ElleJay's blog

Novel Obsession - Our May reads:

I've bolded the books we rated Very Good to Excellent...

KathyD's:

22 - Adrian, Lara : Kiss of Midnight

23 - Frost, Jeaniene : Halfway to the Grave

24 - Dees, Cindy : The Dark Side of Night

25 - Rose, Karen : You Can't Hide

26 - Korbel, Kathleen : Dangerous Tempation

27 - Hooper, Kay : Out of Shadows

ElleJay's:

52 - Howard, Linda : Up Close & Dangerous

53 - Banks, Leanne : Bedded by the Billionaire

54 - Ridgway, Christie : Bachelor Boss

55 - Shaw, Chantelle : Di Cesare's Pregant Mistress

56 - Armstrong, Lindsay : From Waif to Wife

57 - Orwig, Sara : Pregnant at the Wedding

58 - Shaw, Chantelle : The Greek Tycoon's Virgin Mistress

59 - Sullivan, Maxine : Mistress & A Million Dollars

60 - Scott, Bronwyn : Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady

61 - Wentworth, Sally : One Night of Love

62 - Stuart, Anne : Fire and Ice

63 - LeClaire, Day : Dante's Stolen Wife

64 - Monroe, Lucy : The Rancher's Rules

65 - St. Claire, Roxanne : First You Run

66 - Sheedy, E.C. : Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

67 - Williams, Cathy : The Greek's Forbidden Bride

68 - Green, Abby : Bought For The Frenchman's Pleasure

69 - Cresswell, Jasmine : Missing

70 - Cresswell, Jasmine : Suspect

71 - Cresswell, Jasmine : Payback

72 - Field, Sandra : The Billionaire's Virgin Mistress

73 - Hardy, Kate : In Bed With Her Italian Boss

74 - Bianchin, Helen : The Martinez Marriage Revenge

75 - Lawrence, Kim : The Spaniard's Pregnancy Proposal

76 - Mortimer, Carole : To Woo a Wife

77 - Napier, Susan : Mistress of the Groom

78 - Wilson, Gayle : Bogeyman

79 - Hooper, Kay : Blood Dreams

80 - Moreland, Peggy : The Texan's Contested Claim

81 - Milburne, Melanie : Innocent Wife, Baby of Shame

82 - Kane, Andrea : Dark Room

83 - Wilkinson, Lee : His Mistress by Marriage

84 - Browning, Amanda : The Millionaire's Marriage Revenge

85 - Darcy, Emma : Marriage Meltdown

86 - Lindsay, Yvonne : Tycoon's Valentine Vendetta

87 - Craven, Sara : Deceived

88 - Grady, Robyn : Hired for the Boss's Bed

89 - Roe, Paula : Forgotten Marriage

90 - Jordan, Penny : A Royal Bride at the Sheikh's Command

91 - Reid, Michelle : The Markonos Bride

92 - Rivers, Natalie : The Salvatore Marriage Deal

93 - Gates, Olivia : The Desert Lord's Baby

94 - Wilson, Patricia : Walk Upon the Wind

95 - Jordan, Penny : The Perfect Father

96 - Gardner, Lisa : HIDE

97 - Walker, Kate : Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife

98 - Shaw, Chantelle : The Frenchman's Marriage Demand

99 - Darcy, Emma : Bought For Revenge, Bedded For Pleasure

100 - Ward, J.R. : Lover Enshrined

ElleJay's May Stats:

Finally, my book reading counts are back to normal.  I was so busy early in the year that I wasn't reading as much nor blogging.  In 2007, I had read 143 books by the end of May, 2008 - I'm at 100.

In the Books read vs. Books acquired, in the month of May:

Books read:  49

Books acquired:  48

Difference:  1

The TBR challenge is at 25%, but that should increase with Vikki's June TBR challenge.  I made a commitment to read at least 15 TBRs.

The Cover Cafe has their 2007 Cover Contest on now - voting ends on May 25th.  Be sure to check it out and vote for your favourite covers nominated during 2007.  There's even a worst cover category and believe me there are sure some ugly ones out there!  Here's the link:  http://covercafe.com/contest/2007/coverintro.shtml

Enjoy!

BTW - you can submit nominations for 2008 at their site - any time during the year.

I stopped into a drugstore on my lunch hour today and discovered a gold mine!  Linda Howards PB release "Up Close and Dangerous" and Anne Stuart's latest in the Ice Series "Fire And Ice" were on their book shelves.  I grabbed both.  Now which one do I read first?  Decisions, Decisions!

The All About Romance's Annual Reader Poll has been posted with some very interesting results.  Here's the link:  http://www.likesbooks.com/2008_2007.html#novels

 Be sure to read the ATBF column with it (there's a link on the page) - there's some great insights into the results and comments from the winning authors.

Enjoy!

Our February reads:

I've bolded the books we rated Very Good to Excellent...

KathyD's:

8 -  Mallery, Susan : Falling for Gracie

9 -  Ana, Vivi : Blood Secrets

ElleJay's:

21 -  Graham, Lynne : The Greek Tycoon's Defiant Bride

22 -  Krentz, Jayne Ann : White Lies

23 -  Morgan, Sarah : The Sicilian's Virgin Bride

24 -  Hollis, Christina : One Night In His Bed

25 -  Brennan, Allison : Killing Fear

26 -  Cox, Maggie : His Live-In Mistress

27 -  Dunlop, Barbara : Beauty and The Billionaire

28 -  Ross, JoAnn : Freefall

29 -  York, Rebecca : Killing Moon

30 -  Lee, Miranda : The Guardian's Forbidden Mistress

I've been thinking of logging my books for a couple of years now and I decided that 2008 was the year to do it.  The other challengers have provided some helpful advice on many of the different options out there, so I spent the month of January investigating the software and have now decided to go with BookCat.  It provides most of what I require, and especially the Canadian price, which is helpful for insurance reasons.  I even ordered myself a CueCat barcode scanner to assist me - they are cheap and fun to use!  I ordered mine from LibraryThing for $15 plus $5 shipping.  They are cheaper on eBay but they wanted about $18 to ship to Canada.  LibraryThing was much better priced and I rec'd it in less than 2 weeks. 

This year KathyD (KathleenDoney) & I teamed up in "Novel Obsession".  However, the new format really isn't compatible to the team effort, but we wanted to continue with our plans, so like the other teams, we blog separately and tag to our team name.

Now, along comes the end of the month and I merrily go along and type up my reads and stats for January and chat away because in the past it's been all about me! 

So my apologies to KathyD - I'm reposting my January reads with the new title of our under our team name.  I won't forget this in February!  I am, however keeping the TBR and acquired/purchased stats separate as I don't believe Kathy is keeping any at this time.

January wasn't the best month for me - I am in a bit of a reading slump.  However, the upside is my house is much better organized than normal and I also didn't buy as many books this month either.  The downside?  Well, I've been shopping too much, for things other than books! - And it's getting expensive!

Just a reminder that the All About Romance website has its annual reader poll going until Feb 17th.  Any romance book with the publication date of 2007 (that's U.S. publication) is eligible.

They've now listed interim results which can be helpful in your decision-making.

It's a fun poll to participate in and I know that we, especially, can give them lots of names for the "Best Series" romance.  This category has been threatened in the past due to lack of interest/votes - but not from us!

So have some fun - it's a great site and I know they appreciate all the votes.  They exceeded their expectations on their Top 100 Romance Poll in the fall.  I like to think that we had a hand in that.

Here's the link:  http://www.likesbooks.com/ballotannualpoll.html

Enjoy!