Thursday, June 30, 2011

Random Acts of Kindness- June Edition

Random Acts of Kindess is hosted by the ultra fabulous ladies of Book Soulmates aka Vanessa and Isalys. At the beginning of each month, you can sign up on their site with your wishlist and you may receive a book from another participant. It's a really great monthly program! New, used, paperback, hardback, ARCs, and eBooks are welcome to be sent out to participants who have the book on their list. This is my second month participating and I received some awesome books that I've been coveting. I also sent out some really great books.

Black Ties and Lullabies by Jane Graves
Format: ARC
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing-Forever (June 28, 2011)
ISBN: 9780446568470
A good girl can be bad for one night...
Bernadette Hogan doesn't make mistakes. Not when it come to caring for her mother, and not at her job protecting Texas's most eligible--and infuriating-- bachelor. Maybe that's why she's overcome with guilt after one tiny indiscretion: a passionate fling with him that's left her confused, intrigued...and pregnant.
but can a bad boy be good for a lifetime?
To self-made millionaire Jeremy Bridges, women are life fine wine: if held for too long, they sour. But one wild night with Bernadette changed all that. She makes him laugh, she makes him think, and soon she's going to make him a father. For the first time, Jeremy wants to be a one-woman man. So how can he convince the fiercely independent Bernadette he's ready to change from partying playboy to dependable dad--and become the loving husband she deserves?

I loved it.

REVIEW:

Another month of awesome books! My romance shelf is 3 deep. Thank goodness they're all mass market paperbacks and can fit on one shelf. But it may expand to 2.
I really should be doing the Mailbox Monday meme since I've been getting at least 1 or 2 books a week lately, but time flies and I keep forgetting to do it.
It's such an awesome feeling to get new books. But then I look at my shelf and freak out. There's over 50 books on that shelf (not including what's floating around in my Kindle *shudder*) I haven't gotten around to reading. Eep! And the following books will one day get read. I think.

W...W...W...(6)

W...W...W...Wednesdays is a weekly meme MizB of Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

So, here's my answers:

Teaser Tuesday (6)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser:

Man Candy Monday: RWA11 Edition

Due to RWA in New York, most of the lovely ladies on Man Candy Monday will be congregating there. They'll be busy with workshops and book signings so no Man Candy Monday on Twitter this week or next week. Since next week will be the Fourth of July. So we'll go on a two week hiatus but we'll come back strong.

In honor of RWA and all things romance, I present you with these hotties along with a list of some of the books they've been featured on or in stepbacks:

Paranormal eARC Review: Embraced by Blood by Laurie London

Embraced by Blood by Laurie London (Sweetblood Book #2)
Format: eBook via NetGalley
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin-HQN (June 21, 2011)
ISBN:9780373775866
Deep within the forests of the Pacific Northwest, two vampire coalitions battle for supremacy—
Guardian enforcers who safeguard humanity, and Darkbloods, rogues who kill like their ancient ancestors.
Alfonso Serrano is a hunted man. For months he’s managed to elude the Darkbloods, vengeful foes who won’t rest until he’s dead. But he still craves one dangerous temptation: Lily DeGraff, the sexy Guardian agent he’ll risk anything to protect.
Lily is a wanted woman. Her talent for tracking Sweet—a rare blood type that’s addictive to vampires—makes her a prime target for enemy capture. Her only hope is the stealthy vampire operative who stole into her bed…then left her in despair. Danger aside, Lily won’t let Alfonso near her heart again—until an irresistible hunger threatens to draw them back together… and into an assassin’s snare.

I loved it.

REVIEW:

Wow! What a great turnout for my first time participating in a blog hop. Thanks to everyone who participated! And now, I give you the winners. Drum roll please....

Congratulations to:

Heather @ Book Savvy Babe who won Prize #1

Rachel Fewell @ Jacob's Beloved who won Prize #2

Megan @ AmethystDayDreams who won Prize #3

Krystal Larson @ Live to Read who won Prize #4

Thanks to everyone who participated. All winners have been contacted by email. Winner has 48 hours to respond or new winner will be chosen. Don't forget about my 100 Followers Giveaway. Details here.

***Thank you to the fabulous Jenn and Ashley for sending me some awesome swag to drop in the mail with their books!**

Friday, June 24, 2011

RomCon Giveaway Winners!

CONGRATULATIONS:

Aislinn Macnamara

@aislinn_mac won the #RomCon11 ticket giveaway and meetup with the Pervy Trinity and Naughty Authors #1 and #2 AND DEREK!! YAY!!

The two runner up swag baskets full of awesome goodies go to:

Jen Martin aka @RedHotBooks and Isalys aka @IsaBookSoulmate

Thank you for all the entries and the fun over the past couple weeks! I hope you all can make it to RomCon this year! I'm so excited to meet you all! August is only about a month away!

Winner of RomCon11 Ticket Giveaway

CONGRATULATIONS:

AISLINN MACNAMARA!!

@aislinn_mac won the #RomCon11 ticket giveaway and meetup with the Pervy Trinity and Naughty Authors #1 and #2 AND DEREK!! YAY!!

Derek, Naughty Authors 1&2 and the
Pervies can't wait to meet you Aislynn!

The two runner up swag baskets full of awesome goodies go to:

Jen Martin aka @RedHotBooks and Isalys aka @IsaBookSoulmate

Thank you for all the entries and the fun over the past couple weeks!

I hope you all can make it to RomCon this year!

***A special thanks to my D picture dealer Jenn LeBlanc for letting me participate in this giveaway and to Ashley March, my soon to be Blue Bell ice cream dealer at RomCon. Also, thanks Jenn and Ash for providing the awesome quotes from your wonderful books. Sadly, I must go take them down. As well as the D pictures associated with the giveaway. Thanks to the Pervies who I'll be seeing at RomCon!***

Five Friday Favorites

Yay for Fridays! It's the end of the work week for all you 9-5ers. Saw Green Lantern Sunday and Ryan Reynolds looks GOOD in green spandex. And whitey tighties. Goodreads has been good to me. I've gotten 2 wonderful looking books that I'll be moving to the top of my TBR pile. I received some super fabulous items from Ashley March and Jenn LeBlanc which the lucky winners of the Midsummer's Eve Giveaway Hop will receive with their books. Picked up some great reads at my local B&N. Helloooo abs!
So grab a drink, kick back and share your favorite things about this week with me. And I'll share mine with you.

Follow Me Friday (3)

Follow my Book Blog is hosted by Parajunkee. It's a great way to get to know your fellow book bloggers and for making new blogger friends. Isn't that awesome? Everyone wins!

The featured blogger is:

Q:In light of the Summer Solstice. Also known as Midsummer...let's talk about fairies. What is your favorite fairy tale or story that revolves around the fae?

Holy wow!!! I've been seriously blogging since April, which means that I've been at this for 3 months and have finally reached 100 followers. You guys are AMAZING! Thank you so much!!!! This deserves a Richard Henry Hugh Purejoy Hutchins Dance Party™. =) And would you look at that?

Thanks Rita!

So here's the deal super awesome follower friends: I am giving 2 lucky followers (since I was going to do a giveaway when I hit 50) a book of their choice worth up to $10 from Amazon or for my international followers, a book of their choice worth up to $10USD from The Book Depository. Please make sure The Book Depository ships to your location.
Attention Kindle Owners: If you own a Kindle or have the Kindle app, you have the option of me sending your book that way. Please make sure that the book you want is available for download in your country.

So get out those wish lists!

For every 50 new followers, I will pick another lucky follower.
150 followers= 3 winners
200 followers= 4 winners and so on and so forth.

This giveaway will end 11:59pm PST July 8, 2011.

Giveaway Guidelines:

1. You MUST be a follower of this blog. Hence the follower giveaway.

2. You MUST fill out this FORM (Please don't leave any personal information in the comments. It will be deleted.) However, comments are greatly appreciated. Introduce yourself to me, say hi or tell me how much you love man candy monday. No spam please. Unless it's spam musubi.

Easy Peasy right?

Extra Entries (+1 for each):

1. Follow me on Facebook.

2. Follow OR friend me on Goodreads.

3. Follow me on Twitter. (this one, follow at your own risk)

4. Tweet about this giveaway. Leave a direct link in the form.

GOOD LUCK!

And now to cover my butt: The giveaway ends 11:59 PST July 8, 2011. (Yes, the form is time stamped so all entries submitted after that time will be thrown out. Also, double entries will be thrown out.) All names, email addresses and the like will be deleted after giveaway ends. I am not responsible for items that get lost or stolen while in transit to the winner. If you don't get your book, take it up with your mailman. He/she is probably a romance book addict and that is who your books have been going to. If you choose the Kindle option, make sure the book you choose is available for download in your country. The book must be worth up to $10USD. Winners will be chosen by random.org. I will choose a winner within 24 hours after the end of the giveaway. Winner has 48 hours to respond to the email sent after the giveaway ends. If winner does not contact me within the allotted time, a new winner will be chosen. Contrary to popular belief, I do not take bribes in the form of Henry Cavill, Richard Armitage or Derek Hutchins pictures. However, they are appreciated. =)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Dirty Little Secret (1)

Dirty Little Secret is a weekly meme hosted by Under the Covers. Every Thursday we get to know other bloggers and our readers more intimately by asking them a question hoping to reveal their dirty little secrets. We hope that you will all join us!

To participate in the meme all you need to do is:
1. Be a follower of Under the Covers.
2. Create a post in your blog taking the meme image and copy instructions.
3. Answer the question they propose! This can be done in any way you like, post a video, write a post etc.
4. Then add your link here.

Non-bloggers: I want to hear from you as well!!! Let me know your answer in the comments!

Q: Do you prefer furry or fangy?

W...W...W...Wednesdays is a weekly meme MizB of Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

So, here's my answers:

Historical ARC Review: How to Seduce A Scoundrel by Vicky Dreiling

How To Seduce A Scoundrel by Vicky Dreiling
Format: eBook via NetGalley
Genre: Historical Romance
Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing- Forever (July 1, 2011)
ISBN: 9780446565387

Miss Julianne Gatewick is in a pickle. It started when her brother's best friend-for whom she's long nursed a secret tendre-agreed to act as her guardian for the Season, only to seduce her with a risqué waltz. But when the music stopped and the expectant ton waited for Marc Darcett, Earl of Hawkfield, to claim her as his own, he made his disinterest clear. Rather than succumb to humiliation, Julianne does what any self-respecting, recently discarded young miss with a wicked sense of humor would do. She secretly pens a lady's guide to enticing unrepentant rakes . . . and it becomes the hottest scandal sheet in London.

Every honorable rake knows that friends' sisters are forbidden. But suddenly Julienne has a spark of mischief in her eyes that Hawk can't resist. Try as he might to push her away, he spends his days listening for her laughter and his nights dreaming of kissing her senseless. He's always avoided innocents and their marriage-minded mothers, but has the man least likely to wed finally met his match?

Go and buy it NOW!

REVIEW:

Romance Lately Episode 2

YAY! We had so much fun with Tiffany Reisz talking about Seven Day Loan and Siren so thanks for watching everyone! And now onto episode 2!

Topic of the Day: Romance Visuals- What does Romance LOOK like? And we have the perfect guest, Jenn LeBlanc who illustrated her on romance novel The Rake and The Recluse!

SO please come and hang with us! Plus, I know for a fact that there are going to be some HOT visuals!

Go to the Romance Lately blog to watch the show and to find the details on how to join in on the fun!

Teaser Tuesday (5)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser:

Midsummer's Eve Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Midsummer's Eve Giveaway Hop!

This is my first blog hop and I am very excited to be participating! Thanks to I Am A Reader, Not A Writer for hosting it.
Over 200 blogs are participating in this hop. I am stop #183. Tentatively. Yay! The linky for all the blogs are at the bottom of the post. The hop runs from Tuesday, June 21st thru Friday, June 24th.
I have 4 great giveaways for you today. There will be 4 winners. Giveaway is open to US/Can only. As I get more comfortable with blog hops, I will open future ones to international followers.

I love Mondays. Want to know why? I'll tell you. Every Monday is Man Candy Monday on Twitter. What's that? Well, it's where we come together and share our love for half dressed to almost naked men by using the hashtag #ManCandyMonday. When does this all go down? 8pm CST. Usually there's a theme but once the pictures start flowing... you never know what's going to pop up (so to speak). When viewing said pictures, make sure you're an arms length from you keyboard. You know, in case of droolage. Don't want you to electrocute yourself.

So today's theme is: Men in Uniform. *sigh*

Romance Lately!

I am sooo excited! Tonight is the debut of our top secret project: Romance Lately! The Pervy Trinity has been hard at work setting this up and hopefully everyone loves it. Think Chelsea Lately but with books. The first 1/2 hour will be us laughing and discussing hot topics in the romance world and other crazy things. The nest 1/2 hour will be dedicated to our special guest. And our first guest is going to be great! Everyone say hello to Tiffany Reisz!

We're not pulling any stops for the first show! It's going to get dirty talking about her novella Seven Day Loan and BDSM.

The best thing about our show... audience participation! That's right! You can text a question in or if you're brave enough ask a video question.

Make sure you check out Romance Lately blog to get all the deets on how to participate. AND please come and watch!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Five Friday Favorites

Yay for Fridays! It's the end of the week. Time to kick back, relax and grab a good book or see a great movie. Or in my case, spend a good 5 hours sitting on the boardwalk, people watching behind my 'Top Gun' inspired aviators and finding inspiration for a WIP that'll never see the light of day. Without further ado, I give you this weeks Five Friday Faves:

Follow Me Friday (2)

It's Follow Friday!
Follow my Book Blog is hosted by Parajunkee. It's a great way to get to know your fellow book bloggers and for making new blogger friends. Isn't that awesome? Everyone wins! Oh, and there's an AWESOME giveaway courtesy of Parajunkee. She's giving away a Blog Package aka a blog revamp to one lucky FF participant. How super neat-OH and awesomely generous is that? Visit her site for details.Oh yeah! It's her: 50th Feature and Follow Friday post. And that deserves a Richard Henry Hugh Purejoy Hutchins Dance Party™.

courtesy of Rita J aka Not Another
Romance Blog

The featured blog for this week is:

Q: Genre Wars! What's your favorite genre and which book in that genre made it your favorite?

Seven Day Loan by Tiffany Reisz
Format: Kindle
File Size: 176 KB
Publisher: Spice Briefs (December 1, 2010)

A trained submissive, Eleanor will do whatever her master commands...even spend a week with a stranger. Daniel has been a recluse since his wife's death, and Eleanor's lover thinks spending time with her will be therapeutic—especially since Daniel is also a Dom.
Despite her defiant streak, Eleanor can't resist giving in to Daniel's erotic demands. But while she'll let him have her body, she's determined to keep a guard around her heart. Even if Daniel wants to make Eleanor his permanently....

Buy it here: Amazon | B&N Nook
Where to find Tiffany: Website | Twitter

I loved it.

Review(18+; sexual innuendos included):

You're Invited...

...To Join Us for the First Show of Romance Lately.

Please invite your friends to join us for the launch of our first show this Saturday, June 18 at 8 PM EST. Our special guest is the awesomely funny, extremely dirty, Tiffany Reisz, author of SEVEN DAY LOAN. If you'd like to read some of her work, here's a short story titled: DANIEL, PART TWO (18+). Ask questions through chat or video call in and talk face-to-face with us! The material discussed in this episode is not suitable for those under 18 years old.
Please note: Each show will cover different topics according to the author we have on the show.

We'll be talking with authors from all sub-genres of romance, and there may be topics we'll cover that you are uncomfortable with so please check out our site: Romance Lately to find a preview of the stuff we'll talk about.

About the Show:

Romance Lately is an online talk show broadcasted LIVE and hosted by Rita from Not Another Romance Blog, Kati from Romancing Rakes, and Jamie from For The Love of Romance. They are known by a few as 'The Pervy Trinity' and if you watch just a few minutes of one of their shows- you'll know why. Geared specifically towards Book lovers of a romantic persuasion- Romance Lately is a talk show centering around just that-ROMANCE. The host talk about everything under the romance novel sun- Who's coming out with a new book series, which novels are hot this month, which books can't get here fast enough! Each show will have either a special guest, a special theme, or a combination of the two. Ideally, the goal is to reach any and every lover of romance books- so one show might showcase paranormal romance, another show might focus in on historicals, ect. What's even better is that the show is hosted from the super cool web platform called VOKLE, which is interactive and allows for the audience (that's you!) to participate in the show! Audience members can ask live questions (via web cam) or text questions to the hosts or the show's guest and participate in the chat which goes on simultaneously throughout the show!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Paranormal Review: Darkness Dawns by Dianne Duvall

Darkness Dawns (Immortal Guardians Book 1) by Dianne Duvall
Format: Kindle Edition
Print Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Zebra Books; Reprint edition (February 1, 2011)

Once, Sarah Bingham’s biggest challenge was making her students pay attention in class. Now, after rescuing a wounded stranger, she’s landed in the middle of a battle between corrupt vampires and powerful immortals who also need blood to survive. Roland Warbrook is the most compelling man Sarah has ever laid hands on. But his desire for her is mingled with a hunger he can barely control . . .
In his nine centuries of immortal existence, no woman has tempted Roland as much as Sarah. But asking her to love him is impossible -- when it mean forfeiting the world she’s always known, and the life he would do anything to protect.

Buy It Here: Kindle | Amazon | B&N |Nook | Book Depository

Author Site: Dianne Duvall
Read an Excerpt: Darkness Dawns

I really liked it.

Review After the Jump:

W...W...W...Wednesdays is a weekly meme MizB of Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

So, here's my answers:

Teaser Tuesday (4)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser:

Here's a little something to make your Monday a better one. Yup! It's another edition of Man Candy Monday.
Join us on Twitter every Monday at 8 CST using the hashtag #mancandymonday. We ogle, share, drool, giggle and swoon over good looking men. Authors find inspiration for their next book, readers can bribe small tidbits about author's next book out of them with just a ~~little~~ lot of skin. =) So everybody wins!

This week, I give you: