Laydown Lowdown

It's the last Tuesday in July!! I can't believe it, I wish the Summer would last forever but it's 2/3 over.  Instead of crying, I'm going to savor August and console myself with some great books such as today's new reads.

My personal favorite this week is "The Mistress," by Tiffany Reisz, the fourth and fabulous installment in her deeply romantic and erotic "Original Sinners" series.  Please check out my full review tomorrow and I'll let you know where you can try and score some awesome "Original Sinners" prizes.

Other new releases in Romance today include "And Then Comes Marriage," by Celeste Bradley,  "A Knight to Remember," by Christina Dodd," "Crystal Cove," by Lisa Kleypas, "The Scarletti Curse," by Christine Feehan, and "Perfect Fling," by Carly Phillips.

Over in Mystery/Thriller, you'll uncover Linda Fairstein's latest crime procedural novel, "Death Angel," as well as "The Highway," by CJ Box, and "Hard Road," by J.B. Turner.

Swing by Science Fiction/Fantasy for "A Conspiracy of Alchemists," the first in Liesel Schwarz's new "Chronicles of Light and Shadow" series.  You'll also find "Magic Rises," by Ilona Andrews, "Dancing with the Devil," by Keri Arthur, and "Kitty in the Underworld," by Carrie Vaughn.

James Patterson's latest "Witch and Wizard" novel, "The Fire" debuts today with the help of new co-author, Jill Dembowski.  "Seven Minutes in Heaven," the sixth novel in Sara Shepard's "Lying Game" series is also available in Young Adult today along with "Earthbound," by Aprilynne Pike, and "Bubble World," by Carol Snow.

What book(s) will make your "to-read" list this week?!  Please share with us and Happy Reading.  Remember to support your local bookstores whenever possible. 

Laydown Lowdown

There are tons of new releases this week so I'm just going to get right to it.

First off, Jimmy P. aka James Patterson continues his early bird habit of releasing his titles on a Monday.  "Private: Berlin," by Mr. Patterson and Mark Sullivan was released yesterday.

Other new releases in Mystery include, "Speaking from Among the Bones," the fifth "Flavia deLuce," novel by Alan Bradley,  "The Alpine Xanadu," by Mary Dahiem, "Into the Dark," by Allison Gaylin, and "Proof of Guilt," by Charles Todd.

If you've ever wondered "How to Entice an Earl," Manda Collins has your answer in the Romance section.  Other new releases include, "When She Said I Do," by Celeste Bradley, "Love Songs," by Barbara Delinsky, and the hardcover editions of E.L. James' "Fifty Shades," trilogy.

Meanwhile the SciFi/Fantasy section may be a bit shattered today with the releases of "Shattered Circle," by Linda Robertson, and "Shattered Souls," by Delilah Devlin.  "The Edritch Conspiracy," by Cat Adams and "Star Wars, Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse" by Troy Denning is also available today.

Over in the Young Adult section you'll be able to hunt down "The Prey," by Amanda Fukuda, "Nobody but Us," by Kristin Holbrook, "Prodigy," the second "Legends" novel by Marie Lu, and "Stolen Nights," by Rebecca Maizel.

With so many new reads today, what books will make your list?  Remember to support your local bookstores whenever possible.  Happy Reading.

Young Adult Giveaway Hop ~ Signed Witch & Wizard + ARC of Angelfall

The fabulous Reading Teen and I'm a Reader Not a Writer are hosting this amazing blog hop where you have the chance to win books at every blog you go to! We are so excited to be a part of this and we have a great giveaway for you here :)

We live in the Newburgh area and very recently James Patterson came back to his hometown to speak at the library and do a book signing. So we managed to snag an autographed copy of the first book in his paranormal series Witch & Wizard for one of you lucky entrants!

Co-written with Gabrielle Charbonnet, Witch & Wizard is about brother and sister Whit and Wisty who find out quite suddenly that their parents have been keeping some pretty big secrets: mainly that the two siblings are a witch and a wizard. And on top of that The New Order has decided their whole family is its biggest threat. If Whit and Wisty can figure out how their powers work and who they can trust, The New Order just might be right.

ClaireBear absolutely loved this book and raved over it from the moment she read it. She's been working fifteen hour days at her day job, but we hope to have a fuller review of the book later this week so check back for that :)

But wait! There's more!

We're also giving away an advance reader's copy of Susan Ee's Angelfall. I (Rebecca T) picked this up at BEA and devoured it pretty quickly. It's a sort of dystopian/fantasy/Supernatural (the TV show that is) mix that was intense, engaging, and just overall a really enjoyable read.

Penryn is trying to survive the apocalypse with her little sister, Paige, who is in a wheelchair and a mother who probably belongs in a mental hospital rather than roaming the war torn streets. When Paige is kidnapped by angels Penryn finds herself with an unlikely ally and a burning desire to do anything it takes to get her sister back. Ee develops the characters and relationships really well. Penryn is a kick butt heroine with a legitimate (if bizarre) reason for being well trained in self-defense and quite a bit of offense and the adventure never lets up.

This book is available in both print and e-book format and you can check out Ee's website HERE where there are also links to buy the book!

So how do you win these fantabulous books? Simply leave a comment on this post telling us a good book you read recently (this is the only mandatory part and we love to hear from our readers!) and enter the Rafflecopter form (where you have other options to increase your chances if you so choose) so we can get hold of you when the contest ends! This contest is open to anyone in the US and ends at midnight EST on August 14th.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
And here are the other blogs taking part in the blog hop too!

Dear Mr. Patterson

Dear James Patterson,

I am sorry that I neglected to include your latest novel (with co-author Mark Sullivan) , "Private Games," in last week's "Laydown Lowdown."  Therefore, I have dedicated today's post to you!

I consider Monday to be "your" day anyway as your books are always released on a Monday, a day before books are traditionally released.  This always baffled us booksellers. Why do you release your books "early."  Are you trying to help your fans beat a "case of the Mondays?"  Now that I think of it, "A Case of the Mondays," sounds like a great title you could use to co-author your next book with!

We are also curious as to why you seem to write a lot of your recent releases with a co-author.  In the past, you wrote your "Women's Murder Club," and "Alex Cross" novels all by yourself.  Now, your books always seem to have a co-author.  You also write for many genres now and have many books released during the year-on Mondays!  How do you find the time to fit that all in?

I hope you don't mind but in all my years of shelving and setting up displays for your books, I gave you a nickname.  I began calling you "Jimmy P."  This nickname caught on and soon all of us booksellers began calling you "Jimmy P." 

I also feel the need to apologize for never reading one of your books.  Many of them look very interesting but short chapters are a pet peeve of mine.  I think chapters should be longer than two pages.  To me, it's like having a paragraph the consists of only two sentences.  It just annoys me for no legitimate reason.  However, you're a best-selling author.  So, you don't really need my purchasing support.

I played an awesome prank on a fellow bookseller once.  Your publisher sent us a press kit for "Beach House" (co-authored by Peter DeJong). It included a postcard with your "signature" on it.  This press kit came in while the bookseller who I'll call "A" was out to lunch.  When "A" returned from lunch, I told him he'd just missed you.  I flashed the postcard.  I told him I couldn't believe just a big-name author stopped in our little store.  He told me you grew up not too far from us and must've been back in the area.  He got all upset and asked why I didn't call him to come down from the food court.  I started cracking up. 

Finally, I would like to offer you one piece of advice.  You should have a more flattering photo of yourself taken for your book covers.  I saw you in passing at Book Expo America and you are much healthier looking than your photos convey.

In the future, I will try not to forget you in my upcoming "Laydown Lowdown" posts.  Just in case, anyone reading this open letter should look for "Guilty Wives," with co-author David Ellis on Monday, March 26, 2012 and "I, Mark Bennett," with co-author Michael Ledwidge on Monday, July 9, 2012.

Sincerely,

Jenn N.

Happy Monday aka James Patterson's Day-and you thought today was President's Day !!  Consider it James Patterson's Day with co-authors The Presidents?