Monday, July 4, 2011

Catching Up on June's Events, Books & Bloggers!

June was a very busy month filled with exciting events, and a few contretemps. You've heard all about my meeting Ms. Nalini Singh earlier during the month for the book signing of Kiss of Snow, and how I lost my glasses and couldn't read for almost a week due to blindness. Ugh! But this last week... well, this last week was just plain fun!

Books from Nath:
Jill Shalvis, Gini Koch, Katie MacAllister
Nath and her sister Emilie came down last Saturday night, June 25th to stay with us prior to the RWA Conference. Nath came bearing gifts... yummy, out of this world sweets from Canada that we all love, and, well... books!

Sunday we went shopping at one of our big outlet malls in New Jersey for about six hours or so. The ladies are seasoned shoppers, and I promise I didn't faint, lol! Then I rushed over to my brother's house to visit with my youngest brother and sister-in-law who arrived from Orlando at the same time as Nath and Emilie. On Monday, I left work early and Nath and Emilie and I went over to my family's house for a get together and a family dinner with everyone, this way combining both visits for me. No time to read or blog people, but a great time!

Tuesday was nuts! I worked again and barely got out in time for the RWA Literacy Signing, and made it after an altercation with the bus driver who was giving us a tour of NYC instead of parking the bus at the Port Authority.... well, needless to say the New Yorker in me came out full force (but that's a story for another time, lol) and I finally made it. That was a really exciting and wonderful part of the week that I've been looking forward to for a year. Besides meeting the authors, I had a wonderful time with Mariana at the Blogger Bar Bash afterwards where we chatted for a while with other bloggers, Nath, Librarian of the Year Wendy, KristieJ, Lusty Reader, Christine, author L.B. Gregg and other bloggers  who came around on and off (although I missed meeting Rosie!). The table was grand central. It was such a pleasure to meet them all and lots of fun!

Books from Tabitha:
Patti O'Shea, Laura Griffin, Jill Shalvis
Kathleen O'Reilly, HelenKay Dimon
My week didn't end on Tuesday though. I went to a work-related event on Wednesday night and didn't get home until past midnight, but when I arrived home there was a box waiting for me! It was from our friend Tabitha who shipped a box of books to Nath at my address, but as it turned out most of the books were for me. Thanks Tabs!

Thursday I worked past 7:00 pm... got home and collapsed! Friday, I basically did all the things I should have done during the week at home, ran errands and actually saw that stranger I refer to as husband! (and finished a book, yay)

Madeline Hunter, Jodi Thomas,
Lisa Dale, Heather Webber,
Diana Gabaldon, Julie Kagawa
Saturday Nath and Emilie came back from the RWA conference to New Jersey to pick up their car. Nath came back bearing more gifts... books signed by authors I missed on Tuesday, plus books by other authors that did  not attend the signing, but whose works she knows I really enjoy. I was quite overwhelmed.

Later that same day, they decided to do some more shopping and twisted my arm convinced me to go with them, lol. Good thing too, I found some great deals! Then we all went to dinner together, and they were off!

So here I am... it's July and the long Holiday weekend's here. Time to relax. And after that long post, finally here are my June reads which thankfully are not many!

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Total June Reads: 10
Contemporary: 2 (Women's Fiction: 1, Romance: 1)
Historical Romance: 4
LGBT: 3 (Fiction: 1, Romance: 1, Mystery: 1)
Urban Fantasy: 1

  1. Slant by Timothy Wang: B+
  2. Sunset Bridge (Happiness Key Series) by Emilie Richards: B+
  3. The Salisbury Key by Harper Fox: B+
  4. More Than a Mistress by Mary Balogh: B+
  5. Magic Slays (Kate Daniels, #5) by Ilona Andrews: B
  6. Her Wyoming Man by Cheryl St. John : B
  7. Come Unto These Yellow Sands by Josh Lanyon: B
  8. Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn: B
  9. The Darkest Sin by Caroline Richards: C+
  10. Bodyguards in Bed by Lucy Monroe, Jamie Denton, Elisabeth Naughton: C+
  11. Pleasure Me by Monica Burns: DNF

Note that I have one DNF listed this month. I usually place books back in my TBR and read them later, but in this case I really tried to read Pleasure Me by Monica Burns. I read half way through before deciding that this book is not for me. :)

Upcoming reviews and minis for the books I missed reviewing in June. So how was your month? My top read in June was Slant by Timothy Wang... how about you? Which book was your favorite?

11 comments:

  1. It was so great to meet you Hils! I'm glad so many people were able to come out for the Literacy Signing - even though it was a major zoo this year.

    I shipped all my goodies home. I'm hoping they land in my office this week, because now I'm itching to sort through them all.

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  2. You were such a busy bee all week! Wow, I can barely go 2hrs of shopping much less 6hrs! But there were some really great deals this weekend so I couldn't resist the lure either. Lol

    Nath is such a sweetheart remembering your authors and picking up those books for you!

    You did pretty good with all the B reads. I read a lot of category books. I mainly glommed the Madaris' family series by Brenda Jackson plus a few other authors. My reading has picked up a bit, slowly, but better than nothing. :)

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  3. Wendy, it was such fun meeting you! The signing was definitely a great experience and if we go by the long lines and the noise in that ballroom, it was a great success. :)

    Shipping your haul was a great idea! I hope you get those goodies soon... I'm just starting to go through mine. :)

    Tabitha, thank you! I'm just going through the books you sent me. :) My week was a marathon, but I enjoyed every minute of it. LOL on the shopping... my performance was better this time around. I "almost" kept up with Nath and Emilie. *g*

    I didn't read much, but I enjoyed what I read for the most part, which makes it a good month. I am SO glad that your reading is beginning to pick up! That's always great news. :)

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  4. All right, peeps. Let me clear things up a little! It wasn't 6 hours of shopping!! LOL. More like 4.5! there's a difference LOL and Hils was actually lucky, because my sister was a bit down... otherwise, it'd have been even more intense!! But I'm really glad you did come shopping with us Hils :) It was lots of fun! And thank you so much for taking us in!!

    Getting you the books were the least I could do, really!

    At least, today is a holiday, so you can catch some rest :)

    and seriously, I think that despite everything, you had a great reading month!! :) I'm a bit surprised at your grade for the Ilona Andrews, would have thought it'd be a bit higher. And glad you enjoyed the Julia Quinn!!

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  5. Wow - you needed this long weekend to recuperate! What a great week!

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  6. Wow you had a FULL week, didn't you. Good for you for getting to do all that and see all of those wonderful people. I'm officially jealous. lol

    You got some great books too! Lucky.

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  7. LOL Nath! Okay... if Nath says it was 4.5 hours, it was! LOL! More intense?! Yes, I remember last time... he he he...
    All kidding aside, I enjoyed the heck out of myself, you know that. :D

    My reading month was good, considering. I enjoyed the Andrews once it got going, but yeah... it was one of those really good B's for me. :) The Quinn was definitely enjoyable too!

    Leslie, it was a wonderful week. I took the time on Monday to recoup a bit, 4th of July and all. :) Maybe you can make it to Anaheim next year? It's such fun! :D

    Tracy, next year RWA will be in your neck of the woods, I hope you don't miss it. I loved having Nath and Emilie to hang around with... talk books and shop with for the week, and meeting authors and other bloggers was a treat! I wish you'd made it this year!

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  8. I almost joined Hils, Nath and Emilie for the outlet shopping on Saturday, but had too many things to do at home. I don't think I would have been able to keep up, anyway. I am not a shopper! ;)

    I'm happy you had such a fun-filled time, Hilcia. It was great seeing you at RWA, but I'm looking forward to meeting up this month when we can sit still for more than 10 minutes and really catch up. I was kinda all over the place last Tues. evening. LOL.

    xo

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  9. Christine, I love that outlet, it's huge and mostly outside walking, and it turned out to be a most beautiful, perfect day for shopping. It was great exercise for me... lol, I need it!

    I loved watching you last Tuesday, you had the best time! However, I am looking forward to sitting down with a cup of coffee and just talking for a while. Hopefully soon. :)

    xoxo

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  10. oooh ! See? I did post on one of your RWA posts after all. ;-)

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  11. LOL, I know! I posted twice and it was confusing. *g*

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