Mega Swagbucks Friday

For those of you who are new here, you will often see me mentioning Swagbucks on Fridays.  That is because Fridays mean Mega Swagbucks for searching!  Haven't tried Swagbucks yet?  It is super easy - simply use the Swagbucks search engine to do your normal Internet searching and sometimes you will be rewarded with Swagbucks which can then be redeemed for some great prizes. My theory is that if I'm going to be searching the Internet anyway, I may as well get rewarded for doing it.

My favorite prize is the Amazon.com gift card.  My plan is to try to pay for as much of Christmas this year as I can using the gift cards I earn.  There are also tons of other gift cards available plus you can redeem for various merchandise as well.

On Fridays, Swagbucks gives out more Mega Swagbucks (anything over 10) than usual which means you can earn your desired prizes even faster.  I got 59 for one search today!  I'd love to hear if one of my readers finds a high value one today or any other day!

Don't forget to check out the Special Offers section and keep an eye out for Swag Codes as well.  Both of those can help those bucks add up!  Daily Polls get you 1 Swagbuck each day and they recently added other trusted survey sites for another option to earn.

Swagbucks links contained within this post are referral links and I will earn some Swagbucks if you sign up using those links.

Note: All opinions provided on this blog are my own. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links and I do earn a small percentage for each item purchased through those links. Any other referral or associate links will be noted within the post.

Wind Warrior book trailer by Cynthia Roberts

Last month I gave you an excerpt from Wind Warrior and a guest post by author Cynthia Roberts.  Well, the release date for Wind Warrior is almost here and Cynthia sent me the book trailer to share with you.  I hope you enjoy it.



Note: All opinions provided on this blog are my own. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links and I do earn a small percentage for each item purchased through those links. Any other referral or associate links will be noted within the post.

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

Title:  Silver Borne
Author:  Patricia Briggs
Publisher:  Ace Hardcover
Publication Date:  March 2010
Format:  Hardcover, 352 pages
Age Group:  Adult
Series:  Mercy Thompson (Book 5)

Mercy Thompson is a coyote shapeshifter, mate to the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, and car mechanic.  In the fifth book in the series, Silver Borne, Mercy must help the Alpha, Adam, deal with a threat to the pack from within, keep her friend Samuel from losing himself to his wolf, and keep herself alive as the Fae attempt to locate a book that is more than what it appears.

I really enjoy this series.  Mercy is a great main character because she is strong and independent yet she knows her limitations.  She understands that in a world of werewolves, witches, Fae, and vampires, a coyote is outmatched most of the time.  This allows her to think through situations and rely on strategy and cunning when she would otherwise be overcome by brute force.  Mercy pays attention to the details and this serves her well when dealing with both the Fae and the werewolves.  She is also beginning to understand that sometimes asking for help is not showing weakness but strength.

After skimming a review or two on other book blogs, I was afraid that I would miss the vampires in this book.  I really didn't though because I got to see so much more of the werewolf pack.  Mercy is learning more and more about what it means to be pack and this book shows even more of the political and social structure and conventions.  She learns about how the pack bonds work and about her mate bond with Adam.  I love authors who fully develop the social structure and expectations for the various paranormal societies and Briggs is one of the best I've read lately.  Not only does Mercy need to understand the dynamic of the pack to contain the threat from within but she must also understand how to deal with the Fae to keep herself and her friends alive and as unharmed as possible.  Although the Fae do not lie, the word games they play can have devastating results if the bargain is not carefully constructed.

Silver Borne was a wonderfully quick read for me because I did not want to put it down.  I really don't want to wait for the next book in the series (spring 2011) but I guess I can pick up her Alpha and Omega series in the meantime.

I purchased Silver Borne for my personal library and all opinions presented in this review are my own.

Note: All opinions provided on this blog are my own. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links and I do earn a small percentage for each item purchased through those links. Any other referral or associate links will be noted within the post.

By Accident by Susan Kelly (Review)

Title:  By Accident
Author:  Susan Kelly
Publisher:  Pegasus Books
Publication Date:  May 2010
Format:  Hardcover, 304 pages
Age Group:  Adult

Laura Lucas is grieving the death of her son, who should have been college bound in the fall.  She grieves as an island - isolated and disconnected from everything and everyone she used to love.  Then she and her daughter, Ebie, meet the young man next door and Laura begins to show signs of life again.  By Accident examines relationships between men and women, husbands and wives, parents and children.

By Accident is beautifully written.  I could feel the heaviness of Laura's grief and her frustration with her husband as he tried to force her out of it.  I understood her anger at the construction happening in her neighborhood.  The changes are happening too quickly and she is unable to hold on to what once was and what should have been.

Relationships are at the heart of the story.  Laura and her husband go in different directions after their son's death.  Russ and his business partner go in different directions as well, in part causing Laura to lose her best friend of many years.  New relationships develop when Elliot moves in next door.  Lines are drawn in the sand, crossed, and redrawn as the characters try to find their place in a world that keeps shifting under their feet and throwing them off balance.

I loved the beginning of the book and felt that it ended exactly how it should have.  There were a few things in the latter half that bothered me but it was only because I didn't want the characters to make those choices, even though I saw how they got there and how those choices led to the ending.  I think the chapters in Ebie's voice were a wonderful break from Laura's heavy grief and gave a different perspective to the story.

This review is based on an advance reading copy of By Accident which was sent to me by Marissa at JKSCommunications.  The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Note: All opinions provided on this blog are my own. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links and I do earn a small percentage for each item purchased through those links. Any other referral or associate links will be noted within the post.

Upcoming CSN Review

If you are like me, you may have seen CSN stores popping up on lots of blogs with product reviews and giveaways.  Being a fairly small blog, I never expected to be contacted by CSN with an offer to do a review of one of their products.  So I was very excited when I was given such a great opportunity.  With 200+ stores, CSN carries everything from sofas to cookware to kids toys to bookshelves.  Yep, I said bookshelves!

While we were working out the details, I realized that I actually own a bookshelf from CSN that I won last year from All Booked Up.  When I received it in November, we were living in a tiny apartment and had no room for another shelf.  Now that we've moved into our new house, we finally got it out of the box and up on the wall.  As you can see, it is currently holding our DVD and video game collection.  This is the Hanging Corner Storage in Maple shelf.  It really does blend into our wall quite a bit.  I think if I could have chosen, I would have picked the darker Cherry version.  The same shelf is also available in Espresso.

My husband didn't seem to have any trouble assembling the shelf, although getting it on the wall was a little bit of a challenge.  Lining up those holes for drilling seems to be a pain no matter what you are hanging!  The shelf itself is pretty sturdy, although I'm not sure I would want to put anything with significant weight on it.  I was just excited to remember that we had it so we could get the media boxes unpacked and out of the house.

CSN offers free shipping on many of their items and they ship to Canada!  Which of the 200+ CSN stores would be your favorite?  I have a feeling I could get myself in a lot of shopping trouble in most of them!

As for which product I've chosen for review?  Well, you are just going to have to wait and see!

Note: All opinions provided on this blog are my own. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links and I do earn a small percentage for each item purchased through those links. Any other referral or associate links will be noted within the post.