Quilts and Books

Well, hasn't the romance online community been messed up this week? I'm glad I've managed to stay away from the big blogs and virtually hang with folks who tell it like it is and mostly just want to read some good books. So in that spirit, how about a little book talk and a couple of pretty pictures? First up, I've totally failed at posting my last two TBR Challenge reads. I did read the books. In February my recommended read was Almost a Scandal  by Elizabeth Essex . This review of the book  at DukeDukeGoose (damn, is that not the best blog name ever?) is what made me decide to read it for the February challenge. I have to admit I was skeptical because it's a Regency "chick in pants" book and I generally find them implausible. Not this time. Essex made it perfectly reasonable that heroine Sally Kent could pass as a young boy who knew her way around a ship. People often see what they want to see. And when the hero figures out the truth pretty quickly, we...

Here in the U.S., today is Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer. It's a day off for a lot of us, but not for everyone. I'm one of the lucky ones with a 3-day weekend. So I thought I'd visit my blog (hello, poor neglected blog) and reflect on some of the reading I did this summer. tl;dr version: I re-read a lot. I read a lot of Nora. I even listened to a few audiobooks. I'm not a fan of a recent RITA winner. And is anything NOT a part of a series? New Robin D. Owens--love. Re-reads. I spent some time re-reading a couple of favorite series. I went back to Mary Balogh's Slightly series and read the whole thing in about 2 weeks time. It was interesting to note that my initial opinions still hold. My favorite by far is the first one, Slightly Married . I really dislike numbers 4 and 5, Slightly Tempted and Slightly Sinful . Most people seem to love Slightly Dangerous the most, but I don't feel the love. I just don't get Christine's appeal as a h...

Yes, yes, I know. It's November. I don't want to admit how long I've had a draft of this post waiting to be published. 5. Her Best Worst Mistake / Sarah Mayberry . (2012) This book received a lot of attention when it was first released, so I was pretty eager to read it. Plus, I've liked most of Mayberry's books that I've read. This is an enemies to lovers story, and really interesting in the way Mayberry's characters, Violet and Martin, shed the assumptions each has had about the other. This book runs concurrent to Hot Island Nights (which I haven't read). Elizabeth and Martin had been engaged for years, when suddenly Elizabeth flies off to Australia in search of her biological father. She leaves her best friend, Violet, to break the news to Martin. Martin and Violet have never gotten along. Violet thinks Martin is all wrong for Elizabeth, and Martin objects to Violet's flamboyant ways. On the surface they seem so different for one another, yet w...

Since I prefer to write about the books that were especially memorable for me, and since I am reading fewer books on average, I am preserving the alliteration in my title by only mentioning four books this month. Everything else that I read was pretty enjoyable and three of the books books were re-reads so not mentioned here. It was a good month. 4. Promoted: To Wife and Mother by Jessica Hart . TBR Day hostess SuperWendy reviewed this book  and her enthusiastic review combined with a most excellent price point for Kindle convinced me to buy this book. I ended up reading it almost right away and I'm glad I did. I'm not going to bother with much description; Wendy does such a good job in her review. I will tell you why I liked it though: hero and heroine in their 40s, teenagers (I have one of my own), dealing with the failing health of a parent, and finding time for romance between job and family responsibilities--that last one is darn hard. I thought Hart put all of these th...

5. Angel's End by Cindy Holby . This is the first book in a new historical western series about a small Colorado mining town. A drifter by the name of Cade Gentry stumbles into town during a blizzard. He'd been wounded during a gunfight and is wearing the coat that belonged to a preacher who was on his way to Angel's End to serve in their church. The people who rescue him assume he is that preacher and to protect himself from those who might be looking for him, he doesn't correct their assumption. He is nursed back to health by a widow, Leah, with a young son. As Leah and Cade get to know one another, they fall in love. But Cade is afraid his past will catch up with him, putting Leah, her son, and the people of Angel's Fall in harm's way. He doesn't feel worthy to be with her. Cade has to come clean with the truth and Leah has to be willing to risk loving again. This was a sweet romance that I found quite enjoyable. 4. An Infamous Marriage by Susanna Fra...

5. Trouble at the Wedding / Laura Lee Guhrke . An impoverished Earl of dubious character is about to marry a wealthy American heiress from the backwaters of Mississippi. Her uncle hires an impoverished Duke, also of dubious character, to put a stop to the wedding. And thus begins this Edwardian-set historical that explores the British aristocracy's need for American money at the turn of the 20th century. Christian, the Duke and our hero, was married before and is determined to never marry again. Annabel is a smart and determined young woman who has a very business-like, practical approach to marriage. She wants to find a place in society specifically so her younger sister will never have to experience the social ostracism that Annabel experienced as a teen. Besides the setting, the best part of this book for me was Annabel who knew exactly what she was doing and why she was doing it. She understood how to use and make money and it was refreshing to see Christian come to her for ad...

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 fr...

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 ...

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 t...

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...