St Martin's gives away 1,000 romances

If you don't know about LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program, each month publishers offer advance copies of upcoming books. Hundreds of LibraryThingers compete for 10 to 30 copies of each book.

This month St Martin's Press has upped the ante with 1,000 free copies of Lori Handeland's November '08 release, Any Given Doomsday. You can also barter your email address for a short story "prequel" called In The Beginning.

I've never seen a romance in the Early Reviewers program, and never this many copies of one book. St Martin's seems to be experimenting lately. (They also ran the June e-book giveaway of Julia Spencer-Fleming's mystery series.)

Any Given Doomsday looks like an amped-up variation on Handeland's supernatural thriller romances. I've read some of her earlier books, which were compact and character-oriented--much like category romance. They're definitely paranormal romance rather than urban fantasy. The formula wore thin for me after a couple books--I enjoyed her writing more before I glommed her back list. However, from the synopsis, Any Given Doomsday looks more thriller-ish; there's a save-the-world angle that could change the feel of her work.

LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program has been growing steadily; publishers offer more books and more copies every month. I'm glad they're increasing the giveaways and expanding into romance. If you're a romance reader on LibraryThing, throw your hat in the ring for the book or sell your email address to get the prequel.