It’s killing me that I have a brand new stack of books to be read - books that I really want to read, but I don’t have time to get to them.

It’s killing me that I still haven’t read the latest Dark Hunter book!!

I downloaded a bunch of ebooks before my trip, and I’ve read one of them - and it was mostly just skimming more than reading. Books are staring at me, calling to me, but I’ve got too many proposals to work on.

Darn requests are interfering with my reading.

So, what are you reading? Tell me about it so I can live vicariously through you!

Getting ready for my insanely long plane ride (during which I really should work on my pitch - are you getting sick of that yet?) I’m buying a whole mess of ebooks. Hey, they don’t take up any space in my suitcase, right?!?!

So far I’ve gotten:

From my Torrid sisters:
Saints & Sinners by Shawna Moore (it’s about a flapper, isn’t that great!!)
Lucinda’s Contract by Monica M Martin (A historical which I’m not thrilled about, but it sounds cool - and sexy, plus I got a free book because it’s the Torrid Sizzler!)
Saving Will by Stephanie Vaughn (this was my free one. Sounds like a good straight forward contemporary erotic romance!)

Still to get from LSB:
The Devil Inside or Gypsy Heart by Sasha White (I can’t decide if I should get both or just one - who am I kidding? I’ll probably go for both).

Still to get from EC:
Perfection by Summer Devon (I don’t know why, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to be upset that this book isn’t longer).
Hands On by Jaci Burton (I totally want to be her when I grow-up. And I’m going to be in the same room as Nora, but I’m more nervous about making a gushing fool of myself in front of Jaci. Am I weird?).

I’ve decided it’s best not to look at any other pubs because my budget won’t allow it (even if they don’t take up any physical space). And I think it’s going to be a struggle to get away from LSB and EC with only those books!

But still, I’m going to ask for other reccomendations. Read any good ebooks lately?

Do they have a Book Buyers Anonymous? Hello, My name is Emma….

OK, so over the past few days I’ve probably gotten about 50 hits on my blog from people searching HurricAIne Emily. Yes, people who can’t spell get sent here!

If you’re using MSN to search, I’m the first hit for misspelling hurricane!

Anyway, I’ve been hearing about this interview (the ONE) JK Rowling gave for the HP release. She says she’s been writing these books for 15 years and she figures she’ll start writing book seven round about the end of the year?

WTF?

7 (actually only 6) books in 15 years and she’s a freaking bazillionaire?!?!?!

I’m aiming for 7 books in one year and maybe I’ll make a living at it.

I hope there aren’t little kids out there saying “Ooh, I wanna be a writer just like JK Rowling when I grow up.”

The thing is, I don’t think even she gets it. Yes, I know she was a single mother on the dole writing on napkins at the corner cafe or whatever, but I feel like she’s forgotten that part of being a writer.

And why in the hell has she been writing these damn books for 15 years yet I have to wait 7 more before it ends? Oooh, I just figured this out… by the time HP 7 comes out, she’ll have been writing these books for more than half my life.

Interesting, no?

Ah, well, I better go write one of my 7 books…

There are NO spoilers ahead. I promise.

I’ll wait to talk about Harry Potter until more people have read it. I understand not everyone spent the entire day reading it from cover to cover yesterday. Geez, what’s wrong with you people? Do you actually have a life?

Anyway, here’s my question. If you were publishing what you knew was going to be the bestselling book in history (an initial print run of over 10 million copies - hell, I’m hoping to sell 10 copies) wouldn’t you copyedit the hell out of that book?

Yeah, Scholastic didn’t so much do that.

There are a butt load of spelling errors. The first appearance of Harry has him asleep next to a window where his breath “fugs” the window.

There were a few missteps that I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe some Britishisms confused somebody. But there were several of/on/or mistakes and this morning The Hubster picked out a site/sight.

If being a bestselling author means that no one is going to proofread my work, well, then I hope I never get there.

There are good books and there are bad books.

Really, does anything more need to be said? I think not, but apparently I’m in the minority.

Almost half of all fiction sales are romance. Does anything else need to be said there? Once again, I don’t think so.

So why does it keep being said over and over and over again?

I did something this morning. I went through my two big bookshelves flanking my desk and I mixed up all of my books.

The catagory romances are next to the single title romances are next to the books left over from my English Lit days next to the textbooks.

You know why? Because they’re all books I like. Regardless of genre, regardless of reviews, I like these books and that’s all I need to know.

I don’t give a good God damn if someone else likes it or hates it. I don’t care if someone HATES all books with someone named Joe in them. I don’t particularly care for some books, but what in the hell does it hurt me if my next door neighbor has a book on the shelf that I don’t like (though in truth I’d be surprised to learn that my next door neighbor reads books at all).

Please, tell me what books you like and don’t like. I’ll respect your opinion. But I’m also an intelligent person who will make up my mind on my own.

If you start dissing an entire genre though (especially without ever reading one)? Well, then I think you deserve to be smacked upside the head with the fifth Harry Potter book - in hard cover.

I’ve been sitting on this post for a few days because I don’t want to say anything bad about anyone. I certainly don’t want to judge anyone, but there’s no doubt that somebody messed up with what I’m about to say.

The other day I downloaded Layover by Ann Wesley Hardin, from EC.

It was a really good story, 2 pilots having some Layover nookie. It was well written, very dialogue heavy, which I like. But there was one thing in the book that totally ruined the rest of it for me.

The 2 characters were on a Layover in Seattle. They were driving from SeaTac Airport to Everett and they claimed that they could see Mt. McKinley in the distance.

Mt. McKinley is in Alaska.

On the drive from SeaTac to Everett you could see Mt. Ranier in your rearview mirror or probably Mt. Baker on a clear day.

Don’t you learn that Mt. McKinley is in Alaska (the tallest peak in North America also known as Danali) in third grade geography?

I certianly don’t begrudge anyone making a mistake. It happens. But isn’t that why there’s editors and proofreaders and well, all the other people that read books?

Would I have noticed this had I not lived in Seattle for 6 years?

That’s just it, I can forgive mistakes that people make if they’re writing about places they’ve not lived, but I just can’t get over the fact that these two characters are looking past Canada!

Has anyone else ever come up with mistakes like this? Things that are so glaring it ruins an otherwise really good book for you?

I’d like to say that I crossed off all of the things on my To-Do list this week, but instead, what did I do yesterday? I watched the marathon of America’s Next Top Model (season 2) on VH1.
They showed the one where they all went to Milan and the Walgreens chick slept with some Sexy Italian dude and then had to call her boyfriend (back in Middle-of-Nowheresville) and tell him.

Ahh, great television.

But I was already pretty sure who won because she’s now the new host of The Look For Less on the Style network (though I don’t like her nearly as much as Elizabeth, but I guess she’s busy with The View and a new baby).

I really need a life, don’t I?

Anyway, I also watched Strip Search last night, and if you’re not watching this show, WHY? I realized last night that I don’t find any of the guys particularaly attractive, but I’m still loving the show! Have I told you all that I have seen Thunder From Down Under in person? Several years ago some friends and I took a girls only trip to Vegas and beleive it or not, it was the only show we could agree on. And my Thunder post card is on my builliten board and stares at me all day. Mmmm yummy, sexy Austrialian men (insert drooling Homer here).

I wasn’t able to find Sins of the Night during my trip out of the house yesterday (and call me crazy but is it not the same guy on both covers) so after all the excitement of my day I stayed up late reading The Beast Within.

I don’t read many SIM’s just because I find them kind of random. I know that the multiple lines are supposed to mean I know what kind of book I’ll be getting when I pick it up, but SIM’s aren’t really like that to me. But I’ll make an exception for the PAX books.

It’s the perfect kind of series for me - there weren’t really unanswered questions that I have to wait months to find out the answers to, so I will most definiately be picking up the other PAX books. How awesome is the PAX blurb.

Paranormal Allied eXperts — genetically enhanced superagents leading the world into a new era of defense.

I dare anyone not to read those books!

And Holy Tortured Hero, Batman! I just wanted to reach through the pages and give Kieran a hug (not that he would’ve let me).

But its the kind of book that I didn’t fall in love with the hero. Maybe it was because he was already married, but I never wanted him for myself, because I knew Paige was too perfect for him. I really enjoyed the book, but I never found myself wishing that I were Paige. Hmmm, maybe this is a topic to explore more in depth some time.

The only bitty problem I had was that I was a little bit confused about what exactly Kieran was. Well, it suddenly became clear at the end (I think) but the whole ectoplasm thing got me. All I could think about was Slimer from Ghostbusters.

But anyway, if you’re not too busy watching VH1 (priorities here), I highly suggest The Beast Within.

This post is going to sound a bit rambling, but really all topics have one thing in common, and that’s Jill (hence the post title).

1. Is it just me of have blurbs (esp Harl/Sil blurbs) become, well, sucky? I read Jill’s Free Fall last night. I read the blurb before I started and got a definite “eh?” vibe, but since it was Jill, I read it anyway. The book was awesome, but after I finished, I re-read the blurb and then got a definite “Huh?” vibe. It didn’t really have all that much to do with the book.

So, I read a few other blurbs of books that I really enjoy and the blurbs were all kind of “eh?”

For me, that’s one of my favorite things about ebooks. When the author has to write their own blurbs, I think they’re better. I think it’s much more effective to have the author have to sell their own book in blurb form than to have a publisher sell it. There’s not that whole blood sweat and tears thing going on.

But regardless of the blurb, everyone should still read it.

2. Jill’s “big bastard” made it into the book!

The bear scene was so much funnier having read Jill’s escapades on her blog! I actually laughed out loud at a few parts, just because I “know” Jill.

I guess my point here is how much blogging is cool! It’s cool for readers (I’m wearing my reader hat at the moment) to be able to interact with their favorite authors, and I think it brings so much more to the whole reading experience.

I know this has been discussed to death, but there are so many new authors I’ve added to my TBR pile because I read their blogs. (For instance, since I’ve decided I will not be able to wait ’til July to read the new Sherrilyn Kenyon book, I’ll also be picking up The Beast Within when I go to the bookstore this afternoon).

3. I’ve been judging contest entries for a contest that shall remain nameless (unless I already said it and then oh-well). The entries are bad. They’re really not good.

One of the questions on the scoresheet that I’ve been struggling with is “Does the setting enhance the mood and tone of the story?”

Now that I’ve read Free Fall, I understand that No, pretty much none of my entries do that. Towards the end of the book, Logan and Lily (can I say that I think it’s hysterical that when they get married her name is going to be Lily White) are spending their last night together. It’s dark and the snow was falling and it was perfect! There was just enough setting detail that I got how special EVERYTHING was.

Now I have to go lower my scores. *sigh*

So there you have it, three reasons for why Jill should be Queen of the World!

And now that I’ve written this, I hope I don’t come across as crazy….:shock:

Jill asked this question the other day, but I’m stealing.

And I’m not asking to get ideas what to read next (my TBR pile is out of control, plus, I’ve got stuff to do). No, really, I’m asking so I can rave about Gena Showalter’s Awaken Me Darkly.

While it wasn’t the amazingly, awesomely wonderful book that The Pleasure Slave was, it was pretty damn great! (I adore The Pleasure Slave. Like, it’s become one of my favorite romances ever. I have an unnatural attraction to Tristan - and not just unnatural because he’s fictional.)

I think that was my biggest problem with Awaken Me Darkly. Not enough of the deliciously yummy hero, Kyrin. I knew going in that it wasn’t a romance, but that didn’t stop me from wanting it to be!

And trust me when I say that Mia certianly didn’t need a hero. At point throughout the book I found myself wondering why I liked it so much (liked it so much to continue reading through a migraine that was brining tears to me eyes). I don’t think I’d necessarily want to be Mia’s friend (she’d hurt me), and at times she wasn’t even sympathetic. But Gena’s got a way with words that makes all of this stuff work.

The other day I also read Her Last Temptation by Leslie Kelly, the last Tempt we’ll ever see in the US. For those around the world, it may not be a good book-may not really make sense even-but I liked it a lot. Frankly, if you haven’t been a regular Temp reader, you probably wouldn’t care. And yes, perhaps I shed a tear or 2 at the end.

So, what are you reading, AND would you reccomend it?