ATTENTION!

Don’t forget you can find the main review site at http://www.BurtonBookReview.com

This is just a backup site.

Thanks!

Public Information Post regarding the FTC!!

I created a little post about the FTC just a little while ago, and it spread like wildfire and increased my hits tremendously, how awesome is that? Within the span of an hour there were 100 pageviews on that post alone. There is some disagreement over the term book blogger versus advertiser versus reviewer. Jenn’s Bookshelves said not to worry at all, as this is not related to book reviewers – so I had to create this public service announcement!!!

Before pandemonium ensues because of my alarmist nature, I want to make sure that everyone who possibly has decided to give up their reviewing career because of my post – egads, please reconsider!!!

On the FTC website you can search for ‘book blog’ and nothing – nada – comes up. So does the FTC care about book bloggers at all? What’s all the fuss then, right?

 (Except all the publicity companies I review for state : “To comply with new regulations introduced by the Federal Trade Commission, please mention as part of every Web or retail site review that the publisher has provided you with a complimentary copy of this book or advanced reading copy through __”). or 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Checking out the Twitter feed from some of bloggers concerning this FTC dot com thing: “I see reviews as reviews, not advertisements.” So who knows who is right and who is wrong, but obviously there is zero need to panic about how you run your blog! As I initially said, it’s interpretation of the law and for the past year I have indeed considered myself a review robot and have complained about it many times that I really feel like I have somehow found myself in a marketing business that is unpaid! There’s the kicker, it’s UNPAID! So the FTC Guidelines wouldn’t apply to us. And no, all my books are not only galleys. I do receive actual copies at times that are able to be sold, traded in or gifted, so that is indeed compensation. Or isn’t it? I just got a horrible book yesterday in the mail that I would not want in my house, so it’s going on Paperbackswap! Credits for me!

I am thinking perhaps it is time to move away from my reviewing and write more of those posts to increase traffic to my blog! It will help hone my writing technique, and also increase traffic, and perhaps with your comments you can educate me on these finer points of book blogging! (Did you know that I want to be a writer one day? I wonder, does writing blog posts make me a writer? What’s the consensus on this?)

On another note, these conversational posts always attract the most comments. While my reviews may get tons of hits, the comments are where we interact with each other and have fun with each other. That is what I LOVE about the book blogging community, they are so warm and fuzzy and so helpful. On twitter, there were many reactions to my FTC post, especially the ones where they are talking about misinformation. Editorial and opinions are my interpretations, maybe I could start writing for Huffington Post… this reminds me of when an author there posted an article about touring around the blogosphere and he was so displeased with how bloggers write. He got tons of hits there, and I bet you tons of folks took a look at that book he was marketing.

Do you get the most comments on your review posts or on your opinion/free-style posts? Oh and another question I’ve had.. there is this term floating around, I think it originated with NetGalley’s how-to handbook actually…

“Professional Reader”… is this a term that as a reviewer you apply to yourself? Is there such a thing as a professional reviewer if you are NOT paid an hourly wage to review?

A Noble Groom by Jody Hedlund

Aristocrat finds himself in love with a widowed farmer..

A Noble Groom by Jody Hedlund
Bethany House, April 2013
Review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating:
Read my review of Jody’s previous novel, Unending Devotion

Recently widowed Annalisa Werner has the feeling her husband was murdered but can’t prove it. Alone with her young daughter in 1881 Michigan, she has six months left to finish raising the money needed to pay back the land contract her husband purchased, and the land is difficult to toil by herself. She needs a husband. With unmarried men scarce, her father sends a letter to his brother in the Old Country, asking him to find Annalisa a groom.

This was another enjoyable story from Jody Hedlund that is perfect for Christian historical romance fans. It tells the story of Annalisa and her toils with her land, and on the flip side we are treated to Carl von Reichart, a German nobleman on the run who finds himself in rural Michigan. Annalisa’s extended German family take him in so that he can help Annalisa run the farm, but they really have no idea who he is. He is known as Carl Richards to them, and they all begin to appreciate him even though it is apparent he didn’t grow up farming!

Annalisa was a wonderful character who was easy to root for after she had gone through so much. She was not a timid person, but she was forced to let the men make her choices because that’s just the way things were with her German family. It was a way of life, and a bit of stark reality – until Carl Richards slowly begins to display traits that make Annalisa wonder if it would be possible to actually have a loving marriage full of mutual attraction. And could Carl be that man?

Carl has other places to be.. and there is another groom on the way for Annalisa! What odds does this pair have, especially being so many worlds apart? With a pleasantly evocative (and sometimes suspenseful) story line we watch their love story unfold through the author’s swiftly paced story telling. The history of the German immigrants was an intriguing theme along with the harsh differences between the noble and the working classes set in Michigan during the 1880’s. I loved how so much historical information, faith values and drama came together so easily in this story as Jody Hedlund is definitely proving to be a formidable name in her market. This was one of those reads that I had to force myself to put down in order to go to sleep at midnight!

Historical Fiction Blog – Burton Book Review

Thank you so much to Mary Tod for hosting me today on her site! Very thrilled to be a part of her world today.

Announcing the winner…

Thank you to everyone who is a new Email Subscriber to Burton Book Review as they signed up for their chance to win the box of books!! Just one shy of reaching 100 email subscribers!

I’ll be doing a new Exclusive Email Subscriber Book Giveaway soon for my four year blogiversary, so please stick around. I just need to go through some of my shelves and pull some more books out. At this point I have been doing more collecting than reading, so I need to stop collecting and start reading! (Not to mention the multitude of eBooks that I’ve gotten this year!)

Here is the winner of the Black Friday Book Bonanza Giveaway!

Colleen Turner! 

Congrats to you, Colleen! I hope you enjoy these reads! Send me your mailing address and I’ll get these books out to you!

I normally do a Monday memes post today with what I’ve been reading, but since not a lot has changed from last week due to the holiday bustle I do not have much to report except for making my third goal of the Goodreads Reading Challenge..I had increased my quantity of books twice and now I have completed 75 books. Which is better than last year, so I am happy! I have been such a good girl since Summer to not accept review books, so now I can feel like I can relax. This year has really flown by, I cannot believe it’s time to get out the Christmas decorations already!! 2013 will bring me the chance to read my collection of books that have accumulated over the last 4 years, and less review books again. I hope it will be a good reading year!

See you next time! Happy Cyber Monday!

Black Friday Book Bonanza Giveaway!

It’s a book giveaway hop!

The hosts for this hop are Heather from Book Savvy Babe, Jenn from The Bawdy Book Blog, and Lisa from Alive on the Shelves. 

The dates: 12:01 AM Friday November 23 through 11:59 PM November 25.

I have linked up to this giveaway hop so I could get rid of  some of the books that have been read and are now collecting dust over the last few years. I’ve been double stacking books and I just can’t handle the clutter!

GIVING AWAY these seven books to ONE lucky winner:

A Darcy Christmas by Amanda Grange, Sharon Lathan and Carol Eberhart
Wickham’s Diary by Amanda Grange
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Buchanan
Notorious Royal Marriages by Leslie Carroll
Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory
This Must Be The Place by Kate Racculia 
Mothers & Daughters by Rae Meadows 

These are all gently read ARC’s that were sent to me for review, click titles for my reviews. There’s only one that I haven’t reviewed here and that title is linked to a fellow blogger’s review.

So here is a nice mix of Regency, women’s general fiction, historical fiction etc for fellow readers!

RULES for entry:
Must be a follower, and please comment with your email so I can contact the winner, which will be on Monday. You have 24 hours to respond to my request for your mailing address.

Open to USA residents only, please.
1 mandatory entry is your comment with email address.
+5 if you are an Email Subscriber (link in left column)
+2 for each share of this post on twitter or facebook.
+2 if you are a participant who is also giving away books during this blog hop

I will use Randomizer to select the winner. You do not need to do separate comments.

document.write(”);Be sure to visit the rest of the participants in the Giveaway hop at Book Savvy Babe! Good luck!!

Please don’t hurt me

…
this is a test..

Just a test, and I hate populating my blog with silly posts that serve no meaning..

so here’s a fun picture to share:


Sweetie ‘helps’ me read Penman’s Here Be Dragons

 Just in case you were wondering, I’m testing my new MailChimp email service (oh my goodness new gray hairs from this thing) as I switch from FeedBurner which I later found out was unneccessary but since I like to do things the hard way here we are. Crossing fingers. If this doesn’t work I will officially go ape sh*t (chimp style). But if it does work, I’ll clap heartily, but still yell at Google Feedburner for scaring us all for nothing. Geez.

If you are seeing this in your mailbox, do the happy dance with me. I’d also love it if you would click on over and tell me that yes, indeed, the chimps did work and my job here is done.

And if you are here visiting the blog, subscribe to my new mailchimp email service.. maybe.. (do I sound ultra super positive about this?) Link is in left sidebar =)

(And during this transition my current email subscribers missed my last review, boo..)

Ya know, I really didn’t need to have all this drama.. cuz I am dealing with a fun IRS AUDIT HULLO

Binders full of women!!! Just kidding…

Audit Prep.  The beginning.  (& the end of my sanity).

Short-Straw Bride by Karen Witemeyer





Fast-paced love story Texas sized loyalty!



Short-Straw Bride by Karen Witemeyer

Historical Romance/Inspirational Fiction

Bethany House, June 1, 2012

Paperback 365 pages

Review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!

Burton Book Review Rating:

No one steps on Archer land. Not if they value their life. But when Meredith Hayes overhears a lethal plot to burn the Archer brothers off their ranch, a twelve-year-old debt compels her to take the risk.

Fourteen years of constant vigilance hardens a man. Yet when Travis Archer confronts a female trespasser with the same vivid blue eyes as the courageous young girl he once aided, he can’t bring himself to send her away. And when an act of sacrifice leaves her injured and her reputation in shreds, gratitude and guilt send him riding to her rescue once again.

Four brothers. Four straws. One bride. Despite the fact that Travis is no longer the gallant youth Meredith once dreamed about, she determines to stand by his side against the enemy that threatens them both. But will love ever be hers? Or will Travis always see her merely as a short-straw bride?

This was a superb story with some really delightful characters in the Archer Brothers. They are a tight-knit family that shoots first and asks questions later, yet somehow young Meredith made her way on to the Archer land and wasn’t allowed to leave it until she was married. For propriety’s sake, the brothers drew straws to make an honest woman out of Meredith, and the Archers were never the same again after letting blasted females into their midst.

Meredith’s cousin Cassandra makes her way to the Archer ranch, too, because she needs help to avoid the evil Roy Mitchell. A first-class jerk, Roy is intent on marrying any female who could bring him more land for his business. The Archers find themselves caught up in a fight for survival to ward off Roy’s henchmen, and Meredith proves herself to be a worthy partner to the Archers (for a female!). The female leads in this story were both to admired, and their strong-willed ways helped me to love this story even more.

Full of intrigue, sweet romance and suspense, this was an enchanting story set in late 1800’s Texas that shows how treacherous life could be on a secluded ranch. From conflicts and mishaps to burning barns, I enjoyed this inspirational story from start to finish and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to historical romance fans in need of a quick escape.

TSS/Swap List

Welcome to The Sunday Salon, where we get to sit back and enjoy our weekend paper.. or our fellow blogger’s Sunday posts. And scroll to the bottom to get to my Sunday Swap List.

This week, I’ve been reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. What a lot of fun it is! I am not in the mood to read review titles, and Wolf Hall has been on my shelf since it came out. And of course the sequel is already here, so it was time to bite the bullet and read Wolf Hall, especially since there is a read along going on for it right now. Since that’s a chunkster, and work has been stressing me out lately, that’s pretty much all there is to say about my reading this past week. And I’m still recovering from whatever stomach bug has attacked me. ‘Stick a fork in me’ has been my mantra this past week.

Have you guys seen The Classics Club? I am SO itching to join in, but I have to get my priorities straight first. There are so many others that I want to read NOW, such as getting back to my old favorites like Jean Plaidy and Georgette Heyer! Those are ‘classic’ and classy authors, but they are not considered Classics in the way the club is set up.

Speaking of Heyer, I have a 3 book giveaway still ongoing courtesy of Sourcebooks, who has reissued most of Heyer’s titles. Enter the giveaway here, it’s open until Wednesday.
August 24 is the Partial to the Past Giveaway Hop, and I’ll be bundling some of these left over unswapped HF ARC’s here for that giveaway. I’ve GOT to get rid of some of these ARC’s, I’m forgetting what I have because some books are stacked in front of others. I bought two of the same vintage Kathleen Winsor’s books because I am so disorganized. I will go ahead and just post the paperbacks to paperbackswap to try and move these out if there are no more takers for these via the blog. I had really wanted to minimize the single book-at-a-time type shipments though. So if anyone is looking to deal, I’d probably do a 2 for 1 type thing, so please contact me!

SUNDAY SWAP LIST!

These books are available for swapping.
 Many reviews can be found in my Reviews Master List.

Christian Non-fiction:
I Love You to God and Back by Amanda Lamb (used paperback)

Tudor-ish:
In A Treacherous Court by Michele Diener (new pb)
At The Kings Pleasure by Kate Emerson (book #4)
Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory (used ARC)

Other Royal-related:
The Shadow Queen: A Novel of Wallis Simpson by Rebecca Dean (used ARC)

Royal Non-fiction:
Notorious Royal Marriages by Leslie Carroll (older ARC & has a little stain on cover even though I never read it)

Austenesque/Regency:
Wickham’s Diary by Amanda Grange (small book, an ARC)
Pemberley Ranch by Jack Caldwell (used ARC)
A Darcy Christmas by Grange/Lathan/Eberhart (used ARC)
The Gilded Shroud (a Georgian mystery) by Elizabeth Bailey (used PB)

Historical Fiction:
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (used ARC)
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan (used ARC)
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie (used pb)
Come a Little Closer by Dorothy Garlock (used pb)
Pendragon’s Banner by Helen Hollick (used PB)
The Shadow of The King by Helen Hollick (used ARC)

General Literature/Women’s Fic:
This Must Be The Place by Kate Racculia (used ARC)
Mothers & Daughters by Rae Meadows (used ARC)
The Darlings by Christina Alger (used ARC)
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (used pb)

Others:
The Land of Painted Caves by Auel (ARC)
Edge of Dark Water by Joe R Lansdale (ARC)

*I have updated this list as I have parceled books out. This list was longer originally, so your eyes are not deceiving you if you are coming back to this post at a later time than the original post date.

Also, here is a September swap list at Legacy of A Writer from several folks.

For easier access, I have attempted to add these titles to my Goodreads To-Swap shelf. That way, you can see ratings etc and figure out if they are something you are interested in. I will keep that shelf there as well so I don’t have to continually create a blog post with the books. So at anytime, just email or comment if you see something you are interested in, and feel free to post your own available books as well.

Giveaway winners!

For the Armchair BEA Giveaway, I went ahead and picked 3 winners even though I didn’t get as many entries as I wanted to..
Those winners have been mailed their books:
Nise won To Have and To Hold by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller
Rebecca won Claude and Camille by Stephanie Cowell
Meg won Wildlfowers from Winter by Katie Ganshert

Those winners were selected via the Rafflecopter form, and I had so much fun during the ArmchairBEA, hope you did too!

And for Her Highness, The Traitor by Susan Higginbotham the list randomizer shows the winner list:

1. mamabunny
2. megbookis
3. readingwithmarg
4. jawblo
5. rebecca
6. rachel
7. lucy
8. jennygirl
9. Colleen
10. Michelle
11. linda
12. arleigh
13. carl
14. JennyGirl
15. colleen
16. michelle

Mamabunny is not a follower however, so next in line Meg @ Bookish Affair, http://abookishaffair.blogspot.com/ and she is indeed a follower & she’s already responded to my email, thank you!  Thanks to everyone who entered!

YAY Congrats to all my winners, and please remember to follow Burton Book Review! I’ll be having some more giveaways soon, and they will only be open to my loyal followers.