Wow! Two in one day!

It's been a while. But I just had to do another one and direct your attention to a couple more reviews of Broken Wing!!

Randi of Randi Romance Reader has just given her thoughts - and you get a bonus review of Suzanne Brockman's Dark of Night.

And

Sandy M just reviewed it over at The Good, The Bad The Unread - and wrote a most excellent review. She gives it an A+!!!

Another Questor

I meant to do this earlier, but we have another Questor. Kaitlyn/Bridget read Broken Wing and give it an A-

Happy Dance, Happy Dance!!

Another one bites the dust

Yes, we have us another Quester!! Stacy of Stacy's Place on Earth has a wonderful review of Broken Wing up!! Be sure to Check It Out!

Now back to reading since the damn has broke!

*****ETA******

And then we have Wendy's view of it. While not as flattering as Stacy's *g* she did do a good job in her review and yes - I'm still talking to her (heh heh heh) but I do disagree (most respectfully *g*) with her on one point in the comments ;-)

Once again we see that we are all different in our reading tastes and Vive la Différence!

Various & Assorted

1) First off - my obsession

SYTYCD Canada was wonderful once again. Here were my top favourite routines - the ones I spent the two following hours voting for



Nico and Arrasay got the majority of my votes. I just LOVE this couple!! This routine was crisp and clean and they were totally in synch with each other. And the are so great together. The only problem *sigh* I was spoiled by seeing Nico in only a pair of ripped jeans the previous two weeks.




Allie and Danny came in second in my voting. I loved this routine. What impressed me the most was Danny. His background is ball room so seeing him do this style and do it so well was great. And Allie's background is ballet so it was nice to see her dance in her style



This was third. Kaitlyn and Izzak really killed this routine. Up until Wednesday night Izaak was good on his own but not that good with a partner. This changed I think with this routine.



Natalli and Francis got quite a few of my votes too. This routine was a lot of fun. Francis is also a ballroom dancer and I've been waiting to see something different from him since up until Wednesday night he got nothing but ballroom dances. I think he did an excellent job. And you just gotta love a French accent.

~*~* FOR A REAL SPECIAL HALLOWEEN TREAT WATCH THIS~*~*

The quality isn't the best and if I see a better one I'll post it. BUT THIS IS CRAZY!! They don't call us Crazy Canucks for nothing I tell you. I don't think I breathed through the whole routine.


And I said Assorted

2) We have us another Quester!! I'm a bit late with this but Janet of Dear Author read Broken Wing and reviewed it. And best of all - she LIKED it!!

3) Nath contacted me the other day to see if I'd be interested in doing a review with her at Breezing Through on the newest JD Robb book. I'm in a book slump, but this is one I've managed to read so our thought should be up sometime today :)

A New/Old Crusader - and........

My Crusader nose seeks them out! While blog hopping the other day, I noticed that Leya of Wandeca Reads had posted a most luscious video with scenes from North and South in it.
"Wait a minute!" I thought. "She said she recently watched it, but I don't remember seeing a post where she blogged about it."
So, me being me - a teeny, tiny on the obsessive side - asked her about it in the comment section. She emailed me and said yes, she had blogged about it, but didn't remember to actually publish her post. But she did send me the link. So I direct all Crusaders to Leya's thoughts on North and South!

And.....

I happen to know of another blogger who will be settling down soon to begin watching this for the first time. She plans on watching one episode a night. We shall just see if, like Lay's Potato Chips, she can stop at just one.

You realize what this means don't you??
Of course! Another video



or two



Oh heck!! Why not three!




And now I have to skedaddle!! Tomorrow is TBR day - and I've picked me a big book this time - and *gulp* I still have a ways to go!

*^*^*^*^ETA*^*^*^*^

OK - I obviously haven't skedaddled yet *sigh - this is a addicting place isn't it*
But I may as well combine two obsessions!

Rosie - and I quote:

I have absolutely no problem recommending this book to any reader that wants to read a story that has multi-layered and complicated characters

and:

While Gabriel St. Croix is certainly a tortured and dark hero he is not mean spirited or cruel. We, as readers understand him better than the people he meets because we know his back story and his thoughts. This discovery and understanding of Gabriel is an integral part of the reading experience. It's not hard to understand why Sarah Munroe falls in with him.

Mind you - she doesn't give it quite a 6 out of 5.

Be sure to visit her to see what else she thinks of it. I think she likes it.
And..... she has one very naughty husband! She has promised to 'get' me for laughing.

My Initial Impressions of Broken Wing **The Quest**

Let’s try this again…
This morning I wrote a very insightful post about my initial impressions about Broken Wing, which I was able to locate before its release date. A few hours later. I received a few friendly emails telling my post went MIA. After some breathing exercises, where I have calmed down, I will try to the best of my ability to remember what I wrote the first time around. This is a small lesson- save your post in a Microsoft Word document!

*head hits desk*

When Kristie wrote me about a new book that had her jumping for joy, to the point where it would over take her number one favorite book and hero of all time, I was intrigued. Since Kristie is such a big, big fan of Lisa Kleypas’s classic Dreaming of You and Derek, the hero, I would have never expected another author to come along and change Kristie’s mind. New author, Judith James has some pretty big shoes to fill with her book, Broken Wing, and her very tortured hero prostitute Gabriel St. Croix. I was lucky enough to find a copy of Broken Wing a few days ago when I went to Barnes and Noble looking for a different book all together. I wasn’t surprised I couldn’t find the book I was looking for because B&N has this habit of not shelving new books on their release date, but I didn’t want to leave empty handed. To leave a bookstore without a book is simply not done, well at least in my mind. *G* As I roamed the Romance section, which is not a surprise at all, guess what I came upon? Not only did I find one copy of Broken Wing, but two copies, and before its November release date. I left with my bounty, a very happy reader.

*Har har my pun on the word bounty. Bounty = Pirate Romance*

I am right in the middle of Broken Wing and I can say that Gabriel is TORTURED beyond belief! He is one of the most abused heroes I have ever read. This man has undergone every horrible thing you can think of, and if Judith James wanted to, she would have thrown the kitchen sink at him also. This is a man who knows so much about giving physical pleasure and experiencing both emotional and sexual pain but has no knowledge of the word love and what it entails. Until he meets Sarah Munroe, Gabriel is a shell of a man ready to do something to end his suffering that no person should think of. Sarah changes all of that and she becomes his savior and his angel. She gives him his soul back and teaches him about love and respect. Respect is so important here because Gabriel has lost all respect and Sarah does something so very simple, she gives him the respect that all humans deserve. When Kristie mentioned that Gabriel is very innocent in some ways, that is true. Sex and love are two totally different things and Sarah teaches Gabriel about love through a kiss.

A kiss you say? That is correct. I won’t go into great detail about what Sarah’s kissing has done to Gabriel, but it changes everything between them and about Gabriel himself. If you have read the fairy tales where the prince awakens the princess with one sweet kiss, you already know what will happen between Gabriel and Sarah. This is reversed in Broken Wing because Sarah awakens Gabriel that same way the prince awakens his sleeping beauty.

The enjoyment in reading this novel is experiencing the journey a tortured character goes through to find happiness and redemption, essentially their happily ever after. Judith James’s Broken Wing is perhaps one book that has done this so very well. But since I have not finished, I cannot say if I will reach the same opinion Kristie has. I truly hope I do.

I will try and finish reading by the weekend so Kristie and I will have one of our world famous AIM review chats and discuss in full detail what we both like or perhaps dislike about Broken Wing. This is a really great blog event and with everyone on board with the quest, it will be an amazing thing to discuss a new book for weeks or perhaps years to come…

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But for those who don’t have Broken Wing in their possession, I will give you some food for thought. Notice the two covers down below from Avon that will be published this month. Do you see something very familiar about both of them? Me thinks the Avon cover department is running out of ideas, especially when they have two books, with almost the same exact covers coming out the same exact time.

What do you think?

Katiebabs (KB)