Monday, July 30, 2012

Monday Morning Updates




Here's a totally random stream-of-consciousness rambling. With a couple of rants thrown in for good measure. Enjoy!


1. I attempted to read Kissin' Tell (Rough Riders #13) by Lorelei James this weekend. Ugh! I DNFed it. The "hero" was a man slut who couldn't remember the names of the women he slept with. The heroine was a horndog who was pissed at the hero for treating her with respect and consideration instead of boinking her the first chance he got. Ooooooo-kay. I hated them separately. I hated them together. I hated the storyline (a repeat of the same old "blackmail you into sleeping with me" thing that I've already seen by this author). This was awful. I had to read two back-to-back Stephanie Laurens to erase the memory from my mind. Yuck.

For the record, I recently read All Jacked Up (Rough Riders #8) which I loved (5 stars). This series is pretty uneven....there are some great reads and some stinkers. Oh well.

2. In light of the ridiculousness that is happening at Goodreads (ridiculous authors getting their panties in a bunch, ridiculous reviewers ganging up on commenters, asinine Goodreads policies about posting reviews and comments), I have actually gone back to the Amazon romance message boards! Ha! Never thought that would happen. But guess what I found? There is almost no self-promo going on, and there are actually some excellent conversations about books and reading. Hmmm. Which I think is what Goodreads is supposed to be, but....um....that ain't happening lately. Hell has indeed frozen over.

3. I was forced to take my daughter and her friend to Ice Age 4. The only thing I hate more than kiddy movies is.....um, there isn't anything. I hate kiddy movies with a passion usually reserved for a bearded Hugh Jackman. Well, the joke's on me! Because the movie was actually sort of cute and I didn't want to pierce my eyeball with a sharp stick. And the preview for Rise of the Guardians (2013) looked totally rockin'.....can't wait for that one.

4. Some exciting NECRWA news.....our own Caroline Linden won the RITA for Romance Novella (I LOVE THE EARL)! Yippeee! Way to go, Caroline!

5. Twitter Tip: If you decide to follow someone, say hello. Don't just follow them, and expect a follow back. Be polite. New people who follow you but don't say hi are sort of like creepy folks standing next to you at a party. Just standing there. Staring. (*Penny looks over her shoulder*)

6. I convinced my hubby to take me out for Mexican food this weekend. As I was enjoying my icy cold Corona, the family sitting next to us (2 extremely young parents and 4 kids all under the age of 8) started a food fight. At a restaurant. No sh*t. There were French fries flying through the air. The dad completely ignored the entire thing...he was looking at his iphone the whole time. The mom was yelling "Stop it! Stop it!" And the kids were laughing their asses off and flinging food at each other. After they left, my hubs turned to me and said (with a totally straight face) "I think those parents might have been in over their heads." Ya think? Oy.

7. Time for one of my all-time biggest pet peeves. Ready? I HATE HATE HATE it when I want to make a hotel reservation, call a nice hotel, and find out that they have a two-night minimum stay. In other words, they are discriminating against single-night travelers. A hotel has absolutely no freakin' business trying to dictate my travel plans. If I want to say one night, then I want to stay one night. And if they are not willing to accommodate me or anyone else interested in a single night stay, then they need to put IN BIG BOLD WRITING ON THEIR HOMEPAGE.....

SINGLE NIGHT TRAVELERS ARE NOT WELCOME HERE

I find it unbelievably rude for hotels to follow this policy. And once I find out that a hotel does this, I will never call them again. Ever. I tried to make reservations in Newport for a weekend in August, and I finally gave up. But guess what? There were many lovely hotels in New Hampshire who welcomed me with open arms. God bless New Hampshire. I will be staying at the Hanover Inn and taking my mother to Simon Pearce Restaurant for a delicious meal at my favorite restaurant. I'm really looking forward to it!

Thus concludes my rambling and rants for the morning. I hope everyone has a great week!

All my best,
Penelope