February 4th, 2010 by heather
I’ve finished reading the anthology A Girl’s Guide to Guns and Monsters, as well as Laurell K. Hamilton’s Flirt, so you can expect to see reviews of those soon. I’m in the middle of Amber Benson’s Cat’s Claw, so that will probably be next. I also have review copies of two Stonewall Kitchens cookbooks, concerning breakfasts and winter celebrations, so in a few weeks (once we’ve had a chance to test out some recipes!) you’ll hear about those!
In other words, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it looks like the insomnia’s on the mend and I’ll be back to expounding on what I loved & hated about the books I’ll finally be reading again. I hope your own years are starting off well! 
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February 1st, 2010 by Rene
Pros: Interesting look at the private lives of some of the more famous (or infamous) European royals.
Cons: The genealogy can get confusing because many names were passed down through generations.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Many of us are curious about the private lives of royalty, both in the past and the present. What could be more tantalizing than the relationships (or lack thereof) that occur between the royal sheets? Leslie Carroll has created a fascinating read about not only some of the more famous unsuccessful royal marriages, but of successful ones as well. It’s a journey into the past showing that while some things change throughout the years, others stay the same.
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Tags: Diana, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry VIII, history, King, Marie Antoinette, marriage, Napoleon, Queen, royal, Victoria
Posted in Other Nonfiction | Permalink | No Comments »
February 1st, 2010 by heather
So, in case you haven’t heard yet, there was a blow-up between Amazon and Macmillan. It only deserves mention here because it had a potentially huge impact on readers and authors: Amazon and Macmillan had a dispute over e-book pricing, and Amazon’s solution to this was to pull every single Macmillan book from their catalog, physical AND electronic. I.e., they basically said, “if we can’t play by my rules then I’m taking my ball and going home.” Since Macmillan is one of the big publishers, and a lot of buyers use Amazon, this would have seriously hurt both authors and readers with respect to the accessibility of many of the books we all love.
I don’t want to get into who’s right or who’s wrong, particularly since there are plenty of different sides to it. Some folks are mad about the high price of e-books and blame Macmillan for not wanting to allow Amazon to sell e-books cheaply. Others point out that Amazon wanted the benefits of being both a wholesaler and a retailer in the pricing agreement, and instead of trying to find a compromise, they took the schoolyard bully approach of trying to strong-arm Macmillan into caving.
At any rate, I know there are a lot of people who are now refusing to do business with Amazon because they feel so strongly about the matter. We’re considering whether or not to look into switching to some other bookstore’s affiliate program, and if you have an opinion, please feel free to render it in the comments. We do want to continue using an affiliate program of some kind, as it helps to pay for things like server space, bandwidth usage, and domain name registration. The attraction of Amazon is that they have so far carried pretty much everything, so I know that no matter what our readers want, they can find it there. However, if Amazon’s going to start using tactics like this, then that might not be the case any longer anyway.
It would be a pain in the butt to go through and replace all the Amazon book links with some other, but if folks feel strongly about it, we’ll do it.
Opinions? Thoughts? Who do you want to buy your books from online?
While I’m here, I should mention that it seems like my insomnia is getting better, so hopefully soon I’ll be reading & posting regularly again. In the meantime, I have a review from Renee to post today or tomorrow!
Tags: Amazon, Macmillan
Posted in Book Blogging | Permalink | No Comments »
January 25th, 2010 by heather
I apologize for the recent lack of content and for my failure to reply to some of the emails we’ve gotten. Long story short: I’ve been dealing with a heck of an insomnia problem that is now getting treatment, so hopefully soon I’ll have some energy again. In the meantime, however, I’ve been pretty out of it, and the treatment is worse than the disease in the first stages, so I’m even more tired for the moment. Reading a book, much less reviewing it, takes a lot more brainpower than I have for now! Assuming the insomnia gets better, however, you should see more from us soon! Thank you for your patience!
Posted in Notes & Upcoming | Permalink | 2 Comments »
January 5th, 2010 by heather
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
To recap: when I put up a “non-review,” it means I couldn’t finish a book. I’m not going to review it on Epinions or Amazon, and this isn’t going to be a full-on review, but I don’t mind telling you folks here why I decided not to finish it in case that information is useful to you. Just keep in mind that my judgment isn’t based on the entire book.
Sarah McCann is a wedding planner who completely believes in happily-ever-after and the perfect wedding and marriage. Freeman Lafontaine is a swinging bachelor and friend of the groom who thinks marriage as a whole is a mistake, and is determined to save his best friend from making that mistake. The two of them are bound to butt heads as two sweethearts are due to get married in a sexy, hot, sandy locale (Belize). Add in a wedding party full of spicy pairings waiting to happen, and you have the perfect recipe for plenty of hot, steamy sex and guilt-free escapism.
Or at least, that’s what I thought when I picked up Susan Lyons’s Sex On The Beach
.
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Tags: erotica, marriage, romance, Sex on the Beach, Susan Lyons, weddings
Posted in Chick-lit, Non-Reviews, Romance & Erotica | Permalink | No Comments »
January 4th, 2010 by Rene
Pros: Great job balancing demon hunting and mom/wife responsibilities; sense of humor is wonderful.
Cons: Some of the character’s justifications for her actions felt like a stretch.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Kate Connor is a typical suburban mom, taking care of her kids and supporting her husband’s run for county attorney. She’s put aside her career as a demon hunter, and is thoroughly enjoying life. But when a demon crashes into her house trying to kill her to pave the way for his master to carry out an evil plan, Kate has no choice but to come out of retirement. Will she be able to keep work and family separate? And can she solve the mystery of why demons have showed up in this formerly safe town?
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Tags: demons, Humor, Julie Kenner, Kate Connor, paranormal
Posted in Horror & Paranormal, Humor | Permalink | No Comments »
December 18th, 2009 by heather
Publicist Lisa Roe has put together a wonderful literary donation project for this holiday season. I’m a bit late posting about it, but please don’t let that stop you from participating if you’re just hearing about it! As she says in this blog post (go read it when you’re done here):
As I write this, I think of a favorite blogger who passed away this time last year. Her spirit lives on in the Dewey Read-a-Thon, Weekly Geeks, and The Bookworms Carnival. She loved reading. She loved books. She supported Banned Books Week and believed everyone had the right to reading material. In her honor, I’m calling this donation project The Dewey Tree. It’s a little bit The Giving Tree, a little bit Dewey, a little bit charity. 
Here’s what you do:
*Gather up the books you can live without. It can be 4 books, 10 books, or 20 books!
*Find a worthy group you would like to donate your overflow books to. It can be your local library, a literacy campaign (mine will go to the literacy center I volunteer for), or overseas. There’s a great list of book donation sites here on the ALA. Find a charity that speaks to you!
*Then take a picture of your donation and email it to me (onlinepublicist [AT] gmail [DOT] com). It can be a pic of the mailing label on your package, one of your kids giving a box of books to a librarian, or you handing books over to your literacy center. Be creative and have fun!
I will accept pics (and will post favorites) until January 4, 2010.
The post then goes on to tell you where to go to enter your information to win a custom tote from her!
Dewey was such a wonderful part of the book blogging community. Her readathon was the one real book blogging major activity I took part in as a blogger, and she had a knack for bringing people together in ways that magically didn’t seem to involve a lot of drama or strife. I think this is a fantastic way to honor her memory.
I tend to donate a lot of my review copies to the local library anyway when I’m done with them—but frankly, it’s time for me to do a somewhat more thorough cleaning out of my shelves than that. So next week I plan to post my photo!
Also, anyone who orders from one of our craft stores by January 4, 2010 (errantdreams.shophandmade.com or errantdreams.etsy.com) and has participated in this project can put the words “Dewey Tree” in the “notes to seller” field of their order or payment and I’ll enclose a little something extra with your order, like a hand-sewn cloth gift bag, beaded keyring, or a randomly-chosen recently-published book! This one’s on the honor system, folks, so please be honest! It’s just a little thank-you for doing something nice in Dewey’s memory.
And thank you, Lisa, for putting this together!
Tags: Book Blogging, charity, Dewey, Dewey Tree, library
Posted in Notes & Upcoming | Permalink | No Comments »
December 17th, 2009 by Rene
Pros: Interesting takes on Highlanders and magic
Cons: The length of the stories made a couple of the stories feel rushed
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
With Christmas being ten days away, now seemed like a good time to read A Highlander Christmas
. One of my favorite holidays, combined with romance and bold, brawny men (who, if the cover is to be believed, are impervious to snow) sounded as delicious as a hot cup of chocolate. Dawn Halliday, Cindy Miles, and Sophie Renwick deliver tales of receiving the most wonderful gift to get- love.
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Tags: Christmas, Cindy Miles, Dawn Halliday, erotica, Fantasy, ghost, Highlander, paranormal, romance, Scotland, Sophie Renwick
Posted in Fantasy, Historical, Romance & Erotica | Permalink | No Comments »
December 17th, 2009 by Rene
Pros: Does a great job of showing how two people can grow close together; emotional reactions to situations feel appropriate and honest
Cons: One of the villains is almost too crazy to be seen as a real threat
Rating: 4.75 out of 5
Review book (uncorrected proof) courtesy of Penguin Group
Expected publication date: January 5, 2010
Jessica Thornton has fled England and her home to live with her brother in America because she fears for her safety, and for that of her unborn child. While traveling across the New Mexico Territory, the stagecoach she is riding in crashes and she and the other passengers are taken in temporarily by Brady Wilkins, a local cattle rancher. As she gets to know the man behind the caustic wit she finds someone who can help her to find the strength to get through difficult circumstances and heal from past hurts. But there is danger lurking at the peaceful ranch; one of Brady’s old enemies has a score to settle, and it will take both Brady and Jessica’s strength to get through it.
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Tags: historical, Kaki Warner, romance, Western
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December 10th, 2009 by heather
I’m a little late with this, but there were a couple of auxiliary things I wanted to finish up so I could include them. I have no magical knowledge of all the books in the world from the past year so as to guide you to the “best,” but I can point you to a few delights I had the pleasure of experiencing! All titles link to full-length reviews with plenty of details.
Obligatory FCC disclosure: some of these items were free review items from publishers, etc., as noted on individual review pages. I have done my best to simply include what I think highly of, regardless of where it came from or whether I had to pay for it.
For cooks:
Get your hands on a copy of Melissa Gray’s All Cakes Considered right this minute and gift it to your favorite cook or would-be baker. Seriously. It’s hilarious and fun, and produces the BEST cakes.
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Posted in Buyers' Guides | Permalink | No Comments »
