Giveaway KNIGHT OF PLEASURE by Margaret Mallory!

I haven't had the chance to read and review this yet but I don't want to delay the Giveaway!!
You might recall that my very first Hachette Giveaway was Ms. Mallory's debut novel Knight of Desire!
Now we are fortunate to have the second "knight" book!

KNIGHT OF PLEASURE
2nd Book in All the King’s Men Series
by Margaret Mallory
ISBN-10: 0446553387
ISBN-13: 978-0-446-55338-4
Publisher: Grand Central
Release date: December 2009

Available at Amazon.com   BN.com   Borders.com   Indiebound

THE GREATEST PASSION

Lady Isobel Hume is an expert swordswoman who knows how to choose her battles. When the king asks her to wed a French nobleman to form a political alliance, she agrees. But that's before the devilishly charming Sir Stephen Carleton captures her heart-and tempts her to betray her betrothed, her king, and her country.

IS WORTH THE GREATEST PERIL

Sir Stephen Carleton enjoys his many female admirers-until he dedicates himself to winning the lovely Isobel. When a threat against the king leads Isobel into mortal danger, Stephen must prove that he is more than a knight of pleasure ... and that love can conquer all.

There will be FIVE (5) Winners!! 

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:

1. Comment here telling me what you like about the medieval genre. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win.
2. For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.
3. For another entry, blog or twitter about this giveaway and comment to tell me where you posted.
(Three total entries possible.)

• This contest is only open to residents of US and Canada.
• No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reasons.
• This contest will close Midnight (Central) on February 12, 2010. The winners will be randomly selected from all entries.

Another Big Thank You to Anna and Hachette Book Group who have graciously offered the 5 copies of Knight of Pleasure for this Giveaway!

Review of TRUE BLUE by David Baldacci

Title:  True Blue
Author:  David Baldacci
Publisher:   Hachette Audio
Publisher Link
Category: FICTION
Format: AUDIO BOOK
Subformat: CD (AUDIO)
Edition: Unabridged
Publish Date: 10/27/2009
Price: $44.98/$54.00
ISBN: 9781600247613
Pages: 0

Rating:  4.5

Author Website

Product Description
A mysterious high-profile homicide in the nation's capital collides with the dark side of national security in David Baldacci's new, heart-stopping thriller.

TRUE BLUE

Mason "Mace" Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything-her badge, her career, her freedom-and spent two years in prison. Now she's back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major case on her own, and prove she has the right to wear the uniform. But even with her police chief sister on her side, she has to work in the shadows: A vindictive U.S. attorney is looking for any reason to send Mace back behind bars. Then Roy Kingman enters her life.

Roy is a young lawyer who aided the poor until he took a high-paying job at a law firm in Washington. Mace and Roy meet after he discovers the dead body of a female partner at the firm. As they investigate the death, they start uncovering surprising secrets from both the private and public world of the nation's capital.

Soon, what began as a fairly routine homicide takes a terrifying and unexpected turn-into something complex, diabolical, and possibly lethal.

REVIEW:  This is a wonderful suspense story – the great quality that we are accustomed to from David Baldacci. I’m hoping for a follow-up on Mace’s story.

Mace is a good complex character -- intense -- a risk junkie.  She also is rogue and will NOT go by the books in spite of being very newly on parole.  She is lucky that she doesn’t get thrown back in jail.  Of course it helps that her sister is Chief of Police.

Roy Kingman may not be a “he-man” but he isn’t a wimp either!  He is smart and kind and normally a logical and down to earth lawyer -- until he meets Mace.  She pulls out the impulsive in him.  I’d like to say he calms her …but nope – seems nobody and nothing can really calm or control Mace! Not even her sister.

The plot is full of political corruption – the stuff you hate to think about.  Who wants to think that the “good guys” will kill to follow or cover up for their own agenda? Add to that some on the street toughs who look like they might get Mace and you have some real excitement going on.

The audio has some great sound effects during some car chases that really enhance the listening.  Initially I wasn’t overly impressed with the narrator – I didn’t really feel he got the change of voices that well or the excitement.  However after the first several discs I was engaged enough that I didn’t notice what I thought was a less than stellar reading.

This is a good solid suspense that will keep you on edge until the end.

News from the author’s website:
The hardcover edition of True Blue remains a best seller for the eleventh consecutive week.
True Blue remains on the USA Today list of This Week's Top 150 Best Sellers and on the the Nielsen BookScan bestseller list.
The USA Today ranks sales for the week ending January 10. You can view the full list on the USA Today Website. Nielsen BookScan makes its full list available to subscribers to its BookScan service.

Thank you to Anna at Hachette for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Giveaway! Anyone Need a 2010 Calendar?

Do you still need or WANT a 2010 Calendar??

Well - I am late posting this! Do you like Cats, Maxine or Psalms?

The Meaning of Meow is 365 days of cat pictures and quotes not set for any year.

Maxine is a 16 month calendar.

Psalms doesn't say so I assume it is 2010 only.

JUST FOR CLARIFICATION -  Maxine and Psalms have monthly pages. Only the Meow one will have a new page every DAY.... in case there was confusion!

This giveaway will only last this week so I can get the calendars mailed out.  So claim a calendar by telling me which one you want and leaving your e-mail address. Winners to be announced Saturday so these can be mailed on Monday!

How Important is "REALISM?" - Comment Giveaway!

How important is realism?
If you read fantasy or scifi there is a lot of room for the author to stretch realism.  But if you read historical or contemporary romance how important is it for the plot/facts to be completely realistic?  Is it okay if the events are possible even if they may not be probable?  Would that effect how you like or rate the book?

This is a real snowman but how likely is it?

Picture from Bing Images -

Go to page:http://www.kentuckykatz.com/page/1419913

Actually - I have had lack of realism effect my rating.  I read one story where the circumstances were so improbable to me that it ruined the rest of the story.  Now in that instance, I recall I had some trouble with liking the characters and felt there was lack of consistency. Every thing felt flat as well as unbelievable. So the lack of realism only compounded an unhappy read for me.

On another occasion the circumstances of the story were on the edge of believable - it could happen but not likely! But I liked the characters and the intent of the story so much that the "stretch of the circumstances" didn't bother me. I still found the story engaging, upbeat, sweet and fun and therefore overlooked the improbabilities!  I would however mark the story down by at least .25 because of the realism issue.

Now on to a more technical area of accuracy: what about a historical romance that has a feature definitely out of time? For example buttons before they were in use?  Would you notice? Would you care?  I for one wouldn't know when buttons began to be used without looking it up (probably at a good historical author blog!) So I probably wouldn't notice that type of detail. But I know there are some historical readers who would definitely notice!

So tell me what you think?? How important is realism to YOU in the books you read?

Leave a comment to win a book from the Friday Picks!  Winner will be randomly selected from all comments made through Thursday midnight and announced Friday with the Friday 1/15 pick winners!

This is my SaSR Tuesday topic today.

Mailbox Monday January 18, 2010

This Meme starts with Marcia
at The Printed Page

I only received one book that I "won" this past week. But I picked up some bargains and borrowed some audios!

I got the book Forgotten Promises by Denise Skelton form AuthorIsland's December Goodie Box Sponsor.  Along with the book I got a large boxful of swag - bookmarks, pens etc. (Winners of books from my blog picks can look to get some extra bookmarks and things!)  I had been interested in this book for sometime and thought getting it with the swag package was a fun way to get it!

Thank you Denise and DeNita!

Product Description
True Love Comes Along Once in a Lifetime. That s what Detective Holly Lawson James believed. Her husband and co-worker Edmond was everything a woman could want in a man and a partner; strong, warm and romantic, he filled her life and her heart with passion and joy -until a police sting went terribly wrong and abruptly took him from her and their little girl, Abby. On that day her life changed forever. Now five years later Holly has grown accustomed to being alone, a state that suits her perfectly well, because she s sure that true love comes along only once in a lifetime. Despite promising his wife otherwise, Tyler Green knew he would never find love again. He had watched powerlessly as cancer ravaged his beautiful Felicia. Day by day, moment by moment, the illness, like a thief, dragged her closer toward death and tore away big chunks of his heart. When it was finally over he was left empty and cold, but it doesn't matter to Tyler because he s sure that true love will never head his way again. Still, love has a way of getting through to the stoniest of hearts and all it takes is one mischievous little girl and an unlikely meddling angel to prove them both wrong. But there is danger lurking in the shadows of their new beginning and one person s obsession may well cause Holly to lose the most important thing in her life. Her daughter!

Here are three CD books I borrowed from a clubhouse at property we own:

I am participating in the Stephanie Plum Challenge so Hard Eight will be for that. Of course I still have books 4-7 to read first!  [See note below the second picture for more about that.]
Since I really liked Survivor in Death CD Audio so much I picked up the Divided in Death one to read soon.

Also I got lucky and stumbled upon these J.D. Robb books at a thrift store:

I have two more books at home so now I have a good start on the 20 or so books in this series - oops just looked at Audible to pick up book 1 and they are on book #36! Well that could take a year or two to read - maybe a two year challenge?! Anyway - I purchased Naked in Death - the first in the series and Four to Score, book #4 of the Stephanie Plum series, with my Audible credits.  I have the print book Four to Score but I think the Audible will get me reading it faster.  I have to check with J. Kaye cause we were going to try to do a Twitter read togehter on that one and might start this month!