Completely Out of the Loop

It may be hard to believe but over the last 2 months I've not read or bought one new or used book.

Yes, you read that correctly--LOL.

Not one book during the months of August and September. I've been rereading and I read an ARC of Lynn Viehl's Evermore, the next book in the Darkyn series. I did pick up the last three issues of RT at the bookstore the other day, but haven't had time to actually read them yet.

So, what are the must reads I've missed?

ETA--I've done a quick run through all three RTs and have come up with a "wish list" but not too big all things considered, so suggestions are greatly appreciated :)

Finding Me Time Is Harder Than I Thought

Hi Everyone, really I'm still around. I'd given myself an unofficial date to get back to blogging of September 26th, I used my RTB due date as deadline. As you can see I just made it :) Honestly, it's been incredibly hard finding "me time" during the last 2 months. Apparently "me time" will be coming between 5 and 6 in the morning.

Junior is having an interesting school year. Academically he's doing well, he got a 100% on his first official test and has a math quiz this week, that should be interesting. But, his behavior has been iffy. It seems he's a little "chatty", there's a shock--LOL. Sorry Wendy and Kristie, he loves his Yankee backpack :)

My work schedule is now 9-2, which is much more manageable than 11-4. School and Church commitments are still leaving me little free time, but I enjoy what I'm doing. I work Saturday mornings so I miss soccer games, but I do go to Thursday soccer practices. I'll send the hubby with a camera this week and hopefully post a picture of Junior while he's playing goalie, there's a huge difference between when he played last year and this one. He actually pays attention.

I've finished 3 books this week, an ARC of Lynn Viehl's Evermore (the next book in the Darkyn series)--loved it :), and two Lisa Kleypas rereads.

I'm heading off to blog hop, hope all are well.

Have a great day and happy reading.

ETA--I just finished a quick blog hop and Meljean rocks--LOL

Taking a break...

Hi everyone,

A quick post to let everyone know things are fine, but incredibly hectic. Junior started school. The committees I'm on for school are keeping me very busy and add to that 7-8 hours every day training for my new job and I'm asleep at 11 and back up at 5. The job training should be done next week, so things should loosen up soon.

I took first day of school pictures, and will post them when I get a chance.

Our new Pastor is very hands on and is involved with all aspects of marketing for the school, since I am the marketing committee, I'm visiting the rectory every couple of days :)

When I'm finished with the job training I'll be working 5-6 hours per day and my hours will match Junior's school hours.

Hope all are well and can only hope to be back blogging in a couple of weeks.

Take care,

Tara

Playing review catch-up

Way back in July I finished several books I never got around to reviewing or commenting about. So, I plan to spend the next few days playing review/commentary catch-up. August wasn't a good reading month. I think I only finished 4 of 5 books and two of those were Lisa Kleypas re-reads. I'll try to get to those too.

First up Letters from Pemberley by Jane Dawkins.

I realized while reading this book I would probably enjoy anything Jane Austenish. This one worked for me. The book takes place during the first year of Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage, and is told completely through letters from Lizzy to her sister Jane. This worked for me as I actually like this style of writing and Jane Dawkins does a good job recreating Lizzy's voice and the style of Jane Austen.

There's one problem with reading a book in letter format. The story is being told to the reader, so there's no dialogue or action. Yet each letter/chapter is short enough to hold your attention and moves fairly quickly. Most of the letters are entertaining, but there are a few that come across as overly harsh or sarcastic, but Ms. Dawkins does this on purpose as the follow up letter usually contains some sort of apology.

The letters are the 19th century version of my daily phone call with my sister. Sometimes informative, sometimes gossipy, sometimes newsworthy and sometimes because you simply need to talk.

If you're looking for a quick easy read in the style of Jane Austen, give this one a try. It's a light entertaining read.

Overdoing what??

Yesterday was one of those days that left me enough time to do some blog hopping, but little else. When I reached the RTB column I found myself nodding and agreeing with Daniela's take on the overdoing of "It" in romance, that was until I reached the last line of the column:

Please Note: The post concerns romance novels only, not Erotica.

And I was left thinking "huh" and not enough time to actually formulate a comment. This darned training schedule is for the birds, I can't wait for training to be over so I can work my set hours. Sorry, about the tangent.

So, why the "huh"? I was nodding along because it's exactly how I feel about erotic romance, but not romance. Of course, I don't seem to be reading a whole lot of anything right now, but the romance novels I have read don't seem to include an over abundance of sex to story, or sex as filler. Maybe I'm not reading the right books :) I can't say the same thing about erotic romance. I do see this in erotic romance but also see it as the nature of the beast, because in many instances sex is not only integral to the plot, it is the plot. I've got lots of issues with that, but it's a different topic.

On RTB we're asked not to single out books or authors, not so on my blog. I'm left wondering if what some may consider overdoing "It" may seem just right to others. So, I'm curious...

What books are overdoing "It"?

Are there particular authors (besides Cheryl Holt :) that uses sex as a filler?

Is the popularity of erotic romance bleeding down into general romance and changing story lines and plots? And if so how?

Now, I've got to hit the shower, pick Junior up from a sleepover and get to work :)

Have a great day. And, happy reading to anyone actually doing it.

Actually finished a couple of books :)

My training was cut a little short on Friday and I decided to catch up on laundry and while washing clothes I actually finished the new Rachel Gibson, Tangled Up in You. Enjoyed it, hopefully I'll find some time in the next few days to blog more about it and a couple from last month.

Yesterday was a family day, took the child on a train ride. The travel time there was 1 and 1/2 hours, the time on the train was also 1 and 1/2 hours, so I had about 4 good hours of reading time. And do you think I read some thing from the TBR pile? Nope an Eloisa James reread was in order. Pleasure for Pleasure was one of my favorites from last year. What can I say I'm a sucker for a May/December romance and I just love Josie and Mayne :)

Have a good one, we're heading over to visit my Dad this afternoon.

Backseat Driver...

This post is for my hubby. I'm admitting I'm a terrible backseat driver...

A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband.

Suddenly, her husband burst into the kitchen.

'Careful,' he said, 'CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my GOD!
You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my GOD! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful. CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!'

The wife stared at him. 'What in the world is wrong with you? You think I don't know how to fry a couple of eggs?'

The husband calmly replied, 'I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm driving.'

Still breathing

Things have been incredibly hectic the last few days. Training is going fine, but it sits right smack in the middle of my day, which seems to be messing up my schedule. It's a month of training. My work schedule will be matched to the child's school schedule, I'm praying I have a handle on the whole thing by then.

My dad's surgery is tomorrow, if all goes well he should be home on Friday.

School obligations are taking up a LOT of time right now, but should slow down in the next week or so.

I'm lurking on blogs when I can and am getting some reading done.

Hope all are doing well.

Take care,

Tara

A quickie before hitting the shower and heading to Mass.

We survived Junior's last birthday party of the year. Guests started to arrive around 1:00 and the last left around 10:00 last night. I figured the child would sleep late--what was I thinking? He was up by 6:00 looking for me to put his new basketball hoop on the back of his bedroom door.

My SIL made up the goody bags. This years theme--Pirates. Last night Junior was running around with a napkin do-rag, eye patch, a sand pail for a peg leg and one of those telescoping thingies while singing "Yo, Ho, Ho and a Bottle of Rum..." I'm hoping someone will email us a picture (our camera's not working) or we will try to recreate it when the darned camera is working again.

I'm a little afraid to go downstairs. The house is a disaster. Why did I spend so much time cleaning before everyone came when after requires even more clean-up??

As I said before I start the new job tomorrow, what I didn't tell everyone I had to buy a new computer for it. The system we bought back in April has Windows Vista, I need XP for the job. After a little research I found out I couldn't load XP because Vista wouldn't find the drivers required? I had to special order a system with XP because all the "stores" in the area are only selling new systems with Vista. It came Thursday I hooked it up Friday. The geeky BILs supplied a monitor and a router which will be installed today and soon my already way too crowded home office will be even more crowded. The office is my catch all room (aka junk room). What a mess.

I can't decide which I should do first the office or the rest of the house.

ETA--cleaning up the house wasn't that bad, just some straightening. So, it's on to the home office.

Holy Cow, it's August 10th and I haven't even picked up a book this month.

Junior turned 6 this week we're having our 3rd party of the week tomorrow. I've been cleanin the house like a fiend. The in-laws are coming. All week I was hoping it wouldn't be too hot, now I'm thinking it may be too cold for the kids to swim. It's 51 degrees right now, the pool dropped 10 degrees during the day.

Sunday we're going to the fair.

My new job officially starts on Monday, on-line training. And honestly the work I'm doing for the school seems to be a part time job too. Between the two my days are packed.

I'm hoping to find reading time in the evenings.

I've got a column up on RTB. I'm trying to figure out how to stop analysing everything I read and simply read for pleasure.

It seems I'm more anal than I realized :)

Pamela Morsi

Rosario has posted another great review of a Pamela Morsi book. Honestly, that woman wrote the best Americana Historicals. I wonder what type of bribe it would take to get her to go back to writing these instead of contemporaries?

Here are some of my favorites:

Courting Miss Hattie Blurb:

The news spread like brush fire through the whole county when widower Ancil Drayton announced his intention to start courting Miss Hattie Colfax. She was certainly spirited and delightfully sweet natured, and she'd managed to run her family farm almost single-handedly. But wasn't a twenty-nine-year-old lady farmer too old to catch a husband?

An Irresistable Suitor.

All his life handsome, black-haired Reed Tyler had worked Miss Hattie's farm—and dreamed of one day settling down on his own piece of land with the pretty young woman he'd sworn to marry. Hattie was someone he could tell his hopes and troubles to—someone he looked on as a sister. So he thought, until the idea of Ancil Drayton calling on her made him seethe. Until the night a brotherly peck became a scorching kiss... and Reed knew nothing would bank the blaze—and that his best friend was the only woman he would ever love.

Heaven Sent
Blurb:

When virtuous Hannah Bunch set out to trap herself a husband at the spinsterly age of 26, she hardly dreamed she'd be compromised by a blue-eyed stranger. Her reputation shattered, she promises to honor and cherish him always--never suspecting that his secret will threaten her life.

Garters Blurb:

A delightful love story from the nationally bestselling author of Heaven Sent. In the late 1800s, proper young ladies don't go courting. But Esme Crabb knows that her lazy father and featherbrained sisters are no help at all when it comes to putting food on the table, and her only recourse is to "marry up".

Wild Oats, click on the link above for Rosario's review.





The Marrying Stone Blurb:

Meggie was a dreamer who'd spent her entire life in the tiny town of 'Marrying Stone'. But though her life was simple, she was always sure that someday her prince would come. J. Monroe Farley arrived with his Edison listening box to record the traditional music of the Ozarks, determined to focus all his attention on his studies. But there, in this remote mountain hamlet, he found something he never expected--the princess of his dreams...

Simple Jess Blurb:

The last thing widow Althea Winsloe wants to do is remarry, but her meddlesome mountain neighbors have no intention of letting her stay single. So one day, they give her an ultimatum--find a husband by Christmas or the town of Marrying Stone will do it for her!

There are more, but all of these are keepers for me. I'm adding them back into my TBR pile. I miss her historical voice and style. I haven't tried one of her contemporaries in years, I'm tempted, really tempted.

So, what's your favorite??

Can anyone explain why the child who has motion sickness in the car has no problem riding any amusement park or fair rides?

Have a great day.

Tara

PS I probably should point out I was the exactly the same as a child, and I'm pretty sure my parents can't explain it either :)

Busy, Busy, Busy

It seems August will be a very busy month.

Between Junior's birthday next week, school obligations and a new job, my blogging schedule will be very limited. I even have a RTB post due next week and I haven't even thought about what to write.

Add to that the recent on-line craziness, that has sent me more into lurker mode than posting mode, I find myself not that interested in posting.

I finished Pride and Prejudice and a couple of other books that I need to review, but finding the time has been iffy. Hopefully I'll have them up sometime next week.

Once things settle down a little and I create a routine, blogging will hopefully be back to normal. Posting on my own blog may be limited, but I do plan to be blog hopping each morning before the day starts. Even if I'm not commenting, know that I am reading.

Have a great day and stay cool, it's mighty hot here in NY.

The Zoo

We were very disappointed last year when the Catskill Game Farm closed. We'd made a couple of trips there over the last few years and enjoyed our visits.

So we were pleasantly surprised to find a small zoo in Sussex County New Jersey. I'm not quite sure how the DH came across Space Farms, but after discovering it, he thought it would be a great day trip for our little family. He decided to take yesterday off and we ventured there for the day. For some strange reason we never think about camps and summer schools having the same "great day trip" idea. We arrived at the same time as a bus full of Yeshiva students.

When we walked into the area where we bought the tickets I was very surprised to see a zebra skin and several mounted heads of different animals--kind of seemed strange for a zoo, at least to me.

We arrived around lunch time and apparently it was also lunch time for the animals. It was a little surprising to see a large turkey buzzard eating some sort of dead fowl. A little more surprising was the large piles of raw meat feed to the different types of bears (Syrian, Black and Kodiak). But what was truly disconcerting... the dead fawns feed to the lions and tigers. Now obviously these animals need feeding, and should be feed whatever is appropriate, but I have to wonder at the feeding time--right smack in the middle of the day with a park filled with children. It was a big yikes moment for me and the hubby. But it didn't seem to bother the child. I will say to my untrained eye, all the animals looked well fed especially the lions, tigers and bears.

Last night I was talking to one of my BILs that grew up not far from the zoo and he wasn't the least bit surprised by the feeding time. Those of you familiar with the X-Files will probably find his comparison to the family that owns the zoo to the bizarre Peacock family episode interesting to say the least. Which isn't very kind comparison and I apologize for it, but still felt the need to include it :)

a quickie . . .

A quick post before running errands...

1. Big Yum to Rosie and her enchilada casserole recipe--definitely a hit (though I substituted ground beef and black beans for chicken)
2. Thank you to Megan, who probably doesn't remember suggesting some WAHM websites. I've been hired by one, have orientation this week and start training in a couple of weeks.
3. An Uh-Oh to the hubby, Junior pulled the pull chain out of our bedroom light fixture--high drama followed.

Got to go.

Have a great day :)

Lightning Reviews

I have no idea whether or not anyone actually looks at my little rating system on my sidebar. I've been adding books for the last couple of weeks but haven't written any reviews. Mostly because there are enough reviews out there to get a good idea about the books. And, hey, it's summer and I'm being lazy :)

First up Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter. It's Chick Lit with a twist. I should start by saying I'm not a huge fan of Chick Lit, but do like Alexandra Potter. Simply put Emily is a book geek looking for her Mr. Darcy. So far what she's found are rather pathetic souls who never fit in the Darcy mold. On the spur of the moment, and to avoid a trashy Mexican vacation with her best friend, she decides to spend the week around New Years on a Jane Austen tour of England. She finds herself on a guided tour with a bunch of old ladies and one obnoxious journalist doing a story on "why the fictional Mr. Darcy has earned the title of Man Most Women Would Love to Date." Of course he turns into the love interest. It's fun, it's light and it loosely follows P&P, though I know some have considered it a retelling of P&P, but I found it wasn't that serious about it. What kept it from being very good were regular visits of Darcy as the story unfolds, I'd have preferred to just follow Emily and the group around without the little off shoots of plot.

Next up Nora Roberts' High Noon. MUST read for any Nora fan. I found this very different from many of her books. The heroine, Phoebe, is an incredibly smart, sympathetic, loving, non-bitchy character, sometimes I find her heroines can be too bitchy (at least for me) but Phoebe is really different strong, but never comes across as a bitch. Duncan, our hero, is equally smart, kind, loving and not overly cranky. You know the feeling you get when you're so into a story that you simply sit and read and the next thing you know the book is finished and you want more. Everything about this book is right, the balance of romance to suspense, the relationship building between the h/h, the interaction between the families. You can find good reviews for this at Dear Author and an interesting commentary from Rosie

Last up for this week Linda Howard's Up Close and Dangerous. Hmmm, what to say? Not my favorite Howard but still a good solid read. Bailey is the young widow of a very rich man, she now controls the trust funds for her nasty adult step-children, who obviously hate her because of this. She desperately needs a vacation away from her everyday life and has planned a rafting trip with her brother and SIL. Cam is the pilot called in to fly her from Seattle to Colorado. The plane's been sabotaged and goes down, they survive, fall in love and figure out who's the bad guy. Solid, simple story telling, but not spectacular. Zeek has a good review up and links to another.

Next week it's P&P and a couple of tribute books.

Have a good one and happy reading.

Avonization

While blog hopping yesterday I discovered some conversations about the "Avonization" of authors. Unfortunately I have a brain like a sieve and can't remember where these posts were, but it got me thinking and that at times can be good or dangerous. Good in that it pulled me away from the latest on-line train wreck. Dangerous because my thoughts may turn out to be nothing but hogwash ;)

Some of my favorite authors write for Avon, which at times I find at odds with my firm belief that there is a certain level of "Avonization" going on over there. I went over to The Avon Author website. Of the 60+ authors listed I've read books by about 40 of them. Of those 40, 9 are autobuys:

1. Adele Ashworth
2. Rachel Gibson
3. Laura Lee Guhrke
4. Judith Ivory (it would be nice to have something new soon :)
5. Eloisa James
6. Mary Reed McCall
7. Susan Elizabeth Phillips
8. Julia Quinn
9. Karen Ranney

As readers we have differing reading criteria, some like me read for voice and writing style, some read for story and others prefer a combination. So, what works for me may not work for someone else. I read these authors for their distinct writing styles and voices, I don't always love the story their telling, but I always like how they write. For me this separates them from the other 30 or so Avon authors I've tried. And this is where I think the "Avonization" comes about. Within the historical line there are authors whose books and stories sound too similar, so much so they're writing and stories can seemingly be interchanged with other authors that write historicals for Avon. If Avon put the wrong author's name on the cover I wonder how many people would notice the style or voice is wrong, because we really can't tell them apart. Without a really distinctive voice, writing style or story will these authors languish among the midlist realm?

Here's the thing. Which came first? Does Avon sign them because they are already writing in this style or do Avon editors push them toward this mold? For some reason I don't think the editors push them toward this, because there's enough authors within the group that don't fall into the "Avonization" category. Or are the authors that feel interchangeable actually writing to a glutted Regency/Victorian market? Do they need to write a spectacular or completely different story to get noticed? I ask this because Anna Campbell's Claiming the Courtesan garnered so much positive and negative attention because it wasn't interchangeable with anything else on the market right now. I've heard good things about Janet Mullany's The Rules of Gentility, and I'm left wondering will it fall into the Avon mold or will it be distinctive and different.

Kinderkamp (our schools version of Vacation Bible School) and Bingo are on today's agenda.

My parents are picking the child up after camp and taking him to lunch and a matinee of Ratatouille. It's a surprise.

Yesterday the mom running the camp program announced "He's so funny." I can only hope the child behaves.

Cool, Jenster thinks I "rock".

I'm not so sure, but I'll gladly pass on the title to 5 Rockin' bloggers tomorrow :)

Have a great day and happy reading.

A day in the life...

Life with an active five year old is always interesting. Yesterday was one of those days that was a little more interesting.

We left the house early for some errands (this means before my morning shower). I warned the child before breakfast "Eat your breakfast, because I'm not buying anything while we're out." "Okay." Right, half an hour later "I'm hungry. Let's go to Sub-way." He's never set foot in a Sub-way, but it's next door and he figures it's close and I'll cave. I'm proud to say I didn't.

We get home, he has a yogurt and goes out to play. I tell him he's got half an hour outside before he has to come in. I need to take a shower and he needs to be inside. Okay, 45 minutes later he's inside with the his 2nd best friend from down the street. Instead of trying to figure out how to get rid of the 2nd BF I tell them to go out on the back porch and watch some TV while I take a quick shower. I get my clothing out, turn on the water and hear the front door open, both went outside to play. I turn the water off and head downstairs. Finally, I manage to get the 2nd BF on his way home and the 5 year old into the house with a "We're going shopping, but "Junior" can come out and play later."

I'm back upstairs and he yells up the stairs he's hungry. I tell him to have some cheese and fruit. "Okay."

Finally, I get into the shower. I'm out dried off and getting dressed and I hear water running, and I hear water running and I hear water running. And that gets me downstairs quickly. He's washing the dishes. So, I take his "clean" dishes off the drain board, put them back in the sink and instead of chasing him away I give him is first lesson in washing dishes. The first thing we wash is a pink depression glass plate. "Why is this in the sink?" "I used your good crystal for my lunch." That's what he calls anything that isn't china from my china cabinet. He also used a crystal sherbet cup for a glass.

Before we leave I give him a Go-Tart to help fill the bottomless pit he calls a stomach.

As we're pulling up to Barnes & Noble I tell him he's not getting anything but a book inside and to stay close to me. Apparently he heard nothing I said as he announces he's hungry and can't wait for a snack inside. As if I'm buying a 5 year old a Starbucks "snack". I then make the threat "... if you don't behave I'll drag you out by your hair." Not my best threat but it's what popped out of my mouth. "The hair is better then my leg, that would really hurt." Okay. I'm looking for the new Linda Howard which I thought was out but I was wrong. But I did pick up NR's new High Noon and bribed the child with a shark book to keep him out of children's section and away from the Thomas the Tank engine train table. While we were waiting on line he announced that "You wouldn't really drag me out by my hair, that would hurt me and you wouldn't want to hurt me." Thank God there was no one on line with us.

So we head across the street to Adams. Adams is a family owned market, smaller than a supermarket, but much bigger than a farm stand. It has the best quality produce, cheaper than any supermarket and they sell a tremendous amount of locally grown food. They also have a great butcher shop and really good gourmet cheeses, and the best deli counter in the county. Can you tell it's one of my favorite stores? Junior loves this store because it has kid size carts and he gets to wheel it around. Of course when he starts neighing like a horse and making it buck I'm not real happy, when he starts doing wheely spins by the deli counter I'm really not happy. He's still hungry. I finally cave and tell him he can get a giant cookie on the way out. No, he wants an ice cream. Okay, an ice cream. He wants a fudge bar. "I don't think you like them." "Yeah, I do." Half way home he hands the melting mess to me, "I don't like it."

We're home and the 2nd BF is back. They want to go swimming. I talk them out of it because it's kind of cold (75 degrees) for swimming. Well, that only lasted about 20 minutes. "We're hot from riding our bikes, can we go in the pool." Now I argue that the friend doesn't have permission and off they go to get permission. So, I've got 2 kids in the pool having a great time but they're out in less than half an hour "it's too cold."

While the kids were in the pool, the hubby called. He's had a rotten day, the boss is on the war path and he'd like a quiet night. "Pull "Junior" aside and tell him no one for dinner." Got it.

Well, it was too late, the 2nd BF had already been invited for dinner and got the okay when he went home for his bathing suit.

We had pizza delivered.

While we were waiting for the pizza. Junior comes in and announces he traded for the 2nd BF bike. What? Yeah he got the bike and the friends "toddler" helmet and he gave the 2nd BF his good helmet and his Razor Scooter. This needs fixing, we head down the street and get this straightened out and the 2nd BF came back for pizza.

The boys went back out to ride bikes and at 7:30 the child was back in the house for the night. Hit the shower and was in bed by 8:10.

Ah, peace and quiet, the child's in bed, the hubby's asleep early and I'm reading the new Nora Roberts, that is until 10:00 when the child comes in and says he can't sleep. "You haven't been to sleep yet?" "Nope, I watched The Naked Brother's Band movie on Nick--it was great." Maybe we need to take the TV out of his room. He crawled in with us and was asleep in about 30 seconds.

A day in the life...