The Sunday Salon (winners announced) 8-9-2009

Hello - Happy Sunday! I have just one word- HOT! We finally used our backyard pool today. I think it was the first time all summer we have had 2 consecutive days over 90 degrees! Summer is finally here - just took it long enough. . . We have a 4 year old son that we tried to coerce all afternoon to get in the pool with us (he had on his life jacket). We have been swimming at our local aquatic center all summer without the life jacket - but it has the zero depth area. Finally - after my sister and I both gave up and got out, and my husband got in and tried to get him in - he told his dad he was afraid he was going to drowned - he had forgotten that the life jacket held him up! Once his dad convinced him of this he couldn't get enough of the water and loved to show off how he could "swim" from the ladder to the raft and how he could jump in and touch the bottom. I have a feeling this week we will be spending a lot of time in the water!

I have all these random thoughts each week, and each week I think that I will post them on Sunday - and then Sunday becomes a busy family day and I never get to the post. I am going to try to be better at adding some posts that aren't just featuring books, giveaways or reviews. The other thing that I have missed with summer is getting to read a lot of other blogs. I am looking forward to school starting so that some of my time will free up and I can go "visiting" again! I also just got a new widescreen computer screen which has made reading content MUCH easier. My old screen had been "damaged" by a rambunctious 1 year old when he threw a toy and cracked it - so for the last three years I have had a black section on part of the screen. Well, last whenever I turned the computer on I would have to wait about 5 minutes for the vertical lines to clear - it was time for a new screen.

Speaking of computers - I am not very computer literate and need some help. I want to get a laptop and I don't have a clue where to start. I would just like to use the laptop for blogging and maybe a little game playing. What would I need as far as system requirements that would allow me to do this - and when I travel, what do I need to be able to use it then. Any and all information would be appreciated more than you would know!

Another question that I have - actually, it is an assignment. I would like to get to know the people who read this blog. I had over 1500 page views last week and very few comments (unless it was a giveaway). Let me know you are out there. Tell me you like a book, or a book cover, or just say Hi! Tell me what you had for lunch or the latest movie you saw. Share with me something funny that your kids did this week. Anything - How many comments do you think I can get this week?

Ok - time for some winners! I had 4 giveaways end last week that I have not posted winners for - so here you go.

This Duchess is Mine

CherylS22

Blue Like Play Dough

Barb

Too Many Visitors for One Little House

Barbara

The Moon Looked Down

Julie P
Dar
Diane
ossmcalc
MoziEsme Already won -
Replacement - Amanda - also already won -
Replacement - Sab! Third times a charm!


Lots of good giveaways still going on and lots of book tours happening right now! Let's hear from you this week!

This Duchess of Mine ~Giveaway~

This Duchess of Mine by Eloisa James

For those of you who missed my Sunday Salon - I told about how I went to my first author visit - and got to have lunch with Eloisa James and hear all about where her ideas come from and what she is doing next. I picked up 2 of her books for me - This Duchess of Mine and When the Duke Returns - and I also picked up a second copy of This Duchess of Mine for one of my readers! I had also just won a prize off of her website (www.eloisajames.com) and when I got home from the visit, it was waiting for me - Duchess by Night! Woo - hoo!

Ok, so let me tell you about This Duchess is Mine - from the back cover: No man can resist Jemma's sensuous allure. . .Except her own husband!

Wedding bells celebrating the arranged marriage between the lovely Duchess of Beaumont and her staid, imperturbable duke had scarcely fallen silent when a shocking discovery sent Jemma running from the ducal mansion. For the next nine years she cavorted abroad, creating one delicious scandal after another (if one is to believe the rumors).

Elijah, Duke of Beaumont, did believe those rumors.

But the handsome duke needs an heir, so he summons his seductive wife home. Jemma laughs at Elijah's cool eyes and icy heart - but to her secret shock, she doesn't share his feelings. In fact, she wants the impossible; her husband's heart at her feet.

But what manner of seduction will make a man fall desperately in love. . . with his own wife?

About the author: Author of fifteen award-winning romances, (I think that number is higher now), Eloisa James is a professor of English literature who lives with her family in New Jersey. All her books must have been written in her sleep, because her days are taken up by caring for two children with advanced degress in whining, a demanding guinea pig, a smelly frog, and a tumbledown house. Letters from readers provide a great escape! Write Eloisa at eloisa@eloisajames.com.

Rules for this giveaway are easy - Tell me your favorite romance (book or movie) and why! One entry per person - and sorry - open only to US. Leave an email address! (This giveaway will end August 4.)