• 914 and counting …

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    Finished Texas Rain by Jodi Thomas. This is the first book in her Whispering Mountain trilogy about three brothers who run a Texas ranch.

    This one is about Texas Ranger Travis McMurray, who finds himself attracted to Rainey Adams — despite the fact she steals his horse. Rainey is fleeing an arranged marriage that her cruel father set up and is afraid of taking a chance on love with Travis. But she might not even get the chance to love Travis, since some outlaws are gunning for the Texas Ranger …

    This is a historical romance set in the American west. It seems like most of the historicals are set in Regency England these days, and it was nice to read something different. Besides, I love a good western. 😎

    In some ways, this is a very sweet romance (despite a couple of steamy scenes). Travis and Rainey get to know each other through letters that they send back and forth. I thought it was a cool plot device as it moves the stories of both characters forward even though they aren’t even in the same town at that point.

    Thomas also gives her characters a real love of the land, and the McMurray brothers have an unusual backstory — their father died and they had to defend their ranch from outsiders until the oldest brother turned 18 and they could claim the land for themselves. Really, I thought that could have made a whole book in and of itself.

    There are some secondary characters who add humor to the mix, and there’s a couple of nice action scenes at the end.

    Overall, this one is comfort food for western romance fans. I’ll probably be reading the other two books. Thumbs up.

    Up next: A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 12.

  • A good day …

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    I’ve probably mentioned this before, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Food, football, and family — what could be better than all that? 😉

    I also think it’s nice to take a moment and remember everything that I have to be grateful for — my family, friends, and significant other; the fact that everyone is in pretty good health; that we all have enough food and roofs over our heads; the fact that my newspaper isn’t among the many that have folded this year which means I still have a job; that I sold a new book series …

    I could go on, but you get the idea. What are you guys grateful for this year? Share in the comments.

  • ·

    2010: The Year of Gin …

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    So I got some information about the publishing schedule for the Assassin books this week.

    The bad news? The first one isn’t coming out until February 2010. It sucks for you guys that you have to wait so long for it to come out. But publishing is a sloooow business, and it almost always takes a year minimum from the time a book is bought to it hitting store shelves.

    But the good, great, and awesome news is that all three Assassin books will be out in 2010. The first one comes out in February, the second one is slated for June, and the third one will be out in October. I’m excited about this for a couple of reasons:

    1) Waiting until February will give my publisher enough time to come up with just the right cover/packaging/branding/etc. for the books. That stuff is really important.

    2) The first book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and the first three books set up the overall story arc for the rest of the series (hopefully there will be many more books), so it’s good readers won’t have to wait too long in between releases.

    3) Having three releases in a year will hopefully get some traction going for the series and sales numbers.

    4) Maybe the economy will be better by then, and people will actually be buying books again. A girl can hope anyway.

    So it’s official – 2010 will be the year of Gin Blanco. :ww:

  • 913 and counting …

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    Finished InterWorld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves.

    This is a young adult book that focuses on Joey Harker. Joey’s always had a bad sense of direction — he’s the kind of kid who can get lost in his own house. But one day, Joey steps into a mist and into another world — literally. Joey discovers that he’s a Walker, or someone who can move through various dimensions/planes/worlds. Not only that, there are other Walkers, who are all different versions of Joey from alternate worlds. Male, female, winged, big, small, mechanical. You name it, there’s a version of Joey. Or Jo or Jay or … you get the idea.

    The Walkers are engaged in an epic battle with two rival companies who are intent on conquering worlds. The Walkers’ goal is to keep the balance between the big bad company that uses magic and the one that relies on science. And since Joey is a powerful Walker, everyone wants to get their hands on him …

    I’ll be honest with you guys — this book made my head hurt. It’s basically a science fiction time/space travel book about a group of kid commandoes. Think A Wrinkle in Time crossed with The Matrix (when Walkers get captured they get boiled down to power the bad guys’ machinery). I’m not a big fan of sci-fi to start with, and the book features a lot of terms/ideas that just weren’t explained that well, like the In-Between and multi-dimensional life forms.

    The story itself is your standard fantasy genre arc — young, unremarkable boy discovers he has a great power/destiny and goes off to fight the good fight. Joey was an okay character, but I liked his soap bubble pet Hue better than I did him.

    Overall, there was just nothing in here that I haven’t seen before, and the lack of explanation bothered me. On the bright side, the book makes me want to go back and re-read A Wrinkle in Time. Still, I have to give this one a thumbs down.

    Up next: Texas Rain by Jodi Thomas.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 13.