Unforgettable by Elise K Ackers

Connor and Emma have a history, first as friends and then as lovers, but when he awakens from a coma following an accident he has lost 3 years of memory, and he has no clue who the two women waiting by his bedside are. One is his girlfriend, Asha, and the other is Emma. Emma knows that no one knows Connor as well as she does, especially not his high maintenance 'girlfriend'.

Emma is determined to help Connor with his return to normal life, including back to work, as soon as possible, partially because of her strong connection to him but also from a sense of guilt.

While Connor doesn't remember Emma, he does know that he is instantly drawn to her and that he intrinsically trusts her. He also knows that she was important to him in the past, because otherwise how come she would have have a key to his house or she would know so much about him.

Emma agrees to help Connor as much as she can, but she is also aware that one of the issues that they faced previously is that they worked closely together. While all the co-workers on the building site they work on knew that Emma and Connor were really good friends, no one knew that they were romantically involved and it needs to stay that way, mainly to keep their professional reputations intact.

While he has been off work due to the injuries he suffered in his car accident, he has been temporarily replaced and while everyone loves Connor thanks to his abilities in the workplace and his friendly manner, his replacement Mark is someone who gets on Connor's nerves, and everyone else's as well. Mark, Emma and Connor need to work closely together to bring Connor up to speed on the project as soon as possible.

The more time that Emma and Connor spend together, the more he realises that while he may not remember why they weren't together anymore, he does value Emma for more than just her friendship. He is falling in love again. For Emma though, there are two things that are stopping her from taking her second chance at love. The first thing is that she knows that he can't remember why they broke up the first time and the second is that she was there the night of the accident, and she knows exactly what happened. As Connor starts to remember more and more of his forgotten years, it is only a matter of time before he remembers more and Emma has a fairly strong idea of how he will react when he does.

While I really enjoyed the setting and somewhat surprisingly the premise (I am not usually a huge fan of the whole amnesia thing) there was element to the plot that I didn't think was particularly strong, and that is the big secret that Emma is hiding. It really felt like the need for the secret to be so secret was a bit odd, and then Connor's reaction to said secret seemed to be quite over the top.

One of the pleasures of the new digital romances that are currently being published in Australia (in this case for Escape Publishing) are that we get to read romances that feature Australian characters in Australian settings and this is no exception. The building site that Emma and Connor are working at is the refurbishment of Hamer Hall, one of Melbourne's premier concert venues. This is a refurbishment that was recently completed, with new interiors being installed and a whole heap of new spaces opened up along the riverside, which now house restaurants and cafes. It was very interesting to read about this because I can walk past the Hall on an given day. In fact I did that just a couple of days ago, just to take a couple of photos.

With the exception of the conflict which wasn't as strong as it could have been, I did enjoy this quite a bit. I look forward to reading more from this author in future.

Rating 4/5

In hospital following a near-fatal accident, Connor has temporary retrograde amnesia, and there's a blank slate where the last three years of his life should be. It's a woman with haunted eyes and secrets who offers to help him rediscover his past.

Colleague, friend and ex-lover, Emma warns Connor they must be discreet. No one knows about their past relationship, and for the sake of their jobs, no one can. She reintroduces him to his life and the fascinating redevelopment project they are working on, and the more time Connor spends with her, the more he wants a future with her in it.

But Emma blames herself for Connor's accident and she won't confess to what broke their relationship in the past. Now Connor is fighting for love, for his job, and for another chance.

A story about second chances, a second look, and the futility of fighting fate, Unforgettable explores the concept of walking a path already travelled and learning from your mistakes.

I read this book for the following challenges:

Guest Post: Elise K Ackers

Today I am pleased to welcome Elis K Ackers to my blog. When we talked about what theme the guest post should be on, the fact that we both started out living in other parts of Australia and ended up living here in Melbourne seemed a good place to start! I will be back later with my review of Elise's book, Forgotten.

Welcome Elise!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elise K. Ackers was born in Sydney. She has lived north of Brisbane, near Perth, on the New South Wales Central Coast and in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, but it's Melbourne that has stolen her heart. Elise's first book, Small Town Storm, is set in the picturesque Olinda, in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne; her second book, The Man Plan, is set near Port Phillip Bay, and her latest title, Unforgettable, is set on the construction site of Melbourne's cultural icon, Hamer Hall. Today she writes about where she finds her inspiration.

Anyone who's read my books or blurbs knows that my first three titles are set in Melbourne, Australia; and I don't think anyone who's visited or lived here could blame me for that. Voted as one of the world's most livable cities and known for its culture, lifestyle and eccentricities, I'm a big fan of the place I've called home for the last four years.

View of the new Hamer Hall across the river

I have a day job in the city, and whilst I may grumble about the commute some days, it's worth it. Because I get to stroll down intimate laneways featuring public artwork, discover hidden bars and restaurants, and sit in any of the hundreds of public places, and just be.

It's a city which constantly delights, and often takes me by surprise.

Last year there was a 13-metre high Gladioli bouquet installed near Arts Centre Melbourne to welcome back the fabulously renovated Hamer Hall. A few weeks ago I had the joy of walking through an incredible 'building' on my way to the train station: a structure made of more than ten tonnes of willow tree saplings and sticks. I look out my window and I see an evolving skyline, brave architecture and stunning heritage facades. It feels like there's something new every week, and it's a city where change and daring are embraced.

All of this combines to make for a stirring, creative environment. Being an author who is inspired by place, I love this city. And not just for setting. There are some fantastic places to write.

The Reading Room

The State Library La Trobe Reading Room is certainly in my top five places, with its 35-metre high, spectacular dome ceiling. However, for the writer who's easily distracted, I'd probably advise against it. It's become quite the tourist destination. The Moat under the Wheeler Centre building on Little Londsdale Street is a bit of a winner, and the laneway cafes are great for corner booths and tiny laptops.

I'm discovering new places to write every day, and I'm having a great time doing it. Which makes me wonder: where are your favourite places to write or read when away from home?


**Photos of Hamer Hall and State Library were taken by me.

Sunday Salon: 2013 Reading Resolutions

Time to set my reading and blogging goals for this year. I have been thinking about them a lot over the last few weeks and have some ideas but to be honest, most of the goals that I will be setting this year will be very similar to the ones that I have had in the last couple of years, mainly because these seem to be working for me.

Read 200 books - Last year I read more than 290 books which is the most I have read in a single year, and the year before it was 220. For the last few years, I have set my goal as being 150 books but it seems clear that amount is way below my natural reading level so I have changed it to 200 for this year.

Read 10 books that I owned as at 31 December 2012 - Every year I read less books that I own than come into my house. This is my attempt to try to make sure that I read at least a few that have been on my shelves for a while.

Read more Australian authors - This is one of the goals that I set every year and in the preceding years I would be pleased that I read 10-15. Last year, thanks predominantly to the Australian Women Writer's Challenge, I read more than 40. I am hoping to have another great year focused on Aussie authors this year. In addition to the challenge I just mentioned I am also participating in the Aussie Author challenge, which I will use to focus on male Australian authors and I have chosen to adapt the Historical Fiction challenge so that only Australian historical fiction counts! I am also contemplating trying to read the inaugural Stella Prize shortlist when it is announced in March.

Read some classics - A few years ago I aimed to read Dorothy Dunnett, and didn't manage to even crack open a book, and still haven't in fact. Last year, I said I would read more Dickens and then promptly forgot. This year I am planning to finish Les Miserables, join in the War and Peace readalong that Amy and Iris are running and maybe read Pride and Prejudice seeing as it is coming up to the 200th anniversary of it being published.

Perpetual Challenges - I am aiming to read at least one book for each of the perpetual challenges that I am signed up for like The Pulitzer Project, the Orange Prize Project, and the Complete Booker.  (This is one that I say every year too!

Review more consistently - This is what I have written for the last couple of years "Over the last couple of years I have allowed myself to get very lazy about writing reviews of the books I read. I still start a blog post for every book, but not enough of them see light of day! This year, I am going to try to write at least one review a week, preferably more. Need to get back into the habit. I know that that really isn't many, but I do also want to be a no guilt blogger as well, because at the end of the day blogging is supposed to enrich our lives and be fun and not something that we are slave to." I was better at it last year I think, but there is still room for more consistent reviewing. All of that is still relevant for this year!

Deadline Reading - I want to back off a little from deadline reading whether it be for library due dates, tours, egalley expiry dates and try to be a little organic in my reading in terms of being able to look at my shelf, or the library shelf and have a little more room to just read what I feel like reading! I am not quite sure how to quantify this one, except in terms of how I am feeling, but I will try to! I did halve the number of library books I had out towards the end of last year so I am going to try and be careful not to let the number of books out creep up again. The irony is that often I find having a deadline helps me get to those books that I knew I wanted to read anyway!

So, there you have it! My reading and blogging resolutions for 2013. Have you made blogging resolutions for this year?

Currently Reading

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Unforgettable by Elise K Ackers.

Up Next

Night Music by Jojo Moyes will be my next audiobook and The Wedding Shroud by Elisabeth Storrs (it's the only book I am taking away with me so it will be my takeoff and landing book!)

Weekend Cooking: Tim Tam Slam

Last week I confessed that I had never seen a Star Wars movie from beginning to end. Without actually meaning to, I am today posting a second instalment of Things I've Never Done. Before that though, I want to mention that I am currently hosting a giveaway of a book that those of who like to read foodie fiction might like. It is international so anyone can enter, so head on over to find out all the details of how to win a copy of Vanity Fare by Megan Caldwell - baked goods and literature in one book!

Anyway, back to Tim Tam Slams. Last night I finished reading Free-Falling by Nicola Moriarty which I thoroughly enjoyed. For my post today, I am sharing the quote which got me thinking about Tim Tam Slams.

"That was amazing!" Evelyn slid the packet of Tim Tams across the table to offer one to Bazza, then sat back in her chair, taking a sip of peppermint tea and letting the exhilaration of the day wash over her. They were relaxing in the staffroom at SkyChallenge. The staff there had accepted her as a regular and were wandering in and out of the tiny kitchen, giving her congratulatory little pats on the shoulder as though it were perfectly normal for her to be relaxing in their room.

"McGavin, I knew you were going to love it!" Bazza dunked his Tim Tam into his coffee and then slurped the liquid through it, shoving it into his mouth just before it collapsed. "There's an art to this, you know?" he mumbled through his full mouth.

"To skydiving? Of course there is. That's why I did all that training."

"Nah, not to jumping. You jump, you count, you pull the cord, done. No, to drinking your coffee through a Tim Tam. You have to get the timing absolutely spot-on to avoid losing it in your cup - but you can't eat it too early, otherwise the whole thing isn't soaked through. You try it."

"Bazza, I have no intention at all of drinking my peppermint tea through a Tim Tam."

"Whoa, did you just call me Bazza? Looks like taking the leap all on your lonesome has finally loosened you up a bit, McGavin. I didn't know you were capable of using an actual nickname. Anyway, you have to try out the Tim Tam thing. It's in your contract." He folded his arms in an unsuccessful attempt to look menacing. Despite the shaved head and eyebrow ring, Bazza's warm eyes and cheeky grin meant he just couldn't pull it off.

"In my contract?' She raised her eyebrows at him.

"That's right. When you signed all the forms to start up your training, you agreed to take part in the official Post Skydiving Come Back Down to Earth Tim Tam Ritual. You're legally bound. Please, pick up your Tim Tam and take your position." Bazza demonstrated this by grabbing another biscuit from the pack and holding it above his coffee.

Evelyn laughed and gave in. She picked one up and held it above her mug in imitation of Bazza. A couple of staff members had come into the kitchen for a drink and stopped to watch.

"Right, first you take a bite from the bottom-left corner like this." He munched away the corner, then added hurriedly, "But don't take too much - all you want to get is a good clean entry point for your beverage. Next, flip your Tim Tam and take a similar bite from the corner diagonally opposite."

She did as she was told, finding herself laughing at his serious tone. Goodness, this boy has turned me into a giggling schoolgirl.

"Place the top bitten corner into your mouth like so, lower the Tim Tam into your chosen beverage so that the bitten corner sits just on the surface, and then suck." He proceeded to slurp up another mouthful of his coffee and then shove the Tim Tam in. "Right, your turn!" he said thickly through the biscuit..

Evelyn pursed her lips awkwardly around the top of the Tim Tam and then lowered her face down to her mug of tea. She began to suck but reeled back as too much of the hot liquid flooded her mouth, burning her tongue. Meanwhile, the Tim Tam completely disintegrated, showering the table with mushy bits of chocolate biscuit as she flailed about, waving her hand at her mouth. "It'th too hot, too hot!" she yelled, holding her tongue and dancing around. Bazza and the other staff members fell about laughing and, despite burning her tongue, Evelyn couldn't help joining in. It was all just so ridiculous. As she watched all the young boys snorting in hysterics at her, a memory swam to the surface that she thought she'd all but forgotten.

So, yes, my confession today is that I have never done a Tim Tam Slam. Given how rarely I drink hot beverages these days it probably isn't a surprise that I haven't done one recently but to have never done at all is!

The things I force myself to do for blogging

More surprisingly, I just realised today that despite blogging about all sorts of things for more than 7 years, I apparently have never, ever mentioned Tim Tams on this blog. I was quite rightly chastised on Twitter for being unAustralian as a result of making this confession!

For those who do not know what a Tim Tam is, they are basically the unofficial biscuit of Australia. They consist of chocolate cream sandwiched between chocolate biscuits and then smothered in chocolate. Originally they were only available in one flavour but these days you can get all sorts of different flavours like white chocolate and double coated, honeycomb and more, but the original is still the best! Structurally they look similar to Penguin biscuits that were available in the UK when I lived there (I have no idea if you can still get them or not) but Tim Tams just taste so much better.

Just for fun, here is a video of a Tim Tam Slam being performed.

 

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.  

Vanity Fair by Megan Caldwell (includes international giveaway)

When Molly Hagan's husband leaves her for another woman she is devastated, but she thanks to a generous divorce deal she know that she will be okay eventually. That is until her husband gives her the news that his business has gone bust and that he has lost all of his money. Her health insurance will expire at the end of the month and she has to find a way to support both herself and her six year old son, Aidan.  Molly has a degree in English but has spent the last six years at home with her child. With very little experience to offer a prospective employer, Molly is feeling the pressure.

Bowing to that pressure, she begrudgingly asks her mother for some money only to find that her mother has made some bad investment choices and so is on the verge of losing her own home. Suddenly she has to put food on the table for both herself and her son as well as her mother who comes to live with her. They have what would possibly be described as a difficult relationship so having to share a confined space is an added challenge that Molly could do without.

Thankfully Molly's friend John has a freelance copy writing gig for her. He has recently been hired to come up with a direction for a new bakery that is opening up in New York. Located right near the New York public library and run by an up and coming pastry chef. John needs to ensure that the design concepts really capture the public's imagination and make the place a success! Molly will need to work closely with the British chef, Simon, who is hoping for a step up in terms of profile, maybe even onto the TV food channels. Simon is drop dead gorgeous and with that British accent he has Molly going weak at the knees pretty much straight away. The nuts and bolts man of the operation is Nick - stern, a bit disdainful and also good looking but in a much less obvious way.

Molly has to juggle a lot in her life. Her therapy sessions (with a very understanding therapist it has to be said), making sure that she is free when Aidan gets out from school, meetings, presentations, starting to date again and more and I thought that the way that the author portrayed Molly's insecurities felt very real. Even once she comes up with a fantastic concept that both Nick and Simon like, she needs a bit of positive reinforcement, and I loved the way that her friends both were able to provide that support to her. We also got glimpses into the friends lives, which helped provide some different elements to the book. I did also think that the author nailed the issues about being a single mum to a small child pretty well. The alternation between independence and insecurity of the child, the concept of not being able to afford to buy the latest PowerRanger toy even though all the other kids have it, trying to juggle life etc.

The reasons I was attracted to this book in the first place include the cover (which is very nice) and also the idea of incorporating classic literature with food. This part of the book really worked for me. I would love to go to a bakery where you could sit down and read your book while eating something like  Tart of Darkness which is described as "Obscure, faintly dangerous ingredients - Belgian chocolate, white rum, African groundnuts - combine in a swirl of flavor, topped off with a heady adventure of whipped cream. Delicious, delectable, and almost completely inscrutable, this tart reveals your most secret desires. And if Kurtz had been able to savor this, who knows how the story would have ended?" At first, I also really liked that Molly was unashamedly a romance reader but after a while that felt a little overplayed in the storyline, especially when she was then pushing more high brow books as reading options to her friends a lot of the time.

When I look at the reviews of other participants in the tour, it is obvious that they all loved this book, so far anyway. I, however, was not quite as convinced. This book evoked a very personal response for me, and I can't quite decide if that is because of the book itself not working for me, or if it is my own personal experiences that have coloured my reading. I am tempted to say I just read it at the wrong time, but as I think back on it I don't know that there would be a better time.

As I said previously, my reactions are very personal and relate to my own experiences as a single mother. The first relates to the timing. Now I know that I have been EXTREMELY slow at meeting someone new, but it seemed to me that Molly had only been by herself for six months or so. She talks about feeling frumpy and inadequate compared to some of the other New York women but suddenly she has not one but two gorgeous men on the line. (Yes, the love triangle has escaped into this book!) And as for the two men, there wasn't a lot of nuance - it was pretty obvious to me from very early on exactly where she was going to end up, even when there is a big reveal at the end in relation to her chosen man. And let's not talk about the ex-husband.

Now, I don't begrudge someone moving on, but I have quite a few single parent friends and not many of them find it so easy to meet numerous men, let alone numerous men who are wealthy and good looking plus love kids and tick every other box on the prospective partner checklist, and with everything else just falling into place too. Maybe I am just a tiny bit jealous of how easy a fictional character finds it to move onwards and upwards while I sit here feeling lonely and just scraping by financially, doing the best I can but not seeing how things are going to change any time soon.

I suspect I have probably committed a cardinal sin of book reviewers by making this last part of the review all about me, but these factors really affected my enjoyment of the book, so no apologies here.

As I said, if you follow the blog tour you will get to see some really enthusiastic and positive reviews. Hopefully, if you get a chance to read this book, you will like it a whole lot more than I did. I suspect I am going to always be very much in the minority on this one.

Rating 2.5/5 stretching to a 3/5 because of the fun food descriptions and recipes in the back of the book

Tour Details

Tour schedule
Megan's website
Megan on Facebook
Megan on Twitter
Megan on Pinterest

Synopsis

Molly Hagan is overwhelmed.

Her husband left her for a younger, blonder woman; her six-year-old son is questioning her authority, and now so is she. In order to pay her Brooklyn rent and keep her son supplied with Pokémon and Legos, not to mention food and clothing, she has to get a job—fast.

So when an old friend offers Molly a freelance position copywriting for a new bakery, finding romance is just about the last thing on her mind. But the sexy British pastry chef who’s heading up the bakery has other thoughts. And then so does Molly, when she meets the chef’s intimidating business partner—who also happens to have a secret that might prevent Molly from getting her own happily ever after.

Giveaway

Thanks to TLC book tours and the publisher, I have a copy of the book to giveaway and the giveaway is international!

I thought I would set a little challenge for you though. You don't have to do this but I thought it would be fun if as part of your entry you tried come up with a marketing blurb for the humble donut. It doesn't matter what kind of donut - jam filled, chocolate, strawberry, covered in sprinkles or not - any kind really!

Don't worry, this isn't compulsory but just a bit of fun. When I announce the winners, I will share the entries so that everyone else will be able to see what fun ideas you all came up with, assuming there are some!

Enter the giveaway by completing the form below

Giveaway form

The giveaway will close on 20 January.

Library Loot: January 9 to 15

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

After not visiting the library much recently I got a relatively decent sized haul this week but it's not all books! I have at least another couple of CDs on request too, but I am not sure when they will come in.

Here's what I did get:

A Lady Never Lies by Juliana Gray - Last year I read and loved Overseas by Beatriz Williams who also writes under the name Juliana Gray. I am hoping to repeat the fun reading experience I had! I have heard lots of good things about the series that this is the first book of.

The Twelve by Justin Cronin - The follow up book to the very successful The Passage.

Fall Girl by Toni Jordan - While I was away I listened to the audio book of Toni Jordan's debut novel Addition. This was her follow up book!

Some Nights by Fun - Ever since I heard the single Some Nights I have been loving Fun's music! I actually downloaded this on Itunes but I forgot to cancel the request.

Overexposed by Maroon 5 - I mainly got this album because I have had Moves Like Jagger as my ringtone for months and months and months. It is probably time to change it, but not quite yet.


What loot did you get this week? Add your link to Mr Linky below

The Girl in the Hard Hat by Loretta Hill

Today I am excited to be participating in the blog tour for The Girl in the Hard Hat by Loretta Hill!

Last year I read and thoroughly enjoyed reading Loretta Hill's debut novel, The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots. The things that really stood out for me in that book were the unusual setting, having the heroine in a truly male dominated environment and the great story. Fortunately, the author has managed to keep all of these same factors in her follow up novel.

When Wendy Hopkins turns up for work at her new job, things couldn't really have gone more wrong. Her uncle Mike has put in a good word for her and the boss comes up with a job. What she doesn't know is that Uncle Mike was blackmailing the boss, and now that there is no need for secrecy, there is no more job! Dan Hullog (the main male character from the last book) does, however, recognise that the skills she has are useful and so he ensures that she gets employed with Barnes Inc, the company responsible for rebuilding a huge iron ore wharf in the Pilbara region of far north Western Australia. Given that she thought she was going to be working for Dan, she turns up on the first day wearing his company uniform which goes down like a lead balloon when she is instructed to go to  the Barnes Inc office instead.  First on the job issue - everyone thinks she might be a spy from the enemy. Add in the fact that she upset one of the few other women on site and ends up in a cabin that is basically uninhabitable, it's not a great start.

Within a few days Wendy has identified any number of breaches in the safety standards, not the least of which is that her immediate boss is incapable of doing the job. When he gets fired, the other Barnes Inc workers have more reason to not like her, and then of all things, she wants them to actually make changes to improve safety, like having safety briefings and other things like that. Before too long Wendy finds herself being the target of several incidents, one of which leads her to be nicknamed 'Sarge'. She also finds herself the target of the advances of notorious flirt Gavin Jones. With around 350 men to 5 women, the last thing that Wendy needs is to be the target of gossip, but when she and Gavin share a steamy kiss she can't help but be interested.

Loretta Hill

Wendy is used to working in a male dominated environment, but it has been a couple of years since she has done so. After something went wrong on a previous job, she took some time off with the plan to travel the world. When she went to get a copy of her birth certificate for her passport application she found that the man she thought was her father really wasn't. Shaken the core by the fact that everything she thought she knew about who she was is in fact a lie, Wendy is now searching for her father. She only knows a few things about him. He is a miner/engineer, he has a distinctive injury to his foot and his name is Hector. Wendy has to balance the demands of her high stress job including trying to build friendships with the other women and gaining the respect of the men with the search for her father. The stress factor climbs through the roof when the client demands a full safety audit after an incident and so Wendy has to get everything up to scratch quickly and, to top it all off, the cyclone season is approaching.

Gavin Jones played a large secondary role in the previous book and I really enjoyed getting to know him a little better in this story. He is originally portrayed as something of a lovable larrikin with an eye for the ladies, but there is much more to him than initially meets the eye. While he is happy to muck around a lot of the time, he is also damn good at what he does. Wendy isn't sure though, there is something that just doesn't add up in terms of his skills and his experience. She knows he is hiding something, but she has no clue what, and to be honest, as a reader I was completely surprised by his back story.

While Wendy and Gavin were both fun characters to read about, and I loved dreading about them both individually and as a prospective couple, one of the other great features of both this book and the previous one is that there is a great cast of secondary characters. From the manager of Barnes Inc, Carl, who still swears like the proverbial trouper and his girlfriend, to Dan and Lena from the first book as well as Wendy's colleague Chub, the pages are filled with humour and charm and, best of all, felt like authentic characters to be populating the Pilbara setting. Loretta Hill has herself worked as an engineer in the Pilbara and I think the authenticity really shows in these books.

I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next books from this talented new author. I can't wait to see what comes next from her.

Rating 4.5/5

Follow the blog tour

Yesterday, Bree from All the Books You Can Read shared her thoughts on the book. Tomorrow's tour stop will be hosted at Confessions from Romaholics

Synopsis

From the author of The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots comes another funny and deliciously romantic tale of a woman in a man's world.

Wendy Hopkins arrives in the Pilbara to search for the father who abandoned her at birth.

Getting mixed up in construction site politics at the Iron Ore wharf just out of town was not high on her 'to do' list.

But when she takes a job as their new Safety Manager she becomes the most hated person in the area. Nicknamed 'The Sergeant', she is the butt of every joke and the prime target of notorious womanizer, Gavin Jones.

Giving up is not an option, though.

For, as it turns out, only Wendy can save these workers from the coming storm, find a man who wants to stay buried and ... put a bad boy firmly in his place.

Fables, Vol 7: Arabian Nights (and Days) by Bill Willingham

In the last volume of Fables that I read, we were briefly introduced to the concept of other Fables lands and in this volume that concept is explored in three of the four stories.

Given that this is the seventh instalment in the series, there might be ****spoilers*** in the following review for the previous books. You can read my previous reviews by clicking here.

The first story starts with the well established plot point about how badly Prince Charming is doing in his role as mayor. He now has a much greater appreciation that the job that King Cole and Snow White used to do in balancing all the needs of all the different residents of Fabletowns. It doesn't help that those broken election promises are still haunting him. I also wasn't all that pleased with one of the plot points to do with Prince I-really-should-be-called-Smarming.

Matters take a turn for a worse when suddenly a limousine pulls up out of the front of the building and just sits there. No one knows who it is or what they want. Meanwhile, the occupants of the limo are waiting for their formal welcoming party, the one that will show the proper amount of respect for Sinbad, head of the Baghdad fables. Prince Charming has no clue how to deal with such favoured guests, especially ones whose ideas of what are normal and not going to be accepted to the modern Fables community. Talk about culture shock!

The Baghdad fables have travelled to try and make an alliance with the American fables because it seems that the Adversary has turned his covetous eyes to new pastures and so they need to be able to fight against the invasion with other fables who have successfully defeated him in battle.

What they don't know is that the entourage from Baghdad have bought something with them that has the power to cause chaos throughout both the Fables and mundy world - a djinn. Almost unlimitless power contained within a small bottle. Who knows what could happen if it was released! The search is on for ways to combat the power of the djinn, should they need it.

I did enjoy the quick visit we made to the farm to see Snow and the cubs, and I loved seeing that Auntie Rose is the disciplinarian! Again, I missed Digby and I hope that he is back soon!

Of the stories in this collection though, I think that my favourite was The Ballad of Rodney and June. Rodney is an ordinary wooden soldier, fighting for the Adversary. When he is injured he is sent to June for repairs. She is also fully wooden, and works to make repairs on the wooden soldiers. They are smitten by each other, and soon Rodney begins to woo her. Except, he doesn't really know how to go about this. There are no emotional sparks between them when they kiss, and then they realise that they don't have all the necessary parts that humans do in order to procreate. The whole story is told in the form of a letter to Geppetto asking him to make them both human. What they don't realise is that if their wish is to be granted, there will be a terrible price to pay and they have no idea what that might entail.

I think I have one more Fables book to read before I need to switch over to the Jack of Fables series which interlinks with this one. I have already requested volume 8 from the library through interlibrary loan.

Rating 4/5

Culture clash

With the identity of the Adversary finally revealed to the citizens of Fabletown, it's time to begin making preparations in earnest for the defense of their stronghold in the mundane world - and that means forging new alliances with whoever remains unconquered by the Adversary's legions. But the arrival in Fabletown of a delegation from the Arabian Homelands shows just how tricky this kind of coalition-building can be - especially when one side is concealing Weapons of Magical Destruction.

Other contributors include Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Jim Fern, Jimmy Palmiotti and Andrew Pepoy.

More 2013 challenges

A month or so ago I wrote up a list of the challenges that I was going to be participating in during 2013.   At the time I mentioned that I was waiting to hear what the War Through the Generations theme was going to be this year, and now I know that it is American Revolution. Like many other fans, I am hoping that the next book in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon might be out later this year and that would qualify for this challenge. There are a couple of other books I have heard of as well that might be interesting.

Does anyone have a favourite American Revolution book to recommend?

I have participated in several Sci-fi Experiences hosted by Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings now, and I have a plan for this year. I have already posted one review for this experience but my aim is to read at least one, or maybe even two, of the Miles Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold. I read the first two books and really enjoyed them. In the review, I said that I wanted to keep reading but I had to find time to fit them in the reading schedule. Here I am, a year later, forcing them in my reading schedule - sideways if necessary!

Who knows, there could be more challenges, but at this stage I think this is it!

Sunday Salon: 2012 in Review

The start of one year brings new opportunities, a clean slate, and I am pretty happy with the way this year has started blogging and reading wise. Before getting too far into 2013 though, I did want to take a few minutes to look back over 2012. Next week I will probably get around to writing down my reading resolutions for this year. I could do it as part of the same post but I think this one will be long enough already without adding to it!

First though, I normally do a monthly wrap up so here my December reads. In order to keep this post a little shorter I have put the challenges that I read the book for in brackets, where AWWC is Australian Women Writers Challenge, HF Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, AU is Aussie Author Challenge

Never Enough by Lauren Dane 3.5/5

Laid Open by Lauren Dane 4/5

Salvation Creek: An Unexpected Life by Susan Duncan 4.5/5 (AWWC, AU)

Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis 4/5

Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa  3.5/5

Queen of the Road by Tricia Springer 4.5/5 (AWWC, AU)

Under the Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis 3/5

How to Misbehave by Ruthie Knox 3.5/5

Here Comes Trouble by Ruthie Knox 4/5

Home for the Summer by Mariah Stewart 3/5

New Year's Eve by Rhiann Cahill 4/5 (AWWC, AU)

Christmas Wishes by Rhiann Cahill 3.5 (Reread)

The Cook by Wayne Macauley 4/5 (AU)

Short Soup by Coleen Kwan 4/5 (AWWC, AU)

Stand-In Star by Rachael Johns 4/5 (AWWC, AU)

Leave Me Breathless by Cherrie Lynn 4.5 (Reread, yes again)

The Chocolate Thief by Laura Florand 4/5

No Place Like Home by Barbara Samuels 4.5/5

Voice of the Falconer by David Blixt 4.5/5 (HF)

The Chocolate Kiss by Laura Florand 3/5

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon 4/5 (Reread, HF)*

Choc-Lit Love Match Selection Various 3/5

The Girl in the Hard Hat by Loretta Hill 4/5 (AU, AWWC)

*I actually listened to A Breath of Snow and Ashes on audio - the book was 48 CDs long! I swear it should count as more than 1 book!

Onto my summary of last year's reading!

In 2011, I read 228 books, which was my best reading year up to that point. In 2012 I smashed that figure out of the park with an amazing  (to me anyway) total of 291 books read. While I read quite a few smaller books from digital publishers towards the end of the year, I did also read quite a few huge books as well so I figure they kind of balance each other out!

My best reading month was November when I read 35 books. One of the factors that month was that I reread a lot of books. The month where I read the least books was April when I only read 17. Here is the graphical representation of my reading number, just looking at the numbers of separate titles read.

 

Books read per month

If I was going to pick only two aspects that I was surprised by in my reading this year it would be the way my reading was influenced by the Australian Women Writers challenge and the number of rereads.  Most years one of my reading resolutions is to read more Australian authors and I usually say I want to read 10 authors. Thanks to challenge I more than 50 books (predominantly by female authors, but there were some male authors in there too) by Australian authors. I was also encouraged by my fellow participants to pick up some books that I wouldn't normally have been as quick to pick up. Looking through the wrap up posts that are currently going up at the Australian Women Writer's Challenge website there are already a whole heap of books that I am adding to my reading list for this years challenge!

A couple of years ago I remember having a conversation with another blogger talking about rereading. She expressed surprise at the fact that I didn't often reread and my response was that there are so many great books out there yet that I haven't read yet that I don't have time to reread. When we recently revisited that conversation, now she no longer rereads much. This year though, I felt the need to do quite a lot of rereading. One or two were unavoidable (for example when book club chose a book I had already read) but mostly they were totally by choice - apparently I needed the comfort. All up I reread 18 books, which I am pretty sure is more than I have reread in all the years since I have been blogging combined! I actually read one book (Leave Me Breathless by Cherrie Lynn) three times in the space of 6 weeks - unheard of! If I did categories like Hero of the Year, then Seth 'Ghost' Warren from Leave Me Breathless would have definitely won the title!

One thing that reading a lot of digital only publishers has done is increased the e-book to print ratio up. Last year I think I was reading 4 paper books for each e-book, but this year the ratio has changed to be closer to 1:3. I also listened to 2 audio books during 2012, but as I mentioned above one of those suckers was 48 CDS long which should count for like five or six books! I started listening to that book in September and only just finished it before the end of 2012. When I listened to the first audio book I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it as it had been quite some time since I listened to one. I am already on my second audio book for 2013 so I expect to see that number go up a bit this year.

Format

My genre reading continues to change. For a reader who only read a contemporary romance novel occasionally a couple of years ago, romance and in particular contemporary romance, now make up the vast majority of my reading as show below:

I tend to think of romance in terms of the sub genres so I thought I would breakdown the numbers for that category. I read only 5 Paranormal Romance, which a few years would have been a big surprise as I did read quite a lot of them, 3 were Romantic Suspense (not normally my thing), 4 category romances, 30 were historical, which is what I would have normally said was my go to sub-genre and then the remaining 84 were contemporary romances. This is a trend in my reading that I don't see changing.

I mentioned before the influence of the Australian Women Writer's challenge on my reading year. One of the reasons for the creation of this challenge was to address the gender gap that occurs in reviews and prizes here in Australia. For me as a reader, I tend to naturally gravitate towards female authors so it was no surprise to me to see my reading has a significant skew in that direction. This year I read 254 books by female authors and only 37 by male authors. In 2011 I only read 24 books by male authors so this was an improvement, however,  I do think that this is one aspect of my reading that I possibly need to make an effort to redress the balance a little more!

Now for a few other fun stats:

Pages read: 291 books equates to 90680 pages which is an average of 311 pages per book.
New to me authors: 116
Grades - I only rated 2 books as 5/5 reads during 2012. I did give 3 books only 2 out of 5, 6 books 2.5 out of 5, 21 a grade of 3 out of 5, 42 got 3.5 out of 5, 162 got my go to grade of 4/5, and the remaining 67 were awarded a grade of 4.5 out of 5.

In closing, I thought I would look at the resolutions I set for this year and see how I went

Read 150 books - As mentioned above, this was one goal that I exceeded easily this year.

Read 10 books that I owned as at 31 December 2011 - Every year I read less books that I own than come into my house. This is my attempt to try to make sure that I read at least a few that have been on my shelves for a while. In the end I read 24 books that I previously owned.

Reading Australian authors - See above!

Read some Charles Dickens - I must have completely forgotten about this one as I just surprised myself when I saw it sitting there! Whoops!

Perpetual Challenges - I aimed to read at least one book for each of the perpetual challenges that I am signed up for like The Pulitzer Project, the Orange Prize Project, and the Complete Booker. All I can say on this one is thank goodness they are perpetual!

Review more - This is one category that I am a bit uneven with. Some weeks I churn out a few reviews, other weeks none at all. Really need to get some consistency in this area.

Deadline Reading - I wanted to back off a little from deadline reading whether it be for library due dates, tours, egalley expiry dates and try to be a little organic in my reading in terms of being able to look at my shelf, or the library shelf and have a little more room to just read what I feel like reading. Another mixed set of results here. There were times during the year when I did feel very pressured but by the time I look at the end of the year, I have half the number of library books out from the library than I normally used to have so that is definitely helping!

So there you have it..... My 2012 reading year in review!

Currently Reading

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Listening to Gallipoli: Our Last Man Standing by Jonathan King.

Up Next

Vanity Fair by Megan Caldwell and Sex, Lies and Bonsai by Lisa Walker

Weekend Cooking: Wookiee Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes (The Star Wars Cookbook) by Robin Davis

Over the holiday period I was back in Adelaide spending time with family and friends and generally trying to take a little time to relax and recharge.

I went to see The Hobbit in the gold class cinema (felt very decadent having scones with jam and cream and a pot of tea while watching a movie in comfy reclining chairs), I went to the beach a few times and I went to see Les Miserables with a friend of mine. I will try to make some time to put up a few photos as we managed to make the long drive pass by more quickly by having some fun along the way!

When I was out for dinner with the friend I went to see Les Mis with, she mentioned that she had some spare copies of The Star Wars Cookbook and asked whether we would like one.

Now, I have a confession to make. I have never, ever, no-not-ever, I am not joking here....NEVER seen a full Star Wars movie from beginning to end. I have seen bits of them, and I can quote the big lines (you know..."Luke, I am your father" for example) but there was no way known we were going to be allowed to watch "that rubbish" (my mother's words) when it came out and it just hasn't happened since.  My sister hasn't seen one either, despite the fact that her five year old son is quite obsessed with the franchise! So, while I was interested in having a look at the book, I knew my nephew would love it, so I bought one home with me!

Even for someone who isn't emotionally connected to the whole Star Wars world, this was a lot of fun!

The creators of this book have taken everyday recipes and given them a Star Wars twist. Some are better than others but some of my favourite recipe titles were Wookiee Cookies, Han-burgers (simple but genius), Yoda Soda, Hoth Chocolate, Jabba Jiggles (which is green jelly with fruit in it) and more. For most of the recipes there are full page photos that feature Star Wars figurines along with the food. One of my favourite photos was for Princess Leia Danish Dos where Princess Leia is pictured among a pile of cinnamon scrolls, which are obviously reminiscent of her hairstyle The book is spiral bound, and printed on full gloss thick paper which will hopefully be easy to keep mostly clean.

The reality is that this is a kid's cookbook dressed up with Star Wars paraphernalia. The recipes are pretty easy - Wookiee Cookies are pretty much chocolate chip cookies (recipe below) - and where it is likely that a child would need assistance it is clearly marked in the recipe. At the beginning of the book there are general instructions under the headings of Be Careful - Respect the Mysteries of the Force (talking about kitchen safety),  Be Aware - Cultivate the Awareness of a Jedi. Even though it is designed for kids, I am pretty sure that there will be a ton of grown up Star Wars fans who would have a lot of fun with this.

I have seen that there is a second Star Wars cookbook out too. I just might need to take a look at it at some point.

Rating 4/5 (most of which is for the fun factor alone)

Wookiee Cookies 

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


1. Preheat the oven to 375º

2. Put the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Stir with the wooden spoon until well mixed. Set aside.

3. Put the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in another mixing bowl. Using the electric mixer set on high speed, beat together until well blended and creamy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and stir with the wooden spoon until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Scoop up a rounded tablespoonful of the dough and drop onto a baking sheet. Repeat until you have used up all the dough. Be sure to leave about 1 inch between the cookies because they spread as they bake.

5. Using pot holders, put the baking sheets in the oven. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

6. Again, using pot holders, remove the baking sheets from the oven. Lift the cookies from the baking sheets with a spatula, and place on cooling racks. Let cool completely.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.  

Flirting with Disaster Cover Reveal

Today I am very excited to be part of the big Flirting with Disaster cover reveal! As I mentioned yesterday when I posted my review of Ride With Me, Ruthie Knox was one of my favourite contemporary romance discoveries of 2012 and I am very excited to see what comes next from her.


Welcome Ruthie!

Hello, everyone!

I’m thrilled to be able to reveal the cover for the final title in my upcoming Camelot series with Loveswept: Flirting with Disaster. I hope you love it as much as I do! I’ve been really gratified to see each of the covers the Random House design team comes up with for this series — all of them sexy and intimate, but with that spirit of fun that infuses all three of these stories.

The Camelot series consists of a hundred-page novella and two full-length novels set in the Midwestern college town of Camelot, Ohio. It revolves around the three Clark siblings — Amber, Caleb, and Katie — and contains a number of hot security guys, extended-family shenanigans, banter, angst, and of course the occasional steamy scene, just to keep things interesting.

Here’s a handy cheat sheet so you can keep the stories straight:

I’m looking forward to sharing these books with romance lovers everywhere. Happy reading!

XOXO,
Ruthie


Additional links

How To Misbehave – Description and Excerpt on Ruthie’s Website | Preorder from Amazon | Preorder from Barnes & Noble | Preorder from iTunes | Add to Goodreads

Along Came Trouble – Description and Excerpt on Ruthie’s Website | Preorder from Amazon | Preorder from Barnes & Noble | Preorder from iTunes | Add to Goodreads

Flirting with Disaster – On Ruthie’s Website | Preorder from Amazon | Preorder from Barnes & Noble | Add to Goodreads

Ride with Me by Ruthie Knox

Tomorrow I am participating in a fun cover reveal for Ruthie Knox's upcoming book Flirting with Disaster. This reminded me that I haven't actually written any reviews for the books that I have read by Ruthie Knox. Ride with Me was Ruthie Knox's debut novel and since reading this one I have gone on to read more books by her. I would go so far as to say that she is one of my favourite contemporary romance discoveries of 2012.

Alex Marshall's lifetime dream has always been to ride the Trans American bike trail. A girl, her bike, the road, a challenge - what more could she want. She has it planned to the minutest details from where each stop will be to precisely how far she will travel each day aided by the latest in bike computers and other technologies. Recognising though that life could be dangerous for a young woman on the road by herself, she advertises for a riding companion.

Tom Geiger’s sister signs him up to be Alex’s companion, being very careful not to mention to him that his riding companion for the next few weeks is going to be a woman who actually goes by the name of Lexie. He is not best pleased when he finds out the morning when they meet up at the beach that their ride is starting at. He is even less pleased when he realizes that she has the ride planned to the tiniest detail. He is more casual about how he wants his journey to be. If he fancies leaving the trail for a couple of days, so be it.

For Lexie this journey is a dream come true. She is a teacher who has taken the opportunity of the summer holidays to fulfil her dream and she is following the journey that her parents took when they met and fell in love. She doesn't expect that the same could happen for her, or that the ride will change her life so much. She does, however, recognise that Tom could be dangerous for her emotional equilibrium so she invents a husband to keep him at arms length.

Tom is a bit of a loner. He used to be in a position where he relied on his intellect and charm, until he got into a situation where acting on his conscience cost him everything, and impacted the lives of many others as well. Now, he only really has contact with his sister. The rest of the time he works in a bicycle shop doing repairs, interacting on a needs basis. He is surly and non-communicative at various stages through the journey and he is determined that as soon as he can find another riding companion for Lexie he is going to make his own way. Except, slowly but surely, her cheerfulness, attractiveness, and energy begin to draw him in and he is able to help her to be more relaxed and to be less rigid. Soon, they are both struggling to contain their interest in each other, especially Tom who has no interest in messing around with a married woman.

When they do get together though, the chemistry between these two is scorching hot, leaping off the page! Tom and Lexie are so good together. Ruthie Knox has written a book where the characters are flawed, they are funny and they are so much fun to read about. The dialogue in this book is really fresh and I was immediately looking forward to reading more from her as soon as I finished this book. For example, there was a scene where the two of them had a competition on who could eat the fry with the hottest chilli sauce on it that was pure gold. If anything, the only major issue I had with this book was that it was too short! It didn't necessarily feel rushed, but just I wanted more of the fun, more of Lexie and Tom, more of the scenery....just more.

Yes, Tom is a bit of an arse at times, but I can appreciate that after losing everything he would feel isolated and that he would then find himself feeling a little comfortable in that isolation. I also can completely empathise with someone who internalizes their emotions a lot, as that is something that I have been known to do. He got there in the end, even if it took him longer than Lexie would have liked. And yes, Lexie is a bit uptight. She would probably have driven me crazy, but both of them felt real.

This was a fantastic debut novel, and Ruthie Knox is now on my list of authors to watch out for new releases from!

As a final note, I would never in a million years have expected that reading a romance novel would make me wish I could get on my own bicycle and go for a ride, but Ruthie Knox had me at least thinking about it!

Rating 4.5/5

Synopsis

In this fun, scorching-hot eBook original romance by Ruthie Knox, a cross-country bike adventure takes a detour into unexplored passion. As readers will discover, Ride with Me is not about the bike!

When Lexie Marshall places an ad for a cycling companion, she hopes to find someone friendly and fun to cross the TransAmerica Trail with. Instead, she gets Tom Geiger — a lean, sexy loner whose bad attitude threatens to spoil the adventure she’s spent years planning.

Roped into the cycling equivalent of a blind date by his sister, Tom doesn’t want to ride with a chatty, go-by-the-map kind of woman, and he certainly doesn’t want to want her. Too bad the sight of Lexie with a bike between her thighs really turns his crank.

Even Tom’s stubborn determination to keep Lexie at a distance can’t stop a kiss from leading to endless nights of hotter-than-hot sex. But when the wild ride ends, where will they go next?

Library Loot: January 2 to 8

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

After not borrowing anything for a couple of weeks, I had to make a quick trip to the library today to pick up a couple of items. I already know that there are a couple more items on their way to me too so I should have loot for next week too. Here's what I got:

The Convent by Maureen McCarthy - I can't remember where I saw the review that prompted me to borrow this book, but it sounded good. This will be one of my early choices for the Australian Women Writers Challenge for this year.

The Magical Christmas Cat anthology - I actually only got this because it has the next instalment of the Psy/Changeling series in it. I am not actually even sure if I am going to read the rest of the stories or not.

Gallipoli: our last man standing by Jonathan King (audiobook) - I have just recently started listening to audiobooks again so I thought I would try listening to one by an Aussie author that I haven't read before and to listen to a non fiction book. Unfortunately my hand/eye coordination isn't what it should be. I thought I was picking up one by Peter Fitzsimmons about The Anzacs. Never mind, hopefully it will still be interesting! It is about the last Australian who served at Gallipoli and traces his life and the changes he saw.

Head over to Claire's blog to share your Library Loot!