So is everyone alive? It's been real quiet on blogland this week-end, but I guess that's because everyone's personal life is catching up + Thanksgiving. However, I do hope it comes back to normal soon. Oh and I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving :D and for non-US folks, I hope you had a nice week-end!
So guess what? Yeah, I finished my presentation! well at least the slides... now, I have to figure out what to say... and stupid as I am, I just realized that my results were the opposite of what I was expecting. Euh, really not fun!!! Anyway, I'm pretty proud of myself for the slides (I did very little powerpoint presentation)... So today, I have a practice... okay, that's not going to go well... The worst thing now is that my shoulders hurt as if there's a huge weight that sat on them, plus I'm always sighing... Another sign that I'm stressed. It's as if I need more air in my lungs and when I exhaled, it comes out as a sigh. Annoys my mom a lot :P Anyway, my torture is almost done! almost! Can't wait for it!
So, having to do my presentation didn't stop me from reading... Far from it. I finished two books over this week-end and here are the reviews:
Darcy Reed was once engaged to Cameron Pierce; however, all this is over. At least, that's what Darcy thinks... Until her uncle Horry dies. In his will, Horry leaves everything to Lucky, the 20 pounds bad-tempered cat that Darcy has given him 3 years ago, and stipulates that Darcy and Cameron have to co-habit in Shangri-La, his huge Victorian house, for a month if Darcy is to inherit the house or else, everything will be left to Uncle Edwin (who's never been part of the family). Of course, not everyone is happy, esp. Lily, Horry long-time housekeeper.
Okay, another synopsis that doesn't make sense. I think it's because my brain is tired. Basically, here is the break-down: Darcy is 26 y.o. and Cameron is 34. Cameron is ready to settle down and thought that Darcy wanted the same; however, Darcy just graduated from school and she wants to discover herself, see if she can do it on her own and stuff like that. So during an argument, Darcy blurts out that she has a 5 years career plans and only after that, will she settle down to have kids. This lead to an even bigger argument and when the next day, Darcy comes too Cameron's office to apologize, she sees him kissing his ex-gf. Of course, she blows up thing, break the engagement and moves to Pittsburg for her new job. Cameron wants to go after her, but Uncle Horry tells him to wait, that she needs space. Horry is an eccentric man and he changed his will as part of a plan to bring back Cameron and Darcy together... unfortunately, he never expected to really die. So now, he "haunts" his house and keeps Lucky company and see how all this mess is turning out.
So, so, so. Let's start with: I liked Cameron and I really wish I could meet a guy like him :P He really loves Darcy and he's making efforts to get to know her (because in Darcy's opinion, he doesn't) and he was going to make even more efforts to have a long-distance relationship once Darcy went back to Pittsburg and wait for her to be ready to settle-down. I mean, the guy is almost the dream guy... Okay, he does assume a lot of things and he's a guy, but if she talked to him instead of arguing, always jumping and taking everything as a criticism, I'm sure Darcy and Cameron could have work out something. Which brings me to Darcy. She's not bad, but she's annoying. She accuses Cameron of not listening, but she's not doing any efforts either. She says that she doesn't know herself and she needs to discover who she is... but in that case, how can you blame the guy for not knowing you? Also, I'm sure that she could have figured it out while still being engaged to Cameron. Man, I mean, they had a comfortable relationship. Anyway... I liked Uncle Horry and Lucky, Lucky was so damn sarcastic that it was funneh :D I gues this was meant to be a light comedy as the secondary characters are really exaggerated. Anyway, the story wasn't bad overall, but because I found the conflict avoidable and Darcy annoying, it did damper a bit the enjoyment. I also thought that some things were left unexplained: why was Cameron kissing his ex? Why did Uncle Horry not leave his house ever? Little details... So not a bad book, but Everything's coming up Rosie was better.
Jared is a Red-Jeweled Warlord that has become a pleasure slave. Because he has killed the Queen he was servicing, he is now sentenced to the salt mines where he will suffer and suffer and suffer. However, for some unfathomable reasons, the Gray Lady (who everyone fears) has bought him at the slave auction saving him from the salt mines... But Jared is afraid, because of the rumors he've heard. No slaves that the Gray Lady has bought have ever returned.
At the same time, Dorothea SaDiabolo wants the Gray Lady dead, because she is one of true Queen and standing in Dorothea's way. So she gives this mission to her new Master of Guard with the threat that if this mission isn't successful, he'll suffer a very very sad and bad and painful fate.
Well, well, well. This is not part of the Black Jewels trilogy; however, the story occurs in the same world. Only two characters from the Black Jewels trilogy makes an appearance tho: Dorothea (who cares about her) and Daemon! Youppi! It was kind of cool to see Daemon in this story, because by the way, the story happens before the Black Jewels. So Daemon is real suave and all. The nice thing is that you don't really get to know what Daemon is thinking, but you get to see how others see him. So that was cool. As for the story itself, well Jared and the Gray Lady were nice characters. Strong and all. It had an interesting secondary characters cast as well and I did enjoy the book :P It's in the same vain as the Black Jewels trilogy really. Basically, the Gray Lady is going back to her territory along with the slaves she bought; however, she knows that there is a certain wrongness in the group and so she is making detours and all to figure out what is the wrongness and at the same time, avoid whoever wants her dead. If you liked the Black Jewels trilogy, you'll certainly enjoy this book as well.
The only thing I'm still figuring out is what does The Invisible Ring mean really?
So I'll go back to figure what I'm going to say for my presentation :P See you all later!
