Free books for teens

Free Book Friday which brings you chances to win wonderful books every Friday also has a site for teens. Free Book Friday Teens offers the same great chances for a teen audience. This week they are giving away Girl v. Boy and Black Sheep by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout. 2 signed copies of each book are up for grabs. Hop on over and enter for your chance to win. And don't forget to check back next week for more titles and more chances to win.

A Week Of Giveaways

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is having a week of giveaways. In collaboration with Subterranean Press Pat is hosting a different giveaway every day from Monday to Friday of this week.
For Monday on offer is The Other in the Mirror by Philip Jose Farmer.
Added Tuesday is Stephen King Goes to the Movies by Stephen King.
Wednesday's title is A Fantasy Medley edited by Yanni Kuznia.
For Thursday we have Black Powder War by Naomi Novik.
And finally Friday is Marionettes, Inc. by Ray Bradbury.
To enter send Pat an email and make sure to include your snail mail address. And remember to check back every day this week for more titles!

A Killer Collection

Lori's Reading Corner is offering you a chance to win a copy of A Killer Collection by J.B. Stanley. It is even autographed! How do I get in on this wonderful offer you ask? Well here are the rules:

1. Open to residents of the US only.
2. Post a comment. (Not here. On Lori's site.) You MUST LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS OR ACTIVE BLOG ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT. Any comment that DOES NOT INCLUDE this information WILL BE DELETED.
3. If you blog this contest and leave a link in your comment you will receive an extra entry to the contest.

Easy right? So get over there by April 4th or it will be too late. Good luck!

The Turnaround

Rhapsody in Books has 5 copies of The Turnaround by George Pelecanos to give away. That's five chances to get your hands on a copy. You can increase your chances even more if you twitter or blog (or both) about it. It is open until April 2nd. Winners are restricted to residents of the US and Canada, and no PO boxes please. Good luck!

Here, Kitty, Kitty

Thanks to a Carrie Vaughn blog tour there are lots of chances to win her Kitty books.

There are six books in the series:
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Kitty Goes to Washington
Kitty Takes a Holiday
Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand
Kitty Raises Hell

My Friend Amy has a set of all 6 books. In addition to that 3 other people will win the two newest books, Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand and Kitty Raises Hell. Open until April 1st.

Wendi's Book Corner will have 7 winners. There will be a winner for each of the 6 books and one grand prize winner who will win all 6. Open until April 1st.

Unmainstream Mom Reads has a complete set of all 6 books. Open until April 4th.

Drey's Library has a set of all 6 books. Also there will be one winner who receives Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, and another winner will get Kitty Raises Hell. Open until until April 5th.

The Tome Traveller's Weblog has a set of all 6 books. Open until April 8th.

A Circle of Books has a set of all 6 books. Open until April 11th.

All contests are open to the US and Canada only, no P.O. Boxes.

Once Bitten

Shape shifters, vampires and demons, oh my. J. Kaye's Book Blog has an ARC copy of Once Bitten by Kalayna Price to give away. It sounds like a good one so you'll want to get over there before April 25th to enter. There are several ways to get extra entries so you'll want to read all about them. The winner will not be notified by email so make sure you check back to see if you've won, better yet subscribe so you'll be sure not to miss anything. You must be at least 18 with a US or Canada address to enter.

Chai

I like tea. And as a tea lover I often find myself in tea shops. Well, one tea shop mostly. And one day I decided to try chai and amazingly enough found that I liked it. For a long time that was the only place I had ordered chai but recently I decided that it would be a good idea to see what other places had to offer. And since everyone is so interested in my opinion I thought I would share my thoughts so far. But keep in mind I don’t really know anything about chai tea or how it should taste so any relation between what I say here and reality is completely coincidental.

I have tried Dunkin Donuts chai drink. To order it all you have to do is go up and ask for a vanilla chai. There is only one size and one way to make it. In a way I like that. It makes it nice and easy. Not too much thinking. The drink itself is not bad. It is however really, really, REALLY sweet. And so creamy it is thicker than I expected. It is less like a cup of chai tea than dessert in a cup. By the end I almost wished it had been smaller.

Starbucks also has chai. I went in and asked for a tall chai and I think what I got was a chai latte. Not that I’m complaining. It was good. It comes sweetened and all set to go. It is not as sweet as Dunkin Donuts and more the consistency of a latte than a melted milkshake. But since I started my chai experience with something else it still isn’t what I think of as chai. That, of course, didn’t stop me from going back for another. They do seem to have a chai that comes from a teabag and is not a latte but I’m not sure how to order it. Maybe you have to actually say the word teabag when you order. Maybe someday I will try to figure it out but since I like the chai latte and I know how to get what I want someplace else I don’t know if I will bother.

The first place I tried chai was at Tealuxe. Tealuxe has several different chai teas to choose from. I have tried most of them and have liked all of the ones I’ve had including the green tea chai that I was leery of in the beginning. They all have slightly different flavors but all have the distinctive spicy chai taste. You get your tea unsweetened so you can add as much or as little sugar as you want. It is not as creamy as the other two and looks like tea you have added milk to instead of a cup of tea flavored milk.

The other place I have tried chia is Teavana. They also have a couple of chais to choose from. I have had two of them including the white tea chai. They both were good, the white tea chai was actually spicier than the masala but they both had the tangy spicy flavors that I recognize as chai. Neither one came with any sort of milk though which I thought was strange. Maybe you can ask for milk in your tea but I didn’t think to since I just assumed that chai came with milk. Once again since I already had an idea in my head what chai was supposed to be this didn’t really seem like chai to me.

I have tried chai at home as well made with teabags that I got from the grocery store and although I have found a few that I like it just isn’t the same somehow. But at least this way I do get to add as much or as little of milk and sugar as I like.

I think my favorite continues to be Tealuxe but I think I will keep going back to Starbucks when I am in the mood for something sweeter.

Maximum Ride

Marta's Meanderings is having a wonderful giveaway. She is giving away 4 complete sets of the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. Four lucky readers will get all five books including, The Angel Experiment, School's Out - Forever, Saving the World and other Extreme Sports, The Final Warning, and the newest arrival Max. Contest ends March 31st so run right over and leave a comment. There are several ways (like blogging!) to get extra entries and increase your chances. And with a deal this good you'll want all the chances you can get. Good luck!

The Crimes of Paris

Morbid Romantic is giving you a chance to win a copy of The Crimes of Paris by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler. I think it sounds like a fascinating read and if you agree and would like a chance to win get over there by April 5th and leave a comment. There are lots of ways to get extra entries to increase your chances. It is open to the US and Canada only, no P.O. boxes please.

The Friday 56

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

So what's my sentence?

There was no difficulty in getting him to London, but it was absinthe, absinthe, all the way, and when we reached Charing Cross, I was compelled to help him, partly insensible, into a cab.

from The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont by Robert Barr

Kitty the Werewolf

The Novel Bookworm is having a Carrie Vaughn giveaway in honor of the upcoming book tour to welcome the newest book in the Kitty series. Three lucky readers will get a copy of Kitty Raises Hell and one really lucky reader will win a set of all six Kitty books. That would include, Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kitty Goes to Washington, Kitty Takes a Holiday, Kitty and the Silver Bullet, Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, and Kitty Raises Hell. Get your comments in by March 26th. You have to have an address in the US or Canada to enter. For the first entry all you have to do is leave a comment with a way to contact you. How can you pass up a chance like that?

The Chemist

Confessions of a Bibliophile has a copy of The Chemist by Janson Mancheski to give away to one lucky reader. You can read the review where the bibliophile had some nice things to say. The contest is open until March 24th and it is open worldwide so there are no excuses. There is a possibility of up to four entries so read the rules to find out how to increase your odds.

Friendship Bread

I recently was given a starter for Amish Friendship bread. This was the second starter I was given but the first one, poor thing, through no fault of its own, didn’t survive. (I don’t want to talk about it.) The second time I was given a starter it also came with a sample of the end product which, since it was rather tasty, probably went a long way to ensuring its survival. This time around I was able to bring it all the way to the loaf without incident. Until I got my first (unsuccessful) starter I had no idea such a thing existed. And I was a little dubious of the whole thing. Technically what you are given is a live yeast starter but what it actually is is a cup of icky, bubbling, smelly goo. And along with the goo, I mean starter, I was given a sheet of instructions with detailed directions of what to do with it for the next ten days. That’s right, ten days. It was like being asked to look after someone’s pet while they were away on vacation. On this day do that and on this day do this. No refrigerator, no metal utensils. It seems it is a rather temperamental little thing. So for ten days I have this stuff sitting on my counter fermenting. Fermenting to the point that the pressure built up and popped the top right off the container I had it in if I wasn’t careful. But I took care of it, fed it and kept in warm, and on the tenth day I ended up with two loaves of bread and three starters to pass on to others. The bread is good and the process not really hard. It is just trying to remember to do it and then trying to remember what day of the process you are on that is difficult. Despite the way I make it sound I would say that if you find yourself in possession of a starter it would be worth doing. At least the once. It is better if you have a lot of friends. Hopefully ones who like to bake. Or at least ones who are not going to hate you for making them do this or know you well enough that there will be no guilt or hard feelings on either side if the whole thing ends up in the trash. And perhaps maybe even more important than that, friends who have a lot of other friends so you don’t end up getting back three starters in ten days time. I think to really appreciate the process you have to believe what it says on the instructions I got, that it is more than a recipe – it’s a way of thinking. It is kind of neat to think that the one starter started so many others and you get to pass on a tradition along with the bread. But I guess you could also look at it like an edible chain letter that should be sent straight to your spam folder. It’s all in how you look at it.

More Galway Bay

There are lots of places you can go for chances to win Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly. Enter them all and increase your chances.

Savvy Verse & Wit has three copies to give away. One is available to international readers but the others are for those of you in the US or Canada. Open until March 24th.

Diary of an Eccentric also has a copy to give away. Open until March 24th to the US and Canada.

Caribousmom also has a giveaway open until March 24th to the US and Canada.

A Circle of Books is giving away a copy and winners will also get a hand knit stuffed elephant by the name of Paddy. He's cute so you should go take a look. Open until March 28th to the US and Canada.

Peeking Between the Pages' giveaway is open until March 28th to the US and Canada.

Enroute to Life's giveaway is open until March 31st to the US and Canada.

Booking Mama has three copies to give away. Open until March 31st to the US and Canada.

Over at A Bookworm's World you have until April 7th to enter. Open to the US and Canada.

Cinderella, sort of

Booking Mama has a wonderful giveaway going on for an autographed copy of Godmother by Carolyn Turgeon. What happens when a fairy godmother botches the job? Well, here is your chance to find out. Go on over and check it out. I'm sure after you read the glowing review you will want to read it too. The contest is open until April 3rd. You must have a mailing address in the US or Canada to enter.

Galway Bay

Want to win a copy of Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly? Well, Alyce over at At Home With Books has a chance for you to do just that. Visit and you can read the summary, Alyce's review and comments from the author herself. The contest is open until March 31st to the US and Canada. There are several ways to get extra entries but make sure you leave a separate comment for each one or they will not count. Good luck!

Efrem Sigel

It’s books this time at My Raves – Books, Movies, Products & More. You should head on over to hear what author Efrem Sigel has to say in his interview with Candy. There is also a chance to win a copy of his book, The Disappearance. The contest is open until April 15th. Come on, enter. It will give you something to look forward to on that dreaded tax day. You have to live in the US to enter.

Heart of Ice

Over at J. Kaye's Book Blog you can win an ARC copy of Heart of Ice by Gregg Olsen. It is open until March 27th to the US and Canada. You must be 18 or older to enter. J. Kaye has given this book a rating of 5 stars so you'll want to get in on this. Remember that winners will not be notified by email so you might want to subscribe, you wouldn't want to miss the announcement if you win.

The Demo Tapes: Year 1

Run over to Confessions of a Literary Persuasion to enter for a chance to win ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes: Year 1 by Susan Helene Gottfried. There are two signed copies up for grabs. The contest is open until March 30th.

Goodies

I like to bake. I like to try new recipes and see how they come out. I like to have cookies around the house. I like when people say nice things about my baking, even though I pretend that I don’t care about that. Even though I sometimes wonder why they can’t follow the recipe and get the same delicious results. Baking is probably the only skill I have so I’ll take what I can get. I even like baking with the ‘help’ of my nieces. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s any going back. I think I’ve been spoiled for store bought goodies. I still enjoy an Oreo or a Hostess cupcake every once in a while even though the ‘cream’ centers have probably never been within 10 feet of a dairy product. But store bought just doesn’t taste as good to me as it used to. I’ve even started making my own frosting because once I tried it I just could not go back to the kind that comes in a plastic tub at the grocery store. (You really should make your own frosting too and you’ll know what I’m talking about.) So I thought I would share some recipes and maybe I can get you hooked too. I don’t want to be the only one.

Razz-ma-tazz bars are always a hit. They are really sweet and buttery and probably very bad for you but everyone loves them. I have brought them to several functions and shared them with lots of people and they never fail to get good reviews. People seek me out to tell me how good they are.

Chewy Butterscotch Brownies is another favorite of mine. These don’t make as big a sensation as the Razz-ma-tazz bars but they are always well received. Of course I love those butterscotch flavored chip so maybe I’m biased. I still can’t decide if I like them better with or without nuts.

I can’t say Sensational Irish Cream cheesecake is a recipe that is time tested (at least not by me) because I have only made it once but with St. Patrick’s Day coming up somehow it seemed appropriate and I, and the small number of people I was willing to share it with, enjoyed it.

All these recipes came from Very Best Baking. They have some other recipes that are also very good but I don’t have space to put them all here. So you should go take a look for yourself. They even have some recipes for things like chicken and casserole, but I don’t look at those very much.

Smoke and Whispers

You should make a trip to Wendy's Minding Spot where you can enter for a chance to win a copy of Smoke and Whispers by Mick Herron. You have until March 28th to enter. Open to the US and Canada.

Big Sid's Vincati

Over at the Novel Bookworm you can enter for a chance to win Big Sid's Vincati: The Story of a Father, a Son, and the Motorcycle of a Lifetime by Matthew Biberman. She gave this book four and a half bookworms so it must be good. You can read about how much she liked it in her review. The contest is open until March 18th to the US and Canada.

A Lever Long Enough

Over at Quiverfull Family you can read an interview with author Amy Deardon and enter for a chance to win a copy of her book A Lever Long Enough. It’s a sort of historical/biblical fiction story with a science fiction twist. Interesting, no? You have until March 19th to pop over and leave a comment to enter. The contest is open worldwide!

Sharon Lathon Guest Blog and Giveaway

Learn all about Sharon Lathon, her routines (or lack there of), her inspirations and her writing techniques in her wonderful guest blog at Savvy Verse & Wit. Make sure you drop by and leave a comment because there is also a chance to win a copy of her book, Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy. The giveaway is open until March 14th. A gently used ARC copy is available worldwide and another copy straight from Sourcebooks will be available to the US and Canada.

Just When I Thought It Was Safe

Just when I thought it was safe to get up in the morning today comes along. A couple of days ago I was waking up to sunlight streaming through my window and temperatures that, although not tropical, were high enough to melt the piles of snow. I was beginning to think that getting up in the morning wasn’t a complete tragedy. But when daylight savings time started this weekend and we all moved forward an hour that meant that I was once again getting up before the sun. I’m a firm believer that if it is still dark outside I should still be in bed. So getting up in the dark for church on Sunday morning was bad enough. But then today I wake up, not only in the dark, but with snow falling too. Now, living in New England I’m used to snow and cold and things like that and am not exactly surprised that Spring hasn’t sprung yet but after a few beautiful days of warmth and sunshine a day like today can be absolutely gloomy, even when you expect it. Especially when all you have to look forward to is a day at work. Sometimes I like New England weather but other times it makes me wish I could hibernate like a bear. It makes me want to crawl back into bed and stay there until it is nice and safe, until the sun has come back.

Free Book Friday

If you like free books you should go check out Free Book Friday. The name pretty much says it all. Every Friday there is another chance for you to win a free book. This week's title is The Prayer Room by Shanthi Sekaran. There are four signed copies available and they will be given away on March 13th.

This book not your cup of tea? Didn't win this time around? Don't worry. There will be a new title up for grabs next week.

How To Ditch Your Fairy

Steph Su Reads is giving away 8 ARC copies of How To Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier. You have until March 15th to stop by and tell Steph Su what kind of personal fairy you would like to have for a chance to win. There are also lots of ways to get extra entries. This contest is open worldwide.

Download Books for FREE

Suvudu is providing readers with a way to download the first book in some popular series for free. Of course they are hoping you will like them so much you run out and buy the rest of the series. But that’s okay. These ones are FREE. If you go to their free library you can take a look at what they have to offer. Right now they have five titles.

Blood Engines by T.A. Pratt
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
Settling Account: Return Engagements by Harry Turtledove
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

They promise that new titles will be added on a regular basis so keep checking back.
I can’t speak to the others but I can recommend His Majesty’s Dragon. I read it the old fashion way, in an actual book, and plan to read the rest of the series. Which is exactly how Suvudu hopes you will feel after reading it.

So get over there and download a good book! Enjoy!

Fed Up

Lori's Reading Corner has an autographed copy of Fed Up by Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant for you to win. Get on over there and leave a comment by March 11th to be entered. It is only open to the US and make sure you leave an email address or active blog address in your comment or you will be deleted!

Book Giveaways!!

Marta's Meanderings has some wonderful book giveaways going on that you should go check out.

For Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Sharon Lathan go here. It is open until March 8th to the US and Canada. Tell her your favorite romantic literary couple!

For Rogue by Cheryl Brooks go here. Also open until March 8th to the US and Canada. Tell her your favorite genre of romance to enter.

For The Italian Lover by Robert Hellenga go here. Open until March 7th to the US and Canada. You must be 18 to enter. There will be 5 winners!

For Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home: No-Nonsense Advice that Will Inspire You to CLEAN like the DICKENS by Thelma Meyer go here. Open until March 8th to the US and Canada. Leave a comment with either your best cleaning tip or the biggest disaster you've ever had to clean up to be entered to won one of 5 copies.

For Free Yourself to Love: The Liberating Power of Forgiveness by Jackie Kendall go here. Open until March 20th to the US and Canada. There are 5 copies to win.

For My Little Red Book by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff go here. Leave a comment by March 20th for a chance to win one of five copies. Open to the US and Canada.

My Commute

I was late for work this morning and it was honestly not my fault. Public transportation is not fun on the best of days and it can make you down right homicidal on the bad days. This was a bad day. I get to the station to catch my train at the same time I always do. And I’m waiting but at first I don’t think anything of it because it seems like I’m always waiting for the train. Then there is an announcement that there are delays. A while after that someone comes down and says they are having operational problems on this line and there will be shuttle buses. So we all troop upstairs from the platform to the station to wait for shuttle buses. I call work to let them know I will be late and find out that my coworker who gets on the train two stops ahead of me has already called with the same message. So I, along with a bunch of other late people, wait for shuttle buses only to be told that the inbound train is coming in but on the outbound track. So we all troop back down. The guy now tells us that there will be a train on the outbound track but there will also be one on the inbound track that will probably be less full so we should try for that one. Only when the train comes there is only one and who is going to count on there being another after waiting for half an hour already. So we all get on and are told that at the next stop we will all have to get off. The train has turned back into an outbound train and is going back the other way now. So now we are all waiting at a different station but at least at this one you can catch trains from both inbound lines. The first train that is going inbound (it took some time to establish which way it was going) was so full they couldn’t close the doors. I didn’t make it on. So I go upstairs into the station where they have a sign that lights up to tell you which track the next inbound train is coming in on. The light says to go to the left hand track so we all go down to the left track and wait only to see a train start to pull into the right side track. We all run up the stairs (completely undignified) across the station and down the stairs on the other side. We make it on the train and everything is fine until we get two more stops down the line where we have to stand by for a few minutes for a schedule adjustment. What? Haven’t we all been waiting long enough? So we finally make it to my stop. But I’m not at work yet, I just have to change trains. I run into my coworker. She tells me her story. At her stop where she was waiting this morning she apparently overheard people who work for the trains looking at a switch and saying things like ‘is it supposed to do that?’ and ‘I don’t think it’s supposed to do that’. Builds confidence in the safety doesn’t it? She, too, had to get off the train when it turned back into an outbound train but she managed to get onto the train I couldn’t fit on. Not that it did her any good. She only managed it because one of the cars was empty and thinking it was out of service was surprised when the doors opened and passengers were allowed to get on. But two stops down the line they decided that was a bad idea and had them all get out and took that car out of service. So she had to wait for the next train. Which just happened to be the one I was on that stayed at that station for what seemed a very long time to make a schedule adjustment. So we got to ride to work together from there and trade war stories. I have never been so happy to get to work in all my life.

Drood by Dan Simmons

Want to win a copy of Drood by Dan Simmons? There are people who are just dying to give you the chance.

At Bermudaonion's Weblog you can enter to win a copy by leaving a comment by March 7th. Open to the US and Canada only.

At Drey's Library you can win one of three copies by leaving a comment by March 8th. Open to the US and Canada only. Make sure you check out how you can get some extra entries.

At Booking Mama there are five copies up for grabs but these are also only open to the US and Canada. Leave a comment by March 13th to enter. You can get some extra entries here as well so make sure you read the directions.

A Bookworm's World also has a copy you can win if you live in the US or Canada. You have to name a Wilkie Collins or a Charles Dickens book to enter. Get your book titles in by March 20th.

Free Book!

The Bookkitten is having a contest to win The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. All you have to do is comment to enter but there are ways to earn extra entries as well. You have until Marth 7th to enter. You should go check it out.

Testing 1 2 3

Okay. So I’m just trying to get the hang of things here so I thought I would post something else. And I thought a book review might be a nice start. I got this book from the early reviewers program at librarything.com so the review is already written and everything.

The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry

The Charlemagne Pursuit hits the ground running and never slows down. There is a large cast of characters and several story threads that all start out independently and start to connect as the story moves along until you see how all the pieces fit together. There is a lot going on and the story jumps from one thread to another as you read. I like the almost puzzle quality this gives the book and enjoyed following as the characters and threads met. However I could see how it would turn some people off for almost the same reasons that I enjoyed it. There are a lot of pieces that you have to keep track of as you read and the constant shift between those pieces, usually right at some pivotal moment, might be seen as frustrating. I liked the nonstop action, the interesting characters, the riddles, and all of the historical details. I was glad for the notes at the end too that explained what was history and what was invention. This was the first Cotton Malone book I have read but I do not think it will be the last.

In fact after I wrote this I went out and bought the first book in the Cotton Malone series. I have not had a chance to read it yet but it is near the top of my TBR pile.

Honesty

I’m going to be honest. I started this blog because I was entering all sorts of contests to win books on other blogs and I could get extra entries if I blogged about them. Only I didn’t have a blog. I don’t think anyone wants to hear what I have to say or that I have anything of interest to say anyway. I just want to win books. So what else will I blog about here? Your guess is as good as mine. I don’t even know what I’m doing so the whole thing is going to be trial and error. Hopefully it won’t be a train wreck and I won’t make a total fool of myself out here where everyone can see it. Right now that’s the best any of us can hope for. We will all find out together how it turns out.