Julia Barrett's World

http://erotromreader.blogspot.com/?zx=94c63e54148e7932

Janna, at Erotic Romance Reader featured a clip yesterday from Daughters of Persephone, Book One Exile.  Yikes!  I wrote that, eh?  Cool!

Here’s her main link in case you can’t get in the back door – http://erotromreader.blogspot.com/

All next week while Janna’s on vacation, you can read guest posts and win books – I’m giving away a copy of Daughters, Mia Watts and Bronwyn Green are also providing prizes.  Make sure to stop by Janna’s place for some goodies!

Wiping the sweat from my brow!  Whew!  Sixteen hours straight of revising Anytime Darlin’ - my cowboy rancher/farm girl romance with Siren.  I had to get it done…we may be getting a new puppy tomorrow.  This was a major re-write and it took me days as this honey-bunny is a full-length romance/suspense.

I just this minute got a review for my very popular romance/suspense, My Everything, from Happily Ever After Reviews:  http://hea-reviews.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-my-everything-by-julia-barrett.html Ben and Grace seem to be characters readers love.  They are lovers reunited after ten long, heart breaking years apart.  Five Tea Cups!

Drop by tomorrow as author, Anny Cook, gives us her take on fantasy.  She writes very hot, very fantastic books – we’re talking major world-building!

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Here’s Josie, all that’s missing is me!

Hi all, I’m back from ten days of heaven…I mean Montana – big sky, rugged mountains, cute cowboys, good food, harsh weather, heavenly horses!  I spent yesterday afternoon stuck in that dang Seattle airport again – but that All Romance E-book award-winning author, Mia Watts, and I spent two hours texting each other – until the battery on my phone died.

We stayed a couple days at my daughter’s boyfriend’s cattle ranch.  Eat more grass-fed beef!  This coming from a vegetarian who has been desensitizing herself to meat in recent weeks after ages of avoiding it, because I’ve witnessed firsthand the kind  way this family cares for their cattle and their responsible stewardship of the land.  I figure if they come to Napa, they drink our wines…if they host me, I’ll taste their beef.   These are real cowboys who cry if they lose a calf or a horse or a working dog.  Seriously.

Then we moved on to the cattle ranch that was our initial introduction into this wild corner of Montana a number of years ago, Sweetgrass Ranch – heaven on a hoof!  For three days, I rode my standby, Trinket, a blue roan.  She’s great, transitions smoothly from the trot to the lope to the gallop, she’s sure-footed on the steep, rocky trails, but she doesn’t like cattle and after three days, she began coughing.  I got to ride Garrett – a brilliant little horse – stole him from Janice, my Scottish friend!  As she says, he explodes, but he’s so kind, he takes you with him!  She’s right.  Have you ever watched a cat rev his hind-quarters up and then spring forward as he’s stalking something?  That’s Garrett.  You can practically feel him revving his little hindquarters up just before he explodes across a meadow.  Riding him is like blasting off on a rocket!  He’s smooth as silk and so dang cute!  But, Janet, damn her…wanted him back, so my daughter, head wrangler that she is, switched me to Josie, saying, you’ll love her, she’s very forward.

OMG!  There are no words to describe the feel of Josie beneath me!  Sigh and double sigh.  Triple sigh.  She’s tall, powerful and fast.  She did everything I asked of her. While her trot is a bit high, when she lopes and gallops, you might as well be floating on a living cloud.  If someone had been able to take a picture of me, you would have seen a big, shit-eating grin on my face – but of course that would have been impossible as I was past everyone in a flash, gone in a cloud of dust!

Josie and Garrett, Janice and I, became partners in crime, getting into trouble, racing across meadows of wildflowers, leaving the rest of the group far behind.

Me to my daughter:  “I haven’t had this much fun on a horse since I was a kid!”

My daughter to me:  “Yeah, I noticed!  You’re acting like a little kid!”

Me to my daughter:  “Aw, c’mon, can’t I lope some more???  Pleeeeeeease?”

My daughter (rolling  eyes) to me:  “I’m regretting my decision to give you Josie.”

Nah, at the end of the day, my daughter whispered in my ear…”I knew you would love her.  She’s perfect for you.  She’s just like the horse you lost.”

Perfect ending to a perfect week.

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Jessica at her site, Read React Review, recently posted about the campy fun of reading ye olde bodice ripper.

She featured The Raider, by Jude Deveraux.  Here is a quote from the book.  Keep in mind, it’s taken out of context…He kissed her again. “You have a choice. We make love tonight on the soft cool sand or I rape you tonight on the sharp rocks.”

The Raider was released in 1987.  I didn’t read romance back in ’87 – while I know many of you have been reading romance all your lives, I’m a relative new-comer to the genre.  My history with romance goes back…maybe 5-6 years.  The only actual semi-bodice ripper I’ve read is Sweet Savage Love, by Rosemary Rogers.  Anyway, Jessica and I engaged in a bit of a discussion regarding the appeal of bodice rippers.  I don’t generally find a story involving a forced seduction appealing, regardless of the quality of the writing – this isn’t a Politically Correct thing with me.  Having experienced a sexual assault first hand, I venture to say there’s nothing seductive about force.  Jessica, however, made a good point.  She reminded me that in previous generations, a woman could not be sexually promiscuous, or even engage in premarital sex and still be considered a good girl.  Ah…the slut factor!  A bodice ripper gave a woman permission to express her sexuality in a socially acceptable way.  In other words, the mind could still say no, it’s wrong, while the body said – Yess, give it to me baby!  And that was okay because our heroine could remain virtuous and in the end our hero always did right by her.  C’mon ladies and gents, fess up…is this our secret, deeply buried desire?  Or was it at one time?

Here’s Jessica’s post:  http://www.readreactreview.com/2010/06/16/review-the-raider-by-jude-deveraux-with-matching-figurines/ It’s well worth the read.

I’m including the definition of a bodice-ripper from the U.K. because, well, we all know the U.K. is the setting for most bodice rippers – either there or the American West.   “These books owe much in style to the work of English romantic novelists like Jane Austen and Emily Bronte. Nevertheless, the term itself is American. The first reference in print is from The New York Times, December 1980:

“Women too have their pornography: Harlequin romances, novels of ‘sweet savagery,’ – bodice-rippers.”

“It soon caught on and appears numerous times in the US press from that date onward. Here’s an early example, in a story about [then] emerging novelist, Danielle Steel, from the Syracuse Herald Journal, New York, 1983:  “I think of romance novels as kind of bodice rippers, Steel says.”

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bodice-ripper.html

I’ve found a couple of book bloggers who have unique and entertaining takes on the subject.  From Alive and Knitting:  ” Once upon a time, historical romance as we now know it did not exist as a genre. The only romances were the sweet little contemporary Mills & Boon romances that came out every month. Then, Kathleen Woodiwiss wrote a book called THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER which sold like crazy. We would now call this an historical romance – it was set in England and colonial America, featured a heroine who came into her own over the course of the book and a strong hero, had lots of historical detail (especially social history), lush prose and explicit sex. (Many thought the sex in this book was too explicit – the first intimate act between the hero and heroine is not consensual.) This book sold and sold and sold, effectively launching a genre. There was a lot of trial and error in the subsequent years, as editors and publishers weren’t entirely sure what element of this book (and other books by Woodiwiss) was so resonant for readers, but Woodiwiss always sold well.” See the link below:

http://www.delacroix.net/wordpress/?p=744

Then head over to check out  all three posts about Bodice Rippers from No Book Left Behind:  “Those of you who know me know that romance novels are my not-so-secret shame; there’s no amount of college-educated veneer that can cover up my craving for far-flung adventures, flowery purple prose, and aesthetically pleasing protagonists who find themselves falling in love in the most improbable ways.

“And, as I have mentioned on my blog before, I am excruciatingly picky about which bodice rippers I get to buy. None of your $4 Harlequin romances for me – give me the $6-$8 paperbacks with the shimmery gauze and flowers on the front cover (which often conveniently hides the potentially embarrassing Regency-era bodice-ripping tableau underneath), or your contemporary romances with cartoon women in fancy heels and silky scarves! Give me something that has the words “New York Times Bestselling Author” on them, and you’ll know I’m a sucker from the get-go.”

http://nobookleftbehind.blogspot.com/search/label/bodice%20ripping%20cliches

I would love to hear your opinions on the subject.  Do you find stories involving forced seduction entertaining?  No judgment here…be honest.  If so, why?  If not, why not?  Do you like just a taste of coercion, such as the story of a forced marriage where the two parties end up falling in love?  I’d love to hear what books you’d recommend.

I’ll let you in on a secret and this is so not politically correct – I love the movie Three Days of the Condor, starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway.  I cannot deny that the movie contains a forced seduction.  I love the scene but still I cringe a little when I watch it.  Robert Redford plays a good guy who is forced by circumstances to do things he wouldn’t otherwise do.  Faye Dunaway is pulled into his world – forcibly, including…well…watch it for yourself!

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Last night, my husband and I went to meet a couple of German shepherds -

a dad and a poor mom about to burst.  She gave birth to nine puppies this morning.

We intend to put down a deposit on a puppy, hoping that one will turn out to be a plush coat, like Louie.  Talk about six degrees of separation.  The mom is the spitting image of Louie’s mom, who I first met when she was in the same stage of her pregnancy with Louie’s litter – and come to find out this guy, this owner, bred Louie’s grandmother and sold her to the people who sold us Louie.  Thus, Louie’s mother was his puppy’s daughter.  Small world!  Just like Louie, both these dogs possess an amazing temperament, intelligence and awareness.  They each have a sweet and gentle disposition that belies their intimidating size and strength.  I can’t wait to see the puppies – gotta wait three weeks – I hope there’s a plush coat among the nine because that’s what we really want – yes, I know, we can’t replace our perfect dog, but we still want that great coat.  So I feel guilty and hopeful at the same time.  My husband keeps reminding me that I can’t stay mired in this awful grief and besides, maybe Louie turned around and came right back into this litter!  Think positive!  I do believe in reincarnation.

To celebrate, or to remember, or both, here’s one of my favorite literary passages about love and loss.  Makes me cry every single time I read it.  Count your blessings, you’ll have to suffer through a longer one tomorrow!

‘Many times Blackthorne had looked over his shoulder expecting her there, but she was never there and never would be and this did not disturb him.  She was with him forever, and he knew he would love her in the good times and in the tragic times, even in the winter of his life.  She was always on the edge of his dreams.  And now those dreams were good, very good, and intermixed with her were drawings and plans and the carving of the figurehead and sails and how to set the keel and how to build the ship and then, such joy, the final shape of The Lady under full sail, bellied by a sharp sou’wester, racing up the Channel, the bit between her teeth, halyards shrieking, spars stretched on a larboard tack and then, ‘All sails ho!  Tops’ls, mainsails, royals, and top topgallants!’ easing out the ropes, giving her every inch, the cannonade of the sails reaching on the other tack and ‘Steady as she goes!’ every particle of canvas answering his cry, and then at long last, full-bodied, a lady of inestimable beauty turning hard aport near Beachy Head for London…’

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I asked Stacey to drop by to celebrate her new release.  Saving Grace is her first menage and it promises to be a fantastic read!  This baby is over at Siren-Bookstrand and it’s rated SEXTREME!!!  Fanning myself here…pant…pant…

Blurb:

Grace is thrust deep into cattle country with dozens of sex starved cowboys. Her modest, timid nature soon fizzles away to make room for her raging lust. From one night stands to a ménage a cinq, her body won’t allow her to refuse the muscled ranch hands that seem desperate to pleasure her.

Grace explores her sexuality and pushes her personal boundaries. She discovers the sensual woman that remained dormant during her adult years. It is the love of a good man that forces her to let down her guards. Can she commit after everything she has been through in the past? Will she accept the love she’s craved for a lifetime?plores her sexuality and pushes her personal boundaries. She discovers the sensual woman that remained dormant during her adult years. It is the love of a good man that forces her to let down her guards. Can she commit after everything she has been through in the past? Will she accept the love she’s craved for a lifetime?

Links:

Stacey’s Website: http://www.staceyespino.com

Stacey’s Blog: http://www.staceyespino.blogspot.com

Buy Link:  http://www.bookstrand.com/saving-grace

Sex and Love, by Stacey Espino

Throughout history, men have been prided on their sexual prowess. It was acceptable for them to have nameless encounters, with little regret. Men: the heartbreakers, and players. Women, on the other hand, have been respected for their chaste behavior, and any promiscuity has been frowned upon.

Today, times have certainly changed. You just have to look at the climbing popularity of women’s erotic romance, to know that we are more comfortable with our sexuality, and eager to explore it.

But, being the emotional creatures we are, can we love ‘em and leave ‘em, as men seem so easily capable of?

Do women tend to attach feelings, namely love, with sex?

Or is it very possible for them to have their fun, and walk away with no attachment?

I explored this topic in my recent release, Saving Grace.

Grace is forced into a wife swap by her abusive husband. But spending a month on the Wagner Ranch turns out to be the best thing that could ever happen to her. She comes out of her shell, and explores her sexuality. Though she has some affectionate feelings for the men that she fools around with on the ranch, she’s conscious of the fact that she doesn’t love them, and tells them so.

When Mr. Wagner’s own son catches her attention, separating lust and love is much more of a challenge.  Read Saving Grace and learn how Grace copes with her unusual situation.

All the best, Stacey!

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Janna, over at her site – Erotic Romance Reader – reviewed Captured.

She has been wonderful the past couple weeks as I’ve struggled with the pain of losing my best friend.  She went through the same thing a few months ago.  I sent her Captured because there are cats in it.  Here’s here review:

Genre & Keywords:
SciFi Romance, violence, kidnapping of humans, survival

Why I read it:
The author sent me the book as a present to cheer me up

Storyline:
A woman bonds with one of her male kidnappers who’s from another planet and never knew much about her race before. Mari shows Ekkatt that humans are sentient beings like him. She surprises him in more than one way and she on the other hand learns to see his softer, kind side. Together they run from the authorities of Ekkatt’s planet while they fall softly for each other.

My opinion in short:
I’ve hardly read any SciFi romances, but the ones I read I liked. Captured included. Mari’s and Ekkatt’s story drew me in like a moth to a candle. I was eager to learn more about this other world and Ekkatt’s and Mari’s romance was very addictive. I enjoyed switching from her to his perspective and thoughts from time to time so I could equally sympathize with both protags. All in all, Captured was a surprisingly believable, sweet love story that I adored. When all SciFi romances are written as well and convincingly as Julia Barrett’s Captured, I might have discovered a new love.

~~~~~
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2 out of 3 flames
~~~~~

What’s more to know about this book:
• Characters
Mari is a feisty, smart and witty woman. I like how her survival mode kicks in and brings out her good qualities. She seems delicate and breakable to Ekkatt but she is very strong in fact. On top of that she has a good sense of humor and never complains. No wonder Ekkatt is at first intrigued and later totally smitten with her. She’s almost too perfect, but I loved her. Ekkatt is something else, he’s not human, does look a bit cat-like with his yellow eyes, and is huge. At first he doesn’t seem to be nice at all, but from the moment he risks his own life to save Mari he stole my heart. He’s a fun character because he doesn’t react as expected in a lot of situations and in the conversations with Mari. They make a sweet love couple that I would love to read more about.
I think Ms. Barrett is working on a sequel, but that’ll tell Ekkatt’s brother’s story. I’m hoping we’ll get a glimpse of Mari and Ekkatt as well.
• POV
The story is told in third person, alternated from Mari’s and Ekkatt’s point of view. This suits this story well. It makes both characters three dimensional and easy to empathize with, which is not unimportant when you’re dealing with an alien.
• Plot
The plot is well developed and takes us from a dangerous situation, via some suspenseful moments to a happy ending, in the right pace. There are no annoying time gaps or huge jumps and all is told in chronological order. The world building is done gradually, nothing too overwhelming, but very convincing. And although a few questions remain unanswered, everything is totally credible, within the frame of the story. New developments and little twists and turns keep you reading until you’ve finished the book. The ending was maybe a bit abrupt, but that probably has more to do with the fact that I didn’t want to say goodbye to this couple yet.
• Smexing
M/F. Human female and alien male, with a different but comparable anatomy. I was curious as hell how that would work out. But I had to wait, their attraction wasn’t rushed and anticipation was built. Eventually they had really steamy sex and although Ekkatt turned out to be huge in every department, it did fit! Thank heavens that this difference in anatomy didn’t become cheap or putrid at all, because it easily could have. The smexy scenes were hot as well as tender and showed the H/h growing love.
• Writing style
It’s vivid and a nice variation of descriptions, thoughts and dialogues. It shows a good sense of humor and renders the characters feelings in all depth. Ms. Barrett’s writing kept me cleverly invested in her hero and heroine and produced an enjoyable suspense which kept me reading and reading. Her dialogues are witty and made me laugh out loud more than once.

Favorite scene/quote:
I enjoyed Ekkatt’s process of realizing that the leaders of his planet are not necessarily to be trusted. Their laws mean nothing to him anymore when he discovers they are based on false assumptions of the human kind. The next quote says it all:

“He’d come to enjoy the sensation of her beneath his fingers. He’d found pleasure in the silk of her hair, and he’d taken comfort in the smoothness of her skin. Ekkatt knew his own religious leaders would call such feelings a sin against nature. Their opinion on the subject had come to matter nothing to him. The little human, on the other hand, had come to matter a great deal.”

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Please feel free to take a look around and check out the site, read about my books, upcoming releases, reviews, sign up for my newsletter…Whatever you like.

Here’s an update on our boy.  He’s improved slightly with massive doses of steroids.  We don’t know if this will get him over the hump so he can fight what appears to be more of a viral infection or if the slight improvement is just the steroids talking.  Hubby was man enough to stay up all night with Louie.  I hit the wall yesterday evening and when he got home from work, I was huddled in a corner sobbing and incoherent.  I wish I could be stronger, I mean for Christ’s sake, I’m a hospice nurse, I work with dying people, and I’m really really good at what I do.  You’d think I’d be able to handle this situation.  I suck.  I just suck.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll have better news.  Much love, Julia

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I don’t know how you do it – write when someone you love is sick.

Regina, my heart goes out to you.  I don’t know how you find the strength.  I can’t concentrate.  My dog is sick and I don’t have a lot of hope that he’ll survive this sudden, unexplained illness.  I feel like I have a hole in my chest.  Canceled the head shots.

Yeah, I have stuff, writing-related stuff I should be working on, but Louie is my boy and I don’t know what I’ll do without him if the worst comes to pass.  My mom has always claimed I like animals better than people.  She’s right, except for a few people, I do.  With animals there is no pretense.  Well, my cats have been known to hide birds they’ve caught beneath their furry little bodies because they know I’ll take the birds away, but other than that, when it comes to my animal friends, what you see is what you get.

Louie has been the best dog ever in the history of my world and I’m not ready to lose him.

My friend Mia Watts managed to bring a smile to one side of my mouth by sending me to this site, Sex.  Love.  And Everything In Between:  http://www.emandlo.com/2010/06/the-top-10-signs-you%E2%80%99re-reading-bad-erotica/

Gotta go because my tears are blinding me.

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According to the Urban Dictionary, the meaning of the above phrase is:  A person or group treated without the favor of birthright.  Sometimes, as my middle child, My Everything feels that way.  Ben and Grace told me themselves.  They made a very good point about getting the short end of the promo stick.  So here goes – Ben McCall and Grace Rafael, it’s your turn!

Security consultant Ben McCall is alone. His wife and unborn child are dead, victims of an assassination attempt meant for someone else. Grieving, he disappears. When his best friend is in danger Ben resurfaces, only to find his friend isn’t the target of a murderer, he is.

Grace Adams is one of the walking wounded. Her husband died two years ago. One night she is incapacitated. A man comes to her aid. He’s the man she fell in love with years before, Ben McCall. As the passion between them reignites, Grace too becomes a target of the madman who stalks Ben.

Yes, this is a romance/suspense, but it’s also a sweet story.  I fell so in love with Ben and Grace and had such compassion for their struggles that I did something I will probably never do again, I wrote them an epilogue – I wanted everything to come out right in the end.  Like Job, who got back what he’d lost, I wanted to give my characters back everything they’d lost in their lives.

Thanks to Cris Griffin, cover artist extraordinaire over at Cobblestone Press and Jimmy Thomas, a major hot cover model, I got the above gorgeous cover.  The book is available at Cobblestone and it’s just been listed on Fictionwise.

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/myeverything.htm

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b110090/My-Everything/Julia-Barrett/?

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Prescript:  Captured is out in print on Amazon!  OMG!  http://www.amazon.com/Captured-Publishing-Classic-Rachel-Barrett/dp/1606018582/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274500727&sr=8-2

My baby girl is flying home tonight.

You know how it is.  I love my kids so!  They are my greatest achievement.  I always knew I wanted kids, the husband was optional.  Got a good one despite myself.

Anyway, she’s coming home after having two flights canceled out from under her and since she’s flying from the East Coast, she won’t have eaten for hours -  maybe a pack or two of peanuts.  So…

I put together a cheese plate with Petite Basque, Gorgonzola Dolce, and Brillat Savarin, sliced melon and muscat grapes.  I quick cooked some asparagus, roasted a couple gigantic purple artichokes – still trying to decide if I want to stuff them with crab.

I’ve got fresh bread and I’m baking our favorite chocolate sheet cake – my great gramma’s recipe.  Oh yummo!

I think I’ll chill a bottle of Prosecco.

You all have a wonderful weekend!

Oops!  Here’s the recipe:

Melt two sticks of butter with one cup of water and 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder.

Mix together 2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda.  Set aside.

Beat two eggs, mix with 1/2 cup buttermilk and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Pour melted chocolate mixture into dry mixture.  Stir in liquid mixture.

Spray a rectangular cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Preheat oven to 350′.  Pour in batter.  Bake 35 minutes.  Remove.  Let sit ten minutes and frost.

Frosting:

Mix together 1 stick butter, 6 tablespoons buttermilk, 3 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 box powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Enjoy!

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This is an excellent question!

34% of her respondents claimed they do indeed skim or skip sex scenes.  If you extrapolate the percentage to the general romance reading public, this is a significant number of readers.  You can check out the post for yourself:

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/

Reasons given were:  too gross, too long, too boring, too acrobatic, too gratuitous, too unbelievable.

I have to admit I’m occasionally guilty of skimming or skipping.  I recently purchased several books – print books via Amazon – written by some of my go-to authors and I skipped the sex scenes.  Why?  Well, as I commented on Jane’s post, if I’m skimming or skipping the sex scenes, chances are I’m skimming or skipping most of the book, primarily out of boredom.  There is nothing more disappointing – reading-wise – than anticipating a new story or a new take on an old story, but instead discovering the same old same old has simply been repackaged, and that includes the same formulaic sex scenes.

Writing a sex scene is hard work.  Writing a good sex scene is even more hard work.  It’s a complex process and the way I see it, you have to be very involved in what you’re writing because context is everything.  There must be a realistic reason for the characters to do what they do, behave as they do.  And I believe that once the character commits to a man or a woman, the author must commit as well.  My goal is to write a scene or scenes that do justice to my characters and will involve, enthrall, and entertain my readers.  I think if an author just tosses in a gratuitous sex scene because they feel it’s required of them, the reader will recognize it and probably start to skip and skim.  I’m a fan of fade-to-black or behind closed door sex scenes if an author isn’t comfortable doing the down and dirty.  Really…it’s okay, just give me a good story.

So check out Jane’s post and leave me your comments.  I would love to hear your answers – do you skim?  If so, I really want to know why.

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Review:
“I read this book a while back in my exams period and I just discovered that I totally forgot to review it in all the stress. And it totally deserves a review. I got this book from Julia and I’m so thankful she send it to me. It really made my day better and let me forget all the stress of the exams for a few hours.

What makes this book so special? I loved that the characters felt this huge attraction to each other even before they met. I think we all know that situation when you hear the voice of someone and start thinking about what he or she will look like. Or perhaps that is just me because of my job at the directory assistance.

Eva is a wonderful character. She works for a catering firm and is a really independent woman. She seems perfect and prim as in how can she be that perfect but after a bit of time we discover what makes her a real human. She has a seriously dirty mouth from time to time and I had to laugh so often just cuz of the stuff  that came out of her mouth. She loves to cook and it mostly felt like foreplay what she does with the food. I really liked her from the start.

When Gabe hears Eva’s voice for the first time he is smitten and it gets even worse when he tastes her food for the first time. I really thought that food couldn’t be such a turn on but Gabe showed me that I was wrong. He really “likes” her food and OMG how I wished I were the cook. He is one hot man and I completely understand what Eva finds so interesting and sexy about him. He has a way to talk and gesture that just makes you crave him. He’s a millionaire but is still such a nice guy.

Together these two are one nice pair. They are made for each other. They have these easy conversations and funny banters but they know how to turn up the heat, too. I’m always totally blown away how Julia creates this matching couples. I love how her couples are together and how they seem to be so real.”

Thanks, Susi!  You can read the entire review here:  http://thegeekybookworm.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-beauty-and-feast-by-julia-rachel.html

on my review page.

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“Try to look at it this way, absence makes the cock grow harder.”

The above quote is from my contemporary romance, Beauty and the Feast.  It’s the quote Mandi chose as her favorite when she posted her review of the book today/yesterday – which, of course, makes me laugh out loud.  Here’s a bit of the review:

“Beauty and the Feast is a cute love story, a little sappy at times, but I very much enjoyed how Julia Barrett combines food and romance. The preparation of the food and the consumption very much mirror foreplay and sex and it was very erotic how she combines them both. As Eva says,

“Good food should be like great sex. Nuanced. Seductive. Smooth. Satisfying. The more care used in preparation, the deeper the flavor, the more lingering the outcome.”

Eva is a little bit on the perfect side, besides having a potty mouth. She is your classic heroine who does not have a lot of sexual experience – but she has great chemistry with Gabe. I like both of their easy going attitudes and there are many scenes that steam up the pages. At first Eva feels a little awkward, having feelings for her client. She kind of sees her self as the “help” rather than the girlfriend. But Gabe is there to put all those notions out of her head. He is rich and powerful, but very sweet to Eva.

Beauty and the Feast does a cute job of combining two of people’s favorite things – sex and food.”

http://www.smexybooks.com/

Thanks, Mandi!

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Anna Paquin opens up!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2133643001?bctid=75433647001

Search it out – the link is available for uploading – wish I was better at uploading videos!

Brave celebrities using their celebrity to do good.  That’s what I like to see.

Not much new – working, sleeping, hiking – smelled a mountain lion yesterday but couldn’t see anything – it smells like the lion cage at the zoo – just like a giant dura in Captured!

I am without reading material so I think I’ll take a suggestion from Rebecca at Dirty Sexy Books and pre-order a copy of Guy Gavriel Kay’s newest release, Under Heaven.  His prose is glorious!

I’m also glad to hear that George R.R. Martin may finally release the next book in his mammoth, brilliant and once missed the mark series – A Song of Fire and Ice.  I had despaired of ever learning what happened to my favorite few surviving characters.

Personal tragedy – I have this parrot, and she has a buddy, a little parakeet we rescued from a wilderness park – snatched her right out of the claws of a hawk.  We call her Alstie.  Anyway, Alstie and my parrot are best friends and true companions.  They love each other.  We keep our house pretty cool so I have this heat lamp – off the cage and it’s low voltage and I check it all the time to make sure it’s not too hot.  Anyway, somehow Alstie got her wing caught in the heat lamp on Monday when I was at work and burned off her tail, part of her wing and a relatively large area on her back.  Since I cannot catch her, she’s totally untamed, I can’t medicated her or clean the area – as a nurse who once worked on a burn unit, I know how bad burns can be – bad stuff is likely to happen after the initial injury.  I’ve been feeling so awful because I can tell she’s in pain and I’ve been waiting for her to get septic and die and that thought makes me really sad.  But!  She’s rallied!  I figured if she could survive the first week, she had a chance.  She’s eating, moving and talking a bit.  Where there’s life there’s hope!  Wish her luck!

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Guess which cat is me?

“I’m never sleeping with you again!”

“Why?”  hurt tone in voice…

“Because you tossed and turned all night long and yelled out in your sleep and coughed and cleared your throat and I had to go downstairs at four a.m. to sleep on the couch and I couldn’t sleep and I have to work today and it’s gonna be nasty…”  angry mean voice…

“I did not toss and turn all night.”

“You did too toss and turn all night and you kept yelling out ‘Yes!’  ‘Bring it here!’  Bring what here?”

“I don’t know because I didn’t yell that out!”

“Yes you did!”

“No I didn’t and you’re really crabby.”

“Well you’d be crabby too if you had to sleep with someone who thrashes around all night long!”

“I don’t thrash.”

“You do thrash.”

Disappear into shower to cool off.  Step out of shower.  Naked.  Man there kissing me.

“You do realize that by kissing me, you’re taking your life in your hands.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“If I wasn’t late for work already, I’d make you pay.”

“Sounds interesting…”

How can you stay angry at a man like this?

*Currently reading – Defeat the Darkness, by Alexis Morgan.  I think this is book six of her Paladins of Darkness series.  I feel about as cantankerous as her wounded hero, Hunter Fitzsimon.  Do you know that ‘fitz’ means ‘son of’, so a name like Fitzsimon in real life would mean son of Simon?  Trivia…

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