Reviews By Martha's Bookshelf

Thursday, April 15, 2010

One Day Left to Enter for Marriage and Other Acts of Charity

The Giveaway for the audio book of Marriage and Other Acts of Charity ends tomorrow night, April 16. There will be three lucky winners!

Garden Bloom Day April 15, 2010

This meme can be found at May Dreams Gardens.

I took close to 40 pictures and then had to "weed" through them for the best ones! (hehe)
If I had taken the pictures a week ago the scenes would have been different. Amazing the change in one or two weeks!

This is a planter by the pool:
Kalanchoes and pretty
purple flowers on a variegated vine.

The herb garden - with no tending -

survived the winter!

This doesn't show real well.

There is yellow honeysuckle in the

background and this tall

yellow weed in front.

This is just to the side of our house

next to....

Our blackberry patch.

I hope all the white flowers
will be berries.

Last year they either
didn't get to mature

or the birds and squirrels
got them before we could.

The azaleas are very pretty!

Wish we had more.

Not sure if you
can really see
the dogwood blooms.

We have so many
large and
tall trees

it is hard for the little trees to get

enough sun to do really well.

So there are a few of the blooms around our house!

How is your garden blooming?

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Review and Giveaway - An Earl to Enchant by Amelia Grey

Title: An Earl to Enchant: The Rogues' Dynasty
Author: Amelia Grey
Genre: Historical Romance
Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (April 6, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1402217617
ISBN-13: 978-1402217616

Rating: 4.75
Description:

He’s determined not to be a hero…
Lord Morgandale is as notorious as he is dashing, and he’s determined no woman will tie him down. But from the moment Arianna Sweet appears on his doorstep, he cannot resist the lure of her fascinating personality, exotic wardrobe, and tempting green eyes…
She has a deadly secret…
Arianna Sweet never imagined the significance of her father’s research until after his untimely death. Now she is in possession of his groundbreaking discovery, one that someone would kill for. She can’t tell Lord Morgandale her secret, but she knows she needs his help, desperately…

Review: This historical has rich characters to enhance a mystery that twists till the end!

Arianna is a British young woman who was raised in India in the care of her scientist father. While he studied herbs and plants, Arianna convinced her maid to teach her belly dance among other rebellious and not so British behaviors. Unfortunately Arianna’s father is murdered for an important formula and the murderer escapes under her nose. Arianna returns to Britain seeking help to recreate the formula. Instead of finding her father’s distant relative to take her in she finds the grand dame’s notorious grandson, Lord Morgandale.

Imagine Morgandale’s surprise when he is expecting a beautiful courtesan for a weekend rendezvous and instead finds an exotic waif who proceeds to faint in his arms. Morgandale really wants nothing to do with a “good” woman as he has no inclination to get leg shackled. He isn’t thrilled with becoming guardian to this outspoken and strange young woman who is unlike any woman he has known.

The antagonism and bantering between these protagonists is intertwined with the unwanted attraction and chemistry. The characters are well developed with wonderful quirks and hidden depths. Morgandale allows Arianna to recuperate at his estate while trying to avoid the urge to spend time with her. He suspects she has withheld some information from him but he is moving as quickly as he can to get her off his hands before he is tempted to succumb to her (unintentionally?) sensual innocence. I enjoyed the age-old conflict of a man fighting cupid’s arrow.

Morgandale’s protective instincts finally take control when danger stalks Arianna. The push-pull relationship of the hero and heroine kept me delightfully engaged while the threats to Arianna heated up to a surprising end. The writing and descriptions flowed making this a wonderful, easy read and sultry romantic entertainment. I was only sorry when it ended!

***************************************************

Thank you to Danielle at Sourcebook for this ARC. I was tempted to keep it but ---- no more room to keep books I have read so I am offering this to a lucky winner!

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY FOR THIS BOOK:
1. Comment on the review telling me if you have ever studied bellydance or if you like something else about India. Please leave your e-mail!

2. For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

3. For another entry, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

(Three total entries possible.)
It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.

* This contest is only open to residents of US and Canada.
* No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reason.
* This contest will close Midnight (Central) on April 30, 2010. The winners will be randomly selected from all entries.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Comment Tuesday Giveaway April 13, 2010: Titillating Titles

TUESDAY

I mentioned during the Readathon minichallenge post that I had seen this game at Riding With The Top Down and thought it was great fun. I used my review books and a few selected TBR's in the Saturday story post. The books here are all from books won over the past few months.

Here are a few fun sentences created from my books. Can you make some from your books? List them by titles or you can take pictures if you want. You aren't limited to three that is just how I set them up. Actually the top nine make their own story.
A winner will be selected randomly from all Comments on this post and will get to pick a book from the Friday Pick List.

Found Love