Tuesday Teaser

After an extended holiday break, Tuesday Teaser is back! If you're new to my blog, Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I’ve borrowed it from LDS Women’s Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post a teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book. Here's my teaser from By Heart and Compass:

"I'm pretty sure what it is," he said to himself, glancing down at the stone in wonder 

before returning to her with a glimmer of anger. "You knew this was a diamond?" 

Lacey nodded again, her heart hammering in her chest.  

"You didn't think I would find that interesting?" 

From By Heart and Compass (e-book), by Danielle Thorne, p 84

If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading, too.

What Am I Reading Now?

2010 is almost over, can you believe it? Has anyone been following along with my New/Old Book Reading Challenge? If so, I hope you’re winding up your last read and readying up your reading lists to share with me. I’ll be awarding prizes on January 15!

I had a lot of fun with my own challenge this year, but I admit, it turned out to be a tough one even for me! My TBR piles are growing by leaps and bounds, so although I hope to continue to read a few old favorites in 2011, I won’t be holding another challenge. I’ve got to start whittling these piles down! So my “What Am I Reading for My New/Old Reading Challenge?” will be morphing into simply “What Am I Reading Now?” And since books that I begin one year but roll over into the new year to finish get counted as a “new year read”, here is my first official read of 2011 (already in progress):

By Heart and Compass, by Danielle Thorne

Here’s the back cover blurb:

When Lacey Whitman buys a restored Victorian home, she never dreams discovering an antique diary will lead her back to sea and into the arms of the dive bum she’d rather forget. Her habit of living in the past comes to a screeching halt as diver Max Bertrand and the diary of his ancestor take Lacey on the quest of a lifetime: To discover and raise the privateer ship, Specter, and bring the treasure and legacy of a true hero home again. But will finding it cost her heart?

“Tuesday Teasers” will continue in 2011, and in fact will be back this Tuesday for a teaser from By Heart and Compass, so I hope you’ll drop by!

Joy to the World - Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Christmas

Merry Christmas to Me!

Look what my brother sent me for Christmas! Just short of 5 feet tall. Is he an AWESOME brother, or what???

Feeling in a medieval mood? (Hey, c'mon, who isn't?) Check out the Medieval Christmas from the Tower of London video on my Medieval Research with Joyce blog! (No, I didn't video-tape it myself. Sure wish I had!)

Midwinter's Eve Blog Hop Winner!

Congratulations to Katy who won a copy of Loyalty's Web at the Midwinter's Eve Blog Hop Giveaway! 


Thank you to everyone who entered. Merry Christmas to you all!

Midwinter's Eve Blog Hop

Welcome to the Midwinter's Eve Blog Hop, organized by Inspired Kathy at I Am  Reader, Not a Writer.

Midwinter's Eve is the longest night of the year, so why not spend it entering some great giveaways? Over 100 blogs are offering books or book-related prizes to help you celebrate the season. As we all know, this is a busy time of year, so this is a quick, two-day hop, and then it's back to cleaning, snacking, baking, snacking, wrapping presents, snacking, singing carols, snacking, stuffing stockings, snacking... Well, you get the picture.

What can you win here at JDP NEWS? A copy of my sweet medieval romance, Loyalty's Web.

This giveaway is open to both USA and International entries. And since we're all so busy preparing for the holidays (and snacking), I'll keep this one simple. Just leave a comment telling me what you love best about this time of year, and INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. Deadline for entries is midnight EST December 22. Random.org will draw the winner's name and I'll announce it here on Thursday, December 23.

After you've left your comment, check out the blog list below and hop on along to read about the next wonderful prize for the Midwinter's Eve Blog Hop!

The Sweetest Romance Holiday Party

Join The Sweetest Romance Authors Monday, December 20th, for a sweet Holiday Party. Check out our favorite holiday memories and share your own! All visitors will be entered for sweet romance giveaways. With titles such as Sabotage, Love Turns the Tide, Taking Advantage, Loyalty's Web, Turtle Soup and more, you will not want to miss out on your holiday free read! Plus, we want to hear from you!

What is your favorite holiday memory? Share with us at The Sweetest Romance Authors.

Drawings will be held Monday, December 20, at midnight and winners announced Tuesday morning.

Kids and Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Blog Tour for "Perilous", by Tamara Hart Heiner

It’s time for my review of Perilous, by Tamara Hart Heiner, as part of Tamara’s blog tour. I shared the blurb for Perilous with you awhile back when I was reading it as part of my What Am I Reading for My 2010 Old/New Reading Challenge series, but since that was clear back in early November, here it is again:

Jaci Rivera has plans for her sophomore year: go to regionals with the track team, make the honor roll, and eat too much pizza with her best friends, Callie and Sara. Her biggest concern is Amanda, the pushy girl who moved in a few months ago. 

What she doesn't plan for is catching a robber red-handed, or being kidnapped. The desperate thief drags her and her friends 2,000 miles across the Canadian border. They escape from his lair, only to find that he has spies and agents watching their path home, waiting to intercept them and take them back. 

Then Jaci finds something out about her family. Something which irrevocably connects her to their kidnapper, and makes her question their chances of escape.

Perilous is a young adult thriller filled with non-stop action. And boy, does Tamara know how to write non-stop action scenes! This book grabs hold of you from page one and doesn’t let go until the very end. In fact, it doesn’t even let go of you then, because Perilous is a two-part story, so you’ll have to wait for the sequel to truly find out the answers to all the questions raised in this volume.

It’s important that you know there’s a sequel coming, because I didn’t and I found what I thought to be the ending a bit jarring, only because I felt like I had been left hanging with so many unanswered questions and scratching my head about why the author would leave things so unresolved. So I asked her, and that’s when I learned that there will be a sequel that will answer all my concerns. So be patient when you get to the end, and if you recommend Perilous to your friends, be sure to warn them in advance about the sequel!


Tamara is holding TWO incredible giveaways in connection with her book's debut.

GIVEAWAY #1: Book giveaway 

The winner of this contest will be randomly chosen. Every person who comments on any post during the blog tour will be entered into a random drawing for a book.  The contest begins on Nov. 16 and ends on Dec. 15. Click here to find the blog tour schedule.

GIVEAWAY #2: Kindle giveaway

This contest is point-based and begins Nov. 15 and ends Dec. 15. Whoever has the most points wins the Kindle. There will only be one Kindle given away. Here are the points:

1 point: blog comment (can comment on all the blogs, multiple times, on the tour)
1 point: follow Tamara's blog (http://tamarahartheiner.blogspot.com)
1 point: retweet
2 points: blog about the blog tour
5 points: purchase the book (ebook or paperback, must email Tamara the confirmation email) if they actually buy the book in the store they can mail Tamara a copy of the receipt.
Add up all your points as well as their proof (links, etc) and email it to tamara@tamarahartheiner.com at the end of the blog tour
People can earn an infinite number of points!

Remember, the deadline is December 15. (That's TOMORROW!)

The 2010 Holiday Goodie Tour with Danielle Thorne: Cheeseburger Cookies!?

I have a special treat for us today. (And I do mean "treat"!) Fellow Sweetest Romance Author Danielle Thorne is stopping by JDP NEWS on her 2010 Goodie Tour to share an easy Christmas recipe with us. Welcome to JDP NEWS, Danielle!

**********

Happy Holidays, Joyce, to you and your readers! I'm really excited to be visiting with you on my 2010 Goodie Tour – I just know you will love these adorable Cheeseburger Cookies that were brought to one of my Cookie Exchanges years ago. They are cute, with a big "wow" factor! And yes, they won Best In Show.

I love sharing sweet treats to go with my sweet reads, so check out the easy recipe below. You won't be able to decide what's more fun, making them or eating them!

CHEESEBURGER COOKIES

(Easy)

Vanilla Wafers

Honey

Keebler Grasshopper Cookies

Sesame Seeds

Red, yellow and green icing in squeezable tubes

Directions: Add a drop of honey on to two Vanilla Wafers (Your buns). Sandwich a Keebler Grasshopper cookie in-between them, honey side down, to hold them together. (Your hamburger "patty.") Decorate the "patty" edges with small touches of frosting to represent ketchup/tomato, cheese and lettuce. Brush the top of the "cheeseburger" with honey and sprinkle on a few sesame seeds. Ta-da! You have an adorable, tasty, "cheeseburger" cookie.

In the photo, note that some of the cookies have been wrapped in donated cheeseburger wrappers, cut into fourths, from McDonald's. Talk about presentation!

Now, if you'd like a little get away this holiday season to go with your cool cookies, dive into BY HEART AND COMPASS and get your pirate fix! Or, check out my other sweet sea adventures and romances at: www.daniellethorne.jimdo.com!

BY HEART AND COMPASS

When Lacey Whitman buys a restored Victorian home, she never dreams discovering an antique diary will lead her back to sea and into the arms of the dive bum she’d rather forget. Her habit of living in the past comes to a screeching halt as diver Max Bertrand and the diary of his ancestor take Lacey on the quest of a lifetime: To discover and raise the privateer ship, Specter, and bring the treasure and legacy of a true hero home again. But will finding it cost her heart?

Publisher Link:

http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-96/By-Heart-and-Compass/Detail.bok

Happy Holidays!

Danielle Thorne

www.daniellethorne.jimdo.com

www.thebalancedwriter.blogspot.com

**********

Aren't those "cheeseburgers" adorable? And so yummy sounding, too! Absolutely perfect for a non-baker like me. Thank you so much for joining us today, Danielle. Visit Danielle's website to find the links to the rest of her Goodie Tour for more delicious Christmas recipes!

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I’ve borrowed it from LDS Women’s Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post of teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book. Here's my second teaser from At Day's Close: Night in Times Past:

During the Middle Ages, nocturnal labor in many trades was illegal. In a variety of crafts, municipal regulations forbade work, even during the early hours of winter darkness preceding the curfew bell. In 1375, Hamburg required farriers to stop their labors in the autumn when "the sun turns golden" and each winter "when the day gives way to night."

From At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, by A. Roger Ekirch, p 155

If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading, too.