I've been distracted, so this isn't going to be the typical review. I didn't have a "new book" to share this week. Last week, I read a book I had read before--a handful of times over the years to be honest--but had been itching for.

BEWITCHING by Jill Barnett.

I was in college when this book came out the first time: purple with gold lettering and lots of stars. (It's the copy I still have.) And I remember my friend Jackie and I shared a room, but we couldn't share the book. We wanted to read it together, then we could stop and go, "Oh my gosh, did you get to the part--" It was really a most magical book, and I'm not talking about it being about a character who isn't a very good witch. Jackie and I swooned over this book and over Alec, the proud duke who wished to control everything and had no hope of controlling his wife.

Have you ever been out in public and you see someone reading a beloved book on your keeper shelf--and you realize they're reading it for the very first time? You know, because you asked. Despite being introverts, bookworms will almost always ask: "Is it your first time reading it? Isn't it wonderful?" And if it is true; it is their first time, the bookworm will get a wistful look on her face and you know she's wishing she could read the book again for the first time. There is magic in a second reading, where you catch things you didn't see before or you relive a beloved moment (how can you not love that Alec's laugh sounds like the bark of a seal?), but there is only the first time you ever read a truly magical book.

Harry Potter--the series, but especially the last one. The Lucy Hatch books. Hush, Hush. The Secret by Julie Garwood, and Saving Grace. Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath. I could go through my keeper shelf and pull down a score or more of books that I wish I could read again for the first time.

Yet there are books that other bookworms adore that I haven't read yet--and one in fact that I'm reading right now: OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon. No serious Scotland fanatic could possibly claim to have not read it, but I have not. I've had the book bought for over a year now and it's been on my TBR pile. I got it at a used book store for $2. I mean seriously, I paid full price for the other books listed above or thereabouts, but for OUTLANDER (the mecca of Scottish fiction), I didn't want to invest too heavily. *LOL*

I'm on page 152 and loving it. Can't think why I haven't read it before...except for the fact the series still hasn't finished and the first book was published in 1991. That might have something to do with it. That aside though, I know there are bookworms out there who wish they could read OUTLANDER for the first time again, to experience the magic wholly again.

Have you ever reread a book? Is there a book you wish you could read again for the first time? And are you reading anything now that is raved about everywhere that you know others wish they could read for the first time?

It's not an Edilean book, which has become my favorite new series of Jude Deveraux's, but I stayed in bed all day Saturday to read it, then finished it on Sunday. What's a weekend for if not to read and lounge around?

At first I wasn't sure what to think about the ghost, Caleb. Then I wasn't a big fan of Jared, the hero, though I'm sure that was intentional and Jude always makes a wonderful point of making sure her heroines aren't so in love with their heroes they forget to be the wonderful women they are. And wonderful sex can make a person a bit forgetful and apt to let the boys run the show. I love how Jude makes sure that this conflict is raised, dealt with, and conquered by the end of the book--rather than having a book where everyone falls in love at the end and they don't deal with the issue of losing one's identity when one is "in love."

Jude had a large cast of characters this time, all of which ran the gamut of personality. You've got the beautiful, flamboyant, men-fawn-all-over-her mother of the heroine who, if you're like me, you don't like because you always hated being cast in the shadow by such a woman, but can't help but admire how she's able to make things happen--and you're just happy she's a good person as she makes things happen. You've got the heroine's father who makes this splendid scene of yelling at the hero for being an asshat and he better make it up to his little girl or there would be consequences. There's all of Jared's cousins on Nantucket, including the beautiful ethereal Toby (whom I hope the next book is about) and the people who work for Jared. I adored everyone. Even the ghost.

In fact, I got very worried about the ghost, because it became clear something was going to happen to him by the end of the book. And then I got worried for one of the other characters, in which something very BIG was clearly going to happen. It was worrisome. But Jude being Jude, it all worked out all right in the end.

In the end, there's a big question--how long would you wait for True Love? Forever, Jared said. And Caleb agreed.

And there was that age-old question of what do you do about a wedding that your family hijacks and you no longer want. Good times. Loved it all.

I heartily recommend--but it does help if you love Jude Deveraux. (I think Jude is my Nora Roberts. I'm not the Nora fan than many of you are, but I think Jude is the storyteller that many of you think of Nora as, you just love her voice and how she draws characters. That's how I feel about Jude.)

So what have you been reading? What do you recommend?

What will this book be like?
I wonder.
What will my sell-through be?
I wonder.
It could be so wonderful,
To be out on the shelves,
To be read.
My heart should be wildly rejoicing
Oh, why is it beating with dread?

To write things others never dared,
Now here I am facing a blank page,
Why then am I so scared?
A duke with seven siblings
What’s so fearsome about that?

All these worries,
If I don’t, I know I won’t write a line.
I must dream of the story I am seeking,
I am seeking the courage’s that mine.
The courage to make this book the best,
To write even when I fear it’s dreck
Show this book I’m worthy
And while I show them,
I’ll show me! So!

Face my plot holes without defiance,
Show them I’m worthy
And while I show them,
I’ll show me! So!

Let those pages spill out all their problems,
I’ll do better than my best,
This book will put me to the test,
But I’ll make my agent see,
I have confidence in me!

Somehow I will impress them,
I will be romantic but sexy,
And all those readers,
Heaven bless them,
They will run to the bookstore for me
And buy me.

Everything will turn out fine.
I have confidence the publishing world can all be mine
They'll have to agree I have confidence in me

I have confidence in wallflowers!
I have confidence in rakes!
I have confidence that true love is all it takes!
Besides what you see I have confidence in me!

Strength doesn't lie in talent
Strength doesn't lie in luck
Strength lies in days of persistent writing
When you write,
Write up! It’s exciting!

All I write
I give my heart to
All I write becomes my own
I have confidence
In confidence alone…

I have confidence in confidence alone!
Besides what you see I have confidence
In me!!

When you write, what do you have confidence in? And if you don't write, what do you have confidence your favorite author will deliver?

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