My Overstuffed Bookshelf: Win A Kindle!!!

My Overstuffed Bookshelf: Win A Kindle!!!: "Wow! I have been blogging for 2 years now! I am so excited to share this milestone with everyone! I wanted to do something special because ..."

Deals from Sourcebooks

AUGUST eBOOK DEALS FROM SOURCEBOOKS

In honor of The Vampire Next Door, book 3 in the sassy paranormal romance series by Ashlyn Chase, book 1, STRANGE NEIGHBORS will be available for FREE from 8/2/11-8/8/11! How can a who is witch afraid of the dark and a vampire who can’t survive in sunlight find a way to be together?

Jeanette Baker is a beloved romance author, and Sourcebooks Casablanca is proud to be bringing her books back in print! With Catriona, a captivating tale of love, danger, and a passion that endures across the boundaries of time, heading back into stores this month, LEGACY will be available for FREE from 8/2/11-8/8/11!!

Are you looking for an adventurous book full of goblins, pixies, fairies and more? Book 2 by Jennifer A. Nielsen, Elliot and the Pixie Plot, hits stores this month but you can start the series from the beginning for FREE this week only (8/2/11-8/8/11) by reading ELLIOT AND THE GOBLIN WAR.

Would you like to brush up on your vocab skills? Or perhaps you know a high school graduate or current student getting ready to head back to school… Download these two reference/study aids to have the best conversation skills in town—not to mention it helps out with testing and college admissions! Fiske 250 Words Every High School Graduate Needs to Know and Fiske 250 Words Every High School Freshman Needs to Know will both be available for $1.99 for two weeks, 8/2/11-8/15/11!

Review of THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR

                                 THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR is available at Sourcebooks.

THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR
Ashlyn Chase

Sly Flores lost his wife, when a vampire attacked and turned him.  Since that time Sly has kept pretty much to himself, but he has devoted his time to keeping the neighborhood safe.  After an incident leaves him with a broken fang, Sly seeks help from the pretty witch, Morgaine, who lives in his apartment building.  Morgaine has some intense phobias, which keeps her tied to the apartment building.  These two realize, that they are attracted to each other, but Sly's maker has been hunting him and anyone close to him may be in danger.

THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR is an amusing, paranormal romance filled with quirky characters.  While this is an entertaining read, there is one character that seemed a little over the top.  Gwyneth, Morgaine's cousin, seemed a little overblown, but perhaps in later books, she will be a bit toned down.  I really enjoyed the paranormal characters in this book, and Sly and Morgaine make a charming couple.  I'm looking forward to the next installment of this series.

NOTE:  I was given this book in return for an unbiased review.

Review of SYLVESTER, OR THE WICKED UNCLE

                                                      
                                                          You can purchase SYLVESTER at Sourcebooks.


SYLVESTER, OR THE WICKED UNCLE
Georgette Heyer

Sylvester, the Duke of Salford, has decided, that it is time to pick a wife, and he has narrowed his list of candidates down to five.  When Sylvester's mother learns of his plans, she hopes that he will find someone to love and mentions her best friend's daughter, Phoebe Marlow.  Sylvester decides to add Phoebe to his list of candidates in hopes of pleasing his mother.  When Phoebe learns that the Duke of Salford might propose to her, she becomes upset because she took a dislike for him in her first season.  In fact, because of his sinister eyebrows, Phoebe makes him the villain in her novel, which is soon to be published. 

SYLVESTER, OR THE WICKED UNCLE is a Regency romp at its best.  Ms. Heyer creates characters that are realistic, lively, and humorous and the secondary characters are just as entertaining.  I,especiallly like Sir Nugent, who is very ridiculous, but completely oblivious to the fact.  Sylvester, at first, doesn't know what to do with the outspoken, Phoebe.  After all, she doesn't meet any of his requirements, in fact, she is unacceptable as a wife.  However, Sylvester finds himself drawn to Phoebe and put into his place several times.  Phoebe , on the other hand, discovers the good qualities in Sylvester. 

SYLVESTER, OR THE WICKED UNCLE is an enjoyable read with many laugh-out-loud moments and a memorable cast of characters.  I highly recommend it.

NOTE:  I was given this book in return for an impartial review.

Winnemucca Release Day Blitz

Winnemucca, YA Author’s Debut Paranormal Coming-Of-Age Novel, Explores Freedom & Forgiveness To Benefit Wounded Warriors

Monterey Peninsula, CA, July 15, 2011 – Laura A. H. Elliott releases her young-adult debut novel, Winnemucca, for the Kindle on Amazon.com. Winnemucca is a small-town fairy tale about a teenage girl’s enchanted road trip to her true self no matter who or what tries to stop her. One of two digital editions includes Laura’s digital signature with a donation to the Wounded Warrior project, in her nephew’s honor. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa9n1KIpaWw

“The story is told in poetic prose that I have not read since the writers of an older age. The tone of the story is set through the voice of the girl runaway before she has even realized her own talents, and is spoken with ‘the sound truth makes being said,’ as Ray Bradbury once coined the term. Emerging from a sea of derivative and formulaic novels, WINNEMUCCA is a fresh view of a world that is at once savage and beautiful, crushing and hopeful, and above all, brings magic back to ancient storytelling by bringing our attention back to the little things that matter, and the shifting nature of perception and reality alike.” -Rachel Coles, YA Book Reviewer and Author of 5 Young Adult Paranormal Fiction Novels

“The voice is distinct and the world she creates is both magical and mundane. As I read the book it reminded me of Neil Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS.” -Matthew Hill, editor

“The themes in my work are always the same: freedom and forgiveness. I am fascinated how the footprints of our ancestors can follow us into the future. I enjoy illuminating these ideas in my fiction. In this novel, I explore courage and the cost of freedom. I’m hoping WINNEMUCCA will get generations of people talking to each other about the role of freedom and forgiveness in their lives.” - Laura A. H. Elliott. Her favorite quote from the book: “Fear’s as blind as love.”

Laura’s travel and personal essays have been published in The Los Angeles Times and other Southern California newspapers and magazines. She honed her storytelling skills as a multimedia designer at The Los Angeles Times and E! Entertainment Television but learns the most around dinner tables. She has two grown daughters and currently resides on the Monterey Peninsula, with her husband, Joe, and their Aussie shepherd, Oso.

For more information contact:

www.authorlaura.com

elliwrite@yahoo.com

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004KFSC92

http://www.facebook.com/Laura.A.H.Elliott

 @Laurawriting

Laura In The News:

Author Interview with YA Author Abbi Glines http://www.abbiglines.com/2011/07/meet-author-of-todays-new-ya-release.html

For news coverage about our nephew, Cody:

http://www.ksby.com/videos/local-marine-recovering-from-severe-injuries-he-received-in-afghanistan/

One mistake changes her life forever. One answer will set her free.

Once upon a time Ginny’s road blood ripened, the day she got wise to love. Engaged to the high school quarterback, his quarter-carat ring and enchanting smile should have been enough for her. But, she stands him up and takes a walk where every step questions her happily ever after gone-bad and the fate of the mother she never knew. The mother her father refuses to talk about. Ginny fights to untangle her big, fat, lie-of-a-life on an enchanted road trip to Winnemucca, where she believes all her answers lie, no matter who or what tries to stop her.

From the author:

The giveaway: I have five books and the $15 Amazon gift cert. to giveaway. I'll monitor comments on the blogs and pick a random winner.

Here are the rules: I'm going to giveaway five copies of Winnemucca [the digitally signed, Wounded Warriors Edition] during the blitz and one Amazon $15 gift certificate. To win, I'd like readers to leave their road trip story in thecomments of the blogger [with their email address in case of a win!]. I'd also like them to also "like" me at http://www.facebook.com/Laura.A.H.Elliott    Giveaway goes until 10PM July 28th, PST

You can find the tour dates here.

  

 

Bad Ass Chicks That Bite: Adrian Phoenix Giveaway!

Bad Ass Chicks That Bite: Adrian Phoenix Giveaway!: "Hoodoo book #2 Hoodoo book #1 So today is Sunday and it's time for the giveaway that I promised you! Unfortunately Kallie co..."

If I Could Turn Back Time – Time-Travel/Time Slip eBooks for $2.99! (7/19/2011 – 7/25/2011)
http://www.sourcebooks.com/readers/browse-our-lists/ebook-specials.html



The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

This hauntingly beautiful tale of love and time travel by New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Susanna Kearsley features a modern American heroine who settles in near castle ruins in Scotland to write a novel about the 1708 Jacobite Rebellion only to discover the vivid scenes and the romantic hero she’s imagining actually exist...



















What Would Jane Austen Do? By Laurie Brown

Eleanor is a costume designer, in England for the Jane Austen festival, where her room at the inn is haunted. In the middle of the night she encounters two ghosts--sisters whose brother was killed in a duel over 200 years ago. The sisters persuade her to travel back in time with them to act as a diversion to the roguish lord who killed their brother… Eleanor is swept into a country house party, where she encounters and befriends Jane Austen and tries to help the ghost sisters. But there’s much more to Lord Shermont than the ghosts knew, and as Eleanor dances and flirts with him, she begins to lose her heart...















Legacy by Jeanette Baker

Casablanca Classics presents this haunting Scottish time travel from Daphne Award winning and bestselling author Jeanette Baker. When Christina Murray inherits her family’s ancestral Scottish home, she has also inherited a violent legacy of passion, bloodshed and genetic memory that only the breathtakingly handsome Ian Douglas can help her to overcome.

















The Return of Black Douglas by Elaine Coffman

Alysandir Mackinnon rules his clan with a fair but iron fist, but when he encounters a bewitching young beauty who may or may not be a dangerous spy, but is surely in mortal danger, he’s compelled to help… Thrown back in time to the tumultuous, dangerous Scottish Highlands of the 16th century, Isobella Douglas has a lot to learn about her ancestors, herself, and her place in the world. Especially when she encounters a Highland laird who puts modern men to shame. Each one has secrets to keep, until they begin to strike a chord in each other’s hearts that’s never been touched before…















Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine

With a story as mesmerizing as it is chilling, Lady of Hay explores how Jo, a journalist investigating hypnotic regression, plunges into the life of Matilda, Lady of Hay—who lived eight hundred years earlier. As she learns of Matilda’s unhappy marriage, her troubled love for Richard de Clare, and the brutal treatment she received from King John, it seems that Jo’s past and present are hopelessly entwined. Centuries later, a story of secret passion and unspeakable treachery is about to begin again—and she has no choice but to brave both lives if she wants to shake the iron grip of history.

Book Faery: 1200 (GFC) Followers Giveaway Contest!

Book Faery: 1200 (GFC) Followers Giveaway Contest!


Check out this great giveaway!

Books like Fairytales: Giveaway Time!!!!

Books like Fairytales: Giveaway Time!!!!: "Giveaway Time! I'll pick a winner when I reach 200 followers! So go ahead fill out the form bellow and spread the word! Rules: You must..."

Guest Post and Giveaway with L. K. Rigel

Welcome to the second stop on the Bleeder blog tour.  Keep reading for the guest post, a giveaway of this great novel, and a chance for $100 gift card at the tour's end.   

Thanks so much to Marlene and Book Lover & Procrastinator for hosting Bleeder on its blog tour. BL&P’s trivia question for the $100 giveaway is about totems, so I thought I’d post about tattoos and totems in the world of Apocalypto.

In the Apocalypto series, female fertility was once nearly destroyed. When the goddess Asherah made select girls fertile in order to save humanity, some started having children before they were old enough.

This enraged Asherah. She wants her chalices, as she calls them, admired and pampered. Impregnating a bleeder before she was 18 was bad for the girl and, worse, an act of disrespect to the goddess.

So Asherah decided to give each bleeder a “totem” when they came of age to indicate that they were blessed and ready for action, so to speak. The bleeder has the totem tattooed on her left arm during the Rites of May, the week of celebration and ritual when bleeders become consecrated chalices.

The totem represents something significant about the chalice’s essential nature and serves as a touchstone. She can meditate on the image and discover deeper self-understanding. Jordana’s totem is a mongoose. I love this, because her completion tattoo is a copperhead snake – a natural enemy of the mongoose.

 Another kind of tattoo in Apocalypto is the service tat. Every city has its own symbol. For Garrick, the symbol is a black raptor talon. Allel’s symbol is a honeybee. The symbol of Luxor is a red dagger. The princes of the cities have their symbol tattooed on their clavicle when they become king.

As a bleeder completes each contract to provide royal children to the cities, she tattoos the city’s symbol somewhere on her body to commemorate the service. Every bleeder/chalice is required by Red City to complete at least three contracts for two children. Celia of Allel has twelve tats when Mal meets her.

The bleeders call the tattoo for the final contract their “completion tattoo” and always have it put on their left cheek. This shows the world that they are in retirement from breeding.

There is another tattoo no one really talks about: the pink rosebud. This is put on the forehead of “proof-of-service” children – children that chalices have outside of contract to prove their fertility and thus raise their contract prices.

You can find Bleeder at the following places:
                                                                                Amazon

                                                                                B&N

                                                                                Smashwords

To enter my giveaway for an e-copy of Bleeder, just leave a question or comment for the author and an email address.  Giveaway ends July 17th at 11:59 cst.  The winner will have 48hrs. to respond to an e-mail.

Here is my question for the random drawing.

If this doesn't work go here.

The next blog stop: July 11 – vvb32 Reads

For a full tour line-up, visit here

LK Rigel lives in California with her cat, Coleridge.  She was once a singing waitress, scored the independent science fantasy karate movie Lucid Dreams, and was a reporter for the Sacromento Rock 'N Roll News.  Her BA is in humanities and religious studies.  Her work has appeared in Literary Mama and Tattoo Highway.  Her short story "Slurp" will appear in Anne Frasier's 2011 Halloween anthology Deadly Treats published by Nodin Press.

Review of Bleeder

Mal, who lives in a rather primitive and dangerous settlement of Garrick, knows long hours of work and endless hunger.  When an emissary from Red City arrives and Mal is determined to be a Bleeder,  Mal's life changes, for she is to be taken to Red City and trained to become a Chalice, a woman who will carry children for royalty.  On the way to Red City, the emissary and her contingent stop at Allel, to determine if another girl is, also, a Breeder.  While there, Mal meets Prince Emund of Allel and Prince Garrick of Garrick, both handsome and destined to play a role in her life.

Ms. Rigel creates a unique and vivid world filled with political intrigue,fantasy, and action, coupled with a great love story.   Mal, who trades a life of poverty for one of luxury, is trapped in a gilded cage, although she doesn't realize it at first.  Forced to bare children for the highest bidder, her life is one of ceremonies and duty, but she, slowly, discovers a need for something more than the duty to which she was brainwashed.  Edmund is a truly great hero, for he is strong, sympathetic, protective, and loving.  I became totally caught up in Edmund and Mal's plight and found myself on the edge of my seat awaiting the outcome.

All in all, Bleeder is a wonderful read, and I highly recommend it, for its imaginative world-building and superb love story.

Winner of the Freedom Blog Hop

The Freedom Blog Hop has ended and it was a great success.  I found some new blogs to visit and picked up some wonderful new followers.  The winner of my giveaway is

                                 Elle


Elle has been e-mailed and she responded.  Congrats!

Freedom Giveaway Hop

Book Lover and Procrastinator is stop 231 on the hop.
I'm giving away a $10 amazon e-giftcard to a lucky follower. 
+2 for old followers
+1 for new followers
Just leave a comment with your points.  Please leave an e-mail at which you can be reached.  US only.

Thanks to I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Simply Stacie for hosting the hop.  Below are the links to the others in the hop, so hop away.  Hop starts July 1st and ends July 7th at midnight cst.  I'm posting this early, but please don't enter until the 1st.  Hopefully, I will pick and contact the winner within 48 hrs.  The winner will have 48 hrs. in which to get back with me.  Thanks for participating!

The  linky doesn't want to work for me so go here for a listing of blogs.

Welcome to Larissa's Bookish Life: BHSV – Guest Post by Michele Bardsley + A 25$ Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!

Welcome to Larissa's Bookish Life: BHSV – Guest Post by Michele Bardsley + A 25$ Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!

Welcome to Larissa's Bookish Life: BHSV–Jeanne C. Stein Interview & 7 Signed Book Set + Swag Giveaway!

Welcome to Larissa's Bookish Life: BHSV–Jeanne C. Stein Interview & 7 Signed Book Set + Swag Giveaway!

Review of Green Lantern Movie

I finally got to see Green Lantern, and I wasn't totally blown away but didn't hate it either.  I would give it a C, because it was okay and entertained me.  It seemed like the pacing for the movie was off and it dragged in spots.  I wasn't feeling any real chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and the female lead.  There were some nice humorous moments and the actor playing Hector was exceptional.  Ryan Reynolds is smoking hot in this movie.  I wonder how much he works out.   Anyway, to recap:

Movie Score:  C
Eye Candy Score: A+

The Mod Podge Bookshelf: 1,000 Mod Podge Books

The Mod Podge Bookshelf: 1,000 Mod Podge Books: "My first Blog'O'Versary will be July 26th, 2011! I am very excited by this news and proud, proud of this thing I have created, the friends ..."

Upcoming Blog Tour and Stuff

I'll be participating in the Bleeder blog tour and hope to have a review posted in the near future.  This looks like a good one, and I hope y'all will come back and participate.   I saw X-men last week and loved it.  Now, I really want to see Green Lantern.  The reviews aren't very good for it, but I really like Ryan Reynolds and hope it is better than the press says.  Even if it is pretty bad, I'll get to look at Ryan Reynolds, so I can't lose.    Which movies are y'all looking forward to?

Giveaway Welcome to Larissa's Bookish Life: BHSV – Dakota Banks' Guest Blog + SIGNED Book & 25$ Amazon GC Giveaway!

Check out this great giveaway

Welcome to Larissa's Bookish Life: BHSV – Dakota Banks' Guest Blog + SIGNED Book & 25$ Amazon GC Giveaway!

Review of IT HAPPENED ONE BITE

IT HAPPENED ONE BITE
Lydia Dare
Sourcebooks, 2011
ISBN:  978-1-4022-4507-7

Blair Lindsay, part of a coven of five Scottish witches, travels with her brothers to her mother's ancestral home, a castle in need of a good cleaning.  James Maitland, Lord Kettering, is a vampyre, who has been trapped for decades in the Lindsay's castle.  It seems the previous seer of the coven told the coven members, that James was a danger to Blair, and they trapped him in the castle.  When Blair arrives, James wakes up and isn't a very happy camper.  Neither Blair nor James knows whether to trust the other, but their mutual attraction is evident.

IT HAPPENED ONE BITE is a very entertaining paranormal romance with great characters and an enjoyable plot with several humorous moments.  James is a suave, debonair vampyre used to charming his way through life, but he is thrown for a loop by Blair and more often than not, when around her gets foot-in-mouth disease.  It is great fun watching James struggle against his growing feelings for Blair.  Blair is a warrior witch, used to being in charge, and is blessed with a stubborn streak.  Very protective of her family and friends, Blair seeks someone, who will love her for herself-- as the strong, intelligent woman that she is.  Beloved characters from Ms. Dare's previous books make appearances and charming new characters are introduced.  This reader, especially, likes Brannock, Blair's younger brother, who could be counted on to lighten the mood.

Overall, IT HAPPENED ONE BITE is a marvelous read, which I highly recommend.  I'm on pins and needles to read the next in the series, IN THE HEAT OF THE BITE.

Note:  I purchased this book and gave an impartial review.