Goals for Today

1. Hit the gym. I was going to take the day off after going 5 days in a row, but figured 30mins on the treadmill or stairmaster won't kill me. maybe... ::winces::


1a. On the way home from gym pick up new Jennifer Ashley book (follow up to The Madness of Ian Mackenzie. squeee!)

2. Write, write, write. I would love to finish chapter one on the new wip today. Had a tiny crisis of faith, so to speak about the wip yesterday. I checked some Coming Soon lists at a couple of publishers and Holy Paranormal Plethoras(!) Straight contemporaries, westerns or historials were slim pickings. My wip is mostly contemporary with a slight para/scifi element but it's there and intrinsic to the story.

I just wonder at the appetite for paranormal the general readership has and if it will continue or will people tired of it if there's not enough variety offered. And will they tired of it by the time the wip is finished? (lol. cause this is really all about me.)

A quick book rec: Tanya Huff's The Enchanted Emporium.



Blurb:

The Gale family can change the world with the charms they cast, and they like to keep this in the family. Alysha Gale is tired of having all her aunts try to run her life, both personally and magically. So when the letter from her Gran arrives willing her a "junk" shop in Calgary, Alysha jumps at the chance. It isn't until she gets there that she realizes her customers are fey. And no one told her there's trouble brewing in Calgary-trouble so big that even calling in the family may not save the day...

I stayed up till after 1am reading this book last night. I'm approximately half way through and don't anticipate it's going to fall apart on me in the last half. Very enjoyable, fun,fast read. Love the characters and the 'Aunties' and its a very interesting take on the world of witches, sorcerors and the Fey.

One caution there's some cousinly lovin' going on in the book. It's more implied than detailed--the Gale family likes to keep 'the power' all in the family so to speak--so if you're squeamish about that. Not the book for you.

Also I did find certain elements at the begining a bit confusing. I'm pretty sure this is book one (a stand alone?) but parts of it read as if it was a later book in a series and there was an asumption that readers were familiar with certain things/characters.

Still, dude, I stayed up way past my bedtime to read! I've had more DNFs or Meh reads than I care to remember so this one is a winner on that score.

Recent Buys

Went on a little spending spree at the bookstore yesterday:

What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool. (This looks like a handy little starter reference book. I just wish the text weren't so crammed on the page. Have pity on my poor aging eyes, publishers!)

This guide to daily life in 19th-centuryEngland is a welcome companion for readers of Austin, the Brontes, Dickens, and Trollope. The first section is a collection of engrossing short chapters on various aspects of British life, including clothing, etiquette, marriage, money, occupations, society, and transportation. For example, customs now lost but very much practiced at the time were primogeniture, which ensured that the great family houses would not be split up, and the avoidance of eating cheese by the middle class, who considered it a food for the poor. The second part of the book is a glossary of commonly used words or phrases that may be unfamiliar to the modern reader; for instance, tar was a colloquial name for a sailor. Although there are many books on the social history of 19th-century Britain (including several companions to Victorian fiction), this volume is useful because of its concise chapters and lengthy glossary. Recommended for general literature collections.

~ * ~

Irresistible by Susan Mallery (btw, there are a ton of romance novels with this title. Defo one to avoid as a writer unless you're wedded to it. I like Mallery's books, but I'm always a tiny bit disappointed because end up wanted more romance than she includes. I think she's more woman's fiction with romance subplot, but this one *sounds* more romancey than the other books I've read of hers. We'll see.)


As a single mom, Elissa Towers has had to make it on her own, but now her car is falling apart, and the tires are worn thin. When Elissa's reclusive neighbor, Walker Buchanan, buys her new tires, she pays him back with baked goods, and soon Walker is eating dinner with Elissa and her daughter. He is attracted to spunky Elissa, but he is on a mission to find the girlfriend of a buddy in the service who took a bullet for him. As part of the Buchanan restaurant empire, introduced in Delicious (2006), Walker has no need for money, but he worries about Elissa's finances while she frets about making up with her parents. Mallery has written an emotionally charged story of two people who are perfect for each other but need to get past their personal demons before they can forge a relationship. This is one book that lives up to its title.

~ * ~

A Dark Love by Margaret Carroll.)(Love me a *good* romantic-suspense/thriller. Hope this one is.)

Caroline Hughes abandons her abusive, controlling psychiatrist husband, hoping to begin a new life with a new name, but Dr. Porter Moross, a Freudian analyst who's more psycho than therapist, willingly destroys his life and career in a mad effort to track his elusive wife across the country. Finding shelter in a tiny mountain town, Caroline meets divorced football player Ken Kincaid, but their romance sometimes seems wedged into a story mostly focused on Porter's madness and Caroline's fear. Porter is both terrifying and sympathetic, while Caroline seems almost waifish until an unexpected and satisfying ending makes it clear that she's not just waiting for Ken to save her. Suspense fans who like a touch of romance will find this a winner.

~ * ~

Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas (I've been dying for this one to come out in mass-market pb. Now I have the whole series. I really, really like LK's contemporary romances.)

Ella Varner grew up with a troublesome mother and an insecure sister, but she has managed to come out of it reasonably sane, with a good (if vegan) boyfriend, Dane, and a job as an advice columnist. All of this gets turned upside down when her sister disappears and sticks Ella with her newborn, Luke. Determined to find Luke's father, Ella tracks down a likely suspect—millionaire playboy Jack Travis. The encounter results in Travis and Ella unexpectedly engaged in an irrepressible attraction. Meanwhile, Ella grows fond of baby Luke and fears what will happen when Tara returns. As Ella grapples with conflicting desires, she learns some important lessons about love and trust.


~ * ~

Dark Angel~Lord Carew's Bride by Mary Balogh

DARK ANGEL
Jennifer Winwood has been engaged for five years to a man she hardly knows but believes to be honorable and good: Lord Lionel Kersey. Suddenly, she becomes the quarry of London’s most notorious womanizer, Gabriel Fisher, the Earl of Thornhill. Jennifer has no idea that she is just a pawn in the long-simmering feud between these two headstrong, irresistible men—or that she will become a prize more valuable than revenge.

LORD CAREW’S BRIDE
Jennifer’s cousin Samantha Newman is smarting after she too is toyed with by Lord Kersey. In the midst of her heartbreak, she seeks solace from her new friend, the disabled gardener Hartley Wade. If only she knew that Hartley is secretly Lord Carew, and that he hides more than extraordinary wealth: a passionate secret held deep in his heart that only her love can reveal.

~ * ~

An Impossible Attraction by Brenda Joyce. (It's been ages since I've read a Joyce book. I got this one because of the chapter 3 excerpt I read somewhere and because it has one of my favourite tropes- coldly arrogant, incapable of love, hero matched to impoverished heroine with whom he falls first madly in lust with and manipulates into being with him after which he falls hopelessly in love. Sometimes you just need to eat the whole box of chocolate, yanno? *gg*)

With her mother's passing, Alexandra Bolton gave up on love to take care of her family. Now, with the Bolton name in disgrace due to her father's profligate ways, marrying an elderly squire might be the only way to save her family from absolute ruin. But when she meets the infamous Duke of Clarewood, old dreams—and old passions—are awakened as never before. Yet she cannot accept his shocking proposition!
He is the wealthiest, most powerful peer in the realm, and having witnessed the cold horror of marriage as a child, he has vowed never to wed. But Alexandra Bolton inflames him as no woman has ever done, and she also serves him his first rejection! Now Clarewood—who always gets what he wants—will choose which rules to play by. But when passion finally brings them together, a terrible secret threatens to tear them apart….

~ * ~

Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati. (Really looking forward to reading this one. Ms Donati is an awesome writer. God, I can't find a succinct synopsis, you'll have to read it on Amazon.)



~ * ~

Candy Licker by Noire (Funny story about this one. The title and cover art put a smile on my face and I couldn't help plucking it from the shelf to find out more. Wey-hell... ::fans self:: Bought it. So, while I'm at the till checking out, an older lady sees the cover--she's a wee lttle thing--asks if the book was part of a course I was taking (Ryerson University is 2 blocks away). O_o lol. The cashier and I exchanged amused looks before I shook my head and said 'No' with a smile. In fact I've been so amused by that little exchange, I forgot to be flattered that she mistook me for a student. O_o But really, was like having your grandma find your astro-glide and think it was a new brand of hand-sanitizer. lol.

When Candy Raye Montana hooks up with Harlem rap don Junius "Hurricane" Jackson, she's expecting little more than a respite from serving as bait for stickups for her well-meaning but desperate mother and her mother's junkie boyfriend—and maybe a little luxury. But 'Cane turns out to be a major sociopath (with violent perversions that may be compensations for a small dick). Candy, unhappy and horny, turns to Internet cam mutual masturbation, but when Percy "Knowledge" Graham, Cane's lawyer, comes into her life, the love is real—and deeply satisfying. But Cane knows something's up, and Candy's life is more and more in the balance as Knowledge schemes to find a way for them to make a life together. Candy's first person and Knowledge's third begin to alternate chapters: both are completely absorbing and rarely miss. The cast of bling and trash extras are well-done and well-named.

~ * ~

Runemarks by Joanne Harris. (This hardback was on the remainder table. Sounds interesting)



Seven o''clock on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the end of the world, and goblins have been at the cellar again. Not that anyone would admit it was goblins. In Maddy Smith's world, order rules. Chaos, old gods, faeries, magic-all of these were supposedly vanquished centuries ago. But Maddy knows that a small bit of magic has survived. The "ruinmark" she was born with on her palm proves it-and makes the other villagers fearful and suspicious that she is a witch.

But the mysterious traveler One-Eye sees Maddy's mark not as a defect, but a destiny. And Maddy will need every scrap that One-Eye can teach her about runes, cantrips, and glamours-every ounce of magic she can command-if she is to survive that destiny

Beautiful Creatures - II (& Lips Touch: Three Times)

I ran some errands downtown today and picked-up Beautiful Creatures. But it took them awhile for actually find it in the store (the Chapters-Indigo at Bay & Bloor is one of the bigger locations with two levels). It wasn't on the shelf, but the did eventually find a couple of copies on one of the display tables.

Anywho, while I was waiting around for some one to track down a copy in-store, I did some browsing and came another book that sounded pretty awesome. So I bought it to!

Lips Touch: Three Times

Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers' souls:



Goblin Fruit: In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today's savvy girls?

Spicy Little Curses: A demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse.

Hatchling: Six days before Esme's fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?

* * *

Hmmm.... the description on Amazon differs from what's on the back blurb or the inside cover-flap. The synopsis on Chapters-Indigo jives with what's on the book-flap:

Everyone dreams of getting the kiss of a lifetime - but what if that kiss carried some unexpected consequences? A girl who’s always been in the shadows finds herself pursued by the unbelievably attractive new boy at school, who may or may not be the death of her.

Another girl grows up mute because of a curse placed on her by a vindictive spirit, and later must decide whether to utter her first words to the boy she loves and risk killing everyone who hears her if the curse is real.

And a third girl discovers that the real reason for her transient life with her mother has to do with belonging literally belonging to another world entirely, full of dreaded creatures who can transform into animals, and whose queen keeps little girls as personal pets until they grow to childbearing age. From a writer of unparalleled imagination and emotional insight, three stories about the deliciousness of wanting and waiting for that moment when lips touch.

* * *

That's still not what's on back cover. Looks like I have to type it out:

There is a certain kind of girl the goblins crave. You could walk across a high school campus and point them out: not her, not her, her. The pert, lovely ones with butterfly tattoos in secret places, sitting on their boyfriends' laps? No, not them. The girls watching the lovely ones sitting on their boyfriends' laps. Yes.

Them.


The goblins want girls who dream so hard about being pretty their yearning leaves a palpable trail, a scent goblins can follow like sharks on a soft bloom of blood. The girls with hungry eyes who pray each night to wake up as someone else. Urgent, unkissed, wishful girls.

Like Kizzy

* * * *

Goblins! How cool is that? And isn't that cover just gorgeous? The book was spine-out on the shelf so it was the title that caught my attention first.

Maybe there is something to this YA craze, I like the way they've branched out beyond the usual vamp/were paranormal material.

Again, while googling the cover I came across a review for the book, here

Recent Book Purchase

I've bought a bunch of books still week, some of those purchases came about because of online review buzz, some of it my own weakness, one in particular I blame on Meljean.

But I don't have time to blog about them all, so I thought I'd point to one that I think might appeal to a number of folks since it seems to feature an M/M relationship. I was looking for Patricia Briggs and the cover art of this one caught my eye, as well as the title. Isn't loverly?

SHADOWS RETURN




The few places I sampled the writing, pulled me right into the scenes being depicted, so I bought it. Just checking Amazon now I can see that it's book 4 of a series that started back in 1996, so I might have to find the previous book(s) if I like this one enough.


Synopsis:

With their most treacherous mission yet behind them, heroes Seregil and Alec resume their double life as dissolute nobles and master spies. But in a world of rivals and charmers, fate has a different plan.…

After their victory in Aurënen, Alec and Seregil have returned home to Rhíminee. But with most of their allies dead or exiled, it is difficult for them to settle in. Hoping for diversion, they accept an assignment that will take them back to Seregil’s homeland. En route, however, they are ambushed and separated, and both are sold into slavery. Clinging to life, Seregil is sustained only by the hope that Alec is alive.

But it is not Alec’s life his strange master wants—it is his blood. For his unique lineage is capable of producing a rare treasure, but only through a harrowing process that will test him body and soul and unwittingly entangle him and Seregil in the realm of alchemists and madmen—and an enigmatic creature that may hold their very destiny in its inhuman hands…. But will it prove to be savior or monster?