Quilts and Books

This week romance readers have been treated to an embarassment of riches with all of the new releases from favorite authors. We have new ones from Mary Balogh , Karen Ranney , and Elizabeth Hoyt , just to name a few. There's also the highly anticipated The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie from Jennifer Ashley featuring a hero with Asperger's Syndrome . (I'm in the middle of this one right now and am just fascinated by it.) While browsing at Border's I saw (and had to buy) Lynn Kurland's newest. At last, Zach's story. How did this one fly under my radar? Bad, bad Phyl. But at least I have it. And tomorrow? Carla Kelly's sequel to Marrying the Captain will be available as an ebook at eharlequin . Can I just go without sleep for the next week? Oh, and let's not forget that the first book in a new quartet from Nora Roberts was also released on Tuesday. This is a return to straight romance with no paranormal elements. Yea! I managed to get my name in early ...

My late mother-in-law was a Yanni fan and my main exposure to his music was during visits to her home. But last month I tuned in to a PBS Great Performances broadcast of Yanni's latest project, an album and tour showcasing 4 young singers. I enjoyed it enough to check the CD out from the library and I've been listening to it almost continuously for the last several days. I now know what I want for Mother's Day. Honestly, I'm no music critic and I tend to listen to pop standards of the 70's or Smooth Jazz, depending on my mood. But this album is full of romantic songs, half of which are in Italian and Spanish. The orchestration is rich and the 4 singers have incredible voices. I'm obsessed. I'm even thinking of going to the concert when it comes to my town. Maybe. I hate crowds. This is great stuff to have in the background while I'm reading a good romance. And check out that picture. Now that he's cut his hair and lost the mustache he looks like one...

Yes, it's finally done. And here are the pictures to prove it: And check this out: here's the listing for this quilt at Brenda Novak's auction to benefit diabetes research. Bidding commences May 1.

Today is TBR Day and the theme of the month is urban fantasy, paranormal, SFR, fantasy. But I honestly don't have any of that in my TBR pile. I like some of those once in a while, but I'm pretty much a historical junkie and when I went to the shelf, that's all I found. Interestingly, as I was composing this review in my head, I was thinking that this book has a bit of a fairy tale quality to it. The AAR review called it a Pygmalian story. So we'll pretend this book qualifies for this month's theme because it skirts the very edge of fantasy with an engaging, but rather predictable plot involving a girl living in the slums who is rescued by a hero who just happens to need rescuing himself. Sound familiar? Here is the blurb from the publisher: Lily Masters has a gift for picking pockets and telling stories—skills that come in handy for surviving London’s slums. She’s proud of providing for herself and her lively young sister, Alice, and she’s never been caught. Well, t...

Thanks to 20 hours in the car over the weekend (no, I don't get car sick), plus a lazy weekend visiting family, I got a ton of reading done. Yep. 5 books in 4 days. And every one of them was a good read. A couple were even better than good. Here they are in the order I read them: Never Resist Temptation by Miranda Neville . I'll be honest. I hadn't planned on reading this. Frankly, I find many Avon Historicals to be too modern in tone. But I saw some good commentary about this out in blogland and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. This was really a very entertaining read and if you like to bake, the recipies and descriptions of the heroine's work as a pastry chef would interest you. Snappy dialogue moved the story along and I was really engrossed in the story. An Affair of Interest by Barbara Metzger . This is one of the author's old traditionals that is now available as an ebook. Since Metzger is one of my favorite Regency authors, her ebook reissues...

We interrupt our regular programming to celebrate the return of the baseball season. Because in some circles I am known as Phyllis the Phillies Phanatic. Defending World Series Champion. How sweet does that sound?

5. Glitter Baby by Susan Elizabeth Phillips . This is an SEP "classic" as it was originally published in 1987 and republished to coincide with the release of her latest book, What I Did for Love . The new book is set a generation later and one of the characters is a daughter of the h/h in GB. GB is more of a women's fiction book with strong romantic elements than a straightforward romance. I've noticed that some bloggers/commenters really do not like GB. I, however, found it to be quite a page-turner and loved the story of Fleur as she comes into her own and learns to stand up for herself. For a "contemporary" that's over 20 years old, it wears very well. 4. Fragile by Shiloh Walker . This is the first book I've read by Ms. Walker. This was a really interesting romantic suspense about a social worker with a brutal past and an ER doctor who gets to know her when she has to bring clients (abused children) into the hospital. Devon is attracted to Luke...