But First, a Little More on Advent:
My dad, who is a retired Episcopal priest, sent me an e-mail about my last post. This is one of the wonderful and helpful things he said:
Is Advent a “romance novel” dream about hope and righteousness and healing and love? Why can’t the church do a better job of dramatizing that, if it is?
My dad is another reason I’m sticking with my half-assed life of faith. Also, Dad and Mom, even though it may add to my stress level, I’m really, really glad you’re coming for Christmas!
Guest Blogging:
My post on “ego-reading” (which is kind of my readerly autobiography and manifesto) is up at Anna’s blog if you haven’t seen it.
And Now . . .
Inspired by Ridley and Kelly (twice!), by the fact that I couldn’t have done it without you all and your blogging and Twittering about books, and perhaps by the semi-penitential spirit of Advent, here is a list of my purchases in recent half-off e-book sales.
(Book links to Goodreads description; listed in random order in which they appear in my Reader library).
- Cara McKenna, Coercion, Craving and Reversal (bonus shame points: these three “vignettes” follow her novel Curio and I haven’t even read it yet. So it’s not like I needed them).
- Maisey Yates, Hajar’s Hidden Legacy (bonus shame points: I don’t usually like sheikh books!) and A Royal World Apart (or fake Euro-states!)
- J. L. Merrow, Hard Tail and Pressure Head (haven’t read m/m in ages and Merrow always works for me; that might be -1 shame point)
- Olivia Waite, Hell and Hellion
- Karla Doyle, More Than Words (erotic romance with Scrabble and Marilyn of Mean Fat Old Bat didn’t totally hate it; -2 shame points)
- Emmie Dark, In His Eyes
- Charlotte Stein, Control
- HelenKay Dimon, Switched and Copy That
- Charlotte Lamb, Hot Blood and Vampire Lover (classics for my romance education; do I get a shame point off for that?)
- Caroline Anderson, St. Piran’s: The Wedding of the Year
- Alison Roberts, Maybe This Christmas. . . ? (I love that the cover model looks more like a pediatric surgeon than a cover model)
- Kate Hewitt, The Darkest of Secrets and The Husband She Never Knew (my very first post was a review of one of her books)
- Meg Maguire (aka Cara McKenna, so I guess she wins for most shame points), The Wedding Fling
- Jo Leigh, Lying in Bed (this and Maguire’s are the first Harlequin Blazes I’ve bought in ages; I’ve really gone off that line)
- Vicki Essex, Back to the Good Fortune Diner
- Marion Lennox, A Bride for the Maverick Millionaire (is it plus or minus shame points for that Harlequin-ific title?) and Her Outback Rescuer
- ETA: As Brie pointed out, I left off Sarah Mayberry, The Other Side of Us (extra shame points for buying this when I have 3 or 4 0f hers unread in the TBR–but at least I know I like her!)
Did you notice how I cheated on the numbering so it didn’t look so bad? Yeah, I thought you did. You know what I want to do now? Buy more books! Where’s my cone? It’s got to be a medical condition.
Feel free to list yours or link in the comments. In case, you know, I missed something good.
MamaCat: no more shameful back alley kittens for her!
Something More 
Is counting authors instead of books like doing your weight in kilos instead of pounds?
Yeah! As my doctor’s office assistant said, “it sounds so much better that way.”
“Did you notice how I cheated on the numbering so it didn’t look so bad? ”
Yes, I certainly did.
We have some overlap — I also bought More Than Words. And I’ve bought the three McKenna’s recently, but I’ve actually red Curio, so minus a shame point for me! And I bought Pressure Head ages ago pre-order and still haven’t read it. 😦
And the more books I acquire, the more I avoid reading.
“And the more books I acquire, the more I avoid reading.”
That’s the problem bit, isn’t it? Probably why just looking at this list made me want to buy more . . . because I can’t choose from these.
I didn’t go crazy buying books…but I did by a Kindle Fire, so I expect my book buying will increase as a result.
You didn’t buy The Other Side of Us! I’m going stand here and give you the disproving eye until you shamefully go back and get it. Other than that, the books you did buy that I’ve already read, are very good 😉 I don’t have a cone of shame post, because I didn’t buy anything *cough*
What? Crap, yes I did buy it! That was an error. Or self-deception. Maybe I missed it downloading.
I’ll have to pick up the hot Scrabble book. Curio is just excellent. Parisian man whore. Y. U. M.
And now I want to buy more books. Even though I bought 17 at harlequin and proceeded to reread a book I read a few months ago. Because that’s how I roll.
Loved your post on ego-reading, btw.
What your Dad said made me fall off my chair laughing. My dad is a retired minister, too, and he’s constantly trying to make conversation like that with me. The best was when he said something like “the love story in your novel really made me think about the Trinity . . . ” Uh huh?
Ha! It takes two PKs to understand each other’s pain. This reminds me of a joke that I learned, of course, from my dad: a minister decides to have children’s time during the service, and the first Sunday he warms them up with an easy question: “What’s gray with a fluffy tail, climbs trees and eats nuts?” A boy raises his hand: “Well, I know the answer must be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel!”
There are times when I think, “Man, does *everything* have to be really about Jesus?!” But my dad, like most good preachers I know, is great at analogies and unexpected connections, and usually these do turn out to be illuminating (I’m sure he could think of a way Jesus is like a squirrel).
That is a fantastic joke and I’m running to tell it to my Dad right now. Jesus is like a squirrel because he resurrects buried nuts? . . . except that my Dad is more a historical Jesus/Jesus as philosopher kind of minister, so he doesn’t believe that . . .