A Countess by Christmas (Harlequin Historical) by Annie Burrows

Book: A Countess by Christmas (Harlequin Historical) by Annie Burrows
Release date: 12/1/2010

Excerpt:
The Earl of Bridgemere is happy to encourage his reputation as a curmudgeonly recluse if it repels the grasping females who usually attend his lavish Christmas parties.

Helen Forrest is like a breath of fresh air, uninterested in his wealth and not cowed by his temper.

Bridgemere's seasonal duty suddenly becomes a pleasure as he sets about making Helen his countess—by Christmas!

Review:
It's a review! Miraculous lately i know. I just been busy at work since half of the staff was gone for the holidays.

Anyways this is a little late for Christmas, but i've had it finished for a few days. I just haven't been able to sit down and type up the review. Anyways first thing first I was really really excited about the book. The blup on the back made the Earl of Bridgemere sounds like my type of tortured hero. May this be a lesson not to trust all of Harlequin's blurp. The earl was a cookie cut out tortured hero. Complete with dead wife dying with another man's baby. (I really wish i could type the earl's name here, but i can't remember it. He's that unrememberable. Plus looking through the book i can't even find it). Helen, the heroine, is not one to caw about either. If the earl was the cookie cutter than she was the cookie. Poor orphan girl was raised by woman distantly related to her and later has to take a future job as a governess because they lose all their money. She was in the words of Snoopy "Blahhhh". The ending was unremarkable and the the actually pacing of the story was confusing at times. The author would just suddenly change POV in the middle of a paragraph/chapter without any bridge between the pov changes. I sometimes wondered whose thoughts i was reading.

Anyways i got bored with this one and am feeling generous by giving it three bunnies here.

2011 Retold Fairy Tales and Enchanted Cousins Reading Challenge

2011 Retold Fairy Tales and Enchanted Cousins Reading Challenge




Challenge Objective:
To read stories that have taken classic fairy tales that we all know and love, and have woven them into a new alternative tale that mirrors the original.

Challenge Guidelines:

Challenge runs from January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011.

You can join along in the fun at anytime during the year.

Create a post with the graphic that links back to this post! Sign up using Mr. Linky.

You do not need to select your books ahead of time. Just make sure that you have a list of them at the end of the challenge.

You can review on your own blog, or have a little fun and compare and contrast the book you read with a classic fairy tale!

**However, Reviews are NOT necessary!!**

Cross-overs with other challenges are welcome.
Retold fairy tales can span across any genre and sub-genre -- including YA (there's some great ones out there!) -- can be any length, and in any format.
The book MUST be fiction, and be a retold fairy tale.
You can change your challenge level at any time.

Can Non-Bloggers Join Along?:
Absolutely!! Just leave a comment with your book information and what you thought about it!

What's An Enchanted Cousin?
Because there is a lot of debate amongst what constitutes as a fairy tale (especially between countries), the challenge will also include any "cousins" of fairy tales, but MUST include fairy tale elements that traditionally represent a fairy tale notion.
Could you imagine the literary debates we could get in to over this?!? Therefore, I am not policing this, just use your best judgment! And have FUN!!!! :)That's what this is all about!

Sign up here at among the muses


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Holiday reading challenge entry #1: Snow Night with a Stranger anthology

I live to write another review. Even though it's been so long since i last wrote one. Mainly because i've been working odd and long hours at work. I then come home too exhausted to do anything. Anyways.....

A Holiday Gamble by Jane Feather.

This was my favorite story out of the anthology. It even beat out the tortured hero one. ^^ The story basically is that Ned Vasey is returning home from India for the first time in ten years. His brother unexpectedly died leaving without an heir making him Viscount Allenton. One the way to his former and new home he gets stuck in a blizzard and finds himself at Roger Selby's place. There he meets Lady Georgiana Carey and soon the story begins.

With all anthologies the author only has a limited amount of pages to tell the story so it's not uncommon for the hero and heroine to get together after only knowing each other for a few days. Therefore my usual nick pick of that had to be overlooked. Jane Feather did the best though. You could really feel the buzz between Ned and Georgiana. Neither were particularly looking for romance, but found it. In face Georgiana was on the way of helping herself. She had already devised a plan to escape her greedy cousin and her forced upon fiancée. Ned merely helped her along. So in a way they feel in love helping each other. The only thing i can complain about was that i wanted to here/see Georgiana's cousin and former fiancée reaction to their marriage. Other than that i give the story 5/5 stars.



When Sparks Fly by Sabrina Jefferies

This was my least favorite of the anthology. Mainly because it was so expected of what you think a Christmas story would be. The maiden and her family gets stuck at the old Scrooge's house. She and the children start to bring joy to his life. Girl and Scrooge fall in love. Girl's father "saves" her from the man. The man whom has had a change of heart follows the girl. The funny thing about it is that the author even wrote Charles Dickens as a child in the story which upped the corny level. Definitely a disappointment. 3/5 stars


Snowy Night with a Highland by Julia London

This one was middle of the pack. Strange enough since it contained a tortured hero. One that i normally would have died over. The thing was that it felt like I was missing something. Like 100 pages out of a book. In face up to chapter 10 would have been a brilliant beginning of the book. I really adored reading it. It just felt extremely rushed after that. I almost wished that Julia had scrapped this one as a short story and moved it over to her "long story" pile. It would have been brilliant then. It had all the makings of a good long story. A girl who doesn't recognized the scared man as the one whom humiliated her earlier in life. A missing brother whose in trouble with the law. The girl has her own home in Scotland.... Oh there were so many possibilities.... In stead of the pitiful ending we got. 4/5 stars.

Final ratings: 4 1/2 Bunnies. I enjoyed the characters, plots were generally good, and the sex wasn't that risky.

Disney's Tangled Reviewed

I'm not dead! The holidays and craziness at work has just left me tired less posty.

       Anyways.. yesterday my sister and I went to go see the new Disney movie "Tangled". We both needed a break and i had gotten a free ticket when i bought "Beauty and the Beast" on blue ray. First thing first, i didn't go into this movie with very high expectations. Needless to say Disney hasn't been sending out a lot of movies i've liked in a while (Tinkerbell excluded). "The Princess and the Frog" went down as one of the worst Disney movies i've ever saw and lets not even go there on the live action.

    Therefore i was extremely and pleasantly surprised to say i came out of the theater exuberant.  I ADORED Tangled. It's now ranks up as one of my favorite movies of all time and ties with Beauty and the Beast as my favorite Disney movies. In fact i can venture to say i think all the adults in the theater throughly enjoyed it. If the face that 95% of the laughter was from we adults is any indication. ^^

The story mainly stars Rapunzel (obviously), Flynn, Mother Gothel, a chameleon named Pascal (does not talk, but extremely funny), and a horse named Maximus (again doesn't talk, but utterly hilarious). The story goes is that the sun let go of a spark and created a magical flower than can heal and restore to youth anyone or thing. Mother Gothel discovers this flower as an old woman and uses it for hundreds of years to keep herself young. When Repunzel's mother was pregnant with her she got extremely sick. All the people in the kingdom loved their king and queen and went on a search for the mystical flower. Now one evening in her haste to not be discovered Mother Gothel leaves the flower un-hidden one night when she hears the party of people searching. The people find and take the flower back to the palace which heals the queen. She then gives birth to Rapunzel. One night Mother Gothel breaks into the palace with the intent of taking some of Repunzel's hair which has the flower's magical properties. She discovers that once it's cute the magic goes away. So she kidnaps Rapunzel and locks her in a town so she may use her hair to keep herself alive forever. Thus the story starts. I don't want to spoil anymore, but the movie is wickedly funny and i actually enjoyed it more than the last Harry Potter Movie. So go see it!!!!!  Some pictures to leave you by...

Happy Thanksgiving USA

Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 thoughts *spoilers*

I'm back. ^^ 

I have to admit i didn't have as much fun as last time. Mainly because it seemed like every obnxious teenager or college kid came out. And i mean OBNOXIOUS!! They were doing flips down the aisles, talking loudly before and during the movie, and basically just reminding myself why i have never fit in with those my age. Mainly because as people said i'm a bit more mature than many of my age. I was not the only one annoyed. A few other people i talked to were tired of the obnoxious behavior as well. I ended sitting by a friends/sister/brother unsure pair which was nice. They guy asked for my email address afterwards. Don't know if anything will come of that. 

Anyways..... Here is myself minus my Gryffindor scarf before i left for the premiere. My hair matches the curtains. lol 

Hmmm i never thought i'd day this, but for the first time i didn't not love love a Harry Potter movie. Sure i've had issues in the past. The thing is that not at this level. Something just felt really really off. I think it'll be easier to explain if i did things in bullet points.

LOVED:

* DOBBY. OMG he was so freaking cute. I loved every moment he was on screen. I loved him in his sneakers.  He had so many brilliant one liners this time around that i couldn't stop laughing. His death scene was heart breaking as well.

* The seven potters. Brilliant. Dan is such a good comedy actor. He nailed the scene completely.

* Luna. Luna Luna Luna can never fail.

* The whole Remus/Tonks storyline was left out. *YA!S for them cutting this part out. No nutty Remus and Tonks only graced my screen for a few moments.

* The Harry & Hermione dance scene. It was so sweet.

* The scenery. AMAZING BALLS.

* The Doe scene. ^^

* Malfory Manor. Emma was brilliant in the torture scene. All of it went rather well.


LIKED

* The Ministry scenes. I didn't love love them, but i still liked them. ^^ Ron was whom really made them.

* X. Lovegood. Good scenes, but not one i'd watch again and again.

* The Tale of the Three Brothers. The animation was nice and unexpected. The thing is i don't like skeletons and it's hard for me to love love anything that features one.

*The wedding scenes.


DISAPPOINTED:

*Where the frick was Dean, the invisibility cloak, and Charlie weasley?

* No mention of Dumbledoors less than savory past. I really think this should have been included. It shows how Dumbledore could have gone the path Voldemort and the Ministry is going, but changed. It made him a more rounded character in the book and shows that people are possible of changing and the people aren't just good or bad. That many are in a gray area.

*Why no mention of Ariana?

*Poor poor Regulus Black. I really wish his tale would have been mentioned. It would have again shown that people are possible of changing.

*No Lily letter. How hard would have been to put it in for  a second.

*Grindlewald should have been explored more. Specially Albus and his relationship/friendship.

*Dobbys burial. That scene was so freaking moving in the book. I was teary. It wasn't nearly as dramatized as it needed to be in the movie.

*Wormtail lives??? He was supposed to repent.


can't say on the soundtrack though. As i said earlier I seemed to have gotten the theater with the most obnoxious high schoolers and college kids possible (says the 24 year old). Many talked through the movie. So i had trouble hearing it. Already ordered it though. 

All in all i have to see the movie again to get a full feel of it. I should be doing that next weekend or the week after. 



 

Tonight is the NIGHT!!!!!!!!! Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows

                  TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT!!!!!

             

                              
            Tonight at 9pm i shall be decked out in my Gryffindor tie,scarf, and make                                                   shift uniform for the midnight premier. I'll be by myself, but it's the experience 
                       and memories that matter. ^^ Have a Happy Harry Potter Premier everyone!!!!!