A big family, a reading addiction, and the occasional celebrity scandal are the ingredients of life that create one woman's opinion on just about everything.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Hailing All Frequencies

So, RWA I truly don't know where to start. There's so much happening so much sound, noise, conversation that my brain can hardly hold it all. Can you say sensory overload. Yowza!

Here are some totally awesome blogger chicks I've met so far:


Katiebabs
KristieJ
SL Wendy
Jane (DA)
Sarah (Smart Bitches)
Lisabea
Alice (Alys)
Sula
Amy
Lori
Nicole
Tracy
Angie (Samhain editor who has Nice Mommy/Evil Editor blog)

It's inspiring to meet so many smart, funny, and caring women all in one place. Whether I was getting reacquainted with someone I've met previously or making a new friend, it's been fabulous. Does that sound contrived? I just can't think of a word that adequately describes the wonderfulness of it all.

I had two (yes, count 'em TWO) warm and funny encounters with Gena Showalter and Jill Monroe. They were so nice and welcoming. The first time I ran into them I was with Kristie. I have to admit we both gushed a bit about their Authors Talk to Authors videos. Let me just add they were so gracious and patient with us. Very nice ladies.

Incredibly I made it to almost every author on my 'A List' at the Literacy signing. There was a few writers I missed that I'm hoping I'll get to see at the publisher signings. Hope springs eternal.

Anyway, some author highlights were Nalini Singh, Marjorie Liu (she totally rocked my boat) and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I had a wonderful conversation with Pamela Morisi. All of Ms. Morisi's historicals are on my keeper shelves. We had just an excellent, and for me memorable chat. Anne Stuart was charming, as was Sherry Thomas and Ann Aguirre. It is no exaggeration when I tell you that every writer I stopped to see and/or spoke to was patient with questions, seemed genuinely happy to see us. Cynic that I can sometimes be, I couldn't believe it.

Just try to imagine how great it would be to have a conversation with Nalini Singh and realize that she knows the names of the people and blogs in your little corner of Romancelandia. I (just) barely restrained myself from dropping my jaw.

I want to say a special thank you to TL Schaefer who has been so so nice to me. It was great to finally meet her and spend a few minutes chatting. Oh, that reminds me, I also had the best visit with Jodi Thomas.

If you ever get a chance to go to an author signing event like this you should grab the opportunity with both hands. The authors I met were all lovely to meet. The event seemed, from my perspective, to be well planned and organized. The layout and size of the room made it easy to get to the authors you wanted to see and in most cases you might have only one or two people ahead of you before you got your "moment".

A good day. A very good day.

Tomorrow we start attending workshops and lectures. There's also the Blaze author signing at 10 a.m. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

I know it's a royal pain to click here to read my updates or 'tweets' as we affectionately call them, especially if you don't Twitter, but I have been trying to update as often as possible to let you know what we are doing and what's going on.

I can't believe that all my roomies are soundly asleep and I'm here chatting it up with you. It's 2:48 A.M. You can't possibly believe I'm going to be proofreading this...can you?

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Monday, July 28, 2008

Staying in Touch

Tomorrow morning I'm off to San Francisco and the RWA Conference. I can hardly believe it's been a year since I vowed to save my money and go to the next one. Now here it is. Wow!

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to try to do at least one post while I'm there. Shmoo has graciously agreed to let me bring his MacBook. I'll also have my trusty phone, the ever lovely Treo. With my phone I can offer the quick fix and updates via Twitter which will (and do) appear on my sidebar.

I'm counting on the Mac though. Even though I can blog, twitter, take pictures and check on all of you with my phone and it's pain to write anything in detail. Everything is so small. If I want to check google reader or write a long post it takes some time. So keep your fingers crossed I don't have no stinkin' problems with the MacBook.

For comprehensive coverage of RWA, Jude has an awesome all encompassing blog set up called BLOGGING NATIONAL. Everything RWA is gathered in one spot. She has all kinds of links for you. If you want to know what's happening, don't miss it. There's also BlogNationals that Jane from DA set up. It will have posts from people attending the conference, including yours truly, via RSS feed directly from their sites. I'm thinking there may be some sensory overload with all the stuff coming out of RWA. There will certainly be lots to choose from.

OTOH, if the power continues to shut off that may be the ONLY story to come out of the conference. If therer isn't any electricity for me to get my hair dried, well let me just say things are going to get ugly in a hurry and I'm not talking about my hair.

(Side note: My only silver lining about the accommodations and the lack of electricity is that if things do go to hell in a hand basket at the Marriot my brother lives in town. Should I warn him he may be getting visitors? End side note)

In other Rosie RWA News, I'm pretty happy with my lists. The only thing I haven't quite nailed down is any sort of a reasonable itinerary for the conference. There's so much to do! I want to do everything, meet everyone, go everywhere. Hopefully Wendy will help me with that since we have a long drive ahead of us and she's been to RWA before.

You may have heard around Romancelandia that I'm rooming with SL Wendy, Katie and Kristie. Am I lucky or what? With all four of us at the conference we should cover a lot of ground and meet a lot of people.

Which brings me full circle to my only dilemma. Time. Time will be a precious commodity. I'm already thinking I can cut out eating and sleeping. Who needs to eat? Who needs to sleep?

It's RWA and I'm going to be there.

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Sunday, July 27, 2008

My List for the Literary Signing

So I'm reviewing the list of authors for the Literary Signing in SF and I start circling names of authors I don't want to miss. I realize when I'm only to the 'Cs' on the list that this isn't a good method of choosing who I'm going to try and 'meet' or buy books from.

However, once committed to a task it's hard for me to stop the process. I slog through the rest of the list trying to ONLY circle people I HAVE to see. I wasn't much more successful than the first method I was using.

The first list is my "narrowed down" choices. It's still ridiculous and un-doable, but whatever. It was so hard trying to make a decision. I'm going to talk to people who've been to RWA in prior years and try to come up with an action plan. The plan is a total act of desperation you realize. There are many reader faves on my lists so I imagine tons of other people will have the same idea.

Here's the first list

Ann Aguirre (loved GRIMSPACE)

Maya Banks (started reading her ebooks; loved the print releases)

Suzanne Brockmann (has left indelible images in my head)

Kresley Cole (A Hunger Like No Other... is all I'm saying)


Claudia Dain (A Kiss to Die For is reason enough)


Christine Feehan (the line will be insane I'm sure)

Lisa Gardner (one of my most referred books is her PERFECT HUSBAND)

Jayne Anne Krentz (my very first glom)

Marjorie M. Liu (I stalk her blog and love her books)

Pamela Morisi (so many old faves and keepers)

Robin D. Owens (Love the HeartMate series)

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (my sister will KILL me if I don't & GG has read all her Chicago Stars books)

Nora Roberts (pffft! She's Nora freaking Roberts)

TL Schaefer (met her out here in Romancelandia and she invited me to stop by...that's a no-brainer)

Nalini Singh (FOR SURE I have to see her. Have to.)

Anne Stuart (could you just scream? I'd swoon to have NIGHT FALL signed by her)

CL Wilson (Tairen Soul series is very good)

Here are some of the people I want to see but I haven't found a way to be in four places at once. These authors have provided me with many hours of wondrous reading entertainment.

Susan Andersen (who doesn't love her Elvis?)
Connie Brockway
Portia da Costa
Geralyn Dawson
Thea Devine
Christina Dodd
Barbara Freethy
Rachel Gibson
Jane Graves
Lori Handeland
Kristin Hannah
Lorraine Heath
Elizabeth Hoyt
Madeline Hunter
Joan Johnston (love her sisters western trilogy)
Angela Knight
Susan Krinard
Jill Marie Landis
Debbie Macomber
Jill Monroe (I've never read her books, but those Authors Talk to Authors Videos...hilarious!)
Alexis Morgan
Mary Jo Putney
JoAnn Ross
Sharon Sala
Kerrelyn Sparks
Sherry Thomas
Diane Whiteside



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Saturday, July 26, 2008

And then...

We had a busy full sun-filled day. Shmoo was at his Fire Explorer Muster last night and today. We went out for the day to watch the competitions. Well except for the 90 minutes I went to get my hair fluffed and folded.

If you were reading my tweets you know that Shmoo's Make and Break team came in third. That was fabbo because they are rookies and it was unexpected.

On another note, I wanted to let everyone know that I was being melodramatic in my previous post. Yes, I did fall. Yes, I do have several bruises and maybe it's not as comfy as it could be sitting, however, I am fine. My pinky toe is bruised, as are my knees, but it's just bruised, not black. That was poetic license to make the post more amusing to read. But I feel horribly guilty that people might think I'm hobbling around. That is so not the case. Whew! My conscience feels better now.

After the competition we had to run to pick up some stuff to take to the potluck BBQ afterward. I had to run into the Super Target for something and found some cute jammies to take to RWA. Yes, I already bought one pair, but these were too cute to pass up... RWA has been such a convenient excuse to buy new clothes.

Anyway, I hoping to spend a quiet evening at home tonight. I'm also hoping I get to read . I'm dying to. My baby sister called. She just finished the Brockmann. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to talk about it because I was at the competion when she called. Can't wait to have that chat.

Life is good.

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Friday, July 25, 2008

Fall down...go boom...

In an effort to have a quiet day on Sunday to pack and organize, GG and I went to Costco last night to get the last of the stuff we need for Beanie's move out.

We had our list. We bought everything on our list. We unloaded and we checked out. As we left I walked ahead while GG finished with the checker. About three or four steps out I began an Olympic worthy slip and slide show. I deserve at least a silver medal for my performance. I almost recovered twice. Alas, I didn't 'stick' my landing. I fell. Fell down. Fell down and managed to bruise every joint on my body south of the equator.

Now I've never claimed to be grace personified. Not even close. However, my tumble to the shiny concrete floor at Costco was NOT due to a lack of grace. I swear! Nope, apparently someone let their kid (okay, I guess it could have been an adult) toss bits of HOT DOG on the floor. I owe my stellar performance to hot dog grease and bits of wienie. Now that's a visual for you, isn't it?

The staff at Costco were both appalled and solicitous. They took pictures of the grease and wienie bits. They were very thorough. They even offered me ice packs. I had to fill out an "incident" report. Yeah, like I'd ever sue over a bruised bum and knees. Although... No, I'm kidding. Wait... No, I'm kidding. I think.

I guess it mostly depends on whether or not my left pinky toe continues to turn black. Who wants to go around with a black toe? Gross! And it's summer time and I'm going to RWA...

That's it. I have to think this over carefully. A black toe is no small thing. And the decisions I now have to make about shoes and nail polish. What color nail polish DO you wear with a black toe?

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Spit & Shine & Packing

I'm really not doing anything that much "more" to go to RWA. Sure, I bought some new clothes, but that was because I lost 30 lbs and wanted my pants to stay up while I walked. A couple of tops and new jammies and SHA-ZAAAAAM! I'm ready to go.

Well, except for a purse. I still haven't found one I really like particularly if we exclude the $500 number I saw in Macy's. Loved that one. However, $500 for a purse? So not my world. This isn't exactly the one I looked at, but very similar...





Anywhoodle, what I can't figure out is why I seem to have a ga-gillion (which is way more than a gazillion btw) chores to do all of a sudden? Wha' tha'?

Maybe it's because this is Beanie's last weekend home. He will actually be moving out while I'm at RWA. We have some last minute shopping to do with him.

Maybe it's because Shmoo has a muster this weekend in which he is competing on both of the 'A' teams. Yeah, that one's on Saturday and an ALL day thing with a party in the evening. I don't need to do a mani-pedi and get my hair done before RWA, do I?

Or, you know maybe it's because GG is a slave driver and doesn't want to miss (that means me too) any swim workouts this week either.

Emily is my only friend. All she wants me to do is sit on the couch while I read or watch TV while she lays with her head in my lap. You see where I'm going right? Apparently only another chick knows what I really need.

Did I ever mention how much I love my doggie?

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Code Three



Gabrielle came back through town on her Route 66 trip. My Chief, true to his word, gave them the 50 cent tour of the Headquarters fire station. We also took Gabrielle and Tamara on an engine ride. Since it never gets old to ride on a fire truck, I tagged along.

After a relatively quiet day at our station there was a 9-1-1 call for our engine while we were out on the ride. We were already close to the call location so it was decided we would go directly there. You know what that means right? We got to go sirens and lights to the site. Yeah bay-bee! You read that right. Sirens. Lights.

On any other ordinary day this would never happen. It was just one of those right place, right time things. I tell you Gabrielle and Tamara have some sort of karmic Midas touch. They have the most extraordinary luck. Believe me when I tell you, this was very unusual indeed.

Can you dig it? A fire engine ride with sirens and lights? Very cool. Of course once we arrived we had to depart the scene. Apparently a ride on an engine did not qualify us to actually put out the fire. Can you believe that? Sheesh!

Our crew, particularly the Engineer was aces and so sweet. They answered questions and put up with our schtick. I guess I should buy them a pizza or something. What do you think is an appropriate thank you for the guys? I'm sort of scratching my head over that one.

Oh and in case you are wondering, it was a relatively minor incident and no one was harmed or anything. But dude...was that cool or what?

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

RWA List

I don't have one. A list. You know for RWA. I don't have a list. No list of books I'm taking to read on the road trip. No list of books I'm going to buy at the Literacy signing. No list of stuff I need to pack and not forget, like a sleeping bag for Jane for Tuesday night. She might appreciate me getting it cleaned too don't you think?

Yep, I said it. I don't have a list. For all of you free thinkers out there who capably fly through life without a list. Here's my big fat raspberries to you.


Some of us lesser mortals need things like Lists like babies need binkies, blankies, or woobies. I need lists. Absurdly they make me feel safe, comfortable and in control.

Yes, all that and I don't have a list for RWA. Yet. I started my first one tonight. Want to guess what it is?

List for RWA

1. Make list of authors I need to tackle meet at the Literacy signing.

Anybody want to tell me what it means when one starts a list making a note to make another list? If I weren't so happy I'm getting organized I think I'd be worried.

One last note completely unrelated to the rest of this post. I can't get a couple of elements and storylines from the Brockmann book out of my head. Hurry, somebody read it so we can talk about it.

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Monday, July 21, 2008

INTO THE FIRE by Suzanne Brockmann



INTO THE FIRE by Suzanne Brockmann

I'll get this out of the way, INTO THE FIRE (excerpt) was a damn good book and I just spent most of Sunday reading it. I'm tired and spent from the experience. I should be asleep, but sleep is overrated when you have a good book isn't it?

I know that military suspense isn't for everyone. In my opinion this book is more than that. This is a book about people and relationships. Yes, there is covert operations, military and spy stuff in this book, but there are also some great characters in this book. While the blurb on the jacket will tell you that it's about Hannah Whitfield and Vinh Murphy there are several story lines going on and I found all of them interesting. While INTO THE FIRE has the requisite HEA for the main characters, some story lines end and others are left dangling.

One other word of caution I have is to first time readers of Brockmann, (are there still some out there?) I had moments of getting characters and situations from previous books confused.

Ms. Brockmann has written over 40 books now and there's been a lot of couples between the Troubleshooters Inc. agency and SEAL Team 16. Multiple story lines and couples in those books have overlapped. I haven't decided whether or not this is more of a detriment to people who have read the books or those who haven't.
Ms. Brockmann does a pretty good job of clearing things up in a few paragraphs or pages, but it still made me a little dizzy a time or two.

Hannah and Murphy are both emotionally and physically damaged people. The one thing each of them has is their friendship. They both use their relationship to anchor them. They each, in their own way, use the other to help weather the individual tragedy of their lives. There is some powerful stuff there and I only wish we could have spent more time with just Hannah and Murphy as the story's focus.

One thing I can say, is if you are a Brockmann fan you'll love this book. If you are looking to visit characters from past books you will, but not the usual suspects. Ms. Brockmann is beginning to arc story lines for secondary characters from other books. Izzy Zanella? He's in this book. Decker? Dave? Sophia? They are in this book. They all have interesting secondary story lines that at times almost over take the main focus from Murphy and Hannah.

I wanted to read more about all of them. It definitely left me wanting more and to know what's going to happen next. INTO THE FIRE also reminded me to never miss an opportunity to tell someone I care about, "I love you". You can never say that too many times. Any time a book makes me think like that, in a real way that impacts my life, well I have to call that a good book and a good way to spend a day.

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Saturday, July 19, 2008

You don't call...you don't write...

Is this going to be one of those chicken and egg things? I'm talking about Twitter. Will I never feel the same way about my comfy and familiar blog now that the new kid's in town?

When you don't have a lot of time just typing a quick 'tweet' for Twitter is a quick fix. Kind of like fast food. It tastes good and feels good when you do it, but it's just not as satisfying as a good, well balanced home cooked meal. *dun dun dun* Or is it?

I'm already wondering if I'll neglect my blog because the temptation for the quick fix for updates and contact with my pals out in Romancelandia is so easy with Twitter. Time will tell.

In the meantime, if you don't Twitter just remember you can catch up with what I'm doing on my sidebar. I'm not promising a thrill a minute. I'm just a regular homogenized sort of gal who secretly wishes for thick lucious magenta/purple hair just trying to get along in this world like everyone else. *dun dun dun* Or am I?

Oh, exclusively here on the blog I have to announce I innocently walked into Barnes and Noble after the movie (DARK KNIGHT which was WOWZERS btw) and found INTO THE FIRE by Suzanne Brockmann. I have to say it was a total lovely unexpected surprise. I had to buy it. I had to I tell you.

I'm off to catch up with you all again. Good Lord it's just 10 days to RWA. My heart rate just increased again. I still can't believe I'm going.

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Thursday, July 17, 2008

It's Official

Now that I'm current on my Access Reader posts AND managed to get a review completed for the TBR Day I know that I'm officially caught up. I even cleared out my Google Reader tonight.

All that's left is to catch up posting to my spread sheet. It doesn't take that long so why, oh why don't I just do it already?

Cuz I don't wanna. That's all. Don't wanna.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

TBR Day: Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand




Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly. Originally published by Signet in December 1994. This publication is a Signet Regency double edition was released in July 2003.

At last I'm getting this review posted. While I had two drafts started for this book I decided to start over because it's been awhile since I read it. As you may recall this was supposed to be posted for last months TBR Day.

It's always a good sign when I pick up a book and have a warm feeling and a smile on my face. The cover art itself doesn't engender those feelings. It's almost always a residual memory of my reading experience. Such is the case with MRS. DREW PLAYS HER HAND.

The title of this book very aptly captures the essence of the story. Dealt a very cruel hand in life when her beloved husband dies after a lengthy illness, Roxanna Drew finds herself having to make difficult choices over and over again. Left alone with two young daughters and no support, Roxanna is going to have to rely on the financial support and shelter of her husband's titled brother.

I couldn't help but think of Sophie from William Styron's SOPHIE'S CHOICE. I was reminded while reading this book how choices we make 'in the now' can have a long lasting affect on our lives. We don't always know when we're choosing what the fall out will be. Most of us are just doing the best we can day by day...hoping. This is very much the case with Roxanna.

Trying to make the best decision for herself and her children after her husband dies isn't easy. Roxanna wonders if it is better to fall into the arms of her wealthy brother-in-law who wants to keep her safe under his roof and warm in his bed, or try to make a life for herself and children as a tenant in a ramshackle cottage on the land of Lord Fletcher Winn.

Lord Winn is a war hero who doesn't want to acknowledge what he's been through. He also can't stand most of his family and in desperation to get some distance and a break from them sets out on a tour of his holdings when he meets Mrs. Drew. He's intrigued and fascinated almost against his will.

These were such full bodied and interesting characters. Even though the story premise seems like such a familiar one, Ms. Kelly manages to make it interesting and fresh.

I really appreciated that Mrs. Drew did not throw aside the love she had for her dead husband just because she meets a man she is attracted to. Ms. Kelly made wonderful references to her husband's likeness in her children, the couple's love and closeness and even about Roxanna missing his physical presence in her life.

It was with mixed emotions to read about her attraction to Lord Winn when there is also an element of guilt and surprise about those feelings less than a year after her beloved husband's death. I felt compassion, sorrow and relief right along with her. As a reader we get to watch Roxanna recover from the long period of illness and the shadow of grief she's been living with.

This made the character so much more real to me. Roxanna's inner feelings and thoughts as she struggled with her worries about her children, her attraction to Winn, and her grief were so well done I felt I was experiencing them with a friend or family member.

It is no secret to anyone who reads this blog that I love a tortured hero. What made Winn so much more delicious is that his sorrow and sadness are hidden beneath a
blasé exterior. I loved this because even though we know what's going on in Winn's head Roxanna doesn't. Loved it. Did I mention that?

It is the courage of both Roxanna and Winn making the best of the cards and choices that life has dealt them that makes this such a good read.

It hasn't been easy finding Ms. Kelly's older books, but it certainly has been worth the effort. My grade is an 'A' for a full bodied, enjoyable read about people you can care about.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Twitter

Okay, I have Twitter set up on my sidebar. I can now do updates from my phone. I think. Time will tell. Anyway, the plan is to do updates from my phone while at RWA. Then you can click here whenever you want and find out what sort of hi-jinx I'm up to.

While I am giddy and excited about *dun dun dun* LE TRIP, I also want to be a good reporter. I had such a great time reading about what everyone was doing last year. Hopefully Twitter will help me tell you about my adventures this year. At least that's the plan.

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Sunday, July 13, 2008

Reading and Thinking

I finished Linda Howard's DEATH ANGEL a few days ago and can't stop thinking about the characters. Frankly I haven't decided whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Do you believe, truly believe in redemption? I do. I believe in life changing moments more than I do deliberate change. On that level this book really rocked for me.

If you like memorable characters, the H/H in DEATH ANGEL certainly are that. I hesitate to name them which is also telling about the story. If you want to know why...you must read it.

Also recently finished is TWILIGHT FALL by Lynn Viehl. I long to come up with the words to explain why the Darkyn series works so well for me. It does though. I'm most impressed that the H/H in each of the books have been unique and so individual. Here we have the conflicted Liling Harper and tormented Valentin Jaus.

Liling is an unusual heroine I think because of her honest self awareness. Valentin is not over the loss of the love of his life. So one wonders right away how that's gonna work. I really enjoyed this book and the new elements of the Brethren Ms. Viehl introduced. I can't believe the next book is slated to be the last one in this series. There just seems to be sooooo much more story to tell.

For old times sake I picked up A SOLDIER'S HOMECOMING by Rachel Lee. It's a current release in the Silhouette Romantic Suspense line. This book takes place in the world of Ms. Lee's Conard County books. You may remember those from the Silhouette Intimate Moments line years ago. I read and really enjoyed them. Since this was a tie in I decide to check it out. Unfortunately, there is nothing fresh or new here and even though it's not badly written, I had a hard time staying interested or caring about the characters. I skimmed it at the end.

Now I'm trying to decide what to read. I feel schizophrenic. I've picked up and put down about five books. I try to use the weekends to catch up and do some writing for ye olde blog, but the books keep calling to me...

Read, read, read...

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Am I the last person to know about this?





You can go directly to the website and see the English (or any other language) version of this video here.

If you are active and fit it's not too late to train and be a part of this. GG, who runs and reads about running, didn't even know about this. How's that possible?

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Friday, July 11, 2008

A good day. A very good day.

There are days that we know in advance are gonna be good because a particular event is taking place. We look forward to those days. We plan, anticipate and celebrate accordingly.

Then there are days that are just sublime and splendid because something really terrific happens that was completely unexpected.

One of my favorite places to visit is a blog called A Diary of an Adult Runaway. Gabrielle is charming, often hilarious and is an Aussie transplant in Paris. You never know what she's going to share from one day to the next. I love her eclectic topics and adore the pictures of her travels. I'm a fan and frequent visitor to her site.

This morning before I left for work I cleaned up my emails, checked my Access Romance post and left to start my day. I receive my emails to my phone and often just clear them out until I get back home because I don't have time to read them at work. However, this morning I had to make a call for my boss and needed to use my personal phone. When I picked up my phone to make the call there was new email. One of which was from Gabrielle.

I knew from her blog she was going to be visiting the States and wanted to drive Route 66. I'd let her know months ago that I was on the route and hoped she stop by.

Yep, you guessed it. The email was to let me know that Gabrielle and her friend Tamera were driving through town today. After I finished my call for work I rang the number from the email and we were able to meet at a nearby Starbucks in the early afternoon.

What a blast! What did we talk about? Just about everything. Books of course. Tamera and I have many of the same books on our keeper shelves. Loveswepts. Remember those? Yeah, we'd all read and had our favorites. Dub-yah even came up in the conversation. The visit was all too short and we came no where near exhausting our conversation.

It may sound corny, but I marvel and rejoice in the connections and friends I've made the past three years blogging. This was just such a great and unexpected surprise. What a day. What a very good day.

All I can say is Wow! Oh and Gabrielle, if you come back through my Chief will have a fit if you don't take him up on his offer of a station tour and engine ride. He was serious.


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Thursday, July 10, 2008

It's that time of the month again...



I'm over at ACCESS ROMANCE today. This time around I'm writing some
Straight Talk About Street Teams. Go check it out and let me know what you think.




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Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Let me say THIS about THAT...

Oh joy! Oh rapture. I've been reading people. READING!

While there's nothing particularly groundbreaking about IN BED WITH THE DEVIL by Lorraine Heath it hit the spot and was an enjoyable read for me over the weekend. It was a bit over the top having characters with names from Dickens' OLIVER TWIST. Personally I found this device a distraction. I never really got the point to it. Even so, I still found this an enjoyable Victorian historical.

However, I then read DANGEROUS SECRETS by Lisa Marie Rice. This is a very good hot summer scorcher. Although you might squirm like a worm on a hook if you try to read it at the beach. There's a small town librarian named...wait for it...Charity Prewitt. Charity is smart, kind, caring and stifled by her small town life but committed to taking care of her elderly aunt and uncle.

Nick Ames is an operative assigned to Charity to find out what she knows about a Russian mob boss hiding out in said small town because of Charity's likeness to a former lover.

Once again nothing ground breaking, but a fun, hot and sexy escape in the sizzling summer heat. I enjoyed it so much I think I'll recommend it to GG to read.

I've just cracked open the new Linda Howard book, DEATH ANGEL. I'm about 100 pages in. As many reviews have already noted it's a bit different. Whether or not it will pay off for me yet, I don't know. The title of the book had little impact on me before I started reading it, now it's taken on all sorts of sinister thoughts. More on that later I'm sure.

What I'm trying to do is stay away from the bookstore the next couple of weeks and catch up a bit on my reading and writing. One can only live and hope.

It's been a while since I did a reading check. What are you reading right now?

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Monday, July 07, 2008

The Scoop

You want the scoop from a fellow blogger's POV? Jane the awesome techno savvy chick that she is set up a blog for Jane's Eleven (hey Ocean has his!) to blog at the RWA Nationals in San Francisco. There are no "planned" heists, but you know, stuff happens. Huh, I wonder if there are any fountains in San Francisco?

Here's the link. Bookmark it. Save it to Google Reader. Make a link on your very own blog. Go forth and multiply.

God knows what we'll say or do and what we'll write for the airwaves and posterity. Scary that.

I'll be reading it and I'll be there. I don't want to miss ANY THING!

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Sunday, July 06, 2008

I'm Exhausted!


Federer & Nadal

Congratulations to Rafa Nadal on winning Wimbledon. It was exhausting to watch their epic match. I don't know how those two men did it! Exhilarating and intense. GG and I were on our feet the whole final set. We were too focused to just sit and watch politely. I was holding my breath a couple of times.

Neither one of us had a clear favorite and were happy just to watch two superb athletes compete. Wow!

Fantastic match. Historic.

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Saturday, July 05, 2008

Wordle

I've saw this both times Paperback Writer mentioned this past week and tonight I couldn't resist giving Wordle a try.

Here's my cloud. You should go try one too. You can click on the image to make it larger.




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Friday, July 04, 2008

There I Did It Again...

Uh, yeah, sometime in my recent past I said I was going to put grades on my reviews. Technically my monthly reading list isn't really a review, but since I've been lacking in that department here lately the least I can do is give you some idea about my reading experience by putting the grade up. Besides after Anne nudged me a little about the grades I looked at the post and it looks sort of sad and pathetic without a little something extra to plump it up a bit.

I give you fair warning though, the month of May is already a dim memory in my overstuffed brain and June, well let's just say three days is a loooooong time in Rosie-Land. One ray of light is that I haven't actually shelved the books yet!

If you're interested you can go back here and see the grades.

BTW, you'll notice one more book at the end of the May list. I had already shelved that book. I was supposed to do (I started it) a review of it. I'm talking about THROUGH THE VEIL by Shiloh Walker. It's out in bookstores now.

I want to publically apologize to Ms. Walker for not writing a proper review for her book when she so kindly sent me an ARC prior to the book's release. All she asked for in return was an honest review. For not meeting my commitment to Ms. Walker, I sincerely apologize.

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Thursday, July 03, 2008

May & June Reading List

I don't like clutter. I don't like it in my head and I sure don't like it in my house. So I decided to just put up my May & June reading lists so I can put these books away. Combined I think there's 14 books. Remember waaaay back in April when my monthly average was 15 to 20 per month? A family has one little graduation and everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Sheesh!

Looking over the lists a few things pop out at me. For one, I still have my TBR Review of MRS DREW PLAYS HER HAND by Carla Kelly in drafts. I'll be posting it this month for Keishon's Challenge. It was a very good book. In fact as I look at my May list I really don't see any stinkers in there. CL Wilson's second Tairen Soul book LADY OF LIGHT AND SHADOWS was as enjoyable as her first book LORD OF THE FADING LANDS. I like fantasy, who knew?

THE WILD ROAD by Marjorie Liu that I read in June was a Dirk & Steele book. As always Ms. Liu doesn't follow a formula for her books and wrote from a bit different perspective this time. This was the ARC Wendy snagged for me, so don't look for it in stores yet.

SAM'S CREED is part of Sarah McCarty's Hell's Eight series. Ms. McCarty continues to bait the hook and keep us waiting for the next book to come out. BTW, she has the much anticipated Rev's book coming out in the Fall that's part of her Promise series. I may have mentioned a time or seven how much I love those books.

My reading has been all over the place and I'm reading at a snail's pace lately. I continue to blame it on Summer. Longer days filled with more stuff to do. How'd that happen? Thanks to everyone who commiserated with me. It was nice to know that I'm not the only one.

May
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly A-
Well done. Review to come.

Wicked Pleasure by Lora Leigh C
Looking at the cover and skimming to refresh my memory the book isn't as good as my impression when I look at the cover. Weird, I know.

Running Wild by Sarah McCarty B
McCarty does wolfies. Intertwining anthology.

Baddest Bad Boys by Shannon McKenna/EC Sheedy/Kate Noble C
Anthology. I only read the McKenna.

Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole B+
Still loving this series. Loved the unapologetic Caden Wode. I might buddy review this with Nath. Right Nathie?

Lady of Light and Shadows by CL Wilson B+
I liked this book so much I ended up going back and skimming the first book again to refresh my memory for parts of it. I'm looking forward to the next one.

To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt B+
I liked this for having a strong heroine without making her out place to the time period.

Through the Veil by Shiloh Walker B
A good solid read. Interesting world and characters.


June
The Wild Road by Marjorie Liu B
Amazed by her world building and intertwining the gargoyles with the Dirk & Steele series.

Phantom of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon & Dianna Love B-

Going Down by Vonna Harper B
Heavy erotic/bondage with a very realistic twist. Balanced commentary on the porn industry.

Sam's Creed by Sarah McCarty B
Again, a good solid read. Sexy cowboys who doesn't love those?

The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn B
Well written. I think in a different mood this book might be an "A" read for me.

Homecoming by Jill Marie Landis C
I'm a fan of Ms. Landis westerns. The is an inspy western. Love the message but it's missing some deeper notes for me.

Let the Night Begin by Kathryn Smith B+
A bit better than the average vamp tale. Ms. Smith addresses some of the honest difficulties there are to immortality. She gets the "+" just for that.

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Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Is it Christmas yet?




I feel like a kid at Christmas. I'm positively giddy, giggly and crazy. I just can't wait to go to RWA in San Francisco. Who knows if the planets will ever align like this again. I only know that this year, finally, the time, the place, my finances, my job, my family have all cooperated so I can make this trip.

San Francisco...open your Golden Gates...here I come!



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