Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Various Tidbits

My latest column is up over at RTB.

I've noticed my blog sometimes looks funky in Internet Explorer. Um, sorry about that. Will I ever fix it? Well, no. 1) I don't have the wherewithal to do it and 2) I hate IE with a burning, seething passion. So there you go.

In reading news, I'm in between batch of review books and currently suffering from TBR anxiety. This couldn't possibly have anything to do with the hundreds of unread books I have lying around (I haven't counted how many exactly. Frankly, I'm too scared to).

So in a delusional attempt to make me feel like I'm accomplishing something, I'm on a Harlequin reading binge. Yes, those cute little series books with dreadful titles that clock in anywhere between 200-300 pages. I polished off three this weekend:

Unfinished Business by Inglath Cooper (Harlequin SuperRomance 1214) - Lawyer heroine hurries home to pick up paperwork she forgot only to discover husband in bed with his pregnant lover. Instead of castrating him, she divorces his sorry butt. While in New York City on business she decides to stop feeling sorry for herself, buys a hot little black dress, and hits the hotel bar - only to discover the Hero, a childhood friend (and ex's former best friend) also in town. One night stand ensues. Fast forward - heroine must go home to take care of sick mother. Reunites with hero - who has always loved her. A nice story about nice people. Final grade = B.

Catching Calhoun by Tina Leonard (Harlequin American Romance 1045) - Book whatever in Leonard's Cowboys By The Dozen series. I once had a reviewer tell me she thinks Leonard should write for TV - and I think that's a fair assestment. Zippy dialouge and occasional silliness, but hey - hunky cowboys! Single mother heroine doesn't want to love a cowboy, but falls for hero - an artist/cowboy who gets roped into her life by her meddling children. Write this down - I liked the children in this story. But you kind of need to be versed in the series. Final Grade = B-.

Lost In Sensation by Maureen Child (Silhouette Desire 1611) - part of the Man Talk series, which feature stories told entirely from the hero's point of view. Doctor hero has been mourning his dead wife for 2 years. After he saves his best friend from a car wreck, he travels home with him for his wedding. Hero is greeted like a hero - but finds himself sharing living space with best friend's feisty sister. Sparks fly, naughty shenanigans ensue, but hero feels oh so guilty over dead wife's death. This book was really working for me until the author started slamming the dead wife. Honestly, it's OK for the hero to love twice in his life. Dead wifey starts out as shy and quiet and eventually is described as grasping, needy and cold. Blah. Really liked the heroine though. Final Grade = C-.

3 comments:

sybil said...

LOL I never look in IE and I feel guilt over it looking bad! Why I have no fucking clue.

Wow three books! And you liked them for the most part.

Tara Marie said...

1. Always looks fine in IE.

2. Unfinished Business sounds great.

3. That must have been the best RTB column I've seen in a long time. I agreed with everything you said.

Wendy said...

Sybil: Yeah they were mostly good.

Tara Marie: I think it's mainly older versions of IE where my blog runs into problems. Unfinished Business is very good. Sometimes I just like reading about nice, normal people LOL. And glad you liked the RTB column.