Winners and Other Odds and Ends

I believe my beloved summer has finally bid me its final farewell. Yesterday was dark, dreary, rainy and chilly ALL DAY LONG. The next week's forecast doesn't look much better and I don't think the temps are going to reach 70 any day. So, I'll wave goodbye to summer and begin my yearning for it to come again next year.

In happier news, yesterday I drew three lucky winners for the limited edition copies of Libby Hellmann's short story, "The Murder of Katie Boyle." They included: Lisa from Florida, Charlotte from Georgia, and Kate from Virginia. Congrats to all the winners!!

I also wanted to let you know about a contest that Chris Grabenstein is holding to name a cat and a dog in his upcoming John Ceepak novel, ROLLING THUNDER. The contest will help raise money for the Artemis Project, which is a non-profit animal welfare organization in New York City. For every $10 you donate, you get one entry in the drawing. The directions for the contest can be found here. And you know me, I'm tickled pink about this. One of my most favorite authors is doing something to benefit the animals in need. What more could a girl want?

I haven't mentioned lately the google searches people are doing that lands them at Jen's Book Thoughts, so today I'll share a few of those. First of all, I have to say how big a smile I have every time I check and there are more direct hits than the time before or when people are looking specifically for my blog name. I also want to send out a big thanks to everyone who has a link to my blog somewhere on their site. I have more people coming from links than from search engines. That's cool! But recently, I guess I established official "stalker" status because someone did a search for "Rocky River, Ohio stalker" and ended up here! I got a good chuckle from that one, and secretly prayed that it wasn't the Rocky River Police doing that search (GEORGE!!). I'm still getting folks trying to figure out how to hem leather pants and I'll not even subject you to the searches people do that brings them to my review of Island of the Naked Women. I've been fearful of a few of those searches.

We simply cannot be remiss in congratulating Louise Penny on her Barnes and Noble Main Selection this month. THE BRUTAL TELLING snatched up this honor and it will alert many folks to this phenomenal series. Yay, Louise! I'll be reviewing this wonderful book soon, be on the lookout!

And finally, I must remind everyone that this is National Banned Books Week. I hope you will all exercise your freedom to read this week. I am off now to find a good banned book to highlight for the Monday Mystery backlist.

Enjoy the remainder of your Sunday and have a fabulous week!

18 DAYS TO BOUCHERCON!!!