It's Book Blogger Appreciation Week, so to celebrate and show my appreciation for all the wonderful book bloggers out there, I have a mini-giveaway for you.



As a side note, I have to say how hugely touched and PROUD I was today that my girls Ana and Thea at The Book Smugglers gave me a huge shout out on their blog. Thank you so much! :)

So, for BBAW, I just happen to have a copy of this powerful book up for grabs:


This is the UK paperback edition of Skinned by Robin Wasserman

If you'd like to have your name entered for the giveaway, please leave a comment telling me the name of at least one of your favourite book bloggers. You can say more than one, but please don't leave me a huge long list! (Thanks.)

Giveaway closes at the end of the day Friday 18th September 2009 (when BBAW finishes), and is open to all anywhere on the planet even if you've won something from me before. The winner will be chosen by random number generator at the weekend and announced next Monday.

Note: This giveaway isn't an 'official' part of BBAW, I just felt like joining in after reading some of the great pots today.

I'm guest-blogging at the brilliant Book Smugglers today, as part of their action-packed Young Adult Appreciation Month:



Check out my post called 'Eternal Teenagers', and enter the contest to be in with a chance of winning a signed copy of THE ETERNAL KISS... :)

(Comments are disabled here, please head over to The Book Smugglers - thanks!)

Come by the Deadline Dames where I'm busy being excited about my first release, and also running a giveaway.

The catch? You have to confess your dream-Eternal Kiss to me... ;)

See you there!



ETA: You will all be sick of me by the end of the week, as on Wednesday I'll be guest-blogging at the brilliant Book Smugglers website. I am happy to be part of their Young Adult Appreciation Month. There are reviews, interviews, guest posts, contests, and a general love-fest of all things YA. Check it out (and don't forget to visit me there on Wednesday *g*):

I had such a great day yesterday. Exhausting, but still brilliant. Hung out with my girl Ana, one half of bloggers extraordinaire The Book Smugglers.

I had to find my way to Liverpool Street Station early in the morning, and from there took a train out to the wilds of Cambridge. Okay, Cambridge is actually a major city and isn't at all "out in the wilds"... but some of us stick closely to London so anything outside of that feels like an adventure. ;)

Ana and her Ben-Affleck-Look-Alike-Boyfriend (BALAB) met me at the station and we went into the main town. We said goodbye to BALAB, who had studying to do (not only does he look like Ben Affleck, he is super-brainy), and it was up to us girls to check out Cambridge and have some fun. [Aside: Ana lives in Cambridge, so she was my tour guide, but it sounds more fun to make out we were adventuring together.]

( Super-long post & LOTS of photos under the cut... )

Well, it's officially here - the release week of my CP Chandra Rooney's novel, The Tarot Cafe: The Wild Hunt.



For more on the novel and how Chandra (sora_blue) got the gig, check out the FAQ on her blog.

Even more exciting for the launch, The Book Smugglers, the Cheeky Girls of the blogging world, are running a Manga Appreciation Week... yes, ALL week. Included in the line-up, will be reviews of the seven volume Manhwa series, The Tarot Cafe, concluding with a review of Chandra's novel based on the series - The Wild Hunt. Oh, and there'll be a giveaway!

You can order the novel here, and check out a preview of the first chapter here.

Congratulations Chandra!

This is the final day for entries in my 8 Days of Christmas giveaway, where eight lucky people will win lots of fabulous books - in total, there are 36 books on offer.

I'll be drawing winners tomorrow (Monday 5th Jan), but it might be late in the day due to Day Job & Real Life stuff. Thanks again to all the many people who entered and made the contest a lot of fun! :)

---
A couple of links:

Literary Escapism has a great Newsletter with urban fantasy & paranormal romance news, covers & links. It's a wonderful resource.

The Book Smugglers have exciting news about the brand new-and-improved website they are launching next week. I can't wait to see it! :)

My guest-blog for The Book Smugglers is over here, where I talk about the books I loved in 2008 and what I'm looking forward to in 2009. Please check it out and let me know if you agree with my picks! Cheers. :)

Oh, and thanks to Ana and Thea for giving me such a lovely welcome!

Yes, it's true. I have met one half of the blogging legends, The Book Smugglers. I hung out with Ana today in London - it was fantastic to meet a young woman who might possibly out-geek me. *g* We spent 3 hours over coffee chatting about everything from Buffy, Angel and Lost, to superheroes, zombies, vampires and authors & books we love (of course).

Books & ARCS may have exchanged hands. I even watched as Ana smuggled them into her bag - which seemed to be much bigger on the inside than the outside... ;)

We finished up at Murder One and got Trisha (Telep) to take some pics of us outside my new domain (the Romance Department):


Much coffee had been consumed at this point.


I lent Ana some Manga (The Tarot Cafe) for a future Book Smugglers event.

Can't wait to do it all again! Hopefully I'll get to meet Thea, the other half of the team, one day...

I can't believe it's December already... Where did the whole year go? It will be 2009 in one short month, and I haven't given a thought to my New Year's Resolutions. Then again, I haven't bought any Christmas presents yet, so I should really get my priorities straight. ;)

Today I'm hoping to get some more pages written, but I also have some Real Life business to sort out. When I'm not working at Murder One, I tend to get buried in writing or online stuff & everything else gets left to the last minute. I'm trying to be a bit more organised today...

Last night I lay in bed at 1am thinking about the story for BLACK NEON DREAMS, and thankfully I had the worldbuilding breakthrough I needed. I also realised what is wrong with the first 12k, and it doesn't mean I have to rewrite anything. Phew! I think I just need to insert a new Chapter 2 & then shuffle everything else along. The only negative thing is that I also discovered I have to change a piece of terminology that I thought was all my own, but it hit me last night that someone else has used it before in the last few years - in a book in a similar genre. *sigh* I knew it was too good to be true! I could use it, because every story is different and my use of the term has a completely different context, but still... I really admire this author & would hate to be seen as copying her. So I have to think up new terminology that I can live with.

Okay, this post is one of my most random yet. I should probably just end this, but not before advising you to check out The Book Smugglers today and every day of December. They have a huge event on the way - yes, Smugglivus is coming. It's going to be an awesome Festivus festival of geeky joy. Check it out. The main event runs from December 26th until January 7th (Ana & Thea's blogging anniversary), but every day this month will include cool guest blogs, interviews, reviews & giveaways to build the excitement. A certain kazdreamer might even be part of the Smugglivus fun in late December... :)

Today, I am HERE. Remember I mentioned that The Book Smugglers, the Best Bloggers in the World Ever(tm), invited me to do one of their infamous Guest Dares? Well, it is now up! They made me read a classic historical romance, and I really enjoyed it! *gasp*

So, yeah... My thoughts on Loretta Chase's LORD OF SCOUNDRELS. With pictures. Don't miss it! ;)

---

On another note, I am so tired. I had a major case of insomnia last night and was still awake at 3am. Ugh! My brain was going crazy re. all sorts of Writing & Life stuff. Ah well, I am drinking coffee now & eating a chocolate croissant, so things can't be too bad...