The Golden Darter
My Life Through Books
Middle School was a weird mix of classics and Star Wars. I was obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux to the point of the book falling apart. I also discovered that while I love Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters can go hang. As for Star Wars... I've read almost every meta-verse book that was published up until the New Order cannon. I can still go into detail and recite storylines of a few beloved books. Hence, my nerd life began.
High school was very paranormal, vampire, scifi, etc. I would literally go online and search for book series that concerned vampires and read everything on the list. We are talking Anita Blake, Charline Harris, Anne Rice, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Tanya Huff, Steven King, etc. This was before they sparkled, ya'll. Early college was philosophical and political theory for school, and mainstream fiction in my personal time. Wicked, Life of Pi, Memoirs of a Geisha. These are the 3 books that pushed me into my next phase, mostly because of how ambiguous I felt about them, and their questionable endings.
Late-mid college I was introduced to LaVyrle Spencer by way of Hummingbird courtesy of a gripe session with my Mom about how depressing the books I had been reading lately were. I've never looked back and have been hooked on the romance genre ever since. I've read and loved a ton of LaVyrle Spencer (who is a little hit and miss), Judith McNaught (of the rapetastic 80s era of romance), and Georgette Heyer (who writes in the vein of Austen). More recently I've discovered the joys of contemporary authors like Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
Lately I've been trying to read more non-fiction. I really do enjoy learning about subjects that interest me, but non-fiction can feel like work sometimes. So I fall back to romance. You just can't go wrong with knowing that there will almost always be a happy ending.
Currently reading
Lords, Ladies, Butlers and Maids
Well, this one definitely delivers on what the blurb offers. Overall, this was a pretty good collection of stories, meaning that there were more that I liked than I disliked.Lips Like Heaven (M/F) - The writing of this one was cute. I love when authors play with using funny and archaic euphemisms.
The Engagement Party (M/F) - I wanted this story to be part of a longer book. Really interested in what happened afterwards. Seriously, is there a book version of this story? Cause if there is, I want it. Now.
Hitting The Right Notes(M/F/F) - Less successful for me. For some reason Lily immediately came across as much younger than I think she actually was, so I was immediately off-balance and that just continued til the end.
Wanton Wagers (M/F) - Adorable! I really am a sucker for adorable couples, and I wanted to read more about Anne and John. So cute.
The Kiss (M/F) - This was the least successful story of the bunch for me. I don't like infidelity, and in the end just really did not like Sidonie. This one also ends on something of a cliffhanger. Not sure if it actually leads to more, or was just written to leave the reader guessing, but it definitely leaves you wondering what happened next.
The Lady and the Maid (F/F) - I got the idea of this one pretty early on, and it just isn't my thing so I skimmed it. Well written and seemed sweet.
The Architect (M/F, F/F, M/F/F implied) - This story seemed to want to shove too much into too short a medium. It felt like a larger story truncated to just the sexy bits. Would have been better with more character development but of course there wasn't room.
Peekaboo Lace (M/F) - Interesting until it was confusing, and then I was interested again because I wanted the confusion cleared up. Too bad I'm still confused about what exactly their relationship was and why she was running all over England with him chasing behind.
Christmas Carol (M/F) - Words not to use in sexy scenes: Chewing. Bloated. Hairy. Mauled. Thoughts I was left with at the end? Enjoy that UTI, Carol.
ARC courtesy of HarperCollins UK, Avon, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.