The Cruelty of the 7-Day Loan

I have this nasty habit of picking books at the library that are on the rapid read service--which means I have 7 days to read them. Normally that isn't a problem if I manage my time wisely, but in this instance, I was two days into the loan before I even got to the book, and then two of those nights were eaten up by my critique meeting and an RWAC executive meeting.

By the time Sunday rolled around and the book was due back, I was only halfway through. I considered holding onto it because it was really, really good--but I hate to do that when I know other people are waiting for it on hold. And as it turns out the rapid reads have a rather hefty fine of $2 a day. In which case I could almost have gone out and bought the book myself, which I would still like to do, once the cash flow returns to a normal level.

So, with great reluctance, I trudged back to the library and dropped Elizabeth Boyle's book, This Rake of Mine back into the library, renewing my hold on it. There are 4 people ahead of me and two copies in circulation, so it will be a few weeks anyway before I see it again. Argh. It would be different if this book was only mediocre, but I loved her writing. It was the first book of hers I had picked up and I really enjoyed it. Although, just before I dropped it into the return box, I noticed it had the banner across the tope about being part of the Bachelor series. Then I clued in...hey wait a minute...

I scurried back home and routed through my TBR pile and found the book before it, Something About Emmaline staring up at me. But now I'll have to find out how many others are in the series and start from the beginning. And in visiting her website, I discovered she also has a new book out, His Mistress By Morning.

I love discovering a new author I haven't read before. And it's a bit strange I haven't read Elizabeth Boyle before, considering the number of times I've stood in front of her books in Chapters and squinted my eyes until Boyle looked like Boyce.

In other news, and further to getting my actual name up on a bookshelf, my query and synopsis are going out in today's mail to my number one agent pick. My goal this week is to do the final clean up on my Outlaw Bride manuscript in the event a request comes for it. Then it is on to the second draft of Brimstone and more agent queries.