Carolyn Jewel | Stumbling Over Chaos

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post before 7 pm CDT, August 6, for your chance to win a copy of Diana Holquist’s How to Tame a Modern Rogue!

Head over to Fang-tastic Books to read an interview with Barbara Bretton and then have a chance to win one of five copies of her latest paranormal knitting romance, Laced With Magic. Leave a comment before August 9 and make sure you stop back at Fang-tastic Books to see who won. (I loved the first book, Casting Spells, and am looking forward to this one.)

Valerie is giving away fabric and Handmaiden yarn to two lucky commenters on her blog. She’ll select the winners on August 10.

Jodi’s celebrating her blogiversary by giving away books, something handknit by her, and maybe yarn. Leave a comment before August 9 for your chance to win.

Anna (a fellow Minnesotan!) is clearing off her shelves and giving away an amazing list of books. Leave your comment with which two books you’d like to win, and Anna will select five winners on August 17.

Author Nancy Harkness is giving away a bright skein of Stacel merino lace to celebrate the reopening of her local yarn shop. Send her an email before August 17 for your chance to win.

Aarti of Booklust is looking for guest bloggers for her Rosie the Riveter series on riveting women in literature. Stop by,Â check out the series, and let Aarti know if you’re interested in writing a guest post. Last week’s post was by Carrie K!

*sniff* This xkcd made me sad!

Author Michele Hauf will be spotlighting author and editor to-be-read piles this week.

Jodi discovered a free Edward Gorey font!

Dear Author has a great news round-up, including a statement from the RIAA that might make your brain explode. If that doesn’t, the tale of an author freakout on Amazon might do the trick.

Check out Dear Author’s list of August ebook deals, too. Smart Bitches has a similar, but not identical list with pictures.

The monthly Literary Escapism newsletter is up, featuring a mind boggling amount of book, author, and contest information. If that’s not enough information for you, head over to SciFiGuy’s list of the August urban fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction/fantasy releases.

Now there’s a lawsuit against Amazon by a student whose notes on 1984 became useless when Amazon deleted 1984 and Animal Farm from all Kindles a few weeks ago.

Smart Bitches has a nice list of accessories for the Sony Reader, some of which can be used on other ereaders, too. Smart Biches also has a report from a new Sony Reader owner, complete with comics! Hmm – will the rumored new Sony Readers break the $200 price point?

Huh. Barnes & Noble is inexplicably wrapping DRM around public domain books.

All About Romance has a thoughtful post about book piracy.

Although the contest is over, the Heaving Mantitty Contest post at Deadline Dames is still an amusing read.

Reading Update
My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel. This is the second book in the series that began with My Wicked Desire, and it kept me as enthralled as the first book! If you’re looking for a steamy paranormal series without vampires or werewolves, you’ll love this one.
Hidden Current (Drake Sisters, Book 7) by Christine Feehan. I couldn’t read it. I got a chapter or two into it, and just could not keep reading about Elle being raped and tortured. Nope.
To Fat and Back by Beverly Rae. ebook. Cute story about a woman who has a crush on a hunk who won’t look at her twice, but I was aggravated by all the passive voice. I was surprised – Samhain usually does better with the editing.
Huntress by Christine Warren, Marjorie M. Liu, Caitlin Kittredge, and Jenna MacIaine. Solid paranormal collection about butt-kicking heroines. The stories from Kittredge and MacIaine are set in ongoing series, while the stories from Warren and Liu are not.
Demon in Blue Jeans by Toni V. Sweeney. ebook. Basically a short story, kinda cute, but too! many! exclamation! points!
Unholy Night by Candice Gilmer. ebook. Nicely done, somewhat steamy paranormal romance about good werewolves and a bad vampire. Need to pick up the rest of this series.
Marked and Feral by Joely Skye. ebooks. Paranormal m/m romance series about werewolves in Canada. Very good, although I got frustrated at times because so many of the conflicts and misunderstandings were caused by people being cryptic with each other, to the point that it felt unrealistic. Hmm. Not sure that makes sense to anyone other than me!
The Darkest Prison (Lords of the Underworld) by Gena Showalter. ebook. This was an ok paranormal novella about the Titan Atlas and the Greek goddess Nike. (And actually not at all about the Lords of the Underworld, other than the Prologue and passing references.)
Total Eclipse of the Heart, Big Girls Don’t Die, It’s Raining Men, and Crazy Little Thing Called Love (In the Heat of the Night, Books 1-4) by Crystal Jordan. ebooks. Extremely steamy paranormals about the best magical bar in L.A. and the interactions of some of the owners and patrons. Not a big fan of the multiple partner thing, which two out of the four have, but the writing and characterization are great.
Demon Dreamer (Captive Souls, Book 3) by Vivi Anna. ebook. Paranormal romance about a woman who dreams of a demon lover and how her dreams become reality. It was ok, but I have no interest in reading the other two. Love the cover, though!

“Why are you upside down? Isn’t that uncomfortable?” -Mayhem

Fang-tastic Books is giving away an ebook copy of Maree Anderson’s steamy and enjoyable paranormal romance, Even Demons Get the Blues. Leave a comment for your chance to win.

For a chance to win a copy of the young adult paranormal Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, leave a comment at Book Smugglers by July 25, 11:59 pm. (Oh, and don’t forget that it’s Young Adult Appreciation Month at Book Smugglers!)

Barnes & Noble launched an ebookstore, complete with its own DRM (digital rights management) scheme. According to Dear Author, of the 700,000 books available, 500,000 are in the public domain… so B&N pretty much has the same non-public domain offerings as everyone else.

Oh, my. The Broomba?! Very Sorcerer’s Apprentice…

We should’ve guessed it was coming after Pride and Prejudice and Zombies… Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

Learn how to load non-Amazon ebooks on your Kindle. Why would Kindle owners want to do that? Well, perhaps you heard about Amazon’s latest Big Brotheresque kerfuffle, in which they removed copies of 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindles without notifying those who’d purchased the books first. (Really, could they have picked a better book than 1984 for this shenanigan?!) Yes, the books weren’t legal for the US (still copyrighted here, not so in the rest of the world), but the sweeping unannounced delete was probably not Amazon’s finest moment. Also, apparently there’s a class action lawsuit in the works over the fragility of Kindles.

Signs that you might be reading too many romance novels… (although I can make a case for #7 and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels!)

Too bad this reading lamp/bookstand is just a concept.

Did you hear about Book Blogger Appreciation Week? It’ll run September 14 – 18.

Head over to Lurv A La Mode to vote yay or nay for mantitty on romance novel covers. (Some covers will look familiar to you from this blog.) Can you guess what I voted? 😉

Reading Update
Red Fire and Red Kiss (Gods of Midnight, Books 1-2) by Deidre Knight. After how much I loved Knight’s book The Butterfly Tattoo, I had high hopes for this paranormal series about immortal Spartan warriors. I’m intrigued by the characters (enough to continue following the series), but the writing seems uneven and parts of the storyline annoy the heck out of me.
Animal Instinct (Men of Alaska) by Paige Tyler. ebook. Another story about a hunky Alaskan werewolf. What’s not to like? 🙂 This is the sequel to Animal Attraction.
A Fantasy Medley by Kelley Armstrong, C.E. Murphy, Robin Hobb, and Kate Elliott. Short stories, set in each author’s particular world. I liked the stories by Kelley Armstrong (no familiar Otherworld characters, alas) and C. E. Murphy (Janx! And Daisano! And Baba Yaga!) the best.
Tooth and Claw by Annmarie McKenna. ebook novella. Seth’s a vampire who can shift into jaguar form and faints at the sight of blood. He’s met his mate… only she doesn’t know it yet. Oh, and it’s too bad she hates vampires… My only complaint about this one? I wanted the story to be longer!
Forever Immortal (Immortal Series, Book 4) by J.K. Coi. ebook. Ok story about a demon hunter who finds himself in love with a demon who used to be human.
Called by Blood and Bound by Blood (The Faustin Brothers, Books 1-2) by Evie Byrne. ebooks. Very good, steamy paranormal romances about vampire brothers who live in NYC and whose mother has visions that send the brothers out to find their fated mates. I’m looking forward to the next book!
My Wicked Enemy by Carolyn Jewel. Very good paranormal romance about fiends (a type of demon) and magekind (humans who wield magic and often enslave fiends for nefarious purposes). Recommended.
Oleander House, What Hides Inside, Twilight, and Closer (Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Books 1-4) by Ally Blue. ebooks. This is another series I’m really enjoying. These are sort of hard for me to categorize – they’re definitely romances, although be warned that they are m/m romances. They’re paranormal, in that they’re about a group that investigates mysterious phenomena. Also, be warned that each book gets progressively more steamy.
Turn Left at Sanity by Nancy Warren. Delightful contemporary romance about a New Yorker who goes to Beaverton, Idaho, to see if it’s a good place to locate a kitty litter factory. The eccentric residents of Beaverton aren’t particularly pleased with the factory idea. Particularly notable about this book? The spectacular errors in the back of book blurb, where the town is referred to as Saunders, Idaho. Whoops.