Bodice Ripper Reviews

Lois McMaster Bujold "The Sharing Knife"

2009-11-05T09:10:00.003-06:00

Okay, I'll admit I have been sneaking in a bit of reading around all my school work. Shhh! Don't tell my husband. For the record, I have never done pleasure reading while he has had the kids by himself to give me time to study, I swear.

Okay, guilty admissions out of the way, I'll try to recap what I've made it through recently (from memory). Tess Dare's Goddess of the Hunt was very enjoyable and who can dislike a book with such a good title, really. I also picked up a Lois McMaster Bujold's book called Beguilement: The Sharing Knife Book 1. I saw it at my library (pictured here for Wendy Super Librarian) and like most of my reading, I picked it for the cover and the title. :) I was unfamiliar with Bujold's other books, apparently she writes mostly fantasy/sci-fi and this was an attempt at a book where romance was more central to the story. Works for me. It's just a terrific cross cultural love story between (dare I say it) a spunky heroine and a war weary hero. The world is typical "pseudo-medieval with supernatural elements" fantasy which I enjoy. But in the end it's the two main characters who pull the whole thing together.

In the second and the third books (I'm half way through number 3) the tension of "are they going to get together" is missing since they get their happy ending in book one. The question then shifts to "can they make a space for their relationship within their different societies who don't want to accept them together." So for me (have I mentioned I'm addicted to sexual tension) these two books are much slower, but I love these characters so much, it's still fun to follow them around. If you like fantasy and like some romance in your fantasy, try this one out. Highly recommend it.

Fantasy Romance 2006: 4 out of 5 sharing knives (duh!).

Beowulf Not Bad

2009-10-19T09:46:00.004-05:00

So this coming week is already (hopefully) the worst of this semester. But since last week was the second worst week of the semester I officially took Saturday off to spend with my family and recharge my brain. The end of the day I topped off with a movie, Beowulf and Grendel. It's recently come to my better half's notice that Gerard Butler seems to come up a lot in the movies on our Netflix list. Um, er, well, yes. And as I was pretty certain this movie was going to be really bad, I was unusually apologetic and embarrassed.

I'm here to tell you, this movie wasn't bad at all! Low production value, sure, but with a famous text to butcher and a lot of historical stereotypes to overcome, I was expecting the worst. Okay, so they threw in a love interest which was completely gratuitous, but overall it was entirely surprisingly decent. So hubby couldn't laugh at me too much. He even allowed me to watch Gerry host SNL. Again, I was pleasantly surprised. How about you?

2009-10-14T13:37:00.003-05:00

Oh man. Thanks Jessica. I read this, read it again, looked at the picture and was suddenly snorting Sunkist out of my nose. Not a good idea in front of your computer.

Image stolen from this brilliant website.

Judith James "Broken Wing"

2009-09-26T16:44:00.004-05:00

This book has gotten all sorts of accolades from other reviewers, for good reason. It's lovely, well written and definitely not run of the mill (without resorting to any superhuman sexual appendages). Most of us know the premise, Sarah finds her lost brother in a brothel, but unharmed because of the direct protection of a male prostitute. She offers to take him to her home in recompense for what he did for her younger brother.

The two of them eventually fall in love, but Gabriel decides he must leave to make his fortune as a pirate. She assures him this is unnecessary but he goes anyway. Bad things happen. I'm trying to not spoil the book here, but my main beef is with this section of the book. Those of you who have still not read this book, just skip ahead to the next paragraph. After he claws his way back to civilization, couldn't he have just written her a letter? If he really thought she was better off thinking he was dead, it's pretty shitty of him to go anywhere near England in my humble opinion.

It's a sign of a very good book when I have a major beef, not with how the author characterized the main character, but with the actions of that main character, showing how real this character became for me. Liked it a lot. And to those of you following the recent posts, I did finish this a while ago, before school started this fall. :)

Historical Romance 2008: 4.5 of 5 kisses right on the lips.

ARGH

2009-09-24T12:54:00.002-05:00

I've decided that since I'm currently unable to read anything for pleasure, I'm going to start reviewing the few things I can do in my 20 minutes before I fall asleep. No I'm not telling you about that, I play Nintendo before bed each night! Really.

But first, a bit of whining by yours truly, you've been forewarned. I am returning to school after twenty years to try to become a high school history teacher. Whatever you think about the goal, most of us have experienced the process, college. I'm just not sure why the first time around I completely lacked anxiety about the process. Oh, I wished I was doing better and needed a little freak-out adrenaline to get my papers written but pervasive term long anxiety was definitely missing for me. I knew friends who had it and I never understood it. It definitely resulted in better results for them than I was getting but overall I didn't think that A was worth it. Now I'm sooo that person. Yes, I'm doing better in class this time around but damn, it's exhausting.

Back to the regular programming, Brain Age I is a game that proports to improve brain function when used regularly. I really can't speak to that but it's fun, it's less guilt inducing for me than brainless video games and I really like the Sudoku module. But Brain Age II is lots more fun. This game gets a B- from me.

Introducing Minerva

2009-09-12T22:00:00.007-05:00

A little belatedly, I'd like to announce that I've taken on a partner in crime. I wanted a little help keeping the posts flowing and I knew this friend was the perfect one to bring into the Bodice Ripper world. She probably begs to differ, but she's deigned to dignify my little romance review site with some - NOT romance novel -just book reviews of her own.

I'm flattered that she would join me because since she does not share the romance bug, she says she likes the site cause I'm funny. Not that I'd let just anyone join me who compliments me, I might, but she's quite brilliant herself.

If you enjoy Minerva's reviews please let her know, so we get her hooked on blogging and she keeps them coming. And Minerva, thanks for joining me!

image is Minerva painted by Elihu Vedder, 1896

Pamela Clare 'Untamed'

2009-08-26T12:40:00.004-05:00

Visiting the library a couple of days ago I came across this book. The cover is hard not to notice and then I remembered it had been reviewed favorably so I picked it up.

It might have a lot to do with timing, I've been in a reading slump lately, not enjoying my historical romances the way I usually do. Regardless, Untamed has re-innervated my love for historical romance novels. I loved the movie The Last of the Mohicans and in atmosphere the book is right there. The MacKinnion Rangers are suitably legendary and while I usually prefer an intrepid heroine, Amalie's character is true to her upbringing and very believable without being entirely a victim. Instead of being annoyed that Connor and Joseph were so obviously going to be sequals, I found myself looking forward to their stories.

I was impressed by the author's ability to wind this love story through the realities of the French and Indian War, or any war for that matter. The uncertainty of times of war make for high emotion but not for believable development of loving relationships, and Ms. Clare manages to use both to her advantage. Although the final plot developments were a little over the top for me. Small complaint.

Historical Romance 2008: 5 of 5 Satan's arses.

*giggle* did you notice 'taut' and 'sensual' are placed right in his bellybutton *giggle*

Stieg Larsson 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'

2009-08-22T21:15:00.011-05:00

Minerva has been a muddled, useless, exhausted mess all day today, and it's entirely the fault of this book. Once she began reading, it was impossible to put it down. And even after it ended -- sometime around 3 AM -- it was impossible to go to sleep. How can anyone sleep with eyes staring, muscles clenched, and mind churning? All Minerva really wanted to do was turn the bedside lamp back on and read the whole thing again, just to make sure she understood how all the pieces fit. That's how good a thriller this is.

It starts out slowly. Indeed, for the first four chapters, it appears that "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is going to be an interesting (but not particularly thrilling) tale of a mildly swashbuckling investigative journalist, Mikael Blomqvist, who gets caught up in a labyrinth of corporate malfeasance and trickery. Three things hint otherwise: the tantalizing prologue; the grim statistics on the title pages of each section; and the gradual emergence of a thoroughly unlikely heroine, the diminutive, punked-out, utterly asocial yet brilliantly competent investigator Lisbeth Salander -- the girl with the dragon tattoo.

The book's original title is "Män som hatar kvinnor" -- Swedish for "Men Who Hate Women" -- and as the story unfolds, this central theme comes to the fore. Blomqvist, his career shattered by a libel suit, turns his investigative talents to the unsolved case of a girl who vanished -- presumably murdered -- thirty-six years earlier. Meanwhile, Salander, whose mysterious past was clearly a nightmare of violence and abuse, contends with an authority figure who seeks to further victimize her. And when Blomqvist and Salander join forces to probe into a grisly series of unsolved murders -- all women, all horribly brutalized -- well, that's when Minerva got out of bed, went downstairs, and triple-locked the front door. And that's the last word she's going to tell you about the plot.

'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is translated from the Swedish, apparently by an exceedingly competent robot. Occasionally there is the slightest slip -- as when Blomkvist asks Salander if he may "burn" a cigarette -- but for the most part, the writing is correct, in a coldly mechanical, faintly inhuman way. Perhaps the original text had the same iciness (Minerva will never know, Swedish not being a language she has any intention of learning), or perhaps it came about accidentally in translation. Either way, its chilling tone is extremely effective.

Minerva fully intends to read the next two books in the trilogy -- "The Girl Who Played with Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest" -- but is in no particular hurry to do so. Her shattered nerves demand a soothing dose of Austen or Trollope.

Rating: 5 out of 5 sets of cold steel handcuffs.

Megan Hart 'Stranger'

2009-08-18T10:22:00.003-05:00

Can I say that I loved a book if I skipped about 80 pages in the middle. I suppose if I'm worth my salt as a reviewer I'm going to have to analyze it. I will apologize slightly for the fact that my reading choices lately have felt like catch-up with the rest of romancelandia (or the small part of it I allow myself to follow so as not to neglect my family entirely.) I apologize only because as Jessica discussed lately, it feels like I'm just following and not really adding anything new or interesting to the romance review world out there. So here I go again with the "following" thing.

I love, love, love the premise of Stranger. The heroine has decided that she doesn't want to put out the effort for a real relationship (for a lot of reasons) and so has developed the habit of paying for her dates and her sex. She has a reliable service, she's had some reliable providers from that service so why mess with a good thing. But one night she mistakes Sam for her latest 'date' and the convenience of what she's doing comes into question. If she's doing this, it doesn't just take the place of a conventional relationship, it acts in many ways to prevent her from having a conventional relationship.

I skipped the Sam chasing her part. I have to guess that there were some important moments in there since the author is definitely a character driven writer/thinker. But I came back in where they get together and with the characters' discussions of their relationship, I didn't feel like I needed to go back to fill things in. Am I a very bad, bad, reader or should I conclude that the author could tighten up the book a bit. I suppose a little of both (like on most moral dilemmas I come down in the boring middle).

I read all the rest of the book, I loved them together, I loved the author's strong actualized woman throw ins and I liked Sam a lot. Their struggle felt basically realistic and I was glad they got together in the end. :) This author can write some awesome sex and the characters really jump off the page. If I had to nitpick, I'd say the character flaws are a little simple. Interesting and thought out, but what stops this from being a work of literature (which is not usually a standard I even bring up) besides the genre rules, is slightly simplistic character flaws. Overall, awesome book if you don't mind having to hide it from your kids.

Contemporary Erotic Novel 2009: 4.5 out of 5 embalmed bodies.

CNET and Smart Bitches Rumble!

2009-08-14T22:52:00.003-05:00

Had to link to this! I will guarantee my husband will be telling me about the CNET kindle hints (even though he hasn't decided I need one, yet). Well, the Smart Bitches have said it all for us.

And although I have yet to have a use for the term, can I tell you how much I love WTFery.

What picture should I attach with this post? Oh, yes, the stern romance nurse! "CNET, you get back into bed this minute!"

Curtis Sittenfeld 'American Wife'

2009-08-13T20:28:00.012-05:00

This is Minerva's first Bodice Ripper Review, and she's more than a little nervous. All this blog stuff is new to her, and she's fairly certain she'll screw up the formatting. What's more, Heloise's trenchant brilliance is a tough act to follow. And finally, Minerva has a difficult confession to make in this particular setting .......... she really, truly does not like romance novels. Not at all.

Or does she?

Minerva has spent the past few days unabashedly wallowing in the voyeuristic pleasures of 'American Wife'. The book -- which Sittenfeld says she wrote in a frenzy of haste in order to release it during the 2008 Republican Convention -- is a fictionalized account of the life and marriage of former First Lady Laura Bush. It is simply overflowing with graphic, steamy, and occasionally sordid sex.

Graphic, sordid sex is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Laura Bush. But with this book, Sittenfeld takes on the question that troubled so many of us during the Bush years: how on earth did a modest, intelligent, thoughtful, well-read, liberal-leaning, pro-choice lady like Laura end up hitched to a guy like Dubya?

As the romance novelists knew all along, the answer apparently lies in a potent cocktail of true love and hot sex.

Each of the book's four sections is built upon actual events from Laura Bush's life, fleshed out with plenty of pure fiction, and set -- delightfully! -- in Wisconsin rather than Texas. The first section is by far the best. In it, the 17-year-old heroine (Alice Lindgren) accidentally runs a stop sign, causing the death of a classmate who is almost, but not quite, her boyfriend. In a few seconds of inattention and bad luck, the course of her life is changed forever. It's powerful stuff. Minerva is trying to avoid using the word "poignant" ..... but there it is.

The second section is also quite engaging, as Alice, now in her early 30s, is swept off her feet by the cocky, charming ne'er-do-well rich boy Charlie Blackwell. Her first encounter with his no-holds-barred family is unforgettable for many reasons, not least the limerick beginning "Nymphomaniacal Alice." Minerva would love to tell you the whole thing, but that would be a spoiler. Most of the hot sex scenes appear during this section.

From there, unfortunately, it's all downhill: alcoholism, bad behavior, evangelical Christianity, Republican politics, Karl Rove, and the war in Iraq. By the end, even though Alice has (unlike Laura) dared to publicly assert her personal views on a highly controversial issue, it feels like she is simply maundering on, alternately blaming and excusing herself for the path her life has taken. The hot sex has also dropped off considerably by this point in the book ... but Minerva supposes that's what happens when a romance novel loses its way and drags on for 30 years of marriage.

It's still a terrific read, and well worth your while. Especially that limerick.

Rating: 4 out of 5 toots of your own horn.

Joanna Bourne 'The Spymaster's Lady'

2009-08-11T12:09:00.003-05:00

Yes, yes, I loved this book. I loved Annique, the little intrepid hoyden, I loved Grey, because Gerard Butler would be perfect as him in the movie. I loved the author's ability to write french in english. I loved the tub scene, I loved the secondary characters who say the things I want to say to the hero. It's a great book.

*mild spoiler/rant alert*

Okay, here's the rub. She really didn't recognize him for a fourth of the book? I don't want to give away too much, but really. He's trying to avoid touching her but they ride on a horse together.....

Fine, fine, I'll let you go back to your starry eyed enjoyment of the book. I made my best friend from college read it, and she said, "What does he do exactly? He doesn't seem to really do anything! And why the hell does she keep leaving Henri alive, that seems very stupid if you ask me." Yes well, we don't want to have to invent new bad guys for the end of the book, do we. :)

Historical Romance 2008: 4.5 of 5 sloshing tubs.

Sarah Vowell 'The Wordy Shipmates'

2009-08-08T15:36:00.005-05:00

Not only did I find The Wordy Shipmates again but I finally finished it. I also went away to Brooklyn for the week-end to visit my best friend from college and helped my husband put together the kids school supplies, so I've been busy. :)

The Wordy Shipmates lives up to its title, it's wordy. I couldn't help it! It was too good to pass up. Seriously, Ms. Vowell managed to get me involved in the theological hair splitting of the Boston Puritans (not the Plymouth Rock Puritans, but the 'city on a hill' Puritans) She's funny and irreverent enough to keep you going through the seemingly endless pamphlet wars and the names that all start with J. She is also a good enough historian to draw out interesting strands of our modern day cultural and political inheritance from these original settlers. It helps me to like the book that I'm pretty darn sure I agree with her modern politics; in a word, liberal.

However, slightly past the half way point in the book, it lost a lot of the humor and when I expected the historical narrative to make up for it, it didn't. I did not find Anne Hutchinson's story so riveting that it could carry me through to the end. Nor were Ms. Vowell's insights so fascinating or so humourous that I couldn't put the book down. I put it down. A lot. I finished it, but more to be able to tell Kate that I finished it, than on the merits of the book itself.

I liked the book, it's an interesting read, I'm glad I know more about the pilgrims and their American legacy. However, unless you really enjoy reading history for it's own sake, you'll enjoy the first half more, and skipping the second half is not going to appreciably negatively impact your life.

4 of 5 exiled visible saints.

Pamela Clare 'Carnal Gift'

2009-08-02T15:36:00.005-05:00

Other than some exceptional books (SpyMaster's Lady, yes I finally read it), I haven't been reading much historical romance lately. But I've had this one around for a while so I picked it up. I hate to say it but Ireland is so done for me. River Dance and the 1990's revival of Celtic mysticism has burned me out. And this from a person who's attended Milwaukee's Irish Fest since High School (largest Irish Festival outside of Ireland). It's extremely difficult to write characters set into Irish history without it feeling like a well known cliche before you're even out of the gate.

This book includes enough historical details to validate the author's knowledge of the time period. The heroine grew on me, although both of these characters border on serious Mary Sue personalities. Overall the writing was decent, the sex was sparse but decent, the history was accurate, the plot was well paced and the characters were wooden.

Historical Romance 2008: 2.5 of 5 bloody sheets.

Meljean Brook 'Demon Night'

2009-07-28T17:27:00.005-05:00

I really don't like anthology books. This is based on limited experience but enough to decide that the short story form is a particular one that requires it's own expertise. I don't think you can be a novelist and just assume you can write a decent short story. That said, I read Wild Thing and was very impressed with Meljean Brook's Selah and vampire story. I would almost make the argument that she is better at a short story character arch than the novel length character arch, but I won't.

Demon Night tells Charlotte and Ethan's story. Charlotte's sister is working with vampire, demon and human blood to try to synthesize a food source for vampires that doesn't involve blood lust. Because of her proximity Charlotte comes under Ethan (the guardian)'s protection.

Ethan died (became a guardian) in the American Wild West and he has retained the drawl and the mannerisms of that time. Charlotte was an opera singer before a tragic accident took away her voice forever. It took me a little bit to warm up to this book, not the attraction between them, or to the two characters, they are terrific, but the plot was a little sticky in the first hundred pages. Looking back, however, you could say the book unfolds a bit like Ethan, slow steady and hot.

How could you not enjoy Ethan, but I also really liked Charlie. I didn't always love the idealization of Charlie that Ethan and other characters indulge in nearer to the end of the book, but Charlie herself is terrific. I had a hard time buying the barrier to their love as it's a TSTL moment for Ethan, which didn't fit with his "acts stupid but keeps a step ahead of Lilith" character.

Overall, slow start, very enjoyable meaty middle and then unravels for me a bit in the last few chapters. And I have to note that the nephilim seemed like a very convenient plot device.

Paranormal Romance 2008: 4 of 5 seraphim, nephilim, excramin.

C.L. Wilson "King of Sword and Sky"

2009-07-24T14:53:00.004-05:00

I logged on to try to get one of my 'to be reviewed' books off my desk and my google 'reading list' sent me immediately off into blog hopping land. Is it really a good thing to aggregate blogs in one place so I'm so easily distracted? Ah well, the dangers of bloglandia.

And another thing, is there any evidence out there that caffeine delivered with sugar goes straight from your stomach to blast into your brain? I'm trying a new drink, Sweet Leaf: Sweet Tea and I swear my porch is spinning. If I hadn't had normal food in the last couple of hours I might understand.

Oh, I am so distracted.

Wilson burst onto the romance/fantasy scene last year with Lord of the Fading Lands and Lady of Light and Shadows that I reviewed in December. In my opinion they were really one long book that the publisher made her split into two books. No, I have no proof of that....and they were terrific. The story continues with Rain taking Elysetta back to the Fading Lands. As with most super hyperbole stories, the level of amazingness can be hard to maintain.

I felt some of that here, but I thought Wilson did a good job of shifting the focus from the ultimate love these two feel for each other, to the struggles of the Fey as they gear up for all out war with the wizards of Eld. So, no, this book did not transport me the way the first two did but it respectably furthers the story and I'm looking forward to the next one. I will say, if the author drags this storyline out too much further I may lose interest. There is only so much delayed gratification a romance reader can take. :)

Cool Pics on Flickr - From Stanford Medicine

2009-07-21T13:52:00.004-05:00

This is not my actual head, although it is someone's actual head. But it's a pretty cool 3D medical image of what my head looks like post surgery (without hair or scalp of course :). I have one of these on each side.

If you see that red artery on the surface of the skull in front of the surgery site, that's a temporal artery (as in temple). There was another one that now goes into the 'spoon slot' in the bone piece that was removed. That's now attached to a major artery in the brain supplying blood from the 'outside' of the skull, as it were.

The three pieces of hardware are called dog bones, for obvious reasons. I have two dog bones and a snowflake. That's how I know this isn't me. :) But seeing this image is a little disturbing since I didn't think my 'spoon slot' was quite so large. Geese, I'm gonna be more careful with pencils behind my ears from now on.

Stanford has uploaded other cool 3D images here. They aren't all head surgeries either. I'm not sure about the top of this person's head. I'd like to think the image just got cut off. :)

Sharon Sala "The Warrior"

2009-07-18T16:52:00.006-05:00

This author is new to me but I see she's got lots of books out there. John Nightwalker is a Native American soldier who comes across Alicia Ponte while she's on the run from her father - an arms manufacturer. She overheard him talking about illegal arms deals and knows he'll stop at nothing to protect himself from being exposed.

There is some reincarnation/mysticism combined with pretty realistic action. The relationship between these two unfolds relatively slowly, which I liked, but the overall pace of the book does not put it squarely in the typical CIA/arms dealers/something blows up every three minutes genre. Again, I liked this about the book but if you are an action/plot junkie, this might annoy you.

Alisha is certainly on the "Oh my god I can't believe this is happening to me." side of the character spectrum but I liked her well enough to want John to get together with her. John is hard not to like, loyal, steady, deadly and hot.

I would definitely try another book from Sala.

Contemporary Romance 2009: 4 of 5 spanish conquistadors.

Be Still My Beating Heart

2009-07-09T14:53:00.005-05:00

Remember when I promised more pictures of beautiful men to up my readership. This is Colin Ames-Beaumont.

Jo Beverley "Devilish"

2009-07-08T17:10:00.003-05:00

Expectations. I used to overuse the life maxim, "All things in moderation." Now I've moved on to constantly saying "It's all about expectations." I'm such a relativist. And I don't think that's really an admirable thing, I'm a John Winthrop, not a Rogers Williams in Sarah Vowell's world. But I get ahead of myself.

Lord Rothgar is the head of the Malloren family, he's the only son of his father's first wife, who went mad and strangled her infant daughter when he was about three. His father remarried and had several more fun children whom Rothgar has enjoyed protecting and rescuing from various scrapes over the years. (See earlier Malloren novels please.) But now they are all married and producing their own children, something he has sworn not to do, so as not to pass on the insanity of his mother.

Diana is the Countess of Arrandale in Yorkshire. She decides never to marry because she will not just hand over her powerful position to some man because it's expected of her. But King George isn't so happy about a liberated woman running around the north country unchecked.

Beverly has a feel for this time period that is refreshing and entertaining in it's own right. Her plot is well paced and complicatedly realistic (but not too complicated if you know what I mean.) It's a terrifically crafted book. I just didn't love it. I felt for their romantic difficulties, I liked Rothgar and thought his character was drawn well enough to understand the deep seated fear he had of having children. I suppose I didn't love Diana, I used to love the pistol wielding stereotype busting heroine; but to petition to take her seat in the House of Lords in 1763? That's just dumb.

This one I can't knock on craft, it just didn't transport me, and I had rather high expectations. I imagine if I had read some of the back stories, maybe it would have been different. I will definitely try another Beverly in the near future.

Historical Romance 2000: 4 of 5 hermaphodidic ambassadors.

Julia Quinn "What Happens In London"

2009-07-05T07:21:00.004-05:00

Considering I was one of the few people who liked Mr Cavendish, I presume I'm pretty sure I've lost my objective abilities (such as they are) with Julia Quinn. But, I read her new book so I want it duly noted.

Really it's very good. She's honed in on what she does so well, comedy of manners. When Sir Harry muses on what Olivia would do if he started choking at his desk, while she is spying on him through the window, it's not only funny but makes you fall in love with Harry all the more. Who doesn't like tall dark handsome and a sense of humor.

Now as par for Julia Quinn, the sex is not extensive and it comes later in the relationship (oh, how novel, you mean not all the women in Regency England slept with practical strangers as long as they felt like they were THE ONE) but in this book I thought she gave a bit more time to the sexual tension and build-up which was nice.

If you haven't read Julia Quinn yet, MY GOD, what are you waiting for, and if you have and are waiting for a used copy of this one, you're going to like it. :)

I've Completely Lost My Mind

2009-07-01T11:40:00.005-05:00

Gerard Butler. What is it about Gerard Butler? Okay, right, well there is the obvious....but it can't just be the bod since there are no shortage of beautiful male bodies on the internet to look at. And look at this picture, I'm not usually partial toward frat boys!

I really loved 300. That's embarrassing in itself cause, well, it wasn't The English Patient or anything.

Now I am actually dieing to see a movie that won't be out for three weeks. People, I have two children, I don't see any movies unless they've been out for at least three years and six different friends insist I must see it. And this doesn't look like a good movie, it looks like a formulaic hackneyed Hollywood romantic comedy. And on top of it all, from the trailer I'm thinking someone told Gerard to temper his accent into an unattractive incomprehensible version of "I'm an actor trying really hard not to sound Scottish cause that's not my written character." But despite all of these hurdles, I am panting to see this movie just to see Gerard flirt, tease, and fall in love with someone on screen. Yes, I've completely lost my mind. Now leave me alone while I go watch the trailer again.

Meljean Brook 'Demon Moon'

2009-06-27T16:24:00.004-05:00

Savitri the computer guru and Colin the incredibly gorgeous vampire. This is book four in Brook's series about Guardians fighting Demons and Nosferatu. Colin is falling in love with Savitri but he has the unique vampire problem of not being able to share his blood without killing the recipient. This does not make him an ideal life partner, since when a vampire feeds they have an overwhelming desire to also have sex with their victim and if he feeds from Savitri exclusively she won't last two months.

The tension over how they are going to solve this incompatibility is terrific, Colin is terrific. The plot adds some distraction from the angst and is enjoyable in its own right. There were fewer moments when I wondered what the heck was going on than in the first book (but they still occurred). Ms. Brook is quite committed to the "show, don't tell" rule, maybe a bit too committed.

Overall a very enjoyable addition to this series.

Demonic Vampire Romance 2007: 5 of 5 ways to taint a vampire's blood.

Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice"

2009-06-22T22:31:00.003-05:00

Is it just me or does anyone else find prejudice difficult to spell? I just so want to put that 'd' up front. But I digress. I've been totally slacking off on the blog, sorry about that. I have been reading, so hopefully I'll get a chance to trim down the TBR stack soon. (That's To Be Reviewed these days. I've given up worrying about the To Be Read pile.)

My book club decided to read Pride and Prejudice for the month of June and I was determined to finally get through it. Yes, I know, horrors! I'm admitting that it's not my favorite book on earth, nor do I have it memorized (even though my Aunt read me the first sentence when I was thirteen). I have attempted the book in the past and didn't finish it. I'm thinking now that may have been at thirteen because I do remember being totally confused over who the hell everyone was. Can we call the characters by one name please, I mean really.

So despite my desire to not love this book because like EVERYONE loves this book, I'll admit it's pretty good. Okay, it's funny and even philosophically insightful, and yes, romantic. Fine, fine, it's a great book, I liked it.

Romance Novel 1813: 5 of 5 unmarried daughters.

Candice Hern "Lady Be Bad"

2009-06-10T09:50:00.006-05:00

Grace, the widow of Bishop Marlow, may be the only woman in England whom John can not seduce. He's willing to take that chance for the thrill of a bet. Surprisingly he falls in love with Grace's inherent goodness along the way. And low and behold, Grace finds the personal strength that comes from owning her own sexuality.

This book is well written, has really very decent character development and is mildly funny. It's not earth shattering, but I'm guessing this is an author that could produce a really stellar book at some point. This one is a solid 3.5.

Historical Romance 2007: 3.5 of 5 Merry Widows.

Postscript on cover: The cover is gorgeous, so why was I even more embarrassed to be seen carrying it around?