Hi everyone,
The reason I haven’t posted much on the blog is because I’m moving overseas in a few days and I’ve been busy getting so many things organised! Who knew getting yourself organised took that long 
I have hardly been reading much because as soon as I come home I have to do something!!! I plan on reading a little bit overseas as it is a working holiday so I will always have a book in hand 
Keep you all posted!!
This is another challenge I have decided to take on in the last month or so…I know half the year is almost gone so this might be a bit of a challenge to finish but I don’t mind if I don’t finish it! I do really want to read almost all the books on this list…
It is a list comprised by the bookseller Dymocks here in Australia and consists of the top 101 books chosen by booklovers. Most of the books I have heard about heaps of times and have always though to myself “Oh I should read that” but these are some of the books I might overlook for a good romance or so…So that’s why I have decided to take this list on and try to get through it as much as possible…I guess you could call it as a personal reading challenge
Since I will be moving to London in a few months or so this will be a great list to take on and start on down there
You can check out the PDF version here Dymocks Booklover Best 101
So each time I pick up a book I always wonder which challenges am I closer to finishing by picking up this book? Sometimes I don’t think about a challenge before choosing a book which I like as its always nice to have a surprise! I thin its about time I did some updating on my reading challenge meters and watch those meters edge closer to the finish!
So off I go…
This article is written by Eileen Dreyer a.k.a Kathleen Korbel about her reason for writing romance. When I first read this article I was very moved to read such a poignant and heartfelt article outlining one of the very reasons why I read romances myself…She sums the article up so well that the last few paragraphs onwards are my favourite parts of the whole article and I have provided a sneak peak below:
“When love was an exhilarating surprise, and the world seemed a bit brighter, tasted sweeter, made me smile more, just because the man I loved was in my life. When we could disappear for an entire weekend, doing nothing but lying in bed naked reading (well, some of the weekend reading, anyway) and suffer no consequences (like the state wanting to know why our 12-year old is out driving our other kids to ball practice).
After all, after 36 years of marriage, it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to indulge in one person like that. And I admit it: I miss it, too.
But sometimes, when I open a book and read about a man and a woman who are just discovering each other, I can relive it. I can remind myself that it was a wonderful part of my courtship and marriage. ”
Taken from “I write romance novels — so what? by Eileen Dreyer”
Please go ahead and read the rest off the article as it is lovely and well written….For those non romance readers out there don’t scorn or scoff at the genre if you haven’t tried it. Love can happen in many mysterious ways and in the world we live in today I think we can all use a bit of love, happiness and fantasy in our everyday lives to help make the world just a little bit brighter and happier I don’t see why a genre that makes almost every reader happy (and that’s a lot of people) is something to scorn or scoff at.
Let me know what you think of the article
Ahhh this is one of the things I look forward to in the new year….A drooling session of the nicest covers of the year split into categories! I knew they still ran these after All About Romance stopped hosting them…I finally found out about Cover Cafe today and had my drooling session which I haven’t had the pleasure of doing in one go for the last few years!
They have some gorgeous covers to choose from this year in each category. The categories are Alternate Reality, Two-Image Covers, Historical, Contemporary, Series & Worst Cover.
# The Alternate Reality category includes both romances with a fantasy element and science fiction/fantasy with a strong romance element.
# The Two-Image Cover category includes both two-part covers (a front cover with a second, inside image) and a combination of front and back covers. A front/back cover nomination or a stepback needs 50% of its area devoted to an artistic image or design. Covers from the Two-Cover category may be from Contemporary, Historical, or Alternate Reality books.
# The Historical category includes all front covers from historical romances. This category also features historical romance covers produced in the “series” format with a “banner” logo. A front cover in this category could also be nominated with its back cover in the Two-Cover Image category.
# The Contemporary category features present-day romances and romantic suspense.
# The Series category refers to contemporary romance “series” lines published by Harlequin and Silhouette, such as Desire, Blaze, and SuperRomance.
# The Worst Cover category consists of those covers that shouldn’t have been published because they miss the “Best” mark by a mile or maybe even two. :>(. Covers that fit into any of the other categories could be nominated for our Worst category.
Personally I found the hardest Categories to choose from were the Historical & The Contemporary as there were a few covers that I liked and I had to think extra hard for them, but the others after a few clicks there were some clear winners. The Worst cover category was another one I had to have a few good looks at to see which I disliked the most!!! Most of the covers in that category were just shocking beyond belief!!! I used to think, when I first started voting in the cover contests back in the day….the covers can’t be that bad to even have a worst category section but when I checked out the section I was just flabbergasted as HOW BAD the covers actually were!!!! I feel sorry for the authors who actually poured their heart and soul into writing their stories and one of their rewards is to get a bad cover! That would bum me out!! Have a look at the worst cover section and you’ll know what I’m talking about!!! Who thinks of these covers anyway?!!?
To have a good drooling session/cringe session cast your own vote to the contest by clicking on the image above and read the rules etc. and scroll down to the end of the page to begin the voting process
Also the organisers have setup a different blog at Dear Publisher for your comments…so bitch/brag/drool click on the image below!
Voting closes at midnight CST May 28, 2010 so hurry down
Wow have I been absent for a long time! Life just got a bit crazy the last few months or so and I haven’t had the time to update this blog…but I really don’t have much to update on since I haven’t gotten much reading done!! This is the first weekend I’ve actually felt I can have a bit of time to myself and catch up on my reading!
Oh reading how I missed thee! It was great to loose myself in another world again and escape reality however short the period of time was! I managed to finally finish the fourth Percy Jackson novel and going to start the fifth once I finish the Emma Holly book which I have been TRYING to finish since FOREVER!!!! It’s not that the writing is bad..It’s mainly because I read it on the computer (it’s an ebook) but sometimes I just can’t be bothered reading on the computer!! I miss the old fashioned way of reading books and love the feel of a good book in my hands But I must say once I get into the ebooks on my computer I do love the ease of reading ebooks provide in a different sense! I guess you just have to be open to changes and look for the positive in them
Now as to the whole format change of this blog its coming…Just don’t know how long it will take as I just got the banner art thing sorted out just last week….I’m trying to get in touch with my blog designer but I’m guessing she’s slightly busy with other projects and I just have to wait…
I have 40 pages or so left in my Emma Holly book so I’m going to get stuck into that and finish it off tonight! And then get back to browsing the latest April & May latest romance releases from Ever After
Until next time,
What I really wanted to achieve for 2010 in my reading tastes was to branch out from Romance and try other genres! I mean romances for me are comfort reads and I have a TBR mountain of books just waiting to be read…but I know there are other genres out there that I would definitely like to try….That’s why I started doing the reading challenge thing this year and I’m so glad I did!
The reading challenges have made me pick up books that have been lounging around on my TBR….I would have brushed past some of the books and picked up something else instead. These are mostly romances but there are some rare non-romance books that are classics like “The Chronicles of Narnia” that have been on my bookshelf but there has always been that one book better that I would want to pick up instead! That’s why you might see Narnia pop up on a few lists on the list of books I aim to have read by the end of this year.
Visual Bookshelf on facebook has also helped me pick a few classics/ new popular fiction that I have heard in passing but never thought I would pick up….I’ve added a few to my collection and some of them are
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger
These are also some books I hope I would have read by the end of year. I don’t have them listed on any of my lists but will definitely be aiming to fit them in!
Received her latest book today “How To Seduce A Sinner” from Adrienne Basso herself She included a lovely note and personally autographed the book for me as well!!!
How did this all come about? Well I was looking at all the latest January releases a month or so ago and came across her latest book and thought that looked interesting and wanted to add it to my wishlist. Now before I normally add books to my wishlist I research about them a little bit to see if they are connected to a series or stand alone (I hate finding myself in a middle of a series and not knowing about it). So I usually go straight to the author’s site because most of them these days have a comprehensive booklist and also list connected characters to appease stickler readers like me . Whilst I was conducting my research, her website kept giving me an error message. After finding a contact email through a Google cache of her website (gotta love Google) I emailed her and let her as I wasn’t sure if she was aware of the problem or not. As a thank-you pressie she sent me a book of my choice which was so lovely of her!!!
For your viewing pleasure I’ve included some pics of the book I received below
Check out Adrienne’s website as well! It’s just gorgeous! I love the pretty pastel colours! She’s a new author to me as well which is great because there’s nothing like the thrill of discovering a new author!
Wow I can’t believe how fast this year is zooming past us already! Just felt like January yesterday!
I’ve been a bit slack about posting on the blog but there is a reason for that! I’m going through the design process for a blog revamp! So just been collaborating with the designers and waiting for designs to be approved etc. so less posting means less things I have to transfer over to the new domain name etc. etc.
Really excited about the revamp and design as they look gorgeous!!! The designers have almost captured what I have envisioned so I’m really lucky in that sense to have found such talented people!
Hope your March has been as fulfilling as mine and you have been reading some great books! Would love to hear about them!
The Paranormal Reading Challenge 2010 is hosted by StoryWings. I love Paranormal books but I tend to avoid them when I see my lovely historical novels. So hopefully, this challenge will help me give me that extra push that I need to pick up the next paranormal book on my TBR mountain.
Rules:
1. The Paranormal Reading Challenge is for anyone who loves reading ANYTHING paranormal!!!
– Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Ghosts, Angels etc…so the scope is pretty big!!!
– The books can be any sub genre under Paranormal – romance, YA, mystery, etc.
2. The book has to be a book. No free short stories, or writing sites.
3. Cross-overs from other challenges are accepted. As are re-reads. Books that were started in 2009 don’t count.
4. Challenge starts from 1st January 2010 and ends on 31st December 2010
Levels:
1. Human – 5 books
2. Witch – 10 books
3. Oracle – 20 books
4. Were – 30 books
5. Vampire – 40 books
6. Angel – 50 books
I’m aiming for Oracle so 20 books for me
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