TBR… why don’t cha?
I often talk, well complain really, about my toppling TBR (to be read) pile. That sad pile of neglected books that never seems to get any smaller but only grows larger the more I hear about another great book or series from a friend, or a blogger or murmurings out there on twitter.
And it’s not just physical books now that I have an e-reader there is a growing digital TBR pile also. It’s quite daunting really.
I was happy when I saw that one of my favorite bloggers Wendy The Super Liberian was hosting a TBR challenge. Head over here to check it out and join if you like.
This month the challenge was to pick up a long neglected category romance. I picked one that hadn’t been hanging on my shelves but on my Sony for a short while. Romancing The Chef by Robyn Amos.
I’ve noticed a surge in chef romance lately and wanted to give this a try. I’m so happy I did. It had a great mix of romance with little of the drama of Top Chef and a touch of Iron Chef tension thrown in for good measure. I enjoyed that though there was a picture perfect heroine, she was new to being perfect after just having lost a significant amount of weight. And having that weight loss being new to her she came to the story with plenty of insecurities to add problems for the romance. This was an enjoyable and quick read and I’m thankful to Wendy for helping to get me to move it from my TBR pile. And that’s one.
As a bit of a bonus I also read another way too long neglected book that literally got buried in my TBR pile. Caitlin Crews’ (aka Megan Crane) Pure Princess, Bartered Bride.
It’s the story of Luc Garnier, the harsh billionaire business magnet on the hunt for his perfect princess titled bride. He meets his match when finds what he’s looking for in Gabrielle, the perfectly well molded princess who has never stepped a toe out of place. But problems arise when Gabrielle finally decides she doesn’t want a life as perfect princess anymore after she becomes shacked to the brooding Luc. A fun and steamy read. You keep turning the paged to see how these two will one up each other and who will win out in the end.
And that’s two! LOL. Thanks Wendy!
Best,
Kwana
We have a Winner!
Hello Monday! So who’s snowbound today raise your hands? I sure am or at least making myself. No way am I driving today.
Here are a few pics of my birdbath at the beginning, during and now the early morning, from the big after Christmas Snowzilla 2010.
I hope you all had a nice Christmas and Santa was good to you. Thanks to all of you for the Blogiversary wishes and all who entered my book giveaway. And thanks to random number generator the big winner is…..
Spaz aka Pamela!Yay!! Congrats Pamela. Please email me your info and I will ship those books off to you. Thank you so much for commenting.
I hope you all have a great week!
Best,
Kwana
heart image from here
Clutched
I’m loving the Book clutch by Olympia Le-Tan that Natalie Portman is holding here at her New York Black Swan premier.
Here are a few more from a slide show from The Telegraph with more of Olympia’s cool clutches. Makes it so hard to choose which one I like the best to add to my wish list for Santa Baby. Which would you choose?
Best,
Kwana
Image from the Los Angeles Times
My Favorites/ Your Favorites
What’s Jack up to? It’s been a minute since I said what Jack was up to because he’s been fairly quiet. Maybe too quiet. I came home yesterday to find he jumped up to the counter and nabbed a new loaf of bread, ate half, then sort of hid the evidence. Now normally when Jack does something wrong he hides so I know to look for the problem. Not this time. He was bold coming out to greet me like there was not a problem in the world that is until I found the bread stuffed under the counter an hour later. Yeah, then he hid. Grrrr…
Today I’d love for you to join me at The Loft to help me to build a best book of 2010 list in Women’s fiction and contemporary romance. I sure can’t do it alone so please head on over there and tell me what you’ve loved this year.
Best
Kwana
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
What’s Jack up to? Sorry I have been quiet on the Jack front lately but I have been so swamped with the dear twins and college stuff that there has been to time to stay on the mischievous Jack. And believe me he’s taking full advantage of it. Getting into things were he can. Sneaking into bookbags and sneaking snacks. Reaching high countertops and getting what he can there. Even feeling his wild oats and going off the porch and chasing after big dogs who dare come up the street. Yeah, that one just about gave me a heart attack. Big trouble there. Good thing the dog thought little Jack was a joke. I didn’t and he’s on the leash for good now. So that’s what Jack’s been up to. Never dull.
We have a winner in THE ARMS OF THE ENEMY contest. Thanks to the random number generator it looks like Lisbeth will be sending her book clear across the country to our friend Ina In Alaska! You picked a great day to comment Ina and you get a free book from Lisbeth. Please send me your mailing info and I will be sure the book gets to you. Enjoy!
True Random Number Generator
2 Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Best,
Kwana
Messin’ with my Mind
Thanks so much to all of you that left comments on yesterday’s interview with author Lisbeth Eng. There is still time to comment and win a copy of her book IN THE ARMS OF THE ENEMY here. Go for it!
So leave it to the PIC to know me and my neurosis so well that she can recommend the perfect book for me that plays right into them. I’m talking about Carolyn Crane’s MIND GAMES. How Carolyn thought of a hyp0chondriac heroine I will never know, but I likie a lot and can’t wait to sink my teeth into her second book in her super trilogy DOUBLE CROSS. You can check out Carolyn at her super funny blog here. What a talent she is and now I want Mongolian food. Hmm…
So what you reading?
Best,
Kwana
So What Cha Readin’?
Thanks to those who gave such kind comments on my entry in the New Voices contest yesterday. There is still plenty of time to read my submission and vote if you like.
So I have not asked this question in quite a while: What cha readin’?
I’m slowly reading The Girl Who Played With Fire book 2 of Stieg Larssson’s Milennium Trilogy. These are books that I find take me a while to get into but I’m still incredibly drawn to Lisbeth, the main character so I keep coming back. Have you ever had this happen to you?
Best,
Kwana
Image from here
Smart Sony Style Meet Up
As most of you who stop by ye old blog often know I’m a big lover of books and romance in particular so when my friend author Liz Maverick tweeted me about the sbtbSony event hosted by Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches Trashy Books I was in.
I had a great time at the lunch time chat at the midtown Sony store on Masidon Avenue to talk about their newest ereaders just being launched and to chat about great reads. *Note to self: Gotta get newest Jenny Crusie* It was nice to see so many people come out and show their love of books in the serious summer heat. The passion for the written word is alive and well if you ask me.
The pink pocket reader was too cute for words and I can see the DD just loving that in her Christmas stocking. I think I’m personally in love with the reader touch edition which is the next size up. It has quick page turns and the note taking feature seems like a dream come true for reviewing books. I’m also in love with Sony’s borrow from your library feature since I’m a huge library girl.
Check out Sarah here holding the cute pink number
And look at Angela James from Carina Press who was in town taking notes on the touch (I promise she’s not this blurry in real life).
Angela was nice enough to give all attendees one free download which I can’t wait to get. Hmm who should I choose? The picking is half the fun.
So tell me have you gotten on the ereader train yet? If so what type do you have? Sony, Kindle, Nook?
Best,
Kwana
The Counseling w/ Marley Gibson
Today I’m happy to once again have my friend, Marley Gibson here on ye old blog to talk about her newest book in her Ghost Huntress Series: THE COUNSELING
Hi Marley I’m so happy to have you back on the blog to talk about another installment of your popular YA series Ghost Huntress. Tell us about it.
What makes this world so exciting for you?
I love Kendall’s world because I am master of all I survey…bwah ha ha ha!! Seriously…I like creating this setting with her friends, parents, etc., because we all know that how and where we grow up in our formative years really shapes us forever as a person. I wanted Kendall to be surrounded by support and love even though she’s going through a really touch time with her psychic awakening and all it has brought into her life. Besides, growing up int he South, I feel I know how to make a Southern town come alive with its quirky characters, oddities, and traditions
Where do you get your ideas? I know you sometimes go on ghost hunts something I’d never do. I’d be way too scared. I believe there are ghosts among us I just don’t what to have any sit downs if you know what I mean.
I get ideas from a variety of places – 1) mostly my warped imagination that likes to question and “what if” everything around me, 2) my even more warped dreams which are enhanced by the stomach medication I take at night with the side effect “vivid dreams, 3) listening in on other people’s conversations all the time, 4) things that happen to me or friends on ghost hunting adventures. I like to try and work in the realism of actual ghost hunts into the stories and often times, I will put in EVPs or details about things that we encounter at an allegedly haunted location. Come on, Kwana…go ghost hunting with me!
Not me Mar! I’m totally afraid of Ghosts!! So what’s next for you?
Well…GHOST HUNTRESS book 5, THE DISCOVERY comes out in May 2011. This will pick up where THE COUNSELING left off. I’m hoping that my amazing publisher will want more books in the series. In the meantime, I have several projects I’m working on, including the final edits on CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, which is the sequel to my CHRISTMAS MIRACLES that came out last year. CHRISTMAS SPIRIT will be out in October 2011. Other than that, just keeping busy with promotion, blogging, doing conferences and signings and traveling all over the US in my RV.
Thanks so much Marley. It’s always fun to have you here. See you on the road!
Folks you can find more ghostly fun with Marley by going over to Books, Boys, Buzz and win prizes here all this week – http://yawriters.blogspot.com/and at Marley’s website at http://marleygibson.com/2010/08/28/awesome-giveaway-for-ghost-huntress-the-counseling/ – for contest, giveaway and prize package running through September 15th.
Best,
KwanaP.S.
Who watched the not so Real Housewives of NJ Reunion show? WOW Whee what a hot mess. Poor Andy. I hope he got a bonus for getting knocked around like that. My mouth was hanging open.
What Cha Reading?
What’s Jack up to? Well with the big heatwave we’ve been having there’s been no dashing out the door for the Jackster lately. He’s no fool that dog. He’s staying where there’s air conditioning and doesn’t want me getting angry and locking him out, not that I’d do that. LOL.
So I have not asked this question in a moment. What cha reading? The last few books I’ve read were:
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo a book/knitting/moms night out club pick which 1/2 the club has read so far and I really enjoyed but took me a while to get into but it won me over by the middle. Now I know with that review I’m not the norm. But I do want to read the next in the series. Lisbeth is such an interesting character.
Then there was Soulless and Then Changelessby Gail Carriger which my friend Kate from Babbling about Books turned me on to. I loved Soulless so much that I had to buy Changeless for my ereader the same day I finished it. I have to say though it could not beat Soulless but left me with enough of a cliffhanger that I am very much waiting for the 3rd book in the series. Carriger is such a wonderful writer.
Now tell me what are you reading? Who’s rocking your world right now?
Best,
Kwana
