GIVEAWAY~India Black & The Widow of Windsor by Carol K. Carr~ GIVEAWAY!!!

Again, I'd like to thank Carol Carr for stopping by Bags, Books & Bon Jovi yesterday. She gave us an author's view of book blogs and how we are really becoming a voice in the way books are marketed.

But back to Black...lol... India Black and The Widow of Windsor, that is! As much as I loved the first book and I really did, I think I enjoyed this second book even more. It's difficult to put this series into one genre... it encompasses so many but I've come to think of them as "capers"... which is just a fun word to thrown around!

Reading this second installment, it's apparent that my favorite thing is just India's voice. She is irreverent and, basically, has no filter... if she's thinking it, she says it. I also love that she talks to me. Yes, I know she's a fictional character but she "breaks the fourth wall" (is that just a theatrical term or is it also a literary term?). There are times, usually in the midst of a rather sticky situation, that she directly addresses the reader. I LOVE this! It's not in every novel, let alone first person narrative where this would work. If it's not written well, it would completely take me out of the story. The way Carol Carr has written India talking to me just makes it feel like I'm along for the ride.

One thing that struck me, as I enjoyed this second "romp" (yes, that can be a corny word but it truly fits this great, great series!) was how the chapters ended. While not giving anything away... I don't like reading reviews that include spoilers... I realized that the last sentence of each was, more often than not, just so clever and made me want to immediately start the next chapter. I appreciate Ms. Carr's writing style as she keeps me reading well past my self-imposed stopping point. It's because of such wonderful writing that I read India Black and The Widow of Windsor in just a few days.

To read about Queen Victoria and The Royals, from a madam/spy's perspective gives a whole new appreciation to the phrase historical "fiction". India's observations are "spot on" (I wish I was cool enough to use that phrase in my day to day life... sadly, I'm not as cool as India and I sound silly if I try) and sometimes make me re-think what I know about the English monarchy. I know there is definitely artistic license involved but I can tell Ms. Carr has also taken great care to accurately portray (within the parameters of fiction, of course) all things Royal.

I have it on great authority that, indeed, the third India Black adventure is, as we speak, being written. Well, maybe not, as we speak, because it's early and I hope Carol is enjoying the day after her book's release :D Who knows where India and her, ahem, associates... yes, I guess we can call them associates... will lead us next. I know I will join them and I hope you will, too. If you don't... well, you "can go to the devil. It's all the same to me"... hmmm... where have I heard those words before?!?

~Thanks to Carol K. Carr for sending me a copy of India Black and The Widow of Windsor in exchange for my fair and thoughtful review~

But wait... there's more! Ms. Carr and the publisher of India Black and The Widow of Windsor have allowed me to give away a copy of this wonderful caper! You can enter by commenting on either this review or Carol's guest post(yesterday)... that's right you can have two entries! I will choose a winner on Thursday October 13th.