New Releases 11.5.13

Note: Click on the book image to be redirected to its page on Goodreads.

 

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Discussion: Reality In Fiction

One day, I was blog hopping and read another blogger's review of a book I had also read. This reader had given the book a slightly lower rating [than I did] because she felt that the opening scene was not realistic enough for the book's setting, which got me thinking about reality in fiction.

The book in question here is One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, a historical romance by Sarah MacLean.  In this story, our heroine is engaged to be married but is concerned about her inexperience in intimate matters, so she propositions our would-be hero whom she has to convince to "educate" her.

Honestly, this blogger wasn't wrong.  It's clear to see how this particular scene would have been highly improbable for the time period that it's set in.  However, this scene is an important one because it's the catalyst for the entire book's plot so does this now mean that the book isn't as good as it could've been had the opening made more sense?  

I was willing to be more forgiving for the sake of fiction, particularly where unlikely romances are involved.  I feel that sometimes authors have to take some creative license in terms of how "realistic" to make certain scenes if it means making it work for the story.

Ok, so authors take A LOT of creative license - but then that's okay if you're writing science fiction, or dystopian, or high fantasy, right?  What about with the little things though, like how two characters meet?  Are you less willing to overlook it because it's too small a detail to cross the line from the logical to the fantastic?

My opinion is that no one knows a story better than its author and so they know what their characters have to do to get to the next plot point.  However, does this necessarily mean that it's okay for characters to do things that don't make sense?  Yes and no.  Even fiction has to have limitations.  I am willing to accept a changes like the one in this book because it's relevant to the story.  Now had our Victorian heroine showed up in a BMW to meet the hero...then I'd be like, uh NO!  Besides, this is a romance and I want the irrational, illogical, sweep me off my feet kind of story!

Tell me, dear readers, how much reality do you like in your fiction?  What kind of details are you willing or unwilling to overlook?

RAK is back...Secret Santa style!

After some months of struggling with what to do about RAK, some of our followers suggested doing a Secret Santa and we loved the idea so much that...

RAK is back...Secret Santa style!

In order to allow us time to arrange everything, this special Christmas Edition of RAK is going to run for TWO months instead of the usual one month!

Button was created by Vanmar Designs exclusively for Book Soulmates

NEW RULES
(please read thoroughly)

• Participation requires that you agree to send your assigned contact (1) Secret Santa gift (selected from the wishlist provided).  In exchange, you will also receive a Secret Santa gift from the person that was assigned your name.
• We suggest that you put a note on/with your gift stating that it's a "Secret Santa RAK gift" and include your name/blog so that the recipient knows who the gift is from :)
• The form will ask you for your Top 5 Wishlist Titles as well as a link to the rest of your wishlist (located on Amazon, Goodreads, or your blog, etc).
• The form will accept sign-ups starting November 1 through November 24. 
  Sorry guys, but the form will be closed after November 25th to allow us time to assign & distribute.
• All participants will be contacted via email on December 1st with the information for their Secret Santa recipient.  It's very important that you check your inbox for this message!
• You will have from December 1st to December 25th (the sooner the better) to send out your RAK.  After all, it is to be a Christmas present!
• E-book participation is limited to files being gifted directly to a person from the e-book store. Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's Nook, and the Kobo store are all set up to allow this.  We do not, ever, encourage people to send pirated books so we urge you to use your discretion if/when accepting PDF files not sent through a retailer.
• At the end of the month (by Dec 31st), show us your R.A.K by creating a "RAK Wrap-up" post.
• You may also show off your participation by grabbing our *new* Christmas Edition RAK button!

OPEN TO EVERYONE!

Remember that you can order from Book Depository to ship to an international friend!

Sign up for RAK: Secret Santa 2013
(Note: This time, you guys don't get to see who else signed up because it's a seeecret ;)

If you have any questions regarding RAK, please contact us via Twitter or at our email booksoulmates @ gmail . com

Tips:

1. When talking about RAK on Twitter, please use the hashtag: #RAK. It makes it much easier to keep track of the conversations, answer questions and/or tweet back! =)

2. When submitting your wish list, please make sure that it is set to PUBLIC viewing. Some people have had trouble with wish lists that were set to private. We want to be sure that no one is left out of getting great RAKs.

3. Some of you have gotten frustrated because you can't get your links to appear active. This is a very easy fix :) Just make sure that when you enter your link, do NOT hit the Enter key. Instead, hit the TAB key which will send you to the next field on the form. Additional spaces entered after the link will leave the link inactive.  However, if this does happen to you, no worries, we'll fix it for you.

4, 3, 2, 1...Relaunch!

As you guys can see, while things on the front lines have been a bit quiet, we've been busy working behind the scenes.

We're so excited because November 1st is ushering a lot of NEWNESS here at Book Soulmates!

A ginormous thank you to Lori from Imagination Designs for her patience and help with our new design.  We absolutely love it!  It's clean and simple, and exactly what we wanted!

We still have to tweak a some things and put a few finishing touches, but we really hope you guys love it, too!

We are happy to work with authors/publishers/book touring companies on new reviews, but it had become more than we could handle.  We got some really great responses from our "Reviewer Application" post but finally decided on two girls that we think will be a great addition to our team.  We introduce to you...

Stephanie @WickedWiseOwl
Howdy! My name is Steph and I'm a 30-something vegetarian tea-aholic from the City of Wind who is obsessed with zombies and owls. Being pretty new to the Book Soulmates team, I'm extremely excited to be here amongst these lovely ladies doing what I love most...reading and reviewing. Whether I'm striking a yoga (or Yoda) pose or running for the bus, I'm forever holding a book and reading til the very last microsecond. I most certainly look forward to chatting and writing reviews for all you wonderful readers!
Namaste <3

Taryn @SuperLibBlog

Hi, I'm Taryn (aka "Super").
I'm a 20-something public librarian born and raised in Indiana. I read anything and everything, but I have a soft spot for YA books. Proud wife of a police officer/Marine Reservist. Things that make me happy: music, dance, dogs, travel, and chocolate.

Don't forget to visit our updated "Meet The Team" page for more info on each of us here at Book Soulmates!

This you'll learn more about along the way!
We've got a brand new list for November's #BSMPhotoADay and #RAK will be back with a special Christmas edition.  We'll also have some bookish deals coming your way along with lots of book blasts/blitzes and reviews.

This is just a little something to say thanks for sticking with us and to celebrate the RELAUNCH of BOOK SOULMATES!

Prize Pack includes:

• (1) Paperback copy of Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
• (1) Paperback copy of Mercy by Rebecca Lim
• Swag which includes a silver "Princess" bookmark and various downloadable ebooks, autographed postcards, temporary tattoo, and "Forest of Hands & Teeth" pin.
• Open to U.S. only!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

#BSMPhotoADay in November: All The Feels

#BSMPhotoADay is back with a new, themed list for November.

"ALL THE FEELS"
 

Directions

Each daily prompt is a different emotion that books evoke in us.
We want you to show us the book(s) that made you feel that way.

ie: Which book(s) made you happy? Which book(s) made you frustrated? Which book(s) amused you? etc.

Reminders

• This challenge is conducted on Instagram, but you're welcome to join via Twitter.
  Please tag all photos with #BSMPhotoADay.
• The Book Soulmates account on Instagram (http://instagram.com/booksoulmates) is run and accessed by all of us at Booksoulmates.  We tag each photo with the name of the person who uploaded it so you know which one of us uploaded which pic.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions on any of our daily prompts!

We are very thankful that everyone's support has helped make this feature so popular.  We understand that we're not the first and won't be the last to come up with a #photoaday challenge.  We do not have a copyright on this idea.  We do, however, have copyrights to the content of OUR monthly challenges.  We work very hard to come up with a completely original list every month and we ask that anyone who decides to host their own PLEASE not use any of our content in any way, shape, or form.  It's already happened more than once and it was NOT cool!
Thank you!

If you decide to join us, which we sincerely hope you do, please don't forget to tag us so we can see all the awesome pictures, book recommendations, and follow you back (if we don't already)!

Have fun and see you on Instagram...or Twitter!