Since I'm pressed for time as I'm writing this, as I have still to start packing and we leave in less than 24 hours I'm not going to make it a very long story but instead I'm going to leave you with a few pictures.

The first few are of the house we rented to stay in during the coming week.


The next pictures are of the pile of books and e-reading devices I'm taking with me because any self-respecting book-addict will surely take this many books, even if you know you will never be able to read them all because:

- The first and the last 3 days of this vacation I will be driving every 2-3 hours
- I will also be going to want to do some sight-seeing during the vacation
- I'm taking my DVDs of seasons 1 & 2 of Prison Break with me too, so the spare hours won't be just spent reading
- I have a hubby going with me who grows restless if we spend more than an hour just lounging about, reading...
- Do you see the e-reader and the iPad? Print books will not be the only books read on this vacation!


Still, this was the best I could do in terms of keeping myself in check since I always lose control with the amount of books I bring with me when we go on a car vacation. With airplanes I have the baggage restrictions which are just torture as I MUST make choices and limit myself to a certain amount. When we go on holiday by car...The limitations are so much less...I always go crazy...

During my vacation very few reviews will be posted. If there are any posted they will most likely be back-logged reviews as I'm still trying to play catch up on my to-be-written reviews, and sadly I didn't make my goal of having caught up before going on holiday.

When I get back, I have 3 days to prepare my departure to New York City for RWA Nationals 2011. In these 3 days I must unload, unpack, do laundry, buy last-minute necessities, buy goodies for my giveaway gift-bags, repack, schedule some stuff on the blog and then I'm off again to what I've come to consider the event I've been most anticipating ever since I booked the flight in January and registered for it in February.

But for now I'm going to enjoy a very much deserved and relaxing vacation with my hubby. By the time you're reading this hubby and I are probably nearing the border between France and Spain so take care and see you in a little less than 2 weeks!

When you guys read this post I'll be on my way to the airport to catch a plane to London, England!
After an amazing trip to the US (Los Angeles) in June, I am a lucky woman about to meet one of my fave romantic suspense authors, Karen Rose...

About the Author
Website
Internationally bestselling, RITA-award winning, author Karen Rose was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. She met her husband, Martin, on a blind date when they were seventeen and after they both graduated from the University of Maryland, (Karen with a degree in Chemical Engineering) they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Karen worked as an engineer for a large consumer goods company, earning two patents, but as Karen says, “scenes were roiling in my head and I couldn't concentrate on my job so I started writing them down. I started out writing for fun, and soon found I was hooked.”

Her debut suspense novel, DON'T TELL, was released in July, 2003. Since then, she has written ten more novels and a novella. Her third novel, I'M WATCHING YOU, received the Romance Writers of America's coveted RITA award for Best Romantic Suspense for 2005. In that same year her second novel, HAVE YOU SEEN HER? was also a RITA finalist.

Her fourth novel, NOTHING TO FEAR, a 2006 RITA finalist, was nominated for Romantic Times Magazine's Best Suspense and for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Book Award for Fiction. Karen's ninth novel, DIE FOR ME, was a RITA finalist for Best Romantic Suspense and won the Romantic Times' Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Romantic Suspense of 2007. SCREAM FOR ME (January, 2009) was also a RITA finalist. To date, her books have been translated into eighteen languages.

A former high school teacher of chemistry and physics, Karen lives in Florida with her husband of more than twenty years, her two teenage daughters, a dog and two cats. When she's not writing, Karen enjoys traveling and skiing.

“I love happy endings,” says Karen, “and I think other readers love them, too. Sometimes real life can be overwhelming. It’s nice to escape to a place where you know everything will come up roses by the last page. Reading has helped me during rough periods in my life as well as through times when everything was just a bit hectic. I hope my stories provide a good escape to my readers as well.”

Karen’s characters generally face tough challenges. In DON'T TELL, Caroline is a survivor of spousal abuse. She has Dana, her best friend, to encourage and guide her, but a lot of abused women don't have a "Dana" in their lives. However, there is help out there for this and many other life situations. Karen came up with the idea of LIFE LINKS, a set of links that provide resources of help for a variety of different issues. “Thank God, I've never been a victim of abuse, but I've been in other situations where I needed to reach out for help,” Karen says.

I read DON'T TELL last year and was blown away by it and am really excited to meet Karen in person!

My review of DON'T TELL

I'm going to her book-signing first and in the afternoon I have the pleasure of joining her for an afternoon Tea. I just finished packing my bag and also made room for some of my Karen Rose books for the signing. And hope to get SILENT SCREAM (Karen's newest) at the signing! And I'm definitely going to look for a new copy of YOU CAN'T HIDE to replace the tattered secondhand copy I purchased a few years ago ;)

I'll be back tomorrow (Friday), hopefully with some pics and a wonderful experience, because besides meeting Karen Rose, this will also be my first ever trip to London and I hope to do some touristy stuff on Friday before flying home again.

My entry for Diana Rowland's Demontastic Contest to Hell!!!







Waking up, still a bit fuzzy...






Brushing the teeth






Taking a shower






Getting dressed






Working out with Zumba






Doing some blog stuff






Trip to the grocery store





Getting groceries






Getting cozy with the groceries






Making some music with hubby






Reading Craig Robertson's RANDOM in the reading chair.





Having lunch with the hubby





Doing laundry...blegh






Ironing...double blegh






A much needed manicure






Enjoying the 0-calorie diet







Reading on the iPhone before sleeping

A while back I promised Moira Rogers-Bree something special for her birthday. Because time flew by and suddenly it was her birthday I apologize for this poor attempt, creatively speaking, of putting some of her favorite males together. But it's the thought that count right...

So no pics of birthday cakes, balloons or other birthday stuff, no especially for Bree, here's a little something to look at today.









And just because we both love Henry so much, here an extra birthday bonus for you.


Have a great day full of joy, happiness, health and laughter, surrounded by your loved ones!

Just a post to let you all know that I won't be around the coming two weeks due to a long awaited vacation to Cape Verde. The Islands where my parents were born and grew up. They came to the Netherlands in their early twenties. And their courtship and marriage was one that belongs in a romance novel, but that's for another time because I want to keep this about the vacation.


I was born in the Netherlands but my roots lie on the Cape Verde Islands as both my parents are from there. I have been there a few times, both as a child and as an adult but the last time I went there was 10 years ago. I met my hubby 9 years ago so he's never been there and this vacation is his first encounter with my roots, which both he and I are very much looking forward to. We will be going to 4 of the 9 islands: Boa Vista, S. Vicente, Sto Antao and S. Tiago. And on S. Vicente we will celebrate my mom's 60th birthday, which she wanted to celebrate in her home country.




We'll start and end our trip on Boa Vista in a wonderful hotel hubby found and negotiated a sweet deal for. Below are some pics of it. Can you see me lying in one of the beach chairs, sipping on a cocktail? I can!















The fact that I'm away on vacation doesn't mean the blog won't be updated. I won't participate in the IMM and OMW memes these two weeks but I do have a few nice posts scheduled for your enjoyment:

I start with a ROOB-review on February 4th: TAMING THE BEAST by Heather Grothaus
On February 7th you can read my ARC-review of CROSSROADS by Moira Rogers
On February 12th there will be a reading round-up of 2009 post. A bit belated but better late than never, right?
On February 15th there will be another ROOB-review: THE VIKING'S CAPTIVE PRINCESS by Michelle Styles

And on February 17th I'll be back and ready to catch up on all you have been doing while I was slacking away on vacation.


Well after much debate, picking books, putting them back on the shelves, picking others, putting those back and getting the first again....and after many repeats of this cycle I have the following print books packed to take with me:

• FRAGILE by Shiloh Walker 
• COMING UNDONE by Lauren Dane 

(I wanted to have read these two books before my vacation but didn't have the time to finish them, so I hope to finish them on during the flight)

• BROKEN by Shiloh Walker (a bit of ARC reading on vacation)
• TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS and NO RESERVATIONS by Megan Hart and Lauren Dane
• REESE'S BRIDE by Kat Martin
• SPANISH MAGNATE, RED-HOT REVENGE by Lynn Raye Harris
• SHAKEN AND STIRRED by Kathleen O'Reilly
• PRIME TIME by Hank Phillippi Ryan
• FEEL THE HEAT by Cindy Gerard
• ORIGINAL SIN by Allison Brennan
• MARK OF THE DEMON by Diana Rowland
• PLEASURE UNBOUND by Larissa Ione

So that is 13 books for a 2-week vacation. Want to start placing bets on how many I will have finished by the end of the vacation? Be my guest, I couldn't even dare to tell you. I do know I read a lot more when on vacation than when I'm at home and two 6 hours flights will definitely put a dent in this pile of books. And for the unfortunate event that I might not be in the mood to read these books I'm taking with me I have a spare pile too: a digital one on the iPhone, among those are:

A very special beta-read which will remain unnamed till further notice, BUTTERFLY TATTOO (Deidre Knight), GLORY IN DEATH (J.D. Robb), PACK CHALLENGE (Shelly Laurenston), BLOOD VICE (Keith Melton), TAMING ELIZA JANE (Shannon Stacy), SEDUCING SIMON (Maya Banks), ROCKY MOUNTAIN HEAT (Vivian Arend), DARKFEVER (Karen Marie Moning), PLAYING WITH FIRE (Gena Showalter)...and many more...

Welll I think I have informed you of all the relevant information surrounding my vacation. I hope to see you all again in a few weeks, when I hope to return refreshed and ready to take on the jobhunting world and with a nice dent in my Mt. TBR.

Yesterday hubby and I went for a walk in the snow and even though I am NOT a lover of snow and cold (I would love to move to and live in a country -tropical island- where there is warmth and sun all year long)...still it was a lovely sight: houses and nature all covered in white and crisp snow, people enjoying walks, children playing and making snowmen...A short impression of our walk (and lunch):