One More Chance

If you are still looking to get your hands on one of my novels, you can pop over to my friend Karlene's blog and enter to win one. Tons of other cool prizes offered today but that's the catch- you only have until midnight to get entered so go! go! go!

Remember, you can read the first chapter of both novels here.

http://alisonpalmer.blogspot.com/2010/11/price-of-gold-first-chapter.html
http://alisonpalmer.blogspot.com/2010/11/prodigal-son-first-chapter.html


Happy blogaversary Karlene!

Hurray for Prizes! (Take Two)

I promised I'd be back to host my friend Tristi's month long giveaway a second day, and here we are. So.... hop over to her blog and find out how to enter to totally awesome prizes compliments of me! This time you can win copies of my two novels. (They're great stuff, I promise.)

Remember, you can read the first to chapters of the two novels here.

http://alisonpalmer.blogspot.com/2010/11/price-of-gold-first-chapter.html
http://alisonpalmer.blogspot.com/2010/11/prodigal-son-first-chapter.html
Good luck!

Hurray for Prizes!

Today is my day to host my friend Tristi's month long giveaway. So.... hop over to her blog and find out how to enter to win mucho prizes compliments of me! Translation: win my Primary books (yes, all 9of them).

Later in the month you'll have a chance to win my novels. Remember, you can read the first to chapters of the two novels here.

http://alisonpalmer.blogspot.com/2010/11/price-of-gold-first-chapter.html
http://alisonpalmer.blogspot.com/2010/11/prodigal-son-first-chapter.html

Good luck!

Time's A Wasting!

Don't forget to leave a comment on the reviews for Dawn's Early Light and The Ball's in Her Court to enter for chances to win books and other cool stuff! Both blog tours end very soon.

And the Winners Are

Josi and Janet Jensen

Thank my two boys for drawing your names out of the hat, you've just become the proud owners of Simply Singing Time!

If you didn't win, I have 3 more copies of Simply Singing Time available for the sale price of $5 (including shipping). Retail price is $8.99. First come, first served. Email me at ampalmer30 (at) hotmail (dot) com with Simply Singing Time in the subject line.

Thanks for playing, everybody!

When All Else Fails. . .

Give something away.

I've been at a loss lately, no books to review for the past couple of weeks and nothing totally awesome floating around in my brain begging for me write about it. Sigh.

Soooo. Just to fill the time, I thought I'd do a give away. Know someone who wants a copy of my latest book?

Direct them here. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite Primary song is. December 1st I'll draw a name and send them a copy of Simply Singing Time.

By Love or By Sea by Rachel Rager

This week I’m happy to share my review of By Love of By Sea by Rachel Rager.

In case you can’t tell, it’s another one of those sweet romances. Note to self: review a mystery or comedy soon, before I go into sweetness overload. ;)

I was off to a slow start with By Love or By Sea. I liked the introduction well enough; the premise was sound and intriguing in its way. But I can’t say that I got the whole “can’t speak his/her name” thing. It felt rather forced to me, or maybe I’m just dense and clueless to the superstitions of the time. Despite that little hiccup, once all introductions were formally made to the reader I found it much easier to become involved in the characters. By Love or By Sea proved to be an easy, clean, and enjoyable escape for me.

The basic plot line is just what you’d expect: good girl with the wrong guy, enter the right guy. Personal and emotional struggles ensue; you worry and pine with the characters, but know there will always be a happy ending. Rachel Rager definitely lives up to her promise of sweet kisses. I loved the chemistry she managed to portray without being graphic or vulgar. Great job, Rachel!

I also had complete admiration for her heroine, Alice. Despite her tendency to get herself into mortal peril (as every good romantic heroine should), she was spunky, happy, and had a loving, pure heart that let her see good where most would never think to look.

Now for the totally nit-picky whines. Don’t judge the book too harshly for them though because they were totally out of the author’s control and had nothing to do with the meat of the book.

First: I loved the cover, you can't tell so much from the picture, but I thought it was beautiful. Didn’t care for the title.

Second: Every time I came across a new chapter heading I was sure my son’s pet spider had escaped and gotten himself squashed between the pages. The headings were over-the-top loopy and flamboyant. To me, they were distracting. But then again, not every one let’s their kids keep pet spiders in danger of escaping at any moment. . .

See, I told you they were nit-picky. Overall, I found By Love or By Sea to be a very satisfying first book for Rachel. She has a flare for good clean romance that can only get better with future projects. Keep going Rachel, your readers will thank you for it!

Here’s a note from Rachel about her By Love or By Sea blog tour:

“Let your readers know that if they leave a comment on your review, or become a follower of my blog, they will be entered in a drawing for an autographed copy of the book. They can comment on more than one review and become a follower and be entered multiple times.”

If you’ve read it, stop by Rachel’s blog or website to offer your own hurrahs! I know she’ll appreciate it. Oh, and don’t forget to leave a comment here, as well, to be entered in the drawing for your own copy!

Don't Forget to Comment for Free Books!

Don’t forget,

Joyce DiPastena’s blog tour and book giveaway for Illuminations of the Heart ends September 14^th.

Gale Sears’ tour and giveaway for The Route ends September 17^th.

Rachel Nunes’ tour for Saving Madeline ends September 25^th, here on this blog.

Leave a comment on the actual reviews here, and track down as many other reviews as you can to leave comments on. Each comment earns you an entry for a free book. That’s the best kind if you ask me.

Illuminations of the Heart by Joyce DiPastena

Well, what can I say? Illuminations of the Heart by Joyce DiPastena is one amazing book. I have heard nothing but praise for this book, but I’m always a “read it to believe it” kind of person. I fully recognize that not every book is going to strike the same chord with every reader, and that’s just fine. Still, every reader loves it when they come across those titles that leave them breathless to the last page. When Illuminations first arrived I looked at the size and thought, “Yikes! That’s a lot of mush.” (Incidentally, what is it with all the stunningly beautiful women and breathtakingly handsome heroes, anyway? Okay, don’t answer that. . .)

First impressions can be deceiving and the many positive reviews turned out to be well deserved. The book turned out to be wonderful stuff. I couldn’t get enough of it. I will admit that some of the monologue and diatribes could have been pared back a little but all in all I was so caught up in the excellent story that I didn’t mind.

At first, Illuminations of the Heart seemed to give me a reading flavor reminiscent of the classic novel Rebecca. It involves a young woman living in the shadow of another whose past is a little muddled and unclear. But, I have to say the execution and time period of Illuminations of the Heart were much more fun. Not that that I’m saying Rebecca isn’t good, just, you know . . . a little depressing.

This is one that you want to make sure you have a good chunk of reading time carved out before you start. Or, it can potentially take over your life until you reach happily-ever-after. Not only is it beautifully, and cleanly, romantic but the historical backdrop and storyline were excellent as well.

I had to laugh when the male characters could tell the difference between the two floral scented perfumes and name them correctly, though. It was sweet, but I don’t know that it’s all that accurate. All I get out of my husband is, “Why do you smell weird?” Then again, maybe other men pay better attention to such things. Now, if my husband walks in the door and I have a crazed look in my eyes or he finds out I haven’t written anything that day- that he notices and that’s good enough for me.

Giggles about perfume aside, you’ll find plenty of excellent smoochies, damsels in distress, trickery, and sword fighting, to satisfy just about any historical romance reader.

Here’s my personal whine about it though: the character Clothilde. I’m sure no one but me will have a problem with this, but every time I read her name it came out “cloth hide” in my head. I’d have to back up and re-read it to give her a proper name. Sadly, about halfway through the book I was too caught up in the story and got tired of re-reading it. Cloth Hide she became. Poor girl. As if she didn’t have enough problems. ;)

If you are into historical romance, Joyce Dipastena is definitely someone to look up. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Illuminations of the Heart and Joyce’s other title, Loyalty’s Web are both available through Walnut Springs Press. Don’t forget to leave a comment on this post to be entered in Joyce’s drawings for a copy of Illuminations and gift certificates to several book stores. Stop by multiple review spots from her route and leave more comments to up your odds! You can find the complete list of links in my side bar or on Joyce’s blog.

Yippee!!! A Free Book

I have here, in my cute little hand, . . . okay, not literally- that would make typing a little difficult.

Ahem, where was I? Oh! I happen to have an extra copy of Under a Lakota Moon by Deborah L. Weikel that is itching to find a new home. Since you poor saps actually read my blog it can belong to one of you!

Here's all you have to do:
Enter a comment on this blog post before midnight August 26th, 2009 telling me why you like to read romance novels and the title of the best one you've read in the last year.

That's it! Easy as pie and you could win a free book. I will have my children randomly select one name from those who commented and announce it here on the 27th.

Happy Commenting!