Night of Sin by Julia Ross

I actually started and finished this book yesterday after whining that I haven't been able to finish anything in days. Having said that you may think I loved this book--ah, no I didn't love it. Actually I shouldn't say I didn't like it, because for me this is almost three books, the beginning, the middle and the end. The beginning and the end are wonderful, the middle sucked.

Ms. Ross has a beautiful writing style, the plot and storyline are interesting.

The back blurb:

Years of roaming the Far East have forged Lord Jonathan Deveoran St. George into an intrepid, solitary world traveler, estranged from family and homeland. Yet the theft of a precious fossil has forced Jack unwillingly back to England. Now the thief slips the prize to an unsuspecting young woman, innocently minding her own business. Seconds later, the man is murdered--and Miss Anne Marsh becomes the unkown killer's next target.

A perilous guardian angel, Jack sweeps Anne off to his ancestral estate...all in the guise of protecting her. Safely engaged to another, she's never met anyone like Wild Lord Jack. Trapped in this handsome aristocrat's company, why not seize the chance to learn something new--about the world, about love, about wickedness...

This is a perfect description of this book. Sounds great doesn't it. And it is great up until the point they reach "his ancestral estate" which happens to be filled with his obnoxious family, a dying father, a controlling mother and judgmental brother. Oh, what a joy it is to visit these people. The first thing he lets everyone know is he knows Anne in the biblical sense, and the book goes down from here. It doesn't matter that Anne was fascinated and curious and wanted sex with him. His family basically spends what seems like 1000 pages beating him up for being a horrible seducer of women. I found myself doing mea culpas for the poor man and saying Hail Marys as I was reading, honestly I'm not kidding. And most of these confrontations in the end turn out to be part of some weird powerplay between Jack and his mother, for Jack's continued independence. No wonder he's a world traveler, who the heck wants to be around these people.

Finally, Jack and Anne get married leave "his ancestral estate" and the book picks up again has a great, but rushed ending.

The beginning of this book would get an A, the end of this book would get an A. The middle, well it gets a C because Julia Ross has a great writing style, average it out to a B. But, it could have been so much more.

Does This Count As A Book??

I have started and put down 7 books this week. I read about 50 pages and get bored. I haven't finished anything since last Sunday or Monday, Every Boy's Got One, oops actually the last book read was How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire.

I was on a great pace to read a book a day this month, so I went and pledged 25 books for the TBR challenge over on RT's Readers Roundtable. I think I shot myself in the foot by making that pledge.

Since I've read about 350 pages total from the 7 books, can I count them as a book?--LOL.

Lurking at SB

So, how many people have been lurking over at SB this week? The commentary has been incredibly interesting and who would have thought Judith McNaught would show up in the mix? I'm curious to see how many people will be rereading Whitney, My Love, I've already pulled my copy and put it back on the TBR pile.

Grandmother Guilt

The other day I was talking to my mom on the phone when I got "I miss my grandson." Now, I almost pointed out it was only about 10 days since they had been over and that she's spoken with him on the phone, but I knew better. The 'I miss my grandson' comment came in the middle of her ranting about my dad's new car, at that point they hadn't picked it up--after picking it up she loves it and want to know why she can't use it everyday.

So the next day I call and ask them to come over this Saturday. She says "I'll get back to you."

"I'll get back to you." What the heck is that about? She pours on the Grandmother Guilt and then is going to get back to me.

Well, they're coming, but not going to stay for dinner. They're too busy.

Spell Check

When the heck is blogger going to add the words blog, blogging and blogger to their damned spell check??

The Three Stooges

This morning while blog hopping I could here Junior laughing hysterically. Before I could go see what was so funny he came running into me and said "I'm watching the funniest show I've ever seen." I had to get up to see what was so funny.

The Three Stooges.

Is it something in the Y chromosome that finds this so funny?

At dinner he and Daddy were going through hand motions and noises and both were laughing like crazy. I'm left shaking my head.

Blog Fangirls...

Angie had a great post about fangirls the other day on RTB. I didn't read the post until yesterday, but one of the comments stayed with me after I finished reading all of the posts:

What about blogger fangirls?

Seems to me that’s just as real a phenomenon. There seems to be a core group of 10 or 15 people who all agree with each other on their blogs and compliment each other effusively on their insights. Anybody disagreeing with one of the core group is attacked with the same rabid (and group) intensity you ascribe to author fangirls.

Fangirls are fangirls, don’t you think.

Comment by Suze — 9/13/2005

I thought Angie's response was right on, and no I'm not being a fangirl, honest.--LOL

You are so right, Suze. I was just thinking that as I typed a response on the SB’s blog agreeing with something I did. I found myself thinking, my God, I sound like a fangirl. I’m really not, I swear, I just happened to agree.

I do believe that sometimes people find it easier to agree or be agreeable, rather than to be a lone dissenter or one of few. So it appears we have a group of fangirls, when in fact it’s just so much harder to tell an author, a blogger, or anyone that you don’t agree, you didn’t think their book was great, or that they’re not your very favorite author.

However, I do think there is a real concern surrounding fan behavior reflecting on authors. I’ve had people email me, talking about how they might want to try an author’s book, but the fan behavior was really turning them off and making them hesitate in throwing money towards an author who encouraged that type of thing. Right, wrong, or indifferent, it happens.

Comment by AngieW — 9/13/2005

Suze is right a fangirl is a fangirl, we see them everywhere, but what the heck creates one?? The need to be right all the time?

I don't know why, but for some reason blogger fangirls always surprise me. It seems like so many avoid the fangirl stereotype and blog about being anti, but they are out there and at times with a vengence.

In each fangirl group is there one strong personality that dominates other voices and leads others with like minds--to use romance reading world terms--alpha females that lead other more betas to follow their lead? Or is it simply that like minded people gravitate together, and some have bigger mouths?

Is this something the author or blogger feeds--are they the alpha? Maybe, maybe not, maybe sometimes, maybe sometimes by accident. To be honest, I don't think it's always the author or blogger that feeds this, but we've all heard stories about authors wanting their fans to come to their defense when they've received bad reviews etc.

By not dissenting are we feeding an insular situation where fangirls feel justified in ganging up on the occasional dissenter? Are we simply living by the "if we don't have anything good to say..." logic? Are we afraid of being sent up in flames? Or are we simply avoiding beating our heads against the wall, because these people can't be reasoned with? Maili comes to mind giving up lecturing on Scottish history and kilts--LOL. For me, it's a little bit of all of these things.

And as to Angie's comments about authors being hurt in the long run, I think it's possible. I know of 4 authors I don't read because 1. I wasn't impressed by their books and 2. I'm not likely to try another simply because I'm not buying into the fangirl hype.

A few questions and thoughts about fangirls.

Have a good one, and happy reading.

Finally Figured It Out

I have finally figured out why I'm not completely enthralled with vampire romances.

They're not scary enough. I want leave the light on at night, what was the noise, who's at the door, am I being followed HORROR. I want heart pounding fear. What we get is a watered down version with a HEA.

Can anyone recommend really scary vampire romances? This is what I'm really looking to read.

I woke up in the middle of the night (3:20 this morning) and finished reading Kerrelyn Sparks' How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire. Now, just by the title you know this isn't going to be scary, it's quirky, it's humorous, but it's not scary--not even the battle scene between vampires.

Heck, it's not supposed to be scary, but it left me tremendously dissatisfied.

Spoiler



She (the heroine) doesn't want to be a vampire, she wants the big house, white picket fence and big dog in the front yard. And, he (the hero) is going to give it to her, along with children that he will give her by altering donor sperm by adding his DNA, he's a scientist you know. Then what 50 years from now, she's dead, the children are getting old, his grandchildren will be having children. I know too much thinking, but this bugs me.

After finishing HTMAMV, I started Emma Holly's The Demon's Daughter, hopefully in addition to being erotic it will be a little scary.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Love at First Sight...

The working title for this is really "Love At First Sight Or Maybe Sometime In The First Week Or So". This seemed a little long and convoluted, so I cut it down.

Over the weekend I finished Meg Cabot's Every Boy's Got One. It was a fun little piece of chick lit?!? fluff. I guess it's Chick Lit--it's got on of those Avon Trade purse logos, you know the one with the ... "Because every great bag deserves a great book!" Which I always find a little odd because trade size paperbacks never fit in great stylish little bags, but I'm digressing and by digressing I'm starting to feel like the heroine from this book. Ditzy.

Like Boy Meets Girl this whole book is written through emails, journal entries, PDA posts and a couple of telegrams--I still think it's cleverly done, but it may start to wear thin after awhile .

Jane and Cal have been invited to help their best friends elope to Italy. Sounds like a great trip to me, but Jane is a bubbly, happy comic strip creator and Cal is a cynical, world weary, overseas journalist. Jane is thrilled about the wedding and Cal wants his friend to run in the other direction. Somehow these two fall in love in a week. Mrs G has an incredibly accurate review of this book.

After reading this I was left scratching my head wondering if it is actually possible to fall in love this quickly. They seemed to have nothing in common, and didn't even seem to like one another through a good portion of the book, but many romance has hero and heroines at logger heads, I'm not really sure why this didn't work completely for me.

But, let's get back the title of this post. Love at first sight, the cynical part of me was thinking this doesn't really happen, and then I had to smack myself in the head. I know for a fact this happens, okay not at "first sight" but definitely first dance. My Mom and Dad met at an April Fools Church dance in Brooklyn, NY in 1962. My mom knew after one dance that my dad was going to be the father of her children--one dance, I'm always amazed by that, she was right. They got married the following February, 3 kids and 43 years later they are still happily married. Well, kind of happily married. Right now Mom is mad at Dad for buying a new car, she's retiring in 4 months and doesn't think they need two cars now, of course, she's not real happy with me right now. Instead of telling her she's completely right to be mad, I told her to sell her car after she retires and then they'll only have one car again. She didn't like having it pointed out that when we were little and only had one car she hated being house bound. We moved out of Brooklyn when I was 9 and my Dad's work schedule didn't coincide with commuter train or bus schedules, of course the woman didn't learn to drive until she was 37 and we didn't need 2 cars. Now I really feel like Jane and have completely gone off topic--LOL.

So, all of this is to say--"love at first sight or maybe sometime in the first week or so" can happen, but for some reason in this book, it didn't work for me. And, what's with the title "Every Boy's Got One"? Got one what? We never get to see Cal's, though there are a few suggestions about size.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

TBR Pile--A Dangerous Thing

In the last few months my TBR pile has grown in leaps and bounds. I used to keep about 10-15 books on hand at any given time. It now totals close to 100 which is absolutely outrageous, at least for me. I know some people have hundreds that go back for years, but I've never been this way.

I spent time this morning updating my sidebar to include books I'm planning on reading next. Oh well, more books showed up this afternoon and once again the sidebar is wrong and I'm now reading Meg Cabot's Every Boy's Got One, notice it's not on the sidebar.

A while ago I cleaned out my bookcase next to the bed and filled it with the TBR pile, those books now seem to lost in TBR Neverneverland as I don't even bother to open the doors, I just stack the new books on top and read them. LIFO seems to be inventory control method of choice.

I need to get under control and need to work on this pile. I'm heading over to RT and pledge something for this months TBR challenge, maybe I'll actually stick to the darned TBR pile.

Have a good night, happy reading.

Tara

Pet Peeves, Likes and Hates

I love blog hopping. One of the things I find most interesting are peoples pet peeves, likes and hates...

Love them or hate them secret babies, long separations and books with children get lots of attention. Secret babies isn't a favorite plot device, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I feel the same way about books with children that are amazingly bright for their ages. Long separations don't bother me as much. If it's a favorite author or a book that sounds interesting I'm not going to avoid them because these story lines.

I wish I could work up the indignation some find over book covers. So many bloggers love to talk about covers. I'm lucky I even notice what's on the cover, maybe because so often it doesn't match what's in the story. I'm starting to think there's something wrong with me, why don't I find Johanna Lindsay's Fabio covers so offensive I need to rant about them?

I have friends who prefer brunette heros or Latino heros or blond heros. I'm lucky I notice what the hero and heroine look like. Unless the hair and eye colors change from page to page, I'm not likely to even care what they look like. Though, I would probably notice if the hero was fat with a comb over.

A couple of weeks ago I mini ranted about heroine who was a "vegan virgin who had never been kissed." I actually don't have a problem with a "vegan virgins who have never been kissed," I had a problem with this particular heroine, but there are some readers who prefer virgins and others prefer experienced heroines. Neither bother me one way or another, as long as it seems realistic to the story line and plot, I don't care about experience.

I've never understood the need to have sexually repressed widow heroines. Is there some unwritten law that says a widow in a historical has to have been married to a cheating dog, an up tight puritan, an abusive impotent idiot or a closeted homosexual? Why can't these heroines have happy marriages with good sex lives? Is it the need to have the hero awaken their sexuality? Hey, I guess this qualifies as a pet peeve, but it's still not going to keep me from reading a book that sounds interesting.

I really don't have very many pet peeves. There is really only one plot device I avoid--the dreaded "amnesia" story. For some reason these NEVER work for me, even when favorite authors use it. I've never met anyone who has suffered from amnesia, I'm sure that it happens, but it never seems realistic. Why this should be important I'm not sure, how realistic are most romance novels?

Since I have completely sworn off amnesia stories, there are really only 2 things that are going to kill a book for me:

1. A TSTL heroine, we all know who she is and why she's really annoying.
2. Bad or unrealistic dialogue will take me out of a book faster than even a TSTL heroine. I'm always amazed when an author creates a hero that sounds like my best girlfriend. I don't have a problem with men showing a soft side, but I can't see men talking to other men the same way women talk to other women.

One more mini pet peeve, really a minor irritations, villains. I hate when "Mother/Mom" is the villain. I know there are plenty of lousy moms out in the world, but for me mom is one of the good guys.

I used to be much more obsessive about things, in the past I would compare the cover art to the character descriptions, I needed the history to be accurate, why include it if it's not correct, I'd prefer it to be correct, but it wont kill me if it's not. Dialogue needed to fit the time setting (I still like it to fit the period, I probably should add this to "bad or unrealistic dialogue.")

But, I've decided, for me, this is all window dressing. Several months ago I broke out of my comfort zones and by doing that I stopped obsessing about these things. All I want is a good book, it doesn't matter what's on the cover, or what's driving the plot (except for the aforementioned amnesia thing). As long as it's well written and I believe in the HEA, I'm happy.

Have a great day and happy reading.

One more thing, I just finished Susan Spencer Paul's Touch of Night, it's a historical paranormal and it has a very similar tone to Susan Carroll's Bride Finder books. Maybe I'll blog about it later or tomorrow.

Reading = Escape

We didn't do anything exciting this weekend. No family barbecues, no going away, no train rides, just us and the news coverage of Katrina.

I used reading as an escape this weekend. Between Friday and Monday nights, I finished 4 books and started a 5th.

1. Houston, We Have A Problem by Erin McCarthy, a fun sexy book. Sexy being the driving force of the book, but it had a good story line and it moved along well.
2. A Lady's Guide to Rakes by Kathryn Caskie, another regency historical in a long line of regency historicals, a good book, not great and not bad, just good.
3. Simply Irresistible by Rachel Gibson, secret baby story, but it was good, but I love stories with a back drop of sports, and I love hockey.
4. See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson, another hockey story, so I liked this one too.
5. A Taste of Crimson by Marjorie M. Liu, I'm about half way through this book. It's great, better than the first in the series (Crimson City by Liz Maverick) and much better than Liu's first book Tiger Eye.

I'm really enjoying A Taste of Crimson. The world building is pretty much finished in the first book, but we get to see more of the werewolf world below ground. Crimson City had a vampire heroine and a human hero. This one has a great twist a werewolf heroine and a vampire hero, it's made more interesting by the class distinctions and hatred between the two societies.

Got to go lots to do today.

Have a great day and happy reading.

A Quickie

This morning I was running late and was getting out of the shower while my husband got Junior dressed for church. We were so late I didn't have time to redress the child. So he went to church in blue jeans with a hole in the knee, Wiggles sandals and a Notre Dame Basketball tee shirt with the sleeves cut off. He dresses better for the playground--LOL.

Next week I'm laying out the clothing the Saturday night.

Have a good one.

Tara

UBS Not B&N

Well, I didn't get to B&N, decided to wait until the weekend, so I'll pick up A Taste of Crimson in a couple of days.

But, I did get to the UBS. Traded in somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 books and have probably another 700 books going to various local charity organizations.

I can't get out of the UBS without buying something and picked up:

• Hot & Bothered by Susan Anderson
• Someone Irresistible by Adele Ashworth
• A Ladies Guide to Rakes by Kathryn Caskie
• Simply Irresistible by Rachel Gibson
• See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson
• Houston, We Have a Problem by Erin McCarthy

I'm trying to do some light reading, so I looked for light, fluff romances.

While surfing today I discovered a blog template that I liked, but I'm a little leary about copying it over here, I'm not really sure about what I'm doing. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Sometime this weekend, I'll try it.

Heading to B&N Tomorrow...

I promised my husband I'd be frugal and watch my errand running, saving gas you know, but I'm heading to B&N tomorrow (I wont run the AC maybe that will save some gas--$3.49 a gallon locally.)

I just found Mrs G's review of A Taste of Crimson. I only read the first paragraph, but it was enough to catch my attention, without giving anything about the story away.

Reading Blahs

With Katrina dominating our news for the last few days, I find myself doing very little reading, and to be honest nothing seems very appealing.

Over the weekend I reread Liz Carlyle's The Devil You Know, Monday I started and skimmed Lyon's Gate by Catherine Coulter and started reading Theresa Weir's Bad Karma Tuesday.

Liz Carlyle is a favorite and I always enjoy rereading her books, but Bad Karma just seems too sad to read right now, and I've probably reached the point where I'm done reading Catherine Coulter completely. Her newer historicals seem disjointed and the dialogue is either too witty or somehow disconnected.

Nothing is holding my attention, I think I need something funny, and uplifting and I'm not finding anything interesting on my TBR.

A Few Days From Hell

I decided to delete my last post. A few days of hectic, inconveniences doesn't compare to the hell the people on the Gulf Coast are going through and will begoing through in the future.

I'm over my whine... have a good one.

Tara

BE SAFE

For all our friend in the Gulf Coast area, be safe and do whatever your officials tell you to keep yourselves and family safe.

Thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the path of Katrina.

Ignore Friday Night's Post

I must have been in a foul mood Friday night, please ignore my post. I certainly hope I didn't offend anyone.

Have a great day and happy reading.

The Perfect Heroine?????

It's the 21st century, is it possible to find a 25 year old woman who is not only a virgin, but never been kissed, vegan virgin?? Oh, she's also beautiful and a social activist. And guess what--their first kiss is their wedding kiss.

Extremes and a nice read

Someone over on one of the RT message boards commented about the either extreme of sex in romances lately, either there is too much or too little or none at all.

I had been thinking something very similar lately, but I think part of my thinking coincides with a long string of books with little sexual contact between the hero and heroine before page 250 (with the exception of Lisa Valdez's Passion, which has a sexual encounter during the opening scene of the book.) Even Marjorie M. Liu's Tiger Eye was light on the number of sex scenes, but the heroine does wake up with a tiger in her bed (literally). After I finished Tiger Eye I picked up a HH which had absolutely no sex whatsoever, which isn't a bad thing, but it would have been nice if you felt something of a spark between the hero and heroine.

And then I picked up Meggin Cabot's She Went All The Way (thanks Jay). What a nice read. A little romance, a little adventure and a little mystery all tied up in a good story. The right balance of sex to story line, and two smart characters who just seem right together.

I can't say that any of the books I've read this month should have had more or less sex, with the exception of the HH, a good sex scene might have sparked a little more sexual tension between the characters. I want the sex in romances to fit the story and story line, if I'm skipping sex scenes to get back to a good story, there are too many, if I'm wondering when they're actually going to do "it," there are too few. If the sexual tension is building and I'm enjoying the story, it doesn't matter when the first "encounter" occurs.

I think most romance readers want the right balance of story, tension and sex and when that happens, we've got a winner.

Have a great day and happy reading.

"My cod-piece is full of love..."

Well, that was one line that stopped me cold while reading Marjorie M. Liu's Tiger Eye. Maybe it's just me, but I NEVER want to read that line in a contemporary romance (I know, it's a paranormal, but that's no excuse, you know what? I don't want to read it in any romance--it would be bad in a medieval too). I realize it was a joke, but it's just a really bad line.

I went into reading this with the wrong frame of mind. When I noticed the "I LOVED this book. Anyone who loves my work , should love it too." quote from "New York Times Best-selling Author CHRISTINE FEEHAN" on the cover of the book, I knew it would be down hill from there. I find her [Feehan] books, over the top and melodramatic--I know she has a huge fangirl following, so obviously, I'm probably in the minority. I can't stand all the soul mate crap, and the "poor me, I suffer so" heros--YUCK.

Okay, this one wasn't that bad, but like Feehan and Kenyon it has way too many characters, who all have some sort of psychic powers and will probably all have spin-offs.

I can't be the only person who finds the dialogue between men in these books questionable. There is a scene between Hari (our hero) and Artur (a future hero) which I can't see happening in life.

"You are a dangerous man," Artur said quietly.

"Yes," Hari agreed. "But so are you."

..."Perhaps, although in a much different way. Our lives have not been easy, Hari, although I think I had the better bargain."

Hari leaned against the wall."What did you see when you touched me?"

"Enough. I always see more than I wish." Artur held up his gloved hands. "It is why I protect myself."

..."I would not wish my life on anyone."

"So you say, but the past has a way of circling us in our sleep."

"Spoken like a man who knows."

and so it goes on...

I realize that Hari is 2000 years old and has been stuck in a riddle box for the last 600 years, and Artur is Russian so their speech patterns may be different, but come on. Does anyone know men who talk like this, especially after knowing each for a day. Maybe my problem is I don't know any truly "dangerous" men, maybe "dangerous" men actually talk this way.

If you like Feehan and Kenyon, you'll probably like this book. If not, don't waste your time or money on this one.

OMG, was that bitchy enough, maybe I shouldn't even post this one--LOL.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Bet Me Bites

Okay, "Bites" is probably to strong of a negative, but if I hadn't of loved the first half of this book, I would probably have disliked it as much as Faking It.

For me it was one of those books that's about 150 pages too long. It felt like the book ran out of story around page 250, but since it needed to be 391 pages, the last 140 seemed like filler.

It was another book with really bitchy Moms. I'm really starting to hate that--LOL. I love my mom and have a wonderful relationship with her, but if she ever talked to me the way Min's mother did to her, I'd be telling her to shut the f*** up, and that is one word I have never used in front of my mom and probably never will.

My husband is threatening to throw out books if I don't do something with the home office (these are books I've already read and they are taking over the space.) But, I feel like procrastinating and started reading Marjorie M. Liu's Tiger Eye. I'm not real sure about this one either, she's being compared to Feehan and Kenyon and I'm not a huge fan of either of them.

Have a great day and happy reading.

I Really Wanted To Love It...

After reading the 2176 series and enjoying Liz Maverick's The Shadow Runners, I was really looking forward to Crimson City. A combination futuristic and paranormal, vampires, werewolves and humans all living together in a futuristic city that used to be LA. I wanted to love this book. I'm not even sure I liked it.

The synopsis over at RT is good one and I can see it getting 4 stars. Yet for me, I never connected with the story or the characters. I was distracted by all the "world" building, there is so much going on setting the stage for the series I never fully appreciated the romance and it certainly left questions unanswered. So, of course, I have to continue to read the series to see what happens. I'm heading to B&N tomorrow for the next book, Marjorie M. Liu's A Taste of Crimson.

But, I started reading Jennifer Crusie's Bet Me this morning and am enjoying it very much, and while I was blog hopping this morning I discovered Bam's review on her It's Not Chick Porn blog. She also has a great review of Linda Howard's Shades of Twilight.

Got to go and put Junior to bed.

Have a great night and happy reading.

Passion by Lisa Valdez

I had heard lots of buzz about this book and of course this sent me looking for the book. Found it at the UBS yesterday (new not used) and started reading it last night, and finished it this morning.

For some reason I didn't realize it was an "erotic historical romance." I was expecting a "hot" historical, this was beyond hot, obviously I didn't need to hunt down the reviews to realize it was erotica with a fabulous love story. At times it reminded me of the "Anonymous" Victorian Eroticas I've read and yet at it's heart it's a romance with a fantastic HEA.

You can find good reviews over at RT and AAR.

This is lifted from the last paragraph of the AAR review:

This is not a book I will easily forget - although I was shocked by Passion’s opening pages, it is the convincing love story that rises out of such a torrid love affair that established it firmly in my mind. I don’t usually cry when reading a book, but this one had me in tears more than once. However, for my personal reading tastes, the level of eroticism ultimately kept Passion from earning an even higher grade.

The reviewer gave this book a "B". Don't get me wrong, this is a good grade (I'd have given it an "A-", but that's me.) I'm curious how "the level of eroticism" in an erotica keeps it from getting a higher grade. It didn't get an "A" because it's erotica? Does that mean this particular reviewer would never give an erotica/romantica anything higher than a B, and if that's the case, should the reviewer be reviewing these books? Was that convoluted enough?

Well, I did have a small issue with the book. There are two "mothers" in the book, both are two of the most evil characters you will find in a romance. I hate when "Mom" is the bad guy.

That's it for now.

Have a great night, happy reading.

Trip to the UBS Today

Yes, I needed more books--LOL.

Picked up:

• Passion by Lisa Valdez, it's getting great buzz, I already started reading it--OMG.
• Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, I know, I'm probably the last person in the romance reading world to read this one, but to be honest I hated Faking It and didn't pick this one up because of it.
• Lyon's Gate by Catherine Coulter, it's a compulsion, the damned series needs finishing.
• The Ideal Husband and Once a Bride both by Shari Anton, I've no idea whether or not they are any good, but they are medievals and I'm desperate for a decent medieval.

Am I the only one who hates these taller (the Coulter) books? They look ridiculous.

Movie meme maybe Monday

I spent almost 2 hours typing in my movie meme after being tagged by CindyS, please note, I ignored Maili's tagging everyone on her sidebar in the hopes I could avoid it all together, you know getting lost in the crowd, but when tagged by Cindy (hey I am her new best friend--LOL) I did it--it was funny, it had links, I worked really hard on it.

And, guess what the $%^^&*%$&% blogger crapped out on my when I hit "Publish Post." Lost the whole damn thing. I know to save long posts as I go *head to keyboard*

Now, I wont have time to do it again until Monday, maybe.

Do You Come Here Often? by Alexandra Potter

This showed up in yesterday's mail (thanks Rosario). And, I started peeking at it while I was slaving over a hot stove, pickling hot cherry peppers for my hubby, if you ever want to clear your sinuses take a whiff of hot vinegar, clears them right up and makes your eyes burn and water.

But, I digress, Do You Come Here Often? is a really good book--a Chick Lit set mostly in London. It's all about finding Mr. Right (you'll know him when you find him.) Grace is our heroine, she's been engaged for 2 years to Mr. Wrong (who doesn't want to set a date). She runs into an old friend (friend, being used loosely) from home, Jimi. Grace and Jimi share a cab after she has a fight with Mr. Wrong and he leaves her alone outside the restaurant where they just celebrated her 31st birthday. She walks out on Mr. Wrong and into a platonic relationship with Jimi (who has been dumped by his fiancee less than a week before their wedding.) And the story grows so nicely from there. There are two fabulous subplots--Rhian, a single mother trying to find love; and Maggie, a 50 something retiring and moving on to the next stage of her life.

Though it's "Chick Lit" it could be considered "Chick Lit Romance" as everyone finds their HEA--love that.

There is a scene in the book when Jimi realizes he's in love with Grace--they're in NYC (part of the plot that I wont go into), but there is a reference to an ashtray and cigarette ashes on a table in a French restaurant, and got me thinking when did the anti-smoking laws in restaurants go into effect in NYC, I ignored it until I finished the book, and than I start doing the math. Jimi and Grace haven't seen each other since 1988, over and over throughout the book, it's mentioned it's 13 years since they've seen each other--this book takes place in the fall of 2001, which completely stops me short. Obviously, I don't expect people from other countries to be as obsessed about 9/11 as New Yorkers were at that time (and probably still are), but in NYC you couldn't have avoided references to it, it was constantly all around you, in the news, on the street, a constant police and military presence. Not one mention of it in the book.

It's still a great book, I know I'm nit picking.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

Mommy Mode

For the last 3 weeks I've been in "Mommy Mode."

Mommy mode kills brain cells and I have absolutely nothing profound to say, but I do have a couple of questions:

1. Why when you have a group of children together it seems like their behavior deteriorates to the worse behaved child? Seven children for a pool birthday party is too many, I now know why parents choose to have parties out.
2. Why would anyone with kids have one of those gorgeous glass shower surrounds you see on all the decorating shows? I can't go into the bathroom without being interupted and certainly can't take a shower without someone coming in to ask a question.

Have a good one...

For all the Yankee Fans (HA HA HA)

I know how many of you are big Yankee fans--LOL. Today we went to Yankee Stadium for a "Classic" tour. I thought I'd share some pictures.

First stop on the tour is Monument park.

We visited many of the Yankee old timers, but "The Mick" is special, my husband saw him play at the first game he ever went to in 1966, my DH was 7 years old.

Next we moved to the dugout, not a bad view from the bench. Notice the fence, it went up after Don Zimmer got hit in the head.

The stop after the bench was "The Locker room"--no pictures allowed. Personal space and all that, I think it's because they're slobs and their "personal spaces" are a mess. Bernie Williams has the biggest locker--he has the most seniority, but Derek Jeter has 2 lockers one for his "stuff" and one for all his fan mail (I'm not kidding.)

On to the press box, I think this is the best view of all. I sat at an AP work station, but my MIL sat at a station for a Japanese paper. Half the tour were Japanese tourists visiting the Matsui Mecca.

Our son and what must be one of the biggest bobblehead dolls on earth. This is in the gift shop, at this point Junior was too hungry to look at souvenirs and we had to talk him into getting something, and what does he want, maybe a hat, shirt or a jacket maybe a jersey, nope, not our kid, he wants a Yankee atv with removable rider!?!

And, there you have the official "Classic" Yankee Stadium tour. It takes a little over an hour and boy, do they keep you moving.

And on a serious note, they have a moving monument for 9/11, which was dedicated on the 1st anniversary.

Too Darned Hot...

It has been too hot to do anything besides swim, lounge and read. In the past 2 days I finished 4 books.

• Day of Fire -- Kathleen Nance
• The Power of Two -- Patti O'Shea
• The Scarlet Empress -- Susan Grant
• Love According to Lily -- Julianne MacLean

The first three are the last of the 2176 series. I had already read the 1st and the 3rd from the series (The Legend of Banzai Maguire and The Shadow Runners.) Though I enjoyed all of them I think TLOBM and TSR were somewhat better.

I was surprised by Love According to Lily, I don't know why I thought it was Regency period because it's Victorian and I think it was better than her other books, not spectacular, but good.

I'm being lazy, I could be giving synopsis, but I'm not good at them and it would require too much thinking.

Have a great day, happy reading.

A Little of This and a Little of That From the New RT

Instead of reading last night, I flipped through the new Romantic Times. A few books caught my eye.

• Brenda Joyce has a new book coming out, The Masquerade. It's a "secret baby" story set in Regency England. I'm not really sure I buy into this, but I may have to get it just to see if it works.
• Unmasked by Virginia Henley has a "strong willed and highly determined" heroine, does anyone else think this is synonymous with "fiesty" and probably TSTL??
• Some Like it Wicked by Deborah Raleigh is described as a "delightful regency romp", but the hero's nickname is "Hellion". Please, am I the only person this drives crazy?? I hate nicknames like this. I have no idea if they are historically correct and to be honest, I'm not sure I care. I stopped reading Stephanie Laurens because of the stupid nicknames, well and the fact the books got boring.

Joan Wolf's To The Castle was given 3 stars and that is probably the right on target, I blogged about this a couple of weeks ago.

Books that look interesting:

• A Ladies Guide to Rakes -- Kathryn Caskie, I've read her other two both were good, I like her writing style. I know, I know, it's a regency...
• Reckless -- Shannon Drake, it's partially set in Egypt, which I love, but I've not liked her "Victorian" period books, and the synopsis didn't really appeal, but it's set in Egypt. Did I mention it's set in Egypt??
• After Midnight -- Theresa Medeiros, a vampire historical.
• Into Temptation -- Penny Vincenzo, a historical fiction set post WW II.
• Out of the Night -- Robin T Popp, how about this, it's a "chupacabra" story, that's one I didn't think could be done, but I thinks it's mixed with a vampire story which makes it rather curious.

Three authors I've not read, but think I may try:

1. Karin Gillespie -- TheBottom Dollar Girls series.
2. Sophia Kinsella -- The Undomestic Goddess
3. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro --The Saint-Germain novels.

And there was one "Historical Erotic Romance" that caught my eye--literally, I liked the cover in the ad for the publisher (which I can't remember). A Week of Pleasure by Christie Kelley. It got a good review and had an interesting synopsis. It's an ebook, since I don't have a hand held device, I'd have to read it on the computer, I'm not so sure I want to do that. I'll see if I can load a picture of the cover later.

That's it for now.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Funny Email

I received this today, and thought I'd share it.

You live in Arizona when.....

1. You are willing to park 3 blocks away because you found shade.
2. You can open your car without touching the door and you can drive your car without touching the steering wheel.
3. You've experienced condensation on your butt from the hot water in the toilet bowl.
4. You would give anything to be able to splash cold water on your face.
5. You can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.
6. "Dress Code" is meaningless at high schools and universities. Picture lingerie ads.
7. You can drive for 4 hours in one direction and never leave town.
8. You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food.
9. The 4 seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!
10. You know that "dry heat" is actually comparable to what hits you in the face when you open your oven door.

You Live in California when...

1. You make over $250,000 a year and you still can't afford to buy a house.
2. The high school quarterback calls a time out to answer his cellphone.
3. The fastest part of your commute is going down your driveway.
4. You know how to eat an artichoke.
5. You drive your rented Mercedes to your neighborhood block party.
6. When someone asks you how far something is, you tell them how long it will take to get there rather than how many miles away it is.

You live in New York City when...

1. You say "the city" and expect everyone to know you mean Manhattan.
2. You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire StateBuilding.
3. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.
4. You think Central Park is "nature."
5. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multi-lingual.
6. You've worn out a car horn.
7. You think eye contact is an act of aggression.

You Live in Maine when...

1. You only have four spices: salt, pepper, ketchup, and Tabasco.
2. Halloween costumes fit over parkas.
3. You have more than one recipe for moose.
4. Sexy lingerie is anything flannel with less than eight buttons.
5. The four seasons are: winter, still winter, almost winter, and construction.

You Live in the Deep South when...

1. You can rent a movie and buy bait in the same store.
2. "ya'll" is singular and "all ya'll" is plural.
3. After twenty years you still hear, "You ain't from 'round here, areYa?"
4. "He needed killin' " is a valid defense.
5. Everyone has 2 first names: Billy Bob, Jim Bob, Mary Sue, Betty Jean, Mary Beth, etc.

You live in Colorado (or Washington State) when...

1. You carry your $3,000 mountain bike atop your $500 car.
2. You tell your husband to pick up Granola on his way home and he stops at the day care center.
3. A pass does not involve a football or dating.
4. The top of your head is bald, but you still have a pony tail.
5. Morning cannot start until you've had your Mint Mocha Frappaccino Grande at Starbucks.

You live in the Midwest when...

1. You've never met any celebrities, but the mayor knows your name.
2. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor.
3. You have to switch from "heat" to "A/C" on the same day and backagain.
4. You end sentences with a preposition: "Where's my coat at?"

You live in Florida when...

1. You eat dinner at 3:15 in the afternoon.
2. All purchases include a coupon of some kind -- even houses and cars.
3. Everyone can recommend an excellent dermatologist, cardiologist, proctologist, and/or ophthalmologist, and learn that English is not their primary language.
4. Road construction never ends, anywhere in the state.
5. Cars in front of you are often driven by headless people.
6. The bumper sticker of a car driven by a teenager says "When I get old, I'm going to move North and drive slow..."

I thought these were pretty funny, no offense intended.

The Reading Binge is officially over...

Well, I'm completely out of my great reading binge. Between birthday parties and issues with my husband's side of the family, my reading groove is shot to hell.

I've finished all of 3 books this month. I started Elizabeth Vaughan's The Warprize Tuesday and finally finished it this morning. I didn't get all the hoopla, it was good, but maybe it's just me at times I felt like I was reading through a fog. The book is written in the first person and since at times the heroine didn't always understand what was going on around her, we were supposed to be as questioning as she was. I'm not that into fantasy so maybe that was my problem.

Good news, my Barnes and Noble order came, it finishes the 2176 series for me.

• Day of Fire -- Kathleen Nance
• The Power of Two -- Patti O'Shea
• The Scarlet Empress -- Susan Grant

I also picked up 2 Patricia Cabot's at the UBS (Educating Caroline and Kiss the Bride.

I also picked up the new Romantic Times--like I need to order more books. There's a cranky letter to the "Mailbag" about the "offensive" covers in some of the advertisements and a response that's just as cranky from RT. I'm never quite sure why people complain about the ads in RT, if you feel the need to hide your RT because of the book covers, do you have to hide your books too?

Have a good night and happy reading.

Will I Ever Get to Finish a Book???

Well, I've pledged 15 books for the RT TBR pledge.

So far this month I've read a big whopping 1 1/2 books. Yes, it is August 8th and I have finished one book. Last month I read 24 books, this month I'll be lucky if I get half way to my pledge.

The Perfect Rake--by Anne Gracie, sorry Sybil, I wasn't all that impressed, another Regency romance in a long string of regency era pieces. I'm really giving up on these--I swear, I really mean it this time.

The Companion--by Susan Squires is turning out to be a very good book, but my reading time has been next to nil. I'm hoping to finish it after Junior goes to bed, which should be in about 5 minutes, so I really need to go.

Have a great night and happy reading.

Oh, one more thing for Kristie and Wendy--GO YANKEES, GO YANKEES, GO YANKEES. Next Monday we're going for a tour of Yankee Stadium, The Clubhouse, Monument Park. I'll tell you ladies all about it.

Appreciating What I Have...

It's been a week since I've had enough time to actually sit down and blog about anything. I was going to whine and complain about how busy I've been and having no time to myself, but I'm sure nobody wants to hear my griping. I realized if all I've got to complain about is being "too" busy, I'm rather blessed.

Junior turns 4 tomorrow, I'm not really sure where the time has gone. But, I really love being home with him. Right now he is sleeping in my spot on our bed. I'll move him to his bed in a few minutes. I know we "shouldn't" let him sleep in our bed, but he was watching the Yankees with Daddy, both are sound asleep.

I doubt I'll have time to get on-line tomorrow (lots of company coming), and Sunday we're going to the County Fair.

Have a great weekend, and happy reading.

Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot

I ran over to the Town Recreation Center to sign Junior up for 3 weeks of camp (2 days a week--this starts Monday). The Rec Center's offices are right next door to the library. Junior loves this library because "Thomas" tapes are within his reach, so we go in, he picks out 3 tapes (which have to be back on Sunday) and out of the corner of my eye I seeBoy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot. I remember hearing some buzz about this so I took it out.

Started reading while I was supposed to be cooking dinner (we did eat, but later than normal.) I finished reading it after Junior went to bed.

What a funny book. Monday I'm going to look for some of her other books at the UBS. Loved how the story was told with emails, IMs, phone messages etc. Very cleverly done. The "heroine" is kind of whiney, and dippy, but she's sweet. The Emails between the "hero" and his family are just hysterical. I loved the sister's email address--IH8BARNEY@... I can appreciate that sentiment..

I didn't connect Meg Cabot and Patricia Cabot--I've always enjoyed her books.

Have a good night, happy reading.

One Good and One Not So Good...

I finished 2 books in the last 24 hours. One good and one not so good.

Unmasked by C J Barry was a very good book. You can get a good synopsis over at RT. At first I thought it was going to be another book with a "kick-ass" heroines who turns out to be TSTL, one who reacts without thinking her actions all the way through. This is how the h/h meet, after that she turns into a truly strong, yet sensitive heroine. The hero is an alpha hero with a good heart and soul. Action packed and fast paced, a really good book. Even if you don't like futuristics, this one is worth reading.

I wish I could say the same thing about To The Castle by Joan Wolf. I was so looking forward to this book, I wanted it to be fabulous. Medievals are few and far between right now and I had such I hopes for this book. The story line is very good, the review over at AAR is accurate and yet there is a certain disconnect you feel from the characters, everything seems lukewarm and somewhat boring. The writing at times seems almost to simple:

Nell turned to her husband. He looked all gold as he stood there in the afternoon sunlight: gold hair, gold eyes, gold skin. She realized she liked to look at him. She thought he was beautiful.

I can't believe the same person who wrote The Dark Ages series wrote that paragraph. I'm thinking this is probably my last Joan Wolf, I think I need to go and mourn a favorite gone for good.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

Barnes and Noble Trip

After the peepee incident yesterday (see previous blog), I decided I deserved a trip to B&N. It was really too hot (97 degrees and horrendous humidity) to do anything else, by the time we left the downstairs of our house was 85 degrees and upstairs was over 90. We needed to search out air conditioning, B&N sounded good to me.

I picked up:

• Unearthed -- CJ Barry
• Unmasked -- CJ Barry (which I'm currently reading)
• Love According to Lily -- Julianna MacLean
• Crimson City -- Liz Maverick
• The Companion -- Susan Squires
• Warprize -- Elizabth Vaughan

They didn't have the books I really wanted, so I ordered them (the rest of the 2176 series):

• Day of Fire -- Kathleen Nance
• The Power of Two -- Patti O'Shea
• The Scarlet Empress -- Susan Grant

I should have these within the week, they'll go right to the top of the TBR pile

I don't know why I bought the Julianna MacLean book, I'm sure it will be interchangeable with all the other Regency historicals I've read or already have on my TBR pile. I've been good this month, usually full-size Regencies account for close to half of the books I read, this month I've read 22 books and only 7 are Regencies, and 2 of those were re-reads of good books, so I actually only read 5 new ones.

I picked up Warprize, because somewhere I heard it was a great book. I'm not that impressed with the blurb, hopefully it will be good (I'm not even sure what the sub-genre it is--kingdoms, warrior kings, and warlords are all mentioned in the blurb, and it's published by Tor Romance. I don't want to over due the Futuristic thing (3 in a row is probably enough for now--finished The Shadow Runners Tuesday night.)

The heat finally broke last night, the house is now 68 degrees and today's high will be around 80, we're heading to the playground with a picnic and meeting some friends. Got to go.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

The Joys of having a Boy

My son plays really nicely by himself, which is good considering he's an only child. Our house is small, so we don't have a family/playroom. He plays in his room and we've set it up to give him lots of floor space. He's an incessant talker and story teller, he comes by this genetically, if his dad's awake, he's talking. If he's playing he's talking and making up stories. It's when he's quiet I know he's up to something, and when he's quiet and closes his bedroom door, I know he's REALLY up to something.

Well, yesterday while I was blogging, he closed his bedroom door and it was way, way too quiet. I opened his door and this is how the conversation went:

me: "What are you doing??"
him: Blinking stare
me: A little louder, "What are you doing in here?"
him: With a big smile, "I peepeed in Max." Max is a toy dump truck (every toy has a name, it usually connects to the "Thomas the Tank Engine" series.)
me: I'm getting a little louder now, "What do you mean you peepeed in Max? Where is Max now?"
him: Still smiling, "In the bathroom."

I run to the bathroom and discover a puddle in front of the toilet. He spilled it while "dumping" Max into the toilet. Junior got a crash course in how to clean a bathroom floor.

I'm rather proud of myself--I wasn't a raving lunatic, and didn't even yell. My husband thought it was hysterical. My sister thought it showed imagination--yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.

Political Correctness, Perceptions and Writing Styles

I've been semi-following the different discussions about PC on message boards and blogs.

Let's be honest, we may tolerate certain behavior in a historical romance that we would abhor in a contemporary. Is this because it IS more accurate to history or is it we PERCEIVE it to be more accurate? I don't know.

On a societal level it's only been in the last 100 years that we have gained "equal" ground to men, and I say that loosely. We can vote, own property and businesses separate from husbands, we should be paid equal for equal work (though this rarely is true) and domestic violence is something that is no longer tolerated and ignored. Men don't have a right to beat and rape their wives/girl friends. Is it because in the past a man did have the right that we accept it in historical romances, probably.

I wrote on Anne E's blog that I think some women who like books with domineering men and weak woman are looking to escape the responsibilities of everyday life, and want to see someone else in control--most of the women I know hold together every aspect of their families lives. It's not my choice in reading material, but I can understand someone wanting to escape to a place where someone else is "in control" and the heroine is a "damsel in distress" needing rescuing by the "knight," and it doesn't matter to them whether he's good or bad.

Personally, I like alpha hero's but not because I like weak heroines, but because I like strong women who can hold their own with a strong man.

At what point do we expect political correctness to kick in when we're reading historicals? I don't want to see a rape or beating in any book, but if it's included, I first need to see the context, it's never justified, so how does the author handle the hero's repentance and change and does it work. If the hero believes it's his right to "control" the heroine can the author show his change in thinking and behavior and make it believable.

I'm left to wonder if those who prefers the bodice rippers of the past are really looking for a hero who rapes and plunders or are they looking for a style in writing that is gone. Kathleen Woodiwiss writing style of (OMG) 30 years ago is completely different from anyone's writing style today. Whether you call it lyrical or full of purple prose, it's different. I personally like her writing style enough that when I re-read her books, I skip scenes I don't like because I like the overall style of the book. I do the same thing with some of Catherine Coulter's earlier books.

So, that's my take on political correctness, perceptions and writing styles.

Have a great day, and happy reading--and those of you sweltering like us--stay cool and safe.

Feeding The Addiction

Do you know the rush you get when you read something new and exciting and it leaves you wondering why didn't I read this before?? That jazzed up, adrenaline rush that you get when you know you've opened yourself up to a brand new reading world??

Futuristics hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday.

Can anyone say Susan Grant??

Can anyone say The Legend of Banzai Maguire?

Can anyone tell me why I waited over a year to look for this book when the buzz was so big around it last year??

Yesterday morning I pulled this one off my nicely reorganized TBR shelf and started it before I took Junior to my parent's so I could go get my hair done--I desperately needed a cut and color, and was almost late for my appointment. I had 40 minutes to sit with color on my head and struggled to read without my reading glasses. I finally got to pick it back up after Junior went to bed, and finished it around 10 o'clock.

I was so excited, I got up and start searching out reviews for the rest of the books in the series, hop to RT, Mrs G, and AAR (the links are in the sidebar). And decide first thing this morning I'm dragging Junior to the UBS and look for the rest of the 2176 series.

Now, I start to calm down, I've got a plan and decide to blog hop a little before going back to bed. I reach the K's and what is Kristie blogging about--futuristics and I have even more books to look for.

Kristie names a few books that I've read and enjoyed, but I've not read that many futuristics. I guess Susan Squires Body Electric is a futuristic too--liked that one too. For some reason I don't think of the ...in Death series as futuristic--obviously it's set in the future, but I see them more as romantic suspense/crime/mysteries, a strange distinction I know. And to be honest, I've stopped reading the series, there just seems to be a sameness to the books--they've lost my attention. And, the Jayne Ann Krentz futuristics are like reading her contemporaries (they're all basically the same book--just different settings.)

It really is an addiction, hey at least it's a good addiction--it's not going to kill me.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Carved in Stone by Vickie Taylor

Normally, I'm not a huge fan of the paranormal sub-genre, but I'm finding there are some that I enjoy. I'm always pleasantly surprised when the buzz around a book is true. Carved in Stone by Vickie Taylor is one of the better books I've read this year, not just paranormal, but everything.

Kristie gives a great synopsis of this book in her review (better than I would). The concept and premise that drives the book is a good one. Before reading it I wasn't sure the "gargoyle" thing would work, but Ms. Taylor makes it work beautifully. I loved the baby dragon learning to fly scene. And at the end of the book, I found myself completely disappointed that the next book in this series wouldn't be out until next April.

I've come a long way this year I've added a vampire author (Lynn Viehl--I loved If Angels Burn) and a gargoyle author to my "to look for list" and to be honest, they're probably "autobuys" at least for a while--as long as the series don't get too long. For some reason anything more than 3 or 5 books is too many for me.

I find myself waiting patiently for Maili's list of vampire romances, maybe with my dislike of the "popular" vampire series, I've thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

Have a great day and happy reading.

The Night Stand From Hell

Yesterday morning I took a look at my side of our bedroom and decided it was a disaster, it didn't really look bad, but there were piles of books not only in my night stand, but also in baskets next to the bed.

So after a couple of hours of organizing and cleaning up I found a permanent home for my TBR pile in my night stand/bookcase.



So out of this little corner of our room I found:

• 75 books to give to my sister
• 2 dozen "keepers" that I re-read on a fairly regular basis, 10 were Linda Howard books.
• I discovered I had duplicates of 4 Eloisa James' books, because I couldn't find my copies and bought new ones.
• Book covers (protectors)--3 for MMPB and 2 for TPB
• 10 pieces of jewelry that I've gotten as gifts in the last 2 years still in their boxes never worn.
• 6 Pennypress Puzzle books, 3 mechanical pencils, 2 pens and a handful of Romantic Times Magazines all but one were 3 years old or older.
• An ARC of Laura Van Wormer's The Last Lover that I never read

Now, my TBR pile has a lovely home, the books are in alphabetical order and are nicely organized.

I had these night stand/bookcases specially built for us, they can hold up to 300 paperbacks and/or video tapes (hubby loves to tape old movies, sporting events etc.) Please note I'm not showing a picture of my husbands because it literally has close to 300 video tapes in it and looks like one big black hole.

I wonder how long it's going to look this good. I should have taken a before and after picture--LOL, next time.

Have a good one.

Mythological sign??

I lifted this from Alyssa who found it on Angie's blog.


You are Form 0, Phoenix: The Eternal.
"And The Phoenix's cycle had reached
zenith, so he consumed himself in fire. He
emerged from his own ashes, to be forever
immortal."
Some examples of the Phoenix Form are Quetzalcoatl
(Aztec), Shiva (Indian), and Ra-Atum
(Egyptian).The Phoenix is associated with the concept of life,
the number 0, and the element of fire.His sign is the eclipsed sun.
As a member of Form 0, you are a determined
individual. You tend to keep your sense of
optomism, even through tough times and have a
positive outlook on most situations. You have
a way of looking at going through life as a
journey that you can constantly learn from.
Phoenixes are the best friends to have because
they cheer people up easily.

Which Mythological Form Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Found this over at AAR...

Looking for a medieval romance with historical accuracy and characters who belong in their time? Joan Wolf delivers in satisfying fashion with To the Castle.

That's all I needed to read and stopped reading the review (the grade was a B by the way). I'm ordering it today.

Joan Wolf and medieval in the same paragraph makes me one very happy camper.

I picked up Vickie Taylor's Carved in Stone, and I'm about 1/2 finished. It's very good, with a great premise.

Have a great day and weekend, and HAPPY READING!!!

A Few Questions

What is the likelihood that a 75 year old man from Georgia, would hit a black bear while riding a motorcycle in upstate New York? Happened yesterday, my husband sat in the traffic jam it caused for about an hour on his way to work. The motorcylce rider is fine, the bike was totalled and the poor bear died at the scene.

How is it possible to have 60+ books on a TBR pile and not have anything to read? Absolutely nothing is holding my interest right now--I hate that.

I wonder what can possibly be going through a man's mind when he tells his son "As long as you don't touch anything, you don't have to wash your hands after peeing"? The strange thing is my husband is fastidious about things like this, and is completely grossed out by men who don't wash their hands when they use a public bathroom. He leaves the seat up each morning for our son so he can go into the bathroom without touching anything.

And, does anyone know how long it takes to re-train a 3 year old to wash his hands after peeing? I've been working on this one for weeks. New rule in our house--if you go into the bathroom you wash your hands. "But, Daddy said..." is the last thing I want to hear these days.

Reading Binge Slowing

It's been hot and I've not been reading much.

I did get Mary Balogh's Dancing with Clara read Monday night--a traditional regency that was good, but "Freddie" really pissed me off in the end. I like "marriage of convenience" plots and of course, Mary Balogh does it great, I can accept a cheating husband as part of the story when he's not truly committed to the relationship--it is a marriage of convenience after all. But, I don't want to hear the hero say "I'm not sure I can change..." after he's "fallen in love" with the heroine, I expect commitment and monogamy. He would have been added to my gallery of favorite bad boys, if he'd actually changed and promised real commitment.

I'm about a third of the way through Bad to the Bone by Debra Dixon, it's copyright is 1996 and I'm sure I've read it when it was new (the prologue and beginning of the books seem very familiar) but my memory is shot, I don't remember the ending, well the ending is a given, but I don't remember how they get to their HEA, so I'm enjoying it again.

Yesterday, in the mail I got BTTB, What Do You Say to a Naked Elf? by Cheryl Sterling and Passion's Springtime by Lauren Wilde. I'm going to probably read them in this order unless some of the books I ordered at the UBS come in, then these go back to the TBR pile.

Kristie has promised to send me Susan Carroll's The Midnight Bride. I can't say how long I've waited for this book to be released in mass paperback. I was getting ready to order the darned thing new when she offered it for trade. Why I didn't get it in hard cover when it was released? I don't know, I've got the other 2 in the series in HC already. Thanks to Kristie I've been doing a very happy dance.

We've got a pool play date at someone elses house today, so I've got to go shave me legs.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Not In The Mood...

for blogging. It's been too hot to do anything besides swim.

I hate to whine about the heat because there are other parts of the country going through horrible heat waves, but during the day it's been in the 90's with horrendously high humidity (you know, the type of humidity that fogs up your glasses when you leave an air conditioned house or car.) We don't have central air conditioning--it's an old house, and running the duct work would be hell.

I'm also PMSing, not that I've been overly grouchy, but I had malted milk balls for breakfast--not a good thing.

I'm done whining. I'm going to actually try blogging about something I'm reading.

Have a great day and happy reading.

"We're a Train Family" aka Practicing Linking and Posting Pictures

That's a quote from our son (pictured here, sound asleep, wearing a pair of Mommy's sunglasses) after spending yesterday afternoon visiting Catskill Mountain Railroad.

The railroad sits right on the Esopus Creek. Between the towns of Boiceville and Phoenicia. The Esopus is renowned for fly fishing and is a very popular little waterway for tubers, rafters and kayakers.

Supposedly, Dutch Schultz hid 5 million dollars somewhere in the woods outside of Phoenicia that has never been found.

Just outside of Boiceville, is a really cool sculptor/furniture maker Steve Heller's Fabulous Furniture. I took some pictures outside his shop.



The back of the space ship says "Roswell Or Bust", I should have taken a picture of that, but I wanted to make sure you could see the aliens inside--LOL.

I have dial-up and this is just too much work and takes too damn long.

I didn't get to do any reading this weekend, so I'm heading out to the pool to cool off and do a little reading (Junior's coming with me.)

Have a great day, and happy reading.

PS--My car is out of park and all it needs is a wire replaced, nothing expensive and our mechanic will do it while we wait tomorrow--isn't he great!!!

Kids Birthday Parties and Stuck in Park

Yesterday my son went to his second "Chuck E. Cheese" birthday party in the last month. I'm not big on these "theme" parties. Two hours of pure hell. Three and four year olds running around like little lunatics, then are told to sit down eat pizza, dance with "Chuck," eat cake and leave, so the next round of parties can start. There were seven parties going on at the same time, one of the parties was for a 2 year old, he's going to remember this--why waste the money? It's utter chaos. Chaos I tell you.

Junior will be 4 next month, we're having two family parties and that's it. I would have one party, but our nephew's birthday is the week after Junior's and we'll have their party together (husband's side of the family.) We did this last year for the first time and the kids liked it and it was fun. There are enough 1st cousins to make up for not having a "kids" party. We do a craft table and a pinata, and the kids have a great time. Either the following day or the next week, we have a nice quiet birthday with my family. My dad's not up to anything too chaotic.

When we went to leave Chuck's I couldn't get the van out of Park. I hate automatic transmissions. Finally, after playing with it I got it into Drive and had no problems driving home. But, now it's stuck in Park in our driveway and if I can't get it out, we'll have to have it towed to the garage. So, we'll be stuck in the house again. Wonderful. Hopefully it wont need a transmission.

Have a great day, and happy reading. Reading is my plan for the day--it looks like rain.

Still Stuck & The Pot Luck Book...

Well, for the third day running, we'll be stuck in the house--paving today.

When Junior and I went to leave yesterday, I realized the drop off the end of the driveway to the unpaved road was too big and I would have scraped the bottom of the mini-van. The DH drives an SUV and clearance isn't a problem for him.

So instead of re-organizing the home office, which is in desperate need of doing, I've been reading and floating around the pool--tough life, I know--LOL. Hey, it's too humid to do anything else.

In yesterday's mail I received my "Pot Luck" book, thank you "Secret Santa". Since I couldn't decide what to read yesterday morning I read this one.

The Man For Her by Alice Valdal

I had seen this book at the grocery store and loved the cover, but I'm not a huge "westerns" fan, so I had passed on it, but it wasn't bad, liked that it is set in Western Canada (British Columbia) and I like the back drop of a ranch (farm) and the "Gold Rush".

My problem with the book came from the heroine (Lottie). She has waited 10 years for her lover/fiance to return to her and has allowed her son from this relationship to believe his father is coming back. This is the driving force of the plot and almost all the book's conflicts revolve around this.

The hero (Sean) is the missing man's cousin (the cousins could pass for twins). Sean felt duty bound to stay behind in Ireland and care for his cousin's famine stricken family, and then feels bound to help Lottie and her son. Right from the start she is mad at Sean for wanting to follow his cousin to the gold fields and yet still waits for her 1st love to come back (she writes him letters that she keeps to give to him when he returns.)

Honey, he ain't coming back. It takes her 10 years to figure this out??

The book climaxes with the son running away to find his father.

Sean is a good man. Unfortunately, Lottie at times lives up to her nickname "Crazy Lottie," and because of her eccentricities and choices she makes life harder for her child--I've got a problem with this.

After finishing this one, I decide to read a favorite. Jane Feather's The Accidental Bride. I kow it has some problems with historical accuracy, but I like it anyway.

• I like May/December romances and there's at least 15 years between them.
• Phoebe (the heroine) is funny and strong willed, yet not TSTL.
• Cato (the hero) is completely dumb founded by Phoebe and her natural sensuality.

I enjoy the interaction between them.

I'm hoping the paving is done early enough that we can escape, I'm starting to crawl the walls, and Junior is beyond bored.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

Trapped

The village decided to tear up our road and have basically left us trapped. We live on a dead end street and can't get out because they're "reclaiming" the road, tomorrow they're paving.

The good side of being trapped is I've finished 3 books in the last 2 1/2 days. I finished

1. Last Girl Dancing by Holly Lisle--excellent book and would highly recommend it if you like romantic suspense, an "out of the box" read.
2. Daisy's Back in Town by Rachel Gibson--well, I can now say I do NOT like secret baby stories especially ones that take 15 years to tell the father.
3. Guilty Pleasures by Laura Lee Guhrke--this is a re-read. It's one of my favorites from last year, and I still enjoyed it, but not as much as the first time I read it. I guess I was nit picking it a little and found the "Duke" to be too controlling (as if a duke he's not supposed to be controlling). I don't know, I just didn't like him as much as the first time around.

I don't know what to read next, I'm really trying to mix things up a little, so I'm basically not reading the same sub-genre one after another. I ordered three more books through the UBS, and, of course, 2 of them are Regency historicals--smack me in the head.

Tuesday, after our pool play date, I loaned 3 books to one of the other mothers. We'd never talked books before, turns out she is a huge historical romance fan but since she's been home for the past 4 years having babies (3 under the age of 4 and want to have another in the next year), she does little reading. She borrowed Marsha Canham's Robin Hood Trilogy. I'm praying I get them back, though I did threaten her ("I know where you live.")

I'm praying I can get out while the work crews are on lunch. I've got some errands to run. Including picking up a birthday gift for a kids party--I hate these things, but I'll rant about them on another day.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

Just Call Me Lizzie

Lifted this from Alyssa's Blog :

You scored as Elizabeth Bennet. As one of Austen's most beloved characters, Elizabeth Bennet represents what most women would like to become: strong, independent, and loyal. Of course, she has her faults including a stubborn will of iron and a clinging to first impressions. Overall, Lizzie is bright and lovable...something to admire and aspire to.

Which Jane Austen Character are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Last Girl Dancing by Holly Lisle and No Time To Read

I'm 160 pages into Last Girl Dancing by Holly Lisle, it's an absolute page turner. I was so tired last night, I only got about 40 pages read. Woke up early and read until Junior got up.

We've got 5 kids and 3 moms coming for a "pool" play date. I still have to make the beds, wash the breakfast dishes and run to the grocery store for salad fixings for a grown-up lunch.

And, all I want to do is read.

Got to go.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

My Backyard

Today's column over at RTB got me thinking about my backyard.

I live in The Hudson Valley of New York. Actually it's the "Mid" Hudson Valley and the foothills of The Catskill Mountains. The "Lower" Hudson Valley is part of the NYC suburbs--very crowded and has been growing steadily since 9/11. The "Mid" is an area in flux--changing from "bedroom" communities to suburbs.

The little town I live in has 4000 people, it includes

• 2 stop lights
• 3 gas stations
• 4 churches and 1 synagogue
• 1 ice cream stand
• 3 pizza places
• 1 Mexican and 3 Chinese food restaurants
• a family owned grocery store
• 1 Chevy dealer
• NOT ONE fast food restaurant and NO movie theaters
• The nearest Krispy Kreme donut is 25 minutes away and the closest B&N/Starbucks is 25 minutes in the other direction.
• But, we've got a great USED BOOK STORE

Small town America at it's best--LOL.

Not very exciting, but I can look out my bedroom window and see a river slowly meandering north (yes, it flows north and not south). Deer and wild turkey wander our backyard and come up to our back door. We can see bald eagles flying over the river searching for fish. Majestic blue herons stand perfectly still on the river's banks. If I look north I can see the "Trapps" (cliffs) outside of New Paltz. If I listen I can hear birds, bull frogs and woodpeckers.

In the fall, I'll see leaf colors so beautiful, they're breathtaking. And, if I take it for granted, the steady stream of "Leaf Peepers" from NYC, with their picnic lunches of wine, cheese and baggettes (rather cliche isn't it--but true), are a constant reminder. Locals laugh, but I understand the draw.

It may not be as exciting as NYC, but I wouldn't live anywhere else.

So, it sounds bucolic and grand doesn't it? Gee, it seems like I forgot to mention

• The skunks we had to evict from under our front porch.
• Woodchucks that eat my flowers and my husbands vegetable garden.
• Raccoons breaking into the garbage pails.
• Deer that eat the bushes down to nubs and bring ticks carrying Lyme Disease right to our back door (my husband's had Lyme Disease--worse than any flu you can imagine.)
• Squirrels picking the black walnut tree clean and throwing the shells into the pool.
• The bull frogs I hear live in the mosquito ridden swamp that used to be a swimming pool two doors down.
• The lady next door who rakes leaves into our yard because the tree is ours, therefore the leaves are ours too.
• Black bears and coyotes that occasionally wander out of the mountains and get lost.
• How about the snakes that range from harmless to poisonous?
• And what about the winters that start with a just few flakes in October and November and end with snow banks that don't melt until April.

I'm amazed by the amount of people who, when they move out of the "City" or more established 'burbs, think it's the towns responsiblilty to take care of all these little nuisances instead of just living with them like the rest of us. They forget that the little nuisances come with the perks.

Hey, it's not glamorous, but it's my backyard.

So, what's in your backyard??

Whine, Bitch, Complain...

Well, it's 5:53 in the morning and I've been up for an hour and a half. Junior had a bad dream and is now asleep in our bed, in my spot (that's okay--I love watching him sleep.)

My reading binge is slowing down, I've hit a few "not great" books, though I did finish The Shadowy Horses, which was very good.

• Julia Quinn's It's In His Kiss was kind of boring, nice banter, but I never really got into the story or the h/h's relationship. Gregory was very funny and I'm relieved that his story is next and last. Julia Quinn is a guest squawker over at Squawk Radio this week.
• Double Trouble by Claire Cross is written in the first person, which I like, normally it's a nice change from 3rd person. This book gave me a headache, I found myself rereading paragraphs, passages and pages, because at times it seemed rather convoluted--funny coming from me the queen of convoluted.
• The Book of the Seven Delights is Betina Krahn's new book. I started it yesterday, and it's not bad, but at times it's dragging. It gets big points for being set in Victorian Morocco. The hero is English/French and the heroine is American. It reminds me of "The Mummy" movies--which I love.
• Last night I started reading The Wedding Night of an English Rogue by Jillian Hunter when I realized I'd left TBOTSD downstairs and was too lazy to go down and get it. After about 5 pages I turned off the booklight, took off my glasses and watched Cold Case on CBS with my husband, it's one of his favorite shows, but I always find it rather sad and usually much rather read.

There you go, the books that have pulled me out of a really good reading groove. Don't get me wrong, TBOTSD isn't bad and I haven't analyzed it enough to decide what's not working, and the Julia Quinn is well written, just boring.

I forgot to mention, last week I saw some of the new-sized paperbacks. To be honest, they look awkward, kind of tall and thin (about an inch taller than regular paperbacks, but no wider.) I wasn't impressed.

I think I'm finally done with the RT message boards (except for the General Board--I'll keep checking on how Jenster is doing). This was the question that finally put me over the edge:

"...Blank Pages at back of books...does it bother you?...Okay i may be getting just a bit picky here, but I've been noticing these 2-3 blank pages at the back of book more and more lately ... and wondered how you felt about this trend...."

Who the %$&%$$ cares!!! Is this inane crap or what?? I had to get that off my chest, I was going to post it over there, but figured it would offend someone. I know better than to go into this person's threads, but it's like rubber necking, I can't help but look. Oh, I feel much better.

On a much nicer note, Beverly's interview is up on mcvane this morning.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

Confession Time and Guilty Pleasures

I prefer alpha heros--ack, not much of a confession, is it?

But, occasionally, I like historicals with alpha anti-heros--obnoxious men who not only need redeeming, they need serious soul searching, behavior modifications, attitude adjustments... And, they, of course, need the perfect woman to save them from themselves.

The other day Wendy blogged that Thea Devine was a guilty pleasure. Well, books with anti-heros are my guilty pleasure. Here are a few more memorable anti-heros:

• Gralaem--Firesong by Catherine Coulter
• Lucien (Lucky)--Dark Wager by Mary Spencer
• Cato--The Accidental Bride by Jane Feather
• Rees--Your Wicked Ways by Eloisa James
• Rolfe--The Conqueror by Brenda Joyce
• Rogan--The Taming by Jude Deveraux
• Spencer--The Marriage Bed by Stepanie Mittman
• Hugo--Vixen by Jane Feather
• John--The Marriage Bed by Laura Lee Guhrke (newest to the list)
• I'm sure there are other, they're not coming to mind now.

Drunks, adulterers, clueless idiots, self-involved morons, villians in their own right, but everyone had an epiphany of love, that made their book worth reading.

Are all the books keepers? Nope.

Do I even believe an epiphany of love can truly change someone? Nope, but for some reason in each of these books, I believed it possible.

Would I personally want any of them? Nope.

Would I want to see one of them a hero in a contemporary? Absolutely not.

Contemporaries can and do have anti-heros (Anne Stuart writes the best), but they're somehow different and most women today would kick these historical type anti-heros to the curb without a second thought .

OMG--I Bought More Books...

I can not believe this, but I caved and bought more books today. Four new and Four used.

New:

1. The Wedding Night of an English Rogue--Jillian Hunter
2. The Book of the Seven Delights--Betina Krahn
3. Last Girl Dancing--Holly Lisle
4. Bait--Karen Robards

Used:

1. Lady of Desire--Gaelen Foley
2. Daisy's Back in Town--Rachel Gibson
3. His Every Kiss--Laura Lee Guhrke
4. Searching for Venus--Ella Broussard

I already read His Every Kiss, but loaned it out to someone and never got it back. I decided to go back and re-read Guilty Pleasures and His Every Kiss. Right now I'm reading One Night of Sin by Gaelen Foley and realized I hadn't read Lady of Desire.

As I'm typing this I'm banging my head against the screen. Do I really need anymore books and did I need 2 more set in Regency England, after I swore I was done with the time period?

Have a good night, and happy reading.

Thoughts and Prayers...

Thoughts and prayer go out to our friends and families in the UK.

Auto Buys...

Maili's column over at RTB yesterday got me thinking about my different lists--Auto Buys, Almost Auto Buys and Used to be Auto Buys. I honestly thought my "used to be" list would be the smallest--alas I was wrong.

Auto Buys-- Authors I will buy without reading the blurb and will always buy new:

• Mary Balogh
• Marsha Canham
• Liz Carlyle
• Jane Feather (getting close to being on the "used to be..." list)
• Diana Gabaldon (the only one I buy in hard cover)
• Juliana Garnett
• Linda Howard
• Madeline Hunter
• Eloisa James
• Laura Kinsale
• Maggie Osborne (I know she's retired, but I can still hope)
• Susan Elizabeth Phillips (may end up on the "almost..." list)
• Candice Proctor
• Julia Quinn
• Nora Roberts (what can I say--she's a comfort read)

Almost Auto Buys--Authors I buy after I read the blurb, occasionally I'll pass on what's new and wait for it to be used:

• Jane Ashford (not a lot of books out there, but I like her writing style)
• Adele Ashworth
• Elizabeth Chadwick (I forget to look for her books, but I always enjoy them and there hard to find new or used)
• Katherine Deauxville
• Rachel Gibson
• Lisa Kleypas
• Karen Ranney
• Karen Robards
• Anne Stuart
• Joan Wolf (if she continues to only write contemporaries, she'll be moved to the "used to be..." list)

Used to be an Auto Buy--Authors I occasionally buy used or have absolutely given up on:

• Jo Beverly
• Suzanne Brockmann (current series got old fast for me)
• Sandra Brown
• Catherine Coulter
• Jude Deveraux
• Janet Evanovich (tired of Stephanie Plum and wont read the romances)
• Julie Garwood ( I think I out grew her writing style, though I still get her books used)
• Susan Johnson (I liked her old historicals with all the footnotes)
• Brenda Joyce (eek--her contemporaries are horrible)
• Katherine Kingsley
• Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick... (tired of the same book over and over again)
• Stephanie Laurens
• Elizabeth Lowell
• Pamela Morsi (love her historicals, wish she was still writing them and not contemporaries)
• Mary Jo Putney
• JD Robb
• Kathleen Woodiwiss

I was going to be obnoxious and do a list of the "Just Shoot Me If I Ever Buy Them Again", but decided that was rude, even if it is my blog.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

What Can I Say--Kristie Inspired Me

I'm not a polka dot person and those dots were driving me crazy. This was the third template I tried this morning. Sage green is one of my favorite colors, in fact, the blog now matches my bedroom very nicely.

The Marriage Bed... aka The Book Junkie Strikes Again!

Last week I ordered 3 books through the UBS (they also sell new books).

1. The Marriage Bed by Laura Lee Guhrke
2. It's in His Kiss by Julia Quinn
3. Carved in Stone by Vicki Taylor

The first two were in yesterday, so of course I ran right out and picked them up. Now, I'm sure Carved in Stone will be in today, but I wasn't willing to wait to pick up them all up at the same time (that damned book junkie thing again).

Neither of these books ever hit the TBR pile. I started The Marriage Bed as soon as I finished Double Trouble and didn't stop reading until I finished it at 12:30 this morning. It's in His Kiss had a place of honor sitting on my night stand over night.

The Marriage Bed by Laura Lee Guhrke

He charmed her, wed her, and betrayed her ...

But now the repentant lord must

entice his enchanting wife back to the marriage bed.

That little quote is borrowed from Amazon.com, and is a rather simplistic description of the plot. This book is extremely well written, it has a great plot and the pacing is perfect, you could have gotten all of that from Mrs. Giggle's review.

Spoilers: Don't go any further if you don't want details...

There is a lot going on in this book. If you can't deal with adultery or long separations this book is NOT for you.

At 26, John Hammond is in desperate need of an heiress. After assuming his title he's in need of money quickly. He finds Viola (a Duke's sister) and charms her into marrying him including telling her he loves her, though he doesn't. After they are married she discovers he has kept a mistress right up until the wedding day and mistakenly believes he is still visiting her. She locks him out of their bedroom for a month and he leaves, basically for good, and she lets him.

Fast forward 8 years and now Lord Hammond is in desperate need again. Now he needs an heir, the two he has lined up for the job have died of Scarlet Fever.

John has had numerous mistress over the 8 years, and on some level he blames Viola because she locked him out--men have needs you know. Somehow Ms. Guhrke is able to show him as a charming scapegrace, he doesn't come across as the pig he is, because on one level he doesn't feel he's wrong, but at the same time when confronted he has guilt.

When he says "I never meant to hurt you..." I believed him. If you view life in black and white, you're probably not going to like this book, but if you can see through shades of grey, you will be able to believe Viola can forgive him and he does finally find redemption when he realizes how wrong he has been, how lousy he's treated women and that he does love his wife. All of this comes very late in the book.

I read this entire book with a lump in my throat. You feel for Viola, and even some of the mistresses, at times you hate John. If this were my life I wouldn't have let him back in, but this isn't my "love" story, it's John and Viola's. If you believe she's able forgive him and that he loves her, you'll believe in their HEA--I did.

I'm now 50 pages into It's in His Kiss. It's a nice lite read, much needed after spending 4 hours perpetually on the verge of tears.