King Arthur Movie Tristan

I recently read & reviewed Joshua Henkin's 'Matrimony'.



Joshua Henkin has graciously offered a personally autographed copy of his book to one of my lucky blog readers!



so this morning I entered the names in the handy dandy list randomizer....


...and the winner is...

Stephanie from Confessions of a Bookaholic


Stephanie please send me your snail mail. My email is naidascrochet AT yahoo.com

Congrats and enjoy it! Joshua Henkin will personally sign a copy for you. This was a great read.



Thank you all who particpated! Stay tuned for my next giveaway.

Some of you may remember my post about the book Pay It Forward. I am raffling of a special prize to my blog readers. One of my hand crocheted scarves.







Thanks for all who participated.

I entered the participants names in the handy dandy
Randomizer





and the winner is......


j.kaye!


Congrats! Your scarf will be in the mail this week.


Stay tuned for my next book giveaway, an autographed copy of Joshua Henkin's book 'Matrimony'.

title:
Off Season

author: Anne Rivers Siddons




For as long as she can remember, they were Cam and Lilly--happily married, totally in love with each other, parents of a beautiful family, and partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage, it ended as every great love story does...in loss. After Cam's death, Lilly takes a lone road trip to her and Cam's favorite spot on the remote coast of Maine, the place where they fell in love over and over again, where their ghosts still dance. There, she looks hard to her past--to a first love that ended in tragedy; to falling in love with Cam; to a marriage filled with exuberance, sheer life, and safety-- to try to figure out her future.





j.kaye is raffling off a copy of this book to one lucky blog reader. go to this post and make sure to leave a comment to be entered to win.

Miriam Parker at Hachette Book Group USA.com sent an extra copy of this book and I'm holding a separate giveaway for this copy. This drawing will be held on August 30th, the last Saturday of this month.

j.kaye is raffling off a copy of OFF TO FIRST GRADE by Louise Borden


It seems like a very cute childrens book. Stop by her blog to sign up to win. This raffle will be held August 16th.


click here to read her post on it and make sure to leave a comment.

title: Pay It Forward

author: Catherine Ryan Hyde

pages: 311

genre: fiction

published: 1999

first line: Maybe someday I'll have kids of my own.



rated: 4 1/2 out of 5





Twelve year old Trevor McKinney receives an extra credit class assignment from his social studies teacher, Mr. Reuben St. Clair.
'Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action.'


Trevor comes up with an idea. Paying it forward. It's very simple, you think of three people, then do something good for these people, something big. In return for your favor, each of these three people then do something amazing for three other people. And so on and so forth....until it multiplies and there is so much more good in the world from people paying it forward.

'And yet at first people needed to know more. Somehow it was not enough that a boy barely in his teens was able to change the world. Somehow it had to be known why the world could change at just that moment, why it could not have changed a moment sooner, what Trevor brought to that moment, and why it was the very thing that moment required.'

Trevor's mom, Arlene is raising Trevor by herself and working two jobs to pay the bills. Trevor ends up wanting to get Arlene and Reuben together. Arlene & Reuben are opposites, he is an educated black man who was injured in Vietnam, half of his face is scarred badly. Arlene is a recovering alcoholic and she feels that she is not good enough for Reuben. Yet the two of them form a bond.



Trevor thinks his idea of paying it forward didn't work out, but little does he know, it's being called 'The Movement' and has been making a worldwide effect. Reporter Chris Chandler is trying to find the person who started The Movement, he is shocked when he finds out it was started by 12 year old Trevor as part of an extra credit assignment.





The storyline and the idea of 'Paying it Forward' grab you from the start. This is all about how just one person can truly make a difference.


The movie version 'Pay It Forward' stayed pretty true to the book. There were some differences between the two but I really enjoyed both. This book will be definitely be listed as one of my top favorite reads in 2008.




I posted about this book before, here.

In honor of Pay It Forward, I am holding a special prize drawing. As I posted before, it wouldn't be book related. So after thinking about what would be a good prize to post, besides a book, I came up with an idea.


As some of you may know, I crochet. It's my other obsession, besides reading. So, I am raffling off one of my hand crocheted scarves on my blog. I know, it's the middle of summer, but hey, the Fall weather will be here before you know it and this scarf will come in handy. It's very soft & warm, I promise.







Want a better chance of winning? Read on....


* To enter to win the scarf, just comment to this post.

* If you have a blog, post about this contest, leave me the link, and I will enter your name 2 extra times in the drawing.


* If you also blog about the book 'Pay It Forward', I'll enter your name 2 extra times in the drawing.


If you do all of the above, that's your name entered 5 times in the drawing.




* For every person you refer to my blog who mentions your name, I will enter you one extra time in the drawing per person referred (even if you yourself don't have a blog, email your friends and refer them that way). The person you refer, needs to tell me you referred by posting in the comments section.




I will draw the winning name on August 15th.
Good luck!

title:
The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work

author: Jon Gordon

genre: self-help

publish date: 2008

pages: 143

first line: It was Tuesday, and Hope dragged herself into the office just like she had every day for the past year.




I've recently read & reviewed: The No Complaining Rule...click here for my review.


And I wanted to raffle this book off. I entered everyones names into the....List Randomizer....and the lucky winner is......




jezebelsk from Walking on Sunshine. Congrats :) please email me @ naidascrochet@yahoo.com with your snail mail.



Stay tuned for my next blog contest.

Book Giveways are always fun, and I found a couple I wanted to post about:



Trish is hosting a Summer Reads Giveaway and will be giving away 14 books.

click here for more info about the 14 book giveaway

this contest will close on Saturday, July 12th.
If you go, make sure to tell her I sent ya over there.






j. kaye is giving away another set of great books. Witch Ember and The Raven are being raffled off at her blog.








click here for details about winning Witch Ember and click here for info about winning The Raven

This raffle will be held on the 5th of July.

Wake by Lisa McMann


premise:

Not all dreams are sweet.


For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.


She can't tell anybody about what she does -- they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.


Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant....

J.Kaye is raffling off yet another awesome read. She posts some great reviews over there, and frequently raffles off books. She is now raffling off a copy of Wake by Lisa McMann.

'Raffles are held on Saturdays. Books are raffled off to viewers who comment about the review. The raffles have a cut off date in the post.'

Head on over to J.Kaye's blog for more details! Make sure to read her review of this book and leave a comment. This raffle will be held on the 28th of June.




'Wake' sounds like a great read, J.Kaye gave it a good review and it's got some good ratings over @ barnesandnoble.com.

My current book drawing is for Return of the Rogue.






title: Return of the Rogue

author: Donna Fletcher

and the winner is.... Cheryl!





Stay tuned for my next book giveaway.

title: Return of the Rogue

author: Donna Fletcher

pages: 375

genre: historical romance

first line: She twirled in circles, her skinny little arms streteched out from her sides and a broad smile on her thin face.

rated: 4 out of 5








Honora Tannach comes of age in the Scottish highlands, and has been living with her stepfather, Calum, since her mother died. Honora is betrothed to the son of a Scottish laird, Artair, but on the day of their wedding, a stranger arrives to the celebration. This man turns out to be Artair's eldest brother, who was held captive by barbarians, and has escaped, his name is Cavan. Honora's greedy stepfather, insists that Honora is legally wed to Cavan instead of Artair, since the paperwork he signed said his daughter is to marry the next laird. So by a twist of faith, Honora is instead wed to Cavan, who she fears since he is angry and scarred, coming back from being held captive for so long.



Cavan has no patience for Honora, he thinks she is weak and too frightened and he is not happy to have her as his wife. He is angry since coming home and feels guilty for having left his younger brother behind with the barbarians. He is also upset that he is suddenly married to a stranger, so upset that he won't consumate thier marriage. Slowly but surely be begins to warm up to Honora and have feelings for her, even though he tries to deny it and push her away.





Honora has feelings for him as well, but thinks he dislikes her since he is always angry. She comes to know him better, and sees that he feels guilty over not bringing his brother home with him.





The romance is sweet, I really enjoyed this read. Cavan is tall, dark and handsome and he's got a bit of a 'bad-boy' streak to him, but really he's just misunderstood.

'Cavan felt the familiar heat of passion consume him, only this time her words had ignited his desire. He wondered if he had ever wanted a woman as much as he now wanted his wife. There had been times when any woman would have satisfied him. Not so now. He knew that he'd find no pleasure, no relief with anyone but Honora.

Why?

He had no answer, or perhaps, like Honora, he was falling in love, but was too stubborn to admit it.'

The story has a good storyline to it as well. And I liked the love scenes:

'Cavan wrapped himself around his sleeping wife; though a fire roared in the hearth, the room still held the chill of winter. He smiled recalling how only a couple of hours ago they had heated the bedchamber with their fierce lovemaking. After a heated debate, they tore at each other's clothes, to tangle amidst the bedding until they finally succumbed to their passion with a series of crazed climaxes.'

This is my first time reading this author, and I really enjoyed this book and will be reading more of her novels.



The Bewitching Twin





visit the authors website: http://donnafletcher1.blogspot.com/




and go >>here<< to read my interview with Donna Fletcher!






And guess what? I'm raffling off a copy of Return of the Rogue . So if you're interested in a chance of winning, say so in the comments section of this post. I will draw a winning name in a few weeks.


Want a better chance of winning? Blog about this post, send me the post link, and I'll enter your name an extra 3 times in the drawing.





this book has been part of the following reading challenges:



RRC

TBR


100 +

Historical Fiction

Triple 8

It's that time again, I'm offering another prize drawing for the Romance Reading Challenge participants.


Here is the prize:

A pretty floral journal for writing your thoughts or romantic poetry in....and
matching blank notecards for writing those love letters :)





How do you enter to win it? Very simple:

1. you must be part of the RRC

2. you must read and review at least one book from your selections.

3. you must reply to this post to enter to win this prize.



----------------------

I drew a random name....

And the winner is....
Becky!

stay tuned for the next prize drawing.

Good Sunday morning. I'm still reading The Good Guy
by Dean Koontz

so far, so good...I'll post my review by next week I hope.




And I got a copy of Oprah's Book clubs current book selection, A New Earth : Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
by Eckhart Tolle



My sister is raving about it and wanted me to grab a copy so we can read it and discuss it together.


*************************************

I also found a new blog,
The page flipper.

She is having a march giveaway, go over and enter for a chance to win a great book. Contest ends March 31st at midnight. click here for info .

I wanted to offer prizes with my reading challenge, hey I figured if you're willing to sign up and read books, might as well have a chance at winning some goodies too.



Here is the first Prize Drawing for the Romance Reading Challenge







The 100 Best Love Poems of All Time

I thought this book would be fitting for this challenge :)


included in this book are: 'To A Stranger' by Walt Whitman, 'The Ragged Wood' by Yeats, 'Reminiscence' by Anne Bronte and 'Love Letter' by Slyvia Plath



.....
Barnes n Nobles says: 'Here in this portable treasury are the 100 most moving and memorable love poems of all time, each accompanied by an illuminating introduction. Carry this book wherever you go. It's a perfect companion to read alone or to share with that special person in your life.'



How do you enter to win it? Very simple:

1. you must be part of the RRC

2. you must read and review at least one book from your selections.

3. you must reply to this post to enter to win this prize



Good luck! I will be drawing a name sometime in late February early March. This way it gives time for the participants to read and review at least one book.



I drew a name....



And the winner is....Kara!

Congratulations and enjoy your book of love poems :o)


I will be posting more prizes for this challenge, so stay tuned.

Just wanted to post an update on the RRC. Thanks to the awesome bloggers who have joined and are reading along with us, my first ever challenge has been successfull.
22 bloggers have signed up and so far there are 18 reviews completed! That amazes me, when I first wanted to do a challenge, I hoped that maybe 2 or 3 other people would be interested, I didn't know this many people would be interested and join.



I am still taking participants names for the first prize drawing with this challenge, so if you are reading along with us and haven't signed up yet to win, here's the link to the rules:

http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/2008/01/first-prize-drawing-for-rrc.html

This is what you can win: 100 Best Love Poems of All Time

I will draw a winning name on March 1st.






Love sought is good, but given unsought, is better.
-- William Shakespeare