Tomorrow is my 6 year Anniversary on Xanga. Where does the time go? When I first joined Xanga, there weren't any replies, themes, recs, pulses or a universal inbox. If you wanted to see if someone had written you actually had to go to their page! If you wanted to see if someone had replied to your comment, you had to go to their page! When the friends app was implemented, there was a huge outcry of :"Xanga is turning into Myspace!" It was years before I used that module to its full potential. Instead of themes there were skins, and you had to be a premium member of Xanga to use them. They had this thing called a nudge and dashboard-but I never really used them, so it's hard to remember why there were there...The thing I miss the most is that you had a guestbook, & a separate page for reviews. They disappeared one day, and it's sad to say I didn't notice it. The universal inbox was universally disliked in the beginning. I swore I'd never use it. The information available was astounding. I remember when recs were new and people would unsub someone who used it too much. (Some went crazy and did like 20 a day.) The ish sites came along and annoyed everyone even more then the friends module did-but now everyone is used to them and just ignores them. 


Along the way I have made some amazing friends. If it weren't for Xanga I never would have gotten through my graduate internship-which was so horrible that I ended up not completing my graduate degree because of it. (I was getting an MA in International Education.) When I moved to Arizona and all of friends thought I was crazy everyone on Xanga supported me-and supported me again when I decided that it was just too far away from my family and moved back to Ohio again. The job I had there doing tech support was not my cup of tea and Xanga was where I vented my frustrations. Xanga has made me think outside the box, introduced me to causes I knew nothing about and hobbies I never would have tried with the encouragement of my Xanga friends. Here's a shout out to those who have commented faithfully & whose blogs I never miss:

Lenore_Happenstance- We've been posting to each others Xanga since almost the beginning. We bonded over our love of the Amazing Race. Everytime I read one of her running posts, it makes me want to take up the sport. I will one of these days!
Heidenkind- I can't remember how we met, but we became instant friends over our love of books.
StellarShore-She's been a great friend & has had to deal way more then someone her age should have to deal with.
FreeeVerse-We got to know each other from our love of American Idol. She makes me spoil it for her every year. She is wise beyond her years.
Relaxolgy-Hardly writes anymore, but is someone who I admire greatly. She makes amazing themes!
TheModernbunny-I feel like I've known her forever! I love how she tries to rile everyone up with her posts.
Nephyo-He writes the most amazing stuff & is always making me challenge the way I think about something.
TheChesireGrins-I love how she writes about living in DC-her political posts are always interesting.
Starrynite45-I get to experience Thailand through her!
Wherever-we-go-I love hearing about her adventures in London!
Torchwood_Timelord-I love his honesty, and he makes killer icons.
Mr._Faust- Another Xangan whose been around forever! He always comments no matter how lame my post is.
Momgonemadd-We might have very different lives, but I love her honesty about everything.
Lyricsninja-We've been commenting back and forth forever...His clippy post is still one of my favorites
Maayana-A friend from the beginning-her posts are few and far between these days
Suz00017-A friend in real life, she's been around Xanga for almost as long as I have.
Seedsower &Angi1972-Have made me try to find Faces & Circles in random places all year. If it weren't for the two of you, I would not have gotten into photography. I don't take that many pictures, but I had forgotten how fun taking pictures could be!
TheBigShowAtUD-Always makes me laugh, and has a way of writing about important issues with a touch of humor. That's not easy to do. (I'm probably one of the few who know how he got his user name. It's a famous saying around here.)
Kalligenia-A new friend who will be a famous author someday-I can feel it!
jojobaDesigns-Last but certainly not least! She reminds me what it's like to live in Arizona. Her art work & jewlery designs are amazing!

Tempt Me With Darkness (Doomsday Brethren #1)by Shayla Black is a book I picked up at the library after someone on twitter told me I should read Shayla Black to end my recent book slump.  Is it a sign that I'm in too many reading challenges  that when I noticed that the characters were based (loosely) on King Arthur and Camelot that I went "Bonus! I can read this for the Arthurian Challenge?" The Arthurian Challenge is hosted by Becky at Becky's Books Reviews.  This book completes the challenge for me-it turns out that I had signed up to read 1-3 books not 3 as I thought I had. This is one of those books that I had a love-hate relationship with. There were times when this book was so good that I couldn't put it down and others when the storyline seemed to drag on forever a result of world building for a new series, I'm sure. I'm rambling, aren't I? Enough of that-lets get down to business!
The Plot
Marrok is an immortal warrior from the court of King Arthur. He made the mistake of making Morganna mad. She cursed him with not being able to have an orgasm and immortality. (Hey, it's a romance!) Olivia Gray is just a normal 24 year old who came to London after the death of her mother to find her father she never knew and ends up loving the city so much that she puts down roots and opens up a store A Touch of Magic, an art gallery-where she mets Bram Rion. Bram introduces Marrok to Olivia because she wants to see some of his wooden carvings to sell in her shop.

Once they meet they are drawn to each other, and Marrok thinks that Olivia is actually Morganna Le Fey and the key to ending her curse so he (of course) kidnaps Olivia...where despite their distrust of each other begin to fall for each other.  However, there are many perils that keep these two apart. For starters there is the Book of Doomsday-the book that Morganna wrote Marroks curse in. It's very powerful, and in the wrong hands can do some serious damage to the magic world...oh, have I forgotten to mention that there are wizards as well as immortal warriors in this book? I think I have...Marrok and Olivia's friend Bram is actually a very powerful wizard who wants is after the Doomsday Book to keep it in the hands of good magic instead of falling into the hands of a wizard gone bad.  I don't want to give anything away, but a Dommsday Brethen is formed by Bram to help fight the wizard and his army of human zombies. (Did I forget to mention that there were zombies in this book? There is a whole army of them.) Somewhere along the way Olivia discovers that she is actually an ancestor of Morganna, and about to become a very powerful witch when she comes of age at 25. The distrust between Olivia and Marrok continues to grow, but will their love be able to conquer all and free Marrok of his curse?
My Thoughts
The beginning of  it moved super fast-the bedroom scenes were super hot. (I do mean HOT!) However, the middle of the book just seemed to last forever. There were parts when I just wanted to shake Olivia and Marrok for being so stupid. I also wanted to scream-I get it, they don't trust one another-enough already! However, this was the first book in a new series, so I think the middle dragged on and on in order to fit in the background for future books. The romance almost got lost in the middle of world building-but resurfaced in the end of the book. The last half of the book almost made up for the middle of the book. There was a lot of action and sigh worthy moments-but I almost didn't care b/c the middle drove me nuts. Despite the problems I had with the middle of the book this was a pretty good read, and I do want to read the next one in the series. I just hate it when world-building gets in the way of a really good storyline. I almost forgot-the secondary characters were great, which is why I'm willing to read the second book in the series. :)
Sigh Meter: High
Swoon-worthy Meter: Low
Hot Love Scene Meter: High

Contest Alert:
I almost forgot: Cindy Gerard left a comment and wanted to let everyone know she's running a contest on her website through the end of the year where she'll give away $100 B&N gift card. All you have to do is sign up for her newsletter!

For more of my reviews go here. :)