Getting ready...

So let me recap a little what is happening for those who have been out of the loop and absent from blogland.

This Saturday - June 13 - is the Canadian Blogger Meeting #2 in Ontario!! :) Woohoo!!!

This all really started 2 years ago in 2007. Basically, Ames and I were chatting and we wanted to meet and go somewhere together. Actually, I wanted to go the RWA which was held in Texas if I remember correctly, but yeah, I was lazy... didn't plan/think it out... and in the end, it was too late. So instead, I thought why not go to Toronto! Toronto is the big city in between Montreal where I live and Winnipeg where Ames lives. Also, I knew that Kristie, Cindy and Seneca were living in that area... So that was the first Canadian Bloggers Meeting: Ames, Kristie, Cindy and me :) We had great fun and seriously, it was AWESOME!!! Seneca wasn't able to join us in Toronto, but Ames and I rented a car and went to visit her :) Yep, quite adventurous we are :)

We had plans to repeat the event last year, in 2008, especially with Cindy's invitation to her pool :P Unfortunately, some things came up (read: lack of funds on my part ^_^;) and we decided to cancel...

Earlier this year (actually, I think it was around Thanksgiving... Nope, it was back in February, I think I'm confusing with another So Cal Meet Up. Ugh, these ladies are lucky, they do it a couple of times per year...) , the So Cal bloggers held a meeting, a really successful one, and they all blogged about it :P So Kristie wrote a post wanting to hold a second Canadian Bloggers Meeting, this time also open to any neighbours from the South who would be able to make it. We finally settled on a date, issue formal invitations and voilà. I am heading for London, Ontario, Wenesday morning :) Going to hang out with Kristie, then we'll make our way together to Cindy :) On Saturday, we will have the official meeting on Saturday where we will be joined by Lea and her friend. Initially, both Ames and Seneca were supposed to join us, but stuff happened and they are not anymore :( Next time though! There will be a next time!!

So there it is, the story!

So here are stuff I need(ed) to do to get ready...

- Pick up train ticket
- Buy a webcam
- Pack
- Make a list of books for the book exchange
- Clean my room (almost done... at least, it's better!)
- Buy snacks
- Buy some allergy medicine
- Charge batteries

I'm sure there is more stuff that's supposed to be on that list, but I just can't remember at the moment... Hope I'll be able to remember by tomorrow!! One more day!!

Review: The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

Monday! LOL :) Why am I so excited? Cos I only have 2 more days before I head to London, Ontario where Kristie leaves. 5 days of vacation, woohoo! I have so many things to do though, but more on that later :)

My buddy review with Li from Me and My Books of The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong is finally up at Breezing Through. Big thanks to Li who joined me :) Kelley Armstrong is one of my favorite author and if you remember, I reviewed The Summoning, the first book in this trilogy, here :) I'm glad to say that The Awakening lived up to my expectations. You'll find the review here.

Gotta get to work now :)

If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl – someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I’m as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment – not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a group of people who call themselves The Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I’m a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control: I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever.

I’m running for my life with three of my supernatural friends – a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch – and we have to find someone who can help us gain our freedom back before The Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.

Me and awards! :)

To start this post, a little confession from me...

I'm bad with awards and memes, to continue them and nominate/tag people ^_^; I drag my feet and eventually, forget them. Oh, I try, but sometimes... just not happening :( At the same time though, when I see a meme or an award around blogland, I get jealous when I don't get chosen - why them and not me? Or actually, more like, "Am I not their friend too?" Not my most endearing trait, I'm afraid :(

There's been some new awards being passed around in blogland recently... and surprise, surprise: I got not 1, not 2, but 3 awards last week! Wowzer!!! So I want to thank all the people who gave me an award and this time, you can be sure I'll pass it around!! :)


Little CJ blog award


“You have to award it to two people or I will make a voodoo doll of you and stick pins in it. Was that not clear? And if those two people do not award it to two other people, I will make voodoo dolls of them, and stick pins in them.”

Thanks the sky, Little CJ was tolerant of me and so far, I haven't felt any pains... yet. LOL, but I should hurry and pass it along, no?

Thanks to Lori and Renee for awarding me this award :) I would like to give it to

AMES and SENECA

Literary Blogger award


“The Literary Blogger Award acknowledges bloggers who energize & inspire reading by going the extra mile. These amazing bloggers make reading fun & enhance the delight of reading!”

Diane from The Book Resort created this new & very charming award.

Here are the rules:

1) Put the logo on your blog/post.
2) Nominate up to 9 blogs.
3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4) Let them know that they have been nominated by commenting on their blog.
5) Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

Renee also give me this award (here). It was really nice of her :)

So here are my nominations...

Kristie
Li

Brie & Hilcia
Leslie
Jill
Holly & Casee & Rowena

One Lovely Blog Award

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.


This one, I got from Isabel and if I could, I would give it back to you... Not because I don't want it, but because I love your blog, Izzy!! Love hearing your stories :)

Here are the people I'm going to award this prize to :) Some are relatively new to me, others are my favorites :)

Cindy
Taja
Tracy
Rosie
Kris

Monroe - I would give you this award as well, but since you're the one who gave it to Izzy... Next time! :)

So there you go :) Now, I'm off leaving comments to everyone, LOL :)

PS - Less than a week before I get to Kristie's!! :)

Review: The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley

I feel that the past three days, I've been playing catch up with blogging ^_^;

Little CJ - I know about the awards, please do not make any voodoo doll and stick needles in it! LOL :) I am going to make a post about them very soon (today if I can manage it).

In the meantime, I have a review up over at Breezing Through. This time it's The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley and the reason I bought this book, well it's none other than Kristie :) Big thank you to her for always pimping out great books :) Also, thanks to Leslie from Leslie's Psyche for accepting to be my buddy reviewer. You can find the review here.

The year is 1881. Meet the Mackenzie family--rich, powerful, dangerous, eccentric. A lady couldn't be seen with them without ruin. Rumors surround them--of tragic violence, of their mistresses, of their dark appetites, of scandals that set England and Scotland abuzz.

The youngest brother, Ian, known as the Mad Mackenzie, spent most of his young life in an asylum, and everyone agrees he is decidedly odd. He's also hard and handsome and has a penchant for Ming pottery and beautiful women.

Beth Ackerley, widow, has recently come into a fortune. She has decided that she wants no more drama in her life. She was raised in drama--an alcoholic father who drove them into the workhouse, a frail mother she had to nurse until her death, a fussy old lady she became constant companion to. No, she wants to take her money and find peace, to travel, to learn art, to sit back and fondly remember her brief but happy marriage to her late husband.

And then Ian Mackenzie decides he wants her.

Monthly Reads - May 2009

Ouf, I'm definitively paying for an extremely lazy week-end ^_^; But seriously, I think that I got bitten by a bug, the lazyus bug :P So yes, I'm behind on everything: blogging, blog-hopping, replying emails, etc. Lucky for me, today was a pretty relaxed day at work and I was able to catch up on my blog-hopping. If you sent me an email before the week-end, chances are I replied this morning. If I haven't, please let me know ^_^; (I'm really sorry!)

Let see, tomorrow is the end of my no-buying-books-for-a-month bet with Ames!! :) Seems like we both made it :) Hah to everyone who thought I wouldn't make it! LOL :) So we purposely chose a month where there were little releases - those are the most dangerous for impulse binging! I have to admit, I was really tempted last week though. The third week was the most difficult ^_^; I also saved a bit of money which won't hurt for next week's trip.

What trip are you asking? Well I know that we talked about it a little in the previous weeks, but it's official!! I'm going to see Kristie's library and Cindy's pool! LOL :) Yep, I'm heading West next week (Wednesday to Sunday) for the Canadian blogger meeting #2 (LOL, I dropped the ' and Neighboring, because unfortunately, nobody from the South could make it - next time!). This time, I'm going to have the chance to meet a new blogger, Lea! :) Anyway, getting very excited for the trip! Only 9 days away!!

All right, onto the main subject of this post, my reads for this month...

1) The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong: B+

Buddy review with Li coming to Breezing Through (end of this week or early next week).

2) Under Her Skin by Susan Mallery: C

3) The Dragon Earl by Jade Lee: C

The fact that the hero is a 'Chinese' monk was intriguing. In the end though, it didn't quite work out for me. Basically, hero's family went to China when he was about 10 years old and got slaughtered, only he survived and was raised in a temple. Years later, he comes back to London for his wedding with his intended - although nobody really believes him. He yearns to go back to China and officially become a monk, but at the same time, he's attracted to his fiancee... The story itself wasn't bad, but the plot is quite unbelievable and few things were handled wrong in my opinion.

4) The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley: B+

Buddy review with Leslie coming to Breezing Through (tomorrow).

5) The Virgin's Secret by Victoria Alexander: B-

Not much buzz on this new release of Victoria Alexander. Interesting fact is that the hero and his brothers are the descendants of the couple in The Perfect Wife that was re-released not long ago. Overall, it was okay. Story was actually interesting, but no omph.

6) Confessions of a Little Black Gown by Elizabeth Boyle: DNF

I tried really hard to get into it, but it didn't work. The main couple wasn't so bad, but all the secondary characters got on my nerves. The whole storyline about the two ladies rescuing the American Captain - please! Seriously!?! Might give this another try in the future, but I wouldn't bet on it...

7) Hard and Fast by Erin McCarthy: C+

8) He Said Yes by Patricia Waddell: B+

9) Edge of Hunger by Rhyannon Byrd: D

Saw the sequel at the bookstore and thought it might be interesting, but wanted to read the first on before... Rosie also seemed interesting in the world building. Couldn't really get into it. We're talking of Maverick - some kind of vampires (but not exactly vampires). I don't know, it just didn't grab me. I ended up skimming a lot of the book. Maybe I'm burned out on paranormals? I wouldn't be surprised. Sigh.

10) Ravenous by Sharon Ashwood: B-

Kmont reviewed this a couple month ago and it sounded interesting. Witch with limited powers has a clean-up service to pay for her college tuition. Boyfriend turns out not to be who she believed he was. Meanwhile, partner is a very yummy piece of vampire. Demon running around loose in the town and creating havoc that Witch and Partner have to stop.

Storyline was quite interesting and clever, liked the characters. World building is not bad, but few things that are unclear and confusing. Main problem though, again, not feeling the omph factor. It's a pleasant read, but not memorable.

11) With Every Breath by Lynn Kurland: C

I bought this one because Tracy reviewed Till There Was You for Book Binge and clearly, these are a series... so want to try a few books of it. This is a time-traveling series and there are many books in this series, so be warned. Basically, all the couples that this series features has one person from the past, medieval time. So in this one, what happens is that in present time, Sunshine has become the "witch" of the McLoed keep. Suddenly, Cameron McKinnon from another past centuries show up at her door and brings her back to save his brother. Cam is not very well-liked although he's the leader... and Sunshine and Cam ended up fighting for their lives. Both go back to the time portal, but ended up in different times. Sunshine is back to her own time, but Cam went to the future, but 10 years before Sunshine (or something like that), with a very severe concussion resulting in memory loss... so when Cam and Sunshine meet again, Cam doesn't recognize her. There is something very familiar, but he doesn't remember.

Overall, not bad. Very sweet, liked how Ms Kurland avoided sex scenes :P Only problem is that it's a bit too convenient - that the characters know the manners of medieval times, how to speak the language and so on ^_^; The intrigue plot was a bit over-the-top and well, lots of allusion to previous books and lots of secondary characters.

12) Lady Be Good by Susan Elizabeth Phillips: B-

Got this from the library because of Rowena and Seneca's buddy review. Not a fan of SEP, but this one is the first that I really appreciate. Liked Kenny's character - although everyone said he was lazy. He's his own man, he doesn't care what other people think or say. That's great. Emma, well that's where the problem starts. Ugh, she's a bit too naive and simple-minded to me. To avoid marriage, she decides that the best way is to ruin herself... Sure, but why the States? Couldn't you do it in England? Sometimes, it was just eye-rolling. Also, the whole misunderstanding about Pete being Kenny's son - that was just trying too hard. Like all the hint and wording used by the characters, come on. It was obvious that Ms Phillips wanted Emma and the readers to make the mistake. Not subtle at all. I liked Emma POV in the beginning though, I could swear I heard the British accent. So beginning of the book was strong, but it slipped at the end and I lost interest.

13) Kiss and Hell by Dakota Cassidy: C-

Review coming for Book Binge.

14) Till There Was You by Lynn Kurland: B

So as I mentioned before, got this because of Tracy's review. I think that the plot was tighter in this one and the story was overall more interesting. Lots of sequel baiting though and also, all the references to previous characters - it was a bit confusing.

15) True Love and Other Disasters by Rachel Gibson: C-

16) Night Whispers by Judith McNaught: B+

17) Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips: B

Got this from the library, because it's Ames favorite SEP. My favorite now too. Will most probably review it soon.

18) Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas: B-

Review to come.


So 18 books, not bad overall :) That's about the average number of books I'm reading per month. I did a tiny dent in my TBR pile and that's good news, although most of these books I bought this year or were released this year. Anyway, quite satisfied with the number read and the number reviewed. Although it seems that lately, all the books I read are missing the omph factor or are falling flat. Sigh, maybe I'm overdosing?

Re-Read Challenge: May Winner :)

LOL, I gotta say that yesterday morning, I was a bit worried because they were about 5 bloggers who seemed to have completed the challenge ^_^; but in the end, we had a very decent turn-out: 15 reviews are up! :) I'll take it, I think it's a very good number :)

Contemporary and historical romances seem to dominate the list this month, actually I think that half of the reviews were historicals and the other genres were left to pick up the crumbs :P The author of this month is Judith McNaught who got three reviews, mine included. Funny coincidence, no?

All right, so enough babbling :)

The winner this month is:

KRISTIE!!!

Congratulation Kristie!! I'll give you your prize next week when we meet :P (This was absolutely not set-up! Total coincidence, but a happy one :P)

Re-Read Challenge: May!

*This is a sticky post, please scroll down for new entry!*


So, the end of another month :) This is already the fifth entry in the challenge! Wow, time really flies!!

I hope you had fun with your re-read this month :) I sure did, it brought back some memories :) Stay tuned to find out which book it was :P

In the meantime, feel free the post up your review and don't forget to put the link the comment section to be eligible for the 10$ certificate draw :) The contest is open from May 29 (Friday) to June 1st (Monday) - noon eastern time! ;)


Isabel: Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts
Amy C: Devil in a Kilt by Sue-Ellen Welfonder
Tracy: Unleash the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Kristie: Tender Texan by Jodi Thomas
Taja: The Viscount who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
Brie: Dhampir by Barb and J.C. Hendee
Jill: A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught
Amanda: Four in Hands by Stephanie Laurens
Nath: Night Whispers by Judith McNaught
Lori: Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas
Kris: The Winston Brothers by Lori Foster
Renee: Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
Kat: Tempted All Night by Liz Carlyle --> GIVEAWAY!!!
Leslie: Atlantis Awakening by Alyssa Day
Rowena: Over the Edge by Suzanne Brockmann
Zeek: Once and Always by Judith McNaught
Ames: The Rules of Gentility by Janet Mullany
Jenn: Virgin River by Robyn Carr