To the Big Easy and back!

While preparing for my trip I had time to finish “Night Rising” from “Vampire Babylon” series by Chris Marie Green. I loved the idea behind the plot. Have you ever wonder how some Hollywood Stars are a new someone? Like maybe Scarlet Johansson is the new Merlin Monroe? OK, what if someone told you that she is the same old Merlin Monroe who has not died and has lived these past few decades young and happy, and is going to stay young and happy forever? Haa? What do you think?
“Night Rising” is the story of Dawn daughter of a famous Hollywood actress who faces with the mystery of supposedly dead actors and actresses coming back (on and off the screen). What is happening in LA underground? Well my dears, you should read the book and wait anxiously for the second book to come out (like me!). As my chance had it, this book is (again) the first in the series! Lucky lucky me!
The second book I read was “Tiger Eye” from Marjorie M. Liu. It has some of the same characters as “Red Heart of Jade” and happens before that book. A beautiful artisan metal worker (Dela) buys a riddle box in a Chinese flee market and opens the box. A two thousand years old were-tiger (Hari) is freed but his true freedom is harder to achieve. They fall in love (naturally!) and set out to free Hari from the magi who imprisoned him in the first place. Some assassinations attempts on Dela’s life and few entanglement with Chinese mafia later; they get married and live happily ever after! Funny when you retell the story it sounds ridicules but when you read it, you are attracted. That is the power of author I guess! Still I stand firm for my opinion; story is way out there and not believable what’s so ever! It’s entertaining but hey, you don’t want to read it for the second time!
Our little trip to “Big Easy” was fun! Not so much in the way of shopping, only some fudge, a dress from “Ann Taylor LOFT” for $25.00 (a real bargain!) and a small pendant for my pendant collection; but fun never less! We walked for hours along the river and in French Quarter, tasted the local food and sweets, and visited a couple of museums! You can’t expect more from a three day trip! Can you?!
-What to take? If it’s summer, clothes made of silk, cotton, and linen. It is very humid there and man-made form fitting clothes are going to suffocate you! Even tight jeans are not suitable! A sun dress is the best. Ah, and comfortable shoes, Please; you’re gonna walk a lot! And a water repellant hoodie or umbrella (just to be on the safe side!)
-What to eat? Gumbo (and if you know about the history of this food, brace yourself; it tastes very original! Yup! Exactly like something made of kitchen leftovers!) And Jambalaya (more of the same!). Crawfish, catfish and shrimp if you like seafood, and for dessert have some King Cakes, café au lait and beignet (I fell in love with beignet! So very yummy!).
-Where to shop? Shops at Canal, River walk shops, French market and fair in French quarter.
-What to see? French quarter and its museums, Louisiana State museums, Jackson square, swamp tour and if you are into morbid or Goth stuff definitely go for a cemetery tour. And also Audubon aquarium and zoo.
A very good source of information is http://www.neworleansonline.com/ , have fun and forget to care!

Ready for the take off (Not!)

I have so much to do, I don’t know where to start (yeah! That’s why I’m writing and spending time web-surfing instead of doing something productive! Sheesh!) We are taking a trip this weekend and I haven’t packed yet, I have not done my homework for next week (due Tuesday), hadn’t done laundry, not shopping, nothing! I’m going crazy!
But surprise, surprise, I had time to finish two books and start a third one! I finished “Dante's Girl (Kayla Steele)” by Natasha Rhodes. Very strong characters, nice story, good action! I can’t wait for the next book and rest of the story. Why do I always do this? Start a new series and have to wait (long and hard) for the rest of the books of the series to come out?!
The other book I read was “You suck” by Christopher Moore. This is the third book of him I read and had mix feelings about it. I love his style of story telling; love the characters, just not the endings. He finishes the stories like they are artistic black and white European movies: lights out, curtains drawn, end of the story! It leaves you hanging, not knowing what happens next. I don’t like this feeling of being suspended for ever, worrying about the lives of my favorite characters!
Anyway, In “Bloodsucking fiends” he tells the story of Jody, a cute redhead with sucky love life and how she is turned to vampire and how she deals with her new life style and how she finds Tommy C. Flood, her boyfriend/blood-source/day-time-bitch!
“You suck” starts when Jody has turned Tommy and they are facing a whole new can of worms. Who is going to do the day-work? Whom to bite? And in the middle of it all there is one money-hungry Ho who is making trouble! All in all the book worth every minute of time you spend on it but at the end… let’s not go there!
The only other book I’ve read from Christopher Moore is: “Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings”. An amusing story about whales and marine biologists and love.
I didn’t have much time or appetite for shopping these past few weeks. Only yesterday I bought two beautiful silk scarfs (one blue and one bright pink) and a white plastic frame sunglass (very retro!) out of necessity!
Better get to work and start packing! Bye now!

Yeah, had the exam on Friday! How did you know?!! Anyway, it’s finished and gone now and I’m free to enjoy my excessive readings one more time (or until next exam 3weeks from now!). I started (and finished) “Pomegranate Soup” by Marsha Mehran.
The story of three immigrant sisters in Ireland. Marjan, Bahar, and Layla who fled the revolution in Iran and sought their home and future in London. But something makes them uneasy and they move to cold colorless and unfriendly little village in Ireland. Marjan with her magical cooking and Layla with her youth attract friends, but what about Bahar? Why is she so cold and dramatic and bitchy? Well, don’t be lazy! Read the book! It is enchanting and you will get to love characters. A love struck teenager who wants to be an astronomer, a comedian catholic priest, drama queen ex-actress hairdresser, and a sweet (literally!) Italian widow help our three sisters fight the cold unfriendly villagers and set up their exotic café. The book is full of descriptions of Persian cooking and has recipes too. Totally yummy!
The second book of the series (at least I’m hoping it is!) is named “Cafe Babilonia” and I have not seen it yet. I seriously hope the story continuous; I really liked Marjan and Layla. I want to see them live a happy life in their chosen home!
The other book I’ve started tonight is “Dante's Girl (Kayla Steele)” by Natasha Rhodes. I’m almost halfway through it and fell in love with the heroin Kayla from the page one. But still too soon to judge!

I’m smart enough to know I’m in trouble. I can’t stop reading even when I want to. I have so much to do (make something for tomorrow’s potluck, reading 3 text books, doing homework that’s due Monday, prepare for exam that is on Friday,…) but I can’t focus. I can read every thing except my textbooks! What I’m gonna do?
I should check myself in a rehab or something. This obsessive reading is making me dysfunctional!
I have finished “He loves me, He loves me Hot” by Stephanie Rowe. It is the third book of series which involves the same characters. The first one “Date me baby, One more Time” is about Justin, a two hundred plus years old guardian of “Desdemona’s Temptation” (Mona for short) or the goblet of eternal life to us. She is taking care of Mona which is currently in the shape of a coffeemaker with the help from her dragon friend Theresa. Justin falls in love and marries a guy who might die if he doesn’t drink from Mona. The second story “Must love Dragons” happens when Justin is in her honey moon. Theresa is bored and wants to meet her cyberspace lover in real life. She has been trapped in her dragon form for two hundred years, so she makes a deal with Satan. Turns out there is someone looking for her from her past and yes, the lover boy is a dragon slayer by birth. But hey, they are in love, Satan wants Mona, and his second in command -the Rivka Becca- has a soft spot for her scaly silver and blue dragon friend. No worries! With Becca’s help every thing ends well and Theresa marry Zack. “He loves me, He loves me Hot” is the story of Becca, a cold hard bad-ass bitch and Satan’s right hand Rivka. Ooh, she has problems. She has enough of Satan’s ordering her right and left and midway. She wants time for herself, she wants to be independent. She has to separate her life force from Satan’s. She has to find a way to keep her friends, to feel things. But her spell goes wrong and as a punishment Satan saddles her with an apprentice. Some entanglement with a hot guy whom she shouldn’t like (or love or lust after) and some maternal instincts toward Paige (her annoying pupil) later, she is hooked up to her lover's life force for eternity. The guy has become immortal with Theresa’s help and Becca and Paige are free of Satan and Rivka life. The fourth book is supposedly about Paige and her affairs. It is not out yet.
All and all entertaining but you have to have a really wild imagination to accept Satan’s character as an egoistic sex-addict who is a good guy despite being the leader of hell!
The other book I finished was “All together dead” by Charlaine Harris. I love Sooki, she is kind, she is smart, and she is responsible. She goes to a summit with vampire queen of Louisiana and her entourage. She barely sees her boyfriend were-tiger Quinn and worse of all she has another blood exchange with Eric, the handsome Viking vampire. But you know what is really bad? There is an explosion and many people and vampires are killed. She barley manages to save Eric, Pam, the Queen, the demon lawyer, her boyfriend and a handful of friends. Ooh, remember I told you that were-tiger is suspicious? He had a couple of secrets as Sooki finds out.
One other book, I just finish is “Succubus Blues” by Richelle Mead. The story of cute, kind, and utterly one of a kind succubus of Seattle -Georgina Kincaid- who is in love with an author, is dating another nice guy but tries not to drain him and has sex with low-lives for energy fixes. Her friends are a plastic surgeon imp, two kosher vampires (they drink animal blood and love their steaks row), her demon boss, and his drinking buddy archangel Carter. Loved the story and characters. Can’t wait for the second book. What a pity it would take a year to see the second one!

Ooh, forgot to tell! Finished “Claimed by shadow” by Karen Chance too. Loved loved loved the characters. Cassie (Cassandra) is a really kick-ass cool gal and that mage John Pritkin? He is brooding, stubborn and totally cute! The master vampire Mircea is hot, steaming, and sexy as hell. Thomas? I didn’t like him that much, he was a betrayer; wasn’t he? He didn’t deserve to sleep with Cassie but he did! Bastard! And that ghost Billy? Cool cowboy! Can I have a pet ghost like him, please?

My cat is purring on my lap and I feel relaxed. After a long time, I had the opportunity to do what I wanted today. I stayed home and cleaned my office and organized my books and papers. I’ve been very busy and stressed and reading like crazy these last few days.
Books I finished:
“Cover girl confidential” by Beverly Bartlett. About a mixed-race immigrant girl who becomes American sweet Heart and a celebrity and then gets deported after a couple of scandals (one of them involving the president!). I liked this book more than the other one by the author. “Princess Izzy and the E Street Shuffle” was a little boring.
From Princess Diaries series, I read “Party Princess” and “Princess on the Brink” by Meg Cabot. I very much like Princess Mia’s character but she has became whinny, spoiled and totally self-righteous. In the last book she has broken up with her boyfriend Michel for a stupid reason and is flirting with another boy! She is showing her royal heritage finally!
“Sweet and Deadly” by Charlaine Harris was not up to her Sooki Stakehouse series standard. The book had a slow pace. I also have started “All together Dead”, in which; Sooki goes to a couple of weddings and a vampire summit out of state. I like Sooki’s adventure and am hopping she hooks up with Eric the Viking vampire again. He is handsome, powerful, and totally bossy! A very yummy combination! I don’t like her current guy Quinn. Maybe because I don’t like guys who shave their heads, but I have a suspicious he is hiding something. He is a were-tiger and I love tigers. OK, not the Bengal type with its yellow eyes but Siberian ones. Those beautiful creatures with white and black-brown stripes and emerald green eyes? Yeah, those I love. But Quinn is the normal every day garden variety tiger, yellow and brown stripes and yellow eyes. Nothing special!
Another book in Blackbird sisters mysteries, “A little thing called death” by Nancy Martin; was fun (if you can call murder mysteries FUN!). Nora is engaged to Mike ( A mafia heir), Libby is trying to escape her own life and children by planning Nora’s wedding and Emma is receiving calls from strange men in odd hours (Is she moonlighting as a lady of the night?).
One other book was “Duped by Derivatives” by Gail Farrelly. A hotshot investor is murdered and a finance professor, a private detective and an ex-chamber maid are trying to find the murderer. The book is suitable for seventy year olds! The pace is so slow you have to keep your eyes open with match-sticks!
I’m also reading “Dirty Blond” by Lisa Scottoline. It’s about a lady judge who is a sex addict. Her job and life is seriously threatened when media finds out her secret.
Ah, yes! I started “The Maltese Falcon” but didn’t have the patience to finish it. For reading something like that you have to be in a hotel in a tropical beach and just lay in the sun and enjoy the word play and smartness of the author. I am in no position to take a tropical vacation right now! So the book plus two others by Dashiell Hammett goes back to the library. Some other time maybe, baby!
I couldn’t resist buying two box of “Chocolate Mosaic” from Trader Joe’s. Seven different heavenly flavors in a box that is three feet long! Totally gorgeous. And also working on a bar of organic milk chocolate (has soybean milk in it!) from a brand name “Rapunzel”. It is from Belgium.
No more shopping! you can probably tell by my bored and tiered tone. But hey, I bought five sets of gem stone earrings online and am saving to buy that delicious handbag from Banana Republic. Ooh, the sacrifices I make!