Plot Monkeys

But then Leslie and Carly had such fascinating posts this week, how could I possibly measure up?

Still…

You see, I have this very odd fascination with make-up. I realized this as I was packing for my trip last week to Laguna Beach and had to consolidate all the makeup I have into one manageable bag…a task I undertake before every trip. Trouble is, no matter how many times I consolidate, I still have to tussle with a great big collection of eye shadows, lips sticks, lip pencils, brushes, etc. I’m a makeup junkie. Estee Lauder is my dealer.

But here’s the funny thing–I hardly EVER wear the stuff.

I knew I’d need it for this trip because the journey was on behalf of my husband’s company. If I have to be around work people, I do the full warpaint thing. Okay, one day I fudged and didn’t wear base/foundation. Hey, I was hanging out by the pool. Can’t go overboard.

The rest of the time, I had the full regalia of color. As little as I wear the stuff during my normal life, I love applying it. I think it’s the artist in me. (Yes, I used to draw and paint…but I was never very good, so I dropped it.) Anyway, I love watching makeover shows and going and having my makeup done by professionals so I can learn all the tricks that really transform me. I mean, if you look the same with makeup and without, then what’s the point?!

I’m lucky that Carly shares my love of makeup, even though she won’t leave the house without looking fabulous while 99% of the time, I look like I just rolled out of bed. When we go on Plotmonkey retreats, we check out each other’s collections and write down colors and such. It’s very girly and very fun. Then I’ll go out and buy more stuff that I don’t need and likely won’t wear.

But I have to have it!

I mean, what if I’m finally getting dressed for some big to-do and I don’t have the precise shade of purple eye shadow BASE that I need for the fabulous purple eye shadow I just bought? And what if I’m wearing cool colors and all I have in my purse are warm lipsticks? Isn’t this a reason for a major upheaval? I have to avoid it. Have to, have to. I mean, this sort of crisis sends me straight to Macy’s.

Okay, I’m sort of kidding. Sort of.

My husband says I wear too much makeup…but I think that’s only because I take so long to put it on. Trust me, he’d faint dead away if I tried to go to church without make-up on. It’s the one time a week you can count on seeing me look like I’m not dead. Even at school, if I wear makeup, the other moms comment on it. They ask me where I’ve been or where I’m going because they know some special occasion must be afoot. I get more compliments at school before and after I go to funerals. Isn’t that sad?

But I have to say, I was always this way with makeup, even back when I had to wear it every day. Although, my poor students who had me first period. I’m not a morning person. Chances are, all they saw was base. I did the rest of my makeup during homeroom. Did I mention I was a teacher then and not a student? Needless to say, none of my female students got demerits from me for putting on makeup during homeroom.

My obsession with makeup is a lot like my need to buy books. I buy entirely more than I will ever read and I can’t go into a bookstore without a paperback charged to the Am Ex before I leave. And if freebies are involved? Well, that’s all she wrote. No one can go hog wild over a “free gift with purchase” from Estee Lauder like I can. Hell, I fall for the “purchase with purchase.” It’s a sickness. It really is.

But you know what? My eyeshadow will always either coordinate with what I’m wearing or with my eye color (hazel.) My blush will always be bronzer. My lips will usually be lined and the color filled and glossed…unless it’s after I’ve eaten, then all bets are off. See, I’m really good at putting on the makeup, but I nearly always forget to touch it up.

It’s like I’m half girly-girl and half obsessive-compulsive.

So, anyone out there that shares my weird love of warpaint? Or is there something else that you simply must buy even if you will rarely use it and already have too much of it anyway?

It’s official. I hate Izzie Stevens.

For those of you who watch Grey’s Anatomy, you know why. For those of you who don’t…well, let’s just say she’s been going downhill ever since the whole Denny storyline and she just totally went beyond redemption Thursday night when she slept with the married-to-Callie-who-I-adore George!

You know what’s funny, though? I don’t hate George…(as much!) And yet he’s the one who cheated! Isn’t that weird? I mean, I am SO mad at him, and I really want Callie to KICK HIS BUTT! But I want to see hikm suffer…like, realize he truly does love Callie and walk through fire and be just tortured as he tries to get her back. Essentially, I want to see what happens next and how he gets himself out of this mess.

But Izzie? Hate her. Loathe her. Detest her. Wish she’d leave the show and never come back.

Because she broke the code.

Maybe that’s not so unusual for a woman to feel that way about “the other woman.” Whenever I hear of someone who’s been cheated on, I blame the husband for being a dickwad, but the other woman gets the brunt of my venom. I know it’s terribly sexist–and probably not fair–but I almost hold women up to a higher standard. Not that I believe the b.s. that men are just instinctively bred to cheat…that’s an excuse and I don’t believe it for a minute. Not all men cheat, by any means, and I am quite sure many of them are faithful to their wives forever. (Like mine and all the other lucky Plotmonkeys!) But there’s just something about the sister-of-womanhood philosophy that makes me righteously indignant when one of them poaches on another one’s man.

It’s not that I think the other woman is more to blame than the man who cheats. I don’t. He’s the one who made the vow, he’s the one who broke it, therefore, he is most to blame.

BUT…the other woman is the one I despise more overall.

I think the only way I can explain it is like this: a man vows to love and cherish & be faithful to a woman on the day he marries her. He promised her. And if he is enough of a creep to break that promise, she is the one he has hurt and betrayed.

But the other woman could have poached on any other woman’s husband. Mine…or yours. So she’s an enemy to all of us.

Does that make any sense?

A very good friend of mine was cheated on. Her hubby took up with her best friend (who was also a friend of mine.) It ruined two marriages. It was just ugly. And I totally blew off the hubby as trash on whom I didn’t need to expend one moment of thought or energy. The former best friend wasn’t as easy to forget. I just stewed and honestly (in Regency terms) gave her the “cut direct” whenever I saw her. IE–I saw the husband once or twice and wasn’t exactly warm, but I didn’t glare him straight to hell, either. The woman? Oh, man, she had to feel the fire of my wrath from a hundred feet away at the third grade musical performance at the elementary school where her son was in class with my daughter!

Basically, if one of my bff’s hubbies cheated I would be the first one to buy a voodoo doll and stick pins in his nether regions with my gal pals on a you-will-survive Friday night out.

But for the woman he cheated with…I’d buy two voodoo dolls.

So what does everyone else think? Am I alone in blaming the man but loathing the woman?

PS: I do realize women cheat, too…I apologize to any male visitors for this totally-chick-post today!

Did you ever notice that when you’re forbidden from doing something, you want to do it that much more? So much so that you can’t stop thinking about it? It becomes an obsession. It started as a “get healthy” thing. I was going to lose weight just because I was going on a low cholesterol diet. It happened of necessity at first. And the exercise was going well. Well, going well for me, which meant I was doing the treadmill thing a few times a week. Then something bad happened. Something self-defeating.

First, after three months of the good food, my cholesterol came back with no change. My LDL (the bad goopy stuff in my arteries) is bad. :thumbsdown: Thank you heredity. And of course, I began to feel like, then why am I bothering to do all these good things for my body?:cry: Well the answer :lightbulb:came to me after a week of wallowing in MnM’s and no exercise. (OK so I was in Aruba and who wants to be a good girl there?). The answer was simple: Imagine how bad my blood work and cholesterol and body would be without good food and exercise? It was time to go back to being good.

Except that I developed some bad habits :thumbsdown: that I need you to help me break. Janelle already made me promise to up my fruit and vegetable intake and I will. I promise. Maybe by the time this posts, I already have. But that won’t solve the things that are affecting my waistline.

Thing 1 – The desire for sweets after every meal
Thing 2 – Instead of eating one 100 calorie pack, I eat two. Or more. At one time.
Thing 3 – When I bring my daughter her cup of cereal and water (no she’s not in prison) snack at night, I fill up a cup of Frosted Flakes for me too (and that’s not a measured cup it’s bigger)
Thing 4 – When I am home writing, I am hungrier than when I am out running errands and so I keep going to the fridge for food every hour.
Thing 5 – My lunches suck. Think big calorie cinammon raisin bagel and then the sweet thing craving and you get the picture.
Thing 6 – Can’t stop thinking about food.
Thing 7 - I really HATE exercise.

I need to say I bought new exercise clothes to up my desire to exercise. (I’m hiding from Janelle) but all that’s done is make me look sorta cute but still lacking in desire to get on the treadmill!

I need suggestions to stop these self-sabotaging THINGS. Can you help me? (And while you are posting to help poor pathetic me, care to share what self-sabotaging habits YOU have? Doesn’t have to be diet. Can be anything!)

Congrats to Kim, #71, for winning this week’s contest! Please email me your snail mail address to julie @ julieleto.com (no spaces) with your snail mail address so I can ship it right out! Also, since you told me about your niece’s rock, you also get to choose a book. Let me know a few titles you might be interested in and I’ll let you know which ones I have.

Here’s the funny…you know what a super-hero freak I am, I couldn’t resist.

Brenda Chin realized there were a few more questions from her visit Thursday and she graciously agreed to answer them. Thanks again for coming, Brenda!!

1) Tell us what new authors you’re really excited about. What authors are debuting this year? What sorts of stories are they doing? Comedy? Drama?

We’ve got some really cool things coming up in Blaze in 2008 – the biggest two being Leslie’s Blaze Encounters, 5 connected short stories in one book. It’s perfect for people that are looking for a quick Blaze fix. Also, coming up in the summer of 2008, I’m going to have a chance to return to my first love – Historicals. Hope Tarr, who writes Historicals for Medallion and Blaze for me is going to mix the two! After all, historical romance has always been very, very sexy. There’s no reason we can’t try it and see how it goes. Hope’s book will take us back to Scotland, where the heroine has just become laird of her clan (father, brother dead). She knows she needs a male to solidify her position…but instead of a man, she decides to have a child. And she kidnaps the younger son of the rival clan to perform stud service. After all, the rival clan won’t attack when one of their own is poised to take over in 20 years, right? I’m really looking forward to it.

As for new authors, we’ve got a number of them. We just bought Karen Foley, whose book, Flyboy, has an incredible military hero. Other new authors are Tawny Weber, who writes in a very naughty, playful style and Stephanie Tyler, who also has a weakness for military men. (We do other things than just military – it just happens that these two writers know the military world really well.)

We also have some established authors, new to Blaze in the line-up. Kelley St. John’s Blaze debut is a trilogy called The Sexth Sense, featuring very sexy mediums, and even sexier ghosts, who don’t want to do any crossing until they’ve done the deed. Hope Tarr has her second book, The Haunting coming out in April, which introduces the theme of reincarnation and everlasting love. Jade Lee is in the 2008 schedule with a book based on Chinese erotica. So there’s a lot to be excited about.

2. Are you planning to teach a seminar or two in Dallas?

Yes, I’m doing one workshop in Dallas. Tawny Weber, Joanne Rock, Jamie Sobrato (all Golden Heart finalists) and I will be talking about how to stand out in the slush pile. I’ll also be doing an hour of appointments too.

3) Where do you see Blaze heading in the future?

Blaze is getting sexier. That doesn’t mean we need to have the sexy hooks that we started with, but there has to be romantic hooks that can be made sexy. Blaze is first and foremost a romance line – and themes like reunited lovers, love triangles, etc. work really well when done in a sexy manner. You’ll probably notice the change most starting in April this year. From that point on, covers are sexier, titles are more blatant and back cover copy lets the reader know just what they’re in for.

4) Regarding requested manuscripts, what separates the ones you buy from the ones that get passed up?

As far as what makes the cut, it’s exactly what Julie said – voice! And incredible characterization comes in a very close second. If a writer can draw me in with her voice, and give me characters I can identify with immediately, that’s the most important thing. Plot is important…but it can always be fixed. It’s the heart of the story–the characters, the romance, the author’s voice–that really counts.

In honor of the upcoming Irish holiday, I picked something green as my prize this week. I’ll throw in a book, too, if the winner’s comment contains a line about their favorite good luck charm!

Found this at a great website called Wine Country Gift Baskets. Couldn’t resist the coconut lime and this looks like a great introduction to Wine Country’s Cru de Provence luxurious spa products. Cru de Provence coconut lime scented body butter, body bar and matching soap dish, moisturizing gloves and coconut lime hand cream fill this functional and stylish boat tote.

You know the drill…post your comment and be entered…winners in the continental US only

We’re so excited here in the jungle today, because we have one of our very favorite people visiting!

If you read our “first call” stories during the past several Saturdays, I am quite sure you will recognize the name Brenda Chin. Brenda, an Associate Senior Editor with Harlequin Enterprises (who is currently in charge of the exciting and vibrant Harlequin Blaze line) bought the very first books Carly, Julie and Leslie ever sold, and bought Janelle’s very first contemporary. So as we’re sure you can imagine, we all :love2: :love2: Brenda VERY much.

Please give a warm jungle welcome for her as she gives her perspective on making that first call!

The Best Part of My Job

First of all, I’d like to thank Julie, Leslie, Janelle and Carly for having me here. I’ve never blogged before, so be easy on me, will you?

Anyway, since all the Plot Monkeys talked earlier about their first sales, I thought I’d tell you what it’s like on the other side - being the one to make those calls. It is, without a doubt, the best part of my job.

Over the past 18 years, I’ve had the privilege of making The Call 31 times!

Some authors, like Leslie, were pretty cool (it’s nice to know she jumped around AFTER she hung up the phone ) but the majority of writers are really, really excited…and it makes me feel great! I even had one woman scream and hang up on me. It’s something I tease her about to this day.

Part of the reason I’ve been so lucky with new authors is the fact that I’ve always worked on series romance–and series romance always needs new blood and fresh ideas. (Part of the reason Blaze did well enough in Temptation to warrant its own series is because many writers new to Temptation decided to push the envelope). For my series, new authors are very important because many of our core writers became very good, very quickly. Now, most of them are writing for other houses as well as Harlequin. This means fewer books in the schedule for me…and more opportunity for new authors.

My personal author base is mainly made up of authors I brought in, either brand new or new to Harlequin. I acquired many of these writers, like the Plot Monkeys, when I was just a junior editor, and we all sort of grew up together.
This fact hit home when I realized that 95% of my authors are within 5 years of my age. Now I know why we all watched the same thing on TV when we were kids….

(ahem…

The most amazing thing to me is realizing what one book can start. And it’s even more amazing to know I’ve been a part of it. It just seems like yesterday that manuscripts from Leslie Kelly, Carly Phillips, Janelle Denison and Julie Leto crossed my desk.

And look at them now! And they’re not alone. The Temptation/Blaze lines have introduced the world to some incredible talent - authors like the Plot Monkeys, Vicki Lewis Thompson, Tori Carrington, Jennifer Crusie, Julie Kenner, Stephanie Bond, Kate Hoffmann and Lori Foster, to name just a few…

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve often wondered if I should be doing something else, something that makes a difference in the world. But then I realize that I am making a difference - to every author who gets a chance at her dream, and to every reader whose day becomes a little better because she picked up one of our books.

All in all, it’s not a bad job at all…

I wish this was one of those clever quizzes, but it’s simply my rumination on all things automotive. You see, I spent a good deal of time at the dealership this month, trying to iron out some problems with the detailing I had done to my car. I’ve also just started a new book and invariably, I had to decide what kind of car my hero drove.

Cars, like music and clothes, reflect a person’s personality. A hero who drives a PT Cruiser is not the same as one who drives a Porche. My hero in my upcoming Blaze drives an old, beat-up Ford Mustang fastback because my heroine talked him into buying it. (Which you will see later on is no big surprise, judging by my own dream car.) When I’m creating a character, I think hard and do research into cars and trucks before I pick the vehicle said character will drive. I remember that Angela Harris, the heroine of my first book, drove a practical SUV. Made sense since she was a mom. My heroine of my book, What’s Your Pleasure?, Devon Michaels, drove a Cadillac Escalade. She was also a mom, but a rich one, hence the luxury vehicle. Her best friend, lusty Sydney Coburn, drove a convertible Corvette. Again, no surprise to anyone who reads that character. Hers was red and convertible and if I remember correctly, a collector’s item. Again, of course it was! She was the ultimate little red Corvette.

Whenever I purchase a new car, I think about how the vehicle will reflect me. Is this vain? I’m not sure, but it’s the way it is. I remember so clearly shopping for my first car the summer before my senior year of high school. This is the car I wanted. A Ford Mustang.

This is the car I got:

(Okay, this isn’t actually the car…it’s a model of the car type. As you all know, all my pics from high school were destroyed. But this is as close to the car I had as I could get. Mine was red, had custom-pin stripes that were orange and yellow. It is no wonder I had many speeding tickets from this era…cops could spot me from a mile away.)

I should confess that my grandfather bought me my first car. He bought cars for all his grandkids when they turned 16…except me, I waited until I was 17, but that was by choice. I have to say that buying me the 4-cylinder Corolla rather than the 8-cylinder Mustang probably saved my life. My nickname in college was Andretti. It was on the back of my sorority jersey and it was not an exaggeration. I won every road rally we ever had. I was fast. Why I’m still alive at the speeds I drove just goes to prove that there is a God.

My second car was the coolest. A Toyota Celica, black, with a spoiler around the bottom…very much like this one, but black. It was the first car I bought myself right after I graduated from college. This car was not only fast, it was a five-speed. I think I bought black leather racing gloves…or maybe someone gave them to me as a gift. Oh, the stories I can tell you about that car. Again, it’s a wonder I’m still alive.

I have to say that I did start slowing down right around the time that I got married and in a bid to save money, we sold my Celica and I started driving my husband’s truck. You just can’t go that fast in a Chevy Blazer. The car was SO not me. I hated driving it. But it got me where I was going, that’s for sure.

After we moved to Atlanta, my husband decided to buy me my first-ever brand new car. (All the others had been used cars.) He spoiled me and got me a Pathfinder. I can’t remember the year. 1995, I think. I drove it until my husband fell in love with the Jeep Liberty. He travelled all over town until he could find a dealership that would sell us one in the color we wanted–they were so new, most dealers were holding on to the one or two they had in order to take orders.

I loved my Liberty. It was an SUV, but not. It was fun. Cute. And for a little while, unique. It reflected me. But it wasn’t safe. The car we had (first generation) had problems with the wheel base that made it very easy to loose traction. I had a baby in the car. It had to go.

I decided to go back to the Pathfinder. It’s a solid SUV and for a short person like me, I love the height and weight of a great big sport utility vehicle, but I don’t want a Hummer or something I can’t park! I like the car. Does it reflect me? Well, since being a mom is now my main focus, yeah, it does.

I wish this car (my dream car from my youth) reflected me, but you know…all I see when I look at this car now is a death trap. Time changes everything, I guess.

But one thing doesn’t change…my dream car from college. The one I couldn’t afford. The one I certainly still can’t afford, but a girl can dream, can’t she?

This one. Man, isn’t this sweet? 1965 Mustang. (Janelle, don’t remind me that you once owned one of these or I may have to hate you.) This car in this picture, black and sleek…I swoon when I see it. Convertible is nice, but fastback is better. Florida is hot and you only have a limited amount of months to keep the top down without getting a sunburn on your head. I like this. Someday…

In the meantime, my characters drive the cars I love. That’s one definite perk of this life as a writer…being able to live vicariously through people you’ve created and control. I have to research these things because though this blog might make you think otherwise, I don’t know or care a lot about cars. It’s like my attitude toward wine and art…I don’t know much, but I know what I like. And I love this car. It reflects my attitude toward life…and now, I’m actually old enough and wise enough to drive it without killing myself.

So, what’s your dream car? Why? Do you have anyone in your life, including you, who drives a car that reflects their personality?

Don’t forget! Tomorrow is our guest blog with Harlequin editor Brenda Chin! You don’t have to be a writer to ply her with questions about books, so be prepared!

aka a feel good movie I highly recommend
:love2::love2::love2::love2::love2:

I took my ten year old to see this movie and I LOVED it. Maybe it was the 80’s videos and the 80’s hair, but I was smiling from the very beginning of this movie to the end. Okay of course the romance writer in me wanted them to make Drew Barrymore’s character stronger by the end. If you haven’t seen the movie I won’t ruin it but suffice it to say that she couldn’t confront her ex who wronged her and they never rectified this in a satisfying way with her character. Other than that, I loved it. I :love2: Hugh Grant. Now I’ve never seen him in a movie before (Yes, shocking) but he was awesome. My daughter asked if I could put him on my WALL and I wanted to say yes, but I couldn’t get the hooker out of my mind. (Remember David Letterman: WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?)

But the movie and the man: So cute. Enough that my daughter and I downloaded the entire music album from iTunes. Another set of embarrassing songs on my iPod. Who cares! It was a love story and you all know I love those.

Has anyone seen this and did you love it as much as I did? Any Hugh Grant (happy ending) movies you can recommend since I’ve never seen him in a movie before this one? Or any other good romantic comedies out there lately? (Not oldies, new ones!)

I made a New Year’s Resolution last year, and again this year, to start carving out time to do something I’ve really been missing lately: reading for pleasure!

Ever since I started really rolling fast and hard with my writing, I’ve somehow lost the drive to read the way I once did. So I made that pact with myself to read a little every day. And while I haven’t managed every day, I do quite a lot more reading now than I had in the previous couple of years. And I’m loving it!

So I thought I’d do a bit of armchair reviewing of a few of the books I got for Christmas & my b-day that I’ve been reading since that time. (PS: You can see I got a lot of dark books for Christmas…lol…I buy paperbacks–including romances–for myself. The hardbacks I get as gifts!)

1. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King.

King is one of my two favorite writers (the other being John Irving.) And everyone has raved about this book. For me, though, it was kind of a “meh” read. It took me a long time to get through it, which is very unusual for me.

It’s not that I was upset that King wrote something other than the horror for which he’s famous. I am all for authors branching out.
I think the problem I had with this book was the same one I had with Bag Of Bones…another of my least favorite of King’s books. The narrator spends a great deal of time alone. There’s a ton of introspection and narrative and I just didn’t care about her enough to keep madly flipping those pages through it…unlike Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon–where the character was also alone, but I did flip pages like mad because I was so engaged by her. I also never bought into the suspense storyline–the villain was not credible to me and that part of the story seemed tacked on.

It certainly wasn’t the worst of his books…and I’d never consider any of his books truly “bad” but it wasn’t anywhere near a favorite. I guess I’ll give Lisey’s Story a since King’s writing was, as always, wonderful, even if the story didn’t totally engage me.

2. Cell by Stephen King

(Got both of them for Christmas!) I liked this one better. It wasn’t a King Classic, but it had shades of The Stand. I liked the protagonist’s devotion to his son and really liked the ambiguity of the ending. Read this one much faster than Lisey’s Story. Zombies have never been one of my favorite monster devices, but he pulls these off well…and you truly feel sorry for them. So, for this one, how about a…

3. Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris

Hmm…on the fence about this one. On the one hand, I read it at the speed of light. On the other–I just didn’t feel terribly satisfied at the end. I liked the richness of the post WWII history of it, and seeing Hannibal Lechter’s childhood. Wasn’t so crazy about the Lady Mariska element of the story. It didn’t come near Silence of the Lambs or (my favorite Harris Red Dragon.) But it was way better than “Hannibal” which just skeeved me out.

Okay, I think it was a :|

4. You Suck by Christopher Moore.

I loooove Moore’s books. But he’s one of those writers you need to read sparingly–no glomming or the humor can get old and the characters tend to blend together. But if you spread his books out, you just cannot help but be entertained. This was a sequel to my 2nd favorite of his books, Bloodsucking Fiends. Very paranormal romance novelish, only hysterically funny. Thumbs up on this sequel, too (I even loved the slightly controversial ending.) This one gets a

5. Gone With The Wind

I did not get this one for Christmas or my birthday, but last weekend when I was in Florida, lying on a heating pad or a bag of frozen lima beans, I really wanted something to read. Most of my books are packed, but I had a hardcover copy of this on a bookshelf, remembered I hadn’t read it in years and just dove in.

Still a wonderful read. I read it the first time when I was in 6th grade and have reread it several times since then. Scarlett is a much richer character in the book than she was in the movie–though I prefer the movie version of Rhett. A delight to rediscover if you are looking for something epic in which to lose yourself. Undoubtedly a for GWTW.

Some other quick ones…

I read 6 historical romances for the Rita’s. One was fabulous…just loved it and rated it very highly. I hope to see it in the finals. (But I can’t tell you what it was…

Another one was pretty good. The rest were okay. I am just not a big fan of the “feisty & headstrong” historical heroine. I spend half the book with my hands clenched because of how badly I want to slap her, and that type starred in several of these books. So (without naming them) I’m giving them from :| to

Also just read Vicki Lewis Thompson’s My Nerdy Valentine

I love Vicki’s books. They are so effusive and full of brightness and light, just like she is…her personality truly comes across in her work and you just can’t read her books without a smile on your face!

As with all of Vicki’s Nerd books, this one was just delightful. Fast paced, funny, with a bit of a suspense edge that lent a creepiness factor. I think this was my 2nd favorite of her Nerd books, after her “The Nerd Who Loved Me”…(maybe because I have a thing for stripper heroines…lol!) A big for this one.

I also got a chance to read Lori Borrill’s Blaze Private Confessions.

Wow, a super-steamy, super fun and fast-paced read. She’s hit the ground running with her first release! Grab it if you haven’t yet! Another

Well, that’s about as far as I’ve gotten since Christmas. I still have some great books in my TBR pile…if I can ever find time to read them! (Believe me…I’ll make time! I am SO enjoying giving myself permission to read.)

Coming up…

I got the second Matthew Pearl book, In Poe’s Shadow, a historical mystery involving Edgar Allen Poe (whose work I adore.) I enjoyed Pearl’s first book, The Dante Club, for the most part (until it fell apart at the end.) So I am looking forward to reading his sophomore effort.

I got Hubby the new Clive Cussler book for Christmas and I intend to borrow it from him one of these days. I’d also like to try some of his Bernard Cornwall books–never read him, but hubby really liked his Arthurian trilogy.

My good buddy Roxanne St. Claire has another of her fabulous Bullet Catchers books coming out later this month- It’s called Take Me Tonight and stars a yummy “wiseguy” type hero! I’ve read a sample chapter and it looks terrific!

So… let’s have a for reading!

Now tell me, anybody read any of the above books and care to discuss? Or read something else you’re dying to talk about? What about upcoming releases–what are you all looking forward to?

PS: Don’t forget…editor Brenda Chin is going to be our special guest blogger this Thursday, March 15! Don’t miss it!

PSS: One more thing…we’re getting ready to send out our first Plotmonkeys newsletter! Thanks for your patience in waiting for it…and if you’re not subscribed yet, it’s not too late!