I haven’t updated you all on my progress with J Kaye’s (now Rachel’s) 100+ Reading Challenge. From January until now I’ve read 32 books, which isn’t too bad but February was a bit slow.

I also want to thank you all for your comments & emails & tweets due to my little rant and thank you to all the authors who stopped by to voice their opinions on the matter.

Come back tomorrow when I will be giving away THREE copies of Rachel Ward’s YA novel Num8er’s!

My friend Synde (who does the Vampire Academy Jewellery) posted about strict & soft on sale dates for a booksellers point of view to the rant issue.

Jackie at Literary Escapism has posted her third newsletter of the year which is full of interesting information.

A big congrats to K-Khan (the normal half to KC Khan’s nutty country self) over at Smokin Hot Books who’s getting married soon! She wants to hear your horrible wedding stories, so head over & say congrats!

Abigail at All Things Urban Fantasy has posted her regular feature of Win On Wednesday which has a list of 117 contests around the blog world.

The Mighty Buzzard FINALLY got around to starting a blog, so go over & have a peek.

That’s just a quick update…for now….until next time….

Ever wondered what the writer does once the book comes?  Think they lay in bed doing whatever one does in place of smoking, since smoking is all passé (I don’t smoke anyway), but you get the picture…you’ve worked up to the big climax, it’s HERE, the book is out…release…now it’s time to just bask.  Right?

Um.  Wrong.

Here’s how it goes for me.

Tuesday: I hit as many local bookstores as I can (assuming I’m not otherwise engaged-lately, Tuesdays have come with previous engagements) so I can sign stock, leave bookmarks, talk to the booksellers.  Booksellers…they are my friend. 

Come 6pm, after I wrangle my little ones home and feed them, I stumble to PC, check email.

Then…from Tuesday and until, oh say… Friday, with random periods for break to eat, sleep, pee, take kids to sitters, etc, this is my life.

Check Google for:

Reviews… are people liking it? Hating it?

Check Amazon for:

Ratings…yeah, they don’t necessarily mean much, but still, I’m obsessive so yes, I’m checking.

Check Mrs. Giggles site…I LOVE her, did she read it? Did she like it? Did she hate it?

Check the pirate sites…I spent fricking months busting my ass on that book, please don’t let them be stealing from me already.

Check the blogs…are people talking about it?  Are people reading it? Are they hating it?

Check my email…has anybody emailed me?

Check my email again…has anybody fricking read it?

Check my mailbox…there is supposed to be a check.  Right?  Um.  It’s not there.  Do I email my agent? Come on, I need to pay for the ads, the contests, whimper, I need to pay my bills…

Login into facebook on the offchance that somebody is talking about it there.  Nope. Sigh.  But I’ve got bazillion friend requests, so I clear out those.

About this time, assuming it’s night time and the kids are in bed, I might stumble to the cabinet and get a rum and diet coke.  THEN…

I begin to…

Check Google for:

Reviews… are people liking it? Hating it?  Come on, people, it’s late, surely by now, somebody has read it, right?

Check Amazon for:

Ratings…yeah, they don’t necessarily mean much, but still, I’m obsessive so yes, I’m checking.  Oh, no…the ratings are dropping already?  How am I ever going to hit the big lists if this keeps happening????

Check Mrs. Giggles site…I LOVE her, did she read it? Did she like it? Did she hate it?  Choke.  No.  Review.  She doesn’t like my stuff anymore????

Check the pirate sites…I spent fricking months busting my ass on that book, please don’t let them be stealing from me already.  &#^@^@.  These people say they love my work, talk about it all the time and how much they enjoy it and this is how they show their appreciation-they fricking sabotage my career by stealing from me…whimper.  Where is that rum and diet coke?  Screw it.  Where is my strawberry wine?

Check the blogs…are people talking about it?  Are people reading it? Are they hating it?  Hey!  Somebody mentioned my book.  It’s in the TBR pile.  But still… hey, I exist!!!

Check my email…has anybody emailed me? Oh.  Lookie here…smile.  This reader picked it up because she liked the cover…and it turns out she couldn’t put it down.  I’m breathing again.

Login into facebook…and I find the most touching note from a reader I think I’ve read in…years.

Bliss?  No.  Not likely.  The days after a book comes out can be majorly stressful, but getting those notes from readers, seeing people talking about it blogs, those are the things that pull me through.  And when I sit back down in my chair on Monday, and get to work on the next book, those are the sort of things I’ll be thinking about.

So… you want to know which book I’m stressing about right now?  It’s called BROKEN.  And it’s pretty aptly named.  The characters of it are…well, pretty much broken…and they are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives when they find each other.

Shattered

Quinn Rafferty is working as a bounty hunter and bail bondsman in St. Louis when a new neighbor catches his eye. He’s tempted by her beauty—but he knows from experience that anyone desperate enough to live in his building is damaged goods. Besides, he has his own soul to mend before he can worry about anyone else.

Desperate

Sara Davis is on the run, but not for the usual reasons a woman goes on the lam. She’s not an abused wife, and she’s not a criminal. But she does have a plan for her future. And as much as she finds herself attracted to her gruff, tough neighbor, she can’t risk telling him the secrets she’s hiding. There’s just too much at stake.

Driven to desire…

But Quinn must get closer to Sara when she turns out to be the target of his new missing persons case, and he discovers that there is something more complex and dangerous to her than he thought. Now, both Quinn and Sara will have to expose their true feelings—as well as their fragile hearts—if they hope their love will survive…

If you’d like to read more about it, and maybe salvage my sanity, convince me that I do exist and check out my work, you can read an excerpt of BROKEN here at my site…and right now, if you buy BROKEN during release week, you can be entered to win a NOOK, the new ebook reader from Barnes and Noble.

Usually, if anything bad pertaining to blogging/authors/publishers/etc happens…I vent quietly to one or two people. I think it’s not right to air our dirty laundry in public, because really this isn’t a personal blog but a “business” albeit one I pay for, one I spend MY time on & one I use to promote OTHER PEOPLE (authors/companies/whatever). Contrary to popular belief, I do not get paid to do this. Nadda, zip, ziltch. But today is different, it happend to me & people I know who aren’t as outspoken (okay big mouthed) as I am. Who won’t defend themselves because they are a new blogger, or because they are hurt that an author spoke to them like they were a piece of crap on the street.

I’ve noticed some rather crappy things around the net this week & it’s not only bothered me, but authors have observed this & aren’t happy either.

Here’s the thing.

Even before I blogged, I would spend over $100.00 a month on books (prior to knowing the book depo existed). Now think about it, that’s over $1200.00 a year I would spend on books. Now it’s a bit less, thanks to wonderful Publishers/PR & Authors…yet I still spend in the range of $60-$80 a month on books. That is MY money, keep in mind I was laid off in July but yet that’s my only indulgence, books. I don’t ask for presents now, I ask for gift-cards to bookstores. Add to that, the cost that I myself pay to host this blog & domain name, money out of MY pocket no one elses.

So when I read & actually encounter authors telling me when and where and how I should spend MY money on their books, you can bet your ass I am upset & angry. Not only was I told not to buy books online, but to go in store because online won’t help NYT rankings…I was told afterwards that my sales didn’t count because I am Canadian. I was not the only one either, countless times readers were being spoken to rudely & it’s so freaking wrong. I couldn’t sleep I was so angry lastnight & it takes a lot for me to be that angry. For the record, I have never read this authors books & was asking about her FIRST BOOK.

In any case, after that lovely exchange, every single one of that authors books got taken out of my cart. No thanks, I was & am extremely offended.

Yes, bloggers/readers have feelings.

I work my ASS off, to the point where I could be either found staring at a book for hours or emailing an author for an interview, or spending HOURS sitting at my computer working on this site. FOR FREE! I do this because I love to read & I love to share good books, I don’t have to do this, none of us do. I don’t pirate books, I buy them with cash that is hard to come by for all of us!!

I have to give kudos to both Bree/Donna (Moira Rogers) & Stacia Kane for sticking up for us readers & bloggers and a special thanks to the author who apologized to me on behalf of all authors, I do not blame all of you for a few peoples actions.

But I will never buy a book, when I am told how, when, & where I should spend MY money the same way I wouldn’t expect an author to read my review & change their book because I didn’t like it.

Ayla Hammond has come home.
After years as a lone wolf in a self-imposed exile she’s rejoining the pack and trying to mend fences with her parents.
She’s convinced them to accept her girlfriend, but can a lone wolf change her ways?
As if homecoming wasn’t hard enough, Ayla also can’t help getting involved in a missing person case.
With pressure to solve the case mounting from the pack alphas, Ayla is starting to question where her loyalties lie –and if a return to the pack she left behind is really what she wants.

Although there are no vampires in SILVER KISS, let’s face it – you can’t go far these days without finding werewolves versus vampires, whether it’s in books or films. I guess there are lots of reasons why they might be natural enemies, and lots of reasons why people prefer one or the other. Me, I’m for the werewolves. At least they’re actually alive!

Of course there are lots of advantages to being a vampire that werewolves don’t have: eternal life and youth for one. But who wants to live forever? You just end up alone, jaded, and miserable if the films are anything to go by! At least being a werewolf is only a part-time gig. Once a month is all you have to deal with, then you can go back to your regular life if you want to.

Another reason werewolves beat vampires? No need to drink blood! Come on, the films might make it look glamorous, but would you really want to give up chocolate, steak, cheesecake, and red wine? I don’t think so. Werewolves get to eat whatever they want… and if the occasional sheep or rabbit works its way into your diet, well, it’s all protein, isn’t it?

I’ve got a great contest for everyone.  There’s an ebook for a winner at the end of today and everyone who enters now will also be in the running for winning a signed print copy of SILVER KISS drawn at the end of the week.  Just answer this simple question in your comment to be entered into both competitions:

Which would you rather be – a werewolf or a vampire? And more importantly, why?

Follow the SILVER KISS BLOG TOUR (http://www.queeredfiction.com/silverkiss.htm) for more chances to win.  Check out the itinerary and join me on the next step of the tour.  Tweet about it @queeredfiction and #silverkiss for more entries into the drawings!

Visit the Silver Kiss page at http://www.queeredfiction.com/silverkiss.htm for a reading as Naomi Clark reads from Wolf Strap! (Released in parts over the course of the blog tour!)

March is a big month for new releases, as always you can find this months list on the front page of my blog. Happy shopping!

Michele Hauf emailed me yesterday to let me know in advance TODAY she is hosting a ONE DAY ONLY contest to promote the release of her new release: Vampire’s Tango. Here’s the deets…

This contest takes place today only—March 1st.  Follow me on Twitter @michelehauf <http://www.twitter.com/michelehauf> .

 All you have to do to be entered to win a copy of HER VAMPIRE HUSBAND <http://www.michelehauf.com/hvh.html>  is RT (retweet) any of my posts about Vampire’s Tango <http://www.michelehauf.com/tvt.html>  today.  

I have 4 posts planned, starting in the morning through afternoon.  Each post has a link to learn more about the story, watch a video, or even to download free music at Amazon.  I want to spread the word, and you, my Tweeple, can help me.  For every RT, you’re entered once.  You can only RT 4 messages.  I’ll draw names tomorrow and announce winners on Twitter, March 2nd.  I’ll decide then how many winners there will be, but there will be at least 5.  

So go forth and tweet, Tweeps!  And many advance thanks for your support!

For more details, head over to Michele’s blog! http://dustedbywhimsy.blogspot.com

Because I not only love Synde’s work but because Synde is such an awesome person, I’ve decided on a new feature here on Writings of a Wicked Book Addict….Sunday’s with Synde. We’ll be showing Synde’s new Vampire Academy Inspired Jewellery!

Sterling silver chain holds little melon cut aquamarines framed by sterling silver beads from Bali. A large Aquamarine drop sways from a sterling silver toggle clasp, more ice blue aqua’s dangle below delicately..3 different tones of aqua make this necklace one to have
17″ plus drop

You can buy Synde’s Work @ Cemetery Cat Designs

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• List Price: $6.99 US/$8.99 CDN
• Publisher: Tor Books (March 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765364255
• ISBN-13: 978-0765364258

Buy Serpent Moon on March 2nd at:

• Chapters/Indigo
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble

Eric Thompson has always lived in the shadow of his older brother, the Alpha of the Canadian werewolf pack. While he has strength and speed and a howl that can truly make his pack whole, he doesn’t have his brother’s viciousness—and the pack wasn’t worth either of them dying. To Eric, a leader should lead wisely and well, and his brother has done neither. So he left to become a lone wolf.

Holly Sanchez has likewise lived in the shadows. A full human born to the Omega of the Boulder pack, she was attacked and turned into the very thing she had come to hate. Worse still, she became an alphic healer—except that as a wolf, she now terrifies the very animals she’d hoped to one day treat as a veterinarian.

But as the world goes mad and species begins to attack species, Holly and Eric learn that they may only have their special gifts, and each other, to rely on to hold together the fragments of what was once a mighty shapeshifter population.

For She has finally come, and the world will never again be the same.

In Serpent Moon we begin with Eric, who is in training to become the Alpha of his own pack & Holly who is still mentally recovering from being attacked & turned. Holly has found out that a group of her former friends are attacking Sazi & trying to change them back to humans, also there’s a monster (Marduc) on the loose attacking Sazi. Holly is also still coming to grips with the change that she had spent her whole life wishing would happen (she comes from a family of borns). Eric & Holly come together to try to stop Marduc & repair the relationship that almost happend before Eric ran away.

Serpent Moon is actually the eighth book in the Tales of the Sazi series, but if you haven’t read the previous books in the series, Serpent Moon is also a great stand alone. You learn enough about all of the characters that you can follow along with the story, which is extremely fast-paced & heavy on the action. Though Holly was an attack victim, she is by no means weak at all. Though she is still struggling with Holly post attack & Holly after attack, can she still be the same person she always was? Adams & Clamp write one heck of a love scene, in the middle of attacks & brutality. My only issue was one of the death’s really wasn’t explained, a whole house-fullof people were killed, but it was mentioned only in a passing kind of way. I would have liked to have known what happened, other than they all died.

If you are looking for an action driven Paranormal Romance, pick up Serpent Moon.

Well you don’t win Anton, but you do win a copy of Dead Matter! Congrats to Karen!

• Reading level: Young Adult
• List Price: $ 17.99 US/ $22.99 CDN
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: The Chicken House (February 1, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 0545142997
• ISBN-13: 978-0545142991

Buy Num8ers at:

• Chapters/Indigo
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble

Ever since she was child, Jem has kept a secret: Whenever she meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die. Burdened with such awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. The two plan a trip to the city. But while waiting to ride the Eye ferris wheel, Jem is terrified to see that all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today’s number. Today’s date. Terrorists are going to attack London. Jem’s world is about to explode!

Jem is 15, her mother died of a drug overdose & she’s been in & out of foster care since then. She has a secret, she can look into someones eyes & see the date of their death. While standing outside of the Eye Needle with her buddy Spider, Jem sees something startling: all the people in line have the same date of death, today’s date & Jem can do nothing to stop it. Both Jem & Spider go on the run after the Eye is bombed, fearing that they’ve been labeled terrorists. While on the run, they end up falling in love but there’s a problem…Jem can see Spider is running out of time & she’s doing everything she can to stop it.

When I started this book this morning, I didn’t intend to finish it in 5 hours. I put the book down after the first 125 pages to rest my eyes, got back up after 10 minutes & did not put it down until I finished.

The concept of being able to see someones date of death & not being able to do anything to stop it, just sucked me right into the book. I was routing for Spider & Jem the whole book! I absolutely loved that Jem finally let down her shields with Spider, Jem as a foster child & someone who can “see” death, just couldn’t get too close to anyone. But when Spider befriends her, she can’t help but like the 6′4 gangly loner. Jem is such a strong character you can’t help but fall in love with her!

I admit, I even got a bit emotional during the last few chapters. It’s one of those books that you must have someone to talk about with when you finish, because the very last sentence in Num8ers will make your skin crawl in a good way! Thankfully the sequel is due out this summer!

After finishing Num8ers, I jumped online knowing Mandi @ Smexy Books had been reading it & thankfully we finished at the exact same time. Honestly, I was about to explode over the last sentence, I am SOOOO glad I had someone to share it with. It really is that type of book, that you must share what you thought about it with someone else. The ending reminded me a lot of the Hunger Games, a shocking end where your mouth opens & you really think about it.

Though this book is targeted to YA, I must warn there are some mature scenes (death, sex, language) but in the context of the book, it works. I don’t find that it was added for shock value at all, it just works.

If you want to read a YA that will suck you in from start until finish, Rachel Ward’s debut novel is one of the best of 2010!