The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 8-18-13

Posted on August 18, 2013August 18, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Giveaways> Lovestruck Giveaway Hop> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

This will be my 1,000th published post. I’m stunned and amazed. When I started this blog back in April 2011 I had no idea that it would keep going this long, or that it would be so much fun. Or so much fun work.

I’m also grateful that the word count isn’t nearly as easy a statistic to find!

But thank you all for coming along on the journey, and reading any or all of those 1,000 posts. You’re awesome.

Meanwhile, here’s what’s happening…

Current Giveaways:

Lovestruck Giveaway Hop: $10 Amazon or B&N Gift Card – ends 8/20 – just 2 more days to enter!
$50 Amazon Giftcard or 2 $10 Amazon or B&N Gift Cards Tourwide Giveaway from Elise Sax – ends 8/31

Winner Announcements:

Can’t Help Falling in Love by Bella Andre (paperback) won by Carolyn V.
Mist by Susan Krinard (paperback) won by Bre M.

Blog Recap:

A- Review: The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig
B Review: Baring it All by Megan Frampton
Lovestruck Giveaway Hop
B Review: Matchpoint by Elise Sax
Guest Post by Author Elise Sax on Dreaming Up a Crazy Bunch of Characters + Giveaway
B Review: Storm Force by Susannah Sandlin
Stacking the Shelves (55)

Coming Next Week:

The Love of My (Other) Life by Traci L. Slatton (blog tour review, guest post and giveaway)
Crystal Gardens by Amanda Quick (review)
A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious by Mary Wine (review)
Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honor of Gene Wolfe edited by J.E. Mooney and Bill Fawcett (guest review)
Long Shots 1-3 by Christine d’Abo (review)

Lovestruck Giveaway Hop

Posted on August 14, 2013August 12, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Lovestruck Giveaway Hop 2013

They say that lightning never strikes twice in the same place. But it looks like love does, because the Lovestruck Giveaway Hop is back!

This year, the Hop is hosted by Under the Covers Book Blog. Organizing one of these hops has got to be, well, a labor of love.

Speaking of love, let’s talk about new, or new to me, authors that I’ve fallen in love with this year. This is about being lovestruck after all. ♥

The author who has had me scrambling to find all her books this year has been Suzanne Johnson/Susannah Sandlin. I’ve lost a couple of weekends to her marvelous stories because her Penton Legacy series (written as Sandlin) is pretty much vampire romance crack, once I started it I couldn’t stop until I reached the current end. And I want the next one yesterday. They just seemed like the perfect blend of alpha heroes in need of redemption and strong women in need of someone to respect their strength. With a perfectly evil enemy.

Then there’s her Sentinels of New Orleans series, written as Suzanne Johnson, which is the one I discovered first. New Orleans is one of my favorite cities. (We almost moved there). But the blend of the old city, the historic undead, the shapeshifters, with magic! It’s utterly cool. And the wizard coming into her own. Not his own, you note, her own. DJ is a fantastic heroine, snarky and kick-ass and sometimes in over her head. The portrayal of the post-Katrina cleanup of New Orleans in Royal Street was incredibly poignant and heartbreaking.

Because I want you to have a chance to be lovestruck by your own favorite author or series, I’m giving away a USD$10 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice). To enter, use the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To see what has struck other bloggers, visit the other hops:

The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 8-11-13

Posted on August 11, 2013August 11, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Giveaways> Lovestruck Giveaway Hop> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

I’m surprised by how strong a reaction I’ve had to the death of Dr. Barbara Mertz, better known as author Elizabeth Peters (also Barbara Michaels). Probably because the character she created, Amelia Peabody, made such an indelible impression from the first book I listened to, The Last Camel Died at Noon, undoubtedly helped by the marvelous interpretation of Barbara Rosenblat. The series is written from Amelia’s first-person perspective, and I doubt that anyone was ever neutral. Readers either loved Amelia’s “voice” or couldn’t stand her. She mostly skewered the haters with her steel-tipped parasol.

But in addition to a cracking good adventure, the Amelia Peabody stories always portrayed the long-term romance of a happily married couple who sometimes (often) argued ferociously. They also gave the reader an absolutely fantastic glimpse into the dawn of scientific archeology in Egypt, complete with scalawags, ne’er-do-wells, fortune hunters and thieves. And every season, another dead body to investigate. If you like strong, intelligent and extremely opinionated heroines, start with Crocodile on the Sandbank.

Current Giveaways:

Can’t Help Falling in Love by Bella Andre: one print copy (US only)
Mist by Susan Krinard: one print copy (US only)
Tourwide Giveaway from Lindsay Piper: Prizes include a $25 Amazon gift card and copies of the entire Dragon Kings series so far (ends soon, so hurry)