Traveling by the Book (Series)

Eirlandia, the most recent

In the Land of the Everliving by Stephen Lawhead came out last Tuesday.  Because the local Barnes and Noble didn't get it in stock, I ordered it and it came in yesterday.  My new-to-me car put me on side the road yesterday, so I didn't go to work.  When it came in, I hurried and finished Trickster's Queen, and read all but something like 70 pages last night.  I finished it a few hours ago.

Lawhead is probably the single biggest butterly effect in my life.  Or at least the one I can track the easiest.  Mom brought home In the Hall of the Dragon King back in August of 2005.  I loved it.  I got all of his other books, most of which are Celtic based.

I would've never gotten into Celtic mythology.  I would've never gotten into Robin Hood or enjoyed a King Arthur epic.  I would've never tried other Celtic-based fantasy.  Or I might have, in another way, but this is the way of it.

I want to visit all of the former Celtic nations.  I've made it to Scotland.  Half the reason I chose Inverness was because of the Groame House Museum in Rosemarkie, which is nearby.  It's a collection of carved Pictish stones.  It's a two room, small place, but it's Special.  They have a harp replica, with sheet music and how to play it.  The other reason was Leakey's Book Shop.

At the back of the King Raven books, there's mention of music based from the story.  They have a soundtrack.  Unfortunately, I was a broke kid who couldn't order stuff online myself and

I looked up Jeff Johnson and Brian Dunning on Pandora, then.  I loved everything Pandora played for me of theirs.  I have all of their Lawhead based work now, plus some other stuff they've done.

Because I looked them up on Pandora though, I was also introduced to the Olllam, Michael McGoldrick, David Arkenstone, etc.  My music library is amazing because of this.

Anyway, but to Eirlandia specifically, In the Region of the Summer Stars was his first book in four years.  The series before that, Bright Empires, wasn't Celtic-based.  Every time I read one of his books, I'm reminded why he's my favorite author.

In the Region of the Summer Stars basically ends with everything getting blown to east hell, which is different from west hell, apparently.  But it still ends right. 

Lawhead is not for everyone, and I pity those he doesn't fit, but he's poetic and his books end, if not always happily, well.  They end the way they have to, you know?

I don't think I'd read anything that took place in Iron Age Ireland before this point, or if I have, it's been a while.  Or it was a romance book.  O.o

You never know what a book will be until you read it yourself, but reading a Celtic fantasy from Lawhead is still familiar.  It's still poetic prose.  It's still likable characters you want to see succeed.  It's not a world I've been to, but I trust that particular world-maker.

And I really really really want to go to Ireland next.  Unlike the next two, this is somewhere I can actually go, even if it's not the Iron Age.


Tortall, the most books

A couple of months ago, I was in Barnes and Noble where I saw a display for a new Tamora Pierce book.  It was about Numair Salmalin.  I'd never read the Wildmage books, but I knew who Numair Salmalin was from his cameos in the following series.

"Well, I guess I'm going back to Tortall then!" is just about an exact thought I had.

I'd never read Mastiff, and it was time.  I started with Terrier and after I finished Mastiff, I wanted to read or re-read all of the Tortall books.  I had to find copies of the Song of the Lioness (Alanna) books, which wasn't difficult.  I had bought the Immortals (Daine) series some years ago and they'd been sitting on my shelf since.  I'd never read them, and they took me a little while, but I loved them.  Protector of the Small (Keladry) was my first Tortall series.  Reading it in order with the rest of the series made me squee throughout, because then I understood the importance of some of the characters.  I knew King Jonathan when he was Prince Jonathan, and Alanna the Lioness when she was Page Alan masquerading as a boy, and Daine the Wildmage before she knew she was a demigoddess in her own right, how Tkaa and Bonedancer came to live in the palace.  It was all part of a larger picture.  And then I don't remember if I read the Trickster books (Alianne) before or after Lioness the first times around.  This time, I was able to appreciate all of Aly's legendary family, both blood and adoptive.

The Tortall books are the sort of thing a young girl should read when finding her place in the world.  When she's told she can't do something because she's a girl.  When she's growing up and seeing all of the ugliness in the world and wants to fix it.  When she worries she might compromise who she is if she falls in love.  When she's afraid.

Or for a woman in her mid-to-late twenties who's forgotten the Important Things.  O.o

Tortall is a place for a person to shine, if they have the guts to do it.

I haven't read Tempests and Slaughter (Numair) yet.  The second book is supposed to be out soon, and I'm waiting for it to come out so I can read them back to back.  Har har.



Sitia and Ixia, what started me down this path

The latest 3 books of the Study series had been sitting on my shelf.  I'd forgotten how much I loved the characters.  I am also very glad that I waited until they were all out because waiting a year in between those books would've done nothing but piss me off.

I made a mistake in not reading the Glass books in between the first Study series and the second series.  I should've, because it takes place after, and there was some I'd forgotten and could've used the recap.  I could never get rid of them, but I never saw myself re-reading them either.  Now I think I could.  I will, eventually.  I've re-read way more than I've read this year, already, and I don't like that. I have something like 800-odd books I need to read.  Although, my excuse is, I needed to re-read what I had read, years ago, to fully enjoy the new ones to read.  O.o


And the Rest...

Last year, I re-read Spindle Cove by Tessa Dare.  Spindle Cove is a place for young ladies to be themselves.  How I wished for a place like that then.  I still do.  I'd probably never leave.  This year, I re-visited some of my favorite fictional places, and it was a nice vacation.  We need places like this.

I also re-read Dragon Kin.  I needed crazy heroines and the men who can love them anyway.  I needed a good laugh.  I needed to be reminded that it's okay if I don't do what everyone thinks I should, and do what makes me shine.

I'm trying not to read so much romance books.  It's not as depressing to be forever alone when you're not constantly trying to shove that kind of stuff down your own throat.  I say, as I have bookmarks in like 3 of them, and since I have no idea what I'm going to do next, will probably go for those next.  O.o

February in Review: All About that Balance

Productive Writing Days (1k+ words written):  22

Books Read:  12

I didn't do as well in February.  Obviously.  Some days I just got out and nothing happened at home for me to read or write that day.  I mainlined a series of books and it took its toll.  While I was glad to be back in Tortall, and this has nothing to do with those books, I know better than to mainline anything.  But I did for the Study Series, and I started re-reading Beka Cooper, and after I finished Mastiff, which was the only one I hadn't read, I wanted to read or re-read all of the Tortall books again and...well, you know what happened.  If I mainline a series, I go slower towards the end, because, lag.  If I don't mainline, I'm going to flop around, leave the series, and not come back to it for months.  Well, I finished Trickster's Queen last night and promptly started another book, and finished it today, but I'll write about that later.  This is February in Review, after all, not March.

I keep telling myself the world won't end if I don't do this.  It doesn't matter, don't be so hard on yourself.

But, if I'm not hard on myself, who's going to be?  Some of my biggest mistakes are not being hard enough on myself.  I have to push me.  If I don't push myself, how am I going to become better?

I'm between being kind to myself, it's okay if I don't read/write every day.  But at the same time, I am generally happier on the days I do those things.  But despite that, I've been having bad days.  That comes from Like Sucking.

I won't go into that either though.  I'm not quite where I need to be, but I'm farther than I could be.

And that's that.

January in Review--Yes, I'm Back!

Words Written:  ~30k.  I missed one day.  ONE DAY.

Books Read:  18.

I'm on my way back.  It started because I began making myself write everyday since New Year's.  I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions.  The only ones I really make are to read and write more.  That's it.  This is the sum of who I am.  I'm just going to have to accept this.

It took a lot of going back.  What went wrong?  What set me down this path?

So, I looked at my writing files, the old ones, the finished ones.  I looked back at the blog.  I looked back at my Goodreads.

Apparently, my last good year was 2014.  That was when I still read a lot, I wrote a lot.  When I still had dreams?  Before I graduated from university.

I've said it before, and I'll say it here, I regret going past an associate's degree.  It wasn't worth debt.  Nothing is worth going into debt over, and my student loans aren't even that bad compared to most (or literally everyone because mine are just at $10k.

But I can't go back in time and fix it.  I can't even go back in time to slap my younger self.  C'est la vie.

I'm doing a lot of re-reading.  I spent most of last year re-reading stuff, and it seems like that will very much be the case this year.

One of them was the Study Series by Maria V. Snyder.  Now, I had bought the newer books as they came out, but I didn't read them.  They'd just been sitting on the shelf.

Stephen Lawhead's last book was in 2014.  I think the last Dresden book that's not a comic was put out in 2014.  How am I supposed to be okay when my favorite authors aren't putting out books?  Granted, Lawhead's put out another one, just last year, and the next in the series comes out AT THE END OF THIS MONTH, but I digress.  But I don't think it's coincidence.

Life still sucks.  I wrecked my car at the end of November and still can't get a new one.  I have very, very little going for me.

But I don't want to hang myself in the backyard anymore.  The things that would set me off, that would have me wondering if we had rope anywhere don't do that anymore.

It's a terrible thing, to forget who you are.  It's also pretty wonderful to remember and find yourself and follow your bliss again.

Oh yeah, and I had a blast in Scotland.   It seems when all my other dreams were dead, I still held on to that one.  And I want to go back.  I want to go back So Bad.

The Story That Stays

At 12:01am, I reached the end of Deathly Hallows.  Due to the fact it's been out for years, and I see a lot of it, I knew what was going to happen (or most of it).

I still feel like crawling into a hole and dying.  Knowing what happens in a book, and reading a book, are two different things.  Very different things.

I'll try to sleep, but I know it's not going to come easy.

How do I put this...?

I started reading the Harry Potter books.  Yes, yes, I'm still at home.  Yes, yes, Mom doesn't know.  Please don't tell her.

I got them on my Kindle, so there's no actual evidence that I own them.

Anyway, I just finished book 5.  I have enjoyed them.  I like them.  I think they're great.

I hate everyone who has ever demonized them.

I should have been able to read these growing up, dammit!

I could've been one that grew up with the characters.  I should've been there to see the movies when they came out.

On the bright side, I can binge-read them (although I didn't thus far) and I don't have to wait for release dates!  I can also binge-watch all the movies, for the first time, if I ever can manage it.

I had to take a break after book 4.  I just had to.  I was too shaken.  And there are 28 books (I counted them on my Goodreads reading challenge) between 4 and 5.  I thought it was only about 5 or 6 books ago, maybe only a month ago that I read book 4.  No, no, it was back in April.  I whizzed through 5.  I probably won't have the series finished by the end of this month, but I'll probably be done before the end of August.

I'm trying not to think about my upcoming birthday.  Or the fact I've accomplished so little in 24 years.  I'm trying not to think about tying bricks around my ankles and jumping in the bayou.

A change of reading material, you see, was definitely in order.  Something that was positive in the shitstorm that I've made my life.  Yes, I know, it's my fault, my decisions, my stupidity.  Now I have to fix it, because damn sure nobody else will.  Easier said than done.

I haven't read much fantasy this year.  But I see myself falling in love with the genre all over again.  When you're life sucks, you don't like any better what's going on in Mordor, but it sure beats the hell out of staying where you are.

THAT is worth everything.  And if any of you religious types don't like it, you're probably not good company anyway.

Candid, Candide, and the Candidates

“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cars in order to win the game.”
― Voltaire, Candide

Oh, this road has been long and hard.

“I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?”

1) We started going to church again. I am not taking back anything I've said about the Church. I will not apologize for observations or feelings. I will not pretty up the damage growing up in church with legalistic influences has done. I've had to find my way back, and that's iffy at best.

He wanted to know how they prayed to God in El Dorado.

"We do not pray to him at all," said the reverend sage. "We have nothing to ask of him. He has given us all we want, and we give him thanks continually.”

If for some odd reason your pastor decides to preach from Candide, this is the part where he'd say, "We need to have an El Dorado attitude!"

2) I'm still unemployed (walked out of my job nearly 2 months ago). I had a dream I went back to work where I walked out, and the reasons I quit were still there. No lie. In the dream, nothing had changed. Perhaps it was better to stay there? Or to leave? Whatever, no going back!

“Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.”

3) Reading's still okay.

“For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.”

4) Writing's been bad.

“A great work must be novel without being far-fetched, frequently sublime, but always natural. The author must know the human heart, and how to make it speak; he must be a poet, without letting any of his characters speak like poets; and he must be a master of his language, using it purely and harmoniously and not letting the rhyme interfere with the sense.”

5) Oh yeah, and on a larger level, American politics has reached an all new level of low: Pissing contest for the ages!

“In every province, the chief occupations, in order of importance, are lovemaking, malicious gossip, and talking nonsense.”

I'm sure I've mentioned it before: Candide is probably my favorite classic. Because I can give my blogpost a proper commentary with quotes from that slim treasure.


This is the world God created, therefore it is the best of all possible worlds. And everything happens for the best in this best of all possible worlds.

I would have that in quotation marks as well, but I can't seem to find it either on Goodreads or my own pretty copy of the book. At least, not in so many words.

In light of Point 1, looking at Point 5, and thinking back to things I've said:

1) God appoints.  Guess what, Christians? WE, THUS FAR, HAVE SURVIVED OBAMA.

2) If Jesus said He would be there until the end of the world, do you believe it or not? I don't recall Him saying it was easy. He just said He'd be there.

3) Jesus also said somewhere not to worry about tomorrow.

I find this sound advice when it comes to American politics.

(I also think if I read my Bible as much as I looked up Candide quotes, maybe I'd be better off. Or maybe not, because this is the first time in a long time I played on Goodreads quotes.)

At the end of the day, I have no control over what happens. If I don't have control over it, I don't want to worry about it. At the end of the day, it gets filed under "Not My Problem."

I try to file as many things as possible under "Not My Problem."

I did not ask to be born. I did not ask for most of what's going on in this world. Don't believe what our generation is like? Go on Tumblr.

I do have to live in this world. Come hell or high water, I do have to live here until a new one is created. I will live here. I will have a good attitude about it.

Fine! I will try to have a good attitude about it.

“All that is very well," answered Candide, "but let us cultivate our garden.”

Year in Review--Well, Books in Review.

Books/Stories Read:  121

Words Written:  Yeah, I was GOING to do this, but I don't feel like going through all the months in review.  Anyway, I did okay, I did poorly, anyway, moving on...

Books Bought:  359

Which amounted to $1,141.95

Books In the Catalog: 1,283

Books Read:  552

Books Unread:  613

Books Not The Kind to Read Cover-to-Cover:  118

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:  I do have some duplicate copies of books.  So, the numbers for read and not-read are a little off, by about a book or two each.  Because even if I've only read a book once, but have two copies, I will count both as read.  Likewise, if I have two copies of a book I have not read, they are both marked unread, so, take about 2 or 3 off each one.  The following math takes the not-read-duplicates into account.

610 books, proper, to read.

610 books / 12 months = 50.8 books/month

610 / 24 = 25.4 books/month

Hey look, MATH.

One year?  Heh, dream on.  Two years?  Doable.  Difficult, but doable, granted I completely stopped buying books and just read what I had.  Nope, not gonna happen.  Still.

For 2015, I will read as many books and write as many words as my life allows.  Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad.

Also, I'm gonna go through my library again, and get rid of some books too.  We'll see, we'll see.

For now, I gotta finish straightening up my room and finding spots for the books for now.  And all that.

Happy New Year.

May your upcoming year be filled with books and words and love and laughter.

December in Review -- Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Clean Up

Books/Stories Read:  15

Books on the Currently Reading Shelf:  12

Approximate Word Count:  5,519

Yeah, I should be trying to finish all these books with bookmarks.  Nope, I'm rearranging my room.  So, it's a safe bet, I can go ahead and do all of this.

• Light My Fire by G. A. Aiken, paranormal romance/smut, 4 stars
• Celyn the Charming's book.  This is the first time I've ever had to wait for an Aiken.  Worth waiting for.  DRAGON KIN!!!

• Finding Miss McFarland by Vivienne Lorett, historical romance, 4 stars
• This one tied in with the other two really well.  Will she become a brand name?  Maybe.  Decent.  Good finish.

• Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford, YA/LGBT, 4 stars
• Look at me, reading LGBT interest.  Anyway, it's a good book for teenagers.  I'm past that stage where I like teen smartasses, Holden Caulfield types, but it's a good book.  Suicide, depression, the problems that come with being gay, the whole nine yards.  If you can see past your bigotry, read it.  If you want to read a story about a bunch of children in the psych ward in a hospital, read it.  Read it, read it, read it.  I read it in a night.

• Tempting Mr. Weatherstone by Vivienne Lorett, historical romance, 4 stars
• The prequel to the Wallflower Weddings.  Oh my gosh, it was a novella and still had an awesome blow-up.  Good, good.

• Kiss of Christmas Magic anthology, paranormal romance/smut
• "Caribou's Gift" by Eve Langlais, 3 stars
•  Cute little paranormal romance.  Caribou.  The guy was a caribou.  Who knew the words to "Let it Go" from Frozen.  Makes me want to read the other books in this series.

• "Hunted Holiday" by Mandy Roth, 2 stars
• Fluff.  Vampire fluff.  That is all.  IT'S SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE!

• "Lost in Winter" by Viola Rivard, 3 stars
• Bears.  I love me some bear shifters.  Pretty decent.

• "Kissed by Temptation" by Deeanna Chase, 3 stars
• I want to read more books by this author.  I had one on Kindle that I've had forever, but clearly I need to read more of hers.  Sex witch.  With an incubus.  And pretty impressive, overall.

•   "Bear Witness" by Michele Bardsley, 3 stars

• "Christmas to Bear" by Carina Wilder, 3 stars

 

• The Naked Gentleman by Sally Mackenzie, historical romance, 3 stars
• Two characters that had been a long time coming.  Pretty okay.

• Dresden Files:  War Cry by Jim Butcher, graphic novel, 4 stars
• DRESDEN.  RAMIREZ!  Of course, it was amazing.

• The Game Plan by R. L. Mathewson, contemporary erotic romance, 4 stars
• Neighbor from Hell!  She's getting better as she goes along.

•  The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, classic fantasy, 4 stars
• Yeah, yeah, I'm just now reading it.  I endeavor to read more classics.  Whatever.  Thorin and Fili and Kili all died.  What the hell?  Anyway, moving on...

• Something from the Nightside by Simon Green, urban fantasy, 4 stars
• Took me way longer than it should have, and scarred me for life toward the end.  I already have 1-4, and some other odds and ends through the series.  I'm continuing.

November in Review

Books Read: 3

Books on the Currently Reading Shelf on Goodreads: 13 (but I have more that I have bookmarks in that I didn't mark on Goodreads.

Approximate Word Count: ~7,508
 
It was a busy month, k?


Book List:

• The Escape by Mary Balogh, historical romance, 5 stars
• Book 3 of the Survivors' Club.  Very, very, very good.  I expect no less.

• Winning Miss Wakefield by Vivienne Loret, historical romance, 4 stars
• Pretty decent.  Liked the characters.

• Confessions at Midnight by Jacquie D'Alessandro, historical romance, 3 stars
• I didn't like it as much as the first one, but it was okay.

October in Review

Books Read: 10

Books on the Currently Reading Shelf on Goodreads: 13 (but I have more that I have bookmarks in that I didn't mark on Goodreads.

Approximate Word Count: ~11,363
 
Woo-hoo, improvements.  I think I did okay.  I read a little and wrote a little.


Book List:

• Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher, graphic novel, 5 stars
• DRESDEN

• Checkmate by R. L. Mathewson, contemporary erotic romance, 3 stars
• I'm surprised I even finished this book.  That guy made me so mad...  But he pulled through in the end.

• Burning Alive by Shannon K. Butcher, paranormal romance, 3 stars
• This series has been advertised in the back of the Dresden Files, and it was at the Book Bag.  I wasn't wowed by it, but it was good enough to make me want to read the rest of the series, and since I already got them, you know...

Naked Nobility by Sally MacKenzie, historical romance

• The Naked Duke, 3 stars

• The Naked Baron, 4 stars

• The Naked Marquis, 3 stars

• The Naked Earl, 3 stars

• Not great literature, but, I mean, I obviously read a bunch of them.  They're funny and ridiculous.  Good for the quick and fun.

• The Curly Girl Handbook, by Lorraine Massey, nonfiction, 4 stars
• A celebration of curly hair, some curly confessions, really good for the curly girls out there!

• Daring Miss Danvers by Vivienne Loret, historical romance, 3 stars
• A series that was cheap for Kindle and I bought the whole series, wasn't terribly impressed, but it was still pretty decent, gonna read the rest of them 'cause I got them anyway.

• The Fatal Tree by Stephen R. Lawhead, contemporary fantasy/sci-fi, 4 stars
• Favorite author release.  It wasn't as strong as the earlier books in the series, but it was a conclusion that didn't end wrong.  It ended the way it had to, like any other SRL book.  He doesn't waste time wrapping it all up.

September in Review

Books Read: 10

Books on the Currently Reading Shelf on Goodreads: 13 (but I have more that I have bookmarks in that I didn't mark on Goodreads.

Approximate Word Count: ~3134
I've had some improvements. Summer is apparently, a rough time for me. Well, it's been a rough year. But I hit a reading stride a little better, and I did write today, and I might write a little more later.


Book List:

• Playing for Keeps, by R. L. Mathewson, erotic romance, 3 stars
• Funny. Just, funny.

 

• Hunting Season, by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal erotica, 4 stars
• Vikings, Crows, Goddesses, Gods, just a lot of mythology, and your usual Laurenston faire. Fun stuff.
   
• Seeing Eye Mate, by Annmarie McKenna, paranormal erotica, 3 stars 
• Interesting.
   
• Checkmate, by Annmarie McKenna, paranormal erotica, 3 stars
   
• Kiss of the Goblin Prince, by Shona Husk, paranormal romance, 4 stars 
• I adored Dai. This was the sequel to The Goblin King. Really Good Book. Angsty hero, angsty widowed heroine. Good stuff, good stuff.
   
• Moonshine, by Rob Thurman, urban fantasy, 4 stars 
• Another Cal Leandros. I'm working on book 3 now.
   
• The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After, by Julia Quinn, historical romance, 3 stars
• I wasn't terribly impressed. I didn't care for the Bridgertons all that much, and happily ever after is kinda boring. Still, it's always nice to see that these characters are still crazy about each other after so many years have passed.
   
• The Suitor, by Mary Balogh, historical romance, 3 stars 
• Cute. This goes along with the Survivors series. The hero runs away when his family selects a bride for him. The would-be-not-a-bride is the star, along with her sweetheart. Aww-worthy.
   
• Perfection, by R. L. Mathewson, erotic romance, 4 stars 
• Sequel to Playing for Keeps. Really cute.
   
• More than This, by Shannyn Schroeder, contemporary romance, 4 stars
• First book in a series.  It was pretty good.  Nice guy hero, unhappy-with-her-life heroine.

August in Review

Books Read:  5  Books on the Currently Reading Shelf on Goodreads:  14 (but I have more that I have bookmarks in that I didn't mark on Goodreads.   Approximate Word Count: ~1500 --if that many
  Bad month.  Really, really, really bad month.  My birthday ended it on a high note.  The good thing about keeping track of this, however, is that I'm seeing where my reading and writing cycles go.  I have a general idea, but now I can track it better.
  Book List:

• Hexed, by Kevin Hearne, urban fantasy, 4 stars
• Good second book, continuing the series.

• Pack Challenge, by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal erotica, 4 stars

• Go Fetch!, by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal erotica, 4 stars

• Here Kitty Kitty!, by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal erotica, 5 stars
•  Together, all three books are the Magnus Pack series.  Laurenston stays true to form, and geez, I'm addicted.
• Here Kitty Kitty!'s hero is my favorite.  Nik doesn't own a TV.  He reads.  And offers to let Angelina borrow his books so she can read too.  Be still, my heart.

• You've Got Male, by Elizabeth Bevarly, contemporary romance, 2 stars
• Eh.  There was no blow-up.  And I guess I just didn't like it that much.

Book Review: Lord of Scoundrels, by Loretta Chase

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

4 stars
Goodreads synopsis:

DETERMINED LADY

Tough-minded Jessica Trent's sole intention is to free her nitwit brother from the destructive influence of Sebastian Ballister, the notorious Marquess of Dain. She never expects to desire the arrogant, amoral cad. And when Dain's reciprocal passion places them in a scandalously compromising, and public, position, Jessica is left with no choice but to seek satisfaction ...

LORD OF SCOUNDRELS

Damn the minx for tempting him, kissing him ... and then forcing him to salvage her reputation! Lord Dain can't wait to put the infuriating bluestocking in her place --- and in some amorous position, And if that means marriage, so be it! --- though Sebastian is less than certain he can continue to remain aloof ... and steel his heart to the sensuous, headstrong lady's considerable charms.


Yes, it's an old book.  Yes, it's HISTORICAL ROMANCE CANON.

I read a Chase book last year.  Turns out, it was part of the Scoundrels series.  This book is book three.  Anyway, we'll ignore the glaring error of me not reading books in order.

Dain is angsty, and very much still a little boy inside a grown man's body.  The psychology student in me screamed, "Therapy!"

The hopeless romantic whispered, "He needs a good dose of old-fashioned lovin'."

He wants to do better.  He also doesn't want to get hurt.  He's trying.  He's scared.  There's a lot going on there.  At first, I didn't know how I would respond to him, but in the end, I really liked him.  He's the character that had a lot of room to grow, and actually did grow.

I adored Jess Trent.  She is your typical bluestocking spinster who neither needs nor wants a man.  And she shoots Dain.  She.  Shoots.  Him.

SHE.  SHOOTS.  HIM.

Served the b-tard right for walking away after being caught with her.  He then marries her because he's the only man big and mean enough to handle her.  He also has a major crush on her.  Aww.

Anyway, it's a good book, and I can understand why it's canon.  Because, it's always on a best-of romance list.  Always.

I love when I read a book that's a BIG DEAL, and it is actually a BIG DEAL.

June In Review

Books Read:  9
Books on the Currently Reading Shelf on Goodreads:13
Days I Wrote Productively: 2
Approximate Word Count: ~3,ooo

Okay, so this was a crappy month.  I did manage 9 books/stories.  I didn't manage much writing, and there's nothing to show for it.

In my defense, I am back in school, I had a 5-week course, that I take my final for this week.  I can't go back and fix June.  I can only strive to do better in July.

Book List:

• Bite Me, by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance/smut, 5 stars

o   I freaking loved Vic Barinov.  He and Lock MacRyrie are now my para-fi-crushes.

• “Miss Congeniality” from the Anthology When He Was Bad, By Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance/smut, 5 stars

o   It says it’s part of the Magnus Pack series, but I read it anyway.  It was about one of the characters in the Pride series.

• Skin Game, by Jim Butcher, urban fantasy, 5 stars

o   Well, duh, it gets 5 stars.  It’s a freaking Jim Butcher.  It’s also the only non-romance fiction book I read during this month.  But it was awesome, as always.

• “My Kind of Town” from the Anthology Sun, Sand, Sex, by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance/smut (obviously), 4 stars

o   In The Mane Event, a snaggle-toothed hybrid is mentioned.  This story is about her brother.  It’s a cute story.  And witches!

• The True INFP, nonfiction, 4 stars

o   I’m an INFP.  It was on Scribd.  Why not?

• The Proposal, by Mary Balogh, historical romance, 4 stars

o   First book in the Survivors’ series.  As always, Mary Balogh’s books don’t run in the normal way of romances, but it’s still pretty good.

• The Arrangement by Mary Balogh, historical romance, 5 stars

o   Second book in the Survivor’s series.  I loved Vincent Hunt, Viscount Darleigh, and his heroine, Sophia Fry.  He’s blind.  Completely, with no hope of getting his sight back.  She has low self-esteem and thinks she’s ugly.  He doesn’t like that.  Oh, and there’s the whole unhappy home before she agrees to marry him...

• Beyond Heaving Bosoms:  The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance by Saran Wendell & Candy Tan, romance-related non-fiction, 5 stars

o   A wonderful celebration of the romance genre!  Seriously.  Romance books lead the sales of all book sales.  Most readers are college educated and have money.  And they spend their money on books.  Romance rules.  It’s an awesome book.  Seriously.

• Eternal Hunter by Cynthia Eden, paranormal romance/smut, 3 stars

o   Cynthia Eden is often grouped with Shelly Laurenston.  A lot of times in those anthologies, there would be a Cynthia Eden story.  I was curious...and wasn’t really impressed.  It was a functional romance, with good characters, and a good plot.  I guess the big thing was that it wasn’t funny, and I didn’t like the writing style.

Um, What?: Reading Edition

I would like to say this post is ‘cause I’m a snooty college student majoring in psychology, but in reality, this is about reading.  First, last, and always, I am a bibliophile.

This started a few books ago, during one of the splendid Codex Alera books that I paused, took a moment, and actually looked at the words.  I was trying to see how the sentences were crafted and get a sense of style.  I mean, I love Jim Butcher’s books.  They’re easy to read, fast-paced, and basically chocolate for the glutton.  If there’s anyone’s style I’d like to study, it’d be his or Lloyd Alexander’s.

After about two paragraphs, I kinda shook my head.  It was just words. Words forming sentences, that formed paragraphs, that told one of the best stories I’d ever read.  But it was just words.

I dismissed that notion.  No reader worth their library believes books are just words.

When I’m reading, really reading, into-the-story, not-putting-it-down, I see the words on the page, can even sometimes remember where it was at on the page if I want to find it again.  There’s not a lot visual going on for me.  I get impressions of images and voices and people; in other words, not the mini-mind-movie other people talk about.  And, um, I read romance and romantic smut.  During a love scene, I don’t want a visual so much as I want to figure out how in the blazes is that position even possible?  And, how big is this bed?  But I digress.

I’ve done some semi-research on what books do for your brain.  Everyone agrees:  reading is good for you.  But what exactly is going on?

Well, here I am at the Carey library, bored out of my mind between classes; hungry because I have no cash on me so I can’t eat (I’m broke till Thursday anyway); stressed because I don’t get the statistics homework; stressed even more because I don’t have my textbooks yet and can’t do the assigned reading; disappointed because I thought I was just going take some time to re-read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, which is a splendid book, but a heavy one and I’m having as much trouble with it the second time around as I did the first time around; dejected because I just finished the latest Pride series book, the list goes on…;  and with nothing better to do, or able to do, I’m Googling what’s going on in the brain whilst reading.

And here’s what I found:

Okay, so it’s common knowledge the words evoke images.  What I found interesting was that the brain doesn’t bother with much distinction between your real life experiences, and the experiences you read through in fiction.

So, there’s no distinction between reading Frodo going to Mordor, and actually going into Mordor yourself?  If you read it, your brain thinks you did it?

And the readers go, Huh?  Me too, readers.  Me too.

But seriously, both articles say it.  (I looked at a couple, but these were the two I really liked.)

Although, considering the commitment required to read Lord of the Rings, yeah, it feels like you went to Mordor.  Heck, it feels like that just watching the movies.  You’re slightly exhausted at the end, and not quite yourself anymore.  Or at least that’s how I felt when I finished watching all three movies in a short span of time to expose the little brother to them after watching the first two Hobbit movies.

So, when there’s the reader memes saying you’ve lived a thousand lives?  Well, there’s scientific evidence to back that up.

“The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Have your ever felt so connected to a story that it’s as if you experienced it in real life? There’s a good reason why: your brain actually believes that you have experienced it.

http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/your-brain-on-books-10-things-that-happen-to-our-minds-when-we-read/

They don’t quite say the same thing, but the point remains.

Interesting.  In that case, can I put that I saved Prydain with Taran, Chicago (and the rest of the world) with Harry Dresden, and Daneland with Beowulf on my resume?  What?  My brain thinks it did those things.

I just wanted to see what the deal was with reading something that was just words, that’s not just words.  And somehow, I wandered off the reservation, and now I'm questioning every experience I thought I had and all the ones I read.  They’re some interesting articles though.  Verra verra interestin’.

May In Review

Books Read:  22
Books on the Currently Reading Shelf on Goodreads: 14
Days I Wrote Productively:  11
Approximate Word Count: ~12,500

Can't talk.  Reading paranormal romantic smut.

Book List:

• Who Will Take This Man? by Jacquie D'Alessandro, historical romance, 4 stars
• I didn't like it as much as I liked her other books, but I still liked it.

• Where the Heart Leads by Stephanie Laurens, historical romance, 4 stars
• This book and the previous one kind of ran together.  It was really good though.

• Heart of Stone by C. E. Murphy, urban fantasy, 3 stars
• Maybe because I took so long to read it, but it just sort of...didn't do it for me.  However, I already have books 2 and 3 in the series, so I will finish it out.  I didn't hate it obviously.

• A Dance of Blades by David Dalglish, fantasy, 3 stars
• This was another book I spanned.  2 problems.  1 - It's a prequel to an already existing series that I have not read.  2 - This entire damn series got re-released in print with revisions and I bought the 3-pack on Kindle a while back.  I still got book 3 to read (this was book 2), and then there's a book 4 that's either coming out soon if it's not already out.  It's an interesting story, but this whole thing is annoying as hell.  I should've just waited to read it.  I'd've bought it in print.  Depending on how I feel about book 3, I might just go back and re-read the entire updated set.  But geez, I'm annoyed.

• "Can't Get Enough" from the anthology Everlasting Bad Boys by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance, 4 stars
• Ailean and Shalin's story in the Dragon Kin series.  Oh my gosh, it was every bit as good as I'd hoped it would be.

• "Dragon on Top" from the anthology Supernatural by G. A. Aiken, paranormal romance, 4 stars
• Ghleanna's story.  Hilarious.  I feel the need to share this, because it's everything you need to know about the Dragon Kin series:
• If anyone knew how ill-equipped Ghleanna was for babysitting duty, it was her brother. Even their own mother stopped allowing Ghleanna to babysit Bercelak after she’d dangled him over an active volcano, threatening to toss him in. And then there was that other time when she’d left Bercelak alone on a mountaintop when he still couldn’t fly, but not before she told him, “It’s not that Mum and Da don’t love you—they just don’t want you anymore. But I’m sure someone will come along who does.”

• Lady Amelia's Secret Lover by Victoria Alexander, historical romance short story, 4 stars
•  Victoria Alexander got me into historical romance. This has been out a while and I finally read it.  Wasn't disappointed. I'll be getting her newest one ASAP.

• Web of Love by Mary Balogh, historical romance, 3 stars
• Spanned.  This book was really heartbreaking.  The heroine's first husband is alive for the first 100 pages, and then the hero is sick and she's tending him...and oh my gosh.  It's really good, but really sad, and doesn't run like the usual romance at all.

• Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare, historical romance, 4 stars
• Hey look, something that came out this year!  For the most part, I like Tessa Dare's books.  However, her heroes do tend to skew like the a-holes from the glory days of the bodice-rippers.  That is NOT okay.  Docking a star.  Other than that, it was funny and sweet, and oh my gosh.  The hero and heroine both showed a lot of growth, which is ALWAYS important.

• Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher, fantasy, 5 stars
• This is just brilliant.  God, I love this series.

• An English Bride in Scotland by Lynsay Sands, historical romance, 3 stars
• Wasn't terribly impressed, but the characters were okay.

• Princep's Fury by Jim Butcher, fantasy, 5 stars
• Probably the weakest in the series, but it ended great.

• How to Drive a Dragon Crazy by G. A. Aiken, paranormal romance/smut, 4 stars
• Didn't like it as much as the rest of the series, but still.  ANNNND, now we wait for December for the last book to come out.

• The Beast in Him by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance/smut, 4 stars

• First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher, fantasy, 5 stars
• It's finally over.  I freaking love this author's books.  It's an excellent series.  Excellent.  Just excellent.  The best fantasy series no one's ever heard of.

• The Mane Attraction by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance/smut, 4 stars
•  Sissy Mae and Mitch Shaw.  Fun stuff.

• The Mane Squeeze by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance/smut, 4 stars
• This was probably my favorite in the series.  A geeky bear who loves honey and plays with his toes.  Hm mm.

• "Like a Wolf with a Bone" from Howl for It by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance, 5 stars
• I ought to be ashamed of myself.

• Beast Behaving Badly by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance, 4 stars
•  Bo is why I don't typically like smut.  He's an a-hole, but he gets better.

• Big Bad Beast by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance, 4 stars
• This is the one I've been waiting for!  I love Dee-Ann and Ric.

• Bear Meets Girl by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance, 4 stars
• I adore the bears.  I want a bear shifter.

• Wolf with Benefits by Shelly Laurenston, paranormal romance, 5 stars
• I like Ricky Lee and Toni.  Theirs was a sweet romance.

Note:  Shelly Laurenston and G. A. Aiken are the same person.