So speaking of books, awhile back someone posted on my Facebook a list of classic books. I think it was from some article, I’m not sure where (hopefully, I don’t get sued posting it here), and the jist was that the average person had only read six of the 100 titles listed. Now, I had read more than six, but still not as many as I would have liked. Especially when I considered how many I had sitting on my to be read list. So this year, I’m making a point of reading these books.

I just finished The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, which, incidentally, was one of the best books I’ve ever read. Really interesting considering what’s happening to people in today’s economy. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This month, I’m reading Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte. I’ll let you know what I think. And in case you’re interested, here’s the list. Anything in bold I’ve read.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Only in School mind you)
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

It’s here at last. The Friday the 13th Blog Hop. The hop starts on Bri Clarks Blog. So if you haven’t been there, you may want to head over there now and work your way back. And remember you have to hop through to the end for a chance to win the Kindle. Good luck, everyone!

I’m giving away a copy of each of my ebooks Living Lies, The Curse of Culcraig and Blood and Bone. Just leave a comment.

I don’t for the most part consider myself a superstitious person. The number 13 has, if anything, been lucky for me in the past.  My first house closed on a Friday the 13th. My first job was on the 13th floor. Even the commuter train I took left from the 13th track. But there are a few things I work very hard to avoid.

For instance, I would never open an umbrella indoors and it makes me uneasy when other people do. I never put new shoes on the a table or bed. And I never take my Christmas tree down before New Year’s Day–which is my excuse for why mine is still up now.

What are you superstitious about?

Before you hop on, here’s a short excerpt from my latest release, Blood and Bone:

Des gripped her heel tightly, with quick fingers pulled out the glass and pressed a gauze pad against the wound to stem the bleeding. Fresh pain soared up her leg, before settling into a dull throb.

“Your foot’s really bleeding.” He lifted the gauze. She tried to pull her foot away, but his hold tightened, and he grinned. “I still need to clean the cut and bandage you up.”
She glared while he opened the antiseptic pad’s foil package. The same brand he’d complained hurt when she’d used it on his face. “Remember, I could have left you at the side of the road last night.”

“Duly noted.” He applied the damp wipe to her oozing injury. Stinging flames licked at her nerve endings.

“Sadist,” she hissed. Closing her eyes, she bit her lip and waited for him to finish. At last, the pain receded. When she opened her eyes, he was carefully applying a bandage.

“All done.” He bent his head and pressed his lips to the arch of her foot in a feathery kiss. A delicious tingle rippled over her skin. He peered up at her, those smoky eyes watching her through the hair that had fallen into his face.

She forgot the pain in her foot and a new ache settled low and deep inside her.

The hop will begin at Bri Clark’s Blog and move on from there. For every author offering a giveaway, enter their contest to win, and follow the links to the grand prize. Good Luck!

So 2012 is getting off to a pretty good start. Already better than 2011. And there’s a lot to look forward to over the next few months.

Number one on the list is a blog hop this Friday the 13th. This is happening with a bunch of great romantic suspense writers and there will be some really cool prizes. I’ll be giving away an ecopy of Living Lies, The Curse of Culgraig and Blood Bone. So be sure to stop in again on Friday.

Next, The Devil’s Eye. I hit 100K on this over the weekend. There’s still more to write with this story, but only about five more scenes. The end is in sight! And after the struggle I had with this particular MS, I can’t tell you what a relief that is. I had my doubts with this one. By my estimated word count I should have already finished this and I’m no doubt going to have to trim this sucker down. But it’s always easier to cut than to pad. And honestly, I’ll just be happy to type The End on this.

And lastly, I am looking forward to zombies. I saw a commercial last week that said the third season of The Walking Dead starts in February. Yay! Can’t wait.

So what’s everyone else looking forward to?

Mood: Excellent.

Music: Hurdy Gurdy Man, Donovan

So 2011 has slipped into 2012 at last. I must admit, I’m not sorry to see the last of 2011. It was not a great year for me. The one exception being the release of Blood and Bone. For 2012, I’m hoping the year is a little more even keeled.

Unlike last year, my goals are much more tangible this time around. At the top of my list, is wrapping up work on three different books that are all sitting in various states of completion. I want them done. To manage my time better. And that’s about it. Keeping it simple, but focused this year.

What does everyone else have planned for the new year?

Mood: Mellow

Music: Ever Lasting Light, The Black Keys

So my furnace crapped out last week. Initially, I wasn’t all that concerned. I had been paying for a protection plan that covered parts and labor for a few years so I totally thought I was covered. Turns out not so much. The technician pointed out that the heat exchange has cracked in several places-incidentally, this was not what was keeping the furnace from working-and condemned the furnace right there. Yes, condemned it. Doesn’t that words sound harsh? Anyway, the point is we haven’t had heat since Thursday. Thank goodness for those little electric wood stoves. We have two and they’ve made a big difference. Of course, I’m dreading getting my hydro bill for next month. The good news is a new goes in tomorrow. Provided nothing horrible happens in the mean time.

I have to admit, lately I seem to be dealing with a string of bad luck. Now, I’m not a superstitious person, but I can’t help but wonder if I’ve inadvertently walked under a ladder while breaking a mirror and a black cat crossed in front of me. Though, if that had happened I think I’d remember it.

Interestingly, this kind of situation is exactly the sort of bad luck I would subject my heroine to in any of my stories. Of course, my heroines would more than likely stumble on a body while they were inspecting their condemned furnace. So maybe things aren’t so bad for me after all.

Mood: Pensive

The commenter winner is Julie Witt. And the blog host to win is Ryshia Kennie at Once Upon a Time… I’ll get your gift certificates to you before the end of the day.

Thanks again to everyone who hosted and to everyone who took the time to comment. I had a great time!

October 31: Once Upon a Time…
November 1: Reading Romances
November 2: Book of Secrets
November 2: REVIEW ONLY Reviews by Molly
November 3: Among the Muses
November 4: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews

It’s finally here. Blood and Bone is out! And with that in mind, I’ll be giving away a copy. All you have to do is leave a comment and I’ll draw a name and announce the winner. And for the record I’ll be giving stuff away all week so be sure to check in. In the mean time here’s a short excerpt.

The sucking slop of footsteps in wet mud rose from the surrounding black. The hair on the back of her neck bristled, and a chill tickled along her spine.He wasn’t just drunk, he was hurt.

Was it Hudson coming back to finish her off? Tic?

What was she doing standing around out here anyway? A woman alone, late at night, on a deserted country road, during a thunderstorm? The scene had slasher flick written all over it.

She started for the driver’s side door, but a low moan rose up from the darkness.

The wind? Had to be. Still, she picked up her pace.

The moan came again, louder this time. Shayne stopped and turned. A dark, hunched figure staggered toward her.

“Christ.” She gripped the door handle and yanked open the door.

The stooped outline lurched in front of her single headlight, and the glare illuminated the ugliest Hawaiian shirt she’d ever seen. Relief swamped her like a tidal wave, turning her muscles soft for the second time in one night. The feeling, however, was short-lived. He may not have been the homicidal maniac she’d imagined, but the jerk had scared the life out of her. And all because he was staggering drunk. Even from this distance, the smell of beer was nearly overpowering.

As he pitched forward, the light cast a ghostly pallor over his face. Dark smudges beneath his left eye, along his lip and circling the edges of each nostril stood out from the stark whiteness of his skin.

Blood.

Sorry kids, didn’t mean to drop off the face of the planet again. I started a new day job and the training involved a long commute. (I’s forgotten how much traffic sucked.) Now, though, training is done and I’m working much closer to home. I also wrapped up the final line edits for Blood and Bone. So I could have an excerpt to share very soon.

I know I’ve dropped the ball on the Tuesday contests, but I’ll be back with them next week. And I’ll have a really good prize to make up for  missing the last two weeks.

Hope everyone is have a great week.