Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Creative TarotThanks to Courtney Brach of Touchstone Books, I am giving away 2 copies of The Creative Tarot by  Jessa Crispin.

Description of Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin


A hip, accessible, and practical guide for artists and creative people looking to tarot for guidance and inspiration in the tradition of The Secret Language of Birthdays and Steal Like an Artist.

What if the path to creativity was not as challenging as everyone thinks? What if you could find that spark, plot twist, or next project by simply looking at your life and your art through a different lens?

Written for novices and seasoned readers alike, The Creative Tarot is a unique guidebook that reimagines tarot cards and the ways they can boost the creative process. Jessa Crispin guides you through the intuitive world of the tarot to get those creative juices flowing again. Thought to be esoteric and mystical, tarot cards are approachable and endlessly helpful to overcoming creative blocks. Crispin offers spiritual readings of the cards, practical information for the uninspired artist, and a wealth of fascinating anecdotes about famous artists including Virginia Woolf, Rembrandt, and David Bowie, and how they found inspiration.

With five original tarot spreads and beautiful illustrations throughout, The Creative Tarot is an accessible, colorful guide that demystifies both the tarot and the creative process.

Praise for Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin


“Crispin offers richly metaphorical interpretations of each card…even readers with no interest in the tarot will be intrigued and delighted by Crispin’s ardently researched, spirited, creative, and inspiring elucidation.” – Booklist

“Crispin presents a persuasive case for the tarot’s usefulness to writers and artists; her many insights into the creative life as well as her dazzlingly wide array of examples throughout make this a valuable reference for readers not remotely interested in the ‘psychic arts.’” – Library Journal

“Maybe you don’t think astrology or tarot or anything like that is anything more than a case of people falling prey to confirmation bias in order to better figure out who they are. Well, get over yourself and let Crispin enchant you with this beautiful and oftentimes surprising look into the intertwining of tarot and the creative process.” – Brooklyn Magazine

About Jessa Crispin


Jessa Crispin

Photo credit: Chuck Kuan

Jessa Crispin is the editor and founder of Bookslut.com and Spoliamag.com. She has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Boston Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Architect Magazine, The Globe and Mail, and other publications. She has written another book The Dead Ladies Project: Exile, Expats and Ex-Countries (University of Chicago Press, 2015). She has lived in Ireland, Chicago, Texas, Kansas, and Germany. She currently lives in Beacon, New York.

Giveaway of Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin


This giveaway is open to Canada and the U.S. and ends on March 11, 2016 12 am pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflcopter only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mother Earth News Almanac by Mother Earth NewsThanks to Steve Roth of Quarto Publishing, I’m giving away two print copies of Mother Earth News Almanac: A Guide Through the Seasons by Mother Earth News.

Description of Mother Earth News Almanac by Mother Earth News


Mother Earth News Almanac is back–refreshed and ready for the next generation of self-sufficient makers and DIYers.

Mother Earth News Almanac: A Guide Through the Seasons returns! The 1970s classic has been out of print for years. Now, updated for today’s readers and back in print, its information is as useful as ever. It contains instructions and illustrations for everything from harnessing solar energy to cultivating a sustainable garden to learning how to keep bees. Simply put, Mother Earth News Almanac is designed to empower readers to be self-sufficient.

Mother Earth News team has updated the essentials, but left the core of the guide intact, with all the charm of the original–from the writing style to the signature line drawings. This is a must-have for any fan of Mother Earth News, as a budget-friendly guide for a new generation of homesteaders.

Mother Earth News Almanacis a seasonal guide with subject matter that every passionate DIYer, homesteader, or environmentally aware reader can appreciate. You’ll find recipes, money-saving tips, and homesteading techniques such as illustrated directions for tying a timber hitch, cat’s-paw, sheepshank, and other knots; folk medicine treatments and preventatives; tips on raising chickens and keeping bees; plans for building three kinds of kites; complete instructions for fast and easy compost; and much, much more!

The simple life doesn’t have to be hard–not when you have this timeless almanac. 

Giveaway of  Mother Earth News Almanac by Mother Earth News


This giveaway is open to Canada and the U.S. only and ends on March 4, 2016 12 am pacific time.  We will pick one U.S. Winner and one Canadian Winner. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beauty, Beast, And BelladonaThanks to Tiffani Gibson of Meryl Moss Media, I’m giving away one print copy of Beauty, Beast, And Belladona by Maia Chance.

Description of Beauty, Beast, And Belladona by Maia Chance


From the author of Cinderella Six Feet Under, a beauty must solve a beastly murder.

Variety hall actress Ophelia Flax knows how to win over an audience. That’s why she’s accepted the marriage proposal of the brutish Comte de Griffe to nettle her occasional investigative partner—and romantic sparring partner—the pompous if dashing Professor Penrose. 

But with his boorish table manners, wild mane of hair, and habit of prowling away the wee hours, the comte has shredded Ophelia’s last nerve. She intends to disengage from her feral fiancé at his winter hunting party—until Penrose, his lovely new fiancée, and a stagecoach of stranded travelers arrive at the comte’s sprawling château. Soon she can’t tell the boars from the bores.

When one of the guests is found clawed and bloody in theorangerie, Ophelia is determined to solve the murder before everyone starts believing the local version of Beauty and the Beast. But until the snows melt, she can’t trust her eyes—or her heart—since even the most civilized people hold beastly secrets… 

About Maia ChanceMaia Chance


MAIA CHANCE writes historical mystery novels that are rife with absurd predicaments and romantic adventure. She is the author of the Fairy Tale Fatal series, The Discreet Retrieval Agency series and the Prohibition-era caper,Come Hell or Highball.  Her first mystery, Snow White Red-Handed, was a national bestseller. Maia lives in Seattle, where she shakes a killer martini, grows a mean radish, and bakes mocha bundts to die for. She is a Ph.D. candidate for English at the University of Washington.

Giveaway of  Beauty, Beast, And Belladona by Maia Chance


This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and ends on March 4, 2016 12 am pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway