Julia Barrett's World

You like me! You really, really like me!

It is very nice to find this after the kinda day I had yesterday and today is shaping up to be a repeat! Gotta go, but enjoy this review with me!

http://fallenangelreviews.com/2010/February/merrylee-captured.htm

Captured

Waking up naked in a cargo hold, caged with scores of women and guarded by two huge feline-looking men, convinced Mari Damon of one thing. She’d been kidnapped! By aliens!Ekkatt had harvested countless “Earther” females over the years. His people didn’t eat them, but that didn’t mean they weren’t above supplying them to other species who did. Since they are akin to animals, Ekkatt felt little guilt over his role in their imminent deaths. Until one uppity redhead mysteriously awoke from stasis, demanding to be heard.

Surprised by Mari’s cognitive abilities, he allowed her to remain awake, listening and watching as she set about proving herself sentient and therefore deserving of life. By the time they reached his home world, she’d begun to learn his language. But when his attempt to persuade his superior to spare Mari results in her being deemed a worthy subject for dissection and study, Ekkatt risks execution to whisk her away to his mountain cabin. There, as their love blooms amidst the wild untamed grandeur of Ekkatt’s world, they battle hardship, wild animals and the treachery of a friend. Ultimately, they realize that only one option remains open to them. Setting out across rugged restricted territory, they make for the safety of a secret compound, knowing that the grueling trek could easily cost them their lives. But at least they’d die fighting for happiness and the new life Mari carried within her womb.

This beautiful, compelling story came about through a dream. In putting it down in writing, author Julia Rachel Barrett has produced an absorbing, well-written story that had me so caught up I read every last word of it in one evening. A day later, I’m still marveling at her gift for world-building. I can still close my eyes and envision Ekkat’s majestic home world - the giant durra Mari encountered, the imposing snow-clad mountains and thickly forested valleys, the roaring rivers and emerald lakes, even the grossly disgusting sepatha that almost killed Ekkatt.

Both main characters are strong, appealing individuals who alternately tugged tears and then laughter from me. I loved Ekkatt’s yellow cat eyes and long blue-black hair, not to mention the hard muscles beneath his bronzed skin. I loved Mari’s ability to explain the human condition to Ekkatt, his fondness for potty-mouth English and her enjoyment in teaching him how to kiss. I loved the tender loving care he took of Mari, a woman so much smaller than himself that he thought of as delicate and breakable when she was far from it. Most of all, I loved Mari’s witty, wise-cracking personality, her fortitude and soft heart. Her rapport with Ekkatt is so amazingly beautiful it took my breath away.

Captured is one of the best books I’ve ever read. And with the ending leaving a couple of dangling threads, I’m hoping Ms. Barrett has sequels planned for the brothers I won’t drop any spoilers to name. Beyond that, what more can I say, other than keep dreaming, Julia! Keep dreaming…

Reviewed by: Merrylee

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Witch’s Butter

And it’s edible!

I guess in the old days if this was found growing on the threshold of a home, it was believed that the occupants had been targeted by a witch.

However, in Asia they use this stuff in many stir fry dishes to provide a pop! It’s sort of a tree-ear-fungus. Like my dad always says, “There’s a fungus amongus!”

Totally cool. One of these days, I’ll upload all the photos of mushrooms I’ve hunted on my hikes - I only eat the ones I’m one-hundred percent certain of. Don’t go out and eat the mushrooms growing in your yard!

People die around here on occasion from eating the totally deadly amanitas and agarics. I guess the Death Cap resembles a mushroom that is commonly used in Asian cooking.

Just got home from work and I have to head back there tomorrow. Had a major creepy guy get all up in my face today in a nasty neighborhood when I visited a patient. Ran into a killer guard dog entering a home. Got puked on and bled on. Sometimes I feel like I’m in the middle of a bad movie. Ah well…

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Today has been the day from hell

and when I experience the day from hell, especially when I haven’t time to eat a single thing, I must have potato chips. Fortunately hell days don’t come around all that often, but lately, work IRL has been the essence of HELL. I’ve managed to avoid the potato chip trip until today.

I bought two bags because, you know, you gotta have two flavors - Balsamic Sweet Onion and Jalapeno - a handful from each bag and I feel so much better. It’s like - eat two handfuls of potato chips and call me in the morning - ‘cuz tomorrow and Sunday are shaping up to be an instant replay.

Here’s the caveat:

Dirty Sexy Books reviewed Captured! Yee-hah! Thank you thank you thank you!

http://www.dirtysexybooks.com/Dirty_Sexy_Books/Reviews/Reviews.html

Here it is - made me weep!

“It’s not often that I agree to review romantic erotica, not because I don’t like it, but because I view it like dessert. It’s a rare treat, and I don’t like to overindulge. What persuaded me to try Captured is that it’s also a science fiction story, and it’s getting harder and harder for me to pass those up.
Captured was presented to me as an erotic romance, but I will respectfully disagree. I am more inclined to call it a science fiction romance novella because the romance was the focus of the story all the way. Don’t get me wrong, the sex scenes were good, but they were on par with a SFR novel. For an erotica they’d probably be considered mild.
The way the relationship between Mari and Ekkatt developed was surprisingly robust. So were the sci-fi world-building elements. Personally, I think this story would make a great addition to a SFR anthology.”

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I’m throwing my hat in the ring and trying my hand at menage. My philosophy is this - there can be no slut factor and no positions that necessitate unrealistic contortions. There will be a reason for one woman and her three men…a damn good one. This is so scary and I wouldn’t do it if I hadn’t A. dreamed a menage and B. hubby hadn’t given me an out of this world idea for a second book - m/f/m. Is that how you describe it? I actually don’t know the difference between m/m/f and m/f/m. Anybody?

Oh yeah - I’m off to work today, but Susi over at The Geeky Bookworm is hosting me today - guest blog - how Barry White influenced my romance-suspense, My Everything!

http://thegeekybookworm.blogspot.com/

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Happened one morning…

I woke up and realized it had happened…I been Californicated! Holy fuckin’ shit!

Twenty years ago, my husband dragged me out here kicking and screaming. I literally held onto a tree in our backyard up in the mountains of Utah (no…not LDS, so don’t ask that question), and he had to pry me away.

Why did we move? Lots of reasons, but of primary importance was that he had a great job waiting for him out here. So, off we rolled in two old vehicles, three little kids, a dog and a cat in tow - had to leave the fish behind, but we sneaked our two pet mice - Chocolate and Skunky - past the border patrol.

We moved into a rental that had more spiders per square inch than an Indiana Jones movie in a neighborhood populated by cranky retired people who hated the dog and the kids and my hippie Toyota van. My husband had to turn around and head back to Utah for two months to finish up a project there. I swear, I didn’t speak to another adult for six weeks. To make matters worse, my kids got sick with slap-cheek fever, I caught it and miscarried, and the landlord kicked us to the curb with two-weeks notice, claiming he didn’t know we had a dog - he knew, believe me, he knew. My husband was out in Utah having a nervous breakdown, and yadda…yadda…yadda. Finally, when I had the kids in a nearby park one day - which was usually abandoned because of the age of the neighborhood, another mom showed up with her little girl and she spoke to me. I burst into tears! I sobbed…”I haven’t - sob - sob - spoken to - sob - sob - another adult - hiccup - hiccup - in over a month….waaaaaaa!” She was so sweet and we’ve stayed friends since that day.

So for nine years, I hated it here. I woke up every single morning, looked out the window and wanted the hell out of this place. I hated the traffic, the homeless people in San Francisco who pulled my hair and shoved cups in my face, the fog, the gray skies and rain in the winter, the lack of any sort of culture in the small town we’d moved to, the pathetic selection of books in the local library, the closed-minded small-town people. It’s not like we lived in Silicon Valley or Marin County.

On the other hand, my kids thrived here. Only my oldest remembered living anywhere else. They felt accepted and each found their social niche.

I don’t know how it happened, but one morning I woke up and something had shifted. I opened the curtains, looked at the fog lying thick as a blanket over the world outside, and I said to myself - I can’t wait to get out for a hike in this! I began to drive or take mass transit into San Francisco to attend concerts, book signings, to go shopping. I found new and interesting places in my valley and surrounding my valley to hike and climb and I got into the culture of food and wine around here in a non-elitist way.

I’ve come to love the fact that while the rest of the nation suffers dreary cold, snow, gray skies, dead grass and bare trees, I’m walking on hills carpeted with the most luxuriously green grass imaginable. I got songbirds, cougars, black bears, coyotes, bobcats, owls, hawks - all around me. I love the intensity with which Californians live their lives - the energy here is young, invigorating, hopeful, accepting, tolerant. Hooray for tolerance - which is in short supply in some areas of our country. Plus the fresh fruits and vegetables, the breads, the cheeses, the wines - the farmer’s markets - OMG, they are to die for!

Yup, Californicated through and through. I can no longer imagine living anywhere else.

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Today was Awful…after the bird situation.

Hubby had to work at home today, so after our early morning hike, I took the dog and headed over to a coffee house to drink a double-tall-nonfact-peppermint mocha, no whip, extra foam. The dog ordered a mini-vanilla scone.

Anyway, I’m sitting there near a guy who looked neat enough. He wore faded blue jeans, a nice dark green sweater and running shoes. He was well-built, attractive, around my husband’s age and he asked me about my little laptop. Then ensued a long discussion about how I can repair my old laptop with the fried hard-drive, a computer which I much preferred. I figured he was somebody who’d made a killing in the tech industry back in the day and now he had retired early and he could sit, drinking coffee and reading library books to his heart’s content. But no…

He was in the tech industry and he was hired by a New York company two and a half years ago. He and his wife moved out East, bought a home, and all was hunky dory. Six months later, he was laid off. They managed to sell their house, but he couldn’t find another job. They moved back here, to California, moved in with his mother-in-law, and then his wife got sick with a chronic illness that is going to kill her pretty soon and they don’t have health insurance. He voted for Obama and now he’s scared to death that between looming deficits, the unemployment figures, the decrease in consumer confidence and the outsourcing of manufacturing, this country is headed to hell in a handbasket.

Yeah, no fuckin’ shit. After reading Sunday’s New York Times, I’m just as scared. I tossed and turned all night, wondering what the hell we are going to do - as a nation - and I don’t think Democrats and Republicans screaming at each other and pointing fingers is any solution. I made the mistake of listening to Tim Pawlenty on Meet the Press, a show I never watch, and all I could think was - because basically he said nothing of substance - if this guy becomes president, he’s going to make me go to church - I’m Jewish - and ask me whether I believe in God or not - and that’s none of his damn business! And didn’t that bridge fall down because his tax cuts gutted Minnesota’s infrastructure??? What is going to happen to my children and their children? Guess we’ll be moving to Costa Rica, Canada or Scotland because the tolerance factor in America is dropping precipitously.

I listen to the political pundits and instead of offering solutions to the myriad problems facing us, they dish out hatred and blame and name-calling. Gee, how constructive. While the politicos are busy insulting each other, this guy’s wife is dying because they don’t have any health insurance, two of my three kids can’t find jobs, my divorced sister and my divorced cousin - both dedicated teachers, are out of work and will probably have to move in with me, half the people living on my court are unemployed or under-employed, houses are in foreclosure - including my cousin’s. Really, America, this sucks. This fuckin’ sucks. Maybe we should just outsource our government.

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My Boys!

So this morning at 6 a.m., the patriarch of our cat clan, Ichi-ban (number one in Japanese), our Norwegian Forest Cat, woke me up by kneading my shoulder. He persisted until I finally climbed out of bed, naked as the day is long because I sleep naked, and followed him downstairs.

I keep my pajamas on the floor next to my bed in case there’s a fire or a knock on the door or God only knows what, but this morning I figured, what the hell…I’ll go downstairs, give him some tuna because that was his ESP message to me, and then get back into bed.

Down the stairs I went, pulled out a small can of tuna, flipped open the pull-tab lid, gave him a little on a plate, put the tuna into the fridge and started to head back to bed when I realized I needed to pee. As I peed in the dark, in the downstairs bathroom, I heard a commotion in the garage, like, a major commotion…like two monsters wrestling around.

Of course, being naked, I decided to check it out because I’m an idiot. I opened the door into the garage, flipped on the light, and up flew a robin into my face, followed by my cat, Rico, leaping over my head from the roof of my SUV, trying to get this robin who was determined to stay out of his reach. I couldn’t catch either one of them and I’m running around the garage like a naked maniac.

Okay…pulled my wits about me like a cloak. Number one - catch Rico. Number two, put something on. Number three, open garage door - and I almost forgot and made that number one! Number four, chase bird outside.

Finally, the bird flew into a closet and vanished behind a rolled up mattress. Rico leaped onto a crate and I grabbed him and carried him back into the laundry room, shutting his cat door and donning my husband’s windbreaker, the only thing at hand. It fell to just below my tush.

I grabbed a flashlight, went back into the garage, opened the garage door, waved to my two neighbors who looked at me like I was even more insane than usual, and headed over to the closet to find the bird. I spotted the little red-breasted guy, chased him out of the closet. He promptly bumped into the soft ceiling and landed on the floor. I went over to pick him up and this bird gave me a look that said - Oh hell no! I am not giving up without a fight. I laughed because it was such a human look from a bird! Anyway, I said to him - the garage door’s open, now’s your chance. He took off at full speed, squawking his head off. Usually birds caught by a cat look like they’ve gone into shock, but this bird was pissed as hell and he was really smart.

So…anywho, I watched him fly away, waved to the neighbors again, shut the garage door and let the cat out - he’s getting his bell back on today. Stinker!

Took off the windbreaker, climbed back into bed. My husband turned to embrace me and said, Wow, you are really cold! I said, Yup, and I told him the story. He listened and then he replied, I bet you looked really cute in my windbreaker. I would like to have seen that…I just love that man!

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ANNOUNCEMENT:

I’m the guest blogger over at Book Lovers, INC.

The topic? PASSION!

Head over and leave a comment and you could win a copy of My Everything. *See their review below…

http://book-lovers-inc.blogspot.com/

Molly Daniels posted an interview with me today over at her blog. I had so much fun with her questions and I didn’t even know she planned to put it up today! Thanks, Molly!

http://mjdaniels.blogspot.com/

Hi-ho, hi-ho…it’s off to work I go…

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Because I am a huge fan of Tres Leches Cake

You have got to check out the recipe for Tres Leches Cake with Caramelized Bacon and Bananas. O.M.F.G.

I don’t eat bacon, but I’m gonna make the cake and caramelize something to put on top - bananas and phacon, blueberries, apples, something. Damn, that cake looks good!

http://projectbacon.wordpress.com/

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Susi is enthusiastic!

She really enjoyed My Everything. Her review is so winning - and you know I appreciate her energy. She’s posted it on two sites:

http://thegeekybookworm.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-my-everything-by-julia-rachel.html

and here: http://book-lovers-inc.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-my-everything-by-julia-rachel.html

I’m having site trouble, i.e., the link upload so I’ll reprint her review here:

“I received this book as a review copy from the author and after reading the blurb I was like “Okay we will see.”. And I have to say this blurb doesn’t do the book any justice.

The book is fast paced and written in such a lovely way, I just couldn’t put it down. We switch from different POVs through the whole story but it made the story more 3 dimensional and not at all confusing. I loved how Ms. Barrett chose an unique voice for each of her characters. It made them so much more real in my eyes.

Our heroine Grace had a few grave moments in her life. She lost her husband to leukemia after only 2 years of marriage and she suffers from really hard migraine attacks from time to time.But she doesn’t give up and tries to handle this all on her own. She is a specialist for pain management and it would look really unprofessional to have problems on exactly the same topic. While she has one of her attacks she meets Ben, her big teenage crush. He helps her and is more understanding and helpful than many other people in her life.

Ben is broken inside. He lost his wife and his unborn child in a terror assasination he should have prevented. He works in the security sector and it was his purpose and task to prevent things like that but he failed and got punished for his mistake. Or that is what he thinks. We all know that there are certain things in life we just can’t stop from happening. We shouldn’t stop trying to but sometimes it’s just the way it is. And especially in this situation it’s not at all his fault. As you can see I really felt for him. Poor man. He’s a strongly caring person and although he vanished from the surface of his normal life for a year to hide and work through his grief, he still cares for his family and friends. When he hears that his best friend is in grave danger he doesn’t hestitate and immediately starts his journey home. The moment he meets Grace again after ten years his first thought is that she is a distraction. But why? He quickly finds out how unlogical this assumption is and discovers his own attraction and perhaps a bit more for her. Surely he feels guilty for that and even more he knows that this is possibly the worst moment ever to get close and personal to someone he really cares about.

The situation gets even more dramatic when Ben finds out that not only his bestfriend is in danger but his sister got kidnapped to draw him out of hiding. The plot is really suspenseful and I was sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time. The story is a great mix of relationship building and actual story plot. It always gave me what I wanted and it was a real satisfying read for such a short novel.

One thing at the end was a bit “Yeah, sure!” and I don’t mean the supernatural aspect. I won’t tell you more because that would be one gigantic spoiler but if I can forgive something like that other readers probably can,too.

All in all this book was a great read with scorching hot, emotional intense and thrilling action in a perfect mix. I can recommend this book to all the lovers of a nice steamy romance with the right amount of suspense!”

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Tied for first - Jennifer and Beth.

Coming in a close second - Mindy.

Answers:

The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz.

John Smith in Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Guy in Galaxy Quest.

Ripley in Aliens.

Imhotep in The Mummy.

White Goodman in Dodgeball.

Annie, or Joanna Stayton in Overboard.

J.C. Wiatt in Baby Boom.

Norman Maclean in A River Runs Through It.

Thanks for participating!

Back to work on the sci fi menage - wink…wink…wink…

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All I can say is…wow!

“One minute Mari is gathering eggs for her sister and the next minute she wakes up on a cold floor in a metal cage surrounded by other cages, all filled with unconscious women. Mari manages to get to her feet; she is nude, cold and terrified. But when she spies two humanoid type beings down the corridor and one approaches, she gathers her dignity like a cloak and tells him what she thinks of him.

It turns out that males from the planet Attun-Ru have been making trips to Earth for over 25 years to capture females. The people of Attun-Ru are vegetarians, but beings on some of the other planets consider human flesh a delicacy. Bad enough that the women are sold for sex or slavery but food? Apparently other planets don’t consider the Earthers to be sentient, more like cattle, at best like pets.

Mari was a linguist back on Earth and slowly she’s learning some of the language of her Attun captors. One in particular, Ekkat Vom Baerkah Elae has taken an interest in her and can’t believe that she is sentient enough to learn some of their words and their ways.

Over time, Ekkat grudgingly acknowledges, at least to himself, that Mari and therefore her people are sentient. Can he with a clear conscience allow her to be herded with the other women to the sheds and then to auction? For her to become a slave, a pet, or a meal once she is sold off? For an Attun to have a relationship, especially sex with a human is a death sentence on his planet. Whatever happens next will change everything for Ekkat and Mari. Once the decision is made there is no going back.

Incredibly unique, Captured skillfully blends a sensuous romance with a dark sci-fi story. Captured is painfully brutal at times, but also mixes passion with heart pounding action. Mari and Ekkat are fascinating main characters with pain and angst in their pasts, yet never willing to give up or give in. Not only is the overall story compelling, there are little twists and turns throughout the plot which makes it really hard to put down. Eroticism, drama, action, heart, and soul – Captured has it all!”

Thank you, Lisa!

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I love mindless movies. Totally love them. The more mindless, the better.

Here’s a little mindless movie trivia. I’ll leave the questions up for a few days. Whoever can come up with the most correct answers will win a very nice prize - a copy of my upcoming contemporary romance from Resplendence, Beauty and the Feast, and ten dollars in Strandbucks for use at Siren-Bookstrand! Yay!

Leave a comment here and email me your answers at Julia@JuliaRachelBarrett.net

Who says, and in what movie does he or she say the following -

A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.

Who says, and in what movie does he or she say this -

That left of yours is a thing of beauty.

Who says, and in what movie does he or she say this -

Didn’t you guys ever watch the show?

Who says, and in what movie does he or she say it -

Let go of her, you bitch.

Who says, and in what movie does he or she say this -

Death…is but the beginning.

Who says, and in what movie does he or she say this -

Fuckin’ Chuck Norris.

Who says, and in what movie does he or she say this -

Caviar should be round and hard and of adequate size, and it should burst in your mouth at precisely the right moment…

Who says, and in what movie does he or she say this -

...and anyway, I really think I’d miss my sixty-two acres in Vermont. I mean, Elizabeth is so happy there…and…well, you see…there’s this veterinarian that I’m seeing…

Last, but not least, and this is not from a mindless movie, but from one of my very favorite movies adapted from one of my very favorite stories…who says, and in what movie…

Maybe all I really know about Paul is that he was a fine fisherman. “You know more than that,” my father said. “He was beautiful.”

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I’ve been paying attention to the wider world - the non writing, non romance author world and guess what? It’s really interesting! I’ve decided to link to a couple new, earnest bloggers ~ both with a different hobby.

http://craftydana32.blogspot.com/

Craftydana is all about knitting, blogging, reading, life challenges…it doesn’t hurt that she read and is reading my books - but I just plain old like the site. Besides, I know how hard it is to get anyone to look at your blog when you’re new.

Here’s another goody ~ http://projectbacon.wordpress.com/

Yummy photos and an interesting take on bacon, the new candy.

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And oops! She fell on her really nice skating butt! Pairs skating. Once one person falls, it’s like Dominoes - everybody starts falling.

The real problem is that I’ve been watching the Olympics for years and I still can’t tell the difference between a Triple Lutz and a Triple Salko, a Triple Axle and a Triple Toe Loop, but I know the lingo…

She stuck that one…

She barely managed to hold on…

He over-rotated…

Look at the height on that quad…

He needed that quad triple after failing on that triple double…

Look at the disappointment on …..’s face…..

The skaters like to pull out all the tearjerkers from the sixties and seventies to skate to. Love Story. The Way We Were, and by the way, that sailor suit kinda sucked. I’d like to see them skate to the music from Porgy and Bess or Westside Story, you know, give me a rumble between the Jets and the Sharks. Now that would move me and you could fit in lots of triple flips and the costumes wouldn’t look as if they’d been designed by Cirque du Soleil.

My favorite all time tragic skating pair? Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov. Goddamn, they were beautiful and their love story was one for the ages. So sad he died at the age of twenty-eight of a massive heart attack.

In other news: WATCH!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdVfyt-mLw

Emily (MacInnes) Somers, created, directed and choreographed this in Portland last week for her Medline glove division as a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. This was all her idea to help promote their new pink gloves.
When the video gets 1 million hits, Medline will be making a huge contribution to the hospital, as well as offering free mammograms for the community. Please check it out. It’s an easy and great way to donate to a wonderful cause, and who hasn’t been touched by breast cancer?

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