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rubya

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Hearts Aflame
Johanna Lindsey
Outliers: The Story of Success By Malcolm Gladwell
Brown and Company- -Little
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country's Foremost Relationship Expert
John M. Gottman, Nan Silver
The Kite Runner: Graphic Novel
Khaled Hosseini, Fabio Celoni, Mirka Andolfo
The Mill on the Floss
George Eliot
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage (Berkley Sensation)

Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage -  Jennifer Ashley This book was a disappointment and I simply couldn't get through it. In Book 1 of the series we learn that Isabella and Mac are an estranged married couple and I was excited at the prospect of seeing them learn to love and trust again.Until- I realized that Isabella's actions aren't consistent or realistic throughout the course of the book. Their reconciliation just doesn't seem real and she seems wishy- washy and totally irrational in her choices and decisions. At one point, he apologizes for something horrible he did in the past and she says something like, "I don't want to talk about the past...It was probably my fault anyway" HUH?I can generally troop through a mediocre romance novel, but this was just dumb and I had to give it up in the middle....

The Shadow and the Star

The Shadow and the Star - Laura Kinsale I abandoned this book 50 pages in. Whereas the premise was interesting, I found the writing style too difficult to get into and the characters too flat and single-minded. I was getting increasingly irritated with the characters, so I gave up. I know, sacrilege considering this is a "classic," but I guess I feel that it's hard enough for men and women to communicate in a romance novel and the "stroke" plot device only made it worse and decidedly unpleasant. It turned the usual "miscommunication foibles" into something terrible and exhausting not to mention terribly uninteresting to read about. There was just such a huge gap between the characters and I guess I didn't feel like I wanted to plod through everything that it would take for them to bridge that gap and fall in love etc. etc. etc.

Beyond the Highland Mist (Highlander, Book 1)

Beyond the Highland Mist  - Karen Marie Moning I couldn't do it. This book was just...weird.I didn't get the cheesy "humor" and the characters seemed too caricature-like and flat for my taste. I didn't care for the "love-triangle" the author sets up in the first 50 pages or so. I didn't care for what's her name or Hawk. Too many good books out there to continue plodding through this one...

Shadow of Night: A Novel (All Souls Trilogy)

Shadow of Night - Deborah Harkness This book was crap. As a general rule, I have no problem reading crap but this was boring, drawn out crap without any juiciness to keep me going. I gave up on p.348/581 Loc6683- after we get a boring blow by blow of how the vampire Matthew hunts down a stag. Snore! Can we get to a plot please? You know, like one that progresses forward and where shit actually happens??

Lord of Desire (Warner Forever)

Lord of Desire - Paula Quinn It's not that this book wasn't well written.... Quinn's writing does has quite a poetic tinge and an engagin style.I just felt that, for me, the plot dragged a bit. I found myself skimming as the lead characters kept analyzing the same stuff over and over again and abandoned the whole endeavor altogether the day after their wedding night.I do, however, want to give the 2nd book in the series whirl because the plot premise interests me.

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History

Maus: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History  - Art Spiegelman This book is absolutely, undeniably brilliant from start to finish. In Maus I and II, Spiegelman layers the story of his father's survival of the Holocaust with his own achingly humorous (or humorously aching?) interactions with his father, effectively displaying the ways in which the horrors have reverberated through time and into the present, rather than remaining a fixed historical occurence. Spiegelman is brutally honest about who his father is and the realities experienced, and the reader has no choice but to be swept into the story, transfixed and horrified. Spiegelman tells the story through the format of a graphic novel and uses animals to represent various groups. On the surface, one may think the media he chooses should ultimately simplify the Holocaust experience, perhaps watering it down to a juvenile level. In my opinion, however, quite the opposite occurs. There are nuances in this book that make themselves felt. There are juxtapositions that stun the reader with their power. Ultimately, in experiencing this novel, I grieved as much as I ever did reading Wiesel's night and watching Lanzmann's Shoah not only for those who perished (z"l), but also for those who survived and who would never be the same.

Confessions from an Arranged Marriage (Avon Romance)

Confessions from an Arranged Marriage - Miranda Neville Boring.The hero and heroine has zero chemistry. I could not connect with the heroine at alll. When she wasn't going off about how she wanted to be involved with politics and blah blah blah, she was snooping through her husband's things. When the hero wasn't bemoaning his dyslexia, he was going on about what a sportsman he was.I couldn't get into this book at all.

Untouched

Untouched - Anna Campbell The kidnapping and rape scenes in this book literally made me feel nauseous. All I wanted was the heroine to get away from him. He was a revolting character and absolutely repelling. In my opinion, he had zero redeeming qualities.I have read "bodice rippers" before and I have enjoyed them. I recently re-read Lindsey's Fires of Winter which features kidpnapping, slavery and rape and I enjoyed it. Yet, somehow, this book is more disturbing to me for one basic reason.In my opnion, most of these "old style" bodice rippers were entertaining and fun because the characters are stylized stereotypes and don't have a lot of nuance to them. We don't get too much into the psychological undercurrents of what is happening and therefore, we can release ourselves into a story where a Viking barbarian enslaves and "conquers" his woman and we can be entertained by it in the same that one can accept the the lack of logic and realism in a fairytale and just go with it.Newer romance novels delve into the nuances of the relationship more and the psychological undercurrents of the relationship dynamic. Newer heros/heroines seem closer to "real people" and are no longer two dimensional steretypes neccesarily. This makes it much more raw and disturbing when there is a hero who would hurt the main character, take away her agency, rape her and "force her." Honestly, I couldn't stop thinking about what a scum bag he was.I don't know if I can finish this book, because I don't believe in the hero or heroine and I don't know if I can care about what happens to them.

Kushiel's Dart

Kushiel's Dart - Jacqueline Carey Today, I finally decided to abandon this book after plodding through the first 206 pages. I don't know, Kushiel's Dart just didn't do it for me. There were many elements of the book which I thought were good- the backstory of Elua and how Terre D'Ange was founded, the Court of the Night Blooming Flowers and the culture of Naamah, etc. I thought the style was good and easy to get into, although at times it was a bit flowery, even for the fantasy epic genre.My main problem with the book was that the plot got bogged down with just so. many. details. Details that I didn't care about whatsoever. There were a million different characters that I needed to keep track of, and a ton of history and political intrigue that I didn't really care about. I wanted to read about Phedre and Alcuin and maybe Hyacinthe. I wanted to read about their adventures and development and interior world and society, but it seemed to me that the sole importance of these characters was to provide a backdrop to Delaunay's (not that intriguing) intrigues. It seems like such a waste since the alternate society the author creates is quite interesting and there's potential there.It just seems like too much work to continue this novel and try to keep everything straight, when I can turn to other fantasy epics which are easier to get into and don't require a 5 page "cast of characters" at the beginning or post-its with "notes" as a bookmark. The breaking point for me came when I came to page 206 and some sort of "drama" was unfolding (I don't want to spoil it for anyone who cares,) and I realized that I only vaguely recognized the names of the people to which the "drama" was happening. Furthermore, I had no clue why the drama was important and why the character who was freaking out was freaking out. It was then that I realized that it was time for me and Kushiel's Dart to part ways. To many good books out there...

Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food

Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food - Jessica Seinfeld I was hoping I could use some of these recipes to trick my fiance into eating healthier, but I don't know if adding purees to everything is the way.Also, I know it may be difficult to be get your kids to eat fruits and vegetables and many parents feel like they need to resort to "tricking" their kids, I think it is also important to teach one's kids to MAKE the right choices for themselves. In today's society, eating healthy is a decision and a choice, albeit not an easy one when there is temptation everywhere.

Seven Years to Sin

Seven Years to Sin - Sylvia Day I actually found Jessica's sister subplot more interesting and intriguing than the main story line, which I found borderline dull.Overall, the book was well written and entertaining, but I must say that I like my historical romance with less love scenes and more engaging conversation or interesting plot-line. It just seemed that they were constantly going at it and going at it, and it began to border on the grotesque after awhile (but not as bad- or as good depending on your perspective- as Featherstone's effort in Sinful, where the main thing I can remember about the book is semen exploding and spewing all over the place.) Also, the author constantly alluded to Jess's lady bits as a kind of hungry little monster which continuously clenched and undulated and rippled. I couldn't help but think "Feed me Seymour!" when they were doing it (which happens a looootttt.) To Day's credit, the love scenes are not gratuitous and the acts do have important roles in moving the plot or relationship further. They are not random sex scenes inserted into the text, but annoyingly so they do extend for graphic page after page.The author does take some time to develop their relationship and there is growth and development in the characters which I found valuable, but they were so obsessively wrapped up in each other that it got boring and I skimmed their repetitive dialogue towards the end.

His Lordship's Mistress (Signet Regency Romance)

His Lordship's Mistress - Joan Wolf Not sure I understand the rave reviews with this one. I found the characters rather one-note and the plot lacked a lot of depth. It felt like a summary of a romance novel. Is this because this is a "category Signet" romance rather than a full length one? I don't know...but that's how I felt. I did enjoy the parts that discussed the acting and the Shakespeare "wars" that went on between Jessica and Kean.

A Gentleman Undone (Blackshear Family #02) - IPS Grant, Cecilia ( Author ) May-29-2012 Compact Disc

A Gentleman Undone (Blackshear Family #02) - IPS Grant, Cecilia ( Author ) May-29-2012 Compact Disc - Cecilia Grant What bravery it must have taken Grant to write this story in the face of the overpowering mountain of romance tropes. Lydia is a tough, tough cookie, at times repelling but always interesting and dark. Will is such a sweetie, although he can be a bit angsty and annoying with his constant moral dilemmas. This book definitely had a modernist tone and I almost felt like it should have taken place in the late victorian period or something rather than the regency. At any rate Grant overturns and redefines the tropes of the pollyana prostitute (a la mary balogh) and the "virgin prostitute" rather interestingly and with a lot of nuance. I liked that Will wasnt rich and all powerful but still adorable all the same. In all, for me it just can't compare to the a lady awakened because it lacked the humor that mr. mirkwood's character brought to that book. Here you have two dark angsty souls who have to deal with a lot of pain to find THEIR happily ever after which totally goes against the grain of the formulaic romance novel endings which I have seen in every single other one I have read.

To Love a Dark Lord

To Love a Dark Lord - Anne Stuart I thought this book had potential, but I think things were smoothed over between the hero and heroine waaaayyy too quickly, and I wish more time was spent actually developing their releationship. I think Killoran had a lot of penance to do for his treatment of Emma, and I think she forgave him waaay too easily. Killoran was honestly a total creep, tortured past or not. I really, really liked the romance between Barbara and Nathaniel and wish there were more parts with them in it.

So Enchanting

So Enchanting - Connie Brockway I think I have mixed feelings about this book. Based on the goodreads reviews on this book, it doesn't seem like this book is an example of Brockway's best. I for one was not all that amused by the Hayden/Amelie romance. I thought those two were annoying as all hell. I thought the "villain" at the end a bit ridiculous, although it did fit with the humor that tinged the book. I wished the plot moved a lot faster with more fun scenes with Grey and Fanny.Despite some of the book's flaws, and despite the inconsistent ratings, I DID see experience some spectacular writing and nuance. I loved the verbal sparring between Fanny and Grey, and I found their dialogue hilarious and fun. When they finally got together (about 2/3rds of the way through the book, might I add :/) it was gorgeously written and so romantic and amazing. I thought they were a well matched pair and I found their internal conflict an interesting one. There was depth to the characters and to the romance. Even though I hated Hayden and dumb Amelie, I understood why they were included in the plot as foils to the jaded and world-weary Grey and Fanny.At any rate, if this is Brockway at her so-so, I am really excited about the prospect of potentially reading her better stuff.

Master Your Metabolism: The 3 Diet Secrets to Naturally Balancing Your Hormones for a Hot and Healthy Body!

Master Your Metabolism: The 3 Diet Secrets to Naturally Balancing Your Hormones for a Hot and Healthy Body! - Jillian Michaels, Mariska Van Aalst I liked this book and it definitely inspired me to go organic.The diet seems easy enough and fairly intuitive, which is a good thing. Luckily I generally already avoid processed foods and try to get my 5 servings of veggies a day every day and only eat whole grains so it should be pretty easy for me to stick to this, but there are definitely certain things I can work on- i.e. no carbs at night, no splenda, no plastic containers etc. :-)One thing that would have improved this book: Michaels goes into great detail about the way different hormones work within the body. I think the book would have benefited from a glossary of terms at the end which one could easily refer to. There does seem to be a lot of information overload in a short page span, which means that I found it hard to absorb a lot of the more nuanced information. I kinda skimmed the technicalities of things and was like, "ok, so what should I eat?"This is definitely a book that can and should be referred to time and again because of the valuable information, interesting and yummy easy recipes, useful charts, and tons of references to websites and other resources. I particularly liked the choose 1 and add 1 chart which basically breaks down every meal into a protein and carb/veggie and breaks the diet into something super easy to follow.