Not A Great Start

I've had a poor start to my reading year -

So far I've only finished one read, early last month, and read only about half of a second.

The second book of my year seems to have turned me off from reading for a while. I had started Afterlight and just could not get into it. I tried ever so hard to push on, but one day I put it down and my fiance moved it, and I couldn't seem to find it in me to look for it. I figured after that, I had no interest in ever picking it back up again.

Afterlight's plot idea was...okay, not great, but it could keep my interest. A few of the characters were interesting, but unfortunately the reader didn't get to interact with those few often.
The dialogue, in my opinion, was atrocious, and the relationships and actions between the two main characters were completely unrealistic, and not in a 'Oh, but it's fiction' sort of way...more in a WTF?? sort of way. I will not be picking up another one of Elle Jasper's book's anytime soon. I'm sorry to say, she's even turned me off of novels with heavy tattoo references. Which turns me on to my next subject:

Books I've received in my time of not reading.
From Paperbackswap I received
To Wed a Highlander by Michelle Sinclair
Taming the Highland Bride by Lyndsy Sands
and
The Missing Ink by Karen E. Olson

I'm pretty excited about all of them, but a bit...deterred from reading The Missing Ink for a while. I don't want my bad vibes from Afterlight to affect an entirely different book.

Today I had the rare pleasure of a trip to Barnes and Noble. I told Mike that I wasn't only going for the RT magazine, but ended up with three books and two magazines.
I'm a sucker for those books that are right as you walk in the first set of doors. Today I picked up a Good Housekeeping Soups & Stews cookbook in that particular section. I'm excited to try some of the soups that are in there, but some of them....not so much.

I also picked up a nifty little book in the non-fiction bargains titled Kings and Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry. This book has full color pictures with a tiny history of the picture itself, events of the reign of each monarch, a short blurb about what stands out about them as well as a little biography. It's not a long book, covering the entire history (that I'm aware of) of English monarchs in under 100 pages. I'm excited to delve into it, as it won't take long for me to finish, but I see it being a great little interest sparker!

Last, but in no way shape or form least, I bought Shadowfever at 30% off! I couldn't find it anywhere on the shelves and pulled a employee aside and sort of asked, sort of whined the question "Are you out of them!?". He smiled and said that there was no way they were out, they had a full stock and that it was one of their top sellers. But, on the cart he took me to, there was still only one copy. Whether or not there was more in 'the back' I don't know, but I like to think I got the last one in the store.

So, now I'm all gunned up to get reading again. I'm just hoping that I can stick with it!