Chances are you have one, and your friend, and your other friend, and of course I have one. They sneak up on you. When you first start reading, there might be one to three books in the pile and you read them and go out and get new books. Somewhere along the way they developed a mind of their own and have overtaken a whole place in your house: a table, a chair, the floor, a shelf, your car's backseat, on top of your toilet, etc. Will they ever go away or are we doomed to keep them forever? Here are some ideas I've come up with for reducing your TBR pile while also reducing your new book strain on your wallet. Read on and be sure to tell me what you think!

1.    Book Budget -

With a book budget set in place and coincidentally in stone, you're limited to the amount of new books you can purchase. Make sure you put less toward it than you think you need (this is the reduction part!)

Here's a good equation for set up:

Take the low end price per book ($6 for mass paperback, $14 for trade paperback, $25 for hardback) and times it by (the average number of books you read in a month - 2 books).

How do you book budget? Share your tips with readers, leave a comment!

2.   Library -

Like PBS new books are usually on a waitlist. Put your name on it and read your TBR pile while waiting for the library to call you. When they call, go check it out and read it. The idea of forced waiting will help you reduce your pile and by not seeing the book physically sitting there begging to be read, you're not thinking about it. Additionally, nobody can add it to your pile count either and that includes you!

3. Paperback Swap -

Paperback Swap is trading website for used books. Get new-to-you books while helping with your TBR pile by setting up an account. You get 2 free books by listing 10 of your own for trade. See, I'm nice, this isn't so painful; I'm letting you get two books!

Now to reduce your pile only "purchase" books when you get credits from sending out your old books. This will drastically reduce your new books, unless you cheat and become a mega-swapper with 50+ novels on your trade bookshelf.

Also many of the new releases are on waitlist and by waiting for them to come to you instead of buying them right away you can enjoy them without feeling TBR pile guilt.

4.    TBR Buddy-

Get a TBR pile buddy. Between the two of you select books you want to purchase using tip #1. With two of you buying only half of your list (and later swapping books between you as you finish them) you can enjoy your whole list with less financial strain or guilt tripping. As I said before, your pile can't guilt trip you if the books aren't there. It's a twist on that age old adage of if you can't see it, it can't see you.

Photo Credits: kencf0618

Originally posted 2009-05-16 10:13:57. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Paperback Romance Books

Callum Ironstone wanted nothing more than to get Miranda Owen off his conscious. He could still remember her grief-stricken accusations that he killed her father, drove him to suicide. He’d done his best to make up for the harshness of his actions in the years afterward, not that she knew, but guilt still plagued him. In a last ditch effort of redemption Callum offers Miranda a contract to be a caterer for his holiday dinner party. What he didn’t expect was to be thrown completely off his guard… and for her to wind up in his bed. But now that she’s there he’s determined to keep her there.

The first concern I had about the novel was how the two would finally resolve the issue of Miranda’s father. Would Callum reopen the case and find the father innocent? Or would he show her undeniable proof about her father’s guilt? I found it hard to believe she’d land in his bed despite the uncomfortable attraction she felt for him. Uncomfortable is me projecting – because I would be seriously upset to find myself lusting after the man whose actions forced my father to consider suicide as the only way out and then take action on those suicidal thoughts.

While Miranda was anxious and worried once or twice about her attraction to him, she manages to push aside her feelings on that topic because of a conversation where they talked at cross purposes. She thought he was apologizing for wrongfully accusing her father. He was apologizing for being so harsh and public about his retaliation.

One of the biggest things in favor of this novel was how little time to took to deal with the breakup near the end and the follow up angst. Callum was very mature and worked quickly to fix and keep things from deteriorating. He was understanding and had foresight when most heroes would have been bullheaded, hurt. He did miss his chance to pull a Mr. Darcy behind Miranda’s back to humbly help her brother, but he did help (with her tagging along) and managed getting his HEA anyway.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

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When I was in the middle of Wild Oats by Pamela Morsi I had no strong feelings on it. It was neither good nor bad and looked to be shaping up to a solid two stars.

I did dislike all the words devoted to talk on disease. The hero was a mortician, but not inclined to it. He wanted to pass the business on to his partner. It was his partner that always talked about it – what happens to the ground with unsealed coffins, figuring out how people died based on his observations during the care of the body, etc. There was also a plague going through the territory and landed in the town. In the end it was entirely too much spent on sickness and death. Bah.

Then I began to notice after all the disease talk half of the pages were devoted to bringing together the hero’s horrible undeserving mother with his business partner. I began skipping those parts. She was completely irredeemable. The woman wanted nothing but to be crowned the biggest gossip in town. She started false rumors about the morality of the heroine until everyone in town thought her a common slut/whore. On top of that she was a smothering mother who whined and needled into getting more attention from her son and was not above guilt tripping the hero with the fact that she gave birth to him. Seriously, this lady was going to get a HEA? Double bah.

The hero and heroine when they got together were cute, but they can’t overcome the other aspects of the novel.

I finally gave up and put the book down when the preacher started to spread rumors about what he thought he saw at the heroine's house after a church service where he intended to and was on the verge of forcing heroine into a public confession of all her sinful immoral ways until more disease talk took over (both the novel and his sermon). Last and final bah + humbug!

Rating: 0.5-1 Star

Find and Buy More Pamela Morsi Books.

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Have you ever picked up a novel and about halfway through feel like there's something you should know about it because it seems familiar? I thought I was going insane! I couldn't remember the book, but I remembered the characters. I was certain I hadn't read it before but how could I explain my knowledge of the main characters and the two of the side characters? Thank heavens I finally figured it out! Lady Sophia's Lover is the second of the Bow Street Trilogy. The first is Someone to Watch Over Me. Where I recognized the characters was from the third Worth Any Price which follows the brother of the heroine in LSL. Nothing like solving a mystery to start off my day!

Sophia Sydney is out for revenge. She wants to destroy the man who sent her brother off to his death. Sophia is certain of her facts and equally certain of Sir Ross Cannon's cruelty and guilt. It seems fortuitous when an ad to be his secretary appears in the papers. Taking it as a sign, Sophia appears in Cannon's offices on Bow Street determined not to take no for an answer.

Ross is completely stunned by Sophia. Her very presence shatters his carefully constructed walls. He tries to regulate her into a housekeeping position instead of the secretary position. Her argument that he didn't specify gender completely flummoxes him and before he knows it, Sophia is both his secretary and his housekeeper.

Sophia is equally dazzled. The fat, old, wig wearing man she expected is not there. The man she sees is not the man she pictured. Ross is distinguished, virile, and devastating. While Sophia is trying to gather evidence against Ross and his runners, she finds herself hopelessly drawn to him. Will love win out over vengeance?

Rating: 4 Stars

Buy: Lady Sophia's Lover

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