MORE!

SPOILER ALERT:  Do not read unless you have finished Into the Wilderness.

I am finished.  And I don't know where to begin.  This may sting a little...but I think you can handle it.  

This was a good book.  A good, solid book.  What bugs me is that it had the potential to be a phenomenal book...but too many details were left out...so it's just a good book.  

Example:  Elizabeth is near death and Nathaniel climbs into bed, naked, with her...so she will smell him and truly know he's near.  He's hoping this will jar her out of her near-coma.  Soooo tremendous that he did that; truly raw and emotional.  If you've ever witnessed a loved one in a coma, you know you will do absolutely anything to get them to wake up.  So this hit home.  But I wanted more!

Why only a page?!  This could have gone on for a chapter.  He could have talked to her.  No - he could have murmured to her.  He could have told her his fears while she was sleeping.  He could have told her that he thought he'd be alone the rest of his life and that her coming to Paradise was a miracle...and that he couldn't lose her now.  We could have seen Too Many Doves and Falling Trees all worrit about him for days on end.  He could have gotten up only to use the privy and sported red, swollen eyes...which would have made the ladies even more worrit...and would have made us swoon.  But no.  Instead, we got one page of him losing water from his eyes...being calmed by her smells and falling asleep.  That's it.  Hell-O??? It's big PICTURE time! McFly?!?

I realize this is my opinion and you may have your own - which rocks.  Maybe you only wanted a few sentences about Nathaniel's suffering and are content with the way it was written.  I, however, am not.  I wanted MORE and I got LESS.   Much less.  

This is NOT an insult to Sarah Donati's writing.  If anything, it's a compliment.  I liked her style...I just wanted more.  

And OK - maybe less - in spots.  I could have dealt with less bush...(forest, I mean. ;)...less waxing on about Richard Todd...less treks up the mountain and less drinking in the pub/general store/gaol.  Less, that is, if we would have gotten more Nathaniel and Elizabeth...more Julian and the Judge...more Curiosity and more Ronnie Mac-whatever his Scottish name was. I loved all of them and wanted more.   Well, maybe not the judge.  He's a douche.  But I could have dealt with more details about his life.  If this were Diana Gabaldon, there would already be a prequel about the judge in England...AND one about his parents.  And their gay butler.  Lorddddd there'd be a ton about their gay butler.  But I digress...

OK so last night I was wondering whether to go on to Book 2 because Book 1 was slow moving at times and wasn't grabbing me tightly enough.  So I asked Cari about Scotland.  When we left off in Book 1, they realized Hawkeye is an Earl and is rich beyond belief.  This news, when told to any other red-blooded American, would elicit all kinds of whoops and hollers and general merriment.  Not Nathanial.  Ohhhhh nooooo.  Boyfriend's got to sulk and get pissy and stomp his feet and say "I'm not going to Scotland! Waaaaah!"  And that, right there, made me put up my hand and say "When".  I was like "Are you KIDDING ME?!?'  But Cari set me straight and told me that's what the "Distant Shore" is in Book 2.  (Duh...party of Carol?)  So now I'm intrigued about a possible trip to Scotland and downloaded Book 2 last night. 

Crossing my fingers, y'all.  I'm told Book 2 is slowwww...and Book 3 has barely any McLovin'...but Book 4 has crazy amounts of McLovin'...so I may have to persevere. 

I am definitely into the characters and the world of the Bonners now...so hopefully I'm in for the long haul. 

More to come...

The Home Stretch

SPOILER ALERT:  Don't read unless you have read 95% of Into the Wilderness. 

I am yawning like crazy but wanted to post one thing before I go to bed...and then I'll post more tomorrow.

When Elizabeth was unconscious and Nathaniel stripped naked and got into bed with her?  Oh wow.  Be still my heart.  And NOT because he's hawt...but because it was the most raw and genuine gesture I have ever seen.  He wanted her to smell him.  (I swear, I'm not laughing when I say that...like I did with Edward Cullen's "essence".)

OK seriously - chew on that (as if you haven't; I realize I'm late to this party) and we'll discuss more tomorrow!!!

Downtown

Please Boots?  Please?!

Into the Wilderness CHAT

- If anyone wants to chat Into the Wilderness, I'll be in the MOP chat room early tonight at 8:45.

I want to discuss the following:

- Why am I seeing on Amazon that Into the Wilderness is a "sequel to The Last of the Mohicans"??

- The first time Lizzie visited the mountain, it took like 2+ hours.  Now they come and go every five seconds like it's nothing.  Whassup?  Did she get faster?  Are those Magic Moccasins?

- Hannah was a twin, right?  Didn't Sarah die giving birth to her and the twin (who died at birth)?  If so - why did Hanna say she remembered her mother?  Hannah is five and the mother died five years ago.  I can add.  I swear. 

- Why did Lizzie flip NOT flip when she found out about the mine?  "Oooh I'd really like to give Nate a hard time...but just THINK of the rings and table service!" 

Lions and Tigers and Duck Yearlings, oh YUCK!

Holy crap, I haven't posted in a dog's age.  Why?  Because I've been READIN', y'all!

SPOILER ALERT - Crap, I have no idea where I am.  Wait - yesterday I saw "L".  WTF number is THAT?!  Clearly I must brush up on my Roman numerals.  50??

Jack Lingo:  The Man.  The Myth
The stinky turd-ball. 

Wow - so much has happened.   Girlfriend killed Jack Lingo, which was cool...but I kindof felt like it was too soon.  He could have come around again and again and all the more fun would have been had out in the brush.  And why couldn't she find her ring?  Does Dutch Ton have it?  She found everything else but the ring.  Odd.

Liz and Nate finally got back to Paradise - and not a moment too soon.  I was sick to death of traipsing around through the woods in moccasins.  It was like Pillars of the Earth or Drums of Autumn all the hell over again.  Walk...see a wren.  Walk...slip on leaves.  Walk...get down to bizznazz...Walk...get caught in rainstorm.  Walk...get knifed.  Walk...bury someone.  Walk...get taken to Indian lands in Canada.  Walk...sleep on your rolled up blanket.  (Ew.  Like you'd EVER do this?  Gross.)

Sometimes the woods ain't so lovely...

AND - speaking of rainstorms...can you IMAGINE getting stuck out in the woods during a thunderstorm...at night? Yeah, right.  They'd have found me sitting up against a tree, pushing my finger downward against my lips making noises that sounded like a newborn's.  Or lady Gaga.  IF they found me at all.

"Oh Nathaniel... it's OK.  Break on into
that mine and make me a necklace." 

So let's see...what has really struck me in this story?  I will tell you what - and pay attention now children because I never talk serious at y'all:  I am very much enjoying the struggle between the White and Native American worlds.  I think this is being conveyed very realistically (much moreso than a certain fictional series I love more than life about a redheided dude.)  I love how Lizzie's is completely caught between the two.  I suppose Nathaniel is as well...but honey badger don't give a shit.  He's like "I'm here...I'm white-but-I-act-like-an-Indian...deal with it!"  I find Lizzie to be very commendable because she doesn't worry about what others think (most of the time)...but I suppose that's a little easier when you've got Aunt Merriweather's dinero accruing interest in the bank - AND all that silver in the mine that really is the Kahan'ahaneshaaa'snaaah's  Mohawk's.

Today, children, we're going to talk
about just how damned hawt my
hubband is, mmmkayyyy? 

So Boots is back to teaching...and her students are gettin' into trouble with the ink pot.  And Nathaniel just happens to catch Liam Kirby outside the window of the school.  Frankly, I found it a little more disturbing that Nathaniel was also outside the window of the school.  Doesn't boyfriend have some corn to be shucking?  Oh wait...that's womens' work.  I forgot.

What I find interesting is that Daddy Warbucks has barely said/done much since they got back to Paradise.  What a wuss!  And Julian is the biggest wussy man on the planet, too.  And Kitty is on my LAST nerve.  What a moron she is.  I don't feel bad for her anymore.  She is a) stupid  and b) bitchy.  A lethal combination for one's karma.  She's lucky to make it to the end of this book.

I am a little sad that the nookie seems to be dying down.  We just had a scene where they hiked over to the waterfall...swam in...went behind it..."were cold....got warm...and went to sleep".  Not a direct quote, but you get my drift.  No details in the hay-rolling at all.  I was like "Whoa!  Watch out! says that bird.  Has it come to this already?!"  (Sorry for all the Honey Badger references.  It's that kind of day.)

OK so I'll be reading more today.  I know I'm 75% through on Kindle.  Will I be moving on to Book 2?  Still not sure.  Depends on how this one ends. :)

Married?! MADDIED!

SPOILER ALERT: Don't read unless you've read chapter 26 in Into the Wilderness.

I don't know whose ass I think I'm foolin'.  I have had that damned buckskin-wearin', lacrosse-playin, hottie patattie on my brain all-the-live-long-day.

I was up reading at 6AM.  WOWIE MACWOWIE, BATMAN!  So much shiz has gone down, I don't even know where to start!!

OK so...when we last saw our heroine and her hunky mountain man, they were skulking down the river in a canoe with Runs with Bears or Fights with Bears.  (Put it this way, he's a guy who does something with bears.)

They ended up at a really nice house with really rich people, just like they always do in the Outlander novels.  So they've gone from trekking around in the brush to having the bath brought up for them and having their hair brushed - all by some dumb fool who is either a servant, offspring of the homeowners or both.  Who ever really knows in these stories.

So we had this great fight scene where Tanto - I mean Nathaniel - held her down on the bed by the wrists...Jamie style...and had his way with her.  What I LOVED about this scene was where he actually said something like "Sorry - that wasn't so great for you".  I was all "YOU GO, GUY!"  And now girlfriend is all curious about "satisfaction"...but we'll get to that in a bit.

I can't TELL you how happy I was when Liz (easier to type) decided NOT to wear Bathes with a Dovebar's dress.  She was standing there, looking at herself in the mirror...and I was all kinds of creeped out...thinking "Ew - this is not you.  This is the dress of a Native American.  Not an English woman."  And don't get me wrong - I'll bet that dress was STUNNING...but it just wasn't Elizabeth.  NOT to mention that Washes with a Dovebar hasn't even WORN it yet to her upcoming marriage to Does Something with Bears.  I mean - come ON!  The woman put 100 hours of beadwork into it!  Let her wear it new!

OK so anyway - they got married...Nate in his white linen (scrumpdillyicious!)...Lizzie in her boring, drab, grey dress. (Yawn.  I'm over her boringness.  See my rant about Diana from A Discovery of Witches for further explanation.)

They eat dinner...she goes to bed...leaves him downstairs...(is it me or should he be called Dead on his Feet right about now?  The man carried a canoe about a zillion miles and rowed the damned thing all over New York State for god's sake.)   He goes to bed - watches her sleep - sleeps - watches her sleep s'more...and then what happens?  I'll tell you what happens.  Lizzie's kidneys take over and then all HELL breaks loose!!!

First of all - I would NOT have peed in that damned bowl-under-the-bed if I were her, either.  Uh uh.  No way.  When you're married a while and he's heard you toot...yeah...it's OK then.  But not the morning after the wedding.  I'd have done the same thing - I'd have marched my ass outside to the privy and enjoyed my privacy.

But who can enjoy anything when out of nowhere, that rat bastid DICK TODD shows up!!! (He became Dick to me when he grabbed her.  I will not tolerate physical violence from anyone; not even an ejumukated man like Dick.)

Then...all bets were off.  Buh bye, Dick.  Leave me and mine alone.  But nooooo...he's got to get them to agree to go to Albany to settle affairs.  And that's where I am now.  Thankfully, Dick's letting Lizzie stay home..which is K-I-L-L-I-N-G me.  She and Nate are going to be apart.  And I won't have it!

This is TWILIGHT all over again!  Just when I was getting into it and loving the new couple...BAM!  The asses have to go and play baseball and blow it all to smithereens.  EXACTY what's happening here!  Nate's going to leave town and have adventures with Dick and Bear Who Scalps the White Man and poor Lizzie is going to be STUCK twiddling her thumbs with Alice and Jasper!!!  It's just so unfair!!!  To ME!  I want them TOGETHER!!  As Tracey always says about Jamie and Claire:  it always falls apart when they separate.  STAY TOGETHER!!!

OK that's it for me.  I'm going to read.  STAY TUNED!!!

Post Script:  Satisfaction!! Boyfriend was JUST ABOUT TO GO DOWNTOWN when Lizzie had to run out and do her biznazz. WHAT a bummer.  I hope to get back to that at some point in the future.

PLEASE NOTE:  I realize I have messed around with some Native American names in this post - and will most likely continue to do so while I blog about this series.  I want to point out that I have the greatest respect for the Native American culture.  Please do not mistake my sad attempt at comedy for anything other than that.

Where's the BEEF?!?

SPOILER ALERT - Don't read unless you've gotten to chapter XXIII in Into the Wilderness.  Yeah - I don't know what the hell chapter it is, either.  I'm guessing 23.  ;)
And be warned - there will be commentary about the Twilight series as well as the Bronze Horseman series in this post.  If you haven't read either of them...then RUN, don't walk to your nearest library and pick them up. Seriously.

OK - I've got some things to say...and I'm not sure if you're gonna like 'em...but I gotta say 'em anyway.

Let me preface this by saying I am really enjoying the book.  Last night I watched nothing on TV; only read.  And then went to bed and read.  That tells you something right there!

Comma...however.  DETAILS!! WHERE are the DETAILS?!  I'm in the middle of reading about their first time together...and he's all lovin' up on her...and she's all moaning out loud for the first time when he bent to get something off her chest with his tongue...and BAM!  It's over.  And she's laying on his broad shoulder.  And I'm checking to make sure I didn't skip a page like I did with Breaking Dawn and the feather scene.  Hello???  You can't make such a big deal about the woman being a spinster-virgin at 29...and then go from barely third base to cuddling!  Am I spoiled from that rockin' scene with Tatiana and Alexander in The Bronze Horseman?!  WHERE was the "OK this is going to hurt a little?"  WHERE was the  "It hurt like a mother...until it didn't"???  WHERE were the rocketships and the fireworks and the little guy at the carnival saying "Awww heck - you can go back on the ferris wheel for free!"  WHERE was it all?!

OK so then he pushes her in the freezing waterfall and she goes home and sees Richard on her porch with Mr. Bennett and pretends to be sick.  "Thank you, Curiosity, for taking advantage of that clearly unused brain in my head."

So then someone is sick (yeah right) and Richard has to leave...and Curiosity wakes her up and sends her on her merry way...and she runs into Kitty With Her Boob Hanging Out (sounds like a song so I had to capitalize).  Not sure if Julian saw her...but didn't really care either way.

So I'm looking forward to this huge trek up the mountain and her knocking on the cabin door and Nathaniel coming to the door in his loin cloth...and them packing quickly and taking the little sandwiches that Someone Whose Animal Name I Can't Remember packed for them and running off together...but instead I get them shoving off in a canoe!  And it's already happened!  And I MISSED IT!

I am going to pick up my kids from school soon and will be reading for a longgg time because it's raining and everyone knows you have to leave at 2:20 to get one of the snotty, coveted spots up in front of the door.  I will take my cup of coffee and my sugar cookie from Delicious Orchards (where we only go once a year in October) and I will read like a mofo.  And I can only hope that SOMETHING about their escape is explained to me while I'm doing so.

And do not kill me for this...but honestly?  I think I might have picked Richard.  He's supposed to be good looking, right?  And he's got money and property and a house and isn't all that terrible.  And he's got a past that's just itching to be picked at like cheese that stuck to the plate or a little scab on your head from scrubbing too hard with the shampoo.  Yup.  I like hot, educated men with skeletons in their closets.  (Jamie Fraser...Edward Cullen...Alexander Barrington.  Although was Alexander educated in anything other than war and makin' babies?  But I digress.)

My point is - I think Richard is a very untapped resource.  And he kindof makes me look at Nathaniel and wonder "whats the big deal?"  (See Carol.  See Carol duck and hide.  See Carol skulk off when no one's looking.)

Soooo....let's hope that Nathaniel is worth his weight in property value...because I'm not so sure I'm smitten.

More later!

What a Tangled Web we Weave!

Spoiler Alert:  Don't read unless you've read...geez...I dunno...chapter 17ish in Into the Wilderness.

Oh yeah.  Nathaniel's growing on me.  BIG time.  I KNEW he'd be on that Lacrosse field.  I just KNEW it.  And of course he scores the game-winning goal...with his red and black-painted face.  Ya-Um. That is just one fine non-Native American-who-wishes-he-were-Native American.  Mmmm hmmm.

And I LOVED when he said "I'll come for you" and then showed up at the house...took Elizabeth into the barn, sat her ass down and said "Talk to me."  THAT was hot.  Because it was so ATTENTIVE.  I also love how he hasn't laid a hand on her!  Such respect!  Such chivalry!  Such a mannnnnnnnly man.

OK so Elizabeth is pretending not to care about Nathaniel while the snow thaws...so she can run off and marry him.  And I'm feeling kindof bad for Richard Todd and even MORE bad for poor Katherine!!  Hey, Elizabeth?!  How's about throwing some of your sloppy seconds back so this poor girl can have some chance of happiness, mmmm kayyyyy???

The Judge is going to freak the freak out when he finds out what his dear Lizzie has been up to.  I look forward to that little showdown because that fellow is completely CLUELESS.

And dontcha just LOVE how Julian wants himself some Abigail slash Many Doves slash I-don't-care-what-the-eff-you-call-her-as-long-as-she-stays-the-frig-away-from-Nathaniel"?!  (Although I question whether or not she could actually be Nathaniel's half sister).  I just love that he's loving a Native American, too...and ain't nuthin' Daddy can do about it.  I hope they get together.  You know, so Lizzie can have some kin folk of her own once she moves on up to Walton's Mountain with Runs Faster Than Wolves or whatever the hell Nathaniel's Indian name is.

Yup.  Nathaniel's growing on me...

MUST go read.  More later.  Squee.

Oh No They Di'nt!

SPOILER ALERT:  Do not read unless you have read page 1 in Chapter 9 of Into the Wilderness.

So far...

Elizabeth is very cool...to a point.  After that point, she gets on my last nerve.  Girl...speak UP!  Or DON'T!  But for love of god - make up your spinster-assed MIND.  Her brain works a lot like mine...and I think that's why she drives me insane.  Going, going, going...thought after ridiculous thought.  And seriously, has she never had a conversation with a male before?  She's what - 29 years old...and NO ONE has ever made advances toward her?  I can't believe that.  I won't believe that.

I must believe that?

Now...Nathaniel...hmmm.....boyfriend is a different story, entirely.  I'm behind pretty much everything that comes out of his sarcastic mouth.  I dig sarcasm in a male hero, when it's coupled with swooning, googley eyes.  Yessir.

Now Julian? Yeah.  I hate him because I'm supposed to hate him.  He's a douche.  Although I think he's got a few good deeds up his sleeve.  Maybe I'm wrong.  We'll see.

And you know what's on my nerves today?  "Oh...Curiosity and her daughters aren't our slaves or anything...but they sho' can serve us dinner on Christmas day...mmmm hmmm.  Sho can".

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?  It's CHRISTMAS!!!  If they're not your slaves...how's about giving them a DAMNED DAY OFF ON CHRISTMAS?!?

Sorry - residuals from just finishing "The Help".  I am still angry.

OK - off to read...this book is addicting.  Damnit.