Okay, I admit it, I didn’t know I was going to join this challenge. But I like to reread, and I do quite a bit of it for some reason (I think it gives my brain a break) so when I saw Nath’s monthly reread challenge, which just happens to be today, and I was wondering about blog content anyhow, I knew it was fate.

I actually reread a couple books this month: Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn, Devil’s Bride and A Rake’s Vow both by Stephanie Laurens.

However, since I only reread Kitty and the Midnight Hour because I decided I wanted to see if I liked it better the second time (I didn’t really) and to read the books that followed in the series, I won’t talk about it here. Except to say that all this time I remember liking but not loving the book, and when I went back to read my “review”, it looks like I said I liked it more than I remember. And it’s not that I didn’t like the book, just that I felt kind of “meh” about it (and increasingly so about subsequent books). Enough meh that it took me three years to decide to read follow up books.

So, Devil’s Bride is one of those books that I can turn to for an enjoyable comfort read. While I was rereading it this past week, I was actually trying to figure out exactly what it is about the book that I like so well, and I finally decided it’s because I love a hero in pursuit story. I think it’s odd, but many of my favorite rereads (Stephanie Laurens, Catherine Coulter, Julie Garwood, Johanna Lindsey) are all historical. The reason that’s odd is because, if you look at my current reads, very, very few are historical. I don’t edit a lot of historicals either (though I do like them, but I only have a couple of authors who write them, including Gia Dawn and Lynne Connolly). Historical romance used to be one of my favorite genres, but that was probably over ten years ago and sometimes I wonder if I read so many of them because they were what’s available. Like, if paranormals and urban fantasy had been more prevalent then, would I have been reading less historicals?

But regardless, I return at least once a year to Devil’s Bride and I always enjoy it. I particularly like the first chapters of the book, the setup, where they meet for the first time, and she comes to realize who he is. Perhaps it’s politically incorrect of me, but I enjoy his bossy, domineering ways. And hello, the descriptions of him are positively delicious!

For me, the book is an easy read, always entertaining with both the main character interactions, the story, love story, secondary plot and secondary characters.

I enjoy the setup for future books with other Cynster relations, and though I haven’t read all the books in the Cynster series, I have read quite a few. I’ve moved on to rereading A Rake’s Vow , Vane’s story, and will probably read a few more in the series. I will tell you one odd thing about my rereading of this series, though: I never reread Richard (Scandal’s Bride ) story. I’ve never cared for it so I always skip it.

Anyhow, if you’ve somehow never read these books (Erin) and you’re looking for a historical romance read, I suggest trying out Stephanie Laurens and starting with Devil’s Bride.

The first TBR challenge of 2009! This year Keishon is doing monthly categories for the challenges, but I chose to do an open format because it’s so hard for me to read for pleasure sometimes, I don’t feel I can also force myself to be in the mood. Which is a shame since this month was category romance and I have plenty of those TBR!

Black Magic Woman (Quincy Morris Supernatural Investigation) is a book I’ve had on my TBR pile for awhile. I picked it up because I’m always interested in trying something different, new authors in the UF category. I finally decided to read it for this challenge because I’d been seeing a lot of positive reviews around the web for the second book, Evil Ways (Quincey Morris, Book 2) and, duh, I can’t read out of order.

The blurb: Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his “consultant”, white witch Libby Chastain, are hired to free a family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem witch trials. Fraught with danger, the trail finds them stalking the mysterious occult underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York, searching out the root of the curse. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself – the very heart of darkness.

My thoughts: The book has a great opening, it’s extremely catchy. I love a book that plops me down in the middle of action and then lets me catch up without trying to dump a bunch of backstory or character internal narrative on me. I think getting to know the character through internal narrative can get…old. And kind of trite. But I digress. So we’ve established how the book starts out. This is different from a more typical urban fantasy in that it’s 1) not in first and 2) told in multiple POV from a variety of characters. That doesn’t work for all books but it works in this one. I love seeing scenes from a variety of characters.

I did feel like this somewhat prevented me from really feeling attached to Quincey, the protaganist, because I spent a lot of time with other characters. But at the same time I was attached enough to root for him. Just not attached enough to cry for him (not that there was one of those moments in this book, it’s just an example of the distance created by multiple POV, which is fine for this book).

The story itself is interesting and moves forward at a good clip, keeping the reader interested, though I did find the climax of the story a bit abrupt. However, I liked this book and will definitely read the next one. Now, if only they’d put them in ebook!

Two things happened a few weeks ago. First, I got this amazing free sample from Muir Glen. It was four cans of tomatoes delivered in this beautiful wood crate. Very fancy. I was impressed. In the box was fire roasted tomatoes and organic tomatoes. I use a lot of canned tomatoes, so I was excited about the sample and put them in the cupboard for future use. Then, Christmas Eve we went to dinner at Carrabba’s and I had a bowl of the most amazing Fire Roasted Tomato Soup. Brianna ate as much of it as I did, and Josh tested it and declared it a winner. Well, as any parent of a toddler knows, when you find something made nearly entirely of vegetables, you add it to your meal rotation. And as anyone who knows my husband knows, he’s a slightly picky eater so in this case…treat it like a toddler said they liked it!

So I immediately went on the hunt for a Carrabba’s clone of the Fire Roasted Tomato Soup. I didn’t find one, exactly, but I did find a recipe on the Muir Glen website and since they had sent me fire roasted tomatoes, I figured it was destiny! So this week I made this soup for my family. Josh and I both really liked it, and it was easy to make. Brianna was willing to eat it but even with the minimal amount of spices in it, it turned out too spicy for her, which is a huge bummer. I’ll do it different next time to avoid that, because Josh and I can spice it later if needed. Regardless, I highly recommend this recipe! One note, this doesn’t make a huge pot of soup. This is a recipe that’s just right for three to four adults, as it says before, so if you’re feeding more you’ll want to double the recipe.

I served this with homemade Italian Bread, recipe from allrecipes.com but pasted below the soup recipe. Using the bread machine, this was also very easy, though it takes a little planning ahead in your day since the dough needs to go through the dough cycle plus rise than bake. But it takes little effort on your part to make. Score!

Fire Roasted Tomato Soup
Fire roasted tomatoes and a touch of cream add a richness to this tomato soup.

Prep Time:20 min
Start to Finish:50 min
Makes:4 servings (1 1/3 cups each)

1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz each) Muir Glen® organic fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (14 oz) reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves, cilantro leaves or Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup whipping cream

1. In 3-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until onion is crisp-tender.
2. Stir in tomatoes, broth, 1 tablespoon of the basil, the sugar and pepper flakes. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat; pour mixture into large heatproof bowl; cool slightly, about 15 minutes.
3. In blender, place half of the mixture. Cover; blend until pureed. Return to saucepan. Repeat with remaining mixture. Heat over medium heat until hot. Remove from heat. Stir in cream and remaining 1 tablespoon basil.

Bread Machine Italian Bread

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
* 1 1/3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (per the reviews I cut this to 1 tsp of salt and it was fine)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
* 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
*
* 1 egg
* 1 tablespoon water
* 2 tablespoons cornmeal

DIRECTIONS

1. Place flour, brown sugar, warm water, salt, olive oil and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Form dough into two loaves. Place the loaves seam side down on a cutting board generously sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise, until doubled in volume about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3. In a small bowl, beat together egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush the risen loaves with egg mixture. Make a single long, quick cut down the center of the loaves with a sharp knife. Gently shake the cutting board to make sure that the loaves are not sticking. If they stick, use a spatula or pastry knife to loosen. Slide the loaves onto a baking sheet with one quick but careful motion.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

*note about the bread. I used a baking stone and baked them side by side. Rather than move them around, I just let them rise right on the baking stone, which worked out very well. I covered the baking stone with parchment paper, and skipped the cornmeal. This is a slightly denser bread (more like an artisan bread, a little more chewy, like they’d serve at Carabba’s) but not too dense.

First, let me start by saying that this cover drives me nuts. I can’t seem to remember that Mistborn is the series name, not the book name, because the series name is so huge and the title is so teeny weeny. I’m sure this must have been a marketing decision to get the series name locked in readers’ heads, so they could go into a store or online and type in Mistborn, and get all the books in the series, but still. Did the title have to be THAT tiny?

I’ve had The Final Empire on my TBR shelves for probably 9 months, at least. I’ve been wanting to read something by Brandon Sanderson for quite some time, especially after it was announced that he would be writing the final book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, which I’ve been a fan of for years.

But still, the book languished on my shelves until Nicole did a great review of it and spoke of it kind of glowingly, pushing me to read it for this month’s TBR challenge. Sadly, my feelings for it weren’t quite as glowing as Nicole’s.

I did enjoy the book, but I found it really easy to put down and go do something else. The world building and set up of the world and story are quite dense, which I sometimes appreciate and don’t appreciate. In this case, I thought the book had some slowww pacing issues in spots but if you were to ask me what I would have cut, I’d have to go back and take a second look because I don’t have clue one. My other small quibble would be that the “romance” aspect was a bit…lame to me, and I could have lived without it because it was poorly developed and so, not too believable. Unfortunately, to buy into certain actions and developments in the book, I needed to buy into the romance and I didn’t. It seemed superficial and I think part of that was because I only knew (and liked) one half of the people in the relationship.

So you’re probably wondering what I did like about the book? In truth, the world building was quite thorough and complex, and several of the characters had wonderful character development, which I really appreciate in a book. Though I found the pacing slow, the story itself was still interesting and well-written, and the secondary characters along with the settings gave the story even more depth that I enjoyed. I also appreciated the twists that were thrown in the book as well as the ultimate resolution for this particular story (which is the first in a trilogy, from my understanding).

As you can see, I had mixed feelings about the book, but I think an author who can make me think this closely about what I did and didn’t like, and who drew me forward despite my perceived problems with it, did his job. I will be reading the second book, Well of Ascension, and actually have it on my Kindle now, though I don’t feel ready to start it right away. Actually, I’m probably going to try Elantris first because I’ve also heard great things about it (proving twice in one review that word of mouth recommendations work on me!).

Do I recommend The Final Empire? Hm. I think I do, if you’re a fan of fantasy with a minor romance subplot (minor though it does have bearing on some events in the book) and deep world building, along with a cast of secondary characters.

ETA: I just read in an email newsletter that Brandon Sanderson will be at RT in Orlando in 2009. (as will Piers Anthony). Interesting!

Let me start with a small side tangent. A few weeks ago one of the cats had a vet appointment. My vet’s office is really great about calling me the day before and confirming the appointment. Usually the evening before. So they did and I confirmed. I’d remember early, had it on my calendar and was all set to bring the cat in. The next morning rolls around and the cat’s appointment did not ONCE enter my mind until that evening when they called to see if I wanted to reschedule. Yes, in the space of a few hours, I’d completely blanked–not even had a glimmer of–something that I’d been keeping in mind for days.

That’s what happened again with TBR day. I’ve been wondering what to blog about today and decided to catch up on some blog feeds (because I finished some edits I’ve been working on for a few days, and needed a mental break) and I got to Keishon’s blog. And remembered it was TBR day. Yes, she blogged and reminded us earlier in the week. Yes, I commented on that post. Yes, I still forgot. I’ve been forgetting a lot lately!

Anyway, on to the book review. I’ve long been a fan of Jayne Castle, Jayne Ann Krentz, Amanda Quick or whatever name you want to call her by. I’ve been reading her books for years, and some of her older books are favored re-reads for me. But the Guinevere Jones books have always been hard to get a hold of, so I’ve been collecting them over the years. For whatever reason, I decided to read the first in the series, Desperate Game, a few weeks ago.

I think I can easily say that this is probably my least favorite book of the author’s that I’ve ever read. I picked it up and put it down half a dozen times before I finally forced myself to finish it. I found the characters rather…blah. I do see the same basic characteristics in these characters that have become a trademark of her writing: independent female who allows herself to be overpowered in love/lust/infatuation with the hero, who is usually a little brooding, and unusual, so often “normal” females don’t “get” him and his secret, dark passions. The hero generally thinks of the heroine as the one who can calm his raging beast (no not THAT raging beast. Well, okay, not ONLY that raging beast) whether it’s whatever secrets, or dark emotions, etc he has.

There’s also the same basic plot, some sort of mystery, intrigue, the male trying to take charge, the female inserting herself, a dangerous climax and a forceful kiss at the end.

Look, I’ve been reading her for years, I’m okay with the basic setups. I LIKE her books partly for that reason, I think they’re yummy. But this one fell flat for me on all levels: characters, story, plot, secondary characters. It didn’t grab me and I think I could have easily put it aside and not finished it, except in the back of my head, I knew I needed to finish a book to complete this month’s TBR challenge. I think it says something that that is the reason I finished.

I do have the other three, but I don’t see myself going back to them any time soon. However, I do have an itch to re-read some of her older books, some of the stronger ones, now that I got a small taste of her again.

It’s not going to be an overly in-depth pattern review, but I wanted to do one on this pattern, in case anyone else was searching the web for information on it, as I was a few months ago. They did one at Sew, Mama, Sew, but I always think it’s good to get more than one opinion!

About a month ago, I started making this purse, the flea market bag from the Grand Revival pattern:

I got as far as making pattern pieces from plumbers cloth (a tip courtesy of seamstress extraordanaire Jane), which I love. It makes them easy to handle and easy to store. I also got the pieces for the purse cut from the cloth I wanted to use—a Waverly home decor fabric for the outside and a cotton fabric for the inside, as well as the interfacing (light interfacing for the lining, a slightly heavier interfacing for the outer bag).

But when I got to the stop of sewing the lining pieces to the handle, I got frustrated. Not the pattern’s fault at all, but my own, because for some reason I had a bobbin that didn’t like my sewing machine and made all my stitches very loose and messy. it took me a bit to realize it was the bobbin and not the tension on my machine, so a bit of frustration commenced. Finally, I had to wind a new bobbin, rip out all my stitches from one side of the lining, and start over. I set the sewing project aside for a bit, since I think it’s worse to sew when I’m frustrated—I get even more impatient and sloppy.

So this past weekend I went back to the project, because the colors are so cute and summery, and I really wanted to be able to carry this purse while there was still summer. Since I’m going to be traveling for a good month starting later in July, my time was getting a bit limited. Now that I had a better bobbin to work with, the sewing went fairly smoothly. I know some people had issues with the corners at the bottom of the bag, but I just took my time and they weren’t bad at all.

Where I started to dislike the pattern was in the handles. Once the body and lining are sewn together, and turned right side out so it’s starting to look like a real purse, you’re still left with two separate handles. The idea is to iron them under and then topstitch them together, as well as around the purse. I thought this was awkward and I wasn’t as happy with the handles as I think I might have been had I somehow been able to stitch them together wrong sides together, and then turn them inside out. It would have made it easier to have them equal widths, for example, which is important since this purse is supposed to be reversible. I don’t plan on reversing it, so I’m not too concerned, I just would have liked a different method of construction.

the last thing that I noticed, which is not the patterns fault but the seamstress’s (that would be me) is that I didn’t get the strap/handle pattern lined up with the body of the bag. Now, this doesn’t actually bother me, but it might someone else.

One thing I didn’t do, but that I’m gong to go back and do, is add some type of closure to the bag. The pattern itself suggest several options, including a button closure, snaps and a velcro tab. I’m going to do the velcro tab since it’s something I can do even now that the purse is already constructed. I just don’t like having it wide open all the time.

In all, the purse is comfortable to carry. I like how wide the strap is. The pattern itself gives you a bunch of options: a bigger bag, a longer strap (so you can carry it messenger style) and the ability to add a petal tie at the top of the strap (where the strap is knotted at the top—I don’t like those because I think they make carrying uncomfortable, but they look cute). I did put an inner pocket in the purse. The pattern suggests an outer pocket as well, but I didn’t want to worry about lining up the fabric pattern to do that, so I skipped it. I don’t get much use out of a front outer pocket anyway, so I was happy to skip it.

  Would I use this pattern again? I think I’d like to try it one more time, doing a larger bag messenger style. But I really am not satisfied with the way the handles turned out, so I’m not sure I’d make them repeatedly. I think this pattern would be frustrating for a very beginner sewer, but an advanced beginner (which is how I tend to think of myself) with some patience can do it. I do like the size of this purse. It’s big enough to hold my pouchee, my ebookwise and a few other random things with no problem.

Steal the Dragon by Patricia Briggs Read more about this book…

I’m playing with a new plugin on Windows Live Writer. I like that I can do this in 30 seconds. I can add a mini-review if I want, or not at all, just the above image. Since this is a TBR pile book, I feel like I should maybe save my review for TBR Wednesday this month, but I did Patricia Briggs last month, and I don’t want anyone to get bored. So I’ll just say that her backlist continues to keep me entertained and I’m really glad she has a backlist for me to read, because her fantasies are fun! Also, I don’t want to give any spoilers, but if you’ve read this book, you know that Patricia Briggs is not one to save her heroines from bad things and the precedent was set earlier in her writing career—not in the last Mercy book. I thought that was interesting.

So this is kind of cool. I’m using a new blog editor called Windows Live Writer. It’s desktop based, so you don’t have to be in the back end of your blog to type the post. It makes inserting pictures, videos and other rich content a whole hell of a lot easier than I was finding it in WordPress.

As a for instance, I linked to Windows Live Writer above. There’s a click box to the right that gives me that option, and when the box pops up to insert the link, it also allows me to choose if I want that link to open in a new window. Groovy.

Now for the picture. Usually I’d have to first crop the picture how I want it, then upload it to my blog using the image browser, and insert code to nest it in my text. But the blog editor has those functions all in this one screen, and it uploads the picture to my blog for me. I can make it bigger or smaller or add effects (hello, how do you think the picture ended up with rounded corners?). It also allows you to set the option of having this thumbnail link to a larger picture when it’s clicked on. Or link to a website when clicked on. Wheee! Blogging has never been quicker or easier. I have to admit, that part of the reason I haven’t always shared pictures (like this one) that I’ve intended to is because it’s such a pain. If the picture is too big a file, it freaks the image browser out, and becomes a huge headache to insert. No more! Now I have this groovy blog editor. There goes one excuse for not blogging out the window.

Read the rest of this entry »

I almost didn’t make it by the deadline! I’m getting ready to leave for another work trip (to Florida, just for the weekend) so this is going to be a little more brief, but I didn’t want to miss participating in TBR Day. It’s actually been a great thing for me, because it’s motivated me to pull out some books that I might otherwise overlook for newer ones. I also think I’ve been reading a little more because of this, though still not as much as I read last year. One thing I noticed, is that I read more when I travel, and I have a lot of traveling coming up, so I think I’ll get some more of my TBR pile cleared out.

I have to tell you, I cleared an entire five shelf bookshelf this past weekend and boxed it up. The shelf had books double shelved, and sometimes four rows to a shelf. I donated some boxes to a USO drive that a local radio station did, and the others are going to a local woman’s shelter. I’ve decided that I’m not holding on to paper TBR books any longer, as long as I can find them in ebook format. I will still maintain my keeper shelves, though–basically those books that I would absolutely need to have if I lost all access to electricity.

Now, on to May’s TBR challenge. I’ve noticed in the past weeks, a lot of bloggers talking about Kresley Cole’s new releases. As it happens, I read A Hunger Like No Other years ago when it first released, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m not sure why I never read any of the follow-ups, though I did own them all. So when I started seeing reviews of her May release, Dark Needs at Night’s Edge, I decided Kresley Cole would be my TBR read for the month of May.

I read No Rest for the Wicked, and Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night back to back. And as it turns out, I’m glad I waited to read them, so I could read them back to back (since they were released a year apart. As a note, I’m a big fan of more frequent releases–at least twice a year).

I think, given that I read them back to back, it’s probably clear that I lied at least the first one, but I actually have enjoyed all the books in the series so far (I’ve only read the first three, I have the ebook of the fourth on my reader). Kresley Cole has done an interesting thing in her books, making her characters not totally lovable, but always engaging and interesting. I like that they’re not always your standard “perfect” hero and heroine, but obviously flawed and sometimes jerks.

Because of that, I found myself even more interested in discovering how she brings the couples together happily, how they overcome the issues and problems in the books. Her stories are certainly not boring, or conventional, and she’s got a fun cast of secondary characters throughout the series that are 1) obviously series bait but 2) still entertaining. I enjoyed the scattering of even lesser characters which provide some depth and light humor to her world.

So, with apologies for the different format this month and the briefer “review” since I’m crazy with getting ready to leave town, let me wrap up by saying I’m planning on Dark Needs at Night’s Edge being one of my reads coming up, and I’m glad I don’t have to wait for Dark Desires After Dusk since it released Tuesday. These books are recommended for those who like a darker, edgier paranormal with imperfect characters.

It’s TBR Day (see more details at Keishon’s blog).

Title: The Devil Inside

Author: Jenna Black (Morgan Kinsley, Exorcist, Book One)

Year published: 2007

Genre: Urban fantasy

Blurb: Posession. Murder. Mayhem.
Let the games begin…

Exorcism isn’t a job, it’s a calling—and a curse. Just ask Morgan Kingsley, a woman who has a stronger aura than any Demon. Or so she thought. Now, in a pair of black leather pants and a kick-ass tattoo, Morgan is heading back to Philadelphia after a nasty little exorcism—and her life is about to be turned upside down…by the Demon that’s gotten inside her.

Not just any Demon. Six foot five inches of dark, delicious temptation, this one is to die for—that is, if he doesn’t get Morgan killed first. Because while some humans vilify Demons and others idolize them, Morgan’s Demon is leading a war of succession no human has ever imagined. For a woman trying to live a life, and hold on to the almost-perfect man, being possessed by a gorgeous rebel Demon will mean a wild ride of uninhibited thrills, shocking surprises, and pure, unadulterated terror. . . .

Why did you get this book? Two reasons. One, it’s urban fantasy, so I’m predisposed to buy it. And two, I saw a positive review of it somewhere

Did you enjoy the book? I did. I thought the premise was interesting and I’m curious to see where the author takes the series.

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? She was new to me. She’s got a series with Tor that I’ve not read (I think it’s more paranormal romance). Or maybe I did read the first book in that series. Hm. I think I did and didn’t love it. But I enjoyed this one enough that I’m going to be looking for the sequel this summer because, like I said, I’m really curious to see where the author takes this series. It has great potential.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? I’ve already released it into the book wilderness and shared it with someone else.

Why did you wait so long to read it? Thinking on it, I’m pretty sure I did read the author’s debut release and wasn’t crazy about it, so when this one released, the premise really caught me but I was unsure of giving the author another try. I’m glad I did!

Anything else? I actually read this book while I was in Arizona at a conference. I had many more substantial thoughts about it then, but it’s been two weeks and I’ve forgotten. I knew I should have written this right then. Next month, I’ll write my “review” when it’s still fresh in my head.

Not related to this book, but to the TBR challenge. I really need to read something next month that isn’t urban fantasy