Book Review: Acheron - by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Acheron is the 22nd installment in Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters series of romances. It tells the story of Acheron Parthenopaeus, the leader of the Dark-Hunters, and how he came to be who and what he is. Since this was such a highly-anticipated book, I don't want to spoil anything about it, so I'm not going to give away any real details and just stick to my opinions about the book.

Though it is much longer than any of the other novels in this series, the length of the book didn't really bother me. What I had a problem with was that more than half of the book focused on Ash's backstory, leaving less than half for the actual romance. The backstory was important and I wanted to finally find out exactly what all had happened to the poor guy in the past, but after a few hundred pages I got the point and was ready to move on to his love story. As a result, I don't think that there was enough time to develop the whys and wherefores of the romance itself.

The heroine was a character that I had really liked from a previous novel in the series and I was tickled to see that that's who he ended up with - BUT she wasn't as charming and likeable in this book as she had been previously. She's ok; I just didn't buy why he felt so drawn to her when I couldn't see the supposed chemistry. I guess it kind of bugs me when an author tells you something about a character and expects you to take that as fact without actually demonstrating it to you. Like, the hero finds the heroine spunky and entertaining when all you've seen so far is that she got mad at him and threw a hammer at him. Later on, after their relationship is already established, she does become a very likeable character and she really is good for him and does all the right things... I guess I just wanted a little more effort made on the heroine's part to win Ash's affections.

I had expected this to be a five star book, but I can only give it 4 stars.

Book Review: Dream Chaser - by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Synopsis: Dream Chaser is #21 in the Dark-Hunters series of romances by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Xypher is a twice-damned Dream-Hunter with a checkered past (aren't they all?). In exchange for recently helping the good guys save the world (see Devil May Cry), the lord of the underworld has agreed to allow Xypher to spend one month in the mortal realm as a human. If, at the end of that month he has committed a good deed then he will be free from the underworld to live out the rest of his days on earth as a free man. A normal person wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and would seize the opportunity to be a better person and save themselves from eternal damnation. But no, Xypher is a bitter and reckless sort who prefers to spend his time seeking revenge against those who wronged him all those eons ago. Meanwhile, across town, medical examiner Simone Dubois is investigating a grisly murder involving a corpse that actually got up and walked out of the examining room. The cops and the county coroner are stumped, but Simone has a special gift that might help to shed light on the case: she sees dead people. Having witnessed the murder of her mother and younger brother as a child, she has been able to see and speak with ghosts ever since. When she runs into some really nasty soul-sucking Daimons in a dark alley, Xypher arrives on the scene just in the nick of time. He fends off the Daimons, but not before they have time to slap a really nasty curse on our hero and heroine. Unable to move more than 20 feet away from one another, the two must work together to fight off the bad guys and (of course) save the world.

I really liked this book. After meeting Xypher in Devil May Cry, I was looking forward to seeing more of him. He's mean, badass, and snappish - but basically a sweet guy underneath (like any good romance hero). He even does some really kind things for the heroine without intending for her to even find out it was him. Simone is a good Kenyon heroine: she's super-smart, courageous, and has just the right amount of vulnerability to make her likeable. You can tell she really treasures the people she loves. Even though the romance develops pretty rapidly, I think it works in this one. And her ghost sidekick is a pretty adorable character. Story-wise, you get lots more info on the different races of demons that are cropping up left and right in the series lately - and we meet some new characters who will probably become major players in upcoming books.

This one is a 4 star book for me.

Book Review: Upon the Midnight Clear - by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Synopsis: The novella Upon the Midnight Clear is part 20 in Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter saga of romances. Our hero is a human for a change this time. Aidan O'Conner is an extremely jaded world-famous movie star who has been betrayed by everyone he ever loved, even his family. Fed up with being stabbed in the back by his friends and family, he retires to the snowy backwoods of Tennessee to live out the rest of his days in isolation where no one can hurt him. His evil brother Donnie, however, can't let it go. He hates his famous little brother so much that he summons an ancient god (Dolor) to kill Aidan. Leta is a Dream-Hunter who has spent most of her life fighting Dolor. She seeks out his next victim, Aidan, to try to save him from the evil god. She has her work cut out for her, though, because Aidan isn't interested in seeing, talking to, or being saved by anyone - much less a strange woman who shows up at his door in the middle of a snowstorm claiming to be a dream goddess out to protect him from the mythological god of pain.

I liked the hero and heroine in this book all right, but felt that their romance developed much too abruptly. It is not quite a full-length novel, so there is a limitation on time, but I still felt that the two characters decided they loved one another and were willing to sacrifice everything for one another WAY too quickly after meeting for the first time. Aidan is a pretty vulnerable guy who has erected a lot of barriers to protect himself from being hurt again. Leta works pretty hard to show him that he can trust her, but she's still somewhat underdeveloped as a character. The story was interesting though and you learn a bit more about the different players in the Dream-Hunter world.

*Note: This book contains a short story (more of a series of short vignettes) at the end entitled "Holiday Gatherings" where you get to see little snippets of all the different characters from the previous books in the series and how they were celebrating the holidays. Interestingly, this was my favorite part of this entire book.

I rated this one 3 stars in my LibraryThing catalog.

Book Review: Devil May Cry - by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Synopsis: Devil May Cry is the 19th story in the Dark-Hunters series of romances by Sherrilyn Kenyon. In this novel, we meet Sin, an ex-god from the Sumerian pantheon who works as a special kind of Dark-Hunter. He spends his time hunting and killing a particularly nasty kind of demons called the gallu, who not only can kill humans by the boatload, but also convert them into vicious zombie-like creatures. Unfortunately, Sin's unorthodox methods and lifestyle have made him something of a pariah among his Dark-Hunter brethren. And of course, like any good Kenyon hero, he is also out for revenge against the one who did him wrong way back when. This time it's the Greek goddess Artemis; she's the one who betrayed him thousands of years ago and stole his godhood from him. The heroine Katra, on the other hand, is a familiar face from previous stories (most significantly, Kiss of the Night and The Dream-Hunter). One of Artemis' loyal handmaidens, Kat has been sent by the goddess to the human realm to take Sin out for his supposed transgressions. Of course, Artemis also wants him dead before he has a chance to have his revenge on her. And it doesn't help matters that when Sin first meets Kat, he takes one look at her and mistakes her for Artemis.

What an informative book! Up until now, who and what Katra actually is have been something of a mystery. Is she Greek? Is she Atlantean? Is she a goddess or just a mere servant to the gods? Devil May Cry answers all of these questions and then some. Up until this point in the series, I sort of expected Kat to be Acheron's eventual love interest; however, this book explains her relationship to Acheron and the other gods while introducing lots of new characters and a whole new pantheon of gods and beasties.

I really liked Kat when she appeared earlier in the series. She's tough, courageous, and loyal to her friends. And she's a good person - she refuses to pass judgment on Sin until she sees proof of his alleged crimes with her own eyes. And even then, she is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. For his part, Sin could care less what Kat thinks of him. He's only got two things on his mind: revenge against Artemis and stopping the gallu demons from unleashing hell on earth. Of course, Kat manages to distract him with her sense of humor and honesty; he can't help but fall in love with her. She really is another great Sherrilyn Kenyon heroine, with just the right mix of strength and vulnerability to make her loveable without being abrasive. Sin sort of came across to me as a sort of generic tortured hero, but he's still a likeable guy and you want Kat to get her man in the end.

My Favorite Scene: The one when Kat and Ash meet for the first time in Artemis' temple (I don't want to spoiler, so I won't say anymore...)

This was a solid 4 star book.

Book Review: "Phantom Lover" - by Sherrilyn Kenyon

"Phantom Lover" is a short story appearing in the anthology, Midnight Pleasures. It is #5 in Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters series of romances.

Synopsis: Average American office worker Erin McDaniels has been haunted by some really awful nightmares lately. It's gotten so she can't get much rest at all. Then one day, she falls asleep from sheer exhaustion at her desk at work only to fall into yet another nightmare. This time, however, smokin' hot dream-god V'Aidan rescues her from the dream monsters and takes her to a happier place in her dreams. As their relationship develops, Erin finds herself wanting to spend more and more time with her gentle and caring dream-god. Unfortunately, the wicked Skoti are out to destroy them and take V'Aidan away from Erin forever.

Incapable of feeling any emotion, Skoti spend their time feeding off of human emotions while they dream. The most vivid emotions are usually produced by nightmares, so the Skoti tend to focus on the worst of people's dreams. This is the first time in the series that we get to see much of the world of the Dream-Hunters. Up to this point, we have only seen a couple of Dream-Hunters here and there but we haven't learned much about them except that some of them exist to protect the dreamer from their nightmares and the Skoti who feed off of them.

I loved the romance in this story. While limited to the shorter format of a short story, you still get a lot of good romantic development, tension, and drama. V'Aidan and Erin really do care for one another and they deserve to be happy. I actually cried a little while reading this one, which is REALLY rare for me with a short story.

I give this story 5 stars!

Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters series - correct reading order

Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters Series:

1. Fantasy Lover (Julian of Macedon & Grace Alexander)
2. "Dragonswan" (Sebastian Kattalakis & Channon MacRae) - short story in Tapestry
3. Night Pleasures (Kyrian of Thrace & Amanda Devereaux
4. Night Embrace (Talon & Sunshine Runningwolf)
5. "Phantom Lover" (V'Aidan & Erin McDaniels) - short story in Midnight Pleasures
6. Dance With the Devil (Zarek & Astrid)
7. Kiss of the Night (Wulf Tryggvasen & Cassandra Peters)
8. Night Play (Vane Kattalakis & Bride McTierney)
9. "Winter Born" (Dante Pontis & Pandora) - short story in Stroke of Midnight
10. Seize the Night (Valerius Magnus & Tabitha Devereaux)
11. Sins of the Night (Alexion & Dangereuse St. Richard)
12. "Second Chances" (?) - short story in The Dark-Hunter Companion
13. Unleash the Night (Wren Tigarian & Maggie Goudeau)
14. Dark Side of the Moon (Ravyn Kontis & Susan Michaels)
15. "A Hard Day's Night-Searcher" (Rafael Santiago & Celena) - short story in My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding
16. "Until Death We Do Part" (Velkan Danesti & Retta) - short story in Love at First Bite
17. "Fear the Darkness" - short story e-book
18. The Dream-Hunter (Arikos & Megeara Kafieri)
19. Devil May Cry (Sin & Katra)
20. Upon the Midnight Clear (Aidan O'Conner & Leta)
21. Dream Chaser (Xypher & Simone Dubois)
22. Acheron (Acheron Parthenopaeus & Soteria Kafieri *aka: Tory)
23. One Silent Night (Strykerius & Zephyra)
24. "Shadow of the Moon" (Fury Kattalakis & Angelia) - short story in Dead After Dark

Re-reading is fun!

I'm currently doing a massive re-reading of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters series. I just finished up re-reading all the books that I've already read and have finally gotten into the newer ones I haven't read yet.

Still, I'm having trouble keeping all these Dark-Hunter books straight in my head, so I'm posting a full listing of all the books and short stories in the series (in proper reading order, of course) - with links to my reviews of each. I'm going to have to re-number them in the original posts probably since I was missing a few at the time (yes I am that obsessive). I'll also be editing the list to make additions as needed. *sigh* Kind of annoying to rehash all of this, but since this is all just for my own personal benefit anyway, who cares!?

Book Review: The Dream-Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Synopsis: The Dream-Hunter is #18 in Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters series. This book takes us back in time from when the rest of the series takes place - about 10 years into the past - to the shores of Greece. Dr. Megeara Kafieri is trying desperately to fulfill her life's ambition: to find the ancient continent of Atlantis. She's pretty sure she's found the exact location, only she can't seem to get permission from the powers that be to dig beneath the ocean floor. What she doesn't know is that the gods don't want anyone poking around the ruins of Atlantis for fear of what might be unleashed - and they'll do whatever it takes to stop Geary from fulfilling her mission. The book's hero, Arikos, is a Skotos (a cursed and unfeeling dream god who can only experience emotions when siphoning them off of human dreamers). Arik has been hooking up with Geary in her dreams for the past several months, feeding off her extra-special super-vivid emotions. Apparently, Geary is all work and no play in the real world but a total demon in the sack (when she's dreaming anyway). Only it's not enough for Arik to experience her in the dream world; he craves more of her and her intense emotions. So he makes a bargain with the god of the underworld, Hades: he can walk the earth as a mortal man for two weeks and experience all of the feelings a human can experience. The price: when his two weeks is up, Arik must deliver unto Hades Geary's soul.

Well, needless to say, it doesn't ever bode well for a relationship when one of the parties goes into it with the intention of eventually murdering the other person. You can see the set-up for the end-of-the-book drama right from the start. Also, their relationship starts out based on sex (well, dream sex anyway) and I never felt like there was all that much real romantic tension between them. I honestly think the author could've taken the romantic elements out of the book completely and just focused on the plot because I found that far more interesting. However, what saves this book is the continued development of the overall storyline of the series. It explains just a little bit more about the imprisoned Atlantean goddess Apollymi. Also, the world and mythology of the Dream-Hunters is fleshed out a little more and lots of new characters are introduced, several of whom I hope get their own stories one day. My favorite new characters were probably Geary's sweet and brainy teenage cousin Tory and Arik's jaded demigod brother Solin. We also see some characters we've seen in other books, but in this novel we get to see some of their past. And what a treat to get snippets of Acheron, Kyrian, and Nick ten years earlier than when we meet them in Night Pleasures!

My favorite part: Tory feeding Arik his first moon pie.

I gave this one only 2 stars in my LibraryThing catalog.

i has a pug

I gotta get this. It makes me laugh every single time I look at it.

The home library - romance and sci-fi

Oh no Robert Asprin died :(

So we just found out at our house that fantasy writer Robert Asprin died last month. This was really sucky news... My bff and I read a bunch of his Myth books in our teen years and pretty much formed a Dungeons & Dragons campaign founded on his light-hearted fantastical humor. And the guy was young - only 61! But he left behind a legacy of great writing: the Myth books, the Phule books, and of course Thieves World.

Sad times...

New flavor of Promised Land milk!

Mooberry Blueberry!! It's very good. And it's purple!

I love Promised Land milk. It's so yummy. And it comes in these lovely little old-fashioned glass milk jugs. Perfect for the chugging.

Also, you can vote for the next seasonal flavor of milk on their website. They'll even send you coupons if you ask for them.

The Cure in Austin

So I was not as enterprising as some folks and didn't smuggle in my camera, but I think the memory of being about TWENTY FEET AWAY FROM ROBERT SMITH will forever be burned in my brain. We were pretty damn close. They played for nearly 3 hours and sounded GREAT. This is the third time I've seen them and it was by far the best show yet! A helpful person posted the set list here. As you can see, they played a LOT of old stuff, which was really cool. And it was just the 4 piece band: two guitars, bass, and drums - no keyboard. So good...

Book Review: The Charmer - by Celeste Bradley

The Charmer is the 5th installment in Celeste Bradley's Liar's Club series of regency spy romances (it is technically the 4th novel in the series, but I included the short story "Wedding Knight" in my reckoning). This novel tells the story of Collis Tremayne and Rose Lacey.

Synopsis: We first met Collis way back in The Pretender, while he was convalescing in the hospital. Since then, he has been in training to be a full-fledged member of the Liar's Club ring of English spies. Rose was a trembling little housemaid (see The Impostor) who has decided to be a victim no more. She, too, is now in training to become the first female Liar. Both are determined to succeed and a strong rivalry has formed between them. When one of their heated sparring matches leaves the Liars' training room in shambles, they are given the ultimate penance: they must work together as partners on a test mission. As they bicker their way through the pretend mission, they stumble onto a real plot against the crown and are forced to work together to solve it.

This is one of my favorite books in the Liar's Club/Royal Four series. Collis is so charming and funny. And while Rose is a strong and determined woman, she still has a believable vulnerability that leaves you cheering for her and Collis to make it as a couple. And there are lots of obstacles in their way: their pride, the fact that they are both spies who need clear heads and unfettered hearts to be effective, and the vast gulf between their stations (he is heir to a title, she is a former servant).

The plot itself in this book is really engaging with fast-paced action. I like the overall story arc that the author uses in this series. It develops a little with each book, even carrying on into the Royal Four series of novels. It was also kind of neat to see a real historical figure (the Prince Regent) playing such a prominent role in the story. Bradley makes him an entertaining character and I enjoyed his interaction with the main characters.

My Favorite Part had to be when the Prince decides to go along with Collis on his break-in of Wadsworth's house. It was hilarious picturing His Paunchy Highness clad all in black (to look cool) sneaking through windows and then on the run from the bad guys.

This was a 5 star book!

Book Review: "Wedding Knight" - by Celeste Bradley

"Wedding Knight" is a short story appearing in the anthology, My Scandalous Bride. It is the 4th tale in Celeste Bradley's "Liar's Club" series of regency romances. It tells the story of Kitty Trapp, whom we have met in the first couple of Liar's Club books - most notably in The Impostor - and one Alfred Theodious Knight (aka "Knight").

Synopsis: Knight is in the market for a wife, preferably one who is respectable, obedient, and will not embarrass him in any way. He settles for Bitty Trapp, the spoiled and rather brainless twin sister of our heroine, Kitty. Unfortunately, Bitty doesn't want to marry Knight, so *****SPOILER ALERT***** she convinces her identical twin to pose as Knight's bride to give her "time to adjust" to the idea of being married to him. Loyal Kitty goes through with the charade, only to find that her sister has skipped town during the ceremony and is nowhere to be found. Now Kitty must pose as Knight's wife until her sister can be found. She doesn't like the idea of deceiving the man so unfairly. Add to that the fact that Knight is pretty bossy and controlling, always telling his new bride what she can and cannot do or say or wear... To while away the time until her sister turns up, Kitty decides to set Knight straight on a few things in order to make him a more bearable husband for her sister. Of course, if Knight finds out the truth, it will mean the scandal of the century - which is the last thing he wants.

I really enjoyed this story. I'm usually not too crazy about short stories all that much because either they are too short for the romance to develop believably OR you get really into the story/characters and then it's all over too quickly. This story was the latter. I already liked Kitty's character a lot from when we'd seen her in previous books. She is plucky and has a knack for making lemonade when life hands her lemons. And she gets lots of lemons. Knight is kind of a lemon, but she works pretty hard to bring out his nice qualities from beneath his grumpy exterior. And, to his credit, he's not completely awful. He recognizes his wife's good qualities: her cleverness, her wit, her sense of humor, her fierce bravery. No one else has ever noticed, much less admired, these qualities in her. I thought it was kind of funny how the very things he admires in her are the things that he professes to dislike as qualities in a wife.

I gave this one 5 stars in my catalog

Disintegration is the best album EVER!!!

Going to see The Cure in Austin next Sunday!!! SOOOOOOOO jazzed! They're playing Dallas on the 6th, but American Airlines Center is just too damn big. So me and my buddy bleebers are heading down to Austin to see the show at Austin Music Hall, which is a smaller venue.

Book Review: The Spy - by Celeste Bradley

The Spy is the 3rd novel in Celeste Bradley's Liar's Club series of regency spy romances. This is the story of James Cunnington, whom we met in The Pretender (he's Agatha's brother), and Phillipa Atwater, the daughter of a former Liar's Club cryptologist.

Synopsis: Phillipa, penniless and destitute, is looking for her father who has been abducted by French spies. The only clue she has is a note in her father's notebook about a man named James Cunnington. In order to investigate Cunnington, she poses as a young man and takes a position as tutor to James' adopted son. The spies in the Liars Club believe that her father has changed sides and is now working for the French. James, meanwhile, is trying to settle a personal vendetta against a woman who betrayed him (see The Pretender). He feels responsible for the secrets he allegedly divulged while under the spell of his former lover. To top it off, he's been taken off the Atwater case due to an injury, so he secretly pursues the investigation on his own. Little does he know, of course, that Atwater's daughter is living under his own roof.

I liked James' character when we first met him in The Pretender. He was kind of funny (in a sardonic sort of way). You could really sense his regret for the secrets he feared he had spilled, and also for the way that he had neglected his sister for all those years. By the time we see him in The Spy, his regret, self-loathing, and general mistrustfulness (is that a word?) have made him a remote and unaffectionate man. Afraid to attach himself to another woman, he has taken in a reformed young pickpocket and named him as his heir so that he won't have to marry to produce an heir of his own. And not only does he not want to have anything to do with women, he also withholds affection and attention from his young "son." Starved for attention, the boy naturally turns to Phillipa, who begins to fulfill a motherly role in the child's life.

James, too, begins to feel a closeness to the young tutor. He feels comfortable around "Phillip" and opens up to him, revealing his feelings of guilt and betrayal. Poor Phillipa longs to comfort him, but has to maintain her disguise. The longer she is with him, the more she comes to realize that James is not a villain and the more she comes to love him. I kind of felt sorry for her. I mean, here she is this poor girl with no family, no money, a lost father, the French and English both are trying to hunt her down and kill her for what she might know, and the man she's in love with is emotionally wasted and thinks she's a boy.

I liked this book for the most part. However, I felt like the "woman posing as a man" thing went on a little too long. I don't generally have a problem with that particular plot device so long as it doesn't go on forever. Because if you wait too long before the other party discovers the truth, then there is not enough time left in the story for that person to believably fall in love with the other person. I think that happened with this book. I also would have liked a bit more excitement on James' end over his perceived betrayal by Phillipa. He gets mad, but he gets over it pretty quickly. Where's the misery? the rage? the oh-no-I've-been-betrayed-again-by-someone-I-love torment? I must confess that I like a little melodramatic anguish in my romance.

So in the end, I gave it 3 stars in my LibraryThing catalog.

Jam-Making 2008: Canning

Once the jam is done cooking, you are ready to start filling your jars (aka: canning). Turn off the heat under your jam. Using a biggish spoon, skim off the foamy stuff from the top of your jam and just dump it into a cup or bowl.

Using your tongs, pull a jar out of your hot water pot and set the jar upright on the kitchen towel you laid out earlier. Set your funnel into the mouth of the jar. Then take your ladle and scoop up some jam and pour it into the jar until the jar is full. Do not fill the jar to the brim. Instead, you want your jam to come 1/4 inch from the top (this is called "headspace"). Then poke your little plastic knife thing down into the jar and all around the sides a few times to release any air bubbles that may be hiding down in there. Now you're ready to fill the next jar. Repeat the above process until you run out of jam and all the jars are full.

Using a damp cloth, carefully wipe the rim and threading of each jar to get any jam residue off. Next, fish a lid out of the hot water pot and place it, sticky side down, on top of the first jar. Screw a band on over the lid until it fits snugly (not too tight). Repeat this process for the rest of the jars.

Now just leave your jam alone for a few hours. You will hear little satisfying popping sounds coming from the lids as the jam cools. I let mine cool overnight before moving it around. Then you can label the lids with the contents and date.

Jam-Making 2008: Ok here we go!

Once you're all set up, fill up your big pot with water and stick all your jars in there on the rack. You want them upright and the water level in the pot needs to cover them by at least an inch or more. Try to keep the jars from touching one another or the sides of the pot. Find a burner that it will fit on (mine is so big, I can only fit it on the front of my stove). Then turn on the burner to get the water started boiling. This is going to take a long time, so you will want to wait a few minutes before starting to cook your fruit.

While the water is getting going, you'll be cooking your jam. The goal here is to get your fruit to boiling. Turn on the burner to a medium heat setting. The nice thing about Dutch ovens is, you don't need to use high heat to get things to boil in them. In fact, you want to keep your heat as low as possible while still maintaining a boil in the fruit. Once you get the fruit boiling, stir it every few minutes and make sure that the heat is not too high. If your heat is too high, the jam will scorch a little on the bottom and you will get these icky scorched floaties in your jam.

The jam needs to boil for about 25-30 minutes. You're looking for it to reduce down and get a little thicker. The peaches took a little longer to cook than the strawberries did; I think this was because the peaches have more juice in them. You'll get this foamy stuff on the top of the jam as it boils; that's normal. Just keep stirring it and checking on the heat periodically.

Meanwhile, your water will finally start boiling at some point. It needs to boil for at least 15 minutes. Then turn the heat down to a low setting. You want the water to stay hot (180 degrees). Now take the jar lids and drop them down into the hot water. Just let all that sit until your jam is finished cooking.

Jam-Making 2008: Setting up all that crap you just bought

Once your fruit is ready for action, it's time to set up all your canning gear.

Jam-making is a kind of process, so you will want to lay out your stuff accordingly. The basic process for all of this is going to be:

1. Boil the jars for 15 min. to sterilize
2. Boil the jam for about 25-30 min.
3. Pour jam into hot jars; seal with lids

You will need to put either a wire rack or some folded kitchen towels into the bottom of your giant boiling pot. Mine came with a nice wire rack, so that is what I used. Regardless of which one you use, the main thing is that you want to keep your jars at least an inch or so off the bottom of the pan and you don't want them to touch the sides of the pot. This keeps the jars at an even temperature throughout the process and it also keeps the glass from coming into contact with the metal of the pot and shattering them. (I shattered a couple of jars this way when I first attempted to can all those years ago. It turned me off of the canning process. Fortunately, I am older and wiser now!)

So anyway, wash all those jars, lids, and bands in hot, soapy water and then rinse. Set the bands and lids aside. Next, put the Dutch oven on the stove top and pour your fruit mixture into it. You will not use the lid. Go ahead and lay out some kitchen towels flat by wherever you're planning on dishing out your jam when it's ready. The towels will keep all that hot jam you're going to be accidentally dripping everywhere from getting on your nice countertops. I laid mine out right next to the stove by the Dutch oven. This made it easier to get the hot jars onto the towels and then fill them from the Dutch oven. Now put your jar bands, funnel, and plastic knife next to the towels. Everything is right there and within easy reach.

Jam-Making 2008: Getting started

The first thing to do is prepare the fruit. If you are doing berries, all you really have to do is wash them and then cut off the stems (if any) and maybe slice them a bit. With peaches, you have to take the skin off and pit them. So what you do is, you boil some water and put some of your peaches in a few at a time. Boil them for about 45-60 seconds and then take them out and put them in a big bowl of ice water. (This is called "blanching.") After a minute or so, you take them out of the ice water and the skins are easy to slip off. Once the skins are removed, you just cut them up, taking out the pit.

Now. I won't lie to you. This is a very messy business. My peaches were very ripe and got a bit, uh… pulpy. It made it kind of time-consuming to get all the pits out. However, since peach jam is like manna from heaven, it is well worth the effort. And I now have a new appreciation for my Gran, who puts up like 60 jars of peach jam every summer but only lets me have one little half-pint jar when I come to visit.

Once you get the fruit prepared, get out your potato masher and mush it all up. When it's nicely mushed, you can go ahead and dump in the sugar and lemon juice. Mix it all up and it's ready to go.

Jam-Making 2008: The recipe

I was really intimidated about canning at first. It seems like there are all these steps and everything and it looks Way Too Complicated. But really, it is pretty easy.

This is a super-basic recipe for jam (I got it from my Betty Crocker Cookbook):

4 pints (8 cups) fresh, ripe fruit
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
5 cups sugar

Yes, the fruit must be fresh. And yes, the fruit must be ripe. You don't want to use under-ripe fruit for this. It's tempting, particularly when you see just how much sugar you're dumping in there. Hell, just about anything tastes pretty good when you mix it with 5 cups of sugar. However, the jam will give you a lot more of your fruit's flavor if you use only the ripest fruit. Also, it is very difficult to mash up under-ripe fruit. It makes for hard, crisp bits in your jam and who wants to spread crunchy jam on their biscuits?

Of course, this means that you'll need to select fruit that is in season. I'm making this jam in the summertime, so I'm using summer fruits like berries and peaches. I'm looking forward to making jam out of pears in the fall. (Can you make apple jam, I wonder?)

For these posts, I've used peaches (because peach jam is the best thing EVER!!!). They are just starting to come into season here in Texas, and a lot of them are still kind of hard and tart. However, we found some good, sweet ones at the farmers market, so I bought a big box.

This recipe yields about 3 pints of jam when done with strawberries and 4 pints when done with peaches. I'm thinking that this is because peaches have more juice in them maybe… At any rate, use this as a guide for what size and how many jars you want to buy. I used half-pint jars for most of the batch (for giving away to family and friends) and then used pint jars for the rest (for hording for my greedy self).

Jam-Making Gear

The first thing I learned about all this is that you need a lot of crap to make jam. The nice thing is, you just have to invest in it the one time - and really, it's not all that expensive. Most of this stuff will probably last forever.

Here is a basic list of the equipment:

Dutch oven (at least 3.5 qt size)
Big metal pot for boiling (mine is 16 qt)
Some large bowls for preparing & mixing fruit
Wooden spoon
Potato masher
Tongs for taking jars out of hot water
Funnel
Large ladle
Plastic (or other non-metal) knife type thing
A bunch of measuring cups
Canning jars with lids and bands
A whole mess of kitchen towels

I didn't have hardly any of this stuff around my kitchen (except for a few of the utensils), so I had to go shopping. And in case you don't know what a Dutch oven is (I didn't either), it is basically just a big cast-iron pot with an iron lid. I got one with an enamel coating for easier cleanup. I wish I'd bought a bigger size, though. The one I got is only 3.5 quarts and I worried a couple of times that my jam might boil over (luckily, it didn't). And the big metal pot is for boiling your jars in. You don't want to use one of your nice non-stick coated pots for this. All the repeated water boiling is just going to mess up your good pots. I got a cheapo one with an enamel coating and it works just fine. You want to get one that has a broad, flat bottom. Mine also came with a wire rack inside, which is very handy.

I also got this handy little canning toolkit for about $6 at the Wal-Mart. I debated whether I really needed it or not, and I am so glad I got it. All of the tools were really helpful and I would strongly recommend getting this set.

Makin' jam!!!

I loves me some jam!

I decided that this summer I would learn to make jam and possibly even do some pickling. All the tasty summer fruits are finally starting to come into season, so I decided to get started this week. Now, I did some canning one time about 15 years ago and it turned out awful. And I have never made jam before. So this week's jam-making has all been a fun learning experience.

First I made strawberry jam since that is what was fresh and available at my local store. It turned out pretty good, although I am not particularly fond of strawberry anything. I like my strawberries all by themselves most of the time. However, I have a deep and abiding love of peach jam and decided to make that next. I took my daughter to the Dallas Farmers Market downtown and we picked out some mighty fine peaches.

Time to get started!!

Book Review: The Impostor - by Celeste Bradley

The Impostor is the 2nd novel in the Liar's Club series of regency romances by Celeste Bradley. We met both Dalton and Clara in the first book in this series, The Pretender. I was very interested in Dalton and was pleased that his story was next.

Synopsis: Dalton Montmorency has a secret identity: he is the new leader of a group of spies known as the Liar's Club. His mission: to ferret out the mysterious cartoonist, Sir Thorogood, before his cartoons can cause any more political havoc. In an effort to flush the man out, Dalton puts on his tackiest waistcoat and his highest heels and enters society claiming to be the cartoonist himself. The widow Clara Simpson also has a secret identity: she is the real Sir Thorogood. And she's mightily annoyed at the dandified impostor. Pretending to be an uncouth simpering bimbo, she sets out to unmask him and prove him for a fraud.

This book is chock full of secret identities. Both hero and heroine assume many different identities as they make their way through the puzzling plot to find the truth. I think the author sets these multiple roles up as a way to allow the characters to display their many facets. Dalton is one of my favorite kinds of hero: very driven and completely emotionally closed off. But when he is posing as a common thief, he can open up a little and let himself express his feelings. Clara also experiences a kind of freedom when posing as a ballsy housemaid. She is free to explore the daring, passionate woman inside. It is when they are in these roles that they allow themselves to explore their feelings for one another. And when their myriad identities are at last revealed, each of them must reconcile these different facets with themselves and with the person they fell in love with.

Favorite Part: It's not so much a particular scene, but I loved how Clara kept drawing and doodling Dalton over and over, sort of as a compulsion.

I gave this book 5 stars in my LibraryThing catalog.

Book Review: The Pretender - by Celeste Bradley

The Pretender is the 1st book in Celeste Bradley's series of regency-era romances centered around a group of spies known as the Liar's Club.

Synopsis: Agatha Cunnington has come to London determined to find her missing brother, James. Though James has grown distant over the past several years, he is all the family she has left and the sheltered country miss is willing to risk whatever it takes to find him. Agatha's got problems, though. She has a conniving neighbor back home who wants to marry her off to his slimy son at the first opportunity. On top of that, a young unmarried lady cannot simply go gallivanting around the capital alone. So Agatha concocts a fake identity for herself: one Mrs. Mortimer Applequist. To make her disguise complete, she enlists her handsome new chimney sweep to pose as Mr. Applequist himself. Simon Raines, spymaster and chimney sweep extraordinaire, cannot believe his good fortune. As the leader of the Liar's Club, a secret ring of spies working for the Crown, he too is searching for James Cunnington. He believes that James is responsible for the recent deaths of several Liars and the leaking of critical information to the enemy. Believing that Agatha is James' mistress, he tries insinuate himself into her confidence while posing as her "husband."

This author came highly recommended to me and I was delighted with this first book. The plot is exciting and I got caught up in the drama involving the secondary characters. Bradley does a good job with character development. Often in romance, one or both of the main characters are really just character archetypes with little depth and simple motives. Bradley's heroes and heroines are complex, with many different emotional motivations based on their unique experiences and needs. Both are wary of telling the truth, but for very different reasons. Agatha is protecting her beloved brother while Simon is duty-bound to keep his mission secret. Then, when it all comes out in the open, Simon struggles with balancing his love for Agatha with his need to protect her from the dangers of being involved with a spy. For her part, Agatha is a very determined woman who selflessly loves her man. I think that's a really admirable quality. When he tries to push her away, instead of taking what she can from him and then letting him go, she focuses all of her energy on loving him and helping him to face his demons.

Favorite Parts: When Agatha "kills off" Mortimer. It's priceless. Also, the scene where "Repulsive Reggie" shows up and Simon nearly annihilates him.

I gave this book 5 stars in my LibraryThing catalog.

Celeste Bradley novels - reading order

For the past few weeks, I've been reading Celeste Bradley's "Liar's Club" and "Royal Four" series of regency-era romantic spy novels. These books contain a continuing storyline with a definite chronological order. The order of each series is listed on the author's web site but, over the course of reading them, I'm finding that the second series actually begins in the midst of the first. There is also a short story thrown into the mix. So. I'm putting down the proper reading order of the books here so I can better keep track.

1. The Pretender (Liar's Club #1)
2. The Impostor (Liar's Club #2)
3. The Spy (Liar's Club #3)
4. "Wedding Knight" in My Scandalous Bride (short story)
5. The Charmer (Liar's Club #4)
6. To Wed a Scandalous Spy (Royal Four #1)
7. The Rogue (Liar's Club #5)
8. Surrender to a Wicked Spy (Royal Four #2)
9. One Night With a Spy (Royal Four #3)
10. Seducing the Spy (Royal Four #4)

I suspect there may be another Liar's Club book forthcoming because of certain plot elements that have not yet been resolved. However, these things may all be resolved in the remaining Royal Four books - I don't know yet. I'm also planning to review all of the books in this series (they really are all excellent); I just have to overcome my laziness and do it.