…by Christine Feehan.
if you’re into vampires, but are sick of the sexualy repressed teenaged sparkly vampires that seem to be so popular nowadays, then Christine Feehan’s ” Dark” series is for you. sure, it’s not much more than glorified vampire porn with a story line… but it’s an interesting storyline, and the books aren’t bad despite being slightly redundant- in fact, Dark Slayer is book 20 in the series, so there’s gotta be lots of fans keeping her in business somewhere, right? if you want to step into the Carpathian world, book 1 is called Dark Prince, and is a great introduction into Feehan’s vampire world.
in her series, there are Carpathians, and there are Vampires. Carpathians are beautiful, blood drinking, peaceful warriors in which the male of the species gives in to darkness and turns vampire if they don’t find their the other half of their soul. (their “life mate”) each book is the story of a male who is on the brink of going insane and turning vampire, and is then rescued by finding his lifemate in the most unexpected place at the most unexpected time. usually, he has to kill a childhood friend who has given up and gone vampire (the ultimate evil creature, turned from beautiful immortal Carpathian to a rotting, powerful, evil creature bent on death and mayhem) and finds solace in the woman for him. in between all of the fighting, blood, and gore, there is lots and lots of graphic sex mainly aimed at pleasuring the female. overall, they aren’t bad books, despite a complete lack of depth… they’re a good late night by-the-fire read if you don’t want to have to think too much to understand. oh, and there’s lots of sex. i have a feeling the only thing that keeps these books from being labeled “porn” is the balance of gore, sex, and storyline.
these books are vampire smut at their finest, and if that’s what you’re into… you’ll love this series.
Continue reading Book Review: Dark Slayer
okay, i admit it. i was a little harsh towards winter the other day. i just don’t like being cold. yes, i think the ice-rimed trees are painfully beautiful, and a snow covered landscape is definitely sonnet inspiring… but i just don’t like being cold, and no amount of eye candy is going to change that. but i will try to keep my spirits up this winter, and rather than sit on the couch in my grape ape suit with a duvet piled on top of me, i’m going to continuously remind myself what i DO like about winter.
i like the holiday decorations. i may not like the stress of the holidays themselves, but i think the decorations are awesome. pumpkins are one of my favorite things. i like the way the word sounds when someone says it. i like the way they look, i like the way they taste, and i like the many different ways you can decorate with them. pumpkins are just plain cool. and by the time the pumpkins are out, the candy canes are in! who doesn’t love a good candy cane??? okay, so i haven’t actually finished one in years, (i throw most of them out just in time to buy new ones for next season) but they look great on the christmas tree. they taste great by themselves, in cocoa, and in coffee. candy canes and pumpkins *almost* make the winter worth it.
i also like the smells of winter. cloves and spice, apple and cinnamon. oh… and pumpkin and spice. all those smells are heavenly, and they just don’t have a place in the hot summertime.
today, i am making my house smell appropriately fall-ish with these Pumpkin Cranberry Oat Cookies, or if you want the Sesame Street name for them, they called “Abby’s Magical Pumpkin Cookies”. i believe i blogged about them last winter… see how good they are? they’ve made it in my blog twice.
if you want a good fall/winter ‘pick me up’ that goes great with just about anything (especially a morning cup of coffee) here are Punkberry Oakies.
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1-1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup solid-pack pumpkin
- 2 cups uncooked old fashioned oats
- 1 cup dried cranberries
1) preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2) sift the flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and baking soda into a medium bowl. Beat the brown sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
3) beat in the egg and vanilla. add the pumpkin; beat at low speed until blended. beat in the flour mixture just until blended. add the oats and mix well.
4) stir in the cranberries. drop the dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheets.
5) bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown. cool the cookies on the cookie sheets for 1 minute then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. makes about 2 dozen cookies.
Continue reading The Good Stuff About Winter (Cookie Recipe)
