Tag: Astak

How Do I Love Thee?

Posted June 25, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 11 Comments

You probably think I’m going to spew about the reasons I love someone, don’t you?  Well I am, kind of, but it’s not directed at one certain person, it’s directed towards a company; Astak.
Astak is the manufacturer of my EZReader 6″ that I foolishly dropped on the 11th of June.  Most of you have read about the story but let me recap for those that don’t know what happened.  
My daughter bumped into me and of all the many, many things I had in my hands only my EZReader fell to the ground.  It was fine until I tried to wake it up from sleep mode and then it didn’t look so good.  I immediately called Astak customer service.  They said: take a picture of it and email it to us so that we can try to determine, just from the look of it, what’s wrong.  I did this but unfortunately it was Friday afternoon and Astak was already closed for the day. Boohoo. However first thing Monday morning I got an email from CS that said yes, my reader had a cracked screen (internal) and they could fix it for $95.00.  I was thrilled!  I emailed back and they then sent me a RMA# to send in the reader.  
I sent the reader off the next day which would have been the 15th.  I sent it first class mail so it took a day or two to arrive.  I wasn’t given an approximate as to how long it would take to repair so I was incredibly surprised when I got an email on the 22nd that said a new device was being shipped (and my cc was charged the $95.00).  Whaaaa?  A new device?  Sure enough yesterday when I got home my brand stinkin new EZReader was sitting there waiting for me to open like it was Christmas friggin morning!  It had new everything (earphones, charger, etc.) except an SD card which was fine since I had taken mine out of the broken one before I sent it – I wasn’t about to lose all of my loaded books!
So I just have to give a GIGANTIC shout out to Astak and the wonderful people there.  I think they went above and beyond.  Now I not only love my device but I love the quick efficient company as well.  
You guys are da bomb!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted June 14, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 18 Comments

Well it was a crazy week in Tracyland last week.  My boss had carpal tunnel surgery last Thursday and trying to get everything in order just in case she wasn’t A-ok by today was a little nutty – especially since I was going to be gone Friday.  We managed to get it all together which was a relief.
Then on Friday my oldest daughter graduated from 6th grade.  Holy cow.  Didn’t she just start kindergarten?  I mean, really? lol  I know as the years are going by it doesn’t seem like time is flying but seriously, it just doesn’t seem possible that she’s old enough!  Anyway, she looked beautiful and was definitely all smiles.  It was a good day.  Here’s a picture of her and her teacher who is just an incredible human being and a fabulous educator.
That same day brought major sadness with it when I was carrying a boatload of crap in from the car – as mom’s do – and my daughter bumped into me.  The only thing to fall and hit the concrete?  My Ezreader.  It looked fine until I tried to wake it up from sleep mode and then it looked like this:
FYI – that’s not how it’s supposed to look!  I called customer service at Astak and they said they thought the internal screen was broken and that I should email them a picture so they’d get a better idea if it could be repaired.  Since that was Friday I haven’t heard from them  – I wait impatiently for their reply!  I’m devastated.  Seriously.  I loved that thing and hope to heavens it can be repaired! **I just heard from Astak and they can repair the screen for $95.00!!!!  Doing the happy dance!**
Luckily I had my old ebookwise handy (that still has that big ole annoying splotch right in the middle of the screen) so I charged that puppy up (I mean, I was in the middle of a book I had to read NOW! lol) and tried to load my books on it.  That wasn’t working at all.  The librarian that converts the books to load to the reader would accept the books but when I would open the function on my ereader it showed that there was nothing in the librarian.  Now, I used by ebookwise regularly before I got my new ereader so I’m pretty handy with getting kinks worked out but this was just not happening.  I tried everything I knew and still nothing was happening.  So, I used the old tried and true uber-technical plan: fuck with the settings until it works.  And it worked!  I’ve not only loaded ebooks on to my reader but I’m pretty sure I also have hacked into some US military compound and am started WWIII. (can you tell my kids have been watching War Games? lol)
So despite the highs and lows of this past week it was a good one – and a good reading week as well:

Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas was my first read of the week and it was a good one.  This is book 4 in the Hathaway family series and I very much enjoyed Catherine and Leo’s banter and their relationship just hit that right spot in me.  I have to admit that at first I was confused as to why Cat had such issues with men.  It did seem quite out of proportion to what had happened – but it was explained satisfactorily near the end of the book so that put my mind at ease.  4.5 out of 5

Next up was Lion’s Heat by Lora Leigh.  This was book 21 in her Breed series.  I know. 21.  Seems like a crazy number but they’re still going strong.  This was Jonas’s story and another good one.  The heroine was bugging me quite a bit at first but she seemed to calm down after a bit and I was able to enjoy the story so much more. lol  I read this one for The Book Binge so will tell you when the review posts. 4.25 out of 5

Can’t Hurry Love by M. Jules Aedin was a book that I won over at Jenre’s blog and I’m so happy I read it.  It was an adorable novella about a promiscuous guy, Vincent, who works in the Easter Bunny dept in the Corporation of Mythical Beings.  He gets put on probation when he’s caught in the supply closet with a satyr and assigned to help out Charlie in the Cupid dept.  Only Charlie’s pretty much on strike for cupid activities and Vincent’s not quite sure what to do with him.  I really liked the story a lot.  Although there’s not a whole lot of romance between Charlie and Vincent I loved how it ended.  Worth the read.  4.5 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was a Harlequin Intrigue called Bodyguard/Husband by Mallory Kane.  This was the story of a woman who has the bad luck of having the men in her life either die or disappear. Unfortunately her uncle, the local police chief, believes that it’s someone who’s obsessed with her that is causing the deaths and disappearances and brings in the FBI to investigate.  In order to be close together they get married – for real.  They find the man, as well as love.  It was a cute story. 3.5 out of 5

For the rest of the week I went on an m/m binge.

I started Once Upon A Veterinarian by Drew Zachary but got about 75 pages into the 137 and just couldn’t read any more. It wasn’t a horrible story but I kept getting annoyed at the interruptions and the vets partner was extra annoying. Needless to say I didn’t end up finishing the book. DNF

Then I read Never Let Go by ML Rhodes.  The story of two men who had known each other for years but had each been hiding the fact that they’re gay as well as their feelings for each other. They have one wonderful night together but then one gets called away for work. He tells the other not to give up on him that he’ll contact him as soon as he can. Three years later he shows up on his doorstep. They have issues to work out to say the least. This was a good story but I wanted more. I felt that the homecoming and reunion went pretty smoothly considering the hurt feelings and betrayal. Yes, there were huge extenuating circumstances (which I won’t tell you about and ruin it for you) but I still felt that it went a tad to easily. Still a good book. 3.75 out of 5

Next up was Never Look Back by Josh Lanyon. This story follows Peter Killian who wakes up in the hospital with no memory of who he is or what’s happened to him. Unfortunately the cop sitting next to him is pretty sure he’s the prime suspect in a robbery. This was a great story. Of course I love Lanyon’s books because he has such a wonderful way of having the story unfold. I loved watching the layers get peeled away in this one. 4 out of 5

I’ve had Diving in Deep by KA Mitchell for a while – since I found out that it was related to Collision Course which I read last year. Well I finally read it and I really liked this one as well. This was Cameron and Noah’s story. Cameron has been Noah’s ideal man since Noah was 15 years old. They had one wonderful night together when Noah was 19 but then they didn’t see each other. Cameron is on the road for work a lot and though he’s into Noah he still doesn’t see him as anything but his best friend’s little brother. It was a really good story that I recommend. 4 out of 5

Of course when I finished Diving in Deep I immediately wanted to re-read Collision Course, so I did. I liked it even more the second time. I see by Goodreads that I originally read it in March of 2009 and gave it 3.75 out of 5. This time I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. It was just that good.

(And, big surprise, after reading Collision Course I had to immediately start on No Souvenirs the 3rd book in the series and I’m reading it now. I’m about halfway through and loving it as well.)
So that’s it for my reading week. I hope you had a great one as well!
Happy Reading!
My Book Binge reviews that posted this last week:

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What I Read Last Week

Posted December 30, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 11 Comments

So Merry Christmas to you all! I know I already said that in a previous post but I just had to do it one more time. We are still in the 12 days of Christmas so I have the right, right? 🙂 I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and received everything your little heart desired.

We had a lovely time at the Tracy household. As I told you I went to 2 services on Christmas Eve so that my ding-a-lingers could play their chimes. I managed to get video of them playing Away in a Manger at the 3:00pm service but the lighting sucked. Sorry. AND the priest (my boss) apparently was talking to a child in the back of the sanctuary and hadn’t turned her mic off – how like her! lol Just ignore that part. Please take into consideration that these kids have only been chiming for about a month…but they’re still damned cute! (My two are the the end one on the left with her back to you and the tall one in the blue dress.)

Christmas Day saw my family gathering at my house with my mom and dad, brother, s-i-l and 1 niece for dinner. It was a nice smallish group and we had a great time. Now I just have to get ready for my oldests 12th birthday tomorrow – yikes! lol

I received a new ereader for Christmas! Yay! I ended up getting the Astak 6″ ezreader and I have to say, I love it. The page turning thing is really the only thing that is taking some time to get used to since it’s more delayed than my ebookwise was but I’m learning to hit the page turning thing a tad early and it’s working out nicely. The lovely Chris, who has an ezreader as well, informed me of some little tricks and tips for adjusting to the new reader and it’s been even better. (I have to admit to ordering it myself. I asked my hubby, which I never do, what he was going to get me and he hemmed and hawed about a new ereader – he didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag. I told him which one I wanted and he told me to order it. Of course I couldn’t open it until Christmas but it was a small price to pay. :))

What I read this week: I actually read 1 book last Monday and then didn’t get to read a novel again until after Christmas. It was nice to catch up this weekend though.

First up was Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella. Lexi Smart wakes up in a hospital and is confused. She’s apparently been in a car accident and can’t remember the last 3 years of her life. She’s got a great job and what seems to be the perfect husband but she remembers none of it. Things have changed greatly for Lexi but she has no idea how or why. Also…the job and the hubby? Are they really so great? I really liked this book. I thought that, unlikely as it was, Kinsella did a great job of showing us that things can change immensely in a short period of time. But are the decisions we make under pressure always the right ones and the ones we really want to make or the ones we feel we have to make. 4.25 out of 5

Next was A Good Neighbor by Clare London. I thought I had read Ms. London before but apparently not. I did read a short that she did in an anthology which I liked but never a novella or novel. I’ll be reading more of her in the future. This story was about a teacher from a small town who was gay but hadn’t come out. He was having a once a month fling with his neighbor but they both wanted more. However the on the road job that the neighbor had didn’t really coincide with the domestic man that the teacher wanted to be. It was a sweet story and though it started off a little slowly it built up to a great finish. 4 out of 5

Next up was Change of Heart by Mary Calmes. I read about this book over a Chris the book pimps place and since I love shifter stories I just had to scoop it up. This book involved a man, Jin, who was beaten and exiled from his werepanther tribe because he was gay. Also because he was what was called a “reah” and apparently his tribe thought that was just all about wrong because reah’s could only really mate with “semel’s” (basically the alpha of a tribe) and since semel’s were all men his tribe thought he was an abomination. When he meets his semel mate and is accepted he has a hard time coming to terms with it all…especially since Logan, his mate, wasn’t gay before he met Jin. This was just a great story…a little of the “gay for you” going on but it was done so well that I just didn’t doubt Logan’s feelings for Jin. 4 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was The Angel and The Highlander by Donna Fletcher. A man is sent to bring home a neighboring clans daughter from a convent. The daughter is supposedly a shrew. When the man reaches the convent he finds that the daughter is dead but he falls in love with a woman there. When he finds out that the woman he loves is actually the shrew he takes matters into his own hands. I really liked this book up to a point. The romance that was going on between Alyce/Terese and Lachlan was just great until he finds out she’s Alyce and puts his foot down about things. On one hand I see that the man just wanted to be with Alyce and this was the only way he saw he could do it but on the other he tore her away from everything she loved and cared for. Yes, it all worked out in the end, and the whole “having a choice” thing was a major trope and I know that since it was a historical that that’s how they did things but I didn’t have to like it! lol 3.5 out of 5

One of the major highlights of my week was my last read; The Dark Tide by Josh Lanyon. This is the 5th (and for now) final book in the Adrien English mystery series. How do I love Josh’s work, let me count the ways. He just writes a damned good mystery!
Adrien has been renovating the other part of the hotel where his bookstore is located. When the construction workers make it to the 3rd floor they discover a skeleton under the floorboards! Adrien, who is recovering from heart surgery and being shot, hires Jake Riordan to look into some stuff for him regarding the 50 year old murder of the skeleton (well, he wasn’t a skeleton when he died. You know what I mean). In the meantime Adrien is trying to sort out his feelings for Jake after having Jake come out. It’s just not as easy as it would seem especially when he has all his old loves coming by to confuse him.
I have to say that I was so very pleasantly surprised when I started reading TDT. Not that I thought the book would be bad but I assumed that Jake and Adrien would be together and trying to work out the logistics of all that. Silly me. Josh just wouldn’t be that predictable and I’m so glad he wasn’t. The story was interesting and intricate in its mystery and I loved every word. If you haven’t read this series yet, do it! Just good stuff! 5 out of 5

Overall a damned good reading week! Did you read anything fabulous this past week?
Happy Reading!

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