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Sunday, October 3, 2010

It's Monday! What are you Reading October 4, 2010?

This meme starts at One Person's Journey Through A World of Books!

What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I had another good reading week: finished 2 print books, 2 short Kindle books and one Audible listen. Reading more good books now. :)
I posted four reviews all with giveaways!

Still working on more overdue reviews now; making slow progress but NOT getting behind on any new reviews - if you don't count my reads from TBR which I may or may not get to review. 

I did get to visit more last week including 18 It's Monday posts.I didn't make as many as I wanted but that was better than usual.

These were last week's posts plus several Winner posts not listed.
Two Lethal LiesFinished Reading:
PBTwo Lethal Lies by Annie Solomon. Review and Giveaway posted - see links above.


PB:  Simply Irresistible (A Lucky Harbor Novel) by Jill Shalvis. This was a delightful read. I will be posting the review and Hachette Giveaway on Thursday October 7, 2010.
Maddie Moore's whole life needs a makeover.

Simply Irresistible (A Lucky Harbor Novel)In one fell swoop, Maddie loses her boyfriend (her decision) and her job (so not her decision). But rather than drowning her sorrows in bags of potato chips, Maddie leaves L.A. to claim the inheritance left by her free-spirited mother-a ramshackle inn nestled in the little coastal town of Lucky Harbor, Washington.

Starting over won't be easy. Yet Maddie sees the potential for a new home and a new career-if only she can convince her two half-sisters to join her in the adventure. But convincing Tara and Chloe will be difficult because the inn needs a big makeover too.

The contractor Maddie hires is a tall, dark-haired hottie whose eyes-and mouth-are making it hard for her to remember that she's sworn off men. Even harder will be Maddie's struggles to overcome the past, though she's about to discover that there's no better place to call home than Lucky Harbor.
First Flight: A Tor.Com OriginalKindle:  First Flight: A Tor.Com Original by Mary Robinette Kowal.  4.0 A quick fun read- it just ended too soon. Check it out as a free Kindle read.
Product Description The past is another country, in Mary Robinette Kowal’s Tor.com tale of time travel and aviation history. "First Flight" is a finalist for the 2010 Locus Award. The winner of the 2008 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of short fiction published in Strange Horizons, Cosmos, and Asimov's. Her first novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, will be published by Tor in 2010.

Overtime: A Tor.Com OriginalOvertime: A Tor.Com Original by Charles Stross. 4.0 This was another quick free Kindle ebook read for fun before I picked my next Kindle review book. It is set at Christmas time and made me think a little of Men in Black.
Product Description  Introduced to readers in the novels The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue, the Laundry is a secret British government agency charged with preventing dark interdimensional entities from destroying the human race.  Now, in "Overtime," the Laundry is on a skeleton staff for Christmas — leaving one bureaucrat to be all that stands between the world and annihilation by the Thing That Comes Down Chimneys. Written especially for Tor.com’s holiday season, Charles Stross’s novelette is a finalist for the 2010 Hugo Award.

Audible: Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn. 4.5. I enjoyed this werewolf story  listen and will look forward to more in the series.
Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station---and a werewolf in the closet. Sick of lame song requests, she accidentally starts "The Midnight Hour," a late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. After desperate vampires, werewolves, and witches across the country begin calling in to share their woes, her new show is a raging success. But it's Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew. 
Line Edits:  Working on final line edits for Love from the Ashes.

Currently reading:
PB:  Highland Hellcat by Mary Wine. This is another good and fast read. I am two thirds complete.  This book was provided by Sourcebook and I plan to post the review with ARC giveaway this week.

Highland HellcatIn the raw, rugged beauty of the Scottish Highlands, tumultuous times bred warrior men and women who fought for country, keep, and kin, and loved as passionately as they lived. An illegitimate son, chosen as laird after the ruling Douglas clan slaughtered his family, Connor Lindsay is surrounded by men who challenge his right to lead. Looking for a virtuous bride to cement his leadership by presenting him with an heir, he kidnaps a feisty laird’s daughter. To keep this Highland Hellcat in his bed, he’ll have to do battle with the Douglases, the Church, and most of all Brina herself.





Kindle: Moonlight Bleu by Renee Rearden. I just started this and there are some complex relationships and unique dynamics in this interesting story. The book was provided by the author for review. 

Product Description
Moonlight BleuSaari Mitchell sees a psychologist in order to understand why-500 years later-she's still dreaming of her dead lover. Her shrink isn't helping, the nightmares come every time she closes her eyes, and the lack of sleep is interfering with her job at Sacred Heart Hospital. With her psychic ability to heal the human spirit on the fritz, her auric radar becomes as reliable as her spotty cell phone service. By day, Dhelis Guidry works as a detective for the new Angeles Police Department investigating the missing or murdered women in the Full-Moon Killer case. In his spare time he hunts rogue vampires as a Tueri executioner. Brogan Vincent is a Tueri healer. Though he could offer his miraculous talents to the rich and powerful, he has chosen anonymity and peace by only using his psychic abilities among the Tueri. One look into Saari's tri-colored eyes and both men realize she is Tueri. One touch tells them each she's their soul mate. But can either of them protect her from the Full-Moon Killer?
Audiobook: Whiteout by Ken Follett. I wanted an audio for the ride back from the airport on Friday. I got lucky to get this one a few months back at the thrift store.  Still enjoying this good mystery at the fourth of five discs.
WhiteoutProduct Description Jealousies, distrust , and hidden rivalries uncover dark secrets, then a dozen vials of a deadly virus go missing. As a blizzard whips out of the north on Christmas Eve, several people converge on a remote family house. Stanley Oxenford, director of a pharmaceutical research company, has everything riding on a drug he is developing to fight a lethal virus. Several others are interested in his success too: his children, at home for Christmas with their offspring, have their eyes on the money he will make; Toni Gallo, head of his security team and recently forced to resign from the police, is betting her career on keeping it safe; an ambitious local television reporter sniffs a story, even if he has to bend the facts to tell it; and a violent trio of thugs are on their way to steal it, with a client already waiting. As the storm worsens and the group is laid under siege by the elements, the emotional sparks crackle and dark secrets are revealed that threaten to drive Stanley and his family apart for ever. Filled with startling twists, "Whiteout" is the ultimate knife-edge drama from an international bestselling author who is in a class by himself.
Audible:  Real Murders (An Aurora Teagarden Mystery) by Charlaine Harris. I am enjoying the mystery in this; not so crazy about the narration. This is an Audible from my own choices.
Though a small town at heart, Lawrenceton, Georgia, has its dark side - and its crime buffs. One of them is librarian Aurora "Roe" Teagarden, a member of the Real Murders Club, which meets once a month to analyze famous cases. It's a harmless pastime - until the night she finds a member killed in a manner that eerily resembles the crime the club was about to discuss.
As other brutal "copycat" killings follow, Roe will have to uncover the person behind the terrifying game, one that casts all the members of Real Murders, herself included, as prime suspects - or potential victims.
Line Edits: I hope to finish formatting two more books this week for release.


Upcoming books:  
PB:  Just One Taste (Recipe for Love) by Louisa Edwards. Book giveaway with swag coming next week. ARC and swag provided by Nancy Berland PR.  
PB:  The Passionate Brood: A Novel of Richard the Lionheart and the Man Who Became Robin Hood by Margaret Campbell Barnes. Reading and reviewing for Sourcebooks.
Kindle:  I will probably start one of the Sourcebook prints on the Kindle to keep the books moving.
Audio:  I hope to get in some new audio books for review and giveaway this week!

I have a dozen good Soursebook paperback books lined up for October, November and December with book giveaways. Plus several Hachettes and some blog tours for Pump up Your Book Promotion. More busy times ahead. :)

Blog Tour: Season of Seduction by Jennifer Haymore

Please join me for my review, Hachette Giveaway and Q&A with Jennifer Haymore coming up on October 13, 2010.
Here is the bull Blog Tour Schedule:

10/4/2010 http://www.rundpinne.com Review
10/4/2010 www.rexrobotreviews.com Review, Giveaway, Q&A
10/4/2010 www.mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com Feature, Review, Giveaway, Q&A
10/4/2010 www.bibliophilicbookblog.com Review, Giveaway
10/4/2010 http://maryinhb.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/4/2010 http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway, Q&A
10/5/2010 http://reesspace.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/6/2010 http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/ Feature, Review, Giveaway, Q&A
10/6/2010 www.becksbookpicks.blogspot.com  Feature, Review, Giveaway
10/6/2010 www.booksoulmates.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/6/2010 www.booksoulmates.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/7/2010 http://inthehammockblog.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/8/2010 www.thebookgirl.net Review, Giveaway
10/8/2010 http://www.saveyspender.com Review, Giveaway
10/11/2010 www.froggaritasbookcase.net Review, Giveaway, Q&A
10/11/2010 http://booksandmakeup.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/11/2010 http://bridget3420.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/11/2010 http://thebooktree.blogspot.com Feature, Giveaway
10/11/2010 www.amusingreviews.blogspot.com Feature, Giveaway
10/12/2010 www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/12/2010 http://j-rabbits-corner.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/13/2010 http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway, Q&A
10/13/2010 http://onebookshy.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway, Q&A
10/13/2010 http://www.findthetimetoread.net Feature, Review, Giveaway
10/14/2010 http://diana-book-of-secrets.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway, Q&A
10/14/2010 http://triciareads.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/14/2010 http://chrissysworldofbooks.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway
10/15/2010 http://candidclevercosteffective.net/ Review, Giveaway
10/15/2010 www.renees-reads.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/15/2010 http://www.libslibrary.blogspot.com Feature, Giveaway
10/15/2010 The Fiction Enthusiast Review, Giveaway
10/15/2010 http://ashleysbookshelf.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/15/2010 http://dkay401-challenges.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway
10/15/2010 http://startingfreshnyc.com Review, Giveaway
10/15/2010 www.tarmyblogspot.blogspot.com Review, Q&A

Sunday Words of Encouragement October 3, 2010

This morning our Pastor spoke on being in "a slump." Even in sports, athletes can get in a slump.  Often it is caused because 1) the person can't let go of a past mistake or 2) the person loses focus. Here is an acronym to help get out of a slump in your spiritual walk..
A - Acknowledge where you are.
S - Spend time with God.
L - Listen to what God says.
U - Understand there are different paths to connect with God.(Intellectual, rational, service, worship, activism,contemplation and creation. See God Is Closer Than You Think: This Can Be the Greatest Moment of Your Life Because This Moment Is the Place Where You Can Meet God by John Ortberg).
M - Make the "one thing needed" (God) your focus. Luke 10:41-42.
P - Practice the things you did at first.

I don't usually pick concert videos 
but the excitement in this video is catching.
Sometimes we can worship with this much enthusiasm.
Verses for today.
Isaiah 43: 18-19 NIV
18Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert

This morning we prayed for encouragement. Tonight we have prayer service and will be praying, particularly during this National Cancer Awareness Month, for those fighting cancer. I will be remembering friends I have met online who need these prayers.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Blog Tour: Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis

This book is a DELIGHT! Check my Review and Hachette Giveaway on October 7, 2010.
The full blog tour list is below.


9/27/2010  http://www.extremepersonalmeasures.com/ Review, Giveaway
9/27/2010  http://sensibleshoppers.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway
9/27/2010  http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
9/27/2010 http://aseaofbooks.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway
9/27/2010 http://freelyyouhavereceivedfreelygive.blogspot.com/ Features, Review, Giveaway
9/27/2010 www.becksbookpicks.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
9/27/2010 http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com Features, Review, Giveaway
9/27/2010 http://nhertel85.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway
9/28/2010 http://brokenteepee.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
9/28/2010 http://maryinhb.blogspot.com  Review, Giveaway
9/28/2010 http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/ Features, Review, Giveaway, Q&A
9/29/2010 www.rexrobotreviews.com Review, Giveaway
9/30/2010 www.lovetoreadforfun.com Features, Review, Giveaway, Q&A
9/30/2010 http://reesspace.blogspot.com Features, Review, Giveaway
10/1/2010 www.thebookgirl.net Review, Giveaway
10/1/2010 my-book-views.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/1/2010 www.cherylsbooknook.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/2/2010 http://j-rabbits-corner.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/2/2010 http://thebooktree.blogspot.com Features, Giveaway
10/2/2010 http://cuzinlogic.wordpress.com Review, Giveaway
10/2/2010 http://booksandneedlepoint.blogspot.com Features, Review , Giveaway
10/2/2010 myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com Review , Giveaway
10/2/2010 http://www.rundpinne.com Review
10/4/2010 www.froggaritabookcae.net Review, Giveaway, Q&A
10/4/2010 http://ashleysbookshelf.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/4/2010 http://booksandmakeup.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/5/2010 http://momblogshowcase.com Features, Review, Giveaway
10/6/2010 http://www.findthetimetoread.net Review, Giveaway
10/7/2010 kittycrochettwo.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/7/2010 http://www.libslibrary.blogspot.com Features, Giveaway
10/7/2010  http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/  Features, Review, Giveaway
10/8/2010 www.renees-reads.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway
10/8/2010 www.thecajunbooklady.com Review, Giveaway
10/8/2010 http://www.mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com Features, Review, Giveaway
10/8/2010 http://candidclevercosteffective.net/ Review, Giveaway
10/8/2010 http://bridget3420.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway

Book Review and eBook Giveaway: Raeliksen by Renee Vincent

You may find that you sink into the emotions in this beautiful Viking era romance.
Ræliksen (The Emerald Isle Trilogy) by Renee Vincent.

  • Format: Kindle Edition  [Also Available in Print]
  • File Size: 1142 KB
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Turquoise Morning Press (August 4, 2010)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B003YDXNKO
Author website
Genre: Historical Romance (915 A.D. Ireland)
My Rating: 4.75
Product Description
Mara, the daughter of an Irish clansman, was raised to believe the men of the North are heathens—murderous pagans without a moral bone in their bodies. Despite warnings of the Northmen's raids, and the growing threat of another incursion, Mara is continually drawn to her favorite place—the River Shannon.

Dægan Ræliksen, a wealthy chieftain from Norway's frozen fjords, secretly discovers Mara at the water's edge. He is charmed by her beauty and sensuous grace. As the days pass, his contentment with simply watching her grows thin. He can no longer deny his unabated desire for the young maiden. His search for a wife has ended.

However, Mara and Dægan come face-to-face in a time when Ireland is in turmoil - when every Irishman is being called up to fight against the Nordic foreigners. In these times of upheaval, how can Dægan make peace with Mara's father and acquire the woman he treasures? Furthermore, can Mara move past her fears and find the noble man within the savage?
Review: This is a Viking love story with plenty of action, gripping emotion and wonderful romance.

Mara is a bit of a free spirit riding alone from the safety of her grounds and not really thinking of danger.  Suddenly she is trapped by a giant of a man. She is frightened by the big Viking at first until she realizes he is trying to protect her, not hurt her. Daegan takes Mara to travel to his homeland and away from the enemies who are planning to attack her father and would harm her. Although wary, she slowly learns that Daegan is not a brutal barbarian as she has been taught all Northmen are. In truth she learns that although he is a strong warrior he is honorable, loyal and tender.

Daegan wants to get permission from Mara’s father to wed her but at first he doesn’t realize that Mara is the daughter of a King and the sworn enemy of his countrymen. He can’t take Mara back to her father right away because they are in danger of being caught by a brutal army that is camped between them and her home. Now his enemy/would be father in law will want his head for kidnapping his daughter.

The story is filled with danger, tension and several surprises. There are unexpected enemies and secrets that get revealed deep in the story. The scenery is striking and beautiful. The historical account seems accurate and the action is fast paced and intense. The best part though is depth of the character's feelings.  I got wrapped into the emotions, especially the heartbreak at the death of several characters. The romance between Mara and Daegan is sweet, strong, sensual and emotionally gripping. If you like historical romance don’t miss this beautiful story.


Thank you to author Renee Vincent and Publisher Turquoise Morning Press for providing the book for review and Giveaway!  The eBook is available in several formats, mobi, pdf, ePub  and others.

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY FOR THE EBOOK:
Mandatory: 1.Visit the author's website and tell me something you learned there.OR tell me what you think you might like about a Viking or ancient Ireland story.
Please leave your e-mail!

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

3. For 5 entries for posting the giveaway on your blog or facebook about this giveaway and tell me where you did. (5 points each post) Put the link in a comment.

4. Extra entry for each tweet about this giveaway  - up to three. Put the link in a comment.

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

* This contest is open Worldwide.

* This contest will close 10:00 PM (Central) on October 17, 2010. The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.

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