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Back To Good by Laura McCarthy Benson

Back To Good

by Laura McCarthy Benson

Giveaway ends April 07, 2017.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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01 January 2009

Prada & Prejudice Giveaway

Happy New Year Bookshelf Readers!

As promised, today is the start of the Prada & Prejudice contest! On the sidebar are two P&P Widgets for you to grab.

The other part of the contest is to tell us what was the most expensive thing you've purchased that you really didn't have to purchase. Please keep it to a small paragraph.
The contest ends one week from today and Mandy Hubbard will pick the winning story.

This is my ARC and it was sent from the publisher so IT IS NOT SIGNED.


Good luck and have fun!

38 Comments:

  1. My most expensive thing I have bought ever that I didn't need to? Pokemon cards. That was the first thing I've ever bought with my own money and the last. It was the first time my parents let me use my own money. So, because I was a Pokemon fan back in those days, I wanted Pokemon cards! I bought like 10 packs of card which meant I spent about $10. But it was all useless! There was nothing to do with them, except put them somewhere where it would gather dust. After that, I refused to spend my money anymore. XD

    Here's where I blogged the widgets!
    http://etewxok.livejournal.com/16948.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okay, so I think I posted my comment under the wrong blog post...so, here it is again (sorry!):

    Yay! So I've posted my widget, now onto the hard part...the expensive "useless" thing. (I'm assuming husbands don't count. Plus, I'm not sure that just because I helped pick out a wedding ring, means that I "bought" him.) Hmm...not a big shopper (at least no real shoe or handbag fetishes to speak of). So I would have to say...AN OVEN. Yep, you guessed it, I am not a cook! So when we did our big kitchen remodel, my husband actually suggested installing two microwaves instead of an actual bake-stuff-in-it-type oven. That, or a hotline to all the take-out restaurants in the area. But, noooo...I had to have an oven. A nice one. A fancy, stainless-steel one.

    Guess what? It's still shiny. Practically new. Useless AND expensive.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The most expensive thing I ever bought but didn't need to was a tea set for my dad. It was for his birthday and my mom and I usually get him a t-shirt. This year we decided to get him a tea set because he loves tea. This includes a tea pot handmade from Japan, tea cups handmade from Japan, cup saucers in the shape of leaf forms from Japan and a huge tin of green tea from Japan.
    I guess its not exactly useless but it was very expensive; around 200 dollars!

    ReplyDelete
  4. A couple years ago, I bought a really cool student planner to help me get organized for school. I was so excited, but it turns out that it was actually a student planner for the previous year...
    It was too late to return it, so I had to try to find a new one (both were priced at $12+, I believe).

    Here's my blog entry with the widget!
    http://arya-darcy.livejournal.com/9169.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. God. I bought an expensive brush set for my mineral makeup addiction. I really didn't have to...but i couldn't resist!

    katch05(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I posted the widget on my LJ profile:
    http://fautedemieux73.livejournal.com/profile

    This is kind of embarrassing. I'm a huge New Kids on the Block Fan. Have been for 20 years now. So, when I found one of their dolls (stuffed, goofy looking doll) that I didn't have on eBay a few summers ago, I went directly to the seller and asked her if she'd end the auction immediately if I gave her $100 plus s&h for the doll. She was floored and agreed to do it because she said she was selling her beloved collection to pay for her dog's surgery. The sooner she could get the money, the better. So I forked out $100+ on a stupid doll that's still in its box in my closet. I have no need for it whatsoever. I just wanted to have it for some reason. But, hey, at least a dog got a much-needed surgery. =)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello, Laura. I've posted the widget on my blog here: http://afraclose.livejournal.com/97735.html

    My most expensive, useless purchase was this painting that I fell in love with. I kept meaning to go inside this particular antique furniture store, but never found an excuse to until their closing sale. There, I found this awesome angel painting from the early 1800s, but, of course, there's no way I'm going to pay $480. I mean, who has that kind of money? It took the place a while to liquidate, and my husband got so tired of my going in there to look at that painting that he finally talked the guy down to $300 something. We'd like to get it framed and mounted on the wall, but since we paid so much for it, we want to take it to a reputable framing and restoration place. Of course, that's going to cost more money, so the painting has been sitting in the closet for the past few years. Sometimes I open the doors and look at it, and imagine how it would look on the wall.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The most expensive thing I bought was this Tiffany bracelet. All the other teachers at my school had them, so of course, I wanted one too. But I didn't stop there. I ended up buying one for the birthmother of my son too. I had to share!

    Here's where I blogged the widget:
    http://kbaccellia.livejournal.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. The most expensive thing I've purchased that I didn't need to were a bunch of notebooks from Borders. They had plush covers in burgundy and purple fabric with beading and mirrors on the front. The pages were this heavy parchment with strips of gold glitter in them. The only thing is that they're so pretty I'm afraid to write in them.

    I added the widget to my blog side bar.

    Thanks!
    Jessica

    ReplyDelete
  10. Placed a link on my blogs http://authorwithin.blogspot.com/
    and
    http://authorwithin.livejournal.com/25297.html

    My Most Expensive Purchase

    It all began with a fish. My five year old son wanted a fish and I, being the loving mother I am, bought one for him (a betta). I had so much fun setting up the fish tank I decided I wanted one of my own. I got a five gallon tank and a few guppies. I'd like to say it stopped there, but I'm afraid it became a fish addiction. I bought several more small tanks (15 in all), and finally purchased 55 gallon and 29 gallon tanks. But fish tanks are no fun without something inside so I had to purchase sand and live plants and fish. Though I am now down to the 55 and 29 gallon tanks, the purchasing continues . . . more plants, more fish, filters, more fish, cleaning supplies, more fish, natural decorations, more fish . . . yeah, it's the purchase that never ends. I've invested thousands of dollars over the years and will likely invest thousands more. Is there a fishaholics anonymous?

    Joan

    ReplyDelete
  11. Mine has to be this dress I bought when I was 13. My class was having a luncheon so of course all the girls were going to dress up. After 2 days of futile shopping by myself, my friend dragged me out to help her while trying to find anything for myself. Let's just say that when I'm out shopping with friends, my common sense and 'find a sale!' attitude goes straight out the window. She eventual convinces me to try this dress on, which of course I'm a bit hesitant on buying but me and my no brain attitude is pacified by my friend that it looks FABULOUS on me. After arriving at her house I decide to try it on once again to make sure my purchase was actually worth the cost. 'Lo and behold it wasn't. I thought the dress was quite modest when I first got it but after trying it on the second time my opinion went 360 degrees. It was a white spaghetti strap (which if I did chose to wear this dress I had to BUY another bar to wear it under), that had glitter and ruffled seams, that hugged to the bust and hip. That doesn't sound too bad does it? Well the bad part was that it was sheer. The top half wasn't (thank goodness!) but the entire bottom half was! My friend said, "Ewww I can see your underwear" when she saw it on me.I looked down and was like "HOLY ****!" From that day on I could never figure out if it was bad lighting or my brain not working that made buy that dress. Of course I did return that dress next week and managed to get a reasonably cute black wrap dress for a fraction of what that white dress cost me.

    Okay this is all that I can up with x.x. I posted the widget on my sidebar :D booksbytheircover.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow...my comment is super long...sorry! >.<

    ReplyDelete
  13. Here is my link...http://fiction-girl21.livejournal.com/1109.html

    My most expensive thing that i bought was...a MAC computer! My mom and I wanted to try it so we bought one, tried out and well returned because we coouldn't get use to the change from Windows to Mac set up and I was really dissapointed because i couldn't play my SIMS which I was into at the time. Now I'm thinking of buying one again just for media purposes.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The most exspensive thing I purchase EVERY year is my annual passport to Disneyland. I live on a small, fixed income (college student being supported by my family). This is one thing that I REALLY don't need, but yet I need my monthly disney fix. I always find myself renewing every year, reguardless of how many times they have raised the prices =S

    I posted the widget on my blog sidebar:

    http://www.creatinglifesdance.blogspot.com


    I would love to win Prada & Prejudice! Thanks for the contest =)

    -Kira

    ReplyDelete
  15. That would be a caricature for like $28 I believe. I mean, I don't need it but I couldn't help myself.

    I got an earful from my mom afterward but I don't regret it as much anymore. =)

    ReplyDelete
  16. a house i already had one but liked another one better so i went out and bought it minsthins(at)optonline(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a fun idea for a contest. Most expensive thing I bought that I didn't need?? Hmm ... A minivan. I wanted and needed a bigger car and thought as long as I was going bigger, I should just bite the bullet and get the soccer mom car ... for the times I really needed that extra room it would have been cheaper to rent a van and then I could still drive a semi-cool car! ;) I think I aged 10 years just by looking at minivans! I totally am NOT old enough to be driving one, that's for sure!

    Check out the widget on the sidebar at myfavoriteauthor.blogspot.com. I also posted a link to the contest on our contests page at myfavoriteauthorcontests.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Um, I'd have to say the most expensive thing that I bought that I didn't need to was my Toyota Scion. My husband and I went to test drive one, and we signed the papers and drove it home a few hours later!

    ReplyDelete
  19. The most expensive thing that I purchased, that I really didn't need, was our piano. I grew up with one, practicing a little, on and off through my whole life. A friends of mine purchased one and I decided that I needed to have one to, you know, just in case I wanted to pick it up again. I did end up taking lessons in between my first and second kids, but I haven't done anything with it for years! (Except for placing decorations on it!) I am happy to have it...home wouldn't be the same without it. And since music (in various forms) is such a big part of my life, I am grateful for its presence. I'm also happy to have it for the inspiration it might bring to my children. I just hope we get our $1200 (in usage) out of it!!

    I posted the widget on http://ratliffpics.blogspot.com
    Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I posted a widget here: http://www.karenkincy.com/?p=209

    And here: http://ravelda.livejournal.com/311932.html

    Most expensive thing I bought that I didn't need? Hmmm. Since I'm still in poor college student mode right now, I'd have to say that I haven't anything too horribly expensive, yet. My biggest sin: these three-inch-heeled, knee-high boots I didn't need but got anyway. And I still can't really walk in them. :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Whoops, that should be "that I haven't bought anything." My proofreading suffers when I multitask...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Posted widget here http://viabloomington.livejournal.com/

    The most expensive thing I bought that I didn't need? Hmmm...when I was married we bought a vacation timeshare... yep - I let him keep it when we got divorced! lol

    ReplyDelete
  23. The most expensive thing I purchased that I really didn't need was the iJoy massage chair. I bought it because I wanted to phase out the chiropractor and sitting upright at a computer desk all day makes my upper back hurt. But since I've purchased the iJoy chair, I've maybe used it three times and it's basically a coat rack in my tiny apartment. Most expensive coat rack ever.

    When we have guests over, they love it. I think it's one of those kinds of items that people like when they don't have it, but once they have it, the magic is gone.

    http://shanasilver.livejournal.com/6208.html

    ReplyDelete
  24. I just spent $200 dollars on my hair yesterday! I think that's pretty useless because it's just hair. It does look cool, but really it's totally useless.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I posted the widget on my blog: http://paradoxrevealed.blogspot.com/

    I have bought, given, and received plenty of utterly useless things, but I don't vividly remember most of them.

    But the one that stands out to me the most was something that I didn't really buy, but begged for as a Christmas present. For months I asked for a rock tumbler and dreamed of turning rough rocks into beautifully polished semi-precious stones for months up until Christmas. It cost somewhere from $40-$50. I got it... but then I never used it. Never. It seemed so incredible when it was at the store, but when I found out it took a week to polish the stones, and there was only enough materials included to polish a handful of rocks (and the possibility of electrical shock) I just never got to it. Since then it has disappeared... I never found out what happened to it.

    But if I have to write about something I actually bought, I could tell you about the time I wasted $30-$40 on cheap junk at a Renaissance fair or lots of pocket money to win a stuffed SNAKE at the carnival. Then came the Pokemon obsession... Someone here mentioned buying loads of pretty notebooks and being afraid to ruin them. I'm guilty of that too. And while most of us would never consider books useless, I have spent hundreds of dollars on books that I have never read. And art supplies. And all the money I spent on my shiny polished rocks/glass/whatever collection. I admit it. I am something of a packrat. But useless stuff is fun! :)

    P.S. - I just know I'm going to think of something even better to write just after I post this. Grrr...

    And does wasted time count as a huge expense for something useless? I've got plenty I could say about that...

    ReplyDelete
  26. The most useless thing I ever bought was I wanted highlights in my hair so decided I needed to go to a well known salon to get them and the full package. By the time I left there I had a bag full of products and spent $250+.

    ReplyDelete
  27. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=5593058

    I friended you so you could see the widget (in my Books section) since my settings are Private, gotta watch for them stalkers y'know.

    Anyways.. Last week, the desire for a new phone was calling me, having been with a trusty but clunky phone for 3 years it was time for a change. And I could have gotten a free upgrade, a decent one at that, but no, I fell in love with the Samsung Instinct. The sleek design, touchscreen capabilities, GPS and Internet access... and a rebate of $100? I was done. Of course, I reasoned, having a phone I liked would mean I would be content with it for years instead of trying to upgrade as soon as possible again. $130 later (after rebate), I had my gadget. End of story? It was beautiful, but all I do with it is call people. But it's ok, I can now whip out my phone and admire its shiny gleam.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I have a problem with buying things/spending money-in that I dont/won't/hate to/almost can't-so it took me a long time to think of something ;) It'd possibly be this glass head I have just because it's fun to put hats and necklaces and whatever on/in it :)

    & I'm going to post the countdown on my blog soon as I'm on my computer

    ReplyDelete
  29. The most expensive thing I purchased was a $500 TV. I thought I would be using it but so far it has just sat on top of my drawer, gathering dust. I've only watched shows on it about 5 times. I don't know whether to sell it or keep it. :/

    I added the widget to my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  30. The most expensive thing I ever bought was this old typewriter, and at a yard sale. I don't even use it, because it is too loud. But I still am fond of it. Once in a while I go there and type something just to type something.

    I blogged about it here:
    http://floatingfaraway.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/bookish-stuff/

    The widget is supposed to be on the side, but it's not showing up, I don't know why.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hiya!!!!
    SQUEE!!!What a great contest!!! I am so loving the title and premise of this book. Here is my blog

    http://lushbudgetproduction.blogspot.com/

    and the wiget is on the side panel on the right.

    Ok...so now on to the most expensive thing that I have purchased that I did not need to?? Hmmm...ok, I got it. While in Italy...Florence to be exact I went into a shop and purchased a Versace bag. It is gorgeous black snap boston leather bag with gold accents. Haaaaaazah, I was in heaven, but where would I use this voracious luxury. Let me tell ya, NO WHERE. I have yet to use it. It is not as if I live under a rock, but I dont feel comfortable going to wallmart in my sweats and my Versace bag.
    So, my lovely bag sits in my closet, soffocated by it's protective cloth bag, awaiting the day that I will finally take it out and show it off.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I bought an Anna Sui dress for $240. Now, it was originally six hundred dollars so I was getting a good deal on a couture dress. Of course, I really had no occasion to wear it to (though I have worn it). It's beautiful and I look great in it but sometimes I still can't believe I spent that much on a dress!

    ReplyDelete
  33. (I posted the widget--since I said in my other comment that I 'would' I thought I'd note that I 'did' now) :D book-splot.blogspot.com's sidebar

    ReplyDelete
  34. The most expensive/ useless thing I ever bought were a pair of designer jeans that were around $250. I wore than once and put them in the wash and they ending up shrinking 2 sizes. I couldn't believe that I had just wasted my money on those.

    Also, I added the widget to my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Yay! Looks cute and fun, thanks for the contest.

    The most expensive thing I didn't really need to buy was a Lucky purse. I had been liking it for months and months, but never spent the money. It was $126. I barely use it because it's made of leather and weighs a lot. But it's so pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Oops, forgot about the widget part.

    Widgets don't work on Wordpress, so I added it to my blog's MySpace. If you don't already have me as a friend then friend me (http://myspace.com/whatvanessareads) and it's under my Interests on the left. :)

    Thanks again.

    whatvanessareads (at) gmail.com :)

    ReplyDelete
  37. I re-purchased all 6 of Jane Austen's novels, although I already owned a copy of each of them. I bought them because they all had matching 'leather look' hardcovers and were tied with a pretty ribbon, and would look so pretty on my shelf!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Oh my goodness, Lost in Lit, I would totally do the same thing! I love my Austen books and if I had a nice set, it would make my bookshelf complete!

    ReplyDelete

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