February Giveaways: The Italian Lover and The Terror

In honor of Valentine's Day, I am hosting a giveaway of five copies of The Italian Lover by Robert Hellenga.

An exhilarating novel of romance, art, and food in Florence, featuring the beloved Margot Harrington, who graced Robert Hellenga's The Sixteen Pleasures. Margot Harrington's memoir about her discovery in Florence of a priceless masterwork of Renaissance erotica - and the misguided love affair it inspired - is now, 25 years later, being made into a movie.

Margot, with the help of her lover, Woody, writes a script that she thinks will validate her life. Of course their script is not used, but never mind - happy endings are the best endings for movies, as Margot eventually comes to see.

At the former convent in Florence where "The Sixteen Pleasures" - now called "The Italian Lover," - is being filmed, Margot enters into a drama she never imagined, where her ideas of home, love, art, and aging collide with the imperatives of commerce and the unknowability of other cultures and other people.

For those of you who would prefer a no-romance V-Day, I am giving away five copies of The Terror by Dan Simmons.

The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice.

But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the Terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape.

A haunting, gripping story based on actual historical events, The Terror is a novel that will chill you to your core.

In order to enter you must leave a comment here telling me which book you would like to win. You may enter for both but please leave a separate comment for each one. Winners must live in the US or Canada and must have a street address (not a P.O. Box). Entries will be accepted until midnight eastern time on February 18th. I will randomly draw five winners for each title and notify them via email. Many, many thanks to Valerie at Hachette for generously providing the books for this giveaway!