What Are You Reading Week of March 10

I finished Deadly Deceptions last night & really enjoyed it. Next up is Silent Run by Barbara Freethy.

I met the author of Pandora's Box, Natale Stenzel, at my bookstore yesterday! She was very nice, we chatted for about 10-15 minutes about our favorite romancers and such. I was a bit bummed out because we only received two copies of her book in (felt bad about that) and I bought a copy last weekend! Another employee bought the one she signed *boo*. But she lives in Richmond, Va (I'm in Arlington, Va) and she says she'll call before she stops by again to sign her next release in August, The Druid Made Me Do It - what a great title!

So anyway, she left me her email adress and I told her I would let her know what I think of Pandora's Box, so that's what I'm reading right now.

This week is all about finishing some of the books I started in February. I plan to finish:
--Queen of Dragons by Shana Abe--only a few chapters to go.
--The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
--Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
and
--The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Since Friday I have been doing absolutely nothing but reading. I've been in a horrible state of mourning after having to put my cat, Kissy down. So, I went through what I have of Karen Marie Moning books. I read:
Beyond the Highland Mist, To Tame a Highland Warrior, and Highlander's Touch. I still have the rest...but will add those for another week.

sbrush, I'm so sorry to hear about your cat -- that's so tough.

I read Out of Control by Shannon McKenna and liked it a lot. It's the first thing I've read by her. I think someone here (CC?) commented that she writes really baaad boys, and she did definitely get close to the line between alpha and abusive in the hero, especially at the end, but she managed to pull it off (for me, at least). I've got her Extreme Danger up next. It's always so much fun to find a good author I haven't read before!

I read Night Life by Caitlin Kittredge thinking it was going to be more of a romance than it is. Definitely, not a romance. It says dark fantasy on the spine, and that's what I'd go with. Fairly good book. I'll get the second one when it comes out, I think.

sbrush - sorry about your cat. I have 2 myself and 2 before these.

I am reading Much Ado in the Moonlight by Lynn Kurland and enjoying it very much. There are highlanders in it, but maybe not the way you would think!

sbrush, as a human who belongs to 4 cats myself, I share your grief. I've had to make the same decision myself several times, and it's still painful. They don't ask much of us, do they, but they give so much back!

CC

I am reading Distracting the Duchess by Emily Bryant -- have not read her before - the first chapter is good. Just completed Untouched by Anna Campbell, and despite many good reviews I did not enjoy it.

I finished Secrets of the Night and didn't really like it. It got a little better plot-wise toward the second half of the book, but the romance just didn't do it for me at all. The heroine's best friend was an interesting character, though, and she becomes the heroine of the next book, Devilish, which I am starting tonight. I've been looking forward to Rothgar's story, so I admit to having rather high expectations of it.

Katy, wasn't Secrets the one with the scarred heroine who wears the mask all the time, even during sex? If that's the one, it was okay, but the way they resolved the baby issue made me mad. It wasn't really a HEA type ending in that respect, in my opinion.

I do remember Devilish, and that it was very good. I was reminded of it when reading Mary Balogh's Slightly Dangerous. The plots have some things in common.

CC

Have been given a book by Tracy Fobes called Portrait of a Man. Are you familar with this author?

I just finished Mary Balogh's Slightly Dangerous and LOVED it...

Right now I've just started Connie Brockway's My Seduction. I loved her As You Desire, but so far Seduction isn't grabbing me as much. I'm only about seven chapters in though, so hopefully it gets better?

sbrush, also very sorry to hear about your cat. I have had to make that decision in the past and certainly sympathize.

Presently I'm still reading Inkheart and am hoping to have it finished in the next couple days. Then I have a couple more YA books out from the library that I'll need to read before I pick up another romance.

I pulled an oldie from the TBR stack this morning, Melanie George's Like No Other.

CC

I sincerly thank you all for your sympathy on the loss of my cat. I hate to sound foolish, but I was devistated.
Finished An Unexpected Song by Iris Johansen.

Well, since the last time I posted what I was reading it's changed. I never did finish any of the books I was reading! LOL Yes, this happens to me all the time. I'll pick up a few new books and start reading them and forget about the ones I'm currently reading. Oh well, I get distracted too easily.

I'm reading:

Shanna Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

I have to balance out what I'm reading. While I enjoy reading Thucydides, I need some romance to liven things up when reading about war is too much, even a war 2,000 years and more dead.=)

I just started An Arranged Marriage by Jo Beverley. This should give me a bit of a respite from reading for classes. I've read one or two of Beverley's before, but I've been on the fence about her, so I've decided to start the Company of Rogues from the beginning to see how it goes when I actually have backstory.

I'm still reading my last 'assignment' for the Go Review That Book! group Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, but I'm waiting for the DVD with Gary Oldman and Tim Roth to show up from Netflix before I finish it. Reviewing plays just seems to require some sort of viewing beyond just reading.

And I'm actually reading The Perfect Rake out loud to my boyfriend over the phone (long-distance relationships are hard), and he's really enjoying it. I've had him in giggles a couple times with Gideon's antics. :-) I'll convert him to romances yet!

sbrush, I cried for days after my last cat died. Pets are part of the family!

I read Miss Lockharte's Letters, a regency by Barbara Metzger. It was cute, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.

I read Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn, which I thought was really good...way better than the reviews make it out to be. Of course, it should be in the scifi-fantasy section...and not in romance. Maybe that's the problem. :)The plot was urban fantasy with some romance, not the other way around. Anyway, There are two more published in the series and another coming out later this year, so I just have to get my hands on them.

>19 anamuhandis: anamuhandis

That's such a coincidence, I ran across Miss Lockharte's Letters as an ebook yesterday and bought it (yay sales :-)). I thought it looked funny - any (non-spoiler) specifics that you'd care to share?

I'm still reading The Eyre Affair, but once I'm done, which should be before Sunday, I'm going away on vacation and am bringing lots of goodies with me, A Knight in Shining Armor, Reflections in the Nile, The Pride of Lions and Blood of Roses and The Wedding by Julie Garwood. I can't wait to get started and read on the beach every day!

CC - Yes, Secrets of the Night is the one you're remembering. I didn't like the baby-resolution at the end either. But Devilish has been thoroughly enjoyable so far.

Having read Slightly Dangerous recently, I do recognize some similarities in the two books, but I think it has mostly to do with the heroes. Both are very powerful, dangerous, and manipulative. Both had to take up responsibility for their large families at a young age. And both are deeply protective of their siblings. But they have different obstacles in their love lives. Wulfric Bedwyn can't open up to let anybody in and Beowulf Malloren is afraid of passing on his "bad blood."

caramellunacy - Don't tell CC this, because I think An Arranged Marriage is one of her favorites ;) but I confess to not liking the first couple of books in the Company of Rogues series all that much. But then I went on to read the rest of the series and they were all GREAT. But you're right to read the first ones because they do give you some good backstory and Nicholas & Eleanor are pretty much in all of the books in the series.

Am about to start The Men's Guide to the Women's Bathroom by Jo Barrett and hoping it will be as witty as the blurb on the back! I need a good laugh!

caramellunacy, on Miss Lockharte's Letters, it reminded me a bit of Marion Chesney, if you've ever read any of her Regencies. Very tongue in cheek and light. The romance is completely unbelievable but the story isn't meant to be taken seriously.

I read Hot Night by Shannon McKenna. I really enjoyed her Out of Control but this one not so much. I can see she likes to play with the theme of dominance and submission; it was successful (for me) in Out of Control, but in Hot Night, the characters didn't seem true to life. I couldn't see any motivation for them to fall in love except that they were both attractive.

Hey, Ana. LOL You don't want to read McKenna's Edge of Midnight, then. The hero was a total jerk. I hesitate to call him a hero. And one of her short stories had a hero who was nothing short of a stalker. He followed the heroine on a motorcycle up and down the East coast through several states before she even noticed him. Ick factor too high in that one for me to enjoy it. It was included in one of the Bad Boys anthologies, although I can't remember the name.

I did like most of the other books in her McCloud Brothers series, especially Behind Closed Doors and Standing In The Shadows, but you're right. She uses that theme a lot. Most of the time it works. I still think she's a good writer, but she's not an "automatic order" author for me. I have to read a lot of reviews before I buy a new release from her. I hope I'm right on this, but if I remember correctly, one of her books featured a 70ish hero and a 20ish heroine? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't read it. I don't have anything against a 70 year old getting a little sumpin' sumpin', but I'd really rather not read about it!

CC

CC, yikes re the 70-year-old! That's quite a story line. And that's really too bad about Edge of Midnight, because I already bought it :->. Oh, well.

Yeah I finally finished another book, if I keep my reading tempo I'll barely finish 50 books this year.

Well The passion of an Angel was better than The secrets of the heart. Next I'm going to start Stuck in Shangri-La by Kasey Michaels.

Julia

I read Runaway Mistress by Robyn Carr, in between planting flowers in my backyard planters. I picked it up at the used bookstore a while back without looking at the back cover because I loved Carr's Virgin River series. Well, turns out it's a plot I really, really don't like -- the reforming courtesan. I can sort of handle that plot in a very well written historical set in a time when women didn't have as many choices, but it's really difficult in a contemporary. (The heroine in the story was a mistress to wealthy men in return for 'presents,' but insists that she wasn't a prostitute.) There was also hardly any romance in the first half of the book, which normally doesn't work for me either.

The mark of a good author for me, though, is someone who can make a plot I don't like work, and Carr did it. The story had me totally hooked, and I even cried toward the end.

I still think she was a prostitute, though, no matter what she called it :->.

anamuhandis - Isn't it great when you end up liking a book in spite of yourself? What you talked about has sparked my interest - I think I'm going to start a thread on books you didn't expect you'd like at all, but ended up liking a LOT.

I read Mystery Date, which is actually a fantasy anthology. However, all the stories are based on dating and most of them end up on the romance side of things instead of the horror side. I really enjoyed it.

I have been very naughty this week (shhhh, don't tell my boss). First let me say thank you for the Sherrilyn Kenyon recommendation - wowee. After I read my first one Night Embrace I went to the bookstore and bought out the rest of the set. I've only got Fantasy Lover and Dark Side of the Moon to go.

I know this has come up before, but I'm still stuck on the identity of Acheron's mate. I was sure it was Katra until I read Devil may Cry - and I am really stumped. Does anyone have a theory?

OK didn't get as much reading time in as normal for the weekend, since I was helping the Women Build which is an arm of Habitat for Humanity. So, here is what I did read, or should I say, Re-read.
Stranger in Her Bed by Janet Chapman, Spell of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning and The Highlander's Touch by Karen Marie Moning.

MysterWatcher, Acheron's book is coming out in August! So I guess we'll all find out. It better be someone one worth the 11,000 year wait, don't you think? I think it's actually supposed to be a two-book story, so it should be good. I can hardly wait!

Won't Artemis be pissed?! I love it!

Wouldn't it just blow your mind if it turned out to be Artemis!(just kidding)

BTW-I thought his mate was going to be Katra as well up until reading Devil May Cry.

I wouldn't be too upset if Artemis ended up as fish-bait. But that's just my personal opinion.

Kenyon swears that Ash's mate is an already introduced character - so I was thinking maybe one of Tabitha's many, many sisters? Or isn't there a dark-huntress still floating around unattached? I read somewhere that she doesn't like him to begin with - which tickled me, since he is getting a little too used to adoration.

This is just too cruel. I'm glad I only recently stumbled on the series and haven't been waiting a decade for closure.

I thought it was Fury's mate who was an already introduced character? I'm just happy that we're finally going to find out more about Ash, but that's it's also not the end of the series! Kenyon has promised that there is more to come. I saw her at a booksigning last year and she said that Stryker has a book, so does Fury, and Nick (I think), and probably others that I've forgotten about. I think I'll continue to read them as long as she wants to keep writing about these delectably men (and women)!

Truth be told, I'd like to know about Savatar!

Nick had better get a book! I've been so torn up about him!