Later days, folks... we're saying bye for now

Hey all,

We want to let you know that Let's Gab will be taking a break. We're all fine, but with everything going on in our lives, it seems like the appropriate time for us to take a break from something, and Let's Gab is it.

Anne is busy working on polishing up several manuscripts, and Kate is busy working on her first manuscript and taking care of the cutest baby in the world.

Having said all that, you'll still see JenniferB and Lori over at I Just Finished Reading... and we'll tweak the format there a little. You'll likely see some non-review-type posts over there going forward, but we'll keep most of the focus on books.

And, as always, Lori will continue posting about her family's escapades at Living in the House of Testosterone.

Thanks - it's been a blast!

Library Loot

I saw this over at Christine's, and thought this would be great! It's awesome when you can check stuff out from the library (waving at Wendy!). Unfortunately, my library stinks. Even my county library. All these were requested through California ILL with the exception of Outlander. I still have a bunch on request. Hopefully the new Karen Rose will come SOON.

LIBRARY LOOT is a weekly blog event co-hosted by Marg of Reading Adventures and Eva of A Striped Armchair. Library Loot encourages readers to share what they've checked out from the library that week. If you want to participate, simply make your Library Loot post on your blog any day of the week and leave the link to your post through the Mr. Linky link at either Marg's or Eva's blogs.

Hot Pursuit. Yup. My lib didn't have it. Had to request it. Go figure.

Malice. I'm a Lisa Jackson ho. But I still won't buy hardcover. BTW, she has 2 releases out right now. The other one is Chosen to Die, the followup to Left to Die. I did buy that and have already read it. Boy, do I love me some Lisa Jackson.

Outlander.

I may be one of the few people in the world who hasn't read this yet. So I figured, why not?

The Book Gods are Smiling Down on Me

I feel so fortunate. In the past couple weeks, I've won several books. So a big thank you to all, and I may be spreading the love soon :)

Pitch Black from Leslie Parrish (on Twitter)

First Come Twins from Helen Brenna on Riding With the Top Down

Daring Time by Beth Kery from Leah Braemel

and just today...


Surrender of a Siren by Tessa Dare on the Plotmonkeys!

Woohoo!! I loved the first book, Goddess of the Hunt, and cannot wait to read the second one.

Thank you to all these wonderful women, who not only write fantastic books, but also hold all these wonderful contests! You make it so easy for us book-buying fiends to stay devoted, and willing to always go out there to pimp this one and to buy the next one.

Because I just can't help myself

You know if there's a hotbutton issue in blogland, I keep my mouth shut. If there's a hotbutton issue affecting our country? I just can't help myself.

Yes, I'm going there. Health Care Reform. I'm sorry people. Obama campaigned on it. We elected him in a landslide on it. He made no secret about his intentions. And now, all of a sudden, everyone acts so freakin' surprised that he wants to enact universal health care coverage? Which simply means that every single freakin' American would have the benefit of health care insurance.

Instead of opposing political parties and insurance lobbies gathering their cronies to create havoc and sound bites, I'd personally love to hear what this plan entails. That way I could make an intelligent and informed decision as to my opinion. I know that in the last 2 years, our deductible has tripled, both individual and family. I know that we're fortunate to still have insurance. But I also know that it's the main sticking point every year in the union negotiations between the teacher's union and the school district. I'm interested. Unfortunately, every evening, I'm forced to endure watching the bad news, and seeing, once again, how Americans can make themselves look like asses in front of the rest of the world.

For all those people who are so concerned that universal health care coverage will mean rationing of health care, and insurance company big-wigs deciding who will live and who will die, and not being able to pick your doctor, and granny not being allowed to get her medicine or not getting her surgery, or dad getting kicked out of the hospital before he's well... I have news for you. We already have that health care system. It's called the HMO.

Would all the people who are raising a riot on the news every night deny HMO coverage to all the people in our country who currently have nothing? Just perhaps, we could shut our mouths and open our ears and listen for a change. Listen to the proposals and use our brains and then decide for ourselves. Clinton was unable to do it. Bush had no interest in it. I'd really like to see Obama make some real progress. I don't believe that moving toward a government run health care system is necessarily bad. Most other countries in the world manage it. I don't necesarily believe that it will bring the level of care in our country down, or that all the amazing research that goes on here will suddenly stop, or that all our innovative physicians will suddenly disappear.

I'd like to believe that as Americans, we can do something better. Smarter. But people, we have to shut up and listen first. Having the right to our own free speech does not deprive our neighbors of their right to free speech. Sometimes I think that the Bill of Rights should have included the Right to Listen. Lord knows we'd get a whole lot more accomplished. Including a Health Care bill.

Happy Birthday, Kate!!

Hope your day is the very best ever!

Book Giveaway

Because I think this is such an amazing book, and it's one that is totally outside our usual genre, I'm giving away a copy of Rage Against the Meshugenah. I reviewed it on I Just Finished Reading earlier in the week.

For anyone who is affected by clinical depression either personally, or secondhand, or even thirdhand, I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s a masterful first-person insight into how the male mind thinks, feels, and works. It’s entertaining and witty. Sad and heartrending as well. You don't have to have any experience with depression in order to enjoy this book. Danny Evans is a terrific author, and this book first and foremost entertains. I encourage you to read the review, and read the book. Spread your reading wings.

Simply leave a comment on this post, or on the review itself between now and next Monday, August 17 at 11:59 pm PST.

Please note that this is only open to US and Canada. Sorry.

You're killing me here, Samhain...

Really, why do they have to keep putting out books that sound so damn good? I spend way too much money there. Every damn week.

Boys of Summer by Cooper Davis
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Gay-Lesbian Romance
ISBN: 978-1-60504-637-2
Length: Novella
Price: 3.50 Get it Now for 3.15
Cover art by Natalie Winters

I thought I knew what love was...

My name is Hunter Willis and I've found love. The problem? I'm not sure I'm ready for the rest of the world to know I've fallen for my best friend. Everyone knows Max is gay. Me? They think I'm straight as an arrow. So did I, until Max and I shared a kiss three months ago that blew that theory right out of the water.

Now, by the ocean in Florida, thousands of miles away from prying eyes, I'm finally ready to admit to myself that Max and I have something special. Max has been ready for a long timeand he's been waiting for me. Really waiting. As in...he's still a virgin.

There's nothing I want more than to be Max's first lover. But I know when Max gives away that part of himself, it won't be just a summer fling. It'll be for keeps. Max deserves the best. I'm just not sure, when it comes right down to it, that I won't break his heart.

Did I mention I'm scared as hell?

Warning: This title features summer lovin' between two hot men, a secret romance between best friends--one of whom doesn't think he's actually gay, and enough heat to set any beach vacation on fire. Be sure to keep the extinguisher handy!

Bridging the Gap by Annmarie McKenna
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Red Hots!
ISBN: 978-1-60504-251-0
Length: Novella
Price: 3.50 Get it Now for 3.15
Cover art by Angela Waters

The higher she climbs, the harder he falls...

Carter Malone is usually the first one to make tracks before a woman starts getting any ideas. Permanent relationships don't fit into his personal blueprint. Now, for the first time in his life, he's burning up the sheets with a woman who makes him think about something more permanent...like spending the night. But she's holding something back, something he can't quite pin down.

As a woman in a man's world, Ryan Cooper is used to wearing a target on her back--and hiding her vulnerabilities. She hasn't let anything, not even the ever-present threat of an epileptic seizure, stop her from working her butt off to get the foreman's job with her stepfather's construction company. Then she discovers the guy she's been dating--okay, having the hottest sex of her life with--is the architect who designed the building she'll be overseeing. The last thing she needs is anyone thinking she slept with Carter to get the job.

Or worse, feeling sorry for her.

Before the dust clears, things get a lot more complicated. The previous foreman's injury was no accident, and whoever caused it is taking aim--at the target on Ryan's back.

Warning: This book contains almost fully clothed sex with a little bit o' spanking on an OCD-clean desk inside a construction trailer, a rogue set of pencils that just won't take stay for an answer, and sweet loving in a tub.

Love Me Knots by Dee Tenorio
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Red Hots!
ISBN: 978-1-60504-666-2
Length: Category
Price: 4.50 Get it Now for 4.05
Cover art by Scott Carpenter

Nothing twists you up quite like love...

When she interrupts what looks like a tryst in her fiancé's office, former heiress Krista James has only one thought: "It's over!" True, they both signed a marriage contract that didn't include a love clause. But she'll be damned if she gives the two-timer the satisfaction of knowing she gave up her heart along with her hand.

How to say goodbye to a man who makes her forget her own name in bed, and all her principles everywhere else? Simple. Run.

CPA-on-the-rise David Ellison thinks everything is perfect. Perfectly planned, perfectly ordered, perfectly moving forward. Until he arrives late--again--for a lunch date. Suddenly he has a broken engagement, a guilty receptionist and a missing fiancée.

Tracking her down is easy. She's traded their honeymoon tickets for a luxury holiday for one. Reasoning with her? Impossible. Especially since they always seem to end up in bed, in the shower, on the floor...everywhere but at an understanding.

David didn't follow his woman all the way to Tahiti to return home empty-handed. To get her back, he's even prepared to empty his heart of all his secrets.

Question is...is he prepared for hers?

Warning: Emotionally repressed, sexually gifted accountant on the loose in Tahiti, intent on seducing his lady back into his life and completely redefining the phrase "awesome lei". Mai Tais and fresh ice recommended to counter the extreme sexual heat.

Harley Street by Lynne Connolly
Genre: Historical Romance
ISBN: 978-1-60504-642-6
Length: Novel
Price: 5.50
Cover art by Natalie Winters

Mystery, murder, and an old menace. It's enough to damage the strongest love.

Richard and Rose, Book 4

Lord and Lady Strang return from their adventure-filled honeymoon, more than ready to settle into married life. After a few weeks living in his parents' Piccadilly mansion, Richard and Rose are restless for their own home, a space where they can work out the pattern of their new life together.

House-hunting will have to wait. A maid in the household of Rose's aunt has been murdered, an act that forces Richard to reveal a dark secret from his past. Despite the desperate passion they share, marriage requires disclosure--something at which Richard has never excelled.

In light of his revelation, Rose must find the strength to delve deep into the bedrock of their relationship while simultaneously facing the height of London society. As they work to unravel the clues that lead to a murderer, an old enemy launches an attack on their already fragile hearts...

This book was previously published.

Warning: This series is addictive. Danger, excitement and hot, hot sex might give you ideas. But you'll have to find your own man.

What are you reading?

Cooler Contest

What a night...

Apologies for the long, boring story that follows, but I've had a lot of email and a lot of concerned friends. Thank you so much - your concern for me touches me and makes me feel very loved. I'm fortunate to have such good friends! So I thought I'd just do a post here to let you all know I'm not about to die.

If you've been following my saga at all either here or over at Facebook, you know that I've had a migraine for a solid week. Bad. It started to get a little better mid-week, then worse toward the end of the week. Yesterday, it was so bad that I seriously considered I was going to have a stroke, or had an aneurysm, or some other terrible diagnosis. I take medication twice a day prophylactically, as well as having meds on hand for acute flareups. Nothing was helping, and the amount of Advil I was taking on top of it all was going to tear my stomach to shreds.

So about 5 pm, Bob decided enough was enough, and off to the ER we went.

Well, the first thing that happened was, it was Saturday evening in the ER. Not the quietest place to be. In the waiting room was a spanish-speaking family there with about 20 members of their immediate and extended family. Including every whiny, obnoxious child they could drum up. Thankfully, I was seen fairly quickly. Only to be placed on a gurney in the hallway - they were full. Normally, I can roll with the punches, and I wouldn't care. But with a migraine from hell, every single noise and light was amplified. All the crying, screaming, and the radio transmissions (and there were a lot last night considering my sleepy little town) seemed to make everything worse. So much so that I started crying (no help for the headache at all!) and asked Bob to take me home and let me have my stroke in peace, LOL. Drama queen much?

I got a nice young fresh-faced doctor who immediately gave me morphine (which I absolutely HATE!) along with an anti-nausea medication. It didn't touch the pain, but did give me loads of nausea along with a pretty decent buzz. I floated along above my body noting that the poor girl there had a really awful headache. That buzz lasted about an hour, at which point she gave me dilaudid - even stronger than morphine. And a sublibgual anti-nausea med. Both of which served to make me even more woozy, and more nauseous. But didn't touch my headache.

I finally realized that Bob keeps earplugs in the car, so asked him to go get them. While he was gone, some guy started freaking out. I didn't open my eyes, but heard a lot of "f" words and mother"f" words. Needless to say, they didn't allow Bob back into the patient area for a good long time. But I finally got my earplugs which helped a little.

FINALLY, around midnight, enough folks either got sent home or admitted that I got moved into a real room, where they could close the door and turn off the lights. But the damn nurse kept lowering the head of the bed to make me more comfortable, when all it did was make me puke. Duh - get a clue. I kept asking her to leave it up, too. Oy!

Anyway, finally the doctor says she's run out of narcotics to try - to which I say good! I didn't want them in the first place - I had told her I don't react well to them. So she decides to give me some heavy duty steroids. Now, as an asthmatic and a former respiratory therapist, me likey the steroids. Great, I say. In goes the IV, and along with the steroids goes some Reglan, another heavy-duty anti-nausea med. Finally, a little relief. I once again say to the doctor that it's so unusual for me to have a migraine of this length and maybe something else is going on? So she shuffles her feet and says... in a big Aha! moment... I'm going to order a CT scan! Great, now we're getting somewhere. And the headache is finally starting to get a little better with the steroids on board.

30 minutes after the CT, mystery solved. I had a migraine on top of a massive sinus infection, and they were feeding off one another. So I couldn't get rid of the migraine because I have a sinus infection feeding it. But I don't have any of my usual sinus infection symptoms, which was really weird. So anyway, after getting home at 3AM, (and how happy am I that we can leave the kids home), I am now on antibiotics.

And she still forced a narcotic prescription on me in case I had some more severe pain over the next couple days. LOL. I didn't fill that one. Sure, narcotics have their place - after major surgery, or for people with a low pain tolerance, or for those with debilitating illness. But I don't care for the way they make me feel. No thank you.

Anyway, end of story, and g-d willing, end of headache. Hopefully between the drugs and the glasses, I'll be as good as new in a week or so. Thank you again for your thoughts and emails over the last week. You are awesome!

Happy birthday to the Man to Die For!

Just want to wish the Man to Die For a fantastic birthday. Sure, he's saddled with an old, bifocal wearing, wrinkly woman for a wife, but he's still waaaay older than me. By a good 9 1/2 weeks (hey, no WONDER we love that movie so much!).

So, happy birthday, my sweet.

When did she get to be so old???

Ho-lee crap! I've been suffering from a migraine since Saturday, so have been absent from bloglandia for the most part. I decided it was high time I checked in with my ophthalmologist. It's been a couple years since I had my eyes examined, and I noticed that my eyes have deteriorated in the last year or so. Both distance and *gasp* closeup.

History lesson: In 2000, I had Lasik surgery. Twice. Because my vision and astigmatism were both so bad, I needed two surgeries to correct it. I'd worn glasses since I was 7, contacts since 11. My vision was so bad that Bob and his roommate in the dorms used to take my glasses and I'd yell "Where are my glasses, damn it?!" And they'd be right there on his face. Assholes.

Anyway, bottom line is, when I got Lasik surgery, and woke up the next morning and could see the clock, it was like a miracle. The Heavens opened up and I saw the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Heavenly harp-like music played. Seriously. Un. Be. Lievable.

So it's been almost 10 years. They told me my eyes might deteriorate, but they'd deteriorate from 20/20. Fair enough. I got 10 years out of my surgery. Given how expensive my glasses and contacts were, plus the boost to my self-esteem, the 2 surgeries more than paid for themselves. They also told me that when I turned 40, I'd need to go out and buy reading glasses. I've cheated them out of 3 years. Woohoo! What I didn't expect was that after 10 years, both the deterioration in my distance vision and my close-up vision would hit at once, and I'd be looking at... bifocals. *cue horror movie music*

Ho-lee CRAP! That is serious old age territory. My grandparents wore bifocals. Hell, my mother wears bifocals. Damn it - I'm too young for this!!!

Thank heavens that they now have progressive lenses. I don't have to have that horrid line in my glasses that screams out to everyone... OLD LADY GLASSES!!

All I can say is, this damn well better help with the headaches.



So... what's new with you?

Looking for recs...

As you can see from the sidebar, my TBR pile is currently non-existent.

I need recommendations of books you loved. I'm looking mostly for contemporary, as that's the genre I'm currently writing so I'd like to stay in that frame of mind. But if there's something you're just dying to talk about outside of contemporary, I'm open. :-)

So gush away!

The Death of a TRUE Legend

When Michael Jackson passed away early this month, many hailed it as the death of a legend. I wrote a post questioning this status. And many people, I know, were angry at those of us who had the audacity to question the label of "legend" for a 50 year old who spent the last 15 years of his life battling drug addiction, and an image (true or not) as a pedophile and a "freak." While nobody doubts his contributions to the music scene, both in the early days of Motown with The Jackson 5, and in the early 80s, with Thriller, I believe the attention given to his death (and memorial service) was, frankly, obscene. We don't give this kind of attention to presidents when they die. Reagan certainly didn't receive this kind of attention, day in and day out. And he was a real legend.

Nor will the man who passed away today, Walter Cronkite, receive that kind of attention (nor might I add, would he likely want it). Dubbed the "Most Trusted Man in America," he was the man that the country turned to when Kennedy was assassinated, when we landed on the moon, when we went to war in Vietnam, when the Nuremburg Trials started, when the hostages were taken in Iran. When we needed news, reassurance, or just a familiar face to deliver the news, he was there. What man today could end a president's career simply by giving his opinion of a war? When Cronkite said that we were mired in a stalemate in Vietnam, Johnson knew that he couldn't win the war, and announced that he wouldn't run for re-election. Because if he'd lost Cronkite, he'd lost middle America.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I grew up in the late 60s, and all through the 70s watching the CBS nightly news with Walter Cronkite with my parents every night. As did almost every other household in America who owned a TV and watched a TV. He was a TRUE legend, and will be missed. And that's the way it is.

The Not-at-RWA post

Do you feel the absence of all those who are currently in Washington, DC at the RWA National Conference? I certainly do! I got my Google Reader down to zero today. ZERO. It's unheard of. There are the die-hards who are still posting and tweeting from the conference (thanks for all the updates!!), there's a noticeable lack of posts. And although I'm still undecided in my decision to join RWA (feedback, positive or negative, still appreciated), I would still have loved to attend some workshops, chill with some authors, and possibly chat up some agents and editors. I hope everyone there is having a great time! :-)

I did hear that Romance Divas is having a giant bash for those who weren't able to go, so head on over there if you're lonely at home like me!

Ugh

No need to post sympathy or anything, but just thought I'd say...

shittiest day ever.

And then it was so shitty, I forgot to call and wish my sister a happy birthday, which means I'm in the doghouse tomorrow, too. Ugh. Making tomorrow...

the second shittiest day ever.