Friday, August 13, 2010

Free Book Friday (Conference Edition)

I came back from conference with SO MANY BOOKS this year! I would've gone over my weight limit if Angel and I hadn't gone together on a second bag full of books. 29 pounds worth, to be exact, plus the 12 pound increase in my regular luggage. There's stacks on my desk and I still need to get the ones at Angel's house. This bodes well for the future of Free Book Friday!

To start into our new stash, I'm going to give away two books by our awards luncheon speaker Jayne Ann Krentz (who also, I recently learned, writes as Amanda Quick and Jayne Castle. I had no idea.) Anyway, she offered some great advice about writing, about not self-sabotaging, and we each got two of her Arcane Society books, which I'm passing along to you.

Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz

A heroine who can see dark energy flashes in a villain's aura and a hero who can squelch villainous thoughts before they're put into action go to paradise to find a murderer, but find love, sex and a nest of drug-enhanced evildoers instead in Krentz's latest Arcane Society novel. Librarian Grace Renquist and ex-cop-turned-bartender Luther Malone, both members of the centuries-old Arcane Society, join forces when the psychic investigative agency Jones & Jones hires Grace, with Luther as her bodyguard, to find a killer in Hawaii. Luther quickly realizes Grace is not your normal paranormal, but their hot romance is put on hold as they learn that Nightshade, drug-fueled supernatural baddies, are after the same murderer—as is the lethal psychic hunter La Sirène, an opera diva with a killer voice.


The Perfect Poison by Amanda Quick

If Lucinda Bromley doesn’t discover who stole her fern, she could end up being charged with murder. Lucinda frequently used her unusual psychic gift to discern death by poisoning to help the London police, but when a nobleman is poisoned by a compound containing elements of a rare fern, one that can only be found in her conservatory, Lucinda knows she better act quickly. To help her find the real murderer, she hires Caleb Jones, a psychical investigator. Believing there is a connection between Lucinda’s fern thief and a deadly dangerous secret society, Caleb agrees to take the case, but he never expected to become so distracted by his new partner in detection or to find himself flummoxed on so many fronts. New York Times best-seller Quick delivers another fascinating addition to her original and spellbinding Victorian-era series about the Arcane Society, a 200-year-old secret organization founded by an alchemist and devoted to paranormal research.

Jayne Ann Krentz has lots of personalities. I do too! I'm me, I'm Alexandra Frost, I'm Smarty Pants... so many sides to one person. To enter to win this month, comment with the phrase "All my personalities would love to win this book!" and tell us about any run-ins you've had with the luggage Gestapos at the airport.

SP

22 comments:

Jane said...

All my personalities would love to win this book! I always weigh my bags to make sure I don't have to pay an extra fee for going over the weight limit.

gigi said...

"All my personalities would love to win this book!"

The only trouble I have had at airports was that I had some things I thought were liquids (which they said were not, like makeup)taken out of my quart ziplock bags, this was our domestic security. Coming back into the country I was given grief by the Canadian officials that my mascara was not in the liquids ziplock bag.

Doesn't seem like everyone is on the same page with what you need to put in your baggie.

Playground Monitor said...

I have multiple personalities too, but they got these books at RWA too, so they don't need another set. ~grin~

So far I've never had any run-ins with airport security though I was pulled aside in Orlando on the return trip to have my palms swabbed. I was the random person selected by the machine. I got pulled aside and put in a little glass booth until the guy could swab me. Everyone's looking at you and you feel like you have "terrorist" stamped across your forehead (or maye it's on your palms).

gigi said...

M,
That would have really sent my anxiety level up there.

Laurie G said...

"All my personalities would love to win this book!"

I only bring a carry on bag so that I can miss the retrieving the luggage hassle.

I've been at the airport twice when their bomb scares with other people's luggage. Everything shuts down and you have to leave the airport and wait outside. The first time I was picking up my brother. We were in the luggage area and they made us leave from 6 PM until almost 10 PM! Very frustrating. Plus I got my period and I was wearing white pants. SO embarassing!!

The second time was when my daughter was departing. Luckily, it was only a short delay and she didn't my flight.

Laurie G said...

OOPs Miss her flight!

CrystalGB said...

All my personalities would love to win this book! I have never had any luggage issues.

donnas said...

All my personalities would love to win this book!

I have had a couple of different experiences. One was I flew to Vegas from Chicago and just made the weight limit. While in Vegas I met up with my sister and gave her a hardcover book from my luggage and a jacket I had. I added nothing new, didnt buy anything on the trip. When I went to fly back to Chicago, I was suddenly overweight!

Another was I was flying back to STL from Denver. My carryon wasnt fitting in the overhead bin, so the airline gave me a plastic bag to put a few things in so it would fit. When we landed I only had a couple minutes to catch my next flight so I rushed to the gate. And the ones at that gate, wouldnt let me put the stuff back in my bag to keep it to the one carryon, they made me check it. Same airline!

Ok and the last one I have, I was flying back to Chicago from STL. It was Christmas time. It was cold. I had a coat, which I took off to go though Security. The first agent at Security told me I had to wear it or it would count as a carry on. So I had to put it back on to just walk though the lines, because of course I had to take it off again to go though the scanners and metal detectors.

Ok so if these didnt all happen at least a few years apart I would think there were issues. But luckly all were at least over a 10 year perios.

bacchus76 at myself dot com

chey said...

All my personalities would love to win this book!
I haven't flown in years. When I did fly, I guess the worst luggage problem I had was lost luggage. I did eventually get it back. One time when I had a second piece of luggage, I sent it home by courier so I wouldn't have to worry about it all changing planes when I did.

Anonymous said...

"All my personalities would love to win this book!"

I personally have never had any problems with luggages at airport, thank goodness to that.

BUT my mom seems to be the true trouble-finder when it comes to airports and luggages. She doesn't even travel that much - usually just to Spain and back to Finland once a year (she spends the wintertime in Spain).

I've flyed that trip together with her three times, all when she was coming back to Finland. And every single time there were problems:
- First time one of her three luggages got lost somewhere - and it still hasn't been found to this day.
- Second time her luggages were way too heavy and they totally robbed her because of that. Imagine, they took 300 euros from her. Sure, her luggages were 30kg too heavy, but hello, she'd been there for 6 months! Of course she had more stuff with her than those who were there on 1-3 weeks holidays. I'm still "a bit" mad to those luggage Gestapos about this, they just ignored every document and prove we had with us to show that mom really had been there for a long time...which is a reason that _should_ let you carry more than the usual 20kgs of luggages (okey, maybe not 30kgs more, but they didn't give in even one kg, and that was sooo maddening!)
- Third time (this spring) all her luggages got accidentally shipped to a wrong plane and she got them back -at last- a week after she'd come back home.

And those are the just the times when I've been with her. She have had three other incidents with her luggage/those handling the luggate at the airport before those times, when she was traveling with my dad.

I swear she's some kind of trouble magnet when it comes to this matter! :)

Maureen said...

All my personalities would love to win this book! I haven't flown in some years so I have been free from luggage annoyances.

catslady said...

All my personalities would love to win this book! I've read at least one of each or more lol.

I haven't flown in ages - before 911. But the last episode was when we flew to Europe and they lost my husbands's luggage for at least 3 days! I was so glad it wasn't my suitcases. He made do with a new shirt and toiletries lol.

karenk said...

'all my personalities would love to win this book'

karenk
kmkuka at yahoo dot com

gigi said...

I have heard that sometimes it is cheaper to ship your stuff home than to bring it with you on the airplane.
You know UPS could have it sitting on your doorstep

robertsonreads said...

All my personalities would love to win this book!

Well as I rarely travel, I really can't comment on this. But does having a 5 year old nephew who gets me really confused with my sister(we are 17 months apart, a look a lot alike) count? He calls Becky "Ginger" and Ginger "Becky", funny! I answer no matter. This happens a lot with the younger ones in our family. The look on their faces is precious when we are actually together and their eyes start to glaze.

BookHounds said...

No need to enter me! I just posted this at win a book for you.
http://winabook.westofmars.com/2010/08/14/running-hot-the-perfect-poison/

Unknown said...

All my personalities would love to win this book! Since I don't travel by plain, I haven't had much problems with my luggage. I have only been on a plain once and that was many years ago!

Anonymous said...

all my personalities would love to win this book! Airport woes - I had to throw away a perfectly good bottle of water, forgetting that it wasn't allowed to go throw, you have to purchase it on "the other side". While I do appreciate the heightened security, it can be hard to understand and navigate! quilter892ataoldotcom

Anonymous said...

"All my personalities would love to win this book!"

I hate those bag gestapos! They always seem to want to check me at every point and I tend to be randomly chosen for the "pat-down" at the security point too! ugh.

robynl said...

"All my personalities would love to win this book!"

flying from Regina, Sask. to Toronto, Ont I went through the scanner and they took me aside b/c of having something shiny in my purse. It was a manicure scissor but they wouldn't listen to anything I said and told me to take it and dispose of it or they could mail it back to me at a cost. I disposed of it.

mariska said...

All my personalities would love to win this book!

I have never had any luggage issues so far. Thank God !!

A Musing Mother said...

Ally my personalities would love to win this book but especially the one who rarely gets out but took a walk on the wild side by buying tickets to see Wicked in San Fran. With the kids carefully farmed out, found out it cost more to check my bags so I decided to do carry on. Bye, bye shampoo, conditioner, and very expensive mousse!! First person I saw on the train from airport was the most stunning guy with Rachel Green hair (Season 3 of Friends) only higher and a deeply cut V neck with far too tight skinny jeans.

All I could think was how my hair was never going to look good in the pics we would be taking.