BLI Holiday Reading Challenge 2011: Link Up Your Reviews!

Now that you have signed up for the Holiday Reading Challenge and started (or will soon start) reading holiday themed books, this is where you can post links to your reviews of said books.
Winner will be selected from all submitted reviews, so the more you read and review, the better chance you will have at winning 😉

Please in the “Name” section of the linky leave the title and author of the book:
example:
Name: All I Want For Christmas by Santa Claus
Thank you!

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The International Giveaways Café (20)

Welcome back to our Saturday morning get-together, where we have the chance to discuss book giveaways, link up our own giveaways, and enter all the others.

We’ve made it into November now, just one month away from the holiday season (for those of us that celebrate it.) One thing that is consistent (year round) though is…you guessed it! Book Giveaways. Whether rain, snow, or sunshine, there are always great books around with a potential to win. So, add your link below or peruse for your chance to win. Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

Let us know what your weekend has in store. Have you won anything recently that you’ll get the chance to read now? The Book Lovers would love to hear!

At Book Lovers Inc., it’s our pleasure to share the bookish love! Good luck to everyone and hope you enjoy …

Review: Because of You by Jessica Scott

Format read: eARC provided by publisher through NetGalley
Series: Book #1 in the Coming Home series
Release Date: 14 November 2011
Number of pages: 224 pages
Publisher: Loveswept
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon

Blurb:

From the war-torn streets of Baghdad to the bittersweet comforts of the home front, two wounded hearts navigate the battlefield of coming home from war in this explosive eBook original from newcomer Jessica Scott.

Keeping his men alive is all that matters to Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison. But meeting Jen St. James the night before his latest deployment makes Shane wonder if there’s more to life than war. He leaves for Iraq remembering a single kiss with a woman he’ll never see again—until a near fatal attack lands him back at home and in her care.

Jen has survived her own brush with death and endured its scars. And yet there’s a fire in Shane that makes Jen forget …

Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review

Welcome to this week’s news post! This week we have more news and development from Kobo, Authors hiding their real gender and covers galore!

A Japanese company called Rakuten, has purchased the Canadian based Indigo’s Kobo in a deal worth $315 million. Rakuten is behind a few e-ventures and companies,including an ebook store and it looks like buying into Kobo is a way to shore up and expand more into ebooks and publishing. It also looks like with a huge backing from Rakuten, Kobo will be able to expand and compete more fully with other ebook devices like the Kindle.

Another case of plagiarism has reared its ugly head. Thriller writer, QR Markham, was caught plagiarising from a variety of novels including the James Bond series, with his new book Assassin of Secrets. The book has been removed …

Interview with Jessica Scott + Giveaway

Today we are very happy and honoured to welcome Jessica Scott debut romance author and career soldier at Book Lovers Inc. Jessica is here to tell us about her debut novel Because of You, a very emotional romance novel and first book in a new series. Read on to learn more about Jessica’s series and life and get to know the characters of Because of You. 🙂

(You can read my review of Because of You here.)

Stella: Hi Jessica, welcome to Book Lovers Inc! Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
Jessica Scott: Hi Stella. Thanks for having me here today. I’m pretty excited about Because of You and I’m delighted to be here. I’m a pretty normal harried working mom. I love reading, writing and all things bookish. I’ve got two little girls, a husband in Iraq and I’ve been on active duty for 16 plus years. I’m blessed …

That’s the Question: Ebooks or Paperbacks?

Hey Everyone!
 
We would like to introduce to you a brand new feature here at Book Lovers Inc (it’s still so shiny and new this will be our tryout tour *winks*). 
 
I am happy to present That’s the Question!
 
What is That’s The Question? Well we think the name speaks for itself but no feature can go without a short introduction, so here it goes: in this biweekly feature we will discuss and debate on some of the most burning questions we book lovers ponder: series or stand alone novels? ebooks or paperbacks? sad or happy endings? etc. and we very much hope you’ll join us in our discussion and share your two cents.
 
So for this inaugural post I would like to share with you my thoughts on a dilemma I revisit quite frequently: Ebooks or Paperbacks?

 
Before summer 2010 BK (=Before Kindle) if you had asked me this question I would have stared at …

Review: Wild Lilly by Ann Mayburn

Format read: ARC provided by the author
Release Date: 11 Nov 2011
Publisher: Decadent Publishing
Length: 258 pages
Formats available: ebook,
Series:Willow Creek #1
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Decadent Publishing

Book Blurb:

When Connecticut socialite Lilly Brooks inherits land in Caldwell, Kansas, she finally has the chance to break free from the gilded cage of Victorian society and chase after her dreams of excitement and romance in the Wild West. Excitement arrives with angry Indians, smelly dogs, and drunken cowboys who won’t take no for an answer. Romance comes in the form of a ruggedly handsome rancher named Paul McGregor. Too bad he calls her a whore within the first minute of their acquaintance.

Paul has spent the last three years trying to hold his family and ranch together after the death of his parents. When he saves a stunning blonde, who he thinks …

The BLI Holiday Reading Challenge 2011 – Sign Up

I am not a big fan of winter. I dread the moment the days become shorter, colder and sunshine becomes a rarity. There is only one thing which redeems winter to me and that is Christmas!
Hi Everyone, I am Stella and I’m Christmas-aholic. I love everything about Christmas: the preparation, the cookies, the gift wrapping, the decorations, the reindeers and cinnamon and Christmas carols, and I could go on and on. So of course now that the weather is becoming chilly I am looking forward to the end of December! 🙂 And what better way to start the preparations than reading holiday themed novels?
So please join me in  Book Lovers Inc’s first annual Holiday Reading Challenge! *throws confetti*
Here are the main rules, but don’t hesitate to ask if anything’s unclear:

Challenge Rules:

1. The BLI Holiday Reading Challenge will start on November 10 and will end on December 31.

2. You can read as many …

Elements in Lit 201: Historic Time Periods

Welcome back class! With our Genres lessons having waned somewhat, I thought it was time to take a new approach in our bookish higher learning. So, today I introduce the new batch of lectures, looking at different elements in the books we read, from themes and literary terms to who knows what?

I thought we’d start by taking a look at the different times that appear in historical novels. These will be mostly featuring stories set in England for the moment, but as you’ll soon find out, time is truly relative to the places and subjects in the books. Grab your pencils and let’s get back to school!:

The most commonly heard time frame in historical romances is the Regency Romance. These novels are set during the British Regency and take place within the years 1811-1820. In England, this was a time when the king (George III) was deemed unable to …

Review: Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn

Format Read:  E-bookNumber of Pages:  241 pages  Release Date:  1st November 2011Publisher:  CreateSpaceFormats Available:  E-book, Paperback.  Purchasing Info: Susan Kaye Quinn, Good Reads, Amazon,  

Book Blurb:
When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.

My Thoughts:

After reading the …