Christmas in August

I'm on hiatus from reviewing as we prepare to move in with my mother-in-law and handle her home care. I spend all my time going back and forth between houses and when I'm home, packing up almost thirty years of accumulated stuff. I won't even go in to the thousands of books I'm packing up to go with me...anyway, I needed something cheery and quick-reading. What can be more uplifting than a Christmas-themed romance? So I grabbed one of Debbie Macomber's annual Christmas books, Buffalo Valley. Macomber's a favorite of mine and I always look forward to each year's new new Christmas offering, but somehow I overlooked this one when it first came out in 2001. I'm a sucker for a Christmas book and buy a zillion every year... if it has snow, carols, and a small town, I'm in bliss! It is the most wonderful time of the year!

Merry Christmas, um, Happy Reading,
Debora

Searching For The FRASERS

It's taken more than a month but I finally have the books I need to start the Ana Leigh "Fraser" series. I'm mainly a contemporay romance reader but I never pass up a good historical western romance. Last month I was in Target and the book section had copies of THE LAWMAN SAID I DO for $3.99. The cover has a shilouette of a great looking cowboy and of course I snatched it into my cart only to find out later that the book is part of a series.

I was able to get book one, THE FRASERS: CLAY through PaperbackSwap. But the second book, HIS BOOKS UNDER HER BED, remained elusive until yesterday. Borders had one last copy and I snagged it but as I was sitting looking through the books later, happy in the fact that I have all three, it dawned on me. I have never read anything by author Ana Leigh and I have no idea if she's a good writer or not. What's even more interesting is that all three books were released into stores at the same time, all in January 2007, which is strange. I'm about to leave on my last vacation of the summer in a few days, and these are the three books I'm taking with me (I hear air travel is lengthy this summer so I want to be prepared). I surely hope I won't be dissappointed but just in case maybe I need to throw in a contemp romance to make me feel better.

Livia

Re-Discovering A Delightful Series By A Top Author

I was in a suburban Walmart last weekend looking for a new single title contemp romance when my eyes fell on a newly released favorite, Nora Roberts' THE MACGREGOR BRIDES. The paperback has a new more flattering cover and despite the fact I have the original book on my keeper shelf. The eye-catching cover caused me to pick the book up and peruse it for a few minutes. I hadn't read the three stories inside since 1997 and I made the mistake of reading three pages and in my shopping basket it went. Now I'm hoping there is going to be a reprint of THE MACGREGOR GROOMS. Yes I have this one on my shelf as well, two copies in fact, one autographed by Nora herself, but the Macgregors are addicting. Needless to say the reading of the brides stories have caused me to start a reread of the entire series, Oh well, the Macgregor and his clan will do that to us won't they? This is not a task to be rushed through despite the fact I have so many books waiting for my attention. So for the time being I'm out of the land of single titles and back into the world of category romances.

Livia