so far behind!!I

I haven't really stopped reading, but I'm not reading as much, as fast, as I did in the days before I had a full time, out of the house job. And I've let myself get so sucked into Facebook games - Mafia Wars, Diva Life, Cafe World (what am I doing??) and it's so addictive that I find myself doing that instead of reading, instead of living!

Some notable new releases and completely new to me books I've read - I'm noting them here because I don't want to forget them before I get a chance to fully blog them:

Linda Howard's Burn - Liked it a lot, 4 stars, but it wasn't quite as compelling as last year's Death Angel, which I loved.

Jo Goodman's Never Love a Lawman - really liked it a lot, maybe not in my top 20 books of all time, but she is such a master with prose. She manages to capture the moment, verbally, in a way that really puts me in the moment with the characters - her descriptions are vivid, and in touch with the time period, and the action.

Rachel Gibson's Truly, Madly Yours - this is one I have put off getting, partly because Gibson can be hit or miss with me. I spent the day today out on my balcony in the sun reading and just finished it (all in one day!) - loved, loved, loved it! Her descriptions are also good - not in the way that Goodman's are, but in an earthy, realistic way. (hmm, not that Goodman's aren't realistic, but Goodman is a word-spinner, and Gibson is more a Tell It Like It Is storyteller) It was fun, and funny - I laughed out loud several times while reading - and sexy and heart-wrenching and of course HEA. I'd go with 5 stars just because it drew me in and kept me reading.

Suzanne Enoch's trilogy - I'll have to go look up the names, but frankly I gave them all 2-stars. She's a new-to-me author, and the books weren't awful, but they just weren't that good. And they were a little too much... alike. Oh, and... she really ... uses a lot of, well... ellipses. Very annoying...

I have an iPhone that I now download Kindle books too - it's not as big as a Kindle, but hey, it's pretty fun to have a book with you in your phone! I have now read 8 Blazes on it (short, hot) - 4 pretty good, and 4 pretty mediocre. There was a 6-title special, with Lori Borrill, Tori Carrington and another author whose books I like but whose name escapes me, and those 3 were good, and they were the first 3 - which set me up for high hopes for the last 3. But I was disappointed, because the last 3 were pretty dang mediocre - overused, cliche-ridden conceits, tired plot devices and protagonists I was hoping would just go away.

I have listened to some more audio books -

Nora Roberts' Vision in White, which I believe is the first in a 4-book series about a wedding business run by 4 friends. It was good, but the narrator was only mediocre. She was better than the previous narrator I listened to... (oops, ellipsis) I stopped listening to the book where the narrator has a slight lisp - very slight, just a sibilant s sorta thing that narrators really shouldn't have. (This was Sarah Mayberry's She's Got It Bad, I think.) The story wasn't that interesting and I just gave up.

I got the latest in the Troubleshooter's from the library but for some reason couldn't get it loaded on my Sansa Clip before the 2-week library time period was over, so now I'm on the waitlist for it again. Wouldn't you know?? I just picked it up and downloaded it the first time, and should have spent more time figuring out why the Clip wouldn't take it!

I think that covers some of my reading. My books are still a mess, and I'm still on vacation hold for my PBS account, since I'm too busy playing Mafia Wars to set up my shelves and unbox the books! Maybe that will change in the next few days or weeks...?