Tag Archives: reviewettes

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Of book linkin’ and kitty prisons

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Morbid Romantic’s giving away five copies of Robin Wells’ contemporary romance, How To Score. Contest closes at midnight EST, August 9.

A Journey of Books is giving away five copies of Michelle de Kretser’s novel, The Lost Dog. Contest closes at midnight EDT, August 17 – make sure you stop back to see who won.

Dude watchin’ with the Brontes… brilliant!

If you’ve read J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series and love it despite its faults, you’ll probably enjoy the chapter by chapter review going on over at Smart Bitches.

The Lifehacker’s Guide to the Reading Galaxy is a must.

Tele-Read provides some great thinking points about ebooks, reading, and ownership, as does Dear Author. Barnes & Noble’s new ebookstore (complete with their own DRM) gets some thoughtful criticism.

Jeff Bezos of Amazon apologizes for the Orwellian Kindle deletes of… Orwell. Tele-Read suggests that this would’ve been a far better apology.

Go vote on the five title finalists for the Orbit Books Worst Cover Ever!

For you iPhone folks, there’s now a free IndieBound app that sounds pretty cool.

Fantasy Dreamer found another source for physical books with no shipping charges (and no $25 minimum)!

A Minnesota-themed literary trivia contest?

Reading Update
An Inner Darkness (Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 5) and Where the Heart Is (related to the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series, should be read after Book 5) by Ally Blue. ebooks. And now I have finished reading all the books that are out (so far) for this m/m paranormal romance series. I really enjoyed this series and find myself still thinking about the characters.
Willow Bend by Ally Blue. ebook. Non-paranormal m/m romance that was good, but definitely didn’t have the impact as the Bay City Paranormal Investigation series.
Without Reservations, With Caution, and With Love (With or Without series) by J.L. Langley. ebooks. The first two books are about a group of friends (on an Apache reservation in New Mexico) and the third is set in the same world (but in North Carolina), with roughly the same premise – these are m/m paranormal romances about werewolves and are very well done.
Tidal Wave (Forces of Nature) by Vivian Arend. ebook. Very, very steamy paranormal about dolphin shapeshifters. It was ok, but let’s just say that the multiple partner configuration is not a configuration that I enjoy reading about.
Strange Brew edited by P.N. Elrod. It has a new Harry Dresden story! 🙂
The Fire King (Dirk & Steele) by Marjorie M. Liu. This was an ok addition to the Dirk & Steele series. (Dirk & Steele being the internationally known detective agency that allows telepaths and psychics and shapeshifters to hide in plain sight.)
Edge of Dawn (Light Warriors, Book 3) by Patti O’Shea. I really hate the cover – it looks incredibly awkward to me. But the book itself was a decent paranormal romance, this time set in Seattle instead of Minneapolis, as the previous two were.
Lucky Charm and Lucky Streak (Lucky Trilogy) by Carly Phillips. Generations of Corwin men have been cursed to lose their loves and their fortunes. Find out how the current generation of Corwins deals with the curse in this fun contemporary romance trilogy.
Surviving Demon Island (Demon Hunters, Book 1) by Jaci Burton. They think they’ve signed up for a reality tv show about hunting demons, which they assume will simply be humans in costume. Boy, are they ever wrong about that!

“It was nice of Mayhem to volunteer to keep an eye on Mom while I took a nap. I’m sure Mayhem will be vigilant about letting me know if Mom makes a break for the portable kitty prisons again.” -Chaos

*….zzzzzzzz….” -Mayhem

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, 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

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

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

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

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Abs-olutely

21 Comments

For your chance to win an assortment of 25 books and 25 cds, leave a comment at Largehearted Boy letting him know what cd or book you’d hope to find in the assortment. Contest closes midnight CDT, June 12.

Leave a comment about why booksellers rock and you could win a signed copy of Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge. Contest closes by June 14. (Ok, this is a superhero book, but I don’t consider that paranormal.)

For a chance to win a copy of Annie Solomon’s One Deadly Sin, leave a comment at A Journey of Books about whether you’ve ever thought of or committed an act of revenge. Contest closes midnight EDT, June 26. You will need to check back to see who won!

A Journey of Books is also giving away The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos – leave a comment before midnight EDT, June 30, about something that triggers a strong memory for you. Remember to check back to see who wins!

For a chance to win an audiobook of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s The Cabinet of Curiosities or 7th Avenue by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, leave a comment on the respective posts at J. Kaye’s before June 27. Remember that winners will not be notified, so make sure to check back to see who won.

Nice look at some of the new ebook devices at The Good, the Bad and the Unread.

Google’s entering the ebook market. I haven’t decided whether this is good or bad.

SciFiGuy has an overview of the May issue of Locus Magazine, which was focused on urban fantasy. (My copy is still sitting on the kitchen table, waiting for me to read it.) But I do know that the top story was the revelation that author Kim Harrison does not exist! This was quite shocking to me, since I had seen her at Uncle Hugo’s and have some books signed by her. 🙂

Hee hee – Smart Bitches have an amusing list of the top medieval history facts that you won’t see in any romances.

Thanks to Mary Lou for this list of amusing things that would sound wrong if you were saying them to a human instead of to a cat. I can think of some that aren’t on the list, such as “Quit eating the toilet paper!” and “Hey! Stop running across the kitchen table!”

Wait, how did they sneak in to my condo to get this picture?! Did you get your seat before they ran out of space?

Apparently I haven’t been reading enough books with scantily clad, abs-baring males on the cover and there’s been some agitating in the comments. This update’s for you, MamaT! 😉

Reading Update
Sentinels: Jaguar Night (Silhouette Nocturne) by Doranna Durgin. This was a surprisingly good low-steam paranormal romance. My biggest complaint is that, although it appears to be the first Sentinels book, it seemed to assume a certain level of familiarity with the Sentinels that I certainly don’t have.
Men at Work by Janelle Denison, Nina Bangs, and MaryJanice Davidson. A light’n’fluffy romance collection about hunky guys wearing toolbelts…
Surf’s Up by Nina Bangs, MaryJanice Davidson, and Janelle Denison. Another light’n’fluffy romance collection from Denison, Bangs, and Davidson. Please note that if you plan to read this and Men at Work, you should read that book first, as the stories by Davidson and Bangs are related to the stories in that collection. Eerie that I picked these books up at the same time, not knowing that or noticing that the same authors were in both. I just went for the covers. 🙂
And Able by Lucy Monroe. Yup, this is the conclusion to the trilogy that began with Ready and Willing.
Deal With This and The Spy Who Wants Me by Lucy Monroe. These tie into her Ready, Willing, and Able series and her secret agents series and her other non-series books. I love that.
The Chosen Sin by Anya Bast. I love this cover, and it isn’t even NK! 😉 This is a well-done futuristic vampire romance, very steamy. Very, very steamy.
Simply Irresistible by Rachel Gibson. Enjoyable contemporary romance set in Seattle.
Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James. This was another near-perfect contemporary romance from Julie James. Highly recommended.
Night’s Kiss by Amanda Ashley. Vampires and good witches and bad warlocks, oh my! An ok start to a series that I’ll probably keep reading.
Between a Rock and a Heart Place by Natalie Stenzel. This is the sequel to The Druid Made Me Do It and is pretty fun (druids and pucas and nature spirits, oh my!), if a bit drawn out at times.
Dark Protector and Dark Defender (Paladins of Darkness, Books 1-2) by Alexis Morgan. They’re warriors who come back from the dead when they’re killed protecting our world from the evil Others. An ok paranormal series that’s completely vampire and werewolf free. And hey, that’s NK in leather pants on the cover of Dark Defender.

Think carefully before switching to Holy Water in the cat’s water bowl…

“That poor kitty! If I chew on these vampire fangs, do I have to worry about you putting Holy Water in my water bowl?” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

In which Mayhem attempts to select a book (and the contest thing gets insanely out of hand)

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Paula’s participating in the 2009 North Central Alabama Race for the Cure and is looking for donations. Every $5.00 you donate will get you an entry in a raffle for some sock yarn after she reaches her $250 goal.

Author Barbara Bretton is giving away two skeins of Elann Peruvian Baby Lace Merino in Irish Moss if you send her an email before the the evening of June 3 (aka today, so hurry up).

Author Jeaniene Frost is giving away four copies of the The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance, which is a great collection! Send her an email (info’s in the post) before 11:59 pm EDT, June 4, for your chance to win. (If I didn’t already own this book, I’d be all over this contest myself.)

Jen’s friend is about to go through her fifth birth, but first cesarean – leave some cheering comments for Jen’s friend (and vote in the baby name poll) for your chance to win a gorgeous skein of Yarn Pirate sock yarn.

For your chance to win a copy of the superhero novel Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge (reviewed below), stop by and comment at Deadline Dames.

Leave a comment at Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ Giveaways by June 12 for your chance to win one of several short story collections. These aren’t paranormals, for those who worry about such things. 😉

If you’d like to win a copy of the Blood Ties dvds (based on Tanya Huff’s Books of Blood series), you’ll need to do a tiny bit of research and send an email by June 15.

For your chance to win an advance reading copy of the young adult book Ghost Huntress (Book 1: The Awakening), leave a comment at J. Kaye’s Book Blog before June 27. Remember, winners will not be notified – you’ll have to keep an eye on that blog to see if you’ve won. Another contest of interest over at J. Kaye’s includes one for the audio cds of The Bourne Deception. (And thanks to J. Kaye for including me in the new book blog discovery post last week!)

Largehearted Boy’s giving away an eight-volume Buddha graphic novel series – leave a comment before midnight CDT, June 5, for your chance to win.

If you’d like the chance to win a signed copy of the new collection Tails of Love, which is a charity anthology to benefit needy animals and which features stories where animals play a key role in romance, leave a comment at Anna’s Book Blog before June 11.

The Suvudu free reads (all scifi or fantasy) for June have been posted. Smart Bitches have some links to romance ebook deals/promotions.

Head over to SciFiGuy.ca to see what urban fantasy, fantasy, paranormal, and scifi books are coming out the month.

Sydney found a new to me book holder.

Looks like BeBook’s going to have a wireless ebook reader available for sale by the end of this month (for $199).

Apparently Google’s planning to sell ebooks by the end of this year.

Woot! I won a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies over at Historic Fibers for my zombie haiku (#2 in this post). Thanks, Julia!

Reading Update
True Confessions (set in Idaho), See Jane Score (not set in Idaho!), Truly Madly Yours (set in Idaho), Daisy’s Back in Town (not set in Idaho), and It Must Be Love (set in Idaho) by Rachel Gibson. One more to go and I will have read all of Gibson’s books in a shockingly short time. Important Note: If you find yourself in a Rachel Gibson romance, please be aware that condoms always seem to break and prepare yourself accordingly.
Night and Day (Jesse Stone) by Robert B. Parker. Finally! I swear, if a critical bit of series progression hadn’t happened in this one, I wouldn’t ever pick up another book in this series. I barely nerved myself up to read this one.
Traveling Light by Diana Rubino. ebook. This was a time travel romance that takes place briefly in the present, but primarily in fifteenth-century England. Review posted at Fang-tastic Books.
Satisfaction Guaranteed by Lucy Monroe. Scorching hot and very good contemporary romance about people working for a super secret antiterrorism agency. Very scorching. Very hot.
Ready and Willing by Lucy Monroe. More scorchers from Monroe. Can you guess what the name is of the next book in the series? 😉
Come Up and See Me Sometime by Lucy Monroe. This was written a few years earlier than the other books of hers I’ve read. Let’s just say her writing has improved a great deal in the past several years. In fact, I spent so much time rolling my eyes while I read this one, I think I strained something.
Demon Can’t Help It by Kathy Love. Favorite line: “Oddly, I find it reassuring you haven’t put anyone’s soul in a house pet before.” (The guy on the cover of this totally creeps me out for some reason.)
Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang: A Dark Ones Novel by Katie MacAlister. Noticed a doozie of a typo on the “Also By” page – MacAlister’s book Zen and the Art of Vampires got turned into Zen and the Art of Dragons. Whoops. This book continues the story of Pia and Kristoff that began in Zen and the… and ended on a cliffhanger in that book. This book is still a bit all over the place, plus I spent way too much time wanting to slap Pia, Kristoff, and plenty of other characters. However, at least this one didn’t end on a cliffhanger – just with an open question or two. (Oh, and I have no idea what the cover art has to do with the book!)
Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge. Please note that I received this as a review copy/prize, so you’ll get a slightly longer reviewette than usual.

We have lots of metaphors related to white and black, good and evil. The line between good and evil is supposedly black and white. Good guys wear white hats and bad guys wear black hats. Good is light, bad is darkness. Black and White plays with those crisp delineations, showing us that things are never that clear, even when superheroes (or “extrahumans” as they’re called in 2112) are involved.

Black and White is told alternately from the perspective of two extrahumans, Jet and Iridium. The narrative weaves back and forth between the story’s present and five to ten years in the past, when Jet and Iridium were roommates at the Academy. Jet’s a Shadow power, yet completely focused on following the rules and being a model hero. Iridium, a Light power, is much more independent and much less interested in rules. Both had fathers who were considered insane or “rabid”, leading many to expect similar behavior from Jet and Iridium.

What starts out as a seemingly simple comic bookesque tale of good versus evil slowly develops into an involving tale about shades of grey, friendship, and betrayal. (In fact, in some respects, it reminded me of Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.)

Hmm. Mayhem seems to be having trouble selecting a book, as she stands on what are apparently her discards and contemplates The S3x Lives of Cannibals.

“What to read, what to read… Mom, what are cannibals? What is s3x? Are there any black kitties in this book? I’m sure it’s not worth reading if there aren’t black kitties in it.” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Reading our lives away

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For your chance to win a set of six classic short story collections from authors such as Willa Cather, Leo Tolstoy, and Herman Melville), leave a comment at Largehearted Boy by midnight CDT, May 29.

If you’d like a chance to win an audiobook copy of James Patterson’s The 8th Confession, leave a comment at J. Kaye’s Book Blog before June 27. Please remember that J. Kaye doesn’t notify winners – you need to keep an eye on the blog to see if you’ve won.

Free download of The Guide to Pirate Parenting!

Smart Bitches had some great links recently, including to free audiobooks.

I definitely don’t write as much as I used to (since I seem to type most things now), but when I do handwrite something, it doesn’t take long for my hand to hurt. Maybe my grip is part of the problem.

Use six books (that you don’t like) to make invisible speakers.

How to make your very own book pillow to help you read in comfort.

Dear Author’s weekly tech roundup has some good stuff this week, including info on colorful new ebook readers and an ebook price comparison website (I’m definitely bookmarking that one!).

I thought these seven organization tips to help you reduce your TBR (to be read) pile were great in theory, but… I know I won’t do any of them. 🙂

If you’re trying to read more, maybe these 16 ideas will help – I know that not watching tv and speed reading probably help me the most. Missing from that list was making sure you always have something to read with you so you can take advantage of unexpected free time (such as when waiting in lines).

A look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Kindle 2.0 from an avid user after 100 days of use. Also, Kindle owners can now view their notes and highlights in a web browser and not just on their Kindles.

Reading Update
Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James. This was a great contemporary romance about a Chicago lawyer who’s in LA to work on a big case when she gets stuck providing legal insight to a handsome movie star who’s researching his role in a legal thriller.
Undone (Outcast Season, Book 1) by Rachel Caine. This is a spin-off from Caine’s Weather Warden series. It features Cassiel, a fallen Djinn. Lots and lots and lots of open questions at the end of this one. *sigh*
The Immortal Hunter: A Rogue Hunter Novel (Argeneau Vampires) by Lynsay Sands. Ack. More of the lots and lots of open questions thing here. Hmph.
Dead Girls Are Easy, A Match Made in Hell, and You’re the One that I Haunt (Nicki Styx, Books 1-3) by Terri Garey. Nicki was dead for a few minutes in the ER and when she came back, she could see ghosts. Ghosts who want her to do things for them, ranging from the innocuous to the deadly. Overall, I enjoyed these, although there was a story arc that I found annoying and which I really hope was completed in the third book.
Witch Fire (Elemental Witches, Book 1) by Anya Bast. This book starts in Minneapolis! I’m always a sucker for that. I thought this was a good completely vampire and werewolf free read (also very steamy) – the next two books are already on my TBR shelf and I’m planning to pick up the latest book on June 6 at Uncle Hugo’s, when Ms. Bast will be there signing it.

“Wait, why did I think I missed you again? Obviously I forgot about the infernal flashing.” -Mayhem