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Congrats to Anke, who won Face Value (Sanctuary #3) by RJ Scott! Face Value will be released by Silver Publishing on April 7.

Congrats to blodeuedd, who won Fortune Hunter (Brook Street #2) by Ava March! Fortune Hunter will be released by Carina Press on April 9.

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Contests

• Cryselle summarized the various m/m romance paperback giveaways on Goodreads.

• Jenre’s giving away an ebook copy of The Starving Years  by Jordan Castillo Price. Contest closes end of April 7th (GMT).

• Kaje Harper is giving away winner’s choice of two of her ebooks. Comment by midnight CDT, April 7.

• The Hoppy Easter Blog Hop runs from today through Monday and features hundreds of prizes in the form of ebooks and gift certificates, from both mf and m/ romance authors.

• Babes in Boyland is giving away an ebook copy of Daybreak for a Stolen Child (Stolen Child #4) by Anna Mayle. Contest closes 9 pm CDT, April 9.

Bookity

• New releases and more: m/m romances (Pants Off Reviews, Rarely Dusty Books), Tor.com (UF), Literary Escapism (PNR/UF), The Book Binge (romances), AAR (romance audiobooks), and Book Lovers Inc (a bit of everything).

• AAR discusses what the Slow Book Movement considers to be “good literature”.

• Bookish linkity from Smart Bitches. More bookish links from ReadReactReview.

• M/m romance, publishing, and writing links from Becky Black.

• Tips on showing personality when writing (vs telling).

• Difference between passive voice and verb tenses.

• Turn an old book into a secret hiding place.

• Query humor and tips from Paperback Writer.

• What would a particular young adult heroine do in this situation? (via The Mary Sue)

Ebookity

• “How NOT to gain readers and influence bloggers” if you’re self-publishing. (Thanks, Juni!)

• Marketing for self-published authors. (via GLBT Promo Blog)

• The DoJ might be close to an agreement with publishers in the publishing antitrust investigation. Is Amazon going to come out the winner?

• An American Editor considers whether agency pricing has been good or bad for him as a consumer. He did what I did – simply stopped purchasing books from agency publishers – although part of my reason was deciding not to purchase any ebooks with DRM.

• People who read ebooks tend to read more than do those who read print books. Here’s a summary of the  report. (via TeleRead)

Think, Do, Learn, Make

• Ack! The US Social Security Administration was hacked and they didn’t bother to tell people?! (Thanks, Jeanne!)

• Up to 1.5 million credit card numbers were stolen from a company that processes payments for the major credit card companies.

• “How do ordinary Americans spend their money?”

• Um, letting the chicken industry to take over inspections at poultry plants sounds like a really bad idea…

• A gallery of women in science.

• NASA’s 3D model of the Texas tornadoes.

• Transgender terms and concepts.

• “Living without your daily bread” from the Gluten-Free Goddess.

• If you have a Mac, you should check to see if it’s been infected by a new trojan.

• World paper consumption has increased by half in the last 30 years. Paperless society FAIL.

• Worldwide vanilla shortage?!

Cookity

• Marshmallow Peeps.

• Nutella no-bake bars. (via Bron’s Pinterest)

• Macaroni & cheese muffins. (via The Kitchn)

• Chickpea flour steamed savory snack cakes (gluten-free/vegan). (via The Kitchn)

• 15 appetizers to amaze.

• 15 fabulous appetizers.

• 15 appetizerish flatbreads and pizzas.

• 10 quick appetizers.

• 10 pretty appetizers. (Why, yes, it was appetizer week at The Kitchn, why do you ask?)

• 3 spinach dip variations.

Crafty

• Zombie socks… (Thanks, Bron!)

• Knit a rag rug. (via CRAFT)

• Chalkboard paint jars. (via The Kitchn) (I really need to make a couple of these from Mason jars to help me remember to drink enough water!)

Cool

• Coming out, geek style. (Thanks, Jeanne!)

• 50 amazing photos. (Thanks, Jeanne!)

• Free iPad app from National Geographic on the building of the Titanic.

• Rainbow winged unicorn cake.

• Unicorn silhouette shower curtain.

• Dalek egg.

• President Obama and Nichelle Nichols giving a Vulcan salute.

Cool or Wha…?

• Inflatable Star Trek captain’s chair.

Wha…?

• A pop-up tent that you pull behind your bicycle.

• Someone is putting felt vulvas on statues in Nova Scotia…

• Pants with a built-in… picnic table?

• Indeed – why is the safety vest model shirtless?!

• Ear-shaped earbud storage…

• Bacon coffin.

• Worst album covers ever.

• A priest was planning to make a PowerPoint presentation to members of his congregation, but instead gay porn played when the flash drive was inserted… (aka AutoPlay is dangerous)

LOL

• Jeanne thinks Chaos needs this charm for his collar…

• If you’re amused by vintage ads that have homoerotic overtones, you must check out Kate Roman’s tumblr.

• March’s funniest autocorrects.

• Creative (attempted) tax deductions.

• Shopping with the dubious help of online reviews.

• Game of Ponies.

• It’s not easy being a clown.

• Scary/humorous “fortune”…

• This percentage seems low to me.

• Interpreting dog language.

• Les chats ninjas.

• Oh oh…

• Kitties do know!

• This is May, sometimes.

Teh Cute

• Baby otters! Baby otter! Sitatunga and baby! Baby royal antelope! Baby polar bear! Kittens! Panther and baby! Kitty paws! Lioness and baby! Lioness and baby! Baby lion! Baby cheetah! Dog and baby tigers! Tiger and baby! Tiger and baby! Cat and kitten! Baby zebra! Baby tapir! Sandhill crane and baby! Cat and kittens! Kitten! Red panda!

Reading Update
Scrap Metal by Harper Fox. ebook. Excellent m/m romance about a linguistics student who returns to his family’s sheep farm after his mother and brother are killed, leaving his grandfather to work the farm alone. When someone breaks into one of the barns, he has no idea that things are about to take a turn for the better. Make sure you have tissues handy for this one!
The Rare Event by PD Singer. ebook. Very good m/m romance about two radically different hedge fund traders before the subprime mortgage meltdown: one takes too many risks in both his personal and professional lives, while the other is far more careful in both. He finally realizes that loving the risktaker, who scoffs at monogamy, is tearing him apart… The heavy focus on the stock market and stock trading details very nearly lost me in the early part of the book, but I persevered and got sucked into the rest of the story.
Handle with Care by Josephine Myles. ebook arc. Very good m/m romance about a diabetic computer programmer who works from home because he’s on dialysis, and the high point of his days is when the cute purple-haired skatepunk stops by to deliver a package. Bonding over a shared love of the X-Men, they become friends… and then everything changes in a day. I must confess that there was something I really felt needed to happen that didn’t, which was what prevented this from being a five-star read for me.
Face Value (Sanctuary #3) by RJ Scott. ebook arc. Very good m/m romantic suspense picking up where the second book left off – the guy they rescued is safe… for now. But will his doctor be able to keep him safe?
Ambush (True Colors #2) by Clare London. ebook short. Steamy short m/m scene between Zeke and Miles that will leave Miles with some distracting memories of his office.
Crooked by Missouri Dalton. ebook short. Good short m/m paranormal romance about a cop who goes astray after killing the monster who killed his partner. This could easily have been much longer (so much plot! So few words!) and had an extremely open ending (not really even HFN) that makes me fear one of those Torquere serials.
On the Other Hand, Death (Donald Strachey #2) by Richard Stevenson. Good gay mystery in which Don’s hired by a sly developer to find out who vandalized a lesbian couple’s barn, in the hope that they’ll be more willing to sell their property out of gratitude.
On the Dotted Line by Alexa Snow. ebook. Good m/m romance about a guy who’s deep in debt and falling further behind, but none of his friends have any idea; neither does the doctor he starts to date. Something about the writing style felt really awkward to me.
Drowning in You by AR Moler. ebook. Ok m/m romantic suspense about two DEA agents who become much closer after one of them nearly dies… This felt really choppy – it jumped from scene to scene instead of transitioning. Also, the ending leaves it open to become a series.
View from the Top by Carson Shepherd. free online. Very short steamy m/m scene that just doesn’t have enough context to really work.
Not That Type of Guy by Sara York. ebook. Meh m/m romance about a CIA assassin who’s been in denial that he’s gay until something happens on the job that makes him reevaluate things. The plot was over-the-top implausible and the relationship between the two MCs had me rolling my eyes.

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“I’m sure I can come up with something to be crabby about…” -Chaos