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So what did happen to March? Oh, right, it was Girl Scout Cookie season. And I was Troop Cookie Mom. Hoo boy, that's a job. Wanna know what 157 cases of girl scout cookies in your living room looks like? It looks like this:
Also, I broke my car. I did not know it was so easy to do this. I got stuck, and in my attempts to get un-stuck, I, um, blew the engine. Not as sexy as it sounds. The original plan was to fix it; the dealer found an engine with 50,000 miles on it -- mine had 85,000-- but when it arrived, it looked more like 100,000 [hard] miles based on wear and tear. So then we had some financial arrangements to make and a couple of weeks of challenging one-car logistics (we live in the suburbs, yo) and finally brought home a new-to-us Honda Accord last week.
Work got crazy hectic for me there for awhile, and I went to Dublin (where the company headquarter are) for a week in the middle of the automotive hijinks. Unfortunately I didn't see much of the city, although I did ride around on a bus tour and eat some good meals. I don't particularly think of Dublin as a foodie city but I had some very tasty dinners. I may or may not* have sampled a Guinness or two, and I managed to sneak out of work long enough to tour the Jameson distillery.
So that pretty much took care of March for me.
I haven't stopped reading though. I started Jayne Ann Krentz's new (?) Burning Lamp trilogy. I guess it's new. Anyway, I picked up books two and three this week -- the first one was really good and I just started the second one. Both her Krentz and Quick books are pretty much sure-things for me, but this will be my first foray into her futuristic books under the Castle pen name, so, fingers crossed there. I have to say I find it harder to keep up when the series cuts back and forth across the different pen names.
Tried a new author that I found in a Dublin bookstore: Kim Lenox, the "Shadow Guard" series-- it's a Victorian paranormal, and I was dubious at first, but the writing is super-tight. I'll be looking for the rest of this series.
I did manage a re-read of Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss for my "Rewind" feature, which I was hoping to run on the 2nd of every month. Sigh. If it's one thing that three years of blogging has taught me, it's that schedules and due dates don't work for me. I do want to put up a review though, it just won't be on Mar. 2. Or April 2, apparently.
And Tuesday was the latest J. R. Ward release. I plan on doing a full review, but the highlights are: a) not too bad; b) a little unfocused; c) I think her flashbacks to the Ye Aulde Countreye are getting worse. Gack. d) I don't really care about Qhinn and Blay any more. When you stretch tension out too long, eventually the rubber band snaps, you know? Ward has been using her Facebook page more and more lately, so if you're put off by the fanatical territory of the message boards and the lack of updates on the main webpage, check it out. Today she finally spilled the beans on the next book: Tohrment (Tohr not Thor) is up. I believe it's confirmed that his romantic interest is She of The Random Apostrophe, a/k/a No'One, which I can't say I'm thrilled about. Oh well. What's an addict to do?
How about you? Was March a blur or is it just me?
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*I did.
6 comments:
March was definitely a blur for me too, although I got way less reading done than you did. I am glad to hear the food is good in Dublin -- we'll be spending a few days there this summer. How lucky you are to have HQ in someplace like Ireland rather than, say, Des Moines.
I haven't read a BDB book since Vishous but I think I have to read Tohr's book. However, I have a ton of catching up to do b/c I have no idea who No'One is. Or maybe that's the point of someone named No'One?
No'One is a shadowy, somewhat pathetic creature who lives on The Other Side. Like Qhinn, she is imperfect and therefore is sort of shunned. She wears a black robe, plays housemaid to the Chosen and until Lover Mine never spoke to anyone. She and Payne had a few small-talky conversations in that book.
That's about it.
I'm trying to decide whether you could pick up without reading the intervening books, and I think you probably could. There are some new characters that you'll just have to roll with or read some summaries. The romance part of Ward's books are always pretty stand-alone and the series arcs are pretty weak. You'll just be missing some of the non-couple (or not-yet-couple) interplay.
Glad to see you had some goodness (Dublin and GS Cookies, yum) during your absence. Liked the Quick entry of the Burning Lamp series but the Castle wasn't the strongest of her futuristics. Love most all her stuff but this one.
Ooof. So you're saying I picked the wrong book to test drive Castle?
Let's just say that I wouldn't vow to never buy another Castle on the basis of Midnight Crystal.
Lord, yes. I don't know where March went and April is just as bad so far. As attested to by my own half-started but never-published blog posts. At least you have good excuses - Dublin sounds fun! Jen
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