Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY TORI!!!!

My daughter called me out on the carpet this morning!  I didn't do a post on her birthday and Tori - I am so sorry!  Not an excuse - but that computer virus I had has thrown my whole week off. 

My beautiful first daughter was born 18 years ago yesterday. (Look at all that hair!)  My water broke three weeks early - I wasn't even through lamaze classes yet!  I went into the hospital on Saturday night, but still, labor had not started.  Sunday morning - still no labor - so I was induced.  My lamaze teacher, Deena, came to be with me and help me through labor and delivery since I was CLUELESS!!! as to what I was supposed to do.  Looking back, this was probably a good thing! 

I remember watching Lady and the Tramp for the first time while waiting for Tori to be born.  Does anyone remember the series Life Goes On?  This was one series that I really loved to watch and I remember Tori was just born as the show was ending that night.  Isn't that a weird thing to remember? 

Tori is currently living with her grandma in my hometown in Iowa and working.  She loves to sing and plays the piano beautifully - and has composed some of her own songs.  Maybe you will see her on American Idol someday!   Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Tori through the years.

Do you think she looks like me?  (me at 6yrs old)


Tori's graduation picture

Why Hollywood in 1929? Guest post by Libby Sternberg (w/giveaway!)

WHY HOLLYWOOD IN 1929?
By Libby Sternberg

The place is Hollywood, the year is 1929. Just two years earlier, cinema’s gentry had watched—with “terror in all their faces,” according to Frances Goldwyn—the L.A. premiere of The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length sound movie. They’d known their world was about to change.

This tense atmosphere provides the backdrop for my novel Sloane Hall, which follows John Doyle, chauffeur for starlet Pauline Sloane, as Pauline is about to make her first sound picture. He falls in love with her, and just as they are about to find happiness together, he is repulsed by secrets she hides from the camera and the world. Although the book is inspired by Jane Eyre, it tells a fresh story of obsession and forgiveness.

Why did I choose this setting and time period to tell my Jane Eyre-inspired tale?

Here’s a secret—originally I’d set the book in the early 30s, when sound pictures were the norm and the tumult of transition was over. I worked on several drafts set during that time, in fact, honing and polishing and revising and tweaking. Those versions were very close to what is now the finished book except, of course, for the introduction of a couple key characters.

One new character added to the final version is Leo Bartenstein, a veteran cinematographer from the silent days who mentors the protagonist, John Doyle, and recommends him for the chauffeuring job after John ruins a reel of film at a studio job. I loved writing Leo and even considered a prequel that would have involved him and an unresolved crush on Lillian Gish!

The other “character” I introduced in the final version is the time period itself, which threatens Pauline’s and other stars’ livelihoods like a demon waiting in the shadows to snatch their breath away. I wanted the time itself to feel like a character.

Moving the novel back to the silent-to-sound years came upon me one day after I’d just finished reading Water for Elephants. I’d really enjoyed that book, and I was mulling the elements of the story that had made it so interesting and compelling. One was the time period—the 1930s. But that wasn’t the only fascinating part of the backdrop. It was the circus life and the pressures of that work environment, too. They became a separate character in the story.

Suddenly, it came to me—how much more tension would pervade the otherwise sunny backdrop of California if the heroine in my novel wasn’t just any starlet but one about to make her first sound picture. I knew that shifting the time to one where many in Hollywood feared for their jobs, where there was “terror in all their faces,” would give Sloane Hall the true Gothic feel of the original Jane.

Although the shift didn’t require a huge amount of actual rewriting work, it did mean a big chunk of research faced me. But this turned out to be a joy as I read books about that period, thrilling with every new discovery, and watched some old silents and early talkies with my husband. One of those silents, Sunrise, is now among my favorite movies.

I’ve been heartened to receive some lovely reviews of Sloane Hall so far. Romance Reviews Today says it’s “well worth reading,” while Fresh Fiction reports that “Sternberg never loses sight of the story she's re-telling, but this novel is definitely her own. Readers have things to figure out and look forward to. Her prose flows beautifully with vivid descriptions of people and places, bringing to life a Los Angeles of times gone by. Fans of historical fiction and Jane Eyre in particular will relish this novel, and readers who enjoy a love story should definitely pick this one up.”

I hope to hear from readers on whether they enjoy it, too. You can read an excerpt at my website or my blog (www.LibbysBooks.com or www.LibbysBooks.wordpress.com). Those who comment on this blog within the next 24 hours will have their names entered into a random drawing for a free copy of Sloane Hall.


----
Libby Sternberg is the author of YA mysteries (the first of which was an Edgar nominee) and women’s fiction. She also writes as Libby Malin. You can visit her blog at www.LibbysBooks.wordpress.com (where she blogs about Sloane Hall, old Hollywood, Jane Eyre and more), or her website at www.LibbysBooks.com . You can friend her on Facebook at Libby Sternberg, or contact her to get on her mailing list at Libby488 (at) yahoo (dot) com.



Monday, September 27, 2010

Mailbox Mayhem (Sept 20 - Sept 26)

Bison roam the Black Hills of South Dakota


In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren.  Mailbox Monday's host for September is Bermuda Onion . Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week!

Be prepared for a big mailbox as I won some books during blog fest and blogorama!  But I will say that I also sent out three big boxes of about 13-15 books each to my 3 lucky winners from Blog Fest!

E-BOOKS WON


by Destiny Booze

Angelica Chappell's story made huge headlines. Only a few months ago, she released a new pharmaceutical drug called Krytonix that effectively slows the spread of cancer cells. She had no idea her story would attract the attention of a serial killer. Suddenly, she is a target whether she realizes it or not. This killer is interested in more than her life. He wants her reputation, too. His first mission is to sabotage Krytonix.


William Pierce worked undercover for the FBI for five years to bring down a ruthless mobster that he ultimately is forced to kill. Two months have passed by since that assignment. Still, William saw things he can't talk about. He did things he can't talk about. He believes his soul is damned. Returning to "normal" everyday life isn't an option. He isn't the same man he used to be. He refuses to return to FBI headquarters, and instead, becomes a rogue agent with an agenda.

When Pierce's agenda leads him to Chappell, it will take both of them to keep Angelica alive and figure out who is after her. William soon finds himself developing feelings for Angelica. Too bad for her killer, William worked as a trained hit-man for the mob. Will he find her killer and hand him over to the legal system to see that justice is served, or will he search and destroy?



by A.C. Ellis

After more than ten years, Captain Susan Tanner has an assignment to pilot a ship. Is she being stalked because of her past, or her new assignment? She knows only that she can't turn this new assignment down.




by Heather Kuehl

To save everyone, she’ll have to do the unthinkable. Werewolf Sarah Vargas thought all she had to worry about was the Blood Moon Corporation's retaliation. She never dreamed that another vampire would arrive, disputing Damian's claim over the throne to Charleston, SC. To make matters worse, he is no ordinary vamp; he's a vampire necromancer. Exceptionally hard to kill, Sarah will have do whatever she can to keep those that she loves safe.

OTHER BOOKS WON:



by Kiki Howell

Kamillia is an author of paranormal romances living in an upscale suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.  Accused of being an actual witch herself by an ambitious group of businessmen with a dark agenda, she is surprised to find a man who resembles one of her fictional, alpha male heroes at her door offering her protection.

Luca is an immortal Watcher from the River of Light.  Sent to Earth to help Kamillia, whose true heritage has yet to be revealed to her, Luca is caught off guard by the fighting spirit of the woman and the way his human body betrays him in her presence.

When research for her next novel requires Kamillia to travel to Italy, she and Luca are forced to join together despite numerous obstacles to overcome the evil of many centuries blocking a portal there.  Only then, can she return to the problems awaiting her in her own city, with or without this stranger who has captured her heart but cannot share her future.




by Kiki Howell
Won at:
Authors by Authors

Conflicted by his ideas of fate and morality, David Ardington IV, who had been a rake in life, sees his eternal life as a vampire as a penance for shirking his noblesse oblige to his family.

When he meets Margaret, a sturdy maiden who after losing her parents in a tragic accident stifled her own needs to care for her sick brother, their attraction is immediate and undeniable. And yet, David fights his feelings for Margaret seeing her as the worst reminder of what he is and what he can never be again.

In the midst of the cruel realities of his vampire existence, David fears for her safety unsure if he can keep separate his physical longings from his bloodlust. Furthermore, when Margaret asks him to turn her brother to give him a second chance at life, he does not feel he can condemn anyone to the horrors of his dark existence either.

For David, could redemption lie in doing the unthinkable Margaret asks of him, or will it forever be elusive?



by Kelly Meding
Won at:
Authors by Authors

Evangeline Stone, a rogue bounty hunter, never asked for a world divided between darkness and light . .



. . . or the power to die and live again in someone else’s borrowed body. After a murder plot meant to take her out leaves an entire race of shapeshifters nearly extinct, Evy is gnawed by guilt. So when one of the few survivors of the slaughter enlists her aid, she feels duty-bound to help—even though protecting a frail, pregnant shifter is the last thing Evy needs, especially with the world going to hell around her.

Amid weres, Halfies, gremlins, vamps—and increasingly outgunned humans—a war for supremacy is brewing. With shifters demanding justice, her superiors desperate to control her, and an assassin on her trail, Evy discovers a horrifying conspiracy. And she may be the only person in the world who can stop it—unless, of course, her own side gets her first.






by Meredith Cagen
Won at:
Authors by Authors


Meet Lindsay Chandler-a 32 year-old New York working wife and mother with old-fashioned values who thinks she's living a fairy tale life (she's not). Then an unexpected friendship with her upstairs neighbor (he is smart, successful, sophisticated and sexy- she's not) unleashes her passion and re-ignites her sparkle. This liaison causes her to question the way she lives her life. Yearning for a storybook ending, she decides to make changes in her life, embarking on a quest for self re-invention.



by LM Preston

Shamira is considered an outcast by most, but little do they know that she is on a mission. Kids on Mars are disappearing, but Shamira decides to use the criminals most unlikely weapons against them the very kids of which they have captured.

In order to succeed, she is forced to trust another, something she is afraid to do. However, Valens, her connection to the underworld of her enemy, proves to be a useful ally. Time is slipping, and so is her control on the power that resides within her. But in order to save her brother's life, she is willing to risk it all.

FOR REVIEW:

by Robin Kaye

He might be too good to be true. . .

Ben Walsh shouldn't be single.  Handsome and wealthy, Ben is equally at home in Idaho where he grew up and in Manhattan where he's now an art dealer.  Suave and successful with impeccable taste, he normally has women beating down his door.  But the one woman he wants can't be convinced that he's for real. . .

And she doesn't have the luxury of believing in fairy tales. . .

Gina Reyez has fought for every bit of her success, and it's about time for things to start going her way.  So when Ben makes a proposal that will allow her to take care of her family the way she wants to, she agrees.  Besides, a guy this perfect would never be interested in her. . .right?

By the time Gina figures out that she's read Ben all wrong, their lives have become intertwined, and seriously complicated. . .





by Julie Metz

Julie Metz had seemingly the perfect life -- an adoring husband, a happy, spirited daughter, a lovely old house in a quaint suburban town -- but it was all a lie.

Julie Metz's life changed forever on one ordinary January afternoon when her husband, Henry, collapsed on the kitchen floor and died in her arms.  Suddenly, this mother of a six-year-old became the young widow in her bucolic small town.  But that was only the beginning.  Seven months after Henry's death, just when Julie thought she was emerging from the worst of it, came the rest of it: Henry had hidden another life from her.

Perfection is the story of rebuilding both a life and an identity after betrayal and widowhood.  It is a story of rebirth and happiness -- if not perfection.




by Kim Cash Tate

Three life-long friends experience life-altering struggles. Will they find the strength to be faithful to the covenants they've made with God...and each other?

Cydney Sanders thought she knew God's plan for her life. She'd marry, have kids, and then snap her body back into shape with Tae Bo. But she's celebrating her fortieth birthday as the maid of honor at her little sister's wedding . . . and still single. Why would God give her this desire to marry, but no husband? And why is her life suddenly complicated by the best man-who's the opposite of what she wants in a husband?

Cydney's best friend Dana has the perfect marriage. But when Dana discovers her husband's affair, her world goes into a tailspin. And Phyllis is out of hope after six years of unanswered prayers for her husband to find faith. When she runs into an old friend who is the Christian man she longs for, she's faced with an overwhelming choice.

With life falling apart around them, can they trust God like never before?






by Todd Ritter

Perry Hollow, Pennsylvania, has never had a murder.  At least not as long as Kat Campbell has been police chief.  And the first is a shocker.  George Winnick, a farmer in his sixties, is found in a homemade coffin on the side of the highway with his lips sewn shut and his veins and arteries drained of blood and filled with embalming fluid.  Chilling as that is, it becomes even more so when Kat finds that the Perry Hollow Gazette obituary writer, Henry Goll, received a death notice for Winnick before he was killed.

Soon after, the task force from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Investigation shows up and everything takes an irreversible turn for the worse.  Nick Donnelly, head of the task force, has been chasing the "Betsy Ross Killer," so named because he's handy with a needle and thread, for more than a year.  Winnick seems to be his fourth victim.  Or is he?

Kat has never handled a murder case before, but she's not about to sit by while someone terrorizes her sleepy little town or her only son.  But will her efforts be enough to stop a killer and to bring calm to Perry Hollow?

A portrait of a town in turmoil, where residents fear for their lives, Todd Ritter's Death Notice is a gripping debut from a terrific new talent in crime fiction.


by Walter Mosley

A masterful, moving novel about age, memory, and family from one of the true literary icons of our time.

Ptolemy Grey is ninety-one years old and has been all but forgotten-by his family, his friends, even himself-as he sinks into a lonely dementia. His grand-nephew, Ptolemy's only connection to the outside world, was recently killed in a drive-by shooting, and Ptolemy is too suspicious of anyone else to allow them into his life. until he meets Robyn, his niece's seventeen-year-old lodger and the only one willing to take care of an old man at his grandnephew's funeral.

But Robyn will not tolerate Ptolemy's hermitlike existence. She challenges him to interact more with the world around him, and he grasps more firmly onto his disappearing consciousness. However, this new activity pushes Ptolemy into the fold of a doctor touting an experimental drug that guarantees Ptolemy won't live to see age ninety- two but that he'll spend his last days in feverish vigor and clarity. With his mind clear, what Ptolemy finds-in his own past, in his own apartment, and in the circumstances surrounding his grand-nephew's death-is shocking enough to spur an old man to action, and to ensure a legacy that no one will forget.




by Gwyn Cready

Ambitious and feisty Josephine “Joss” O’Malley has spent years fighting to keep her mother’s map-making company alive. Just when she finds herself considering taking a risky next step with bad-boy entrepreneur Rogan Reynolds— whose generosity has helped keep the business afloat—Joss meets dark and mysterious Hugh Hawksmoor. Hugh’s deft touch and old-world seduction stir Joss’s desires like a storm at sea, and she has no clue that he has sailed three hundred years into the future to avenge the death of his brother at the hands of her father. Or that she holds the key to a map that will help him undo the destructive changes her father wrought in the past. When Hugh lures Joss into a treacherous journey through time, there’s not a twenty-first-century trick that can save her. But when she applies her own instincts to a course she thought was set, she discovers that the high seas hold some scandalous surprises.



by Alice Eve Cohen

A personal and medical odyssey beyond anything most women would believe possible

At age forty-four, Alice Eve Cohen was happy for the first time in years. After a difficult divorce, she was engaged to an inspiring man, joyfully raising her adopted daughter, and her career was blossoming. Alice tells her fiancé that she's never been happier. And then the stomach pains begin.

In her unflinchingly honest and ruefully witty voice, Alice nimbly carries us through her metamorphosis from a woman who has come to terms with infertility to one who struggles to love a heartbeat found in her womb - six months into a high-risk pregnancy.



What I Thought I Knew is a page-turner filled with vivid characters, humor, and many surprises and twists of fate. With the suspense of a thriller and the intimacy of a diary, Cohen describes her unexpected journey through doubt, a broken medical system, and the hotly contested terrain of motherhood and family in today's society. Timely and compelling, What I Thought I Knew will capture readers of memoirs such as Eat, Pray, Love; The Glass Castle; and A Three Dog Life.



by Avi Steinberg

Avi Steinberg is stumped.  After defecting from yeshiva to Harvard, he has only a senior thesis essay on Bugs Bunny to show for his effort.  While his friends and classmates advance in the world, he remains stuck at a crossroads, unable to meet the lofty expectations of his Orthodox Jewish upbringing.  And his romantic existence as a freelance obituary writer just isn't cutting it.  Seeking direction -- and dental insurance -- Steinberg takes a job as a librarian in a tough Boston prison.

The prison library counter, his new post, attracts con men, minor prophets, ghosts, and an assortment of quirky regulars searching for the perfect book and a connection to the outside world.  There's an amiable pimp who solicits Steinberg's help in writing a memoir.  An industrious gangster who dreams of hosting a cooking show title Thug Sizzle.  A disgruntled officer who instigates a major feud over a Post-it note.  An ex-stripper who asks Steinberg to orchestrate a reunion with her estranged son, himself an inmate.  Over time, Steinberg is drawn into the accidental community of outcasts that has formed among his bookshelves -- a drama he recounts with heartbreak and humor.

Running the Books is a trenchant personal exploration of prison culture and an entertaining tale of one young man's earnest attempt to find his place in the world while trying not to get fired in the process.




by Myla Goldberg

Leaders of a mercurial clique, Celia and Djuna subjected each other and their three followers to an endless cycle of reward and punishment that peaked one afternoon when all five girls walked home along a forbidden road.  Djuna disappeared that day; Celia blocked out what happened.  It was assumed Djuna was abducted, though neither she nor her abductor was ever found.

Twenty years later, Celia and her boyfriend Huck are professionally successful, but their relationship is in stasis.  When Celia's memory of that terrible day returns, she confronts her own responsibility for her best friend's disappearance and returns to her hometown to confess.  Her aging parents -- their love handicapped by a lifetime of reserve -- insist that she is innocent.  Her childhood friends don't believe her.  Huck wants to be supportive, but he can't ignore all that contradicts Celia's version of the past.

Deeply resonant and emotionally charged, The False Friend explores the adults that children become -- leading us to question the truths that we accept or reject, and the lies to which we succumb.



by Jennifer Estep

What kind of assasin works pro bono?

It's hard to be a badass assassin when a giant is beating the crap out of you.  Luckily, I never let pride get in the way of my work.  My current mission is personal; annihilate Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered my family.  Which means protecting my identity, even if I have to conceal my powerful Stone and Ice magic when I need it most.  To the public, I'm Gin Blanco, owner of Ashland's best barbecue joint.  To my friends, I'm the Spider, retired assassin.  I still do favors on the side.  Like ridding a vampire friend of her oversize stalker -- Mab's right-hand goon who almost got me dead with his massive fists.  At least irresistible Owen Grayson is on my side.  The man knows too much about me, but I'll take my chances.  Then there's Detective Bria Coolidge, one of Ashland's finest.  Until recently, I thought my baby sister was dead.  She probably thinks the same about me.  Little does she know, I'm a cold-blooded killer . . . who is about to save her life.




What books found a new home with you this week?










Sunday, September 26, 2010

A Hope Undaunted by Julie Lessman (Book Review)


Title: A Hope Undaunted (Winds of Change Book 1)
Author: Julie Lessman
Publisher: Revell

My synopsis: It is the end of the 1920's and there are many changes for women.  Katie plans to take advantage of all of them.  She swears that she is not going to be like the rest of the women in her family, and marry a man who will want her to bend her will to match his.  She is planning on becoming a lawyer and is starting law school in the fall.  She also has her sights set on Jack to be the man in her life.  He is wealthy, good-looking, well-connected, is also starting law school and she deems him perfect.  Then the pest from her past comes home.

Cluny McGee was abandoned by his mother and taken in grudgingly by his grandmother and eventually shipped off to an aunt when he was a teen.  He spent most of his time on the streets and met the O'Connor family when Brady (Katie's brother-in-law) took him in one summer.  Even though he was older than Katie, she was bigger than he was and the fur always flew when the two of them were in the same vicinity.  Now, Cluny is back, but has abandoned his nickname from his childhood and goes by Luke now.  He is also a lawyer and no longer does Katie tower over him. 

The first time they run into each other, they do not know who the other one is, and still the sparks are in the air.  When he shows up for dinner at the O'Connor's soon after, Katie is almost speechless.  This is not the Cluny she remembers from childhood, but she decides she still can't stand him.

Katie is very strong-willed and because of it, always tries to do things her way.  She often finds herself late for curfew, and one night her dad decides enough is enough.  He puts her on restriction for 2 1/2 months (no Jack!) and tells her she is going to have to volunteer at Boston Children's Aid Society five days a week!  She hasn't even started working there when she finds out that Luke has taken a job there as well!  She just can't get away from him. How is she going to get through an entire summer working with him??

My thoughts: Julie Lessman is a new-to-me author and I am very happy that I have found her!  The O'Connor family was a family that I think everyone who reads this will want to be a part of. They were so real and their problems and passions quickly became mine. I get very involved in stories and found myself crying with them in this one.  Something that I have given up trying to hide from my family.  They just roll their eyes...  There seems to be a theme in my life right now about getting rid of my will and letting God have his way.  This book continued on in that theme so was very close to my heart as I was reading it.  I guess that there is another series before this one called Daughters of Boston that tell the stories of Katie's three older sisters.  I am definitely adding that series to my TBR list!

Don't forget to enter Julie's Giveaway Extravaganza for the chance to win a Kindle - ends Oct 7th!

Available September 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

~I received a complimentary review copy from Baker Publishing.~

Publisher/Publication Date: Revell, Sept 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8007-3415-2
505 pages



Viruses and Spam!

This was me for much of this week!  I got a mother-of-a-virus on my system that left me pretty much immobilized!  Whenever I tried to remove the application causing the problem, it would tell me the program that I was using to remove it had a virus!  Very frustrating!  This has put me tremendously behind (no posts in six days!) and I have a stack of books next to me waiting for reviews - not to mention my mailbox post.  Aaarrgghhh.  Then, I finally get back on line today (thanks to my ex-husband, the computer tech - good thing we are still friends!) only to find mucho spam on my blog.  I love the spam catcher that blogspot is using because ever since I participated in the blogfest a couple of weeks, my spam has exploded!  Any body else dealing with this?  Well, just wanted to updated why I had been away, and hope to get back on track!  Happy weekend and happy reading!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Here, Home, Hope ---- You Choose!

Kaira needs your help!






















Which would you choose?  You can vote at Facebook until Wednesday, 5pm EST.  Go make your vote count!


Kaira Rouda

Kaira is an award winning author, entrepreneur, mom of four who lives in Malibu, CA. She was selected as one of Forbes' 30 women to follow on Twitter and Twittergrader's Most Powerful Women. Her first novel women's fiction novel - Here, Home, Hope - is comingt May 2011.

http://www.kairarouda.com/

Links:
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Facebook





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