Losing another one

How do you handle it when a favourite author moves on? I just found out today I lost another loved author to another genre and I’m depressed about it. Candice Proctor will be having another book out soon but it’s not good news for me.
First off, it’s coming out in hardcover. Secondly it’s under a different name. And third and most important it’s not a romance.
Now part of me realizes that authors change. What they wrote 10, 5 years ago may not be what they want to write today. I know that. But damn it all, when I find out one of my favourite authors is switching genres I’m going to mourn.
I hope for her sake she gets an audience and is successful. She's a wonderful writer - one of the best. It bothers me tremendously though that the author of Whispers in Heaven, Beyond Sunrise, Night in Eden, September Moon and a few others won’t be writing her wonderful wonderful romances anymore. For some reason, of all the authors I’ve lost this way over the years, this loss is hitting me the hardest. Here are a few of my well-loved romance authors I’ve lost to one genre or another

Penelope Williamson
Theresa Weir
Tami Hoag
Patricia Ryan
Kristin Hannah
Barbara Samuel
Patricia Gaffney

And now
Candice Proctor

This is insantity - Thank goodness I'm not alone

My most recent purchases:

Yesterday at the UBS:
Sweet Annie by Cheryl St. John (harlequin historical)
Bethany's' Song by Susan Plunkett (time travel)
(And quite a few for the book trading group)

Today at Walmart:
Her Last Defense by Vickie Taylor (harlequin IM - cause I loved Carved in Stone)
Take No Prisoners by Gayle Wilson (harelquin Intrigue)

Today at Chapters:
Dangerous Passions by Lynn Kerstan (historical - a hidden treasure author for me)
A Taste of Crimson by Marjorie M Liu (paranormal - I loved her debut book)
A Season to be Sinful by Jo Goodman (historical - YES! she is one of my favourite authors)

And as if that weren't enough I stopped at Future Shop to inquire about buying something for downloading ebooks and the salesman was talking way over my head and I because I felt stupid, I had to console myself by buying the DVD For the Love of the Game - one of my favourite movies)

If anyone can help me with the little hand held computer things for downloading ebooks (now you can see why I was over my head) I would be ever so grateful. I'm ready to enter that world.

Giving them up

I think romance novels are death to normal, real relationships. You start thinking all that action, adventure and passion is the norm in the real world. You start to look for a man with romance novel hero traits. As a woman who started reading romance in her teens I didn't realize I was doing this until my early twenties. If the guy wasn't exciting and romance novel like I didn't want him.


This is part of a message a reader posted on a message board recently. I found it to be interesting and quite likely true for some readers.
Since I seem be reading romance almost exclusively, this is something I find myself dealing with quite often too. Am I always able to tell the difference? This year my husband and I will have been married for 31 years. He is about as far removed from the heroes in the romance books as possible. One of his big beefs about me reading romance is that he thinks I expect him to act like “those guys in the books you read”. When he says this as long as I can think “Am not”, I feel safe reading romance.
First off, I am always aware that the heroes in romance books are not real. They are figments of the author’s imagination. Women write the majority of romance books so it only makes sense that the women authors would project what they would find appealing in a guy into their stories. That’s what makes them good. They are exactly what a number of us would want ‘cause they express what women look for. Do I wish my husband would act like the heroes in romance books? Well, he just wouldn’t – he’s a guy. He is from the planet Mars, whereas the imaginary heroes in books are from the imaginary planet of imaginary Venus.
On top of that, if I were to expect him to act like the hero from a romance novel than it is only right that he would expect me to act like the heroine out of romance novel. And THAT is not going to happen. I’m older than most of them, I’m more reubenesque than most of them, I’m more selfish than most of them. At this point in my life I’m suffering from both PMS and hot flashes. Sex is something I still enjoy but I certainly don’t require it the way I once used too. All in all, I’m just not romance heroine kind of a girl.
I love my husband more today, than I did when we first got married, not because he is romance material – but more I think because he’s not. His flaws make him more special because then I am allowed my own flaws.
Because he makes mistakes, I feel better when I make them.
The last grand romantic gesture he made was to buy central air conditioning for the house near the end of June. We’ve lived in the same house without it for over 20 years. The hot weather doesn’t really bother him so he would be quite fine without it. But he got if for me. I never asked for it, it was always too expensive. And I never really let on how much the summer heat bothers me – at least I don’t think I did. But he knew and believe me, I silently thank him every day this summer. This was something far more special than anything a silly ole romance hero would do.
So I think that maybe for her, the poster needed to take a break from romance and maybe I will someday if my expectations get out of whack. But for now anyway, I’m still able to differentiate between a made up romance hero who sprung from a fertile imagination and my own personal hero.

One of life's more embarrasing moments

Quite some time ago, Mail made a bet with a friend (she must have some of the most interesting bets) and posted some of her most embarrassing moments. Apparently, if no one responded in a certain time, she was allowed to delete the post. Well, it was a hoot of a list and it seems she had something like 10 minutes to go when myself and another person responded and she had to leave it up. At the time she said I owed her some embarrassing moments back. I’ve always felt that obligation in the back of my mind – I gotta get over this kind of feeling. Anyway, this one is for Maili!

I was in a department store – Giant Tiger -the other day. I’m not sure what to compare it too – maybe a smaller, friendlier Walmart. They have all kinds of things. Frozen food, discount clothing, toiletries, portable DVD players – you name it, they have it - almost. One of the items they have is great underwear. Now great underwear to me is an entirely different kettle of fish than great underwear to someone much younger. GU to me is something that will hold parts of me in, yet be comfortable at the same time. I am a thong virgin – and will remain so until my dying day. Medium to firm support for me if you please. For those who saw the movie Bridget Jones Diary, there was this really great scene where she was trying to decide between the practical ugly underwear or the sexy provocative underwear. She (and I) went with practical.
So with my GU, a few frozen dinners for my hubbie, shampoo and a half price chocolate bar, I went to the checkout. The cashier was an older lady so I (phew) was safe. After all these years, I still feel awkward when I buy personal things. I gotta get over this kind of thing. I was about 3rd or 4th in line and there were a few people that lined up after me. At this point a young and rather attractive cashier of the male persuasion opened up, looked right at me and said “I can help you over here”. I pretended not to hear him. He said it again. The person behind me tapped me, pointed and said “over there”. Now why couldn’t it have been one of those people who will mow you down trying to get ahead of you in line? Reluctantly, I walked over to the next register thinking “I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to do this". I dumped all my purchases on the belt somehow hoping the GU would slip by unnoticed and started looking out the window like there was something very interesting going on out there. Twas not be. When he got to the GU, the ugly, the white, the full size for medium support UW, he held them up – I got two don’t you know – and said “You realize the sale is final on these items?” “Fuck off” I thought while giving him the royal “of course, proceed” wave yet inside dying of embarrassment. What I really wanted to say was “I’m over 50 fuckin’ years old and I still wasn’t aware that you couldn’t return underwear. How bloody thoughtful of you to point this out for me in front of all these people”
I made it out of the store, got in the car, hit my head on the steering wheel and thought “Damn! Shit! Shit, Damn. I really really gotta get over this.”

Wierd Fans

I was terribly and horribly bored at work yesterday and since my boss is on vacation, I spent much more time than I should have on the internet. I kept telling myself that a) there wasn’t anything else for me to do and b) I had already volunteered to help a number of people with their jobs but none of them took me up on it. I still felt very guilty about it though. Whenever I go on the internet at work, I always imagine some computer geek kept in a locked room somewhere tracking where all the employees visit on the ‘net. I really need to get over that.

Anyway, I had myself a rollicking good time at Amazon reading the reader reviews of a Certain Author. This author’s fans are weird. First off, there are no fewer that 20 reviews for every book she has published. Most have 30 reviews and one of CA’s books has an astonishing 61 customer reviews. Now that’s weird. And if you read the reviews themselves they are unintentionally hilarious. I give you this example:

[...]. I was thrilled to see that she plans atleast 6 more books to xxxxxxxx story. Yeah! HOWEVER, I am left steaming and nearly irate as I found out that there will be A YEAR BETWEEN RELEASE DATES! A YEAR! Come on! You've made us obsessed with your writing, we have money, give it to us now! I can understand MAYBE 6 months, she is a busy auther, but an entire year! And the next full book in her Xxxx Xxx's Series won't be out till March 2006!!!! Come on, if you think we are going to wait with this much enthuisiasm for that long you're crazier than some of your characters! (And not in the fun way we love!)
Now call me a snob, but if I was going to post a review somewhere, I would at least make sure the spelling was correct.
This one caught my eye:
After receiving this book I ran into the only private place I could find and eagerly tore into this book. (Bet it was the bathroom)
This one is also rather amusing:
When I read Anne Stuart I often ponder what she eats to stay so good from book to book. When I read Xxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyyy that never crosses my mind. (yes, I often wonder what authors eat too)

Some of the headlines amused me too. There was this one:

Best Book Since Lord of Scoundrels (I don’t think so)
it's gold, i like it. it's mine. (I hate when people are too lazy to capitalize)
headspinningly brilliant (headspiningly stupid title if you ask me)
But this is my favourite
Warning!! Don't not drink milk when reading this book!, (Oh thank you for that advice)

Now I have never read CA. Her type of books just don’t appeal to me at all. She may be good or she may not be. What I consider authentic review sites are not very kind to CA at all. A certain married lady who laughs a lot has some hilarious reviews. But even if I were to be tempted, her weird fans would certainly give me second thoughts. I must say, I don’t even understand the mindset that causes fans of certain authors to get so wrapped up in the author of their choice. If I were an author, I think I would be slightly spooked to have wacky fans that some authors do- keeping the movie Misery in mind Occasionally, very occasionally, I will write to an author and let her know how much I enjoyed her book, but that’s about it. So while I will always have my favourite authors, I truly hope I never get weird about them.

BTW - I still have settled on a favourite colour or font. That's why I'm still experimenting.

Recent Reads - Two goodies and a wallbanger

I Got You Babe – Jane Sullivan
Good news/ bad news on this one. The good news - this one’s a keeper. The bad news - I’m pretty sure it’s out of print.
John DeMarco is a cop who is burning out. He is ‘encouraged’ to take a vacation after he beats a paper towel dispenser up in a rage when a guilty criminal is set free. He is sitting, eating his meal, and minding his own business in a scruffy diner when a beautiful young woman propositions him. At first, very reluctant, he is eventually persuaded to take her back to his cabin.
Renee Esterhaus is a girl in trouble. Accused of a crime she didn’t commit she is on the run from the cops and a very persistent bounty hunter. When she happens into the same diner as John, she is desperate and tries to get him to take her away – anyway she can. Later when John discovers who she really is, he is torn between his duty as a cop and his ever-increasing belief in Renee’s innocence.
I loved both John and Renee as characters. John is truly a good man, more of a beta hero with pretty good overtones of alpha. He wants to help Renee; he eventually believes her and is very attracted to her, but still his duty as a cop tells him that he should be turning this wanted fugitive in. And I loved Renee. She is far from perfect. She was a juvenile delinquent who admits she was trouble when younger, but with a lot of hard work she’s managed to turn her life around. The author does a wonderful job in describing Renee’s panic at the thoughts of going to jail. There is a wonderful cast of secondary characters. I also found it delightfully funny in parts, such as the scene when John’s sister walks into John’s bedroom and discovers a handcuffed Renee. She is delighted at what she thinks is her brothers “kinkiness”.
I’ve read all the books in this series now with mixed but mainly very positive results. I hated, hated, loathed with every fibre of my being, hated with a passion Wild at Heat, Alex’s story – what a complete a$$hole this jerk was (DNF). I liked Flirting with Disaster, Dave’s story (the first one I read of this series) quite a bit (4 out of 5). I loved Light my Fire, Sandy the sister’s story (4 ½ out of 4) and adored I Got You Babe
Grade: 5 out of 5
**Note** – Jane Graves also writes series books under the name Jane Sullivan, mainly Temptation, a line now no longer being published. As I’m a fan of her books under that line, I hope she moves to another line at Harlequin and that we haven’t seen the end of Jane Sullivan.

Carved in Stone – VickieTaylor
This book was a bit of a fluke find. I was blog hopping and noticed it on Maili’s blog. It looked intriguing so I thought I’d give it a try. I am so glad I did.
This is the first I believe, in a series about another paranormal group – gargoyles, you know those scary looking statues on old buildings.
Nathan Cross is an excommunicated gargoyle. Not only excommunicated, his people are not allowed to speak or even acknowledge him. Having been banished from the group because he holds different and unacceptable beliefs, he is lonely but determined that this will be his last life. Rachel Vandemere is a tormented heroine. After witnessing her parents’ death at the hands of monsters when she was a child, she is determined to find and expose the monster for what they are. Now an Interpol agent, she senses something in Nathan and believing he can help her in her quest, she tells him her story and asks for his help. Little does she know that he is one of the very monsters she is seeking.
You can feel the sexual tension in this book between Nathan and Rachel. Nathan is an alpha hero and very quickly develops a very strong proprietary tie to Rachel. I’d love to have someone like Nathan watching out for me. I think Ms Taylor has done an excellent job in setting up this world. The gargoyles are human enough so I don’t get creeped out yet different enough to be intriguing. One of the most unique angles is while they live thousands and thousands of years; it is through reincarnation that they exist for so long. Their actual life span is just like ours. I’m looking forward to the next instalment as there are some threads left hanging.
I rather reluctantly gave up on Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series. This one I think will be an excellent replacement. I see quite a few others are also reading this book. I’d love to know what they think of the book and potential series.
Grade: 41/2 out of 5

Come Up and See Me Sometime – Lucy Monroe
I loved The Real Deal, Ms Monroe’s breakout book from last year so I was looking forward to enjoying this book. I didn’t. Enjoy it. In fact I couldn’t finish it. This one I hated. The hero Alec was arrogant and a quite a bit of a jerk. I could have kept reading it despite this though. But the heroine did the book in for me. I can’t remember her name at the moment and have no desire to look it up.
Alec is a man with vengeance on his mind. Determined to destroy the father of the heroine who he hold responsible for his own fathers death, he is hit be the desire to make the heroine his own when he finally meets her. He’s been drawn to her for a number of years ever since he saw her picture. He does woo her and win her but does he give up his plan for vengeance on her father? No, of course not. And what does she do when she finds out what he has planned? Does she get angry with him? Well, maybe a little. Not much though. What is her main reaction? She sleeps with the jerk. Not only that, she takes the lead in the sheets. As a heroine, let’s not voice our concerns when our new husband wants to ruin our family. Let’s not talk him out of it. Let’s reward the jerk. Let’s give him sex and not only that but let’s give him our very first blow job the same night we find out he has no intention of compromising on ruining a loved family member. I’m not one to advocate as a woman, using sex to get what we want, but come on now. No woman with any self- respect is going to do this. How does one spell doormat? “Heroine of this book whose name I can’t remember”. At this point I couldn’t finish this book and to be honest, I’m not sure I even care to try another Monroe book. It would take some heavy duty convincing to make me want to try her again. She hit a hot button with me on this one. A real hot button. She went from the top of the mountain to the bottom
Grade – DNF

A Beef about Book Stores

First off, part of me feels guilty even bitching about this. I have read how hard it for some people such as Rosario to find books. I’m not sure how easy it is to find romance books “across the pond” either. But I have a beef with the way the “system” works in Canada.
For those who don’t know, there is very little “free enterprise” here. There is one book store chain and only one. A few years ago, there were more. Coles Books and HB Smith Books were the two main chains. Both happened to be located in the mall near where I live and it was wonderful. If I couldn’t find a book in one store, then I could look in the other. Then there was the third choice, Woolco. I don’t know too much about the corporate happenings and I suppose I should do some research, but things changed, and not for the better a few years ago. First of all, Woolco was bought out by Walmart. One of the first changes I noticed was in the book department. Once it became Walmart, the selection changed immediately. When it was Woolco, I could find lesser known books by lesser know publishers but once it became Walmart, there just wasn’t the same selection anymore. Unusual books I could previously count on finding were no longer available. Then not too long after that, the Indigo Book Store Chain absorbed both HB Smith and Coles Book Stores. They the proceeded to open huge box store book stores known as Chapters. Coles still exists but it’s owned by Indigo books. They are located in malls and are much smaller than the Chapters Book Stores

Now you would think a big box type store would mean more of a selection wouldn’t you? Not necessarily. They don’t stock the lesser known publishers and even some of the more well known publishers such as Dorchester, aren’t carried.

This means I miss quite a few books. Luckily, I hear about quite a few of them on-line and I can and do order them. But for less savvy romance readers or those who don’t follow what’s being published via the internet, they are missing out on some very good reads. And authors who I feel deserve better are being left out. Here are just a few of the books I’ve had to order that never showed up in any of their stores.

Fallen from Grace – Laura Leone (Five Star Publishing)
PB Ryan Mysteries
Michele Albert’s - No Way Out
Body Check – Deirdre Martin
CJ Barrry’ earlier books

And I’m sure there are quite a few that I haven’t heard of that I missed because they weren’t on the shelves.

There are a few independent book stores, but there selections are even worse.
So, I will continue to use the internet to ferret out books I might never otherwise even know about. But I feel bad that so many other readers miss so many good books because there just isn’t the competition that there should be.

It's Friday, it's hot and I'm.......

exhausted from playing with pictures.
But I did it - YES
So this is going to be very simple tonight.

I have my top three eagerly anticipating August books. What are every one else's? I always love to see what other people are looking forward too.

Tomorrow - font colours or maybe tonight. I'm on a roll.

By Jove - I think I've got it

With much practice and with some help from Jay, it may have worked this time!
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Of course they are a bit bigger than I would prefer
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But they are still pictures

Leaving well enough alone and why can't I do that

Well Olly, it looks like you've done it again.

In my never ending quest for pictures, once again I have managed to mess things up.

Why is it I can put together an instruction book on my job duties that knocks my boss' socks off?
Why is it I can take a picture and wipe unwanted people right out of it?
Why is it I could send out a group email to everyone in the office that included a lovely bunch of flowers - no wait, that one crashed everyone's computer with it's 1 Millions gigabytes of memory or whatever and I had to go around and tell everyone not to open their email until the problem was solved
But I can't seem to "do pictures"?

As Sybil puts it so well
Le Sigh

More Recent Reads

Skintight – Susan Andersen
My son, who until he moves back home next weekend – sigh – still comes over for dinner every Sunday. Because he doesn’t have cable where he is presently living, one of the attractions I’m sure, to moving back home, and he loves poker, he insists on claiming the TV to watch The World Poker Tour. This has been driving me crazy but when I saw the hero of Susan Anderson’s latest is a World Poker Tour member I mellowed out and decided to watch it more in preparation. Nothing like a romance book to calm our nerves. So when I read the book, I could actually relate. Susan Andersen is an autobuy who has very rarely written a book I didn’t like. After finishing this one, her record is still intact. I really enjoyed this one, much better than her previous Hot and Bothered. The hero of this book Jax, is very likeable and unlike most of her other books is much more of a Beta hero. When he was young, he was much more into schoolwork than he was the sport’s his father insisted he play. He was a math geek who never measured up to his “good old boy” dad and as a result hadn’t had contact with him for years. After his father’s death, he comes up with a (and he admits it later) cockamamie idea to steal a collector’s baseball away from his father’s young widow. Treena is a great heroine, a showgirl with a heart of gold. She falls fast for Jax and is devastated when the truth comes out. The secondary characters are great in this book and there is a rather sweet secondary love story between a retired librarian who is wilder than she seems and a widowed handyman. It looks like there will be a second story and I can hardly wait.
Grade 4 ½ out of 5

His Secondhand Wife – Cheryl St. John
If I were given one word to describe Cheryl St. John’s books it would be tender. She has been an autobuy author for me for years and I think if she wrote for a publisher other than Harlequin, she might be a better-known author. As it is, I shall start doing more to get the word out on this wonderful writer. Since Lorraine Heath moved away from westerns, Ms. St. John has come the closest I think to filling that gap.
Noah, the hero, is a scarred and introverted man who upon hearing of the death of his younger and not so innocent brother (he is shot while with another man’s wife) tracks down his brother’s widow to deliver the news. Katherine is in a terrible situation. Left pregnant by her disappearing husband and living with her bitter and critical mother, she leaps at the opportunity to leave with Noah, when he offers to take her to his ranch. What follows is a tender story of two lost souls finding their way to each other. Noah is a wee bit frustrating as he continues to misunderstand Katherine, but he is very sweet nevertheless. What makes this different is Noah is the virgin in this story. I’ve always enjoyed that turnabout. To me this book is reminiscent of Heath’s Texas Destiny and Sweet Lullaby. While not quite as good – both of those ones got a 5 out of 5 from me, this one comes very close.
Grade 4 ½ out of 5

Wanting Something More – Kathy Love
Her first book, Getting What you Want blew me away. I gave this one a 5 out of 5 and could barely wait for story of the next Stepp sister. Wanting What you Get was a big disappointment after Ms. Love’s amazing debut. I gave it a 2 ½ out of 5. So with one big winner and one not so much of a winner for me, I was wondering how I would like the third book in the series. Well, I liked it much better than the second one, but not quite as much as the first.
This is the story of Marty Stepp, the youngest sister. She’s a burned out supermodel who has reached a turning point in her life. She decides to come home to think out what her next step will be. She runs into Nate Peck, during a snowstorm and is not impressed. In the prologue to this book, Nate had done something to hurt her I think we can all identify with. He was just as big a jerk on a recent visit Marty made for her sister’s wedding so she wasn’t about to by his changed guy claim. At least not till she put him through a few tests first. Nate has changed though and truly for the better.
As I said, this is a vast improvement over her second book. I liked both Marty who had her own insecurities despite being a supermodel and I liked the new and improved Nate – for the most part. He seemed a bit too good since his life altering experience. I like a hero who isn’t quite so perfect. For those who like the grovel, it took a while, but there is a pretty good one in this book.
I’m not sure if I’ll be buying Kathy Love in the future. It looks like she’s another author moving into the vampire fold and anyone who has read this blog knows how I feel about vampires…….
But, if she ever goes back to straight comtemps, I will have no qualms about buying her books again.
Grade 3 ½ out of 5

Interesting Lost tidbit for fellow addicts like me:
I don't know if the cover of the TV Guide is the same in the US as it is in Canada, but Josh Holloway (Sawyer) graces the cover of the one in Canada. Of course I picked up a copy of this issue even though I haven't bought TV Guide in years. He's in a feature on interesting facts on the 11 sexiest stars. Also one of the stars is Evangeline Lilly (Kate). Quote:
"I told (Josh Holloway), there's gonna be toungue in this kiss,' and he said 'fine by me.'

Survivor in Death and I really need to be stopped

Well I finished and returned Survivor in Death. It wasn’t quite as much fun having to return it as it was checking it out. And I didn’t even have to go in the library. They had a drop off box just like the video stores do. I didn’t really want to return it so quickly after waiting almost six months for it and I do have three weeks to have it checked out, but there is still a waiting list of over 70 so I thought I’d be nice and return it quickly so the next person in line who has been waiting so long will be just as excited as I was when I made it to the front of the line.

Anyway onto Survivor in Death. It’s always somewhat amusing to me that the very same thing that keeps from reading Nora Roberts anymore is the same thing that keeps me coming back to JD Robb. What I find hard to read anymore in her trilogies and single title books; the sameness in characters, are what I love so much about the In Death books. This was another excellent book in the series and I can’t see me ever tiring of them. I was a little concerned up to half way through the book. I love the ongoing and growing relationship between Roarke and Eve. It seemed to be missing for the first part of the book. Roarke would walk into a room, have some interaction with Eve and then they would part. There wasn’t any of the intense scenes between them and I was beginning to wonder if JD Robb was drifting away from that. No need to worry though, later in the book there were some heavy soul searching and soul revealing scenes. Ms Robb seemed to delve more into Roarke’s psyche this time around and I really enjoyed that. I loved how the author dealt with the girl who comes into their lives. I’m not nearly ready to see them have children but this was a nice way to see them interact with children. And again, it was nice to see the other characters that Ms. Robb has brought to life so well.
It’s wonderful to see Eve continue to develop as a person and begin to open up more with each book. She didn’t seem nearly as freaked out by Mavis’ pregnancy as she did a few books ago. She even was willing to contemplate having her own kids – along way down the road.
All in all this was another wonderful read by a well loved author..

Echoing what others have said recently, I really need to be stopped. I was out this morning and while driving by Chapters, it called to me. It really did. I just couldn’t seem to help pulling into the parking lot, getting out of the car, going inside and buying more books. Books I don’t need. Books I want.

Today’s haul:
Warprize - Elizabeth Vaughan (new to me author)
Come Up and See Me Somtime - Lucy Monroe (loved The Real Deal
Carved in Stone - Vickie Taylor (new to me author - I came across this one from Maili's blog)
Wanting Something More - Kathy Love (loved her first, didn't the second,which one will this one be)
The Marriage Bed - Laura Lee Guhrke (despite the mixed reviews, I've always loved this author and I want to know what everyone is talking about)
His Secondhand Wife - Cheryl St. John (I love her writing)

I had something completely different planned but

since I’m an unabashed copy cat, I saw Tara’s list of autobuys and thought I’d blog my own. It’s too long to add to hers.

Autobuys (in no particular order)
Jo Goodman
Gaelen Foley
Susan Anderson
Liz Carlyle
JD Robb
Linda Howard
Wendy Lindstrom (new addition)
Susan Donovan
Pamela Clare
Candice Proctor (if she ever writes another one – sigh)
Michele Albert
Loretta Chase
Susan Mallery
Kate Rothwell – even though she only has two – I loved them both
Leslie LaFoy
Lynn Kerstan

On the bubble (had some I loved – others not so much)
Lisa Kleypas
Laura Lee Guhrke (haven’t read The Marriage Bed – it will probably be the deciding book)
Kathy Love
Jo Beverly
Karen Ranney
Celeste Bradley
Rachel Gibson (she moved off the autobuy to the bubble after her latest one)
Patricia Potter
Jennifer Ashley

No longer buy but used to love
Sherrilyn Kenyon/Kinley MacGregor (most recent)
Nora Roberts
Jayne Anne Krentz/Amanda Quick
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Catherine Anderson
Elizabeth Lowell
Lyn Kurland
Mary Balogh
Julie Garwood
Julia Quinn (too many Bridgerton’s!)
Lorraine Heath (but she can move up if she ever writes another western)

WOW - and a fascinating discovery

A huge thank you to KarenS who said if she, who is weblogistically challenged could change her blog look, anyone could and then warned me to copy and paste. Anyone reading this has no idea how scared I was when I hit that change button. My palms were sweating and my heart was beating faster.
I love the new look - NO MORE PINK. I am so not a pink person.

Next step in the bold leap forward - another attempt at pictures. And look!!!!! I did it.
Wow!!!

Since JD Robb went to hardcover I've been depressed. I'm not about to start buying hardcover halfway through the series, but I simply could not wait for the paperback. I had an idea. Why not try the library. Our library system bites the big one as far as romance books go but since the In Death aren't considered romance, they would probably have them. So I went and got a library card - haven't had one of those in over 20 years. They are plastic now. I then put a hold on Survivor in Death. This was way back in February. I was 79th in line. Well it finally came in today so I stopped to pick it up. It was truly an unusual feeling to walk out of there with a book in my hands that I didn't pay for. I'm going to have to do this again. I'm 57 on the list for Origin in Death.

It's magic

I really enjoyed Monica’s column in Romancing the Blog today. It speaks so much as to one of the reasons I started this blog. I’m very fortunate in that my sons are grown and while not completely out of the house yet, at least are able to take care of their own needs and I have a fairly decent disposable income. Believe me, at one point I didn’t think we would ever get there. I was a SAHM for a number of years and when I did go back to work, it was in retail at a store near where my sons went to school. I worked a lot of afternoons and nights so we didn’t have the expense of daycare or babysitters. We don’t travel a lot so I have money to indulge my real passion and that is books. I read a lot of reviews on books, but have learned not to pay too much attention to the grades they get. I think it’s one of the greatest reading experiences in the world to discover’ a new author and echoing what Monica wrote, it is magic.
I think there are a couple of main reasons romance readers don’t try new authors. The number one reason seems to be money. That’s a very valid reason. For this obstacle, the library seems to be very helpful however. Not every city has a library system as pitiful as the one in the city I live in. The romance section of almost every branch is severely lacking. What they do have is a lot of Harlequins. My own collection puts the library’s to shame.
Another reason seems to be risk. Some romance readers just don’t seem to be big risk takers. They would rather stay with authors they are familiar with. Now there is nothing wrong with that, I still have some authors I’ve loved for years, although to be honest there are a lot more I’ve dropped. And let’s face it, a favourite author can write a bad book too. Fortunately there are a lot of risk takers out there. They are willing to try something new and different, thus explaining the explosion of paranormal romance. I don’t consider myself a risk taker at all, except when it comes to books. I’m about a staid and boring as it comes, but when it comes to books I’m willing to explore – somewhat. I figure when I see a book that looks interesting by an author I’ve never tried before “why not?” I’ve read all kinds of really nasty books by favourite authors so in a way it isn’t anymore of a risk than a book by an old familiar author. I don’t gamble in RL but I do when it comes to fantasy.
But what do I gain by taking risks. As Monica said in her column, when you find a new author, it’s like magic. I’ve experienced that magic a few times so far this year, Lips that Touch Mine by Wendy Lindstrom, Ride the Fire by Pamela Clare, The Cobra and the Concubine. Of course the good/bad side of that is back lists that must be found and read.
Another plus to taking chances on new books is I am tickled pink when I’ve shared a relatively unknown book with someone and they have really enjoyed it too. I’m almost as excited for them as I was myself when I read it. I love hearing the feedback.
So I will continue to read new authors and share the good ones. It’s too much fun not to.

I need help

What the hell did I just do and why is everything at the bottom? And anyone know how I can fix it?

"Dufus" she muttered, "You're such a dufus."