The Sunday Post Mailbox & Recap #13

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 
~this meme was inspired in part by - In My Mailbox~

It's a chance to share News. 

A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog. 

I had my surgery Tuesday and it went pretty well, just a couple minor glitches. The biggest glitch was afterwards; the surgery provoked an asthma flare up. It was a possible side effect, one I was hoping would pass me by. Unfortunately, I developed complications and spent all Friday night at the ER; I now have pneumonia. Ah well, I'm recovering. I appreciate all the kind tweets and blog comments, they helped. Thanks.

One thing about being home, recovering? I acquired WAY too many books: review books, kindle freebies and paid books (still using gift cards but I've just about used them up now). Thank goodness the majority were digital so they don't take up physical space. I now have 609 books in my TBR pile. Luckily, most are digital. My Kindle is positively stuffed.

I did a lot of reading, much of while at one hospital or another; a mix of short stories and full-length novels. I didn't get as many reviews written and posted as I hoped but I'm working on it. To that end, I signed up for the Review Copy Clean Up Challenge. Here's a link to my goals post, with an update on last week's accomplishments.

I had several news posts:
New Kelley Armstrong Artwork
 Nominate your favorite librarian 

surgery update

Win a Trip to Austin TX 

2 reviews, one here for "Revealing Hamilton"   and one at my other blog for the 
Mira Grant novellas.

I had an excerpt from "When You Wish Upon A Duke" by Isabella Bradford and an excerpt, with a guest post and giveaway, from Linda Lael Miller's "Big Sky Mountain".

I also had another very good week book week, though fewer of them were purchased; most were freebies or received for review. Luckily, most were digital so I still have room on my bookshelves. 

I've been hearing A LOT of positive buzz about a new erotic romance, "The Siren" by Tiffany Reisz. A friend of mine, Brittany, will be reviewing it Monday at her blog, Brittany's Thoughts. Do yourselves a favor and check it out. You can follow Britt on twitter as @BrittanyKG and you can follow Tiffany as @tiffanyreisz
 

Library 

 

 Won

I won this from the author in a twitter giveaway. Thanks JoAnne!

Apparently, I entered to win this in a goodreads First Reads giveaway. I had completely forgotten until I got an email telling me I was a winner. :D It hasn't arrived but should be here soon.

Kindle Freebies

Purchased

  I had a review PDF copy of this book from a few years ago, but it died with a former laptop, back before I had the sense to back up my files. I really enjoyed it and have been wanting to read it again.

I originally read Rosemary and Rue when it first came out, as a library book. Recently I broke down and have been buying the whole series. With these two books, I now own all and I have the next one pre-ordered. Libraries really do lead to book sales. :)

Book Club 

My publisher, Astraea Press, has a monthly book club on facebook. Each month, they choose one book and offer it for free to anyone who emails and asks. At the the end of the month, the author is available to chat on facebook and answer questions, plus there is swag to be won. They have a done a different genre each month, so there's variety in the selection. I decided to take part in this one.

Review

Thank you Random House, Harlequin, Jessica Scott and Babs Hightower!

Yeah, another really awesome book week for me. Apparently the book fairy likes me. :D

Leave me a link in your comment and I'll come visit during the week.

New Kelley Armstrong Artwork!

Subterranean Press revealed artwork for Kelley's upcoming novella, Forbidden, scheduled for a December 2012 release. Previously they had revealed the cover for the signed, limited edition; today's cover is for the trade edition. All artwork is by Angilram.

According to their site, the Trade Hardcover of "Forbidden" will feature a full-color dust jacket as well as four full-color interior illustrations. The Signed Limited Edition will have a completely different dust jacket, full-color endsheets, and two additional full-color illustrations not in the Trade.

The Limited Edition endsheets:

Some interior artwork:

I'm getting very excited for this! Is it December yet?

Review of Revealing Hamilton by Sarah J Carr

Publisher: Ruby Lioness Press
Series: Jackrabbit7 #1

Release Date: June 1, 2012
Buying Links: Amazon     Barnes and Noble

Book Burb (from goodreads): 

 A conversation with a stranger changes Amelia Hamilton’s life forever. When she learns her grandfather faked his own death, normalcy slips from Amelia’s grasp. To make matters worse, he is coming for her in less than seven days. What she hasn’t determined is why.

Amelia’s grandfather, Marius Benedict, once headed The Physician Coalition, an elite group of doctors who threw the Hippocratic Oath out the window. Years ago, they used a low-risk medical research study as a front for their experiments. Without their consent, innocents were injected with JackRabbit7, a hazardous substance used to alter their DNA. The victims were left with less-than-desirable super-human powers or excruciating death. Years after he disbanded the group, Marius has a new plan and is reforming The Coalition.


Max, a mysterious stranger from the Insurance Agency, offers to help keep Amelia safe. He introduces The Agency as an underground government organization that contains and eliminates those who intend to harm the world. To protect The Agency, the truth of their activities are concealed and replaced with sugar-coated stories in the media.

 Over the course of the next week, Amelia has to accept the truth and learn who can be trusted. At midnight on her 23rd birthday, a contract between The Coalition and The Insurance Agency will expire, giving Marius full rein to approach his granddaughter and finish the project he started with her so many years ago.

Teaser:

 I wondered what it was about Max that fascinated me so much. It could have been his mysterious nature, eloquent speaking or handsome face. I couldn't pinpoint it, but I wanted to know more about him. Maybe it was his ability to take in a stranger without hesitation. I wasn't sure I could repay him for the way he helped me....


"Do you believe in transmogrification?" "Trans-what?" I cut myself off, hoping Max didn't realize I broke my cardinal rule of answering a question with another question. "In this case, metamorphosis by means of DNA manipulation," he said. "English, please." I rubbed my temples. "Human mutation," he said. "Mutants." I paused, waiting for Max to snicker and tell me I was absurd, but he didn't move. "Like superheroes? That's for comic books."


Reviewed By: Bea

Bea's Thoughts:

I should have liked this book: medical mystery, mutants, action adventure, family dysfunction - all plot lines I enjoy. I enjoy reading Michael Crichton and other similar authors. The blurb caught my eye and I couldn't wait to read it. Then I started it. It did a decent job of holding my attention, I didn't want to put it down, I wanted to see what happened. Partly that was because I cared and partly because I wanted to watch the train wreck. Plot holes, twists that weren't twists, lack of explanation for how JackRabbit7 works (there's some but more is needed, it's very vague.), poor copy edits, and a twist at the end that was completely and utterly unbelievable. It killed any remaining credibility that the story had. I am perfectly willing to suspend disbelief and willing to overlook minor inconsistencies, but all along, the story clearly exhibited a lack of understanding about how government agencies work and the ending, well, that was the nail in the coffin for me. Add in the absurd quantity of coincidences and conspiracies and I just couldn't buy the story.


And yet, I liked the characters, I still like the potential of the story line, and I may give book two a try when it comes out. When I was looking up links, I saw that the book has a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews so if you're intrigued, give it a try. You may enjoy it more than I did.


I received a PDF from the author for review.

Win A Trip To Austin TX!

PR firm PR By The Book is celebrating it's 10th year in business and wants to send one lucky reader and a guest to Austin TX. Now in its 10th year of operation, with a growing pool of star literary talent and media personalities, PR by the Book has become a go-to firm in the book publishing industry for innovative publicity campaigns and top-tier media placement.

PR By The Book is a boutique publicity firm specializing in literary media relations campaigns, publishing consultation, small business publicity, and publicity tours for authors and experts. Their team of publicists has worked on books in nearly every genre, and with dozens of major publishing houses and small presses. Visit prbythebook.com to learn more.

Founded in 2002 by Marika Flatt, PR By The Book has grown from a one-woman operation to a team of 10, representing everyone from The Berenstain Bears series to Rex Pickett, author of the book-turned-movie, Sideways.

Now, PR by the Book has decided it’s time to share the love. And what better way to do that than to award a trip to the town where it all got started: Austin, Texas?

From their press release:

"Austin has burgeoned into a bustling literary community. When I started in book publicity here in 1997, I’d meet people who would be surprised I wasn’t from New York or Los Angeles,” says Flatt. “Now, when I travel for work and people ask where I’m from and I tell them Austin, the response is something similar to: I adore Austin and what a literary town that is!”

The contest is called "Escape to Austin" and will be a truly one-of-a-kind trip for the lucky winner. The prize package includes round-trip airfare for the winner and a guest, a two-night stay at The Hilton Garden Inn downtown Austin, dinner for two at TRIO in the Four Seasons, a $50 gift certificate to historic Hyde Park Bar & Grill and a couple of bookish perks.

Drawing the likes of Susan Orlean and Chuck Palahniuk, the Texas Book Festival is one of the premiere literary fests in the country. Last year, the festival featured 243 authors and attracted 40,000 attendees. The winner of the "Escape to Austin" contest will be granted two VIP passes to the weekend-long festival October 26-28, as well as a pass to one of TBF's invitation-only author parties.

"We are very excited to partner with PR by the Book for this contest package," says Lidia Agraz, TBF's Executive Director. "We're still early in the talent line-up process, but I can say that this year's festival will offer attendees a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to commune with true literary icons."

To enter "Escape to Austin," contest hopefuls must simply "like" PR by the Book on Facebook and fill out the entry form. The contest runs August 1 – August 31, 2012, and a winner will be selected by September 7 (open to U.S. residents only.)

So, go check out and fill out the form. My brother and his family lived in Austin for several years and really enjoyed. I didn't get there while they were living so I think I'll enter the giveaway, maybe I'll get lucky.

Excerpt from "When You Wish Upon A Duke" by Isabella Bradford

OK, first of all, I LOVE the purples used in this cover; lovely and eye-catching. But. speaking of eyes, where are they? Where's her head? It's mostly chopped of by the title header. Why? While the colors are gorgeous, overall the cover doesn't say romance to me, it says "historical about dress making". Very odd design choice in my not at all humble opinion. But, the purples, they are lovely! They call my name. :D

Book Blurb:

In a sparkling new series filled with irresistible charm and sizzling romance, award-winning author Isabella Bradford introduces us to the eldest of three Wylder sisters—unruly country girls whose passion for life leaves their London suitors breathless.

Raised in the Dorset countryside, Lady Charlotte Wylder doesn’t care one bit about well-bred decorum. The dark-haired, blue-eyed beauty would rather ride a horse than attend a stuffy ball. So when Charlotte learns that she is to leave immediately for London to wed the Duke of Marchbourne, a perfect model of aristocratic propriety, she is less than enchanted with her arranged marriage.

But to her delight, their first encounters are brazenly flirtatious, and their wedding night burns with passion. March’s broad shoulders and dark countenance make Charlotte want to rip every button off his waistcoast. She may even be falling in love with her new husband. Yet whenever their desire boils over, March reluctantly pushes Charlotte away. Will past secrets and present misunderstandings mire their marriage in scandal, or serve to strengthen a bond that is destined to last a lifetime?

Thanks to Random House, I have a review copy sitting on my kindle and you should see a review this month or early next month. In the meantime, to whet your appetite, here is a link to an excerpt. Check it out and then come back and share your impressions. The book is out now, so if you like it, you can buy it immediately

ETA: The original link didn't work; this new one worked for me, please let me know if it doesn't work for you.

August Review Copy Clean Up Challenge

 

I heard about this challenge from Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and thought how perfect it was for me. There's not a minimum requirement and the rules are simple so I'm jumping in. August is going to be a busy month for me in real life, so I'm giving myself two goals; one that I think is doable and one that is more challenging. With luck, I'll end up somewhere in between the two. The books have to be read in August, but the review might not go up in August. If you're interested, there's still time to sign up.

Review Copy Clean Up is hosted by 
Celene @ Nyx Book Reviews and Vicky @Books, Biscuits and Tea

Goal #1: The Easier Goal (I hope)

Yep, it's a small pile, but as I said, I August is going to be a busy month for. Plus, I have a second, more ambitious goal that I'll be striving for.

ETA 8/4: ACK! I just looked at my blog calendar and realized I forgot one. :(

Goal #2: The Ambitious Goal

In addition to the above books, I am also aiming to read the following review books:

 

So there are my goals. I am currently reading "Precinct 13", and enjoying it. I'll update this post each week with my successes and failures, and I'll include a link to it in my Sunday Post and Roundup each week. 

Week 1: As of 6:30 PM Saturday night, I've finished two books, one from the easy pile, "Precinct 13", and one from the ambitious pile, "When You Wish Upon A Duke". I enjoyed both. Next up is "Broken Harbor", a promised review for my other blog.

Week 2: I suck. I finished only one  review book, "Broken Harbor". I'm almost done with "Shadow of Deceit". I did read a couple of non-review library books this week.  

Week 3: Ugh, I really sucked. I read some library books this week so for review books, I finished 1, "Sweet Talk" by Julie Garwood and started "The Last Victim" by Karen Robards.

Week 4: I DNF'ed "The Last Victim" after about 50%, I just couldn't take it any more. I finished "A Sliver of Shadow" by Allison Pang. WOO HOO! Finally, I made progress. I finished all the books in my easy pile and I'm making headway on the challenging pile. I did decide to push reading "The Lost Prince" to September as there are books I need to get to before it. I also added a review book, "The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America's Premier Sporting Event" by James C. Nicholson. In all, I did 7 out of 13, a little over 50%. Meh.

Week 5:

I'm still working on the Kentucky Derby book; it's dense, lots of history and politics so I took a break for a few days. This week I was sick (still? again?) and I had a long, stressful week at work. Every night after work, I'd come home, crash on the couch and end up napping for an hour or two. My reading and blogging both suffered as a result.

So, in all I finished 7 out of 14 books, completed my easy pile, and made a start on my ambitious pile. I had hoped to finish at least 3/4 of the list but I did make progress and I'm happy about that.

Linda Lael Miller: Excerpt, Guest Post & Giveaway of Big Sky Mountain

It's my pleasure to have Romance author Linda Lael Miller back again today with another guest post, and an excerpt from her newest book, "Big Sky Mountain", part of her Swoon-Worthy Cowboys series.

Photo from author website

As the daughter of a town marshal, Linda has come home to the western lifestyle that gave birth to one of today’s most successful authors. She left Washington years ago and pursued her wanderlust, living in Arizona and London and traveling the world. Now the author of more than 100 novels, the “First Lady of the West” is glad to be back home, writing contemporary and historical stories that have earned her awards and placements on all the national bestsellers lists.

Linda traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she sold FLETCHER’S WOMAN in 1983 to Pocket Books. Since then, Linda has successfully published historicals, contemporaries, paranormals, and thrillers before coming home, in a literal sense, and concentrating on novels with a Western flavor. For her devotion to her craft, the Romance Writers of America awarded her their prestigious Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

Linda’s 2011 contemporary Creed Cowboy trilogy—A CREED IN STONE CREEK, CREED’S HONOR and THE CREED LEGACY, released in March, June and July, respectively—each debuted in the number one position on the New York Times bestseller list.

First up is Linda's guest post, then a brief excerpt and book info at the end. Enjoy!
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When brainstorming your next storyline, do you know whether it will be a trilogy or a stand-alone book? Can you discuss the differences between writing a trilogy or a stand-alone?

I usually think in terms of a series—there are actually six books in the Parable/Big Sky group. I’ve tried many times to write a stand-alone book—I meant “The Man from Stone Creek” to be one—but I seem to be wired for trilogies. J Some engaging secondary character always appears, with a story to be told, and the next thing I know, I’m off and running. Some of my early books—“Fletcher’s Woman” and “Willow” come to mind—were intended as single stories and stayed that way, but the series thing goes back a long way. My first series was the Corbin books—there were brothers, and an interesting sister, too. So the first book turned into four. It’s organic with me—I guess I just think in terms of big, sweeping stories with casts of thousands!

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Excerpt

Hutch’s head reeled, but he quickly reminded himself, silently of course, that he had to live in this town—his ranch was just a few miles outside of it. If he passed out cold at his own wedding, he’d still be getting ribbed about it when he was ninety.

While the next bridesmaid started forward, he did his distracted best to avoid so much as glancing toward Brylee Parrish, his wife to be, who was standing at the back of the church beside her brother, Walker. He knew all too well how good she looked in that heirloom wedding gown of hers, with its billowing veil and dazzling sprinkle of rhinestones.

Brylee was beautiful, with cascades of red-brown hair that tumbled to her waist when she let it down. Her wide-set hazel eyes revealed passion, as well as formidable intelligence, humor and a country girl’s in-born practicality.

He was a lucky man.

Brylee, on the other hand, was not so fortunate, having hooked up with the likes of him. She deserved a husband who loved her.

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Book Blurb (from goodreads): 

With his rugged good looks, vast wealth and family name, hell-raiser Hutch Carmody is still the golden boy of Parable, Montana. But he's done some growing up-making peace with his illegitimate half brother and inheriting half of Whisper Creek Ranch, which should have been all his. These days, Hutch knows there are some things money can't buy: like the heart of loving, ladylike divorcé e Kendra Shepherd.  

Kendra's quiet mansion reminds her of what she wants most-a devoted husband and the pitter-patter of little feet. She can't get Hutch Carmody out of her mind. But a rough-and-tumble cowboy like Hutch, coming home for family dinner? Seems crazy! Then again, crazier dreams have become reality under the vast Montana sky. 

BIG SKY MOUNTAIN
By: Linda Lael Miller
Publisher: HQN Books
ISBN: 9780373776610
Genre: FICTION, ROMANCE, CONTEMPORARY
Format: EBOOK, PAPERBACK
Length: 384 pages
Release Date: July 31, 2012
Website & Blog
Twitter
facebook
Buying Links:   Amazon   Barnes & Noble  The Book Depository 
Follow her blog tour: http://booktrib.com/booktrib-blog-tour-nyt-bestselling-author-linda-lael-millers-big-sky-mountain/

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GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, I have one paperback copy for a reader in the US or Canada. Comment below, telling me why this book appeals to you. Please leave a way for me to contact you - email, twitter handle, etc.

Please read my Giveaway Policy.

You do not need to be a follower to enter.

Giveaway ends Saturday August 11th, at 11:59PM EST.

Good luck!

ETA 8/12/12: Using random.org, a winner has been chosen.

ETA 8/15/12: I didn't hear back from the first winner so I've drawn a new name and emailed that person. When I hear back, I'll announce their name.