Sunday Soup - February 9

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

I haven't been keeping up too much lately.  Have I missed all the kerfuffles?

Soup Dish:  book people are talking about...
✽18 Bookstores Every Book Lover Must Visit At Least Once - spotted via Anne Rice's Twitter feed. Although I'm pretty unlikely to make it to the more exotic locales, I have been to the Strand and Powell's. I'd happily work a vacation itinerary around some of these bookstores. Have you visited any on the list?


Gone Missing: my suspenders of disbelief

Image credit: By Sara-Paceni via Wikimedia Commons

I've struggled through two historicals recently that I just couldn't really get into. I DNF'd Sarah MacLean's One Good Earl because I just could not believe the Regency heroine who thought she needed to have sex with someone in order to take her oath of matrimony (so she would understand what she's swearing, you see).  And Jennifer Haymore's Confessions of an Improper Bride had an identical twin swap that just seemed to me could never possibly succeed anyway.  I also had trouble with the hero's redemption - the couple was caught in flagrante delicto at a ball, no less, and he later cut her dead and pretended not to know who she was.  It's odd that I've seen rapist heroes redeemed but that one seemed impossible to me.  I got all the way through that one, but the premise made me grumpy.

I like both of these authors a lot and I'm not giving up on them.  I suspect that my issues are more a function of the February blahs than of the books themselves.

✽Based on Pamela's rec and some other buzz, I finished Cecilia Tan's first book in the Struck by Lightning trio (Slow Surrender) and while I didn't really have the disbelief problem, I didn't think it was that great. Perhaps the literary allegory is just over my head, but the characters didn't really grab me, and I dislike the cliff-hanger ending.

✽I'm doing better with paranormals.  I blazed through Chloe Neill's latest Chicagoland Vampires novel (Wild Things) and loved it.  I haven't grabbed the novella that came out last month, but it's on my list.

✽I was in the mood for a contemp and kind of stuck without wireless/download access, so instead of a new Victoria Dahl that I wanted, I started up a Lexi Blake title yesterday (The Dom Who Loved Me). I'm having a few issues with it but so far I'm still reading.

Based on this rundown here, perhaps I should stick to paranormals for a bit.  It's not like I don't have a stack of those waiting for me too!

Outlander Watch... Och. I canna wait for Jamie and Claire onscreen.

Those EYES: