A Rant

I can't say I really understand all of what is going on and what we hear on the news everyday. And I can't claim any kind of superiority of our own politicians here in Canada. We have the 4 or 5 federal elections in something like eight years to prove Canadian politicians are idiots, but what the hell is going on with our neighbours to the south???

I think you need a groundswell movement or something to toss ALL those politicians out on their ears. I can not, for the life of me understand why they are playing 'politics' when things are so damn serious. For Pete's sake forget all about Republicans and Democrats and think of what is best for the country and it's people instead your particular party!!

Are they really ready to see this country with such a glorious birth, go bankrupt for gawd's sake, because the person sitting across from you comes from a different political party. I am sure the men who founded the United States would weep in despair over what is happening now.

It's confusing as hell, but as a neighbor with many friends living in the US, I am appalled that partisan agendas are putting an already crippled nation further into, well trouble doesn't begin to cover it.

I want to scream stop it, just STOP IT!!!!!!!!

Recent Reads

Still working on my RWA post but until then......

Her Wyoming Man by Cheryl St. John

Why this one: I inhale her books when they come out. I have ever since her first book Rain Shadow

Steam Level: Well, since there is a major heat wave going on, the fact that this book isn’t what I would call steamy is just fine.

Blurb: Courtesan Ella Reed escapes dangerous city life to rural Wyoming and says "I do" to a marriage of convenience! But she may not live the life of a respectable woman for long if she can't keep her past -- and her heart -- under lock and key.

For a self-made man with political aspirations, love is trivial in a paper marriage. Nathan Lantry needs a wife to secure his election and manage his rowdy little boys. Yet he can't stop wanting more from his irresistible new bride. Then her secrets start to unravel....

My Thoughts: There is a thread at AAR about heroines who are prostitutes and since I did a couple of posts on this topic, I was thinking of it when I finished reading this book, Her Wyoming Man by Cheryl St. John. I’ve loved Ms. St. John since her very first book and gobble up her newest releases as soon as they come out and this one was no exception. Since Lorraine Heath left the Old West and departed to England, Cheryl St. John is my mind, THEE Western write who writes the most poignant stores

As the tread at AAR suggests, the heroine is a prostitute in the old west. She has run away from the brothel and agrees to be a mail order bride without informing her bridegroom Nathan Lantry of her past.

I get that this kind of heroine isn’t for everyone and I can respect that. But for any on the fence on this kind of heroine, or those contemplating trying one, they don’t come much better than Ella. Ms. St. John, as she has with so many of her heroines, writes Ella in such a way that she will break your heart. She makes her past so tragic, and she is still so vulnerable. But never does the reader sit in judgment on her. It’s a case of it was what it was and now she has an opportunity to make a new life for herself. She feels bad about not telling Nathan about her past and doesn’t really consider the consequences she’s so desperate to escape her past.

And Nathan makes for quite an endearing hero. He didn’t stand out for me as much as Ella, but I really did enjoy how considerate he was of Ella and how concerned he was that he not make the same mistakes with Ella.

There’s nothing big or showy about this story. It’s a gentle book about how a young woman struggles to overcome her past with the help of a gentle and loving man.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

And life slowly gets back to normal

It seems the older I get, the longer it takes to recover. Combine that with real life situations that happened and once more it took longer to get back here than I thought it would. On the positive side, it no longer scares me to enter the house. I'll confess it was pretty bad there.

Now I had a situation arise even before I left for the RWA conference. On the Sunday before, a tooth that I knew was going to go bad, went terribly, dreadfully bad. It was so bad that I had to go to a walk-in clinic to get something for the pain as well as antibiotic to rid myself of the infection. They prescribed Tylenol 3's. I also had some other left over medication from the leg. So when the Tylenol 3's didn't work in the amount of time I thought they should have; while I was sitting on the couch almost crying in pain and thinking of my upcoming trip, I kind of, sort of, um, took one of the pain pills for the legs - the heavy duty stuff - the stuff I could sell for a nice profit on the street if I were so inclined. And I knocked myself out for about 5 hours. But the pain was gone. The nurses I work with were horrified the next day when I told them and I had to promise never to do that again.

I got in to see the dentist immediately and he confirmed that the tooth was abscess and that it would have to come out. He gave me a choice of having him do it, or going to a 'specialist' where I could get a bit of sedation. I went for Option 2 since I'm a huge, huge sucky baby when it comes to the tooth pulling thing.

Now when I get nervous about something, I often get odd. I sent an email off to a number of coworkers. What was very peculiar was that a number of them came up to me and said how funny the email was and how much of kick they thought. Now the odd thing about that was these were coworkers I hadn't sent it to!! Apparently some of the original recipients thought it so funny, the passed it on. So because So You Think You Can Dance Canada is on soon and I have to get ready to take notes for the recap tomorrow, I'll cheat and let you all read the email I sent



Subject: Announcement

I know many of you are probably not aware of this, but today is Tooth Extraction Day. Yes, I have an appointment at noon today to have a molar extracted. Now to put this into perspective, I was much less freaked when I was in the hospital and they wanted me to sign a consent so they could put a steel rod and two pins in my leg when it broke. Mind you, at that time I was heavily under the influence of drugs………..wonderful, fun, ‘Frankly my dears, I don’t really give a damn drugs. I’m on a trip and it’s a fun one….considering trip. When I asked what would happen if I didn’t sign, just out of curiosity, the nurse explained that the first time I tried to stand, they would put me under, cut open my leg, insert a steel rod anchored by two pins. At that point I have the vaguest memory of, in my best Larry the Cable Guy voice, saying ‘let’s git ‘her done then’.

I did not say that yesterday at the consultation. Part of it may have been the fact I wasn’t heavily influenced by drugs, wonderful, fun, ‘I didn’t really give a damn drugs’.

So considering the seriousness of what will be taking place in a few short hours, I just wanted to express how much I have enjoyed working with all of you these past years. Some haven’t had the opportunity of working with me directly. If you haven’t, I’m sure you are looking at each other going “hu’h??? This chick is odd!” But it’s been most enjoyable getting to know you all. Considering this whole situation has come up so quickly, I haven’t had the chance to buy the loud obnoxious Hawaiian shirts in bulk yet, so should the worst happen, it will be up to each and every one of you to get one. May I suggest Value Village. I don’t want you laying out a lot of money for something you will probably never wear again, even should you travel to Hawaii. By now, more of you are probably going “hu’h???” Betty White {name change} can answer any questions about this you may have. Or my sons. I made them promise and my soon to be daughter in law promised she will hold them to it.

(me jumping in here to explain - I decided when I kick it, I wanted it to be a fun time, a time when everyone told stories and laughed and bonded. To that end, I plan on getting a whole bunch of Hawaiian shirts and when people come to the visitation, before they come in, they have to put on one of the shirts)

I just wish I hadn’t lost my sense of humor over this situation, but sadly, it’s gone. Stress has robbed me of it. One can only hope it returns once my tooth is no longer causing me concern. The other side effect of stress – the desire to write about how stressed I am has obviously kicked in – thus the ‘so long, farewell, to you and you and you’ email you are reading right now.

Should things go well, I will see you all tomorrow and everyone who has received this email can come up to me and say ‘you are one of the oddest people I know! You only had a tooth removed you ninny, not major surgery!”

On the plus side, they did tell me to have a milk shake for breakfast. Or was that dinner last night????

See, I’m so stressed over this I don’t remember when I was supposed to have the shake!

Kristie

Client Services Assistant

SUPPORTIVE CARE TEAM

With the Best of Intentions and a New Resolution

I was going to do a blog post tonight on the highlights of RWA. But after spending almost 12 hours getting home including a log jam at the border that took almost an hour and a half to get through, I'm totally and completely pooched! As in fried. Not a working brain cell left. I'm so tired I don't even have the energy to get out the books I brought home with me so you have to know it's bad.

So my fun times will have to wait until later.

Wait though! This should count as a post shouldn't it? A short one, short to the point of pitiful and completely devoid of any kind of details except that I'm tired. But it's something!

Once again I`ve been so bad

at blogging *unhappy sigh*

Right now I`m here in the big city of New York at RWA. As usual I`m having an amazing time. There is so much stuff going on, I think I`ll just do point form

I had a melt down when I first got to the hotel. I`d stayed the night before at the Algonquin Hotel and was NOT impressed. It had to be the smallest hotel room I`ve ever seen and even worse, the air conditioning didn`t work. I suffered through though and then took a 45 minute cab ride for what was pretty much a 15 minute walk.

I have never seen traffic like it is here. Never. Ever, never, ever. I could not live in this city or I`d go nuts though it interesting to visit.

Once I got past my meltdown - thankfully Rosie showed up to rescue me, things started getting much better. I met up with Lisabea and Nath and her sister Emily. Wendy was a late arrival since she, the RWA Librarian of the year, had Librarian duties that kept her occupied for a while.

I don`t really know how to explain it, but all these people I see once a year at RWA and when we get together, it`s like we last saw each other only a few weeks ago. At the risk of mush overload, I am just so damn happy to see them all. There is this bond that is indescribable. OK - mush over.

If I start naming people, I`m sure I will forget half the names, but a few standout meetings. It was wonderful sitting with and talking with Susanna Kearsley at the bar. I was so excited to hear she would be going and was looking forward to meeting her. Christine was another person I was pumped to meet. It`s funny - it seems you get to know these people so well through blogging and or twitter and then when you meet in person, there is already a well established friendship base (oops - lapsed into mushy again)

Today I went to lunch with some Carina Press people. I was quite excited about this as I have really gotten on board the digital book band wagon and I`ve found some great books at Carina Press.

Angela James is a great speaker. I sat in on a spotlight she did for Carina and she`s charming, friendly and funny.

Getting a chance to chat with Blythe and Lynne from All About Romance was great. I love that site. It was there that I first realized I was not alone and was the first step on my journey that helped lead to where I am today. So meeting up with them is especially meaningful.

Back to yesterday. I went to the literacy signing, but as you may have heard, it was crowded. Beyond crowded. I knew as soon as I went in that I wouldn`t be able to last long - and I didn`t. I could only make it as far as K as far as author rows go so any author I wanted to see with the last name of L and higher was out of luck. Of course, I`m not comfortable at author signings at the best of times. I`m not really an autograph collector unless the author is special for a reason (such as having a cover where the hero resembles Richard Armitage - Michelle Styles I`m talking to you *g*) And I was real excited to get the first book by Ellen Connell. And I picked up one more, a book by Eileen Dreyer I was curious to try. Then I reached my limit. *sigh*

I bought a pair of sandals at Walmart that have turned out to be surprisingly comfortable. That`s always a good thing when walking or standing a lot.

I took the train from Albany to Penn Station and much of the journey was along the Hudson River. As I was looking out the train window, I kept imagining the early settlers and the native people traveling up and down it; the colonial soldiers, this history and damn it all - I want more Colonial Romance!! Thank Goodness we have Pamela Clare, but gosh darn it, we need more authors to write in that genre and for scads and scads of readers to read them. Berkley is reprinting some of Pamela Clare`s historicals and at leas the first one has one heck of a gorgeous cover, so listen to what I say and BUY IT. I need you to help me so we can get more books in this genre. Not to mention she is one of m favourite authors.

I resolve when I get back to not be such a lackadasical blogger as I seem to have become recently.

So,

`til later

Recent Read

Wonderful by Jill Barnett

Why this one: I read all her books before she started writing more Women’s Fiction and loved them. When I saw this one at Kobo ebooks, I couldn’t resist either it or the price. I confess I didn’t remember it from before. It’s been years since I read this book.

Steam Level: While not a lot of steamy scenes, there is definite chemistry

Blurb: For six years Lady Clio has waited for Merrick and once the news arrives that he is returning Cleo makes for Camrose and awaits her husband determined to make up for the years she languished in the convent. Cleo leads the legendary knight a merry chase as she quests for the secrets of -heather ale- a magical beer first made by the Picts. Surrounded by the enchanted mists that circle Camrose Castle the two find themselves involved in an often hilarious battle of wills and passion

My Thoughts: This book is most aptly named as I indeed found it Wonderful. I love a good Medieval (and Western and Time Travel and SciFi/Futuristic and RS and so on and so on) and this makes for a great Medieval. Ms. Barnett writes a good feel for the time and the place and I had a most wonderful time picturing it. Of course the fact that I am totally hooked on Game of Thrones, the series on HBO Sunday nights at 9:00 helps both in picturing it and my desire to read Medievals.

I adore Clio. She’s been waiting longer than she should have for Merrick to show up and she’s pissed and she is going to make him pay for his tardiness. She’s a strong heroine and I got quite the kick out of her “wonderful” plans she comes up with. A lot of readers are fond of Julie Garwood Medievals. I was in the day too, but I can’t read her anymore as her heroines strike me as stupid twits – sorry to Garwood fans, but they do! Clio reminds me of a Garwood heroine but thankfully (really – I’m very thankful) without the twittiness that drives me bonkers about Garwood heroines. Clio does drive Merrick crazy, but in a way I found most amusing. There were more than a few times when I was reading this on my break when I broke out in a snort of laughter and quickly looked around to see if anyone was looking at me strangely. Clio is naïve and innocent, yet she isn’t stupid. She makes Merrick pay for his neglect and you have to love that in a heroine.

Merrrick is also quite a hoot of a character. He is a warrior without a clue as to anything other than battle and battle defenses. But he does have it bad for Clio, though being clueless, he doesn’t figure on letting her know. There is one hilarious scene where he tells her the king should be arriving the next day for their wedding. Not only did he not tell her the king would be there in 24 hours, he neglected to tell her they would be wed soon. When Clio rightly goes ballistic, he is genuinely puzzled as to that the big deal is. I mean the walls were fortified to his specifications, the moat had been filled with poisonous water; he didn’t see what the problem was. The whole scene was very funny and cute and indicative of how clueless Merrick is.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I see it’s gone up in price since I got my copy, but still, if you are a fan of Julie Garwood, Game of Thrones, clueless heroes, adorable not annoyingly adorable, one eyed cats, witches with puffs of dandelion hair, Medievals and oh so many other things, I think you will enjoy this one. Now I’m wanting to reread Wicked and Wild, the next two books in this series.

Grade: 4.50 out of 5

A long, long overdue post

Our operating system here at work crashed and that pretty much shuts us all down for working. Luckily, the internet is still up and running and I am so due for giving an update.

The son whom we shall call Ryan and the daughter in law to be whom we shall call Kara had their Stag and Doe last weekend. This is only the second one I’ve ever been to. Way back when I got married they didn’t have them and since my youngest is only getting around to getting married and there is no one on the horizon for my oldest son, they just aren’t something I go too. I buy tickets to some of the younger women at work, but I don’t actually go to them.

It was a fascinating thing to attend. Ryan, or so we are calling him, plays rugby or at least he did until he got sidelined due to concussions and a ruptured appendix. So many of his rugby buddies were there. He warned us in advance they were a strange group. And it turned out he was right when towards the end of the evening they all started taking off their shirts. And not long after that some took off their pants too!! Now you would think that would prove irresistible – a group of young men in their 20’s stripped down to almost the very basics. And it might have except for one thing. Most of them were pudgy!! Really, there were love handles and muffin tops abound. One would think rugby players would be in very fine shape, I mean they are athletes after all, playing a very rough sport. So I was very surprised indeed at the shape of them. I kept looking and looking and looking and looking and looking for some six packs, but I didn’t see one. Ryan keeps himself in very good shape and he may have qualified, but he kept his clothes all on. Though he did say at one time in his life he would have been one stripped down. But it seems marriage has matured him. Thank you to the one we will call Kara!

One game they had that stood out among the many was kind of funny though. The accountant son we are calling Ryan wore one of those barkless dog collars around his arm. For paying a certain amount of money, attendees were allowed to press the button and watch him jump. They tried it out before hand and he said it didn’t hurt, but it did make him react a bit. The fiancé we are calling Kara was in charge of the buzzer, so as to protect him from drunken almost naked pudgy rugby players – for the most part. I think they did pay an awful lot to ‘buzz’ him, but Kara had ultimate control. I tried it once. Goodness knows he needed one jolt from his Mama for all the stress he caused over the years, but mother love won out and while I did press the button, I didn’t or couldn’t press it hard enough to make him jump. But it was quite amusing to watch him jump and issue a small yelp at any given time throughout the evening.

I’ve really become fond of the fiancé we shall call Kara’s mother. I don’t know how to tell other people who they are though. I’ve been trying and trying to figure out what to say. My future daughter in laws parents just seems like such a mouthful.

Sorry for the delay. They managed to fix our system so I was forced to work again. Speaking of work, there are big changes in my work like – BIG changes. For almost a year now – minus the 3 months I was off due to the broken leg, I’ve been filling in for a maternity leave. The other person, the new mom we shall call Rebecca is due back July 15 and the plan was I was going to go back to my old position. But the one we are calling Rebecca came in a few weeks ago to visit and talk to HR about her return date and that kind of stuff. The Supportive Care department is located at the back end of the office so we were the last ones she stopped to see. She was telling us she had been asking everyone if anyone was interested in job sharing as besides her new baby, she has 3 more at home. She loves being a mom and what with having all those kidlets to look after, she only wanted to work part time. A job share was perfect as she would know what days she would be working every day. I had thought about doing job sharing a few years ago but while a number of nurses do it, no Client Service Assistants had (that’s my official title) and I never really did much except think it would be nice.

Well just a few days before Rebecca came in Ryan was explaining my financial situation. Apparently it’s pretty good. When Rebecca said she’d had no luck finding someone, everything just clicked in my mind and I said I would be very interested. I had a number of things to check into first such as benefits and can I still pay into the excellent pension plan etc, etc. But after talking things over with Ryan, it seems things will be fine. I said yes to Rebecca. This way I get to stay in Supportive Care, a department I love working in, I can fill in on occasion in the Access department, the one I came from and also enjoyed. As I slowly started telling fellow employees what Rebecca and I were doing, they started asking what I was going to do with my spare time. Again things clicked into place. Ever since Ron died, I’ve really had the urge, even dare I say it, the calling, to help others going through what we did. More specifically, I’ve wanted to be like an advocate for care givers. I could help them in whatever way they needed it, whether someone to talk to, do shopping for, navigate the system since I work right in the system who better, and any other ways I can be of assistance. But I’m older now and too tired to go out at night. Not to mention I don’t want to lose reading and reality TV time – I’m really having a riot tweeting while watching The Voice, SYTYCD, Game of Thrones etc. And I’m too selfish to want to do it on weekends. So while I had the very strong desire to do this, I did have the convenient time. But now with 2 extra days off one week and three the next, I will have time now. And I’m so excited about this new path opening up.

And I don’t know if I’ve actually come out and made it official, but I’m headed to the RWA conference again this year. Alas, Wendy and I won’t be rooming together this year as she is The SuperLibrarian and RWA has recognized this and she is the Librarian of the Year. But Nath and I are going to be roomies. We roomed together last year at RT so I’m really looking forward to seeing her again. As well I’m totally pumped about meeting up with other fellow bloggers. Wendy and I have both commented that even though we only see each other once a year, it’s almost like I just saw her a couple of weeks ago. We romance readers have such a strong bond. And I mean that for both readers and authors since I’m thinking pretty much every author was a reader first.

While I seem to be scarce here in blogland these days, I have been very active on Twitter. You can ‘specially find me there on Sunday nights blogging about Game of Thrones or on Tuesday nights where I’ve been watching/twittering on The Voice. That Adam Levine should win as hottest judge of a reality show! And then of course on Wednesday’s it’s So You Think You Can Dance. Since I got the IPad I’ve been spending more time playing and reading on it.

So, that’s what’s up with me. I keep writing reviews on the slow times at work and emailing them home, but it’s the next step of putting them on the blog where we seem to be having the log jam.

Anyway – that’s what’s going on in my world. I’m hoping I see some of you in a couple of weeks.

Recent Reads

A Lot of Recent Reads!!

Would you believe I’ve been working on this for weeks now? In down times at work, as well as pondering, I’ve also been doing these reviews. I hate downtimes at work though – I’d much rather be busy all day. I have noticed a disturbing thing though. I don’t think my partner likes down times either. She’s been first to the work bin where we pick up our work. Instead of giving me mine though, she’s been doing it. I know she’s doing it to help me, but as I hate not being busy, I wish she wouldn’t – heh, heh, heh. I’m flummoxed as to how to deal with this. Anyway, on the reviews. I may split them up as I’m getting quite a list now.

River Time by Rae Renzi

Why this one: I read a review for it somewhere and it sounded interesting. I can’t remember where, but whoever reviewed this one, step forward and take a bow.

Steam Level: It was a while ago that I read this one so I don’t remember how hot it was, but don’t let that matter

Blurb: Casey Lord knows that marital mistakes can spell disaster—her whole childhood was living proof. Her current boyfriend Reed is smart, steady, handsome, and from a socially prominent family. He should be the perfect mate, but she wants to be sure. She embarks on a river-rafting trip to do some serious soul-searching amidst the tranquility of nature. Instead, she is heaved into chaos when a flash flood sweeps her away and deposits her on a rocky beach in the wilderness.

Casey’s not the only one the river captures. Jack Raines is thrown from his river raft by the flood, and washes up on the same shore. Quiet and moody, he’s as different from Casey as night is from day, but he doesn't mind: he’s happy for an unscheduled break in his sharply tangled life—a life he’s determined to keep secret from Casey.

It should be a desperate struggle to survive until they’re rescued, but their sojourn in RiverTime—their term for the isolated time and space they now inhabit—takes on an altogether different feel.

But change is inevitable—it’s only a matter of time before they are rescued. They each face the prospect of return to the world in their own way: Casey reasons about what is real and what is fantasy, while Jack pretends the outside world doesn’t exist.

When their rescuers arrive, neither is prepared for what awaits them—deceit, betrayal, and danger

My Thoughts: I have been so delighted with the books I’ve ordered from Carina Press and this is yet another one I really enjoyed. For the first half of the book, there was almost a fairytale feel to the book. Casey is on a white water rafting trip along the Grand Canyon when a flash flood washes her downstream all alone. She is just getting her bearings when she discovers a man who appears to have also suffered the same fate. She rescues him and it’s Casey and Jack versus nature and what do they need to do to survive. Jack comes across as a bit of an odd duck, blowing hot and cold. We know he has a secret he’s keeping from Casey but we don’t know it for a while. It’s enough to say that he doesn’t seem to want to get too involved with Casey but can’t seem to help himself. Casey, for her part, is a good character. She’s a scientist by nature who is almost engaged to someone, but falls and falls hard for Jack.

Then we have the second part of the book about their lives once they are found and ‘rescued’ from their own little paradise. Casey is devastated when Jack’s secret comes out and I can’t say as I blame her. It was a rough one. She does make a very bad, very stupid choice though, in my opinion, as a result of Jack’s lack of forthrightness. It borders on the TSTL decision. But despite this slip, I really enjoyed this one and another kudos to Carina Press for the quality of their line

Grade: 4 out of 5

~*~*~*~*~*~

His Wife for One Night by Molly O’Keefe

Why this one: I’ve had such great luck

with this line

Steam Level: M’eh

Blurb: Jack McKibbon knows the score when he offers to marry his best friend

Mia Alatore. He's fixing a bad situation for her that's all; they aren't making a real life together. She wants to stay on the ranch and he's got his studies and inventions elsewhere. Still, this arrangement is a good deal for both of them.

Until that one night…

A sexy interlude with Mia makes Jack rethink their relati

onship and their future. But all his plans grind to a halt when she asks for a divorce. Once upon a time, Jack might have agreed. But now that he knows the chemistry they share, he's not giving up a second chance to be with his wife.

My Thoughts: Well, all good things have to come to an end and my run of very enjoyable books in the Super Romance did with this book. I finished it and that’s good. I do have many

a book that ends up as DNF’s. The bad thing is I really didn’t care for the heroine in this book. And the hero wasn’t much to write home about either. I found them both, but Mia in particular, stubborn and not in a good way, way too much on the ‘keeping things to themselves’ side and just not that interesting of characters.

Mia had loved Jack for years; she married him pretty much for that reason, but never once did she consider telling him. She was one of those ‘well if he doesn’t know, I’m not going to tell him’ kind of people. It got tired real fast. And then, if that wasn’t bad enough after how many years of being married and one explosive night of lurve after which she disappeared, sometime later and after spending time with Mia, Jack decides he loves her. But does he tell her? That would be a no. The whole book just seemed one frustration after another. I’ve read Molly O’Keefe before and liked her book. But sadly, this one just didn’t do it for me.

Grade: 2.50 out of 5

~*~*~*~*

Primal Bonds by Jennifer Ashley

Why this one: I’m a fan of this author

Steam Level: She be a hot one

Blurb: When a female Shifter comes to town seeking refuge, Feline Shifter Sean Morrissey claims the new arrival and finds a beautiful woman who looks him straight in the eye without fear, stirring the mating frenzy within him.

To relocate to a new Shiftertown, half-Fae, half-Shifter Andrea Gray must accept a new mate. But Andrea's intense attraction to Sean is something she never expected-a perilous complication for a woman with a troubled past.

My Thoughts: As I said, I’m a fan of Jennifer Ashley’s work but I must confess, I like her historicals better. I adored, just adored The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie and really enjoyed some of her other historicals; The Pirate Next Door, Perils of the Heart, a real oldie and Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage. I tried one of her Immortals book and couldn’t really get into the one I tried but I do have the rest in the TBR pile. And I did quite like the first in her Shifter’s series, Pride Mates. As well, I’m currently reading (and quite blushing while doing so) the first book in her Shaleen series written as Allyson James.

And after finishing this one, I still prefer her historical, but I did enjoy this one too. The premise is there is a sub culture of Shifters, wolves, cats, bears etc. For generations they lived secretly, unknown to humans. But in the past generation or so, they let themselves be known and join the general populace though they are treated as second class citizens; forced to wear collars that control their animal part and prohibited from the more modern of conveniences. This book, the second in the series, focuses on Sean Morrisey, the brother of the hero of her first book in this series. Sean is quite a laid back yet intense kind of dude/feline shapeshifter. He’s the one who has to yield the final death blow to all the Shifters of his territory so that’s no fun. But other than that and his intense attraction for Andrea he’s fairly mellow. The book does lose ground towards the end when the author introduces Andrea’s Fae father and some centuries long battle between opposing Fae factions. For me, she was throwing too much into the story line. I had the same issue with the one Immortal book I tried. I’m not a fan of multiple storylines or multiple conflicts. I’m of the K.I.S.S. way of storytelling. But up until then, while not the best Ashley book I’ve read, it was a fun read.

Grade: 3.75 out of 5

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I’m so bloody far behind I don’t know if I’ll ever catch up but here goes another one. I’m totally out of order now *sigh*

Devil’s Own by Veronica Wolff

Why this one: I read an earlier book by her and quite liked it so I loaded more on my ereader while trying out coupon deals. When this one got a good grade at AAR, I figured I’d move it up on the pile.

Steam Level: There aren’t many love scenes, but I was very satisfied with the level of steam anyway.

Blurb: Fifteen years after he was kidnapped and sold into slavery, Aidan returns to Scotland to find the home he knew long gone. His mother, a proper education, a chance at love—gone. All he has now are dreams of vengeance…

Only one woman could restore his tormented heart.

Aidan MacAlpin appreciates the hospitality of his brothers and sisters, but after surviving hell on earth, they feel more like strangers than kin. They could never understand his one ambition: To exact bloody revenge on the bastard who enslaved him all those years ago…

Elspeth Farquharson had already resigned herself to the life of a spinster when she’s hired to tutor dark, brooding Aidan—a real-life hero more enticing than any from her adventure books. If only she could convince this tragic rogue that she’s not the nervous, stuttering bookworm she appears to be. But when Aidan shows her a clue to his tortured past, she’ll be thrust into a dangerous game of passion and deception that will awaken the sexy heroine within—if it doesn’t kill her first…

My Thoughts: I LOVED this book. It’s exactly the kind I love, tortured hero, delightful heroine, no long separations, not stupid Big M’s. It has everything going for it. This is the second book of a series and if you are anal, you might want to read the first book well first, since both books start off the same, two twin boys and what happens when one is kidnapped. I have the first book and thought I’d read it first, but the storyline of this one appealed to me more. Now I’m very glad that I do have the first book on hand

First off to our heroine. I just adored Elspeth, loved her, loved her, loved her. I could so relate to her since she lived her life in the clouds – something that more than one member of my family has accused me of doing. Despite that though, she is very practical. The only child of an older couple, her father is pretty much a tool and depends on Elspeth for just about everything from taking care of the sheep he has decided to raise to taking care of the home to doing the accounting. She has it all. And while part of her resents the situation, she does love her father. She’s not very attractive and she is very shy. She is bowled over when she first meets Aiden and pretty much makes a fool out of herself.

But Aidan is equally delightful though in a tortured kind of way. I love that while puzzled by Elspeth and her dreaming kind of ways, he is accepting of her. The more he gets to know her, the more he comes to care for him and the more beautiful she becomes to him. I love the way he treats her. He considers her odd but in a good way. As someone who has been known to be odd on occasion myself, I loved that this was a plus in his book. Although a slave for most of his life, he has had experience with women, though it was with a jaded kind of bored plantation wife who wanted ‘experience’ with the handsome Scottish slave so his view of women in general is kind of cynical. So Elspeth is a revelation to him.

They first meet when his sister and Elspeth’s best friend Ariana recommends to Aidan that Elspeth can teach him to read. Since he was stolen when he was only 10, his reading skills were negligible and he needed them for his revenge against the man who stole him away. Elspeth sees Aidan and right away starts thinking sexy pirate hero – just what any red blooded heroine would do. And on his side, Aidan is confused by Elspeth and doesn’t think he is good enough for her, considering where he was and what he came from.

This really is a tender story and now I’ll be reading the first one, Devil’s Highlander so I can get me some or Aidan.

Grade: 4.75 out of 5

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Wicked Seduction by Jade Lee

Why this one: I’ve met Jade Lee on one or two of my convention/conference trips and I like her. Although I have a few of her books, I’d yet to read one so I decided to start with this one.

Steam Level: since I’ve read a few books since then, I can’t really remember. But I do know that I was pleased.

Blurb: A MAN INTENT ON JUSTICE...

After seven years of battling for survival on a pirate ship, Kit Frazier returns to England to right a wrong and make peace with what he lost. But once in London, he finds himself unexpectedly at sea, caught in his swirling attraction to the beguiling and elusive Maddy.

A WOMAN DETERMINED TO BE FREE...

Maddy will do anything to escape the desperate circumstances of her life, and helping her cousin Rose catch the man of her dreams seems an easy enough task--until Maddy meets the handsome pirate captain Kit. The dashing rogue has only two purposes: to rescue the boy in his care and to seduce Maddy into his bed.

A LOVE WITHOUT END

With each heated encounter, Kit pulls Maddy off her stated course. But when treachery threatens them all, she will have to choose between a respectable future and wicked, wonderful seduction.

My Thoughts: There is good news and bad news. The good news is I have some of her back list. The bad news is I don’t have that many and as she wrote for Dorchester and as most of us know by now, Dorchester has proven to be Very Shady. I don’t know how to go about getting her back list at the moment since I’ve heard that the authors aren’t seeing the profits anymore.

You probably have gathered by the opening paragraph that I enjoyed this one. And I did! I really did. Kit made for a most delicious pirate captain. Not one nearly as…..well… how would one describe Captain Jack Sparrow??? Flighty perhaps. But anyway Kit is certainly not flighty. He’s more of a man’s man kind of pirate captain. He is also protective of his charge, a young lad he rescued and is returning to his home.

Maddy is also a good heroine whom I quite enjoyed. She was calm and collected at some very trying moments. Her cousin was a real twit, yet Maddy seemed to handle her in just the right way. The uncle was a bit over the top evil, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this book. It’s part of a series, but stands up very well on its own.

I seem to have cut way back on my reading of historical, but I’m glad I read this one and I plan on reading the rest in the series – as well as all of the other books I have by her

Grade: 4.25 out of 5