I wanted to quickly let you know that there is a giveaway over at Confessions of an Unsuspected Bookworm. Huge thanks to Angie, who did a great piece on Boycotts and Barflies and to go along with the post, she’s doing her first giveaway. Go show her some love.

There is an ebook AND a SIGNED print copy of Boycotts and Barflies up for grabs.

You have a great chance to win, stop over at their site and get in on the giveaway before it ends. Free stuff is always fun

Here is the link to their website: http://confessionsofanunsuspectedbookworm.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend!!

V

I have to say, July has completely snuck up on me. It feels like yesterday was the last day of school and summer had just started and now… it’s half-way over! So much to do, so little time.

One thing I was able to check off my list was joining Authorgraph!

Now if you want to get an authorgraph of Trust in Advertising or Boycotts and Barflies, all you have to do is go to their website and make the request. It’s really cool and I should have done it ages ago, but better late than never! So if your interested, click on the link and  check it out. Who will be my first authorgraph??

Also, because if you know me, you know I’m obsessed with Wrath from the Black Dagger Brotherhood so I had to share this little gem

The cover the JR Ward’s upcoming book: The King which is about… you guessed it- WRATH. March cannot come soon enough for me!

I think that’s all for right now, I’m busy writing. Yep, I said writing. Hopefully I’ll have some exciting news soon to share!

Enjoy your summer and time with your families. As the mother of a soon to be high school senior, it goes by faster than you ever could imagine!

MWAH!

V

I was floored and extremely flattered when I heard they wanted to do this. They’re covering three chapters a day and will be discussing them on Twitter at 9pm nightly. To see the schedule check out their site at http://literatiliteraturelovers.com/book-club/

The read-along starts tomorrow evening Monday, Sept. 10th and runs through Monday, Sept. 24th. I hear there might be some questions for me to answer too, so I’m going to be reading TiA again myself so I don’t look like a dork And who knows, I might just pop on Twitter sometime and join in the fun.

Huge thanks again to the ladies at Literati Literature Lovers for sharing Trust in Advertising with their book club. I hope you enjoy it!

Follow them at
Literatiliteraturelovers.com

The joy of that experience was cut short when we came home and heard about the terrible shooting in Colorado, at a movie theater, where other families were watching The Dark Night Rises, enjoying a night out, just like we had done. Even though we were perfectly safe and sound, halfway across the country, it’s still a horrible shock because I can’t help but wonder, how many of the victims were like us? A family piled into a car going to see it together? Or people out on a date? Or friends who had planned this night for months, bought their tickets in advance and taken a nap earlier in the day so they would be ready to stay up late? How many were taking a sick day or vacation the next day? How many were going to call in sick or how many were going to go to work, without sleep because they wanted to see the movie that badly?

So rather than post my opinion on guns, the death penalty or society in general, I’m calling for action. I’m going to DO something to honor those who have died and I hope others join me. Do something good, do something silly, do something fun and carefree. Celebrate life, celebrate your family, celebrate who you are.  Help another person, give your time, your money, yourself to something you care about. Actions speak far louder than words. Fight hate and evil with actions of love. All the talk in the world won’t change what happened, but loving people and loving yourself will show that people care.

Those who died probably wouldn’t want a gun debate in their honor, but I bet they would be touched to know people left work early to go be with their families, or gave their time to help those in need, in memory of them. To know that people sacrificed something they love for someone else and are working to show the good in people.  Pay it forward. THAT is turning something negative into something positive far more than words on a timeline, posts of outrage, or rants amongst friends.

So let’s do it. Spread the word. Do something good today. It doesn’t have to be huge, sometimes the smallest things mean the most. Honor those who died with action, inspire others to do good, show them that we all can overcome such mindless evil with kindness, patience and love.

Because nothing is more powerful than love…

]]> http://victoriamichaels.net/blog/2012/07/20/love/feed/ 0 http://victoriamichaels.net/blog/2012/07/10/how-do-you-read/ http://victoriamichaels.net/blog/2012/07/10/how-do-you-read/#comments Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:56:14 +0000 http://victoriamichaels.net/blog/?p=297 So it’s July already! We recently got back from vacation, which was amazing! There’s nothing better than sitting on the beach, watching the kids play in the sand and hearing the waves crash against the shore. I could honestly stay there forever. Here’s a picture of one of the spectacular sunsets we were blessed with while we were there.

Since we got back home, we’ve been having ridiculously high temperatures where I live so I’ve been enjoying the air conditioning and had my nose stuck in a book. I should preface this post with, I’m a little crazy obsessive when it comes to books. So…

Last week,  the latest book in the Ghostwalkers series by Christine Feehan came out and I’m a huge fan of the series so I immediately fan-girl squealed, downloaded it onto my Nook and was so excited to read it, but I haven’t touched it yet. It’s still sitting hrere with the ‘new’ banner across the top of it in my library. Why you ask? Because I’m a bit odd and wanted to re-read the series, from the beginning so I was fresh in the story and knew what was going on. So here I am, a week after it came out, on book 6 of the series with 3 more books to go before I can read Samurai Game.

Sure I could have simply re-read the last book, to refresh my mind where everything left off, but then I think of all the storylines from the first few books, the moments when characters met, fought or fell in love and I had to start at the beginning. The more I thought about it, the more I realized, I do this all the time. I NEVER read a book out of order. I NEVER start a series in the middle, then backtrack. I NEVER read the last book then pick up the newest one. Even when I’m re-reading, I never just jump to book 3 and read, I start at one and get to 3.

So it made me wonder, does anyone else do this too? Or am I the only neurotic, OCD person when it comes to reading a book series? There have to be more people like me out there.

All this talk of books has me thinking about what I love to read so here are a few favorite series of mine:

Black Dagger Brotherhood- JR Ward

Immortals After Dark- Kresley Cole

Ghostwalkers, Drake sisters and Carapathian Series- Christine Feehan

Lords of the Underworld- Gena Showalter

Stephanie Plum Series- Janet Evanovich

Vampire Academy/Bloodlines – Richelle Mead

Harry Potter – JK Rowling

Dark Hunters, League Series – Sherrilyn Kenyon

The Wilderness Series – Sara Donati

Outlander- Diana Gabaldon

The Bridgertons – Julia Quinn

Virgin River Series – Robyn Carr

I really could keep going on and on and on with books I love to read. But those are some of my favorites. Hopefully you are having a great summer and enjoying time with your families like I am. I’m always looking for new books to read so if you have something you love- tell me about it.

There’s nothing like a great book!

My question on the day is: If you could take 5 books with you to read on a deserted island what would they be and why would you choose them?

Now that I’ve asked the question, I suppose I have to answer and it’s a much harder question than I thought initially because I love books and choosing only one (especially from a  favorite series say) is so difficult. But I’ll try.

First book I take – Dark Lover by JR Ward because anyone who knows me knows I enjoy the BDB books more than I can say and Wrath and I go way back, so he’s the first of my five. I think its a great start to an amazing series but I can only take one… so Dark Lover it is.

Second book I take- One for the Money by Janet Evanovich because she makes me laugh until my sides hurt and heavens knows if I am trapped on some deserted island I will need that. Her characters are so lively, entertaining and Morelli… is another personal favorite of mine. Team CUPCAKE all the way, baby. I think she has a great wit to her writing and enjoy this book more than I can so, so One of the Money is next in the bag and will have me laughing out loud.

Third book I would take – Dark Magic by Christine Feehan. Paranormal romance where she creates an amazing world and huge cast of characters that overlap into other books and pull you into their dark and brooding world. The dynamic between the main characters – Gregory a centuries old Carapathian male and the most powerful healer among them and the young, modern woman who loves her independence and refuses to follow blindly or be bound to someone as unyielding as Gregory. Angst, drama, love.

Fourth Book I would take- Now here is where it gets tricky…. I guess I would take Outlander by Diana Gabaldon because I loved this book the most in the series… and it’s nice and long to keep me occupied. BUT… if you’ve read the series you know at the end of book one, you MUST have book two to read and I don’t know if my heart could take it. Jamie and Claire- their story is epic and makes you happy yet breaks your heart all at the same time. Excellent read I say. I’d just need to find a copy of it with a snippet of book 2 in the back of it

Fifth book- IMPOSSIBLE to choose. I pulled out my Nook and looked through my titles and realized I have no Lori Foster on this list yet, no Gena Showalter, no Kresley Cole, no Sherrilyn Kenyon, no Karen Marie Moning or none of the Circle Trilogy books which I fell in love with this week.

What does this little exercise tell me about myself? First, I’m never going to a deserted island – that goes without saying since I don’t do well in the great outdoors – ask anyone. Second, I’m a romance book junkie. I admit it. And if I’m trapped on an island, I don’t want something depressing to read… I want fun. But I also love mysteries like Mary Higgins Clarke and darker, creepy books like Dean R Koontz but alone in the dark, at night, they might scare me even more than whatever furry little creatures are running around on this island at night, so forget them. Third thing I learned is, I love my Nook because it allows me to take everything including the ‘kitchen sink’ of my books with me in my purse every day.

So the bottom line is, if I was going to a deserted island, it better darn well have a hotel with indoor plumbing, a chef, and electricity so I can charge my Nook and have all my favorite titles at my fingertips, daily.

Hope you’re all catching up on a little summer reading and taking a few minutes out of your busy schedules to relax and have a good read by the pool, on the deck, or curled up on your couch.

Share with the class: what you would take. I love hearing about new books, series and titles that people are passionate about. There’s always room on my To Be Read list for more books

Happy Reading!

I was checking my email before I went out to hopefully get the last of my holiday shopping done and I was floored to find a message from Goodreads letting me know I was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award in the category of Best Goodreads Author! Here is the link if you would like to check it out for yourself.

2010 Goodreads Choice Awards Official Nominee: Best Goodreads Author Vote for this book!

I have no idea how this happened, but it is truly an amazing honor to be nominated for something like this and I wanted to take a minute to say thank you to all of you who have supported me for so long. None of this would have been possible without you! Your emails, messages, posts and support of me, as an author, touch me beyond words. Thank you for all the love you have shown me, and my books.

Thank you!!

For those of you overseas who have ordered it, I understand your books have a much longer trip to make, but at least you know they’ve begun their journey.

I have to admit it’s a very surreal and overwhelming experience to hold a book you have written in your  hand. Even though you’ve spent the last few months going over every letter in the thing, in many ways, it’s like you’re seeing it for the first time because it’s so different when it’s bound and on paper, versus illuminated print on your computer screen. All those small details you worried about, come together to make the book what it is. I mean really, who would believe the book spine or the interior title page of a book could reduce someone to tears?

Thanks to everyone who has tweeted and retweeted about Trust in Advertising or left a review for the book on Goodreads and Amazon! If you review it on your blog, let me know so I can link the post here and people can check out your site.

I can’t believe it’s August already! Where did the summer go? If you’re like me, the next few weeks will be spent getting the kids ready for school – that dreaded back to school shopping. I hope everyone manages to squeeze in some last minute fun and enjoy yourselves and your families!

Have a great day!

Trust in Advertising has been on sale for two days and I’m completely overwhelmed by the support and messages from everyone. Some of you are stalking your mailman waiting for your print copy to arrive, some of you were so impatient you ordered ebook and print, Kindles were downloading it, people overseas are patiently awaiting packages, and I heard some of you even stayed up all night reading! I cannot thank you enough for the support and the smiles. It’s impossible to explain the feelings of gratitude I have to all of you for your kindness.

I hope you’ll let me know what you think after you read it. Good, bad, and  everything in between. Who did you love? Who did you hate? What made you laugh? Favorite lines? If you have questions for me, send them to me at victoria@victoriamichaels.net I’d love to hear them.

To order Trust in Advertising in Print or ebook click here.

To order Trust in Advertising for the Kindle click here.

Huge thanks to Jennie over at Random Chalk Talk for her awesome review on release day!

Jennie says:

I was lucky enough to be an early reader for this fantastic novel and I cannot sing its praises enough. Victoria Michaels has brought us yet another wonderfully written novel that captivates us from the very beginning. As with her other novel, I could not put this one down and was completely captivated by the story of two people who reconnected after so many years and found themselves within each other. Their lives, which were seemingly different from the outside looking in, were beautifully woven together through fantastic writing and fast paced drama, revelations, and a cute little girl who will do anything she can to make her uncle happy.

There are so many things to love about this novel that I can’t begin to list them all, but the fact that the characters are so very well written is key to this novel. Their spit fire dialogue and interaction makes them come alive with every turn of the page. Vincent comes across as an arrogant, selfish man but Lexi will have none of it and gladly calls him it many times. Vincent is dating the supermodel Jade whom you find it easy to hate for many reasons because she is written so well. It is hard to read a novel if the characters are not believable, but Michaels definitely has this craft under her belt and some authors could take a few pointers from her!

To read her full review click here:

And make sure you take some time to check out Random Chalk Talk. It’s full of great books, informative reviews, links and lots of fun!

Thanks again, Jennie!

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