Wendy's drinking green tea - which must mean she feels like crud.
I came home from work last night at 8:30PM and immediately crawled into bed. Pathetic but true. I thought "sleeping on it" would calm my digestive issues, and essentially that worked until 5AM. For the next 3 hours I was either communing on the sofa with a heating pad or running to the bathroom. I feel better now, albeit groggy, and am home for the day. Going to work and having to run to the bathroom every 30 minutes isn't terribly practical.
In various news - I finally finished Blue Moon by Lori Handeland. It's just as I suspected, the romance is pretty blah but everything else in this story is fantastic. Handeland has created a tough, smart heroine with a wry, interesting voice. Probably a good thing since the story is told entirely from her point of view. I also enjoyed the author's take on the werewolf legend - of course being a history buff helps.
Next up on the list is Dream Of Me by Lisa Cach. I was really blown away by the first book in this 2-part series, Come To Me, last month. I find myself more intrigued by Cach's career of late. Every book I've read by this woman is vastly different from the one that preceeded it. Kudos to her for stretching herself creatively, and kudos to Dorchester Publishing who lets her.
In other news, I've added a link to the right hand side advertising what I'm selling over at Half.com. Mainly trade paperback romances, Harlequins, and hopefully soon, erotica. If any of that sort of thing interests you, go on over and take a look. I'm fairly anal about the condition of my books, and most of what I'll be selling is damn near pristine.
About The Bat Cave
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Monday, October 18, 2004
Will wonders never cease? It rained here in Southern California Saturday night! Rain! Glorious, fantastic, stupendous rain! I was so confused, I woke up out of a dead sleep and groggily asked my boyfriend what the heck was going on. His reply, "It's raining dear - a lot." In fact, the heavens opened up.
Now for those of you who live in a "normal" climate, my excitement probably strikes you as a bit odd. I can't say I really blame you. It took me moving to the desert to realize how much I miss the little things - like "real" trees and rain. Having lived in the Midwest the majority of my life, I would often gripe about how the sun disappears for 9 months out of the year. Hey, all the sun in So. Cal. is lovely - but I won't lie to you - it does get a tad boring after a while.
I'm sure I'll be singing the praises of the desert come February though. Right around the time I read a report of Buffalo, NY getting 14 feet of snow.
In football news, I didn't really have any stand-out picks this week - but I did call the spread exactly right on the Pittsburgh vs. Dallas game (Pittsburgh won by 4 thank you very much). Also, my beloved Buffalo Bills finally won a game - against the equally dismal Miami Dolphins. How come I have this feeling that the citizens of Buffalo are drinking heavier than usual on Sundays? Drink up boys! It's going to be a long season....
In reading news - I'm almost done with Blue Moon by Lori Handeland after neglecting it for the better part of a week. It's an interesting book - but I can't help but feel that it really doesn't work as a romance novel.
The heroine is a police officier in middle of nowhere Minnesota and strange happenings are afoot. The wolf population has gotten violent and agressive. When a school teacher gets bit, and later freaks out in her classroom, it is thought that there is a strain of "super' rabies floating around. A skilled "wolf hunter" comes in, and the heroine seeks the advice of a local Native American professor on a wolf totem she found at a crime scene. Naturally, our hero is hunky and hot - thus meaning our loner heroine won't be celibate for much longer.
Handeland takes the risky move of writing the story in first person - which is very rarely done in Romance Novel Land. I happen to love this, as her heroine is very feisty, clever, street smart and tough. She wouldn't know girly if it bit her in the butt - which makes me think that she'll make or break the book for many readers.
The werewolf plot is also well thought out - and I just got to the part this morning where Handeland unveils her take on it. It's very imaginative, and one that history buffs should get a kick out of.
What doesn't really work is the romance, mainly because there is so little time devoted to it. Our hero and heroine haven't really talked about anything outside of the wolf problem. The hero also starts molesting the heroine in record time - and while the love scenes are hot, I can't help but wish there was a more of a "getting to know you" period between the two.
It will be interesting to read the scuttlebutt on this book, because the cover has a decidedly romance feel to it (hello beefcake!), but the story is really the strongest when focusing on the secondary characters, the heroine and the suspense/paranormal elements. Frankly, at this point I could give a hoot about the hero - and any romance reader will tell you that you should always give a hoot about the hero and heroine!
Of course, there are still 100 pages to go....
Now for those of you who live in a "normal" climate, my excitement probably strikes you as a bit odd. I can't say I really blame you. It took me moving to the desert to realize how much I miss the little things - like "real" trees and rain. Having lived in the Midwest the majority of my life, I would often gripe about how the sun disappears for 9 months out of the year. Hey, all the sun in So. Cal. is lovely - but I won't lie to you - it does get a tad boring after a while.
I'm sure I'll be singing the praises of the desert come February though. Right around the time I read a report of Buffalo, NY getting 14 feet of snow.
In football news, I didn't really have any stand-out picks this week - but I did call the spread exactly right on the Pittsburgh vs. Dallas game (Pittsburgh won by 4 thank you very much). Also, my beloved Buffalo Bills finally won a game - against the equally dismal Miami Dolphins. How come I have this feeling that the citizens of Buffalo are drinking heavier than usual on Sundays? Drink up boys! It's going to be a long season....
In reading news - I'm almost done with Blue Moon by Lori Handeland after neglecting it for the better part of a week. It's an interesting book - but I can't help but feel that it really doesn't work as a romance novel.
The heroine is a police officier in middle of nowhere Minnesota and strange happenings are afoot. The wolf population has gotten violent and agressive. When a school teacher gets bit, and later freaks out in her classroom, it is thought that there is a strain of "super' rabies floating around. A skilled "wolf hunter" comes in, and the heroine seeks the advice of a local Native American professor on a wolf totem she found at a crime scene. Naturally, our hero is hunky and hot - thus meaning our loner heroine won't be celibate for much longer.
Handeland takes the risky move of writing the story in first person - which is very rarely done in Romance Novel Land. I happen to love this, as her heroine is very feisty, clever, street smart and tough. She wouldn't know girly if it bit her in the butt - which makes me think that she'll make or break the book for many readers.
The werewolf plot is also well thought out - and I just got to the part this morning where Handeland unveils her take on it. It's very imaginative, and one that history buffs should get a kick out of.
What doesn't really work is the romance, mainly because there is so little time devoted to it. Our hero and heroine haven't really talked about anything outside of the wolf problem. The hero also starts molesting the heroine in record time - and while the love scenes are hot, I can't help but wish there was a more of a "getting to know you" period between the two.
It will be interesting to read the scuttlebutt on this book, because the cover has a decidedly romance feel to it (hello beefcake!), but the story is really the strongest when focusing on the secondary characters, the heroine and the suspense/paranormal elements. Frankly, at this point I could give a hoot about the hero - and any romance reader will tell you that you should always give a hoot about the hero and heroine!
Of course, there are still 100 pages to go....
Thursday, October 14, 2004
I'm tired. Bone-weary tired.
My boyfriends car died on Monday. OK, it didn't really die, but the transmission did something hookey. Naturally, even though the car sat at the mechanics all night - the problem would not reoccur for them. So as long as they had the car anyway, they're taking care of some other stuff that we knew needed to be fixed, but we hadn't gotten around to yet.
This means we are a one car household, and in Southern California that really sucks. The distance between boyfriend's job and my job is 30 miles. Given the sheer volume of people and traffic in this area, that commute is taking me anywhere from 1-2 hours....and I've been doing it since Tuesday. Could someone please shoot me and put me out of my misery?
I've been so tired that I haven't done much reading - so I'm still working on Blue Moon by Lori Handeland. It's been a very promising first 100 pages, I hope to devote more time to it tomorrow.
I have been watching baseball - which is going exactly the way I expected it to. Boston choking, and the Yankees up to their usual. Frankly, I resigned myself to the Yankees winning the AL title ages ago. I'm actually pulling for St. Louis, even though I'm not an NL girl by nature. I've thought all season they were the most exciting team in baseball, and so far they've been able to sustain that through the post season. Sorry Astros fans, I don't see it happening for you.
But what do I know really? I've been wrong before.
My boyfriends car died on Monday. OK, it didn't really die, but the transmission did something hookey. Naturally, even though the car sat at the mechanics all night - the problem would not reoccur for them. So as long as they had the car anyway, they're taking care of some other stuff that we knew needed to be fixed, but we hadn't gotten around to yet.
This means we are a one car household, and in Southern California that really sucks. The distance between boyfriend's job and my job is 30 miles. Given the sheer volume of people and traffic in this area, that commute is taking me anywhere from 1-2 hours....and I've been doing it since Tuesday. Could someone please shoot me and put me out of my misery?
I've been so tired that I haven't done much reading - so I'm still working on Blue Moon by Lori Handeland. It's been a very promising first 100 pages, I hope to devote more time to it tomorrow.
I have been watching baseball - which is going exactly the way I expected it to. Boston choking, and the Yankees up to their usual. Frankly, I resigned myself to the Yankees winning the AL title ages ago. I'm actually pulling for St. Louis, even though I'm not an NL girl by nature. I've thought all season they were the most exciting team in baseball, and so far they've been able to sustain that through the post season. Sorry Astros fans, I don't see it happening for you.
But what do I know really? I've been wrong before.
Monday, October 11, 2004
God bless Christopher Columbus. Because he was a man, got lost, and didn't ask directions - I get the day off! One of the few perks to being a librarian is all the holiday time.
Since it's Monday, it's time to talk football. My most excellent pick this week was:
Tampa Bay over New Orleans. In a fit of frustration last week I told my boyfriend that I wasn't calling New Orleans the rest of the season. He said, "You'll get half the games wrong." I said, "Well I'm getting them all wrong now!" And wouldn't you know - me picking the winless, dismal Bucs paid off. Now that's girl luck!
In reading news, there was a discussion on one of my romance reading listservs about themes/plot devices we hate. I naturally had a list - but one was strongly reinforced this past weekend when I finished Wild In The Moonlight by Jennifer Greene (Silhouette Desire 1588). It's an excellent story by the way, and a quick read - but darn if I don't get annoyed with the old, "I was hopelessly infertile, my asshole husband dumped me for a baby making bimbo, but you're super sperm have now come along and voila!" plot device.
This just annoys me. I know that infertility is a mysterious and heartbreaking problem for many couples. I'm not inhumane. But this tendency towards miraculous conception in many romance novels (Greene is hardly the first or the last to use this plot device) is just insulting in my ever so humble opinion. It's like the heroine isn't "complete" unless she's squirting out baby after baby. It also suggests that only a "real man" (ie. our hero) is capable of getting a woman knocked up.
But hell, I'm probably reading way too much into it - as usual. If said plot device doesn't annoy you - I do strongly recommend Wild In The Moonlight. Greene has written many books, and I've enjoyed her work in the past. She just pushed one of my hot buttons with this one.
Since it's Monday, it's time to talk football. My most excellent pick this week was:
Tampa Bay over New Orleans. In a fit of frustration last week I told my boyfriend that I wasn't calling New Orleans the rest of the season. He said, "You'll get half the games wrong." I said, "Well I'm getting them all wrong now!" And wouldn't you know - me picking the winless, dismal Bucs paid off. Now that's girl luck!
In reading news, there was a discussion on one of my romance reading listservs about themes/plot devices we hate. I naturally had a list - but one was strongly reinforced this past weekend when I finished Wild In The Moonlight by Jennifer Greene (Silhouette Desire 1588). It's an excellent story by the way, and a quick read - but darn if I don't get annoyed with the old, "I was hopelessly infertile, my asshole husband dumped me for a baby making bimbo, but you're super sperm have now come along and voila!" plot device.
This just annoys me. I know that infertility is a mysterious and heartbreaking problem for many couples. I'm not inhumane. But this tendency towards miraculous conception in many romance novels (Greene is hardly the first or the last to use this plot device) is just insulting in my ever so humble opinion. It's like the heroine isn't "complete" unless she's squirting out baby after baby. It also suggests that only a "real man" (ie. our hero) is capable of getting a woman knocked up.
But hell, I'm probably reading way too much into it - as usual. If said plot device doesn't annoy you - I do strongly recommend Wild In The Moonlight. Greene has written many books, and I've enjoyed her work in the past. She just pushed one of my hot buttons with this one.
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
I started out life as a mystery reader - and up until romance novels grabbed me by the throat in 1999 that's pretty much all I read.
However these days I'm woefully behind in my mystery reading. To try to make up some ground, I try to keep up with various authors via audio books. That is how I discovered Tess Gerritsen - and I devoured the first 3 books in her Jane Rizzoli/Maura Isles series on CD. So when Body Double was released, I snapped it up in hard cover and started reading.
This time out the focus is more on Dr. Maura Isles. She returns from a conference overseas to find her long-lost twin sister shot to death in her car waiting outside Maura's home. Maura was adopted and knows nothing of her biological family - so discovering she had a twin proves to be quite a shock. As she uncovers her past, she ends up uncovering a whole mess of skeletons - literally.
What I love about Gerritsen's books is that she starts them off with a seemingly unrelated episode that is no way connected to the rest of the book - or is it? How does a deaf teenager getting buried alive tie in with the death of Dr. Isles' long lost twin? And how about that poor woman who spends the whole book buried alive? Where does she factor in?
I also like that Gerritsen writes dark and gory, but there is never a depressing cloud hanging over the character's heads. Their personal lives tend to be messy, but they never wallow. I also like out the author ties everything up at the end - and Body Double even features a happy ending of sorts.
I cannot recommend her books more. Now all I have to do is dig around for the rest of her backlist.....
However these days I'm woefully behind in my mystery reading. To try to make up some ground, I try to keep up with various authors via audio books. That is how I discovered Tess Gerritsen - and I devoured the first 3 books in her Jane Rizzoli/Maura Isles series on CD. So when Body Double was released, I snapped it up in hard cover and started reading.
This time out the focus is more on Dr. Maura Isles. She returns from a conference overseas to find her long-lost twin sister shot to death in her car waiting outside Maura's home. Maura was adopted and knows nothing of her biological family - so discovering she had a twin proves to be quite a shock. As she uncovers her past, she ends up uncovering a whole mess of skeletons - literally.
What I love about Gerritsen's books is that she starts them off with a seemingly unrelated episode that is no way connected to the rest of the book - or is it? How does a deaf teenager getting buried alive tie in with the death of Dr. Isles' long lost twin? And how about that poor woman who spends the whole book buried alive? Where does she factor in?
I also like that Gerritsen writes dark and gory, but there is never a depressing cloud hanging over the character's heads. Their personal lives tend to be messy, but they never wallow. I also like out the author ties everything up at the end - and Body Double even features a happy ending of sorts.
I cannot recommend her books more. Now all I have to do is dig around for the rest of her backlist.....
Monday, October 4, 2004
Happy Monday - I know you're all dying to hear my football picks for Week 4 in the NFL, and I got some doozies.
I cleaned up this week with my "Upset Specials." I picked the Giants over Green Bay (sorry Brett Farve!) and San Diego over Tennesse. Unfortunately, I was a little gun shy after picking San Diego so I went conservative when picking New Orleans over Arizona. What ticks me off is I was thisclose to picking Arizona, but wanted a cushion in case Tennessee pulled out a win. San Diego ended up winning for me - and naturally New Orleans continued their slide into mediocrity. Drat! That's what I get for playing it safe.
I'm not even going to discuss the Buffalo Bills. It's just too depressing.
In other sports news - regular season baseball is over and my Tigers did not finish .500. A bummer since I really got my hopes up about that. But the season wasn't a total wash, and lets face it - it was way better than last year. Everyone in So. California is naturally excited over both L.A. and Anaheim making it to the post season - but frankly I don't expect much. L.A. has been flaky this year and they play St. Louis in round 1. So long Dodgers - we hardly knew ye.
I'm pulling big time for Minnesota for 2 reasons 1) I kinda like 'em and 2) they're playing the dreaded NY Skankies. Of course, Minnesota blew their shot at home field advantage, so I'm not terribly optimistic.
In exciting library news, I arrived at work this morning to discover one man lurking on the side of the building and a homeless man sleeping in our back patio. Doesn't that sound terribly safe for a single and wimpy girl like myself? I have since called the cops to report the incident and the dispatch lady was supposed to relay the report to the beat cops.
We'll see if that helps the problem at all. I've known for months that I have homeless camping out here, today was just the first day I found the smoking gun.
I cleaned up this week with my "Upset Specials." I picked the Giants over Green Bay (sorry Brett Farve!) and San Diego over Tennesse. Unfortunately, I was a little gun shy after picking San Diego so I went conservative when picking New Orleans over Arizona. What ticks me off is I was thisclose to picking Arizona, but wanted a cushion in case Tennessee pulled out a win. San Diego ended up winning for me - and naturally New Orleans continued their slide into mediocrity. Drat! That's what I get for playing it safe.
I'm not even going to discuss the Buffalo Bills. It's just too depressing.
In other sports news - regular season baseball is over and my Tigers did not finish .500. A bummer since I really got my hopes up about that. But the season wasn't a total wash, and lets face it - it was way better than last year. Everyone in So. California is naturally excited over both L.A. and Anaheim making it to the post season - but frankly I don't expect much. L.A. has been flaky this year and they play St. Louis in round 1. So long Dodgers - we hardly knew ye.
I'm pulling big time for Minnesota for 2 reasons 1) I kinda like 'em and 2) they're playing the dreaded NY Skankies. Of course, Minnesota blew their shot at home field advantage, so I'm not terribly optimistic.
In exciting library news, I arrived at work this morning to discover one man lurking on the side of the building and a homeless man sleeping in our back patio. Doesn't that sound terribly safe for a single and wimpy girl like myself? I have since called the cops to report the incident and the dispatch lady was supposed to relay the report to the beat cops.
We'll see if that helps the problem at all. I've known for months that I have homeless camping out here, today was just the first day I found the smoking gun.
Saturday, October 2, 2004
Cripes am I tired. Sometimes this job is a little too much like work.
Today is one of my Saturdays to work, and it's also the day I trained a new library page. For you non-library types, pages are the friendly elves that shelve books, do light clerical tasks, water our library plants, and shelf read to make the books are in correct order (hey, we have to be able to find stuff!). They are part-time employees and aren't paid much. Heck, you can make more working at In 'N Out Burger than you can as a library page - so good help is often hard to find.
So far this new girl seems promising. She's new to this country (Afghan by way of Pakistan), and we are her first job - ever! She's newly married, and wants to save up money to buy her first car. Pretty cool huh? So today I gave her the grand tour (such as it is), made sure she understood the Dewey Decimal system (yes, it's harder than you think!), and made sure she understood the American alphabet sufficiently (she does).
Naturally while I was trying to show her all this we were swamped - so she got her training in between me answering reference questions.
In other news, I plan on getting drunk tomorrow. I figure it's the only way I'll be able to watch the New England Patriots play my dismal looking Buffalo Bills. I only have 4 beers in the fridge, and am wondering if I need to make a beer run this evening to stock up. It's no question the Bills will lose. The question is - by how much? I'm entertaining a 12 point spread at the moment, which by most estimates would be considered conversative.
Aren't I a sad sack?
Today is one of my Saturdays to work, and it's also the day I trained a new library page. For you non-library types, pages are the friendly elves that shelve books, do light clerical tasks, water our library plants, and shelf read to make the books are in correct order (hey, we have to be able to find stuff!). They are part-time employees and aren't paid much. Heck, you can make more working at In 'N Out Burger than you can as a library page - so good help is often hard to find.
So far this new girl seems promising. She's new to this country (Afghan by way of Pakistan), and we are her first job - ever! She's newly married, and wants to save up money to buy her first car. Pretty cool huh? So today I gave her the grand tour (such as it is), made sure she understood the Dewey Decimal system (yes, it's harder than you think!), and made sure she understood the American alphabet sufficiently (she does).
Naturally while I was trying to show her all this we were swamped - so she got her training in between me answering reference questions.
In other news, I plan on getting drunk tomorrow. I figure it's the only way I'll be able to watch the New England Patriots play my dismal looking Buffalo Bills. I only have 4 beers in the fridge, and am wondering if I need to make a beer run this evening to stock up. It's no question the Bills will lose. The question is - by how much? I'm entertaining a 12 point spread at the moment, which by most estimates would be considered conversative.
Aren't I a sad sack?
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