Sunday Soup - The Inauguration

Sunday Soup - a little bit of this, a little bit of that, not too much work, and hopefully a tasty result.

I thought it would be fun to write up some loosely organized notes about what caught my eye in the previous week.  It's fitting to kick it off on Mother's Day, since my trusty soup pot is called into service regularly to feed the family.  My husband has his favorite kitchen utensils, but the pretty, cobalt blue enameled iron stewpot is my favorite, due in no small part because the effort-to-deliciousness ratio is highly favorable.  So, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

First off: BIG NEWS FROM AVON
You have a couple of days left to apply to be in the next generation of Avon Addicts. If you've been reading here for the last year or so, you'll have some idea of what a great reader program this is. Current and alumni addicts have formed a wonderful community, mostly on Facebook and Twitter. It looks like you are going to need to go the Avon Facebook page to apply, so you're going to want to get on that.

Recent releases from some of my favorite authors.
This is NOT meant to be comprehensive -- that would be work.  (You can have a look at Literary Escapism or The Book Tart for REALLY LONG lists.) These are releases I've been watching for and now they're out! Yay!

* Alyssa Day's The Cursed (May 7)
* Cathy Maxwell's The Devil's Heart (April 30)
* Jocelynn Drake's Dead Man's Deal (May 7) - Review
* Laura Wright's Eternal Demon (May 7)
* Kira Brady's Hearts of Shadow (May 7)

What I've Been Reading
I don't review everything I read, by a long shot.  So what are the books that aren't making it to the blog?

Against the Dark
Carolyn Crane's latest release is a straight-up romantic suspense, with much less of the quirky, slightly-off-kilter humor of her paranormal stories.  A bit over the top in places; pacing is breakneck -- I literally had to put it down for a few minutes at the peak of the action because my heart was pounding so hard.

The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After
Sometimes a little small snip is all you need.  Julia Quinn's collection of second epilogues is a plate of little fluffy sweet meringues, or maybe sorbets, if you'd like a palate cleanser between your readings.

Vampire Sheikh
This is a Harlequin Nocturne by Nina Bruhns that I literally read on a Twitter dare from Maisey Yates.  I'm noodling on a Sheik Week feature here at Alpha Heroes - what do you think?  I need to find a copy of Bertrice Small's The Kadin for it to be a perfect representation though. (Oopsie.  I may have just bought it.  Damn you Amazon one-click...)

Time Thief
Although I've tried Katie MacAlister before and didn't feel like her humor clicked with me, I've been enjoying this first book of a new series.  I'm about half-way through.

Around the Blogosphere -
some articles that caught my eye this week.

Jessica guests at Radish Reviews
Celia Grant talks about romance and bad sex at diary of an accidental housewife
Kaetrin shares her favorite sex scene of all time
New blog.  I love everything here.
Love this kind of thinky piece from Natalie at Radish Reviews

On Tap This Week
I find that the flavor of any soup is generally improved by a slosh of an adult beverage, so I'm including my weekly beer pick here at the Soup.

Amusingly enough, my taste in beer is similar to my taste in romance: while it's not particularly eclectic or out of the ordinary, it's not usually what the guys are drinking, and it just so happens that it's a little bit girly.  I like my beer a little sweet, rounded. Sometimes light, and sometimes dark, but not hoppy, edgy, or bitter.  You can go to lit fic for that.

So this week I've been drinking Sam Adams' Cream Stout, which is chocolatey and delicious, and their Cherry Wheat, which has been a favorite of mine for years but it's hard to find on the West coast.  A new boozy megalith opened in our area this year, and hurray! 

That's it for this week!  Happy reading!