Back...

Well, I'm back. The fundraiser is finished for another year. THANK GOD.

Last night I finished Stephanie Lauren's Mastered by Love. Rosario had an interesting review and I thought it was worth giving a try. I haven't read Lauren's in years and years. She used to be a favorite, but after a while I found her rather repetative and the silly nicknames were very annoying.

It was okay.  Something that could be enjoyed in the moment, but it certainly wasn't a keeper.  I find she has interesting vocabulary choices, almost as if she writes with a thesaurus.  It's almost as if her writing hasn't evolved at all--plot, characters are still very similar to her other books.

Royce and Minerva were very interesting and smart characters, they flowed very well together.  I didn't particularly like some of the secondary character (Royce's sisters) and there seemed to be too many of them (secondary characters--not sisters),  and I was somewhat disconcerted by how the "last traitor" met is ultimate demise.

A totally readable book, but Lauren's wont be going back on my reading list.

The Yankees come on in 30 minutes, so have a great day/night and happy reading.

Gone but not forgotten...

I'm busy with a school fundraiser this weekend.  I'll be back on Monday.

Have a great weekend and happy reading.

Random discoveries...

I've been blog hopping again and just following links to different places, and have made some random discoveries...

1. It doesn't matter who talks about ereaders--the mind wanders, the eyes glaze over and the ringing in the ears sounds like every adult in a Peanuts cartoon... wah, wah waaahh.  I know it's the future of books and reading, but I'm waiting for technology to even itself out and prices to start to come down.  And ebook prices aren't always that great. And everyone is talking about them.
2. There are some really good review sites out there.  I've been running Kristie's sidebar and have been lurking on interesting review and commentary blogs with some gorgeous graphics.  The first few times I ran Kristie's sidebar there were an awful lot of contests and things that didn't interest me, but for the last week I've been finding some good stuff.
3. I need to update my sidebar to include all the good stuff I've found (see #2).
4. I must be a prude, but Holy Cow, there are a lot more sites that need consent warnings.  Not that consent warnings actually mean anything.  But at least I'd be forewarned.
5. I'm not ususally bothered by book covers, but I've seen a few that I would have to cover for public reading and I NEVER do this--one didn't even have people on it and it definitely would need to be covered in public, I'm leaving it at that.
6. Covers again, I know I just said I'm not usually bothered by covers, but everyone is bothered by AVON covers...  Why do we get sucky AVON step back covers here in the States but in England the AVON covers are lovely and artsy?
7. RT doesn't like me.  I've tried registering several times and I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER get the registration confirmation.  And yes, I've checked the SPAM mailbox.  Not that I need to be on the RT message boards--it's just annoying.
8. There are several bloggers obsessed with Lisa Kleypas heros--Kristie started a trend :)
9. Some of the interaction between writers and bloggers is interesting and some of it is cringe worthy. I guess that never changes.
10. The next time you go to Walmart make sure you don't look like a freak and if you're going to wear a pink micro-mini please wear underpants.  Someone will take your picture and post it online for all the world to stumble across.  And no, I don't know where I found this one, it was a link, from a link, from a link thing.

Ten is a good number to stop at.

I've got Bingo today, I wont be back until tonight.  Have a great day and happy reading :)

Lightened Up

Taking a break from romance blogging wasn't planned, but it did have some good side effects.  During my self imposed exile I learned to lighten up and not take romance reading so seriously.  Most of us read for escape and entertainment, not for enlightenment or to find a life plan, yet so many of us take the process of reading and blogging so seriously, in the past myself included.

The other day there was a review Carolyn Jewel's Indiscreet on Dear Author. It seemed like a good review, sounded like a book I'd enjoy, like one I'll be adding to my TBR pile (I'd already decided on this one, Rosie's review had already convinced me to pick this one up). The woman who posted the first comment apparently is married to a Kurdish man. This is from her initial comment...

I just can’t stand cultural appropriation. So I will have to pass. Middle Eastern/Persian/Arabic culture has become taboo, so it will be popular for exploitation

I flinched. It had nothing to do with the review or the book. For several comments it looked like the review might be hijacked, morphing into something that might cause another controversy.  Was she entitled to make this comment--of course.  Was this the forum for discussion--maybe, maybe not. Sarah Frantz is looking for papers, wouldn't this be a perfect topic?

My husband is Sicilian American, should I not watch The Godfather movies or the The Sopranos because they are sterotypes of Italian/Sicilian American culture, or do I allow myself to escape and be entertained.

Several years ago I read Scottish Historicals on a fairly regular basis.  After numerous discussions on message boards,  it was brought home how inaccurate so many of these books were in  historical information and culture, to the point that I gave up on them, rather than focusing on the story between 2 characters I was focusing on the details.  I've probably missed some great books because of this.

I'm not trying to diminish the need for historical and cultural accuracy or personal preferences.  I'm annoyed about historical inaccuracies when I find them and I have definite preferences but these days first and foremost I want to escape, be entertained and believe happily ever after is possible.

Home Alone

The hubby and child are camping. 

Cub Scout camping. 

Cub Scout camping in the POURING RAIN.

They're camping locally at one of the county parks.  I stopped last night to see how they were doing.  When I left it wasn't raining yet and everything was set up and the 3 man tent looked quite cozy with sleeping bags, blanket, air mattress and pillows.  When I got home there was a call from the hubby, I apparently when I closed the door of our mini-van... "you locked the van with my keys in it."  I had to go back and unlock it.

So, with all this alone time do you think I did any reading??  NOPE!  I watched the Yankees go into extra innings and promptly fell asleep after Teixeira's home run in the bottom of the 11th.  Honestly, the Yankees didn't win as much as the Twins lost, but we'll take it :)

Back to the campers...  I get a call this morning at 6:30, that's right 6:30--good thing I was already awake.  They're in the van drying off.  It poured non-stop from about 10:00 last night until about 6:00 this morning.  They were nice and dry in the tent until the child needed to go to the bathroom at 5:30 this morning.  Not a dry spot in the entire camp, no place to sit and almost no dry firewood.  It took hours to cook breakfast.  I sent towels and a storage box that was to stay in the car with dry clothing.  It looks like they may need it.

I'm heading over this afternoon.  Junior needs his Cub Scout uniform by 2:00 and our Pastor is coming to say a fireside Mass, that is if they can get a fire going.  I was planning on staying for dinner, but I think I'll come home, eat something and read--no Yankees.

Did I mention they're forecasting FROST tonight?

For the first time in my life the words "I'm going to burn that book" came out of my mouth.  That book being The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes.  The child reads it every day, spending 1/2 an hour every morning in our only bathroom.  My husband took it out of the bathroom to help get the child moving in the morning.  The child found it and it's back in the bathroom.

The child actually asked the teacher if he could use it for his October book report.  He's reading a Goosebump book instead.

The evolution of a romance reader

Wendy has a great post up on Romancing the Blog today about romance genre ground breakers. Definitely worth a read and a thought today.

This got me thinking about my ground zero of romance. Where did my addiction to romance start and how did it evolve?

Westerns--real westerns, without love interest westerns, Zane Grey type of westerns. I was horse crazy as a kid. What is the backbone of westerns? To an 11 or 12 year old kid it was the horse--yes, I said the horse. But, even then I thought something was missing. I also read other things like The Little House Books and Anne of Green Gables please note these books also had horses and ponies :)

Harlequin Presents--HPs came next. Harlequin Presents with horses that is--LOL. I inhaled anything written by Janet Dailey (which I hate to admit since her plagiarism scandal). That is anything written by Janet Dailey with horses.

In the 8th grade I read Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman--this was my epiphany. It was a true love story. The school librarian gave me the book at the end of the school year because I'd taken it out over and over again. It's probably in box packed away in my attic.

Then I started reading anything with a romantic theme. Anything published by Harlequin (the Silhouette lines hadn't started yet).

The discovery of Kathleen Woodiwiss (borrowed from an aunt) was mind-blowing. History, romance, adventure--OMG, she had it all, and they were epic--more than 150 or 180 pages. At this point I was reading other genres equally. Stephen King was getting popular and I read Carrie and The Shining, and other adult books, some books a young teenager should never have read.

Up until the mid 80's I was simply looking for romance books. Then I really started to discover "authors" other than Kathleen Woodiwiss, Barbara Cartland (even then Cartland readers didn't admit to being Cartland readers, my Regency romance passion started with Cartland and Georgette Heyer) and Janet Dailey (though at this point I'd outgrown Janet Dailey--I was amazed by her Calder series when it was new). The discovery of other authors sent me into autobuy mode... Linda Howard, Nora Roberts, Catherine Coulter, Judith McNaught, Jude Devereaux, Sandra Brown, Julie Garwood, Jill Barnett, Lavryle Spencer... I can remember the day I discoverd Lavyrle Spencer. I'd stopped in a local drug store for something else, stopped at the book display and found Seperate Beds, the main characters were my age--it was amazing.

I'm still hooked, much to the dismay of my husband--books overrun our house, if there is a flat surface, there's probably a romance novel sitting on it, actually more than one :)

Time for Eternity by Susan Squires

I started the Sommerfield and decided it needed to wait until I finished Susan Squires' Time for Eternity.  I've been reading Susan Squires for a long time, starting with Body Electric. I didn't read Body Electric new, I had heard good things from another blogger a few years ago and enjoyed the concept. If you haven't read it, hunt it down it's a curious read--I'll leave it at that.

Believe it or not, I'm not a huge fan of most vampire romance. Most of the vampire romances I've read aren't frightening enough, I find myself comparing them to Salem's Lot,and nothing I've ever read scared me as much.  And honestly, I can't stand vampire comedy.  I have several Sizemore vampire books on my TBR pile, I haven't read any yet.

None of the 3 vampire series I read are very scary, but there's something in each that I enjoy: 1. JR Ward (she continues to suck me in her stories--I can't explain it :)).  2. Lynn Viehl--I've enjoyed almost all of her Darkyn series and 3. Susan Squires--she hooked me with The Companion and I loved One with the Darkness.

Time for Eternity was another good book in a series of good books. It has morphed into a time-travel/vampire series, which has been interesting. In her earlier books the source of conflict in the story comes from an almost epic battle between vampires, but with the time travel books the time periods become character like, bringing the conflict in a different direction, simply surviving in a historic period of conflict.  One with the Darkness starts in 1821 and goes back to Rome during Caligula's reign (A.D 41--love that time period :)).

Modern day San Francisco is where Time for Eternity starts and goes back to the France during the Reign of Terror, a time period I don't like to read about--the guillotine and the killing of innocent families including children is very disturbing.  Frankie (a made vampire) goes back in time to kill Henri (a born vampire) before he can turn her.  She believes he abandoned her.  Henri would never have left her alone after the transition, we find out on page 7 he was guillotined.  Why he was killed unfolds as the story progresses.  By going back in time Francoise/Frankie, the heroine, finds strength she lacked during her 1st time in Revolutionary France and Henri, our hero, is the truest of heros, this time survivng the time period.

I've rattled on enough.  This one I enjoyed, maybe someone else did too?

Have a great day and happy reading.

The next two weeks are crazy...

In two weeks our school will host a very large fundraiser.  In years past it raised half of our yearly fundraising income, but this year it looks like we'll make very little--we're taking a big hit because of the economy.  Unfortunately the work load for this event is huge and we're all getting a little tense.  It's crunch time and everyone is feeling it.  There's snipping and snarling going on all over the place.

Next weekend Junior and the Hubby are going camping with the Cub Scouts.  And that's turning into an event too.  Usually we pay a fee and the pack supplies the food.  This time we bring our own food, but it's specific things that they will "cook as a pack".  I don't think it's going to work but I'm keeping my mouth shut.  Otherwise there may be snipping and snarling going on all over the place.

This weekend the Hubby has to work and I'm manning a booth at our town's Fall festival.  It should be fine.  That is unless someone from the town's school board corners me again to discuss "school issues" then there will be snipping and snarling going on all over the place (actually it will only be in my head--I'm very diplomatic and can smile and nod while seething, but that's another tale).

I'm hoping to squeeze in some reading.

Have a great weekend :)

I didn't need to know that...

This morning I was up early and did a quick blog hop.  The last stop before having to get breakfast ready and lunches packed was Dear Author .  Now I rarely read Joan/Sarah F's reviews because I'm not really into what she reads and reviews for the Ja(y)nes, but I almost always skim through her reviews, because you never know something may catch my interest.

The cover of the book caught my attention, so I start reading the review.  I get about 2/3 of the way through the review and I hit a section that went beyond TMI to I really didn't need to know this :)

I may be a font of useless information, but that was information I didn't need to know and probably wouldn't admit to knowing even if it came up on conversation--LOL

Just Curious

Being gone for so long I'm left somewhat confused at times and still out of the loop at other times.

This week Rosie blogged about editorial and opinion blog posts over on Access Romance.  My comment was "There’s not much out there that I’d be willing to wade into. There’s more important things in life to worry about."  I see most of the attention getting issues as tempests in teacups, and someone else usually posts my thoughts on a subject and probably better than I would have :)  .

I came across a few things over the last few days that I wasn't really "willing to wade into", but I did have some thoughts about, so I'm going to comment here instead :)

1. Advertising--if you reach the point where advertising is needed to keep your blog afloat, you have probably ceased being a simple reader blog and have morphed into more of an industry one.  This isn't a bad transition for people who have made this their work, part time, full time.  It takes real dedication to move from a reading hobby to being part of the industry.  Advertising is great, but it needs to be separate from commentary.  There's a credibility issue.  And to be perfectly honest, I never notice the advertising--that's probably not such a good thing or maybe it is--I'm not sure, I'll have to think about it--someother time ;)
2. Yesterday I stumbled upon the "petition" from last year.  Wow, I truly missed a big brouhaha with that one--LOL, Nobody likes criticism (myself included), the initial reaction is usually to be defensive--I always hate myself later, whenver I do this. What I found interesting was the shock and disbelief that went with an author behaving badly over a review, even to this extreme and this was frightening in the extreme.  This type of behavior has been going on forever.  Authors behave badly, readers react and the mean girls on all sides come crawling out of the woodwork.  This happens on the blogs now, the message boards of a few years ago, book reviews in magazines and newspapers have you ever read some of the letters to the editors?  There are crazy people in the world--and they all have opinions.  There will always be fans that feed the egos of authors and we need to remember there are fans of blogs that can be just as ugly.  It is what it is--a sad part of human nature.
3. Plagiarism--what the heck?  Don't authors realize, especially in this digitial age, that they're going to be eventually caught??

I'm off my soap box--have a great day, I've got a book to read :)

Next up on the TBR pile

The other Church Lady in our office is a 74 year old grandma. She has been the Church Secretary for over 25 years. Every once in a while she gives me books that she's enjoyed, usually these books are women's fiction she picked up at a library sale. 

Yesterday she gave me what she described as a hot romance, she stayed up late Monday night to finsh reading. Not only did she like it she LOVED it.

Holy cow, it's an old Sylvie Sommerfield. In all the years I've been reading romance I've never read Sylvie Sommerfield. This one is up next.

Don't you just love the cover--LOL

Happy Birthday Chris!!!

Tempt Me at Twilight

Have you ever read a book that is a mess and yet totally entertaining?  JR Ward books don't count :D

For me the new Lisa Kleypas book Tempt Me at Twilight is a mess.  It's all over the place.  Poppy (don't you love that name--it sounds very happy) discovers Harry's secret room while chasing her sister Beatrix's annoying ferret, Dodger, around Harry's hotel.  Harry is not all that accomodating when his space has been invaded and to be honest you think he's going to be a very dangerous man.  Nope--there was no consistancy in Harry's character development. 

Poppy also is an odd mix of hot and cold.  She's attracted to Harry but is convinced she is in love with another man (Michael), who is obviously a wimp unable to stand up to his father.  Apparently Poppy is inappropriate bride material and Daddy plans to cut him off completely.

Forced to marry because of a compromising situation, and right before the wedding Poppy discovers an evil truth about Harry, leaving her heartbroken over Michael??  Maybe??  They rub along for a while and they start to get along until Poppy finds out Harry creates/improves war weapons.  Yikes, this is bad, ultimatum time sends Poppy to dear brother Leo and home to the family.  Of course, Harry follows and becomes a completely different character.  Miracle of miracles, he's changed by being part of a family.

And the situation between Harry and Catherine??  Bizarre.

Kleypas is heavy handed through this entire book.  How is it possible then that I actually enjoyed this mess of a book?  I don't know.  Maybe because the characters are likeable even in their inconsistancies.

If you suspend belief you might like this one too.  Perhaps.

Good Day for NY Sports!!

Well, it was a good day for New York Sports :)

1. Yankees won their division and clinched home field advantage for the playoffs.
2. The Giants won.
3. The Jets won.
4. Even the Mets won ;)

It's All About Perspective

The other day I volunteered at our school book fair.  I love book fair, it's like having the kids section of Borders right in the school.  The shelving units supplied by Scholastic Books lined the school's downstairs hallway starting with preschool books moving to level one and two and then on to Goosebumps, etc.  As I was moving toward the YA books I recognized several books I'd seen on some of the romance blogs I'd stumbled into while blog hopping over the last month--I probably couldn't find them again if I tried.

There's a part of me flinching when I think about kids stumbling into these same websites and blogs with borderline adult content when they're looking for are YA books. Before anyone is offended I realize parents should know what their kids are looking at on-line or reading, but we also know how kids are and I know I read things as a kid that weren't age appropriate either.

Being a parent of a child who has the ability to read anything changes ones perspective somewhat.  I'm not going to get on a soapbox and preach against blogs that review or talk about both erotica/erotic romance and YA novels, but it's something to think about. 

I'm off my mini-soapbox :)  Have a great day and happy reading.

Bat Girl way cool

Wendy, my son loves your Bat Girl, he thinks she's cool.

The Week in Review...

I guess this post could be 2 fold.  It could be my reading reviews for the week and it could be what's going on in life.  Since I only managed to finish one book, the post will have to be about life :)

This was and still is a going and going week...

• Monday was orientation night at school.  We visit the teachers and hear all about the current year's curriculum.  It was a wonderful visit with the teacher as Junior is doing well and BEHAVING himself in the classroom.  You can not imagine how exciting this is after the disaster that was last year.  I was there early to help hand out Gertrude Hawke Candy for our annual candy sale fundraiser.  Our family has to sell 96 candy bars for $1 each--anyone interested ??  Dad's taking half of them to work--we need to get them out of the house or we'll be eating them and honestly who could possibly eat 96 candy bars in 2 weeks (that's when the $ is due back to the school)
• Tuesday was our busy day.  Work (Mom and Dad), homework (Mom and Junior), soccer practice (Mom, Junior and the BFF--I actually do the dropping off, the BFF's Mom does the picking up), Cub Scouts (Junior and Dad), and Church History class (Mom)
• Wednesday was our quite day.  I cooked dinner and we sat down to eat together.  Picked up the Kleypas and Carlyle. I started the new Carlyle.
• Thursday was Open House at our school.  We do this periodically to promote the school. I worked Open House until about 8:15, then I sat in on a meeting to deal with private school issues. But I did find time to finish the new Carlyle--loved it :)
• Friday will be another work day, I'm also working our after care program (Friday's aren't bad at after care--no homework :))  Tomorrow night there's a Coffee House at our church--I promised to bake cookies (I'm actually going to use the leftover cookies from the School Open House).  I'm looking forward to the Coffee House, it's our first, I know the music will be great.
• Saturday--Dad has to work, Junior has a soccer game and we have a 40th birthday party Saturday night for which we have not purchased a gift yet, so I guess that means Junior and I are shopping while Dad is at work.
• Sunday--Church and Bingo, I'll be missing football.

It wasn't a good reading week.  But if you only get one book finished in a week it might as well be a good one--Liz Carlyle's Wicked All Night qualified.

Next week will be much better.  Tuesday will be busy but other than that we'll have normal week.

still here...

1. I'm still here.  The week got away from me.
2. Junior had a cold for the last 3 days.  He went back to school today.
3. I finished 2 books (Betina Krahn and Jo Goodman) last week and started several others--kept trying to find what I wanted to read next.
4. I probably wont be back until Thursday.

Have a great day/night and happy reading.

Junior's question of the day

Monday night Junior and Dad were watching the Antiques Roadshow and I overheard the following question:

"So Dad, is there anything old in this room besides you?"

YIKES

New books

I ran around Friday like a chicken with my head chopped off.  It was one of those days that kind of spiralled out of control--not bad, just busy.  Ended up at B&N to get our niece a gift card as part of her birthday present and of course picked up a few books for myself.  I didn't really need more books, I certainly have plenty on my TBR pile, but these beckoned and I answered...

1. With Seduction in Mind by Laura Lee Guhrke:   Rosie has a good review of this book.  It wasn't great, nor was it bad, but for me it was somewhat disappointing.  I've been autobuying Laura Lee Guhrke for years, The Girl-Bachelor series has me rethinking this.
2. MacKenzie's Legacy (MacKenzie's Mountain and MacKenzie's Mission)  by Linda Howard:  As if I haven't already read these  two books over and over and over and over again.  And, I read them again this weekend--still LOVE them :)  I've worn out two original MacKenzie's Mountain and I can't seem to find my copy of Mission.  For me, this is Linda Howard at her very best.  Strong alpha heros and equally strong heroines--it doesn't get better than that.
3. Never Love a Lawman by Jo Goodman:  Honestly, I think I bought this book for the cover :)  I'm about 70 pages into this and I'm not loving her story set-up.  I know the point is to be mysterious, but it's not working for me.  But it is a long book (almost 440 pages) so I'm going to keep at it, maybe it needs a long set-up to go with the large word count.

I was going to comment on some of the things I've seen around while blog hopping (bad romance mothers and the ebook vs print book thing), but I think I need to actually formulate what I want to say before I post something.

Have a great day/night and happy reading.

The Joy of a Boy...

This morning Junior and I had an interesting conversation...

Me:  "While I'm in the shower get dressed... underwear, t-shirt, socks, polo shirt, blue shorts and school sweatshirt." (please notice I list everything he needs to put on, if I don't, he'll forget something)

Junior:  "I'll wear the underwear from yesterday."

Me:  "Put on clean underwear."

Junior:  "I think yesterday's are clean."

Me:  Put on clean underwear"

Junior:  "But they're clean."

Me:  Put on clean underwear anyway."  (I'm starting to get exasperated...)

Junior:  "I'm telling you they're clean."  (He's getting more exasperated.)

Me:  "Put on clean underwear."  (more exasperated..)

Junior:  "Are you hearing me clearly?" (at this point I was stepping into the shower, not only am I hearing him clearly so is the rest of our neighborhood))

Me:  "I hear you perfectly clear.  Put on clean underwear."

Junior:  "Okay."

today's thoughts...

So far so good, Junior likes his teacher, which has me relieved as he asked during the summer if he could go to a different Catholic school for 3rd grade and come back for 4th.  Mrs. R is very strict and Junior has some, hmm shall we say, behavior issues.  He's not really bad, rather mischievous with a sarcastic tone (I can't imagine where he gets that :), his teacher last year wasn't swayed by his cute face, which got him through kindergarten and 1st grade without any real problems--"He's so cute, how can you get mad at him." is a quote from the kindergarten teacher, and his 1st grade teacher would say he was wickedly funny.  I should have realized that wasn't good.  He thinks the Smart Board in his class is way cool, and they were the first to use the playground during recess, apparently this never happened in 2nd grade. All the homework for the last two days has been mine--covering workbooks with contact paper.

The hubby is working late, which is a good thing considering he is in contractor sales and the construction industry stinks right now.

I've not read anything since the weekend. That's not really true. I reread the last 100 pages of Catherine Coulter's Fire Song, one of those books that would be a wall banger if I'd actually reread the entire thing.  The first 100 or so pages aren't bad and the last 100 are good--I love a good grovel and Graelam's realizing he's in love and having to follow Kassia home to Belleterre when she leaves him always entertains me, what can I say I'm rather easily entertained, sad I know :) Junior took one look at the clinch cover from my 1985 edition and announced it was gross.

I need to start chopping veggies for a stir fry.  Have a great day/night and happy reading.

Blog thoughts...

I've been back for a couple of weeks and have a few thoughts...

The Great Western Drive--is a great idea, it brings attention to books that are languishing on keeper shelves everywhere and by talking about them new readers/bloggers can find some great reads.  There needs to be a "break through" book that catches the attention of readers and publishers, maybe then westerns will take the place of paranormals or regencies or at least be equal to them in popularity.

Rosario still writes the best reviews--that says it all.  I've been blog hopping, visiting "new to me" bloggers and Rosario still rocks, and that's not because we have the same reading tastes.

Paranormals--Dear Author's Pioneers of Paranormals post yesterday reminded me that Paranormals have been around for quite a while and weren't invented with the abundance of vampire, werewolf and demon books that we encounter now.  You can find some great books listed over there all of which were written before this century :)

Gothics--there was a post about gothics at RtB the other day.  I love a good gothic and like westerns they need a "break through" book to catch readers attention.

Review Blogs--Holy Cow!!  I can't believe how many new bloggers writing reviews are out there.  I can't keep up, and to be honest I'm rather overwhelmed by them all.  I go to Kristie's to run her side bar and I'm having a hard time differentiating them.  I'm sure everyone has a different style and voice, but I'm not familiar enough with them yet.

A good smack in the head--besides writing great reviews and Wendy is quite good at passing out reality checks, but then she's always been good at that.

What is going on with all the category reviews?--I can not believe how many people are reviewing category romance these days.  Not a bad thing, but I don't remember them getting so much attention in the past.  Is Harlequin/Silhouette sending out more ARCs or did some of the bigger review sites realize they may have been poking fun at books that turned out to be good reads?  Wendy and Sybil... This is not directed at you ladies--you've been reviewing category romance forever :)

That's it for today, happy reading to all.

Back to school...

Junior goes back tomorrow :-)

Several moms are going out for breakfast after we drop them off.    I will not say I'm happy school's starting *wink-wink*.  The hubby tried to make me feel guilty about being happy about this--to say the least it didn't work.

I may post a 1st day picture, but to be honest it's not much different from the 1st day pictures for the last 3 years.  White polo, blue shorts--the only thing different is the backpack, and he has a new Yankee one for this year.

book order list...

Sybil asked what came in the Amazon order:

• The Vampire Quest--Vivi Anna
• Veiled Truth--Vivi Ana
• Dangerous Lover--Lisa Marie Rice
• Dangerous Secrets--Lisa Marie Rice
• Dangerous Passion--Lisa Marie Rice
• Seducing an Angel--Mary Balogh
• The Courtesan's Wager--Claida Dain
• Untamed--Hope Tarr (the cover of this book is absolutely horrendous)

So far I've read the 3 Lisa Marie Rice and Seducing an Angel.  I just realized I've read 4 books in 2 days, guess I'm on a good roll : )

I liked the Lisa Marie Rice's Dangerous... books.    Rice has a fun voice, though I did find her somewhat repetative in how she describes things, and since this is a PG blog, many of the things that were annoying I wont quote here :)   I probably wouldn't have noticed it so much if I hadn't read them right after the other.  But, I must say they were entertaining in a suspend your belief sort of way.  This doesn't bother me.  Linda Howard's Burn required this also, not the wining the lottery part, the hostage taking part had me seriously rolling my eyes.  I still enjoyed the book because I loved the interaction between the hero and heroine.

Mary Balogh's Seducing an Angel was a typical Balogh story.  I should qualify this by saying I was hoping Cassandra was going to be a real bad girl, not the fake one she turned out to be.   For me it was still a good book and it was probably the best of the series.  I'm looking forward to Con's story.

Next up The Courtesan's Wager.

Book order...

I finally received an Amazon order I'd placed almost a month ago  When I went with the super saver free shipping I knew it would take a little longer, but apparently it needed to take the slow boat to China trip before actually making it to New York.

Cub Scouts...

This post comes with a disclaimer...

I firmly believe Cub Souts and Scouting in general are wonderful
 for children and I'm very happy that my son is involved. 
My dislike comes from the organized and sometimes
not so organized chaos that are Den Meetings.

***I don't do chaos well.***

The Best Friend's Dad started a Cub Scout Pack affiliated with our school when the boys were in 1st grade.  So therefore, if the BF is doing it Junior must too.  If the BF's Dad is running things, the BF's Mom is running things too and if the BF's Mom is running something she sucks me in like a vacuum cleaner.

I am officially a member of the Pack Committee (Secretary/Treasurer)--I just finished typing up 4 pages of notes from our last "Official Pack Committee Meeting."  Honestly, I put up a good fight, I truly tried not to get involved, hoped and prayed someone else would step up and say "I'll do it."  But, it wasn't to be.  The Vacuum that is the BF's Mom sucked me right up and wont spit me back out until the boys are Boy Scouts, though I have heard whispers that the church might be willing to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop--then I'm doomed.

So where is my hubby in all of this?  The Vacuum sucks him up for Cub Scout Camping--I REFUSE to sleep in a tent.  I don't princess up about much, but this is one of the few things I will not do.  I'll help plan it, I'll do the food shopping, I'll help pack up the mini-van, but I will not camp.  He gets to set up camp and cook and clean and hike (though they don't make him do too much of this--he has bad knees).  He gets to teach fishing to dozens of kids under the age of 10.  Camp days are planned right down to the last minute, from the minute they get up until the minute they go to bed something is planned.  While he is roughing it I am home enjoying Chinese food and reading marathons :)

When he (the darling husband) reads this he will find out that he will be doing den meetings this fall.  Our Pastor in his infinite wisdom (with a little prodding from his bookkeeper :)) has decided to hold a Church History class on Tuesday nights (Den meeting night)--thank you God!!  For a few blessed weeks I will be free of Cub Scouts.  If only you could see the happy dance.

Just stuff...

Last night we went to a friend's house to shoot rockets.  This is a man and kid thing (I know most men are kids:).  The Moms weren't as into it as the Dads.  There were 3 families with 8 kids combined, all the kids are 8 or under.  And of course the rocket got stuck in a tree after the first launch.  We did have a great barbeque and visit while the kids ran around playing for hours.

The Best Friend is sleeping over tonight. He's already here.  They're playing the Wii and honestly if that child calls my son "Dude" one more time I may have to smack him (not really).  I hate "Dude" especially coming out of an 8 year olds mouth.  We're thinking about taking them to the drive-in to see Shorts. We're not sure it's worth the 1/2 hour drive to only see one movie. The drive-in is running a double features on 2 screens, but they're showing Shorts with The Final Destination, which we wouldn't think of letting 8 year olds watch. The other screen is showing Inglourious Basterds and Halloween II, neither of which are appropriate for kids.

I had to go into work today for 3 hours to do next week's church bulletin and write some checks. I actually enjoy putting together the bulletin. It changes week to week and I play with graphics and fonts to keep things different. That way people may be more inclined to actually read it.

Junior often comes with me to work during the summer. He brought a book with him, started and finished  it (about 80 pages) while we were there. He has been reading Magic Tree House books this summer. Today's was about Clara Barton and the Civil War. Actually getting him to read is like pulling teeth, but once a story grabs him he will read until he's finished the book. Sounds familiar--the reading until he's finished part, not the pulling teeth to get him to do it :) I know he's ready to move on to more complicated books, but I don't want to fight with him about reading.

After work we went to the eye doctor. We both had appointments. I'd misplaced my glass and Kristie's "ignore lost stuff and it'll eventually show" thing didn't work. I've been using cheap magnifiers that I picked up at the grocery store, but I really needed knew ones--the magnifiers give me a headache.

It was Junior's first real eye exam. He has had the read the eye chart thing at school and the pediatrician, but never with an eye doctor. I was very impressed by how serious he took the exam, he paid attention did everything asked of him and he was good for the eye drops and eye scan. The eye doctor didn't feel he needed glasses now, but wants to see him in a couple of months and he's back in school. She feels he's slightly borderline for readers, because one eye is weaker than the other. So, we'll be going back in November.

I guess I've blathered on enough.  Have a great day and happy reading.

Odd thoughts for the day...

Color me surprised, Diana Gabaldon is still torturing Jamie and Claire.  I gave up on the Outlander series after Drums of Autumn.  My sister, the die hard fangirl, finally gave up after The Fiery Cross.  I think she bought A Breath of Snow and Ashes.  The new book An Echo in the Bones is over 800 pages.  Will they ever get to enjoy their old age??

Why can't kids simply enjoy the summer? We were given a list of work for the summer that would keep him on track for the 3rd Grade. We were both tortured by this. He didn't want to do it and I hated fighting with him to get it done. Though I shouldn't complain, his best friend had to take a summer reading class to hopefully bring him up to grade level.

The Yankees won again :D  Baltimore is having an abysmal season, but it's sad that there were more Yankee fans than Oriole ones at the game.  This one's for Wendy :p  Hey Detriot is in first place too.

It's September 3rd and it was 47 degrees when I got up this morning--that's just wrong, it's supposed to be summer time.  We used our air conditioner 3 days this summer, 3 days--the summer that wasn't.

Since I'm trying to catch up with new bloggers, I sometimes run the links on the sidebars of other blogs.  I came across my first Content Warning...

The blog that you are about to view may contain content only suitable for adults. In general, Google does not review nor do we endorse the content of this or any blog. For more information about our content policies, please visit the Blogger Terms of Service.

I don't know why I'm so surprised by this.  Is this new?  Do you put the content warning on yourself or does it show up after someone complains?  I'd never read the "Terms of Service"--yikes.

I came across another blog with a theme song--I want a theme song.  Someone tell me how :D

School starts in 6 days--thank God :)  Junior's not happy--but I am--LOL!!

Demon Bound

After announcing that most of my posts probably wont be about books, my first one will be about a book--which is probably typical of me  :)

Before I misplaced it I had read about half of Meljean Brook's Demon Bound and managed to finish it tonight while watching the Yankees and Top Chef Las Vegas (one of my guilty pleasures).  Most of the people who will be reading this post probably knows I "knew" Meljean before she became a big time published author.  From the first novella--Falling for Anthony--I knew she had a unique and different voice and she comes through again :)

I enjoyed this book.  Meljean always creates great characters, well developed and interesting.  I loved Jake, his strengths and anxieties.  Loved when he met his great-granddaughter.  Alice creeped me out at first, and I have to say I really liked that--LOL

If you're not reading Meljean Brook, you should be :)

Next up--Karin Tabke's Master of Surrender, I started it when I couldn't find Demon Bound.  And, I'm really enjoying it too.   This is my second book of this series, read Master of Craving first and need to order Master of Torment.  I have to say it's wonderful to read some decent, gritty and exciting medievals.  Definitely worth a read.

why things will be different...

When I was considering blogging again, it was with a thought that I would like to go back to where I was before I basically took a year off, but over the last week I realized that's probably not going to happen--going back that is, I hope to keep blogging, but it will be different.

While I was a full time SAHM, I spent a tremendous amount of time reading, visiting message boards and then eventually starting my blog in March 2005.  My world was built around being a mom and my love of  reading romance.  Two years ago I went back to work, my son was in school full time and to be honest we needed the money.  We choose to send him to a Catholic school and tuition isn't cheap.  At first I worked for a company from home, but 4 months into that I was offered the job at our church and to be completely honest, I truly enjoy what I do.

Books and reading had been relegated back to a hobby for me, blogging about books took a back seat to life.  I'd rather spend what little free time I have reading or with my family.  But like I said in my post last week, I miss my on-line friends and I miss talking about books.  While I was writing different posts during the week I realized, I'm likely to write more about life than I am books, and that will probably not hold much interest to most people in romance blogland.

I wont be reviewing books like I did in the past.  I'll discuss them, comment on what I liked or didn't like, bemoan when sequels will be out.  But, for the most part this blog will be about the life of a mom dealing with work, school, cub scouts, soccer, baseball and trying desperately to keep up with her huge TBR pile.

Honestly, I don't have time to obsess about what I'm reading or what's going on in the romance blog world.  I want to be able to have someplace to talk about my day and my books. I will probably bore a lot of people, but I'm writing for me now, so I wont be looking for ARCs or blog hits or give-aways.  It's possible I'll talk as much about Scott Hahn as I do about Linda Howard.

Don't be surprised if the blog's look changes or even the name (though you'll still be able to find me at romancereadingmom.blogspot.com.)

I hope people will continue to visit.  Have a great day and happy reading :)

Book Found..

I found Demon Bound in the laundry basket, though I still haven't actually put the laundry away :)

Junior is sitting with me doing some summer classwork--mulitipication.  And he just realized Mom has a website.  I was told "Cool!  Can it make us rich?"  NOPE.

The More Things Change

Simple truth?  The more things change the more they stay the same :D

1 Missing Book and 1 Finished...

If I remember correctly Kristie has a theory that when something's lost don't look for it, it will eventually show up on it's own.  I can't seem to find my copy of Demon Bound,  which I was completely enjoying, love the spider thingy--even though it grosses me out :)  I believe it's on the bottom of one of my clean laundry baskets and I probably wont find it until I actually put the laundry away or have to go digging for something in particular.

So, I spent the last 24 hours reading  The Courtesan's Secret.  I enjoy the dialogue and Sophia is fantastic--again.  Loved Henry. He's completely on to Sophia and his mother. He doesn't care since he's getting exactly what he wants, Louisa.  But, once again there are too many characters to keep track of.  After visiting Claudia Dain's website, I realized she has a family tree listed for each book.  I don't know, but if you need to create a list of characters for a book, there are probably too many to start with, just saying.

Maybe I'll just put the laundry away and hopefully Demon Bound will be found, or maybe I'll dig through the baskets instead.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Adventures in Hair Coloring

I will qualify all of this by saying my natural hair color is very, very dark brown, with a Black Irish grandmother on one side and an Italian grandfather on the other, I somehow managed to get the darkest brown hair possible. My husband swore I had black hair when we met.

Ten years ago I discovered some grey hair, not enough to color but enough to bug me.  My adventures in hair coloring started then.  At first I used rinses, these were great as you wash them in and they gradually wash out, nice and easy :)  All hair color went on hiatus while I was pregnant and nursing, and to be honest the grey wasn't that bad.  The need for permanent color arrived around the same time as the peeing in the dump truck incident, please see the July 2005 archive for this.
 
Since our budget is tight, I color my hair myself.  Why do I torment myself?  So I can afford books, of course.  My hair stylist understands my book obsession and tells me to avoid anything with a burgandy base, it'll turn my hair too red.  Well, the last color I used wasn't burgandy based and it still turned a redish color, this time I've been told to add ash to the color I'm using to tone down the red.  So last time I went shopping I picked up 2 boxes one dark natural brown and one dark ash brown.

This morning I wake up at 5:00, and the boxes of hair color were calling me from the bathroom.  By 5:20 I've mixed my own color with the hope I don't end up a red head, not that I don't love red hair, it's just not for me.  I'm up and ready to start coloring.

Right before I'm ready to start applying the color my husband bangs on the door--he's got to go. It's 5 stinking 20 in the morning and I can't get 1/2 an hour to myself.

We have one bathroom in our house. And it is incredibly small, everything is white, the walls, the wallpaper background, the tub, shower curtain, toilet, sink--I'm sure you get it :)  The directions in the box say to use the conditioner to protect anywhere you don't want color.  Well, I'd need gallons of it to protect me and the entire bathroom.  By the time I'm ready to sit for the 1/2 hour to let the color set, I have to scrub me and the entire bathroom.  I don't know how it's possible but I managed to even get hair color on my left knee, above the gloves up to my elbows, the side of the claw foot tub, inside the tub (I'm not sure how this happened as I was standing at the sink) and I even got a small dot on the Martha Stewart white canvas shower curtain.

Well, it's done.  I'm back to my very, very dark brown sans the grey.  My next adventure in hair coloring is in 8 weeks, maybe I'll talk my sister into doing it for me:)

Negotiations...

Junior is at the stage where he believes everything is open for negotiations, bed times, play dates, summer classwork, going to McDonalds...

Today's negotiations went like this:

Me:  Read 5 more minutes
Junior:  2 minutes
Me:  I said 5 minutes
Junior:  Come on!  2 minutes
Me:  10 minutes
Junior:  Okay.  5 minutes

He still hasn't grasped that childhood isn't a democracy, it's a benevolant dictatorship.

Laundry, a Book Store Run, Sleeping in, Bingo and Mini-bikes

I desperately need to get some laundry done today--hate it.  I'll get over having to do laundry if I can get a book store run in, I've got quite a list going. 

Junior wants to go to Mass tonight rather than tomorrow morning.  This summer he discover going to bed late and sleeping in the morning is kind of cool.  We've informed him that starting Sept. 1st it's back to school bedtimes, he's not happy.  We start school really late this year--Sept. 9th.  Hate to admit this, but I'm one of those moms who count down the days until they go back--11 days :)  A bunch of school moms are  planning a back to school lunch.

Tomorrow is bingo, I try not to complain about working bingo, even though the old people are still cranky.  It saves each school family about $1,500 in tuition each year.  I've just started working Sunday bingos,  Junior and Dad like it since they have "Boys Day" when I'm not home.  I'm hoping that when I get home from bingo I wont discover a new mini-bike in the front yard.  Junior wants one and has been bugging us for the last week.  My niece has a 90cc dirt bike and he'd like one of those too, but that one I think he'll have to wait on.   She has been teaching him how to ride and he's loving it.  The hubby has a 1000cc Honda that's not on the road right now and I'm somewhat happy since Junior's been bugging to ride with Dad too.

Got to go things to do--no point in procrastinating.

Edited--Well, I wont be coming home to a mini-bike, we got our school tax bill today--all large ticket items are on hold until Sept. 30th and that bill is paid.

Life and Books and Recomendations Welcome

I was thinking about doing a "What's New" post but honestly not that much is new--LOL.  Life is hectic.  What's making it hectic hasn't changed.  I need more organization in my life.  I'm sure my husband, when he reads this, would completely agree :)

Reading has been fun.  Somehow in the last 8 months I've learned not to obsess about what I read.  I may not love everything I'm reading, but I'm not picking everything to pieces or throwing books against the wall.  Of course, I'm rather picky about what I'm reading, with a tendency to stick with authors I know and am doing a ton of rereading.

So, what have I been reading?  New authors first, I've probably read more than these, but these are the ones that kind of stood out good or otherwise:

• Sherry Thomas--liked Not Quite a Husband, and have her other two books on my TBR pile.
• Michelle Marcos--not a huge fan.  Finished Wickedly Ever After, and found the heroine to be a bit TSTL but not enough not to finish the book.  Didn't realize it was the 3rd in a series until after I bought it.  Picked up the first 2 at the UBS before I finished it.  I've started the other two, but you have to be in the right frame of mind to read stupid heroine stories.  I've been reading romance for close to 30 years, so I've read my share of TSTL heroine books and there are worse flaws for a book.
• Karin Tabke--completely enjoyed Master of Craving, once agian reading the 3rd book in a series first, found the 1st book in the series at the UBS, but am haven't found the 2nd book yet.  I'll probably have to break down and order it from Amazon.
• Claudia Dain--The Courtesan's Daughter was an interesting book.  Loved the mother but the daughter really wasn't all that bright, I still enjoyed the book.

I've read a whole host of new books by old favorites...  Linda Howard, Nora Roberts, Mary Balogh, Julia Quinn, Loretta Chase, Elizabeth Hoyt, Lisa Kleypas the list goes on.

Rereading has probably been the bulk of my reading over the last several months.  Lisa Kleypas, Linda Howard, Jane Feather, Susan Elizabeth Philips are my latest reread glom.

Right now I'm reading Meljean's Demon Bound, which I am completely enjoying :)

So, what have I missed over the last few months?   Recommendations are highly welcome.

Have a great day and happy reading.

Starting over again...

For the last couple of weeks I've been blog hopping, and realized:

1. I miss my on-line friends.
2. My blog is a complete mess.
3. Only buying books at the supermarket is a really bad idea :)

So, I'm...

1. Starting to post comments here and there.
2. I've cleaned up the blog's sidebar.
3. And I'm keeping track of books I've had no clue existed.

Will I be able to keep this going?  Maybe?  Probably not.  But I'm going to try.

I had to include a picture of Junior. He made his First Communion in May, and he's still cute!!

Have a great day and happy reading.

Christmas Spirit Award

Thanks to Amanda from Bookwormom for nominating me for this award!

The rules are listed below:

"You must be a true Christmas lover to receive this award.The person to whom you give the award must also be in love with Christmas.Link back to the person who gave you the award. List 5 things that you love about Christmas. If you can't limit it to 5 things, then keep going till you run out of space! Pass the award along to as many people as you like. That can be 1 or 50. It's up to you! But keep the Christmas cheer going! Let your recipients know that you have tagged them by leaving them a comment. Also, link back to the person who gave you the award."

Hmmm...

1. The joy on the little boy's face Christmas morning.
2. The Children's Nativity Mass--the church is simply beautiful and the children do such a wonderful job re-enacting the Nativity.
3. Time with family.
4. Buying the tree.
5. The way the house glows with all the Christmas lights and decorations.
6. Wrapping presents--is this one odd?
7. Baking the goodies.
8. That tired feeling all moms and dads have at 5:00 am when the kids simply can't wait for the sun to come up.
9. Christmas Eve dinner--I don't have to cook :)
10. Book store gift cards :)

I'm so out of the loop, I have no idea who to tag... Wendy--the Super Librarian, who is home in Michigan and may not even see this :)

The Christmas Spirit Award

Thanks to Amanda from Bookwormom for nominating me for this award!

I promise I'm working on my list :) but I have to go make breakfast. I'll be back later :)

Loving it... Not

Over the weekend I planned on writing a post about how much I'm enjoying reading again. That I am enjoying just about everything, and even when I'm not loving every book at least nothing has been a wall banger. That I'd blog hopped around, found a list of recommended reads and with Barnes & Noble Gift cards in hand, bought 3 books and planned to settle in and read...

Well, I'm 130 pages into the first book and am about ready to throw it against a wall. I'm not going to mention the book at this point, maybe it gets better, maybe I'm simply missing what makes it a "recommended read".

On to other things--it snowed here this weekend. It snowed and snowed and snowed. We have about a foot of the white powdery stuff. Thanks to the snow the baking and candy making are just about finished, and there's only a tad bit of wrapping left.

All is good, take care and happy reading.

2 hour delay this am

Well, we have a 2 hour delay this morning and Jen did ask for some pictures...


T-Ball last spring, he officially moves up to coach pitch this year. Please note he wears his socks "just like A-Rod."










First day of school, who knew a disruptive little comedian could hide behind such a cute face.





For Veteran's Day this year his teacher asked them to bring in something special from a family member who served in the military. My hubby has Civil War and Spanish American War medals from his family. Junior was rather proud to bring them in for show and tell.






He couldn't decide what to be for Halloween this year. At the last minute he decided to be a hunter, not Mommy's first choice in costumes, but he had great fun.


I have no idea when he took this one.

Last night was the Cub Scout Christmas Party and somehow being the airhead that I am I forgot to bring a camera. Hoping someone got a decent picture of him getting his new patch and beads.

Got to go, the child needs a second breakfast.

What's Happening?

Well, it seems I disappeared for 9 months. Much longer than I had thought. This will hopefully be a quick catch up...

Junior:
Junior is great. He turned 7 in August, had his first Cub Scout Campout Columbus Day weekend, was a hunter for Halloween, made his First Confession last month, received his first report card for 2nd Grade and can not wait for Christmas. Every morning he wakes up and does countdown til Christmas, "10 more days..."

We gave him a Wii for his birthday, loves it, but we obviously had to set limits. He can only use it Friday, Saturday and Sunday when he has school. This has worked out pretty good--he's not addicted to the thing.

The Cub Scout Campout was incredible. Our group is sponsored by our church, so our Pastor came and said Mass on Saturday night by the campfire--it was amazing.

Halloween is interesting at our house. The child doesn't really like candy, but loves to go door to door. Normally, I go with him while my husband gives out candy. This year the hubby took him around. He was amazed--everyone knows Junior.

First Confession was interesting. Junior was terrified, he hasn't seemed to master the "Honor they Father and Mother" thing, and figured he was in big trouble, but all went well.

That first report card got him in a ton of trouble. Not that his grades are bad, he has a 94 average. The problem was the C in conduct. Turns out the little clown we have at home is the same way in school, a regular little cut-up. Unfortunately, his teacher doesn't appreciate his Calvin and Hobbesesque humor the same way we do. "He needs reining in... he should have had a 98 or 99 average...he maybe cute now, but what's funny now may just be obnoxious when he's older..." Blah, Blah, Blah it went on for 20 minutes. I left the school not happy and in tears. My angel isn't such an angel--LOL. Well, we're reining him in, yet after talking to other parents, it seem the teacher is looking for "Stepford Children".

I'm expecting him to be up any minute and announce it's 9 days til Christmas.

The Job:
The job is great. I love working in the rectory. I'm very busy with the bookkeeping and I create the bulletin each week. It's funny and interesting to see all aspects of the priests' lives. In some ways they're different, but honestly men are men.

Books:
So, what have I been reading? Apparently, not much. What sent me blog hopping? Elizabeth Hoyt's To Seduce a Sinner--loved it!! It also sent me looking for her To Taste Temptation. I didn't love that one. In fact was really disappointed with that one, but I will say I loved the fairy tales in both books.

I don't have time to write anything else, hopefully I'll be back later. Take care everyone :)

Reading Hiatus

Soooooooooooooooo, I've been gone a really long, LOONNNGGG time, and it's sad to say I'm completely out of the romance reading blog loop. It's also sad to say I've read less than 10 new books in the last 6 months.

Hope all are well, did a little blog hopping this morning and hope to continue to do so on a more regular basis.

One Flaw in Women

Women have strengths that amaze men.
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy
and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in.
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take "no" for an answer
when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have.
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally
They cry when their children excel
and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear about
a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they
think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss
can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you
to show how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have the compassion and ideas.
They give moral support to their
family and friends.
Women have vital things to say
and everything to give.
HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,
IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.

Snow Day :)

School's closed today. So, Junior and I are both home. His room already looks like a bomb exploded in a toy store and it's only 10:30 in the morning--LOL. It's going to be a long day :)

Good news, the scan of Dad's lungs came back tumor free. The doctor still did a biopsy of the inflamed tissue, but isn't expecting anything negative. Thanks to all for the thoughts and prayers.

This is a week or so late, but how about those Giants!! Best Super Bowl Ever!!

My dad is a die hard Giants fan. I remember sitting on his lap watching games when I was little asking "Who are the good guys?" Dad's very superstitious and always wore his lucky sweater when I was a kid. When he wore it they won, no sweater they lost. Pretty simple. Since Dad was in the hospital and Mom has probably long since gotten ride of the lucky sweater, I decided to wear my lucky pink fluffy bathrobe.

You're probably wondering why it's lucky. Well, taking a page from Dad, I was wearing it for the last game of the season, Giants and Patriots, for the first three quarters I wore the bathrobe, got hot and took it off during the fourth quarter and they lost. Figured if I wore it again and left it on they would pull off the upset and they did :)

Forget the amazing throw by Eli to David Tyree, forget the defense beat the heck out of Brady, the Giants won because I was wearing my lucky, pink, fluffy bathrobe for the entire game this time.

Got to get Junior to clean that room, have a good one :)

What the heck happened?

To me that is :) ?

I didn't realize I was gone for so long. Kept telling myself "I'll get to it tomorrow." Yikes, tomorrow was 2 1/2 months later.

So, the last time I left off here, I was working from home for an outsourcing company, very involved with my son's Catholic school and not finding very much time to read.

Not much has changed, except now you can call me The Church Lady!! Monday I started working at my church's rectory doing bookkeeping and database work. I've cut my hours back at the outsourcing company to basically whenever I want to work.

To be honest Christmas time became a huge chore this year. My job at the outsourcing company is for an incoming call center for a credit card company. Calls were non-stop for 5-6 straight hours a day. Then I had the shopping, wrapping and decorating to get done. By the time my day was finished I didn't have the heart to sit down for one more minute at this computer.

Add to all this I do public relations for the school. Which normally isn't overwhelming, but Catholic School's Week was January 27 - February 1, and all the projects I've been working on came to a head. I ended up spending the entire month of January getting brochures finished, the school website up and running, school newsletters to the parishes that send kids to the school, advertising scheduled and PR finished. I think I need a committee, it was too much work for one person. Throw in Advisory and Parent Organization meetings and Tuesday night Cub Scouts (I hate Cub Scouts) and I'm done in.

The hardest thing we've been dealing with... my dad's been in the hospital twice, he's been diagnosed with COPD along with all of his other problems and the specialist now want to do a biopsy of his lungs to check for cancer. It's scheduled for Friday. This is probably the most stressful part of all our lives.

At this point I'm not even sure I've finished a book in the last couple of months. I've got two books started and a HUGE TBR pile. And at the TOP of the TBR pile are Francine Rivers Biblical series, not that I really want them at the top, but I promised my sister I'd read them. And she may give up her Christian beliefs and beat me up if I don't read them soon :) I've been receiving ARCs that desperately need reading and reviewing.

Junior is still as cute as a button :) And doing very well in school academically. His behavior leaves a little to be desired, but we're working on that too.

That's it for now. Back later :)

Hello out there

Hello, hello, hello, hellooooo!

Is anyone out there??

Honestly, I'm still here--LOL.

So things didn't loosen up all that much after the American Girl Fundraiser :)

At 4:00 this morning I realized I hadn't written my RTB column that was due to post at 6:00. I managed to finish it at 5:57.

I'm full of questions this month, go post your thoughts, I'll be around today and promise to try and get my act together .

Have a good one, I'll be back later.

The New Normal

So, I'm realizing things aren't going to go back to normal like I knew it when I was a SAHM. Okay, I'm not a complete idiot, I knew things would be different now that I'm working, but I didn't think that things would change this much. Never realizing I ran errands almost everyday, now they're stockpiled for one day a week. Tuesdays don't feel like a day off--LOL. But Sundays do--Sunday's are still "Family Days" : )

The New Normal means I don't get to read everyday. The American Girl Fundraiser was a success, and I figured the evenings would be mine again. Wrong, three of the five nights this week were filled with something... Tuesday--a conference call for work, Wednesday--making Junior's costume for the All Saints Day Pageant (which was yesterday and absolutely adorable, I'll get to that later :) and Friday--making poster for Trunk or Treat.

The All Saints Day Pageant was Friday. Twenty one 1st Graders parade into the gym and up on stage singing "Oh When The Saints Come Marching In..." They were adorable. Each one got up in front of the entire student body, faculty and parents and quoted three sentences about their "Saint" that they had memorized, pretty impressive for 6 year olds. Of course, the grandparents thought Junior was the BEST, of course, they're not prejudice or anything :) He did do a great job, he speaks incredibly well for his age. We still get teachers and other parents telling us this on a regular basis. One of the parents asked if we taught him the inflections and to slightly pause between sentences. Nope, that's our Barrymore, the school really needs a Drama Club. Actually, the only thing we told him was to speak slowly and clearly, the rest seems to come naturally.

Trunk or Treat is supposed to be today in the school's big parking lot, since we're getting torrential rain, it's been moved to tomorrow, in the back parking lot (Sunday Bingo you know). Last year our "Trunk" theme was a haunted picnic. This year's theme is "The Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch" from It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Junior and I made a big poster for our trunk with lots of pumpkins, Linus, Sally a sign and a glittery moon and stars. It looks cute. We'll bring real pumpkins and I think I'll make a "Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch sign too. Keep in mind the "Trunk or Treat" doesn't have this theme, just us. Mama's a little OCD and likes a theme.

This week I only have one meeting and it's Tuesday night, I should be able to find some reading time and finally get to finish Madeline Hunter's Lessons of Desire. Which I'm not "loving" but will finish.

That's all the news from our little neck of the woods. Hope all are well.

The ones that don't make it.

I pulled this nice long quote out of Pamela Morsi's response to comments a couple weeks ago...

American setting aren't done these days. Publishers don't believe that readers will buy them. Which is why all the writers who used to write them, myself included, are now all doing other things. But these trends all come in cycles, so it's sure to be back eventually.

Glad that you and Eva Gale both read SIMPLE JESS. That's a story that really means a lot to me. And to a lot of other people too. I created the character as the heroine's brother in MARRYING STONE. But he was such a great guy I wanted to give him his own book. As soon as I'd finished, I proposed that and my editor turned me down. She said that readers wouldn't go for a mentally handicapped hero. So I moved on, wrote something else and then the movie FORREST GUMP came out and was such a splash, my editor called as said, "You know that book you wanted to write..." So I got busy on SIMPLE JESS. Unfortunately, during the time I got the okay and the time the book was completed, my editor left. The new editor was unfamiliar with my work and when SIMPLE JESS showed up on her desk, she was horrified. She didn't think that the relationship as it was written was "appropriate" and she wanted me to rewrite it to make him smarter. I couldn't do that because he was already in print in Marrying Stone. So after lots of upheaval and argument, SIMPLE JESS was released. The number of copies printed was very small, the cover was nondescript. And it went to the sales department with the notation "controversial" which basically means buy at your own risk.

Not a lot of people did buy it at first. Romance readers were as skeptical of a mentally challenged hero as the editor believed they would be. But slowly, slowly, slowly people began to read it. And they began to like it. I've gotten more feedback on that story than any other - - and all of it has been positive. Jess had such a low print run that it was doomed to commercial failure, but it continues to pay and pay in wonderful feedback dividends. The rights reverted to me several years ago, so I’m always thinking that someday somebody will buy it from me for a reprint and this time give it the push that it truly deserved.

In the industry, people thought the story was a career killer. And it did kill my career at that particular publishing house. If I'd had any sense at all about how to get ahead and move up on the lists, I never would have written it. But I guess it goes to show you that sometimes being too stupid to know better leaves us open to achieve some pretty wonderful things.

Simple Jess is one of my favorite Pamela Morsi books and I for one am glad that it finally made it to print.

Most avid readers know romance on a whole is very cyclical, what's hot now wont be in a couple of years, and publishers are going to take advantage of this and continue publishing what's going to have the largest financial return. And yet you can't help but wonder how many great books have never been published because the publishers deemed them not marketable?

Another Quickie :)

We're right smack in the middle of our American Girl Fundraiser, my job is done, I got out of working the actual event because this weekend is my in-laws...


50th Wedding Anniversary

Last weekend it was a big family dinner at a very nice Italian Restaurant (we had a private room) and they renewed their wedding vows, this weekends all about the immediate family (kids and grandkids).

This week's a little hectic, but at least I'll be home for Junior's bedtime each night. Tuesday (my day off) will be spent getting everything we need for the school's Trunk or Treat event. I also need to make Junior a costume for the All Saint's Day Program, he's a Saint from the Middle Ages. He gets to wear a brown robe with a big cowl, his best friend is St. George--he gets to be a knight. I'm pretty sure Junior's going to be jealous. After the program the kids "trick or treat" in the audience, collecting money for Missionary work.

I've finished a couple of books--Lover Unbound and the new Kleypas, for some reason I can't remember the title, not my favorite Kleypas. By blog hopping I discovered I probably liked Love Unbound a little more than most of the readers out there (I noticed mostly C's)--I'd give it a B/B-, I'm not normally a fan of the never ending series, but I'm still enjoying this one and Lynn Viehl's Darkyn Series.

Have a great day, and happy reading.

Life may get back to normal soon...

As most readers of this blog know we send our son to Catholic school. For us it wasn't a really hard decision to make. We're not thrilled with our local public school district, there are discipline and education issues in our elementary and middle schools that aided us in making our decision add to that he has probably learned more in a year + about his faith than we learned in 8 years of CCD. But these topics really different blog posts.

When you send your kids to a Catholic or Church school you know there's tuition and you're told up front that there is a certain level of fundraising required. This is to help offset tuition and school expenses. In some larger parishes the fundraising isn't as important as their Church off sets some of the school expenses. Unfortunately we are not only a small Parish, but also poor one, the bulk of the offset from our Parish comes from the parents weekly donations to the Church.

Our school has different levels of fundraisers from candy sales and raffles to huge mandatory ones. Mandatory projects require bodies, people volunteering large quantities of time to simple get whatever needs doing done. Bingo is a year round project. In the spring we have Goods/Services Auction and Tricky Tray and in the Fall we do an American Girl Event

Our American Girl Fashion Show is this weekend. Five shows over 3 days for 1000 girls, Moms and Dads. Not only do parents volunteer, girls from every grade are also involved either as models or behind the scenes getting the girls ready, keeping the little ones busy and entertained between their turns down the runway. Our gymnasium is turned into American Girl Central. And if I do say so myself the parent volunteers do an incredible job transforming basketball courts into a catering hall with a huge fashion runway.

So guess what committee I'm on?--LOL We're getting down to the wire. Three nights of set up and three days of shows. Hundreds of hours leading up to the next six days. Then it's back to normal, hopefully at least :)

***Pamela Morsi - Beginning blogger braves new territory***

I want to thank you, Tara, for giving me the opportunity to blog on your site. I’ve never blogged before, so if I run long,...you will have discovered one of my big problems. I’m writing and I can’t stop!

Right now I’m between books, my last BITSY’S BAIT & BBQ came out earlier this year. And my next LAST DANCE AT JITTERBUG LOUNGE is scheduled for publication in May ‘08.

I love the blogname of RomanceReadingMom. That’s where I came into this genre. Well, probably not completely, I’m sure that on some level Louisa May Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder were both writing romance. But I didn’t realize that. All I knew back then was that I loved the stories those women told. And that’s what I wanted most in my life, to be a writer.

The problem for me, of course, was that I couldn’t figure out how one did that. Do you move to New York? Or a Paris loft? I took a couple of creative writing courses at college. They only succeeded in convincing me that I didn’t have anything to say. What could a white trash girl from the oil patch have to say to sophisticated readers of American literature? Obviously nothing.

What was significantly more clear was that I owed tons of money in student loans and that rents are charged worldwide accept for my mother’s house, where living was it’s own punishment.

So I got a Master’s Degree in Library Science. If I couldn’t write books, then at least I could be close to them. I loved library work and I don’t regret a day I spent there. Sharing books with people is almost a heavenly calling. And my view of the public library is that it is the last truly democratic institution in the United States. All the knowledge in the world equally available there to anyone who seeks it out

After the work day is done, librarians do a lot of reading, mostly involved with their job. Reference librarians read reference books and Children’s Librarians read children’s books and Adult Services Librarians read the bestsellers and the most highly touted fiction. I spent several years doing each of these jobs and I got accustomed to having my reading list pretty narrowly drawn.

Then I had a baby.

I was already a mom of sorts. My husband had a five year old son when I married him, so I was used to having peanut butter on the refrigerator door handle, rescuing garden snakes from the laundry basket and establishing a NO WHINERS zone in my local grocery market. But I had never stayed home with a child.

Those first few weeks, I don’t think I’d ever worked so hard in my life. I was up before dawn, not in bed until midnight. And no sooner had my day shift ended than my nightshift began. I sure wasn’t thinking about reading.

But then I kind of got a pace, I figured out how to get everything more or less manageable. My family and I settled in. My baby daughter had naptime. And my wild child, now seven, went to bed at 8:30. So there was a little time for me.

I read some baby books. Earth mother books. How to raise responsible citizens books. Those were all good. But that felt like reading at work. I wanted something that was just for me. Something that I could really identify with.

One day at the grocery store, with the little angel asleep in the snugly, I found myself wandering among the paperbacks. Librarians don’t buy a lot of paperbacks. They don’t last and we get hardcover books for free and well, who knows, but you rarely see a librarian reading mass market. But that day, I was desperate for something. And I found it, right there between the cereal and the frozen food.

These were books by women, for women and about women. And about the thing that sooner or later gets to be what women are all about, love and family.

I was hooked faster than you could say LOVE’S DARING DARNING NEEDLE. At first I just read at the end of the day. And then I figured out I could do it while I was breastfeeding. And before I knew it, I could cook, clean, supervise, referee, virtually everything but drive with a book in my hand.

I remember it as a really wonderful time. And my solitary life with the kids at home became filled interesting characters and storylines that got me through the long days and short years of my children’s childhood.

Time and seasons change.

I began writing when my daughter was about eight. And once you start writing, reading is never as pleasurable as it once was. But I still love a good book. When I finish one that was really great, I can’t resist hugging it to my chest like a dear friend. Hope you have something to hug at your house tonight.

A great big thank you to Pam for taking the time to visit and blog with us :)

PS--this posted a little early but I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time in the morning to get it posted before school and work :) Have a great day and ask lots of interesting questions.

Guest Blogger for October 10, 2007 :)

Back in the beginning of August Rosario posted a review of Pamela Morsi's Wild Oats and in response I posted a list of my favorite Pamela Morsi books and asked the question... I wonder what type of bribe it would take to get her to go back to writing these instead of contemporaries?

The next time I checked my emails I had one titled "Bribery Plan". Being the dingbat that I am I never made the connection until I opened the email and realized PAMELA MORSI had actually emailed me. We emailed back and forth and I invited her to guest blog. Then she got busy with a book, and I got busy with real life, but she still wanted to blog and I finally got my act together.

So, guess what? Pamela Morsi will be guest blogging next week, October 10th.

How cool is that?

Just enough time for a quickie...

I've got 5 minutes before I have to get Junior to school. He's getting dressed.

If it's Tuesday, it must be BINGO day :) four hours of cranky but lovable old folks. After bingo it's choir practice for Junior.

I've not finished a book in almost a week, but I have managed to add several to my TBR pile, including the new Singh, Ward, Hunter and a couple more that are escaping me at the moment.

Have a great day and happy reading :)