Category: Cruisin Thru Cozies

Special Thursday Edition – Cozy Wednesday with Author Liz Lipperman (Giveaway too!)

Posted on By Dollycas 59 Comments on Special Thursday Edition – Cozy Wednesday with Author Liz Lipperman (Giveaway too!)

cozy wednesday

Welcome to a Special Thursday Edition of Cozy Wednesday!

Liz is one of the busiest authors I know so I am delighted that she can
still squeeze in a visit to Escape With Dollycas.

At deskWow! It seems like only yesterday I was a guest with Dollycas to promote book two of my Clueless Cook series from Berkley. How time flies! Here I am, again hocking another book – – or two – – or three.

Yep, you heard me right. Now that I have your attention I wanted to tell you a funny story about my research for Murder for the Halibut, the latest in the series that released last week. When I decided to send my heroine, Jordan, on a cruise to judge a culinary contest, I knew I needed to do some investigating to get it right. Sure, I’ve been on cruises before – – love them, in fact – – but I’ve never paid enough attention to detail to write about them. (BTW, you can get a seven-day cruise out of Galveston for a little over 300 bucks in February or March.murder for the halibut

Anyway, the first thing I had to do was get the crazy characters from the Empire Apartments on the ship with her – – orders from my editor! With that figured out, I started the actual research.

You guessed it. Hubby and I took the seven-day cruise from Miami to the Western Caribbean islands. On the day we boarded the ship, I marched right down to the main desk and announced that I was a writer and that I needed to interview the head chef and the head of security. The lady looked at me as if I had three heads. It seems you have to schedule stuff like that months in advance, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to talk to someone.

Well, anyone who knows me already suspects I didn’t take no for an answer. On our first day at sea, there was a cooking demonstration in the main lobby, and several of the chefs were there. When it was over, I made my way to the head honcho, introduced myself, and basically asked if he wanted to help me write a book. Of course, that drew a crowd of interested chefs, all foreigners, mind you, and it was decided we would all meet the next morning in the coffee shop.

Cruise (27)

When I rounded the corner and saw four of them, all in their white starched uniforms and gigantic hats waiting for me, I nearly died. I introduced myself again, told them the name of my book and the basic plot, and voila!  Before long I had all four of them chiming in with ways to kill someone using food on a cruise ship. I can’t even begin to describe the faces of the other passengers who couldn’t help overhearing as they sipped their cappuccinos. With enough material to get me started, I thanked the chefs profusely and left with a lot of great ideas to work with.

I never thought any more about it and concentrated on taking notes about the islands so I could include them in my story. On Friday night, our last night at sea, there was another huge cooking demonstration in the main theater, and hubby and I went. When it was over, one of the chefs came up to me and asked if I would meet him in an hour at the coffee shop. I figured he’d thought of another angle for my plot. Imagine my surprise when he was waiting for me with the typed recipe for Grilled Halibut Caribbean Style with the killer ingredient added. I nearly kissed the man.

Although he gave me his e-mail address, I haven’t received an answer back from him yet. I don’t know whether the e-mail is wrong or he’s ignoring me. I would like him to know that I acknowledged him in the front of the book and would love to send him a copy so he could see his own personal recipe included in the back.

All in all, we had a great time and I would do it again in a New York minute. Oh, what we sometimes have to do in the name of research!

And those other books I mentioned earlier—I have a romantic suspense titled SHATTERED DREAMS releasing in March and the first book of A Dead Sister Talking Mystery titled Heard it Through the Grapevine debuts in May from Midnight Ink. Pardon this shameless plug.

So tell me, have you ever been on a cruise, and if not, where would your dream cruise take you?

~Liz

So jealous, I have never been on a cruise but hope to someday! 

About This Author

Liz Lipperman started writing many years ago, even before she retired from the medical field. Wasting many years thinking she was a romance writer but always having to deal with the pesky villains who kept popping up in all her stories, she finally gave up and decided since she read mysteries and obviously wrote them, why fight it? She now calls what she writes Romantic Mystery (RM) since there is always a hunky hero and a lot of flirting. In October of 2011, the first book of her Clueless Cook cozy mystery series, Liver Let Die, debuted from Berkley Prime Crime. Since then she has published two more. The latest, Murder for the Halibut, released this month. The first book of her new series from Midnight Ink will debut in May. She writes her cozies under her real name and her mainstream mysteries as Lizbeth Lipperman so that her cozy readers will know the books written under this name are not G rated.

She lives north of Dallas with her HS sweetheart hubby. When she’s not writing, she spends her time doting on her four wonderful grandchildren. She loves hearing from readers.

murder for the halibut

Murder for the Halibut
(A Clueless Cook Mystery)
3rd in Series
Cozy Mystery
A Berkley Prime Crime Mystery
The Berkley Publishing Group (December 31, 2012)
Published by The Penguin Group
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0425251829
E-Book File Size: 624 KB
ASIN: B0095ZMK1I
Cover Illustration by Ben Perini
Cover Design by Laura K. Corless

Murder for the Halibut (A Clueless Cook Mystery, #3)

A sports writing job would have been the perfect catch for Jordan McAllister, but in Ranchero, Texas, all she could reel in was the food column. Though she may not know her way around a kitchen, she has no trouble finding herself in a kettle of fish…

Tempted by the offer of a free Caribbean cruise, Jordan accepts a spot as a judge in a week-long big-time cooking competition aboard the Carnation Queen. She just better hope no one finds out that her famous palate is far from refined.

But there are bigger fish to fry when arrogant chef Stefano Mancini falls face first into his signature halibut dish during the first event. While evidence suggests that the handsome Italian chef’s death was an accident, Jordan thinks otherwise. But she’ll have to keep her wits about her—and the sea sickness pills handy—if she’s going to solve this one…

Dollycas’s Thoughts

This third installment of the Clueless Cooks Mystery is the best one yet. We escape to the Caribbean on a cruise with fantastic food, the characters we have grown to love, and culinary mystery that will keep you entertained from the first page to the last. This story is absolutely hilarious. Caution: Do not eat or drink anything while you are reading about the appetizer portion of the competition.  I will be sending my laundry bill to the author 🙂

As one of the worst cooks ever and a very picky eater I identify with Jordan very easily. Of course I am extremely jealous because I have never been on a cruise but hopefully someday I will be able to cross that off my bucket list.

Famous chef George Christakis, on the cruise to judge the cooking competition, quickly became by favorite character. Classy guy. Down to earth. Maybe he’ll visit Jordan in Texas someday.

Liz Lipperman has served up cozy worthy of 3 Michelin Stars or 5 Dollycas Starfish!!! Get ready to board the Carnation Queen and set off on an exciting adventure with Murder for the Halibut. Bon Voyage!!!

a perfect escape

5 STARFISH

Dollycas
Your Escape With A Good Book Travel Agent

Thanks to the people at Penguin
I have 2 copies to giveaway!!

U.S. and CANADIAN RESIDENTS
You do not have to be a follower to enter but I hope you will find
something you like here and become a follower.

Followers Will Receive 2 Bonus Entries For Each Way They Follow.
Plus 2 Bonus Entries For Liking The Escape With Dollycas Facebook Fan Page.

Leave a comment for Liz for 5 Bonus Entries !

If you publicize the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook or anywhere you will receive
5 Bonus Entries For Each Link.

Contest Will End January 24, 2013 at 11:59 PM CST
Winners Will Be Chosen By Random.org
Winners Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here In The Sidebar.

CLICK HERE FOR ENTRY FORM

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Cozy Wednesday, Cruisin Thru Cozies, Giveaways, Guest Posts, Reviews 2013

Cozy Wednesday with Author Ada Madison (Spectacular Giveaway too!)

Posted on By Dollycas 67 Comments on Cozy Wednesday with Author Ada Madison (Spectacular Giveaway too!)

cozy wednesdayWelcome to Cozy Wednesday!

I am thrilled to welcome Ada Madison (Camille Minichino) to Escape With Dollycas today!!

slideruleLG

I love Dollycas’s idea of ESCAPE! So many meanings, so many twists to discuss.

Last time I visited here, I talked about 2 things that keep me from escaping into a book: when authors give Wikipedia-type descriptions of places, signaling that they’ve never been to the location; and when they name characters after their relatives or friends, taking the reader out of the story to note, “How cute, she’s giving a nod to her cousin Chucky.”

For me as an author, the best way to escape is to break the rules. I’m such a wimp, an utter rule-keeper in real life, that writing a character who breaks the rules is true escape. Here are a couple of real-life instances that have inspired me to have my characters break a rule or two, including Sophie Knowles in A Function of Murder.

Case #1. Trespass!

One time I showed up to teach a writing class that was to be held on the property of a county park. The class was scheduled for ten o’clock. I showed up about 15 minutes early and found a couple of students waiting outside an impressive fence with a chain, a serious padlock, and a large, forbidding No Trespassing sign.notrespass

No problem; we were early. We chatted on; more students came. Minutes passed. No one showed up to let us in. A couple of delivery people came by in trucks and left when they realized there was no entry. We made a few calls with our cells—first to my contact at the school, who suggested I call the park police, who suggested I call the city police, who suggested I call my contact at the school, and so on.

The boring part of the story is that eventually someone came to let us in.

The interesting part happened while we were waiting.

A young woman pulled up in a low red sports car. She got out and addressed us. “I have to get in there,” she said. “I was at a wedding in the park last night and I left my purse.”

We shrugged and explained that there was nothing we could do until someone came with a key for the padlock.

She grunted, and thought a minute. The next thing we knew, she was scaling the fence, her long hair flying in the breeze. She plopped down on the other side and walked into the park. About 5 minutes later, she approached the fence again, from the inside, and climbed out.

In her hands were a purse, a pair of glittery sling backs, and a bra.

She gave us a wink, got in her car and drove off.

My writing students and I got a lot of mileage of the incident, creating many colorful back stories. We all agreed, however, that the most impressive thing was the young woman’s willingness to disregard the No Trespassing sign and its warning of a heavy fine.

For me, the physical difficulty of scaling a fence pales in comparison to the mental and psychological difficulty of disobeying a sign.

Maybe that’s why I write fiction—to break laws vicariously!

Would you have climbed that fence?

Case #2. Disregard This Announcement!Function of Murder

Waiting for a train in an underground San Francisco transit station, I sat next to two 20-something women slurping cold coffee drinks from a Starbucks cup. Between them was a bag of Mrs. Field’s cookie bites. They were happy snackers, chatting away, in English (you’ll see why that’s important in a minute).

Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say there were first-timers on BART and didn’t know the rules: NO food or drink allowed in BART stations or on trains.

Then it’s a good thing there are signs with the information repeated in a scrolling message overhead.

Let’s give them another chance and say they didn’t lift their heads to read the message.

Then it’s a good thing a loud warning announcement came over the PA system, every 2 minutes or so, interrupting their conversation: Eating or drinking in a BART station can result in a fine of up to $250.

Wow! $250. I started to get nervous for the girls. I looked over and one caught my eye and gave me a friendly, relaxed smile. In other words, fully aware of the rules they were breaking, what the girls weren’t breaking was a sweat.

I scooted away from them, lest the BART police think I was with these lawbreakers.

I’ll jump ahead to the end of the story: Nothing bad happened to the young women, who carried their food and drink onto a train. As far as I know they reached their destination, escaping any punishment.

I’m not sure how hungry or thirsty I’d have to be to take food or drink down to the BART station. Starving? Dehydrated? Even at an age when I could easily claim exigent senior citizen circumstances, I couldn’t do it.

I’m envious. It’s not about the BART rule, or the No Trespassing rule in Case #1; it’s about any rule. I just can’t break them. (Note that I’m holding a slide RULE in the photo.)

Criticism is levied against cozy mysteries because their amateur sleuths often do foolish things, unlawful even, while investigating murders.

But isn’t that what fiction is for? Someone has to live an exciting rule-breaking life for us.

Do you follow even the smallest rule, or would you make a good amateur sleuth?

Excellent post! I am just like you! Thank you so much for visiting today!!

 

About This Author

Camille Minichino, a retired physicist turned writer, has published 17 mysteries in three series: The Periodic Table Mysteries, The Miniature Mysteries (as Margaret Grace) and The Professor Sophie Knowles Mysteries  (as Ada Madison). Soon, every aspect of her life will be a mystery series. She’s also written short stories and articles for popular magazines and teaches writing and science in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Function of Murder

A Function of Murder
(Professor Sophie Knowles Mystery)
3rd in Series
Cozy Mystery
A Berkley Prime Crime Mystery
The Berkley Publishing Group (December 31, 2012)
Published by The Penguin Group
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0425251751
E-Book File Size: 613 KB
ASIN: B0095ZMIEM
Cover Illustration by Lisa French
Cover Design by Lesley Worrell

A Function of Murder

Math Professor Sophie Knowles is looking forward to some time off as this year’s class graduates, but things do not go as planned. The graduates are complaining about the mayor who gave the commencement address, one student is upset about her grade and vents on social media, and just when she is about to escape all of the drama to take a stroll with her helicopter pilot boyfriend things go horribly wrong.  They are interrupted by the mayor himself as he falls into the fountain with a knife in his back.  Sophie is shocked to find out the mayor was seeking her out for help before he was killed. Solving this murder in’t going to be easy but Sophie is ready to show her work as she tries delve into all the scandal and corruption that seems to connect to the mayor and find out how she fits into this criminal equation.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Sophie is such a fun protagonist. She really doesn’t want to get all wrapped up in a murder investigation but she just can’t help herself.  Her boyfriend does his best to keep her safe but they can’t be together 24/7. Thankfully she has a great relationship with Detective Virgil Mitchell. The killer really surprised me. I figured it out at the same time Sophie did.  It was a puzzler with quite a suspenseful ending.

The subplot of the student that is unhappy with her grades was wonderful. I am sure teachers near and far deal with this problem. With social media the student can take their issue to the masses making resolution difficult especially when “friends” take the problem to a whole new level. 

Ada Madison has written three marvelous main characters, surrounded them with a group of very interesting individuals in a setting ripe for mystery. Add it all together and A Function of Murder equals an absolutely impressive whodunit. 

a perfect escape

5 STARFISH

Dollycas
Your Escape With A Good Book Travel Agent


Camille has made the giveaway today SPECTACULAR!!

In addition to the 2 books I am giving away
thanks to the wonderful people at Berkley Prime Crime – 

She is giving away 3 additional copies with bookmarks and rulers!!!

THAT’S A TOTAL OF 5 COPIES!!!

U.S. AND CANADA ONLY

To enter you must leave a comment below
answering Camille’s question:

Do you follow even the smallest rule, or would you make a good amateur sleuth?

Plus fill out the entry form found here!

Winners will be chosen by Random.org
Winners will be notified by email and
will be posted in the sidebar of this blog.
Entries without a comment will be disqualified!
Contest Will End January 23 at 11:59 p.m. CST

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

85941Cruisin 20132013where are you readingreadalattechallenge_zps01d248d0

Cozy Wednesday, Cruisin Thru Cozies, Giveaways, Guest Posts, Literary Escapes

Sunday Salon – Weekly Recap – 2012 Challenge Wrap Up – Mail Call

Posted on By Dollycas 2 Comments on Sunday Salon – Weekly Recap – 2012 Challenge Wrap Up – Mail Call

The Sunday Salon.com

The Sunday Salon used to be a meme but was getting so huge it became unmanageable, so it is now a Facebook group that has become an informal week in review
gathering place for bloggers.
It is also a place to share our thoughts about things of a bookish nature.

So Happy Sunday Everyone!

I can’t believe how quickly 2012 flew by. The biggest events for me happened in April and December when my new grandchildren were born. I known their parents won’t agree but the months went pretty fast. I am looking forward to spending as much time with them and 5 year old Kaden and the rest of my family as I can in 2013. I am also excited about 2013 in my blog world. I think it is going to be an awesome year for books and sharing my thoughts with all of you. What are you looking forward to in 2013??

Weekly Recap December 24 – 29

Monday – It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
Tuesday – Just For Fun 2012 Challenge Wrap Up
Wednesday – Cozy Wednesday Special Cozy Giveaway
Thursday – Me Before You by Jojo Moyes Spotlight With Giveaway Me Before You: A Novel hits stores tomorrow and I highly recommend it. It is a powerful story that hit me on a personal level but I feel everyone will be touched by this story and it would be an excellent book club selection for the discussions it will start.
Friday – My Best Reads of 2012 This was a hard list to put together because I read so many wonderful books this year.
Saturday – Saturday Surfin’ – Recipes – Romance Challenge and Favorite Reads.

December Wrap Up

Reading Challenge 2012


I finished 2012 reading 222 books. So I completed this challenge and the Outdo Yourself Challenge with some to spare even with going 48 hours this week without reading a word.

I have not seen anyone running a Total Number of Books Reading Challenge for 2013. Please let me know if you know of one.

December Totals
16 Books – 4808 Pages – 2460 KB
2012 Totals – 222 Books – 65744 Pages – 28682 KB

More 2012 Challenges Completed
Reading Challenge Addict

 

 

 

 

 

17 / 19 Challenges. 89% done!

197 / 197 books. 100% done!

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20 / 20 books. 100% done!

8 / 12 free e-books. 67% done!

Fell Short on this one 🙁

25 / 25 e-books. 100% done!

51 / 51 States. 100% done!

18 / 18 Outside the U.S.A. 100% done!

12 / 12 cozies. 100% done!

13 / 13 cozies. 100% done!

6 / 6 cozies. 100% done!

6 / 6 books. 100% done!

1st in a Series Challenge 2012

6 / 6 books. 100% done!

2 / 2 series. 100% done!

26 / 26 books. 100% done!

5 / 5 books. 100% done!

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12 / 12 books. 100% done!

6 / 6 books. 100% done!

8 / 8 books. 100% done!

 

 

 

 

24 / 24 books. 100% done!

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12 / 10 books. 120% done!

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0 / 3 books. 0% done!
This was a personal challenge to read 3 books from the year I was born.
I failed miserably. I am not going to try in 2013.

So I was successful at all but 2 challenges. Not a bad year.

 mail call314

Due to the New Years Holiday January Cozies have a release date of 12/31/2012.
I was getting worried because the review copies had not arrived yet last week.
They finally arrived Thursday.


These books also arrived for review:

and

Mary Daheim will be here January 30 for Cozy Wednesday!

This was a huge  post!

Looking forward to an awesome 2013 full of great reads!!

Dollycas
Your Escape With A Good Book Travel Agent
Alphabet Soup - A - Z Reading Challenge, Cruisin Thru Cozies, E-Book Challenge, Finish The Series Challenge, Just For Fun Challenge, Literary Escapes, Sunday Salon / Sunday Post, What An Animal Reading Challenge, What's In A Name Challenge, Wisconsin Author, Wisconsin Setting

Saturday Surfin’ – Week 10 – Cozy Christmas Countdown Giveaway – More 2013 Challenges

Posted on By Dollycas 5 Comments on Saturday Surfin’ – Week 10 – Cozy Christmas Countdown Giveaway – More 2013 Challenges

One of the things I have been trying to improve on is visiting more blogs each week.

Doing this has led me to some very interesting blog posts so I am going to use
Saturday Surfin” to bring some of these posts to your attention.

HAVE A COZY CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN!

Join Killer Characters at the Have a Cozy Christmas Countdown!

In celebration of the holidays, KillerCharacters.com is giving away a book a day. From November 26 to December 25, visit their site and leave a comment, and you’ll be entered for that day’s giveaway. Return the next day to see if you won. You have thirty chances to win! Be sure to come back each day and leave a new comment to enter the drawing for that day. Good luck. From all the Killer Characters and their authors, Have a very Cozy Christmas!

Head over there every day to enter the giveaways!!

2013 WHERE Are You Reading Challenge Sign Up!!!

Sheila at Book Journey is hosting this challenge for the 3rd year.

What is the point of this challenge?
It is to try to read in each of the 50 States
between January 1 2013 – December 31, 2013.

Today I am just 1 book away from completing the challenge for 2012.
It was much easier than I thought it would be.
I only had to search out books for a few states.
My regular reading took care of most of them
plus I visited 18 places outside the U.S. too!
CLICK HERE for all the details!

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This is also the third year for this challenge.
To find out exactly what a cozy mystery is, check out Cozy-Mystery.com. This site is dedicated to cozy mysteries and does a great job of defining them as well as giving a list of cozy mysteries. This challenge is NOT restricted to what is on their list, it’s just to be used as a guideline in case you need some hints on what to read.

So, here are the rules…

  1. Choose the level you wish to participate:
    Level 1 – Snoop – Read at least 6 books
    Level 2 – Investigator – Read 7-12 books
    Level 3 – Super Sleuth – Read 13 or more books
  2. The challenge runs from January 1, 2013 and ends December 31, 2013.
  3. You don’t have to choose your books in advance. If you do, you can change your list at any time during the year. Books can overlap with other challenges.

  4. Books can be in any format – paper, audio, ebooks…it all counts!

  5. You don’t have to post a review, but I’m sure others would love to know about the books you are reading and may even want to add it to their reading lists.

NOTE: If you don’t have a blog and want to participate, that’s fine. You don’t have to have a blog, just post in the comments section as you finish books. If you belong to a site like Goodreads and review the books there, that’s fine too. Just leave us the link.

  1. Take the button above, put it on your blog and post about the challenge. Then add your name to Mr. Linky at Yvonne’s blog. Please use the link of your challenge post, not the link to your home page.
  • She’s going to have one link for signing up, one link for completed reviews and one link for your wrap up posts.

    • I am signing up at the Super Sleuth level of 13 or more books!!!

    CLICK HERE to join this challenge!

    *****

    Yvonne at Socrates Book Review Blog is hosting this one too!

    Here are the rules guidelines.

    1) All books that are part of a continuing series qualify (i.e. Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove, Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, James Patterson’s Alex Cross, etc. etc.)

    2) It doesn’t matter if you have 1 or 10 books in a series to complete it, it qualifies (i.e. if you only need to read one more Sookie Stackhouse book to complete the goal, that’s fine) The goal is to complete a series from wherever you are up to until the last published book.

    3) The qualification period is January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Books must be read during this time frame to count.

    4) Take the button above and post about it. Use the Mr. Linky to sign up and make sure you link it directly to your post about this challenge. (Note: She’s not going to be using the Finishing the Series Blog she created last year. She’s going to keep everything  right on her blog.)

    5) If you don’t have a blog, that’s fine. Just leave a comment to sign up and tell us what you are reading.

    IF YOU WANT TO LINK UP YOUR REVIEWS OR, FOR THOSE WITHOUT A BLOG, LEAVE A COMMENT ON YVONNE’S BLOG

    6) Any format of book counts – audio, ebook, etc.

    7) You should choose the series you want to finish before the challenge begins, but it isn’t necessary. It’s fine to change series during the year – as long as you complete whichever series it is.

    8) Choose a level….

    Level 1 – Complete 1 series.
    Level 2 – Complete 2 series.
    Level 3 – Complete 3 or more series.

    I have several series I want to catch up on so I am signing up for Level 3.

    Right now the ones I hope to catch up are Janet Evanovich Plum Series, J.B. Stanley’s Supper Club Series and one other series after I tidy up my To-Be-Read stacks.

    *****

    One more from Yvonne!

    What An Animal Reading Challenge VI will begin on January 1st.

    The rules are really simple…

    1. Read at least 6 books that have any of the following requirements:

    a. there is an animal in the title of the book
    b. there is an animal on the cover of the book
    c. an animal plays a major role in the book
    d. a main character is (or turns into) an animal (define that however you’d like).

    1. The animal can be any type of animal (real or fictitious)–
      dog, cat, monkey, wolf, snake, insect, hedgehog, aardvark…dragon, mermaid, centaur, vampire, werewolf…you get the idea…
    2. Challenge runs from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013.
      That’s a full year to read at least 6 books (you can read more if you’d like).

    3. Books can be fiction or nonfiction.

    4. You may make a list of books at the beginning of the challenge or you can just list them as you find them.

    5. Book titles may be swapped out at anytime (assuming you made a list to begin with).

    6. Crossovers with other challenges are permitted and encouraged.

    7. You don’t have to have a blog or write a review, but you can if you want to.
 If you don’t have a blog, just post in the comment section that you’d like to join. You can post your books in there.

    8. Books can be in any format of your choice (print, audio, ebooks)

    CLICK HERE to head over to Yvonne’s blog to sign up!! I sure am!

    <

    p style=”text-align: center;”>*****

    off-the-shelf-2013-badge

    BA’s 2013 Off the Shelf Reading Challenge

    About: The Off the Shelf Reading Challenge is probably the most popular challenge there is on BA. The goal? To read books on your shelves that have gone unread for far too long. Selecting books from the year before (in this case, 2012 and before), read as many of the unread ones as you can. It’s up to you if you want to keep them or give them away afterwards, the main goal is to turn those unread books into read ones.

    The Finer Deets

    • The Main Rule: Do not include books acquired during 2013, it defeats the purpose, read those books from before 2013 started.
    • Running dates for all 2013 challenges: 1st of January – 31st of December 2013
    • Sign-Ups are accepted until the 16th of December 2013.
    • Formats: All BA Challenges are eBook, audio, short story, and graphic novel friendly.
    • Crossovers: You’re welcome to crossover with BA’s challenges. Include as many books across all the challenges as you can, I always say.

    How To Sign-Up and Join In

    1. Choose Your Level: Choose a challenge level listed below.
    2. Sign Up Post: Create a post on your blog, in a group, or on a forum (where possible) to let others see what you’re aiming for (a predefined list of books is optional).
    3. Grab The Badge: Download or grab the badge and place it in your sign up post. Then link back to BA's Off the Shelf Reading Challenge. Grab me!Bookish Ardour.
    4. Link Up: Grab the direct URL to your sign up post, not your blog, click the Mr Linky graphic and enter your link.
    5. Blogless? Don’t worry, you can sign up with your social network profile (YouTube, Twitter, GoodReads, Shelfari included), just make sure you link to your review list, shelf, tweet, or category. If you don’t have any of those feel free to comment.
    6. Your Reviews: Reviewing is optional! But if you do review it would be great for you to share them by submitting them on the review page.
    7. Finished: When you’re done it’s completion post time and you can share these on the completion/wrap-up page.

    Challenge Levels

    1. Tempted– Choose 5 books to read
    2. Trying – Choose 15 books to read
    3. Making A Dint – Choose 30 books to read
    4. On A Roll – Choose 50 books to read
    5. Flying Off – Choose 75 books to read
    6. Hoarder – Choose between 76-135 books to read
    7. Buried – Choose between 136-200 books to read

    Extra Challenges

    If you feel like that extra kick to your reading challenges here’s a couple you can choose from.

    • World: Choose a country as your theme, reading only books from that country or where it’s the setting. For how high you go you can choose more than one country;
      • Level Tempted and Trying: Choose one country
      • Level Making a Dint and On A Roll: Choose two countries
      • Level Flying Off to end of Hoarder: Choose three countries
      • Level Buried: Choose four countries.
    • Gender Battle: Read books only by female or male authors. Another alternative is to read equal amounts of both.

    Sign Up Here

    I am signing up to read 5 books!

    If you like Reading Challenges as much as I do, you have to subscribe or follow this blog!

    A Novel Challenge
    There is a team of bloggers at work there to keep us up to date on all the latest challenges. I will post the ones here that I am participating in but there will be tons of challenges out there for 2013 and some start at different times of the year. I subscribe to the blog via email so news of new challenges land right in my Inbox.

    That’s it for week 10 of Saturday Surfin’. If you see some posts you feel should be shared please leave the links in the comments section for people to visit. The weeks are too short to travel to all the wonderful blogs in the blogosphere but together we can help find and direct each other to at least a few.

    Dollycas
    Your Escape With A Good Book Travel Agent
    Cruisin Thru Cozies, Finish The Series Challenge, Literary Escapes, Saturday Surfin', What An Animal Reading Challenge
    A Scoop of Deceit (Coffee & Cream Café Mysteries) by Lena GregoryBuy Now - Click Here!
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