The DIK Hero draft fever

I have never really gotten the attraction of fantasy football. In fact, I will admit to a certain amount of disdain for guys who get just a little too into it. Because it’s a game built on top of a game. A big bunch of NOTHING!

Not that I think football is nothing. Hell, I grew up in Wisconsin, where the Pack is deified, and the second coming of Vince Lombardi is awaited with something approaching the fervor of the Hale Bop Comet gang. So okay, not just a game, but fantasy football, I felt, that is just a game and not real.

And then came Desert Island Keeper Hero draft. Round four rages on at MaryKate's. I am proud of my group of heroes, though I am sick with jealousy of others. I still hurt from the loss of Drifter, and Ciara continues to taunt me. There have been threats made…all in fun, or let’s make that 99% in fun. Threatened deliveries of severed pig heads and so forth.


IDEA: I was thinking about suggesting a late round twist, maybe for rounds 6 & 7, or just 7, where the name order is randomized again, and the girls don’t pick new heroes, but get to force a trade on anybody - between themselves and another girl, or between two girls. But I am rethinking, because there is quite a bit of passion involved.

I have a pick planned today that will make somebody very angry. But just because she loves him more than I do, whatever, I want him, and I’m before her. Perhaps it is her love of him that makes me want him so much...

CURRENT HOLDINGS

1. Bridget Locke - Mr. Jules Cassidy (All Through the Night, Suzanne Brockmann), Bones (One Foot in the Grave and Halfway to the Grave by Jeannie Frost), Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen), Judd Laurens (Caressed by Ice, Nalini Singh)

2. Ana - Bowen MacRieve (Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night, Kresley Cole), Sebastian St. Vincent (Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas), Royce Westmoreland (A Kingdom of Dreams,Judith McNaught), Conrad Wroth (Dark Needs at Night's Edge, Kresley Cole)

3. Tumperkin - Mick Tremore (The Proposition, Judith Ivory), Michael McNeil (Patricia Gaffney's Wild at Heart), Christian, Duke of Jervaulx (Flowers from the Storm, Laura Kinsale), Graham Wessit (Black Silk, Judith Ivory)

4. LesleyW - John Matthew aka Tehrror (Black Dagger Brotherhood series, JR Ward), Jeremy Danvers (Women of the Otherworld series, Kelly Armstrong), Vayl (Jaz and Vayl series, Jennifer Rardin), Curran (Magic Bites and Magic Burns, Ilona Andrews)

5. Sarah - Clay (Women of the Otherworld series, Kelley Armstrong), Nathaniel (Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Series), Barinthus ( Meredith Gentry)

6. Carolyn Jean - Eric Northman (Sookie series, Charlaine Harris), Joe Morelli (Stephanie Plum, Janet Evanovich), Ranger (Stephanie Plum, Janet Evanovich), Michael (Guardian Series, Meljean Brook)

7. Christine - Acheron (Dark Hunter series, Sherrilyn Kenyon) Qhuinn (Black Dagger Brotherhood series, JR Ward) Vishous (Black Dagger Brotherhood series, JR Ward), Butch O'Neill (Black Dagger Brotherhood series, JR Ward)

8. Ciaralira - Ethan McCabe (Demon Night, Meljean Brook) Hugh Castleford (Demon Angel, Meljean Brook) Westley (The Princess Bride, William Goldman), Lord Robert Andreville (Robin) (Angel Rogue, Mary Jo Putney)

9. JenB - Vane Kattalakis (Night Play, Sherrilyn Kenyon) Angel (Angel, Johanna Lindsey) Rule, (The Demon You Know, Christine Warren), Kade, (Riley Jenson Guardian series, Keri Arthur)

10. Katie(babs) - Alexander (The Bronze Horseman, Paullina Simons) REHVENGE (Black Dagger Brotherhood series, JR Ward), James Diaz (Cry No More, Linda Howard) Gabriel "Sully" Sullivan (Gabriel's Ghost, Linnea Sinclair!)

11. KristieJ - Derek (Dreaming of You, Lisa Kleypas) Dax Silverbrake (Sky Pirate, Justine Davis) Ciaran Tamberlane (My Forever Love, Marsha Canham), Branden Kel-Paten (Games of Command, Linnea Sinclair)

12. Lisabea - Adrien English (Adrien English series, Josh Lanyon) Colin Ames Beaumont (Demon Moon, Meljean Brook), Jake Romero (With Caution, J.L. Langley), Nate (My Fair Captain, J.L. Langley)

13. MaryKate - ROARKE (In Death series, JD Robb) Lucas Hunter (Slave to Sensation, Nalini Singh), Maximillian Pesaro,( Gardella Chronicles, Colleen Gleason), Cameron Quinn (Sea Swept, Nora Roberts)

14. Naida - Edward Cullen (Twilight, Stephanie Meyers) John Atlantis (Entangled, Kathleen Dante), Frederick Wentworth (Persuasion, Jane Austen), Aragorn aka Strider (Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien)

15. Samantha Kane - Doyle/The Queen's Darkness (Merry Gentry Series, Laurell K. Hamilton) Cat, a young pirate (The Windflower, Laura London),Chief of Police Jack West( All U Can Eat, Emma Holly), Tom Paoletti (Unsung Hero, Suzanne Brockmann)

16. Sarai - Jake Riordan (Adrien English series, Josh Lanyon) Rejar (Rejar, Dara Joy),Vaughn D'Angelo (Visions of Heat, Nalini Singh), Zarek of Moesia (Dance with the Devil, Sherrilyn Kenyon)

17. Shannon - Sam Donovan (Mr. Perfect, Linda Howard) Sam Starrett (Troubleshooters series, Suzanne Brockmann), Max Baghat (Troubleshooter series, Suzanne Brockmann), Adam Hauptman (Mercedes Thompson series, Patricia Briggs)

18. Sula - Rhage (Black Dagger Brotherhood series, JR Ward) Asa McIntyre (Promises Linger by Sarah McCarty), Dain (Lord of Scoundrels, Loretta Chase), Ian Witherspoon (At Love's Command, Samantha Kane)

19. Thea - Jamie Fraser (Outlander, Diana Gabaldon) Joscelin Verreuil (Kushiel's Legacy series, Jacqueline Carey), Jacob Black (Twilight Series, Stephanie Meyer), Batman!

20. Tracy - Zsadist (Black Dagger Brotherhood series, JR Ward), Phineas Tucker (Welcome to Temptation, Jennifer Crusie), Dorian (Psy/Changeling Series, Nalini Singh), Wrath (Dark Lover, BDB series by JR Ward)

Newsflash: Bloggers stranded on island!

Imagine if you will, six book-happy girl bloggers are stranded on a desert island.

Wait, back up...how did we get there? Perhaps a fabulously wealthy reader, fan of all our blogs, grateful for the hours of enjoyment we have provided, decided to send us all on a fabulous vacation together.

But, just in case our plane has to make an emergency landing on a desert island, we bring books, to found a glorious sharing library. We will miss civilization, but what do we care? We have 36 excellent books to read!

A few of our Desert Island Keeper ground rules: we can each pick six books to bring and share, and we can't duplicate any book. We need a variety of genres. And no ARCs. After some discussion and passionate horsetrading, we came up with our picks.

Find KristieJ's list here, and Sula's here, then lisabea's, Christines, and Katie(babs).

Hold the presses -  late-breaking stowaways: Sarai,  Tracy, MaryKate, Shannon, Ciaralira, and Sarah have added more books!

Here are my humble additions:

Middlemarch (George Eliot): Oh, how I love this intricate, rich and wonderful book. It is really one of the best ever written, especially for the way human behavior is observed, and the characters, the subplots. OMG, just thinking about it, I have to read it again. It takes a bit to get going, but then you are transported into this brilliantly drawn provincial world swirling around Dorothea, an idealistic young woman searching for purpose.

Kushiel’s Dart (Jacqueline Carey): I love this for its sort of exotic, strangely Medieval and richly imagined fantasy world. And really big stuff happens - stunning, fantastical epic stuff. So satisfying. What’s more, the sex is shocking. And most of all, there’s Phedre, a fabulous heroine who really does live by her wits, in the best way.  More about that here.

Demon Night (Meljean Brook): We have to have this in our library because, oh, so many reasons. There’s the emotional complexity that MJB does so well, and the finely drawn characters you get to know so intimately, and above all, Drifter, the best hero EVER. I can't believe I only raved about this once.

Dead to the World (Charlaine Harris): In my mind (and I believe that of my bloggy comrade Lisabea, and possibly others) this is the best of the Sookies. This is the great Sookie & Eric book, and it’s also quite exiting, plotwise with a satisfying ending.

The Killing Dance (Laurell K. Hamilton): With this whole series, I felt like I was back in gradeschool, where all I ever wanted to do was sit in a corner and read and life was just one big annoying interruption to the enchanted world of books. And I found this addition to the series to be the most enthralling. (Though Blue Moon comes pretty close). I just luxuriated in this book, and I could read it over and over. The werewolf stuff. Killer Edward on the scene. The contract on Anita’s life. Richard indulging his total gross-out wolfiness. And last but not least, the legendary (in my mind) bathtub scene.

House of Mirth (Edith Wharton): I love this heroine, Lily Bart, and I love the world of this novel, the glamorous yet evilly confining structures of turn-of-the-century New York. Lily just can’t bring herself to play ‘the game,’ and little by little, goes from one of the most eligible beauties to, well, there is no HEA here. But it is so good anyway. This novel was always a great friend to me in a weird way.

What would your six books be? We want to know!