June Reading

I have been in a bit of a funk this month, with minimal reading done, but a lot of grumpiness. :(

Love in the Time of Dragons by Katie MacAlister made me laugh, and entertained me, but the second one, which will be listed in the next week, not so much. There were still the funny moments in Unbearable Lightness, but not enough other stuff happening... well not at a reasonable pace anyways.

Kisri by Moira Rogers - a short read, but fun. And hawt. And yes I am always spruiking the MR books, but they never fail to entertain me, whether I am deep in the land of reading funk or what, they never fail to make me smile and inhale the story.

I read another two Dakota Cassidy books, Accidentally Demonic, I think fell victim to my reading funk, and despite it having all the elements of Cassidy's work that i enjoy, it just didn't grab me. But My Way to Hell did grab me.

Chicks Kick Butt... well I am mostly finished it. Only one or two stories to go. But what I want to know is, what is it with anthologies lately? Are they now nothing but an advertising junket for ongoing series? The majority of these stories are part of larger ongoing series, ones I don't read. :( Which left me a bit in the dark on some of the stories, as I think the authors assumed that the reader would have some basic ideas of the world in which the story takes place.
That said though, it was mostly a reasonably entertaining read, even though part of me was crying bring back the standalone novella! throughout... My favourite stories were by Rachel Vincent and Elizabeth Vaughn, my least favourite, the Cheyenne McCray. (Though to be fair the first full novel of that series was a big DNF for me)

SIDE NOTE: What is it with authors not having full book information on their websites? I went to Vincent's site after reading her short to get more information on upcoming books, as I remembered how much I enjoyed her work, and all she has is book covers which link straight to Amazon, which is really not a great place for book detail. Apparently there is a new series coming out, but I couldn't find information about it on the site, though there was a book pic linked to Amazon, and again with no blooming info on A. - I deleted a rant about A poor book info site, are you proud Jen?? -
So she has lost some sales from this reader, though before you label me a totally cranky pants reader, which I am, I did also tweet her and asked about a blurb and got no response there either, so dollars stay in the pocket.

And those few are pretty much the only books I have finished this month. :(
Though things are looking up I am currently reading two books when I can find a spare moment:
An e-arc of Roil by Trent Jamieson from Angry Robot Books, this is a steampunk fantasy book. Jamieson is an Australian author, and one thing he can do extremely well is world-building, he has MAD SKILLS at this, and I am completely enamoured of the world he is building in this book... I just wish I could say the same of the characters, but I am in the early half of the book, so this may change.

The second e-arc is Firestorm by Radclyffe, this is a Lesbian contemporary romance. Contemporary is a bit outside my comfort zone, but Radclyffe is on my trusted author list, who has made me enjoy contemporaries before, so I haven't hesitated to start this. And within the first chapter she has me totally absorbed and wanting to find out all I can about the main characters.

So that is my month so far... I hope everyone else is having a much better time of reading than me this month!
- Please feel free to list some of your highlights for the month... I am extremely nosy about what everyone else is reading, it is always an interesting way to find new books/authors that I may have missed.

Question number two & three: Do you ever have reading funks? And do you have any tricks for getting out of them?

Non romance book covers also entertain me

Am currently working through a massive pile of last week's haul for the ebay shop, and some of the covers... and titles are entertaining me and offending me.

We have this Piers Anthony title:

The Colour of her Panties??? FFS
And what is with that mermaid - is she anorexic??


Then for covers we have the 'delightful' Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser

and again

Heh.

Self control? I don't have it

I went on a book hunt today with the lovely Jill of Romance Direct, which we do every now and then, it's always fun to hunt for books, compete for books and talk books as we spend the entire day on the road, in and out of shops.
Now these jaunts are always good for a reasonable haul of books, as we hit a lot of different shops, in a wide range of suburbs..
But today, today, I think I broke any book buying record I ever held before this one.. and there have been a few records.. ;)
I give you the haul:

There is another box underneath the box at the back, as well as one that I didn't get in range for the photo of shame.
I am quite uncertain as to whether I should be impressed with my haul, scared of the amount of moola handed over.. or be seeking help from some bookshopping anonymous..
*shakes head*

Of course now all the books need to be cleaned and sorted, then photographed and listed.. mmm..
Maybe I should just go read?

And the winner is...

I made D pick the winner out of the hat...
And it is Mary!

Thanks for all the entries peeps!

Competition Time!

I have decided to share my love of favourite authors around and hold a competition for both Australian romance readers and international ones over the coming month.
The first author up is Moira Rogers who I am a major squeeling fan of! I adore their characters, (Mac and Zola for the win!) the interesting worlds they have built up (Southern Arcana!) and their action packed stories of awesome.

The bio from the Moira Rogers website:
How do you make a Moira Rogers? Take a former forensic science and nursing student obsessed with paranormal romance and add a computer programmer with a passion for gritty urban fantasy. Toss in a dash of whimsy and a lot of caffeine, and enjoy with a side of chocolate by the light of the full moon.
By day, Bree and Donna are mild-mannered ladies who reside in the Deep South. At night, when their husbands and children are asleep, they combine forces to unleash the product of their fevered imaginations upon the page. To learn more about this romance writing, crime fighting duo, visit their webpage at http://www.moirarogers.com. (Disclaimer: crime fighting abilities may appear only in the aforementioned fevered imaginations.)
Their entertaining blog is here: http://moirarogers.com/blog/

They have several series on the run (one advantage to being a writing duo?) http://www.moirarogers.com/digital-by-series


Competition nitty gritty:
Australian entrants the prize is your choice of one of these print Moira Rogers books:
Sanctuary
Sanctuary Redeemed
Last Hope
Crux
Crossroads

Included with book will be promo goodies supplied by the awesome Bree of some bookmarks and signed bookplate thingies.

International entrants, you have your choice of an ebook from their Samhain Publishing backlist here:
Moira Rogers Samhain
Though I would also be happy to send on some of the promo material if you like.

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment below by Monday 6th of June, and just leave your twitter ID or a facebook ID so it is easy for me to contact the winner.