Review of the week & Blog Hop Time

I'm beginning to wonder if I have anything other than busy weeks nowadays. It's definitely been busy on the blog with reviews, a guest post and a giveaway. So as a recap....

You have until noon tomorrow (so just over 25 hours) to enter my giveaway. As part of his Be Nicholson's Agent event Scott Nicholson is giving away a copy of his e-book Troubled. Here is the original post with details on how to enter. Once the winner has been drawn I will be announcing the next giveaway!

This month author David Brown is also busy on a blog tour. He stopped by with a guest post on creating the fantasy world of Elenchera featured in his novel Fezauriu's Epiphany.

And as far as reviews, I posted on

The Water Men, by Adelaide MacKenzie Fuss, a 5* contemporary fiction
ORPHANS stories, by Tim Cummings, a diverse collection of short stories, poetry and dramatic pieces, and finally
The Tunnelers by Geoff Gander, a great horror short.

I have another review to write and post later, and tomorrow I will have a guest post from Scott Nicholson.

Moving swiftly on...it's Blog Hop time! This week the question is Many of us primarily read one genre of books, with others sprinkled in. If authors stopped writing that genre, what genre would you start reading? Or would you give up reading completely if you couldn’t read that genre anymore?


Give up reading :O Never! It's not a dilemma I'm likely to ever face because I read such a mix. I think even if the only genres left were my absolute least favourites I would still read them, I'd just have to hunt down the best of the best.

Are we really going to see anyone admit they'd stop reading if they couldn't get their hands on their fave genre? I thought book blogger were all too diehard for that!

And the winners are...

Just a quick post to let you know I have done the draw for the giveaway. Thank you to everyone who took part and those who spread the word for me. As I had more than 210 followers by the deadline I am giving away 4 prizes.

The winners are:

Webbiegrrl - prize pack B

Shanan Book Addict - prize pack A

Madley - prize pack C

and the mystery extra prize pack goes to Grace Krispy.

Keep an eye on your inboxes folks! If the authors are not able to contact any of the above winners then I have drawn a 5th name and will be in touch if applicable.

Congratulations and thanks again.

200 followers!

Hurray, I made it! Thanks to all my followers, and welcome to all the new ones. The deadline for entries for the giveaway is midnight on Sunday 7th August, and I will do the draw on random.org on Monday 8th. If I get to 210 followers by the deadline more books will up for grabs.

You can find the original post here, just fill in the form to join in.

Good luck!

Friday meme time

Phew, that was a short week! And boy am I looking forward to my first weekend at home for  a month. I've had a busy week on the review front, posting the following:

Lessons of Evil by Linda Myers
The Final Winter by Iain Rob Wright
Haunted Ground: Ghost Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield by Hollister Ann Grant
The Accidental Father by Greg Williams,
and last but not least
The Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu

I'm also very excited to have launched my first ever giveaway, to celebrate hitting the 200 follower milestone. Take a look and enter by completing the form if you haven't already done so!

Moving on to my fave memes, first of all Sarah's Freebie Friday. Due to time zone differences I'll add the link to the specific post later but in the meantime have a nose at her blog - http://webbiegrrl.blogspot.com/ EDIT - here's the link for the specific post http://networkedblogs.com/kIRaI Sarah has included more new freebies for your delectation.

At crazy-for-books.com Jenn is asking:

What’s the ONE GENRE that you wish you could get into, but just can’t?

There aren't many genres I won't read but I do sometimes wonder if I'm missing out on some of the YA fantasy books and series. Vampires and werewolves just aren't my thing but when I hear people raving about them I wonder if I'm wrong.

Last but not least it's Follow Friday over at Parajunkee.com The question is:

Name 3 authors that you would love to sit down and spend an hour or a meal with just talking about either their books or get advice on writing from?

A while back there was a question about which authors we'd like to meet on one of the memes, so  again my answer would include Clive Cussler, I think he'd be fascinating. I suppose JK Rowling is a bit predictable but she would be amazing to shoot the breeze with, and for the third author...This is hard! I'm going to say Ben Elton, I love his books and he is a comedy genius.

200 Follower Giveaway - my first one!

I know my progress has been very slow compared to some super-bloggers out there but I'm now on the cusp of 200 followers and very excited about it. To celebrate I am having a giveaway. I have 3 prize packages up for grabs, details following.

All the books being given away are e-books available most importantly in MOBI and EPUB formats, to suit the most popular e-readers. Don't forget though that even if you don't have an e-reader there are a range of applications available for use on computers and smartphone. (Other formats are available but it would be a complicated list, so if you want to know about others please just ask) You can find free Kindle reading apps here.

This giveaway will be open for a week after I hit 200 followers, and for every ten more followers over that I will be giving away more books! **Edit - I have now hit 200 so the deadline for entries is midnight GMT Sun 7th Aug**

If you want to earn an extra entry just tweet about the giveaway (my Twitter ID is @TCBookedUp)

I guess I ought to tell everyone about the books now!

Prize A)

On Dark Shores by JA Clement & Three Sisters by Helen Smith

You can find out more about these authors at jaclement.wordpress.com and emperorsclothes.co.uk and my reviews for the books are here and here.

Prize B)

Dust on his Soul by Jason Blacker & Transfection and If You Go Into the Woods by David Gaughran
                            

Jason can be found at jasonblacker.com  and David blogs at davidgaughran.wordpress.com

You can also check out my reviews for Dust on his Soul, Transfection and If You Go Into the Woods.


Prize C)

Baby Jane by MA Demers

Here is more info about the book on the author's website, and my review is here.





These books are a real mix of genres, and of full length novels, novellas and short stories, so I hope there's something for everyone.

To take part please fill in the form, providing your email address, preferred format and order of preference for the prizes (first person picked from random.org will get their first choice, second person their highest available choice etc) As some of the content may not be suitable for younger readers you must be 18 or over to join in.