Brazen Broads Book Bash

To begin the new year, we Broads thought long and hard about what we should tackle in our first Top 5 of 2011.  Top 5 things J.R.Ward does in her BDB series that drive us nuts? Top 5 reasons books are better than men? (We liked that one so much we're considering doing that for February.)  We finally decided on the Top 5 books we've always wanted to read.  Why we haven't read these books before is often a long story we promise not to tell because we really don't want to bore people.  Most of the time, we heard about them or had every intent of reading them, and then another, usually more salacious book came about and off we were chasing incredibly sexy men down some romantic rabbit hole.  Or real life crashed in and that long intended book got pushed down in the TBR pile.  But without further ado, here are the Top 5 books we've always wanted to read. Alexandria/Moira 1.  Gone With The Wind/ War And Peace 2.  Don Quixote/Anna Karenina 3.  The Gift of the Magi

A book of retellings of three classic fairy tales-Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and Puss In Boots- Awakened by a Kiss takes Charles Perrault's original tales and puts a delicious erotic spin on them.  All three short stories are divine in their adaptations of the originals, and this reader is definitely a fan of Ms. DiPasqua's writing.  In the first story, Sleeping Beau, Adrien d'Aspe is a rake who has any woman he wants as his beck and call, but he can't forget one mysterious woman who seduced him five years before at a masquerade ball.  When he meets her again, he decides he must have her again, but she is to marry another man.  Adrien is a consummate seducer though, and he knows how to get around any obstacle, so another man is mere child's play. The second story, Little Red Writing, involves Nicolas de Savignac, a member of the King's elite guard, and his quest to find who has been writing scandalous stories about powerful nobles and their an

I Love To Tell The Story....... Based on actual events, Marlo Schalesky's novel of historical fiction begins in 1911, when the last Yahi Indian leaves the lonely woods behind and enters the "saldu", or white man's world.  Taken in by the new Museum of Indian Artifacts, the Indian, Ishi, is introduced to many new people and concepts.  Thomas Morgan, a young scientist, takes a personal interest in Ishi beyond his potential as a specimen of the last "Stone-Age Indian" in North America, and Thomas' wife, Allison forms a deep bond with Ishi.  She had been abandoned as a child, and Allison carries loneliness in her heart, allowing her to understand Ishi's loneliness at being the last of his people.  Ishi instinctively understands that Allison feels unworthy of love, and he is certain he has found the person to whom he must tell the story he has carried for so many years.  As Allison learns the Yahi language, Ishi begins the secret tale of his people, a tal

Author Kenny Luck found the time to catch up with the Broads and discuss his book,  Thumbing Through Thoreau, published by Tribute Books.    Kenny Luck is a longtime resident of Northeastern Pennsylvania.  His book was endorsed by the Thoreau Society, and is a wonderful introduction to Thoreau.  BB:  What prompted you to begin collecting Thoreau quotes, and how did this project become a book idea? Kenny Luck:  As an undergrad student in the spring of 2005, I took a nature studies class at Marywood University.  I knew of Thoreau, but it wasn't until 2006, that I took a serious reading, and noticed the connection of nature and independence in his work as I collected quotes.  I contacted the Thoreau Society and asked to look through some journals, and so, my project began growing.  It sat for a few years before the idea of publishing became a serious option that I considered.    BB:   What is your favorite book by Thoreau? Kenny Luck:  It would have to be Walden .  I found it w

Every Tribe And Nation Has Been Oppressed; Every Tribe And Nation Have Been Oppressors..... Esther's Child is a moving novel which chronicles the history of four families whose lives are directly and indirectly affected by the Jewish Holocaust.  The Stein family from Warsaw, Poland are Hasidim Jews, and their daughter, Esther, meets Joseph Gale, son of the secular Jewish Gale family while visiting family in Paris, France, in 1937.  Their eventual marriage unites these two families to face the unspeakable acts perpetrated against Jews during the Holocaust.  Frederich Kleist left Berlin, Germany, a 19-year old newly made SS Officer, but returned a much older, haunted man.  A bizarre twist of fate allows him, through his child, to seek redemption from his guilt and begin healing in his own family.  His German wife, Eva, struggles to understand Frederich's guilt, as she suffered greatly under the hands of Russian soldiers in the war's aftermath.  The Antoun family, Palest

Rarely do I read historical romance/erotica and say, "Wow!  That was fantastic!"  But I said it after finishing Charlotte Featherstone's new book in her Sins and Virtues series, Lust .  I love this book!  I love the idea behind it.  I love the way she portrays the characters.  I love the way Featherstone writes a sex scene.  If you like erotic historical romances, Lust is the book for you.  The story involves the idea of the Seelie Fae and the Unseelie Fae and each court's desire to find the women who embody the seven virtues of chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility.  The Seelie Fae want them to bear their children, but the Unseelie Court needs them for something even more important:  only these women can break a curse set upon the Unseelie Fae by the queen of the Seelie Fae ages ago that condemns the princes to each suffer from one of the seven deadly sins.  If the Unseelie Fae can make these women fall in love with them, then t

A vampire story set in the opulent time of Marie Antoinette before the French Revolution, Seducing The Vampire is a delicious story with all the things this Broad loves:  vampires, lust, and sex. Revolving around a trio of characters, Seducing The Vampire is a sexy romance spanning centuries. Viviane is a born vampire and after her sponsor is murdered, Constantine, another born vampire seeks to make her his own.  He needs someone like him to sire his children and continue his group of vampires.  But Viviane isn't used to being tied down, and she recoils from Constantine's advances.  While he is pursuing her, she meets Rhys, a half wolf and half vampire, and unbeknownst to her, he is Constantine's half brother.  The two have been feuding for years and there's no love lost between them.  When Constantine finds out that she's been with Rhys, he exacts his revenge:  He has a spell cast on her that traps her between life and death and then has her sealed in a glass