I survived yesterday

Though I did go home for my break and took a shower. I just didn't want to be that hot and sticky for the rest of the day. There are definite perks to living only about five minutes from work.

Today there's a heat advisory. Oh yay. You can see the lovely forecast for yourself here.

On other news, I finished up my very first Nora Roberts (I don't count JD Robb as Nora). Finished up Angels Fall last night. Will try to get the review up soon.

Also am reading The King's Own by Lorna Freeman. The woman really needs a website. I feel like I want to email her and bug her about the next book in the series since I want it RIGHT NOW. I really need to read more fantasy than I have been. I miss it. So will add more fantasy to my reading. I do have plenty on my shelf that I haven't read.

A Week of Bad Boys, Good Spies, Unforgettable Lovers

Ugh....it's going to be a miserable day. It's tent sale weekend at the bookstore and it's going to be hot as hell and humid as...well, something really humid. So wish me luck and pray no one faints from heat stroke. For example, it's 72 right now. With a dew point of 70. Can we say YUCK? And it's supposed to get up to 94. There are already heat advisories to the west of us. *cry*

On happier news, my back feels much better. Not one hundred percent, but no shooting pains and I can bend over fine. I'll take it easy this weekend, but I think I won't have to go to the doctor. Yay!

And on other not-so-happy front, Gambit is still sneezing. But he's not looking lethargic and is still eating just as much food as usual, so we won't be taking him into the vet yet.

Well, gotta get ready to go to work. I usually love my job, but I really don't want to go today. I don't think it's going to be pretty.

Tagged! Four Things

4 things
Looks like Fiona tagged me!

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Telemarketer
2. Libary assistant at a college library
3. Rttail clerk
4. Bookseller

Four movies I would watch over and over (and have):
1. Mulan
2. The Rock
3. LOTR
4. The Fifth Element

Four places I have lived:
1. Richland, WA
2. Cave Junction, OR
3. Crescent City, CA
4. St. Cloud, MN

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. House
2. What Not to Wear (both TLC and BBC versions)
3. Mythbusters
4. Numb3rs

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Seattle, WA and the San Juan Islands
2. Cascade Mountains camping
3. Olympic peninsula
4. Inkster, ND

Websites I visit daily:
1. Kinja.com (for all my blogging)
2. CNN.com
3. Likesbooks.com
4. Yahoo! Mail to check my junkmail folder

Four of my favourite foods:
1. Popcorn
2. Diet Dr. Pepper
3. Pizza
4. Ice Cream

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Everett, WA to go whale watching
2. ND
3. I have no clue
4. I have no clue

Not going to tag anyone since I think everyone else has done it!

Ebooks I'm thinking about buying

Headed over to Loose Id and this caught my eye:

Animal Dreams by Jeanne Laws


After spending the first 24 years of her life trying to be what her mother wanted her to be, Mandy Bartlett has finally decided to follow her heart. After dropping out of law school and breaking off her engagement, she moves to her uncle’s ranch in the heart of the California redwoods. For years Mandy has had dreams of Lyndell Falls and the wild horse that she is sure lives there, but her mother’s deep-seated hatred of her birthplace had made visiting impossible until now. Mandy meets the strangely familiar Jacob Morgan, and sinking into his eyes seems the ultimate coming home. But when it becomes obvious that someone is trying to kill her, can she really trust a man with secrets?

It was almost a decade ago when Jacob, a horse-shifter, found his mate, a pooka, in Lyndell Falls. Complete happiness eluded him, however, when a prophecy was foretold, ripping his life apart. Now, the one girl he could never forget has moved back to his forest hideout, and he has to find a way to tell her the truth about the past. Because their attraction is too strong for either one of them to fight, and now that he has her again he knows he can never let her go.

Mandy Bartlett spent her whole life feeling like she was too weird for words – the fact that she could talk to her dog was just the beginning. But when she travels to rural Lyndell Falls she realizes that maybe she’s not so strange after all. In Lyndell she finds witches, sorcerers and prophecies, oh my! And when she meets the sexy horse-shifter from her dreams, she knows she’s in for a wild ride.


The Hunted by Rachel Carrington



Ariana fell in love with the wrong man.…a vampire.

It’s even more complicated than it sounds. Not only is Joquinn creature of the night, dripping with sexual allure, and creepily undead, but she is the protégé of a goddess. Commanded, even driven, to kill the undead.

Yet Joquinn is more than just a vampire to Ariana. And when she finds out she’s been duped by her benefactress, a smooth-talking sorceress, he may be the only thing that can keep her alive.

But can the hunter trust The Hunted?



Anyone know anything about them? I've read some Rachel Carrington stuff, but never heard of the other author. I might pick these up next time I have the urge to buy some ebooks. Just not this month. I want to be good for another week.

New template

The wonderful Mailyn made me this template last night. I really like it.


And in other news, it's that time of the month AND I wrenched something in my back this morning. So went home early from work. So I'm sitting here with ice on my back. Ugh. I also learned that it's mighty hard to work in a bookstore when you can't bend over.

Covenants by Lorna Freeman

I really love it when I find a new fantasy author to enjoy. I finished this one this evening and already went on to Amazon to grab the next one. But dang it, Lorna Freeman doesn't have a website.



TROOPER


A horse soldier, Rabbit is nothing but a grunt in the Royal Army of Iversterre. A lost grint, seeing as how his unit can't seem to find its way out of the mountains. But help comes from an unexpected source: a Faena—or "magical"—from the Border kingdom.

NOBLE


The Faena, a mountain cat named Laurel, blows Rabbit's cover. Turns out he's not just some poor Border farm boy turned trooper, but the son of Iversterre nobility. And their chance meeting is nothing of the kind. Laurel needs Rabbit's help to stop a war.

MAGE


Smugglers from Iversterre have been making runs into the Border, killing its sacred beings. It's enough to make even the calmest Border-born angry. Especially Rabbit. For he's keeping another secret about himself. And it's about to explode—in a big way...

The Border trounced Iversterre once. it will happen again. Unless Rabbit can keep his cool and learn the rules of a game he's never wanted to play...


I just loved this book. It just sucked me in and I couldn't stop reading it once I started. It's a fat book (well, only 544 pages), but doesn't read that way. Rabbit goes through so much in the book and there are plenty of surprises along the way. There's magic, action, political intrigue, and fascinating characters. I know I'm being lousy about explaining why I liked this book, but I did enjoy it immensely. I just liked the writing and world-building and everything.

And I loved it so much I had to immediately order the next book. Should be here by Thursday!

Books I read while on vacation

As promised, the books I read on vacation.

Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund



Okay, while I liked the book, I didn't love it. I kept wondering what the big deal was with the whole secret society. I just felt that their importance wasn't conveyed well enough in the story. But I really liked the voice and that's what really saved the book. It's incredibly readable and I whipped through it in the car ride. But after just a week I'd think I would have more to say other than that it was kinda meh. Good enough that I'll definitely check out the next book, but am glad that I got this one from the library and will get the next one the same way.

I See You by Holly Lisle



I really enjoyed this one. I've liked her previous suspense books, too. I loved the mixture of romance and suspense with a little paranormal mixed in. I didn't guess who the bad guy and loved being surprised. I also liked the EMT/Paramedics aspect.

Rogue Angel: Destiny by Alex Archer



This one was a lot of fun. I love archaeology, so it was a good fit for me. It also had some great legends and historical aspects that were fun, like Joan of Arc and the Beast of whatchamacallit (I can't remember). I know some of you are reading The Madonna Key series (or at least the first one) and I think you'd like this one. It's got a cool kickass heroine, too. No romance, but it's still a great adventure story. I look forward to reading more of the series. Looks like there are 12 books contracted, according to this interview I found.

The Kept Woman by Susan Donovan



I also enjoyed this book. It was just the right one to read on a lazy afternoon. It wasn't quite as good as some of the other Donovan books I've read, but it was definitely cute and sweet.

Also read the first volume of Les Bijoux. Interesting plot ideas, but it was really too confusing and jumbled together to really get into.

I am back

So I'm back home. Wedding went off without a single hitch. Yes, apparently that can actually happen.

I feel so out of the loop even though I was able to do a bit of checking up throughout the week. So is there any juicy gossip I may have missed? Any interesting blog posts from last week I should know about?

We'll be picking up Gambit tomorrow morning from the vet. I'm sure he thinks we've abandoned him.

There are no fast food restaurants right off the Burnsville exit. This was highly annoying. And an accident on 494 that made traffic move vewwy vewwy slowly.

I bought three Blaze books at Target tonight and get home to realize that one that I'd really wanted to get, I grabbed the wrong one. Hmph. So I got The Domino Effect by Julie Elizabeth Leto instead of If You Could Read My Mind... by Jeanie London that I wanted. The others I got were Hide & Seek by Samantha Hunter and Just Trust Me... by Jill Shalvis. Is Blaze going ellipses happy?

I did get a fair amount of reading done, but really don't have the patience to do individual posts for them. So I'll do one long one.

Editing to mention one really funny incident:

The mother of the groom had a brief encounter with "this weird guy" at our hotel.

Turns out she passed by Rob Zombie who was staying at our hotel (The Radisson in Fargo). We all got a kick out of it. She's definitely not the type to know who he is, but she does now!

Jumping up and down!

Oh yes, I am. I will head tomorrow morning to the library. Where waiting for me will be...

Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund!



Yes indeedy, it is there. Just waiting for me. Aren't you all jealous? I plan to read it on the trip. Hope the meclizine works.

In other news, Wednesday was my 3rd wedding anniversary! And then I got sick on Thursday and went home from work. But the two are not related. Really. Now I'm feeling all better.

And the other news. I'll be gone until a week from Sunday night. Going up to ND for my SIL's wedding! I may get online some, but might not be too much. Just depends on what goes on. So tomorrow we head off. Poor Gambit's going to the vet for boarding. And apparently he's due for a fecal sample. :-) Didn't you just want to know that? I feel really bad for leaving him there, but what else can we do?

Template help

Anyone out there want to change my template into a 3-column style? Same colors and pics as now, just add a sidebar opposite the current one.

I just don't have the patience right now to decide on something completely different. Not to mention this one is rather sentimental and I do love it. I just want another column.

Upcoming paranormal book info

Just browsing Amazon before work and came across some interesting stuff.

A Kiss of Darkness byLara Adrian. You can see the cover at her blog. Looks to be a new vampire series. Looks like the series will be called the Midnight Breed. I'm going to be on the lookout for these!

For anyone who liked Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur, she has three books in the same series coming out in February, March, and April of next year. And the paperback release of Full Moon Rising looks to be coming out in January 2007 (although it looks to be technically end of Dec. as the release date is Dec. 26th).

Jaci Burton of EC is having her first Bantam Dell release with Surviving Demon Island coming out Dec. 26th, also.

Kimberly Raye has a vampire romance called Dead and Dateless coming out Jan. 30, 2007. Looks to be the sequel to Dead End Dating that's coming out in September. Can't wait!

Then there's the other two books in Cherry Adair's paranormal military series, Edge of Darkness and Edge of Fear.

Susan Krinard fans will be happy. Lord of the Beasts is coming out in October. It's the sequel to The Forest Lord.

And woohoo, September brings Gena Showalter's Playing With Fire. I can't wait to read this one. Love the cover, too.

March 2007 will bring Real Vampires Have Curves by Gerry Bartlett.

What—did you think all vamps were pale, thin and brooding?
Don’t I wish.
Me, I just happened to be bloating when a sexy Scotsman sank his teeth into me, so here I am, eternally “full-figured.” On the plus side, Glory St. Claire can rock a corset like nobody’s business. Oh, and as for Angus Jeremiah Campbell III, aka Jeremy Blade? We’ve been on and off again for centuries, currently off. After a couple hundred years we sure know how to press each other’s hot buttons—in good ways and bad.
The whole never-aging thing means that a girl’s gotta keep moving, and I’m headed for Austin and a new business venture: Vintage Vamp’s Emporium. After all, I love cute clothes, and I am an antique. Only problem is, there’s a billionaire techno-freak vampire hunter on the loose. Blade’s in total he-vampire mode, and orders me to move in so he can “protect” me. But I’m sick of the not-so-little woman thing. It’s time for this vamp to explore her own powers . . .


And January will also bring MelJean's Demon Angel!!

So there are just a few. Time for me to get ready for work, so I'm going to finish this up. Sorry there aren't any pictures!

Claire Fontaine, Crime Fighter by Tracey Enright

Since I'm going to be gone next week when most of my library books are due, I have to finish up some of them (if possible, sadly, some will go back unread). So yesterday I decided I was going to read Claire Fontain, Crime Fighter by Tracey Enright. And it's a nice, cute, fun read.



A Novel of Life and Death...and Shoes

Claire Fontaine is sassy, sexy, sophisticated, and rich. Henry Bennett is fat, sloppy, slow, and a bad dresser. He's a private eye, and as far as he's concerned, she's his assistant. As far as she's concerned, he's her partner. Their entire relationship, in fact, is one big difference of opinion, and the results are hilarious.

Now Henry has been hired to investigate the murder of a young woman who liked to party. Claire helps (or hinders, depending on your point of view) when she can drag herself away from her Brentwood mansion and the James Bond-like hunk who lives next door. As Claire and Henry try to trace the victim's last known companions, they stumble across streets that the rich and famous desperately try to hide.

If you like sleuths who are stylish, seductive, and full of great fun, then Claire Fontaine is the crime fighter for you.


Like I said, this is a quick read. But it's also chock full of fun. I'd definitely classify it in the chick lit mystery section. Claire is high society and only has her job with Bennett because she has friends in high places. It's not really mentioned why she pulled strings to get the job, but it's implied that she's just bored with her life and wants something meaningful to do. And oddly enough, it works.

There's a bit of romance with a mysterious neighbor, although it gets a bit derailed halfway through when Claire does a monumentally stupid thing. Not TSTL, just stupid. More of a "what were you thinking?" moment. I liked how all the clues are shown, it's fun to see Claire working through everything.

The relationship between her and Henry is also a great one. It's obvious that she's starving for attention and really want to be good at something. This really isn't that annoying, just there. She's not exactly your everyday woman with her designer clothing and accessories (and we do get those designer names, but they're important to Claire, so it fits in how she thinks of them). But she's also a sympathetic character and I really enjoyed getting to know her.

So I'm going to definitely read the next book. I think this is the start of a fun series. Also, as far as I know, Tracey Enright doesn't have a website. And this is her first book. but you can read an excerpt here, just scroll down a bit.

Betting Hearts by Dee Tenorio

Bah, I've been so busy lately, it seems. But, as promised, here's my thoughts on Betting Hearts by Dee Tenorio:



He's never lost a bet in his life but she's playing for keeps!

Cassandra Bishop’s boyfriend is back. Only problem is…she doesn’t want anything to do with him. Or his new fiancée. What the confirmed tomboy would like is to wring his neck. She might have done it, too, if he hadn’t filled her in on the embarrassing truth that he'd left her at the altar because she wasn’t woman enough to satisfy him. Her pride nearly settled for punching him in the nose…until she thought of something better—proving him wrong.

High on Burke Hallifax’s list of cataclysmic nightmares is having to look at his best friend as a real female. But when her ex-fiancé makes his wedding a personal vendetta against Cass, Burke has no choice but to bet everything on her ability to out hot-girl the competition. Unfortunately, the entire town is betting as well—on whether Burke and Cass can pull off the makeover of the century…without losing their hearts in the process.


I really enjoyed this book. It has one of my favorite premises, the friends to lovers theme, and does it well. I liked Cass. She comes across as pretty real and I liked her relationship with Burke. They definitely are just friends as the book starts. It was great fun to see their perceptions of each other change and grow. I loved that at the end of the book, Cass is still Cass. She's changed, yes, but she has stayed true to who she is. And I love that Burke loves her for it. And the thoughts that run through Burke's head when he realizes he's becoming attracted to Cass are just wonderful.

I wondered if I felt the ex-fiance's actions were over the top, but they actually really worked for me. I'm sure we all have run across people who are just incredibly self-centered and vindictive. We'd like to think they don't exist, but they do. I mean, we wish TSTL women didn't exist, but really, they do. Sadly, they do.

There are plenty of funny scenes, as well as some hot ones. *sigh* I just really enjoyed reading this one. I'm definitely going to read more of Tenorio's stuff. You can buy it from Samhain here.

Because the world needs more Gambit pics






Moxie Press has books available!

Yeesh, why didn't anyone tell me that Moxie Press had finally opened its doors????



So All Night Long and Absolute Trouble by Michele Albert are both now available! I haven't read these yet so I'm going to have to get them soon. And my, what gorgeous covers they have.

Friday....

Well, today was my day off. Spent most of it running around. Week from tomorrow we leave for ND to attend my SIL's wedding. And you know, I'm never happy, so now I have a NEW dress. Similar style, I just decided on one with 3/4 length sleeves. :-) Also got my haircut even though I wasn't going to. And bought a bra at VS that I will now take back. And shoes from Payless that I think aren't as comfortable as I want. So I think those will go back. And I will continue to lust after their $95 counterparts from Von Maur.

On the book front:

Cover of Night by Linda Howard - really enjoyed it. Was only my second Linda Howard.
Mackenzie's Pleasure (er, whatever one had Joe) by Linda Howard - finished this last night and really enjoyed it.
Captive of My Desires by Johanna Lindsey - back to the Malorys and was good. Not her best, but definitely not her worst. It reminded me a lot of Gentle Rogue.

And yes, I still have some book reviews to write out. I promise to get to them soon!

We have a square foot piece of cork that's been lying on the floor and Gambit loves it. He sits on it, lies on it, kneads it with his paws and generally loves it.

My August issue of RT came today. Along with an issue of Real Simple. Seems my wonderful SIL bought me a subscription! I always am reading the issues when at my MIL's, so now I get to have my own. Very sweet of her and completely out of the blue.

And received mail from Margaret Moore. I'd won her contest to name the horse in a book and she sent me a copy. :-) My name is even in the beginning along with the other winner, thanking us.

Fireworks display

Here are a few pictures I took last night. Pardon the blur on most of them as I didn't have a tripod, so this is just me trying to hold the camera as still as possible. While still enjoying the display, of course. :-) So I took most of them without even looking through the camera, just sort of pointed and clicked. :-)






Happy 4th!

It's the fourth of July. We plan to go downtown tonight to listen to music and watch the fireworks display. Watching Discovery's flight right now. Hoping all continues to go well.

I'm going to try to get some good pictures of the display tonight, but who knows.

Also finished reading The Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik and Cover of Night by Linda Howard.

Found a $25 Barnes and Noble giftcard in a book the other day, so headed over there and bought Stealing Magic by Tanya Huff, Edge of Danger by Cherry Adair (proof that if you see enough about a book, you will eventually just break down and buy it), and Hit Hard by Amy Fetzer.

Also headed to the UBS and bought Then Came You by Lisa Kleypas, Scandal in Venice by Amanda McCabe, Amazon Lily by Theresa Weir, Flashback by Justine Davis, Bad Boys of Summer by Lori Foster, Erin McCarthy, and Amy Garvey, and The Player by Rhonda Nelson. Bought new was Vanquished by Hope Tarr. Love the cover.

My RT magazine still hasn't arrived. Darn it. I'm currently reading Black Powder War by Naomi Novik and Captive of My Desires by Johanna Lindsey. Finished up Betting Hearts by Dee Tenorio and need to write a review of it. Basically, I loved it and you should go buy it.

I spent a bunch of time looking at blog template stuff and still don't know what to do. I guess I just need to be less lazy about learning something new. I really do want a 3 column template. And something new. Something fun. Preferably with cats. Or cats and books.

oh...and we put Gambit in his harness yesterday and took him outside. I'd say Gambit is quite content to be an inside kitty. He did NOT like it out there. Freaked the poor guy out.

Found a dress for my SIL's wedding. It's a halter-top wrap dress from Kohl's. I'm still not positive about how I feel with a sleeveless dress and exposing my rather flabby upper arms, but the rest looks good. Hey, I even had to return the XL I bought and buy a large. The back was too loose. Not something I've really ever had to do. :-) It feels good to have lost over 30 pounds in the last year. Perhaps it's been slow, but I'm happy with how it's going. Now to get to Victoria's Secret sometime soon to buy a bra that will work with it. It would be no good to ruin the look of the dress with a bad bra. Good bras are your friend. :-) They just make everything look so much better.