Waylander - David Gemmell

A different genre - more along the lines of  'Lord of the' books, though the narration is much fast paced. 

This is the story of the man called Waylander the Slayer. Though a mercenary he had lived by his own code. Having been tricked into killing an innocent man, The King at that, he is haunted by his conscience and the havoc his actions caused in the Drenai lands. To make matters worse, he is hunted by the Dark brotherhood and other enemies.

He gets ordered by the father of the slain King that the only way to seek redemption for his actions if to retrieve the legendary Armor of Bronze from a difficult shadow-haunted land and hand it to another, who could lead the Drenai army to victory. 

Finally the evil Kaem (who gave Waylander the contract to kill the king), the dark brotherhood and others are all defeated and Waylander the Slayer finds himself an unlikely hero.

Good narration, fast paced and good plot. 

A collection - JT Edson

I got a few more books from my friend and as per my request, he sent me some of the books from his JT Edson collection. 'The Small Texan' got me hooked on to westerns for now, so this is more for me to keep track of the titles I have read and to give a small gist of each.

TEXAS KIDNAPPERS

Ysabel Kid deals with a trip of robbers and the kidnappers of BettyHardin, granddaughter of Ole Devil Hardin. The criminal mastermind behind the whole incident was a reddish-brunette gone bad called Libby Craddock, who comes to an unsavory end while trying to steal the Kid's big white stallion.

CURE THE TEXAS FEVER

Captain Dusty Fog and his wife Freddie scheme and succeed in bringing a brilliant vet to Texas. His mission is to make an antidote for the 'texas fever ' that seems to follow the herds to the market, and threatened being banned from kansas and the railroad- to the ruin of the state of Texas.

To aid in this mission, they rope in Wax(Waxahachie Smith), who is a wanted man, but hopes to be pardoned on completing this mission. The enemies abound, but Dusty Fog had the right man for the mission.

THE MAN FROM TEXAS

John Chisum , the cattle king, plans a plot to be picked as the captain of round-up, planned  by a group of ranch owners. But the (un)timely arrival of a stranger puts paid to his ambitions since that stranger was Captain Dusty Fog.

OLE DEVIL'S HANDS AND FEET

Ole Devil Hardin, though cofined to a wheel chair, was the major force in Texas. And helping him in being so, were his floating outfit, otherwise known as his 'hands and feet'. Dusty Fog, Red Blaze, Doc Leroy, Mark Counter and Ysabel Kid. 

THE BAD BUNCH

They always made their raids when the poeple were diverted with fairs, or other such entertainment. Then they would set a fire far away from the target area and get on with raiding their chosen target, Dusty Fog, Mark Counter and the Ysabel Kid have a fair idea of the next target of the Bad bunch, but they find that the Bad bunch are not what they expected. Comprising of only women, led by Anna Gould, who once had led a bunch of men known as 'Hannah's Guerillas'. Dusty had destoyed that gang, but let her get away, thinking 'Hannah' had died on the attack. The bad bunch finally could'nt hold out against Belle Boyd, Belle Starr, Betty Hardin and Calamity Jane.

GUNS IN THE NIGHT

Belle Starr is murdered and Mark Counter is devastated to lose the woman he wanted to marry. Ysabel Kid and Dusty Fog. They trace the culprit to another woman called Bertha Ford. Calamity Jane too does her part.

 

Cause for Celebration - Gina Wilkins

MILLS & BOON - TEMPTATION

This is the very delightfully narrated love story of Grant Bryant and Merry James. Both are forceful personalities and achievers. Merry had to care for herself and her four siblings at a very young age and Grant and his partner had built up and successfully sold a multi -million dollar business...

'Cause for celebration' is the sweet story of how these special people overcame their natures to compromise and build a happy life together. One of my favourites by author Gina Wilkins.

The Lion's Lady - Julie Garwood

POCKET BOOKS

I declare, in my mind, it is a tie between Nora roberts and Julie Garwood. I have been lucky enough to collect a few of the Julie Garwood books, and this is my latest acquisition yet.

This story is about the latest toast of the London society, Christina Bennet, who has a past cloaked in mystery ...and Lyon, the Marquis of Lyonwood, who has a past mired with betrayal and grief.

She is feisty and rebellious and he is stubborn and insistant. Not a match made in heaven...but as the story progresses, love conquers all... their own reservations, weak willed suitors,a treacherous aunt, a murderous father...

Blissful ending and absolutely delightful narration. I could ask for nothing more.

Forced to Marry - Barbara Cartland

RUPA PUBLICATIONS

It has been a while since I picked up a Barbara Cartland. This is the story of Miss. Gytha Sullivan, an orphaned Heiress living with her ailing Grandfather, and the dashing Lord Locke, who is a neighbor.

Circumstances force them to get engaged and they have to face a few foes together. Their adventures lead them to appreciate the finer qualities in each other, and they fall in love.

The title doesn't seem to be that apt since they were forced to get engaged, but they get married on their own volition.

Light reading, in the same vein as most of her books.

The Small Texan - J T Edson

CORGI BOOKS

Wow...can't believe that I have neglected this blog so much when I have actually bought/borrowed and read a few dozen books since I last posted.

Got an opportunity to raid an old friend's book collection and was introduced to a new author of westerns , JT Edson.

His books are a lot like Louise L'amour, but with a subtle sense of humour, a hint of irony and very lively characters.

This book is about a small Texan called Dusty Fog, who stands tall among other statesque texans by bringing peace among the troubled people.

Great narration and makes you want to keep reading more and more of his books...

Creative Batik - Rosi Robinson

I have seen many how-to books and have collected a fair number. But this is by-far the most simply explained and beautifully illustrated book that I own.

Even if one doesn't have the specific tools, the book really gives you the impetuous to try out something even if it is the simplest of ways.

I have linked the book displayed on Amazon .com just so that you can take a peek at the beautiful pictures in the book.

A Love like that - Natalie Fox

Mills & Boon - Romance

Lili mayer goes to Tuscany to wind up the affairs of her father and encounters his neighbor, the impossible Vittorio Rossi.

She realises that his neighbor and his little son Carlo were more than neighbors to her father, and that he had married Vittorio's mother in a private ceremony. From distrust and antagonism, they move towards love. And so, Lili and Vittorio find the kind of love they yearned for.

The story is okay..

I would give it 3 stars out of 5.

I have been neglecting this blog of mine a bit(more like a loooot).

But with looking after my baby, experimenting with easy cooking, blogging about my dishes, taking the pictures , and trying out a few new craft ideas and coming up with some bloopers, I lead a very busy life.

And of course, I have to make sure i do not neglect my hubby, friends or rest of the family too... And find time to read all my new books and the 300 odd books in my collection to re-read..!!

I do not have the time to comment about my new books, but the ones I have collected over the years and read so many times, those I can blog about without referring so much.

Don't be surprised if I have a bad comment about a book..it may not be a great read..but I own it ..so like any good owner, I love the book just for the fact that it belongs to me!!!!!

I have seen THAT look a hundred times over, when I go crazy over books...ain't anything that i haven't seen before..heh heh..

New books

Yay.....Since I have moved to gurgaon, and i am just exploring the place, I have not yet located any book lenders yet.
So the only way is to buy books.
Last week I bought home a few and I am having the time of my life, reading them..And as usual, the majority of them are romance novels..I have picked up a great cookery book too.....

As soon as I am done, I will be back with some news about these books...

For now, I will just curl up with my latest books.

A Summer Storm - Robyn Donald (Summary)

MILLS & BOON - ROMANCE

Oriel, a primary school teacher(with stunning model looks), was rescued from a flash flood by the rich and super sexy Blaize Stephenson. The inevitable chemistry develops and while she is recuperating in his residence on a private island, he also ensures her continued presence by enlisting her aid as caretaker for his orphaned niece and nephew.

Life goes on with Blaize being his masterful self and Oriel fighting her growing love for him. Meanwhile she also gets attached to the children. Things come to a head when Blaize gets angry over her friendship with a certain french man of his acquaitance and Oriel decides she had had enough...

Finally Blaize acknowledges his love for her and life is bliss....

The story when summarised, is nothing that regular romance readers havent read before..But the greatness is in the narration and Robyn Donald is a favourite author. I have many of her books in my collection like the Golden Mask, Tiger eyes, The darker side of paradise. I have read many more of her works and have never been dissatisfied so far.

Charades - Jasmine Cresswell (Comment)

MIRA - FICTION

I have read a few romance books of Jasmine Cresswell and I have liked them.But this books is actually a suspense thriller, though it failed to thrill me overmuch.

Abigail Dean realises that she is in danger when she gets a threatening call, even when the bank manager she was supposed to meet and her newly discovered half-brother ended up dead with the same bullet.

Fortunately for her, her hero Steve Kramer lives in the apartment above her and he also does his best to try and get himself killed along with her.

The killer is revaled to be a long-forgotten mistress of Abigail's father and finally gets killed while her accomplice detonates the dynamite meant for Abigail and Steve.

For a lady who embezzeled a bank and sets up two fall guys, kills Abigail's bogus half-brother, and two bank officials, stalked her and contrived to get duplicates to her keys, enters her home and leaves nearly unnoticed, managed to procure a devoted, much younger lover cum accomplice etc, she just walked coveniently under an avalanche due to the explosives she set up to kill Abigail and Steve....

Lame...

Angus's Lost lady - Marie Ferrarella (Comments)

Silhouette Sensation

Guess detail summaries will have to wait...

My life is too hectic right now to handle summarising books too, but still I can give my comments on the books I have read.......

This ia a book about a private investigator Angus and a lady who wanders into his life. She is shot by someone and has amnesia. Since she is a babe, the guy takes her home where he lives with his 7 year old daughter Vicky.they all get on famously, find the villain, and the lady Rebecca gets her memory back and becomes a permanent member of Angus's family.

Story is one I have read any number of times, but the narration is great.

Seizure - Robin Cook (Comment)

PAN Books

A book that deals with the disastrous consequences of mixing politics, religion and bioscience.

I have read majority of Robin Cook books of which Outbreak, Mindbend and Coma are my favourites. It is my personal opinion that tis book did not come anywhere near those.

I expected more from the book. :|)

Blood Brothers - Nora Roberts (Summary??)

JOVE NOVEL

The Sign of Seven Trilogy - Book 1

In Hawkins Hollow, Maryland, it is called the Seven. When all the baser instincts that prevail in humans reach its peak and manifest. Normal people leading average lives turn burglars, arsonists,rapists, murderers...the list goes on...

In February 2008, reporter Quinn Black arrives in Hawkins Hollow to study the strange phenomenon that has been making it's appearance every seven years. She had been invited by Caleb Hawkins, who was one of the three people instrumental in unleashing the evil thing 21 years ealier.

What had started as a clandestine tenth birthday celebration of three friends who shared the same birthday, turned into an incident that affected not just the three innocent boys, but their families and the whole town as well.

Soooooooo...now since hings have turned interesting, maybe some of you should go read the book!!!

I can't wait for the sequels....

Her Mistletoe Husband - Renee Roszel (Summary)

MILLS & BOON - ENCHANTED

The Enchanted Brides - trilogy - Part 3

Elissa Crosby was so used to being the strong one in her family, that it does not occur to her to tell her sisters and their husbands about her troubles. Someone was sending her threatening letters and that spooked her enough to make her spend the night before her birthday in the very spooky D'amour mansion...and of course she sleeps, and there was a full moon, and she wakes up to confront Alex D'Amour who imparts the unwelcome news that her precious Crosby Inn was legitimately his.

Not a great way to inspire love...especially in the case of Elissa. Still, to ensure her family has a good holiday, she puts up with the constant needling of Alex, her sisters' and their husbands' matchmaking games and also deals with the constant, anonymous threats.

Things come to a head her ill-wisher confronts her and finds out her `lightning knee action' and karate chop. After the fellow is carted away her family reproaches her for suffering alone, and she also tells the truth about her Inn not being hers anymore.

Alex returns the deeds to the Inn to her since he had fallen in love with Elissa. She too acknowledges her love and they get married.

One year later, next Christmas, The Crosby girls and their family get together

Helen and Damien Lord with two sets of twins,girls- Gillian and Gloriana, boys Jake and Jerod.
Lucy and Jack Gallagher with their son Jonathan Crosby Gallagher.
Elisa and Alex D'Amour with a baby expected in fall.

The D'Amour manison was restored and opened as a resort, with an upstair room dedicated for the use of single women on their birthdays....on a full moon...
And the Crosby inn was given as free lodging to honeymooners who proved that the D'Amour legend lives on..........

Married by Mistake - Renee Roszel (Summary)

MILLS & BOON - ENCHANTED

The Enchanted Brides - trilogy - Part 2

It was Lucy's birthday, she sleeps in the D'amour mansion, and there is a full moon .Unlike her sister Helen, she had not given the myth a thought..the only thing on her mind was to get Helen, and her twin girls Lucy had to assist into the world, to safety. So when their step-brother Jack Gallagher came to the rescue, she was just relieved and never imagined that he could be her destiny.

Lucy had been jilted by her selfish fiance Stadler, and she was having a hard time getting over it...when Stadler lets her know that he would be visiting their inn,with latest fiancee in tow. Elissa and Jack devise a plan and decides to pretend that Lucy and Jack had gotten engaged...Helen and her husband Damien, meanwhile are sure that this turn of events is due to the D'amour myth. The only person who is upset is Lucy.

Jack had been in love with Lucy all his life so with Damien's help, makes Lucy realise she had fallen in love. From Stadler, she learns that the bogus marriage ceremony that she thought had been staged had been real and that Jack and she were married to each other. So Lucy tricks Jack into admitting that they were really married and things are hunky-dory.

D'amour myth strikes again....!

To Marry a Stranger - Renee Roszel (Summary)

MILLS & BOON - ENCHANTED

The Enchanted Brides - trilogy - Part 1

The trilogy is about the three sisters.... Elissa, Lucy and Helen Crosby. Their Crosby Inn is in the neighbourhood of the D'Amour mansion, whose absentee owners are roumoured to be living in Europe.There is a charming myth surrounding this mansion and it plays an important part in the lives of the Crosby sisters.

Legend says that the mansion is enchanted and that an unmarried woman who sleeps within it's walls on her birthday, when there is a full moon, would marry the first man she sees in the morning.

Helen, the youngest of the Crosby sisters and the most romantic, sleeps in the D'amour mansion on her twenty-first birthday...and of course there is a full moon...she encounters a scarred, limping, one-eyed stranger and runs for her life.

Later she realises that the man she had seen in the mansion was Damien Lord, news reporter extraordiaire, who had injured himself trying to rescue a small child. She takes it upon herself to help the man recuperate and blackmails him into her home with threats of disclosure of his whereabouts.

Helen realises that he was the man she had first seen after fulfilling the conditions of the myth, and despite realising that their differences are insurmountable, falls in love with him. Damien Lord finds himself slowly drawn into the warmth and loving comfort of the Crosby inn and the three sisters.

She practices tough love and shames Damien back into his own world when she finds out that he did not have the confidence to face his old society after losing his looks. Her sacrifice pays off and Damien gets readmitted into the media world and is touted America's sexiest Man...

And one fine day in April, imprisoned by her sisters into watching his news telecast, she receives her proposal from Damien on TV and then in person, a few minutes later.

So the Myth worked for Helen...what about Lucy and Elissa??????

About trilogies - (Comment)

I really love trilogies or more than three books on memebers of a family , or just othr characters who appeared in other books...gives one a feeling of recognition, of really being a part of the lives of the fictitious characters....

That's another reason I really love Nora roberts, Renee Roszel, Day Leclaire etc...they are experts at creating this sort of connections...

The best thing about these books is that they are all great individually, but to just have read the whole set is amazing...!!!!

And to demonstrate the fact, I plan to summarise the trilogy of Enchanted Brides by Renee Roszel....

I'll be awaiting your comments after you get a taste of reading a trilogy.......

The Secret - Rhonda Byrne (Comment)

I had seen Oprah Winfrey raving about this book on her show, but at that time, I guess I was not receptive to what was being said. I have yet to see the movie, but I am impressed by the book and all the people who have endorsed it...like Oprah, Jack Canfield, Dr. Joe Vitale...etc

It is not something I can summarise, but the feeling this particular book generates, is of hope, and all things positive. If a person atleast takes a few minutes to think of the Law of attraction that has been mentioned in the book, one would start getting convinced that things are not so totally beyond one's control as one thinks.


The book need not necessarily alter a person's life from the get go, but the greatest thing is , it may influence some positive thoughts and generate hope for a better tomorrow....And I agree that there is nothing greater than the power of love.

What more can I say about the Secret....??