kate rothwell

and an ancient wodehouse and a historical from the 80s and I have absolutely nothing to say about any of them. Usually I'd have an opinion. . . ok, wait, I do. The mystery, by Julia Spencer-Fleming, is the sixth in a series and I haven't read any of the others. I'm getting back story in a perfectly natural way, no big info dumps. People who can write series like that -- series in which readers can pick up any book and not feel lost -- those writers deserve some kind of prize. It's too early to wake up and I'd like to fall back asleep...and the best way for that might be to mentally design this prize. Maybe a stretch of road would work. I've gotten a couple of letters about my bad reviews and I want to buy those note-writing people lunch or at least a cuppa. (One reader pointed out that the book seems to promise some hot bro on bro sex, or at least tension, and those guys barely hug.) I also want to beg the note-writers to leave reviews, but I have some dignity...

I'm listening to Jack Higgins, Bloody Passage, and this thing is dated. Not only does everyone smoke and drink all the time -- I got no problem with that -- but the gay character is called an "it", the one woman is gross, the other woman, the sister, delicate and blind and incapable of caring for herself. The main character a jerk. (I imagine the gross woman will end up falling under his spell.) I don't mind alpha, to a degree, but this guy is an uber-cool, superhuman strong and a proficient pill. The whole smart-ass thing got old with Spenser, too, and he was usually funnier. I've just done a few JR Ward books recently and they're the same kind of guy. Honestly, they strike me as one-note humans. They also smoke too. It's not badly written, better than the Pattersons I've read. I'm guessing this was written in the 70s. I have to check. be back.  Umm. Whu? 1999? But it seems like the Soviet Union is still operating. Really? That recent. I ...

I promised myself I would never, ever read another Jane Austen based book. No. Way. Anything by Austen, yeah, you betcha I'd read her books again (Maybe not Mansfield Par k, but no one reads that book more than once, unless they're writing a paper.) I liked Austenland by Shannon Hale as a bit of escapist fun but many of them? Ugh. I haven't finished any of them, except a Joan Aiken or two (and she had too much gothick action.) I've read better Potter fan fiction on the webs. Speaking of which, here's WTF fanfiction which should be examined when you're in the mood to laugh at pitiable writing. At best the Austen-based books feel like a shellacking of a legend, as in applying a glossy surface to something that should remain lively and able to breathe. The worst ones are just. . . .no.Not my cup of tea. But then I had to grab a book fast at the library, and the only one I could find was the Jane Austen Book Club. I'm only part way through it and I lov...

Message 1. Have you entered the contest yet? Easy to do. Easy to get multiple entries, too. ENTER THE CONTEST, and yes, that's shouting. I'm adding a megaphone of bolding, too.  Win $30 and more Summer Devon books than you ever dreamed possible. Message 2. We just got a review for House of Mirrors from Queer Magazine Online. Reviews come so slowly these days, which is fine in an age of endless shelf life. Just funny that in a world where everything has sped up, reviews have slowed down. It's a good review --as in not just positive (which makes reviews wonderful) but also well-written. I mean how could you not like lines like these? This is a wonderful, unusual story with delightfully complex characters, many of whom I grew to admire and love. The carnival world is a perfect setting for this engaging story, challenging us to think about reality versus illusion; it's an eye-opening look into the hardship and camaraderie of life on the road for carnival entertai...

D.D.Warren annoyed me at first but now I love that D.D. Stubborn, humorless, determined, smart, but the last to figure it out sometimes--yup, that's my girl. I. LOVE . HER. Bobby is okay, but D.D.'s the fun one. Lisa Gardner is my newest glom. As  for the plots, I'm not real sure I adore the over-the-top plots as much as I love the characters, but that's fine.The first person followed by third person structure of the books is odd. I've only read a couple so I wonder if it's consistent in the series. I have to get back to work editing the latest m/m Bonnie and I wrote. Also I have to get ready to deal with my contest as in assemble the entries. Listen, you get busy too.   You have an hour or two to enter. Let me know if you enter so I can add you to my list. 

I bought two ebooks today and read them both immediately--sort of fell on them like a starving person. One I knew I'd like because JL Merrow. Duh Of course. I'd read her description of a town meeting (and those things are duller than the phone book). Plus from the review I'd read over at Dear Author, I'd figured I'd like the book, Muscling Through . Al, the hero, is a sweet block-of-wood oaf. I loved him, but not like that. Which is fine. Larry was almost worthy of him. I'm like Sarah--I didn't think I'd could cotton to a hero who is mentally challenged, but who couldn't like a man who's so direct and kind? I bought the other book, Zero Factor by Stacy cey "No E in Stacy" Gail (and not Gail Stac e y, which I keep calling her) because I apparently have a thing for heroes who are ex-killing machine types. Machines changed to men by the love of a good woman (which isn't this story, not really) Hey, that's the best explanation I ...

Which books did I like this week? It's more a week of not liking books -- and that's no fun. I did listen to the Princess Diary after all these years of trying to ignore its existence. Pop references sure did date that thing. A teenaged girl lusting after George Clooney and Harrison Ford; Madonna as news-worthy? But that's fine. It was cute. It fit my mood. Not as appealing to me as Lockhart. I know that I read at least one book I enjoyed and I can't begin to remember the title, the subject, the author. I do recall I made an attempt at a Laurel Hamilton, Swallowing Darkness, but it was book 8 and I hadn't read 1-7. (That's the reason I'll give for not lasting for more than a couple of chapters because we all know there are other reasons to give up, but someone like Beth could express it better). Seriously this is sad--I can't remember what I've been reading. I'm turning on my Kindle. Looks like I'm currently reading an Ann Tyler, Noah...

Okay, that didn't last long. I looked through my oldest's books. He's an honest-to-god intellectual, an English major and has bookshelves crammed with volumes of essays and books like The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. He reads this stuff even when he doesn't have to--this is his entertainment. I picked up a book by a Brazilian author.  Oh, man, I have to read and reread the first page -- and the author's voice is annoying, or maybe it's the translator. Could you be any more pompous? So how about a bit of James Joyce instead ? Yup, he's simple, elegant compared to that lumbering elephant prose.   The Dubliners . I loved those stories right? I think? A story or two in, I remembered the misery. I wandered out to the family room to find something else to read. Maybe the Essays of George Orwell. That'll expand the mind. Hey! Right next to Orwell was that missing copy of Cry Mercy by Toni Andrews that I'd started and lost a couple of months ...

Oh, man, I thought this book would be good, but this heroine's over-reacting at the mo. She's major martyr because her parents were killed when she was 3. Now, 23 years later, she's got all the PTSD symptoms -- as if she'd witnessed the murder and clearly remembered the people who died. She's crying all the time and in shock and has just thrown up again after encountering the man who just got out of jail (and who might not have done it). The thing is, the first description of her as someone who goes through life distrusting happiness and waiting for the bad stuff to happen any second -- that one makes sense. It rings true and fits her circumstances. She had no memory of the event or her parents but their deaths left a real, and believable scar. Operative word here is scar, not bleeding, pulsing wound directly related to the events. That's just not something that works for a regular adult person who was 3 when the bad crap when down. Those first couple of chapte...

I must be in a mellow mood because I'm enjoying nearly every book I pick up. Here is my favorite: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. I listened to it and the reader was pretty good. She didn't intrude so we got the story without extra drama. It's a peculiar mix of styles, deep third point of view, then some unnamed person's report of Frankie along with what had to be footnotes explaining references. I noticed some people over at Amazon objected to the interruption of the story with the notes from some omniscient story teller, not to mention the notes from whoever had written the reports. I wish I had a print copy--I bet it would be easier to know where we are with the story. It didn't bother me. In fact it was a nice change from the standard deep third all the way. The story was full of rich kids at a boarding school. For once I believed it. These were really the rich kids I've met (I went to private school in DC and there were some of these peopl...

I dreamed I won a contest in which I could become male for about 24 hours. I realized I still liked men and thought yes! this will be very useful for my writing! Talk about taking your job seriously. Speaking of contests, The Gentleman and the Rogue just finaled in the Passionate Plume contest. Summer has finaled in that contest twice before (for two novellas, "Invisible Touch" and "Knight's Challenge") and I was sure I had saved a little widget thingy to show off, but apparently I didn't plaster it all over the place. Summer is a doot when it comes to promo, I guess. They may send me another widget and if they do, I'll be sure to save it here. It's a nice one. What I read last week: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, which I've already reviewed elsewhere. I enjoyed that sucker. I think I loved it, in fact. I still wonder why the hell Larry, who knew there was more to life, stayed put and went into that damn garage every day, but I guess souther...

I've just listened to two "Men Who Say PPPpfffftth To Most Responsibilities" books. I found yet another Lee Child mystery and a Stuart Kaminsky novel. Always Say Goodbye , the Kaminsky novel, is maybe the 5th in a series? I've never read any of the others yet I never felt lost. I could tell characters who drifted in were getting that check-in sort of moment, when you see what's become of people who starred in other books. They didn't felt extraneous, though. That's pretty impressive. I like the writing; I like the main character. He wears his depression like it's a talent but people in his life seem to call him on that. I can bet having that depression mentioned and stroked and cultivated in a series of stories would get old to read about. I should know -- I'm a depressive. It's like toothache. All your attention might be focused on it, all your thinking is shifted by it, but I'm not sure it's worth embracing as a person's self-def...

I'm reluctant to blog because that would push my covers down. So wait, let me post them again and then get on with blogging. P of L = MARCH 1 MB = Release... soonish, not sure when. Okay. SBD. I just listened to most of a John Grisham, The Confession. It was all about the execution of an innocent man. I can't imagine listening to that thing if I had any pro-death penalty leanings. I'd be screaming at the thing the whole time. No! No! I admit, I figured out what was going to happen, and skipped ahead so maybe I missed the emotional wallop. It was relentless. The writing was interesting because it wasn't what you're supposed to do. A gazillion POVs, no brilliant prose, clunky, lots to telling (not showing). It all seemed to add up to a style of nonfiction as if he was filling some kind of a report. And that worked for what he was doing -- writing a areyoufuckingkiddingme? screed about the death penalty, at least as it's carried out in Texas. But now, either some...

I wasn't sure if this book held together. I'm still not. It consists of the first part in which our hero is an amusing and extremely annoying 16-year-old slacker who couldn't give a shit. Then he starts to lose his mind due to Mad Cow disease, and a new world opens up to him. All the coincidences and strange events -- pretty clearly he's not in our world. So there are the two parts and the coincidences and bizarre events of that other place had the feel of a made-for-tv movie. There's a wishing tree and the bad guys are standard bad guy symbols and the bits and pieces he drags in from his own life....well, actually they are okay. Here's the thing though. Even though I can see the issues and problems, I loved the book. I listened to it on tape and it had a good reader (though he didn't often sound 16) The voice of the narrator sounded like my boys-- who're all about that age or near enough (14, 17 and 20). The language was rough for most parents but not a...

I'm reading three books at the same time. 1. 61 Hours Worth Dying For Jack Reacher novel (on my Kindle) 2. Trust me on this by Jennifer Crusie (an actual book) and 3. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (an audio book) All I need to do is add an erotic book or a science fiction and I'll have a REALLY Wide Variety of stories. Oh, look. Up next is a Patricia Briggs. The funny thing is that the Reacher book is the one I find hardest to put down and that's not because it's the best -- in fact, in terms of characters and writing, it's a third. The damn thing doesn't let up, that's why it's hard to put down. (get it? up? down). Thank goodness there's no romantic figure in this one. When Reacher flirts, it's painful -- like that Susan/Amanda flirtation in the last book. Stick to beating the shit out of tough guys, Reacher. Don't forget to land a couple of sidekick type people in the morgue. Thanks. I think I've read too many of them in a row. ...

I'll get around to SBD but first, I have a dilemma. I asked Mike what I should do and he said "I dunno. ask the facebook world." Eh. Well. It's less bizarro than those people asking if they should have a baby or not. . . My question: Do I save a tooth or yank it out? Here's its dental history. (Warning: ugh. Teeth. UGH) The thing had a cavity, then a bigger cavity. And then a root canal. And now it's acting up again. There's an infection at the very way bottom of the root. So the dentist said, okay it's dental surgery time. They go in via the gum and jaw and do things that I don't want to think about. I said what about just yanking the damn thing? He looked shocked, but he would being a dentist and all. I'm thinking the stupid tooth has had its chances and it keeps acting up. Maybe it's time to say goodbye. It's a molar sort of a tooth, maybe two or three one in from the last back tooth. That missing tooth look doesn't shock me. ...

I'm reluctant to post because it'll push our NEW BOOK down. For some reason, book releases and my books out there have become more exciting again. I wish to cradle the precioussssss excitement of hey! look! People! Look! A book! I helped write it! A BOOK! But tradition is important too, and it's Monday. SBD, bitches. I read a book -- or rather, I listened to one. It was my very first Lee Child Reacher book. Number five in the series, but I wasn't lost, which is great. I do like Reacher and I've decided he can get away with being a laconic killing machine because he doesn't get all angsty. The introspection is about as much as you'd expect from any normal sort of a person. So his life is basically like any0ne else's except he's nothing like anyone else. When he beats a guy up, that guy stays DOWN. On the FLOOR, nearly dead. No gloating on Reacher's part because beating the shit out of people is what he does. You got a problem with that? Not his ...

A fun book. The various conflicts seemed weak-ish (which is surprising, since they're built into the plot) the goals not there (that was the point, actually) but I liked it. The voice and, to a certain extent the situation, reminded me of a fluffier Ann Tyler. The people are richer and less neurotic. The first person narrator didn't annoy me, even when Emmy (that narrator) seemed annoyed with herself. Though she and her brother, Josh, might have been caught in high school worthy dramas, the view was usually fairly interesting. We watch them grow up a bit, become less passive. The initial situation is Emmy walks out on her fiance and then stays in Narragansett, where they'd been staying the night. She stalls out and drifts along. I wished there was more about the community of fishermen and their wives--that sounded more interesting than Scarsdale where the action takes place. But part of the point of the book is that she doesn't understand those people and apparently i...

I can only hope Kimberly doesn't read this. It'll make her cranky. Anyway, a year or so ago I went on about why I freaking appreciate government and why I think the corporate world can't do it all for us. (If you want a fine extreme example of capitalism running the world, read the first couple of chapters of The Supernaturalists. The sponsorship of orphans and using them as lab rats to make them pay their way. Chilling. Too easy to imagine) And then, from the world of nonfiction, I read about the fire company that watched the house burn down and thought , yeah, see? Dammmit. I'm growling around the house wishing conservatives and others would latch onto something else other than the issue of that dangerous, nasty public teat called government. Sure, sure, there's waste. Yes. Okay. Good idea to deal with it. But don't throw the baby, the bathwater, the tub and the whole freaking second floor out, ya goofballs. This isn't an emergency. If you're in the...

I keep thinking of how to describe the way some books are annoying me lately. But there is no way in hell I'm putting this stuff down on the interweb. Not only is it not my job, but it's not what I want to be in the world. I want to love the books. I want to clutch them tight to my bosom and whisper about all the pleasure they've given me. Only now that we've come this far, I wonder if any of you were as annoyed by the heroine in True Blue as I was? I'm not aiming for the creative snark, here, but God, she was a PITA. Her side-kick that she somehow snagged was more golden retriever than man. He followed along with her schemes, getting shot at etc, whining about the fact that he was a lawyer and could lose his license but never actually doing anything like calling her on the bullshit. Like, what the hell? Who bought the idea that her snooping around, not using any kind of standard procedure, on a case that had nothing to do with her down-fall was going to get her rei...