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, October 27, 2014

More Unusual Historicals & Two First Looks

I'm finding my wee lil' corner of the Interwebs a trying place to be at the moment because of....well, all the "stuff" going on and the fact that I have felt genuinely blindsided by all of it.  Plus, I'll be frank - there's stuff going on in Real Life right now.  Yes, residents of The Bat Cave are fine.  It's just "family stuff" - sick relations, dying relations, relations getting "old" in general - nothing that everybody else doesn't deal with in their day-to-day lives.  Needless to say though it's left me feeling tired, drained and my will to read has left the room.  And I really, really need to read since I know getting lost in a good book is exactly what I need.

I know....whine, whine, whine.  Please pass the cheese.

In the meantime, I've had several posts go live over at Heroes & Heartbreakers that I have failed to blog about.  First up is a round-up of unusual historicals for October.  For the record, six of the featured titles are in my TBR.  I might have a problem, ahem.

I also did two First Looks: Tempted by a Cowboy by Sarah M. Anderson and Snow Angel Cove by RaeAnne Thayne

The Anderson is the second book in a series featuring an American brewing dynasty and it's good folks.  As in, really, really good.  It didn't pass my "must reread someday" test so not an A, but it's a high B+. Oh, and since I read this before reading the first book in the series?  I can attest that it stands alone just peachy.

The Thayne is a small town contemporary Christmas story that starts a new series, but is loosely connected to a previous series.  If the thought of reading yet another small town contemporary makes you want to drive nails up your arms - well, this one probably isn't going to change your mind.  But if you can't get enough of small towns?  If you're looking for a warm and fuzzy, cozy Christmas read?  This one may be worth checking out.  It was the very definition of an "OK" read for me.  Didn't love it, didn't hate it, but would easily recommend it to readers who lean that way.

4 comments:

Lori said...

I don't think it counts as whining when you complain a little about things that actually do suck or are legit hard to deal with, even if they aren't The Biggest Problems In The World. I hope that things around the Bat Cave are soon resolved as well as possible and that your reading mojo makes a swift return.

azteclady said...

*sending good thoughts to the Bat Cave*

And I'll probably with the Anderson a try, since I enjoy her--with a couple of caveats. The other one, not so much. I can only take so many small towns in my life.

Wendy said...

Lori: It's a bunch of little things, plus some big deal family things going on - mostly family being very ill, and that's hitting both my relatives and My Man's family. So....fun times!

Wendy said...

AL: The Anderson was SO good. What I really loved about it is that the heroine's alcoholism wasn't explained with the ol' "she had a crap hand dealt to her." Good parents, good childhood, she just....fell into a bottle. Which we don't see all the time in romance. So often when addiction is part of the story there's some Deep, Dark Emo behind it. It's like "regular people" can't be addicts - which, hello? We all know it's something that can touch anybody, regardless of race, ethnicity, socio-economic factors etc.

Plus, I just like the way she works within the Desire line. She's got a SuperRomance out that I REALLY need to read - because, yeah!, Supers!