tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12378930292757507302024-03-05T17:30:12.318-05:00Paper BoyfriendsWillowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15510172284182171652noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-40379324189984325032013-12-09T20:59:00.001-05:002014-08-06T19:28:11.690-04:00Hearing voices in my head.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"My current verdict would be: crazy eyes. Nice ass."</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"I think I want that on my tombstone," Kami said. "Remember my last wishes, if I get involved in a tragic accident with a fruit cart before I can put it in writing. So, what happened?"</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'll tell you what happened, Kami. <i>Unspoken</i> happened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And it might have been the best thing that ever happened to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/836009.Sarah_Rees_Brennan">Sarah Rees Brennan</a> had showed up on my recommendations numerous times. She was literally stalking them. And I kept telling myself, "eventually." Eventually I will check her out. Eventually I will see what all the fuss about. Eventually I will panic and give in to her list stalking. The problem was, her <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1829655.The_Demon_s_Lexicon">Demon's Lexicon</a> books just didn't appeal to me. There was nothing about the blurb that screamed, "IF YOU DON'T READ ME YOU WILL LITERALLY DIE A THOUSAND DEATHS." Maybe it was the good little preacher's kid in me that cringed away from demons. Maybe it was the rebellious preacher's kid in me that had read too many books about demons. Whatever it was, I wasn't interested.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then Unspoken showed up on my lists. And I thought, "Okay, Brennan. I get it. I should read you. We're a perfect match. Calm it down a little bit" and I read the blurb and came over all, "OKAY, BRENNAN. WHERE IS THIS BOOK? I MUST HAVE IT."</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333397426l/10866624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333397426l/10866624.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10866624-unspoken">Unspoken</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/836009.Sarah_Rees_Brennan">Sarah Rees Brennan</a></b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/436429812">5 of 5 stars.</a></b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have read a lot of books this year. A lot. Some have been glorious. Some have made my soul weep for the English language and the literary world as a whole. Some have made me come over with ALL THE FANGIRLING.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Unspoken</i> fell into the latter category.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is so much going on here. SO MUCH. And Kami Glass, my new book bestie, is smack dab in the center of it BEING AWESOME. This girl is hilarious. No. This girl is so hilarious, from this point forth, super hilarious people should be called Kami. WE SHOULD TURN HER NAME INTO AN ADJECTIVE. "Oh, she is a funny girl. Seriously. Downright Kami." She <i>does </i>things. Sometimes stupid things, but she does them with style and finesse and a heaping dose of dry wit. Kami is not a girl who is content to sit back and let things happen to her. She gets out there and gets her hands dirty herself. I kept waiting for that moment. You know what I'm talking about here. That <i>moment</i>. When Kami would throw away her awesome card and join the Bella Swans and Luce Prices. Because surely, surely, any heroine I love this hard is going to let me down, right?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">WRONG. SO WRONG. Kami stays awesome. She stays awesome when Ash Lynburn shows up. She stays awesome when her imaginary friend, the voice in her head she's spoken to all her life, Jared Lynburn, shows up. Kami stays awesome through the build up and on to the climax. Kami even manages to stay awesome at the end, when we're left with a horrible cliffhanger that made me see all the red ragey caps lock emotions.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kami and Jared's relationship is delicious. It's complex and confusing and slightly angsty and full of tight-in-the-chest moments that made me grip my Kindle and bite back a fangirly squeal. And even though so much of the book revolves around them, their mental connection, their magical one, their coming to terms with each other being actual real people and not just voices in the others head, it still managed to not completely drive the story. This was about Kami and Jared but it was also about more. It was about Sorry-in-the-Vale as a whole and the magic it was built on. There was a plot! An actual honest-to-goodness plot! And there was secondary characters that were just as fleshed out as the main ones! And parents! YES. Kami has a <i>family </i>that is present and accounted for and involved in her life! She has friends! Friends that she keeps! Her entire life does not revolve around Jared. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I cannot say enough how much I loved the dialogue in this book. How hilarious I found it. How that humor was not used to cover up poor characterizations or a lacking story line. No, Brennan was able to make her characters funny without it ever coming off like she was trying to make her characters funny. Nor was she like the corny, embarrassing uncle at family gatherings who thinks the epitome of comedy is "pull my finger." The banter between characters felt genuine and the narration felt natural and at any given moment, I was ready to pee my pants or clap my hands and bark like a seal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"Boys. Listen up. We are going out for a girls' night, where there will be dancing."</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Kami did an illustrative shimmy. Angela looked resigned.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Jared looked amused. "What was that?"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"You’ve got to dance like nobody's watching, Jared," Kami informed him.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"Have you considered that perhaps nobody’s watching because they’re too embarrassed for you?"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"Fine," said Kami, grinning at him. "Be a hater of dances. Be a hater of joy. I don’t care. You’re not invited!"</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"Have you seen a unicorn in the woods?"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"I imagine that's next," Jared muttered.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"Right," said Holly. "Well. If the unicorn is pink, about two feet tall, with a sparkly mane, we'll know my imaginary friend is real too."</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> In conclusion:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHERE IS THE NEXT BOOK I MUST HAVE IT.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-10508406103677609672013-06-05T14:19:00.000-04:002014-08-06T21:14:39.364-04:00Arouse: What Happens After the HEA.<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17204350-arouse" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Arouse (Spiral of Bliss, #1)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1357162798m/17204350.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17204350-arouse">Arouse</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5785925.Nina_Lane">Nina Lane</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/619554347">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
I've come to a place in my reading that isn't bitter or burnt out yet, but it's a bit tired. I'm done with the pages of sex and skin that lack the bones of a real story. As much as I <b>love</b> good sex in a good book, I can't even remember these people's names and I'm tired. <br />
<br />
This is the story of Olivia and Dean West. I know their names and so will you. <br />
<br />
As a romance reader, this is the book I'm dying to find in the piles of bare-chested covers. Finding out that it was about an already married couple, already seemingly past their HEA, forcing the question of <i>what happens next</i> made me immediately put it first in my TBR pile. I wanted to see it done, and from the reviews everyone seemed to be in agreement that here it's done memorably well.<br />
<br />
Hauntingly well.<br />
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Olivia is a woman who ran from her issues, intent on achieving her dreams by sheer force of will and that lent her a life that was to be isolated. She was okay with this. She did better on her own than with people, but then she met Professor Dean West.<br />
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He's tall, dark and captivating and he's caught on her line she hadn't even intended on casting. He's this wonderful concoction of medieval professor and lean muscle and he's <i>delicious</i>. Olivia is gorgeous and contained and together they've got an insane amount of chemistry.<br />
<br />
Like, honestly. I can't remember the last time reading a book with so much understated
chemistry. It wasn't pushy with cliches, didn't rely on purple prose,
but it was organically hot.<br />
<br />
It's was entirely Olivia and Dean. They
became solid and real. <br />
<br />
This story is lush, simple and engaging. From the quiet setting that felt like falling into a dreamy oil painting of a college town to the lovely sense of pace of their current story stitched together with the story of how they met. How desperately in love they are with the other steals your breath as you watch their marriage begin to crumble. It's the oddest most engaging juxtaposition.<br />
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Quiet monsters have stolen into their tiny apartment; doubt, fear and regret. Questions and denials have taken root and watching this marriage come apart at the seams felt achingly authentic, and yet you never stop feeling their need for the other. They can barely talk, but they're grabbing and pulling and kissing and it's hopeless and desperate and so good. It's hot and gets you right in the chest, and no, it's not emotional crybaby <i>Let Me Stretch Your Boundaries</i> sex, and thank all that is sweaty and hot for it. It's good, lusty sex between two people who are driving each other nuts, and as I was reading I was dying for them both, falling deeper with every revelation and stupid decision. Banging doors down, too. Standing in that coffee shop when they met. <br />
<br />
I was rooting for Liv and Dean and then I was throwing confetti, because there's a <b>sequel</b>.<br />
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Willowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15510172284182171652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-57916173732373264592013-03-29T18:18:00.000-04:002014-08-06T22:07:32.736-04:00The Guilty WTF Pleasure of Black Dagger Brotherhood: Books Wrath-Thor.Okay. It's a timely moment to talk about one of my deepest, darkest guiltiest of pleasures. This is not something I can bring up in polite society. I mean...how do I even bring it up? What descriptions do I use? What sort of picture am I going to paint for the uninitiated? <br />
<i>Deep breath. </i><br />
I'm a fan of leather pants wearing vampires who drive Escalades and fight bad guys that smell like baby powder.<br />
Oh, God.<br />
There's just no coming back from that is there?<br />
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<br />
With the long-awaited release of <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13570854-lover-at-last" target="_blank">Lover At Last</a>, it's hard not to get all caught up in the BDB talk. The <b>Black Dagger Brotherhood</b> is a funny sort of obsession, but it's one I can't shake. Some series you dive into with the gusto of a fangirl, but you find yourself looking around after awhile and trying to walk out of the room without anyone noticing you were even there.<br />
<br />
But with BDB, I'm still in there, still reading the next books, still skimming the parts about the Lessers. Still hanging out with vampires who use unnecessary H's in their names and wear boots they obsessively refer to as shit kickers, and always seem to end their sentences with either <i>yup</i> or <i>true</i>.<br />
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Listen, I don't have explanations or a diagnosis for why I'm still waving my BDB flag. What I do have is a run through for where we've been with this brotherhood of vampires with poor grammar, kinky bedroom secrets and sometimes dragon tattoos.<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: center;">
The OG Vampires. </h4>
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42899.Dark_Lover" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309209351m/42899.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42899.Dark_Lover">Dark Lover</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20248.J_R_Ward">J.R. Ward</a><br />
<br />
And so it begins. The intro to the Black Dagger Brotherhood offers a story that manages to be a bit gritty and sweet, violent and romantic, and kinda dark and sexy. It's a surreal, blurry setting that is <i>kind of</i> grounded in reality. Caldwell is filled with dirty streets and twisted people, but this is very much a romance that delivers on all the points one would expect, but does so without sparing action or cue-the-rap-song Alpha dude swagger. <br />
Wrath is dangerous and angry and Beth is his switch. He's going blind, and say what. But there he is shaking down the whole barn with his rage and damn, that was pretty hot. So was Beth's first time seeing him. And above all, Thor's line, "Nice. Fucking. Suit."<br />
<br />
......Yeah, their names aren't Joe and Steve, they fight in leathers, and there's a bit of a Gothic element to it. The villains known as "lessers" are quite different. They smell like baby powder and seem easy enough to take out? I'm not really sure why we have such an intense gang of vampires to take out these people.<br />
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And yet, the world is addictive. The camaraderie between them gives a human element to an otherwise fantastical story. And all the <i>mine</i> talk with these ridiculously alphas putting off manly perfumes when they find their mate?<br />
<br />
None of this should work, but it absolutely does. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35729.Lover_Eternal" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #2)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1300845974m/35729.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35729.Lover_Eternal">Lover Eternal</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20248.J_R_Ward">J.R. Ward</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
This book was surprising to me. Don't get me wrong, from the first introduction to Rhage in Dark Lover, I was ready for his book. I mean, <i>please</i>, he's gorgeous, gets off on beating the shit out of lessers, and is always talking shit. And all that charm and gorgeous Hollywood looks are wrapped up in a vampire who has to have sex or else, like die or something, and he's so lonely on the inside because of his scary as shit beast side. OH, YEAH. HE TURNS INTO THIS DRAGON BEAST WHEN HE'S UPSET. <br />
<br />
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I loved everything about this one. Rhage's story is everything I wanted it to be. We get to see exactly how tortured he is by the beast and the anonymous sex, and the way he is completely unhinged by Mary. Her inner monologue was pitch perfect, and her struggle was heartbreaking and realistic. She's dying and watching Rhage step up to the plate to be with her whatever the cost was amazing and lovely and ridiculously romantic and heavier than I'd expected. Also, we meet John Matthew who can't talk and I am so fascinated. His story is <i>gutting</i>. But now he's here, in this world, and he's our eyes and ears into this world. The Brotherhood is together in their new digs and it's a new era of cohesiveness with Wrath as king, and it's just a lot of unexpectedly sweet moments and cracktastic fun.<br />
<br />
I wonder if I can get posters of them for my room. </div>
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</div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42900.Lover_Awakened" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #3)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349010402m/42900.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42900.Lover_Awakened">Lover Awakened</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20248.J_R_Ward">J.R. Ward</a><br />
<br />
Z.<br />
GOD.<br />
Z is my favorite.<br />
This book...I'm trying to think of the words...but I just can't.<br />
One usually expects a paranormal romance to entertain, be a quick read or escape, and then to disappear on the shelf for the next time you need a fun read. It's one of the things I love about the genre. It's pure escapism.<br />
<br />
This <i>isn't </i>that book.<br />
<br />
From the very first sentence where Phury is shouting at Z to not jump as he flies out of a speeding car to attack a couple of Lessers in his focused, homicidal need to find or avenge Bella, you know the momentum for this one is going to be nuts. Some of the most heartbreaking but lovely scenes I have ever read in any book are in this one. The shower scene before Bella feeds destroyed me. It was there that I knew that Z would always be it for me.<br />
<br />
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<br />
This was the book that I realized that I was fully committed to these characters and their stories. I can't say enough about Bella and her unflinching dedication to Z. He is <i>such</i> an alpha male, and to read the scenes of his past, and how afraid and used he was at the hands of the Mistress, how he didn't understand why it was happening to him, and how unloved and untouched he was and how that translated to this huge and terrifying male not being able to handle touch or process emotions?<br />
I just...I can't.<br />
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<br />
And then there's Tohr.<br />
Wellsie.<br />
The Brothers at the door.<br />
Oh, God. I can't go there either.<br />
The things that happened to my heart in this book. MY HEART. THE FEELS. DEAD.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfbTX26u5ajRWAEraEwqAt0dtMkpvh775XrMwg-R3L6A8EwBDY8KR_Mvr58dJJLaEpZyf0KUCKkdoVRgXF4S89ikFRUjnu5pj-wDYX9SpQpuufXvcu5A3qDSRuwh-x6y4d-hl3J2Pfo0/s1600/dividers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfbTX26u5ajRWAEraEwqAt0dtMkpvh775XrMwg-R3L6A8EwBDY8KR_Mvr58dJJLaEpZyf0KUCKkdoVRgXF4S89ikFRUjnu5pj-wDYX9SpQpuufXvcu5A3qDSRuwh-x6y4d-hl3J2Pfo0/s320/dividers.jpg" height="36" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42898.Lover_Revealed" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #4)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1169957159m/42898.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42898.Lover_Revealed">Lover Revealed</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20248.J_R_Ward">J.R. Ward</a><br />
<br />
Butch is a Red Sox-lovin', Escalade-drivin', Southie-speakin', gravel-voiced heartbreaker. I don't know what it is about him, but he had my attention from the first book, and he wasn't even one of the vampires. <br />
I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. I thought I'd race through it to hurry up and get to V. I wasn't in love with Marissa <i>but</i> I did enjoy her evolution. I get it. I understand her and Butch together oddly enough. And his struggles about not being able to be on the outside of anything anymore? <br />
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I love his relationship with V. It gets complicated and intense, but I love that J.R. Ward was able to go there and every bit of it felt authentic and <i>them</i>. And here we're finally getting to know Rehvenge. This is a vampire that wears fur and has a purple mohawk.<br />
<i>Who the hell is this guy? </i><br />
He is the ringmaster for a circus of drugs and sex and does it with panache, and I kind of want to get into a back room at his club even though it's totally not my scene. I need to know what's going on. A bathroom? I don't know.<br />
Also, Butch is a <i>dirty</i> talker.<br />
I really loved the scene with him and Beth when the vampire comes out of Wrath. This series is turning me into someone I don't understand.<br />
I need to watch <i>You've Got Mail</i> or something. <br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfbTX26u5ajRWAEraEwqAt0dtMkpvh775XrMwg-R3L6A8EwBDY8KR_Mvr58dJJLaEpZyf0KUCKkdoVRgXF4S89ikFRUjnu5pj-wDYX9SpQpuufXvcu5A3qDSRuwh-x6y4d-hl3J2Pfo0/s1600/dividers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfbTX26u5ajRWAEraEwqAt0dtMkpvh775XrMwg-R3L6A8EwBDY8KR_Mvr58dJJLaEpZyf0KUCKkdoVRgXF4S89ikFRUjnu5pj-wDYX9SpQpuufXvcu5A3qDSRuwh-x6y4d-hl3J2Pfo0/s320/dividers.jpg" height="36" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/304027.Lover_Unbound" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #5)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351276662m/304027.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/304027.Lover_Unbound">Lover Unbound</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20248.J_R_Ward">J.R. Ward</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78428695">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
V is complicated and antagonistic and brilliant.<br />
Oh, and a total freak with a glow stick for a hand.<br />
Jane is smart, scientific and a doctor, so duh they match up, but she's a healer so she's warm where V is kind of a dick. She's a lot like Butch in the way she stands up to V and calls him on his obnoxious side. Her past shapes her quite a bit, and we understand her through her memories and one of my favorite scenes is her and V side by side on his bed sharing scar stories. Fastest way to get a twisted guy like V to fall in love with you is tell him about your crazy.<br />
Jackpot, Jane.<br />
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<br />
One question though: where are the ladies? The deeper you get into the series the more characters are scrambling for page space, and so the romance may not feel as straightforward as let's say Wrath's or Rhage's, and <i>shellans</i> are just disappearing. And this HEA? It was out there.<br />
This is the book where we know things are gonna get weird. Weirder than villains who smell like baby powder. I might need a rule book at this point to know if this is okay.<br />
<br />
It's just...I dealt with things in Z's book that were not just given a get out of Death card. <br />
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfbTX26u5ajRWAEraEwqAt0dtMkpvh775XrMwg-R3L6A8EwBDY8KR_Mvr58dJJLaEpZyf0KUCKkdoVRgXF4S89ikFRUjnu5pj-wDYX9SpQpuufXvcu5A3qDSRuwh-x6y4d-hl3J2Pfo0/s1600/dividers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfbTX26u5ajRWAEraEwqAt0dtMkpvh775XrMwg-R3L6A8EwBDY8KR_Mvr58dJJLaEpZyf0KUCKkdoVRgXF4S89ikFRUjnu5pj-wDYX9SpQpuufXvcu5A3qDSRuwh-x6y4d-hl3J2Pfo0/s320/dividers.jpg" height="36" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1240662.Lover_Enshrined" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #6)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327896547m/1240662.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1240662.Lover_Enshrined">Lover Enshrined</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20248.J_R_Ward">J.R. Ward</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78428696">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
Blah.<br />
Phury.<br />
I mean. I guess it was kind of interesting to see him at the bottom and Z be the one to have to watch out for him. <br />
The love story here was...different. Boring? The pacing wasn't intense and it had a subdued softness to it. It's Phury...with a Chosen.<br />
<br />
Not the ingredients for fireworks. <br />
<br />
All this Primale and Chosen business is my least favorite aspect of the BDB world, except for the Lessers so no, this wasn't one of my favorites. <br />
<br />
Here we also see the growth of the "boys": John Matthew, Blay and Qhuinn. They're growing up, taking up more of the page wanting to bone everything in sight and shit is going to hit the fan with them and their war with Lash. I hate him more than a bucket of Malfoys.<br />
<br />
The best part of the book was the final scene. It was emotional and all of them were together and I don't give one single fuck for any tears I cried. NOT ONE. This book feels like a transitional one taking us beyond the mansion to the other vamps in this world. Hopefully it drops us off in a good place and remembers to pick us back up at the end of the day.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<h4>
Branching Out of the Mansion.</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
</div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5098079-lover-avenged" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Lover Avenged (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #7)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1321039998m/5098079.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5098079-lover-avenged">Lover Avenged</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20248.J_R_Ward">J.R. Ward</a><br />
<br />
I'll be honest, I didn't know how much I'd like this one with Rehv not being a Brother.<br />
What am I even saying? It's weird to review these books. Moving on. <br />
Somehow, despite being away from the mansion, after Phury, Rehv is a breath of <i>Finally</i>. <br />
Ehlena and Rehv worked from the very beginning. <i>Chemistry! Finally!</i><br />
When we first see them interact and Rehv is sitting there waiting and the door opens and here comes Nurse Ehlena and he looks up with that small smile and thinks, "<i>My Ehlena</i>."<br />
<br />
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<br />
And whoa now! We get to step back into the mind of Wrath. I want to see this. I want to know that the lives of the others aren't static and don't stop happening just because their book is done. This makes it feel like an ensemble. It's been too long since we've seen things from Wrath's perspective, and his ordeal twists the heart.<br />
And THOR.<br />
His disparity made me realize how far as readers we've come with these characters. The sunny side? Lassiter. The snarky, black and blonde, pierced angel dude who brought him back to us in all his emaciated, hate the world glory. <br />
<br />
The sympath's are a new element and an extra layer of WTF. They're like reptile vampires. Sneaky, emotional lizards. Hm. They have a princess and her and Rehv have a creepy as shit relationship, but everything keeps getting creepier with every book, so whatever. Xhex is a key player, and I adore Xhex.<br />
<br />
And then the sympath colony happens. <br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<h4>
The Next Generation.</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
</div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7046495-lover-mine" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Lover Mine (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #8)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349079700m/7046495.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7046495-lover-mine">Lover Mine</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20248.J_R_Ward">J.R. Ward</a><br />
<br />
This book was highly-anticipated because a) the last one left us with a cliffhanger for what happened to Xhex and b) it's John Matthew's. <br />
<br />
John is a character readers have watched evolve since the second book in the series. He's been our eyes and ears as he learned all about the world of vampires right along with us. And we've been through the gamut of emotions with him. From the darkest, weakest, most heartbreaking moments to the lethal warrior he's become now. And the boy always holds on to his heart. That's why his story mattered so much.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzCo8i0tbtwDCdryRt8EWuK-B6NBXPH-5gi69N3nkmXW3ck6ljpHQ0E6FdaPfZnHhE9AeOJMGZkshL4odAufQoFT3cKR5b7lpvqkAiGgMVzlvf0Z_7NVkJYepXwvhfKPHADTSAPFVlt4/s1600/tumblr_inline_mhd900Vcz91rdsjtv.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzCo8i0tbtwDCdryRt8EWuK-B6NBXPH-5gi69N3nkmXW3ck6ljpHQ0E6FdaPfZnHhE9AeOJMGZkshL4odAufQoFT3cKR5b7lpvqkAiGgMVzlvf0Z_7NVkJYepXwvhfKPHADTSAPFVlt4/s1600/tumblr_inline_mhd900Vcz91rdsjtv.gif" /></a></div>
<br />
Xhex is a total badass. She's had such a developed story going on for the past couple of books, which sets her, in my opinion, in a different camp than the other love interests, and was capable of holding the spotlight with stronger hands. With this book we're entering what feels like the next generation's story with Blay and Qhuinn added into the mix. I do miss the constant presence of the original vamps. And their ladies. It feels like a Boyz 2 Men song about letting go and I'm not ready.<br />
<br />
My heart <i>breaks</i> for Blay and Qhuinn. The longing and the anger simmering there. This may be the most angsty relationship in the BDB world.<br />
<br />
Thor is coming back into the fray. Seeing his health return, standing back while he tries to make peace with everything he lost, and stepping into shoes of the man he once was to be there for John. Class act, that Thor.<br />
<br />
But couples like JM and Xhex? These are the kind of couples I want in every single paranormal I read.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfbTX26u5ajRWAEraEwqAt0dtMkpvh775XrMwg-R3L6A8EwBDY8KR_Mvr58dJJLaEpZyf0KUCKkdoVRgXF4S89ikFRUjnu5pj-wDYX9SpQpuufXvcu5A3qDSRuwh-x6y4d-hl3J2Pfo0/s1600/dividers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfbTX26u5ajRWAEraEwqAt0dtMkpvh775XrMwg-R3L6A8EwBDY8KR_Mvr58dJJLaEpZyf0KUCKkdoVRgXF4S89ikFRUjnu5pj-wDYX9SpQpuufXvcu5A3qDSRuwh-x6y4d-hl3J2Pfo0/s320/dividers.jpg" height="36" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8492319-lover-unleashed" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #9)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1289343390m/8492319.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8492319-lover-unleashed">Lover Unleashed</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20248.J_R_Ward">J.R. Ward</a><br />
<br />
However many books we are into the series now, and if I'm learning anything other than the fact that Lessers are the stupidest of villains is that <i>every last one</i> of these vampires has way too many issues for one book.<br />
And I love that.<br />
We're getting revisited by "solved" couples, and we're dealing with what comes <i>after</i> an HEA. The world gets bigger, but to not lose touch with the heart and guts of why we care about these stories in the first place is the absolute best thing to do as you move deeper into a series about so many relationships. (Seriously. So many.)<br />
<br />
These boys don't die. They're not forever and ever saved by the end of their book and left to wither away on the happily ever after shelf with their lady and all their overwhelming love. <br />
<br />
Come to find out, they're still pretty messed up even after their The End.<br />
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Yes, this is about Payne and Manny, who were both super sexy and pained until Manny became <i>immediately</i> in love and it sort of tanked after that.<br />
<br />
But no matter. This was about V. He's still tortured and messed in the head and still needs some <i>very</i> intense TLC to come out of it. I can't imagine coming into one of these books without already being inoculated by the earlier stories and understanding just how deep and <b>WTF</b> we're gonna get sometimes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfbTX26u5ajRWAEraEwqAt0dtMkpvh775XrMwg-R3L6A8EwBDY8KR_Mvr58dJJLaEpZyf0KUCKkdoVRgXF4S89ikFRUjnu5pj-wDYX9SpQpuufXvcu5A3qDSRuwh-x6y4d-hl3J2Pfo0/s1600/dividers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfbTX26u5ajRWAEraEwqAt0dtMkpvh775XrMwg-R3L6A8EwBDY8KR_Mvr58dJJLaEpZyf0KUCKkdoVRgXF4S89ikFRUjnu5pj-wDYX9SpQpuufXvcu5A3qDSRuwh-x6y4d-hl3J2Pfo0/s320/dividers.jpg" height="36" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10993282-lover-reborn" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #10)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1319144072m/10993282.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10993282-lover-reborn">Lover Reborn</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20248.J_R_Ward">J.R. Ward</a><br />
<br />
I had no idea <b>how</b> this book could happen. How could someone get over their Shellan? Wasn't that like an <i>unbreakable</i> bond? Especially for Tohr and Wellsie? Like, they were IT. And when she was killed way back when in...Z's? book it felt like this was something with no resolution. No coming back for Tohrment, the most level of all the brothers. He was stable and sure in those first two books, where all the other brothers were ticking time bombs with demons and dragons and too many scars to count. They were all on the precipice of losing it, where Tohr was the only one with a soft place to land.<br />
<br />
And here we are so many books later and it's the complete opposite. Every one else is happily mated, while Tohr is fighting his heart out night after night, refusing to feed, knowing only the desperate need for vengeance. Getting to this book felt like we've been to hell and back with this vampire above all the others.<br />
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<br />
The one who really surprised me was No'One. The whole Chosen bit isn't my favorite. It drags.<br />
<br />
I enjoyed Beth, Mary and Bella, and lost my way with Cormia, and I thought that's what I'd be facing in this one. The traditional roles, stilted language, the awe over the female of worth and tendency to treat them with gloves.<br />
<br />
...But No'One made sense to me.<br />
<br />
She was like leaning closer because someone is whispering and you want to hear what they have to say. She was direct, made no excuses for her lot in life and the awful decisions she'd made. The relationship between her and Xhex was great to see, but it was her and Tohr that made me believe in their year. It was this slow peeling of layers, moments of admission, letting the body say things the brain couldn't get on board with yet. No'One (who becomes Autumn in a very touching scene) is patience, and understanding. She and Tohr's history gives a foundation to this circle they're in together. And Tohr almost throws it all away. And the end? I almost dropped the book for how hard I had to shout things.<br />
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<br />
The resolution lost me. The momentum had peaked and then it just was all, "<i>Oh, okay</i>," and we're back to just handing out get out jail free cards like it's their birthday. Sure, they ended it on a sweet, back to the beginning sort of way, but no. <br />
<br />
There's a lot of John and Xhex, which I loved. Pages melt when it comes to those two. I'm glad to be back in the mansion and surrounded by the main brotherhood again. I loved John's book, but it became so much about the younger vamps that I missed the originals. Again.<br />
<br />
Although, where is Rhage and Mary? And Z and Bella? Rehv and Ehlena? I love that couples have been getting side stories in other people's books, like John and Xhex here, and Wrath and Beth in Rehv's book and V and Jane in Payne's book, but my two favorite vamps have disappeared with their shellans.<br />
<br />
Was their a vacation to somewhere else that I didn't know about?<br />
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<br />
There's changes happening with Xcor and his Band of Bastards, which just further shows how much the world building in these books confuses me. I don't understand why the Lessers are such formidable foes, making it necessary for these badass, deadly vampires to be out in rotation every night dealing with them. It's like arming yourself to the teeth to deal with mosquitoes.<br />
<br />
Annoying, yes? But suspenseful? No.<br />
<br />
I guess that's why Xcor will become necessary now that Lash is gone. And also, the glymera? I know Wrath is king over vampires, but <i>where</i> are these other vampires? Not just that they all left during the raid, and went...well, I'm not sure where, but that this whole society of vampires feels...weak. These glymera are like more mosquitoes to contend with. Sometimes I don't see this world the Brotherhood are reigning over. I'd like to be more exposed to the subjects to really understand Wrath's place as king. Because otherwise everyone is talking and worrying over a lot of invisible nonsense.<br />
<br />
And so now we're ready for Blay and Qhuinn and ALL THE ANGST. And probably 800 more side stories.<br />
<br />
I wonder if Z or Rhage are back from their vacation.<br />
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<br />Willowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15510172284182171652noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-10182690183397778652013-03-12T12:36:00.003-04:002014-08-06T17:10:30.931-04:00I'm going back, back to Morganville.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Teach me how to do that stuff you do."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"What, be awesome? Can't do it."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13414055-bitter-blood">Bitter Blood (Morganville Vampires #13)</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15292.Rachel_Caine">Rachel Caine</a>.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/465239557">4 of 5 stars</a>.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The last <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-town-bursting-with-vamps-morganville.html">Morganville Vampire</a> book I read was number 12 and, well, I wasn't entirely on board with it. But I was committed to the series and they probably <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/09/ya-saves.html">saved my grandma</a>, so I decided I owed it to the Glass House Gang to keep going, to finish what I started. Thank goodness I didn't end it with number 12.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bitter Blood was back to that delicious crackfic like quality I loved so much about books 1-11. Things kept happening, there were ghost hunters digging around and Captain Obvious was back and shooting people IN THE FACE and taking down vamps, but only sorta, not really, and people were back from the dead and Hannah was getting canned from her new job as mayor and WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH AMELIE ANYWAY. Also. Hey, Monica. Still a raging bitch?</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"So, pre-school, did you follow me in here to profess your gay love or what?"</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Awesome.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Claire and Shane were still adorable and slightly dysfunctional and Michael and Eve are all wedded blissed out and causing major problems because EW. INTERSPECIES RELATIONSHIPS. GROSS. And then there's drama there and it's unnecessary and so effing delicious because ANGST. IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I love it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also? Very little POV shifting. BONUS.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And Myrnin. Oh, Myrnin. He's still just as fabulous as ever and I still love him with all my blood pumping muscle and want to have his fabulous undead vampire babies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rumor has it that there will be 15 books altogether in the series and you know what? I'M GAME. Let's do this, Glass House kids. Just keep your awesome flags flying.</span></div>
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Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-41472251874667334312013-03-09T20:37:00.000-05:002014-08-06T21:15:20.635-04:00No. There Is No Maybe About This, Baby.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/418981.Maybe_Baby" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Maybe Baby" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1174581711m/418981.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/418981.Maybe_Baby">Maybe Baby</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/88584.Elaine_Fox">Elaine Fox</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/556879537">1 of 5 stars</a><br />
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First chapter in, I thought I was somewhere I'd like. Maybe in the vein of some of my favorite paperback romances a'la Rachel Gibson or Lani Diane Rich. Not as screwball as a Crusie, but a funny enough, small town affair with some chest squeezing moments of shipping a worthy couple. <br />
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Delaney was having a Mary Tyler Moment of <i>oohing</i> and <i>aahing</i> over this tiny Maine town where she was about to become their fancy city Doc from out of town. She's twirling and about to go into the neighborhood bar to meet up with the super hot guy she met in town who has a boat who she assumes is visiting just like her. He's charming, and his eyes crinkle just so and then they're dancing and before you know it they're have some sandy sex out on the beach. At this point I should have been alerted that maybe this one wasn't going to be my cup of tea. It was a <i>little</i> fluffy and a little too...introspectively sweet to be a one night stand. <br />
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Still, though. A one night stand. You know what happens next.<br />
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They part and she's knocked up and some of her most engaging moments were while she was trying to figure her life out alongside her gay best friend. I loved Michael, because he said all the things to her I wanted to shout when she started to fall down the <b>But I'm A Mother Now</b> well that led her to make a bunch of crappy, selfish decisions. She ends up in that fertile Maine town and who also lives there?<br />
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Her baby daddy that she only sort of kinda tried to get in touch with. Because he had sex with her after only knowing her a couple of hours and what kind of dad would he make? I mean...he has a <i>boat</i>. And he once had sex with a twenty year-old. So, no. She refuses to contact him. And no, she's not being selfish or insecure. She doesn't want her daughter to have a shitty step-mom.<br />
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Completely valid decision-making. <br />
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Delaney was so ridiculous at this point I couldn't believe the way she explained herself <i><b>to herself</b></i>. Michael tried pointing her bias out to her over the phone and there was this Ha Ha funny parallel with the soap opera everyone in town watched, but because of Delaney's outlandish lies, crazy choices AND THEN to top it off with her unbelievable snobby attitude towards his job, life, and the harmless choices he's made befitting of a single man with a job he loves, there was simply no way for me to sympathize with her.<br />
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She genuinely LOSES it over the old men gossiping in the diner. Then just dumps all that insecurity onto Jack WHO SHE WON'T EVEN TELL HAS A DAUGHTER. THAT BABY HE KEEPS PLAYING WITH. It was aggravating and it completely stole away from any possibility of them having chemistry together, or simply giving a crap if they ended up together. I wanted to tell him it wasn't worth the hassle.<br />
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She's cray, dude.<br />
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Disengage and get the hell out of there.<br />
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Willowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15510172284182171652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-83092088277612123742013-03-01T13:14:00.001-05:002014-08-06T21:15:32.310-04:00That One Time That Pretty Woman Was a Bald Guy.<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17160548-escorted" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Escorted" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356574077m/17160548.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17160548-escorted">Escorted</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6861359.Claire_Kent">Claire Kent</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/549389329">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I picked this one out after reading some reviews from other bloggers I follow, most notably <a href="http://wonkomance.com/" target="_blank">Wonk-O-Mance</a>. There seemed to be one thing they were all saying and it was how <i>surprised</i> they were by the story.<br />
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The idea of still being surprised stopped me. Was that a butterfly that just took off in my chest?<br />
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So I dashed off to read the reviews. I saw the cover, read the blurb.<br />
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Sigh. I've had such misses with erotica. There's never enough story for me, and I get tired of the sex. (Gasp! I know.) I want drama, plot and characters who do more with their hands than their bits. I don't want whips or chains or another alpha dude to boss me around. And that's what I was expecting with this one because here was a story about a male prostitute and the romance writer who hires him cause she's still a virgin and isn't that ridiculous.<br />
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I expected Mr. Hooker to come in all swagger and smooth with squicky lines about what he's packing and how good he's gonna make it. I was expecting her to be repressed and neurotic and maybe a crybaby. I was expecting her to swoon or faint over his bits and this would be another story about how she tamed the Alpha Beast with her boring love and her boring brown hair.<br />
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But it totally isn't.<br />
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It kept me up until way too late.<br />
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And let me just say it now and get it out of the way.<br />
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I fell in love with a hooker. Er, escort. <br />
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Ander, our fancy not-by-the-hour-hooker, was not what I expected. He was bald, for starters. Smooth, cosmopolitan. Self-assured as he walked up to Lori in a coffee shop for their first meeting. Kind, quiet, and all business.<i> Who was this guy?</i> I was desperate to know, because this was not arrogant guy. He's hot, but we're not mooning over it with purple prose. We're not praying at the altar of his awesome? I straightened my glasses and read faster.<br />
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Lori is 26 and a virgin, but it worked. I could understand why she still was, and why she wanted to get the damn thing over with. She was funny and straight forward without being unbelievable. She was painfully earnest, even about <i>this</i>, and that against the practiced sensual smiles and professional style of Ander was both of their undoings. <br />
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The sex goes from these awkward clinical appointments to Something More. And I love that it was told in third person limited so we don't have to get stuck in pages and pages of Lori's introspective thoughts. And the writing shows so much that we totally get to *hear* things in what Ander is saying and not saying that she doesn't. We get to watch this fascinating, sexy, emotionally engaging and heartbreaking relationship that simply has nowhere to go beyond this hotel room.<br />
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Everything came down to how this story was told. It doesn't swoon or worship Ander. There aren't pages on how hot he is, or how nervous and inept she is. This isn't <i>Let Me Learn You Through Emotional Butt Sex</i>. This is a man who knows everything about sex, and it goes from business casual to super hot simply by how intense things are getting between them, and as Hooker and Client they can only express these feelings through the sex.<br />
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It's amazing and I could hardly breathe.<br />
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Ander has a luggage set worth of issues, falling for a girl for the first time in his life. He's business and money and older women hanging onto him as he tells them with a practiced smile how beautiful they are. But then there's Lori. Pushy, curious, beautiful Lori. Ander is a study in subtlety. It's the shifts in his expression and everything he's not saying and it's part of the reason the book is positively impossible to put down. There were some editing issues I didn't stop to linger over, but stumbled just a bit and the relationships outside of Lori and Ander were duds, mostly Lori with her cousin. I get the need to talk about what's going on with someone else, since we're not in Lori's head, but something about it was either not enough or unnecessary. <br />
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This is an incredibly sexy story with a surprising amount of heart. The last 30 percent of it really surprised me. I expected an easier solution. One that would start out with the expected miscommunication, and <i>again</i> this book went somewhere I hadn't expected. Lori and Ander are handled with serious hands, and their relationship given real weight as they try to discover how in the hell you come back from being the Virgin and the Hooker. <br />
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I've got to say they did it. So well, that I jumped back to the first page just to do it all over again with them.<br />
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<br />Willowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15510172284182171652noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-24352286480595443472013-01-31T17:59:00.000-05:002014-08-06T17:11:39.371-04:00We're now slutting Facebook up.<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">HEY OH!<br /><br />Those Book Sluts (that'd be us....uh....you know. Willow and Pen-rye-n. We're the ones that, you know, do things here.) are now on Facebook.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Come check us out. Give us book recs. Let us know what fictional boys you're sweating. We'll be waiting with our gifs and glitter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/PaperBoyfriends">https://www.facebook.com/PaperBoyfriends</a></span><br />
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<br />Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-33777724940250704322013-01-31T14:46:00.001-05:002014-08-06T17:14:08.990-04:00She Blinded Me with Science.<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Little known fact about me: I love science. I love science the same way Movie Harry Potter loves Magic.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">like that.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The way another good pop culture reference loves something else. Science, man. It's glorious.<br /><br />I wanted to marry Bill Nye as a kid. I watch surgery videos on YouTube as an adult. I was that girl in middle school cutting into my frog with fascination while they other double X chromosomes squealed and cringed away from theirs. Lab days were my favorite in high school and I took 4 years of science when only 2 were required. Everything from earth to meteorology to chemistry, I took it and loved it. As a kid, I loved magic and as I grew up, I realized that's what science was: Magic.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So when <i>The Madman's Daughter</i> popped up on my recs, I squealed in fangirly, nerdy excitement. When I saw that it was inspired by H.G. Wells' <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/159">The Island of Dr. Moreau</a>*, I officially started biting my nails in anticipation for its release. We're getting science-y up in hurr, yo! <i>Let's do this</i>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12291438-the-madman-s-daughter">The Madman's Daughter</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5108399.Megan_Shepherd">Megan Shepherd</a>.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/398784615">4 of 5 stars</a>.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Juliet Moreau is a sixteen year old former high society princess turned maid in London, thanks to a scandal involving her runaway daddy. Despite her fall from grace, Juliet is one tough broad, with a bit of a clinically detached streak that allows her to do things like, oh, you know, BEHEAD SUFFERING RABBITS. Chalk it up as an occupational hazard of working to clean up operation rooms and being a surgeon's daughter. Sure, it's not exactly behavior befitting a lady, but, whatever. <i>IT HAPPENS.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She stumbles on some papers that were clearly her father's and had disappeared with him when he took off and suddenly IT'S A QUEST. A very short Quest, one that ends almost as soon as it gets started, but it's still A Quest and y'all know <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/10/nerd-girl-chats-angelfall-edition.html">how I feel</a> about Quests. Said Quest leads her to the hotel room of her childhood companion and servant, who..is now her father's assistant? Her...previously thought to be dead daddy, who is, in fact, alive, and off doing science things somewhere remote? THAT'S NOT SUSPICIOUS. NOR IS THIS HULKING DISFIGURED MAN ACCOMPANYING MONTGOMERY. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can dig it.<br /><br />One thing leads to another, and much to Montgomery's obvious chagrin, a word that has never been the same since Twilight, Juliet must flee to Daddy's remote island. Blah blah, we're on a boat, bitches! Oh, look a castaway and it's not Tom Hanks, it's a sea-mad dude named Edward, I wonder if....<br /><br />Oh, hell. Of course. It's gonna be a love triangle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, this is usually the point where I'd start flailing and screaming, and maybe you're glancing back at my rating wondering at the 4 stars. After all, there's very few things I hate more than I hate love shapes. I don't care how good your story is. Include a love shape and I'm rating you down because LOVE SHAPES. <i>UGH</i>. And it's true that this particular love shape took up a good chunk of an otherwise Grade A story. BUT! The rest of the story? When you cut away that love shape with a scalpel? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Juliet's crazy daddy is <i>fabulous</i>. HE IS A MADMAN, I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, SHEPHERD. He is off on his island creating <i>MONSTERS</i>. He is like Frankenstein and his creations think he's a god! HE IS SO SO CRAZY AND I LOVE HIM. I know I shouldn't love him, because, well, he's mad and he's playing God and creating abominations and what have you, but seriously. This man is making human like creatures out of pieces of jaguars and pelicans and shit.<br /><br />There's monsters, honest to goodness man eating monsters running around and shanking people and jumping over buildings and all of this, the experiments, the screams in the middle of the night, the discoveries, the deaths, the disfigured animal-people running around, it all combines to create this seriously dark, creepy element that made me shiver in delight because apparently I'm as big of a freak as Moreau's creations.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then, AND THEN, Shepherd does something so fabulous that it makes me cheer because EFF YOU, LOVE SHAPE:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />AHAHAHAHA, EDWARD. AHAHAHAHAHA. Och aye. Sorry about your deer heart, Juliet. Tough break, kid. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Color me impressed all around. The ending was a bit bleak, but an....interesting? set up for future books (this is a series, after all) and while I have the tendency of being critical of series and love shapes, I'm genuinely pretty excited to see some more science-y things from Shepherd and fictional crew. I'll even bring my labcoat for the next installment.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I HAD TO<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">*<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> is a free e-book database featuring books with expired copyrights.</span></td></tr>
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Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-35707437340860419982013-01-23T10:33:00.002-05:002014-08-06T22:26:02.605-04:00Meet you at Jack's Bar: An Introduction to (Not So) Virgin River (1-5)When it comes to being somewhere, in the genre of Contemporary Romance, there's nothing as popular as the small town romance. It's timeless and adaptable to new characters moving in as others move on with their HEAs.<br />
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And as far as classics go, there's not many places as well-loved as Virgin River.<br />
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So, being the romantic that I am, I packed my bags and decided to hit the road. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184850.Virgin_River" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Virgin River (Virgin River, #1)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348265521m/184850.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184850.Virgin_River">Virgin River</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/107767.Robyn_Carr">Robyn Carr</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/215389331">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I really thought this was going to be a super cozy, <i>religion and purity brought me to love</i> sort of story. The cover led me to believe I knew where we were headed.<br />
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I mean, that's a very nice front porch. <br />
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Meredith is a doctor coming off the heartbreak of losing her husband in a violent and unexpected way and wants to start over as a small town doctor, away from the chaos and dirty streets of LA. And like any good romance, when the heroine takes off she ends up in a town of Hot Available Men. She thought it would be a cute postcard sort of place, and is ready to turn right the hell around when she sees that it’s not. It’s a town broken in some places but they’re trying to take care of themselves and each other as best they can, and it's feeling as American as that front porch. She stays to help Doc and a baby that ends up on her doorstep.<br />
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Yeah. A baby. On her doorstep. <br />
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Across from which is Jack’s bar.<br />
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Run by former marine Jack Sheridan. Oh, Jack. He’s a different sort of hero. There’s something salt of the earth, dude next door about him. But better. He's Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights. He's a man's man that's
good and solid and can lead a troop of crazy wolves. He makes me want to give him babies. He'll build his
family a house with his own two hands, show up for his friends,
and chop up some wood before the day is out. This isn't an overly drawn, swoony with glistening chest kind of guy. There's an honesty and charm to this that feels like a really good TV series you might want to watch every week.<br />
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This town and its people are drawn so well, becoming so much more than what's expected from a small town story, but doesn’t get bogged down with the Introduction Dump. “Okay, so this is So and So and they run the This and That and they’re related to What’s His Face…” <br />
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What happens between Jack and Meredith is honest and super hot and it's the kind of life that deserves that front porch.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184854.Shelter_Mountain" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184854.Shelter_Mountain" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184854.Shelter_Mountain" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184854.Shelter_Mountain" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184854.Shelter_Mountain" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Shelter Mountain (Virgin River, #2)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348156400m/184854.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184854.Shelter_Mountain">Shelter Mountain</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/107767.Robyn_Carr">Robyn Carr</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/215394023">2 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I really, really wanted to love Preacher's story. The big man. The scary cause he might kill you but is actually a gentle giant. Here was <i>Beast</i>. And I could be Belle. I have the basket full of books and patterned dress to prove it.<br />
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So when I met Preacher in Virgin River, I knew his story would be mine. <br />
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And it wasn't. And I hurt over it. He was just <i>so</i> gentle, and his match was...<i>so</i> gentle. It was like watching fabric softener fall in love.<br />
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I needed more. So much more. And unfortunately the match of Paige and Preacher just didn't offer it. The whole thing got awkward after a while, like they were meant to be siblings. Maybe they should have checked their genealogy records, I don't know. So when they're finally getting down to business the whole thing derailed into a place where I <i>kinda</i> felt like I shouldn't be reading this.<br />
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Rick and Liz? Broke my heart. Especially Rick. Babies having babies. Acting so grown-up. This town is fertile as shit. Watch your ovaries, ladies.<br />
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The best parts of this book, what kept me reading hoping for more, were Jack and Melinda again. I love that they're still happening and their story is still being told. Watching Jack deliver the baby? This man could feed me granola and tell me we were gonna go live off the grid and I'd make him another baby.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/458995.Whispering_Rock" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Whispering Rock (Virgin River, #3)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348203276m/458995.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/458995.Whispering_Rock">Whispering Rock</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/107767.Robyn_Carr">Robyn Carr</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/223340396">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Unlike some of the other reviewers, I enjoyed this one much more than the previous one. Granted, not as much as Virgin River, because it's hard to dethrone Jack and Mel, but Mike and Brie had way more dimension than Paige and Preacher. <br />
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This story started fast with Mike getting the call about what's happened to Brie. It's heart-wrenching to watch the Sheridans all come together, and how close this comes to breaking Jack. The slow progression of healing and trusting. It got to me. I'm involved now. I appreciated the way the whole thing was written, and I really enjoyed Brie. She was shattered and vulnerable, but still had her wits about her. She knows she's losing it, and there's a strength in that. So to watch her hand her heart to Mike, and while it didn't take up a majority of the story, it was still enough for me. Because as characters those two were enough. <br />
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People are having babies like it's their job and they're doing it at home. Carr has a knack for writing that doesn't feel preachy or like a brochure. The things happening to the teens in town are kind of disturbing though. That supposed grower is still hanging out in the shadows, intriguing me. All these good, solid men and I'm eyeing the one criminal.<br />
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Typical. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3440882-a-virgin-river-christmas" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="A Virgin River Christmas (Virgin River, #4)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1256070002m/3440882.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3440882-a-virgin-river-christmas">A Virgin River Christmas</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/107767.Robyn_Carr">Robyn Carr</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/241438198">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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This might have been my favorite Virgin River yet.<br />
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Wait, maybe it wasn't, because I did love the first so much, but this one? I don't know how to fully explain how much I loved the story of Ian and Marcie. I reviewed it in my <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-holiday-romance-book-reviews.html" target="_blank">Christmas</a> post, where I gushed and swooned and there was just so much tinsel.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4783621-second-chance-pass" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Second Chance Pass (Virgin River, #5)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1255714740m/4783621.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4783621-second-chance-pass">Second Chance Pass</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/107767.Robyn_Carr">Robyn Carr</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/267247765">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
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So, this book is about Paul Haggerty, upstanding hottie whose actually kind of shy and awkward around the ladies, and Vanessa Rutledge, his best friend's widow. Said best friend just died in Iraq while she was in Virgin River eight months pregnant. (Of course she was. This is Virgin River.) This stuff can get super depressing, and I was hesitant to pick up this book because I knew going in that it was finally time to deal with the Paul and Vanni situation. <br />
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Lo and behold, this book isn't even about them.<br />
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In a 400 page book, Paul and Vanessa are all wrapped up and solved with a big red bow by like...page 50. Maybe it was a little later then that, but not really. Halfway through this book it becomes about Virgin River, which was actually very okay, because I got tired of Paul and Vanni quick. We're told over and over how Vanni's <i>such</i> a spitfire, but really she's kind of a snot. She grated. Some people don't like Mel. I <i>love</i> Mel. She's tough, but there's something very warm and true about her. I didn't get warmth from Vanni. She kept complaining about Carol (dead husband's mother) being so meddling and kind of hoity toity about stuff, but...come on, Vanni. Pot, kettle? Nothing? Not seeing it?<br />
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She and Paul were sort of like Preacher and Paige for me, not as soft but almost as awkward. I wanted Paul to be happy at first, so I was rooting for them. But then Paul got her and it was just so mushy and "You know I love you? We can talk about your dead husband whenever you'd like. He was my best friend. You know I love you, right?"<br />
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Yes, Paul. We got it.<br />
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I was glad that once that was done we got back to everyone else. That's why I read this series. It's why I also can't read them back to back, because there's just so many people and I feel spread thin by the end of it. It's hard to keep up with whose having a baby this chapter and everyone is hunting or breastfeeding and it's all very earthy, and if it wasn't for the marines using some salty language I'd be over in the corner looking for a door out of this place. I love that these stories can be all about home and hearth, but aren't cookie cutter in their telling of it.<br />
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Yes, teenage boys are ready to get married even as they ship off to war and they're all so <i>good</i>, almost unbelievably good, but yet, I believe it. Damn it, I believe it. Virgin River almost seems mythical in that way. Away from the noise of other places. These are some lusty marines who go nuts over pregnant women like it's
up to them to repopulate the world, and maybe this far into the woods
they are led to believe that. <br />
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But I won't be coming back for awhile. Paul and Vanni killed my buzz and I need a vacation and to keep an eye on my uterus.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-73018370441733522932012-12-31T19:41:00.000-05:002014-08-06T22:34:38.800-04:002012 Slut Awards - Willow's picks.2012 came and now it's headed out. The year is glancing back over its shoulder at us and giving a wave, and I imagine a smirk, because it didn't end the world. No zombies or angels, and not one vampire. 2012 was trying and exhausting, but like any book worthy of my shelf, it tested and its characters, who maybe had never even considered themselves all that tough, stood up as best they could and best of all? They fell into epic loves. <br />
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Here's to the year that didn't break us and to the books that are overcrowding both my here on the ground made of wood and nails shelves and the cloud ones. Because it's about to be 2013, you guys, and while we may not have those hoverboards McFly promised us yet, we do have shelves in clouds and that's pretty magical.<br />
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Here is my list of the new discoveries, the ones I <i>finally</i> read, the recommendations that turned into obsessions and the book that carved its' name onto my soul.<br />
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(I'll show you the scars.) <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15808652-magic-bites" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Magic Bites: Special Edition" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352333836m/15808652.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15808652-magic-bites">The Kate Daniels Series</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21748.Ilona_Andrews">Ilona Andrews</a><br />
At the start of the year I was getting paid to shelve books, and during one of those afternoons I came across a stack of the first four books in this series. Scrolling around GR, and different blog sites, meant I'd heard of the series, especially when I was looking for books like other series I'd loved like the Night Huntress books. So I took them home and decided to take a stab, and now am a bonafide fan girl. There's just something about the series as a whole, but especially Kate, that works so much better than most everything else out there in this genre. Maybe it's the husband and wife team who write the books, but it's the perfect blend of funny, sexy, crazy and magic. The chemistry between not only the love interests, but the people fighting alongside each other in this post-shift world will keep me desperate for the next book in 2013.<br />
Yes, and Curran. God.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11096647-flat-out-love" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Flat-Out Love" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333821470m/11096647.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11096647-flat-out-love">Flat-Out Love</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22159.Jessica_Park">Jessica Park</a><br />
Here is the magic of a Kindle find. Of not knowing, but taking a chance. Unknowingly to me, this was my first real stab at what's being considered New Adult simply by having the protagonists in college, and the introspective first-person angst coveted by many a YA. Unless you count the Jessica Darling series from what now seems like a million years ago, and you should consider them.<br />
Here you have a strong, whip-smart, genuinely funny girl finding herself in what has to be the set up for a romantic comedy situation, and it's so much more. It <i>is</i> funny, and it <i>is</i> romantic, but it's also heartbreaking and thoughtful and written so well. It's the mystery of the family Julie finds herself in, it's the huge role Facebook plays in our everyday lives, and it's Matt with his geeky shirts and incredible loyalty. This one is sweet and just so, so good.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11506091-the-night-circus" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Night Circus" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327894371m/11506091.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11506091-the-night-circus">The Night Circus</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4370565.Erin_Morgenstern">Erin Morgenstern</a><br />
This is the book that started Paper Boyfriends and I almost can't even talk about it. I don't know what I was expecting, having heard different reviews and comparisons, but when I finally got down to reading it was immediate. Instantaneous. It spoke to the wide-eyed kid, and it whispered to the adult who still thinks maybe, just maybe. The love story between Marco and Celia had the perfect amount of swoon and it flowed into these first person accounts of the wispy, chocolate, sparkling magic of a midnight circus with statues that come to life, women who control fire and signs that tell you to come closer. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13548456-easy" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Easy" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1342983117m/13548456.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13548456-easy">Easy</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826501.Tammara_Webber">Tammara Webber</a><br />
If someone were to ask me, "What the hell is this New Adult crap? What's the difference?" I would hand them this book. Writing about those gap years between high school and grown up life isn't just an excuse to write swoony sex with swoony boys. This whole New Adult movement can be about <i>so</i> much. Think about those years. Think about the choices, the angst, the friendships, the moments that shape us. It sounds like a graduation speech, but there's a reason they say the friends you make in college are the ones you'll keep. Because there's <i>something</i> to that moment in our lives. And we want to read books about it whether we're there, past it, or looking toward it. And Easy exemplifies that moment. The heartbreak was gutting, the humor was pitch perfect. And of course swoony sex with a dark, artsy type.<br />
And banter, and swooning, and I could keep going the rest of the post just about this one.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11500217-angelfall" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1319887835m/11500217.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11500217-angelfall">Angelfall</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4890182.Susan_Ee">Susan Ee</a><br />
If this book wasn't on your radar in 2012, make that happen in 2013. This was another one of those amazing finds Pen-rye-n e-shoved at me (and picked up a nickname), and I remember shaking my Kindle wanting to get the words into my eyes faster. Here is another end of the world story, but it's <i>always</i> all in the telling. We've got angels who have turned on the masses, people trying to survive, and there in the center is a girl hell bent on getting her paralyzed sister back the angels who snatched her. She just has to deal with the snarky angel boy she saved and who is leading her to the den of sinning cherubs. You've got your swoon, your action, your plot twists, and your strong as hell girl who is so human that she cuts you with it. And all you want is more, and this is a sequel we're dying a little bit more every day for.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15760001-on-dublin-street" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="On Dublin Street (On Dublin Street, #1)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1342709484m/15760001.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15760001-on-dublin-street">On Dublin Street</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4167378.Samantha_Young">Samantha Young</a><br />
Here is the story of a twentysomething girl meeting a super hot guy who runs a business and has some serious money. Maybe he's got some emotional baggage, and maybe he's everything she can't stop thinking about, and maybe he's going to bang it out with her, and maybe....See, this is where I stop and say that while yes there is super hot sex happening here and light the pages on fire chemistry, Joss tells her story and never once does she let it become about anything other than her growth. So turn the focus to the self, my ladies. <b>She</b> is a tough, damaged, beautiful girl and this sexy, lovely story is reminiscent of a really well-told coming of age story. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/268602.Naked_in_Death" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Naked in Death (In Death, #1)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1297783540m/268602.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/268602.Naked_in_Death">The In Death Series</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17065.J_D_Robb">J.D. Robb</a><br />
This was the year I finally picked up a J.D. Robb book. There's just SO many, and I'd see them and I'd wonder and then I'd shelve them and then finally I started one.<br />
I'm about twelve into the series of 800 books, and I love them so hard. I love Eve in a way I don't love many protagonists. She's pissy and loyal and she's been broken to the point most people couldn't come back from, but now she's Law and Order and she's beating the shit out of bad guys, being the surly, but indulgent best friend to her Lady Gaga of a bestie, and she's going to bed with Roarke. Does he have a first name? Do we care? Listen, each book somehow seems to build on what's already in place and it gets better and stronger and you become more involved. Each book so far has been its own murder mystery wrapping up nicely at the end, and getting through it with people you know so well is a perfect episodic escape.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13633179-her-best-worst-mistake" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Her Best Worst Mistake" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336096474m/13633179.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13633179-her-best-worst-mistake">Her Best Worst Mistake</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19909.Sarah_Mayberry">Sarah Mayberry</a><br />
This was effervescent. It was chemistry and sparks and heat and everything I search for in a contemporary romance, because it took these characters and went further, surprising me with the depth of emotion without having to lean on any dramatic miscommunication trope. This is simply the story of two people falling for each other in such a real, lovely and electric way. Two people who've been tolerating the other because of the person they have in common, but it only takes that one misstep, that one caught look, that one push to send them over the edge. This is why I love this genre, why I got hooked on it so many years ago, and Sarah Mayberry romanced that fan back out of me.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11735983-insurgent" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Insurgent (Divergent, #2)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1325667729m/11735983.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11735983-insurgent">Insurgent</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4039811.Veronica_Roth">Veronica Roth</a><br />
This is another series I finally got around to reading thanks to Pen-rye-n. You see it all over the place, and its following is a loyal, intense one.<br />
And for good reason.<br />
These books are sharp. They don't play around, but they also don't skimp on emotional turmoil, believable friendships in the face of the end of their society, and a girl declaring herself as she stabs people, jumps off trains, and gets tattoos on her lunch break. It's a crazy world, but the writing never takes it to a place that makes it about simply shocking you. It will, but when it does your heart will be so tight in its grip you'll jump into the chasm of death willingly after a girl you'd love in any story even without this level of drama. Oh, did I mention there's a boy named Four? And that he's named that because he only has four fears? It's drama, it's non-stop action, and it's two people to ship the hell out of. The next book is going to kill me.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16152002-wallbanger" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Wallbanger" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353021279m/16152002.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16152002-wallbanger">Wallbanger</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3379564.Alice_Clayton">Alice Clayton</a><br />
This was a fantastic find for me. I was having flashbacks to Jennifer Crusie and I don't think I can give a higher compliment to someone who writes contemporary romance that is actually funny. It was able to be both sexy and hilarious without letting one take away from the other. I wanted to find out about the sexy, smirking Wallbanger as much as I wanted to sit down for breakfast with Caroline and her friends. The texts between everyone was conversational comedy perfection, and killed me a little it was so good. I was surprised by the turns in Simon and Caroline's relationship, but I'm so glad that it didn't just become the expected Friends with Benefits thing. They stopped and tried to figure this thing out, and it was sort of achingly sweet, but still with the bite of their sarcastic friendship. Simon is a loyal, world traveling stud who means well and she's hilarious and gorgeous and has so much spark and here is a really fantastic romantic comedy that does not fade to black.<br />
Hallelujah.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10866624-unspoken" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy, #1)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333397426m/10866624.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10866624-unspoken">Unspoken</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/836009.Sarah_Rees_Brennan">Sarah Rees Brennan</a><br />
Again, Pen-rye-n led me to the promised land with a recommendation she literally had to text me about middle of the page.<br />
Mid-sentence, even.<br />
People like to type LOL at each other all the time, but literally, I'm shaking you when I say I LOLed the crap out of this book. From the get go, Kami's head is a fantastic place to be. The writing is smooth and the pacing is perfect and before you know it you're in an elevator with the boy whose voice has been in Kami's head her entire life and YOU JUST WANT TO DIE. A great group of characters surround them, each making themselves necessary. It's so good, and it's real and lovely and magic and I want to climb into their window, and I don't know. Hang out or something. Listen, I need this sequel. I need it today.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6323104-the-bronze-horseman" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Bronze Horseman (Tatiana and Alexander, #1)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328308967m/6323104.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6323104-the-bronze-horseman">The Bronze Horseman</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/47499.Paullina_Simons">Paullina Simons</a><br />
The movie Les Miserables just came out in theaters, and for the sake of honesty, let's just say I've never seen a production of it. Or read the book. But I'm hearing people talk about it, and how they're sitting there in the theater, and they're just dying, even knowing what's going to happen, and they're singing along, and it's this experience of this story that is carved so deep into their bones.<br />
The Bronze Horseman is my Les Mis.<br />
I'll hear a Russian accent and I'll wonder how Alexander's voice sounded when he talked to Tatiana. How he managed it around his American one. I think of them all the time. I can't look at a bench without wanting to cry, but it's such a good cry. They're tucked so deep into my chest, and sometimes I'll just check the bookshelf to look at the covers. I die a little still when I think of the big moments, the goodbyes, the finding, the freezing cold and I know what every Les Mis fan is feeling in that movie theater, and I give them a fangirl nod.<br />
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Come on, 2013. Give us new characters to ship, stories to gut us then stand up and cheer, romances that will make us shriek and swoon and deliver those desperately anticipated sequels.<br />
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Thanks ever so much for the good times, 2012, but you keep on heading out the door.<br />
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Make sure to read Pen-rye-n's <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/12/2012-slut-picks-kristys-edition.html" target="_blank">picks</a>! She is my dealer and everything.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-81799050802545006122012-12-31T16:43:00.003-05:002014-08-06T17:14:33.223-04:002012 Slut Awards - Pen-rye-n's Picks<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2012 was a weird year, wasn't it? A lot happened. We watched a <a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/costa-concordia-ship-hearing-opens-anger-sorrow-153423415--finance.html">ship capsize</a> and the <a href="http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/york-giants-celebrate-super-bowl-victory-airplane-sing-195044076.html">Giants won</a> the Super Bowl. We lost Whitney and Etta and Michael and Phyllis and Sherman and Andy and Nora and Donna and Dick and Davy and Ray (Oh God, will I ever recover from that one?) and Neil and a whole slew of other celebrities that broke our hearts when we heard the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/24/celebrities-deaths-2012-stars-public-figures-we-lost-this-year">news</a>. <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/year-in-review-2012-top-10-news-stories-hurricane-sandy-053300230.html">Hurricane Sandy</a> rocked the northeastern coast and we were enraged when Trayvon Martin was shot. We mourned for people in <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/year-in-review-2012-top-10-news-stories-colorado-shooting-052410496.html">Aurora, Colorado</a> and <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/year-in-review-2012-top-10-news-stories-connecticut-school-shootings-232541897.html">Newton, CT</a> and cheered when <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/year-in-review-2012-top-10-news-stories-jerry-sandusky-trial-052136211.html">Sandusky</a> was convicted. We wondered if the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/year-in-review-2012-top-10-news-stories-miami-cannibal-attack-051518377.html">zombies</a> were rising and we saw a dude jump from space and the Mayans were wrong. We proved we don't go back once we go black. We met Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss and fanfiction got a movie deal and vampires <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/09/ya-saves.html">saved</a> my grandma.It was a busy year, full of heartache and happiness, joy and sorrow, and we spent it doing things. And reading. We read a lot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So now, as we take down the streamers and sweep up the glitter and get ready to pack 2012 away, I'm rounding up all my faves from this year for one last go around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10644930-11-22-63">11/22/63</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3389.Stephen_King">Stephen King</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The King is back and he tackled JFK's assassination from a supernatural, time-traveling aspect. Will the King ever do anything wrong in my eyes? Probably not. I fell in love with a librarian and became enamored with the simple living of the 50's and 60's and in the end, found myself afraid of Time and its unmerciful need to remain unchanged.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/56124-across-the-universe">Across the Universe Series</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4018722.Beth_Revis">Beth Revis</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kids. On a spaceship. In space. What I loved so much about the <i>Across the Universe</i> books was how multi-layered they were and the deep questions they posed. Free will vs. the greater good. What actually causes discord. What makes a good leader? What makes a person an individual? Are some secrets better kept than shared? It was thought provoking and interesting and Revis is a hell of a writer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11300302-alice-in-zombieland">Alice in Zombieland</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/48192.Gena_Showalter">Gena Showalter</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Showalter's take on zombies is different and quite possibly even more terrifying than standard zombies. The undead that most people can't even see? Sweet Jesus. Take the wheel. While I was disappointed in the lack of <i>Wonderland</i> similarities, Alice and gang, and their flying snark flags, more than made up for it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5664985-along-for-the-ride">Along for the Ride</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2987.Sarah_Dessen">Sarah Dessen</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dessen has been on my to-read list forever and in 2012, I finally popped my cherry. I now completely understand all the crazy good reviews. Honest, real, achingly sweet and effing adorable, I found myself wanting to go out to a bike park and find a tortured boy of my own. And call my mom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11500217-angelfall">Angelfall</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4890182.Susan_Ee">Susan Ee</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Long live Pen-rye-n! My newest and truest literary girlcrush. Razor blade mouthed Hell Spawn Kids and shirtless angels. This is a book brimming with undiluted awesome. A book of STOP EVERYTHING AND READ THIS RIGHT NOW.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9917938-blood-red-road">Blood Red Road</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4487674.Moira_Young">Moira Young</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ellie Mae Clampett meets G.I. Jane. Saba is a girl worth remembering and fangirling. There's cage fights and rebellion groups, man eating cave worms and epic Quests (always a proper noun.) Basically, this is a book to geek over and geek I did. Also, it's being made into a movie. Which I will see. Twice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11948797-brightest-kind-of-darkness">Brightest Kind of Darkness</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4862274.P_T_Michelle">P.T. Michelle</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A girl who dreams about her following day every night? A boy plagued by nightmarish images? Michelle's world of WTF is intriguing and freaky and so very DON'T YOU DARE STOP READING that, well, I couldn't. And Ethan? Yeah. I'll just be over here. FOREVER SWOONING OVER HIM.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2483247.Captured">Captured</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/712951.Victoria_Lynne">Victoria Lynne</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Have you noticed a theme yet with me? The more badass the heroine, the more I squeal over it. Captured might be a historical romance, but our girl is an ass-kicking fugitive who is all about saving herself. Plus: Uncle Monty. God, how I loved Uncle Monty.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11410430-defiance">Defiance</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4864634.C_J_Redwine">C.J. Redwine </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not-dragons, tyrannical leaders, evil plots and ass-kicking heroines. <i>Defiance </i>was everything that action junkie in me loves. Plus DRAGONS. Not-dragons. Sorta-kinda-maybe-dragons. I will forever fangirl any book that has dragons. Even if the love story was lukewarm.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/57530-divergent">Divergent</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4039811.Veronica_Roth">Veronica Roth</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After becoming obsessed with the rest of the world with The Hunger Games, I didn't think it was possible to fall in love with another dystopian world. Until Roth came along with Tris and Four and the factions of <i>Divergent</i>. Jumping off trains, Chasms of Death and tattoos at lunch time? Sign me up to zip line off the former Sears Tower with the Dauntless. I'm choosing them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6625698-don-t-breathe-a-word">Don't Breathe a Word</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2989576.Holly_Cupala">Holly Cupala</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Everything I wanted <i>Callum & Harper</i> to be. Cupala gives us ugly, dirty, and gritty, an unromantic version of life on the streets, abusive relationships and still manages to make teeth ache with a sweet ending. Dreamy sighs all around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16056408-easy">Easy</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826501.Tammara_Webber">Tammara Webber</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had Nina tackle the review of this one, because of her intrigue and love of New Adult, but I was just as enamored with <i>Easy</i>. This was New Adult done so deliciously right, I almost couldn't stand it. And Webber's handle on rape and rape culture? A thing of beauty. This is a prime example why New Adult is A Thing. Why publishers should stand up and take note and jump all over it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Brothers with super powers? Sure. Why not? Brothers that can control elements? YES. YES TO THE POWER OF ALL DAY LONG. There was an <i>Outsider </i>appeal to these books, with the older brother raising the younger ones and the struggle that comes along with kids raising kids and the fact that they're all smoking hot and kinda superheroish? I'm there. I'm there all day long. Let's set some fire to the rain. WITH OUR MINDS.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12444166-iced">Iced</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/48206.Karen_Marie_Moning">Karen Marie Moning</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We're back in Dublin, bitches! This time with Dani and hot damn, I didn't think I could love a manbeast more than Barrons. But then there was Ryodan. Oh. And Christian. And let's not forget Dancer. And Dani, bless her heart, is a little badass who I didn't realize I adore as much as I do. No matter who we're following around, we're back in the Fever world and I'm so fecking stoked to be there. Dudes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11383730-losing-beauty">Losing Beauty</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4858120.Johanna_Garth">Johanna Garth</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A modern retelling of Persephone and Hades plus a Kindle freebie? Oh, hi. Sign me up. Forever. <i>Losing Beauty</i> was dark and obsessive and slightly creepy, but so, so addicting. And yes, I found myself smitten with stalker, creep-wonder Haden/Hades. There's something about that whole Lord of the Underworld thing that gets to me. I don't know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12812162-lost-in-italy">Lost in Italy</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1089931.Stacey_Joy_Netzel">Stacey Joy Netzel</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A Kindle freebie that caught me completely off guard with its awesomeness. Lost in Italy had a Win a Date With Ted Hamilton thing going on and I totally dug it in a guilty pleasure sort of way. Trent had a James Dean thing going on the outside and a sweet vulnerability and genuineness underneath. Halli was cliched and yet, she worked so bloody well here. It was sickly sweet, corny, implausible and so freaking delicious. Add in an international mystery and I was a swooning, fangirlish mess.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6973771-maid-to-match">Made to Match</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/52609.Deeanne_Gist">Deeanne Gist</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Historical, <i>Christian</i>, romance? Look. I know. But it was free on Kindle, set at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC and I took a chance. I'm so glad I did. Light on the preaching, heavy on the adorable, with some true history mixed in, it was precious and lovely and I loved every sweet second of it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12294652-my-life-next-door">My Life Next Doo</a>r by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4660036.Huntley_Fitzpatrick">Huntley Fitzpatrick</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm not usually one for contemporary, but something about this one intrigued me. I read it at the perfect time too, smack dab in the middle of our real life elections. This fictional look at the daughter of a politician and her secret relationship with the boy from the chaotic family next door was absolutely delicious and heart wrenching. I want my own Jace. Though, I'm pretty sure we've already accomplished the wildness of his family with a lot less kids.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15760001-on-dublin-street">On Dublin Street</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4167378.Samantha_Young">Samantha Young</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another New Adult done so wonderfully, gloriously, achingly right, I'm still swooning over it. <i>On Dublin Street</i> was everything <i>50 Shades</i> should have been, yet couldn't even hope to achieve. Joss was real and honest and so beautifully damaged that I loved her immediately. A steamy love story with plot, conflict, growth and minus wailing opera singers and a Cat of Nine Horrors? Hell yes. I'm moving to Dublin Street, y'all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12476820-partials">Partials</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2740668.Dan_Wells">Dan Wells</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Layers and science and government sanctioned rape. <i>Partials</i> could have gone so very wrong and yet, Wells gave us a hell of a story with memorable, real characters and moral dilemmas. Kira is a girl after my own heart, who does what's right even when others say it's wrong. Also, her world is freaky weird. Seriously. Her government is fucked.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13450339-poison-princess">Poison Princess</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4428.Kresley_Cole">Kresley Cole</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">CAJUNS. APOCALYPSES. TAROT CARD FIGURES THAT ARE REAL PEOPLE. And Matthew. Oh, Matthew. I love you, Matthew. Cole crossed genres and did so with a bang and I loved every single second of it. Oh. And <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/10/i-fell-in-love-with-cajun.html">Paper Boyfriends</a> made her <a href="http://www.thearcanachronicles.com/books/">site</a>. So, you know, bonus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/53296-razorland">Razorland Series</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/835348.Ann_Aguirre">Ann Aguirre</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Deuce! Deuce all day long! The Razorland Series is everything I love about post-apocalyptic/dystopian books. There's fighting and zombie-creatures and so much WTFness that I couldn't even think of putting them down. I adored Deuce and Mama Oaks and Fade and when I finished with <i>Outpost</i> I was left with that delicious, anxious for the next feeling that lets you know you found yourself a winner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11870085-the-fault-in-our-stars">The Fault in Our Stars</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1406384.John_Green">John Green</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Will I ever recover from the aching. all-consuming, WHY GOD WHY HIM heartache from Hazel Grace and Augustus' story? NO. NEVER. But John Green did it again. Made me laugh, made me cry, and made me continue to fangirl him endlessly. Forever and ever amen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/58132-the-hollows">The Hollows</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3486415.Amanda_Hocking">Amanda Hocking</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Best. Crackfic. EVER. The Hollows has zombies and pet lions and weird cult leaders (oh my!) Remy is the kind of girl you want to have on your side should the zombies ever rise. Because she has a pet lion. No. <i>Really</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before meeting Daemon Black, I had no idea that lit-from-within aliens did it for me. But apparently I'm a girl who's turned on by glow sticks, fights with shadow aliens and run ins with the D.O.D. Who knew? Katy and Daemon's chemistry is ridiculous and delicious and Armentrout is Queen of the WHY WOULD YOU EVER DO THIS TO US cliffhangers. I became an alien addict in 2012 and the Lux Series was a big reason why.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/40593-the-morganville-vampires">The Morganville Vampires</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15292.Rachel_Caine">Rachel Caine</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Morganville should have never happened for me. I'm done with vampires. I've said this numerous times. Vampires are dead and I'm okay with that. But somehow, somewhere, I picked up Glass Houses and the rest is history. I fell in love with the Glass House gang and their crackfic like adventures. And Myrnin? The crazy bipolar vampire that runs around, creating steampunk like inventions and throwing brains in computers? He's my new vampire baby daddy. I'm moving to Morganville, is what I'm saying here. And forcing my way into becoming a roommate of Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also: They saved my grandma. Probably. How can you not love maybe <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/09/ya-saves.html">grandma saving vampires</a>?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9802372-the-name-of-the-star">The Name of the Star</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10317.Maureen_Johnson">Maureen Johnson</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jack the Ripper. Ghosts. Boarding schools in London. Secret Ghost Buster societies. Was The <i>Name of the Star</i> everything I ever wanted and expected from Twitter-addict Johnson? HELL YES IT WAS. So much I bought it in hardback and cuddled it a little.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9361589-the-night-circus">The Night Circus</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4370565.Erin_Morgenstern">Erin Morgenstern</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dreamy sighs to the power of all the swoons. The Night Circus was literally magic that I couldn't get enough of. Nina and I quickly joined the <em style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Rêveurs and we're knitting our red scarves and packing up to search for black and white striped tents. Just as soon as we learn to knit.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8591107-the-unbecoming-of-mara-dyer">The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4126827.Michelle_Hodkin">Michelle Hodkin</a>.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">This was a tricky one for me. Parts of Mara's story was so cliched I groaned, yet most was so awesome I cheered loud and long. I finished utterly </i><span style="line-height: 16px;">satisfied</span><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"> though and that's what matters most to me when it comes to determining how good a book was.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12043771-this-is-not-a-test">This is Not a Test</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1487748.Courtney_Summers">Courtney Summers</a>.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">In a world where series books dominate our bookshelves, sometimes what you need is a really good stand alone. Just to remember that it can be done. Summers not only did it, but she tackled zombies and made it different from every other zombie book out there. Tina T had the undead present, but the real conflict was internal. Painful</i></span></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"> and deep, it hits you straight in the feels and sticks with you long after you've finished.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7443986-tsunami-blue">Tsunami Blue</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1239159.Gayle_Ann_Williams">Gayle Ann Williams</a>.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Another post-</i><span style="line-height: 16px;">apocalyptic</span><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"> story. Another Kindle freebie. Another kickass heroine and swoon-worthy love interest. Will I ever get enough of these things? No. No I won't. Plus, it reminded me of Water World and I love Water World.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12157365-unraveling">Unraveling</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5073459.Elizabeth_Norris">Elizabeth Norris</a>.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">I was prepared to hate this book. I have no idea why. The cover was foggy and intentionally mysterious and dammit, I judge books by their covers. <i>Unraveling</i> was proof why I shouldn't. Alternate Dimensions and world ending mysteries? These are things of awesome I live for.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10866624-unspoken">Unspoken</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/836009.Sarah_Rees_Brennan">Sarah Rees Brennan</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Look. I've read a lot of books I loved this year. Obviously. But none, NONE, that I loved as much as I loved <i>Unspoken</i>. There aren't enough gifs nor glitter in the world to express the deep, consuming, obsession I have for both Brennan and Kami. So much that not even halfway in, I had to stop, text Nina and tell her to drop everything and start reading it for herself. We're still quoting it in our every day conversations weeks later. It's official. We're Brennan fangirls.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764347.Unwind">Unwind</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19564.Neal_Shusterman">Neal Shusterman</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Fucked. Fucked fucked fucked fucked<i><b> fucked</b></i>. Shusterman's world is so very, very, I DON'T CARE HOW LAZY VERY IS, very disturbing and thought provoking and desperately horrific that I ached reading it and resented any and all interruptions. Some said it was pro-life propaganda. Some said it was pro-choice drivel. As a uterus owning pro-choicer over here? All I saw was a compelling, if terrifying, take on the future and the result of extremists on both sides of the argument. FUCKED.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13581407-wanted">Wanted: Dead or Undead</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5335592.Angela_Scott">Angela Scott</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">More zombies. Another Kindle freebie. The Wild West. Clearly my taste in literature is eclectic, but dammit, what's not to love about zombies and gun fights O.K. Corral style? I might be all over the place, but I always lean towards awesome. Which Scott delivered. FO' FREE.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">So, there it is. The entire, exhausting, incredibly epic and massively awesome list of all my favorites from this crazy, crazy, tiring year. You can find Willow's <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/12/best-books-of-2012.html">here</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Heads up, 2013. You have big shoes to fill. You better deliver.</span></span><br />
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Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-20421882810101109372012-12-20T12:42:00.001-05:002014-08-06T22:12:45.202-04:00Broken bones, Bad Divorces and Horny Dogs.<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15803208-the-other-side-of-us" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Other Side of Us" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349082152m/15803208.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15803208-the-other-side-of-us">The Other Side of Us</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19909.Sarah_Mayberry">Sarah Mayberry</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/478180966">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Sarah Mayberry feels like a new discovery. A second wind that's sending me rushing through everything I love so much about a really good, solid contemporary romance. This is where character counts. Everything comes down to the two leads when you don't have car chases, epic quests or dragons. It all comes down to chemistry, growth, humor and the unfolding of a romance. It comes down to the story of two people and whether they're strong enough to carry it. <br />
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Maybe not everyone thinks of all those things when they think of romance, but a really good writer will. Sarah Mayberry is a fantastic writer that knows her characters, this genre, and the magic that can happen when you write a really good, solid story about two people falling in love.<br />
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Can you hear me sighing? It's a long, delicious one. <br />
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Oliver is the grown up guy version of a Sad But Still Mad Taylor Swift song. But in a hot, gruff Gonna Get Away For Awhile kind of way. He was in a big band several lifetimes ago, and since then has been working as a sound engineer for others, and he'll shrug his shoulders with that small smile and say he followed the predictable path of the washed up rock star. He just found out like a punch to the face that his wife of six years is having an affair.<br />
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The wife who was once the singer in his big band.<br />
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It's a nasty, awful place to be so he leaves to put to rights his dead aunt's beach house, where next door a tiny pixie of a woman is right off the bat rude to him. Unknown to him she's on the mend from a horrific car accident, and will turn the tides with her own hands if it'll only mean she can finally get back to her high stakes life of being a TV producer.<br />
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Except, they're not waiting for her, and she's riddled with scars and this close to losing it. She just wants to avoid people right now.<br />
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Too bad their dogs are trying to bang it out. <br />
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It's a strong, solid set up and the execution is flawless. There was a strong understanding of these two. It's not just a cutesy romance about dog people. It's not just hijinks of their dogs humping across the fence. Mackenzie and Oliver are broken people who come together on this tiny piece of beach and find something <i>stop in your tracks</i> arresting. This isn't Nicholas Sparks melodrama. The flow of conversation, the dialogue the charm and the sexy tension is so on point that you can just settle into the place and trust that it's going to play out perfectly.<br />
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Mackenzie's character impressed me by her honesty and her coming to terms with her new self. There's a moment where she's freaked out by showing him her scars, and where she was on the brink of pulling back she instead pushes forward. <b>That</b> moment was when I fell for her. And poor Oliver is such a mess, but he's so honest, and good and charming. And it isn't in his quick smiles or sexy banter, but in the way he can't help but be with Mackenzie despite everything. <br />
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This was a lovely, sweet, sexy story about two people who fall in love at the worst times of their lives. It's fast and unexpected, but it's romantic and funny and quiet, but it works. It comes together like a perfectly stitched quilt you just want to lose yourself under for a lazy Sunday.<br />
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ARC provided by NetGalley. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15803208-the-other-side-of-us" target="_blank">The Other Side of Us</a> will be out in stores on January 2nd.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-52115273595301049942012-12-10T19:17:00.002-05:002014-08-06T21:16:43.130-04:00Have Yourself a Swoony Christmas. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
It wasn't until last year while I went through shelves and shelves of Holiday themed romances that I actually read one. There I was, working at the library, setting up display upon display of holly jolly books, and people were coming up and asking for recommendations and I was the Scrooge that hadn't dabbled in the glitter and mistletoe. </div>
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I was a reindeer in the headlights. </div>
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The Paperback Queen. The Book Slut. The Swooner of Rakes, Lumberjacks and Alphas alike. </div>
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And I hadn't read a holiday romance? What was <i>wrong</i> with me? The swoony moments are bountiful in books filled with hometown drama, depressed drinking, and forced cheer. </div>
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So, I jumped in with spread hands and I grabbed and I took and it was magic. </div>
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Here wrapped in shiny bows are some of my favorite holiday romances. May they cover you in tinsel and sexual tension. </div>
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7989800-christmas-eve-at-friday-harbor" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor (Friday Harbor, #1)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1311986449m/7989800.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7989800-christmas-eve-at-friday-harbor">Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/27847.Lisa_Kleypas">Lisa Kleypas</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/129971108">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I didn't want it to end. <br />
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Is there a better endorsement than that?<br />
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I wanted this story to be longer, but for what it was, it was perfect. This has been my favorite Christmas read this year. There's just something about Kleypas and especially when she's writing a contemporary that hits me in all the right places. The...I don't even know what to call it...spark? chemistry? between Mark and Maggie? It gives you that tight chest feeling of anticipation just to read it. Kleypas has a way of writing something as simple as holding someone's hand and making a girl swoon.<br />
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A sad little girl that needs some Christmas magic? Got it. Interesting, broken brothers brought together by little girl? In spades. A shabby, Victorian that's slowly coming together, sort of like this new family they're making there in delightfully charming Friday Harbor? And then you've got <span id="freeText16393144308994861994">Maggie who doesn’t believe in love anymore, but as the owner of a toy store she's a big believer in magic. And when she meets sad and broken Holly who needs some magic? Sparks. Written with a deft pen.</span><br />
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This will be an every year sort of reread.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118866.Must_Love_Mistletoe" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Must Love Mistletoe" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347270700m/118866.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118866.Must_Love_Mistletoe">Must Love Mistletoe</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7231.Christie_Ridgway">Christie Ridgway</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/242219258">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I actually read this one for the first time like two summers ago, and even reading it during a ridiculously humid summer I felt...festive. The tiny town strung with lights all centered around The Perfect Christmas, the local landmark of a Christmas store stationed in an old Victorian home. The store is usually run by Tracy and Dan, but they're on the outs so their Scrooge-like daughter comes home from big bad LA where she is the cynical woman who shuns attachments and manages money hungry divorce attorneys. <br />
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Now, she's back home. Where she hasn't been since she left at 18. Where she left her first love. The bad boy she once tamed. The bad boy who is back too.<br />
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Finn is something else. But the thing about the story is that yes, it is one of my favorite set ups of first loves reuniting, and yes, it's all about Christmas, which can be adorable and Santa-filled, but here it's something more. And it sneaks up on you. There in the connection between Bailey and Finn, and even Tracey and Dan with Christmas happening alongside their romances you find that base feeling that comes with the holidays, that search for connection and the desire to have faith in something and believe in it with conviction, which creates a really sort of heartbreaking love between these two.<br />
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Did Bailey drive me nuts sometimes? Yes. I just didn't understand how she could have based such huge life choices on her flaky dad's flaky advice. I never can get people who throw in the towel for fear of getting too close. But that's just me. Did I believe that Bailey, as her character was drawn, was capable of doing that at 18? Yes, so that's what counts. But Finn? Oh, in the end I just needed that man to be happy. And my one big issue with the book was I wish the end was one page longer. Great that Bailey comes to her senses, but I wish I could have heard Finn's reaction to finally getting everything he wanted.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3440882-a-virgin-river-christmas" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="A Virgin River Christmas (Virgin River, #4)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1256070002m/3440882.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3440882-a-virgin-river-christmas">A Virgin River Christmas</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/107767.Robyn_Carr">Robyn Carr</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/241438198">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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This might have been my favorite Virgin River yet. Wait, maybe it wasn't, because I did love the first so much, but this one? I don't know how to fully explain how much I loved the story of Ian and Marcie. It was the perfect Christmas story. In the way that it stirred up all the feelings we want to think about when it comes to Christmas. Not the shiny, retail parts, but the bits about faith in something or someone. The idea of snowy nights and unconditional love and bright stars to lead us home. <br />
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Marcie is my absolute favorite. I adored her so much. She's this tiny, scrappy girl with a stubborn streak a mile wide. She is hell bent on finding Ian Buchanan, the man who saved her husband in Iraq, and gave her three years with him before he finally passed last Christmas. Now she needs to find Ian, who has disappeared into a California mountain town, and get from him...something. Bobby has been gone for a year and she still is stuck and believes Ian is the key. <br />
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Ian looks like Grizzly Adams and is living a <i>very</i> simple life off the land and wasn't so much hiding as much as no one but Marcie was trying to find him. He's not necessarily a broken man, but he's a tired one trying to forget his guilt. So when he discovers the fiery redhead with a snowed in VW Beetle on his land he can't help but...roar. <br />
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I loved them both. I loved their simple days in his cabin. I love the slow build up to something more. I loved the glimpses of Virgin River during Christmas. I loved Marcie's wit, her warm personality that was impossible to not want to get closer to, and her absolute fearless determination. When her protective older sister came to rescue her? That Marcie has gumption. And that Ian has a heart tucked away beneath all that beard.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238125.Holiday_in_Death" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Holiday in Death (In Death, #7)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309212249m/238125.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238125.Holiday_in_Death">Holiday in Death</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17065.J_D_Robb">J.D. Robb</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/381013178">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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It is just me or in a lot of series when they put out the obligatory Christmas book it's sort of just <i>there</i>. It doesn't really bring anything monumental to the table, instead it's just a time to visit, put up some lights, solve a light problem and wrap things up with big, glittery bows. <br />
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And yet you tell J.D. Robb to write a Christmas book and SHE FITS ALL OF THE THINGS INTO IT. <br />
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I don't know how she does it. I really don't. <br />
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Roarke and Eve continue to seduce me with the growth and super hot sexy of their relationship. I know all of these people now, and this is a world I gladly give myself over to, and seven books in, it just continues to grow. It's completely bananas to me. I've never seen a series do this before. Not this many books in. <br />
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My only eh is if soon the murderer possibly might not have an issue with their mother. Just an idea.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59826.The_Gift" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Gift: Home for Christmas / All I Want for Christmas" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1212622135m/59826.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59826.The_Gift">The Gift: Home for Christmas / All I Want for Christmas</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/625.Nora_Roberts">Nora Roberts</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/243740420">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Everything Nora Roberts writes is character-driven, which is why she's one of my favorites and is usually always a good read. Her worst is better than some people's best, because she's just that good.<br />
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That being said, this had a little from column A and a little from column B. <br />
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Home For Christmas was one of my least favorite set-ups. Rebel without a cause skipped town, because he needed to see the bright lights of the big city, leaving behind his girlfriend, who he happened to have sex with ONCE, and of course she couldn't come along because all she wants in life is lace curtains and a little house in town, so of <b>course</b> she can't come. Not until he can set her up with those things. Those damned lacy curtains.<br />
I can't stand when Bad Boy takes the decision making upon himself and leaves behind his Great Love. Even worse when he does so when she's unknowingly knocked up. So, of course, she has to marry some other dude to give her baby a name. And of course they divorce and he leaves and when the child is a charming running around cut-out of her mother, Bad Boy returns home. This one had glimpses of spark. But it went soapy and wooden. Everyone was in <b><i>love</i></b>, everyone was <i><b>mad</b></i>, and how could you keep that baby from me! how could you leave! how could I not?! <br />
All the points are hit that are supposed to be hit to wrap up this story. Secrets! are revealed then children go missing and everyone comes together and it's...not authentic. It felt like a brainstorming session of plot where not one character was fleshed out in the process.<br />
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All I Want For Christmas on the other hand was everything a holiday short story should be. Charming, sweet, sexy and believable enough to contain the magic that makes a Christmas story work. Zack and Zeke were ridiculously adorable with their search for "The Mom" and their dad was an apprehensive stud, and for good reason. More than anything he was a good dad who happens to finally feel the stirrings of something for the new music teacher, Nell, a total spitfire I loved. I enjoyed their banter and the way she began to disarm him. It was lovely and sweet and wrapped up quickly at the end, but I expected that. For a short story? Loved it.<br />
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Christmas, am I right? It's good stuff. It's telling a classic story with new parts and bright sparks and it's the tight chest feeling and sexy hot chocolate.<br />
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May your chestnuts roast as you forget about the year and rock out with your garland out.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-57262157447532317132012-12-03T12:15:00.000-05:002014-08-06T17:16:36.553-04:00(Rêveurs) Passing Notes: The Night Circus.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;">Dear friend,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;">It is back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;">It wasn't announced this time. There was no whispers from the other <i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Rêveurs around that reside near me. Maybe it was unplanned? I don't know for certain. I only know that I went to bed two nights ago and the field was empty. When I woke up the next morning and let the dog out, the black and white striped tents loomed against the sky, as if they had always been there in my backyard and I had never noticed.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">I could barely concentrate all day. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">You know, better than any other in our circle, that I do not have the privilege of following the circus around like so many of the others do. There is simply too much for me to do here at home. A family that depends on me to be here doing for them. But when it's nearby, I simply can't keep myself away. It calls to me, like I suspect it does for so many others. It makes me believe in things I haven't since I was a child, but wanted to. Oh, how I've wanted to.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">I thought about taking the boys this time. After all, hadn't I just told you a few weeks ago that when it comes back, when it sets up shop in the field behind my house once again, that I would? It would delight them, I'm sure of it. They take more after me in that, than they do their father, who is a wonderful, but realistic man. I couldn't do it though. I still haven't done it. Though my oldest has asked about it every morning since it arrived.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Perhaps I will take them tonight.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 16px;">It's just that it feels like it's mine, you know? That when it comes, it comes solely for me. To remind me that magic is real. It's hard to share that, even with my own flesh and blood. There's a part of me that wants it to stay mine, even from those whom I call my own. I'm terribly selfish that way.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">But it has not changed, friend! True, they are offering more treats than they were the last time I was there. A sweet dough fried and topped with cinnamon and sugar. Like a donut, almost, though lighter. Airier. There were a few new tents as well. The labyrinth has become even more elaborate with new rooms and tunnels and mazes. Dreams stacked upon dreams. I could have stayed there all night. I nearly did.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"> The illusionist is still missing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">I missed her performances greatly. I always stopped there, you know? To watch her. To feel the enchantment of her acts hum across my skin like electricity. In fact, where her tent once stood, always stood, no matter where they set up, what nearby city I visited them in, wasn't even there. I'm not sure what that could mean, but I suspect we've saw the last of her. I know you will feel the same amount of disappointment I do about that theory. After all, we did meet there, didn't we? Forged our friendship leaving a tent that had us closed in only moments before. I haven't written to any of the others yet, to tell them the news. I felt as though you should know first.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">But everything else is still the same. And what a lovely same it is. The clock, that glorious clock, still waits to greet us. A little bit of our founder looking over us, beckoning us to the very place that brought us all together in the first place.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">I have this fear, one that I've never told another, that I'm going to visit it one day, step through the gates, past that clock, and discover the last few years were nothing but a glorious dream. That the object of my obsession is nothing more than an </span><span style="line-height: 15.981481552124023px;">ordinary</span><span style="line-height: 16px;"> circus that happens to keep odd hours. That there's nothing there but fabric and slight of hands and a fire that burns bright in the center, but is nothing more than a regular fire in a regular pit. I've woken up out of sound sleeps with this very fear making my heart race. It would be like losing a piece of myself, were it to happen. A piece that laid dormant until I visited the circus for the very first time and became spellbound by what I found there. You and I, we are more than simple enthusiasts, as the other </span></span><i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Rêveurs call themselves. We are the obsessed. The believers of magic. The ones who feel what is going on behind every show, every illusion. The circus is our true home, they ones we live in every other time of the year just a resting place.</i></div>
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<i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><br /></i></div>
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<i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">I m</i><i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">ust go for now. A few other </i><i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Rêveurs were in attendance last night and I invited them over for dinner tonight. We are, of course, going back after I get the boys into bed. Unless I decide to take them after all. Share the specialness that is that place with them, watch the wonder as it fills their hearts like it does ours.</i></div>
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<i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Until next time.</i><br />
<i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><br /></i>
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<i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Dearest friend,</i></div>
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<i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><br /></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">I'm waiting. As I have been since it last left, and as I will until it returns. That's the in between stage, isn't it? We </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Rêveurs, we the obsessed, we are perpetually waiting, pacing, searching. </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">I kept hoping that when you next sent word you would have new stories about the Illusionist. That I'd read how you turned the corner and finally, yes, there was her tent and as you hurriedly went inside with that delicious tightness in your chest, hardly able to sit still until finally that quiet hush came over the room. The one that catches fire with barely a breath from her. But to know that she's still gone, and appears to not be returning gives me pause. It's a heavy, grief-filled one. The kind where a believer must set down their pen and look away from this for awhile. Maybe look past the hill for the tops of tents. </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><br /></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">I'm anxious for it to return, however it may come to me. I need to walk the ice garden, climb the clouds. I have wishes to plant. I need to disappear past the clock and lose myself in a flame while wearing cinnamon coated fingers. In my day to day life I can not match the freedom I find when I'm there. The freedom of possibility. Each turn that leads into an opening of a tent is a promise of more. One that will delight or surprise or stretch what you thought possible, but with warm, nimble hands. It's a soft, soothing touch that life outside that gate can not promise. It's that initial walk into the tent that I could happily share with others, but like you, what I find inside, what illusions it creates in my mind, nose and heart are selfishly mine. </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">And so I wait. Bundled in my coat, I spend more of my waking life sitting on a bench beside a playground looking past the hill. My mind's eye draws the scene, and I find myself taking deep breaths, searching for hazelnut and chocolate. I hear children laugh and I wonder of the twins and their delightful kittens. A child stretches her legs up onto the monkey bars and it's the Contortionist mystifying me as always. I sit so still it makes me think of the statues, and I wonder of their thoughts. Especially the lovers; how slow, how torturous. A voice startles me from my thoughts and it's the joyous shriek of a little girl as she flies down the slide into her brother's arms. They race towards me and I know that next time, I, too, will share the circus with my children. I want to plant this seed of magic into fertile soil. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">I hope that my next letter to you, always to you first, will be filled with new stories. Of the morning when I'll walk into my children's bedroom and finally see something past the hill. Of taking them to the playground on yet another day, but this time knowing that beyond it mine has returned. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Give my best to the others. May we live in this in between together. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Yours in Waiting, </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11506091-the-night-circus" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Night Circus" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327894371m/11506091.jpg" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11506091-the-night-circus">The Night Circus</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"> by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4370565.Erin_Morgenstern">Erin Morgenstern</a></span><br />
Our rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/433419952">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-31029889004180666082012-11-21T00:01:00.000-05:002014-08-06T19:24:59.927-04:00Cue Swooning: OPAL BOOK TRAILER REVEAL.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oLkv3DotkqM?fs=1" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No one is like Daemon Black.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br class="kix-line-break" /></i>When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Together we’re stronger... and they know it.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13362536-opal"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goodreads</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> | </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Opal-Lux-Novel-Jennifer-Armentrout/dp/1620610094"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amazon</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> | </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/opal-jennifer-l-armentrout/1111306819?ean=9781620610091">Barnes & Noble</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> USA TODAY Bestselling author</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jennifer L. Armentrout</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;">, </b>lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumor<b style="font-weight: normal;">s </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">you've</span></span><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"> heard about her state </span><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">aren't</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"> true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name </span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">J. Lynn</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Find Jennifer on</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span><a href="https://twitter.com/jlarmentrout"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Twitter</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> | </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/JenniferLArmentrout"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> | </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4476934.Jennifer_L_Armentrout"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goodreads</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> | </span><a href="http://www.jenniferarmentrout.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Website</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> | </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://jenniferarmentrout.blogspot.com/">Blog</a></span><a href="http://jenniferarmentrout.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: black; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></a></div>
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Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-41554339387766899942012-11-18T13:54:00.002-05:002014-08-06T17:17:05.697-04:00Government Sanctioned Rape.<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ugh. The "R" word.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's tricky business writing about rights and government control. And it can go well or it can go wrong. Like,</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> really, really</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, wrong. Like, "What the hell were you </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">thinking</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">?!" wrong.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But, when done right, it can be an interesting premise, yeah?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So. The end of the world has come and gone. Maybe it ended with a bang. Maybe with a whimper. Or perhaps a sneeze. In fact, a sneeze is usually a good way to go, if we're going with government control of your reproduction rights, a virus seems to be the favored way to wipe out humanity. Maybe it's a virus that kills of newborns. Maybe it's one that only affects females. Whatever the virus does, it's usually present and for society to continue, the government has to step in and lay down the law.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">THE LAW OF YOUR UTERUS.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And here, here is where things get tricky.</span><br />
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1243826841l/6269856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1243826841l/6269856.jpg" height="200" width="121" /></a><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6269856-jude-outlaw">Jude Outlaw</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/260628.Jan_Springer">Jan Springer</a></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rating:<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/356832025"> 1 of 5 stars</a> (and retreating ovaries, for good measure.)</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Okay, let's get one thing out of the way, really quick. This is a short, erotic story. Except, despite the intriguing ass shot on the cover, I AM NOT TURNED ON. In fact, I spent the entirety of this short story unturned on. It's a thing. It happened. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The government has ordered females to be claimed. There's just simply not enough of them to go around, thanks to a virus some terrorists let loose that was supposed to make them submissive, but, you know, killed them off. Ouch. So, the only logical thing to do here, is round up all the surviving females and pair them off. With groups of men. GROUPS OF MEN. There should also be videos taken. Proving that the female has been claimed and has had every orifice stuffed full of manmeat. And if the female resists? WELL TOO DAMN BAD! Ladies, ask not what your country can do for you, ask: HOW MANY PENISES CAN YOU TAKE FOR YOUR COUNTRY? Every hole! FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's bad. It's so bad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So we have Cate, who, along with the rest of the female population, depends on a vaccine to keep the killing sub virus at bay. And she is BUSTING OUT OF HERE. She is not sitting around waiting to be claimed. She is stealing a boat and getting the hell out of dodge. Except for Jude. Jude finds her. Jude, who was her once upon a time love, and has plans to exchange her to another band of brothers for information on his missing brother, but NOT BEFORE THEY DO THE DIRTY. MULTIPLE TIMES. Because he still loves her! And he doesn't want to share her! Nor give her away! BUT HE WILL TALK ABOUT SHARING HER IN THE MIDST OF THEIR REUNION SEX. And then he has the great idea to run away. <i>Despite the fact that she was already fleeing and he stopped her</i>. And they'll live a life full of sex. CONSENSUAL SEX. SEX THE GOVERNMENT HASN'T ORDERED. That Cate wants. WHETHER SHE KNOWS IT OR NOT.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't know, guys. I just don't know.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12476820-partials">Partials</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2740668.Dan_Wells">Dan Wells</a></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/406947099">4 of 5 stars.</a></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But here. Here it's done right. Well, as right as government sanctioned rape can be done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Unlike <i>Jude Outlaw</i>, there's more to the story than just "quick, impregnate ALL the females." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Humanity has all but been wiped out by the deadly RM virus, which may have been released by the Partials, a group of manufactured, human-like killing machines the government once created to fight wars for them. Until they turned on the ones who created them. There's a lot of guesswork as to where RM came from, but the small percentage of people left are immune. Their babies, however, have not. They're so not, in fact, there hasn't been a baby that's lived past 4 days in eleven years. So, the government decides the only solution to this, since a cure hasn't been found, is The Hope Act. Forced impregnation. Everyone 18 and up has to be pregnant as often as possible, in the hopes that a baby will one day live. Basically, they're throwing shit at a wall, hoping eventually it will stick. Females can pick between pairing off on their own or being artificially inseminated. So, while no actual rape-rape takes place, their bodies are not their own and control is stripped from them. They are walking uteruses (uterusi?) and little more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But, as I said, there's more here than just "HEY. EVERYBODY GET PREGNANT. ALWAYS. ALSO. WE'RE GONNA GO AHEAD AND LOWER THE AGE ON THE HOPE ACT. ALL 16 YEAR OLDS, YOU HAVE TWO MONTHS TO GET KNOCKED UP. OFTEN." There's a rebellion, The Voice, who isn't so happy with the government. There's the Partials and the moral dilemma after our protagonist, Kira Walker, and a group of friends, captures one to study for a cure to RM. There's a corrupt government to deal with and Kira's confusion about herself, her past, and what she wants for her future. There's just a lot of layers there, with survival at the center. Also science! Who doesn't love science? </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okay. Maybe Channing Tatum doesn't like science.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But everyone else, WE LOVE SCIENCE. AND WE LOVE LAYERS.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also, there's some laugh out loud funny lines that keeps things from getting too serious. In fact, Marcus, Kira's boyfriend-not-boyfriend-okay-maybe-boyfriend-again-but-not-now-maybe-again-in-the-future, regularly made me snort. He's a funny boy, that Marcus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Sorry I'm late, Jayden. I had a meeting that got a little heavier than I planned. Very hot and sweaty by the end. You were a major topic of conversation, though, in between bouts of passionate --"<br />"Just skip to the part where it's my mother," said Jayden. "and then I'll do the part where I tell you to go to hell, and then we can maybe get on with our jobs like we're supposed to."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />"But I'm going to tear myself away and find Marcus."<br />"Give him a kiss for me," said Xochi.<br />"Tongue?"<br />"Not too much. I don't want to seem easy."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Done right or done wrong, one things for sure: if I make it to the future? I'm getting a hysterectomy. </span></div>
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Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-41962590126108707442012-11-18T11:51:00.002-05:002014-08-06T22:17:16.336-04:00You Annoy Me < Take Your Pants Off.<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13633179-her-best-worst-mistake" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Her Best Worst Mistake" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336096474m/13633179.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13633179-her-best-worst-mistake">Her Best Worst Mistake</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19909.Sarah_Mayberry">Sarah Mayberry</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/458457352">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
This was effervescent.<br />
<br />
It was chemistry and sparks and heat and it was everything I want in a contemporary romance, because it went that one step further and surprised me with the depth of emotion without having to lean on any dramatic miscommunication trope. This is simply the story of two people falling for each other in such a real, lovely and electric way. Two people who've been tolerating the other because of the person they have in common, but it only takes that one misstep, that one caught look, that one push to send them over the edge. <br />
<br />
And, wow. This is how you write chemistry. This is why when two actors have <i>it</i> they only need the other to turn a conversation into something you can't look away from. It's not just two hot leads looking at each other and deciding to bang it out. It's the way the words turn that <i>look</i> into tangible <i>sparks</i>. That kiss into a punch to your solar plexus. <br />
<blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;">"Not so long ago you despised me," she said. "You could barely stand to look at me."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“And now I can’t keep my hands off you or get you out of my head. Which one of those reactions is the more accurate reflection of my true feelings, do you think, Violet? Let me give you a clue here, even though we’re arguing, even though I’m almost one hundred percent certain that you’re about to walk out on me, I have a hard-on with your name on it. That’s how much I can barely stand to look at you.”</span></blockquote>
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It
would have been SO EASY to make them one-dimensional. To make him the nerdy
beta hero she wakes up and the girl he calms down. But he's
someone who built himself up from the Hackney and she's been tossed
aside by her family.<br />
<br />
This isn't just Flighty Girl meets Stuffy Guy.<br />
<br />
He's been with her best friend for years, and she's been on the wings noticing the stupid things about him, yanking his chain while he looks at her with annoyance unable to get the smell of her perfume out of his clothes even though he barely brushed past her. </div>
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“Good afternoon, how can I—” She stopped in her tracks, words momentarily escaping her. Martin didn’t speak, either. He simply stood there watching her, his dark gaze intent and hot. She felt an answering heat spring to life inside her, even as she gathered her will to send him packing. “What are you doing here?”<br />
“I don’t know.” They were both lying. She hadn’t needed to ask why he was there, and they both knew what he wanted.<br />
“We can’t keep doing this,” she said weakly. So much for sending him packing.<br />
“Tell me how to make it stop, then.” He took a step toward her. </blockquote>
</blockquote>
You almost need to take a breath it's such a fantastic execution of this set up. They go <i>years</i> not even realizing that
all the animosity is because they're so hot for the other, and then he gets dumped and she tries to do something nice, but he barks and she spits and it's <span style="color: red;">fireworks</span>. They're
unraveling the other, and it's lovely and hot and just so, so good and
it turns into a solid romance and a relationship you can't look away from, rooting for the happily ever after with a stupid smile.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-61971585498788931432012-10-18T02:01:00.000-04:002014-08-06T17:19:33.390-04:00Nerd Girl Chats: Nerd Girls & Election Years.<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Have you ever wondered what would happen if two slightly inappropriate, somewhat crazy, extremely nerdy, book sluts were to step in and moderate a presidential debate? <i>Of course you have</i>. Who hasn't, right? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">...Oh. Most sane people, you say? Huh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, in case you, like N and I, have wondered this, we're here to put that curiosity to rest. BEHOLD. A POLITICAL NERD GIRL CHAT. Featuring all the tough questions N and I would ask our current President and President Hopeful, like dragon control and marriage between a zombie and a woman.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And, really, when we say President & President Hopeful, we really just mean President Hopeful. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> GOVERNOR ROMNEY, YOU GOT SOME 'SPLAINING TO DO!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>W:</b> I have a lot of material from both the Cuban side and my mom's Colombian side. I'm a gift to this country really.<br /><b>W: </b>God, why couldn't I have been Mexican.<br /><b>P:</b> My dad always tells me my real dad is Mexican so I'll handle that side.<br /><b>W:</b> Solid. We got this.You get Detroit too.<br /><b>P:</b> Between the two of us, we really have all the minorities of this country covered. Except...wait. I'm lacking an Arabic side. We might have to find one of those.<br /><b>W:</b> Whenever my brother doesn't shave I call him Muhammad, so...sort of.<br /><b>P:</b> Oh, we're good then. And once an old dude yelled at me for 9/11 so I think between these two things we can just cross Arab off then.<br /><b>W:</b> "Hey, people. Next town hall? Just call us. We got this."<br /><b>P:</b> "we'll ask the important questions. Like what the Governor plans to do about rampaging dragons and wild packs of unicorns that roam the streets eating small children."<br /><b>W:</b> "And Governor, you have mentioned that you don't drink. How am I supposed to trust a man who doesn't drink when the zombies come? Also, smushmortions? Can I haz them if a Zombie gives it to me? Please answer in specifics."<br /><b>P:</b> "Yes, yes. Better economy. We've been over this, Governor. Please answer the question. Zombies. What is your plan to protect the American people from the mindless undead?"<br /><b>P:</b> "For the record, by Mindless Undead, we are not speaking about the Tea Party, Governor. We're talking literal reanimated corpses. Details."<br /><b>W:</b> "Also, will I have enough time to be home to make dinner for said zombies? I really want to avoid the gun violence if I can."<br /><b>W: </b>"Wait, are you gonna make jobs for the zombies too? Can you send THEM to China? But listen, I'd also like to see your binder of women. Cause I think we poor people refer to that as a nudie magazine."<br /><b>W:</b> "Hold on, let me call my brother Muhammad real quick. He has a bunch of them, so he'll know."<br /><b>P:</b> "While she's calling Muhammad, I have a question for you, Governor. True or false. The Canadian pipeline would disturb the underground nests of giant cave worms that would swarm out and take out entire cities with their sightless floundering."<br /><b>W:</b> I put down the phone. "Yes, please, answer her question. Sightless cave worms. Maybe we should get Ann in on that one."<br /><b>P:</b> "Ann, do you consider smushmortion okay if it's a sightless cave worm that does the impregnating? ....TRICK QUESTION. SIGHTLESS CAVE WORMS ARE ASEXUAL."<br /><b>P:</b> "True or false. Assault weapons were designed by the Aliens being held hostage at Area 51 & if you're elected, Governor, you will let those aliens decide whether to stay or go back to their home planet."<br /><b>W:</b> He's going to bank on those aliens self-deporting is my bet.<br /><b>P:</b> "WOULD YOU ALLOW THE ALIENS TO STAY, GOVERNOR, ANSWER THE QUESTION."<br /><b>P: </b>"True or false. Big Bird was behind 9/11."<br /><b>W:</b> "WAIT. ARE THE ALIENS AND ZOMBIES CHILDREN OF THE SAME GOD TOO?"<br /><b>P:</b> "DID THE SAME GOD THAT CREATED PEOPLE, ALIENS AND ZOMBIES ALSO CREATE SIGHTLESS CAVE WORMS?"<br /><b>W:</b> "AND IF SO, WHICH ONE OF US IS THE 47%? BE SPECIFIC."<br /><b>P:</b> "WHAT IS YOUR STANCE ON DRAGON CONTROL AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE MIDDLE CLASS?"<br /><b>W:</b> "And please don't forget to address the wild pack of unicorns this time."<br /><b>W:</b> "Also: poor people. Gross, amirite?"<br /><b>P:</b> "Poor people will be used as dragon food yes or no?"<br /><b>W:</b> "Two parents in the home will stop gun violence, you said. Is it okay if they're both the same gender. No? How about if one is a zombie but a dude...technically? Cool?"<br /><b>P:</b> "What if one's a dragon but used to be human? DID YOU REALLY JUST ASK HOW THAT IS POSSIBLE HAVE YOU NEVER EVEN HEARD OF DARK WIZARDS?"<br /><b>P:</b> "How do you expect to lead a country when you're not even aware of dark wizards turning men into dragons?"<br /><b>W:</b> "I want you to look me in the face and tell me if you've ever heard of a Horcrux?"<br /><b>P:</b> "Will you give the dark wizards creating horcruxes and turning men into dragons a tax break similar to the one you want to give the top 1%?"<br /><b>W:</b> "How can you tell if a dragon is a boy or a girl? I'm asking so we know which one has to make dinner."<br /><b>P:</b> "Equal rights for squibs. Where do you stand?"<br /><b>W:</b> Squibs are gonna get stuck building all those pipelines.<br /><b>P:</b> And then crushed by the sightless, asexual cave worms. Poor squibs. :(<br /><b>W: </b>That was a golden of a Yahtzee if I ever did see one. Bravo.<br /><b>P:</b> I can't even take credit for it. You set me up beautifully.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">See? We're clearly more than qualified for this. Hey, Whoever Sets These Things Up, we've got one more debate to go. Get a hold of us. We'll ask the things Americans want to know.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also, fellow Americans, election day is November 6th! VOTE! We don't care who you vote for, as long as you do, and as long as you believe your candidate will protect us all from the sightless cave worms.</span>Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-11608787554990435022012-10-16T10:35:00.000-04:002014-08-06T21:19:47.118-04:00Smoking Cigarettes & Sex in Trucks: Why I Love Southern Romances.<div class="post-header">
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There's just something about the south. Being that both of us
are southern girls we understand the bonafide difference of life below
the Mason Dixon line. Whether it's the Tennessee mountains, Florida
swamps, Louisiana bayous or South Carolina low country, there's just a
different heat to a good romance story that gets its bones and pace from
this sticky humidity. It's a dirty blues riff in a smoky honky tonk.
It's a glass of sweet tea sweating on a front porch. It's a fan moving
too slow, while hands go a little faster.<br />
<br />
You see what I'm saying, right?<br />
<br />
I
cut my teeth on the trashy paperback romance. Not the bodice ripper
historical, but The Sandra Brown. Where take no shit women come up
against fiery dudes from Texas. Where we're hunting for oil and people
are getting murdered and dumped in swamps and women are letting their
hair loose and the curses fly and someone's got a rifle in their truck
because shit is about to go down. It's good and it always builds to one
hell of a climax.<br />
<br />
So which books make you want to turn
up The Black Keys, put your boots up on the dash and fall hard for the
kind of man who wears jeans the way the good lord meant him to?<br />
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<br />
Here are some of my favorite cowboys:<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1237893029275750730" name="more"></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/710826.White_Hot" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="White Hot " border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177529932m/710826.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/710826.White_Hot">White Hot</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6218.Sandra_Brown">Sandra Brown</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78429695">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
You've
got to start with a classic. Sayre (don't ask me to pronounce it) is
coming back home to her Louisiana town after having sworn never to return, because her dad is a powerful jerk face, but her brother committed
suicide and she needs to come find out what the hell happened. Her dad
is still an ass, and so is her older brother, but hey, now they've got a
buddy. Who is looking at her and she is looking at him and I'm dying a
little over the chemistry of it all.<br />
<br />
Sayre and Beck are both fantastic leads, which
is the hallmark of a solid Sandra Brown book. They're intriguing and
they effortlessly draw you into their complicated world on the verge of
exploding. Sayre is strong but vulnerable as she battles both her own
and her family's demons. Huff is the tyrannical father, but as readers,
we're invited deep enough to see how damaged he is and watch this
mountain of a man fall apart as his world crumbles. <br />
<br />
This
one is a well written suspense surrounding the murder of Sayre's
brother as well as the fall-of-Rome type conditions at the family's iron
foundry. It's a twisty over the top sexy drama.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1756703.Blue_Eyed_Devil" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Blue-Eyed Devil (Travises, #2)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311990880m/1756703.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1756703.Blue_Eyed_Devil">Blue-Eyed Devil</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/27847.Lisa_Kleypas">Lisa Kleypas</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79121521">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
HARDY. <br />
<br />
That's all that needs to be said to want to read this story if you've ever read <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/306364.Sugar_Daddy">Sugar Daddy</a>,
the first book in her Travis' series. Am I right? Yes, of course, I'm
right. I don't have the words to talk about Hardy. My chest gets all
tight, and I start wondering when it got so hot in here and is that a
truck rumbling in the distance? Jesus, I'm having a hot flash.<br />
<br />
Hardy
was our boy who made good in the last book, but got the short end of
the stick in the name of wrapping up a childhood romance that wasn't
meant to grow up. So you got your happy ending for the couple in the
last book, but WHAT ABOUT HARDY?<br />
This is his story. And God bless, Kleypas for it.<br />
<blockquote>
“Those blue eyes glinted with uncivilized suggestion. A faint smile was
tucked in the corner of his wide mouth. Definitely wouldn't want to be
alone in a room with that guy, I thought. His gaze moved downward in
lazy inspection, returned to my face, and he gave me one of those
respectful nods that Texan men had raised to an art form.”</blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8437379-call-me-irresistible" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Call Me Irresistible (Wynette, Texas #6)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327880626m/8437379.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8437379-call-me-irresistible">Call Me Irresistible</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/41313.Susan_Elizabeth_Phillips">Susan Elizabeth Phillips</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/121980245">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
This
one is #6 in the Wynette, Texas series, that has included characters
that honestly become bigger than life. SEP has a thing for the big,
time-spanning romance and it feels like an old Hollywood epic. Her
characters carve themselves deep regardless if you like them all that
much at first, but you just end up knowing them so well. This book is
coming back to a place that you already know filled with people you miss
a whole hell of a lot.<br />
<br />
Meg and Ted (Yes THAT Ted. Baby
Beaudine grew up and he's so hot and smart and Texan and please, can I
have him) have ridiculous chemistry and they are all kinds of messy
perfect together, with their families interfering, and it's such good
times to see all the relationships at work after all this time has
passed. Wynette is still a crazy place with crazier characters and I
want to be there in that bar. SEP writes such layered, fleshed out
stories about love. There's just a sort of magic about a really good
love story. And SEP is an effing wizard at it.<br />
<blockquote>
“He sounds like Jesus. Except rich and sexy.” <br />
“Watch it, Meg. In this town joking about Jesus could get you shot. You’ve never seen so many of the faithful who’re armed.”</blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59807.Carnal_Innocence" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Carnal Innocence" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1349032484m/59807.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59807.Carnal_Innocence">Carnal Innocence</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/625.Nora_Roberts">Nora Roberts</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/191417551">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
Here
we are now in the town of Innocence, Mississippi. Yeah, you heard me.
There's a killer on the loose with an eye for the pretty girls. And who
happens to have a connection to all those pretty girls? Well, Tucker
Longstreet of course. His family holds all the cards in this town, and
his playboy style is better suited for a regency romance. I didn't think
anything about Tucker would end up redeeming and the title made me
expect a different sort of story. I expected cheese. Oodles of cheese,
which has its place, so I went into it waiting for it. But I found
myself in a really great story that had all of my favorite components of
a southern murder mystery. Sexy protagonists, combustible chemistry,
witty dialogue, in a lazy town with terrible gossips all simmering with a
secret that's about to bust the place wide open.
<br />
<blockquote>
"In a few months I'll be in Europe. A quick affair to pass a hot summer isn't in my plans."<br />
The
ghost of a smile lit his mouth. "You do make plans. I've noticed that
about you." He stepped forward and crushed her lips under his in a hard,
brief kiss that rocked her back on her heels. "I'm going to have you,
Caroline. Sooner or later we're going to have the hell out of each
other."</blockquote>
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Have any favorite southern romances I just have to read? Well then shoot me a line! Bless your hearts and come on back.<br />
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<span class="post-timestamp"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-71128627486713224322012-10-13T15:53:00.000-04:002014-08-06T17:20:23.746-04:00I fell in love with a Cajun.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13450339-poison-princess">Poison Princess</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4428.Kresley_Cole">Kresley Cole</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Rating: </b><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/408845578">4 of 5 stars</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Right now, Nina and I are reading <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9361589-the-night-circus">The Night Circus</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4370565.Erin_Morgenstern">Erin Morgenstern</a>, something we've talked about doing since before we even started Paper Boyfriends. In fact, The Night Circus was going to be our first collaborated review, most likely on our <a href="http://kristyconqueso.blogspot.com/">personal</a> <a href="http://mamashoebox.blogspot.com/">blogs</a> and Goodreads and then Paper Boyfriends was born and now we're finally getting around to the book that sparked it all. In an effort to not get too far ahead of Nina while we read, I stopped myself halfway through and decided to start reading another book on my to-read list while I waited for her to catch up. (I'm a ridiculously fast reader who survives on little sleep. We joke that Nina is the old woman in this relationship, who goes to bed at 9pm and is up with the chickens, while I'm the frat boy, up all night partying and still awake the next morning. I digress.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">ENTER: <i>POISON PRINCESS</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Have I ever talked about my deep and burning love for Post-Apocalyptic novels? Because it's there and it's A Thing. I love watching the world fall apart. I love when things get a little <i>Lord of the Flies </i>and when unlikely couples, people who would have never looked twice at each other before, end up together. I like seeing communities form and bands of people coming together to fight or to live or just to have human companionship. I love learning to navigate broken worlds and establishing new normals and I love watching characters rise up to become survivors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I love guys like Jackson Deveaux. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jackson, sometimes Jack, sometimes JD, but always devastingly handsome, the raging cajun, that hot piece of Bayou ass. Jackson? I love you. Dear God, do I love you, with your french cajun talk and your constant flask drinking and your love for that soft, rich girl who you want to protect, yet infuriates you so much. Jackson was strong and capable and a little bit archaic, but the perfect boy to survive The Flash, the doomsday type day that rendered the Earth a wasteland and killed most of its population. He carried a gun and a crossbow and whether it was militia or cannibals or Bagmen, zombie like creatures with a constant thirst for anything wet, Jackson was ready with his weapon and his flask. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jackson, let's have babies. Sweet, foul mouthed, dirty cajun babies</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then there was Evangeline Greene, better known as Evie, a rich girl from the right side of bayou before The Flash, who spent some time in a mental institution for her "visions" that hinted at paranoid schizophrenia. Jackson regarded her as a puzzle and even while we were in Evie's head, seeing what Evie saw, thinking what Evie thought, most of the time, she was just as much of a puzzle to the reader, as well as herself. Did she have a role in the end, that was also the beginning? What <i>was </i>her role? How much of her visions and the voices that she heard inside of her head is true? How did it tie into the Tarot cards her grandma made her study as a young girl? Who was the Empress and what did she do and how did plants come into play and what the hell is actually going on and OMG DOES JACKSON <i>like-like</i> her?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Evie, as a protagonist, was believable and I liked her and if the end of the world came with a flash, I'd follow her and mind her sometimes-appearing poison claws. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There's other players in the game, other cards of the Tarot deck that are real people with a touch of <i>more</i>, and our boy Jackson and our girl Evie comes across some of them on this journey to find her estranged grandma in North Carolina, to get the answers. There's Selena, the archer, a doubt mongering, man eyeing bitch who wrote the book on badass, and Finn, the Magician, who has a swagger, a quick tongue and a joke always ready. Then there's Matthew.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh,<i> Matthew</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cole drew him <i>so</i> well. Him being Autistic, this boy on the verge of a man, but still so very childlike, his humming, his cryptic answers, his exasperation with Evie for not understanding, him saying what he's thinking however he's thinking it but yet clamming up when Evie <i>needs</i> answers, everyone thinking he's simple. So very true to life as far as Autism goes. I could see my son in Matthew and it can be so rare to actually see an Autistic character <i>being </i>Autistic. Bravo, Cole. Brav-fucking-o.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This whole story, Before the flash, after the flash, the supernatural aspects of it, the attraction between Jack and Evie, Selena and her doubt casting, Matthew, it was all done just..hot damn. <i>So well</i>. AND COLE DISCUSSED <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/10/nerd-girl-chats-angelfall-edition.html">END OF THE WORLD BODY HAIR SITUATIONS!</a> HELL YES! WE HAVE ANSWERS!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm <i>excited </i>about this series. EXCITED. I'm excited to see where Cole takes us, if Jackson, who broke our damn hearts at the end will come around, (<i>of course he will</i>) how this war between these kids will play out when they come face to face with Death. I've been to this world and I've bought the t-shirt and I'm ready to go back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">...And I only have to wait til ...<a href="http://kresleycole.com/books/poison-princess.html">I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN</a>. HOLD ME, JACKSON.</span><br />
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<br />Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-79811866112051297242012-10-01T22:56:00.000-04:002014-08-06T19:08:59.010-04:00Nerd Girl Chats: Angelfall Edition.<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11500217-angelfall" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1319887835m/11500217.jpg" /></a><br />
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Have you heard of Angelfall by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4890182.Susan_Ee">Susan Ee</a>?<br />
Please. Stop everything.<br />
Hold the phone and pump the brakes, because everything everyone is <a href="http://www.susanee.com/blog/2012/09/entertainment-weekly-reviews-12-hot-ya-titles-angelfall-gets-top-rating.html">saying</a> about this book IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE AND REAL AND MY EMOTIONS ARE EVERYWHERE RIGHT NOW.<br />
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So. Talking it out between Pen-rye-n & me was obviously necessary. We go through the whole book, with appropriate fangirling and end of the world worrying over body hair, so be warned of spoilers for those of you who don't know the pure AWESOME happening here, and if you do? Jump in, get your downy wings dirty because the world has ended and things are gonna get bananas BUT THERE IS A QUEST.<br />
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And smokin' hot shirtless angels. And girls who pack knives in their boots. And moms who are off the rails.<br />
Yeah, I know. It's <i>sooo</i> good.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Willow</b>: <span style="color: #222222;">Also, ANGELFALL. How is this happening?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>Pen-rye-n</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">RIGHT. OMG. How bloody amazing was it? Scale of 1 to ALL THE FANGIRLING?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>Willow</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">ALL OF THE FANGIRLING. PUT THEM IN A JAR, SHAKE THEM, THEN SPREAD THEM OVER MY BODY.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"> ....okay, wait. </span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>W</b>: </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">I
loved how in control everything was. As CRAZY OHMYGAH as the premise
was, it never felt cray cray WTF. The fact that it all started with a
feather falling from the sky?! Hot damn.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Excuse me while I get a hold of Weird Al & ask him to parody Def Leppard & sing "Pour Some Fangirl on Me."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Dude, I KNEW, as soon as Penryn started talking strategic knife hiding places that this shit was going to be all kinds of real.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">YES!
But she never felt like, "Okay, here comes the obligatory tough teenage
girl in this crazy fucked up dystopian world." The fact that her family
life was already bananas, made it almost so that this girl could strap
on those knifey boots with a level head and I believed her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Her
mom. Dude, her mom. The way she talked to her and thought about her?
Simultaneously broke my heart and made me fangirl her the hardest.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Fuck
yes. I don't think there was ever a moment where I stopped and thought,
"Okay, Penryn, whose name I'm not entirely sure how to pronounce,
you're gonna have to dial back the Tough Girl because I'm not buying
what you're selling." Like, this girl was IT.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">YES! Her mom's mental illness was handled SO FUCKING WELL.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">The
whole image of her creeping around after Penryn and Raffe, leaving
little talismans, just as much on a quest to find her missing daughter,
was both creepy and endearing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">ALSO HOW THE FUCK DO YOU PRONOUNCE PENRYN? "Pen-ren?" "Pen-rye-n?" Some other pronunciation that I am unaware of?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">I kept saying it "Pen-ren" but now you got my mouth doing weird things trying to figure it out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Can
we talk about her deciding to hold Raffe hostage and CUTTING HIS WINGS
IN FRONT OF HIM. How does one get higher badass status then doing that
to an angel IN FRONT OF HIS FACE WHILE HE IS TRUSSED UP LIKE A PIG.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">RIGHT. RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT. HEY, LUCINDA PRICE, TAKING NOTES.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">I came over all Sassy Southern Black Lady on that shit. "Giiiiiirrrrrrr</span><span style="color: #222222;">llllll *z snap formation*"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">YES!
And then...and then...THERE WAS A QUEST. Seriously, I don't think
there's much more I love than a quest when it's done right.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">OH GOD YES I LOVE QUESTS.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Seriously.
Quests are like my favorite thing in the world. I'm not even joking a
little bit here. As soon as a character even HINTS it's time for A
Quest, I run and pack a rucksack because that's what you carry on quests
and I stock it with soda and poptarts and cigarettes and extra
flashlights and I am READY.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">YES!
And I'm all puppy-eyed, looking around, smacking gum in my mouth,
because suddenly I have gum, like, "Okay, where we going?" And I am not
at all bothered by the shirtless angel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">In fact, it is required for this Quest that the angel absolutely must stay shirtless at all times.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Quest is always a proper noun in my world if you haven't noticed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">I
am on board with that. What I dug about this Quest was the weird trust
they had to come to. How she'd dabble into getting information about
angels as he was lovingly grooming his chopped up wings then offering
her cat food.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: <span style="color: #222222;">I
was also a big fan of how she never lost her Tough Edge. Because we see
that so much in these Obligatory Tough Girls going on Quests. They
soften a couple chapters in and slip into their damsel in distress
corsets.</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">They put away the sharpened steak knives and bust out with the heaving bosoms.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Not our girl Pen-rye-n!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">HELL NO NOT PEN-RYE-N. SHE IS HERE TO TAKE A BITCH OUT.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Or
they get all twisted up over, "Do I want to kiss him? Is he looking at
me?" AND SHE THOUGHT ALL THOSE THINGS BUT THEY WERE NEVER OUT OF PLACE.
Damn, I just always believed her. I said, "Here is a girl in a world
where the angels have unleashed. And there's hot boy</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">angel,
and she's giving him the side-eye, while checking his abs, and she's
marching on in the woods." And this is the Best Quest Ever.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">And
I loved that it wasn't drilled into us over and over how pretty he was.
Swoony prose over his pretty eyes. No, fact is fact. Angels are hot
pieces of ass. "But the world is falling apart, and I don't trust him. He saved my life, I think, but I need to find my sister and I'm
keeping the</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">hunting knife with me." GO ON WITH YOUR BAD SELF, PEN-RYE-N!</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222; font-weight: bold;" title="kristyinfamous@gmail.com"> </span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">YES
YES YES. No pages upon pages upon pages about his downy fucking wings
and his purple eyes and his perfectly tousled blond hair. YES I AM STILL
PISSY OVER FALLEN. But seriously. It just was. "Here's Raffe and he's </span><span style="color: #222222;">effing
hot but he's also an angel and angels are here on Earth fucking all
kinds of shit up, so excuse me while I clip some of his wings off and
...okay, his abs are smoking."</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Totally our kind of girl.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Hell yes. I knew before I was even halfway in she was one of ours.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">We need to talk about The Resistance.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Because if there's anything I love more than A Quest, it's A Resistance.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Especially
when it's run by a guy named Obi. After all the cat food and raw
noodles, I was pretty amped about the venison stew. Weird, sure, but I
was feeling pretty good at this point.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">But
I LOVED the conflict this presented. It was done so, so well how she
didn't know what side she was on knowing that YES! PEOPLE ARE GATHERING.
But hold up, I got an angel with me. Shaky ground this is.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">I
also loved how Ee didn't take the popular route. She could have totally
lost it here. Pen-rye-n could have turned into a Bella or a Luce or a
Nora. Her loyalty to the angel could have been because OMG HE'S SO
PRETTY AND I LOVE HIM. But, again, not our girl Pen-rye-n. That route is
for less awesome girls. This was still all about Paige.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">"YES
MY PEOPLE ARE GATHERING AND THEY ARE GONNA TAKE DOWN THESE WINGED FUCKS
but it's not my problem, my sister is my problem, so I'm sticking with
Downy Wings over here."</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">YES!
BANGING MY FISTS ON THE GROUND YES! I want to weep over how Pen-rye-n
MADE this book. This is the example to show other books, "SEE! YOU CAN
NOT FLAKE OUT ON THE GIRL! SHE DESERVES TO BE STRONG AND GOOD AND HAVE
THE FORCE BE WITH HER!"</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">YES
YES YES. DO NOT FLAKE OUT ON HER AND DO NOT TURN HER INTO A SIMPERING
FLAKE. GIVE HER VALUES AND LOYALTY AND LET HER AWESOME FLAG FLY.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">ALSO.
Too. We need to back up a minute. I absolutely loved the bit about the
footage of Archangel Gabriel being shot and this being the world's
introduction to angels. It was SO very M. Night Shamalamadingdo</span><span style="color: #222222;">ng
Signs, but so perfect for this baffling world. Like, "Oh, hey, there's
angels, here's the proof, we just shot their leader OH SHIT JUST GOT
REAL."</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>:</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">YESSSSS!!! DUDE! YES!</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">I
saw it in my head and I was freaked the fuck out. THE IMAGERY! There
was a newsreel playing in my head and I was holding onto my kindle like,
"Okay, guys. I..I need a minute."</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">THE IMAGERY OF THAT! LIKE STILL. IN MY HEAD.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">I'm
totally sitting over here picturing it. Like, him coming down all
WARRIOR ANGEL SAY WHAT and landing on the hood of a car and a shit ton
of SWAT with their shields and shit just open fire and it's on loop and
you're just sitting there like, "Oh, this is SO NOT MOTHERFUCKING GOOD."</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Tell me this is being made into a movie. I NEED TO MAKE SOME CALLS BECAUSE THIS SHOULD BE MADE INTO A MOVIE.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Just Googled it and the book has a major film agent so LET'S DO THIS.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">SO EXCITE I NEED TO GO GET MY FOAM FINGER AND PAINT MY CHEST.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">WE'LL DRAW BLOODY SCARS ON OUR BACKS!</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">YES! AND WE'LL CARRY WINGS MADE OF COTTON BALLS.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">AND CAT FOOD!</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">...maybe.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">....Or maybe trail mix.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: Done.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">Okay.
I need a refill. And probably a cigarette. Because we're going to have
to talk about the Hell Spawn and I need to be nicotined and caffeined up
for those creepy little shits.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">And probably some holy water.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">I think we're out of holy water but I'll grab the garlic powder on the way through.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: <span style="color: #222222;">Okay
so I was smoking and rereading the forest Hell Spawn scene and the
neighbor slammed their door and I might have peed on myself JUST A
LITTLE. It's foggy and we're in this tiny little dark town and THE HELL
SPAWN KIDS ARE SO EFFING CREEPY.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">The
fact that they are LIKE PIRANHA. The swooping back and forth without
being able to actually SEE them, and the quick bites, and the way they
whole camp just shut the hell down over them? Sound the effing alarm,
the kids are not alright.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">God
yes, I was just going to say something about the piranha bumping shit
because that was seriously terrifying. NO, HELL CHILDREN, YOU TAKE YOUR
LOW DEMON ASSES TO THE NAUGHTY STEP AND STAY THERE.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">This was very M. Night Shamalamadingdo</span><span style="color: #222222;">ng
Signs for me. Being in the woods, not being able to see, having small,
unseeable things biting me to death. I repeat, freaked the EFF OUT.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>P</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">AND THEN...THERE WAS RAFFE.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">YES! OH, SWEET HUNKY DELICIOUS ANGEL.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b>W</b>: </span><span style="color: #222222;">I
love that he's all stay here with your people, be safe, and she's
thinking, "Hell to the no, I came here with a point." And then he peaces
out and she could a) run back to camp b) PULL A BELLA AND TRY TO RUN
AFTER RAFFE IN THE DARK WOODS or c) say "Fuck this noise" and continue
on her Quest.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">SHE WENT WITH C! OF COURSE SHE DID.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: <span dir="ltr">BECAUSE A & B ARE FOR LESS AWESOME GIRLS.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: I also love that even when he swoops in and plays Avenging
Raffe, she does not go all completely Damsel, Allow Me to Lace My Corset
Then Lead Me to the Fainting Couch. No. Homegirl hides behind a tree
and plays fastpitch softball.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Yes!
Chucking rocks at Hell Spawn Kids. This Pen-rye-n is not fooling
around. "Okay, you got a sword? Check this out. Oh...damn, my bad."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Yes!
And no groveling afterwards. "Yeah, about that. Sorry. Whatever.
World's ending. You got hit with a rock. Life sucks. Get a helmet."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: <span dir="ltr">"I told you to put on some more band-aids."</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span dir="ltr"><b>P</b>: </span>I love that we're fangirling Pen-rye-n just as much, if not more, than Raffe. I think this is a first for us.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Right?
And this book has RAFFE. Like, total angel hunk that isn't overly drawn
with crybaby swoony prose, but gets to stay tough and enigmatic and
asshole-y, but is dying over his wings and is so smokin' hot I want to
draw him on my ceiling and just look at him and STILL! It's all about
the girl.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: The
girl so often sucks so bad and is drawn so weak, that it doesn't make
sense for Super Awesome Dude to lose his shit over her. But HERE? YES.
LOSE YOUR SHIT, RAFFE. Totally worth it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Raffe
is everything I want out of my heartthrobs and has the ability to make
me wetter than Katrina and I'm over here waving my
foam finger and PEN-RYE-N OR WHATEVER painted on my chest. PEN-RYE-N FOR
PRESIDENT.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Why
do so many authors take that route? Seriously? Like this is A Thing and
it needs to be talked about. Why do they seem so scared of strong
female leads? Why do we have bookshelves filled of Bella Swans and not
nearly enough Pen-rye-ns and Katnisses?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: This
Weak Female Leads is definitely a Thing that we need to discuss. We
need to get to figure this shit out. BECAUSE IT KEEPS HAPPENING. In YA.
In general adult romance. In Paranormals. EVERYWHERE.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>P'S FRUEDIAN SLIP, DISCUSSION OF THAT.</b></span></i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Basically,
what you're saying is if you swung that way you're betting that your
gal pal would be a lady named Katrina. My money is that she carries
knives in her boots.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Freud
would have had a field day with that typo. But, yes, basically. Katrina
in the Apocalypse with Knives would be my kind of lady love were I the
type that sought lady loves.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>W GETS US BACK ON TRACK:</b></span></i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Dude. Where were we in the story?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Evil spawn kids.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: I'm skimming and now at the part with the dead little girls in the trees.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Oh,
man. So creepy. And the fact that they kept on walking was so right on
with the story. I liked that she didn't try to stop there and be a hero.
Didn't try to turn every effed up turn into WHERE CAN I SHINE HERE?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Yes!
And at the end of the chapter when she's all "I'm leaning on him but I
pull away because I can't afford to lean on anyone else for their
strength" and HOT DAMN, WEAK FEMALES, TAKE NOTE.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: <span dir="ltr">Pen-rye-n is writing the Gospel over here, and we're just preaching the truth.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span dir="ltr"><b>P</b>: </span>We are here to preach the Gospel of Pen-rye-n. Check out our foam fingers and painted on wing scars. We're legit.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: WHEN CAN WE TALK ABOUT HIM STEALING HER A DRESS AND THEM GETTING ALL DUDDED UP IN A STOLEN CAR?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>:
RIGHT NOW. AND THE AERIE SHIT? I did not know what to expect from the
Aerie but I was NOT expecting this crazy posh nightclub thing with
stripper looking chicks running around.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Also,
at this point of the story, I can't help but think...the world has
ended...so girls have stopped shaving, right? We're rocking our slut
dresses with lots of body hair. It's a brand new world, I get it, but I
can't help but think these thoughts.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: NO
I THINK THE SAME THINGS. And I always want an author to address them,
because, this is something I would not be able to give on were it the
end of the world. Get me a razor or Nair because I will not be out
killing Hell Spawn with hairy pits.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: I
have this unnatural fear of body hair. I think it might hint at
underlying mental issues, but I don't care, hand me a razor.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: YES!
I want these issues addressed! Did you take a razor blade and some hot
water and get shit done? I RESPECT THAT. But if we're rolling up in the
Aerie with a tight dress on you can not lift your arms around HOT ANGEL
DUDE'S NECK and show pit hair!</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Me
too. I think this in EVERY post-apocalypse book. EVERY TIME. "Yes, your
hair is down and wild and your pants are tight, but what about your
pits?"</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Scale of 1-Hippy, CAN YOU BRAID YOUR LEG HAIR AT THIS MOMENT?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: And
let's be honest. Some of us girls have facial hair. We wax or bleach or
shave that shit away. WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT THIS, FEMALE LEAD IN
POST-APOCALYPTIC BOOK? HOW ARE YOU HANDLING THE 'STACHE SITUATION?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Yes,
come on, dark hair brethren. We've got 'stache stitches and chin hair
epidemics and for a proper make out, regardless what is going on in the
world, this needs to be dealt with.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: I
seriously just want ONE book to address this. Like, I want to see a
female, dark haired, character comment on her 'stache sitch and use a
knife or some shit to shave it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Give me something to conjure up when the other authors of this genre skim over this issue.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: We'll
just fill in the blanks and in those quick showers they found razors or
something. But in the future, authors, discuss this. We'd like to plan
for end of the world scenarios. This is 2012 after all.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: We should write a book. THE 'STACHE SITCH: Maintaining your beauty regimen through all end of the world scenarios.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Chapter 1: Razor Blades Are For More Than Stabbing.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Subtitled: Keep your knives sharp for gutting an enemy or shaving a leg.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: So
with our shaved by knife legs we're in the Aerie and angels are wearing
suits and how much did you love this? HOW MUCH DID YOU HURT FOR RAFFE
WHEN HE SAW ALL THE OTHER ANGELS?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: OH
GOD SO MUCH. Like, it felt so very Outcast at High School, These Are My
Old Friends But Now They Don't Want to Associate With Me Because My
Face Was Disfigured in that Accident.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: But..in
a good way? Like, I believed that shit. It hurt me for him. Here is
this powerful angel having to rig his wings on a backpack so he can get
into this Aerie and he can't look his Angel Friends in the eye and COME
HERE AND LET ME LOVE YOU, RAFFE.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: OHMYGAH,
me too. I hurt so hard for him. It was done so, so good. Like hit me in
the chest with how bad I love you right now. She went to hard with
Pen-rye-n, and just enough with Raffe, to where we weren't hit over the
head with him, but we're looking and searching his face and the pain and
the subtly of it and I want to drag him into the elevator and let him
touch my smooth upper lip.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: "Come
here, Raffe, and feel these smooth as baby butt pits. Yes. My lips are
chapped and my hair is greasy but I'm bald as a cue ball everywhere it
counts."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Also,
okay, we're in the aerie and the angel dudes walk by and we're hurting
for Raffe and THEN THEY KISS AND HOW MUCH DID YOU CLAP AND BARK LIKE A
SEAL.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: "<i>He
kisses me with the desperation of a dying man who believes the magic of
eternal life is in this kiss</i>." That line right there. Highlighted and
saved in my clippings because HOT. DAMN.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Oh,
man. Oh, my chest is getting all tight moment. IT WAS SO GOOD. One
kiss, we got ONE KISS out of this book, but it. was. so. good.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: So
good and SO BRUTAL right after. "I don't even like you." OH, HELLO,
FIST. SO NICE OF YOU TO SUCKER PUNCH THE HELL OUT OF ME.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: So Han Solo of him.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: BUT WE KNOW. WE KNOW he can't love her so as slapped in the face
as she is, I KNOW YOU ARE IN PAIN, RAFFE. AND I WANT TO RUB YOUR WING
STITCHES.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: AND EVEN THAT FELT REAL! And our girl does not go cliff jumping
or comatose. SHE SUCKS IT THE HELL UP AND GETS SHIT DONE. Who the fuck
is this Ee exactly? I want to know her. I want to shake her hand. I want
to send her an edible arrangement.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: YEEES.
Banging fists on the ground again because YES. SO. HARD. Girl is ON IT
and gets right up in there and is ready to do the damn thing.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Oh
and quick rewind, I loved when she agreed to the girl on girl fight and
started it by OH, NO THAT'S MY MAN! Effectively saving him from taking
his shirt off. Her balls. So smooth, so big.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: And then we're in the club and here comes Albino Dude.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Sorry. I was sharpie-ing big, hairless balls on my foam finger.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: But yes. Albino Dude. And the Politician who I totally pictured as Mitt Romney I DON'T KNOW WHY.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: Oh...whoa. You just upped the creep factor on my eventual reread.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Right? Get thee behind me, Mittens! ....Wait. Stay away from my back. I don't trust you. Hands where I can see em.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: So,
Mittens is walking around with lifeless blow up dolls, Pen-rye-n is
tricking Albino into the bathroom, and we're getting insider angel talk,
like, oh hai, RAFFE IS RAPHAEL AND HAS GOT BIG STATS IN THE ANGEL
BUSINESS.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: I love all the Daughter of Man talk. It's hot. I'm into it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Okay.
Confession. I've told you the whole HI I'M A PREACHER'S DAUGHTER story
before and even I never made the Raffe = Raphael connection.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Oh, God, yes. So hot. It's that forbidden fruit shit. Instant turn on.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: I'm
like really amped to talk about the bat wings, but before that we need
to address Paige. Poor, sharp-toothed, piranha Paige.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Who
still kinda held on to her humanity just enough that there's some hope
there. Like, I'm really interested to see how this plays out. What will
Pen-rye-n do? Is she gonna start feeding kids to her and shit?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: RIGHT?
DAMNIT, the set up here is bananas! So good. Because here is baby
sister who we were so afraid for, Pen-rye-n is hauling that wheelchair until she
just couldn't anymore, and here she finds her and she is that Monster In
The Woods! But she's saving and she's holding out her arms to you and
calling you her baby nickname, and PLEASE, CAN WE GET THIS EDIBLE
ARRANGEMENT TO THE AUTHOR.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: I
really kinda hope that she stays this Hell Spawn kid and they, like,
tame her? Kinda? I mean, Mama Young is fluent in crazy, so I'm sure she
could come up with a good training regimen. I don't know. I don't really
want her to go back to normal, you know? We did this. We're there. Baby
Sister is changed. We can not unchange her. We can adapt to life with
her or we can get rid of her, but we can't unchange her.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: I
cosign on this. I hope she stays the razor blade mouth Hell Spawn. It's
a brand new world and this is a family I want to watch take on this
crazy world where the angels have wreaked havoc AND THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW
WHY THEY DID IT.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: We'll
add it to the note on Ee's Edible Arrangement. "HI. GREAT JOB ON
ANGELFALL. PS: IF YOU WANT MORE FLOWER SHAPED FRUIT YOU'LL KEEP PAIGE A
RAZOR BLADE MOUTHED HELL SPAWN."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: "P.S. GOOD MOVE ON THE BAT WINGS."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: THE BAT WINGS HOLY FUCK THE BAT WINGS.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: I
know. I KNOW. I can't stop geeking out. The way he comes into the room,
the other angel, The Scorpion Thing, THE VENOM NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT, and
her listening to all the crazy angel insider talk. AND RAFFE THINKING
SHE'S DEAD. THE WEEPING. THE RAGE. ALL OF THE YES.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: Oh,God, I had to reread the part where we see the bat wings. Holy fuck. HOLY FUCK. SO GOOD. SO DELICIOUSLY GOOD.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>P</b>: AND THE WEEPING. OH, RAFFE, COME TOUCH MY SMOOTH LEG AND CRY ON MAMA'S SHOULDER, YOU BIG BEAUTIFUL BAT WINGED MAN ANGEL.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: And
then he gets mad and starts punching shit and running off stage to
punch and kick more shit and then he's back and he's carrying her like a
total badass into the fire and raging war, his bat wings all out to not
hurt her EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES THE RUMORS ABOUT HIM LOOK TRUE
and...and...HE TAKES HER BACK TO HER PEOPLE.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: I just...I...I just can't.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>P</b>: Me through all of that: </span> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ToWUSuLGugs/UGpSZPq8BaI/AAAAAAAAEFo/tHM1E8ToRcY/s1600/OmgGirl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ToWUSuLGugs/UGpSZPq8BaI/AAAAAAAAEFo/tHM1E8ToRcY/s200/OmgGirl.gif" height="162" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b></b><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>W</b>: <span dir="ltr">That.
Until the very...last...word. THAT was this book. May bat-winged angels
bless our dear Pen-rye-n and her piranha baby sister.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.2em;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span dir="ltr"><b>P</b>: </span>And all Raffe's fangirls said: AMEN.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11500217-angelfall" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1319887835m/11500217.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11500217-angelfall">ANGELFALL</a> by Susan Ee<br />
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Do it. For Raffe and the bat wings and Pen-rye-n and for piranha hell spawn everywhere.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-46316455780543648172012-09-26T21:35:00.005-04:002014-08-06T17:23:13.578-04:00YA saves.<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Over here at Paper Boyfriends, we talk books. Either in the form of reviews or essays or nerd chats or articles, the topic is always going to center around books. Because that's what we do. Nina and I wear many hats in our lives, but at the heart of us, at the core, we are readers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And today, the day I turned 27, being the reader that I am paid off in a big way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Right now, my little family and I are visiting my mom, stepdad, sister and grandma in Tennessee. The husband had to visit the VA here and so my boys and I decided to tag along and spend mine & my mama's birthdays together. This morning started off like any other. I got up. Ate cake for breakfast, because if you can't eat cake for breakfast on your 27th birthday, when can you? Afterwards, I wandered outside to smoke my morning cigarette and crack open the latest book I'm reading. I was lost in the world <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/514824.Julia_Hoban">Julia Hoban</a> created when I heard my mom scream out my name. My full name. And I knew as I was dropping my half smoked cigarette and running for the door it had to be serious, because I've always been and always will be her baby name for me unless something is desperately wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And it was. Oh, God, it was.</span><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My grandma, who will be 83 in February and has had a novel's worth of health problems since turning 80, was slumped back in a kitchen chair that my mom had managed to get her into just as she was passing out, eyes rolled back in her head with my mom standing over her, patting her face and yelling at her to wake up. When I reached them, my mind blanking out except for a single thought, "she's dead," my grandma's head lulled to the side and I could see her tongue curling back towards her throat. She was dead. I knew it as surely as I knew my name. As surely as I knew that today I turned 27. My grandma was dead and she died on my birthday and this was something I would always carry with me. My grandma, the second most important woman in my life, slipped out of my life on the anniversary of the day I slipped into hers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My mom was frantic. She wasn't making sense. Her actions were of pure desperation and her words were barely coherent. And then she stopped. She stopped and said, "she's not breathing. Oh God. She's not breathing. Is she breathing?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I put my hand up to my grandma's mouth. That same mouth that spoke so many words to me. That taught me things. That stuck up for me when I didn't deserve it. That scolded me when I deserved far worse. There was no air. No breath tickled my hand. I felt along her neck for a pulse. Not a single thump against my fingers. She was gone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then, I reacted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It wasn't a conscious thing. Instructions were running through my head. The voice wasn't mine. <b><i>Clear her airway.</i> </b>I stuck my hand in her mouth and pulled her tongue straight. <b><i>Tilt her head back.</i> </b>"Get her on the floor!"<i> <b>Check for breath.</b></i> There isn't any. I already know.<b> <i>Check for a pulse.</i></b> Nothing. There's nothing. I'm kneeling next to my grandma's corpse.<i> <b>Plug her nose. Seal her mouth. 2 breaths. Chest compressions</b>.</i> Be gentle. Be so gentle. Mind her scar. She had open heart surgery. <i><b>Repeat.</b></i> "CALL 911!" I'll breathe for her. I'll keep oxygen in her until the paramedics arrive. I can't bring her back. They will. I'll just breathe for her in the meantime. <i><b>2 breaths. Chest compressions.</b></i> Not too hard. "FIND THE DAMNED PHONE."<b> <i>Repeat. Keep repeating.</i></b> Keep oxygen flowing. I'll give her my breath until they get here and give her back hers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then, as I went to do chest compressions again, I felt it. A thump. And then another. I didn't think. I didn't say anything encouraging like they do in the books. I didn't tell her to come back. I plugged her nose, sealed my mouth over her lifeless one, and breathed again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And she gasped. Under my hand that was resting on her chest, her lungs expanded with my breath, then she exhaled it, gave it back to me, and took one of her own.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And glanced over at me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I sat back, cracked a grin, and said the first thing that popped into my head, the approaching sirens wailing in the background: "well, hey there, pretty girl." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The paramedics came in shortly after and I gave up my spot kneeling next to her head. I gave them the run down of what happened. My mom filled in my grandma's medical history that I didn't know. They whisked her away, assuring us it wasn't a stroke. One lingered behind, told my mom and I what a good job we did. Praised us for our quick thinking. We smiled and nodded and thanked him for doing his job and their quick response time and then my mom and I were alone. I turned to my mom and said, "I don't know CPR." "But you did it. I'm so proud of you." "I don't know CPR. I've never taken the classes. I kept meaning to." I grinned. "I read how to do it in a book." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> And I did. This past summer I've read something like 115 books, majority of which were YA. Some I read specifically to review here or over on Goodreads. In one of those 115 books, one of the <i>Morganville Vampires</i> ones, if I remember correctly, a character gives another CPR. His/her internal monologue is running through the steps. That was the voice in my head. That was the instructions I was following. That author, most likely Rachel Caine but maybe someone else, wrote that scene. In the course of that book's publication history, a group of people agreed that it should stay in the story. It went to print and at some point this summer, I picked that book up, read it, wrote a review then went on my way. And then, this morning, that scene, that one little scene, from that one particular book, came back to me at the most critical, absolutely crucial moment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last year, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10317.Maureen_Johnson">Maureen Johnson</a> started the hashtag <a href="http://lucasjwjohnson.com/2011/06/13/the-ya-saves-phenomenon/">#YASaves</a> on Twitter that quickly turned into a worldwide trend. Thousands of people started sharing their stories how the YA genre helped them, inspired them. How much good YA can do, despite how critics <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038.html">have said</a> otherwise. And while I've always believed in the magic of YA, real YA, and not candy coated, sugared up, preachy books written by adults about how they <i>think</i> young adults should act and think and believe, today I stand up and scream it from the rooftops with Maureen Johnson and the others. Today, I add my voice to theirs. Reading saves. <i>YA</i> <i>saves</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today, it literally saved my grandma's life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-26423380494141771912012-09-24T14:48:00.000-04:002014-08-06T18:58:42.750-04:00A town bursting with vamps: Morganville 1-12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11757444-the-morganville-vampires-series">Morganville Vampire Series (1-12)</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15292.Rachel_Caine">Rachel Caine.</a></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/382062121">4 of 5 stars.</a></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">Oh, Morganville, I shouldn't love you like I do.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">Here's the thing, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">The Morganville Vampires</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> series aren't particularly good books. I can think of at least one major continuity problem. Apparently getting shot in Morganville translates to a stab wound? Pretty major screw up. They're rollarcoasty and often end with a cliffhanger and in books 10 & 11, we get treated to alternating POV's, often a shift from third person limited to first person then back to third. Claire Danvers is a strong character, with no real physical attributes given to her. In 11 books, all I can tell you about Claire is that she's on the small side and has short hair, which is probably brown but also maybe red. Basically, she could be anybody anywhere, and maybe it's so we can slip her on like a pair of jeans. I don't know. Aside from Monica and her pack dogs, everyone mostly loves her unless it's crucial to the plot that they don't. She's insanely smart, pretty talented, and despite going on and on about how she's the biggest geek ever, she ends up with one of the hottest boys in town who is insanely in love with her. She's a little Mary Sue, is what I'm saying here. Not the Maryest Sue that ever did Sue, she's no Bella Swan, but she is on the scale. And maybe a 5.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">But, God, all that said, I could not stop reading. It's like the best crackfic ever. Things are always happening in Morganville and Claire and the Glass House gang are always smack dab in the middle, getting the hell beat out of them. This we can get to Caine hands down. She has no qualms about putting her characters through the ringer. Even if their wounds change over the course of the books.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">There was something refreshing about Morganville's vampires, something that we're just not seeing too much of in YA paranormal books these days. They're not romanticised, not completely. They're neither wholly good nor wholly bad. They don't run around sucking the blood out of neighborhood farm animals, but they're not running around hunting humans either. They're pretty much what you would expect for somewhat domesticated 100+ year old demon creatures of the night. Self-serving first, somewhat civilized second. Bad characters have redeeming qualities, good characters have bad ones, and there's a whole lot of gray and not much black and white. The whole idea of the town being founded by them, as a sort of experiment to see if they could co-exist with humans and cease running and hiding was intriguing. The way they kept their existence secret from the students who came to the town to go to college and the careful balance between the two species. It's a fun concept and damn it all, you come to grudging love the founder Amelie as the books progress.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">OKAY. Can we talk about Myrnin now? Because I'm totally only writing this review to talk about Myrnin.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">MYRNIN, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">Seriously. This vamp is everything, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">everything</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">, fabulous is made of. He's the shit. He's crazy as shit. He's bipolar and a mad scientist with a fondness for steampunk inventions and you never know what he's up to and he's easily the best thing in the whole series. No really. Team Myrnin. Let's make t-shirts. Myrnin for president. OF LIFE. He's what kept me reading at times, when I rolled my eyes and thought, "Oh sweet Jesus, DOES ANYTHING NOT HAPPEN IN THIS TOWN?" My next thought would always be, "What's Myrnin going to do next? That crazy old coot!" He keeps brains in jars and hooks them up to computers. He has a pet spider! He wears fanged bunny slippers and Hawaiian shirts and old Victorian jackets. Everything awesome in life, that's Myrnin. Did I mention that he's crazy? Because he is. He's so crazy. Every book, at one point or another, I said out loud, "Oh, Myrnin, you so craaaaazy!" Running around in his Victorian clothes and flip-flops. Coming up with insane inventions that sometimes works but also sometimes wipes the memories of everyone in the town, including his own. Love that fanged man. I would have his crazy, fanged babies.</span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">Oh. And there's lot of other people too and they do things but mostly they're just fillers until we get back to Myrnin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">TEAM MYRNIN.</strong>
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br /></strong><strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br /></strong></span>Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-54015735531866426292012-09-24T14:22:00.000-04:002014-08-06T17:24:04.970-04:00The Curious Case of Mr. Darcy.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"But I can assure you," she added, "that Lizzy does not lose much by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring him! He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very great! Not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, to have given him one of your set-downs. I quite detest the man."<br />(Mrs. Bennet to Mr. Bennet about Mr. Darcy)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We've seen him over and over and over again in various forms. We've despised him, we've loved him, we've swooned over him. He's made us wetter than New Orleans after Katrina. He's arrogant and pompous and walks with an air of superiority, and yet, we fall for him as surely as Lizzy Bennet did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Oh, Mr. Darcy, what is it about you that we find so irresistible?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let's face it, guys. Mr. Darcy is kinda a jackass. Sure, his behavior gets excused and explained away later on, and we feel for him and understand him and we go from disliking him so immensely to loving him thoroughly. He's tortured, bless his heart! He had his reasons for acting the way he did! But, come on. I think we all can agree, reasons or not, Darcy was a jerk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And maybe that's why we do like him so much. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We like our boys bad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because here's the thing about a bad boy: we, as their love interest, whether personally or vicariously, get to change them. We get to be the reason behind their growth as a person. We, alone, get the knowledge that we are so effing incredibly special and magical, that we broke through their walls and melted their hardened hearts. We flipped that house, yo! Just by being us!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That's some powerful shit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And we fall for it so hard in literature because, let's be honest, it rarely works out like that in real life. In the real world, Mr. Darcy doesn't change, he changes us. He turns us into the type of women that take the bullshit, thinking that some day, some day soon, we'll break through to them and they'll realize what a damned prize we are. They'll change their ways because we deserve it. We're worth changing for. We cry ourselves to sleep and have our hearts broken daily waiting for that moment Lizzy Bennet experienced, when Mr. Darcy became the gentleman she said he wasn't. But it doesn't come. Eventually we wise up and move on. Maybe we find a boy who's already a good guy. Or maybe we move on to another bad boy and lather, rinse and repeat until we finally throw our hands up and pair off with the boy next door, while still swooning over our fictional Darcy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That's the beauty of him. The literary version of him, that is. We're safe in our love because we know he won't hurt us. He <i>will</i> change. He will become someone better, someone worthy of us. He'll become our prince charming because books don't let us down in that way. They'll almost always follow the formula and we are free to trust in it, knowing we won't be betrayed like we will in real life. We'll always get our Lizzy moment, no matter if it's in <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1885.Pride_and_Prejudice">Pride & Prejudice</a> or <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10194514-pushing-the-limits">Pushing the Limits</a>. Mr. Darcy will not let us down and we'll be able to bask in the knowledge that we alone, through Lizzy or Echo, melted and bewildered him, despite our social differences. We were the catalyst for their change because we are such unique snowflakes and they couldn't resist our feminine charms.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And despite the formula being tried and tested and implemented many, many, many times over, we'll continue to fall for it. We'll continue loving the hell out of that jackass-turned-charming-hero. Because, deep down, I think we're all suckers for a sharp dressed asshole.</span><br />
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Pen-rye-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16324153102361656643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237893029275750730.post-67795654047888388482012-09-23T11:39:00.002-04:002014-08-06T23:38:09.358-04:00Always had a Thing for Artsy Boys.<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13548456-easy" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Easy" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1342983117m/13548456.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13548456-easy">Easy</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826501.Tammara_Webber">Tammara Webber</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/342488461">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I've been circling this one for a couple months. Dipping my toes into the New Adult waters, I've been seduced by the sexy, gritty angst. The choices and decisions someone makes when they're on their own for the first time. The boys that show up and the nights that don't end. And Easy was touted amongst them, but I kept side-stepping it. <br />
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I can be completely vain and tell you it was because of the cover. <br />
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God, I'm a horrible person, but the guy looked like a Richie Sambora kind of rocker and my brain kept thinking cheesy rocker fan-fiction and I kept turning the other way. Then my soul sister read it and I knew it was okay now. Time to do this.<br />
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I absolutely adored this book. I swooned, clutched it to my chest, and found myself a new boyfriend. And he looks nothing like Richie Sambora.<br />
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More like Trent from Daria.</span><br />
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<i>Hullo</i>, Lucas. <br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Easy was everything why I couldn't stop reading <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11505797.Beautiful_Disaster" title="Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire">Beautiful Disaster</a>, the sexy, charged electricity between two college kids, but without the terrible codependent declarations of love and crazy angry guy issues. Easy is none of the soap opera, but instead has this real life pulse, much like <a href="http://paperboyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-nerds-do-it-better.html" title="Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park">Flat-Out Love</a>, and benefits from that subtle intensity. <br />
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Right from the beginning, you're in one of the most terrifying situations. It's gutting, and you're sweating and praying, because no. Rape is a big catalyst in this story, and it's dealt with strong, capable hands that don't shirk back from the ugliness of it. Girls step forward for each other, and you want to stand with them, and the moment with the sorority girls, and their Boss Girl was one of the best scenes. Just, ever. I was proud of these girls. I want these girls in all stories. <br />
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The self-defense classes that Erin dragged Jacqueline to were some of my favorite too. It wasn't cheesy, or, "Hey, this is what comes next!" but it was funny and empowering and Erin was this fierce ball of energy screaming NO! and genuinely wanting to get to the part where they kicked the guy's nuts, and I wanted to be her best friend, but was stoked that Jacqueline got her. <br />
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Speaking of Jacqueline, I dug her. There were so many ways that this could have been a Weak Girl Story, but it never went there. She was vulnerable and confused but she was trying and building herself, and it was just a pleasure to watch. I was rooting her on so hard, and wanted so much for this girl who plays an upright bass and gets crushed on hard by the middle school boys she tutors. This was a solidly drawn girl going through a shitty year, but she's dealing with it, and she's growing and she's getting somewhere new. <br />
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And that's why she finally notices Lucas.<br />
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I can not express how in love with this boy I am. He's tall and dreamy with artsy tattoos and a sneaky peak lip ring, but he's watching her quietly giving her barely there smiles and he's drawing. Always drawing with charcoal smudges on his hands that get on her shirt and I'M DYING HERE. He's saving and sitting in the back of class and looks like a slacker, but there he is also working at Starbucks and all these small conversations they're having are getting my chest all tight. Lucas is a sexy mystery showing up at the bar to dance, and then leaving and then smiling from across the hall and he's forward but unsure and he's so patient and I'm swooning so hard I might faint. <br />
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And then there's Landon. The tutor her professor has set her up with to help save her grade after bailing from class post-break up. The emails are getting flirtatious, and I'm getting so tied up in knots, but it builds such great tension that it's just damn near impossible to put it down. <br />
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This book as a whole was just so good and exemplifies why the New Adult genre can be so breath-stealingly worth it. The writing was strong, the heartbreak was gutting, the humor was pitch perfect, and the emotion was ridiculous and perfect and I just want to cuddle it for awhile. </span><br />
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