My darling peeps….

Remember the beginning of it all? I certainly do. It was March of 2007. I was in a bookstore randomly searching for something new during my lunch hour. It was Barnes and Noble. I had just fallen in love with Buffy the Vampire Slayer two years prior and had a thing for those vampires. I saw this black book with an apple on the cover, it was on an end cap. I had no idea it was YA. I picked it up, read the back and thought “Huh, Twilight. Well, that sounds pretty good…” Fast forward to my almost immediate purchase of New Moon, knowing I would have to buy another copy of it within 6 weeks because I think it was May 10th that the New Moon edition with the Eclipse chapter was coming out. I did an online search. I had only every been active on one message board, not surprisingly it was the Buffy Trivia Guide. I lurked on Leaky Cauldron. Then I found the Twilight Lexicon and the Adult Fan Roll Call Thread. Ahhh, I was home, I had a username and people actually began responding to my posts (Ouisa I think as the first one to comment back to me) Oh, then I found SSVD-GTO and her fanfic. THEN she told me to read Lara Adrian, whose book was reviewed by someone named JR Ward….

AHHHHHHH, what a journey. Several things happened this week to make me take pause and remember. Perhaps this should be a blog post, I’ll probably do that next. First, our very own Simplicity, the woman I had never met and possibly axe murdering roommate in Forks (HAHAHAHA! Oh yes, I agreed to share a hotel suite with a woman I had never met and I was NOT nervous), will have her first book in her three book series published in February of 2011. Bonded by Blood, under her writing name of Laurie London. She was a guest blogger and wrote of her journey, thus making me consider my own.

Second, December sent me the below post I made on Lex forums. Ahhh, the days when we would debate back and forth with our passionate, yet understanding and loving voices. You know what? We simply rocked. We could understand and appreciate the groomers and the polishers and the manwich lovers and get along and talk and giggle about it….

Finally, with Bree Despain coming on chat in April, my continuing work for the Lexicon and my work with One Less Nemesis, it’s amazing to see what started as a random book purchase became the impetus for the direction of my entire life. Wow.

Without further ado, I am so honored to say that December said this about my post ” Just thought you might like to have a copy of this.  It’s damn good.” I am humbled by her praise.

PS – I couldn’t help myself, I had to correct my errors and I think I caught most of them. I clearly wrote this post in a moment of passionate discussion without proofing myself.

by somethingblue » Fri Sep 07, 2007 11:24 pm

So this is where ALL the action has been lately. After catching up with the previous thread and now this one, I just wanted to add a few comments. First, while I understand the moral and ethical debate about Edward bribing Bella’s way into Dartmouth and in reality I can see the moral issues with this (although I think this is really prevalent in today’s society), we must remember that the Cullens have to do all kinds of illegal and morally wrong activities to even live. Alice uses her psychic ability for financial gain on the stock market. Records are forged and money is used as a matter of continuing to survive for centuries. It’s not even a question to Edward. And honestly I just don’t think it should be taken that seriously.

Also, on the previous discussion about Edward watching Bella as she sleeps and also the intimacy in Eclipse: perhaps it’s my age (38) but the fact that he watches her at night, to me, was extremely romantic. In TW, it took my breath away. This is not reality, I would not want a stranger hanging out in my room either. But he is a vampire, this is not reality and I would love to have been Bella, to find this beautiful creature was so enamored by me that he could not stay away…

The intimacy in Eclipse was wonderful to me. Actually, I knew Edward was really trying to keep Bella safe because of his incredible fear for her safety, but I believe I felt exactly the opposite as many people on the threads. I was annoyed with him that he turned her down. I thought maybe she should just take her shirt off so he would lose a little of that tight hold on his virtue. I felt her embarrassment in rejection and also realized that her mother is very anti-marriage. I think Renee would be good with Bella living her life in an intimate sexual relationship with Edward without ever getting married.

The kidnapping was definitely not the correct way to handle things, but Edward is out of his mind with worry while he is away from her. The redeeming quality about the kidnapping is that he learns from his mistakes and realizes he can’t keep her in a cage to keep her safe, that he has to let go a little bit. I think it all comes from a place of deep love and protection, not malice.

I hope my thoughts here don’t cause an uproar, I just wanted to say that there are some things that are just so romantic and unrealistic, but that’s ok, that’s why we read Stephenie’s books and love them so much.

Frost’s First Drop of Crimson Tastes Great, Less Filling

Jonzing for a little Frost magic, I eagerly trekked through seven inches of snow to Borders to acquire my copy of First Drop of Crimson, the first installment in the Night Huntress World series, on the day of its release. Now mind you, I have been experiencing serious Cat and Bones withdrawal since I devoured Destined For An Early Grave within 24 hours of purchasing it. A Frost fix, ANY Frost fix, was just what I needed that snowy Tuesday.

And so, putting aside Austen’s Emma temporarily, I began reading. Then I fell asleep. Thirty pages in… I fell asleep. Now, anyone who knows me knows this is unusual. I am a speed-reader – I read the entire Twilight Series is five business days, people! I usually only fall asleep this quickly when werewolves are involved. I was a little worried. The first thirty pages lacked that instant character attraction and immediate, ahem, gratification so often present in Frost’s books.

Crimson had a sloooooooow start. I conferred with a fellow Frost-lover the next day and she agreed. But we pressed on.

The story begins with Denise, Cat’s recently widowed best friend, having sworn off the supernatural altogether. After the violent death of Randy during a disastrous New Year’s Eve party, Denise relegates herself to mourning and, well, not much of anything else. Until the demon comes along.

As her family members are picked off one by one, Denise begins to realize that she may need some supernatural help after all – particularly when her cousin is offed by a strange dog-man-hybrid in a parking lot.

An encounter with Raum (our aforementioned demon) leaves Denise bearing his marks and forced to answer his challenge to find her ancestor, Nathaniel, who we later learn is at the core of a drug operation run by the vampire version of Manuel Noriega. If Denise refuses, Raum promises to continue systematically offing family members until she acquiesces. Realizing she has few choices, she reaches out to the vamps.

Not able to reach Cat, she picks up the old cell and dials S for Spade.

Ahhhhhh…. Spade.

I promised Shelley this would be a ‘brief’ review, so suffice it to say that Spade agrees to help Denise, and Denise proceeds to whimper along complaining about how much money Spade is spending to help her – this was really irritating. I mean, come on! Everyone knows vamps are loaded. But I digress…

Along the way, we are reminded why we were all so very intrigued by Spade in the Night Huntress books.

Spade looks at humans as food and playthings. Until he meets Denise. For some reason unknown to me, he finds this ninny (that’s for you, Blue) of a heroine irresistible, and we find ourselves getting to know a much different Spade. (Editor’s Note: I see your use of Ninny and I raise you with Nincompoop)

Now, if you ask me, aside from their hotness and the general awesomeness of their supernatural abilities, the most appealing thing about vampires is their fierce loyalty. Spade is no exception, and as the pages begin to fly by, you can’t help but love him. Neither can Denise.

As they travel the world in search of Raum and the source of the vamp uppers, Frost weaves a classic love tale of the hardened (get it?) hero who will never love again and the devastated heroine who will never trust again. But they finally do.

Toward the end of the story, we encounter a few of our favorites – Cat, Bones, Ian and Fabian the ghost.  Ian, Bones and Spade enjoy some witty Brit banter, which is altogether entertaining. I’m confident an Ian book will soon follow.

So, all in all, Crimson was fun and had moments of greatness, but overall lacks the energy of Frost’s other books. Certainly the biggest disappointment is Denise as a heroine, but Spade makes up for her super-sappy nature with his big heart and even bigger… WHAT?

Wait. OK. Regroup.

First Drop of Crimson tasted great, but was less filling.

Overall 3 stars.

Review by the beloved ElleJeez

Peeps, here you go! Enter and blog for a chance to win an ARC of Linger, Maggie Stiefvater’s next book after the much loved and acclaimed Shiver. Check it out:

In Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love — the light and the dark, the warm and the cold — in a way you will never forget.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.

Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie’s blog.

Hey my peeps! Just a little post to tell you all Happy Valentine’s Day! As a little gift to you, I’m sharing a bit of a book that my lovely friend GTO gave me for Christmas – the Cookie Sutra! YAY!

To see a glimpse inside the book, click on this link, then click on “Google Preview” right below the picture. Enjoy! http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780761138099-2

Love & Hugs,

Blue

We’ve had a MAJOR breakthrough in our fact-finding regarding Rhevenge’s barbed penis! Yes, ladies, one of our fabulous readers, in all of her tenacity (she is KNOWN for this tenacity), uncovered this very interesting video about what could be the origin of this sympath-specific trait found in JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood books. Watch the video and marvel at the computer generated barbs that actually extend during cat intercourse. There’s the neck biting, the barb and scarping… At first, I thought that it was odd for our dear WARDen to pick cat traits, I’m pretty sure she’s a dog lover! But then, while sharing this info with Mother on the phone, I realized that the sympaths are dark, difficult creatures! AHA! It all came together then! The long arms and legs of the Princess, enjoying the pain (the pain of sex for the female cat due to the barb actually causes her to ovulate), the barb itself. It’s ALL so clear now!

Now if you’re really wanting to see a female cat who is clearly REALLY pissed during the whole sex-thing, check this one out!

As most of you know, in my other life aside from books, I am passionate about a new clothing brand that I’m helping to develop called One Less Nemesis. My passion for Twilight has taken my life into so many amazing directions and through meeting another adult fan of the series, soon-to-be-published author Laurie London, I began marketing consulting with her and her husband on their newly formed company. Based on intense rivalries (he is an avid snowboarder), One Less Nemesis has become an incredible creative outlet for advertising and marketing background. It wouldn’t be complete with out infusing some of my own great obsessions in the mix, right? Thus we added One Less Vampire and One Less Werewolf designs to the line-up, our cool answer to Team Edward and Team Jacob. I like to think that if Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner were to ever wear Twilight-inspired t-shirts, these would be the ones.

In the fall, through my public relations work with the Twilight Lexicon, I met Tinsel Korey, who plays Emily (Sam’s Fiance) in The Twilight Saga: New Moon and the yet-to-be-released The Twilight Saga: Eclipse at one of the Official Twilight Conventions. I gave her a One Less Vampire shirt…Amazingly, Pel from the Lex discovered that Tinsel not only wore the One Less Vampire shirt, but was photographed at a random convention in Florida in December! Lazzie at Eye Behold Photography took the shot of Tinsel, standing by co-star Chaske Spencer (Sam Uley in The Twilight Saga: New Moon) and posted

it on his Twilight Blog. What an awesome thing to have happen! I feel like maybe we have our first big break, maybe now people will see how very cool these shirts are and buy one for themselves. I am so very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, starting this business in one of the worst economic times in decades, and that we’ve been able to persist. I am so thankful to Tinsel Korey, for rockin’ out that shirt like no one else could have. I am so very excited for our future!

Love & Hugs,

Blue

Our fabulous and very own book club author, Simplicity (aka Laurie London – http://www.laurielondonbooks.com/), tweeted (follow her at: http://twitter.com/LaurieBLondon) and left me a voice mail about this most amazing offer. Apparently, there are some pretty big price wars happening between Apple and Amazon and Amazon has pulled ebooks published by MacMillan. What does this mean for us? This is directly from the Smart Bitches Trashy Books website: http://www.sb-tb.com/

“AllRomanceeBooks.com and OmniLit.com have a special offer for you this weekend only. I kid you not: 50% off every title in the store this weekend only. NO REALLY. They may not have everything but boy howdy they’ve got a lot. Thank you, folks! Let’s go shopping, shall we?

The rules: You will receive 50% off on all titles purchased on AllRomanceeBooks.com and OmniLit.com through this weekend if they use the code SBTBARe1.

The discount will only appear once the code is entered in the shopping cart and the “Calculate Discount” button is selected. This offer expires at midnight 31 January 2010, 11:59 PM Mountain Standard Time.”

So go forth my ladies and buy! Read! Enjoy!

Many thanks to simp for the heads up!!

Blue

I blogged about my reading crisis. I bitched and whined about it. I have let it bother me for over a month. Saturday night at dinner, I believe my BFF has cured it all for me…with a box of inspiration. Yes, peeps, it all came in an adorable box, the contents of which are the cure and answer to my crisis. The contents include (and are the key to our new direction this year): Nightlight by Harvard Lampoon, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Also included: Jane Austen note cards with such awesome quotes as “Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love” and “Nobody minds having what is too good for them,” Pirate’s Booty 130 calorie white cheddar snacks, Glico chocolate sticks, a stripey pencil case and a book journal.

Here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to keep a book journal, ladies. We’re going to record everything we read, whether it’s part of the club or not. Then at the end of the year, we’re going to talk about our favorites, our accomplishments and the fun we’ve had. Elle and I will be doing this together at our favorite restaurant and discussing this over a cocktail in December. That doesn’t mean we won’t then do the same thing with our peeps at year end, it just won’t be in person.

Now, the upcoming read. Yes, we’re supposed to be reading Beyond the Highland Mist. I get it, I said it. I need a pallet cleanse. Desperately. I cannot even begin to start this book until I take my brain in a new direction. Thus, I will be reading first Nightlight (only 154 pages) and then Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I am also going to create a current read thread on our forums (here). If you can, please get these books and let’s veer off of our path together. Let’s take the road less traveled for a little bit, before we return to our beloved stories. I am going to finish Shades of Midnight first, I swear (seriously, 100 pages in and there’s barely an interaction between the lead male and female? WTF?) and then it’s time to embark on our little side trip. I hope you all come along for the ride.

Love and hugs,

Blue

My darling peeps~

I’m beginning this year’s blog in a bit of a crisis. I have used pictures from our Forks trip, summer of 2008, to remind me how much I have gained through the love of reading. I am looking for new inspiration. I have been remiss in my reading. Remiss in my chatting. Unmotivated. Uninspired. It’s not the fault of the books. It’s a crossroads for me, calling me to look at things in a new way. Or rediscover the love of reading that I have shared with you all for three years now. Yes, we’re in our third year of talking books, and it all started with Twilight.

Now I have loved books my whole life. Mother and I were just talking about this. I used to read the Clan of the Cave Bear books from Jean M. Auel when I was in junior high and loads of Stephen King in high school. The Harry Potter books are some of my favorites. Watership Down moved me unlike almost anything I have known, both the animated film I watched as child and the book I read as an adult. I’m sharing this all with you because I am searching myself for my inspiration.

Right now I’m trying to get through Shades of Midnight. This is not Lara Adrian’s fault. I have heard nothing but rave reviews for the latest installment in her Midnight Breed series. I have committed to reading this and discussing it with you! In the last month, I have also tried to read the following: Tempted by the Cast ladies, Apocalypse Happens by Lori Handeland and Real Murders by Charlaine Harris. I have not gotten past page 30 on any of these three books, which I am certain I would completely enjoy under any other circumstances. You see, it’s the crisis.

Everyone keeps asking me for our next reading assignment. Due to my crisis (Athena is suffering a similar reading CRISIS), I need to finish Shades. I will be so proud to do that! Then we have talked about starting the Highlander series written by Karen Marie Moning, the first book of which is Beyond the Highland Mist. Ms. Moning was born and raised in Cincinnati, went to Purdue University (I’ll forgive her for that) and seems like someone I would love to know. She’s a Midwesterner for eff’s sakes! So let’s say that we’ll be heading in that direction over the next few weeks. I can’t commit to a schedule. I can’t even really commit to that book. Maybe I need a literary pallet cleanse? Jane Austen’s Persuasion perhaps? I’ve always wanted to read that (go crazy now, Violet darling). Re-read the last Harry Potter book? Hmm. Bear with me, my darling peeps. I will find my way through this dark and troubled tunnel and hope you will all be there to read with me when I do!

Wishing you all lots of love, hugs and chocolate in this new year. It’s GOT to get better, right?

Blue

I’m not going to add fun pictures of our book covers as it’s midnight and I’m supposed to be dusting the family room – gahhh! (favorite Stephenie expression there) But first I want to wish all of my fantabulous book club peeps the most Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and/or whatever greeting works best! Loves to you all!

Second, I just finished Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and enjoyed that read. I’m reading Apocalypse Happens by Lori Handeland but my reading is very stymied by the holidays right now, I have to admit! Coming out on December 29th is the next is the Midnight Breed Series, Shades of Midnight by Lara Adrian. Those are the books I’ve read or are reading. Let’s talk about Shiver soon since most of you have read that and we’ll go from there! We talked about a fabulous and fun Highlander series for January by author Karen Marie  Moning, so that’s on the TO READ list as well.

Love to you all!

Blue

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