Winners of Friday Pick October 29, 2010

CONGRATULATIONS

to the Winners of

Friday Pick October 29, 2010
#3 and #13
Throuthehaze 

and

Jolene

Throuthehaze chose Deception Point

Jolene chose The Hunter

Thank you to all who entered.

Winners of A Season of Seduction by Jennifer Haymore

CONGRATULATIONS

to the Winners of
A Season of Seduction
by Jennifer Haymore

Just Peachy

Chelsea B

Robyn L

Johanna

Martha L

I will be sending the form to complete tonight or tomorrow.

Thank you everyone who entered.

Two New Winners of Simply Irresistible

Chelsea and Marjorie had already won Simply Irresistible so

CONGRATULATIONS

to two replacement Winners of

Simply Irresistible (A Lucky Harbor Novel) by Jill Shalvis

Shannon 

and

Victoria

I have emailed the new winners to complete the form.

Audio Book Review and Giveaway: Don't Blink by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

Another entertaining mystery from James Patterson and co-author, Howard Roughan.
Don't Blink by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Hachette Audio; Unabridged edition (September 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1607882345
• ISBN-13: 978-1607882343

     Genre: Mystery Thriller
     My Rating:  3.75

Product Description
New York's Lombardo's Steak House is famous for three reasons--the menu, the clientele, and now, the gruesome murder of an infamous mob lawyer. Effortlessly, the assassin slips through the police's fingers, and his absence sparks a blaze of accusations about who ordered the hit.

Seated at a nearby table, reporter Nick Daniels is conducting a once-in-a-lifetime interview with a legendary baseball bad-boy. Shocked and shaken, he doesn't realize that he's accidentally captured a key piece of evidence. Ensnared in the city's most sensational crime in years, Nick investigates for a story of his own. Back off--or die--is the clear message as he closes in on the facts. Heedless, and perhaps in love, Nick endures humiliation, threats, violence, and worse in a thriller that overturns every expectation and finishes with the kind of flourish only James Patterson knows.

Review: This is a humorous and action packed mystery thriller.

The book jumps into action from the get go, introducing the likable reporter hero, Nick Daniels. You meet Nick as he races away from African gorillas shooting at the American humanitarian doctor who Nick is interviewing. After surviving his tuck and roll escape, Nick is called home to New York for a once in a lifetime interview with a baseball legend.

Nick and his hermit interview subject are at the next table during the gruesome attack and murder of a mob lawyer. Now Nick is a key witness caught in the middle of the police investigation. The police are quick to pick their suspect and aren’t interested in Nick’s “frame-up” theories.  As Nick investigates on his own he gets caught between two different mob families; he is beaten and threatened by known and unknown persons.  Add a third mob family and some corrupt officials to make for more suspense.

Meanwhile, Nick is in love with his editor boss and that adds another angle to the story.  It does present a problem that Courtney is already engaged to another man - a very wealthy and powerful man. But Nick is convinced that the fiancé is not faithful and Nick is determined to convince her to end the engagement.

The narrator did a fine job capturing Nick’s somewhat irreverent attitude even if the mob guys sound rather alike. Nick’s character also has a rather corny sense of humor that makes this fun. For example, as Nick is in a high speed chase with a mob boss and an enforcer, he describes the experience saying roughly: “We were tossed back and forth in the backseat like tossed salad.”

Some of the scenes, and Nick’s nine lives surviving threats, are a bit unbelievable but they make for a good story.  I am actually glad that not all of Patterson’s books stick with a set format, as I enjoy the variety.  I found this audio book to be fast paced and good entertainment.  My husband, who doesn’t usually like to listen to audio books, enjoyed this and thought it would make a good movie. He is even willing to listen to this a second time on our cross country drive. This is not a literary classic but if you like crime action stories, you should like this for its twisting mystery, humor, touch of romance and lots of action.

THANKS TO HACHETTE FOR PROVIDING THREE AUDIO CD BOOKS FOR GIVEAWAY.
TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY:

1. Comment on either a) OR b) to enter; good for TWO entries. Please leave your email!

a) Watch the Video or Listen to an Excerpt and leave a comment about that; OR
b) Visit the Author Website and tell me something you found there of interest.

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

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

4. For two more entries, leave a meaningful comment about this review.

It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.
(Eight total entries possible.) MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE YOUR E-MAIL!

THERE WILL BE THREE WINNERS!

* This contest is only open to residents of US and Canada.

* No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reasons.

* Limit one win per household.

* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on November 21, 2010.
The winners will be randomly selected from all entries.

Blog Tour Guest Post by Roxanne St. Claire: Series or Stand-Alone...

Many of my blog followers know by now that I love series. I am so glad that Roxanne, author of Edge of Sight (The Guardian Angelinos), chose to respond to this topic. Welcome, Roxanne, and thank you for sharing your insight on series.

Series or Stand-Alone…Views from a Convert

Thank you so much for inviting me to blog today on this lively book-loving site.  Since my blog tour is all about EDGE OF SIGHT, the book that launches the brand new Guardian Angelinos series, Martha asked me to share my thoughts on the differences between writing stand-alone books and series. 

I love the subject because I am only a recent “series convert” – never read ‘em, never liked ‘em, never thought I’d write ‘em.  For one thing, I’m the kind of reader who gets distracted if a couple other than the main hero and heroine are mentioned – immediately, I’m worried if I missed a book.  I’m also the kind of movie-goer who would skip out if I’ve missed the first five minutes of a film.  I can’t bear to not know what happened.  And there was a time not so long ago, when I was purely a reader and not a writer, that I thought the author’s mention of previous characters was a sign of arrogance for assuming I read everything she’s written.

Well, times have changed, and so have I.  Readers demand series!  I’ve had a few fans pick up my first three stand-alone romantic suspense novels at booksignings only to learn they were “just” stand-alones…and instantly return those books to the pile.  So when I decided it was time to jump into the series pool, it was only after creative lightning struck and I found a concept that would allow me to write stand-alone romantic thrillers that could be read and loved all by themselves, but still be enriched by recurring secondary characters and series worldbuilding.

There are so many extra considerations when an author is writing a series, and some of them are truly challenging for me.  For example, it helps for an author to know the “arc” of the series by answering questions such as: What will happen to the anchor characters? How will the whole “group” change by the end of the series? Will any characters die?  (Heavens!)  For a person who does “loose” plotting (and by loose, I mean NO IDEA what is going to happen until it pours out of my fingertips), this kind of vision can be very difficult. 

But it wasn’t long before I learned the pros outweighed the cons of a series.  Readers do love a series, and both readers and the writer enjoy a comfort level of sitting down with old friends.  Each book gets a little easier, and “seeding” new heroes and heroines is a ton of fun.   With a series, you can take a character’s story line further and readers can get to know what happens after the HEA.  (Babies!)  Best of all, readers really do become loyal fans and come back book after book after book.

But there are still some downsides to writing a series.  Writers don’t want to get bored – it’s the kiss of death! – or pigeonholed into telling one kind of story.  Readers get attached to certain characters, and if you don’t have things happen the way they way…well, you can hear about it.  An author has to be very careful not to paint herself into a story corner – like making a future hero do something in an book that is so despicable he cannot be redeemed.  And, oh my word, it takes real organization skills to keep everything straight and make sure all the stories, characters, settings, and timelines align.

And, of course, you have to know when to end the series, which can be very like saying goodbye to a trusted friend.  My first series, The Bullet Catchers, is now complete with eight books and two novellas.  It wasn’t easy to end those fun stories, but the time had come and I was ready to move on.  This month, my second series, The Guardian Angelinos, launches with EDGE OF SIGHT.  I’m so excited to delve into this new world of a big, loud, blended Italian clan that forms an ad hoc security company.  There are Angelino and Rossi cousins and siblings galore, tons of family friction, sexy love stories, non-stop action adventure, exotic settings, creepy villains, and, since they’re Italian, some really great food!

And YES, you can read one or all of these books, in any order.  That’s still important to me.  In the first book, former Army Ranger Zach Angelino reluctantly accepts the first assignment for his sister’s fledgling security firm, protecting Harvard-bound law student Samantha Fairchild after she’s witnessed an assassination and is next on the hit man’s list.  The problem?  Sam and Zach are former lovers and he left her for a tour of duty in Iraq three years earlier, then never contacted her again.  She’s not sure she can trust him.  He’s not sure he can resist her.  Now they are trying to crack a conspiracy that leads to Boston’s darkest corners of corruption.  They’ve got to face fears, desires, doubts and one really scary bad guy who wants to kill them both.

The next two books in the series (SHIVER OF FEAR and FACE OF DANGER) will be out back to back in the spring of 2011.  And, I’m thrilled to let readers know that there is a “freequel” on my web site!  This free short story can be easily downloaded so you can meet the main characters of EDGE OF SIGHT, and experience their sexy meeting and heartbreaking goodbye first hand.  Just go to the “free reads” section of www.roxannestclaire.com and download the pdf!

So, my question for you…Series or Stand Alone?  Which do you prefer and why?  There’s a GIVEAWAY, of course!  And I’ll pop in all day to answer any questions or comments!

Thanks, Martha, for inviting me and tons of hugs to all the loyal readers out there!

xxx

Thank you to Roxanne for this great post! I, for one, will be watching for the next books in this series.
I hope my followers and blog visitors will comment with a Thank you to Roxanne and read my review and enter the Giveaway.