Just finished Silent Night Man (1st of 2 stories in Winter Man duology) by Diana Palmer. DP has always been a "must read" for me, but this one was hardly worth an evening's time. I'm so glad I rec'd it as a WL wish granted. It definitely wasn't worth the $17 they were asking for this hardcover.

Colleen

I am starting Only In Your Arms by Lisa Kleypas It is a one of her first books if not the first.

I'm between books..have 6 I really wanna read but haven't had time. work was SO busy yesterday and when I got home I did the rare watch a movie evening to unwind - Mamma Mia! I haven't seen that one since it was at the movie but I was in the mood for Abba and happy and it did the trick! But got no reading done. Thinking about reading the  next in the Mule Hollow series I've been reading but also want to read a few others I have..I did finish the Lynsay Sands story in Bitten by Cupid - bought the book for the one story and all it did was basically let me know about whats-her-name's sister who got turned against her will(Dani's?) and Tiny and Mirabeau got their storyif you can call it that in less than 150 pages. I think it was a set up for the next book since Tiny l ost his phone and that mysterious 'homeless' guy in the tunnels when they got t urned around and lost...still took a couple of days just to finish that shorty1

Thanks to whomever recommended Summer Fancy by Anne Avery. It was a very sweet historical romance and refreshing that the hero and heroine were both virgins when they decided the time was right. You don't see that very often.

Had some work done on the eyes, so reading is a bit of a struggle right now.

Took the time to read Switch by Megan Hart.  I am conflicted by this book.  I really, really, really struggled to like the main character.  She was very wishy-washy with her ex, claiming to want him out of her life but always wanting to mess around with him.  Her neighbor, whom she also liked, was wanting to get to know her better but she was torn about him too.  The ending seemed rushed, like the author needed to finish the novel asap.  Not one of her greatest, but I'm glad I read it.  The end frustrated me.  I wouldn't have made the same decision.

Requested Summer Fancy also...it does look good....I'm #1 on the WL!

I'm at a Salsa festival and have been too busy to read! Have gotten just a bit into The Perfect Liar by Brenda Novak over breakfast. It's okay but has a flaw that drives me really 

nuts in a book, which is that the author manages to make the innocent guy (who we know immediately from the text is absolutely innocent) just seem very implausible to the

reader. I keep going, "geez, I would never believe him, how come these people do?"  Same problem I had with Secrets of the Heart by Mary Balogh.

Okay, gotta grab a shower and put on my dancing shoes!

I'm guessing a Salsa dancing festival Willa?  Or is it Salsa eating?  Both sound fun!  I just got back from B&N and bought 4 books.  The new Immortals After Dark book by Kresley Cole (Pleasure of a Dark Prince), On The Prowl Anthology (so I could read the beginning of Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs), Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs (first full length novel in the Alpha and Omega series) and Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs (the latest Mercy Thompson).  Sense a pattern? :)

I did read some Lorelei James yesterday after a recommendation in the previous thread - Strong, Silent Type which was a short ebook and very good about a couple that had been married for years and drifted apart and how they refound that spark; Branded as Trouble, one of her Rough Ryders Series about the McKay family (the other one book was a McKay family book as well).  Good stuff and hot sex!

Ugh! I'm DNF'ing A Touch of Sin by Susan Johnson. It's not bad, but I'm just not in the mood. I've got a big stack of Macomber, Wiggs, and Woods contemporaries that I bought at a recent FOTL sale, but NITM for those either.

Finished Purpose and Pleasure by Megan Hart yesterday and it was okay, but not what Hart fans would expect. It's a dark romp (is that an oxymoron?) about 3 couples in a fictional historical place. I'd classify it as sci-fi/fantasy. The 3 heroines belong to a religious order that believes they will bring about the 2nd coming of the "holy family" (don't think with a Christian mindset) by giving solace to troubled souls. Little wierd.

What to read next? I don't know. Maybe I should spend the day organizing/cleaning/etc. But I feel like a fish out of water without a book in progress. It's like not having my morning coffee....

Colleen

Read half of CATCH OF THE DAY/Kristan Higgins today, bawling my head off a good part of the way; will get back to it tomorrow once I get control of myself again.

Also currently reading a 1995 HQ Presents by Catherine O'Connor, YESTERDAY'S PASSION. Good enough to keep my interest up, but every once in a while I'd like to see a heroine NOT cave into the hero's sensual expertise when she's flipping angry at him.

Gail

I'm currently reading an m/m romance called Pas de Deux by Jamie Craig.

Willa I had the same problem with that book. He was like the biggest idiot on the planet to me. It was almost a DNF for me, just because of how he acted.

Keri, I'm glad you liked Summer Fancy. It's quite refreshing to see so much awkwardness initially between the two: more true to life, I think. The two of them are very cute together though. This one reminds me a lot of Pamela Morsi's works. I have most of her books on my keeper shelf where I can occassionally re-read them and get that warm, feel-good reaction.

Keri - I know, he's falsely accused of rape and he's acting so sleezy! WTH?

Susan - I should've said Casino Salsa and really confused you! ;-)  A salsa eating festival could be fun, though I'm pretty wimpy when it comes to spicy foods.

You guys should see my bruises - some of these less experienced leaders grab really hard!  The entire back of my right hand is one big bruise and I have a nasty one of my left arm, too.  The things we do for our art. ;-)

I just finished Deadly Deceptions Linda L. Miller's Mojo Sheepshanks character. This book was the best. I actually teared up in a couple of the scenes and I hope she chooses to continue this series. If you haven't read it, read the first one first, because this is an obvious continuation of the first book. If you like stories where the heroine can see and speak to dead people and help solve their murders then this might be for you.

I finished Shannon Butcher's Love You To Death.  (Definitely not for you Susanna)   I liked it.  I really wouldn't call it a romance though.  More of a thriller.   The ending was very good.   Not sure what I'm reading next.

The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter.  It's been a while since I've read a Lords of the Underworld book & it's great to be back in that series!  I realized I have a bunch of half-finished series on my shelf that I've been savoring, and I need to get caught up so I can read the new installments in 2010!  lol

Sherri, I gave up on Butcher after No Escape with that psycho killer! I still haven't gotten that out of my head

Willa, your post about the bruises reminds me of this PE class I had in college - social, folk and square dancing. We only had 2 guys in the class so we women took turns being the 'guy'. Well one decided he'd be macho and was always rough with us. Several complained he was hurting them  yet he didn't see to give a sh*t..well we had this teeny tiny little woman - about 30 I'd say- who was 'old' by class standards at the time LOL looked about 80 lbs and was probably a tad under 4 ft..well women's locker room talk we knew she'd been in the friggin' marines LOL! she was tiny but pure muscle and strong as anyone I've ever seen! She was never rough though and was very quiet almost timid-like during class. Well square dancing one class this guy was slinging the women all over the place. Apparently he'd never tangled with this lady! either that or she'd never gotten even with him. He grabbed hold of her with a smirk and tried to sling her and she stood her ground..dont' think she really tried to hurt him but she didnt' budge and he about dislocated his shoulder  LOL! well you'd have had tohave been there to see the look on the g uy's face. He didnt' show up for class the entire next week I don't think! and in the locker room later s he was asking what she did and we were high-fiving her and the works and finally told her and she was like 'I wasn't trying to hurt him but I wasn't gonna be slung around like a sack of taters'!

ok I'm reading Operation: Married By Christmas by Debra Clopton , part of hte Love Inspired series about Mule Hollow. It's ok but I've been too busy and now have company so not sure how much reading I'll get done.

Finished Hidden Fire by Jo Davis- this one was just ok for me.  I liked the last one, but this one was waaayyy too predictable.

Now I'm starting McKettrick's Luck by LLM.  Not really sure I'm in the mood for it, but will give it a shot.  I've read a whole bunch of contemporary romances in a row and may need a break, so if I'm not into it by the first chapter, might put it away for awhile.  I might just need a non-fiction right about now...I have The $64 Tomato on my TBR so might pick that up to get in the gardening mindset.

Recently I finished one of the most stupid books I've had the displeasure to read. It's called Where have all the Cowboys Gone? by Kate Pearce.

The woman gets married to a cowboy in Vegas after having sex with him for one night (they were NOT drunk.) I imagine this happens in Vegas on a regular basis but these two people are loaded, with two very controlling fathers and a LOT of issues about marriage and family. And they go and get married to a stranger? I don't think so.

It goes south from there. The guy invites her to his ranch - she wants a divorce, he wants them to give it a try - and the woman comes in her Channel suits and doesn't bring any appropriate clothing (no jeans, boots, shorts or what any normal woman would bring for a weekend at a ranch.) This is supposedly an intelligent woman, who has a business in FASHION.

Then the guy visits her in San Francisco where the woman reverts to being a teenager. Her and her friend pretend that she is a party animal for some reason which to me didn't make any sense and do so much crazy stuff that at some point the guy thinks she's crazy (yes, very romantic that you're acting so erratic that the hero thinks you're off your rocker.)

The book is full of cliches about country and city people and at the end, it turned into a business intrigue so ridiculous that I almost PIMP laughing.

Other thing that bothered me was the English spelling - favourite, leant, etc. - which as you can imagine, DID NOT go with a cowboy story. Usually this wouldn't have bothered me but it really took me out of the cowboy mood.

That's going on my *avoid* list!

Susanna, great story, but I don't think much of a teacher who let that sort of thing go on. My dance teachers are really careful about safety - it is easy to get hurt doing salsa. I got "whipped" once, which is what happens when the leader turns himself and then you without properly lowering his arm first, and it killed my back. I'm learning to lead now and I hope I'm not screwing up.

I've been knocked down with the flu the past few days, which gave me plenty of time to (almost) finish the Vampire Huntress series by L.A. Banks. Cranked out The Darkness, The Shadows and I'm a few chapters away from finishing The Thirteenth, the last of the series. I'll be sad when it's done, I really, really loved these stories. 

I think when I'm done, I'll start a quick re-read of the last of Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, Bone Crossed, in preparation for Silver Borne, which was supposed to have come out at the beginning of February, but inexplicably got pushed back to March.

I did a quick read of Ruth Ann Nordin's Falling in Love with her Husband.   Not bad.  I enjoyed it more than some of her other books.  She's not a very polished author in my opinion but the stories themselves aren't bad.

After many interruptions I finally got to finish Pleasure Of A Dark Prince (Kresley Cole).  And had just reread A Hunger Like No Other.  Those MacRieve brothers are just such big, sweet, funny studs.  When they're not ripping an enemy apart of course.  Loved both books.  Don't really know what to read next.  I've got a stack of erotica that is starting to call my name. 

I'm reading Conor's Way by Laura Lee Guhrke, which I was lucky enough to get through interlibrary loan. Thanks to Kim for the rec. I only got it about 2 hours ago and I've been hooked, even reading it on my walk back from the library. I've gotten pretty good at reading and walking at the same time. :)