It's been 3 whole months since I've blogged, and the only excuse I have is just disinterest and a whole lot of weather related depression. Here in Northern California, we've just surpassed our wettest year on record. It has rained or snowed nearly non-stop since October. The good news is that while I haven't been blogging, I HAVE been reading, albeit at about half my usual pace. So reviews, recipes, and movie posts are coming again, soon!
RT is next month in Atlanta, and for the first time in years, I'm going as a reader and not a blogger. Mainly because RT seems to think it's okay to charge bloggers more for no extra benefits. Whatever.
Here's to a spring with more books, more reading, and some actual blogging.
4/18/17
1/18/17
TBR Challenge Review: Side Jobs by Jim Butcher (partial)
Narrator: James Marstars
Publisher: Penguin
Length: short stories, entire book:13 hours
POV: 1st person, past
Release Date: 2010
I've finally worked my way through the regular size novels in audiobook. That leaves the short stories and novellas, which are all out of chronological order, but that's ok. Basically: don't listen to them until you're done reading the series.
Because this month's TBR Challenge theme is "short," it lets me off the hook for finishing this in time, because this is an anthology. My commute is nonexistant, so my audiobook listening happens while cleaning or while winding down for sleep. Thus: FOREVER to finish the series. Hubs has had these read two or three times in the year or so I've been listening to them.
1/15/17
Review: Mercury Striking by Rebecca Zanetti
Pub Date: February 2016
Publisher: Zebra/Kensington
Length: 362 pages
POV: 3rd, past
FTC: Received for free from RT16
As much as I "enjoyed" parts of this book, it will always be the "ass spanking book." As in: non-consensual ass spanking, which is a firm DO NOT CROSS line for me. So however much the plot grew on me, that one thing still stands out.
The other problem with the book, which is not the author or book's fault, is that it is post-apocalyptic. Which, given what a shitstorm our country is experiencing, was so not the book I needed. It is bleak times 1000, and I suspect it's probably the very last book of this kind that I am able to read for at least the next four years.
1/9/17
Blogging stalled by the CA flood; Book tracking apps
I had great plans to review a book or two over the weekend, but our power and Internet kept going out. Northern CA is experiencing a ten year flood: I-80 is closed due to mudslides and downed power lines. The Canyon is currently closed due to flooding. As in: the highway is underwater.
Meanwhile, the power finally came on last night, but our internet is still iffy. I'm typing this up on my phone.
Since I don't use Goodreads because of the troll incident a few years ago, I've been on the hunt for an easier way to track my reading. This week, I downloaded 3 different book apps: Litsy, Bookcrawler, and Book Buddy. So far, Book Buddy looks the best for my needs, but I'm going to use them all for the next month and report back.
Stay dry, folks!
1/5/17
Review: The Fixer by HelenKay Dimon (Games People Play)
Pub Date: December 27, 2016
Publisher: Avon
Length: 384 pages
POV: 3rd, past
FTC: Purchased myself
Well...I debated even doing a review of this one because I can't quite figure out how I feel about it. It was getting LOTS of buzz on Twitter, which should have been a huge warning sign for me (I'm a perpetual outlier), but I've also read and enjoyed HKD before, so... I bought it and read it. And now I can't decide how I feel. Sigh.
The whole book is just murky. I never did get a firm handle on the hero or heroine. The only real character that I clicked with was an employee of Wren's named Garrett. Everyone else just kind of existed in a bit of a fog. Unformed. The dialogue was even weirder since Wren is incapable of talking like a normal person and answers every question with another question or simply deflects. After awhile, it started to drive me completely crazy. Which is what it was supposed to do, I think? Murky.
Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
I think everyone knows the warnings about eating raw cookie dough, because of the uncooked eggs. Fortunately, these use sweetened condensed milk as a liquid replacement for the eggs, but they DO contain uncooked *flour* which has recently become a bit of an issue, too. So eat at your own risk, cookie dough lovers.
Cookie Dough Truffles
Recipe from CakesCottage
Ingredients:
½ cup (1 sticks) butter, room temperature
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans*
1 pound dark chocolate candy coating**
*My family doesn't like nuts in their chocolate chip cookies, so I just upped the amount of chips to 3/4 cup
** I use the pound-plus bars from Trader Joes or the Ghiradelli chocolate wafers available at my local grocery store.
Instructions:
- In a bowl combine butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated, beating well after each addition.
- Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. (You can sub more chocolate chips for the nuts)
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for approx 1 hour, or until firm enough to handle.
- Shape mixture into 1 inch balls by rolling a spoonful in the palm of your hand (I use a melon baller to keep the size consistent.)
- Place on paper-lined baking sheets. Loosely cover and refrigerate for about 20 minutes or until firm again.
- In a bowl, melt dark chocolate candy coating either by placing atop barely simmering water as a double boiler or by microwaving according to package directions. I got tired of dipping truffles about halfway through, so you might consider doing this in batches, depending on how much time you have.
- Dip the cookie dough balls into the chocolate and place on parchment paper. I use a fork to dip and gently shake the excess off before placing on the parchment.
- Let the truffles sit until hard, about 15 minutes.
- Once set, remelt remaining candy coating.
- Carefully drizzle chocolate over truffles either by using a ziplock baggie with a tip snipped off or by dipping a fork and gently shaking it about 2 inches above the truffles. As you can see by the fancy picture, I didn't bother with that part this time. They still tasted fine according to the boys.
- Store in the refrigerator and serve cold. These can also be frozen for longer storage.
1/3/17
Review: Since the Surrender by Julie Anne Long
Pub Date: August 2009
Publisher: Avon
Length: 371
POV: 3rd, past
FTC: purchased used
I discovered the Pennyroyal series really late. I've read a few over the years, but was so out of the loop that I didn't realize they were a series until recently. This is an earlier entry in the series (there's a myspace page on the author bio), and it's a good one.
Although I've heard complaints about anachronisms, I think what sells JAL's books is her voice. She writes with such emotion and could probably lead a master class on how to show and not tell. Her books are immersive. This one was so particularly strong on sensory details that I made a ton of notes of favorite passages...something I'm usually far too lazy to do.
An example:
Just slightly, he brushed his cheek along hers, and she felt the heat of his skin, the start of whiskers, the hard plane of his jaw. His breath, hot, soft, brushed the lobe of her ear, and then his firm lips were there, just scarcely brushing the whorls of it, and gooseflesh danced over arms and legs and spine and, for all she knew, her very soul.
12/31/16
Quickie Review: A Most Scandalous Proposal by Ashlyn Macamara
Pub Date: March 2013
Publisher: Ballantine (Random House)
Length: 325 pages
POV: 3rd, past
FTC: Received at RT, no idea where or when.
I'm not 100% certain this is a debut novel, but I *think* it is. If so, it's a fairly good one. A slightly better than average historical romance with strong, if entirely conventional, characters. I guess the title should have clued me in, since it's a throwaway one, but...eh.
Normally, I'm ALL ABOUT friends to lovers stories. Those are my catnip. Seriously. But this one just didn't really click for me. I really wanted more emotion, especially considering the two main characters have known each other forever. With that kind of shared history, there should be shared emotion, shared jokes, etc.
The "villain" isn't very villainous, just a dick, and there's a lot of confusing stuff about a $5000 bet/debt thing that I really just didn't understand. It could definitely have been more clear. There's a secondary romance, too, which felt like it took up far too much page time that could have been spent fleshing out the relationship between our hero and heroine.
There's a lot of potential here. The characters are mostly decent, the plot is ok. The writing is ok. What's missing is a strong voice, atmosphere, and emotion. Hopefully those will come with time.
The Blurb:
After watching her beloved sister Sophia pine over the ton’s Golden Boy for years, Miss Julia St. Claire has foresworn love and put herself firmly on the shelf. Unfortunately, her social-climbing mother and debt-ridden father have other ideas, and jump at the chance to marry Julia off to the newly-named Earl of Clivesden…the man of Sophia’s dreams.
Since resigning his Cavalry commission, Benedict Revelstoke has spent his time in London avoiding the marriage mart. But when he discovers that the Earl of Clivesden has set Julia in his sights, Benedict tries to protect his childhood best friend from the man’s advances—only to discover more than friendship driving his desire to defend her. He surprises them both with the force of his feelings, but when she refuses him and her father announces her betrothal, he fears he’s lost her forever—until Julia approaches him with a shocking scheme that will ruin her for all respectable society…
…and lead them into an exquisite world of forbidden pleasures
12/30/16
Ending the Malevolent Year on a Sour Note
I was hopeful to end on a high note, but alas: news this week that Simon and Schuster is not only publishing a horrific internet troll, but also giving him a nice advance. There are calls for boycotting S&S and calls for not buying his specific book, but (as you'll notice by my not naming him) I think all that's doing is giving him publicity. And we all know that any publicity is good publicity. Or so it seems. So while I appreciate the outrage and sentiment, I won't be joining in the boycott. It will only hurt S&S authors, some of whom are Own Voices authors or have messages directly countering the crapfest that book is going to be. Rest assured, however, that our community of book people aren't the target audience for that hate filled garbage anyway, so we wouldn't be buying it. My only guess is that S&S are counting on the Trump voters to buy it. The only boycott I would like to see is one by bookstores refusing to carry it so he never earns out his advance and isn't offered another contract.
Oh, and All Romance ebooks is closing with next to no notice, taking many readers' libraries and authors' royalties with it. This is a site that most people really liked and trusted. To see them steal from readers and authors like this is just so disheartening. I'm far too lazy to be anything but an Amazon girl, but this has reminded me that I really do need to figure out how to save my library somewhere. Although, truth be told, I've moved back to print for all but e-exclusives or novellas etc. I refuse to pay full print price for most of the Big 5 books, which, yes, was their strategy by pricing that way, but ... oh well.
The only bright spot for me is that I finally found a firm, confirmed release date for Elizabeth Peters's final book (finished by her friend, Joan Hess, after Peters passed away during revisions). The Painted Queen comes out in hardcover and ebook on July 25th. I've heard rumblings that this takes place between Falcon at the Portal and He Shall Thunder in the Sky, but I haven't been able to confirm that. If so, it's an exciting choice, as those years are some of the most emotionally fraught of the series. If you haven't read the Amelia Peabody series yet, it begins with the Crocodile on the Sandbank. The books are pricey, but it's from the late 70s. There are plenty of used copies floating out there.
On an even more optimistic note *knocks on wood* it appears that I've reclaimed the lost blogging mojo at least temporarily. This post should bring me level with last year's post total, and I still have two more posts to go! Woohoo! I've missed this little blog, even when I just couldn't find anything to say.
Review: The Art of Sinning by Sabrina Jeffries (2015)
Pub Date: August 2015
Publisher: Pocket
Length: 373 pages
POV: 3rd, past
FTC: Received for free at RT16 Convention
The Art of Sinning takes place within the expanded circle of characters from Jeffries' last series of novels, but is delightfully different. The hero is an American, an artist, and a widower—although that last part is a bit of a secret to all of his distant English relatives. The heroine is extremely tall, aristocratic, outspoken, and collects street cant for her slang dictionaries.
The set up is a bit unusual, too, because there are multiple motivations going on: Jeremy Keane wants Yvette to model for his new painting. Yvette's brother wants a portrait done to help "sell" his sister's charms to potential suitors. Keane doesn't usually paint portraits, which leads to him scheming with Yvette to do TWO paintings (keeping the second a secret) in exchange for helping her with a potentially dangerous quest of her own. Complicated...and that's just the first few chapters.
12/29/16
Review: Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase
Pub Date: March 2006
Publisher: Berkley Sensation (Penguin)
Length: 280 pages
POV: 3rd, past
FTC: No idea, although my copy is used. Likely from a library book sale.
I'm not sure why I've never glommed Loretta Chase's books, but it just never happened. So, consequently, there's still a lot of backlist to explore. Digging (literally) through my piles of books in search of something to read, I discovered this slender novel. The spine was partially ripped, the pages yellowed. I had, somehow, never read it. I didn't even realize I owned it.
I'm on the 'love' side of the Lord of Scoundrels debate. I adore that book. Others I've read by Chase were more forgettable. This kind of falls in the middle: cute, well done, but not amazing.
12/28/16
Review: Wicked in Your Arms by Sophie Jordan
Pub Date: August 2011
Publisher: Avon
Length: 355 pages
POV: 3rd, past
FTC: Received from the author at an RT convention (no idea which one)
I will be the first to say that this book should not work. It should be the silliest thing on the darn planet. It's a ridiculous fairy tale with a ridiculous plot that's not very suspenseful at all. But darn it, I read the entire thing in one sitting. I'm still not sure what happened.
12/27/16
Review: Flirting with Fire by Kate Meader
Pub Date: April 2015
Publisher: Pocket (Simon and Schuster)
Length: 376 pages
POV: 3rd, past
FTC: won as a prize at RT15 (free courtesy of the author)
My mission for the latter half of 2016 was to a) get back to reading and b) get back to blogging while c) reading books mostly from my TBR. While I managed to read, my blogging has been a bit lackluster. I'm happy to report, though, that I've mostly been able to stick with books that are already in my house (except for a few, rare auto-buy authors). My husband is ecstatic to see the pile get whittled even a little bit.
I'm a character-centric reader rather than a plot driven one, but one thing that I've been missing, that's been lost as imprints and publishers have consolidated over the last few years, is a wide variety of strong, distinct voices in romance. In many, many cases, *cough Avon cough* authors are "house-styled" into all sounding the same. Not the case with Kate Meader. Wowza does she have a strong, edgy voice...and this series is the perfect vehicle for it. Chicago firemen. A big, rowdy family. Enthusiastic sex. I broke my own rule for this series and bought the 3rd book (in e, so Hubs didn't see it) that wasn't in my TBR so I could finish it out. It's that good.
12/26/16
Review: The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis
Pub Date: October 2016
Publisher: Avon
Length: 361 pages
POV: 3rd
FTC: Purchased myself
The Trouble with Mistletoe is very much a holiday novel, both in the outward trappings of Christmas as well as the notion of forgiveness and an open heart.
For those unfamiliar with Jill Shalvis, she writes funny, sexy contemporaries that are packaged a bit like Debbie Macomber or Silhouette Special Editions, but are in no way similar. Don't be fooled. Her men (and women) are very much contemporary, so expect some bad language and steam. (Not really fond of her covers, although these are better than the headless torsos with random animals... Anyhoo...moving on.)
12/23/16
Review: Wild Darkness by Lauren Dane
Pub Date: November 2013
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Length: 277 plus glossary
POV: 3rd, past
FTC: Received for free at an RT Convention.
Given my current head space post-election, this was probably THE WORST book to read. Really. It's a paranormal romance, sorta, set in the middle of a political war where the US government is considering trying to strip anyone with paranormal characteristics of their citizenship and shipping them off to camps or exterminating them. Hate crimes and bigotry abound.
Yeah. Definitely the wrong book for right now, but I finished it anyway.
This is apparently part of a series, and although I've read plenty of other Lauren Dane books, I hadn't stumbled across these before. The series part is a tad important, because this book drops you pretty much in the middle of everything: political and civil unrest, relationships, etc. The backstory is pretty thin, so it feels like you've missed a bunch of set up. Because you have.
Another weird thing about the book is that the romance is secondary and almost-but-not-quite-fated-mate fast. I mean, we're told the two main characters have known each other awhile, but there is so little page time devoted to the relationship that it just feels odd. Also, the conflict is completely external in the book, so the relationship goes from zero to married by midway through the book. Which is, well, weird.
12/22/16
Review: The Seduction of Scandal by Cathy Maxwell
Pub Date: Sept 2011
Publisher: Avon
Length: 375 pages
POV: 3rd
FTC: Not sure if I paid for it or not, but from RT12 and signed by the author
I used to read Cathy Maxwell all of the time, but she's fallen off of my reading radar in the last several years.
This is a book that could have been excellent. I'd have loved it to either have a grittier take on the highwayman or a humorous take on the whole highwayman/reverend dichotomy. Alas, it does neither, and leaves itself to dwell in the land of Avon Homogeneity.
12/21/16
TBR Challenge Review: Baby, It's Cold Outside
Pub Date: November 2014
Publisher: Pocket
Length: 534 pages
POV: Various (including 1 first, past and 1 first, present)
FTC: Received for free from an RT convention
I'm finally digging into my RT Convention TBR again, and this time, I pulled out a holiday book just in time for...the holidays (and the TBR challenge)! (This never happens).
This one is a BIG anthology filled with contemporary romance novellas. Some by authors I've read before, some by new-to-me authors. And as with most anthologies, some were better than others.
Baby, It's Cold Outside has five stories by five different authors: Jennifer Probst, Emma Chase, Kristen Proby, Melody Anne, and Kate Meader. Of those, I've only ever read Kate Meader before.
12/1/16
Review: Under the Lights by Shannon Stacey
Pub Date: June 2015
Publisher: Jove/Penguin Random House
Length: 278 pages
POV: 3rd
FTC: Received at an RT Convention
First, let me say that I've been a fan of Shannon Stacy for awhile. At least back to her first title with Carina way back when. 6 years ago? more? I can't remember. Second, I'm not a sports fan. At. All. I'm not bragging about it, just making it clear that I'm reading this book as a non-sports person, so any errors or inside jokes are completely lost on me.
As for Under the Lights? Well...it's short. Almost category length, or at least it felt that way. Which, of course, limits what you're going to see on-page. We get a lot of time in the hero's head. A lot of introspection. We get less time with the heroine, and I'm not really sure if she ever felt fully fleshed out. She's divorced, was cheated on, and now works as a cop in the small town she grew up in. But I never really felt like we got inside her head.
There are a whole host of secondary characters here, some we get significant time with and some we really don't. I know there is sequel bait sprinkled everywhere, but many of the secondary characters were just...boring. I wasn't interested in learning their stories.
Also, to whoever decided that fund-raiser is hyphenated: NO. STOP IT ALREADY. I know Merriam has it hyphenated, but out in the real world, that compound word has no hyphen. NONE. I can't express how much that bugged me. And since the book's premise is based on a fundraiser, it was EVERYWHERE. /end shouting.
Overall, this was a sweet story about a quirky, run down small town, that is quick to read. It's not going to move you greatly, but it might entertain you for a couple of hours. I've read far better, more emotional books by this author.
My Grade: C+
The Blurb:
They were the golden boys of fall: Stewart Mills High School’s legendary championship winning football team. Fourteen years later, they’re back to relive their glory, save the team—and find themselves again…
Chase Sanders’s life has taken a lot of crazy turns lately. But returning to his hometown to help his old coach keep his high school football team afloat might be the craziest thing to happen to him yet. That is, until he starts falling for the last person he should—Coach’s gorgeous daughter…
Kelly McDonnell learned the hard way that cocky, charming men are nothing but trouble, so she knows Chase is bad news. Still, she can’t resist his smile—or the rest of him. But when his loyalty to her father conflicts with their growing attraction, any hope for a relationship might be blocked before it can even begin…
9/6/16
Review: City of Light (an Outcast Novel) by Keri Arthur
Pub Date: January 2016
Publisher: Signet
Length: 368 pages
FTC: Received for free from RT16, presumably from the author or publisher
POV: 1st, past
To my knowledge, this is my first novel by Keri Arthur. I'm not a huge Urban Fantasy reader, and those that I do read are usually UF with strong romantic elements. This is not that type of book.
As my limited experience with UF has shown me, first books are often the worst in a series, simply because SO MUCH TIME is spent on world building. It's just the nature of the beast that the story will drag a bit. Added to that, I'm sure I'm missing some of the shortcuts I'm supposed to get because I don't read a lot of the genre...there were times I was flat-out-lost in the details of who was supposed to do what. It's a lot to remember. Overall, though, this was different, compelling, and emotional enough to keep me reading.
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