A meme experiment.

Megan tagged me with the Thinking Blogger Award. Thanks, Megan! This got me thinking (appropriate, eh?), where do memes like this start? Who does it? And then I decided I wanted to start one myself and see what happened. So I can harass my blogging buddies. :D

The Little-Known Favorites Meme
Rules: List and describe three of your favorite books that other people might not be familiar with. Then tag five people. See, easy!

Books I love that you might not have heard of:

The Thin Woman, by Dorothy Cannell - The funniest mystery ever, imo. British humor. Ellie Simons doesn't want to show up at a family reunion alone, so she hires Bentley T. Haskell from an escort agency. Ellie's eccentric uncle takes a liking to Ben, and when the uncle dies suddenly a couple months later, Ellie finds out that the uncle has left everything to her and Ben. With the stipulation that they live together at his house, Merlin Court, for a year. She must lose 4 stone (she's overweight) and he must actually finish writing a book (he's a struggling writer).

I have loved this book so hard the binding has come loose and the text block has fallen into three pieces. I need to buy a new copy.

Desiree, Annemarie Selinko - Fabulous historical fiction! Desiree Clary is the youngest daughter of a French silk merchant. Her sister Julie becomes engaged to a young man named Joseph Bonaparte. Desiree meets Joseph's charismatic brother Napoleon and promptly falls in love with him. Napoleon is a lowly general currently much out of favor in the military. He has great ambition though, which eventually leads him to jilt poor Desiree in his haste to move up the political and social ladder. But don't worry, Desiree meets someone else who's much better. ;)

This book is like a history lesson, only interesting and fun. LOL. It taught me who all of Napoleon's siblings were and which conquered countries he made them regents of. But really, it is a fascinating look at the rise and fall of Napoleon. It was also made into a movie with Marlon Brando, but I've never been able to find a copy.

Celia Garth, Gwen Bristow - More historical fiction. Celia is a young lady living in Charleston during the American Revolution. Once Charleston falls to the British, she helps the patriot cause by becoming part of a spy network---listening for gossip among the occupying forces, and then passing it along to the American side. And there's a wonderful love story. I've tried other Bristows and not been impressed, but this is an old favorite. Look at that funny cover!

I tag:
Megan (HA! Not too happy you tagged me now, are you? Mwahaha!)
JMC
Rosario
Cindy S.
Dance Chica

Now I can be a real Kelley Armstrong fangirl!

Look what came in the mail today! My prize pack from Kelley Armstrong! Squee! I won the contest she did last week at Sybil's. So to make you all jealous, here's all the stuff I got: little mini Exit Strategy backpack (it's so cool!), Band-Aid dispenser (because women of the Otherworld can get into scrapes), keychain light (because I can't do Paige's light ball spell), pen and post-its, and bunches of bookmarks.

And most importantly, a signed copy of No Humans Involved. I already had a copy, but not signed! Signed to me! Okay, I'm a little too excited about this. Someone should take away my exclamation point key. ;)



Okay, since Kelley was so nice as to send me all this cool stuff, I will say, once again, that everyone should go out and buy No Humans Involved because it's really good (see review below). And I would have recommended it even without the freebies. :D

No Humans Involved, Kelley Armstrong

Title: No Humans Involved
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: 2007, Bantam Spectra
Category: Paranormal Suspense
Rating: 8.5/10

This is Kelley Armstrong’s latest in her Otherworld series. About Jaime, a necromancer--which sounds icky, but is in fact not really. Well, only a little.

Each book in the series is told in 1st person by some sort of paranormal woman. We’ve had Elena, a werewolf; Paige, a witch; and Eve, a dead witch. Jaime has been floating on the edges of the series for quite a while, helping out by contacting the spirits of the dead. She’s not what you’d think a necromancer would be: not gloomy or depressed, but vibrant and full of fun, a bit of a good-time girl. She’s made a career out of doing live shows in which she contacts the dead—usually just making up what people want to hear, with occasional real spirit communication thrown in for authenticity. Now she’s been offered a TV show, which has long been a dream for her, but in order to make the show a reality she’s given a sort of trial run—she and two other spiritualists are asked to contact the spirit of Marilyn Monroe. But once she arrives at the set, Jaime is harassed by a bunch of spirits who appear to be children. Jeremy, the Alpha of the werewolf pack (who’s been an interesting character in the series from the start), flies out to stay with Jaime and help investigate who or what could be killing the children.

This was an absolutely fabulous addition to the series! I was a bit disappointed by the last book—it was good, but rather forgettable. I wasn’t expecting too much from Jaime; she’s a character I’ve not been particularly enamored of, and she really doesn’t have any “cool” powers. That’s actually something she’s dealing with in the book—she wants to be a valuable member of the interracial council, but she most often ends up having to be rescued by someone. She doesn’t have superhuman strength or speed, or magical spells. She has to rely on her wits to see her through and she really does show that she’s a force to be reckoned with! I thought it was great. Anyway, we see so much more of her character in this book--her thoughtfulness, her giving nature--that I love her now! :)

And I’ve always loved Jeremy. He’s the quiet, responsible, strong leader who’s been interested in Jaime for a while (and she’s had a huge crush on him), but he's always put his love life way down on his list of priorities. I liked seeing their very mature relationship grow and develop. And the balcony scene! Hmmm.

As always, there are a couple scenes where the violence is a bit much for me. The body count is a little high for my taste; the violence is always justified by the fact that the world can’t be let in on the secret existence of paranormal beings, which I understand, but I can’t really get behind it as a reason to summarily execute the bad guys. But whatever.

The next book is Personal Demon, which will be narrated by a half-demon, Hope. Her powers are very interesting and her relationship with Karl has all kinds of good possibilities. Now I only need to wait until Spring '08. :( I just bought Dates from Hell, an anthology containing a short story about Hope. There are also a lot of the online stories I haven't read.

Question for people who read the series: In NHI, there were all those mentions of what Eve does in the afterlife. Is that explained in Haunted? Because I have to admit I skipped that book because I just couldn’t get into the idea of a dead main character. LOL. But from NHI, Eve's life sounded really interesting. So someone tell me if I should go back and read it.

Meme - 8 things about me, me, me!

Haven’t I done this meme before? Oh well, Kristie says I must, so I will. ;)

8 random/odd things about me:

1. I like to have a fresh pillowcase every night. A friend once told me this was the secret to gorgeous skin. Sadly, this appears not to be the case for me, but I still hope.

2. I like saving money. I have a little nest egg (it’s a very little egg; I’m sure it would seem ludicrously small to most people), and when I look at my bank statement I get a thrill from the interest payments. This is one of the things about me that drives Twin up the wall (she’s just jealous). I’m not cheap—if you went out to dinner with me I’d never stick you with the bill or anything, and I always totally over-tip—but I am thrifty.

3. I don’t like to drink milk out of plastic cups. Glass only, please. I don't know why.

4. I get excited when someone spells the word “trouper” correctly.

5. I currently owe the Brooklyn Public Library $19.75. F***!! Because of #2, this bothers me a lot. I just haven’t gotten to the library recently and forgot I had a bunch of books out. ARRRGGGHHH!

6. In an effort to be earth-friendly, Twin and I have stopped buying paper towels. We have pretty fabric napkins and lots of dish towels.

7. When I was walking home through the park tonight, I had an intense desire to be eight years old again.

8. I love thunderstorms and very small hurricanes. And getting caught in rain showers on summer days.

I'm tagging everyone who hasn't done this yet. You know who you are.

Title: Not Quite a Lady
Author: Loretta Chase
Published: 2007, Avon
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7.5/10

The last Carsington brother! How sad. ;)

Lord Lithby is worried because his daughter, Charlotte, is nearing 30 with no signs of wanting to get married. But Charlotte’s reasons for not wedding are not the usual ones; she is beautiful and intelligent, well dowered and agreeable. Unlike most young ladies who spend the majority of their time trying to get married, Charlotte spends most of her time trying not to get married. It turns out that Charlotte has a skeleton in the closet: she was betrayed by a Vile Seducer at the tender age of 16, and had a child who she had to give up to save her reputation. She fears that any husband she had would make an unpleasant discovery on their wedding night. The problem is that she wants to be a dutiful daughter, and she even wants a family of her own, but she's afraid of hurting her father (who thinks she’s the perfect daughter) or her stepmother (who helped her hide the truth those many years ago). The situation is getting desperate when Darius Carsington comes to stay at a neighboring estate, and when Charlotte meets him, she has trouble staying as cool and unentangled as she has always been able to be in the past.

This book was just charming. Chase does honest emotion so well—never overwrought, but highly affecting all the same. I even teared up there at the end, and I hardly ever cry while reading books. Charlotte was lovely. Chase’s heroines are always intelligent, and Charlotte has a sweetness that is rare for Chase (at least of those books of hers I’ve read).

The whole scorned lover side plot felt a bit flat, but I didn’t really care. In fact, there was really little plot at all, wasn't there? LOL. Lots of little conflicts to the relationship, and they were all sorted out fairly easily. But the characters' problems were all so believable that they felt all the more real and engaging to me. That, along with the humor and great dialogue, really made the book for me.

One technical thing that bothered me was the time stamps in the book (I'm putting blog lingo onto fiction now--heehee). "Sunday night 23 June" "later that evening" I didn't see the point of them and it was distracting by making me think that it was somehow necessary to my understanding of the plot to know exactly how many hours/days have passed since the previous action. I think they should only be used for big time jumps or otherwise it seems like the author was too lazy to put those time clues in the text. Anyway, a tiny annoyance, but it just seemed odd to me.

Introducing the Book

OMG, LOL! Go here and watch.

I act that way with e-books. ;)

Thanks to Marmee and Debbie for the link.

Title: Demon Angel
Author: Meljean Brook
Published: 2007, Berkley
Category: Paranormal Romance
Rating: 8/10

I passed on this book back at the beginning of the year when everyone was talking about it because I’m so rarely a fan of paranormals. (I think I'd just read a particularly bad one and was still feeling the pain. LOL) Then a couple months ago, I got the chance to read Demon Moon (the next in this series, which is due out in June) and approached the book rather unenthusiastically. So I was completely blown away when I liked DM. Really liked it. And the hero is a vampire, which normally totally squicks me out. I had to get Demon Angel immediately because I knew I liked the author’s style and the hero in this one? An angel (-like person)! Sweet. I love good guys!

For all that this is a great big meaty book, the basic plot is fairly simple. Hugh is a young medieval knight, full of chivalrous intentions, who (through complicated circumstances I won’t go into here) becomes a Guardian. Guardians are men and women who are given the abilities of an angel; they can fly, they have super strength, they’re immortal, and each has a particular ability (Hugh’s is he can make people tell the truth). Their job is to combat demonic forces on earth and help mortals. But Hugh has a problem: he’s a bit in love with Lilith, who happens to be a demon. Okay, not a bit in love, he’s really in love with her. But Lilith is bound to serve a demonic lord. Obviously this leads to major star-crossed lovers issues. The majority of the plot takes place in present-day San Francisco, when both Hugh and Lilith have “fallen”--become mortal again--but are still separated by Lilith’s links to Below (hell, basically).

Did I say the plot was simple? What was I thinking? LOL.

The book is big (over 400 pages) and the world-building is complex but completely original and really interesting. The word I’ve come up with that I think best describes the writing is vivid. I got these very real images of the world and the characters. And those characters are great—-Lilith is a larger-than-life, powerful woman whose vulnerabilities are made all the more endearing by her (vast) age and experience. And Hugh. *sigh* He is one of my beloved good guys, but he never crossed the line into goody-goody--though Lilith actually teases him about his martyr complex.

Did everyone see the brain icon? Yes, a romance book that gets a brain! DON’T BE SCARED OFF BY THIS! I don’t mean that it’s hard to read, because it’s not. But throughout the book, these little hints and clues are dropped, and you really have to be on your toes to follow everything. Maybe it’s a sad commentary on my reading habits that I often finish a book and feel like I got every little bit out of it that there was to be gotten. With this one I feel like I could read it many more times and catch nuances, character traits, jokes that I missed completely the first time. I finished and kind of munched on it in my brain for quite a while. ;)

I will say that my brain power was not quite up to the ending. SPOILER: At the end, when Hugh’s all ready to sacrifice himself, and Lilith decides, Nuh-uh, I can fix this! I was thinking, ROCK ON, LILITH, KICK SOME ASS!! And then she went off and did . . . something. Fingers . . . warring demon lords . . . bargains . . . wagers . . . Whoa nelly! Huh? I had to go back and read the last couple chapters several times before I really felt like I understood what was going on. So I was little disappointed, because the climax of the novel could have been so much more powerful had it been clearer.

I know that some people complained about the pacing of this book--that it dragged in places. I can see their point and I think that this was done much better in Demon Moon. But these flaws are little in comparison to how much I enjoyed the book.

So I’m looking forward to Demon Night, the third in the series. The hero is another Guardian (woo hoo!), Drifter.

Title: What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7?
Author: Schoen, Spartz, Gordon, Stull & Lawrence
Published: 2006, Ulysses Press
Category: Nonfiction

The Harry Potter fever is upon me. I'm one of those people who go wait in line on the night the books are released. I'm already planning my July around #7's release. (Yes, that's a little dorky but I don't care because I love Harry.) I can't wait!

I saw this book on jmc's blog and I made some comment about wanting to read it, so she sent me hers! Woot! Cuz I love some speculatin'. I read Mugglenet.com occasionally and am always impressed by the amount of info there, as well as the quality of the editorials. I think it's the biggest Harry Potter fansite and the people who run it certainly know more about Harry Potter than anyone else--both what has happened in all the books and every single word J.K. Rowling has ever said about them.

So what do they think happens? Here are the most important theories (and what I think about them):

***Obviously huge spoilers here for the first six books. If you haven't read them--what the hell are you waiting for??!! :)

Is Dumbledore really dead?
Mugglenet says: Long story short--he's dead. Rowling herself has said, "Definitely dead."

I say: Agree. It would be completely corny to go back on something like that. It hurts, but I've accepted it.

Luuuurve
Mugglenet says: Ron + Hemione. Harry + Ginny. This is fairly obvious from HBP and has been confirmed by Rowling.

I say: Woohoo! Yes! I love Ginny. Harry might have manfully put her aside at the end of HBP to keep her safe, but Ginny's not going to stand for that. I think she's going to play a huge part in helping Harry destroy Voldemort.

Who is R.A.B and what did he do with the missing locket?
Mugglenet says: It's Regulus Black (brother of Sirius). His name is the only one that fits, and Rowling wouldn't have dropped that hint if we didn't already know the character, however briefly. He was a known DeathEater, though we know little else about him. He had a ready sidekick in Kreacher, who would have been the perfect person to go with him to get the locket (we know from Voldemort and Harry's adventure that two people were needed). If the locket that Harry and the rest find when cleaning out Grimmauld Place (in OotP) really is the horcrux locket, Regulus being R.A.B. explains why it would be there.

I say: Agree. This makes perfect sense. Regulus is almost surely dead, but Kreacher is still around to provide some answers.

Voldemort's Horcruxes
Mugglenet: We know from the books that Voldemort planned on making six horcruxes so that his soul would be split into seven, the perfect magical number. Two are accounted for and already destroyed: Tom Riddle's diary and Slytherin's ring. Two others are certainly the locket stolen by R.A.B. and Hufflepuff's golden cup. Dumbledore thinks the 5th is Nagini, and who are we to argue with that? The 6th is probably an object belonging to Ravenclaw.

Mugglenet thinks that Harry Potter himself is a 7th horcrux. Voldemort meant to create another Horcrux the night he went to kill Harry. When the spell backfired and all that magic flew around, the spell Voldemort had prepared went off and he wasn't even aware of it. They argue that this is the reason that some of Voldemort's power was transferred to Harry--part of his soul now rests in Harry. It also explains why they are sometimes able to see what the other is thinking and why Voldemort seems to have ordered his henchmen not to kill Harry at the end of HBP.

I say: The "Harry is a horcrux" theory is a good one--one I hadn't thought of--but I'm not buying it. I could be wrong, but we've seen how Voldemort's evil is the opposite of Harry's goodness. I don't think that part of Voldemort could be in Harry without anyone (Harry himself or at least Dumbledore) realizing it.

Will Hogwarts close?
Mugglenet says: No, but Harry probably won't spend much time there in book 7.

I say: The school year has formed the structure each book, and the seven years of education has formed the structure of the entire series. I think Harry's going back to Hogwarts. He may have to travel around a lot to find Horcruxes and whatnot, but he'll still spend a lot of time there and finish his education. Otherwise, what's he going to do? Get the wizarding equivalent of the GED? No way.

Snape--good or bad?
Mugglenet says: He's good. They think he was carrying a torch for Lily Potter and his knowledge that he was the cause of her death (by telling Voldemort of the prophesy) was what made him turn over to the good side. Snape took an Unbreakable Vow to "carry out the deed [kill Dumbledore] that the Dark Lord has ordered Draco to perform." They think that Dumbledore and Snape had an agreement that he should kill him if it became necessary. He was old; he'd trained Harry as best he could and now it was up to the rest of them.

I say: Eh, I don't know! I was firmly in the "Snape is eeeee-vil" camp, but they make a good argument. Rowling has said that we find out more about Lily in book 7, and what else could it be? But on the other hand, HE KILLED DUMBLEDORE. People argue that he had to do it in order to not be found out as a spy, but I say what's the point of him still being a spy if he's just killed Dumbledore? Dumbledore was the only person who trusted Snape. Snape could come back to the Order of the Phoenix and give them step-by-step, easy instructions of how to destroy Voldemort and they wouldn't believe him. They'd probably kill him.

Which characters aren't going to make it out alive?
We know Rowling's not afraid to kill important characters. I was shocked when Dumbledore was killed. At first I thought, NO WAY! Then I cried. Rowling has said there will be deaths in 7---they are at war. She also said in an interview that in writing book 7, "One character got a reprieve, but I have to say two die that I didn't intend to die."
Mugglenet says: Characters most likely to get the ax--Voldemort (obviously), Bellatrix, Pettigrew, Draco, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Hagrid, Snape, and probably Lupin.

I say: Noooo, not Lupin! I love Lupin, and he's just found Tonks. He is doing a dangerous job and he leads a rather cursed existence anyway, but I really hope he makes it out alive. I also think that Draco will survive (see below). I wish all the Weasleys would survive, but that's probably too much to hope for. And I've never been a big fan of Hagrid, so I won't be upset if he dies. And as they say, his role in the books has been getting smaller with each one.

The Ultimate Showdown
Mugglenet says: Snape will sacrifice himself to help Harry kill Voldemort.

I say: I still think Snape is bad. (Maybe? AHH! I don't know.) I think that Draco will have a change of heart and end up helping Harry. (Mugglenet surmises that he will run back to the Death Eaters and be killed.) There was all that talk in GoF of the four houses working together--Harry may have to be the one to kill Voldemort, but I think there is going to be an upsurge of help from all the rest of the students to help him get to that point. Maybe I am being overly optimistic, but I hope that's the way it happens. People working together and being able to change and all that--a good message to end the series with.



Okay, this turned really long. Sorry. I can get a little carried away. Because I loves the Harry Potter soooo much. I'm going to start rereading the series now so that I finish HBP right before #7 comes out. In only 76 days!!

Not at all about books.

EDITED TO ADD THE ANSWERS. :)

I've had zero time for reading and reviewing, so here are MOVIE QUOTES! Some of my favorites:

1. "When people say they are happy my ass begins to twitch."
Luc (Kevin Kline) in French Kiss

2. "Would I weep like a bathtub overflowing? Carry on as if my home were in a tree? Would I run off and never tell me where I'm going?! Why can't a woman--be like me?!"
Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) in My Fair Lady

3. "Are you trying to make me look stupid in front of the other guests?"
"You don't need any help from me, sir."
"That's right!"
Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull, I think) and Wordsworth (Tim Curry) in Clue

4. "I shall name him Squishy and he shall be mine. He shall be my squishy."
Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) in Finding Nemo

5. [In jail] "Anyway, David, when they find out who we are, they'll let us out."
"When they find out who you are, they'll pad the cell."
Susan Vance (Katherine Hepburn) and David Huxley (Cary Grant) in Bringing Up Baby

6. "This is my family. It's little and broken. But, still good. Yeah, still good."
Stitch in Lilo and Stitch

7. "Retrench?!"
Elizabeth Elliot in Persuasion (JMC, I knew you'd get this one as a fellow Persuasion freak.)

8. "It's none of my nevermind. I'm not saying a word, not one single word."
Verbena in The Parent Trap (The old Haley Mills version, of course.)

9. "Because I can't bring this ship into Tortooga all by me onesy, savvy?"
Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) Pirates of the Caribbean #1
"Captain Jack Sparrow, if you please." "I don't see your ship, Captain." "I'm in the market, as it were."

10. "I want the chipper chicken."
The dad (Steve Martin) in Father of the Bride (telling Hank that he wants the "chipper" chicken rather than the "chic" seafood)

11. "Doggone it, C.K. Dexter Haven, either I'm gonna sock you or you're gonna sock me."
"Shall we toss a coin?"
Macaulay Connor (Jimmy Stewart) and C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) in The Philadelphia Story

Can anyone name the movies any are from?
Twin--you can't play, because I know you know them all.

Go over to Meljean's!

Author Meljean Brook asked to interview me about the proofreading process! Cool! She's posted it on her site, so if you're interested head on over and take a peek. Learn how my slightly psychotic perfectionism is put to good use, instead of just turning me insane. :)

And you should all put Demon Moon on your to-buy list. It's out in June and is really excellent. It's a paranormal, too, and you know I hardly ever like paranormals. An author who can make me adore a vampire hero (even with my no vampires rule) is one to watch.

Hey, she's written a lotta other stuff too!

My copy of Not Quite a Lady came in the mail today. (Yippee!) I was fondling it flipping through it and noticed, first, the ugly stepback. Ugh--that looks painful. Then I noticed the ad card on page ii, where it lists titles by Loretta Chase:

Not Quite a Lady
The Last Hellion
Lord of Scoundrels

And that’s it. HELLO?! She’s written way more books than that---only they weren’t published by Avon. I know that publishers do this, but every time I see it I just think it’s so petty. Oh, no, can’t advertise for another publisher. No matter that they are doing their author no favors by pretending that half their backlist (even books that are still very much in print) doesn’t exist. Especially in this case, as this book is the last in a series, and none of the others are mentioned anywhere. If I were Loretta Chase, I would be upset about it.

At least Avon is reissuing The Last Hellion and Lord of Scoundrels. Though I like my old copy of LoS. It's Patrick Swayze rolling around in a bed of fluorescent flowers and purple foil--what's not to like?

Title: The Raven Prince
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
Published: 2006, Warner
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7/10

I am of about six different minds about this book. It's been getting so much hype (lots of awards too) that I think my high expectations are making me overcritical. Please note the double lips icon--yah, it's smokin'. I was surprised by the explicitness of the sex; I expect it in paranormals and a lot of contemps, but this seemed unusually risque for a mainstream historical. It's the trend in all subgenres of romance, I guess.

Young widow Anna Wren is strapped for cash, so she takes a job as secretary to Edward de Raaf, the Earl of Swartingham. The earl has trouble keeping secretaries because he has a right nasty temper, but Anna holds out better than he expects. He begins to feel attracted to her but resists because she's a respectable lady and he's engaged. But the lust becomes too much and he decides a little trip to London to scratch his itch is in order. Anna has been feeling the attraction herself and is mad that Edward is going to go off and sate his passion for her on another woman. So she decides to go to the bawdy house in disguise and meet him herself.

This book sat in my TBR for months, despite all the glowing reviews, because this situation just seemed ... tawdry to me. You may all think I am a naive little prude, but the idea of Anna disguising herself and to all intents and purposes becoming a prostitute (even if only for one man) did not spell romance to me. I thought it was going to bother me, and it did. What Anna should have done was tackle Edward before he left and seduced him straight out. She gets all righteous about the fact that men are allowed to have sex outside of marriage and no one cares, so why shouldn't she; but then she goes and does this underhanded, manipulative thing to Edward. It just pissed me off. I was partially mollified by the fact that both the characters are ashamed of the episode, and much of the later action did make me forgive Anna.

There is a lot I loved about the book. The writing is fresh and sparkly; the action scenes were really funny. The characters are not your typical romance stereotypes--she's plain and he's pox-scarred. Both the characters (not just the hero) take positive action toward the HEA, always a good thing. I also loved the raven story that was told in epigraphs at the chapter openers. I often skip over that sort of thing, but the fairy tale was really beautifully told. I didn't see exactly how it was connected to the story, but whatever.

So I enjoyed it, but it wasn't one of those books that I finish and clutch to my chest in happiness. I've been trying to figure out why and the only thing I can come up with is that I just didn't feel terribly invested in the characters.

But I will probably buy the sequel, The Leopard Prince. Maybe its h/h will get me like this set didn't. :)

I've been shopping again...

Since Kelley Armstrong made the jump to hardcover, I was going to get this from the library and wait to buy it in mass market. But then I noticed that Amazon is selling it for $13.60. Now with free shipping this is a good deal. So I cracked and ordered. Plus Kelley Armstrong will send you a goodie bag if you send her your receipt, which is way decent of her. (Thanks to Nath and Twisted Kingdom for the tip!)

I had to get the new Loretta Chase, obviously.

I had to make my order over $25 to get the free shipping, so I bought Beguilement. I read a library copy in hardcover and really loved it, so I've had my eye on the mass market, which was just released.

And I noticed while roaming Amazon that the cover for Legacy has been posted. Look! It's Dag. Mmmm. Can't wait.

Title: Charlie All Night
Author: Jennifer Crusie
Published: 1996, Mira
Category: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 7/10

I am a self-proclaimed Jennifer Crusie fangirl. I thought that I'd read all the books that she has in print, but then I saw this one on someone's blog (can't remember who) and I was like OMG, A CRUSIE I HAVEN'T READ?!!! I don't know how I missed it. Woo hoo!

Radio producer Allie McGuffey is the power behind the station's current star, Mark, who also happens to be Allie's ex-boyfriend. Mark has moved on to another woman and has decided that Allie shouldn't be his producer any more than she should be his girlfriend. So Allie gets the new talent: Charlie Tenniel. Charlie is only in town as a favor to his father, and has no real ambition to make his show a success. Allie has other ideas. In the meantime, Allie decides that a fling with Charlie will help cure her of Mark, only the one-night stand turns into many nights... and maybe more.

I love Crusie's humor--her books always make me laugh my ass off. Charlie All Night doesn't rank with my favorites though. I think her later, longer books are much better. This one felt a little too over-stuffed, like she was trying to cram everything into too short a book. And Crusie's heroines are always seriously competent, intelligent women, but Allie comes off a bit too managing in this one. Like if I knew her in real life, I'd think she was kind of pushy.

Anyway, still lots of laughs here. ;)

What inspires your book cravings?

I've got a post up at Romancing the Blog. So come over and tell us your latest cravings. ;)

Title: Finders Keepers
Author: Linnea Sinclair
Published: 2005, Bantam
Category: SciFi Romance
Rating: 7.5/10

I liked Games of Command so much, I moved right on to this one. Twin just asked me if this book has a sequel named Losers Weepers. I don't think that'd make a very good romance. LOL.

Trilby Elliot is a independent freight-carrier (like FedEx in space). She's landed on a deserted planet to make some repairs to her trusty, though rickety, spaceship. Her work is interrupted when another ship falls from the sky--a 'Sko fighter plane. Trilby assumes the pilot is dead and goes through the wreckage to see if anything is salvageable. She finds that the pilot is still living and that he isn't 'Sko (they are a non-human sort of life form, who are enemies) but a man. She decides she can't just leave him there to die, so she takes him in. When the man wakes, it turns out that he is Rhis Vanur, an Imperial military officer. He talks Trilby into taking him back to his fleet, and she gets caught up in the events that unfold as they uncover a political/military plot between the 'Sko and an Imperial leader. (Okay, a lot of other stuff happens too, but this is the gist. *g*)

I enjoyed this one just as much as GoC, for the same reason--I loved the combo of romance between truly engaging characters and exciting adventure. The hero/heroine reminded me a lot of those in GoC. Trilby is the scrappy underdog and Rhis is the forbidding, seemingly emotionless military man. Both feel unworthy of love: Trilby as an orphan who has recently been used and left by a womanizer, and Rhis as the unapproachable leader who is alienated from those around him because of his position. I loved seeing them both realize how right they were for each other, and how lucky they felt when they finally accept that their love is mutual.

I think the action and plotting of this book are actually stronger and tighter than GoC. I didn't get confused anywhere, which is always a good sign. ;) So why doesn't it have a higher grade than GoC? Well, Kel-Paten still trumps anything in this book. LOL. Isn't it funny how we will forgive a book nearly any fault if we are in love with one of its characters?

I'm alive, really.

Twin and I just got back from a long weekend in VA with our family. 'Twas lovely. Shopping and lots of home cooking--yay! I would write a review this evening, but my RTB column is supposed to be uploaded tonight. Ummm. Topic, topic...I'm sure there's one here in my brain somewhere.

Have you all seen Dear Author's interview with Sarah S. G. Franz and Eric Selinger? Very, very interesting. I want to take Eric's class on popular romance fiction. The best I was able to do in college was a seminar on Jane Austen. I liked it, but it made reading P&P my homework, deeming it all of a sudden work and not play, which did not sit comfortably with me. I think now that I'm not a student I could appreciate it more. ;)

Scattergories Meme

Nath tagged me! We had this board game when I was a kid--I was never all that good at it. Though it's a lot easier when you're not being timed. ;)

So here are the rules:

Use the 1st letter of your middle name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names,things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

.....Your Middle Name: Ann

1. Famous singer: Arlo Guthrie
2. 4 letter word: arse
3. Street name: Azalea Dr. (the idyllic little street I grew up on--ahh, suburbia)
4. Color: Aubergine
5. Gifts/presents: Accessories
6. Vehicle: Aston Martin
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Artwork (of the tacky variety)
8. Boy Name: Adam
9. Girl Name: Annabel
10. Movie Title: Amelie
11. Drink: Alcohol
12. Occupation: Author
13. Flower: Aster
14. Celebrity: Anna Nichole Smith
15. Magazine: Archaeology
16. U.S. City: Albuquerque
17. Teams: Completely blank on this one. Not exactly a sports person here.
18. Something Found in a Kitchen: Appliance
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Attack by neighbor's dog
20. Something You Throw Away: Apple peel
21. Things You Shout: Ack!
22. Cartoon Character: Astro (Wasn't this the dog on the Jetsons? And now I have that theme song in my head. Eek.)
23. Food: Artichokes

Where, oh where, did my sidebar go?

OK, so when I view my blog in IE (at work, hee hee!), the sidebar gets shoved way down below all the posts. And I have no idea why. It didn't used to do that. Maybe the Olive movies are too wide?

It looks fine in Firefox. I'm annoyed. Anyone have any idea how I can fix it?

Title: Games of Command
Author: Linnea Sinclair
Published: 2007, Bantam
Category: SciFi Romance
Rating: 8/10

I picked this book up in the store on a whim because all of a sudden love set in space sounded appealing to me. I have no idea where that whim came from--I don't think I've ever read any SciFi Romance (there's not too much of it out there, is there?). It might have languished in the TBR, but then Rosario reviewed it last week and I was convinced. And hot damn, this book is one great big good time.

Tasha Sebastian is a captain for the U-Cees of the United Coalition. Her people have recently entered into a peace treaty with their former enemy, the Triad. (I never really understood what these groups were--maybe clusters of planets? Some sort of cultural entity.) As part of the new alliance, the two militaries are supposed to start working together, so Tasha is assigned to serve aboard the Triad ship Vax under the command of Admiral Branden Kel-Paten. Tasha isn't particularly excited about this, as she and Kel-Paten have been long-time adversaries. But it turns out that Kel-Paten has been secretly in love with her the whole time. He wants to have her on his ship so that he can finally show her how he feels.

But the problem is that Kel-Paten is a biocybe. Yes, that's right, he's half-robot. Woot! I think I'm with everyone else when I say that Kel-Paten made this book for me. There's lots of action that is very exciting and a secondary romance that is quite nice, but I lurved Kel-Paten. Because of his robot parts, he's not even supposed to really have feelings. Obviously his social skills are seriously lacking, and he has no idea how to engage Tasha in any kind of human interaction--he can't flirt or tease, or anything. It is soooo endearing to see him struggle to get her to see him as something other than a cold machine. And Tasha is a great heroine for him--she's tough and independent. But she also serves as a great foil for him because she is very warm and people person-y. She really doesn't know what to make of it when Kel-Paten's feelings are revealed, and I loved seeing her slowly discover him as a person.

Here I've been talking about the romance, and haven't said a word about the whole SciFi plot, which is a lot of fun. This is a big book and there's a ton going on. The action moves really fast. Maybe too fast--as much as I loved the book, I have to say that some of the action was a little confusing. Especially when they were on HV-One. Maybe I am a bear of very little brain, but when they started talking alternate dimensions, I got lost. And at times there was a lot of backstory that maybe could have been explained a little better.

But that did little to lessen my enjoyment. I went to the bookstore right after and was trolling the romance section and was disappointed to find nothing else by Sinclair. Then I looked in SciFi and did an ooh-ooh-lunge for the two that were there--Finders Keepers and An Accidental Goddess. Yippee!

The Bold Ascent--Further Adventures of Olive

Y'all are going to think I have way too much time on my hands. But Twin and I just had too much fun making it. ;)

Title: By Possession
Author: Madeline Hunter
Published: 2000, Bantam
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7.5/10

This is the second book in Hunter's medieival trilogy. I liked By Arrangement so much I moved right on to this one--and it was even better, imo.

Moira Falkner is a bondswoman owned by (or not owned, I don't know the right terminology--owes allegiance to?) Addis de Valence, the lord of the estate who has been off fighting the Crusades for years and is presumed dead. Addis returns to find that half his lands have been claimed by his stepbrother, so he decides he must journey to London to plea his case with the King. Moira is one of the few people he remembers fondly from his time before the Crusades, and he takes comfort from her presence, so he takes her along with him. Moira had loved him from afar from the time she was a child, though she refuses to consider becoming his mistress. The two slowly fall in love, but both know that Addis must marry someone of his own class to stabilize his position politically.

This is very much a star-crossed lovers story, which is always good. The two have legitimately insurmountable obstacles to their being together--I found this refreshing after so many romance novels' rather forced conflicts. And maybe the ending isn't very realistically possible for the time period, but I didn't care. (Did I just give away the ending? Umm, it's a romance novel, I think you could figure it out yourself.)

The first part was maybe a little slow, but the last 2/3 was just excellent. Plenty of action, lovely romance. Really great characters--Addis is rather cynical and damaged, which makes the joy he finds with Moira all the more touching. Moira's dignity, pride, and determination not to be less than she is is admirable.

I've got the last book in the trilogy, By Design, on order. IIRC, the hero in that one is Rhys, a character from this book who I liked quite a lot.

Title: Memory
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Published: 1996, Baen
Category: Science Fiction
Rating: 9/10

This is only the second Miles Vorkosigan adventure I've read. I read A Civil Campaign first because that's the one with his love story in it (and you know I'm a sucker for a love story). So I was a little afraid that the other books in the series (sans romance) would not do much for me. Hoooo boy, I was so wrong.

This book falls sort of in the middle of the series. Miles has achieved military success finally, despite having been born with assorted, serious medical handicaps. I'm a little foggy on this exactly because I haven't read the earlier books, but he's established himself as an undercover agent of some sort. On a recent mission, he was nearly killed (or killed and then brought back to life, actually) and since then he's been having unexplained seizures. He doesn't want to be pulled off duty because of it, so he's been lying to his superiors about them. But then he has one during a rescue mission, and unintentionally hurts the man who he's supposed to be rescuing. Afraid that this will be the end of his military career, he lies on his report, even though he knows it's wrong and it hurts his conscience to do so.

But he's caught out in his lie and his boss, Illyan, has no choice but to put him on medical discharge. Miles, deprived of the career that he has worked so hard for, is completely lost and doesn't know what to do with himself. While Miles is casting about for his identity, Illyan appears to be having some difficulties. He has a chip in his brain that allows him to remember anything he's ever heard or seen (a handy tool for a chief of security). But the thing has started going haywire and nobody knows why. Miles wants to help, as Illyan has been a friend and mentor for years and years, but as a civilian doesn't have much power. Emperor Gregor comes up with a way to give Miles to authority to investigate the problem.

How I did love this book. How I do LOVE Miles. He's just a fascinating character--so flawed and so determined! To see him floundering after being discharged is so sad because you know he's worked many times harder than anyone else to achieve success. He's so honorable and yet he does something dishonorable because he cannot imagine a different sort of life for himself.

This seemed to me like a particularly well-rounded book. Several plotlines go on simultaneously and tons of character development--everything is given the perfect amount of emphasis and it all ties up in this nice, neat tight little package. Very good writing.

And reading these books out of order is kind of fun in a way. Little things that confused me fall into place. But I think now I'm going to go back to the beginning and watch Miles from the start. I ordered Young Miles, which has two novels and a novella packed into one book for $7.99 (what a deal!). :)

10 Books I Couldn't Live Without

Kailana of The Written Word was asking for people’s lists of the 10 books they couldn’t live without. I love looking at these kinds of lists, so I’ll do mine too.

1. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. My comfort read. I am always singing this book's praises and to be honest I've read it so many times that I've lost all objectivity. Who knows, maybe it's not that good. But it makes me so happy. Definitely couldn't live without it.
2. I wish I could cheat and put my whole Crusie library on. But if I had to pick one, I think I’d say Faking It.
3. P&P by Jane Austen. I always fluctuate on whether this or Persuasion is my favorite Austen. Some days it's one, some days the other. Today it's P&P.
4. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary 11th Edition and Chicago Manual of Style 15th ed. The bibles of book editing.
5. The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer. I think this is my favorite Heyer.
6. Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers. Love between two REALLY smart people.
7. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart. An old favorite.
8. Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. A new favorite.
9. Christy by Catherine Marshall. Even though I’m not religious, I still love this book sooo much. It’s just a beautiful story.
10. I have to put a Nora Roberts on, but which? To be honest, I could live without any one of them (because there are like 100 others), but I couldn’t live without all of them. So I’ll say Born in Fire. Love that one.

Title: Visions of Heat
Author: Nalini Singh
Published: 2007, Berkley
Category: Paranormal Romance
Rating: 7/10

Visions of Heat is Singh's second book in her Psy/Changeling series. I read Slave to Sensation last year and really enjoyed it. Again, I had to get over the cheesy title and awful cover, but once I had, this one was great too.

I'm not going to try to explain the world, because most people who come here already know. And it's just too complicated to go into. Read my Slave to Sensation review if you need an intro to the set-up. :)

Faith NightStar is an F-Psy, meaning she has the gift of foresight. Before Silence, F-Psy saw all kinds of visions about future crimes and were able to help prevent them. Faith, however, as an initiate of Silence, has been conditioned to only receive visions about economic trends and whatnot. But lately, she's been having strange visions of murder breaking through into her consciousness. She's worried because she thinks this is the beginning of insanity. She decides to go to Sascha for help, seeing as how Sascha is the only Psy living outside the PsyNet and therefore the only one who won't turn her into the mind police or whatever for being a looney. Once she meets the changelings, Vaughn (one of Lucas's sentinels) pretty much immediately knows that Faith is his mate, so he devotes himself to helping her deal with her visions and encouraging her to leave the PsyNet.

I was a bit annoyed (as I always am) by the whole predestined lovers thing. Vaughn knows Faith is his mate from the get-go. Why? He doesn't know and neither do we. We just have to accept it. Okay, it's not that bad. But I just didn't buy that this very sensual, hot-blooded (RWAOR!) jaguar would go for this rather cold woman. (Unlike Sascha, she doesn't even want to leave the Psy. She wants the visions to go away so she can go back to her simpler, safer life.) The attraction between Sascha and Lucas was so phenomenal that this couple paled a bit in comparison.

That said, I am still fascinated by this world that's been created. Singh introduces new elements that are just as original and fresh as those in Slave to Sensation. I loved the bit with the NetMind. And we're getting some foreshadowing about a Psy revolution that could be ve-ery interesting.

Olive's Perilous Habit

Oh, iMovie is fun.

Title: Beau Crusoe
Author: Carla Kelly
Published: 2007, Harlequin
Category: Regency Romance
Rating: 7/10

Carla Kelly's new book--her first in a few years. Since I discovered Kelly last year, I've been scounging around trying to locate copies of her older titles. So I was very excited to be able to buy a new one, hot off the presses.

Five years before the start of the story, James Trevenen was a naval officer (a Lieutenant, I think) whose ship sunk in the Caribbean. He was cast away on a deserted island for years before being rescued by missionaries. While on the island (having very little to do) he began studying the habits of a particular type of crab, which he dubbed the Gloriosa Jubilate. Once back in England, he writes a naturalistic treatise on the species, for which he is awarded a scholarly award. So he travels to London for the ceremony. There he stays with Sir Joseph Banks, an eccentric old scholar who decides that James is the perfect match for his goddaughter, Susannah Park. Susannah is a widow with a young son and assorted family troubles.

James is such a fascinating character. Kelly's heroes are always sensitive and intelligent, but James is especially so. It is heartbreaking how scarred he is mentally by what he went through after the shipwreck. (And those events are very skillfully revealed piece by piece throughout the novel.) The way he became so dependent on and attached to his drawing of his beloved crabs killed me. It's like that scene in Castaway when Tom Hanks loses Wilson--Ahhh! Saddest part of the movie. When he leaves Helen Hunt, I shed not a tear, but I wanted to weep when he lost Wilson.

Anyhoo, back to James. He appears to all the world as Beau Crusoe--the mysteriously dashing man who seems capable of anything. And his survival on the island has instilled in him a resourcefulness and independence that is admirable. But his ghosts haunt him fiercely and this makes him vulnerable at the same time.

Someone (Megan, I think) once commented here that she thought Kelly was a very powerful writer. I agree with her--and this book I felt was especially powerful. As the story slowly unfolds as to exactly how horrific James's efforts at survival was, Kelly uses no particularly graphic or gratuitous language, and yet the images and events were seared in my brain. A few well-chosen words and James's hauntings began haunting me a bit. :) So much so that the book is not a comfortable read. I was affected by the story in a way that I very often am not by romance novels. But for all the darkness, there are some delightfully funny parts too.

Kelly wrote an epilogue that her editors at HQN deleted. She has offered to email it to anyone who wants it.

Latest acquisitions

I will actually do another book review at some point... But until then, look what I bought.

I'm reading Memory right now and loving it. Really loving it. I've been going completely out of order on Miles Vorkosigan (which I never do), so I'm heading back to the beginning. JMC, I'm sending you virtual hugs for introducing me to Bujold. ;)


Kristie was raving about Erinsong. And it got a DIK at AAR, so this must be good.




This one is Jane's fault. I've never read Guhrke and have heard that her prose can run to purple, but I'm going to try it.




And this one because I just read my first Hunter and really liked it. And I got that one from PBS, and I always feel like if I discover an author I really enjoy through PBS I should buy their new one. Kind of silly, I know. But I have heard good things about this one too.

So there you go. I definitely didn't need them, but I sure wanted them. ;)
If the spacing on this post is not completely wonky, I will be much surprised.

Lookie what Twin made me!!

I am generally very proud to show off my book covers in public. But sometimes . . . ugh, they're just so bad. I was reading Nalini Singh's Visions of Heat this week and I'm sorry but that man on the cover gives me the heejie beejies. Is he supposed to be attractive? The spotty skin and the black filled-in eyes. (And the hero's not even supposed to have dark eyes, the heroine is.) I felt a little sheepish pulling it out on the subway, even though it's a very good book. So I bugged my resident crafter extraordinaire Twin into making me a book cover that wasn't ugly (as so many of them are).

Isn't it great?! I told her to embroider "very important literature" on the front. ;) It is important. She says this is a prototype--she might tweak the design a bit and then make some to sell on her etsy shop. The outside is a really soft blue linen and the inside is this cheerful pink-and-white cotton.

It feels very cozy in my hands. Thanks Julie!!!!!!!

Single-mindedness

Some people seem to be able to read several books at one time. (I mean, not at the exact same time, obviously. Can you imagine?--double-fisting it with books. LOL.) But they can read three chapters of one book, then read some of a different one, and then go back to the first. I really don't do this. Once I start a book, I always finish it or delegate it to the DNF pile before moving on to something else. I think it has to do with not wanting to let myself be distracted from the world that's been created in a book. If I start another one, I get involved with that story and those characters and I don't want to leave them.

But then, I am single-minded about pretty much everything in my life. I'm not so much with the multi-tasking. I can't do anything else while watching TV. And even listening to music while reading is distracting. And while I may be the most indecisive person ever, once I finally make a decision I barrel forward without looking back. So I'm single-minded that way too.

Did everyone hear that they're going to print 12 million of the new Harry Potter? That blows me away. 126 days!! Look at my sidebar--I put Mugglenet's countdown there. Woot! If you want one, you can get the code here.

And snow storms in March hurt my soul a little.

Happy weekend everyone!

Title: By Arrangement
Author: Madeline Hunter
Published: 2000, Dell
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 6.5/10

I've never read Madeline Hunter before, but she's been talked about a lot lately because her newest book, The Rules of Seduction, is getting very good reviews. I heard several people mention that they thought Rules is her best work since her early medieval series. And I thought, ooh a good medieval! Haven't read one of those in a long time. So here we are.

Lady Christiana Fitzwaryn is in luuurve with a noble knight, so she is devastated when King Edward (she is a ward of the crown) tells her she is to marry David de Abyndon, a merchant who is plenty wealthy but (oh horror!) a commoner. Christiana goes to David, tells him that she is in love with another, and asks him to release her from the engagement. David suspects that her paramour is a little more interested in getting her into the sack than in actually following through with a wedding, so he tells her that he won't give up the betrothal, but that if the man returns, then he will release her. Meanwhile, he sets out to show Christiana that the puppy love she felt for Sir Knight is nothing compared to the Real Thing.

Oh, I'm feeling lazy tonight. A bunch of other stuff happens--there's a little political subplot and a mistaken identity subplot. Rather typical romance novel stuff, but I enjoyed it very much. It didn't light my life on fire, but it was good. The setting was sadly a little nondescript, but it worked and the characters were lovely.

Like I say, I'm feeling lazy. Suffice it to say that I will be reading more Madeline Hunter. The edition I got is actually a two-in-one--it has By Possession in it too, so I'll be reading that soon. I do like the value of two-in-ones, definitely more bang for your buck, but they're pretty unwieldy. Kind of hard to read (and hard to carry around). And as I was reading the first novel, I was continually annoyed that I couldn't see how much of the book I still had left to go. Silly, I know, but I kept flipping forward to see how much longer before the resolution. I ended up putting a Post-it note in between the two books. :P

Dear Borders,

I would like to rant about my unsatisfactory visit to one of your stores tonight. Your Borders Rewards email included a note about your 4-for-3 Mysteries and Romance promotion. I saw the small print--"Least expensive item is free. Selected titles only." But I didn't think that by "selected titles" you would mean such a very limited selection: 18 books at the store I was in. And I was in a big store--the one at Madison Square Garden.

How likely is it that I'm going to actually want 4 books out of the 18 available in this offer? Um, very small. Which I guess is the point, eh? It got me into your store and I didn't get ANYTHING for free. I wish I could say I left without buying anything, but I can't. I'm a sucker apparently.

But your plan has backfired, Borders. Because I really went out of my way to go to your store. I broke my "never-go-above-14th-St" rule. I battled the crowds around Penn Station. Do you think that I am going to do that again after feeling so completely ripped off? Not any time soon, that's for sure.

So you just lost one customer. Pfft!

I bought two books: Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair. (I've never read anything by her. Can someone tell me if they are a series or can I read this one first? I wanted Gabriel's Ghost, but they didn't have it.) And Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh, and that's a huge compliment to Singh because if I was willing to wait a few weeks, I could get this book free at work. But I wanted it now and paid full price for it.

And can I just say TGIF?! It's been one of those weeks where I felt like this:




I will surely be more cheerful tomorrow. :)

Title: Jackdaws
Author: Ken Follett
Published: 2001, NAL
Category: General Fiction
Rating: 7/10
I'm trying to branch out and read more books by men, so I picked up this book, my first by Ken Follett. (NOT that I think books by men are more intelligent- Argh! Go Jane, go!--I'm just trying to broaden my horizons a bit.) I was thinking I could claim extra points because Jackdaws set in a war, but then I realized that the main characters are women, so maybe not. :)

Felicity (Flick) Clairet is an intelligence agent for the SOE during WWII. She's managed to stay alive longer than any other agent, mainly because she's really smart, ruthless, and relies heavily on her good instincts. Right before D-Day she's sent to France with a team of French resistance organizers to blow up a German telephone exchange. They are not successful--most of their group is killed, and Flick barely escapes back to England. Flick is determined to return to finish the job, as destroying the exchange would seriously cripple the enemy's ability to communicate during the coming invasion. She decides to put together a team of women to pose as the cleaning staff. The trouble is there are very few female agents, and those few are all assigned elsewhere. So she's forced to make do with the "rejects," women who were considered at one point for secret work, but passed over for some reason. She ends up with a very motley crew: an aristocratic snob, a pathological liar, an elderly engineer, a convicted murderer, and a male transvestite. They undergo a whirlwind 2-day training session and head to France for the dangerous mission.

The reason I picked this book up was the intriguing plot, and it surely delivers. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading--very exciting and suspenseful. The violence was upsetting to me, but then this is a book about war, so that's to be expected. "This is war, Peacock! You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, every cook will tell you." (Does anyone else love the movie Clue?) There are some truly unsettling torture scenes that I had to skim--they're not horribly graphic, but they were tough on me.

The characters are more interesting and complex than you often find in an adventure-type story. There's a German officer named Dieter Franck who is trying to stop the French resistance and who is determined to catch Flick. He is fascinating--you want to really hate him, because he's the bad guy and he tortures people. But he's not a sadist, he doesn't get off on it--he's disgusted by it and does feel remorse afterward. He just sees it as a necessary tool to get what he needs, and he is able to shut off his emotions and be completely cold to get it done. Flick is just as ruthless at times, though her motivations come off as more virtuous. She is a great heroine though--very brave and clever.

There's a little side love story that's very nice. Wartime romances are so dramatic!

So, I was entertained. And it was a nice break from my usual fare. :)

I have nothing much to say, but I'm going say it anyway.

I haven't had much time for reading lately! This makes me slightly tetchy, but what can you do? Life gets hectic sometimes. Usually I'm a few books ahead reading-wise that I haven't blogged about, but I'm all caught up. And I'm trying to be more frequent with posts, because two posts a week is just sad. Surely I can do better. Soooo, what should I talk about?

Ummm, how about when to give up on an author? I don't mean an old favorite that falls off the auto-buy list. I'm talking about new authors that you're trying out. I'm generally willing to give new-to-me authors two shots. Because every author is bound to have a dud or two. Even some of my favorites--Chase's Miss Wonderful (yawn!), L.M. Montgomery's Kilmeny of the Orchard (the mute girl just annoyed me), Georgette Heyer's Lady of Quality (zzzzzzz), even my beloved Mary Stewart had a miss with Rose Cottage (hello, can we have a plot, please?). So I don't feel like I can dismiss an author completely if they fail to impress me on the first book. But after two, I'm moving on. Too many other authors to try.

A couple I've pretty much decided aren't for me: Linda Howard. I know, she's solid gold to a lot of people, but I did Duncan's Bride (meh) and After the Night (DNF--too much testosterone). And Laura Kinsale--I respect her as a good writer, but her books seem to just annoy me. I read Flowers from the Storm (the heroine's sanctimoniousness grated) and Midsummer Moon (the heroine's naivete grated).

Both of those authors are ones some people go orgasmic over, but I guess we all have our quirks. ;)

And now I'm off to actually try to finish a book! Miracle of miracles.

I'm in syndication!

Heh, heh. Actually not really. But my first column is up over at Romancing the Blog. I'm one of a few "reader" columnists they've added in an effort to make the site a little less writer-centric. Go read and comment if so moved. :)

In other linkage, Twin has opened her own Etsy shop! (Etsy is an online marketplace for handmade crafts.) She is selling her truly beautiful handprinted stationery sets. (And I'm not just saying that because she's my sister.) She's sold out of some of the designs already, but she's just posted a couple new ones. I especially love the magnolia cards. I'm so proud of her it makes up for having masses of printed cards constantly littering our (very small) apartment.