Monthly Archives: August 2009

Contests, Reading

Book Giveaway: Dark Hunger (CONTEST CLOSED)

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Moving right along into the next contest – many thanks to the Hatchette Book Group for providing five copies of Rita Herron’s paranormal romance, Dark Hunger (with an NK cover at that!), for me to give away!

HE’S EVERYTHING SHE FEARS…
Reporter Annabelle Armstrong will go to any lengths to deliver a story, even track down Quinton Valtrez, a man she believes is a coldhearted assassin. Yet the truth about the darkly sensual Quinton is even more shocking…and the overwhelming desire he ignites is one she vows to resist.
SHE’S EVERYTHING HE CRAVES
Quinton has fought his demonic powers since he was a child. Now using his gifts for the good of national security, he can’t let himself be distracted by the beautiful, determined Annabelle. But his need for her is sudden, fierce–and could soon cost Annabelle her life. For a wicked enemy is out for vengeance, a demon who wants to draw Quinton into a life of pure evil and is willing to use Annabelle as bait. To save her, Quinton must achieve the near impossible: tame the sinister force that is both his inheritance and his curse before it claims him forever.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Leave your comments by 7 pm CDT, Monday, August 24.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment! :)
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form. (Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!)
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • Only residents of the US and Canada are eligible to win.
  • No PO Boxes.

Good luck!

“Still mad at you for being gone, Mom! You are cruel. Besides, you haven’t groveled for forgiveness yet.” -Chaos

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

Randonymity

Dear Blog…

27 Comments

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!

Last night work, exercise, and the pollen count conspired against you. Also, a cat may have eaten my homework. Or not. Anyway, I got nothin’ here except a very special picture of Chaos. Please feel free to caption amongst yourselves – I could use the giggles throughout the day!

Yours truly,

Chris

Randonymity

Bullets’n’Tiaras

31 Comments

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!

  • Mayhem spent a rare night sleeping in my bedroom Friday night, as I can’t actually get her out of her thunderstorm hiding spot (and it would’ve been cruel to try). I awoke Saturday morning to Mayhem happily gnawing on my arm and purring. Way to be unobtrusive, May! Not.
  • We had an exciting Saturday weatherwise ’round here. Throughout the day, in no particular order, we had a heat advisory, a flash flood watch, a tornado warning, intermittent noisy thunderstorms, oodles of humidity, and the sirens going off in the evening. This probably didn’t help attendence for the local art fairs in Uptown, Loring Park, and Powderhorn Park.
  • Yikes. I’m closing in on post #1000. This post is #994.
  • I’m checking into getting a Dell Mini 9 laptop skin. I even know the design I want to get customized. (Many thanks to Limedragon for sending me that link some months ago!)
  • I actually knitted last week when Jeanne was over. I knitted an entire inch of my second Meilenweit cotton sock, only to realize that I was knitting it on 56 stitches, not 72. D’oh. *rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrip*
  • Many thanks to J. Kaye and Cecile for the recent blog awards. And much belated thanks to Lea for the Angel on My Blog Award a while back – I added the icon to my sidebar ages ago, but never mentioned it! (And apologies to anyone else who I haven’t mentioned on this one…)

“Pink! Feathery! Sparkly! Tiaray!” -Mayhem

Contests, Reading

Book Giveaway: So Into You (Contest Closed)

54 Comments

First, congrats to the winners of last Friday’s giveaway: Wanda (#49), Lea (#5), Estella (#46), Lorette (#56), and Brigitte (#3) will all be receiving copies of How to Tame a Modern Rogue, courtesy of the Hatchette Book Group!

Now, on to the next contest. 🙂 Many thanks again to the Hatchette Book Group for providing five copies of Sandra Hill’s contemporary romance, So Into You, for me to give away!

Angel Sabato has been in love with best friend Grace O’Brien for 10 years–but he’s only just realized it. Too bad she doesn’t take him seriously when he tells her about his feelings. Reeling from the rejection, Angel hightails it out of town.

Now Grace is left to wonder if her problems from the past are keeping her from opening herself to love. But she brushes these “useless” musings aside, concentrating instead on the work she’s doing as an apprentice to folk healer Tante Lulu and keeping up with the old woman’s good deeds.

Such as starting a foundation to help families still homeless after Hurricane Katrina. One family consists of 5 children who lost their parents. The eldest, only seventeen, has been struggling to take care of her siblings and lying like heck to the state agencies in order to keep everyone together. Tante Lulu and Grace take the children under their wings and decide the foundation will build a house for them.

Re-enter Angel, who helps with the construction. Unbeknownst to Grace, Tante Lulu has decided to try her hand at matchmaking again. And Tante Lulu has never failed before!

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Leave your comments by 7 pm CDT, Monday, August 17. I’ll be out of town from August 13 – August 16, so don’t worry if I don’t reply back to let you know you’re entered.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment! :)
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form. (Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!)
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • Only residents of the US and Canada are eligible to win.
  • No PO Boxes.

Good luck!

“Mom! Don’t distract me! I saw a bug! It might come back, so I have to concentrate very hard and make sure I don’t miss it.” -Mayhem

Tales of the Neighborhood

Looking at Libraries: Ridgedale

24 Comments

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post before 7 pm CDT, Thursday, August 6 (aka as today!), for your chance to win a copy of Diana Holquist’s How to Tame a Modern Rogue. Then stop back tomorrow for another book contest!

I saw the Show Us Your Library Meme over at J. Kaye’s. Not that I usually participate in memes, but this one seemed perfect for me!

Although I live within a few miles of a startling number of libraries, I mostly go to three libraries. Two of those libraries are close to work, not home, making them great lunchtime destinations.

First up is the very large Ridgedale Hennepin Area Library, which is a five minute drive from work. Please excuse the lens flare in my shot of the exterior! (Again with the cell phone pictures, I know. Actually, the cell was perfect for taking pictures in the library – no flash, very quiet, and quite unobtrusive.)

The library shares a building with the district court, service center (motor vehicle licenses, etc.), social services, and a coffee shop. As you climb the flight of stairs to the second floor where the library is located, you see a lovely shared atrium between the first and second floors. Lots of light and small tables for relaxing with a cup of coffee to enjoy the free wifi.

Finally, the actual entrance to the library! That mysterious blue line on the floor indicates the actual length of a blue whale.

Looking back out toward the atrium from just inside the library entrance gives you a great view of the mural along the stairs.

No, I don’t know what the deal is with the red circle is, either. 🙂 Back inside the library… The computer area looked very busy.

The reference desk is just beyond the computer area. Not sure you can tell, but those rows of shelves go back and back.

The children’s area is lovely. There’s also a separate computer area for kids, although I didn’t take any pictures of it.

Yup, more skylights in this area.

The library overlooks trees and a pond. Please excuse the saturation on this picture (most noticeable on the chairs) – the tinted window really washed out the trees and I was trying to bring back a little green (not too successfully, either – it was verdant out there).

Finally, a sign in the the library bookstore (attributed to Gustave Flaubert):

Indeed.

“Well, that’s just silly. It’s eat in order to live, Mom.” -Chaos

Randonymity

Geekity

26 Comments

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

You may or may not have noticed that I have certain geekish tendencies. It’s hereditary – what can I say? (Hi, Dad! Hi, Matt!) 😉 Anyway, said geekish tendencies are sometimes expressed through acquisition of technology. Most recently, through the acquisition of a Dell Mini 8.9″ netbook, on the right below. For scale, my regular laptop on the left has a 14.1″ screen. Quite a difference, eh?

My plans for the wee Dell are to get it setup so I can connect to work when I’m on-call (better than lugging a laptop around!), take notes in various situations, and have a lightweight way to stay in touch on vacation.

Oh, and I think Jeanne was mightily amused to be fielding Ubuntu questions from me last night. I’m mostly recovered from that fall when I discovered that you don’t need anti-virus software for Ubuntu, Jeanne. Thanks for checking! :p

“Technology bores me.” -Mayhem

“Crap, this thing is too small for me to hide behind.” -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

Contests, Randonymity

Contests and bullets and work, oh my!

32 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!

Carolyn of the Thrillionth Page (who lives on the same street as I do – how cool is that?) is giving away a copy of Silent in the Sanctuary or Silent in the Grave (both are historical novels by Deanna Raybourn). Leave a comment before August 4 for your chance to win.

Lea’s having daily giveaways through August 6 to celebrate the release of Devyn Quinn’s new novel Possession at the end of August You could win an ARC (advance reading copy) of Possession or a copy of Men in Blue, so head over and get in on the fun!

Knitnana’s having a contest to celebrate five years of her Nana Sadie Rose business, as well as 750 bags completed during those five years. Leave a comment on her contest post by midnight EDT, August 10, for your chance to win a goodie bag.

  • Dear Readers, I fear there will be many more bullet posts in our future.
  • Why, you ask?
  • Well, I have big project going on at work this month.
  • A project originally planned to finish in October or November.
  • A project I did not start coding on until Monday, July 27, after the Board of Directors told our CEO that it was our number one priority.
  • A project that must now be coded, tested, and deployed by September 1.
  • *gulp*
  • Last week, my brain was exhausted by the time I got home from work each day, incapable of additional complex thought.
  • So, yeah, more bullet posts, which are such a tidy way to do stream-of-consciousness, don’t you think?
  • Speaking of stream-of-consciousness, I have to admit that I’ve taken more pictures with my cell phone than with my Olympus 1010 during the past week or two.
  • That crappy two megapixel camera inadvertently creates interesting effects, especially after I turn the pictures black and white.

  • “I don’t like the sound of this work project, Mom. If it’s going to keep you away from home, I do not authorize you to work on it.” -Chaos
  • Funny you should mention that, Chaos, as I’m going to talk to my boss about working more from home for the duration of this project. That way, I can go for a walk or bike ride over lunch, which really refreshes me (and has already led to some project breakthroughs), plus I’m more willing to work later if I’ve already exercised and am sitting on my comfortable love seat. We’ll see how that goes. 🙂