Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata

Ruby Santos knew exactly what she was getting herself into when she signed up to write a soldier overseas.

The guidelines were simple: one letter or email a week for the length of his or her deployment. Care packages were optional.

Been there, done that. She thought she knew what to expect.

What she didn’t count on was falling in love with the guy.




Lori:  This book was 50% fun and readable and 50% crap.

The book begins with Ruby emailing Aaron who doesn't respond. It takes him awhile to respond to Ruby who is rather tenacious and via written words, adorable. I would like that Ruby. When Aaron finally answers, he tells her that his girlfriend had just dumped him and he wasn't in the best place.

The emails between the two are fun and fun to read. They both have their charms and there were a few moments when I giggled and/or grinned. Very enjoyable.

Then the writing goes from emails to online messaging. Still fun to read. Still charming. 

And then Aaron's tour ends and he comes back home. And suddenly the book at the half way point goes into Ruby, first person.


Carolyn:  Yeh, that it did. 

And it all went downhill from there.  

I think we'll both agree that the second half did not live up to the first. Ruby navel gazed through pages and pages and pages and when I realized I was mostly skimming, I quit reading. Because life is too damn short.

The big hangup was they were supposed to be friends and each of them feared to take it further. Ruby was in love with Aaron; Aaron, we can assume from some of his reactions, was in love with Ruby (of course she's too damn busy navel gazing to pick up on that!! grrr!!). And I got sick and tired of it.

I wish she'd worked it around to where all of the book was epistolary (I can spell it but I can't say it, lol) and had them meet at the very end when they KNEW they loved each other.

Because I LOVE epistolary books but I HATE navel gazing!!!


Lori:  It wasn't just the navel gazing either. It was that Ruby became a suddenly unlikable character. She was afraid of everything, she picked up on nothing and she was just pathetic.

I liked Ruby. Then I didn't. And to me, that was the worst thing the book did.

I skimmed the last part too and looked at the ending to see they got their HEA. For a reader to get a HEA out of this book my suggestion would be to read half of it and then write your own. Because unfortunately the author messed it up way too much.

Carolyn and I both had to give this a DNF.

White Hot by Ilona Andrews

The Hidden Legacy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews continues as Nevada and Rogan navigate a world where magic is the norm…and their relationship burns hot

Nevada Baylor has a unique and secret skill—she knows when people are lying—and she's used that magic (along with plain, hard work) to keep her colorful and close-knit family's detective agency afloat. But her new case pits her against the shadowy forces that almost destroyed the city of Houston once before, bringing Nevada back into contact with Connor "Mad" Rogan.

Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada’s “talent.” But there’s no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice …

Lori:  I haven't been reading as much as I used to so this was a great book to kick my reading mojo in gear.

This book did great in balancing stories. There was a definite romantic storyline between Nevada and Connor, there was the mystery of who killed Nevada's client's wife and also a plot line (probably leading into the next book) with a family issue that's bound to explode.

The sexual tension between the lead characters was great. Of course I had issues with Connor's over-protective urge. There were too many times he overstepped and took away Nevada's power. Despite his accurate reasoning, it always pissed me off. Nevada's independence rests too much on Connor keeping his word, not an okay situation.

Also the one sex scene purple prosed so there was that too...


Carolyn:  

Did you see Ilona Andrew's post about the difference and progressing series http://www.ilona-andrews.com/better-books/ . What makes their series so good is that they are progressing.

And White Hot is a great example.

Here's what I like about this book (unless I think of something more):

1.  We learn more about Nevada's magic.

2.  We learn more (MUCH more!) about Rogan. (Side note: I'm rereading Nora Robert's Born in Fire and the hero's name is Rogan, although it's his first name. He's just about as alpha too, lol.)

3.  We learn more about the Baylor family history.

4.  We learn that Nevada can be honest with herself regarding her feelings for Rogan. She starts to understand him, to realize he's not just a caricature but a real human being with feelings and morals. For me, that was the best part of the book.

5.  New types of magic.

6. Cornelius. Love him, feel so bad for him, love his magic, want those ferrets!

Okay, i give - who the heck is Private Dick???


Lori:  The only Private Dick I know was years ago and I'm not supposed to talk about him...

I agree with most of what you say. I loved the family stuff and I'm actually looking forward to the next book where more of the family magic and genetics is explored. I think Nevada's ........



Spoiler Alert 





..... sudden awareness that not only is she a Prime (a magical person with greater power) but also her siblings are too. That should bring some real drama to the story line.



END




I also think Cornelius was a great character and I'm glad he's going to be involved further in Nevada's life. Who ever knew that any author could make ferrets fun.

I'd give the book a solid 4 out of 5 stars with my only caveats being that my feminist rage burned at Nevada losing so much of her autonomy so quickly and the sex scene was too purply for me to enjoy (her aching core.... I always think of apples and they aren't sexy).

So wrap this baby up Carol.


Carolyn:  To put the awesomeness of this book into some kind of perspective, there are 491 reviews of it on Amazon at this writing and the score is a solid 5 stars. Don't see that happen too often, but this book deserves it.

I did do a double take on some of the phrasology in the single love scene, but that's why eyes have the ability to skim, lol. I much prefered the long, slow burn between Nevada and Connor. (I can call him Connor now because I know him so much better. Hee.) And OMG, he does need Nevada. She'll be his salvation, mark my words. I don't think he's had anyone love him before.

Cornelius brought tears to my eyes. I love this character and I love his magic. I loved that he took his revenge without any bleeding heart nonsense; he deserved it and the villain deserved the punishment.

Like you, I'm so looking forward to the final book in this trilogy and I'm praying that the publisher will offer them a new contract for more books in this world. But if that doesn't happen, there have been hints of self publishing.in the air.  :-)

I can't recommend this series enough and it's a trilogy, y'all, in this day of multiple book series.  It's also at MMP prices.  Can't say better than that.

Working Out the Kinks

I'm perving over a 21 year old. It's true. I'm almost embarrassed about it but then again, this boy is super hot.

Mollie and I are watching a Korean K-Pop competition show, Produce 101. Mollie has her 3 or 4 crushes on the show and I have my one crush. Mollie laughs at me but likes to remind me that it's completely legal to get nasty with a 21 year old.

Sheesh.

But... I love this feeling. I like the little frisson of excitement when seeing him. I like the fantasies, dirty and not as dirty, that he inspires. I like that the fantasies make me want to write them out.

Carolyn is teasing me because a week or two ago, I was telling her that I'm done writing. I have no creativity, no desire to write. Now I want to write because this beautiful boy is so inspiring.

(Notice I'm not posting a picture or giving a name. Ha. I might be a perv but I'm not an obvious one.)

Watch this space. There might be an erotic romance announcement.

Half Gone, Half to Come

Welcome to June sweethearts.

Thank you Willa and all who are so understanding of trying to survive in the age of Trump. I think many of us are going to be living in a state of anxiety until this is all over. However, I'm done with being polite about it. You want to support this government and say so, I'll explain to your traitorous ass why you're the reason America isn't great currently and if need be, I'll grab your dick and give it a squeeze for emphasis.

After all, pussies and dicks are up for grabs in Donald Trump's America.

Things worth noting this month:

I dropped out of the 200s. I knew I'd do it in June, just didn't expect to do it on June 2. But I'll take it. And more, please.

Went shopping with Mollie yesterday. We were at Old Navy and for the first time ever I tried on some clothes. They all fit but I didn't love them enough to buy. However, I did buy some workout clothes at Sears that were 75% off and XL. And they fit too.

We went to the craft store in Hilo and oh my...

Lea...

I bought a sketch book to use as my new Bujo. I've been having a problem finding what I want because I wanted unlined pages and bigger than note size  and we checked out the sketch books and they were exactly right. Under $10. 100 pages which will give me 2 months of journal with all the extras I want.

Cover was the only negative because it was ugly so I covered it in Washi tape and voila! insta-love.

Self Care

I don't know how to do this. How do you wake up every morning wondering if today's the day that our president is going to blow up the world? How do you go to work, plan your child's future, plan next week's goddamned menu when you keep waiting for the world to end?

Everywhere I look people say that you have to take care of yourself. But how indulgent is it to take your eyes off the stage when the next act might be the last?

I'm trying. I really am. I collect recipes, I work on my Pinterest boards, I'm working on saving money to send Mollie to Japan. Maybe we'll all live. Maybe the man in orange won't destroy us. He might just destroy our democracy.

How are people doing this?

Happy Sunday

What a crazy week. It feels like everything is just so topsy turvy right now. It's hard to make sense of this world with Donald Trump destroying our country, with children becoming the new soft targets for terrorism, with racist white men becoming the new norm as they harass and murder.

I feel so isolated. I'm living with two people who are still supporting this government and I'm gobsmacked for what they're willing to overlook and lie about. And if I point out their mistaken facts (Faux News sure doesn't share unbiased news) then it's all tight faces and jacked up proof that Trump is doing the right thing.

So I tell myself I need to take care of myself. I need to concentrate on my health and well being because right now it would be too easy to sink into despair. But even that becomes unsure. My weight loss is going well. I even started jogging (badly, slowly, awkwardly). But I'm doing it. I've lost 51 pounds since last December.

But... my budget is still messed up and I'm struggling like crazy to make sense of it. And I have to buy more groceries for myself (and now for Mollie since she's on summer vacay) and that's expensive. My car needs two tires and apparently the balance is a little off. My upcoming bonus check which I was looking forward to extra money looks like it's all going into the car.

My boss is planning a lot more weekends of work which is throwing off my schedule. And it looks like some of those weekends I'll be working the entire thing. Which also gets in the way of my dancing. And that is hard.

Okay, this is my seriously whiny post.

Good things: Finally read Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold which Carolyn has been touting for years and it was wonderful. I loved every minute of it (except the brothers all drove me crazy but that's a small thing). I was emotionally hooked in the story and that was huge.

My little town had Western Week last week. There was a Portuguese Bean Soup cook off which my SIL won. She really made a kick-ass soup and she was the winner of the golden ladle as well as on a float in the parade. Walked my ass off that day which walked me out of my two week plateau and over my 50 pound loss.

Restarted my Pinterest. Trying to use it in a way that works for me. Kind of a shopping list, dream board and recipe keeper.

Okay. Got things to do and a nap demanding to be taken.

Laters loves.

Sometimes You Get Dizzy

My week has been a mess of confusion. Serious highs, joys and some plummeting lows. I'm confused for the most part, feeling a little disoriented and unsure.

Sunday I discovered Ecstatic Dance and as I posted earlier, it was complete joy. I was able to rearrange my work schedule to attend the next one and my nephew and I are talking about going up to Hawi together to experience the dance up there.

Work sucked. I felt like everybody I worked with was dismissive of me this week and disrespectful.

I ran into someone I worked with at my old job who told me that the third person hired to replace me is now gone and they have basically had to hire three people now to do the job I used to do by myself. I'm not going to say I'm irreplaceable but damn...

Last night in conversation my brother said
1. There's no such thing as cultural appropriation.
2. Ariana Grande was not a victim in the attack at her concert because she once said she hates America so she deserves what she gets.

I've seen a lot of people on Twitter blaming A. Grande for that statement and for being inappropriately pretty/sexy and suggesting a crazy man with a bomb is somehow her fault.

Would someone tell me where the fuck these people lost their souls and maybe we can dig in the dark to try and find them?

My weight has been fluctuating between 203 and 204 for 2 weeks. I'm frustrated.

I'm reading The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman and it's breaking my heart.

Did I mention that my brother's compassion for humanity has disappeared? I love the man but I'm starting to wonder why.