OK - I gotta do this

American Idol non watchers can skip this post

I just turned off the TV and American Idol results show. I must say I was rather shocked at the outcome. As you know I didn't get to watch it last night but hope is coming. Right "Gladys"?

If you want to know the winner, hold mouse over next line.
But Constantine?????? Now I'm not a great Constantine fan, but he is worth watching for the cheese factor alone and I seriously thought he would go much further.

And who the hell keeps voting for Scott Savol. He is one hell of a scary looking dude man. I can't believe he was in the top three. It must be the underground anti American Idol faction that does the voting for him.

And what (again) was up with Paula???? Crying? The rumors must be true.

And is it just me, or is Bo Bice getting hotter each week. Oh man I love that scruffy look he's got going!

And oh my,,,,,, they replayed "the KISS" on Lost. sigggggghhhhhh

The Cable Guy

This is an actual email I sent to a friend this morning. All names have been changed to protect the innocent.

"Yesterday morning when I left for work there were men swarming all over our backyard. No, it wasn't good looking police officers looking for some escaped criminal. They are doing some rewiring for hydro or something and our house seems to be their "home base" (which freaks Durwood{my husband} out let me tell you). They have these huge bundles of wire on our boulevard and asked if they could leave some of their equipment in our backyard over night.
Now on to the story.
When I got home from work last night, I turned on the computer - always the first thing I do 'cause it's old and takes a while. I ate the Happy Meal I picked up from McDonalds and then went to the computer and went to the internet. I couldn't connect. Damn I thought. Dexter (our oldest son who still lives at home) been to "those" places again and messed things up somehow. I rebooted and tried again. Still no internet. Damn I thought again. Well I'll try again later. So off to the TV I went in order to look into taping something on the VCR. NO CABLE. Auuuggghhhh I screamed.
I called the cable company and off course got the dreaded "voicemail" thing. No help. I waited a little bit longer, tried the internet, still nothing so I called another cable technical number. Finally, finally I got hold of a real person and explained the situation. Somehow, he could tell it was just our house that didn't have cable.
The following is our conversation.
Cable Guy: Just a minute and I'll see if I can get someone out there now to fix it.

pause

Cable Guy: Sorry, but there is no one available until first thing tomorrow morning.
Me: Are you sure? You don't understand the situation. My husband and son both work nights and I'm home all by myself (Kristie you idiot, you didn't really say that did you? - yes)
Cable Guy: I'm sorry, I did try.
Me: No but you really don't understand. It's Tuesday.
Cable Guy: Um hum.
Me: Tuesday. That means American Idol and the Amazing Race are on and I can't watch them.
Cable Guy: Um hum.
Me: But I'm here by myself and I can't even go on the internet!
Cable Guy: no, you wouldn't have the internet either
Me: But I have to have either one!
Cable Guy: well maybe you could watch a movie instead.
Me: But I don't want to watch a movie. I want to watch the Amazing Race. I have someone taping AI for me but she doesn't watch the Amazing Race.
Cable Guy: There must be some movie you could watch. And there will be someone there first thing tomorrow morning. Or maybe you could go to a neighbor's.
Me: My neighbors aren't home. I already thought of that.
Cable Guy: Maybe they keep a key under their mat and you could go in and watch and then slip out quietly.
Me: (after thinking about it for a moment) No, I don't think I could do that.
Cable Guy: Well, that's too bad. But it will be fixed tomorrow.
Me: But that doesn't help me tonight. Sigh, I suppose I can find an old movie to watch.
Cable Guy: Well there you go then. Good night and sorry I couldn't have been of more service
Me:Yes, well thank you. (I always have this habit of thanking people when I get bad news.)
Cable Guy thinking to himself. Boy I sure get all kinds.
During this conversation, I didn't raise my voice or anything and he was very nice too. It was just very frustrating.So, I'm really hoping you did tape AI. I was kind of joking when I Said about you taping it, but the fates must have known. You have to come through for me here Gladys. How did they do on AI and who lost on the Amazing Race and anything good happen on Judging Amy? "


If "Gladys" happens to read this, she will know who she is. Thankfully I heard back from her and she did tape American Idol and (bonus) Judging Amy. And my sister taped The Amazing Race.
And today our cable an internet is working. I didn't watch a movie last night. Instead I washed my underwear.

But I was going to wash my underwear

One of the good/bad things about having the whole evening to myself I have discovered, is being able to spend the entire evening on the internet, well not Tuesday night – that night is reserved for American Idol, The Amazing Race (and if anyone else watches these shows and hasn’t read Mrs. Giggles recaps – well half the reason I watch the shows is to read her gut hurting from laughing take on them) and Judging Amy. And Wednesdays are tied up with Lost and the judgment night of AI. But all the other weeknights, I spend the whole evening doing my own blog; trying to add pictures – I envy all those bloggers that can do this and I love looking at them; I feel like I’m in kindergarten blogland when others are in fourth year university going for their masters, reading other readers blogs, posting on other blogs, finding new blogs to read, checking out AAR, TRR, Mrs. Giggles etc. I spend hours reading through them. And when I take a break, I read whatever book I’m currently reading. Then it’s back to the computer. If I eat dinner, it’s in from of the computer. What a wonderful world of bloggers there is getting to be!
Most nights when I finally look up from the internet/my book, I realize it’s time to go to bed and I think to myself
“But I was going to wash my underwear.”
Dang if it didn’t happen again tonight. Good thing I have lots.

My first "one of those" books

My first “naughty” book wasn’t even a romance book. When I was a young thing about 11 or 12 or so, our family was renting a cottage for a few weeks. The previous renters or owners left behind a book called “Pretty Maids All In A Row”. Being a voracious reader, and thinking “what a nice title” I picked it up and began to read. I learned more about sex from that book than I did from my best friend let me tell you. It was NOT a nice little book about farm girls who milked cows. The basic outline of the story was about a male teacher who had “sexual relations” with his young and attractive female students. Graphic sexual relations. Relations involving fists and I don’t mean in a fighting kind of way. He would grade their performance and then murder them.
Well, somehow my two younger sisters got hold of that book. I don’t know if I showed them or they just stole it because it was something their older bratty sister couldn’t put down.
About a week after we got home, my mother called me into their bedroom and wanted me to observe. Now my mother was a real “lady”. She had a wicked sense of humour about some things but reading material and sex weren't them. She wouldn’t let us read comic books for example, saying it would ruin our minds.
What happened next is forever planted on my brain and cause for my sisters and me to laugh till our stomachs hurt (in a loving way) whenever we talk about it.
The three of us were lined up and she had a book in her hands. Yes, that book. One of my sisters, for whatever reason still remains a mystery, decided to pack “that book” and bring it home with her. My mother of course found it.

“You WILL NOT”
rip
“EVER!!!!!!!!!!”
rip
“READ”
rip
“THIS KIND”
rip
“OF BOOK”
rip
“AGAIN!!!!!!!”
rip
“DO”
rip
“YOU”
rip
“UNDERSTAND”
rip
“ME!!!!????!!!!!”
rip, rip, rip rip RIP.

Two main thoughts went through my mind but never voiced while she was doing this.
1) I was so glad it wasn’t me that got busted and
2) "But Mom, the book wasn’t ours and I hope the owner(s) never noticed it missing.”

Recent Reads - and folks we have a winner

Before I actually start on my thoughts on the following books a bit of explanation. (recap) My husband started working afternoons the Monday that just passed. He's working 2 to midnight. I get up at 5:30 but he's still asleep when I leave for work. There isn't much interaction with other employees at work so except for 1/2 hour lunches, I don't really talk to anyone. They all just seem to stay in their little cubicles. Then when I get home, there's no one here so there's no one to talk to in the evenings. Well, I have started talking to the TV, but it doesn't answer me back. Gretchen never did get out of that damned elephant. So, I've been staying up until DH gets home just to have someone to talk too. I know as time goes on, I will adjust to this and venture forth more in the evenings. - But up till 12:30 - 1:00 am and then getting up at 5:30 am, right about now I am one tired puppy. My brain isn't at full capacity so I'm going to do what Maili so deliciously calls it link slutting and plagerizing. Well, I don't know if she plagerizes or not. Probably not

I'm still on a reading marathon and have my thoughts on four book for your reading pleasure.

Hush - Jo Leigh
This one was all right. I didn't really "feel the love" but then it's a Blaze and they tend to focus more on the lust. Plus it's a shorter format that doesn't allow for as much character development as full lenght books.
Grade - 3 out of 5

To Love a Thief - Julie Anne Long
I really enjoyed this book. It was cute. (link slut) Here's the review link to the AAR review
http://www.allaboutromance.com/cgi-bin/bookReview.pl?BookReviewId=1449
The reviewer gave it a B but since I used numbers instead of letters
Grade - 41/2 out of 5

Jigsaw - Kathleen Nance
(link slut)
http://www.allaboutromance.com/cgi-bin/bookReview.pl?BookReviewId=1449
plagerized opinion (the one being plagerized gives her permission)

Posted by Kristie (J) on April 22, 2005 at 17:23:43:
In Reply to: Jigsaw posted by Heather O on April 22, 2005 at 15:42:32:
: Jigsaw looks interesting. From the review, it sounded like it could've been more than a B read. Maybe an A, even. I'm curious ... was there something significant that kept it from getting there? I didn't notice any mention of love scenes. Were there any? Thanks ...
******
I thought the reviewer did an excellent job with the review of this book and gave it the same grade I did. I will definetely read more romantic suspense books by Kathleen Nance. While it was very good, for me, it just didn't have that added oomph needed to push a book to DIK status. One thing Lea didn't touch on that much was the "character" of Fran. I thought she was a hoot and a very good secondary character. And yes indeed there were love scenes in this book and very well done too.
Grade 4 out of 5

Lips That Touch Mine - Wendy Lindstrom
I'm not going to link the review at AAR here because I disagreed with it. But again I'm going to plagerize and again the one being plagerized gives her permission

Posted by Kristie (J) on April 21, 2005 at 15:01:07:
I just read the review for this book and I’d like to offer a different take on it. I found this book to be wonderful, an absolute delight and for me definitely a keeper. It’s one of the few that I’ve read so far this year that I will remember long after I close the cover. There were so many things that charmed me about this book. First of all, the hero’s name; Boyd. How refreshing a name is that for a hero? Usually it seems to be villains who are named Boyd. I think it’s the first time I have ever seen that name for a hero. And I thought he made a great hero. He had issues; doesn’t almost every hero in a romance book? But he still had a certain joie de vive about him that was so refreshing from your run of the mill tortured hero. He loved his mother and he had a good relationship with the rest of his family too. In other words, normal. Next the setting. Thank the stars above it wasn’t set in regency England. Instead, it takes place in small town in New York. I've always loved historical books set in early American times and wish there were more of them like this one. The next thing I really enjoyed was the Claire, the heroine. I thought she was wonderful. As the review says, she is a widow who enjoyed a sexual relationship with her husband until alcohol ruined the relationship. I found her to be intelligent, and independent and willing to do what it takes to earn her way in life. There was a very poignant bittersweet secondary story told through the writings in a journal that included adultery. Rather than bash our brains out with how WRONG, WRONG, WRONG this is, the author made no judgements. I thought this was fabulous. I really enjoyed the secondary characters from Boyd’s older brothers to Claire’s newfound friends to Boyd’s dog Sailor. I am not a dog person so when I find myself enjoying the antics of a dog in a book, I know the author has done a good job. I found there to be good sexual tension between the hero/heroine. When they reached the consummation scene, she was the aggressor. I really liked that. It proved that she hadn’t allowed herself to become a victim to the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband. At one point in the book, Claire admits she loved her husband and underneath his alcoholism and the damage it did, her husband wasn’t a bad man. Yes I had it pegged pretty early who the villain were but since this isn’t a mystery, so?Not to take anything away from the reviewer, the book didn’t work for her, but it did for me. I didn’t expect much when I picked it up, it was the cover that attracted me, but I truly loved what’s on the inside. It wasn’t earth shattering, it was sweet and gentle and warm and just the kind of story I love in a book about early life in small town America. It struck me as reminiscent of LaVyrle Spencers books.She is a new to me author and I will be looking for her backlist.
Grade - ****** 5 out of 5 ******

Assorted things that irk me

“Well, even an average by (insert best selling author here) is better than most other author’s book out there”.
Bullshit. A mediocre book is a mediocre book is a mediocre book and an author shouldn’t get a pass because she’s written some great books in the past. Why should we praise or excuse mediocrity? I don’t think that works with employers. At least it doesn’t with Donald Trump & yes I watch The Apprentice too. sigh And we are, in a very odd way, authors employers.

“I think Mr. Greenjeans would make a good Roarke. After all, he wears green and Roarke is from Ireland which is known as the Emerald Isle which is green.”
This kind of thing bothers Rosario
“Almost as tedious as those huge threads about who would you cast as Eve and Roarke ;-)
This bothers does me too. I get pictures in my head of the way I see the characters in books and I don’t want anyone messing with my “Imagination Man.” “Imagination Man” is actually the same hero I "see" in all the romances I read. His hair and eye colour change as depends on the hero’s description. It doesn't really matter how the author describes the hero, he morphs into "Imagination Man" anyway. That's why it doesn't bother me too much if the hero on the cover of a book matches the description inside. He morphs. I’ve never actually met “Imagination Man”. As much as I’d like to say he’s my husband, he’s not. I think he's very attractive, my husband, but not like "Imagination Man". But then I doubt I'm his "Imagination Woman" If this bothers you avoid ADWFF. I think they are up to at least 57 pages of who sould play Roarke and cast. The same goes for any message boards where readers try and figure out who should play certain roles. And to those who may be reading this who post on Suzanne Brockman’s message board. NO!!! Sawyer SHOULD NOT play Sam or Cowboy or anybody else. Sawyer is Sawyer. And Sawyer is kind of close to “Imagination Man”

"She felt someone’s gaze on her. She looked up and was bowled over at his incredible good lucks. He could have been Tom Green in all his glory”
Authors who use famous people when describing the hero irks me. This one only happens in contemporaries as they didn’t have TV or movies in historical times. Again, when authors do this, the actor they use interferes with my “Imagination Man.” Plus many times the actor they use to portray the hero doesn’t do a thing for me. I think Daniel Day Lewis was mesmerizing as Hawkeye in Last of the Mohicans. But can anyone say Gangs of New York. And Brad Pitt was devastatingly gorgeous in Legends of the Falls, but then came The Fight Club. On top of that many of the “hunks of Hollywood” don’t do anything for me. George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett, and many many more – Nada. I don’t want authors to describe the hero by using a real life person. Let them use their words. Now Kevin Costner is someone I think is sexy. I’ve enjoyed all his movies. I even liked Waterworld and The Postman. Not too long ago I read a book; I don’t remember what book it was now, but the author used him as a description of her hero. But even knowing he was a Kevin Costner look-a-like, I still didn’t like it. Even he’s not “Imagination Man”.
And last but not least of things that irk me – Ryan Seacrest.

Ch Ch Ch Changes - Update

I can't believe I didn't mention the number 1 plus of having all my evenings to myself
READING!!!!
Reading the books I have with those half naked men on them that my husband hates so much and that I have to sneak read. No more sneak reading!!


Another huge change in the life an times of Kristie. My husband of 30 years has been at the same place for 32 years. They just did a major reshuffling of all the jobs. The good news is they didn’t eliminate any jobs and he has enough seniority that even if they did, he wouldn’t be in danger of losing his job. The bad news is he’s now working the afternoon shift. He started yesterday. He leaves for work at 2:00 and gets home at midnight Monday to Friday. I work from 7:30 to 4 Monday to Friday and generally go to bed around 10(I get up at 5:30 – I’m definitely a morning kind of girl). This means I won’t see him at all during the week. We’ll only be together on weekends. In all the many years he’s been working, he’s never had to work afternoons. This will make for some very different living arrangements. To celebrate, last night I listened to the Jim Rome show on the radio..... And I don't even like Jim Rome.

Pluses
I’ll be able to spend more time on the internet. If I’m on it for too long, he figures I have an internet romance going – as if, so I’ve curtailed my time spent on the internet.

Watching what I want on TV. Although I don’t really watch that much of it, I won’t have to fight for the remote. And bonus – I can sigh out loud whenever Sawyer is on the screen on Lost.

Still relating to TV, I’ll be able to listen to it with the Surround Sound on. I won the system we have about six months ago but my DH doesn’t like it. He says it echoes (huh?)

If I’m not watching TV, I can listen to WHATEVER music I want to. Right now I’m listening to Pachebelle’s Canon – clichéd I know but I love it.

I can watch my Lord of the Rings extended DVD’s anytime I want to.

No more rushing to get dinner on the table by 5. When he was on days, he worked 7 to 3 and was wanting dinner on the table by 5 - very Archie Bunkerish. I’ve always had a late lunch and never wanted to eat until 6:30. It was an issue we never could resolve.

NO MORE PASTA. We have very different taste in food. He could eat pasta every night of the week. I could never have it again in this lifetime and be a very happy camper. Nor any other tomato based meals. That’s how I describe my least favourite food. Anything tomato based. That’s his favourite meal. Anything tomato based. Now I can make him pasta to take to work and have whatever I want for dinner

Minuses
After the first week of newness, I’m going to miss him like crazy. Except for the occasional trip, we’ve never really been apart like this.

I think the minuses outweigh the pluses.

Moving with an author

First off for any who haven't read Maili's http://mcvane.blogspot.com/2005/04/warning-long-whiny-ramble.html/ excellent and recent whine/blog she really says what I think a lot of us feel about many of the romances out there today.

After many years of reading romance, a number of my favourite authors have switched genres or completely left the romance behind them. I then have to decide whether to follow them in their move. Since they have been favourite authors and I hate to loose them almost always I have followed them or at least attempted to, in their move. The first author this happened with was Tami Hoag. I loved her romances, Sara’s Sin and Lucky’s Lady being a couple of my favourites. But then she moved on to romantic suspense and I followed her reading Night Sin, Guilty Sin and Dark Paradise. These were my introduction into romantic suspense and while I enjoyed them, I wasn’t quite ready to embrace the genre. I took a break from Tami Hoag and by the time I tried her again, she was almost completely into straight suspense and had left romance behind. I don't care that much for straight suspense. I know I missing some very good reads but it’s kind of like magicians; I don’t like them either because it drives me nuts when I can’t figure out how they do the tricks. Whenever my DH watches the David Copperfield specials, I always leave the room. I think it must be something similar with thrillers. I want to know why what's happening is happening. At least with romantic suspense, I have the romantic part to distract me.
Julie Garwood is another author whose books I loved when I first started reading romance. When she moved to romantic suspense, I tried (3 times) to get into Heartbreaker but couldn’t. I enjoyed her second romantic suspense Mercy much better but didn’t particularly enjoy Killjoy. And that was that. Garwood was now off my list. Mary Jo Putney was the third favoured author to switch genres. I was one of the few I think who liked The Burning Point. A lot of readers loathe this book and while I can certainly understand their point, it is a difficult subject to write about, it worked for me. I also liked her second book The Spiral Path. But after reading on message boards how much she had politicized her third book I passed on Twist of Fate and until she goes back to her roots with historicals, she is another author I haven’t moved any further with.There are some other lesser well-known authors I’ve attempted to move with. Patricia Ryan now writing as PB Ryan is writing a series of historical mysteries. I have her first book and started it but didn’t get into it very far. I’ll probably give it another go sometime. The problem with her books is they don’t stock them on the shelves and it would mean specially ordering the other books in her series.Teresa Weir is now writing thrillers, as Amy Frasier is similar to the Tami Hoag situation. I have her first book but not any of her later ones. Same deal with Penelope Williamson. Jill Marie Landis is an author I am still sticking with although I’m waiting for her books to come out in PB.
So looking over my list of favourite authors who have moved, I’ll go with them a certain distance but then wave them on their way, wishing them good luck and make my way back to my comfort zone and look for new authors to replace them.

What type of reader are you?

Quite often when I’m surfing message boards or reading reviews the writer will point out why a certain book didn't work for her; why she got pulled out of a story. Often times it is because the author has made a mistake with titles on a historical book or unwittingly plants a field of tomatoes in 12th century England or any number of small errors. But this can bother some readers to the point where they can no longer enjoy the book and/or if they continue to read it they become more and more irked. I came up with a brilliant explanation for why this bothers some readers and other readers hardly even notice this kind of thing. This brings me to the point of this post. I came up with theory on the type of readers there are.

The first type is a technical reader The technical reader is the kind of reader who is distracted by historical errors; they will notice the author included a scene that has tomatoes in 12th century England or has incorrectly addressed a duke/earl/marquis/baron. The technical reader enjoys a book less if there are errors. There is nothing wrong with this type of reader. If an author is going to write a historical novel, they should do their research to the best of their ability so they don’t get tripped up with technical errors. Improper punctuation can also make or break a book for the technical reader. Wallpaper romances are a no-no for the technical reader.

The other kind of reader is the artistic reader. This type of reader doesn’t generally notice or care if there are tomatoes in 12th century England. The artistic reader is not that aware of vegetation. The artistic reader thinks she knows the correct way to address the step mother of a duke but isn’t entirely sure and if it is done incorrectly, will probably not notice. The historical facts while important, in the long run aren’t nearly a book breaker to them. What is more important is while they are reading a book, are they taken away to another land or another time? This is what really matters the most to the artistic reader. Are they swept away by the writings of an author? Improper punctuation has been know to slip through unnoticed. Wallpaper romances, if written well, can sometimes work for them

Do you tend to rush through a story to get to the end, or do you stop along the way, smell the roses so to speak and take note of the inconsistencies. What makes a book a keeper can be vastly different between these two groups of readers so what kind of a reader are you?
Me, I’m an artistic type of reader. I did not know until not to long ago they didn't grow tomatoes in the middle ages.

Etc.

I realized something very significant today. There is a song by U2. They chorus goes:
“You’ve got to get yourself together, you’ve got stuck in a moment and you can’t get out of it.”
For the past year that song seemed to be my anthem, my life. I was stuck in a continual moment and couldn’t get out of it. I know it was depression and I couldn’t seem to shake it no matter how hard I tried. Whenever I heard that song on the radio, I wanted to fold my arms and cry my heart out. It just seemed to reach out to me. I just wasn’t “me” for the longest time. I don’t know if that makes any sense but I don’t know how to explain it any better.

When I was leaving work today that song came on the radio. It was the first time I had heard it in a few weeks. And when I did hear it, I didn’t feel the urge to cry anymore. I realized for the first time in ages, I wasn’t stuck in that moment anymore. I felt released.
And Oh Gawd, what a wonderful feeling that was.

Ah, the slump is over

I’ve been reading up a storm lately. No sooner do I say I’m in a slump, than it seems to be over (thank heavens). I finished He Loves Lucy. While this wasn’t a bad book and I will certainly continue to read Susan Donavan, ultimately this one didn’t work for me. Her dramatic weight loss was glossed over. There were huge chunks of time in this book that went unaccounted for and we really didn’t see Lucy struggling. Just massive amounts of weight loss seemingly very easily done (I wish). I read a review on Amazon where the reviewer thought the first six pages were hilarious. I didn’t, I thought they were sad. And I didn’t really warm up to Theo. He just struck me as a very bland hero although I did like his relationship with his younger brother.
2 ½ out of 5

The next book I read fared much better. Josie Day is Coming Home by Lisa Plumley was delightful. I love it when I pick up a book not expecting much and the book surprises me with how good it is. That’s what happened with this book. Josie Day is a Las Vegas show girl who ran away from home when she was young and her family and the town didn’t understand what made her tick. She’s recently become restless as a showgirl but doesn’t really know what it is she wants. When she saves the life of the older lady who owns the casino where she works, she is given ownership of an old run-down mansion back in her home town. There she runs into Luke Donavan the ‘handyman’. She decides to open a dance school in the old mansion and enlists Luke to help her fix the place up. I loved Josie. I thought she was a wonderful heroine; determined despite the obstacles the townspeople give her, always optimistic and willing to do what it takes to make her dreams come true. Also wonderful is the hero Luke. He falls quickly for Josie’s charms and is one of the few people in her life who thinks she’s wonderful the way she is. There is a wickedly funny scene between Luke and his friend TJ when TJ discovers Luke’s feeling for Lucy are running deep. What I reaaly liked about it was their shere goofiness. I highly recommend this book for those looking for a smile and some corny knock knock jokes.
4 out of 5

And then the final book, The Veil of Night by Lydia Joyce. Wow. I haven’t quite finished it yet but what a rich, decadent book this is, like dark rich chocolate. Victoria travels to the country home of Byron, Lord Raeburn, when her brother is heavily in his debt. No, this isn’t one of those books Mrs. Giggles pillories so deliciously where the innocent young heroine sacrifices herself to save her undeserving family. On the contrary, Victoria agrees to stay the week and be whatever Byron wants to help herself only. And thankfully she is no naive young miss. Instead she is a woman with needs and desires of her own and looks to Byron to fill them. They are both deep, emotional people with many layers and it’s a joy to watch them uncovered.
Although I’m not done, so far this book gets a 4 ½ out of 5.
As the Meatloaf song goes “two out of three ain’t bad”.

My beef with...

Avon - And what is it that they do to some authors?
They seem to suck the soul write out of them. I posted http://www.hwforums.com/2035/messages/23167.html recently on AAR in reply to someone’s comment on Lorraine Heath newest book and maybe because I’m bored to tears here at work and feeling guilty at even being on the internet during working hours but believe me, it there was anything I could do, I would do it, but I was in an angry frame of mind when I posted. But she is the perfect example of WHAT AVON DOES WRONG! They take the original author and replace them with pod author. They get rid of all originality, all imperfection, all things that made their stories and characters such a joy and so very memorable. Then, except for the odd medieval, they lay all their eggs in the (what I think of as) ‘historical’ basket. All their books take place within approximately a 50-year time span and only in London England, except for the odd country party. And except for the odd Lisa Kleypas hero, all the heroes are members of the ton. And even she succumbed to the pod when it turned out Nick Gentry the hero of Worth Any Price turned out to be a titled guy. Enough already. No more! Please, no more! And of course every hero is drop dead gorgeous. Have you ever seen pictures of the men in those days? Not attractive. They publish nothing outside of their tiny little box. Nothing, nada, zip! Even Susan Kay Law, the last hold-out Western writer is moving to historicals. There books are unrealistic. The book I just finished reading; Something About Emmaline wasn’t a bad book until the end. **SPOILER** Then wonder of wonders, surprise of surprises, the heroine turns out to be not the daughter of the highwayman but the daughter of a baron/earl/marquis/duke - I don’t remember which and I don’t care. And of course once this comes out, everything turns to sunshine and flowers and all is beautiful; forgetting the fact that the bio father left his pregnant, mad wife and never came back. When I read that I thought oh shit, why’d they do that? They sanitize their books to the point of unbelievablity; virgin widows, fake rakes, etc., etc. It sends me on such a sugar sweet overload I can’t handle it.I’m terrified of what they are going to do to Laura Lee Gurhke’s new book. For those who aren’t familiar, there is a husband and wife who have been mentioned in her last two books. They have lived apart for years and the husband anyway has been a very bad boy as relates to other women. Avon have a hero who cheats??? I can’t see it. Ms. Guhrke has recently switched to Avon and already I see her becoming more and more of a Avon pod author. This is the same author who wrote the wonderful book Connor’s Way about an Irish convict who moves to America not to long after the civil war and becomes a boxer. Would Avon publish such a story.? Not bloody likely. And another book Breathless; the story or a divorced woman who works for a living in very early 1900's mid America. Again, I can’t see Avon publishing such a book. I LIKE variety in my books. I LIKE imperfection in the hero and heroine. I have slowly given up on all Avon authors with the exception of two, Lisa Kleypas and Laura Lee Gukrhe. Until they show signs of originality, Avon will only get about 15 bucks a year out of me.
Avon wasn't always this bad, but the aliens took over their publishing planet.

And back to our regularly scheduled program

I seem to be blogging more about television these days than I do about the wonderful world of romance. I think part the reason is because I'm in a bit of a reading slump these days and thus watching more television. I'm still reading but since reading Ride the Fire by Pamela Clare, nothing has really held my interest that much. Sometimes when I read a book that really strikes my fancy, it can get hard to get into something else. This is when I need my comfort reads. I did do a reread of Smooth Talkin' Stranger by Lorraine Heath and was again reminded of why I originally gave it keeper status. I just finished Something About Emmaline by Elizabeth Boyle. This one had me right up until the end. I didn't like the oh so convenient coincidence twist at the end. I felt it was too neatly wrapped up. At the moment I'm reading He Loves Lucy by Susan Donavan. I was really up in the air before buying and reading this one. I've loved all of Donavan's previous books but the subject matter in this one cuts a little too close to home to be comfortable. I, like the heroine could stand to loose quite a few pounds. I didn't want to read something that was my life. That's one of the major reasons I read books; romance books in particular, to get away from 'Real World' on occasion. I didn't want 'Real World' and 'Romance World' colliding; it's that George Costanza thing. I am nothing like the heroines in the books I read. And that's the way I prefer it. It's almost a damned if you do/damned if you don't scenario with this book. Unless someone has been in the same situation, how could they possibly understand what it's like to have such a poor self-image? So much of who I am is bound up with how I see myself. I don't want to read about the same angst I suffer through. That's the damned if you do part. But if theheroine is 100 lbs overweight and it isn't a major concern for her then theway I see it, it's not normal. Anyway I'll see how Susan Donavan does.

Lost

Well, that made me cry last night. I expected it, I mean it wasn’t any secret someone wasn’t going to make it, but still it made me cry.
And colour me confused but did Jack get married? I think he did but those were the strangest vows I’ve ever heard. Part of me thought he was breaking up with her but telling her he still loved her.
And what do you suppose will happen between Jack and Locke?

Tuesday Night TV - The good and the bad

Tuesday - my second favourite night of TV

American Idol - The Bad
Now there's an hour I'll never get back. The theme for the night was musicals. When Ryan Seacrest announced it and mentioned The Phantom, I thought "oh goodie." I goodied too soon. No music from the Phantom. I like musicals. I've seen The Phantom on stage 3 times. I loved the movie and as soon as it's out on video it's mine. I've seen Les Miz on stage twice. I love some of the songs from West Side Story. I still on occasion hum Consider Yourself from Oliver. Last year I saw Camelot in summer theatre.
But I didn't like a single song sung tonight. I'm shallow when it comes to music - hey I still love the 80's. If I don't like the song, no matter how good the singer might be, shallow me, I don't care. I didn't care at all tonight.

The Amazing Race - The Good
Rob and Amber won this leg - again, which means a third trip. They're going to have one hell of a honeymoon. Now I could goodie. I know a lot of people don't like them but even their detractors have to admit they work well together; no bickering, no hurry, hurry baby. And Rob treats Amber with respect. Ya gotta love that.

Tomorrow night - my favourite night of TV - Lost

Now why would they do that?

The city I grew up in was less than a mile and just across the river from the US. I have lots of wonderful and silly memories of crossing the bridge with my best friend when I was young. There was this great ice cream place just on the other side of the bridge on the US side. We would walk over the bridge, once or twice spit over the side (why I don't know - we were kids and we were silly) have some ice cream and head back. This was a great thing to do in the summer. As we got older, we would often drive over to 'the States' to shop. I moved about an hour away but would still go over to do some shopping. The first time I drove, cars were whizzing past me and I thought "my they drive fast here." It wasn't until my sister asked how fast I was going and I said 30 - just like the signs say - when I realized the signs referred to miles and I was driving kilometers.
They had Wal-Mart’s long before we did with much better prices. It's still a great way to spend the day. And because of our higher dollar, a lot of Americans would come over to shop. I've always considered us the 'best of neighbours' like a much broader good friend next door scenario. Quite a few older retired Canadians go to Florida and other warmer states over the winter months. They call themselves snowbirds and I think they do quite a lot for the economy. Why probably quite a few are neighbors of Jerry Seinfeld's parents :) There's a big difference in our weather temperature too. When we say it's going to be 32, that means a real scorcher. Up until recently before the dreaded 'politics' spoiled things, I considered us great friends and neighbors.
Well, I still do, but apparently starting very shortly us Canadians will need a passport to get into 'the States'. To me this is utterly ridiculous! We're buddies for Pete’s sake. And I'm sure it won't take long for the idiots who run our country to reciprocate and want Americans entering Canada to have them.
Passports! This is incomprehensible to me. I know times are much different than they were when I was young. I think unfortunately, that things at the borders need to be strengthened. More questions should be asked.
But now I think things are going too far. Passports. To get to the States. Now why would they do that?

What is it about the series

OK, I’m doing my first rant today. What is it about series that makes them so popular? I just don’t get it. Julia Quinn is a perfect example. Readers just can’t seem to get enough of the Bridgerton family. I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority but I just completely lost interest in this family after the third book. And I can’t for the life of me figure out why so many people are so hot to read a story about the mother. She’s just not that interesting a character to me. She strikes me as being a twit.
Mary Balogh is another author who fell into this that I don’t read any more. Her earlier stories were very good but I read two of the Slightly books and lost interest. I can’t see me ever reading her again which is a shame.
Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter books are another series I’ve given up on. They started out interesting but now it’s way too much of the same old same old. I bought her latest release but just haven’t been able to read it. I know I’m in the minority but at this time I could care less who Ash ends up with. I don’t mind if an author writes two or three books in a series but after that enough is enough.
For this type of series, there seems to be such a build up to the final book that it always ends in disappointment. Whether it be Ash, Rothgar or Wulfric.
For the most part each succeeding book seems weaker and weaker, rather like clones being weaker than the original.
The only exception to my dislike of series books I’ve come across is the Compass Club series by Jo Goodman. I think in part because she has put such a unique spin on her books. I enjoyed each and every one of them.
And Connie Brockway, in my opinion is wise. Her Rose books are only a trilogy. That I can handle.
I may be way off base but I think one of the reasons is because it’s easier on the authors. They already have half the cast of characters set in place. By writing a series, they don’t have to establish histories for the main characters. I don’t like this. This may be sacrilege but it smacks of laziness to me when they write five, six or seven books all based on related characters. Move on already. Be fresh. Write something new.
Another thing that irritates me is when an author starts a series she’s almost guaranteeing herself a fan base that will buy all books in the series just to see how they end. I prefer to purchase each book on an individual basis, not because I’m being manipulated into buying book four of eight.
Another thing bout series books that drives me batty is the frequent requests I read on board for the stories of the most insignificant of secondary characters
“Author A, have you ever considered writing a story about the niece of the sister-in-law of the aunt of the nephew of the hero? She made such an impression on me in that one paragraph you wrote about her that I would love to read her story”
WHY????
I just don’t get the appeal of the series.

I tried! I really tried!

Around the 20th of every month something weird starts happening to me. I start to have these….urges or callings. I know what they are and I try to ignore them. As the days go on and I try to resist them, they only get stronger and more urgent to the point of being uncomfortable. Every month I say “No more!!! Just leave me alone. I have to stop this madness." But they don’t. They also occur at other times of the month when I least expect it. Anything can set them off. I never know what it might be. Because they are sudden and unexpected it’s impossible to resist theses calls. This time I held out much longer than usual. The end of the month went by and I thought I was safe. But when I woke up this morning it was too strong and I gave in yet again.

Yes, yet again I failed.

I went to the bookstore.

I had to buy some new releases.

This month’s purchases?
Shannon Drake – Wicked
Lydia Joyce – The Veil of Night
Lisa Plumley – Josie Day is Coming Home
Susan Donovan – He Loves Lucy
Elizabeth Boyle – Something About Emmaline

And I have the horrible/wonderful feeling there will be more

And here's another reason

why Bo Bice doesn't belong on American Idol.

Everything is Beautiful

I rest my case.

I hate feeling stupid, it makes me feel like an idiot!

I've always thought that I'm a reasonably intelligent person. There are certain areas where I lack smarts. Math is definitely one of those areas. My youngest son is an accountant and the controller of the company he works for at the age of 24. I have no idea where he gets that from but he amazes me.

The current frustration in my life at the moment though is the computer. My email is through Microsoft Outlook. Being a very responsible computer owner, I have spam killers, virsus scans, firewalls, all kinds of things. Every so often a message will pop up asking if I want to grant access. I usually hit no. I did this several weeks ago and within days could no longer use my Outlook. It seems I have denied access to myself. I went emailless for a few days and then called the provider we use for the internet. I have a friend who does on-line internet support for a US company and she has remarked that it's really the luck of the draw as to how much the person on the other end of the tech lines knows as to how much help you will get. I must have got THE ROOKIE my first call. He couldn't help me at all. I let it go for another week (I needed that rest period) before I tried it again. This time I got someone who knew what he was doing. Unfortunately I didn't. He kept telling me to go here and go there and I couldn't keep up with him. By the time the phone call winded down I apoligized for being so clueless and taking up so much of his time - I know they are timed on these things. I hate feeling stupid. And I still can't get into my email through Outlook. It's going to take a call to another tech person. I shudder at the thought.
While I was on a roll from that fiasco, I decided to try and fix up this blog and make it a better place to visit. I see other blogs and they are so darned good looking. I thought I would start off small and add links to other blogs. That should be easy right??? HA! Maili is very kindly helping me with it, but I'm making a mess. A complete and utter mess. It's the king of all knotted wool balls. I'm getting so frustrated, I want to take my keyboard and ......... well something.
This reminds me of when I was in grade nine, so many many years ago. Computers were just starting to come into being. This was WAY before the days of PC's. You typed your computer orders on these brown punch cards that were later used as Christmas wreaths. Anyone else remember those? They went kachinging through the mainframe and if you had the slightest little error, nothing happened. I had this little Japanesse teacher who was shorter than me and I'm only 5'2. He spoke with a heavy accent that I had a hard time understanding. Between not understanding what he was saying and not knowing what I was doing, I ended up with a 27/100 mark in that class and I think 26 of those were pity marks. That was the lowest mark I EVER got and traumatized me from computers for many (many) years.
I'm starting to feel the same frustration right about now that I did with the little Japanesse teacher and my mark of 27.
I hate feeling like and idiot, it makes me feel stupid.
On the brighter side, Lost is on in about 10 minutes.

It's all about growth

Not too long ago there was an interesting entry on Romancing the Blog about the draw of romance being hero centric. Most of the replies agreed that the hero is the draw. I and a very few others disagreed. For me it’s the heroine that can make or break a book. If I don’t like the heroine chances are I either won’t even finish the book or if I manage to finish I’ll quickly trade it in. I’ve been thinking about what it takes for me to like or dislike a heroine and what it comes down to is growth in character. I can readily forgive a heroine that starts out TSTL but if she remains that way or I don’t see any growth in her character, that’s it, the book is toast.
One of my favourite books of 2003 was Lorraine Heath’s contemporary Hard Lovin’ Man. The heroine Kelley Spencer in a series of flashbacks is shown making some very serious mistakes and errors in judgment. Some readers didn’t like her for this reason but I thought they were being rather harsh. She was young and alone in a strange city and because many years ago I was young and living in a strange city, I could forgive her mistakes. By the time the story was taking place, I really thought she had grown as a person and because of this I loved this book.
In a similar vein, another book from the same year is Lady of Desire. I think the heroine Jacinda got a bit of a bad wrap for being foolish and selfish. I won’t argue, she was at the beginning of the book but she had been overprotected by her band of older brothers so I was willing to give her some leeway. By the end of the book, I felt she had really grown as a person and this made the book one of my favourites.
As I look over my all time favourites in case after case it is the heroine who “makes” the book for me. While I love Roarke in the In Death series, it is Eve who I find the most fascinating. It’s Faith Devlin and not Grey in After the Night and Janie Bright in Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard that makes these books so outstanding.
I look at the books that didn’t make the grade for me and in just about every case it was the heroine’s lack of growth or ongoing stupidity that annoyed me to no end. I loved Ride the Fire and almost as much, Sweet Release, but I couldn’t finish Carnal Gift due (what I felt) to monumental and ongoing stupidity of the heroine of that book. Meg Moore of Suzanne Brockman’s The Defiant Hero remains the heroine I LOATHE ABOVE ALL OTHERS. I simply cannot get over her incredibly stupid things she does. Sophia in Lady Sophia's Lover by Lisa Kleypas made this the only Kleypas book I truly didn’t like. In the cases above, I had no problem with the heroes of the books. It was lack of growth that did them in.

Being wary of the reread

I love rereading books. I think I reread a book for every four new books I read. I planned to reread every one of the 1,711 books (at last count) I have stashed in every nook and cranny of our house. Yea right, if I live to be 182 maybe. I may have to rethink that plan though. A few months ago I dug out some of my old favourites in an attempt to at least start on this gigantic feat. I started off with Til Dawn Tames the Night by Meagan McKinney in honour of pirate time. Loved it the fourth time around. The previous three rereads were all years ago. Next up was Honor’s Splendor by Julie Garwood. Many years ago I loved her writing and went on a major glom in order to make sure I had her entire backlist. I drove all over the city to every bookstore there was in search of them. And I did it. I found them all. I was a happy little Garwood camper. I read them and reread them and eventually moved onto other books. They were put away in the corner of the basement, kind of like the Velveteen Rabbit. When I went searching through her section for a reread of course the one I chose was Honor’s Splendor. It was terrible. I hated it and wondered what on earth I ever liked about it the first time around. I tried analyzing what had happened; that a book I once loved so much, I now loathed. Was it that I had aged in the fifteen or so year since I last read it? (well of course I have chronologically), but was it that I had matured so much that I could no longer enjoy nincompoop heroines or was it really that bad all along and I just didn’t know it. Judging by the number of recommendations she still gets from other readers, there are still a lot of people who enjoy her writing so I don’t think that’s it. It must be me. More and more I enjoy less and less the sweet little young (oh gawd so young) nincompoop heroines. Have my reading tastes changed that drastically? Now I don’t quite know what to do with the rest of my Garwood’s I hunted so hard to find. They were all printed in the late 80’s and early 90’s. They have been reprinted a number of times so I would never get my money out of them at a UBS. And do I even want to get rid of them? I know I won’t read them again, but they brought me so much pleasure at the time.
And another question I have. Do I really want to go back and read the books I loved so much from so many years ago? What if this happens again? On the one hand I loved the McKinney book. It was a very good visit. It can happen again with my old favourites. On the other hand though, how many of them will I not be able to finish? Many of the other older books I dug out of my pile from the basement have remained in a pile upstairs – somewhere.
Most of the books I reread have been written in the last five to seven years. However some are much older. Susan Anderson’s Exposure was written in 1993 and I reread that one not to long ago and it still held up over time. I think my old Putney’s will too. I’m kind of leery about my old McNaught’s though.
Well, I guess I will just have to try them and see – one book at a time (yea right)

And while I have your attention, can anyone help me with showing links to other blogs? I would love to add links to the other blogs I read and enjoy but have no idea how to do it.

It's etc time

For anyone who watches Survivor, The Amazing Race or American Idol, there is nothing funnier than the recaps Mrs. Giggles http://www.mrsgiggles.com/ does. I sit in the computer room laughing like a hyena when I’m reading them. Tuesday nights are double dose reality night. I only recently started watching The Amazing Race; I watched the previous one and now the current one. I was going to skip American Idol this time around but with the NHL hockey strike my husband has started watching American Idol and I’m along for the ride. My thought on American Idol first.
I can’t for the life of me figure out what Bo Bice is doing on this show. It seems to me that American Idol is for amateurs hoping to make it big in music. To me, watching him week after week, he is already a star; he just hasn’t gained the attention yet. And I don’t think American Idol is the venue for him to achieve it. From what I’ve read, courtesy of Mrs. Giggles, the winner is tied up and dancing to the tune of the producers for seven years. If that’s true, they have seven years to turn him into something he is not. It’s not really that I want to see him get voted out, he is honestly too good for that. But then I think he’s too good for the whole competition. And he doesn’t exactly strike me as American Idol material. And a further thought; I think Anwar is hot!
As for The Amazing Race; I love Amber and Rob. I loved them on All Star Survivor and I love them on TAR. If you watched the first episode, all the competing teams were saying how tough they were going to be, how every other team should watch out etc. Well Rob and Amber are the team that is actually doing it. It drives me nuts when people say they don’t deserve to win or they’ve already won on Survivor, give someone else a chance. If they win, it’s precisely because they deserve to win. When you get down to it, these are game shows and unless you’re Ken Jennings and you win on Jeopardy because you know all kinds of for the most part useless trivia facts, you win on skill, cunning and luck something they have in spades. I say more power to them. The certainly make the show fun to watch.

Grabbed by Ride the Fire by Pamela Clare

I read this book on the weekend and boy did this book grab me. I skimmed, very quickly, through the prologue as it contains a very vivid description of a torture scene. I think sometimes I have too good an imagination for my own good. For example, when Braveheart came out, I refused to see it until I knew how it ended. I'd been burned before and I needed to prepare. I read the end in a bookstore and could picture it very clearly. That kept me from seeing the movie for quite some time. I waited until it came out on video (before DVD's became so popular) so I could leave the room at the end. But I digress
Once I got past the prologue, I fell completely and totally in love with this book. For one thing the setting is one I love but is very hard to find - colonial America. The book opens six years later with the hero Nicholas Kenleigh having cut all ties to his family and simply existing as a trapper. After a brief stop at a fort to bathe and get rid of stress in a time honoured way, he is attacked by French trappers. He arrives near death at the homestead of heroine Elspeth (Bethie) Stewart, a young pregnant widow who is near her time. After forcing her at gunpoint to help him she reverses the roles.
Nicholas is a hero in every sense of the word. Although he has trained himself not to feel anything, Bethie slowly begins to melt the ice he has lived with. Bethie had had a very rough time of it herself and it's wonderful to see these two wounded souls heal each other. Nicholas is so patient and understanding with her. Bethie, although very cautious and untrusting is a heroine I enjoyed very much.
Another thing I appreciated about the story is it's not black and white. True the Indians are attacking the settlers, but Ms. Clare shows they aren't all bad and they have their own reasons for doing what they are doing.
The description of the times are superb. I could picture everything so clearly.
I love the movie Last of the Mohicans and this book had a very similar feel to it as the movie. I had no sooner finished reading this book, then I sighed, took a deep breath and began an immediate reread. I think I'm going to be spoiled for the next little while and find it difficult to get into another book. I noticed it just received 5 stars at The Romance Reader. It earned every one of them

A thank you to AAR - Part 2

Anyone reading this may be wondering what Part 1 has to do with a thank you to AAR.
Well, when I got back from my wonderful weekend and the glow had long faded, I was right back to being an island. Only in a way it was more frustrating. I knew there were others like me out there. I’d met them. I had spent time with them. They existed and it wasn’t just my imagination. But how could I find them again? I knew my finances could never stand up to another weekend. I began surfing the net looking for….. something. I was aware of the Romantic Times website. I didn’t really care for it that much. I don’t know if they had the message boards then or not. I found The Romance Reader for reviews. I like this site quite a bit, but it didn’t really have what I was looking for.
Then wonder of wonders, I stumbled across www.allaboutromance.com. When I started visiting the message boards, I felt like I’d struck gold. Finally I thought, I’ve discovered where they are!!!! This is what I had been looking for. Other people like me I can “talk” to on a regular basis. I lurked for quite a while before I got up the nerve to start posting myself. My first post was about romance covers and how I hated the raunchy ones. I commented that when I’m buying a book with one of those covers, I’ll hang back if there are male cashiers until I can go through a female cashier. Wonder of wonders some else posted that she did the same thing.
I can’t imagine anymore not going there to visit whenever the mood strikes me. On occasion for one reason or another, my computer will go down or I’ll be away from a computer for a weekend and I start going through serious withdrawal. There’s always something interesting going on. It’s like a never ending party that you can drop in on whenever you want. And they all have the same thing in common, a deep and abiding love of romance novels. Whether I agree or disagree with some of the comments, I know where they are coming from.
What Laurie Gold and company have accomplished is astounding to me. There are readers from all over the world who visit AAR. Readers from their 80’s down to their teens. Topics run the gamut from what books are must reads to issues readers have with covers. From what are the best romantic movies to whatever happened to such and such author. Sooner or later everything to do with romance pops up there.
There are so many names that are familiar to me now. Xina, Keishon, Maili, Rosario, Sybil and so many more. Although I know I will never meet them, I feel a connection to them. And I realize I am no longer an island. I joke with my family and friends about spending time on the internet with 'my people' but in truth I'm not really joking.
So thank you Laurie and AAR for providing this wonderful place to visit and for all the work all of you do for fellow fans of romance.

A thank you to AAR - Part one

I love romance books. In fact I am obsessed with romance books and all they entail. No one in my circle of friends and family really understand this about me. They know I like them and my husband is somewhat alarmed sometimes with the amount of books I have and even more so about the covers of some of them. Hey, I can’t help what the publishers to do the covers. Because of this and because of the depth of my obsession, I used to feel very alone with what is a huge chunk of my life. About four years ago I read on the Romantic Times web site, one of the few I knew about at the time, that they were having their annual convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This is about two hours away from where I live. When I read the list of authors who were planning on being there I took the boldest step of my life and decided to go. I not only stepped outside my comfort box, the box ceased to exist. Me, Kristie, planned on going somewhere all by myself for an entire weekend. I was going to go into a world where I didn’t know a soul. In order to save costs, I signed up for a room with three other women whom I had never met before.
It turned into one of the most glorious weekends of my life. I met authors whose work had enthralled me. I will always remember when I ran into Connie Brockway outside one of the meeting rooms and made an idiot out of myself with my awestruck behaviour. She was very understanding about it. Marsha Canham held a party in one of the meeting rooms. What a blast that was. I met Lorraine Heath, an author who amazes me with the poignancy of her writing. Julia London was another wonderful author who was fairly new at the time. The list of authors who I met goes on and on. Connie Mason, whose books I admit I don’t read sat and talked with me for a very long time and I have very fond memories of her. I can't possibly list all the authors I spoke to and had sign my books. I'm not a fan girl by any means but if ever I came close it was that weekend
And the other fans. What can I say? For the first time I was among other people who are as committed to romance as I am. At one of the events they held, they had everyone come up who had more that 1,000 books in their collection. The line was staggering. And I wasn’t even in it. At the time I didn’t have 1,000. I have since long past that mark though. I talked books with complete strangers and they could totally relate to me and I too them. It was incredible. It was amazing.
There were drawbacks to the weekend. The roommates for one thing weren’t quite what I was expecting. The room had two king size beds. I would be sleeping in the same bed with someone I’d never met. Two of them were friends who owned a used book store together. They were very nice and friendly but they were there not for “the experience” , but more for business. And one of them slept on the floor which I thought rather odd. They went to the meetings held for bookstore owners and publishers wanted to make business contacts and grow their business. And the one I had to share a bed with. Well, she was different, I’ll say that for her. She snored. And great leaping lizards did she snore loud. I thought my father was a loud snorer when I was a kid but she made him sound like he had a mild case of the snuffles. And I think every sentence she uttered started with the phrase “well, in my opinion”. And none of her opinions met with mine at all. “Well in my opinion, books written today have way too much sex in them.” “You’ve got to be kidding” I thought to myself. "Well, in my opinion nothing good is being written these days."After 15 minutes in her presence I had to take myself away. I honestly don't know why she was there. Nothing made her happy.
Another huge drawback was the fact I didn’t budget for food. Really huge mistake there. For some reason I had thought all the meals would be provided for. They weren’t. They had two wonderful dinners with parties after that were great loads of fun. And they provided muffins and pastry for breakfast but that was all. With the money I had, I could either save it for the book sale they planned or I could buy myself something to eat. I went with the books of course.
The third problem I had was my back. When I get stressed, it goes straight to my back. And leaving that box, as wonderful as it was, was very stressful. As I've said, I am normally very shy and quiet when meeting new people. For the weekend to mean anything, I had to be someone I not usually am. I had to approach people and introduce myself. It went very well, but it was hard. The Saturday night I could not sleep at all. Between the bedmate that snored to beat the band, and the agony I was in with my back I ended up getting dressed and going down to the lobby of the hotel at 4:30 in the morning, not having got any sleep at all.
It was all worth it though. I left Sunday tired, hurting like the dickens and very very hungry but for the first time in my life I was with my people.

I love it when a book grabs me.......but

I read somewhere betwee 200 to 250 books a year. I’m not one for statistics, so I don’t have exact figures. Starting this year though I’ve added a column to my book log that lists what book I’ve read and what year it was published so in future I should have exact figures.
Of those 200-250 or so books, I probably enjoy 150 to 200 (or very roughly 75% - my math is probably way out of whack) of them. I’m easily pleased. But every year one or two books grab hold of my and I don’t want to let go. These grabbers are keepers plus. They almost reach the obsession stage. It’s early in year but already the book that has grabbed me this year is To Die For by Linda Howard. I LOVE this book. I love everything LH writes but this one stands above the others. It’s only the middle of March and I’m reading it for the fourth time already. I love Blair!!! She is so unlike the real me, but everything Fantasy Kristie is. She’s a sharp intelligent woman who uses the dumb blond cover very much to her advantage. And I love the way she makes Wyatt, the hero work for everything. I just finished the scene where she’s showing Wyatt’s mother how she can do a one-handed hand stand when Wyatt walks in. That scene cracks me up every time. This is a book I’ll never get tired of.
Previous grabbers:
One of last years’ grabber was Fallen From Grace by Laura Leone. I know it was published in 2004 in hardcover but I waited for the trade size to come out. Even then I had to special order it as the book store never did stock it. I’ve read it 5 times. Beyond A Wicked Kiss by Jo Goodman and Getting What You Want by Kathy Love were also grabbers.
My big grabbers of 2003 were Susan Donovan’s Take A Chance on Me; there was just something about the dog Hairy and Hard Lovin’ Man by Lorraine Heath.
I didn’t have a grabber for 2002; a lot of keepers but no grabbers. My grabbers of 2001 were Whispers of Heaven by Candice Proctor and Master of Desire by Kinley MacGregor.
These are all books I've read at least four times.
I love it when a book grabs me, it doesn;t happen often…..but, it’s hard to move on after reading them. There is always a big let down when I read the final page. It takes a while to get back on the reading railroad so to speak. And I have so many to read I can't afford to wait.

Obladi, oblada, la la la la life goes on

The main reason I started this blog was to muse on romance books and romance related issues. I did add the etc for those occasional times I blog about something else. Today is an etc blog. As I mentioned earlier, I started a new job on Monday. I had been out of work since last November after working there for six years when the PTB (powers that be) and I had a mutual parting of the ways. The job itself was a disaster; I had been transferred to a different job over a year ago and it was the classic and difinitive case of the wrong type of person in the wrong type of job. However, I loved the atmosphere and I loved working with the people I worked with. I had a real struggle for a while after I left. On the one hand, every day when I woke up and realized that I no longer had to do the job, I mentally jumped for joy. I was still having serious nightmares about the job months later. Oh the relief I felt when I woke up and realized it was only a dream. On the other hand, I missed my coworkers dreadfully.
Now I am at a new job and things could not be more opposite. Trying to learn something new is always such a struggle. I’m exhausted when I get home from concentrating so hard.
Another thing that is drastically different is the loneliness factor. I had good friends at the old job. Our work stations were an open concept so that I could look up and smile and chat briefly any time of the day. Where I am now, the work stations are almost completely enclosed. It's Dilbert world. While the people seem friendly enough when I am introduced to them, I am eating my lunch alone or at my desk. By nature I am very quiet and shy so it’s very difficult for me to reach out to others. Once I get to know someone, I’m fine and can laugh and joke with them, but I can’t help feeling that my new coworkers must think I’m pretty boring. I’m not really. I can be heaps of fun when I’m relaxed.
Oh well, it’s only been two days. I know I need to give it a lot more time but
I MISS MY OLD FRIENDS. Change, I know, can be good. But sometimes it's just not fun.

Harelquins - and why I love 'em.

For as long as I’ve been reading romance books, I’ve been reading series books. Not nearly as often or as many as single title books, but they definitely have a place in my reading repertoire. I don’t think they are taken as seriously as single books. Even I consider them to be the cotton candy of romance books; something that is honestly not fair of me. They can also have deeper and darker stories. Because they are constrained by size, they don’t always have the character development that single books do but a good series author manages to do this.
I am currently reading a Harlequin Temptation book, Free Fall by Jill Shalvis. It is light and fluffy and exactly what I need at the moment. Plus so far, it’s a pretty darn good book. I’m starting a new job tomorrow (see previous posts) and after being out of work since last November, I am somewhat anxious about it. I don’t have the concentration power to get into a weightier story right now but I still feel the need to read.
I often find this is the case. Series books are perfect for this. They settle the compulsion I have to read, but they don’t drain me emotionally.
Another reason I appreciate series books is the fact that they are a fast read. I can normally read a book in two days, but sometimes this isn’t possible. If I have a lot going on outside of my reading and don’t have the time or if a book is particularly moving and I’m taking my time with it, it can take me longer to read a book. After this, I like to read a series book to get me back into the timing groove so to speak. If I don't have a lot of distractions, I can read one of these in a day.
Quite a few popular authors started out writing series books; Suzanne Brockman, Linda Howard, Jennifer Cruise among others and it’s always fun to go back and read their roots books.
I will always read series books and I completely recommend them to anyone who hasn’t tried them before to give them a shot. They may be just what you need.

Real World vs Romance World

I basically live in two worlds, well three if you count cyber world. The two main worlds I live in are “real world” and “romance world”. I have not trouble distinguishing between these two worlds. It’s not like I’m worried, as George Costanza once did in a hilarious Seinfeld episode, that my two worlds will collide and I will cease to exist. Romance world is a complete fantasy world fueled by the wonderful imagination of some very talented authors. Real world is where I exist and spend most of my time. This is where things are, well, real. I visit romance world when I have time, when there’s nothing I want to watch on TV or when real world gets me down and I need that Calgon time. I completely understand that the people, the heroes, the heroines, the secondary characters, are not real. They are fictional people who do not exist except in romance world. But sometimes I can’t help but wonder if some other romance readers understand this. There is an authors’ site with a message board I lurk on sometimes. These visitors and posters seem to be a very warm and caring group of fans, one of the reasons I visit there. Every so often they do weird me out though. When they begin discussing characters from said authors’ books, it seems as if someof them are discussing real live people. This always causes me to scratch my head and break in with the post “you do know this isn’t a real person don’t you?” I love discussing books I’ve enjoyed and characters I liked/disliked too but I am always fully cognizant of the fact that I am discussing fiction, albeit fiction I love to read and discuss. Sometimes, if a book is very good, a character will stand out and grab me. But that character will never gain hold because they are a fantasy. And fantasy doesn’t begin to be real life.

What is is about a pirate?

When I'm reading books, I often go through themes. One of my favourite themes are pirate books. When I get into pirate mode I can't get enough of them. I think my devotion with all things pirate; in the fiction world - not in the real world, I know in the real world they weren't people you wanted to run into; started with an obscure little movie titled The King's Pirate with Doug McClure and Jill St. John. If I were to watch this movie today I would probably be horrified that I ever liked it, but back when I first saw it, I was young, impressionable and had a terrific crush on Doug McClure. Whoa am I ever dating myself here.
The plot, from what I remember had Doug McClure going undercover as a pirate to find and arrest some pirates that were runny roughshod over the high seas. He discovers the pirate king's daughter Jill St. John, a pirate in her own right. They fell in love and yadda, yadda, yadda (which really means I don't remember what happened in the movie). But ever since then I perked up whenever pirate movies came out. Who made a better swashbuckler than Errol Flynn? I was burned terribly though with that dreadful Geena Davis movie Cutthroat Island.
As for pirate romance books, I loved the writings of Rafael Sabatini and Frenchman's Creek, a very bittersweet romance by Daphne Du Maurier. Then later, after my hiatus had ended I read Till Dawn Tames the Night by Meagan McKinney. This was my first experience with a HOT pirate book and boy was I impressed. Another one I read and enjoyed was The Pirate Lord by Sabrina Jeffries. Time moved on and I went on to different themes. My interest in pirate adventure stories was revived with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean. Was Johnny Depp not excellent in that movie or what? What followed was a glom of pirate books. I rarely met a pirate book I didn't love. Some of the ones that stood out
The Pirate Next Door and Perils of the Heart by Jennifer Ashley. I loved both of these books but was disappointed in The Pirate Hunter. The Care and Feeding of Pirates I will be reading very shortly.
The Iron Rose by Marsha Canham. This one has a novel twist in that the heroine is the pirate and a better kick ass heroine would be hard to find.
For Her Love and Into His Arms by Paula Reed. Although they weren't technically pirates, they were privateers, as was the hero from Across a Moonlit Sea.
I wanted more and couldn't find them in any of the regular or used book stores. This led me to special order what I wanted from Chapters. This is when I struck gold. The following are the pirate books I ordered and each and every one a delight.
Once a Pirate by Susan Grant was absolutely terrific. It's actually a cross between pirate and time travel another one of my favourite themes. This is a book I will be reading over and over.
The Pirate Prince by Gaelen Foley was the only Foley book I didn't already have and it too is a treasure I now own.
Across a Moonlit Sea by Marsha Canham was a book I somehow missed when it came out. Of course once I read it, I had to go back and reread The Iron Rose.
I know genres fade and swell, not unlike the high seas, but I hope there will always be pirate books. And I'm counting down the time until the sequel to The Pirates of the Caribbean comes out.

Yes, but are they romance?

One of the things I've been doing to occupy my time during this unscheduled and unwanted vacation time is catching up on the soaps. Years ago I worked shift work so could keep up with the story lines pretty good. Once I started working 9 to 5 my soap watching ended. (I still have no idea how to program a VCR).
It took about a week to catch up on the story lines, six of them. Frightening isn't it? I alternate between quite a few of the soaps and have figured out what is happening in just about all of them. Passions, and General Hospital are the only ones I never got hooked on.
I have come to the conclusion that soaps are the antithesis of romance. They appear to be the visual version of a romance book but in actual fact nothing could be further from the truth.
Take for example, the required HEA in a romance book. Absolutely does not exist in soaps. They start out the same. Character introduction followed by character development. Both soaps and romance books then begin an attraction between two people. We the readers/viewers start to become invested in their romance. Problems arise between our couple whether external problems in the form of a villain or internal problems such as two different sides of the track. So far, not much difference. Then follows the couple finally, finally getting together and have their wonderfully romantic sex scenes. We are happy they finally made it. This is when soaps and romance books take completely opposite directions. In romance books the couple stays together and in the case of series such as the In Death books, we see their relationship grow or they may be secondary characters in following books. Soaps, on the other hand completely annihilate the HEA. They stomp it into the ground. An example of this that I will always remember happened many years ago in the soap As the World Turns. This is the soap I have watched the longest (over 40 years) and know the best. The couple - Betsy (played by Meg Ryan before she became a star) and Steve. They suffered, oh how they suffered in order to get together and I suffered along with them. They were a beautiful couple and deserved to be together but fate and Craig Montgomery kept them apart. I watched, agonized as they were continually kept apart from each other. Finally though, true love brought them together, they were happy, had a child and what happened? In the world of soaps they left the show. Some time later they brought Betsy back (a different Betsy as Meg 'made' it in Hollywood) sans Steve. It turns out that Steve, in order to care for his family, began smuggling drugs in Greece, was caught and sent to prison for the rest of his life. WHAT!!!!!! I had invested so much of my time and emotion in order for THIS to happen? I was devastated.
Think of all the couples in soaps; how many of them have stayed happily together?
Luke & Laura from General Hospital? I don't know if they are together or not. As I said I don't follow this soap although years ago I did watch their wedding as did everyone else at the time.
Bo & Hope from Days of our Lives? They each have died at different times only to be resurrected. They are together but still not happy.
Victor & Nicky from The Young and the Restless? They are together but not happily for any length of time.
Ridge & Brooke from The Bold and the Beautiful? Not really. The writers in their insanity actually had a relationship develop between Ridge and Bridget his stepdaughter who for years he thought of as his natural daughter. Big EEEWWW there let me tell you.
Erica and ??? ?????
Reva and Josh? They are so on again off again one gets dizzy.
I can go on and on but you get the picture.
Another way soaps and romance books are at opposite ends of the spectrum is in the treatment of villains. In romance books they always get theirs. Or in the occasional case, the villain reforms and becomes the hero in another book. Not so in soaps. The villain stays bad and never really dies. Can anyone say James Stenbeck, Adam Chandler, Asa Buchanan, Alan Spaulding, Stephano and/or Tony DiMerra?
Luckily my soap watching days are coming to an end. I just learned that vacation time is over and I will be entering the working world again. Yes I finally got a job and will be starting very shortly. But I will read in the recaps in the Saturday paper to see if Babe and Jamie ever get to live HEA.
Thank heavens, though my romance reading will continue on and I will experience the necessary and vital HEA.

Authors I Admire - Patricia Veryan

One of the aims of this blog is to spotlight the different authors I have enjoyed. Patricia Veryan is the first one I wish to talk about and I can think of no author more deserving than to be the first than her. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I took a bit of a hiatus from reading romance. Ms. Veryan is the one who brought me back into the fold. The first book was I read was Cherished Enemy. I spotted this one at the library quite a few years ago and picked it up in large part because of the beautiful cover. I read the back blurb and to be honest, it didn't seem all that good a book judging by the synopsis so I didn't check it out. On the next visit, it was still on the shelf and again I picked it up to admire the cover and again put it back down. The next visit I did the same thing and instead of putting it back I thought "this is ridiculous, just check out the darn book." Keep in mind, I wasn't reading romance books at the time. When I got home I started reading it and was completely enchanted. I gathered that this book was part of a series and Cherished Enemy was somewhere in the middle of the series. When I finished and returned the book, very reluctantly. I was very temped to say I lost the book and pay the price. I searched for and found the other books in the series as well as a few other books she had written. I read them and fell deeper and deeper in love with her writing. Not to long after that I found a copy of Cherished Enemy at a Flea Market and thus an obsession was born. I had to get the rest of the series and every other book she had written for my very own. I haunted flea markets and used book stores in what I called my quest. I managed to find a few of them but there were so many more I couldn't find. Finally, in desperation, I sent a letter to the publisher hoping they would pass it on to Ms. Veryan. Much to my utter astonsihment and delight, some months later, I received a letter from her. And what a wonderful letter it was. She had some copies of her books she autographed and sent to me. She also turned me onto to other fans of her work that were able to help me find the copies I was missing. I now have all but her most recent books in a prominent place on my bookshelf.
It's hard to say everything that makes her books so special. One thing that sets her apart is her wonderful ability to make me laugh and cry in a very short period of time, often in the same chapter. She has a wonderful sense of humor and at the same time can write with such poignancy and emotion. Her heroes are all so tortured but yet so noble, even those who have a rocky start. In particular there is a character who makes his appearance in Practice to Deceive, the first book of The Golden Chronicle series. Roland Otton is an utter villian. Yet at the same time there is something very compelling about him. He continues to appear in subsequent books and we learn more about him and why he is the way he is. He finally becomes the hero in the last book of the series The Dedicated Villian and by this time I challenge anyone who reads the whole series not to fall in love with him. He makes the ultimate sacrifice for his lady love and allow himself to be captured and tortured in order to save her life. To this day I still skip the torture scenes as they are too difficult to read.
She writes equally wonderful heroines. Dimity Crawford, the heroine in Love Alters Not is one of my all time favourite heroines of all the books I have read. She is compassionate, loyal and brave.
All of Ms Veryans books are on my keeper shelf and in my more morbid moments, I think that in case of disaster, what would be the first thing I would save. Without question it would be my collection of Patricia Veryan books.