Just the Sexiest Man Alive - A Review(-ish)

The buzz has been building all over the internets about Julie James' new book, Just the Sexiest Man Alive. What with my total aversion to any kind of "ha-ha" romance, I wasn't tempted. I kept hearing people say "funny" and "cute" about the book and those are both pretty much the kiss of death for me. But, when Stacy read the book and loved it, I knew that I might be in luck. She and I chatted, and she basically said, "This one IS cute, but it's not that 'ha-ha' thing that you hate so much." So, I picked it up yesterday -- and devoured it like a chocolate eclair last night.

Taylor Donovan is an attorney. An associate who has a "plan." She's going to be an associate for another two years, then get promoted to partner. She's never lost a case. She's confident, attractive, and competent. Her work is her life. She's come from Chicago to LA to try a sexual harassment case. It's a class action suit, and it's high profile and it's open and shut as far as Taylor is concerned. Not that she's not totally willing to put in the hours, but she's confident that she's going to win.

That is, until she's called into a Partner's office. He tells her that one of their biggest clients, Jason Andrews, needs their help. Jason is an actor, not just AN actor, but probably the most famous actor in the world. He's won Golden Globes and Oscars, he also happens to be one of the handsomest men on the planet and probably the world's most recognizable faces. He's just taken a role as an attorney and he's asked to shadow one of the firm's attorneys to "see how it's done." Taylor has been designated by the partners and reluctantly agrees to help. That is UNTIL he blows her off two days in a row to hang out in Vegas for a long "guys" weekend. When Jason finally shows up, expecting that Taylor will just drop everything for him, Taylor "lawyers" him. She dresses him down and leaves immediately. No surprise, he eis both offended and intrigued. You see, Jason is a self-confident guy. He's totally accustomed to people making exceptions for him, to throwing his weight around to get what he wants, and most importantly, to women absolutely throwing themselves at him. Taylor not only does none of those things, but honestly seems to dislike him. What the heck??

Jason begins an all out campaign to convince Taylor to help him. More than that, he is absolutely going to get her into his bed. For her part, Taylor has absolutely NO intention of falling for Jason.

OK, first I'll say this: WHAT THE HECK WAS I WAITING FOR?? This book has everything that I love, a ridiculously smart heroine (probably WAY smarter than the hero). And she is totally unafraid to kick the hero's ass with her smarts. A hero who is based in LA, and is the most famous man in the world (providing my pop culture fix) It has coniving publicists, actors competing with the hero, and of course, best friends who tell it to the hero and heroine the way it should be.

The romance builds upon itself slowly and credibly. At first I thought the hero was an asshat who I was not going to like at all, but James does a great job of giving us enough inner monologue to make us understand how Jason ticks. His utter bafflement at a woman who doesn't fall at his feet. And for all Taylor's hardass attorney ways, we very quickly understand that she is falling for him despite herself. The story is fast paced, features a great setting and a couple who is, believe it or not, tremendously identifiable. My only quibble would be the heat index. I would have liked to have more sex in the book. Although, I understand why there wasn't, Taylor is determined not to be "typical." But it's the one thing that I felt could have been amped up in the book.

Overall though, this book is a slamdunk - a fun and frothy romance that should be downed with a little umbrella sticking out of it. Final grade? A-.

Kati's Favorite Reads of the Year

Well, I've gotta join the crowd. I did much less reading this year, I think mostly because of the advent of Audible and my addiction to the In Death series on tape. But alas, I'm up to Memory in Death, which means I only have four books left to listen to. So, I might have to find something new. The Horror!

It seems that I what I did read, I read passionately. I either LOVED or hated books, for the most part. Although there were some "meh" reads thrown in.

Without further ado, another list (yay!):
**warning, spoilers ahoy, these books have all been out for ages**

Book Most Likely to Make Me Cry: Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas. I've only encountered a few people who didn't adore this book. It's hot, passionate, tackles a sensitive topic with emotion and empathy. It is yet another book where Kleypas redeems a hero who in a previous book had a less than stellar track record. But it's Lisa's ability to marry romance and emotion that makes it my favorite read of the year. It is one of two books that I read this year that actually moved me to tears, which is truly rare.

Book Most Likely to Make Me Gush: After participating in the Desert Island Keepers Library, I found that many, many bloggers who I truly respect loved The Black Jewel Trilogy by Anne Bishop. So, I gave it a try. And I read it obsessively. I've blogged a bunch of times about it, so there's not much more to say, except, if you haven't read it, and you like a lot of angst and drama in your books, I'd highly recommend it.

Couple Who'd Just As Soon Kill Each Other as Have Sex (#1): Tayla Mancuso and Eidolon from Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione. I'm not sure I can use enough superlatives to describe how blown away I was by the first in the Demonica books. Ione has brought us an unusual, dynamic world where there are demons among us. The chemistry between Tayla and Eidolon is incendiary from the start, and Ione consistently raises the stakes between the two of them. The book made me leap from book to computer to write Larissa a gushy fangirl letter and immediately begin pestering the M's to host her at RNTV.

Couple Who'd Just As Soon Kill Each Other as Have Sex (#2): Maximillian Pesaro and Victoria, Lady Grantworth - The Gardella Vampire Chronicles by Colleen Gleason. The two have been circling around each other for four books. Picking, bitching and poking at each other. After a tease "up against the garden wall" scene in book 3, The Bleeding Dusk, Colleen Gleason finally paid me off for my leadership of Team Max in When Twilight Burns. And dayum, was the payoff worth it. Holy smokes!

Characters Most In Need of a Swift Kick in the Ass: Camden Saybrook and Gigi Rowland from Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas. Here's a book that took Romanceland by storm. And I was totally underwhelmed by. Up until the last page, when I realized I honestly couldn't give a crap about whether these two ended up together, I wanted to beat both of them with a blunt object.

DNF for Kati that was Universally Loved by Every One Else: Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran. I tried. I honestly tried. But the setting, and the incredible amount of time it seemed to take to roll out the story made me walk away from this book five or six times and ultimately put it aside.

Book I'm Proudest of Finishing: Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. Holy Schniekies this is a long book. Epic! But hey, I finished, and I actually liked it. But at 900 pages, it is probably the longest book I've read since Outlander. I bought the next in the series, but am not sure when I'll be starting it. Just looking at the size of it makes my stomach drop.

Heroine Who Should Watch Her Back (and her Man!): Mel Sheridan from Robyn Carr's Virgin River. Seriously, Jack Sheridan is pretty much exactly what I'd be looking for in real life as my husband. He's big, brawny, sweet, honorable, a war hero, a good friend, and can't keep his hands off his woman. Thing is, I really like Mel as a character. Wouldn't stop me from stealing her man. I'm just saying. Very, very close second: Haven Travis from Blue Eyed Devil. All the same superlatives except war hero apply to Hardy Cates.

Blue Collar Hero I Loved Best: Howard Paxton from Jo Davis's Trial By Fire. Howard is my favorite kind of hero: big and brawny, and drawn to a woman with a little junk in the trunk. He's fiercely protective, willing to apologize when he screws up, and he's a dirty talker and a bit of an adventurer, if you know what I mean. Works for me.

Heroine I'd Most Like To Be Friends With: Chastity O'Neill from Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins. I love Chastity. She's a big girl, the only girl in a family of heroes, and has had a long standing unrequited love affair with Trevor Meade. This book made me laugh out loud over and over again. My favorite scene being where Chas is on a date (not with Trevor) and manages to spill something on her shirt. The scene was practically taken out of my life.

Favorite Romance Ride of the Year: The Tairen Soul series by CL Wilson. Book three of this series, King of Sword and Sky started out slow for me, but about 2/3 of the way through the book, Wilson throws a serious wrench into the works, which took me totally by surprise. I'm still flabbergasted and am so excited to read Book 4.

Hottest Book of the Year: Swing by Opal Carew. Set at a Swinger's Vacation Paradise, the book features some terribly hot scenes and a couple who I actually liked.

Most Unusual Mythology: Before I Wake by Kathryn Smith. I picked this book up based on the premise alone. The heroine is a nightmare. No seriously, an acutal Nightmare. Fascinating mythology and a yummy hero made it a ton of fun to read.

Book That Made Me Want to Pack Up and Leave For France: The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne. Wow. What blew me away about this book is the use of dialect and language. After speaking with Bourne, I now know that she speaks French fluently, which I think must be why the idiomatic use of language is so powerful. Annique, the heroine just evoked "frenchness." Not a word? It should be. I've rarely seen a more evocative use of dialect in a book.

There you have it. My mostly weird list of reads. Agree? Disagree? What other catagories should I have added?

Holiday Wrap-Up

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I'm headed back to work tomorrow after a week out. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. The holidays tend to be a busy time in Development (where I work) but the office is pretty layed back, so it's fun too. During my week off, I did some baking, I did a ton of eating, I got some cool prezzies, and I slept a ton.

I'm currently reading Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase. Which I've had since it came out, but just haven't been in the mood for it. I love the heroine in the book. She's damn smart and an experienced woman, which I appreciate. I'd started to read The Sword by Jean Johnson, who is an author that I know a ton of romance readers love. I wanted to slap the heroine, who seems to constantly be pitching a hissy fit and bitching and is generally unlikeable. And the hero seems to spend a ton of time bossing her around or bullying or manhandling her. Even though in his internal monologue he spends most of the time marveling at how tiny she is. Then there are his SEVEN brothers (sigh). The brothers scream sequel bait, to the point where it was distracting me. So, I got about nine chapters in, and decided I just didn't care if the couple got their HEA -- that book went right into the give away bag.

I went and saw Doubt on Christmas Day. It was an interesting movie with two powerhouse performances. Meryl Streep continues to be such a force. I had just watched Mamma Mia the night before I saw Doubt. What a juxtaposition. Her Sister Aloyicious was terrifying. That nun who wrapped you on the knuckles when you misbehaved. And Philip Seymour Hoffman is completely capable of going toe to toe with her. The story is a fascinating one that leaves you with a ton of questions. I have a bunch more movies I'd like to see: and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog MillionaireFrost/Nixon. So I'll work on that.

Anyway, overall my week was mostly low-key. Lots of family time and some great gifts.

How was your holiday? Read any good books? Gotten any great gifts?

Oh! RNTV will issue its Reviewer's Choice Awards tomorrow, come by and see how we did!

Games of Command - A Review (-ish)

A couple of weeks ago, RNTV hosted "Virgin Hero" week. We had a great time discussing different virgin heroes from romance. Kate from Babbling About Books and one of RNTV's crack review staff chose Branden Kel-Paten from Linnea Sinclair's Games of Command as her virgin hero. Branden is a biocybe, or a part human/part bionic man. And he's been in love with Commander Tasha Sebastian ever since the moment he layed eyes on her 12 years ago.

I'll set the scene quickly. The book is a sci-fi/romance, and is set in space. Branden is an Admiral, Tasha is his first in command, newly transferred to his ship. Tasha goes to the Vax (Branden's ship), but insists some of her crew join the ship. She's surprised when Branden agrees. Tasha's closest friend on the ship is the Chief Medical Officer, Eden Fynn, who is not just a doctor, but also an empath. Eden keeps sensing something unusual eminating from Branden whenever he's in Tasha's presence. But of course, she discounts those "feelings" because Branden has strict regulators which limit his emotions. Early in the story, the Vax takes on several new passengers, including a criminal named Jace Serafino, someone who has been Branden's nemesis for years. Jace and Eden connect almost immediately on a psychic level, although he is in a "coma." Soon Eden realizes that Jace has an implant that is subverting his psychic ability. That implant must be removed. Eden and Tasha realize quickly that Branden probably has the best information on the implant. They quickly decide that Tasha will need to break into Branden's quarters and steal his files on Jace.

Tasha gets much more than she bargains for when she steals not only information on Jace but also his files on her, including his personal log. The log reveals Branden's longstanding feelings for Tasha.

It seems all I'm able to do in your presence is stare at you like some stupid schoolboy. I just want to talk to you. I've been trying so hard to reach you, but I'm so afraid, and the gods know if you found out, you'd probably think it was hysterically funny...but I'm so afraid of losing you. I don't know how close I can get. I tell myself all the time that you're here with me on the Vax and I should be thankful for that! It's more than I ever thought I deserved. I know who you are, I know you're safe, I know I can protect you.

*THUD*

Tasha is overwhelmed, and definitely freaked. She's spent so much time thinking of him as her nemesis. And he's been hiding these feelings for literally years. But as the action heats up, and they must work together, she finds herself taking advantage of what she knows about Branden. But the joke is on her when her interactions with him draw her to him and ignite her feelings for him.

OK, so what to say about this story? It's tremendously imaginative. It features two dynamic characters and an incredibly well drawn world. And the action is pretty much non-stop. To me, it was quite like reading a hotter version of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Although, I could have done with a little less action and more development of the relationship between Tasha and Branden, I did find their relationship satisfying, and the resolution of the action was quite touching. I enjoyed the story, but am kind of ambivilent about the "style" of the book. What I mean by that is, I'm just not sure that space settings in romance are for me. But if I change my mind, Linnea Sinclair would be my go-to author, along with Ann Aguirre, whose work I adore.

Overall, Games of Command gets a B- from me.

Mr. Incredible Bakes Christmas Cookies

First: Mommy spreads icing.
(My BF Ame and Mr. Incredible)

Serious concentration is required when appropriately spreading sprinkles.

Taste testing the sprinkles is nearly as important as spreading them.
It would be so embarrassing if the sprinkles weren't delicious.


And that's how you decorate Christmas Cookies.
Happy Holidays to you all!

Holiday Hiatus

I'm off next week, and unless something burning comes up (or, frankly, is ticking me off) I'll probably not be blogging.

I hope each of you has a wonderful holiday and is with those who you love best.

My Favorite Things of 2008

I was going to do my favorite reads of 2008, but we're doing a Reviewer's Choice segment for RNTV, so I'm going to save my list for that. Reviewer's Choice though will be fun. We're naming our favorite romances of the year, and then readers will have a chance to vote and help us decide which were the books of the year.

Anyway, so I decided to go with a variety of "favorites" for this year. Of course, all are pop culture related, because honestly, what's the point if it doesn't relate to my all time favorite pop culture moments.

1-Favorite Read of the Year - Anne Bishop's Black Jewel trilogy. The book is classified as dark fantasy, but features an incredibly memorable love story. I forced CJ to read the first book, and it about scarred her for life with the violence. But for me, the violence juxtaposes the incredible moments of light in the series. It's a lush and well imagined world full of creatures both good and evil. And it's my favorite read of the year.

2- Favorite Movie of the Year - Sex and the City. I SO looked forward to this movie, and had such incredibly high expectations for it. They were met under all circumstances. The romance was wonderful, the girls were back, and the fashion was eye popping. I had such a good time with my girlfriends when we went to see the movie. It delivered on every level for me. Of course, the moment the movie came out on DVD, I snapped it up.

3- Favorite TV Moment of the Year - LOST season finale. LOST blew me out of the water with the season finale last year, when we realized that they were going both backwards and forwards in the time continuum. And the end of this year's season, when the island just disappeared, and the Oceanic Six were rescued? Sublime, and totally confusing. I love this show.


4-Favorite Awards Show of the Year - The ESPYs. I don't know whose idea it was to ask Justin Timberlake to host the ESPYs, but it was a moment of sheer genius. His introduction was priceless, and even more, his song, "That's Why I Love Sports" was hilarious.



5- Favorite Red Carpet Fashion - Oh, this is a toughie. I'm going to go with Anne Hathaway at the Oscar's. Her make-up was perfect, her hair perfect, and her dress was perfectly cut and tailored to her body. Gorgeous, fashion perfection. The best revenge against a boyfriend who defrauded the Catholic church? Looking this freaking good.

6- Favorite Album of the Year - Hands down Bon Jovi's Lost Highway. I'm late to the party, but this album is still in constant rotation for me. The song Whole Lot of Leaving Going On has become one of my all time favorites.

7- Favorite Song of the Year - I'll Love You 'Til the End by The Pogues. I finally saw PS I Love You and when I did, it immediately made me do a search to find the title song. The sentiment behind it speaks to my utter sappiness.

8- Favorite Concert of the Year (actual music category) - Bon Jovi. Wow. No wonder this band is still going strong after so many years. Their live show is unbelievably good. They've perfected the art of connecting with their audience and making the $60 (or more) you've spent seeing the show worth it. Honorable mention to Maroon 5. Why? Adam Levine is sex on a stick and can actually play instruments. Feature that.

9- Favorite Concert of the Year (showmanship) - Oh yeah, the Backstreet Boys. I don't believe I've ever had a better time dancing around the lawn at Wolftrap singing along with a bunch of 23 year old girls. Good times, friends. Good times.

10- Favorite New Discovery of the Year - Audible. The magic of downloading books to my iPod and listening to them on the Metro cannot be overstated. Quite simply, it's made my commutes SO much better. I've finally hit on the right number of books to download per month, and I am still happily making my way through JD Robb's In Death series. Magic.

And there you have it. My favorites from this year. What are some of yours?

My Review of The Pagan Stone

is up at RNTV. Come by, let me know what you think!

Seal, Britney, Football, DawnKeeping and Robb

Hey Everyone - I have a whole bunch of randomness to blather about. Read, don't read. Comment, don't comment. It's up to you.

1- This weekend I downloaded a bunch of music to my iPod this weekend. In particular, Seal's new album, Soul. I love Seal. I find he's a, if you'll forgive the pun, soulful guy. I love his music and I think he's got such an interesting face. I don't know why, but pretty much anything he sings, I dig. I still think Crazy is one of the most underrated songs of the early 90s. I could still listen to it over and over. Anyway, Seal's new album is all soul covers. And frankly, it's yummy. The first song, "A Change is Gonna Come" is well, frankly, music to do the deed to. Anyway, I really recommend you give it a listen.

2- Less surprising would be that I bought Britney's newest, Circus. I know, I know. She's a total train wreck. But hey, she's a train wreck that sings compulsively listenable pop music. At least for me. And frankly, I like to clean to it. I know, it's among my biggest secret shames. But I do, I still hold a candle for Britney. Go ahead, judge. You're not the only one, I promise.


3- Football. *SIGH* I'm done. My Redskins lost to the woeful and pitiful Bungles yesterday. And thus, we're on a break. I won't be watching any more Redskins football this season. I was seriously in such a pissy mood yesterday. I know, it happens every year. But this year, it might be even more painful because at one point, we were vying for second in the NFC East and a shoe in to go the playoffs. And now? We're no better than a pop warner football team. Pathetic, and angst inducing. Thus, no more Redskins football for Miss Kati. Trust me, it's better for all parties.


4- I started Jessica Anderson's new book, Dawn Keepers, which will be released on January 6, 2009. The M's were kind enough to ask Doc Jess (as she's known on the internets) for a copy for me at the RWANJ gathering a couple of months ago. I've had a hard time starting it.

Here's why: I'm not even kidding there is probably an 8-9 page glossary at the beginning. And the words are all foreign sounding, and not even remotely recognizable to the English language. I'll give you that JR Ward always has a glossary at the beginning of her books, but honestly, she basically adds some extra "h's" to her words. They're all recognizable as English.

This book also features a HUGE cast of characters. If she really wanted to be helpful, she'd have provided that list at the beginning of the book too. Anyway, it also features one of those heroes who is completely reluctant to embrace his destiny and love the woman who he is clearly supposed to be with. And frankly it's starting to piss me off because no surprise, he's acting like an utter jackass to her. So, the book is on a short leash with me. I will say this though, Anderson knows how to write action. And the storyline still remains unique to anything else I've read in romance. But I'm definitely having mixed feelings about it. She could do with some romantic focus in this book. She's suffering from Ward's Affliction - you know, multiple-storyitis. And Ward at least lulled us into believing she was writing romance for the first three books. But Anderson has kind of flung us full steam into her multiple arcs. It will be interesting to see if she can pull this off. I'm on Chapter 7, and am obviously not in love with the story, but I can already tell that I'll be finishing the book. This is the make-or-break book for me. Either at the end, she'll have moved the action and romance along enough that I'll be willing to go another round, or, well I'm breaking up with her too. LOL!

I'm just dumping everyone on their asses this weekend.

5- I'm listen to Origin in Death by JD Robb right now. Dayum, I'd forgotten how completely creepy this one is. The mystery is fantastic and the bad guys are truly sympathetic, while the victims are completely reprehensible. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

6- I'm about to go on a Christmas gift buying tear. I know what I'm getting everyone, now I've just gotta get motivated and do it. I had planned to go shopping tonight, but something has come up with Ame, so I've got to go help her. I have a feeling that Friday and Sunday will be crazy shopping days for me.

Anyway, I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Mine was slow, but that' s OK because next weekend? It's gonna be NUTS!

What were you up to this weekend? Downloaded any good music lately? What are you reading? Seen any good movies lately?

Hugh at the Oscar's

Now, we all know that I have a serious crush on any kind of red carpet show. I love the fashion, I love the hosts (usually), I love the honoring of two media (television and movies) that I adore.

And we all know of my total crush on Hugh Jackman.

So imagine my absolute delight to hear that Hugh Jackman will be hosting this year's Oscar telecast! Hugh really is a song and dance guy, he's a terrific actor and he has a strong silly side, which I love. He'll be terrific host because he'll sing, and dance, and is comfortable making a fool of himself. Plus, he's Hollywood A-list, so he's completely able to poke fun at the silliness that is Hollywood. The last couple of years, our Bring the Bitchy to the Red Carpet party, has fallen by the wayside. But I can promise you that it'll be back in absolute full force!

The New Maya Banks

I finished my first Maya Banks book tonight, Be With Me. Extraordinary book. It features a heroine, Regina, and her three best friends growing up, Cam, Hutch and Sawyer who all love her, and have come to an agreement that they all want her together. They have loved her forever, and agree that they would rather overcome their own jealousy and be with her independently or all together. The story features a lush, lush erotic side and a smart suspense story that furthers the erotic side of the story in a believable way.

I've had the book for weeks, but was hesitant to read it. Three heroes? One heroine? Not sure how the author would make it work...

I think my doubts were centered in the idea that I couldn't understand an HEA where there were three heroes, one heroine. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to buy that the three guys could live with it. The interesting part is, I TOTALLY bought it. And I think the reason for that is that Banks does a great job of *showing* how well they know each other, and of building intimacy between the characters. She also gave the heroine moments both tender and sexual with each male character. And, she focused on them, making the relationship the center of the story, rather than highlighting the other peripheral stuff going on.

But it got me to thinking. When I open a straight romance novel, I expect there to be one hero, one heroine. Their path to love can be bumpy, but I expect that the relationship will grow between the two of them. I am not one of those readers who insists that the hero become mesmerized by the heroine's magic hoo-hoo the moment he slaps eyes on her. In fact, I'd almost be fascinated to read a story that featured the hero trying to decide between two women he'd been intimate with. But I get that most romance readers wouldn't.

But when I open an erotic romance I'm much more open. I finished Samantha Kane's newest, Retreat from Love yesterday, it features a M/F/M romance -- didn't phase me at all. And while in this one, I was much more anxious for the boys to get together, I had no problem with the dynamic. When I open an erotic romance, I'm OK with a ton of different scenarios. I don't have the strict rules that I tend to employ with romance.

With the Banks book though, I brought in some preconceived notions. I hesitated to read the book. Part of it might be that this was my first taste of Banks' work and I wasn't sure how well she'd handle it. But also, I just couldn't figure out how the story would work. It's interesting to me that it worked on every level for me. In fact it worked as well as any erotic romance I've read in the last year. Part of it is a credit to a well constructed story that made sense to me as a reader. And part of it is credit to Banks, who is flat out, a damn good writer.

It was my first Banks book, but it won't be my last. Be With Me by Maya Banks gets a solid A from me.

*proper reviews of Be With Me and Retreat from Love on RNTV later this month.

Meh + Meh

So, I've started two books in a row that have ended up being "meh" reads for me.

The first is Karen Hawkins' first contemporary, Talk of the Town, which got a very positive review on RNTV. I wasn't sure about it because it seemed almost a little too zany for me when I bought it. But I do enjoy Hawkins' historicals, which are mostly B- reads for me, but good enough to entertain for an afternoon. So I bought it, and read about 9-10 chapters. And realized that I just didn't care much for either the hero or the heroine. She's going through a painful divorce and has reacted kind of extremely to it (dyed blond hair, tattoo, navel piercing) and he's the reformed bad-boy sheriff who she had a four week fling with in high school, back when he was a bad-boy and she was a perfect debutant. I feel like the book is suffering from a ton of "tell not show." Over and over we're told how hot their past was and how much he wants her (despite his better judgment), but I didn't feel any chemistry between them. Last night I stuck it in my give-away bag having DNF'd it.

The second, I feel badly about because I won it, is Alison Kent's Maximum Exposure. I read 19(!) chapters and the H/h still haven't had sex. Um, it's an erotic romance (or at least a very, very hot romance). I got to the point where I was flipping ahead to see if they were ever actually going to have sex. This book suffers from sub-plot-itis. As in, there's a secondary couple who is having all kinds of sex, but their storyline isn't very interesting and I think is meant to distract us from the fact the H/h aren't having sex. Didn't work for me. This is the first Alison Kent that I've read, and I pretty much think it'll be the last (for sure of her erotic romance stuff). Like I said, I feel really badly because I won it on Stacy's site. But the book just isn't working for me. It's going in the give away bag too. SIGH.


But, in exciting news, I got Samantha Kane's newest installment in the Brothers in Arms series, Retreat from Love. BIA is my favorite erotic romance series ever. Sam writes awesomely fun romps with incendiary love scenes. I'm thrilled because she's guesting on RNTV next week, so I'm going to rush to read the book and get it reviewed so that it's up before she comes.

In other RNTV news, it's still Virgin Hero Week! This morning Andrea is talking about The Outlaw and the Hero by Lorraine Heath and this afternoon Stacy will be chatting with the fantabulous Anna Campbell about Matthew from her most recent release, Untouched, which was one of my favorite reads of last year. Come by and join us!

It's Virgin Hero Week at RNTV!

And I'm kicking off the festivities by breaking the rules. LOL!

Come see what I have to say about what makes Zsadist from JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood a virgin, even if he's technically not.

We'll be blogging about Jamie Fraser from Outlander (Diana Gabaldon has some answers for us on why she made Jamie a virgin), Sin from Kinley MacGregor's Born in Sin, and Branden Kel-Paten from Linnea Sinclair's Games of Command (she has some interesting stuff to say about why he's a virgin too). It's shaping up to be an interesting week for us.

I'm just hoping I get some great recommendations on more books to read!

Yup...Still #1

I went tonight with the girls to see Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Prior to seeing the movie, someone mentioned to me that Australia is to Hugh Jackman what Moulin Rouge was to Nicole Kidman -- a valentine. And in many senses, that's true.

Baz Luhrman shoots a very stylized picture. All of his movies picture a reality that tweaked, a little more vivid, or drab, or just...more. And this movie is no exception. It is absolutely sweeping and epic in nature. There are some incredible aerial shots that if the CVB's in Australia aren't using, they're nuts. The movie is simply gorgeous.

But more than that, Hugh Jackman is simply glorious. He has seriously, one of the most beautiful physiques I've ever seen on a man. He's big, and brawny, but in no way clumsy. He's got a wonderful sense of comedy, but does the leading man thing stupendously well. In this movie, he's literally like a romance novel hero come to life. In fact, the movie itself is VERY like a romance novel.

So no surprise, I loved it. Australia gets an A from me. I'll be buying it as soon as it comes out.

But more than that, it's good know my love is true. Hugh, you're still #1, babe.


ETA: It's my punkin's birthday today. I can't believe I've had Roxie 6 years, but she makes everyday a little more fun.

(She's singing in the photo.)

It's Friday!

OK, well, I've had a short work week, given that I was out two and a half days. But I'm still glad it's Friday. I don't have major plans this weekend, I'm having a Girl's Night Out tomorrow night. We're off to have dinner and see Australia, which should be fun, if for no other reason than Hugh Jackman in a leather duster. Yummy! I'm hoping on Sunday to talk Sara into going to see Slumdog Millionaire with me. It looks great and is getting a ton of buzz.

Last night I went and got my hair cut and colored, so I'm feeling much more human today. Plus the fact that my head is barely hurting is a nice bonus. I think I'm about recovered, yay!

I'm thinking I might take a pass at putting up our Christmas tree. H. has been in London all week, and she's due back on Sunday. Usually she helps me lug it downstairs and put the tree together (I'm allergic to live trees), and then I do about 95% of the decorating. Anyway, I'm thinking I might grab my copies of Elf and White Christmas and pop them into the DVD player and get going on putting the tree together. Only thing is, stringing lights is way easier with two people. I dunno, just a thought.

Next week is Virgin Hero Week at RNTV. All of the reviewers and the M's have picked a virgin hero from romance and will be writing about them. I'm actually kicking the week off with Zsadist from Lover Awakened. But we'll be cover such luminary heroes as Jamie Frasier from Outlander and Sin from Born in Sin. It should be a really fun week and one that generates lots of great discussion. I hope you'll plan to stop by to weigh in on your love (or frankly, dislike) of virgin heroes.

Last night, out of sheer boredom, I went to the Apple movie trailers site and watched about 20 movie trailers. Honestly, there's not that much out there that I'd like to see, but I saw a few movies that might be fun, including The Ugly Truth, Confessions of a Shopoholic, Bride Wars and The Time Traveler's Wife (I hated the book, but I'm interested to see how they do the movie). Anyway, Eric Bana stars in the movie, and he's yummy, so here's Eric Bana. Enjoy.

What are you up to this weekend? Seen any good movies lately?

I Fought the Car and the Car Won

I'm well known for my lack of grace (and dignity). I'm the first to trip over something, miss a step, bash into something or generally whack into anything.

This past Sunday, I finished grocery shopping and hustled out to my car in the pouring rain to load up. As I approached the car, I popped the trunk with the key-fob. I turned around and grabbed up six bags and turned around to sling them into the trunk. Sadly, my trunk had not completely raised, resulting in my konking my head on the trunk of my car. Hard enough to see stars and seriously crack my teeth together. By Monday, my headache had not abated, and I went to the doctor. Yes, friends, I've managed to give myself a concussion. What a goober. So I spent yesterday at home, and today too. This morning I woke up with my head feeling much better, and honestly, the spot on my head being mostly just sore. So that's a good thing. But I gotta say, not a good feeling at all. You'd better believe that from now on I'll make sure the car trunk is all the way up before I put anything in it.

The good thing is, I've had the chance to read a couple of books, and will probably finish of another one today.

I read The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts, which is the conclusion of her Sign of Seven trilogy. I'll say this, Nora is a sick, sick puppy. LOL! Her imagination must be a terrifying place to be. This book read a whole lot like horror to me. The visuals were vivid and terrifying. But the hero of this book ended up being my favorite of the three and I found the ending to be completely satisfying.

Yesterday I read What I Did for Love, which is Susan Elizabeth Phillips' February release. It took me a ton of time for me to warm up to the hero of the story (he was an ass), but in the end I liked the story just fine. I was relieved not to have spent the money, and I haven't written my review yet. But overall the book was decent SEP work but far and away not my favorite.

Today I'm kind of pinging around trying to decide what to read. I have DawnKeepers, Jessica Anderson's newest. But I opened the book and there was about a 10 page glossary at the start. After finishing Kushiel's Dart, I'm not sure I'm up for reading another book I have to work that hard at remembering. I may end up trying to crack open a historical and seeing if I can get back in the swing of things.

Also being home for a couple of days has driven home to me that despite the fact that we have about 1000 channels, there's not a damn thing on TV right now. I'm thinking of driving up to Best Buy and picking up Prince Caspian on DVD. I quite enjoyed it this summer and would be perfectly happy to see it again.

Anyway, that's what's going on with me. What's up with you guys? Reading anything good these days?

50 Reasons

I've said it before, I love How I Met Your Mother. I think it's a brilliant sit-com. And one geared towards people who are my age. Last week's episode (which of course, I just watched) was hilarious. It featured a guy who one of the girls was dating who uses a ploy called, "Naked Man." This is when you are out with a girl who is out of your league. You create a reason to go up to her apartment. While she's out of the room, you strip down. One of two things will happen: she'll come in and be horrified, or she'll come in and laugh -- and then she'll have sex with you. According to "Mitch," it works two out of three times. Anyway, Robin (the girl) succumbs to the ploy and one of the guy calls "SLUT!" Which leads to a discussion of reasons to have sex. Marshall (the guy) says that there's only one, it's "love." His wife, Lily, says she can come up with 50 reasons to have sex.

And here they are. (you may have to click on it to get it big enough to read)

Personally, I find this list to be full of awesome. Such as #12 (it's halftime), #23 (just shaved legs), #28 ( to time an egg), 33 (keeping up with the neighbors), #39 (damn your legs look good in those cargo shorts), and #44 (wing man diving on the friend grenade).

Of course, *LOVE* is the only real reason to have sex. (You know, just in case my mom is reading this). But I found this list to be hilarious.

Kushiel's Dart - Final Thoughts

And so I finished. Kushiel's Dart was definitely a marathon, not a sprint. The book has a complicated mythology, many (many!) players and is chock full of court intrigue, betrayal, love, lust, powers of good vs. evil, sumptuous descriptions, epic battles, mysterious demi-gods, and pretty much anything else you can think of except perhaps race cars and tootsie rolls.

What I Liked:

Phedre - The heroine of this book is manipulative and smart, dangerous and loving. Never, ever a victim, even when the tide turns on her, she's resourceful and intelligent. But mostly, what Phedre is, is wily. She reads people better than almost anyone and instinctively knows how to "play" a situation, which works in her favor because she manages to fall into the hands of several powerful people who wish to use her. In almost every case, she turns the tables on the them and plays them. With the exception of Melissande, who has played the game longer and more viciously. Phedre has several different men in her life, Hyacinthe, her oldest and first friend, who makes a tremendous sacrifice for Phedre; Delauney, her father figure who dies before he realizes that Phedre is his most lasting legacy -- a diplomat who outshines even him; and most of all, Joscelin, her guard, her friend, oft-times her conscience, and in the end, her love. The three play such vital rolls in shaping the kind of person that Phedre becomes.

Character evolution - Carey writes a sweeping book. I had no doubt from almost the very first that she had an end game in mind. And that all the many (many!) events that take place in the book serve the purpose of furthering that end. Phedre grows from a young girl, sold by her parents into a trusted ally of the Queen of Terre-Ange. In between, she fights for her life and the lives of those she loves. She blossoms from someone who I barely cared about into a character who I admired and who I quite liked.

The setting - If nothing else, Carey is possessed of a gifted imagination. Her world is fully formed and lush. It has layers that require about a five page glossary before you ever dive into the book. I think that the world and its players are both a strength and a weakness. The book is complicated and challenging to read. But its worth it if you have the patience.

What I Didn't Like:

Honestly? Not much. I did find because of the epic nature of the book, Carey took shortcuts at times that I found to be frustrating. Mostly with regard to Phedre's liaisons. I think that my dissatisfaction with that has much more to do with the fact that I'm a romance reader, and like to go beyond the bedroom door, than anything else. I felt it most when Phedre and Hyacinthe have a liaison after he makes a terrible sacrifice for her.

For another long moment he stood staring, then gave his best sweeping bow, high spirit rising, flashing his white grin. "To the Queen of Courtesans!"

In that moment, I loved him.

"And the Prince of Travellers," I said, inclining my head.

Of what passed between us that night, I will not speak. It had no bearing on aught that happened before or after, and was of no concern to anyone save Hyacinthe and myself. Seldom enough have I had the luxury of bestowing my gift, Naamah's art, where I chose. I chose that night, and I do not regret.

Frankly, I think this is lazy storytelling. I think it's a cop-out. As a reader, what this says to me is, "I really don't feel like writing an emotional love scene, so I'll pull a "Forrest Gump" and say "that's all I have to say about that."" There were five occasions within the story where Carey used this device. Almost all pertained to sexual scenes - some positive, some negative. Either way, each time it drew me out of the story and would have made me hurl the book across the room, except that it would probably put a hole in the wall.

So, overall, this was a mostly positive reading experience for me. Enough so that I'm curious to read the next in the series, Kushiel's Chosen, someday. I picked it up and added it to my TBR shelf. But it won't be anytime soon. Carey's books are just to dense to read without deliberation. And I'm ready for something light.

Final grade on Kushiel's Dart? B-