Filed at 7:15 pm under Real Life by meljean
Dear Meljean,
Really, you know better than to try pepping up your hair color at home. But if you must do it, please remember that ‘copper shimmer’ ends up looking more like ‘ruby fusion.’ Very dark ruby fusion*.
If you can do that one little thing, I think we will get along much better in the future.
Thank you,
Your Hair
*the picture didn’t come out. But it is something like this. Only a little more purplish.
ETA: Through the magic of Photoshop, I have a better example. And I have also given myself the thick, lustrous curls that I have always wanted.
Filed at 8:55 am under Books by meljean
I loved it. I read quite a few HPs this weekend, but this was easily, easily, easily the best. Unrequited love is one of my favorite themes, and this one just dealt it out like crazy. I wasn’t too thrilled with the last Helen Brooks I read (THE BILLIONAIRE’S VIRGIN BRIDE) but this one had my stomach in knots pretty much all the way through waiting for these two to get together.
This is the back cover copy — but, like the title, is a bit over-the-top.
As far as secretary Gina Leighton is concerned, billionaire businessman Harry Breedon has never shown more than a professional interest in her. Why should he? Plain and plump, Gina knows she’s hardly trophy-wife material!
But Harry has noticed her—sexy curves and all—and now that Gina has another job offer, he’ll have to act fast. This handsome tycoon is determined to seduce her into staying—even if that means making her his wife!
One thing I like about Helen Brooks’s heroes is that they are nice guy, usually. Harry fits that — and what’s interesting about this book is that, typically, it’s the heroine who does a lot of soul-searching and changing in her outlook on life. But in this one, Gina is determined to leave because she knows her heart will just be trampled by the kind of man Harry is, and Harry is the one who has the most character development.
Anyway, I liked it a lot, obviously. Amazon has a short excerpt up, and it’s available on sale at eHarlequin for $2.85
Oh, hey, look at this — they have a “browse the book” feature that you can share on your site at eHarlequin. Hee.
Browse this book
Add to your site
Buy this book
Let’s see if it totally effs up my blog.
Up next (okay, I’ve already started, but now it goes into my car as my “I’m stuck waiting for someone and have a couple of minutes to read” book)
Filed at 10:05 pm under Dorkery and Movies and TV and Other Blogs and POW! by meljean
revealed? Joss Whedon (kind of) explains what Dr. Horrible is all about.
I’m there, anyway, just because: NPH, Nathan Fillion, Joss Whedon.
They have lots of graphics to put up so that the word gets out. I like this one because you can see NF’s nip.
I’ll put it up on the sidebar as soon as I can figure out why I can’t edit my template, grr.
The OTHER evil plan (mine) involves RWA nationals … and, okay, it’s not so evil. I just bought my tickets, but I’ll only be around on Friday-Saturday. The Berkley signing is on Friday at 3pm. I’ll be hanging out pretty much the rest of the time. So if you see a redhead lurking behind a potted tree somewhere, it’s probably me — come and say hi!
Filed at 1:28 pm under Other Blogs by meljean
Whoa! I spent half the day in line at the DMV and emissions testing place, and now am sitting in the middle of the brake repair shop — and just remembered that I’m chatting tonight at Jacquelyn Frank’s (7pm-8PM EASTERN, 4pm-5pm PACIFIC). If you can, drop by!
10:00 – 11:00: Patrice Michelle
11:00 - 12:00: Alexandra Ivy
12:00 - 1:00: Gena Showalter
1:00 - 2:00: JJ Massa
2:00 - 3:00 Lauren Dane
3:00-4:00 HelenKay Dimon
4:00-5:00 Lara Adrian
5:00-6:00: Cynthia Eden
6:00-7:00: Jeri Smith Ready
7:00-8:00: Meljean Brook
8:00-9:00: Shelly Laurenston
9:00 - 10:00: Yasmine Galenorn
Filed at 9:09 am under POW! by meljean
Even knowing that he’d been having problems, to hear that he’s passed is still a shock. I mean, he beat the cancer back once — I think I thought he’d do it again. He was only 37.
The first time I saw his art was in Witchblade — as much as I ended up loving the comic, it was his art that sucked me in. And although, over the years, my tastes in comic art changed so that his work wasn’t my absolute favorite, I always admired him, his drive, and his style.
Sara (the Witchblade) and Ian Nottingham:
And, of course, my favorite heroine, Wonder Woman:
Sigh.
Filed at 8:17 pm under Movies and TV by meljean
So, I went and saw Wanted, and thought it was great. Pretty much everything the reviewer at Pajiba said (foul language lurks at this link, so don’t click if you don’t want to read it), I’d agree with.
It’s also one of those movies where you have to suspend your disbelief (really suspend it), or I don’t think it’s quite as enjoyable. Wanted would never work as a book, because so much depends on the visuals: from the letters that fly off the broken keyboard, to the final (gun)shot — and the plot, if you think about it too much, just doesn’t hang together very well. Luckily, it’s fast-paced enough that you don’t have too much time to think — and some of the more absurd things that happen are so slickly presented that instead of rolling my eyes, I just ended up having a really great time.
Only three weeks now until Batman.
Filed at 9:04 pm under Books and Reading by meljean
Do any others have a June 24 release? I know there are a ton more coming out July 1st. *whimpers*
Filed at 4:49 pm under Books and Revisions by meljean
I am a raging beeeyotch. I don’t really like myself that way. So I’ll probably start downing more again. Strange, but I really thought I’d be more mellow. Maybe it’s just a withdrawal phase?
I’m finishing copyedits/revisions for Demon Bound (new beginning, new ending, various stuff throughout) which I have to mail out Wednesday, so I’m mostly missing from the blogosphere until then. Random stuff:
I found (and finished) High Noon. I brought home Koontz’s The Good Guy from my family reunion, and we’ll see how that works out. Although I love some of Koontz’s stuff (Watchers, Strangers, some others) not all of it is a hit for me.
Please don’t download e-books from piracy sites/message boards. IMO, piracy isn’t about trading/lending books with friends, or even printing out a copy so that your mom can read it. To me, those are fine, because there is a limit to the copies being made. What isn’t fine are those sites where you click on a link and get a file of my book(s) and/or a bundle of other books. Just, don’t. Please remember that if you want to try an author, most have excerpts online, so that you can get a feel for their style/story before you buy (or borrow from a library, or UBS, or whatever). I don’t have any objection to people getting my work for cheap/free through a legitimate distributor of that work. Those piracy sites aren’t legitimate distributors.
I really like Warren Ellis’s explanation of “Where ideas come from.” Although I can’t exactly say the result is the same (although the million nuns sound awesome) the start is: filling your head with all kinds of information, and letting it spark into life. But he says it all so much better.
Filed at 9:10 am under Books and Reading by meljean
I talked about this last year, and listed a few of my favorite (paranormal) novellas — the kind of novella that I loved so much, I’d have bought the anthology just for that, and thought it was worth the money. They were:
- “Fairies Make Wishes, Too” by Maggie Shayne — in A SPRINKLE OF FAIRY DUST (like a fairy Little Mermaid)
- “Everything She Does Is Magick” by Maggie Shayne — in BEWITCHED (Virgin Hero would have sold me on this, anyway)
- “A Dream of Stone and Shadow” by Marjorie M. Liu — DARK DREAMERS (read this one recently; the voices are incredible. *happy sigh*)
- “Roarke’s Prisoner” by Angela Knight in SECRETS VOL. 2 (I remember thinking: shit. this is what I want to be writing.)
- “Love’s Prisoner” by MaryJanice Davidson in SECRETS VOL. 6 (The elevator scene isn’t for everyone, but works for me.)
- “The Nekkid Truth” by Nicole Camden in BIG GUNS OUT OF UNIFORM (and it’s even in first person, which I’m usually kind of squiggy about in romances)
- “The Night Owl” by Emma Holly in HOT BLOODED (the hero is just…yeah. And the heroine, too. But it’s so sweet how he’s tongue-tied around her. Awwww.)
- “Dark Journey” by Anne Stuart in STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT — about Death, and a little holiday that he takes.
Since then, I’d add to the list with Patricia Briggs’s “Alpha and Omega” in ON THE PROWL and Kresley Cole’s “The Warlord Wants Forever” in PLAYING EASY TO GET, Nalini Singh’s “Beat of Temptation” in AN ENCHANTED SEASON … okay, and I know there are others, but my memory is not-so-good, and I sucketh at the record-keeping. (Also, I haven’t read as much in the past year as in previous years. The anthologies in my TBR pile are almost as high as the single-titles.)
So are there any out there that you think are worth the price of the entire anthology? I’ve listed paranormals only here (I fudged a little on “The Nekkid Truth”) but I should also compile a list of my favorite contemporary and historical novellas at some point — but feel free to mention novellas in any genre.
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