I have a fun and funky giveaway today, so get ready!
Lynsay Sands' Argeneau series has a new book, Under a Vampire Moon ( A | BN | K | S ), and Avon has offered some very fun prizes for you.
Because Under a Vampire Moon is partly about travel to exotic locales (in this case, St. Lucia), the prize is travel and beach themed, and I think the grand prize is really spiffy.
The grand prize is a Baggallini rolling tote bag in steel blue with green trim, stuffed with all of Lynsay Sands' Argeneau books, including:
- A QUICK BITE
- LOVE BITES
- SINGLE WHITE VAMPIRE
- TALL, DARK, AND HUNGRY
- A BITE TO REMEMBER
- BITE ME IF YOU CAN
- THE ACCIDENTAL VAMPIRE
- VAMPIRES ARE FOREVER
- VAMPIRE INTERRUPTED
- THE ROGUE HUNTER
- THE IMMORTAL HUNTER
- THE RENEGADE HUNTER
- BORN TO BITE
- HUNGRY FOR YOU
- THE RELUCTANT VAMPIRE
- UNDER A VAMPIRE MOON
There are also five runner-up prizes: a copy of Under a Vampire Moon and a Lynsay Sands beach ball.
Since I am all about the beach, here's the really tough and difficult question you have to answer: which beach do you think is best for reading? What's the best beach you've ever visited? Share – and we'll all have summer-beach envy together.
The contest will be open from today (24 April) through noon eastern on 1 May. I'll select the winners at random from the comments.
Standard disclaimers apply: I'm not being compensated for this giveaway, not even with spiffy luggage. Void where prohibited. Must be over 18 and wearing a hula skirt (but not a coconut bra – those things look itchy) to win. This giveaway is open to international residents (yay!). Clothing that is itchy is hereby outlawed in my immediate jurisdiction. Action figures and margaritas sold separately.
So, tell me: what beach do you think is the best for reading and relaxing? If you could visit a beach anywhere in the world with a book and no time limit, which would it be?
I think ALL BEACHES are good for reading and relaxing. My favourite beach may be the one in Cancun, though – quite a bit warmer and more pleasant there than the beaches where I live!
I live on a kibbutz on the Mediterranean. I’ve been to many beaches all over the world, but I love our beach more than anything. Come summer, I’m there every day with my kids, a picnic dinner, and of course, a book (which I can’t always read because the kids’ safety comes first…). I love September 1 when the beach magically clears out and I have it all to myself. So I would say that the beach in Kibbutz Sedot-Yam is one of the most beautiful and I’ve seen.
I have limited beach experience so even though I want to vote for a beach in Greece or Australia, I have to go with what I know. Boracay Island in the Philippines has a beautiful beach that’s perfect for reading during the day. At night, the entire beach becomes a giant night club/party with singers and fire dancers at various tents
Difficult to choose.. but the hot water beach in the Coromandel has to be the one I’d choose. Sun, sand, and if you get a bit chilly, just dig a hole and thanks to the miracles of nature you’ve got your own little hot water bath on the beach!
I think my favorite beach is the one my parents live near, Lewes, Delaware on the Delaware Bay. It’s quiet, I can walk to it from their house and I like it.
Second favorite would be Oriental Bay in Wellington, New Zealand as there are so many cafes nearby including best, best gelato in the world.
I have to stick close to home and loyally proclaim that the beaches here in Panama City are a great place to kick back with a good book. Even during Spring Break season, you can generally find a little waterfront nook for some peace and quiet. I feel so lucky to live here!
But if I could spend some time relaxing on ANY beach in the world, I’d vote for the beautiful pink sands of Bermuda!
I’ve only had the chance to see two different beaches (Coney Island and Nice, France). Nice had the most beautiful view but pebble beaches so I would definitely need a lounge chair there if I were to settle in with a good book but the Coney Island beach would work just fine with a beach towel, umbrella and lots of sunscreen for this freckled Irish face! Soon I will be able to curl up on the beach in West Africa, so we will see how those compare! I don’t think I will have any complaints 😛
I used to live in Hawaii. Hanauma Bay was gorgeous, but too full of tourists. I loved Barber’s Point. Super deserted, huge swells. Quiet. Great for reading.
Ruby Beach and First Beach on the Washington Coasts. A little more emo than a typical tropical but beautiful just the same.
Patong beach in Phuket. although i love to enjoy an empty and quite beach, i prefer this not-so-quiet-not-so-busy beach in Thailand to spend my day lazying around with a book. odd, but i like to have ‘some’ noise and movements during reading. so, when i am tired or over emo on a page or two, i can just put the book down and look at the view of one of the most beautiful sea in the world or simply watching what other people are doing 🙂
I nominate the black sand beach in a particular cove on the west coast of the Skagi peninsula in Iceland, just north of Skagaströnd. On a warm, sunny summer’s day it’s a lovely place to spend some time with a beach blanket, a cold drink and a good book. It never gets too hot and it doesn’t get crowded because it’s private, and if you feel like taking a break from reading, you can watch the seals and eider ducks instead.
I can’t read at a beach; I’d be beachcombing or playing in the water. Still, I have been know to take a couple of books with me to West Marin (Northern CA) and read while in the cafe or in the car (it can get really windy at times). The most relaxing time I had was at a beach along the Kohala Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii. My entire group was doing some last minute chillaxing before the trip home.
I’ve been going to school in San Diego, CA and they, by far, have the most peaceful beaches to read on. This might not be the best endorsement though since before this, I lived in northern California where the beaches are frigid and ridiculously windy.
It’s still summeryish here in NZ – everyone feel beach envy! I really like St Clair beach in Dunedin… pretty sand, big waves, and lots of sexy surfer boys 😉
Was lucky enough to visit Rottnest Island (Western Australia) for the day – lots of tiny, perfect beaches each with something to suit everyone. So naturally we found the most deserted one, unfolded the rugs and fired up the Kindle….
I was seventeen and our band tour took us through a tiny beachside town halfway down the coast of Victoria. Myself and a dozen other girls in my year got dropped off at the local beach for an hour while the rest of the tour went…somewhere else. Possibly to get lunch.
It was a small and secluded beach, golden sand brilliant in the warm November sun, water warm and clear in the gibbeous lagoon. The sea took on deeper tones when you waded halfway out towards the arm of the sandbar where the tides rolled up on the sand before dragging themselves reluctantly back out into the ocean.
Myself and the other girls went out into the lagoon and drowned ourselves for a while, then sat and chatted and sunned, and eventually – being a studious bunch of schoolgirls – most of us pulled a book out of our bag and flipped through a few pages before the bus came back to pick us up.
We were young, it was the summer before our final year when everything would get hectic, and we were still girls – not the women we would become with responsibilities and futures – and it was perfect.
Our beach in Croatia is quite nice. It’s a private beach on the island Rava. No sand, just a tree for shade and deep blue clear water reflecting the sun beams like a vampire. I visited many other beaches all over the world, but this is the best. I’ll admit I might be partial because it’s my beach, but still 🙂
One summer we went to stay with a friend in the Costa Dorada, in Spain, one of those white towns that tumble down the high cliffs into the still, warm, blue Mediterranean. It was a pebble beach, and all day we sat in the sun drinking tinto de verano, and waiting for the fresh sardines, roasted over hot coals right on the beach, to be ready. The water was clear as green glass, and warm, and barely rippled all the way to the coast of Africa—you could see it, low and hot on the horizon. Honestly, it felt like you could swim to Morocco for lunch. We did nothing but sleep and swim and drink and read and eat and laugh and eat and swim and drink and read a bit more.
The beach at Kihei Hawaii is beautiful. I visited once and loved it. So quiet and peaceful.
I’ve only been to beaches on the East Coast of the US so going with what I know I’m going to say the beaches on Hatteras Island in North Carolina. In May, still nice and warm but almost deserted. Sun, breeze, sand, and good eats.
Yes! I live in Wellington – tis one of the favourites of my family.
I’ll read on any beach, quite frankly, but I enjoy the beach off Siesta Key, Florida, best. The sand has the consistency of talcum powder, and with the gulf lapping at the shore, it’s very tranquil.
There is a beach in Acapulco that was just pristine. I roasted like a lobster, but the scene was well worth it. And most of the beaches in Hawaii have that green blue water that you can take pics of all day. I can read just about anything on the beach, so long as no one is bugging me. hehehe.
I would prefer the beach in Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands, where I spent my childhood. So that’s where I would go (providing the weather is nice!) if I had unlimited time and the book I would bring is Karen Moning’s Shadow Fever… simply because I can’t put it down and am dying to find out how it ends! Afterwards I would hop on my bike to my mom’s house, the house I grew up in, for some homemade pancakes with cream and strawberries. Perfect day!
My family’s been going to a little stony beach for a long time in Duga Uvala (Croatia) – you have to walk an hour through a forest but it’s worth it. No people in sight and and clean water is all I wish for!
Huntington Beach, CA. I hate to fly, but tell me we are going to Huntington and I will drop everything and fly from ATL to LA. I could stay there forever, except for that whole cost of living thing. And earthquakes.
Any beach with a surface level enough to lie on it is good enough for me. In fact, reading is about the only thing that beaches are good for, as far as I’m concerned.
Playlinda Beach, in Florida. The name is Spanish for “pretty beach”. Well, “pretty beach beach,” but I don’t mind “ATM Machine,” so I don’t mind this.
I loved the beaches in southern Thailand. There were ladies waiting to give massages in the shade near the back of the beach, vendors trolling with refreshments, and sand dollars along the tide line. The section we were on didn’t have as much eye-candy as I’d have liked, but you can’t have everything!
I will say the beaches at Ft DeSoto Park in St Petersburg FL are a favorite. It’s beautiful at the very end of the Pinellas penninsula so it is surrounded by waters of the Bay and the Gulf. There are beaches that have beautiful views, picnic and camping areas, bird sancutary areas, the remains of a coastal fortification and even a boat ramp if you want to explore the bay. There’s always a breeze so it’s nice, even in August. We are fortunate to have such a great public park! Plus it made the top ten list of best beaches a few years. I also have a special place in my heart for a beach on Cayman Brac with a hammock strung between coconut palms and sea grape trees. It was lovely, too.
I vote for the Maine beaches where the water is so cold you don’t actually want to spend to much time in the water. Just chill on the beach with your reading of choice and a cocktail and life is good.
The beaches in Sharm el Sheikh along the Red Sea are gorgeous and great for reading.
I went to Greece for my honeymoon and the beach we visited on the island of Rhodes was stunning. Soft sand, clear cobalt water, hypnotically warm sun…it just doesn’t get any better. I didn’t do any reading there, but I would love to go back and take care of that oversight! 😉
I’m with the beaches are for walking (if it’s cold) or swimming (if it’s warm) crowd, but I’ll say the beach in Rincon, PR, just down from the Playa Corcega (don’t think it really has a name, but it’s public access). I remember sitting there as a five year old on vacation from kindergarten learning to read “Bears, Balloons and Boats” and I’ve read SOMETHING there (or near there, on a shady balcony) every winter vacation since, so it has my heart.
I think ANY beach is good for reading, but I’m partial to Avalon, NJ. The best beach I ever visited was on Providenciales in Turks & Caicos (at Beaches)…I would love, love, love to go back there again!
Risser’s beach in NS always feels like coming home so I am going to say that is the best beach, for me. The post has made me curious about other places though that never would have made me think of beaches. I must do more research.
My favourite beach is Kaiteriteri beach in Nelson, New Zealand. We always spend Christmas in Nelson, and the majority of that time is spent at the beach (Southern Hemisphere!), so going to Kaiteriteri makes me think of the holidays – beautiful golden sun, clear waters, pohutakawa trees…If I could go anywhere with a book and a unlimited amout of time it would be here!
My favorite beach is Crystal Cove in Laguna Beach, CA. It is a place where time stands still. The kids run on the sand and play on the rocks. Dolphins are seen swimming in the ocean. I pack an umbrella and book . . . life is good.
Oh, wow, what a great giveaway!
I don’t know the name of this beach, but my favorite beach in the world is one just by downtown Fort Lauderdale in Florida. I spent an amazing few days staying near there, going swimming at that beach every day while figuring out how to rewrite my book for an agent. It turned out to be the first book I ever sold! So it is MAGIC BEACH to me. 🙂
Beaches are the best when it’s slightly warm outside but the water is too cold…hardly anyone is there. My favorite is Virginia Beach before the college students wake up. If I could visit any beach in the world it would be any (all?) of the ones from Peter Lik’s photography (http://www.lik.com/thework/oce….