For whatever reason the photo option is not working right today so I can’t include book covers. It SAYS the pictures are loading, but they’re not. So anyhow, here we go with the real post. You’ll have to imagine your own book covers. LOL Let’s see, what have I read in the past week or so? In paper, I finished The Grail King by Joy Nash, due out in August. Very good book, sequel to Celtic Fire. I also finished Baby Oh Baby by Teresa Southwick last week. Cute story, but typical “Baby brings couple together” storyline, though with a faint touch of paranormal in the form of a wish made on an old lamp. In audio I finished Once a Thief by Michele Hauf (had to listen twice since I missed a lot). Thrilling action/adventure from the Silhouette Bombshell line. I think I finished Dragon Drums by Anne McCaffrey this past week also, though that may have been the week before. LOL In eBook format I finished Zodiac Series: Pisces, a duet of stories by Rae Morgan and Sherill Quinn. I love Rae Morgan’s Coven of the Wolf series, with the twin wolf hounds Igor and Boris being beloved…

I’ve not been doing very good about keeping up on this. LOL Currently I am reading Here with Me by Holly Jacobs (due out in July) in print and A Mistress for Marcos by Ellen Ashe (due out June 23) in eBook format. So far both are very good, but I have yet to go wrong with anything by either of these two authors. In audio format I am listening to Once a Thief by Michelle Hauf and Dragondrums by Anne McCaffrey. Both of these are very good so far though I keep getting distracted from OaT since I’ve been listening primarily at work. Other recent reads or listened I’ve finished this week are Beguiled by Alice Borchardt (audio abridged), Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters (audio unabridged), Captive Moon by C T Adams and Cathy Clamp (due out in August and the latest Sazi series book), The Sorcerer’s Mark by Ellen Ashe and Midnight Tryst by Ellen Ashe. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

I’ve not posted in here in ages. Too busy. So reading is somewhat slow going. My current reads are The Sorcerer’s Mark by Elen Ashe in eBook format, Captive Moon by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp (due out in August of this year and is the third book in their Sazi series) in print ARC format, Amelia Peabody 4 – Lion in the Valley in audio in the car, and Babylon Rising by Tim LaHaye and Greg Dinallo in audio at work. Other recent reads (in the past month or two) – Waiting for Odysseus by Janell Ramos, Lady of Sin by Madeline Hunter, Confessions of a Party Crasher by Holly Jacobs (due out in June), Touch the Dark by Karen Chance (due out in June), Dragonsong and Dragon Singers, books 1 and 2 in Anne McCaffrey’s Harper Hall trilogy, in audio. There were a few others in there too. I get through a LOT more audio than anything anymore, since I can listen a lot more often than I can read. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

Shanna Swendson at Borders Uptown Originally uploaded by freshfiction. ONCE UPON STILETTOS is now in stores! And it was all over the Borders in Dallas Uptown! And we were there to get our copies (reading plus contest ones) during her Sunday signing. Out on the street — they were giving away free copies of the new coffee coca cola drink but inside we were having fun chatting about Katie’s next adventure in the NYC. In ONCE UPON STILETTOS, Katie’s parents win a trip to visit her for Thanksgiving and her roommates are ecstatic — Momma cooks a mean Thanksgiving spread even if there’s a difference of opinion over the type of dressing. Plus her relationship with fellow immune, lawyer Ethan is heating up! But what happens when there’s a spy in MSI and Katie’s tasked to find the culprit? Plus. what’s with the red shoes? Sure, they’re a bargain but suddenly Katie’s living the “Sex in the City” life as Carrie! No man can resist her! Magic, skeleton gangs, and chaos ensue! Hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did! The deli scene is priceless!! And I knew those garden gnomes were up to something! Visit FreshFiction.com to learn…

Bob Mayer Presents…. Originally uploaded by freshfiction. Thursday, May 4, 2006, after 32 days on the road, the traveling show of Jenny and Bob (romance novelist Jennifer Crusie and techno-thriller writer Bob Mayer) arrived at Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kansas, to a full house. Jenny and Bob have been on a nationwide tour promoting their first collaborative effort, DON’T LOOK DOWN (St. Martin’s hardcover, 4/06). By now, both of them were exhausted and anxious to return home for a respite. However, their bantering and interaction with the attendees at the booksigning kept everyone laughing. When the final question was a request for them to read from DON’T LOOK DOWN, they were shocked. In all their appearances, they said no one had asked them to read an excerpt. After much reluctance, especially on Bob’s part, Jenny selected a section and they shared the recitation. A fun booksigning followed with Bob applying the appropriate ending – an alligator stamp at the bottom of the signature page. In July 2007, the Jenny and Bob duo will have another collaboration released — AGNES AND THE HITMAN — who knows what will happen after that. Reporters Tanzey Cutter and Suan Wilson Visit FreshFiction.com to…

Since my VPN isn’t working tonight, I won’t be checking my email at work. What better thing to do than to update ya’ll on my current reading. As I sit here in the foothills of the Rockies outside of Denver there is a sign in the grass on the other side of the parking lot that says “Beware of Snakes. Enter at your own risk.” So, that means I won’t be going on a walk to get rid of some of the Cuban food we had for dinner. Instead I will be finishing off The Barbed Rose by Gail Dayton. I picked up Gail’s first book The Compass Rose at last year’s DARA “Dreamin’ in Dallas” event. I loved the book and I have been looking forward to the sequel. I picked up the second book at this year’s event, and I have finally found time to get started on it. Nothing better than a business trip to catch up on my reading. I don’t understand those folks who sit in the airport on their laptops when you can have a book in your hands. At any rate, I am enjoying the second story of Kallista and her Godmarked family…

Hmm, you just finish a good, or adequate, or wonderful or some other descriptive adjective for a book and you turn the last page of an epilogue but wait…there are another 20 or so pages, and it’s not the usual advertisements for other books by the same author or from the same publisher, instead it’s the tease of this author’s NEXT work, usually either an intriguing prologue, or worse the first chapter of a book. NOT YET RELEASED. The writing tugs at you and implores you to keep reading, but no, they cut it off right at a hook, leaving you dangling, wanting more so desperately you’re willing to go to eBay to search out an illicit ARC just to get some relief. I’m not sure if it’s worse when you’ve just finished a good book or when you’ve finished a mediocre one, but either way it’s a mean ass tease. But wait, the ubiquitous THEY have done something WORSE — NO RELEASE DATE specified. What’s up with that? Coming soon, or spring 2007, or just in 2007. I mean, honestly, what’s the point? It’s April 2006, do they really think I’m going to remember to get this book a…

Wow! What a great night last night was. A roomfull of authors signing a ton of great books, photos, dinner before with my tea/book group(and authors) and did I mention the BOOKS! Here’s Judy and Tracey with Linda Lael Miller (check out that pink bag!) Just in case you don’t know already… DARA’s annual “Dreamin’ In Dallas” booksigning event was held in Richardson, TX last night. Proceeds from the book sale went to a women’s shelter. And, all the local and regional author members of DARA were there to sign their books, pose for a few pictures and offer kind words to aspiring authors and avid readers alike. Here’s Lori Wilde signing a copy of her latest release. It has a comic book/graphic novel hook–I can’t wait to start that one!) I managed(just barely) to keep myself from going too far over my book budget, while in the back of my mind was that “charitable proceeds” refrain to help ease the guilt. Am I ever glad Sara chose that night to unveil the new Fresh Fiction tote bags. Not only is is a lovely shade of pink, nice logo, good size, etc. but it really came in handy for all…

Hey, sorry for the delays in getting up my latest reading…but I’m at the annual conference in Austin learning all kinds of good stuff to make FreshFiction better and best (quoting one of my kiddos). So….the latest booksigning blog entry didn’t get entered BUT and I do say that with great emphasis, the photos from that awesome event in Lewisville were added to Flickr. So, long story short, you can check out the author’s lovely photos and look forward to a great blog entry when I get back from SXSW (yes, I’m at the South By South West Interactive conference with Mindy and yes, we met lots of famous, or at least famous to somebody, actors, writers, musicicans, directors, producers, designers and whatnot). Check out the DFW Texas writers who signed at the Lewisville Barnes and Noble on March 4th, in no particular order other than my faulty memory… Jodi Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of over 22 romance and historical western novels. Jodi is a two-time RITA award-winner, and a National Readers Choice recipient for the romantic suspense,“Finding Mary Blaine.” Jennifer Archer, multi-published and USA Today bestselling author of romance and women’s fiction, whose “The Me I Used…

Saturday afternoons are always busy in the Metroplex — this past one was no exception, but I, along with (K and S) managed to attend the booksigning for Shelley Bradley’s latest Berkley Sensation, Bound and Determined. It was a little different from most signings–there was CHOCOLATE CAKE!! The author, not sharing her age, is not just launching a new title but celebrating her birthday at the same time. Shelley says she likes writing contemporaries a little more than her past medievals and regencies because she can write the way she thinks instead of spending extra time trying to express, for instance, how someone would say “Bite me!” in historical time periods. When you think of it that way, it would have to be more comfortable to write in the current day. She also shared that Bound and Determined is the first book of a four part series. The next title, Strip Search (the story of Kerry’s brother), is due out in July. She also has a title coming out later this year in the Blaze line, but I apologize because I cannot remember what it will be called. Like most authors, she isn’t in control of the cover art of…