A new face...but why?

Where did I go? I decided to take the picture with me on it off for awhile in exchange for the one above. Curious as to why? Hope so. Check it out at the Voice of Lee, my personal blog page. It's been a while since I've heard from some of you so please feel free to leave a comment. I will be replying to them soon. CLICK HERE.

DEVOURED a Review

For my 70th Post, I'd like to direct you to my latest book review. Check out my take on Amanda Marrone's DEVOURED. A retelling of the classic fairy tale, Snow White. Here are some highlights...

"Truly unaware that she is living the role of Snow White, Megan has a lot going on."

and

"Megan is also haunted by her twin sister who died in a car crash with her father. The side characters are very well developed, and girls are sure to like Luke. DEVOURED mixes romance, horror and fairy tail for a lesson in jealousy and revenge."

For the rest including a steamy disclosure -check out MY REVIEW

A Review of "Wealth From Within"

A look at Meditation and an evaluation of the movie The Secret and a look at what the "law of attraction" and such. I'm sure my review will be lacking an in depth look but I can say that I enjoyed the book and my review will reflect that. I hope you like reading it. MY REVIEW

Wild Month

The Headless Horseman headlines Legend's Weekends in Sleepy Hollow, KISS, Lewis Black, The Oklahoma City Ballet...It's been wild around these parts as October came to an end. Here's my latest blog entry as that crazy month came to a close. NEW BLOG ENTRY-WILD MONTH! Hope you enjoy reading it. I hope to have new reviews for you soon. Coming up: Devoured by: Amanda Marrone and Timothy and the Dragon's Gate by Adrienne Kress!

Winners of the Super Contest

Hi everybody. The Super Contest is over with 4000+ comments. Thanks for the great fun. Every one of you is a winner to me. But here are the luck 3 that I will be emailing to congratulate.

The winner of Catching Fire for the most comments is: Liyana with 1855 comment!! Now that's commitment.

The winner of the (ARC) of Darklight for sharing this contest is: Emilee!!

And the winner of The Super Contest Grand Prize pack comment # 785: BriMaresh!!

I will contact everyone individually by email to avoid name confusion. If you don't get an email from me, you were not the winner.

Thanks for playing!!

Guest Blogger: Story Siren explains how her Siren call works

Story Siren Stops by to share some of her secrets to what makes a great book blog work.

"So, you might be wondering if that’s how I started out.... how did my blog get to be what it is today?

It evolved. Plain and simple. In the early days my blog consisted of reviews from books I had checked out at the library. At that point it didn’t really matter to me if people read my blog. That’s not why I was doing it, it was for me. Eventually, I changed that mantra. I decided I wanted people to read my blog" - READ THE WHOLE POST

The Vampire is just not that into you by Vlad Mezrich Reviewed!!

I found that the book was a very creative format to poke fun at the vampire trend without ever insulting the artists behind it or the teens who fueled it. If you can find the book, I think there will definitely be parts that you will enjoy. I gasped a few times when it got a little risque, I laughed out loud at other parts and found the quizzes and the "data" to be surprisingly humorous. All the time my alarms were going off that the book seems to encourage relationships between 15 yr old girls and several hundred year In the end, I think it's actually a solid endorsement of age appropriate relationships...Read my entire review and comment here!

Giving by Bill Clinton Reviewed!!

"So much of modern culture is characterized by stories of self-indulgence and self-destruction. So much of modern politics is focused not on honest differences of policy but on personal attacks. So much of modern media is dominated by people who earn fortunes by demeaning others, defining them by their worst moments, exploiting their agonies. Who's happier? The uniters or the dividers? The builders or the breakers? The givers or the takers?"

Former president Bill Clinton, a man who knows a little something about being defined by his worst moments, defines others by their greatest. Here's my review of GIVING. Please check it out, I promise it'll be worth it.

A Crazy, Crazy, Crazy Life

I had so many plans and what happens but Bron-freaking-chitis! So, needless to say, I got almost nothing done. But the keyword is almost. Check out my updated personal blog post right here!

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Guest Blog! Liyana talks about Author Weeks!

Hi Everybody, this is the first second guest blog post. Liyana is here to talk about Author week at Royal Reviews, a clever idea that seems to be gaining a lot of traction. It's great to have her stop by.

Thanks for having me here Lee! Now, let me tell you a story.

One day, a little idea popped into being. How it came by, nobody is really sure. But legend says that it came from Twitter conversations, the Tenners website and Waiting on Wednesday posts. A little girl was surfing the net and sighing over books that had yet to come out, books that were said to be so awesome that that the authors were bugged nonstop about the release date and fanfiction was already planned after reading the summaries of said books.


Legend was wrong about one thing.

Read the rest...HERE!!

And don't forget to leave a comment.

In My Mailbox, Vlog

Okay, here's the first live and in person Vlog. In My Mailbox, started by Story Siren is carried on by a lot of bloggers. I hope you enjoy this one. You may have to turn up the volume, I was not super close to the camera.

Reading is Fun Super Contest

This will be run like my most popular contests, which means EVERY COMMENT = AN ENTRY!! You will also get entered in a special contest for everytime you add this contest to your blog (sidebar is preferable), make a button to share this contest and post it, For every tweet using the word READINGISFUN (I'll be searching for that to determine how many entries you have.

The winner whose name is chosen for this contest will win a super pack of books and two t-shirts!!! Here is a list of prizes...

Signed copies!!!
The Hollow by Jessica Verday - Provided by the author. When I was given an ARC of THE HOLLOW for a giveaway here at the blog before and Jessica signed it, there were more than 10,000 entries!! Now that this is a Hard Cover edition, signed by the author with an exclusive excerpt from LJ Smith's much anticipated 9th and final book of the NIGHT WORLD series, STRANGE FATE, I'm not sure if Blogger can handle the amount of comments this super contest will result in.

As you know, I'm especially close to this one and here's what the synopsis says on Amazon.

When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead?and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special.

Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her—one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.

Ruined: A Ghost Story by Paula Morris- Provided by the publisher. I've been looking forward to reading this book and I'm thrilled that I've gotten a review copy aside from the signed book I've got for this contest. From Amazon:

Rebecca couldn't feel more out of place in New Orleans, where she comes to spend the year while her dad is traveling. She's staying in a creepy old house with her aunt. And at the snooty prep school, the filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she's invisible. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey seems to give Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he's got a hidden agenda. Then one night, in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to talk to Rebecca, and to show her the nooks and crannies of the city. There's just one catch: Lisette is a ghost.

A ghost with a deep, dark secret, and a serious score to settle.

As Rebecca learns more from her ghost friend -- and as she slowly learns to trust Anton Grey -- she also uncovers startling truths about her own history. Will Rebecca be able to right the wrongs of the past, or has everything been ruined beyond repair?

Eternal by Cynthia Letich-Smith - Provided by the author. The author of one of the best vampire/werewolf novels I've ever read, TANTALIZE, Cynthia's latest novel ETERNAL came out earlier this year and you should read it and share it. Amazon, says this:

At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated and adopted by none other than the reigning King of the Mantle of Dracul, Miranda goes from high-school theater wannabe to glamorous royal fiend overnight. Meanwhile, her reckless and adoring guardian angel, Zachary, demoted to human guise as the princess’s personal assistant, has his work cut out for him trying to save his girl’s soul and plan the Master’s fast-approaching Death Day gala. In alternating points of view, Miranda and Zachary navigate a cut-throat eternal aristocracy as they play out a dangerous and darkly hilarious love story for the ages.

Also:
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks - Provided by the publisher. From the author of The Notebook comes this (From Amazon) #1 bestselling author Nicholas Sparks's new novel is at once a compelling family drama and a heartrending tale of young love.

Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alientated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.
The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them.

The Palace of Strange Girls by Sallie Day - Provided by the publisher. From Amazon Blackpool, England, 1959. The Singleton family is on holiday. For seven-year-old Beth, just out of the hospital, this means struggling to fill in her 'I-Spy' book and avoiding her mother Ruth's eagle-eyed supervision. Her sixteen-year-old sister Helen, meanwhile, has befriended a waitress whose fun-loving ways hint at a life beyond Ruth's strict rules.

But times are changing. As foreman of the local cotton mill, Ruth's husband, Jack, is caught between unions and owners whose cost-cutting measures threaten an entire way of life. And his job isn't the only thing at risk. When a letter arrives from Crete, a secret re-emerges from the rubble of Jack's wartime past that could destroy his marriage.

As Helen is tempted outside the safe confines of her mother's stern edicts with dramatic consequences, an unexpected encounter inspires Beth to forge her own path. Over the holiday week, all four Singletons must struggle to find their place in the shifting world of promenade amusements, illicit sex, and stilted afternoon teas in this touching and evocative novel.

Plus:

"R.U.H2?" (R-U-H-Squared?)- Stands for aRe yoU Haunted by the Hollow?
T-shirt from Jessica Verday

I <3 my Guardian Angel T-shirt compliments of Cynthia Letich Smith!!

WINNER TAKES ALL!!! The rules are simple. Leave a comment that makes sense (i.e. normal comment, quote, song lyrics, poems, chat back and forth) Every comment will count as an entry. At the end, one lucky winner WILL get this entire package.


Here's the next part. NEW FOLLOWERS(Sorry, current followers, but keep reading), comment to announce that you started following, and EVERY TIME you share this contest (i.e. blog side bar, blog post, email, tweet, facebook, mySpace, etc) send me a link and I will enter you to win this incredible bonus prize. A signed ARC of DARKLIGHT by Lesley Livingston. This is the sequel to WONDROUS STRANGE, is so exciting that I will be reading it before I send it to the winner. I enjoyed the first book that much. So share this contest share it often because you'll get an entry to the Reading is Fun Super Contest for your comment and an entry for DARK LIGHT for every individual link you send me. BTW DARKLIGHT was provided by the author. For IMs like Twitter and myspace, just post your profile address. This is the biggest and the last contest at this blog for 2009 and will go until October 12th at Midnight Pacific Standard Time. Winners will be announced October 13th. Good Luck and Let's Roll!!

IMPORTANT ADD TO EDIT:

This just in: The person who leaves the most comments but doesn't win the big prize pack will get... my extra copy of CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins (not the romance writer-the other one, like you didn't know) One of the biggest books of the fall. Now I know some have gotten a head start but I'm like Santa -I will be checking my list twice and SPAM comments will not count toward CATCHING FIRE. They must be a sentence and they can't be the same sentence over and over- I'm serial. So there you have it. Huge prize pack and a signed ARC to one lucky person who shares the contest and now a prize for the one who enters the most.

Why is this contest not on EVERY book blogging website in the world? Why???? Better get cracking, this is my last contest of the year.


It's time for the biggest and last contest for this blog. Welcome to the Reading is Fundamental Super Contest!!

First Ever Vlog - Sort of

As in the title this is my first Vlog-sort of. I got sick while on vacation so I spent a RIDICULOUS amount of time and effort to make this slideshow where I ramble on about what came in my mailbox this past week. I hope you enjoy it. And please feel free to comment here or at itunes. I do tend to ramble, so be kind.

Live Chat with Jessica Verday!! at the PulseIT Board - 6 pm EST Tonight

If you're a member of the Simon PulseIT board, then you're going to be chatting LIVE with Jessica Verday at 6pm EST tonight. Check it out here:

http://pulseit.simonandschuster.com/service/displayDiscussionThreads.kickAction?as=107649&w=237571&d=294039&ac=new

If you're not a member...what are you waiting for?! (Have I mentioned that it's totally free, and members get to read THE HOLLOW online for F-R-E-E?)

http://simonandschuster.com/pulseit

Viva The Hollow

I'm reporting back from my newly disclosed location, on the Strip in Las Vegas!! It's been a crazy trip but I can't tell you much about it. After all, everything that happens in Vegas-Stays in Vegas. One of the things we did was drive out to a Barnes & Noble store where I was able to buy my first in-store copy of The Hollow.

I've been privileged to read some of the wonderful responses people have been sending in to the author. I love that people are "getting" the whole trilogy-thing. A lot of books are great "series books" but a true trilogy has 3 books that are interdependent on each other and not stand-alones. Part 1 of The Hollow Trilogy is being devoured in a day or two and people can't wait for the sequel which gives me a little breathing room to brag on my favorite author and wife, Jessica Verday.

What I like about the hard cover version of this book. 1) The dedication of the book is very sweet with many, many stories behind it that warm my heart and successfully put MY NAME in a published book for the first time EVER!!! Thanks, Jess! The cover is striking. The title font is gorgeous. The book is super thick (544 pgs) but some of that is size and spacing which helps make this feel like an even faster read to most. I'm a slow reader and the first time I read it I was finished in two days! And then of course there's the special surprise at the back of it that I'm sure people will be talking about.

The next thing worth mentioning, is Vegas itself. Construction is everywhere but the casinos are still hopping with the drunk and disorderly. We came here, of course, to celebrate the release of the book. Jess' big day ended spectacularly (with the best show going on, on the Strip) but I'll let her share the details about that later. There's a lot to do here, and we've done quite a bit, but I think if my book gets published, I'm going to ask my famous, author wife to take me to Disney World instead.

September is still going to be an interesting month here at the blog. I'll be reformatting a little bit more. You may have noticed that I created new pages and a menu bar on the top left margin. I noticed that my blog posts can run on a bit and I wanted to make it simpler for people to find what they've come for. So there'll be an "about me" page where you can learn a little more about me and about my current work in progress (WIP) and why I blog.

You'll also find out how to contact Jessica. A lot of folks have buried me in emails, tweets and blog comments for Jess and that's not the way to send her your thoughts. My memory is Swiss cheese and in no way am I able to get all of the messages that've been sent to her. I'll hand over her email on that page so you can cut out the middle-Lee.

There's also going to be a "Contest" page. Oh yeah, you know you love getting free stuff, everybody does. My friends over at Scholastic and Little Brown have offered to sponsor my next contest which will be revealed September 8. The contest may get even bigger with more houses to come but we'll have to wait and see who offers what. But what will happen is you'll get a short write up on the home page and get directed to how to enter on the contest page with the click of a mouse. (Contest will likely be comment driven)

I do review some books. As I said earlier, I'm a bit of a slow pace reader. So there's usually about two-three a month. I'll preview it here and add a link for the rest at my review page. And there will be a page that details my road to publication (which I probably will be traveling for a while) and writing tips in general.

I also invite guest bloggers frequently and that will have its own page. That's always an exciting time, when others share their voices with me, and of course with you. I'm hoping to have most of these changes done for a Tuesday or Wednesday evening relaunch.

This is a place for readers and book bloggers. I hope that I will eventually make it into your regular routine and that I'll hear from you often. If there's anything specific, you'd like to see added to the blog please let me know by adding a comment or shooting me an email. But anywho. Thanks to everyone whose been picking up THE HOLLOW and sharing some of Jess' well earned attention with me. The influx of web traffic has been staggering and that wouldn't have been possible without Jess writing a great book.

Stay tuned.