Two Book Reviews: #1 Butterfly Swords #2 The Dragon & the Pearl by Jeannie Lin

I just finished reading two wonderful Harlequin Historicals. The first was Butterfly Swords written by Jeannie Lin. This book won the 2009 Golden Heart Award from the Romance Writers of America (RWA). The second is The Dragon and the Pearl also by Jeannie Lin.

Butterfly Swords was a good story set in 8th century China. The story is about Princess Ai Li who is running away from the man her father has arranged for her to marry. Ryam, a blue eyed warrior from a foreign land, saves her during her escape attempt. He reluctantly agrees to assist her in getting home to her family.

I felt the story dragged a bit. The journey to her home took forever. He's worried about a battle where he lost all his men. He's worried about getting back to his home. He's worried about a coming war. I wasn't particularly attracted to him.

The other characters they met along the road to Ai Li's home seemed more interesting to me than the main characters Ai Li and Ryam. Once she gets back to the Emperor's palace, Ai Li has to convince her family that she did the right thing leaving Li Tao, her bridegroom. Of course it all works out and there is an epic sword battle between the hero and the bridegroom. It's a Harlequin story so the story has a happy ending. I was hoping that there would be more about Ai Li's Grandmother who is the one who taught her the butterfly swords. In conclusion, Butterfly Swords was a good story but not great. Jeannie Lin gives us a feel for the time period, the costumes and the political tension.  I did enjoy it enough though to want to read the next book in the series.



The Dragon and the Pearl was my favorite of the two stories. It is the story of Li Tao the warlord and intended bridegroom from the Butterfly Swords. The Dragon and the Pearl, was off the hook with tension. I could feel the attraction between Li Tao and Ling Suyin from the moment I started reading. Oh my gawd. I read this book twice. It was hot and romantic. I loved the attraction that was flowing between Li Tao and Ling Suyin from the beginning.

Ling Suyin was a character who was introduced in Butterfly Swords and I wanted to read more about her. I was so excited to see she was re-introduced in this story. She has such a surprising history and experience that you can't help but fall in love with her .

Li Tao is hardcore. He's been there and done it all. Very attractive hero. 

The other characters add to the story and don't distract. The settings are easy to visualize and pleasant. I could almost feel the silk and see the beautiful countryside. The flashbacks add a great depth to understanding the characters. They flashbacks are short and too the point. Many stories flip back and forth with flashbacks and you get lost. Not with this story. There is just enough back story thrown in to give you an understanding of where the characters are coming from. Love it.

The story is sensual but not quite erotic.

I plan on purchasing the other stories this author has written. Jeannie Lin is an excellent story teller.

5 Kisses XXXXX

Weekend in Review!

I attended the August Scrapbook Expo at Santa Clara Convention Center this weekend. I took three classes, attended the midnight crop and stayed overnight at the hotel. I took a small cooler with water, wine and snacks.


View of the stage during the crop. The M.C. said he had a storage unit full of scrapbook paper. The t


View of my workspace during the crop. It may look like I have a bunch of stuff but other people had wagons, yes wagons full of stuff. They also reserved full table for food and their equipment.



Here is  picture of me. You can see some of my scrapbook stuff in front of me.

I took three classes at the Scrapbook Expo. The first one entitled Gimme That Bling sponsored by Quick Quotes was a little weak. I expected a lot more sparkle, glitz and glamour. There was just a very little bit of sparkle embellishment in the kit that we did in the class. The papers were very nice but they expected us to purchase some chalk ink

The second class also sponsored by was entitled Six Easy Pages. All the pages coordinated but they weren't something that I would have selected on my own. They wanted us to purchase the chalk ink so I coughed up a few more dollars for the two colors of ink that they wanted us to have. I lost interest in the project and just sat through the class to see if I won the door prize. I didn't so I trotted back to the Expo showroom floor to shop. There weren't nearly as many vendors as there have been in the past.

I was ready to spend some money but the stuff that there was there was mostly embellishments. I saw a few page kits that were $20 a piece but there weren't any pages that I was looking for. I was looking for football, cruise, vow renewal. I don't have little kids or babies anymore and that is what much of the stuff was aimed at.

I do love creative memories and so I purchased a small 8X8 white album set to put the vow renewal pictures into. I bought a few of the lazor cut headings. They had a cute one of the Catalina Island Casino through a porthole window so I had to get that. I stopped for lunch at the hotel coffee shop where they were having a $9 half a sandwich and salad special.

The final class entitled Framalicious was sponsored by Mon Ami Gabby. I love the idea of the romantic flowers and sparkle embellishment. There were only two people signed up for the class so we got personalize atttention. The instructor, Mariana, was very nice and and she is the owner of Mon Ami Gabby. The kit had beautiful pieces. It included flowers, paper flowersIt was very relaxing to glue flowers onto the frame but I changed the design at bit.


When I got home I watered my garden and picked these fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini.

Book Review - The Vampire Voss by Colleen Gleason

Vampire Voss - A book of the Regency Dracula 

It's a good story. Let me start by saying that I don't care for vampire stories. I don't like vampire television shows or movies like True Blood or Twilight but I received this book as a free giveaway at the Romantic Times BookConference last year and thought I would give it a read. It is published by Mira an imprint of Harlequin. The book is a trade romance which is 380 pages.

Vampire Voss is a historical paranormal romance set in the regency period. I've taken an interest in historical stories lately so I read the first few pages and was hooked.

The story focuses on a pair of sisters whose brother is a vampire hunter. The brother has disappeared and has asked a vampire friend to watch over his maiden sisters while he is away. Vampire Voss happens to be an associate of the girl's caretaker and takes an interest in one of the sisters, Angelica. Voss has a well deserved past with the ladies and a way of getting on the nerve of his fellow vampires. For some reason he manages to keep his fangs and his libido in check for most of his dealings with Angelica.

The girls don't know their brother is a vampire hunter, don't know their care taker is a vampire, nor do they know that the bad vampires are after them in an attempt to get back at their brother.

It is an interesting read with a small amount of gore and a few random drainings by the "bad" vamps. There is enough to satisfy a vampire enthusiast but not enough to turn off someone with a queasy stomach. I guess. I dislike the fact that Voss doesn't seem to have any friends throughout the story. He has acquaintances with brothel owners here and there and a circle of vampire friends all of whom he seems to have pissed off.

Angelica has the gift of sight which only allows her to see how people die. "Shrug"

The story has what I consider a good happy ending. It's a typical romance with the fall in love, conflict and then resolution formula but I love the resolution of this situation.

I didn't read the story straight through as I have with other stories. In other words, I could put it down. But I kept coming back to it and finished it in less than a week.

There are three books in this series. I am considering reading the others. The third of the three is Vampire Narcise which is about a female vamp.

Saturday Date with Hubby!

Had a great day with hubby today. It was intended to be a family outing day but the teens were taking their time getting ready and asked too many questions. One daughter had to work and the other said she didn't feel well. My son didn't get up and dressed and continued to sit in front of the television while we were encouraging him to get dress. So.....we decided to leave and go by ourselves.

First we headed to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Park
We visited the California Academy of Sciences and watched the EarthQuake show. At this point my husband decided he was hungry and needed a drink and something to eat. The line at the snack bar was a half an hour long so we left the museum in search of food. Okay...so now I now where my kids get it from. He did purchase the pictures they took of us in the rainforest.

We walked across to the De Young Museum and looked in the gift shop. From there we left and walked in the park until we found a snack bar and husband got a hot dog and Sprite. I got water. Now that he was fully refreshed we walked over to the Botanical Gardens. They were charging for non San Francisco residents so we walked on. We saw a sign for a Vintage Paper Show so we walked over to see what that was all about.

Evidently vintage paper collectors collect postcards, posters and other ephemera. http://vintagepaperfair.com/sanfran.htm 
We left with husband rolling his eyes. Drove through Golden Gate Park and head home over the Golden Gate Bridges.

When we saw the sign for Stinson Beach I asked if he wanted to go. He said yes. So we began the trek over the hill to the Beach. It was a long and winding road. It was extremely foggy and I considered turning around a couple of times. I was really afraid that the fog would come in and I wouldn't be able to see on the way out.

We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived in the small town of Stinson Beach. Walked down to the beach which was very crowded despite the overcast sky.

We walked into town and bought another soda and a bag of chips for hubby. I had my diet lunch still packed in the car. On the way back to the beach, we stopped at the Lunch Box deli http://lunchboxmarin.com/ and I ordered a small container of their home made cerviche. It had some jalepeno, carrots, tomatoes and shrimp in it. We went back to the car and shared the lunch I had packed. Celery, jicama, pork and salad.

Anyway, I have been doing a low carb diet and I started getting a headache on the drive home. I think there was too much sugar or high glycemic index in the cerviche.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinson_Beach,_California


Anyway, it turned out to be a pleasantly wonderful day.

August

August is a busy month for me. Between back to school registrations appointments, start of fall sports conditioning and daily practice dates for my teens, medical appointments and  a daugther moving away to go to college, my calendar is full. My husband is traveling for business for much of the month so he isn't able to help me keep all the balls in the air.

Anyway, I try to remember that it is a time for new beginnings. New schools, new schools, new apartments, new teams, new routines. It can be exciting as well as scary and my job is to try to mitigate the anxiety that the kids are feeling.

On top of all that,  work at the office hasn't decreased and I have to admit that I have a very full life.

I am looking forward to my mini retreat at the Scrapbook Expo on Saturday, August 11th.

Need to get my car tuned up this month.

Clean my closet.

I've managed to stay on my diet this week and continue to get some exercise. I've been walking daily after work and started taking supplements. I hope to see some results on the scale and in the mirror.

Things should calm down for me during the month of September. I can only hope.