Nearly two weeks ago {my how time does fly}, I had the pleasure of getting together with three very lovely, fellow book bloggers-- Natalie from Reading 2 Learn, Hilcia of Impressions of a Reader, and Mariana of Hips Like Mine. Missing from our get together was Katiebabs of Babbling on Books, and More, but she has promised to join us the next time.
We decided to meet up at a diner where we knew the food would be good and we could take over a booth and sit and talk for as long as we wanted and the coffee would keep coming. I think if New Jersey should ever change from being known as The Garden State, I think The Diner State should be given serious consideration.
Anyway, as one would expect between book bloggers, we offered each other to borrow or even keep some books from our own collections. Actually, even though Natalie and I met online when she joined the In Death Reading Challenge, we eventually figured out that we live about six miles from each other, so I had already lent her a few YA novels, the first Sirantha Jax book by Ann Aguirre and of course, I had to see how much she could handle and gave her the first book of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward, Dark Lover. Got her addicted, I did. LOL.
Hilcia and I exchanged a few books as well. I couldn't quite permanently part with mine, so I lent her The Stolen trilogy by Elisabeth Naughton, and she so graciously gave me the following books from her collection:
Something About You by Julie James
My Unfair Lady by Kathryne Kennedy
Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James
A Little Light Magic by Joy Nash
Heaven Eyes by David Almond
I can honestly say I'm looking forward to reading each one of those books! Thank you, Hilcia! xo
Then Mariana gave me some books. Mariana, the woman with the private romance library under her bed. And in her closets. And in traveling trunks. I feel like I stole an entire treasure chest of romance and fantasy novels from her! In fact, when I came home with the books, I left them in my car for a couple of days before I got up enough nerve to go through them and admit to myself how much I took from her. The thing is, Mariana has been reading romance since she was in high school and has accrued a TON of books. Over the last couple of years, Mariana has become an ebook reader, slowly replacing her paper books with digital versions, solving all of her book storage issues at home. Sooooooo.... Mariana told us, "Come to my house. Take my old books. Pleeeeaaaasse, take my books!"
So I did, and did I ever! I came home with a whopping 101 books!!! Here's the list of them:
A Rose In Winter by Shana Abe
The Truelove Bride by Shana Abe
Raintree: Sanctuary by Beverly Barton
Raintree: Haunted by Linda Winstead Jones
Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer
Anges and The Hitman by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer
Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie
Manhunting by Jennifer Crusie
Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie
Charlie All Night by Jennifer Crusie
Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie
Crazy For You by Jennifer Crusie
Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie
Faking It by Jennifer Crusie
What the Lady Wants by Jennifer Crusie
Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
Fast Women by Jennifer Crusie
{I read Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie, but Mariana had the nicest little hardcover of this novel, so I had to have it. Despite the fact that I now have this fantastic collection of Jennifer Crusie novels, I'm still on the hunt for her novel titled Bet Me. I was on the hold list it at my library for the longest time until it was finally declared missing and they have no plans of replacing it. I found it a strange coincidence that Mariana didn't have it in her collection either!}
Dangerous Tides by Christine Feehan
Safe Harbor by Christine Feehan
The Wicked and The Wonderous Christine Feehan
Mind Game by Christine Feehan
Conspiracy Game by Christine Feehan
Predatory Game by Christine Feehan
Shadow Game by Christine Feehan
Deadly Game by Christine Feehan
Saving Grace by Julie Garwood
See Jane Score Rachel Gibson
True Confessions Rachel Gibson
Truly Madly Yours Rachel Gibson
The Demon's Daughter by Emma Holly
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Drop Dead Gorgeous by Linda Howard
To Die For by Linda Howard
Solar Heat by Susan Kearney
Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon (paperback)
{I read the hardcover when it first came out, but still couldn't resist having a copy in paperback, too.}
Harmony's Way by Lora Leigh
Dawn's Awakening by Lora Leigh
Megan's Mark by Lora Leigh
Tanner's Scheme by Lora Leigh
Dangerous Games by Lora Leigh
Killer Secrets by Lora Leigh
Hidden Agendas by Lora Leigh
Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu
The Wild Road by Marjorie M. Liu
The Red Heart of Jade by Marjorie M. Liu
Soul Song by Marjorie M. Liu
Eye of Heaven by Marjorie M. Liu
The Last Twilight by Marjorie M. Liu
Shadow Touch by Marjorie M. Liu
Knight of Darkness by Kinley MacGregor
Sword of Darkness by Kinley MacGregor
Heart Thief by Robin D. Owens
Heart Choice by Robin D. Owens
Heart Quest by Robin D. Owens
Heart Duel by Robin D. Owens
Heart Mate by Robin D. Owens
Heart Dance by Robin D. Owens
Kiss An Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Fancy Pants by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Dream A Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Match Me if You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Lady Be Good by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
{I have never read a Susan Elizabeth Philips novel before. Now I'll have no exuse.}
Pandora by Anne Rice
Violin by Anne Rice
{Several years ago, I found a whole bunch of Anne Rice's hardcover Vampire Chronicle novels at a used book sale for cheap--I want to say $1 each, and I thought they looked so pretty lined up so I bought them. I still have never read them, but I do like how they look. Now I have two more to add to my collection.}
Sweet Revenge by Nora Roberts
Key of Light by Nora Roberts
The Gift by Nora Roberts
Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts
Dance of the Gods by Nora Roberts
Valley of Silence by Nora Roberts
{The last three Nora Roberts novels make up the Circle Trilogy, which I've already read. I was planning on giving my copies to a friend, but now I'll send her these.}
Craving Beauty by Nalini Singh
Awaken the Senses by Nalini Singh
Awaken to Pleasure by Nalini Singh
Dessert Warrior by Nalini Singh
Secrets in the Marriage Bed by Nalini Singh
{Nalini Singh is one of my favorite authors. I love her Psy-Changeling series and the first book in her Guild Hunter series. I have the second one on my TBR, which I can't wait to get to. I couldn't resist this collection of Nalini's Silhouette novels so I could sample her story voice in a different romance subgenre to her other work.}
Cold As Ice by Anne Stuart
Ice Blue by Anne Stuart
Black Ice by Anne Stuart
Ice Storm by Anne Stuart
Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughn
Warsworn by Elizabeth Vaughn
Warlord by Elizabeth Vaughn
Dagger-Star by Elizabeth Vaughn
Tempting Danger by Eileen Wilks
Night Season by Eileen Wilks
Blood Lines by Eileen Wilks
Mortal Danger by Eileen Wilks
King of Sword and Sky by C.L. Wilson
Queen of Song and Souls by C.L. Wilson
Beyond the Dark Anthology by Anglea Knight, Emma Holly, Lora Leigh and Diane Whiteside
Shifter Anthology by Angela Knight, Lora Leigh, Alyssa Day and Virginia Kantra
Holidays Are Hell Anthology by Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Marjorie Liu, and Vicki Pettersson
And that's all. :)
Thank you so much for your generosity, Mariana! I will enjoy every minute spent with these books or at least knowing I have them in my midst, as I think it will take me a few years to actually read them all. xoxo :)
Do you see any favorites of yours on my list?
I'd love to hear which ones you recommend!
Holy Cow! That's one heck of a haul! And there's a lot to recommend. I'd say Warprize is a must. As is Heart Thief. And yes, you should read something by SEP.
ReplyDeleteWOW...I would be in heaven if I received over 100 books.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend the Linda Howard books...both were great and the Anna Stuart books..they were good.
The Diner state! I love that. You know, wasn't New Jersey actually thinking about changing their slogan? I heard they had a contest, and people kept suggesting really mean names. You should look into this.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, what fun to meet those three! OMG. And Mariana's giveaway books ... I had to laugh as that list kept rolling. I love Anne Stuart's Black Ice. I never hear about Eileen Wilks anymore, but I like her!
Wow, you came out a clear winner!! LOL.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy you got to meet Hils and the other bloggers! Isn't it great?!?
Warprize!! You need to read Warprize, Warsworn and Warlord!! :D I love, love, love that trilogy :D Warprize was in my Top 3 books in 2007 :D
Did you read all the Jennifer Crusie? If not, Getting Rid of Bradley, Crazy for You and Temptation as well as Strange Bedpersons are my favs :D
Lucky, you definitively scored getting the Nalini Singh's Silhouette. I've never had the chance to get my hands on them :(
and LOL, don't feel bad. You actually helped out Mariana :) Now, she'll be able to use her closets :P
Holy Shitballs! Sorry for my language but how awesome for you!
ReplyDeleteI have heard of all of the authors listed but have only read a very very few.
I would love to live close to you so I could do a diner book chat. How fun!
:)
Wow Christine, Just Wow!
ReplyDeleteYou've got some great reading ahead. I've got all those Lora Leigh books here and I certainly recognize many of the others.
As for recommendations?
Dive in and enjoy.
What a great get-together. I wish I lived closer. *g*
Okey, here goes my addition to this -- after Christine was done with Mariana's collection, I also went to Mariana's place and guess what I got 103 Novels!!! haha. And here's the kicker, Mariana still have so many books left there, I'd say about 300 - 400 more books left begging to be taken away from her. Isn't that marvelous?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I really had fun with the get together and thanks for inviting me. Thanks for the book recommendations. Thanks to Mariana and Hilcia for paying the bill. Thanks to Mariana's books. Thanks for letting me get to know all of you. Thank you thank you thank you....whew -- the world is spinning round and round.
Ohw this is definitely a coincidence -- I happen to be at BN about 4 hours ago and randomly picked Jennifer Crusie's What the Lady Wants. Is that a good one too? I don't really know anything from this author.
ReplyDeleteThat's an awesome haul, especially the series books.
ReplyDeleteI like: the crusie, Howard, Leigh, SEP, Roberts, Garwood, and singh books.
Not too fond of: Gibson or Raintree series.
Which book will you read or have started on first?
Wow! It sounds like Mariana could open up a UBS. You all sound like you had so much fun!
ReplyDeleteAnd I can't believe you've never read SEP!! Totally shocked.
Some of my favs are:
SEP's Nobody's Baby But Mine and
Dream A Little Dream
The Elizabeth Vaughn trilogy that Nath mentioned is really good.
The 2 Linda Howard's are Blair Mallory books. She's a fun heroine. Like her a bunch.
You've got some great reading ahead of you. :)
Oh, so glad you had such a great time! Hilcia and you and books! Sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteOK, Ain't She Sweet would be the first of the SEPs that I'd read. I wasn't sure I'd be able to empathize with the heroine, and wound up LOVING the story!
Ditto what everyone else said. I've nothing original to add to that. But, seriously, you haven't read Bet Me???? How can there be a romance reader out there who hasn't read Bet Me?
ReplyDeleteSpend the moolah, treat yourself. Clearly you don't have enough to read ;)
Can I ask your readers though what was so good about Warprize? I picked it up from the library once, and couldn't get into the first page or 3, so returned it ... what's the draw?
That is one amazing number of books! Enjoy! I agree with Phyl, the Warprize series is really, really good! Now I want to re-read it :)
ReplyDeleteIf you can find Jennifer Cruise's Bet Me, do. It's a great book, my favourite JC book. Oh, and SEP's books are fantastic! I started with Natural Born Charmer, which is the last in the Chicago Stars series, and worked backwards - it was an accident, honest :)
Happy reading!
Venus, I'll jump in to speak up for Warprize. I suppose one of the things I liked best was the how EV used the conflict between the two cultures. Each group was so disdainful of the other. Because EV used 1st person and you only see everything through Lara's eyes, various things about Kier and his people are revealed slowly to the reader as Lara sees them for herself. As in any cultural conflict, both groups have things to offer the other. So besides being romantic, I thought it was terrific world-building and a great entry in the fantasy romance sub-genre.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think the 2nd book in the trilogy was as well done. It seemed to be a "lets create a conflict for the sake of having conflict" placeholder. The 3rd book was much better. Saying that, I still thought it was good writing. I just didn't love the story in that middle book so much.
I haven't read her star books yet (the 3rd was just released). I decided I hate waiting a year between books. I plan to pick them all up at RT next month where Vaughan will be signing.
I hope this helps. Sorry for such a long comment, Christine!
It is an insane number of books, isn't it?
ReplyDeletePhyl...
thanks for the recs. Do you have a favorite SEP?
Dru...
It is heavenly to have so many great books at arms length, isn't it? I feel a little guilty about it, but she wanted me to have them all. Thanks for your Linda Howard and Anne Stuart suggestions! I have to say I've always wanted to read Stuart's Ice books.
Carolyn...
I think The Diner State is great for NJ! I seem to recall a campaign for a new state slogan. I wonder what happened with that? As far as I know, we're still The Garden State.
That book list is out of control, really. I think I may break Shelfari when I enter all that in. LOL. I actually recall you loving Anne Stuart's Black Ice. Taja loved it, too. And I have to say ditto regarding Eileen Wilks.
nath...
I'm a winner, all right. ;)
I loved meeting Hilcia, Mariana and Natalie. They are each very warm, honest and intelligent women.
Thanks for all of those recommendations. I'm taking notes!
I was so excited to see that Mariana had all of those Silhouettes by Nalini Singh. What a score, right?
Michelle...
It is quite a haul.
I would love for you to live closer, too. Diner book chats are the best. We can do that when you come to the area for BEA in May. :D
Lea...
I wish you lived closer, too! :D
It's going to take me a long time to read all of these books, but it'll be so many well spent hours.
Natalie ...
103 novels!!! You beat me! LOL!
It was a great time, and we'll have to do it again soon!
The only Crusie novel I have read is Anyone But You and I loved it.
tabzyreads...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions. I haven't started reading any of them yet, but am considering the Garwood book, a SEP or Crusie book. Do you have a favorite Crusie or SEP?
Leslie...
Perhaps I should read a SEP first to break myself in. Thanks for naming your favorites. That'll help me decide. I'll keep the Vaughn trilogy toward the top of the list as well.
Renee...
Thanks for the SEP rec!
Venus...
I think you are so right about buying myself Bet Me. I think I am officially the last romance reader to read it. It's true.
orannia...
Thanks for the suggestions. I think Hilcia took Natural Born Charmer! LOL! But that's good to know it is part of a series. I wonder if I have the other ones? I will have to do my SEP homework.
Phyl...
Thank you for answering Venus' question and please don't apologize for a long comment! It's great! And you've educated me as well! Thanks! :)
I can recommend anything by Jennifer Crusie. *G* And you're in luck, Bet Me will be released with the cutest new cover. Jennifer Crusie' blog (Argh Ink) has the new covers as of yesterday. Hmm, what else to recommend... The Linda Howard books. Blair Mallory is a treat and those two (along with a few others) sit on my keeper shelves.
ReplyDeleteSEP is also another to recommend, you just can't go wrong with her books.
Congratulations on you book haul and meeting such lovely people!
Have a sensational weekend!
Christine, you have some wonderful reads ahead of you -- Dream a Little Dream is my favorite from that lot. Mariana's spread sheet... OMG! Drool worthy! And her generosity was amazing.
ReplyDeleteOur meeting was such a treat and you know I had the best time meeting all of you! Thank you all for driving and coming up by me... I really appreciate that, lots & lots!
Holy cow! That's an amazing haul of books! One of my favorite parts of our blogger get-togethers is the book swap. Someone is always trying to get rid of something they absolutely hated (ok, usually me, LOL), and it always inspires gossip and talk about what we like and hate.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy that you have bloggers close to you! It's a wonderful way to spend the day.
WOW!!! You are going to be busy reading for a long time. I don't think I could possible choose just one to recommand to you. They all look great.
ReplyDeleteBrandy...
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find the upcoming cover art of Bet Me in mass market on Crusie's blog. But what a great author site. I love the look and there's so much to explore! And I do think that I'll be picking up the newer version of the book when it comes out. I'll have to keep my eyes out for that. Thanks for the heads up and for the other book recs. :)
Hilcia...
I can't believe it was already two weeks ago that we met up! Meeting up was a great treat and I'm looking forward to doing it again sometime soon, too. Thanks for the SEP rec!
Lori...
Maybe some day I'll be in your neck of the woods and we can do a book swap! :)
Kelly...
Hello and thanks for visiting my blog! It is A LOT of reading and think I may never get to all of the books. I actually find it comforting just knowing they're they if I should need them. :)
Christine, the cover was in her April 8th post which was about reissues recovered. *G*
ReplyDeleteCHRISTINE! you lucky duck you! 101 BOOKS?! hahaha man I need to gather my book blogging friends, get them addicted to ebooks and then offer to lighten their load and take all of their regular books off their hands! hahaha so happy for you and all your new books! :D Oh and how lovely it must be to sit down with local book bloggers and chat for the afternoon! So lovely!
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome... and it's true you did me the favor. Also, there are still a TON of books left so you can come back anytime :)
ReplyDeleteBet Me was taken by someone else... that's one of my favorite J.Crusie books.
Oh and I still owe Hils the In Death books... life keeps interrupting my plans....
ReplyDeleteWe should do another get together...