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!

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?