Yeah, we had to move all the books. Not *all* the books in the house, as there are bookcases in every room. But the 2 large and one medium bookcase in the living room that held our homeschooling / reference / crafty books.

If you have never seen pics, it’s a lot. There’s libraries around here with less. I finally decided that if we were looking up things n the internet before looking at our own books because there were so many to go through (or even find) then maybe it was time to clean them out.

On the up side, I have thoroughly cleaned out a number of subject matters and the books I kept picking up because we liked that topic or needed it for homeschooling. But at some point you have to ask – exactly how many kid craft books do we really *need* given we have enough knowledge AND materials to write our own from scratch? Or Canadian history? Or general science knowledge? Apparently you have have too many. And I haven’t even done upstairs hallway books.

At any rate, I have a rather large pile of books we no longer want to keep. Some of them are really really god books too. Anyone who is related to me or who feels comfortable with stopping in can adopt any number of these books looking for a new home. Many of them were well loved, a few we looked at thinking “WTF?”, and there are exactly two with battery sound effects (first come first serve on those PLEASE).

If not, you’re all getting boxes of books for Christmas. I’ll deliver.

If you have never read this series, it is a murder / crime / mystery set in the future where Eve, the main character is a detective. Her eventual husband Roarke is a millionaire and sometimes operates on the grey side of the law. Even has her own history to work through, being the victim of a crime at a young age.

Some of the books in the series are just page after page of slogging through to the end. Whodunnit? Super cool future stuff. Roake. Eve. Long looks, hinting and stuff behind closed doors. Violence. More violence. This particular installment involved Peabody, a detective under Eve’s command, overhearing some corrupt cops. So, early on we know who did it, but we don’t know why or how they can bring them all down without winding up dead. Like that other guy. Oh, and that one. And oops – that guy right there. These novels are usually on the dark side a bit, but I foudn this one in particular to finally offer me some character growth. Not only did they solve the crime, but we had some real progression of threads going throughout the series. We even find out a bit more about the disapproving butler. The zippy dialogue also pleases me. It does usually tho.

I give this 4 stars and a thumbs up. I might even keep it. I usually do not keep fiction because I rarely re-read books unless they are really good. This might be one of my exceptions and I may finally start hunting down more of the series at book sales and read them over from the beginning.

4.5 out of 5

Now, I am a fan of the romance novel. I am also a fan of the hawt ones. (Sorry kids, look away!). This novel was supernatural / fantasy and also labeled “erotic”.

Hardcore is more like it, Holy Moses. Usually the romance genre, even in the super-hawt lines, still sticks to certain editorial guidelines during sex scenes.Maybe because this is outside the usual publisher’s lines I read, but I found the sex scenes, while definitely part of the storyline, unnecessarily explicit. If I wanted to read a Penthouse Letter, I’d do that. These were about the same.

Otherwise, getting over the giggles, the storyline was actually not that bad. Not near as completely unbelievable as some of the romance / fantasy blends I have read, but well enough that if the romance storyline was tamed down and the sex scenes eliminated you’d still have a story. And one in which I’d want to find out what happens next. Good thing this is part of a series.

The author did do a good job at bringing the reader up to speed with what happened in previous books without going into too much detail for filler, and leaving just enough out to make me want to read the rest of the series.

There’s an Otherworld (of course there is) where goddesses live and control the live of men. Mere mortals that they are. Of course one of them (Rhys) is destined to be with a partner with Annwyn, who is a seer for the Queen. Rhys also has a Shadow Wraith (Kier) whom he has an “interesting” symbiotic relationship with. Underneath it all, the real reason for everyon to come together is to defeat evil forces. But you knew that, right? It always is for that reason.

Regardless, I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

While I am a fan of Charliane Harris, I haven’t read many of her other books. This is your typical girl-falls-into-mystery type of books where these things just seem to happen. Obviously, since this is part of a series, there was a lot of explaining of events that had gone on in the first book so I did feel like I was caught up and not lost on previous events.

It was a little slow though, and at one point I set it down for a week and didn’t pick it up again. Usually I plow through a book to get to the end if I really enjoy it. this was also the kind of mystery book where you didn’t have to think to much to figure things out or pay attention to lots of details.

Basically, the main character has a friend who dies and leaves her the house and some money. But in the house Aurora finds a human skull and a note. She has to figure out whodunnit without winding up in jail herself, and while juggling a new boyfriend, her mom, her ex across the street with his new (and very pregnant) wife and her job.

As with other books from Chairlaine, I found there was a lot of the main character being in a situation and brushing it off with a big, “Oh well! Events will reveal themselves!” That’s the only down side I ever see in her books. Things just seem to happen, and while they are explained, the main character often seem secondary to the action. She’s just there. It seems like it was written as a break between other books. Light, fluffy, not too much to think about.

oh well.

3 out of 5. I’d pick up another one at the library or at a book sale for a dollar, but I wouldn’t buy them new.

Edit: I did some homework (not hard) and found out Ms Harris wrote these before the Sookie Stackhouse books, and they are re-releases to capitalize on this. I do think she has grown as a writer, thankfully. I still think they could be better.

Anyway, I saw some tweets with the link to the book up at the publisher’s website.

And then I read my email, with the link to the book on Amazon.com. Where people can pre-order it.

Now, forgive me for being a bit dense, but this is when it hit me: I’m writing a book that people will actually read. And not just my mom, or my family, or friends, or people I know that I sorta work with sometimes, but even people I don’t know. Someone tweeted at me that they actually did pre-order it. (I faved the tweet.)

And then there was the whole “Oh yeah, don’t forget to make your author page on Amazon!” (I have an author page on Amazon??!??) Well, I do now.. the start of one, anyway.

I need to get a good pic and write a bio… and acknowledgments.

In my “HOLY CRAP!” times, when I let myself run around in circles, flailing, I will tweet at my other author friends and they say this is normal and no you don’t get used to it, isn’t it cool? And in writing that sentence, my brain went, oh em gee, I have author friends.

Sometimes I write blog posts about things like this so I can read them in my archives later and say, “Yes, this really happened.”

I like these books as they are similar to the Kinsey Malone series, and you can read them out of order. Or, at least the order you read them in doesn’t mean so much, as the events in the background aren’t linear.

If you like that kind of book, you should definitely pick it up. I prefer the paperbacks.

Disclaimer: Penguin Canada provided me a copy of this book for review.

If it was a movie, it would have been enjoyable. As a book, not so much.

Disclaimer: this book was provided to me for review by Penguin Canada.

Connect
Affect
Listen
Mirror

For harried parents of young children stuck in the rat race of modern life, this book could be a lifesaver. Or at least an eye opener. For me, my kids are mostly all older and I have followed some of the same premises. Treating them like people, for example. The part I didn’t like was ultimately this is about getting kids to do what you say. I wasn’t very happy with the section on school battles, for instance. There are times when the child who really resists going to school has serious issues happening, and would be better off being pulled out. There’s no acknowledgment of that possibility.

I’m probably too far out in the alternative to get much out of this book, as well as having older kids, but mainstream parents who are at their wits end and willing to try something new should pick it up in paperback.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from Penguin Canada.

We bought this book at the incredible price of FOUR DOLLARS. I have no iea why Amazon has it listed twice at two different prices – both hardcover. I literally stumbled across it while topping up an order using a gift card we got. This book is seriously awesome. A nice overview of the highlights of castle life with stunning pop-ups. The architecture of the pieces will keep adults occupied, while the detail given to the illustrations is just amazing. There’s even a miniature working catapult inside. Seriously! This book is so great, I would have paid full retail for it, so that’s saying something. You can see some pictures of Emma reading it here on Flickr.

We also bought The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World, over which Meaghan and I fell headlong into like with. It’s like your best girlfriend, dear to your heart, is giving you the advice you *must* know if you are to move up in the world. It’s an adorable book, well-suited for young ladies of historical leaning towards upstart young authoresses. More for entertainment than serious study, it’s lightheartedness doesn’t detract from the stalwart advice within.

- open box
- remove books
- place on shelf.

But no.

It’s more like, open box, gasp to myself, roll eyes or go “Hmmm.. that’s where that went…” followed by removing some book sthen standing bewildered while I figure out what shelf to put them on, use my other hand to cram previously shelved books off to the side and hopefully wedge the new handfull of books in.

The sad part is I have read almost every book in the house at least once (or skimmed enough to tell you about it) and yet we all still have the compunction to go visit our friendly librarians every couple of weeks.

Today is one of those days.

I find myself surrounded by boxes and stacks of books, yet nothing to read.

At some point there will be pictures. And it will be scary. I was commenting to Melissa earlier about the amount of books we have. Yet I could barely purge before we moved. There’s ten bookcases in the house and not enough shelving to hold them all.

What a horrible problem to have.