The Women of Fantasy

I'm almost ready to read the next book in the 3 sisters Island trilogy - I'm on book 2 - by Nora Roberts. These books take place on an island - fish is the dominant food. The mc in the first book is a cook and makes seafood chowder.

Last week we went to Silver Lake up big Cottonwood Canyon. It was gorgeous. My 2 year old had great fun running around and we saw several people - including many children - fishing. Some little girls caught some trout and my daughter loved it. My Mom loves trout it is her favorite fish to eat. Hubby loves Alaskan salmon - he lived there for several years and always went fishing. His aunt gave us some salmon from their recent fishing trip in Alaska. Here is how he cooked it:

1 big hunk of Alaskan salmon - skin off, deboned, etc (ready to go)
salt and lemon pepper
water

simmer in skillet until done - (he cooked it about 25 minutes) - add more water to keep from burning. Season with salt and lemon pepper.

This is a simple dish - and very healthy. I'm always trying to get my daughter to eat better foods. With a little more practice it would be a fun cook off recipe.

My daughter loved it - I was shocked she is such a picky eater I thought no way would she eat fish. I think some fresh lemon and rosemary would of made it even better.

My mom cooked trout two different ways if I remember correctly - boiled in water and wrapped in aluminum foil. If I do go fishing one of these days at Silver Lake and catch some trout I'll give a few to her.

The Great American Seafood Cook off is taking place this Saturday and Sunday in New Orleans. It supports domestic sustainable seafood. With so many things being imported it's exciting to see support of local products and resources. Even though Utah is landlocked it has some excellent fresh water fish - I'm going to see if my 2 year old likes trout - another dish to add to her rare favorites.

Got any favorite seafood recipes?

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I have way too much stuff to read - see my post Fantasy Gems - I found most of the books on the list at my library and placed holds - needless to say the holds are in and I'm swamped. I'll probably be renewing some of my checkouts.

I pre-ordered Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer off amazon.com - yesterday they sent me an email I was very happy to read saying my book will arrive on it's release date. It's called "release-date delivery" - the email says: "We realize that many of our customers are huge Stephenie Meyer fans, and we're happy to offer Release-Date Delivery to get this title to you even faster." Way to go amazon - my favorite book retailer!!

My local Barnes and Noble is selling Breaking Dawn at 12:01 AM August 2nd - beforehand there will be a "Twilight" party. The book is also coming out on compact disk and a Spanish version.

Check out the official Stephenie Meyer site for a fun countdown until the book releases and cool quotes from the book.

Happy reading!

I finished The Fire Opal and Raelynx and Rider - both were very good, better than I expected. Now I'm taking a break. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer comes out this Saturday and I can't wait. It's one of the few books I'm actually buying since I know hubby will want to read it and my sister's and who knows who else will end up borrowing it?


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These are books I've overlooked-mostly found by looking them up at the author's respective websites. I haven't read any of these yet.

Sunshine – a vampire/armageddon type of book by one of my favorite authors – Robin McKinley. This book sounds very different than her usually feminist fantasy/fairy retelling offerings but I’m more than willing to give it a try.

The Dark Mirror: Book One of the Bridei Chronicles - by another favorite author, Juliet Marillier, who wrote Daughter of the Forest, one of my all time favorite books ever. Marillier specializes in historical fantasy and doesn’t disappoint.

Wolfskin (Tor Fantasy) - another offering from Juliet Marillier

Wrapt in Crystal, a standalone by Sharon Shinn. Her other stand alone books have been very good and though I usually prefer series, I’m looking forward to reading this one.

Fortune's Fool (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 3) by Mercedes Lackey. The sequel is on the shelves now but I want to read this one first (this is the third book in the Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series).

Fire Study (Study, Book 3), by Maria V. Snyder, after Poison Study and Magic Study. Looking forward to this one.

Every now and then I make a list of books to read and check them off as I go. Right now I am reading 2 from my list - The Fire Opal, by Catherine Asaro, and Reader and Raelynx, by Sharon Shinn. The Fire Opal started off a bit weak but is starting to really pull me in. This is a sort of separate little storyline from her previous 3 books set in the same world (see my post about the Misted Cliff Trilogy). The second is called The Night Bird and I'm sure there will be a third. Fire Opal is about Ginger, priestess of the Dragon Sun in a small village. Ginger has mage abilities she is trying to keep a secret, and the romance in this book is between her and an injured soldier.

Reader and Raelynx is another book in the 12 houses series, which I have really enjoyed so I can't wait to dig in. Each of the book in this series have featured a different main character with differing magical abilities - the mc in this book is a sort of "sensitive" - one of the most powerful of all.

I finished The Host a few nights ago. The book left me with tons of questions and I sure wouldn't mind seeing a sequel. That's not to say the ending left too many ends loose - just enough that a sequel would work, not so many it felt unfinished. The main character, Wanderer, is a real heroine in the story. Although she is supposed to of lived many lives on other worlds, she comes across as being very new, very young. She is very reminiscent of Bella from the Twilight series - the self sacrificing nature, the voice itself of the character is similar. There were some disturbing scenarios in this book - which since it's a "body snatcher" story make sense. But Meyer pulls it off, infusing darkness with enough light so the book doesn't ever become depressing - the overall message is one of hope.
Although I guess The Host would be classified as sci-fi it also strikes me as fantasy-ish, just like the Twilight series. The thing that makes the Host work is that Meyer doesn't push for the science fiction aspect - it just sort of unfolds. It all makes sense - the Armageddon/body snatching/aliens/dying humanity theme. Why? I think because of the love story. As in the Twilight books, the love story really makes the book something amazing.

Good reading.

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Been a while since I last posted - am happy to announce that I gave birth to a beautiful 8 lb 6 oz baby girl. She is gorgeous with tons of dark hair!! Now that I am up all night I have been hooked on The Host, by Stephanie Meyer. So far, am loving this book (halfway through). The Host is about a parasitic alien race that has taken over Earth - and inhabited the bodies of almost all the humans. Melanie Stryder, a "wild" human, has finally been taken - by the "soul" Wanderer. The relationship between Melanie and Wanderer is deep and complex as Wanderer falls in love for the man Melanie loves. An amazing story that is different from anything else I've ever read.

Will let you know how I like the ending - and if my opinion stays the same.