My Wishlist: The Stuck on my Shelf (Romance) Edition

I’m sure this is nothing new, but I am seriously behind on my reading…seriously. And in this state (add in the necessary “perpetual” there), there are books that I’ve had for a while that are just taking up room on my shelves, waiting for the time when I can give them my undivided attention. (Don’t tell the books, but it’s not anywhere in the foreseeable future 🙁 )

Add to this dilemma, that winter is traditionally romanticized by the ability to “curl up with a good book”,  especially a romance novel,  said books must be feeling even sadder. With Valentine’s Day not too far around the corner, I thought I would share the romance books that are quietly demanding to be read. I may have to break down and read at least one of these during the month of February…

The Mistress’ House by Leigh Michaels

First in a smart, sexy, …

Review: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

Format Read: Hardcover, provided by the publisher
Release Date: September 5, 2011
Publisher: Poppy
Formats Available: Hardcover, Kindle, ebook, audiobook
Purchasing Info: Amazon, Book Depository, Chapters, Hachette Canada, Author’s Website, Goodreads

Book Blurb:

Most high school sports teams have rivalries with other schools. At Hamilton High, it’s a civil war: the football team versus the soccer team. And for her part,Lissa is sick of it. Her quarterback boyfriend, Randy, is always ditching her to go pick a fight with the soccer team or to prank their locker room. And on three separate occasions Randy’s car has been egged while he and Lissa were inside, making out. She is done competing with a bunch of sweaty boys for her own boyfriend’s attention

Then Lissa decides to end the rivalry once and for all: She and the other players’ girlfriends go on a hookup strike. The boys won’t get any action from them …

Elements in Lit 201: Today’s Lesson – Weaponry

First off, let me start with a slight apology for the last post. It was a confusing one at best but I may have made it worse. I totally blame the cold meds! Anyway, we’ll take a look again at forms of address down the road with a more concise (less medicated) list.

For today though, I wanted to look at something different. I’ve been feeling a bit feisty, listening to zombie apocalypse audiobooks and such. I think there would be a great cathartic release at being able to wield a weapon against a foe (though, I’d probably be squeamish when it came right down to it.) To this end, I thought we’d take a look at weapons we might find in stories through the ages.

 The catapult is a legendary tool, used in the Middle Ages to lay sieges on many castles. This one is a bit bulky to …

The International Giveaways Café (29)

Welcome back to the café! I hope everyone has had a great week and will be able to find some well needed reading time over the weekend. In my part of the world, we’ve just had our first real snow fall of the year (pretty unusual in Ontario, Canada). I’m going to make this best of my time to cuddle up with a nice blanket, a cup of coffee, and a great book 😉

There were quite a few giveaways added here last week, so make sure you check them all out! Remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently that you’ll get the chance to read now. 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 …

Explore This! Wilmington, North Carolina

Today, we’re heading back State-side to visit Wilmington, North Carolina. This lovely city, situated on the Cape Fear, has cropped up in several of Nicholas Spark’s books, including Message in a Bottle and Dear John. It was also the area in which Dawson’s Creek was filmed and is home to Screen Gems studios, which if you’re a movie fan (read: credit reader) like myself, you’ll know what that means.

Let’s take a look to see why its scenery has been such a popular location for filming…and writing about:

The map here shows Wilmington's location at Cape Fear, but also its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. As they say in real estate, it's all about "Location, Location, Location" 😉

Wimington is listed as a "Coast Guard City", so it sees its share of boats docked here.

The architecture here is stunning, similar to southern …

The International Giveaways Cafe (28)

It’s a week into the new year and by now, everything is back to work as usual. Around here, that means listing more great bookish giveaways. Be sure to add anything new below and visit the other sites for chances to win. Good luck!

Remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently that you’ll get the chance to read now. 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 …

Elements in Lit 201: Peerage continued

In our last lesson, we talked about the different ranks in British nobility. It drew a lot more questions (which I love!) and also helped me personally answer a Jeopardy question 🙂 The nature of these questions was about the proper way to address each level of the Peerage and about other countries’ classifications. So, today, I thought we’d take a look at how to address our ‘betters’.

In my search for info, I found a great site that goes into to lots of detail about how greet, in writing or speech, the nobility, among many other details, including the role of women. I can see now how complicated those times must have been, knowing how to refer to someone and who would be considered equals or subordinates. I’ll give a few examples here:

If you were writing a letter to a Duke, you would address it to “Dear Duke of…” …

The International Giveaways Cafe (27)

The café is prepping for the big New Years celebration later today. I just want to take a moment to wish everyone a happy, book-filled New Years where we all look forward to more interactive book news and reviews with our awesome readers. See you call again in 2012!!

There’s always room to add in new giveaways below, as well as enter any contests that are still active. So, if you have a few minutes to relax between big meals and opening gifts, this is the place to visit 🙂

Remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently that you’ll get the chance to read now? (though reading time may be scarce at the moment) 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 International Giveaways Café (26)

The café is all abuzz with activity this week, prepping for tonight’s big event (is it already Christmas in your part of the world?). We’re passing out eggnog and treats all day long, celebrating as people around the world welcome family and other guests, open gifts, and share in the joy of the holidays. With this in mind, we wish you all the best of the season: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa…and if you don’t celebrate any of these, Happy Festivus 😉

There’s always room to add in new giveaways below, as well as enter any contests that are still active. So, if you have a few minutes to relax between big meals and opening gifts, this is the place to visit 🙂

Remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently that you’ll get the chance to read now? (though reading …

The International Giveaways Café (25)

The café is opening up a little later this week, ’cause we know how desperate you’ll all be for refreshments by the noon hour. To that end, why not kick back and relax for a while and check out the contests that are still ongoing through this week! There are a few links below that expire today, so remember to check them out before it’s too late.

And if you have anything new to add, nows a great time to share your giveaway info here. Us booklovers know that the regular hustle and bustle of the holidays is ten fold with our ‘real’ lives and our blogging duties too. A nice little book win would go miles to making this time a whole lot brighter, right?

Remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently that you’ll get the chance to read now? (though reading time may be scarce …