Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Scottish
September 15, 2011 | Thursday | 22 Comments
This HaBO comes from NerdyLutheranChick who writes: HABO! I’m looking for a Historical Romance that I read when I was in middle school (so somewhere between 1993-1996), I originally found it in a box of books someone gave my mom. I was secretly reading them and paranoid that my mom would take them away, and so I would read one and put it back in the box. I wish I hadn’t put this one back in the box! Here’s what I remember from the plot: A lowland noble girl (she might have been the daughter of a border lord -…
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June 30, 2011 | Thursday | 0 Comments
I didn’t receive a RITA® Reader Challenge review for this book, so it’s review-huntin’ time! This book finaled in the Paranormal Romance category. Plot Summary: SCOTLAND, PRESENT DAY. When Faerie Magic swept Robert MacQuarrie forward in time, modern medicine saved him from a fatal wound. But he also left behind an unfulfilled vow—to protect his friend’s young daughter, Isabella. Haunted by guilt for more than a decade, he leaps at the chance to go back and keep that vow. The magic of the Fae works in its own mysterious ways, however. Not only does his homecoming turn out to be…
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April 04, 2011 | Monday | 121 Comments
It’s not so much sizzling in northern coastal Scotland in the winter, but this book is amazing for it’s warmth, the strength of the writing, and the story-within-a-story. As I announced in the Book Club Chat last week, our April Book Club pick is Susanna Kearsley’s The Winter Sea. Previously published in Canada as ‘Sophia’s Secret,’ and a nominee for both a RITA and a RNA award, this book is emotional, historically fascinating, rich and worth savoring. Here’s the description: In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled…
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September 25, 2010 | Saturday | 29 Comments
I swear I’m not doing this on purpose, but yet another guest review offering arrived in yon inbox while I was editing my review, and I enjoyed this one so much I wanted to share. I’ll turn things over to Dora who also read The Devil Wears Plaid. I spotted The Devil Wears Plaid the same way I find all my romances; in the “stationary” aisle at the supermarket. The reason it stood out to me was it’s title, sort of, which was vaguely . The other reason would be the woman they chose for the cover; her cheeky smile…
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September 24, 2010 | Friday | 168 Comments
Some of the earliest romances I read were by Teresa Medeiros. I remember staying up all night reading Charming the Prince. Medeiros is one of those authors who is abidingly constant in her writing. Sometimes it knocks me over and I have to lie there for awhile savoring the feeling, and sometimes I read it with a smile and a quick-moving eye, eager for more. While I didn’t read the vampire books she wrote, as they came at a time when I was Vamptired, I was very curious about The Devil Wears Plaid. Medeiros writes great dialogue, and has a…
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August 28, 2010 | Saturday | 45 Comments
RedHeadedGirl emailed me with one of the most hilarious HaBO requests ever. I laughed so hard when I read it, Hubby made me read it to him - and he giggled for about ten minutes, too. Even if you don’t know the book, enjoy the request. Okay, so back in the Bad Old Days of Zebra books in the gas stations, with the Classic Historical Bodice Ripper covers and conviniently placed postcards in the middle, I ran across this book in Toby’s Restaraunt in Hinkley, Minnesota on our way up to Duluth. I never bought it because I was maybe…
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September 30, 2009 | Wednesday | 17 Comments
Katherine writes: It’s a historical I read back in jr. high/high school that I’m guessing was written in the late 80’s/early-mid-90’s. I don’t remember any character names or the title, but the basic plot (as I remember it) is the heroine is the last of a line of Scottish smugglers working to circumnavigate that pesky oppressive British government. The hero is an English customs officer set to figure out who this obnoxiously successful smuggler is, bring him (because who would suspect a woman) to justice and shut down the operation. All sorts of fun ensues, including a hefty chunk of…
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July 31, 2009 | Friday | 10 Comments
AJ has the hots for Ryan, but as the story opens, Ryan’s dad is about to marry her mom, and so now it’s all icky stepbrotherlust. Whoa. Could have stopped there - plenty of conflict. But no, there’s more! AJ is a vampire and she can’t tell anyone. Not even Ryan knows. And she’s able to live among humans with a great deal of subterfuge. While she has some problems controlling her fangs and lust for havoc and blood, she’s pretty much totally covered. She has younger siblings, and Ryan has younger siblings, and even though the sibs never snack…
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July 06, 2009 | Monday | 5 Comments
First up, if you’re looking for a room for RWA, Alyssa may be able to help you, or, you might be able to hook her up with some help. She can’t attend RWA but her plans changed too late to cancel her reservation. Details at her site. Second: Cake Wrecks gives you another hero possibility, those of you who are looking for heroes and plots and really erect inspiration. Hell, why not a romance hero who loves cupcake cakes and works in a bakery with crazy cake orders that require scaffolding? Hot men plus buttercream icing plus knowledge of pastry?…
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February 28, 2009 | Saturday | 36 Comments
Kate emailed me with a heaping ton of info about adding extra vowels to names after I mentioned how adding vowels was extra more sexy intriguing- and her email is quite interesting. So if you’re curious about Scottish Gaelic names and how those names might change depending on how the individual is addressed by other characters, och, dinnae miss a chance to read on, lassie. Ahem. Sorry.
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February 25, 2009 | Wednesday | 9 Comments
Ach, it is a truth universally acknowledged that haggis, and any mention thereof, is almost as funny as the word “yurt.” And, it is also a truth universally acknowledged that you are the funniest people on the damn planet.
Behold, the 10 winners of a copy of Susanna Kearsley’s The Winter Sea:
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February 24, 2009 | Tuesday | 4 Comments
The random blockbuster generator yielded some outrageously fun entries. It has difficult to pick the winner.
But I put on my big girl panties and… did whatever you do with big girl panties on. Like pick winners!
First: Honorable Mentions go to:
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August 22, 2008 | Friday | 62 Comments
This week: costume drama, as in ‘How much drama do costume portrayals like these cause among those who, you know, do research?’ Sarah: Between the ruffles and the puffy sleeves and the vest, I had to giggle. The ice dancing puff-shouldered heroine was worth a snort, too. But the incredibly bendy legs of the horse? Oh, holy shit. Candy: Miss Manners on graceful abduction-on-horseback etiquette: “Gentle abductee: The new rage when being pulled off your feet by frilly-shirted men on horseback is to struggle for freedom, but it seems to Miss Manners that this new development lacks a certain couthness…
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June 20, 2008 | Friday | 23 Comments
In a funny intersection of my fascination with all things Scottish and the fact that I’m a righteous Hebe, check this article out: the first Scottish-born Rabbi in Scotland has commissioned and been granted approval for a tartan for the approximately 7,000 Scottish Jews. Rabbi Jacobs, who is the leader of a Lubavitch congregation in Glasgow, traveled the Highlands to research the tartan, which is blue, white, gold and red, and pretty damn spiffy if you ask me. At the official website for the tartan, Jewish Tartan, you can get trews and kippahs made from the fabric, which just cracks…
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