What I'm Reading Wednesday
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Book Reviews

Teader Tuesday
Topic: Book Reviews

 

 (Photo of album by the group Tease)

 

 

Teaser Tuesday

Detecting nothing, she relaxed slightly and slowly crept around the perimeter of the cell. It was empty.

 

 

page 67, A Heart Divided by Karen Abbott

 

 

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Harlequin's A Cowboy for Every Mood
Topic: Book Reviews

 

I think it is no big secret that I have a huge celebrity crush on Hugh Jackman going back about ten years. Every now and then another Brit or Australian or Scot or Irishman (and the rare American) catches my attention, but I always go back to Hugh. So, it is with no surprise that I admit it is because of him that I have a huge preference for the cowboy romance.  

It all started when I went to see that gosh awful movie Australia. It wasn't the acting that was bad, btw. It was the direction of the movie. It tried to be all things but it ended up being a mess. One of the things Australia tried to be was a cowboy romance, and Hugh Jackman makes for one fine looking cowboy. His character was rugged, just, rough around the edges, a savior, a protector, and a lover who could clean up very well. What more could a woman ask for in romantic partner? So, with every cowboy romance novel I pick up, I will always think of Hugh from Australia.

Harlequin Books is making it very easy for me to get my fix this month. They will be placing a special Stetson logo on all their releases in July  to make it easier for me (*ahem* I mean "we") to find western and cowboy themed romances. Just look for the below logo:

 

Here's a sampling of cowboy/western themed romance novels I've enjoyed:

Cowboy, Take Me Away by Kathleen Eagle

Taming Blackhawk by Barbara McCauley

Wanted! by Vicki Lewis Thompson

Rogue Stallion by Diana Palmer

McKettricks of Texas: Austin by Linda Lael Miller

The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey

The Mighty Quinns: Brody by Kate Hoffman

 

Disclaimer: I am a Harlequin ambassador and they encouraged me to blog, Facebook or Tweet about their "A Cowboy for Every Mood" promotion. I was not paid or reimbursed in any form or fashion. Although most of the books I listed were published by Harlequin, I acquired with my own funds or library card. :-)

What I Am; What I Was; What I Will
Mood:  lazy
Topic: Book Reviews

Tease Me, Tempt Me, Read Me...
Mood:  hug me
Topic: Book Reviews

 I must say, I am fraught with eagerness as I anticipate her expression when she receives my gifts. She is aglow with animation, whereas my princess was the picture of reserve. I long for Anne Plantagenet every day, but more and more I find myself subject to a strange sort of excitement when in the presence of my new wife.

—p. 126, Rivals in the Tudor Court by D.L. Bogdan

Moving....
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: To Tumblr
Topic: Beauty Thoughts & Reviews
I'll be posting blog posts with pictures on my tumblr site, brooklynshoebabe.tumblr.com, but still look for my more wordy posts here.

Oh Holy Hell
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers
Topic: Book Reviews
Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Although I love science fiction and fantasy movies, I have never been a fan of the books. Besides the plot and the characters, I also have to make myself familiar with a whole new world, society, creatures, mores, etc. so it was with great surprise when I had the strong desire to read Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers. It had been on my to-read list since September, but it moved to the top of my list when I met the author at Book Expo America 2011. She autographed a free copy of the novel to me, and explained that she wrote the book for her daughter, who was really into the Twilight series. To be fair to Lisa, Personal Demons is a much better book.

Frannie has a special power that could be a benefit to Heaven and Hell, so each dominion has sent their best to tag her soul. From Hell, is Luc a.k.a. Lucifer. He is seven millennia old demon whose mere presence makes Frannie want to give in to her baser instincts. Gabriel is one of the best angels from Heaven, who makes Frannie feel safe and secure. She is in constant battle with herself on who she is going to choose.

Frannie is one of the most realistic teenage girls I’ve read in a long time in a Young Adult novel. She’s smart, reckless, impulsive, and angst-ridden. She’s also very good at judo. She’s like a more realistic Buffy the Vampire Slayer! She is definitely one of my favorite girl characters. Empowered!

Personal Demons is a sexy, witty, taut, and highly readable YA novel that constantly leaves me breathless. In the words of Luc, Unholy Satan because plot twists come fast at a fast rate. Plus there’s an intense love triangle. There's also a certain amount of camp involved. The book runs about 30 pages too long. Once all the major plot points are revealed, the story sort of sputters to an end. However, it is still a great book and I can’t wait to dive into the sequel out in August.


View all my reviews

I've Been Romanced
Mood:  crushed out
Now Playing: RWA 2011
Topic: Book Reviews

Around the age of 10 years-old, my aunt got a subscription to the Harlequin’s romance book club. When she moved out two years later, she left a few copies that I devoured under the covers with a flashlight. (I moved into her bedroom.) I mostly flipped through them to find the “good parts” but slowly got into the stories. I also read excerpts of stories by Barbara Taylor Bradford and Danielle Steele  in my grandma’s Ladies’ Home Journal magazines. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was reading romance novels and Tennessee Williams plays at a pretty steady clip since there were only a handful of young adult novels to speak of. (True story, my high school librarian didn’t mind me checking out romance but when I wanted a book on puberty/sexuality, she said I needed a permission slip from my parents.)

By the time I went off to college and started working in the magazine biz, I shook off my juvenile reading habits for feminist lit, African-American memoirs, and literary fiction. But there’s only so much proper literature one can read before they get burnt out on it and now I find myself back in the loving embrace romance (and its naughtier sister erotica). The last 8-months of rediscovering it has been a wonderful journey, where I have found fun new blogs, my preference for cowboys, and lots of free books & e-books. This past Tuesday, I reached the pinnacle of my journey by attending the Romance Writers’ Association Librarians Day--a day of networking, professional development, and getting free stuff!  My favorite items? The romance trading cards and bookmarks. I know have a photo album bursting with these collectibles (http://romancetradingcards.com/).

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my favorite Romance Twitter Feeds & Blogs:
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php
http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/
http://www.sheloveshotreads.com/
http://www.rwa.org/

My favorite moment of RWA2011? Romance author Julia Quinn declaring that librarians are saints. Like you didn’t know that already.

 

---

Last month, I also got to let my librarain-geek flag fly at BookExpo 2011 at New York City's Jacob Javitis' Convention Center.  Not only did I attend several professional development seminair like the pulishers preview of middle-grade fall 2011 fiction, but I also got to walk up and down the aisles of the expo and examine several publishing houses' booths. One of my favorites was the erotica publishers Ellora's Cave (which is celebrating its tenth anniversary and from whom I got an autographed beefcake calendar and a deck of playing cards featuring their male cover models).

 

At the Harlequin booth, I got to meet African-American romance novelist Gwyneth Bolton. Her book, Sizzling Seduction, was the first Kimani romance I ever read and dispeled any misgiving I may have had about Black-themed romance novels. (Number 1 being that it would be more about race than about romance.) While I was getting my autographed, I babbled on about how great I thought Sizzling Seduction was by uttering over and over "Fireman, sexy, great, intense, fireman!" The only sad part about that moment were how non-exsistent the autograph lines were for the Kimani novelists. The lines were so short that I thought I had shown up while they were still setting up. 

Kiss My Nail Art
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Kiss Goldfinger Great Strip Nail Color Stickers
Topic: Beauty Thoughts & Reviews

What You Reading For?

Currently Reading:

To Love A Wilde by Kimberly Kaye Terry

The Welcome Home Garden Club by Lori Wilde

Personal Demons by Lisa Desroscher

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (audiobook) 

 

To Read:

Carrying the Ranchcer's Heir by Charlene Sands

Cinderella: Ninja Warrior by Maureen McGowen

 

Just Read:

The Wit and the Wisdom of Mark Twain ( a book of quotations)

Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia (A magical retlling of a Liberia creation story)  Won-Ldy Paye

 

 

 

Tasty Teaser Tuesday
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott
Topic: Book Reviews

Even Jack saying my name never made me feel so--

Stop it.

I promised myself all that was gone, forgotten, and it's going to stay that way. I made myself strong, I taught myself to know who--and what--I am. 

 

pg. 35, Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott 

Watcha Reading Now?
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: What I'm Reading, What I Will Read
Topic: Book Reviews

What I'm Reading Now

 

YA paranormal novel, Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers. An angel and a demon fight over the soul of a teenage girl in a literal battle of heaven over hell. I'm on page 21 and I'm enjoying it so far. I met Lisa Desrochers last week at BookExpo 2011. She told me that she decided to write Personal Demons for her daughter who was a huge Twilight fan.

 

I'm also starting to get ankle deep in the romance/family drama, The Welcome Home Garden Club. I just got to the part where our heroes have reunited in nearly ten years. It was an intense scene. I'm on page 87.

 

While watching my daughters in the bathtub, I started reading the Kimani Romance To Love A Wilde. It is the second Harlequin romance I've purchased this year, and the first I bought just based on the cover--an interracial couple on a ranch. Black chicks and cowboys. Yeehah! I'm at the set up portion.

 

What I Will Be Reading In the Future

Elizabeth Scott's teen romance novel Between Here and Forever. I also met her at BEA. She promised me that this will be a far lighter read than her intense, intensely creepy, and well written Living Dead Girl.

 

 

 

Planet Middle School--a YA novel told in verse by Nikki Grimes.

 

 

Personal Demons Not Belonging To Me
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers
Topic: Book Reviews

 

Chapter 13

A Cold Day In Hell

Frannie

My hear is pounding s I wait at my locker 'cause, after last night with Luc, I'm not sure what to expect. I stare blindly at my books and shift my weight from foot to foot, failing spectacularly at trying to appear casual.

 

page 177, Personal Demons by Lisa Deroschers

(from my autographed copy!) 

 

 

 

Watcha Reading?
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Books I'm Reading Now?
Topic: Book Reviews

What I Am Reading Now

 Jazz in Love by Neesha Meminger; Jazz's traditional Indian family want her to chose a spouse from a list of predetermined candidates, but Jazz has her eyes set on a school cutie. What will Jazz do when her desires clash with her family's wishes?

Mr. Fix-It by Crystal Hubbard: Khela Halliday, an award-winning romance writer who doesn't believe in love, meets her match in a gorgeous handyman who is determined to find the perfect tool to shatter her defenses and win her heart.

Witch Baby and Me by Debi Gilori: It's a rainy spring-time, coming up to Witch Baby Daisy's second birthday. Her nursery class are putting on a musical performance, helped by the older children, including big sister Lily. Meanwhile Mum is trying to potty train Daisy, unaware that as soon as she succeeds, Daisy will be reclaimed by the witches who live on the hill.

How I Changed My Life by Todd Strasser: Overweight high school senior Bo decides to change her image while working on the school play with a former star football player who is also struggling to find a new identity for himself.

The Welcome Home Garden Club by Lori Wilde: Returning home from the Iraq war with battle scars, soldier Gideon Garza discovers that the timid girl he left behind is now an independent single mother whom he still has feelings for, and the father who refused to acknowledge him has left him a vast cattle ranch.

 

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished reading Jane by April Lindner and Vegas Two Step by Liz Talley.

What do you think you’ll read next?

I plan on reading To Love A Wilde by Kimberly Kaye Terry; Cinderella: Ninja Warrior by Maureen McGowen; and Exposure by T. Fowler

Mama Need A New Pair of Shoes
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Zappos Gift Card Giveaway @ I'm Too Fancy
Topic: Contests