What the heck is going on here?

I know, I've been very, very light on posting lately. Why? I'm planning a wedding. In three months. No reason for the hurry other than the fact that the bride was going to be wearing a straightjacket if she had to plan something a year out (and worry about it for that long).

Three months is a tight schedule and I might be mad for doing so, but at least I feel like I'm getting some things done now.

So far I've set up the wedding website (somewhat), booked the ceremony site, booked the reception site, tried on dresses, and set up meetings for some of the other things we'll need for the event.

I'm still stressed. There's still a ton to do. I'm somehow managing to sleep at night, though. We've got guests from out of town this week as well so the reading has been extra slow going. Bear with me through it all, please.

Happy Monday?

It's Monday, again. I think the most universally groaned about day of the week, right? And understandable considering it's the first day back for most of us after a weekend off and the first day in a long week until the weekend hits again. By Tuesday things are already looking better just because Monday is out of the way.

For me, Mondays also usually mark a start day on a new book (yay!) after a weekend of reading (or not in some cases). It's back to the norm, back to the routine, and for me, reading is very routine. It's my way of attempting to wind down and relax at night before bed. It's rubbed off on my fiance as well. He has to have something to read at night and has discovered the strange quirk that seems to affect so many of us: not being able to end the day unless a new book is begun.

Weird, isn't it? If I finish my book before I go to sleep, I have to settle on a new one and at least read the opening pages before I can turn off the lamp and sleep. Yeah, readers' quirks.

I found myself in just this situation last week when I cracked open E.J. Copperman's Night of the Living Deed, a cozy paranormal mystery "debut" from Jeffrey Cohen, author of the Double Feature mystery series. 'Course I then found myself staying up later than planned as I was sucked into the story!

I'd won the book the week of its release by answering Copperman/Cohen's movie questions about ghostly inspirations. A certified movie buff myself, I love that Cohen ties this into his books. It's a theme in his other series and it carries over just slightly in the new Haunted Guesthouse series. For example, Alison Kerby (heroine of the new series) gets her name from the main characters in Cary Grant's 1937 film, Topper (which I've yet to have the chance to see and am sorely tempted to buy). I've heard that a remake starring Steve Martin is currently in production.

There are other film/tv inspired names as well, including Maxie Malone and Phyllis Coates.

In the book, Alison Kerby, newly single parent and now owner of a fabulous historic oceanfront home in Jersey, has plans to open a guesthouse (Not a B&B, a guesthouse!). Seeing as how she's invested all of her savings into the project and is doing most of the renovations herself, she can't afford any distractions that might throw her off schedule. And that includes distractions in the form of the two ghosts in residence. Maxie Malone and Paul Harrison, the former home's owner and her PI, died in the house. The official report is suicide, but the spectral pair insist it was murder and want Alison's help in proving it. But it's not until Alison starts getting threats herself that she agrees to step in as part time investigator.

Night of the Living Deed is a fun mystery with some truly lovable characters! Perfect stuff for a Monday night start to get you through the week, eh? I think so : )

New Releases 7/27/10

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

The I Hate to Cook Book: 50th Anniversary Edition by Peg Bracken

Running Scared by Lisa Jackson

The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah

Wolf's Cross by S.A. Swann

White Heat by Brenda Novak

Outside the Ordinary World by Dori Ostermiller

A Wild Light by Marjorie M. Liu -- Hunter Kiss #3

Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong -- latest Women of the Otherworld

Jealousy by Lili St. Crow -- third in the Strange Angels series

Wait for Dusk by Jocelynn Drake

Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost

The Iron Daugter by Julie Kagawa

New on DVD:

Clash of the Titans

Repo Men

New reviews at Bookbitch.com:

The Panic Zone by Rick Mofina

Wolfbreed by S.A. Swann

Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Copperman

7 Souls by Barnabas Miller and Jordan Orlando

Plum Behind!

Janet E's Stephanie Plum series is finally up for movie adaptation and her latest is just a month out in hardcover and what do I realize but that I'm now four books and three in betweens behind. How did it get that bad?!

So here's my plan. I'm going to squeeze in a Stephanie Plum whenever I can this month and hopefully catch up -- at least read the ones I have so that I can justify going out to buy Plum Lucky, Finger Lickin' Fifteen and Sizzling Sixteen.

After that, I plan on tackling my Lee Child backload as well. And I added Kelley Armstrong to the list last night, too. Her latest, Waking the Witch is due out next week and it's my first of the Women of the Otherworld series. Now I have to start from the beginning (luckily I have the first three already!).

So One for the Money is currently in production (or something) and set for release next year (looks like). The director, Julie Anne Robinson, has a slew of tv under her belt, including episodes of Weeds, Grey's Anatomy, and Scoundrels.

The cast, well we'll have to see about the cast. Katherine Heigl is at the helm as Stephanie Plum. Daniel Sunjata from Rescue Me plays Ranger. Jason O'Mara, most recently of Life on Mars (the US version), is playing Morelli -- he's hot, but definitely not what I'd pictured as Morelli. Sherri Shepherd plays Lulu and Patrick Fischler plays Cousin Vinnie, which is kind of the only casting choice I'm actually sort of pleased with.

We'll have to wait and see what happens. I kind of think, right now, that they've missed the mark on most of the cast -- I mean it is an established series and folks have certain ideas about the characters. I'm hoping that the movie turns out well, though. It could lead the way for more series like this to finally be adapted, thereby introducing new readers to the series as well ('cause you know there are a number of folks who will go out and buy the book after seeing the trailer or the movie). Course if it tanks (and it had better not with this much time and effort to get it made in the first place)...

Page to Screen - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

I was pretty bummed when The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie didn't play near me. But it's a foreign flick and our Boulder theater that typically played foreigns is closed. So it seemed I would be waiting for the DVD release after all.

And then it had a very long wait in the rental queue, but it was on play instantly. I made some chicken chilli and curled up with the remote and went to town.

My first thoughts were that it was very well done, but very brutal. Of course the book is pretty brutal, but it's harder for me to see that on screen than it is for me to read it.

Another thing that struck me was that they're pretty good at adaptations over there. The core of the book was still there, but many of the small details that I remember were also still there. I have to wonder, though, how much of it will hit the cutting room floor or not be included at all in the American version. And in this case, I'm kind of ok with that. Sure the book is fantastic, but in films, I kind of prefer that certain types of violence be inferred rather than in your face, i.e. the scenes between Lisbeth and her "social worker."

Noomi Rapace was pretty amazing as Lisbeth. As of right now, I see that Carrie Mulligan is rumored to be playing the character in the US version. Not sure I like that choice. I see her too often as a polished waspy character to see her as the kick ass, damaged genius that is Lisbeth. Director David Fincher (Zodiac and Se7en, amongst others) and screenplay writer Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List and Hannibal -- again amongst others) are also supposed to be on board. And IMDB shows Daniel Craig as Blomqvist, which I think is a pretty good choice considering he gets around so much and Craig is hot.

I'm on the fence with the books right now. Basically I thought that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was as brilliantly fantastic as it was hyped up to be. The Girl Who Played With Fire has stumped me, though, and I've not yet resumed reading it.

Overall, as I said a great adaptation and a pretty good flick. I'm not as against an American remake as I was, mostly because I'm interested to see how it's going to be handled.

13th Century Werewolves

Vampires are still at the forefront of the paranormal realm, but werewolves have been trying to beat them for a few years now. Every once in a while a couple of werewolf books will hit shelves, but it seems that for every 2, there are 20 more vampire books. They're dominating. But I can't hate on them too much since they have, in a sense, paved the way for all of the other paranormal entities. In truth, they've been around for ages, but it's their current popularity that's resulted in a slew of new genre releases.

And everytime something totally different pops into my radar, I can't help but love it. (I must admit, even with the vamps, there are so many possibilities that if an author truly does come up with a different twist, I'm all about it.)

Anywho, that brings me to my latest read (finished it last night), Wolfbreed by S.A. Swann.

In Wolfbreed, Swann uses 13th century Prussia as his backdrop for a really great werewolf tale. Historically, Teutonic knights from the Crusades had been invited into the country to help Christianize the Prussian pagans (I looked this up, I am not an expert on 13th century European history). In the book, a knight of the Order of the Hospital of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem discovers his camp has been attacked, all of the others brutally murdered. He defeats the werewolf responsible, only to discover a litter of her cubs. Intent on raising them as weapons for the Church, the young werewolves are tortured and brainwashed as training for the next eighteen years. It is 1239 when Lilly finally escapes her master. But these knights are not going to give up their captor so easily. They will hunt her to the ends of the earth if needed. She is saved by a family who take her in and care for her when she is wounded. But soon enough, the Order tracks Lilly to her hiding place. Whether her newfound friends will stick by her once they learn the truth about her is the question.

I don't think I can really do this book justice. First, I don't want to give too much away: Lilly's not your typical werewolf (at least not the ones that are usually portrayed these days), and her back story is really great. Plus, it's one that runs the length of the book and is integral to the revelations that come at the end. Wouldn't want to ruin that for you, now would I?

This was, at least in my area, a very quiet release. I'd heard nothing about this book until just recently and that's thanks to the upcoming release (7/27) of the sequel, Wolf's Cross. Frankly, Swann's historical/paranormal read deserves much more attention, in my humble opinion. I'd highly recommend checking it out if you're looking for something different, if you enjoy the fantastical with a hint of true history, or if you're simply looking for a great story. Wolfbreed is all of these things and I can't wait to find out where it goes next with Wolf's Cross (which jumps to 1343).

New Releases 7/20/10

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

7 Souls by Barnabas Miller and Jordan Orlando

The Past is a Foreign Country by Gianrico Carofiglio

Wanting Sheila Dead by Jane Haddam -- a Gregor Demarkian mystery

Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd

Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker by Syrie James

Historic Road Trips from Dallas/Fort Worth by Wendi Pierce with Rick Steed (this is one of mine! So proud of Rick and Wendi! This is a great read and a great companion if you want to try the drives yourself.)

Trouble Maker by Janet and Alex Evanovich -- Alex Barnaby #3

The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva

The Fallen 2 by Thomas Sniegoski -- this is a teen read that my sisters recently discovered. They keep telling me I need to read it : )

Dark and Stormy Nights ed PN Elrod -- anthology with Jim Butcher, Carrie Vaughn, Vicki Pettersson and more

Shadow Zone by Iris and Roy Johansen -- I've enjoyed their colabs and am looking forward to this one

People of the Longhouse by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear

New on DVD:

Cop Out

The Losers

The Runaways

I've got no new reviews for Bookbitch -- this has been a crazy week and frankly I completely forgot it was the weekend. But there are always new reviews from BB and the others (and fabulous giveaways!).