Mailbox Monday (Jan 10, 2011)

 Mailbox Monday's host for January is Rose City Reader.In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren. Please visit this posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week! 

Never Been Kissed

by Melody Carlson

Revell

New School = New chance for that first kiss

Summer is ending, and for once that doesn't seem like such a bad thing to Elise.  She's hoping that starting fresh at a new high school will turn her first-kiss prospects around.  New guys, new friends, and a new lease on life.

What she wasn't counting on was all the new pressure -- to hang with the right crowd, wear the right clothes, and date the right guy.  Just when it seems she's on top of the world, everything comes crashing down.  Could one bad choice derail her future?

~I received this book for a Revell/Baker tour happening the week of Jan 23.~

To Have and To Kill

by Mary Jane Clark

William Morrow

Piper Donovan never imagined that decorating wedding cakes could be so dangerous!  A struggling actress with no immediate prospects and a recently broken engagement, Piper moves back in with her parents to take stock of her life.  She steps tentatively into the family bakery business and finds herself agreeing to create a wedding cake for the acclaimed star of a daytime television drama.  But soon someone close to the bride-to-be is horribly murdered and it seems that that someone is ruthlessly determined to stop the wedding.

With the help of her former neighbor, Jack, a handsome FBI agent with a soft spot for the gorgeous cake-maker, Piper moves closer to the truth.  And as she narrows in on a suspect, she realizes that it's hotter in the kitchen than she may be able to handle. . .

~I received this book from Harper Collins and hope to have it reviewed in the next 6-8 weeks.~

The Memory Palace

by Mira Bartok

Simon and Schuster

Mira Bartok spent seventeen years hoping that her mother, Norma Herr, would never find her.  A severe case of schizophrenia caused Norma to obsess over her daughters' lives -- calling them fifty times a day or more, appearing unannounced at their jobs and homes, threatening them if they suggested that she get treatment for her illness.  After Norma violently attacked her daughters when they insisted she get help, Mira and her sister decided that they must change their names and cut off all contact in order to stay safe.

During the nearly two decades that they spent apart, Mira traveled the world -- exploring the ancient romance of Florence, the eerie mysticism of northern Norway, the raw desert of Israel -- but she could not completely abandon her past.  As Mira struggled to balance her alliance with her sister, her burgeoning art career, and her anguish over losing her mother, she and Norma began exchanging letters through post office boxes.

At age forty, a debilitating car accident left Mira with a terrible brain injury.  She could retrain herself to draw and to write, but struggled to regain memories.  When she learns that her mother has been hospitalized with terminal cancer, Mira and her sister decide to visit Norma before it is too late.  In those final weeks, they experience a cathartic reunion that none of them had imagined possible, and Mira begins to reconnect with the memories that she feared had been lost.  The Memory Palace is a stunning memoir that explores the bond between mother and daughter that cannot be broken no matter how much exists -- or is lost -- between them.

~I received this book from Simon and Schuster through Shelf Awareness and hope to have it reviewed by the end of February.~



Family Affair

by Debbie Macomber

William Morrow

Lacey Lancaster has always longed to be a wife and mother.  However, after a painful divorce, she decides it's time to lay low for a while in her charming San Francisco apartment with her beautiful Abyssinian cat, Cleo.

Everything would be wonderful, except for her utterly impossible neighbor Jack Walker.  When he's not arguing day and night with his girlfriend, begging her to move in with him, he's chasing down his cat named Dog, who seems determined to get Cleo to succumb to his feline advances.

Then Lacey discovers the awful truth -- Cleo is in the family way and Dog's to blame.  She's furious that neither Jack nor his amorous animal seem too upset about the situation.

But Lacey learns that things are not quite as they seem.  Jack's "girlfriend" is really his sister -- and his intentions toward Lacey are very honorable.  And though she's not quite sure about Dog, Lacey begins to discover the tender joy of falling in love all over again.

~I received this book from Harper Collins and hope to have it reviewed in the next 6 weeks.~

Ghost Country

by Patrick Lee

Harper Collins

For decades, inexplicable technology has passed into our world through the top secret anomaly called the Breach.

The latest device can punch a hole into the future. . .

What Paige Campbell saw when she opened a door into seventy years from now scared the hell out of her.  She and her Tangent colleagues brought their terrible discovery to the President -- and were met with a hail of automatic gunfire after leaving the White House.  Only Paige survived.

Fearing a terrifying personal destiny revealed to him from the other side of the Breach, Travis Chase abandoned Tangent. . . and Paige Campbell.  Now he must rescue her -- because Paige knows tomorrow's world is desolate and dead, a ghost country scattered with the bones of billions.  And Doomsday will dawn in just four short months. . . unless they can find the answers buried in the ruins to come.

But once they cross the nightmare border into Ghost Country, they might never find their way back. . .

~I received this book from Harper Collins and hope to review it in the next 6-8 weeks.~

Altar of Eden

by James Rollins

Harper Collins

Baghdad falls. . . and armed men are seen looting the city zoo.  Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground lab is ransacked -- and something horrific is set loose upon the world.

Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk investigates an abandoned shipwrecked fishing trawler carrying exotic caged animals, part of a black market smuggling ring.  But there is something disturbingly wrong with these beasts -- each an unsettling mutation of the natural order, all sharing one uncanny trait:  incredibly heightened intelligence.

Joining forces with U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jack Menard -- a man who shares with her a dark and bloody past -- Lorna sets out to uncover the truth about this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses.  Because a beast escaped the shipwreck and is running amok -- and what is about to be born upon the altar of Eden could threaten not only the future of the world but the very foundation of what it means to be human.

~I received this book from Harper Collins and hope to review it in the next 6-8 weeks.~

The Tapestry of Love

by Rosy Thornton

Headline Review

A rural idyll:  that's what Catherine is seeking when she sells her house in England and moves to a tiny hamlet in the Cevennes mountains.  With her divorce in the past and her children grown, she is free to make a new start, and to set up in business as a seamstress.  But this is a harsh and lonely place when you're no longer here on holiday.  There is French bureaucracy to contend with, not to mention the mountain weather, and the reserve of her neighbours, including the intriguing Patrick Castagnol.  And that's before the arrival of Catherine's sister, Bryony. . .

~I received a copy of this book from the author and will review it in the next 6-8 weeks.~

Deed So

by Katharine A. Russell

Create Space

A young girl struggles to understand a tightening web of racial and generational tensions during the turbulent 1960s in the astonishing new novel, Deed So by Katharine Russell.  All twelve-year-old Haddie Bashford wants is to leave the closed-minded world of Wicomico Corners behind, in the hopes that brighter future awaits elsewhere.  But when she witnesses the brutal killing of a black teen, Haddie finds her family embroiled in turmoil fraught with racial tensions.  Tempers flare as the case goes to trial, but things are about to get even hotter when an arsonist suddenly begins to terrorize the town.  Can Haddie help save her town, and herself?

Gorgeously written and filled with warm, luminous characters, Deed So is both a snapshot of tumultuous time and a moving coming-of-age story of a remarkable young girl.

~I received this book from the author through Bostick Communications.  I should have it reviewed in the next 8 weeks.~

The Truth About Vampires

by Theresa Meyers

Harlequin Nocturne

Pulling back the veil on a world shrouded in darkness, Theresa Meyers' stunning debut reveals a sinfully handsome vampire whose secret is about to exposed....

All her life Seattle reporter Kristin Reed sought her breakout story. She never thought she'd find it in the crimson lair of a real life creature of the night. Kristin never believed vampires existed--until with dark brooding eyes and a decadent chocolate scent, Dmitri Dionotte called out to her....

Dmitri and his clan's true nature was cloaked in secrecy until a warring vampire order threatened their existence. Kristin was just the woman he needed. She couldn't resist their story...or Dmitri. Her blood pulsed hot and furious when he touched her, and with his kiss, all logic fled. But each night she spent with her vampire lover brought her closer to death and destruction. A death not even an immortal could triumph over.

 

~I received this E-book from Roxanne at Bewitching Book Tours.  Watch for my review March 22 and author interview March 17.~

Three Seconds

by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom

Sterling Publishing

In this dark and gripping novel from best-selling Swedish writing duo Roslund and Hellstrom, ex-con Piet Hoffman is the Swedish police's most valuable informant on a deadly mission.  He has infiltrated the ruthless Polish mafia, trying to take control of illegal drug distribution within the Swedish prison system.  Success will mean freedom and the chance to start a new life with his wife and young sons.

Then a botched drug deal involving Hoffman results in murder.  The investigation, assigned to the brilliant but haunted Detective Inspector Ewert Grens, leads to a string of unsolved cases in which key evidence has been withheld under mysterious circumstances.  As Grens's investigation takes him closer to the truth, government lies are exposed and Hoffman is trapped in prison, wanted dead by both the police and the mafia.  He has only one chance to make it out alive and start a new life.  Once chance and Three Seconds.

~I received a copy of this book from February Partners through Shelf Awareness. Watch for my February review.~





Legacy

by Jeanette Baker

Sourcebooks Casablanca

A Dream Come True. . .

Christina Murray is elated to inherit her family's ancestral Scottish home, especially when she meets her gorgeous neighbor Ian Douglas, full of Scottish charm and intriguing knowledge of the house's secrets. . .

Turns Into a Nightmare. . .

But at night, Christina is visited by haunting dreams from ghostly ancestors who lead her through the terrifying labyrinth of her family's bloody history.  As much as Ian longs to help her, there's nothing he can do to alleviate Christina's terrors. . .

Clinging to her sanity and to her newfound love for Ian.  Christina discovers the family curse that threatens to bring them both to a terrifying end. . .

~I received a copy of this book from Sourcebooks for a March review.~

Merely Magic

by Patricia Rice

Sourcebooks Casablanca

She has the magic as her birthright. . .

Ninian is a healer, but she's a Malcolm first and foremost, and Malcolms have always had a bit of magic -- unpredictable though it is -- to aid them in their pursuits.  She knows she must accept what she is or perish, but then Lord Drogo Ives arrives, bringing the deepest, most powerful magic she's ever experienced and turning Ninian's world upside down. . .

A man of science doesn't believe in anything he can't see. . .

Drogo Ives has not time for foolish musings or legends, even if he can't seem to resist the local witch.  Thrown together by a series of disastrous events, Ninian won't give herself fully to Drogo until she can make him trust and believe in her, and that's the last thing he'll ever do. . .

As the danger and chaos surrounding them escalates, Drogo and Ninian will be forced to decide: their love or their lives. . .

~I received a copy of this book from Sourcebooks for a March review.~

After the Darkness

by Sidney Sheldon and Tilly Bagshawe

Harper Collins

What happens when the woman who has everything loses everything. . . and the man who has nothing realizes he has nothing to lose?

The young, naive wife of a multi-billionaire financial superstar, Grace Brookstein's life is the stuff of fantasy.  In New York, Lenny Brookstein is the King of the Wall Street social scene, both liked and respected in the worlds of high finance and high society.

Then one day Lenny vanishes, his yacht discovered abandoned far out at sea.  The police believe his death was no accident, that his involvement in a spectacular financial fraud was about to be exposed to the world.  But Grace can't accept the terrible allegations now coming to light, and she will learn the truth. . . even if that truth destroys her.

~I received this book from Harper Collins for a review in the next 6-8 weeks.~



The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson

by Jerome Charyn

W.W. Norton and Company

Jerome Charyn has been writing some of the most bold and adventurous American fiction for over forty years. His ten-book cycle of novels about madcap New York mayor and police commissioner Isaac Sidel inspired a new generation of younger writers in America and France, where he is a national literary icon. Now, adding to his already distinguished career, Charyn gives us The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson, an audacious novel about the inner imaginative world of America’s greatest poet. Channeling the devilish rhythms and ghosts of a seemingly buried literary past, Charyn has removed the mysterious veils that have long enshrouded Dickinson, revealing her passions, inner turmoil, and powerful sexuality.

The story begins in the snow. It’s 1848, and Emily is a student at Mount Holyoke, with its mournful headmistress and strict, strict rules. She sees the seminary’s blond handyman rescue a baby deer from a mountain of snow, in a lyrical act of liberation that will remain with her for the rest of her life. The novel revivifies such historical figures as Emily’s brother, Austin, with his crown of red hair; her sister-in-law, Sue; a rival and very best friend, Emily’s little sister, Lavinia, with her vicious army of cats; and especially her father, Edward Dickinson, a controlling congressman. Charyn effortlessly blends these very factual characters with a few fictional ones, creating a dramatis personae of dynamic breadth.

Inspired by her letters and poetry, Charyn has captured the occasionally comic, always fevered, ultimately tragic story of Dickinson’s journey from Holyoke seminarian to dying recluse, compulsively scribbling lines of genius in her Amherst bedroom. Rarely before has the nineteenth-century world of New England—its religious stranglehold, its barbaric insane asylums, its circus carnivals—been captured in such spectacular depth. Through its lyrical inflections and poetic rhythms, its invention of a distinct, twenty-first-century “Charynesque” language that pays remarkable homage to America’s sovereign literary past, The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson provides a resonance of such power as to make this an indelible work of literature in its own right.

~I received this E-book from Tribute Books for a February 18th review.~

What books came home to you this week?







Mailbox Monday (Jan 3, 2010)

 Mailbox Monday's host for January is Rose City Reader. Please visit this posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week! 

MY KINDLE CAME ON NEW YEAR'S EVE!  I was the lucky winner of a Kindle from Bitten By Books and Louise Marley.  I believe this contest was last August and I had given up on ever winning won, but got the notice about a week before Christmas! 

 And though this did not come in my mailbox - Santa brought me a Nook Color for Christmas!  I have had so much fun playing with these two readers!  Though I must say that the touch screen and the color on the Nook has made it more my favorite. 

So - I can now accept review books on Kindle or Nook and help out my bookshelves!

The Girl Who Became a Beatle

by Greg Taylor

Feiwell and Friends (MacMillan)

She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!

When Regina Bloomsbury's band, the Caverns, breaks up, she thinks it's all over.  And then she makes a wish --

"I wish I could be as famous as the Beatles."

The Beatles are her music idols.  The next day, she wakes up to find that the Caverns are not just as famous as the Beatles, they have replaced them in history!  Regina is living like a rock star, and loving it. There are talk shows, music videos, and live concerts with thousands of screaming fans.  And Regina is the star of it all.

But fame is getting the better of Regina, and she has a decision to make.  Does she want to replace the Beatles forever?

Here is a rocking novel about the good and the bad of Hollywood, fame, and rock 'n' roll.

Greg Taylor is the author of the novel Killer Pizza.  The Girl Who Became a Beatle has been optioned for film by Raffaella De Laurentiis.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Feiwel and Friends through Shelf Awareness.  Watch for my review in February.~

Two Years, No Rain

by Shawn Klomparens

Delta Trade

In a hilarious and moving story of self-reinvention, a down-on-his-luck San Diego meteorologist learns how to live life without a forecast map -- and finds out that love is a lot less predictable than the weather.

Being a weatherman in Southern California seems like the easiest gig in the world -- especially when it hasn't rained in more than five hundred days.  It's the hurricane-force changes in Andy Dunne's personal life that have him ducking for cover: His wife's left him, he's lost his job as the lead forecaster for an obscure satellite radio station, and he's entangled in an intoxicating flirtation with a colleague, the beautiful -- and very married -- Hillary Hsing.  The weekend outlook gets even stranger when Andy finds overnight fame as the magic-carpet-riding host of a smash-hit children's television show.  All of a sudden, Hillary's looking at him in a whole new light, while an endless parade of hot moms are begging for his -- ahem -- autograph.  It's high time this newly minted minor celebrity started making some major life choices -- ones more complicated than calling for nothing but blue skies ahead.

I won this book from Catherine McKenzie at the facebook page: I bet we can make these books bestsellers.

Get Energy! Empower Your Body, Love Your Life

by Denise Austin

Center Street

With busy schedules, demanding careers, and little time, many of us battle just to stay awake.  But energy is something that is in our control, even when time is short.  Now fifty-two years young, fitness guru Denise Austin shows you how to supercharge your life, using her innovative lifestyle plan.  Her approach is simple and easy to implement, and includes:

• Self-evaluating tools to help you target your specific needs
• Quick and easy illustrated mini workouts and stretching routines
• Tips to tweak your lifestyle that will have long-lasting effects
• Simple changes to incorporate in everything from the foods you consume to the way you sit in your chair.

Results will be felt in as little as a week: radiant skin, more restful sleep, and a sharper mind.  In this brand-new guidebook for the stressed out, burned out, and overloaded, Denise Austin provides a path to a positive, energy-filled new way of life.

Denise Austin has been a health and fitness advocate for over twenty-five years, and is a two-term member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.  She has created eighty-two workout videos/DVD's and is a regular columnist for Women's Day magazine.  She lives with her husband and daughters outside Washington, DC.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Hachette Books.  Watch for my review this month.~

Love Food and Live Well

by Chantel Hobbs

Waterbrook Multnomah

Go ahead. Get passionate about the food you eat.

You don't have to hide it.  You can love food and lose weight at the same time!  The secret, which you'll learn about in Love Food and Live Well, is to know when to have carrot cake and when it's time for just a carrot.

For most dieters, food is the daunting factor that trips up our best intentions to lose weight and get fit.  Let Chantel Hobbs teach you that food is not the enemy!  It's our attitudes toward it that defeat us.  Losing weight does not require being deprived of the foods you love and being forced to eat boring, tasteless meals, and left feeling hungry most of the time.

Turn food into your ally by following Chantel's 80/20 rule: A full 20 percent of the time, splurge on the foods you love and incorporate them into celebrations and social occasions.  The remaining 80 percent of the time, choose food on the basis of delivering maximum fuel for your body and ultimate health.  Simply by having freedom in what you eat, you can train youself in self-discipline and achieve sustainable weight loss, being free from food anxiety.

Using personal inventories, original recipes, food plans, and new, detailed exercises for strength training and aerobic fitness, Chantel will inspire you to live well in every area of life.  What are you waiting for?  Start the pursuit of a life lived well and healthy: body, mind, and spirit.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from TBB Media.  Watch for my review before Jan 15.~

Living Inside the Testimony

by Betty Collier

Cross Books

Living Inside the Testimony is a collection of anecdotes compiled by author Betty Collier.  In reading these stories, you will share in her journey and experience the inspiration, faith, hope, humor, romance, and love she experienced.  The stories in Living Inside the Testimony revolve around Betty's experiences with her family, friends, and other individuals who have contributed, often unknowingly, to the path God has chosen for her.  You will hear the story of how Betty fell in love at age fourteen (with her future husband), about her husband's near-death experience with emergency brain surgery at a young age, her experiences in New York a week prior to 9/11, and the frustrating ordeal she and her husband overcame when trying to build their dream home.

Betty attributes her success and her great love to God, and she shares with readers how God has orchestrated her life's path every step of the way.  Betty's prayer is that you will see and feel Proverbs 3: 5-6 come alive and speak to your heart as you take a walk with her, inside her testimony.  She hopes you enjoy the journey and discover that we all live inside testimonies meant to be shared with others.

Betty Collier is a wife, mother, daughter, sister, nurse, author, and child of the King.  Married to William Collier since 1986, they live in Bartlett, Tennessee, with their sons, Jordan William and Brandon William.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author for a First Wild Card Tour on Feb 4.~

Words

by Ginny L. Yttrup

B & H Publishing

"I collect words. I keep them in a box in my mind. I'd like to keep them in a real box, something pretty, maybe a shoe box covered with flowered wrapping paper.  Whenever I wanted, I'd open the box and pick up the papers, reading and feeling the words all at once.  Then I could hide the box.  But the words are safer in my mind.  There, he can't take them."

Ten-year old Kaylee Wren doesn't speak.  Not since her drug-addled mother walked away, leaving her in a remote cabin nestled in the towering redwoods in the care of a man who is as dangerous as he is evil.  With silence her only refuge, Kaylee collects words she might never speak from the only memento her mother left behind: a dictionary.

Sierra Dawn is thirty-four, an artist, and alone.  She has allowed the shame of her past to silence her present hopes and chooses to bury her pain by trying to control her circumstances.  But on the twelfth anniversary of her daughter's death, Sierra's control begins to crumble as the God of her childhood woos her back to Himself.

Brought together by Divine design, Kaylee and Sierra will discover together the healing mercy of the Word -- Jesus Christ.

Ginny L. Yttrup is an accomplished freelance writer, speaker, and life coach who also ministers to women wounded by sexual trauma.  Her blogs include Fiction Creator, My Daily Light and Crossings Life Coaching.  She has two grown sons and lives in California.  Words is her first novel.

 ~I received a complimentary copy of this book from B&H Publishing for a First Wild Card Tour on Feb 2.~

The Matchmaker of Kenmare

by Frank Delaney

Random House

A lush and surprising historical novel, rich as a myth, tense as a thriller, from the New York Times bestselling author of Ireland and Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show, for fans of Frank Delaney's previous novels, and readers of all historical fiction.

In July 1943, as World War II rattles Europe, Ben McCarthy (returning narrator of Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show) meets an enigmatic woman -- Miss Begley, the sharp-witted matchmaker of Kenmare -- and a powerful friendship begins.  Miss Begley helps Ben rebuild himself after the savage loss of his beloved wife, and he stands by her as she nervously makes a match for herself -- with Charles Miller, an impressive U.S. officer. Miller tests Miss Begley's infatuation by sending her on a dangerous errand into enemy terrain.  Exploiting the freedom of movement granted to citizens of neutral Ireland, she and Ben snatch a man the Americans need ahead of D-Day.  The adventure changes many lives, draws Ben and Miss Begley into ever deeper commitments, and hammers home a harsh lesson of war: the neutrality of one's country doesn't secure the neutrality of one's soul.

Frank Delaney was born in Tipperary, Ireland.  Before publishing Ireland, Simple Courage, Tipperary, Shannon, and Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show, he enjoyed a career in broadcasting that earned him fame across the United Kingdom.  A former judge of the Booker Prize, he lectures widely about writing, writes a blog on FrankDelaney.com, and maintains a Twitter feed and a Facebook page.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Leah at Meier.  Watch for my February review.~

Anyone Can Die

by James LePore

The Story Plant

LePore returns to the characters of A World I Never Made to present us with three suspenseful and unforgettable stories:

TILL DEATH DO US PART  A young Pat Nolan and his wife are on their honeymoon in New Mexico when they find a bond they did not know they had as they are forced to confront trouble in the form of a surly trio of locals.

GOD'S WARRIORS  Megan Nolan, a cynical American woman on her own in Europe makes a life-changing decision that both reveals and belies her true character.

MAX   Max French, a quirky, deadly and, in his own eyes, oddly lovable FBI agent faces a personal drama that will set the course of his future.

James LePore is an attorney who has practiced law for more than two decades, and an accomplished photographer.  He is the author of two novels, A World I Never Made and Blood of My Brother.  His next novel, Sons and Princes, will come from The Story Plant in the spring of 2011.

 ~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tracee at Pump Up Your Book Tours for a Feb 11 review.~

At the Crossroads of Terror

by Lenny Emanuelli

E.P. Publishing

An Asian Crime family with the Perfect Setup, an unsolved double homicide, a billion dollar drug business, a wannabe, big time, news reporter, creating the perfect setting, for a suspenseful romantic mystery thriller.

Charlie Johnson, a man suspected of killing a local merchant, reluctantly teams up with a television street reporter, Sherry Mann. Trying to prove he is innocent, which takes them both deep into the world of an organized Asian street gang, who is on the verge of making their biggest stride in their drug business.

Lenny Emanuelli, a song writer since the late 1960's, his credits include over forty songs recorded by various artists and the 1975 musical play "Dreamin' My Life Away"





 ~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Phenix Publicity.  Watch for my review this month.~

 WHAT CAME IN YOUR MAILBOX THIS WEEK?











Wolf Fever by Terry Spear (Book Review)

Title: Wolf Fever (Heart of the Wolf - Book 6)
Author: Terry Spear
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca


My Synopsis: Carol is a recently turned lupus garou - who has another ability.  She has visions of the future - usually signifying trouble.  These visions have enabled her to keep from shifting for five months.  She is troubled because one of her visions has shown her members of her new wolf family as wolves - unable to shift back. She is afraid that if she shifts, she will not be able to shift back again. 

Since she is newly turned and unmated AND has not shifted - Darien, the pack leader - has moved her into his house in order to keep an eye on her.  He wants her to learn their ways and doesn't want her shifting unexpectedly.  He knows it will happen, it is just a matter of time.  He also feels it is his responsibility to find her a mate.

Ryan McKinley is leader of a pack from a neigboring town and a P.I.  Carol's visions had helped him to solve a murder, but he has been unable to get her out of his head.  He says it is because he doesn't believe she is psychic and wants to get to the bottom of how she came upon her information.  The harder he tries to prove she is a fraud, the more he starts to believe her, all the while neither one of them can seem to fight the growing attraction between them.

A mysterious flu sweeps through the community and before anyone can stop it, some of the wolves have shifted and cannot change back.  It is up to Carol and Ryan to figure out what is going on and if they are going to be able to stop it in time.

My Thoughts: I did like this book -  but I had a hard time picturing Carol.  I don't think it had so much to do with her description, but the fact that I know too many Carols.  My mom is Karol, my MIL is Carol and my next door neighbor is Carol.  None of these women are young, sexy, wolf-like, (lol) so it took some time for me to erase my Carols and embrace this Carol.  Once I really got into the story though, it got easier.  This book was a little slower moving than previous books by Ms. Spear that I had read.  It seemed to take longer to get to the "mystery" that needed to be solved.  And while I grew to like Carol and Ryan together, I didn't instantly feel their chemistry - and maybe that was how it was supposed to be as neither one of them really wanted to be mated either. 

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Sourcebooks in exchange for my review.~



Wolf Fever
Publisher/Publication Date: Sourcebooks Casablanca, Dec 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3752-2
399 pages

Brooklyn Story by Suzanne Corso (Book Review)

Title: Brooklyn Story
Author: Suzanne Corso
Publisher: Gallery Books


My synopsis: This is the story of Samantha.  She is 15 years old, Brooklyn born and bred.  Bensonhurst to be exact.  She is different than a lot of the other kids because she is half Jewish, half Italian.  If you aren't full-blooded Italian, it is hard to fit in in the neighborhood.  Her father took off before she ever had the chance to know him, so it has been just her, her mom, and her grandma. 

Her mom isn't much as far as support goes.  She liked to have a good time when Sam was younger and many men were paraded through the apartment.  It was Sam's grandma who kept her grounded and encouraged.  Sam loved to write and with an old typewriter that her grandma gave her, she was aspiring to become an author and make it to the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge.  Her life was really going to start when she was able to make it in Manhattan. 

Then, her best friend Janice and her boyfriend Richie, introduced her to Tony Kroon.  Sam had never really had a boyfriend before, and Tony blew into her life like a tornado.  Everybody knew the Priganti Family ran the neighborhood and Tony along with Richie, were friends with Vin Priganti.  It always seemed they had to be somewhere or there was some job they needed to go take care of.  Sam had always prided herself on her honesty, but it wasn't long before she was looking the other way and ignoring the signs that the gifts and money that Tony lavished on her were probably ill-gotten gains.  She was in love with him as any teenager is with their first love.  She imagined that once she got her publishing deal that he would join her on the other side of the bridge and then they wouldn't have to live according to Bensonhurst's rules. 

My thoughts:  This was a great coming of age story, and though I have never been anywhere Brooklyn, I definitely felt like I was there.  The only experience I have with the area is through TV, books - but the dialect and the way the guys treated their girls made me feel like I was there.  There was a lot of references to songs throughout the story - it begins in 1978 and goes through the early 80's - right when I was becoming a teenager - and those songs really brought back memories to me.  The descriptions of the women's clothes and their teased hair definitely made me picture how "Mafia" wives might have looked during this time. 

I really like Samantha and wanted to slap her upside the head when she let Tony get away with some of the stuff that he did.  It was encouraging to see her grow and really find her strength (as well as Janice).  She embraced fully who she was and never made any excuses for her own behavior.  She just knew at an early age what she wanted to do and where she wanted to end up, and though she was blown off track for awhile, she finally regained her footing and continued to move forward.   The story really pulled me in and I was able to fly through the book in just a couple of days. 

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Gallery Books in exchange for my review.~

 

Brooklyn Story
Publisher/Publication Date: Gallery Books, Dec 28, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4391-9022-7
336 pages

ARC Arrival: The Athena Project by Brad Thor

The Athena Project

by Brad Thor

Atria

The world's most elite counterterrorism unit has just taken its game to an entirely new level.  And not a moment too soon. . .

From behind the rows of razor wire, a new breed of counterterrorism operator has emerged.

Just as skilled, just as fearsome, and just as deadly as their colleagues, Delta Force's newest members have only one thing setting them apart -- their gender.  Part of a top-secret, all-female program codenamed The Athena Project, four of Delta's best and brightest women are about to undertake one of the nation's deadliest assignments.

When a terrorist attack in Rome kills more than twenty Americans, Athena Team members Gretchen Casey, Julie Ericsson, Megan Rhodes, and Alex Cooper are tasked with hunting down the Venetian arms dealer responsible for providing the explosives.  But there is more to the story than anyone knows.

In the jungles of South America, a young U.S. intelligence officer has made a grisly discovery.  Surrounded by monoliths covered with Runic symbols, one of America's greatest fears appears to have come true.  Simultaneously in Colorado, a foreign spy is close to penetrating the mysterious secret the U.S. government has hidden beneath Denver International Airport.

As Casey, Ericsson, Rhodes, and Cooper close in on their target, they will soon learn that another attack -- one of unimaginable proportions -- has already been set in motion, and the greatest threat they face may be the secrets kept by their own government.

About the author: Brad Thor is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Foreign Influence, The Apostle, The Last Patriot, The First Commandment, Takedown, Blowback (recognized by NPR as one of the "100 Best Thrillers of All Time"), State of the Union, Path of the Assassin, and The Lions of Lucerne.  Visit his website at http://www.bradthor.com/.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Atria.  Please watch for my review in late February.~

 

The Athena Project
Publisher/Publication Date: Atria, Nov 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4391-9295-5
336 pages

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Dec 27, 2010)

What are you reading on Mondays is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey - You can hook up with the Mr. Linky there with your own post - but be sure and let me know what you are reading too! 


Currently Reading:
Brooklyn Story by Suzanne Corso
When No One is Watching  by Joseph Hayes
Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms by Ralph Keyes

E-Book:
Out of Time: A Paranormal Romance by Monique Martin


Bathroom Book:
Wolf Fever by Terry Spear


Audio Book:
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris

Books Reviewed Last Week:
The Waiting by Suzanne Woods Fisher
The Christmas Journey by Donna VanLiere


Children's Books Reviewed Last Week:

Ready- Set- Read!

Mailbox Monday (Dec 27, 2010)

 Mailbox Monday's host for December is Lady Q at Let Them Read Books. Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week!  Please click on the book titles to learn more about them.

ARC ARRIVALS

A Stitch Before Dying by Anne Canadeo

Endgame by Frank Brady

Book of Days by James L. Rubart

The Dressmaker by Posie Graeme-Evans

Wonderful Win

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

What books came home to you this week?

Birth of The Christmas Shoes (Guest Post by Donna VanLiere and Giveaway)

When I found out that Donna VanLiere was going to guest post on my blog, I knew that I had to ask her about her book The Christmas Shoes.  My question was how the song/book/movie came about.  The song never fails to bring tears to my eyes (as well as my teenage daughter's), and is one of my absolute favorite songs.  Just a day after requesting this topic for her guest post I was able to cry through the movie as well.  So read the post - and see if you were right as to which came first - the book or the song.

Song to Book to Movie and Back to Book and Song Again
Donna VanLiere
Latest book: The Christmas Journey
www.donnavanliere.com

Ten years ago I traveled to Knoxville, TN in the sweltering heat of July with my husband to visit our friends from NewSong, who were in concert. As we stood backstage in the arena, I could barely hear our friend Eddie because of the other band on stage. It was loud and dark and Eddie bent close to my ear. “I’m thinking of writing a Christmas song.” He gave me a short, two-sentence premise (basically: a little boy who wants to buy a pair of shoes for his mother who is dying but he can’t afford them so some man buys them for him) and then asked, “Do you think that would make a good song?” I said, “I think that would make a good book.”


I began to formulate an outline in my head at the concert and when I returned home I started to write. A few weeks later Eddie called and said they had the song produced and asked if my husband and I wanted to hear it. We listened on speakerphone and I cried when I heard The Christmas Shoes for the first time. The song became a favorite on radio and went to number one on the Billboard Chart, taking just three weeks to get there, faster than any song in history. I told Eddie years later that had he played the song for me in its entirety that I probably would have never been inspired because the story is all there in the song but because he gave me such little information I was able to see the entire book in my head.


The book was picked up by CBS and became a movie and when I was asked to write another Christmas book, The Christmas Blessing, CBS picked that one up, too and NewSong wrote a song of the same name for the movie. My publisher asked to write another book, The Christmas Hope and that one also became a movie with a song by NewSong. The Christmas Secret is set to be a movie for Lifetime in 2011 and I hope it will include a song by NewSong.


The journey continues with the new book, The Christmas Journey. It’s not a novel but rather a narrative filled with watercolor illustrations and still part of The Christmas Hope series of books. It’s a short read (it takes about fifteen minutes to read, which my husband says all books should be that short!) about the journey Mary and Joseph took. I hope this beautiful gift book will become a part of your Christmas Eve tradition or even a part of your celebration on Christmas Day!


Merry Christmas!
Donna

Giveaway Time!

Special thanks to Anne from Authors on the Web for providing a copy of Ms. VanLiere's latest book, The Christmas Journey, for a giveaway.

To enter the giveaway, please tell me your favorite Christmas song, book or movie.  Leave your email address so that I can get in touch with you if you are the lucky winner.

This giveaway is open to US/Canada only and will end on January 15.

Extra entries:

Follow my blog (google connect, Networked Blogs, email subscriber) - anyway you follow is fine.

Follow me on Twitter and Tweet - please leave link.

If you post about this contest anywhere else, it is good for an entry - just let me know where you left it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Christmas Journey by Donna VanLiere (Book Review)

Title: The Christmas Journey
Author: Donna VanLiere
Illustrator: Michael Storrings
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

My synopsis: The first section of this beautiful little book tells the Luke 2:1-20 version of the Christmas story.  A story that is well-known to most people.  The author points out though, that when most people imagine the manger scene that all the hurt and pain have been removed.  We just picture a newborn baby, Mary and Joseph, and an angel - happiness and wonder.

The second section of this book tells the Christmas story as it might have happened.  It tells all the same things as the Luke version, but it adds in the human emotions that Mary and Joseph might have felt.  It lets you imagine the  physical pain and exhaustion they must have felt making the long journey to Bethlehem. The fear that must have been present when they realized that Mary was in labor and the only place they could go was a stable.  And then the absolute wonder that this little baby was the Son of God.

The entire book is also beautifully illustrated with pictures, that even in their simplicity, carry much feeling. It was a great book to read at Christmas and one I hope to share with my family for many Christmases to come.    It brought the Christmas story alive for me and made me really think about the faith of Mary and Joseph - and the trust that they  had in one another.   It would make a great gift anytime of year, as Christ's birth was one, that even after 2000 years is still remembered and celebrated - so why just remember it on one day.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from Anne at Authors on the Web.~

The Christmas Journey
Publisher/Publication Date: St. Martin's Press, Oct 2010
ISBN: 978-0-312-61372-3
96 pages

The Waiting by Suzanne Woods Fisher (Book Review)

Title: The Waiting (Lancaster County Secrets series)
Author: Suzanne Woods Fisher
Publisher: Revell

My synopsis: This book is set in Pennsylvania in the mid-1960's in an Amish community.  It centers around Jorie King.  Jorie lives with her grandparents as the rest of her family has relocated to Canada.  She helps her grandfather raise Percheron horses and has just accepted the school teacher position at the one-room school house for her Amish neighbors.

She has been waiting for Ben Zook, a boy she has loved since she was a teenager, to come back from Vietnam, finally join the church and ask her to marry him. He is serving in the military as a conscientious objector.  Her best friend Mary Ann, is married to Ben's older brother Caleb.  They have a little girl Maggie and also take care of the two youngest Zook brothers, Matthew and Ephraim.  The Zook's parents were killed instantly when the buggy they were in was hit by a car.  Caleb took over the farm and has been running it and taking care of his brothers ever since.

Mary Ann becomes ill and is diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.  She is given just a matter of weeks to live.  Before she dies, she tells Caleb that she wants him to marry Jorie, as she doesn't believe Ben will ever be the man Jorie needs him to be.  Soon after that, word comes that Ben has been killed in Vietnam and his body cremated.  Tragedy isn't over though as Mary Ann dies about a week after Ben's funeral.

As you can imagine, the whole family is left numb and in shock.  Caleb can't seem to get back to any routine and is letting his duties as father as well as farmer slide.  (Before Mary Ann became ill, he had been chosen as the new minister of the district as well). Well, you guessed it.  Caleb soon proposes to Jorie because he knows it is what Mary Ann wanted and knows she would be good for Maggie and Ephraim.  Jorie turns him down as she is looking for a proposal from the heart. 

Jorie and Caleb continue to grow closer together and Jorie realizes she is falling in love with him.  Those closest to them realize that they are perfect for each other.  When Caleb works up the courage to ask Jorie to marry him (for the third time) she accepts.  Before they can announce their engagement, trouble surfaces that throws all their lives in turmoil.  Will Jorie end up with Caleb? or one who might need her even more?

My thoughts:  I really enjoyed reading this book and found myself picturing these characters in my mind as I was reading about them.  (This would make a great Hallmark movie.)  It was cool for me to actually be able to see the Amish in a different light.  They may live simplier lives, but have the same emotions and complications of the heart as the English.   There are still decisions to be made as to what one wants to do (or what God wants them to do) with their lives.  Shoot, I struggle with this myself even as a grown woman with 3 children!   I could relate to Jorie as a young woman finding herself falling in love and having complications and misunderstandings arise that seem to thwart her plans.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from Donna at Baker Publishing.~

Waiting, The: A Novel (Lancaster County Secrets)
Publisher/Publication Date: Revell, Oct 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8007-3386-5
311 pages

Wonderful Win: The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

The Book of Tomorrow

by Cecelia Ahern

Harper Collins

Born into the lap of luxury, comfortable in the here and now, spoiled, tempestuous sixteen-year-old Tamara Goodwin has never had to look to tomorrow, until the abrupt death of her father irrevocably shakes her world.  Suddenly all that's left of Tamara's old life is a mountain of debt, and she and her mother are forced to move in with Tamara's uncle and aunt a million miles away from the world she knows.

In this tiny village in the Irish countryside, with no access to Facebook or Twitter, Tamara is lonely and bored -- her only diversion is a traveling library run by a cute local boy named Marcus.  There she finds a large leather-bound book with a gold clasp and padlock, but no author or name or title.  Intrigued, she pries the lock open.  And what she finds inside takes her breath away.

Tamara finds entries written in her handwriting and dated for the next day.  At first, she's skeptical.  But when the next day happens exactly as recorded, Tamara realizes she's found a way to solve mysteries that are seemingly out of her control, such as what is wrong with her mother and why her family won't let the local doctor examine her.  And why does her meek aunt Rosaleen rip the mail out of her hands, prevent her from seeing her mother, and evade questions about their mysterious neighbor?  Determined to find answers, Tamara learns that some pages are better left unturned and that, try as she might, she can't interfere with fate.

An edge-of-your-seat suspense novel told in Cecelia Ahern's signature style, The Book of Tomorrow is an utterly unique story about grief, loss, and how sometimes it takes tomorrow to get us through today.

About the author:  Cecelia Ahern is the author of the international bestsellers P.S. I Love You, which was adapted into a major motion picture starring Hilary Swant; Love, Rosie; If You Could See Me Now; There's no Place Like Here; Thanks for the Memories; and The Gift.  Her books are published in forty-six countries and have collectively sold more than 11 million copies.  The daughter of Ireland's former prime minister, she lives in Dublin, Ireland.

~I won a copy of this book from Harper Collins.  Watch for my review in late January.~

 

The Book of Tomorrow: A Novel
Publisher/Publication Date: Harper, Jan 25, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-170630-1
336 pages