Kat with a K

The Dream Shall Never Die

"For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end.
For all those whose cares have been our concern,
the work goes on,
the cause endures,
the hope still lives,
and the dream shall never die."

Rest in peace, Senator Kennedy.

Review: The Family He Wanted

The Family He Wanted by Karen Sandler
Genre: Romance (category; contemporary)
Pages: 217
Rating: 6

I was going to start with some sort of explanation or excuse or something, but enh, I don't have the energy. So I read trashy romance novels sometimes. Harlequins, even. So sue me.

Aside from my apparent defensiveness about the subject in general, though, I had somewhat mixed feelings about this particular title. Generally, what I am looking for in a romance novel is:

1. Grammatically correct writing.
2. Characters who a) seem like real people and b) are either likeable or are interesting enough for me to not care that I don't like them.
3. A plot that seems at least mostly coherent.
4. A happy ending that follows believably from the plot and isn't TOO far-fetched.

It was one of those stories in which the characters have just Decided, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, that they will Never Fall in Love or Never Trust a Man or whatever. So of course over the course of the book they have to realize that they were wrong, etc., etc. This plot device often bothers me, but sometimes certain books can make it work. This one didn't, really. Although now that I think about it, this was the second in a series and I didn't have the first, so it's possible that there was more character background/motivations given in that first book (in which the main characters from this book were secondary characters).

But too much of the book just seemed - random. Things happened, but the things that happened didn't necessarily seem connected. And the things that happened caused character development, but not necessarily in ways that made any sense. The male lead went from being an old friend of the female lead to wanting to help her when she showed up on his doorstep pregnant and penniless, to deciding that even though he would Never Fall in Love he should marry her to take care of her and the baby, to falling in love with her. And that's a fine progression, if it's written in a believable way. But this just - wasn't, quite.

And this is one petty little detail, but it's still bugging me: At one point, there's a secondary character who needs a transplant (kidney? I think?), and several characters are talking about getting tested for compatibility. Including the female lead. And no mention is made of the fact that she's pregnant and therefore, I assume, wouldn't really be a great candidate for transplant surgery. Sigh.

Advertising at work.

Yesterday, I woke up thinking "SOMETHING IS HAPPENING TODAY." August 12. What was it? Was it someone's birthday? Did I have some sort of deadline for something? Had I promised someone I'd go somewhere? August 12, August 12, August 12. It was SOMETHING. It drove me crazy all morning.

Then I got in the car to go to work and turned on the radio. As I flipped stations, I suddenly realized: THAT's why. August 12 was when WBCN was going online-only and Mix 98.5 was becoming Mix 104.1. Now, I listen to these stations occasionally, but they're not a particularly big part of my life. (I tend to either leave the radio on NPR or flip constantly between music stations to find songs I like - I rarely leave the radio on one music station for more than a song or two.) The fake that these stations are moving around is not a particularly traumatic or important event for me. But because they had been advertising the move so incessantly - presumably to avoid losing listeners who go confused - the date was BURNED INTO MY BRAIN and I thought it actually, you know, mattered. Sigh.

PartyLite!

Okay, now I can tell you one of the things I mentioned obliquely in my last post: I am now officially a PartyLite consultant! I'm really excited - I honestly LOVE their candles and accessories, and one of the main reasons I started doing this was because I was buying so much from them anyway. I just got my consultant site set up - visit it here. The great thing with the site is that it's now possible to order products directly from the site rather than having to go to a show or get a paper catalog and order form from a consultant. If you're interested in hosting a party or if you have any questions, please let me know.

Hi blog!

I was doing so well with posting there for a while. Ah well. It's summer. Things are busy. I've been visiting family in Connecticut a lot. I saw Harry Potter again last night. (3D/IMAX this time!) I have some exciting stuff going on that I can't quite talk about yet. I'm designing a shawl. I'm reading a really long book. I survived writing and posting new fanfic every single day in July. My job hasn't actually killed me yet. I had a birthday. It's finally starting to feel like summer around here, which of course means I'm totally ready for fall.

So, you know, things are good. Once again, I'm resolving to post more regularly, but, you know, we'll see.