Category Archives: Linkity linkity link

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Books and links and books and links and books and…

26 Comments

Thanks for the fun captions you’ve been leaving on that picture of Chaos from yesterday! I definitely needed the giggles. 🙂 Mayhem did her part by sending one of her toy mice along with me in the bag of library books to be returned. Chaos… um… well, he didn’t succeed in tripping and killing me while I fed him. 😉

I know that there’s a heckuva lot of book linkity going on in this post – fear not, as it’s meant to tide you over until my next post on Monday, August 17. I’m leaving for da cabin up nord bright and early Thursday morning.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post before 7 pm CDT, Monday, August 17, for your chance to win a copy of Sandra Hill’s So Into You!

For your chance to win a copy of Mr. Darcy, Vampyre (yes, you read that right!), leave a comment over at Yankee Romance Reviews.

If you’d like a chance to win a copy of Robyn DeHart’s romance Seduce Me, leave a comment at Park Avenue Princess by midnight EST, August 30.

Need a new bookcase? Temple Library Reviews is giving one away – comment before September 6 for your chance at it.

J. Kaye’s usually has over a dozen various book/audiobook giveaways going at any given time, covering a breadth of genres. You should subscribe to J. Kaye’s blog. 🙂 (Speaking of good stuff from J. Kaye, is your library part of Library Elf?)

Fantasy Dreamer Donna has links to many, many more book-related contests!

An interesting post about the benefits of print and ebooks at Embrace the Shadows.

Looking for free ebooks to fill your reader? The Finding Free Ebooks blog might be just the thing for you.

Author Monica Ferris is giving away a free short mystery about a female police investigator and the Minnesota State Fair. (It isn’t a Betty Devonshire mystery, for those who follow that series.)

Some tips for how to read faster. I hadn’t thought of it before, but I guess when I’m reading books, I don’t subvocalize. I do for other sorts of reading, such as blogs, emails, etc. Teaching yourself to knit while you read (or is it read while you knit?) might have a similar effect to the technique in the linked post.

Which of the top ten hero types is your favorite? My answer won’t surprise any of you…

Need a giggle? Carolyn shows how adding vampires would spice up an otherwise ho hum spam email.

And while you’re giggling, you simply must check out this hysterical historical romance-themed cover from Minnesota Monthly magazine.

It ain’t your mama’s romance – and that’s not a bad thing.

Notice anything similiar about the cover of Lynn Viehl’s Darkyn novella, Master of Shadows, and the cover of Lynda Hilburn’s book, The Vampire Shrink??

Dear Author always has informative and thoughful posts. Some that caught my eye recently were on buying ebook readers and a wonderfully snarky book news roundup.

Did you hear that Sony’s coming out with some new, less expensive ereaders? They’re pretty cute. Astak’s also coming out with some comparable looking ebook readers in the same price range.

Hmm. Could Kindles go the way of Betamax? (Really too early to assess things like that, but it’s always fun to speculate.)

Reading Update
Spin a Wicked Web: A Home Crafting Mystery by Cricket McRae. I couldn’t resist the cover when I saw this book at the library, and I’m glad I didn’t! Spin a Wicked Web was a well-written and enjoyable read; it managed to avoid the cloying sweetness to which many craft-related novels succumb. I plan to read the other books in this series – and I wish I’d read the others first, as this turns out to be the third book.
Personal Demons by Stacia Kane. Enjoyable paranormal romance about a psychologist who starts a radio show promising to banish people’s personal demons and gets more than she bargained for.
Watch Over Me by Lucy Monroe. Latest contemporary romance in her Goddard Project series. I read half the book, realized I didn’t care about any of the characters and that I’d napped through a s3x scene, and put it in the pile going back to the library. Also, while using the word “adamantine” (and helpfully clarifying it as “diamond-like” within a few sentences) to refer to someone’s abs does showcase your vocabulary, it’s not a common word and using it twice (complete with “diamond-like” reference) in the first half of the book? Sticks out.
Boys of Summer by Cooper Davis. ebook. Sweet m/m romance about how scary falling in love and coming out can be.
Don’t Look Back, Dangerous Ground, The Dark Horse, and The White Knight by Josh Lanyon. ebooks. Suspense and m/m romance by one of the masters of the genre. Well-written, vividly characterized, deeply involving, and definitely steamy hot – what’s not to like?
Among the Living and Criss Cross (PsyCop, Books 1-2) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebooks. More excellent romantic suspense and m/m romance, but with a titch of paranormal!
Protect and Defend by Francesca Hawley. ebook. A steamy paranormal romance about a cop who’s a shapeshifter and a writer who turns out to be his mate. Unfortunately, there were far too many pages used for the amount of story available, and the draggy bits were too sappy for me. (But hey, it has a great cover and it wasn’t even m/m!)

“I’m sure you heard wrong. No way would Mom leave us for four days!” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

More book contests and links than really seems reasonable

25 Comments

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,  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

Linkity linkity link

All linked up and nowhere to go

26 Comments

Tune in tomorrow for a book giveaway!

Star Trek Red Shirt Cologne?! Um… Why would you want to smell like a doomed crew member?! I love the last line of Gizmodo’s review: “And we’re guessing it could be somewhat effective in your dating life should you wear it in substitute of your typical Star Trek uniform.”

Thanks to Mel for linking to Nietsche Family Circus, which is hysterical.

Wait, why is Mayhem moonlighting over at Knit Princess?! Or is she masquerading as a white kitty over at lolcats? (Nah, that’s not her – those mice all still have tails.) This is probably what she and Chaos do to entertain themselves while I’m at work.

If you’ve ever loaded software or copied files in an MS Windows environment, this cartoon will explain one of the major Windows mysteries for you.

Beware following this link at work. Although the picture’s just of a vegetable, it’s easily the most, erm, graphic vegetable I’ve ever seen.

Is cursive handwriting dead? Hmm. Lifehacker suggests that people born after 1980 have a distinctive non-cursive style of handwriting, which sounds an awful lot like my handwriting even though I was born before 1980 (heck, before 1970, too).

Turns out texting while driving is 23 times more dangerous than talking on the phone while driving. Eep. This cartoon sums things up, doesn’t it?

If the Altoids catapault wasn’t enough for you, how about the Altoids trebuchet?

Lifehacker reveals how to get rid of earworms.

Burn more calories by fidgeting and pacing and drive everyone nearby crazy!

Staple City is very cool. I’d probably only manage to complete Staple Trailer Park before my boss had a talk with me…

“Still worried about the big scary noisy kitty-eating trucks!” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Of book linkin’ and kitty prisons

21 Comments

Morbid Romantic’s giving away five copies of Robin Wells’ contemporary romance, How To Score. Contest closes at midnight EST, August 9.

A Journey of Books is giving away five copies of Michelle de Kretser’s novel, The Lost Dog. Contest closes at midnight EDT, August 17 – make sure you stop back to see who won.

Dude watchin’ with the Brontes… brilliant!

If you’ve read J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series and love it despite its faults, you’ll probably enjoy the chapter by chapter review going on over at Smart Bitches.

The Lifehacker’s Guide to the Reading Galaxy is a must.

Tele-Read provides some great thinking points about ebooks, reading, and ownership, as does Dear Author. Barnes & Noble’s new ebookstore (complete with their own DRM) gets some thoughtful criticism.

Jeff Bezos of Amazon apologizes for the Orwellian Kindle deletes of… Orwell. Tele-Read suggests that this would’ve been a far better apology.

Go vote on the five title finalists for the Orbit Books Worst Cover Ever!

For you iPhone folks, there’s now a free IndieBound app that sounds pretty cool.

Fantasy Dreamer found another source for physical books with no shipping charges (and no $25 minimum)!

A Minnesota-themed literary trivia contest?

Reading Update
An Inner Darkness (Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 5) and Where the Heart Is (related to the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series, should be read after Book 5) by Ally Blue. ebooks. And now I have finished reading all the books that are out (so far) for this m/m paranormal romance series. I really enjoyed this series and find myself still thinking about the characters.
Willow Bend by Ally Blue. ebook. Non-paranormal m/m romance that was good, but definitely didn’t have the impact as the Bay City Paranormal Investigation series.
Without Reservations, With Caution, and With Love (With or Without series) by J.L. Langley. ebooks. The first two books are about a group of friends (on an Apache reservation in New Mexico) and the third is set in the same world (but in North Carolina), with roughly the same premise – these are m/m paranormal romances about werewolves and are very well done.
Tidal Wave (Forces of Nature) by Vivian Arend. ebook. Very, very steamy paranormal about dolphin shapeshifters. It was ok, but let’s just say that the multiple partner configuration is not a configuration that I enjoy reading about.
Strange Brew edited by P.N. Elrod. It has a new Harry Dresden story! 🙂
The Fire King (Dirk & Steele) by Marjorie M. Liu. This was an ok addition to the Dirk & Steele series. (Dirk & Steele being the internationally known detective agency that allows telepaths and psychics and shapeshifters to hide in plain sight.)
Edge of Dawn (Light Warriors, Book 3) by Patti O’Shea. I really hate the cover – it looks incredibly awkward to me. But the book itself was a decent paranormal romance, this time set in Seattle instead of Minneapolis, as the previous two were.
Lucky Charm and Lucky Streak (Lucky Trilogy) by Carly Phillips. Generations of Corwin men have been cursed to lose their loves and their fortunes. Find out how the current generation of Corwins deals with the curse in this fun contemporary romance trilogy.
Surviving Demon Island (Demon Hunters, Book 1) by Jaci Burton. They think they’ve signed up for a reality tv show about hunting demons, which they assume will simply be humans in costume. Boy, are they ever wrong about that!

“It was nice of Mayhem to volunteer to keep an eye on Mom while I took a nap. I’m sure Mayhem will be vigilant about letting me know if Mom makes a break for the portable kitty prisons again.” -Chaos

*….zzzzzzzz….” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Secret Kitty Hideout, exposed!

29 Comments

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.

“Mom! The top of the fridge is our Secret Kitty Hideout where we plan Kitty World Domination! Go away!! Bwa-ha-ha!” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link

Linkity blowout!

22 Comments

For your chance to win a Betty Crocker gf mix prize pack, leave a comment at Gluten Free Food Reviews by 11:59 pm, July 18.

JessaLu’s celebrating her birthday and that her box bags are going to be available at Sock Summit by having a contest. Leave a comment about which of her bags is your favorite for your chance to win one of them. Contest closes by midnight, July 16.

Does it surprise anyone that a study has found cats can control humans?

This documentary about “extreme cat ownership” sounds intriguing. I guess that’s the gender neutral description for cat ladies now?!

A-ha! I’ll have to keep this handy dandy reference list close, eh? The 50 cats of the apocalypse?!

If you need pet health information, PetMD might be helpful.

Ack! And here I was worried about people texting while they drive.

How to bake cookies on your car’s dashboard… Hmm. More or less distracting than texting and watching movies?!

Strategic cussin’ as a pain reliever?!

My brain totally does this.

Lifehacker debunks hydration myths.

Apparently people are more likely to return your wallet if you have cute baby pictures in it.

Turn an Altoids tin into a catapult!

Oh, this foldaway desk is cool.

Alas, the iSaw was a hoax. But maybe this handy usb kitten will ease your pain over the iSaw.

WARNING! This game could be addictive! WARNING!

“Really, I’d prefer it if you didn’t stumble over me, Mom.” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Now with even more Vampire Kitteh!

29 Comments

Author Nancy Herkness is giving away a K2TOG car magnet. Send her an email before July 20 for your chance to win.

If you’d like to find out more about that mysterious Canadian blogger, SciFiGuy, and have a chance to win a copy of Shadowfae by Erica Hayes, head on over to Marta Acosta’s Vampire Wire blog before the evening of July 18.

Live in or near the Twin Cities and you’d like to improve your knitting project and yarn photos? Author and photographer Gale Zucker (Shear Spirit) will be holding two 2.5 hour workshops at the Yarnery the evenings of July 23 and July 24. I’m jealous of whoever attends this, since I’m on call that week and the odds of getting called increase exponentially based on what you have planned and how excited you are by it.

This month’s free ebooks at the Suvudu Free Library are Karen Marie Moning’s Darkfever (highly recommended!) and Stephen Baxter’s Manifold: Time.

Orbit’s looking for the worst scifi/fantasy book title you can come up with so that they can put together “the most awesomely bad SFF cover in the world.” Even if you can’t come up with a title, it’s worth reading the comments for the titles that have been suggested.

It’ll be Young Adult Appreciation Month from July 19 – August 15 over at Book Smugglers. Not only will they have events throughout the month, they’re also encouraging bloggers to participate by writing a review of a young adult novel, posting it on August 15, and sending the review url to the Book Smugglers as soon as your post goes live that day. They’ll update their links to the reviews throughout the day.

Hee hee – a Jane Austen-related comic. And check out the great Evolution of a Hero wallpaper from Smart Bitches!

My library system has a clever “How much is the library saving you?” form that I recommend trying. If I checked out 30 books (at $15 each, which is a good balance between mass market pbs and hardcovers) and one music cd each month, that’s $460 saved. Now, I wouldn’t actually spend that much on books if I didn’t have access to a library – at the very least, I’d hit the excellent used book and cd stores in the Twin Cities much, much more than I do now.

Do scholarly writers empower the romance genre?

Reading Update
In the Midnight Hour and In Twilight’s Shadow (Light Warriors, Books 1-2) by Patti O’Shea. Paranormal romance set in Minneapolis, as written by a Minnesota author. And even better – the books are great! 🙂 They’re about a race of magic users called the Ginneal, who live side-by-side with humans, unnoticed. Not a vampire to be found.
Branded by Fire (Psy-Changelings, Book 6) by Nalini Singh. Another excellent paranormal from Singh, which answers the question about whether cats and dogs can get along…
Midnight’s Master by Cynthia Eden. Can a human anchorwoman and a very naughty level ten demon find true love together? This latest book in Eden’s Midnight series is a solid read.
Deadly Night (apologies for linking to the hardcover – the mass market pb had a Debbie Macomber book image for some odd reason), Deadly Harvest, and Deadly Gift (Flynn Brothers Trilogy) by Heather Graham. Decent thrillers featuring ghosts, psychics, banshees, and mysterious evil. The first is set in New Orleans, the second in Salem, Massachusetts, and the third in Ireland and Newport, Rhode Island. If you’re looking for something to read that isn’t as, um, graphic as many romances have become, I’d definitely recommend these.
Romeo, Romeo (Domestic Gods, Book 1) by Robin Kaye. Very good contemporary romance. This has CursingMama written all over it. 🙂
All of Me by Lori Wilde. Decent contemporary romance that’s apparently the last book in a set of related books about four friends in Houston and a magical wedding veil.
Catch a Mate by Gena Showalter. Ok contemporary romance about a service that people can hire to test whether their significant others will give in to the temptation to cheat. Not one of Showalter’s best.
Sea Witch, Sea Fever, and Sea Lord (Children of the Sea, Books 1-3) by Virginia Kantra. Selkies and demons and mer-princes, oh my! Very good paranormal romances (with no vampires at all), much of it set on the coast of Maine, the rest set off the coast of Scotland.

“Beware! I will suck your blood and steal all your sparkly furry pink tiaras as you sleep! Bwa-ha-ha!!!” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link

Warning: This post may contain potentially alarming or addictive links

27 Comments

Whoops! I should’ve linked to more proof that Chaos is a ‘fraidy cat yesterday. Anyone remember Chaos and the Attack of the Killer Zucchini?

Amy’s giving away a signed set of Anne Ursu’s Cronus Chronicles trilogy, which is for young adults. Answer one of Amy’s questions in the comments before July 13 for your chance to win.

Jackie of Literary Escapism is giving away a copy of The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns. Answer Jackie’s questions in the comments before midnight, July 14, for your chance to win.

For more scifi/fantasy/paranormal contests, author interviews, and news, head over to Fantasy Dreamer’s Ramblings. Anna (of Pine City, Minnesota!) also has a nice list of paranormal and romance contests.

This online black cat game is very, very addictive. You have been warned.

Shhhh… don’t let May see all the tiaras or she’ll start up about needing a furry sparkly pink one again!

If you live in the Twin Cities and you follow the Tour de France, be aware that the Riverview Theater will be showing the Tour for the next three weekends, starting quite early in the morning. Check out the details over at A Closer Look at Flyover Land. I’ve gone to this in the past, and it’s a fun and intense experience – especially during the last two days of the Tour.

Ah, usb peripherals, how out of hand you are… The iSaw? Gizmodo also has a roundup of novelty flash drives, although I’d be careful about clicking some of the links, personally.

Woot! Both the Department of Justice and the FCC are looking into cell phone exclusivity deals. About time, isn’t it?

Coffee grounds used to make yarn for t-shirts?! I want to know when I’ll be able to buy skeins of the stuff. 😉

Wenat has an amazing gift for making pooling stoles and she shares her knowledge and patterns!

Hmm – how to use a ball of yarn to make an all natural dryer ball. Now, wouldn’t that give you static problems?

Lifehacker has a list of the five best online image editors.

And bless you, Lifehacker, for this one on how to get rid of lingering cooking smells.

Shhhh… Chaos is sleeping off his anxiety from those scary shorts…

“….zzzzzzzzzzz….” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Booking back to work after the holiday

20 Comments

Congrats to Lilibeth and BookJunkie, who won the copies of Eternal Lover from my contest last week!

For a chance to win a copy of Erin McCarthy’s latest NASCAR romance, Hard and Fast (which is quite good), leave a comment at Romance Reviews Today about whether or not covers influence you when buying a book…

More chances to win a copy of Michele Hauf’s latest book The Highwayman over at Fang-tastic Books (leave a comment before July 8 ) and SciFiGuy (signed copy – leave a comment by midnight, July 10) and My Blog 2.0 (leave a comment before July 14).

This week, Largehearted Boy’s giving away a 100-cd prize pack. Leave a comment before midnight CDT, July 10, for your chance to win.

Jackie at Literary Escapism is giving away Branded by Fire (Psy-Changeling, Book 6) by Nalini Singh (out July 7), Seduce the Darkness (Alien Huntress, Book 4) (just out – see my comments below), and At Grave’s End (Night Huntress, Book 3) by Jeaniene Frost. Contest runs through July 25.

Amberkatze’s giving away two signed copies of the excellent urban fantasy Greywalker by Kat Richardson. You have until 4 pm CET, July 12, to participate – and make sure you stop back to see if you won!

Author Barbara Bretton’s giving away yarn every day in July in her Endless Summer contest – details at Romancing the Yarn.

I really hope it’s just a rumour that Amazon’s considering putting ads into their ebooks.

Great article over at Dear Author about what ebook publishers need to do to improve their image.

The always amazing Escapist Newsletter is up over at Literary Escapism, with all sorts of links to author interviews, release dates, book news, and more.

If you’d like to listen to British actor Dominic West reading from Pride and Prejudice, head over to Smart Bitches for the link.

J. Kaye has a good post on how to increase the traffic to your book blog.

Reading Update
The Butterfly Tattoo by Deirdre Knight. ebook. I don’t even know what to say about this book. It’s tagged as a contemporary romance, but it has so much more depth than nearly any romance I’ve ever read. It’s about love and loss and fear and the postmodern family… and I cried quite a bit during parts of it. Powerful, potent, and recommended.
Touched by Fire and Touched by Light (Sentinels, Books 2-3) by Catherine Spangler. The Sentinels are reincarnated souls who help protect humanity from an ancient evil. The series draws on Trantric yoga a bit… Oh, yeah, and Touched by Light is an NK cover.
Awaken Me Darkly, Enslave Me Sweetly, Savor Me Slowly, and Seduce the Darkness (Alien Huntress, Books 1-4) by Gena Showalter. These futuristic romances totally sucked me in. Aliens coexist with humans, but when the aliens harm or kill humans, it’s up to alien hunters to discreetly take care of the problem. As with all Gena Showalter novels, these are very steamy.
Nature of the Beast by Hannah Howell, Adrienne Basso, and Eve Silver. Ok, actually I didn’t read any of the stories in this. I picked it from the library based on the cover (NK!) and the paranormality and was sitting down to read it before I realized the stories were historicals.
Insatiable Desire (The Demonborn) by Rita Herron. Yet another NK cover… I gave this one five chapters, couldn’t get into the book, and am merely including it here so I remember that I tried to read it (plus I needed the abs for the post).
Charmed by Jayne Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz), Lori Foster, Eileen Wilks, and Julie Beard. Fun paranormal romance collection that was originally released in 1999. All of the stories are related to Halloween – you think the title of the collection might reflect that a bit more, hmm?
Red Alert by Lynne Connolly. ebook. I much enjoyed this story, which mainly focused on dragon shapeshifters, although there were also some other shapeshifters, vampires, and even a sorcerer. I’ll be reading more from this author!
Through Her Eyes by Beth Kery. ebook. *fans self* Um, there’s a bit of story in there, somewhere. 😉 Decent and very steamy paranormal romance about a psychic and an FBI agent. (To story editor: Please note that the country in South America is spelled “Colombia”, not “Columbia”.) Oh, and I won this over at Lea’s!
Tangled Up in Love by Heidi Betts. I quite enjoyed this knitting-themed contemporary romance, although this sentence made me cringe: “Ronnie dug into her homemade tote for her own thick, variegated wool yarn, which she was using to make a rather complicated cable-knit cardigan.” Emphasis mine… Please note that there’s easily as much s3x as knitting in this book!

*blank* -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link

Do Panther Princesses snore?

25 Comments

Thanks for all your kind words on my biking injury yesterday. The yellow tones are really starting to come out in the bruise today. Hmm. I fear they’re going to clash with my purple toenails.

Author Lorelei James is guest blogging over at Seductive Musings to celebrate her newest release. Leave a comment before 11:59 pm EST, July 4, for your chance to win one of Ms. James’s titles as an ebook.

Bummed that you didn’t win the signed copy of Michele Hauf’s new book The Highwayman? You might still be able to win a copy over at Riding with the Top Down.

For your chance to win a $100 Visa gift card and year’s supply of Pantene hair products, head over to CursingMama’s book blog and leave a comment about your worst hair day ever before 5 pm CDT, August 1.

If you’ve ever wondered why certain knitting projects never seem to grow…

Aww, look at how cute that sheep cake is.

I can guarantee this one will give you a cute burn – but it will be worth it!

Thanks to Mouse for pointing out this very cool kitty mobile! Alas, I’m pretty sure May would kill herself trying to reach it, so I won’t be buying one.

Chaos wouldn’t be quite this polite… Hmm – I think that expression is actually “WTF is that thing doing in my fud bowl?!” Good try getting out of going to the vet.

Top uses for binder clips from Lifehacker – how could they skip using binder clips as chip clips?!? That’s my favorite use.

How to photograph your food in a restaurant without being a pest.

How to make a floating beverage holder for those of you who spend your summers floating in the pool.

And here I thought that texting while driving was dangerous – the thought of people baking pizza while driving is going to give me nightmares.

Speaking of nightmares, want your kid to have nightmares and need years of therapy? This toy’s for you!

The coffin couch… No, I do not own one, thank you very much!

*delicate Panther Princess appropriate snoring and drooling*