A King Undone by Cooper Davis - My Thoughts

Bought because KJ Charles had good things to say about it, A King Undone didn't disappoint.  This is the first time I've read anything by Cooper Davis and again, not disappointed at all.  Another author I will definitely read again.

Interested in my thoughts on A King Undone?  They're available on my book blog over at BookLikes, as always.

Three the Hard Way by Sydney Croft - My Thoughts

Here we are with another of my Christmas time reads.  Sydney Croft is the pen name of the author duo, Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler (who also writes as SE Jakes) and they have written this novella set in their ACRO World for the Riptide Share the Love holiday charity bundle.

To find out what I thought of Three the Hard Way, skip on over to my book blog on BookLikes.

I must add that I really like the cover (by L. C. Chase) on this one.


And then I read this quick Christmas freebie from one of my favourite authors and I totally loved it!

What Happens at Christmas by Victoria Alexander - My Thoughts

Another Christmas novel and I quite enjoyed the reading of it.  It's fun, it's light, it has it's faults, but 'tis the season and all.  :)   What Happens at Christmas made me smile.

I have a few more thoughts on this book that can be found in the usual place, my book blog over at BookLikes.

What Happens When I Get Up Early

I'm up early this Monday morning, so what better thing to do than blog.  *LOL*  Yeah, I know, there are tons of other things I could probably be doing, but what the hell.  :)

Last night I finished getting the Christmas decorations up.  Not that I did a lot, mind you.  Just the tree and some of the many, many Christmas knick-knacks that I've collected through the years.  It looks holidayish around here now.  :)    And my tree is very Canadian - red and white, our national colours.  *LOL*

I've finished my Christmas shopping, only a few stocking stuffers left to get for the boy which I'll do at some point over the next week and a half.  I have one last thing to get through the mail though, but I suspect it will arrive this week.  

Other than Christmas stuff, what's happening?  Well, as I laid in bed this morning, debating on whether I should get up and heed the Call of the Bladder, or hope to drift back off to sleep, I started thinking about things online that have bugged me lately.  *LOL*  I know, positive eh?   No wonder I ended up getting up.  

There's a trend going on that really drives me apeshit.  Seriously apeshit.  Now, I know that language is a living thing, changing and mutating with usage etc... but this trend of... what would it be?... bastardising adverbs?  I don't know, but it makes people sound stupid and ignorant in my opinion.  When adults do it makes me think that they're trying to be teenagers and 'with it'.  What is it?  Well... when instead of saying "I am excited." or "I am disappointed." they say, "I am excite." or "I am disappoint."  IT SOUNDS STUPID!  And uneducated.  And just plain wrong.  And every time an author does it?  An angel weeps.   

Another thing that bugs me is this sub-tweeting bullshit that so many of the supposed socially aware folks I follow on Twitter indulge in.  Most of them are authors and reviewers and it makes me wonder if this is something that is just prominent in the romance genre.  They snark like mean girls in the cafeteria at school.  All these veiled condemnations and callings out without ever naming the person involved.  Seems to me that if you think someone is so wrong, is so deserving of the ranting that can go on all day - for many days - then you should have no problem naming them and calling them out for their behavior.  If you actually want to change something, that is.  Otherwise, it's just mean boys and girls talking and snickering behind someone's back.  Bully behavior, actually.  It pisses me off and I lose respect for the person doing it, and unfortunately, for the 'cause' they're espousing.  What really got to me over the weekend was the plethora of subtweets about the author that turned out to be Joseph Konrath and a most obnoxious blog post he wrote up to publicise his new, supposedly genre-busting (*snort*  It's not at all, the guy's a tool who knows nothing) erotic romance novel.  So many people were on about him yet.. no one named him.  But the minute... I swear, the very minute that his co-author - who happens to be a woman (they write under a pseudonym) - makes a statement to defend him, they sure as shit are quick to name her!  Yeah, and you'd be right if you thought it was the feminists so quick to name her and not him.  

The other thing that that crew does that bugs the shit out of me is to constantly decry the lack of diversity in their books, meaning the romance genre books.  (Which I sometimes wonder if it's really as big a problem as it seems.  I find myself wondering if what they're looking for is actually GOOD books that are diverse. )  So there they are, crying out for diversity and then they turn around and rip apart any author that dares to stray into diverse story-telling.   HOW DOES THIS HELP?  It boggles my mind how erroneously righteous these people are.  

And then we come to the word 'smirk'.  A smirk is not sexy, people.  It means to smile in a smug, conceited, silly way.  It's not cute, it's not a turn on.  A smirk says, "I am better than you."   It is such a self-satisfied expression.  It's not hot.  Stop using the word that way.   It's like a snicker.  A snicker is mean-spirited.   It's a laugh/chuckle that you smother because you're laughing at someone else's troubles.  It's like schadenfreude.  You know, where you take pleasure in the misfortune of others?  Yeah, you snicker then.  A snicker is not cute.  Or sexy.  Or hot.  

That's a lot of shit that bugs me!  *LOL*  But I've gotten it off my chest, so hopefully I can proceed with my week in a more positive fashion.  Because I do believe in thinking positively.  Negativity just breeds more negativity in my experience.  

So let's finish on a couple of positive things.  I got to read an advance copy of a novel that's coming out in March and it was TERRIFIC!  Keep your eyes open for Misfits by Garrett Leigh.  

I found out that the new CRAVE TV streaming service is part of my TMN Movie Network package.  It's going to be interesting to see what they add to it as they grow.  

And now for something totally positive... dancing!

Alex O'Loughlin

Maks and his hips

GROOT!!

Sleigh Ride by Heidi Cullinan - My Thoughts

Yes, so, I have finished another book.  This a Christmas season set book by one of my favourite authors.  With both main characters being over the age of 35!  Woot!  I loved it to bits!

If you're interested in hearing details about what I loved about Sleigh Ride, just head on over to my BookLikes book blog and check it out!

Monday Morning and I'm Blogging...

This is me trying to blog every now and again about something other than the books I've read.  :)   I don't know that I've got anything interesting to say, but... what the hell.  Gonna try.

So, yesterday afternoon and evening, I mainlined (via Netflix) the 5 episodes of the TV series The Fall out of the UK.  DAMN, it was good.  I watched the first 3 eps in the afternoon and then the last 2 after Once Upon a Time (PLEASE let this Frozen plot be DONE DONE DONE).  The series stars Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan and is quite honestly one of the most compelling things I've seen in a long while.  I am not really a fan of either of those actors, BTW.  Never was an X-Files fan and ever since Dornan signed on to do 50 Shades of Crap, my lip tends to curl in his direction.  *LOL*    I know, it's not fair and rather small-minded, but I can't help it!  But even though I am not a fan, man, can these two act!  Well the whole cast can, but these two are front and centre and quite fantastic.

This series is set in Belfast and so very, very dark.  There are a few different plot lines, the main one being that of a serial killer.  Gillian Anderson portrays the police inspector come north to 'help out' the Belfast force with one of the murders.  Dornan plays the killer.  And that's not a spoiler, it's revealed from the get-go.   This murder also ties into another plot arc about cops on the take and the internal workings of the Belfast police department.  There's also a whole current of comment on the devaluation of women in today's society as the police investigate these murders as well as follow the Dornan character in his day to day life as a bereavement counselor.

Now, unlike American cop shows, this one moves slowly and there are no bursts of explosions and gunfights and stuff like that, so the feel is quite different.  Felt a lot like the UK Line of Duty or Luthor, to be honest.  That type of show.   Anyway, if you like good good TV and can deal with intense and dark, give this show a watch.   Series 2 (as they call them across the pond) is playing now and sadly it's almost done.  It's showing on Bravo up here in Canada, so maybe I can find it On Demand or it will show up on Netflix really soon.

In other news, I started reading my Christmas novels and stories.  I started with Sleigh Ride by Heidi Cullinan and read the first 3 chapters last night.  It was like coming home, I have to say.  I love Heidi's writing and this felt like slipping on a pair of the most comfortable and warm slippers.  

Today, I might put up the Christmas tree.  Well Michael will put it up and put the lights on and then I'll do the decorating.  I will post pictures whenever it gets done.  :)

Let's see... what else can I natter on about?  Well, there's talk of there being a snowstorm tomorrow, but looking at the weather forecast, it only seems like we're going to get a normal snow fall.  Between 5 - 15 cm of the white stuff.  Which is like... 2 - 6 inches for you non-metric type folk that might possibly be reading this.

There's a bit of a snit happening in the book world I frequent, the usual suspects ragging on an author for not totally focussing on every last aspect of racism and bigotry in a historical romance.  It's called critical reading.  Personally, I read to relax and when I read romance, it's to enjoy the unfolding relationship between two people.  Yes, in the period under question there was much racism, classism, bigotry, narrow-mindedness... all that bad stuff.  And these are all represented in the book, but the main focus is the romance... and well... I just think they, the critical readers, are harping on a little too much about a lack of representation of racism and how one of the main characters is a total racist.  I also don't understand how a person can absolutely LOVE the book and then turn around and pillory the author for not addressing the things they thought should be addressed.  And as a corollary to this... people wonder why so many authors are wary of writing anything diverse or outside their own (straight, white) experience.  Because of fear of being raked over the coals in just this manner, that's why.

Anyway, that pissed me off over the weekend.

I'm mulling over yet another novel idea.  Something to do with Christmas and fae-types and a specialty shop... we'll see.  The nasty natters mentioned above are no help whatsoever.  I must learn to not give them purchase in my brain.  Once I figure out how to do that.  *LOL*

And now, I need another cup of coffee and my breakfast of bagel and cretons.  I've earned it,  I think!

The King's Deryni by Katherine Kurtz - My Thoughts

My Birthday Book!  My prezzie to myself of a new book by my favourite author writing in my favourite universe.  It's been 8 years since the last book by this author, in this series, came out.  The publication date - December 2nd - is the day before my birthday, so I declare that it is mine.  :)

My thoughts - as honest as they could be - can be found, as they always are, on my book blog over at Booklikes should you wish to read them.  :)

I took my aunt to Hawksbury for some tests this week, while I was reading The King's Deryni, but I didn't want to bring the big tome with me.  Did I not mention this was a hardcover brick of over 500 pages?  So I took my ereader with me and read a shortie by another of my faves.  I love the Charm of Magpie series and I love Stephen and Crane, and I had been saving this short story for a special occasion.  This was it.  :)   I had a quick thought over on Booklikes.  

Christmas Clothes

So it's December 1st, time to dress the blog in its Christmas finery.  I went a little retro this year instead of shiny and sparkly.

I'm reading my The King's Deryni slowly, savouring it because there's a part of me that fears it may be Katherine's last one.  Once I have finished, I'll get into my Christmas reading, first of which will be Heidi Cullinan's Sleigh Ride.

I have almost finished the Christmas shopping.  This coming weekend will see the tree go up - we always wait until after my birthday which is this Wednesday.  Then I shall wrap the prezzies and put them under the tree to taunt the boy.

I'm also going to try and blog about more than the books I read because God knows, I do do more than that in a day!  *LOL*  For instance, today I did some tidying in my bedroom - you know how those mountains of un-put-away clothes grow and grow.  Well I put some of it away today.  Also stashed away some purses.  I also cleaned the kitchen - yes, I know, excitement abounds.  *LOL*

I haven't posted any hotties lately... so let me rectify that.  I'm going to post a pic of a new fave of mine, Eoin Macken, who starred in this summer's Night Shift.  He also played Gwaine in Merlin and just last month released his first novel, Kingdom of Scars. (which was great, BTW. I loved it!)   This is a still from one of his latest roles in the indie movie The Wedding Invitation.