What I'm Reading

These past several weeks have been good writing days, and nights. In fact, a couple of times last week, I pulled an all-nighter. I haven't done that in years. Though it was exhausting after the fact, I was in my good place and had to keep going. It felt wonderful because I was getting something accomplished.

So I finished one manuscript--still putting a polish on that one--and am well into another. But for the past couple of days, that's all come to a screeching halt. My son is back! Not officially because he still has to go back to Richmond and work one more day at his job and pick up the last of his things from the apartment. But he actually is back. The reason I say that is because his bed and most his things are in his room again. As of today, he nearly has things put back the way he wants them. Computer and gaming system all set up and good to go. His clothes are in the closet and the drawers. It's hard to believe a year has gone by already.

Anyway, the reason my progress came to a halt is because as my son moved in, I had to move out all the "stuff" I had stashed in his room while he was gone. Good grief. You should see my office. Since I had no ready place to put all the "stuff," I just piled it in here and now my writing cave looks like a room from that Hoarders show. I have no idea where I'm going to put it all.

Okay. Enough of that. I wanted to tell you that I'm reading the first book in Kaki Warner's "Blood Rose Trilogy" titled Pieces of Sky. I'm far from finishing it, but that's okay. I'm reading a little every night before I go to bed and savoring each page. Yes, savoring. It's been a long time since I've said that about any book. To me, Pieces of Sky reads more like a straight western than a romance, which is mighty nice. I started out many years ago reading and writing straight westerns, so it's like going home again. Make no mistake, this book does have a very fine romance. What makes it so different is that it's not written with all the romance "language" we've come to expect and are expected to write. This book actually has a lot of story. And it's gritty. The grittier the better. I love it. And while I understand I won't find any explicit love scenes, the dialogue more than makes up in the explicit department. Yes, the language is about as gritty as you can get, but it isn't vulgar, unless you object to cussin'. When Ms. Warner did a guest blog at Petticoats & Pistols a couple of weeks ago, she said you wouldn't find any heaving bosoms or throbbing manhoods in her stories. And she was right. But what you will find is realism, characters so well written they seem like actual people, and wit written by the freshest voice I've seen in many years. I look forward to reading all her books (which number exactly two, so far). I hope she has a very long career and doesn't lose that freshness that makes her voice so unique.

Happy reading and writing!

Devon