Lovereading.co.uk

Search

Archive for January, 2008

Are you making the most of Lovereading.co.uk?

Lovereading is passionate about providing help and guidance so you are able to choose the books you want to read at the best prices.

Some of you are no doubt familiar with and use our unique features and tools whilst others are perhaps less so. For example, did you know there are over 3,000 Opening Extracts on Lovereading, all waiting for you to discover, download (for free) and enjoy?

With this in mind, here’s an email summarising some of the unique features that makes Lovereading the best independent on-line bookstore. We hope you enjoy making use of them to find your next book.

Author Like-for-Like

For days you’re wrapped up in an amazing story; then suddenly it’s over. When you’ve finished a great book, Lovereading‘s Like-for-Like tool helps you find another to fill the empty feeling. Sarah Broadhurst has reviewed 500+ top authors and used her encyclopaedic knowledge to recommend other authors similar in style. Just type in a name and explore some new literary avenues.

Wishlist

Even if you read non-stop it’s tough keeping up with the dozens of great books published every month. Our Wishlist feature lets you keep an electronic note-to-self of books that catch your eye. So if you don’t want to buy it now, at least you won’t let some life-changing literature slip by. You can also email your list to friends and family, so they’ll know exactly what you want for Christmas or Birthdays! To enter books on your Wishlist – just click the lovereading wishlist button by the book. And all the books in your Wishlist can be moved to your shopping basket at the click of a button!

Book Price Comparison Engine

A truly great book is priceless. But assuming you don’t have that much to spend, find the best deal here. Introduced by popular demand, our Book Price Comparison Engine searches dozens of online retailers and displays prices and postage costs for any book. Often Lovereading‘s flat rate 25% off may be cheapest; sometimes you’ll buy cheaper elsewhere. Either way, you’ll be glad you checked! It’s easy to use just click the lovereading compare book price button next to the book you are interested in – that’s it!

Gift Vouchers

Do you have a friend or family member who is wild and unpredictable? It’s probably why you love them, but it makes present buying extremely difficult. Available from £5 to £100, a Lovereading Gift Voucher is the perfect solution. Let them choose something they’ll love, and next time you meet you can be sure they’ll have a good story to tell you.

 

January ‘Must Reads’ all with free Opening Extracts

Dear Matt,

We are now well into January and, to help you to keep New Year’s resolutions to read more, below we have all that’s new and great in your chosen genres. A reminder too that we have profiles of over 1,500 authors and over 4,000 free Opening Extracts broken down by genre to dip into and help you find your next book or perhaps even try out a new author!

But first some of this month’s special features.

 

AUTHOR OF THE MONTHAuthor of the Month
Andrea Camilleri

Andrea CamilleriThe Patience of the SpiderAuthor of the Month is the very Italian Andrea Camilleri, whose Inspector Montalbano novels wonderfully evoke the murky side of Sicily. We’re featuring seven older titles and his new book, The Patience of the Spider: Still recovering from a gunshot wound, Montalbano has to penetrate a web of secrets to catch one of the strangest culprits he’s ever hunted. If you love authors like Colin Dexter or Reginald Hill, you’ll love this.
MeltdownDebut of the Month is Meltdown, a slick, fast-paced thriller by journalist Martin Baker. Samuel Spendlove is a brilliant but bored academic, lured into the cut-throat world of high-finance by a dangerous media mogul. He’s forced to go on the run when he stumbles upon a plot to bring down the world’s financial markets. Colourful characters and a pleasingly complex plot make this a thoroughly enjoyable read.

MeltdownBook of the Month is A Quiet Belief in Angels, by R J Ellory, an author who repeatedly refuses to be pinned to any particular genre. Violent murders place this book as a crime thriller, but Ellory’s emotional range mark it out as much more. Proving that great minds think alike, this has also been picked out and earmarked for huge success as a Richard and Judy selection!

Meltdown Next if you feel like a complete New Year makeover is in order, but know that quick fixes never work, then have a look at our ‘New Year, New You‘ section. These books give you the knowledge to make changes to your life physically, intellectually and emotionally.

pre pubsAnd finally be the first to read some exclusive pre-publication extracts this month, including The Love of My Life the debut novel from Louise Douglas – with Valentines Day looming this is one to pluck the heartstrings – and Tim Winton’s new novel Breath is out in May. The author is over, from his home in Australia, to give his first talk about the book, at the end of January and Macmillan are offering free seats to this event – click here for more info.

So download some free Opening Extracts from Lovereading and enjoy choosing the books that will make 2008 your most incredible, entertaining, mind-expanding and self-improving year yet.

 

new gen – Great Fiction for Teens and Young Adults

Cathy’s Book
Jordan Weisman, Sean Stewart
Diary account of a young girl growing up in San Francisco. All of a sudden her best friend becomes angry with her and Victor her boyfriend dumps her. Nothing is quite as it seems however ……

£5.24 Save 25%

Angels On Sunset Boulevard
Melissa De La Cruz
This novel will take the reader into an extraordinary world, a world that will capture the reader from the very first page with its unusual originality. It’s glam, light-hearted yet mysterious ..

£5.24 Save 25%

Ways to Live Forever
Sally Nicholls
Sympathetic, touching, and surprisingly funny. Sam loves facts. He wants to know about UFOs horror movies and airships and ghosts and scientists, and how it feels to kiss a girl. And because he has leukaemia…

£5.99 Save 25%

The Infinite Wisdom Of Harriet Rose
Diana Janney
Feisty heroine of the 21st century who will have massive appeal to young ladies and ladettes everywhere, This debut novel is quirky, highly original and will be devoured ….

£5.24 Save 25%

Broken Soup
Jenny Valentine
Rowan is sure that she didn’t drop the negative that a boy presses into her hands but when her friend Bee offers to print it, Rowan’s curiosity causes her to accept. Who was the boy? And what will the picture…

£4.49 Save 25%

The Bower Bird
Ann Kelley
Winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award 2007. What the Judges said – “The world of life and death, beauty and truth seen through the eyes of a 12 year old girl. A rare and beautiful book of lasting quality -…

£5.24 Save 25%

The Gossip Girl Prequel : It Had to Be You
Cecily Von Ziegesar
If you have read any of the other Gossip Girl books then you will love this as it tells you how everything began, how the characters met and what they were like before becoming the socialising scandal ….

£4.49 Save 25%

Blood Red, Snow White
Marcus Sedgwick
Shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award 2007. The true story of master storyteller Arthur Ransome provides the background for this large scale and absorbing story. As a young man, Ransome was a journalist and, some thought, a spy, in Russia…

£7.49 Save 25%

 

This Month’s Featured ‘Crime / Whodunit’ Books

Last of The Good Guys
John Carbone
The author is very secretive about himself no doubt to add to the idea that he has lived in this world and is protecting his identity. Who cares whether he has or not because this is a brilliant book…

£5.24 Save 25%

Severed
Simon Kernick
A brilliant opening chapter and the pace is fast and furious throughout. Tyler wakes up in a room with a dead body and no recollection of how he got there and certainly no recollection of the events ..

£5.24 Save 25%

Silent in the Grave
Deanna Raybourn
This is the first in a new series of which we hope there are plenty more to come. Lady Julia Gray finds herself becoming an amateur detective after she discovers a far from natural death…..

£5.24 Save 25%

The Fire Baby
Jim Kelly
If you are looking for a new crime series with a nicely complicated investigator then this is for you. Philip Dryden is an investigative journalist, this is his second case. His first, The Water Clock was an award winner ….

£5.24 Save 25%

 

This Month’s Featured ‘Literary / Contemporary’ Books

Homecoming
Bernhard Schlink
This shares some of the themes from The Reader, Schlinks highly successful novel from 10 years ago, dealing the “scars of history” in the wake of the Second World War. The main character goes on a journey to find out…

£11.24 Save 25%

What Was Lost
Catherine O’flynn
Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2007. Judges’ comment: “Hugely compelling and inventive, it pulls the rug from under your feet from the very first page – O’Flynn reveals her clues tantalisingly in this poignant story of…

£6.74 Save 25%

The Pesthouse
Jim Crace
This is Jim Crace at his most accessible. With this carefully drawn novel, set in a post-apocalyptic America, he takes the reader through the most desperate circumstances, seemingly humdrum which, in fact, are the essential elements of existence:…

£5.99 Save 25%

The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
This is a coming-of-age, incredibly thought-provoking, beautifully written and utterly original book. The book thief in the story is a nine-year old girl but this incredible story will resonate with any teenager. It’s 1939 in Nazi Germany and…

£5.99 Save 25%

 

This Month’s Featured ‘Relationship Tales’ Books
Celebutantes
Ruthanna Hopper, Amanda Goldberg
What is interesting in this gossip-filled, bitch-rich tale is the appearance of numerous real celebs which makes it a bit different and very cleverly done. The authors are insiders, daughters of successful producers so the whole…

£5.24 Save 25%

Bright Lights and Promises
Pauline McLynn
As Mrs Doyle in Father Ted Pauline McLynn made us roll around laughing and as a novelist she has the same gift. This is a comedy, family drama and romantic novel all rolled in to one told with warmth and humour …

£5.24 Save 25%

Small World
Matt Beaumont
Humour and pathos abound in this novel by Matt Beaumont. Each character tells their story in the first person, switching our perspective as the story moves along. This makes for quite a fast pace and also an interesting look at life…

£7.5 Save 25%

The Infidelity Chain
Tess Stimson
A story about adultery and the far reaching effects it has, although this isn’t all doom and gloom. It is a story about people finding out what is really important, who they really are and the things that matter most….

£5.24 Save 25%

 

This Month’s Featured ‘Mystery / Thriller’ Books

The Woods
Harlan Coben
A great stand alone thriller from Harlan Coben with two plot lines to follow. One is the case that lawyer, Paul Copeland, is prosecuting now and the other the murder investigation he was involved in as a teenager. Thoroughly gripping,…

£5.24 Save 25%

The Shakespeare Secret
J L Carrell
Murders echoing Shakespeare’s plots are the contemporary adventure in this book, and revelations from his life as its intriguing historical background. It’s well-written, compulsive page-turning stuff…

£5.24 Save 25%

Meltdown
Martin Baker
January 2008 Debut of the Month.
A slick fast paced financial thriller from a journalist turned novelist. Samuel Spendlove is a brilliant but bored academic lured into the world of high finance by a controlling media mogul in the mood…

£7.5 Save 25%

The Reincarnationist
M J Rose
A complete change from the last novel from this author,The Venus Fix. This book is almost like a gothic horror with it’s themes of murder, greed, religion and love. The idea of reincarnation is dealt with in a very…

£5.24 Save 25%

A Quiet Belief in Angels
R J Ellory
January 2008 Book of the Month. Due to be reviewed on Richard & Judy on Wednesday 30 January 2008. I am championing this author. I think he is very special. His publisher claims he writes crime novels, and there certainly…

£5.24 Save 25%

The Patience of the Spider
Andrea Camilleri
Andre Camilleri’s series about Inspector Montalbano has been adapted for television in Italy, how brilliant it would be if they could do that for British TV, allowing us to see the beautiful Sicilian scenery for ourselves, the gorgeous food that…

£9.74 Save 25%

Happy Lovereading !

Read more in 2008 – open now for Prize Winners and much more

Happy 2008!

New Year’s resolutions come and go, but reading more is one promise worth keeping, and Lovereading has shaken off its party season hangover to help. Our unique tools make finding your next book easy and fun. But before that some of the latest book news:

Costa Prize Winners
One of the most prestigious book prizes have just been announced – The Costas (formerly the Whitbread). If you don’t know there are 5 categories and below are the winners, but you can see the full shortlist and read extracts of them all free at Lovereading.co.uk. 
First Novel Best Novel Biography Poetry Children’s

Catherine O’Flynn, the former postwoman who was rejected by 15 publishers, took the Costa First Novel Award for her debut work, What Was Lost and the Scottish novelist and stand-up comedian, A.L. Kennedy, won her first major literary prize with her fifth novel, Day.Simon Sebag Montefiore was the Costa Biography Award winner for his widely-acclaimed work, Young Stalin while Jean Sprackland claimed the 2007 Poetry Award for Tilt, acclaimed by the judges as “a great collection …”Finally Ann Kelley won the Children’s Book Award for The Bower Bird, a novel partly inspired by the premature death of her son, Nathan, from a congenital heart and lung condition.

Also you may have seen thatRichard and Judy have chosen another small selection of books to be reviewed on their daytime show between 9 Jan and 12 Mar 08 – but you can see the full selection and read a free extract of them all now on Lovereading.co.uk. All of them are bound to be books that will be talked about, so read an extract and see what you think.And if you feel like a complete New Year make-over is in order, but know that quick fixes never work, then have a look at our ‘New Year, New You?’ section. These books give you the knowledge to make changes to your life physically, intellectually, and emotionally.

Making the most of Lovereading.co.uk
However, if none of our special feature find you a book you like then try using some of the unique online tools we have created to help you find and choose your next book – they are all free to registered members.Try-before-you-buy by downloading and printing off any number of the 1000s of free Opening Extracts.Author Like-for-Like Recommendations help find a new book to fill the empty feeling that comes after finishing a great novel. Just type a name and we’ll suggest other great books in a similar style.Book Price Comparison Engine searches dozens of online retailers and displays prices and postage costs. Often Lovereading‘s flat 25% off may be cheapest; sometimes you’ll buy cheaper elsewhere. Either way, you’ll be glad you checked!Finally our Wishlist lets you keep an electronic memo of books that catch your eye, so you don’t let any life-changing literature slip by. You can email it to friends so they’ll know exactly what you want for birthdays and special occasions! – just click the Grey ‘Wishlist‘ button by any book to add it automatically.

So download some free Opening Extracts from Lovereading, and enjoy choosing the books that will make 2008 your most incredible, entertaining, mind-expanding and self-improving year yet.