Book Blogger Hop Time!

It's Friday, which means the Book Blogger Hop at Crazy For Books. So welcome to all of my new visitors and followers, take a look around and enjoy your stay.
Please check out my giveaway of the book Amour Et Vengeance! It's international!

Question of the week: "What book are you most looking forward to seeing published in 2011?  Why are you anticipating that book?"

My answer: The book I am most looking forward to is Naamah's Blessing (Kushiel's Legacy) by Jacqueline Carey. I have been reading this series since the first book, Kushiel's Dart, and I have loved every one! This book completes the trilogy of Moirin Mac Fainche of the Maghunn Don and I can't wait to see how it ends.
Here's the description from Amazon:

Returning to Terre d'Ange, Moirin finds the royal family broken. Wracked by unrelenting grief at the loss of his wife, Queen Jehanne, King Daniel is unable to rule. Prince Thierry, leading an expedition to explore the deadly jungles of Terra Nova, is halfway across the world. And three year old Desirée is a vision of her mother: tempestuous, intelligent, and fiery, but desperately lonely, and a vulnerable pawn in a game of shifting political allegiances.
As tensions mount, King Daniel asks that Moirin become Desirée's oath-sworn protector. Navigating the intricate political landscape of the Court proves a difficult challenge, and when dire news arrives from overseas, the spirit of Queen Jehanne visits Moirin in a dream and bids her undertake an impossible quest.
Another specter from the past also haunts Moirin. Travelling with Thierry in the New World is Raphael de Mereliot, her manipulative former lover. Years ago, Raphael forced her to help him summon fallen angels in the hopes of acquiring mystical gifts and knowledge. It was a disastrous effort that nearly killed them, and Moirin must finally bear the costs of those bitter mistakes.

 These are the blogs I have discovered through the Hop:
1. Beyond Strange New Words
2. Gossamer and Lichen
3. In The Hammock
4. Bookin' It
5. Mystifying Paranormal Reviews

Knocked Up For Books

I recently discovered that I am pregnant with my third child, so I thought a post centered on prenatal books would be within the guidelines of a book blog. With my previous two pregnancies, I exhausted the supply of pregnancy-centered and baby-centered literature at my local library each time, but with this one I'm wishing I did not have to turn these books in as I keep checking out and renewing the same titles over and over (until the librarian tells me not to).

My first pregnancy was near-perfect, but my second ended in a 32-week preemie, so I am anxious to prevent another premature birth. In addition, I never got rid of the baby weight from my previous pregnancies, so I have some extra weight I have to take into account regarding the health of my fetus and my own body. Hubby was nice enough to order me the one book I could find on preventing premature births, Every Pregnant Woman's Guide to Preventing Premature Birth by Barbara Luke. But, as a good bookworm, that's not all I want!

Some of the nutrition-oriented books that interested me are The 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat During Pregnancy: The Surprising Unbiased Truth about Foods You Should be Eating During Pregnancy but Probably Aren't by Jonny Bowden Ph.D. C.N.S. and Allison Tannis MS, Eating for Pregnancy: The Essential Nutrition Guide and Cookbook for Today's Mothers-to-Be by Catherine Jones and Rose Ann Hudson, and What to Expect: Eating Well When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff.

More generalized books that interest me on pregnancy are What to Expect When You're Expecting: 4th Edition by Heidi Murkoff and YOU: Having a Baby: The Owner's Manual to a Happy and Healthy Pregnancy by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz.

Both of these books have counterparts in the new baby category, too, which I wouldn't mind possessing: What to Expect the First Year (What to Expect (Workman Publishing)) by Heidi Eisenberg Murkoff, Ariene Eisenberg, and Sandee Hathaway, and YOU: Raising Your Child: The Owner's Manual from First Breath to First Grade by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz.

 

And while the non-pregnant part of my mind balks at the idea of working out, I am making myself do prenatal exercises regularly, so You: Having a Baby Workout (DVD): The Owner's Manual to a Happy and Healthy Pregnancy by Joel Harper would be a good addition.

If any generous and/or sympathetic readers feel the need to help a book-hungry, hormone-driven mom with any of these lovely titles, I have them listed on my amazon.ca Wish List.

Giveaway: Amour Et Vengeance by J. Fred Beckman

The nice folks at Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists have granted me the opportunity to host a giveaway of the latest book being promoted. The winner, by random drawing at random.org, will win a copy of Amour Et Vengeance by J. Fred Beckman. This is a hardcover fiction book that is soon to be released.

The synopsis reads:
A French woman vows revenge for the murder of her lover during WW2. She joins the French Resistance and falls in love with an American who is assisting in the “D” Day invasion.


This contest is International! To enter the contest, you must be a follower of my blog. Then fill out the form below to be entered into the drawing. You will have until February 9 to be entered into the drawing. I will contact the winner through email to find out where to ship the book.

Teaser Tuesday: On Writing by Stephen King

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read.
2. Open to a random page.
3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!).
5. Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My Teaser:

Someone out there is now accusing me of being tiresome and anal-retentive. I deny it. I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they're like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day... fifty the day after that... and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then it's -- GASP!! --too late. - pg. 125, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

What are you reading this week?

2011 Reading Challenge: Black Dagger Brotherhood

I came across another challenge from Reading With Tequila that suited my TBR List for 2011, so I decided to add it to my list of challenges. I've had the eighth book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series sitting on my TBR pile for almost a year. I've been too intimidated to touch it because I've never read any of the previous books and it's not exactly a thin book. The Black Dagger Brotherhood Challenge is perfect incentive for me to read it, as well as the rest of the series, which I've read is quite a good series. This challenge will run from February 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012. Here a list of all the titles in the series by J. R. Ward:

1. Dark Lover
2. Lover Eternal
3. Lover Awakened
4. Lover Revealed
5. Lover Unbound
6. Lover Enshrined
7. Lover Avenged
8. Lover Mine
9. Lover Unleashed

Review: On The Prowl Anthology

Book Details:
On the Prowl
By Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, and Sunny
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Published 2007, Berkley Books
Paperback, 341 pages
ISBN: 9780425216590


Synopsis:

          These all-new paranormal romances from today's hottest authors feature a female werewolf who comes into her own; a Lord who crosses paths with a fiery mage; a mixed-blood Child of the Moon who faces an uncertain future; and a woman whose sixth sense proves to be a dangerous talent.

The first story, Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs, is an off-shoot of her Mercy Thompson series. This story focuses on a much-abused female werewolf in Chicago, Anna. The Merrick's son, Charles, comes to end the abuse and inadvertedly rescues her when he discovers that she is a rare Omega werewolf. Despite the short length of the story, Briggs still writes an exceptional story with unique characters and an intriguing plot. I look forward to reading the next full-length book in this new series, Cry Wolf (Alpha and Omega, Book 1).
The second story, Inhuman by Eileen Wilks, takes place in the middle of her Lupi series, but focuses on a woman, Kai, who can see thoughts. She has a secret relationship with her neighbor Nathan, who is not human, and this developments into some interesting events when he strives to protect her from a killer. Though this story ended with a "to be continued," I am intrigued enough that I want the next book, Night Season (The World of the Lupi, Book 4).
The third story, Buying Trouble by Karen Chance, features a minor character in the Dorina Basarab series, Claire. Claire believes she is a "null," a person that nullifies magic within a certain radius. When she discovers that she is to be sold like a slave, a very sexy Lord of the Fey decides to rescue her. The chemistry between Claire and him is far beyond magnetic and has some very interesting consequences for Claire. I was a bit disappointed that Claire does not get any full-length novels, as her story has great potential.
The final story, Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny, is heavy in erotic material and light on plot. The story takes someplace in the middle of  the Monere series and resembles Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series in many ways. Though Bishop's writing is superior, there is some uniqueness to this series, such as the use of moon imagery. I may check out the first novel, Mona Lisa Awakening (Monere: Children of the Moon, Book 1).
I like reading anthologies not only to get some extra morsels from my favorite authors, but also to be introduced to new authors without having to commit to an entire full-length novel. While Briggs story was certainly the best of the bunch, the other stories were good reads, and I was glad to be introduced to their styles and stories.

The Cover: The cover is a good generic picture that could fit into each of the four stories relatively well, although I'd say it was likely designed mostly for the first novella in the book, which features a female werewolf.

First Lines: "The wind was chill and the cold froze the ends of her toes. One of these days she was going to break down and buy boots -- if only she didn't need to eat."
My first question is who would be barefoot in freezing temperatures and why? If the opening lines make me ask questions, then they get my approval.
Favorite Quote: "How to put this feeling, this certainty, into something as limited as words?"

Read For: Strong Heroine Challenge, Twenty-Eleven Challenge, What's In A Name Challenge