CONTEST: Wild Holiday Nights

So here's a very cool contest for you all. I have in my possession five paper copies of the upcoming Harlequin Blaze, Wild Holiday Nights - with stories from Samantha Hunter, Meg Maguire, and Debbi Rawlins. Comment on my blog for a chance to win. If only five of you comment, you all get the book. Otherwise, I'll throw it into a random decider thingy.

Here's the blurb:

Satisfy your Christmas cravings with…  

HOLIDAY RUSH by Samantha Hunter Cake guru Calla Michaels is canceling Christmas to deal with fondant, batter and an attempted robbery. Then officer Gideon Stone shows up at her door. Calla thought her kitchen was hot enough before…  

PLAYING GAMES by Meg Maguire With her plane grounded on Christmas Eve, Carrie Baxter agrees to share a rental car with her secret high school crush. Sure, Daniel Barber is hotter than ever, but he's still just as prickly, too. It's gonna be one looong drive…and an unforgettably X-rated night!  

ALL NIGHT LONG by Debbi Rawlins Overworked paralegal Carly Watts needs Jack Carrington's signature, but he'll do whatever it takes to buy more time before selling his grandfather's company. Including having one very naughty night before Christmas! 

Now, that doesn't give you nearly enough information to say what these stories are really about, so I'll try to give you a little taste. Each story takes place right over Christmas. At least one character in each story wants to get home for Christmas, even if they can't. With the size of the stories (3-in-1 Blaze only gives you about 75 pages per story), they are very compact with no outside characters contributing to the romance. They have very little conflict and none of the characters take very long to ruminate about if love is important to them.

Oh, and being Blaze novels, they have a little bit of sexytimes, but they were actually a lot tamer than what I've been reading lately. None of the relationships quite made it to happily-ever-after, but all of them gave an indication that everything would work out.

Holiday Rush by Samantha Hunter was a friend-of-the-big-brother story. It was sweet and fun. There was a burglary and a "bad guy", but it was all packaged up all neat and tidy in a short amount of time. Once or twice, we heard that "oh, we couldn't break big brother's trust", but honestly, it's a short story. None of that stops them for long.

Playing Games by Meg Maguire was un-put-down-able and made me cry. The emotion was spot on, even though neither of the characters seem to like each other at the start. This one was a friend-of-the-ex story, but I loved seeing how they both had feelings for each other for so long. It was a little gritty, with a dirty hotel and a snowstorm and I felt it was very signature Meg Maguire.

All Night Long by Debbi Rawlins definitely amused me. There were a couple places I laughed out loud. The word choice and explanations were lots of fun. It's got a business owner/lawyer falling in love with a paralegal/almost lawyer. They had only met once before, so there was a bit more Insta-Lust in this one, but it also left the characters at the earliest stage of their relationship. I felt it was a good compromise for the length. We didn't find out much about HOW they would work things out, but I was happy with their attraction and their personalities.

So, once again, comment here to win. Eligibility ends on Friday, November 14th, 2014. If you win and send me your address quickly enough, I will mail the books out on November 15th so you'll have lots of time to enjoy, possibly even before they hit shelves.

 

Squash Soup Recipe

I found and adapted this recipe from my VitaMix cookbook, but it looks like it's not on their website. I don't think I've tried it without the VitaMix, but I would assume you could cook on the stove and use a blender.

Squash Soup

2 cups water plus 1 tsp Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base
2 cups of cooked squash or pumpkin
1/4 small onion, peeled
1/2 medium apple, seeded
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp dried ground sage
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup heavy cream

To cook squash or pumpkin
Preheat over to 400 degrees. Slice squash or pumpkin in half and remove all the seeds and strings. Lay flat side down on a foil lined cookie sheet. Spread a little olive oil over the top (the part with the skin). Cook for 45 minutes to an hour and a half, until a push on the skin feels like the insides are all soft and squishy. (At high altitude, it needs the hour and a half. Low altitude, it might only be 45 minutes.) When it's cool enough, turn each half over and scrape out the flesh with a spoon. One regular size pumpkin normally gives me at least 4 cups of meat - enough for one or two batches of soup, plus sometimes pumpkin bread.

For the soup
Place all the ingredients, except the heavy cream, into the Vitamix container in the order listed. Put the lid on. Start at Variable Speed 1 and quickly increase to Variable 10, then High. Blend for 6-7 minutes or until heavy steam escapes from the lid plug.

Reduce speed to Variable 4 and remove the lid plug. Add in the heavy cream through the opening. Blend for an additional 20 seconds.

Best served with french bread. Even my kids will gobble this soup up if there's french bread for dipping.

Intrusion by Charlotte Stein

Intrusion
by Charlotte Stein
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

My Review:
I really couldn't put this book down. In some Charlotte Stein novels, it's because the characters are so amusing. But this one, oh wow, it was so intense and full of creepy tension. There was no way I could stop readings until I got past the anxious sections – it would have been too disturbing to try to sleep with the eerie parts in my brain.

Honestly though, it wasn't as bad as I had been expecting. I heard rumors that it was going to be a bit more of a thriller and I was gearing up for pretty much start to finish spine-tingling (which would have been really hard for me to stick with), but instead it turned out to be very touching with some allusions to disturbing events in the past and then one big creepy factor right near the end.

This one is written in 1^st person present tense and still has all the great Charlotte Stein high points - a really deep POV, very compact plot, and some deep insight into what the rest of the characters are thinking. Unlike a lot of her other novels, this one is very light on the amusement factor. I had a slightly twitter-pated smile for a little while, but no laughing.

In fact, I think this is the first Charlotte Stein book that I was in tears for. These characters both have a lot of pain, especially in their past, but they work through their problems in an believable manner. They were weighty and intense with quite a bit of angst, but I loved how instead of solving problems with a magical relationship, she allows the characters to overcome their problems by taking back their power. Each step in their journey felt empowering and a blossoming of their potential.

That's not to say these two grew separately. Their relationship was the catalyst for everything that happened and Charlotte Stein has a great voice for distilling an entire relationship to it's focal points. We don't see much of jobs, friends, even surroundings outside the one small house. But we get every single detail of their relationship's forward progress. I felt like I was taking each step right along with the characters.

I had so many heart-warming feelings for this story. It's a book you want to read while snuggled in a blanket – to hold in the emotional parts and stay safe from the creepiness. I'd read it again when I need to be reminded of the hope of healing, even when things look mentally messed up. But I might not read it just before bed.

I received an ARC of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review.


**This review is archived on my blog: The Theory of LietoFine

Still Life by Melanie Jackson

Still Life
by Melanie Jackson

Another re-read for me. This is book four in the Wildside series and it's been on sale, possibly re-issued digitally in the recent past. This series is one of my favorites for re-reads. The language is so flowery and over-the-top that it never gets old. It's a book with all kinds of mystical creatures, a little bit of romance, some sentient magic, and all kinds of unexpected twists. This version had some formatting issues, like they OCR'd this story and lost words every now and then or picked the wrong word sometimes. It didn't interrupt my enjoyment of the story, but I hope it gets fixed in the near future.

There's a little bit of old-skool to the relationships; it's not a bodice-ripper, but it's very clear that the maiden wouldn't be able to survive without the hero calling the shots. This is the first time I noticed it specifically in all my re-reads, but it did make me roll my eyes a couple times. The heroine has all this power and can do more/different things than the hero, but he ends up “directing” her power whenever she needs to use it. Like she's too impulsive and inexperienced to harness her power in an appropriate way.

The romance is almost on the back burner compared to the adventure; there aren't a lot of longing looks and ruminations, but at the end hero and heroine are happy and in love. I read these for the magic and adventure and it always hits just the right spot for me, even if this re-read gave me some sad thoughts about the power dynamic accorded to women in this story.

**This review is archived on my blog: The Theory of Lieto Fine

Five Dates by AJ Cousins

Five Dates
by Amy Jo Cousins

This writing is just so fantastic. I love how the author has a history of making every relationship in the story wonderful and loving: the secondary characters have full personalities but they don't take over the story, the main characters don't get bogged down with minor misunderstandings. In general, everyone sees the best in each other and deals with their issues without blaming others.

The idea of hookup culture still bothers me and it came up a lot that the characters had a ton of nearly anonymous sex in the past. As a peripheral issue I just had to push it aside in my mind. But it made me a little uncomfortable that these two would jump into a sexual relationship with each other so quickly, knowing that they had been really promiscuous in the past and not really hashing out the idea of safe sex beforehand.

I honestly think this is the first m/m story I've read. For the length, it had a lot of sex, pushing it towards erotic romance, but it was a sweet story with two vulnerable and likeable characters who know how to love but just need a little push to see how perfect they are for each other.

**This review is archived on my blog: The Theory of Lieto Fine

Two Mia West Stories in One Post!!

Initiation by Mia West
I got so much amusement from this story. It's just a short snippet, but a great way to find out if you like the premise. I found it to be a lot of fun – resourceful, sex-positive female character can time travel through partnered orgasms. The language is course and erotic and let's face it, the book is all about sex. But it's got a fun story and I can't wait to read the rest of the series to see how the story unfolds. This first bit barely introduces the main characters relationship: it's the start of everything and we're just getting a feeling for who they are. This story is written in first person, from the heroine's perspective.


Confined by Mia West
Two characters, working through their pain and looking for solitude, are trapped together by a freak storm in the mountains. It's real and gritty, with lots of sexy moments, some almost tears from me and a sweet, fulfilled feeling at the end.

This story flew by so quickly. I loved Megan and Nick. They were both hurting, both afraid to trust or let their true selves show. They were careful with each other, sex-positive, vulnerably consensual, and achingly real. If anything, I wanted their story to keep going for so much longer. I had no doubt at the end that they were meant to be together, but I would have loved to be part of their world for longer.

The language is a little more course than a lot of romance - no purple prose here. It's different than the trend of dirty-talkers or the tendency to throw in the “c” word every now and then. I didn't find it offensive, but there were times I said “oh. don't see that one very often”.

This is book two in the series, but they're not connected by character or location. This book can be read as a standalone.

**These two reviews are archived on my blog: The Theory of Lieto Fine

September 2014 End of the Month Roundup

Another very stressful month. The kids' school is doing their annual Walk A Thon next week and I've been pretty stressed trying to make sure everything happens when it's supposed to. I read a bit, cooked a bit, but I wrote almost nothing. I am plotting my November novel for NaNoWriMo, so I've really got my fingers crossed that I can focus and write hard-core for the whole month of November.

What I've Read
Welcome to Dunvegas
This was a great collection of stories. Each one was unique and about different characters, but they were all located in the same place and had elements in common. I had no trouble keeping up with what the characters were doing and although most of the stories were so short they didn't include a happily-ever-after, I was left satisfied at the end of each one. All were well-written and concise without any extraneous details that would take away from the heart of each story. I will be looking for more stories by these authors.


Captivated by Mia West
I was entranced from the very start of this story. Beautiful and raw, very sexy and sweet. It's a great story of healing and fantasy, mixed together in a perfect blend of erotic and caring. (And to be clear, this is not fantasy/paranormal. I'm just referring to the fantasy/this-would-be-creepy-in-real-life style of story.) The language was a bit more course than the romance novels I normally read; putting this book firmly in the erotica category in my mind, even if it's still based around a sweet romance. I will definitely find more stories by this author and I'll probably even read this one again.


Meeting His Match by Katee Robert

For some reason, I just had trouble getting into this one. I started and stopped it a bunch of times before I finally got through it. There was nothing “bad” in it, but it definitely didn't hold my interest very well. I finished it and was glad for the happily-ever-after, but I wasn't invested in the characters' emotional growth.

What I've Cooked
I went back to some basics: Cheese and apple soup with french bread, tortellinis for the boys, salad, etc. I also made my healthier carrot cake and tomorrow I'm having a strudel making party with my mom. We'll see if we get some good results.

What I've been Listening To
Instead of giving you a music video to watch this month (because I can't come up with a song I've been listening to either), I did it. I made a little movie, including my stress relief music. Let's see if this works. If you have ideas of other things you'd like me to video blog about, definitely tell me. I was very nervous with this one, but I did it.