Monday, January 28, 2008

Playing with the boys

So, I've always liked men better than women.

That isn't to say I don't like women. There are several women I like a lot. (Hey, some of my best friends are women...Actually they are. But still.) But I tend to shy away from friendships with women, and always have. Finding a woman to be friends with has always been difficult for me, whereas I've very rarely met a man I don't like.

Maybe because I have a big brother? Or because on the street where I grew up there was only one girl my age but three boys, and we all played together? (I was always Daisy Duke.)

I don't know. But I dig the men. It's always been easier for me to make friends with men. Not as easy now, of course, when I'm married and so are they, for the most part. It's a little wierd then to be always hanging around with some other guy.

The point is, though, that today I want to say a special thanks to the men who read my blog. Who even read my books, which absolutely blows me away. I guess because we think of women as being the ones who mostly read romance, when I hear a male reader say he bought and read one of my books--like Bernard did, a few weeks back--and even liked it, it's special. Like I managed to write a female character or a story well-rounded enough to appeal to people beyond those who would automatically "get" her.

So thanks, men. It totally brightens my days to have you guys here.

(Not that the ladies don't deserve special thanks too. Everybody who actually takes the time to read my random thoughts or my books deserves thanks--and gets them, in my head, every day. I just wanted to say something special to the guys today.)


And apparently it isn't just the guys who like my stuff! Mrs. Giggles reviewed Demon's Triad yesterday, and gave it an 85! The review made me laugh out loud. I especially liked this last line:

Demon's Triad is like the no-holds-barred B-grade sexy horror movie after my own heart.

You can read the whole review here. I highly recommend you do, because Mrs. G is extremely funny.

Simply Romance Reviews gave the book a grade A and said:

Wow!!! Demon's Triad was a great, fast-paced book! With two authors writing this book it was seamless! I knew there would be some dark parts but they were well written. They weren't dwelled upon but they were explained and out of the darkness came something wonderful. Bravo!!!



You can read that whole review here.

(I know there was another review somewhere but I can't find it, darn!)


Oh, and those of you who've been following the saga of my dry, sensitive skin (and I know there was another post or two in there somewhere) might be interested to know I've found a new soap that I think is quite nice. It's Malki Dead Sea soap and so far it's working very nicely. Over the last couple of months my skin has gotten so dry and sensitive that even the Burt's Bees Green Lettuce soap I usually use and love has been making it go red. The Malki soap lathers really easily and thickly, and my skin isn't red at all when I've rinsed it off--it hardly feels like I need to moisturize. (I still do of course). It's loaded with a bunch of oils, so it might be too heavy for warm weather, but so far I am terribly pleased. I got it at the Whole Foods Market in Bristol a few weeks ago. So we'll see if it continues to please.

13 comments:

BernardL said...

Congratulations, D, that was a great review. Mrs. Giggles really does a thorough job of it. I'm glad you found a more pleasing soap. Winter is rough on skin.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the reviews -again, not surprised at all.

I was in a mall in Austin awhile back and an Israeli beauty "coaxed" me into buying a whole line of of the Malki Dead Sea products for The Warden.

I don't know if it was the sexy accent, her lovely "form", or the very sensual hand defoliation treatment she gave me but I was considerably light in the pockets when I left her -and very glad I was wearing a long jacket. -V95

Karen Erickson said...

Congrats on the great reviews!

Sorry about the dry skin - my youngest has terribly dry skin and I'm always looking for something new to make it better cos just when it gets better, it starts looking bad all over again.
Whew that was the longest sentence evah! LOL

Robyn said...

WOO-HOO on the reviews! And I'm with you on the guy friends; I have more women friends now that I'm older, but in my younger days I always had more guys around.

Charles Gramlich said...

I tend to have few female "friends," but the ones I do are among my absolutely best friends. I've often agreed with most of my female friends that they are somewhat more "male" in outlook. If that makes sense.

Lana is much like you, btw, and tends to get along better with men than women, not that she doesn't have some good female friends as well.

kirsten saell said...

I read that Mrs G. review yesterday and thought YAY! Of course, the day before I tried to order the book from EC and their process went all wonky on me. Three tries, then I gave up. I'll try again in a day or two.

Hear ya on the men. I always hung with the guys when I was single. I've only had four close female friends my whole life. Now that I'm married, I really only have one, and sometimes I don't actually see her for weeks at a time. Work is like a social life for me, and my fave regulars are mostly guys as well--and not just because they tend to tip 20%+.

Dry skin sucks. I wash my hands like 50 times every night at work and they are so chapped. Can't wait for winter to be oooooovver.

Anonymous said...

I'm growing into girls as friends, but I still prefer to work with men (if you've never had to deal with the stupid politics of an office with more than 2 women you're lucky). Good thing I chose the career I did.

I've been using hemp oil soaps and lotions lately. SunDog and Dr. Brunner. Very nice.

SdB

Camille Alexa said...

Sweet reviews!

phsymom said...

Just a bit of info ... if you suffer from severly dry skin check out some of the sites or yahoo groups for Sjogren's Syndrome. Those of us who suffer form this tend to have extremely dry sensitive skin.

Personally mine hasn't gotten to that point yet, but I'm working my way there. Right now I use a Shea body butter all over including my face because my skin is so dry.

Good luck and keep up the fantastic stories.

Stacia said...

Thanks, Bernard! Yep, we're happy with it. (We being Anna and me.) And yes, she does do a thorough job. I think she's the best review blogger out there, personally, because her reviews are always fun.


Lol V95! You're such a sucker for a pretty face. I love it.


Karen, have you tried Burt's Bees products? They do a whole "Baby Bee" line that's really gentle. You can get them at any Whole Foods Market or online, or probably at a lot of other places I don't know about. :-) The Dead Sea soap is fine for children too, it has all sorts of minerals and stuff. And believe me, if it didn't irritate my poor face I'm sure it's fine for kids.


You know, Robyn, after I wrote this it occurred to me. It's not just that I like men better, but men like me better. Women don't usually seem to like me much, and those who do tend to be, like you and kis, "men's women".

Stacia said...

Right, Charles. My best friend Cori is a lot more "girly" than me (not feminine, I'm very feminine, but not girly at all), but she's the first woman I've had a real long-term close friendship with since I was a kid. But even she, while being girlier, is still not that girly in outlook.
Do you think there really are two types of women?


It's sooo much easier to work with men, kis. They're just as gossipy as women, but not vicious about it. Or something. All I know is it's more fun and I work better.
I haven't seen Cori in two years now, of course, but even when we lived 40 minutes apart we only actually saw each other once every few months. We talked on the phone every day though, sometimes more than once a day, and I miss that. I miss her. :-( (We only talk like once a week now, because of the time difference and expense.)


Yep, see above, Seeley. I love working with men. And it's not, like, a "I can giggle and get whatever I want" thing (although let's face it, I usually can). It's just easier and more fun. Less backstabbing. More logic.
I've heard good things about Dr. Brunner stuff!


Thanks Camille! :-)


Thanks physmom, and thanks for the comment! Doesn't look like it's a concern for me--I just have seasonally dry skin on my face, the rest of my body is fine, and the eyes and mouth aren't a problem for me either. But, hey, I really appreciate the info. It could have been very important that I see it, right?

writtenwyrdd said...

Glad to hear you're getting good reviews!

And your poor skin! I get eczema in the winter because it's so dry, but at least I don't usually break out in rash/whatever from the soap I use. I've used olive oil soap, castille soap and a few others. Seems like for no apparent reason, though, I have to change it up every onece in a while. I hope whatever you are using now keeps on doing the job!

Tyhitia Green said...

Congratulations on your reviews, December!! :*) I hope that the soap works well for you! :*)