My Current Interest

          My mom’s and my method of whether or not I should read a romance did not work this time.   I say this because I very much felt like throwing this book in aggravation.   Usually, it’s the hero driving me crazy that makes me feel this way.   This time it was the heroine.        Image provided by Sourcebooks.           Former Navy SEAL Jack Armstrong is not happy.   His mother has called to let him know she and the family are coming to the ranch he is working on.   Among this group will be his brother, his brother’s wife, and their son.   Three people Jack definitely does not want to see.   That’s because his brother, Mike, is married to Madison, Jack’s ex-fiancée.   If that weren’t weird enough, the two of them got together while Madison was still engaged to Jack, and while Jack was serving in the military.   On top of this, Jack had to find out about their relationship from his father, along with the fact that Madison was expecting Mike’s child.   Neither Mike nor Ma

Image provided by Mango Publishing.     I must say, other than a couple of exceptions (Alfred Hitchcock and Tim Burton), I don’t usually pay attention to who the director of a film is.   If I find out, great, but more often than not, the director is not what leads me to wanting to see a film.   Often, I never find out who the director is at all.   Or at least not consciously.   Many of the films mentioned in The Female Gaze I had seen, not knowing they were directed by women.   If you had asked me before reading this book, other than Penny Marshall’s Big and A League of Their Own , I probably couldn’t have been able to tell you the director’s gender for any of these films.   Now that I know, I will have to pay closer attention from now on.           The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women discusses films directed by women throughout the entire time there has been a film industry.   A mix of writing by author Alicia Malone herself and essays from female critics, the

                  This third season of Victoria was really difficult to get through.   There was a lot of sulking (and sulking … and sulking … and sulking), manipulation, abuse, and a good character died.   Lord Palmerston was definitely needed for comic relief.   Without him, these episodes would have been even harder to get through.                            Queen Victoria (Jenna Coleman) is expecting her sixth child while much of the world is experiencing revolutions.   Except for the Chartists, who are fighting for their rights, not trying to overthrow the monarchy, England is a fairly peaceful place.   It’s only when the overthrown king of France, King Louis Phillippe (Vincent Regan), is allowed to stay at the palace with the royal family that things start to unravel.   A protest is held at the palace gates because of his residence.   It is a terrifying sight for those witnessing it, and it causes Victoria to go into labor.                 By Victoria’s side at this time

Image provided by Sourcebooks.            My mom and I have a way of determining whether or not she should give me a romance novel she has read.   If she thinks I will want to throw it (usually because of something the hero has done), she does not give it to me.   There are other considerations as well, but that is the big one.   While I definitely can say I didn’t feel like throwing Cowboy SEAL Homecoming , I did want to kick the hero in the butt every now and then.                               Alex Maguire is finally returning home.   After spending years in the military, home is the best place for him to go.   He has inherited half of his father’s ranch, and he and his step-sister, Becca Denton, are going to turn it into a working ranch were military veterans can work their way back to civilian life.   To help them do this, Alex has brought his friends Gabe Cortez and Jack Armstrong.   All three men were wounded when a grenade was thrown into their vehicle.   Now rele

Image provided by Crooked Lane Books.              I was so excited when I was able to pick Murders and Metaphors up from the library .   The first two books of the Magical Bookshop Mysteries I really enjoyed, so when I saw there would be a third, I eagerly awaited its arrival.   I started reading the book one afternoon, and kept reading (with some breaks in between), and finished by midnight.   The whole time I was reading, all I wanted to do was see what happened next.   I may have been a little tired the next morning staying up so late, but it was worth it.                            Violet Waverly is still getting used to being the caretaker of the birch tree growing in her family’s bookshop.   She is also the caretaker of the bookshop itself, Charming Books, a shop that always seems to find the exact book you need.   Literally.   Books fly across the shop or change into something other than what it started as.                  Violet has gotten used to this behavior,