Monday Morning Update

Here are the fastest updates on the face of the earth! Ready...set....go.....


Here's what I've read recently and is coming up in the TBR pile....

Beauty Touched The Beast by Skye Warren

This was a freebie download at ARE. It was a short, hot read with some of my favorite themes--older man/younger woman, and beauty/beast. It has a lot of potential to be expanded into a longer story....I hope the author will consider it. My first read by Skye Warren, and it won't be my last!

Grade: A-


Wild and Steamy anthology

So far, I've read the first story by Meljean Brook....The Bounder. Absolutely loved it! It kicked total steampunk ass, and now I can't wait to read Heart Of Steel. I also read the second story in this anthology, Vixen by Jill Myles. This was nothing like the other stories I've read by her....pretty much an erotica about a were-fox. It's a menage...not my favorite. A lot of sex, not a lot of substance or anything else. It was a fun read, but seemed out of place next to The Bounder. Looking forward to finishing this book with Carolyn Crane's Kitten Tiger and the Monk.

Grade: A for Brook story, B- for Myles story


Doxology by Tim Black

This is a satirical book about a magical weenie dog. Nuff said. Hoping to get to it this week.


And.....drum roll please......the Holy Grail of ARCs.....

Restless in the Grave by Dana Stabenow

The latest book in the Liam Campbell series, which I got addicted to last year. It's coming out on Valentine's Day, but I was thrilled to get an ARC of this one. Can't. Wait. To. Read. It. Hallelujah!!!!!!

I also managed to cram in 2 comfort re-reads this weekend....Julie Garwood's The Bride, and Stephanie Laurens' All About Love. I'm feeling very romantic! :^)

Happy Monday,
Penelope

I Got Nothin'

Happy Monday Morning! (uttered through half-closed eyes)....

1. I watched 3 horror movies simultaneously last night (zombies, vampires, murdering psychopaths).

2. Hubby got home at 3 AM and wanted to chat.

3. I DNFed a bunch of freebie books this weekend. Still looking for "Mr. Right" (the book that will capture my attention).

4. This is a cool photo my son took a couple of years ago. How I love autumn in New England!

Plans for the week.....Get some sleep. Watch some more horror movies (it is October, after all). Decide which WIP I am finally going to commit to this fall. 

I am off to Starbucks to get a very large pumpkin spice latte.

Hope yinz all have a great week!

Penelope

Monday Morning Update: Promo Fun, Wildernessy Reading, and Winter Vacation

It's winter vacation! (Hack, hack, cough, sneeze...oh joyful days stuck in the house while it's snowing outside and my kids are both sick as dogs).

Plan for the week: consume lots of OJ, log in many hours of Call of Duty, and schedule ear-piercing at the mall for my 8 year old daughter. (This is attempt #2 since she lost her nerve the first time).

Yesterday's talk at the NEC meeting was a blast. I had a great time chatting with all the wonderful members of the New England chapter about self-promotion. Unfortunately, I only got through half my material...whoops! I probably could have gone on and on for hours until everyone shrivelled up from dehydration and begged me to stop. Hee hee!

On the reading front: I am in the midst of a wildnerness reading frenzy. Not on purpose, it was just a coincidence. I finished Julia Rachel Barrett's newest book, Pushing Her Boundaries, and I loved it! (A- read). Review coming soon. It was inspired by Julia's camping trip from hell, and it has a very suspenseful storyline involving storms, and canoes, and cougars....wildernessy!

Also on the wildernessy front (do you like how I just made up a new word? heh heh).....I got an ARC at the meeting yesterday and decided to dive right into Meg Maguire's Caught on Camera. It's about a wilderness survival television star and his trusty PA. First of all, the cover is so hilarious, I can't believe it! "This show is getting x-rated" on the front cover. The camera strategically placed over the dude's crotch. And best of all, the male model's impish and naughty facial expression. In addition to all of this deliciousness, the book is excellent. My first read by this author, and I am loving it. Review to follow when I finish!

Hope everyone has a great week!
Penelope

Monday Morning Update: The Good, The Bad, & The &$*#@ Superbowl

Let's start with the good, shall we?

My son won first place in the 50 breast yesterday, and 2nd place in 50 butterfly.

I have been reading Nico Rosso's web series called Dead Drop on Tumblr. It's excellent. Here's the link to the first episode if you want to check it out. He posts a new chapter every day.

I'm heading to New York City this weekend to watch the weenie dogs at the Westminster Dog Show.

Now, the bad.

In spite of a nice selection of great reading materials on my Kindle (Zoë Archer's series, Taken to the Limit by Nico Rosso, and When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James), I seem to have developed a penchant for train wrecks. As in, I-know-this-book-is-gonna-suck-trainwreck-bad-but-I'm-gonna-read-it-anyway. Why? I don't know. It must be the same reason I continue to read Us Weekly online even though there is some asinine story about the freakin' Kardashian sisters every day. It's a sickness.

Both are shapeshifter books...one about a werewolf who likes to pee around his cabin, the other about an Orca whale (God help me!!!!). The werewolf book (A Wicked Wolf by Brenda Williamson) I already read...the whole damned thing. I endured endless pages of mindless sex scenes, a piss-happy werewolf who keeps confusing his new ho with his dead wife, a ding-a-ling heroine who (a) doesn't notice the guy she is boinking is turning into a werewolf for 3 days!!!!!, and (b) forgets she has 2 siblings at home while consumed with lusty Lycan lovin. This gem is filled with purple prose ("He sucked at the creamy essence trickling from her quivering folds"), a ridiculous storyline involving a real estate transaction, and finally, the I-couldn't-see-that-one-coming dramatic revelation that the bad guy is....(wait for it)....a wolfy lawyer! Sigh. Here are my 2 favorite lines from the book....

"As much as he wanted to hump the fertile bitch, he wanted a devoted, nurturing mother for his offspring more."

....and this masterpiece.....

"For the first time in his life, he'd had his ass licked by someone he cared about."

Hee hee hee....oh Lordy!

FYI, plenty of folks loved this book at Goodreads, and at least one reader noted that the author has written better material. Read at your own risk. Although I wouldn't recommend it.

The Orca book (The Orca King by Darragha Foster) is on the TBR pile. Gulp. Do I dare to read an Orca shapeshifter book? That is the question for the week.....




And finally, the @#$%&* Superbowl.

Stillers! How could you???? You raised our hopes and smashed us into little bits in the final two minutes of the game. Sniff, sniff.

Okay, I'm over it.


Happy Monday, Happy Reading, Happy Writing, Happy Shapeshifters for All!
Penelope