Friday, December 30

Barnes and Noble Trip...

Tuesday Junior and I made a mad dash into B&N while we were running errands.

I've been reading like a fiend since then, finishing 3 of the 8 books I bought. Which is pretty good considering I did lunch with the "Mommys" while Junior was at Vacation Bible School--lunch was great and he had a wonderful time. They had a birthday party for Jesus, crafts, games, a movie, pizza and a birthday cake, but I digress. We also had company yesterday (Thursday.) And, today I found myself putting away the Christmas gifts, running more errands and straightening up the house. As much as I love the holidays, I can't wait to rescue my poor house from the decorating chaos.

Getting back to the trip to B&N, here's what I picked up:

  1. Almost a Lady -- Jane Feather
  2. The Courtesan -- Julia Justiss
  3. Kill and Tell -- Linda Howard
  4. After Midnight -- Teresa Medeiros
  5. The Pregnancy Test -- Erin McCarthy
  6. Almost Perfect -- Julie Ortolon
  7. Just Perfect -- Julie Ortolon
  8. Too Perfect -- Julie Ortolon

Almost a Lady, I have no idea why I picked this up. Jane Feather used to be an autobuy for me, but I've been so disappointed by her last few books, I'd decided not to buy them new any more, apparently I couldn't stick with this decision.

The Courtesan, I saw this one on Kristie's Sidebar and thought it sounded interesting when I read the blurb.

Kill and Tell, well, I already have this one, someone recently blogged about it and I felt the need to do a reread, but I couldn't find my copy, so I bought a new one. I've already reread it, and I'm such a Linda Howard fangirl that the "condom" scene didn't bother me. It's not my favorite LH, but I still liked it.

After Midnight, this has been on my TLF list for a while and I've passed on it everytime I went to the bookstore, I finally decided to pick it up. I've really become hit or miss with Teresa Medeiros, so I'm hoping this one is a hit.

The Pregnancy Test, I've finished this one, and it's a fun, quick read. I like Erin McCarthy's writing style, it's sort of a chick lit meets funny contemporary romance.

Almost Perfect, Just Perfect, and Too Perfect, Julie Ortolon is not one of my favorite authors, I usually find her books just okay, not necessarily good or great. Kristie has been singing the praises of Almost Perfect for quite a while, so I thought I'd give this series a try. I'm just about finished with AP, and she's right it's very good. It wouldn't make my top 10, but it would probably make my top 25--which I think isn't bad.

We also picked up a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer book for Junior, I guess he didn't get enough stuff from Santa.

I have 4 gift cards left, so I'm looking forward to the following releases:

  1. The Silver Rose -- Susan Carroll
  2. Lover Eternal -- JR Ward
  3. The Unlikely Governess -- Karen Ranney (I actually think this one's been released since my trip to B&N)
  4. Flesh and Stone -- Vickie Taylor
  5. Devil in Winter -- Lisa Kleypas
  6. Lord Perfect -- Loretta Chase *edit*

We're going to my parents for New Years Eve, I know it sounds exciting--LOL. I'll be lucky if I make midnight, but we're staying over which makes Junior and Grandma real happy. But, before we go to Mom's I'm hoping to get my husband to swing by B&N for another looksee at what's new.

Lordy, this is a long one, sorry about that. Have a good one.

Tara

*edit*--added Lord Perfect after the original post.

Thursday, December 29

This Years Favorites...

Kristie's quick. She already has her top 10 listed. After going through my Just the Books (and nothing but the books so help me God) blog, I came up with my favorites, but I couldn't limit myself to 10 or 15. I hit 20, here they are in the order I read them:
  1. The Devil You Know To Pay -- Liz Carlyle, being a LC fangirl there would have to be a couple of her books on my list--oops, thanks Renee I didn't even realize I had listed it twice, since the list is in order, I had to fix this one.
  2. Dreaming of You -- Lisa Kleypas, not a new book, but new to me. It took me forever to find a copy of this book.
  3. Kiss of the Highlander -- Karen Marie Moning, another book new to me. I can't say I loved any of the others in the series, but this one was fantastic.
  4. The Rainbow Season -- Lisa Gregory, an oldie, but one I had never read. Wonderful western.
  5. Black Ice -- Anne Stuart, what's not to love about a Stuart.
  6. Body Electric -- Susan Squires, not new, but once again new to me, fascinating story concept.
  7. Veil of Night -- Lydia Joyce, one of my new favorite authors.
  8. If Angels Burn -- Lynn Viehl, another new favorite author, a great mix of horror and romance
  9. The Cobra and The Concubine -- Bonnie Vanak, this book got lousy reviews, but I enjoyed it. The setting and time period are wonderful.
  10. Carved in Stone -- Vickie Taylor, another new favorite author, this series has a wonderful premise.
  11. The Marriage Bed -- Laura Lee Guhrke, either you loved it or you hated it. I loved it, an emotional read from cover to cover.
  12. The Devil You Know -- Liz Carlyle, see 1.
  13. Passion -- Lisa Valdez, another new favorite, this books isn't just erotic, it has a great story, and you don't skip the sex scenes in this one.
  14. The Companion -- Susan Squires, my absolute favorite new author, I know she's not new, but she was new to me this year.
  15. Dark Lover -- JR Ward, the best kick off for a new series all year, amazing.
  16. The Dark Queen -- Susan Carroll, amazing setting and time period and wonderful writing.
  17. The Courtesan -- Susan Carroll, see 15.
  18. The Hunger -- Susan Squires, see 13.
  19. The Champion -- Elizabeth Chadwick, one of my all time favorite authors, her books are so hard to find, but totally worth it.
  20. Private Demons -- Lynn Viehl, see 7.

This was my year to discover paranormal. Of the 20 books 10 of them are either out right paranormals or have some paranormal activity.

When I look back, it was a good year for reading, let's hope 2006 is just as good.

So, what's on your favorites list?

Tara

The New Favorite...

This movie has moved to the top of my son's "Favorite" movie list. He has watched it 6 times since Christmas and asks to watch it several more times a day. I have to admit we are just as enthralled by it.

Tuesday, December 27

Three Days of Wonderful Chaos...

Today is the first day I've had a chance to sit and gather enough thoughts to actually blog about something.

This is first Christmas that Junior completely understood. We some how survived weeks of antsy anticipation leading up to 3 days of utter chaos.

Friday, the 23rd, was his first testing in Tae Kwon Do. He did a great job and will be getting his yellow belt in a belt ceremony this week. He was by far the youngest and smallest of the group testing, and he received a tremendous amount of attention from the audience, because, well, he's just so cute. The quote of the evening was "Ah, he's adorable." After the testing was finished there was a Christmas party that followed and a visit with Santa.

Saturday, the 24th, was my 42nd birthday. My wonderful husband and "adorable" son took me out to breakfast and then we were off to my M&FIL's house for Christmas Eve. A wonderful time was had by all and the kids got tons of gifts and all were little angels. It was late by the time we left the in-laws' house, but Junior seemed wide awake, talking a mile a minute about how excited he was that Santa was coming and he couldn't wait to put out cookies and chocolate milk for Santa and, of course, we wouldn't forget carrots for the reindeer. And, the next thing we knew he was sound asleep in his car seat. Since he was sleeping we made sure that Santa's and the reindeer's snacks were left out.

Christmas morning--some of you may have noticed I did some blog hopping Christmas morning. Hard to believe right? Junior got up at 5:00 announced Santa had come, crawled into our bed and promptly feel back to sleep until 6:30. Amanda, I can't believe your kids slept until 8:30--LOL. The secret must be going to Midnight Mass. We'll have to try that when Junior gets older.

The amazing Santa somehow managed to bring everything that Junior asked for, isn't that great?

We went to 9:00 Mass Christmas morning, picked my parents up at 11:45 and then headed to my sisters for a fabulous Christmas Day.

Yesterday, we spent the day crashing and playing on the living room floor with all of Junior's loot.

Today, we are off to Barnes and Noble--Mama got 6 gift cards between her birthday and Christmas--can you see me doing a "Happy, Happy Dance"?

I hope everyone's Christmas wishes came true.

Tara

Friday, December 23

Merry Christmas To All...

I have no idea if I'll be back on-line anytime soon. Junior has his first Tae Kwon Do testing tonight and a Christmas party follows. Tomorrow we are going out to breakfast and then we are heading to the in-laws for the day. And, on Christmas Day we are off to my sister's after Mass.

Wishing all my on-line friends a wonderful, and very Merry Christmas.

Peace and Love to all,

Tara

Two Little Lies by Liz Carlyle

Yesterday morning while in the shower I got a call from my local bookseller--Liz Carlyle'sTwo Little Lies is in, but remember they're closing for 3 weeks starting Christmas Eve, so get in ASAP if I want it before Christmas. Well, needless to say it was my first stop while running errands.

I must say I was very good, I didn't even attempt to pick it up until after I took Junior to Tae Kwon Do, cooked dinner, cleaned up and wrapped the last of the Christmas presents, this time I mean it--the last of the Christmas presents--yeah.

At 9:30 last night I started reading, read 60+/- pages and put it down for the night. I woke up around 4 this morning and started reading. It's a long separation, secret baby story, beautifully written, but there is an underlying sadness to the story that is palpable on every page. The h/h are together when they are young, he's 21 and she's 24, both are completely in love and yet doesn't trust the other and they go their seperate ways, the book is set 9 years later. I'm half way through the book and find myself on the verge of tears constantly.

I'll finish it today, but I will need to read something really uplifting next.

Have a good one, and happy reading.

Tara

Thursday, December 22

"Done" is never really done...and 7 things...

I haven't been on-line in days. When I don't blog or at least blog hop on a daily basis I feel like something is wrong and I start to get anxious. Silly I know, but it's very relaxing for me.

Last week I said I was ready for Christmas, now I really am almost ready for Christmas. The teacher baskets were put together and wrapped up on Tuesday and delivered yesterday. Almost all the presents are wrapped and I still have 2 more batches of cookies to bake, and then all those cookies need to be packaged--this year I went with decorative Chinese Food Boxes, instead of tins of goody bags. I picked them up at Michael's this week and each one will hold about a dozen cookies.

Today was the first time I've blog hopped since last Friday and I discovered I'd been tagged for the 7...meme, so here goes:

Seven things to do before I die:


  1. Watch my son grow up to be a good man and provide me with lots of grandchildren.
  2. Travel--anywhere and everywhere.
  3. Take better advantage of NYC--theater, museums, restaurants etc. We live so close, but rarely get there.
  4. Take my husband and son on the subway, this goes hand in hand with number 4. My husband is 47 years old and has lived within driving distance of NYC his entire life and has never been on a subway. My son the train fanatic will love it.
  5. Play all 32,000 games of Freecell in numerical order, I'm up to 6001.
  6. Read Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness series, they are currently mocking me from my TBR pile.
  7. Find the back way from the Woodbury Commons to Seven Springs Road--I normally have an excellent sense of direction, but for some reason this completely eludes me.
  8. Get along with my SIL from Hell.

Went over, but 3 & 4 are really only one.

Seven things I can not do:

  1. I can't send Junior to bed without lots of hugs and kisses.
  2. I refuse to go grey.
  3. Will never eat tongue, tripe, mutton or lamb.
  4. Climb Mount Everest.
  5. Camp in a tent.
  6. Find the back way from the Woodbury Commons to Seven Springs Road.
  7. Get along with my SIL from Hell.

Seven things that attract me to my spouse:

  1. He loves me and Junior unconditionally.
  2. His sense of humor.
  3. His decency and work ethic.
  4. His sense of humor.
  5. His broad shoulders and beautiful green eyes
  6. Did I mention his sense of humor--he makes me laugh every day of my life.
  7. His family--with the exception of the SIL from Hell--LOL. Though she showed up in the family long after we were married.

Seven thing's I say most often:

  1. My son's name or any variation of his numerous nicknames.
  2. "I Love You!!"
  3. "Get in the house Pete."--Pete's our cat and he loves to sleep on our front porch, but I refuse to allow him to go completely outside into the cold cruel world.
  4. "God, give me strength." My mom said this over and over again on a daily basis, as a kid I had no concept as to why--I now completely understand.
  5. "Oh, my God."
  6. "Please don't walk in the snow/puddle, DON'T walk in the snow/puddle, get in the car, get in the car, OH MY GOD, get in the car, get in your seat, get in your seat, will you please get in your seat, GOD, GIVE ME STRENGTH--GET IN YOUR SEAT."
  7. "Do I have to repeat myself over and over?" Apparently I do.

Seven books I love (in no particular order):

  1. Almost anything by Linda Howard--don't make me pick one.
  2. Almost anything by Liz Carlyle...
  3. Almost anything by Eloisa James...
  4. Marsha Canham's Robin Hood Trilogy.
  5. Mrs. Mike
  6. Pride and Prejudice...Emma...Sense...
  7. Shakespeare's comedies
  8. Jane Eyre--oops I went over.

Seven movies I watch over and over again:

  1. A&E's (BBC's?) Pride and Prejudice
  2. Twelve Angry Men
  3. The Odd Couple
  4. Rear Window
  5. The Mummy
  6. The Quiet Man
  7. Tombstone, JFK, Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Ken Burn's Civil War Series--please not these are not by choice, my husband watches all of these on a regular basis, and somehow I seem to have no choice in the matter.

Tag seven people...

  1. Amanda
  2. Erika
  3. Maili--she's out there somewhere
  4. 5. 6. 7. And, anyone else who would like to do this.

Have a good one and happy reading!!

Friday, December 16

200 Books...and a few other thoughts...

I've finally hit the 200 books read mark. Considering I finished November at 196, 4 books in 16 days isn't great, but I'm rather relieved to reach the milestone. Not that I set a goal for the year, but once I realized I was close to 200, I wanted to hit it.

I seem to be on a rereading kick, nothing new is holding my attention, with Christmas this close, it seems my attention span is that of my son's--non-existent. I also seem to be into cad heros. Reread Laura Lee Guhrke's Guilty Pleasures and The Marriage Bed and plan to read Eloisa James' Your Wicked Ways. I love a good cad in complete need of redemption. TMB and YWW both have cheating husbands, men who went elsewhere when their marriages were falling apart. I can't really explain why these stories work for me, it's not something I'd accept in my own marriage and a contemporary with this plot would probably hit a wall and rather hard at that.

I feel somewhat like Cindy. My sleeping schedule is shot to hell. I'm falling asleep before 9 pm and am up for the day between 3:30 and 4:00 in the morning. I shouldn't be complaining as this is when I've been reading.

I finally feel like I've got the Christmas situation under control. I need to pick up 5 gift cards, 3 for the teachers from the class, and put together 2 gift baskets for the grandparents, and that's it--I AM DONE. Thank God.

Have a good one, I probably wont have much time to be on this weekend, happy reading to all.

Tara

Wednesday, December 14

Envy

I'm envious of people who can write good book reviews. You can click on just about any blog on my sidebar and find a person who writes wonderful reviews, with great synopses and perfect grading. I, for some reason, am incapable of doing this.

I know I write lousy reviews, what can I say? I'm lazy and can't be bothered to pass on all the info a good reviewer should. But, in addition to being a lousy reviewer, I also suck at deciding on a grade. I have a tendency to see books through black and white eyes. Either it's an A or a B or it's complete failure. Does this go back to my school days and an obssession with good grades? Maybe. It's one of the reason I don't give grades or stars, I'm not sure I'm even being objective.

I'm also incredibly envious of people who are organized enough to find time to read during the busy holiday season. It seems like every waking minute is filled with getting ready for Christmas.
  • Shopping--done
  • Decorating--done
  • Wrapping--just about done
  • Baking--havent even thought about

This has left little to no reading time. When asked what I want for Christmas, I say 1. B&N Gift Cards, 2. someone to help get all this stuff finished. I can't complain about my husband, he's done almost all of Junior's Christmas shopping. And, somehow I was tricked into getting the teacher gifts for school. I get to collect the money and buy something from the whole class. Can anyone say AMEX Gift Cards??

Got to go, books are due back at the Library, Junior has school and it's -8 degrees this morning--that's just not right.

Have a good one, hopefully someone out there is reading.

Tara

Sunday, December 11

Linda Howards newest...

Cover of Night-- Release date June 27, 2006

Synopsis

In a picturesque small town, young widow and mother, Cate Nightingale owns and operates a struggling guest house. Occasionally, she enlists the aid of a mysterious, strong, and enigmatic handyman, Calvin Harris. When a trio of brutal thugs invade her inn, demanding the possessions of a guest who vanished days before, Cal proves much bolder than Cate would have ever expected. Though Calvin manages to disperse the intruders, the men regroup and shut down phone access to the entire village, holding its citizens hostage. In a desperate bid for survival, Cate and Cal strike out on their own, seeking help from a neighbouring town. As their daring journey unfolds, Cate is astonished to witness Cal's evolution from reticent carpenter to fearless protector. Is there more to her mysterious handyman than meet the eye?

This fangirl can't wait.

Found the link for this through Erika and instead of posting the link I decided to post the whole synopsis.

ps--how do you like the font size changes?? I feel like Megan--LOL. I thought a new LH title needed to be Huge.

Saturday, December 10

What the heck is wrong with me...

I was once again underwhelmed by an Anne Gracie book. I keep telling myself I should have loved The Perfect Waltz and yet I found it lacking. The reviewer at AAR didn't find it lacking, she thought it was a keeper. Kathe Robin over at RT gave it 4 stars and a "sensual" rating, which I'm really confused about, did we read the same book? There's one sex scene and it's in the last 20 pages, is a sweet rating only for books with kisses? Probably, I'll have to check that out.



Maybe I'm disappointed because there wasn't enough sex, which kind of surprises me because like Kristie, I often skip sex scenes altogether. I hate to admit I skimmed this one, by the time it finally showed up I was no longer interested. The main character's sexual chemistry seems to get lost with all the peripheral goings on--1. a secondary romance, that may have made a more interesting main romance. 2. another flirtation with a different couple. 3. The hero's abused little sisters, found after a 10+ year separation. 4. An orphanage filled with sad little girls--too much stuff.

I wanted to like this book and the previous one in this series, The Perfect Rake. Ms. Gracie has a nice writing style and voice, but this just didn't work for me.



Friday, December 9

Oh, Oh, Oh, one of the neighbors...

just plowed out the end of all the driveways on our street with a snow blower! How nice was that?

We've got an electric snow thrower which is great for the walks and driveway, but the stuff the plow dumps at the end of the driveway is too much for it's little engine.

The snow has stopped and the sun is out. We got over a foot of snow total. Junior had a great time helping me clean-up.

Maybe we'll have a White Christmas this year, that would be great.

Snow, Snow, Snow Everywhere

We've had a couple of small snows, 2 or 3 inches in the last couple of weeks, but right now it's snowing with a vengence, 8 inches on the ground and more coming down. Junior wants to play in the snow, but I left his mittens in the van, I better get them in and warm them up.

Wednesday, December 7

A Reading Experiment...

Last week, while wandering aimlessly through the UBS, I'd forgotten to bring my "to look for" list, I was lulled by 3 beautiful covers, I know, covers aren't my thing, but these were beautiful and obviously books with medieval settings. I bought them without even reading the blurb.

Not necessarily a good move. I read the blurb of the first book and thought "I'm not so sure about this." But, I've decided to read them anyway. I started My Champion last night. I'm still not sure about the plot and story line, but I like Ms. Campbell's writing style and voice.
And, this got me thinking. What's more important a good writing style or a good plot and story line? Obviously when you get both in the same book, the book's a winner, but if both aren't there which is more important?
I'm starting to think, for me, good writing trumps a good plot.

Earlier this week AngieW blogged about getting an ARC of the new Marjorie J. Lui book, it's book two in the Tiger Eye series. I think I'm one of the few people in romance blogland that hated Tiger Eye. The plot and story line were great, but I couldn't get past her writing style and voice, at least for that book, I really enjoyed her A Taste of Crimson, it almost seemed like a different person wrote it. Tiger Eye had the worst line I've ever read in a contemporary/paranormal, "My codpiece is full of love." I'm never going to forget it or the book literally hitting the wall when I threw it across the room. Now, the other end of the spectrum. Cindy blogged about Liz Carlyle's Beauty Like The Night. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, never once did I see the flaws she did, and I've read this book 2 or 3 times. And, I was left wondering why, I new the answer immediately--a beautiful writing style and voice.

Back to Glynnis Campbell's My... series. I went in search of reviews, RT--good, now there is a shock--LOL. And AAR and Mrs. G--not good at all. But, all seemed to think the books had potential and a good writing style. So, were does that leave me? Doing a little experiment. Hey at least I'm reading again.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Tara

Tuesday, December 6

The book count...

The book count still hasn't changed, I've still not read anything in several days.

Well, I guess that's not really true, I'm wondering if I can add:

  1. Madeline
  2. Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM
  3. The Cranky Day and Other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories
  4. Alexander and the Terrrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day
  5. The Stinky Cheese Man

to my Just the Books list. Probably not.

Tara

Monday, December 5

Christmas Tree Brunch and no time to read.

We've been having brunch the first or second weekend in December for years. After we eat, we head out to buy Christmas Trees at a local farm. We've been buying our trees at the same farm for 20+ years and my in-laws always made such a fuss about how great our trees were and how long they lasted that we invited them to go with us and thus "The Christmas Tree Brunch" day was started. It was a great day, everyone got beautiful trees, the kids and some of the adults (my husband) got hot cider and cookies, and my SIL and her family came back afterward and we got Chinese take-out.

I haven't picked up a book for 3 days and stopped at my local bookstore today in the hope that she had the new Liz Carlyle--nope, she can't even get the darned thing yet. I think she gets her books through Ingram and they say it hasn't been released yet, but I'm sure I've seen it in a couple of other stores, but didn't pick it up when I saw it, *please note I'm kicking myself.* I did pick up the new RT and I'll probably post something about it when I get a chance, maybe tonight after Junior goes to bed, when I should be wrapping gifts. The shopping is just about finished, but nothing is wrapped yet.

I have 6 library books sitting on my nightstand and not one is even remotely interesting. Well, they're probably interesting, I'm just not interested right now. I'm hoping I'm not getting into a rut, I keep telling myself I'm not interested in anything because it's December and I've got tons to do, but I'm not sure.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

Tara

Saturday, December 3

I should be cooking...

We're having my husbands family for brunch this morning, I should be down in the kitchen cooking onions an mushrooms for a vegetable frittata. Instead I'm blog hopping and checking out some message boards and review sites, and getting annoyed.

Reviewer's missing the point of character development to the overall plot of a story. Reader's not getting that horror/romances are supposed to be creepy and at times icky and yucky. And it seems like no one gets the heroine age thing no matter how much poor Maili tries to educate us. And Erika, you're right the age of consummation doesn't matter if the older man thinks of the heroine as a daughter, 14, 17 or 27 there is a yuck factor there.

I've got to go--clean the bathroom, take a shower, run out for bagels and start cooking.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Tara

November Books

List of books read in November:
  1. Not So Innocent -- Laura Lee Guhrke
  2. Sacrament -- Susan Squires
  3. The Companion -- Susan Squires
  4. The Music of the Night -- Lydia Joyce
  5. The Colorado Kid -- Stephen King
  6. Hot Spell -- Anthology
  7. Killing Time -- Linda Howard
  8. Blue Smoke -- Nora Roberts
  9. Superstition -- Karen Robards
  10. Beauty Like The Night -- Liz Carlyle (reread)
  11. Red Lily -- Nora Robards
  12. Reckless -- Shannon Drake (couldn't finish)
  13. The Argentine Lover -- Samantha Winston
  14. Kiss Me, Annabelle -- Eloisa James
  15. The Devil to Pay -- Liz Carlyle (reread)

November, 15 books read to date

YTD--196 books read.

Thursday, December 1

Braving the Evil Empire

I have a love/hate relationship with Wal*Mart. As someone who owned a small business for several years, I hated hearing "I can get something just like it at Wal*Mart for half the price." Oh yeah, well, it wont be a one of a kind American handmade, so there, mentally sticking my tongue out... I could go on about low wages, pushing out mom and pop business etc. but most people know all this. And, yet I still on occasion find myself walking through their doors.

It has always been my store of last resort or the place I head to avoid having to make 10 different stops. Tuesday I dragged Junior there, bought him a Happy Meal at the McDonalds in the entry, sat him down in the cart, and proceeded to finish shopping for the "Stocking Stuffers." We don't exchange gifts with the adults in the family, but I do buy little things to give from Junior, candles, CD's, etc. We also needed printer paper, labels, transfer paper, ink cartridges and a few groceries--so we ended up at Wal*Mart...

Of course, if you're there you have to check out the books. And, shock of shocks, what is sitting right there for anyone to pick up is the mm edition Emma Holly's Strange Attractions.

I have SA in trade paperback and enjoyed the book, even though at the time I read it I only said it was okay, well, it was a really well written okay, and the only reason at the time I thought "okay" was it ends without a clearly defined monogamous relationship, which I consider a must for a romance, and yet, the more I thought about it, that was part of the point of the story. I know this all sounds rather vague, but it's an interesting story with a major hero, a minor hero (both of whom are bi-sexual) and a heroine who is willing to try just about anything. I would have been happy if the major hero ended up with either the minor hero or the heroine, but both left me scratching my head in a now where is this going to go sort of way.

Later in the day while Junior was at Tae Kwon Do, I ran to my UBS/Indie bookstore and picked up Samantha Winston's The Argentine Lover which I had them special order for me from Ellora's Cave. TAL turned out to be a sweet, poignant story about a young couple finding love on the Polo circuit. And even though the sex is incredibly "HOT," it's still a sweet story, which is rather nice and not necessarily expected in an erotic romance.

Where am I going with all of this? How does Wal*Mart determine that they will sell an erotic romance published by Berkley, but not Ellora's Cave? It seems to me Strange Attractions would be more shocking to most of what they would consider "mainstream" consumers. Or did this one simply fly under their sensorship radar?

My deep thought for the day and maybe the week--LOL.

Have a good one and happy reading.

Tara