Blowing Out The Candles

Wendy's Top 13 Birthday Wishes

1) Whatever the Hell My Man got me. The Master Gift Giver Of The Universe tells me I'll get my present this evening. At this point all I know is that it's small-ish and he's known for months what he was going to give me. Jewelery would be the obvious guess, but I don't think that's it....

2) A State Budget. This is probably too much to hope for from the politicians of California.

3) World Peace.

4) A Beatles Reunion. Is it too much to ask that George Harrison and John Lennon rise from the dead?

5) My own private library. Hell, I've got the books - just not the space.

6) Maggie Osborne to come out of retirement and start writing again.

7) Lunch with Phyl. Oh wait, did that yesterday! She's in town for a family wedding and is staying very, very close to where my office is.

8) Western romances to make a comeback and flood the market.

9)







10) To have Nora adopt me. I could be the daughter she never had, or probably even wanted. Ok, so that's not terribly realistic.....

11) To have Ewan McGregor adopt me. Yeah, much more realistic.

12) A Greek Tycoon. I'm sure the editorial department for Harlequin Presents has a couple of extras stuffed in a broom closet somewhere.

13) A job that requires me to sit at home, read all day and watch Law & Order reruns. With an employer willing to pay me, at least, my current salary. Surprisingly, this is a harder job to find than one would think.

Mind Screw

My Man and I once had a conversation about Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter character. My Man says Lecter is scarier when he's a "free" man. I disagree. Lecter is at his scariest when he's locked up. Why? Because he can't physically hurt others. He has to get to them by mind-screwing them. He chips away at them, worms his way into their psyche, and toys with them. Yeah, way scarier.

I picked up Shatter by Michael Robotham when Stephen King put it on his list for recommended summer reading. Uncle Stevie was right. The villain in this story is top-notch and top-drawer. This is a guy who doesn't physically touch his victims. He doesn't even make himself seen. No, our guy talks his victims to death. They're mothers, so he uses the one thing he knows he can (their children) to psychological mind-screw with the victims to the point where they actually kill themselves. Seriously. Effed. Up.

The story follows clinical psychologist, Joe O'Loughlin, who has appeared in other books by Robotham. He's now a professor at the University of Bath and is picked up by the cops to try to talk a suicidal woman down from a bridge. He fails, she jumps. Then her teenage daughter shows up telling Joe that her mother would never commit suicide. However the police aren't willing to listen to a distraught teenage girl, until another woman ends up dead.

While part of a series, with plenty of baggage, I felt this story stood alone quite well. Joe suffers from Parkinson's Disease, has two daughters, and his marriage is a little rocky. He passionately loves his wife, but he thinks she's having an affair with her boss. She begs him not to get involved in the murder investigation, but the first victim's daughter and his own professional curiosity can't keep him away.

This was a wonderful story....until the ending. The ending pissed me off. I'll be blunt. The big reason I like genre fiction (romance, mystery/suspense) is that I get black and white endings. If I wanted ambiguous endings I'd stick to literary fiction where the authors routinely flog their characters to death or I'd read the daily newspaper. Real life is ambiguous. The ending of Shatter left me with unanswered questions. Questions like, "Hey, what happened to...." and "But wait, what's going to happen with...."

Those types of questions.

I hate those types of questions.

So what easily started out as B+/A- read for me ended up somewhere in the neighborhood of a C+. It was certainly a well-written suspense novel, with oodles of character baggage, and a villain that made my skin crawl. But I like black and white endings folks. I like having all the answers. I like having it all tied up in a neat little bow. I just do. And I felt like I didn't get that here. Bother.

A note on the audio production: I listened to the Recorded Books production on CD. This is also the production that's available through Audible. It's excellent. Sean Barrett, who has credits ranging from the BBC to the London stage, narrates - and given that the story takes place in Bath, it was nice to hear a British accent reading the story. He also does a very good job using different voices and inflections for the characters, and his reading of the villains' parts are particularly creepy. If you're interested in listening to this on audio, you really can't do much better than this production. Of course, Recorded Books routinely turns out a quality product.

Hey, I'm Working Here!

In one week I'll be on a plane, on my way to Washington D.C. for the annual RWA conference. This will be my fifth time attending, but that doesn't mean I'm immune to nerves and excitement-induced jitters. I will say though that this year is proving to be much more sedate than last year. Why? Because this time last year I was sweating over the fact that I only had one confirmed romance author for my library's literary event. Which meant that I spent a lot of time at RWA in San Francisco passing out my business card, giving my "sales pitch" and trying not to look too desperate. It all worked out in the end, and thankfully the trip helped me net two more authors.

D.C. should be much more "relaxing," at least in terms of Wendy Doing Her Librarian Thang. Why? I broke a land-speed record in securing three authors for the romance panel for my library's fourth annual literary event in April 2010.














Once again, I've outdone myself. See how modest I am? My only goal in securing the romance fiction panel is that I get authors who all write "different." Which means every year I shoot for historical, contemporary and paranormal representatives. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep this up indefinitely, but so far this is the third time I've managed to pull it off.

As for the mystery panels I'm supposed to be working on? Well, they're almost done. I really only need to secure one more author, which I'm thinking will have to wait until after I get back from vacation. Still, it's all shaping up quite nicely.

Linkie Goodness

Oh sure, Twitter is one of the worst time sucks ever invented, but it's also handy when it comes to staying on top of the happenings around Blog Land. Angela T, one of my fellow Romancing The Blog columnists, tweeted that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and has started her own wiki for upcoming African-American romances. Oh and look! Beverly Jenkins has a new historical coming out in October. And it looks pirate-y!

In other news, Rosie (who is not dead in a ditch) has posted another excellent column over at the Readers Gab blog on the Three E's For RWA. If you're a reader who is attending the RWA conference for the first time this year, or you're thinking about attending in the future? Yeah, read this column. It gives oodles of helpful insight. Also, be sure to check out a post about the RWA conference that Rosie did last year as well. I think "just readers" can get a lot out of the RWA conference, but you need to go into it with realistic expectations.

And in case you didn't see this already, Holly over at Book Binge is spearheading a drive to help a fellow blogger replace her book collection she recently lost in a fire. When I think about how I could have lost everything, including my own insanely over-the-top book collection, in last year's So. Cal. wild fires, it really gives me pause. If you have the means to contribute either gift cards or books, I encourage you to do so.

The Month That Was June 2009

It's July 1, which means two things. 1) The stupid politicians in this god-forsaken state still haven't been able to slap a budget together and 2) it's time for me to look back at the reading I accomplished in June. I actually did quite well last month. I read 13 books. OK, so there are a mess of Harlequins here. Throw me a bone will ya?

Here's how it breaks down:

Let It Ride by Jillian Burns, Harlequin Blaze, 2009, Grade = B - Keno girl with no time for romance catches the eye of a wounded Air Force pilot partying with his buddies in Vegas. Unexpected charm and emotional depth made this a very enjoyable read. This was a debut Blaze - really hoping the author writes more for the line. TGTBTU Review.

Tonight My Love by Tracie Sommers, Spice Briefs, eBook, Short Story, 2009, Grade = D- - OK, so I know the Spice line doesn't have to be "romantic" but this story took me places I really didn't want to go. It literally turned my stomach. The sex is hot enough to peel wallpaper, but the ending left me wishing I hadn't read this on my lunch break. TGTBTU Review.

Disrobed And Dishonored by Louise Allen, Harlequin Historical Undone, 2009, Regency England, Short Story, Grade = C+ - A heroine who begs the hero to "ruin her" so she won't be forced to marry the odious lout Daddy has picked out for her. This plot can sometimes work for me, but it didn't here. Allen has a charming writing style though, and this is pretty harmless fun. TGTBTU Review.

Killer Cruise by Laura Levine, Cozy Mystery, Part Of Series, 2009, Grade = B - The latest entry in the author's Jaine Austen (no relation) series. Brain candy, fluffy fun. I found myself suspending some disbelief when the murderer was unmasked, but it was clever, so I was able to roll with it. Ideal reading for the beach or lounging by the pool. Full Review.

A Holiday Romance by Carrie Alexander, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2009, Part Of Series, Grade = B+ - Carrie Alexander is one of my favorite HSR authors, and this book is a prime example of why. Heroine looking for some fun and adventure after her ill mother passes away. Hits Arizona on vacation and meets the hero, a career driven hotel manager who doesn't have time to be distracted by his hormones. No babies (secret or otherwise), no tycoons (Greek or otherwise), and not a virgin in sight. Just a straight-up, well-written, sweet (PG-rated) romance. TGTBTU Review.

The Heiress's Two-Week Affair by Marie Ferrarella, Silhouette Romantic Suspense, Part Of Series, 2009, Grade = C+ - Great soap-opera style plot, and a homicide detective heroine that I really liked. However I actually used the words "sanctimonious prick" in my review to describe the hero. That can't be good. TGTBTU Review.

Pleasured by the Secret Millionaire by Natalie Anderson, Harlequin Presents, 2009, Grade = C+ - A refreshing, young, adventurous heroine wasn't enough for me to overlook the "Oh crap we didn't use a condom" sex scene and a hero who is HP standard-issue. If you're a fan of the line this one will probably work better for you. TGTBTU Review.

Pulling The Trigger by Julie Miller, Harlequin Intrigue, Part of Series, 2009, Grade = C+ - An impulse buy that I didn't realize was part of a series. The beginning suffers from series info-dump, but by the second chapter it cooks up to a pretty decent cat-and-mouse-style suspense plot. Unfortunately I thought there were some holes in the story - most notably why the hero didn't immediately gut the villain upon his arrival back in town. TGTBTU Review.

The Border Lord by Sophia James, Harlequin Historical, Scottish, 2009, Grade = C - Plain Jane heroine forced into marriage by decree of a king. The romance is pretty decent, although these characters obviously took a side trip to Regency England because they're incapable of talking to each other. I also found the villain a bit schizophrenic, and the second half is bogged down by too much external conflict. TGTBTU Review Forthcoming.

From Friend to Father by Tracy Wolff, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2009, Grade = B- - Heroine agrees to be surrogate mother for her BFF, when tragedy strikes and BFF is killed in car accident. Hero is shell-shocked and pulls a vanishing act, leaving heroine alone to take care of a baby girl she had no intention of raising and her rambunctious twin boys. I had issues with the hero (who runs at the first sign of any sort of conflict) but loved the heroine to bits. Also, Wolff can flat-out write her ass off. TGTBTU Review.

Evil At Heart by Chelsea Cain, Suspense, Part of Series, 2009, Grade = B+ - Not as good as the previous two books in the series, but that's just me being greedy. I do think this book marks a turning point in that I don't think this series can "stand alone" anymore. There's essentially no character development here, the assumption being that the reader has read books one and two already. Also, I thought the gore factor was much higher in this book. There's a moment in the final 100 pages where I literally had to set this book down and walk away from it. Seriously. Messed. Up. TGTBTU Review Forthcoming.

Sultry Storm by Celeste O. Norfleet, Kimani Romance, Part of Series, 2009, Grade = D+ - A plot that sets the heroine up to look Too Stupid To Live, a borderline creepy hero who is in love with the heroine, even though they've never met. It also doesn't help that the heroine is so stubborn that she's incapable of listening when the hero wants to spill his guts to her about The Big Secret. Lots of sex scenes (and I mean a lot) weren't enough to make it work for me. TGTBTU Review Forthcoming.

Second Time Around by Portia Da Costa, Spice Briefs, eBook, Short Story, 2009, Grade = B- - I tend to love Da Costa's heroines, and this one is no exception. That said, there were aspects of the erotic love scenes that pressed some of my feminist hot buttons. Just as I was contemplating how annoyed I should be by it all, the author pulls it out with a really fab ending. Fun, frothy, just don't go over-analyzing it like I did. TGTBTU Review Forthcoming.

Massive Fangirl Squee!

I know, two posts in one day. I normally don't do this - but damn, I'm making an exception.

Detroit Tigers outfielder, and my fantasy boyfriend, Curtis Granderson knows I exist! ::dead faint::

This season Curtis is guest blogging on Yahoo's Big League Stew and last week they asked readers to e-mail in questions for Curtis to answer in a "mailbag" segment.

They chose my question! Squeeee!

I'm a librarian and a long-time Tigers fan. I'm wondering if anyone on the team likes to kill time by reading while traveling on road trips. Books, magazines, newspapers — I'm not picky, just about anything counts. Please tell me not everyone is plugged into their iPod.

— Wendy, formerly from Kalamazoo, MI, now in CA.

I can't lie, the iPod is always on most players. A lot also read too — mostly newspapers (usually USA Today, or the local paper depending on the city), magazines (ESPN The Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Maxim, etc...). For me, when I try to read a book, they always usually put me to sleep. It's not because of a lack of interest, but because the reading relaxes me to the point where my body falls asleep within the first few pages.

Oh Curtis. All you need is the help (and dare I say it, love?) of a good librarian to steer you towards books that don't put you to sleep. I actually know the ideal person. She's smart, funny, incredibly humble, with an incredible sense of fashion (what, doesn't every librarian wear a tiara and a cape?).

You can read the whole mailbag blog post here. But honestly? I already posted the best part.

Squeeeee! ::dead faint::

Winner: Harlequin Famous Firsts!

Thanks to everyone for stopping by last week for the last stop of the Harlequin Famous Firsts blogging tour. As promised, today I'll be announcing the lucky winner of the most awesome Harlequin tote bag, filled with eight of the Famous First reprints. Thanks to the handy random number generator, the lucky winner is commenter #19....

Gail!

Gail, please e-mail me with your shipping address and I'll get your most awesome prize out to you ASAP.