So the folks over at Dear Author and Smart Bitches are doing another Save the Contemporary book campaign, this time for Smooth-Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas. There are free books to be had, so go on over and check out how you can enter and help spread the word. 😉

Now, I don’t keep a lot of books (simply because I don’t have room) and I don’t re-read that many books either, but Kleypas’ other two contemporaries, Sugar Daddy and Blue-Eyed Devil, are two books that have gone up on my keeper shelf and that I will re-read. The voice, the stories, the characters, the simple elegance of the writing — I loved both of them. Sugar Daddy was my favorite read of 2008, and so far, Blue-Eyed Devil is my best read of 2009.

Kleypas makes me want to write my own contemporary. To me, that’s the mark of a great book — it gets me excited about reading more and even writing in that genre.

And what’s even better is I gave Sugar Daddy and Blue-Eyed Devil to my mom. She’s really picky about what she reads. She doesn’t like historicals (except for westerns), and she doesn’t like paranormal. But she loved these books just as much as I did. We had a lot of fun talking about them, and we’re both looking forward to Smooth-Talking Stranger. We’ll probably be fighting over who gets to read it first …

There will, in fact, be a second chance tournament for the Dear Author/Smart Bitches tournament. Huzzah! So go on over and enter.

I did, because my first bracket sucked. Of course, now the second book I’ve picked to win (Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas) will automatically lose as well. Because that’s how I roll when it comes to contests. :rolleyes:

Sorry, Ms. Kleypas, I really didn’t mean to curse your book …

I’ve been meaning to mention this all week, but time has gotten away from me. Anyway, the folks at Dear Author and Smart Bitches are hosting their own version of March Madness — with books. Check it out here.

It’s too late to sign up to win prizes now (unless maybe they do a second-chance tournament halfway through like they did last year?). But you can still vote here and play along at home.

My pick to win the tournament? The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (which is next in my TBR pile). Of course, now that I’ve picked that book, it’s sure to lose. Whenever I pick something in a game like this, it always loses — even if it’s favored to win. Wheezley claims I have this curse thing going on. Sometimes, I think he’s right … :rolleyes: