Grade: D+

My TBR pile is not in fact one single pile but lots of little piles. Amongst others, I have an “immediate TBR” pile of books I’m dying to read, a “worthy TBR” pile of books I feel I should read and “suck-it-and-see TBR” pile of books I’ve picked up without knowing who the author is just to see what they’re like. Manhandling, by Karen Anders was in my suck-it-and-see pile. I obviously bought it (oooh - two years ago!) cos it was a ’special price’ book but have never gotten round to reading it. Till now.

The Cover

….is dark. Not atmospheric-dark. Not deep-and-angsty dark. Just so fucking dark that I can’t actually make anything out except the weird green streak in the female model’s hair.

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As promised, here is the 5th installment of Ember. If you haven’t already, please read: one, two, three, and four.

But first, a blurb:

Everyone loves Prince Charming. They have to—he’s cursed. Every man must respect him. Every woman must desire him. One look, and all is lost.

Charm is a curse. Love is a fire. This story is no fairytale.

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People seem to like Ember. Some of those people have even said they would pay cash-money for the chance to read it in one sitting. If you are one of them, here’s your chance to put your money where your mouth is. Specifically, Bettie is actioning off 1 (one) full, prettified PDF copy of Ember one month in advance of its culmination on The Serial to the highest bidder.

No, she hasn’t gone all money-hungry. IT’S FOR CHARITY. For charity, people. Here’s how it works:

1. Starting Wednesday, November 28th, send Bettie an email naming an amount you’d be willing to donate to Mercy Corps charity. (bettiesharpe at gmail dot com)
2. Betty will post the highest bid for each day on this blog–no names, just bid amounts.
3. The highest bid she receives by 12:00 pm Pacific on Wednesday, December 5 2007 wins.
4. You, the generous winner, go to the Mercy Corps site and donate. You choose which program your money goes to. Crisis in Sudan, Cyclone Victims in Bangladesh, Where Most Needed–pick the whatever moves you. You’ll also get the tax write-off )
5. When you donate online, choose the option to donate in honor of someone. Enter “Ember”, and have it sent to Bettie’s email: bettiesharpe at gmail dot com.
6. Once you’ve completed the donation, save an electronic version of your web receipt and email it to Bettie. The web receipt will not list your full credit card number, but it will list the amount you donated and your address (same as if you won a book in a contest, and you had to send in a mailing address). Bettie will treat this information as confidential and will delete the file after she has verified the donation.
7. Bettie will send you a copy of the full PDF of Ember–weeks before anyone else can read it, and you (the generous winner) get to join the small and select club of fabulous people who have been kind enough to read Ember in its entirety: Jodie, Bam, Kate R. and Bettie’s Mom.

But wait! There’s more! Along with your early copy of the Ember eBook, you’ll get:

* The smirky satisfaction of knowing what’s going to happen before almost anyone else does.
* The the warm glow that comes from helping fellow human beings who are in need.
* An income tax deduction in the amount of your donation.

But I thought you said Ember was free?
Ember is free. [Bettie] wrote it intending for it to be a free eBook, and it will stay that way through the end of its run on The Serial, and for the foreseeable future on [her] website.

Why Mercy Corps ?
Because 90% of the money you donate to Mercy Corps goes directly to charitable work around the globe. Because they fund a wide variety of innovative programs. Because they need to feel better after losing the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore.

If I win the auction, can I taunt other readers? What about spoilers?
If you win the auction, you can taunt to your heart’s content. Taunt early and taunt often, but DO NOT reveal any spoilers!

And folks, Bettie’s email once again is: bettiesharpe at gmail dot com.

First I had my heart crushed by this. But now I’m feeling flabbergasted, ecstatic, and dare I say— aroused?

From Crave Online:

Current Caped Crusader Christian Bale has been cast in the upcoming Terminator: Salvation (aka Terminator 4) for Warner Bros. Pictures, according to numerous reports. The film is intended to be the first installment of a new Terminator trilogy, undoubtedly centering on the post-apocalyptic war between humans and the robots of Skynet, as prophesied in the original set. In the first three Terminator films (aka the Schwarzenegger Opus Trilogy), different models of the Terminator cyborg travel through time in order to kill John Connor, preventing him from fulfilling his destiny as the leader of the human resistance during the machine wars.

But who will Bale play? A Terminator? There are reports that he’s been cast as John Connor, a strong possibility considering that Nick Stahl (John Connor in T3) has said he is not returning to play Connor in T4. Bale’s also been rumored to be cast as an entirely new hero in the franchise, first mentioned here: Terminator 4 in the works.

Time will tell. T4 begins shooting early next year and the studio hopes to be on target for a Summer 2009 release.

How awesome is that? Christian Bale Battling Huge Motherfucking Robots kind-of-awesome, is how. Christian Bale… and giant robots… Drool. Oh, this is a red-letter day for geeks!

Now I’m going to re-read After the Night by Linda Howard for the 50th time and picture Christian Bale in place of the hero. See ya.

Oh, and click here to view my desktop wallpaper. *grin*

Grade: C-

Although historical romance is my thing, this is the first Mills & Boon historical I’ve read. I’ve not consciously avoided them. It’s just that when I’m in a bookshop or on Amazon, there’s always something else I want. Plus my supermarket only stocks contemporary categories so while I’ll pick up the odd Mills & Boon/Harlequin on impulse along with my bread and eggs, it’s always one from the Presents line.

However, having given poor reviews of a recent Presents and a (relatively) recent Blaze [Bam’s Note: This has not yet happened.], I thought I would give Mills & Boon /Harlequin one more go and try one of their historicals. There was lots of choice but in the end I picked this one because there was a Liz Carlyle quote on the back cover, indicating that this book was ‘…spellbinding and seductive - Deb Marlowe will enthrall you…’

So, did Deb Marlowe enthrall me? In a word, No. However, all in all, this book is a reasonably credible effort. It is liberally peppered with anachronistic language and behaviour but (and this may be unfair) I rather expected that of a Mills & Boon historical. The fact that I was prepared for that meant that I found it less irritating than I might otherwise have done.

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