The Pond has been experiencing some comment errors recently, and we’re trying to keep up with WordPress’ updates, which unchecks the Allow Comments box – thus our problem – and with Sybil playing with buttons that are better left alone!  So bear with us, and keep trying to leave those comments. We should be back [...]

I like reading. Always have, probably always will. It started with easy stuff, like Nancy Drew and the Animorphs. (Not that Nancy Drew and the Animorphs aren’t awesome.) Then my third-grade teacher gave me Watership Down by Richard Adams. I almost always list that one on my favorite books list because it convinced me that [...]

I’m Laura J and I love to read.

Once Upon a Time I was one of those kids who was always reading books until the wee hours, under the covers, with a flashlight. I always thought my mom didn’t know how much I sneaked my reading, but have since learned she knew alllll about it and just didn’t mind – she was just [...]

Okay, so, about me…let’s see. I love reading, I love books, I love holding books, buying books, sharing books, and even just looking at my books.

Most days I feel like I’ve been skulking around the online romance community forever. But Sybil asked me to properly introduce myself, and who am I to deny Sybil? So here it is – Super Librarian 101. I discovered the joys of reading through mystery novels, which to this day are my first love. I [...]

Dreaming with Sandy M – a very short story Once upon a time Sandy dreamed of living in a lighthouse on the California coastline. Well, she still does, but that ain’t happenin’ any time soon. So instead she’s moved to a small town in Central California where folks roaming downtown on a beautiful spring evening [...]

So here’s the deal with all this review blog stuff.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has decided that blogs and other similar opinion websites should disclose when a reviewed item has been supplied by the manufacturer/vendor/seller/etc., or when a manufacturer/vendor/etc. has paid for said review.  A “full disclosure” kind of thing. 

You may or may not know this but I often do not know how to leave well enough alone. U R Shocked… yes? I started on livejournal, created a blog on blogspot, the ever awesome (and missed) maili changed my template – two or three times, followed by the dearest of janes moving me to [...]

I like reading. Always have, probably always will. It started with easy stuff, like Nancy Drew and the Animorphs. Then my third-grade teacher gave me Watership Down by Richard Adams. I almost always list that one on my favorite books list because it changed my life. Watership Down is about four hundred pages long. At [...]

We are doing some clean up around here. Picking Winners for all closed contests. Getting new contests set to post. Catching up on reviews and even putting together a ‘coming soon’ review page (I think, maybe) Most of the stuff you won’t notice… tagging things, adding tags to old Guest Author Days so they can [...]

Most days I feel like I’ve been skulking around the online romance community forever. But Sybil asked me to properly introduce myself, and who am I to deny Sybil? So here it is – Super Librarian 101. I discovered the joys of reading through mystery novels, which to this day are my first love. I [...]

I figure it’s about time for this… so here goes. Limecello would like to say she’s a small girl with big attitude, but that wouldn’t really be true.She’s exceedingly indecisive and has no spine. Strangely enough, she’s opinionated. But dislikes conflict. And dislikes drama even more. She’s something of a food snob, and likes to [...]

This was first published Dec 4, 2007. Seems like a good time for a retro post…. Many questions are asked of how we grade things around here. Below is a quick reminder of what it means to be judged by the Pond. Review Grades A+ Squee worthy. Fantastic “keeper shelf” shelf material. So damn good [...]

So I am one of the newbie ducks around these parts, and I thought it would be nice to answer some questions I have received from alert readers so you can get to know me better. Or stalk me. It all amounts to the same thing.