Anya Bast

A quick post to point you in the direction of an emotional, unforgettable read. Broken by Megan Hart should not be missed. She writes characters who will stay with you for a lifetime.

It’s available from Amazon.com now!

Blurbage…
My name is different every month—Brandy, Honey, Amy…sometimes Joe doesn’t even bother to ask—but he never fails to arouse me with his body, his mouth, his touch, no matter what I’m called or where he picks me up. The sex is always amazing, always leaves me itching for more in those long weeks until I see him again.
My real name is Sadie, and once a month over lunch Joe tells me about his latest conquest. But what Joe doesn’t know is that, in my mind, I’m the star of every X-rated one-night stand he has revealed to me, or that I’m practically obsessed with our imaginary sex life. I know it’s wrong. I know my husband wouldn’t understand. But I can’t stop. Not yet.

First, our word of the day…just because I like it.

lum·pen·pro·le·tar·i·at (lmpn-prl-târ–t, lm-)

n.

1. The lowest, most degraded stratum of the proletariat. Used originally in Marxist theory to describe those members of the proletariat, especially criminals, vagrants, and the unemployed, who lacked class consciousness.

2. The underclass of a human population.

So the next time you get in an argument with someone you have a new insult at your disposal, (sounding like a total noob using it is just a bonus). “You, sir, are an utter lumpenproletariat!” It’s bound to kill their response right in their throat.

Books I have read/are reading….

Ain’t She Sweet, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

I know this is an older book, but I’m just getting around to reading it now. I’m new to Susan Elizabeth Phillips and, wow!, I like her. Here’s the thing about this book…it is chalk FULL of “gray” characters, characters who aren’t good or bad, but flavored purely human. They do horrible things sometimes out of fear and selfishness, yet the author takes these people and manages to make them all sympathetic. I don’t normally read non-paranormal contemporary romance, but I was intrigued by the main character of this story, Sugar Beth Carey, a girl I would’ve hated with passion in high school. (I definitely knew a few Sugar Beth Carey’s in my day) Phillips made me like her by page twenty. That’s saying something.

Hitting the Mark, by Jill Monroe

I just started this one, so I can’t give a full review of it yet. Mostly I wanted to talk about her book trailer, which you can see here. GREAT book trailer. I probably would not have sought out this book at the bookstore had I not seen it. Totally sold me. I love books about con artists (even ones who aren’t but appear to be at first blush) anyway. Again, I don’t normally read non-paranormal contemporary, but I love Blaze. They’re like irresistible dark chocolate candies. Mmmmmm.

Blood Bound, by Patricia Briggs

I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time. I really enjoyed it. It’s more urban fantasy than anything else, but I love fantasy of any kind. I don’t have a whole lot specific to say other than, dude, buy it. (Sequel to Moon Called)

According to recent research, Americans spend an average of ten more minutes a week watching TV than they did five years ago. They spend forty minutes more a day than they did a decade ago.

On the flip side of the media coin, books sales have been steadily declining. Logic says that perhaps TV is replacing books as a favored form of entertainment. Scratch that, I’m sure TV has already replaced books as such.

The truth is that there are many competitors for the attention of our eyeballs. Not only are there TV and books, there are movies, the Internet and computer/video games too.

I admit I’m a big Internet junkie. I’m on the ‘Net a lot. Movies are another downfall of mine. I love to watch movies both in the theatre and at home. Computer/video games hold little interest for me.

And TV? We actually don’t have TV. Well, we have a TV, but it only gets one channel and we only watch one show. That would be Survivor. Yes, yes, I know. It’s one of my guiltiest pleasures. Otherwise, we don’t watch TV mostly because of the commercials. Commercials just freak me out, man. Most of them treat the viewers as if they have the intelligence of a three-year-old and others are just flat out frightening. Dancing bears and toilet paper, anyone? Mucus throwing parties in your sinus cavities? Shudder

We do Netflix some shows, however. Right now our favorites are Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood, & Prison Break. We just started watching season one of Desperate Housewives too (blessedly without commercials). We’ll see if that show makes the cut. I absolutely loved Dead Like Me, Angel, Buffy and Firefly when they were on. (Bring back Dead Like Me and Firefly, you TV producers! They never got a fair shot!)

However books will always remain my favorite form of entertainment, and the reason reaches further than the fact I write them. Why? Well, read my last blog and you’ll understand.

When I watch movies or TV, everything is handed to me on a silver platter. They allow me no opportunity to create a world in my mind and fill it with my own sights, sounds, smells and tastes. TV and movies offer me no way to use my imagination. They don’t transport me the way a good book does. They usually don’t immerse me so deeply that I can’t hit the stop button and I end up watching all night, regardless of the fact I’ll be exhausted the next day. I can always flip off a TV show or a movie and not regret it. I can’t always close a book and not regret it. I never finish a movie and then instantly say, “I want to watch it again!”, the way I’ve closed some books, turned wistful for a moment, and then flipped to the first page again.

Movies and TV are wonderful and entertaining forms of media, but I guess overall I prefer the imagination expansion that reading allows me.