Review: Thrill-Kinky by Teresa Noelle Roberts

Posted on January 11, 2016January 4, 2016 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> book reviews

Thrill-Kinky by Teresa Noelle Roberts
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Series: Chronicles of the Malcolm #1
Pages: 216
Published by Samhain Publishing on May 12th 2015
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org
Goodreads

Sexual freefall is like a game of chicken: except the first one to let go wins.
"Chronicles of the Malcolm, Book 1"
Humans may have expanded to the stars, but they still have the annoying need to work for a living. Which is why Rita, crew member of the space freighter "Malcolm," is stuck collecting recyclable slag rather than attending her favorite festival celebrating love and sexuality.
Things go from boring to interesting when she discovers a badly injured man who s been thrown into a recycling bin to die. The catch, he s gorgeous, winged, and "naked."
Drax Jalricki, reformed (mostly) art thief and reluctant covert operative, is on an undercover mission to protect three planets when someone in his own government brands him a traitor. By virtue of association, Rita and her crew are going down with him.
From their first, hide-in-plain-sight quickie, the erotic spark between Rita and Drax is fueled by danger and adrenaline. But their growing suspicion that there s more to their connection than lust may not matter if they don t live through the night.
Warning: Hero and heroine who straddle the line of criminal behavior and definitely violate public indecency statutes. Exhibitionist, dangerous sex. Dark, sordid pasts. Wild risk-taking. Giggly cat-girl sidekick who s not just another pretty tail. And the greatest risk of all: true love."

My Review:

For a TV show that ran for 14 episodes (plus one movie) Firefly is a show that is turning out to have a very “long tail” when it comes to influencing SF, particularly science fiction romance. And that the show’s influence seems to show most strongly in SFR rather than hard SF or space opera probably says something about its appeal and what fans see as its underlying strengths.

Getting down off soapbox now. Well, sort of.

Thrill-Kinky is the first book in at least two that the author has set in the future world of the tramp space freighter Malcolm. Malcolm, like the Firefly-class ship Serenity, is crewed by a bunch of verging-on-criminal misfits who mostly do good while occasionally carrying enough freight to barely pay the bills and docking fees.

However, unlike in Firefly, the crew of the Malcolm is made up of multiple species, a polyglot that only gets more poly as the story continues through Thrill-Kinky and into Bad Kitty.

The captain Mik is human, but his first-mate/business partner/husband Gan is not. The mechanic (and star of Thrill-Kinky) is the very human Rita, but her best friend Xia is definitely felinoid. And the final member of the crew is Buck, an ex-soldier with a few mechanical body parts and a whole lot of PTSD.

The story begins with Rita out picking up garbage on a planet that sounds like Risa on steroids, during the planet’s annual festival celebrating sex and love. The entire crew of the Malcolm is partying except Rita, and Buck. Buck’s PTSD doesn’t like crowds.

Rita likes them just fine, but the slag she is picking up is a cash crop on a planet famous for its neuro relays. Supposedly they are paying extra to get the crap picked up during the multi-day festival. Of course, anything too good to be true, like the payoff they will get for this surprisingly simple and totally legit job, turns out to be not true.

Rita finds a Banjali tied up and severely bruised inside one of the dumpsters she’s supposed to, well, dump. Drax is an agent for his planet of flyers, and he’s on planet to prevent an interplanetary incident between his people and the local government. Obviously, he’s been betrayed.

Fortunately for Drax, the crew of the Malcolm and especially Rita are exactly what he needs to thwart the bad guys (and girls, and others) and protect the cultural artifact on loan from his planet. He was planning to catch the thieves in the museum red-handed (or pawed, or whatever) by flying in through the skylight and waiting for the baddies to show up.

Instead, Rita climbs through the skylight, and the cat-girl goes all predator on the assassin who is out to take Drax (or pieces of Drax) in. And while everyone chases down the baddies and tries to stay alive, Drax discovers that it is possible to fall in love in just a couple of days – if the person you fall for is wired to the same thrill-kinky strain that you are.

Will true love conquer all, or will Drax return to his planet, his people, and his suddenly boring life as a secret agent?

Escape Rating B: Thrill-Kinky is fun and surprisingly fluffy for a romance about two people who like to have sex while threatened with death and dismemberment. Rita and Drax both get off on being in danger, and the high that comes from surviving it. This is actually fairly normal for Drax, after all, his people have sex while flying. Both because they can and because it aids conception. But sex is distracting and flying is dangerous and the combination is definitely a thrill if your heart can take it.

The romance here is of the lust at first sight persuasion. Drax and Rita set each other off from the moment that they meet. That they are being chased by bad guys in a speeding (and shooting) vehicle just adds spice to their first encounter.

The plot device of the Malcolm crew needing to handle Drax’s assignment without his skillset or his high-end tech toys is a great way for readers to get to know the crew and just what they are capable of.

While the action, and therefore the thrills, never let up, Rita and Drax discover that they are made for each other in every possible way, except one. Rita is a spacer, and Drax is an agent for his planet and people, willing to give his life (which he very nearly does) to protect his home. Also the Malcolm is definitely on the low-end of space freighters, and Drax is very used to a high-living, “smoothstyle” life. Rita is pretty much from the wrong side of the tracks. And Rita is all too aware that whatever they have can’t last, and probably can’t even be real, because there isn’t enough time, and there isn’t going to be enough time, to make it real.

Unless Drax is willing to gamble his whole life for the ultimate thrill – with Rita.

Originally published at Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-10-16

Posted on January 10, 2016January 7, 2016 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Giveaways> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

I’m working way ahead here. Which means that next week’s schedule is likely to fall apart, at least at the end.

As you read this, I am in Boston, probably freezing, at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference. In fact, when this goes to “press”, I’ll probably be in a committee meeting finalizing the ALA Notable Books list for 2016. I bet we pick some real winners. But then, we always do!

Wherever you are on this wintry weekend, I hope you are keeping warm, and reading a terrific book.

Coming Next Week:

Thrill-Kinky by Teresa Noelle Roberts (review)
Bad Kitty by Teresa Noelle Roberts (review)
The Rising by Ian Tregillis (review)
On a Barbarian World by Anna Hackett (review)
Unbound by Jim C. Hines (review)

Stacking the Shelves (167)

Posted on January 9, 2016January 6, 2016 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Stacking the Shelves

I managed to get more books this week than I expected. This list is longer than I thought it would be, especially since I have to cut it off early. Because conference. And travel. And freezing in Boston.

I was astonished and terribly pleased to get an eARC for The Murder of Mary Russell. I love this series so much, that I’m always on pins and needles until the next one arrives. I have a feeling that it is going to be irresistible airplane reading, in spite of being three months ahead of the pub date. Some treats are too good not to open early!

everything explained that is explainable by denis boyles

journey to munich by jacqueline winspear

For Review:
Ariel (Nano Wolves #1) by Donna McDonald
Everything Explained That Is Explainable by Denis Boyles
Hawke (Cold Fury Hockey #5) by Sawyer Bennett
Journey to Munich (Maisie Dobbs #12) by Jacqueline Winspear
Kingfisher by Patricia A. McKillip
Keir’s Fall (Redemption #2) by Pippa Jay
The Murder of Mary Russell (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #14) by Laurie R. King
The Ramblers by Aidan Donnelley Rowley
Revisionary (Magic Ex Libris #4) by Jim C. Hines

Purchased from Amazon:
The Sisters of Versailles (Mistresses of Versailles #1) by Sally Christie

Review: Adrian by Heather Grothaus

Posted on January 8, 2016January 5, 2016 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B+ Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Adrian (The Brotherhood of Fallen Angels, #2) by Heather Grothaus
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Series: Brotherhood of Fallen Angels #2
Pages: 352
Published by Lyrical Press on December 22nd 2015
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org
Goodreads

In the medieval Holy Land, four brave Crusaders fight tyranny and betrayal. They are the Brotherhood of Fallen Angels—and one by one, they may discover that love is the greatest adventure of all… From palaces and cathedrals to fortresses, Adrian Hailsworth’s engineering genius is evident across the land—including the castle of Chastellet. But a bloody siege has left the stronghold, and Adrian, in ruins. Now a wanted man, he is forced into hiding at The Brotherhood of Fallen Angels Abbey, his brilliant mind plagued with nightmares, his spirit broken—until Father Victor presents him with a fiery redhead in need of help only Adrian can give… Maisie Lindsay is the lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Wyldonna, a small kingdom off the Scottish coast that is being blackmailed—by none other than the Brotherhood’s most treacherous enemy. The only chance of saving Wyldonna lies in unearthing its vast fortune, hidden within a labyrinth of deadly traps and secret passages. The challenge enlivens Adrian—as does the passion Maisie ignites. But she is far more than she appears, and the truth may force Adrian to sacrifice his heart’s longing to save her, before it’s too late for them all…

My Review:

Welcome to Brigadoon!

Not quite, but almost. For those who have never seen the play or the movie, Brigadoon is the story of a group of American tourists who stumble over a magical village in the Scottish Highlands that only appears once a century, and vanishes back into the mists at the end of its single day in normal time.

The mystical kingdom of Wyldonna is equally magical, and also equally Scottish. However, it sounds like Wyldonna is set closer to the Orkney Islands than in the actual Highlands. Wyldonna is certainly an island off the coast of Scotland in this story.

Unlike Brigadoon, Wyldonna emerges from its concealing mists four times per year, on the equinoxes and the solstices. Also unlike Brigadoon, not all, even not most of its inhabitants are humans.

Adrian is also a “magic goes away” type story. In this version of Europe during the Crusades, all of the magic in the world is locked away on Wyldonna. And like the magical kingdom of the Tala in Jeffe Kennedy’s marvelous Twelve Kingdoms, only those from Wyldonna or accompanying someone from Wyldonna can find their way in. And also like the Tala, the complete separation of magic from the rest of world is resulting in difficulties on both sides of the equation. The lack of magic is harming the regular world, and the bottled up magic is too much for Wyldonna.

The crisis that is coming is brought by the villain of the Brotherhood of Fallen Angels series, Glayer Felsteppe, who in addition to having a horrible name seems to have more lives than a cat, and all of them misspent.

In the first book in this series, Valentine (reviewed here), we were introduced to the world of the Brotherhood of Fallen Angels, the mess they are in, and the lengths they will go to to clear their names of the stain of treason. They did not betray their fortress to the Saracens – that crime belongs to Felsteppe. He and his Saracen ally arranged for the fall of the fortress and the messages to Saladin and Richard the Lion-Hearted that the Brotherhood was responsible. The Brotherhood was not supposed to survive their subsequent torture by the Saracens, but then the best and worst laid plans often go astray.

In their exile, they have all been condemned as traitors. They are all cut off from the families and friends, except each other. They have all vowed to see their enemy’s head on pike, or otherwise separated from his body. So far, they have wounded the bastard, but he keeps surviving to hunt them another day.

In this second entry in the series, it is engineer Adrian Hailsworth’s turn to leave their sanctuary in the hopes of putting paid to Felsteppe’s account. A servant of the Queen of mythical Wyldonna comes to the Abbey asking for aid. The queen needs an engineer to search her castle for a mysterious treasure. A treasure that Felsteppe is planning to pick up, personally.

Adrian believes none of the stories of Wyldonna, and he doesn’t care. He is certain he can find any secrets that any building might be holding. And he’ll do anything for a chance at Felsteppe.

But while Adrian may not believe in the magic of Wyldonna, the magic believes in him. His coming was foretold, as was the death of the Queen who lied to him, lured him to her kingdom, and has come to love him above her own life.

Escape Rating B+: I enjoyed Adrian every bit as much as I did Valentine, but it is a completely different type of story. In Valentine, we have a mad romp across Europe, with the worldly hero and the sheltered heroine falling in love as they escape danger over and over. Valentine is forced to rescue Mary multiple times, both because he doesn’t tell her everything that’s going on and because Mary tends to rush in where angels fear to tread.

In Adrian, the situation is reversed. In Valentine, the journey was the point of the story. In Adrian, it’s the destination that matters. Also, where in Valentine he was constantly rescuing her, in Adrian it is the other way around. Because Adrian is a man of science, even 12th century science, he only believes in what he sees. He does not believe in the very real magic of Wyldonna, no matter how many times it hits him over the head. So, even though Maisie and her brother Malcolm repeatedly warn him not to do certain things or go certain places because of the magic, Adrian bull-headedly ignores them. Maisie, Malcolm and the giant caretaker Reid all end up pulling Adrian out of the frying pan that he has thrown himself into at one time or another.

Adrian’s visit to Wyldonna has been prophesied for centuries. Not him personally, but yes, him. After his torture by the Saracens, in his subsequent rescue Adrian got tattoos to cover all his scars. His extensive tattoos have transformed him into the “Painted Man” of Wyldonna legend, whether he believes it or not.

(It’s a telling point that the practitioner who gave Adrian his ink disappears after his job in the legend is done)

All in all, Adrian is a terrific magical adventure with a lovely twist of romance. The way that the author wove the magic of Wyldonna into the story added to my very willing suspension of disbelief. It’s the kind of magical mystery that the reader wants to be true.

Hello My Name Is Giveaway Hop

Posted on January 7, 2016January 5, 2016 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Book Giveaway> Giveaways> Hello My Name Is Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Hello My Name Is…Giveaway Hop, hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup.

We’re ringing in the New Year with lots of giveaways! And by sharing some fun and wacky facts about ourselves. There’s a new giveaway at each stop so be sure to visit them all!

And here we go!

Hello, my name is Marlene and I’m a biblioholic. I love books, which is probably no surprise to anyone who reads this blog. Or possibly to anyone I’ve ever met!

As part of the hop, I’m supposed to share a few things about myself. Not the usual bloggy thing like what genres I like, but unusual and/or funny and/or strange but not too strange things about myself. None of us will have any secrets left by the time this week is over.

Fun Fact #1: As I’ve often mentioned, I’m a Star Trek fan. Because I’m a fan, I’ve seen every Star Trek movie, even the awful ones like Insurrection and Nemesis. But what I don’t usually say is that I saw all of the Star Trek movies set in the original universe on the first night. Even the ones I knew would be awful. However, I have no love for the reboot and have discontinued my streak. It just isn’t MY Star Trek anymore.

Fun Fact #2: I sometimes compare themes in books I read to fanfiction. What I don’t mention is that I wrote one piece of fanfiction, and published it at fanfiction.net. And to tie this into one of my other loves, it was fanfiction set in the videogame Final Fantasy X. The story is still up, but I haven’t updated it in a long, long time. And it isn’t under my real name, so good luck figuring out which one it is.

Fun Fact #3: I’m an only child. This isn’t as fun or as interesting as the other two things, but it is certainly having an effect on my life right now. My mother is elderly and because I have no siblings, it all falls on me. My husband is very helpful, but it isn’t the same for me as it is for him. There are also issues with his father, but he has a sister and brother to talk things over with. When I was a kid, I wanted a sibling, at least until I was 12 or so and took a good look at what it would be like to have a brother or sister 12 or more years younger than me, and changed my mind. Now that I’m an adult, I’m back to wishing I had a sibling again.

Fun Fact #4: I read The Hobbit for the first time when I was in 3rd grade. So I was either 8 or 9. I re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings over 25 times in the next 20 years, and still dip into it whenever I’m in the mood. I re-read LOTR so often that my mom thought a great punishment for me was to take my copies away until we’d resolved whatever she was mad about. I just borrowed a copy from the school library and kept it in my locker. Mischief managed!

Fun Fact #5: Driving over bridges, especially high ones, gives me the heebie-jeebies. I used to drive the Chicago Skyway Bridge on a regular basis, and it was a white-knuckle experience every single time.

Now it’s your turn. Answer the question in the rafflecopter for your chance at either a $10 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or a $10 book of your choice from the Book Depository. This giveaway is open internationally, to any country that the Book Depository ships to. Good luck and may the Force be with you. (Did I also mention that I love Star Wars?)

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For a chance at more fabulous bookish prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on the hop:

Review: Night Hawk by Lindsay McKenna + Giveaway

Posted on January 6, 2016January 4, 2016 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews> Giveaways

Night Hawk (Jackson Hole, #10) by Lindsay McKenna
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook
Series: Jackson Hole #10
Pages: 384
Published by HQN Books on December 29th 2015
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org
Goodreads

Once upon a ranch in Wyoming…
After losing his comrade, Sergeant Gil Hanford thought a visit to the man's widow would be the decent way to honor his late friend. But Gil found more than comfort in Kai Tiernan—he had always secretly desired beautiful Kai, but a sudden, mutual passion helped assuage their grief… until duty reared its head, removing him from her arms, seemingly forever.
Four years later, Kai is starting over at the Triple H Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Born a rancher, she is looking for a new beginning—but her new boss is unforgivably familiar. Kai has tried to move past the memory of what happened between her and Gil, even though she's never forgiven him for leaving her. But even as they begin their journey toward something new and oh-so-uncertain, a shadow emerges, determined to claim Kai for itself.

My Review:

Night Hawk is a combination of several themes that I have come to enjoy recently. It’s a small town/contemporary western romance, with two strong ex-military protagonists. And it has just a touch of romantic suspense thrown in.

Also, this particular story in McKenna’s Jackson Hole series is a second-chance-at-love story, and I’m always a sucker for one of those.

However, this is book 10 in an ongoing series, and I’ll confess to not having read any of the preceding books. I picked it up because I read and enjoyed some of McKenna’s romantic suspense in the past, and this looked good. While I know that I missed some nuances among the continuing characters by not having read the rest of the series, this was still a good place to start. Both of the main characters in the book are also new to the series, the ranch and the area. Our hero, Gil Hanford, has only been at Triple H a few months, and heroine Kai Tiernan comes to the ranch as a new mechanic and wrangler.

There was one part of the story where I think my previous unfamiliarity made a difference, and I’ll get back to that after the rating. But for the most part, as we are mostly following Kai’s perspective in this story, as people, places and things are introduced to her, they are introduced to any new readers to the series.

When Kai meets foreman Gil Hanford at the Triple H, it is far from their first meeting. And there lies the romantic and sexual tension in the story, as well as most of the arguments, hurt feelings and distrust.

Like many of the men who have come to work at the Triple H, Gil isn’t merely ex-military, he’s ex-Special Forces. And so was Kai’s late husband Sam. Gil and Sam were in the same unit, and Gil was the one to comfort Kai when Sam was killed in action. Kai was also stationed at Baghram, she was one of the mechanics who fixed vehicles on base for all the units stationed there, including the Special Forces Teams.

As long as Sam was alive, Gil and Kai were never anything more than friends. Gil may have been just as much in love with Kai as his buddy was, but he never let it show. At least not until five memorable days and glorious nights, a year after Sam was killed, when Gil’s brother Rob was also KIA. Gil and Kai shared something special, something that was more than just sex, but still contained a whole lot of heat between the sheets.

On the final morning, Gil disappeared, and Kai felt used. Who wouldn’t? But now they are both out of the service and the small world of western ranches has brought them both to the same place at the same time. With a chance for all the explanations that Gil never gave. And a chance for the wounds to heal so that they can discover if what they had was real, and if it can last.

At least until they discover that someone out there has both of them in his sights, and he’s aiming to kill.

Escape Rating B: First of all, I really loved the atmosphere of the Triple H Ranch. It just seems like a really great place with terrific people. The owner, Talon Holt, is himself ex-Special Forces, and he has a track record of hiring his fellow veterans. He is also struggling, trying to bring his family’s ranch back to profitability after years of neglect. In addition to caring for his mother, who is battling cancer, Talon has also kept his military dog, Zeke, a Belgian Malinois with a grip like steel and a heart of gold.

The Triple H is a place where anyone would be proud and happy to work, and it makes a great setting.

I also enjoyed that this story has a secondary romance between Talon’s mother Sandy and their combination cook and accountant, Cass. Just because Sandy has had some tough knocks in her life, doesn’t mean she isn’t ready to try again, as long as it’s the right man. Cass and Sandy’s love story was sweet and made a nice counterpoint to the sometimes angry hot and sometimes smokin’ hot romance between Gil and Kai.

While there were reasons for Gil’s abandonment of Kai way back when, he did compound the issue by staying away after his duties were done. That his abrupt departure all too closely resembled Kai’s father’s treatment of her created some really deep wounds. They have a lot of trust to recover before they had a chance at happiness, and the author worked through that in the story.

However, the suspense angle of the story hit this reader new to the series as a bit out of left field. It also included an unfortunate misunderstandammit. Everyone in town seems to know that Chuck Harper is a villain. But everyone equally protects Kai from learning that Harper has a history of becoming obsessed with women and making them disappear when they reject him. They all think that just informing Kai that Harper is under investigation for drug trafficking will be enough to keep her away from the dude. At the same time, Harper is courting Kai by offering the services of his ace machine shop at bargain rates, and Kai, and the Triple H, need access to prime tools to keep their old farm equipment operational. The reader sees trouble coming miles away, because Kai doesn’t have the information to evaluate the true threat.

I also think that Harper’s dirty deeds have roots in earlier stories that I haven’t read. So his part of this plot loomed much more annoying than large because of my and Kai’s lack of information.

I still really enjoyed Kai and Gil’s story, and I’ll be happy to take another trip out to the Triple H.

GIVEAWAY

Lindsay is giving away a copy of Wolf Haven, book number 9 in the Jackson Hole series, to one lucky U.S. or Canadian commenter.

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This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews and features.

16 for 2016: My Most Anticipated Books of 2016

Posted on January 5, 2016January 3, 2016 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | anticipated books list> best book lists

Looking back at last year’s list, it is always good to discover that the stuff I wanted to read last year isn’t still on my TBR pile for this year, either because I didn’t get around to reading it, or because the author didn’t get around to finish it.

Diana Gabaldon’s Written in My Own Heart’s Blood stayed on the list for a couple of years due to a delay in publication. The next book in that series hasn’t been announced yet, so while I definitely want to read it when it happens, first I have to know it’s going to happen.

Also like last year, most of the books are the “next” book in ongoing series that I follow. If I like something a lot, I tend to keep going. On my other hand, there are more non-series books on here than usual. Generally that’s because I’m familiar with the authors, but in the case of Reader, I Married Him, I’m looking forward to that book as kind of a mirror reflection of Jane Steele, which itself is a funhouse mirror reflection of Jane Eyre. We’ll see.

And there are three books in the list that either have no titles or even tentative titles. Likewise, they have no cover pictures. No publication dates either. Which has no influence whatsoever on the amount of bated breath that I am waiting for them with!

The Alchemy Wars #3 by Ian Tregillis
The Blockade (First Salik War #3) by Jean Johnson
Brotherhood in Death (In Death #42) by J.D. Robb
Cat Shout for Joy (Joe Grey #19) by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #12 by Louise Penny
Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay
Confederation #7/Peacekeeper #2 by Tanya Huff
The Fate of the Tearling (Queen of the Tearling #3) by Erika Johansen
The Forbidden Heir (Four Arts #2) by M.J. Scott
Four Roads Cross (Craft Sequence #5) by Max Gladstone
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
The Murder of Mary Russell (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #14) by Laurie R. King
Reader I Married Him by Tracy Chevalier et al.
The Shattered Tree (Bess Crawford #8) by Charles Todd
Treachery’s Tools (Imager Portfolio #10) by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
The White Mirror (Li Du #2) by Elsa Hart

children of earth and sky by guy gavriel kay

cat shout for joy by shirley rousseau murphy

reader i married him by tracy chevalier et al

Jeepers! It’s January Giveaway Hop

Posted on January 4, 2016January 3, 2016 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Jeepers! It's January Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Jeepers! It’s January Giveaway Hop, hosted by The Mommy Island and The Kids Did It.

Why? Because jeepers, it is January. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be writing 2015 instead of 2016 for at least a month.

It’s also a great time for this book blog to give away some bookish prizes. Long winter nights are a great time to curl up with a good book!

So, I’ll be giving away the winner’s choice of either a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $10 Book from the Book Depository. For those who either want a book or are international visitors who don’t have a good way of using an Amazon Gift Card, the requirement is that you need an address where Book Depository ships.

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There are lots of fabulous prizes in this hop! Visit all the stops and see for yourself:

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-3-16

Posted on January 3, 2016January 3, 2016 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Giveaways> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

As I type this, I’m keeping my fingers crossed (well, sort of) that my webhost service stays up. They’ve been suffering Denial of Service attacks all weekend, so the service, and my blog, have had a terrible case of the “up downs”. While it is frustrating for me, I’m sure it has been an even longer weekend for them. Galen is anxiously awaiting the post-mortem report to find out what went wrong. Me, I just want it to be post. Most of the weekend, all it’s been is mortem.

And I’m anxious because the American Library Association Midwinter Conference starts this week in Boston. I am hoping against hope that Boston will still be experiencing above normal winter temps while we are there. And I’m praying that the webhost service stays up, because I need to get a whole bunch of posts prepped in advance. Mixing ALA and post-writing has proven to be an extremely unsuccessful (and extremely stressful) idea in the past.

Happy New Year everyone!

Current Giveaways:

Anything for You by Kristan Higgins
Sarah MacLean Rule of Scoundrels Bundle

Winner Announcement:

The winner of a $10 Gift Card in the Midwinter’s Eve Giveaway Hop is Kristia M.