NSV

An NSV in weight watchers lingo is a Non Scale Victory.

So last night the neighbors across the street had a 50th anniversary party. I only know them because they're yellers and constantly are yelling either at the dogs to stop barking or fighting with each other (quite loudly) dropping F bombs the way I used to drop my panties for good looking fellas.

Anyway, we went to their anniversary party. And I wore a top that I bought months and months ago that I realized I could wear as a dress now, it's so loose and long. NSV.

As an aside: last night as I was falling asleep the neighbors got home from their party and started yelling again and it was the perfect moment. Got to admire 50 years together and still screaming fuck-you at each other.

So in other news, I'm actively seeking other employment since my boss called me a shithead. Do not ever let me be a woman who allows abuse. I have an interview this week at my dream place of employment so Mollie and I are hitting the mall today to try and find an interview dress and shoes. To say I have nothing to wear is true. I have workout clothes and scrubs and 3 casual tops. Yikes.

Still working on outline for Carol and my new project. It's interesting to outline since this is something I haven't done before. But it's really helpful and I can already see where plot is going to need to be beefed up. In other words: Carolyn, get ready to start working...

Reading A Study in Scarlet Women, a Sherlock Holmes retelling by Sherry Thomas. Expect a joint review soon. I will say, more enjoyable than I thought but a little problematic.

Not much more else to say. Read the NYT interview with POTUS. Amazing to see how truly ignorant the man is. I would make a better president than him and there's so much I don't know. Fascinating reading though. He's a classic there's no there, there.

Love to all...

#skinnyforsanta2017

So had two bad work days. Okay, have had more like nine bad work months but the last two days were really disheartening. And with the boss calling me a shithead the previous week, I'm pretty done with this place.

But that's okay. The money there is good and we all know he pays well because he's impossible to work with. And I figured for the money I could put up with a lot. But my limit was reached with the shithead comment and then two days of disrespect with co-workers put me over the edge. I took today off to polish my resume and start applying for new jobs.

Happily I can say my resume is updated and I've already put in applications at the hospital.

However.... I got home last night in a slightly foul mood and ate chips. Stayed in my weight watchers points but damn, I ate chips and they were good. Then I scanned through the Weight Watchers chat and saw a #skinnyforsanta challenge. And I joined. So 5 months from now I want to be 170. As of this morning I'm 192 which puts me at exactly 60 pounds lost.

I'm fucking proud of myself.

Other news:
1. I cannot read Jill Shalvis. Sorry Carolyn. She just isn't a good enough writer.
2. I want to reread the Hitchhikers Guide books.
3. Mollie still hasn't gotten contacts because her eyes are too small. Second set of specialty contacts are ordered for her to try.
4. I've given up on jogging but I'm still walking. And saving my money to join the gym.
5. I've gone from wearing 4X tops to XL tops. My wardrobe is shrinking but also my new tops are really much cuter.

6. Carolyn and I are working on writing something new.

It's going to take us forever and a day but the premise is solid, the characters are interesting and I'm excited.

Love to everyone.

How To Be Good

Katie Carr is a good person…sort of. For years her husband’s been selfish, sarcastic, and underemployed. 

But now David’s changed. He’s become a good person, too—really good. He’s found a spiritual leader. He has become kind, soft-spoken, and earnest. Katie isn’t sure if this is deeply felt conversion, a brain tumor—or David’s most brilliantly vicious manipulation yet. Because she’s finding it more and more difficult to live with David—and with herself.

Have you ever read a book that enraged you? A book that had a good idea but was written with so much spite and disdain that you wanted to punch the author in the face? If you haven't, might I suggest that you try How To Be Good by Nick Hornby.

This is a well written book in the sense that Hornby can write and he has an engaging voice. But...

Every single character in this book is despicable. There's the married couple, the faith healer, two children, the man on the side and pretty much every single character in this book sucks. The main character, Katie is a doctor who is having an affair and thinking about divorcing her asshole husband. And her husband is a dick. Contemptuous, rude, just a horrible human being.

But wait. He gets touched by a faith healer (who is also a stupid character) and then becomes a nice person. Except he isn't really nice at all. He gives away money, gives away his kid's toys, is sanctimonious and although he's no longer bitter and sarcastic he's still a major dick.

So do we like Katie? Fuck no. Katie is insincere, selfish, emotionally unattached from her family, her life, her children and the people she treats. She blames her husband for her straying but she's not decent enough to make choices to connect to her life or even try a little harder. Her entire life is a Katie vs the World and everyone loses.

So as selfish asswipes, the main characters suck. As good people the main characters suck. Even the kids are written that one is a kiss-ass pretender and the other is a bitter thief. Jeez. Nobody in this entire book is someone you'd want to spend 5 minutes with.

Oh, and the ending. Let's not forget the worst ending ever.

Yeah, SPOILER h 

it the book ends with Katie and David admitting basically that they're both faking it and neither feels connected to anything. There's no love, no hate, no caring. Just two soulless people sharing a life, destroying their kids and trying to pretend they're human.

These are two people that you know one day will be driving a van, picking up hitchhikers and murdering them in the basement just to feel a thrill as their victims die. And what I seriously hated about the book was the feeling that the author was being sincere. Which made me hate him too.

This book gave me a headache. Don't read it. And avoid Nick Hornby. He's the devil. ee....

Waving Goodbye to June

Well dear friends and gentle readers,

we are living through a time that will be wildly dissected by historians and mental health professionals for decades.

There's nothing I can say about our current political mess that people aren't saying better than I am. So let me say instead: anybody currently supporting the Republican party and current administration is simply the same as a good German who turned away when the Jews started getting rounded up. There's no difference.

And yes, my sibling still supports the party and administration. All I can think of it is something that someone tweeted which, I paraphrase: I can't explain to you why you should care about others.

They don't. They just don't. And they never will.

So moving away from the depressing morass of emotion... I was walking yesterday and came upon some very gross yet cool wild pig skulls (and assorted bones). There were three skulls, one still had tusks. I took 2 and brought them home and they're currently in a bucket of water bleaching the gross shit out. I plan to clean them and paint them and display them because they're so cool.

I need to decoupage one. So I need to learn decoupage.

I set a personal goal to lose 6 pounds in June and didn't think I'd make it. This morning I was down the 6 pounds exactly. Pardon me while I crow: I rock!!!

And current journal pages I love:

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.