Category Archives: Books

Most Fun Christmas Shopping So Far: YA Books!

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So is everyone shopping away?

For my kids, one of the gifts I’ve always given from me (not Santa) is pajamas and a book. I’ve done it since they were tiny. And finding books has been easy some years, hard others.

But this year it was really fun! I actually researched it pretty heavily. For my 10 yo boy, I started with the ONE book he loved this year (“Flipped”). Seriously, I never saw him read like he did with that book — cover to cover in just a few days. He even read when we were on vacation! (gasp!) I think he liked the relationship of the boy and the girl (being a 10 yo boy and all…). So I did one of those “Customers who liked this book also liked. …” and think I found one he’ll like.

For my 14 yo girl, I looked up on GoodReads what some of the hot books were for girls. She likes romances, but she’s “over” the vampire thing. (The Twilight series was enough for her.) Continue reading →

Laura Kinsdale and the Book That’s Keeping Me Up at Night

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For the last couple of nights, I’ve been staying up late, cozy under my covers, “clicking” page after page on my Kindle as I read.

And the book that’s keeping me up is Laura Kinsdale’s The Shadow and the Star.

I fell in love with Laura Kinsdale when I first read Flowers From the Storm a few years ago. I chose that book because it’s consistently voted one of the top three romance novels of all time on AAR’s Top Romance list. (Of course, who can resist that? I had to see what it was about!)

I read it (along with the other two books in the top three), and I have to say, they were all excellent. But Laura Kinsdale really stood out. Her writing is outstanding — leaning much more into literary writing, with stripped descriptions, interesting characterization, and strange historical tidbits that she delivers in just the right doses. Flowers From the Storm won me over when I realized the hero was a man who had had a stroke — Only Laura Kinsdale could make a stroke victim super-sexy! (Now that takes talent!) The time period she chose was interesting too, since they didn’t even know what a stroke was — in fact, the character ends up in a mental institution. (When the heroine gets him out of the mental institution, their story begins.) Continue reading →

Discussion Still Going On About Jamie!

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One of my most popular posts to this day is the one I did about who should play Jamie Fraser in a movie version of Outlander. …

Yup, indeedy, it seems we’re all obsessed about this possibly-most-romantic-hero-ever.

In fact, the discussion is still going on over there, more than a year later — I just got a comment last weekend, in fact, from a young woman who claims she’s found THE guy to play Jamie. And she’s uploaded a [gulp. …] verra cool video to prove it. …

C’mon over to Who Would You Cast as Jamie in Outlander and see her video (along with a few others that were uploaded in comments) and see if you want to change your answer? Or add a new one?

Obviously, the Jamie discussion is just going to go on and on until someone makes that movie! 🙂

Latest Reading List: Do You Notice a Theme, Here?

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Updating my “Currently Reading” section with some books that are all on my nightstand right now. You might notice a theme, here:

  • The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the Wild West (1840 -1900), by Candy Moulton — Great reference for everything from that era, from professions and food storage, to clothing and furniture. It’s a tad dry (definitely a reference book!), but still so packed with info that I’m enjoying it anyway. Just reading about how refrigeration came into being, for instance, or how after 1865 condensed milk was available in cans. … (Really? huh. …)
  • Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West, by Anne Seagraves — Another interesting reference book that covers madams, the various levels of “houses,” how much money prostitutes made, some of the rough towns like Dodge and Bodie, and even some famous “wild” women like Calamity Jane and Josephine Marcus (Wyatt Earp’s eventual wife). Great characters. …
  • Men to Match My Mountains, by Irving Stone — I’ve only been meaning to read this book for about 10 years! Honestly. Now it seems like a good time, while I’m looking for inspiration for wild-west characters and planning a summer trip to the Sierra Nevadas (where much of this historical novel takes place). My mom and my husband have each read this book about two or three times, and tell me it’s one of their all-time favorites (and then they throw in a plaintive wail: WHY oh WHY haven’t I read it yet! They insist I will absolutely adore it.) So here I go, Mom and Chris. …

Do you read books for reference? What is on your nightstand right now?

Who Is Your ‘Auto Buy’ Author?

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I think a lot of us have that author who is an “auto buy” for us: We don’t read the reviews; don’t read the book blurb or the jacket copy. We just buy. We know this author will never let us down. …

For me, my most consistent auto-buy is Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I like her romantic comedies better than her “movie star books” (I call them), but either way, she never lets me down. She has a great blend of humor and sweetness in all her books, and the writing is always excellent. Her sentences always manage to surprise me with a great turn of phrase or a fun way of expressing something, and her writing is always creative and well-crafted — never cliche or repetitive.

Not only is she an auto-buy for me, but I always know what book she’s working on next (because I eagerly read her web site!) and always know its release date. I’m totally one of those standing in Borders, buying it the day it comes out. …

Who is your favorite “auto-buy” author?

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