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?