Book Review: The Decoy Date by Mira Lyn Kelly

The Decoy Date

Author: Mira Lyn Kelley

Series: The Wedding Date, book 4

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (December 4, 2018)

Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages

Goodreads     |     Amazon

SummaryFake relationship. Real feelings. Big problems.

Brody O'Donnel doesn't believe in happily-ever-afters—at least, not for himself. But he wants the best for his vivacious, beautiful friend Gwen Danes, and he's tired of watching her pine for a clueless man. Figuring a little bit of jealousy will motivate the guy, Brody proposes a fake relationship. It's an outrageous plan, but Gwen figures there's no harm in it—until they share a passionate kiss she never saw coming.

Suddenly, Gwen's fighting a growing attraction to a man she knows she can't have. After all, he's just faking it...isn't he?

1 Year Blogiversary + Unbirthday giveaway

Today is my 1 year blogiversary!

Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea

Because November is pretty great, next week is also my birthday. Imagine that - my blogiversary and my birthday, both in the span of a week!

To celebrate my 1 year blogiversary and my birthday, I'm hosting an Unbirthday Giveaway.

Unbirthday Giveaway

This one's going to be US only (international friends, feel free to read the fine print at the bottom of this post!) Giveaway will remain open for entries through November 30, and I'll choose and notify a winner on December 1.

The winner will receive an Unbirthday present, which will consist of:

• my favorite copy of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass 
• (if I can find another copy... because you can't have mine!!)
• 5-6 ARCs (all from 2018-2019, not Wonderland related)
• a copy of Mad Hatters & March Hares edited by Ellen Datlow
• Alice in Wonderland inspired coloring books & postcards
• cute tea things
• whatever else the Wonderland whimsy leads me to put in the package on the day I wrap it up

Now blow the candle out, my dears, and make your wish come true.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

INT friends fine print: Giveaway is US only - unless you're an INT person who wants to pay the difference in shipping, whatever it ends up being, in which case I'll happily pay the $13.65 flat rate I'd be paying to ship to the US and you can PayPal me the difference, LOL. If that sounds worth it to you, then BIRTHDAY FUN FOR EVERYONE! The package would be shipping from Shoreview, MN, USA, zipcode 55126 and would contain approx 10 paperback books as well as some other fairly lightweight other items. I may end up needed to use a large flat rate envelope, in which case I'd end up paying $18.90 US flat rate, which again I'd subtract from the total shipping cost if you wanted to enter the giveaway and pay for shipping to you. Sorry I can't be more exact about how much this thing is going to weigh, but if you wanted to pick 10ish paperbacks and a teapot (because Wonderland, right?) and put them in a box and weigh it, that should give you a good estimate for weight and allow you to estimate shipping costs to your country. 

Discussion: What to do with old ARCs

I recently won a box of ARCs, and while I'm super grateful to have won them, I'm also a bit at a loss as to what to DO with them. Of course I'm going to read the majority of them (duh!) and pass along some newer ones to other bloggers for review. But then some of them are ARCs for books that were published in 2015/2016, so I don't really feel right about passing them along, but I can't really just throw books in the garbage...

Edited to add: I've seen several authors put up posts PLEADING with reviewers not to pass on ARCs to schools/readers etc. These copies are meant for review purposes and are NOT "real books" (even though they're masquerading as them in pretty covers) and are filled with typographical errors and in many cases are missing entire scenes and things. One point brought up was that it does the reader a disservice to read an ARC instead of the finished, polished copy of the book and that these books are for REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. ARCs are not the best version of the book, y'all. You are missing out on some glory and beauty by reading only the ARC and not the final version.

This is where you come in, bookish webiverse! What do you do with old ARCs? I know they're just draft copies in fancy covers, not meant to be forever books. (Don't let the cover fool you! These are not "real books!")

I have mighty aspirations to turn the pages into craft projects. Here are some of the ideas I found so far. Since the holiday season is approaching, you can see my mind kind of went hard in very Christmas-y ways... ;)

Bookish paper ornaments

I love this adorable monogrammed paper star ornament from Jaime Costiglio - check out her blog for step by step direction. 

These book page star ornaments are also really cute - you can find the how to guide over at Harbour Breeze Home. 

I must just be into star ornaments right now... this 5-pointed origami star ornament tutorial can be found over at Homemade Gifts Made Easy

And if you want to get a little fancier with your paper folding, this tutorial over at Krista Sew Inspired for (yet another) paper star ornament is glorious.

Bookish wreaths

This Christmas book page wreath is gorgeous, and you can find the tutorial over at Sparkles of Sunshine.

Another variation on the book page wreath is to use rolled pages fanning outwards. Vintage Paint and More has a good tutorial on how to get started on this type of wreath.

Origami & papercraft

I could always use book pages as origami paper to make things like lucky stars and flowers, and even if I turn out to stink at the art of folding paper there are non-origami ways of making paper flowers too.

Do you have any good ideas about what to do with ARCs for books that have been published for a while? Is it OK/good/better to pass them on to other readers? Should I try to "upcycle" them? 

Monthly Wrap-Up :: October 2018

2018 Reading Challenge

Books read in October: 15

Books read in 2018: 155/175

And now I'm kind of going "Whyyyy did I increase my challenge goal from 150 to 175 again? I could be DONE right now!" hahahahahahahhahaha arrrrghhhh *flumph*

#LetsDiscuss2018

hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight

Progress in October: 4

Total Progress: 23/21 - COMPLETE!

I'd set my goal at 21 to be in the 21-30: Chatty Kathy. I guess I'll set a new goal of 31 to hit "Terrifically Talkative" but DANG that's going to be hard to go with less than 2 months left in the year... CONSTANT VIGILENCE!
New Goal: 31

#2018BeatTheBacklist

hosted by Novel Knight

Progress in September: 0? 2?

Total Progress: 6/20? I'm not even sure... I set me own weird rules for this one to try to read my physical TBR mountain, but I've added to many new books this year and I can't recall what existed in my physical TBR before the beginning of the year and what didn't. I've read books published before 2018 which is what the actual challenge calls for... I might need to just abandon ship on this one, guys. 

#2018AtoZChallenge

hosted by Ginger Mom & the Kindle Quest

Progress in October: 0

Total Progress: 23/26

Letters remaining: Q, X, Z (The hard ones!) You guys, with Q, X, and Z remaining, I just might have to call it quits at 23... 

Book Review: Pisces Hooks Taurus by Anyta Sunday

Pisces Hooks Taurus

Author: Anyta Sunday
Series: Signs of Love, book 4
Publisher: ? (October 14, 2018)
Kindle edition, 288 pages
Goodreads     |     Amazon

Summary
It’s a time for searching, and a time for finding, Pisces: keep casting your line and you will hook what you’re looking for.

Zane has it all planned out: land the perfect Meet Cute, fall in love, and live happily ever after.
Should be simple enough if he put his mind to it. A little creativity and some thinking outside of the box, and voila, he’d be married to the woman of his dreams.
It would be perfect.
And it would be before his visa ran out.

But why are his feelings running wild now that the pressure’s on? Why is his picture-perfect plan turning into a muddled mess of morphed metaphors he can’t make sense of anymore?

Just as well he’s met an English professor to help. And even though their first meet is anything but cute, this down-to-earth teacher may just be the realist Zane needs to ground him and give him a shot at love after all.

Don’t cast your line too wide, Pisces. Your perfect catch may already have bitten.

~ - ~ - ~

Pisces Hooks Taurus (Signs of Love #4) is an MM opposites-attract romantic comedy featuring an unapologetic romantic and a broken realist.
More wit, banter and bad puns - and even more heart-stopping slow burn!
Can be read as a standalone. 

Blog Tour: First Earl I See Tonight by Anna Bennett (review, excerpt, giveaway)

An heiress with a daring proposal. An earl who’s determined to resist her. And a love that just might be written in the stars, in First Earl I See Tonight by Anna Bennett.

Recently jilted by his fiancée, David Gray, Earl of Ravenport is not in the market for a wife. Even if Gray didn’t have his hands full renovating his crumbling country house, it would take more than a bold marriage proposal from a headstrong young beauty to thaw his frozen heart. Gray is confident that spending a week at his ramshackle estate will change her mind about marriage, but every passionate moment he spends with her tempts him to change his…

A talented artist, Miss Fiona Hartley desperately needs her dowry money to pay off a blackmailer set on ruining her sister. The handsome earl seems a sensible choice for a husband…if only she can convince him that romance will play no part. But marrying in name only may prove difficult for Fiona. Gray can’t help but be dazzled by her genuine warmth. Yet as their feelings deepen, Fiona’s deadline looms. Will her secrets destroy them, or is true love their final destiny?

AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundiBooksKoboGoogle Play

Book Review: Better Not Pout by Annabeth Albert

Better Not Pout

Author: Annabeth Albert
Publisher: Carina Press (November 1, 2018)
Kindle edition, 288 pages
Goodreads     Amazon

Summary
One hard-nosed military police officer.

One overly enthusiastic elf.

One poorly timed snowstorm.

Is it a recipe for disaster? Or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for holiday romance?

Teddy MacNally loves Christmas and everything that goes along with it. When he plays an elf for his charity’s events, he never expects to be paired with a Scrooge masquerading as Santa Claus. His new mission: make the holiday-hating soldier believe he was born to say ho-ho-ho.

Sergeant Major Nicholas Nowicki doesn’t do Santa, but he’s army to his blood. When his CO asks an unusual favor, Nick of course obliges. The elf to his Kris Kringle? Tempting. Too tempting—Nick’s only in town for another month, and Teddy’s too young, too cheerful and too nice for a one-night stand. 

The slow, sexy make-out sessions while Teddy and Nick are alone and snowbound, though, feel like anything but a quick hookup. As a stress-free holiday fling turns into Christmas all year round, Teddy can’t imagine his life without Nick. And Nick’s days on the base may be coming to a close, but he doesn’t plan on leaving anything, or anyone, behind.