New week!

I'm about 200 pages shy of being done with An Echo In the Bone by Diana Gabaldon.

Just started Chase's Mr. Impossible.

eeks there's 2 threads! thought I was seeing double!

I'm still reading Nobody's Hero by Carrie Alexander, a harlequin super romance. I haven't been reading much so this may turn into a long-time read! On the RT message boards we were talking about Trixie Belden in a thread along with some other 'oldies' then someone posted that this book mentions Trixie Belden a lot. And it does! This woman and her daughter is on an island while she constructs a maze and gets this rich person's garden ready for the 'big' party. the girl fancies herself as Trixie Belden and goes around spying and keeping a notebook of her observations. The hero is her latest target. She mentions Trixie books by title and talks about stuff going on in the different books! pretty neat so you'd think I'd be reading this like crazy but I'm just tired!

have a stack or two to pick from after this one but since switching to day shift tomorrow I'll probably be doing a lot of snoozing for a few days!

hey anyone here read Mary Balogh? someone on another forum was asking about her books. it's a christian romance discussion thread on amazon but didn't think Balogh was a christian romance writer? isn't there sex in these? anyways she has some from the library and wants to know what they're like before she invests reading time in them.

I think Balogh is a Christian, but NOT a Christian Romance writer.  There is sex, although on the mild side compared to most current books--what AAR classfies as "warm," usually. (Ironically, she was the one who really opened up the "traditional Regency" to sex scenes.)

I read Out of the Light, Into the Shadows.  I hate to say it because I'ma big fan of Erin McCarthy and I've liked a lot of Lori Foster's books in the past, but this one sucked!  I'd be hard-pressed to give it even 3 stars.  Anthologies with short stories aren't usually my thing - I want a book with some meat to it, you know?   I do believe it's possible to do them right, but in this case they were not.  The "paranormal" elements in Lori Foster's story were just plain wierd.  She didn't explain anything very well, other than the fact that Brax needed to totally dominate and control Cameo, but (IMO) not in a dom/sub way.  Erin McCarthy's vampire stories were not my thing at all either.  In the second one, (spoiler??) the heroine ends up a vampire (to save her life) and she's like, "It's ok, I'd rather be a vampire and here than dead and buried."  Ok, I could believe that point of view after she's had time to digest everything & get answers to her questions... but mere hours after almost dying?  Uh, no.

None of the stories were very romantic, IMO.  The characters were weak and not fleshed-out at all.  The sex scenes were almost non-existent.  Not at all what I expected from these two authors!  I'm glad it's a WL book so I can get my credit back.  lol

I finished Lyric's Cop by Jory Strong. Smoking hot, good story too, already promised to someone or I might have been tempted to keep it.

I finished Her Beautiful Assassin by Virginia Kantra, another in the Family Secrets series. This one is about a Navy Seal. I really enjoyed it!

Going to start MJD's Undead and Unwelcome after I finish this pizza and do some laundry. Its already promised to someone so I need to get it read.

Pretty much everything Balogh has ever written has an open door sex scene. Even the short stories! I can think of maybe only one that didnt.

I'm just finishing A Rake's Guide to Pleasure and I've really enjoyed it (by Victoria Dahl). A new to me author but it won't be the last one I read by her.

I just finished reading Finding Strength by AnnMarie McKenna.  It was two books in one.  I thought it was ok but not that great.  I am really starting to hate anthologies even if I like the author.  I don't know what I will read next.  I have been in a prarnormal mood lately so I might have to find a book with werewolves or vampires in it.

One of the things I like about Balogh's older Regencies are the sex scenes are unpredictable - they feel very organic to the story, happening when it's right that they should (or not happening at all if it's not right.  There's no sex scene in An Unacceptable Offer - was that the one you were thinking of, Seton?)  In more recent books, Balogh has talked on her mailing list about being instructed to insert a sex scene earlier than she thought there should be one and the books feel much more generic.

I've just barely started Reckless Love by Elizabeth Lowell but am thinking while my son and husband are out is a good time to read the online pdf of Kresley Coles "Warlord Wants Forever" which I got free off the Interwebs. :-) Sorry I don't remember how now, but googling would probably turn it up.

Oh shoot - I just remembered I was waiting for my husband to put it on his ITouch for me, because the print is too small for my bad eyes. Dang it.

Not surprisingly, I'm reading An Echo in the Bone.  I'm only about 130 pages in- this one will take me awhile.  And now I've joined a few swap games so may have to read something else for those.  It's so great though- I wish DG would write faster!!

I finished the harlequin super romance last night, Nobody's Hero by Carrie Alexander. It was good but more of a mystery - no sex at all except a couple of kisses! The woman is a widow with a daughter who's into Trixie Belden and wants to be a sleuth and keeps a journal of 'unusual observations' thinking there's hidden loot. man is a cop who'd been shot and had to kill in the line of duty and wants to be a hermit for a few weeks ends up getting his teen son early for the month. mystery ends up being real, solved, yet at the end the couple is promised to be together but nothing is resolved really including  his sharing custody of his son...sort of just ended! It was good though because I loved Trixie Belden(still do!) and it was nice hearing her mentioned a lot.

Started Boo by Rene Gutteridge and it's cute so far (a little over 1/4 through it)

I stayed up late and finished An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon last night.  Oh. My. God.  The woman is freakin genius.  AND she's going to have to write faster.   There's no way I can wait 3 more  years for the next book.  I won't spoil it (here, but I can't promise on my Goodreads site) but there's so many fantastic cliff hangers!!!

Not sure what I'm reading next.

I finished the Julia Spencer-Fleming series (enjoyed the series) and then read Lauren Dane's Laid Bare.  I probably won't be reading any of Dane's books again.  I kept reading it thinking the "scenes" would get better.  Not for me.  I'm getting tired of erotic authors just throwing in sex scenes.  (or maybe I'm jaded?)  I want a good story, too.

Margy

Reading the new Julia Justiss Regency from Harlequin. It has the twee title From Waif To Gentleman's Wife, but I'm really liking her style. Haven't read her before. After this, I'll probably head back into historical territory and tackle the pro-Richard III "We Speak No Treason" by Rosemary Jarman. It's a HB I bought at a book sale for 50 cents about 10 years ago and it's been kicking around ever since. About time it got read. :) I'm really hoping that it's not so cloyingly positive - pro-R3 books like the Sandra Worth series are wretched!

Finished the re read of Echo, and now I'm reading Jo Beverley's St. Raven then if it comes today fingers crossed Skylark.  Then I have a couple of Lisa Kleypas books.  I've been on a Regency tear lately.

Still at home sick - I can't seem to shake this cold - but I have done a good bit of reading. I finished L.A. Banks' The Forbidden. It was more of a transitional book in the series, but I really liked it. But of course, as soon as it seems as if I can finally make amends with the hero, Carlos (who was giving me emotional fits last week), he up and does something completely moronic in the next book, The Damned. I'm about halfway through it and am ready to do one of two things: 1.) Throw this book up against the wall, stomp up and down on it and scream "l hate you! I hate you! I'm finished with you!" or 2.) Run to the nearest Borders to pick up Book 8 so I can transition smoothly once I finish The Damned in, oh, two hours. lol  

Starting When Sparks Fly  by Autumn Dawn.

I'm reading Never Love a Lawman by Jo Goodman.  I was completely prepared to dislike this book based on the reviews it's getting, as well as what people have said here.  However, I'm about halfway through it and I'm really enjoying it.  While I don't think either Rachel or Wyatt is anything to write home about (by themselves), I can totally see why each is attracted to the other.  Plus I haven't read a western historical in a long, long time so maybe that's why I'm really positive about this book!

I'm still reading Boo and it's cute! at work so that's slowing me down a LOT seeing that I'm on day shift! dragged lunch out as long as I could!

It was good though because I loved Trixie Belden(still do!) and it was nice hearing her mentioned a lot.

  my old Trixie Belden books are on a top shelf, along with the rest of my old books that my mom had boxed up and brought down here a while ago.  one of these days i'm going to have to go through them, but i'm kind of hoping they'll be in decent enough condition to pass along to my nieces when they're old enough.  right next to them are the Bobbsey Twins, and Nancy Drew.  mostly i got them from the library, but had a few of my own.  Trixie is paperbacks, but the others are HCs, but they're all pretty old by now.

If you were a serious Nancy Drew fan, you really must get on the WL for this book:

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her

Fascinating story of how the books were really written. And if you don't already know how book-writing syndicates worked in the early- and  mid-20th century, you will be surprised!  At first, I was disappointed, then inspired.  Great read.