“No Mercy” (Dark Hunter Series) By Sherrilyn Kenyon – Trailer

St. Martin’s Press just released this trailer for Sherrilyn Kenyon’s upcoming book – No Mercy.

Ratings Re-organisation

When I first started writing reviews, I didn’t really have any idea what I was doing.  I read so many books it seemed like a good idea to write a little something about each book and see if I could get other people interested in reading them too.  When it came to the rating stage, my husband pointed out I tended to rate very high even if  I just liked it, and about a three if I didn’t, which made having a 1-5 rating silly. He suggested I think about what my benchmark 5 book would be and if I thought the book I had just finished was as good.  If it was, then I had a 5.

After more experience of writing and thinking about what Tony had said I realised that no, in fact not all books I rated high reached that benchmark.  So I am going to go through the reviews I have done and re-rate them.  That is not to say books that might receive a lower rating were not enjoyed or really good, it’s more about a realistic view of them for me.

So if you come across a review you thought had a higher (or even lower) rating before, it probably did but with more experience under my belt, I have a better perception of how much I enjoyed a book in comparison to my benchmark.

Apologies for delay in new content…

…. but I have been laid low by the cold/cough monster.

Since reading is about all I can do right now other than watch crap TV, there should be a slew of new reviews arriving soon, as well as another giveaway!

Please bear with me, normal service should be resumed shortly :)

Grete
x

Jayne Ann Krentz Double Book Giveaway – The Results!

Thanks so much to everyone who took part, there was an awesome response and some really creative (and some slightly scary!) names for your secret societies.  I wish I had more books to give out but since I don’t, here are the two winners randomly drawn!

Jane Middleton who would call hers The Secret Society of the Completely Evil

Janet Broughton who is a goodie, so a Secret Society to save the World would be WRSS. (World Rescue Secret Society) Simple and to the point!

Kind of a nice balance – one good, one evil ;)

Winners have been notified by email and if you could reply with your postal addresses I can get the books sent out to you.

Hope you enjoy them and thanks again to Piatkus who made this giveaway possible

Next giveaway will be going up in the next couple of days so check back soon :)

Jayne Ann Krentz Double Book Giveaway

It’s giveaway time again lovely readers and thanks again to Piatkus I have a duo of Running Hot and Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz.  There are 2 sets to be won and all you have to do is comment below and tell me what name you would give to your own secret society, when you put it together to either save the world or impose your evil genius upon it.

This giveaway will close on April 30th and names will be drawn from a hat, bowl or whatever container comes to hand!

Apologies but open to UK residents only.

I enjoyed these books and you can read my reviews for Running Hot here and Fired Up here.

Good luck!

**This Giveaway is now closed, no further entries will be accepted.  Bear with me while I do the draw and will announce the winners later today!**

Black and White Giveaway – Results

The Giveaway is now closed and 59 names were placed into a bowl (didn’t have a hat big enough!) My lovely cat Fizz also wanted to ‘help’ but since she has a tendency to run off with scraps of paper, she had to be content with a spare piece.  The Following 7 names were the first to be randomly drawn.

*drum roll*

The winners of Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge are :

Georgina Ball who wants to stop time so she can take a break at work.
Ruth Tesdale who would like to be able to communicate with animals.
Paul Hewison who would like to stop time so he can stop being late.
Jason Bateman who would like to bound continents in a single hop so he can surf.
Allan who wants to fly.
Vanessa who would also like to fly.
Heather Shaw who would love to be a witch.. and zap people!

Congratulations to you all, you have been notified by email and if you could reply to them with your postal addresses, I can get your books sent out.

Thanks to everyone who entered and sorry you didn’t win this time, check back soon as there will be more giveaways coming up!

Thanks to Piatkus who made this one possible!

Black and White by Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge Book Give-away!

With thanks to Piatkus, I have seven copies of Black and White by Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge to give away!

You can read my review of this great Superhero book here.

All you have to do to be in with a chance to recieve a copy is post a comment telling me what you would want your superhero power to be!

Winners will be put into a hat and drawn randomly and closing date for this give-away will be 31st March.

I’m afraid due to posting costs, I have to restrict this to UK residents only.

Good luck and hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Kelley Armstrong free to read online book

I caught Kelley Armstrong’s Twitter announcement that her Teen Paranormal book ‘The Summoning’ is available to read online for free.  You can check it out at http://bit.ly/6OjAbg.

I still read young adult fiction if it appeals and being a fan of Kelley Armstrong’s, this is a series I wanted to check out so I’m happy I can now!

You can follow Kelley on Twitter and you can check out her other books in her author page on Bookthing, as well as the reviews of her books we have here.

Some thoughts on Books and E-Readers

Books and reading have always been a very tangible experience for me.  The smell of a new book or an old and much loved copy, the noise and sensation of turning a page, even turning down a corner of the page you are on (a crime to some I know!) if you need to put it down before the end.  I even prefer buying books in a store even though online shopping is so much easier.  I go into the shop with a sense of excitement about getting a new book, hoping they have one you want in stock or just choosing something new to read.  Mind you, I can rarely buy just one book and holding a few as you browse is part of the experience.  Then buying them and leaving the shop with a bag of books and a lot of anticipation.  Online you can usually get what you want but the wait for the delivery and then arriving in a box doesn’t bring about quite that same sense of excitement.

With the advent of E-readers, I’m a bit lost what to think.  I’ve never used one and only looked at ones for sale in Waterstones and online, so not had the experience for myself.  I can see the advantages – being able to carry a multitude of books on one device that is the size of one, but is that the only thing that would attract me?

Have I become so ingrained with my love of physical books since I was a young child that I wouldn’t be able to make the switch?  And would I want to? The other aspect that comes to mind as well is I use the computer for so many things already, my eyes like the break of reading text on paper.  Would I just feel as if I were still reading a computer screen?  The sun on a book page doesn’t really make much difference other than squinting slightly.  The sun on a screen is a totally different matter and makes it unreadable.

I’d be interested to know how people feel, who feel the same as I do about physical books but do use an E-reader anyway.  Or as I suspect I might be, are you too in love with paper books to want to do it a different way?

Comments – fixed

Looks like comments are broken at the moment folks, probably as a result of upgrading to WordPress 2.9.

I’ll get right on it.

Edit: I think they’re fixed.