Saturday, January 7, 2012

Winners! News! Challenge Update!

This is a post I'm going to try to do every weekend! I will give the winners from this weeks giveaways, any news items you might want to be aware of and how I'm faring on my challenges this week!

We had three giveaways that ended this first week of January. I want to thank everyone who participated and let you know that the more people we have participating in the giveaways, the more giveaways I can have, so it's a win-win situation. All of the books this week will be sent out directly from the publisher. I will be notifying winners today and publishers on Monday. Please allow the publisher at least 4 weeks to get your prizes to you, before notifying me, sometimes they are very prompt, sometimes not so much!

Wild Thing (Domestic Gods Gone Wild - Book 1) by Robin Kaye
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (Sourcebooks Inc.)
Winner: mamabunny13




Hot Zone (Elite Forces - Book 2) by Catherine Mann
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (Sourcebooks Inc.)
Winners: yadkny & Pam S.




Double Booked for Death (Black Cat Book Shop Mystery - Book 1) by Ali Brandon
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin Group USA)
Winner: Jane Cook









I have a couple of News this week, that I wanted my readers to be aware of. 

Some of you may have noticed the New Header on my blog, featuring two women reading, a genre image, my Debbie's Book Bag, book bag logo and a quote from Stephen King. I think it looks good but I'm not sure it's big enough or that the name of the blog shows up big enough... I would love some feedback on this about what you think! Should I change back to the old one, revamp the new one or just leave it like it is?

If you are visiting Debbie's Book Bag for the first time this week, you may have noticed the adult content notice that pops up before you enter the blog. I wanted to let everyone know why I decided to put that content notice up. I have been posting a few erotic romance reviews, giveaways and guest posts every month for a while now. I don't post any explicit photo's or anything like that, and I don't intend to start that now. I believe there is a place for just about every genre in reading from Christian Fiction to Erotic Romance and I want to continue to feature both on my blog. 

HOWEVER, Google has recently been cracking down on Terms of Service violations and has shut down several blogs because of this. Until I decide to make a switch to WordPress I have to keep in mind the kinds of things Google could choose to take issue with my blog about and the adult content warning is probably one of them. So that's the reason for it. I can't take the chance they'll shut me down because I feature a link to an excerpt that is only appropriate for readers 18 and over. 

There is one last thing I wanted to mention as far as news goes... Starting January 15th, I will be working outside of my home for a few months. That means I will have a little less time to focus on my blog until about the middle of April. Don't worry! I will still be posting every week day and hopefully a post like this one on the weekend. I just have pared down the amount of reviews that I expect to do. I will probably be a one review a day blog for a few months. I am not setting any hard and fast dates for review so be patient. I'm not disappearing, just refocusing a little bit.




Challenge Updates:

I have greatly reduced the amount of challenges I plan to participate in this year. Which makes updating a lot easier! 

I add the books to my challenge pages as the reviews post, not when I finish reading them. It's a lot easier to keep up with. 

Here are my updates for this week (Check out my sidebar for % and my challenge page for titles and authors):

Here is the Link to my updated Google Map for the 2012 Where Are You Reading Challenge hosted by Book Journey.

I added three books to the 2012 New Author's Challenge. (3/50  6% Done)

        Wine to Water by Doc Hendley
      Charmfall by Chloe Neill
      Crash Into You by Roni Loren



I added five books to the 150+ Reading Challenge.  (5/150  3% Done)

        Wine to Water by Doc Hendley
      Charmfall by Chloe Neill
      Crash Into You by Roni Loren
      Red Templar by Paul Christopher
      Wicked Circle by Linda Robertson



I added one book to the 2012 Horror & Urban Fantasy Challenge. (1/48  2% Done)

          Wicked Circle by Linda Robertson 


I added one book to the What's In a Name Challenge. Topographical Feature: Water.   1/6  17% Done)

                Wine to Water by Doc Hendley

7 comments:

June M. said...

I think the new header looks good. I think you can see the blog name pretty good. I also think adding the adult content label is probably a good idea. I know that some people may be offended by you reviewing erotic romances, even though you do it very well.

justpeachy36 said...

Thanks June! I was wondering if the header looked OK.

I don't want to offend anyone... That's not my intention by reviewing erotic books, as I said I think they have their place and I don't get too out of hand when I review them.

But I think the content warning was necessary for a lot of reasons.

Thanks for the feedback I really appreciate it.

Dolly said...

I like the new header (and love the King quote!); I do think the blog name might be larger - the first thing I notice is the word 'Fiction' on the left side, and not the blog name. But I do like it.

And, thanks!! for the book!

dollycas aka Lori said...

I am so glad you didn't change the background. I love this background. Header looks great.

Enjoy working but I'll miss you.

Hop over to WP the water is fine and no GOOGLE MONSTER hanging over your head!!!!

justpeachy36 said...

LOL... Lori

I am planning on making the switch eventually.

I would not change the background on my blog unless I had to, I love it! I think I may need to change the scale of the blog name though... The Stephen King quote is one of my favorites. It really shows how I feel about reading... it's magic and I can take it with Me (Grin)!

Carol N Wong said...

I like your header of the women reading.

Thanks for the warning about "adult content"! I don't read erotic books. I tried but could never finish a book. LOL

I love cozies and some other genres that you have on your blog.
So that and the fact that I really like you as a person are the reasons that I keep coming back to your blog.

Don't mind at all about the fewer postings. Last week, I found out that I have a rare auto-immune disease and treatments start next Monday for at least two months, twice a week or more. It takes an hours there and back so I know that I won't have much time for e-mails. Good luck with your out of home job.

Carol Wong

justpeachy36 said...

Carol,

Thanks so much for your support of my blog. I know that I have readers who embrace erotic romance and those who don't, but I have a lot of other things to offer here as well.

Cozy mysteries are definitely one of the things I focus on and paranormal stuff, because that's a personal favorite.

I am so sorry to hear that you having health issues. I wish you the very best and I'll be saying a prayer for you along the way. Hang in there!

The job is a freelance project that is going to require a lot of time but I'll still be posting and hope that you will feel up to coming by...