This is the first book in a companion series to the Ice Series. It begins with the creation of the American Committee- sister to the branch set in London-- but far more independent and not under the sway of the Committee's Board of Governors. Granted, under this Board the English Committee worked in a gray area most of the time so the thought is the American Committee would be free to be...better. It probably wouldn't work like that in real life, I mean, my last police chief couldn't keep in ding-a-ling out of the company ink so I doubt a rogue mercenary group would work out...but in fiction- It's gold!
I'm not sure how else to describe the financial backing the group gets. Maybe if the Bilderberg Meeting had a secret Illuminati sub-sect that hired and controlled a group of mercenaries and sent this to fix the world's ills. I'm sure a conspiracy theory wack job would claim that this would totally happen but come on. The paperwork for the finances on that would be insane. Once, when I was vacationing near where the Bilderberg meeting was taking place my cousin (who has not talked to me in years...like twenty would be generous) wrote me a long, rambling facebook message about how I needed to stay away from them but also infiltrate and protest them. He was in his basement. In Arkansas. He also was not happy when I told him that I would one hundred percent join the meeting if invited. I bet they have great food there. So don't be my cousin the moron. I'm always down to join a secret group. Are we going to have good food? Topple the government? Will there be deviled eggs? Let me in!
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I'm thinking about getting a high frequency face device. Why? I'm vain. That's it. Plus I like skin gadgets. I might not get it. I'm on the fence. Leaning towards yes.
My friend is trying to talk me into trying banana flavored rum (for pina coladas). I don't like the texture or taste of bananas. Is that odd? This is the last book in the Ice Series (but the series sorta continues with the Fire Series that is set in America). It might be one of my favorite books in the series. I really like all the characters, the settings, the adventure and the story. Well, I had a migraine on Sunday night. I think it was a combo of weather and being dehydrated (I kept playing with my new espresso machine for drinks so that's on me). So I'm a bit later than I meant to be.
I've been taking the CGRP medication for at least a year. It's radically changed my migraines. I'm in less pain -- I even have days where there's no pain! -- but they wear off after 25 days, so I'm taking them every 27 days instead of 31. I still get the other side effects at the same level. So the pain is less (like,it'll go away with OTC pills) but the other stuff is at the same high level. So sometimes when it hits like a freight truck, I just gotta chill on the couch so I don't walk into a wall. Depth perception going wacky is a side effect for me. Guess how many times I've broken a toe? About ten. This book, I first read on my Kindle. I liked it enough to buy a physical copy and at the time (I'm still not sure if Stuart has republished this beyond the e-book availability) the copy below was available. Aren't I so lucky to get a random sticker that won't come off in the middle of the cover? Who does that? Do you see the puppets? This was kinda when I fell in love with Anne Stuart. She took a puppet backstory and made me enthralled. I've been able to read some again. I had to stop watching the news for the most part (like, the 24/7 news cycle) because it just makes me anxious. I've been working on cleaning out my house. I still have tons of stuff that I just inherited and stuff from previous moves. The goal is a house clean out since no one can see my getting rid of all the junk they gave me since we're all supposed to be in quarantine! So this past week I took out all my books to be read and re-read and moved them into one large pile.
So I can officially say that I have a book hoarding problem. I have managed to read fifteen books since the quarantine officially started. I've made a tiny dent! I've also quit the Junior League. I just couldn't suffer through another year. I think if you meet people through it where you become friends that it's probably so much fun. I met a lot of people who were okay but I didn't connect with them. The people I did connect with...quit earlier. I think I'll probably just volunteer with other places and work on finding people to jam with through other ways. I just couldn't pay for another year and then go sustainer (and pay for that). I don't have enough energy with work, migraine and the house for a group where I wasn't meshing. I picked this book up from my local indie because I thought it seemed fun, had a lovely cover and dealt with a more lighthearted plot. There's no murder in this (like my normal type of book) and it's more familial issues with a contemporary love story. I thought it was okay but had a few issues with the plot and characters. I usually don't love hyped books (this one was fits that category in my opinion) and sometimes it's hard to figure out if the book is actually good when it has the marketing push behind it. This was better than the last hyped book I read, but it was a solid three star for me (3* = okay). Well, it's still a mess out there. I'm starting my quarantine over (I had to go to the grocery store yesterday) to be on the safe side...so day one! It's still not widespread in my area but to be fair...there aren't many tests (and it takes a long time to get results back) so I suppose the information I'm receiving is from two or so weeks ago. I'm focusing on work (which has mostly collapsed) and cleaning my house. I haven't been able to sit still to watch new TV shows, although my friend has been pushing me to watch Tiger King on Netflix. Also, I still haven't seen Miss Fisher's new movie. I think I need to stop reading so much of the news, it's all anxiety-inducing for me. Reading has also been much slower, mostly because of the inability to sit still and relax. I'm in the process of reading three books, Emma (the annotated version) by Jane Austin, The Highwayman by Kerrigan Byrne (the first chapter isn't doing much for me but I have hope) and The Impersonator by Mary Miley. Maybe I can swing through those soon. I just finished Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade. I enjoy Ayoade's humor and he was promoting this on Graham Norton's show so I ordered it (from the UK) and it's adorable. Adorkable? Mostly, it's intelligently sarcastic, witty and has a grammatically correct triple apostrophe. Be still my heart. If you're trying to determine where you've seen Ayoade, he's been in several TV shows, directed some movies, written a few books, appeared on panel shows, is currently hosting a game show in the UK AND played Moss on the IT Crowd. I think because my anxiety is so high I haven't really sat down to make this week's posts. I'm all over the place on it. So, instead, I thought I would show some of the YA books I enjoyed (but passed on to teachers). I wouldn't normally go into a longer post about them but hey, maybe I should do shorter posts anyways.
I got a phone call today that three people I knew had gone to be tested for the Covid-19 virus. They've been sick for a week (more or less) but there's also a regular cold going around town as well, so hopefully it's that and not Covid-19. Some of my friends have been laid off of work as well, which sucks. It's all just super crappy. I'm taking a small break from the news. I'm normally an avid news reader but until Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx tell me it's safe, my butt is staying home. Also, I think I hurt my head from rolling my eyes so hard when Trump would talk during the pressers. Like, he adds nothing to these things and I don't know why he's there. Which is a sad thing to say about the President of the country but...truth. I've read quite a few books this year. I think I'm almost to one hundred, if not over. Annoyingly, I haven't gotten all the photos or even prepped my thoughts to write about them. I have cleared out some of my home office since I'm working here. I also installed my bidet, so that's been *refreshing*. Luckily, I've read this book a few times (Stuart is my go-to chill out author). I have the e-book, the audio book and a paperback. The audio book is narrated by Xe Sands. Sands does a lovely job and I have to note that her voice is very calming. Jilly (one of the characters) has a 'voice' in a higher range than Sands own voice but it's not unpleasant. Sands has narrated a few of Stuart's books (including the one after this).
Well...I'm working from home at the moment. I'm trying to be optimistic about this whole new lifestyle I'm committed to. It's all kinda scary to be honest. I've been checking in with my friends who live in Europe and Asia (and who have been dealing with this longer than me) so I started prepping much earlier figuring that either I'd need it or I would just fill up my hurricane box. I also ordered a bidet...because why not? Then of course, for some reason, everyone went insane and began buying toilet paper in bulk.
I think the bidet might have been the smartest thing I ever did. Amazingly, a few days after I ordered it--the company ran out of stock. Yup, America (ok, a segment of) is getting on that bidet lifestyle. I bought mine from Tushy...but I'd be careful when looking them up on social media because there's a porn company with the same name. Which I discovered when checking on shipping times. So uh...the bidet people are @lovetushy and not at tushy. As a warning. Or you know...a new interest if that's how you swing. Goodness, I didn't mean to fall off the face of the planet. I have read a bunch of books since the beginning of the year (about 75 actually). Most have been re-reads or DNFs (which I totally count because I skim through to the end). I'm not sure what I'll post about because I don't want to write 75 different reviews. Ice Storm was one of my re-reads (I think I've read it more than five times at this point).
The RWA (Romance Writers Association) fall-out is still going on. It's interesting in the sense of watching a company deal/not deal on social media or with crisis management. To be fair...I might be the only person who loves watching company's deal with social media fall-out. In the middle of all that, Flatiron Books (a publisher) began their hype tour of one of their newly published books, called American Dirt. I read the blurb and it's not my normal type of book so I didn't pay any attention (I saw one blurb about it being a new "Great American Novel" which I thought was over-reaching simply because you can't know what books will stay in the populace conscious. It's a fairly overstated marketing term for new books anyways). Then this one person who I'm super BEC about joined the conversation about the issues around the book, the release and publishing. So I tuned out....because I just can't with that person but uh...it's a good conversation to have. Back to the book... I managed to catch the most ridiculous, drawn out cold. It lasted for two weeks! I've never taken so much time off work but I did get full use out of my ridiculous adult onesie collection (I've got a shark and a panda, get jelly). I wish I could say I read a ton more books but I was so miserable I couldn't get lost in any book. I did manage to finish a few by the end of the cold, including the Tami Hoag book (Night Sin) I've been keeping in my purse. I'm not rushing to reach any reading goal as I've reached it so I don't know how many more books I'll get to before it's 2020 (!!!).
Ice Blue is a re-read for me. I have a physical copy, an e-book and the audio book. I like audio books but my mind wanders so I tend to only get the versions where I've read the book so it's not a stress. I will say the audio book narrator is really decent in this one. One of the characters is Japanese and the book before had a strong (and not sure if it was correct, it threw me when I first heard it) accent whereas this one is not strong and not verging on a trope). This is the third book I've read by Jenn Bennett. The other two being Alex, Approximately and Starry Eyes. I received Starry Eyes in an Uppercase Box and bought the other two from the bookstore. I like Bennett's books because while they're light-hearted, they're still well plotted with some serious issues. Often characters (even lead characters) are not white. They're also LGBTQ+ friendly (although not lead romances in the three I've read). YA is often times ahead of the curve with inclusion.
It's a YA fictional contemporary romance. It's set in Seattle (each of the three books mentioned above are West Coast set, which to me as an East-Coaster, is like visiting a different locale). I mean, people surf here but not like they do out West. Cold As Ice is the second book in this series. I'm kinda combining them. The Ice Series is around seven books and the Fire series is an offshoot, set in Louisiana more or less. So far there is only three books in the Fire series and I'm impatiently waiting for the rest. This book also got a new cover but as of this moment I only have the older hardback and an e-book. The cover from the hardback and the new paperback are vastly different (but it looks like an updated eBook cover).
The setting for this is the Caribbean waters, England (Wiltshire and London) and America (New York and California...I think). Three of the characters reappear in this book from the first book and one new character is introduced. You don't have to read the first book to follow along with the plot here, but it does add to the development of The Committee story line. The older paperback/e-book cover is below. The icicle motif continues, even though it doesn't quite make sense since most of the beginning action takes place in the Caribbean. Still looks cool though. So awhile back I mentioned that I thought Anne Stuart changed publishers. She got new covers for some of her re-published works and some of her back list was being digitized. That doesn't necessarily mean she got a new publisher but I was struggling to find her in my local indies for awhile.
This series of books are all romances with a reoccurring plot line where the super secret organization known as "The Committee" is involved. Normally I'm not overly into governmental spy/military agencies with no oversight from Congress (::coughblackwatercough::) because that's how you get into multiple decades of a war in which many people die and no one goes in for war crimes that probably should. I got off track. These books are not blackwater-ey. Which is good. Nor are they full of alpha-military-assholes (although they are a band of mercenaries). Also good. The main leads tend to be Anne Stuart's norm of "bad boys" and her norm of slightly frigid career women. Granted, I just read a long form associated with Ronan Farrow's book about NBC and their cover-up of Weinstein and Laurer so I think frigid career women tend to be more of a defense because of men like that. It works in my head right now. Well, I suppose the next couple of weeks will educate a bunch of people in Constitutional Law...including me. What a time to be alive (a stressful, stressful time!).
I'm also thinking about getting Invisalign. Well, I put down the payment so I'm absolutely getting it. I was the bad child who didn't wear a retainer and my teeth shifted. My bottom teeth are worse than my upper part, and you can't really even see my bottom teeth but it bothers me. I figure I might as well make myself happy (plus I've saved up for it). It was cheaper than what I budgeted by $1000 so that was exciting. It covers all my dental visits, all the retainers and any future retainers, etc. I think it's a good deal plus it set my overly-anxious mind at ease because the doctor will be checking all my teeth out as they move (every month more or less). I know other companies are cheaper and use tele-dentistry but that doesn't make me feel secure. I guess I want a dentist up in my mouth (in a professional capacity). Strangely, the only time my teeth didn't bother me was in the United Kingdom. Not that the Brits had bad teeth--although I'm aware of the stereotype--the beauty/fashion standards were different. For example, not every actor and actress on television (news, commercials, shows, etc.) had perfectly capped, white teeth. Not every CEO. Not every single model. It was really interesting seeing how I reacted to everything as well. My wardrobe, hair and makeup all changed to I fit in more. I'm back in the USA though...and my teeth really bug me again. I might finally kick my gum habit. This has nothing to do with the book. At all. I just wanted to tell anyone I'm getting Invisalign because I'm kinda excited. Right, so Famous In A Small Town is a Young Adult (YA) contemporary fiction. It deals with a group of friends in a small town named Acadia that are going into their last years of High School. The main character is named Sophie and Sophie is head of the student side of the Band Fundraising Committee. Her goal is to send the band to California for a parade/competition. This would look good on her college admissions essay (which she carefully plotted out, unlike Lori Loughlin and co.). Her big idea is to get the hometown songstress, Megan Pleasant, to come back and perform, raising money for the band. Unfortunately, Megan Pleasant has vowed to never return. This is the second book in the Burning Cove series that is written by Amanda Quick (nom de plume of Jayne Ann Krentz). I didn't continue on with buying the series (although I might get it from the library) simply because the third book doesn't quite match to the first two covers in my opinion. It is quite pretty but I think these books hover around three stars for me so I saw no need to complete my collection.
Anyways, this book is the second book in the series but they're loosely collected and can be read as stand-alone books. I think that's my favorite type of series sometimes because I don't always enjoy the massive backlog of characters who start popping up as series get longer. It's exhausting. I think Anne Stuart jumped to a different publishing house because now her backlist is being re-released in ebooks. I bought this book before then...and had to hunt it down online in order to get a physical copy. Anne Stuart tends to write romances in several genres and with different plots. I've found that I enjoy them...even if they're not my normal genre.
My favorite series from her is her Fire and Ice series because it's action-adventure/mystery/romance/international spy stuff. Her heroes tend to be bad. I've seen them listed as gamma heroes, which is a different take on the alpha/beta romance hero (not the weird incel nonsense in which they base male worthiness on a impractical 'study' on wolves). I had never heard of gamma heroes before I looked up this type of male romance counterpart--it was unlike anything I had read before. I don't always like every authors approach to them but I like Stuarts and they tend to make sense...her bad boys are villainous bad boys. Granted, in real life...I would assume these men need to be medicated. Heavily. I probably don't really need to talk about any of that because this book doesn't fit into that category at all. This book is set within the art world (painting and curation) which is such an insane, slightly unregulated world anyways. The book was written in the 1980s, so that was fun to go back to (with the note that it's a romance from the 80s...so I wasn't sure what type of asshole/Gordon Gekko type male romance interest would show up). I don't know if the ebook is different, sometimes with re-releases things change. I have only read the print version below. This book is by Amanda Quick, which is a nom de plume for Jayne Ann Krentz. It's what she writes her historical romances under. Krentz/Quick has written a donkey load of books (like 50+) and this was my first one. I think. She looked familiar on the back cover but she also has the same 'author' hairstyle and and pose as a lot of other authors. This book is a retelling of the movie You've Got Mail, which is also a retelling of The Shop Around the Corner and Parfumerie . It's the first Jenn Bennett book I've read (although I received one of her books in a book subscription) and I bought it at a bookstore because the cover is cute.
Overall, I thought it was cute and light. I have it rated 4 stars although there were some things that annoyed me (the same things that annoyed Emma actually). 7/15/2019 Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare; Manga Shakespeare edition, illustrated by Emma VieceliRead NowI am always down for modern adaptions and different interpretations of the classics, especially if they use transmediation. Movies like "10 Things I Hate About You" (The Taming of the Shrew) down to a modern vlog of the "Lizzie Bennet Diaries" (Pride and Prejudice).
This version takes a sideways step into graphic novels/manga in order to tell the story. The words are straight Shakespeare but the illustrations and layout move the story along like a visual play would. I'm sure there are people who prefer the original in all things but I think this would overlook the fact that things like this offer a gateway into intimidating literature. Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's comedies and was probably written in 1598 or 1599. The option below does cut some of the play to work into the graphic format, but it's not super obvious to me. I bought this book myself because I actually like Northanger Abbey more than any other Jane Austen works. Don't tell...
Val McDermid's version of Northanger Abbey is part of the Austen Project, a re-imagining of Jane Austen's work. They have four books out at the moment, I've read this one and Eligible, the Pride and Prejudice reworking. I enjoyed this one more than Eligible but it was because I couldn't get into Curtis Sittenfeld's writing although I did enjoy her taking Pride and Prejudice to Cincinnati. I was also excited to read something by McDermid, a Scottish crime/mystery writer who's written a book series I've enjoyed that features Dr. Tony Hill. Isn't this cover beautiful?! I received it in an Uppercase box (from October 2017) so obviously I'm really behind on all my YA books but I've been going through them fairly steadily this year because they're usually lovely breather books between the dark murder-y stuff.
The cover is by an artist named Charlie Bowater. As an aside, Rogerson's new book (Sorcery of Thorns) was this month's Uppercase Box book. |
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