Nice Mommy~Evil Editor

I read more (published) books this week than I have in the past 2 months. No really, I don’t think I read more than 5 (published) books in all of November or December, which is kind of sad since I continue to get books from Paperback Swap and other sources (although I haven’t been buying) so my TBR bookshelves are filling rapidly. Now, if we want to talk about the number of manuscripts I read in an unpublished state, those easily number around 30. But I can’t list those here, so they don’t count!

But in the past 10 days I’ve read quite a bit. I took three days off over Christmas, plus I’ve been shutting down the computer earlier at night and reading. I read:

Undercover Mistress by Amethyst Ames
Holiday Bound by Jaci Burton
Lover Eternal by JR Ward
Love Her to Death by Linda Palmer
Carved in Stone by Vickie Taylor

Re-read:
The Secret by Julie Garwood
Honour’s Splendor by Julie Garwood

Did I mention Lover Eternal by JR Ward?

I thought Undercover Mistress was okay, not great. It’s an older Ellora’s Cave book I had on my Ipaq and read in the tub one night. Holiday Bound…J, why isn’t this book longer? Lover Eternal–I mentioned I read this, right? What can I say? Totally awesome! I don’t think fans will be disappointed when this book releases in March. Love Her to Death by Linda Palmer is the second in an amateur mystery series. The heroine is the head writer/co-producer of a daytime drama. I enjoyed it enough that I’ll purchase the third when it releases this spring. It captured my attention enough that I wasn’t proofing it and making editorial comments in my head–and that is saying alot!

Especially since Carved in Stone does not hold that distinction for me. I saw this book on many bloggers’ “Best of 2005″ lists and decided to give it a try since it’s been languishing on my TBR shelves. I admit the story premise was unique and I thought the book started out very strongly with the prologue, but there was this one plot hole that nearly drove me insane and ruined my enjoyment of the book. It’s actually something small but it nagged at me. I would guess most people don’t even notice it but given my total brain immersion in editing, the insconsistency practically leapt of the pages and grabbed me by the throat. LOL. Okay, so I didn’t love this book. But it didn’t suck. It was just alright for me.

I also re-read two of my favorite Julie Garwood books. I haven’t read them in well over a year and I needed something that would give my brain a break. *insert me rolling on floor laughing* umm…dammit. I still love Julie Garwood, but I noticed new things about her writing that pulled me out of the book and had all red ink barrels firing. Dammit. It makes me afraid to go back and read any more favorites. I read somewhere, an author I think, saying it is sometimes best to leave old favorites unread for fear they don’t stand the test of time and growth in writing skills. Clearly, I should have taken that advice to heart (despite the fact that I’m not a writer).

Next up…one of the several hundred books on my TBR shelves. Specific enough for you?