TGIFriday!

Okay….so this week’s SHaQ Attack was to guess who went home on Top Chef . It was CJ, who was chosen by a number of Blog Babes…but there can only be one winner. And the winning Blog Babe is? Tammy from Utah! Woo hoo, Tammy!!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. I am off on another MINI Cooper rally tomorrow - a short one this time. I will be back on Monday with a Very Special SHaQ Attack….some advance reading copies of a certain upcoming release have found their way into my mailbox, so I thought it might be fun if one finds its way into your mailbox.

Tune in Monday for all the details!!

Thursday MAC

Last night….sniff, sob…wasn’t my favorite night on Top Chef. Of course, at this stage, I’m not excited about anybody leaving. Well, maybe except Hung. He could go. But I like the other remaining 5, which is really saying something compared to previous seasons.

Tonight they had to prepare haute airplane cuisine. Yes, I know. Shudder.

Once again, Hung proves he’s the Howie of Hungstinia. Yes, you did break the truffle oil bottle. Jeez, at least own up to the fact that you’re like a rabbit on crack when you cook. Be self aware.

So, Casey, Dale, and, yes, Hung, prevailed with the Good Dishes. Leaving Brian, CJ, and Sara to be reamed over by Padma, Chef Tom, Anthony Bourdain (Squee! I love him, I’m sorry) and the Continental Airlines Chef Guy (who makes airplane food. This is the guy I want judging my food. Not.)

In the end, Casey wins again! Yay, grrrrl power. I’m all for it. Love that she’s getting the Cool Prizes, too. And that she’s so sincerely humbled by her wins. Probably why she does so well. Right, Hung? Hung?

On the losing side, sniff, it’s CJ who has to leave. I love his sense of humor, and I think all the judges do, too. Padma seemed sincerely choked up in telling him to pack his knives, and he made a very classy and humorous exit. Love him. He’s going to do well in Post Reality Show World, I’d bet on it. Why, cold, cruel, Reality TV World, why? Why not take Hung? We’d have cheered.

Next week? French food. Oh. Goodie. (Can you tell how much I like my food cooked in wine? Yes, that was me shuddering.)

But I’ll tune in, if for no other reason than I have to believe the Top Chef editors won’t let me down and are setting us up for a really great Hung Smackdown at some point. I’d be perfectly fine with that happening next week.

Oh yeah…on Last Comic? The world just ain’t right y’all. They do some whack King of the One Liners contest, which Lavell wins after Jerry totally throws it with a lame knock knock joke and Jon Reap totally won, followed by the brilliant trophy presenting blonde coming out and giving it to the wrong guy. She hands it to the host? What was the point of all that anyway? Finally, after clips of horrible comics I fast forward through, and a cute set by Kathleen Madigan (always liked her) we find out that Jon Reap is safe and in the final two. The world is getting better!

Please, oh please, Last Comic producers, tell me that you came up with that stupid trophy thing so Lavell would feel special before you sent him packing. Crossing fingers…..aaaaaaand……we get Greg Proops. Love him, too, except his political set took a while to take off. Okay, it never really took off. A shame, because he’s usually funny.

Put us out of our misery please….aaaaaand no. We get a set by Gilbert Gottfried. Who, granted, can be funny, but I can only take in small doses. Which, turns out, is smaller doses than this. Come ooooooonnnnnnnnn. Please, just get on with it.

Finally…we find out that, the comic going home is? Jerry Dee. While Lavell looks all smug and “I knew it was me” when you know he totally didn’t. Gah. I’m power voting for Jon right now, just for that alone, and I don’t even know where to go to do that, but I’ll find out.

Final sets: does it matter? Jon pulls a Lavell and tells a long story that doesn’t really go anywhere. Sigh. Lavell screeches, but actually tells jokes, although, as usual, he goes onnnnnnnnn forever with it, and yet, everyone will vote for him because I don’t know why, except we have known he was going to win this since, what, episode one? Suspense over. If it had been a Jon/Jerry final two, it would have actually been a contest. Ah well, why should any reality show be that during this, the Summer of Horrible Programming?

I should have just stuck with my DVD setof Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth series.

Tune in tomorrow, where you will learn which one of the Blog Babes who correctly guessed that CJ was going home will win a free book!! (Biggest vote getter? Brian, in a landslide. Hmmmm…..)

Happy Thursday, y’all. :)

SHaQ Attack….last chance!

Okay, Blog Babes! Today is your last day to enter this week’s SHaQ Attack contest. See Monday’s post for details - you have until 10pm EST tonight to enter your votes.

And, thanks to sharp-eyed Blog Babe Darla, I realize I left off one contestant name. Ooops! Dale should be listed also. If any of you want to change your vote to Dale, please do!

I’ll be back tomorrow with all the MAC.

And thanks for the comments on the new cover - I think it’s gorga-mous! (as my nephew says it. :) ) I’m hoping for another sneak peek of the cover art for the final book in the Men of Trinity, Inc. series. And as we’ve all seen the first two, I have no idea how they’re going to top those! Of course I will share the moment it hits my inbox.

Happy Hump Day everyone!!!

Sneak peek…

I got the fun news that Bantam is reprinting one of my Glass Slipper books in mass market next spring — with a brand new cover! So, of course, I thought I’d share!

Dear Prince Charming will be out in mass market size next April. Take a look at the new cover art. Whaddya think?

Dear Prince Charming

Don’t forget to enter this week’s SHaQ Attack contest - you only have until 10pm EST tomorrow, Wednesday, to get in! See Monday’s post for all the details. Good luck!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! 53 years!

Monday MAC and two, count em, two contests!

So, the most important news is that, despite giving his opponent more than a few chances to get into the game, Federer worked his amazing magic mojo and won his 4th straight US Open (first man to do that since the 20’s) AND! The Steelers won their opening game with their new coach; 34-7. (Sorry, Browns fans everywhere.) West Virginia stomped Marshall. All in all, a very good weekend for me. Even the local boyz did well, the Skins pulled it out in OT over the Dolphins. Woot!!

So, not much to complain about…unless, you know, you want to talk about Big Brother. I really don’t. Gah. It’s just…painful now. I think I will respectfully decline subjecting myself to any more of this until the season ender next week. I should have listened to you guys! Why, why, why did I watch this?

Okay — so, on to the fun stuff! There will be two contests this week. My SHaQ Attack here, of course, and another contest being featured on another site. One of my fans (Hi Rachelle!) runs her own site and is featuring The Black Sheep & The Princess this week, complete with interview with Moi, an excerpt from the book AND a free book given to someone who posts a response to the blog post. So the link is here - Rachelle’s Blog Spot! Check it out if you so desire, (it can a while to load) leave a comment, and you may win a free book!

You can also play here, as well, in this week’s SHaQ Attack contest. To enter this week, we’re going to play Guess the Loser again. Send me an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Pack up your knives!” in the subject line, and your guess for who is going home on Top Chef this week in the body of the email. Your choices? Casey, CJ, Sara, Brian, or Hung. You have until 10pm EST Wednesday to place your vote. A winner will be drawn from the correct guesses and announced in Friday’s blog. Good luck!

Okay, so….is it the Fall TV Season yet? It’s awful bleak out there…

MAC n Ham(sters)….

It was a mass hammie exodus last night on Big Brother. We are down to the final four…Daniele, ED, Zach, and Jameka. Which means, yes, our lovebirds were sent to Sequester House last night. Awww. (Is anyone besides me wondering why we’re not getting any SH footage? I’m thinking Jen refused to go. Hmmm….)

So, the lovebirds going home doesn’t bother me, I was ready for Eric to be done. Wouldn’t have minded Jessica staying, but it was no shock she didn’t. However, how much of a dork is Zach? Here ED and Dani are turning on their alliance and telling them it’s not personal, it’s all game play, which it was…and Zach didn’t take his opportunity after winning POV to also make a strategic move of his own and ditch his alliance with the Donato Duo by saving Eric and making ED put Dani up. Wouldn’t that have been something? It was the one chance he had to send home the (arguably) strongest player left in the game. Oh well. Not the brightest bunch this season. Go Jameka!

The brightest bunch is actually here - the Blog Babes! Woo hoo!! I asked you to send in “Pick Me!” emails this week for the SHaQ Attack, and a guess on who was going home on Top Chef to add a bonus book prize to the pot. The winning blog babe this week is Christy! And she did, indeed, pick Howie, so that’s two books for you!! Woo hoo!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Tune in Monday for some more MAC and a new SHaQ Attack contest.

The aftermath…

So…we’re obviously down to the Summer Reality Show Dregs.

On Last Comic Standing, to no one’s surprise after last week’s performances, Amy goes home (sob) leaving Lavell, Jon, and Jerry. Jerry went first and was, once again, consistent and funny. I’m liking him more and more each week. Lavell went second and his set was a bit on the blue side for this show, and once again, didn’t really make me laugh. Jon wrapped up the show, and also made me giggle a few times. I’d have no problem with a Jon/Jerry final two.

On Top Chef….how many Blog Babes successfully guessed which cheftestant went home this week to try and score the bonus book? Well, the most popular guess was Dale. But we’ll see.

It was fun getting to see the chef’s have such a great time with the Quickfire Challenge. They each got a grocery store aisle to shop in, and a whopping ten dollars. Frivolity abounded. My favorite, definitely. Hung, dude…back away from the Froot Loops. And CJ completely cracked me up with both his take on his own unfortunately salted sweet dish, and his hysterical laughter as Hung tried to seriously present his dish. Fun for all. Oh, and Howie had a tantrum and didn’t present anything, despite the fact that, well…see: Hung and CJ. Such a trial, that guy. In the end, Brian wins with his Spam dish. Well deserved.

For the Elimination Round, they have to cater a high brow shindig. No problem, right. Well…wrong. The catch? They only have $350 to feed 60 people. Aaaand, they have to prepare the food on a boat. It’s a big boat, but still. Cooking in galleys, is what this is. Did I mention that CJ is, like, 9 foot 6? It was a hit and miss affair.

Judges Table.. After agreeing they were relatively uninspired by the food presented, they call in the entire group. And man, do they proceed to rake them over the coals. The guests seemed to enjoy the food that was prepared, but the judges? Not so much. After the most fun Quickfire, this was a particularly ugly judges panel. Yes, even worse than restaurant wars. Sure, some of it wasn’t the el supremo - that’s what happens when you have $350 dollars. Howie is so pissed at their dissing of his dishes, he offers to withdraw from the competition (though this is not why he claims he’s doing it.) Padma delivers a serious smackdown and tells him it’s not his decision to make. Whew, there is a lot of unhappy going on in this episode. So Chef Tom shoos them from the room, clearly pissed, so the judges can get down to the business of deciding who they hate the least.

All seven are called back in…Sara, Casey, and CJ have the top dishes, and Casey wins and gets a new Apple computer for her efforts. Dale, Howie, Hung, and Brian get thrown to the curb. The one who stays there? Not surprisingly, and deservedly, Howie has to pack his knives and his massive attitude, and go. (Sorry all you Dale-voting Blog Babes!)

There were Howie votes, too. So, if any of you who voted for Howie happen to be picked as the SHaQ Attack winner this week, you’ll get a bonus book! It’s not too late to enter and win the original prize of a book from my website bookshelf. See Tuesday’s post for details. Winner announced tomorrow!

Next week? Road trip!! And Anthony Bourdain. Squee!

Double Elimination in the Hammie House tonight. My guess? Jessica and Eric. Discuss.

Hammie Time

So, we’re down to six hamsters left in the Big Brother house: Daniele, Evil Dick, Eric, Jameka, Jessica, and Zach. Zach is a weird guy, but he’s sort of growing on me. He’s our HOH this week and he’s nominated Jameka and Jessica as his candidates to go home. Daniele wins the POV and decides not to use it…so who goes?

I’d rather it not be Jessica, but it really makes no sense from a strategic standpoint to send Jameka home this week, as she can’t compete in the HOH for yet another week, and she’s not the strongest competitor ever, so leave her there for a week, then send her packing. This, of course, breaks up the romance between Eric and Jessica, and I like Jessica okay, so it sort of sucks that they didn’t backdoor Eric, as I’d hoped. Not really enjoying AmERICa’s Player. Especially after he trashed Janey Doll (loved her response to him….but her flirting with ED made me throw up a little. Okay, a lot.)

What the hammies don’t know is that it’s double eviction week - so, my hopes are that tomorrow night we send both Jess and Eric out. Not that I want Jess out, but she’s going, I’m afraid, so might as well send her boy toy with her so we don’t have to watch him mope around endlessly playing martyr. Shudder.

Tonight is also Top Chef - don’t forget to get your SHaQ Attack entries in before 10pm EST tonight if you want to qualify for the bonus book! Winner announced Friday morning. See Tuesday’s post for details.

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Happy new release day!

I’m very excited to announce that the re-release of my Berkley anthology, The Naked Truth is hitting the shelves today in its newly packaged, mass market edition. Fellow contributor Alesia Holliday entered this book in the Romance Writers of America’s RITA contest for Best Novella…and won! And Romantic Times Book Club has chosen this book as a Top Pick for September!

The Naked Truth

Check out a review from Romance Reviews Today for my novella, titled Truth or Dare….

Former soap opera writer Bailey Madison and filmmaker Noah Morrissey had once been involved in a hot affair. But like any hot flame, it eventually flickered out. Now they have been hired by a billionaire to write and record his life story. Bailey resents Noah’s presence, especially when he apparently wants to pick up where they left off.

Noah has never forgotten Bailey, and while he understands her resentment, he has a job to do also. It doesn’t help that they’re thrown together by the billionaire. Working closely together, Noah’s and Bailey’s libidos are soon cranking into high gear. Is it enough to rekindle their romance?

Sparkling humor highlights Truth or Dare. Bailey needs the job and sees Noah as an interloper she wasn’t expecting when she got the job. It doesn’t help that she’s still attracted to him. For Noah, their affair was hot and fast, and he never really got to know Bailey. Now he’s learning what makes her tick. Donna Kauffman combines a sizzling romance with tender scenes that results in a deliciously fun tale.

If you want one for your very own, click here to order from Barnes & Noble, or race down to your local bookstore and snag a copy. If you do, I hope you enjoy it!

Okay, now on to this week’s SHaQ Attack contest question. It’s a short week, so I’m going easy on ya! Just send me an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with PICK ME!!! in the subject line. One winner will be chosen from all entries and get a free book from my website bookshelf. AND! Bonus book if the winner also guesses who goes home on Top Chef this week. Will it be…Casey, CJ, Howie, Sara, Dale, Hung, or Brian? Send your guess with your entry email….but Top Chef guesses must be in by 10pm, EST tomorrow (Wednesday.)