Wednesday Reads and a Foot Update

A new year and a new goal. I decided to go with 93 as my reading goal. I’ll try to make sure my average page count goes up, too. Unless I get desperate there at the end, then…forget it! J Here’s what I read this week:

Jan 5: “Fatal Secrets” by Allison Brennan, second book in the FBI trilogy, a romantic suspense at 428 pages. Blurb from book: When a top lieutenant in a notorious ring of human traffickers agrees to turn state’s evidence, Immigration and Customs Enforcement senior agent Sonia Knight believe she’ll finally take down the illegal operation’s devilish mastermind, Xavier Jones. But when an FIB sting on Jones’s criminal enterprise collides with an ICE stakeout, Sonia is enraged: Her informant’s life and her evidence are in grave jeopardy. FBI agent Dean Hooper has been chasing Jones for years on money-laundering and tax-evasion charges and doesn’t need or want a hot-headed ICE agent second-guessing his every move. When the Bureau is ordered to join forces with ICE, Sonia is just as livid: Her job is to save lives, not money. But their team effort pays off as fierce mutual resentment fades and passion flares—along with risk. For Jones is just one piece of a deprave puzzle, answering to an even more dangerous predator. Denied his expected prey, this pitiless fiend intends to make Sonia and Dean pay with their own blood. I stayed on the bike until I finished this (I had about 30-some pages left to read at the time), which should tell you something since I hate riding that thing! I was a little worried at the beginning of this book, thinking this would be an “I-hate-you-I love-you” kind of couple, but it wasn’t. Yeah, there’s some friction at the beginning, but only because they don’t know one another, so no hate involved. Yay! (I really don’t like couples who hate each other in the beginning. Annoyed is okay, but not hate. Hate is very hard to overcome. I don’t care who you are). There’s also lots of suspense in this. Really, the perfect read for me (as her other books have been, too).

So far my foot is on the mend; it’s getting easier to walk on it. I’ve been riding the bike as a warm up to my exercises and I may stick to that all week just to be on the safe side. Plus, I’ve been doing the strengthening exercises the physical therapist said I should do.

I’ve been surprised that the fitness center hasn’t been all that busy this week. Of course, I get there at 6:30am. It’s probably packed after 5:00pm. So glad I can go in the morning.

So… Have you taken down your holiday decorations yet? Mine are still up. Maybe I’ll get to it today since I doubt I get any writing done anyway. I have to take a trip to Springfield to meet the former treasurer of COFW (Central Ohio Fiction Writers—a local chapter of RWA) so she can pass on the responsibilities. Yep. I’m the new treasurer. J

Happy Reading!

Stacy