Quilts and Books

I'm going to experiment with a more rambling sort of post about my reading. Perhaps if I'm a little less formal, I'll be inclined to do this more often. I hope this is interesting, and even mildly entertaining. So here goes: For some time now I've wanted to read Susan Wiggs' Lakeshore Chronicles and when I noticed that my library has them in ebook form, I started checking them out. I read the first one, Summer at Willow Lake , back in February and then the next two, The Winter Lodge and Dockside , in April. I have really enjoyed these books, especially the fact that some of main characters are older (i.e. 40). In some ways this series is similar to other long, small-town series such as Robyn Carr's Virgin River series. Yet Lakeshore  has more depth to it, which is probably an indicator of Wiggs' strength as a writer. The characters are very inter-connected and I'm not sure how easy it would be to read just one book as a stand-alone. At any rate, I...

Hi all. I have been seriously AWOL lately and I am sorry for that. Unfortunately I had some minor, nagging health problems that had me just sitting around much of the time feeling lethargic and sorry for myself. I'm hopeful that the worst of it is behind me now and I can catch up and show off some recently completed quilts! Meanwhile, let's see if I can remember what I liked about these books: 5. The Christmas Child by Linda Goodnight . This book was listed as a RITA finalist in the Inspirational category and when I saw it at the library I decided to pick it up. It's about a couple who are brought together when a lost, mute, 6-year old boy shows up in the small town of Redemption, OK. Kade is a big-city undercover cop recuperating from a tough assignment when the little boy is found huddled in the back of a dumpster. Sophie is an elementary school teacher who takes an interest in both the boy and the man. This is a sweet story about love and faith that is told with a l...

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 ...

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 (parent...

I have to look back and thank March 2010 for being an unusually pleasant month. Normally, March is anything but pleasant around here. It's usually cold and damp and busy. Yet after our record-breaking snows of February, spring burst upon us. We had quite a bit of sun. I had ample time to read. I even liked most of what I read. And then I made a happy quilt for the Brenda Novak auction . Really, I do hate to see April arrive. Because there's that little matter of my taxes... Before I list my top 5, I have to give an honorable mention to The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie , a re-read that I liked just as much this time as I did the first time around. Another book that almost made the cut was Karen Ranney's A Promise of Love . This is one of her earlier books. Twice widowed, Judith is a woman who has suffered terrible abuse at the hands of her second husband. She is unwanted by her family, so her father sends her off to Scotland to a man who survived Culloden and has watch...

I was going to write this up on Tuesday, but then I started reading Jo Goodman's Never Love a Lawman and, well, I just had to finish that first! 5. Never Romance a Rake by Liz Carlyle . This was one from my TBR pile that I've had for a year now. The hero, Rothewell, is one of those heroes who is about as dark as they come. A horrific childhood combined with a boatload of guilt over the circumstances of his older brother's death have filled him with a lot of self-hatred. He gambles with some very disreputable people and finds himself agreeing to a wager that, should he win, commits him to marry the illegitimate daughter of his gambling partner. Camille is desperate to be married, period, and makes it clear she supports this wager. The two are drawn to one another immediately, and must learn to make their marriage work, despite their secrets and their pasts. This was another beautifully drawn book by Carlyle that focused on the relationship between Rothewell and Camille. Ca...

In June I could not muster enough enthusiasm to select 5 favorite books from what I read. Not a problem for July! Of course, with all those miles to spend reading, I had much to choose from. So as a bonus I have 5 honorable mentions to go along with my 5 phaves. Aren't you all so lucky!? My biases are definitely showing with this group of 10. Seven of the 10 are historicals (6 of those Regency-set). Only 1 book was a new-to-me author; the other 9 authors I count among my favorites and I try (when the budget allows) to purchase rather than borrow books by these authors. So in this post, in no particular order, are my Honorable Mentions. Tomorrow I'll post the top 5. Jade Lee's The Dragon Earl was a fascinating tale of a lost peer who has come home to take his rightful place as Earl. In this case, hero Jacob Cato was left for dead in China when he was still quite young. He had been promised to Evelyn Stanton when they were small children. Jacob returns to England just as Ev...

Late again! 5. Scandal by Amanda Quick . This is considered a classic Amanda Quick and I gave it a quickie review here back when I read it. I really liked the heroine in this book as well as the quick-witted dialogue between her and Simon. I read a copy from the library, but I wouldn't mind buying it if were ever issued as an ebook. 4. Vision in White by Nora Roberts . I just reviewed this here . It was so nice to read a Nora Roberts book that was a straight romance. She does all things well, but I do love a character-driven story and this was it in spades. 3. Never Resist Temptation by Miranda Neville . This also got a mini review . I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this book. This was an interesting story of a young French woman hiding herself from her nasty guardian by working as a pastry chef. On the surface, the story seemed unlikely, which is why I was initially reluctant to read it. But Ms. Neville made it plausible and the well-written dialogue moved ...

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

November was a pretty darn good reading month. I have to say that I honestly enjoyed every book I read last month. Some better than others, but nothing said "meh" to me when I was finished. Considering I had one set of family here for a week and then took off to visit another set of family for Thanksgiving, I'm amazed I read as much as I did. This month's honorable mention goes to the trio of old Anne Stuart books I read: One More Valentine , Cinderman , and The Soldier and the Baby . I bought a collection on Fictionwise of Anne Stuart "out-of-print gems." These are 3 of the 5 books included in the collection. They're from the mid-1990s and each campy and fun. It's interesting to read earlier work from one of my favorite authors. I hope they bundle more of her older books. On to my 5 Phaves: 5. Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James . This was a very entertaining book about a lawyer from Chicago who is on temporary assignment in Los Angeles ...

Eloisa James is one of my favorite authors, and I’ve looked forward to each of her new releases for several years now. Much Ado about You was one I reread a couple of times. But I have to say that her last two books prior to this one were rather disappointing. Now I’m going to venture into unfounded speculation. But I’ve wondered over the last year how someone who is the mother of two young children, holds a demanding full-time job (although maybe she gets her summers off), maintains a visible online presence, and is sometimes found on TV or in print interviews can possibly find time to write. Sometimes I want to tell Ms. James to crawl into a hole and write me some more books, dammit! Her second to last book in particular, The Taming of the Duke , had so many holes I just had to wonder if all that other stuff in her life had her writing to deadline rather than writing her best. Just wondering, and really, her life is her business. So, this made me rather wary about Desperate Duchesse...