Black 'n' Gold Girl's Book Spot

I just finished redesigning my blog...so I am soooo excited to post this new award from Lori (aka SugarandGrits) from over @ Some of My Favorite Things on my new blog! Thank you so much Lori!!! XOXO!!! The Award: Let’s Be Friends Award: What it means: Blogs that receive the Let’s Be Friends Award are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Rules: Deliver this award to 8 bloggers. Weeeelll I don't think I know 8 bloggers so I'm going to give this award to: Heather!!!! @ Gofita's Pages one of my very best blogger friends and a loyal commentor!! Please check out her blog, it's great!

Check out this great contest @ Lori's Reading Corner for your chance to win a $10 Borders gift card!

This week was a bit slow, I only received two books (both from Bookmooch.) Maybe it's best that way as my TBR stack is gigantic to start with! Untamed (House of Night series Book 4) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast Copyright 2008 St. Martin's Griffin 338 pages ISBN: 9780312379834 Rekindled Hearts by Brenda Minton Copyright 2009 Steeple Hill Books 224 pages ISBN: 9780373875481 Please be sure to stop by and see Marcia at The Printed Page to see what other interesting reads arrived for others this week!

Hi everyone! I'm totally loving this whole Everything Austen Challenge! It's been great so far! I just haven't had tons of time to do as many posts as I would like! However I have been reading Pride and Prejudice again...and even introducing others to Austen who *gasp* have not heard of her books!!!!! So as I was reading Austen, I was thinking what can I possibly say about Pride and Prejudice that hasn't already been said? Well I couldn't come up with too much. Obviously most of us participating in this challenge have read everything that Miss Austen has written and read reviews (mostly good ones) for her books! I was trying to think of something fun and as I sat staring at my copy of Pride and Prejudice , I realized that I was totally in LOVE with the cover!!! I have the Wordsworth Classics Edition pictured below, isn't the cover gorgeous? The painting on the cover is a detail from A Stolen Kiss by Marcus Stone (1840-1921.) I love it because it's complet...

Many thanks to Lori @ Some of My Favorite Things for sending me this award! It's much loved and appreciated! Since Lori doesn't have this award for herself I'm going to pass it back to her as well as send it to my friend Heather @ Gofita's Pages !!!!! Thank you ladies for being great bloggers and friends too! I The Who

I've been in the habit recently of posting new contests on my blog! I love to enter these things too! I hardly ever get lucky though and actually win one! Maybe you will have better luck than I do. Stop by and see Miss Eliza @ strange-and-random-happenstance to enter for your chance to win a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card ! What a great way to celebrate 50 followers!!! Good Luck!!!

Stakes and Stilettos (Immortality Bites, Book 4) by Michelle Rowen Forever Romance Copyright 2009 372 pages ISBN: 9780446505840 Stakes and Stilettos is the continuing story of Sarah Dearly and her nearly 700 year old master vampire boyfriend, Thierry de Bennicoeur and her fight to regain a "normal" life. When you're a vampire however it's hard to be normal, between a witch putting a curse on you and a powerful vampire hunter with you at the top of his hit list, life...well...sucks! Especially since the incident at the 10 year high school reunion that turned her into a nightwalker from Hell. The new guy, known as Red Devil sure doesn't help much in umcomplicating her life either! Ok, now that I've hopefully whetted your appetite. I'm going to say it! This. Is. My. Favorite. Vampire. Series. Yes your eyes haven't deceived you, I think I may even like this more than....dare I say it?.. Twilight !!!!! Why, you may ask? it's probably because I laughed...

I don't know whether to feel sorry for these dogs or feel sorry for the person that did this to the dogs (they had waaaay too much time on their hands!) I think they are super cute though! What do you think? Betcha can't guess which doggie is my favorite?! ;-) Click here to see the first slide in the show...be sure to check out all 12, they're adorable!!!! Thank you Rachel for showing me these adorable Poodles!!!!

These are some recent pictures of the loves of my life...my family's pets! I took this picture last week of my family's dog Coco and thought it was so cute that I should share it with my blogging friends! Isn't she cute?! She's 16 months old, a big ol' 80 pound baby!! This is Coco's older brother Sebastian, a sheltie-beagle mix. He's 11 years old...he still acts silly though. This is him trying his best to squish in a tiny cardboard box that was on the back deck! This is our kitty cat Penny, aka Pen-sters. She's Coco's BFF!!!! This is our cat Mia, unfortunately she has been M.I.A. for 2 months now. We haven't seen her since June 3. So we're thinking that she was K.I.A. or hopefully taken in by some other person who thought she may have been a stray...she really is a lot friendlier than she looks in the picture!! :-( We think she ran away because she finally had enough of her sister, Penny. They never got along very well!

Every Monday, Marcia at The Printed Page asks what books people in the blogging universe have received in the past week. Since I get so many books I've decided to participate each week. This week I've only received 5 books (4 from Bookmooch , 1 from PaperBackSwap )! I've finished reading and reviewing one already but have no idea when I'll be able to read the rest. Here are the books! Be sure to stop by Marcia's blog to see what others are going to be reading! Books I received from Bookmooch: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (YA fiction) Fields of Grace by Kim Vogel Sawyer The Preacher Wore A Gun by Joyce Livingston The Centurion's Wife by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke Book I received from PaperBackSwap: Paper Roses by Amanda Cabot Read my review HERE

I know I love giveaways and contests, they're so much fun! Even if I don't win I often get to meet some cool new bloggers! One cool blogger who has stopped by my blog and left some nice comments is Suko !!! She has a great giveaway going on right now at her blog! Please visit here to stop by and say "hi!" and be sure to enter for your chance to win a $25 Amazon.com giftcard! In times like these who couldn't use 25 bucks??!! Good luck! :-)

Paper Roses by Amanda Cabot Revell Publishers Copyright 2009 569 pages DoubleDay Large Print Home Library Ed. ISBN 9781607514787 This week I received Paper Roses in the mail as part of my housewarming gift for joining PaperBackSwap.com . I've never read anything by Amanda Cabot before but thought the cover was pretty and since it was a historical I would give it a shot. It didn't take long for me to finish it and it was easy to read...my copy was a large print book. Sarah Dobbs arrives in San Antonio ready to marry the man who sent her the letters she calls "paper roses" only to learn that he has been brutally murdered. Sarah cannot go back East due to a family tragedy that led to her being shunned by polite society. Austin's widower brother, Clay wants nothing more for than for Sarah to leave so he can enact vengeance on whoever killed his brother so he himself can leave ranch life behind. Sarah stays in Laderville, Texas to make a new life for herself and her ...

Author Kaye Dacus posted a Fun Friday link on her website http://www.kayedacus.com/ .This weeks challenge is to grab your iPod or other music player and write down the first line of the first 20 songs you hear to make a lyric poem! To learn the details and to see other "poems" go here ! Here's mine! It seems to have a summer time/tough chick theme...and a cliffhanger ending :-P Another summer day has come and gone away Don't you be wastin' all of your money I was gettin kinda tired of her endless chatter If you ain't got no money take yo' broke a** home Like the sound of silence calling D*** baby all I need is a little bit Everytime when I look in the mirror The summer wind came blowin' in You change your mind Nothing ever lasts for long Come a little closer baby She was more like a beauty queen from a magazine Step back gonna come at ya fast I used to rule the world Let me take you down I just want you close I don't know if I can yell any louder ...

Hey everyone, who doesn't like to hear about great new giveaways?! Well I got a terrific one from Amy at A Park Avenue Princess ! It's for a cool new Miche bag! If you've never heard of them check out Amy's article here and enter to win if you think this handbag is totally awesome!

Hey everyone I just found a terrific new blog today that has some great reviews and giveaways! It's called A Park Avenue Princess ! You guys know that princesses aren't usually my thing but this gal is cool (get ready for it :-D)...she's true royalty! Check out her latest contest here for a chance to win Summer of Two Wishes by Julia London, you'll be sittin' pretty if you do!!! Tell her the fiction, football, and fun loving Renee sent ya!

The Hope of Refuge by Cindy Woodsmall WaterBrook Press Copyright 2009 341 pages ISBN: 978-1-4000-7396-2 So far this week I've read two Amish books and since these aren't my favorite types of books it's rare for me to read two in a season let alone a week! So that being said, if I FINISHED two in a week they had to have been good reads. The Hope of Refuge just may be my favorite story with Amish characters ever!!!! The Hope of Refuge by Cindy Woodsmall is the story of widowed, single mom, Cara Moore and her young daughter Lori and the constant danger they face from a stalker while living in poverty and fear in the slums of New York. When escaping the dangerous man for what she hopes is the last time, Cara makes a trip to Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, in the heart of Amish country where she stirs up secrets from the past and more turmoil than anyone can imagine, including kind Amish man, Ephriam Mast who is determined to help no matter what. The struggles faced by the close knit ...

A Man of His Word by Kathleen Fuller Thomas Nelson Publishers Copyright 2009 291 pages ISBN: 978-1-59554-812-2 Amish woman Moriah Miller married the man of her dreams, or so she thought. After a few short months of marriage, her husband Levi abandons her on the eve of their anniversary without knowing Moriah is carrying his child. Moriah is devastated but with the help of God, family and friends is determined to move on with her life. After receiving news of a tragic accident, Levi's twin brother, Gabe vows to take care of her and her child. Believing that Gabe is only fulfilling a promise he made to Levi, Moriah is reluctant to let Gabe into her life. Moriah must decide, with God's help, if she's willing to re open her heart. Having read a lot of Amish fiction in the past few years I've become a little bored as it seems that they're all becoming a bit repetitive and...well...boring. I was a bit surprised when I read the cover blurb for A Man of His Word that it wa...

Today I'm trying something new that I found at Marcia's The Printed Page blog, it's called Mailbox Monday where I list all of the new books that arrived in my box throughout the week! As a swapper on Swaptree and PaperBackSwap , a moocher on Bookmooch , and a reviewer for Thomas Nelson's BRB Blogger review program I get books nearly everyday. Below are the books I received. Be sure to visit Marcia at the link above to see what fun books others are going to be reading!!! This week from Bookmooch I received: The Master's Match by Tamela Hancock Murray Encounter the Light by Donna Fletcher Crow From PaperBackSwap I received: Today's Embrace by Linda Lee Chaikin From Thomas Nelson BRB program I received: A Man of His Word by Kathleen Fuller From various blog contests I received: The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn The Hope of Refuge by Cindy Woodsmall

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts this weekend, I was out of town AGAIN! Now that I'm back I have a great link you should visit if you love paranormal YA fiction! The Book Blogger is giving away 3 different ARC copies of Dark Light by Lesley Livingston, The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting, and Ghost Huntress: The Guidance by Marley Gibson. You have up to 4 chances to win so be sure to stop by and check it out here !!!!

Snow Melts in Spring: Seasons of the Tallgrass Deborah Vogts 2009 Zondervan 303 pages ISBN: 9780310292753 When I first had the chance to read Snow Melts in Spring , I'll admit I passed on it. Luckily I won a copy of the book and decided to read it before I passed it on to a friend. I was not disappointed, this was a great book that left me wondering what was going to happen next in the series. Snow Melts In Spring is the story of Mattie Evans and Gil McGray, veterinarian and retired pro football player respectively and the last of the tallgrass prairies. It is classified as a romance but it isn't so much a love story as a story of the importance of family, friends, and faith. Right from the start this book grabs you. There's so much tragedy that each character has to deal with it makes you want to cry. The secondary character, Dillon Marshall's story is so tragic but a good lesson about the effects of drunk driving and not letting tragedy keep a hold on your life. Debo...

The Preacher's Wife Cheryl St. John Steeple Hill Books June 2009 281 pages ISBN: 9780373828135 Every once in a while I find an author whose books are new to me but have been around for a long time. Cheryl St. John is one of those authors, and I'm happy to say I really enjoy her books! I've only read two so far but I plan on picking up a few more of her books when I see them on Bookmooch. The Preacher's Wife is Cheryl's first book for the Steeple Hill Love Inspired line (which you know I happen to love). It is the story of widow, Josie Randolph and widower preacher, Samuel Hart who agree to marry out of convenience. With their family, they head west to take over a new church and must learn to deal with adversity and adjusting to life as a new family in a new place. I liked this story and think it was a good first book as a writer for Love Inspired. I have also read her book for Harlequin Historicals, His Secondhand Wife (terrific book!) and knew it wouldn't be ...

Hi everyone! Great news, Ruth over at This That and the Other Thing is giving away Dorothy Garlock's, The Moon Looked Down to five lucky readers. If you want to learn more about the book and the contest please go here ! Best of luck to you!

Revelations: A Blue Bloods novel Melissa de la Cruz Hyperion Books 2008 264 pages ISBN: 978-1423102281 As you know I really enjoy reading a good vampire novel, which usually happen to be geared towards young adults. Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series is quickly becoming one of my YA favorites. It's probably second to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series for me. The Blue Bloods series is really cool because it gives a neat religious background to the vampire myth. The Blue Bloods are fallen angels who were cast out of Heaven but saw the errors of their ways and are for the most part "good" vampires. Revelations is the continuation of Book 1, Blue Bloods and Book 2, Masquerade . We pick up with the love triangle between Schuyler Van Alen , Oliver Hazard Perry, and Jack Force and their fight to discover the Silver Bloods and whoever else is out to bring about the demise of the Blue Bloods. To read this story you will need to read Books 1 and 2 first or you wil...

Okay, I could not resist replying to this post on author Kaye Dacus's website ! I LOVE vintage fashion, I think I was supposed to choose ONE dress to wear to a ball from any time period I wanted...well that didn't happen! It took me a while to narrow down my choices but here they are! Some are not ball gowns but I thought they were so pretty I had to post them! What do you think? What would your dream dress from another time look like? 18th century: http://www.metmuseum.org/Imageshare/ci/large/DT1711.jpg Early 19th century: http://www.metmuseum.org/Imageshare/ci/large/DT7445.jpg http://www.metmuseum.org/Imageshare/ci/large/ci1983.6.1.R.jpg Mid to Late 19th century: http://www.metmuseum.org/Imageshare/ci/large/DT10337.jpg 20th century: http://www.metmuseum.org/Imageshare/ci/large/CI37.44.2ab.jpg http://www.metmuseum.org/Imageshare/ci/large/DT8700.jpg http://www.metmuseum.org/Imageshare/ci/large/DP113146.jpg

Hello all you Austen lovers! Check out this link to win a SIGNED copy of The Plight of the Darcy Brothers by Marsha Altman! It looks like a great read! http://thewrittenword.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/the-plight-of-the-darcy-brothers-a-giveaway/

Amanda Grange Mr. Darcy, Vampyre Sourcebooks August 2009 308 pages ISBN 9781402236976 I saw this book and knew I had to read it, unfortunately I didn't know about it until AFTER I submitted my list of things to read/watch/review for the Everything Austen Challenge. So I'm posting this as an "extra." Have no fear I will still complete the other 5 parts of the challenge in the weeks to come! Now that I got that out of the way lets talk Mr Darcy, Vampyre ! Reading some earlier reviews of this book I knew it wasn't going to have a ton of blood and gore and that sort of thing. As a matter of fact I didn't know that Darcy was a vampire until about 2/3 of the way through the book (I suspected that he was early on...the title, duh :-P) This is basically just what could have happened to Darcy and Elizabeth on their marriage trip. Along the way Lizzy begins to wonder if she ever really knew Darcy since he doesn't seem to want to be with her despite a few spicy kisse...

Is anybody else as excited as I am about the New Moon movie? I cannot wait until this comes out! It looks like it is going to be so much better than Twilight, which is hard to imagine since Twilight is probably my fave out of all four books and New Moon is probably my least favorite. I guess I'm thinking that they can't screw it up too badly since my expectations aren't that high. Have you seen the previews? If not you need to go here and check it out! **Sigh*** watch the trailer and tell me isn't Edward (Robert Pattinson) even better looking. I know. I know...can't be possible to improve on perfection! If you want to see more trailers there are a few on Youtube that the girlies who went to the New Moon panel at Comic Con filmed on there cell phones. The quality isn't that bad if you don't mind the high pitched shrieks when Edward and Jacob pop up on the screen! I have to say I'm not criticizing...cause I probably woulda gave a little shout too :-) I j...

Mary Connealy Montana Rose Barbour Publishing July 2009 318 pages ISBN 9781602601420 My TBR stack is over 15 books high and counting, well yesterday I received Montana Rose by Mary Connealy in the mail and it didn't even make it to the top of the pile! Now before you go thinking "Gee whiz that book must be terrible," the complete opposite is true...it's terrific! I didn't even get a chance to set it down on top of the TBR stack, I just immediately started to read it! What a great inspirational western romance! Montana Rose is the first book in the Montana Marriages series. Cassie Griffin, newly widowed is stuck between what she thinks is two rocks and a hard place when she is pressed to make a hasty match between two powerful ranchers or gentle hearted Red Dawson. Needless to say she chooses Red and learns that marriage to him is a lot different that what she is used to. What happens in between makes this book my favorite so far this year! I knew I would enj...