Category Romance Reading

I've been exhiled to the computer room. The boyfriend is currently hollering and cussin' at the Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh basketball game.

I love this man. I really do. But sometimes it's trying to live with his passions for Notre Dame football and Syracuse basketball. I mean is it really necessary to holler at the TV. It's not like the players, coaches, and/or officials can hear you dear.

But he lives with my dorky librarian tendencies, excessive book habit and my addiction to Law & Order - so there you have it.

I'm currently on a reading frenzy. After struggling to finish The Challenge by Susan Kearney, I've zipped through two category romances. I finally read Too Hot To Handle by Barbara Daly - a Harlequin Temptation that has been in my TBR since I went to Denver for RWA back in July 2002. I love that Daly uses New York City as a setting, and I loved the plot of a woman who runs into an old flame who unceremoniously dumped her 12 years earlier (essentially he vanished off the planet without reason or even a goodbye). There's some idiotic behavior towards the end that dampened my enjoyment a bit - but I read it in one sitting, so what the heck am I complaining about?

I just wrapped up Contract Bride by Susan Fox, a Harlequin Romance from 2003. I have several online buds who adore Fox, and while this was my first by her, I have several more waiting in my TBR. This book features the good old marriage of convenience plot - hero weds dead wife's best friend in order to protect his infant son. The heroine is one of those annoying never-been-kissed virgin heroines, but I still liked this book a lot. The hero seems so determined to not fall in love with her, that it's fun to watch the author make it happen. Plus, there is some really good dialouge in this story. My favorite bit was uttered by the hero's best friend:

"A jealous man gets jealous because he knows he's done wrong, so he uses jealousy to cover his guilt. That way, it's the woman's fault, not his."

No truer words have been spoken. I'm convinced.

Errand Day

It's just after 9AM here on the west coast and I've already had a full rich day.

1. I'm working on my last load of laundry
2. I've set up my first post for Romancing The Blog - look for it on January 31!
3. I've installed Turbo Tax software on my computer. Now I just need to wait for my student loan interest statement and I can get my taxes done. Fun, fun, fun.
4. I've decided to finally dismantle my neglected web site. I've kept a few pages though, and added them to the links section to the right.
   
5. I've infused my blood stream with a pot of tea. Ah, sweet blissful caffeine.

In a bit I need to make a post office run (I've been a selling machine over at Half.com), the video store, and I think I may go shopping. I have a $10 off coupon for J.C. Penney burning a hole in my pocket and I really need a new bathrobe. I've been commandeering my boyfriend's. It's not like he wears it - but it looks like a guy's bathrobe. I'm hoping to find something more girly.

I need to think about cleaning this apartment, but more importantly, I really need to finish The Challenge by Susan Kearney! It's not a bad book - really. I mean, I do have some issues (most involving the Neanderthal Alpha hero) but generally speaking it's quite entertaining. I promise a more in depth report once I stop being lazy and finish it.

Sick Day

I'm sick. Well sort of.

I was whipped yesterday. I'm talking so exhausted that I was ready to burst into tears. Ever get like that? I do - and it only makes me feel worse and confuses the hell out of my boyfriend.

It wasn't that yesterday was a bad day - just busy in a mind-numbing sort of way. Lots of problems to deal with. I'm sure administration is ready to lynch me. I also know that I'm tired of dealing with people who won't take responsibility for the fact that they checked out 25 books from the library and never returned them - so golly why did we sic the collection agency on them? You know, I want to say to these people - does the electric company just forgive you if you don't pay your bill and let you keep your electricity on for free?

Bite your tongue Wendy.

So back to the exhaustion - I literally passed out last night. My head hit the pillow and I was out. Gone. La-La Land. Only to wake up at 2:30AM with the sensation that I was going to hurl and with a headache that is still here. It's like a hive of killer bees is buzzing around my frontal lobe.

So I'm home today. I'm going to rest, relax and think about reading. I really have been neglecting The Challenge by Susan Kearney - not the books' fault, I'm being lazy. I also totally reworked my first blog entry for Romancing The Blog - which Katie MacAlister officially launched today. I was going to write a rant about the whole "mate" concept in werewolf romances, but opted instead to address the current rise of the paranormal genre in general.

I still have several days to tear both entries apart however. My first post isn't set to appear until January 31.

Little Old Ladies

I love little old ladies who come into the library. I especially like it when my idiot savant tendencies make them happy.

At my former job we actually had money. I got to spend it - a lot of it actually. I bought fiction for 7 different libraries. You know how many book reviews I read? A lot. You know how much reader's advisory you can fake just by reading reviews? A lot.

Reader's Advisory for those of you who don't know goes a little something like this:

Little Old Lady: Gee can you recommend a good book?
Librarian: What sort of books have you enjoyed in the past?
Little Old Lady: I like mysteries.
Librarian: What are some authors you've enjoyed in the past?
Little Old Lady: Author X, Author Y and Author Z.
Librarian: Do you like your mysteries light? Does violence in books bother you? Etc. etc. etc.

And so it goes until the librarian cooks up some suggestions in her happy little brain. Today the little old lady was trying to remember the name of an author she enjoyed in the past. She wanted to read more of her books. All she could recall is that they were mysteries, herbs played a part in them, and the stories took place in San Antonio. Trust me, that's a lot of information to go on. I can do something with that - unlike the "I read a book ten years ago and the cover was green" type of questions. So here is the answer I found, and the lady was so happy she must have thanked me 10 times before leaving the building.

On the other hand, another little old lady came in 10 minutes before closing looking for book suggestions. She wants something of substance dontcha know. That Barbara Kingsolver book she checked out and tried to read was too fluffy.

OK, what the hell am I supposed to do with this? Kingsolver is too fluffy?! I was half tempted to give her a book of funeral dirges. I hastily grabbed 3 books off the shelf (Oprah-esque type fiction picks) and told her to give them a whirl. Something tells me though that she'll be back very soon. Maybe I'll have an epiphany by then.

I Believe I Learned That In My Library Plumbing 101 Class

It seems I never run out of library stories. Most of the time, around here at least, when it rains, it pours. Such is the case lately.

Today was storytime day, and while this one mother was checking out books for her kids she said to me: "I'm sorry to tell you this - but my daughter went to use the ladie's room and discovered the toilet is clogged up with toilet paper." I said: "Thank you for telling me."

So I trapised off to the janitor's closet to dig out our plunger - normally the hardest part about this job. It always seems to get wedged back behind the sink, which means I have to get on my knees and move cleaning supplies to fish it out.

Sure enough the toilet was full of TP - but that's not all! Someone was obvisously not feeling well. I'm glad I've lived places with bad plumbing. Library school certainly doesn't prepare you for toilet duty - but crumby pipes sure do!

Bet you weren't expecting toilet humor when you visited my blog today did you?

Then we had a deadly spider encounter. I need to get my ass back to Michigan - the mosquitos suck, but there are no spiders the size of my fist. This one was back by the reference desk, with my adult services librarian yelping for help and looking in my direction.

I am deathly afraid of spiders. I'm talking major phobia here. The little brown house variety I can handle - but these monster California spiders scare me spitless. Luckily my circulation clerk isn't a wimp and beat the hell out of it with a cooking magazine.

I consoled myself by going to In 'N Out Burger for lunch. So much for that New Year's resolution....

Shopping And Invitation

So I bit the bullet and went shopping today. Picked up new unmentionables, 4 new blouses for work and ::drumroll please:: two new pairs of jeans! Now I just need to clean out my closet and today will have officially been a full rich day.

In other news, I've been invited to join Romancing The Blog as a columnist. I'm still slightly in shock over being asked because - let's be honest here - I'm not a terribly good writer. I know this. You know this. I've always been more of a muser than someone who "works" on writing as a craft. But I am a reviewer, a librarian and a blogger for almost 2 years now - so maybe those factors came into play here. Also, this columnist thang will be another unpaid gig. I've been an unpaid reviewer for almost 5 years now. Word has apparantly spread that I'm an easy mark.

Unnatural Woman

My boyfriend is making me go shopping tomorrow. For clothes.

::shudder::

And yes, I am really a woman and yes, I really don't want to go shopping for clothes. Why? I have to buy new jeans.

::shudder::

I've always found jean shopping to be on the same level as swimsuit shopping. Both are experiences designed to humiliate normally self-assured, intelligent women. And ever since that skank Britney came along, jean shopping has only gotten worse. There are some of us out there who know better than to try to squeeze into low rise jeans. And those of you who don't know better (I've seen you in airports) - ::shudder::

Even during my painfully skinny days (what I wouldn't do to have that metabolism again!) I hated jean shopping. Why? I'm almost 5'10" and all legs. So I'd find a pair of jeans that fit in the legs only to have about 5 inches too much material in the waist. I bought a lot of jeans in the men's department. You know, clothes that are actually sold by measurements and not some arbitary number that makes no sense.

Nowadays the problems are my weight and the fact that I carry most of the extra around my middle. I've half-heartedly looked for new jeans for months now, only to want to commit harikari in the department store dressing room.

But the boyfriend is serious. Buy new jeans Wendy. Buy new underthings while you're at it. And don't come home until you make a concerted effort.

Bah. I'd rather go to the used bookstore. And maybe I will. Something tells me I'll need some cheering up.

Reason + Logic = Total Waste Of Breath

Thank gawd for the civil rights movement and MLK, because if I didn't have this long weekend off from work I think I might have done something drastic.

Like quit my job.

I mean, I probably wouldn't have - because well, I like having a place to live, food to eat and money to buy books. But still, by Wednesday my patience was sorely tested by the following:

1. Mentally ill homeless man who has the potential for violence scaring the bejebus out of my staff.
2. A belligerent man who drove to 3 different libraries in totally different areas of the county to bitch about a $2 fine he refused to pay. Lucky me, I was Library #3 and he interrupted my lunch break.
3. Another library who called to bitch about us (turns out me) checking in one of their notoriously ratty books and not noticing that the book was "obviously" water damaged and moldy. Why didn't we charge the patron? Well, maybe because all their books look like shit and I just can't figure out what the patron did as opposed to the condition the book was most likely in when they found it on the shelf.

Now this probably doesn't sound all that terrible - but man, that guy bitching about the $2 about pushed me over the edge. I have a hard time dealing with people who:

1. Won't take no for an answer
2. Won't listen to reason

That's my problem, I keep trying to reason with the general public. I need to stop trying to do that.

But now I get to enjoy a blissful 4 days off before I need to go back. By that time I might have run off and joined the circus - but it's too soon to tell. In the meantime, I'm soaking up Law & Order reruns, NFL playoffs, and hopefully more of Crimson Moon by Rebecca York.

Baseball Ramblings

I've avoided talking about baseball for a while now because I was afraid I'd just come off as excessively whiney.

I love my Detroit Tigers, I really do. And god bless 'em, they've put on a good show this off season. They've talked to all the right free agents and made decent offers - it's just nobody has ended up signing with them. My boyfriend tries to make me feel better by saying, "Hey! At least they are trying! Look at my team." He's still trying to come to terms with the rumors that Carlos Delgado will end up with the "bastard birds" - my apologies to any Baltimore Orioles fans reading this. His words - not mine.

And can someone explain The Mets to me? It's like they're trying to out-Yank the Yankees by throwing around ridiculous amounts of cash. I still think the Pedro deal will end up biting them in the ass - but Beltran! That one really sticks in my craw.

And now I have to hate Randy Johnson. Damn Yankees. I liked Randy Johnson. He's freakishly tall (just like my Dad), ugly as sin (better since he lost the mullet), and the best damn pitcher I've ever seen. But he's a dirty Skankie now. Drat.

Whine, whine, whine. At least we still got Pudge.

Reading Blahs

So much for that reading jag I was on - I seem to have stalled.

I was reading Talk Of The Town by Suzanne MacPherson, but after about 75 pages I just couldn't get into it. This is an instance where it wasn't the book's fault - it was all me. I just wasn't in the mood for it. So, it's sitting back on my desk, bookmark in place, for me to pick up some other time.

I have since received more review books, so I'm currently on a new western time travel (yes, you read that right - a western time travel!) called Stay With Me by Beverly Long. So far it's quite good - although the secondary romance is interesting me a bit more than the primary one (not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, I can't decide). But I'm still dragging my reading heels with it, having only read about 100 pages since Friday. Bah.

The only downside to reviewing is that your reading time is pretty much set. I know what I have to read next about 4 books down the line. Time in between review books is precious, but sometimes I find I have a hard time settling on one read. It's like I need TRR's editor to make my reading decisions for me - like how flaky is that?

It's probably just the new year blahs though. Here's hoping I snap out of it already.

Wendy, Football Goddess

It's been a while since I've told a library story that didn't involve me bitching about not having any money - so I thought I'd change it up today.

I currently have the two cutest little boys in who were looking for a sports biography on Eric Dickerson. My adult services librarian was a bit confused so she deferred to me. I, of course, was like "Yeah, retired running back for the Rams - let's take a look on the catalog." These kids were like, "You know who Eric Dickerson is?!" Since then they've latched on to me and have kept asking me questions.

I'm like the coolest librarian ever!

And for the record - our one book on Dickerson was "Lost" (code for "some a-hole checked it out and never returned it) so the tykes settled for Bo Jackson.

They must get it from their father because both Dickerson and Jackson are way before these kids' times. Who says the youth of America cares nothing about history?

Happy New Year

I've started 2005 on a reading jag, having completed two single titles in 3 days. Trust me, that's very good for yours truly. Both were good reads with some issues, but they were still quite entertaining.

First up was The Legend Of Banzai Maguire by Susan Grant. I had the pleasure of reviewing Grant's debut many moons ago, loved it, and vowed to follow her career. Then I met her at an RWA conference in Denver and dang if she just wasn't the nicest person. So I've been buying all of her books brand spanking new the minute they hit the bookstores. Of course, each of these books has been languishing in my massive TBR - but hey! I've been buying them! Since one of my resolutions for 2005 is to get through some backlists, I decided Grant was a good place to start.

This is the first book in the multi-author 2176 series. It's a really neat concept actually. In the year 2176 the USA is no more and is actually an imperialist empire called The United Colonies Of Earth. There are rebels who want independence and are agitating for democracy. Sounds vaguely familiar doesn't it? Grant's heroine, Bree "Banzai" Maguire has her F-16 fighter jet shot down over the demilitarized zone of North Korea in 2006. While searching for her wingman (who was also shot down) she falls into the hands of a scientist. She is soon doing the Rip Van Winkle act for the next 170 years. When she wakes up she doesn't know who she can trust - is it the handsome Prince Kyber of the Kingdom of Asia or her would-be rescuer, the UCE Navy SEAL, Ty Armstrong?

I really enjoy the way Grant writes heroines. They are tough women, but they never come off as carcitures. They are multi-faceted; tough yet feminine. The issue I had here was pacing. At times the book feels more like a set-up for the series than an self-contained story. This is further illustrated by the romance - our hero and heroine are separated for a long time, and when they finally have scenes together they're outrunning bad guys. Not a lot of time to fall madly in love.

Still, it's a very interesting premise and Grant is a skilled writer. I'm really looking forward to her follow-up entry in the series, The Scarlet Empress.

I also zipped through a debut western today, Loving Mercy by Teresa Bodwell. Besides having the sexiest damn cover ever (I'm not a big beefcake girl, but this mystery man is hot!), it's also a very good story.

The widowed heroine is driving her cattle to Kansas from Colorado hoping for a good price. In a calculated business risk, she imported bulls from England to breed with her cows. Of course, she had to borrow money from the neighboring rancher to do it, and now she has to pay him off in one lump sum. In Kansas, she gets her good price and also meets the hero - a former Confederate soldier turned gambler. He's working his way west playing poker to be reunited with his older sister in Colorado. The trouble is he needs to find a guide, and no one seems to be heading that way - until he learns about the heroine. Turns out she happens to live near the very town where his sister and brother-in-law run a store.

The conflict here is mostly internal. The heroine's first marriage, while a love match, was not without problems and she feels guilt over her husband's death. She also wants to be taken seriously as a businesswoman, but the opinion of the times suggests that women shouldn't worry their pretty little heads over such lofty matters. And frankly, she likes her independence. She can run her ranch how she wants, and doesn't have to defer to a man.

The hero is still haunted by the war (although he doesn't brood), and the lose of the family farm. He's hoping to start fresh out west, meet the widow his sister thinks is perfect for him, and start a family. Then he meets the heroine and is immediately intrigued and perpelxed. She's pretty as all get out, but man is her stubborn streak wide.

There's also some external conflict tossed in to keep the story moving, most it involving bad guys who want to relieve the heroine of her cattle earnings. It's a fine debut, although after a while the internal conflict begins to feel redundant. The heroine's desire for independence is understandable, but it takes her a long time to realize that true partnerships don't mean giving up your own thoughts and dreams. Also, while the hero is a sweet Beta guy with Alpha leanings for the majority of the novel, his stupid male ego gets in the way at the end. While the author explains it by saying the hero is angry (and understandably he is), it's still a bit annoying.

Still, it's a very strong debut. Bodwell writes her characters well, and by the end I had begun to think of them as real people. I'm looking forward to her follow-up book about the heroine's sister.

2004 - Book Year In Review

This being January 3, I figure it's high time I recap my 2004 year in reading. I read 79 books this past year, the exact same number I managed to polish off 2003. At least I'm consistent. Here is a breakdown of the highlights, and lowlights:

Worst Reads or as I like to call them "Oh The Horrors!" books:
Hot Pink by Susan Johnson
The Cat Who Talked Turkey by Lilian Jackson Braun - this pains me since I grew up reading this series.

Biggest Disappointments:
One Dark Night by Jaid Black
The Irish Devil by Diane Whiteside
Both Romantica novels that forgot the romance.

The Ocean Between Us by Susan Wiggs - there was subplot in this book that didn't work for me at all. Also, I've found that Wiggs' contemporary voice just doesn't move me like her historical one.

Best Reads of 2004 - Various Publication Dates
Jane's Warlord by Angela Knight
Come To Me by Lisa Cach
Dream Of Me by Lisa Cach
I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason by Susan Kandel
Midnight Rain by Holly Lisle
Feel The Heat by Kathryn Shay (HSR 871)
The Man Who Loved Christmas by Kathryn Shay (HSR 877)
Cooking Up A Storm by Emma Holly
Light My Fire by Jane Graves
Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong
Leave It To Cleavage by Wendy Wax

Authors I "Discovered" In 2004:
Laura Levine
Tess Gerritsen (awesome!)

As far as reading resolutions for 2005 - I'm going to work extra hard to read 100 books. I'm a slow reader, so I might need to read more Harlequins to pull it off. I also would love to read through some of the author backlists I've accumulated. The biggest "offenders" being Kathryn Shay, Susan Grant, Pamela Morsi and Maggie Osborne.