Morbid Romantic

Book Review & Personal Blog

Catilina’s Riddle by Steven Saylor (Paperbackswap)
Saylor ( Arms of Nemesis ) has written another gripping and entertaining historical whodunit. Narrator Gordianus, disillusioned by the corruption of Rome circa 63 B.C., has fled the city with his family to live on a farm in the Etruscan countryside. But this bucolic life is disrupted by the machinations and murderous plots of two politicians: Roman consul Cicero, Gordianus’s longtime patron; and populist senator Catalina, Cicero’s political rival and a candidate to replace him in the annual elections for consul. Claiming that Catalina plans an uprising if he loses the race, Cicero asks Gordianus to keep a watchful eye on the radical. Although he distrusts both men, Gordianus is forced into the center of the power struggle when his six-year-old daughter Diana finds a headless corpse in their stable. Shrewdly depicting deadly political maneuverings, this addictive mystery also displays the author’s firm grasp of history and human character.

The Blue Star by Tony Early (Review copy from publisher)
The small dramas of teenage love get caught in the crosswinds of a war in this sequel to the 2001 bestseller Jim the Boy. It’s late summer 1941, and Jim Glass, now a high school senior, has an earnest, unshakable passion for classmate Chrissie Steppe. But as straightforward as his feelings are, the circumstances of his nascent romance are complex: Chrissie’s family is indebted to their landlord, whose sailor son Bucky claimed Chrissie as his girl before shipping out to serve on the USS California at Pearl Harbor. Throughout Jim’s fraught final year at school, he relies on the advice of his uncles, but after Pearl Harbor is bombed, they can’t protect him from the war’s toll. Questions of patriotism, sexuality and poverty weave their way into a narrative that’s deceptive in its simplicity: the growing pains that Jim and his friends experience pack a startling emotional punch.

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Today at Morbid-Romantic.net I welcome Eddie Godshalk, who has been kind enough to give us a guest post of great relevance to something a lot of us the US are experiencing. Let me tell you, as I drive through the condo complex I live in, I see ‘For Sale’ and ‘For Rent’ signs everywhere. The Housing Crisis we are experiencing is large and troubling, yet so few of us understand the complex factors in what caused this.

Macroeconomics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroeconomics) is the broadest view but important measure of the economic system. As applied to housing it would address influencing factors such as disposable income, migration, available usable land, interest rates, etc. Macroeconomics in real estate applies to national or regional data. The regional data typically being the MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), what is more currently called the CSA (Combined Statistical Area) or which there are approximately 400 in the US. The MSA or CSA, is often referred to as a “market.”

All this data was available and many eyes were watching so how did all macro data fail? Part of the problem is that most professionals only have access to free or inexpensive data or information. You cannot make better assessments than the data available. Not only is much of the relevant data not free, it is very hard to find. Then integrating the data into meaningful results is a no-trivial task.

In assessing a real estate investment decision, you can examine data from various sources that consider the property itself, the block, the Census Track, the Zip Code, the County, the MSA/CSA, the state, and the country. Certainly the farther and farther you go out, the less relevance and meaning you have in trying to assess any particular valuation.. Any of us in real estate know you can drive around any area beyond a very local area, and see that nothing homogeneous about any city or neighborhood in America. While this is intuitive, you cannot find any free data or readily available data to make a true assessment of a specific local market condition. The more uncertain or unstable the conditions the riskier and evaluation becomes. We have now gone through a time that exposes the weaknesses in the tools we have been using.

Blood Bookaholic is having a massive contest with the following up for grabs:

- Signed copy of Dreaming Anastasia + Goodies
- Hardback Another Faust
- Hardback Prophecy of the Sisters
- ARC The Dark Divine
- ARC Hush Hush
- ARC Give Up The Ghost
- ARC Ash
- ARC Behind Every Illusion
- ARC Shiver
- ARC The Demon’s Lexicon
- ARC Betraying Season
- ARC Any Given Doomsday
- Dead Until Dark
- Gossip Girl 1st Book
- The Black Tatto + poster
- Vampire Academy
- Frost Bite
- Shadow Kiss
- Blood Promise

There will be three winners: Winner number One gets to pick 7 books, winner number Two gets 3 books, and winner number Three gets 1 book. The contest ends September 27th, so head over to Bloody Bookaholic to enter.

If you enter, please say that Valorie referred you.

How would you like to win:

1) One advanced review copy of BALLAD, mailed immediately upon end of contest
2) One finished copy of BALLAD, mailed when author gets her copies (September)
3) One OTHER finished copy of BALLAD, mailed when author gets her copies
4) A frame of the winner’s choice from the video (posted below)

To enter, go here. Post the code for the video on your blog, Twitter, Myspace, or Facebook and you will be entered to win.

Here are the latest book giveaways I have come across in my travels through the world wide web. Whenever I see a book up for giveaway that I think sounds like a good read, I will post a link to the giveaway so that all of you, my readers, can go to the website and snag a chance to win for yourself. Below you will find cover images (clickable to their Amazon.com page), the name of the author, the name of the book, the link to the giveaway, and the date the contest ends. If you need any help or have any questions, feel free to comment.

If you are hosting a book giveaway and would like me to list it here, leave me a comment with the contest URL or send me an email at morbidromantic@gmail.com.

Win Susan Higginbotham’s Hugh and Bess at The Tome Traveller’s Weblog
Contest ends August 22

Win Ru Freeman’s A Disobedient Girl at Jenn’s Bookshelf
Contest ends August 24

Win Jessica Verday’s Hollow Imperial Beach Teen Blog
Contest ends August 31

Win Eva Etzioni-Halevy’s The Song of Hannah, The Garden of Ruth, and The Triumph of Deborah at Luxury Reading
Contest ends August 31

Win giftcards at Melissa’s Bookshelf
Contest ends August 31

Win Elizabeth Chadwick’s The Greatest Knight at Passages to the Past
Contest ends August 31

Win Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen at The Book Faery Reviews
Contest ends August 31

Win Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen at Shhhh I’m Reading…
Contest ends August 31

Win Michelle Moran’s The Heretic Queen at His-Fic Chick
Contest ends September 1

Win Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen at Booking Mama
Contest ends August 31

Win Michelle Moran’s Cleopatra’s Daughter at His-Fic Chick
Contest ends September 5

Win Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen at Peeking Between the Pages
Contest ends September 6

Win one of four books (just comment with your favorite movie) at Addicted to Books

Win Michelle Moran’s The Heretic Queen at Readaholic

How do you react to movies made of your favourite books (or even not-so-favourite books)? Do you look forward to seeing them, or avoid them? Do you like to have read the book before seeing the movie?

I don’t generally cringe in pain when I hear that a book I like is being turned into a movie. Some of them can be quite good if done right with the right actors/actresses, with the story kept somewhat in tact and true to the book. I give every book-to-movie adaptation the benefit of the doubt…

Until information comes out such as cast and trailers start to be played. Once I get a sense of how the movie is going to be, I either look forward to it or dread it. Some, like the Queen of the Damned (Anne Rice) adaptation were pure travesties, where as other adaptations like Cold Mountain are very good.