zondag 1 juni 2014

blij, blij, weer een stapel boeken erbij

De afgelopen drie maanden zijn er weer een hele stapel (40) boeken voor mijn planken en ogen binnen gekomen

Vanuit de vaste dealer BookDepository:
·          Adrian, Lara                 Shades of midnight
·          Bishop, Anne               Written in Red
·          Boyle, Elizabeth           And the Miss Ran Away With the Rake
·          Boyle, Elizabeth           Have you any rogues?
·          Boyle, Elizabeth           If wishes were earls
·          Brook, Meljean             Riveted
·          Burrowes, Grace         The bridegroom wore plaid
·          Bush, Nancy                 Nowhere to run
·          Campbell, Anna           My reckless surrender
·          Harper, Fiona               The rebound guy
·          Hunter, Kelly                What the bride didn't know
·          Jackson, Lisa                Running scared (aka Wishes)
·          James, Eloisa                Three weeks with Lady X
·          Kenyon, Sherrilyn       Dream Chaser
·          Koch, Gini                     Alien Collective
·          Laurens, Stephanie     A gentleman's honor
·          Laurenston, Shelly      Bite me
·          Quick, Amanda            The Mystery Woman
·          Viehl, Lynn                   Disenchanted & co
·          Viehl, Lynn                   The clockwork wolf
·          West, Annie                  An enticing debt to pay

Op het boekenfestijn Utrecht in twee dagen:
·          Burrowes, Grace                            The heir
·          Burrowes, Grace                            Lady Maggie's secret scandal
·          Crusie, Jennifer & Bob Mayer      Wild ride
·          Cruz, Melissa de la                        Witches of east end
·          Fresina, Jayne                                 The most improper miss Sophie Valentine
·          Galen, Shana                                   When you give a duke a diamond
·          Grey, Amelia                                   A gentleman says "I do"
·          Jones, Lisa Renee                           The storm that is Sterling
·          Jones, Lisa Renee                           The danger that is Damon
·          Kaye, Robin                                     Romeo, Romeo
·          Kaye, Robin                                     Wild thing
·          Mann, Catherine                            Hot zone
·          McKenna, Lindsay                          Come gentle the dawn
·          Rigaud, Heather Lynn                   Fitzwilliam Darcy, rock star
·          Robards, Karen                              Shameless
·          Rowe, Stephanie                             Touch if you dare
·          Wisdom, Linda                                A demon does it better

En nog wat tweedehands boeken op de boekenkraam markt Vredenburg
·          Graham, Heather        The presence
·          Litton, Josie                  Fountain of secrets

Daarnaast heb ik nog drie e-books gekocht bij Amazon.
Dit zijn:
·         Fated mates: The alpha shifter boxed set met verhalen van, Georgette St. Clair, Tabitha Conall, Alexis Dare, Skye Eagleday, Michelle Fox,, A.E. Grace, Adriana Hunter, Eve Langlais, A.T. Mitchell, Molly Prince, Lynn Red & Liliana Rhodes
·         Tall, dark and alpha boxed set met verhalen van Randi Alexander, Koko Brown, Sam Cheever, Delaney Diamond, Eve Langlais, Afton Locke, Dawn Montgomery, Farrah Rochon, Paige Tyler en Eve Vaughn
·         The professional van Kresley Cole

vrijdag 30 mei 2014

Meeting Patricia (Patty) Briggs

A couple of weeks ago, Aurian read a message on Facebook that Patricia Briggs would be in Germany at the end of May. We were immediately curious. Would she be at the Berlin LoveLetter convention?

I emailed to her assistant Ann. She told me Patricia would be lecturing at the Lüneburg university, on May 27th. Just a couple of days after the LLC! Aurian and I didn’t have to think too long, we were going to extend our German vacation!


So Monday we went from Berlin to Lüneburg, via the tourist route.


At the end of the afternoon we arrived at our hotel. After freshening up we went to the foyer, readying ourselves to go out for dinner. Then I spotted a familiair T-shirt…


It was Ann, with Patricia Briggs and her husband Mike. They were staying at the same hotel! They were extremely jetlagged and tired from travelling and sightseeing. But they were very courteous and talked to us. When I mentioned I liked the “Hauptman security” T-shirt best, Mike went to their room to get one for me!

Patty also gave us a super cool metal business card.
(I erased the adress)
If I ever going to get a tattoo (I probably won’t) I would take this wolf and use it.

The next day we went sightseeing and at the end of the afternoon we got ready for going to the university. In the foyer we met Patti and Mike again. That gave her the opportunity to sign our books and for us to take some photos. We also gave her our gift bags, with stroopwafel, licorice and chocolate goodies from Karin and Peggy.

At five we left for the university. Patricia gave a lecture on the use of mythology in her books. This was very interesting, she has a extensive knowledge of werewolf mythology. 
After the lecture there was time for some questions.  Patty talked about upcoming books, her writing schedule (her goal is 5 pages a day) and a possible pet for Jessie (a dog, they are very adaptable).

Last but nog least was the signing. A smart bookseller brought English and German books. I bought four and had them signed.  

Ann had some more goodies for us: a transfer and a magnet. Yay!


After some more talking with Ann, Mike and Patty, we said our goodbyes  and went back to our hotel. 

We had a great day, meeting Patty, Mike and Ann, getting goodies and books and having a fun time talking about some of my favorite books. My kind of vacation!





Loveletter Convention 2014 – day two.

Sunday started with a Q&A with Larissa Ione en JL Langley. A very nice talk about gay romance, erotic romance and how people react when authors tell them what kind of books they write.

After that I stayed for the Q&A with Nancy Bush en Lisa Jackson. The are sisters (can you tell?) and talk about their first foray into writing and how it developed over the years. Interesting and amusing!

The next two events were games: Alpha Hero Poker and the Romance Quiz. Alpha Hero poker was very entertaining, we had Fiona Harper as our dealer. Kelly Hunter asked questions about Alpha Heroes, wich  were very difficult (NOT!) and great fun. I won a carafe and two glasses. 

At the Romance Quiz we won English books. There I went a bit stupid. We had a choice of several English books on the table. I zeroed in on a Nalini Singh book with a unknown cover and took it. Found out later it was a reprint of a book I already have! I got a friend to swap it with another book she took. But it was an erotic romance book in first person. I don't mind erotica, but not in FP. So I gave it away to Peggy. One less book! Dumb.

After lunch we went to a workshop by Lara Adrian and Larissa Ione about writing series. It was more like a Q&A, and interesting. Especially when the husbands came involved!

We wanted to go to the last Q&A with Nalini Singh, but once again it was too busy, so we sat in the garden, relaxing and talking with authors, bloggers and other bookfriends.

Between four and six, there were the signing sessions with all the authors. Free German books and an occasional English one.
This year it was organized in a peculiar way. The authors were divided into three groups (A,B,C) and there was a line per group. You got three tickets per line. These gave you the right to three free books (with an autograph by the author).
The consequence was that there was a very long line, that wouldn't lessen. If you wanted to meet all the authors you had to go round at least three times. And stand in the burning sun. Aurian and I decided early to not do that and to stay in the garden, in the shade and read a while, waiting for the real diehards to come back. 

We stayed that way until six thirty. Finally the line shorted and now there was shade. Peggy told us that Michelle Willingham still had English books, so we went to line C. We got them and also an English book by Sandra Schwab. That brought my free book total to seven!

To conclude the weekend we went out with a group of five writers to (another) Italian across the street. Before the weekend Annie West, Fiona Harper and Kelly Hunter already agreed to come. Michelle Willingham and Nancy Warren joined us too. In all, a great group and a fun dinner.

donderdag 29 mei 2014

Loveletter Convention 2014 – day one.

Last weekend was the third LoveLetter Convention in Berlin. I went together with Aurian and met more bloggers. To show some of the highlights I made this blog.

We started as a group of four. Aurian and her three guest-bloggers: Peggy (from Belgium), Karin (from Austria) and me. Soon our group was expanded with Vanessa (from Germany) and Jutta (also from Austria). 


At the first day, Saturday, we were up early to avoid standing in line. We were successful, others weren't so lucky...

We got our badges and bags quickly. This years it was Milka-lila!










Our first event was the blind date in the Lounge. We were early and found a place at a table. There we met Annie West, Larissa Ione and Kelly Hunter. We got some photo's and autographs in our books and on the bags. 
with Kelly Hunter and Larissa Ione
with Larissa Ione, Karin, Annie West and Aurian
with Sylvia Day
After that we went to the Meet and Greet with Maya Banks en Nalini Singh in the garden. Maya gave some of us a waterbottle and she signed the first of the two books I brought. Because of the long line I only gave her one to sign. I regretted that later, because her health wasn't good and I didn't saw her again because she went back to her hotel.

Next was Nalini Singh. One of my favorite authors and the star of the convention. I had three books with me from my friend Rinske. She signed them all, and with different dedications.
Then the two books I brought. She started to sign, then found it was already signed by her, two years ago. Oeps! After that she signed "Heart of Obsidian". And of course there was a photo opportunity.

At eleven another round of blind dates. These are the best events of the convention. You get to talk to the authors, and they get to ask you some questions. And they are good source of books, swag and other gifts (bags, a nice koala from Annie West and pens) ;-)

At twelve o'clock we went to the Round Table about Contemporary Romance. With Fiona Harper, Sarah Harvey, Kelly Hunter, Ann Major, Jane Porter, Nancy Warren en Annie West. Very good discussions about the reason for writing in that genre, the pitfalls and the rewards.

After lunch a Q&A with Sylvia Day en Nancy Warren.

At three o'clock I took a workshop with Michelle Willingham. About her travels in Scotland and Ireland and how this inspired her in her historic novels.
She has a teachers background and knew how to hold the attention of her public. She brought candy from the USA as reward for answering her questions. I got Junior Mints and Karin Reeces Pieces (a kind M&M with peanut butter taste).
And I won a book! 

At four we wanted to go to another workshop, given by Nalini Singh, but it was full, so we went to a reading. It was about the first kiss. Fiona Harper, Kelly Hunter, Ann Major, Jane Porter, Annie West, Michelle Willingham and Nancy Warren read from their own work. A scene with the first kiss between the main characters.

The last event from day one was another round of blind dates. They really are my favorite event. So many nice authors!
Samantha Young
Jane Porter
Nancy Bush
Lisa Jackson
That evening we went to a pizza place across the street with our group and four French bookfriends. We ate good, cheap pizza and had a great time!


 A fine way to wrap up this first day!

maandag 10 maart 2014

boeken voor LLC2014



Ik moet binnenkort maar eens beginnen aan de boeken die ik wil gaan lezen voor de LoveLetter Conventie van komende mei. Nog maar een paar maanden!

Mijn lijstje is behoorlijk lang. Eens kijken hoe ver ik kom.

Lara Adrian
Deeper than midnight
Darker after midnight
Edge of dawn
Maya Banks
The darkest hour
No place to run
Hidden away
Whispers in the dark
Echoes at dawn
Shades of gray
Softly at Sunrise
Forged in Steele
After the storm
Grace Burrowes
The bridegroom wore plaid
Nancy Bush
Nowhere to run
Sylvia Day
A touch of crimson
Fiona Harper
The rebound guy
Kelly Hunter
What the bride didn't know
Larissa Ione
Pleasure unbound
Desire unchained
Passion unleashed
Ecstasy unveiled
Sin Undone
Lisa Jackson
Running scared (aka Wishes)
Annie West
An enticing debt to pay
Samantha Young
Slumber (e-book)

Van Nalini Singh heb ik alles gelezen
Abbi Glines heb ik geprobeerd, maar vond ik niet veel aan.
Van Jane Porter, Ann Major en Michelle Willingham kon ik geen boeken vinden, maar wie weet, delen ze wat uit in Berlijn!

zaterdag 1 maart 2014

Blij, blij, blij weer 76 boeken er bij!

In de maand januari en februari en de eerste dag van maart is de boekenkast en stuk voller geworden. Een aantal boeken gekocht via DB, een boek toen ik op visite was in Groningen en een boek heb ik gekregen van Aurian.

Bookdepo:
Adrian, Lara - Edge of dawn
Banks, Maya - After the storm
Bennett, Jenn - Bitter spirits
Callihan, Kristen - Shadowdance
Cole, Kresley - If You Dare
Cole, Kresley - If You Desire
Cole, Kresley - If You Deceive
Harrison, Thea - Falling light
Hunter, Jillian - The countess confessions
Singh, Nalini - Heart of obsidian

Groningen
Feehan, Christine - Dark peril

gekregen
Putney, Mary Jo - Sometimes a rogue

Daarnaast heb ik een aantal boeken gekocht voor mijn kindle-app op Amazon. Die 1-click kopen knop is gemeen…
Chase, Loretta, Foley, Galen, Laurens, Stephanie - Royal bridesmaids
Chase, Loretta, Foley, Galen, Laurens, Stephanie - Royal weddings
Harbin, Mandy; Hart, Crymsyn; Langlais, Eve; Lockwood, Tressie; Newton, LeTeisha; Yule, S.K.- Shifter seduction boxed set
Callihan, Kristen – Ember en Entwined
Kyle, Celia - No ifs, ands, or bears about it
Young, Samantha - Slumber

Maar de meeste boeken zijn tweedehands.

Een tweetal via Aurian op de markt op Vredenburg
Cathy Maxwell - The seduction of an English Lady
Deveraux, Jude - High Tide

En vorig weekend ben ik met Aurian naar Zoetermeer gegaan en heb daar een aantal boeken gekocht….
Brown, Sandra - The Texas! Trilogy : Texas! Lucky,  Texas! Chase. Texas! Sage
Brockmann, Suzanne - Kiss and Tell
Brockmann, Suzanne - The Kissing Game
Brockmann, Suzanne - Force of nature
Brockmann, Suzanne - Breaking the rules
Brockmann, Suzanne - Embraced by Love
Brockmann, Suzanne - Ladies' Man
Brockmann, Suzanne - Infamous
Brown, Sandra -Tough customer
Coulter, Catherine - The edge
Coulter, Catherine - Point blank
Coulter, Catherine - Double take
Garwood, Julie - Shadow dance
Graves, Samantha - Sight unseen
Howard, Linda - Strangers in the night: Lake of dreams; White out; Blue moon
Howard, Linda - Mr. Perfect
Howard, Linda - Killing time
Howard, Linda - Cover of night
Howard, Linda - Veil of night
Laurens, Stephanie - Four in hand
Laurens, Stephanie - a Rake's vow
Laurens, Stephanie - a Rogues proposal
Laurens, Stephanie - A secret love
Laurens, Stephanie - On a wild night
Laurens, Stephanie - The perfect lover
Laurens, Stephanie - The lady chosen
Laurens, Stephanie - The edge of desire
Leigh, Lora - Tempting the beast
Leigh, Lora - The man within
Leigh, Lora - Forbidden pleasure
Lowell, Elizabeth - The Color of Death
Lowell, Elizabeth - The Wrong Hostage
Lowell, Elizabeth - Love song for a raven
Ross, JoAnn - Homeplace & Far Harbor

En vandaag kwam (eindelijk) een vorig jaar bestelde doos boeken binnen.
Brockway, Connie; James, Eloisa; Quinn, Julia - The Lady Most Willing
Balogh, Mary - A Counterfeit Betrothal + The Notorious Rake
Adair, Cherry - Edge of Danger
Adair, Cherry -Hush 
Adair, Cherry - Riptide
Adair, Cherry - Black magic
Balogh, Mary - First Comes Marriage
Boyle, Elizabeth - Along Came a Duke
Enoch, Suzanne - Taming an impossible Rogue
Enoch, Suzanne - Rules To Catch a Devilish Duke
Jennings, Elizabeth - Pursuit
London, Julia - The Last Debutante
Lowell, Elizabeth - Beautiful Sacrifice
MacAlister, Katie - Ain't Myth-Behaving: Stag Party & Norse truly
MacAlister, Katie - A Girl's Guide to Vampires
MacAlister, Katie - Sex and a Single Vampire
Michaels, Kasey - Beware of virtuous women
Michaels, Kasey - The Return of the Prodigal
Michaels, Kasey - Indiscreet
Phillips, Carly - Hot Stuff
Phillips, Carly - Hot Item
Phillips, Susan Elizabeth - Natural born charmer
Warren, Christine - Big bad wolf
Warren, Christine - Prince Charming doesn't live here