Quilts and Books

Latest QBFF Challenge

2012-01-29T11:30:00.000-05:00

My QBFFs & I have done some fun projects together over the last few years. One thing that's become a tradition for us is to create some sort of challenge each year. For example, one year we each had to make something that included 3 specific fat quarters of fabric. I made this star quilt. There was also the Paint Chip Challenge. Last summer QBFF T came up with an interesting idea that will result in 4 very, very different quilts. Her rules were that each of us had to put together a fabric packet that totals 2.5 yds. and can have up to 10 different fabrics. Our fabric packet was passed to another QBFF and that person has to add one, and only one fabric of at least 1 yard to make a lap quilt. The completed quilt will be returned to the QBFF who purchased the original fabric packet.

Since QBFF C & I are sisters, we decided to fix it so that C & I are NOT working on quilts for one another. In the end, QBFF T & I are making quilts for one another and QBFF A & C will make quilts for one another.

So, here are my fabrics:

Here are my sister C's:

Here are QBFF A's:

And here are QBFF T's--the fabrics I'm working on. This is a collection of Amy Butler fabrics.

Except there's that solid purple in there. That threw me for a loop at first. But then I decided to just run with it. I'm going to try for something reflective of the modern quilt movement. The blocks will have an improvisational style. Keeping my fingers crossed it turns out well.

Phyl's 5 Phaves for December

2012-01-22T23:23:00.001-05:00

5. Someone to Cherish / Kate Rothwell. Here's an entertaining historical set in 19th c. New York City. Callie Scott is an incredibly naive young woman who had been very restricted by her now-dead grandmother. Left on her own, Callie takes a job with her late father's friend only to find herself caught up in a scandal surrounding a murder, and the scandal in turn leaves her homeless. The detective on the case, Cutter, ends up hiring Callie to take care of his dying landlady. Cutter himself grew up on the streets and he feels entirely unworthy of a true lady like Callie. Callie's a funny, engaging character who is a great foil for the stubborn, taciturn Cutter. In enjoyed them both. Plus, it's always great to read a historical set outside of Europe.

4. A Place Called Home / Jo Goodman. This is a contemporary romance by one of my favorite authors. Goodman normally writes historicals and it was very enjoyable to read something so different from what I'm used to from her. Mitch and Thea are acquaintances--their respective best friends are married to one another. When the best friends are suddenly killed in a car accident Mitch and Thea become co-guardians of the friends' children. Mitch has been interested in Thea for a long time, but she's always kept her distance. Thea would prefer to keep her distance from the children as well. There are good reasons for this, and Goodman slowly reveals why as Mitch and Thea develop a relationship with one another and with the children. This is not the most romantic of novels, but I loved the unusual nature of the story and the way that Goodman developed her characters, especially Thea's. I remember thinking about it for days afterwards and I would like to read it again soon.

3. A Lady Awakened / Cecelia Grant. This debut book by Grant has been the subject of a lot of discussion around the web. I'm simply going to say that I liked this book very much. Some reviewers didn't like the heroine; they found her too cold. Yes, she was cold, but I think her impersonal upbringing explained that. I'd like to call this a "lovers to friends" story, but that's not accurate. Martha Russell, newly widowed, wants to get pregnant quickly enough to pass the child off as her late husband's heir. Theo Mirkwood, her neighbor, is dissolute enough to agree. So what ensues is perhaps best described as a "from sexual partners to friends to lovers" story. I like the way Grant twists the genre a little, I like the way she raises numerous moral issues, and I like the way she wrote these characters. They change and grow and if the ending is a little too neat, well, I enjoyed the ride way too much to mind.

2. Unclaimed / Courtney Milan. Another winner from someone who has quickly become an auto-buy author for me. Unclaimed continues Milan's trilogy about the Turner siblings. Sir Mark Turner has become a celebrity because of his book on male chastity. He can't go anywhere without being accosted and Milan's descriptions of Sir Mark's life reminded me of the way our culture makes assumptions about the celebrities of our time. Sir Mark has an enemy who wants him discredited. He hires Jessica, a courtesan, to seduce Mark and so Jessica travels to the small town where Mark has gone to escape the crowds. What follows is a lovely romantic story that's emotional and humorous. Mark and Jessica are complex individuals and Milan does a masterful job of revealing them to us. There are some interesting secondary characters as well. I simply loved this book.

1. Coming Home for Christmas / Carla Kelly. I had a hard time deciding whether this or Unclaimed should be my #1 book for the month. But it was December and the theme was Christmas. The full review I wrote earlier is here.

TBR Day. His Secret Past / Ellen Hartman. 2008

2012-01-18T10:30:00.000-05:00

I'm pleased to say that this year's TBR Challenge began for me with a wonderful read. I'm really regretting that I let this one languish in the closet for so long and I'm eager to read more by this author. I've been trying to remember how I ended up even owning this book and I'm pretty sure I won it in a contest. I should write these things down. Anyway, based on the blurb, it's not something I'd ordinarily buy. My copy is autographed by Hartman, which is why I think I won it.
His Secret Past is the story of Mason Star, former lead singer for a once-popular rock band. Mason joined the band when he was only 16. After reaching the top of the rock star world Mason was so messed up that the band kicked him out. Now, years later, he's built a new life for himself as the owner/caretaker of a small community called Mulligans that provides housing and life skills training to people trying to get on their feet. Mason has buried himself in his work and evades the public eye and any ties to his past life. Mulligans is in the small town of Lakeland, NJ. As the book opens, Mason is in conflict with the residents of Lakeland over the future of Mulligans, as well as in conflict with his 17-year old son.
Anna Walsh is a documentary filmmaker with a personal agenda. She wants to dig into Mason's past and tell the story behind his leaving the band. He wants no part of it, but when she offers to make a film about Mulligans that just might save it, he decides to let her in. And a powerful attraction is sparked between them.
For a relatively short category romance, an awful lot happens in this book. I actually thought it got off to a slow start, but Hartman was introducing the various threads that quickly are drawn together. Hartman includes some well-drawn secondary characters, including Mason's son. But the real sparkle in the book is the interaction between Anna and Mason. Anna is a wonderful heroine. She's made a real name for herself through her filmmaking and she is very sure of herself. She knows what she wants and she goes after it, including Mason himself. There's some very funny dialogue about music, which I think would appeal to anyone who remembers the '80s. I also liked how Hartman used Anna's love of color to reveal facets of Anna's character.
And bonus! There are two pages involving quilts. Quilts, I tell you! Like this right here:

She moved past him to escape any more smart remarks but then stopped short. The room was full of quilts. Colors and patterns lined the walls. There were quilts stacked on shelves and chairs and others hanging from dowels on the walls.
...
That was when she saw it. Hanging over a wooden dowel, high enough on the wall that she hadn't noticed it right away, was a patchwork quilt. Not a Laura Ingalls patchwork, this was a grid of off-center squares and tilted rectangles in lush, glowing shades of yellow and orange with spikes of red. It was like the embers of a campfire, warm and cozy all at once.

Well, didn't that just make my little heart go pitter patter. But seriously, I thought Hartman skillfully used things like color, Mason's golf game, old pop music, filmmaking, and much more to show us her characters and why they would be attracted to one another. By the time I was halfway into the book I couldn't put it down.
As I said, it was a great way to start this year's challenge and I'm going to keep my eye out for other books by this author.

Phyl's 5 Phaves for November

2011-12-30T23:00:00.000-05:00

November was a great reading month. I read quite a bit, helped in part by Thanksgiving travel that saw me trapped in the car for hours on end (I'm a good in-car reader as I let my DH do all the driving). I really liked almost everything I read and it was not easy to pick my top 5 for the month. The "winners" include not one, but TWO "chicks in pants" historicals. Loved them both.

5. SEAL of My Dreams by various authors. This anthology was released on Veterans Day and I was happy to purchase it as the proceeds go to a worthy cause. The stories in the book are quite short and some are better than others. Overall, I really enjoyed this. They are a wonderful tribute to the sacrifices that military service members make on behalf of our country.

4. Sea Change by Darlene Marshall. Besides being a very nicely done romance, this book was a fascinating look at life at sea during the early 19th century. This was the first of the two books I mentioned above featuring a heroine who disguised herself as a man. Charlotte Alcott learned a lot of medicine when she helped her late father in his medical practice. After he dies, she disguises herself as a young doctor to earn passage aboard a ship bound for the West Indies to go live with her godfather, also a doctor. But her voyage is interrupted when privateer David Fletcher kidnaps her off her ship so she can save the life of his seriously injured younger brother. "Charley" and David get to know each other, and of course, David eventually discovers the truth about Charlotte. Both characters are interesting, but I especially enjoyed Charlotte and her determination to pursue her dream of being a doctor in an era when women were routinely denied that opportunity.

3. The Lady's Secret by Joanna Chambers. Georgiana Knight is the cross-dressing heroine in this book. She is posing as a valet to Lord Nathaniel Harland because it will give her access to a home during a house party where she hopes to find evidence that her parents were married, thus making she and her brother heirs to their father's estate. In this book Nathan discovers Georgy's masquerade early on and he decides to keep her secret. This is a lovely character-driven romance. Georgy and Nathan have time to get to know each other in ways that would have been impossible under normal circumstances. I also liked the way differences between the servant class and the aristocracy are explored. Nathan's frustration with Georgy's need to act the proper servant was fun. I was really entertained by this book and I'm sure I'll read it again.

2. If You Hear Her by Shiloh Walker. This first book in a new romantic suspense trilogy hooked me from page 1. Lena Riddle hears a scream in the woods behind her home and when she tries to get the local authorities in her small town of Ash, KY to listen to her, she runs into a brick wall. Lena is blind and one officer in particular is extremely dismissive of her. Fortunately, Ezra King, a state police officer on leave and temporarily living in Ash, does believe her. Ezra has issues of his own--he's recovering from a gunshot wound from a case that turned his world upside down. Both Lena and Ezra are fascinating characters and I do wish there had been a little more focus on their relationship. But the book is full of very interesting secondary characters and when a body is found to confirm that the screams were real, the suspense really kept me immersed in the book. It's a good thing that the next book in the trilogy is out soon, because the mystery isn't solved here in this book. I'm looking forward to both books to come.

1. The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne. Do you know that Bourne's 3 previous books in her "Spymaster" series have been #1 picks in the months I read them? I hardly know how to describe my love for this book, Bourne's gifted writing, and the fascinating look at the French Revolution. Justine and Adrian appeared in previous books; their story is finally told here. The two met as young teenagers and have occasional contact with one another over the course of a very long war. If I recall correctly, some 24 years pass before they achieve their HEA. They are on opposing sides of the war and their conflicting loyalties keep them apart until the war's end. Their story is mostly told in flashbacks and it is so effectively done. There is humor and heartbreak. I felt as if I'd been put through an emotional wringer when I was done--and I love when that happens! Nothing is easy for these two, and what I especially appreciate is that you cannot look at one side in this war and declare it wholly evil. I'm reminded that revolutionary America held the same ideals as revolutionary France; we Americans were fortunate that a dictator like Napoleon did not usurp those ideals. I cannot recommend this, and the other books in the series, enough.

T-shirt quilt for 2011 Brenda Novak auction

2011-12-29T22:28:00.000-05:00

My 2011 contribution to the Brenda Novak Online Auction for Diabetes Research was to make a t-shirt quilt for the winning bidder. The winner gave me a pile of old t-shirts and I turned them into a twin-sized quilt. This turned out to be an especially fun thing to do, because this pile of old t-shirts represent special memories for their owner. It was interesting to get a small glimpse into the life of the winner.

My first task was to turn the shirts into blocks. Because the motifs were of various sizes, I had to do some planning. Fortunately the winner was willing to let me design this however I liked. Being a tad anal, I decided I wanted a symmetrical look to the quilt. I also did my best to balance the colors, although that orange t-shirt did throw things off! I created 10 12-inch square blocks and then 4 blocks, all 15 inches wide, but of varying heights. Here is the layout I decided on:

I had a discussion with the winner. We decided green would make a nice background for the shirts. I did some shopping and showed her some small samples of green fabrics. She selected the dark green used for the outer border. She also liked the lighter green; I ended up needing to use it for the vertical sashing and then I used it for the backing. I like the extra spark two shades of green give the quilt. Here it is after I finished quilting it, but before I added the binding.

Here's a look at the finished quilt:

I'm pleased to say that the winner was very happy with her quilt. I was glad to hear that, because this quilt presented some special challenges. I stabilized all of the t-shirts, but some stretching still occurred. I had some rippling in two of the borders. Also, I didn't want to quilt through any of the silk screened or embroidered motifs. That meant some areas puff up a little. The "Miami" and "Browns" shirts are actually sweatshirts; the thickness of the fleece was a little hard to work with, but presented fewer problems than I expected.

So, our winner is a graduate of Maryland Law School, with ties to Ohio, who loves dogs, and has vacationed in some interesting spots.

What do your t-shirts say about you? And would you like to preserve those shirts in a quilt made by me? Email me for my rates and scheduling.

TBR Day. Christmas at Candlebark Farm / Michelle Douglas. 2010

2011-12-21T11:00:00.000-05:00

I found this on my Kindle when looking for a holiday-themed book for this month's TBR Challenge. I have no idea what prompted the purchase. But when I saw it was Australian-set I thought it might be fun to read a Christmas story set down under where it is hot and sunny right now (as opposed to cold and rainy like it is here).

Keira Keely is a young woman, 10 weeks pregnant thanks to an IVF procedure. She has no man in her life and is looking to have a baby now because a medical issue could prevent her from getting pregnant later in life. She has taken temporary lodging at Candelbark Farm while she arranges the sale of a house she'd inherited from a great aunt.

Luke Hillier is a widower with a 15-year old son. Luke has to work long and hard to keep his farm running; he's renting out a room to earn a little extra cash.

This book is full of some fairly common themes or stereotypes:

Kiera is sunny and optimistic about almost everything.
Luke is gruff and anti-social.
Luke can't seem to communicate with his son Jason.
Kiera manages to say all the right things to patch up the relationship between Luke and Jason.
Kiera teaches Luke and Jason how to celebrate Christmas again

Douglas' writing and pacing is really very good. The story moved along nicely. But ultimately it just didn't work for me the way I hoped. Everything was too formulaic. The only thing unusual was Kiera's decision to have a baby on her own and while it was interesting to read about her decision to do so, too many other aspects of the book had that "been there/done that" feel. It's unfortunate because Kiera's take-charge personality was nice to read, even if she was a tad too perfect.

It was hard to sympathize with Luke's gruff character when the reasons behind his social withdrawal were not convincing to me. Luke had separated from his wife, and shortly thereafter she's diagnosed with a brain tumor and dies. Luke blames himself for his wife's death (Hello? Cancer?) and supposedly everyone in town does too. It just was too unrealistic.

In the long run this was a quick read that started well enough but turned too predictable too soon. It was not the holiday read I'd hoped for.

Coming Home for Christmas / Carla Kelly. 2011

2011-12-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas-themed books are a popular staple this time of year. The frequently-used themes of home and family are popular images we like to associate with the holidays. Often, though, circumstances force people to be away from loved ones at this time of year, and the three novellas in this collection explore that idea. Although the title includes the words "coming home," only the 3rd story involves a journey home; the first two stories take place far from the leads' homes.

Carla Kelly has put together a wonderful collection of stories here that involve three members of the same family, each from a different generation. Thomas Wilkie is a British Naval surgeon stranded in San Diego in 1812. The second story is about his widowed daughter, Lilian, who is one of Florence Nightengale's nurses in the Crimea in 1855. And the final story is of Lillian's son, Wilkie Wharton, an American army doctor assigned to Fort Laramie in 1877. In each story, Christmas is approaching. In the cases of Thomas and Lilian, they know they will be forced to spend the holiday away from home and both are very homesick. Wilkie is on his way home, but finds himself dealing with unexpected circumstances.

There was, for me, a lot to appreciate about this book. In particular, how effectively Kelly is able to give glimpses at how different and/or difficult life was during each era. These stories are not sugary sweet or overly warm. Between them there is disaster, death, callous behavior, the aftermath of war, and ignorant prejudice. Just as real life is often messy or hard for us today, so it is for the protagonists of her stories. Yet there is a wonderful message of hope in them--love makes it so much easier to bear life's burdens. That's a beautiful message any time of the year.

I have to say how much I loved the structure of the book. The focus is on the 3 members of the Wilkie family. So there is only one POV in each story. I usually enjoy the head hopping that happens in romance novels, and oddly enough I didn't even notice there was none here until I was reading the 3rd story. I made a point of browsing back to make sure I hadn't missed anything and I don't think I did. The family thread that runs through the stories is both engaging and clever as a literary device. Kelly uses a letter from father to child as the prologue to each story, and another letter from Wilkie to his parents as an epilogue at the end of the book. The middle two letters are both epilogue (to the stories that came before) and prologue to the next. At the risk of repeating myself, I was really impressed with the unusual structure and how neatly Kelly tied it all together.

So if you're still looking for some Christmas reading with the big day only a week away, I highly recommend this one.

Phyl's 5 Phaves from October

2011-11-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

Silver Linings by Jayne Ann Krentz. I saw a reference to this a while back (on Smart Bitches?) and was able to read it because my local library has a fine collection of older Krentz titles in large print. Hugh was once engaged to Mattie's sister, Ariel. When Hugh and Ariel broke up, Mattie threw herself at Hugh, but Hugh turned her down. Shortly after that, Hugh realized his mistake, but Mattie won't have anything to do with him. Finally they reunite--over a dead body. Hugh rescues Mattie and manages to insinuate himself back into her life. This is a campy, fun story. Originally published in 1991, it's quite dated to those of us now accustomed to daily use of the internet and cell phones. Still, Mattie makes a great foil for Hugh who is typically alpha and sometimes quite clueless. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Heart Search by Robin D. Owens. Owens' "Heart" series is for people who are fond of fated mates and cats. As I've said before, I love the world of Celta that Owens has created in this series. Heart Search opens with an interesting situation: Laev, the hero, is a widower who had mistakenly assumed the wrong woman was his intended HeartMate and he had endured a difficult and troubled marriage with that woman. Meanwhile, Camellia had lived with the knowledge that her HeartMate had married another woman. To add to that pain, Camellia has had to struggle on her own because her father and her uncle constantly steal from her, despite every effort to prevent it. As the book opens, Laev is now a widower and he is trying to recover many family heirlooms his wife had stolen from him before her death. In his search he discovers Camellia, but because of the mistreatment each has experienced it takes them awhile to trust one another. I enjoyed the romance and the visit with familiar characters. I like that Owens has her characters growing older. The couples from the earliest books now have nearly-grown children.

Prey by Linda Howard. Judging by some reviews I've read over the years, I may be in the minority when I say that my favorite Howard books of the last half dozen years have been the ones like Prey that involve some sort of outdoor adventure/survival--such as Cover of Night and Up Close and Dangerous. This latest adventure involves two competing wilderness guides, Angie and Dare. Dare has had a thing for Angie for years, but she's made it clear she's not interested. Unfortunately, Angie's business is going under and Dare's success is partly to blame. Angie contracts one last trip, to help a client hunt for a bear. But it turns out this trip is really meant to be a cover-up to murder and Angie barely escapes with her life. Meanwhile, Dare "happens" to be nearby. He rescues her, they work through their issues, and together they escape two killers--the murderer and a bear with a taste for human flesh. Yeah, it's gruesome, but I liked it. Campy, suspenseful, and sweetly romantic.

The Nine Lives of Christmas by Sheila Roberts. This sweet little book took no time to read and was a very enjoyable start to my holiday reading for 2011. Merilee White is a shy young woman who wants to become a veterinarian. Until she can afford vet school, she works in a big box pet store. Zach Stone is "adopted" by Ambrose, a cat who is the 3rd main character in this story. Ambrose, on the verge of losing his 9th and final life, knows he needs to do something for Zach in order to have a chance at making his 9th life last a good long time. Zach is a firefighter who has soured on relationships after too many of them in his life went bad. But when Ambrose sees how lonely Zach is, he finds a way to make sure Zach and Merilee get together. There's just one word for this kind of book. Cute. And sometimes Cute really hits the spot.

Snapped by Laura Griffin. The latest entry in Griffin's "Tracers" series begins with a campus shooting that appears to be an open and shut case of a deranged individual lashing out at random. Only when eyewitness Sophie Barrett realizes that there had to be more to this shooting than authorities believe, she ends up becoming a target herself. Meanwhile, homicide detective Jonah Macon, who has been assigned the case, finds himself attracted to Sophie. He's got a conflict of interest because he's attracted, but no one believes that Sophie saw anything significant. As Jonah starts looking into it, he also realizes that Sophie is a loose-end the killer will want to deal with. Once again Griffin has written a taut, fast-paced thriller with just the right amount of romance. This is a great series that you can read from the beginning or jump in at any point.

Today I give thanks, 2011

2011-11-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

In the United States, today is Thanksgiving Day. Last year for Thanksgiving I wrote this post where I listed 53 things for which I am grateful. As I said then, a healthy percentage of us will spend the day with family and/or friends. We'll eat too much, watch some TV (football!), and hopefully even spend some time counting our blessings.
In what has now become tradition, tomorrow, Friday, another healthy percentage of us will run out the door at some freakishly early hour to spend tons of money. Because despite how grateful we may be today, apparently we still don't have enough stuff.

I hate shopping (unless it's for fabric!) and I hate crowds. I'll be hibernating at my parents' house.

Last year, since I was 53 years old, I decided to list 53 things for which I was grateful. This year I've edited the list a little to reflect some of the changes in my life. And I added one since I'm a year older. In the order in which they occurred to me:

My husband.
My son.
My parents, siblings, and their families.
My in-laws, including my husband's siblings and their families. We were supposed to visit them for Christmas this year, but circumstances have caused us to change our plans. I'll miss seeing them. It's been too long.
Despite various health issues, my parents are still living independently.
This blog and the online friends I have made.
My smartphone. I am addicted to the Internet.
My Pfaff 7530. 17 years old and still a workhorse, although it had to pay a visit to the hospital last month.
My Brother PQ 1500-S which makes machine quilting a dream and kept me from going crazy while my Pfaff was in the hospital.
My BFF MJ.
My QBFFs AM and TB.
Mary Balogh's A Summer to Remember--the book that re-ignited my love of the Romance Novel.
Mary Balogh's Heartless--still my favorite.
Jesus Christ.
The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies. Sigh. Wish I could have added the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies to this.
The 1980 Philadelphia Phillies.
Penn State. This is hard. My alma mater has been shattered by men who chose to protect the status quo rather than expose a child predator. Some of the best years of my life were spent at Penn State. I met my husband there. Penn State is so much more than football or our ex-coach. I hope someday we can remember that.
Social networking.
My home.
My fabric stash.
Chocolate.
Peanut Butter.
Weight Watchers.
Those 86 lbs. I lost in 2005-2006. I've gained some of it back, but have managed to keep most of it off.
Insulin.
A stable, steady job and an employer that lets me work only 30 hours/week.
Libraries.
Old friends.
New friends.
All those quilt ideas running around in my brain.
Summer days when the temperature goes over 90.
Snow days.
Mike Schmidt.
Sean Connery.
Flannel sheets.
Home-grown tomatoes.
My Kindle. I've read quite a few wonderful ebooks that I wouldn't have been able to read without it.
The Internet.
Twitter. I rarely tweet, but I do enjoy the tweets of those I follow.
Google. Yeah, I know, they want to rule the earth. But still....
Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. What fun places to shop.
Volkswagon. In the last 30 years I have owned and driven just 3 VW diesels. Can you say 45+ MPG? A total of 425,000 miles.
ESPN.
XM Satellite radio.
Diet Coke.
Mexican restaurants.
Enjuvia--best drug ever.
Music. I love Smooth Jazz, especially Chris Botti.
Yellowstone National Park.
Christmas lights.
Leftover turkey.
Romance authors who write the books that enrich my life.
High-Def TV.
The book that came out this past year from the contest that made me a winner: It Happened One Season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Phyl's 4 Phaves from September

2011-11-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to remember what the heck I was doing in September that kept me so busy. Because apparently I only read 8 books and a small collection of 4 very short stories. Weird. Because all it did was rain. It's not as if I went outside and did something active or useful. I didn't finish a quilt either. Oh well. But that leaves me with only 4 books that I want to talk about this month. And they are:

4. The Unmentionables by Karen Ranney. Here is the product description from Amazon: The Unmentionables is a collection of short stories told by Victorian undergarments, from the under appreciated pair of drawers belonging to a countess, to the corset owned by a young miss, to a pair of enthusiastic stockings, and finally to a maid's shift. This collection of very short stories barely took me 30 minutes to read--about 5-10 minutes per story. It's a fine piece of whimsy that was both romantic and interesting as I considered how different the Victorian clothing was from what I typically wear each day. For less than the cost of my Daily Diet Coke I was treated to something fun and imaginative from my favorite author.

3. Kissing Comfort by Jo Goodman. Goodman's latest is a western historical that takes place largely in San Francisco. The story begins with a prologue that tells how 5-year old Comfort Kennedy became the ward of her two "uncles" and continues 20 years later with a fully grown Comfort reluctantly entering into a sham engagement with Bram DeLong. Bram and Comfort had been friends for a long time; Comfort had even believed herself to be in love with Bram. But when she agrees to the false engagement she realizes her feelings aren't quite what she thought. Meanwhile, Bram's older brother Bode, who has long had feelings for Comfort, proves to be a more steadfast, honest individual, especially when Comfort finds her life in danger. The tumultuous post-gold rush setting of San Francisco is an interesting one as secrets are revealed and Comfort learns what it really means to be in love. While not as deeply emotional as Goodman's other recent books, this was still a very satisfying and entertaining read.

2. After the Fire by Kathryn Shay. I've only read a few of Shay's books before this one; as near as I can tell this is one of her early books that she's made available as an ebook. This is the first in a trilogy involving three siblings and the fire department they all work for in the town of Hidden Cove, somewhere in upstate New York. When a huge fire injures all three of them, and some of their colleagues die, the siblings make a promise to one another that they will make the changes necessary in their lives to improve their lives and live without regrets. Mitch, the oldest, is in a bad marriage and wants to try and put things right. Jenn, twice-divorced, wants a baby. Zach, also divorced, wants another chance with his ex-wife. Shay switches back and forth, telling the stories of all three. There's a resolution to two of them and the 3rd carries into the next book. I found this to be a rather realistic look at the fact that life is often messy and sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees. Not everything ends the way you might expect. I had a hard time putting this down and I went back to Amazon when I was done and bought the next book in the trilogy.

1. Vienna Waltz by Teresa Grant. This book is primarily a mystery, with some very nice romantic elements. And I have to say, I'm really not normally fond of mysteries. I'm not sure why, but that's how it is. What I am, though, is a Regency history junkie and I especially enjoyed this book that gave me a look at the pomp and society surrounding the 1814 Congress of Vienna. This fictional story incorporates all of the main players at the table: Talleyrand, Castlereagh, Metternich, and Tsar Alexander. The main protagonists are Suzanne and Malcolm Rannoch who have been married little more than two years and still have a rather fragile relationship. They met in Spain where Malcolm did intelligence work for the British Army. Now he's attached to the British delegation. When a rather infamous courtesan is murdered, it is Suzanne who finds her husband bent over the woman's body. Questions surround Malcolm's involvement with the woman and the questions threaten Suzanne and Malcolm's marriage as well as Malcolm's life. Together they must solve the mystery of who murdered the beautiful Tatiana and as they do so, they begin to trust each other with their secrets. It's a complex story, but Grant's writing made it easy for me to follow along as she unraveled the mystery. My favorite parts, though, were about Suzanne and Malcolm. I'd read that many Regency fans are very fond of Grant's earlier books involving sleuths Melanie and Charles. Turns out this is the same couple, re-named at the request of Grant's new publisher. While the other books were written earlier, this is the first one in the time line. I may finally go and read the other books since I certainly liked this one well enough.

It's a Mystery!

2011-11-16T10:30:00.000-05:00

No, sorry, I'm not referring to this month's TBR challenge. I even started a Barry Eisler John Rain book (which I am enjoying). But I put it on the back burner because my sewing machine came home from the hospital and I got an itch to make up for lost time (my baby was gone for a whole month!).

So, no TBR book for me this month. Instead, I've been working on a mystery quilt! It's a mystery because I have no idea what I'm making. I just follow the instructions handed out once a week by AQS and see where they take me.

Here's where I started with Block Buffet, a 6-week mystery challenge designed by Linda Hahn. You can see the color chart on the left. Since I am making this totally from my stash, there are some colors where I'm having to use 2 or 3 fabrics. Hopefully this will add a nice slightly scrappy look to my quilt. Based on all of the pieces I cut out, this quilt will be a very bright, colorful piece. I'm excited to see the end result.

First, I had to cut out hundreds of squares, rectangles, triangles. I never did add up how many I cut. I may have to do that at some point. Each different-sized piece has a letter value assigned to it and I put them into labeled baggies to keep them safe.

And here are some of the blocks I've already begun to sew together.

One issue I have is that I have not been able to keep up with the pace of the instructions. This is week 5. I'm working on week 3. But between family and work and just life in general, I can't work that fast. I'm going to try and keep from downloading week 6 until I'm caught up. We'll see how that goes!

Stay tuned for the solution to this mystery!

Fall Table Runner

2011-11-11T21:36:00.001-05:00

Just popping in to show off another table runner made from the Waffle Time pattern by Atkinson Designs. This makes at least 3 of these I've made now. I do love this pattern.

Projects like this help me practice my machine quilting and even play around with some slightly different motifs.

Best of all, it looks nice on my kitchen table!

Phyl's 5 Phaves from August

2011-11-06T21:23:00.000-05:00

I'm catching up!!

5. Swept Away by Karen Templeton. Someone must have mentioned this book in their blog back at the beginning of the summer (probably for TBR day). I wish I could remember who so I could say thank you. Anyhow, I'm glad they did as this was a nice inexpensive download for my Kindle that I really enjoyed. Carly Stewart is a retired ballerina who is traveling through little Haven, OK with her recently bereaved father when their RV breaks down. What starts out as a brief stay grows into something more when Carly finds herself attracted to rancher Sam Frazier--widower and father of 6 kids, including a 15yo teenage girl with an attitude. Carly is an atypical heroine. She's not the mothering type and she is truly struggling over the loss of her career. Sam had married his high school sweetheart and never figured he'd fall for someone like Carly who is independent, tough, and a little prickly. This short category romance is an example of the genre done right. Great pacing, well-developed characters, and even a nice secondary romance between Carly's father and the local midwife.

4. Wicked Surrender by Jade Lee. This was a rather interesting story of Sher, a woman running a minor playhouse who feels keenly what it costs the members of her troupe to live on the edge of society. I don't mean polite society, but society in general. Actors are easy to cast aside and ignore. It is automatically assumed as well that actors are of loose morals. Sher and the members of her troupe are one small disaster from living on the street. What Sher wants more than anything is the security of a respectable marriage and a family. She receives a proposal of marriage from Kit, a younger son from an aristocratic family. She accepts the proposal to the dismay of Kit's family. Meanwhile, Kit's cousin Brandon, a Viscount, wants to make Sher his mistress. Sher is very attracted to Brandon, but she is determined to achieve her goals and she manages to resist Brandon. I really liked the way Lee wrote Sher as a woman whose "no" meant "no." As Sher suffers rejection from Kit's family, and the rest of society, Sher begins to have doubts that marriage to Kit will give her what she's looking for. This book struck me as a realistic portrayal of the kind of class conflicts that were likely in that era. I enjoyed the characters and the setting. I have the sequel in my TBR pile.

3. A Night of Scandal by Sarah Morgan. This book received a lot of attention around romance blogs this summer, so I gave it a try and have to add my voice to the chorus and say it was really enjoyable. Nathaniel is an actor who had a very traumatic childhood. Katie is a costume designer working on Nathaniel's current play and hoping for a big break. When something happens at the start of a performance that brings someone from Nathaniel's past back into his life, Nathaniel runs from the theater and uses Katie to hide from everyone. Katie is the opposite of Nathaniel. She's shy and has a poor self-image. But she is emotionally whole while Nathaniel is not. I liked the way they helped one another and enjoyed the emotional aspects of this story. Again, this is another example of the short novel done right.

2. The Many Sins of Lord Cameron by Jennifer Ashley. This is the 3rd book in Ashley's Mackenzie brothers' series and rather different than the previous entries. Ainsley and Cameron are both widowed; Cameron's marriage had not been a happy one while Ainsley had had a genuine fondness for her much older husband. Now Ainsley is left with little money and has a position working as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria. I found it interesting (and realistic) that Ainsley is truly at Victoria's beck and call, even if it means searching Cameron's room looking for something she believes a blackmailer may have hidden there. Cameron catches her and it leads to him helping her stop the Queen's blackmailer and, of course, their romance. The plot didn't draw me in so much as the characters. Again, Ashley has created vividly drawn characters who have some very real problems to solve. I love the writing--there's humor and emotion. This was a great entry in the series.

1. Master of Crows by Grace Draven. Almost all of the books I read are chosen because 1) I've read the author in the past and liked their books, or 2) I've read a good review somewhere online. I rarely, rarely, browse or choose a book because of it's cover. Then I saw this cover on the Passive Guy's blog:

It just seemed so romantic. Anyhow, for $2.99 it was certainly worth a try. And I ended up just loving this story. Talk about your tortured heroes. Silhara is a mage targeted by the god Corruption. Corruption comes to him night after night, trying to seduce him. Meanwhile, the magicians of the Conclave are suspicious of Silhara and they send Martise, a slave woman, to spy on him. It turns out that Martise has an unusual magical gift and as Silhara works to teach Martise how to use her magic, they become attracted to one another. Silhara has no future as long as Corruption remains undefeated, and Martise is still obligated to Conclave. They need to defeat Corruption and find a way to be together. It turns out that this cover has lots of great details from the book. I'm sure I'll read this again.

Another new purse

2011-10-27T21:09:00.000-04:00

I recently finished this purse with matching wallet. The purse is from a pattern by Quilt Plus. I bought the pattern at a quilt show in Pennsylvania a couple years ago. If I take my purse to another show where the owner is vending again, I get a free pattern and I'll have my picture taken for her handbag gallery. Hopefully she'll be in Cincinnati for IQF in April. Meanwhile, it's fun to look at the wide variety of bags and purses in the gallery. The owner of this company is very talented.

The wallet pattern is by Atkinson Designs. The pattern makes it very easy to attach the zipper. Zippers are intimidating.

My Pfaff had to go to the hospital again. I miss it :-(

Phyl's 5 Phaves from July

2011-10-27T15:10:00.001-04:00

5. Waking Up with the Duke by Lorraine Heath. When I finished this book, my immediate reaction was to admit that I was simply impressed by the risks Heath took in writing about a couple who deliberately commit adultery. I'm writing this several months after having read it, and I'm still ambivalent as to whether I consider it a "phave" or not. In case you missed it, Jayne is married and her husband (Wolfort) is paralyzed from a carriage accident several years previously. His health is (conveniently) declining as well. Wolfort wants Jayne to be able to have a baby and he suggests that Jayne and his cousin (and best friend, Ainsley, the Duke) have an affair in hopes that she would become pregnant. Since this is set in a time when divorce was this close to impossible, you know going in that Jayne's husband will have to die in order for there to be a happy ending between she and Ainsley. And how happy a future can you envision when a relationship begins in such a way? Was Jayne emotionally coerced? Will guilt tarnish their future relationship? Oh, and it turns out Wolfort and Ainsley have been keeping a Big Secret. Lots of interesting questions are raised by this book to the point where it certainly stuck with me and I think that counts for a lot. Parts of it were quite emotional. Near the end, though, it went a little over the top. And now that I write this, I think that had July been a better reading month, I may not have included it here. Nonetheless, if you're a fan of Heath, it may well be worth a read. In the end, I am actually glad I read it.

4. The Eyes of Love by Katherine Storm. Katherine Storm is a pen name used by Karen Ranney for some self-pubbed ebooks. TEoL is a contemporary romantic suspense about a modern-day Duke and an American woman who meet when they are both seeking some solitude on a small island off the Texas coast. Maggie is recovering from a serious accident and Richard is with his two young children hiding from the tabloid press. To put it very simply, they become involved. At the same time, Richard becomes the target of a Scottish radical. I am such a fan of Ranney's work and I love the emotional nature of her writing. It was fun to read something by her in a different sub-genre and I enjoyed the blend of romance and suspense in this book.

3. You Belong to Me by Karen Rose. I think I say the exact same thing every time I mention one of Rose's books. They're fast-paced, tightly plotted books that always have me thoroughly engrossed to the exclusion of all else until I finish them. It's exhausting I tell you. As usual, the villain is a sick psychopath and so this is not a book for the faint of heart. Lucy is a medical examiner and J.D. is a Baltimore homicide detective. Together they investigate a series of murders that appear to be tied to Lucy in some way. It's a race against time. Deftly woven into the suspense is the romance between Lucy and J.D. This is the first book in a new series and would be an excellent introduction to Rose if you've never read her before.

2. Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase. It's such a treat when Chase has a new book out and this was no exception. I remember just inhaling this and was so sorry to see it end. Marcelline is co-owner with her two sisters of a London dress shop and they are striving to become the number one shop in town. Marcelline decides that the best way to attract clients is to become the dressmaker for the Duke of Clevedon's future bride, Clara. Marcelline does this by chasing down Clevedon in Paris and making herself known to him. She's very clear that she asprires to be Clara's dressmaker. Clevedon, attracted to her bold beauty, wants more. This is a very clever story that deftly compares and contrasts the lives and lifestyles of aristocrats vs. those who have to work for a living. There's never anything preachy in the tone, nor is there a false sense of egalitarianism. There are wonderful layers here as well. For example, Clevedon is passionate about very little while Marcelline is passionate about her work. They each have a lot to teach the other and since it is told with Chase's inimitable wit, it's great fun to watch them change and grow. Now I want to go back and re-read it!

1. The Amorous Education of Celia Seaton by Miranda Neville. This book just barely nudges past Silk is for Seduction for top spot this month. Both were such entertaining reads! Celia and Tarquin find themselves caught up in an adventure together. Celia had been kidnapped and is being held in a small cottage not too far from Tarquin's estate. On his way home, Tarquin is attacked and beaten when he accidentally stumbles upon the place where Celia is held. The two had met previously in London; it had not gone well when the fashionable Tarquin had insulted Celia. Now Tarquin has amnesia and Celia has the chance for a bit of revenge. With nothing more than the clothes on their back, the two of them need to run for their lives. As they do so, they fall in love. Tarquin's amnesia doesn't last long, but now enough has happened between the two of them that they are forced to re-examine their beliefs about the other. I really appreciated how Neville used the first part of the book to strip both characters down to essentials. As the book continues they both have to deal with what they learned about themselves and one another. This is Neville's 4th book and all have landed in my list of "phaves."

TBR Day. Die Before I Wake / Laurie Breton. 2008

2011-10-19T08:19:00.000-04:00

I remember when I bought this book. The Borders receipt was still inside the cover when I dug it out last week. I had a $5.00 off coupon and I thought I'd try something different. I like Romantic Suspense, but I'm not fond of 1st person books, which this is. But it turned out OK and while I doubt I'll re-read it, I did find myself engaged by the story.

I can't find a traditional website for the author, although it appears she has a MySpace page here. This is the back cover blurb:

Just five days after they meet, Julie Hanrahan and Dr. Thomas Larkin exchange vows on a moonlit Caribbean beach, the whirlwind conclusion to a romance that's swept her off her feet. Tom is sexy, witty and charming and Julie's sure she's found her Prince Charming.

But not every fairy tale ends happily ever after.

With a workaholic husband, a hostile mother-in-law and a resentful stepdaughter, the honeymoon doesn't last long. Especially after Julie finds out that Tom's first wife didn't die in an accident after all. The cops called her death a suicide, but Julie is convinced that somebody helped Beth over the side of the Swift River Bridge.

Every marriage has its secrets. Julie is starting to wonder if she'll survive discovering the truth about hers…or die before she wakes.

As the book opens, Julie is flying to her new home in Maine, the antithesis of everything she'd known in California. Julie is leaving behind a failed marriage and a lot of tragedy; she's looking forward to a "normal" life with Tom and his two young daughters. It's not long, though, before she encounters the hostile mother-in-law and resentful stepdaughter. She also has to learn to cope with Tom's hectic schedule as an OB/GYN. Julie begins to get close to Tom's daughters and even makes some friends. However, Julie finds herself on the receiving end of various accidents and then she discovers a deliberate attempt on her life. Too many signs point to Tom as the culprit.

Most RS books that I enjoy use the suspense to bring the h/h together to fight a common enemy. Here, the h/h are increasingly at odds as Julie begins to believe the worst of Tom. This kind of story actually reminded me very much of the old Mary Stewart or Victoria Holt books I enjoyed as a teen (yes, I'm old). Naturally, there's another villain, but it takes a crisis at the end to figure out who the real culprit is. I stink at mysteries, so I was pretty clueless until near the end to figure out who had killed Beth.

There are lots of potential culprits here, and the story has a good, fast pace. It was an easy read and didn't take long to finish. To be honest, this kind of story doesn't typically float my boat. I doubt I'll read more by this author, but that's more because there are lots of other things I'd rather read first. Still, I'd recommend it if you like a contemporary mystery with a gothic flair.

Phyl's 5 Phaves from June

2011-10-10T23:04:00.001-04:00

5. Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn. Even though I usually prefer a little more meat to my historicals, Quinn is still one of my favorite authors. Her humor and likable characters make her books fun, and sometimes, very emotional reads. Set in her Bridgerton world, this is the first in a new series featuring the unfortunate young women made infamous by the Smythe-Smith Musicales referred to in the earlier books. Marcus and Honoria have known one another since they were young as Marcus is her brother's best friend and Marcus spent much time with Honoria's family. While it's not quite a "friends to lovers" story, it is a story of two people who begin to see one another in a new light. Thoroughly enjoyable for fans of Quinn's work, although not my favorite.

4. A Marriage of Inconvenience by Susanna Fraser. This is the second book by Fraser that I have read and I liked it as well as her first one. While published second, it takes place before the events in The Sergeant's Lady. Anna, a secondary character here, becomes the heroine later. Meanwhile, James and Lucy meet at a house party meant to celebrate a wedding. Lucy is secretly betrothed to Sebastian. Soon, however, Sebastian turns his eye toward James' sister Anna and Lucy finds herself attracted to James. When found in a compromising position, James and Lucy are forced to wed. James and Lucy must learn to make their marriage work amid a number of secrets which come to light. The whole story comes together very well; I like the way the characters are written. I hope to go back and re-read The Sergeant's Lady sooner rather than later.

3. Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day. I really enjoyed this story of Eliza, an heiress who has been suffering a series of "accidents" and Jasper, the thief-taker she hires to protect her from whoever wishes her harm. Eliza's a rather self-sufficient woman with no particular desire to marry. Someone wants to force her hand and she needs to find out who. Jasper is attracted to Eliza from the start and needs not only to protect her, but to discover the source of her troubles. Things become more urgent when Eliza's troubles are linked to issues from Jasper's past. There's a mystery here, but it doesn't overshadow the developing relationship between Jasper and Eliza.

2. A Lady's Lesson in Scandal by Meredith Duran. I really loved this book and it was almost #1 for the month. Nell Whitby is a desperate young woman living in the slums who breaks into the home of the Earl of Rushden seeking revenge for wrongs done to her mother. It turns out that she meets the new Earl, Simon, who becomes the hero of the book. He recognizes that Nell is actually the long-lost Lady Cornelia. Nell is worth a fortune and Simon needs a fortune. His motives are less than altruistic when he brings her into his home to prove her identity and restore her to the position she should have had. And in some ways like the Pygmalian story, Simon falls in love with Nell as he helps with the make-over. This Victorian-set novel is enhanced by its look at class differences and the precarious position of working women. Nell is a fascinating heroine and I appreciated that she didn't change too much by becoming Lady Cornelia.

1. Never a Gentleman by Eileen Dreyer. I am fully aware that a lot of people did not like this book. The heroine Grace has put her own needs second to everyone her entire life. And when circumstances force her to marry just when she thinks she's achieved some independence, it seems like it would be the last straw and a wall-banger instead of a moving book. I think this is just one of those times when this book connected with this reader. I loved Grace and felt her pain and disappointment. I loved Diccan and the way he slowly (oh so slowly) came to appreciate just who Grace was and all the things she'd been hiding. I loved the writing and the way Dreyer peels back the layers. Grace is by no means a 21st century heroine. But -- for me -- she works as a 19th century heroine. Your mileage may vary.

Phyl's 5 Phaves from May

2011-09-10T23:39:00.001-04:00

May was the month of The Quilt of Many Squares. Seriously, just about every spare minute I had was spent working on that thing--assuming I had the energy. I didn't read much, or when I did it was late in the evening or on breaks at work. Sadly, I look back and don't remember a whole lot about these, but I do know that I enjoyed them and they were a welcome respite from sewing deadlines and trying to get The Teen to finish the school year on a positive note. It was a brutal month.

5. Harper's Bride by Alexis Harrington. I can't remember what prompted me to purchase this for my Kindle, but I'm awfully glad I did. It was originally published in 1997 and it would appear that most (if not all) of Harrington's back list is in e-book form. Melissa Logan marries Coy Logan to escape her abusive family, only to find herself dragged off to the Yukon gold rush and then sold to shopkeeper Dylan Harper to pay a debt. Melissa cooks and cleans for Dylan, and even starts her own laundry business. This character-driven story is very touching as Melissa and Dylan fall in love. The backdrop of the Yukon gold rush makes for an interesting and unusual setting. I liked this well enough that I went back and purchased another of her books, Home by Morning. You should visit her website. It's very pretty.

4. His Wife for One Night by Molly O'Keefe. This book was my May TBR Challenge book. This modern-day marriage of convenience story was well-done and believable. I'm still looking forward to the sequel, but O'Keefe's website doesn't say when it'll be out yet.

3. Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey. The 2nd book in Stacey's Kowalski family series has a plot that sounds a bit like an HP: a one-night stand leads to an unplanned pregnancy. Beth stubbornly wants to remain independent, but Kevin is patient. What makes this book appealing is Stacey's writing, the humor, and the extended Kowalski family. I'm looking forward to the additional books planned for this series

1. (tie) One Magic Moment and One Enchanted Evening by Lynn Kurland. When I saw that Kurland's 2011 time travel release, OMM was out, I realized I had never read OEE, her 2010 TT. Kurland's TT fantasy world has long been a favorite of mine; I enjoy her writing and the extensive world of characters who go back and forth from medieval England or Scotland to modern times. I ended up reading these two books back-to-back as they involve 2 sisters who become involved with 2 de Piaget brothers. Great fun and I am guessing the next book involves a 3rd Alexander sister. I just have to wait until next May--which is now only 8 months away!

Whew. Now to remember what I read in June.

TBR Day. The Soldier / Grace Burrowes. 2011

2011-08-17T09:30:00.002-04:00

This month's TBR theme is something erotic or steamy. I don't have anything specifically like that in my collection. However this one has a fair share of heat, so hopefully it qualifies.

Grace Burrowes is a new author and The Soldier is her second book. I read her debut, The Heir, last January and liked it well enough to pre-order this for my Kindle. It was released in June. Obviously it hasn't been waiting to be read very long, but I was in the mood to try it, so here it is.

This is going to be a strange review. As I look back there was a lot in this book that bothered me. But while I was reading it, I genuinely enjoyed the experience. I think Burrowes does a great job with her characterizations and her prose. This is a character-driven story without much external conflict and I do enjoy books of this nature. I had a hard time putting it down and stayed up late the other night to finish it.

The book has three main characters, and they were all born out of wedlock: Devlin St. Just, the hero; Emmie Farnum, a young woman who lives on a neighboring property; and 7-year old Winnie who is Emmie's relative and was fathered by the previous owner of Devlin's estate.

Much is made of Devlin's situation. At the age of 5 his mother had turned him over to his father, a powerful Duke, and asked the Duke and Duchess to raise him as they'd be able to give him a better life than she could. It's actually a poignant story and I loved the way it's told throughout the book and how it affected the relationship Devlin has with his father, the Duchess, and his half-siblings. It struck me as totally realistic that a child brought into that sort of situation would feel both abandoned and on the outside looking in, no matter how much his new family might love him. Devlin spends the book dealing with his family as well as wrestling the demons from his many years of military service fighting Napoleon and the French.

Devlin has recently been made the 1st Earl of Rosecroft and the title comes with a run-down estate that had previously been owned by a dissolute earl who died without an heir. Emmie and Winnie live quietly nearby. Emmie bakes for a living; she sells her wares to the local villagers, but otherwise rarely interacts with them. She's a social outcast and as a result, rather lonely. Her cousin Winnie was fathered by that dead, dissolute earl and for some strange reason Winnie is treated as part of the estate that Devlin is awarded. This is where the logic of the book begins to fall apart. Emmie seems to have an expectation that Winnie, as the bastard daughter of an earl, somehow deserves a better life than what she'd have if she stayed with Emmie. And she wants to give Winnie over to Devlin to provide that life. Now why would Devlin be in any way obligated to do this? Given the social mores of the time, why would Emmie expect special treatment for Winnie? It just didn't ring true and that bothered me.

There's one other thing that bothered me a lot. Emmie is portrayed as a loving, nurturing woman, and she does a great deal to help Devlin heal from his experiences in the war. She encourages him to open up and listens to him as he tells her things he hasn't been able to talk about before. They fall in love, but Emmie is unwilling to trust in Devlin the way he has trusted in her. She hangs on to her secrets and makes preparations to leave the area, despite Winnie's and Devlin's pleas that she stay. At first I can understand her reluctance. One doesn't hang on to things for years and years only to give them up at the drop of a hat. But it goes on and on to the point that when Emmie finally changes her mind and decides to stay with Devlin and Winnie, it's practically the last page of the book. Both me, the reader, and Devlin had figured out Emmie's secrets long before she was willing to give them up. When she finally does so, it's the very end of the book. This creates a rather abrupt ending and I wanted a longer emotional payoff after all that dithering.

Frankly, as nicely as Burrowes writes, there's still an anachronistic feel to the language and attitudes in both of her books. Other online reviewers have commented on this, and I'm not going to rehash it here. Ultimately I think Burrowes shows wonderful promise as a writer and I'm already looking forward to her next book. Meanwhile I offer only a limited recommendation -- this book has a great hero who carries the story and is worth reading about. Unfortunately he comes with a less-likeable heroine and a precocious 7-year old which may be enough for some readers to say no thanks.

More Paint Chip Challenge

2011-08-12T12:30:00.002-04:00

Last year, the QBFFs, my sister, and I decided to do a "paint chip challenge." That is, we each started with a paint chip and had to come up with any kind of quilt using only those colors. I got green, H(onorary) QBFF C. got coral, T. got orange, and A. got yellow. You can read more about mine here.

Today I have some pictures of the final projects and then a photo of the 4 of us together w/ our quilts. Since my sister, HQBFF C. does not live in this area, it was a real treat for the 4 of us to go out to dinner and talk quilts and quilting.

First, QBFF A. She made 7 panels and then added these purple sunflowers. I could accuse her of cheating, but those sunflowers sure make the panels pop.

Next, QBFF T. She made a lovely Storm at Sea quilt using her colors. This picture isn't very good; the quilt is more orange. I think the colors are better in the final shot at the bottom.

This is C. holding up her paint chip along with her quilt. Her border fabric has some green and brown in it and make a nice frame for the paper-pieced stars.

Next and last, this is mine. I used only what I already had in my stash and decided to make a table runner that I'll be able to use on my kitchen table:

And here we are all together:

Soon I'll talk about the NEXT challenge we came up with! Fun.

Phyl's 5 Phaves for April

2011-08-02T00:05:00.001-04:00

You know, if I don't catch up on these posts pretty soon, I'm going to totally forget what I read.

5. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen. Allen's unique lyrical story-telling made me a fan with her first book, Garden Spells. Like her previous books, there's a touch of mysticism, a touch of romance, and several quirky, interesting characters. Allen certainly manages to do a lot with just a few words (her books are relatively short compared to most novels). The themes in this book include the nature of friendship, forgiveness, tradition, and secrets. It's hard to describe this book, so I'll just say go read it!

4. The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig. This is another solid entry in Willig's Pink Carnation series. Laura Grey, a graduate of the Selwick spy school, goes to Paris and poses as a governess in the home of Andre Jaouen, an official in Bonaparte's Ministry of Police. Laura had hoped for an assignment a little more dramatic than watching over Andre's two children. But she soon gets more than she bargained for, especially when she discovers that Andre is not quite what he seems. In turn, of course, Andre eventually discovers that Laura is MORE than he expected. That was quite fun. Another facet I liked is that both Andre and Laura are older and somewhat lonely. The way they were drawn to one another seemed very natural. I know that many say that some parts of this series of books are anachronistic. But I do like the way Willig writes and I thought she did an excellent job in this particular book of creating characters with more depth than some of her previous books.

3. The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this inspirational Regency that involves two people from the working classes. The unusual characters and setting really drew me in and I've been working on reading Klassen's backlist ever since. I blogged about this book here back in April.

2. A Borrowed Scot by Karen Ranney. I've made no secret of the fact that I'm a huge fan of Karen Ranney. I love the emotion that always comes through in her writing. This book is the 3rd in a trilogy of rather loosely-related books that are connected by a mirror with mystical powers. Although the mirror plays a very minor role in this book. The book's beginning seemed rather improbable when heroine Veronica MacLeod is caught trying to sneak into a meeting of a secret society. Montgomery Fairfax, the brand new Lord Fairfax comes to her rescue and ends up agreeing to marry her to prevent her from losing her home along with her good name due to the scandal. Despite the odd beginning, this marriage of convenience story really drew me in. Montgomery is an American from a branch of the Fairfax family that had left Scotland several decades earlier. Montgomery lost his entire family to the American Civil War. The estate he inherits in Scotland is not home to him. Veronica herself has no real family to speak of. Together they overcome the inauspicious beginning to their marriage and find a way to build a life and a home together. This book is filled with fascinating historical details that complement these interesting characters and their relationship. Ranney really excels at writing books that focus on the emotional journey her characters take.

1. Dangerous in Diamonds by Madeline Hunter. This much-anticipated conclusion to Hunter's "The Rarest Blooms" series was worth the wait. The enigmatic Duke of Castleford becomes intrigued by Daphne Joyes, the woman behind The Rarest Blooms, a floral business Daphne runs with her friends who appear in the earlier books. Daphne is a woman with some serious secrets and she goes to great lengths to preserve those secrets. The Duke is a man determined to discover all of Daphne's secrets. A bored aristocrat, Castleford lives a life of debauchery which he begins to give up as he gets to know Daphne better. As usual, Hunter gives her characters a lot of depth and the journeys both Castleford and Daphne take are fascinating and emotional. Hunter writes great dialog and it's wonderful to read the witty exchanges, not only between Castleford and Daphne, but between the other characters as well. Hunter's books are almost always a treat.

The Inspiration behind The Inspiration

2011-07-28T21:18:00.000-04:00

Back in May I blogged here about a quilt I was working on that was made up of 1600 2-inch squares. At that time the top was finished, but hadn't been quilted. I finished the quilt, but never got around to posting pictures of it here. And meanwhile, just the other day I learned something very interesting that really enhanced -- for me -- the meaning of this quilt.

To recap: Last summer I saw this graphic that was to be used as the logo for my professional association during the 2010/2011 year:

To put it simply, I fell in love with it and became obsessed with using it as the basis for a quilt. I received permission from AALL to exhibit any quilt I would make (as long as they received credit) and they went so far as to ask me to bring it to Philadelphia last weekend for our annual meeting. Ouch. That meant I had a deadline. I worked like a dog for 6 weeks from Easter through the first week of June to finish it.

Here is the finished quilt. You can see that I tweaked the design a little by making it square and reversing the colors so it would read (left to right) hot to cold.

My quilt was displayed for 3 days in the back of the Hospitality Booth. The picture isn't perfect, so click on it to see the large version. See how nicely it blends in? I was delighted, to put it mildly. My ego was well and truly stroked as I received one compliment after another.

I have to say I got quite a kick out of seeing the graphic behind the logo displayed everywhere in the convention center. The signage, banners, ID badges, and publications were all plastered with the graphic.

AALL's graphic was designed in-house. While I was at the conference, a conversation with an AALL member from Philadelphia revealed that the designer was directly inspired by the mosaics that decorate the Market St. train station downtown. I made a point of catching my train to the airport from this station so I could snap some pictures. I was amazed to discover that many of the colors that appear in these mosaics are very similar to those that appear in the logo and, of course, my quilt. The logo designer did a fabulous job.

You've got to love a city that believes in art in public places. And see how art inspires more art?

TBR Day. Cupboard Kisses / Barbara Metzger. 1989

2011-07-20T09:22:00.003-04:00

This month's TBR theme is "fairy tales." I was pawing through my TBR pile and I couldn't find anything that would match the theme. So I went with this very early Barbara Metzger book (her 4th I believe) that I have wanted to read for some time.

So, according to this entry at Wikipedia, the title of the book refers to kisses that are given in order to receive a reward. It's an apt title as the book is a farce featuring a series of misunderstandings where the heroine is mistaken for a courtesan. Cristabel Swann is a well-bred orphan who has spent the last several years teaching at a school near Bath. She learns that her uncle has died and she goes to London expecting to claim an inheritance that would allow her to live independently. Meanwhile, before his death her uncle had lost everything he owns to Captain Kenley Chase, a naval hero who has recently returned home to step into a Viscountancy (is that the right word?) that he inherited when his older brother died. Captain Chase/Lord Winstoke is living in the uncle's home when Cristabel arrives in London.

When Cristabel meets Captain Chase, his eyes are covered in bandages as he's recovering from having shrapnel removed from his head. So he doesn't see her, he can only hear her. Because of the bandages, she doesn't get a good look at his face. They immediately get into a disagreement about what is owed her, so neither is impressed with the other. Feeling some sort of obligation to her, eventually he offers her a job managing a boardinghouse which was one of the properties her uncle had left behind.

Because this is a farce, naturally it turns out that the boardinghouse is really a bordello, managed by a Major MacDermott and his sidekick, Nick Blass. Together the men conspire to hide the true purpose of the boardinghouse from Cristabel and for a couple of weeks she's oblivious to their deceit. Meanwhile Cristabel meets Lord Winstoke. Neither recognizes the other. As Lord Winstoke he's taken by Cristabel and wants to become her protector. Cristabel, being naive, has dreams of marriage.

Eventually Cristabel catches on and everything is sorted out. As a farce, this is a funny book with a handful of laugh-out-loud moments. As a romance, you can tell that this is one of Metzger's earlier books. Cristabel and Kenley do not spend very much time together (maybe less than 15-20% of the book), so it's not particularly satisfying from that end. But there is some wonderful dialogue that would become Metzger's trademark. You can see flashes here of the kind of writing that would make Metzger a popular author of the short, traditional Regencies.

Quite a few of Metzger's old trads have been digitized. While I enjoyed this one (which does not appear to be available as an ebook, so you'd have to find a paper copy), I highly recommend some of her other trads that have been digitized, such as Lady Sparrow, Lord Heartless, An Affair of Interest, or Father Christmas, to name but a few.

New Purse

2011-07-10T22:43:00.001-04:00

I've been a bad blogger the last few months. I have plenty of excuses. One of them is this purse that I just finished making. Technically, it's not quilted. Fabric is wrapped around stiff weaving strips and sewn in place. It took me about 2 weeks to make it in my spare time. The pattern is called Breezy Weave Bag by Aunties Two of Portland, ME. If you like totes, bags, purses, and baskets, check out their website. They have some very cool stuff.

I'm going to go read a book now. Maybe I'll blog about it some day.

TBR Day. The Millionaire's Misbehaving Mistress / Kimberly Lang. 2009

2011-06-15T09:30:00.001-04:00

This month's TBR Theme is contemporary romance and this HP is one I picked up during the author signing at last year's RT convention. Kimberly Lang's The Millionaire's Misbehaving Mistress is not your ordinary HP and the ridiculous sounding title even made sense after I read the book. Unlike most HPs which take place in Europe, this engaging story takes place in Dallas (how fitting as I was watching the Mavs win the NBA title). The blurb:

As Dallas’s most eligible bachelor and heir to his family’s fortune, billionaire Will Harrison knows how to handle the paparazzi—but his little sister Evie is a worry….
Miss Behavior, etiquette expert Gwen Sawyer, has only three weeks to work her magic on Evie before a society ball, and so moves into Will’s luxurious penthouse. However, she discovers too late that etiquette is the last thing on devilishly handsome Will’s mind….

Will is the head of his family's company and is trying to shepherd the business into new Asian markets. He's permanently attached to his Blackberry and works long hours. His much younger half-sister, Evie, has been orphaned and needs help entering Dallas society. Gwen is more than an etiquette expert. She actually has formal training in international relations and protocol. Her career had been derailed and she finds herself in Dallas helping young debutantes. Gwen also writes a column for a popular teen website under the name "Miss Behavior" (thus the source of the pun in the title). Gwen had been trying to get a foot in the door of Will's company in order to get her career back to working with adults and corporations. When Will hires Gwen to teach Evie everything she needs to know in order to have a successful debut at her first society ball, she accepts the job because 1) she needs the money, and 2) perhaps she could use the contact.

Will has Gwen move into their home so that she can spend as much time as possible with Evie. Gwen's presence in his home fuels a mutual attraction and it doesn't take them long to act on that. At first all is going well. Evie and Gwen hit it off. Will and Gwen grow closer and he realizes that she has the skills he needs to help make his Asian project succeed. But then Will overhears part of a conversation between Gwen and Evie that leads to a big misunderstanding. Will acts like an Alpha jerk. When Gwen is vindicated a grovel ensues and all ends happily.

I'm not fond of the "big mis" especially when a character just leaps to a conclusion without trying to talk it out. But that's a common trope in HPs, so it goes with the territory. And in many respects this isn't your ordinary HP which makes it worth reading for that alone. Besides, I liked the writing and I liked Gwen's character. She was no doormat. In the end, I do recommend it.

While browsing Lang's website I noticed that she has written Evie's story. It hasn't been released in the U.S. yet, so I'm making a note to watch for it later this year.

Phyl's 5 Phaves for March

2011-06-11T16:40:00.003-04:00

Yes, March. I started this blog post in early April. Since then I have been seriously quilting my brains out. I spent April & May making 2 competition quilts for the June NQA show. I've read less than usual and barely blogged. Seriously, I'm exhausted. I've barely cleaned my house in 2 months, I've quit exercising (ack--gained 7 pounds!!), and I've consistently nodded off at night during my normal reading time. But the quilts are now at the show getting ready to be shown June 16-18 and perhaps life can get back to normal. It was worth the effort, though. I think The Quilt of Many Squares will turn out to be one of the best things I've made to date.

So. Back to the topic at hand. For March an honorable mention needs to go to A Light at Winter's End by Julia London. This sequel to The Summer of Two Wishes was a book I had been looking forward to reading. I certainly recommend this book whether you read the first one or not, but I think it's more meaningful to have read TSOTW first. If I had liked the heroine a little more, this book would have been an official Phave.

5. Captive Bride by Bonnie Dee. If you're looking for an unusual historical, this would be the book for you. Hiuann is a young Chinese woman who arrives in San Francisco in 1870 expecting to marry a rich Chinese merchant. Instead it turns out that she's a captive to a powerful man who intends to turn her into a high-priced prostitute. She manages to escape that fate and finds shelter in the home of a shopkeeper, Alan Sommers. Hiuann is far from safe, though, as her captors are scouring San Francisco looking for her. Alan hires Hiuann to be his housekeeper and she finds relative safety for awhile until ultimately there is a confrontation with the man who claims to own her. What I found absolutely fascinating about this book is how Dee developed the relationship between two people who spoke different languages. There's also a strong sense of how different they are culturally. All-in-all, this was a gripping and satisfying read.

4. A Lot Like Love by Julie James. The old adage "opposites attract" is certainly true in this fun romantic suspense. Jordan Rhodes is a wine shop owner and heiress to a sizable fortune. She has ties to the Chicago social scene and the FBI needs to use those ties to get at one Robert Martino and his money laundering activities. Enter FBI agent Nick McCall who prefers beer to wine and is from a working-class family. Jordan and Nick need to pose as a couple as part of the FBI's attempt to trap Martino. Naturally, what starts out as pretend becomes real as Jordan and Nick's attraction deepens. This is a smart romance; it's fun to watch these characters who are so different from one another recognize their feelings for one another. Once I started reading I couldn't put this book down. James is a smart and snappy writer.

3. An Unlikely Countess by Jo Beverley. This Georgian-set historical is loosely-related to Beverley's Malloran world, but it totally stands on its own. This book has not been a favorite with a lot of readers because it seems too light on the romance and too heavy on the social and historical framework. While I can easily see why some readers felt that way, I have to say that I still found this story extremely appealing. I was fascinated by the details of everyday life for the working class and the very real divisions between the classes that many historical romances would prefer to pretend did not exist. When heroine Prudence, desperate and near destitute, is rescued by Catesby, she doesn't realize she's about to become a Countess. While she expected to be restored to the gentry class, she did not expect to enter the aristocracy and she is ill-equipped to do so. Prudence must grow and do so quickly if she's to cope with the things that will be expected of her. I really enjoyed her transformation and growth. There was a natural progression in her relationship with Cate and if this book lacks the sizzle of most romance novels, it fit with the time and the story well enough that I was totally satisfied by the read.

2. Unveiled by Courtney Milan. The only reason Unveiled isn't my number one read for March is that a certain highly-anticipated book (ahem) was also a March read. After only 3 books, and a novella, Milan has become an auto-buy, auto-read author for me. This was a fascinating story of what could happen if everything you grew up knowing about yourself and your place in the world was proven false. That's what happens to heroine Lady Margaret when Ash Turner is able to prove that he is the rightful heir to the dukedom that had been held by her father. As Margaret and Ash go from being enemies to lovers, they find themselves dealing with issues of family (with their respective siblings), choices, honor, loyalty, and more. This is a complex, yet very readable novel. There are several humorous moments as well as some deep issues to explore. I was enthralled by this book and pretty much didn't do anything until I finished it.

1. It Happened One Season. Well, duh! THE book that won me that little contest last year. I enjoyed every word in it and had so much fun seeing what each author did with my plot idea. I've slowly been writing a blog post dedicated to this book; I need to finish re-reading the book first. See that bit above about me quilting my brains out. I probably need to re-read the parts I already re-read. But allow me to say here that I in all honesty I loved the stories in this book. I found them to be as different as they could be considering the similarity of the plot. They showcased the talents of the various authors whose voices are very different from one another. I am impressed that they allowed a reader contest to dictate their stories and I'd love to see similar contests, perhaps involving other authors. It's an entertaining concept. I'm so grateful to have won.

1600 2-inch squares

2011-05-20T08:30:00.002-04:00

Last summer I saw this logo:

All I could see were those pretty colors and the modern, pixelated design. Color gone wild! I wrote to AALL and asked for permission to turn their logo into a quilt. They said Yes!

So I dug into my stash (see photo of said stash in sidebar to right) and started cutting squares. I cut and I cut and I cut.

Then I began sticking them up on my design wall. Only I did them in reverse (red on the left, blue on the right--hot to cold). And when I was happy I started sewing them together in pairs very carefully to keep them in the right order. The pairs would be sewn in to small sections and the small sections into large sections... well, you get the idea. It looked like this:

2-inch squares in a setting of 40 rows by 40 rows. That's 1600 squares. The seam allowances shrink the finished squares down to 1.5 inches. The final quilt will be 60" x 60". Here's the top all finished:

And here's that logo again:

My thanks to the American Association of Law Libraries for letting me use their design!

But I still have all these leftover squares (which means I cut well over 2000 squares). I wonder what I should make with them.

TBR Day. His Wife for One Night / Molly O'Keefe. 2011

2011-05-18T00:10:00.001-04:00

This month's TBR theme is marriage of convenience--which is a pretty common theme in my first love, historicals. And with all those historicals sitting in my TBR pile, you'd think I would have one that matches the theme. But before I could get around to finding out, I noticed this book on my Kindle as I was looking for something else. I had downloaded it just this past February on the strength of this very positive review by our own TBR Challenge coordinator, Super Wendy. So OK, it hasn't exactly been languishing in the TBR pile for very long, but it does meet the theme.

Molly O'Keefe's His Wife for One Night is the story of Mia and Jack and how their marriage of convenience becomes a real marriage in every sense. It's a well-told MOC story in a contemporary setting and, somewhat surprisingly, it really works. Mia and Jack had known one another most of their lives. Jack's father was a rancher and Mia's parents were employed on the ranch. Mia grew up in a loving home and fell in love, not only with Jack, but with ranching. Jack grew up in an abusive home. Mia was his best friend, but all Jack ever wanted to do was leave. Leave he does and he becomes a well-respected scientist who travels the world helping communities find safe sources of water. Mia stays behind, working on the ranch and loving Jack from afar. They stay in touch, though, and when Mia finds herself in danger of being thrown off the ranch by Jack's mother, Jack marries Mia so she can stay. Jack's parents end up divorcing and Mia not only assumes responsibility for the ranch, but she takes care of Jack's ailing father.

For 5 years they only see one another occasionally. Things come to a head when they finally become intimate and Mia realizes that she can't live half a life. She wants a divorce. Jack goes back to work, but is severely injured on the job. He comes back to the ranch to recuperate and find out what is going on with Mia. And Jack begins to discover what Mia has been doing for the ranch and for his father all of these years. He begins to see Mia in a whole new light. He's leery of Mia's love for him; his parents were far from a good example of a successful marriage. The bulk of the book takes place after Jack's injury and involves them working through their feelings and deciding whether they can make their marriage work. Not only does Jack need to change, but Mia needs to change as well--they've lived very different lives and making their marriage work means making accommodations for their differences.

This is a well-rounded novel. Jack's story also involves him coming to terms with his father and his father's neglect while his mother was busy being abusive. Jack's father, Walter, plays a significant part in the story as do Mia's mother and sister, Sandra and Lucy. Jack is challenged by all of them to deal with his past and fight for his future. I really liked both Jack and Mia. Neither were perfect; they seemed like normal people that I would want to know.

Meanwhile, is there a little sequel baiting in this book? Things with Walter could be seen as unresolved. If there is a sequel in the works, is Lucy the heroine? Is Jeremiah the hero? Well, whether the answers to my questions are yes or no, I think I'll be reading more by O'Keefe in the future. I definitely liked this book. Thanks, Wendy!

It's Auction Time Again

2011-05-02T22:21:00.000-04:00

For the third year in a row, I'm pleased to contribute to Brenda Novak's annual online auction to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. This one is personal for me as my son has the disease.

This year, I'm still auctioning off a quilt, but not one I've already made. T-shirt quilts have become popular and are great for keeping memories alive when the t-shirt has become too worn or you've collected more t-shirts than you can wear. So this year the winning bidder gets to send me a collection of their own used (or new!) t-shirts that I'll cut up and put into a custom-made quilt. I promise to finish it within 2 months of receiving the winner's t-shirts.

Are you interested? Click HERE and place a bid!

And I thank you for your support!

TBR Day. The Gunslinger's Bride / Cheryl St. John. 2001.

2011-04-20T08:11:00.004-04:00

Here's the cover of this book as it was originally published:

Here's the cover of this book as I found it at Borders last month when I went to the store closing sale:

Here's the cover of The Preacher's Daughter:

Cracks me up. I only discovered this when I was searching for an image for this post.

So anyway... Back in January my TBR Read was Carolyn Davidson's A Convenient Wife. It was part of the Montana Mavericks series and I really liked it. When I was checking out the Borders closing sale I found this installment in the series by Cheryl St. John. It was originally published in 2001 but obviously reprinted at some point. So while I've only had this book a month, it was the only western in my TBR and I love St. John's books--thus a no-brainer to pick it up to read.

The Gunslinger's Bride is the story of Brock Kincaid and Abby Watson. Brock was the town bad boy who one day in self-defense shot and killed Abby's brother. He was young and immature and despite the killing being self-defense, he runs away. He also unknowingly leaves Abby pregnant. The book opens with Brock's return to the town of Whitehorn. It's 8 years later. Abby had been forced by her father to marry a much older man to cover up her pregnancy, but she's now a widow, raising her son on her own and running the hardware store left to her by her late husband.

Abby is understandably deeply conflicted by Brock's return. On the one hand, she'd been very much in love with Brock. On the other hand, not only had Brock killed her brother, he'd immediately run away and left her feeling hurt, betrayed, and very angry. All these feelings re-surface when she sees Brock again.

While he was gone, Brock lived by his wits and by his guns. Now Brock has grown up and matured. He knew it was time to return home and face the music. Of course he's shocked when he discovers he has a son, but he's also delighted and eager to get to know Jonathan and become a part of Abby's life again. It doesn't surprise him to realize his feelings for Abby are as strong as ever. But he has a lot to overcome. Not only does Abby want as little to do with him as possible, she's engaged to be re-married.

The set-up to this book is great and there's a lot of conflict to deal with. Abby in particular has to work through her feelings and find it in herself to forgive Brock. Brock knows that he wants to be with Abby and Jonathan and he works hard to get back into Abby's life. Therefore I find myself somewhat surprised to realize that in the end the book fell flat for me. I didn't care a whole lot for Brock who seemed pushy and insensitive to how Abby must feel after all she'd been left with when he ran away. And I was unconvinced that Abby could feel drawn to Brock so soon without at least talking through some of the many issues that divided them. And because I couldn't connect with either one of these characters I didn't enjoy the book the way I'd hoped to.

Looking around the web, I see I'm in the minority. The handful of reviews I found (and there aren't many--it's an older book) were very positive. Your mileage may vary.

On a side note, can we have a category called the Eastern? I live east of the Mississippi and I'm feeling a tad marginalized. Plus, I have an Appalachian-set historical in the TBR...

Baby Quilt II

2011-04-08T00:30:00.001-04:00

This has been a very productive year so far for me on the quilt front. I've finished 4 projects that I began before the new year. For the record, those would be the Frieda Anderson small wall quilt, two lap quilts that were donated for cancer patients, and the Blooming 9-Patch.
I've continued to plug away on the Block of the Month (BOM) project, although I am officially behind again (I was briefly all caught up in January!). Now the year is over and I still have several parts to do: I need to make a gazillion "flying geese" rectangles for the border and there is filler to go around the central medallion. I'll have a picture of that soon.
I made one baby quilt in two weeks!
I made another baby quilt that I finished last week. I was hired to make this one by a co-worker for her great-nephew who was born in early February.

Those polka-dots don't photograph very well in the picture above, but the close-ups below might give you a better sense of the colors and design.

I quilted those spiral swirls free-motion on my mid-arm Brother PQ1500. I do not use a frame.

No, I don't sleep much.

The Apothecary's Daughter / Julie Klassen. 2008

2011-04-07T18:21:00.001-04:00

We interrupt the incessant IT HAPPENED ONE SEASON blogging to talk about an unusual Regency that I finished yesterday that is worth mentioning to those of you who, like me, really enjoy that time period. The Apothecary's Daughter was offered as a free Kindle read back in January. I really didn't remember much about the synopsis of this other than the fact that it was Regency-set. From Julie Klassen's website:

As Lilly toils in her father's apothecary, preparing herbs and remedies by rote, she is haunted by memories of her mother's disappearance. Villagers whisper the tale, but her father refuses to discuss it. All the while, she dreams of the world beyond—of travel and adventure and romance.

When a relative offers to host her in London, Lilly discovers the pleasures and pitfalls of fashionable society and suitors, as well as clues about her mother. But will Lilly find what she is searching for—the truth of the past and a love for the future?

Blending romance, family drama, and fascinating historical detail, The Apothecary's Daughter is a novel to savor and share.

TAD is published by Bethany House, a publisher of Christian inspirational fiction. If you don't like Inspys, then this book isn't for you, although I will say that the religious aspects are extremely subtle and don't even appear until the latter half of the book.

As the blurb says, Lilly is a young woman who assists her father in his apothecary shop in a small Wiltshire village. She pines for her mother as well as for a life beyond the village where she was raised. Lilly's mother came from the upper reaches of society and she married beneath herself when she married Lilly's father. One day Lilly's uncle, the brother of her mother, and her uncle's wife come to visit Lilly and her family. The aunt and uncle have had no children of their own and they end up offering to take Lilly to London where she can broaden her horizons and perhaps meet an eligible gentleman to marry. Lilly must take care, though, to avoid mentioning her father's profession as well as the scandal of her mother's disappearance.

After a lengthy stay with her aunt and uncle (about 18 months IIRC), Lilly is called home because her father is ill and his business is falling apart. Lilly returns home to find many distressing changes. She takes the shop in hand and helps to see to her father's recovery. The first half of the book is about Lilly's stay in London; the second half is when she returns home. Throughout the course of the book, there are 4 men who express an interest in Lilly.

This is really a book about Lilly. The romance, what there is of it, is subtle; I really wasn't sure who the hero would turn out to be until I was well over half way through the book. The book covers about a 2-year time span and over that time Lilly grows from a confused, hurting young girl into a strong, confident young woman. I guess this makes it more of a coming-of-age book rather than a conventional romance.

The book is rich (rich! I tell you) in period detail. It was fascinating--especially as it was depicted through the conflict between the medical profession (the doctors) and the apothecaries. The latter dispensed medicine upon the order of doctors, but they were also frequently called upon to treat minor illnesses and injuries. Apparently there was a clear conflict between the two professions at the time which is well-described through this story. In addition, women were forbidden from practicing either profession. Yet Lilly, while lacking formal schooling, has all the knowledge and ability to be an apothecary. She is torn between her desire and ability to help others and the laws which would prevent her from doing so. Ultimately, Lilly and her family must deal with the ramifications of her choices when the local doctor complains to the magistrate.

There are clear divisions between the social classes here and for awhile, Lilly has a foot in two camps. She needs to make a decision about where she will ultimately stand. The author seems to have done a great deal of research, not only about apothecaries and herbal remedies, but about class expectations.

Because this is Lilly's book, the story is told almost exclusively from Lilly's point of view. I noticed only a couple of shifts in POV when we briefly get into the heads of two of the men who have a romantic interest in Lilly. It seemed almost strange to make that shift after so long in Lilly's head. I'm a reader who likes some degree of head-hopping, so I would have preferred more from the other POVs. Nonetheless, I was thoroughly entertained by this unusual tale and Klassen's engaging characters. I'm eager to read more by her. BTW, her book after this one, The Silent Governess, was a 2010 RITA finalist in the Inspirational Romance category.

An Interview with ME

2011-04-01T09:49:00.000-04:00

I answered a few questions for the Avon Romance blog and they appeared here today!

It's Here

2011-03-29T07:50:00.001-04:00

Fifteen months ago I was browsing various author and reader websites when I ran across a notice of a little contest that would be held during the month of February 2010. Avon was asking readers who enjoyed the anthology "It Happened One Night" to supply possible plot points for a repeat performance, this time titled "It Happened One Season." I read the contest rules, did a little pondering, and came up with this:

PLOT LINE 1:
The younger brother of a titled lord, the hero had a career in the army but has lived as a recluse since returning from the war with France.

PLOT LINE 2:
Heroine is shy or unattractive and after many seasons has never had a suitor.

PLOT LINE 3:
Hero's brother has only daughters and asks his brother to marry in order to try to ensure that succession stays within their family.

I was inspired, I think, by all of the things I'd learned over the years about British laws of succession and their social, economic, and familial importance. At any rate, I submitted my little entry and moved on. In all honesty, I NEVER expected my entry to garner any attention. But February rolled around, the finalists were announced, and there I was. Finalist #2.

I told my family. I told some friends. I told the half dozen of you who read this blog. They voted for my plot. You voted for my plot. And several hundred total strangers voted for my plot. And suddenly it became "my" book.

Wow. A book inspired by my idea.

And today, one year and two weeks after the voting ended, it's here. In stores. On my Kindle. There's even a copy out there that has been signed by Stephanie, Mary, and Candice. I've been told it's on its way to Jacquie who will sign it and send it on to me. With luck, I'll have it by next week.

Want to read more? There's a review up at AAR, here.

Super Wendy tweeted today about an article in RT, here. It's interesting reading about the making of IHOS with comments by all four authors about what they thought of my winning idea and how they handled it.

Avon asked me if I'd consent to a short interview, which of course I did. I have a short set of questions to answer and that should appear on the Avon Romance blog in the coming days.

On top of all this goodness, as the winner I received a $1000 Amex gift card. I spent months deciding how to spend it. And in a few days I'll let you know what I did.

Meanwhile, to all of you who got excited along with me, THANK YOU! What fun this has been, especially being able to share it with my online friends and fellow romance lovers. You know, it just wouldn't have been as interesting without you. If you read it, I sincerely hope it lives up to your expectations. And if it doesn't --well, thanks for trying.

Blooming 9-Patch

2011-03-25T20:28:00.000-04:00

This is a smaller version of the Blooming 9-Patch pattern made popular by the book Tradition with a Twist by Blanche Young and Dalene Young-Stone which was first published in 1996. I don't remember precisely when I first saw a quilt made out of this pattern, but it probably wasn't long after 1996. All I know is that I wanted to make one for years. My mother-in-law gifted me with the fabric for this quilt for my birthday about a year before she passed away. Although I had finished the top before she died, because she lived 2500 miles away she never got to see the finished top. The fabric was purchased at Quilting in the Country in Bozeman, MT when we were vacationing together in Yellowstone. We had a great day together and it has become a special memory; this quilt will always be in honor of her.

So here's a former UFO that I finished two nights ago after only 5.5 years. Sometimes I make a quilt in less than two weeks. Sometimes it takes a few years.

Miss you, Oma.

One Week to Go!

2011-03-22T08:33:00.001-04:00

"My" book is released a week from today. Are you ready? I'm so anxious to read it I can hardly stand it. I'm supposed to get a copy signed by all 4 authors. With one living in Australia, another in Canada, and the other two in different parts of the U.S., well, it could take awhile. I've pre-ordered a copy for my Kindle. Meanwhile, I've had to content myself with some excerpts.

Mary's is here.

Candice has one here.

No other excerpts that I could find. I'll just have to wait and contain my jealousy over the fact that Wendy's library got a copy and she's seen it.

Baby Quilt

2011-03-17T12:45:00.002-04:00

This is from the Maple Island BQ2 pattern, and measures around 52" x 65". Not exactly a "baby" quilt, but it is for a young couple about to have their first child, most likely a girl. The new baby's grandmother is one of my best friends and I remember when S. was 7 years old. In fact I babysat for S. and her brothers more than once. So it was pretty exciting to make this for her.

This pattern is also darn easy. I finished it in less than 2 weeks; in fact I put the final stitch in the binding about an hour and a half before the baby shower started. I'd say there's a total of only 15-16 hours in it. I showed off some of the machine quilting here. I can show it off again, though!

This is the second time I've made this pattern for a baby. Here's a smaller version, about 36" x 45" and the blocks are laid out in a different pattern. I made the one below about 2 years ago.

TBR Day. Spring Break / Kayla Perrin. 2010.

2011-03-16T09:43:00.002-04:00

This is a book I bought last spring at the RT booksigning. Pretty cover, no? Anyhow, I've been meaning to read it for ages now and this was the perfect book for this month's theme of "New To Me" author. Kayla Perrin has written several dozen books in a wide variety of genres-- category romance, mainstream fiction, mass market romance, children's fiction, and romantic suspense. I had a very nice chat with Ms. Perrin at the booksigning. Currently she has some recent releases in Harlequin's Kimani line as well as some other RS titles published in trade-sized like this one.

Spring Break is a romantic suspense novel told in the first person by Chantelle, the heroine, who is one of three college friends traveling together to a Caribbean island for (you guessed it!) Spring Break and meet up with Trouble. Chantelle, Erica, and Ashley are close friends and all three are aspiring authors. They've signed up for a week-long package deal on the fictional island of Artula. The package includes all of the sun, surf, sex, food, and alcohol they can soak up. When Ashley disappears, Chantelle tries not to worry because hook-ups are the name of the game. Finally, though, Chantelle realizes something is wrong and her quest to find Ashley leads her to Jason, another American who happens to be on the island to investigate the disappearances of other women. Ashley, who is the white blond on the cover, could very well have been the victim of human trafficking. Jason shows Chantelle his files about women who look like Ashley and have been missing. As Jason, Chantelle, and Erica attempt to re-trace Ashley's steps they begin to fear the worst as they run into corrupt police and murder.

There's a lot going on in this book and while Perrin weaves all of the themes together very well, it began to be too much. There's the friendship between the 3 women that underlies everything. There are also personal issues that each of them is dealing with as they go to Artula to try and escape their problems. There are troubling family dynamics (some of which show up when Ashley's parents arrive in Artula). There is, of course, the mystery of Ashley's disappearance. In the course of searching for Ashley, Chantelle learns things about her friend that she never suspected. And finally there is Chantelle's budding relationship with Jason. With so much going on this is a page-turner that kept me reading. But it also meant that certain aspects lacked depth. Since I primarily read for the romance, the fact that the romantic relationship in the book had to compete with all of the other stuff going on made the book less satisfying on an emotional level.

I have to say that I read this feeling every one of my 53 years. The hedonism surrounding spring breaks is certainly something that makes the news when a tragedy occurs, but at the risk of sounding like an old prude, some of the behaviors of college students on break made me cringe. Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! See? I'm 53. Anyhow, it was still fascinating. In the long run this was a fast, enjoyable read that simply lacked the emotional pay-off I would have preferred. I certainly liked it well enough that I'll try some of Perrin's straight romances soon.

Quilts for Cancer Patients

2011-03-11T00:15:00.001-05:00

There's a large university hospital in my town with a well-regarded cancer treatment center. There are all kinds of groups that provide services to patients and their families to help ease their way through the painful realities that come with a diagnosis of cancer. One of those groups provides quilts to cancer patients. This group started out in 2005 by making and giving quilts to breast cancer patients. Last year they expanded the program and now children receiving chemotherapy and thoracic cancer patients each get a quilt. My guild got involved and this spring will donate at least 50 quilts to the program.

Last fall a whole bunch of us received fabric remnants from the kind folks at Connecting Threads. So here's a look at the quilts my QBFFs & I made. First up is QBFF A's. Simple, yet so striking. I love this.

Next up is QBFF T's. She used a scrappy pattern to create hidden pinwheels. This is fun to look at to see the patterns emerge.

This one is mine:

All three of these used the same fabrics. Look how different they are!

And here are some of the other quilts turned in by fellow guild members. Again, all of us using the same fabrics.

Here's a picture of a totally different quilt. Someone else made the top and I quilted it. There are lots of folks who prefer to make just the tops. I volunteered to quilt it because it's great practice. I can fool around with all-over designs and refine my technique.

BONUS!!
Here's that quilt I made again. Can you find the mistake? Actually, I made the same mistake twice. And I never noticed until the quilt was finished.

Here's a hint. One turquoise block and one orange block.

Phyl's 5 Phaves from February

2011-03-09T00:15:00.001-05:00

Short month. Short reading list. Plus I've been very productive on the quilting side. I need to get pictures up.

5. Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey. This book received a lot of positive buzz when it came out last year and it was one of my first Kindle purchases. I finally got around to reading it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Keri and Joe had been high school sweethearts and everyone, including both of them, expected them to marry and wind up together. Except upon graduation, Keri abruptly decided to go to California for college, leaving Joe behind and breaking his heart. Nearly two decades later Joe is a wildly successful but reclusive author of horror novels and Keri has an excellent job as a reporter for a well-known Hollywood gossip magazine. When Keri's boss finds out that Keri used to date Joe, Keri is sent home to get an interview with Joe. Joe agrees to the interview as long as it's on his terms-- which are that Keri has to accompany him and his family (parents, siblings, and their children) on their annual camping vacation. The setup for Keri and Joe's reunion is really very humorous. And as light-hearted as these parts are, there's also as much depth. Keri needs to be able to tell Joe why she left all those years ago and they both have to come to terms with how that decision made them who they are today. Their week-long vacation together allows them to open up to one another and they rediscover the love they once had for one another. I liked the pacing and how we learn why Keri made the choices she did.

4. Wild Man Creek by Robyn Carr. I've said before that I'm totally in love with Carr's Virgin River series of books about the almost Utopian community she writes about. The book that came just before this one, Promise Canyon, was a bit of a disappointment. It seemed that Carr spent too much time bringing in all of the Virgin River "extras" and that took away from the central characters of that book. So I was a little nervous going in. Not that I was ready to jump off the bandwagon yet of course. Fortunately this book did a much better job of focusing on Jillian and Colin and when the other VR characters appear it felt more normal. Jillian has been forced to take a leave of absence from her job and she has come to VR to lick her wounds and wait out the storm. Colin is also recuperating-- in his case from serious physical wounds he received in a helicopter crash. Colin is a character who seems to be floundering while he figures out what he's going to do with the rest of his life. Jillian is much quicker to figure out what's next and I liked her enthusiastic, take charge character. Carr gives us lots of Jillian in this book and I think that's why I enjoyed it so much.

3. Land of Dreams by Cheryl St. John. This was reviewed by Wendy for her February TBR Challenge. (Wendy, the RWA Librarian of the Year, I might add.) I had to stop for fuel on the way home from work that day and my stop was literally two blocks from the UBS. So I added a stop and, sure enough, scored a copy. I ended up reading it within a few days of bringing it home and it really lived up to my expectations after reading Wendy's review. This 1995 historical is chock full of goodness. When I was done I immediately passed it along to the QBFFs to read. You can check out Wendy's review if you didn't see it earlier. She's right. This one should be digitized.

2. What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long. I have not read one of Long's books in years. I had not planned on reading this either because while I was entertained by what I read I found that the "wallpaper" aspects bothered me. But I kept seeing one rave review after another, so giving in to curiosity I picked this one up at the library. I was especially skeptical because this contains a revenge plot-- as I mentioned here, I'm not fond of revenge plots. Fortunately, the revenge aspect is turned on its side in an interesting way and the book really focuses on the developing relationship between Alex and Genevieve. This turned into an absorbing, entertaining, fun, and emotional read for me. It was much more than I expected. I fully understand why so many bloggers are raving about this book. There were a few spots where the language seemed anachronistic and I was disappointed that the resolution between Alex and Genevieve comes at the very, very end of the book. Nonetheless, I have to admit I really am glad I chose to read it.

1. When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James. James's latest book is, as the title suggests, a take on the classic "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale. In addition, the hero, Piers, is modeled on the character Gregory House from the TV show House, MD (there's an author's note at the end of the book regarding this as well as something on her website). Piers walks with a painful limp due to a childhood injury. The chronic pain makes him cranky. Despite being in line to inherit a dukedom, Piers is estranged from his father and has led an independent life studying medicine. His father despairs of him marrying and carrying on the title, so he arranges for Linnet--a young woman who has scandalized society and needs a husband fast--to marry Piers. The Duke takes Linnet to meet Piers in his remote home that he has turned into a small hospital of sorts. (Piers even has doctors-in-training who follow him around trying to diagnose various illnesses.) Even though Piers is determined to never marry, he finds himself falling for Linnet. This is a bit of a dilemma for him because of his estrangement from his father. In turn it leads to an interesting subplot involving Piers's parents. WBTTB was fun and engaging. I loved how James married the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale with the modern TV show. Sure, this probably totally meets the definition of "wallpaper historical" but good writing, clever characters, witty dialog, and an engrossing plot trump wallpaper any day. I loved it.

Fun with Needle and Thread

2011-03-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

My current WIP.

TBR Day. Breathless / Anne Stuart. 2010

2011-02-16T00:10:00.001-05:00

My TBR choice for this month has been sitting on my Kindle since it was released last October. Now I know that's not very long, but I only got my Kindle in September, so relatively speaking, it's been around. In addition, it turns out that this book fits the challenge theme of Ugly Ducklings pretty well because there are two couples featured in this book. Lucien, the main hero is badly scarred and walks with a limp. Meanwhile, Jane, the secondary heroine, is described as very plain and not at all attractive.

Breathless is the 3rd full-length installment of Anne Stuart's latest historical series called the House of Rohan. I read Ruthless and Reckless back when they came out in August and September respectively. Ruthless was an August Phave. I liked Reckless as well, but when I saw the plot for Breathless, I admit I put this on the back burner. Revenge plots usually don't work too well for me. Sadly, that was true for this book as well, although it did have some moments that were very entertaining.

Miranda Rohan is a ruined woman and lives in peace and quiet on the fringes of society. She is close to her family and her particular friend Jane, but is otherwise a bit lonely. Enter Lucien de Malheur, a man who seeks to avenge the death of his sister, a young woman who supposedly was driven to commit suicide by Miranda's older brother. At first Lucien plans to simply make Miranda a total outcast, but after he meets her he is attracted enough to change his plans. Instead, he'll force her into marriage and then cut her off from her family by leaving her abandoned on his remote country estate. The Rohans will lose their daughter/sister the just like he lost his sister. Although with any luck, he'll get some sex and a son/heir out of the deal.

In a nutshell, Lucien is a selfish, manipulative man and there is little in the book that made me at all sympathetic toward him. He is hell-bent on his revenge, yet in the end it seems that he admits awfully easily that his sister may be as much to blame for her own death as anyone else. We aren't told much about Lucien's background or the cause of his scars until late in the book. By then the only reason I was still reading is because I did like Miranda and I loved so much of the dialog between the two of them. Miranda is a practical woman who works hard to make the best out of her situation. She's biding her time until she can safely escape. In the meanwhile, she stands up to Lucien at every opportunity. I have to give Stuart credit here--Miranda is a great heroine and I loved her. It was just too hard to believe in Miranda and Lucien's future happiness together.

As I said, there's a secondary couple in the book. Miranda's friend Jane tries to help Miranda out of her predicament and she has an unlikely ally. Theirs is a sort of love at first sight relationship, which makes sense because Stuart couldn't devote a lot of attention to them. Jane is shy and timid, but she learns to act with courage because that is what Miranda would do if their roles were reversed. Jane's story was sweet.

I would say that if you're an Anne Stuart fan you'd want to read this book. If you're like me and are not fond of revenge stories you might want to give this one a pass.

Quilted Hearts

2011-02-14T04:00:00.003-05:00

The hearts above are part of a small sampler I made when I taught a small beginning quilting class about 15 years ago. The hearts are hand appliqued and there's hand quilting around them.

The hearts below were hand appliqued and quilted back in the late 90s. I don't do much hand work any more. I kind of miss it.

I bet you thought this post was about Valentine's Day. HA! My heart is full of happy because today, Feb. 14, PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT

It's the best darn day of the Winter.

Let's go PHILLIES!!!!

Phyl's 5 Phaves from January

2011-02-01T15:58:00.000-05:00

I somehow managed to get quite a bit of reading done last month and I included some books in a variety of sub-genres. Yet it should come as no surprise that all my favorites were historicals. I guess I have been, and always will be, a lover of historicals above all else. You've been warned.

5. A Convenient Wife by Carolyn Davidson. This 2001 western historical was my January TBR read. I was enchanted by this story of a naive young woman who comes into her own when she becomes the wife of the local town doctor.

4. A Bride in the Bargain by Deeanne Gist. I read a review of this on Hilcia's blog back in December. I was intrigued, in part because I liked the last Gist book I'd read, but in part because of the plot that was about bringing brides to Seattle in the 1860s. See, as a pre-teen I enjoyed a brief, but intense crush on those strapping young loggers in Seattle thanks to a short-lived TV series, Here Come the Brides. (Those of you of a certain age might remember the show that catapulted David Soul & Bobby Sherman to stardom as well as let us see Mark Lenard without his Vulcan ears.) Anyhow, Anna Ivey, destitute after her family has been destroyed by the Civil War, agrees to become a Mercer girl and go to Seattle. She expects to be hired on as a cook. Instead, Joe Denton, the man who'd contracted for her, expects her to agree to be his wife. Joe tries to woo her so that she'll agree to the marriage. The unusual setting, an interesting piece of history, and very likable characters made this a very enjoyable read.

3. One Wicked Sin by Nicola Cornick. I blogged about this one here last week. This Regency historical went against many of the normal tropes of most Regencies. A French army officer and a disgraced, divorced courtesan come together in what turns out to be a lovely story of learning to trust and to love. Well done with lots of fascinating history you don't normally see in a Regency.

2. Rebel by Zoe Archer. This is book 3 in Archer's Blades of the Rose series and probably my favorite so far. I loved the setting in the Canadian wilderness with Nathan, a Native hero who discovers the magic he was born with, and Astrid, frozen in her grief who comes back to life as she and Nathan work together to defeat the Heirs. This is an imaginative series with well-drawn characters, interesting settings, and page-turning adventure.

1. The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne. I first read this 3 years ago and decided to read it again. This time I knew the plot twist involving Annique was coming, yet the book was just as enjoyable as before. I love the way Bourne writes. The dialog is witty and the conflict that Annique faces is realistic. Robert is a great hero who is single-minded in his pursuit of Annique, yet he gives her the freedom to make her own choices. This is an intelligent, emotional book that no doubt will be read by me many more times to come.

One Wicked Sin / Nicola Cornick. 2010

2011-01-25T00:10:00.002-05:00

If you're in the mood for a Regency historical that is outside the norm, here are some of the reasons why you should go pick up this book:

The hero, Ethan, is an officer in the French Army. He's not spying or pretending. He really believes in the French Revolution (so did Americans if you'll recall). He's the illegitimate son of an English Duke. The Duke is none too happy about his son's chosen profession. And when Ethan turns up as a prisoner of war, the Duke has something he can use to keep Ethan in line.
The heroine, Lottie, is divorced. Her husband cast her off when she had one too many scandalous affairs. At the end of her rope, she decides to go to work in a brothel because she had always liked sex and thought she could be good at being a courtesan. Only it's not quite as easy as she had imagined.
If you like the history part of your historicals, there's lots of interesting stuff here about how prisoners of war were treated. It highlights how class played a huge role. Gentlemen had a degree of freedom (parole) within a prescribed area. They could have a mistress. Everyone else was confined in the worst imaginable conditions.
Sex (and lots of it) comes first, and then the relationship deepens.
Ethan and Lottie do not trust one another and they're honest about it.
Parts of the story are quite humorous. Other parts are quite emotional.

This book is the second in Cornick's Scandalous Women of the Ton series. Lottie was introduced in the first book and she wasn't exactly the most likable character in that book. Lottie keeps looking for love in all the wrong places and when OWS opens, Lottie is divorced, broke, without a friend to turn to, and forced to sell herself in a brothel. Because of her reputation, many of the men are eager to purchase her services. Enter Ethan, who needs a scandalous woman to serve as his mistress in order to cover up his clandestine activities as a French prisoner of war.

It is no secret that Ethan and Lottie are using one another. Ethan needs her to distract the authorities who are trying to watch his every move. Lottie needs a way out of the brothel. They also use one another for sex and begin to connect emotionally as well. I was impressed with Cornick's ability to take a character I hadn't liked much in the previous book and make me change my mind. Lottie is bold and able to stand up for herself. She marches into the little town where Ethan is a prisoner and plays her role to the hilt. Ethan can't help but admire and appreciate her. As the book progresses, Lottie has to make some difficult choices. She is not a fool and she knows that in the long run she has to be careful to take care of herself. Meanwhile, Ethan clearly has his own agenda, although he's not sharing it with Lottie. It takes a lot for them to become emotionally vulnerable to one another and because it comes slowly, it is very believable.

I really liked this unusual and compelling story. I love especially how it broke all of the normal "rules" for a Regency romance. And it stood quite nicely all on it's own. Alex and Joanna from the previous book (Whisper of Scandal) make a brief appearance toward the end, but you don't need to have read that book first.

TBR Day -- A Convenient Wife / Carolyn Davidson. 2001

2011-01-19T00:30:00.001-05:00

I sort of quit doing any TBR posts midway through 2010 and I waited until yesterday to decide whether to join in this year. But I really need to work my way through that pile of books sitting in the closet. TBR Day is a good way to jump start that. My thanks to Super Librarian Wendy who is hosting the challenge this year!

The very kind Janet W. sent me a small pile of books a while back and this category Western historical was among them. I think it's the only category in my TBR pile that is NOT a Regency. Make of that what you will, LOL.

Carolyn Davidson's A Convenient Wife was first published in 2001 as part of a series called "Montana Mavericks." As near as I can tell, there are just over 50 books in the series and they were republished in 2009 for Harlequin's 60th anniversary. Mine has this cover (complete with baby bump):

And according to Amazon it is being released in print again Feb. 1.

Ellie Mitchum is a naive and sheltered young woman who is stuck on her father's ranch cooking and cleaning for him. He's a pretty nasty character and when Ellie finds herself pregnant he kicks her out. The baby's father, wanting nothing to do with Ellie and her baby, had left town and Ellie has few options. She winds up becoming the housekeeper for Winston "Win" Gray, the town doctor. When it's clear her reputation is further compromised by her living and working in his home, Win decides to marry Ellie.

Ellie is a talented, kind-hearted young woman with little to no self-esteem. She blossoms when given the opportunity to take care of Win and his home. It's not long before they've fallen in love, but the road to lasting peace is bumpy. There are separate crises involving Ellie's father, and later, Win's mother. There's a fair bit of action in this book with the various subplots.

All-in-all I found this to be an engaging story with characters I really liked. Despite Ellie's initial lack of self-esteem, when push comes to shove Ellie stands up for herself, even when Win would rather she didn't as he sees it as his role to protect her. I liked how Ellie's character was written.

Some of it was a little over-sweet and near the end when Ellie's father has a change of heart it didn't come across as very believable. Fortunately, that's a minor part of the story. Truly, I was fully engrossed and found it a very enjoyable read. I recommend it if you're in the mood for a Western historical.

The Montana Mavericks series was penned by an impressive list of authors including Cheryl St. John, Christine Rimmer, Susan Mallery, and Lisa Jackson, to name but a few. In reading this one I could tell that at least two couples mentioned in the book were probably in books of their own. I enjoyed this book enough that I will probably try to read some of the other books in the series. The Kindle store shows 3 book bundles for titles 1-12 and a handful of others are available as single titles. I also see that some are historicals and the rest are contemporaries. I may have to go shopping later...

Frieda Anderson Workshop project finished

2011-01-14T16:58:00.000-05:00

Here's a look at my latest finished project. This is from a class with Frieda Anderson, a gifted teacher and quilt artist who creates beautiful little quilts and does amazing things with color. I learned a new way to fuse fabric and I loved the design. I ended up doing a ton of machine quilting to make the flowers come alive, so I got lots of practice working on that. I love the texture created by the machine quilting. I find myself touching it all the time. If you like this, you really should visit Frieda's site and see the wonderful quilts she has created (click on the gallery link).

Here are some close-ups of the machine quilting:

Phyl's 5 Phaves from December

2011-01-09T21:42:00.007-05:00

Two of my favorites last month were re-reads. In some respects it was a flat month for reading with the busy-ness of Christmas, traveling, etc., etc. I read a non-fiction book that had me in stitches and I just loved. I'm a fan of ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning and Mike Greenberg wrote a book a few years ago called Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot : the Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad. He writes about becoming a father and it was a fun read. That book actually came out 3 or 4 years ago.

5. Sold to a Laird by Karen Ranney. This was a "phave" back in November of '09. Here's what a wrote then (and it was still how I felt when I read it again): If you've read this blog for any length of time, it's no secret I'm a big Karen Ranney fangirl. I love her work. It's emotional and there's usually a plot twist I never see coming. This book is no different. Lady Sarah is the daughter of an autocratic, ruthless duke. The duke insists that Sarah marry a wealthy inventor, Douglas Eston, and Sarah is left with no choice but to obey. Douglas goes along with it because he falls in love with her the moment he sees her. (I love these kinds of stories.) Soon after they are married, tragedy strikes and as Douglas cares for Sarah through the tragedy she, in turn, grows to love him. With Douglas' help, Sarah learns more about herself and her family, and finds an inner strength that she didn't know she had, although Douglas sees it from the first. The third book in this trilogy is due at the end of March.

4. The Year of Living Scandalously by Julia London. You know, this is a book that quite possibly shouldn't have worked. But it did, and I think it's a tribute to the strength of the writing that it did. Keira Hannigan is an extremely impulsive young woman who agrees to help her cousin Lily by traveling to England to visit the estate Lily has inherited. Lily had lived there a long time ago and Keira bears enough resemblance to Lily that when Keira arrives she is mistaken for Lily. Rather than correct everyone, she allows them to believe that she is Lily. But soon she is forced to make one decision after another as "Lily" and she realizes that she has built a house of cards that could come tumbling down any moment. What saves this book is that Keira knows she's made a huge mistake and when an old friend of hers, Declan O'Connor, shows up, Keira isn't shy about asking for help. There's a mystery that's entwined in the story. Since this is the first in a series, the mystery isn't solved at the end of the book. Unfortunately there's a pretty huge gap until the next book is released. I recommend it, but I wish I'd waited awhile to read it. I prefer to read connected books close together. My brain leaks.

3. Emily and the Dark Angel by Jo Beverley. This is one of Beverley's earliest books, first published I think in 1991. It won a RITA and 20 years later I have to say that it really holds up well. This was a re-read for me. I first read it some 5-6 years ago and stumbled upon the re-issue in the library, so I checked it out and devoured it pretty quickly. It's a short, easy read. Emily is a spinster in the hunting-mad town of Melton Mowbray, trying to keep her home intact while she waits for her brother to return from the war against Napoleon. Her father is paralyzed, her aunt is eccentric, and so it is left to Emily to manage the estate. Piers Verderan arrives for the annual hunt, accidentally runs into Emily, and is quickly smitten, even though Emily isn't a particular beauty and seems far too practical. He pursues her relentlessly and it's a sweet courtship indeed. I highly recommend it.

2. Unforgivable by Laura Griffin. I have now read 5 books by this author and only once has she not landed on my "phaves" list. I think it was a near miss that time. Unforgivable is the latest in her Tracers Series, romantic suspense novels that blend police procedure and sophisticated forensics with just enough romance to make them all satisfying reads. This book tells the story of Mia Voss, a DNA specialist who becomes a target as she works with detectives to solve a particular string of violent murders involving call girls. One of the detectives she is working with is Ric Santos. She's worked with him in the past and thought for awhile that there might be something between them. But Ric had backed off and she'd seen little of him until one night she is car-jacked and she barely escapes with her life. I found this to be a riveting read and a nice change of pace from some of the reading I'd done earlier in the month.

1. Marry Me by Jo Goodman. This is, of course, the highly anticipated sequel to Never Love a Lawman. We're back in Reidsville, Colorado, where Dr. Cole Monroe has just moved to town with his younger sister. Shortly after settling in, Cole starts calling on some of the locals who live outside of town. On one of those calls he stumbles upon a severely ill young woman. Cole eventually takes her back to town where he can oversee her recovery and along the way the two fall in love. This is an extremely simplistic synopsis, but I loved how the story unfolded. To say more would give away some spoilers that help make the story so unusual. While Rhyne recovers fairly quickly from her physical injuries, it turns out she has a lot of emotional garbage to overcome as well. Her recovery from the latter is helped by her relationship with Cole who is a very patient hero. Once again I was enchanted by Goodman's writing, her humor, and her ability to create a memorable story.

It's starting to look like a quilt top

2011-01-07T23:27:00.000-05:00

My block of the month project is now 3/4 finished. I've made 8 blocks, 2 rows of sashing, 8 sets of block connectors, and the first part of the center medallion. Tonight I sewed some of the blocks and connectors together. Then I put it all up on my design wall:

I believe that tomorrow I'll receive the fabric and instructions to finish the center medallion and I will be able to sew the whole center unit together. From there the 4 corners and the rest of the border. Still lots of space to fill in to make it look like this:

Actually, mine will look slightly different. The shop owner who is running this program made a few fabric substitutions to create more contrast. As a result, I arranged my blocks a little differently to improve the symmetry.

But dang! I am totally caught up. Yea me.

Oh Christmas Trees!

2010-12-21T14:29:00.000-05:00

Not too long ago I saw a demo at a local quilt shop about how to make these cute little Christmas tree ornaments. The pattern, from The Quilt Company in Pittsburgh cost a ridiculous $2.50. I bought the pattern, pulled some scraps, and got to work. Now I can't seem to stop making them!

I have quite a few. More than I need. Want one? I'll mail one to 3 randomly selected commenters. Leave a comment by Midnight EST (0500 GMT) and I'll do the drawing then. I'll try to get them in the mail to winners on Wednesday--if you live in the U.S. you might get it by Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas!

Phyl's 5 Phaves from November

2010-12-16T13:44:00.001-05:00

Looking back at Novermber I have to say that once again my total of books seems on the low side, but I did get to read some really good stuff last month. It was hard to settle on just 5 to highlight, so I want to give an honorable mention to 2 books. The first is Vince Flynn's American Assassin. Since I prefer to blog about romance books, I don't always mention the non-romance I sometimes read. This straight suspense book featuring a young Mitch Rapp was reminiscent of Flynn's earlier books and the first one of Flynn's I really, really liked since he killed off Anna. The 2nd honorable mention goes to Suzanne Enoch's Rules of an Engagement. This is probably damning with faint praise, but I came close to giving up on this one part way in. I was browsing ahead trying to decide whether to continue or not. I noticed that the hero decides to woo the heroine and he has to persuade her that they belong together. So I went back to continue reading. Sure enough from there the book became much more enjoyable. It's a "light" historical that really lacks the meat of my favorites for the month, but the dialog was enjoyable--great give and take between the h/h. I was glad I stuck with it and I'd recommend it for the humor and the way the hero romances the heroine.

Cliff Lee's a Phillie again! Cliff Lee's a Phillie again!

Opps, sorry, couldn't contain myself there. Ahem....

5. Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts. I talked a little about this book when I wrote a post about the whole quartet here. HEA was another great installment in the series where we got to look at the wedding business through Parker's eyes. Once I started this I didn't want to put it down. I felt that way about all of the books in this series. I did think the romance part got short-changed which I found disappointing. But still, all-in-all, it was a very entertaining read. I really prefer these contemporary romances by Roberts over her paranormals.

4. Scoundrel by Zoe Archer. This is book 2 in the Blades of the Rose series and was another great story of adventure and magic. Heroine London Harcourt has been raised to be a perfect lady, i.e. a doormat subservient to the men in her life. But she longs for adventure and the chance to put to good use all of the things she has studied over the years. Bennett Day is the charming scoundrel--a ladies' man, adventurer, and defender of the world against those who would selfishly use magic for their own personal gain. In this case, the enemy Bennett is fighting is no less than London's powerful father. As London's eyes are opened to the magic she gets to put her linguistic skills to good use, but she is also confronted with the truth about her father. London and Bennett have a fun, sexy relationship and it's great to see London come into her own and Bennett realize that London is just the woman for him.

3. Sinful in Satin by Madeline Hunter. I really enjoyed the way Hunter's latest gave us a look at people who live on the fringes of polite society and the difference between being a female in that situation and being a male in that situation. Celia Pennifold is the daughter of a famous London courtesan. As such, people assume "like mother, like daughter" no matter how much Celia tries to build a quiet, respectable life for herself. Jonathan Albrighton is the illegitimate son of a deceased earl and he works quietly for the government. When Celia inherits her mother's properties, she finds Jonathan living as a tenant in a small house that Celia hopes to make her home. Jonathan is staying there trying to find some incriminating papers he believes Celia's mother may have left behind. The two meet and as they each work at uncovering various mysteries about their respective pasts, a very tender romance blooms between them. Hunter does a wonderful job of weaving the attitudes of the times around characters who just want some questions answered so they can try to live "normal" lives. This is just another lovely, lovely book by Hunter.

2. Never Love a Lawman by Jo Goodman. This was a re-read in anticipation of the Dec. 1 release of Marry Me. I wanted to re-acquaint myself with the citizens of Reidsville and I loved it again every bit as much as I did in September 2009. Seriously, if you haven't read this yet you should. Oh, and Marry Me is even better. But that's all I'm saying for now.

1. Trial by Desire by Courtney Milan. This book received a ton of positive buzz when it was released back in September. After reading it, I have to say that all that buzz is well-deserved. I read a library copy and liked it so much that I bought it for my Kindle and I expect I'll re-read it soon. Ned and Kate are a married couple who have been separated for 3 years because Ned took off for China shortly after their marriage. Before he left, Ned was a weak individual with little purpose in life; he comes home a changed man determined to make his marriage work. Meanwhile, Kate has been making a life for herself and it's a rather dangerous one as she helps women escape abusive husbands. She was also deeply hurt by Ned's desertion and she is reluctant to let him back into her life, especially when she needs to safeguard the secrets of the women she is protecting. The book deals with some heavy issues such as depression and spousal abuse. This is wonderful story of two people learning to trust each other and who give one another the freedom to be themselves. I simply cannot recommend this book enough. Milan's next book is due at the end of January I'm really looking forward to it.

Cliff Lee's a Phillie again! Cliff Lee's a Phillie again! Oh, right. I said that already. But hey, it probably bears repeating.

Wishing for summer

2010-12-05T21:47:00.000-05:00

I needed a quick gift and I had this little pattern called "Hurray for the USA!" by Country Lore Designs. I'm not sure when or where I bought it as it isn't usually my style, but it turned out to be good to have on hand. Plus, it was nice to think of summer while I worked on it. We've had an early cold snap, and that's made me cranky. I don't handle the cold well.

I like how the back looks. The applique serves as the quilting. The finished quilt is only 8" x 14".

So there. I finished something. Probably took a total of about 5-6 hours. I should make more tiny things.

Quilting update

2010-11-30T21:19:00.000-05:00

Wow! I haven't posted a quilting update in ages. I went back and looked and realized that I haven't finished a project since September. Me, being me of course, started a couple of new ones. And I did churn out a dozen Kindle covers for my ... ahem ... Etsy store (Christine may now say "I told you so.").

Remember the paint chip challenge?

Here's the table runner I made (it's not quilted yet):

Remember the Block of the Month? The project that will one day look like this:

I've got 7 blocks done and a mile of sashing:

Now, if you want to see some seriously beautiful little art quilts that are bright and funky, you MUST follow this link. Frieda Anderson, a quilt artist & teacher came to town and I got to take a class from her a couple of weeks ago. The class project was the cone flowers quilt that's in the 3rd row of that link, 2nd from the left. Mine's only partway done, but here's a preview:

So that's what I'm working on.

Today I give thanks.

2010-11-25T00:45:00.009-05:00

In the United States it is Thanksgiving Day. A healthy percentage of us will spend the day with family and/or friends. We'll eat too much, watch some TV (football!), and hopefully even spend some time thinking of those things for which are thankful.

In what has now become tradition, tomorrow, Friday, another healthy percentage of us will run out the door at some freakishly early hour to spend tons of money. Because despite how grateful we may be today, apparently we still don't have enough stuff. Since I hate crowds, odds are good I'll hibernate at home. But if you plan to do some shopping tomorrow, make sure you download this free app!

I think our society is very weird.

Meanwhile, since I'm 53 years old, I decided to list 53 things for which I am grateful today. In the order in which they occur to me:

My husband.
My son.
My parents, siblings, and their families.
My in-laws, including my late mother-in-law. It's been 4 years since she passed and it surprises me sometimes how much I still miss her.
Despite various health issues, my parents are still living independently.
This blog and the online friends I have made.
The PC I'm using to create this list--2 weeks ago I was sure it was dead for good.
My Pfaff 7530. 16 years old and still a workhorse.
My Brother PQ 1500-S which makes machine quilting a dream.
My BFF MJ.
My QBFFs AM and TB.
Mary Balogh's A Summer to Remember--the book that re-ignited my love of the Romance Novel
Mary Balogh's Heartless--still my favorite.
Jesus Christ.
The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies.
The 1980 Philadelphia Phillies.
Penn State.
Joe Paterno.
Michael Vick--sometimes repentance is genuine and he just may be the proof people can change. I'm starting to believe.
My fabric stash.
Chocolate.
Peanut Butter.
Weight Watchers.
Those 86 lbs. I lost in 2005-2006.
Insulin.
An employer that lets me work only 30 hours/week.
Libraries.
Old friends.
New friends.
All those quilt ideas running around in my brain.
Summer days when the temperature goes over 90.
Snow days.
Mike Schmidt.
Sean Connery.
Flannel sheets.
Home-grown tomatoes.
My Kindle. I'm not so sure I'm grateful for one-click buy, though. Man, that's deadly!
The Internet.
Unlimited texting. So, hey! I finally joined Twitter last week. Not that I tweet, I just follow.
Google. Yeah, I know, they want to rule the earth. But still....
Whole Foods.
Volkswagon. In the last 30 years I have owned and driven just 3 VW diesels. Can you say 45+ MPG? A total of 415,000 miles.
ESPN.
XM Satellite radio.
Diet Coke.
My home.
Enjuvia--best drug ever.
Music.
Yellowstone National Park.
Christmas lights.
Leftover turkey.
All the people who voted for my story idea earlier this year and made me a winner.
High-Def TV.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Phyl's 5 Phaves for October

2010-11-15T23:25:00.001-05:00

Some computer problems have kept me off other blogs as well as my own over the last couple of weeks. So I apologize that this is so late. I just hope I can remember enough about what I read back in October to make this coherent!

The 5 books I've chosen for this list all have something in common--they have an uncommon twist in location (the historicals) and/or gender roles. It made for some rather fun reading last month and if you find yourself interested in any of these, I hope you, too, will appreciate what makes them different.

5. The Surrender of a Lady by Tiffany Clare. When I finished this book I was not at all certain that I would include it here. Surrender is Clare's debut historical romance and while I thought that this highly sensual book was beautifully written, it wasn't terribly romantic. The book begins as Elena is sold by her husband into Constantinople's slave market in order to pay a debt. Her husband is weak and foolish and loses his own life. When Elena is sold into a very exclusive brothel to be made over into an expensive and highly desired whore, she realizes that she has no way out of her predicament and no one who will come to her aid. She makes the conscious decision to learn contentment, if not happiness, and adapt to her new life. Fast forward 5 years: Elena is now Jinan and one night she is recognized by the man she had once hoped to marry 10 years previously when she was a young debutant in England. Griffin has been battling his own demons the last 10 years, including the one that reminds him that he ran away from England, leaving Elena behind. Griffin purchases a 3-month contract for Jinan's services and the two proceed to have an affair. The book is largely about their sexual affair and during it they never really acknowledge Jinan's true identity. As a result they don't really know one another anymore and it's hard as a reader to believe they are really in love with one another. Griffin is determined to free Jinan so that she can become Elena again. Elena has reasons why she wants to remain Jinan and she doesn't share those with Griffin. I won't venture into spoiler territory, but Clare does a wonderful job of helping us understand why Jinan makes the choices she does. Elena/Jinan is a woman who has been totally at the mercy of the men in her life and I appreciate how Jinan has come to terms with being Jinan. The book reminds us that we can never go back, only forward. Jinan goes through tremendous growth in the book. Griffin doesn't seem to grow until it's almost too late; I was left unconvinced that he really understood Jinan. Nonetheless, they have their hard-earned HEA and ultimately I was left wanting to read more by Clare.

4. Warrior / Zoe Archer. Everyone is talking about Archer's Blades of the Rose series. These books blend historical with magic and unusual place-settings. Archer's heroines are smart and capable. Each book has the hero and heroine on a mission to save the world's magic from a group that would seek to use the magic to enslave the world to their ideals. Warrior is the book with the Indiana Jones-like cover and in the tradition of Indy, it is a fast-paced adventure through Mongolia. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I can understand why so many bloggers are talking about the series. I've also read the second book, Scoundrel, and today the third, Rebel, was a FREE Kindle download!

3. Whisper of Scandal / Nicola Cornick. Here's a Regency romance that is set in large part north of the Arctic Circle! Cornick's latest trilogy begins with this story of Lady Joanna Ware, widow of a famous adventurer who finds herself at odds with Alex, Lord Grant, best friend of Joanna's late husband David. The two of them have very differing views of David and now they find that they've been named co-guardians of David's illegitimate child, a little girl who has been left in the care of some Russian monks on a small island in the Arctic north. Together they travel there to claim the girl and in the process come to understand one another, and David, better, and of course eventually fall in love. The romantic themes are familiar, but the location is not. Cornick is one of my favorite Regency authors, and this was another well-written and emotionally satisfying romance.

2. Dagger-Star / Elizabeth Vaughan. I've been waiting a couple of years to read this. Vaughan publishes a book a year and when this trilogy began I decided to wait until all 3 were published before reading it. So when I got my Kindle in September, this is one of the first books I bought. This book is set in the same world as the Warprize trilogy (which I love!), but is separate from that trilogy. Red Gloves is the name of a female mercenary who is traveling with her "sword sister" looking for work when they happen upon a man living alone in the middle of the remnants of a once-prosperous farm. The land has been burned out; the people scattered or killed. But the threat remains and Red is the woman to deal with it once and for all. What I particularly liked about this book is the way Vaughan turned our gender expectations upside down. Red has the skills, personality, and habits of your typical Regency rake. Josiah is no innocent miss, but he is more gentle and nurturing; he is working to bring his farm back to life. Red and Josiah are good together; they complement each other. Within the first few pages it may seem as if Red will be hard to like, but Vaughan gave me enough clues to keep me reading. I really liked this story and I have the next book ready to read soon.

1. The Dangerous Viscount / Miranda Neville. I wrote a full review of this here last month. It was easily my favorite for the way this book also turned our gender expectations upside down and for the way Neville made me like two flawed characters who need to forgive and be forgiven.

Nora Roberts' Bride Quartet--Romance or Girl Utopia?

2010-11-03T23:13:00.000-04:00

Utopia -- n -- any real or imaginary society, place, state, etc., considered to be perfect or ideal.

So tonight I finished Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts. There's an excellent review of it here at AAR. I loved that the reviewer called the series "wedding porn." Yeah, it's definitely that. All-in-all this proved to be an enjoyable, lighthearted series that celebrates love and the best of our WASP-ish wedding traditions. The books are heavy on various elements of weddings and the wedding planners who make them happen. The level of romance varies, and I think HEA is the lightest when it comes to the romantic relationship--in this case between Parker & Malcolm. That's actually a tad disappointing, because after the 3 previous books, Parker had the biggest buildup to be heroine in her own story.

There's a sentence in that AAR review that got me to thinking:

Add that to the fact that four best friends are living together in a mansion (weren’t you planning to do that?), and you cover a lot of fantasy ground.

Besides the excellence of Roberts' writing (let's just say that's a given and put that aside), ultimately I think what made this series so captivating for me wasn't the individual romances but the fantasy of four young women who have been friends forever, remain friends, and somehow at the end of the day find themselves living together in what I will call a 21st century commune. There's a throw-away line toward the end of Parker's book about how one day there will be a ton of children running around the Brown family estate. Sounds like a commune to me.

Anyhow, I got to thinking about that word "fantasy" which led me to thinking of "utopia." Here are some the elements of perfect and ideal found in the books:

Four women remaining such tight friends since the time they were children and enjoying a level of emotional intimacy that I suspect is actually rather rare.
Heroes who do not seem to mind the relationship the women have. Additionally they seem willing and able to pitch in and help at events (setting up/tearing down) even though one assumes the business hires helpers for all of that labor.
Money does not seem to be a worry (Mansion, remember?).
Plenty of clients for the business. None of the clients seem to worry about money either.
Mrs. Grady is like the ever-present fairy godmother dispensing food and good advice at the drop of a hat. (I want one of those!)
Incredibly talented heroines who excel at what they do for the business. They solve every problem thrown their way. No disasters allowed here.
An awful lot of champagne is consumed, especially in book 4.

If you've read the books, you can probably think of more examples.

Let me be clear. I love the fantasy. I devoured these books.

But in the end they weren't all terribly romantic and if it's romance you're expecting I'd say that the books are quite a bit more and quite a bit less, if that makes sense. Weddings are a celebration of romantic love. So all of the focus on the weddings reminds us of the ideal of romantic love, and not necessarily the gritty day-to-day reality of building and maintaining a romantic relationship over time. There's just enough about each of the four couples to convince us that each couple will enjoy a HEA, but probably not as much as a dedicated romance reader might wish for. Your mileage may vary, of course.

A cover

2010-10-30T00:14:00.000-04:00

Remember that contest I won?

The book is due in April. I found a picture of the cover on Candice Hern's website.

Gorgeous.

The Dangerous Viscount / Miranda Neville. 2010

2010-10-18T20:55:00.000-04:00

Let me state up front that I found Miranda Neville's third release, The Dangerous Viscount, to be a highly entertaining read. My favorite sub-genre has been, and probably always will be, the Regency-set historical. Neville's books show great respect and affection for the period. In addition, she gives us characters who are usually a step or two removed from the London ballroom for a taste of something a little different. There is both humor and emotion in this book and I worked hard to squeeze in some quality reading time between all the game-watching and quilt-making I've been doing these days. It was worth the effort.

The hero of TDV is Sebastian Iverley, is a shy, bookish, misogynistic young man who has traveled to his uncle's country estate to use the library there. He is dismayed to find that his cousin Blakeney is hosting a small party. One of the ladies' attending the party is a wealthy widow, Lady Diana Fanshawe, who happens to have grown up nearby, and she has set her cap at Blakeney who will one day be a Duke. In spite of himself, Sebastian is strongly attracted to Diana. He is further entranced when he has an opportunity to meet her eccentric, but loving family. Sebastian is shy and socially inept; he doesn't know how to handle this attraction he feels, but he can't help seeking her out. Meanwhile, Diana is the confident, self-possessed half of the pair. See how the normal conventions are turned upside down?

There is a strong undercurrent of dislike between the cousins Sebastian and Blakeney. As a result, Diana finds herself making a bet with Blakeney that she can get Sebastian to kiss her. She succeeds, but her misgivings over the event have her hoping that Sebastian will never find out. Unfortunately, he does learn about the bet (although Diana is unaware) and that reinforces his misogynist attitudes; Sebastian leaves the party abruptly and Diana re-dedicates herself to winning Blakeney.

The action skips forward 6 months. Sebastian's elderly great-uncle has died and Sebastian is now the Viscount Iverley and the possessor of a huge fortune. He returns to his home and book club in London and sets himself to the task of exacting his revenge on Diana for the bet. He goes to his friends (characters from the previous book in this series) for advice. They tutor him on how he should dress and behave in society. Neville's website calls Sebastian "a Regency nerd who is about to get an extreme makeover." That's an apt description. Eventually Sebastian and Diana reconnect and their romance takes place among the deceptions they are both guilty of.

Sebastian and Diana are flawed human beings who must confront their respective wrongs and seek forgiveness. Especially because their relationship has unexpected consequences. In addition, both Sebastian and Diana need to confront Sebastian's past to understand why he is the way he is. All of this is gently and steadily revealed with flawless pacing and engaging secondary characters. I loved how Diana is the "alpha" in this story and how Sebastian learns that women are not the enemy. These two are a well-matched pair and their relationship is highly believable.

Already I'm looking forward to Neville's next book (Aug. 2011?) and hopefully the one after that will be about Diana's wonderful little sister, Minerva. I also think that Neville left room for Blakeney to be redeemed and become the hero of a future book. If you've read this, what do you think?

Phyl's 5 Phaves from September

2010-10-06T23:10:00.004-04:00

Obligatory baseball note: ROY HALLADAY throws a no-hitter for my beloved Phils. How awesome was that?

I've been working on this post for several days. Which really means I've been busy sewing. And giving serious thought to taking Christine up on her idea to open an Etsy store. I must be insane, but truth is, I recently got laid off from a part-time copy editing job. It was very, very part-time and I made just enough to feed my fabric habit. But the publisher took the work in-house and all of us contractors were left out. Hubby & I figure if I replace those hours with sewing, I might be able to replace the income so that my fabric habit doesn't hurt the family budget. And at the rate I'm hitting up the Kindle store, I may need the revenue to cover that, too. So, we'll see.

Meanwhile, back to our late, but regularly scheduled phaves post.

In September I finished 12 books. I haven't gone back to verify this, but I'm pretty darn sure that's the lowest total since I began keeping this blog over 4 years ago. And while I did enjoy most of what I read (Sureblood was a disappointment), nothing had me locked into reading, despite the acquisition of my nifty new toy. I suspect you can blame the baseball pennant races on some of my distraction (Yea! Phillies). Which means October may not be much better. I certainly won't be sleeping much thanks to baseball's east coast-friendly start times.

5. A Twist in Time by Susan Squires. I'm a fan of Squires' Companion series, one of the few paranormal series I still read. This book spins off in a slightly different direction, taking the time machine that was introduced in the last book and making it the focal point of this new book. ATIT was published last spring. Another book, The Mists of Time, also involving the time machine, was just released and I hope to be reading that one soon. Anyhow, ATIT is the story of Lucy who holds the key to using a time machine which is hidden away in a secret lab. When she uses it, she finds herself landing in the middle of a battle in tenth century Britain. She panics and returns back to the present immediately, but she accidentally brings back with her a Viking warrior named Galen. Lucy soon learns that she needs to hide Galen, and herself, from people who would use the time machine to manipulate history. While hiding, Galen learns how to cope in a time period so very foreign to him and he and Lucy fall in love. Eventually they take control of their circumstances to permanently keep the time machine out of the wrong hands. Time travel books like this one are often fun as the author imagines what it would be like to bring a medieval character into the 21st century. I enjoyed how Squires wrote Galen's character and his reactions to his new world. Lucy, who starts out as a doormat, has to be the one to protect Galen and keep them safely hidden. This was a nicely paced story and I enjoyed it.

4. Unspeakable by Laura Griffin. This is another winner from Griffin who writes tight, well-paced romantic suspense. I have quickly become a fan of her books. This book involves Elaina, a newly-minted FBI profiler who is eager to prove herself. She is assigned a case and reaches the conclusion that the serial killer she's investigating has been killing for years. And that another man may have been wrongly convicted for some of these murders. True-crime author Troy wrote a best-selling book about that man and he's very interested in Elaina's theory. If he was wrong about some of what appeared in his book, he wants to set the record straight. Only the local police don't believe Elaina and are not interested in her skills. Elaina races the clock to stop the killing, and in the process becomes a target herself. Elaina and Troy join forces, and of course fall in love in the process. If you like romantic suspense, I do recommend this one, or any of Griffin's previous books.

3. One Touch of Scandal by Liz Carlyle. Carlyle starts a new series at a new publisher with heroes who are members of a secret society, tasked with protecting certain individuals who share a common ancestor and possess rare psychic gifts. While still Victorian-set and still with a mystery sub-plot, this book is a departure for Carlyle with the inclusion of the paranormal elements. The hero, Lord Ruthveyn, keeps himself closed off from people because of his gift. Yet when he meets heroine Grace Gauthier he is inexplicably drawn to her. Grace has become the chief suspect in the murder of the man who had not only been her employer (Grace was governess to his children), but had also been Grace's fiance. As Grace gets to know Ruthveyn she realizes that she had been settling for less than she deserved by agreeing to marry her dead employer. And Ruthveyn learns to open up to Grace and embrace the future. I think this book lacks the emotional depth that some of Carlyle's earlier books have, but as might be expected, the book is well-written, the paranormal elements are interesting while not overwhelming, and I enjoyed the growth of the main characters.

2. Heart Journey by Robin D. Owens. I love these books and I especially love the world-building Owens has done over the years. While this isn't the best book in the series, I like that it has a number of elements that are different from previous books. This latest book gives us a heroine who lives outside the main city of Druida, is very independent, and has every expectation that her heart mate will drop everything and join her in her travels around Celta. In many of these books, the heroine is the character who is reluctant to accept her heart mate. This time, the hero Raz, an actor who is also a few years younger than heroine Del, is the one who is reluctant to meet his heart mate and settle down. He's a bit like a Regency rake, but he loves the energy that is part of his relationship with Del. The two of them need to find a compromise as their careers are very different. The book also delves a little more into the original settlement of Celta and the history of their ancestors who made it their home. I think anyone who likes this series would enjoy the book, although I would not recommend it if you haven't read any of the previous installments.

1. The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne. Last month I finally read My Lord and Spymaster. So while I was enjoying Bourne's wonderful writing, I had to dive right into her latest book, which is actually a prequel to the two Spymaster books. It takes place in Paris during the Reign of Terror and is a fascinating look at an almost unfathomable era of history. It's also a wonderfully romantic tale of an English spy helping a young French woman who has been trying to save people from the guillotine. Once again I was just enthralled by Bourne's writing and her subtle use of humor. Her characters come alive to me and I know that just like with her other books, I'll want to re-read this sometime soon.

Less reading & reviewing; More sewing

2010-09-22T22:11:00.000-04:00

My Phillies are getting ready to lock down their 4th consecutive NL East crown. With so much great baseball to capture my attention, not to mention the start of football season, my reading is down a quite a bit from usual. As of today I've only finished 9 books in September. Usually by this date I'd be closer to 15 or 16. I haven't felt much like writing any reviews either. I've read a couple of books I'd like to write about, but then I get focused elsewhere--on baseball, on sewing, on the new TV season...

But today, the UPS guy brought me a very special package:

Look, my own brand new Kindle (the cheap wi-fi one)!!!

I didn't want to spend money on the case, so tonight I whipped one out. Took me exactly one hour. While the Phillies completed their sweep of the Braves. How sweet!

Oh how I love this time of year! Happy First Day of Fall everyone. Hope you got to see the Harvest Moon where you are (we didn't--it rained).

I can't stop

2010-09-13T00:06:00.000-04:00

This time I played with adding a 3rd fabric and squaring off the edges. It looks a little wonky, but I don't think you'd notice if you put it on a small end table. In the end, I think I like the rounded edges better.

So that's 3 of these things in the last week. Next time I want to make a bigger one.

Quick Gifts

2010-09-02T23:23:00.003-04:00

When I need to whip out a quick gift, I love my ARDCO circle square templates. A good friend just moved to a new home. And my church was looking for some items to use as door prizes at an upcoming event. Each one of these only take 2 hours or so to put together. They are approx. 18" across.

I think the backs look pretty cool, too.

And speaking of gifts, I finished the binding on the baby quilt for my coworker. I showed you closeups of the quilting here a couple weeks ago.

Phyl's 5 Phaves from August

2010-09-01T00:05:00.000-04:00

Ah, September. I'm very ambivalent about this time of year. I love the heat. I love the long days. I hate that today was probably our last 90 degree day of the year. However, I also love that school starts and a regular routine is re-established. And I love football season because I do lots of sewing. I guess in the end I'm not sorry to see August go.

Before I move on to the Phaves, remember that contest I won? Look what's up at Amazon! Only 6 months and 28 days to go! And BTW, I've slowly been spending my winnings. A special post will be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, I suppose we must move on to the purpose of this post.

5. The Sergeant's Lady by Susanna Fraser. I almost wrote a full-blown review of this. Then I got lazy. Sorry. This will have to do. Let me say, I'm so glad I watched all of those BBC episodes of Sharpe's Rifles. Besides the awesome goodness of Sean Bean, those shows really help you visualize Spain during the Peninsular War and Fraser's debut novel does an excellent job of reinforcing that vision. Most of the book takes place in Spain and it features an unusual romance between an upper-class woman and the lower-class son of an innkeeper. Anna is with the Army "following the drum"--her husband (who dies early in the book) is a British officer. Will is a sergeant in the Rifles (just like Sharpe!) and the two get to know each other when they find themselves alone and on the run from the French. While the voice is very different, the story reminds me of Carla Kelly's books and I hope we can expect more from Fraser along these lines. I found this to be an impressive debut and I can't wait to read her next book.

4. Ruthless by Anne Stuart. (I love the intro screen to her website.) Depraved hero. Desperate (but not THAT desperate) heroine. Wildly decadent pre-Revolutionary France. Anne Stuart. Really, it doesn't get much better than that. Oh look! It's Sept. 1. Must go fire up the ipod to download my copy of Reckless.

3. All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins. I almost didn't read this book. I tried an earlier book of hers and didn't finish it. Her style just didn't appeal to me. But I read several very positive reviews of this one, so I checked it out of the library. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. This book is written from a first person POV. In addition, the heroine spends a good deal of the book getting over her first love. As a result, the main romance takes a bit of a back seat to Callie's growth as a person and her gradual realization that she's been hanging on to an illusion. It doesn't sound very romantic, yet this is an extremely appealing (and emotional) read. I was pleasantly surprised and no doubt I will try some of her other books.

2. Last Night's Scandal by Loretta Chase. Once again, sparkling dialogue, well-drawn characters, and liberal doses of humor come together to prove that Chase is one of the best authors the genre has to offer. This book was a delight from beginning to end. It's been over 4 years since I read Lord Perfect where Lisle and Olivia were first introduced as children. I don't remember the details of that book real well. Fortunately I didn't need to as this book stands on its own just fine. It was so kind of Chase to listen to the clamoring of her fans and write Lisle's and Olivia's story.

1. My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne. You know, I could have sworn I read this back in 2008 when it was published. Then I cleaned out my closet and checked my lists and realized it was still unread. Bad Phyl! Awesome book! I loved the heroine's determination to clear her father's name no matter what it took or what it cost. I loved the way Bourne put us into her head and so cleverly demonstrated Jess' unusual upbringing. I loved the ferret! Hey, I just plain loved the book.

And let me end this entry with a special mention of Veil of Night by Linda Howard. You know, it wasn't awesome or anything, but I was fully entertained. I have no regrets that I read it. I read a library copy. But for those of you who think I must be nuts, I loved Cover of Night, too. So there. I sometimes feel so alone ...

Paint Chip Challenge

2010-08-25T21:39:00.003-04:00

My sister, the QBFFs, and I are doing a "paint chip challenge." We swapped paint chips and each of us has to make a monochromatic quilt using the color of our paint chip. I was the recipient of this lovely green paint chip:

Here are some fabrics I pulled from my stash (OK, I admit it--I did do a little shopping, but just a little!):

I'm thinking one or more of those might have to go. And since white and black are not colors, I may add a little of each for some "pop!"

What to make, what to make...

Actually, I have an idea. Stay tuned!

Catching Up

2010-08-19T16:16:00.001-04:00

I've been neglecting my blog lately. Someone even noticed (thanks JW!). Between travels, the heat, reading, the heat, sewing, and the heat, well, I've just run out of steam at the end of each day. But I did want to make an attempt to catch back up.

So here's what I've been sewing. I machine quilted two quilts. One is a fairly large square "Blooming 9-Patch" from the book Tradition with a Twist by Dalene Young Stone & Blanche Young. This quilt is about 5' x 5'. My mother-in-law bought the fabric for me for my birthday about 6 years ago. I finished the top before she passed away, but sadly, she did not get to see it. The top sat for several years while I figured out how I wanted to quilt it. Here are some detail shots of the quilting from the front and then the back. It took me about 3 months to finish this, but I'm VERY pleased with the results. As soon as I get the binding on, I'll post some more pictures.

I also finished the quilting on a baby quilt for a co-worker. She comes back from her maternity leave soon, so I need to get the binding on this one also. This has a thick batting in it that makes it puffy with lots of texture. Once it's washed a few times, it'll have a nice, soft feel and I hope baby likes using it. For fun, I just doodled across it, randomly adding hearts here and there. And mixed in with the hearts are about half a dozen flowers. You can see one of the flowers in the third picture.

And I completed my July block for my precision piecing Block of the Month project. See the white triangle near the top? Argh. One of the points got cut off. Because of the way the unit was constructed, I couldn't fix it. But I DID figure out what I did wrong. Hopefully that will be the only one like that. The rest of the corners match almost perfectly and it measures 12.5" just like it's supposed to. So far, so good! I need to finish my August block before September so I'm back on track.

And finally ... I was at RomCon.

For 1 hour.

Yes, it's true. One hour.

My employer sent me to a conference in Denver July 11-14. I thought about going early to attend RomCon's Friday & Saturday events, but I couldn't make it work financially. I did manage to schedule my Saturday flight so I arrived with enough time to attend the book signing because I really, really wanted to meet the incredible Brenda Novak. The smaller nature of RomCon meant I got to sit for half an hour and chat with her. We brainstormed some new ideas for next year's auction and we're both looking forward to how it might turn out. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, here's a shot of me with Brenda:

And bonus! A shot of me with equally incredible Pamela Clare. I had a great time chatting with her for a little while too.

I said hello and "I love your books" to a couple of other authors, but then my hour was up and I had to leave. I caught the hotel shuttle BACK to the airport so I could then shuttle to downtown Denver. 3 airports, 2 airplanes, 2 hotels, 4 shuttle rides--all before dinner.

So, that's what's going on in my life these days. With football season around the corner, I'm about to get my serious sewing mojo on. Cannot wait!

Phyl's 5 Phaves from July

2010-08-05T20:00:00.001-04:00

Blog? I have a blog? Goodness, but I have a lot to catch up on.

Before I get into the phaves, I do want to mention that I began reading Barry Eisler's John Rain series in July. I met Eisler at RT and purchased the 3rd book in the series there. He told me the 3rd book was a good place to start, but I decided to go back to the first one, Rain Fall, and got it at the library. I'm glad I did. I've read 2 of the books so far and they were a nice change from romance. I liked them both. But when it came to the phaves, romance won out.

5. One Season of Sunshine by Julia London. I have become a big fan of London's contemporaries even though I first began reading her historicals. I frequently find her books to be emotional and sometimes thought-provoking. I was intrigued by this story of Jane, a woman adopted as an infant, who is seeking her biological family. I once watched a close friend struggle with the same questions; that fact made Jane a believable and sympathetic character to me. Even more interesting is Asher, a widowed father dealing with his children, crises with his job, and the unspoken truths of his first marriage. Jane comes to work for Asher while she seeks her biological mother. Their relationship develops slowly; in fact I'm not sure you could say that it's the central focus of the book. There is a lot going on here with Asher's children, Jane's sputtering relationship with a boyfriend, Jane's search, etc. But taken as a whole, I found this to be an engrossing read by an author I love.

4. The Search by Nora Roberts. Roberts' annual single title romantic suspense is the first one I've really liked since the Alaska one, Northern Lights. While a little light on the suspense side, it was terrific on the relationship side. The dog training stuff was interesting without overwhelming the story. I enjoyed watching the relationship develop between Fiona and Simon. The story of the rescue at the beginning was a great opening and it had me hooked from the first page. I loved this one.

3. Heaven Forbids by Karen Ranney. I had a hard time choosing between this and Ranney's newest, A Highland Duchess, for this spot. Ultimately Heaven Forbids won out because I was fascinated by the historical detail in the book. I found myself searching the web for more details about the time and place. [Note: spoilers ahead!] Heaven Forbids pushes hot buttons for some readers because the h/h engage in an adulterous relationship before they have their HEA (the hero is married throughout most of the book). Adultery is not something I look for in a romance. But Ranney writes extremely compelling characters against equally compelling backdrops. This book takes place before, during, and after the battle of Culloden, and the political unrest of the time adds a richness to this story that lifts it above the ordinary. And for only $1.59 in the Kindle Store, it's a bargain. I'll add that I also loved A Highland Duchess. It was hard to love the heroine, Emma, because she seemed so weak. But Ranney did a good job of fluidly reminding the reader that Emma was a woman who lived in a time and place where women rarely had any control over their own lives and destiny. Interestingly, both heroes in these books loved science. I like to think that had they been contemporaries, Hugh and Ian would have been friends.

2. The Bikini Car Wash by Pamela Morsi. At the end of June I was on quite a Pamela Morsi kick and when I saw she had a new book out, I managed to be first in line at the library for it. I finished it 2 days after it was released. Technically, this is probably more "chick lit" than romance, although there's a strong romantic relationship featured in the book. Mainly, this is the story of Andi, who has moved back to her small home town to help her dad car for her mentally disabled sister, Jelly. This is a funny and poignant look at how what we think we know about others--even those closest to us--is never the whole truth. Andi is desperate to make a living and when she opens her dad's old car wash, she uses the gimmick of bikini-clad women doing the work as a hook to bring in customers. Naturally this causes the outraged, upright citizens of the town to try and close down her business. Andi finds an unlikely ally in business neighbor Pete Guthrie, owner of Guthrie's grocery store. Andi and Pete had gone to high school together, but ran in different circles. Morsi may have moved away from traditional romance with her most recent books, but this is still a winner with terrific characters and a lot of humor. If you are a fan of the TV show Law & Order, you absolutely, positively have to read this book. Trust me.

1. The House on Olive Street by Robyn Carr. This book was originally published in 1999, and re-published this spring. Since I had devoured Carr's Virgin River series, I was interested in reading some of her older books. THOOS is not a romance; it is clearly women's fiction. Normally I avoid this kind of thing because it doesn't always have a happy ending, but I found this particular book to be riveting and immensely satisfying. The story follows 4 women over the course of a summer when the death of a mutual friend brings them together to sort through the dead friend's personal effects. All 5 women are writers and had been in a critique group together. The surviving women include an academic and literary critic, a NYT best-selling famous author, a successful mid-list romance author, and a relatively new mystery author. Each woman is also dealing with a personal crisis. Their time together as they remember their friend Gabby allows them to support one another through their individual crises. Carr creates 4 well-drawn and interesting characters and through them demonstrates the power of sisterhood and friendship. If you're in the mood for something a little out of the ordinary, I cannot recommend this one highly enough.

The Bikini Car Wash / Pamela Morsi. 2010

2010-07-08T21:00:00.000-04:00

During May and June I read--and loved--three popular historicals by Pamela Morsi. Then I discovered she had a new book out which was released just over a week ago. I managed to be first in line at the library for it. Technically, this is probably more "chick lit" than romance, although there's a strong romantic relationship featured in the book. Normally I avoid this kind of book, but I was curious to see what Morsi's current writing is like compared to her older books. I dove right in and found myself captivated by this very engaging story.

Andi Wolkowicz leaves her successful corporate career to move back to her small home town. Andi has a mentally disabled twin sister and Andi believes her father needs help caring for her twin, Jelly, now that their mother has passed away. She moves in with them and begins looking for a job. Andi's father is retired from his car wash business and the car wash sits empty in the town's center, which is slowly dying because of the growth of "big box" stores on the edge of town. Andi can't find a job, and she meets two other women who are similarly desperate for jobs. Together they decide to re-open the car wash, and to attract customers they'll do it wearing bikinis. There is a predictable uproar and Andi has to deal with the town's wrath and so much more.

This book takes a funny and poignant look at how what we think we know about others--even those closest to us--is never the whole truth. Andi is blessed with a father who loves her unconditionally. He is prepared to support whatever decision she wants to make regarding her future. When she re-opens his old car wash, he is there to help. And as Andi gets to know her father in a new light, she discovers that there is much she never really knew about either of her parents. At the same time, Andi gets to know Pete Guthrie, the heir to and manager of Guthrie's, a locally-owned grocery store that sits next to the car wash. Pete and Andi had gone to school together, but ran in different circles; now they meet one another as adults and Andi sees that there is more to Pete than she would have imagined. Pete, too, is supportive of Andi's new business and this puts him in direct opposition to his father, a powerful town leader.

Andi deals with the questions about using sex to attract customers. She needs to answer these questions to her own satisfaction not to mention defend herself before the town council when they threaten to close her down. I thought this aspect of the book was particularly well done; the scenes with the town leaders felt realistic as well as humorous.

As is typical of a Morsi book, the secondary characters are just as interesting as the central characters. There are also interludes where we see life through Jelly's POV, and because of her disability that POV is filtered through the unique lens Jelly has on life. Jelly sees things that no one else can see. I loved the way Morsi did this.

Morsi may have moved away from traditional romance with her most recent books, but this is still a winner with terrific characters and a lot of humor. I would think that anyone who enjoys contemporary romance would like this book. And let me add, without giving out any spoilers, if you are a fan of the TV show Law & Order, you absolutely, positively have to read this book. Trust me on this.

Phyl's 5 Phaves from June

2010-07-01T03:26:00.001-04:00

I discovered Pamela Morsi in May. I've begun a glom, so 2 of the titles below should come as no surprise.

5. The Time Weaver by Shana Abé. At least one review I read about this book described it as "lyrical." I think that's a good word to use--there's a beauty to the descriptions in this book that draws you in. Plus the way it is constructed reminds me of a symphony. There are several parts, all quite different, that come together to make a whole. Abé's latest book is the 5th title in her dragon series. In this book, Honor Carlisle is a dragon who cannot shift, but instead finds herself going back and forth through time. Her gift is that of "weaving" through time. She is drawn again and again to Prince Alexandru of the Zaharen dragons and their relationship is seen as threatening by the dragons in England. This book uses three different narrative voices: 1st person for Honor, 3rd person POV for scenes involving Alexandru, Lia, and Zane, and an omniscient voice to set the stage. Lia and Zane had their story told in The Dream Thief and figure prominently in this book. I would not recommend reading this without having read the previous 4 books. But if you enjoyed those, I'm sure you will like this one as much as I did. It's not a conventional romance, but it is romantic, has a fascinating setting, and is beautifully written.

4. Courting Miss Hattie by Pamela Morsi. After I raved about Simple Jess a couple of weeks ago, Hilcia suggested I try this one as well. I'm so glad I did. This is a wonderful friends-to-lovers story set in turn of the (20th) century Arkansas. Miss Hattie is a spinster farmer and her long-time sharecropper Reed Tyler has become her good friend over the years. Hattie longs to be married and have a family, but she's not very attractive and her prospects are few. When a widowed farmer with 7 children begins to court Hattie, Reed finds himself growing jealous. But Reed is already engaged to be married and he is too honorable to break it off. This is another engrossing story by Morsi with vibrant characters, including the secondary characters. I found this to be extremely emotional as Hattie deals with her hopes and dreams. Just a wonderful book.

3. Fade to Midnight by Shannon McKenna. This was the long-awaited conclusion to the McCloud brothers series as at last we learn what happened to Kevin and his story is told. This was trademark McKenna--suspenseful, fast-paced, and sexy. The villains are over-the-top, there's lots of high-tech gadgetry, and the McCloud brothers' trademark testosterone-fueled actions carry the story. Edie is a great heroine who has a unique gift and artistic talent that actually ends up leading the brothers back together again. Definitely campy is spots, there is even a scene with all of the characters from past books either in the room or mentioned (along with all of their offspring) which momentarily reminded me of Mary Balogh's Huxtables or Bedwyns. But then a bomb (or something) was discovered and the moment ended. Great fun if you're a fan of McKenna. But I'd read the earlier books first. And while all of the McClouds are now accounted for, there was still a new character who will be the next hero. He sounds fun. Can't wait for that one.

2. Silent Scream by Karen Rose. I got to meet Rose at the RT booksigning in April and tell her how much I like her books. What a nice lady. It's hard to believe that someone who seems so nice and benign can dream up such creepy villains. But she can and does. Then she writes them into the tightest plots that are out there and meticulously crafts these books that give equal attention to the mystery and the romantic relationship. In this book, detective Olivia Sutherland reunites with fireman David Hunter--someone she had a very brief, but intense, encounter with once before. This book is also part of a series, but it does stand on its own very well.

1. Simple Jess by Pamela Morsi was one of those books that so filled my head that it took me awhile to get interested in another book after I finished it. Then I had to talk about it. So I did.

Other random NQA photos

2010-06-27T23:20:00.000-04:00

No commentary. Just some pictures chosen at random for you to enjoy.

The Winners in My Category

2010-06-26T18:45:00.001-04:00

NQA is a member-driven organization that relies heavily on volunteers. Each year it holds an annual show and accepts up to 400 quilts for display and judging. Ribbons are awarded, but there are no cash prizes. It's fairly prestigious to win a ribbon there, although there are shows like AQS and Quilts, Inc. that are probably more prestigious. Anyhow, at NQA a quilt is entered into one of 16 categories. Within each category three ribbons are awarded (first place, second, etc.) and, at the judges' discretion, one or more "honorable mention" ribbons are awarded.

So, my quilt was in the pieced wall hanging category. There were 27 quilts entered. Four received honorable mention ribbons, thus a total of 7 ribbons were given out. Truly, there were some pretty awesome quilts in my category. Let's look at them, shall we?

First, I have photos of 3 of the 4 Honorable Mention winners:

This is smaller than the others. Those little squares are 3/4". This is accurately pieced and hangs so nice and straight. Pretty, too.

You really need to click on this picture and look at the quilting around the center medallion. It's gold thread on dark blue fabric. Incredible detail and probably requires more concentration than I am capable of. It was hanging next to mine and as soon as I saw it I knew there was no contest. Most deserving.

This quilt is based on an astronomical system that classifies stars by temperature and brightness. It's a very interesting interpretation of a scientific concept and quite different from most of the other entries.

I LOVE this quilt. Love, love, love it. Look close. This is a "simple" grid of same-sized blocks. It's all about the use of color. This is one of those quilts that's even more effective the further away you stand, because the colors blur together in your mind. It is titled "Homage to Herbert" and it's an abstract interpretation of an aerial view of Herbert Glacier in Alaska. I got to see some glaciers in Alberta, Canada once, and I can totally see what the quiltmaker is doing here. So pretty and meticulously pieced. It won 3rd place.

This second place quilt was inspired by the Art Deco movement. I love the use of color here. No doubt in my mind that it was complicated to construct, and indeed, it won a special additional award for "Exemplary Piecing."

And this is the first place winner. Excellent design and this had to be difficult to construct. It deserved to win.

Well done, judges! A complete list of winners can be found here.

Anatomy of a quilt show entry

2010-06-24T20:40:00.000-04:00

In the 25 years I've been quilting I've displayed a handful of quilts in shows sponsored by the guilds I belong to. Only three times, though, have I entered a quilt into a competition--that is a show that has judging and awards ribbons (and sometimes cash prizes). One of those 3 quilts was one my sister & I made together, and for the purposes of this blog entry, I'm going to leave aside for now. The first quilt was a 36" x 36" wall hanging made entirely by hand and I entered it in the state fair--about 20 years ago. It did not win a ribbon. The second was the quilt below that you've seen here a few times recently. That would be 20 years between competitions. Why did I wait so long between entries? Well, I did go through some major life changes that sent my quilting goals in other directions for awhile. But mostly, I was waiting to complete something that I felt had a reasonable chance of showing well against competition. Not necessarily to guarantee a win, but would serve as evidence of my growth as a quilter.

So. How did I do? I entered this in the NQA show held last weekend in Columbus.

Several of you regulars here have left me some lovely comments about this quilt. Indeed, I like it too, and I think it represents a huge leap for me as a quilter, both in my use of color, and in the design of my quilting stitches across the surface. I've made a lot of "nice" quilts over the years, but this is the first one to turn out well enough that I thought it was competition-worthy. Here's a close-up of the quilting:

Let's get the bad news out of the way, first. No, I did not win a ribbon. "Horrors!" you say (you're such nice friends). Please believe that I say with all honesty--I am not upset or angry with the judging. Truly, the winning entries were more deserving than mine. But the good news is, I think I'm getting close. And I intend to keep trying.

The most instructive part of the entire exercise is to read the judges' comments when the quilt is returned. NQA Certified Judges use a specific list of criteria against which quilts are evaluated. The criteria look at both workmanship and the quilt's appearance and design. Here's what was said about my quilt and my reaction to those comments:

Radiating quilting lines in star blocks lead the eye into the center. I am not totally sure of the purpose behind this statement. I assume it's complimentary. Is the eye supposed to lead to the center? That's not stated in the criteria, and indeed, with any surface design and media that is not necessarily the goal.
More care needed in piecing. Ouch. Yes, this is probably true. Some of my star points are chopped off. This is why I'm doing that block of the month--so I can practice more precision piecing.
Quilting designs fill the space well. Thank you judges, I thought so too. It paid to give careful consideration to how I would quilt each individual space in the quilt.
Repetition of fabrics from central design to border unify the work. Here I must give credit to the pattern designer, Rachel Wells (no link available).
Machine quilting generally well done; minor tension problems noted. This is continually my downfall. Sometimes I'm just too impatient to spend the time I need to fine tune my machine's tension. My sister will kill me when she reads this. Fortunately, she lives 400 miles away. But see, she wrote a book about machine quilting. I am so dead.
Outer edge should be straight. OK, this feels a little picky to me. I admit it.
Binding is securely attached; attaching thread color should be less obvious. Well good on the first part. The attaching thread is on the BACK where I whip stitched the binding in place. On the BACK where no one can see it. Feeling picked on again....
Corners should be square. Yep. Absolutely. Look at the upper left corner of the inner borders. Wonky. I probably stretched something when I attached them. Easy to do when working with strips and why you should PIN THE HECK OUT OF EVERYTHING.

Sometime in the next 24-36 hours I'll post the pictures of the winners in my category. Wait until you see them. A few are just incredible. And then I'll post a few other pictures from the show. And then we'll get back to books because it'll be July and time for a list of phaves.

Simple Jess / Pamela Morsi. 1996

2010-06-22T23:15:00.000-04:00

One of my May phaves was Pamela Morsi's Wild Oats, the first book of hers that I'd read. Wendy first reviewed Wild Oats and a commenter mentioned Simple Jess as another Morsi classic worth reading, so when I saw a used copy available on Amazon, I ordered it. This is such an unconventional romance that I felt positively compelled to talk about it.

In a nutshell, SJ is a story set in the small, isolated mountain community of Marrying Stone (in the Ozarks?) in 1906. Largely untouched by the outside world, the community governs itself, even to the extent of intruding upon the individual, personal decisions of its members. When the town decides that a young widow, Althea, must remarry, she is given 3 weeks to decide who she will pick to marry. Althea owns a farm in a favorable location and she is trying to preserve it for her young son. She is highly resistant to the idea of remarriage because she fears her son would be shunted aside by his new step-father. It turns out Althea herself had suffered something similar when her father remarried after her mother's death and largely abandoned Althea in favor of his new family.

As part of her attempt to handle her farm on her own, Althea hires Jesse (Simple Jess) Best to do various heavy chores around the farm. She will give him her late husband's hunting dogs in exchange for him helping her to get ready for the winter. In 21st century terms, we would say that Jess is developmentally disabled. We learn that he was born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, so he was oxygen-deprived for a short while during his birth. People of 1906 didn't understand that--they assumed he had "bad blood." And while Jesse is slow to reason things out and needs help remembering some things, he is handsome, strong, and capable. He has always admired Althea and is happy to have a chance to help her while he earns the prized hunting dogs.

As Jesse works around the farm, both Althea and her son Baby-Paisley grow attached to Jesse and are able to appreciate that even if he is slow mentally, he is perfectly normal when it comes to other important character traits. Jesse patiently teaches things to Baby Paisley the same repetitious way they were taught to him. Jesse is honest and kind and Althea responds to this. It confuses her at first, because it seems wrong to have feelings for someone you've always considered a child trapped in a man's body. Eventually, of course, Althea sees that Jesse is a whole man and perhaps not so "simple" after all.

This book is really more than a romance. It's a slice-of-life look at a different time and place that few of us could ever relate to. There are several secondary characters that we get to know quite well, so the focus of the book is not exclusively on Jesse and Althea. Most striking is the notion that the community of Marrying Stone can force Althea to remarry against her wishes. Our 21st century sensibilities rebel at the thought that individual choices and desires must be suppressed at the whim of the community. But in an era when people succumbed so easily to disease, no doubt the local economy counted on Althea maintaining her farm and keeping her son safe and well so he could survive childhood. This would not be something Althea could do on her own. Remarriage is a natural conclusion and while Althea sets conditions on her remarriage, she does not try to find a way out of the town's decree.

I found this to be a fascinating read as I considered the ideas of individuality versus community. My notion of a "hero" was turned on its head by the concept of Jesse who was strong in all the ways that mattered. There's a point near the end when Jesse and Althea become intimate and Althea realizes that she'll have to take the lead. Althea is the "alpha heroine" in this book and I really appreciate that juxtaposition against the way we normally think of heroines.

This is a finely crafted book that's quite outside the ordinary. My thanks to my blogging friends who recommended this to me. And here is my copy of the book:

Would you like to have it? I'm over-run with books and I'd like to pass this on and share the love. Leave a comment and I'll randomly choose a winner on Saturday. I'll ship world-wide.

TBR Day. Entwined / Emma Jensen. 1997

2010-06-16T23:37:00.002-04:00

First, my apologies for neglecting my blog lately. Lots of other stuff seems to be keeping me busy these days...

So, when I started reading romance again, about 7-8 years ago, I joined the Regency readers Yahoo group where I gathered up a ton of reading recommendations. One particular trilogy that people would refer to time and again was a series by Emma Jensen (I couldn't find a website for her) consisting of the books Entwined, Fallen, and Moonlit. I managed to find used copies of all three and then they proceeded to sit unread in my TBR pile. Entwined is the first book in the series and the one I read for this month's challenge. I think I'll save the other two for July and August. I definitely enjoyed this one and I'll be looking forward to the next two.

Entwined is the story of Nathan Oriel, a wounded war veteran, and Isobel MacLeod, the daughter of Nathan's steward. Nathan is mostly blind--he can only see large shapes and colors. He manages to fool most people into thinking he can see, but Isobel figures out his secret. When Isobel's father is caught stealing some money from Nathan, Nathan decides to coerce Isobel into marriage to save Isobel's father and the rest of her family from ruin.

Meanwhile, Nathan has some unfinished business he needs to take care of for the government. Nathan had been a part of a group of 10 men who were spies during the war. Someone is killing "The Ten" one by one and Nathan needs to figure out who and take care of them before he, or Isobel, are harmed. The mystery does not overwhelm the rest of the story. Isobel and Nathan spend a lot of time together and Jensen does an excellent job of letting us see their relationship grow and develop. I liked the emotional impact of the book and I could see why this is a favorite among long-time Regency readers. Nathan and Isobel are interesting characters with a lot of inner strength. They complement one another.

This really isn't much of a review. Just a few comments to say how much I liked this one. It's late and I'm falling asleep over my keyboard. And I need my sleep!!! NQA show starts tomorrow and I am all over that!

Some updates

2010-06-04T00:20:00.001-04:00

Yes, I did a lot of reading in May, but I also got quite a bit of sewing in. And in between, I kept an eye on the action over at the auction. So, if you didn't see, my quilt sold for $176! A very respectable price and the auction itself raised over $285,000. That just amazes me...

Meanwhile, I actually finished the May block of the month in May. This one was a little easier than the first one, although one of the edges didn't come out quite as straight. Nonetheless, the corners came together right and it squared up nicely to the required 12.5 inches.

Here's a look at my blooming 9-patch. The quilting is almost done. As you might be able to tell, I appropriated the kitchen table which is nice and big. When it's done, I'll get some close-ups of the quilting.

Finally, I am basting into a quilt sandwich the last top my mother-in-law completed before her death in 2006. It's stretched out on a frame in our living room, which has almost no furniture in it. Every now and then I walk by and put a few pins into it. This top is called "Moss Garden" and was made from a kit to go with a pattern book called Inspirations from Japan by Maria Tamaoka. The fabrics are a combination of Japanese wovens and American commercial cottons. I think it's a very attractive quilt.

As you might be able to tell, there are quite a few puckers in the top, which means that it wasn't pieced as carefully as it could have been. I thought about trying to take it apart, but it's the last thing she finished and I'd like to leave it as she finished it. Instead, I'm going to pin down some of the puckers and then I'm going to quilt it as densely as possible. It'll take a long time to finish, but if I do it right and block it when I'm done, it may lay relatively flat. That's what I'm hoping for.

Phyl's 5 Phaves for May

2010-06-01T03:26:00.011-04:00

May was filled with lots of good reading. I had a couple of books that came close to being a 5 Phave: A Secret Affair by Mary Balogh and SEALed with a Ring by Mary Margret Daughtridge. The former got a tad too sappy toward the end and the latter I really liked, but historicals usually rank higher for me than contemporaries. In the end I could only pick 5 (because Phyl's 7 Phaves is not alliterative), so here they are:

5. Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn. I love the way JQ writes. She has a light-hearted, humorous style that almost always works for me. And she can do it while writing about people with real problems or burdens. Sebastian is a writer of gothic romance. Absolutely no one besides his publisher knows the truth about Sebastian. When JQ wrote about him doing writerly things, I wondered if she was describing herself. And Annabel is the oldest of 8 siblings from an impoverished family. Her wealthy grandfather still harbors a grudge toward Annabel's parents for their marriage and agrees to sponsor her come-out on the condition she marry a wealthy man of his choosing who will also assume responsibility for the rest of Annabel's family. His choice turns out to be Sebastian's nasty uncle, Lord Newbury. Lord Newbury hates Sebastian (for reasons that just don't seem all that clear--a minor weakness in the book) and he's a nasty person in general. Annabel does not want to marry him, but doesn't know how else to save her family. The story involves Annabel & Sebastian falling for one another and figuring out how to save her from the uncle. This is a quick and entertaining read that I really enjoyed. It's hard to believe, Richie.

4. Wild Oats by Pamela Morsi. Wendy reviewed this book in February for the 2010 TBR Challenge and I was intrigued enough to see if I could find a copy of this 1993 book. Sure enough, my awesome public library had a copy for me to read. While the plot is totally different, this book is like Laura Lee Guhrke's Breathless in that it deals with a divorced heroine in a small American town in the early 1900s. Just like the heroine in Breathless, Cora is pretty much ostracized by the people in her town who think they know more about the circumstances of Cora's marriage than they really do. Cora eeks out a living and lives in her own little bubble until the town mortician comes to call, hoping to start a discreet affair. Soon they both get more than they bargained for. Not only did I enjoy Cora and Jedwin (a "beta" hero with a core of steel), but I thought the secondary characters were interesting as well. None of the characters are one-dimensional, and I appreciated that about the story. I hope to find more of Morsi's books to read soon.

3. Sweet Revenge by Nora Roberts. This is another one of those old NR books I picked up in large print from my library. It was originally published back in 1988. While I have not come close (yet) to reading the entire NR canon, I've now read a fair smattering of it. This particular book was rather different from other NR books I've been reading. And I should say right off the bat that I loved it (or maybe that's obvious since it's a "phave"). One thing that sets this book apart is that the first third of the book is a significant backstory that is engrossing in its own right and does a great job of setting up the final two thirds of the book. Philip is a former jewel thief now working for Interpol. Adrianne is a wealthy, jet-setting princess. The backstory is actually about Adrianne's mother Phoebe and the ways Phoebe is abused by her husband who is the king of a small, oil-rich Arab country. Because of the way her father destroyed her mother, Adrianne leads a double-life as a jewel thief. Her goal is to eventually steal something significant from her father. That's the revenge alluded to in the title. Philip comes between Adrianne and her goal and he has to decide what is most important to him. There are several great secondary characters in this book, too. I noticed that this book was re-published last year and is probably still readily available.

It's a tie. I honestly cannot decide.

1. Marrying the Royal Marine by Carla Kelly. Technically this book releases today, but as a Harlequin it has been available on their web site since the 1st of May where I bought it as an ebook. This is a wonderful conclusion to Kelly's trilogy involving 3 illegitimate half-sisters who each marry men who are deeply involved in the war against Napoleon. This last book involves youngest sister Polly, who at 19 is befriended by Hugh, age 37, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marines. They meet aboard ship when both are traveling to Portugal. Polly is on her way to see her sister & Hugh has an assignment there. Hugh is deeply aware of the age difference and it plays a significant part in the story. Eventually, the two are thrown together again when they are captured by the French and forced to travel through Spain by their captors. Their road journey brings out their feelings for one another as well as hidden depths to their characters. It is a fascinating story, albeit not for the squeamish. It is a vast understatement to say that war is never pleasant and Kelly brings that fact home to her readers most effectively. As usual, Kelly's grasp of military matters, her choice of unusual settings, and her emotional style of writing come together to create a real winner.

1. His at Night by Sherry Thomas. Thomas' latest release is garnering lots of well-deserved praise. I started reading it almost as soon as I got my hands on it and I couldn't put it down. I loved this story of two people who have learned to hide their true selves from others. Vere so that he can insinuate himself into situations on behalf of the Crown and Elissande so she can simply survive. When Elissande traps Vere into marriage in order to escape her cruelly abusive uncle, they each begin to suspect the truth about one another. Vere, however has to get over his anger at being trapped. Theirs is an emotional and compelling story, especially when Elissande's uncle does not give her up willingly. Elissande finds herself willing and able to trust Vere and Vere finds himself wanting to help Elissande even though by all rights he should be able to forget about her. Just a wonderful book.

Precision Piecing

2010-05-20T10:13:00.001-04:00

For you non-quilters who read this blog, quilters often talk about this mythical group called the "Quilt Police." They're supposedly the ones who walk around insisting that things have to be done a certain way or look a certain way. They're the critical ones who have a comment (usually negative) about everything. I think there are "X, Y, or Z Police" for just about anything you can think of (novel writing? blogging? cooking?). You can let yourself be beat down by the negativity or you can ignore it and do what you want because who are you really trying to satisfy anyway? A third alternative is to take that negativity and channel it into something positive, like a challenge simply for the sake of the challenge--because you might learn something, or it might even be fun!

Fabric manufacturer Timeless Treasures and Wing and a Prayer Design company have collaborated on a Block of the Month project being offered by quilt shops around the country. I have signed up to make this batik beauty through one of my local shops.

The program is set up so that each month participants receive a small packet with instructions and just enough fabric to make that month's block. Some months we'll make the setting pieces rather than a block. At the end of 12 months, if I stick with it and keep up, I'll have a king-sized quilt top.

Since this is a program being offered around the country, there will be hundreds of identical quilts if we all finish on time. This is one time when I don't care about being unique or creative. I want to hone my skills. So, for ME, this is going to be one of those times where it WILL matter whether my seams align properly. It WILL matter that my unfinished blocks measure 12.5 inches. It WILL matter that my triangle points are points and not blunt. To whom will it matter? ME. Nobody but ME. This quilt is a chance for me to practice patience and precision. I am willing to unsew if sewing it again will make it better. However, the great thing about this project is that the instructions use methods that give you room for error. You make units that are a little over-sized and trim them down. But you still have to piece those units accurately to have the correct outcome. And if I do it right, my quilt will lie flat on my bed in the master bedroom.

Below is April's block. My corners sit nice and sharp. Many of my angles are also sharp. Some are not. But, check it out--12.5 inches!

TBR Day. The Earl's Intended Wife / Louise Allen. 2004

2010-05-19T00:07:00.001-04:00

Louise Allen has written some 2-3 dozen Regency historicals for Harlequin Mills & Boon in the U.K., most of which have also been published by Harlequin Historicals in the U.S. My copy still had its WalMart sticker on it, so I assume I picked it up in early 2006 when it was published over here. When I entered this in my database, I realized that the only other Louise Allen book I'd read was her 2007 Virgin Slave, Barbarian King, a Roman historical set in 410 AD. I don't know how I'd overlooked her books in the past since I do tend toward Regency-set books so often. I definitely liked this well enough that I'll look for some of her backlist.

TEIW is not your typical Regency. That scores some major points right there. There's adventure, drama, and a Big Misunderstanding. I'm not fond of the Big Misunderstanding, so despite the unusual setting, adventure, and drama, the book lost a few points, too.

The book starts on the island of Malta although it ends back in England on Alex's estate. Part-way into the book there is a sea voyage to Gibraltar. During the voyage there is a storm and Hebe and Alex are swept overboard near the coast of Spain. Fortunately they safely wash up on the shore, but then must make their way overland to Gibraltar, evading the French as they do so. Later, Alex & Hebe arrive (separately) back in England. Circumstances bring the two of them back into contact with one another again. They marry. After several weeks of marriage they finally talk to one another and a HEA ensues. That's the short, somewhat flip version of the story. There's actually quite a bit more to it, but there's a major spoiler I want to avoid. You can go here to read an excerpt and a blurb.

I realized after I finished reading it that the book is told almost entirely from Hebe's POV. If there were any scenes from Alex's POV, I don't remember them. Usually I prefer multiple POVs. But Allen's writing is very good and I don't feel as if I was missing anything. Then there was the whole bit of Alex & Hebe getting washed overboard and surviving long enough to make it to shore. Normally this is wall-banger territory for me. I think I was willing to go with it because I was enjoying the characters of Hebe & Alex and I was genuinely interested in seeing their relationship develop.

So while this wasn't an outstanding read, it was certainly entertaining and kept me interested. As I said, I intend to seek out more books by Allen and I expect I'll enjoy those as well.

Variation on a Theme

2010-05-10T20:52:00.004-04:00

The guild's UFO rules are quite liberal. We are allowed to list as UnFinished Objects quilts that haven't been started, designed, kitted, or that exist other than ephemerally -- as in "I'm going to make something." And I have one of those ephemeral ones on my list. I knew back in February I'd want to make a baby quilt for work colleague L. who is expecting her first baby in June. Now that it's May, it is time to get started.

Going in I knew L. is expecting a girl. She told me that she likes bold, bright colors. Having enjoyed the process of making the Happy Rainbow Quilt I started to wonder if I could make something similar, yet much, much simpler. And limit myself to pink and purple. Doing that would be a study in value as opposed to a study in color. And this time I did have to buy a few fat quarters of purple, because for some reason my purples are too grey-ish.

I ended up cutting 4.5 inch squares and it took awhile to come up with a combination I liked. Now I have a stack of reject squares for the scrap pile. You can see those off to the side or scattered on my ironing board. But here's the end result up on the design wall. I'm now busy sewing it together.

Oh, I should mention, the top has to be finished Wednesday night so I can wrap it up and present it at her baby shower on Thursday. I'll have to take it back to finish because I just didn't start it soon enough.

UFO Update

2010-05-06T22:42:00.005-04:00

I interrupted work on my UFOs (UnFinished Objects) to do the Happy Rainbow Quilt for the auction and with that done, it's time to get back to my UFO list. My guild is sponsoring a mini quilt-in on Friday and I'm going to pack up one of my machines and start quilting this Blooming 9-Patch that I've been anxious to work on for some time.

Most people do a large bed-sized version of this quilt, and it really can be stunning depending upon one's fabric choices. I wanted one I could hang on a wall in my living room. My late mother-in-law gifted me with most of the fabric in this quilt shortly before she passed away. I think she would have liked how it turned out.
itshardtobelieverichie
This year I set my sights much lower! Christine had suggested I aim for one per month. An excellent idea, although it hasn't worked out that I actually work on one per month. No, being ADD means I work on multiple things at once. But I did shorten my list to 13 items and while we're now over 4 months into the challenge, only 1 item is actually finished. That would be this one here:

However, I've made significant progress on 2 more items on the list. One I'm hand quilting and it's almost finished. The other just needs to be layered, basted, and quilted. It was literally just in pieces back in December.

So, have I told you lately to go over and bid? Yeah, you need to do that right now.

Phyl's 5 Phaves from April

2010-05-06T00:05:00.001-04:00

Before I get into this month's list, don't forget to hop over to the Brenda Novak Online Auction for Diabetes Research. My quilt is listed here and last I looked had already been bid up to $91. Very exciting. QBFF T. says she's going to win it. Make her pay through the nose!

I had plenty of strong reads last month and it was hard to pick just 5.

5. In for a Penny by Rose Lerner. This is, I believe, Lerner's debut novel. I had seen several positive reviews for this book, including this DIK review at AAR. The story involves a young man, Nev (short for Lord Nevinstoke), who inherits an earldom and an impoverished estate. When he learns the extent of the debts his father left, he proposes marriage to the only child of a wealthy brewer, a young woman named Penelope, or Penny. Penny is a "Cit" and thus looked down upon by most of aristocratic society. But Nev needs Penny's money and Penny is attracted to Nev and wants to help him. The purpose for their marriage is very straightforward. This book compares, I suppose, in some ways to Heyer's A Civil Contract but with a much more satisfying ending. This is a wonderful marriage of convenience story about a couple who have an awful lot to work through in order to get to their happy ending. And as a historical there's some good stuff here about the poor economy of post-war England, the huge gulf between the haves and have-nots, and worker unrest. This was an excellent book and it has me greatly looking forward to Lerner's next book due right after Christmas.

4. Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts. Book 3 in the Bride Quartet was another winner. This time we have Laurel, the cake-baker, and Del, Parker's brother and life-long friend to Laurel. Laurel has always been in love with Del, but he's always treated her as a sister. One night Laurel gets tired of being a "sister" and changes their relationship by kissing him. As a romance, this book is pretty simple and probably wouldn't appeal if you want it to be about the romance. But I didn't really mind. Once again I loved the underlying story of 4 girlfriends who have such a solid relationship with one another. The book is full of great, witty dialogue and one obligatory wedding "disaster" story that made the book, for me, a very fun read. I was hooked from the start. And very hungry for cake.

3. Broken by Shiloh Walker. After having read Walker's Fragile last year, I was really looking forward to the sequel about Luke's brother Quinn. Broken did not disappoint. In fact I think I liked it even better. There was a very clever twist that I spoiled for myself by peeking at the end. Bad Phyl! Bad Phyl! KristieJ did the same thing. She, too regretted it. But even with that spoiler, this was a terrific read because the characters were both so strong and determined. Sara is a woman in trouble. She lives under the radar (using only cash and a false name) and is a boarder at the same house as Quinn. Quinn is out of the army now and works as a bounty hunter. Just as he gets close to Sara, Quinn is handed a new assignment--and Sara is his new target. Quinn has to decide between what his gut is telling him and what he sees in the folder from his boss. Very well done.

2. The Wild Marquis by Miranda Neville. This is a book I liked so much that I ended up writing a full review of it here.

1. Breathless by Laura Lee Guhrke. I wrote what was essentially a two word review for this a couple weeks ago. "Wonderful, engrossing." And that pretty well sums up this classic historical. Besides the very unusual setting (small town Georgia, turn of the 20th century), this book clearly shows two people who start out truly disliking and distrusting one another and slowly changing their minds as they get to know the other. But this book is so much more as it brings to life this small Georgia town and also explores the stigma of divorce. And it has the most lovely, romantic ending, too.

Ready for the auction!

2010-04-28T00:05:00.001-04:00

Tonight I finished my happy rainbow quilt and emailed a picture to Brenda Novak to list on the auction site. Hopefully it'll appear there within a day or so. Meanwhile, here are some fun facts about this quilt:

1. This quilt is a traditional 9-patch design. The layout, though, is a modification of a design by Jean Nolte that appeared in the 2010 March/April issue of Fons & Porter Love of Quilting magazine. That quilt, "Dream in Color" emphasized value placement. I decided to play with color placement.

2. This quilt is made entirely from my stash (see picture in the sidebar). I have been quilting for over 25 years and collecting fabric for most of that time. I found one fabric with a copyright date of 1989 in the selvage. Another fabric I remember purchasing last summer while on vacation. I am certain several other fabrics are at least 15 years old.

3. There are 1,053 individual 1.5" squares in the finished top. It measures 54" x 40.5".

4. I began this quilt on or about March 14. It took me just over 6 weeks to finish it. I used up a 500-yard spool of thread for the quilting on top. That means I used another 500 yards in the bobbin.

When the quilt gets listed on the auction site, I'll post a link on my blog. Please feel free to copy that information into your own blogs. I also give free permission for this photo to be used to publicize the auction elsewhere. If you want me to email you a copy of the photo, write to me at the email in my sidebar.

Finally, on May 1, GO BID!!!

TBR Day. Breathless / Laura Lee Guhrke. 1999

2010-04-21T22:03:00.003-04:00

Despite the quilt and the kid's track meet, I managed to finish my TBR read! (There's a fair bit of down time during a track meet.)

But I have no time to write a review.

Not that it matters. This is a much-loved book and now I know why. I loved it. Wonderful. Engrossing. There was no excuse for letting it sit on the TBR pile so long. I think I forgot it was there.

My copy, which I bought off Amazon Marketplace, is a castoff from the Dallas Public Library. How about that? I must now pass it along to the QBFFs and a few others to read.

And now, back to finishing that pesky Happy Quilt.

Too busy quilting for TBR Day

2010-04-21T00:05:00.000-04:00

I'm working hard to get this finished so I can get it bound and a decent picture taken to send to Brenda for the auction. My goal is to be done by Monday. Tonight I finished the quilting.

No TBR book this month.

The Wild Marquis / Miranda Neville. 2010

2010-04-20T00:20:00.000-04:00

Almost exactly a year ago, I read Miranda Neville's first book, Never Resist Temptation. It was an April 2009 Phave. At the time I remarked how surprised I was at how much I liked it, because, frankly, I expected another wallpaper historical. That is not what I got then, and that is most definitely what I did not get with Neville's latest, The Wild Marquis. Sadly, the title does lend itself to thinking "Wallpaper, ahoy!" but honestly, just like with a Harlequin Presents, you cannot judge a book by its title. And while we're at it, don't judge this book by its cover either.
TWM is Neville's second book and I found myself liking this one even more than her first. It is not connected to NRT. This book is about Juliana Merton, a widowed bookseller who is barely able to make ends meet. Despite her extensive knowledge of books and the book trade, book collectors, who were mostly men, were unwilling to trust her abilities or hire her to act as their agent during book auctions. She is barely scraping by. And a rather larger and important book auction is looming. Juliana needs a patron for the auction so she can bid on a particular book that has sentimental meaning for her, not to mention so she can earn enough to support herself.
Enter the hero, the "wild Marquis" of the title. Cain, the Marquis of Chase has a very unsavory reputation. Thrown out of his home by his father at the age of 16, Cain lived mostly on his wits until his father died and Cain came into his title and fortune. He remains estranged from his mother and sister and is clearly a hero with some issues. Cain is interested in buying a particular book that is about to be auctioned at Sotheby's because he recognizes it as something that used to belong to his father. He is curious as to how it ended up in the auction in the first place. Cain hires Juliana to represent him at the auction and Juliana has the opportunity to recover that book she wanted.
Both Juliana and Cain have mysteries they want to solve, and of course, the mysteries intersect at the auction. These mysteries keep the plot moving forward, but I didn't think they ever overshadowed the developing relationship between Juliana and Cain. As in her first book, Neville writes clever dialogue and intelligent characters. Once again I liked how this book takes place in Regency England, yet with a setting that is most definitely off the beaten path. Neville writes knowledgeably about the book trade and the auction process without overwhelming the reader with trivial detail. A good bit of the story takes place in Juliana's little shop or at the auction house.
There is much more to this book, though. Cain has a complicated relationship with his family and he sets about repairing some of that. The secondary characters are interesting and while there's some sequel baiting here, it's lightly done.
This is just a gem of a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and am happy to recommend. I was also lucky enough to buy it as an ebook just before April 1 when the Agency 5 pricing model kicked in. In other words, I got it at a discount. Hopefully the discounts will be available again when the next book comes out later this year.