Colleen Gleason: The Rest Falls Away

Confession time. I meant to read this book last year. The concept–Buffy in Regency England–intrigued me last July when I met Colleen Gleason at the RWA National in a Venator tee shirt.

Why didn’t I read it way back then? Time and space. No, not in some weird sci-fi sense. I left the RWA National Conference with too many books. Too many books! (Monkey Boy‘s head would explode if he heard me use that phrase, since he thought I had too many books prior to said conference.) As it turns out, I did myself a disservice. I should’ve bought it way back when!
Erica Ridley
After heading home last July with ~100 new, free, mostly signed books, my TBR (to-be-read) shelves bowed under the strain. Except for the occasional local chapter signing, I didn’t purchase any new books during the ensuing months because I didn’t have the time to read them nor the space to put them. (Since I have also attended 4 regional conferences during the past year, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn my TBR count exceeds 200. Daunting, even for a confessed bibliophile like myself!)

However. I happen to be between stories right now, as I’m in the planning phase for DATD. When I saw Colleen’s contest on her blog, I just had to enter. And, wonder of wonders, I won! Colleen sent me a tee shirt (pictured right) and a copy of her book. (You can win, too, because it’s not over yet. Go check it out!)

I opened the book yesterday around 5:30pm, meaning to sneak in a chapter or so between my “real” work (ie, client stuff I should be doing) but then the next thing I knew, it was a quarter til 10 in the evening and I’d just hit The End. And I wanted more.

So I fired off an email to Colleen, babbled fan-girl style1 (and begged for confirmation of a certain story element I hoped would also be present in the sequel) and added a new author to my keeper shelves.

Rises The Night comes out in June (Aargh! I will be in a 3rd world country for the entire month, with absolutely zero access to new releases until I return toward the beginning of July!) but The Rest Falls Away is out now. If you haven’t already read it, go buy it and join me in the comment trail to dish about the story and whether you fell hardest in love for M or S or P. (For me? S, baby. *purr*)

1I waxed incoherent on how I thought M was like early Angel and S was like Spike, and how h-a-w-t I find the whole bad boy who loves being bad angle… Hey! Lightbulb! There’s actually a BBWLBB in DATD, him being a demon and all… I think I just found my weakness!

Your turn: Have you read TRFA? If not, have you at least entered the contest on Colleen’s blog? Read any other good books lately? If so, please spill author/title info! And confess… what do YOUR to-be-read shelves/piles look like?

10 comments

  1. beverley - Reply

    I absolutely do not have a TBR pile. Just today I bought a new book by a debut author by the name of Anna Campbell and I hope it’s good. I basically only read historicals and I think I’ve read most of the good ones out there right now. I did love Too Wicked to Wed by Sophia Jordan.

  2. ERiCA - Reply

    Yep, that was my budgety self quoted in the RWR. =) hehehe

    I will have to check out Anna Campbell–thanks for the tip!

  3. B.E. Sanderson - Reply

    I just had the same experience with Allison Brennan’s See No Evil. Picked it up to read a bit at 2:30pm and read it straight through until I finished it around 8:30pm. I didn’t even stop for dinner.

  4. Maggie Robinson - Reply

    I’ve had TRFA on my TBR pile for about 2 months. I’m not sure why I haven’t scarfed it up yet. Maybe because I know it’s not really a “finished” story and how impatient I am to get to “The End.” But I can’t wait the three years or however long it’s going to be to read them all in one fell swoop. So maybe I’ll start it after I finish what I’m reading now (which I won’t recommend).

    Did just have a Hoyt marathon over the weekend with Raven and Leopard Princes which were pretty close to being almost perfect. At any rate, much, much better than most (I’m a tough sell). Cannot wait for Loretta Chase’s new book.

    I get very nervous if my TBR pile is less than around 15 books. 100 sounds like absolute heaven…and they were free! I am so jealous.

  5. ERiCA - Reply

    B.E.: I’ll have to get a copy of See No Evil–thanks for the tip!

    Maggie: A massive TBR pile sounds like heaven–and truly, when I left with all those books, I felt like I was robbing a baby–but then I went through an extensive reading dry spell. Partly because I was busy writing, yes, but also because it’s easier to choose which out of a dozen books I want to read than which out of 200 books. A little overwhelming. But I’d always rather have “too many” books than not enough!

  6. Carrie - Reply

    Erica – so funny that I had the exact same experience with TRFA!! I’ve wanted to read it for a while and found it at the airport (I went into three bookstores at that airport to see what was there, figure out what I really wanted) and was thrilled. I started it on the plane and couldn’t put it down!! Stayed up super late in the hotel (which was a real treat)! Didn’t get any of my own writing done! I LOVED that book.

    Incidentally, for some reason I feel like once your book makes it into the airport, you’ve some how “made it” as an author. Isn’t that strange! So I almost squealed when I saw TRFA there 🙂

  7. ERiCA - Reply

    LOL. I hear ya re: airport. I felt much the same way when my friend Karen Rose saw her books at Disney World. Disney World!

  8. Carrie - Reply

    Disney World? Now that’s making it!

    As for the TBR pile… I have TBR books coming out of my ears! And I can’t stop buying them! I keep hearing about books that I want to read and now I just automatically buy them from Amazon and toss them on the stack (read: pile next to the bed). Most I get to eventually, some I give to my family, others… well… I have high hopes that I’ll get there eventually.

  9. ERiCA - Reply

    LOL re: hoping you get there eventually. (I resemble that comment!) I think I should schedule in time to read, just like I schedule in time for everything else. Even if I read a 400 page book every single day, though, I still won’t be through the pile before National comes and bestows me with even more. Aargh! My TBR shelf is as bottomless as Mary Poppins’ purse!

Leave Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Erica Ridley
%d bloggers like this: