What Ana Does

I watched Netflix's new series Bridgerton during my evening walks on the treadmill in the basement and whew! what a series! I was a very dedicated walker during the week I watched it.  And it does fill me with a certain amount of glee when a romance novel goes mainstream. As a dedicated romance reader, and lover of historical romance, especially, I get excited to welcome new fans to the party!  Because, yup, I totally read several of the books in the Bridgerton series. Julia Quinn isn't my favorite romance author, so I didn't finish it. But I'm really happy to watch the series, taken in a far more colorful and inventive direction -- with a queen! -- and see where it goes.  If I remember right, Anthony's story was better than Daphne's, so we have much to look forward to!  Interested in reading Regency/Victorian-era romance? Sarah MacLean and Lisa Kleypas are my all-time favorite authors in this genre. The Wallflowers and Ravanels' series are soo good. And Sar...

Looking for love in the pages of a book? I've got you covered. I love love! My preferred genre is anything to do with romance and falling in love. I watch romantic comedies and I read all kinds of romance novels -- from teen to fantasy to adult. As long as there's witty dialogue and people falling in love (kissing!), I'm in. Anyway, if you're looking for love, here are a few of my favorite lovey-dovey stories that I recommend for this Valentine's Day. Natural Born Charmer   (adult romance - contemporary)  by Susan Elizabeth Phillips  -  Find it here Widely-regarded as the queen of the romantic comedy (though she publishes less and less books these days), this title is my absolute favorite. Blue and Dean are so well-suited for each other and so flawed at the same time. Just One Day (YA romance) by Gayle Forman - Find it here A teen tour of Europe + a rogue Shakespeare production + an adorable, blonde Danish boy = one very romantic day in Paris....

The very best thing about Fall is the arrival of a ton of new books that keep me up far past my bedtime and have me daydreaming about what will happen all day long! I'm such a book nerd. Here's my annual roundup of books I've been eagerly anticipating ... My very-favorite book of 2015 was  Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I can't gush enough about how totally blown away I was by the storytelling and characters. Six distinct characters pull off an impossible heist in a fictional world with a cliffhanger that nearly killed me ... INEJ!! At the end of September comes the sequel Crooked Kingdom and OHMYGOD I've been waiting long enough to find out the disastrous results of their heist and what will become of Kaz and his crew.  I picked up Ember in the Ashes audiobook last year and it was so intense I was stressed about listening to it for a whole week. But I couldn't stop. That sequel, A Torch Against the Night , is coming out on August 30 and I've b...

If your not aware Steampunk is a genre of book that takes the Victorian age and adds steam powered machines and ... hmmm... that definition isn't right, let me pull from Wikipedia: Steampunk   refers to a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. I've read a bunch of these novels and there are usually filled with action/adventure, historical events slightly-altered and imaginatively cool machines. Philip Reeve has written a lot in this genre, including the books that pulled me in: the Fever Crumb series . (Don't get me started on how hard I fell for Fever.) Another series to check out is  Leviathan by Scott Westerfield . It's nonstop action, with sprinkle of a young romance. And my favorite word, perspicacious, was used often in this series. The term "boffins" comes in close second. And I am waiting on the third audiobook from ...

I've got two things to say about the 50 Shades of Grey movie that is coming out this weekend -- as someone who will own up to reading the book. And, I'm not ashamed to admit, rather enjoyed the story. I keep reading criticisms about the book and the story that are just crazy annoying. One, can we all collectively remember this is a romance , well actually an  erotica ,   novel? And, as such, has all the characteristics of a romance novel; cheap and quickly produced. While there are different levels of writing/production of Romance novels, overall, they are not well-written. I mean, when was the last time a romance novel was up for a Pulitzer, huh!? They are written so fans can multitask while reading them. They usually have typos/misspellings, repetitive information and the characters are generally one dimensional -- which allows the female reader to put themselves into the book more completely. See? Get it? So, expecting this book to be a classic example of timeless l...

Audiobook: Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer Read By: Sandra Burr Genre: Romantic Comedy Full disclosure: I read romance novels. Another disclosure: I've read this book, twice. But when I saw it on the shelf, and taking into consideration it's summer and I'm looking for something light, I grabbed it. And I was glad to find the story I liked translated well into audio format, forgiving a few corny production tricks. This is a cute story about Agnes, a cranky food column writer with anger management issues who gets tangled in a 25-year-old murder mystery and a really crazy ex-mob wife. A nephew of a friend, who is a contract killer, comes by to protect her and get to the bottom of things. Romance, and a pretty high body count, follows. Because there's a strange combo of Southern drawl and New Jersey mobster in this book, the reader had to be pretty proficient at a bunch of different accents. And she was good. There's some strange talkin...