Friday, May 09, 2008

Need YOUR help to read 100,000 books!! and make a matching donation to National Center for Family Literacy

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Harlequin’s online community is reading 100,000 books to help the National Center for Family Literacy solve the literacy crisis.
Read and help make the 100,000 book donation come true.
Ready-set-read!

Help spread literacy by joining the 100,000 Book Challenge. For every novel read and reviewed Harlequin will donate a book to the National Center for Family Literacy. The donation has a retail value of $700,000.

Learn more at http://community.eharlequin.com/book-challenge

So far 300+ bloggers have accepted the challenge, and in the first three months, they have crossed the 8,000-book mark, but there is a long way to go before meeting the goal. Help us help spread the joy of reading!

Romance Readers are Avid Readers
“Our readers are very passionate,” says Jayne Hoogenberk, community manager for eHarlequin.com. “They read, talk, think and dream about books 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. The median number of paperbacks read in one year by Americans is 12. The median for Harlequin readers is 30. Since we’re always looking for ways to inspire and challenge our community members, we wondered if, as a group, they would be able to read 100,000 books in a single calendar year and through our donation of 100,000 books, share that love of reading with others who don’t have such easy access to entertaining and engaging literature for women.”

The NCFL Helps Adult Literacy
“Recent studies show that people are reading literature less and less,” said Sharon Darling, president & founder of NCFL. “This reading challenge not only will provide an important incentive for everyone to read more, it also will greatly benefit the millions of adults who have low literacy – 34 million in the United States alone and 771 million globally.”

The 100,000 Book Donation
Each book reviewed on the site counts towards our goal of 100,000 books read and ups the automated book challenge counter. Because our ultimate goal this year is to provide books to the National Center for Family Literacy, we want to ensure that every book read counts towards our goal and we need YOU to help us reach it!

We Need You!
Join, read, share.

It’s simple and if you’re a romance fan you’ll be doing something you already do – read. The only addition is writing a quick review – and watching the book count grow as we head toward the 100,000 book goal.

For more information and to register for the challenge visit:
http://community.eharlequin.com/book-challenge

If you would like more information and/or would like to include the challenge on your blog or website please contact jayne_hoogenberk@harlequin.ca

www.community.eharlequin.com www.famlit.org

Friday, May 02, 2008

Fresh and original urban fantasy available now at Amazon

I was lucky enough last month to get an advance read of Jeri Smith-Ready's new book, Wicked Game, a very unique urban fantasy all about blood, vamps, and rock n roll. I LOVED it!


Wicked Game


"A colorful premise and engaging characters" — Library Journal

Wicked Game is now available!


Order at Mysterious Galaxy or Amazon


But don't just take my word for it, check it out for yourself! Here's an exceprt and some reviews so you can see what the book's about and what others are saying.


If you'd like to post a link to the first chapter excerpt, it's here: http://www.jerismithready.com/books/wicked-game/excerpt1.htm


More information on the book, including reviews, can be found here: http://www.jerismithready.com/books/wicked-game/

XPOST: My April reads

I had another really good reading month. Still haven't meet my January count, which is still my best for this year. But I've been doing pretty well, except for February anyhow when I slipped in numbers. LOL Anything with an HQ next to it is a Harlequin book. I had a lot of those this month. I track those for the eHQ challenge.

 

Book 1 – Rogue Angel Book 4: The Chosen by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
Book 2 – Knitting Series Book 2: A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
Book 3 – Who Am I? by Lena Nelson Dooley (print)
Book 4 – Susannah's Garden by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
Book 5 – Cedar Cove Book 2: 204 Rosewood Lane by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
Book 6 – Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready (print)
Book 7 – Tycoon's One-Night Revenge by Bronwyn Jameson (print) (HQ)
Book 8 – The Crusaders: Heart Thief by Gail Barrett (print) (HQ)
Book 9 – Heart and Soul: Love's Winsome Warrior by Angela Verdenius (eBook)
Book 10 – In His Dreams by Gail Gaymer Martin (print) (HQ)
Book 11 – Rogue Angel Book 5: Forbidden City by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
Book 12 – Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
Book 13 – A Treasure of the Heart by Valerie Hansen (print) (HQ)
Book 14 – Where Angels Go by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)

 

And a few shorts as well:
Bedroom Window by Amanda Stevens (eBook) (HQ)
Dreaming of You by Johanna Melaragno (eBook)
A Blessing in Disguise by Shareem Varden (eBook)

 

Not bad. I hit 14 again which is about average for me this year so far. Of those 14, half of them were audio books.

 

Current reads:
Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson (audio)
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (audio) (Buddy Read for May)
Moonstruck by Susan Grant (eARC) (HQ)
Wildish Things by Carolan Ivey (eBook)



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