Free! Free! Free!

Today’s blog topic is about free stuff. So…I have something free to give away. An Advance Reader’s Copy for my next book, How To Knit A Wild Bikini. Knowing knitting is not at all necessary to enjoy this beachside contemporary romance. But if you have a LYS (little yarn shop) where you might like to pass this around after you’ve read it, that would be a bonus. To have a chance, e-mail me at talktochristie@christieridgway.com and say you read about it on our blog. I’ll pick a winner and announce it here next week.

Doesn’t everybody like free stuff? Whether it’s a sample of a cracker at Costco or an emory board that says “Read My Book” at a conference, I’ll always stop to pick up what’s being offered. I also love getting mail. Not bills and such, of course, but unexpected mail that looks like a present or a treat. For a while I was on subscription list for Bare Escentuals and every few weeks they sent me a package of make-up. Fun! But I don’t wear as much make-up, apparently, as some people do, so it was piling up in my bathroom drawer. I cancelled, but I miss those fun packages. Even though I knew I’d be paying for the stuff via a charge on my credit card, every shipment came with a little extra something—a new brush or a new product that I didn’t expect. Loved it.

Well, I have something new that fills my love for free goods, mail, and romance too! As of this month I’m the romance reviewer for BookPage, a publication that goes to libraries and bookstores. You can also see it on the web at www.bookpage.com. The publication reviews all kinds of books and I’ve really enjoyed perusing the different types within its pages—fiction, non-fiction, cookbooks, children’s, self-help, etc. I’ve been picking it up at my library and reading it while on my treadmill.

So, yeah, that means I get free books in the mail. Oh, the joy. They come from BookPage in these big, bursting-at-the-seams boxes and I’m like a kid at Christmas. Though I get many books, there’s only room for me to review four each month in my column, and do I agonize which to focus on—so many good reads come to me. I have to mix up the subgenres and the publishers too, so I’m saturating myself in what’s being published in romance/women’s fiction/chick lit. Yeah, I get some of all three. And what’s the best part of this new gig of mine? The BookPage reviews are upbeat and positive. That means I’m talking about books I really enjoyed—the downside is I could talk about them all day.

So, hope you’ll look for my reviews either at the site or by picking up the (yes, it’s free!) publication. And though I only get to write about four each month, I’ll try to drop a few titles now and then of books that I didn’t have the space to highlight but that I think you might enjoy. (Deadly Deceptions by Linda Lael Miller.)

What’s your favorite free thing? I just asked Surfer Guy and he reminded me of the Mercedes he got off Craig’s List last fall. But it doesn’t have to be big. My See’s Candies store always gives away a free candy when you go in and I love them for it.