YT: Rescue Me, Daughtry
Thanks, Daughtry—for helping me end my damn novella! This song has been playing non-stop for the last few days.
NaNo: Day 28
Insert nap.
Insert the END!
YAY! Novella finshed.
Original plan 23k…ending plan–um, 32k.
LOL Whoops. Evidently Tessa and Royal had more to say. Edits to follow, but I need a break from them for a few days to let all the crap settle. NaNo numbers at 38,393 for the month so far.
I’m hoping to supplement the remaining 12k that I owe with the short story I’m writing. We’ll see how it goes. 
NaNo: Day 25
It’s been a crazy month, but a really good writerly month in all honesty. I totally rocked the wordcount for a novella and am probably going to finish it up tonight.
I don’t think I’ll be making it to 50k, but I am happy with a finished novella for the month. More than I have been doing that’s for sure. And…of course…I totally figured out a spin off book from this one. Man, I just can’t write a single story. LOL
Tessa and Royal are a really good set of characters and Mercy and Alaric feel like they’re going to be just the same. Now to figure out just what I’m going to do next.
REVIEW: A Kiss at Midnight, Eloisa James
A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow.
This was my first Eloisa James and I’ll tell you right now…it won’t be my last. What a lovely story. The characters are so rich and the dialogue had me rolling. Loved the snarky sense of humor between the Prince Gabriel and Kate. There were so many good things I can’t even begin to go through them all. I just sucked down the book like someone was going to take it away from me this morning.
The cast of characters was well rounded and no one had a fade to the background kind of voice. The Prince learned through the book about being a good leader and putting his family—crazy as they were–ahead of his happiness. So much so that he almost lost Kate in the process. The ending really suited the story and I liked that he found his own way around his problem instead of finding himself in a loveless marriage with a rich princess just because he thought that was his only option.
I’m anxious to read more from her Fairytale line.
Amazing job, Mz. James!
Nano: Day 13
yeah, yeah…I know. It’s really the 14th. Sue me. I haven’t slept yet.
So…Nano has become more like get-this-short-outta-my-head time. So, who am I to complain. I rarely have a short that wants to tell its story to the little muse guy that lives in my brain. It’s usually a much more developed story that requires at least 50,000 words to get to the meat of things….if not more.
So, I’m taking the bull by the horns for this novella and writing it down.
NaNo: Day 8
Today’s WC: 2679
Not bad. Wrong story…but not bad. I had an idea for a short and it just wouldn’t shut up, so I’m going with it for now. See if I can finish it up by midweek. Going to work well into the night on this one I think.
REVIEW: Eve of Samhain, Lisa Sanchez
Eve of Samhain by Lisa Sanchez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Mz Sanchez is really good at yanking you into the story and riling you right up. The characters were strong and likeable with a side of sinful. I love that her insanely good looking Quinn had so many flaws. I loved that Ryann was so incredibly strong. I loved that she turned what could have been a cardboard cut out witch character and made her interesting. There was so much to love about this book. The mystery behind Quinn’s powers and curse was well thought out and used to extend the Sexual Tension until even I was ready to tear my clothes off in reaction. LOL
But, the only thing that didn’t work for me was that with all that buildup, the love scene was cut far too short and the HEA was just too…well, anticlimactic. I needed the extra fire works and intensity to go with all that I was denied through the story. That definitely kept it from being a 5 star review, imho.
STING: I Burn For You (live)
This is the song that got me going tonight. Sensual Sting at his best. *sigh*
NaNo: Day 3
MUCH better today with words. I’m at 3536.
It’s not perfect, and it’s not ahead, but the words were flowing for the first time since I opened this particular story. Usually the beginning of the story is where I excel, but dang…this story has been a little off from the start.
But no more.
I’m getting to know Molly finally and Dillon is showing his uptight side that will be fun to tear down.
Hiatus for the next few days for a mini-trip. Ill timed, but I’m going to take the time to decompress and get going again when I get back. I’m bringing the laptop with me to try and get some words in on the downtime. The people I’m hanging with aren’t quite the night owls I am.
REVIEW: Hold Me, Betsy Horvath
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Okay…I need to own The Museum…which was Luc’s family home throughout the story. OMG
Just gorgeous. It was a freaking castle! For real!
Too amazing. I think that alone gave this book the 5th star. I was wavering. I hate to over use my 5 star ratings. But this is definitely a bump for setting. If they’d just used a regular safe house it might not have had the same punch. A very solid suspense story with a ton of character charged moments. I truly enjoyed this book.
Katie and Luc have killer chemistry and each of them come with their own baggage. How they mesh together from a carjacking to living together for her protection, to a history that neither of them could have fathomed…it really just all worked for me. I pounded 461 pages in a very short period of time because the book just drew me right in.
And hell, I cried through the end of it. I’m a sucker for the guy that doesn’t think he’s good enough. He had a rough life with foster homes and all the horrible things he’s done working for the government only compounds that I’m-No-Good-For-You thing that some heroes have. And in this instance it didn’t annoy me as much as it does in other books. A true testament to Mz. Horvath’s writing skills.
And the girl’s got skillz.
I don’t want to ruin the reading of this one for anyone but there’s intrigue, the bodyguard trope, a huge mutt of a dog named Spot, a freaking castle! (I know I mentioned it but…gah! Castle!!) a freakish killer, an even freakier relationship with the killer’s half sister (insert heebie jeebies), and a supporting cast that doesn’t instantly flag series…but probably will get their own books.
A really great romantic suspense, IMHO.
REVIEW: The Next Always, Nora Roberts
The Next Always by Nora Roberts
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
*sigh*
I love the start of a new trilogy from laNora. Some people feel like they’re just a set up to the series, but somehow it just never is to me. I get to meet a whole slew of new people to fall in love with.
She does it to me EVERY single time.
It’s just disgusting. LOL
I look forward to it every year. This one does not disappoint in my eyes. The romance was a little sweeter, the children definitely put a different spin on things. And normally I’m not really a book-has-kids kind of reader, but I can get swept away. This book, and definitely this author, can do that to me. Beckett Montgomery…*sigh* Yeah—he’s the ultimate yum factor. (tho I will admit, Ryder has officially stolen the show for me. GOOD GOD. YUM! I love a grouchy guy for some reason. LOL)
He loves with everything and Clare has been on his radar since he was a kid. Even with the baggage of being a widow with 3 kids, Clare never makes you think of her that way. She’s strong and resilient. She’s had to take care of herself and her kids even when she was married. (He was in the military) And while she certainly loved her husband with her whole heart, she’s a different woman than the idealistic 19 year old that left with her young husband. This Clare was ready for love and the town she grew up in. She wants the roots and loves owning her own place thanks to her widows benefits.
Now as a Nora fan, I loved reading about Boonsboro–I know it’s a real place that is close to Nora’s heart both because Turn The Page and Inn Boonsboro are real places, and the way she describes them. I’m a sucker for a Nora setting and this book doesn’t disappoint.
At all.
This is heavy on the setting and the romance is definitely a force in the book, but the Inn is definitely a main character. So, know that going and I think this will be the book for you. The characters will win you over, I know it.
I cannot wait to see what happens with the next brother, Owen.
NaNo: Day 2
Decent wordage. I managed to get 2k under my belt. I was looking for more, but I’m not going to make myself insane about it. I even managed to have the H/h in the same room within the first chapter! YAY
lol
Doesn’t happen to me very often. I tend to have to shave off a lot of the first chapter. WOOT! Onward and  upward to day 3
REVIEW: Hot Text, Cari Quinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Hot for teacher takes on a whole new meaning in this book.
Take one editor, add a dash of paint, a bottle of cheap wine, a gorgeous studio and mix liberally with a preschool teacher trying to get a handle on sexting and you get Hot Text.
Divorce is hard on anyone, but when you’re living in a limbo of your own making and come face to face with all the wrongs of your past how can you mix falling in love into that equation? Jeff and Karyn ask themselves that same question and both come up with answers they’d rather not deal with. Not when they’ve finally found that one person that makes each of them feel alive.
Mz. Quinn always treats a short story with a touch of reality to even out all the off the charts sex she unerringly provides. Reality sucks and making those hard decisions isn’t easy for Karyn when she’s finding her way around a new start when she hasn’t even dealt with the end of her marriage.
Bravo, Mz. Quinn, for never letting your characters find the easy way out. It makes for a much more satisfying read.
Truly.