Archive for the ‘Saturday Sound Off’ Category

Goodness, this Saturday Sound Off is almost becoming a biweekly thing instead of weekly. I will do my best to work on that Things have still been hectic around here – math exams, psychology and women’s studies homework…. and 2 little girls who feel i spend too much time studying. I am looking forward to summer! What, its only February? shoot. Maybe I would get more done if the drug called twitter wasn’t so accessible….. especially since I rewarded myself with an iPhone this month. Now that I can take all of you with me everywhere… its awfully hard to ignore the temptation. Did you know they make an app for iPhone that makes it easier to type and walk at the same time? Not kidding, they do.

In techy blog stuff, I added a footer to the page to show off popular posts and stuff. The calendar/archive widgets probably won’t stay but they are there for now… until I find something more interesting. I will be working on updating the free book page this week.

KV is easy, she gets around…

This week I found myself roped into sharing my love/hate of certain book characters over at WickedLilPixie. I also guest posted my review of Anton Strout’s newest book, Dead Matter, over at Fantasy Dreamer’s Ramblings.

All things Kindlicious

If you have been anxiously waiting for Kindle to make it to the Blackberry, wait no more…. it is finally here! Amazon now has a Kindle for Blackberry app here.

Around the Blog World

Kim Harrison posted to her blog about the fact that the newest Hollows book, Black Magic Sanction, will be delayed in ebook format. Amazon has the kindle version listed as available April 6, compared to hardcover on February 23rd. But hey, its only $8.65 if you preorder it and don’t mind waiting more than a month for it. Hear that..? Its my very large groaning sigh. oh and that noise? me banging my head on my desk. It seems there will be some sort of enhanced ebook available through iTunes…. but then you are stuck only reading it on an iphone or ipod touch…. no thanks. Books on board has Black Magic Sanction in ebook format, supposedly releasing on Feb. 23rd, if you don’t mind paying a bit more for it here. Of course its in secure Adobe format so you won’t be able to read it on your kindle unless you *shhhh*crack it*shhh*.

On the note of ebooks and the drama around them, Karen Ranney posted a really great blog on ebooks and pricing. Check it out, it is worth it.

The Qwillery is doing its best effort to Save Amanda Feral and giving away 2 copies of Happy Hour of the Damned. Stop by for your chance to win. I love me some Mark Henry…. look for my review of the newest Amanda book this week.

Keith Melton is answering all of his readers questions over at Barnes & Nobles book club this month. Come on over and take advantage…. I know I have!

Books read and reviewed this week (and last week!)

Lead Me On by Victoria Dahl

Dead to Me by Anton Strout

Deader Still by Anton Strout

Shift by Rachel Vincent

Dead Matter by Anton Strout

Books added to my Kindle this week

Books already on my Kindle that I haven’t gotten to yet *gulp*

Music listening to while writing this blog entry…Paradise City by Guns & Roses

I had totally planned on getting to this post yesterday, but homework and the kids took up too much time! My classes are kicking my butt right now and I took the kids out for a magic show and dinner last night. Late is better than never, so here I am, with my weekly wrap up.

My efforts to be organized this week….not successful. I will try again this week. Biggest fail? Actually cooking dinner every night. After a long day of kid wrangling and homework and volunteering at schools the last thing I want to do is make dinner and we have all been suffering because of it. But I need to get on top of it, so that is my goal this week!

The big blog world news this week –well besides MacMillan showing its ass and going toe to toe with Amazon — COVERS! There have been a multitude of covers released this week. I was going to post them all but Jackie over at Literary Escapism totally saved me some time and posted a cover wrap (and more!) here. Besides lots of new covers posted, we got some revised covers revealed.

Vicky Pettersson’s Cheat the Grave loses the sulking piece of man candy and some tattoos.

Original Cover	Revised Cover

Kelley Armstrong’s Waking the Witch also gets a new look, less motorcycle, more Savannah. I didn’t really have a preference at first but the more I see the new cover, the more I like it better.

Original Cover	Revised Cover

Additionally Richelle Mead posted that the Georgina Kincaid series is getting a cover makeover for the mass market edition of the series. I LOVE the new covers, so much better than the originals. Have no fear, the original cover style will continue on with the trade paperbacks.

Trade Paperback Cover	Mass Market Cover

I will be posting over at FictionVixen‘s place this week about my “love story.” She is doing a whole month about love, make sure to stop by!

If you haven’t entered my contest to win an ebook copy of Crux by Moira Rogers….go ahead and click here now! You will not regret it! Deadline is tomorrow, February 8th. Don’t forgot that Moira Rogers will be answering all my evil questions on February 9th, please stop by and help me harrass celebrate them!

Speaking of the talented team of Moira Rogers, the Bree half of that duo posted one of my absolute favorite author takes on book piracy here! She is one smart cookie. Read it, you won’t be sorry.

By the way, the re-release of Happy Hour of the Damned is upon us and I hear that Mark Henry is making people pee themselves with laughter over on Bitten by Books. You can find a link to video blogs and interviews here.

Books read this week (and last week!)

Road Trip of the Living Dead by Mark Henry

Rust Belt by Jessica Freely

Broken by Shiloh Walker

Shades of Midnight

Books reviewed this week

Road Trip of the Living Dead by Mark Henry

Broken by Shiloh Walker

Shades of Midnight

Books added to my Kindle this week

Another Saturday is here! Most people look forward to Saturday as their first day off, I look forward to it as the last day of my week! Hubby works Tuesday through Saturday so my first “day off” isn’t until Sunday, but I take full advantage and sleep in as late as I can!

I started school back up again this week. This semester holds such lovely things as Criminal Justice 101, Psych 101 and Women’s Studies (race/gender issues). The Women’s Studies class scares me the most as there appears to be a TON of reading and writing. I have a feeling this is going to impede my review writing over the next few weeks, but I hope not! I just need to work on some time management skills and stay on top of my schedule and all should be good! I found Circus Ponies Notebook 3.0 and OmniFocus this morning and my organizing junkie heart went pitter patter. Hopefully these 2 programs can help keep me on top of school, kids, blog, and more!

In KindleVixen blog news…. I added a new drop down menu over in the left sidebar. Now you can search for reviews by author name. I hope it proves useful! I am thinking of adding a third one to search by genre (instead of it being in the main category list) but I am not convinced yet!

All Romance Ebooks weekly newsletter listed a few of their favorite book twitterers and I was lucky enough to be included, along with Smexy Books, Bitten By Books, Smart Bitches Love Trashy Books, Dear Author, and a few more! Make sure to check out all the free e-books they have to offer!

If you haven’t entered my contest to win a copy of Ava Gray’s Skin Game…. what are you waiting for? Get your cutie patootie over here and sign up! Deadline is Monday, January 25th. Another exciting contest coming up right after I announce the winner!

Literary Escapism is running a mini reading challenge that looks like a good time!

Has everyone heard of the League of Reluctant Adults? It’s a group of UF/PNR authors who are simply hilarious if you follow them at all. I’ve talked with quite a few of them, but I haven’t tried nearly enough of them. I keep hearing all these great things about their novels and I’m way beyond feeling that I’m missing out and my excuse of “needing to get through my review stack” is no longer acceptable. So for the month of February, I’m challenging everyone to join me and try a few of the different authors from the League.

I have been meaning to read more books from League authors ever since I finished Mark Henry’s Happy Hour of the Damned and this is the perfect opportunity! Join me, will ya?

All Things Urban Fantasy is quickly becoming one of my favorite UF blogs and she is hosting an awesome giveaway to celebrate reaching 300 followers. Go here to enter for a chance to win all four Mercy Thompson series books by Patricia Briggs. I absolutely adore this series and if you haven’t read it, you are missing out!

Books read this week

Beneath the Skin by Adrian Phoenix

Switch by Megan Hart

Books reviewed this week

Beneath the Skin

Switch by Megan Hart

Books added to my Kindle this week

I have very few plans today and that is the way I like it! I have some volunteer work to do at the kids’ preschool and some meal planning and grocery shopping…. oh and a trip to the gym. Hmmmm suddenly it seems I do have lots of plans! I will still get my reading in sometime today! I have so many new books on the kindle and so little time to get them read!

Last night I posted the cover for Dark Days book 4, Pray for Dawn. It looks like Patti from One book Away from Heaven has found the cover for book 5, Wait for Dusk! I love the covers with the exception of Danaus’ hair… its too shiny or something.

I did my part in making Nat from Wicked Lil’ Pixie uncomfortable this week and interviewed her over on her blog. What have we learned? All of us bloggers appear to be short.

Make sure to enter my giveaway for Ava Gray’s Skin Game! Deadline is January 25th.

Also check out the the contest over at All Things Urban Fantasy to win a copy of Keith Melton’s Blood Vice. I loved this book, you won’t regret it!

Awards

I am really horrible at keeping up with blog awards! *ducks head in shame* But I am so thankful to all the bloggers who have been kind enough to pass them onto me! A quick recap of recent ones:

Thanks to The Book Vixen for the Blog Monster award The Blog Monster award signifies all the bloggers out there who constantly work hard to keep an updated and insightful website. They aren’t afraid to take a bite with their honest reviews and enjoyable content!!!

Thanks to Fiction Vixen for passing along the Happy 101 award. List 10 things that make you happy. My family Mini Vacations w/ the hubby Kyla’s jokes My down comforter Thunderstorms Cuddling with my Kindle White Chocolate Peppermint Mochas Quiet time at the gym Body Pump w/ Hot Guy Kyle Breezy Sunny Days

Thanks go to Miss Cindy at simple life and reading for the Beautiful Blogger award! List 7 things about yourself: 1. I am only 5′ tall… and heels hurt! 2. I love to bake bread, but hate cooking meals 3. I have more than 500 books in my calibre ebook library 4. I am president of my daughter’s preschool co-op 5. Ever since I watched Food, Inc I have been working on drastically changing the food we buy. It was shocking! 6. I have an addiction…. it is buying kitchen appliances/accessories. Funny considering #2. 7. I grew up in Vermont and now avoid snow at all costs.

Lastly, thank you Marissa from Marissa’s Book Lair for the Spread the Love Around Award.

Books read this week

Skin Game by Ava Gray

Crossroads by Moira Rogers

Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell Hamilton

Guilty Pleasure by Lora Leigh

Books reviewed this week

Skin Game by Ava Gray

Crossroads by Moira Rogers

Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell Hamilton

No new books added to the Kindle this week!

Note: Saturday Sound Off is a new thing I am trying out….. just a basic dump of completely random stuff I want to say to wrap up the week! Maybe it should be a meme? But if so does that mean I have to create a banner for it? And Mr Linky? All so complicated, lets see how it goes first!

I spent the morning at the Girl Scout Cookie Carnival… I have now eaten more desserts made from Girl Scout Lemonades than any one person should consume in their entire lifetime. Quiet time with the kindle is desperately needed and planned for tonight. I plan on diving into Skin Game by Ava Gray and not resurfacing until I am finished! Considering the morning’s activities, I suppose I need to plan some gym time somewhere in tonights itinerary as well…

I was rendered speechless just 5 minutes ago by this cover:

I have not yet had the chance to read Lauren Dane, but I will soon be fixing that. The hips, the scruffy facial hair, low slung jeans….again, speechless. Thank you to Fiction Vixen for posting it and making my afternoon so much more exciting.

Speaking of Fiction Vixen, I hear she is looking for some guest posters to share some romance stories on her blog. Head on over there if you think you would like to give it a shot!

Smexybooks is also looking for some help! She needs reviewers so if you think you have what it takes, email her!

Make sure to enter my giveaway for Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden series! Today is the last day, I will be picking and posting a winner sometime after midnight tonight!

Also check out the Demonica Week contest over at Larissa’s Life. I haven’t started the series yet, but I hear it is smokin hot!

If you love love love Jeaniene Frost like I do, you want to make sure to enter the contest for an ARC of First Drop of Crimson over at Literary Escapism. If you win, I expect you to share with the messenger!

WickedLilPixie (who happens to be a bad influence on innocent bloggers like myself) is working on creating a massive list of urban fantasy, paranormal romance, sci-fi/fantasy, young adult, and horror series’. If you want to check it out or have anything to add, click here. I am considering a petition to convince her to add author twitter names to the list.

Finally, thanks go out to @IntenseWhisper who made this totally kick ass photoshopped version of me!

Books read this week

The Dark Tide by Josh Lanyon

Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry

Books reviewed this week

Adrien English series by Josh Lanyon

Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry

Books added to my Kindle this week