back in the habit

Good morning and happy new week in the new year! I have to go back to work today after having a good 10 days off. le sigh. But it will be good to get back into the swing of things, I suppose.

In the meantime, please take a little trip out to DIK island where Carrie Lofty is visiting for the next three days. Today, she's talking about the exotic pleasures of Spain. I must admit, it is refreshing to see an author use a location and time period that we don't often see and I am looking forward to her new release. A monk in medieval Spain as a hero...yes, I'm all over that. :)

And the winner is...

...(drumroll)...

Renee! Her winning entry of how to have fun for under $4:

Double cappuccino ($3.85) at my favorite coffee place, a book, my ipod. Bliss.

I must be getting old. In college, it would have been the free condoms at the Student Health Center and my boyfriend (now husband). ;-)

I like both suggestions. *g* And I could really go for that cappuccino right about now. Thanks to everyone for playing and hey, go buy Carrie's book What a Scoundrel Wants. It's under $4. And will entertain you for hours!

In which I buy out the store

I got a call from my local Borders today telling me that my order of Broken Wing had arrived. That was quick! I only placed the request on Monday. woot! (hey, Kristie I finally got it!) I had some Borders Bucks to blow, and I figured that I could pick up this book as well as copies of Carrie Lofty's new release at the same time.

Lo and behold, this time when I went to the Romance section, right smack in the L's (somewhere after Stephanie Laurens and before Julia London), snuggled two copies of What a Scoundrel Wants. So I bought them both. The entire stock. heh. So as far as Borders is concerned, this new book is so hot that it is flying off the shelves one day after release. Must stock up! (At least I hope that's how the statistics will look). Anyways, I now have one print copy for me (I have the e-book but there's nothing like paper) and a copy for one lucky reader in this week's giveaway. If you haven't already entered your suggestion for fun things to do under $4 and a chance to win, you still have a little time. Go for it!

After snagging my loot, I hunted down a section of the store I had hitherto never set foot in. The wedding planners/organizers. Oh dear. I grabbed a stack of them and went to the coffee shop area to peruse and compare. First of all, it's amazing to me how much money the "typical" wedding costs. S'rsly? Half of the stuff that is on the list seems extravagant and wasteful to me. We're going to be doing this very much on the cheap. I didn't buy any of the books; I really just wanted to get an idea of what kind of a book I might want to find online (for cheap...see, I'm already working on a budget!).

Anyways, overall a very productive trip. Now I want to curl up with my copy of WASW and pick up where I left on in the e-book.

Fun for under $4 - contest!

It's not often that my wee blog holds a contest. Primarily because I am too poor to buy loot to give out and also because I'm generally too lazy to organize one. But one of my fav blogger/authors, Carrie Lofty, is coming out with a debut book and although I'm only halfway through my review copy, I can tell you now...it's a good 'un! Fans of historical romance, clever dialogue, and derring-do take note. You want to read this book. (More on this later...I plan to review it this week).

As for the contest. Well, you may have noticed from the cover, that this book is going for the really unbeatable price of $3.99. Seriously? What kind of fun can one find for the bargain price of under four bucks (or the equivalent in your home currency)? This is your contest...write in the comments and give me your best suggestions for fun things that cost less than $4. Winner will receive (obviously) a copy of What a Scoundrel Wants without having to pay a dime. How cool is that? And because I've lived outside the U.S. for most of my life and since Carrie's husband is a Brit, I'll open this up to readers anywhere. You're all eligible...postage frustrations notwithstanding. Go forth and win!

I have the honor of hosting Carrie on the DIK blog for the next three days, so please stop by and see what kind of fun we can cook up.