Carbon Free Sugar

Okay, I get what they're saying. It still tickles me.

Certified Carbon Free Sugar.

Not quite as bad as the fat free spring water, but still, funny.

Because of course, sugar has carbon.

And here is a nifty little experiment you can do (if you have sulfuric acid) which rather dramatically shows exactly how much carbon sugar has:

The Winner!

Congratulations to MIKE! You won a copy of The Crimson Petal and the White, and a signed hardcover of Ladies in Waiting. I'll contact you shortly to get your mailing address. I can't wait to hear what you think of both books!
XO
Laura

August Historical Giveaway -- The Crimson Petal and the White

Life has been exciting lately, what with selling a house (for a rather depressing price, but hey, I got a little out of it and at least I'm not paying for a house I'm not living in any more, so I can't complain... too much) and the Little Guy starting kindergarten (he got a smiley face on his first daily report and was "respectful and curious") I got a little distracted so this month's giveaway is late. Let's run it from now until September 5 to give you two full weeks.

The Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber, is one of my favorite historicals. Fierce, tender, scheming, literary whore Sugar goes from being pimped by her own mother in a Victorian slum, to being the mistress of a rich man, to... well, I won't tell you where she ends up, but it is a rich, juicy, complex, moving, completely satisfying book. It's the world of Trollope where Trollope feared to go. I love a good prostitute tale, and this is one of the best.

In the 17th century, and in the 19th, women didn't have a lot of options to get ahead that didn't involve sex. In both The Crimson Petal and the White and Ladies in Waiting, young women are surrounded by sex but trying to support themselves through their wits and talents.

This month I'll give one lucky winner a copy of The Crimson Petal and the White, and a signed hardcover of Ladies in Waiting. Just fill out the form below. Spread the word for more chances to win!

There Goes My Mascara

Foolish, foolish girl! You knew the ending of Code Name Verity would make you weepy (as did several parts before the end.) Why on earth did you read it right before going out? Why did you doom yourself to a day of puffy eyes and damaged mascara when you could have just saved those last twenty pages until you were snug in bed?

I don't review, but I probably should start mentioning books I really enjoy. Code Name Verity was amazing. Though I am seriously annoyed at the author for making prominent use of Nelson's dying words “Kiss me, Hardy” – which I was using to comic effect in my work in progress, set just a few years before Code Name Verity. Curses! One might say I should keep it, since Morning Star won't come out until 2014. Everyone will forget, right? Well, not if Verity wins a Printz, which it probably will. Oh well. I can keep my character's name Hardy, and just make a Thomas Hardy joke instead.

XO

Laura

Home



I feed the seagulls like a tourist...

 I had to run away from home for a while. A few years, actually. I thought the mountains were calling me. I thought I yearned for seasons. I was wrong. I'm home now.

You know you're home when the smells almost make you weep. For some, it might be mom's cookies, a lover's aftershave. For me it is dead fish. Low tide on the salt flats, the fiddlers foraging, the mangroves airing their tangled roots. Iodine and ozone and imminent rain... the stranded unfortunates on whom seagulls feast... pelican guano, seaweed, red tide, baking in a just-shy-of-tropical sun.

I've passed through my Appalachian tribulations, and emerge a born-again Floridian.
 
XO
Laura

And the winner is...

HANNAH!
Congratulations! You've won a copy of my favorite historical Forever Amber, and a signed copy of my own Ladies in Waiting. I'll email you soon to get your information.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered. The response was great and I plan to have another giveaway in August.

XO
Laura

July Giveaway -- FOREVER AMBER and LADIES IN WAITING

So let's make with the freebies, shall we? I don't know much about food and wine pairing, but I do know heaps about book pairing. For the next few months (and perhaps indefinitely if it proves popular) I'll be giving away a pair of books each month. One by me, and one personal favorite that partners it in some way.

Do you have a favorite book? Maybe not the BEST book you've ever read, but the ice cream of books, a comfort book that you'll re-read when you have the flu or think you've read everything else in the world already. Something fun... stimulating and soothing at the same time... maybe not great literature but still your darling favorite. For me, that book is Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor. Trashy romance, but really, really good trashy romance. And well-researched, which for me is a must.

Since Forever Amber is the book that started my obsession with Restoration England (and my little crush on King Charles II) I'm giving away TWO books this month -- a SIGNED copy of LADIES IN WAITING, and a copy of FOREVER AMBER. Just fill in the form below by, oh, let's say July 17, for a chance to win.
XO
Laura