CBI ARC Winners

I was planning to give away 5 advanced copies of Caressed By Ice today, but there were so many entries to this contest that I decided that I'd have some extra made up and so I'm giving away 15!

The winners (picked randomly) are listed below - and I've also emailed each person to confirm that they've won, since some of the names were similar. And without further ado, the winners are:

Shaneh
Courtney U.
Angelle Trieste
Deborah W.
Kat B.
Jennifer T.
Jenchm
Guia
Katiebabs
Abby R.
Candice
PamK
Jennifer B.
Athena
Justine W.

Congratulations to the winners and hope you enjoy the book!

Reminder

The clock is ticking - if you haven't entered the ARC contest, you have less than two hours to do it! I'll pick the winners later today and post them up tonight if all goes well. Good luck!

Weekly Catchup & Robin D. Owens' Heart Dance

Today is weekly catchup day, but I've also got an OOTB blog tour for you today. Check out the details below! So what have you all been up to?

(By the way, if you haven't entered the ARC contest yet, you have one more day.)
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HEART DANCE by Robin D. Owens

Berkley Trade, July 3, 2007

DuFleur Thyme is a scientist who's secretly experimenting with time. She'll allow no distractions from her work-not even from a HeartMate. Meanwhile, Saille T'Willow has sent his HeartGift out into the world in hopes of finding his HeartMate, who, it turns out, is DuFleur. Still, DuFleur wants nothing to do with Saille, especially when she discovers that it was his grandmother who brought about her father's ruin. Unfortunately, her body can't help but submit to the passion he stirs in her. But when a scandal threatens Saille's position as head of the family, will DuFleur stand by his side?

Excerpt

ABOUT ROBIN D. OWENS

Robin D. Owens has been seriously writing longer than she cares to recall, but is very happy with how her writing career is proceeding. She was named the Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers in 2004, and 2003 Writer of the Year by the Denver Area Science Fiction Association. Robin has been the librarian, contest co-chair, and President of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She has given seminars at Pikes Peak Writers Conference, the Colorado Gold Writers Conference, and Romance Writers of America as well as other groups.

REVIEWS

"Another fascinating visit with the dynamic people of the futuristic world of Celta."— Fresh Fiction

Website http://www.robindowens.com

Conferences and All

I'm going to send you over to the Writing Playground today, where the Playground Monitor has a great post up about conferences and how to handle them.

I, meanwhile, am going to head over to the post office to pick up a package. Ooooooh, what can it be?...

Caressed By Ice ARC contest

Contest now closed. Congrats to the winners!

Okay, here it is, your chance to win an ARC of Caressed By Ice. I think we have 5 left, and a bunch of folks have already won one through my newsletter, so chances aren't bad. Here's all you have to do to enter:

1. Be ready to read the book and review it during late August.
You can review it on your blog, myspace, on online websites like Amazon etc.

That's it. Read. Wait till the last couple of weeks of August. Review. (Though if you love it, you are welcome to tell EVERYONE you know at any stage *grin*).

The entry isn't through comments this time (no big reason why - I just don't want to be chasing down winners' addresses). To enter, EMAIL me at nalinisinghwrites @ gmail.com (without the spaces), with:

1. CBI ARC in the subject line
2. Your name and address
3. Where you intend to review the book.

Contest closes NZ time, Sat June 30th, 12 noon (that's June 29th, Friday 8pm EST)

Reader Interview: Susan

Tuesday is reader interview day. If you'd like to participate (you know you want to), the details are here. Without further ado, today's reader interviewee is Susan (who has excellent taste in books *g*)!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am 33 years old and live in Ohio. For 10 years I sold and serviced 401K plans for a large investment firm. After we had our 2nd child I decided to stay home. Watching my daughter live everyday to the fullest, I decided to try my hand at writing (I wrote a ton in college.) Love it, but let it fall by the way side. I have some freelance work and a short story in progress.)

2. Are you a hoarder or do you give your books away?

Depends. Your books I hoard. Alison Kent & Lora Leigh I hoard. Others, sometimes yes and sometimes. I am blessed to have a great library nearby, so I borrow alot now.

3. What author might tempt you into turning stalker?

Not in my nature to stalk.

4. How susceptible are you to chocolate?

Very. I love dark chocolate

5. Favorite book? Why?

The Time Travelers Wife.

6. If you knew you were going to be stuck on a desert island, what three things would you take with you?

Notebook to write in. Some really good sun block & moisturizer. A good book.

7. What did you eat for breakfast?

Cherrios w/ soymilk and dried cherries

8. How many books in your current to-be-read pile?

6

9. Describe your idea of a perfect hero.

I like an alpha man, but not one that is overly arrogant. I think a man can have a strong sense of himself, and still be a decent guy and not cocky. Cocky usually mask insecurities. Arrogance the same. A really confident man does not need to hide behind those two traits.

Blood Lines - Eileen Wilks

If you're not reading Eileen Wilks' fabulous paranormal series featuring the lupi prince, Rule Turner and detective Lily Yu, why not?!

Seriously, this is a great series. I've just read Blood Lines (more like devoured it). You'll probably enjoy it more if you read the series in order - Tempting Danger & Mortal Danger come before Blood Lines. Weirdly, I've somehow missed reading Mortal Danger (I blame it on moving countries), so I'll be catching up on that but books 1 & 3 hooked me from page 1. Awesome books, both of them!

If you want to find out info about the series, check out Eileen's website.

So, any books you want to squee over?

Links

Jennifer Estep had an interesting post up at Romancing the Blog about nibbling vs chewing at books. When I have the time, I gobble up books in chunks, but I've taught myself to nibble too. Lots more books get read that way. What about you all?

Staying with the chewing theme - if you chew a lot of gum, you might be interested in this article: Chewing gum habit 'poisons' woman.

On a more serious note, Skyla Dawn Cameron has a post up at Dionne Galace with details about the Nothing But Red project/protest.

Sasha White is telling her First Sale story and giving away a book at Dear Author.

Candy & Sarah at SBTB have just announced a book deal.

Jaci Burton is giving bloggers a chance to win an advanced copy of Hunting Demon Island.

And to end on a high, two of my Sil Desire releases - Bound By Marriage & Craving Beauty got awesome reviews at Kwips & Kritiques! :)

Have a nice weekend folks.

Weekly Catchup

It's catchup time - what've you guys been up to this week? I went shopping. Through choice. Amazing, I know. I even bought something. What is the world coming to?!

(And yeah, I gave away some ARCs of CBI to newsletter subscribers but I shall also be giving away some on the blog next week, so make sure you swing by.)

Caressed By Ice

I do believe this is the first online review of Caressed By Ice! (Scooper won the meme contest I ran for Visions of Heat and part of the prize package was an ARC of CBI). And she says she loved it!

I'm also going to send out another excerpt of CBI to newsletter subscribers today, but don't worry if you're not the newsletter-joining type. The excerpt will also be put up on the website as part of the July updates.

And the game's still going so join in!

Games

Today's a bit of a flyby so how about we play a game? I saw this on the Romance Divas forum. Basically, you start with a word (four letters), then each person changes one letter to make a new word. You can't add any extra letters (ie. it always has to be four letters long).

Like this:

Neat
Seat
Seal
Sell...(okay, next person!)

Reader Interview: Jennifer K

Tuesday is reader interview day. If you'd like to participate (you know you want to), the details are here. Without further ado, today's reader interviewee is the hysterically funny Jennifer K!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Well, I’m a never-been-married spinster in her mid-30s who’s becoming one of those cat ladies you see getting busted on Animal Planet because they have, like, 300 cats. At least, that seems to be what some people in my family seem to think. *rolls eyes* I have 3 cats … THREE. That is such a far cry from 300 that it’s ridiculous.

I love books and reading and my idea of a great vacation would be to stay in a haunted castle in Scotland or to take part in one of those mystery tours. You know, the kind where you’re on a train or something and somebody gets killed. Then it’s up to you, an intrepid private investigator or reporter to interpret the clues and solve the crime. Who done it?

Oh, and on the more realistic front, I work as a copy editor/layout person at a newspaper in this area. We’ve got a circulation of about 23,000 to 24,000. I’m in the foothills of North Carolina, USA, by the way.

2. Are you a hoarder or do you give your books away?

I mostly hoard. But, really, I’m not one of those crazy cat ladies. I hoard books. I COLLECT cats. Um, I mean, I rescue the occasional cat. And actually, my having three cats? Very weird because I’m so a DOG person. How did I end up with 3 cats and no dog? I better put my brillant observational, analytical skills to the test to figure that one out.

3. What author might tempt you into turning stalker?

Oh, I could be a stalker chick for LOTS of authors. Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, You, Nalini, Jayne Ann Krentz, Lora Leigh, Nora Roberts, Jory Strong, Linda Howard … those are just off the top of my head.

4. How susceptible are you to chocolate?

It depends. Are you offering some to avoid the stalking thing? Actually, I don’t like pure chocolate, but I’ll eat it happily if it has stuff in it. For instance, chocolate with caramel in it? Delicious. Chocolate with rice krispy stuff in it or nuts or cream cheese? Good lord, I’m drooling just thinking about it.

5. Favorite book? Why?

Hmm, that’s a hard one. I’ve read so many over the years, that I’d have to really sit down and think about it. I can say that one of my favorite series of all times is Linda Howard’s Mackenzie family stories. I loved Wolf and Joe’s story was even better. They are all great and I’ve read them multiple times. Alpha heroes, feisty heroines …

6. If you knew you were going to be stuck on a desert island, what three things would you take with you?

Lots of bottled water … unless this island just happens to have a pure water source that can be used; lots of sunscreen; and my books -- at least one of which is the “Making It Out Alive When You’re Stuck on an Island for Dummies” book.

7. What did you eat for breakfast?

Two small boxes of raisins. I’m kind of on a diet, which I totally blew out of the water earlier by eating a Milky Way bar … hey it’s got caramel in it … yum!

8. How many books in your current to-be-read pile?

Only a few. Maybe three or four. I go through books pretty fast, so they don’t stay in a TBR pile for long.

9. Describe your idea of a perfect hero.

Smart, caring, funny, compassionate and willing to see things through to the end.

Empathy Experiment

When people say "I feel your pain," they do not mean it literally, but certain people really do feel something that appears to be an extreme form of empathy, British researchers have said.

From "Study May Explain Roots of Empathy"

Pretty cool. I've always thought we have the capacity for more than we know - perhaps one day, my Psy stuff will be real in terms of the strength of what we can do with our minds (except without the murderous Psy Council and all). Any of you ever have an extrasensory moment?

Links

Another wonderful first sale story from Ruth Ryan Langan. I love reading these!

Author Colleen Gleason gives the top ten reasons why her heroine Victoria Gardella Grantworth is not Buffy Summers.

Diana Peterfreund has done a brilliant two part Publishing Primer with all sorts of info for writers.

For those of you who are planning to pitch your story to an editor or agent at a conference, the brilliant Nephele Tempest (my agent!) gives some tips on the Perfect Pitch.

Kira, from The Writing Playground, a fellow member of the Brainstorming Desirables, just made her first sale this week. Go read about The Call!

And if you haven't seen, my website's been updated for this month with some good stuff so check it out.

Hope the weekend treats you well! :)

Weekly Catchup

This week has zipped by like a bullet train. I seriously can't believe it's Friday already. I've been working - on another first draft (a novella). It's set in the Psy/Changeling world but a few centuries back from Slave to Sensation. More to come on that later.

Tell me your news people. What's happening in your corner of the world?

Of Thievery & Exercise

I exercised today. Exercise is good. It keeps me from turning into a potato. But man is it tough to get out of bed for it!

However, since I am an intergalactic woman of mystery, I must make the effort. You didn't know I was an intergalactic woman of mystery? Well...let me tell you story. It all began after I read Ilona Andrews' Magic Bites. As I try to do with authors I enjoy, I dropped her an email to say how much I liked it. Guess what happened next? Ms Andrews promptly stole my name - go here to read about Nalini, the woman with blades and poison!

I feel I must now steal Ilona's name - hmmm....

Angels

While working on the first draft of Angels' Blood, I went hunting angel pictures (for no reason but that I had angels on the brain) and look what I found. Ooooooh...

Reader Interview: Bridget Locke

Tuesday is reader interview day. If you'd like to participate (you know you want to), the details are here. Without further ado, today's reader interviewee is Bridget! (A very practical woman...see the answer to question 6 *g*)

1.Tell us a bit about yourself.

Well, my name is Bridget Locke (pseudonym :)). I'm 30, single, and live in Portland, Oregon. I'm a reader of books; usually romance, but I also love fantasy, history, biographies, etc. I try to keep myself informed of trends, so I also have a subscription to Entertainment Weekly. :) I'm also an aspiring writer. I seem to write anything that comes to mind, so I don't see myself just writing one type of book. I've written erotica, comedic first-persons, whatever. My only problem is that I never seem to be able to finish anything. I sure would like to know why. :)

2. Are you a hoarder or do you give your books away?

I tend to hoard, until my bedroom gets so overrun by books that I HAVE to give them away. I have a lot of keepers though. I'm a huge Nora Roberts fan, so most of my books are hers, though I also have all of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, Cindy Gerard's Bodyguard series, Harry Potter and Kim Harrison's The Hollows series. I try to keep series together. I like knowing I've got the whole thing.

3. What author might tempt you into turning stalker?

LOL! Probably Nora Roberts, though I'd say there are really a lot of authors I love.

4. How susceptible are you to chocolate?

Very! Chocolate is my comfort food. It's what I use when I'm PMSing or really depressed. It seems to help calm me down. :)

5. Favorite book? Why?

Oh, this is a horrid question! I've got so many favorites. I have to say that one of my very favorite books of all time is a historical (which is shocking, because I'm not a big historical fan). It's called Years & it's by LaVyrle Spencer. It's this wonderful love story that just comes alive for me. I've read it over a dozen times & love it each and every time I read it.

6. If you knew you were going to be stuck on a desert island, what three things would you take with you?

An everlasting supply of toilet paper, a neverending pad of paper (with pen) and hopefully some sort of container to store water. :)

7. What did you eat for breakfast?

I normally don't eat breakfast. I'm not really a breakfast kind of girl. :) I had a granola bar though, once I got to work. Joy. :)

8. How many books in your current to-be-read pile?

I actually don't have a TBR pile. I'm the fastest reader I know. I can read a 500 page book in maybe 2 hours. When I go buy a book, I read it in one sitting and that's that. :)

9. Describe your idea of a perfect hero.

Hmm…my perfect hero. When I'm writing a hero, he usually ends up as an Alpha-type, but I seem to go for more of a Beta-type in real life. The things I look for in a real life man are very specific. He has to be tall (I'm 6'1", so this is VERY important), preferably with dark hair. He has to be funny, intelligent, and like me for who I am. He can not be a jerk. If he mistreats women, children or animals, he's on my poopy list. As for heroes in books...I like reading about me who are strong, not perfect looking and who love the heroine with everything in them. I love the idea of a very strong man who shows vulnerability to the woman he loves. It just makes me all warm & fuzzy on the inside.

Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews

This is an awesome book. I closed the last page and immediately wanted to read the next one.

The story focuses around Kate, a mercenary who hires herself out to deal with magical nasties in a world where tech and magic are competing for the upper hand (the magic's winning).

Then we've got vampires, shapechangers and an all-around cool world. I just really liked the whole setup. For a more detailed review, swing by Dear Author, which is where I saw this book first mentioned. And here's a link to the excerpt on the author's website.

So, how was everyone's weekend?

Links

PR Coach Louise Knott Ahern is taking questions over at Fog City Divas.

Lara Adrian tells her first sale(s) story over at Dear Author.

Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series is going to kick off with three back to back releases next year. Very cool.

Samhain editor Angela James has an interview up here.

And that's all the links I have today. Hope all of you have a fantabulous weekend!! (And if you see an interesting link online, feel free to add it in the comments).