Real Life Update

I debated on whether to do this post but then thought ‘what the heck. I’ve posted about my fear of mail, my travails in buying underwear, my rather naughty lack of sending in taxes and many other things over the years.

Ever since Ron died, I’ve slowly been going to hell in a hand basket health wise. As I live alone, there is no one around for me to account to. If I feel like eating a bag of chips for dinner, no one wonders if that’s such a good idea except myself and I’m not so good at listening to me when I want chips. In addition, there’s been no one around to kick me in the butt to get up and move it so I’ve been a terrible terrible couch potato.

When I broke my leg, I knew in the back of my mind that I should be giving up smoking and that was the impetus that I needed to get me to quit and I also knew in the same place in the back of my mind that I needed to start taking care of my VERY neglected health concerns. The first kick came when my sister was diagnosed with something pretty darn serious. I won’t go into details as it’s not my story, but enough to say that now she is doing very, very well. The second kick came when my other sister was diagnosed with something very similar almost a month ago. She also is doing very, very well, but both of them gave me that proverbial kick to start taking charge of my health.

I just recently went in for one of “those” tests, my first one in about 15 years and things looked wonky. So I’m in the process of further testing. I don’t know the results yet, but it might keep me home this summer and *sob* miss the RWA conference. By the time I do know the results it may be too late to start making plans.

And as if that weren’t enough, while getting blood tested, it was discovered that I have high blood sugar levels, very high. I don’t have to take insulin, but I do have to take oral medication for it. And between those things, I have now been completely kicked. in my butt! Time to take action.

I joined a gym and now have my very own “BOB” (those who watch The Biggest Loser know who I mean) that I see 3 x’s a week. They asked if I would be willing to be a before and after gal for promotion services and I said sure. The more accountability I have, the more accountable I’ll have to be. I started off at 3 visits a week, now I’m up to 5. TBecause I said sure, they are throwing in nutrition classes they usually charge for. I plan on becoming their poster girl, heh, heh. There’s not a whole lot I can do yet, I really let myself fall to pieces and “Baby Steps” is my mantra, but each time I go, I’m getting a little bit fitter. I had been, up until I joined, out of breath when I climbed the stairs.

I’ve also started eating very healthy! My body is missing those potato chips I used to use as fuel.

Instead of an entire bag of chips – yes I could do that quite easily – I’ve replaced them with 10 almonds. Carrots are becoming my friend as well as that lettuce. I’m reading the sides of cereal boxes and so far Honey Nut Cheerios is my favourite new/old cereal followed by the Banana flavoured ones. Even just eating breakfast is a big change. Silly, silly, bad me used to fast until lunch time and then overcompensate throughout the rest of the day with really bad things – like potato chips. I would tell myself that it wasn’t so bad since I was eating the low salt, but come on – who was I really fooling.

I ordered a Yonanas from one of my favourite places to shop – The Shopping Channel. I haven’t got it yet, but if it works the way they demonstrate on TV, it will be a great way to get fruit and soothe that ice cream craving at the same time.

And water – I can’t forget about water! The old me hardly took in much fluids at all. And what I did drink was mostly tea and coffee with some Coke or Pepsi thrown in. At the end of many a day amongst the various thoughts of the day, I would think I should have had more to drink. One of the tests I had to take gave poor results and the person doing them said it was a good possibility I was dehydrated. So now I have one cup of tea before work, after I drink some water first, and one cup of coffee I pick up on the way. Other than that I drink nothing but water. Lots and lots of water until I feel like I slosh when I walk. I have a wonderful water bottle I got at one of the Conferences from Carina Press with me at all times now, whether it’s at the gym, at my desk at work or on the coffee table. I don't think I've slept all the way through the night since I started this water thing and the bathroom and I are good friends now. My own BOB wants me to drink even more water, but considering I used to drink next to none, I'm working up to it.

I also downloaded a couple of apps to keep track of my eating habits and exercise that I set up to update on both Facebook and Twitter when I work out, you may have noticed them. It’s a small amount of time at the moment, but will get longer as I go on. The more I have to account for my actions I figure, the harder it will be to give up.

I’m trying to be realistic in my goals and am giving myself a year to get to the place weight wise where I want to be and if I lose 2 pounds a week, unlike those on The Biggest Loser, I will be quite satisfied. But then I won’t know as I don’t really plan on weighing myself a whole lot. The most important thing for me is to get my breath back and have longer endurance. Weight loss, while I’m not going to deny wanting it like anything, is the second motivator not the first. So it’s going to be how lose or tight clothes feel on me; when I start going down sizes that will be the real prize as far as weight loss goes.

So now I’ve put this out to the world – not that everyone in it will read this, so I have a huge group to hold myself accountable to. I’m rewarding myself along the way. The first one was the first day I went to the gym so I rewarded myself with some jewelry, my biggest weakness next to plain potato chips. I’m hoping for a big reward from my health conscious son. I was telling him I need an IPod to listen to while working out. He said if I kept it up he would get me one. I don’t know if he will remember and if I were a good mother I wouldn’t insist on it. But what the heck – he said so I’m going to hold him to it! The ultimate reward I’m giving to myself is a trip to Australia next year, hopefully to a romancewriter/fan convention they hold there. At this point in my life it would be a waste of time since I’m so out of shape I couldn’t do a lot of the things I would want to do. But next year baby I’m there! And maybe I’ll meet a nice Australian guy

~~~~~~~ETA~~~~~~~

I woke up suddenly with a thought and clarification. For those who don't watch The Biggest Loser, Bob is a personal trainer. It's a personal trainer I work with 3 times a week. I did not mean the other thing BOB could mean. *laughing*. That would be giving TMI.

Second time - March TBR Challenge

I have failed fellow readers, I have failed. After being what turned out to be a day late and the wrong challenge that gave me almost a week to get this month’s CORRECT challenge done. And I didn’t get ‘er done.

I tried, I honestly tried, but no offense to the books and at another day at another time, they might have worked for me, but I couldn’t get into the ones I did attempt.



The first one Wild Cat by Jennifer Ashley just didn’t grab my attention that much. I’ve really enjoyed the first several in this series, but I just hit a spot where I thought the hero should have been grateful to the heroine and he wasn’t and I moved on. Now I fully expect I will go back to this one, but just not in time for this month’s challenge.





Having failed with Wildcat, I moved onto The Lady and the Libertine by Bonnie Vanak and again I had trouble getting into it. I quickly add that it wasn’t the book, I think it was my mood since I’ve read a few in this series and very much enjoyed them. More and more I’m becoming a mood reader though and I just wasn’t in the mood for historical during the past week. I know I will go back to it though.





And finally, I tried reading Hunter of Shadows by Nancy Gideon thinking for sure this would do the trick. Alas, it didn’t. I’ve loved all the previous books in this series but again I think it was my mood, because this one just didn’t appeal to me. I think I may be in a bit of a mini slump, at least until I stumble on the book that will wake up my sleepy mojo.



So that’s it, I gave it a good try, but just didn’t make it with any I tried.

Now what I can do, so it’s not a complete waste of a visit, is do a review of a couple of books that fit the bill, series wise. I read them in February so I think they are close to counting. The first up



Bad Boy’s Do by Victoria Dahl.

Steam Level: very nicely warm

Blurb: Olivia Bishop is no fun. That's what her ex-husband said. And that's what her smart bob and glasses imply. So with her trademark determination, Olivia sets out to remake her life. She's going to spend time with her girlfriends and not throw it all away for some man. But when an outing with her book club leads her to a brewery taproom, the dark-haired beauty realizes that trouble—in the form of sexy Jamie Donovan—may be too tempting to avoid.


Jamie Donovan doesn't mean to be bad. Sure, the wild streak in his wicked green eyes has lured the ladies before. Now it's time to grow up. He's even ready for a serious romance. But how can hat be when Olivia, the only right woman he has ever met, already has him pegged as wrong?


My Thoughts: Actually, I’m surprised I read this one. I got it at the same time as the first in the series, Good Girl’s Don’t. and I got the third one, Real Men Will, very shortly after that. I think I had coupons or something. But the reason I was somewhat surprised that I read Bad Boys Do is that I really didn’t care for the first book. I disliked the heroine quite intensely and neither of the brothers endeared themselves to me either. So I don’t know what came over me to read this one – must have been a Contemporary Mood I guess.


Whatever it was, I am SO glad I listened. I really enjoyed this second one. It was a complete change from Good Girls Don’t. We find out in this one that Jamie isn’t the screw up he appears to be in the first book. Rather, he just doesn’t bother justifying his reasons for doing things and the situation he found himself in from the first book, was him trying to do the right thing for his family and a nasty piece causing trouble.


Still, Jamie is a people kind of guy, working in the bar of the family owned winery. He has quite a reputation as a ‘good time guy’ but much of it is exaggerated. He is quite taken with Olivia, the heroine, when he first meets her. Olivia had a bad marriage and as a result, keeps pretty much to herself. She was persuaded by her friends to attend the book club (in name only) being held at Donovan’s, where she first meets Jamie. They run into each other again when he takes a community class she is teaching to learn more about the restaurant business. See, Jamie has big plans even though he doesn’t think his older, bossy brother will be interested. But he takes courses
anyway. He proposes that he and Olivia do some bartering; he will teach her how to be fun and she will help him with his restaurant plans.

Of course, this being a romance, against both their plans, they start developing real feelings for each other and what I liked, Jamie is the more willing to admit it.


I loved both Jamie and Olivia in this book. One of the big pluses is it’s one of my favourite storylines, older woman/ younger man. There wasn’t a huge difference in their ages, but enough to make me rub my hands in delight. Even the annoying sister Tessa was easier to swallow. Big brother Eric was still a pill but since I already had his book on stand-by, I knew I would be reading to see what made him tick.


Jamie has been keeping something very painful to himself and it was nice to see his trust with Olivia in being able to share it with her. This was a Most Enjoyable Read.

Grade: 4.75 out of 5




Real Men Will by Victoria Dahl


Steam Level: yep, steamy!


Blurb: It was meant to be a one-night stand. One night of passion. Scorching-hot. Then Beth Cantrell and Eric Donovan were supposed to go their separate ways. That's the only reason he lied about his name, telling her he was really his wild younger brother. Hiding his identity as the conservative Donovan. The "good one."
But passion has its own logic, and Eric finds he can't forget the sable-haired beauty with whom he shared a night of love. When Beth discovers that Eric has lied, however, she knows he can't be trusted. Her mind tells her to forget the blue-eyed charmer. If only every fiber of her being didn't burn to call him back.


My Thoughts: Again, like the second book, I enjoyed this one ever so much better than the first
one. Eric is to put it mildly, a stick in the mud. He doesn’t give much leeway to his family, especially his younger brother Jamie. So it’s somewhat surprising that before the story begins he has had a one night stand with Beth Cantrel, the manager of an “adult” store. But because he’s a it of that stick, he gives out his brother’s name rather than his own thinking they would never meet
again.

So of course they do, and because he told Beth his name was Jamie, once the confusion is cleared up, he has a couple of pretty pissed off people, first off Beth, who deservedly has issues about being deceived and also Jamie who is both angry and hurt that his brother thinks he’s that kind of guy. And then there is the fact that he’s still in a committed relationship with Olivia.


But despite being not at all pleased with him, Beth is still wildly attracted to him and they agree to carry the one night past the one night. But they both have misconceptions about the other that cause me a few chuckles. Eric thinks that Beth is quite the experienced gal seeing as she gives sex demonstrations and writes a sex advice column. But Beth is only one of a number of contributors and I found it adorable that Eric thinks she’s such a wild woman. And Eric himself is going through major life changes. He’s been the big over authoritative brother all his life, but it’s not a role he ever wanted and he’s unsure of where he fits in with the changes going on with his family. He wants to be supportive but his relationship particularly with Jamie has been so antagonistic for years, neither is sure how to deal with each other.


As with Bad Boys Do, I really enjoyed this final chapter in the Donovan series. I love seeing a stuffed shirt thrown for a loop. And Beth was not the person we thought she was at the beginning. She has her own baggage and this made her an appealing character to root for.

I suppose anyone wanting to read this series of books might want to start with Tessa’s story just to get to know the family, but keeping in mind, at least for me, it wasn’t the best. But the next two more than make up for the disappointment of the first one. They have convinced me that Victoria Dahl is an author of contemporaries worth following.


Grade: 4.50 out of 5


So there you have it. I read two books that were part of a series that were in the TBR pile, but I didn't quite read them in the month we were supposed to.

TBR Challenge - March

Um, ah, um - just ignore this as the March TBR challenge and it will now revert to a regular Recent Read. It seems I got the wrong date AND the wrong challenge. It seems that this months's TBR day is March 21 and the challenge is catching up on a series book.

Back to our regularly scheduled program


RECENT READ





Marrying the Captain by Carla Kelly



I know, I’m a day late on this one. But as LMFAO sings, I work out. Bad excuse, I know. Another delay is I only finished my Challenge book last evening.

Why this one: I’ve long heard wonderful things about this author but though I’ve got a number of her books, they still languish in the TBR pile – the very purpose of this challenge, reading them – so who better to choose for this month’s New to Me Author than Ms. Kelly. I picked this particular book as I love the cover, yes shallow I know.

Steam Level: Warm

Blurb: Ever since her father tried to sell her as a mistress to the highest bidder, Eleanor Massie has chosen to live in poverty. Her world changes overnight when Captain Oliver Worthy shows up at her struggling inn.

Despite herself, Nana is drawn to her handsome guest....

Oliver planned to stay in Plymouth only long enough to report back to Lord Ratliffe--about Nana.
But he soon senses that Lord Ratliffe is up to something, and Oliver will do anything to keep this courageous, beautiful woman safe--even marry her!


My thoughts: Ah the curse of the damned with faint praise. I liked this one. It reminded me somewhat of the Marion Chesney books I read many years ago, though it’s been so many years since I read one of hers that I don’t know if they are similar or not. But still it reminded me of the book I read when I first came back to reading romance.


Both Eleanor, or Nana as she is called, and Oliver are very nice people. Oliver is a Navy captain on a short shore leave who was asked by a superior to check in on his illegitimate daughter who helps run a small struggling in with her grandmother. Oliver reluctantly agrees, though he is
instantly smitten when he sees her picture. He thought he was smitten with her picture, but when he gets to the inn, he is even more taken Nana and over times begins to reconsider his resolution to never marry and subject his wife to a life time of worry and sorrow. Oliver is a good guy. He’s not really a standout kind of character like a reformed bad boy or anything. I
did appreciate that he was the son of a parson rather than a member of the
nobility. But he’s honest and noble and honourable.

Nana is equally nice. She falls quickly for Oliver as he does her, but thinks he is above her
because of her illegitimacy. She is quite pragmatic about this. I liked her because, like Oliver, she is honest and forthright. She behaves as regular people do. Though quite straightened in circumstances, she isn’t bitter. She does what she has to do in order to help
and survive even if it includes selling her hair.


This wasn’t a thrill a minute kind of book, but rather a nice comfort read about two good people who work better as a whole than without each other. I’m glad I finally got around to reading a book by Carla Kelly. I can see why she is so popular even though my socks weren’t knocked off.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

Recent Reads

From one end of the spectrum to the other

It’s rare that I have two such different responses to books by the same author. The first one I read is an keeper and the second I’m sad to say will probably be a DNF. Though I read the keeper first, I’ll start with the probable DNF; just so we end on a happy note.

Captain Sinister’s Lady by Darlene Marshall

Why this one: I loved the previous book I read by her and this one sounded like adorable follow-up.

Steam Level: Chances are good this one will be a DNF and I didn’t get far enough to reach steam level

Blurb: Morgan Roberts, AKA Captain Sinister, dreams of leaving the sea and running away to farm, but when the Zephyr comes across a damaged ship wallowing in the Florida Straits, it's just too good an opportunity for any self-respecting privateer to pass up.

Amanda Stephenson is a widow traveling from Yorkshire to Charleston in the 1820's to set up her soap-making business. It's a grand adventure, just as she's always dreamed—until her ship is boarded by the crew of the Zephyr. Amanda’s plans for her future do not include large, hairy, uncouth pirates.

Morgan Roberts has his work cut out for him, but he's prepared to try his most piratical tricks if it will convince the luscious widow to become Captain Sinister's Lady.

My Thoughts: As I said, this one sounds adorable – a pirate who wants to run away from sea and become a farmer. Who could resist such a premised based on that and a love of a previously read book. Not me, that’s for sure. But alas, I was SO disappointed with what I’ve read so far. My favourite books are the ones where I can feel the characters, where they almost seem like real, fully developed characters, but neither Morgan or Amanda felt like real people to me. I don’t really know how to explain why not, except maybe they weren’t developed enough – we didn’t really get to know them that much so far. Amanda is a widow whose parents had both died but I didn’t get a sense that none of the deaths affected her; they didn’t shape or form her personality at all. There wasn’t anything wrong with her, there just wasn’t that much to her.

I had the same issue with Morgan. At least as far as I got, it was briefly mentioned that he was an orphan but again, this didn’t seem to affect him all that much. For a pirate – or rather privateer – he’s actually kind of, well, boring. And one doesn’t like to read about a boring pirate. They should be larger than life. Maybe not quite as large as life as Captain Jack Sparrow – he’s a difficult one to match. But despite having a great pirate or rather privateer name, Morgan just didn’t do it for me. It didn’t help either that he was described as having a full bushy beard, I am so not a fan of hairy heroes. Even worse, later on he is described as having very bush eyebrows and all I could think was “EEEWW, EEWW, EEWW, Andy Rooney, yuck!”

Now all of this I could have overlooked but then the hero does something that took him out of hero range for me. He wants to “court” Amanda and rather than just ‘court” her, he arranges to have them dropped off on a deserted island for a few days so they could bond. But this turned into a TSTL thing to do as it was kind of a pirate hang out and at one point some bad pirates showed up, risking their lives. I don’t like a TSTL heroine and I also don’t like a TSTL hero.

Combine those factors along with the fact that I have way to many books that remain unread to keep going on one I’m not really enjoying and you end up with a DNF. Maybe if I hadn’t enjoyed the first one so much, maybe if the hero shaved his beard off (which he probably does later, but too little too late), if I could get a younger Andy Rooney out of my head, this might not have been such a disappointment and I might have continued.

Grade: DNF

Sea Change by Darlene Marshall

Why this one: I have meant to try her for a while now but she is primarily an ebook author and I didn’t have an ereader. By the time I did get one, I had forgotten about her until a review came up at AAR and some discussion of this book on the same site. The review was good, the posters enjoyed the book and I love a good pirate – excuse me, that would be privateer – book so I took the plunge.

Steam Level: Very nice cozy temperature

Blurb: American privateer Captain David Fletcher needs a surgeon for his wounded brother. But when he captures a British merchantman in the Caribbean, what he gets is Charley Alcott, an apprentice physician barely old enough to shave. Needs take priority over skill, and Captain Fletcher whisks the prisoner aboard his ship with orders to do his best or he'll be walking the plank. Charley Alcott's medical skills are being put to the test in a life--or--death situation--Charley's life as well as the patient's. Even if Charley can save the captain's brother, there will still be hell to pay, and maybe a plank to walk, when Captain Fletcher learns Charley is really Charlotte Alcott. A war is raging on the world's oceans, and two enemies will fight their own battles and their attraction to each other as they undergo a sea change neither of them is expecting, but cannot deny...

My Thoughts: I went into this book without much expectations. Though I’ve wanted to try this author for a while now, I hadn’t seen any reviews or anything for her books. I just kind of liked her on line voice and knew she wrote about pirates. And I came out completely charmed with this book.

Charlotte or Charley, is a young woman on her way to Jamaica. She has learned medicine at her father’s knew and after his death wants to continue practicing medicine. But she’s a woman and at this point in history, women doctors are, to say the very least, extremely rare. So she is disguised as a male while sailing and acting as a doctor for the captain’s pregnant wife. Their ship is hailed and Charley is stolen by a privateer, one David Fletcher, who is desperate for a doctor to save his younger brother’s life. Charley does indeed save his brother’s life and David realizes the benefits of having a doctor on board and decides to keep her. It’s a riot though as it takes him quite some time to figure out that Charley is really a Charlotte. In the meantime she treats his men for a wide variety of ailments, including STD’s.

The ‘girl disguised as a guy’ is fairly familiar and can either work very well or fall flat. For me it worked very well. A few people including David’s brother figure out that he’s a she, but David is clueless. This makes for some hilarious moments that had me laughing out loud. He can tell that Charley is attracted to him and that creeps him out. It gets even worse when he has ‘notions’ about her. He’s a big bad privateer don’t you know. There is one scene where he arranges for Charley to gain some ‘experience’ that is priceless. David really likes Charley as a person too and it’s nice to see them developing a friendship first. He can talk to Charley about things that he can’t talk to with many people. And he is somewhat bemused that he doesn’t intimidate her like he does so many others. She’ll stand up to him and give it right back to him. Not many people do that to him so he is intrigued that this young man who hasn’t even started shaving yet isn’t afraid of him.

I loved David, loved him, loved him, loved him. Once he finds out that Charley is Charlotte, his first reaction is horror that she is doing this doctor thing. He expects her to start acting like women should act. But eventually he realizes how good she is at what she does and how important it is to her so he accepts her as she is. He’s an alpha type hero, but an alpha with some softness in him.

And Charley is equally wonderful. She is making the best of this unusual path life has given her and she excels at what she does. When she finally makes it to Jamaica she really does give it her best effort to adapt to the lifestyle that women of her time lead. But she is just too different. She has experienced life to its fullest and doesn’t want to go back into the box.

I was most impressed with this book and while the first book here was a disappointment, Sea Change is her latest book so I hold out much hope that some of the others will make me as happy as this one did.

Grade: 5 out of 5

TBR Challenge - February

This month's challenge is a "recommended read" book. You are going to see some quick tap dancing and some interesting justifying and should there be a prize at the end of this year long
challenge, I should technically withdraw my name from consideration. This isn’t so much a book that’s been in my TBR pile as much as a book by an author that should have been in my TBR pile.

I’ve loved Cheryl St. John books for years and whenever she has a new one come out I scoop it right up – which reminds me – I do believe there should be a new one soon. And I just assumed I had all her back list. So when I read Leslie’s TBR January Challenge and it was The Mistaken Widow, I read it, prepared to nod in agreement or shake my head in disagreement. But much to my astonishment, nothing sounded the least bit familiar and when I checked my Most Excellent Spreadsheet, it wasn’t there. So that very same day I got an electronic copy.

So this was recommended by Leslie but hasn’t been in the TBR pile very long – but should have been.


The Mistaken Widow by Cheryl St. John

Why this one: explained above

Heat Level: there was only one love scene at the end
but it fit with the story so I found it fine

Published: 1998

Blurb: Sarah Thorton wanted to shout, but revealing her true
identity could only bring disaster on herself and her infant son. Still, sorrowful circumstance had turned a mistake into a miracle. She suddenly had a home, a family—and Nicholas Halliday, a man as dangerous to her as he was desirable…!

His newly widowed sister-in-law wore mystery as elegantly as an evening wrap, rousing more than suspicions in Nicholas Halliday—for this beautiful stranger had a claim not only to the family fortune, but also to his heart and soul…!


My Thoughts: Just a couple of weeks ago I reread Joe’s Wife for probably about the 4th
or 5th time and I have to be honest and say I enjoyed that one ever so much better. Though I liked The Mistaken Widow and I’m glad I read it, I don’t think it will be one I’ll read over and over like Joe’s Wife.

I was only meh about both the hero and heroine. Whether I might have had warmer feelings for
them if I hadn’t read Joe’s Wife so recently I don’t know, but Sarah kind of got on my nerves after a while. She was feeling guilty over stepping into the shoes of the heroe’s sister-in-law to the point of almost annoyance. Then when she finally decides to come clean, she does it in a letter and then leaves; a cowardly act in my opinion. On top of that, the letter is stolen by a villain so Nicholas and his mother are still in the dark about what really happened. The decent thing for her to do was tell them to their faces. I’m sure she should have realized they would have been understanding.


And Nicholas failed somewhat in the role of a hero too. He was rather nasty and judgmental to Sarah in almost a passive aggressive way which I didn’t find as a heroic way to act. He should have come out in the open with his suspicions of who Sarah really was. I also didn’t think he suffered enough angst over lusting for his just Very Recently deceased brother’s wife.

I also thought there was a noticeable lack of grief displayed. I know if I were to lose one of my sons, I’d be broken, yet his mother didn’t display the amount of grief I would think she would. But then that’s a personal thing I guess.

I almost hate to say it, but of all the Cheryl St. John books I’ve read, this is one I didn’t ‘feel’ at all. But since it was written in 1998 and I’ve read many an excellent book since then, the fact that this one didn’t work for me is alright and I’m glad I read it anyway since it could have been a Joe’s
Wife kind of book.

Grade: 3 out of 5


And oh, oh, oh - I forgot to mention. If you travel around and see other participants, you will notice a number have chosen the same book! Our fearless Challenge Leader Wendy, SonomaLass, Phyl, and Nath and Leslie did a joint review at Breezing Through. And guess what? They ALL really enjoyed it!

Gotta love this

I always feel ripped off on during the Superbowl. I have cable and Canadian stations take over so we never get to see the famous commercials. But kudos to Budweiser because while we didn't get many of the great ones, we did get this one and it's a real treat!

Recent Reads - a 3fer!

The King’s Courtesan by Judith James

Why this one: Ever since I was blown away by Broken Wing, there’s not a chance I won’t read anything this author writes. Although it sat longer in the TBR pile than originally planned, I think the reason was I’m so taken with reading on my IPad now that it wasn’t until I bought this digitally that I finally started reading it.

Steam Level: It’s cold. It’s winter. This book will help warm one up on a cold winter day

Blurb: Sensuous, beautiful and determined, Hope Matthews is a favored mistress of the king.

Her many charms have helped her rise from the gutter to the king's bed. But with the new queen's impending arrival, her nights in the royal chamber-- and her hopes for security--will swiftly come to an end.

His honor a distant memory

Haunted by his past hardened by the recent civil war, Captain Robert Nichols lives only for revenge. When told he must marry the king's courtesan to provide a cover for their affair,

he's faced with a new low. Both are pawns of a great man, but married to their dreams of independence, their clash is inevitable. Can these two wounded souls realize the answer to all their dreams might lie in each other's arms?

My Thoughts: While this one didn’t blow me away like BW did, it’s certainly in the upper levels of books I read in 2011. Robert Nichols was in the previous book, Libertine’s Kiss where he was a rather dour, severe kind of character; of course any one would be after the larger than life persona of William.

I might have worried, but this is Judith James who writes such wonderful, multidimensional characters. And I just adore the setting and time period.

Although it’s England, this book as well as Libertine’s Kiss is set during the Restoration period. I’ve been so intrigued and wanting to know more about this underwritten time in English history.

As I said, while Robert comes across as stern, much of that can be attributed to the fact that he was on Cromwell’s side during the civil war and those Puritans weren’t know to be party animals. But the fact that he fought for Cromwell was more that it was expedient then the fact that he followed their beliefs. His lands had been stolen and he wanted them back. He is a good and honourable man and I liked him a lot.

But it’s Hope who is the one full of life here. In Broken Wing, it was Gabriel who was the stand out character; in The King’s Courtesan, for me, it’s Hope. What a wonderfully written character she is. She’s grown up in a brothel, her mother the Madam who sells her young daughter, Hope still manages to maintain certain innocence about her. She first meets Robert when she is young and quite literally falls into his lap during a march of the soldiers. She’s smitten with him and sees him as someone who will rescue her from her sad circumstances only to be sold later that same day. The book then moves forward in time to when Charles II has taken the crown and Hope as one of his

mistresses. He is about to be married and Hope realizes that he can’t keep her because of her low birth. All she wants from Charles is her freedom to live her life the way she wants to. Instead, like so many other people in her life, he ‘sells’ her to Robert for the price of Robert’s land back. Charles thinks once the newness of

marriage wears off, he will want Hope back again and Robert will be a compliant cuckold. But things don’t turn out quite that way.

Once they get past their initial misunderstandings, they begin to truly care about the other and fall in love.

And now it hangs over their head – what do they do when the King wants her back

And while Hope is more of a stand out character, Robert is no slouch himself. He never holds Hope’s past against her, realizing she did what she had to do in order to survive.

He is smitten with the dichotomy of her being the King’s mistress on one hand and so seemingly naive and innocent on the other hand.

The setting is also such an attraction for me with this book. There are so few in this setting and I know so little, that a few times while reading, I went back and did a bit of research on the time. As history was one of my favourite subjects in school, I simply loved that I had this reaction.

I just love EVERTHING about Ms. James writing, her characters, her settings, her detail to history, you name it and I give it a thumbs up. As I think I mentioned earlier this one didn’t quite come up to Broken Wing, but since I gave that book higher than a 5 out of 5, this one does get a

Grade: 5 out of 5

When A Duke Says I Do by Jane Goodger

Why This One: There was some discussion on it on the AAR board, I looked it up, it sounded interesting,

I’ve read and enjoyed some older books by this author so I decided to give it a try.

Steam Level: Fairly toasty!

Blurb: Miss Elsie Stanhope resided in Nottinghamshire, an area so rich in titled gentlemen, so felicitous for marriage-minded mamas, it was called

"the Dukeries." Indeed, Elsie had been betrothed since childhood to the heir of a dukedom. She had no expectation it would be a love match.

Still less that she would enter into a shockingly scandalous affair with an altogether different sort of lover. And the very last thing she imagined was that the mysteries of his birth would be unraveled with as many

unforeseen twists and turns as the deepest secrets of her heart.

My Thoughts: Do you ever read a synopsis and just something you can’t really put your finger on precisely calls to you and you just want to read this book?

That’s what happened to me with this one and I’m glad I listened to ‘the call’. I really enjoyed this book. In these times of fewer historical reads, this book helped to remind me why I used to enjoy them so much.

Elsie is a naturally happy young woman. Betrothed since she was very young, she doesn’t really want to get married and move away from all that she knows and loves including her very young sister.

But she is ready to do it since she is if nothing else, an obedient daughter to her widowed father.

But her plans are thrown into disarray when she finds herself very attracted to the mute young

assistant to the mural artist her father has hired. Elsie has troubles sleeping and late at night when

everyone else is abed, she slips down to where Andre or Alexander is working late into the night.

It turns out he’s hiding a few secrets. First off, he is the real artist, not his boss. His boss has been unable to paint for a while and Alexander is covering for him. In addition,

Alexander is not really mute; he just has very real and strong issues, dating back to a horrid childhood in speaking in public. Indeed,

not even his artist boss knows he can really speak.

Alexander and Elsie develop a strong bond built in friendship

and it leads to much deeper feelings on both their parts. But both realize that their blossoming love is impossible. She

is engaged to someone else and he is nothing more than an artist’s assistant. But is he really only that?

This is a romance novel so of course he’s actually more. But in order to have any chance to claim the young woman he has come to love more than life itself, he’s going to have to rise above his very real issues.

This book reminds me a little of another book I loved to pieces and pieces, Broken Wing in that the hero is severely damaged and needs the

heroine to help heal him. While I didn’t have quite the same reaction to When A Duke Says I Do, I still thought it a very fine way to spend hours reading.

Alexander was deliciously wounded and I do so love a wounded hero. He suffered from a very abusive childhood which together with his speech issues, made things

very bad for him. But he felt comfortable enough with Elsie to be free and speak to her. Because of the healing effect she had on him, he was ‘gone’ for her, another characteristic I love about a heroine; when he is totally smitten with the heroine. I also quite enjoyed the character of Elsie too. She was alternately pragmatic, naïve, optimistic, accepting, compassionate and understanding. When she discovers Alexander’s secrets, she is willing to wait until he is ready to tell her the stories behind them.

Although very curious, she doesn’t pressure him. Towards the end of the story, she made one decision I wish she hadn’t, but considering the pressure she was under, I could see why she capitulated.

The villain of the story was a bit over the top and it wasn’t really

explained to my complete satisfaction why he did the things he did and there was no real closure for the hero. But those were small issues

when measured against how much I enjoyed this book.

Grade: 4.25 out of 5

Changeling Dream by Dani Harper

Why This One: I read the first book in this series and liked it

Steam Level: We haven’t had much of a winter so far this year, but if we had this would have helped keep me warm

Blurb: In times of stress Jillian Descharme has always found calm in her dream of a great white wolf with haunting blue eyes. But she is startled when the visions return and this time seem so real. Late at night he comes to her, speaks to her, touches her. It's almost as if he's alive...


Thirty years ago James Macleod lost his wife and unborn child to a killer bent on destroying the Changelings. Though he longed for death, his animal instinct fought for survival and James has been a wolf ever since. Yet now a woman has reawakened the man in him, taming wild instincts but arousing still wilder needs. With his ancient enemy hunting the legendary white wolf, James must fight for new life, new hope, new love.

My Thoughts: I’ve said a few times when it comes to either werewolves or vampires, I pick the werewolf. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been reading this series. I like the first book, thus I wanted to continue. The hero of this book is James MacLeod, the older brother of the hero of Changeling Moon. As it says in the blurb, James suffered a great tragedy when his young wife and unborn child were murdered and because he couldn’t deal with the horror of it all since he felt responsible, he remained in his wolf form for the next 30 years.

The heroine, Jillian Descharme, a young vet hired by Duncan, the hero of the first book, to help in his practice is the catalyst for James finally taking back his human self. It turns out many years ago that his wolf form rescued Jililan and the wolf side has considered Jillian ‘his’ ever since then. And Jillian has never forgotten the white wolf that rescued and comforted her from a horrendous attack when she was very young.

When the white wolf realizes that Jillian has come to his neck of the woods, he claims Jillian as his even though James does not want to become involved with anyone again. He is astonished when he does come back to his humanity to realize that so much time has gone by.

I liked both these characters. James is kind of unusual as there is an internal battle going on inside him for most of the book as to who was going to get what they wanted, him or his inner wolf. I thought that dynamic was quite unique. And I liked the character of Jillian although I felt at times that she was a bit too much of a ‘super’ woman. I preferred the first book just a tad more, but I liked them both enough to get the third one, Changeling Dawn.

There were a few things that I thought weren’t explained enough though. When James rescued Jillian many years ago, she lived in mid-Ontario and yet she moved thousands of miles to the exact location that James called home. It was never explained how James traveled such a long distance or why when in wolf form and then I thought it was just a tad too coincidental that Jillian would end up in the very small Alberta town that the MacLeod family called home.

But for a werewolf or changeling as they prefer to be called, I thought it not too shabby a book at all.

Grade: 3.75 out of 5