Charlaine Harris Starter Set - Birthday Month Giveaway (INTL ends 7/31)

Hey everyone! Alethea here. I'm kind of hijacking the blog (in a good way) while Thuy is on vacation and enjoying her totally adorable new niece. I'm doing some giveaways over at RNSL so I thought I'd do some over here, too!

July is my birth month!

So to share the love, I will be sending you presents. You! Yes, you.

That is, if you're lucky enough. My birthday is 7/11. That's pretty lucky.

Now, don't try to stake me--I'm not as big a Charlaine Harris fan as all you True Blood folks are. (Blame Anna Paquin, I can't watch anything she's in since she played Rogue in the X-Men movies). But I do think her books are super fun. Did you know she has mystery series aside from the Sookie books? You can click on the covers above to read more about them.

Well, that's what's up for grabs today. You could win the first book in each of Charlaine Harris's series: Sookie Stackhouse, Lily Bard, and Harper Connelly. (If the winner already has one or more of those titles, I can be flexible on which ones you get as long as the $ does not exceed my $21 budget :) The Aurora Teagarden series is also included in the options, I just happen not to have any of those right now.

This contest is open internationally! Click on the bottom of the rafflecopter widget for the rest of the fine print. If the contest reaches 711 entries by the end of the month, I'll draw 2 winners!

There are no mandatory entries, but you have to do at least one to enter. Good luck, and happy birthday to me! Click "Read more"to enter below!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Demonic - Giveaway (Kindle)

Garon Cockrell is the Pop Culture Beast. 

He has also penned a book called Demonic and Other Tales (doorQ.com publishing, 2011).

I know it's not our usual fare, but if you love horror, it's a must-read! I was trying to wait until an appropriately scary time, like mid-October, to get people in the freaking-out mood. But let's face it, if Cabin in the Woods can come out at Easter, you can have some horror in the middle of May. 

This collection of scream-worthy short stories includes "Demonic," "Eggs," "Home Alone," "What's Your Pleasure?," "The Strange Tale of Griffin Shard," "Looking Glass," "Interrogation," "Manny," "Prelude," and "Haven."

"Eggs" is also in the process of being made into a short film.

Garon also tweets about music, movies, and lots of other stuff, so don't feel like following him on Twitter 

is going to just lock you in to a bunch of tweets about the book ;)

You can enter to win a Kindle copy of Demonic!

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Winner(s) will be chosen June 1. 

If at least 100 entries come in by the end of the contest, I will give away 2 Kindle copies.

If at least 300 entries come in by the end of the contest, I will give away 3 Kindle copies.

And if you don't win, relax! You can get it yourself for just $2.99 on Amazon.com.

Insert evil laugh [here]

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shameless Blog Hop

Hosted by Jen at Red Hot Books, 

Brie at Romance Around the Corner & 

Michelle at Michelle's Book Blog

Hoo-ah! This blog hop is for those blogs that are a little too sexy for our shirts. Make sure you click on the rest of the blog links for more chances to win books! (Sorry, Blogger is being lame and not showing the link list. You can get to it by clicking on the sexy abs up top, or just click here.)

RNSL Nite Lite is giving away one book of your choice up to $15 in value from BookDepository.com. This contest is open Internationally!

Here are some suggestions from Thuy:

And some from Alethea:

The winner can pick whichever book(s) they want as long as the total is somewhere around $15. It doesn't even have to be a sexy romance. It just has to be available from bookdepository.com. The winner will be announced Jan. 28!

Just for fun, some Sherlock man-candy I found on Tumblr. You're welcome.  

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a Rafflecopter giveawayHappy hopping!

Happy Haul-idays from Chronicle Books

Chronicle Books is hosting another awesome year of Happy Haul-idays. One lucky blogger will will $500 worth of Chronicle books. But that's not all. In the holiday spirit, Chronicle will also be giving away $500 to a lucky blog commenter on the winning blog as well as $500 of books to the charity of the blogger's choice. For more info or to enter, please go HERE. What a wonderfully generous promotion from Chronicle. One of my fave publishers of fantastic-ly beautiful books, I could not pass up this opportunity to spread the holiday cheer. 

If I win, the charity I'd donate to would be Friends of the Burbank Library. I love going to the library and know that they would definitely appreciate a donation. They haven't gotten any new crafty/cookbooks in awhile and I think these books would be an excellent addition. So please take a look at my haul list and let me know what you think. Remember, one lucky commenter can win the same haul.

These veer heavily in the crafty/food category. I love making things, both to wear and use and to eat - and Chronicle has an awesome selection of books that fit into these categories.  

• Flour - I've actually checked out this book from the library and have made several things from it. Love Chang's style and the recipes are delicious. I would love a copy of my own.
• Plenty - I have heard very good things about this book and that cover is divine.
• Hand Forged Doughnuts - I love doughnuts and have only recently begun exploring making my own. This books like like a good start.

• Amy Butler's Style Stitches - I've been a fan of Amy Butler's for awhile now. Love her handbag patterns and have been wanting this book for awhile.
• Whip Up Mini Quilts - So many friends have had babies this year and I think these mini quilts would make awesome presents.
• Cake Pops - Bakerella has the cutest website and her cake pops always looks gorgeous. I would love to give them a try.

• The Liberty Book of Home Sewing - How did I not know that Liberty came out with their own sewing book? I love their fabrics even though I can't afford them. I was one of those people who was camped in front of Target the morning the Liberty of London collection was released.
• Quilting Bee - I rally want to start quilting and I love the look of the designs in this book.
• A Life In Stitches by Rachael Herron - I am a fan of Rachae's blog, Yarnagogo, and her Cypress Hollow romance books (reviews coming!) and am very interested in reading her biography/memoir of sorts.

• Yoshitomo Nara: The Complete Works - I LOVE Yoshitomo Nara. 'Nuff said.
• The Lonesome Puppy by Yoshitomo Nara - A Nara picture book? How can I resist?

Well that's my list. It adds up to a nifty $497.19. Who ever said I don't know how to budget?  Please comment and let me know what you think of my list. Remember, if I win, one lucky commenter on this post will win as well.

say "twee!"

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Follow more of Thuy's random thoughts on Twitter @fishgirl182

Spooktacular Blog Hop - Giveaway

Read Now Sleep Later and Nite Lite are participating in the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop, hosted by Kathy at I am a Reader, Not a Writer and Rhianna at The Diary of a Bookworm.

Enter to win My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me (Forty New Fairytales)--will ship to US only.

The anthology includes stories by Neil Gaiman, Joyce Carol Oates, Aimee Bender, Michael Cunningham, and many other authors!

MANDATORY ENTRY: Comment on this post--what's the spookiest book you've ever read? Like, keep-you-up-at-night, turn-on-all-the-lights, please-don't-leave-me-alone, stick-it-in-the-freezer SCARY!

DO NOT leave personal info such as your EMAIL address in the post--the Rafflecopter widget collects that, so don't forget to fill it out!

All the other entries are optional. The winner will be chosen on Nov. 1. May the best ghoul win! 

Don't forget to haunt all of the other awesome blogs on this hop!

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Banned Books Blog Hop - Giveaway

Thanks so much to Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not a Writer and Jen of I Read Banned Books for hosting this blog hop.

My co-bloggers Thuy (RNSL Nite Lite) and Kimberly (The Windy Pages) and I all agree -- book banning is the pits! While we understand and respect parents' concerns about what their kids encounter in their lives, we believe in everyone's "freadom" to read and enjoy whatever they want.

follow @frootjoos on Twitter

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THE GIVEAWAY

To celebrate Banned Books Week, we will be posting themed reviews and articles throughout the week at readnowsleeplater.com and giving away a banned adult book to a lucky reader (the Nite Lite contest is open Internationally)!

See the Rafflecopter widget below for the details. Please DO NOT leave personal info in the comments section--the Rafflecopter widget will collect your contact info so we can tell you if you have won. The winner gets to choose their book prize (within the guidelines stated below) and will be notified by email through Rafflecopter.

Here are some banned book reading suggestions from the RNSL team. Clicking on the book cover will take you to the Goodreads page for each book.

Thuy recommends:

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck

Alethea recommends:

Push by Sapphire

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Here are a couple more links to banned book resources and articles.

• The Banned Books Week website (bannedbooksweek.org)
• A list of Banned Book Stories from The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE)
• A very recent Manila Bulletin article on Book Banning, asking authors which book they would un-ban

Don't forget to visit the other blogs on this blog hop!

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