I Know I Left My Rut Around Here Somewhere

The in-laws are gone, the sofa bed dismantled, I'm working on several mountains worth of laundry, the stomach flu has been kicked to the curb and my kitchen is back in order.

Now to get back into a rut of some kind.

Although at this typing I still haven't bought 1) my holiday greeting cards or 2) any of the gifts I need to buy. So yeah, I'm thinking the rut is going to be put on hold for a bit. I am so not ready for Christmas!

A couple of hodge-podge things of note:

• I surpassed the 1000 blog post milestone recently. Not bad, considering in the olden days (you know, before 99% of you joined the party?) I was blogging maybe once a week. Coming up in Februrary? The Bat Cave's 6th anniversary!

• Rosie has a lovely post over at Reader's Gab. Go forth - read it, comment, love it!

• Crap, I have a dentist appointment this week I totally forgot about. If that man finds anything "wrong," so help me God, he better run fast - because I'm grabbing The Ice Pick Of Death (you know, that vile instrument they use to scrape your teeth?), and there's no telling what I'll do.

• I desperately need a haircut. D-e-s-p-e-r-a-t-e-l-y.
  

• I finished a new cozy mystery while I was waylaid by the stomach flu. Frankly My Dear, I'm Dead by Livia J. Washburn. Cute, but kind of fluffy - even by my standards. Heroine opens travel agency catering to "literary tours" and while visiting a recreation of Tara, the actor playing Rhett Butler is stabbed to death. Cute, fluffy, a good library check-out read (Seriously, 213 pages and it's a hard cover?! Yeah, yeah word count - whatever. I see 213 pages). My grade is around a B-. I'll probably read the next book in the series.
  

Thanksgiving Week At The Bat Cave

Monday: Father-in-law gets stomach flu.

Early Wednesday Morning: Mother-in-law gets stomach flu.

Wednesday Evening: Wendy gets stomach flu.

Thursday: Wendy cooks her first-ever Thanksgiving turkey and it totally kicks ass.

Friday: My Man gets stomach flu.

Saturday: In-laws fly back home.

Happy frickin' holidays.

The One Where Kristie Stops Talking To Wendy

As many of you know, after reading and loving Broken Wing by Judith James, KristieJ challenged everyone and their dead grandmother in Romance Bloglandia to read the book. And since I knew I wouldn't get a moments peace until I read the darn thing ("Wendy, Wendy, Wendy!"), I read it. Kristie, darling....brace yourself.

Description:

Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, Gabriel St. Croix has never known tenderness, friendship or affection. Although fluent in sex, he knows nothing of love. Lost and alone inside a nightmare world, all he’s ever wanted was companionship and a place to belong. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy façade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all that is about to change. The boy’s family has found him, and they are coming to take him home.

Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother’s disappearance. When he’s located, safe and unharmed despite where he as been living. Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own.

Becoming a mercenary, pirate and a professional gambler, Gabriel travels to London, France, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again and all he knows of love. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey, and the greatest gamble of all, is within the darkest reaches of his own heart.

What I Liked:

• The Old School + New School Vibe. Broken Wing has all the ingredients that made those old school historical romances so compulsively readable, without all the nasty drawbacks. So readers get a high-concept plot, a sweeping saga-like story, and a mucho tortured hero without all the mind-numbing flowery purple prose and "forced seduction." I think this is actually the novel's biggest selling point.

• The Grittiness. I liked that James didn't sugar-coat Gabriel's past, but she also didn't beat the reader over the head with graphic, gory details. She lets the reader's imagination fill in some of the blanks, which frankly was disturbing enough.

What I Didn't Really Care For:

• The Heroine. I didn't hate her, I just didn't "care" about her. I'm in the vast, extreme minority in Romance Bloglandia. Yeah, hunky heroes are great - but I'm all about great heroines. Oh, how I adore a well-drawn, well-thought-out heroine. And compared to Gabriel? Sarah had all the charm of a limp dishrag. She's just so...unmemorable. Seriously, ask me in another two weeks and all I'm likely to remember about this chick is that she had a telescope in her bedroom.

• The Writing. I found it disjointed. Too much telling, rather than showing. Too many leaps ahead in time. Also, the head-hopping was distracting. Now, I actually like head-hopping (putting me, again, in the minority), but there were several instances where I had to go back and reread previous paragraphs because I wasn't sure whose head I was in. Not good.

• Gabriel. He worked pretty well for me. I do think he probably could have been more warped, given his past - but hey, this is a romance novel and the author needs to make sure her hero is "save-able." All that said, I really started to sour on him at the end, when he morphed into a raging jackass (one with a pity complex no less!), and in turn, Sarah was forced into the role of Long-Suffering Romance Novel Heroine Martyr. Blah.
  

Final Thoughts:

Ultimately it's the writing style that sinks this book for me. Why? I felt that it kept me at arm's length and I never got emotionally invested in this story or the characters. I drifted along on the breeze, without truly losing myself - if that makes any sense whatsoever. I guess if you want to simplify it, I suppose I was looking for a more linear story arc. A bit more hand-holding. As it was, with the numerous leaps in time, along with the disjointed head-hopping, I found myself bored quite a bit. And distracted. To put it bluntly, under normal circumstances, this would have been a DNF for me. But then I would hear Kristie's voice lyrically ring in my ear, "Wendy, Wendy, Wendy!" - and I knew I just had to finish it. Only for you, chica.

None of this means I wouldn't recommend this book. It just means I would do so selectively. I think if you're a reader who is very hero-centric, Broken Wing is a good bet. Also, if you're a reader who takes to message boards and laments about how historical romance "ain't what it used to be" - you should check out Broken Wing. Otherwise? Meh. It just didn't do it for me. That doesn't mean it's a "bad" book. It just means it wasn't my bag.

First I give Dreaming Of You by Lisa Kleypas a C+, and now this. Tomorrow Kristie shows up on my doorstep carrying a pitchfork and torch.

Final Grade = C

Wendy Steps In It

Oh. My. God. You know, my brain has been known to occasionally meltdown, but I walked into work this morning, fired up my computer, and discovered the most shocking e-mail.

One of our branch staff e-mailed me and said, "I had a patron ask about Dashing Through the Snow by Carol Higgins Clark, and I can't find it in the catalog."

Yeah, yours truly, the Super Librarian, forgot to order the new Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark holiday mystery!

Oh. My. God.

Seriously, the Justice League will probably show up this afternoon to take away my Super Librarian badge.

Head, meet desk.

The Giant Squeegee Of Doom

Longtime readers here at the Bat Cave know that My Man is a most excellent gift giver. And the best part? He came fully trained in that department. I put absolutely no work into the guy. I never even give him "ideas" for gifts. Oh no, he's that colossally awesome all on his own without any help from me.

I know, I'm spoiled....and lovin' it baby!

Now my father? Love him to bits, but a standard issue guy. After my parents came out for a visit back in September, dear old Dad sent me The Giant Squeegee Of Doom. It's purpose? To help me clean my patio.

I was actually excited to receive said squeegee, because I was having a devil of a time finding one in any of the hardware stores out here. But it wasn't a priority, so I hadn't resorted to ordering one online. So Dear Old Dad sent me one.

And let me tell you, I love my father - because I finally cleaned all the ash from the fire off my patio yesterday. Yeah, that was fun! First I used a broom to sweep off the leaves and twigs, which resulted in clouds of ash billowing in the air. After that? I dumped buckets upon buckets of water onto the patio and just squeegee'd the water right off.

Ha! Take that wild fire! You are no match for The Giant Squeegee Of Doom!

I've had some pretty silly blog posts in the past, but this one might just take the cake. Love you Daddy!

In other news, My Man's parents are flying in today for a week-long, Thanksgiving extravaganza visit. Which means I practically knocked myself out yesterday with cleaning and the errands I had to run. But hey, I did buy our Thanksgiving turkey (Wow, at a bargain too!) and discovered some long lost muscles I didn't know I had. But geez, I still hurt. What I wouldn't give for a hot tub right about now....

Your Librarian Fantasy Come To Life

One of the positive things to spring out of my recent Wild Fire Drama, were all the lovely e-mails I got from lurkers. I'm always pleasantly surprised by how many people "read" my blog, but don't comment on it. Something to keep in mind you newbie bloggers out there.

Anyway, I got an e-mail today from longtime reader and lurker e., who told me about a funny librarian related clip from the TV show, Bones. And don't you know - I had to track it down.



Poor Booth. He isn't the first man to have a librarian fantasy, nor will he be the last.

In other news, my in-laws (OK, so we aren't married but we've been together for almost 11 years so get off my back....they're my "in-laws") are coming for a Thanksgiving holiday visit. They fly in on Saturday. Yeah, that pretty much means I'm going to spend all day tomorrow cleaning our apartment from top to bottom. Oh, and doing a little something called grocery shopping. I still haven't bought a darn thing in preparation for The Big Thanksgiving Gorge Fest. Although thanks to my Mommy, I now have the family stuffing recipe. When it's just me and My Man, it's Stove Top all the way - but for his parents? I'm willing to throw in some effort.

God Bless Detroit

As I've revealed on this blog many times before, I was a die hard mystery reading gal prior to discovering the romance genre. Mystery/suspense for me is like eating comfort food. It tastes good, makes me feel better, and is as easy as putting on that ratty old pair of sneakers I refuse to throw away.

In my opinion, there are four great American locales for mystery novels - New York City, Los Angeles, Miami and Detroit. The Big Four. Detroit might seem like the odd choice here, unless you happen to know anything about the city. The more things change, the more things seem to stay the same for Detroit. Heck, just recently we've had Kwame Kilpatrick and the Big Three CEOs flying on corporate jets to beg the federal government for bailout money.

Seriously. You can't make this shit up.

Corruption has a way of jump starting many a writers' imagination and Detroit is like going over the rainbow and discovering Oz.

In other news, I returned to work yesterday to discover two ARCs from Hard Case Crime on my desk. Now, I'm the first to admit that my brain is still recovering from this past weekend, but this cover induced a fit of inappropriate giggles.


Romance novel covers aren't this phallic.

And because I know someone will ask...

Description:

Once an art smuggler, now a respectable art dealer, Ovid Wiley awoke to find his former partner stabbed to death on his gallery floor. That was strange enough—but when a CIA agent showed up to spring him from NYPD custody, things got a lot stranger.

Now the CIA is offering to clear up the murder charge, but only in return for a favor: They want Ovid to fly to Vatican City and trace the trail of a renegade priest who has gone missing with millions in church funds. What’s the connection? The priest’s lover, a woman Ovid knew in his smuggling days...

Interesting factoid about this book. Roger Zelazny, who made his name writing science fiction, wrote this book in the 1970s only to stuff it in a drawer after his agent advised him to "focus on his science fiction and fantasy career." Zelazny passed away in 1995, and this manuscript was unearthed. For you Neil Gaiman geeks out there - he calls this book "classic wonderful Roger Zelazny all the way." Me? The plot intrigues. To the TBR pile it goes!

Visual Evidence

I did not take this picture, but I assure you what you see really happened. I saw this from the freeway as we were traveling north to get to Rosie's. Yeah, that's the fire - not an atomic bomb going off over where I live. Thank God for adrenaline, because it's amazing I kept driving and didn't pull off to the side of the freeway to lose my damn mind.

I called in sick to work today. I figured I earned it. I also wanted a chance to assess the damage. Driving around today, I have got to say that the state of California has the best firefighters in the world! I was amazed at how many homes were saved. Like nothing ever happened. I'm at a loss for words, truly. Yes, the damage is awful. Yes, we have neighbors who lost everything. But man, it could have been worse. Lordy, could it have been worse. There are a lot of people, me and My Man included, who ended up just being "inconvenienced" by the ordeal. Really makes you take stock of things - that's all I'm saying.

I had to run out to the laundromat today to wash our king-size comforter, so I was able to snap a few pictures of my own. Instead of loading a bunch of them directly on the blog (and having dial-up people hate me), I decided it would be easier to throw them on a Flickr account. You can see my pictures here. The burnt out buildings? They're part of my apartment complex and the only units that were touched by the fire.

Be It Ever So Humble

Another post that will look like a mess - but that will be full of good news.

We're home. And everything is fine. It's just as we left it, only now we have a lovely hickory flavor. Honestly though, the smoke isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We've got the air purifier running on high, so hopefully that will put a dent in it.

I don't mind telling you, it's eerie. Driving through the front gates of our apartment complex, it all looked so normal. We still have trees. There's hardly even any ash on our patio. Although I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune at first light. We drove home after dark, so couldn't see any of the surrounding area, which I imagine resembles a war zone. Word is that two buildings on the edge of our complex were completely destroyed.

I want to thank everyone for being so concerned about us, but I do want to single out Rosie and her hubby, GG, for taking us in this weekend. Everyone should have at least one awesome friend in their lives like Rosie. I don't know what we would have done this weekend without them. Well, yeah I do. We would have been alone in a hotel room somewhere slowly becoming unhinged.

Also, mad props to Lori - who was Little Miss Internet Diva. She found news about our apartment complex, and called to tell us the evacuation order had been lifted. Because of her we'll be sleeping in our own bed tonight, hell we know now we still have our bed!, and Rosie and GG have gotten their house back. Big sloppy kisses to you girlfriend!

Now to wade through my e-mail, and thank the Lord above for our good fortune.

Fire

This blog post is going to be a mess, but I wanted to shoot out an update. As many of you know I live in Southern California. Today, the wild fires showed up knocking on my front door. Literally. I had already canceled on the planned So. Cal. Blogger meet-up and in my fretting state, I had the sense to gather up our personal papers. I did not have time to pack clothes. The Boyfriend and I evacuated our apartment around noon today with our personal papers, the clothes on our back, some T-shirts and undies in a garbage bag, the CPU tower to our desktop and our laptop.

I also saved the two library books I checked out Thursday. That should please my boss, and Kristie J since one of them was Broken Wing by Judith James.

So I ended up at the So. Cal. Blogger meet up after all. My Man and I are currently staying at Rosie's. Bless her soul, I owe her BIG TIME! In the morning we'll reassess. As of this typing? All we know is what we've seen on the news, and it doesn't look good. Longtime blog readers - remember our old apartment that went condo? Yeah, in flames. Another complex a couple miles away? Heavy loses. Given that we're in the same neighborhood. Not good. I'm praying we only get smoke damage, but at this point it's very likely we've lost everything.

Everything.

I'm not a religious person. I believe in a higher power and strive to be a decent human being - and that's always seemed to work for me in the past. Right now, I'm praying to every deity I know of and then some.

My Man has been a rock. From helping the little old lady whose key was stuck in her car lock, to calming down my hysterics, to not cracking under pressure. He's tired now. And worried. Hell, he should be. We might be looking for a new place to live tomorrow.

But the important thing is we're safe. We love each other. The rest of that shit is just stuff. We can always buy more stuff.

Not So Sneaky Wendy

To explain this conversation, it should be noted that I work on a flex schedule, so I'm at home today (still in my jammies).

My Man: So, what do you have planned for today.

Me: The usual. Laundry and cleaning the bathroom. But I'm not going anywhere. It's chores and watching Law & Order reruns.

My Man: Of course!

Me: Remember I'm going out tomorrow with the girls (some of the So. Cal. bloggers are hooking up at a nearby Borders).

My Man: Oh yeah, that's right. You'll have fun at the strip club.

Me: No, we're going to the bookstore.

My Man: You can't fool me. I know what "books" is really code for.

Well gee, our secret is out girls! So have you all been saving up your dollar bills? Tee Hee.

There's Chocolate In My Peanut Butter!

Don't you love it when you get unexpected, happy news? That's what happened to me yesterday when a very nice e-mail landed in my inbox informing me that the third book in Lisa Lawrence's erotic-suspense series starring totally kickass babe, Teresa Knight, is due out in late January.

I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, and am beyond ecstatic that US readers will get a chance to read Sexile (Lawrence is a UK author).

As much as I love romance, my one true love, my first love, will always be mystery/suspense. It's what I cut my reading teeth on. It's the genre that made me fall in love with the act of reading. They say you never forget your first time (for good or ill), and my first foray into erotica was an erotic thriller, Topping From Below by Laura Reese. I was a 20-something college student, intrigued by a review I read in some magazine (I want to say Glamour). You think some of the erotic romance being published today pushes the envelope? Trust me when I say this book warped my fragile little mind. (Spoiler: There's a bestiality scene involving the heroine and a dog. No joke.) Then, of course, I passed it on to my BFF. Because that's how I roll.

Maybe it's because my first introduction to erotica was through a suspense novel, but I really think it's a travesty that the two genres are blended and mixed together more often. Sexuality and sex can be dark - and marrying that with a suspense tale seems like a perfect fit to me. The problem is, I'm not sure publishers know what the hell to do with it. It's "dark" and not "romantic, " so it's not romance - and do mystery/suspense readers really want to read sex when they're there for the whodunit? A recent example of this would be Sleeping With The Devil by Vanessa Marlow (AKA romance writer Cheryl Holt). I found the book very intriguing, but St. Martin's marketing of it problematic. Guess I wasn't the only one, because when I saw Holt at RWA this past summer she said that the book didn't do very well sales-wise. No wonder. Splashed all over the book was the fact that Marlow was Holt - romance readers were likely to think "romance" and be disappointed, while suspense fans were likely to think "romance" and stay far, far away.

But what do I know? I'm just a librarian. A librarian who would love to see more erotic-suspense hybrids. In the meantime I'm counting down the days to Sexile. I so want this book. Like yesterday.

Description:

There's a voyeur in each of us—
and Teresa Knight is no exception

Somebody’s shadowing Teresa Knight, watching the part-time investigator’s every move. And she’s about to find out why: tapped for an undercover assignment that takes her into the steamy world of erotic films, Teresa lands a job at Silky Pictures—and within weeks she’s directing the action, conjuring her own wildest fantasies onto film. But her employer is dabbling in something far beyond hard-core porn. And when the case culminates in murder, Teresa is at the center of the storm.

Framed for a crime she didn’t commit, Teresa’s on the run from Paris to Rio…and soon she’s playing hardball with the boys from Brazil while tangling with crime lords, terrorists, and one sexually adventurous clandestine agent. As she moves closer to the truth—and deeper into the erotic throes of her own unbridled sensuality—she’s following a trail that leads to the highest reaches of international government. Unable to trust anyone, caught in a tangled web of obsession and eroticism, suddenly she’s both hunter and prey in a deadly conspiracy that’s taking sex and power to a whole new level.…

Little Miss Crabby Pants Gets Famous!

Regular blog readers will recognize Little Miss Crabby Pants, who tends to make an appearance when we are unamused here at the Bat Cave. Her origins aren't all that glamorous. One day I wanted to get all Ranty McRanty about something or other and went trolling through my image hosting site to find a graphic that conveyed "not happy." This little gal came up - and since I think she bears a strong family resemblance (seriously girlfriend looks like my Mom's side of the family), I christened her Little Miss Crabby Pants and she's been a regular here at the Bat Cave ever since.

Color me surprised that Little Miss Crabby Pants soon developed a following among some of my blog readers. And really - who could blame you? She's cute as the dickens, isn't she? So it was with great amusement that I read an e-mail that Catherine sent me recently.

Seems our dear Catherine was surfing around over at Etsy (awesome site by the way) and came across these cranky girl dishtowels. I happen to love the description that the seller included:

"Go on - let the family know how you really feel. Give 'em the stink eye with your cranky dishtowel."

Oh man, I wonder if I can order these in bulk for my mother and sisters? Just in time for Christmas even!

Thanks Catherine! Here in the Bat Cave, we love to be amused.

Naughty Librarians Unite!

Today is the official, happy, happy laydown date for In Too Deep by Portia Da Costa here in the grand ol' US or A. It's sweet, it's charming, it's sexy - and it's got a librarian heroine to knock your socks off. Yippeee!

For a memory refresher - the Super Librarian review can be found here.

Slacker!

Over the years I've told my fair share of hair-raising, and bizarre library stories. I've also disclosed the fact that the money ain't all that great. Now, I do make a nice living. But when you factor in that I have a graduate degree? Yeah, the money ain't all that great.

So why do librarians do it? Why do we spend so much time in school only to receive little pay and recognition once we're out in the real world?

The holiday time.

Quick rule of thumb? If your mailman isn't delivering mail that day, chances are the library is also closed. Tuesday is Veteran's Day here in the U.S. First, big wet sloppy kisses to all the veterans out there (thanks Dad!). And since I have Tuesday off, free and clear, My Man said to me last week - "Hey, why not take Monday off as well?"

Why not indeed. Have I mentioned how much I love My Man?

So I did. And here I am at home, in front of my computer, procrastinating on starting the laundry and typing up a blog post. Ahhhh, heaven.

Of course the downside is that even when I have time off, I don't really have time off. Today it's cleaning, errands and the aforementioned laundry. The upside is that My Man has promised to take me out to lunch, and I've promised myself that I will get some reading done. Oh yes I will. Now to stop procrastinating....

General Housekeeping

In general blog upkeep news, I finally updated my Review Guidelines to reflect that I have a Sony Reader, and therefore can take electronic copies of books for review. I'm a girl true to my word. See, I told you I had nothing against ebooks - I just didn't have a reader. Well now I have a reader, and since Sony launched their software update that makes their reader DRM-PDF file friendly? Yeah, it's pretty much rockin' my world.

Also a shout-out to Kelly Watson who gave me a shout-out in her Romancing The Blog column today. You know, I've been blogging for almost six years now, and it never gets old when someone links to one of my posts. Just sayin'.

In more cleaning news, I spent my morning over at one of our libraries sorting through nasty, old fiction books. I'm about to share with you all my dirty little secret. Ready?

I love to throw away books.

Before you all pass out from the shock, let me clarify. I love throwing out old, nasty, smelly, falling apart books. Some librarians do not like to do this, and you'll know who they are if you're ever in a library where the collection looks like it's 30 years out of date. I know this is hard for laypeople to understand, but sometimes books have got to go. They look bad. They smell bad. They could be mistaken with toxic waste. Heck, even after doing my best Lady Macbeth impression and washing my hands a dozen times? They still itch from all the dust, mold and god knows what else was on some of those books. I probably should have worn gloves.

The library in question that I was helping out today is in the process of getting a brand, spankin' new facility after the first of the year. And the only thing worse than walking into a new library that barely has any books on the shelf? A new library with nothing but old, nasty books on the shelf. It just looks bad.

A revelation I had today while sorting through the moldy oldies - man, did everything suck in the 1970s or is it just me? I know times change, and therefore tastes change, but dang did publishers slap some fugly and bizarre cover art on books in the 1970s. Minimalistic ones, poorly painted ones, and cartoon fonts reminiscent of the The Electric Company. Seriously, you think book covers suck now? Take a trip through a library that hasn't weeded a book in 30 years and you'll discover new levels of horrifying.

I wouldn't be surprised if I have nightmares tonight.

Lucky for me I'll have a nice long weekend to recover. Yep, I'm being positively hedonistic and not working on Monday or Tuesday next week. Now to kick my butt into gear and actually get some reading done.

Wendy Talks TV

For all of you still suffering from Election Hangover, I thought we'd make the Bat Cave a tiny oasis of non-political-ness today. Instead, let us talk television and how insanely happy Wendy is that Law & Order (the original) is back for lucky number Season 19, starting tonight. Which means the execs over at NBC decided to pull their heads out of their asses and moved the show back to Wednesday night. I love me a rut, and Law & Order on Wednesday is just about the most comfortable rut there is.

This is where I'm going to encourage lapsed L&O watchers that they really need to give the show another shot. I know, after the untimely death of Jerry Orbach (who was all around awesome), it got rocky. I didn't loathe Dennis Farina like some, but when they started pairing up Detective Green with female partners, even my obsessive loyalty took a hit. Then word came down before season 18 that Jack McCoy was now going to be the DA, instead of the ADA...and well, I had my doubts.

Turns out, it was just the ticket. They also dumped the idea of having a female cop (Lt. Van Buren kicks so much ass, that another set of ovaries just mucked up the works), and brought in character actor, Linus Roache, to play the new ADA Michael Cutter. It's really revitalized the show. After so many years playing the wild card, Jack McCoy now finds himself playing politics and the dynamic between the McCoy and Cutter characters recall the golden days of Schiff and McCoy.

Trust me, it's like a rebirth. And I'm desperate people. Honestly, I watch so little non-foodie, non-sports related TV these days that I'm clinging to the few scripted television shows that remotely interest me. Plus I still haven't forgiven y'all for getting Dirt cancelled. I have much bitterness to still work through, and if L&O gets cancelled - well....

I'll probably start throwing knives. Or rocks. And really, nobody wants it to come to that.

The Month That Was October 2008

If you don't dig past the surface, I had a productive reading month in October. 12 books! Um yeah, if you pick up a shovel though? Well, four of those books were the new Harlequin Historical Undone titles and they're short stories. As in, I can read one on my lunch break short. Still, given that my reading has been way down this year, a girl has to give herself a break every now and then. So yippee! I read 12 books! Here's the breakdown:

The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen - Suspense - Grade B+

Wendy Says: I was disappointed in Gerritsen's last couple of books and found this story to be a marvelous return to form. I also loved that she seems to be setting up the fallout for Dr. Maura Isles' current disastrous relationship. Full review here.

The Magic Of Christmas by Carolyn Davidson, Victoria Bylin & Cheryl St. John - Harlequin Historical western anthology - Grade B-

Wendy Says: I know lots of readers who love Davidson's HH titles, but her story was a dud for me. I thought the Bylin was the strongest of the bunch, and St. John continues to deliver consistent, heart-warming stories. Review over at TGTBTU.

Her Warrior Slave by Michelle Willingham - Harlequin Historical Irish medieval - Grade B-

Wendy Says: I read so few medievals, but this one intrigued me because it was set in Ireland. A good, solid story with quite a bit going on! Glad I have a couple more of Willingham's books in the TBR. Full review here.

The Unmasking Of Lady Loveless by Nicola Cornick - Harlequin Historical Undone, ebook short story, Regency - Grade B

Wendy Says: I've been burnt out on Regencies for a long time, and because of that I'm probably missing out on some really good authors. Check that, I definitely was missing out on at least one good author, Cornick. A nice Christmas story featuring a reunited couple and some spicier R-rated lovin'. Review over at TGTBTU.

Libertine Lord, Pickpocket Miss by Bronwyn Scott - Harlequin Historical Undone, ebook short story, Regency - Grade B-

Wendy Says: If you're a dialogue junkie, this is the story for you. Lots of witty repartee and verbal zingers between hero and heroine. The ending was a little rushed, but an entertaining read. Review over at TGTBTU.

Shipwrecked & Seduced by Amanda McCabe - Harlequin Historical Undone, ebook short story, 16th century, Caribbean - Grade B-

Wendy Says: Loved the Spanish flavor and setting of this one. Also thought the author did a good job of setting up believable motives for heroine's deception. Review over at TGTBTU.

The Viking's Forbidden Love Slave by Michelle Willingham - Harlequin Historical Undone, ebook short story, Irish medieval - Grade B-

Wendy Says: A strong Alpha hero for all you Alpha lovers out there. This type of plot (Hero captor, heroine captive) tends to raise my feminist hackles, but Willingham makes it work and avoids the pitfalls that tend to befall these types of stories (forced seduction anyone?). Review over at TGTBTU.

In Too Deep by Portia Da Costa - Contemporary erotic romance - Grade A-

Wendy Says: My favorite read of the month, and one of the strongest books I've read this year. Loved, loved, loved the librarian heroine, and the shy hero. Nice steamy sex that avoids the recent trend towards the bizarre in this sub genre, and a excellent read for those who normally might not go for "erotica." Minor kink (some light bondage and self-lovin') and a couple who only plays naughty with each other. Full review here.

The Promise of Jenny Jones by Maggie Osborne - Historical western - Grade B+

Wendy Says: This one started out rocky for me because it takes a while for hero and heroine to get on page together. But once they do? Whoa doggie. Also, one of the great romance heroines. Just fabulous. Full review here.

A Scandalous Marriage by Cathy Maxwell - Regency England - Grade C

Wendy Says: I think Maxwell has a nice, easy writing style that flows well but this story didn't really work for me mostly because I really dislike Romeo & Juliet-like plots. Still, it felt good to get something out of my TBR that had literally been collecting dust for years. Full review here.

Rafferty's Bride by Mary Burton - Harlequin Historical western - Grade C-

Wendy Says: Sat up all night with the stomach flu and read this book in a couple of hours. Comforting in a predictable sort of way, but I thought the hero should have been smarter when it came to figuring out the villain. Also, there's a virgin widow angle in this one, that while believable for a change, still got on my nerves.

Snowfall by Sharon Sala - Romantic suspense - Grade C-

Wendy Says: Adversarial couples are extremely hard to write well, and the plot device didn't work in this story for me. The couple comes off like petty three-year-olds. Also, while I did think the suspense thread was interesting, culprit and motive were really obvious. I did like the cop characters though, and the villain is suitably creepy. Full review here.

She's Come Undone

Anyone who has read this blog for any amount of time knows how much I love the Harlequin Historical line. Seriously. Most days it's my reason for getting out of bed in the morning. Which means, I was mucho excited when I heard at RWA this past July that Harlequin was going to launch a new e-book-only short-story line called Harlequin Historical Undone.

Certainly every reader feels differently about short stories, and I'm one of those who happen to love them. I actually think it's the true measure of an author how well they can construct a story in a limited word count. I also find it a fabulous way to try new authors without investing a lot of time, energy and money. And a short story line that features historical authors? Seriously, I'm all over that.

So when Sybil asked me if I'd like to construct an Undone Spotlight for The Good, The Bad, The Unread, I said "Squeeeeeeee! Sure, why not?" So what's on tap for this week? Guest posts from all four authors who have launch titles - Nicola Cornick, Amanda McCabe, Bronwyn Scott and Michelle Willingham - along with yours truly reviewing all four titles. We also have a little teaser about upcoming releases and a contest! Head on over there, comment on any of the Undone posts (including reviews), to be eligible to win the grand prize of a Harlequin Historical gift basket or one of three runner-up prizes of a coupon code for a free Undone download. Like, how awesome is that?

Throughout the week I'll continue to update this post with linkage. In the meantime, be sure to check out what has gone live thus far:

Harlequin: They've Come Undone - Wendy's introduction post
Duck Flash - Sale, sale, sale!
Michelle Willingham's Guest Post - Title Jackpot!
Review: The Viking's Forbidden Love Slave by Michelle Willingham - What a title!
Nicola Cornick's Guest Post - Mmmmm, pie!
Review: The Unmasking Of Lady Loveless by Nicola Cornick
Bronwyn Scott's Guest Post - Sexy banter and thievery!
Review: Libertine Lord, Pickpocket Miss by Bronwyn Scott
Forthcoming Undone Titles!
Amanda McCabe's Guest Post - Sailing the high seas!
Review: Shipwrecked and Seduced by Amanda McCabe

How To Lose Friends & Alienate People

My last several reads have been on the disappointing side, so I thought it was time to take drastic action. Yep, I went back to my comfort food of choice, Harlequin Historical westerns. Then I figured, why not Jenna Kernan? She hasn't disappointed me yet, and Turner's Woman happens to be one of Sybil's most favoritest reads ever. Surely, nothing could go wrong...could it?

Jake Turner is traveling west on a super secret mission for President Andrew Jackson when he comes across a massacre in progress. A young woman, traveling with a group of idiot men, have run afoul of some Crow warriors. Seems the idiot men decided it might be fun to ride across a sacred burial ground and take some souvenirs. The men are goners, but Jake is on decent enough terms with this particular band that they let him take the woman. The chit certainly throws a wrench in the works, and he has absolutely no use for women, but his conscience pretty much forces him to save her sorry butt.

Emma Lancing was on her way to meet up with her father, a rendezvous she is not looking forward to since the man is an abusive tyrant. She's completely unsure what to do. Jake seems unwilling to go out of his way to reunite her with her asshole Daddy, and she's not about to travel off by her lonesome. So when Jake offers her a choice, she decides that she's going to travel with him. Why not? For the first time in her life she's in control of her destiny, and having an adventure sounds positively grand.

Emma is a fantastic heroine. Oh, how I loved this girl! She starts out this story shell-shocked. Almost like someone suffering from post-traumatic stress. Indian massacre aside, living under her father's tyrannical rule for her entire life, watching her mother succumb to madness only to be eventually shipped off to a mental ward, has left Emma completely unsure of herself. She has no life. She's essentially a prisoner. What Jake offers her is a chance at freedom. I loved watching this girl blossom into a woman, become more sure of herself, and discover that not only does she have a brain in her head, she knows her own mind. She's calling the shots now, and her Daddy can't say a damn thing about it.

The fly in the ointment is Jake - who is by far not anywhere near good enough for Emma. Man, is this guy a jackass! All woman are evil. Why? Yeah, you guessed it - he grew up back east and and some slutty Miss Thang tried to hog-tie and trick him in to marriage. That's women for you! Our sole purpose in life is to ruin a man's life by throwing the marriage noose around his neck. Then we climb into his bed, practically rape the guy, so we can get ourselves bunches of babies so he's tied to us forever! Insert maniacal laughter here.

This jackass idiot asshole keeps up this nonsense for the whole damn story. He treats Emma like a leper, despite the fact that she continually saves his sorry ass time and again over the course of the story. Seriously. This asswipe should have been killed at least three times by my count - and Emma, dear sweet wonderful Emma, keeps rescuing his sorry butt, for reasons that totally escaped me.

Seriously, how I loathed this "hero." He sped right past Alpha territory and went straight into Why Hasn't He Been Castrated With A Dull Spoon Yet territory.

So where does that leave us? Great heroine. Great, great, great heroine. Seriously. I'd totally go gay for Emma. Also, Kernan continues to be one of the very few authors mining the western landscape pre-Civil War era (basically when everything west of the Mississippi was the middle of nowhere). Her settings are almost like secondary characters to her stories, and this one is no exception.

But Jake! Oh Lord - this guy needed to be shot. Or stabbed. Or strung up by his Mr. Happy. Seriously, I can't decide which. All I know is that Emma was way to good for this assmunch and deserved way better. Unfortunately, this being a romance and him the only hero on the horizon, she's stuck with him. Poor girl.

Final Grade = C+

Seriously, this is my fourth C read in a row. I'm starting to get punchy.