Giveaway: Romancing the Valentine Giveaway Hop

hosted by Reading Romances

The Romancing the Valentine Giveaway Hop is a hop where each participating blog hosts their own giveaway and then all hosts are linked up so our followers hop between one blog to another!

I think this may be my first giveaway on this site. What better time to do it then around St. Valentine's Day? I don't have a sweetheart this year, so one of YOU gets to take that prize :)

Here are the lovely details.

The Prize:

When Beauty Tamed the Beast
By Eloisa James
Miss Linnet Berry Thrynne is a Beauty . . . Naturally, she's betrothed to a Beast.

Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant, lives in a castle in Wales where, it is rumored, his bad temper flays everyone he crosses. And rumor also has it that a wound has left the earl immune to the charms of any woman.

Linnet is not just any woman.

She is more than merely lovely: her wit and charm brought a prince to his knees. She estimates the earl will fall madly in love—in just two weeks.

Yet Linnet has no idea of the danger posed to her own heart by a man who may never love her in return. If she decides to be very wicked indeed . . . what price will she pay for taming his wild heart?

This was such a fun fairy tale retelling! Eloisa James is doing quite a few fairy tale retellings as of late. Though they are the same theme they are not really a series so there is need to worry about jumping in with this book.

The characters in this book are realistically flawed and interesting! This is a great book for those who are new to romance or looking for a new twist on a historical romance!

How To Enter:
The giveaway runs from February 6through the 13th. Winners will be announced on the 14th. Please use the rafflecopter below to enter!

Book Blogger Hop January 14 - 17

Now that I am actively blogging again, I decided to participate again in this.

"Why do you read the genre that you do? What draws you to it?"

I read romance novels for the happy feeling it gives me. I like getting lost in a world where I believe things like this happened (hence why I stick with historical or something that has some kind of fantastical element). I like to be entertained when I read, for the most part. Since I started a job that uses a logic side of my brain quite a bit, coming home and trying to slog through something that doesn't relax me at the same time isn't going to cut it.

But I have noticed lately that I am reading a wider variety (of fiction), and I am glad the trend is moving that way for me. Sadly it is still at the point where I tell people I read and get the question "What kind of books?" the answer almost immediately has them dismiss me and not being a true reader, or some such nonsense. But that really is a post for another time.

Here are some of the romances that keep me coming back:

What A Gentleman Wants - Caroline Linden
Wicked Intetions - Elizabeth Hoyt
The Parasol Protectorate Series - Gail Carriager (huh apparently I haven't reviewed the third... I must get on that!)

So hope you enjoy your stay! Thanks for stopping by!

Book Blogger Hop Aug 13

The Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Crazy for books has helped me find quite a few awesome blogs that I read everyday or every other day. It is an awesome resource for someone starting out to get into things. Here is the question this week:

How many books do you have on your 'to be read shelf’?

My Goodreads to-read shelf has 260. I hope to get to all of them eventually.

To add a little about how I participate in the BBH:
I am not really looking to gain 800 followers from this. I really just want to find good book blogs to read. I hope that's why you ended up here. So I am going to point you to some of my reviews, hoping you may look around and decide you want to stay and see more because you are interested in what I write about here.

I've just read some paranormal fantasy in the books Soulless and Changeless

I'm reading my way though Grimm's Fairytales.

I've read some classics like Pygmalion or Lolita

I've been known to review Romance and YA kind of frequently but the books really depend on if they fit the challenges or not.

So look around. If you like it, leave a comment. If you really like it, follow me. I'll return the favor by going to your site and looking around. If I like it, I leave a comment. If I really like it, I follow.

Thanks for stopping by!

Book Blogger Hop July 29 - Aug 2

Welcome people from the hop. The answer the today's question of Who is your favorite new-to-you author so far this year?

Well they are all romance novels, but there is nothing wrong with that!! I loved Jennifer Ashley's Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, and can't wait to read the next one that just came out! Also there was Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady. Others that I have not reviewed (yet) by really liked were Gail Carriger (my review of Soulless will be up soon) and Laura Lee Guhrke's Girl Bachelor series.

OH! How could I forget Suzanne Collins and The Hunger Games

So stay awhile. Check out the place and see if you'll like it. I mostly review romance and general fiction with a dash of young adult and a small pinch of non-fiction.

Book Blogger Hop July 23 - 26

Crazy-for-books's weekly blogger hop has started and this week's challenge question (see what I did there?) is:

TELL US ABOUT THE BOOK YOU ARE CURRENTLY READING!

I have a two hour drive now every day so I've been doing a lot of audiobook listening, which makes it a slower go. Plus adjusting to working while still having time to read and internet is a balance I am not winning. As well as you know, eating and sleeping and working out and guitar playing. I am suffering here!

What was the question? Oh yes. Reading.

I just finished The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie and am about 75 pages from finishing Soulless by Gail Carriger. Absolutely love Soulless! It'a a steam punk romantic suspense about a society in which the supernatural live in conjunction with the natural. And then there's Alexia, who is a little of both. She's a preternatural: one who was born without a soul. The world building is excellent and I am looking forward to picking up the next two in the series soon!

So stop in. Look around. What I do here is review the books I read for various reading challenges I partake in. Therefore I read a variety, but I try to fit as much romance as possible!

Book Blogger Hop July 2 - 5

Crazy for Books hosts a weekly blogger hop! A what?

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and find new book-related blogs that we may be missing out on! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed!

Each week there is a question and answer session to help us get to know each other.

This week's: Tell us your name and why you started blogging

My name is Julia. I first kept a blog about, oh 8 years ago. It was more of an online journal though I occasionally did book reviews. When I found Goodreads.com I started to review there once I got more involved in the site. Then I got even more involved in the site and started joining groups and reading challenges. This led to the start up of The Broke and the Bookish. Working on that had been so fun that I decided to get serious about reviewing all the books I read for the various challenges I complete. So this happened.

Some interesting posts to get you started:
At Least once in a lifetime challenge: The Hunger Games
The Name Game: Promise Me Tonight
Julia review's The Spymaster's Lady (this one is at the blog I co-author with about 20 other 20 somethings)

Enjoy your time here!!