'Tis the season to be jolly!

Really quick (and late) (and short) Xmas post while I cook up more stuff for you to read! Upcoming posts include: Prom! My Singapore trip. What I've been up to this month in Malaysia. My first set of Christmas nails! And another tear-jerker post cause I know you like those! Don't deny!!

All photos taken on Christmas day! Adorable niece Ava in her Christmas dress, bokeh-ed Christmas tree and me in the car. 

Lovely Christmas frames template is a freebie from Shabby Blogs.

"Sweethearts" - Sara Zarr - 2008

While cleaning up my zillion bookmarks I came across a list geared right to me - "The Most Swoonworthy YA couples of all time" on a site called Forever Young Adult "for YA readers who are a little less Y and a bit more A" - which also applies to me.  There were a few couples (and books) I didn't know including Cameron and Jenna from Sara Zarr's "Sweethearts."  I love that cover by the way - not only is it cute and clean it actually fits the story - (which includes the most dead-on descriptions of food for comfort I've ever read).

This book was not at all what I expected, I thought it would be a light, quick read - it's more than that, and it's more than a romance in many ways.  Zarr's style and prose is sparse and wonderful, capturing both the trauma and innocence of childhood effortlessly.  

Hell yeah, Cameron Quick and Sara Zarr. I see some glomming in my future. 

p.s. 

I just read a little more about "Sweethearts" on FYA and it seems that Tim Riggins (well, the actor who plays him) is universally chosen for the role of Cameron Quick if a movie were made, and I laughed and laughed and then thought, well yeah, a 6'2" emancipated minor who doesn't say much?  

Of course, Tim Riggins. Haha!

"Some Brief Folly" - Patricia Veryan - 1981

When the latest AAR Top 100 came out, many long-time romance readers on the message boards complained about the relative newness of the books and authors.  It seems newer readers did most of the voting or just out-voted some older favorites.  One reader posted about the dearth of iconic romance authors on the list and also mentioned a few names I'd never read - Julia Ross, Patricia Veryan, and Eva Ibbotson.  The library had no titles by Ross, but quite a few by Veryan and Ibbotson - I grabbed at random.

Though it took me weeks to finish "Some Brief Folly" by Patricia Veryan was pleasantly surprising.  It's one of those stories  that isn't so much a mystery as a snowglobe.  The answers are shaken up and trapped, and seem really obvious when they settle down.  Veryan was known for her Regencies, especially the "Golden Chronicles" a series of five novels which was given a DIK review.  While I wouldn't just grab any Veryan again, (she has two "F" grades as well as that "A") As for "SBF" I found the hero pompous in a bad way, but I did enjoy the intelligent heroine and cast of kooky characters, even if the story did tie itself up too neatly in the end.