VaVeros

The Return of La McAllister

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Anne McAllister’s The Return of Antonides

Importantly: There are HEAPS of spoilers! This is going to be one long, bumbling mess of a mind dump spoilers post because I can’t bear to pretend that I can contain my thoughts.

I adore Anne McAllister. I love her books and she ranks up there with Lynne Graham and Charlotte Lamb in category romance author love from me. I have spent the last 3 years going back and forth on her blog waiting and anticipating the arrival of this book and I am so glad that it was wonderful!

I love this cover. It says so much. The NY taxis with the business man back from the outback.

I love this cover. It says so much. The NY taxis with the business man back from the outback.

Crossing the line between love and hate…

Widow Holly Halloran’s fresh start is only a plane ride away. Until Lukas Antonides — the man she hates but has never been able to forget — strides arrogantly back into her life…

Lukas was her late husband’s best friend and he openly disapproved of Holly. Then one unforgettable night their acrimony ricocheted into the bedroom!  

Now the arrogant Greek is kicking the hornets’ nest again — he offers Holly a job. Holly agrees, determined not to let Lukas get beneath her surface this time. But as the tension mounts between them so too does that bubbling attraction of old…

Widowed Holly finds out that her husband Matt’s best friend Lukas is back in New York after close to twelve seemingly itinerant years. Holly’s memories of Lukas are not pleasant – from being ignored by him when she was 9 to his and Matt’s 11, the two boys often heading off to adventures without inviting her to the memory of one night when they both betrayed Matt.

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The ditty of Lyon Redmond

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Wendy the SuperLibrarian’s TBR challenge for this month is a series catch up book.

I read The Legend of Lyon Redmond by Julie Anne Long. Unlike many other readers I know, I have not read every other book in the series. I have read Between the devil and Ian Eversea (which I enjoyed) and I have also read  What I did for the duke (which was fab!). Maybe I am cheating and its not really a series catch-up in only reading 3 in the series (I own another 3 which I will get to eventually). From the first book in the series, the reader knows that Lyon Redmond has gone missing and that Olivia Eversea pines for him. Their storyline is hinted at throughout the series, thus building up the anticipation for their coming together. Perhaps due to having only read 2 books from this series, I didn’t have that long drawn out vested interest in the “missing” Lyon Redmond storyline that spanned all 11(!) books in this series. And though I was certainly interested, it is just as well I didn’t care all that much! But first, the blurb:

imageBound by centuries of bad blood, England’s two most powerful families maintain a veneer of civility…until the heir to the staggering Redmond fortune disappears, reviving rumors of an ancient curse: a Redmond and an Eversea are destined to fall disastrously in love once per generation.
An enduring legend
Rumor has it she broke Lyon Redmond’s heart. But while many a man has since wooed the dazzling Olivia Eversea, none has ever won her—which is why jaws drop when she suddenly accepts a viscount’s proposal. Now London waits with bated breath for the wedding of a decade…and wagers on the return of an heir.
An eternal love
It was instant and irresistible, forbidden…and unforgettable. And Lyon—now a driven, dangerous, infinitely devastating man—decides it’s time for a reckoning. As the day of her wedding races toward them, Lyon and Olivia will decide whether their love is a curse destined to tear their families part…or the stuff of which legends are made.

Though I have enjoyed the Pennyroyal Green series, unike Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, I did not feel compelled to buy them all in one fell swoop and then spend a month reading them in one breath. And it was particularly disappointing that this last book, the one that had been built up to deliver an explosive love story, rather than fireworks, delivers a partly spent sparkler.
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Getting Lost in LibraryLand

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I got lost getting to work yesterday. It was my first ever shift at this particular branch and even though I gave myself an hour to get there, I found myself dismally lost, rushing through the shopping mall where the library is located. I walked into 4 shops to asked staff for directions and they all were surprised and had no idea that there was a library in the mall. I asked 2 separate people sitting reading (my thought being that “hey -they read. They’ll know where the library is”) and they too were surprised and did not know of the library’s existence. At this point I was not only stressed but I was also despairing of the kind of people that go to a jam packed mall (it had airconditioning on a 38C/100.5F day). I called my colleagues who were very understanding and suggested I asked for directions to McDonalds which is right next to the library. I turned to the person walking past me, asked for where the Maccas was, and of course, they knew. Not even a few minutes later I was at work. Flustered due to the heat and my run around but also saddened by the lack of people who were even aware of the library’s existence.

I can’t really blame the people walking in the mall. For such an important institution (well, important to some of the population), libraries rarely have advertising budgets for their whole services. Most libraries do a fair job in promoting events and in marketing aspects of their services but as a whole, libraries don’t have some big blockbuster ad campaign on buses, in the media etc. How can they, if you look towards the dystopian future of libraries in England where 441 libraries have been closed in the last 5 years with another 149 earmarked for closure, I think librarians everywhere are squeamish in looking over their shoulder and spending money on services and collections that their patrons need rather than on some expensive ad campaign.

Once I found the library, my lovely colleagues told me that EVERYONE’s first shift at that branch results in a stressed out Lost episode. And then, I got to do my favourite thing – a first shift at a library explore! I have worked at this particular library network for over two years and in this time I have browsed the catalogue many times, reserving and transferring materials from this new (to me) branch many times. But, as many digital information designers will let you know, there is a keen difference in the way that we search for books on the shelves and books in a physical library.

Library Haul
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My January reading (with shallowreaderbingo shout out)

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It’s the end of the first Shallowreader Bingo month!  A Woot woot! Shout out to A Willful Woman who won this month’s bingo call – head over to her blog to see her winning entry. She won with Laughter, As You Wish, Hero/ine, MnomMnomMnom and used Red for her wildcard. If you have been playing, let us know in the comments which boxes you scored and what you read and there is a new bingo card out on Monday!

As for me, despite not getting any of bingo boxes in a row, I read several books that matched the squares. Here are my notes on them:

Food WhoreFood Whore: a novel of dining and deceit

by Jessica Tom

Bingo Squares: 7 Deadly Sins and MnomMnomMnom

Tia Monroe, a post-graduate student in New York City finds herself ghost writing food reviews for restaurant critic, Micahel Saltz. I wasn’t convinced by how she was caught up in Michael’s fraudulent behaviour, her ethics were (obviously) questionable which culminated in Tia having to reveal all her misdoings and making amends. I think I would . Overall a good read with a view of how reviews can make or break a restaurant.

 

Moone Boy: The Blunder YearsMoone Boy: The Blunder Years

by Chris O’Dowd (yes – the actor) and Nick V. Murphy

Bingo Squares: Red (errmmmm – yep, there is red on the cover)

This book was funny and weird and made me laugh. I loved the whole Imaginary Friend (IF) story and I love love loved IF Loopy Lou even though Martin (the protaganist) didn’t.  I also loved the distinctly Irish voice and culture that is woven through this book.I’m usually wary of celebrity authors but this one is an absolute treat. If you can pull off an Irish accent, it would make a particularly awesome bedtime reading story.

 

 
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MORE Lynne Graham to kick off the TBR challenge 2016

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My pleasure reading disappeared in December of last year. After posting my 2015 Favourites at the beginning of the month, though I planned on continuing reading, my physical self took a big long sigh, caught a summer virus that left me in bed for 3 weeks during which I didn’t pick up a single book. So, just like bike riding and swimming, when I reentered my reading shallows I did so with my favourite type of reading – category romance novels by the venerable Lynne Graham which luckily also matches the “We Love Shorts” theme for SuperWendy’s TBR Challenge 2016! I read Graham’s interconnecting novels The Greek Demands his Heir and The Greek Commands his Mistress, featuring the consecutive romances of two Greek half-brothers Leo and Bastien Zikos and their English rose heroines Grace Donovan and Delilah Moore.

Screen Shot 2016-01-21 at 2.41.27 PMThe Greek Demands his Heir

“Don’t be silly, Leo. Strangers don’t get married.” Leo Zikos should be celebrating securing a perfectly convenient fiancée, but it’s left him cold. Instead it’s stranger Grace Donovan’s impeccable beauty that fires his blood. So he decides to pursue one last night of freedom… But that night and the two little blue lines on the pregnancy test that follow blow Leo’s plans apart. Now he must break with his fiancée and marry Grace. She might resist marrying a man she barely knows, but Leo will claim his legacy and has all the riches and influence he needs to ensure his demands are met!

Grace Donovan, a medical student who is indebted to an uncle and aunt who gave her shelter (but not much love) from when she was eleven, has been coerced to go on a holiday to Marmaris Bay in Turkey with her spoilt cousin Jenna. She is a tagalong and once her cousin hooks up with a guy, Grace finds herself sleeping in their hotel’s foyer. After several nights of this, her cousin insists they go clubbing where she catches the eye of club owner and Greek billionaire Leo. The sparks fly, Leo (unbelievably) claims that he cannot dance but hells yes he is up for one last hook-up before he marries Marina, his betrothed. The reader meets Marina in the opening chapter and already knows that their engagement is a business agreement between two friends who have agreed that having intimate liaisons with others until they actually marry is fine. Leo, considering his hook up with Grace as a one-night stand doesn’t mention his engagement to her. The two of them get down and boogie and oooopsies! the condom they are using breaks. (In classic Lynne Graham dry delivery) Leo accuses Grace of “straining it” because…you know…her virginity was so tight the latex couldn’t take it. Continue reading →

#shallowreaderBingo

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I’m kicking off my 2016 year of reading by inviting you all to join me in a game of Shallowreader Bingo.

The rules are simple: cross the box as you read and when you get 5 in a row give out a Shallowreader Bingo call on either your blog, twitter or your favourite social media platform with a list of the items you have read. On the 29th of every month, I will put out a Bingo reminder and people can check their lists but I am happy for people to call #shallowreaderBingo whenever they like.

Note: This is a reading bingo game not only a book bingo game – I’d love to see poetry, news articles, essays, closed captions, twitter streams and, of course, books.  Participants who are already doing other challenges (like I am) should feel free to reuse their books here. I don’t want this to be a reading challenge but just a bit of fun. Be liberal with your interpretations of each category and let it be known that I turn a blind eye to cheating. You’ll find that my bingo squares are heavily skewed towards my preferred reading because that is the way I roll.

And what do you win; nothing but the sheer satisfaction of a bingo hurrah and applause and linkylinks from moi. Let me know if you are taking part and what platform you will be using and I’ll add your name to the bottom of this page.

PS A big thank you to Miss Bates for reading through my first draft and for her suggestions.

Shallowreader Bingo

Participants:

Feel free to participate without being listed. If you would like to be listed send me a message in the comments or ping me on Twitter

Miss Bates Reads Romance

Sandra Antonelli 

Willaful

Roslyn Groves

Jen Wilson

Fiona Marsden

The Zest Quest

 

 

 

Favourite Books for 2015 (and some 2016 books I look forward to reading)

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I have had another slowish reading year with only 70ish fiction and non-fiction books. Though, there are a further 50+ picture books that I have read. I imagine that the closer I get to completing my thesis, this number will get lower. If you want a more comprehensive list of books I have read this year, click on the Goodreads dooblydob in the margin. I know that there is the whole of December reading to go but I am getting in early because I will be chatting to Linda Mottram on 702 about my picks today for the last The Blurb of the year.

I don’t want to call these books “the Best” as that is such a loaded term. Yesterday, I browsed through Penguins Best of 2015 and there wasn’t a single book on their list that I had read or that I wanted to read. I ask – best for whom? Instead, I am sticking with calling this list “My favourite”. I felt a little perturbed at the Penguin list, and then at the NY Times list. For a moment it made me question my choices. Am I that out of sync with the rest of society? And then I found Pop Sugar’s Best Books for Women 2015 and I relaxed. Lots of books that I had read and lots that sits on my TBR. Funny how I needed some validation for my reading.

Now for my faves (in no particular order):

Fave graphic novel

SuperMutant Magic AcademySuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki

Not really a novel in your traditional sense, this book is a collected anthology of Tamaki’s quirky webcomic that can be best described as a mundane Hogwarts without the adventure and amped up teen angst. It is dry, disengaged with a queer sensibility where the teen witches and mutants grapple with magic, board games, crushes and teacher expectations. Tamaki also writes atmospheric graphic novels as well as running a popular tumblr. Continue reading →

Pea Green Boat reflections

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Just this past week, I was fortunate enough to attend a performance of Stewart Lee’s Pea Green Boat, not once but twice!

From the outset, I need to be clear that I am not, in any way, trying to write a theatre review here. I can barely structure a book review let alone dabble in critiquing immersive theatre. Let’s just call whatever this is that I am writing “reflections”. To add to that, I need to make a full disclosure and say that I have known Director Jim Fishwick for many years as I am friends with his mum and my son has been at school with his brother for gazonkadonks.

I loved Edward Lear’s Nonsense Songs when I was younger. They were weird and silly and enormously fun. One of the most famous, and delightful, of his poems is The Owl and The Pussy-cat which comedian Stewart Lee has appropriated into a darker, macabre tale of love and obsession whilst drifting pointlessly at sea. I love appropriated fiction. Whether it is posted up as fanfiction or fanart, whether it gets the rubber stamp of approval from publishers or production companies, there is something wonderful about a story that gets elaborated upon by many different storytellers. To add to that, every morning for this past month, I have woken up to my husband laughing at Stewart Lee youtube clips. I was already familiar with two major aspects of the theatre I was about to to take part in. In Jetpack Theatre Collective‘s reimagining of Stewart Lee’s reimagining of the Pea Green Boat, we the audience are cast afloat in a pea green boat, a real one.

Jetpack Theatre Collective's Pea Green Boat

Jetpack Theatre Collective’s Pea Green Boat

From here, the audience of three are addressed by the Owl (Hannah Cox)  who talks of her deep love for the Pussy-cat (Jim Fishwick), as inappropriate and species-challenged as their love may be. Meanwhile, the Pussy-cat sits behind us rowing across the water to meet the Turkey (Alexander Richmond) who is to marry them. Continue reading →

My current library haul

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I’m talking about my library haul with Linda Mottram on ABC702 this morning. Catch up radio will have the show on for the next 7 days (I’m on in the last 20 minutes) http://www.abc.net.au/sydney/programs/702_mornings/

My library borrowing is quite different to my book buying habits. At the library I feel at ease to borrow items that I would hesitate to expend money upon as they may be unknown authors, unknown TV shows or just unavailable. Here is my pic taken with my precision skills which my sons caption “The Veros School of Photography” – it is a family gift:

Library Haul November 2015

My own haul from last week:

3 DVDs:

Currently Watching:

The Mindy Project – I’ve been binge-watching Mindy Kaling’s 1st season with my son. She is very funny and I love her perspective.

Waiting:

  • Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing – Shakespeare retelling FTW!
  • The Thick of It – I am in the mood for some sweary Malcolm Tucker

Books:

Currently reading:

Anne Gracie’s The Spring Bride – the 3rd of a Quartet (but the first that I am reading). A young lady in georgian England who had a poverty-stricken upbringing only wants a stable and rich marriage to keep her from ever being poor again. Then she falls in love with a spy while she is betrothed to a duke. I’m early in the book but I already love it. This is also my only Australian author from my current haul. Continue reading →