69 Books Read in the Year 2007!

69! What a number!

I was aiming for a hundred books though. Blame work. Boo.

• Anthology - A Mother's Touch
• Anthology - Fascinated
• Anthology - Pure Sex
• Anthology - Surf's Up
• Anthology - The Cop
• Anthology - The Fire Fighter
• Bill Dare - Natural Selection
• Carol Snow - Getting Warmer
• Chris Manby - Second Prize
• CrusieMayer - Don't Look Down
• Donna Kauffman - Bad Boys in Kilts
• Emma Holly - Personal Assets
• Erin McCarthy - Bit the Jackpot
• Erin McCarthy - Bled Dry
• Erin McCarthy - High Stakes
• Erin McCarthy - You Don't Know Jack
• HelenKay Dimon - Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy
• Janice Maynard - Suite Fantasy
• Jennifer Crusie - Welcome to Temptation
• Jill Barnett - Imagine
• Jill Shalvis - Get a Clue
• Jill Shalvis - Out of This World
• JoAnn Ross - Out of the Blue
• John Updike - Marry Me
• Karen Kelly - Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind
• Karen Kelly - Temperature's Rising
• Kathy Love - Fangs for the Memories
• Kathy Love - Fangs but no Fangs
• Kathy Love - I Only Have Fangs for You
• Katie MacAlister - You Slay Me
• Kimberly Raye - Dead End Dating
• Kresley Cole - A Hunger Like No Other
• Kresley Cole - No Rest For The Wicked
• Kresley Cole - Wicked Deeds On A Winter's Night
• Linda Lael Miller - Just Kate
• Linda Lael Miller - Time Without End
• Lisa Plumley - Once Upon A Christmas
• Lori Foster - Jamie
• Lori Foster - When Bruce Met Cyn
• Lucinda Betts - Moon Shadow
• Lucy Monroe - The Scorcolini Marriage Bargain
• Lucy Sweet - Have Love Will Travel
• MaryJanice Davidson - Undead and Unappreciated
• Nancy Warren - British Bad Boys
• Nancy Warren - Turn Left at Sanity
• P.J. Mellor - Give Me More
• Pam Rosenthal - The Slightest Provocation
• Pamela Morsi - Doing Good
• Pamela Morsi - Sweetwood Bride
• Paul Burke - Father Frank
• Paul Burke - The Man Who Fell In Love With His Wife
• Renee Luke - Dipped in Chocolate
• Risa Green - Tales from the Crib
• Sally Mckenzie - The Naked Earl
• Shannon Mckenna - Edge Of Midnight
• Sinead Moriarty - A Perfect Match
• Sinead Moriarty - From Here to Maternity
• Susan Elizabeth Phillips - Dream A Little Dream
• Susan Elizabeth Phillips - Nobody's baby but mine
• Susan Elizabeth Phillips -This Heart of Mine
• Susan Johnson - Blonde Heat
• Susan Johnson - Hot Legs
• Susan Johnson - Seduction in Mind
• Susan Johnson - Wine, Tarts, & Sex
• Susanna Carr - Bad Girl Bridesmaids
• Susanna Carr - Ex Why and Me
• Susanna Carr - Pink Ice
• Sylvia Day - Ask For It
• Sylvia Day - The Stranger I Married

I like my list. It's so perfect that no one will want to steal it.

Enjoy the new year! Hello 2008!

Lil Marchette is like the vampire sister that I never had.

♥♥♥♥

Lil: My favourite color is pink.

Me too! I like red & black too. But orange & yellow are considered my lucky colors if you want to know.

Lil: I absolutely, positively love love.

Me too! I get my dose of love mostly from romance novels. *Sighh*

Lil: I love everything about it, from that first initial glance between two strangers, to the earth-shattering moment when both realize that they are meant to be together forever.

Ditto.

Lil: Vampires need love too.

I live to provide alpha vampire males with love. ♥♥♥♥

Where I get my name from..

I want to be Fancy because I love Jeff Corbin.

There're many, many moments where he could have been more thoughtful of course...

But I still love Jeff Corbin dammit!

More than loving a McCloud?

Maybe.

Well, at least I don't have to be traumatised by psychotic killers before I have my happy ending. I just have to own a rabbit (I love animals), and dress in a star-sprangled dress (no problemo), do some magic tricks (no sweat), and be alone in a hot-air balloon screaming for my life. Anything for you Jeff baby!

Yup, definately better then facing psychotic killers.

My Very First Romances - Part One

My very first romances, starting with The Innocent by Bertrice Small.

Hell, I love this cover.

I liked the story. Of course, minus the bad, bad characters, minus the rape, minus some really boring parts -- that leaves us with the sweet hero Ranulf, the holy heroine Eleanore aka Elf, and nice sex. At least Elf didn't sleep with anyone other than the hero who is also her husband sooo.. good enough. And I liked Ranulf so much that I bought Nicole Jordon's The Warrior just because the hero is also called Ranulf.

So there, one of the first romances that I've ever read. *Sigh.

Will you travel for love?

Have Love Will Travel. I think I'm really lucky to have stumbled upon really great books in the library. Lucy Sweet. Cute name. It's what caught my attention amongst other books. Plus it's pink. I dig pink. So I picked up the book, read the back cover, and never wanted to put it back on the shelf.

Some people would think it was complete lunacy to travel halfway across the country just to reunite a man with his lost diary. But when you consider Jane's alternatives, and you look at his photograph... you'd pack your bags too.

This sounds crazy and romantic at the same time.

The story starts (abit boringly, I only started to enjoy it around page 20+ onwards), then blah blah blah, Jane found a diary, read it, connected with it, wishfully thinking the guy who owns the diary might be the one. So she decided to look for him.

Jane did imagine many ridiculous (and very funny. Lucy Sweet is damn funny) scenarios of her meeting Richard (the diary owner) for the first time. Thoughts like love at first sight, one-look-and-I-know-you-are-the-one that kind of thing. Ridiculous thoughts, but one can't blame Jane for being unrealistic. Hell, I think of similar things. It's kinda normal, to be romantic, and hope your love life ends (or begins) like a fairy tale. Or maybe it's just me.

Of course none of Jane's (and mine) colourful imaginations came true. But it's still a happy ending. Although I would love to read more about the guy who Jane ended up with. There's definately not enough of him. But I'm still satisfied with the ending. At least Jane got someone. A wonderful someone. Really really really wonderful (and thoughtful) in those few pages about him.

This story also makes me learn that, life ain't that bad really, we just chose to look at the horrible side of things most of the times. How pathetic we are, and why can't we have the little doggie in the window instead..

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Another book by Lucy Sweet is Coming Apart at the Seams. I don't know what it is about yet, but I already want to read it with the hope Lucy Sweet writes just as funny.

“I own this pussy.”

http://lustbites.blogspot.com/2007/11/smut-slot-roping-wind.html

Mac and Jane have twins!

Save yourself time from reading this post by just going here.

It's just lame ranting by me. A Shannon Mckenna fan. Lots of exclamation marks. Seriously. If exclamation marks annoy the hell out of you, just go here.

So, here I go: Shannon Mckenna's webby is updated! Yay! That means excerpts! Yay! WooHoo! OMG! Weeee!

I just realised, I found out about her new book Extreme Danger on 11th Nov, and her website is updated the next day on 12th Nov. I found out about Edge of Midnight on 25th Feb, and her website was updated with that info the day before on 24th Feb. How close. Kinda freaky.

Anyway, there's an upcoming anthology with Shannon Mckenna in it (and E.C. Sheedy & Cate Noble). Yes I amended that cover. I prefer it like this. See the original cover here. And the paranoid me hopes that no one sues me over this editing.


Anyway, I had read the excerpt for Anytime, Anywhere. It stars a MacNamara sibling. Yay!

On a side note, Mac and Jane have twins! They have babies already! How heart-warming. Twins! Mac, you the man! Wow! I'm been waiting for news of them all along. That's the great thing about related stories. I'm just so glad this little tibit is available in the wonderfully lenghty excerpt. I just hope Robin and Jon will be starting a family already when Danny's story is out. Danny Danny Danny.

Props to E.C. Sheedy & Cate Noble too. Their characters' names really piqued my interest: Tommi Smith, Mac Fleming, Ellie McMann, Max DeLuca. Ah, and not forgeting Robin MacNamara & Jon Amendola. What a mouthful. They could actually name this anthology, Bad Boys With Unique Names.

And lastly, I'm not forgeting Nick Ward. A great big jerk he is in Connor's story, but I'm sure he'll redeem himself by being all smoking hot and virile now that he's going to be in the spotlight. I only briefly glanced through the excerpt, something about Nick dragging a naked Becca out of the pool. Argh. I should not have even glanced at it. Dammit.

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I cannot wait. I hate waiting.

More of the McCloud brothers? OMG!

It's not really focusing on the sexy McCloud brothers, but coming Feb 2008 (OMG! Only 4 more months!) is Nick Ward's story. He lives in the McCloud universe, so there're bound to be some appearances of the three brothers right? Right?

I'm late as usual in knowing about Shannon Mckenna's new stuff.

Ok, she lied. Just get on with the marrying part.

I'm so glad I didn't miss Carol Snow's Getting Warmer when browsing through untidy library shelves. I finished reading it and I loved it!

First, the book spine caught my eye.

It's a library book, hence the ugly sticker around the bottom of the spine, but there's that heart shape symbol which indicates that it's a romance book, and then there's a woman in her bikini with her back to us and the title "getting warmer".

A really pretty cover:

I do find the head full of flower thingies (whatever they were) weird, but nice colour overall.

And the author had a pretty name:

And then there's the back cover:

Honesty is the best policy. It’s just so boring…

A fashion-backward high school teacher, Natalie Quackenbush is approaching thirty, drowning in debt - and did she mention she lives with her parents? All in all, she'd rather not talk about it. So she and her friends have learned to entertain themselves on the Scottsdale, Arizona, social scene by getting creative. Okay - by lying.
It's an innocent game, but when Natalie finally meets a guy she likes, how will she explain that her mother isn't actually insane? Or that she doesn't really work with convicted murderers? Now she's looking for a way to come clean, get they guy, and keep her friendships intact. If only she can keep the truth from ruining true love...

So I read it. And now I loved it.

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Basically the book is about Natalie harmlessly lying about her life to people she met randomly at the bar. And she never knew that she would fall in love with one of them. Nice to know the world is still normally twisted and unfair as usual.

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While reading, I kept thinking about how the guy, Jonathan (whom Natalie likes and lied to), would react once he discovers that Natalie had been lying to him. I thought he might go something like,

"I don't care. I love you. Will you marry me?"

Or

"Lie all you want. I'm so in love with you that I'm willing to overlook it. Will you marry me?"

Or

"Natalie, I'm holding you in my arms now. You're real. Our feelings are real. I love you. And I know you love me. Will you marry me?"

Or

"Okay. Will you marry me?"

Yea, big news, I'm a romantic. (Duh, I read romances.)

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Anyway, the ending is none of the above, nope, no weddings for them yet as of the end of the book, but of course the couple are still together. And of course they're going to get married, the author just didn't write that part. All couples in my romances get married. No matter whether it's stated in the book or not. I don't care. Bleh. I've a good imagination. I always try to picture the weddings of the hero and heroine. And it's a perfect wedding, complete with the part where the groom almost have tears falling out of his eyes upon seeing the beautiful bride walking down the aisle towards him.

Yup, a true romantic. Me.

Anyway, it's a kiss that got Natalie and Jonathan back together, and oh how I love that kiss. ♥

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There's a good part of the book (almost half of it?) where Jonathan is only available via phone. During these parts is mostly about Natalie's life as a teacher. Of course I'm more interested in a love story, not a teacher's life, and while reading I did wander if I should just skip to the end.

But I didn't.

It's kinda hard to want to skip to the end when the way Carol Snow writes about Natalie's teaching life just sucks me in. Never once did I try to skim past these pages, but of course I did perk up upon Jonathan's rare presences. Oh come on, we read romances for the hero, not the heroine. Even though the hero in this book is described as not exactly handsome. We all still love the man more.

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Reaching the end of the story is a relief too. Gratification from happy endings. I didn't really hope for more of this story, I felt very satisfied with book. It's kinda enough for me. Although a little glimpse into the wedding of the main characters would be nice.

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Another book of Carol Snow's has an interesting story line too. 32, but looking 18? What a bliss. I'd better seriously start taking care of myself.

Hot Fleshy Thighs. And I scanned it myself.

Oh Heaven.

Discovered this over at the Smart Bitches who held a little contest (which is over) and this is the prize. The book that is, not the man. Pity.

The price of pretty covers.

This is gorgeous:

I ripped it from the Little Black Dress website.

This one is from Jennifer Cruise's blog, and it speaks about the process (the very scary and horrible process for a designer IMO) of designing the cover for this book. And wow, those in the art department are really, really saints. Give them a million dollars.

Actually, I was kinda traumatised when I read that post. I remember when I was still in design school, there were a few times when a lecturer will want me to change a certain design of mine for my assignment because he/she didn't approve of it. All I could think of during those times is ripping somebody's head off. Preferbly the certain lecturer.

Anyway, I've changed (snort). Seriously, I'm more patient now that I'm in the working world and understood that it's better to always listen to the client and give them what they want because they're the ones who gave me the means to own a treasure trove of books.

I've been thinking about jobs related to books: an author, editor, publisher-- well, not very feasible jobs in Singapore. I had been told by my friends that I could try being a designer for book covers, but like I said, not feasible in Singapore. It's not that anyone will want me as an author, editor, publisher or art director anyway. But it'd be really cool though. Being a bookshop keeper or librarian is great too, but the working hours wouldn't allow me to read as much books I can with a normal office-hours job.

Why can't there be a professional reader job? Being paid to read? Please?

Josh.

I just finished reading Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy by HelenKay Dimon. Love it.

Unless I miss something, the heroine, Annie seems to be the only active woman in the book. By active I mean, talking, doing something and being in action blah blah blah, and not just being mentioned in conversations.

If not for the strong character that Annie is, I think I'd be, to borrow her words, suffering from an overload of testosterone. There're just so many male characters, but then I'm not really complaining.

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I love it whenever Kane and Annie start their interrogation of each other, it's just so healthy for them. And very fun for me.

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And now to the guy who made my headline today: Josh.

I've always been intrigued by secondary characters. And for most secondary characters to have their own story coming out later is no surprise. But still, it's nice to be reassured at Helenkay Dimon's blog, that my baby Josh will have his own story. Yes, my baby Josh. I've appropriated him since his entry in the book:

One, blond and light, with the scruffy start of a beard along his jawline...

Sounds like the start of something promising.

... and bright blue eyes ...

I like blue eyes. Kinda reminds me of the heroine Sophia in Jill Barnett's Wicked, the way she stares into the hero's blue eyes and sliently concludes that it's her favorite colour even though she hates the hero like shit. Well, they did of course admit that they love each other in the end, but I digress.

... close in color to his aqua tie.

Tie? Oh, I love men in suits + tie. All men look good in them. It just bursts the hot meter of already good-looking men. And plus, it'd be fun to loosen the tie and unbutton that shirt.

... this one had a rough-hewn look about him.

Wait till 2009? I'd expire.

Amended book covers...

Saw the cover for the mass market of Jill Shalvis' Get a Clue at her website:

I liked it~ I've yet read the book, so maybe I just might get the mass market version...

But then after a search at Amazon...

The bottom part is blurred out, that's kinda disappointing. Which reminds me of the cover for P.J. Mellor's Pleasure Beach:

The more censored version on the right in the above pic is what I got. Maybe the cover on the left (ripped from Amazon) is the initial cover design... I definately didn't see it at any bookstore. I would have like to have the cover that shows more bod though. It does make the book feel more sexy.

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And here's something I've been dying to post:

Come As You Are by Amy J. Fetzer, coming this November. Seeing the mass market for Get a Clue reminds me of this. Love it!

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Back on the topic of cover changes....

This cover for Vivi Anna's Inferno is what I see everywhere on the web before the book was released. I was so excited, and also after reading the excerpts at the author's website, I couldn't wait for it to be released.

But to my extreme disppointment, the cover changed:

I don't reeeeally like the new cover one bit.

I have already decided to get this book a long time ago, but with the cover change, it just kinda lessen my enthusiasm to buy it so quickly. Yea I'm shallow like that... So, maybe later... when I get a pay raise or something...

Anyway, I'm just lucky to have saved a copy of bigger image file of the cartoon cover, (I think I got it from Amazon, a 590 x 390 pixel image heh) Yay! It's for a keepsake, I really liked that cartoon cover. Hades had a nice package and I love Kat's hair~

The Slightest Provocation.

I finshed reading it and I loved it.

Sorry Politics, you guys are just not for me. As the story touches on you, I always have to re-read paragraphs a couple of times to understand you. I could skip all parts about you, but then I really want to understand the story to it fullest. Seriously, we just don't get along well. It's horrible.

But luckily, you guys did not one bit ruin my enjoyment of the romance going on.

Kudos to Pam Rosenthal.

Check out the news, reviews, whatever, on the author's website, especially the excerpt. It's one of my favorite part of the story. It's sweet, Mary and Kit, the way they think of each other, the way they still love each other. It just shows in all their thoughts, in everything they do. Yes I love their thoughts, love reading about their past. I love how the story flows. It's so differrent from other novels I read. You either love this book or hate it. And I love it. It's so hard to explain. It's so special! , everything! I love their carriage ride scene at the end, especially Mary and Kit's enticipation to it. It's so sexy, it's kinda romantic in a way.

Note: Post subject to edits. I trying hard to put my love for this book into words.

Why can't there be more historial romances like this?

Cute Art.

About two years ago, I rented Kasey Michaels' Too Good To Be True from a second-hand book store because I fell in love with the cover:

It's raining hearts! ♥ Sooo cute. Love the umbrella. Love this cover. I even scanned a high resolution of the image for my own keep sake. I love it.

After going through Kasey Michaels' website, I found the cover of Bowled Over similar to Dianne Castell's I'll be Seeing U:

Of course this is not the first case of different book covers using similar art. But if I'm an author (yea dream on), it's a sucky feeling knowing that your book cover isn't that unique.

But I love the cartoon. The couple looked so comfy together. ♥

Great writing is important. Who cares about the theme/genre?

I just finished Sinead Moriarty's A Perfect Match & From Here to Maternity. I suddenly remember an incident a day a couple of years ago:

I was telling one of my friends that I cried throughout reading the whole of the last chapter of Inconceivable by Ben Elton. I added that the book is about a couple trying for a baby, and that it's worth reading.

But my dear friend said something along the lines of, "I'm not married. I don't want a baby anytime soon, so I don't think this books is suitable for me."

Oh.

A little introduction of myself: I'm turning 23 in December, still young, single, and happy with life (well, of course there're occasional discontentment with my hair, my dress, and not earning enough money etc).

So why I'm reading a book about a couple trying for a baby?

The answer?

The really good writing. Duh.

Book description for Inconceivable:

Lucy desperately wants a baby. Sam is determined to write a hit movie. The problem is that both their efforts seem to be unfruitful. And given that the average IVF cycle has about a one in five chance of going into full production, Lucy's chances of getting what she wants are considerably better than Sam's.

What Sam and Lucy are about to go through is absolutely inconceivable. The question is, can their love survive?

It says nothing about the great writing though. It's just about a couple trying for the baby.

Dont' ask me why I even pick up this book. There's no answer why I pick up certain books.

But what the heck, I'm glad I read it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like I said, I cried throughout the whole of the last chapter. Which is a good sign, really.

So, no matter the theme/genre, if I can start reading a book and never put it down till the end, that means I'm damn well like it. And also because of the abit of romance in them anyway.

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Recipes for a Perfect Marriage by Kate Kerrigan (Morag Prunty) is another great book I've read and love, AND which, according to my dear friend, I should have no reason reading:

New York food writer Tressa returns from honeymoon worried that she has married her impossibly handsome new husband Dan out of late-thirties panic instead of love.

There's a prologue excerpt here.

Try it. This kind of book can either bore you to death or make you love it. For me, it's love.

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A Perfect Match & From Here to Maternity was fun to read; the husband in the story keeps telling bad jokes, and the wife is great at sacarsm, as are most of the characters. It's the hilarious elements in these kinds of stories that kept me reading.

Another example of "unsuitable" books for me (again, according to my dear friend) that I've read are Risa Green's Notes from the Underbelly & Tales from the Crib (about being pregnant and being a mother), which I did a short rant about here. Yes, these books makes me laugh too.

Currently there are no books in my TBR about marriage or baby woes, but I'd be looking. No reason not to read them just because I'm not pregnant.

Sunday Night.

I finished reading Karen Kelly's Temperature's Rising. Read it in one day! My favourite line is, "No wife of mine is going to put her life in jeopardy. I'm not going to sit at home and worry about where the hell you are." Sounds cheesy, and common in most romances maybe, but it still sweet. I love reading these lines. ♥

I love you.

I just finished reading John Updike's Marry Me.

The not good: The ending confused me.

The good: The number of times that I get to read the phrase "I love you".

I do understand why this phrase is rare in most of the romances I've read; once it's uttered, it calls for the hero and heroine to get married and so it's basically the end of the story already.

Marry Me is a story about married couples and "I love you" is directed at the third party, so it's the cause of problems.

But I still like reading that phrase.

Lisa Plumley

I found Lisa Plumley:

I lingered on her website all because of all those pretty covers:

A great website too, full of lenghty excerpts here, here & there, everywhere. Enough for me to deduce that I may enjoy her books if I ever get my hands on it. And she seems to write romantic comedies.

Erin McCarthy's Pretty Book Cover

Would you just look at that!!

OMG! The covers of Erin McCarthy's Vegas Vampire series just gets better and better. I thought nothing could beat Bled Dry's pretty cover, and guess I was wrong~ I wish there's a fifth book...

Lauren Willig's Pretty Website

You know, I was just clicking around the web (just randomly clicking on author links , when I came across Lauren Willig's website.

I love it!

Never heard of her before, never read her books, but..

I love the website!

In fact, I like it so much that I'm shamelessly using the same background colour (#F8E6E1) as hers for use for my side bars here.

I've got 3 new books. So drum roll please.

Buying new books every week is really a bad habit. I feel guilty when paying for them at the cashier. But after I tuck them comfortably on my shelf, I felt a great sense of satisfaction (got-my-hands-on-them kind of satisfaction) followed by dread real quick after realising how many books I have in my TBR pile.

I know of others with a hundred books waiting to be read. Mine is peanuts compared to them. But for my standards, having more then 5 currently and knowing that there will be more books coming and no time to read them -- sucks.

Anyway, Introducing my three new books:

I just realised I got Viva Las Bad Boys! (also by HelenKay Dimon) on 9th Aug 2006 (which is Singapore's birthday!) I got this book, Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy, on 8th Aug 2007. So it's just a day short of a year. Damn. I really hate waiting. But luckily her next book is released on March 2008.

But isn't that like, 7 months later? Damn.

Next!

Perfect Kisses! I love both Susan Johnson's & Sylvia Day's writings, and as for Noelle Mack, I'm still reserving judgment. I've got one of her book, Three published under Aphrodisia.

I do like Three and had enjoyed reading it. I only didn't like the fact that the hero and heroine didn't get married, though they did pledge to stay together. I'm all for marriages and having babies in the endings.

Next!

I wonder anyone remembered this page I created. It's about the title Sun, Sand, Sex. I checked back the newly-revamped Kensington page here, and they amended the title (correctly) with the comma instead of the "and" (as in Sand, Sand and Sex). But the kept the wrong spelling of Jennifer Apodaca's name!

Jennifer Apodaca and Shelly Laurenston are new to me. I can't wait to read Linda Lael Miller's story! She's one of my very first romance authors and I've enjoyed most of the books she have written. It's been quite a while since I last read her work.

Imagine.

I have a great imagination. Which also means I'm pretty good at fantasizing.

Anyway, I just finished reading Imagine by Jill Barnett. It's been sitting in my TBR pile forever since November 2005!

The book is very worn, pages are yellow, but still in good readable condition. I picked it up at a second-hand book clearance sale for only a dollar.

From the back cover:

After years in prison for a murder he never committed, escaped convict Hank Wyatt knew how to survive. But he didn't know if he could last an hour marooned on a deserted tropical island with a beautiful blonde and three orphaned children.

There you have it, the magic words: Three children. Orphaned. So therefore, it's a tear-jerker. And it's a Jill Barnett story anyway, a story that warms the heart and will always makes me cry at some point. I did cry alot during the course of reading this book, but not at the ending (used up my tears). I cried with the characters, the heroine, the kids, and once with the hero.

I just love reading about the things they do on the island -- gathering driftwood, building shelter, and trying to find other kinds of food to eat besides bananas. It's really interesting, and the characters seems to have a good time on the island even they don't admit it. Must be because of those innocent kids..

One of the most memorable part of the story:

She glanced at the fish lying beside him. "How would you like them -- charred, incinerated, or just plain scorched?"

The book is partly paranormal too, it involves a genie, complete with three wishes of course.

For other Jill Barnett's books, I would highly recommended, Wonderful, Wild, and Wicked which stories are set in medieval England. I think I recommended them before, but I'm still gonna mention this again. And Wicked is my favorite.

Stop thinking in my head! Or don't stop..

Ty wondered if she really was a virgin.

"Yes, I bloody well am ..." Shaina yelled at him.

The excerpt of Pleasure Palace by Evangeline Anderson (that comes with Moon Shadow) is really interesting; after some sort of experiment, the hero and heroine are able to hear each other's every thought.

Which is good, really, because finally there'd be no secrets between the lead characters. So, they'd know how hot are they're for each other and actually act on it instead of being uncertain and holding back their love for like 90% of the story. Right?

Moon Shadow.

Before Moon Shadow, the romances I've read have mainly humans, knights in shining armors, gentlemen with titles, and sexy vampires. I've never read a romance with a with a fantasy setting. All those fantasy books I've read (namely my favourite David Edding's books), are all mainly adventure & action theme. But a complete romance story is still what I crave more.

I'm so glad I've read Moon Shadow, with it's mix of races. I love the atmosphere the book produced. It kinda nostalgic for me, I feel like I'm going into the world of video games again.

A memorable part of the book for me is actually the part where a Gnome friend of the hero, Gabe, sings about a funny incident in Gabe's past -- funny to others but not to Gabe, since he's the cause of it. The singing is a refreshing way to tell part of the story instead of having it being narrated in third person.

I was hoping for more of those singings in the book, but what was I thinking? This is not a Lewis Carroll book. I'm feeling nostalgic again, I love Alice in wonderland, but I digress.

Anyway, Moon Shadow is funny & amusing, historical with a modern touch, romantic & hot (it involves a love wizard anyway), and have spells being all ancient but scientifically confusing to me, and I love it. I also really like the fact it has a mix of Humans, Elves, Orcs, and Wizards etc. Plus Gnomes with a sense of humor.

And thanks (again & again) to the wonderful author Lucinda Betts who sent me this book!

The Book of Supernatural Weddings.

Presenting one funny part from Jim Butcher's story, Something Borrowed, from My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding:

The main character is this modern-day professional wizard, Harry. I love how Harry thinks! His narration is very amusing.

For example, there's this part when they're fighting some evil stepmother creature,his friend Murhpy got knocked unconscious. Harry then performed CPR on her:

For one second, for one teeny, tiny instant, I felt her mouth move. I felt her head tilt, her lips soften, and my oh-so-professional CPR -- just for a second, mind you -- felt almost, almost like a kiss.

Hahaha!

10 New Books!

The past friday, 29th June 2007, was the day when 2 major bookstores are offering discounts storewide. And it's also the day I made my record of buying the most books in a day.

Showing off what I got in the order I took from the shelves:

Suite Fantasy by Janice Maynard

I read her novella in Wildest Dreams. Loved it, wanted more, got this book, am very happy now.

The Art of Seduction by Katherine O'Neal

I was so happy to see The Art of Seduction! It's supposed to be out on Feb'07, so I expected to see the book on the shelves latest by April (it takes approx. 1-2 mths for books released in the states to reach major bookstores here in lil' Singapore), but I had to wait 4 months! Till end June. Begining July. Argh.

Immortal Bad Boys
by Rebecca York, Rosemary Laurey, Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

I saw this book a long time ago on the shelves, but didn't buy it because I wasn't into paranomals. But it's a different story now.

Bad Girl Bridesmaids by Susanna Carr

When I lay my fingers on this book, I was silently screaming in my head: "OMG! OMG! OMG!OH YES! OH YES! OMG! OH YES! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! OMG! OMG!" and so on.

Bled Dry by Erin McCarthy

I love the cover art. I love Erin McCarthy's Vegas Vampires. The first two books in the series are already the best damn funny vampire books I've ever read.

Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind by Karen Kelly

Read the excerpt for this? It's so damn hilarious. Karen Kelly did mention on her blog quite some time ago that she may write about a dark vampire. I'm so looking forward to that!

Bad Boys with Red Roses
by Janelle Denison, Tina Donahue, Sharon Cullars

The title always gives me an image of a man in tuxedo holding a red rose (or a bouquet would be nice).

What She Craves by Lacy Danes

It's a historial romance, not obvious from the sexy cover. Luckily I came across the sexy excerpt, if not I might not have wanted to buy this book yet. It's shrink-wrapped too. I wish all books on the stores are shrink-wrapped so I don't have to waste time scrutinizing all copies to find one that isn't destroyed by the rough-handling by inconsiderate browsers.

Pleasures of the Night by Sylvia Day

I saw Alluring Tales first (an anothology with Sylvia Day in it too), but I placed it back on the shelf after I spotted this book. Because I was really, really tired carrying 9 books in my hand by now. Alluring Tales can wait.

Dipped in Chocolate by Renee Luke

It's a sexy book with chocolates mentioned, why shouldn't I get this?

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Lastly, my arms/hands/fingers hurt bad carrying 10 trade paperbacks home.