My favorite mornings are those waking up and finding books in the mail. (Or on the porch in a box!) Today was that kind of morning. I received the two new books I ordered from Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass and Silent in the Grave. As I've mentioned before, I adore historical fiction and I recently learned of these two great titles from Brenda Novak's Annual Online Auction for Diabetes Research. I placed a bid for two of Raybourn's books, Spear of Summer Grass and City of Jasmine. The books were so attractive and beautiful AND they were autographed. I absolutely HAD to HAVE them!! Alas, it was not to be. Someone outbid me at the very last moment. I'm not gonna lie. My feelings were hurt but it just made my need stronger, even if I am running out of space for books in my home. (One can ALWAYS find a book nook somewhere, eh?) I searched for a couple of days to locate copies because, of course, the books HAD to be autographed or at the very least FIRST EDITIONS, an extra plus if I could locate ARC copies. Lo and behold, I did manage to snag an autographed, first edition copy of Silent in the Grave and the other two titles were both FIRST EDITIONS and ARC's!!! The BEST part?! Although I was willing to pay more during the auction, (my dad has diabetes) I got all three books for LESS than I would have paid during auction. With one more title!!! I was determined to get those lovely books. A girl must be persistent! (I would have included City of Jasmine in picture but it has already been loaned out to my mom.)

Landline and Intimate Surrender are two ARC's that I received from a giveaway. Looking forward to reading Landline. I was so excited to win that book. It was a giveaway that I really did want to receive. Of course, I love all my books and I am so appreciative for the great ARC's that I do get. I've been very fortunate lately in the ARC department. So much so that I am beginning to fall behind and find myself with less time everyday for the amount of reading I want to get accomplished. Which reminds me: The more time I spend typing away at my rambling thoughts on this blog is less time I have to read. I'm off to snuggle up in bed with one of my great stories and lose myself in a dystopian world and I hope tomorrow morning begins with a hot cup of coffee and more books in my mailbox. In the meantime,  Happy Reading!!