Category Archives: Reading

Contests, Reading

Ebook giveaway: A Bear Walks into a Bar by Eden Winters [CONTEST CLOSED]

26 Comments

Congrats to Ravyn B, who won Out! (The Shamwell Tales #3) by JL Merrow! Out! is being released by Samhain Publishing today.

Many thanks to Eden Winters for donating an ebook copy of her freshly released m/m paranormal romance, A Bear Walks into a Bar, for a lucky commenter to win!

It takes one strong alpha with a tight grip to keep a mountain full of shifters under control. Sawyer Ballantine’s contending with an uppity wolf leader and a herd of shifter elk bound and determined to take over. He might be the lone bear on the mountain, but he’s not going to allow another four shifters to just move in, especially not when they whiff of power. They’ll either be his in all ways, or they’ll be gone.

Dillon, Jerry, Kevin, and Brad have no one but each other since their groups kicked them out. The young bear, wolves, and fox make a merry menage, pooling their meager skills and serving beer. They’ve stumbled into more than they understand, caught in the dispute between the Urso of Ballantine Mountain and the elk. But winter’s setting in, and they don’t know how to keep Dillon safe for hibernation.

And then a bear walks into their bar.

Excerpt

Other Books by Eden

About Eden

Our heroine sits quietly in her cube, just one of many, typing, filing, and breaking the occasional nail, hiding her true identity beneath her clever disguise of nerdy glasses and business suits (with sensible shoes!). Frantic eyes watch the clock as she waits impatiently for the ruse to end and her true calling to begin.

With eager anticipation she drives her average car to her average home, and eats her average (vegetarian and completely healthy!) meal alone. The minutes tick by, and when the sun finally sets she leaps tall sofas in a single bound, shedding her disguise to take on her true super heroine persona! Is she in such a rush to save the world? Save the city? Save the neighbor’s kitten from a tree! No! She liberates her laptop from the evil clutches of arch villain, Hall Closet, and flings it open to free the worlds hiding within its depths. There are lonely werewolves searching desperately for mates, spoiled rich boys just waiting for her gentle caress of the keyboard to create someone who’ll truly understand them, and futuristic soldiers, gunning across the universe to save the men they love… No scenario is too bizarre! A time traveling pirate? No problem! Violin playing specter haunting a Scottish castle? You betcha!

When she’s not busily creating happy-ever-afters for fictional hotties, our heroine enjoys music, the great outdoors, and cruising down the highway on the back of a Harley Davidson.

You can visit Eden at her blog, website, and GoodReads.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CST, Friday, January 29.
  • By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only ritual dust bunny sacrifice will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

*side-eyeing* -Chaos

*working the cute* -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity thinks it was a very bad week to be a famous 69-year old British man :(

10 Comments

Bookity

Think, Make, Learn, Do

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Carve Stamp Play: Designing and Creating Custom Stamps by Julie Fei Balzer. If you’ve never carved your own stamps, this is a good resource to get you started.
Card to Canvas: Mixed-Media Techniques for Paper Crafts by Colleen Schaan. Skimmed. Too much brand name dropping for me.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos and Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity celebrates the first cold of 2016 *cough cough cough*

10 Comments

Contest(s)

Bookity

Think, Do, Make, Learn

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Stamp Stencil Paint: Making Extraordinary Patterned Projects by Hand by Anna Joyce. Ok look at embellishing decorative items by carving your own stamps, cutting your own stencils, and painting. I skimmed a lot of this one – I was hoping to pick up some tips on stamp carving or stencil making, but didn’t really.
The Art of Mistakes: Unexpected Painting Techniques and the Practice of Creative Thinking by Melanie Rothschild. Very good thoughts about creativity and the importance of playing and feeling free to make mistakes to the creative process. The section of art projects to help develop techniques for creative artistic play and experimentation felt like the weakest part of the book to me – I think the section could’ve been better integrated so its purpose was much more clear. That bit notwithstanding, this is one I’ll pick up used so I can reread and highlight all the quotes I jotted down during my first read. 🙂

*all the judging* -Chaos and Mayhem

Contests, Reading

Ebook giveaway: Out! (The Shamwell Tales #3) by JL Merrow [CONTEST CLOSED]

40 Comments

Many thanks to JL Merrow for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming m/m romance, Out! (The Shamwell Tales #3), for a lucky commenter to win! Out! will be released by Samhain Publishing on January 19.

When the costs are added up, will love land in the black?

Mark Nugent has spent his life in the closet at least, the small part of it he hasn’t spent in the office. Divorced when he could no longer deny his sexuality, he’s sworn off his workaholic ways and moved to Shamwell with his headstrong teen daughter to give her a stable home environment.

His resolve to put his love life on hold is severely tested when he joins a local organization and meets a lively yet intense young man who tempts him closer to the closet threshold.

Patrick Owen is an out-and-proud charity worker with strong principles – and a newly discovered weakness for an older man. One snag: Mark is adamant he’s not coming out to his daughter, and Patrick will be damned if he’s going to start a relationship with a lie.

Between Mark’s old-fashioned attitudes and a camp, flirtatious ex-colleague who wants Mark for himself, Patrick wonders if they’ll ever be on the same romantic page. And when Mark’s former career as a tax advisor clashes with Patrick’s social conscience, it could be the one stumbling block they can’t get past.

Product Warnings: Contains historically inaccurate Spartan costumes, mangled movie quotes, dubious mathematical logic and a three-legged pub crawl.

Excerpt (scroll down and select “Sneak Peek”)

Other Books

About JL

JL Merrow is that rare beast: an English person who refuses to drink tea.  Having grown up by the seaside, she also loathes fish and chips.  She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again.  Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne. She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporaries and the paranormal, and is frequently accused of humour. You can find out more about JL at her website, blog, Facebook, Goodreads, and Amazon.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, Monday, January 18.
  • By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only ritual dust bunny sacrifice will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

*deep thoughts* -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity for a new year

8 Comments

Happy New Year, everyone! 🙂

Bookity

Do, Make, Learn, Think

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Gelli Plate Printing: Mixed-Media Monoprinting Without a Press by Joan Bess. Good instructional and inspirational book about Gelli plate monoprinting. I’ll be picking up a used copy as reference for some of the more complicated techniques.
Art Journal Freedom: How to Journal Creatively with Color and Composition by Dina Wakley. Good overview of basic artistic principles such as color theory, contrast, and composition in the context of art journaling. Although I’m not a fan of aspects of the author’s style, I do like how she puts together backgrounds.

“Wha…?” -Chaos

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity thinks the gift guide thing is a little out of hand

10 Comments

No linkity next week! Hopefully there’s enough here to sustain you. 🙂

Bookity

‘Tis the Season of Gift Guides

Think, Learn, Make, Do

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Printmaking+Mixed Media: Simple Techniques and Projects for Paper and Fabric by Dorit Elisha. Good overview of all sorts of different types of printmaking, from monoprinting to screen printing and more. Definitely found some things I’m going to try out in my art journaling. This is one I’ll be picking up used for reference.
Stencil Girl: Mixed-Media Techniques for Making and Using Stencils by Mary Beth Shaw. I did get some ideas for using stencils in my art journaling, but I wasn’t particularly interested in the sections on woodburning, metalwork, cake decorating, or encaustic.
Dreaming from the Journal Place: Transforming the Sketchbook to Art by Melanie Testa. This one didn’t really work for me. It covers a lot of ground – from drawing and painting to carving rubber stamps to extremely detailed instructions for dyeing fabric. And it felt like the journal bit was more of an afterthought than anything else.
Sidney Crosby: A Hockey Story (Revised and Updated) by Paul Arseneault and Paul Hollingsworth. So-so young adult hockey biography covering the years 2002 through the end of the 2007 season (the season before the Pittsburgh Penguins lost in the Stanley Cup Final to Detroit). This was of the very “rah rah” sorts of YA books – it didn’t touch on the vitriol Crosby faced from parents and players alike, nor did it mention any of the injuries incurred along the way.

“I wish the birds would come back.” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity from rainy Minneapolis

7 Comments

Congrats to diannakay, who won Nice and Snow (With a Kick #1.1) by Clare London!

Congrats to Calila, who won A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou by JL Merrow! A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou will be released by JMS Books on December 14.

Contest(s)

Bookity

‘Tis the Season of Gift Guides

Think, Do, Make, Learn

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts to Unleash Your Inner Eccentric by Violette. Ok art journaling how-to book. A bit light on content and a bit too new agey for me.
101 Mixed Media Techniques: Master the Fundamental Concepts of Mixed Media Art by Walter Foster Creative Team. Good overview of a wide variety of mixed media art techniques. Unfortunately, the techniques are all presented quite briefly and you’d probably need to find more detailed instructions elsewhere.

“No one understands how I suffer.” -Chaos

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity tries to catch up

6 Comments

Congrats to Liz, who won Boys in Brief by Clare London!

Contest(s)

Bookity

Think, Do, Make, Learn

‘Tis the Season for All the Gift Guides

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Print & Stamp Lab: 52 Ideas for Handmade, Upcycled Print Tools by Traci Bunkers. Good book about using things from around the house and (mostly) inexpensive items from the dollar store for art mark making.
Re-Bound: Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials by Jeannine Stein. Extremely creative projects for making books from unusual things (such as hot water bottles, felted sweaters, window screens, and bath rugs). I’m beginning to suspect (from both my bookmaking class and reading books such as this) that I am not nearly as precise and detail-oriented as most bookmaking requires…
Printmaking Unleashed: More Than 50 Techniques for Expressive Mark Making by Traci Bautista. Ok look at many different ways to make stencils, stamps, and other mark making tools. I found the instructions to be confusing frequently, with too many references to self-branded products.
The Artist Unique: Inspiration and Techniques to Discover Your Creative Signature by Carmen Torbus. Good look at how different mixed-media artists find their inspiration, along with some of their favorite techniques. This quote sums up how most of the artists dealt with inspiration: “One of the most important things I’ve learned about my own creativity is that I don’t need to wait for inspiration to hit before I begin working on my art. If I simply show up and begin creating, the inspiration will come.” -Leah Piken Kolidas
Pretending to Be Normal: Living with Asperger’s Syndrome (Autism Spectrum Disorder) (Expanded Edition) by Liane Holliday Willey. I really wanted to love this book, but I didn’t. It was kind of interesting to read Willey’s experience growing up as an undiagnosed Aspie, but I never felt invested in her story – it all felt very distant. Reading this felt similar to how reading Temple Grandin feels to me – I always retain (or am kept at?) an academic distance. Cynthia Kim‘s Nerdy, Shy, and Socially Inappropriate: A User Guide to an Asperger Life was much more my speed. YMMV.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos & Mayhem

Contests, Reading

Ebook giveaway: A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou by JL Merrow [CONTEST CLOSED]

37 Comments

Many thanks to JL Merrow for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming rereleased m/m holiday romance, A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou, for a lucky commenter to win! A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou will be released by JMS Books on December 14.

What’s the best gift a young, single man could receive for Christmas? Mohawked punk Liam wouldn’t have picked the hideous collection of homemade knitwear he’s presented with by his well-meaning mum and aunties. He’d much rather have the gorgeous older man he sees every day while busking at King’s Cross station. Liam’s been doing his best to seduce the guy with his saxophone playing – the trouble is, with the holidays coming up, he’s beginning to despair of his message getting through.

But with a little Christmas magic in the air, maybe those garish garments will be just the thing for attracting the attention of a silver fox…

Previously published in the Winter Warmers anthology.

Excerpt (scroll down)

Other Books

About JL

JL Merrow is that rare beast: an English person who refuses to drink tea.  Having grown up by the seaside, she also loathes fish and chips.  She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again.  Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne. She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporaries and the paranormal, and is frequently accused of humour. You can find out more about JL at her website, blog, Facebook, Goodreads, and Amazon.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CST, Friday, December 11.
  • By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only ritual dust bunny sacrifice will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

*Blissed-out Mayhem making happy paws on Chaos*

“Make her STOP.” -Chaos

Contests, Reading

Ebook giveaway: Nice and Snow (With a Kick #1.1) by Clare London [CONTEST CLOSED]

17 Comments

Congrats to Joder, who won Out of Sync (Bound #5) by Bronwyn Green!

Many thanks to Clare London for donating an ebook copy of her freshly released m/m Christmas romance, Nice and Snow (With a Kick #1.1), for a lucky commenter to win!

Nuri’s expecting a quiet Christmas, driving his cab, doing some studying, enjoying good food and drink – and devoting some serious loving to boyfriend Eduardo. Occasionally he misses his homeland of Turkey, but he’s content to share the London celebrations with Eddy.

But what with Eddy’s distress over his new role at the local comedy club, interference in their love life from Nuri’s irrepressible brothers, a disturbing number of costumed Santas on the street, the dangerous slush on the roads, and then the portly, bearded man dressed in red, in need of an urgent cab ride… It doesn’t look like things will be that quiet after all!

***
Meet Nuri and Eddy for the first time, and begin the whole With A Kick series, in A Twist and Two Balls.

Other Books by Clare

About Clare

Clare London took her pen name from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home, she juggles her writing with her other day job as an accountant.

She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic, and sexy characters.

Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter three stage and plenty of other projects in mind… she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home.
All the details and free fiction are available at her website. Visit her today and say hello! You can also visit Clare at her blog, Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CST, Friday, December 11.
  • By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winner will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

*Blissed-out Mayhem making happy paws on Chaos*

*disgruntled* -Chaos