Judith James "Broken Wing"

This book has gotten all sorts of accolades from other reviewers, for good reason. It's lovely, well written and definitely not run of the mill (without resorting to any superhuman sexual appendages). Most of us know the premise, Sarah finds her lost brother in a brothel, but unharmed because of the direct protection of a male prostitute. She offers to take him to her home in recompense for what he did for her younger brother.

The two of them eventually fall in love, but Gabriel decides he must leave to make his fortune as a pirate. She assures him this is unnecessary but he goes anyway. Bad things happen. I'm trying to not spoil the book here, but my main beef is with this section of the book. Those of you who have still not read this book, just skip ahead to the next paragraph. After he claws his way back to civilization, couldn't he have just written her a letter? If he really thought she was better off thinking he was dead, it's pretty shitty of him to go anywhere near England in my humble opinion.

It's a sign of a very good book when I have a major beef, not with how the author characterized the main character, but with the actions of that main character, showing how real this character became for me. Liked it a lot. And to those of you following the recent posts, I did finish this a while ago, before school started this fall. :)

Historical Romance 2008: 4.5 of 5 kisses right on the lips.

ARGH

I've decided that since I'm currently unable to read anything for pleasure, I'm going to start reviewing the few things I can do in my 20 minutes before I fall asleep. No I'm not telling you about that, I play Nintendo before bed each night! Really.

But first, a bit of whining by yours truly, you've been forewarned. I am returning to school after twenty years to try to become a high school history teacher. Whatever you think about the goal, most of us have experienced the process, college. I'm just not sure why the first time around I completely lacked anxiety about the process. Oh, I wished I was doing better and needed a little freak-out adrenaline to get my papers written but pervasive term long anxiety was definitely missing for me. I knew friends who had it and I never understood it. It definitely resulted in better results for them than I was getting but overall I didn't think that A was worth it. Now I'm sooo that person. Yes, I'm doing better in class this time around but damn, it's exhausting.

Back to the regular programming, Brain Age I is a game that proports to improve brain function when used regularly. I really can't speak to that but it's fun, it's less guilt inducing for me than brainless video games and I really like the Sudoku module. But Brain Age II is lots more fun. This game gets a B- from me.

Introducing Minerva

A little belatedly, I'd like to announce that I've taken on a partner in crime. I wanted a little help keeping the posts flowing and I knew this friend was the perfect one to bring into the Bodice Ripper world. She probably begs to differ, but she's deigned to dignify my little romance review site with some - NOT romance novel -just book reviews of her own.

I'm flattered that she would join me because since she does not share the romance bug, she says she likes the site cause I'm funny. Not that I'd let just anyone join me who compliments me, I might, but she's quite brilliant herself.

If you enjoy Minerva's reviews please let her know, so we get her hooked on blogging and she keeps them coming. And Minerva, thanks for joining me!


image is Minerva painted by Elihu Vedder, 1896