Blog Fest 2011! Party Time in July!

It's Here! Blog Fest 2011 starts today! Sponsored by A Journey of Books, Blog Fest is a blog run of sorts. A list of participating blogs may be found at the Blog Fest Home Site and each of these sites will be offering a fantastic giveaway for readers to enter. Each blog will link to another, leading readers through the fantastic party we have set up for them! You can also go to the Blog Fest Tracking Site for a chance to earn extra prizes--each blog that you track as having visited gives an extra entry towards a special drawing.

Thanks so much for stopping by here at My Reader's Block! What I have on offer are two prize packages:

Prize Number 1. A $25.00 gift card for Amazon.com (it is the entrant's responsibility to ensure that they are eligible for the use of US Amazon.com gift cards and that Amazon will ship to their address)

Prize Number 2. A set of four VERY gently used mysteries (all four are like new) which includes:

The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl: Boston, 1870. When news of Charles Dickens's sudden death reaches his struggling American publisher, James Osgood sends his trusted clerk, Daniel Sand, to await the arrival of Dickens's unfinished final manuscript. But Daniel never returns, and when his body is discovered by the docks, Osgood must embark on a quest to find the missing end to the novel and unmask the killer. With Daniel's sister Rebecca at his side, Osgood races the clock through a dangerous web of opium dens, sadistic thugs, and literary lions to solve a genius's last mystery and save his own life--and the life of the woman he loves.


A Flaw in the Blood by Stephanie Barron: Windsor Castle, 1861. Prince Albert, the Queen's Consort, lies dying and Victoria summons Patrick Fitzgerald, the clever, embittered Irish barrister who has helped defend Her Majesty from a would-be assassin 20 years ago. Within hours, Fitzgerald's beautiful ward is nearly murdered, his chambers are ransacked, and another girl lies dead. Could an unknown force at Windsor want Fitzgerald silenced? And why? The answers are entangled in an electrifying tale of intrigue, seduction, and betrayal, partially narrated by Europe's most powerful monarch.

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón: Barcelona, pre-WWII. David Martin, a pulp fiction writer struggling to stay afloat, is holed up in an abandoned mansion in the heart of the town, furiously typing story after story and becoming increasingly desperate and frustrated. When he is approached by a mysterious publisher offering him a book deal that seems almost too good to be true, David leaps at the chance. But as he begins the work, and after a visit to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, he realizes that there is a connection between his book and the shadows that surround his dilapidated home and that the publisher may be hiding troubling secrets of his own.


Death of a Chimney Sweep by M. C. Beaton: In the south of Scotland, residents get their chimneys vacuum-cleaned. But in the isolated villages in the very north of Scotland, the villagers rely on the services of the itinerant sweep, Pete Ray, and his old-fashioned brushes. Pete is always able to find work in the Scottish highlands...until the day Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices blood dripping on the floor of a villager's fireplace and a dead body stuffed inside the chimney. And when Pete's body is found on the Scottish moors, the mystery deepens. Once again, it's up to Hamish to discover who's responsible for the dirty deeds.


To enter just leave a comment with your name and email address. You do not have to be a follower to enter--although new followers are always appreciated! Please tell me if you would like to be entered in both drawings or just one (and specify which one). If both, tell me which package you prefer--I will only award one package per entrant and will honor the first choice of the first winner selected. Prize entries will be accepted from 12:00 AM on Friday, July 15th through Midnight EST on Sunday, July 17th. Winners will be selected on Monday, July 18th and will be contacted by email. Winners will have 72 hours to respond and claim their prize. If a prize remains unclaimed at that time a new winner will be selected. I am willing to ship the book prize package internationally.

And here are your next stops on your Blog Fest 2011 Journey:

My Shelf Confessions
Mysteries & Histories
News and reviews from the Heart of the Dragons Den
noodleBubble niceBlog
Notorious Spinks Talks Books