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.

July 2005



Two HP's

Sunday, 31 July 2005 8:00 A GMT-05
I read two Harlequin Presents recently and this morning have some time to blog about them:His Convenient Mistress (#2479/Jul05) by Cathy Williams is part of HP's Bedded by Blackmail mini-series...Forced to bed...then to wed?  Here's the back cover b
Category: Reading
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Wedding Crashers, The Inner Light, and What I'm Reading

Saturday, 30 July 2005 8:20 A GMT-05
Our daughter gets home from camp tonight, so we had our "last hoorah" last night.  First we went to see Wedding Crashers, which is the funniest movie I've seen in years.  I'd spoken with my mom earlier yesterday and she said a lot of her
Category: Reading Entertainment
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Old Movies

Thursday, 28 July 2005 10:31 A GMT-05
I mentioned earlier in the month that we sent our daughter away to camp in Georgia for a couple of weeks, and that my husband and I were going to take a long weekend this past weekend to visit his mom.  The night our daughter left we had a treat...n
Category: Entertainment
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My favorite lines of the week

Thursday, 28 July 2005 9:47 A GMT-05
My favorite lines of the week come from Lisa Schwarzbaum's review of The Island for Entertainment Weekly:Hath not a clone eyes?  If you prick him, doth he not bleed through his sleek white Logan's Run jumpsuit?TTFN, Laurie Likes Books
Category: Entertainment

The scale

Thursday, 21 July 2005 7:42 P GMT-05
Next week is RWA's national conference.  When I attended last year I was very self-conscious about my appearance.  Although I'd lost about seventy pounds from my all-time weight high in 2003, I was still two sizes larger than I am today, which mea
Category: Personal/Political
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My Reality TV Summer

Tuesday, 19 July 2005 9:26 A GMT-05
After having given up on most reality TV shows, this summer it seems I'm hooked again.  Funny thing is, I'm not even particularly enjoying half of the six shows I'm watching, and yet I can't seem to stop.  Here's what I've watched/I'm watching:Kep
Category: Entertainment
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Run...Don't Walk!

Friday, 15 July 2005 3:06 P GMT-05
Those of you looking for a great, quick-reading historical, run...don't walk...to your nearest bookstore and pick up Cheryl St. John's His Secondhand Wife.  St. John writes for Harlequin/Silhouette, and this is HH #760 and a July release.  I've rea
Category: Reading
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I can't tell you how much I hate spammers!

Tuesday, 12 July 2005 11:00 A GMT-05
This one isn't going to be very easy to explain, but I'll try.  For several years now we've used an internal search engine powered by Freefind.com to help users navigate at AAR.  Since last December we've been transfering our reviews into a custo
Category: AAR
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The Cobbler Whose Children Have No Shoes

Friday, 8 July 2005 3:42 P GMT-05
You'd think that as the publisher of All About Romance, I'd have more free books coming my way than most people.  Not so.  As Blythe Barnhill is our site's managing editor, she receives all books that come in to be assigned for review (and that i
Category: Reading
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Furious

Thursday, 7 July 2005 2:27 P GMT-05
Warning: If you are a George Bush supporter, this one will undoubtedly piss you off.If the news reports are true, than Islamic terrorists are behind the attacks in London today.  Last I'd checked, an unknown group had claimed responsibility, but I d
Category: Personal/Political
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Rhyannon Byrd

Wednesday, 6 July 2005 10:29 A GMT-05
Okay...I'm going into uncharted territory now, revealing to you my favorite Romantica author, and I write it that way because, wow, she's pretty far out there, and she's taking me along for the ride.  Based on my personal definition of Romantica as
Category: Reading
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Happy Fourth! (And Grammar Pet Peeve)

Monday, 4 July 2005 11:15 A GMT-05
First of all, happy Independence Day!  On AAR's home page I've put up the you-control-the-fireworks "display" I do every July 4th, so stop by and play.  I'll be taking it down tomorrow.Okay - here's one of my major grammar pet peeves.  I
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