Okay, it's not quite Christmas month YET, but I felt like pulling out the holiday Mailbox Monday sign irregardless.
I haven't done a MM in a few weeks, but this week was an extra fun one due to all kinds of goodies I received. Besides going on a very mini buying bin at the local store and picking up five books, I also received two great treats in the mail - an envelope back from Kim Harrison, and also some new tea samplers.
The Swag
Last year I responded to an offer on Kim Harrison's blog for Pale Demon, where she was sending out free temporary tattoo designed her and her husband did based on the Rachel's tattoo in the book. All that was required was to send out a SASE. Unfortunately I was at the end when they were almost out, but sent it anyway hoping it would be in time. When I never received anything back, and saw that they were out, I figured I was out luck and tucked the bummed feeling aside.
Imagine my surprise when now, almost a year later, a month before the release of Ever After, I get back my SASA with the tattoo, but not only that, but the free goodie for Ever After too! Definitely worth the wait. The promo for Ever After is the coat check out tag for Carew Tower Restaurant, which is the setting featured in the first chapter preview for the book. Nice! Flip on one side and it's a promo with the release comments. Also I got the little Don't Panic card with information about the release. Was a fun and unexpected mail day for me :)New Books
While shopping for some mundane household goodies, I stopped by the book rack and picked these up pretty cheap. I grab Hard Case Crime whenever I can - my collection is rapidly growing and I'm pretty behind on the TBR portion of it, but I can't resist them. I'm not a modern contemporary romance fan either, but Phi Beta Bimbo looked adorably cute and like something I completely would like to read when in the mood for some light, fluffy fun.
Lawrence Block is pretty big on the Hard Case Crime and older style penny novels. I have to say I'm not too impressed by the cover compared to some others, but the story itself looks interesting enough. Lemons Never Lie is the fourth book of a Hard Case series, so looks like I need to track down the rest of them for it to make sense.
I'm not a chick lit fan for the most part, but Remember the Alimony didn't cost much and the blurb looked intriguing. It seems like a light comedy. Obsession interested me because it described itself as gothic, and I'm still hunting for gothic type fiction to satisfy my gothic itch that hardly gets scratched.
I did read Stolen by her years ago, a regular romance, and can't remember what I thought of it.
The Teas
Tea isn't really book related, although I associate it with books plenty when I'm relaxing with a good mystery. Either way I felt like sharing the samples I had sent to me this week from Zen Life tea and Anna Maria's Tea Shop.
I'm on the hunt for the perfect-for-me breakfast teas and wish to try a wide variety of them. O'Sullivan's Breakfast and Buckingham Breakfast are why I picked those. Lavender Nirvana...well, I'm not a floral fan but I've never had a Lavendar tea so I figured to try it. Ginger Black? Haven't tried it yet but I do love my Ginger Green tea from Little Coffee Shop of Horrors. Irene's Blend is divine, it's the first I tried. The smell is strong and aromatically mixed, while the taste dishes out a nice, deep black tea with subtle flavorings of all kinds of goodies. Phoenix Pearl smells like a standard black. If you're ever into tea ratings and reviews, check out Steepster.
