Piles

by Cassondra Murray

No, I'm not talking about the disease. I'm talking about the mountains of books which surround me.


I've been reading, you see. I had a job change, and finally, after four years of having almost no time to do what I wanted, I have more time to write and...ahhhhh...to read. The reading marathon is actually what I'm doing to fill the well as I start down and dirty to work on a neglected manuscript.

My keeper shelf is sagging from the weight of having more books crammed in than should fit. The list of just-read, reading-now, and to-be-read has sprawled off of my "by the bed" bedroom shelf and is now piled up against the wall and my nightstand.


You know, the books that you just read but want to keep close because they made you feel so darn good? And then they get all mixed in with the ones waiting to be read, then when you're looking through the stack you see an old favorite, so you have to re-read it? Yeah.

It's sad really. All those books and nary a shelf to be had. Something must go. You know--I have to vacuum before the dust bunnies animate and eat the cats. I have to be able to get to the bed. I have to make room for MORE! Oh....uh...ahem...

Before the entire pile goes the way of all things, divided among "Keeper Shelf", "Pass On To Friends," and "Library Donations," I thought I'd share a few of the titles in my progressive pile. I've never done a What I'm Reading Now blog, so bear with me, as the choosing is nearly impossible. I'm bound to list way too many. I may break the blog with cover pictures. If there's only text at midnight, you'll know what happened. These are most of the books from the last three weeks. I'm hoping at the end of it you'll tell me if you've read the ones I'm reading, the ones I'm avoiding (yes there IS a category for books I'm avoiding, though not for the reason you think), about-to-read, and what you thought of them.


In order--sort of--here's the first couple of stacks in my pile.


What I've just read:


Y'all already know Kate's book is wonderful. She's the first Bandita to hit the NYT list, and she absolutely deserves that honor.

Homicide In Hardcover was a fantastic read. I've already read it twice. I loved the heroine, and I WANT MORE of the hero. Ahem (raises voice) AHEM, KATE! WE ARE GONNA GET MORE OF THE HERO IN FUTURE BOOKS AREN'T WE? Ahem. Okay....now to recover my sense of decorum.


Kate is to blame, you see, for a disturbing trend in my TBR pile. A complete deviation from my purpose--trimming the darn thing down--and she's corrupted me with a whole forgotten genre. It's romantic mysteries. I liked Kate's book so much that I went back to the shelf the following day (yes, I stayed up all night to read it) looking for more to feed the new habit. I bought two more books. And that, my friends, was the beginning of the end.


Right there on the shelf near Kate's book, in front of God and everybody, I found Madelyn Alt, and her Bewitching Mysteries.


Y'all have to read these books in order, starting with The Trouble with Magic. (No, of COURSE it's not required, but it's better that way. Trust me.) I didn't. I started with A Charmed Death, then I went back to the store and bought the entire series, and started over from the beginning . Yes, they're that good. So far my favorite is Hex Marks the Spot, but I've just picked up book four, and book five is due out in July. Circling like a buzzard I am. I immediately began stalking Madelyn and, mostly to get rid of me I'm certain, she's agreed to be our guest here in the lair when the next book comes out. Yay!

She has one of the hottest heroes in these books that I've read, ever. Subtle. Sexy. Nice in that way that could lure you in big time and make you not notice the wicked under the charm. Okay, somebody fan me now. But there are actually two guys....okay I'll shut up and move on. Y'all will like this series. I promise.

Another great read from the romantic mystery shelf is A Veiled Deception by Annette Blair.

I haven't read this whole series yet, but I'm starting on them next. Seriously Kate, you are SO on my list to smack next time I see you. You did this to me. Okay maybe I won't smack you. Maybe I'll buy you a drink instead.

All three of these authors weave a really good mystery plot, along with enough romance to keep me circling like a buzzard forever, waiting for the next installment.

Last but not least on the I-Just-Read-It pile is The Magic Knot by Helen Scott Taylor. I found
this book because Trish interviewed Helen weeks ago here in the lair. Remember, Helen was the American Title IV winner this last time. She was in the running with Trish and they were the last two. I just got around to reading this book last month.
I am so impressed with this story! This is a really good read, and Helen did a great job of creating a world and mythology--plus a hero that you can't help but love and a heroine who comes into her own in such a fulfilling way. If you haven't read this one yet, I recommend it.


Okay, ignoring all the other good reads piled up over there, I'm moving on.

Now for the TO-BE-READ stack:

Alas,I can include only a few.

Y'all know I love Susan Crandall. If you don't know her work, check out this link to the blog from last summer: http://tonymargareth.blogspot.com/search?q=Susan+Crandall

Her latest, Seeing Red, was released in February. I've read the first two pages
and I can tell you it looks like her best one yet. Nobody does small town suspense better than Susan. I got interrupted (only two pages in, thank goodness, or I'd have been homicidal) and this book is sitting next to my lamp, making faces at me, taunting me that I haven't read it yet. Grrrrrr.

If I died having written a set of books even half as good as Susan's backlist, I'd die happy and fulfilled. Anyhow, Seeing Red is at the top of the pile.



Next up is Christie's new book, Every Time We Kiss. I loved Every Night I'm Yours, so I'm excited to get to this one.

Sorry about the cover picture from Amazon. It's the only one I could find that was large enough to include.

Christie sets up such interesting, different plots. That's hard to do with the number of historical romances on the shelves. It hasn't been out long. Have y'all read it yet?

There are four in the pile that I know nothing about. Three of them came from the RWA National conference last year and are still in line to be read.

They are as follows:

Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole, This one won't leave me alone because the guy on the cover looks strikingly like Erith from Anna Campbell's Tempt The Devil. Okay, fan me again.

The other two are by Victoria Alexander. I have What A Lady Wants and A Little Bit Wicked. Have y'all read any of these?

Now for my two other categories.


Books I've been avoiding

Tempt The Devil by Anna Campbell. Yes. It's a dark truth. I'm avoiding Anna's latest. But there's a reason.

You just don't trifle with an Anna Campbell book.
It will live with me for weeks. I'll read it two or three times immediately. I won't be able to focus for a while afterward. I know this. So I've been saving it. This week, however, I'm out of class for Spring Break (I've been taking a Spanish class). I have four glorious days with no work and no class. Then I have a long weekend of long hours ahead of me next weekend, but I'm thinking this week might be the time.


What do y'all think? Should I do it? I'm serious. Do you think I can recover for the weekend? I won't be worth a darn while I'm reading, or for a good while afterward. I'll have to be certain there are groceries in the house. Such is the power of a Keeper-Shelf author, and Anna is one.



The other one is a book Anna recommended to me. It's The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss. (Picture me, ducking flying fruit.) Yes, yes, I KNOW. EVERYBODY who loves romance has read this book. It's on more keeper shelves than any classic out there. But somehow I managed to get through years of reading and writing without finding this book. Anna made me get it.


Now I have it. I read the first few pages--into the first two or three scenes on the boat, and I admit that I had to stop. I didn't have the mental stuff to keep reading right then. Even Anna's Kylemore in Claiming the Courtesan didn't have this kind of effect on me. He was dark and haunted and even mean, but the situation was a little different, ya know? And Anna gave us, always, that glimmer of guilt to make us believe Kylemore was not what he appeared. With this hero, I've seen no glimmer as yet.

I have to pick it up again, but the hero is such a jerk, and he's treating her so horribly, that I just can't do it yet. I know, I KNOW...the worse they are, the harder they fall when they're redeemed, and the better we like it when they get their comeupance. I have to do this. I know it. I'll just have to be in a good frame of mind. We're heading out of winter when it's not so gray and depressing. Perhaps.....


Last, but far from least are the re-reads.

The first is what someone in the lair recently called a comfort read. I have a keeper shelf full of them. But a couple of weeks ago I pulled out an old faithful. One I didn't have to work so hard for because I've read it before . But it's still powerful enough to give me a solid fix.


That comfort read, recently has been Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This is a forever keeper book for me. I'm not crazy about most of Susan's sports heroes, but this book, I love. I love everything about it.



The other re-read in recent weeks has been Tawny Weber's Risque Business .

I love this heroine. I love her all-too-real human-ness. I love what she learns about herself, outside and mostly, inside. I LOVE that Tawny could do this in a short book like a Blaze. Oh, and I love the steamy parts too.

Tell me, Bandita Sisters and friends, what are you reading right now?

Have you read any of the ones I've been reading?

Are there others you think I should be reading right now? Somthing I should drop everything, go out, buy, and read?

Have you ever avoided a book because you knew it would be too powerful and you weren't ready?

How do you decide whether a book is a keeper or is just passing through. I mean, we can't keep all of them. Can we? If you do keep them all, where do you put them?

Inquiring minds want to know. Source URL: http://plasticsurgerycelebrities.blogspot.com/search/label/Kate%20Connor%20series
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Return of the Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom

Interview by Nancy

Today we welcome award-winning author Julie Kenner to the lair. In addition to having been a RITA finalist, Julie has won the Romantic Times' Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Contemporary Paranormal of 2001, the Reviewers International Organization's award for best romantic suspense of 2004 and best paranormal of 2005, and the National Readers' Choice Award for best mainstream book of 2005. In July, the fourth book in her Kate Connor, Demon Hunter, series, Deja Demon, was released. Welcome to the lair, Julie!

Thanks so much for inviting me here!

For those who may not be familiar with Kate Connor, can you give us a little background on the series?

Absolutely. Kate is a demon hunter. A formerly retired demon hunter, who was living a perfectly happy life in suburban California. Until a demon she sees in Walmart comes crashing through her window and she’s thrust back into her old job … all while having to juggle Gymboree, playdates, and a hormonal 14 year old daughter. And keeping her secret life a secret, of course.

In other words, your basic metaphor about stay-at-home-moms returning to the workplace ☺

Actually, Kate introduces herself best at the beginning of CARPE DEMON, the first book in the series:

My name is Kate Connor and I used to be a demon hunter.

I've often thought that would be a great pick-up line at parties, but with a teenager, a toddler and a husband, I'm hardly burning up the party circuit. And, of course, the whole demon hunting thing is one great big gargantuan secret. No one knows. Not my kids, not my husband, and certainly not folks at these imaginary parties where I'm regaling sumptuous hunks with tales from my demon-slaying, vampire-hunting, zombie-killing days.

Back in the day, I was pretty cool. Now I'm a glorified chauffeur for pep squad practice and Gymboree play dates. Less sex appeal, maybe, but I gotta admit I love it. I wouldn't trade my family for anything. And after fourteen years of doing the mommy thing, my demon hunting skills aren't exactly sharp.

All of which explains why I didn't immediately locate and terminate the demon wandering the pet food aisle of the San Diablo Wal-Mart. Instead, when I caught a whiff of that tell-tale stench, I naturally assumed it emanated exclusively from the bottom of a particularly cranky two-year-old. My two-year-old, to be exact.

You can see why the original, working title was Demons & Dirty Diapers. You can also see why my agent begged me to change that!!

You’ve given Kate numerous complications in this latest book. Aside from the demons, zombies, and so forth.

Oh yes! There’s a writerly (is that a word?) adage about putting your characters in a tree and then throwing rocks at them. Kate got a lot of rocks thrown at her in this story. Everything from good friends in mortal danger, nasty demons, teenage and toddler problems, and all those pesky issues that come from having your dead first husband come back to life when you’re happily married to your second. You know, regular life stuff.

Kate also faces some unusual parenting issues. Would you like to elaborate on those?

I don’t want to get into too much detail, since that could raise spoilers for folks who haven’t yet started the series … but lets just say that a determined 14 year old is an even tougher challenge for a mom than demons. Especially when that teen’s father happens to be alive and well … but hanging out in the body of another man.

What inspired this series?

It was one of those brainstorming moments that make you believe in the power of brainstorming! I was up for contract with the publisher of some of my romances, and so far I had written two stand-alone books (though they have a loose connection). I really wanted to write a series, and paranormal was starting to get really hot again. I had this image of five alpha males appearing over a hill, dressed all in black, dusters blowing in the breeze behind them. And these guys are demon hunters. That’s all I knew, but I liked the image. So I was pondering what to do next (other than toss in the women, of course).

At the same time, chick lit was on the rise, and while I thoroughly enjoy that genre, there really wasn’t any mommy-lit, and as a new mom, that’s what I wanted to read, and I was also itching to write it.

I was chatting with my critique partner, Kathleen O’Reilly, about both ideas, and somewhere in the conversation, demon hunting alpha males smacked up against soccer moms, and poof, Kate was born. I literally sat down and wrote the first scene in Carpe, and other than the very beginning (My name is …), that chapter changed very little from inception to publication. Kate has a strong voice, and it’s great fun to “channel” her.

You make greater use of the Catholic Church than most romance authors do. How does this fit into the series?

Well, I wanted Kate to be officially retired from demon-hunting, which means it needed to be an actual job. But I also wanted her to be a regular mom in a regular world, which means it had to be a super-secret job. And I figured that the job has been around forever, so I needed an old organization. And we’re talking demons, so a religious organization fit the bill. Plus, I wanted Kate’s faith to be very important to her. This is a woman who has really and truly seen hell. She understands what she’s fighting.

All in all, everything pointed to the Catholic church. It’s ancient, it has a central base in the Vatican, the religion itself has a wonderfully rich history to pull from, and many of the actual details of the Catholic faith embellish the stories (like the import of relics). Of course, I take tons of literary license, but that’s the fun of being the author.

Kate Connor’s very sympathetic for those of us whose nightmare is to be in charge of food or decorations for the PTA. Was that a conscious choice, or did that aspect of her personality just happen?

You know, it was a conscious choice in that I wrote it, but a lot of Kate’s character is discover-as-you-go. I don’t do character sketches before I start writing, but instead discover the character in the story. And considering who Kate is, that discovery was pretty expected! I think the real surprise would be if it turned out she absolutely loved chairing PTA committees!

Kate Connor has been so popular that she's headed for the big screen. Could you update us on that project?

I should probably clarify that the popularity of Kate’s stories didn’t have anything to do with the interest from 1492 and Warner Brothers. At the time of the original deal, I had written a grand total of three chapters and a synopsis and didn’t even have a publication date. But they saw the potential in Kate, and so far, I’ve been really pleased with the vision of the folks at 1492 and WB.

The truth is that the movie project is moving along on its own trajectory. I get updates from time to time, but I’m not involved day to day. I know that a script has been completed and is being tweaked, and I can tell you that Warner Brothers re-optioned the material last year (the original option had been renewed once, then expired by its own terms). So it’s still actively in development.

Your website mentions dark fantasy to come. Can you give us some hints about that?

Here’s a little teaser:

When Lily Carlyle set out to kill a child molester, she never expected to die and be resurrected as an assassin. Especially not as an assassin charged with fighting the forces of darkness in the ultimate battle of good against evil. It's the key into heaven, she's told. And in light of her sins, without that key, she's doomed to an eternity of suffering.

But what Lily doesn't know is that she's fighting for the wrong side. She's been duped by the underworld, tricked into killing those who would stand in the way of her demonic handlers.

And when Lily finds out the truth ... well, there really will be hell to pay.

The first three books: TAINTED, TORN, and TURNED will be published back to back in Nov/Dec 2009 and January 2010 by Ace.

You’ve also written super-heroes, which you know I love. What drew you to that sub-genre, and do you plan to revisit it at some point?

What drew me to it … hmm, that is a really good question. I think I like writing about larger than life characters, but who have to exist in this world. I also like the theme of finding out “who you are,” and then pursuing that for all it’s worth, a theme that fits well in the superhero genre. And, you know, I like characters that kick a little butt.

As for the subgenre, I’m working on a superhero story right now, but I’m writing it as a screenplay since I’ve conceived it more visually than narratively. But I love the character, and I may try to write it as a novel a some point (or a graphic novel, but I’m honestly clueless about that venue.) I also would love to revisit the world of the Aphrodite series, and I have a couple of ideas percolating that I may try to pursue at some point. (I recently did have the chance to revisit that world with a novella that came out in April in the These Boots Were Made For Stomping anthology).

Thanks again for inviting me to be a guest. This was great fun!

Have you ever felt you were juggling too many family commitments? What's your favorite of Julie's books? What do you like about stories featuring moms and children? What kinds of children do you most like to see in your books?

Julie's giving away a copy of Deja Demon to one commenter. !For more about Julie and her books visit her website.

Julie's traveling and signing today, so don't worry if she doesn't respond right away. She'll be with us in between commitments.

A special note to those in Houston--Julie's signing at Murder by the Book at 6:30 today. Pop in and say hi if you're in the area.Source URL: http://plasticsurgerycelebrities.blogspot.com/search/label/Kate%20Connor%20series
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