Reading, Reviewing, Guest Authors, Giveaways and more.
DAILY POSTINGS BELOW
This is a sticky post for my Read-A-Thon Progress
Hosted by Michelle @ Seasons of Reading
07/22 Monday
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Pages read:
07/23 Tuesday
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07/24 Wednesday
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Pages read: 0
07/25 Thursday
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07/26 Friday
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07/27 Saturday
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07/28 Sunday
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07/28 Monday
Wrap up
Book(s):
Total pages read:
Hosted by Michelle @ Seasons of Reading
I’m signed up!! Want to join me? Details below.
I have been in a MAJOR reading slump since the beginning of the year. I mean MAJOR. I have read only 9 books this year!!! That is awful!! I only remember once, in all the many years of reading, that this has happened where it lasted this long.
I signed on for the Spring Read-A-Thon, thinking it would help, and nothing. I think, during that one, I read for a total of 2-3 hours in a week. So going to give it another try!!
Here are the details for this coming week’s read-a-thon:
It’s time to sign up for the High Summer Read-a-Thon! I hope you will join me this month for the week of July 22. We will start on Monday, 7/22 at 12:00am CST and finish on Sunday, 7/28 at 11:59pm CST (adjust times according to your time zone). Read what you like during the week. I’ve decided it’s not about quantity, but quality (although those who rock the quantity…I salute you!). So, if you have kids and want to read children’s books, go for it! As always, this is a week long read-a-thon, but you can join in and read whenever it’s convenient for you. It’s all about being laid back and getting some reading done.
I will not be hosting any mini-challenges, as we learned from my last few read-a-thons, focusing on the reading rocks. However, if anyone else would like to host a mini-challenge (or giveaway), you are more than welcome…just let me know. If you know someone who would like to donate a prize, or authors, if you would like to promote your book through the read-a-thon, please contact me via the tab at the top of the blog. We will also have a few scheduled Twitter chats again. I will announce the times in the starting line post. Our Twitter hashtag is #HSreadathon
You do not have to have a blog. You can sign up using your Goodreads, Twitter, or Facebook accounts.
If you are planning on joining me (I hope so), please sign up in the linky below. You don’t have to do a post now, but if you would like to help me spread the word, that would be great. Don’t forget that this is just the sign-up linky. There will be a starting line sign-in and wrap-up linkies during the read-a-thon and doing both is required to be eligible for the giveaway (s). I will also be adding a mid-week check-in post, but you are not required to link up for the giveaway (s). Just if you want us to check out your progress. You can sign in at the starting line any time during the week up until Friday night at midnight CST.
INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS ANNOUNCE
THE WINNERS OF THE 2013 THRILLER AWARDS
ANNE RICE WINS 2013 THRILLERMASTER AWARD
The ballots are in and votes have been counted. The International Thriller Writers (ITW) is proud to announce the most thrilling authors of 2013. The winners of this year’s ITW Thriller Awards are:
2013 THRILLERMASTER AWARD: Anne Rice, one of America’s most beloved and celebrated authors, has 31 written novels, including The Vampire Chronicles, Songs of the Seraphim and the new Wolf Gift Chronicles. She has sold nearly 100 million books.
Presented by R.L. Stine, 2011 ThrillerMaster
2012 SILVER BULLET AWARD: Steve Berry, The New York Timesand internationally bestselling author of The King’s Deception, The Jefferson Key, The Columbus Affair and nine more novels, Berry was honored for his philanthropic work on behalf of fellow writers and historic preservation.
Presented by Brad Meltzer, 2009 Silver Bullet Award
BEST HARD COVER NOVEL
Brian Freeman – SPILLED BLOOD (Silver Oak)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Sean Doolittle – LAKE COUNTRY (Bantam)
BEST FIRST NOVEL
Matthew Quirk – THE 500 (Reagan Arthur Books)
BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL
CJ Lyons – BLIND FAITH (Minotaur Books)
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Dan Krokos – FALSE MEMORY (Hyperion Books CH)
BEST SHORT STORY
John Rector – LOST THINGS (Thomas & Mercer)
There’s only one event where you can find New York Times best-selling authors lurking around every single corner, literary agents actually appearing in broad daylight and fans openly plotting and conspiring with the most feared and revered names of the thriller genre. Please join us next year from July 9-12, 2014 for ThrillerFest IX, the International Thriller Writers’ ninth annual celebration of all things Thriller is the largest event of its kind in the world. The highlight of the festival will be the gala ITW Thriller Awards Banquet during which a fresh batch of authors will be announced as the chosen heroes of suspense.www.thrillerfest.com
This is a joint AUTHOR & BLOGGER GIVEAWAY EVENT!
Bloggers & Authors have joined together and each chipped in a little money towards a Kindle Fire HD 7″.
The winner will have the option of receiving a 7″ Kindle Fire HD (US Only)
Or $199 Amazon.com Gift Card (International)
Or $199 in Paypal Cash (International)
Giveaway Details
1 winner will receive their choice of a Kindle Fire 7″ HD (US Only), $199 Amazon Gift Card or $199 in Paypal Cash (International).
There is a second separate giveaway for bloggers who post this giveaway on their blog. See details in the rafflecopter on how to enter to win the 2nd Kindle Fire.
Sponsor a future Kindle Fire Giveaway by signing up HERE.
Ends 8/15/13
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com; and sponsored by the participating authors & bloggers. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
I had to share this since Michael Baron is one of my favorite authors, having read every book and anxiously awaiting the sequel to LEAVES. If you haven’t read his books, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!! Check out my reviews for his books (click on titles below):
From THE STORY PLANT: A new month means a new Author of the Month! This month, we are featuring Michael Baron, author of multiple nationally bestselling books. For the duration of the month, The Journey Home will be on sale for $0.99 and everything else will be on sale for $2.99! We are also featuring excerpts and guest posts on our blog every day from Michael. To learn more about this program and his books, please visit our website.
As we celebrate the birth of our nation, please remember our troops who serve and protect!
God Bless our brave military men and women!!
God Bless America!!
Summer is here and we know one of your very favorite past times includes stocking your beach bag with books and heading to the water for some relaxing, beach reading!
Follow the JKS Summer Beach Reads Virtual Tour for our personal recommendations on fantastic reads to feed your reader this summer!
We’ll be kicking off the tour on Summer Solstice, June 21 and featuring the following Reading Lists:
Teen Reads for All Ages List
Reads for the Whole Family (see below)
Fun Reads for Kids
Slip Into Fantasy
Nail-Biters
Chick Lit
A Journey to the Past
Reads to Keep the Brain Sharp
Reads that Inspire
Pack Your Beach Bag (with wonderful Series!)
Prepare to get busy reading!
When Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage,
Tandi Jo Reese, finds herself charged with the task of cleaning out Iola’s rambling Victorian house.Running from a messy, dangerous past, Tandi never expects to find more than a temporary hiding place within Iola’s walls, but everything changes with the discovery of eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, spanning from Iola’s youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paper–the hopes and wishes, fears and thoughts of an unassuming but complex woman passing through the seasons of an extraordinary, unsung life filled with journeys of faith, observations on love, and one final lesson that could change everything for Tandi.
Connect with Lisa Wingate at her website, FB and Twitter.
Amazon purchase link here.
What if you have a half a second to stop the extinction of the human race? What if that pivotal day to save humanity depends on you saving your own life? Catherine’s life and humanity’s continued existence 
depend on her ability and willingness to believe in an altered, future timeline with a cololny of Earth inhabitants. It couldn’t come at a worse time. Catherine’s father dies unexpectedly. The pressure of her research and advocacy work adds dead weight to her life’s precarious tipping points. Catherine’s losing battles includes sleep deprivation. Sleep eludes her, because when it does come, she finds herself repeatedly dreaming about standing on the same high plateau with her greyhound dog, Addy, surrounded by plants and animals and insects, and then poof! The living landscape transforms into ash.
Connect with Maureen Dudley at her website.
Amazon purchase link here.
Danny Ellis was a survivor, strong and resilient. A successful singer/songwriter, he was proud of the way he’d ‘handled’ his painful past: the grinding poverty of the 1950s Dublin slums, and the brutality of the orphanage, the notorious Artane Industrial School where he was left. He’d safely buried it. Or so he thought.
Then one night, while writing a powerful song that would launch his acclaimed album, 800 Voices, his past came flooding back to haunt him. Long-forgotten memories of betrayal and abandonment burst forth in a shocking revelation: his eight-year-old self was still lost in the orphanage.
Although badly shaken, Danny began a courageous journey that would lead him back to the streets of Dublin, to the tenement slums and, eventually, to the brutality and scallywag shenanigans of the Artane playground. What he found with each twist and turn of his odyssey would change his life for ever.
The Boy at the Gate is a poignant, profoundly moving memoir of forgiveness and redemption, and an inspiring testament to the healing power of music and love.
Connect with Danny Ellis at his website.
Amazon purchase link here.
Did you know that ants teach, earthworms make decisions, rats love to be tickled, and chimps grieve? Did you know that some dogs have thousand-word vocabularies and that birds practice songs in their sleep? That crows improvise tools, blue jays plan ahead, and moths remember living as caterpillars?
Noted science writer Virginia Morell explores the frontiers of research on animal cognition and emotion, offering a surprising and moving exploration into the hearts and minds of wild and domesticated animals.
Animal Wise takes us on a dazzling odyssey into the inner world of 
animals, from ants to elephants to wolves, and from sharp-shooting archerfish to pods of dolphins that rumble like rival street gangs. Morell probes the moral and ethical dilemmas of recognizing that even “lesser animals” have cognitive abilities such as memory, feelings, personality, and self-awareness–traits that many in the twentieth century felt were unique to human beings.
By standing behaviorism on its head, Morell brings the world of nature brilliantly alive in a nuanced, deeply felt appreciation of the human-animal bond, and she shares her admiration for the men and women who have simultaneously chipped away at what we think makes us distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities come from.
Connect with Virgina Morell at her website, FB and Twitter.
Amazon purchase link here.
The International Thriller Writers (ITW) brings ThrillerFest VIII on July 10-13, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in NYC to celebrate the art of the thrill.
DIABOLICAL PLOTS, FIENDISH PLANS AND A SHOCKER OF A TWIST YOU WON’T SEE COMING – THRILLERFEST IS BACK IN TOWN!
This year ThrillerMaster Anne Rice takes a bite of the Big Apple at ThrillerFest VIII July 10-13, 2013
New York City is once again the setting for Gotham noir as the International Thriller Writers (ITW) brings ThrillerFest VIII to town from July 10-13, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel to celebrate the art of the thrill.
Spines are already tingling for the legendary Anne Rice, Queen of the Gothic Thriller, who 
will make a rare appearance to serve as the 2013 ThrillerMaster. Rice is the author of 31 novels, including The Vampire Chronicles, Songs of the Seraphim and the new Wolf Gift Chronicles.
“This is the place where fans can mingle with writers, novices can learn from pros, industry professionals can share their secret passion with librarians, and everyone can have one heck of a great time,” says ThrillerFest Executive Director Kimberley Howe.
New this year at ThrillerFest is FanFest, an opportunity for thriller writers to give back to their most loyal fans. These lucky readers will join such big-league talent as Joseph Finder, John Lescroart, M.J. Rose, Steve Berry and R.L. Stine, for a cocktail party that would impress even Nick and Nora Charles. The event will include a special kickoff book signing, gifts and a chance to mix and mingle with their favorite authors.
Spotlight guests, who will add to the pulse-pounding excitement, include:
· Michael Connelly—Author of the number one New York Times bestsellers The Drop, The Fifth Witness, The Reversal, The Scarecrow, The Brass Verdict and The Lincoln Lawyer, as well as the Harry Bosch series. His most recent novel is The Black Box. A former newspaper reporter, Connelly has won numerous awards for his fiction.
· T. Jefferson Parker—One of only three two-time winners of the prestigious Edgar Award for Best Novel, Parker is the bestselling author of 20 novels including L.A. Outlaws, Storm Runners, and the award-winning Silent Joe and California Girl. His most recent novel is The Famous and the Dead.
· Michael Palmer—Famous for his bestselling medical and political suspense, Palmer’s most recent novel is was Political Suicide. His book, Extreme Measures, became a film starring Gene Hackman. A physician, Palmer helps doctors with physical and mental illness, as well as drug dependence and alcoholism.
· Silver Bullet Award Recipient Steve Berry—The New York Times and number one internationally bestselling author of The Jefferson Key, The Columbus Affair and soon-to-be-released The King’s Deception and nine more novels, Berry will be honored for his philanthropic work on behalf of fellow writers and historic preservation.
· Corporate Silver Bullet Award Recipient USO—The USO will be honored for making Operation Thriller a reality. This past November marked the third USO Operation Thriller tour, which took Kathleen Antrim, Michael Connelly, Joseph Finder, Brad Meltzer, and Andy Harp to the Middle East to entertain the troops.
The thrills continue with two of ThrillerFest’s most anticipated events: CraftFest, where the best authors in the business share secrets with fellow writers, and AgentFest, “speed-dating” with the top agents in publishing.
It all culminates with the 2013 ITW Thriller Awards Banquet, during which Steve Berry will receive the Silver Bullet Award and the awards for best novel; best debut novel and best short story will be finally revealed — a riveting climax to a sensational event.
The International Thriller Writers is an honorary society of more than 1,300 authors in 22 countries with more than three billion books in print. To make a reservation for the suspense-inspired four-day adventure, please visit www.ThrillerFest.com.
Event highlights include:
ThrillerFest opens with a bang on Thursday night with a cocktail party hosting all authors, industry executives and conference attendees. Authors are open and accessible to chat with fans.
