There went my Wednesday

Confession time: I really love the read and return books at Albany County Public Library. This rack of books calls my name, I'm telling you. On Wednesdays, I volunteer in the Wyoming Room, and it never fails that I end up taking a read and return book on my way out the door. I think it has something to do with product placement. And the fact that this rack tends to have more guilty pleasure type romances . . . and that I don't have to feel like the circulation staff are judging me. Anyway, last night I picked up this little gem:

Carrie Montgomery grew up in a wealthy family with seven older brothers who give her whatever she wants. Now, Carrie is used to getting what she wants, and when she sees a photo of Joshua Greene, she's instantly smitten (she says in love, but smitten seems slightly more realistic), and determined to land this guy. Joshua is looking for a mail-order wife who can help him with this two children and the farm. After some tricky finagling, Carrie arrives out west to meet her husband. Sparks fly! Tempers flare! Sexual tension ensues!

This book demands that the reader totally suspend any ideas of reality. But it's a romance, so what the heck, right? What I liked about Carrie is that she's rich and doesn't have any problem using her money. Rather than learning to wash dishes or cook, she just pays people to do it for her. It's kind of refreshing that the heroine doesn't have to change into a paragon of womanhood to snag her man.

This was a super quick read, but I did miss out on my Wednesday night because I got sucked in. I think I've read other Jude Deveraux books, and she's okay. This book is predictable, and falls back on some typical tropes, but it's entertaining.

Have you lost an evening to any fluffy books lately?

Different Kinds of Reading

Today marks the start of my second month here at the University of Wyoming, and so far so good. As I mentioned two months ago when I last posted something, I'm working as a program advisor for student government. The position is new, and still a little undefined. I've been told to enjoy the summer and laid-back pace because come September, it's a whole different story. So far, I've been doing a lot of planning, and a lot of reading up on what the heck a Student Affairs professional should be doing. Here's a sampling of my current "professional development" reading list:

- Helping College Students
- Elements of Mentoring
- Advice for Advisors
- The Tipping Point
- Multicultural Competence for Student Affairs Professionals

Basically, I've gotten to know a whole new section of my library. At this point, I've been better about picking them out than actually reading them, but I have time to reform. I like to think that all this research is the information scientist in me (it's semi-official, I got an alumni license plate holder in the mail last week!!).

When not reading about how best to advise and appear competent, I've been reading my new favorite author, Laura Willig. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose and The Temptation of the Night Jasmine are books four and five, respectively, of the Pink Carnation series. Even though I haven't read the early books, I wasn't confused about what was happening. From writing this post, I see that there are eight books so far, and I can tell that I'm in trouble. I was a total waste of space once I started reading these. They're the kind of books where I promised myself I'd go to bed after I finished the chapter, and then it was suddenly 1:00 a.m. on a Wednesday and I had to get up in five hours but couldn't sleep because I was still thinking about the story. You know, one of those kinds of books.

The series has parallel stories in the present day and 19th-century England. The present day part is about a woman doing dissertation research on 19th-century English spies. The 19th-century part is about the English spies. Tidy, right? The major pros of the novels, in my humble opinion, are as follows:

1. Romance without hot-and-heavy romance (wink, wink)
2. Great dialog
3. Smart heroines
4. Fast-paced action/intrigue

I realize I'm not the best reviewer, especially since I failed to include any kind of plot summary, but do yourself a favor and check out these books.

I'm Baaaaaaack

So . . . It's been a while, and I could say that I've been too busy to post something, but the truth is really that I'm a little lazy. And I forgot that I had a blog. And that I haven't done anything noteworthy. I digress.

In the five month blogging hiatus, I moved into a new house, finished library school, saw my husband graduate from law school, and got a new job. Not too shabby, although the library school part is still pending until I get my grade from Cataloging. Now that I'm all done with school, I have a TON of stuff I want to read, including several months of untouched magazines. In the week or so that I've been done, I've read Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean and finished Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham.

Nine Rules was a quick read, and so so good. It's a regency romance containing all my favorite tropes: Spinsters! Adventure! Witty dialog! I'm not good at reviewing, but take my word for it, it's a fun read. There are some other books in this series that don't look quite as good. That being said, I would check them out from the library but not spend $8 at Amazon.

I've been reading Traitor's Wife for a while--I got it free for Kindle on Amazon and was slogging my way through during treadmill sessions. I made a final push during some downtime at work, and I have mixed feelings. The book is about 14th century England, and it is jam-packed with details and names and dates. If you asked me right now, after finishing it approximately an hour ago, I can only remember 25% of the characters' names. Don't judge. Anywho, I liked it, but wouldn't consider it a re-read.

As for the new job, this is my last week as a legal assistant. Next week, I'll be starting at the University of Wyoming as a program advisor for student government. I'm really excited for the new opportunity, and ready to get started. Especially because I'm basically office furniture in this last week at my current job. Cute office furniture though, right? RIGHT?

School's out for summer (at least until summer classes start)

I'm not technically done with class until the end of this week, but I'm done enough that I've been able to read a surprising amount of smut is a short amount of time. I hit the Kindle freebie jackpot last week when there were two historical romances on the bestseller list for $0.00. I read one on Saturday, and one on Sunday, and felt as if all was right in the world.

My major accomplishment is that I finally finished Infinite Jest. This has been a project almost a year in the making, and for those of you who have seen this beast, you know why. The book is almost a thousand pages long with 300 endnotes, but worth it. I have been reading it in fits and starts, mostly because it takes some time to get into, and I don't have a lot of time to spare with my oh-so-fun school reading. The book is about addicts, entertainment, and tennis (in a nutshell). It's no surprise that I have a hankering to take up tennis now. I've also found myself wondering how people give up controlled substances, because from the book, it sounds terrible and way hard. I can't even give up cookies, which is probably why they are the hardest substance I consume.

Next on the reading binge includes The English Patient, some kind of Christian-esque contemporary romance I've been reading on the treadmill, and whatever else comes my way.

Anyone else with big summer plans or summer books waiting to be read?

Ashamed, but Entertained

The end of the semester is getting closer, and I'm starting to feel the pressure to buckle down with schoolwork. Procrastinator that I am, this means I stress myself out for several more weeks and then work hard to break out some final projects at the last minute. Between the end-of-semester rush and hitting the midway point on a marathon training schedule, I have not had much time to read anything worthwhile.

That being said, I have squeezed in some non-worthwhile reading. I have been downloading free e-books to my Kindle, cranking up the font size, and running for what feels like hours some days. Mostly I read romances, and for the record, the romance novels you can get for free are not necessarily top of the line.

My other recent "reader fail" is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I checked this book out in the summer, and would make significant progress in small chunks of time. I couldn't face circulation again to renew, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will have some time to pick it back up over the holidays. For those of you unfamiliar with Infinite Jest, take it from me, this book is a monster. It's crazy long and Wallace uses endnotes throughout--I got a great forearm workout flipping back and forth!