This One is About Reading!!

Aha!! Gotcha!!

No, don't you dare click out!

I'm about to begin my rantification (new word TM me) and you know how I love an audience.

Okay, screw the innocent here's the deal, I just finished reading Play of Passion by Nalini Singh - excellent, excellent book and I'll try and write up a Cindy review over the next few days BUT and this is where my brain turns to screaming:

I. CAN'T. TAKE. THE. WAIT!

No, no, don't leave yet because it's not just about Singh's series so you don't really need to know too much about it.

It's about those two characters in an on going story arc that you just want to read about RIGHT FRIGGIN' NOW!

Now luckily for me the characters I am waiting for get 'their (and I swear on all that is holy, it better be the 'their' I'm thinking about)' story next. So why am I bitching? Cause there were a few scenes in Play of Passion that had my two characters interacting and for some reason I got it in my head that at the end of the story I was currently reading the characters I really want to read about would have scene near the end that would create a major shift in the relationship to give us fans a bit of a sneak peek.

I don't know, I needed something more and because I was slavering for anything about these two I actually started to resent the last few pages of a, before now, excellent love story between two changelings.

So now I'm all antsy (and yes it's November and Christmas is breathing down my neck but still, I'm antsier) about 'my' characters.

And here's the rub. They aren't my characters. They are the author's characters and she is the only one who knows how their possible story will play out. But I want things to explode in their story, I want as close to crazy as these two can get and I really think they could get there. Just, does the author want that for them.

So it's the anticipation that can in the end, ruin a book that I'm so looking forward to that I'm trying to figure out who I have to bribe, kiss or steal a kid for to get my hands on the book - Sybil, you out there?

Okay, you've been patient so I need to know:

1. Can glimpses (or no glimpes) of a couple you really want to read about taint a book that in every other way was perfect?

Uh, Hell ya! But interesting enough, only with Singh. I remember the hearts and flowers I had for Max and Gina by Suzanne Brockmann but M&G interacted so much in the books previous that you knew the angst was building and it was more than enough to keep me from doing up a rantification on my blog. In the case of the book I just read, I would rather have not seen these characters interact at all than have three tempid scenes that confused me more than anything.

2. Are you so much more patient than I am. So many books. So little time to worry when the next will be coming out.

Obviously impatient. What I should have done is not read Play of Passion. I should have saved it and read it the week Hawke's book is set to come out. This is where my 'break in case of emergency' book stash comes in handy. I can hide a bunch of books I know I'll want to read sooner rather than later but I'm stoic enough to put them aside.

3. How is it authors know exactly which couple to keep out of the pages until the very last second?

Shit, I don't know! It's a friggin' gift I tell ya. Or the practices of a well versed sadist!

4. How many times have you been let down by an anticipated book?

Uh, yeah, I've mentioned two of them in this post - Butch's book by J.R. Ward where the man I had come to love morphed into something I didn't recognize. Huge, huge blow. Max and Gina. *sigh* they were robbed.

Okay, we've almost made it through and I have one thing that is making me a touch crazy.

What if Nalini Singh pulls a Brockmann where the couple every one thought was going to get together didn't? (Luckily I was not reading Brockmann at the time of the incident and for-warned is pre-armed I say)

For me, this all explains my blue feeling about finishing Play of Passion. I would have called it the great book blues but it wasn't about the book I had just finished reading. It was instead, a sad for not having the book I want to read in my hot little hands.

Hopefully I've made some sort of point out of all this and you'll find it and run with it.

Hoisted

Even doing my level best to keep track of my reading, I'm still a moron.

I'm trying to fill out the AAR ballot and whooooo, doggy, I'm in trouble. There's even a little spot on my blog that says I read 13 books published in 2007. I can maybe recommend four of them.

I'm figuring my ballot will look invalid.

Spotted another problem with me and organization. Those fun (and that's where the problem begins, I call them fun when maybe they should be called a tool) little tag things are mocking me. I have no system and realized it would be easier to find my posts on books published in the year if I actually tagged them with the year.

Goober.

Then, I bought a whole face care system (pro-active) and managed to burn my face.

Dude, I already have acne, I'm trying to get away from emphasizing it! I don't know whether to keep going or just give up with this stuff.

Huh, just went and looked up anything with 'burns' and it looks like I'm not the only one. Not only that, a few people mentioned bumps under the skin and that is the problem I am having now. It's like they aren't really zits but those under the skin ones where you know they will come to the surface. I don't know what this stuff is doing but it's like it's keeping it under the surface instead of getting rid of it.

Let's just say, that was an expensive mistake. My mother bought me the body wash for Christmas which I wanted because I have little bumps on my skin (I figure they are small pimples - nothing anyone would notice but something I do). I'm afraid to try it now and since it wasn't cheap I want to take it back. I wonder if the lady will take it all back without receipts. Crap.

And finally, my diet is going well in that I haven't killed anyone.

I realize now that I must be addicted to food because it seems like every waking moment I'm thinking about it. My best friend and I talked about what being addicted to smoking is like for her and she admitted that everything she does in a day revolves around smoking. She wakes up and her first thought is about smoking and then later in the day she's wondering if she can squeeze a smoke in between something or another.

I'm hoping that all my thoughts on food are just part of the change in diet. I can't imagine living my life always thinking 'well, I can't have that' or 'ignore the chips and dip, they aren't there' or my personal favourite (and by this I mean it's all I can do to keep from ramming my fist in people's faces when they say it) 'a moment on the lips, forever on the hips'.

Bite me.

And since this post has turned into a 'woe is me' I'll let you in on a little secret.

My house is killing me.

Okay, in reality I'm pretty sure Bob is behind it but to say Bob is trying to kill me is putting too much into his motivation. I'm sure he hasn't even really thought about what his 'entertainment' is actually doing to me.

I mean, I am a slob after all. I'm just not this much of one!

I need to do a post of pictures so you can see what I mean but I plan on hiding most of the crap tonight because my hubby has invited a couple for dinner on Friday night. I'm thinking 'the wife' will never set foot in our house again unless I get things put back right. I asked Bob if maybe we could push it until February and he asked me why.

Weeeeeeell, have you taken a look around this place!? Cody, God bless him, had a terrible nose bleed a few days ago and the upstairs carpets are covered in blood (I had taken the bissell and cleaned it all the night before!). Bob says, well, they don't have to come upstairs, we just have to make sure the floors downstairs are clean.

By 'we' he means 'me'.

I don't mean to 'ick' you out but Cody will also have sneezing attacks that have blood flying everywhere. Now most of the time I find it and can clean it from the walls or doors or whatever but sometimes I miss it. When you live with it all the time, it becomes something you might miss.

I'm thinking I may have to pick up the best friend and have her do a run through for me on Friday. She'll be able to spot what I miss.

Oh, and baseboards. Half my house has them and the other half doesn't. Two rooms are in the 'tape and fill' phase, none of my floors are actually finished because Bob would tear stuff up just to see what he will have to deal with - AT SOME FRIGGIN' TIME IN THE FUTURE!!!

Dude, quit tearing stuff apart!! (The next post will be pics. I've decided to share the pain)

Did I mention he wanted to tear out the wall in our bedroom so he could put up the wall for where the new bathroom and closets will be?

He doesn't want to do the bathroom YET, no, no, just tear out walls and make a mess. You know, it may be 5 years before the bathroom can be done to my standards.

I think Bob has a master plan where if he just makes a complete mess I will cave and let him put in cheap (or affordable) stuff instead of what I want which is still affordable but maybe more of an effort for him to do properly.

Yeah, I'm on to him.

So.

Welcome to our HUMBLE abode.

No, really.

C'MON!!

Christmas is over and it should just be me and Bob and whatever we want to do, right?

Nope. Bob starts in on 'when you going to get up tomorrow?'

Now, when we are on holidays I will get up earlier if we are going to a movie or shopping or something but it's common knowledge that I'm going to need a nap later in the day.

Bob suggests we go visit our friends who live an hour away! Just pick up and drop in!

First, cranky Cindy will be around because there is no such thing as a drop in and really Bob just wants to put in an appearance so that we don't get flack but c'mon, it's not about just him!! We'd end up there for hours and I would get bitchy in the car on the way back and well, it is not something I want dropped on me without notice. Especially after the past few days.

Second, (and you thought it was only about me) he wasn't going to call or anything. Just drop in. Now. Bob and I love the drop in, feel free to drop in. Other people, (said friends) hate the drop in and have told Bob this but somehow he got it in his head that because his buddy said *he* likes drop ins that it's A-okay. Just so you know, it's not okay with his wife.

Third - and this is really where my mind starts to whirl, they might not be home!!! I figure best bud will probably be working and possibly even the wife but since the wife works from home Bob figures it's no problem.

What an extreme social misfit I married!!

I do know that secretly Bob just wants to be able to say, 'hey we were there, we tried but hey, why don't you come out our way.'

Yep, a nutbar married to a nutbar.

Hey, just call them and let them know we aren't up to any traveling right now. Be honest.

I tell ya, Bob is going to retire one day and wonder where all his friends went. (And it gets just a bit exhausting mentally and obviously emotionally (because of my anxiety) when I am constantly after Bob to call someone or to plan a visit)

You all know I love Bob but he doesn't want to visit anyone unless he can go in the morning and be back by dinner. I, on the other hand, would prefer to have a good nights sleep, get up and go in the afternoon and not worry when we get home. Going to his family's home is stressful for me because Bob wants to leave here by 10am which means there are days where I get less than 5 hours sleep only to have him land on their couch and fall asleep!

Relationships are all about compromise (and yeah, there is a bit more of that on Bob's side at times) but Bob can go visit people any hour of the day. Any hour! So I do resent him when he makes me get up because he wants to leave early so he can get back and re-wire something or whatever. Forget about trying to shop after only 5 hours of sleep. I told him the other day I was going to wake him at 2 in the morning and get him out and about and see how his system liked it.

So far only the grocery store is open at that time.

End rant.

Seriously.

I don't know how I do these things to myself but it's 4:30am and I'm awake. Stupid sleep cycle.

Anyways, thought I would breeze in and say thank you to Kristie who inspired an online shopping spree at Chapters.

I ordered the BBC movie North and South which was why I ended up over there. Then I remembered some books my cousin's boyfriend wanted for Christmas so 'boom' I got that done and I ordered The Serpent Prince by Hoyt because of the buzz. Thing is I have a weird feeling I already own the book.

Yep.

Too lazy to go look.

Oh and I ordered Caine's Reckoning by Sarah McCarty which brings me to an inner rant that I will now spew out onto you guys.

I'll apologize now.

First.

WTF with the size of the font in some of these books lately. I have almost perfect vision and I have reading glasses to make it easier (they suck wood by the way) but my-lanta that stuff is itty-bitty to read!

I've just started Promises Linger and I'm already intrigued but just by the size of the print I know it's going to take me days to finish the book.

I have a challenge people!

I still have 17 more books I need to read before the end of the year! Since it's 46 days to Christmas and Bob has like three weeks of vacation he needs to use up that leaves me with - crap, more math - well, half those days to read. So 25 days divided by 3 because I'm lame (and by that I mean I'm a slow reader and I'm pretty sure I have to do all the wrapping again this year) and I get, 8?

Okay. Right. Stay positive. I can totally do this.

By the end of next year.

No, right. This year. Got it.

THEN, and again I'll apologize to my American friends whose dollar is not doing well while our Canadian dollar is way above where they thought it would go which many people are all 'yay' but it's really not good for export businesses who are taking a friggin' bath but you know, that's way too much reality for me to deal with.

Okay, where was I?

Right. Not only do I have to worry about commodities (Bob works in forestry) and the possible tanking of certain businesses, I can't even get a 'wazzup!' from Chapters!?

I placed my order this morning and saved a lousy 10 bucks on a 90 dollar order. Uh, excuse me? So I'm already pissed and then I go to Walmart because I have to buy socks, undies, you know the kit & caboodle and I stumble into the book aisle. Don't ask. I'm sure I tripped over an aardvark or something like that. Inconsiderate really. But there I am in the book aisle and there are signs every where and you know what they say?

We now honor the US price on books.

Holy #@%^%#@#&^%#@!!!!

For those of you not aware this is at least 2 dollars a book! Seeing as how I bought the equivalent of 9 books at Chapters I got ripped by at least 8 bucks. Lord Ha'mercy I just realized one of the books I bought was a trade and would have been like 4 bucks cheaper.

If they sold the book!

Add further insult to injury I run into the grocery store where there books are 25% off.

Oh! Oh!!! Get this. And seriously, this chaps my ass.

If you go to Chapters online it will give you this pretty little chart where you see what kind of savings you will now get.

The first marker is the 10 dollar mark. And by this I mean you get savings by the book, not what you spend and since most mass market paperback books are 9.99 they don't fuckin qualify.

HELL-O!

So I'm going to write a letter to 'Heather' (that's the owners name and well, they have this whole thing at the bookstore about 'Heather's Picks' - uh, don't care, don't know Heather!!) and tell her just how stinking rude her so called policy is.

I laid this all on Bob tonight and he was all 'write it, do it' and I realized I already knew the answer I was going to get. 'Hey, if you can buy the books you have on order at that local grocery store or at your Big Box store then have at it.'

Screwed I tell ya.

I have a thing about stealing (yeah, that's right) and they are taking the currency rate and stealing me blind.

Mad! I tell ya.

Obviously I need to chillax but if a whole bunch of other stuff is about to get shitty can I at least get a break on my book purchases!

Can I get a little respect. (Channeling Chris Rock right now)

I would cancel my order except it would mean I don't have one more gift off my Christmas list and honey, I can't afford to go backwards.

And on that note, I'm going to let Chris do some ranting. Not work friendly.

Love Is Blind by Lynsay Sands

I'm pretty sure I have to count this as a DNF even though I read through to page 182 and then skimmed to the end.

Bored.

Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.

This so isn't an author for me. I think I picked up this book because I saw this book in the interim results at AAR and I had been hearing about it a lot.

My example of what went wrong:

Hey, look at that flower.

This flower?

No, not that flower.

Oh, this flower then.

Why would that be the flower, no the other flower.

Ah, this flower, I see.

Isn't it a pretty flower?

Yes, it is a pretty flower.

Hey so and so, look at this flower.

What flower?

This flower.

OMG with the friggin' flower already!!!

There was no actual flower in the book but holy crap, the dialogue was atrocious.

THEN, there is the evil crime of telling. The whole first part of the book is the hero finding out what the 'scandal' (that is attached to the heroine) is about from his cousin and mother.

Talk, talk, talk, talk...UGH!!

The heroine talks about all the little mishaps she has had since not having her glasses. The hero tells his cousin and so the reader gets a second telling of said incidents. Then the hero has to go over all the mishaps because, dum-dum-duuummm, they may actually be attempts to kill the heroine but that damn cousin is there going 'Wha??' so the reader is beaten to death with the reasons why they aren't mishaps.

Geez Louise, I figured it out the minute she turned up in the friggin' fountain.

I started to skim when there was some sort of misunderstanding about where everyone was supposed to meet for tea.

Here?

No, there!

Oh, right, there. I remember something about there, but then why are you here?

*stabs self repeatedly with knife*

I survive the self mutilation and skim to the end. Okay, I actually can flip ahead 20 pages at a time and still get the gist of what happened.

Okay, I should be a little more truthful, I made it to where the hero is hiring an investigator to look into the 'accidents' the heroine is having. This is where my brain exploded as the investigator now gets the rundown on the whole story and I mean WHOLE story. Therefore the reader has now been subjected to listening to dialogue that has happened three times before this.

Ding, ding, check please!!

This is why I sometimes find my TBR pile overwhelming.

I'm terrified all my books will turn out to be like this and then I will be a weeping, sobbing mess of ugly goo.

All I wanted was a simple romance without any paranormal stuff (weird, cause I love that stuff but, I don't have the brain power going on right now) or Rom Sus or anything else to detract from a simple love story. Like the last book I finished. Yeah, I just want a wonderful romance with some heat.

Actually, I'm impatiently waiting for the Anna Campbell book to arrive - I know it has left Australia but hey, slow boats and all that!

Anyways!

I'm pretty sure that my reaction to this book has nothing to do with me being sick but I figure this little rant has been brought to you by the letter B.

Bitchy, blechy and blergh!

Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward

SPOILERS GALORE. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

I'm not sure where to start with this *cough* opinion.

So I'll start by saying I really, really, really wanted this book to blow my skirt up - so to speak.

Am I disappointed?

You bet.

Does this mean the book is crap?

Not really.

I've mentioned in a few places that I think I would rate this book a straight B and hopefully that pans out.

Cindy Blurb: Wait. I really don't think you can read this book without reading the rest in the series. Maybe it would have worked better if I had never read the other three books but I'm not sure.

Butch is basically the human pet of a bunch of vampire warriors of the Brotherhood. He fetches when called and isn't allowed out to play with the big boys. He stumbled into knowledge of the Brotherhood in the first book in this series and his choice was to stay with them or die. He chose to stay with them and really he didn't start to regret his decision until a year had passed and he realized his life was the same as before except he now has financial privileges. In the first book he met the King's ex-mate Marissa and bloody hell if she isn't the love of his life after one kiss. I have to say seeing him mope over his booze was not quite what I wanted to read.

Marissa meanwhile, is part of the glymera (basically high society of the vampires where lineage is all important - yeah.) but has been shunned for something like 300 years because soon after her pairing with the vampire King it became clear to everyone that he did not bond with her. Yep, she's the oldest living virgin.

Okay we need to speed this up.

Butch gets caught by lessers (evil dudes) and is tortured for information which he doesn't give up. He knows he's about to die but then the Omega (super big evil dude) realizes the Brotherhood will want him back so he puts a piece of himself in Butch.

V - Butch's bestest friend (and did V want more?) finds him, takes him to the vampire hospital where he realizes Butch is suicidal and calls Marissa to help him. Marissa races to Butch's side. She's later caught by her brother in a compromising position with Butch, gets thrown out of her home, goes to the Brother's mansion (where Butch lives) for sanctuary. Butch is worried he's going to turn into an evil guy, a whole bunch of lesser crap happens, finds out he's got some Brotherhood blood in him, gets turned into the new weapon against the evil, joins the Brotherhood and Marissa takes her head out of her ass and HEA.

Problems?

I have many.

I loved Butch as the world weary cop with a heart of gold. He was so broken and lonely and wonderfully dark. In the beginning of Lover Revealed he is all that and I was in my glory. Hell, Marissa has a panic attack in the beginning of the book and I'm all relating to her and thinking 'Booyah Baby this one's going to be a keeper!'

Pffffffft.

I should look the page number up but Butch and Marissa tell each other they love one another fairly early in the story. Some seriously heavy petting ensues, they promise to always be straight with each other and then WHAM - blindsided by stupidity and immaturity.

Saying, hey, let's always talk things out does not mean someone says something and the other leaves the room with out going 'WTF did that mean!?' Communications were down, their software was not compatible and it was a frustrating thing to be a part of.

These two people were perfect for never saying anything outright or letting the other person explain.

Here's what I know for sure.

Butch loves Marissa hands down.

Marissa is about 21 yrs old in human years.

Apparently vampires mature much, much, much slower. MUCH! I figure she needs to live another three hundred years before she is ready to actually be with Butch.

I'm just saying, I live quite a cloistered life and I'm only 36 but even I know whose opinions matter to me. Three hundred years should put a bit of gumption under your belt so I find it odd Marissa would just discover she has a backbone.

So, not a big fan of Marissa and Butch was pussy whipped.

Since this is getting long, let's see if I can do bullet points.

1. Butch was himself in the beginning and I would have preferred it if he had actually remained who he was but instead he discovers he's more than human and OMG that means he has purpose. Ugh. At this point I began to feel like he read like all the other Brothers.

2. The Brotherhood blows. Butch gets caught and is being tortured for a day and all the Brotherhood can think of is 'OMG what if he tells the lessers something'. Wow. I can only hope I have friends like you. Then they get him back and even V starts to question whether Butch is his enemy. WTF?

At one point the vampire king says 'go bring our boy home'.

Here Lassie, here boy, come on Lassie! Ugh.

3. V is an asshole. I mean really. First he's worried he's going to have to kill Butch (cause he's evil - NOT), then he knows if Butch tries to leave the Brotherhood he will kill Butch, then V does some sort of suicidal swan dive off a building but hey, vampires can do that whole teleportation thing and he ends up behind Butch who is screaming because he thinks his best friend just killed himself. Yep. Not a lot of sympathy for V going on over here.

All of the above blew holes in any type of homo-erotic stuff that *might* have been going on between Butch and V. I don't think Butch ever felt that way but V from previous books seemed to. Well, if this is the way V loves someone then whoever is about to become his mate better look out!

Let's end there before my head explodes.

So why a B? It didn't feel like a C book which usually leaves me with a 'meh' feeling. Obviously I have some pretty strong feelings.

Oh. And for those who are wondering, I skimmed the lesser parts and John's parts and I didn't miss them.

It gets worse.

I read the preview of V's book and I thought 'meh'.

I guess I can do a separate post sometime on how reader's expectations can bite an author in the ass.

Huh.

I finished Lover Revealed but I'm not going to blog about it right now - the epic novel I am writing will need much more time.

Let's just say I am done with series books! *shakes fist*

*sigh*

Short and sweet I would rate it a B but every time I think about what I'm going to say about Lover Revealed my brain shorts out and 15 rants start up. Too much pissed me off but it's more about me than about the book. I think. I'm staying away from other reviews right now but I really want to go read what others have said cause I'm wondering if I'm a freak. STOP!

Anyways, let's not get into it now.

I have to head to bed soon but I thought of all this stuff I was going to blog and about and poof, it's gone.

Poor you.

Here's one thing for ya.

(Okay, here's a link so you know where I *might* be coming from)

(Here's another where JMC says everything so much better than I ever could (okay, just read the link above and then the first comment by JMC))

Every genre ever written has books in it that suck donkey kong balls.

That's right, romance isn't the only genre you will find duds. Course, publishing more books in a month than other any other genre makes it seem like maybe there are more crappy books but I'm betting percentage wise it's all the same.

That's why people write reviews in other genres too. *whispers* Cause the other genres have books that only get one star, dagger, dragon, time machine too.

Yeah, that's right.

Somewhere in the world someone is throwing a Robert Jordan, Tony Hellerman, Dan Brown book across their bedroom and slamming it into the wall.

And then they go looking for matches.

Don't kid yourself.

There are sucky books every where so don't give me any shit about how male writers write better, smarter heroines than female writers. Sure they do. But only in books. Let's not hold Lara Croft Boob Raider against them. Or any action movie made in the past 20 years where the heroine is a screaming nightmare of stupidity. No. That's different.

So if you are reading a bunch of male authors who you feel are really getting their female character right then good for you (I'm betting they are a woman using a male pseudonym but whatever) ride the wave baby because I'm betting you had to read just as many horrible heroines written by men to find those heavenly books.

If you didn't, please rub a penny and send it on over to my house so I can get your kind of luck. I'll buy some lottery tickets so I can buy more of my 'brain candy'.

And on that note, if one more person says romance is just 'brain candy' I'm going to tell them to FUCK OFF!!

Unless it's my mother.

Then I'll just refill her wine glass countless times, wait till she's lying on the floor in a drunken stupor and then tell her to fuck off.

In a whisper.

Cause unlike most heroines in romance (according to some people), I ain't stupid.