The International Giveaways Café (43)

Happy Saturday morning all and welcome back to the café! In certain parts of the world (like mine), this weekend is the celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday. What this means is an excuse for a long weekend, with the potential for a whole extra day of reading But even if you’re not part of this holiday celebration, here’s hoping that your weekend is filled with great weather and books!

Remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently; the Book Lovers would love to hear! At Book Lovers Inc., it’s our pleasure to share the bookish love! Good luck to everyone and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Here’s the fine print for entering your link:
Guidelines:
If you have a giveaway you would like to share with our other readers, the rules are simple:
1. The giveaway MUST be available to international addresses (Book …

Explore This! Eigg and Mallaig, Scotland

In my wildest dreams, I have all the money I could want and I’m able to buy myself a cottage in Scotland. This fantasy has been fueled even further in my current read, Midnight’s Master by Donna Grant. The story takes off from Mallaig in Scotland, which is also the harbour you would travel from to reach Eigg. Once I started looking for pictures of the area, I got all dreamy-eyed at the thought of a quaint life in Scotland *huge sigh*.

Eigg is a small island in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides. With a population of 67 (according to Wiki), I certainly wouldn’t have to worry about busy body neighbours, right? But with it’s small number of inhabitants, it makes it a great place for a greener living, environmentally speaking as well as with regards to the lush scenery.

Mallaig is no less picturesque, with it’s harbour and town. It is …

The International Giveaways Café (42)

Happy Saturday morning all and welcome back to the café! This looks like a promising weekend, weather wise, so I’m looking forward to sitting outside on my veranda, reading a good book with a nice summer themed tea, like Twinings Lady Grey. What’s your favourite summer beverage while reading?

Also, remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently; the Book Lovers would love to hear! At Book Lovers Inc., it’s our pleasure to share the bookish love! Good luck to everyone and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Here’s the fine print for entering your link:
Guidelines:
If you have a giveaway you would like to share with our other readers, the rules are simple:
1. The giveaway MUST be available to international addresses (Book Depository does count)
2. Add your link below, in the format shown. (Please use the URL for the contest post, not …

The International Giveaways Café (41)

Good morning all and welcome back to the best place in the web for accessing international book giveaways! I woke up this morning to a slightly cool breeze but a whole lotta sun. As long as it stays like this, my weekend will include as much time spent outside…with a good book, of course What does your weekend have in store?

Remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently; the Book Lovers would love to hear! At Book Lovers Inc., it’s our pleasure to share the bookish love! Good luck to everyone and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Here’s the fine print for entering your link:
Guidelines:
If you have a giveaway you would like to share with our other readers, the rules are simple:
1. The giveaway MUST be available to international addresses (Book Depository does count)
2. Add your link below, in …

Review: True Connections by Clarissa Yip

Format read: ebook
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: February 14, 2012
Number of pages: 123 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon

Book Blurb:

Lia McEvil is back in town, and Max is in trouble.

Max Sheraton and Lia McEvers have been rivals since childhood. Not even the kiss that chased Lia away could make them stop fighting. Now, five years later, Lia’s back in her hometown of Grant to open a new branch of her matchmaking business, True Connections–and Max finds himself in the line of fire when their families conspire for Max to make a connection of his own. Under pressure from both their grandmothers, Lia and Max embark on a scheme to find Max a suitable match, but it doesn’t take a compatibility profile to tell the real connection is between Max and Lia. Between sizzlingly hot kisses that turn into tempestuous fights, their attraction turns explosive enough to break down …

Explore This!: Staten Island, New York

Today we’re heading off mainland America, to the destination of Staten Island, thanks in part to Clarissa Yip’s True Connections. I’ve heard the name before but don’t really know much beyond the need to travel by ferry to get there. Funny, when I was looking for images, more often that not, it was the ferry that was highlighted.

Yip’s story takes place in Grant City, part of Staten Island, but I thought we’d take a look at the whole thing. For me, Staten Island means summer rides, boardwalks, and amusement parks. Let’s see how my knowledge compares:

The boardwalk…necessary for any summer locale.

Amusements and rides, including roller coasters *shudders*

The ferry and other boating traffic.

A quaint summer home…or perhaps a commuter's.

This veranda would be perfect for lounging on hot days with lemonade.

The botanical gardens.

Rocks and birds on …

The International Giveaways Café (40)

Welcome back to the café! Take the café is taking it on the road: to a theme park :p How many of you out there enjoy roller coaster and other thrill rides? Personally, I’d rather take a book and just enjoy the weather (though there isn’t much to enjoy today) and the funnel cakes Maybe I’ll step outside my safe zone and try a baby coaster…. Wish me luck!

As for bookish business: Remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently; the Book Lovers would love to hear! At Book Lovers Inc., it’s our pleasure to share the bookish love! Good luck to everyone and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Here’s the fine print for entering your link:
Guidelines:
If you have a giveaway you would like to share with our other readers, the rules are simple:
1. The giveaway MUST be available …

Elements in Lit 201: Ailments and Cures in Historicals

In my reading line up, I have Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore, which leads off with the shooting death of Vincent Van Gogh. I also have The Mad Lord’s Daughter by Jane Goodger. What could these two books possibly have in common, you might ask? Probably very little, but they got me thinking about the types of illnesses we come across when reading about the past….and the usually scary ways the sickness was treated. So, I thought we’d spend a little time being online doctors today. Who’s with me?

A few other books have caught my attention, namely The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley and Uncertain Magic by Laura Kinsale. These books, along with the two previously mentioned, feature forms of mental illness in their pages (I say Sacre Bleu is included in this mainly because of Van Gogh’s real life issues; I’ve yet …

The International Giveaways Café (40)

Hello all and welcome to the rainy day version of the café (at least it’s raining where I am). I’ve seen mention on Twitter over the last week of a readathon scheduled for today. If you are participating, I wish you the best of luck! I’ve personally not been able to get involved in readathons in the past but would love to. What do you all think about a day of undisturbed, unadulterated reading?

On to the bookish giveaway portion of our day now: Remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently; the Book Lovers would love to hear! At Book Lovers Inc., it’s our pleasure to share the bookish love! Good luck to everyone and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Here’s the fine print for entering your link:
Guidelines:
If you have a giveaway you would like to share with our other readers, …

Review: Table for One by Ros Clarke

Format read: ebook
Genre: Romance
Release Date: 14 February 2012
Number of pages: 52 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Publisher’s Website, Amazon

Book Blurb:

When food critic Claudia Thomas gets dumped on Valentine’s Day, she finds herself occupying a table for one at London’s hottest new restaurant. If her job wasn’t on the line, she’d skip the whole affair, but her editor’s waiting for a review—and with luck, an interview with sexy chef Ward Nicholls.

Ward, intrigued by the single woman in a restaurant full of couples, sets out to tease her palate. Claudia has never tasted anything so luscious as the special meal Ward prepares for her, but when the seduction moves from the restaurant to his bedroom, Claudia discovers the only thing more tempting than his food is the chef himself.

Their connection is instantaneous, sizzling, and spicy—until Claudia comes clean about her job, reopening a wound Ward had thought long-healed. Could one accidental …