** 4.75 Stars **  Accidental Spoilers.

Wow.  I loved this book. LOVE loved.  <-- That's a serious love.  Kresley Cole just keeps getting better.  Lothaire is a wonderful book continuing her Immortals After Dark series. 

The start of this book gives a lot of background into Lothaire.  What made him the way he is?  What goals does he have?  Lothaire has been a thorn in the side of everyone and completely unpredictable in this series.  We finally find out what makes Lothaire tick.

Ellie is a young woman born and raised in Appalachia mountains.  Backwoods might be a good word to use.  Hick is probably better.  She's the exact opposite of Lothaire.  Only one BIG problem with Ellie, she's possessed by a Goddess named Saroya.  Yep.. like "I have exorciiiiiiiised the demon" type of possession.  Unfortunately for Ellie, you can't exorcise Saroya.  Ellie spends a large chunk of her young life in jail when Saroya goes on killing sprees with her body. 

Enter Lothaire.  Lothaire lays eyes on an 18 year old Ellie's body and comes to life.  She's his Bride.  Only backwoods MORTAL Ellie isn't good enough for The Enemy Of Old.  So obviously Saroya must be his Bride.  Lothaire spends years searching for the ring he stole from La Dorada in a previous book.  He believes the ring has the power to grant him a wish.  He wants Ellie's body minus Ellie herself.  He wants to Bride Saroya to rise. 

Ellie is determined to not let Saroya plague the world and kill innocent people.  So Lothaire is forced to keep her close to keep her from harming her body.  Will being with Ellie tempt him?  You're darn right it does!  Lothaire is a bit OCD and has a checklist of things to accomplish: keeping Ellie.. not one of them.

So we get to follow these two on a journey of will against will.  Lothaire is so prejudice against Ellie for being mortal and poor that he can't see what is in front of his eyes.  Ellie is a young woman who has managed to find and be grateful for any happiness that has ever come her way.  So who is the inferior being now?

The absolulte best part of this book is that Cole NEVER strays from who Lothaire is.  In the process of him falling for his Bride, he does it in Lothaire style.  He doesn't coddle.  He isn't nice.  He threatens.  He manipulates.  He pulls one stunt so bad I'm not sure even I could forgive him, if I was his Bride. He's Lothaire!!!   For Lothaire to find happiness he has to see past his hate.  He has to move on from his past(which was heartbreaking).  He needs to make friends: Thaddeus and Hag.  He needs to make up with friends from the past, Nix.  Lothaire has a lot of internal work to do in this book. 

He's sexy.  He's an a**hole.  I love him!  HAHA!  This book just didn't follow normal romance patterns.  Love didn't make him turn into a blubbering mess.  I loved that about this book.  Great great great read.  CANNOT wait for the next one!!! 

The Day Of Giving Up

I started my day with my normal routine: drink coffee and read online newspaper.   An article about New Years resolutions caught my eye.  Today, January 9th, is the day most people give up on their resolutions.  Nine whole days.  That's longer than I have lasted on any diet.  Sadly, it kind of seems depressing that most people last only nine days.

As for my resolutions,  oops.  Okay to be honest my birthday was January 6th.  My husband baked me a cake.  My mother made me a strawberry dessert to die for.  Now I have 2 full size desserts taking up massive space in my fridge.  My 4 year old could care less about cakes and my husband is eating it somewhat.  That leaves me to tank 2 family size desserts.  Am I up for the challenge?  YES!  Have I gained another pound? Yep.  No good.

Accountability clearly doesn't withstand the onslaught of my flawed yet persistent logic.  I can talk my way out of anything.  I seriously have an excuse for everything.  "The dog ate it."  Let me let you in on a secret, I don't even have a dog.   I am the queen of procrastination.  So I have NOT been exercising yet.  I still feel like there are minor victories to celebrate on this "Day of Quitting".

I have been drinking 64 oz of water everyday.  I also have gotten a ton of healthy snacks in my house that I actually reach for.  My problem is exercise.  I sit around all day.  My daughter and I play board games and watch cartoons.  Everything we do is sort of sedentary.   It's really time to start.  The EXTREMELY sad part is that I have an awesome treadmill in my basement.  My husband offered to bring it up to the lower family room if I cleaned it up first.  So whats stopping me?  Failure.  I quit everything I start.  I don't know why.  I started to think it's because one of my 239493 siblings has already done whatever I'm attempting and better.  I feel like a disappointment compared to their achievements, so I don't bother to try.   I'm hoping I have better news to report next time.  

So to all of us who are considering giving up.  Don't.  We'll figure it out somehow.  :)