Saturday, August 14, 2010

A Birthday - Let's Celebrate!

Today my blog is one year old!

Yay! Let's Celebrate! Let's Give Away Books!

In fact - let's give away six books! And let's have five different winners.

And since we established in my last post that people have all kinds of different reading tastes - here's how it will work. Six books are available (descriptions and pictures follow.) One grand prize winner will get their choice of two books. I'll pick winners 2-5, and each one (in order, will get their choice of the remaining books.)

And it's super easy to enter, just leave a comment at the end:

Here, then, are the books:

FAITHFUL, by Janet Fox, Penguin Group, 2010

This yummy historical novel follows sixteen year old Maggie, raised in luxury on the East Coast, as she begins a new life in the beauty of Yellowstone Park.


PIECES OF SKY, by Kaki Warner, Berkley Publishing, 2010


A sweeping historical romance set in New Mexico Territory and England, featuring a hero and heroine you won't soon forget.


STORY OF A GIRL, by Sara Zarr, Little, Brown, and Company, 2007

National Book Award Finalist, this wonderful YA novel tells the story of a girl and her struggle to escape from one mistake in her past.


GOING, GONE, by Laura Crum, Perseverance Press, 2010


A Gail McCarthy Mystery, with great horse details and California scenery.


FINDING CHANCE, by Linda Benson, Mondo Publishing, 2007


My first novel. Alice's mother keeps moving her around. Will she ever find a place to call home?




THE HORSE JAR, by Linda Benson, Mondo Publishing, 2009

My second novel. Annie dreams and schemes for a horse of her own. Just when she finds her "most perfect horse" - tragedy strikes.


Okay, here are the details. To enter, just leave a comment about your favorite place to read. On the beach? Under the covers? Let us know.

For extra points:

Followers of this blog, and any new followers, will all get an extra entry.

Spread the word: Retweet this contest, repost on facebook, or repost on your blog for two more points. Let me know where.

Contest is open until midnight, Pacific Time, August 22, 2010. Books shipped to U.S. addresses only. Winners will be chosen and notified in random drawing. First four book are almost new, gently read copies - last two are new copies.

Ooh, which books do you want to win??

And in the interest of history, click here to read my post from one year ago, that started this blog.

17 comments:

Hilary Hyland said...

My favorite place to read is in my comfy chair. It used to be under the covers until I developed the unfortunate habit of falling asleep.

I'd like to win THE HORSE JAR, but any of the books would be fine.

Thanks!
Hilary Hyland

Shelby Bach said...

Congratulations on your first blogging anniversary!!!

My favorite, FAVORITE place to read is beside a shore on a warm (late spring, early fall) day. Doesn't matter which shore - the lake at Central Park, or the beach, or a wide river, etc. But I love looking up from the pages to ponder the words and staring out over the water....

All the books look lovely, but I think FINDING CHANCE and maybe FAITHFUL would be my top choices. :-)

Amy Lukavics said...

Happy Bloggaversary!!!

Hmmm...current favorite place to read is the big window seat in my kitchen while there is soup, stew, or pot roast cooking. Or bread baking. If it's raining or snowing that's an even bigger bonus.

I am drooling over both the YA and THE HORSE JAR.

My tweet! http://twitter.com/amylukavics/status/21184820467

Beth said...

Oh books. . . my second favorite passion. I always wonder about a home that has no books in it.

I love to read curled on the couch on a rainy day, or taking a chair out in the pasture on a nice day as the horses are grazing.

OOOOH and in the bathtub! I love to read in the bathtub.

I have been looking longingly at both of your books so either of those would be great and then Story of Girl looks really interesting.

I'll write a post on my blog too
http://fearlessriding.blogspot.com/

Leah Fry said...

I like reading in bed, all propped up, and in the tub,

I'd like to win "The Horse Jar," "Faithful," or "Going, Gone".

Congrats on the year-old blog. I'll follow you.

Dreaming said...

I love reading in a comfy chair beside a campfire in the woods....somewhere. The next best place is curled up on the couch with a warm throw and a fire going in the dark of winter.

I taught middle school for many years. I used to spend my summers reading YA books so that I could help my students find a book and discover a love for reading. If I am chosen as a winner, I will have a difficult time selecting a book. They all look so interesting!

Alison said...

YAY! Congrats on your anniversary. My favorite place to read is EVERYWHERE!

I wish all my students would get so excited.

Have fun giving away BOOKS!

Anonymous said...

In the bathtub with lots of bubbleswith quiet surroundings and a lovely breeze coming in through the bathroom window. OR

Laying down on the couch OR

Laying on a beanbag!

Think that I would love to win "Pieces of the Sky". I love historicals.


CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

Monica said...

Okay. I can't decide where, but rainy day reading, winter by the fire reading, and beach reading top my list.

Also...I am loathe to admit this, but I've spent some FABULOUS entire days in bed, with a book, when I've been too sick to go to work. ::cough, cough:: But it's such a gift to be able to read a good book all in one sitting.

And all these books looks awesome, though I'd like one of yours (signed, please) or Kaki's. Yay for agent sisters.

Susan said...

Curled up in a comfortable chair or on the couch are my favorite places to read.

Faithful and Pieces of Sky sound intriguing, but I would love to read one of your books also. I've already enjoyed Going Gone.

middle grade ninja said...

Happy Bloggaversary! My favorite place to read is in a hot tub, preferably with an adult beverage.

You can leave me out of the contest, though I'll retweet it. I've already read your books:) And I have a stack of middle grade books to read that is so tall, I can't see the top of it.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

What a great idea! I should host a give-away on my blog soon. I've been blogging for over 3 years. Time flies!
I trotted over here from Beth's blog at Feearless Riding. She's great! And I hope she wins.

But maybe we both can win? Woot!

My favorite place to read is curled up in my hammock under the trees or cuddled underneath blankets on my bed. I have to be careful there, though, because I tend to not be able to read as long that way and will doze off if I'm tired.

The books all look great, but my choices would be:

Pieces of Sky because New Mexico is my home and I love to read anything about NM. Oh! And there's horses on the front. A huge bonus!

Faithful because I'm an outdoor nature gal, and I think it would be amazing to live inside Yellowstone National Park.

Going, Gone because Laura Crum is one of my favorite authors and that's one book I've not read yet.

Oh! And I almost forgot, I'm now a Follower.

Congrats on your one year Blog-a-versary. Here's to many more years of blogging. heheh!

~Lisa

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Here's my Tweet:

http://twitter.com/LaughingOrca

~Lisa

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Back again after creating a clickable link on the side bar of my blog.

Check it out:
http://laughingorcaranch.blogspot.com/

Have a super nice weekend,
~Lisa

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Linda, for including my book in your contest. My son loved "The Horse Jar", so I'd love to win your other book, "Finding Chance". My favorite place to read is sitting in my armchair that belonged to my grandfather, reading out loud to my son.

Linda Benson said...

Thanks to everyone who has entered so far! And welcome to new followers! I can hardly wait to pick the winners. One more day! Good luck, everybody!

Judy Johnson said...

I have two favorite places to read. One is our lazyboy rocker what just kind of envelopes you as you settle into read. The other is the bathtub, with the smell of lavender and the feel of total relaxation to get lost in a book!