What was begun as an online journal of the books I read evolved...or maybe it devolved...to also feature behind the scenes goings-on at All About Romance from my perspective (mostly based on my personal feelings - okay, it's a personal pity party); topics I've gone over ad nauseum in commentary at AAR, including the nature of reviews and online behavior; and my non-cyber life (including family and items in pop culture that capture my interest, which is just about everything).

Please do not violate my trust. I restricted certain AAR-related and personal entries for a reason...to keep them as private as possible. Now that my blog is read-only, to access restricted entries you must already have a password; if you do, hold onto it so that you can continue to read restricted entries.

This blog is not part of All About Romance. I ask that you keep comments or questions regarding restricted blog content off of AAR.

Below you'll find the blogs I visit, broken out in my own odd little system of categories.

May 2005



Topic[A] No More

Monday, 30 May 2005 4:06 P GMT-05
Every Sunday night for the past couple of years you could find me - either at seven or at ten - watching Topic[A] with Tina Brown.  I may not have been a huge fan of hers at The New Yorker, but she is primarily responsible for turning around the for
Category: Entertainment
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Starting to talk about Jaid Black

Monday, 30 May 2005 12:59 A GMT-05
I've already mentioned that Jaid Black is aka Tina Engler, who won the PPP contest at AAR one year for an amazingly brilliant homage to Robin Schone.  I've also mentioned that in addition to being published in the Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down anthology fo
Category: Reading
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Grade Change

Sunday, 29 May 2005 3:53 P GMT-05
In my oh-so-anal fashion, I've just had to raise the grade on one of the two Marly Chance books I blogged about a couple of days ago.  In that blogging I mentioned my grade for Oath of Challenge was a straight B and that I'd given a B- to Oath of Se
Category: Reading
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Oath of Seduction & Oath of Challenge

Saturday, 28 May 2005 12:59 A GMT-05
Necessary Spoiler Warning...information in this blog entry may constitute a spoiler as regards the first book only.  It explains part of the world-building created by the author and was included because it pertains to the level of sexuality in the
Category: Reading

A correction

Friday, 27 May 2005 5:40 P GMT-05
In my previous blogging I referred to a book I'd read by Lori Leigh as featuring a scene of incest.  A reader who'd read the book challenged that, and she is right.  I've corrected the original blog entry.  Rather than incest, in this series of bo
Category: Reading
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A Rose by Any Other Name

Wednesday, 25 May 2005 12:59 A GMT-05
I've been a busy, busy reader.  I've read probably close to two dozen e-book Romantica titles in the past several weeks, from short stories to series-length stories, to full-length novels.  As a result of all this reading, I've come to a conclusion
Category: Reading
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Auction

Saturday, 21 May 2005 3:04 P GMT-05
In February author Brenda Novak contacted me to see if AAR would run, for free, a banner ad for an auction she was running throughout May to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  I agreed, but wanted to do more.  And so, in addition
Category: AAR Internet
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So Here's the Thing

Saturday, 21 May 2005 1:39 P GMT-05
Okay...so here's the thing.  How do I begin to blog about Ellora's Cave and other recently-read Romantica books without being embarrassed?  After reading several, I've realized there are "levels" of eroticism in Romantica.  The first lev
Category: Reading
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My week

Thursday, 19 May 2005 3:45 P GMT-05
I know this month has been skimpy on bloggings, but I spent so many hours on Sunday working to post the results in our (last) annual Cover Contest that Monday was spent simply recovering from working at my computer for a dozen hours solid.  Wait...
Category: Personal/Political
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Free books!

Tuesday, 17 May 2005 8:43 A GMT-05
I just learned of a free e-book download site - manybooks.net, and downloaded free versions of Emma and Little Women for my ebookwise! I already have print copies, but always borrow my daughter's ratty version of Little Women because mine is leather-
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Scopes Redux?

Friday, 13 May 2005 8:40 P GMT-05
With all the news reports in the past couple of weeks about the Kansas State Board of Education possibly revising its science standards, I've been wondering...what does the rest of the modern world think about the U.S., creationism, and "intelli
Category: Personal/Political
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Reading so far in 2005

Friday, 13 May 2005 6:47 P GMT-05
I've been catching up on my 2005 reading database over the past couple of days, and while I've still got some inputting to do, I thought I'd see where things stand so far.  I've read 81 stories, of which 51 are full-length books (series or single ti
Category: Reading
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My Introduction to Ellora's Cave

Thursday, 12 May 2005 2:35 P GMT-05
I think I mentioned some time in the past six weeks or so that I realized the time was ripe to begin reviewing e-books when I saw Ellora's Cave trade-sized books on sale at the bookstore, and not just shoved into the back.  No indeed, they had pro
Category: Reading
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Kingdom of Heaven

Tuesday, 10 May 2005 12:59 A GMT-05
I think I'm far tougher on books than I am movies, because I really enjoyed Kingdom of Heaven.  I thought Orlanda Bloom did a wonderful job on his first truly "grown-up" role - I understand he gained 25 pounds of muscle for the part, and i
Category: Entertainment
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Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday, 8 May 2005 12:19 P GMT-05
Mother's Day started a day early for me - after all, what could be better than watching the home team wipe the floor in game seven of the first round of basketball playoffs (even if on TV rather than in person)?  That's right, the Dallas Mavericks b
Category: Personal/Political
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The Dummy In Our Family

Friday, 6 May 2005 4:46 P GMT-05
Not that my husband likes to brag, or anything, but I've heard more than once that not only was he in his high school Honor Society (not to mention Phi Beta Kappa in college), but that he was president of his high school Honor Society.  Even so, he
Category: Personal/Political

This is Why I Love My New "Favorite Thing"

Thursday, 5 May 2005 5:20 P GMT-05
This is why I love my new favorite thing - my weekly email from Ebookwise.com listed the new Jillian Hunter title I'd expected to buy for $6.99 in paperback.  Instead I bought the download on sale for $3.74.  And Sue Margolis, an English novelist
Category: Reading
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My New Favorite Thing

Wednesday, 4 May 2005 5:21 P GMT-05
Last week I ordered and received my favorite new thing - the Ebookwise dedicated e-reader from Fictionwise.com.  I made the decision after agonizing for a week...do I get a PDA like most people use because more titles are available on its formats ev
Category: Reading
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