Introducing Miss Holly + Winners

A couple of you may have seen my Tweets last week regarding a new addition to the family, and I thought I would share some pictures with you because, well, she's kind of cute ;-) My husband and I rescued her last Friday from a local shelter where she was on the kill list. The rescue organization we found her through just happened to be at the shelter to rescue another dog when they walked into euthanasia room and saw that she was next up on the list for the evening. Apparently, whoever dropped her off at the shelter said she was a pit bull and, unfortunately, that guaranteed her automatic placement on the kill list. Luckily though, the rescue organization was able to grab her and my husband and I agreed to foster her until we could find her a permanent home.

So, here she is, 11-week old Holly! She may have some pit bull in her, but I also think she has some boxer and maybe some mastiff too based on her coloring. We've received a bunch of adoption applications for her, so we should have a permanent home for her soon which makes me both very happy and very, very sad as I'm kind of attached to her. After this experience though, my husband and I are both hoping to foster again in the future to help save more pit bulls and other "bully breeds" who find themselves with a very short amount of time to find new homes before getting put down.

(Holly with big brothers Gatsby and Griffin)

To be completely random, I also thought I would announce the winners of my Love Potions e-book giveaway! Thank you so much to all those who entered, and to Michelle for so generously offering up three copies. All the winners have been emailed!

Winners:
Felicia @ Geeky Blogger's Book Blog
Ashley @ The Bookish Brunette
Jen M

Winners!

Listed below are all the winners from my most recent giveaways (winners have been emailed), a huge thank you to everyone who entered and to Jennifer Estep and Debra Anastasia for providing copies of their books as prizes!

GRATITUDE GIVEAWAY

Winner:
Erin

POUGHKEEPSIE (ebook)

Winners:
Persephone
Sarah

KISS OF FROST

Winner:
Julie W.

More Winners!

I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who entered my recent giveaways, you guys are all amazing. I've picked a couple winners via Random.org and they have been emailed and are also listed below. Congratulations to them and thank you again!

SHADE AND SHIFT


Winner:
Cathy at Total Book Nerd

TIGHTER


Winner:
Ash from Smash Attack Reads!

In My Mailbox, Winners, and Nalini Singh

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi over at The Story Siren and is a great way to see what other bloggers are reading and reviewing. I always love seeing what everyone else got for their week! I haven't done this meme in little while, so the below is what I've received/bought over the past two weeks.



FOR REVIEW
Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs
Forgotten by Cat Patrick
Half-Blood by Jennifer Armentrout
One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost
Archangel's Blade by Nalini Singh
Chicks Kick Butt Anthology

A huge thanks this week goes out to Tracy Deebs and Teen Book Scene, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Spencer Hill Press, Avon, Penguin, and TOR for sending me such amazing books!

WINNERS

I've had quite a few giveaways going on the past several weeks, so I have just a couple winners to announce. Thank you so much to Jennifer Estep and JL Bryan for offering up copies of their books, and thank you to all of you who entered! I still have two giveaways for SHIFT and SHADE and TIGHTER going on (see right sidebar), so I'll be announcing those winners next weekend.

TANGLED THREADS

Winner:
Patricia at Patricia's Particularity


JENNY POX (signed)

Winner:
Heather at Buried In Books

One last thing and then I promise I'll end this mishmash of a blog post. My friend and fellow book blogger Mollie from Book Fare Delights and I took a road trip yesterday down to Cincinnati, Ohio for the Lori Foster event where I got to meet some fantastic authors and bloggers. Some of you may be aware of my slight obsession with Nalini Singh's books (and more specifically, with Hawke in particular), so when I saw her on the roster I may or may not have done some spastic dancing. Luckily for everyone at the event itself, I was able to keep said dancing in check. I did however, get a picture with her:


That would be me in the middle, wedged as close to Nalini as is physically possible without actually sitting in her lap while Mollie plays it much cooler and is actually being normal there on the right. Awesome. Well done Jenny. Nalini was incredibly sweet and didn't mention my stalker-like closeness, thereby endearing her to me even more:)

I also dramatically threw myself at my longtime Twitter friend Bells from Hanging with Bells in the lobby of the Marriott and had an absolute blast hanging out with her and Mandi from Smexy Books, as well as Colette from A Buckeye Girl Reads and a handful of other beautiful ladies. I had a spectacular time and hope to next year stay for the full event instead of just the signing so I have more time to potentially embarrass myself in front of friends and cherished authors. I can't wait!

Scholastic Charity Auction + Giveaway Winners

Today I just wanted to do a quick post mentioning a very cool charity event Scholastic just launched at the beginning of May and it will run the entire month:

Twelve top children’s book illustrators created original artwork for Scholastic’s month-long online charity auction (which just opened for bids) to benefit Reading Is Fundamental and Reach Out and Read, two amazing literacy organizations that have lost all federal funding, making it even more difficult for them to help the kids who need it the most.

If you click on the above link it will take you straight to the auction and you can see all the beautiful artwork and place a bid. Below are just a couple of the artists and the pieces they've submitted for auction.



Mary GrandPré, illustrator of the Harry Potter series, with the original artwork she contributed to the month-long online charity auction to support literacy, New York, Thursday, May 5, 2011. GrandPre and 11 other renowned children's illustrators participated in the launch of the auction at Scholastic's New York City headquarters. (Stuart Ramson/InsiderImages for Scholastic)



Norman Bridwell with his original work which features his much beloved character Clifford the Big Red Dog, New York, Thursday, May 5, 2011. The artwork is available through the online charity auction to benefit literacy organizations until June 5 at Scholastic.com/readeveryday. (Stuart Ramson/InsiderImages for Scholastic)



Barbara McClintock with her original work which features a variety of fairy tale characters from her various picture books, including "The Gingerbread Man", New York, Thursday, May 5, 2011. The artwork is available through the online charity auction to benefit literacy organizations until June 5 at Scholastic.com/readeveryday. (Stuart Ramson/InsiderImages for Scholastic)

WINNERS

And now I have the winners of my most recent giveaways, a huge thank you to everyone entered, I had such fantastic responses to all three posts! Congratulations to those who won, you have all been emailed.

SPRING BLOG CARNIVAL

Winner:
Jeanette8042

ABANDON


Winner of ABANDON and the bracelet:
chelleyreads

Winner of 2nd copy of ABANDON:
Meagan

TEMPEST RISING


Winner:
Briana @ The Book Pixie