Winners!

Congratulations, Clarissa and Ginger/Savannah Granny! I've chosen your names out of my trusty coffee cup. Please contact me at gillian.layne@gmail.com so that I can get your book(s) to you.

 Thanks so much to all who stopped by! May your Halloween week be filled with treats. :)

Book Prizes and Treasures

Because I read two novels this weekend that took my breath away, and it's a Monday (nuff said), and it's October (the perfect month), and my birthday ( I've decided gratitude is the key to gracious aging), and I needed two blankets on my bed last night (snuggling weather!). . .Let's give some books away!

Now for the breathtaking books....

 Inara Scott took the classic brilliant young woman-bad boy-good boy triangle and turned it into a "oh, shoot, I've missed my dental appointment and burned the roast" triumph. Turning each page was a supreme effort, because I knew the sequel wasn't sitting on my bookshelf...or the bookstore's bookshelf...and I really want to know what happens next. I passed out bookmarks to my local librarians and suggested they jump on the bandwagon early. Delcroix Academy: The Candidates is YA perfection.

 

Insatiable sat on my shelf for two months because I am a rather busy woman, and knew the laundry and dear parents and children needed attention and the garden was one weed away from being declared a wildlife preserve....and I'm an idiot. It is a good thing I waited a bit to read this treasure, however, because after I read it....I couldn't write. Not right away. I knew I had read perfection, perfection for me, and I had to analyze why those words, that theme, that voice, made it so. Nope, I couldn't just enjoy the story. I had to rest, gather my thoughts, breath fresh air and then go back and figure out why this book was so utterly captivating.

I'm still working on it.

So--what is/are your Ah-Ha! book(s)?  What epiphanies have they wrought? Share your treasures, and I'll share mine. Because treasures are personal, I'll be asking the winners what genre (inspirational, suspense, contemporary, etc) trips their trigger, and then I'll chose the prizes accordingly.  I'll announce two book winners here next Monday.

A Soft Throw and Spiced Tea

Now we need a scented candle,  firelight and an appropriate October book...

Demon's Covenant is the much-anticipated sequel to the Demon's Lexicon, which I could not get enough of. Edgy, fast-paced, and other-worldly in such a natural way that it has me believing at least some of my mild-mannered neighbors must be witches. If you haven't read the Demon's Lexicon first, please do so. You'll thank me later. :)

 A Matter of Class is lovely, much like curling up in a window seat with your throw and tea and watching raindrops trickle down the glass. In fact, it would be fine setting in which to read this book. Reading this is the difference between grabbing a to-go cappuccino at Starbucks and setting down for a proper tea at four o'clock. Take the time to savor this story.

Original Sin is a gripping tale of good and evil, and masterful story telling by an author whom I greatly admire but could not read until now. Her other works were simply too...real. And I'm a big coward. But the paranormal twist lets me enjoy her genius while reminding myself that's it's just a (very, very, very good) story.

Hill Country Holdup. A dark, driven FBI agent.  A son he never knew he had, kidnapped. (And that really moody, evocative covered bridge)...this book was meant to be read on a dark October night. With the lights on. ;)






 On audio while driving? Why, Harry Potter, of course.

So what are some of your favorite October reads?