Book Giveaway - Year of the Cock: The Remarkable True Account of a Married Man Who Left His Wife and Paid the Price by Alan Wieder

Thanks to Valerie and Hatchette Books Group, we are giving away copies of Year of the Cock: The Remarkable True Account of a Married Man Who Left His Wife and Paid the Price by Allan Wieder!

About the Book, courtesy of the Publisher:

From a powerful new voice in nonfiction comes this electrifying chronicle of a married man who leaves his wife to pursue a carefree bachelorhood - only to plunge into an abyss of shame, regret, and penis envy.

Thirty-year-old Alan Wieder has everything a man could possibly want: a nice home in L.A., a thriving Hollywood career, and to top it all off, a beautiful and adoring wife. Then one day in 2005 - the Year of the Rooster - he wakes up with questions: Have I settled down too soon? Am I consigned to a humdrum future of marriage, kiddies, home-cooked meals and hybrid SUVs? How the %&! did this happen to me?

And just like that - after ten years in a committed relationship - Alan decides to walk out on his wife to pursue his fantasy of becoming a hardcore bachelor. Explaining very little, thinking even less, he dives into his exhilarating new single existence - buying a vintage Porsche, moving into a tastefully decorated bachelor pad, ignoring his wife, and bedding as many chicks as possible. However, to Alan's surprise and dismay, becoming a single dude also unleashes in him a torrent of crippling insecurities that he didn't even know he had. And soon, his would-be swingin' bachelorhood is cut short - very short - by a strange and shameful obsession that drives him to utter madness.

Some men leave their wives only to discover that the grass isn't greener. What Alan Wieder discovers - about the perils of newfound freedom, and about his own fragile male psyche - is far more agonizing and wretched. In this riveting and brutally honest memoir, Alan recounts the true story of his impulsive, wild, and ultimately disastrous foray into bachelorhood. A tragicomic tale of betrayal, sexual (mis)adventure, and ultimately redemption, Year of the Cock marks the debut of a remarkably talented new writer.

About the Author, courtesy of the Publisher:

Alan Wieder is a writer and producer living in Los Angeles.

CONTEST DETAILS

To enter, just comment below.

Rules:

1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win.

2. For an extra entry, sign up to be a follower. If you're already a follower, let me know and you'll get the extra entry as well.

3. For another extra entry, subscribe via googlereader or blogger or by email and let me know that you do.

4. For another entry, blog about this giveaway and send me the link.

5. Leave a separate comment for each entry or you'll only be entered once.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at 6 pm on August 15, 2009.

Thank you so much for this giveaway, Valerie and Hatchette Books Group!

Winners of One Scream Away

Winners

One Scream Away by Kate Brady

cheryls22 - confirmed
liz - confirmed
pam - confirmed
catss99 - confirmed
ladyvampire - confirmed

Congratulations! Please send me your mailing addresses by noon on Sunday so that I can forward this information to Hatchette Books Group.

Thanks so much Anna and Hatchette Books Group for this giveaway!

Winners of Knight of Desire

Winners

Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory

catss99 - confirmed
msboatgal hp - confirmed
beth bea - confirmed
pamsoo mm - confirmed
moziesme - confirmed

Congratulations, winners! msboatgal and pamsoo were kind enough to let me know that they'd won the book on other sites, so I've picked replacement winners. Enjoy!

Thank you again to Anna and Hatchette Books Group for this giveaway!

Book Giveaway: Making Babies by Sami S. David, M.D. and Jill Blakeway

Thanks to Anna and Hatchette Books Group, we have a giveaway of Making Babies by Sami S. David, M.D. and Jill Blakeway!

About the Book, courtesy of the Publisher:

Making Babies offers a proven 3-month program designed to help any woman get pregnant. Fertility medicine today is all about aggressive surgical, chemical, and technological intervention, but Dr. David and Blakeway know a better way. Starting by identifying "fertility types," they cover everything from recognizing the causes of fertility problems to making lifestyle choices that enhance fertility to trying surprising strategies such as taking cough medicine, decreasing doses of fertility drugs, or getting acupuncture along with IVF. Making Babies is a must-have for every woman trying to conceive, whether naturally or through medical intervention. Dr. David and Blakeway are revolutionizing the fertility field, one baby at a time.


About the Authors, courtesy of the Publisher:

Sami David, M.D., is a reproductive endocrinologist. He was the first doctor in New York state to perform a successful IVF, though he now focuses on more conservative approaches to infertility.

Jill Blakeway, L.Ac, is a Licensed Acupuncturist and Board Certified Herbalist, and founder and clinical director of The YinOva Center, an alternative health service for women in New York City.

CONTEST DETAILS

To enter, please share a few baby names that you particularly like or find interesting.

Rules:

1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win.

2. For an extra entry, sign up to be a follower. If you're already a follower, let me know and you'll get the extra entry as well.

3. For another extra entry, subscribe via googlereader or blogger or by email and let me know that you do.

4. For another entry, blog about this giveaway and send me the link.

5. Leave a separate comment for each entry or you'll only be entered once.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at 6 pm on August 15, 2009.

Thanks so much, Anna and Hatchette Books Group for this generous giveaway!

Book Giveaway: Light Up Your Child's Mind by Joseph Renzulli, Sally Reis, and Andrea Thompson

Thanks to Anna and Hatchette Books Group we're giving away Light Up Your Child's Mind by Joseph Renzulli, Sally Reis, and Andrea Thompson.

About the Book, courtesy of the Publisher:

Based on the renowned "Renzulli Method," which has been adopted in schools all over the country, Light Up Your Child's Mind presents a practical program to help children fire up a love of learning to last a lifetime. World-renowned experts Drs. Renzulli and Reis illustrate the crucial role parents can play in their children's development and address how they can work with teachers to enhance their children's education. They uncover the hidden potential of daydreamers, rebels, and one-track minds, arguing that gifted behavior--basic smarts, high levels of task commitment, and creativity--can be fostered in bright children, even unmotivated ones. Step by step, Light Up Your Child's Mind will show parents how to set their kids on the path to a rewarding future.


About the Authors, courtesy of the publisher:

Joseph S. Renzulli, Ph.D., is the Neag Professor of Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut and the Director of The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. He has received numerous distinguished research awards and been named, by the American Psychological Association's Monitor on Psychology, among the world's 25 most influential psychologists.

Sally M. Reis, Ph.D., is a professor and the Department Head of the Educational Psychology Department in the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education. She was awarded the Distinguished Service Award and named a Distinguished Scholar by the National Association for Gifted Children.

CONTEST DETAILS

To enter, (a) name an activity that you and your child enjoy doing together or (b) tell us one of your child's favorite books.

Rules:

1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win.

2. For an extra entry, sign up to be a follower. If you're already a follower, let me know and you'll get the extra entry as well.

3. For another extra entry, subscribe via googlereader or blogger or by email and let me know that you do.

4. For another entry, blog about this giveaway and send me the link.

5. Leave a separate comment for each entry or you'll only be entered once.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at 6 pm on August 15, 2009.

Friday 58: Week 9

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog and to Storytime with Tonya and Friends at http://storytimewithtonya.blogspot.com/
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Here's mine:

"You have just saved the world. My patrol will be so pleased."

She would have thought him ragging her mercilessly, but while his words weemed wild, his level tone was perfectly serious. And his eyes were warm on her, without a hit of ....malice.

-The Sharing Knife, Vol. 1 Beguilement by Louis McMaster Bujold

Book Review: $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better by Christopher Steiner

Review of $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better by Christopher Steiner

Synopsis:

Engineer Christopher Steiner argues that the petroleum will become more scarce in the future and that the price of gasoline and oil will similarly increase. He then proceeds to extrapolate how price increases will impact us individually, as a nation, and globally.

The book is organized in a clever manner - each of the ten chapters describes a different scenario based upon the cost of gas. To sum up, here's the list of chapters:

• $ 4 per gallon: The Road to $20 and Civilization Renovation
• $6 per gallon: Society Change and the Dead SUV
• $8 per gallon: The Skies Will Empty
• $10 per gallon: The Car Diminished but Reborn
• $12 per gallon: Urban Revolution and Suburban Decay
• $14 per gallon: The Fate of Small Towns, U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance, and Our Material World
• $ 16 per gallon: The Food Web Deconstructed
• $18 per gallon: Renaissance of the Rails
• $ 20 per gallon: The Future of Energy

Each chapter describes in careful detail the repercussions of drastic increases in the cost of petroleum.

Review:

In $20 Per Gallon, Christopher Steiner makes a compelling argument for the careful management of our resources while describing dramatic changes in the near future. The detailed research behind his statements makes the book an interesting and worthwhile read, but it is his extrapolations that make the book stand out.

Personally, while I was aware that petroleum is a limited resource, I enjoyed his analysis. For instance, he presents a coherent picture of how we can expect an increase in demand from different directions. Going beyond the usual list of how petroleum is used in many everyday products and the growing demand from China to meet its evergrowing production requirements, Steiner brings up technological and market innovations like $2,500 Nano by Tata Motors, increased prosperity in India and China, and increased petroleum consumption in the Middle East.

Here are just a few more of the ideas that caught my attention:

• At $8 per gallon, the cost of flying will be prohibitively high and airlines that have been under considerable financial stress will likely go under. The cost of flying will also decrease both domestic and international travel for business and tourism. Even college students may select schools closer to their homes and prefer local universities and colleges - which would have larger repercussions in the field of education.
  
• At $10 per gallon, Steiner suggests that the production and use of biodegradable plastic will become more attractive. While I had heard about biodegradable plastic, I enjoyed learning about Dr. Oliver Peoples and his company Metabolix which produces biodegradable plastic that is being used to package products with limited shelf life.
• Steiner described the current planning and construction of a new and technologically smart South Korean city of Songdo. 1,500 acres of reclaimed land, will be completely new and is being touted as the most energy and resource efficient city in the world. Water conservation will be critical and graywater will be installed on a citywide basis. Sustainable design will be apparent and has influenced so many different aspects of the construction from the elevators and concrete to the green roofs and solar cells.
  
• At $14 per gallon, Steiner predicts the decline of big box stores like Walmart. As China's eighth largest trading partner, the cost of shipping and distribution will grow prohibitively high while shoppers will be detered from the cost of driving 5 to 10 miles to the closest big box store.
  

As the above shows, Steiner has painted scenarios that likely to trigger interesting and important discussions. I believe most of us would benefit from reading $20 Per Gallon.

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (July 15, 2009), 288 pages.
Courtesy of Hatchette Books Group.

Visit Christopher Steiner's blog or the $20 per Gallon website to learn more.
If you'd like your own copy, enter the giveaway for $20 Per Gallon by July 31, 2009 at http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/2009/07/book-giveaway-of-20-per-gallon-by.html

Thank you so much to Valerie and Hatchette Books Group for this opportunity!

Book Review: The Vixen Manual: How to Find, Seduce & Keep the Man that You Want by Karrine Steffans

Review of The Vixen Manual: How to Find, Seduce & Keep the Man You Want by Karrine Steffans

Synopsis:

The Vixen Manual combines self help, how to advice, sex tips, and humor. The book is divided into fifty short chapters and five main parts: (1) Being Single, (2) How to Attract Him, (3) How to Engage Him, (4) How to Release Him, and (5) Maybe It's You.  Don't read Karrine's manual for revolutionary concepts, instead compare her advice to what you've heard and learned over the years.   

Review:

Some statements from The Vixen Manual reminded me of advice I'd received from my grandmother with a twist.  Being Single covers the basic attitude and approach towards dating, love, and men.  Karrine describes the concept of the "dance card" of the 18th century and discourages women from being too quick to commit to one man which is an inefficient use of scarce time. Karrine's advice is similar to the "collect and select" suggestion that I'd heard from my grandmother. But Karrine adds her own twist to this: collect men, rank them using a written list, and let them know how they compare. But be careful not to throw casual sex into the mix because women are wired to feel an emotional connection to our sexual partners.

Similarly, in Chapter 10, Preparation Meets Opportunity, Karrine recommends that any single woman looking for love should prepare for her man now - get fit, keep your place neat, and act as though you're in love and you'll attract the man that you want.  She does point out that getting ready extends beyond your looks to cover educational, financial and emotional preparation.  Though this advice isn't new, it is useful and surely can't hurt.  It's easy enough to procrastinate on your fitness regimen or other aspects of our lives and we all can do with the gentle  reminder  to take good care of all aspects of yourself.  

The advice is interspersed with humor.  For instance,  "Dating Younger Men" has tips like "Check ID when dating someone significantly younger and be sure you're not breaking any laws" and "Never hang out with him and his friends. You are a cougar; see him only in your den." Similarly, the chapter "How to Handle Rejection" listed the things you should not do and watch out for, such as, "you don't want to wind up having your voice mail played over and over to a room full of his buddies as they knock back beers and laugh at what a loon you are...think of every message you leave as a potential sound bite that can work against you."

I should mention that the chapter on Sex has quite explicit instructions and diagrams of various recommended techniques.  

While some advice predated the women's lib movement, Karrine Steffans is likely to be laughing all the way to the bank.  

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (July 13, 2009), 272 pages.
Courtesy of Hatchette Books Group.

About the Author, courtesy of the Publisher:
Karrine Steffans became a New York Times best selling author after releasing her debut tell-all book Confessions of a Video Vixen in June of 2005. Since the success of her books, Karrine speaks at universities and celebrity panels. She has also established The Karrine Steffans Girls Club, The Karrine Steffans Book Club , and The Steffans Commentary on MySpace. Check out Karrine's website at www.karrine.com

Watch Karrine Steffans on the Today Show.

Want your own copy? Until July 28, 2009, you can enter the contest for The Vixen Manual on Starting Fresh at http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/2009/06/book-giveaway-vixen-manual-how-to-find_30.html

Thank so much to Anna and Hatchette Books Group for this opportunity and for sponsoring the book giveaway!

A Literary Road Trip of New York City

Michelle of GalleySmith is organizing a Literary Road Trip as a way for bloggers to explore their geographic location and to showcase local authors from the place where they live. It sounds like a great idea and another way for me to learn more about New York City and its numerous incarnations. If you'd like to participate or just learn more, visit GalleySmith's Literary Road Trip at http://www.galleysmith.com/2009/07/12/introducing-the-literary-road-trip/.

Interview with Author Gary Morgenstein & Giveaway

Review of Take Me Out to the Ballgame by Gary Morgenstein

Synopsis:

Take Me Out to the Ballgame is an unusual thriller carefully combines baseball and politics with the pain of the current financial crisis. The Buffalo Matadors have not come close to a world championship in close to forty years, but their new owner, Harry Witowsky, is a self-made hardware store millionaire determined to turn the team around. With jobs down and mortgages failing, Harry believes that fans rely on baseball to escape their increasingly dire lives. Savoring the new and glamorous image of himself as owner of a baseball franchise, Harry and his exploitative marketing assistant Switzer, develop unorthodox ways to spur fan involvement and promote the Mats. On "Mortgage Day" Harry picks out one ticket holder and pays his mortgage for a full year. Mortgage Day wins fan loyalty while simultaneously triggering an Attorney General investigation. By undertaking to assume someone else's mortgage, the AG considers Harry to have illegally acted as a bank without a license. Egged on by Switzer, Harry stands firm the AG and covers the mortgage with his own money. Mortgage Day is public relations move that changes the Mats and Harry's life and it is just the start of increasingly fan oriented and risky promotional stunts. Add to this mix, aging sports reporter Eddie Olds. Eddie works with Harry and Switzer to encourage greater fan participation even as an uglier element starts to rise. It begins innocently enough, encouraging fans to become part of the action, "a tenth player", first by stopping foul balls from being caught. But with the ushers no longer policing liquor and unruly behavior in the stands, incendiary billboard slogans, and the unexpected chance of winning the pendant, things quickly escalate and everything changes.

The Mats fans are hooligans like English soccer fans, but the self proclaimed Number One fan Cal stands out from the start. Insecure and a loser, the Mats had always been his grand passion. When the team suddenly becomes popular, Cal holds himself apart from the new "Where's My Bailout?" fans. Obsessed with the possibility of winning the championship, everything else recedes from Cal's life. Increasingly unstable and paranoid, Cal concocts ways to help the Mats reach their goal.

Review:
Take Me Out to the Ballgame is fast paced, absorbing, and funny. From those that see the danger in its early stages like the Mat's longtime manager Cy to Mickey, Cal's longtime friend and baseball buddy, each of the characters are complex and carefully developed. Each scene layers upon the next to push the action forward as the absurdity adds to the humor. I highly recommend this book, particularly to baseball aficionados.

Publisher: CreateSpace (June 24, 2009), 290 pages.

Review copy courtesy of the Author.
Additional reviews of Take Me Out to the Ballgame on Amazon.

About the Author:

Gary Morgenstein’s most recent critically acclaimed novels, Jesse’s Girl, about a widowed father’s search for his adopted teenage son, and the romantic triangle Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, are also available on Amazon.com. His chillingly prophetic play, Ponzi Man, performed to sell-out crowds at the New York Fringe Festival and his other full-length work, You Can't Grow Tomatoes in the Bronx, was workshopped at the Rattlestick Theatre. Currently he does PR for Syfy and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with lots of books and rock CDs.

Interview with Gary Morgenstein & giveaway

We're fortunate to have a brief interview with Gary Morgenstein, the author Jesse's Girl, Take Me Out To The Ballgame and Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and for hosting this giveaway, Gary!

Q: When did you begin writing fiction?

GM: When I was around eight years old, growing up in the Bronx under the shadow of Yankee Stadium, I created this series featuring a fictitious Yankee shortstop. I've never looked back. I've also been a newspaper reporter for the Cincinnati Post and wrote for professional wrestling magazines like Pro Wrestling Illustrated. It was the only job I've ever had where you wrote a story calling a rulebreaker a mean SOB and they'd call and thank you. Very surreal.

Q: You have created unusual and complex personalities and plots. Do you find inspiration for your novels in your life?

GM: Like all writers, I draw from real life, but I think it can be dangerous writing reality as fiction. First of all, it's very limiting because you become more intent on how you are portraying someone rather than creating a whole new character. So I prefer to view it as using emotional footprints. You take what happens in your life and absorb the raw emotions, employing them to create a new world. Sure, occasionally you use things because they are just too good not to! Like in Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, I couldn't resist stealing a couple of online dates.

Q: During ThrillerFest, one of the speakers said that character drives plot. Do you agree? How would you characterize your work?

GM: Oh, I definitely start and finish with my characters. I think okay, here is a person and here is the situation and how would they react and let it take off from there. In Jesse's Girl, it all began with the midnight phone call Teddy Mentor received about his son Jesse running away from the wilderness treatment program. He had to look for him. How far would a father go for his son? That was the storyline that propelled me. Or in Take Me Out to the Ballgame - what if the perfect storm of politics and baseball takes a team and a city over the line, except there is one fan who believes that he is the Number One Fan.

Q: Who do you enjoy reading? Do you have any book recommendations?

GM: My favorite writer is Hemingway and the novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, is my absolute favorite. I periodically re-read it every few years and it gets better and better. I read a lot of history along with science fiction and mysteries. I especially like foreign mysteries. The Swedish writer Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallender books are outstanding.

Q: This is a shift, but do you outline when writing?

GM: I like to have some vague idea of where I'm going and how I might end up, so I do a rough outline with notes. But part of the fun of writing, and most of it isn't, is being surprised. George Patton said that before a battle, a plan was everything. Once the battle began, it meant nothing. That's true with novels. Somehow a character visits you from the great creative beyond. In Jesse's Girl, I was totally surprised by the character of Celia, who I envisioned as just a one-scene pony but then became integral to the novel.

Q: Is there something that no one has asked you that you wish they had?

GM: I guess what would I do if I had never written. That is something I really can't imagine. Where would all those characters have gone?

Thank you to Gary Morgenstein for this opportunity for sponsoring the giveaway.

Gary is giving away a copy of Take Me Out to the Ballgame to one lucky reader!

CONTEST DETAILS

To enter please post a question for Gary below. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at midnight of August 14, 2009.

Other books by Gary Morgenstein

Synopsis of Jesse's Girl courtesy of Amazon:

The story opens as a jarring phone wakes lifelong Brooklynite and widowed father Teddy Mentor well after midnight. It's the Montana wilderness program saying that his 16-year-old adopted son has run away - and they haven't a clue where he's gone. Only two weeks ago, Jesse had been taken to the program by escorts to deal with substance abuse problems. Jeopardizing his flagging PR job in New York, Mentor rushes across the country to find Jesse, who is off on his own quest: to find Theresa, the sister he's never known. When Teddy finally discovers Jesse at a bus stop in Illinois, he is torn between sending him back or joining his son on a journey to find this girl in Kentucky. But he decides to go and they become embroiled in a grisly crime when Theresa's abusive husband Beau attacks her - Jesse stabs the big beast of a man, leaving him for dead.

Reviews of Jesse's Girl on Amazon and Starting Fresh.

Synopsis of Loving Rabbi Thalia Klienman, courtesy of Amazon:
What happens when a hopelessly romantic divorced man falls madly in love with a beautiful woman rabbi -- but he's not yet over his ex-wife? In other words, why are relationships always so difficult? As this poignant love triangle opens, Joss Katz crashes a bat-mitzvah and becomes smitten with the enigmatic Rabbi Thalia Kleinman. Desperate to meet her, Joss contrives a wild excuse about needing spiritual guidance and they begin a roller-coaster relationship. But Kleinman has a past shadowed by terrorism. She manipulates Joss into mentoring her younger brother Bobby. Brilliant and troubled, Bobby is embroiled with Meir Schlom, who has a dangerous scheme for confronting surging world-wide anti-Semitism. Besides pursuing Thalia and his kooky former spouse Ellen, Joss deals with his curmudgeonly roommate and best friend, Mandelbaum. Embittered by his messy divorce, Mandy creates an organization dedicated to a life free of entanglements with women called Straight and Happy Without Them.
Reviews of Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman from The Book Faerie Reviews and Amazon

Quick book contest

Throuthehaze was kind enough to let me know that she'd won My Forbidden Desire on another site and I haven't heard from Janetfaye.

If you would like Swimsuit by James Patterson OR My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel, please email me at gaby317nyc AT gmail DOT com with your mailing address and which you would prefer. Thanks!

The books have been claimed! Thank you.

Book Giveaway: Tamed by a Laird by Amanda Scott

Thanks to Anna and Hatchette Books Group, we have 5 copies of Amanda Scott's Tamed by a Laird to giveaway!

About the Book:
National bestselling author Amanda Scott sweeps readers back to the turbulent fourteenth-century Scottish Borders, where valiant men and women risk everything for their land. Jenny Easdale is ready to accept her fate. She's agreed to marry a man she will never love - yet not before slipping away for one last adventure. Following a traveling minstrel troupe, she's whisked into a world of intoxicating freedom. Then, all too soon, she finds herself in danger - from a vengeful political plot against Scotland and from the man who has come to take her home. Dutybound to return with his brother's wayward bride, Sir High Douglas is not prepared for how her quick wit, courage, and laughing eyes touch his warrior heart. Now, as the merry minstrels play matchmaker and passion sparks between Hugh and Jenny, the conspiracy against Scotland builds...and threatens all they hold dear.

About the Author:
Amanda Scott is the author of over 50 romance novels and the recipient of the Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA Award. She lives in Folsom, California, outside of Sacramento. She is a fourth-generation Californian. Her website is: http://home.att.net/~amandascott

CONTEST DETAILS

To enter, name one of your favorite romance novels or romance writers.

Rules:

1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win.

2. For an extra entry, sign up to be a follower. If you're already a follower, let me know and you'll get the extra entry as well.

3. For another extra entry, subscribe via googlereader or blogger or by email and let me know that you do.

4. For another entry, blog about this giveaway and send me the link.

5. Leave a separate comment for each entry or you'll only be entered once.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at 6 pm on August 9, 2009.

Thank you so much, Anna and Hatchette Books Group

Which blogs do you enjoy visiting?

Do you have favorite blogs that you'd like to promote? Stop by Book Blogger Appreciation Week by August 15 and spend a few minutes writing about your favorite blogs.