May 2017 Book of the Month Giveaway
June 16, 2017 07:02 PM Posted by juliannadouglas
May was an OK reading month for me. I had a couple of duds, but most of what I read was still good. However, I didn’t have any five-star romance reads, and since I only give away what I feel is the best of the best, I don’t have a romance to offer this month. My favorite five-star read from May was a non-fiction book centering around animal rescue. Since my Loving Hearts series also has an animal rescue theme, I thought it fully appropriate to name it my latest book of the month, and if you’re an animal lover like me, you may enjoy it just as much as I did.
Categories: Book of the Month, Giveaways
Tags: Cathy Scott, Hurricane Katrina
Phoenix Comicon 2017 - Day 3
June 14, 2017 04:25 PM Posted by juliannadouglas
Day 3 was the best of the three days we spent at Phoenix Comicon. This was the only day we went in costume as Captain Malcolm Reynolds and Kaylee Frye of Firefly, so it took us a tad longer to get ready. Sadly my husband wasn’t able to carry his prop gun, but at least I was able to take my parasol, which I’d previously thought would be disallowed, as they originally said no props of any kind. We headed to the convention center around 11 am again, and this time it only took about fifteen minutes to get inside. It appeared that lessons were learned from Friday, and they’d gotten all the kinks worked out of the security situation to make the lines flow much faster.
Categories: Events, Slices of Life
Tags: Alan Tudyk, Captain America, Con Man, Firefly, Kaylee Frye, Lord of the Rings, Malcolm Reynolds, Mr. Robot, P. J. Haarsma, Phoenix Comicon
Phoenix Comicon 2017 - Day 2
June 14, 2017 03:49 PM Posted by juliannadouglas
On day two of Phoenix Comicon, we didn’t have any scheduled events we wanted to attend until mid-afternoon, so we didn’t head over to the convention center until around 11 am. All I can say is that it was a good thing we didn’t have anything planned right away, because it took us about forty-five minutes just to get in the door. Because of the gunman situation the day before (you can read all about that in my Day 1 post), security measures for checking bags and wanding people had been hastily implemented, so the line was moving at a snail’s pace. Eventually we got inside, though, and we immediately went downstairs to see if Sherrilyn Kenyon was indeed in her booth like she said she would be. As luck would have it, she was, so I got my copy of Acheron, my favorite of her books, signed. After that we stopped by the Con Man booth again to get P. J. Haarsma to sign our DVD copy of the show. Then we started going up and down all the rows upon rows of cool stuff for sale, scoping out the things that caught our fancy, so we could come back later to purchase them. Turned out that wasn’t such a great idea, but I’ll get to the reasons for that later in my Day 3 post. Before heading back upstairs, I stopped by the big author’s booth again and was very excited to find Jim Butcher, another of my favorite authors, there. I fan-girled a little, got him to sign a few of my books, and got a photo with him, all of which made me a very happy camper. Authors are my rock stars, ya know.:-)
Categories: Events, Slices of Life
Tags: Con Man, Dollhouse, Jim Butcher, P. J. Haarsma, Phoenix Comicon, Sherrilyn Kenyon
TV Tuesday - Sense8
June 13, 2017 03:38 PM Posted by juliannadouglas
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At the beginning of this year, my husband and I started our own version of binge-watching certain TV shows. We’re still not like most people who watch several episodes one right after the other, but we do escalate our viewing from one episode of a particular show once every few weeks (We watch a lot of shows, typically about one per night, and that’s as often as we can get around to them, so we’re always perpetually behind.) to watching at least a couple of episodes each week. We started with Mr. Robot, because the hubs had been complaining that his geek friends were making fun of him for never having seen it, so I bought him Season 1 as a Christmas gift. After we caught up on that and were waiting for new episodes to be released, he left it up to me to choose the next show we would “binge watch.” |
Categories: TV Tuesday
Tags: Sense8
Phoenix Comicon 2017 - Day 1
June 10, 2017 07:05 PM Posted by juliannadouglas
To celebrate our 23rd anniversary, my husband and I attended Phoenix Comicon for the first time. Even though we’re local, we decided to stay in a hotel two blocks from the Phoenix Convention Center where it’s held, rather than making the thirty-five mile round-trip drive back and forth every day. That also made it feel more like a real vacation. I’m not sure why it took two geeks like us so long to give this a try, but… there you have it.:-) Better late than never, I always say. Since it was out first Con, things didn’t always go entirely as planned, but we learned a few things along the way that will help if we go back again, which I’m sure we will.
Categories: Events, Slices of Life
Tags: Alan Tudyk, Con Man, Firefly, P. J. Haarsma, Phoenix Comicon, Rayko Dig, Sherrilyn Kenyon
April 2017 Book of the Month Giveaway
May 20, 2017 02:58 PM Posted by juliannadouglas
My April Book of the Month choice follows right on the heels of March’s Book of the Month. It was another re-read for me, and the second in the series. While April was a very good reading month for me, with the majority of the books I read rating 4.5-5 stars and nothing less than 4 stars, this particular book was the biggest stand-out for me, because it was nearly perfect in every way. I think I ended up enjoying it just a teensy bit better than last month’s BOM, because of the stronger focus on the romance. The incredibly steamy love scenes were an added plus, too. It’s the story of a heroine who sets out looking for revenge against the man she believes was the cause of her beloved brother’s death, but unexpectedly finds love with that same man instead. The hero has been burying himself in his work to drown out the pain of losing his first wife and child, while waiting to remarry until just the right woman comes along, and he may have finally found the woman of his dreams in our intrepid heroine. It all made for a great story that I loved.
Categories: Book of the Month, Giveaways
Tags: Lisa Kleypas
Desert Dreams Swag Bag + Signed Print Book Giveaway
May 19, 2017 04:26 PM Posted by juliannadouglas
This month I have a new tote bag from the 2016 Desert Dreams convention to give away. It’s a large, roomy, black bag with pink lettering that says, “2016 Desert Dreams” on the side. I’ve filled it with a selection of swag, a few of which are premium swag items.
In addition to the tote bag, here are some of the things the lucky winner will receive in this swag prize package:
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Cosmetic bag, can cozy, luggage tag, corkscrew, screen cleaning cloth, stress squeezie, adhesive lint remover
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Pens, notepad, magnet, candies, key chain, and more goodies.
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Collectible bookmarks, trading cards, and more, a few of which have been signed by the author.
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PLUS A signed print copy of your choice of any one of my books, His Heart’s Desire, Heart of the Season or my brand new one, Butterfly Serenade with matching swag.
Categories: Giveaways
Tags: Butterfly Serenade, Heart of the Season, His Heart's Desire
RWA Swag Bag + Signed Print Book Giveaway
April 15, 2017 03:46 PM Posted by juliannadouglas
This month I have a new tote bag from the 2016 Romance Writer's of America national convention and author Melody Anne to give away. It’s a big, roomy, purple bag with pink lettering that says, “Live, Laugh, Love” along with RWA’s and Melody Anne’s logos. I’ve filled it with a selection of swag, a few of which are premium swag items.
In addition to the tote bag, here are some of the things the lucky winner will receive in this swag prize package:
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Can cozy, luggage tag, mini travel sewing kit, screen cleaning cloth, single-sided handcuff w/keys
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Pen, notepad, Post-it flags, health & beauty items, candies, key chain, a bracelet, and more goodies.
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Collectible bookmarks, postcards, rack card, trading cards, and more, a few of which have been signed by the author.
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PLUS A signed print copy of your choice of any one of my books, His Heart’s Desire, Heart of the Season or my brand new one, Butterfly Serenade with matching swag.
Categories: Giveaways
March 2017 Book of the Month Giveaway
April 15, 2017 03:32 PM Posted by juliannadouglas
My favorite read from the month of March was actually a re-read for me. I first read it about ten years ago, when I was coming off a book drought that had lasted at least that long. When I became a mom in 1995, reading somehow got put on the back burner. I guess having a cranky, demanding infant, who turned into a cranky, demanding toddler, and then baby #2 three years later will do that to you.:-) In any case, reading fell off my radar for quite a while, but during that time, I remember looking longingly at my stuffed bookshelves. In 2007, I became determined to get back to reading, and I did. My latest book of the month pick was the first book I chose from those packed bookshelves and the first I had read by this author. It made me fall in love with her work and immediately run out to get the other two books in the series.
Categories: Book of the Month, Giveaways
Tags: Lisa Kleypas
TV Tuesday - The Voice Part 2
April 4, 2017 03:47 PM Posted by juliannadouglas
About a month ago, I blogged about my surprising connection to one of The Voice artists this season. (If you missed it, you can catch up here.) His name is Josh West, and he’s fast becoming famous as much for his hair as his talent.:-) I’m happy to say that not only did he get that 4-chair turn on the blind auditions, but he’s now made it through both the Battle Round and the Knock-Out Round of the competition. It’s been a long wait in between his performances, and sadly his Battle Round got montaged, although The Voice did finally post the full performance on YouTube. So last nights Knock-Out Round was the first time I’d really seen him on TV in weeks.
Categories: TV Tuesday
Tags: Adam Levine, Josh West, The Voice
