Reading, Baseball, A New Adventure, Knotts Scary Farm, HEAs, & Swimming

I finally started my ARC of EVERMORE by Lynn Viehl today. I'm 60 pages in and loving it. Boy that woman can write. This is another series that has stayed high in quality, remained consistent and still manages to have something new to add to the mix with each book. Feels great. I'm smiling typing this and can't wait to get back to reading it.

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So the Cleveland Indians have to keep things interesting by NOT clinching a trip to the World Series at home and traveling back to Boston. Good thing we had swimming tonight because GG was strung tight as a drum when we left at the end of the 4th inning. The score was 2 to 1 Boston. When we got home the game was over and Cleveland had lost 7-1. I think I'll be in a different room on Saturday when they play again. Beanie is working the night shift and he was making phone calls and texting to check on the score. God help us all...okay ME...if the Indians don't manage to win one more game and move on.

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A new adventure awaits over the horizon for me. I was recently asked to be a monthly contributor to the Readers Gab blog over at Access Romance. I will join the illustrious ranks of Kristie, Robin, Tara, and JMC sometime in November. I'm extremely flattered and want to do a good job for them. Besides I count on you all to let me know how I'm doing. You wouldn't let me make a monkey of myself...would you?

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If you saw the title to this post you saw KNOTTS SCARY FARM. I'm sure you will be shocked to learn that Shmoo decided that GG & I could drive he and GF #1 to Knotts tonight. Of course this was one of the compromises offered earlier in the week that he initially turned down. Have I mentioned the kid drives us nuts? Anyway, all's well that ends well. I actually went over to GF #1's house and met her parents today. Very nice people. Since Shmoo and GF #1 seem to have patched things up and he's annoyed with GF #2 I'm thinking meeting her parents is a good thing. Or maybe I'm just happy because there's been no drama this week. Praise be.

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I was over at Bam's yesterday and read this post about HEA's of our favorite romance couples. In her remarks Bam mentioned one of my all time favorite couples Roanna and Webb from SHADES OF TWILIGHT by Linda Howard. Those of you who visit here frequently know that this is one of my most beloved romance novels. It is also one of the few I've read more than once, or twice for that matter. Anyway, I couldn't resist posting my thoughts on what I think happened to them after the book ends... You're dying to know aren't you? To save you a click here's what I said.

Webb and Roanna are one of my very fave couples. Since this is one of the few books I’ve read more than once I have given their future some thought.

Of course they have two little Tallants which Webb is thrilled about because he has a little Webb to raise to take over the family dynasty. Although Roanna has her horses as a diversion she gets distressed as Webb begins to drift further and further away as he obsesses over business. It isn’t until he realizes that Roanna is spending a lot of time with the new trainer and taking trips entering the horses in high stakes races that Webb wakes up and begins to court and woo her like she deserved to be the first time around.

I blame my mother for this. She's the one who'd sit with us and people watch and make up stories and HEAs about people all the time. It's why I don't particularly like epilogues in books. I'd rather think up my own future for the characters.

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Last and certainly not least. Swimming. We've been steadily increasing the number of lengths of the pool we swim each week. One length is 25 meters for all of you with inquiring minds. Anyway, I used to be just wiped out after doing 10 lengths waaaaay back on June 4th when we started lap swimming. Now we are up to 40 lengths of the pool. FORTY people. It takes GG and I about 30 to 35 minutes of steady swimming to do this.

Anyway, tonight for some reason I started wheezing and having a tough time breathing. This happened one time before and I wrote it off as a fluke. I pushed myself and got 32 lengths in tonight. GG, of course, did his 40. All of which is irrelevant to my question for all your bright people out there. Has anyone ever had something like that happen? Wheezing starts and then labored breathing? It just exhausted me and I was pretty wiped out when swimming usually energizes me. We have a lot of asthma in my family and my Dad didn't get his until his 60s. You think it could be asthma? I know maybe I should go see my doctor, but I figure third time's the charm. I'll go if it happens again...or one of you gives me a diagnosis. So? What do you think?

FIREFLY

Thanks to online fans of this series and its star, the captain of the Firefly, Nathan Fillion, I purchased the entire series for some ridiculously low price in a bin sale at my local Target. I think I got the four series DVDs in a boxed set for $18.99. What a steal!

Let me just say I don' t know how I missed this when it was on TV. Okay, I do know because I don't watch much TV, but it's too bad. My only wish when I finished these DVDs was for the TV series to have had more episodes. We did go and rent the movie Serenity which helped with some of the sting of the series being over, but I was still left with wanting more. I'll definitely be looking for the movie to buy so I can complete the collection. When I watch the series again it just won't be complete without the movie.

Kudos to Whedon and Tim Minear for a great series, imaginative scripts and characters. You can find out about all things Firefly here. You can buy it here, or look for it on sale and score it like I did. You won't be sorry.

BTW, I'm not the only one who thinks Firefly kicks ass. Other admirers are AngieW, Zeek, Bam...oh and these guys. Does this mean I'm a nerd?

To get more Firefly I guess I have to buy a graphic novel. I've purchased these for my sons but never for myself. Crikeys a whole new world is opening up. Can my wallet stand it?

Book Reviews

It's hard to believe sometimes that I started this blogging business because I wanted to express my opinions about books and stuff I was reading at other sites. It has come to pass that I mention books less and less often. Part of the reason for this is that I'm not very comfortable writing the reviews. For one thing I can't be arsed to give the blurb about the book. I just want to tell you what I thought. Secondly, the book has to be pretty damn sucky or utterly fabulous to move me to write about it. And, finally, there are so many great places to check out book reviews. I do it all the time. There are some people out there who are damn good at it.

Here are some of my favorite places to check for book reviews:

1. Bam

2. Paperback Reader

3. Karen Scott

4. I Just Finished Reading

5. The Misadventures of...Super Librarian

6. Smart Bitches who Love Trashy Novels

There are many, many more reader sites and blogs I read and check out periodically but these are favs right now. Anyway, after checking these out I feel even less inclined to write a review. There are so many great places to go that I've gotten lazy about writing my own reviews. Each of these sites seems to have it's own presence and voice. I love Bam's reviews because it feels like you are sitting across the table from her in a bar, restaurant or bookstore cafe and she's telling you about a book she just read.

Having said all that, I am going to make an effort to write about some stuff I've read recently. The most I can say is that nothing really moved the earth for me...that's a review in and of itself.

I have decided to start keeping a running list of the the books I read on an Excel spreadsheet. I've never written things down before (except titles I'm searching for) and have recently purchased a couple of books I had already read and didn't realize it until I was on about chapter 3. I didn't have the books at home because I had already traded them. I was frustrated with myself for not remembering I had already purchased and read them. Besides I'm curious to see how many books I read in a week, month and year. It should be interesting.