The Write Factor

Breaking News: The Around the Bookish World News Week-in-Review post has been postponed to tomorrow (Saturday) due to some spontaneous happenings on Twitter (ie. hence the topic of this post).

Yesterday morning a post about grammar errors and typos diminishing the experience of reading had Twitter aflutter. This post made us think about whether ARCs are a different species than finished books, or whether they should be treated the same.

For those of you who don’t know what ARCs are, they are Advance Reader Copies, which are review copies printed from galleys/proofs during the copy edit stage, meaning that both the author and the editor are still going through some proofreading and last minute changes/polishing. Meaning that ARCs are far from being finalised and that is why each and every ARC has two notes/warnings on the cover:
1) that the book we are about …

Interview: Laura Wright + Giveaway!

Today BLI is delighted to welcome Laura Wright, author of the critically acclaimed “Mark of the Vampire” series. Laura has been writing since 1997 when she enrolled in UCLA extension classes and in 2002 her first book was published by Harlequin called Cinderella & the Playboy. Eternal Hunger, the first novel in the Mark of the Vampire series was published to rave reviews on October 5, 2010. Eternal Kiss, Nicholas Roman’s dark, sexy and thrilling paranormal romance, hit the stands this week on April 5, 2011!

Lea: Laura! Welcome to BLI, it’s such a thrill to be able to chat with you today. 🙂

Laura: Thanks so much! It’s great to be here! 🙂

Laura can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

Laura: Well… I’m a mom of 2 little balas, a wife to a fantastic and supportive theater …

Review: "Stormy Seduction", by Vivian Arend

Format Read: e-ARC submitted by Novel Sidekick courtesy of AuthorLength: 66 PagesSeries: Pacific Passion Book #2Genre: Erotic, Paranormal, Shapeshifters, MénageRelease Date: April 12, 2011Publisher: Samhain PublishingFormats Available: eBook, Kindle, NookPurchasing Info: Publisher, Author’s Website, Goodreads, Kindle, Nook

Book Blurb:

Sensual water shifters meet volatile air shifters—there’s a storm coming.

As morning-afters go, this one is looking pretty bright. Both air shifter Laurin Marshal and water shifter/shaman Matthew Jentry are aware, though, that trouble won’t be long in coming. And they’re right—before they’ve barely begun to work out the details of their mystical bond, the People of the Air find them to challenge Laurin’s right to choose Matt as her mate.

Fending off Laurin’s would-be suitors is easier than Matt anticipated, but there’s another dilemma still to face. His own people. Laurin is just beginning to trust that his …

Review: "Stormchild", by Vivian Arend

Format Read: e-ARC submitted by Novel Sidekick courtesy of AuthorLength: 50 PagesSeries: Pacific Passion Book #1Genre: Erotic, Paranormal, ShapeshiftersRelease Date: May 4, 2010Publisher: Samhain PublishingFormats Available: eBook, Kindle, NookPurchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher, Goodreads, All Romance Ebooks, Kindle, Nook

Book Blurb:

These elements have no desire to be tamed…

As the new traveling doctor for the Pacific Inside Passage settlements, Matthew Jentry balances dual roles for his water-shifter people—caring for their health as a human-trained physician, and for their spiritual needs as a shaman.

Distractions of the female kind are not on his agenda, but his magical bloodline makes him a target for every marriage-minded woman within range. There’s something about the mysterious Laurin Marshall, though, that he finds far too enticing. It’s just as well that it’s time for him to move on.

Laurin thought she had …

Bookish Rants or Raves: An Urban Fantasy Fashion Show!

I have to admit, I am not a very fashionista kind of girl. I’d live in jeans and a T-Shirt if I have to, but I do like to think i have some sense of style and I do know how to dress appropriately in any given situation. 

However, I’m afraid to say that, that isn’t the case of most Urban Fantasy characters, is it?

If you think about it, some UF heroes and heroines have worn pretty mind boggling outfits haven’t they?

Out of the top of my mind I can recall, Jean-Claude’s open white billowing blouse over leathers, Rachel Morgan’s white leather outfit in “Pale Demon” and we cannot forget the regular appearance of leather in UF covers, being it, black, white of full body leather outfits that defy nature.

I mean, I cannot imagine doing all that fighting in leather! Seriously, it CANNOT be comfortable! LOL 

Romance and Me: Romance Novels Are Truly Modern Fairy Tales?

Hey Everyone!

Welcome back to another Romance and Me post! 🙂 Before diving in today’s topic I would like to thank you all for sharing with me your story, I loved to read how you discovered the romance genre and who or which book was your introduction to it 🙂

Now today I would like to speak to you about something I believe all of us romantic ones love deep in our hearts. What you ask? Well sure it can be the much anticipated HEA (=happily ever after ending), the emotional love declaration scene, the irresistible and kindhearted hero, but in my opinion it all boils down to one thing:

FAIRY TALES!

When you think about it it’s obvious: fairy tales were our introduction to romance and love (didn’t you just love listening to bedtime stories about princesses and knights in shining armour? or watching those wonderful Disney movies?). I have read somewhere …

Interview with Author Kristan Higgins + Giveaway

We are very happy today to welcome Kristan Higgins to Book Lovers Inc! She is here to celebrate her latest release My One and Only.In the highly improbable case you haven’t yet heard of or read any of Kristan’s novels let us tell you what you can expect. Sweet, heartfelt, emotional and heartwarming romances with chuckle out loud moments and completely scandalous and out of the ordinary family members (a mother running a mortuary? yep, just open All I Ever Wanted!). Kristan’s romances make you smile, sigh,  laugh and tear up, so of course we were ecstatic when we learned she was up to answer some of our most burning questions! 😀 So please give a warm welcome to Kristan and if she is a new to you author, then trust our joint recommendation …

Review: That Is Priceless by Steven Melchor

Format read: netGalleyNumber of pages: 192 pagesRelease Date: April 12th 2011Publisher: Andrews McMeel PublishingFormats available: paperbackPurchasing Info: Publisher’s Site, Amazon, Goodreads, Book Depository

Book Blurb:

Thirty-two million Americans consider themselves artists, and nearly 100 million consider themselves art lovers. They—along with anyone else who enjoys a good laugh—will appreciate the edgy blend of art, comedy, and pop culture inside comedian Steve Melcher’s popular blog-turned-book, That Is Priceless: Art’s Greatest Masterpieces . . . Made Slightly Funnier.

It all started when Melcher stumbled upon a postcard in a museum gift shop for Peter Paul Rubens’s The Finding of Erichthonius. Inspiration struck, and Melcher scrambled for a Post-it note and scribbled down what he thought was a more appropriate title: Worst Secret Santa Gift Ever. And with that, That Is Priceless was born. More than 150 images are gathered inside …

New Releases: April 4 – April 10

Alien in the Family – Gini Koch

Super-Being Exterminator Kitty Katt and the Alpha Centaurian she loves, Jeff Martini, should be finalizing their wedding plans. But that was before she discovers Jeff is in line to become Emperor back on his home world. Kitty knows she is everything a royal family wouldn’t approve of, and is bracing herself for the worst. As it turns out, the royal family is just the beginning. Especially when extraterrestrial Amazonian terrorists are determined to start and end Kitty and Jeff’s nuptial festivities with a bang.

Rage –  Jackie Morse Kessler
Hidden Embers -Tessa Adams
Shady Lady – Ann Aguirre

Explore This! Pondicherry, India

I’ve just finished reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel for my final first year English course at university. I was curious about the originating point in the main character (Pi’s) life…Pondicherry, India. Though most of his tale is told in the middle of the Pacific Ocean as a castaway, he retells, with such fond memories, his early life in this place I’d never heard of until now.

Pondicherry sits on the Bay of Bengal, and if you’ve read Martel’s book,
you’ll understand a bit more about the corrollation.

You can just feel the heat emanating from this image…

It is these brightly coloured buildings that enhance the contrast for me
between India and North American living…