At the Eleventh Hour, of the Eleventh Day, of the Eleventh Month

We will remember them.



This video is promoting a telemovie that is showing here on Sunday night.

Sisters of War is inspired by the true story of a small group of Australian nurses and nuns who found themselves in the eye of the storm when the Japanese military made them prisoners of war on the island of New Britain in 1942. It is a tale of strength, survival and forgiveness.

There is another trailer that gives more idea of the movie on Youtube

Library Loot: November 10 to 16

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Wednesday night seems to be becoming library night for me. It is unfortunate that it coincides with Bingo night and the Bingo hall is directly above the library which means that parking is an issue, but luckily once we get a car park it's all good. Some time next year the new branch that is opening near me will be opened and then that will no longer be an issue.

When I went to the library I was actually only expecting to pick up two items, but between the time when I checked my account online and getting in there a couple more items had appeared on my list!

I just want to take a moment to say that I have absolutely no reloot in this week's haul! Can't remember the last time that happened! Here's my loot for this week:

Beyond the Night by Joss Ware - Joss Ware is a pseudonym for Colleen Gleason. I enjoyed the Gardella Vampires series so will give this one, which as I understand it is more urban fantasy. It was kind of strange that this was at the library tonight because I actually got notification that it was ready to be picked up a couple of weeks ago but when I went to the library I couldn't find it and neither could the library staff. When I checked my account today it said that this had a trace on it, which was still the case when I got to the library tonight, but the book was just sitting there on the shelf with my other holds. No idea what was going on there really!

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas - This is the start of a new series from Lisa Kleypas. The book only came out of processing today so getting new book smell for library prices! Have to love that. I am not quite sure what is going on with this one in terms of the series though. It seems a bit odd that this book is being released now (and it isn't a full size novel), but then there will be no new Lisa Kleypas releases next year. Would have made more sense to release it next year, but I guess part of it is the holiday theme. I generally don't read a lot of holiday themed novels, but this is the third one I have on my TBR list so far!

Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander - This is another brand new book, and is the next book in the Lady Emily Ashton series. I was a bit disappointed with the last one, so I hope this one is better.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier - I just finished reading The House on the Strand by this author, which I enjoyed so I am going to try to read a few more of her books.

Penmarric by Susan Howatch - Misfit from At Home with a Good Book and the Cat recommended this author for those of us who like to read big, juicy sagas, and I can't resist those kinds of books! This one has the added bonus of being a kind of retelling of Plantagenet history which is an added bonus.

Claire has Mr Linky this week, so head on over and share your loot!

A few weeks ago I posted a video of John Grisham talking about libraries, and this week the video is from Elizabeth Gilbert. I originally saw these videos posted at readthis!

Teaser Tuesday: Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons

I first heard about this book when Heather from Capricious Reader was raving about it, as she read it, on Twitter. Based purely on what she was saying about it while she was reading it I requested it from the library, and waited and waited. Having finally come in I have now renewed it a couple of times, but it was down to the wire - I either had to return it unread or read it. I decided on the latter, and I have to say I really wish I had of read it before now! I am only 60 pages in, but I already love it, and will be putting in my request for Natasha Solomons next book as soon as it appears on the library catalogue.

The subtitle to this book is Or Friendly Guidance for the Aspiring Englishman, which kinds of help put the quote that I have chosen for Teaser Tuesday into a little bit of context. The teaser comes from page 21:

There remained one more item on Jack's list. He knew it to be the quintessential characteristic of the true English gentleman and without it he was nothing. Item one hundred and fifty: An Englishman must be a member of a golf club.

I am going to cheat a little bit and give two more sentences from page 63, as it amused me when I read it, and I think it gives a glimpse of the humour and charm of the novel. I am pretty sure that I am going to find plenty more quote worthy passages as I finish reading the book.

"My mother warned me that craziness ran in your family. I should have listened but no, I was young and foolish, and easily impressed by your red bicycle and your thick hair."

This book is also published under the title Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English in the US.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Head on over to find out all about it, and how to join in!

The Passionate Brood by Margaret Campbell Barnes

In this compelling novel of love, loyalty, and lost chances, Margaret Campbell Barnes gives readers a new perspective on Richard the Lionheart's triumphs and tragedies. Drawing on folklore, Barnes explores what might have happened if King Richard's foster brother were none other than Robin Hood, a legendary figure more vibrant than most in authentic history. Thick as thieves as Richard builds a kingdom and marshals a crusade, the two clash when Robin Hood so provokes the king's white hot temper that Richard banishes him. The Passionate Brood is a tale of a man driven to win back the Holy Land, beset by the guilt of casting out his childhood friend, and shouldering the burden of being the lionhearted leader of the Plantagenets.

The last book I read from Margaret Campbell Barnes was Within the Hollow Crown, which was about Richard II, and was quite slow and plodding and laborious to read. Leaving out the fact that this book is about another Richard, this time Richard I, I would not use any of these words to describe The Passionate Brood: A Novel of Richard the Lionheart and the Man who Became Robin Hood. Instead words like romanticised and idealised, fast paced, adventurous and over the top come to mind.

First, a note about the subtitle of this novel. To my mind it is a little misleading to suggest that the reader is going to find out more about Robin Hood because whilst there is a Robin in the novel, and there is an explanation for his outlaw status, there is precious little page time spent exploring the actions of the man who has achieved such legendary status over the years.

The male leading character for the drama that unfolds in these pages is undoubtedly Richard II, who history knows as Richard the Lionheart. As a character he dominates the pages. He is a man who is passionate, quick tempered, driven, pious and so much more. As king, Richard spent barely any time in England, but rather spent much of his time away on Crusade, coming close to reaching Jerusalem, but not close enough.

There is one character in particular who does manage to steal a little of the limelight from Richard where she is given page time, and that is his sister Joanna. I would love to read something about her at some point. Let's face it, most of the time I would be happy to read about any of this fascinating family. At one stage this book was released under the title Like Us, They Lived. I definitely think The Passionate Brood fits so much better!

We follow Richard as a young man, engaged to Anne of France whom he dislikes intensely (this young woman has sometimes been referred to as Alais in other novels ) and we travel with him as he journeys to Navarre where he meets the beautiful Berengaria who captures his heart. We join both Richard and his young bride as they go on Crusade, as he shows the military leadership for which he is still famous, the fighting with the other leaders, most notably Phillip of France, and then on his ill fated journey home where he is kidnapped and the country of England is nearly impoverished trying to raise the required ransom.

For a king who spent very little time in England, and whose wife didn't set foot in the country whilst she was Queen, Richard is still remembered with much fondness now. There is plenty of speculation about him, particularly in relation to his sexuality, but there is none of that in this novel. The Richard we find within the pages of this book is painted in broad strokes, not necessarily glossing over some of his less than stellar moments, but certainly presented in a highly romanticised fashion.

Reading this book has certainly piqued my interest, in particular for the next Sharon Kay Penman book which is telling Richard's story.

Over the years I have read a number of Margaret Campbell Barnes novels and for the most part I have liked them. This book is however my new favourite book from this author. It was a rollicking good read.

Rating 4.5/5

Many thanks to Sourcebooks for sending me a copy of this book or review purposes

TSS: LostBookSales.com

One of the things that I was conscious of when I bought my ereader is that whilst I was okay with talking about it on my blog, I didn't want to become a place where every post was ereader this and ebook that. I know from when I didn't have one that repetitiveness can begin to be a bit preachy! Have I mentioned though that I really love it so far, although there is one pretty big issue and that relates to geographical rights and how they affect this Australian reader!

Not too long ago, Diana Gabaldon posted on her blog about geographical rights specifically in relation to the fact that her graphic novel, The Exile, was not being published anywhere other than the US, Canada and Netherlands. I think though, that the extension to ebooks is quite logical

Well, see, the way that publishing works is that a publishing company buys certain specific _rights_ to a book. If you have a decent agent, you _don’t_ sell “worldwide rights” to your manuscript; the agent makes separate deals with individual publishers in different countries. Each publishing contract defines exactly which rights you’re selling—and the “exclusive territory” in which the book can be sold.

Which means that not all publishers buy all books at the same time—and not all publishers choose to promote the books they have in the same way, either.

When I first got my ereader, I wanted to be sure that I didn't go nuts buying books in the same ways that I don't go nuts in buying paper books, so I gave careful thought to decision of what book I was going to buy as my first ever ebook purchase. Once that decision was made, I set off to the internet places that I had heard would like my money. After trying a couple of different places, it began to look to me as though it wasn't yet available in ebook. I happened to mention that I couldn't find it, and was prepared to leave it at that, when Tanabata said, oh but it is available and sent me the link. I was aware that there were some geographical restrictions around, but given that Tanabata lives in Japan, it was a little surprising that she could buy the book, but I couldn't! As per the above, the book wasn't available in my region due to geographical restrictions.

Whilst I understand that there are different arms of the same publisher, it seems a little strange that I can buy a copy of a paper book from overseas with no difficulty whatsoever, but can't do the same for an ebook. There are authors who I want to support but I can't in my preferred format.

I am certainly not the first to be frustrated by this issue. Over the last few weeks, there have been posts from Bernadette at Reactions to Reading,  Sarah from Monkey Bear Reviews, and this week at Dear Author where the post gained 213 comments (so far), many of which were very interesting in themselves, including some discussion regarding piracy, something that rightly pushes the hot buttons for many authors.

One of the things to come out of the Dear Author discussion was a suggestion that there be somewhere people who want to buy a book, but can't or won't for whatever reason, can let publisher's know that they are losing sales from readers who want to be able to support the authors they love. Thus Lostbooksales.com was born.

From the About page:

Every day an author and a publisher lose out on a sale of book.  This is a site for readers to tell the world about the lost sale whether it is because of price, territorial restrictions or general availability. There are a whole host of reasons a particular book is not distributed all over the world. Sometimes agents advise their authors to sell only domestic rights which usually means US or UK get the goods. Sometimes publishers aren’t exploiting those rights.

So if you are missing out on being able to buy the books you want to buy, whether it be a paper book, or ebook format, then add your links and hopefully let publishers know that they really are losing sales every day.

I was just about to post this, when I noticed that at Dear Author they have just posted a follow up post about Geographical Restrictions, and once again it is very informative, particularly for those of us who have bought an ereader and happen to live outside the US in particular.

Weekend Cooking: The Various Flavors of Coffee by Anthony Capella

Do you ever take the time to look back over the posts that you have done for Weekend Cooking? I did this week, and it was a pleasant way to spend a few minutes. I looked back over some food related memories, some new recipes that I had tried and liked, some old favourites, and only one dismal failure!

I was also reminded that I had never actually posted my review of The Various Flavours of Coffee by Anthony Capella, despite the fact that we had played the guess the title game a while ago now, so that is what my Weekend Coffee post is this week:

It was a cup of coffee that changed Robert Wallis's life - and a very bad cup of coffee at that. The impoverished poet is sitting in a London coffeehouse contemplating an uncertain future when he meets Samuel Pinker. The coffee merchant offers Wallis the very last thing a struggling young artiste in fin de siecle England could possibly want: a job.

But the job Wallis accepts - employing his palate and talent for words to compose a "vocabulary of coffee" based on its many subtle and elusive flavors - is only the beginning of an extraordinary adventure in which Wallis will experience the dizzying heights of desire and the excruciating pain of loss. As Wallis finds himself falling in love with his coworker, Pinker's spirited daughter Emily, both will discover that you cannot affect one set of senses without awakening all the others.

Their love is tested when Wallis is dispatched on a journey to North Africa in search of the legendary Arab mocca. As he travels to coffee's fabled birthplace - and learns the fiercely guarded secrets of the trade - Wallis meets Fikre, the defiant, seductive slave of a powerful coffee merchant, who serves him in the traditional Abyssinian coffee ceremony. And when Fikre dares to slip Walllis a single coffee bean, the mysteries of coffee and forbidden passion intermingle...and combine to change history and fate.

This is the third book that I have read from Anthony Capella, but it was the first one that I have been disappointed in, and it is going to be hard to quantify, because the topics covered are all quite interesting but when combined into one story it didn't quite work. One of the main reasons for this is because the main character, Robert Wallis, is quite unlikeable and to my mind Capella didn't manage to rehabilitate him to this reader.

The man we first meet in a coffee shop in London, drinking a very average cup of coffee, is a younger son whose father has told him that he needs to find a way to support himself after having been sent down from university. To be honest, I can't think of many positive elements of his character. He is a spendthrift, he frequents prostitutes regularly, thinks nothing of dabbling in drugs, and certainly doesn't want to have to work for a living.

What he does do well is use words, and it is this trait along with the fact that Robert seems to have a good palate for different flavours which attracts the attention of Mr Pinker, a wealthy coffee merchant with a big idea! His idea is to  create a kind of reference library of tastes so that when he is ordering coffee beans from all round the world they can refer to the vocabulary and he will know exactly what flavours he can expect to receive in his shipment.

To develop this reference guide, Wallis begins to work closely with Mr Pinker's daughter Emily and they soon develop a relationship, with Robert thinking that he may well soon find himself more than just an employee to Mr Pinker, yet he doesn't really have much to recommend him other than he is quite dapper, generally paid for through borrowing from loan sharks. Take this example:

I considered carefully what to wear for dinner at Pinker's. On the one hand it was almost one's duty, as an aesthete, to make a striking show at table. One the other, I wanted Pinker to think of me as a possible future son-in-law. I should wear something impressive, I decided: something that declared that I was, if not quite his equal, then somebody of distinction within my own sphere. After some consideration I found the very thing: an ornate jacket of green Jacquard silk, inlaid with gems, which seemed to shimmer with the opulent iridescence of a mallard's neck. It was on display in Liberty, along with a magnificent turban in blue, at the fastening of which was a sumptuous brooch of red garnet. The only problem was that the ensemble cost six pounds, a sum I could no longer afford.

There were moments during this book which were very amusing. For example,  when Wallis turns up for dinner in the above outfit, one of the other characters (a dour Scotman who plays a pivotal role in the lives of both Robert and Emily) says

"they'd warned me that ye were a pote, Wallish, but they'd no' warned me that ye might forget your clothes."

"I beg your pardon?" I said, frowning.

"Ye've turned up to dinner in your dreshing gown, man."

Robert finds himself sent to Africa to build up a coffee plantation, and there comes into contact with a beautiful slave named Fikre, and he once again finds himself distracted from the task at hand. Instead of concentrating on the problems of getting the coffee plantation running, dealing with the locals he finds himself embarking on a torrid relationship that can only end in disaster, one way or the other.

It is difficult to say much more without giving away too much of the plot, but I will say that later Robert finds himself involved with the passionate, rebellious and somewhat dangerous women who were involved in the suffragette movement and also in efforts to break the coffee trading block that was prevalent at the time enabling a couple of families to dominate the world coffee trade.

Whilst there were glimpses of all the things that I have enjoyed in his previous novels, it seemed to me that the author tried too hard to include too many different elements within the story all framed around an unlikeable character. Whilst he was better by the end, the improvement wasn't enough to overcome the distaste I had for him earlier in the book.

By trying to lend the book various flavours, instead of coming up with an enjoyable brew, we ended up with a muddy cup of sludge.

Pass the instant coffee.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.

This also counts as my entry for the letter V for Historical Tapestry's Alphabet in Historical Fiction.

I want to read... The Wedding Shroud by Elisabeth Storrs

I don't often talk about what we have going on over at Historical Tapestry, unless we are running one of the big week or longer events. I am not really sure why. I should probably mention when we have giveaways etc. At the moment, for example, you can win a copy of Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig and a Christmas ornament (if you live in the US that is).

Today though, we have a guest post from Australian author Elisabeth Storrs that has me very interested in reading her book so I thought I would post about it here. When Elisabeth Storrs sent the post through to me to put up at Historical Tapestry, I read it, and got to the end and thought Wow, I want that!

Take a look at this book trailer and then head on over to Historical Tapestry to read her post "Why I Love Etruscan Art".

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Once upon a time came a story so full of high adventure and true love that it became an instant classic and won the hearts of millions. Now in hardcover in America for the first time since 1973 (in its native Florin it has been on the Florinese Times bestseller list continuously since the week it was published), this special edition of The Princess Bride is a true keepsake for devoted fans as well as those lucky enough to discover it for the first time.

Westley ... handsome farm boy who risks death and much, much worse for the woman he loves; Inigo ... the Spanish swordsman who lives only to avenge his father's death; Fezzik ... the Turk, the gentlest giant ever to have uprooted a tree with his bare hands; Vizzini ... the evil Sicilian, with a mind so keen he's foiled by his own perfect logic; Prince Humperdinck ... the evil ruler of Guilder who has an equally insatiable thirst for war and the beauteous Buttercup; Count Rugen ... the evilest man of all, who thrives on the excruciating pain of others; Miracle Max ... the King's ex-Miracle Man, who can raise the dead (kind of); The Dread Pirate Roberts ... supreme looter and plunderer of the high seas; and, of course, Buttercup .... the princess bride, the most perfect, beautiful woman in the history of the world.

S. Morgenstern's timeless tale - discovered and wonderfully abridged by William Goldman - pits country against country, good against evil, love against hate. From the Cliffs of Insanity through the Fire Swamp and down into the Zoo of Death, this incredible journey and brilliant tale is peppered with strange beasties both monstrous and gentle, and memorable surprises both terrible and sublime.

Last week was the final week in the Princess Bride Readalong, and we came to the end of the journey. The final section was the additional chapter, or rather the first chapter of the long lost sequel to The Princess Bride, Buttercup's Baby.

After the somewhat wishy-washy ending to The Princess Bride, it is interesting that Goldman wrote Buttercup's Baby, but I am not sure that it added a lot to the Princess Bride experience. We saw two main points of view - Fezzik and Inigo. I wasn't all that keen on Fezzik's, but I loved Inigo's story! Could have read a lot more about Inigo! The strange thing about this one chapter is that the time frame seemed somewhat fluid as well. The parts about Fezzik took place after the end of  The Princess Bride, but all of Inigo's story took place before the events of the main book.

Once again, the author continued to interject into the text. Sometimes those interjections were very amusing, but at others, they were just plain annoying and not funny at all. A big part of this chapter was talking about Goldman being allowed to write this chapter, because the Morgenstern estate preferred to have a prominent Florinese author, Stephen King, to do the abridgement rather than have Goldman do it. This was one section of interjection that I did enjoy, with Goldman writing about going to visit King to talk about the fact that he really wanted to do the abridgement. I thought it was very cool of Stephen King to be part of this. Apparently he still gets asked about this because there is an answer about it on his Frequently Asked Questions page on his website.

Sometimes the interjections served to challenge the reader to disbelieve what they are reading

For example, towards the end there was a mention about golf balls, and there was the following interruption.

(Me again, last time this chapter: no, that is not anachronistic either; there were golf balls in Scotland seven hundred years ago, and, not only that remember Inigo had studied with MacPherson the Scot. As a matter of fact, everything Morgenstern wrote is historically accurate; read any decent book on Florinese history.)

Talking about the book as a whole, I did enjoy the read, but there is a big BUT, I never connected with Buttercup at all! All we really learnt about her was that she was beautiful, and that's about it. It wasn't enough for this reader.

This isn't the first readalong that I have participated in, but it is the first one I have actually completed (go me!). Generally I wouldn't spread a book this size over a period of five weeks, and so I sometimes found it difficult to either put the book down at the end of each section, and then to pick it back up again.

In the end, I though The Princess Bride was fun, but I think I need to now watch the movie to see exactly why this story is so beloved by so many people I know!

I am planning to watch the movie shortly and will hopefully post about it when I do.

Click on the following link to see my previous posts about The Princess Bride readalong

Rating 4/5

Library Loot: November 3 to 9

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

I made a very last minute visit to the library tonight. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it or not. Part of the reason is that I knew that I had 8 items to pick up, 3 spaces on my card, and only 4 items to take back, so there was no way known I was going to be able to pick them all up.

When I went to the counter I told the librarian that I had left one item on the hold shelf because I didn't have enough space, to which he replied they were just guidelines, and so he let me borrow them all. There's every chance they are going to regret letting me know that they aren't rules as such!

Here's the loot I go this week:

Provocative in Pearls by Madeline Hunter - The second book in the Rarest Blooms series.

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett - the next Discworld book.

Brown Skin Blue by Belinda Jeffrey - I read an awesome review of this book at Inkcrush, and had to request this book straight away.

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner - I won a copy of the second book in this series last month, but can't possibly read a series out of order, so had to borrow this one to read first.

The Savage Sky by Emma Drummond - This author was mentioned in the Sweeping Sagas group at Goodreads, so I thought I would try out the one and only book that the library has by this author. The tagline is Allies in War, Bitter Rivals in Life - sounds like exactly my kind of book!

A Secret Affair by Mary Balogh - The final book in the Huxtable quintet.

The Princess Bride DVD - After finishing the book, the next obvious step is to watch the movie.

Spooks Season 7 - I am watching this for one reason, and one reason only:

What loot did you get from the library this week! Add your link to Mr Linky below so that we can all come around and have a look!

Teaser Tuesday: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments trilogy last year, I was very excited when her latest book, Clockwork Angel came out, and so far I haven't been disappointed!

My teaser comes from pages 97 and 98:

He didn't know what books meant to her, that books were symbols of truth and meaning, that this one acknowledged that she existed and that there were others like her in the world. Holding it in her hands made Tessa feel that everything that had happened to her in the pas six weeks was real - more real even than living through it had been.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Head on over to find out all about it, and how to join in!

Mailbox Monday: October Acquisitions

When I decided that I was going to start participating in Mailbox Monday on a monthly basis, I decided that I would do so on the last Monday of each month. Apparently, I thought that there were 32 days in October because it only just occurred to me on Saturday that today would be the 1st of November not the last day of October. Whoops!

I mentioned yesterday that I had a pretty good reading month, but despite that my TBR got a lot bigger thanks to my acquisitions this month. Here's what I got:

Glory Girl by Peter Yeldham  (purchased) - I have read a couple of Peter Yeldham books and thoroughly enjoyed them. This one is about the pioneering aviators of the 1920s. I will have to make a real effort to actually fit it into my reading schedule seeing as I bought it on impulse one day.

Kiss at Your Own Risk by Stephanie Rowe (review copy) - I have been meaning to read this author since her Immortally Sexy series came out years ago. I think I even have the first book of that series here somewhere, so when I was offered this one, I thought that this might be a good time to actually read her!

The Perfect Love Song by Patti Callahan Henry (review copy) - This was a kind of surprise when it turned up. I don't normally read holiday novels, but this one does look good so I will make an exception I think!

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner, The Last Vampire by Christopher Pike, Skins: The Novel by Ali Cronin, I'd Tell You I Love You, but then I would have to Kill You by Ally Carter and Ash by Malinda Lo (Won) - I won all five of these books in a giveaway at Persnickety Snark. I am particularly interested in reading Ash and The Silver Blade, although I will have to try and figure out where Ash is as I think my mum was reading it when she came to visit not too long ago.

The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel by Diana Gabaldon, illustrated by Hoang Nguyen (purchased) - This is the graphic novel of the first half (or so) of the first Outlander book. There was no way I was going to wait for this one to come into the library, which is probably a good thing because it seems that the Australian publisher has decided not to publish it here. Thank goodness for The Book Depository.

The Passionate Brood by Margaret Campbell Barnes (review copy) - I read this last week and loved it. I need to write the review for early next week.

The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook (purchased) - I had decided that this was going to be my first purchase of an ebook, until I found out that Australians can't purchase this book as an ebook. I wanted it enough to buy the paper version of the book, but I suspect that it won't be the last time that I can't get hold of a book that I really want in the format I want it in.

The Countess and the King by Susan Holloway Scott (from the author) - I recieved what is probaby my strangest format ever for an ARC for this book. The author took pity on me and sent me a signed finished copy! Thanks again Susan!

Virgin River, Shelter Mountain, Whispering Rock  and A Virgin River Christmas by Robyn Carr (purchased ebooks) - I read the first Virgin River book ages ago. My library had all of the rest of the books in the series except books 2 and 3 (I always find it a bit odd when that happens), and so I asked them to purchase those two books. The third book arrived, but no sign of the second, so I asked for an inter library loan, but I was told that they couldn't do that for books on order. After months of waiting for the second book to come in, I saw a bundle that included all four books for a bargain price (about the same amount as we would pay for one book here) so I bought them all. These books have the honour of being the first books I bought for my e-reader.

Wicked Delights of a Bridal Bed by Tracy Anne Warren (won) - I won this book from Historically Obsessed.

Scoundrel's Kiss by Carrie Lofty - I loved Song of Seduction so now I want to read all of Carrie Lofty's books.

The Hell You Say, Death  of a Pirate King, and The Dark Tide by Josh Lanyon (purchased ebooks) - I won the first two books in this series ages ago, but because I don't really like reading on the computer I hadn't read them yet. After getting my e-reader, I finally read them, and then I was sufficiently hooked that I needed to know what happens next.

The Millionaire's Ultimate Catch by Michelle Monkou - I received an email advising that there is a new website called Everyone's Reading, and they have 11 books available as ebooks for free. I chose to download this one, mainly because I don't often have the chance to read African-American romances.

Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray (ebook review copy) - We were sent this at Historical Tapestry for review. At this stage we are planning a conversational style joint review, so I will be reading this in the next couple of weeks.

The Queen of Last Hopes by Susan Higginbotham (review copy) - I have enjoyed the rest of Susan's books, so I am looking forward to this.

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman (review copy from Netgalley) - This is a book about a young African boy who has just immigrated to London. I thought it sounded very interesting.

Scandal of the Year and Wedding of the Season by Laura Lee Guhrke (review copy Netgalley) - I have been meaning to try Laura Lee Guhrke for ages, and so with these two books I have a chance to get in at the beginning of a new series.

The Darling Strumpet by Gillian Bagwell (review copy) - I love reading books set in the Restoration Court of Charles II, so I can't wait to read this one.

Sweet Son by Heidi Cullinan (won) - I won a copy of this as part of the recent Gay Writes Week over at Dear Author.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (purchased) - I have been a big fan of Jennifer Donnelly for a long time. I was going to get this from the library but I have heard such good things about it, I decided I couldn't wait!

Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin (won) - I won a copy of this book from Lurv a la Mode. The contest was run after the news broke that the author had passed away.

Phew! I can't remember the last time I had that many books come into my house in one month!

Mailbox Monday was originally hosted at The Printed Page, but now it is going on tour so for November it is being hosted at Knitting and Sundries. Head over there to share your links, or to see what everyone else has posted about this week.