Reading on the Road

Congratulations to ROBIN from AUSTRALIA, winner of a free copy of SKIN TRADE.



My daughter belongs to a choir that got to perform at Disneyland, and I took her and a friend down. We left home at 6am, got to the park around 8am, they sang at 930, they got changed and reunited with parents around 11, and then we had the rest of the day to play. She's done this for several years now; most years it's very hot, but this year it was perfectly, pleasantly cool.

She and her friend went on 15 different rides (yes, they counted), and I went on 11 or 12 of those, some multiple times. I am not averse to roller coasters (I LOVE Splash Mountain), but I am averse to standing in lines, plus I did mom stuff like get food and fast passes while they were on some rides.

They changed the FastPass system since I was last there. A fast pass is a free ticket to go right on the ride--no line; the catch is that you have to come back about two hours later. You used to be able to go around the park and collect fast passes, have a snack, then go around the park using your fast passes on one ride after another without waiting in lines. Now the deal is you can only get one at a time, so if it's noon and your fast pass says to come back after 2:15, you can't get another fast pass on any other ride until 2:15. And some rides, like the Matterhorn and Pirates, don't have fast passes at all anymore. Matterhorn has long lines all day and night, but Pirates has short lines later in the day and no lines after dinner. If you get there early, go to Space Mountain first, as it is the hardest ride to get on. It does give fast passes but the return time will be later than for other rides--and there are still long lines late at night.

Speaking of which, my two charges decided to wait in line for Space Mountain at 9:45 at night. I saw them again around 11pm. In the meantime, and a few other times while I was waiting for them, I pulled out The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning. I have read this series over a long stretch and woefully out of order (the first one I picked up was Dark Highlander) but it hasn't made a big difference. The Immortal Highlander takes place just after The Dark Highlander. Adam is an arrogant fae. His offer to substitute himself to spare a mortal's life was altruistic but also grounded in the certainty that his queen would never punish him. Surprise! She sends him to earth without his fae powers. He can't see other fae, and mortals can't see him--except for one sidhe-seer (pronounced she-seer) named Gabrielle. Once he realizes she can see him, he determines to charm her with his mad fae charm skillz so she will help him. Another surprise: since she was raised to believe that the fae only want to harm her, she fights back. But Adam has an enemy who thinks that Adam's defenseless gives him an ideal opportunity to get rid of Adam--and Gabrielle, once he learns about her. So the two of them are forced to work together.

I brought along a paperback to read (I have the whole series available in paperback) but I also have this book in new hardcover. This is a good one to read before the Fever books because it gives you some background in sidhe-seers.