lazy thursday night

It's a quiet evening here at the ranch. I'm catching up on the last three episodes of Project Runway. Now that Blood Ties is over, I guess this is the only show that I actually bother to follow. The nice part is that I don't have to worry about missing an episode, they're always showing them over and over again. I think that so far this season, no one is really standing out to me. I know that Jeffrey was a bit of an ass last season, but I never saw him turn in a crap design. And Michael...how adorable was he and how cute were his clothes? It seems like this season's designers aren't quite as polished...or something. I dunno. Anyways, it's still entertaining.

Speaking of entertaining television, can I just go off on a mini-rant about how angry I am at stupid Lifetime television right now? Ok, so they bought the first set of 23 episodes and then instead of showing them all in one normal season, they cut them in half and split it into two seasons. So that of course makes it harder for people who might have gotten into the show to stay hooked. They promised us a marathon repeat of season 1 before starting season 2, but that never happened. Then for season 2, they moved the timeslot to 11pm on freaking Friday night! To top it all off, they decided at the last minute that in fact the final two episodes would not be shown on television after all...they would only air on their website (which is not available to viewers outside the US). WTF? Not to mention their complete lack of promotional support for the show. And there is still no word on whether or not they will renew the show and have another season filmed. But considering the shitty way they've been treating it, I don't hold out much hope. Why oh why? This show was actually fun to watch, had two cute guys, a kick-ass heroine, paranormal elements, vampires, clever dialogue and romantic tension. How many idiotic "America's Top Psychic" shows can say that? AARRRRGGGG! /end rant

Moving on to happier topics...I'm loving my reread of TSP. I think I might even write up a review. Depends on how ambitious I feel this weekend, I guess. Thanks to one of my AAR friends, GailK, I am crushing on Paul Bettany as my mental image of Simon. I can totally see him nailing that rapier-like witty dialogue, pulling off the red heeled shoes, and also giving that angsty deep dark layer that makes Simon who he is.

I also am really enjoying the Lord John audiobook. I got through a few chapters last night before nodding off to sleep. Mm, the sexual tension between LJ and his new "step-brother"...love it!

On the North and South crusade front...welcome to the ranks new recruit devon who wrote a really nice review. For any of you reading this blog, if you haven't watched the film, what are you waiting for?!?!? Look into this man's eyes and see if you can resist?

Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie

Ahhh Friday night! Other people are out partying, drinking, and having hot sex. Me? I'm sitting at home watching reruns of What Not to Wear, waiting for the new season of Blood Ties to come on in a couple of hours, listening to Andrea Bocelli, catching up with some internet reading, and trying to think of a good way to encapsulate my reading experience of the most excellent Welcome to Temptation.

As I said in previous entries, I've never been much of a contemp reader. Or comedy for that matter. I tend towards the long angsty historicals. But I like to think of myself of at least open-minded and ready to try new things if given enough reasons. So on the strength of some very strong recommendations, I picked this one up at my library last week.

First off, I will say that the beginning chapters were a little shaky for me. And that may have more to do with my inexperience with this author's style of writing. I felt a little bit like I was coming into a story that was already in full swing and I was missing some things. Who are these two girls and what's going on? Then all of the sudden more characters keep popping up. ack! Am I slow on the uptake? Oh wait, no, it just takes me a few pages to get things straight. Cool. Alright, I think I'm tracking now...

Do I need to do a plot synopsis thingy? Everyone else in the romance reading universe but me seems to have read this book already. Basic premise: Sophie Dempsey and her sister Amy have a little video business where they tape weddings and somehow they get this gig doing a video for a one-hit wonder "movie star" in said star's podunk hometown. Then there's the local mayor, Phineas Tucker. Yeah, that's right, his name is Phineas. *snort* I know I certainly was skeptical about the romantic hero potential of a character with such a name. But there's something mysteriously sexy about the nickname Phin. Oh and talk about sexy. *fans self* Phin has this very casual, elegant and self-assured manner that borders on flippant at times but ultimately just seems very...what's the word...effortless? Oh and he's freakin' FUNNY!

Sophie jerked her head around to look at him. He had stretched out on the dock with his hands behind his head, and he was looking at the stars, too, pretty much ignoring her.
"She fell in love with a bear?"
"No, a bear ate her." Phin rolled his head to look at her. "Appalachia is not big on silly love songs."
"A bear ate her," Sophie shook her head. "Leave it to you to think that's romantic."
"The song's beautiful," Phin looked back at the stars. "It ends with her ghost wearing a crown of sorrow. Very romantic."
"Dead women are not romantic," Sophie said flatly.
"Okay, she's not dead," Phin said. "The bear ate her, and she came her brains out."
Sophie felt her laugh spurt before she could stop herself. "Oh, very nice. That's not romantic either."
"It is if you do it right."
Sophie thought about it. "I must not be doing it right."
"It wouldn't be you that isn't doing it right," Phin said. "It'd be the bear."

I really did laugh out loud when I read that scene. One thing that Crusie obviously does well is humor. But it doesn't feel forced (*cough*Evanovich*cough*) or wander toooo far into schtick. Yeah, I guess the word I was looking for is effortless.

Ok, so certain town folk are convinced that the video Sophie and Amy are making is actually porn. Phin is being leaned on by some in the city council to shut the production down; in the meantime he and Sophie are getting into a relationship. It starts off as just sex, no strings attached. This was actually pretty refreshing to me. They're two adults, indulging themselves without loads of guilt. It's interesting to see how their sexual chemistry turns to affection which turns to a deeper connection which ultimately leads to love. I felt that despite all the zany goings-on and wacky characters wandering in and out of the plot (did I mention we get a murder mystery thrown in to boot?), there is still a pretty consistent focus on Phin and Sophie and what's going on in both their heads.

I have one (minor) complaint and that has to do with the random movie quotations that Sophie likes to throw in. I found it odd that this would bother me because in real life, I myself like to quote movies. So call me a hypocrite. But half of the references went straight over my head (my fault for having been brought up outside the US) and the others weren't all that hilarious. Not to mention I didn't always see the extra "" marks and just read them as dialogue and then got confused. But this is a minor thing and didn't detract too much from my overall positive experience.

I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read and made me laugh. The dialogue was witty and the characters were interesting. The only real question I had upon finishing it was....does smooth-lovin'-criminal Davy Dempsey get his own book?

Grade: A-

Meet and greet

Today I had my first experience meeting AAR folks live and in person. I've met lots and lots of people through my other online community, but this was a first. It was interesting and a lot of fun. A little strange to be able to talk about romance novels with other people face to face. I don't think I've ever done that. In many ways, my romance reading feels like my little secret. I get books from the library, buy them at Borders or online and read them alone in my room. I don't have any friends or family that read romance, so no one to discuss with. Just my online peeps. Anyways, they were all very nice and we had a good time over lunch. GailK and I took a quick spin through Borders before meeting the rest. Fun to cruise the shelves and poke fun at some of the covers. A little like doing it on the forum but in real time. *g*

It took me about two hours to drive back home. Part of why my bf and I bought a second car was so that we could drive further than to work/school and home. The other car has 200k miles on it and just isn't reliable enough to take far. This new one is an 01 Honda Civic with 100k. It's still a stick shift which is somewhat new to me. I only learned when we moved to Virginia a year and a half ago. Occasionally, it still freaks me out to be driving on big roads with fast cars and know that if I accidentally pop the clutch or something I could grind to a halt. lol. So far so good though and this car gets great gas mileage. 36 mpg in the city.

Now I am curled up on the couch upstairs transferring season 1 of Bloodties to VHS. Yeah, I know...VHS is ancient technology but I don't know how (nor have the hardwear) to get things from my DVR to anything else. I need to create some space on the DVR for new seasons of upcoming shows, so I gotta save the keepers. Besides, it is always nice to sit and watch Henry. *sigh*