Stacking the Shelves (41)

Stacking the Shelves

This is two-weeks’ worth of shelf-stacking. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Again.

However, a quite possibly germane post appeared this week at All About Romance titled Hoarders: The TBR Episode? While I can cheerfully say that I do not have 600 print books in my house labelled “TBR”, I have to confess that I do have about 200. And the low number isn’t because I’ve restrained myself, it’s because I switched to ebooks over two years ago, so I have lots of TBR ebooks, they just don’t take up nearly as much space!

Stacking the shelves April 13 2013

For Review: (ebooks unless noted)
Antiagon Fire (Imager Portfolio #7) by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
The Brazen Amazon (Alliance of the Amazons #3) by Sandy James
Frat Boy & Toppy (Theta Alpha Gamma #1) by Anne Tenino
Hair of the Dog by Kelli Scott
Hers for the Holidays (The Berringers #2) by Samantha Hunter (print)
How Beauty Loved the Beast (Tales of the Underlight #3) by Jax Garren
Living Dangerously (Adrenaline Highs #4) by Dee J. Adams
Long Simmering Spring (Star Harbor #3) by Elisabeth Barrett
Lover Undercover by Samanthe Beck
The Original 1982 by Lori Carson
Outcast Prince (Court of Annwyn #1) by Shona Husk
The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro
Private Practice by Samanthe Beck
Real Men Don’t Quit (Real Men #2) by Coleen Kwan
Rules of Entanglement (Fighting for Love #2) by Gina L. Maxwell
SEAL of Honor (HORNET #1) by Tonya Burrows
Shadow People (Peter Warlock #2) by James Swain
Wounded Angel (Earth Angels #3) by Stacy Gail

Picked up at Norwescon: (all print)
Eight Million Gods by Wen Spencer
Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Purchased: (all print and all graphic novels)
Dragon Age by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
Dragon Age: The Silent Grove by David Gaider, Alexander Freed and Chad Hardin
Dragon Age: Those Who Speak by David Gaider, Alexander Freed and Chad Hardin

Borrowed from the Library: (print)
The Devil’s Armor (A Novel of the Bronze Knight #2) by John Marco

The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 4-7-13

Sunday Post

This weekend is part of the Reading Reality Blogo-Birthday Celebration. Sunday’s part of the celebration is that I get to tell you, one more time, all the chances that you have to win one of the bookish prizes!

About Last Night by Ruthie KnoxFrom the Blogoversary part, you have a chance to win a copy of either Ruthie Knox’ RITA nominated About Last Night, or her brand new Strangers on a Train story, Big Boy (review on Tuesday) or a $10 Amazon Giftcard.

From the Birthday part, you have a chance to win a copy of the entire (and entirely yummy) Devil DeVere series by Victoria Vane. Or another $10 Amazon Giftcard.

And, just for extras, there is also a chance to win a print copy of the first book in Robyn Carr’s new Thunder Point series, The Wanderer.

You have until April 13 to put your hat into the rings, or your entry into the rafflecopters, for all the prizes.

BTW, Mikki D. won the ebook copy of Temptation by Kathryn Barrett from Kathryn and Entangled Publishing.

Eternally Devoted by Stacey KennedyNow for the complete recap of last week’s posts:

B+ Review: Mystically Bound by Stacey Kennedy
B Review: And Then She Fell by Stephanie Laurens
A- Review: Eternally Devoted by Stacey Kennedy
Blogo-Birthday Celebration and Giveaway Day 1
Blogo-Birthday Celebration and Giveaway Day 2
B+ Review: The Wanderer by Robyn Carr
Guest Post: Q&A with Robyn Carr + Giveaway!

The Blogo-Birthday won’t come around for another year. Boo-hoo. But there are still more good things ahead!

This week I’ll have reviews of Ruthie Knox’ Big Boy and Victoria Vane’s The Trouble with Sin. It’s only fair after dropping hints about both stories last week in the giveaways. They are both definitely worth getting!

What She Wants by Sheila RobertsAnd in the middle, Sheila Roberts will be back to talk about the theme of friendship that runs through her stories, and she’ll be giving away a copy of her latest book, What She Wants. I’ll also have a review of this story of poker buddies turning to romance novels to figure out what women want. Does it work? Come and find out!

Review: Eternally Devoted by Stacey Kennedy

Eternally Devoted by Stacey KennedyFormat read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Frostbite, #4
Publisher: Self-published
Date Released: March 27, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Tess Jennings, who has been gifted with the ability to see ghosts, struggles to help the Grand Master of the Animus, Alexander, cross over. She might even have discovered who murdered him, but she has no way to prove it.

Adding to her pile of failures, Tess must accept a harsh reality—she has officially run out of time. The closer she gets to an answer to save her ghost lover, Kipp McGowen, the more she’s realizing she’s been searching for an answer she didn’t want to find.

Tess will have to make difficult choices, and her decisions will lead to consequences she cannot predict. Will Kipp finally take a living breath again, or will Tess take her last and join him in the Netherworld forever?

My Review:

The Frostbite series by Stacey Kennedy (Supernaturally Kissed, Demonically Tempted, Mystically Bound and finally Eternally Devoted) is a wonderful urban fantasy/paranormal romance series.

Supernaturally Kissed by Stacey KennedyInstead of boy meets girl, or vampire meets girl, or whatever might float your paranormal boat, in Supernaturally Kissed we have Tess and Kipp, girl meets ghost. She tries to ignore him–then she tries to help him cross over.

But Kipp isn’t just any ghost. He’s a Memphis cop. Ghosts can’t cross until they resolve whatever is keeping them here, and Kipp needs to solve his last case. So Tess helps. And in the process of helping Kipp, the former bad boy cop and good girl clerk fall in love.

Talk about star-crossed lovers!

Kipp refuses to cross when the case is over. Tess has become his new piece of unfinished business in the world of the living. Or so they both think.

The road from that first unfinished case to Eternally Devoted has been fraught with danger. Tess has discovered that her involvement with the supernatural is much more than just the ability to see ghosts. She can help the police, she can help the ghosts.

It can also be dangerous.

And Tess and Kipp have a real chance at happiness. In the real world.

But before that can happen, she has to solve a murder of the leader of the Animus, a secret supernatural community. Maybe she’ll be able to return Kipp to his body, if she provides the right answers.

And maybe they’ll both be trapped in the Netherworld.

The Animus are so secretive she can’t tell which are her friends, and which are her enemies. But if Tess doesn’t find out soon, all of her friends could end up dead protecting her.

And Kipp might be lost forever.

Escape Rating A-: The series as a whole is awesome. You really, really want Tess and Kipp to find their happy ending. Tess has worked incredibly hard for it.

One of the amazing things in the series is that Tess is the one rescuing Kipp. He’s a ghost for the entire series and can’t act in the real world. She has to do the heavy lifting.

Mystically Bound by Stacey KennedyI did figure out who the “bad actors” were very early on in Mystically Bound. One of the motives was murkier than was apparent, but both of the “who” parts were pretty easy to determine. Tess was more forgiving than human nature would warrant, in my opinion. YMMV.

But, they do get their HEA. I won’t spoil the how, where and why. It’s earned, and all the loose ends are wrapped up. Thank goodness. I don’t think my heart could have taken another one of Stacey’s positively diabolical cliffhangers.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Mystically Bound by Stacey Kennedy

Format read: ebook provided by the author
Mystically Bound by Stacey KennedyFormats available: ebook
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Frostbite, #3
Length: 151 pages
Publisher: Self-published
Date Released: January 29, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Tess Jennings’ life is in chaos. Her ghost lover, Kipp McGowen, vanished into the Netherworld without a trace. Now, she finds herself in White Castle, Louisiana, surrounded by the Animus—a secret society of the supernaturally gifted. To make matters
worse, they present her with an offer she cannot refuse.

If she helps solve the murder of their Grand Master, they will assist her in saving Kipp. Soon, Tess will land herself lost in another mystery she doesn’t want. But she will have to trust her enemies to gain what she most desires—a life with Kipp.

Only problem? People are hiding secrets and dark pasts. Tess will soon discover that nothing is as it seems. She might want to save Kipp from his ghostly state, but someone has decided it’s better for her to join him…

My Review:

I didn’t want to start reading Stacey Kennedy’s Mystically Bound until after I got a copy of Eternally Devoted. I just knew Stacey was going to end this thing in another one of her diabolical cliffhangers, and I was right. I won’t spoil the ending regarding the nature of the cliffhanger, but I will say to save yourself the agony and if you like her Frostbite series, just get both books and save yourself the agony.

Supernaturally Kissed by Stacey KennedyMystically Bound picks up right where Demonically Tempted left off. Which was after one of those damnable cliffhangers. This series has to be read in order, so start with Supernaturally Kissed. And fair warning, it is impossible to talk about Mystically Bound without revealing details from the first two books. If you haven’t read them and don’t want spoilers for them, take a look at the reviews for Supernaturally Kissed here and/or Demonically Tempted here instead.

So Mystically Bound starts out with Tess in White Castle, Louisiana (no town should be named White Castle, I kept thinking of the little square hamburgers). She’s in White Castle because that’s where the Animus is, and they might be able to help her get Kipp’s spirit back into his body, providing she helps them first.

And providing she can locate Kipp’s spirit in the Netherworld. She knows exactly where his body is now. It’s in the hospital, in Memphis, in a coma. That’s why his ghost never acted like all the other ghosts.

Kipp’s not dead. Not yet, anyway.

But the former leader of the supernaturally gifted, a group known as the Animus, is dead. They need Tess to talk to Alexander’s ghost and find out who killed him. but it’s not quite that simple.

Nothing has been that simple since the day Kipp’s ghost drifted into her life.

Escape Rating B+: The Frostbite story as a whole is all about Tess’ relationship with Kipp. There isn’t a whole lot of Kipp in this book, so that’s kind of a downer.

eternally devoted by Stacey kennedyIt was all too easy to figure out who both of the “bad actors” were long before they were revealed in Eternally Devoted. One person’s motives were clearer than the other, but who they were was just a shade too obvious.

This may be me geeking out just a bit, but having the supernatural society named “the Animus” didn’t sound or feel right to me. My mind kept going to either the dictionary definition of animus or the old psychological concepts of anima and animus. Neither may have been meant, but both went to wrong contexts in my head.

Because I read Mystically Bound and Eternally Devoted back to back, the cliffhanger wasn’t as frustrating as it might have been. On the other hand, Mystically Bound felt like half a book. I enjoyed it, but not only did I know it wasn’t over, it felt like the first part of a two-part episode–the story didn’t feel finished.

I’m very glad I waited until the final book was out before I read this one.

But in celebration of April Fools’ Day, I’m holding my review of Eternally Devoted until Wednesday. It’s not up there with the cliffhanger that Stacey ended the book on, but it’s what I’ve got.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Stacking the Shelves (40)

Stacking the Shelves

I listened to a webinar last week sponsored by Library Journal. Several publishers were highlighting their spring and summer books. It’s always good to hear about what’s coming out, even when it’s not in a genre I read myself.

The Human Division by John ScalziOne of the publishers was Macmillan, Tor’s parent company. Even though they didn’t talk science fiction, they sent this nice email afterwords, saying that any librarian who attended could get white-listed on Edelweiss for any Macmillan title. My eyes bugged out when they listed The Human Division as one of the books I could get.

I didn’t just get John Scalzi’s The Human Division, his return to his Old Man’s War universe, I’ve already inhaled it. And written my review. The only reason I haven’t posted it yet is because it’s too early to publish.

Just what I needed…more books. Yes!

Stacking the Shelves March 30 2013

For Review: (ebooks)
Beauty and the Blacksmith (Spindle Cove #3.5) by Tessa Dare
Dancing With the Devil (Nikki & Michael #1) by Keri Arthur
Death of Yesterday (Hamish Macbeth #29) by M.C. Beaton
His Southern Temptation (Boys Are Back In Town #2) by Robin Covington
The Human Division (Old Man’s War #5) by John Scalzi
Lord of Darkness (Maiden Lane #5) by Elizabeth Hoyt
A Riveting Affair by Candace Havens, Lily Lang, Patricia Eimer
Rules of Entanglement (Fighting for Love #2) by Gina L. Maxwell
Seduction by M.J. Rose
The Taming of Ryder Cavanaugh (Cynster Sisters Duo #2) by Stephanie Laurens

Borrowed from the Library: (print)
Ran Away (Benjamin January #11) by Barbara Hambly
The Shirt On His Back (Benjamin January #10) by Barbara Hambly

The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 3-24-13

Sunday Post

It’s officially Spring! It may or may not feel like Spring where you are on the planet but it is officially Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. (For those in the Southern Hemisphere, happy Autumn!)

In Seattle, Spring blew in on high, chilly winds, but we seem to have gotten some sun. Don’t envy me too much, it’ll rain again soon. And again. And again.

Some things happen only once. Like winning the Lucky in Love Blog Hop. The lucky winner  of the $10 Amazon Gift Card was Stacey P.

Night Demon by Lisa KesslerBut you still have plenty of time to enter some of the other giveaways from last week. Lisa Kessler is giving away four prizes to celebrate the launch of Night Demon, the latest book in her Night series.

One lucky winner will take away a copy of Jeanette Grey’s fabulous new romance, Take What You Want. Check out the giveaway details here.

And all sweet with no bitter at all, Nina Croft is giving away a copy of Bittersweet Blood, the terrific first book in her new paranormal romance series. Details here on that giveaway.

Take What You Want by Jeanette GreyThis week’s complete recap:

Guest Post: Night Demon Launch Party + Giveaway
A- Review: Take What You Want by Jennifer Grey
Interview with Jennifer Grey + Giveaway
A- Review: The Emperor’s Edge by Lindsay Buroker
A- Review: Bittersweet Blood by Nina Croft
Guest Post: Nina Croft’s Top Ten Movies + Giveaway
B Review: Border Lair by Bianca D’Arc
Stacking the Shelves (39)

Looking ahead to next week, I have two guests again. Christine Bell will be here on Tuesday, with a laugh-out-loud guest post that is totally apropos for her latest book, Down and Dirty. Because the book was more than a little of that, but all in pursuit of a good story. You’ll see in Tuesday’s review.

Temptation by Kathryn BarrettThursday my guest is Kathryn Barrett, as part of the tour for Temptation, her romance set in Amish country, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I’ll confess that I wanted to read this tale of a Hollywood actress “tempting” an Amish furniture-maker because my husband grew up in Lancaster! Kathryn will be here with a guest post and I’ll be reviewing this modern take on Adam and Eve.

Both tours have book giveaways!

Looking ahead to the following week, April 4-5 is my second annual Blogo-Birthday! The blog and I have back-to-back birthdays. The blog is 2. I’m not saying. This will be a Hobbit-type birthday, which means that I give away presents. Come and celebrate with me!

Reading Reality Blogo Birthday

Stacking the Shelves (39)

Stacking the Shelves

This week my shelf contains a “sweet 16” stack of books. Think of it as my contribution to NCAA “March Madness” even though both of my schools are out of the running this year.

Supernaturally Kissed by Stacey KennedyNow that I mention sweetness, the books that were the sweetest to get were Mystically Bound and Eternally Devoted, the final (I hope final) books in Stacey Kennedy’s Frostbite series. Stacey has this diabolical tendency to end her stories on nail-biting cliffhangers, so I’ve been waiting for Eternally Devoted to be released before I got Mystically Bound. Stacey sent review copies, so I’ll finally get to see if Tess and Kipp get their elusive happily ever after. If you have fond memories of the movie Ghost, start this series with the fantastic Supernaturally Kissed and prepare to see the trope marvelously reversed.

Reading Reality Stacking the Shelves March 23 2013

For Review: (ebooks unless noted)
The Best of Connie Willis by Connie Willis
Bristol House by Beverly Swerling (print ARC)
Claws of the Cat (Shinobi #1) by Susan Spann
Date by Mistake by Candace Havens, Gwen Hayes, Jill Monroe, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Shannon Leigh
The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan
Eternally Devoted (Frostbite #4) by Stacey Kennedy
The Forever Knight (Bronze Knight #4) by John Marco (print ARC)
The Magic Circle by Jenny Davidson
Mystically Bound (Frostbite #3) by Stacey Kennedy
River Road (Sentinels of New Orleans #2) by Suzanne Johnson
Royal Street (Sentinels of New Orleans #1) by Suzanne Johnson
The Stuff of Dreams (Star Trek: The Next Generation) by James Swallow

Purchased: (ebooks)
A Cinderella Christmas Carol (Suddenly Cinderella #1.5) by Hope Tarr
Operation Cinderella (Suddenly Cinderella #1) by Hope Tarr

Borrowed from the Library: (print)
Hollow Earth (Hollow Earth #1) by John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman
Stalking the Unicorn (John Justin Mallory #1) by Mike Resnick

Guest Post: Nina Croft’s Top Ten Movies + Giveaway

My very special guest today is Nina Croft, the author of one of my favorite science fiction romance series, Blood Hunter. She’s here today to celebrate the release of her latest book Bittersweet Blood. Even if it isn’t SFR, it’s still an awesome story of vampires, werewolves and paranormal romance. (review here)

Nina’s going to share some of her favorite movies with us (she has great taste!) and give away a copy of Bittersweet Blood. All you have to do is answer the question in the rafflecopter for your chance!

Read on…

My Top Ten Movies by Nina Croft

[movie post for Serenity]1. Aliens – best action movie ever.
2. Serenity – bring back Firefly!
3. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – because it started me on my lifelong love affair with Han Solo.
4. Love Actually – I watch this every Christmas. I love all the intermingling stories.
5. Terminator 1 and 2 – I slipped an extra one in there but I couldn’t decide which I liked better.
6. Pulp Fiction – another I love for the intertwining stories (and John Travolta!)
[movie poster for Gladiator]
7. Lord of the Rings – okay, that’s three films but they did such a fantastic job with such a huge story.
8. Gladiator – Russell Crowe in a skirt, what more can I say!
9. Dirty Dancing – I just love the dancing in this movie.
10. Avatar – for the special effects.

These are all films I watch over and over again. Half of them are Science Fiction and there’s not a single paranormal in there. I obviously need someone to recommend me some great paranormal films. So comment, and tell me your favourite paranormal movie for a chance to win an ecopy of Bittersweet Blood.

[photo of Nina Croft]About Nina Croft

Nina Croft grew up in the north of England. After training as an accountant, she spent four years working as a volunteer in Zambia which left her with a love of the sun and a dislike of 9-5 work. She then spent a number of years mixing travel (whenever possible) with work (whenever necessary) but has now settled down to a life of writing and picking almonds on a remote farm in the mountains of southern Spain.

To find out more about Nina, look for her at her website, Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.

~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Nina is giving away one digital copy of Bittersweet Blood!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Bittersweet Blood by Nina Croft

[Bittersweet Blood by Nina Croft]Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: The Order, #1
Length: 246 pages
Publisher: Entangled: Edge
Date Released: February 25, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Tara Collins just wants to be normal. Everyone else wants her dead.

Tara’s eccentric aunt raised her to be fearful of the world and follow the rules. But after her aunt’s death, Tara is ready to take control and experience life for the first time. But she quickly discovers that everything she’s been told is a web of lies. Determined to solve the mystery of who she is truly, she hires private investigator to help her uncover the truth.

Christian Roth is more than your average PI. A vampire and ex-demon hunter, Christian lives among the humans, trying to be “normal.” But recently, things seem to be falling apart. There’s a crazed demon hell-bent on revenge hunting him down and a fae assassin on the loose with an unknown target. Plus, the Order he abandoned desperately needs his help.

As the secrets of Tara’s past collide with the problems in Christian’s present, she finds herself fighting her attraction to the dark and mysterious investigator. Falling in love does not fit into her plans at all, but Tara soon learns that some rules are meant to be broken.

My Review:

In most fairy tales, terms like demon and fae have automatic associations with them. Fae=good and demon=bad.

But what if those are just names for otherworldly races who have different agendas from our own, and what humans think of them doesn’t enter into it at all?

Tara Collins has been hidden all her life behind a hedge of rules laid down by her aunt. Don’t leave our property, don’t drink alcohol, don’t take off your talisman, and most especially, don’t tell anyone the truth about yourself.

But when her aunt dies, Tara discovers that her aunt never told her the truth about herself. And Tara feels that she needs to know. She also feels like she is entitled to a normal life. At 22, she craves a life that includes other people and real experiences.

So she leaves her remote Yorkshire village and gets an apartment in London. She enrolls in university. She makes some close friends.

She hires a private investigator to dig into her origins. And that’s where all the fun begins.

Because for the investigator to have something to work with, she has to tell him the whole story, as she knows it. Breaking her aunt’s most important rule.

Tara chose Christian Roth’s investigations firm because her cat picked his name. Yes, you read that right. Tara took her cat’s paw scratchings as a sign. But then, Tara’s cat Smokey is not exactly what he seems, although Tara doesn’t know it. All Tara knows is that Smokey is her oldest and dearest friend.

On that infamous other hand, Christian Roth is a lot more than just a private investigator. Christian Roth is a vampire, and has been for over 500 years. It turns out that he is the perfect person to investigate her past.

Because Tara isn’t human. Neither are the beings her mother tried to protect her from.

And they’re back.

Escape Rating A-: Tara is a very sympathetic character. She’s grown up under unusual circumstances, and she just wants a normal life. It’s too bad that there’s no way she could possibly get one!

But it makes sense that she resists the idea that she’s not human as long as she does. It’s not a truth that anyone in her circumstance would want to hear.

Christian is a predator in business clothing, and he drops the businessman mask quickly. He’s been waiting for a purpose, and Tara gives him something to fight for.

The really cool part of the story is the war between the fae and the demons, and how it manifests on Earth. They’ve been trying to beat each other for centuries, if not more, and so much of what happens in the story turns out to be collateral damage. This was awesome. Also awesomely painful for Tara and Christian.

This paranormal version of the world, where the vampires and some of the other races that we are familiar with, like werewolves, are part of an organization called “The Order” that is policing Earth to enforce a treaty between the fae and the demons, is a place where there are lots of fascinating story possibilities.

I want more! I also have a not-so-secret desire for this world to connect to Croft’s SFR series, Blood Hunter. Vampires and werewolves in space!

Review originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 3-17-13

Sunday PostIt’s official. Galen is a sorcerer. Make that Sourcerer. Let me explain.

Galen Charlton Library Journal Movers and Shakers 2013Every March 15, Library Journal names 50 people in the library community as “Movers and Shakers” in a very splashy issue of the magazine. It’s a pretty big deal. I’m very proud to say that this year my husband Galen was one of those 50. He’s listed as one of the “Tech Leaders” of course. The official title of his article is “Open ‘Sourcerer'” for his work with open source library automation software. The picture at right is shamelessly scanned from the print copy a friend at LJ sent us. The online version of Galen’s profile will be posted on March 19.

(If you’re wondering about the penguin, he’s Tux, the mascot for Linux, the giant open source Unix project. It’s a geek thing.)

And now I’ll float down from Cloud 9 and get back to my usual blog recap.

Lucky in Love Blog HopThere are a few hours left to get in on the Lucky in Love Blog Hop. Just a few rapidly disappearing hours. The prize here at Reading Reality is a $10 Amazon Gift Card, but there are over 300 blogs participating in this hop. Surely there must be a few, or a few dozen, books and gifts cards you would like to take a chance on before it’s too late?

Speaking of giveaways, the Lauren Clark giveaway has another week to go, so you have plenty of time left to put your hat into that particular ring. Lauren is giving away a signed copy of her very funny and excellent women’s fiction/romance Dancing Naked in Dixie as well as five $10 Gift Cards to the winner’s choice of either Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Let’s do a rundown of all of last week’s events, just so we can see everything at a glance:

Stardust Summer by Lauren ClarkB Review: The Bughouse Affair by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini
B+ Review: Merry Ex-Mas by Sheila Roberts
B+ Review: Cards & Caravans by Cindy Spencer Pape
B+ Review: Stardust Summer by Lauren Clark
Guest Post: Author Lauren Clark is All Shook Up + Giveaway
Lucky in Love Blog Hop
Stacking the Shelves (38)

There are three events going on this week. Wow!

Tomorrow, Reading Reality will be part of Entangled Publishing’s Launch Party for Lisa Kessler’s Night Demon. Lisa’s Night series has been a blast so far (I reviewed both Night Walker and Night Thief), so I’m pretty happy to celebrate the release of Night Demon.  (That sounds like we’re letting a demon out of the Rift, doesn’t it?) There are giveaways involved, so some lucky readers will be able to find out just how much fun this series has been so far.

Take What You Want by Jeanette GreyOn Tuesday, Jeanette Grey will be back to talk about her latest book, Take What You Want. This is a very hot contemporary romance (I finished my review and will be posting it on Tuesday, too) Jeanette will be giving away a copy of Take What You Want to one lucky commenter, and this is definitely a book worth wanting.

Speaking of books worth wanting, Nina Croft is going to be here on Thursday to talk about things she wants. Nina will have Top Ten list for us, and she will also be giving away a copy of her new paranormal romance, Bittersweet Blood.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone. I hope you have a very lucky day. If you must drink something green, better the green beer than this particular green liquid. It’s the Chicago River dyed green for St. Patrick’s Day, an annual tradition. It looks awesome but I wouldn’t drink it.

Chicago River dyed green St Patricks Day