The Bitching: Well hi there. Long time no see. Things have been quiet around these parts this past month. Despite the massive amount of guilt I feel when neglecting my blog, I’ve managed to let an entire month go by without an update and it finally got the better of me today. So here I am.

The Bitching: I live in the nearly southern part of Mississippi (blew inland from Katrina) and I hate it. I hate it, for one, because I’m coast trash and I grew up on the water and all this fucking land is making me claustrophobic. Since moving isn’t in the cards this year (Dear God or Goddess or Alien or Whatever in Heaven, let it be soon), I have to suck it up and make do. Now being the book junkie that I am, my happy place is the bookstore. Sometimes you just need good, clean book-air. And in my claustrophobic state, I need more book-air than I use to. Here’s the big bitching part- WE DO NOT HAVE A BOOKSTORE. WE DON’T HAVE A FUCKING BOOKSTORE. There’s one an hour to the south and an awesome indie bookstore an hour and a half to the north but nothing nearby. Oh we have a Books-a-Million, which is NOT a bookstore, simply a store that sells books but I like going there about as much as I like Walmart. I FUCKING hate Walmart. I’ve NEVER had a good experience at a Books-a-Million. Anywhere. I’ve never met a BAM employee that knew the first thing about books, hell, I don’t know that I’ve actually met one that reads. I’ve NEVER had a BAM employee help me. I MEAN NEVER. Responses to book queries that I’ve received:

“Oh it’s over there.”
“I think we have it but if you can’t find it, we can order it.”
“It might be in the back. We’ll have it out in a few days.”
“Can you spell the title and the author’s whole name?”
“It says we have it. It’s on one of the tables.”

And my favorite is when I find it alphabetized by the author’s first name. I can’t tell you how many times this has happened.

So I’m stuck driving, or ordering books and neither of those things make me very happy. It does the opposite, in fact. And I hate it. But I’ve decided, after today’s wasted trip to BAM (I wanted The Flight of Gemma Hardy and The Probability of Miracles) I’m never going to go there again.

The Books: Despite the above bitching, I did get a few books this week, from various sources.

For Review:

The Sweetest Dark by Shana Abé. If you’ve never read anything by this author, STOP what you are doing and read The Last Mermaid. Just, wow. It has naughty bits and is a romance but oooooooh so lovely.

Bought:

The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay. Angie, I went digging through your Goodreads shelves again- this time for fantasy.

From a very kind book fairy:

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. I’m reading this now and it is everything you want it to be.

The Baking:

Though my technique and presentation leaves a lot to be desired… I’ve got effing Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes.

The Bitching: I’m so abysmally behind on posts, reviews, and reads that it’s quite possible I shall never catch up. My review pile has grown out of control- so much so that I had a mini panic attack that went something along the lines of “OH NO. I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO READ A BOOK JUST FOR FUN EVER AGAIN!” So the smart thing to do is quit accepting review copies until the pile shortens. Plus I want to start a reread of all the Harry Potter books and I’ll need a nice window for that. And it’s time to read Pride and Prejudice, I Capture the Castle and Scarlett again for the year. Some things just take precedence.

My reason for being behind is a REALLY good one though- I got married! I ran off to Jamaica and married a marvelous man who buys me books and doesn’t mind (too very much) when I pet books in public.

The Books: I didn’t make it to BEA this year (again….one day) because of the aforementioned marriage and even with all the wonderful surrounding me, yeah, I was still a bit bummed. I can’t wait to go and see and meet and do and breathe that marvelous book air. It will be my turn next year. Still, I have a wonderful book fairy looking out for me and she sent me the most amazing BEA wedding present:

Shadows (Ashes #2) by Ilsa Bick
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
Paris in Love by Eloisa James
As well as a signed copy of The Duke is Mine by Eloisa James (who remembered me! I went all fangirl crazy over that) and Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart by Sarah MacLean.

A much appreciated gift. Bookmarks, bags, pens, chocolate and so much BEA goodness. Love it.

For Review:

First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky (which is god-awful btw)
What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang
Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo
Something Like Normal by Trish Doller
The Siren by Tiffany Reisz

Bought:

Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt
Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
Hourglass by Myra McEntire
Undone by Lila DiPasqua (which I DNF)

The Baking: Are you kidding me? It’s far too hot to turn on the oven. I made these instead: