Category Archives: Linkity linkity link

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Secret Kitty Hideout, exposed!

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Fang-tastic Books is giving away an ebook copy of Maree Anderson’s steamy and enjoyable paranormal romance, Even Demons Get the Blues. Leave a comment for your chance to win.

For a chance to win a copy of the young adult paranormal Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, leave a comment at Book Smugglers by July 25, 11:59 pm. (Oh, and don’t forget that it’s Young Adult Appreciation Month at Book Smugglers!)

Barnes & Noble launched an ebookstore, complete with its own DRM (digital rights management) scheme. According to Dear Author, of the 700,000 books available, 500,000 are in the public domain… so B&N pretty much has the same non-public domain offerings as everyone else.

Oh, my. The Broomba?! Very Sorcerer’s Apprentice…

We should’ve guessed it was coming after Pride and Prejudice and Zombies… Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

Learn how to load non-Amazon ebooks on your Kindle. Why would Kindle owners want to do that? Well, perhaps you heard about Amazon’s latest Big Brotheresque kerfuffle, in which they removed copies of 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindles without notifying those who’d purchased the books first. (Really, could they have picked a better book than 1984 for this shenanigan?!) Yes, the books weren’t legal for the US (still copyrighted here, not so in the rest of the world), but the sweeping unannounced delete was probably not Amazon’s finest moment. Also, apparently there’s a class action lawsuit in the works over the fragility of Kindles.

Signs that you might be reading too many romance novels… (although I can make a case for #7 and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels!)

Too bad this reading lamp/bookstand is just a concept.

Did you hear about Book Blogger Appreciation Week? It’ll run September 14 – 18.

Head over to Lurv A La Mode to vote yay or nay for mantitty on romance novel covers. (Some covers will look familiar to you from this blog.) Can you guess what I voted? 😉

Reading Update
Red Fire and Red Kiss (Gods of Midnight, Books 1-2) by Deidre Knight. After how much I loved Knight’s book The Butterfly Tattoo, I had high hopes for this paranormal series about immortal Spartan warriors. I’m intrigued by the characters (enough to continue following the series), but the writing seems uneven and parts of the storyline annoy the heck out of me.
Animal Instinct (Men of Alaska) by Paige Tyler. ebook. Another story about a hunky Alaskan werewolf. What’s not to like? 🙂 This is the sequel to Animal Attraction.
A Fantasy Medley by Kelley Armstrong, C.E. Murphy, Robin Hobb, and Kate Elliott. Short stories, set in each author’s particular world. I liked the stories by Kelley Armstrong (no familiar Otherworld characters, alas) and C. E. Murphy (Janx! And Daisano! And Baba Yaga!) the best.
Tooth and Claw by Annmarie McKenna. ebook novella. Seth’s a vampire who can shift into jaguar form and faints at the sight of blood. He’s met his mate… only she doesn’t know it yet. Oh, and it’s too bad she hates vampires… My only complaint about this one? I wanted the story to be longer!
Forever Immortal (Immortal Series, Book 4) by J.K. Coi. ebook. Ok story about a demon hunter who finds himself in love with a demon who used to be human.
Called by Blood and Bound by Blood (The Faustin Brothers, Books 1-2) by Evie Byrne. ebooks. Very good, steamy paranormal romances about vampire brothers who live in NYC and whose mother has visions that send the brothers out to find their fated mates. I’m looking forward to the next book!
My Wicked Enemy by Carolyn Jewel. Very good paranormal romance about fiends (a type of demon) and magekind (humans who wield magic and often enslave fiends for nefarious purposes). Recommended.
Oleander House, What Hides Inside, Twilight, and Closer (Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Books 1-4) by Ally Blue. ebooks. This is another series I’m really enjoying. These are sort of hard for me to categorize – they’re definitely romances, although be warned that they are m/m romances. They’re paranormal, in that they’re about a group that investigates mysterious phenomena. Also, be warned that each book gets progressively more steamy.
Turn Left at Sanity by Nancy Warren. Delightful contemporary romance about a New Yorker who goes to Beaverton, Idaho, to see if it’s a good place to locate a kitty litter factory. The eccentric residents of Beaverton aren’t particularly pleased with the factory idea. Particularly notable about this book? The spectacular errors in the back of book blurb, where the town is referred to as Saunders, Idaho. Whoops.

“Mom! The top of the fridge is our Secret Kitty Hideout where we plan Kitty World Domination! Go away!! Bwa-ha-ha!” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link

Linkity blowout!

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For your chance to win a Betty Crocker gf mix prize pack, leave a comment at Gluten Free Food Reviews by 11:59 pm, July 18.

JessaLu’s celebrating her birthday and that her box bags are going to be available at Sock Summit by having a contest. Leave a comment about which of her bags is your favorite for your chance to win one of them. Contest closes by midnight, July 16.

Does it surprise anyone that a study has found cats can control humans?

This documentary about “extreme cat ownership” sounds intriguing. I guess that’s the gender neutral description for cat ladies now?!

A-ha! I’ll have to keep this handy dandy reference list close, eh? The 50 cats of the apocalypse?!

If you need pet health information, PetMD might be helpful.

Ack! And here I was worried about people texting while they drive.

How to bake cookies on your car’s dashboard… Hmm. More or less distracting than texting and watching movies?!

Strategic cussin’ as a pain reliever?!

My brain totally does this.

Lifehacker debunks hydration myths.

Apparently people are more likely to return your wallet if you have cute baby pictures in it.

Turn an Altoids tin into a catapult!

Oh, this foldaway desk is cool.

Alas, the iSaw was a hoax. But maybe this handy usb kitten will ease your pain over the iSaw.

WARNING! This game could be addictive! WARNING!

“Really, I’d prefer it if you didn’t stumble over me, Mom.” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Now with even more Vampire Kitteh!

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Author Nancy Herkness is giving away a K2TOG car magnet. Send her an email before July 20 for your chance to win.

If you’d like to find out more about that mysterious Canadian blogger, SciFiGuy, and have a chance to win a copy of Shadowfae by Erica Hayes, head on over to Marta Acosta’s Vampire Wire blog before the evening of July 18.

Live in or near the Twin Cities and you’d like to improve your knitting project and yarn photos? Author and photographer Gale Zucker (Shear Spirit) will be holding two 2.5 hour workshops at the Yarnery the evenings of July 23 and July 24. I’m jealous of whoever attends this, since I’m on call that week and the odds of getting called increase exponentially based on what you have planned and how excited you are by it.

This month’s free ebooks at the Suvudu Free Library are Karen Marie Moning’s Darkfever (highly recommended!) and Stephen Baxter’s Manifold: Time.

Orbit’s looking for the worst scifi/fantasy book title you can come up with so that they can put together “the most awesomely bad SFF cover in the world.” Even if you can’t come up with a title, it’s worth reading the comments for the titles that have been suggested.

It’ll be Young Adult Appreciation Month from July 19 – August 15 over at Book Smugglers. Not only will they have events throughout the month, they’re also encouraging bloggers to participate by writing a review of a young adult novel, posting it on August 15, and sending the review url to the Book Smugglers as soon as your post goes live that day. They’ll update their links to the reviews throughout the day.

Hee hee – a Jane Austen-related comic. And check out the great Evolution of a Hero wallpaper from Smart Bitches!

My library system has a clever “How much is the library saving you?” form that I recommend trying. If I checked out 30 books (at $15 each, which is a good balance between mass market pbs and hardcovers) and one music cd each month, that’s $460 saved. Now, I wouldn’t actually spend that much on books if I didn’t have access to a library – at the very least, I’d hit the excellent used book and cd stores in the Twin Cities much, much more than I do now.

Do scholarly writers empower the romance genre?

Reading Update
In the Midnight Hour and In Twilight’s Shadow (Light Warriors, Books 1-2) by Patti O’Shea. Paranormal romance set in Minneapolis, as written by a Minnesota author. And even better – the books are great! 🙂 They’re about a race of magic users called the Ginneal, who live side-by-side with humans, unnoticed. Not a vampire to be found.
Branded by Fire (Psy-Changelings, Book 6) by Nalini Singh. Another excellent paranormal from Singh, which answers the question about whether cats and dogs can get along…
Midnight’s Master by Cynthia Eden. Can a human anchorwoman and a very naughty level ten demon find true love together? This latest book in Eden’s Midnight series is a solid read.
Deadly Night (apologies for linking to the hardcover – the mass market pb had a Debbie Macomber book image for some odd reason), Deadly Harvest, and Deadly Gift (Flynn Brothers Trilogy) by Heather Graham. Decent thrillers featuring ghosts, psychics, banshees, and mysterious evil. The first is set in New Orleans, the second in Salem, Massachusetts, and the third in Ireland and Newport, Rhode Island. If you’re looking for something to read that isn’t as, um, graphic as many romances have become, I’d definitely recommend these.
Romeo, Romeo (Domestic Gods, Book 1) by Robin Kaye. Very good contemporary romance. This has CursingMama written all over it. 🙂
All of Me by Lori Wilde. Decent contemporary romance that’s apparently the last book in a set of related books about four friends in Houston and a magical wedding veil.
Catch a Mate by Gena Showalter. Ok contemporary romance about a service that people can hire to test whether their significant others will give in to the temptation to cheat. Not one of Showalter’s best.
Sea Witch, Sea Fever, and Sea Lord (Children of the Sea, Books 1-3) by Virginia Kantra. Selkies and demons and mer-princes, oh my! Very good paranormal romances (with no vampires at all), much of it set on the coast of Maine, the rest set off the coast of Scotland.

“Beware! I will suck your blood and steal all your sparkly furry pink tiaras as you sleep! Bwa-ha-ha!!!” -Mayhem

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Warning: This post may contain potentially alarming or addictive links

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Whoops! I should’ve linked to more proof that Chaos is a ‘fraidy cat yesterday. Anyone remember Chaos and the Attack of the Killer Zucchini?

Amy’s giving away a signed set of Anne Ursu’s Cronus Chronicles trilogy, which is for young adults. Answer one of Amy’s questions in the comments before July 13 for your chance to win.

Jackie of Literary Escapism is giving away a copy of The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns. Answer Jackie’s questions in the comments before midnight, July 14, for your chance to win.

For more scifi/fantasy/paranormal contests, author interviews, and news, head over to Fantasy Dreamer’s Ramblings. Anna (of Pine City, Minnesota!) also has a nice list of paranormal and romance contests.

This online black cat game is very, very addictive. You have been warned.

Shhhh… don’t let May see all the tiaras or she’ll start up about needing a furry sparkly pink one again!

If you live in the Twin Cities and you follow the Tour de France, be aware that the Riverview Theater will be showing the Tour for the next three weekends, starting quite early in the morning. Check out the details over at A Closer Look at Flyover Land. I’ve gone to this in the past, and it’s a fun and intense experience – especially during the last two days of the Tour.

Ah, usb peripherals, how out of hand you are… The iSaw? Gizmodo also has a roundup of novelty flash drives, although I’d be careful about clicking some of the links, personally.

Woot! Both the Department of Justice and the FCC are looking into cell phone exclusivity deals. About time, isn’t it?

Coffee grounds used to make yarn for t-shirts?! I want to know when I’ll be able to buy skeins of the stuff. 😉

Wenat has an amazing gift for making pooling stoles and she shares her knowledge and patterns!

Hmm – how to use a ball of yarn to make an all natural dryer ball. Now, wouldn’t that give you static problems?

Lifehacker has a list of the five best online image editors.

And bless you, Lifehacker, for this one on how to get rid of lingering cooking smells.

Shhhh… Chaos is sleeping off his anxiety from those scary shorts…

“….zzzzzzzzzzz….” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Booking back to work after the holiday

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Congrats to Lilibeth and BookJunkie, who won the copies of Eternal Lover from my contest last week!

For a chance to win a copy of Erin McCarthy’s latest NASCAR romance, Hard and Fast (which is quite good), leave a comment at Romance Reviews Today about whether or not covers influence you when buying a book…

More chances to win a copy of Michele Hauf’s latest book The Highwayman over at Fang-tastic Books (leave a comment before July 8 ) and SciFiGuy (signed copy – leave a comment by midnight, July 10) and My Blog 2.0 (leave a comment before July 14).

This week, Largehearted Boy’s giving away a 100-cd prize pack. Leave a comment before midnight CDT, July 10, for your chance to win.

Jackie at Literary Escapism is giving away Branded by Fire (Psy-Changeling, Book 6) by Nalini Singh (out July 7), Seduce the Darkness (Alien Huntress, Book 4) (just out – see my comments below), and At Grave’s End (Night Huntress, Book 3) by Jeaniene Frost. Contest runs through July 25.

Amberkatze’s giving away two signed copies of the excellent urban fantasy Greywalker by Kat Richardson. You have until 4 pm CET, July 12, to participate – and make sure you stop back to see if you won!

Author Barbara Bretton’s giving away yarn every day in July in her Endless Summer contest – details at Romancing the Yarn.

I really hope it’s just a rumour that Amazon’s considering putting ads into their ebooks.

Great article over at Dear Author about what ebook publishers need to do to improve their image.

The always amazing Escapist Newsletter is up over at Literary Escapism, with all sorts of links to author interviews, release dates, book news, and more.

If you’d like to listen to British actor Dominic West reading from Pride and Prejudice, head over to Smart Bitches for the link.

J. Kaye has a good post on how to increase the traffic to your book blog.

Reading Update
The Butterfly Tattoo by Deirdre Knight. ebook. I don’t even know what to say about this book. It’s tagged as a contemporary romance, but it has so much more depth than nearly any romance I’ve ever read. It’s about love and loss and fear and the postmodern family… and I cried quite a bit during parts of it. Powerful, potent, and recommended.
Touched by Fire and Touched by Light (Sentinels, Books 2-3) by Catherine Spangler. The Sentinels are reincarnated souls who help protect humanity from an ancient evil. The series draws on Trantric yoga a bit… Oh, yeah, and Touched by Light is an NK cover.
Awaken Me Darkly, Enslave Me Sweetly, Savor Me Slowly, and Seduce the Darkness (Alien Huntress, Books 1-4) by Gena Showalter. These futuristic romances totally sucked me in. Aliens coexist with humans, but when the aliens harm or kill humans, it’s up to alien hunters to discreetly take care of the problem. As with all Gena Showalter novels, these are very steamy.
Nature of the Beast by Hannah Howell, Adrienne Basso, and Eve Silver. Ok, actually I didn’t read any of the stories in this. I picked it from the library based on the cover (NK!) and the paranormality and was sitting down to read it before I realized the stories were historicals.
Insatiable Desire (The Demonborn) by Rita Herron. Yet another NK cover… I gave this one five chapters, couldn’t get into the book, and am merely including it here so I remember that I tried to read it (plus I needed the abs for the post).
Charmed by Jayne Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz), Lori Foster, Eileen Wilks, and Julie Beard. Fun paranormal romance collection that was originally released in 1999. All of the stories are related to Halloween – you think the title of the collection might reflect that a bit more, hmm?
Red Alert by Lynne Connolly. ebook. I much enjoyed this story, which mainly focused on dragon shapeshifters, although there were also some other shapeshifters, vampires, and even a sorcerer. I’ll be reading more from this author!
Through Her Eyes by Beth Kery. ebook. *fans self* Um, there’s a bit of story in there, somewhere. 😉 Decent and very steamy paranormal romance about a psychic and an FBI agent. (To story editor: Please note that the country in South America is spelled “Colombia”, not “Columbia”.) Oh, and I won this over at Lea’s!
Tangled Up in Love by Heidi Betts. I quite enjoyed this knitting-themed contemporary romance, although this sentence made me cringe: “Ronnie dug into her homemade tote for her own thick, variegated wool yarn, which she was using to make a rather complicated cable-knit cardigan.” Emphasis mine… Please note that there’s easily as much s3x as knitting in this book!

*blank* -Chaos

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Do Panther Princesses snore?

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Thanks for all your kind words on my biking injury yesterday. The yellow tones are really starting to come out in the bruise today. Hmm. I fear they’re going to clash with my purple toenails.

Author Lorelei James is guest blogging over at Seductive Musings to celebrate her newest release. Leave a comment before 11:59 pm EST, July 4, for your chance to win one of Ms. James’s titles as an ebook.

Bummed that you didn’t win the signed copy of Michele Hauf’s new book The Highwayman? You might still be able to win a copy over at Riding with the Top Down.

For your chance to win a $100 Visa gift card and year’s supply of Pantene hair products, head over to CursingMama’s book blog and leave a comment about your worst hair day ever before 5 pm CDT, August 1.

If you’ve ever wondered why certain knitting projects never seem to grow…

Aww, look at how cute that sheep cake is.

I can guarantee this one will give you a cute burn – but it will be worth it!

Thanks to Mouse for pointing out this very cool kitty mobile! Alas, I’m pretty sure May would kill herself trying to reach it, so I won’t be buying one.

Chaos wouldn’t be quite this polite… Hmm – I think that expression is actually “WTF is that thing doing in my fud bowl?!” Good try getting out of going to the vet.

Top uses for binder clips from Lifehacker – how could they skip using binder clips as chip clips?!? That’s my favorite use.

How to photograph your food in a restaurant without being a pest.

How to make a floating beverage holder for those of you who spend your summers floating in the pool.

And here I thought that texting while driving was dangerous – the thought of people baking pizza while driving is going to give me nightmares.

Speaking of nightmares, want your kid to have nightmares and need years of therapy? This toy’s for you!

The coffin couch… No, I do not own one, thank you very much!

*delicate Panther Princess appropriate snoring and drooling*

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Contests and books and linkiness, oh my! (and abs, of course – duh)

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Sydney’s giving away a copy of the science fiction book Burnout: The Mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281, written by her friend Stephanie Osborn. For your chance to win, comment by midnight, July 6.

Morbid Romantic’s giving away five copies of Carolyn Jewel’s My Forbidden Desire. (I won a copy from Kelly Moran’s blog last week myself.) For your chance to win, leave a comment before 11:59 pm EST, July 12. To increase your odds of winning a copy of this book, A Journey of Books is also giving away five copies. Leave a comment by midnight EDT, July 13, to enter. Not satisfied with your chances yet? Then head over to Seductive Musings before 11:59 pm EST, July 10, where there are another five copies available.

This week, Largehearted Boy is giving away 75 cds (no books). Comment by midnight CDT, July 3, to enter.

Author Nancy Herkness is giving away six skeins of Noro Gisha over on Romancing the Yarn. You have until July 3 to send her an email.

Author Suzanne McLeod is giving away copies of two collections (Mean Streets and The Eternal Kiss: Twelve Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire), plus signed copies of her own books. Leave a comment by the end of the day July 1 for your chance to win.

It looks cool, but I think making an inverted bookshelf sounds like too much work.

Dear Author has links to free Kindle books and the Alice Hoffman Twitter kerfuffle.

What are the ethics behind accepting review copies of books? And how will book bloggers be affected by the FTC’s promised crackdown on bloggers receiving freebies for reviews?

The NYTimes thinks that the smartphone is the future of ebooks. I have to admit I hate reading ebooks on my Palm Tungsten E2 – the eInk display on my ebook reader is much, much nicer (plus the battery life on an eInk device is amazing). What do you smartphone owners think? Here’s the Dear Author guide to using smartphones and netbooks to read ebooks – rumor has it the guide will be updated soon.

Reading Update
True Love and Other Disasters by Rachel Gibson. Solid if unremarkable contemporary romance featuring Gibson’s fictitious hockey team, the Seattle Chinooks.
The Vampire’s Bride (Atlantis, Book 4) by Gena Showalter. Survivor, the Atlantis edition. Eh.
Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie. Light contemporary romance that includes a black cat. Ok. Not one of the better Crusie books.
Hard and Fast by Erin McCarthy. *fans self* McCarthy can write smokin’ contemporary romance with the best of them. I’m enjoying her NASCAR series far more than I expected.
Shadow Hawk (Harlequin Blaze) by Jill Shalvis. Shalvis writes a decent romance, whether it be a Harlequin or one of her tasty trilogies.
Daring Time by Beth Kery. *more fanning* Very good time travel romance that had me utterly captivated. Be warned – it is very, very, very steamy.
Call of the Highland Moon by Kendra Leigh Castle. Enjoyable paranormal romance about a werewolf from the Scottish Highlands and a woman who owns a romance bookstore.
Edge of Desire (Primal Instinct, Book 3) by Rhyannon Byrd. This series. Argh! It’s well-written and I’m totally sucked into the storyline, but damn, I spend an awful lot of time wanting to smack characters for being so angsty and TSTL.
Edge of Craving (A Prequel to the Primal Instinct Series) by Rhyannon Byrd. Ebook. This explains why all the Markers are hidden throughout the world. It probably makes more sense to read this after reading at least the first two Primal Instinct books. The prequel’s a novella, which was nice because no one could go off into an extended angst-fest. Sadly, while the regular series is well-edited, there are some glaring fails in this ebook (is Alia nearly 24? Or nearly 20? Please, someone, decide).
Touched by Darkness (Sentinels, Book 1) by Catherine Spangler. Solid paranormal romance – I’ll be reading more from this series. (I think it’s interesting that this NK cover shows fine abs, but suggests love handles at the same time.)

More bookcase photos…

“Mom, why did you move our toy basket?” -Mayhem

And *gasp* – a bookcase photo with no cat bits?!


Hmm. No live cats, at least! Can you spot the cat in this last picture?

“Doopity doopity doopity do…” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Bookcase flash! (and some other book stuff, of course)

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Congrats to the winners of my Contest of BABEL – Margy, Cindy, Chris S, Cristina N, and Kimmy L! Since I can’t resist accumulating cheap and good books from the library withdrawn store and the thrift store, I’ll definitely do this again sometime.

If you really wanted to win Larissa Ione’s third Demonica book, Passion Unleashed, in the Contest of BABEL, head over to Morbid Romantic’s blog – she’s giving away five copies! Leave a comment by 11:59 pm EDT, July 5, for your chance to win.

Largehearted Boy’s having a Largehearted Housecleaning and is giving away a 50 book + 50 cd prize package! Leave a comment by midnight CDT, June 26, for your chance to win (and cause your mail carrier or UPS driver to hate you forever).

Quite the kerfluffle over Amazon’s mysterious DRM book download limits for Kindles. And an interesting take on Amazon and ebook DRM, which points out that Amazon’s mp3 store is DRM-free and focused on working for any device, but not so with ebooks…

Extremely link-filled and very informative article about ebookstores, readers, and more at the Know Something Project.

Customize your Sony Reader!

Dear Author has a nice article about the components (correctness, stlye, taste) that shape a reading experience.

The July 7 Berekley Crime mystery releases are posted at Darque Reviews.

BookSeer is pretty cool – you fill in the author and title of a book you just finished reading and it suggests other titles you might like.

Twenty signs that you might be reading too much romance. This was my personal favorite: “You clip the covers off your romances and make a mantitty wallpaper collage.”

Reading Update
Even Demons Get the Blues by Maree Anderson. ebook. This was a well-written and steamy novella. More detail at Fang-tastic Books.
Sins and Shadows: A Shadows Inquiries Novel by Lyn Benedict. Very powerful urban fantasy about a PI dealing in the supernatural. No vampires, CarrieK! 🙂 Plenty of gods (Greek, Christian), witches, and even an ancient being of riddles… My only real complaint was that it dragged a bit near the end. Well, that and that I sort of wished it was a paranormal romance, so I could get the HEA I wanted for the ending.
Pandora’s Box by Natalie Stenzel. Totally reading these out of order – this is the first book in Stenzel’s series about the puca brothers and associates. I’m sure I would’ve picked this up sooner if the cover was as, um, enticing
as those of the sequels!
What Happens in Vegas… After Dark by Jodi Lynn Copeland, Lauren Dane, Kit Tunstall, and Anya Bast. Excellent and scorching hot collection about the paranormal side of Las Vegas. *fans self* Oh, you’ll have to click through to see the cover – bit too scorching! Review at Fang-tastic Books.
The Highwayman (Silhouette Nocturne: Wicked Games) by Michele Hauf. This title might sound familiar. 😉
Heart of the Dragon, Jewel of Atlantis, and The Nymph King (Atlantis, Books 1-3) by Gena Showalter. The Greek gods created Atlantis to house their mistakes: vampires, demons, gorgons, nymphs, harpies, humans who can turn into dragons, and more. Although the two entrances to Atlantis are protected by veils of mist, humans manage to find the mythical land and Atlanteans occasionally make brief forays into our world. This is another good series from Gena Showalter. Of the first three books, The Nymph King was definitely my least favorite (I thought it was a bit weak), although I can’t fault the cover! 😉 I also read The Amazon’s Curse, which is an ebook novella that takes place after the fourth book, which I haven’t read yet. Whoops. Hey, it was on my ebook reader and I’d forgotten The Nymph King at home. Be warned that The Amazon’s Curse does contain spoilers for the fourth book.
Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins. Nicely done contemporary romance. I cried a bit. In fact, my only real issue with the book (and I’m beginning to suspect this is just part of the author’s formula) is the main character’s obsession with her ticking biological clock. Also, please note that the dog on the cover in no way resembles the dog in the book, other than that they’re both dogs.
Too Hot To Handle by Robin Kaye. Another nicely done contemporary romance, featuring a male lead who’s a bit less alpha arrogant than in many romances.

Of course, what would be a bookcase flash from my place without a cat in the picture?

“Birds! Birds! Birds! There are birds out the window, Mom! Birds!” -Mayhem

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In which one of Iowa’s top tourist destinations is revealed

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Wenat has a gift for creating lace scarf patterns that show off the pooling power of Wollmeise. Make sure you follow the link in this post to her other pattern.

The intersection of craft and technology can result in some amazing projects!

Image sharpening can really help improve a slightly blurry picture. I don’t have Photoshop – I just use Picasa.

Llama ennui?

For your chance to win a very, very steamy paranormal ebook, leave a comment over at Romance Junkies.

Random picture that amused me. I wonder how many people wondered why I was laughing in the parking lot and taking pictures of a bumper?

Why?! Why?? Who likes beans that much?!

Um, no. No cats in hats, please. Chaos would kill me in my sleep. Although this kitty seems ok with hats, doesn’t he?

This is why I don’t have curtains! How many of us can relate to this?

If you find all the smartphone options as confusing as I do, Gizmodo’s comparison might help. (I keep looking at the cost of data plans and deciding that I don’t need to be that connected.)

Lifehacker links to ideas for no-equipment exercise.

Speaking of exercise… Thanks, everyone – my foot is much better! Probably time to dust off my bike and give my feet a break.

Lovely – the Twin Cities are #5 in the US for road rage.

According to futuristic movies, we have exciting times ahead.

If your dad drinks coffee and you need a last-minute Father’s Day gift, this photo frame coffee sleeve is pretty clever. (Curses. My dad doesn’t drink coffee.)

Ugh – some of these recalls are a bit scary, like that Starbuck’s coffee grinder. Eww.

“I wouldn’t recommend moving that arm, Mom.” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Midweek Bookity Break

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Nicola of Alpha Heroes is giving away five copies of the upcoming Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey. Leave a comment by June 24 for your chance to win.

Largehearted Boy’s giving away a set of David Wellington’s vampire novels. Leave a comment before midnight CDT, June 19, for your chance to win.

Do vampires have hearts? Answer that question in your comment at Fang-tastic Books for your chance to win a pdf copy of Susan Blexrud’s book Love Fang.

For a chance to win a book from Shiloh Walker’s backlist, leave a comment at Literary Escapism by midnight, June 23.

J. Kaye’s giving away the audiobook Testimony by Anita Shreve. For your chance to win, leave a comment before June 27 and then stop by after June 27 to see if you won.

Check out the free ebooks available from eHarlequin, including titles from Stephanie Bond and Michele Hauf.

Scary thing. If I hadn’t gotten divorced (one year marriage, one year separation), this would’ve been my 20 year anniversary.

I’m honored that Nicola of Alpha Heroes was inspired to do a post of book reviews in my, um, succinct style.

Dear Author had a nice look at the week in ebook news.

Weigh in with your perception of ebook quality. Then go read an amusing (scary?) review about an ebook that seems to embody all the worst that you’ve heard/read.

Interested in DRM-free ebook publishers? Here’s a list.

The New Yorker interviewed Nora Roberts – go, Nora!

Could Amazon be moving to non-Kindle ebooks?

Curious about the new, larger Kindle? Gizmodo reviewed the Kindle DX.

Reading Update
Twice the Temptation by Suzanne Enoch. Half historical, half Samantha and Rick contemporary. Heck, if all of Enoch’s historicals are as much fun as the first half of this book, I could be swayed. But I still like Enoch’s straight-up contemporaries better.
Familiar Vows by Caroline Burnes. Mystery, romance, and a black cat sleuth! Too bad the main character has a bad case of TSTL for the first half of the book. Cute story, but I’m not interested in reading any others in this series.
Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins. I spent the first part of this book sort of annoyed with most everyone in it, but I thawed a bit in the second part.
Three Brides for Three Bad Boys by Lucy Monroe. Hopefully no one got hurt from all the eye rolling over the title? Very steamy set of three interconnected novellas.
In Darkness Reborn, Redeemed in Darkness, and Darkness Unknown (Paladins of Darkness, Books 3-5) by Alexis Morgan. Favorite quote, from Darkness Unknown: “But as far as she knew, they’d never made a show about a woman who raised alpacas, spent her evening hours knitting, and had no social life at all.” Not only are there hunky Paladins fighting evil, there are alpacas! Spinning! Knitting!
Turn Coat (Dresden Files, Book 11) by Jim Butcher. Amusing abs quote from this book: “He might have been just a little bit smug, the bastard. His abs looked like they were added in with CGI. My abs just look like I can’t afford to feed myself very well.” Ah, Harry. We love you anyway! But I really, really, really hated how this book ended. I was traumatized.
The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo. Felix Gomez didn’t come back from fighting in Iraq with post traumatic stress disorder or Gulf/Iraq War Syndrome. Nope. He came back as a vampire. Now he’s a PI, investigating an outbreak of nymphomania at the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant. Well-written and I deifnitely wanted to see how things would end, but I doubt I’ll read more of the series, because I just didn’t care about Felix that much.

“Legs? Who needs legs? Go away and quit bothering me. Look! Over there! It’s Mayhem, doing something stupid cute.” -Chaos