Saturday, January 5, 2008

showing my true colors

If you hadn't noticed yet, I'm not a blogger that reads a lot of new releases. I do try to get about one a month or so depending on the author and the buzz, but honestly, I can't afford all new books all the time. I'm a huge fan of the library and more recently started using paperbackswap a lot. Oh and then there is always trading with other online bloggers and buddies. (thank goodness for the ARC fairy).

Yesterday, I made it to the library before closing time, and after dropping off the DVDs that were due, I made the requisite head-turned-sideways shuffle down the paperback shelves. For some reason I wasn't in the mood to take chances and instead ended up with a lot of old favorites that were just begging for a re-read.

First off, I made a beeline for the classic Lord of Scoundrels. Apparently, enjoying this novel makes me a woman who is either the equivalent of a 13 year old masochist or who likes abusive heros. Huh? Alrighty then. Honestly, I don't mind people disliking books that I like. Heaven knows I hate a lot of books that get raves. But you don't have to make assumptions about the "kind of women" who read a book you don't enjoy, do you? Oh well. I am determined to make lemonade out of lemons. Last month, I read a thread at AAR about how someone hated The Serpent Prince, so I picked it up and reread it...and loved it even more! That person did me a big favor by getting me interested in the book again. So I will happily reread LOS and feel the lurve once more.

I kept going down the alphabet and saw a group of Jane Feather books. Now back in the day, I used to read Feather a lot. I'm not sure what happened but I haven't read her in years. Well, I seem to remember reading The Hostage Bride and enjoying it. And it was so long ago that it might as well be new to me. Into the stack it went.


Next up, the Kleypas section. Ooh, Dreaming of You was back on the shelf. Our library's copy of this book is tattered and worn and speaks to how beloved it is. It's rarely on the shelf, so when I see it, I often just have to grab it. Yeah, I've read it, but it's always good. A comfort read. And this will be my first time reading it post N&S. Richard Armitage dancing through my head as Derek? Natch.


After K comes L. And what could be a better guilty pleasure (and probably shows how much of a tasteless romance reader I am at heart) than a reread of Stephanie Laurens' Devil's Bride? I think Laurens' Cynster books were the first set of pb romance novels that I actually spent money on and purchased new. They seemed awesome in college. Ok, so that whole Cynster schtick hasn't really aged well and nowadays they all blend together, but going back to the ORIGINAL is always a good time. Devil and Honoria. Alpha male falls in love at first sight. To have and to hold. la ti da ti da....

So far all of my choices were re-reads. Comfort food, so to speak. I thought that I ought to include at least one new-to-me book. I believe I may be the only blogger in romancelandia who hasn't glommed and followed the entire JD Robb In Death series. And I'm not shooting to read all 500 or so books just to catch up with everyone. BUT I thought it would be worth seeing what all the fuss is about, so since Naked In Death was in stock, I semi-reluctantly topped off my stack with it.

Who knows when I'll get a chance to read all of these great books. Manlove Monday is coming up and I need to go away and collect my deep thoughts so that I can be worthy of participating in such a weighty event.

10 comments:

Stacy~ said...

I think this year is going to be more about catching up on the tbr pile than buying new books. I have way too many I haven't read. You've listed a few of my faves - Lord of Scoundrels & Dreaming of You.

LOVE the In Death books. THey just keep getting better!

lisabea said...

I loved Jane Feather back in the day and Vixen is still on my top 100.

Stupid older man thing. That's one of those naughty books that I don't think would go over well these days. Sigh.

And, uh, I put a picture of LOS up just to put it up. :)

Carolyn Crane said...

I'm with you on being late to the party on JD Robb. I read Naked in Death, the only one I've read in the series, maybe 6 months ago. It was okay, but I didn't get all sparkly about it. I have heard nothing but great things about Lord Scoundrels and I am about to read that, too. Maybe I will be a 13 year old masochist. I don't know what you mean by that, but maybe I will after I read the book!

sula said...

stacy, I never seem to finish my TBR pile before I go to the library and grab more books to make it higher. Weird but I seem to be more happy when I have a plethora of choices.

lisabea, now you make me want to go read Vixen. You had me at "naughty".

CJ, the comment comes from a discussion over at TGTBTU about the book. Don't mind me...I'm just being facetious. lol. But I do hope you like it. Apparently, it's not good to go in with your expectations raised though. Me, I read it without knowing much about it and totally enjoyed it.

Kristie (J) said...

Huh? I think I must have missed something. Where was the "woman who is either the equivalent of a 13 year old masochist or one who like abusive heros" quote from? Cause I love me this book. You have 2 of my very all time favourites here - LoS & DoY.
I haven't read Feather for years either although at one time she was an autobuy. And I never did catch onto Laurens. I tried a couple and they just didn't do it for me.
And I'll be looking for what you think of Naked. I ADORE this whole series. Luckily I've been reading them for a while so I don't have that huge backlist to intimidate me :)

KT Grant said...

Aw the memories of first reading JD Robb, Stephanie Laurens and Loretta Chase! All perfect books to introduce someone into our lifestyle :)

Anonymous said...

Hi! Found you via Lisabea and am making belated comments.

I liked both LoS and DoY. I don't get the 13-year-old masochist thing either in regards to LoS. Because it seemed to me that Jessica was a perfectly sensible woman. And you're not the only blogger who hasn't read all 1798 In Death books. I've read the first two, and enjoyed them, but I already know I can't go on a Nora Roberts reading bender because I think I'd get tired of her style after a few books and need a break.

sula said...

Hi Shannon. Glad you dropped by my little corner and I hope you'll come again. I'm also relieved to know that I'm not the only blogger who has yet to read the entire In Death cannon. whew! I also know enough of myself to know that I can't read too much NR in one go. I have to space it out or I'll get tired.

And now I'm going to go back and keep reading DoY. Such a classic. *sigh*

Devon said...

Oh man, that discussion got me het up. I hope I defended us LOS lovers all right. I was seriously surprised at the dislike. Usually I can see others' POV, but I love that book so much. I was honestly shocked that others don't. That comment really surprised and annoyed me.

sybil said...

LOL I read that comment and was huh what? was that our blog. LOL I really do need to go read that thread. Sorry if we offended, uh not that I would have prolly moderated it but one never knows.

I haven't had a chance to read it all because that was around the time of THE MOVE OF DOOM.

Devon is suppose to be doing a review *g*. But you know Sula you should do a guest review!

I plan to reread the book. I would have given it a C to begin with and have never gotten the great love for the book. Of course I don't recall thinking he was absuve. So should be interesting.

I LOVE Devil's Bride! And I want to say I have that Feather but haven't read it. DoY is great of course (DiW better *g*). I haven't made it to NiD but I have it. I fear it and its great number of sequels.