Sarah Ponders

cause I’m just that crazy.

I created Write Away… for writing stuff.

http://writeaway.sarahponders.com

Okay… my husband looked at me rather insanely last night when I looked up from my book and exclaimed, “Barkis!”

I am currently head first in Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs - where in the second chapter - she quotes David Copperfield -’Barkis is willing.’

A few chapters later, the reader meets Barkis, a dog.

A month ago, we met Barkis, Susan’s dog.

Yes, I’m cooky.  But I enjoyed the entire Barkis thing.

Go Barkis!

Okay…

So I recently breezed through all of Jane Porter’s single titles. I recommend all of them… Frog Prince, Flirting with Forty, Odd Mom Out, and Mrs. Perfect.

I also completed the last of the Lucy Hatch series - The Return of the Stardust Cowgirl. I’m sorry to see Lucy leave… I want more.

I also read Thigh High by Christina Dodd… excellent as always.

The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne… excellent! Can’ wait for the next one.

I picked up Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas before starting my Jane Porter run. I’m currently struggling to go back and finish reading it. It just isn’t doing anything for me.

It GREATLY saddens me that the series is over! (Truly… as much as I enjoyed the series… another book would destroy it.) Yelena’s journey has come to and end…

All I have to say is… I WANT MORE!

Yes… I did finish reading the Eleanor book… very good… hehe…

Lets see if I can remember…

Can’t WAIT FOR NEXT ONE!

Don’t want it to be the last one!

FIRST IN A WILL BE A GREAT SERIES!

*SMILES*

Linda’s books make me happy.

First book that I have read by Colleen… VERY GOOD!

You really can’t read it in one sitting… just snippets of it. And well.. it really makes you think about what you are eating.

A MUST READ.

A YUMMY VAMPIRE READ.

Can’t wait for next one!

And while not a book… GO SEE AUGUST RUSH! If it is still in the theaters. Or just buy the DVD when it comes out.

*Happiness*

*Happiness*

THE EIGHT by Katherine Neville is one of my all time favorites!

And she is working on a sequel…

YEA!

I just got back from Rochester, NY, for a conference work.  I got some time to network with people… but mostly I got to read. 

I really enjoyed:

Not too crazy about… but going to at least give her another try… for reasons I will not disclose…

Julia Quinn happiness…

Interesting take on the early years of Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley…

And currently reading…

How weird is this…  I go off flipping though the channels the other night… to discover that the movie based on the book I read earlier in the week is on in 15 minutes.  I select it to record and watch in Sunday.

It was okay.  Not as good as the book I believe.  I did really like the actors that played the heroine’s teachers.  They were dead on in my opinion.  But I just felt that some of other things could have been done better.  And a couple of scenes that I would like to have seen were in it.

I have to say it… Not your mama’s historical romance!  (Great cover, too.)

From Amazon:

“The Duke of Kylemore knows her as Soraya, London’s most celebrated courtesan. Men fight duels to spend an hour in her company. And only he comes close to taming her. Flying in the face of society, he decides to make her his bride; then, she vanishes, seemingly into thin air.

Dire circumstances have forced Verity Ashton to barter her innocence and change her name for the sake of her family. But Kylemore destroys her plans for a respectable life when he discovers her safe haven. He kidnaps her, sweeping her away to his hunting lodge in Scotland, where he vows to bend her to his will.

There he seduces her anew. Verity spends night after night with him in his bed . . . and though she still dreams of escape and independence, she knows she can never flee the unexpected, unwelcome love for the proud, powerful lover who claims her both body and soul.”

Again… not your mama’s historical romance. I’m not sure my mother would like it.  Just because it is a little on the savage side since the hero does force himself upon his former mistress.

It was still a good book to me on various levels.  A woman who wants to change her life from her courtesan ways - no longer wanting to be someone’s property or mistress.  A man who wants a woman that doesn’t want him and he is trying to correct the wrongs that his mother has committed… and getting away from her control.  They both have pasts that they are trying to get away from.

Bravo, Anna.  I’m looking forward to your next book.

Meanwhile… looking for something to read… must go through suitcase again…

Confession time…

During a search for something to read yesterday, I came across Anna Campbell’s website. Anna is a very sweet Australian romance author I met at RWA National this past summer. I got her book at the conference, and it has remained in my suitcase full of books since.

I’ve been in a rut lately… and the reviews of her book made me want to read it. So I decide to dive into the suitcase when I got home to start reading it.

That was before my amazon order came in. There it was… in the box. SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson. I had been wanting to read it since I heard about it from my former writing teacher Patricia Kay. About a girl’s rough freshman year, after a terrible incident the summer before, and her growth to be able to speak about the event.

I hated high school… more so I hated junior high. The book, in first person, took me back to that time. I suggest that everyone read it. Have your teenage daughters, nieces, granddaughters, cousins, friend’s daughter read it.

I have pulled out Anna’s book this morning from the suitcase… so it sits on the bed waiting for me. I did finish The Boleyn Inheritance the other night. Still liking The Other Boleyn Girl better. Maybe it is because the first Katherine and Anne are so much more scandalous!