hmmm

I'm typing this via my BlackBerry. It's still crazy hot here and I'm finally at the point where I'm beyond sick of it all.

It reached 106 today, which wouldn't be all that bad, if this were something I'm used to...which it's not.

And believe me when I say that I'm trying really hard not to be a complainer. I'm just not cut out for this crap. I even had a bit of a meltdown at work. Too much going on with too little sleep. It's making Bridget a VERY unhappy girl.

So what's good? Well, I've been reading some great books. Meredith Duran yesterday and Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost today. Somewhere along the line when the mercury's not in the triple digits & I can finally think again, will need to review it.

And so, I'm going to go drench a towel, wring it out real good & then drape it over my bed. It helped last night. All I really need is a good night's sleep. I haven't had one in over a week. Ugh!!

Ciao!

It's Still Hot

And I'm still in serious danger of melting. *sigh* Oh well, it usually doesn't last long, right? *crossing fingers*

Today went by quickly. I'm doing a project on my own that I figured was high time someone actually did. It's one of those things where the previous leads COULD have done it if they wanted to, but didn't. Is it worth all the time I'm putting into it? I don't know, but it's worth it for me. If I figure out it saves my department money, I'm going to be thrilled!

Tempers were short and nerves were shot today. I don't know what else can be expected when it hits 100 & something for a couple days running. And because most people don't have air conditioning...well it sucks. And Jana asked if it's a Northwestern thing. To be honest, we DON'T get super hot all that often, usually just about a week per summer. To most of us, it doesn't justify the cost of getting air conditioning. A lot of companies have it, but most homes don't. I'm seriously considering buckling down and at least getting a window-mounted one for next summer. I can't deal with this heat! It's making me grumpy!

I went crazy on the book shopping today. I bought Meredith Duran's new book, Eloisa James, Jeaniene Frost, Marjorie M. Liu, Lili St. Crow and Melissa Marr. We shall see. So far, the Duran book has been a hoot! The woman has an extremely evocative voice that just speaks to me. Love her! And I can't believe I waited so long to read it!

And I'm off. Going to go finish the book and then go to bed. Night all! Ciao!

*whimper*

Depending on when you read this, look down at my little Weather widget on the lower right-hand side of your page. Right now, at 7:47 pm, it's 100 degrees. Yes, you heard me correctly. *whimper*

Anyone who knows me knows that me + hot weather = very, very grumpy Bridget. Yes, I complain about the cold weather too, but at least with cold weather you can continue to bundle up. When it's super hot? Yeah, not so much. *sniffle*

I'm sitting in the dining room on my mom's computer. It's too hot to run my laptop and I can sit here next to the fan. It's supposed to be 102 tomorrow and 104 on Weds. Those people who say it doesn't get hot in Portland? Well, if I were doing what I wish I were doing...you'd be in a lot of pain right now. :P

Other than the heat though, I am doing okay. It's too hot to think, let alone function, but I'm all right. Didn't get any writing done. *sigh*

Tomorrow I have a meeting for my department...the one I'm the "lead" of. I don't have a lot of hope that it'll go well. One of the guys is fine. He comes to me if he has a question & all that good stuff. The other? If I could drop-kick him off a high building I would. The guy is completely & totally hopeless. I got a call today from a customer inquiring if we do a certain thing. I said "Of course!" She told me she'd called my department about a week ago and had asked the same thing. Instead of him asking if it was something we could do, he flat-out told her that we don't and she had to go somewhere else. *headdesk* He's pathetically hopeless. And he's my back-up in 2 different things. It's enough to make me want to pull out my hair!!! Argh!

I took a shower in the hopes that it would cool me off, which it did...for about a second. Now I feel like I'm drowning in sweat. It's soooooooo not pleasant.

The heat is bad enough...it's the humidity that's killing me. Off to the north are giant thunderheads, which means that something's brewing up in the heavens. All I want to do is sleep on an icecube or 100. *sigh*

At least our wireless is still working. Who knows how long that will last? :P

I'm off! Going to go dunk my head or something. *whimper*

Lazy, Lazy Sunday

First off, I have to say it is HOT! And when I say hot, I mean, HOT!!! I feel like I'm melting and it is not pleasant. *sigh* It's also muggy too, which really sucks.

But, I got up this morning and my mom told me we were all going on a picnic. My first thought "What?!" My second? "Okay!"

We met up at Woodstock Park w/ my brother, SIL and nephews. Lots and lots of trees, so it was very shady. Ate sandwiches, fresh melon, a really good potato salad and it was just a nice peaceful day. The boys ran my brother ragged, which is always entertaining to watch. :)

Now, I'm home and in my room. I've got 2 fans going full blast and I'm doing my best to stay comfortable. *sigh*

This is my 500th post on this blog. I'm thinking it's a bit of an accomplishment. I've only had the blog for about a year and a half. I'm amazed I've come up with so much to talk about. lol

Yesterday was lovely. Went to Jiffy Lube to get an oil change (ugh!) and called my friend Elise who lives in Florida. We've been friends for a long time, but have never actually talked before. She sounded nothing like I expected. lol. Isn't it funny how that usually goes? :D

After Jiffy Lube, met up with my friend/niece V and we went to get pedicures. My toes are now a very pretty shady of purply-pink (or pinky purple...take your pick). We then went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch.

I don't know what it is about hot weather that makes me so hungry. Not heavy foods, but cold. Oh and PICKLES! Eesh! I've been eating dill pickles like they're going out of style or something. *headdesk* I'm pretty sure it's the salt I'm craving because I've been sweating so much (ick).

I read Meredith Duran's first 2 books last night. All I can say is WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG???? They were phenomenal! Duke of Shadows was good, but her latest was my favorite! I'll have to review them somewhere along the line. Her writing is downright lyrical and that's saying something. :)

Other than work, I haven't been doing much. For one thing it's so blasted hot that I'm basically a slug. I have no gumption to do ANYTHING! However, I promised myself I'd have this first draft completely hammered out by my birthday, so I've got less than 2 months to go. I said I'd finished it, which I did, but what I'd actually done was finished all of the scenes and now I'm putting them all together cohesively. Oy! But, it's working. September is coming fast though. *sigh*

And that's about it. I'm hot and cranky, but what else is new? Even though it's really hot, the sky is just this gorgeous shade of azure blue, there's not a cloud in the sky and there's a nice breeze. Still, it's supposed to be in the high 90's today and tomorrow and over 100 for most of this next week. *whimper* Save me!

Ciao!

Blah...And Music!

Okay, random title, but it's kind of how I'm feeling tonight. I've had a lot going on with work and such, plus with the weather stuck in hell territory, I'm just feeling the blahs tonight.

I thought I'd write about something that I always find cool. One of my favorite authors, Rachel Caine, lists a Playlist at the end of each of her books. These are songs that she listened to while writing that particular book. Her musical taste is extremely varied and is pretty cool.

Because I'm bored and hot, I thought I'd do the same. These are the songs I've been listening to ad nauseum since I started working on Kara & Jamison's story. These songs run the gamut from heavy metal to ballads. Yeah, it works. LOL!

Without further ado...State of Being's playlist:

The Sky is Broken-Moby
Invisible Love-Enigma
Haunted-Evanescence
Until the End of Time-Foreigner
The entire CD by Allison Kraus & Robert Plant, but esp. songs 4 & 11. LOVE this CD. Can't recommend it enough.

Loneliness-Annie Lennox
Let the Bodies Hit the Floor-Drowning Pool
Addicted-Saving Abel
Lost-Coldplay
Chasing Cars-Snow Patrol
SOS (Anything But Love)-Apocalyptica
I Love You, I Kill You-Enigma


There are a couple more, but these are the biggies. The CD by Allion Kraus & Robert Plant is downright amazing. I listen to this stupid thing over and over and over again. Sexy, bluesy, yummy. Robert Plant's voice sounds like aged whiskey & cigars. *sigh*

And I wrote 6 pages tonight freehand. Yeah, the typing thing's not working so well for me lately. So I'm writing it out in notebooks. We shall see if that works better. Wish me luck!

This is the URL that'll take you to the song Nothin' (Track 11) on Raising Sand. Love, love, love this song. Please, listen. I think you'll really like it. :)

Hmpf

I'm still hot, still cranky & really wish this weekend was longer than just two days. *sigh*

It's cooled down...some, but dude it's still hot here! Boo!

My friends are all coming back from the RWA conference & it sounds like they all had a blast. Seems like a lot less controversy than last year, which is always nice to hear. :)

Hmm...just kinda having one of those nights tonight. Going to try to get some writing done. Keep your fingers crossed for me. :D

Dog Days of SummerIf

Today being my day off, I spent it being a slug. *sigh* For one thing, it's been crazy hot these last few days. For another, it's my weekend. :P

Spent an hour or two reading Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey and really, really enjoying it. It's a book that's hard to classify, since it's a combination of YA, romance, action, etc. with a little UF thrown in. I really, really enjoyed it, which surprised me since I admit to not being a big fan of her Kushiel series. I've tried reading the first book in that series at least three times and just cannot get into it.

I'm slowly but surely dipping my toes into the writing pool again. I did some brainstorming this morning (in my head unfortunately) and have come up with a couple of really cool ideas for books 2 & 3. However, I need to finish book 1 completely. It's mostly done (kinda like mostly dead...sorry, had to mention The Princess Bride) and now it's on to the editing part. *headdesk* I also need to completely change some parts to make my ideas work for book 2, so now I've got that ahead of me, but I'm happy the writing mojo has come back. Here's hoping it'll stay for awhile.

My mom & I were talking today (kinda) and I mentioned how nobody I KNOW reads this blog (phew). I have actual friends who read G&BBs, but not this one. I like it that way. I like having the relative freedom to express myself and say what I want. I don't have to worry about offending anyone and can just say what's on my mind.

I've been contemplating writing another short story for the blog. I'd really like to write a story based on the world I've created, but think that will have to wait for awhile yet. However, I've got things percolating in this head of mine that really, really want to get out. :)

I finally broke down and read my friends accounts of the RWA conference. I've never been and will probably never be lucky enough to attend. I'd love to go at least once. Maybe if they ever make it to my neck of the woods? Oh, man, if they did I'd be in hog heaven! :)

If I ever DO get the chance to go, there are definitely some authors that would be on my radar, Nalini Singh being my number one choice. After that it would be...oh, quite a few, but Nalini would definitely be my biggie.

My friend Sharon Lathan went this year and it sounds like she had a blast. I "met" Sharon when I got an ARC of her Pride and Prejudice continuation series. I love her books and have really enjoyed getting to know her. One of these days I'll be able to meet her in person.

My friend Delilah Marvelle went as well. Man, one of these days! At least I actually know Delilah. Her historical romances are a hoot. She takes the morals of the time and turns them on their head. I'll be reviewing her August release soon on G&BB (and having an awesome contest too, if I do say so myself).

My friend Holly celebrated her birthday AND got some news. What a way to celebrate your 30th birthday. :D

Things are still crazy for me at work. I wonder sometimes why I said yes to this insanity I find myself in day after day. But...it's got some great benefits, the #1 being I'm busy all day long and don't have to worry about as much downtime. The only bummer to that is I don't write at work anymore. *sniffle*

It's late. I've got to get up at a decent hour and go shopping. I need lunch stuff for next week. Oh joy.

Anyhoodles, I'm off. I hope everybody is doing well. Ciao & all that good stuff.


NIGHT!

I'm MMMMMMEEEEELLLLLLTTTTTTIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!

Egads it's hot. *sigh*

As you can tell, I'm up late. Yeah, that used to not be a problem. *sigh* It's a gazillion degrees in my poor little bedroom, I'm hot and I stayed home from work sick today. I woke up with a killer headache that WOULD NOT GO AWAY. *sniffle* So, I spent most of the day looking wan and not doing much of anything. Pathetic much? :~P

I'm doing my best to avoid anything RWA this week. My envy...well, it floodeth over. Most of my friends are there and it's killing me that I couldn't attend. Yeah, yeah, saving money and all that, but still. Hmph!

I cannot believe tomorrow is Friday already. This week flew by. I'm not unhappy about that, mind you. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow and the inevitable "talk" I'm sure I'm going to get. Ugh!

Work has been insanely busy. I mean, insanely. Unfortunately, it's in my new department & not where it counts. The economy issues are hitting us hard. My company isn't a very big one and they ended up having to lay off quite a few people. It's one of those things we all go thru at one point or another. I'm very thankful at this point that my department is "safe." Safe is a relative term though. That could change at any time.

While work has been busy, my writing is suffering. 99% of it is the fact that by the time my work day is over and I get home, writing is really not a big priority. Vegetating and doing nothing is. *sigh* I've gotta get out of this slump. :(

I reread Branded by Fire the other night. Man...that book amazes me. I think the thing that's truly inspiring about Nalini's writing is that it's tight, the story lines all converge and she never drops the ball (so to speak). Each book continues on the overall story arc while being true to the romance and I think that's awesome. There are a lot of authors out there who quite literally screw the pooch when it comes to multi-story arcs. The first two or three are amazing and all of a sudden BAM a complete 180. *sigh*

It's hot, I'm grumpy and breaking out in hives. Stupid allergies. My head still hurts and I'm just overall in a blah kind of mood. I'm tired...I think that's my biggest problem. Ah well, what else is new?

Ciao!

Short And...Short

I'm alive (I think), just insanely busy. Busy weekend, busy day, busy, busy, busy. *sigh* There are days.

Anyway, one of these nights will have to come up with some sort of nifty blog entry. But for now, I am alive. Yay!

Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh

Obviously I have a review site specifically for reviewing books, but tonight I thought I would do something a little different. Tonight, I'm reviewing Branded by Fire over here. :) Enjoy!

Here's the honest truth...when I first started reading Nalini, I was really & truly not sure what I was getting into. I picked up Slave to Sensation about a year after it was published. Why I waited so long I will never know, because that book completely & totally transported me to another place. A place where humans, Psy, and changelings live side-by-side and have to deal with each other.

Reading about her Changelings is the biggest thrill for me. Something about humans who are also animals and how they deal with their dual natures just fascinates the living daylights out of me. I love how her males are dominant Alphas w/o going into obnoxious, masochistic cretins who make their heroines lives miserable. Instead, they're super tough, powerful men who treat their women with respect, love, and a great deal of passion.

Hands down my favorite book of this series is Caressed by Ice. There's something amazingly powerful about watching the damaged (but not broken) Brenna breaking through the wall of ice that surrounds Judd and watching the two of them fall in love is one of those amazing moments that I wish I could freeze in time.

Branded by Fire is an extremely close second. I've read every single book in this series and there hasn't been a major misstep yet (though Mine to Possess is my least favorite...I cannot stand Talin). The world building is so tightly constructed that you just know there will be an ultimate end game. I can't wait to see what happens next.

But what about Branded by Fire makes it my 2nd favorite of the series? It's 100% the chemistry between Mercy and Riley. Watching them scorch each other's clothes off as their attraction kicks in is a kick in the pants. Knowing that they're two different changeling species and how that will effect/affect them is pretty intense.

In this installment, it's their story, but the stories of others are also very much present. Sascha & Lucas have a lot to do with this story as does Hawke and the rest of the wolves. There's the Human Alliance and some twists there that were downright shocking. Sweet moments of love, passion, compassion, family, humor, etc. But also some downright dark and twisted moments that just about took my breath away.

Usually Nalini builds up the tension between the hero & heroine of each book until their passion explodes near the end. Not so with this book. The passion explodes from the very beginning and never really cools off. What I love the most about this book is that there was potential for one of my least favorite romance cliches to hit, but it didn't happen like I expected. Instead of being stupid and not talking to each other, they sucked it up and acted like grown-ups.

The sex is intense, but so is the fun and excitement they have with each other. Watching Riley, Mr. Staid and Buttoned-Up loosen up and play with Mercy is just yummy. Watching him interact with her family had some truly funny moments popping up here and there.

I know a lot of people wondered why Dev's story is next (esp. since he makes absolutely NO appearance in Branded by Fire), but as always, there's a very interesting snippet that'll make your head explode. If the heroine is who I think she is...all I can say is whoa!

And I know, there's not a lot of description going on here, but truly if I did that, I'd be giving a ton away. Let me just say that if you've read all the books in the series so far, you'll be blown away by all that she reveals (and doesn't). Do we know who the Ghost is? No, but we're getting closer. Is Kaleb good or bad? I know Katiebabs hopes he's good and so do I, but he's a tough nut to crack.

Is everything as it seems? Good question and one I hope she slowly, but surely reveals throughout the next few books. And she introduces us to a potential that I HOPE makes a bigger impact throughout the rest of the series. Because this potential? AWESOME!


Overall Rating: A-

Books Read In June 2009

Huh...June was pretty even. Not a ton, but not too few. Let me count 'em up for ya! :)

1. Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews (e-book): This was pretty good. Extremely short, so it was hard to really get behind the two characters, but as always strong characters and great world building. I'd give it a B-

2. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 1 in her Women of the Otherworld series. Introduces us to Elena and I liked it. Wasn't as strong as book 2, but was pretty good all the same. I'd give it a C+

3. Stolen by Kelley Armstrom (MMPB): Book 2. I really liked this one. The storyline was pretty trippy and had a lot of suspense. I'd give it a B+

4. Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 3. Not bad. The one thing that trips me up about Kelley's books is that they're not all about the same character, so it can get just a smidge confusing. Liked it a lot though. Give it a B-

5. Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 4. Was also very good. Same grade as above. B-

6. Broken by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 6. Another Elena book. This was one that was pretty crazy. Super quick storyline, so it went by fast. I give it a B

7. Haunted by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 5. Total trip. Loved how it went all over the place w/ spirituality. Give it a B.

8. No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 7. Liked it a lot. I didn't hate any book in this series, which is extremely surprising. B-

9. Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 8. Again, liked it a lot. B-

10. Witch Heart by Anya Bast (MMPB): Book 3 in her Witch series. Sexy, as per usual. :) C+

11. Witch Fury by Anya Bast (MMPB): Book 4 in her series. Same as above. C+

12-18: Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, & Carpe Corpus all by Rachel Caine (MMPB): Her Morganville Vampire series. PHENOMENAL!!! I give the series overall an A-, though I have to say book 6 is the most Whoa out of all of them for me. Cannot wait for book 7.

19. Talk of the Ton by 4 authors (MMPB): It was okay. It's an anthology w/ Eloisa James and three other authors. Overall Grade: C It was just all right. I've definitely read better, especially by Ms. James.

20. Just The Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James (MMPB): Another winner. LOVED IT. I didn't review it (thought I had), but I'd give it about a B.

21. Love At First Flight by Marie Force (MMPB): C+

22. What Happens in London by Julia Quinn (MMPB): Gave it a B. Solid, but always could be better. :)

23. Seduce Me by Anne Rainey (e-book): I like Anne Rainey's books. Hot, sexy, yummy heroes. This is another one. I give it a C+

24. Ascension by Lauren Dane (e-book): Book 1 in her Cherchez Wolf series. Sexy, yummy, almost the EXACT SAME as one of her Cascadia Wolves books, but whatever. Still good. :)

25. Everything Nice by Mari Carr (e-book): Her books are hit or miss for me. This one was more of a miss. Give it a C-.

26. Fire and Rain by Lauren Dane (e-book): Book 2. Okay. The heroine irritated me a bit in this one. Not as good as book 1. Give it a C.

27. Kiss and Kin by Kinsey W. Holley (e-book): Part of the Shifting Dreams series. I liked this one the best of the three.

28. Serengeti Heat by Vivi Andrews (e-book): I'm sorry, this book was just too ridiculous. I give it a D.

29. The Strength of the Pack by Jorrie Spencer (e-book): Eh...was okay, I guess. Not a keeper. C-

30. Taking Chloe by Anne Rainey (e-book): Part of her series (drawing a blank...sorry). Liked it. Wasn't as good as Tasting Candy, but I liked it. Give it a C+

31. The Man of Her Dreams by Robie Madison (e-book): A total DNF for me. Got about two pages in and that was it. Just awful (sorry).

32. Treasure Hunting by JB McDonald (e-book): Had potential to be a great story. The author has a great voice and is very funny, but it was a short story and just felt flat. I give it a C for good effort, but a D for overall storyline.


And that's it! I cannot believe I read this many books. I boggle my own mind!