OMG It’s a Giveaway Hop

Posted on February 14, 2020February 13, 2020 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Giveaways> OMG It's a Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the OMG It’s a Giveaway Hop, hosted by Review Wire Media and Chatty Patty’s Place!

As if that wasn’t enough, today is also Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day can be such a fraught holiday. If you don’t have someone, the entire day is a constant and generally unwelcome reminder. If you’re in the early stages, it feels like pressure to get the holiday right. If you’ve been partnered for a long time, there can be even more expectations and disappointments.

Or it might be a breeze for you and yours.

Then there’s the question of what to get your someone for the day. Flowers? Chocolate? Dinner out – which is going to be a real zoo as this year Valentine’s Day is a Friday – and Friday night dinner out is already a zoo.

I always loved to get flowers for Valentine’s Day, but they would be sent to my work. Now that I work from home, that’s a problem instead of an option. Not that I wouldn’t still love flowers, but there’s no place safe from the cats. That’s just a mess waiting to happen. And it would. It so would.

What about you? What would you rather receive for Valentine’s Day? Answer in the rafflecopter for a chance at my usual prize, the winner’s choice of a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $10 Book from the Book Depository.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more terrific prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on this hop!

The Cat’s Meow Giveaway Hop

Posted on February 4, 2020February 3, 2020 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Cat's Meow Giveaway Hop> Giveaways

Welcome to the The Cat’s Meow Giveaway Hop, hosted by The Kids Did It and The Mommy Island.

Not all cats actually “meow” – or even make a sound remotely equivalent. Our current clowder certainly doesn’t.

Both Freddie and Hecate “cry”. It’s kind of a whine that seems to either mean, “Where are you, my human?” or “Where am I, I’m lost and can’t find you.” Mind you, they are lost and can’t find us while we’re all in the same house. Lucifer, on the other hand, is a silent little demon. He doesn’t make much noise at all, and he certainly doesn’t meow or cry or whine. He still has plenty of ways of letting us know that we’ve been “stupid humans” and that he wants something right now.

Speaking of cats wanting things right now, My very first cat meowed. He also screamed, quite loudly. And he could say “now”, except he usually said it as “NOW!” at high volume. His name was Licorice, he was the cat of my heart, and thinking of him still makes me tear up. It’s been 25 years since he went to the Rainbow Bridge, and I still miss him.

Not that Lucifer doesn’t do his best to console me as often as felinely possible. He’s the first cat since Licorice where I’m his person. There have been plenty of others in our life, and I’ve loved them all, but for the most part they have loved Galen best and that’s okay.

On a cheerier note, here’s something definitely feline related that once you’ve seen it you can’t unsee. Also it’s true. The word “homeowner” has MEOW in the middle. Home for us is where the cats are.

But to celebrate ALL the pets in your lives, fill out the rafflecopter for a chance at your choice of $10 Amazon Gift Card or a book up to $10 from the Book Depository. And it doesn’t even have to be about cats!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more fabulous prizes be sure to visit the other stops on this hop!

Welcome Winter Giveaway Hop

Posted on January 17, 2020January 16, 2020 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Giveaways> Welcome Winter Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Welcome Winter Giveaway Hop, hosted by Review Wire Media and Chatty Patty’s Place!

This is the perfect day for this hop. At least from a certain shivery perspective. I don’t know about where you live, but here in Atlanta it has been unseasonably warm for the past week. Sometimes wet and gloomy, but into the 60s. Shirtsleeve weather even in the evening.

And it all ends just as this hop opens, and temps are expected to drop like a rock – or maybe a hailstone – over the next week. It’s more than enough to make a person think seriously about global warming – because the summer will probably be brutal.

Nevertheless, the thing I love about living around here is that we have four seasons but winter isn’t terribly wintry – all things considered. Not like some other places I’ve lived in and shivered through.

But winter does have some upsides. It does get cool enough that we get out the “cushy” blankets, which brings the cats back into the bed. A purring snugglebunny is a lovely way to end the day!

What about you, what’s your favorite thing about winter? Answer in the rafflecopter for your chance at the usual Reading Reality prize, your choice of a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $10 Book from the Book Depository anywhere that the Book Depository ships.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more fabulous – if possibly somewhat chilly prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on this hop!

Best of 2019 Giveaway Hop

Posted on January 15, 2020January 14, 2020 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | best book lists> Best of 2019 Giveaway Hop> Blog Hops> Giveaways

Welcome to the Best of 2019 Giveaway Hop, Hosted by Bookhounds.

Every year has its highs and its lows, its bests and its worsts – and 2019 was no exception. But 2019 is over, and its time to take a look back – at least at the books.

This blog hop is all about those best books list that everyone does at the end of the year. My list was posted as Best of My 2019 on Boxing Day (12/26) 2019. Since I just couldn’t reduce the damn thing to only 10 books, it’s long. It’s really, really long.

And that’s all to the good for you. Because the prize in this particular hop is whichever book from that list you want, either in print or ebook. If you would really rather have a $10 Amazon Gift Card I’ll send the winner one of those instead, but I really want to share my favorite books. So if you say you want a book, it will be the currently available print copy – paperback if there is one, hardcover if there isn’t. Unless you are in the US and want an ebook. I don’t think I can send ebooks outside the US, but the giveaway is open to everyone so print (up to $25) is probably the best option.

Now it’s up to you. I want to share my favorites with you, and my list was long enough that there is plenty to choose from, at least something from most genres. And all good! So tell me which book you would want in the rafflecopter below and cross your fingers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more best books and best bookish prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on this hop!

The Roaring 20s Giveaway Hop

Posted on January 14, 2020January 13, 2020 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Giveaways> Roaring 20s Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the The Roaring 20s Giveaway Hop, hosted by The Kids Did It and The Mommy Island.

The term “Roaring 20s” sure conjures up an image, doesn’t it? A carousel of flappers and speakeasies and seemingly endless parties. The “Lost Generation” of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. The generation that came of age during World War I, the war that they thought would end all wars.

The 1920s (and 1930s) were also the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction”, the era of not just Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, but also Margery Allingham, G.K. Chesterton, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, Georges Simenon, Ellery Queen, Erle Stanley Gardner and even Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammet. With the addition of Arthur Conan Doyle, who was still alive and still adding to the Sherlock Holmes canon during the 1920s, these are the giants on whose shoulders the modern mystery genre still stands.

The 1920s were years of ferment in so many ways. Looking back, it sometimes seems to have been a never-ending party, at least until the resounding crash of the stock market on October 28-29, 1929. When it all came tumbling down. Hopefully we’ll fare better with our own “Roaring 20s” in the 2020s.

What images come to your mind when you hear the phrase “Roaring 20s”? Answer in the rafflecopter for your chance at either a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a book, up to $10 in value, from the Book Depository.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And for more “Roaring” prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on this hop!

Welcome 2020 Giveaway Hop

Posted on January 2, 2020January 1, 2020 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Giveaways> Welcome 2020 Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Welcome 2020 Giveaway Hop, hosted by Review Wire Media and Chatty Patty’s Place!

Is it real yet? I mean, is it real yet that it is 2020 and not still 2019? Does it feel like a new year?

Have you made any resolutions? Have you already broken any?

Whether you are welcoming 2020 or still saying, “Bah, humbug” this hop includes yet another opportunity to win your choice of a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $10 Book from the Book Depository to help you start the new year right. Or lose track of your sorrows in a good book.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more great prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on this hop!

3…2…1…Giveaway Hop

Posted on January 1, 2020December 31, 2019 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 3 2 1 Giveaway Hop> Blog Hops> Giveaways

Welcome to the 3…2…1…Giveaway Hop, hosted by Mama the Fox!

Wherever you are, HAPPY NEW YEAR! That it’s 2020 doesn’t seem quite real, does it? But here we are!

Everyone has New Year’s traditions, even if it’s just watching the ball drop in Times Square on TV. There’s been a traditional Peach Drop here in ATL but it’s not happening this year.

Still, what’s your favorite thing to do to mark the New Year? Answer in the rafflecopter for your chance at either a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $10 Book from the Book Depository.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more sparkly and/or explosive (hopefully not too explosive) prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on this hop!

MamatheFox and all participating blogs are not held responsible for sponsors who fail to fulfill their prize obligations.

Dashing Giveaway Hop

Posted on December 16, 2019December 15, 2019 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Dashing Giveaway Hop> Giveaways

Welcome to the Dashing Giveaway Hop, hosted by Mama the Fox!

The graphic kind of gives it away, doesn’t it? “Dashing through the snow, on a one-horse open sleigh…”

Or maybe “Now Dasher! now Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!…”

But before you “dash away, dash away! dash away all!” take just a minute to enter the rafflecopter for your chance at either a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $10 Book from the Book Depository – to give you something to while away some of the quieter moments this busy holiday season.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And be sure to visit the other stops on the hop for more terrific holiday prizes!

MamatheFox and all participating blogs are not held responsible for sponsors who fail to fulfill their prize obligations.

Winter is Coming Giveaway Hop

Posted on December 3, 2019December 2, 2019 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Giveaways> Winter is Coming Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Winter is Coming Giveaway Hop, hosted by The Kids Did It and The Mommy Island.

First of all, the above may be the cutest hop graphic ever. But then, I love cats. I can’t imagine ours in the snow – although it certainly would make our Lucifer easy to find – if we had snow.

Winter mostly deals the Atlanta area a glancing blow – but it is coming. Even if local temperatures during this blog hop will reach up into the 60s a few times. But we do get enough winter that the trees lose their leaves – which fascinates the cats no end. Falling leaves make GREAT kitty television.

I do not miss the winters in two of our previous homes – Chicago and Anchorage. Both are equally miserable this time of year. They are also both terrific cities to live in, but their winters – recently arrived in Chicago and long arrived in Anchorage – are nothing to sneeze at unless you have the inevitable cold or flu. Then you’re sneezing a lot.

But it’s chilly enough here that we’ve brought out the cushy blanket for our bed – which has motivated all three cats to not only sleep with us, but to sleep ON the bed instead of UNDER the bed during the day. And we’re happy to make them happy!

Still, ’tis the season for wintry weather, holiday shopping and curling up with a good book and a cuddly fur-person or two. To help with your winter snuggles, I’m giving away your choice of either a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $10 Book from the Book Depository. And all of the participants in this hop will be happy to help you further with your holiday presents and post-holiday recovery!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more fantastic prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on this hop!

Black Friday Giveaway Hop

Posted on November 29, 2019December 1, 2019 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Black Friday Blog Hop> Black Friday Book Bonanza> Blog Hops> Giveaways

Welcome to the Black Friday Book Bonanza Giveaway Hop, hosted by yours truly, Reading Reality, and the Caffeinated Reviewer!

Today is Black Friday, so named because in times past, the day after Thanksgiving marked the day that retail stores finances tipped from red ink (receipts not matching expenses) to black ink. It’s also the unofficial start of the Holiday season – and the equally unofficial start of the Xmas shopping season – hence that red ink to black switch. Even though stores don’t exactly use paper ledgers and ink to do their accounting, the principle is still true. Today is the day when retail starts to turn a profit.

That this year Thanksgiving is relatively late in the calendar has more than a few of them hoping that there’s enough time to get enough people in their stores – whether physically or virtually – to make the magic happen again this year. (Next year it’s a tinge earlier. C’est la vie)

This is not a day when a lot of blogging happens. People are either out shopping or still recovering from yesterday’s turkey coma. Still, I’m going to do my little bit to help you with your holiday shopping, even if it’s just a present for yourself.

The rafflecopter below is your chance at either a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $10 Book from the Book Depository to treat yourself – or someone else.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more fun prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on this hop!

Black Friday Giveaway Hop Participants