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I am Lover of romance, who indulges in the romantic adventures of literature

My name is Renee, and I am the host of this site. I am a 34 year old woman, on the prowl for her mate, searching out the best of books, exploring the wilds of the imagination and delving into the heart of a beautiful love story.

 

At A Glance: Month In Review for November!

by | Dec 1, 2015 | At A Glance | 21 comments

Blogging News 

I finally got back into my reading groove….much better than last month. Thank goodness…I can finally enjoy reading again!! In some ways, reading ruts can be a good thing, because this month has made me appreciate being able to enjoy reading even more. So I was able to review quite a bit more, and I have been trying to make it a goal to do more book reviews for all the books I read if I can. Although if its a novella, I usually just stick with a mini one done on goodreads. I have been catching up on some library reads, but haven’t done a visit yet, because my next visit next week I would like to get a bunch of Christmas reads so I am just waiting to get through what I have until then. But I have also entered the Coyer Challenge too, so I also want to get through some of my e book reads that have been sitting in my reader collecting dust (oh wait…it doesn’t collect dust hehe). This month has been wonderful though. Nice wonderful for the most part until lately. This past week I was pretty sick, so couldn’t enjoy Thanksgiving as much as I wanted to (which is a shame because its my favorite holiday). Had fun though with the family though. It was a fabulous month, to look at back at this year and see how much I have grown and how much I have been blessed with in my life. My life isn’t perfect and there are still things I am hoping for (like a husband and some kids down the road). But I have been blessed with great family, faith, and health and education. As far as my blog. I have been still working on polishing up my past reviews and getting them into my UBB plugin. I can’t say how much I love Ashley, such a great help even around the holidays when I had some glitches.

I did want to share my recent coloring pages. So I bought Enchanted Forest and Lost Ocean (super stoked). Over the black friday weekend, I did shop…but on saturday, you still have most of the deals just not the crazy people or the long lines. I looked at the coloring books they have, and some of them are nice but I am addicted to Johanna Basford’s work. If I had seen the new Harry Potter one…I would have snatched that one up but I think it had sold out.

 

 

Garden Shed Day Scene

Night Garden Scene

 

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Books Read and Reviewed 

The Master by Jean Johnson—I had many high hopes for this ones, since I loved the first two books in the series. But unfortunately I became bored with the story. So I am setting it aside for now and I will return back to it at a later date.

A Mackenzie Clan Gathering by Jennifer Ashley—this was such a fantastic read. I loved getting more of Ian and Beth and more of the rest of them as well.

The Kadin by Bertrice Small—This is the first book written by this author. This is more a historical fiction about harems…but isn’t a true romance like her other novels are. There is no happy ending really, and not a solid romance like I was expecting. But I did like the historical aspects of it.

The Experts Guide To Driving A Man Wild by Jessica Clare—This is a couple I was lookinng forward to…but its a story I had issues with mostly due to the heroine. Now I love crazy and wild heroines, but she was weird. I had many issues with her. And the hero is such a alpha male–iin the beginning…then he kinda turns into a weakling toward the middle of the story and just acts okay with anything the heroine does. Just didn’t fit for me. And this had more of a erotica feel than a romance.

Mastering The Marquess by Lavinia Kent–I found this free on B&N, so I thought I should pick it up. I liked it, more than I thought that I would. Despite the hot love scenes, it had more of a romance novel feel to it, than a erotic feel which is what I was expecting.

The Care and Feeding of An Alpha Male by Jessica Clare—I had a ball of fun with this story. I love both of these characters, two complete opposites that end up being just right for one another.

Tough Enough by M. Leighton–This is the first time I have read this author and I couldn’t put it down it was so good. I loved having a character that struggled through some emotional trauma.

Blog Tours 

Daniel’s True Desire by Grace Burrowes

Brenda Jackson “Bane” Tour

The Winter Laird Blog Tour

Reading Challenges 

Goodreads Reading Challenge-363/400 91%

Historical Romance Reading Challenge 129/100

New To You Reading Challenge: 116/100

TBR Reading Challenge: 24/20

Challenges I Am Hosting:

Oldie but a GOODIE (1)

Oldie but a GOODIE (2)

Oldie but a GOODIE (3)

Favorite Picks of the Month 

Cold Hearted RakeIn The Company of WolvesThe HighaymanConquering KissThe Game PlanForever His Texas BrideRock Redemption

 

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21 Comments

  1. Quinn's Book Nook

    I’m glad you’re out of your reading slump! They are the worst, that’s for sure. But it feels so good when you get out of it.

    I LOVE your coloring pages. I really want to get into coloring, but I haven’t quite started yet. I always spend time decorating my planner so that is sort of my creative bit every week.

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      aww!! Thanks! I love it so much. I usually do it while listening to audiobooks though. Love that you create your own planner. I just have my franklin covey one. But I have thought about doing my own for 2016. Need to look on ideas on how I would do it though.

      Reply
  2. Samantha

    Wow! Your coloring pages look great! Much better than the couple I’ve done. I have the Enchanted Forest one.

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Thanks hun!!! I have such fun with it. But trust me, I watched many you tube training videos before I even started. But the more I do it, the better I get and the more I learn. I love the Enchanted Forest book. Its so fabulous….the illustrations are gorgeous.

      Reply
  3. LilyElement

    Pretty coloring book and woohoo for out of the reading slump!!

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      I know right?? I love getting out of those slumps. They can be so frustrating sometimes. I love these illustrations that Johanna Basford does though.

      Reply
  4. Kristin @ Addicted to HEA

    Love, LOVE your coloring pages!! I really need to get into that. Hmmm, Christmas present idea!

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Oh thank you!!! Its so fun to do, and its great to do it too. So fun and very relaxing. And yeah I have already bought a few more copies of these for friends and family. Its something anyone can do.

      Reply
  5. Lily B

    oo the coloring pages are lovely! Glad this month was better for you, that you were able to get out of the rut. I hate ruts. And awesome 2016 challenges, I have thought about joining a few

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Thanks Lily!! Ruts are the worse right? Its the one thing I wish would never happen.

      Reply
  6. Sophia Rose

    Ah, sorry you were sick over Thanksgiving, but glad you had a good time with your family. And yay for getting some pretty coloring done and getting out of your reading rut.
    You did read some good ones this month. Have a lovely December!

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Yeah being sick is never fun, but unfortunately it happens every November. Its always worse around Thanksgiving, but it was still a good day. Especially when I don’t know when I will be with my family for Thanksgiving for a while since I am moving next year. There were some great reads though. Excited to see what happens in December though. A busy but fun month.

      Reply
  7. kimbacaffeinate

    Yes to getting your groove on. I am totally loving your coloring. I tried doing it, and suck. Not at coloring but I keep sitting there thinking I could be doing…this and this . It ends up stressing me out.

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Thanks!!! You know…it does the opposite for me hehe Its the best relaxing activity I have ever done (other than working out for three hours) but I usually do it on my work breaks while listening to audiobooks. Its perfect because I just do a little bit every day.

      Reply
  8. Jennifer_FairyTales

    Yeah for getting back into the reading groove. I’m in a bit of a rut right now so I definitely understand. Those coloring pages are so pretty. I have Secret Garden and the Harry Potter one which I’m really enjoying. I need better colored pencils though and am hoping to get them for Christmas.

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      oh I hope you get out of your rut soon!!! They are the worse right?? I really want to get the Harry Potter one next though. Hope you are enjoying the Secret Garden one. I love the garden scenes she does. They are so fun. Having good colored pencils makes the difference. I love the nice set I got, and even though they were pricey…so worth it.

      Reply
  9. Anna@herding cats&burning soup

    Woohoo on getting your read on again. That’s always a huge relief. Very pretty coloring. The top one looks lovely 🙂

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Thanks!! I am having fun with these books. The illustrations are gorgeous and its so fun to stretch myself a bit and explore my artsy side. Love that I am loving books again hehe

      Reply
  10. Aurian

    I do love your coloring, so pretty! And a great list of books you have read/listened to, I recognize a lot of authors on my shelves as well. I am a huge Bertrice Small fan, and still miss her.

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Thank you!!! It is so fun to do and I love exploring my artsy side. I miss Bertrice Small too. I love how realistic her books are. She really spent so much time on researching each book she wrote…many authors could learn from her. I love her books.

      Reply
  11. Lola

    I am glad to hear you got back into the reaidng groove. Those reading slumps definitely make me appreciate reading more afterwards. Oh I also have the Enchanted Forest colouring book, but haven’t coloured a lot yet. That drawing of the octopus looks really good! I really like all your pictures of the pages you coloured, they look so pretty! I might have to get her ocean book too at some point. And yay I am happy you’re joining Coyer, it’s one of my favourite reading challenges! Have a great month!

    Reply

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