Books

Book Log #86: Flirting with Danger, by Suzanne Enoch

Note: This is a late review from my 2010 book log, posting as I’m trying to get caught up. The 2011 book log will commence once the 2010 reviews are up to date!

Flirting with Danger (Samantha Jellicoe Series #1)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Flirting With Danger is actually a re-read for me. I originally read this as a borrowed paperback, and once I found out there was a whole series involving these characters, I wanted to come back and start reading them in ebook form. I was very pleased to find that Book 1 held up nicely to a second pass through.

If you’re old enough to remember the TV show Remington Steele, this book is pretty close to what you’d get if you take Steele and Laura from that show and reverse their roles. Samantha Jellicoe is an expert jewel thief; Rick Addison is a dashing British billionaire, and Sam’s latest target. When she breaks into his house one night only to discover someone else has planted a bomb in his house–and she not only has to save Rick’s life, she also has to throw in her lot with him to find the actual would-be killer.

There’s a great deal of fun to be had here. Samantha’s nicely earthy in contrast to the suave Rick, and while the chemistry between them is often blunt, it’s never over the top for my tastes. The mystery of who’s gunning for Rick is engaging, too. Quick, light read overall. Four stars.

March 21, 2011 by
Books

Just because, yet another book roundup

I’m home sick with a cold so let’s see if I can get caught up on stuff. Here are some ebooks I’ve bought lately!

  • Goblin Tales, by Jim C. Hines. Fantasy. Short story collection featuring the goblin hero Jig Dragonslayer, self-pubbed by the author. Recommended for any fans of the Jig novels!
  • The Silent Army, by James Knapp. SF. Book 2 of his Revivors series; picked up because I just burned through Book 1 and enjoyed it quite a bit.
  • Alcestis, by Katharine Beutner. Fiction. Bought electronically since I also have a hardback copy and this is to read on the Nook.
  • Millie’s Fling, by Jill Mansell. Chick lit/romance. Picked up because it was a freebie on B&N this past weekend.

Total for the year thus far: 46.

March 21, 2011 by
Great Big Sea

Great Big Sea at the Moore in Seattle, 3/12/2011 (Part 1 of 3)

This was, hands down, the biggest GBS fan outing I’d arranged in some time. I was juggling communication about it across four different channels–Facebook, Twitter, email, and the OKP–and five, really, if you count anything off-net. (This did, I am embarrassed to admit, make me a little crazy; apologies to those to whom I got more crazy than was warranted, and much gratitude to all as I kept a whole bunch of balls in the air to get the whole shebang going!) It wound up going in three, count ’em, three different waves all across Saturday afternoon and evening.

Continue Reading

March 17, 2011 by
Faerie Blood, Short Pieces

Raising money for Japan relief efforts

Okay, folks, here’s the deal:

Like most of the rest of the world, my heart aches for what’s going on in Japan. As an American there’s not much I can do from here–but what I can do is donate my money, which I have already done. But as a writer, I can also donate what tiny profits I get from my labors. And I’d really like to do this. So here’s a few things I’m going to do.

One: I have six, count ’em, six Lightscribe CDs left over of the discs I made of Faerie Blood, with the additional free story “The Disenchanting of Princess Cerridwen”, back in the fall of last year. Same price as before ($8 to local persons, $10 if I need to mail the disc to you), but I will donate 100 percent of that price to Doctors Without Borders so that they can do what they need to do.

I have four of these left in green cases and two in yellow. First come first serve. If more than six people are interested, I will burn more copies of the same disc and offer you your choice of case color.

Two: If at least twenty people are interested, I will do a commissioned short story in the Faerie Blood universe, 8-10 thousand words, and it will star Kendis’ kitsune housemate Jake, who is Japanese-American. It will likely feature his meeting and romance of his future partner Carson.

As with the CDs, I will donate 100 percent of any money raised to Doctors Without Borders. I won’t set a hard price; let’s call this a Pay What You Think It’s Worth effort. If people would like to buy in on this, I’m going to set a deadline of letting me know to be two weeks from today, March 28th. And I will commit to delivering the story by the end of April.

If you want to work with me on either option One or option Two, I can take Paypal at my pro gmail address, angela.korrati. If you’re not Paypal-enabled, talk to me offline and we can talk about arrangements to send a check or money order and a proper receipt in exchange by snailmail.

If neither of these options appeal, I wholeheartedly encourage you to please, please, PLEASE find a charity of your choice and donate what you can to those relief efforts. And if you would, please consider spreading the word of these two offers through whatever channels you have at your disposal. Thanks all.

March 14, 2011 by
Books

Quick book roundup

Bought in print at B&N yesterday afternoon, before the awesomeness that was Great Big Sea at the Moore:

  • Never Knew Another, by J.M. McDermott. Fantasy. Bought because I thought the cover looked cool and the blurb sounded interesting.
  • The Chronoliths, by Robert Charles Wilson. SF. Bought because the cover art and blurb gave it a bit of a classic SF feel, and I’m in the mood for that.

And, bought electronically:

  • How to Flirt With a Naked Werewolf, by Molly Harper. Paranormal romance, but a lot more lighthearted than many paranormal romances I’ve read these days. What suckered me in was the very cute cover art and the overall “Northern Exposure” vibe the blurb gave the story–and in particular, the wry sentence “Even in Grundy, Alaska, it’s unusual to find a naked guy with a bear trap clamped to his ankle on your porch.” I’ve already read it and found it quite entertaining; I’ll be reading the sequel soon.
  • Jaq’s Harp, by Ella Drake. SF. Bought this novella from Carina Press in my ongoing efforts to support their SF/F line of books, and also because this one sounds like it may do interesting things with beanstalk technology as well as callbacks to “Jack and the Beanstalk”.
  • The Heart of Dog, by Doranna Durgin and others. This is an SF/F anthology of short stories organized by Doranna Durgin to raise money for her ailing beagle Connery. Bought just to support this author I quite like, and also because aww doggie. If you’d be interested in buying it too, you can get it on Smashwords here.

Tally thus far for the year: 42!

March 13, 2011 by
Great Big Sea, Photos

GBS show teaser!

The obligatory Great Big Writeup of Great Big Swoonability is on the way, but I’d like to share this one pic I got during the show. Usually my iPhone’s less than useful for taking photos in an indoor concert situation–since I inevitably wind up with blurred figures in a wash of color and light.

Sometimes, though, it winds up looking really, REALLY cool. Like this pic!

God of Music and Light

God of Music and Light

And some of you may have heard rumors of a Certain Cake. What I’ll say about that right now is that the cake was not indeed a Lie. Stay tuned for more details on that cunning plan and how it was enacted!

March 13, 2011 by