First off, it’s time to announce the winner of last week’s free books. And the winner is…Bunny. E-mail me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing info, and I’ll get the books out to you.

Up for grabs this week are:

Under Siege by Catherine Mann
The Wrong Child by Patricia Kay
The Cinderella Rules by Donna Kauffmann (an advanced reading copy)

Remember, all you have to do to be in the running to win is comment on one of my blog posts this week.

On to my own book news. My YA editor and I are tossing some ideas about my second book for Razorbill back and forth. While we’re doing that, I started work on a proposal for Harlequin American today. I hope this will be the first book on a new contract. My goal is to write 10 pages a day. At that rate, I should finish the proposal this week and have it polished up and sent to my agent by the middle of next week at the latest.

Okay, on to the latest TV observations. I was disappointed in the Survivor results last night. I was rooting for Amanda and Cirie, and they ended up coming in second and third respectively. While she didn’t win $1 million, Amanda did come away with love in the form of fellow competitor Ozzy. His words to her during the final Tribal Council made my romance writer’s heart melt. I wish them all the best. Cirie’s final words after being voted out about broke my heart. And what was up with Natalie’s weirdo bedroom question for Parvati (the big winner)? I kind of felt sorry for Parv having to answer that out-of-the-blue and totally irrelevant question. Jeff Probst, the jury, and viewers were all confused.  And let me just say here, I really like Erik. Sure, he made a move that really cost him, but he seems like a really genuine nice guy. And I like to see the really nice people do well. I do think this is an experience that he’ll really treasure the rest of his life since he’s been such a fan for so long.

Looks like Survivor is going back to Africa again, this time to Gabon. This will be interesting since the first Africa season is one of three seasons I missed (Hey, it’s when Friends got good, and it was in The Time Before TiVo). I know the beach locations are popular, but I like it when they shake it up a bit like they did by going to China. The only time they’ve gone to what should have perhaps been a more memorable location and the season wasn’t good was Thailand, which goes down as the worst season in Survivor history in my book. Suckola.

Anyone watch Bones tonight? If you didn’t and plan to, SPOILER WARNING. It was a perfectly fine episode until the end when it turned into a great episode. Loved Tempe singing Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” on stage, loved how Booth was really enjoying himself watching her, and gasped when crazy stalker chick shot Booth. Okay, we know Booth has to live because there’d be no show if he didn’t, but I’m so interested in seeing what happens in next week’s season finale. Oh, and Gormagon will be back, and someone in the lab is going to betray the rest. If it’s any of the main characters (as in Angela, Hodgens, Zach, or Tempe), I’m so not going to be happy. I really don’t want it to be Angela or Hodgens because I don’t want them to split up. That leaves only Camille or some minor walk-on character as the culprit. Hmm…

The first blindside of the new Survivor season came in week 2 when Mary from the Fans team got the boot. Chet was by far the weakest link this week, but Joel’s move to take out Mary, thus taking away Mikey B’s closest ally, might prove smart as the game progresses. And I noticed that after orchestrating that vote, Joel voted for Tracy. Perhaps it was so he could say he didn’t vote for Mary. On the other hand, Joel might now have a big target on his back. Even though he can be bossy and in your face, I hope he sticks around for awhile. He makes things interesting, and he’s a big physical threat against James on the other team.

I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day. I can remember many a heartbroken Valentine’s Day from my teen years, but it’s a special day now since it’s the day my hubby proposed to me. It’s also our nephew’s birthday. Little Dude turned 5 today.

I’m in the final 100 pages of The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray, and I can’t wait to find out what happens. I wonder how much I can read tonight before conking out. Lots of stuff on my to-do list for tomorrow, so I need to get some rest. Still, you all know how it is when you get close to the end of a great book and just HAVE to know how it ends.

Season 16 of Survivor, Survivor Micronesia, started this week, with 10 super fans of the show taking on 10 favorites from past seasons (though how Eliza and Johnny Fairplay ended up being favorites, I don’t know). I find myself rooting for specific people on both teams. On the Favorites team, Ozzy, one of my all-time favorite players, is back. There’s also James and Amanda from the just-completed Survivor China. On the Fans team, an early favorite is Joel, the firefighter from Phoenix, and Eric, the college student from Michigan. Is it just me, or does Eric look like Leif Garrett?

Who would have predicted Johnny Fairplay would be the first to go, and largely of his own choosing? I have to wonder if it’s another play, perhaps this time trying to salvage his reputation.

Anyone else watching this season? Do you have any early faves?

Don’t forget — today is the last day to get yourself in the running for this week’s free book giveaway. All you have to do is comment on one or more of this week’s blog posts. I’ll post the winner in the morning to give everyone in all time zones an equal chance to comment today.