Return to Wonderland

Wow, what luck.  I was passing our local EB (Electronic Boutique) shop the other day and decided to look around.  Among the utter violent crap I happened to spot a lonely DVD case on a high shelf.  Grabbing it, I couldn't believe that I'd gotten my hands on the last copy of Alice: Madness Returns that they had!

I'm not really into PC games - or Xbox, PS whatever, etc - but I just had to have it.  I found a copy of the original game at a local cheap shop for about $8 (na-na-neh na na) and found it to be entertaining, you know, for a complete gaming novice.  So with that in mind, I bit the bullet and bought A:MR.

Okay, its a lot harder {oy, no laughing at the newbie!} and the graphics are certainly better than the first Alice.  The Cheshire Cat is back in all his tribal glory, as Alice, ably accompanied by her trusty Vorpal Blade, hunts for the monster corrupting Wonderland. . . again.

This series hasn't gotten the best of reviews, but I don't care.  I love the Alice in Wonderland story and collect the books, movies and games.  The only thing I've found disappointing about this game so far is that there is no Offical (or Unofficial for that matter) Strategy Guide.  Some enterprising people have guides online for PS3, etc, but as yet no PC versions.  There isn't even a PC Cheat list!

Anyhow, must dash.  I'm off to run havoc in Wonderland - will be back in time for tea! :P

Moving Day approaches

Well, this Friday it will be official.  I will be signing the lease for my unit.... woohoo!

I'm so excited by the move, but I also feel queasy at the thought of striking out on my own.  Thankfully, family will be less than 2 hours away.  So stiff upper lip and all that.

It's an exciting time but reality is hitting me as I now need to organise to have all my stuff hauled out there.  There will be boxes everywhere in the coming week or so.  I have so many books its not funny - and I can't even take my huge bookcase because it's too heavy!  The furniture shops out west are sure going to luv me :P

My only real problem will be getting my cat out there.  Poor little darlin' gets upset if you drive down the end of the street with her stuck in the noisy growling people-mover.  Two hours over the mountain range is just going to suck. . . I think I'll hit the vets before I go to get her something to calm her down.

Oh, and then there is my collection of plants, ferns, roses.  How the hell is this going to work?

Meanwhile, I'm just about to start another lot of units in my studies.  Oh, joy - not.  I certainly didn't pick the best time in the world to move, did I?  I'll have to chose the least demanding of my remaining units so that I don't stress while I'm settling in.  Who'd of thought that there would be so many details to see to?  Insurance, rent, utilities, internet, mobile phone coverage, changing address with everyone (banks, school, etc), arranging new Dr's, vet, dentist, finding a good hairdresser . . . oh God, the list never ends!

Woohoo!

I've been trying to find a place to rent for the last two years.  I have pets, I don't want to share, the GFC shot the rental market to hell, etc, etc.

Well, the other afternoon I received a phone call out of the blue (actually it came during the delivery of the couches - but that's another story :p) with the offer of a unit!

I won't be able to move for few weeks, but I don't care. . . I got a place! 

Oh God, that means I have to pack up all my books. . .

Ouch!

Am feeling soooooo sore today.  New couches arriving tomorrow, so old one moved into office. . . Only it took 3 of us to move it.... stupid big butt couch.  The new couches had better be heavenly or I'll be really ticked off.

Anyhoo, will be sleeping with the hot water bottle tonight :P  Fingers crossed I can move tomorrow.

In other news, during the massive cleanup I found some old copies of the Merry Gentry series that I had squirrelled away.  I do enjoying them, but. . . I don't know. I think my squickiness over the AB series is rubbing off on it - or maybe I just need a nap :-)

Hit List surprise

Talk about a total surprise!  I was so sure that reading the latest offering in the Anita Blake would leave me feeling disappointed that I nearly didn't read it.  Happily, instead of finding Anita and friends burning up the sheets by page 10, I found myself reminded of LKH's earlier style of Anita Blake novel - she's back baby!

Edward's role in this story just reinforced my feelings.  Olaf is back, but this time he isn't Anita's biggest problem.  She's away from her power base, and the Mother of All Darkness is still after her.

I won't give away the whole plot, but if you've thought that the series had lost it's shiny, then you'll be pleasantly surprised.

While not as good as books 1 - 10, its certainly no Skin Trade.

Give her another chance.

Back to Middle Earth

Just finished watching Lord of the Rings DVDs.  Still absolutely amazed by the landscapes of middle earth, aka New Zealand, especially the snow capped mountains that seem endless in the background.  Can't wait for The Hobbit!

Caved and bought the 50th anniversary 3-in-1 hard cover edition and even found a 70th anniversary copy of The Hobbit.  Wish airmail was a little faster! :-)

New Books, New Units

I've fallen back into my rut.  I've got assignments due, but have found myself unable to concentrate on them 100% and have fallen back into my bookshelf to escape.  I'd say that this is a bad habit, but I've aced all my units so far, so maybe there's something to this?

A few months ago I bought myself some new roses (bare root stock) and just thought that I'd brag a little here as the first of my roses has blossomed.  It is a gorgeous pink and I'm only sorry that you don't get a chance to smell it because the rose scent that wafts my way when I walk passed it is heavenly.  This is my beautiful 'Jacaranda'. 

 

Next to flower should be 'Eiffel Tower' which nearly died on me the first week it was in the pot (harsh westerly winds), and now my favourite, Mister Lincoln, has a bud.  Should be inundated with roses soon.   Ahhh, beautiful!

I forsee buying myself an outdoor lounger and sitting in the sun, reading my favourite books while being surrounded by the intoxicating smell of my roses.  Hmmm, I don't know why, but I feel like a cup of tea now? 
(PS - I blame this on too much Miss Marple :-P )

Santa Claws!

As you know, it's been rather chilly here.  So to commiserate with the weather, I decided to sort out my craft box and all the wool I've been amassing over the last few years.  Ah, blessed warm wool.  I bravely dug deep and dragged out some wool and a few patterns, plus projects started last year (oops - my bad), and decided to get stuck into them.  I'm nearly finished knitting a huge chunky wool shawl in verigated autumn colours, and will post pic when complete.  I did happen to complete a santa's bonnet for the cat.  I know, it sounds strange, but it's for a local knitting competition. 

So, with a ball of half used red that just screamed 'Christmas', I took some measurements (when I could get the tape measure on her), made up a pattern and off I went.  My cat was not the happiest of models during the various stages of construction....
 

Do I have to?  I look like such a dork!



Little Cat on the Prairie

That's IT!  I'm outta here!

Oh God... just get it over with!

And after a few hours - and a few bribes for the cat - the Santa Claws hat was finished!  Yes.  One project down, many more to go.  Now if I could only get the her to look at the camera instead of hiding her face.  Hmmmm....

Is Paranormal fiction the new Historical Romance?

Do you ever feel like just about every book you pick up these days has a supernatural flavour to it?  Have we, as a generation, just fallen out of love with the average Jo and Jane story?  I think we have.

I was trolling through my large bookshelves the other night and found, to my horror, that a huge percentage of space was devoted to romances of the paranormal kind.  It seems that Paranormal romance has become the new Historical Romance.  We are bombarded with covers of sexy vampires, witches, or werewolves.  If you walk into K-Mart, Big W, Target, or any other shop that sells books, all the romances are tucked away in a little corner while the Vampires, Witches and Werewolves are in your face up the front.  The extra tinge of dangerous love seems to have hit the spot with most women these days. 

Seriously, which of these books would you buy?

Think about what your local bookshop was selling 15-20 years ago.  Fabio was the hottest cover model out there, and if the blurb mentioned hunky knights, corsets and castles we bought it.  Fast foward 15 years and we are no longer drawn to a cover with Fabio manhandling his wench - face it, we cringe and put it down, nor does the windswept vista of a medieval castle high on a hill in the background have the power to woo us.  Have we just become too jaded? 

Now, feeling a little shamefaced, I went to one of the boxes where I store some of my older books, and sure enough there they were.  All my old favourites, slightly battered and looking extremely well read.  I felt like I'd just discovered old friends that I hadn't realised I'd missed.  There were my favourite romances that I'd discovered in high school (French was quite boring at times), and found my old Johanna Lindsey's.  The Mallory's and who could forget Warrior's Woman - my first Sci-fi/Fantasy romance.

I still have Nora Roberts' The Donovan trilogy (Captivated, Entranced and Charmed) and even some one-off historical romances that I'd managed to rescue from library book sales.  All of them, waiting patiently in this old brown box for the day when they'd be read again.  I don't have the heart to put them back in the box, and I don't want to get rid of them . . . I guess that means I'll be getting a bigger bookcase instead.

Twitter or bust?

The other day I did something that I never, ever, ever thought I'd do... I joined - wait for it people - Twitter! 

{gasps... and pause for dramatic effect}

Yep, that's right.  I've now joined the Twitter Army.  I'm blaming this on my new phone.  Accessing Twitter, Facebook, etc, is free in Australia with my plan.  So I caved - hanging head in shame now.

The weird thing was, I was only joining so I could follow the random quips, quotes and ravings of some of my favourite authors and actor.  I hadn't written a line... and I still got a follower!  Who da thought?

So now I'm stumped as to what I should be writing.  Should I try and be profound?  Quote the greats or even the not so greats?  I sure as heck don't want to be one of those twitterers who post my every move, thought or purchase.  I'll give it some serious thought while I familiarise myself with the Twitterverse.  If you've got any tips on what to write about, please let me know :P

Apart from that, my Robyn Carr books finally arrived from Amazon!  Yippeeee Skippy!  I can now snuggle up in my bed (that I now have 2 doona's on and 1 blanket) and loose myself in the Virgin River series books 1-4.

Also arriving in the order was the unabridged audio book Fingerlickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich.  Everyone has one little guilty please, and the Stephanie Plum series is mine.  I just love it.  It has been flagging just a little lately, but fingers crossed that the new book kicks some major butt.

Andrea Kane rocks!

Ms Kane is such an underrated author, in my humble opinion.  Having read five of her murder-mysteries, including Scent of Danger (which is the book that first brought Andrea Kane to my attention) and the fantastic Twisted whose delusional, depraved killer had me feeling pity for him. 

If you're ever wanting a gritty police procedural mystery, or looking for an interesting background story for your characters, then look no further.

Is there a Doctor in the house?

I have been watching the new Doctor Who series on the ABC and I realised that this new Doctor is growing on me - who knew?  I do prefer the previous Doctor, portrayed to perfection by the delightfully wonderful David Tennant.  So in honour of this truly fabulous Doctor, I'm putting up a wallpaper of my own design.  Enjoy!

It's here! It's finally here!

Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday my copy of Magic Slays finally arrived!  Yippeeeeee!!!
It is only about, oh let me see ... nearly 2 weeks late, but I don't care about that now.  All that matters is that I could finally read it.  I've been trying to stay away from the reviews - I confess that I did sneek a peek at the amazon reviews - and tried to read it with an open mind.  What can I say?  I LOVED IT!

The way the story is told is a little different than previous books, plus an added bonus of finding out more about Kate's mother.  Curran is still bossy, manipulative, domineering, umm... snarly, steely eyed and all that, but his behaviour in no way detracts from the chemistry between him and Kate.  For those of you who still haven't read it (would you like a tissue to stem your tears of regret?) this book leads the continuing story of Kate in a new direction.  There are more factions working together against Roland, and the Order has been compromised - but is that with or without asshole Ted's approval?

All our favourite's are in this story - except for Dali and Raphael!  I couldn't believe that he was only mentioned in passing a few times... what the?  Hopefully he will pop up in the next installment in all his furry glory.  And to say Julie has a bad time is a total understatement, but as River Song always says 'Spoilers', so I shan't tell you what happens to her... hehe.

If you've loved the books and followed them religiously from Magic Bites, then you'll love Magic Slays.  My rating for this book?  2 paws up!

Our Lady of Immaculate Deception

Okay, this book is a doozy.  Nancy Martin, who also writes the Blackbird Sisters Mystery series, has come up with a character that has more than a few issues.  To put it simply, I did like this book but I had more than a few problems with Roxy Abruzzo, owner and manager of an architectural salvage company, who sleeps with anything that has a dick at the drop of a hat! Seriously, she doesn’t even have to know the guy but will fling him a condom and “...test his mileage.”   Hey, don’t blame me.  Her quote, not mine.  Now if she wasn’t such a . . . what’s the word I’m looking for . . . slut (and I really hate that word) then this would be a really great book.  If you can however get past her not so endearing hobby, Roxy is a funny, tough, level headed, independent single mum who struggles to pay the bills and stay out of her Uncle Carmine’s employment (mob boss), yet is loyal to her friends like Nooch. 

I have no idea whether this is part of a series, but I can definitely see more books featuring Roxy.  This gals got so much baggage to work through that you could get a whole Eve Dallas sized series out of her.  Her ex-lover Patrick Flynn (and father of her daughter) is back in her life.  A nice enough guy, Flynn's troubled past is hinted at here and there, but although he's still drawn to Roxy, he’s dating someone.  You can see the sparks fly between Flynn and Roxy that would have them wind up together in any future books, but with all the emotional baggage weighing them both down they’d more than likely sink like a bloody stone.  An emotional train crash just waiting to happen. 

The storyline for this book is simple, wife burns down house (with husband and his mistress inside), and from the ruins Roxy salvages a few items – including a nude Greek statue.  Turns out that this statue is worth an absolute fortune and was being hidden in plain site by the family’s matriarch (who is in and out of a convenient coma at a nursing home) and when her son is killed the same night Roxy takes the statue then it turns into a race against time until she can offload the antique for a good price, or the killer finds her.

The real scene stealer for me in this book was Rooney.  A moth eaten looking pit bull Roxy adopted that loves his momma, and will take a bite out of your arse at her say so.

Now, I’m not sure if I’d ever buy this book to put on my bookshelf, but I can see myself borrowing it again in the future.  I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who isn’t keen on reading sex scenes, not that it’s terribly graphic, but she does get around.  You do get sucked into Roxy’s world so it doesn’t take long to read. Great for a bus or train, or even during your lunch hour.

Rating: 3 / 5

Birthday shout

I just want to say Happy Birthday to my favourite aunt. I hope you enjoy today, and are spoiled beyond redemption... hehe