New Year's Eve

The celebration of the New Year is a very old tradition going back to ancient Babylon, about 4000 years ago. Then it was celebrated after the Spring Equinox.

The several changes in the calendar made by the Romans altered the first day of the year to Jan 1st.

Then the Catholic Church determined that it was a pagan celebration and forbade it.

So the tradition like we have today is "only" about 400 years old.

Some people believe that what you do during the first day of the year will influence all the other days. Also what you eat can be a sign of prosperity and good fortune. I'm not really sure I believe it but there are 2 things I do for good luck. I eat 12 raisins at midnight and I always buy new blue underwear to wear on Jan 1st.

Wether you believe this or not I wish you a very Happy New Year!

Miracle and Other Christmas Stories - Connie Willis

This book was recommended to me by T. I was a bit worried about trying it because I haven't been very fond of fantasy lately. However it had a Christmas theme and I decided to follow her advice and start it. It was the best thing I did because I really enjoyed it.
I had never heard of Connie Willis but after browsing the WWW I discovered she is very well known in the Sci Fi community.

This is an anthology including 8 stories with a Christmas theme. I must say I also really enjoyed reading the introduction in which the author tells us what she likes about Christmas, it's nearly everything!

MIRACLE
This was is actually a romantic story about how sometimes what you really want is right in front of you and it's not what you thought it was. There's much discussion about 2 christmas movies: Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life. I think I'll have to watch both and compare but according to Willis the first is the better one.

INN
This story has a time travel twist as Mary and Joseph get lost in the wrong century on the way to Bethlehem. It's a moving story as they are portrayed as a very young couple, not able to communicate, and lost in a foreign world.

IN COPPELIOUS'S TOY SHOP
This was one of the stories I liked less. The main character was really unpleasant and never changed during the course of the story. He is locked up in a toy story forever giving me the feel of a horror story but with no real closure.

THE PONY
Well not sure what to think of this one. Maybe if you secretly desire something for Christmas you will get it. I think I was left a bit in the air here and I really wanted to know what was in the package :-)

ADAPTATION
I liked this one and the Ghosts of Christmas having a bad time in the modern world. The main character is a divorced father whose plans to spend Christmas with is daughter are sabotaged at the last minute by his ex-wife.

CAT'S PAW
I love mysteries so this one was right up my alley as they say. I was a bit worried at first because of the monkeys behaving like humans, it seemed unnatural to me. But in the end it was a good story with an interesting final twist.

NEWSLETTER
Are people ruder and pushier at Christmas? Why does the sight of them being nice come as a susprise? Using the example of some Sci Fi movies it's the invasion of an alien species!
Whatever you do don't wear a hat! Unless you want to be nice that is :-)
This was a fun story to read as the main characters were attempting to decide wether to save the world from the aliens and make everyone rude again or if to just let it happen.

EPIPHANY
2 travellers have an epiphany and join forces with a third one on a journey of discovery.

I really liked Willis' writing, I think it was really interesting that she wrote all these stories with a common theme but they all feel so different from each other and really hold your attention.
She even leaves us with a gift. In the end she lists what she considers to be the best 12 Christmas reads and the best 12 Christmas movies!
I haven't read or seen the majority of them so I'll have to start looking for some available copies :-)
Highly recommended! Thanks T. :-)

After Christmas

I seem to be having some trouble getting back on track after Christmas. I haven't been reading because there's always so much to do, some friends to visit still, some gifts to take back to the store and of course working...

We were 11 around the table on Christmas Eve but it seems we made dinner for 30 :-)
It's not all bad because now I don't have to cook for a few days, we'll just eat leftovers. It was really nice to have my parents, my in laws and my brother's in laws celebrating Christmas together and I'm sure we'll do it again next year.

One of my favourite gifts was a sewing machine. I still haven't had the time to explore it but I hope to do it soon. Must find an easy project for starters...

Btw everyone liked my gifts especially the ones I made :-)

I leave you with a picture of Bolo Rei, it's one of the traditional desserts of the Holiday Season. It's round with a hole in the middle remembering a crown and it's said to represent the presents the 3 Wise Men offered to Baby Jesus.

Here's a recipe I found online:



1/2 C. candied citrus peel, chopped

3 T. raisins

3 T. pine nuts


1/3 C. plus 2 T. Port

2 1/2 t. active dry yeast

1/3 C. plus 2 tbsp. water

3 1/2 C. unbleached flour

1 1/2 t. salt

7 T. unsalted butter, softened

1/3 C. plus 2 tbsp. sugar

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Grated zest of 1 orange

3 eggs, beaten

1 dried fava bean or small trinket

Topping:

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp. water

10 candied cherries

2 segments candied orange peel

2 segments candied lemon peel

2 segments candied lime peel

Lump sugar, crushed, for garnish

Apricot jam, for glaze

To prepare bread:
Soak citrus peel, raisins and pine nuts in Port overnight or until plump. Sprinkle yeast into water in bowl and let stand 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve.

Mix flour and salt in large bowl. Make well in center and pour in dissolved yeast. Use wooden spoon to draw enough flour into dissolved yeast to form soft paste. Cover bowl with dish towel and let stand until "sponge" is frothy and slightly risen, about 20 minutes.

In separate bowl, beat butter with sugar and lemon and orange zests until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, and beat well after each addition. Add mixture to flour mixture and mix in flour from sides to form soft dough. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead until soft, smooth, silky and elastic, about 10 minutes. Knead in dried fruit and pine nuts until evenly distributed.

Place dough into clean bowl and cover with dish towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Punch down, then let rest 10 minutes. Shape dough into ring and place on buttered baking sheet. Wrap dried fava bean or trinket separately in wax paper. Insert tiny package into bottom of shaped dough. Cover with dish towel and set aside until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

To prepare topping:
Brush dough with egg glaze and decorate with candied fruit and crushed sugar. Bake at 350°F. 45 minutes until golden. Warm apricot jam in saucepan over low heat until melted, then brush top and sides of bread with jam. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 1 Loaf

Secret Santa

In 2 of the online groups I'm in we exchange gifts using the Secret Santa system. meaning each member knows who they are sending to but not who is sending to them.

This year I decided to post here a photo of the goodies I got :-)
Can't post the candy though as it had already been eaten by the time I took the picture...

Thank you so much to my 2 Secret Santas for their gifts!!

Christmas Day

My Christmas Tree!

Presents Made by Me - Part 3

Finally here it is the box I made for São, my sister in law. Unfortunately all the photos I've been taking have this yellowish look because I'm photographing them near a window that has a dark glass. Must find a new spot to do this...

Well have to go wrap it up now! She will be unwrapping it in just a few hours
:-)

Merry Christmas everyone!

I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas surrounded by your loved ones.

May Santa be nice and bring you all you wish for!

Chocolates and books for me please :-)

Presents Made by Me - Part 2

As promised here is a picture of the box I made as a present for my father. He sort of collects wine and so we gave him two bottles inside this box. Sort of because he likes to drink it too :-)

I used decoupage and then mosaic crakle to give it this old look. I couldn't any design with bottles that I liked so I used these grapes. After all wine is made from grapes so it's still wine related.



Although I hadn't planned it I also made a jewelry box for my brother's mother in law and a box for my sister in law for her to store her watch collection (yes she is a collector, Swatch's mainly).

I ended up using the decoupage technique in these two also but no crackle, I wanted them to look more modern.

The jewelry box I decorated with some roses, I thought it was a classic design but not too heavy.


My sister in law's box is decorated with a blond girl (because she is a blond) and it has her name written on top - São. I still have to take some pictures of that one to post here...

Also for her sister I made a little box with two drawers for her to store her necklaces, rings and whatever she feels like it. She is only 19 and I wanted something young and colourful. Green and orange were very fashionable throughout this whole year so I mixed those 2 colors and made some flowers.



I sure hope they all like their presents :-)

M-Bag arrived!!!!!

I've been waiting for an M-bag to arrive from the States and at this point I was thinking it would probably arrive after Christmas or maybe only next year. The mail man took pity on me and today showed up at my doorstep with a huge box containing the following:


Anthology: The Brides of Christmas
Anthology: Christmas Keepsakes
Anthology: A Regency Christmas (1995)
Anthology: A Regency Christmas (1998)
Anthology: A Regency Christmas III
Anthology: A Regency Christmas IV
Anthology: A Regency Christmas VI
Anthology: A Regency Christmas Feast
Anthology: Regency Christmas Magic
Anton, Shari: At Her Service
Barbour, Anne: A Pressing Engagement
Brockway, Connie: As You Desire
Bronson, Maureen: Ragtime Dawn
Conrad, Linda: Between Strangers
Dodd, Christina: Almost Like Being in Love
Donovan, Susan: Take a Chance on Me
Gellis, Roberta: The English Heiress
Gellis, Roberta: A Tapestry of Dreams
Gracie, Anne: The Perfect Rake
Grayson, Elizabeth: Moon in The Water
Hern, Candice: Her Scandalous Affair
Howard, Linda: To Die For
James, Deana: Captive Angel
Jordan, Nicole: Wicked Fantasy
Kerstan, Lynn: Celia's Grand Passion / Lucy in Disguise
Kinsale, Laura: Hidden Heart
Lawrence, Ann: Do You Believe?
Leto, Julie Elizabeth: Up to No Good
Lowell, Elizabeth: The Color of Death
MacLean, Julianne: Love According to Lily
Michaels, Kasey: The Butler Did It
Moore, Margaret: Kiss Me Again
Potter, Patricia: Rainbow
Stuart, Anne: The Devil's Waltz
Stuart, Anne: Hidden Honor

I must say that some of them I don't remember anymore why I put them on my wish list. I'm usually pretty careful choosing books because of how expensive they are, specially when ordered from abroad, and so I only put on my to buy list books that are recommend to me by someone.

What do you think? Any good ones? Any stinkers? :-)

The Art of Seduction

Stolen from Joanna's blog












Am I really this innocent? I think I'm worried...

Christmas Cards

I just love to get Christmas cards in the mail. Well to tell the truth I love to get mail, period! But at Christmas I get more mail and certainly more beautiful cards than during the rest of the year.

I also love to write cards to my friends. It seems almost old fashioned since we mostly use email and mobile phones to comunicate nowadays but I think it's a lovely tradition and some of the cards are really beautiful.
Some of my friends have already started to make their own cards. I haven't tried my hand at that yet but maybe next year I'll try to do some.

When I get them I usually put them on the mantelpiece so I can admire them during the Christmas season. In this picture you can see the ones I received this year sitting next to one of my Creche's and my Frida Kahlo portrait.

Under The Mistletoe - Mary Balogh

This book has 4 of Mary Balogh's old novellas and a new one.

In the new story, A Family Christmas, a young couple who have been married for a year and estranged for more than eleven months meet again at a family Christmas and are given the chance to start over.

The new one is A Family Christmas. This is a story about a couple already married and I usually like those. And I liked this story, it had all the good ingredients of a christmas story - a family house party, greenery gathering, snow ball fights, caroling - but the main characters were a bit cold. They do resolve their differences in the end but I wished they would have done it sooner. They were being kept apart but the heroine's mother who believes the hero, a cit, is beneath her. Grade: 4/5.

In The Star of Bethlehem a betrothal ring is first broken and then lost. It symbolizes a broken marriage, about to be ended. But along comes a child in the form of a little chimney sweep, and along comes Christmas, the time for gift-giving, and soon there is hope for both the ring and the marriage.


The Star of Bethlehem is another story about a married couple and I must say this was my least favourite. The heroine was too childish and the hero to stiff and jealous. They seemed to be screaming most of the time. Also the child being a thief didn't help, I know it's probably closer to how things really happened but since the main couple didn't really work for me to have this sad part of reality showing up annoyed me more than moved me. Grade: 3.5/5

In The Best Gift, three ill-assorted, lonely adults--an aristocrat, his niece, and a teacher hired as her chaperone--are brought together for a Christmas two of them are determined not to enjoy. But then a child is foisted upon them, and somehow the magic of the Season begins to wrap itself about all of them.

The Best Gift was a story I quite liked. I think that happened because it's mostly about the heroine and what her dreams and desires were. Some people might say that a viscount marrying an illegitimate girld would be very unlikely but for me it worked as the ultimate fairy tale. To bring happiness and love to someone who has none!
The heroine is an orphan who has lived first in an orphanage and then at a ladies school and is now a teacher. She is invited by the hero to spend the holiday season at his house to be his niece's chaperone. Grade: 4/5.

In Playing House an aristocrat and his daughter, who seem to have everything, become unwillingly involved with a young woman and her young siblings, who seem to have nothing. But as Christmas draws near, it becomes less clear which family is rich and which is impoverished.

Playing House disappointed me a bit because I felt the hero was too bitter and desilusioned. It took him a long time to see the heroine in a positive light and by the time he did I just wanted him to get over it. Poor Lilias was actually a really nice person and he just kept seeing her a scheming and mercenary woman. Grade: 3.5/5.

In No Room at the Inn an assortment of unhappy travelers are stranded by rain and mud at an inferior inn on Christmas Eve. But love finds them there after a young couple arrives just as their baby is about to be born--and are put in the stable because there are no rooms left.

I quite liked of No Room at The Inn about the miracle that the birth of a child at christmas can do for a group of total strangers who are stuck in a country inn for Christmas. Since there are so many characters in it none of the romantic stories are well developed... so I just took it as a Christmas story, not as a straight romance because then I would have wanted to know more. Grade: 4/5.

Mistletoe Kisses - Anthology

This was my latest Christmas read, an anthology by Elizabeth Rolls, Deborah Hale and Diane Gaston.

A Soldier's Tale by Elizabeth Rolls
Dominic, Viscount Alderley's family are looking to him to marry an heiress, but only his downtrodden, compassionate cousin Pippa seems able to ignore his scars….


A Winter Night's Tale by Deborah Hale

This year's festivities for Christabel and her young son will be sparse and cold--or so she thinks. When the man she'd loved and lost returns, offering her warmth, comfort and a true family Christmas, she can't resist!


A Twelfth Night Tale by Diane Gaston

One impulsive night of love changed Elizabeth's life forever. Now, ten years later, Elizabeth and Zachary meet again. Will their second Twelfth Night together see their happiness reborn?

It was my first read by Elizabeth Rolls and I really liked the story. It was simple but sweet and romantic as the two cousins fall in love. Dominic returns home from the war scarred, to find the heiress he is expected to marry waiting for him. Pippa has been living with the family almost as an unpaid companion since her dowry was lost in bad investments. She is the one he talks with the most and the only one who seems to understand him. It will take a bit of persuasion to convince her in the end though. A B read.

Deborah Hale's was my least favourite story although it wasn't bad. The heroine in this story has jilted the hero a few years before and married another. She is now a widow with a son and is completely destitute. Her salvation comes because the hero shows up at her doostep and, after she faints, takes her home to be seen by a doctor an spend the holidays. She recovers from her illness and they spend the holidays together with her son and his senile aunt and rediscover love. A C+ read.

Diane Gaston's was the most emotional story and my favourite too. The h/h met as a young couple, fell in love and shared a night of passion. After which the hero departed for the war and the heroine found herself pregnant and later lost the child.
They are both scarred by these past events when they meet again.
Elizabeth, a governess, is returning home with her pregnant charge. Zachary feels compelled to offer for her given their previous history and Elizabeth decides to accept as she feels responsible for the new mother and her baby. I really liked the way they rediscovered each other The conflict that happens at the end due to a mercenary mother and her daughter was unnecessary from my pov as I was more interested in the characters's internal conflicts. A B+ read.

Historical Fantasy

Historical Fantasy as a literary genre seems to be everywhere these days but I must say I haven't felt the urge to pick any of the authors being talked about. I wasn't really sure why but today as I was visiting Carla Nayland's blog - I'm following Marg and Kailana's Advent Blog Tour - I think I found the explanation.
It was my first time visiting Carla's blog so I decided to scroll down and see some earlier posts. One was about Historical fantasy and what she wrote made sense to me. I think what has kept me from following the several recommendations I see online regarding this genre is because my first love is historical fiction and I see historical fantasy as something that goes against what I know of history.

This has been bothering me a bit - after all everyone else seems to love it - and I was quite happy to discover that I'm not alone.

I have been staying away from straight fantasy titles also because lately I've been a bit tired of vampires, shapeshifters and the like. However T. has convinced me to try a Connie Willis Christmas story of which the only thing I know is that it is fantasy, nothing more :-). I'm looking forward to see what I will think of it...

Grave Secrets - Kathy Reichs

Since I posted about Bones I couldn't resist posting my review of Grave Secrets. It's not your typical review because I first picked it up after hearing it was better than Cornwell's series about Kay Scarpetta and I wanted to compare them. This is what came out:

I read my first Kathy Reichs yesterday, I picked up Grave Secrets.



On a summer morning in 1982, soldiers enter a Guatemalan village and massacre its women and children. Terrified of meeting a similar fate, returning relatives quickly bury their dead in makeshift graves. Today these families refer to their lost members as "the disappeared," and human rights teams are trying to find them. Dr. Temperance Brennan, international forensic anthropologist, has been asked to investigate one of the most heart-breaking cases of her career.



As she digs in the cold, damp soil, clues emerge: a hair clip, a tiny sneaker, the hip bone of a child less than two years old. Something savage happened in the highlands two decades ago, and something savage is happening today. Four girls are missing from Guatemala City, and the victims may be linked.



An American human rights investigator is murdered as Tempe listens to her screams on the phone. Will Tempe be the next victim in a web of intrigue that spans decades?



As she did in her earlier bestsellers, Reichs has woven cutting-edge science throughout the novel--from analysis of fetal bone structure to septic tank chemistry. Grave Secrets is gripping, chillingly realistic, and showcases a queen of the genre at the top of her game.



I enjoyed it, the mystery was interesting. I think I would have liked to know more about the massacre (just that alone could make a worthy plot I think) and I really couldn't stop reading till I reached the end.

Now how does she compare to Cornwell? I thought they were totally diferent! I do realise I've read 7 or 8 Scarpetta books by now and just one Brennan so it's not really the same. As in the Scarpetta book you probably "get to know" Brennan's characters throughout the series and not just from one book sp I can't really judge on character deph and development.

But there were 2 big differences to me. Scarpetta faces the real dark side, she deals with serial killers or people who are completely devoid of humanity in them. Brennan, at least in this book, deals with murders for gain or political reasons.

That brings us to the second difference, they are both first person stories and that really lets you see that Kay is a lot colder and cynical then Tempe. Kay has seen to much, she analyses the people she meets and draws conclusions, she practices a lot of introspection too and a big part of the book is devoted to her, how she deals with her work and being a female in a world of men, how we have to face obstacles and people who don't like us. She is a strong character.

I found nothing like that in Tempe who seemed a much lighter character. There are no dark feelings here, besides the investigation she has to deal with 2 love interests but there are no hidden feelings, no dark side. There are the good guys and there are the bad guys and she doesn't spend a big amount of time thinking about life and whatnot.

I say again that my conclusions may be coloured by having read just one Reichs book, problem which I plan to correct asap. But so far Kay Scarpetta is still my favourite character!

I joined a bookring for the rest of her books at Bookcrossing so I hope to read the whole series in the near future.

Bones

This year I've read one of Kathy Reichs books featuring forensic anthropologist dr. Tempe Brennan. It was Grave Secrets.

So, naturally, when I saw the commercial for a new series involving this character I was really intrigued and decided to watch it. It aired yesterday on channel 2 - the pilot and episode 1 - from what I see on the series website we are 1 season behind.

Pilot
When a badly decomposed corpse is found during the routine cleaning of a pond in Arlington National Cemetery, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth hijacks renowned forensic anthropologist (and best selling novelist) Dr Temperance Brennan, to help identify the body.

Ep. 1
An SUV driven by a Middle Eastern man explodes in front of a busy Washington DC café. Dr temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist, Angela Montenegro, her reconstruction artist and her assistant Zack Addy arrived at the scene. The middle eastern man is idenfified as Hamid Masruk and Brennan is asked to confirm the identity.
What seems odd to me is that the Temperance Brennan of this series seemed a lot more witty and energetic that the one I read about, also she seemed a lot younger than she should be. My conclusion is that the series is only inspired in the main character of the books but the stories shown are not based in them.

She cames across as some sort of genious immediately drawing conclusions from the bones when in the book she comes acress more like a medical expert and a researcher. In the series she is more like an action woman and less like a scientist. I guess that works better on TV where you need to have something happening all the time.
In the end, and although I enjoyed watching these 2 episodes, I think I liked the book more. I have yet to read the others besides Grave Secrets but they are on my list...

Christmas Ornaments

I really like Christmas ornaments and whenever there's a christmas exchange at the groups I belong to I always try to send some. I moved into my appartment about 4 years ago and at first I didn't have any christmas decorations nor plans to buy them since I always spent the holiday season at my mother's house. However when L. moved in with me I decided we had to have a more cozy and warm atmosphere... I have already mentioned the ornament tradition on an earlier post. Here's some pictures of the ones I have been collecting...











These were sent by my friend Susie from the HRC group 2 years ago.








These were sent by Sandy, my Secret Santa last year at HRC.









And this by Jeanette, she was my secret Santa at the ERT group



















These 2 were made by my mother :-)













And this door hanger was made by my aunt G. who is a wonderful crafter and always gives me a little something every year. This bear was a gift from last year and after Christmas I'll post about what I got this year!


The photos are not very good but I'm still learning... I'll try to take more pictures tomorrow during the day to see if the light works better.

It's a Wonderful Christmas - Edith Layton

After reading 3 anthologies I finally found a short story I loved. Edith Layton's It's a Wonderful Christmas in the anthology A Dreamspun Christmas reminded me of Dicken's A Christmas Carol.


Charming young Lady Maude has everything she's ever wanted: a husband she adores, children she treasures, good friends, good neighbors and a loving family. But the arrival of the glamorous lady who might have been her husband's former love casts a sudden doubt and clouds her Christmas. In her despair she finds herself wishing she'd never been born - and then gets to see what would have happened to her world if that were really so!

The most developed character is Maude and Layton make's us feel and believe the insecurities she has lived with all of her life. It's only when she is shown how much her existence affected so many and so much for the better that she feels whole and ready to embrace her happiness.

There's obvious similarities with the movie It's a Wonderful Life and Layton thanks Frank Capra at the end of this story for the concept.

All the other stories were Cs but I loved this one so much that I grade it an A and I'm considering keeping this anthology just because of it :-)

Christmas Crafts

Thís glass plate I made for my mother-in-law last Christmas. It was made using the decoupage technique and then painted in white and gold. It's decoupage under the plate so she can actually use it if she wants to... I really loved this poinsettia and I think it looks really good. Fortunately she loved it too :-)




The candle and it's supporter were also made with the decoupage technique and this set I sold at a crafts fair. It's been a while since I've gone to one but it was really interesting to check what the other crafters were doing. I used to go with my friend S. and when one was managing the stall the other was usually going around and checking what other things could be found...

Presents Made By Me

Some of the presents I will be giving to friends and relatives this Christmas are things made by me. I particularly like to paint wood and to use decoupage to decorate it.

For the girls I painted some wooden boxes that could be used to store their hair acessories, head bands, elastics or whatever they feel like it. I think it looks great on children's rooms to have some colour, it brightens the decoration and it makes for a much more fun atmosphere.

I'm frequently asked to paint wooden boxes or photo frames with bright colours and once I was asked to paint a wooden horse. I was really happy with the results and I'll try my hand at painting another horse one of these days.



My work in progress is also a wooden box but with 2 compartments inside so you can use it to store 2 wine bottles. It's a special request from my brother and it's going to be one of my father's Christmas's presents. I'll post the picture here when I'm done.


For next year I plan to start crafting with fabrics. Not sure what yet but I've seen lovely things online which are an inspiration. I've been practicing on my mom's sewing machine so when I'll get mine I'll be ready to start! :-)

Mistletoe and Murder - Carola Dunn

Mistletoe and Murder is the december book for the discussion at my CozyMystery group. It was my first book by this author and I had no idea what to expect. I'm new to the cozy mystery subgenre and have only tried 2 or 3 authors yet.



In December 1923, Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher yields to the demands of her mother and the needs of her writing career and brings her family to an old Cornish estate for Christmas. The estate, occupied by the poor relations of the ancestral lord, has a rich history of lore, ghost stories, and festering resentmentssome or all of which leaves them all trapped in a house with a corpse and a murderer

What I really liked about it were the characters, I liked Daisy and her modern behaviour and how it was totally at odds with her mother's ideas. The 20s must have a been an interesting decade to live in with so many things changing. I liked how all the characters were well developed and I was especially curious about Daisy and Alec's relationship. I'll just have to find the book that deals with their courtship as they are newly married in this one.

I was very interested in the family's history at first but at some point, with so many suspects to think of, that lost a bit of it's appeal and I think the story slowed down a bit. Then Daisy starts making sense of what she knows and I was really surprised by the ending. An entertaining read, I grade it a B-. Looking forward to know more about Alec and Daisy.

2006 in Retrospect

K. started this at ERTG and I couldn't resist posting my results here too:

Best Book:

this is a tough one as I gave 6 As during 2006. I'll have to divide it between Diane Gaston's The Mysterious Miss M which I loved because it was original, emotional and with believable characters and Mary Balogh's The Plummed Bonnet in which one of my pet peeves - big misunderstanding - is very well written and worked for me.

Best Discovery:

Liz Carlyle and all of her books. I can't believe I only discovered her this year, a real buried treasure.
If I had to pick one it would be The Devil to Pay but all of them are very good.

Biggest Disappointment:

I only graded 1 book with a D this year. I can't even remember what it was about which is good, I wouldn't want my head to be busy with one of these. It was an anthology called Bridal Showers and my only remark on my book log was: too silly to be true. I guess there are TSTL books too :-)

Biggest Surprise:

Disliking J R Ward's books after they were so talked about.
See Jane Score - Rachel Gibson - If I knew it was this good I would have picked it up sooner. Really funny story that captured my attention even if I know next to nothing about ice hockey.

Anne Stuart

Anne Stuart is one of my favourite authors and last week I read 2 of her series books.

BREAK THE NIGHT I started it because Rosario mentioned it on her blog and coincidentally I had just received it from a friend.

I checked Anne Stuart's site and just couldn't resist picking it up:



Break the Night (1993) was Anne’s take on Jack the Ripper for the beginning of the short-lived Silhouette Shadows line.

I pulled back on Break the Night, for the simple reason that I knew I couldn’t carry off my original thought. I wanted the hero to be the reincarnation of Jack the Ripper, and be horrified by his past life, but there was no way I could make it work. Instead, he has visions of the murder scenes from 100 years ago and is afraid he was Saucy Jack himself. The heroine is reincarnated as well, and the same drama plays out all over again in LA, where the sky turned red when it rains.

I really enjoyed it, it had a gothic atmosphere and the characters were interesting. I think you get to know the hero better than the heroine although at first it seems she will be the main character. When they first come together it's probably as much from lust as from desperation and it worked for me.

This particular hero was not as cold and remote as some of her better known ones. His inicial actions seem to endanger the heroine but he actually wants to protect her and in fact starts accompanying her everywhere to do just that... He is still very tortured which I think is a trait most Anne Stuart's heroes possess.
For me it was a B read, maybe not as complex as some of her full length but a really interesting suspense story.

THE SOLDIER AND THE BABY on the other hand did not work for me. After seeing what she wrote I'm thinking maybe the problem was that I never loved the Rambo movies:



The Soldier and the Baby (1995) Harlequin American. Was originally titled The Soldier, the Nun and the Baby. Another Rambo-romance, the soldier of fortune hero picks up a nun from a Latin American convent, along with baby who was left behind, and tries to get them to safety.

Although we are told this is also a tortured hero I never actually saw evidence of that. He wore a detached atitude as mask that annoyed me more than made me curious.
The heroine, who is going to take vows as a nun, is taking care of an orphan she helped deliver, the hero appears - sent by the baby's father's family - to take the baby to the States. The heroine pretends to be the mother so she can leave the south american jungle where they are and reach America. Of course the hero soon discovers she is not the mother. He is very arrogant, first making assumptions and then by making decisions without telling her. I can see the attraction between such different people but this kind of hero really leaves me cold... I guess I prefer them to be mysterious and maybe even subtly arrogant than bossy and demeaning while openly arrogant.
The ending has been mentioned by some readers as a typical Harlequin ending but you'll have to read it to know why :-)
A C for me because I promptly forgot it after closing the book.

Now I'm looking forward to go and check some of the other titles she mentions as OOP Gems ;-)

An Online Christmas story

The authors of Historical Romance UK will be writing a round robin Christmas story this month. It sounds like fun so I'll be checking their blog to see where it goes :-)

Christmas Reading

Yesterday I put up the christmas tree and all our decorations. Truth be told I was the last one of my neighbours to do it. The 1st of December is a holiday in Portugal so that's usually when I do this.

I love the Christmas season - not the shopping part, I shop early to avoid the crowds - but the lights, the atmosphere, how everyone is happy and merry. People are more aware of each other. I truly think there's more good will in the air and it's a pity that doesn't happen all year round.

Ever since I started reading romance and discovered there are so many books set during this season I started collecting them throughout the year to read them in December. It's just lovely to read about the regency house parties, the mistletoe tradition, the snow falling outside... Every year I think how great it would be to have a white Christmas but it never snows here... When I was growing up one of my favourite books was Dickens' A Christmas Carol, they used to show it on TV and I loved to watch.

I read both anthologies and full length but I prefer historicals to contemporaries in my Christmas reads. This year on my TBR are:

Annette Blair - A Christmas Baby
Anthology - Christmas Romance
Anthology - Gifts of The Season
Anthology - A Gift of Joy
Anthology - A Christmas Miracle
Anthology - Mistletoe Kisses
Anthology - A Dreamspun Christmas
Judith Arnold - Tis The Season
Mary Balogh - Under The Mistletoe
Carola Dunn - Mistletoe and Murder
Kate Huntington - Mistletoe Mayhem
Kathryn Shay - Beacause it's Christmas

I'm waiting for an M-Bag from the States with some of the Signet Christmas anthologies that I hope will arrive soon.

And my favourites from last year were:

Anthology - A Regncy Christmas
Anthology - A Regency Christmas II
Donna Simpson- A Matchmaker's Christmas
Mary Balogh - Christmas Belle
Mary Balogh - The Last Waltz

I'll probably reread some bits of those too. :-)

By the way, does anyone have good Christmas books to recommend?

Blogs of People Who Travel

One of the things I really like to do is to travel. I love to get to know new places, new people, new smells, sights, etc...

I haven't done as much of it lately as I would have liked due to the usual reasons - lack of time, money, opportunity...

So when I browse the world wide web I like to read blogs of people who travel. And hopefully to start posting here about my travels too ;-)
Last summer I followed Rosario's blog dedicated to her trip to Japan. Currently I'm checking Joanna's Blog where she has been writing about her vacation in Thailand and Vietnam.

I don't particularly like to fly so places as far away as these are at the end of my list of countries to visit - I would much prefer to be teleported like I used to watch them do in Star Trek. And L. hates it even more than I do so for the time being this is as close as I get to appreciate these different cultures.

One of my cousins - M. - loves to travel as much as I do but he also loves to fly. And I love to listen to him when he comes back from visiting some other countries. There's nothing like someone telling you about the best restaurants, the best shops, the best museums... I find it totally different from reading a guide book. I must convert him to the blogosphere...

Just hope that when Joanna comes back someone else decides to go globe trotting and blog about it!

Anyone has any travel blog to recommend? Do you usually blog during your vacations?