Fiber Fool

Thank you guys for so many fantastic comments here on the blog and at Ravelry on my February Lady Sweater. I have cast on a second sweater, but am not very far as yarn arrived for a secret design project shortly there after and has taken all of my possible knitting time right now as the shoulder is acting up once again :-(

There hasn’t been a ton of time for reading either, but it has been a long while since I blogged about my reading so I figured it was about time. On the far right is my current before bed reading. Fire and Fog
is the second book in the . The series is a historical cozy mystery. Caroline Freemont Jones grew up in a Boston society family. When her fathered remarried after being widowed the young woman took a train to San Francisco and set up a typewriting business. Somehow (as in all cozies, right?) she finds herself in the midst of an interesting mystery in each installment. I am a sucker for historical mysteries and I am thrilled I stumbled across this series.

The two books on the top of the stack I read a few books ago (which aren’t included in the photo because they were library books). Any Given Doomsday
is the first in a brand new series by Lori Handeland. And yes, there are two copies there. It seems that due to my accounts on multiple book/reading related websites I got on the publisher’s list twice for an ARC copy of this title and their database wasn’t smart enough to send me just one. The series falls in what many call Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance genres. The author cites Laurel K. Hamilton as a source of inspiration and many have found the similarities between Hamilton’s Anita Blake series and this new book to be too blatant. As I had not yet read any Hamilton and have recently discovered that paranormal things like vampires and werewolves and the like are not bad things in fiction (due to a recent obsession of DH & I with Buffy
and Angel) I enjoyed the title quite a lot. The book does have some pretty explicit love scenes and obviously includes paranormal things and a fantasy world. If you do not find such things offensive I would like to give my second copy to a new home.

I have another ARC that I read earlier this summer. The book is Summer Blowout by Clarie Cook. It is definitely a fluffy beach book sort of title, but a fun light read. It will likely appeal to those who enjoy fashion and beauty. As shelving space is always tight around here I’ve chosen to not hang onto this book.

For those unfamiliar with ARCs they are Advanced Reading Copies. Publishers send them out to start buzz about the title, often in advance of the book’s availability in bookstores. They are labeled that they are not for sale. The terms I accepted when I got on the list to get copies was that I would post a review either on one of the book/reading social network sites, on my blog here or on Amazone (or all of the above). I would ask that you observe these same conditions if I send one of these books to you. The title doesn’t have to go to the very top of your reading listing. Certainly finish any library books first. But you should be able to read the title in the next 4-6 weeks and post a review at some public web site when you are done - Amazon, B&N, Powell’s, a personal blog, GoodReads, LibraryThing etc.. Honest reviews are encouraged.

If you are interested in either of these two books, can meet the same terms, and are in the US, leave a comment with the title of the book you are most interested in. If there are multiple requests I’ll either draw a name or use the random number generator to choose the winner. I will then mail the books media mail to the winners. Leave your comments by Tuesday, 21 October.