I went to see the midnight showing of Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix last night. I don't see many movies in the theater anymore, but I was determined to see this one as soon as it was released. Rather surprising, considering how angry I was after reading the fifth book. I guess I've had time to recover from the death of my favorite character -- and Rowling is an amazingly gifted writer. I keep hoping that at some point they'll get one of these movies right.

See, I haven't been completely happy with the movie versions of the books in the past. I thought the first two (Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets) were junk. The third (Prisoner of Azkaban) was good -- but how could it not be with introduction of Serius Black? *wink* The fourth (Goblet of Fire) was decent, but relied too heavily on easy laughs and visual thrills. Like the first two films, it skimmed many of the deeper points of the story.

I thought this fifth installment was the most true to its book. It focused on Harry's emotional struggle and didn't distract us with crazy CGI -- although the scene in the Department of Mysteries was pretty cool.

If you're a fan of the series, I think you'll like it.

Now the wait for Book 7 (Deathly Hallows). I always get the book on CD, in addition to a hardback copy. I LOVE listening to Jim Dale read these stories. I would recommend the audio versions of the Harry Potter books over the movies, any day.

I woke up this morning to a nice surprise: I was one of ten winners in the Samhain First Line Contest! I'm so excited!

The contest started about a month ago, when Samhain invited people to post their best "first line" on the Samhain blog. Each week after that, the editors posted the list of entries to move on to the next round -- competitors added one sentence each week, five sentences in all. The prize was a chance to submit a story to one of the Samhain editors -- they are currently closed to submissions.

It sounded like such a fun idea that I decided to enter -- and I was in good company. Almost 300 people entered that first round. There were so many great lines! I have no idea how the editors made their decisions!

My first line was from a m/m contemporary I had been fooling around with. Going into the contest, I had now idea how hard it would be! When you only have one line to hook your reader, it's really tough. I was very fortunate in that I had my marvelous critique partners, Maya and Marie, to help me out.

The contest made me happy as a reader, because I know I have some great reading to look forward to once those entries are published! Congratulations, to all who entered!

I know some of you have had trouble getting a hold of me recently. My web hosting service decided to start rejecting email with hyperlinks, among other things! Needless to say, I'm going to be switching companies A.S.A.P. -- in the mean time, you can always reach me at jeannelaws@gmail.com.

It's the fifth of the month and that means I'm blogging over at Authors of Erotic Romance!

Today I'm talking about: "(More) Unrealistic Expectations and Other Insults to Romance Readers".

Racing the Moon and Steam and Sunshine

By: B.A. Tortuga

Publisher: Torquere Press

Genre: m/m, contemporary, action/adventure, erotic romance

ISBN: 1933389699 & 193416674X

Here's another recommendation for Kerrita -- it's possible she's read these books as many times as I have. Maybe.

B.A. Tortuga is one of my favorite m/m erotic romance writers, and before I read Steam and Sunshine I would have been hard pressed to pick a favorite. Now it’s a no brainer -- Tortuga's characters are always well-written but, for me, Sonny and MJ are head and shoulders above the rest.

Premise: In Racing the Moon, MJ is an explosives expert/eco-terrorist for hire, and Sonny is a ridge-runner. These two bad boys collide on a foggy hillside in North Carolina, and the story is a wild ride from there. In Steam & Sunshine, the guys are semi-retired, but decide to take one last job because the money is just too good to resist. The deal goes bad and, in the process, throws another couple into the mix.

What I Liked as A Reader: What's better than one bad boy? Two, of course. Sonny and MJ together are explosive. I'm a real fan of modern day pirate/outlaw stories and, because the "damsel in distress" model never worked for me, I loved that these two outlaws found happiness in each other's strength. Sonny and MJ are fun and flawed, and their relationship is intense and rough and beautiful -- it's impossible not to love them. As I mentioned above, Steam & Sunshine also introduces a new couple: Paddy and Neil. I really liked these two, especially the mind reader angle, but they couldn't compete with Sonny and MJ.

What I Liked as A Writer: These characters, especially MJ, are so rough as to border scary. Tortuga didn't pull her punches in writing them, didn't soften either of them to create the "opposites" that everyone is so comfortable with, and didn't try to "tame" them. They are unapologetic outlaws with, as Sonny says "a tiny bit of moral fiber" -- and that's a risk for a writer. It's possible that some readers won't like Sonny and MJ for all of those reasons, but I found them completely refreshing.

Steam & Sunshine ended with some unfinished business, so I'm pretty sure there will be at least one more installment . I'm waiting with baited breath.