you have. And now he was beginning to have second thoughts about Chloe Underwood. She tugged him closer by a belt loop, fastening her mouth to one hard nipple and suckling. When he had kissed her into breathlessness, he scooped her into his arms and carried her upstairs, where true to the gentleman he was, he did not disappoint his lady.

1. Mackenzies Mountain--Linda Howard
2. The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing--Melissa Bank
3. Black Ice--Anne Stuart
4. Flirting with Danger--Suzanne Enoch
5. Scandal--Heather Cullman

The funny thing is I didn't really cheat. I left out the word Grandmother in the 2nd sentence, because in the context it creeped me out--lol, and in the 4th sentence I changed Samantha to "she". Not bad--LOL. All these books were sitting on my desk, right next to the computer.

Being a realist sucks...

Sometimes being a realist really sucks. A few months ago my mother decided we should all buy an old hotel in the Catskills and live together, each family getting their own floor and share the kitchen and dining room. This is a fantasy my mother, sister and aunt embraced with open arms, "what a great idea." And I looked at them like they were from a different planet. They were all shocked when I started to point out the flaws in their plan. They've shelved that idea for now, but I'm sure one of them will come up with something else soon.

I've come to the conclusion that just maybe the romance reading, writing and publishing world all live on a different planet too. I've been blogging for about a month now, daily I pop from board to board to see what others are reading and thinking. And, some of the things I see leave me scratching my head.

Alpha, beta and omega heros, heroines that can or can't be related to, story lines that are or aren't "realistic", plot devices that are "predictable." Yada, yada, yada...

For crying out loud, we're reading about everything from spys to vampires, governess' becoming duchess', and people traveling through time to find "true love". The whole damn thing is fantasy.

Do any of us really relate to the spy, vampire, duchess, or time traveler?

Does any of this really matter if the quality of the writing stinks? Isn't it the writing that pulls us into or out of a book?

The writer needs to convince me that spys live next door, vampires are real, a governess can become a duchess and people really can travel through time to find true love.

We hyper analyze everything to death (myself included), but none of this matters. What matters is whether or not the author is good enough to make me believe in her vision or fantasy. And, when that happens--WOW, it's a "keeper".

I'm off my soap box.

Have a great day, happy reading.

Doing "it" Again and Reviews

"It" being nit picking. Yesterday I read Christina Dodd's contemporary Almost Like Being in Love. I absolutely picked this book apart as I was reading. It did nothing for me, in fact at times I found myself wondering if it could really be this bad or was it me. The dialogue was horrendous.

So, after I finished it I went in search of reviews--RT 4*, oh well, I rarely agree with RT. AAR a B, oh boy, I must have missed something. Mrs. Giggles a 57, now, that's where I would have put it, a solid D. In fact Mrs. Giggles used the word "archaic" for the writing style and that really fit how I felt about this book.

Reviews are so individual. Once again, there was a question about reviews over on the RT's Readers Roundtable board. Maybe we are finally getting that reviews are just one person's opinion. Sometimes you can find a reviewer with similar tastes to your own, but no one's taste is exactly the same.

The question on the RT board was whether or not RT is overly generous with their reviews of popular authors, and an author gave her opinion not as a reader, but as a writer. I'm curious about what readers feel when authors offer opinions on "readers" boards. Do you think if an author is posting not as a reader (because obviously all writers are also readers) but by giving her/his opinion as a writer are they inhibiting readers who don't agree with the author or don't even like the authors writing?

And, why is it that if you voice an opinion different from an author that said author's fans all seem to think it's okay to go into attack mode?

Was that to convoluted??--LOL

One more thing...

Mary Stella has an interesting blog today or maybe it was yesterday about the men in romance novels and soap operas ability to actual listen and not be completely self-absorbed. Does anyone know a man that's actually like this? I've never met a man that isn't this way on some level. I posted over there that my MIL swears that no matter how you raise them boys become men, no matter how hard we try to fix this self-absorption thing. What does everyone else think??

Now, I'm done (this one was kind of long sorry).

Have a great day. Happy reading.

"I don't like spiders or snakes..."

The other day my son asked for a pet. I expected to hear he wants a dog or another cat (we've already got Petey Cat), maybe even a rabbit, guinea pig or hamster (one of his aunts is a teacher and she ends up with the classroom pets at the end of the year).

No, my son wants a SPIDER. He saw a big, hairy Tarantula on TV and that's what he wants (yuck, double yuck and triple yuck). He thinks they're "cute", that was his word. This from the kid who told me his cousin's hand-me down pajamas were "creepy". How pajamas can be creepy I'm not really sure. It shouldn't have surprised me he would ask for a spider, he picks up ants and bugs with his bare hands, eek. If I didn't carry him for 9 months I'd swear he wasn't really mine.

Well, I told my husband if he give in and gets a damned spider I will not be taking care of it at all and I absolutely draw the line at snakes, I will not have any snakes in the house. Though I knew this wouldn't really be a problem, my husband hates snakes.

Snakes kind of segues into the book I read yesterday. While running errands yesterday morning (jr. was in school), I picked up Anne Stuart's Black Ice. Has anyone ever noticed she somehow can write the sleaziest, snake like heros and you still enjoy her books?

Have a great day, and happy reading.

A Quickie

I don't have much time this morning (school day), so this is going to be quick. At the end of her newest blog Amanda says something I totally agree with ( Bookwormom ). When I'm reading other genre's I often feel like "Boy,a little romance would have made it even better." I guess that's proof I'm really hooked on romance-LOL. Pathetic, I know.

Yesterday I finished Melissa Banks The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing (chick lit), from the reviews I read I was expecting something fantastic. It was good, but it wasn't outrageously good. Oh, well, I'm moving on to 3 romantic suspense, 2 Christina Dodd's (Almost Like Being in Love and Close to You.) After that is Kathleen Nance's Jigsaw.

Also, check out Rosario's column over at RTB. I can totally relate to what she is talking about. I have several books that are keepers that have other scratching their heads, because they are so politically incorrect, but there is something by the end that makes me believe in the couples HAE, that make the books work for me.

Have a great day and happy reading.

It's Monday--Thank God

Before I start to whine about my husband, all avid romance readers should take a moment and read Maili's rant over at mcvane, gosh I hope I got that right, I'm still new to links.

Now, back to whining--LOL.

I am so relieved it's Monday, my husband went back to work, thank the good Lord. Having him home while I'm sick is worse than having 6 kids. Saturday night he announced he needs clean clothes for work on Monday (I've been sick for 2 weeks and have done a minimal of laundry, shame on me I guess). The man has never in his life done a load of laundry. So, I decide I can't get all the laundry done at home, I have to go to the local Laundromat (it's very clean or I probably would have been doing laundry for 12 hours yesterday). At 6 o'clock Sunday morning I'm doing 12 loads of laundry all at the same time. I get home in time to make breakfast, take a shower and head to Mass. Home again I figure I've got the rest of the day to myself, right--wrong!

My husband has decided to lay the new floor in the bathroom (peel and stick tiles, not real hard). He's having a mini temper tantrum about how is he going to cut out around all the stuff in the bathroom (toilet, pedestal sink, radiator feet, and the claw feet on the tub). I'm so not in the mood for all this, I tell him to get out of the bathroom, entertain the child for the day and in the next 3 hours I manage to lay the entire floor, by myself. And, guess what--it looks great.

So, all my husband had to do was entertain the child. Well, said child had Easter candy for lunch, yes, I said Easter candy. And, spent the afternoon watching Aladdin. The idiot then had the nerve to ask "what's for dinner??" And, when I told him "pizza" and he was going to go pick it up, he had the gall to make a face, and then he complained about the price when he got home.

My MIL called in the evening, after talking to me, she read him the riot act (I love my MIL). He spent the rest of the night making nice. If he knows what's good for him, he'd better show up with flowers when he comes home tonight--LOL.

While I was typing this I've been thinking about the column today over at RTB for some reason it's annoying me--so what if there's a double standard when it comes to overweight heroines, it's our fantasies or realities isn't it?? I went over and posted something and I'm over being annoyed, it wasn't really worth the energy. It must have been because I'm still a little mad at my clueless hubby (maybe too much reality--LOL).

Now, I'm done complaining, happy reading to all.

I'm supposed to be resting...

I was supposed to spend the day "resting". Is this actually possible?

My BIL showed up before 9 am to install the new sink in our bathroom (absolutely thrilled with it--looks great). My husband finished putting down the sub floor and dragged me out to Lowes and Home Depot to pick out flooring. Junior fell asleep on the way, so my DH had to carry him around both stores. While in the car I did get to finish the new Lorraine Heath (for some reason I am completely incapable of remembering the title of this book--lol.)

I wanted to curl up on the couch and finish Melissa Bank's The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, I started this last night because I couldn't find the Heath (I'd left it in the car--found it on the way to Lowes). My son decided to help himself to my raspberry Crystal Lite and poured the entire pitcher all over the kitchen floor, what a sticky mess (my DH was supposed to be keeping an eye on Junior--hopeless I know.) I guess my husband could have cleaned it up, but I figured I'd do a better job--didn't want to stick to the kitchen floor.

It's almost time for Junior to go to bed, he's all ready; we're just waiting for darkness, boy do we need room darkening shades for his room, especially before summer and those wonderful nights when the sun doesn't set until close to 9 pm.

I'm going to try to get some reading in before I fall asleep.

Still Sick

After 3 sleepless nights because of coughing jags, I finally decided to take myself to the doctor, 10:15 appointment today. I have to bring my son with me, this should be interesting--LOL.

Currently reading

Currently reading

I'm half way through this book, it has a Beta hero. I normally prefer Alphas, but the storyline and plot doesn't require an Alpha. I'm finding as I'm reading I know exactly where the story is going, it's very, very predictable.

I'm curious, why when the heroine is a widow, the dead husband has to be an evil cad?

Currently reading

It's connected to her SIMs. An amnesia story, not my favorite plot device, but it wasn't bad. There is a flash back to 1200 BC Peru, that I found more interesting than the rest of the book. I had some questions about "reality", but I've decided it needs to be suspended for most contemporaries and romantic suspense. RT gave it 4 1/2 stars, I think that was generous. I would probably say it's a C+, I guess that would be a 3 in RT's grading system.

"The Incredibles" for the gazillinth time...

My son is watching The Incredibles. I can't tell you how many times in the last month my son has watched this movie. Don't get me wrong, I actually like this one. But, what is it about kids that they can watch the same thing over, and over, and over? Both of us can quote entire sections of the movie. I don't get it. I guess I shouldn't complain--my SIL has been watching The Comfy Couch for the past 2 months (my niece is only 11 months old and this absolutely mesmerizes her when she's fussy).

I just checked on him and he's sound asleep, aren't they angelic when they sleep? Hey, I might be able to get some reading in, I've got to go--LOL.

Cannibalized Gas Grills and my climbing son...

This week our town has "junk" pick-up. We've dutifully placed all our junk to the curb in front of our house. Last year we had pick-up the week of Mother's Day and boy did the town get a ton of complaints.

One of the the pieces of "junk" we put out was our old gas grill. Well, it turns out someone is cannibalizing any and all gas grills that have been put out for pick-up. The only thing they leave is the stand. What the heck are they doing with this stuff??

My sister wants to know how so many people in one small town can have such ugly sofas. It seems like every third house has put out an old sofa, couch, love seat or recliner. All these things have the look of the 80's, which might explain my sister's ugly sofa comment--lol.

While I was vacuuming this morning, I thought my son was watching The Wiggles, but no, he somehow managed to get a stool out of the home office climbed up to the top shelf in the bathroom and got out the Clorox Cleanup. Somehow he has managed to spray my husbands pillows, our bedroom window and an antique mirror, and the closet door in my bedroom. The paint on the mirror and the closet are ruined, this stuff ate right through the paint and left spots in the paint. It's going to be a great day. I'm thankful he didn't get anything in his eyes or mouth.

When a good author goes "blah"...

When a book doesn't work for me, I'm never sure whether it's actually a problem with the book or me. I mean, can't I just not be in the mood for a particular book, it might be great, but I'm not getting it.

How many times have I said to myself "I should be loving this, what's wrong with me??" But, sometimes I don't connect with a story, characters, plot, etc.

Sunday morning I finished Jane Feather's Almost a Bride. Considering I started it Saturday night one might think it was "great", but maybe all it means is I read fast--lol.

It wasn't that it was bad, it was rather, well, "blah". It had interesting elements, but somehow it didn't work, at least for me. The hero trys to be controlling, the heroine has a "political agenda", but you're never really sure what it is she wants to accomplish. And, somehow when it was finished I couldn't tell you what the hero or heroine looked like, but everything they put on their backs was described in painful detail, and yes, sometimes it is painful to get through these passages.

What happened? Jane Feather used to be an auto buy for me and I don't get it. Has my taste changed or has her writing style changed? Oh well, I wont give up reading JF, but I think she's been moved to my "used" list.

A tub that doesn't leak...

You can't imagine how great those words are right now... A tub that doesn't leak. For the first time in years I can say this. We've got an antique claw foot tub and we've had chronic problems with it over the years. I guess I shouldn't complain because I'm the one who wanted to keep it.

Well, my BIL came today and he and my DH put down a new sub-floor and replaced all the plumbing around the tub. The new shower head and faucets are wonderful things--lol.

My sister brought me the new Jane Feather Almost a Bride, so I've put aside what I was reading to start that one. She also gave me a Jude Devereaux that she says requires a suspension of belief to read, but isn't really bad (not a great recommendation, but she said she liked it anyway--lol)

Mommy Days

I have to start this by saying "I'm not complaining," but there are days that being a stay-at-home incompasses everything I do. I love being home full time.

Tuesdays and Thursdays my little guy goes to school in the morning. You would think this would give me a couple of hours "free". Nope, it never seems to work that way. For some reason I manage to stuff those 2 hours full of errands. Sometimes I get back to the school to pick him up and have a small amount of "reading time". Yesterday wasn't one of those days. I ran home cleaned out toy boxes, filled up bags for Goodwill, dropped them off and got back just in time to pick up Junior. After lunch we went to the park (playground) with several other families from his school and didn't get home until dinner time. By the time we cleaned up, not only was Junior ready for bed, so was I.

All of this is to say... I did absolutely no reading yesterday, not by choice, but rather by circumstance. I guess some days are like this.

My husband found a funky website, check this out: Hasidic Reggae. Someone my husband works with saw him on "The Jimmy Kimmel Show." A bunch of them from work really liked his "sound" and they're going to try to see one of his shows.

My little one is taking a nap, so I might just find some reading time. Have a great day.

Confessions of a reviewaholic...

Not only am I a bookaholic, I'm also a reviewaholic. Sometimes I read reviews before I read a book, but more often than not I find myself checking reviews after I finish a book to see if my thoughts actually jive with what others think.

I don't know if I should own up to this, but what the heck. Good reviews are a dime a dozen (I mean how many ways can you praise a book). Bad reviews are much more entertaining.

I love reading bad book reviews (not that the review is bad, the book, that's what's bad.) Reviewers always find interesting and funny ways to describe a really bad book. It's like watching the proverbial "train wreck." But, I guess that's why people rubber neck at the scene of an accident or watch The Osbornes (is that still on TV?), you're just waiting for something to go wrong. Morbid, but sadly we all do it.

Now, I do realize a review is one person's opinion and I feel bad and guilty thinking an author has poured their heart and soul into a book. It must truly hurt to find it trashed by someone else. I wish every book tickled my fancy, but I guess that's not possible.

Recently, I read a review over at AAR where the review said and I quote "Just shoot me and put me out of my misery. Or better yet, shoot them." How many times have I read a wallbanger and those exact words come to mind?

Missing in action, well, kind of...

Well, I haven't been here for a few days.

1. I've got a miserable head cold.

2. Tuesdays and Thursdays I get to play bus driver for 3 year olds.

3. Today I was guilted into cleaning even though I feel horrible.

4. The Yankees were playing this afternoon (they won).

I hate having a cold (like anyone actually likes being sick). My son has been cranky for 3 days, I knew this meant he was getting the cold, but boy has he been a pain in the (well, you know).

I did get Eloisa James' His Wicked Ways read over the weekend and started Deirdre Martin's Total Rush, which I'm really not to sure about at this point, but since I'm only 70 pages into it I'll keep going.

I'm kind of in a whiney mood, maybe tomorrow I'll have something profound to report.

To quote Winnie the Pooh...

And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down...

We're expecting 4 inches of rain today, at least it's not snow.

Catching up with the rest of the reading world...

It usually takes me a while, but I eventually catch up with what's hot.

Yesterday, I discovered Chick Lit. I hate to admit it, but I've never read Bridget Jones' Diary. I know, what planet am I living on. Last night I inhaled Karen Templeton's Hanging by a Thread, and I absolutely enjoyed it. But, with the discovery of Chick Lit, I realized what I'm not enjoying about newer contemporary romances.

It seems to me, some contemporary romance writers are trying too hard to write a cross between chick lit and romance. Last month I read several contemporaries that seemed to be trying to hit a mark somewhere between boy meets girl with a HEA and the hipness Sex in the City and for me every single book missed the mark. Perhaps it's just me, but until I read HBAT I wasn't getting it.

Hanging by a Thread isn't perfect, there are a few times that you realize Ms. Templeton isn't a New Yorker, though she did live there for several years, but the story rings true and moves along quickly and the characters are fully developed and realistic. It was a good book.