A Brief Interlude With Eve & Roarke

Weekly reading wrap-up coming up as soon as I finish the book I'm currently reading.

In the meantime, as it's one of Nora Roberts' "In Death" books (and thus awesome) here's a fun exchange between Homicide Detective Eve Dallas and her husband regarding her best friend's baby shower the following day:

     "Okay, okay." She rolled her eyes. "I can handle it. But it stinks, if you ask me, really stinks, that you get to go out somewhere drinking beer while I'm stuck at Baby Central.  Just because you have a penis."
     "We'll think fondly of you over beer, me and my penis."
     She ate a little more, then smiled slowly. "You've still got to be in the birthing room when she pushes it out."
     "Shut up, Eve."
     "Your penis won't save you then, pal."
     He picked up a breadstick, broke it in half to offer her a share. "And are you playing games tomorrow? Will there be prizes?"
     She winced at his perfect delivery of the perfect stinger.  "Okay, I'll shut up.  Want to talk about murder?"
     "Please."

Cat Nuns For All

Just had to share.

So the family and I have been watching a lot of Doctor Who lately. They're watching it for the first time and I'm having a grand old time re-watching episodes I haven't seen in years. Everybody's enjoying themselves.

Anyway, we're watching the Season 3 episode "Gridlock" and the following image pops on screen:



I immediately yelled "CAT NUN!! YAY!!!" and everyone in my family looked at me like I had suddenly grown two heads.

What can I say? Apparently, I'm very enthusiastic about cat nuns.

Weekly Reading Wrap-Up:

I said I would probably do it. And I totally did. I reread Susan Elizabeth Phillips' 'Nobody's Baby But Mine."



My take? It's still an old favorite of mine but it's not one that's easy to recommend to others. It starts out rough with some remarkably unsexy sex, a heroine who goes completely off her rocker, and a vengeful and irate hero (his reaction is more than justified). But then it gets awesome. I love the interplay between Jane and Cal. As I previously mentioned, the "cereal killer" scene and the one where Jane locks Cal out of the house are classic. Just classic. And boy do I love that reconciliation scene in the hardware store.

It's a rough go at first, but I still love it. I'm even coming around on the new cover. That cherub one's still inexcusable, though. I'm not budging there.




Next up, I read two books about... ah yes, smutty smutty cowboys. What's not to love about smutty smutty cowboys?



I enjoyed the first two entries in Vivan Arend's "Six Pack Ranch" books. They have sexy cowboys and awesome loving family dynamics. The first one, "Rocky Mountain Heat", has a spunky heroine who decides it's time to quit waiting for the object of her affection to realize she's crazy about him and to push the issue. It was fun but the heroine was a little too perfect at absolutely everything in the world for my taste. It would have been nice if she'd had some flaws.




The second one, "Rocky Mountain Haven", was my favorite of the two. Middle brother Daniel pursues the nice widow with three young boys who just moved into a rental on their ranch. The widow's still recovering from the car accident that killed her abusive husband but is ready to move on with her life and hop back onto the sex wagon. Daniel is more than willing to assist with this endeavor. A really sweet and tender romance ensues. Not too much conflict, but overall a nice satisfying read.

Verdict? I enjoyed both books and am looking forward to the next one, especially since the brother in that one got dealt a shitty hand girlfriend-wise in the first two books and is more than due for a happy ending.

Note: These books are technically contemporary erotic romance rather than regular contemporary romance because of the smut level. I thought the sexytimes were pretty mild for "erotic romance" but I may be desensitized after spending so much time with Lorelei James and her Rough Riders (those men sure do love their rope, threesomes, and lube).



To wrap up the past week or so, and to cool down from the smut a bit... I caught up with Jill Shalvis' "Lucky Harbor" Series.

The Lucky Harbor Series starts out with three half-sisters who grew up separately from each other and who come to Lucky Harbor, a small town outside of Seattle, to deal with the dilapidated inn their free-spirited mother left them when she recently died. Jill Shalvis books are like comfort food for me. They don't usually wow me, but I nearly always leave me smiling. The Lucky Harbor books are no exception.



"The Sweetest Thing" is the second book in the series and it revolves around the relationship between a prickly southern belle and the man from her past she's unsuccessfully been trying to dodge for the past six months. And then the daughter they gave up for adoption 17 years ago throws herself into the mix. I liked this one better than the first in the series. I have a weakness for prickly (i.e. bitchy) heroines so Tara worked well for me, her rather annoying "I want him to not let me walk away" issues not withstanding. The birth daughter storyline was a tad cheesy, but I could live with it.





And then I read my new favorite in the series, "Head Over Heels." My first thought when I finished it was "Who knew asthma sex could be so hot?" Yeah. There's that to recommend it. There's also the super sexy stoic sheriff hero. He's gruff and a man of few words. Doesn't need them, though.



Alright, that's it for this week! Next week's reading wrap-up promises at least one non-romance read (I know, shocking!) and a historical romance I am just finishing up now but am loving so much that it just may get it's own post.

Cover Art Gripe

I follow romance author Susan Elizabeth Phillips on facebook because she's a hoot. Her avatar recently changed to the cover art for a new edition of her book Nobody's Baby But Mine.

I am very fond of "Nobody's Baby." It's got a strange and off-putting initial premise: Socially inept yet brilliant astrophysicist Jane decides she'd like to be a mother and she wants to make sure her child has a normal IQ so that he or she can have a normal life unlike the one Jane herself had. She then proceeds to pretend to be a prostitute to seduce a famous quarterback she assumes is a dumb meathead for the express purpose of getting pregnant with his neanderthal sperm. She succeeds. He finds out and understandably loses his shit. Romance eventually ensues.

See? Whack-a-doodle.

That premise shouldn't work. It does. Phillips is a master at that. She's also a master at dialogue and whip smart banter. The fight scenes in this book kill me with how funny they are. "You're a goddamn cereal killer." gets me every time. And the groveling? Oh, the grovelling. This book has one of the best "proves his love" scenes in any novel I've ever read. So good.


Uh? I got off track there and started to gush and ramble, didn't I? Yup. Sure did.

Anyway, back to my original point (yes, there was one). Cover art!

I'm a bitch about cover art. There, I said it. I get very attached to the cover art I'm used to, especially with beloved books, and tend to universally hate change.




I don't like this cover at all. I know why it exists. It's a sweet and pretty cover designed to attract new readers. It's much softer and gentler than the previous covers this book has had.

But, for me, that's not "The Professor" on that cover. Jane, the brilliant absent-minded professor who scrawls equations on her kid's diaper when she's not paying attention, would never wear that sundress. That annoys me. I have said my piece.




This is the cover I own and think of as "the right one." That's Jane dressed like a somewhat old fashioned high-class call girl. That ribbon's a significant object in the story. I like it. It resonates with me.


Ugh, and then there's this one apparently...




Cherubs!?! Just ugh. That is all that needs to be said about that.


Cover rant (sorta?) done. I'm going to have to reread this damn book soon aren't I? Yeah, most definitely.

Doing What I Damn Well Want To Do

I want to write, frequently. Then I second guess myself and don't do it all.

I thought that starting fresh with a new blog might help the situation but, honestly, I love this little neglected blog. I love all of the red. I love my silly tag categories. I love all of the posts about reality television.

The blog makes me smile.

So it stays.

And I am damn well going to write when I want to.