RWA Florida 2010 - Part Deux

Such an original blog post title. There are probably 900 other posts of the same name. I'm sitting in my room contemplating what to wear to the RITAs, I brought something, but suddenly I don't want to wear it. Call me contrary. It's okay.

Aztec Lady, Super Librarian Wendy, KristieJ, and I will be together with some others AL has gathered into the group. LB Gregg is having dinner with some other authors (K.A. Mitchell for one) and then joining us later.

It's been another fun, but exhausting conference. Every time I think I'm pacing myself better than the previous year I realize what a lie I'm telling myself. I did however really well with books this year. I bought at the Literacy signing, it's for charity after all, and was very restrained at the publisher signings. I had 3 boxes of books the first year. Last year I mailed two boxes. This year only one and am taking a few more home in my suitcase. I'm pretty happy about my restraint.

I was fortunate enough to get to the Grand Central Publishing signing early enough to get an ARC of MY IMMORTAL ASSASSIN by Carolyn Jewel. I'm over the moon with excitement.

It's late as hell and I'm procrastinating doing the girl thing for the party tonight. More when I get home. SL Wendy and I have an early flight tomorrow.

P.S. No review, spell check or grammar check of this post. I hope it makes cents, sents sense.

RWA Florida 2010

I've come to the conclusion that like any kid at a theme park I go into sensory overload each year at RWA. My brain simply cannot take it all in. I thought it might be better this year what with this being the third time I've attended the conference. Not so. I'm still a little bit star struck.

Highlights include:

1. Awesome conversation in the lobby with Sherry Thomas about one of my fave books so far this year, Sherry's HIS AT NIGHT.

2. Seeing Carolyn Jewel who has a kickin' and sassy new hairstyle. Love it. She's always so nice to me and for some reason around her I'm geeky and slightly demented. It's embarrassing. I'm a fan of several romance authors but around her I act like an idiot. Oi!

3. Meeting Ann Aguirre, Carrie Lofty and Aztec Lady outside The Fountain and catching up. Ann looks fabulous too. Love the blonde highlights in her fab red hair.

4. Speaking to Karen Rose at the Literacy event last night and asking her to sign the book to "Nath" and watching Ms. Rose's head pop up and say, "Nath? Was she at RT? That Nath?" When I answered in the affirmative Ms. Rose proceeded to tell me how she spent a lovely time with Nath at the toaster bar at RT. Way to go Nathie!

5. Nora Roberts' keynote speech was absolutely wonderful. Hopefully you caught some of the tweeted quotes. My personal favorite is "people will always be people and assholes will always be assholes."

LB Gregg (Lisabea at Nose in a Book) and I are rooming together again. Always fun times with her. We are also spending lots of time with Kristie(j) of Ramblings on Romance, Aztec Lady, AnimeJune of Gossamer Obsessions and SL Wendy.

Wendy and Kristie have had some pictures up on their blogs. How, I don't know because its taken be two days to work this post in and it's now 2:30 AM here and I'm exhausted!

F-L-O-R-I-D-A

I can't believe it's here already! RWA is next week. I'll be flying out on Monday and have a very busy weekend in real life, so I guess this is my last post until I'm in Florida. I was able to get a couple of posts up last year even though we had major connection issues in our basement room in DC and I was going 100 miles an hour trying to do everything and see everyone.

Why fix, what ain't broken?

This my third year going to this conference. I'm as excited as I was the first year. While it's always exciting to see the authors and attend some of the great panels RWA has, I really, really, really love connecting with all my blogger buddies.

My posts are linked to my twitter account. I may tweet, but I get distracted so often by the new and the shiny my tweets are usually very random. I'm @Rosemont1217.

Last Call...

Last chance to let me know what author you'd go see if you were at RWA. You never know. Come the first week in August you might get a surprise in the mail.

He's moved... again!

Two years ago while I was at RWA, Beanie moved out of the house to be closer to the 4-year college he was transferring to. It wasn't a surprise. I knew he was moving and it was definitely planned. In my absence his Dad and his brother helped him move. It went well, we talked on the phone and I remember thinking that it had been pretty painless.

What I hadn't been prepared for was how I would feel when I got back home and he was just... gone. There's something to be said for going through the actual moving out process. I didn't, so it was sort of shocking and unsettling when I got back home and he wasn't there.

Fortunately he doesn't live very far away and we see him fairly often. But it's different. Even when he comes to visit it's not the same as when he lived at home. When he comes home now he's just passing through. He's a pretty happy guy most of the time. Resilient in fact. Seeing that, knowing that, I was able to put my own scary feelings of loss behind me.

It was no different than when he first walked (ran) and crashed into things when he was ten months old. Or, when he finally got finished with driver's training and drove. Alone. At night. To go hang out at a friend's house. New phases and stages of his life. A time to let go, as all parents do as their children grow up, watching him, proudly, move on with his life.

Now we have a new milestone. He and his girlfriend of four years have moved in together. I find myself exchanging anecdotes about his habits, his likes and dislikes with her. It's new this feeling of putting my son's well-being into another woman's hands, but it feels right. More importantly, he's still happy. Still resilient.

Aside from this move, he's got some pretty big things happening in his life over the next year. I'm a Mom. I worry, but I'm also smiling and genuinely happy, but still a little misty too. They grow up so fast...

Too bad I have to work.

Come on over to Access Romance's Reader's Gab blog where I'm demonstrating my talent to list all the things I could be doing, or would be doing, if only I didn't have to work.

Give it to me straight...

Normally in the final months leading up to the RWA conference, I look at my RWA cheat sheet where I list authors that my blogger pals like and for whom I might try to get a signed book by that author. Well that has been a bit of a bust this year since I haven't been around bloglandia all that much the past six months.

So here it is. Just drop in and comment and tell me. If you could get a signed book by just one author, who would it be? You never know. You might get a surprise in the mail when I return from RWA.

If you're curious. Here's the list of authors attending the conference this year.

The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh

The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh

You want to know what irony is? How I came to re-read THE TEMPORARY WIFE. Read on...

As I've mentioned ad nauseum, in the past six months my blogging, commenting and lurking have been sporadic to say the least. However last week on the merest chance I was at Tumperkin's blog, Isn't it Romance?, and read this post about her experience/review of reading THE TEMPORARY WIFE by Mary Balogh. Being in a reading funk at the time I immediately checked my keeper shelf to see if I had the book. I did. Thank God.

After picking up book after book for several days and not being able to engage my interest in anything, this delightful book did the trick. Hallelujah, I was reading again.

Noting that it was May 1997 this book was first released, and despite Ms. Tumperkin's review, I cracked it open with trepidation. Knowing from experience that some books, even historical in bent, don't hold up over time because we readers get used to different writing rhythms and trends, I thought the book might suffer in my hands because I've recognized I do like a pretty decently paced story. Thank goodness, my worries were unwarranted.

Impoverished Charity Duncan answers an ad for governess only to find herself offered marriage to Lord Anthony Earheart. Anthony is heading back to his family home after an 8-year absence. Having left home shortly after his mother's death and an inevitable and volatile split from his father the Duke of Withingsby, Anthony wants to return home on his own terms, with a wife of his choice, a choice that will most certainly insult his ailing father.

Subtly written and yet a full and hearty read, I thoroughly enjoyed picking up this treasure from my keeper shelf. I triumphantly declared to my husband that it proved my theory that I would have an abundance of such books to re-read in my old age when I may no longer be able to afford new ones. I'm so glad this was happily shelved and waiting for me when I read Tumperkin's post.

Where's the irony? Well, I visited Tumperkin's blog today. As I said earlier, it was the merest chance in my erratic blog hopping that I read her review. However, in her post of July 2nd, she notes that she, like many of us, is struggling with where and how she wants to continue blogging, or if she's going to continue at all.

With this review already in the works I can't help be struck that I would not have pulled THE TEMPORARY WIFE off my book shelf without reading her post. I'm grateful that for whatever reason she chose to write about THE TEMPORARY WIFE and that I happened to see it. It changed my whole week.

In the whole world scheme of things, my reading funk rates next to zero, AND, I want Tumperkin to do whatever works best for her and her life, of course. But, I can't help but think that her post and my reading it and re-reading that book is why I hang on to my blogging. When it works the way it's supposed to, well, it rocks.

Is something burning?

I smell smoke. I smell cigarette smoke. I smell it mostly at night, but sometimes during the day at work. Both my home and office are smoke free environments. Sure I could blame it on a sneaking co-worker or a son who has a death wish, but I smell it even when I'm alone.

I have to admit this is freaking me out. Has anyone else heard of this or know why I smell smoke all the time? I've been reading stuff online and am convinced that I'm either cuckoo or someone has been secretly adding Downey dryer sheets to my clothes when I'm not looking.

June 2010

June was dismal. Not only did I have the reading doldrums, as witnessed by more than a half dozen books with bookmarks in them sitting on my nightstand, but I can't remember in recent history when I only read five books in a month. Unbelievable.

With that, here's the month that was June...

ONE DANCE WITH A DUKE by Tessa Dare
Spencer Dumarque, Due of Morland is a member of the Stud Club with the sole focus and purpose to gain all of the Stud Club coins and claim ownership to a prize horse. Lady Amelia D'Orsay knows she doomed to be unmarried and most certainly unloved but decides to try her luck with the very eligible, elusive and mysterious Duke of Morland. I enjoyed this book on many levels and was anxious to see where Ms. Dare was going to go with this trilogy.
My Grade = B+

SKIN TIGHT by Ava Gray
As anyone who (still) reads my blog knows I absolutely loved Ms. Gray's first book SKIN GAME. I loved it so much I bought multiple copies and gave them away every chance I could. Therefore I was beside myself with excitement to see where she was going to take us in SKIN TIGHT with two completely different people, the very mysterious Addison Foster and the cool and controlled Mia Sauter.

Who is Addison Foster? Did you have some idea of who or what he might be from SKIN GAME. My bet is you never expected what Ms. Gray reveals in yet another gritty and moving book. I found this story fascinating. Ms. Gray has a talent for making the unthinkable believable.

More please.
My Grade = B+

DREAMVEIL by Lynn Viehl
Another author that continues to surprise me with interesting twists and turns in her stories is Ms. Viehl. In this second book about the Kyndred, a people/species who have Darkyn blood, we have Rowan Dietrich's story. Rowan ends up working in a 4-star French restaurant and trying out some of her hidden cooking skills while fascinating Chef Jean-Marc Dansant. That doesn't mean that GenHance doesn't want to get their hands on her for a little experimentation.

These Kyndred books are a terrific follow up to the Darkyn series and present a whole new addition of possibilities in this world Ms. Viehl has created.
My Grade = B

JUST A HINT CLINT by Lori Foster
This is a re-read I pulled off the shelves when I saw it out in re-print. I remember enjoying this book when I read it, but without picking it up and fanning through it I couldn't remember a single thing. Weird, since it's a re-read too. I'm remembering "romp" and "predictable". Not the worst way to spend an afternoon.
My Grade = C

TWICE TEMPTED ROGUE by Tessa Dare

Rhys St. Maur decides to go home after the death of one of his friends in the Stud Club. No more putting off setting things to right. What he doesn't expect is to come face to face with his past his first night back. Meredith Maddox has done what she needed to do to provide for her family. Even though this meant marrying an inn keeper several decades her senior and working from dawn until dusk. Now widowed she never expects to come face to face with the man she's loved since they were both children.

This was a capable and solid read, it didn't have the same emotional punch for me the first book of the trilogy did. However, I will be buying the third book, THREE NIGHTS WITH A SCOUNDREL when it comes out the end of July.
My Grade = B