(and get some discussion going!)

I just finished Lisa Cach's Dreaming of You and LOVED it.  It was so sexy, yet also really sweet, and really funny too. And I am very particular about funny in romances.  I'm starting to think I do like paranormals, as long as they don't mix contemporary in. (Outlander doesn't count. ;-) )  I didn't like No Rest for the Wicked at all. :-( 

Prince of Magic by Linda Winstead Jones - pretty good, but doesn't really finish. Very much the beginning of a trilogy. The preceeding series stood better alone. 

I'm just finishing up The Choice by Edith Layton and am kind of iffy about it. I love her older Regencies, they are so exciting and taut, but the more recent ones are so... tame. I read The Conquest recently and it was a yawn; the hero seemed so lukewarm about the heroine.  It was a lot like her Alas, My Love, which I also found dull. There's just enough that's good in The Choice to make me feel a little crazy about deciding whether I should keep it or not. :-\  I have too many keepers!  Once I've shared someone's romance, I can't desert them. ;-)

I also started my first Judith Ivory, not sure yet whether I like her or not. 

I just finished Nalini Singh's Slave to Sensation.  Really, really liked this book, I'd been on the PBS WL forever but now I think it would have been worth buying new.  I'll probably buy Visions of Heat.  I like many paranormals, though I am getting a bit tired of the vampire thing.  A new author in that area will have to get really good reviews before I'll pick it up.

 Also just read Julie Anne Long's Beauty and the Spy.  An A for me.  This is my third JAL, and they've all been excellent.  I love her pragmatic heroines, they're women I can admire.  And I love that they don't have sex immediately because they can't keep their hands off each other, even though it goes against all the societal training.  Of course, this pet peeve only applies to historicals!  :)

**Might Contain Spoilers**

I just finished The Cover of Night by Linda Howard. I loved it. I was really impressed how the town's people pulled together in their defense against the enemy. Reminded me of why I love small towns instead of big impersonal cities. I also thought it sweet how the hero(a handyman) met the heroine(a new widow), fell in love with her and waited 3 years for her to get over her grief. All the while, quietly taking care of her and her sons without her even realizing it. That he, a fullgrown, not in anyway shy man, couldn't talk to her without blushing and stammering like a schoolboy was just so sweet. Linda Howard sure knows how to write a beautiful love story and incorporate a little suspense into it. She is without doubt one of my favorite authors. I really love her books, especially After the Night, To Die For and Drop Dead Gorgerous.

I have Beauty and the Spy in my TBR, will have to get to it!  I have a Diana Palmer too, can't remember which one. My TBR pile is scary these days...

Right now I'm in the middle of an old Layton, the Abaondoned Bride. Pretty good, except one of those where the hero is kind of abusive and doesn't get nearly enough of a comeupance, which is annoying me.

I really enjoy Julie Anne Long's books, the characters aren't TSTL. :)

Well, I just finished "If Only In My Dreams" by Wendy Markham and I'm still having issues with.....

****MAJOR SPOILERS****

the ending...

I really loved the book up to the ending, it was a time travel that was mostly set during WWII. The interaction between the h/h was great, there wasn't the mental lusting issues or jumping into the bed right away. Jed was just a really nice guy. Ok, what I'm having issues with is that it ends with Jed still dying in the war and the heroine hooking up with his reincarnated soul. I was sooooo let down, poor Jed! I got down to the last chapter and just had a feeling it was going to end like that, the heroine had Cancer so she couldn't stay in Jed's time. Ack, it still is bothering me lol.

Anyhoo, if anyone knows any romance books set during WWII please let me know.

I picked up Raintree: Inferno last night and couldn't put it down until I was done with it.

Can't wait for the other 2 in the trilogy to come out now! 

I just finished The Cat's Fancy by Julie Kenner.  It was a cute book and a fast read for me, but it was just so-so. 

I am starting Bled Dry by Erin McCarthy right now and it looks to be very good!

Well, the computer hates me today..it crashed on me and I lost mypost! :-(

Just finished 2 weeks of night shift with 4 callouts so I got in quite a bit of reading between working! now that I'm starting day shift rotation I wont' be able to read unless the boss takes off and the weekend..probablyt he weekend if it's not busy!

anyways, the past couple of weeks I read Lucy Monroe's 3 books: ready, willing, able...I loved these! sweet stories and pretty spicy in places but not too much danger..well, it was 'there' but not focused on too much! I also read merline lovelace's cleo north trilogy and really liked those. I"m not used to the woman kicking butt but it was good! :-) not so much on the spice except for a few brief scenes!nothing like monroe's but I wasn't expecting that in these either! also read carly phillips' simply sinful and liked that one (short romance novel-have the next 2 but haven't read those yet). also read the 3rd trailer part mystery by jimmie ruth evans-best served cold as well as the first 2 in catherine coulter's FBI series-'the cove' and 'the maze'.

now trying to decide what to read since I've filled my bookshelves and haven't even made a dent because I keep seeing someting I've already read and want to read again like linda howard's mackenzie series! and some of the jayne ann krentz stories...sigh..thinking I may start on the southern sisters mysteries or the maggie sefton yarn mysteries for a change of pace...

I just finished Heather Graham's The Dead Room.

*Honest opinion ahead that is a spoiler*

Thank goodness I checked it out at the library, is all I have to say. I read romance for a reason, I like happy endings. I feel no shame in admitting that. IMO, not the happy ending I was looking for. After reading the synopsis in the book jacket, I was lead to believe one thing and got something totally different. I hate to be so judgemental about it, but I don't have tons of time to read and I feel cheated of the time I spent on this book.

One positive thing about it, though, is that it did keep my attention and was pretty fast paced.

Just fnished The Devil You Know by Liz Carlyle.  New author for me.  I liked it and am starting A Deal with the Devil (same author).

I just finished Shadow Game by Christine Feehan.  WOW!  I've already got the 2nd in the series on order.  I couldn't put it down - read it in one day.

I also just read Dreams of Stardust by Lynn Kurland.  Ok but not spectacular.  I like it much better when the heroine is the one who does the traveling in TT romance.

And I also read Shotgun Bride by Linda Lael Miller.  That was really good.

Sherri

Well,  I just finished a shorter book - Lori Foster's 'Fantasy'. pretty good book but about the size of a harlequin/silhouette. Boss left early today so got in a little reading LOL!

Liked Liz Carlyle's The Devil You Know and A Deal With the Devil.  Want to read more of her's.  Suggestions?

I finished A Lady's Pleasure by Renee Bernard.  Yawn.  Definitely could have spared myself the time and energy

I just read Trust Too Much by Jayne Bauling.  She's one of my favorite old Harlequin Presents authors.  I wish she wrote mainstream, her heroes are so delightfully complex.

I read My Lady's Tutor by Robin Schone and enjoyed it very much.

That's all I've had time for, been working too much

Just finished "Jane's Warlord" by A. Knight.  The description sounded great but it took me 3 days to slog through this one.  It lacked a story - to me it was just a book of sex with alot of raunchy language.  Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT a prude - but this one was just too much.

Sherri

I just finished The Damsel In This Dress by Marianne Stillings. I was looking for something light and frivoulous to read and it was fun. I also enjoy it when the heroine has "faults" ie: a bit chubby. LOL I am going to read another one I found by this author and I am reading My Lord Vampire by Debbie Raleigh. It's really short so I should be finished with it tonight. I have the other 2 in the series also so I will continue on with them as some of them are WL books.

I just finished Angels Fall by Nora Roberts.  I have to say I really liked it.  I have been a little disappointed lately in some of her books lately but this one was really good.  I also read Into The Storm by Suzanne Brockmann.  I didn't even know there was a new one out.  Man I have got to get back into the groove of upcoming books.  But anywho.  I don't know what to read next. 

Mendi

Sherri -

You're not alone, I didn't like Jane's Warlord at all, either.  Until that book all I had read by AK were her novellas in anthologies, and loved them.  I was so hopeful about what she could do with the extra room allowed by a full-sized paperback, but it came across to me as a good shorter story ruined by excess sex as filler.

Katrina