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?

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!

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, 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…

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.)

So….Waaaaaahmber did indeed go home this week (as 99.9% of the Blog Babes predicted.) I was perfectly happy with that outcome. Also, this just in. Julie Chen? Please, don’t ever say “play-ah” again. And who’da thunk Eric’s brothers would be so attractive? The on-again, off-again girlfriend? Yeah, can we say “I’m only On Again for my 15 Minutes Of Fame?” Oh, that’s right, you already had your 15 minutes on So You Think You Can Dance, where Mary and Mia both told you that dancing? Not so much for you. Yikes. Who will win the HOH this week? I haven’t peeked on the live thread bb’s – mostly because, do we really care? I would love to see Zach get it, and send the Donato’s home. I understand it’s a double eviction week next week. Woo hoo! Speed this up, Big Brother!

Now on to the only real thing of interest….who is this week’s winning Blog Babe! Most of you guessed Amber this week, so there was a big pile to choose from, but the winner this week is Diana P! Woo hoo!!

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend to celebrate the end of summer (as we know it anyway.) I will be back on Tuesday with a new SHaQ Attack contest.

So, the final five is now four. My favorite, Amy, stayed. I was thrilled for that. And then she delivered her worst set yet. Sob. The others remaining? Lavelle Crawford, who had a really off the wall set. Jon Reap, who did make me laugh out loud several times (yay Jon, my other fave!) But, other than the very gratifying surprise of Ralph going home this week…there was that surprisingly great set once again by Gerry Dee. Who knew?? I thought he was really funny.

So…going home this week? Yeah, it’s going to be Amy.

If I had to rate them tonight, I’d say Gerry, Jon, Lavelle, Amy. But Lavelle’s grizzly bear set was one loooooong act for not much punch at the end. Didn’t make me laugh. Amy, it could have been yours!

But the others might want to step it up a little, otherwise Gerry’s going to steal this thing! (Which, fine by me, but I want better comedy, dammit. Make me laugh.)

Don’t forget! You have until 8pm EST tonight to vote for who goes home on Big Brother – Amber or Zach. I’ll announce a winner tomorrow morning for this week’s SHaQ Attack. See Monday’s post for the details!

Emphasis on the dum dum part. Sigh. Eric, Eric, Eric. What a weenie. He has the chance the break up the Donato Evil Duo and what does he do? Wimps. Out.

But! Now life is much easier for Blog Babes everywhere as you have a 50-50 shot of guessing the right evicted hammie this week. So…will it be Amber? (or Waaaaaaaahhhmber, as I like to call her.) Or Bunny Suit Zach??

Send in your votes by tomorrow, Thursday, at 8pm EST (although because of football, I won’t get to watch it until 2am….yikes! Figures!!) Thank goodness for the internet…I’ll find out tomorrow night anyway…and a winner will be posted Friday morning. Check Monday’s post for voting details. And for those of you who already voted and perhaps went for someone other than these two? You may vote again. I forgot they would be doing the veto before the final vote. (Shows you how much I pay attention.)

See you Friday! Same Blog Babe time, same Blog Babe station.

What a weekend!

The Mini Run was most excellent. Most fun I’ve had in ages. No pictures, unfortunately, as I was too busy driving like a maniac!! I kept up pretty well for a newbie. Can’t wait to do the next one.

The Steelers won in pre-season — again!, and the US Open tennis tournament starts today. Not bad!

Now, if only the fall television season would kick into gear. I can’t believe we’re stuck with the dredge remains of what’s left of Big Brother, and Top Chef. At least Top Chef is still interesting.

So, I am scraping the very bottom of a slimy reality barrel for this week’s SHaQ Attack contest question.

Who is going home on Big Brother this week? Amber and Zach are on the block, but anyone else can be substitued depending on who wins the Power of Veto. You have until 8pm EST Thursday night to send in your vote (and even if you don’t watch, and really, why would you, these people are horrid, you can send in a guess.) Your choices are:
Amber, Zach, Jameka, Eric, Daniele, or Dick. (Jessica can’t go home this week as she is Head of Household.)

Send your votes to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Hamster, Go Home” in the subject line.

Good luck! (And good riddance to any of the remaining hammies!)