What: A~Z Reading Challenge
When: 1 January – 31 December 2008
Who: Joy (Thoughts of Joy)
Rules: This is copied directly from her site: “Being that many of us have joined several for the 2008 year, I’m thinking we will be able to just plug in authors and titles from existing challenge book lists to easily complete it. All that’s required is that you align the author’s last name or the title of a book (excluding “the”, “a”, etc.) with its corresponding letter in the alphabet. Each author and title entry must be a different book.”
Joy set up a separate site for the challenge here.
I tracked my progress on a separate page.
Though I did not complete this challenge, I still feel it was a success for me. I knew it would never be 100% because I knew there would be certain letters that I did not have books for. I’m happy with my efforts.
Total authors = 17
Total titles = 16
Book total = 23
For 2009, I’ve committed myself to the authors only.
Snowbound
Author: Janice Kay Johnson
Copyright: 2007 (Harlequin); pgs. 276
Series: Harlequin SuperRomance # 1454
Sensuality: Warm
Who: Fiona MacPherson and John Fallon
Where: Cascade Mountains, Oregon
Teacher Fiona MacPherson and eight of her students are returning from an academic competition when they are stranded in the Cascade Mountains by a November snowstorm. The forecasters misjudged the speed of the storm, and Fiona had expected to be home long before it was supposed to start. Fortunately, one of the students recognizes a half-buried sign that marks the road leading to Thunder Mountain Lodge.
The lodge doesn’t have a phone or internet service, the shortwave radio hasn’t been repaired after having coffee spilled on it, and cell phone service in the area is terrible even when the weather is nice. Even so, Fiona is able to make contact with her principle. With no improvement in the weather forecasted for the near future, she and the students are stuck there until the snowplows come.
The innkeeper, John Fallon, isn’t exactly happy to see them. A wounded veteran who isn’t coping with his problems as well as he could be, John bought the lodge for the solitude and fresh air. Since coming back from the war, he doesn’t like being around large crowds. The lodge isn’t large and it isn’t always full of guests, which gives John the peace and solitude he craves. Fiona and her charges disrupt one of those periods of solitude.
John has nightmares and flashbacks of the attack that left him wounded and several other dead, including children. He refuses to talk about the incident and deal with his feelings of guilt. He’s avoided his parents and sisters, and he’s avoided all other emotional involvement. His responsibilities as an innkeeper keeps him busy and physically active, but it’s not enough. On one hand, John’s not addicted to medication or alcohol, or engaging in other self-destructive behavior; but on the other, he’s also not addressing the main issue.
The arrival of Fiona changes everything. Her caring, optimistic personality has John both attracted to, and frightened by, her. He finds himself falling for her, wanting her. John’s amazed to learn that Fiona’s attracted to him, too — but she won’t act on it because of the students. They share a passionate kiss in the laundry room that puts that restraint to the test, but the arrival of snowplows brings them back to reality. For the first time, John is not looking forward to being alone.
Using the computer at the library in the nearby town, John and Fiona keep in touch via email. He eventually asks her to come for Christmas, and she jumps at the chance. Even so, he’s still surprised to see her when she arrives. Fiona has come to find out if they have a future together, because she has fallen in love with him. But something that started out so promising, ends in disaster. John avoids telling her anything meaningful about himself, and won’t tell her about what happen in Iraq. He’s afraid to open up to her — he fears she’d be horrified and reject him. Fiona cares about him, but if he won’t admit to a problem, how can she help him?
I loved this book. It’s emotional, especially the last third of the book. I thought the story unfolded believably, and the characters were likable (the hero is a reader). The story isn’t holiday themed, despite the big red bow on the cover. The book also won the 2008 RITA for Best Contemporary Series Romance.
Started: 12 November 2008
Finished: 19 November 2008
Rating:
LOVED IT !!
Personal Demons
Author: Stacia Kane
Copyright: 2008 (Juno); pgs. 303
Series: Megan Chase #1
Sensuality: Warm
Who: Dr. Megan Chase and Greyson Dante
Dr. Megan Chase is a psychologist and a psychic, which comes in handy when treating her patients. She reluctantly agreed to be the host of “Personal Demons,” a call-in radio show, not wanting to subject the “male Nurse Ratchet of local counselors” on the truly afflicted. The show promises to help “slay your demons”. If hosting the show wasn’t bad enough (mostly crank callers and heavy breathers), the station wants her to do an interview — a feature article really — with a reporter from a tabloid-type newspaper. It will involve a photo shoot and the reporter, Brian Stone, following her around for the “week in the life” part of his article. Megan is definitely not thrilled by this prospect. She has patients to take care of and a few things in her own past she wants to stay in the past.
A handsome stranger, looking for all the world like a lawyer, tells her that he represents someone who is very interested in the show — more precisely, her — and would like to discuss a business arrangement. Too tired and in no mood to talk, Megan manages to shoo Greyson Dante off with a promise not to accept any other offers until they get a chance to speak again. What she doesn’t know is that demons are real; that the term, “personal demons” wasn’t just a euphemism for psychological problems. Everyone has a little demon on their shoulder (except, oddly enough, Megan). It’s one thing to keep the demons at bay with therapy and counseling; it’s something else entirely to offer to “slay” them. Apparently, the demon world is taking the term literally and they believe Megan is out to get them.
Weird, freaky things begin to happen and Megan’s life is in danger. Greyson seems sincere in his offer to help her. Megan is sure he has an agenda, but she smart enough to know that she can’t protect herself against the demons. She accepts his offer while trying to ignore the attraction. Greyson flirts with her, making it clear that he’s interested. He assigns a trio of guard demons to keep an eye on her. At first, Megan’s uncomfortable with the arrangement but after awhile, she forms a bond with them.
I really liked this book. I liked the concept of the personal demons and the world building in general. I liked the characters. Megan isn’t a kick-butt heroine, but she’s strong in her own way and she has a true desire to help people. Malleus, Maleficarum, and Spud — the trio — add a touch of humor.
Looking forward to the second book.
Started: 12 September 2008
Finished: 13 September 2008
Rating:
Liked A Lot
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Haunted
Author: Lisa Childs
Copyright: 2006 (Harlequin); pgs. 296
Series: Silhouette Nocturne #6; Witch Hunt #1
Sensuality: Warm
Who: Ariel Cooper (witch) and David Koster
Where: Michigan
Ariel Cooper is descended for a long line of witches, each who had a different “gift”. Ariel’s gift is that she can see the dead. When she and her sisters — Elena, the eldest and Irina, the youngest — were children, they were taken from their mother. Before that event, Myra Cooper told them the family legend and gave each of her daughters one of the family charms to help protect them. Ariel and her sisters were separated and she hasn’t see them since.
Life has been rough for Ariel. Bounced around from foster family to foster family, and thought to be crazy, Ariel has found it hard to get close to people. Even so, she’s managed to go to college and become an elementary school teacher. She’s been dating the brilliant and wealthy David Koster for six months, having met when one of her student writing assignments led to him visiting her classroom. Though she’s had her heart broken before, Ariel can’t help but fall for this kind and generous man. In the time that they’ve been dating, she’s manage to keep her secret from him, afraid that she’ll lose him.
But all that changes when the ghost of one of her students appears suddenly in her classroom. Ariel had long suspected that the little girl was being abused, but without proof, she could only do so much. She sends the police, already knowing it’s too late to save the child. The incident leaves her wracked with guilt. For not being able to help the little girl, for keeping secrets from David and for pushing him away when he was trying to comfort her, and for putting his best friend, police officer Ty McIntyre, in danger.
The incident has also made David realize that he’s afraid to lose Ariel. He loves her, at that frightens her. Shunned once before by a former boyfriend, Ariel struggles with telling him the truth. She keeps putting it off, and instead focuses on finding out what happened to her sisters. The reason for the urgency is that an old enemy of the witches is out for revenge, and several members of Ariel’s extended maternal family end up dead, including her own mother. The mysterious killer is after the sisters and their charms.
Since this is the first book in a trilogy, the main story threads — the sisters reuniting and confronting their enemy — are not resolved in this book. The primary focus is on Ariel’s struggle with being rejected all her life. She was never adopted and her name was never changed, nor did she leave the community she grew up in. If any of her family had really wanted her, they could have found her easily enough. She is stunned to learn that a least one of her sisters lives nearby.
This was a quick read, once I had several hours on uninterrupted reading time. It wasn’t a scary story or very suspenseful. Since romance books like this must have a happy ending, the author’s attempt to make us believe the hero was actually the bad guy wasn’t very effective. I never once thought David was the culprit.
Started: 6 September 2008
Finished: 10 September 2008
Teaser Tuesdays post
Rating:
Enjoyed it!
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Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!
The teaser:
As soon as the old woman had given him the book, he had read it all. He knew every secret now, the other things his ancestor had admitted only in the pages of his private journal.
– from page 95, Haunted (Lisa Childs)
Why I picked this book: I’m reading this Silhouette Nocturne as part of the Ghostly Challenge. The main character, Ariel Cooper, is a witch who can see the souls of the newly departed.
