This is a pretty cool site.

Check it out! I love being a bzzagent. Ask me about it.

oopsie

I've had these drafted since..ohh... February? With moving and all that entails and then being offline for a few months since getting wireless out here was FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS (ARGGHHH), I've been doing a lot of reading but haven't been posting. But, thankfully, everything is pretty much settled down now and I can get back into the swing of things. Even if no one reads this, I've found it a handy reference for myself. I'm always saying to myself "Self, who wrote that really good book that you read a while back and do they have any new books out?". With a log of them, I can answer that question. From now on, I am going to try to link to the author's website, rather than amazon or barnes and noble or some other corporate giant. Have I mentioned how much I love the library and resale shops? I spent $15 on a book today at booksamillion. Eek! It so better be worth it! I'm also only going to get back into posting whether I enjoyed the book or not. The ones I've posted in the last few posts were only good ones, I didn't mention the baddies. And there have been some really bad ones. I should have written them down just to serve as a warning. I've been reading a lot of paperback romances lately because, hey, my dad gets them by the sack or box full, they're free and they don't take up a lot of time. If I get into a longer, really good book I don't want to put it down and do what I am supposed to be doing. heh Yeah, many a sleepless night, unwashed dish and other neglected things due to my literary addiction. Can ya relate?


Texas Cooking - Lisa Wingate
Lone Star Cafe - Lisa Wingate
Mouth to Mouth - Erin McCarthy
The Same Sweet Girls - Cassandra King
The Truth About Forever - Sarah Dessen
Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands - Susan Carol McCarthy
prep - Curtis Sittenfeld
Wedding Ring - Emilie Richards

So many books, so little time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - Mark Haddon

Light on Snow - Anita Shreve

The Three Miss Margarets - Louise Shaffer

A Piece of Heaven - Barbara Samuel
This woman has fantastic style.

Blue Plate Special - Frances Norris

St. Dale - Sharyn McCrumb
This book is so unlike her usual type of novel that I didn't know if I would like it or not. I LOVED it.

The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch - Marsha Moyer

Rosie Dunne - Cecelia Ahern
I still find it hard to believe this girl is only 23! She's a highly intuitive writer with a firm grasp of life, humor and her craft.

The Rock Orchard - Paula Wall
This is a must read!

The Dead of Midnight - Catherine Hunter
I felt that this book moved a little too slow, at times I was like just come on already! But the ending will surprise you.

Daughter's Keeper - Ayelet Waldman
Excellent, one of the best I've read lately.

Running with the Reservoir Pups - Colin Bateman
Really well-written, funny adolescent book that adults can enjoy as well.

Keeping the Moon - Sarah Dessen

Oops, I did it again

What with the holidays, moving and just general stress, I've had little time to read, much less to blog about it. These are some books that I put here and then saved as a draft for the last month or two. The ones to the bottom are more recently read. I didn't bother to put the crap ones here, so if it is on this list suffice it to say I recommend reading it. The great ones are *'d.


Any Place I Hang My Hat - Susan Isaacs

Key of Light, Key of Valor, Key of Knowledge - Nora Roberts

Haunted Ground and Lake of Sorrows - Erin Hart ***

Olive, My Love - Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold **

English as a Second Language - Megan Crane **

An Unfinished Life - Mark Spragg ****

Hunting Fear - Kay Hooper

The Spiderwick Chronicles - Tony di Terlizzi and Holly Black ****

The Dirty Cowboy - Amy Timberlake and Adam Rex ***

Horseplay - Judy Reene Singer ***

Hissy Fit - Mary Kay Andrews ***

Sunshine - Robin McKinley

A Dry Spell - Susie Moloney

Citizen Girl - Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Lu and the Swamp Ghost - James Carville, Patricia C. McKissack, David Catrow ***

Whispering to Witches - Anna Dale ****

sMothering - Wendy French ****

Come Summer - Sandra Steffen ***

Pale as The Dead - Fiona Mountain ****

The Garden Angel - Mindy Friddle *****

Some I forgot, some new ones

Northern Lights - Nora Roberts
I don't know how she does it, but it's another page turner.

On Thin Ice - Cherry Adair
Great action and a good plot. There were a couple of scenes that could have been written better, but overall a great read.

Metro Girl - Janet Evanovich
Ohmigosh, this is the best one yet! This book is hilarious. I have to say I think it's even better than the Stephanie Plum series (and while I lurve me some Steph, she's been getting a bit stale in the last few books). I hope she comes up with more adventures for Barney and NASCAR Guy!

Incubus Dreams - Laurell K. Hamilton
Ok, I still love these books, but I think she's spreading herself a bit too thin with all the different characters and two different series going on. And Anita is getting a little bit annoying, with all this "I can't do this" and "I'm blank, I'm a killer and I feel bad that I don't feel bad about it blah blah blah" crap. She's acting like Richard. Regardless, still good reading.

Another books are due back update

The Secret Life of Bryan - Lori Foster
Another good enough for fluff.

Cassandra French's Finishing School for Boys - Eric Garcia
This book was hysterical. Very satirical and witty.

Summer People - Elin Hilderbrand
Good book, somewhat depressing and annoying at times due to subject matter.

Farmer Brown Goes Round and Round and The Thing That Bothered Farmer Brown - Teri Sloat, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott
The Lady with the Alligator Purse - Nadine Bernard Westcott
If you have kids (and even if you don't) go get these books ASAP.

Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris
Although I wasn't able to read the first books in this series, I really enjoyed this one. It isn't necessary to have read the others to be able to follow along. And she left the ending set up for another one. I look forward to it coming out. Really playful, yet also full of action and intrigue.

The Sunday Philosophy Club - Alexander McCall Smith
This is a good book, I just can't seem to get into it. It is well-written and has a good plot, it's just... dreadfully dull.

Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, and Shopaholic & Sister - Sophie Kinsella
I read Confessions some time ago and have not been able to lay my hands on the rest of the series until my library finally got them in recently. I love Sophie Kinsella (who also wrote Can You Keep a Secret?). Becky Bloomwood Brandon just can't stay out of the shops and just can't stay out of trouble. Her wacky schemes and utter irresponsiblity should be off-putting but instead she is certainly endearing. I can't wait until the next one comes out. Who knows what she will get up to with a baby!

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I've updated. Come to find out I've been drafting posts and forgetting about them. So, this one's gonna be fairly long.

A Taint in the Blood - Dana Stabenow
This series is fantastic, although she has changed the way the main character acts in this book and it just isn't the same.

Little Earthquakes - Jennifer Weiner
Was so glad this was finally out! It was worth the wait. Funny, heartwarming, charming as usual.

Under Cover - MaryJanice Davidson
Good enough fluff.

Hot Pink - Susan Johnson
More good enough fluff.

Beach Girls – Luanne Rice
I always enjoy her novels. This one was no exception.

Shem Creek: A Lowcountry tale - Dorothea Benton Frank
I haven'’t been able to finish any of her books since Sullivan's Island. This one was great, I think she is growing as an author and has refined her craft.

August Frost – Monique Roffey
Go get this book now! This was such a fantastic, almost fairy-tale like novel.

Mrs. Hollingsworth’s Men – Padgett Powell
I loved the style of this novel. A must read.

Falling for April – Lisa Plumley
Good enough for fluff.

Big City Junk; Garden Junk; American Junk – Mary Randolph Carter
These are so cool. If you'’re into junk, which I obviously am. I'’ve checked these out several times just to admire the stuff. She is coming out with a new one soon.

The Snow Bride - Debbie Macomber
This is a Christmas romance novel but it is still cute.

Shop till You Drop - Elaine Viets
Very witty.

Here Kitty Kitty - Jardine Libaire
The writing style in this book really appealed to me, I loved the way she put words together.

The Rivals - Joan Johnston
Sometimes I wanted to slap people in this book. Or the author.

Maggie Without a Clue - Kasey Michaels
This is a cute, fun series.

What to Keep - Rachel Cline
This book was rather stiff until the end.

Star - Pamela Anderson
Ok, I got this one for the curiosity factor. I knew it would be crap, and a so-called "thinly veiled autobiography". It's not so thin, that veil. It wasn't horribly bad, mostly due to the ghost writer, I'm sure. It ended rather abruptly, so I am sure they have a sequel in the works. I'll probably skip that one.

Books I couldn’t finish for one reason or another:

Miss Julia Meets Her Match – Ann B. Ross
I’'ve read all of these, but the tone in this one was just too annoyingly goody-goody.

I’d Kill for That: a serial novel – Marcia Talley et al
While this novel had many of my favorite authors, I just couldn'’t get into it as it was far too phony.

Murder List – Julie Garwood
Again, the tone of this book was off. Her writing seems to be declining instead of improving.

The Jasmine Moon Murder – Laura Childs
Just wasn'’t in the mood. Good novel though.

In the Gloaming: stories – Alice Elliott Dark
It is rare that I find a book of short stories that I like all of. I liked most of these, especially the first one.