Today, I stayed home from school, again, because I wasn't feeling all that great. I'm still not feeling the best, but I thought that right now would be a really good time to do a blog. I've waited for way too long to do a book review on "Shanna", so here you are!

When I first started reading "Shanna", I was babysitting, and Sam was watching t.v., while I was relaxed in the chair with the book. The first couple of pages were hard to get into, partly because it was time for Sam to go to bed, and partly because I was so tired. But finally, it started talking about Shanna Trahern's idea, and what forced her into it. You see, her father, who was a true rags to riches story, told her that she had better find a husband before her 21st birthday, or else he would. All of the other suitors disagreed with her, and she sent them off with some fierce words, and sometimes a slap in the face if they got too clingy. A few weeks before her birthday, she scoured the prisons to find a man whom she could get married to, and if he agreed to her marriage contract, she would give him food to last out his life until he was hanged, and pay for a proper church burial. But when she meets this prisoner, Ruark Beauchamp , who happens to have a very fine last name, connections to a rich family in London, she gets more than she bargains for. His deal for marrying her is the chance to consummate the marriage.

There are twists and turns everytime you flip the page, from pirate kidnappings to murders.

I don't want to say much more, because I'm really good at giving away the good parts of a book, so much that people don't want to read the book anymore.

But, "Shanna" by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss is still my favorite of all her other books I've read as of now. I highly recommend it, if it doesn't bother you to carry around a book with a cover like "Shanna" has. And if it does, just, you know, cover the front with some dark paper or something. :)

Hello!

It's been a little bit too long (again!) but I'm finally getting the chance to update :)
Kyle will be here in T-minus 2 days, and prom is coming right up as well. I'll make sure to update with prom pictures :)

I was at art symposium (that is erica and I, B.B. [before bangs] if you were wondering...), which is this really cool gathering of art from all over the state of Wyoming. It's seriously a once in a lifetime kind of deal, and I loved it.

The only bad part (and I wish I would have gotten photographic evidence of this) was the fact that we stayed in a sleazy hotel. Seriously, I walked down the hallway to get ice, barefoot, and there was shattered glass in the carpet. In the bed, there was hair, and on the toilet seat, more hair. Even the free breakfast (I know, it was free, I shouldn't complain) was really crappy. My omelet was cold when I got it, and I'm pretty sure my hash browns still had ice on them. Not to mention my HOT tea, served 20 minutes after everyone else, COLD.

It was a ton better last year, when the rooms were clean...

But anyways, there was cool art there, and it would take forever to show all of it.

A table made of mosaics (the little piece of paper is the artist information; the blue dot means that it got a ribbon for being really good.)

And this really caught my eye too! Try to spot all the fairy tales in it! (*) It was named "Storyteller's Apprentice" and it was awesome. It brought back fond, childhood memories.

"Storyteller's Apprentice".

I'm not going to bore you with more art, and the last I will say is, I got a haircut, involving my bangs. Look at the nifty, new display picture :)

One more thing, I've read a few more Woodiwiss books, and people are starting to ask me what ones they should read. Success! :)

* You probably thought I was joking when I said to look for the fairy tales. I know the photos are small. But click on any of them to see them bigger.

I really do try to update more than this, but when I think about it, I'm doing other things that tend to be a little more important, such as showering, eating, reading a new book or feeding the dog. (And with the eating thing, I could be blogging and eating, but I like to savor my food... and maybe just chat with Kyle on MSN.) This post will go through pretty much everything that has happened in the past month, so hold on, here we go...

Kyle will be coming to prom with me, on May 1st! He'll be flying in the night of the 29th, so that puts the countdown at 11 days. I got my dress last Sunday, and all the accessories to go with it. I LOVE my dress. It's Grecian inspired white satin, with a train. It's gorgeous. (I chose to wear pearls with it.) But, unfortunately, I will not be posting a picture of it until I wear it to prom, as I do not want anyone to see it before the big unveiling. :)

Spring has just begun here in Wyoming...And here comes the allergies! Kyle has them worse than I do (he always does), but I still have itchy eyes and a runny nose whenever I spend too much time outside.

Salem however, loves the warm weather, and the not-warm, not-cold breezes. He's starting to shed, so everytime I pet him (which involves his wrapping his front legs around my waist) I am covered in black dog hair. I complain about this all the time, but still. I had a black cat, and I hated the little black hairs all over my light colored shirts, so I wore black a lot. Then I got a white cat, and I hated getting white hairs on my black shirts, so I started wearing white shirts, and light colored things. Then I got the big black dog, and guess what, yes, I hate getting black hair on my white clothing. And needless to say, I'm not going to start wearing black again when it's so nice outside. One thing I love about spring coming is the nice, spongy, green grass. The flowers are a close second, but I love nothing more than to walk on the grass with no shoes, and feel the prickly grass.

And one more thing about the weather. On April 1st, we got about 3 inches of snow. Although it was light, fluffy snow, and very beautiful, it was annoying, because by that time, everyone was ready for spring to start!

I finally got to get my stitches removed, on March 30th. It was finally healed enough to take them out. I was supposed to have them out a week before that, but my doctor was worried if he took them out, one movement of my arm/shoulder, and the cut would pop back open, and that would be very, very bad. Although I was annoyed, I waited (people offered to take them out for me with a leatherman..), and was really excited when I lay down to have them FINALLY! removed! It felt really strange. The only other time I had stitches was in fourth grade from a hospital visit, and I can't remember how it felt to have them removed. Everyone assured me it didn't hurt, but I was still worried. It felt more like getting a sliver taken out, not the painful digging around, but that moment of relief when you grab it with tweezers, and it slides right out...But anyways, they're gone, and I have a pretty cool scar to show people. It looked like a pair of lips the day the stitches were removed, but it has flattened out a great deal now. I can hardly feel it now.And now onto books.

A month ago, I was sure I was going to start, and finish, the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. But, I failed in that endeavor, and am not going to guilt myself into reading them again. Someday, maybe, I will start on them again, because I do think they are a charming read, full of cool accents and a good storyline. But until then, I'll stick to my new favorite: Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. I'm lucky to have befriended my librarians, and they always offer me suggestions of what to read. A few weeks ago, I went in, and one of them handed me a book, and said, "I know you'll love this, I checked it out to you." That book was "Shanna" by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. I skimmed the back, and agreed that I would like it, but it sat in my car for awhile, because I was wary about carrying it around, because the cover looked like this:

Not exactly what most high school senior girls are carrying around, right? When I finally got around to it, I couldn't put it down! I knew I would like it, but I didn't know I would fall into the world so thoroughly. And of course, when I finished, I went straight back to the library and begged for more Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. Imagine my sadness when they told me that was the only book they had by her. Well, I did what anyone would do, and I InterLibrary Loaned (Interlibrary loan, ILL, is a service which allows people to obtain books and journal articles which are not owned by their library. You can submit an ILL request directly through the library's online form, or you can fill out a paper request form. Forms are available at the reference desk.) a few more of her books ("The Reluctant Suitor" and "So Worthy My Love") and went through them just as fast as I went through "Shanna". Right now, I'm waiting for the other six I ordered, and can't wait for them to arrive! All of them are in the same genre, Historical romance, and about the same time frame (1600s - 1800s) and they're very long romance books. Most of them top 600 pages. But they go by incredibly fast. Right now, I would recommend "Shanna" to everyone, because it was the first book I read, and fell in love with.
But, ask me in a few weeks, after I've read the rest of them, and I'll probably have some new ones to recommend :)

I do wish I would have waited last night to finish "So Worthy My Love", because I would have loved to sit out in the sun, with Salem laying down at my feet, devouring such a good book. But I have another week or so to sit out in the sun with the rest of the books I ILLed, and I'll let you know when I get them finished, with more in depth posts about each one. Expect a post in the next few days about "Shanna", "The Reluctant Suitor", and "So Worthy My Love".