Beverly Barton passes away

Author Beverly Barton passed away suddenly on Thursday from heart failure, news that I am sure came as a shock to many of her loyal readers.

Her first book came out in 1990, titled Yankee Lover, a Silhouette Desire.  I started reading her books around 2000, after taking a ten year break from reading while my children were small and demanded a lot of attention.  After reading Defending His Own, I ran to the UBS to grab up the entire Protectors series, and have every book Ms. Barton has written since then. 

My favorite characters are Griff Powell, owner of the Powell agency who makes numerous appearances in her books.  Another favorite is attorney  Judd Walker, whose wife was killed by the Beauty Queen Killer. 

My condolences go out to Beverly’s family, with a huge thanks to her for being a wonderful author who has provided me with hundreds of great reading hours.  

The Welcome Home Garden Club, by Lori Wilde

J. Foster Goodnight is the wealthiest man in Twilight, having two legitimate boys, Bowie and Crockett, and then the illegitimate Gideon.  As the story begins, we are at J. Foster’s funeral when a motorcycle comes down the road and stops next to the service.  The last line of the prologue:  "Then he stripped off his helmet, pulled away his goggles, and Caitlyn stared straight into the eyes of a dead man." gets you right in to the story.  Cait passes out because she is so shocked to see Gideon, who she thought died in Afghanistan.  She does not take time to think about the fact that Gideon is her son Danny’s dad, and neither child or father know the truth.  Later that night, the circumstances of the day give her plenty to think about.

The story unfolds, the garden club asks florist Cait to to take on the victory garden for a contest they would like to enter.  After giving the garden some serious thought, she thinks this is something she can do and would enjoy participating in.  Even though this is a competition, she would do this garden for Gideon, who was her first love, and her love for the people who have served our great country.  The other thing that hinges on this event is getting her families old carousel  up and running, which means refurbishing 50+ carousel  horses.  That means Cait has to have a conversation with her estranged father to ask for this, knowing it will be difficult since her mother died while riding the carousel.  Caitlyn asks the Judge, and surprisingly he complies.  Thoughts of that carousel only bring back bad thoughts of his deceased wife.  He also asks Cait if she is aware that Gideon is in town, they argue over that topic, and Caitlyn stomps out, but the Judge  promises to have the carousel delivered to her. 

Now that Gideon is back, everyone is thinking he is Danny’s father.  Seems everyone in town knows except Danny!  Gideon comes to visit Cait, and they both have raging feelings for one another, but she is very overly cautious with her son, somewhat smothering him.  Cait tells Gideon she will let him know when she is ready to approach Danny.  Days go on, the garden grows and Gideon works on the horses.  Gideon lost half an arm in Afghanistan, but his new prosthetic arms lets him perform almost any job, so he is up for the painting and carving that needs to be done on the horses.  Danny and he become best palls, but that darn half brother of Gideon’s keeps butting in. 

As the judging day for the victory garden draws near, so do more spine tingling events.  Lots of twists and turns towards the end, and the culprit was not someone I expected.   J. Foster’s will is probated, cursing Gideon from the grave by bestowing him with everything.  Gideon, being way more generous than anyone espects, ends up giving the ranch and land to his siblings.  Considering how they treated him over the years, that was somewhat of a surprise.    And of course the HEA.     **sigh**  This is why we read books!  Every now and then it all comes together, and that’s the way it’s been with every book Lori Wilde has written in this series. 

I hate to say this!!

I really hate to say this, but I have been trying to read Nora Roberts new book Chasing Fire. I am now 75 pages into the book and not much is happening, but I have figured who the bad guy is already. So do I want to keep on reading, or just put the book down and start something else. I guess part of my issue is I have read another author who just did it better!!

I really hate that when I buy a book and can't get in to it!! Guess I'll try it again for today and if I still have issues I will be putting it down for something else.

Just Us Thinking

As I sit here and type this I'm thinking why am I not reading??? For some reason I don't know what it is but I would rather play a game on the computer, surf the web or aggravate my husband then pick up a book. Don't get me wrong I still love reading it's just that lately I haven't been in the mood. I start a book and put it down , pick it up and put it down. Either a book grabs me from the very beginning or I do the book shuffle.

I've had this discussion with Debra a couple of times and some of my reasons are: 1. Books are no longer exciting -- are they all politically correct!??!

2. I've been reading for so many years that I can almost tell what's going to happened?

3. My expectations are too high -- quite a few times I've been waiting for a book to come out only to be disappointed. Why? Is it because the the second book isn't as good as the first? The heroine is TSTL? The hero is too over top being a alpha hero?

4. Have I as a reader become to jaded? Spring is coming which means here in the Midwest warm weather.

After being cooped up in the house all winter I can't wait to sit in my Cleopatra chair reading or going for afternoon walks. I guess you can almost call this a "reading" slump but for me how long will it continue to last!

Debra says****** I think we all go through reading slumps for one reason or another. I know for me that I have a had a few. I have found that when I have a real bad slump I go back to the oldies but goodies!! The books that weren't PC, that were just fun to read. Books that I really enjoyed and have reread so many times that they they are falling apart. I don't even have to read the whole book, I can just read parts of the book and be happy. After reading a few of those I am now ready to read a book again.


Teri Says.....I have been reading books that I am loving!  It's just that spring finally arrived, after the winter from hell and I have been out doing yard work, uncovering the gardens, and watching my crocus bloom!  It's my favorite time of year, and if I can stay awake long enough at night, I will read.  So right now it's a time thing for me.  I have so many good books laying around right now that it's hard to decide what to read next.  Dani, now be honest - you're having too much fun with your new iPad!  You aren't foolin' me!  

My Irresistible Earl by Gaelen Foley

First I want to say Thank you to SOS American, because I won the book from their site. I have some really mixed feelings about this book and overall I really enjoyed the book. It just had some up and downs for me, that I know won't bother other people.

This is book three of The Inferno Club, and I would say this book is really not a stand alone book, you should read the other two books My Wicked Marquess and My Dangerous Duke to really understand what is going on.

Jordan , The Earl Of Falconridge met Mara twelve years ago at a house party and they two fell for each other. Mara was looking for a husband to get away from her bad home life, Jordan was not looking for a wife but fell in love with Mara, but because he was going off to work for the club (he is a spy for the king) he knew that this was not the right time for them. So Jordan breaks Mara's heart and goes off to war. Mara waits for him and when she doesn't hear back from him she marries another man.

Twelve years later Jordan is back in the picture. He is now home and working on bringing down the bad guys. He sees Mara at an auction where she is buying a painting for the Regent. They speak and she is still mad at him for leaving and he is mad at her for not waiting for him. Now Mara is close to the regent because he was a good friend to her late husband and is also godfather to her two year old son. Everybody thinks that Mara is the Regent's lover. When Jordan needs to get closer to the Regent he realizes he has no choice but to use Mara. Now everybody in The Inferno Club knows he still loves Mara and kind of play matchmaker by making him do this. He does this and is not sure how he is going to hide the lies.

Now you know both are going to fall in love again, heck they never stopped and Mara's husband held it over her head, but then he also had other issues. They start an affair and Jordan starts working to uncover who the bad guy is within the Regents inner circle.

Jordan is having a hard time keeping the lies from Mara, he goes so far as to tell her that they need distance. He does this so he can finish what he needs to do because he can't stand lying to Mara anymore. Mara is hurt by this and everything comes to a head when she follows him someplace and he gets mad at her because she interrupts him almost getting what he needs from the the bad guy.

He comes to her house and tells her as much as he can about the truth. Well, you know as well as I do that doesn't go over too good with Mara and she tells him to leave. After all , he used her!!! You know as well as I do what happens next. Mara's baby is taken, she is forced in to something to save the baby and Jordan saves the day and they live happily ever after.

The book wasn't bad, yet it was predictable in parts. I got a little upset that Jordan was mad that Mara didn't wait for him, but wait for twelve years and he never wrote her!! I didn't like that part. He did write her letters but tore them up. Later he did tell her that. I loved the back story with Drake and found I wanted more of that, but I guess I have to wait for the next book. I did find it amazing that a two year old who could barely talk at the beginning of the book could talk in full words by the ending. So if you are reading The Inferno Club series don't miss this one. I just liked the first two better then this one.

A Happy post, not related to books!

Just so you know, I haven’t gotten a darn thing done all weekend because I have been watching the Eagle Cam, and the hatching of two of the three eggs.  Every now and then, the Mama’s partner drops by with food, which she will feed to the babies.  Earlier today he dropped off a mouse, and now I see something with feathers, perhaps a smaller bird, laying on the bottom left corner of the nest.  This has been fascinating to watch.  Now that it is getting dark out, she will put herself and the babies to bed, which is quite a process! 

http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/

I live in SE Minnesota, so this is just across the Iowa border in Decorah, home of Luther College and the Vesterheim Museum.  Raptor Resource Project is sponsoring a live feed of a nest where three eggs were laid in February. The first eagle started to emerge on Friday. The second hatched early this morning (Sunday)and the third is expected in a day or two.  There are two cameras set up high in a cottonwood tree where mama has her nest.  They will be live streaming through all 3 eggs hatching.  

Major Rant not about books

OK, I know we are a blog about romance books, but I am going to get off topic because of something that happened to me last night. A year ago I started to volunteer for a Labrador rescue service. I have really enjoyed this. I love it when I find a forever home for a loving Lab. What can I say, I love Labs! When I first started doing this I thought I would only be pre-screening people who wanted a dog. We have a list of questions and certain things we look for to make sure you are going to be a good fit for the dog and the dog a good fit for you. I have gotten people upset with me when I turn them down, but we have been doing this for 25 years and have placed close to 400 labs last year. So we must be doing something right. I come to find out that I would also be screening dogs that people need to get rid of. This part of the job has some pros and cons, one of the cons I am going to tell you about.

I got a call at 3:30 AM today from a girl in tears about her parents dog. I guess this dog has some kind of skin issues that have gone way beyond bad. She is calling me at 3:30 to see if I could help her. I told her she needed to get the dog to the emergency animal clinic ASAP. This dog was bleeding and in tons of pain. She had said she had called them and they couldn't help her because she couldn't pay. They let the dog suffer because she couldn't pay. She didn't know what to do and wanted to know if I could help her. Well, at 3:30 AM there was not much I could do. I told her if she couldn't get the dog into the hospital, she needed to get the poor animal to Animal Care and see if they could help her. Even if the dog had to be put down, it would be better then what it was going through. When we hung up she said she would follow up with them in the morning.

She called me back at a more normal hour this morning and thanked me for taking the time to talk with her when she needed someone to talk to. She was going to take the dog to Animal Care today and have it put down. After talking with her parents she has come to the conclusion that her parents NEVER TOOK THIS DOG TO THE VET!! What is with these people??? All I had was visons of was this poor dog last night and I could not get back to sleep. I really wanted to hurt these people, and felt very sorry for the daughter who was stuck in a very hard place, and she lived out of town.

My rant is after doing this for a few months I still can't get over how someone can just get rid of their dog because they don't want it anymore, or how someone could let a dog get as sick as this poor dog where the best result is to put it down. How an Emergency Animal Clinic could say no to a dog that needs help?

I'm glad that even though it was 3:30, I was of some help to this poor girl. I am glad that I am doing this for the dogs, because they really need the help. And I still can shoot the owners of the dog!! I know that if she hadn't called me back to say she was taking the dog in, I was going to call Animal Control with the phone number so they could follow up.

Thank you for letting me get this off my chest!!! And just to let you all know the photo s of my two rescued friends. Can't you tell that they have it made!!

Debra, I'm glad you did what you could do to help. I'm a animal lover and I hate to read stories like this. Dani Debra, bless you for coming to the aid of this poor girl and the dog. I work with a Golden Retriever rescue group, and it truly is heartbreaking to see how some people treat their pets. It makes one wonder how they treat the humans they interact with. Unfortunately, the Emergency Vet does not have to treat an animal unless someone can guarantee payment. The services they provide for an animal cost about the same as when you or I go see the doctor. A dog in this bad of shape could cost thousands. Usually if a rescue group will agree to pay for the services, which they often will, the vet will go ahead and treat the animal. Here the story often makes it to the local papers and press, so donations come in for the treatment of the animal. Our rescue group is lucky in that we have had some huge media cases that have brought in thousands of dollars, so if there is a chance the dog will make it, they will guarantee payment. The dog has to be surrendered to them, and can not go back to the owner. The other sad part of this story is that some people won't surrender the dog. Animal control can take it, the owners can be arrested and fined, but this process doesn't happen without involving the police with animal control. Nothing ever works as quickly as we would like it to, and that does make it hard to work with rescues. Dogs have a very short memory span, so if they can heal and go to a new home they will forget about the past. That's what I have to do (put it in the past) in order to get beyond the hurt humans have caused the pet. My Annie came from a huge puppy mill and I can't think about it or it will do me in. She's a happy girl with a new least on life now!