Fun for Free
Posted by Samantha Hunter in Samantha Hunter, tags: Dressed to Thrill, free reads, miniseries
Everyone likes something free. This week, we’re taking some time to go to the New York State Fair, one of my favorite annual events, and while Fairs can be expensive, the State Fair also has tons of free stuff and entertainment. I went this past Sunday and saw a wonderful belly dancing show, the women were so gorgeous and graceful, and tonight, we’ll go to a free concert (.38 Special — my age is showing, but I love them), and have dinner while we watch.
One of the things I have been enjoying about my Kindle is that more publishers, Harlequin being one of them, are offering books for free for the Kindle. I have discovered Richelle Mead’s new fae series, and I also discovered Karen Marie Moning, to whom I may now be addicted, through downloading their free books. Sometimes we think the things we get for free won’t be as good as the things we pay for, but these books rocked, and they sell for full price elsewhere, so it was a real deal.
Of course, authors give away free books all the time, and it’s no different with the new “Dressed to Thrill” miniseries that I am a part of, with authors Tawny Weber, Karen Foley, and Lisa Renee Jones. The premise of the stories is “Wrong Costume” — four heroines order online costumes for various events, and they get the wrong ones in the mail — a life-changing mistake. The books are sexy, fun, and offer some very cool free reads you should know about.
First, there is my free online read at eHarlequin, running right now. The online story, with a chapter offered each day, is titled Caught by Surprise, and is a spin-off story for my Oct “Dressed to Thrill” book, Caught in the Act. During the online read, I am also giving away a weekly copy of Caught in the Act, as well as one full miniseries set at the end of the four weeks.
In addition to that, the miniseries books have a very unique feature: a mini-romance about the clerk at the costume shop. The story runs through Prologues and Epilogues of each book, so you have to read all four to get this fun extra read, but it also adds a little something to the main stories, because you get a “behind the scenes” peek at why all of those wrong costumes keep being mailed.
Then, starting Sept 7, the four of us, along with Friday guest writers, will be write a “Dressed to Thrill” mini-romance on Twitter, round-robin style! There will be one new story each month, Tawny in Sept, Sam in Oct, Karen in Nov, and Lisa in Dec, so you’ll have FOUR more free reads from us, and it should be a lot of fun, since with round robins, who knows where the stories can go?
Each Twitter story will be another spin-off story from our books, starting with Tawny’s “Feels So Good” that begins on Sept 7. Each day, we will post 5 new tweet installments of the story, and to follow, all you have to do is have a Twitter account and follow @BlazeDTT. Discussion cannot be held on that account, it will be for story tweets only, but you can discuss the account at #BlazeDTT, or a thread that will be set up at eHarlequin, or on the Facebook group for @BlazeDTT. If you do not have or don’t want a Twitter account, you can also read the stories each day at this website.
So, how’s that for free fun? SIX free reads associated with this series, and if you take part, you can be sure there will be more free stuff along the way. I hope we’ll see you there. And just for fun, I’m going to collect some free goodies at the NYS Fair this week, and I’ll pack them up with a copy of Caught in the Act and send it to one commenter on this blog, selected at the end of the day. Just share any thoughts on free stuff, what’s the best thing you’ve gotten recently for free.
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Of course I always love receiving books. I’m on a limited budget so I really enjoy my books. But in July I won an author contest where she was giving away a beautiful baby book. I had entered it when my daughter was still pregnant. She delivered her baby at 23 weeks and baby girl Payton spent 4 months in the NICU. I won the baby album and received it in the mail about a week before she came home. It was such a timely gift as well as a beautiful one. I love receiving just about anything. I collect bookmarks so if I get bookmarks in the mail you would think I won the lottery. Also lighthouse postcards. When one of my friends is on vacation and sends me one I’m thrilled. I’ve never seen on in person but I love looking at my postcards and lighthouse books.
Linda Henderson
I love getting/giving free stuff.
http://www.canadasamples.com offers almost daily free stuff, although I might only request something once a week or so. I don’t have little ones anymore, but I will request diapers and similar items so that I can either give to someone I know with a wee one or can give to local teen pregnancy shelter.
I like returning my old Tupperware and getting free replacements (although nowadays they add a $3 or so fee, so I accumulate a bunch first). Discovery Toys replace broken pieces for free as well.
I hosted a Creative Memories home party for scrapbooking supplies and received over $200 in free products.
I enter local radio contests to win $25 restaurant gift certificates.
I walk the stray grocery carts back to their stall and get the quarters inside the carts that others have left behind. I also pick money up off the ground.
I clip coupons and use them on sale items. Coupons of no interest go to my girlfriends to pass on to their girlfriends, etc.
Procter & Gamble’s web site offers free shampoo/conditioner every few months.
I save all my printer ink cartridges/toners (I type for a living from home). When Staples offered a deal of “bring in a toner and get a reusable bag for free”, I ended up with 14 bags. Soon afterward, Office Depot had a deal of “bring in a toner and get $3 off in Rewards points”. I kept the used toners in the trunks of both my car and my husband’s car so I could take them in every time I visited Office Depot during their 3-month qualification period. I received an Office Depot gift card worth over $50 a few months later.
I completed a survey recently where they sent me $5 cash to fill it out. (It was 65 pages.) Their previous survey took about 10 minutes to complete, and all four members of my family received $2 each to fill them out. We just did the survey while waiting for commercials to finish on television.
I enter online contests and this year have won books, flowers, a coin collection, book store gift cards, a magazine subscription, a big cookbook, Rubbermaid containers, beauty products, and more.
I keep track. It makes me feel good to get these bonuses in life. I just won a gift certificate for a restaurant 3 hours away (I didn’t win the grand prize I wanted, but won a secondary prize instead), so my girlfriend will use it because she lives near there.
I guess the best part of winning or getting free stuff is that I feel like I’m contributing to my household (in addition to working part-time), bonuses in life are always appreciated, and it is really, really cool to share with my friends. (I recently won a book and had it autographed to another girlfriend, and she was absolutely thrilled to have this prize!) I email lots of girlfriends with web sites, etc. to see if they too would like to try to win something and when they DO win something, I feel like one of my kids just brought home a good report card!
The best item? Hmmm…. I guess a bouquet of mixed flowers on my 50th birthday. It came with a coupon to redeem for a free rose, and I won a free carnation while there. It was the gift that kept on giving….
I was planning on going to the NYS fair, but just didn’t have the time and money this year. Plus it’s a decent drive from Rochester.
I’m already reading your online read and enjoying it. I’m excited to hear about the twitter stories. Now I’m looking forward to that.
Free reads are good because you may read an author you’ve never read before and they turn out to become one of your favorites. I know that’s happened to me before.
Wow! .38 Special, that’s name I haven’t heard in a long time. I hope you have a great time!
And I’m going to download you to my Kindle.
And I had no idea Richelle Mead had a new fae series. I’m addicted to her Vampire Academy books so I’ll have to check that out. 
Hi Samantha, I am eagerly awaiting your book and the others in your miniseries. I saw that you had those mini stories on eHqn, but I was leery of starting them…I want all the books, but you are really tempting me here…I might have to give in. Have a wonderful time at th NYS Fair. I always wanted to go to that, but never did while I was living there. Maybe I will one day.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
I like reading the free stories on eharlequin.com, but if they are linked to a miniseries I usually wait to read the story and all the books together after I buy the last book. I like reading miniseries one book after the other. I had already planned on buying this miniseries based on the blurb in the listing for the next month’s books in the back of the last month’s book.
Oh… free books, I’m in. I’ll have to wait and read them elsewhere though, as I do not have a twitter account. But it almost tempts me to sign up for one now.
I too clip and save coupons. It’s silly not to. The ones I don’t use get split between two of my girlfriends who have situations where they need financial help. I am glad I can help them in a small way.
As for the best thing I got recently for free, just Tuesday night my girlfriend called me up last minute and asked me what my husband & I were doing at that moment. I said “nothing why.” She then proceeded to give me two tickets to see Jeff Dunham the ventriloquest at our local fair. It seems she bought the tickets and then discovered she couldn’t stay to see the show with her daughter when she found out it was “too mature” in content. The seats were 7 rows from the stage! ( and almost $100 in value!) The show was fabulous too. He’s such a riot. I’d love to give her a gift to thank her. Any suggestions?
My favorite thing I got for free was a trip to Los Angeles in the early 90′s. I entered a contest through the record store I worked in. I used free publicity materials to create a window display for Tom Petty’s album “Learning to Fly” when it came out. Then I sent photos of the display to the distributor. Needless to say I was hoping for the complete CD collection as a prize, at the absolute best. I was totally thrown for a loop when I got the call that I was a grand prize winner. I got 2 tickets to LA, hotel accomodations and an invitation to Tom’s final practice session before the start of his tour, being held at Universal Studios. It was held on the same sound stage where the original ‘Phantom of the Opera’ was filmed! Being a Pennsylvania girl, this was pure heaven for me. My friend Jill and I spent 4 days in LA and lived the life in Beverly Hills. It was truly an amazing experience, one neither of us will ever forget.
-Pam
Morning folks! Wow, what great posts…
Linda, that is a wonderful free gift… it’s so much fun hearing about the things other people have received…
Laney, WOW. On coupons, I love coupons. I used to use them a lot when our stores did double, but not so much anymore. My mom used to make a killing with coupons back in the day.
I think you are right about how pursuing a lot of these opportunities can save a lot of money and contribute to the household, as well as personal pleasure. It’s usually a trade off in time, but often well worth it.
Nicole, yes! Hi! Thanks for coming by the online read — it’s been so much fun.
And I agree… I love finding new authors through free reads.
Candace, .38 Special is such a favorite, LOL — it was actually the other night (I wrote this blog ahead of time) and it was great. We had a real 80′s blast, LOL. Thanks for downloading me — I think you’ll love the new Mead series…I enjoy her succubus books, but IMO this one is even better. I haven’t read her YA, since I don’t read YA in general. But maybe I should try one…
Paula, yes, give in! LOL I promise, the online read doesn’t spoil anything for the series.
And you must come to The Fair someday… it’s so much fun.
Nancy, I can relate to that — there’s nothing more fun than having several series books that you can storm through.
Pam, how cool that you got to see Jeff Dunham! What a generous gift — if your friends is a reader, maybe offer her a B&N or Amazon gift certificate? They can be used for music, etc, as well.
That’s so incredible on Tom Petty — we LOVE him. The biggest thing I’ve gotten for free was Rolling Stones tickets, the first year I met my dh, and we went together — it was a riot.
This is a lot of fun….
Sam
The new mini series sounds great. I love getting free stuff. I won a $100 Home Depot giftcard that helped out with our home improvement projects. Some of my favorite things to win are books, giftcards, candles, pampering products and items from different parts of the country.
I think that I am going to give in. I will check it out later.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
You’ll like it. I’ve enjoyed reading it.
I was lucky enough to get Tawny Weber’s book from this series and loved it… I am sooooo looking forward to reading the others!
(W)
I love to read, so books are right up there at the top of my favorite freebies list. But last year, winning a contest for front row tickets to a George Michael concert was pretty amazing!
I love free stuff. I just received a coupon in the mail for a cup of yogurt. I’ve also been getting samples of hair and skin products. Of course free books are the best.
lovefree lol. love books and trading with firends an d findin g new authors
got free crawfish yummmmmmmmmm
congrats onteh books andgreat cover
ye 4 1/2 from rT Whooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 (L) (F) (H) (Y)
Free stuff is always fun, Sam! My favorite is definitely free books, but other freebies can make me smile, too. And if those “samples” get me hooked, then they’ve done their job
We went to our Nebraska State Fair a few days ago and enjoyed it like usual. And since I’m the queen of freebies I got us 5 packets of Kool-Aid (since Nebraska is where Kool-Aid was invented), numerous pens, a Sunday edition of the Omaha and Lincoln newspapers, glasses of lemonade and milk, chips and salsa in a little bowl, popcorn and cheese puffs in a little cup, dips and pretzels, beef jerky, and even more food. Seriously, after all the food freebies, I was getting pretty full. So we are very economical when we go to the fair.
And don’t worry about feeling old, the musical acts we had here were REO Speedwagon, Hall & Oates, Bret Michaels, Randy Travis, and a few other classic acts. And the H&O show was really good.
My favorite freebies are definitely books, followed by food items. Those are the two things that get me through the day.
I received a copy of Tortured by Amanda McIntyre in the mail recently.
Pam, me and the kids are so jealous that you got to go see Jeff-fuh Dun…….ham dot com. lol
Silence…..I kill you. We just love Achmed.
Deidre
Jeff..fah-fah Dun…ham was just out of this world! He brings tears to my eyes every time, I laugh so hard. Have you ever seen him live? He has quite the uuumm, shall we say ‘off color’ humor live. He gets graphic some times when he hits those unscripted moments. That’s when he is at his best. It seems to happen every time he get’s Brian Haner (Guitar guy) on stage with him. He just rambles on and on until he forgets where he was headed with the bit. He has a new gag for Peanut I never heard before Tuesday. It was Peanut ordering chineese food from “Taste of China” restaurant. OMG. All I can say is say it fast with a bad asian accent and think dirty and you can pretty much decide for yourself how fast he had us on the floor laughing and the direction of the humor.
In December he was in Hershey, PA. There were alot of sick jokes that night about the Chocolate world ride and melted Hershey bars. I can’t say no when he is involved. He has a weekly tv show starting in October on Comedy Central too, for anyone interested.
I sign up for the occasional contest online for books or other fun prizes. I always enjoyed going to the state fair, especially in an election year. Then you can really load up on the notepads, post it notes, and pens, along with any other fun stuff they give out. The most recent free item would hopefully be winning this!
Yesterday, my hubby won a drawing for free tickets to the Astros in the dugout seats. That’s where I’ll be Saturday night!
Hey there. Sorry I am in so late — we did end up heading over to the fair for a bit with my inlaws (and we had a lot of fun collecting free goodies for this giveaway!) and got back a little later than I thought. So sorry I wasn’t here to chat more today… let me catch up a little.
Crystal, nice to see you here! I LOVE Home Depot…since buying our house, we spend a lot of time and money at Home Depot. That would be a great freebie!
Paula, hope to see you there!
Colleen, thanks! Tawny is actually blogging about the series over at Cigars today (www.loveisanexplodingcigar.com) if you want to let her know.
Jane, I agree!
Summer, concert tickets are always a huge win, I think, because they are so expensive these days….congrats!
Kh, thanks! I am pretty thrilled with that RT review, of course. Always rewarding. And thanks for the congrats.
Fedora, You know, my mom used to be an Avon lady, and our life was full of free samples.
They were so much fun… 
We did get hooked on a lot of the products.
Jody, sounds like you and I could be Fair buddies, LOL. They had the Oakridge Boys and Lee Greenwood there tonight for free concerts, but we were all getting tired and decided to leave…
Diedre, you have me chuckling… love Achmed. Now I’m wishing we went to see Dunham, too… oh well. Another time.
Lisa, I never thought of that, if the fair is different in an election year… I did get lots of neat NY stuff to put in the package for my winner today.
Heather, I am so jealous! If I could win baseball tickets for the Red Sox (or the White Sox, I am a dual fan), that would have to be the best. Well, the best would be travel tickets for some amazing vacation, but seats for a baseball game would be next in line.
Have a great time Sat night!!
Thanks for sharing everyone… will post a winner in a little bit…
Sam
And the winner is…………………
NICOLE S!
If you send me your address at samhunter@samanthahunter.com, I’ll send you out a few freebies from The Fair, and a copy of Caught in the Act.
Congrats, and thanks for coming by and sharing, everyone.
I wish you all many free things goodies in life. 
Sam
Thanks for picking me Sam! Sent you an email.
Congrats Nicole!!!! (*)