giveaways

‘A Spear of Summer Grass’ giveaway

/ Meg / 1 Comment

A Spear of Summer GrassWell, it’s a Monday — and I reckon it’s time for another giveaway. Just takes the edge off, eh?

Courtesy of Harlequin, up for grabs are two copies of Deanna Raybourn’s A Spear of Summer Grass. If that lovely cover isn’t enough to entice you, perhaps the description is:

Paris, 1923

The daughter of a scandalous mother, Delilah Drummond is already notorious, even amongst Paris society. But her latest scandal is big enough to make even her oft-married mother blanch. Delilah is exiled to Kenya and her favorite stepfather’s savannah manor house, until gossip subsides.

Amidst the wonders — and dangers — of Africa, Delilah awakes to a land out of all proportion: extremes of heat, darkness, beauty and joy that cut to her very heart. Only when this sacred place is profaned by bloodshed does Delilah discover what is truly worth fighting for — and what she can no longer live without.

If you blend glamour from The Great Gatsby and romance from “Out of Africa,” you are beginning to grasp the stunning new novel that is A Spear of Summer Grass.


To enter, please fill out this form.


Giveaway is open only to entrants with U.S. or Canadian addresses. The contest will run until 12 p.m. on Friday, May 3, when two randomly-chosen winners will be emailed for their mailing addresses. Good luck!

And be sure to check out Raybourn’s website and Twitter, and see what others are saying on Goodreads.


CONTEST CLOSED, edited on May 3: Congrats to Caitlin and Lisa S, our randomly-chosen winners! Ladies, I’ve emailed you.


Act Regency right with ‘The Jane Austen Handbook’ (giveaway)

/ Meg / 1 Comment

Jane Austen HandbookIn honor of our dear Jane Austen and Pride & Prejudice’s 200th (!) anniversary, I have a special giveaway from our friends at Quirk Books today: three copies of Margaret C. Sullivan’s The Jane Austen Handbook.

With advice as varied as “how to ensure a good yearly income; how to behave at a dinner party; how to ride sidesaddle; and how to indicate interest in a gentleman without seeming forward,” Sullivan’s fun collection “offers step-by-step instructions for proper comportment in the early 19th century. … Full of practical directions for navigating the travails of Regency life, this charming illustrated book also serves as a companion for present-day readers, explaining the English class system, currency, dress, and the nuances of graceful living.”

Sound like your type of tea and crumpets? I thought so. To enter, simply fill out this form by 12 p.m. on Tuesday, January 15. Three random winners will be selected and contacted for their mailing addresses by yours truly. Giveaway is open to U.S. entrants only, please (sorry, international friends). Comments have been closed to avoid confusion. Good luck!


Edit on 1/15: Out of 47 entries, the lucky winners are Anita, Donna and Alexandra — who will soon be strutting in Regency style! Ladies, I’ve emailed you.


Literary Giveaway Blog Hop: ‘The Lost Wife’ by Alyson Richman

/ Meg / 6 Comments

This giveaway is part of Leeswammes’ Literary Giveaway Blog Hop, happening now through Feb. 22! Visit for other great giveaways.


Sometime last fall, I began seeing reviews for Alyson Richman’s The Lost Wife. A longtime fan of both love stories and historical fiction, reviewers seemed to be enamored with this work focused on the fate of first love in war-torn Prague.

When I signed up for a blogger gift exchange at Christmas, I eagerly placed The Lost Wife on my list — and was delighted when it appeared in my mailbox! Sadly, I’ve yet to mention a little . . . well . . . quirk of mine: I’m shockingly impatient. Forgetting I’d placed the book on my wishlist, I’d bought my own copy days before.

But no matter: my mistake is your gain! I have one new paperback copy of The Lost Wife to give away to one lucky reader in the U.S. As the prize is coming from me, I’m sorry to say I must limit entrants to those in America.


Description from Goodreads:

“In pre-war Prague, the dreams of two young lovers are shattered when they are separated by the Nazi invasion. Then, decades later, thousands of miles away in New York, there’s an inescapable glance of recognition between two strangers. Providence is giving Lenka and Josef one more chance. From the glamorous ease of life in Prague before the Occupation, to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wife explores the power of first love, the resilience of the human spirit — and the strength of memory.”


Comments on this post are welcome, but will not count as entry. Winner will be randomly selected at 12 p.m. Feb. 22 and emailed for their mailing address. Your information is confidential and will be viewed only by me. Good luck!


EDIT on Feb. 22: Congrats to Hannah B., entrant No. 49! Random.org selected her as our winner. Thanks to all who visited and entered — check back soon for another giveaway.


Audio book giveaway: Amy Kathleen Ryan’s GLOW

/ Meg

As I’ve recently taken a shine to audio books and recently finished my first one, I have an exciting giveaway to announce — and for a book I really enjoyed!

Amy Kathleen Ryan’s Glow is a quick, thought-provoking dystopian novel centering around the lives of Waverly and Kieran, two teenagers born aboard a vessel bound for New Earth. Though their peaceful existence hasn’t been without some turbulence, nothing can prepare them for the arrival of a sister ship — and its passengers’ devious plans. Alone in deep space, everything for the Empyrean’s habitants is about to change.

Courtesy of the publisher, I have one audio book copy of this exciting novel to share with a lucky winner! If you’ve been interested in dipping a toe in the world of audio books, this might be your chance. Before you enter, take a listen to a sample.

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only through 12 p.m. (noon) on Wednesday, Oct. 26. A winner will be randomly selected using Random.org and emailed by yours truly.


To enter, simply fill out this form!

Book GIVEAWAY: ‘Bride Flight’

/ Meg

Many great films were great books first.

I’m absolutely loving the look of “Bride Flight,” a film premiering in the U.S. after enjoying success abroad. The movie is based on Marieke van der Pol’s Bride Flight, translated into English by Colleen Higgins — and it’s been a while since I picked up a novel without American roots. (How short-sighted of me, I know.) I’m really enjoying the book so far — and am happy to announce that I have three copies to give away to three U.S. readers!

Here’s what you’ll be getting yourself into, from Goodreads:

“It is 1953, and the last great transcontinental air race from London to Christchurch is about to begin; but even before the plane has left the runway, it has already become famous as the ‘bride flight.’ Of its 60 emigrating passengers, many are brides-to-be flying out to join their fiancés on the other side of the world.

Among them are Ada, Marjorie, and Esther, each of them with their own reasons for wanting to leave behind the hardships of post-war life at home and their own pasts. During the trip they meet Frank, a charismatic bachelor, who will come to have a dramatic influence on their lives and who exerts a continued hold over each of the women as they follow their very different paths in New Zealand. It is only when they meet again, years later, at Frank’s funeral, that the three women — now ‘brides in black’ — get to hear each other’s stories for the first time and realize just how closely their lives have been bound together by what happened on the bride flight.”


Sound enchanting? Want to read the book before you see the movie? Simply fill out this form before 12 p.m. EST on Friday, July 29. U.S. entries only, please (sorry, international friends). Three winners will be randomly selected and emailed for their mailing addresses.

Update on 7/29: Congrats to Melissa, Linda and Leslie, our winners! Ladies, I’ve emailed you.

Win Libba Bray’s ‘Beauty Queens’

/ Meg / 5 Comments

If you’re looking for a laugh-out-loud, hilarious and action-packed young adult read this summer, you’ll want to peer a little closer at this post — because Libba Bray delivers. Her new novel Beauty Queens, a satirical look at a beauty contest that begins with a plane crash, is too witty and fun not to be discussed.

With vivid characters, a unique premise and a shameless skewering of American pop culture and politics, it’s an intelligent and compulsively readable book that I’ll be sharing often this summer — including with all of you! A little more about the novel:


The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream Pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and complete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eye liner.

What’s a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program — or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan — or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.


Two copies of Beauty Queens are kindly being shared by the publisher; just fill out this form for entry. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only from Thursday, June 23 to Tuesday, June 28, when I will randomly choose and email two winners. Comments on this post are welcomed, but will not count as entry.

NEW: Congrats to Erin of Erin Reads and Allison M., lucky winners of Beauty Queens! Ladies, I’ve emailed you for your addresses.

Literary Giveaway Blog Hop: ‘The Weird Sisters’ by Eleanor Brown

/ Meg / 13 Comments

Eleanor Brown’s The Weird Sisters is certainly making the blogging rounds lately — and for good reason. Her debut novel about three adult sisters coming home is poignant, memorable and just plain good writing. I really enjoyed it and know other literary fiction readers will, too.

As part of Leeswammes’ Literary Giveaway Blog Hop, I’m happy to pass along my gently read ARC (softcover advance reading copy) of The Weird Sisters to one winner in the U.S.! To enter, simply fill out this form with the required information. Giveaway will close at 12 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 23 Thursday, Feb. 24 (see edit below), and I’ll randomly choose one winner two winners and notify them by email.

Comments on this post are welcome and appreciated, but will not count for entry. To enter the giveaway, you must fill out this form!

EDIT! on Feb. 22: Eleanor Brown has very kindly offered a signed hardcover copy of The Weird Sisters to one lucky write meg! winner. So I’ll now choose two fortunate folks: the first will receive the hardcover from Ms. Brown; the second will find my ARC in their mailboxes. In that spirit, I’m extending the giveaway until 12 p.m. (noon) on Thursday, Feb. 24. Good luck, everyone!

WINNERS! on Feb. 24: Congratulations to Jill Wiesner and Deanna, my two randomly-selected winners! Each entry was filtered into a Google spreadsheet and assigned a number.

At Random.org, I asked for a random sequence of numbers ranging from 1 to 149, the total number of entries; numbers 109 and 140 were the top two integers chosen. So Eleanor Brown’s signed hardcover will go to the first pick — Jill — and my softcover ARC is headed to Deanna. Thank you, everyone, for entering — and thanks again to Eleanor Brown for contributing the signed hardcover.