More time for reading and blogging!!

I am finally going to have more time to read and blog. My son's football season is over. His team lost Game 2 in the playoffs Saturday ending the season. Unfortunately my son won't be starting his Wrestling season as planned either. Great for my reading and blogging but horrible for him and my husband. Cody broke a growth plate in his arm the night before our last game. So not only did he not get to play in the game but the Doctor just put the cast on his arm yesterday. He will be in it for three weeks, was only suppose to be two weeks but the office closed for Thanksgiving. He was really upset about missing the game and only mildly bummed about missing a month of wrestling. The good news for him in all of this is that he will now actually be able to go to a Boy Scout meeting. Me I get less running around and more time on the computer and with my lovely books. I have already read three books this month and just started my fourth... well I tried to start earlier this week but couldn't find the time to sit and read enough to catch my interest. Just as I was starting this morning my sister called and asked me to come get her and take her to Rome. Her husband was apparently scheduled for vascular surgery, he had to leave while she was at the doctor's office with her son, who was just diagnosed with pneumonia. I tell you when it rains it pours, well at least for my sister!! That took half my day. I did finally get to sit down and read a little and my interest has finally been piqued!!

I hope everyone is doing well and finding plenty of time to read!!

Laird of Desire by Paula Quinn

Paula Quinn
Book 1
August 2005

He Is Every Woman's Fantasy...
Darkly handsome and sensual, Lord Brand Risande--known as "The Passionate"--is temptation incarnate. But his prowess on the battlefield and in the bedchamber hides a bitter secret: the betrayal that has sealed his heart. Now as this most feared warrior rides out to possess the lands he has won in war, he engages his most formidable enemy ever.

And One Woman's Destiny.
Lady Brynnafar Dumont is prepared to do anything to protect her people--even seduce the savage Norman knight who defeated her father. Prepared to face down a cold-blooded beast, she instead confronts a wickedly attractive scoundrel who wants nothing to do with her. It's enough to sting a lady's pride...and strengthen her resolve. Innocent as she is, now she must use all her charms to defeat Lord Brand in the only battle worth fighting--the one for his love.

My Thoughts:

I read Laird of the Mist last year. After reading that one book, I fell in love with Paula Quinn's works. She definitely did not disappoint me with her earlier work, book 1 in her Laird trilogy, Laird of Desire.

Brynna is feisty little women. She inherited her mother's passion and her father's will to fight. When the livelihood of her home is threatened by Lord Brande she vows that she will do what ever it takes to stay in her childhood home and allow no harm to come to her people. Little did she know that the man that was riding in to take her home was the same that she had been dreaming about for almost two years. This Lord Brande however was completely different, he lost his passion for life and instead of warmth he brings the cold.

Vowing to never love another woman again, Lord Brande would rather face another battle than to marry Lady Brynna. In order to keep the land that he rightfully won by defeating Lord Richard those are his only options. In taking the daughter as a wife he will avoid a war and make William of Normandy happy. But at what cost?

Brynna is just the woman to put the life back into Brande. I so enjoyed reading about these two. I could not put this one down and I look forward to reading books 2 and 3

Randi's Having Her First Author Interview and Giveaway!!!

Hey Guys, Randi is having her first ever Author Interview and Giveaway on her Blog today. The lovely Carolyn Brown is sharing a little about herself and how she got started writing Western Romance. Let's show some love to both Randi and Mrs. Brown and head on over to Randi's Blog. Anyone who knows a little bit about Country music might just get a kick out of the titles for CB's up coming books!!!

Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory

KNIGHT OF DESIRE
1st Book in All the King’s Men Series
by Margaret Mallory

ISBN-10: 0446553395
ISBN-13: 978-0446553391
Publisher: Grand Central
Release date: July 2009

FEARLESS IN BATTLE

His surcoat still bloody from battle, William FitzAlan comes to claim the strategic borderlands granted to him by the king. One last prize awaits him at the castle gates: the lovely Lady Catherine Rayburn.

TENDER IN BED

Catherine risked everything to spy for the crown. Her reward? Her lands are declared forfeit and she is given this choice: marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Catherine agrees to give her handsome new husband her body, but she’s keeping secrets and dares not give him her heart. As passion ignites and danger closes in, Catherine and William must learn to trust in each other to save their marriage, their land, and their very lives.

My Thoughts:

Knight of Desire is the first book in a while that I literally could not put down. I sat here yesterday reading all day. I got through about 75% of the book before my son got home and I HAD to put it down. I was drawn into the story immediately. Catherine's first meeting with William was sweet and heartbreaking. You get a glimpse into Catherine's courage and William's desire to protect and do his duty from the very beginning.

Learning to trust is a whole other ball game. Neither of these two know how to do it. Catherine has already proven that she would betray her husband, so how is William to trust that she would be loyal and honest with him after being forced to marry him on the very day her first husband was murdered. Catherine having already experienced one brutal marriage is now suppose to believe that her knew husband will be any better than the tyrant she had before. Watching these two brought joy to my heart while setting flames to my temper. How could they not see each other for who they really were. How could William allow his friend to keep putting the bug in his ear that his wife was unfaithful. Lady Catherine experienced a lot of hardships due to her first husband and must live down the choices she made, the very ones that saved her life.

Rating 5 stars

Untouched by Anna Campbell

“I am many things,” Lord Sheene said. “Kind is not one of them.”

Beautiful Grace Paget has no reason to doubt these words. After all, she was kidnapped, spirited away to a remote country manor, and told she is to grant this man his every desire… or lose her life. But Grace is no common trollop. So she risks everything to save her virtue by planning a daring escape, even though she finds herself tempted by this dangerously handsome man. There is something in his eyes that makes her wonder if he is not as cruel as he would have her believe…

Sheene knew nothing of the plan to bring him this woman. Locked up as a prisoner, called “mad” by all of society, he will do anything to reclaim his life, and Grace’s sensuous beauty has distracted him from his goals. And although he finds her irresistible, he is horrified to hold her against her will. Now, together, they must both revolt against the strange set of circumstances that have forced them together - for only then will Grace truly surrender to him… forever.

**from the author's website

My Thoughts:
I purchased Untouched two plus years ago. I was browsing through the DoubleDay book club magazine when I ran across the beautiful cover. Yes, I ordered this book strictly for the cover. I had absolutely no idea what it was about. The couple embraced on the front cover in front of all that green just pulled me. However the cover could not make me read it. I loved looking at it but for some reason did not want to crack the book. I needed a Beta Hero to read for the Fall Challenge and someone else posted this book. I said to myself, this is the perfect time to read Untouched. I had yet to read anything Anna Campbell and I have heard such good things about her books. I have seen so many readers eagerly anticipating the release of Captive of Sin that I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about. I had just been reading paranormal romance and knew I needed a change before I fell into another reading slump. So as you can tell I had several reasons to finally pick this particular book out of my TBR pile clogging my closet up. I am now ready to slap myself. Why did I let this book sit there collecting dust just to stare at the cover for so long?!!

Lord Sheene, Matthew, has experienced a pretty secluded life by no choice of his own. At a very young age he suffered a fever that made him "mad". His uncle who had been granted guardianship over him after the deaths of his parents thought it best to have him shipped off to a secluded cottage and held under lock and key. Matthew tried to escape several times only to be thwarted by his uncle and his minions. With every escape he was returned to a tortured hell. He was severely beaten and had to live with the knowledge that his actions had also impacted innocent people.

His Uncle's greed knew no limits. Wanting to keep Matthew in line and to prevent any further attempts at escape he had his minions kidnap a woman and bring her back to the cottage. The woman however was to be a prostitute, one no one would miss. They had not counted on the widow.

Eloping at the age of 16 to be with a man much older and well below her station in life cost Grace her family. She vowed she would never become the trollop her father predicted her to be with the path she had chosen. Now she must go against her vows to save her own life. She never thought that she would fall in love with her fellow captive.

I was mesmerized from the start with Matthew and Grace. The will to survive the hopeless predicament that they had been thrust into and the tremulous beginnings made for a very sweet and romantic coming together. After bungling his first attempt at making love to Grace, Matthew redeems himself and shows so much passion and love that it is breathtaking.

Rating 5 stars

Midnight Rising by Lara Adrian

MIDNIGHT RISING

Midnight Breed Series
BOOK 4

Dell Books ~ 400 pages
ISBN: 978-0-440-24444-8
First Printing: April 2008

Available formats:
Mass Market Paperback
Bookclub Edition Hardcover
E-book

.

From the back cover:

IN A WORLD OF SHADOWS AND DARK, CONSUMING HUNGERS, DESIRE IS THE DEADLIEST WEAPON. . . .

Fueled by pain and rage over a shattering betrayal, the warrior Rio has pledged his life to the war against the Rogues. He will let nothing stand in his way--least of all a mortal woman with the power to expose the entire vampire race. But now an ancient evil has been awakened, and a stunning darkness is on the rise.

For journalist Dylan Alexander, it began with the discovery of a hidden tomb. Suddenly she is at the center of a gathering storm of violence and secrets. But nothing is as dangerous as the scarred, lethally seductive man who rises from the shadows to plunge her into his world of dark desire and endless night. Here she is powerless to resist Rio's touch, even as she uncovers a shocking link to her own past. Now Dylan must choose: Leave Rio's midnight realm, or risk it all for the man who has shown her true passion and the infinite pleasures of the heart . . . .

My Thoughts:

Rio has suffered a tremendous loss and betrayal at the hands of his very own breedmate. In loving Rio and wanting to keep him to herself she betrayed the Breed to Marick, the Breed enemy. When her plans fail to kill the leader of the Breed Warriors and severely injure Rio she takes her own life. All of this happens in book one. Rio is scarred over half his body and has some major head trauma going on. He suffers black outs and fits of rages. He fears that he is no longer useful to the Breed Warriors and is more of a threat to everyone around him. The pain he has suffered has drained his will to live.

He screws up his last mission and now must rectify his actions. He has allowed a reporter to see the crypt that he was to destroy. Dylan is not only a reporter, but a breedmate. The Warriors have to retrieve the pictures she took and lose her story before it goes to press. They have given her the choice of entering into the Breed life through one of the Dark Havens or returning to her life without any of the knowledge she has come to over the last few days. Her connection to Rio is not as strong as the connections between the previous couples. She has an outside life that she is not ready to leave.

The connections between Rio and Dylan are slow to form. I was eagerly anticipating the reading of Midnight Rising. I don't know if my anticipation got the better of me, but Midnight Rising moved way too slow in the first half of the book. I was sorely tempted to put it down several times, but my desire to see Rio get his happy ending won out every time. I wanted to see how Adrian was going to spin the story for the next books in the series. What trouble is going to befall the Breed now that Marrek is out of the way, but this too moved extremely slow. The last half of the book did move at a better pace and eventually kept me wanting to finish this series. I decided however to wait a little while before venturing into the next book Veil of Midnight.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Winners of Angelica and Zi's guest post

Angelica Hart and Zi were sweet enough to contact me with the winners of their three blog contests. Congratulations to all three of you!!!

WINNERS!!!

Commenting on Blogs Contest

We held our drawing last evening for all who

commented on our various blogs over the past week

The following are our winners and have received a free e-book

ANNA

Heather's Reading Romance

ALAINE

J. Kaye's Book Blog won

LISA

Romance Junkies

READ ON!

Angelica Hart and Zi

KILLER DOLLS ~ September 2009

SNAKE DANCE ~ February 2010

CHASING GRAVITAS ~ July 2010

angelicahartandzi.com

KILLER DOLLS can be purchased at

Champagne Books

http://www..champagnebooks.com

Confucius Says...

My husband sent this to me. He knows me so well and this is right up all of our alleys!!!

Confucius say....

If you can't find the book

you want,

You're probably shopping

at the...

This made me laugh a little but now I am going to go put my head back on the pillow.

Angelica Hart and Zi-- Guest Post

Thank you for coming back and guest hosting my blog Angelica and Zi. I can't wait to see what you have in store for me and my friends.






IS IT REAL OR IS IT MEMORY

Angelica Hart and Zi are writers published by Champagne Books.

Storing away memories and odd events to add to a story gives that story realism. Anne Rice once said, "No matter how long we exist, we have our memories. Points in time which time itself cannot erase." And most of our memories are indeed gifts that we open again and again.

I was at an Evelyn Woods Speed Reading Class and the instructor said, "We are the sum of all our experiences." There it was a truth that stood above simple truths. As I began to write I recognized that I had very limited experiences upon which to pull. My early work was unquestionable shallow. So I began a quest to discover, in the name of wanting to be a better writer? No! I realized I was shallow.

Every submission sent to publishers was returned or ignored. I recall critique suggesting I needed more depth in both the way I dealt with the subject and the technical writing style. As time ate at my life I waited as I worked. Wrote daily. How much life is lost to wait? That is an apt question, but my wait was filled with discovery. I became a student of people. Discovery. Examined other styles and broke them down mechanically and technically. Discovery. Tried to create more complexity. Discovery. Expanded my vocabulary. Discovery. Read... read... read. Discovery. Wrote... re-wrote... re-re-wrote.

That wait was not shallow but an aggressive tutorial for my growth. I continued to submit work. And slowly pieces were accepted.

So the question is who am I? Angelica or Zi. Ironically, we took the same path and had the same challenges and failures. We met as more mature adults prepared to be writers and we have written daily as writing partners. We found a synergy in our styles and complexity in what we wanted to create. Are we good? We don't know. Have we found that depth needed to portray characters as real people? Hope we have. Have we found enough intrigue in our plot and our words to keep readers interested? You tell us. As Jacob Bronowski, a mathematician, well-spoken and a celebrity of the BBC show The Ascent of Man and was the inspiration of Carl Sagan to make the Cosmos wrote, "The world is full of people who never quite get into the first team and who just miss the prizes at the flower show." If runners up is what we are, we're proud for our journey has been wonderful.

Zi believes, "Be the best you can be by growing every day."

Having said that, goodness, that was something (our hard work) we doubt we'd forget.

(Wow what an insightful post. Memories are very important in our lives and they are definitely something that cannot be taken away from you)



Our release KILLER DOLLS is a wonderful romantic thriller based in bio-terrorism. SNAKE DANCE which is about to be released is a fantasy adventure romance placed in a unique culture. CHASING GRAVITAS is a gentle paranormal romance which provides an unfolding mystery.





EXCERPT SIX
"Why are you asking me so much about Rud?" Her query accompanied innocuous though concerned peering.

"Just curious. I'm a bit of a techie myself." He thought he had vamped to cover himself.

"I see,” she said, not quite stirring her tea, more toying with the spoon in imitation of stirring. "So, you're into computers? I mean, just what do you do, other than make
me hot and feed me?” Laughing at her own humor.

He grinned at that and blurted his cover story about being an IT contractor, working for various companies as a troubleshooter.

For the first time since they met, Letti felt uneasy. His words sounded rehearsed. Did he hate his job? Was he really a male stripper, could have been, and didn't want to tell her?
What? She found herself asking a little too often. Then he reached out and touched her hand, and for the moment she didn't care.

His next question was interrupted by the ring tone of the song Rubber Duckie.


ABOUT AUTHORS

Their combined accomplishments include book publications in print and/or electronic versions of twenty-four titles, fifteen romance specific, ten manuscripts pending, EPPIE finalist for three books, Cecil Whig award, Hob-Nob Reader's Choice Award, written over 500 shorts with numerous published in both nationwide and small press magazines, articles published in various local, city and statewide newspapers, including four as a Guest Columnist in addition to trade articles. Both are members of various writing groups.

KILLER DOLLS IS AVAILABLE: Unaware that bio-terrorists are using her handcrafted dolls to attack the innocent, Letti Noel finds herself falling for Taut Johnson, an undercover FBI agent. Even as deceit is a growing barrier to their love, it's the stalking terrorists that are a threat to their lives.

We'd love to hear from anyone interested in what we do. Anyone who writes us at angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com and leaves an s-mail address, we will send you a gift and add you to any future mailings.


Angelica Hart and Zi
KILLER DOLLS ~ September 2009
SNAKE DANCE ~ February 2010
CHASING GRAVITAS ~ July 2010

angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com
angelicahartandzi.com




KILLER DOLLS can be purchased at
Champagne Books
http://www.champagnebooks.com/


Thank You again for stopping by and sharing your thoughts and such a wonderful excerpt!

Off a Hectic week and into Playoffs!!

I really need to get myself a new camera!!! I want more pictures of my son in action, but for now this one game will have to suffice. I am so excited. Our little bobbleheads are headed to the play-offs. This week of practice is very important... if you don't go you don't play!! The first game is Saturday at noon. We don't know which team we are playing but we have beaten both teams twice now. Most of us are praying for the guys that we played Saturday, just so our kids have a little bit easier time.

My son finally got his touchdown. I should say he has two touchdowns and an extra point or two under his belt now! Who would have thought my lineman was going to get to run the ball!!

As much as I love the time that we have had with this season I will be happy when it is over. I have had little time to read between getting ready for three games, homecoming court, and a birthday. I have one review that I have to write still. I finally finished Rio's story and have barely started Untouched by Anna Campbell. I am looking forward to more time at home so that I can cook a decent meal for my family and we can just chill in front of the TV or curled up on the couch with a good book!!

I was happy to hear my door bell ring today! I have been expecting a book and it finally arrived!!!



I purchased a couple of books for my Kindle but I can't remember which ones. I am going to have to sift through the books and figure it out when I get more time.

I have they dynamic writing team Angelica Hart and Zi stopping in to guest host my blog again on Wed! I can't wait to hear what they have in store for us this time! So make sure to stop back by on Wed and welcome these two characters.