My Recent Comments

Welcome to the community Neka! I've only been a member since January. Everyone's been great!

If you're interested, check out the WRITE STUFF forum. There's a writer's challenge section that has a "new challenge" every 2 weeks.  It's great practice for want-to-be writer's. We'd love to have you join us.

My husband always picks on me because I like to read so much. I'm so glad to have found more avid readers! I have been reading avidly since I was a teenager, although I used to cycle on-and-off books until my mid-20s. Now I read constantly.

Anyhow, I too, when I find an author I like, I try to read everything available by that author. Ebay and Half.com are great for finding some of the harder to find titles. I have also enjoyed reading W.E.B. Griffin and Patricia Cornwell books when I'm in the mood for something different. 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I look forward to some new authors.

and cute. Reminds me of a conversation I had with my sister a few weeks ago. One of those days when things seem to go wrong form the get go (which happens a lot in my life). Anyhow, I was telling her about it and she said, "Shannon, have you ever thought maybe you weren't real and you're just a character that someone writes about?" LOL. Too clever.

My teenage daughter loves to read but has trouble comprehending what she reads. Bless her heart--she tried to go straight to adult books but it would take her months to finish a book. So I had the bright idea of looking in the hopefully more appropriate teen section and bought her The Mediator series by Meg Cabot for her birthday. My sister bought her the 1-800-where-are-you series. She's really enjoying them and reads them at a more reasonable pace. And she doesn't feel so bad about how long it takes her to read anymore. She just needed something better suited for her reading level.

I also agree there are a lot of books out there that are great cross-overs. I don't hesitate to read a YA book if the blurb sounds good to me. And I think it's great that my daughter and I can "share" a book experience.

FWIW, I think the growing teen section is a marketing ploy to cash in more on the popularity of the YA books being made into movies and used for television ideas.

Shannon 

Can't wait to read some of the answers.

My story ideas...hmm...for the last writer's challenge, I wrote about a waitress having a really bad day. I was inspired from events that actually happened at a restaurant a few weeks ago. In real life, all these things didn't happen to the same person but they did happen.

I'm inspired a lot by real life--either my personal experinces or someone elses,  comments directed to me or ones I've "overheard", and occasionally something from tv. At the moment, I have a story idea that steams from my frustration with the never-ending diet crazes.

Shannon

Love the post Marty. It's really touching and makes us think about the things we take for granted. Can't say it enough--God Bless the soldiers and their families!!!

I think there is one thing harder than loving a soldier---loving a soldier and having kids. It's been my experience that having children has made separations harder. When my husband and I were younger and pre-kids, I think I dealt with them much better than I do now. But maybe that's just me.

Shannon

I must confess that reading provided a huge escape for me during my awkward years. But I don't really remember reading a lot before 8th grade. That's about the time we started doing more indepth book reports as well. Anyhow, I remember reading a Christopher Pike book--Slumber Party, I think--and loved it. I begged my parents to buy me another of his titles--Weekend?--and reading all night by flashlight because I had to finish it before school. From then on I enjoyed reading. And now, my husband calls me an addict.

On a side note, I have passed on the reading bug to 2 of my children. My daughter enjoys reading, but my oldest son seemingly devours books. He's in 3rd grade and has a reading level of a 7th grader. I couldn't be happier.

Shannon

Sorry to hear about your damaged books/boxes. I really hate it when that happens. I have been fairly fortunate thus far.

Anyhow, I wanted to share my experience about DHL. They made me so mad.-- I live out in the country in the middle of nowhere west tn. I was about out of checks so when I reordered, I expedited the shipping. Suppose to have them in like 5 days. 2 weeks went by and I called the check people and was told I should have had them.  They ship DHL. When I called DHL (local office about 30 minutes away) I was told they don't make deliveries my way unless they have so many packages to deliver. My checks had been sitting there for 10 days. How crazy is that? The check company made sure they got delivered that afternoon. And ever since, I always have my checks delivered regular mail because I get them quicker.

Shannon

Vince--I'm enjoying your questions. It's really funny because I was wondering about the whole height thing myself. I haven't been reading "romance" for very long so I'm not sure if the H have always been tall or not. But I think most people read for fantasy and I think most women probably fantasize about tall, dark and handsome. Afterall, the phrase came from somewhere. 

As for do women prefer taller men...I've seen lots of short women that tend to gravitate toward tall men; and I've seen lots of tall women gravitate toward short men. And I've even known a few tall women that wouldn't date a man that wasn't taller than them. So I think eveyone has their own preference.--I, however, am short and prefer under-tall men. I don't want a crick in my neck just "to gaze lovingly" in my man's eyes. (For the record, my husband's 5'7".) 

HockeyJock--You're kinda warped, you know it? And I mean that lovingly. Loved your example. But take it from a big boobed girl, it's all about the attitude. Big boobs alone are not enough unless you intend to use their powers for evil.

Shannon 

I wasn't going to reply because I was agreeing with most of the others posts. I want to be able to fall for the hero and the one you described doesn't sound like he'd do it for me. For me, its not so much looks or money. I love a H with a personality. He can be "harsh" in some ways as long as he has some other redeeming qualities.

However, I read on and you discussed the book a little more. If I'm understanding correctly, in this book's case, there is a back story between the H and h. She knows underneath he's not really who he has become. In a case like this, (although I will admit I'd probably want to knock his block off) the h has faith the H can be restored (or closer to) to the person he once was because that's what happens as you heal. It'd be totally different if the 2 were strangers.

Shannon