How Do You Choose What To Read? (and MAY B Winner!)

The winner of MAY B, as chosen by Random.org, is Melissa Sarno. Congratulations Melissa! Email me your address and I'll get it to you ASAP.

Last week I went to book club. I LOVE book club, mostly because it's the only time all month when I get to be with my friends and without my (very lovely) children. We read SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson and, unsurprisingly, everyone liked it and we had a great discussion.

Most of the women in the group a major readers. While we chatting I thought I'd ask them how they choose which books to buy. I was especially interested to hear about how the kindle users picked one book over another.

This is what I got from the discussion.

-They choose books with a lot of positive reviews.

-They buy books that friends have recommended.

-They choose books priced over $8.00 or free classics. One of the women said that she steers away from anything with a low price ($0.99 to $2.99) because "it's usually a sign that the book will be awful." She said her time is too valuable to waste on a $0.99 eBook.

-They don't look at who publishes the book and don't care if it's self published, small press published, or big press published.

Now granted, this group probably doesn't represent the average Kindle reader, but I thought their answers were interesting, especially in light of the self publishing/$0.99 eBook boom.

How do you choose what to read? What matters most to you (price, publisher, reviews, cover, etc.)?

I'm Back (for today) and MAY B Giveaway

Hello friends!

Today, I have some good news, some less good news, and some VERY good news.

The good news: I finished my book.

The less good news: It still needs some editing and I'm not coming back to blogging land until it's done.

The VERY good news: I'm back today to give something away!

This:

I had the very great privilege to read this novel several years ago, before Caroline began submitting to agents. Yup, I'm that lucky.

There are some novels I love because the author tells a great story. There are other novels I love because the writing is brilliant. MAY B has both brilliant writing and an engrossing story. I love it so much.

Here's the description from Goodreads:

I've known it since last night:
It's been too long to expect them to return.
Something's happened.

May is helping out on a neighbor's Kansas prairie homestead—just until Christmas, says Pa. She wants to contribute, but it's hard to be separated from her family by 15 long, unfamiliar miles. Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned. Trapped in a tiny snow-covered sod house, isolated from family and neighbors, May must prepare for the oncoming winter. While fighting to survive, May's memories of her struggles with reading at school come back to haunt her. But she's determined to find her way home again. Caroline Starr Rose's fast-paced novel, written in beautiful and riveting verse, gives readers a strong new heroine to love.

I know you'll love it as much as I do. To celebrate May B's release I'm going to send one blog reader a copy. All you have to do is follow this blog and leave a comment on this post. I'll choose a winner Monday, January 16th.

Congratulations on your debut, Caroline! I hope it's a wonderful day.

Tangled Tides Release and WINNERS

"Yara Jones doesn't believe in sea monsters--until she becomes one."

The day has come! Karen Hooper's debut, TANGLED TIDES, releases today.

Tangled Tides includes several different species of mythical monsters and a battle is going on between mermaids, selkies, gorgons and sirens. To celebrate the day Karen has asked us to choose a side.

This was an easy choice for me, because as much as I love the selkies, gorgons and sirens in Tangled Tides, the mermaids and mermen are by far the coolest.

I choose MERFOLK!

You can choose a side too. Karen's blog has info on all the creatures and details about how you can participate.

Now, as promised, I'm going to announce the winners of the TANGLED TIDES giveaway and send two of you your very own copy. And the winners (chosen by random.org) are: E.R. King and Elaine AM Smith! CONGRATULATIONS! I'll email you and get these in the mail ASAP.

YAY KAREN! I know this day has been a long time coming and I hope it's every bit as wonderful as you've hoped it would be.

Karen is giving away a signed copy of her book and some other sea creature themed prizes. To enter, join the underwater web war on Twitter. Tweet which sea creatures you’re rooting for and why. Include the hashtag #TangledTides and you could win.

Karen will be on Twitter all day celebrating and answering questions, so stop by and say hello. @Karen_Hooper

Here are a few places to buy the book and read reviews:

Amazon: http://amzn.com/1936850435

Rhemalda Bookstore: http://tiny.cc/BuyTangledTides

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tangled-tides-karen-amanda-hooper/1035791101?ean=9781936850433&itm=1&usri=tangled%252btides

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12047201-tangled-tides

Win a Copy of TANGLED TIDES!

I know I'm supposed to be on blogging vacation, but I overlooked one MAJOR thing when I decided to take a November/December blogging break:

KAREN HOOPER'S BOOK RELEASE!!!

Karen has been a dear friend since we met and traded manuscripts more than two years ago, and her debut, TANGLED TIDES is a book no one should miss.

I knew when I read the first draft of TANGLED TIDES it would be something special. I was in awe of the incredible world Karen built, I loved her complex characters, and I got sucked into her brilliant story.

A few weeks ago I pre-ordered two copies. I got them in the mail last Friday, a full two weeks before the official release!

So, because I love Karen and I love my bloggy friends and can't wait for you all to read this fantastic book, I'm going to pass both of my copies on to you. Don't worry, I'll buy another one for myself on release day.

I like to keep giveaways simple, so all you have to do is leave a comment and a way to contact you. I'll announce two winners on Black Friday, (November 25) the day TANGLED TIDES officially releases. And yes, this giveaway is open to everyone, so you can win whether you live in Kansas or Timbuktu.

I hope everyone is having a beautiful November!

Blogging Vacation

This month I'm trying to rewrite a book. Then it's DECEMBER: the month of over-scheduling and joy.

Something's got to give.

I know you are all busy with NaNoWriMo and the holidays, so I'm thinking no one would be too sad if I take a few months of blogging vacation.

I'm planning to be back in 2012 and I'm really going to try to be a better blog neighbor then.

I'll miss you!

Seeing Both Sides

I'm tired of people who preach tolerance in one breath and belittle people who dare to think differently than them in the next.

I'm tired of people who don't try to understand the other side.

I'm tired of angry words.

I'm tired of hate.

I believe most people are good.

I believe most politicians want what's best for our country.

I believe most churches are filled with good people who want to serve others and serve the god they worship.

Maybe this makes me stupid. Or blind. Or both.

It probably shows how naive I am.

Oh well.

I just think that maybe we'd live in a better world if we spent less time trying to be heard and more time trying to hear and understand others.

Being a Mom

Sometimes I get a little annoyed when I see interviews with celebrity moms. Many times the focus is on their designer nursery or their creative naming skills and NOT on the fact that they are responsible for a small person and need to do their best not to screw up that small person's life.

I'm here to tell you that being a mom has NOTHING to do with designer nurseries. It has very little to do with cute clothes, creative baby names or fancy car seats.

Being a mom is about waking up with a newborn every three hours day and night. It's about sleeping on the floor next to the crib when a toddler has croup so you can hear each rattly breath and know he's still breathing.

Being a mom is about cleaning carpet a million times when it's time to potty train and not getting upset when a five-year-old still has an accident every now and then.

Being a mom is about comforting a six-year-old when a kid at school has been mean. It's about sitting down with a book and trying to explain why the a in "have" doesn't make a long A sound.

And being a mom is about skipping a birthday celebration so you can be up all night with three kids with 102+ degree temperatures. It's about cleaning puke, and poop, and pee ALL THE TIME.

Being a mom is not glamorous.

Today is my birthday. I'm 31. I feel happy about these 31 years. I'm glad I graduated from college. I feel very lucky that I was able to marry my best friend. I'm pleased that I've written a few books. But I'm most proud of the seven years I've spent being a mom.

This morning my sweet sick children brought me birthday cards full of pictures they'd drawn and creatively spelled versions of "I love you, Mom."

Being a mom is hard, but it's so, so worth it.