Latest Book Haul

When I get bored at work, I zip to Ebay. Sometimes the boredom works in evil ways and I lowball bid on (and win with annoying frequency) lots of old Harlequins. In fact, I've got a lot of 50 working its way to me now. *sigh*

After a month of paying out half of my property taxes, a new retaining wall (lest it go buh-bye and yank the deck off the house along with it), and a new water heater, I thought "Hey, if I'm going to shell out some money, I want it to feed a sick habit of mine!" So off to Ebay I went.

Never mind that a $5/bag book sale is just in a couple weeks. Oh, I've got a $20 set aside for that one, you bet your ass.

So an Ebay lot landed today and there's some goodies in there. Here's the ones I'm excited about:

In a raging saga that sweeps the 11th century Spanish empire, from its stately Christian villas to the dazzling pleasure-palaces of its Moslem enemies, the ravishingly beautiful Marquesa de Clavijo is abducted by Moorish invaders and forced to serve the Grand Vizier of the Kingdom of Sevilla.

But even as her captor's gentle, virile passion transforms her terror to delight, andn then to rapturous love, the outraged Marquis de Clavijo races across Spain to challenge his lady's conqueror and vindicate her honor.

Here is a panoramic, epic tale that explores a world of exotic splendor - perfumed harems, jeweled treasures, grand banquets, majestic kingdoms - a novel torrential with the clashing of iron-willed men and their armies for the hearts of bedazzling ladies, a romance exploding with the joys of love and the triumphs of passion.

I think I have bruises from reading that last paragraph. OK, it sounds awesome! Just let me live, please!

  

THE MARBLE SPLENDOR OF IMPERIAL ROME WAS A STAGE FOR THE EMPEROR'S SAVAGE BLOOD LUST. 

His word was law. No one was beyond the reach of his depraved desires. Except Cornelia, the Vestal Virgin. Keeper of the sacred temple. Pure. Untouchable. Until her chaste beauty captured the heart of the noble commander Marcus, drawing her into a forbidden love...ensnaring them in the intrigue and degradation of the Emperor's household...plunging them into a mire of madness and perversity where escape could only be bought at an unthinkable price.

Decadent, perverted Rome with all its decadencies and pervertedness? And savage blood lust? Pinch me, I must be dreaming!

His destiny thrust them together... Her destiny would tear them apart...

 
Rafe--Half-god, half-man, his sacred quest led him through the camps of the fierce Viking hordes, through the chilling Realm of Death, and, finally, into combat with the master demon, Enlil, who craved the destruction of humankind and the love of...

INANNA--The lovely enchantress whose powerful magic protected Rafe on his odyssey of perils. Driven by her searing passions, she dared to battle Enlil and the dread Fates, for the soul of her mortal lover....

OK, the vague Druidic and Viking stuff is all well and good, but it's the 1970s Liz Taylor in a white satin mumu and chunky jewelry that sold me on this one. 

HER HEART BELONGED TO ONE MAN. HER BODY TO MANY.
Glynda was an outcast of society, the bastard daughter of a lascivious lord -- and the object of desire of every man who laid eyes upon her. 

Her first lover was Philip -- and willingly Glynda would have been satisfied with this proud and powerful Norman Duke who ripped through her resistance, woke her womanhood, and kindled a flame within her secret heart she was never to forget.

But her passionate journey had only begun -- as she moved through the hands of a ruthless and tantalizingly virile Knight Templar...a cruel and corrupt English Prince...a merciless German master...a perverted Turkish Sultan...and a brutal army of nameless men who paid for her favors. But behind Glynda's violent and perilous odyssey was an overwhelming sensual craving for Philip -- and she would take the most fearful, degrading risks to be reunited in exquisite tenderness and wild, rapturous union with this one man whose burning love she could not live without.... 

God, I love books where the heroine goes through hell, and this Glynda sounds like she'll be the town bicycle by the end of the book. (A possible theme for the Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous grroup at GR, mayhap? LOL) Regardless, this one is marching to the top of the TBR.

And last, but definitely not least, the obligatory Fabio. What book haul is complete without one, I ask you?

Raised to lead his people, sworn to protect them from any danger, Abuin had dedicated his life to battling opponents of the Protectorate. But the moment his men took the mysterious green-eyed woman from the enemy transport, he sensed there would be indescribably pleasures in claiming her, and he would have given all his wealth to make the provocative stranger his own. 

 

OK, it sounds lame. It probably is lame, with lots of objects that have "space" before it, half-assed world buildup, and nonsensical political frameworks. But it's Fabio with airborne hair and a rawhide lace around his forehead. It's enough for me. Fabio, you Golden Tempter, you.

All right, the Pegasus looming over his head, debating whether to take a dump is pretty alluring too.