BREATHLESS

Anne Stuart did it again. The third in her House of Rohan series (BREATHLESS) was even better than the first (RUTHLESS) and I loved the first one. The second (RECKLESS) was very good, but the other two were awesome.

I love have she writes the bad guys who are the heroes. Their sexy and so redeemable. Of course, in real life I would stay miles and miles away from them.

Another Good One

Last weekend, I also read Anne Stuart's latest, RUTHLESS. Oh, my. The woman writes the best anti-heroes. The hero has a wicked sense of humor and such snappy dialogue. This book isn't for the faint of heart. If you liked the first half of THE LIBERTINE with Johnny Depp and his wicked ways, then you'll love this book. One of the best parts of Anne's book is that it ends happy-ever-after, so unlike Depp's movie.

I can't wait for the next one. Just two more weeks.

Being a Fan

I'm a fan of a good many authors. Almost all of them you're heard me mention on my blog. Just for the heck of it, I'll see if I can list those who are automatic buys for me without missing too many: Anne Stuart (Love her bad men heroes. She teeters on that dark edge so well.), Susan Elizabeth Phillips (New author to me I've been going on and on about. I never loved football before, but she's making me reconsider.), Victoria Dahl (My goodness I love her sense of humor and her books are hot! The latest hero has tattoos that just make you melt.), Jenna Black (I don't usually like demons as good guys, but hers are hard to resist.), Kresley Cole (Ditto what I said about Jenna's, plus her books are so fast pace, I have to remember to put the book down to breathe), Shannon McKenna (Hers is like crack sex and her men are so alpha male.), Debra Webb (Her single title books are my favorite. She gets on the gritty side with those and I love that.), and Christy Reece (I love spy/undercover books and she does them right).

There are others but I don't read everything they write, mainly because they write such diverse books, the stories don't alway hit the spot with me. Some of these authors I've read for more than twenty years. Maybe they've changed and I've changed and we've kind of gone our separate ways. I do still keep an eye out for their books but costs of books being what they are, I've learned to look at the story first.

Everyone Is My Friend

LOL! I couldn't help but give this post that title. Friday night I had a Margarita. Only one. That's my limit. There's a good reason I do that. I love that drink and when I get tipsy, I love everyone. Yes. I'm one of those happy-go-lucky sorts. Married or not, that can get you in trouble even if you don't do anything but flirt or talk nice to people.

Speaking of nice...Anne Stuart is as nice as I had expected. Charming, smart and witty. And as we talked during the several trips from airport to hotel to library and back to hotel, I found we had a lot of the same taste in TV shows, movies and songs. It was kind of eerie in fact.

For example, on the way to the hotel Friday night, out of the blue she started singing the words to one of my favorite songs. In fact, I blogged about the song at one time. Click here to check it out. I was so tickled that I plugged in my iPod to play her the song (proving I wasn't brown-nosing her). LOL!

She was so much fun.

I'm Your Number One Fan

This afternoon, I go to pick up Anne Stuart at the airport and I’m so tickled. I’m such a fan. Not the scary “Misery” type of fan. I don’t even own a sledgehammer.

We’re having our Romance Readers Luncheon tomorrow and Anne is the keynote speaker. She spoke at our RWA National conference in July too and she was so funny. Dry humor mixed with a little naughtiness. Just my type of humor.

Her books, especially her single titles, are edgy and the heroes are almost more bad guy than good. I find them to be interesting and, oh, so sexy. Kind of like the fascination people have for alligators (they eat their young) or owning tigers (think Siegfried & Roy). Even one of her books had the hero accused of killing his wife and children. Every clue in the book pointed to him, but knowing Ann is a romance writer was the saving grace that kept me reading. I will tell you the children were alive. After finishing it, I gave the book away. It wrung me out emotionally. Definitely a sign of a great writer.

She has another book that came out a couple months ago and I’ve been waiting until the luncheon to purchase it and have her sign it. Another reason I waited was the book’s heroine cheats on her husband with the “hero.” Since infidelity is second to child abuse in terrible scenarios, she has really pushed my buttons. But I can’t resist. It always turns out better than I expect. I may not approve of her methods, but she hasn’t failed me yet with a great read.

Well, maybe once. It was a Harlequin (can’t remember the line or title of the book), but she had the hero driving a Volkswagen Beetle. Sorry. He can drive a beat up truck or a junky sedan, but a BEETLE? That is just downright horrifying.

Yes. I know. I have my priorities all screwed up.

Oh, I'm thankful that I get to meet so many wonderful authors.