Howling in the Night

Yay, I've been out of the cage twice within twenty four hours. Ooh, how ambitious! Here is a list of paranormal romances that I plan to buy. It's not extensive as a search was very sketchy as time wasn't on my side. I can't put in book covers as I usually do, so I'm sorry for the plain look here.

• Touch the Dark - Karen Chance [June 2006]

  Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits-talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead. The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk...a lot. The undead are another matter. Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires. But when the bloodsucking Mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection. The undead senators won't help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire-and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay...

  I usually avoid romances and novels that feature psychic heroines [it's a case of being heartily sick of them after putting up with the Flood of Psychic Heroines, 1990s], but for this one, I'm willing to tip my toe in the same-old lake.

• Dates From Hell - Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong, Lori Handeland [April 2006] Kelley Armstrong? I'm there already. While we are here, check out her amusing online novella, The Case of El Chupacabra.

• Your Planet or Mine? - Susan Grant

  It’s Bridget Jones’s Diary meets War of the Worlds when a scandal-plagued California state senator finds out that her "imaginary" childhood friend is anything but when he tracks her down twenty years later in an aisle in the grocery store, a sexy, armor-clad interstellar warrior demanding her help in averting an imminent alien invasion.

  It has all hallmarks of a romantic comedy, but I'm not too sure if it's actually a romantic comedy. Still, it's on my list. According to Susan Grant's website, Jane Jasper's sister's story, The Assassin Who Loved Chocolate, will be released sometime in early 2007.

• Awaiting the Moon - Donna Lea Simpson [February 2006]

  It is said that werewolves roam the woods around Wolfram Castle—but Elizabeth Stanwycke, newly arrived tutor to the Count's niece, is not a child to be frightened by bedtime stories. Of more pressing concern is her attraction to the mysterious Count.

  I'm actually not a fan of gothic or romances that feature governesses or children, but it's a werewolf historical romance by a new-to-me author, so it's on the list.

• Happy Hour at Casa Dracula - Marta Acosta [July 2006]

  Vampires. Margaritas. Mayhem. What's a girl to do when she's hidden away at the home of sophisticated vampires and her ex-boyfriend wants to drive a stake through her heart?

  The title amuses me enough to put it on Books to Buy list.

That's the paranormal lot. I'll do up the contemporary and historical lots tomorrow. Be good, be bad & be safe.

Dashing By

I'm going to have to give up apologising for lack of postings otherwise you'll get a fill to last you a lifetime. In short: my youngest sibling is handling it very badly, so my life is pretty much revolved around her. That said, I've started reading! That's a bonus, IMO. I'm on a short break, so I'll reduce myself to handing out grades, instead of penning long-winding "reviews". A Quick Guide to Understanding McVane's Grades: A: Fantastic! A Must Buy! If you're broke, sell your kidney! B: It's pretty good. Worth buying. C: Hm, so-so. Don't spend a penny on it. Get it from your library. D: If you find it in a dustbin, read it. But not if it's covered with food remains. F: Do spend a penny on it.

• Godheads - Emily Devenport - B [Devenport definitely has all signs of being a buried treasure.]
• Be Careful of What You Wish For - Alexandra Potter - B
• Once I Was a Princess - Jacqueline Pascarl-Gillespie [non-fiction. Couldn't finish it because I felt depressed and the book was depressing, not a good combination.]
• Valentine's Day Is Killing Me - MaryJanice Davidson, Leslie Esdaile, Susanna Carr - D

My current TBR pile on the bedside table:

• Do You Believe? - Ann Lawrence
• Miranda Blue Calling - Michelle Curry Wright
• Spirited Away - Pamela Labud
• Dark Desire - Elaine Moore
• The Fourth Queen - Debbie Taylor

Does anyone know if Emma Holly will ever write a follow-up to The Demon's Daughter? I'm really in mood for a steampunk historical romance. Be good, be bad & be safe.

Cheatin' A Bit

At Jorie's blog, she asked for book recs and I responded. I was surprised to see how much came out, considering the fact I haven't read much ;ately. And there is my seemingly-permanent bad mood. I'm copying the response to here in case it'd interest someone and, to be honest, it'd live this blog up a bit. :D

You might like to try Jude Morgan's books. So far, she's written PASSION, KING'S TOUCH, and INDISCRETION. She's becoming popular in the UK, and deservedly so. I'm willing to bet that her books will become sought after, like Diana Norman's books. I also like the other Morgan -- Fidelis Morgan. :) Her characters tend to be bawdy, colourful and unbashly fun. I really do love Countess Ashby De La Zouche. She's a practical nutter. :> Hm, I think I'll reread them. It'd be wonderful to have them perking me up. Lord knows how badly I need it! :D Let me think of any more ... Arthur Japin's IN LUCY'S EYES may be worth your time. I quite enjoyed it but not as much as many did over here. Oh, I really enjoyed Clare Clark's THE GREAT STINK. I blogged about it last year before the Accidental Death of My Blog. There are a couple more that I hear a lot about, but haven't read. I noted it down somewhere ... here you go: THE REMEDY - Michelle Lovric A FACTORY OF CUNNING - Philippa Stockley IT SO HAPPENS - Patricia Ferguson [I was told it's a humourous historical novel] NELSON'S DAUGHTER - Miranda Hearn I'm reading Raymond Khoury's THE LAST TEMPLAR that I meant to finish last year. It's pretty good so far, but it's, IMO, a pure beach read.

I put links here, so that you don't have to google. :> Oh, I forgot to mention Caroline Stickland! Bugger. I read THE KINDLY ONES over Christmas. Quite absorbing. I don't know if it was the case of the book being at the right place at the right time or it was that good, but either way, I enjoyed it. Be good, be bad & be safe.

Thought of the Day

I was re-organising book shelves [it can be - and is - very soothing] when it occurred to me that I rarely come across a romance novel that features the hero who is a relative of a villain. Usually it's the heroine who's related to a major villain, i.e. father, husband, uncle, or brother. Only books I can think of that stick a certain finger at this long-standing convention are Megan Chance's gritty western historical Fallen From Grace [the hero's father is a tough outlaw and not very pleasant] and, sort of, Catherine Anderson's Annie's Song [the hero's rakish brother took the "retarded" heroine by force but, IIRC, the brother is rarely seen throughout the story, so I'm not sure if this counts]. But it does make me wonder -- why is it usually the heroine who's related to a villain? Thanks for your lovely messages, e-mails and book recs. All book recs have been noted. I'm happy and Will is not because his credit card is whimpering over its forthcoming abuse. Hur hur hur. Be good, be bad & be safe.

Still Slogging

Ah, sod it. I may as well as to 'fess up why I have been so erratic with updating this blog these days. I had no intention to reveal on this blog, but I'm feeling guilty, so I'm going to say it. Short and quick. Like ripping a band aid off fast. Before I'd change my mind. I would appreciate it if you would not post sympathies or such as I had enough to last me a lifetime. [Well, except for jokes or funny anecdotes which I would appreciate!] My mother passed away early last month and, although we all in the family expected that to happen for a long time, her passing has unexpectedly and completely knocked me off my feet. I'm cringing to admit that I am struggling with depression at the moment. I do have good days, when I feel perky enough to have some fun, but these days I'm very introspective and self-centred, preferring to live in my cave inside my head. I haven't read much last month and this month, so I really haven't anything to say. When I do try to blog, it seems that it always ends up being about my mum. I'm thinking that I need to motivate myself to get back to normal life, so I think I will blog every Monday and Thursday until I feel chatty enough to return to the way I used to be. Meanwhile, I'd appreciate book recommendations. :> Be good, be bad & be safe.

Things I learned from being a PCless user

I'm using just two fingers to type on this painfully small keyboard. So excuse all forthcoming typos [why isn't it 'typoes'?] in this post. I'm not sure if I'd already mentioned this, but my PC is having a long and low breakdown, starting last November to now. Some days it's perky and other days it's testy, which includes shutting itself down at unexpected [and usually crucial] moments. When this happens, I bring out this crappy gadget -- *a-hem* "SmartBook / Win CE" -- which does not inspire a swell of happiness in me because it's so damn eccentric. I stupidly bought this when I was in hong Kog a couple of years ago. It has wi-fi! It has verything! Whhoo hoo! what a mug. I dislike it because a) as I say. it's eccentric; b) no one's heard of it, so no ever ready tech advice available; b)the keyboard is small enough for a toddler, and c) many "mobile-oriented" websites [including microsoft] mistakes this VHS-sized "laptop" as a WAP phone, so they tell me, via this, that their sites are for windows oly. Um, Im on windows CE! If not, those sites resize to smartphone picture size, so on this screen eerything zhifts to left and in tiny fonts. Oh enough of myrant. When I tried to visit reader/author blogs and web sites, i quickly noticed that this thing does not like: 1. graphic heavy blogs [e.g. those with lotsa of book covers; multimedia glimmicks; javascript-based glimmicks] 2. links that open new browser windows, this includes comments; in other words, it has a serious issue with javascript. I haven't had a chance to read comments at blogs like Smart Bitches. Rosario's blog doesn show any links at all, for some weird reason. 3. if an image is larger than this thing's browser cache, it doesn't show up at all, so all i could see is a small white box with a red cross, and no clue to what is in he photo at all, e.g. no image text [which is primarily designed for partially sighted people and peole who use sofware to read out whatever on a web or blg page] 4. When my PC calmed don, I did an experiment, turning off javascript and images and then I surfed for an hour before the PC shrieked and shut itself down. The experiment was an eyeopener. The net is not really that kind to disabled people -- no subtitles in video news for deaf people, no image text to clue blind people in, and no easily accessible navigation menu and directional links for people who have restricted physical movements, and on it goes. Its also not that frendly to those with dail-up [Im actually on a roauter, but that is besides the point] or low-spec PCs, so graphic loading times can be f. painful. This is why I amended my blog layout not long ago as I want to make it as simple and user-friendly as possible. Mind you, I get really snerked whenever I can't read comments or some blog posts because of this thing's fussiness. I will have to sort my tongue out because my instant reactions made me blush. at times i couldnt believe I heard what I'd just said. :D Anyway, Im really curious to know everyones pet hates when comes to reading blogs or surfing. I recently discover that I no longer am a fan of links that generate new browser windows and blogs that have up to ten long blog posts on same page [long scrolling is a real pain in the neck!]. Ok, thats enough of my typo-ridden ramble. I will be bck to normal soon, i swear. Oh, im starting Theresa Weir's FOREVER for that TBR challenge. its my very last unread weir book. I have mixed feelings about reading it, but it has to be done. I reckon I will finish by this Friday. :) Be good, be bad & be safe.

Toe in the water

Excuse me while I wander around here, trying to remember how it all works. It took me almost all day trying to remember the password to this blog. I'm sorry for breaking my promise that I'd return in early December and for not keeping in touch with anyone for a while. Quite a few things happened last month, some are quite embarrassing. I think I will wait until my mortification finally die before I'd write about them here. :D Aside from that, nothing much happened. Unless you count this hangover that refuses to let go of my brain. I think it's trying to tell me that I'm too old to have a proper knee-up with friends, family and foes all night to celebrate New Year's Eve and my birthday. The morning after - my God, the bathroom and I are now best friends because of the amount of time I spent there the morning after. I swear I'll never, ever touch Southern Comfort again. What makes it worse is when I was offered a glass of Southern Comfort, Will reminded me that I swore not to touch it after drinking an entire bottle to celebrate my uni graduation almost twenty years ago. I laughed and said that I can handle it. Did I handle it fine? Please. Will and Neacal [my oldest brother] carried me to a local hotel while I puked left, right and centre, and cried that I didn't like how the street spun. I apparently ordered Will to stop the street from spinning so much and he kept telling me to close my eyes, but that made the dizziness worse, hence the puking. He also held my hair up while my head was in the loo, retching in name of Scotland. In between bouts of puking, I bitterly declared that I'd never drink again and I distinctively remember Will kept saying that he deserves a well-polished halo, but he denied this. Anyhow, next day while I was feeling sorry for myself, Will had the gall to make me sign an agreement that I'll never take the mick out of his [admittedly, rare] hangovers for the duration of 2006. WTF? I mean, he actually wrote this agreement while I was in alcohol-soaked slumberland in our hotel room and, as soon as I woke up, he made me sign it. I thought he was joking, but he was deadly serious. After I complained about this to my brother in the hotel breakfast room, the f. traitor turned to Will and said, "I'm deeply honoured and humbled to count you as a member of our family". I'll have my revenge, to hell with maturity, sensibility, middle-aged wisdom, et cetera. I feel better now, getting all that off my chest. I have been stewing on this over a couple of days. Sorry that it's such a long ramble, but hey, this is what a blog is for, right? :P Books! I haven't read much last couple of months. I think I managed to finish only two: Matthew Reilly's Scarecrow and Kathleen Gilles Seidel's More Than You Dreamed [I think that's the title, anyway]. I see that quite a few reader bloggers came up with their booklists of 2005. I will have to do mine, even though my mind is completely blank. There has been some outstanding romances, but so far, nothing slaps me in the face. Not yet, anyway. Anyway, give me a couple of days while I get my head around this blog. I think I will tidy it up, update sidebars and put up covers of two current reads. I can't wait to surf around the blogland as it's been too long. Also, again, sorry for being away longer than I said I would be. For those who have been really patient, thank you. Be good, be bad & be safe.