Hundreds of books, thousands of books . . .

Millions and billions and trillions of books.

Oh, no, that was cats, wasn't it?

But it feels like that many books are suddenly turning up in piles around my house.

Remember the TBR pile that I was so pleased to be making a dent in? Well, I spoke too soon.

I have indeed made a dent in it -- but I've got scads more books now piled onto it than I had last week. I made the mistake of going to see a friend of mine who reads a lot of romance novels. She isn't a writer so, presumably, she has time to read. And she heaped a bunch of them into my arms before I left, saying, "You have to read this . . . and this . . . and this."

So now I have all the J R Ward vampire books to read which, even though I'm not especially interested in vampires (or at all), she says are soooo good and the characterization is sooo good and the dynamic between the characters is sooo good that I'm reading them regardless.

And I have a Naked Earl on my TBR pile -- and copies of his friends, The Naked Duke and The Naked Marquis on order. Sally MacKenzie is a fun writer and I'm loving her books.

And then I have a very tall teetering stack of Jo Beverley books to read. I used to read every book of Jo's as soon as it came out. But then I got distracted by life and contemporaries and I didn't read any for a while -- and believe me, she's kept right on writing while I've been busy. So now I have probably a dozen to read.

And there are Kate Hardy's "posh docs" still waiting. And Barbara Hannay's book. But I did finish Betina Krahn's three -- and really am glad I spent the time with hers. And I read Vito -- Kate Walker's 50th. Vintage Kate!

But this is all going to have to slow down -- if not stop -- August 1st. Because August 1st I get to grips with Seb and Neely in earnest.

Still, I'm having fun right now!