Yay, the week is over!!!!!

Wow, what a week. 4 days stuck in a room with the same people is grueling. And there's always one .... I was ready to gag him. He couldn't possibly have been more negative about everything. Then there was the roofing construction which lead to several incidents of burning smells making the room unusable. Sigh. I better get some major financial discounts on the room we booked. However it was over and so many people were saying how great it was. I was kind of like "Are you smoking crack? Were we in the same room?" LOL

But it was a pilot so live and learn and I did get to meet lots of great people and it's nice to have a face to put with a name since we were from as far away as Mexico City, San Francisco and Miami to Halifax and Vancouver. Truly a North American meeting so we don't get to see each other in real life very often if ever sometimes. Sometimes relationship building is more important that the training stuff we try to teach. I'm glad it's over though, now comes all the follow-up which should be interesting as well.

I read a little bit this week, but not all that much. I was just too burnt out every evening to focus much. However I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend and settling back into "normal" life, although I'm leaving for Chicago in a couple of weeks for work too. It's been a busy fall.

Friday Night Jamie by Bren Christopher (135 pages)
Loose Id

Jamie is an accountant who lives a pretty rigid life and is waiting for Mr. Perfect, who might be a VP of marketing at his firm. Smooth, rich, ambitious. Most Friday's he goes to a local club where he lets loose. He looks up with Matthew and when Matthew asks for a date he says no, dating Matthew doesn't fit into his well-ordered life. When he finds some accounting irregularities at work things start to go downhill and before long he's being drugged by Mr. Perfect, on the run from the mob and the FBI and Matthew is the only one he can trust. I quite enjoyed this. Jamie has a bit of OCD, he does certain things at certain times and there's a reason for that which makes total sense. I thought Matthew's instant attraction smacked pretty close to insta-love but maybe he was just stubborn. Anyway, I did enjoy it, the sex is hot, the mystery left me a bit confused as to who the bad guy REALLY was in the end, but it all ended HEA with the bad guys caught. If you like a bit of mystery with your romance it's a good choice.

Emerald: Rewriting History by EM Lynley (87 pages)
Torquere Press

Tobin is an art director for a museum who is about to open an exhibit of royal artifacts including an invaluable emerald that has been lost for decades. Suddenly his ex Pierce shows up as a security consultant for the Sheik who now owns the gem. Tobin is not thrilled, he's still hurt about how their relationship ended 10 years ago and he's sure Pierce is an art thief who is merely planning to steal the gem. He confronts him and Pierce agrees to stay with Tobin 24/7 until the exhibit opens to prove he's not going to steal it. Tobin agrees which leads to a resurgence of lust. However the gem is stolen, using Tobin's security code. I think my prejudice is showing in this one. There was nothing wrong with the story, it was well written (except the emerald is referred to as a diamond at one point), I liked Tobin, but I just couldn't figure out why he would agree to join Pierce in an art-theft ring even if it was supposedly for altruistic reasons. You are going to get caught, or someone is going to get pissed and kill you. Are you insane? I'm finding I have issues when someone easily accepts a lover who is openly working as a criminal and, hey, love conquers all and make it okay. Sigh. So I was shaking my head at the end and couldn't believe Tobin's reaction. I would have kicked Pierce out, I don't care how hot the sex is.

It's kind of interesting how we learn something about ourselves sometimes as we read. Who would have guessed I'd be so intolerant of a criminal. LOL Even if they are Robin Hood in effect.