February TBR Challenge: Along Came a Husband

This month's TBR challenge was supposed to have an ugly duckling theme and no lie I have over 200 books in the TBR pile, but I have no idea if any of them feature a less then perfect looking hero or heroine and I wasn't about to go through them to find out. Soooooo I just picked another category romance this month. Hey those themes are just guidelines - the whole idea is to reduce the TBR pile by a book - which I accomplished.

Making the Grade: B

For My Thoughts

This is the second book by Helen Brenna that I’ve read and I must say I am thoroughly enjoying the Mirabelle Island series with it’s idyllic island setting and it’s cast of small town characters with big town problems.

Missy Charms escapes to Mirabelle island to try and recover from the horrific news about the death of her FBI husband Jonas and the weight of expectations from her wealthy family. Mirabelle is the perfect refuge once Missy tweaks her real name and it becomes an island where no one knows her “name”.

Now four years later, Missy considers Mirabelle home and the last thing she expected to see on a dark and stormy night on the other side of her cottage door was a man...looking like a sleazy drug dealer, scruffy, unkempt, long dirty hair, shot and bleeding like a stuck pig all over her front stoop...what????...it can‘t be her husband...he’s supposed to be dead! Surprise!

Jonas Abel’s been undercover for four long years and now that his cover’s been blown he turns to the one and only person he can count on in his life - his wife Missy and her perfect island hide-away Mirabelle Island. He knows she’s going to be shocked and mad to “see” him but he needs somewhere to lie low, recuperate and figure how his last mission went FUBAR and killed his partner and almost killed him. Jonas has kept track of Missy over the years even though she’s changed her name and location numerous times to escape her family’s money and influence (her father is a US State Senator) but she’s never been off Jonas’s radar.

Missy and Jonas love each other no doubt about it and their relationship burned bright and hot when they first met, but Missy grew tired of always feeling like she was playing second fiddle to Jonas‘s job and had been in the process of filing for divorce when Jonas “died“. The last thing she wants now is to rekindle the love she had for her husband and get her heart broken again when he deserts her for his next big assignment. She’ll let him stay and recover, but refuses to even introduce him to her friends and new “family” on Mirabelle instead pretending that he ain’t heavy..err husband…he’s her brother. Ya that ruse didn’t last long, not with the smouldering looks these two were giving each other.

Along Came a Husband is a love story about second chances. The elements of suspense and danger involving Jonas and his FBI case really enhanced but didn’t overpower the story since it was used mainly as a vehicle to bring Jonas back into Missy’s life. I really enjoyed the emotional journey as Missy and Jonas found their way back to one another.

I have the next book by Helen Brenna in the series The Moon That Night on the TBR pile and I wish I’d had time to read it for this month’s challenge as well.

From the Author's Website
Along Came a Husband (Mirabelle Island,#4 Harlequin Superromance, #1640)

Missy Charms just got the shock of her life. The man she thought was dead has turned up on her doorstep.

Her ex-husband—Jonas Abel.

Four years ago, Missy Charms fell hard for Jonas. But his FBI job always came first. Missy only wanted—still wants—a home and family. Jonas isn't husband material, not even close. And now his latest undercover mission has trailed him to Mirabelle Island. With both their lives on the line, Missy knows she's been fooling herself. She loves Jonas as much as she ever did—maybe more. His return also means finally admitting the truth: she can't lose him again….

Monday Morning Quarterback: The Weight Chronicles

I, like countless of others in the free world pledged on Jan 1, 2011 to be more conscientious about my health in the coming year. Eat healthier, exercise more including cardio and the dreaded weights(I hate doing weights but you can't deny how benifical they are to your overall health).

In order to make myself more accountable for my weighty issues in 2011, I have decided to post every Monday about my progress. Aptly titled Monday Morning Quarterback: The Weight Chronicles I will discuss the highs, the lows or whatever pops into my mind about the previous week that I feel was relevent to my success (or *gasp* failures - but I'm not going there - see #4 below).

I started getting serious AGAIN about my weight in Mar 2010. I have struggled, daily, monthly, yearly with my weight and I am certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that it will continue to be the case. For me (and the masses) there is no magic bullet; no easy answer. I know my body, what works for me and most importantly I know that I CAN do it. I didn't lose 75lbs last year without a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears and even though I got off track in December with the holidays, being sick and just general lack of time to do all the things that helped me lose the weight earlier in the year, I am eager to get back on that horse.

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new year so ready...set...go!!

1. Be READY to drink lots and lots of water: My goal is to drink 1.5 litres of water every day at work (nothing better than getting paid to pee) that's in addition to my liquid consumption at home and while working out.  Lucky for me I like water.  At room temp I can guzzle it like any world class 2-fisted beer drinker.  A trick I use at home is to keep a glass of water at the ready at all times on the kitchen counter.  Everytime I venture anywhere near it  - I down it and refill it again for the next time.

2. SET up a Food Plan: Surprisingly this is the easiest and the hardest thing for me.  I am quite fortunate that I can eat the same thing everyday and not tire of it. I pack my lunch every day and am therefore a captive audience; I can only eat what I bring to work. My problems with food starts once I get home from work. Those unstructed times when tempation is close at hand is the one area I really need to work on.  The answer seems simple - if I don't buy it - I can't eat it.

3. GO to the Gym 5 days a week minimum. I'm going to strive for 6 days but having rest days is important in the overall scheme of things so I'm not going to beat myself if I can't make it 6 days (besides that I'm no spring chicken any more - I need recovery time). Do weights at least 3 days a week and run 3 days a week.

4.  Stay positive:  It's easy to get down on myself when the numbers on the scale aren't moving as quickly as I would like them to. I need to rejoice in how far I've come and how great my accomplishments of 2010 were instead of thinking I could have done better and I'm not going to lie - I could have. I may still be overweight and maybe even obese by some medical standards but I'm a lot better off than I was and I'm headed in the right direction.  I just need to re-focus and to continue to do all the things that helped me lose 75lbs last year.

The Weight Chronicles: Volume 1

2 days into the new year and I'm batting 100% - I've made it to the gym both days and considering the way I felt, it was a mildstone I did. But this kick-ass chick isn't going to let a little head/chest cold "weigh" her down (hope I don't regret those words later!).

Jan 1: 35mins elliptical, 35 mins stationary bike, stretching
Jan 2: 40mins elliptical, 32 mins stationary bike, upper body weight machines, stretching

I noticed a marked difference in attendance at the gym Sunday morning. Usually it's the same folks getting in their workout for the day. I knew as soon as I drove into the parking lot that a lot of the new year's newbies were out in full force. I'm spoiled and I'm not going to pretend I like all these newbies messing up my routine - yes I am a creature of habit. I like to use the same elliptical machine, the same treadmill and all these new people are going to screw that up. I just have to breathe deep and suck it up for the next few week and hope the nubes all go back to their sedentary lives sooner rather than later. I expect tonight to be horrendous at the gym since Mondays are notoriously one of the busiest days anyway. Add in all the newbies and I'll just be thankful to get ANY machine.

Here's to kickin' butt in 2011!

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

Challenge Me! Wittling Down the TBR One Book At A Time

It's 2011 and I'm up for a new challenge.

I decided to sign up for this challenge hosted by Wendy @SuperWendy because it was something I was thinking about doing anyway. I really need to get some of those books off the TBR pile but the problem is every time I get a new book - that's the one I want to start next.

So first up for January is a category romance and my choice is What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss. I've seen lots of good things on the blogoshere about this book and even though the cover looks a bit prudish, I'm hoping it's the perfect book to kick of 2011 and get this party challenge started.

Rules of the Game:

What is the TBR Challenge? Simply put, it's where readers pick up a long neglected book from their TBR pile, read it, and comment on that read on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. The idea is to read those long neglected books that you just had to get your hands on at the time, but have been languishing in your pile, all lost and forgotten.

Comment on the chosen TBR anywhere online ( blog, Facebook, GoodReads, Twitter, a message board etc.)

It's voluntary and it's supposed to be fun. Hey, life happens. If you have to skip a month, there will be no ridicule. Likewise, while there will be bragging rights for those that complete the challenge without skipping a single month - there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Themes are totally voluntary. If you don't have anything in your TBR that fits, the theme doesn't appeal, or you just want to read something else - go for it! Again, this is meant to be a fun challenge.

Monthly Review Dates And Theme Suggestions

January 19 - Category romance
February 16 - Ugly Ducklings (Heroes and/or heroines who aren't "pretty")
March 16 - New-to-you author
April 20 - Western (contemporary or historical)
May 18 - Marriage of convenience, arranged marriage or pretend engagement
June 15 - Contemporary romance
July 20 - Fairy tale themes (Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella etc.)
August 17 - Steamy reads (Erotic romance, erotica, something spicy!)
September 21 - Series Catch-up - pick up a book from a series you're behind on
October 19 - Paranormal or romantic suspense
November 16 - Other genre besides romance
December 21 - Holiday themes (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, it's all good!)