Category: General Topics

1.0 out of 5 stars Wooden-let it go!

I am sorry, but I have truly given up on Ms. Dain as an author. Nearly all of her supposed love scenes are nonconsensual. Please, can the romance ‘industry’ get away from the bodice rippers of the 70s already? Intelligent modern readers want so much more. The deflowering of women is just not an entertaining topic, and especially not when done with such graphic and down right crass mishandling.

William finds out the heroine is not a virgin, and immediately blames her without ever once stoping to look around him at the ruined mansion he has got thanks to marrying a total stranger. She is just a possession to him like everything else. He just can’t bear the thought of anyone sharing fun with her except him. He doesn’t understand that every time he calls her Cat and falls upon her like a starving man on his dinner, that this is what her attacker used to do to her. He hardly even bothers to try to understand her point of view until it is forcibly shoved under his nose.

William is not quite as Neanderthal as her other heroes but he comes pretty close. Then we have her rapist Lambert going about scot free and trying to reclaim her. He tries to kill her, and at last she fights back for about a minute. Graphic violence ensues, and that includes William being stabbed in both sides with swords and still surviving to kill the villain. PUH-LEEESE.

We never see any commitment warmth or fondness in any of these books, just unremitting doom and gloom, and miserable lives for all her female characters. This was not really characteristic of the period at all and yes, invasion is not pretty, but life does go on, with love and Christian hope and forgiveness. Again, authors should always beware of imposing their modern sensibilities on their historically based characters, because they then lose a lot of the point as to why they would set the book in that time period on the first place.

This is not quite as depressing as some of Ms. Dain’s other books, but the characters are flat and insipid and not people I ever care about even though we are supposed to admire her as a victim. and him for ‘forgivng’ her for having been raped.

I would rather admire my characters for being brave, noble, loving and committed to one another. As most intelligent readers of romance would. Let this one go for sure.

The first thing you can teach ever author who comes to you for editing advice is, “A romance is the hero and heroine falling in love, and working toward a happily ever after ending.” I wish romance writers would remember that.

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Continued from part 1

How Am I Supposed To Find Time To Cook Breakfast Every Morning?
The solution is not to cook at all. Why not try a breakfast smoothie?

The nutritious shakes blend together in a matter of minutes. Just pour your favorite breakfast smoothie in an insulated cup and you have breakfast to go.

You’ll find quick and easy recipes for a variety of smoothies at this site. Just click on the Smoothie link.

One thing is for sure, whatever breakfast you choose, you will feel more healthy and more in control of your energy, body, and moods, because you will be getting continuous nutrition throughout the day if you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With good meal planning, you will also save time and money, and above all, make smarter food choices when you are not in the grip of uncontrollable ravenous hunger.

Finally, protein such as is found in eggs, and fiber, found in cereals and fruit, can both make you feel full and have excellent nutritional value and few calories as compared with the convenience foods you might be grabbing, even those supposedly healthy meal replacement bars, which can be loaded with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, cheap soy, nuts to add flavor but also fat, and lots of preservatives.

So try to make the time every day to make your own breakfast. Your body and family will thank you for it.
Save Time And Money By Planning Your Meals

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gives us the energy to make it through the day and keeps our metabolism high as well.
It’s easy to skip breakfast with everything we have going on in the morning. After all, we have to walk the dog, get the kids ready for school, feed the cat, iron the blouse we’re planning on wearing to the office and so on. Fixing a healthy and nutritious breakfast just doesn’t seem to fit in with our busy routines.

But there are many options for breakfast, both cold and hot.

How Am I Supposed To Find Time To Cook Breakfast?
Often breakfast can be as simple as pouring a hot cup of water over some instant oatmeal and stirring. Grab a piece of fruit to go with it, or a add handful of berries.
One thing I love is my microwave egg poacher. I have a nice runny egg in about 28 seconds, a hard cooked one in about 31. Then I pop on a piece of bread or toast, and depending on how runny it is, I can usually run out the door with it.
I can even make my own egg breakfast sandwich at a fraction of the cost I would have to pay at a fast food place. Toast the bread or muffin lightly, then put cheese and or ham or Canadian bacon on top, give it 10 seconds in the microwave, then add your poached egg, for a real feast.
Often I have leftover potatoes and veggies like onions and peppers and tomatos. Why not do your own breakfast burrito. Cut up into bite-sized pieces, stir all the ingredients together in a skillet, and then add your egg and scramble all together. Serve toast on the site with more of the heated potato, or put the whole in a large wrap, You can even add a slice of or some shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, whatever. So it makes a great brunch too.
So does leftover quiche, or french toast, also a great way to deal with any slightly stale bread you might have hanging around. You can season the french toast with cinnamon, vanilla, maple flavor, and you can have a couple of microwaved sausages or strips of bacon on the site.

There are many cold breakfast options. The most obvious ones are cereal, granola, granola bars, fruit, yogurt, cottage cheese, bagels and lox, a piece of quiche. Avoid the pop tart kind of things that are too sugary and carb-y, as they can pack on the pounds and make you jittery with sugar spikes.

Avoid danishes and over-large muffins for the same reason. The baked goods you get so cheaply at Costco and other food clubs are indeed a bargain, but look at the size of the things! If you must buy them, try eating half each day. Freeze them and thaw in the microwave. Or if they have been sitting a day or two, freshen them up in the microave for about 12 seconds.

Continued in Why You Should Eat Breakfast Every Day Part 2

Save Time And Money By Planning Your Meals

1.0 out of 5 stars What editor in their right mind thought this was a good idea?

This is absolutely the worst book I have ever read. The writing is like that of a two year old, the characters; motivations as well. Nothing rings true, not even the anger or desire for revenge over the sexual assault they have suffered Terrible, trite writing like this devalues the experience of every single woman who has ever been raped, and also every woman who has lost a child to a hit and run driver. This isn’t entertainment on any level, and there is certainly nothing morally uplifting about this overwrought tripe.
The woman in question who is raped is not only raped, she is raped and sodomized in front of her husband who is handcapped and can’t help her. Talk about laying on the sensationalism with a trowel.

I am appalled that this book was published, even more shocked to see that it is part of a series-apparently a seven book series all about women getting even. Really, if they are going to act even worse than the men who done them wrong, what is the point, exactly?

This book was brief enough, printed in large print, I doubt it was even 50,00 words, but however many it was, it was way too many for me. It was predictable, overwrought, and just shows that publishers will do anything for sensationalism, and for new ‘product’, a book with a prominent writers name on it.

And this author has the gall to think she has invented a new genre, ‘the man in peril’. I think everyone offended by this book should complain to the publisher, and perhaps the rest of these extremely offensive series will be confined to the trash heap.

Spoiler:

How they can surgically castrate the three men, leave their testicles in plastic bags, and then find it FUNNY when the men turn up at a doctor’s office (not the hospital?) to ask to have them put back, is just too sick for words. And the doctor’s secretary selling the story to the tabloids for $50000 is even more sick. Avoid this loser of a series if you have any taste or sense.

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2.0 out of 5 stars really flat and unattractive characters spoil this

Alex as a hero is just too dull for words. He is self-righteous, cares for no one but himself, and his supposed love for his one-year-old daughter is so extensive he dumps her with a woman he terms a whore in Scotland, determined to never see his wife Charlotte again.

The plot ‘twist’ hinging on his having ruined her in a garden is one thing-the twin brother supposedly having done the deed is another absurd convention for this genre of novel. He is nasty, unforgiving, and incapable of love. The panoply of secondary characters and love affairs we don’t care about pad out an overly long book.

Sophie York lusting after Alex (gross) and getting his twin Patrick in the next book you can see coming a mile off, though that next book is even worse, since Patrick is even more cruel to Sophie than Alex is to Charlotte, if such a thing is possible.

Regencies do not all have to be light and fluffy but I expect characters of consistency and some integrity. Every misunderstanding in the book would have been cleared up had the couple ever spoken to one another, instead of indulging in their sexual obsessions.

The love scenes were terribly wooden and not at all romantic, with her weeping all over the place, him nasty and accusatory, saying the most unforgiveable things which the ninny then forgives!

I am tired of near rape ‘love scenes’ in historical romance. What message are we giving to younger women-that love ‘excuses’ this kind of behavior? Rubbish.

I have read several of her other books, all with the same problems, in terms of the writing, and in terms of the characters’ situations. Add to that the terrible editing and numerous historical errors, and I have given up on this author completely, despite the fact that she came hoghly recommended to me by a romance editor for her supposedly sumptous writing and great love scenes.
Really, if this is all the are offering on the shelves these days, by all means, save your money and write your own novels!
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Losing weight can be a challenge for even the most determined person, especially when you hit a plateau and don’t see the scale budge for weeks, or worse still, see it go up.

 It is not easy, since metabolism and genetics as well as lifestyle all play a role in weight loss, but the only one you can control, or try to control, is the latter.

 While the basic equation of weight loss is simple, you have to burn more calories than you consume, the trouble is that a pound gained is NOT equal to a pound lost. It is actually 2000 calories to put on a pound and 3000 to take it off. 

 The good news is that by adding a few new weight-conscious measures here and there every day to burn more calories, you can win the battle of the bulge and budge that pudge.

 Increase your activity, and decrease your unnecessary calories.  Portion size is key. If you get a bit nibbly, those 100 calorie snack packs can help.

 The most successful dieters keep food journals to track exactly what they eat each day, and when. By becoming aware of your habits, you can see where you ‘lose control’ also where you can whittle down calories without losing out on nutrition. Also, the FDA is recommending a 2000 calorie a day diet, but is that really practical given how many of us lead a sedentary, inactive lifestyle? And it is 2500 for men!

 Once you pinpoint your “hungry” times, you can head them off with healthy snacks like carrot and celery sticks with low fat dressing. Soup is also filling, and we often associate soup and salad with going out to dine and so we can feel really satisfied with a lot less food if we start each lunch and dinner in this way, and make sure to avoid any cream based dressings of soups due to the extra calories from fat.

 Another method is to cut out all beverages other than water. Soda, juice, wine and beer add up to a lot of calories really quickly.  They can also create havoc with your appetite, especially alcohol and it often giving people the munchies, or luring them into eating fattening snacks.  Cutting out high-calorie beverages (including those supposed Vitamin waters that are full of sugar) and replacing them with water or seltzer, or adding seltzer to your juice or wine if you have to have it, make a refreshing spritzer,  will make a major difference to your figure,  while still supplying your body with the hydration it needs throughout the day.

  Liquids will also make you feel fuller faster. Studies also show that milk can help you eat less and lose weight, plus help you metabolize your food better.

 As for changing your activity level, you can take the stairs instead of the elevator, park further away from the stores so you will be forced to walk, and move your feet from side to side when you are waiting for a bus or train.

 Gardening, yoga, golfing, can all help you boost your calorie burn, plus, anything that gets you out of the house and away from the fridge is a bonus.  Also, building lean muscle can help you  speed up your metabolism, because your body will run more efficiently and burn up calories faster as a result. 

 You can also work different parts of your body each day, for best results. Try some of the workout programs on Fit TV, yoga, weights, aerobics.  Or rent the fitness DVDS from Netflix on topics like Abs, legs, and so on. Find the ones youlike and do them in a daily rotation.

If you incorporate even a few of these changes into your daily routine, you will begin to see those stubborn pounds slowly melt away, and better still, stay away. You will also have more energy and more muscle, leading to a leaner, firmer, more efficient body.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Trite and dull

After the stunning steaminess of Behind Closed Doors, this author has just got worse and worse. Her second novel didn’t have enough sex, ditto this book. Also, like the second book, the premise of the couple already being in love means there is no heat, no tension, no development of chemistry between them.

The best thing about Behind Closed Doors was the sexual tension, with the couple literally not knowing who they could trust on any level. In both of her last two books, the couples have practically grown up with each other, so there is little mystery. And who on earth marries the guy next door all that often? It is just too safe. Mildly edgy public sex on a motorcycle and at a waterfall does not make for a hot book.

I liked Simon more than I liked her. McKenna can write men for sure, I will give her that, but her women are woeful.

Yes, she can write men, but alas, they are usually Neanderthals, toying on the edge of S/m games  of dominance, and totally challenged by any thinking woman with a bit of independence who desires the more sensual in life.

Simon’s moods swung so rapidly and unaccountably that Ellen ended up sounding like she had a perpetually bad case of PMS trying to keep up with his snippiness.

As for the mystery to be solved, well, the author gives away so much at the start of the book there is no suspense-we know exactly how it is all going to play out.

The secondary plot with Ellen’s fiancee and the town laundry woman is just too unbelievable to be true, and pads out an already well padded book the author no doubt struggled to sustain for about 100 k words.

The author should stick to her guns and write sexy stories if that is what she likes to do. This was dismally dull, watered-down pulp with no suspense and very little romance.