From the Look of Things

1. I am completely snowed in. I'm sure anyone in the MD/DC/VA area is having the same problems right now. It just stopped snowing an hour ago, but there's a predicted storm for Tuesday.

Our power went out last night, so I was incredibly relieved when I woke up this morning and everything was running again, though it flickers a bit. I don't do really well with power outages. I can deal with no light, no computer, no TV, and no hot water, but not all at the same time. I think it's the boredom that comes with being stuck in a dark house. And then the boredom makes me want to eat and sleep. By the time the snow begins to clear out I'm going to look like a squirrell ready for hibernation.

I though I'd add some pictures of my back porch and of the tree limbs weighed down in the snow.

Ironically, the first thing that popped into my head when the blizzard hit was, "I have a library book that's overdue and there is no way I can return it this weekend." I guess that's what I get for having a librarian for a mother :)

2. I feel I might as well add my two cents about the new Lisa Kleypas and Julia Quinn book covers. I've seen a lot of people posting about it. In both cases, I think the covers are a step down from the previous books in the series.

Lisa Kleypas:

So far the Hathways have some of my favorite covers. In fact, that's how I began reading the series.- back in '07 the blue and gold cover of Mine Till Midnight caught my eye when I was stuck in a long line at CVS. I like the covers for Seduce Me at Sunrise and Tempt Me at Twilight even more.

I love image of the single female reclining. There's a touch of mystery in that you can't see her eyes. To me, those covers are attractive and sensual without being overdone.

The covers of Married by Morning and Love in the Afternoon match each other, but not the other books in the series. This is a pet peeve of mine. I know it doesn't bother a lot of readers, but I hate when things don't match. The titles match, so why can't the covers? On top of that, the covers don't seem as interesting or romantic.

I'm unsure why the publishers decided to make the covers more tame- I doubt the books will be. Both the covers are pleasant, but I find them bland. I can see why Love in the Afternoon has a stack of letters, but the roses on Married by Morning just seem to be garden variety romance symbolism (hehe forgive the pun). They're not nearly as sensual as the earlier book covers.

Also, comparing the step backs, the first three follow the formula of shirtless male/dress falling off. Then these two are shirt falling off/dress on. I don't think that's a big deal. I just wonder why the publishers decided to go that direction.

Julia Quinn:

The cover for What Happens in London is a lot like what the new Hathaway covers look like (minus the step back). While I don't think it's remarkable, I do like it.

So I'm really lost to how the publishers decided on the cover for Ten Things I Love About You (the follow up to What Happens in London).

The cover almost works if you start from the bottom. You've got a lovely flowing white dress, a hint of cleavage, a mysterious letter... a washed out brunette? I feel bad for whoever was the model for that cover- it is not a flattering angle for her face and the expression looks more bored and vacant than intriguing. The face is so jarring it takes any romance there was out of the cover.

Personally, I think Julia Quinn has been screwed over on covers for the past few years. I remember the WTF moment from when I first saw The Lost Duke of Wyndham. I would have hoped publishers learned from the Wyndham/Cavendish covers, but apparently not. In these cases, while cartoonish, I think I prefer the UK versions.

The Loss of a Treasure

Anyone who lives in Delaware or the DC metro area has (hopefully) heard of Lambda Rising. To sum up: for 35 years Lambda Rising has been Washington's premier LGBT bookstore, with one of the largest collections of fiction, erotica, memoirs, nonfiction/history, and tons of other odds and ends. They have some of the most wonderful and knowledgeable staff and has created a real sense of community.

That being said, I was upset to learn that both Lambda Rising stores are closing. Lambda Rising has always held a special place in my heart. It was where I bought Sweet Lips by Mel Smith and first discovered homo erotica five years ago. Since then I've developed a soft spot for the genre, though the bulk of my reading is still mainstream romance. I felt slightly better when I found out that it is closing because the owner is retiring, not because they are going out of business. Still, it won't be there anymore.

The second thought that crossed my mind: OMG yay a sale!

It was so awesome to walk in there and find all books 40% off! Despite having a $20 cash limit, I was able to walk away with some goodies.



It took me quite a bit of time to settle on one piece of erotic I wanted to buy. I ended up sitting in the middle of one of the aisles with my friend, flipping through a stack of books trying to pick one. I narrowed it down to three and with my friend's advice picked this one. The plot sounded fairly interesting, I liked that it's a historical, but mostly did you see that cover! Best. Erection. Ever.

Speaking of erections, this book was irresistible as well. I've been flipping through it and never realized until now just how much thought goes into a blow job. There is also this awesome chapter for guys about etiquette and considerations for your partner. Fellatio has never been so equal! The other reason I just had to get this is because my friend bought The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women. Maybe we'll switch when we're done reading our own.

I had the funniest cashier when checking out. The ridiculous cover of The Price of Temptation lead to some witty banter about the absurdity of many Harlequin covers and Nathan Kamp's abs. His exact comment was "I don't like a guy to be too ripped. I don't want to get rug burn just from going down on him". FTW!

Review Dump

I know I haven't posted anything in a while, so I'm just doing a review dump for all the books I've reviewed in the past month.


5 stars

My high rating of Unlawful Contact is seriously boosted by the sex scenes between Marc and Sophie. This book gets seriously spicy.

The opening to the novel is when Marc (then known as Hunt) and Sophie first speak at a graduation party. He’s two years older, attractive and very popular. Sophie has just lost her parents, is alone and teased. Of course, Hunt sees past that all. The scene where she loses her virginity to him is one of the most romantic love scenes I’ve ever read. I think this is what really sold me on the book. It’s every girl’s fantasy. Almost every woman can remember wanting that “perfect” guy to notice you. There is something cathartic about having Sophie getting to live that fantasy.

The suspense aspect of the novel plays out well. There are more twists and turns in Marc’s past and the conspiracy against him and his sister than I can count. It was also great that Sophie didn’t immediately fall for him again when they see each other. She’s pissed and she should be. It made her character seem more real and made it more interesting to watch them fall for each other a second time. While the first chapter was hot, the sex scenes in the book become more erotic.

Some moments in the plot did seem to drag, especially when it came to progress in their investigation or Sophie’s job as a reporter. Nothing was ever slow or dull enough for me to want to put it down though. The only thing which did get under my skin a little was the complete care bear ending. Every character got everything they wanted. Within months all the good guys got of scot free while the bad guys got put away for life (not that it isn’t a good thing, just not very realistic based on how trials go). It just got a bit to warm and fuzzy for me.

I’d recommend this for anyone who likes romantic suspense and is looking for something that sizzles.




5 stars

During the first few chapters, I came very close to setting this book down and never picking it up again. Lady Irene Wyngate is determined not to marry, and insists on making this clear to everyone. It’s great that she’s an independent heroine, but I just couldn’t envision some woman talking to the ton at a ball and spouting out why she would never marry. While I liked that she was a modern, independent thinker, her talking openly about it didn’t jive with her deire to be considered proper.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the book. Her not wanting to marry (and the reasons she doesn’t want to marry) set up for good tension between her and Gideon. I loved their sparring. It brought both characters to life. And there were several wonderful, sensual love scenes.

At first I didn’t know what to make of the plot since it focuses on the fact Gideon was kidnapped as a child and grew up in the slums of London. It’s a somewhat odd plot, but it provided enough twists and surprises to keep everything moving.

While this is not one of my favorite romances overall, I came to really like both the hero and heroine.




4 stars

Overall I enjoyed Knight of Desire. It definitely passed the put-down pick-up test. Most of the story is told from William, our hero’s point of view. I enjoyed watching his feelings and understanding of Katherine evolve. While there is a lot of action, William and Katherine’s relationship changes very slowly. The main conflict in their relationship is their lack of trust, so the book is rife with misunderstandings. They weren’t the wall-banger, TSTL types of misunderstandings but I did start to find them tiresome. William spent most of the book either confused or oblivious, but is never an overbearing ass-hat hero. I found Kate’s character more off-putting. She is clearly a strong woman able to endure a lot of hardship, but she didn’t seem active in making her and William’s relationship work until way into the book.

I was a bit hesitant about this book since it’s my first medieval romance, but I’m glad I got it. I think my decision may have been influenced by its gorgeous cover and the rave reviews it received a few months ago. There wasn’t too much detail and realism about the time period, but this worked for me since I find too much realism distracts me from the story. It was a fun read and I’m really excited for the next book in the series, Knight of Pleasure. The hero, Stephan, is introduced in this book and became my favorite character, so I’m thrilled he gets his own story.




3 stars

When I saw this was one of the harelquin freebies, I just had to get it. I mean really, have you taken a good look at that cover? It cracks me up! I don't know if I should start with the two fat, oblivious babies... or the way he's holding them like two wiggling footballs he scooped up off the ground while gazing optimistically into the horizon... or the strange jaw buldge that suggets a jaw tumor. I mean it looks like some oddball in a suit picked up some kids at the supermarket and brought them home to his wife. "Hey honey, I'm home. And look what I brought with me- two pudge identical tots! Now I can go one and fufill my dream of being the best baby collector in America..."

Ok, I'm done, but you still got to admit it's a truly snark worthy cover. As a book it was better than I expected, which isn't saying much since I expected it to be similar to the cover. It read more like a Harelquin Presents than a Silhouette Desire. That's were the most the secret baby and I-must-punish-you-for-lying-to-me plots come out. However, Nick Falco wasn't nearly as much as an asshat than Harlequin usually makes there hero's, so that was a pleasant surprise. Jenna, however, really got on my nerves. She was intent on martyring herself for her children, because her life could never be complete without them! To say the least, no depth.

Despite all it's shortcomings, this book was a freebie, so there's no harm in downloading it, if only to look at the cover some more.

What I Did on Labor Day

I haven't even finished my current read and I'm already buying new books! In my own defense, there was a Labor Day sale at a Thrift Store in my area, so all the books ended up being 50 cents. Hello, two quarters each!!!! It was a hugh practice in self-restraint not to grab more.




The last of the Bridgertons. I have Francesca and Hyacinth's book's to go, but I found Gregory's with a stepback so I just had to grab it.

I remember that this got lukewarm reviews, especially since Mr. Cavindish, I Presume apparently just repeats most of this book. And the cover is pretty

aweful too. It's got this vapid-heroine-with-a-neck-crick thing going for it. But for 50 cents I'm willing to give it a go.

One of the Bow Street Runner's series. I haven't read any of the series yet, but I love Kleypas. I'm so excited for Tempt Me at Twilight's release!!!! In the meantime, I've gotten my mother hooked on Kleypas (major score) and she's now read the Devil in Winter and Scandal in Spring (my personal fav), and is ready to sink her teeth into the Hathaways. She seems to have develped an attachment to Cam because wherever we go she keeps comparing ever tan-skinned male to him....

I think I originally became interested in this because I keep confusing the title with The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (which was a fantastic book, fyi). From reading the back I can't see anything exceptional about it yet, so I'm reserving all judgement until I read it.

I'd never read a Medeiros, and I vaugely remember some buzz about her last year, so into the cart it went!

Finding this book was somewhat of a disappointment for the simple fact it was so much less vivid! I don't think it was because it was thrift since the spine wasn't cracked. Luckily cover color doesn't affect reading enjoyment.

Flyboy- Karen Foley

Flyboy can best be described as dying relationship with two partners stubbornly ignoring their problems- it was only saved by the sex.

To accurately describe the book, I should probably give it two ratings. One for the plot and one for the sex appeal. I’d give Angel and Sedona at least 4 to 5 stars for setting the pages on fire. Even for a Blaze, Flyboy was heavy on its erotic appeal.

While I ended up giving the book 3 stars overall, I came very close to giving it 2, or maybe 1 and a half- because the plot was just so freaking absurd. If I hadn’t pushed myself through the very beginning it may have become a DNF. While it’s believable that there is sexism in the military, it’s a bit extreme to have the plot focus on a secret “Membership” where people are promoted by their sexual exploits during business trips.

One thing in the books favor is the lack of drawn out Big Misunderstandings between the protagonists, though I do think those are more common in Presents than Blazes. While there were a few Big Misunderstandings, Sedona and Angel managed to work things out within a few pages, instead of drawing stupid issues out through the entire book. And they both actually chose to deal with their issues and feelings, which was refreshing. No, what really makes this book a wall-banger is its absurd plot line.

I think what I love most about this book though it is its cover: massive phallic imagery! How on earth could I resist buying a book with a cover this blatant and hilarious!? And the cover model… abs to die for. The book might not be a keeper, but the cover is.