RRA Meeting 3

I can't believe it's been months since I last wrote an RRA post (oh man, it's been MANY months). I'm not sure how that happened, I've been reading voraciously, so I should have updated by now. Something about all the travel and the unfamiliar "I can't sleep in you anyway" hotel beds and the need to think about something that is NOT patent law before I go to bed has led to a giant stack of books at my bedside (and a book in every travel bag) even though I just entered over 250 hours for August. I've even gone back to paperbacks! At first I just kind of stared at the bottom of the page, waiting for it to flip because my finger was pressing the spine, but then I remembered that I needed to actually turn the page. How quickly technology changes us.

The paperbacks came back on the scene because I went to a party at a friend's parents' house in Houston in June and her mother and older sister are apparently big readers of my blog, and are particular fans of the RRA posts. In fact, when I walked in the door and the mom said something about regency romance, her dad turned and said (rather accusingly, I must say ;), "YOU'RE the blogger?!" That I am, and thus a 45 minute discussion of corsets and heaving bosoms was launched. I was sent back to Austin with a paper bag full of books- books I forgot about for several weeks and rediscovered while packing for my first trip to Palo Alto. I packed a couple books in my suitcase and all were read when I touched back in Austin 4 days later.  After a 5-month foray into the world of vampires and magic, I was re-hooked on regular old historical romance (if you can call it historical, which most of the time, you can't).

My other reading/RRA story came on the plane ride home from my second Palo Alto trip. I'd finished the 2 books I brought with me and had left my kindle at home (poor thing is feeling very unloved right now), so for the first time in years I went to buy a book in a bookstore. Happily, I found the sequel to one of the books loaned to me by my friend's mom. I started it as the plane took off and read the last page as the plane landed. The woman next to me looked over, and then smacked her husband, loudly whispering, "honey, HONEY, look! that young lady right there started a book and FINISHED IT on our flight! HONEY!!" I wasn't sure what to do- she wasn't talking to me, but she was obviously talking about me, and I felt like I should explain the book was called "A Wedding Wager" and was a terribly light piece of literary fluff even by my low standards. In the end I just smiled and tucked it back in my laptop bag.  After a very difficult and stressful trip, it was nice to feel good at something, even if it's just speed reading about earls and the woman who love them.  I smiled my whole way off the plane (right until I hit the wall of 110 degree hit at the door of the plane, I'm really not sure I can live here much longer).

Now, on to a list of books I've read in the last few months, with added commentary because I can't help it (and I just entered my time for the month and feel I can afford to waste 0.5 hours):

• Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole.  Starting with "A Hunger Like No Other" and currently ending with #9 "Dreams of a Dark Warrior," I had so much fun with this series.  It's a modern paranormal romancy actiony hybrid.  I think #3 (Bowen & Mari) and #5 (Cade & Holly) were my favorites.
• McCarrick Brothers triology by Kresley Cole (If You Deceive, If You Desire, If You Dare).  Recommended by a friend, these books are about 3 Scottish brothers in 1850.  #3 was by far my favorite, but I liked them all.  Then amazon pointed me to her Immortals After Dark series and I was lost there for about a month- I do love a long series.
• The Demonica series by Larissa Ione. I know I wrote about this before, but it remains a favorite and I re-read all of the books since I last wrote about them.  Then I read "Eternal Rider," the first book in her spin-off Lords of Deliverance series, and LOVED it.  The next Deliverance book comes out in November and I can't wait.
• My Unfair Lady and Lady of the Storm by Kathryne Kennedy.  I really like her books.  The kindle versions are inexpensive, so I'm not sure how popular she is, but I think her stories and writing are fantastic.  Lady of the Storm is the second book in a new series that starts with The Fire Lord's Lover.  If she keeps it up, this is going to be one of my favorite series, I just wish she'd write them faster.
• Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward.  Another one I've talked about before, but I've re-read a bunch and really do enjoy the stories.  Her writing frequently annoys the crap out of me (it's the fake tough guy talk), but I love the caracters and their interractions.  However, I really disliked her latest one, Lover Unleashed.  The main character was nothing like she seemed from the previous books, and even if I liked this new version of her (she was tolerable), she barely got any screen time!  At this point I'm reading the series solely because my two favorite characters (Blay and Quinn) haven't had ther stories told yet and I live for the snippets relating to them. 
• The Leopard Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt. Part of the set loaned to me by my friend's mom, this was my first regency romance in months and it sucked me right back in.  I liked the flip of a strong, independently wealthy woman with a lower class male character.
• Whitney, My Love, Until You, Something Wonderful, and Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught.  How did I not know about this author?  My mom friend/blog reader loaned me Whitney, My Love, saying simpy, "just read it."  I started it in Palo Alto, got no sleep, and then immediately bought 3 more of her books.  I wouldn't recommend reading them in a row because she only really writes one kind of male and female character, but I still found them so fun and so good, and with the tiny print and more substantive plot lines (not like non-fiction substantive, you won't learn any history from this book, but more weighty than A Wedding Wager, for instance), they took me longer to read than most of these others.  Kingdon of Dreams is my favoritre, but I also adored Something Wonderful (and Whitney and Until You... they're good, is what I'm saying). 
• Shanna and A Rose in Winter by Kathleen Woodiwiss.  Shanna was the first romance novel I ever read and I fell in love. I read it about 25 times before leaving my parent's house and, after basking in fond memories, read it again a few months ago.  As it turns out, Shanna is maybe the most annoying heroine ever written, but Woodiwiss did better with Erienne in Rose in Winter. 

Up next on my reading list is Son of the Morning by Linda Howard.  I think it's a series, so I'm looking forward to it.  I need to go back through my comments from the first RRA post because I need a few new authors to explore.  (And/or I need Diana Gabaldon to get on with her next Outlander novel, I'm still annoyed about how she ended the last one!) Let me know if you're reading anything you love!