I'm BACK!

Hello there! It's been weeks since my last post I know. I got so busy with planning our anniversary vacation, house cleaning, packing, and being sick that the blog had to go on the back burner. But now I'm home and I can relax and get back to my 2011 challenge and updating my blog.


I read a few books over the course of our vacation and I'll review them in this post. Just to warn ya, I did jump genres! But before I get started I'll give you a bit of history on my love of reading and how it went down through the years...

The first books I started reading when I was younger were romances. Yeah, yeah I can hear your teasing... But if it got me into the world of reading, does it really matter?? Nope, not one damn bit. So back to my point... I started reading them but branched out as I got older. And to be honest, I read so fast that the authors and types of romances I was interested in dried up. I simply read too fast. But before I left the romances behind, I stumbled across the A&E Pride & Prejudice special and got sucked in. That led me to Jane Austen and then on to Regency Romances, (books set in the same time frame as Jane's) which I devoured! When I was 12 I went through 100 books in one months time. No book was under 300 pages and most were 400+. Reading was my refuge from the reality I hated. Well...after the romance section dried up for me, I slipped into a Michael Crichton and John Grisham phase for awhile. Jurassic Park is one of my all time favorites and so is The Lost World. Yes you can bite me if you think that book (TLW) and movie sucked. I LOVED them! As for Grisham, I liked Runaway Jury and The Client the most. Although I have to say as hard as it was to read, A Time To Kill was an excellent book too. After those I slipped into the Anne Rice thing for a bit with her Mayfair Witches series and anything that WASN'T the Vampire books. Which is hilarious now since I adore vampire books and anything to do with vampires! (Unless it sparkles, then it's a passing interest...lol) I think my favorite by Anne Rice is The Mummy. Awesome book and I REALLY wish she had written a 2nd. And this is the point that I found Paranormal books of all kinds... Romance, Urban Fantasy, and more recently young adult paranormal fiction. I got started with Christine Feehan's Dark Series and it kinda snow balled from there! I grabbed everything I could find that sounded remotely good. And at the time there was WAY less out there than now. Plus the paranormal stuff didn't get published much unless it was under Romance. That's probably why I prefer them to have at least an underlying romance to the story to be satisfied. While reading Charlaine Harris I found out she had started as a regular mystery author. I jumped into those and liked them too. I've discovered I will read pretty much anything if it sounds interesting. So that is my history of reading.


The first book I read over vacation was "A Matter of Class" by Mary Balogh. I happened to see this by the register of the book store the day before we left. The cover hooked me and reeled me in. And I was not disappointed in the least! This is my first Georgian/Regency novel in years and it was a shorter one than normal for me at 224 pages. It jumps back and forth between the two main characters in the past and present which I found a bit confusing. But once I got used to it, the story really picked up. The ending was a bit of a surprise, although I'm sure if I'd been less distracted by the train ride, I might have picked up on it. I liked both the hero and the heroine a lot. For a short book they were well developed. I'm going to read more by this author since I loved this one so much. It's short and well rounded so it's going on my re-read list.


Next was Kim Harrison's latest, Pale Demon. OMG I loved this book. While LKH is dragging her books into the sewers, Ms. Harrison is really showing how talented she is. This book had so much action I found myself putting it down just so I could breathe! There was some heart wrenching character development but I'm glad she's and author that isn't afraid to make her characters grow! No boring old books here.... That's all on this book because you really need to just go read it and I don't want to spoil it!

After Pale Demon I really needed a light read so I went back to the Regency Romance. I read "The Heiress" by Lyndsay Sands. It's actually the 2nd book in the series but that's ok. This one reminded me in some ways of my early relationship with my husband, so I enjoyed it more than some people might have. The plot was pretty standard for this genre but I liked how it played out. Here's the synopsis:

Desperately seeking a husband . . .

Suzette is not like other heiresses; she wants a poor husband, a gentleman who will be so grateful for her dowry that he will allow her access to it so that she can pay off her father's gambling debts. When this alluring beauty encounters Daniel Woodrow—handsome, titled, single . . . and even more impoverished than she could have hoped for—it seems Suzette's wildest dreams have come true.

But Daniel has not been truthful. Tired of being accosted by an endless stream of vapid coquettes and their fortune-hunting mothers, Daniel has decided to plead poverty to stop them in their tracks. Yet here is a most refreshing and delectable lady, who claims to be thrilled by his penury. Now all Daniel has to do to find true happiness is to keep a little white lie alive . . . while avoiding a villain who's determined to prevent this union by any means necessary.

Sounds a bit cheesy and it was. But I enjoy this kinda thing sometimes and it's not "fluff" as much as regular romances are.

I seem to be stuck on Regency right now but I wanted something paranormal for my next read. I had picked up a trilogy about a year ago about 3 vampires in Regency England. These are SO vamp romance but they aren't bodice rippers which rocks. (I really hate bodice rippers, I skips whole chapters... if I want naughty fun like that, I'll grab my hubby!) I should be done with this one today. Doesn't it look silly?!? I'm enjoying it!

Ta ta for now!

Awful Bloody Flu!

Do yourselves a favor and stock up on Vitamin C and Zinc and keep away from any plague carriers such as myself. My wonderful husband managed to give me his nasty flu and cough he's been fighting for weeks. YUCK. On the upside, it leaves lots of time to catch up on tv and books! The Iron Queen just arrived on my doorstep so I get to start that series tonight. Well....after Vampire Diaries, Nikita, Private Practice, Grey's and Royal Pains! I LOVE Thursdays!


So the last book I finished was the 4th and latest book in Rachel Hawthorne's Dark Guardians series. It was great. She is growing on me with each book. The first 3 seemed to be variations of the same couple while this last one separated itself from the pack (tee hee!) with a nice twist. The departure from the locale used in previous books was a nice breath of fresh air.

Next up on the book list is either the Iron Fey series or A Brush of Darkness by Alison Pang.

Ta ta for now!

Hiatus for a couple days....

I'm going to be offline for posting until Monday since this weekend is Double XP on my favorite MMORPG City of Heroes. (The picture above is my first character and my favorite. Her name is Scarlett Rowan) Here's some pics of my characters:

This is Kitty Norville. She's a Claw Scrapper.

This is Lucinda Dark. Also a Scrapper. (Monere, Children of the Moon Books)

And this is Rachel Morgan. She's a witch. I have another version of her that has whips and she summons demons! Soooooo perfect, right from the books!

Well that's it for now. Back on Monday.....

Ta ta!

My resolution's for 2011

I don't usually make these lists because they bug me. I forget about them and then kick myself later or worse... I don't even care. So this time I'm going to pick stuff I actually have a hope of completing. The stuff I love.

1.) Read 100 books in 12 months.
2.) Drop some fat, not weight mind you, just that icky extra tummy pudge us ladies hate!
3.) Continue to maintain this blog.

That's it! Yes I know it is a little light. But I think the more you add can just weigh you down and make you feel a lot worse if you don't complete the list. Although honestly the first one should be rather simple. My record is over 100 books in one month when I was 12. Books were my safe haven and escape from the misery of my pre-teen years. Nothing made coming home crying from school once again a lot easier to take then a trip to a mystical world locked in the pages of a book.

Here's the beginning of my list:

1.) My Soul To Take, Rachel Vincent - JAN 3rd
2.) My Soul To Save, Rachel Vincent - JAN 4th
3.) My Soul To Keep, Rachel Vincent - JAN 5th
4.) My Soul To Steal, Rachel Vincent - JAN 8th
5.) The Accidental Demon Slayer, Angie Fox - JAN 16th
6.) Bitter Frost, Kailin Gow - JAN 18th
7.) Forever Frost, Kailin Gow - Reading

I think this is a pretty good start for the month. Although I only have 12 days left to get 10 more books read to keep up the average needed for each month. Honestly I think it will be easy. :)

I LOVED the Soul Series by Ms. Vincent. They are awesome. Reminds me a bit of the Morganville vamps series which I read in December. I highly recommend them. I enjoyed the Demon Slayer but it wasn't one of my favorites to be sure. I have started the second but I've set it aside for the Frost series. I can't help it, the cover images got me. Honestly a great looking cover will keep me coming back to look at a book even when I'm not all that interested in the story. And I really have found some gems that way. I was very iffy on Emma Bull's book "The War For The Oaks" and that book is one of my all time favorites. Kushiel's Dart is another good example. I haven't read past the first three in that series but I liked them all too. They stray a little farther into erotic subjects than I'm comfortable with but other than that.... the story was fantastic.

Well, it's time to level up Kitty a bit more while I wait for my medicine to kick in. It's January and time for cold and flu season. Whoo hoo! Soooo not.

Have a happy one all!