Review: Looking for Trouble by Victoria Dahl

Format: ebook, mass market paperback
Pub Date: July 29, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin
Length:352 pages
FTC: Review copy courtesy of the publisher


Victoria Dahl writes powerful books. Sometimes they click with me and sometimes they don't. I have DNF'd as many books as I've loved, so I never know which it will be when I start one. This time, I really liked everything about this book.

Although all Dahl heroines are more than a little bit naughty, this one was different from anything else I've read by this author. She was two people: her public persona reminiscent of the stereotypical librarian, and her private love of thrills and apologetically dirty sex.

Summer Craft: Bleach Pen Shirts for the Boys

We're midway through summer already, and unfortunately stuck inside due to an unusually warm July. Like weeks of triple digits...in the Sierras. We normally get exactly 2 days of 100 degree temps in mid-August. We're not used to this :(

Enter: super crafting mom. I'm combating video-game-itis and couch-potato inclinations by making the boys craft with me. But I'm also lazy, so I tend to go with whatever craft looks like the most bang for the buck/time/mess. Pinterest came to the rescue yet again with pages upon pages of bleach pen ideas. Unfortunately, none of the feminine designs appealed to the boys, so we just made up our own.

TBR Challenge Review: No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean

Format: Mass Market, ebook
Pub Date: December 2013
Publisher: Avon
Length: 382 pages
FTC: Received at RT14

Miracle of miracles, I had a book in the easily accessible part of my TBR that fit the theme. This book is a RITA finalist for this year, which means it hasn't been languishing in the pile very long at all...which is probably why it's accessible. Ah, well.

Looking at the list of finalists for this year, I was surprised by how many I have read. My reading time has been severely limited this last year, but I've managed to read 9 finalists. That's more than any other year. Woohoo!

I've read Sarah MacLean before, but I admit I've gotten out of the habit of reading historical romances lately. My tastes have been running to Urban Fantasy, romantic suspense, and small town contemporaries, but I decided to give this one a shot anyway.

Review: Goddess with a Blade by Lauren Dane

Format: paperback, ebook
Pub Date: 2011
Publisher: Carina
Length: 296 pages
FTC: Free copy courtesy of the publisher at RT14

 I've read Lauren Dane's erotic romances before, but this is the first paranormal book I've read by her. It's an unusual concept: the title is quite literal. The protagonist is a Vampire Hunter skilled with a blade, but she's also a vessel for a goddess. Basically, the person who cleans up vampire messes (crimes) if the vampires can't take care of it themselves: usually by killing the offending vampire. 

I know lots of people are suffering paranormal fatigue, but I'm not there yet. I tend to lean more towards the Urban Fantasy side than the romance side which probably helps...and this book is definitely one where the romance is a smaller part of the novel. A subplot, even, despite the explicit scenes.

Every UF/Paranormal romance claims to be different. Goddess With a Blade isn't completely original, but it has enough new ideas to seem fresher than the majority of other offerings. The goddess angle is part of it, but this also has echoes of the old hardboiled detective stories...with a twist. It's set in Vegas and the surrounding desert, and instead of dames in trouble, the dame is the one doing the investigating. It has the glamor vs. seediness element you'd expect, but just as you get a handle on the type of book this is, Dane throws you another curveball.

Summer Crafting: Dish Brush Painting

Fireworks painted by my 8 year old.

I've seen this technique featured all over Pinterest for 4th of July fireworks painting. The  instructions can be found here. Basically, you use an old dish brush as a paint brush, but there's a bit more to the technique than it first appears.

If you can't find an old dish brush, or if your dish brush was gross like mine, you can use a new one from the local dollar store. To get it ready for painting, take a dry brush and (bristles down) squish it against a hard surface with the heel of your hand. You want to separate the bristles.

You'll use the same technique to paint, too.

The second trick is to go easy on the paint. Dip your brush, then dab it either on a paper towel or an empty area of your palette. Then, firmly press on the brush until the bristles are flattened and the paint creates an impression. The dry brush technique gives you that wispy look for the fireworks.

Lastly, use different brushes for each color or thoroughly clean the brush between colors. I'd recommend letting the paint at least partially dry between colors.

The fluffy looking fireworks reminded me of colorful dandelions, so I applied the same technique using white paint and black paper. I also used a bit of gold paint in the center of the dish brush and dotted it in the center.

Now I'm wondering what else I can use this technique on...

Recipe: Striped Tea Sandwiches

I finally caved and signed up with the DVD Netflix service. We lost our local DVD store last year (the owner retired--amazingly, the business was financially healthy), and while most people have gone to streaming, our internet is just not up to snuff enough to reliably do that. So onto Netflix I went, determined to find some older movies that our crappy Redbox just doesn't offer.  We made it a film noir night with Out of the Past. Since my viewing buddies are my mom and her 70-something BFF, I made tiny tea sandwiches to go with. These are adapted from The Book of Afternoon Tea.

Striped Tea Sandwiches
3 oz sliced cooked ham
4 teaspoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
4 teaspoons chopped fresh chives
salt and pepper
1/2 cup (or more) butter, softened*

4 slices white bread
4 slices soft wheat bread

Finely chop ham. In medium bowl, mix ham, mayo and mustard well

In another bowl, mix cream cheese, chives, salt and pepper. Butter 2 slices each (4 total) white and whole wheat bread on one side only and remaining 2 slices each (4 total) white and whole wheat on both sides. *The butter provides a barrier and prevents the sandwiches from becoming soggy. It also helps "glue" everything together.

Spread half of the ham mixture on buttered sides of 2 whole wheat bread slices. (You are making two giant sandwiches). Cover with white bread that has been buttered on both sides. Spread cream cheese over white bread. Cover with brown bread which has been buttered on both sides. Spread with remaining ham mixture and top with white bread, buttered side down.

Cover sandwiches and refrigerate at least 15 minutes.

Remove crusts from bread. Cut each sandwich into 6 pieces. Makes 12.

Review: The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan

Format: print, e
Pub Date: 2012
Publisher: Self published
Length: novella
FTC: Print copy received from the author at RT14 in New Orleans

As a general rule, I avoid self published works. There's just been too much reviewer-bashing and an aversion to professional editing in that community. But I'm familiar enough with both Courtney Milan's professionalism AND her writing to set that aside. And I'm glad I did. I really liked this novella.

The Governess Affair is a prequel to her Brothers Sinister series. It's not very long, but it still manages to convey the story, the emotion, and the set up for the series.

Serena Barton is a problem. Her stoic, silent presence outside the Duke of Clermont's home is threatening the financial well being of the duke, and therefore of his problem-solver, Hugo Marshall.
The Duke's finances are tied to his wife's happiness and the duchess would be very, very unhappy if she hears just why Miss Barton is outside on the bench. Hugo, who has been promised a significant sum to help the duke regain his wife's affections, must find a way to solve the problem and get rid of Miss Barton.

This is a condensed version of a classic Regency set up. The main difference here is not the heroine but the hero. Usually this ends up with the governess and the peer. This time, it's the governess and a problem solver working for the very man who wronged the heroine. It's a sticky situation, one that surprisingly awakens Hugo's rarely used conscience.

Despite the short length, the characters are vividly portrayed and the romance is believable and moving. It's a very good prequel to the series and made me interested enough to immediately buy the next in the series.

My Grade: A

The Blurb:

Hugo Marshall earned the nickname "the Wolf of Clermont" for his ruthless ambition--a characteristic that has served him well, elevating the coal miner's son to the right hand man of a duke. When he's ordered to get rid of a pestering governess by fair means or foul, it's just another day at work.

But after everything Miss Serena Barton has been through at the hands of his employer, she is determined to make him pay. She won't let anyone stop her--not even the man that all of London fears. They might call Hugo Marshall the Wolf of Clermont, but even wolves can be brought to heel...

Happy Independence Day!

From the Taylorsville, CA 4th of July Parade. I hope everyone had a safe, happy, and healthy Independence Day!

Recipes: Gourmet Popcorn Party

For an entire week this month (the last week of school), I became obsessed with gourmet popcorn recipes. I bought myself an air popper like this one, and then I scoured the internet looking for recipes. The results were taken to my sons' elementary school and left in the teachers' break room. Partly because the teachers were getting summer-itis too, and partly so I wouldn't eat all of that popcorn. I'm definitely going to do this again and probably tie it in with Staff Appreciation Week.

To no one's surprise, the sweet popcorn recipes were by far the favorite, but there were some other good ones, too! None of these take more than 40 minutes to throw together (including curing time for the caramel corn), although there's some that require time to set up and/or cool. The cinnamon one was my favorite.

The Savory:

Italian Breadstick Popcorn

Chili Lime Popcorn

The Sweet:

Salted Chocolate Caramel Popcorn

 












Cinnamon Bun Popcorn

S'mores Popcorn 

TBR Challenge Review: Hellfire by Ann Aguirre

Pub Date:April 2010
Publisher: ROC Fantasy
Length: 315 pages
FTC: Received for free at an RT Convention event (no idea which one)

Today is TBR day, but I'm going off script and not following today's theme. I've read Ann Aguirre as Ava Gray, but not in her SFF persona. I'm not sure what prompted me to grab this out of the ole TBR, but I took it with me to read on the never ending plane rides to New Orleans and back.

I started reading this not really aware that it is #2 in the Corine Solomon series. So I was a little taken aback to find a ton of backstory missing. Grrr. My own fault, though, since it says in probably 3 different places that there was a book before this one. Oh well.

RT Convention 2014: Part Two

Yesterday, I highlighted what I think went wrong at the convention. Today, I'm going to dole out some praise.

The Marriott: I checked in Monday night, so I'm not sure how the lines were Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning, but we had zero problems checking in. Our room was ready, check in was smooth and pleasant.

The Marriott also had plenty of security on site.  There were water stations in every hall. The chairs were set up in ways that allowed for aisles (that has not always been the case). And while we didn't have microphones when we really could have used them, they were responsive and polite when asked for help with any logistical problem.

It also took us until Friday morning (and an event on the 41st floor) to jack up the elevators. Other than Friday, I didn't have a problem with waiting on an elevator more than a few minutes. Friday, of course, they rebelled and began refusing to assign elevators to anyone. The escalators managed the heavy loads just fine, too, which was a nice change from when we broke them at the last convention I attended.

RT Booklovers Convention 2014

I'm back from my 3rd RT Convention and finally past that horribly narcoleptic phase of post-convention exhaustion. As always, I wish I had managed to see more of the city, but RT keeps you busy. I have some mixed feelings to this year's convention, but first, I have to annoy you with my travel photos.

*drumroll*

 

Our view from our room in the Marriott.

 

Canal St. Streetcar that I never got to ride :(

 

 Marie Laveau's tomb (left) at St. Louis Cemetery #1

The tombs have such intricate ironwork. I loved the patina.

TBR Challenge Review: Lover Reborn by JR Ward

Format: Hardcover (now available in mmpb and ebook)
Pub Date: 2012
Publisher: New American Library
Length: 590 pages
FTC: Purchased myself

There are a ton of reasons for a book to end up in my TBR pile. Sometimes I go on a book buying spree. Sometimes I pick up a book intending to read it, only to be distracted by a shinier title or by real life obligations. Sometimes the mood just isn't right. None of that happened here. This time, the book has languished because of Twitter spoilers. I made the mistake of going onto Twitter on release day before I had received my copy. By the time Amazon delivered my shiny hardcover, several major plot points were spoiled, and I was feeling meh about the book and the series. And Twitter, too.

This month's theme is More Than One (meaning more than one book by this author in the TBR), and yes, despite feeling uninspired by the series and the book, I bought the next book in the series anyway. It's a sickness. 

Ward's books are problematic for me. On one hand, I have to admire her over-the-top writing style. It's ridiculous, really, but still oddly addictive. It's highly consistent, with weird brand name dropping, verb-creation, and improbable dialogue. It's also problematic thanks to the not-so-subtle cultural appropriation, violence and misogyny.

In Progress Review: Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line Audiobook

Format: Audio Download
Length: 8 hrs 42 minutes
Narrator: Kristen Bell

Since life has gotten ridiculously out-of-control busy the last few months, I'm left with just listening to audiobooks to wind down at night. No time to actually read. As a fan of the series, and of mysteries, I was excited that they were coming out with a Veronica Mars mystery. I mean, the series is noir already, right? Unfortunately, it doesn't translate to audio well.

Set just after the recent Veronica Mars movie, the book opens with Keith Mars still recovering from his car accident and Veronica holding down the fort. It's not going well and cases are few and far between. Until the local Chamber of Commerce hires her to find out what happened to missing college coed on Spring Break.

As far as mysteries go, the missing Spring-Breaker isn't all that original. I must have read the same set up a dozen times over the years. I really wanted a lot more character interaction than I've gotten so far. It's dragging! (I'm a little over 3 hrs in).

The absolute biggest mistake the production team made was having Kristen Bell narrate this. No offense meant to Bell. It's not that her voices stink (although they do), it's that the book is written in the third person. After watching 3 seasons and a movie of Veronica Mars being told with Kristen Bell's first-person voice-over, this switch just doesn't work.

I'm not sure if I'm going to finish this book or not. Right now, it's an excellent way to fall asleep, but not really all that compelling otherwise. Meanwhile, I'm hoping that I can actually read a book on the plane to the RT Convention in New Orleans.

Local News

A few weeks ago, I asked everyone on Twitter if they'd heard of Wall's ice cream because the company had decided to film here in my little town in the mountains. Since it's primarily a British company, most had not.

They recently completed the commercial, which has been getting a lot more attention than I for one thought it would. It's been featured on HuffPo and Perez Hilton. It even made it to more mainstream news like this article on ABC.

It's interesting to watch the Negative Nellies in the comments. Some are outraged that cops would "misuse their authority." Some are upset that public resources are being "wasted" for a PR campaign.

Yes, that really is our sheriff. No, he really isn't neglecting anything. He's an administrator. And although we aren't crime-free here, this is an example of what happens around here. A snippet from our actual Sheriff's Blotter (all calls that come into the Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center).

As far as the "misuse of authority" thing, I'm sure Sheriff Hagwood checked this out with our county counsel. And I'm equally sure he covered his rear end by pulling over people for a real violation. It's not difficult to find something: speeding (the speed limit in that area is 25mph), something hanging off their rear view mirror, obscured license plates...

Although I didn't get pulled over, I'm amazed that so many were fooled by this. To be honest, our sheriff doesn't pull people over. We have SO MANY CHP in this county that nearly all traffic issues are handled through them and not our Sheriff's Dept. Parking at the front of the courthouse (where everyone is pulled over) is nearly always filled, but here it's obviously been blocked off. And if people were paying attention, they knew through social media that a commercial was being filmed here.

But what about those who were made late by this stunt? Well, everyone is late here in town. It's almost a cultural thing (that really drives my punctual self batty). But rest assured, no one has to deal with traffic issues: there are a grand total of 2 stoplights and 5500 people in the town.

People here thought it was hilarious. Not only do we nearly all know Sheriff Hagwood, but most of us know at least one person in that commercial. We love our town. We love that we have no traffic and very little crime. Sheriff Hagwood did not receive compensation for this, but Wall's did donate to our local animal shelter and our arts council in his name. I'm calling that a win.

In Defense of TSTL

In Defense of TSTL: or more, accurately, in defense of labeling characters as TSTL (Too Stupid To Live).

Today on Twitter, I stumbled across a series of tweets by Ann Aguirre where she railed against the gendered double standard when it comes to the TSTL label in genre fiction. She also made the claim that TSTL is a useless label because characters are supposed to be flawed and sometimes make poor decisions when scared or angry.

For me and many of my reviewing colleagues, we don't apply TSTL when a character acts in a way we would not. We apply it when the character acts in a way *they* would not based upon the characterization shown.

There's a second, separate application of TSTL, though, that comes directly out of the damsel in distress trope. Many, many readers cannot stand it when a character does something against all common sense that places themselves or others in peril. It's a judgment, absolutely, but it's one I make in real life, too.   For example: I can't stand those people who set out to go hiking ill prepared and end up risking the lives of those who have to come rescue them.

The main reason it's usually the heroine who gets the label is because it's usually the heroine who has been written as having done something that imperiled others. Show me a hero who puts himself or others in danger through poor decision making or a misguided belief in his own abilities, and I will slap him with a TSTL label as well. That includes the men who won't see a doctor when injured, who insist on doing something alone when they really need help etc.

The biggest reason any character gets that label, at least from me, is because the author failed to make me understand why the character made those poor decisions. It was a failure in storytelling. TSTL is a result of the reader being pulled from the story enough to be annoyed, frustrated, incredulous about the progress of the plot. Done right, with sufficient skill, a heroine (or hero) can act like an idiot and no one judges them. That's successful storytelling.

TBR Challenge Review: A SEAL's Seduction by Tawny Weber

Format: mass market, ebook
Pub Date: April 1, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin
Length: 229 pages
FTC: Purchased myself

Since I missed last month's TBR Challenge, I was determined to not miss this one. But of course, spring is crazy busy what with Easter AND Oldest's birthday on the same weekend. Which is why I'm squeaking this review in at the very last few hours of TBR Day. I have no idea when I purchased this; it was in the digital TBR.

A SEAL's Seduction did a much better job skirting my usual issues with Romantic Suspense than most of the books I've tried recently. I liked that the conflict was multi-layered and believable. I liked the characters, even the secondary ones. I really liked that the "sex in dangerous situations" was kept to a minimum although I admittedly skimmed them because as is usual with this line, there are just too many for my personal taste.

Review: Bite Me by Shelly Laurenston

Format: Trade paperback, ebook
Pub Date: March 25, 2014
Publisher: Kensington
Length: 384 pages
ISBN: 9780758265241
FTC: Review copy courtesy of the publisher

I'll be the first to admit that I'm probably not as critical as I should be with Shelly Laurenston's Pride series. I'm a huge fangirl and the books are such unmitigated fun that I let things slide past me that would normally elicit criticism. I have to say, though, that this book was one of the better ones in recent memory. All because of these two word: honey. badger.

Audiobook Review: Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

Format: Digital
Pub Date: March 11, 2014
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Length: 10 hrs 5 min
FTC: Purchased myself

There are very few books I look forward to as much as a new Patricia Briggs book. Sadly, the anticipation was for naught with Night Broken. The story lacked punch and forward momentum, and the secondary characters we know and love pop in and out without much rationale or impact.

CYE: It's Ebook Settlement Day!

Woke up to a very nice email telling me I had over $30 to spend at Amazon thanks to the ebook settlement. Then I went onto Twitter and found out I'm a total slacker in the book buying department. Either that, or I was disciplined enough not to buy a lot of Agency-Priced books during the settlement period.

What are YOU buying with your settlement money?