Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.
Showing posts with label Purchased Pages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Purchased Pages. Show all posts

Friday, December 3, 2010

Purchased Pages: Reader's Digest Select Editions Vol 6, 2010


The Mountain Between Us
by Charles Martin
Broadway

On a stormy winter night, two strangers wait for a flight at the Salt Lake City airport. Ashley Knox is an attractive, successful writer, who is flying East for her much anticipated wedding. Dr. Ben Payne has just wrapped up a medical conference and is also eager to get back East for a slate of surgeries he has scheduled for the following day. When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer and a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection. And when the pilot says the single engine prop plane can fit one more, if barely, Ben offers the seat to Ashley knowing that she needs to get back just as urgently. And then the unthinkable happens. The pilot has a heart attack mid-flight and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness-- one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States.


Ben, who has broken ribs and Ashley, who suffers a terrible leg fracture, along with the pilot's dog, are faced with an incredibly harrowing battle to survive. Fortunately, Ben is a medical professional and avid climber (and in a lucky break, has his gear from a climb earlier in the week). With little hope for rescue, he must nurse Ashley back to health and figure out how they are going to get off the mountain, where the temperature hovers in the teens. Meanwhile, Ashley soon realizes that the very private Ben has some serious emotional wounds to heal as well. He explains to Ashley that he is separated from his beloved wife, but in a long standing tradition, he faithfully records messages for her on his voice recorder reflecting on their love affair. As Ashley eavesdrops on Ben's tender words to his estranged wife she comes to fear that when it comes to her own love story, she's just settling. And what's more: she begins to realize that the man she is really attracted to, the man she may love, is Ben.


As the days on the mountains become weeks, their survival become increasingly perilous. How will they make it out of the wilderness and if they do, how will this experience change them forever?


Both a tender and page-turning read, The Mountain Between Us will reaffirm your belief in the power of love to sustain us.

Nine Dragons
by Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company

Harry Bosch is assigned a homicide call in South L.A. that takes him to Fortune Liquors, where the Chinese owner has been shot to death behind the counter in an apparent robbery.


Joined by members of the department's Asian Crime Unit, Bosch relentlessly investigates the killing and soon identifies a suspect, a Los Angeles member of a Hong Kong triad. But before Harry can close in, he gets the word that his young daughter Maddie, who lives in Hong Kong with her mother, is missing.


Bosch drops everything to journey across the Pacific to find his daughter. Could her disappearance and the case be connected? With the stakes of the investigation so high and so personal, Bosch is up against the clock in a new city, where nothing is at it seems.

A Dog's Purpose
by W. Bruce Cameron
Forge Books

This is the remarkable story of one endearing dog’s search for his purpose over the course of several lives. More than just another charming dog story, A Dog’s Purpose touches on the universal quest for an answer to life's most basic question: Why are we here?


Surprised to find himself reborn as a rambunctious golden-haired puppy after a tragically short life as a stray mutt, Bailey’s search for his new life’s meaning leads him into the loving arms of 8-year-old Ethan. During their countless adventures Bailey joyously discovers how to be a good dog.


But this life as a beloved family pet is not the end of Bailey’s journey. Reborn as a puppy yet again, Bailey wonders—will he ever find his purpose?


Heartwarming, insightful, and often laugh-out-loud funny, A Dog's Purpose is not only the emotional and hilarious story of a dog's many lives, but also a dog's-eye commentary on human relationships and the unbreakable bonds between man and man's best friend. This moving and beautifully crafted story teaches us that love never dies, that our true friends are always with us, and that every creature on earth is born with a purpose.


This Time Together
by Carol Burnett
Harmony Books

THIS TIME TOGETHER is 100 percent Carol Burnett – funny, irreverent, and irresistible.


Carol Burnett is one of the most beloved and revered actresses and performers in America. The Carol Burnett Show was seen each week by millions of adoring fans and won twenty-five Emmys in its remarkable eleven-year run. Now, in This Time Together, Carol really lets her hair down and tells one funny or touching or memorable story after another – reading it feels like sitting down with an old friend who has wonderful tales to tell.


In engaging anecdotes, Carol discusses her remarkable friendships with stars such at Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, and Julie Andrews; the background behind famous scenes, like the moment she swept down the stairs in her curtain-rod dress in the legendary “Went With the Wild” skit; and things that would happen only to Carol – the prank with Julie Andrews that went wrong in front of the First Lady; the famous Tarzan Yell that saved her during a mugging; and the time she faked a wooden leg to get served in a famous ice cream emporium. This poignant look back allows us to cry with the actress during her sorrows, rejoice in her successes, and finally, always, to laugh.


Monday, October 19, 2009

Purchased Pages: Shadowland (Book 1 ot The Mediator Series) by Meg Cabot


Shadowland by Meg Cabot

Publisher: HarperTeen

I purchased this book at Book Ends, my library's used book store.

About the book: Suze is a mediator - a liaison between the living and the dead. In other words, she sees dead people. And they won't leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living. But Jesse, the hot ghost haunting her bedroom, doesn't seem to need her help. Which is a relief, because Suze has just moved to sunny California and plans to start fresh, with trips to the mall instead of the cemetery, and surfing instead of spectral visitations.

But the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it's not that easy. There's a ghost with revenge on her mind. . . and Suze happens to be in the way. (back cover)

Shadowland
Publisher/Publication Date: HarperTeen, Dec 2004
ISBN: 978-0-06-072511-2
304 pages
YA

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Purchased Pages

I just received the latest Select Editions from Reader's Digest. It contained the following books - 2 of which were on my TBR list!


Grace by Richard Paul Evans

From the author of The Christmas Box and The Gift comes a touching tale of a young runaway girl and the boy who hides her from a large and frightening world. The time is the early 1960s, during the Cuban missile crisis. As their planet hovers on the brink of self-destruction, can Grace and her junior high school classmate Eric find in each other the safety, and ultimately the love, they so desperately need?




Still Life by Joy Fielding

Beautiful, smart, and successful, Casey Marshall couldn't be more happy with her life- until the day it nearly ends. The victim of a hit-and-run accident, Casey lands comatose in a hospital bed. She can't move or talk, but she hears everything, and what she learns is astounding. Her friends and family are not necessarily the people she thought they were. Even more shocking, the crash might not have been an accident at all.




Hell Bent by William G. Tapply

It's just another day at the office for Boston attorney Brady Coyne, until his ex-flame walks in. Alex Sinclair needs a skilled lawyer for her troubled brother, Gus. Aware that their old spark is still there, Brady agrees to help. But Gus has his own ideas about things, and soon Brady and Alex have more to figure out than whether or not to rekindle their romance. Atmospheric suspense from a best-selling author.




Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas

The sign outside her house says "Prayers for Sale," but Hennie Comfort is happy to pray for you for free. She will also tell you stories stretching back from her childhood in the old South to her settling in this Colorado mining town. As the stories are told, mixing heartache and happiness, they magically fit together, like the pieces in the quilts at which Hennie is an expert artisan. A wonderful story of a remarkable woman.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Purchased Pages and a Giveaway!


A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet Brad Thor at an author visit to our local library. The following is a repost of that visit:

Then, on Saturday, I got to meet Brad Thor, also a New York Times bestselling author - this time of thrillers, or I would call them political thrillers. Even though he was up for the Thriller of the Year award last night at Thriller Fest in NYC - he opted to come to our little ole library to continue his tour for his latest book - The Apostle. (The award went to Jeffrey Deaver for The Bodies Left Behind).

He was a great speaker and we got to hear about what pushed/enabled him to write his first novel, The Lions of Lucerne. His wife had asked him one evening (as they were drinking wine in Italy no less) that if he were on his deathbed, would there be any one thing that he would regret. He said he would regret never writing and publishing a novel. She told him then, that when they returned home, he needed to take 2 hours of time - everyday - and get busy, and she would do whatever it took to enable him to do that. (Behind every good man is a good woman you know!) And that is how The Lions of Lucerne was born. Since then he has written seven more novels.

He also entertained us with stories about his research for his last novel, The Apostle. He actually spent time with a Black Ops group in Afghanistan to learn how they would go about "recovering" someone who might be kidnapped. After he left Afghanistan, NYTimes reporter David Rohde was kidnapped by the Taliban, and the Black OPS group that he traveled with were the ones sent in to try to find him. (Mr Rohde has since escaped the Taliban last month after 7 months in captivity and is apparently in good health.) Mr. Thor said that was probably his scariest research he has ever done for a book. He also has a fun website full of pictures and information about his books - www.bradthor.com. I forgot my camera for this one - but the photographer for the library was nice enough to take our picture and will be emailing it later this week - so I will share it at that time.

I picked up a copy of his last book - The Last Patriot - and had it signed to giveaway to one of my readers.




I want to take the opportunity now to giveaway this book that I purchased and to share with you some of his other books that I either purchased that afternoon, or picked up through paperback swap since then.

The giveaway is for 2008 release - The Last Patriot - and it is autographed.


About the book: June 632 A.D.: The prophet Mohammed shares a final and startling revelation. Within days, he is assassinated. September 1789: Thomas Jefferson uncovers a conspiracy that could change the face of Islam. Present day: Men still kill to keep the secret hidden. When a car bomb explodes outside a Parisian cafe, counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath is thrust back into the life he has tried desperately to leave behind. In a race to uncover an ancient secret with the power to stop militant Islam, Harvath will risk everything to reclaim Mohammed's final revelation and defeat one of the deadliest evils the world has ever known. (from the back cover)

Easy to enter giveaway - just leave me a comment as to why you would like to win this book with your email address. Giveaway will end Aug 14. Only open to U.S. (sorry guys - this is out of pocket for me)

Other books that I have purchased this month by Brad Thor:

Title: The Lions of Lucerne

I got this book from Paperback Swap.

About the book: On the snow-covered slopes of Utah, the unthinkable has happened: The President of the United States has been kidnapped and his Secret Service detail massacred. Only one agent has survived - ex-Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. He doesn't buy the official line that Middle Eastern terrorists are responsible, and begins his own campaign to find the truth - and exact revenge. But his search makes him a marked man by the sinister cabal behind the attack.

Framed for murder by the conspirators, Harvath goes on the run, taking the fight to the towering mountains of Switzerland. There, he finds an unlikely ally: the beautiful Claudia Mueller of the Swiss Federal Attorney's Office. Together they must brave the subzero temperatures and sheer heights of treacherous Mount Pilatus - and their only chance for survival is to enter the den of the most lethal team of professional killers the world has ever known. . .(from the back cover)


Title: Path of the Assassin

I bought this at the author visit and had it autographed to me!
About the book: After rescuing the President from the kidnappers, Navy SEAL-turned-Secret Service agent Scot Harvath's bloody and twisting mission of revenge leads to one man: Hashim Nidal. Having assembled an internationalleague of Islamic terrorist networks in an ingenious plot to topple both Israel and America, Nidal must be immobilized. But Harvath and his CIA-led team have no idea what the man looks like and must recruit a woman who survived a brutal hijacking, the only person who can positively identify their quarry. From the burning deserts of North Africa to the winding streets of Rome, Scot Harvath's hunt for a ruthless madman has the world's survival at stake. (from the back cover)





Title: The Apostle

This is his latest book - I also purchased this one at the visit and had it autographed, too.

About the book: Every politician has a secret. And when the daughter of a politically connected family is kidnapped abroad, America's new president will agree to anything - even a deadly and ill-advised rescue plan - in order to keep his secret hidden.

A new administration and a new approach to dealing with America's enemies have left covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath without a job. But when American doctor Julia Gallo is kidnapped in Afghanistan, the terms of her ransom leave the president with only one course of action.

In a dangerous assignment that the United States government will deny any knowledge of, Scot Harvath must secretly infiltrate Kabul's notorious Policharki Prison and free the man the kidnappers demand as ransom --al-Qaoda mastermind Mustafa Khan.

But when Harvath arrives, he quickly learns that there is more to the kidnapping than anyone dares to admit. And as the subterfuge is laid bare, Harvath must examine his own career of hunting down and killing terrorists, and ask himself if he has what it takes to help one of the world's worst go free.

Brimming with the kind of ripped-from-the-headlines authenticity Brad Thor's internationally bestselling novels are known for, The Apostle doubles down on the blockbuster uccess of The Last Patriot and reaffirms Thor's status as the master of the political thriller. (from the book jacket)

His other books include State of the Union, Blowback, Takedown and The First Commandment.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Purchased Pages: Night World by L.J. Smith

Night World by L.J. Smith
(contains Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, and Spellbinder)


I picked this up for my daughter when I was out shopping - but that probably won't stop me from reading it!

About the book(s): Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters - they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.

In Secret Vampire, Poppy thought the summer would last forever. Then she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now Poppy's only hope for survival is James, her friend and secret love. A vampire in the Night World, James can make Poppy immortal. But first they both must risk everything to go against the laws of Night World.

Fugitives from Night World, three vampire sisters leave their isolated home to live among humans in Daughters of Darkness. Their brother, Ash, is sent to bring the girls back, but he falls in love with their beautiful friend.

Two witch cousins fight over their high school crush. It's a battle between black magic and white magic in Spellbinder. (from the back cover)

About the author: L.J. Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of The Vampire Diaries and has written more than twenty-five books for young adults. She lives in the Bay Area of California, where she enjoys reading, hiking, traveling, and communing with her cat Suzie. Her favorite place is a cabin in Point Reyes National Seashore. (from the book)

Night World
Publisher/Publication Date: Simon Pulse, June 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4169-7450-5
752 pages





Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Purchased Pages: A Cross Stitch Christmas - Handmade Holiday


A Cross-Stitch Christmas: Handmade Holiday

Publisher: Bayview Publishing

About the book: The variety of yuletide cross-stitch designs in this collection will inspire you to create lasting treasures that come from not just from your hands, but from your heart as well. From breathtaking stockings and wall hangings to whimsical ornaments and quick-to-finish cards, discover a wealth of creative ideas to stitch with joy this Christmas. See below for a sneak peek of the some of the more than 60 projects featured in the 128-page hardcover book and to purchase the products used to create them. This is a must-have holiday stitching book!

Handmade Holiday
Publisher: Bayview Publishing

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Purchased Pages: Reader's Digest Select Edition Vol 3, 2009

I am probably one of the few people who still purchase the Reader's Digest Select Editions. I even buy them at garage sales if they are from way back - and my mom just gave me a bunch from the late 1960's early 1970's.

So - the latest one I received contains these books:

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

Logan Thibault is in search of his destiny. Or at least he thinks he is. During three combat tours in Iraq, Logan carried a photograph he had found of a beautiful young woman he had never met. Could the photo be the reason he came home safe and sound? His mission now is to find this "lucky lady" and to see if more than just chance brought her into his life. A haunting tale of love and the search for meaning.









The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

How do we achieve our dreams? When Professor Randy Pausch was asked to deliver a lecture on what mattered to him the most, he was facing terminal cancer. Rather than dwell on his impending death, Pausch focused instead on life. In this upbeat memoir brimming with courage and humor, Pausch challenges readers not only to achieve their dreams but also to enable the dreams of others, while having fun along the way.






Envy the Night by Michael Koryta

Nearly a decade ago Frank Temple III's world was shattered by a connection to the Miami mob. Now, after years of aimlessness, he's coming back home to an isolated lake in the Wisconsin wilderness to confront the man who destroyed his life. But this homecoming is going to be more complex - and deadly - than he ever could have imagined. An explosive novel of suspense from one of America's finest new writers.








A Foreign Affair by Caro Peacock

The year is 1837. Queen Victoria is about to ascend the throne, and a spirited young Englishwoman named Liberty Lane has just received the shock of her life: Her beloved father has died fighting a duel in France. Or was it murder? Liberty vows to find out. But to do so she must outfox secret agents, dodge scheming noblemen, and prove that, with a little pluck, a "modern" woman can handle anything - even espionage.








Ok - fess up - who out there still buys these books?

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...