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Kickin’ it Old School – Going Back to the Beginning…

By Barb Drozdowich 17 Comments

Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel!

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-d-man-reading-book-over-white-background-image-image33848731

It’s time to announce a change here at Sugarbeat’s Books. I’ve decided that I won’t be accepting anymore outside submissions for my blog. I won’t be accepting books from authors in exchange for a review, I won’t be doing any other features by request.

 

To be honest, I haven’t been accepting reviews requests in some time. I found it upsetting to have to tell an author I didn’t like their book. Frankly, I don’t want to finish a book that I’m not enjoying. I have lots of books in the house so I would rather just move on to the next one in my TBR pile.

 

In August 2010 when I first started this blog, it never really occurred to me that anyone would read what I had to say. I’ve been pleasantly surprised and honored to have met some wonderful fellow readers via my blog. I remember reading a post early on about a blogger getting free books and was amazed. It never occurred to me to start blogging to get free books – I just wanted the technological challenge of creating a blog, and the freedom to express my thoughts on the books that I loved.

 

The free books started coming. With them were authors who wanted someone to talk about their book. Someone to like their book and to help them promote it.

 

Isn’t the expression, “There isn’t any free lunch”?

 

With free books comes not only a responsibility, but it also turns a hobby into work. Along with the increased visibility of a blog comes an increase in the requests from authors. I get hundreds of requests each month. There’s only me. I don’t have a staff of reviewers. I quickly found the requests overwhelming. In fact 6 months ago, I figured out that I was spending about 10 hours each week simply responding to emails. 10 hours that I could be reading. So I started only responding to emails for the books that I was interested in.

 

Stories periodically bubble to surface on social media about authors responding poorly to what in some cases aren’t even bad reviews. That made me even more nervous about accepting requests from authors that I didn’t know in some fashion.

 

The latest fervor to hit social media was an author stalking a reviewer for comments about a book that frankly weren’t as bad as others that were posted. This situation was recently discussed at a conference that I attended. The blogger that was giving the talk stated that she had contingency plans in place to protect her kids  and her family if she was threatened. My mind came to a screeching halt. The fact that my hobby would put my family in danger was appalling to me.

 

At that point I knew that I needed to put my family’s safety ahead of my hobby.

 

From now on, I’ll be posting my thoughts about books that I like, that I’ve acquired from the used bookstore or the library – just like I did when I was first starting out. I won’t be taking any outside requests. Going back to the way I started!

 

It pains me to be writing this post, but the world that existed when I first started blogging all those years ago isn’t the world that exists now. I hope that my readers will continue to enjoy my thoughts on the books that I’ve read, and share their thoughts with me. I also hope that authors understand the position that I have been forced to take.

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Friday Wrap up – week of March 19th

By Barb Drozdowich

Welcome to the last week of March break – at least in this household!

I’ve determined that I need to get more organized before summer break arrives 🙂 My ability to be a last minute poster reached new heights this week……

My survey of book bloggers continues. I’ve had such a wonderful response that I’ve decided to extend the deadline for another month! If you haven’t had the opportunity to share your thoughts, click HERE to go to the post.

I hosted Genie Gabriel, author of Picture Perfect Legacy yesterday. She is touring with Goddessfish Promotions and is giving away a gift card to a commenter from the tour.  Drop by the POST and leave a comment to be entered.

On Monday, Mallory Kane dropped by to share some information and has offered up either a copy of her book Hard to Hold or a book from her backlist.  To be entered click HERE to go to the post and leave a comment.  Good luck!

The giveaway for several of Sabrina Jeffries‘ Hellions of Halstead Hall series books will still be active until Sunday.  Click HERE to go to the post and enter the giveaway!

Lastly, I want to congratulate Nancy Lee Badger for winning first prize in the Silken Sands Self-Published Star Contest for her book Dragon in the Mist!  Drop by and congratulate her on her win.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and thanks for dropping by!

 

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Just Gotta Say by Laura Kaye

By Barb Drozdowich

Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel

sugarbeats books romance books romance book reviews steamy saturdays

Welcome to Steamy Saturdays

This is the day of the week when I post a review for a romance that I’ve read that is on the steamier side!  I hope you enjoy my thoughts about Just Gotta Say!

Just Gotta Say by Laura Kaye
ASIN: B005QQ3KF0
Publisher: Decadent Publishing Company
Release: Sept 28, 2011

sugarbeats books romance novel romance book reviews just gotta sayWhen Callie Davis stumbles upon two of her three male roommates in a surprising, molten-hot midnight tryst, she discovers a side of herself she never knew existed. Desire to play with them grips her, and she can’t stop fantasizing about having multiple men, particularly her three long-time best friends.

Callie is thrilled when a guys’ night out gives her the perfect opportunity to recreate her fantasy—with the help of a threesome porn video and a bag of sex toys. That is until Lucas, Jack, and Noah return early and catch her in the act. More than anything, the guys want to make her fantasy come true. But Callie has a secret, and she can’t help wondering if being with all three men will risk the future she’s always wanted with one of them.

As three strong sets of hands caress and undress her, Callie surrenders to desire, because sometimes you just gotta say…yes.

Just Gotta Say is a hot little number that I picked up when using up a gift card some time back. It is about Callie, a college student who is room mates with a variety of men. She desires them all to one extent or another, and when she catches Jack and Noah getting busy with each other, it spikes her desire to a new level! Several nights later, her room mates are off to a ball game, leaving her home alone on a Saturday night. She settles herself down with a movie and some toys. Imagine her surprise when all three of her room mates appear home early and walk in on her. Lucas is the room mate that smoothes over everyone’s embarrassment and suggests that they all work out an arrangement that involves them all.

What results is an ultra hot menage that steams up the 50 pages of this little story. Well written and well worth picking up!

If you want to to learn more about Laura Kaye’s work, visit her blog HERE.

Amazon Purchase Link for Just Gotta Say

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