Wednesday Reads and Our Fun Car

Here’s what I finished reading this week:

Book #16

Dates read: April 18-22
Title: Dearest Ivie
Year of publication: 2018
Author: J.R. Ward
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood #15.5
# of Pages: 136
Paper or plastic: Ebook
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from Goodreads: The last place Ivie expects to be approached by a devastatingly handsome male is in a crowded, smoky cigar bar rarely frequented by vampires—yet here he stands. Silas is flirtatious, gallant, and, above all, mysterious. Ivie is anything but. A nurse at the healer’s clinic and the daughter of a biker, Ivie is accustomed to speaking her mind. So she does. Since aristocrats rarely pick up females of her class, Ivie asks Silas just what kind of game he thinks he’s playing.
    Despite her guarded exterior, Ivie surrenders to the fierce desire she feels for Silas. And yet, just as their courtship is heating up, he reveals that it cannot last, for he is bound to return to the Old Country. Their bond only deepens as they make the most of their precious time together. But when she learns the truth, Ivie must find a saving grace—before all is lost. . . .

My thoughts: J.R. Ward is evil. And she made me cry. I was about ready to kill her and then I just wanted to hug her. Yes, I loved this story.

We have three cars: Hubby’s 2017 RAV4, my 2010 Xterra, and our fun car, a 2008 Solara convertible. The fun car doesn’t get used as much as it used to. Hubby wants it to last (especially since Toyota doesn’t make them anymore). But it is getting old, I suppose. The rear window defogger doesn’t work and lately the speaker cuts out. Since we were thinking of taking the fun car to Seattle in July (to catch our cruise to Alaska), I would like the speakers to work. I figured there was a loose cable or something.

So I took it in to the Toyota dealership to have it and the rear window defogger fixed.

Of course nothing can be easy, can it?

Seems the defogger isn’t a loose cable. The wire on the glass got cut (probably from an ice scraper). They would have to replace the glass. But wait! The window is sewn in the rag top. But wait! They don’t make that rag top anymore (heck I think we got the last year the car was produced). They would have to make a custom top just to fix the defogger.

Yeah, I don’t think so. Maybe if the rag top needed replacing, but it doesn’t. On to the speaker problem.

Which, by the way, only seems to happen when it gets warm and of course we got a cold snap when I turned in the car. They couldn’t get it to cut out. Didn’t stop them from looking around, though.

They stopped when it became evident they would have to tear the dash out. Said it was most likely the amplifier (since it wasn’t just the radio that cut out, it was also the CD and auxiliary—iPod). That it would probably cost close to $2000 to get that fixed.

Yeah, I don’t think so.

So I guess our fun car won’t be SUPER fun to drive, especially if the speakers keep cutting out (I do like my music), but I’m not ready to give up the car yet. And it’s not like we NEED the defogger. We tend to only drive it when the weather is nice.

But man, why does everything have to be so darn complicated to fix?

So… How many cars do you own? Yes, we have the three, but figure that we will not replace the first one that dies. Right now, that doesn’t seem to be any time soon. Which is fine by me.

Happy Reading!

Stacy