Some of the Books I've read.

I know, it's been a while since I've posted about any of the books I've read. So, I'll do a wrap up post.
I've enjoyed:
Angel's Peak by Robyn Carr
Moonlight Road by Robyn Carr (Virgin River, Rocks!!)
When Strangers Marry by Lisa Kleypas
Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell (good but heavy)
Summer Breeze by Catherine Anderson
Phantom Waltz by Catherine Anderson
Only by Your Touch by Catherine Anderson
How to Abduct a Highland Lord by Karen Hawkins
Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas
It Happened on Autumn by Lisa Kleypas
Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas

books that were good:
Fireside by Susan Wiggs
When Bruce met Cyn by Lori Foster
That Certain Spark by Cathy Marie Hake
Under Her Skin by Susan Mallery
Lip Service by Susan Mallery
Straight from the Hip by Susan Mallery
Hot on Her Heels by Susan Mallery
The McKettricks of Texas:Tate by Linda Lael Miller

Hello Again!

It has been a very long time since I've been here. I've not done a lot of reading since February, but did start to get my groove back in May. I got a promotion in November and am adjusting to the lack of time that I now have. I like my job alot and work with some really fun ladies. The one thing I do regret is my lack of time. I haven't been able to be on Shelfari very much, and I love that place and I haven't kept up well with my reviews or anything. Now the school year is coming to a close and I won't be feeding the children for summer school, I'm planning to catch up this summer. I hope to read the books, I haven't been able to get to, and to blog, blog, blog. Whoo Hoo!

I'll be having surgery 2 days after my last day of work, and hope to prop myself up in bed with my paperback and my netbook and do some damage. Damage to the blog, not to myself. I won't be allowed to do much of anything for several weeks, so that means a lot of reading time....Darn!

No laundry, cleaning, or much of anything. What a bummer, to sit back and read and get away with it. yep! It's going to be a real burden!!!

Virgin River

by Robyn Carr

Virgin River is the first in the series and is the story of Mel and Jack. Mel is a widow nurse practitioner and midwife. She is working in an very busy LA trauma center and after her husband (an er doc) was killed in a shooting gone bad, she decides that she needs a radical change. So she puts her resume out there and is contacted by Hope Mcrea in Virgin River. She is offered a tiny salary and a quaint cabin rent-free for the year she's under contract. When she arrives the cabin is falling apart and filthy. There's a bird's nest in the oven for criminy sake. She meets Doc, (who doesn't want or "need" her help) and Jack the owner of the diner/bar. Jack couldn't be more super awesome, but she's still grieving and can't/won't give herself permission to move on with her life.

When a newborn baby is abandoned on the steps of the clinic she stays until a home can be found. Jack meanwhile does everything in his power to make sure that she has every reason to stay. He fixes up her little cabin, and gets to know her and helps her get to know the town. When a pregnant first time mom comes to her and expresses her relief at having a woman to attend to her birth instead of a 70 year old crotchety old man (with a heart of gold). Mel stays until her birth, then the next, then one thing after another she stays. One night after a birth she and Jack share a kiss. Whatta Kiss!!! Then theres another kiss here and there.

Then one night, Mel, has a major meltdown. She's grieving her husband, the children she'll never have (since she's been told she's infertile) and she's found by Jack in the rain so swamped by emotion that she can barely stand and holding a tree. (sounds kinda hokey, but it's not!) After that night, things take a turn for Jack and Mel, they become intimate and she gets pregnant. (miracle!!) After some soul searching, and some real emotional work, Mel realizes that Jack is her future. They get married and live happily ever after.

We also meet in this book ricky Sudder the 17 year old boy who works at the diner/bar for Jack who is a surrogate father. Ricky lives with his elderly grandmother since his parents died when he was 2. Ricky meets Lizzie the new girl in town who is 14 going on 25. She's known for wearing skirts the size of a napkin, and garish makeup and appearing "fast". Ya know? Well, they start a relationship and eventually have sex. Unprotected sex. Normally I don't like to read scenes about teens having sex, seems kinda ewwy, but this story is told with such emotion, and vulnerability that you just fall in love with Rick and Lizzie. I mean, yea, I'd kill my kids, but I'm sooo involved. I can't get these kids off my mind. what will happen? Is she pregnant? OMG, she's 14.

We meet Preacher who is the partner with Jack in the diner/bar. He and Jack were in the marines together. Everyone calls him Preacher because he doesn't get drunk, and he doesn't chase the ladies. He shaves his head, and is very quiet and shy around women. When he came to Virgin River he came to help Jack and found he has a real talent for cooking.

We also get to know and love Doc, and Jack's marine buddies who come to hunt and fish and smoke cigars and play poker. There's Mike Valenzuela, and Paul Haggerty, Joe Benson and others. We also meet a dark and shady character who has dark hair, and drives a dark SUV. He's a local pot grower......Who shows up here and there mysteriously....

I'd write more, but Not today. You'll have to wait for the next installment of The Days of our Virgin River. Beware all, this series, these characters, they suck you in. You can run but you cannot hide. They will reach out and grab you by your heart until, you are laughing with them, crying with them, till you want to smack 'em upside the head, and squeeze 'em tight. You'll rejoice with them and grieve with them. If you don't want to fall in love, then don't read this book.

Catching Up

I can't believe it's been so long since I've checked in here. I've been working alot and things just got really busy and hectic. I have still found time to read though. I'm now on book 6 of the Virgin River series. I'm addicted. I will be catching up on my reviews in the near future. If I can stop reading and baking long enough. I've done 2 cakes in the past couple of weeks and my daughter's birthday is next weekend, and we have the Father/Daughter dance the weekend after that. This is the cake I did for a wedding yesterday. Pretty good. Of course, I see all the flaws, but I'm also a bad photographer so you won't see them. :)

Anyway, hoping to fit in a Girls Night Out in a couple of weeks. So, our schedules are really amping up. Will hope to hear from ya'll soon. Happy Reading.

Talk of the Town

by Karen Hawkins

Readers Choice A-L

rated 4 stars

Back Cover:

Do Blondes have more fun? Newly divorced Roxie Tremayne is dying to find out. After years of being the perfect southern lady, all she ended up with was a cheating husband. So she goes bombshell blond, gets a provocatively placed tatoo and prepared to live it up as a Bad Girl. But then her mother falls ill....and Roxie is forced to return to Glory, North Carolina.

He'd love to know. Once the town Bad Boy, Nick Sheppard is now Glory's highly respected sheriff. When the hot blond he stops for speeding turns out to be formerly prim Homecoming Queen Roxanne Tremayne, Nick doesn't know quite where to look--though he'd like a much closer one at that tattoo peeking from her shorts.

But it takes two to tango. Roxie and Nick had a steamy fling in high school, but a love affair between a Southern Princess and a Boy from the wrong side of the tracks was doomed from the start. Now they have a second chance. Can they get it right? Or will they just end up....The Talk of The Town?

My Thoughts:

So the Good Girl/Bad Boy plot device has been done, and done often. It could have been sooo cliche and predictable. However, Karen Hawkins puts a refreshing spin on it. Roxie finalizes her divorce and does what every "comfortable" red blooded American woman would do. She dyes her hair blonde, gets a belly-button ring, and a tattoo. (Admit it, you would too! I would! Except I think, I'd go fire engine Red, and skip the piercing. If you saw my belly button.....) Aaanyway! So then she gets word from her brother Mark, (who divorced last year and didn't tell his mother either) that Dear Ole Mom has had a heart attack and needs help at home. So he suggests that Roxie go back home to take care of mom, and Roxie won't go without back-up so Mark is along for the ride, and they enlist the help of Tundy, (Roxie's housekeeper). Love Tundy! (as they near home, Mark refers to mom and Mom-en-stein, which Tundy interprets to mean that Mom is Jewish....so she leaves the pork rinds in the car and starts cooking kosher. As it happens Mom-en-Stein is not jewish and is somewhat curious as to why Tundy keeps her Kosher....)

Roxie gets pulled over entering town for speeding, and lo and behold Bad-boy Nick Sheppard is now the Sheriff. She gets a warning, mmmm-hmmmmm! Roxie inherits her mothers volunteering responsibility of the Murder Myster Club at the local Retirement Home. Among the members of the MMC is Nick's great Aunt. Coincidence? One of the Retirement community inhabitants recently passed at an accident at the Piggly Wiggly. Accept the MMC after finding a box full of blackmail notes, they decide that it was not an accident but a Murder!! (murder said slowly very reminiscent of the old mystery movies....)

Nick and Roxie are instantly attracted to each other, and Roxie is feeling a little wild and recklessbut Nick wants to be good and responsible. So he wants nothing of the Wild Child. But boy is the chemistry explosive. He can't seem to stay away. So his trying to be good, and her trying to be Bad, lends itself to some misunderstandings and hurt feelings. Also some fun moments between Nick and his assistant/dispatcher/all around girl friday. She's spunky and tells him where to go when he needs it. Yea! There is a mystery to solve and feelings to discover, and a history to work through. Add in a supporting cast, of chubby Housekeeper, 3 drunk Senior Citizens, and an overweight beagle and you've got a fun book.

I recommend this to you if you like a little fun and a good chuckle with your romance.

This was my first by Karen Hawkins but it won't be the last.

2010 Running Book List

I'm excited to keep a running total of the books I've read this year. I read over 100 last year, and most of them were great! I'm hoping to have a lot of great books to read this year too.

1. Where Dreams Begin by Lisa Kleypas~5 Stars

2. Virgin River by Robyn Carr~ 5stars

3. Shelter Mountain by Robyn Carr~ 5 stars

4. Whispering Rock by Robyn Carr ~5 stars

5. Virgin River Christmas by Robyn Carr~4.5 stars

6. Second Chance Pass by Robyn Carr ~5 stars

7. Temptation Ridge by Robyn Carr ~5 star

8. Paradise Valley byRobyn Carr~5 star

9. Forbidden Falls by Robyn Carr ~4 stars (still pouting abt no Dan and Cheryl)

10 The Rogue Hunter by Lynsay Sands~4 stars

11. The Immortal Hunter by Lynsay Sands ~4 stars

12 Covet by JR Ward~~4 stars

13. Angel's Peak by Robyn Carr~~4.5 Stars

14. Moonlight Road by Robyn Carr ~~4.5 stars

15. Fireside by Susan Wiggs~~4 stars

16. When Bruce met Cyn by Lori Foster~~4 stars

17. Love is a 4 Legged Word by Kandy Shepherd~2.5stars

18. When Strangers Marry by Lisa Kleypas ~~4.5-5 stars

19. Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell ~~4 stars

20 Summer Breeze by Catherine Anderson~~4.5 stars

21. That Certain Spark by Cathy Marie Hake ~~4 stars

22. Under Her Skin by Susan Mallery~~4 stars

23. Lip Service by Susan Mallery ~~4 stars

24. Straight from the Hip by Susan Mallery~~4 stars

25. Hot on Her Heels by Susan Mallery ~~4 stars

26. How to Abduct a Highland Lord by Karen Hawkins~~4 stars

27. Phantom Waltz by Catherine Anderson ~~4.5 stars

28 Only by Your Touch by Catherine Anderson ~~4.5 stars

29. The McKettricks of Texas: Tate by Linda Lael Miller~~4 stars

30. Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas~~4.5 stars

31. It Happened one Autumn by Lisa Kleypas~~4.5 stars

32. Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas~~5 stars

Serial Readers Challenge

Well, my dear read-a-holics this year is winding down and coming to a close. It has been a very rewarding literary year for me, and a rewarding year in other areas of my life as well. However, the subject of this post is the wrap up for the Serial Readers Challenge.

I know this time of year is sooo busy, so I've extended the due date for your wrap up post until January 14th. Hopefully by then we will all have had time to update our lists, and post all our wonderful books we've read. I know, I've been keeping a running total with the books I've read, and it has been fun.

I'd love to hear on your wrap up posts not only the books you've read, and so forth, but what titles you loved and why. We discover so many new authors that way. Please post your wrap up posts here and we'll have so much fun looking over each others lists. I know I will. I'll be posting mine as well.

I hope dear Read-a-holics that this was a fun challenge for you. I hope that you got great enjoyment from starting and finishing series this year. Maybe you discovered new authors that are now cherished favorites. I know I did, Julia Quinn is my new best friend. Of course, she doesn't know it, but hey some friendships are just that way. I fell in love with the Brothers this year, and am finding the wait for the next book AGONIZING!! Mostly, I hope you all enjoyed the books you've read.

I look forward to hearing from you all. Happy New Year!