In case you need something to read...

Image from Pixabay

 

 

 

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

There are quite a few book giveaways available for a limited time...

 

Winter Wonderland Story Giveaway (Gay romances)

 

The Danger Files

 

 Free books giveaway, all genres

 

Military romance

HEA romances

 

Steamy Romance freebies

Make sure you check the ones that are on Amazon for the price, as some of them may have reverted from the freebie status. 

And...if you're looking for a contest...I get credit if you enter using this link for Romantic Suspense books:

https://www.booksweeps.com?rpid=51&rpr=33598

Enjoy!

 

Miscellaneous giveaways and contests

Tara Lain is celebrating her new website and has a celebration giveaway at 'Launching the Lain' at this link.
I just finished her books a few days ago: Spell Cat and Brush with Catastrophe  (ADULT stories which are part of the Aloysius Tales) and I am looking forward to more of her delightful stories.  She has a lovely m/m free read on Goodreads at this link.




Sharon Hamilton's yummy SEAL boxed set is available free for a limited time (please click on cover for link)



Jess Michaels is celebrating the upcoming release of her book Taken by the Duke with a contest at this link.

Don't forget the Night Owl Summer Fun Scavenger Hunt has started at this link.

Kudos to Coffee Time Romance for rectifying some problems I have been having receiving my prizes from them.  I had stopped really dealing with the site because I was frustrated at not having received a couple of prizes but my complaints finally reached the remarkable Karen Cote' and Karenne Lynne and they both went above and beyond to make sure that I was satisfied.  I still warn you that I get easily lost wandering around the site (of course, I can get lost going around the block so that might not mean anything, lol) so it can occasionally be frustrating to navigate the site.
There are multiple contests at Coffee Time Romance at this link.

Elodie Parks is celebrating the release of her title The Winter Girl at this link.

Happy Reading!

You Cannoli Die Once (and reminders about contests and giveaways)

You Cannoli Die Once           
by Shelley Costa is a fun cozy mystery that starts a series that features a colorful Italian family which owns a restaurant named Miracolo that has mementos from the great Caruso adorning its walls. Eve Angelotta has had to shelve her dreams of becoming a famous dancer after an unfortunate accident but she has poured her energy into being the head chef for the restaurant which is firmly under her grandmother's rule. She is prepared to deal with everything in her kitchen except the dead body who gets more mysterious by the day, especially when it turns out that his ties to her grandmother threaten to force her nonna to spend the rest of her life in prison. Of course the only benefit would be that Eve would finally be able to serve cannoli in the restaurant, but that, of course, would be too high a price to pay for the privilege.

This laugh out loud tale combines a murder mystery with an entertaining picture of an Italian restaurant and its larger-than-life staff. The gradual unfolding of clues combined with the delicious glimpses of the flamboyant characters who season this story make this a great read with plenty of quirky situations that provide a enjoyable introduction to the series. There are lots of fun developments that will keep one's attention, a hint of romance and delightful demonstrations of the author's ability to pen a tongue-in-cheek
story that should garner her lots of new fans, of which I am one. I look forward to plenty of additional tales from this talented writer (even if I am too much of a coward to try the recipe for preparing the featured cannoli).

A copy of this delightful title was provided to me in exchange for an honest review and I hope to read many more by this fun author!


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Don't forget I have a e-book giveaway at this link and several contests are ongoing PLUS the Summer Fun Scavenger Hunt has started at Night Owl Reviews at this link (maybe I'll FINALLY win something at this one but I haven't broken my losing streak yet, lol)

The Romance Reviews still has its Sizzling Summer Reads at this link.

Romance Books 4 Us has its June Wedding Contest at this link

There are several book giveaways at Reviews By Crystal's blog at this link (make sure you look around, there are several giveaways there)


There are plenty more out there but I have had several edits (yummy reads due out soon from some of my favorite erotica authors!) so haven't had as much time to wander as usual.  If you come across one that is particularly interesting, leave a note in the comments and I will share

Contests and giveaways and upcoming reviews (updated)

The Romance Reviews is having their Sizzling Summer Reads contest going on at this link.  I always enjoy these because not only is there the 'Matching Game' contest but each question leads you to an excerpt from a different book and there are always very good odds for winning something over the weeks that the contest runs.  Be advised that the time is EST (I always get caught because I start entering the contest at night and everything changes over at midnight EST).




                                         
There are always nice contests going at Tina Donahue's blog, either for some of her backlist titles or for the authors she is spotlighting (there was a tour with a $50 Amazon GC when I looked last).  Go to this link.

Night Owl Romance (yes, there is a little personal bias, lol) always has contests going on at the blog (and of course, browse through the reviews while you are there, I have written more than 660 of them!).  Link.

Romance Books 4 Us has a contest every month (I won a book by Mona Risk last month!) and the hunt is fun (if only for the chance to look at the cover models' pix!).  Link.

Come join us at the Writerspace chat.  The New Releases chat is on the first Tuesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. PST.  Sometimes there are giveaways and there is always good (and sometimes wacky) conversation and plenty of discussion amongst book addicts and authors.  Join us in the Readers' Chatroom at this link.  Fair warning, SOME of the chats (EC or Changeling chats on 6/25/13) are ADULTS only but there are usually several during the week.

The monthly contests at Writerspace can be found at this link.

There are plenty of hops scattered throughout the blogosphere, if you have one to share, feel free to let me know and I will add it to the list but I am a bit too crunched for time to hunt right now.  I am delighted to mention that I will have e-books for giveaways over the next few weeks so keep an eye out!



And don't forget that Dana Marton has her new romantic suspense, Deathtrap available for $.99 (click on cover for link...if you purchase, I will get a small percentage of whatever you purchase during this shopping excursion so thank you!)

I have been a little buried in edits and proofreads so I haven't been keeping up with my reviews as much as I should but my stack of upcoming reviews include:

                                                     
                                                       

Laura Griffin: Exposed, another of her wonderfully fast-paced romantic suspense stories in the 'Tracers' series.  Yum.

                                                       

Elle James:  Voodoo for Two (a cute paranormal set in the bayou country and continuing after the entertaining story from Voodoo on the Bayou)
                                    

                                                 

 
Tara Lain:  Spell Cat and Brush with Catastrophe, both fun m/m paranormal reads.


          

and I am in the middle of reading Lisa Renee Jones:  Being Me, a deliciously erotic romantic suspense that is part of her 'Inside Out' trilogy.

Yes, as usual, I am reading faster than I am writing the reviews but that is partly because I have had so many edits lately that I am reluctant to sit at the keyboard when I can be reading something else!  We won't discuss the pile of library books that I haven't gotten to, lol.

Contests and Giveaways (and slowly catching up)

Don't forget that Brenda Novak's online auction full of great things to raise funds for diabetes research has started.  Please go to this link:
http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com/Home.taf

Night Owl regularly has contests on its blog at this link but there is also the Spring Fling Scavenger Hunt at this link which ends May 15.

Romance Books 4 Us has its monthly contest at this link.

The Romance Studio is having a 'Staying at Home' party at this link.
(oops, I got so distracted reading some of the excerpts and commenting that I forgot I was working on this post, lol)

There's a Father's Day contest (among many other giveaways) on the Aunt Maggie Rocks blog at this link.

Adults only contest at the Smutketeers' blog where R.G. Alexander is diligently keeping those of us sad at not being at the RT convention occupied by showcasing all of the delightful titles she and her fellow authors have been writing.  Enter all 4 days but hurry, it ends soon!  Link.

and don't forget Sabrina York's free read (see post at this link)
and the bargains available for a limited time at the Book Lover's Buffet (see post at this link)

Upcoming giveaways:

I am delighted to be able to announce that cozy mystery author Duffy Brown will be visiting my blog next week with a hunger inspiring guest post on Southern food and a giveaway to celebrate the release of her new book, Killer in Crinolines (and for those of you who like me only had a fuzzy idea of what a crinoline is...it's a coarse stiff fabric of cotton or horsehair used especially to line and stiffen hats and garments. 2. A petticoat made of this fabric according to Freedictionary.com)
                          



Later in the month I have the wonderful opportunity to host a giveaway of Patricia Beard's A Certain Summer, a women's fiction title that looks intriguing.
                                     
 
and last, but not least, the prolific Terry Spear is visiting my blog (squee) and I think she might have one of her delicious shapeshifters accompanying her!   (0:
Come visit the Writerspace chat on Tuesday, 6:00 p.m. PST--and chat with Terry!   http://writerspace.com/chat/

(aren't these droolworthy covers?)
                          





Meanwhile, I am frantically trying to catch up with just a little of my reading and have just finished Cassandra Carr's yummy m/m erotic romance, See the Light, the prolific and imaginative Cheyenne McCray/Jaymie Holland's re-release of the first book in the 'Seraphine Chronicles', Forbidden, and am FINALLY writing up reviews for the mesmerizing dark erotic story Selling Out by the talented Amber Lin and Shona Husk's intriguing science fiction novella, Lunar Exposure, not to mention Anya Bast's interesting novella Winter's Pleasures:  The Training.  (hopefully, Tammie at Night Owl Reviews won't notice how overdue some of my submissions are, lol)