As you might have guessed with us hard-working pirates, today is another day off, but tomorrow we should be back to your regularly scheduled programming, starting with a book review by Terri. (She writes, she reads, she's superwoman!)

In the meantime, there are two very important birthdays on this ship: The Bo'sun's and the Captain's pirate daddy, Captain Hellion, Sr. (He's 91.) It must be tough to have a December 31st birthday...you have to wait all year for it.

Today, Captain Hellion Sr is being taken by Captain Hellie Jr to the local steakhouse for his usual round of rare steak and a slathering of steak sauce. And Bo'sun is celebrating having her little Bo'sun Jr back again and writing like a fiend--so both of them will probably be checking in later to see the Happy Birthday well wishes.

So the questions today are:

What are you most looking forward to in 2013?

How do you eat your steak? (Mine is always rare or medium rare--as is Hellion Sr's.)

And what drink are you toasting the birthday kids with today? Something old or something new?

Happy New Year's, my favorite pirates. I hope this year brings you good health, happiness, and prosperity, and this year brings you closer to your dreams coming true. I'm honored and glad to know each and every one of you!

It's Christmas Eve and many here on the ship celebrate the season.  We'll be doing seasonal things. Like drinking too much rum punch and singing off-key carols. I'll be baking and keeping kids from spazzing out waiting for the guy in the red suit. Tonight, my family will watch Christmas Vacation and It's a Wonderful Life and I'll drink some champagne.

I'm a little late in raving about it, but as you know, that wild and wicked trio of bestselling authors: Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway, did it again. They collaborated another book, THE LADY MOST WILLING, every bit as delightful as the last. To make it even more delicious, it's set at Christmas time, and if that's not enough to up the stakes for you, they even threw in a kidnapped duke to amuse you.

And you will be amused, my good friends. You. Will. Be. Amused.

Because kidnapped dukes are horribly cranky.

There are four delightful potential brides: Miss Marilla Chisholm (the BONNIEST lass in Scotland and rich); her sister, Miss Fiona Chisholm (also rich but with a slightly dubious reputation); Lady Cecily Tarleton (English, but you can't have everything); and Miss Catriona Burns (neither rich or famous and they apologize profusely for inconveniencing her). Okay, confession time: three of the women are delightful--one of them is so irksome that I as the reader was seriously hoping she'd marry a butcher for her behavior--think Lydia from Pride & Prejudice only more irksome. Yes, that bad. Four guesses which one she is.

So the first third of the book, the duke goes from being horribly cranky to wonderfully in love. And it couldn't have happened to a better girl. And then the second third, one of the grooms: Lord Oakley meets the girl who sweeps him off his feet; and in the last, the younger brother, but half-French (so hottie!) picks a girl from the remaining two. Don't worry, the fourth girl also gets a groom. You'll never guess.

It is a comedy and a romance...so there is always plenty of weddings to go around.

So if you haven't read it yet, and you need some romance novels to take with you for Christmas with the family (which I always do), put this one in your tote bag! I hope I didn't ruin it for all of you by revealing all the girls end up with a husband--believe me, there is enough entertainment seeing it unfold that you'll enjoy it just the same.

What's your favorite Christmas set story you've read or read this year?

I've had some things on my plate lately; and I'm battling a cold, writer's block (which probably doesn't really exist but try telling my word count that), and stress. I've read a couple books in the last two weeks (a lot slower than usual, just let me say), and neither of them was so brilliant that I wanted to rave about them to you guys. I'm sorry. They weren't bad, just okay, and I just couldn't get up enough enthusiasm to write a blog about either of them. Or both of them.

But I did make some smoked salmon dip last night. Now that I can rave about.

I love those little crisp breads with a bit of salmon, a bit of horseradish and sour cream, and a sprinkle of onion. Pop it in your mouth and it's like a little Russian davai goolyat!

So here is the recipe:

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
4 oz smoked salmon, minced
1/4 cup red onion, minced
2 Tablespoons capers
1 teaspoon dill weed (or to taste, I just sprinkled it in)
1 Tablespoon horseradish

Mix up really really good. Serve on crackers. Tastes better if you let it hang out in the fridge for a while and do its thing, but I have eaten it straight out of the bowl just fine.

So today instead of books, we're going to talk recipes. What is your go to recipe for the season, or what is your favorite snack to eat (with recipe link)?

The season finale of Boardwalk Empire was this weekend. It's a violent, slightly depraved, awesomely written show. I can't watch it. My husband, however, loves it, and invariably, I end up in the room during scenes of it.

This week, I was walking through when I saw a creepy conversation between a man and a woman who did not look so comfortable. The conversation was sexual . . . and disturbing. I wasn't really listening to the words, but as the conversation went on, she grew viably frightened.

It's set in the 20s, it looked to be a woman without much personal power, in the presence of a man who clearly had the advantage and looked willing to take it.

Frankly, I got creeped out and bolted. I knew what was coming next. I got my water, grabbed my bedtime snack, and started to sneak back through the living room without actually looking back at the screen.

But you know those train wrecks? When you just can't help but looking?  I looked . . .

This frightened, powerless-looking woman was in the process of strangling the man with his own belt.

I burst out laughing (which believe me, drew a strange look from the hubs). But it was just exactly what I never expected. I was prepared for the cliched female victim, who is run-over by the powerful male. I was prepared for some horrible assault.

Instead, she took the power, and flipped the whole scene on it's head. It was amazing.

Now, as anyone who does watch the show already knows, and which I found out later, it was actually some kinky sex they were having, rather than her killing him as I had assumed (rooted for?), but that didn't lessen the emotional ride the brief moments took me on.

I was emotionally ready for, and expecting, one thing, and bam! I got hit with the exact opposite. It's an emotional roller coaster I would love to take my readers on.

Anybody have any examples of when a cliche is turned on it's head? Ever get hit emotionally by a surprise you never saw coming? Do you love it or hate it when you get the opposite of what you expect? Got any scenes in your book where you lead reader's one way, and then whack them over the head with the opposite (and any advice for the rest of us trying to add one in)?

I've been a fan of Libba Bray's books ever since I read A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY, which fortunately was the first of a lovely trilogy that was smart, suspenseful, evocative, and funny. The other two books in the trilogy were equally good. I'm seriously hoping there will be more books associated with this cast of characters in THE DIVINERS.

Here are my list of reasons why you should run out and read this book. Immediately.

1.) John Hobbes: he is the creepiest, nastiest villain I've read ever. I swear I felt he could exist now and it was almost a trial to sleep at night, wondering if John Hobbes was going to come through my door. But then again, he was associated with a religious cult, and I don't know about you, but serial killers with religious backgrounds ALWAYS creep me out more than the typical homicidal maniac.

2.) Evie O'Neill: a most hilarious young dame who is always looking for a good time. Her small town in Ohio was just...too tame for her, and through some fortuitous circumstance, she is sent to live with her uncle in New York City (at least until the scandal blows over in her hometown.) No sooner does she land in Manhattan than she starts new scandals. She's a pistol.

3.) Uncle Will: the sober uncle who runs the Museum of Creepy Crawlies (actually it's named something more formal, but everyone calls it the Creepy Crawlies...). This is an ideal place for Evie to live because she in fact is a special girl with special talents; and it's good she's in NYC because there are a lot of "talented" souls there, if you know what I mean.

4.) The Best Friend: Evie (or "Evil" as Theta calls her) can be a bit much, but her best friend Mabel is the breath of normality who balances out Evie. Mabel isn't in the current heel of fashion; she's not as rebellious or keen for adventure as Evie is. But like any good friend, she is right there with Evie when they go to jail.

5.) Jericho, Memphis, and Sam: the handsome heroes of the book. They've all got their own dark pasts, but you want to kiss them all. There's enough to go around!

6.) The New Best Friend (Theta): she's a Ziegfield girl and struck me as the glamorous Catherine Zeta-Jones friend we all have. She's more than just beautiful though--she's had a complicated life and watching it unravel in this book is a thing of wonder.

7.) All those dead bodies: You get to meet everybody--and you have a hard time figuring out where John Hobbes is going to go next or how the next "sacrifice" will be met. I found myself holding my breath at every killing, hoping against hope someone would get away.

8.) The spooky stuff: everyone's talents (many of them are diviners in some form or another), the story of John Hobbes, the cult, the haunted house, the widow of John Hobbes...there is spooky crap on every page. And you're going to want to read it as fast as you can.

9.) John Hobbes: I only mention him again because well, he shows up twice. The man will just not die. I told you this was spooky!

10.) Because I said so. And really that's the only reason you need.

Yes, it's another YA novel, but there's really nothing wrong with that when authors are writing YA novels as awesome as this.

Be warned: Evie (who's 17) is a bit of a drinker, and that might be a turn off if you're oh, a mother of a teenage girl...or an aunt who has nieces who are this age and probably just as willfully drinking at all hours. It's not that it's unbelievable, it's just that it's almost TOO believable.

Now I'm off to see if there will be more books to follow. I sincerely hope so!

What have you been reading lately that you're excited about?