Winner of Chasing the Red Car!

Winner of Chasing the Red Car by Ellen Ruderman, which ended last night at midnight is:

LINDA KISH!  

Congrats Linda! 

Summer in the South by Cathy Holton - Giveaway!

Title: Summer in the South

Author: Cathy Holton

Publisher: Ballantine

Synopsis: After a personal tragedy, Chicago writer Ava Dabrowski quits her job to spend the summer in Woodburn, Tennessee, at the invitation of her old college friend Will Fraser and his two great-aunts, Josephine and Fanny Woodburn.  Her charming hosts offer Ava a chance to relax at their idyllic ancestral estate, Woodburn Hall, while working on her first novel.

But Woodburn is anything but quiet: Ancient feuds lurk just beneath its placid surface, and modern-day rivalries emerge as Ava finds herself caught between the competing attentions of Will and his black-sheep cousin Jake.  Fascinated by the family's impressive history -- their imposing house filled with treasures, and their mingling with literary lions Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner -- Ava stumbles onto rumors about the darker side of the Woodburns' lore.  Putting aside her planned novel, she turns her creative attentions to the eccentric and tragic clan, a family with more skeletons (and ghosts) in their closets than anyone could possibly imagine.  As Ava struggles to write the true story of the Woodburns, she finds herself tangled in the tragic history of a mysterious Southern family show secrets mirror her own.

Read my review of Summer in the South

Special thanks to Cathy Holton for providing a copy of Summer in the South for this giveaway.  Please fill out the form below - MUST LEAVE LINKS for entry to count.  Giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada only.  This giveaway will end Sept 10, Midnight CST.

Route 66 by Krish Kandiah - Book Tour and Review

Title: Route 66: A Crash Course in Navigating Life With the Bible
Author: Krish Kandiah
Publisher:  Monarch Books


Synopsis: Welcome to Route 66, a journey to discover how the 66 books of the Bible help us to know God--and know how to live for Him. This book is packed with practical help to live your whole life guided by the whole of the Bible.

For many of us, there is a disconnect between the Bible we treasure and the book we struggle to read. We know the Bible is a lamp to our feet, honey on our lips, and the sword of the Spirit, equipping us for every good work. But sometimes the Bible feels more like a confusing collection of ancient texts filled with obscure laws! Using the analogy of a trip, Route 66 unfolds how different passages of the Bible can help us travel through different passages of our life.

Route 66 works with the idea that there are eight identifiable genres within the Bible: narrative, law, psalm, prophecy, wisdom, gospel, epistle, and apocalyptic. Krish Kandiah introduces each in turn, explaining how to read them and how to apply their teaching to your life. He then provides five studies for each.

There are three ways you can use this book: on your own, with 40 daily Bible studies and a "travel journal" to record what God is teaching you; in a small group, with weekly study questions to supplement your personal reading; and with your church, using the eight sections of the book as a great sermon series.

Free supplemental materials, including a Church Leader's Guide and PowerPoint presentation have been produced by Spring Harvest.


My thoughts: As it says above, there are 3 ways to use this book.  I have chosen the 40 Daily Bible Studies for the purpose of my review.  It is broken down to do 5 Bible Studies a week, but this was too much for me.  There is so much great information that Route 66 gets you think about and some great questions in the Travel Journey section, that I wanted/needed to mull over the material for longer than a day!  I am no where near completing the book, but I look forward to reading a little bit of it, along with my Bible, every day. 

In the back of the book is an 8 week Bible Reading Challenge where it suggests you read sections of the Bible as you would a novel.  I would like to do this, but I think that I would have to make it an 8 month Reading Challenge! 

If you are looking for something to take you a little deeper than a daily devotional, and get you really exploring the Bible, you should take a trip down Route 66!

For more information, please see Krish Kandiah's website.

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

And now for an excerpt from Route 66:

Week 1: Living faithfully
The narrative literature and its application to life

Day 1: The ride of our lives

Luke is funny. He is clever. He is 145 cm tall and has brown eyes.

What is your mental image of Luke from that description? Are you imagining a

small clown turning cartwheels? Are you thinking geeky and peculiar? Awkward

and studious? Scheming and tricking? I’m afraid all of these are way off mark.

Describing anyone in terms of a few physical features and personality traits falls

seriously short. So let me introduce you to my son Luke another way – with a story.

Yesterday Luke brought his schoolwork home. When we asked why he hadn’t

completed the work at school, he explained crossly that he had been waiting in

the queue to get the materials from the teacher when he saw one of his friends

struggling. He went over to help him out and rejoined the queue. Just as he was

almost at the front he spotted a girl crying, so he went over to give her a hand and

by the time he rejoined the queue again, she was smiling. By the end of the lesson

he had helped half the class in one way or another, but had hardly started his

project. When his teacher saw his work, she told him off for “doing nothing” and

gave him a warning.

Just from this one short story, we gain an insight into the way Luke relates

to others, his selflessness, and his sense of justice. We read “clever” as mentally

resourceful, and “funny” as good at making other people smile. But more than just

picturing him, you are probably beginning to relate to Luke. You may even have

begun to think about what you would do in his shoes or what you would say to

him if you were his teacher, his friend or his parent.

Statements like “Luke is 145 cm tall” are important. But they are merely the

bones of a skeleton when it comes to getting to know somebody. A story fleshes

out the description, giving us a clearer picture of the person and offering us the

possibility of intimacy and relationship. When God introduces himself to us in the

beginning of the Bible, he does so through story after story after story. This has a

number of effects:

1. Stories reveal God’s character12

Not just in terms of abstract concepts that could be misconstrued, but also in terms

of concrete examples. For the most part the story of the Bible is a retelling of how

God has connected characters, communities, continents and the cosmos itself in his

great big story for all of creation, making the character of the invisible God visible

to us.

2. Stories draw us into the story

Stories abduct our emotions, stealing them away into the drama as we recognize

the dilemmas and empathize with the characters.13 By experiencing the stories God

has given us in this way, our imagination, our ambition and our lives are drawn into

the captivating narrative of the Bible.

3. Stories draw us into relationship

As we see God’s character in action, we get to know different aspects of his

personality and foundations for a relationship are built as we share his hopes and

heartaches.

4. Stories make us who we are

“In order to make sense of our lives and to make our most important decisions,

we depend on some story.”14 In a world of competing stories the Bible tells us true

stories about the way things really happened so that we can be caught up into

God’s ultimate story of the grand sweep of history. Sometimes we zoom in and see

the fine detail – like in the story of Joseph and his jealous brothers. Other times we

zoom out to see the genealogies that summarize generations of stories where God

was faithful to his people. It has been said that history is His Story, but it is also

our story, as we too belong somewhere in the sweep of history described between

Genesis 1 and Revelation 21.

5. Stories change our lives

One sweltering summer’s day my wife and I heard a story about a beautiful

newborn baby girl who had no home to go to, as her birth mother was unable

to care for her. She was lying in the hospital that hot afternoon, oblivious to the

uncertainties of her future as social workers phoned around possible placements.

We were newly approved foster carers. On hearing this story we faced a choice.

Our decision to get involved in the story of this little girl had life-changing

consequences as we first fostered her, then adopted her, loving her as our own

daughter. Reading the stories of the Old Testament comes with a health warning:

the more we get to know God, and the more we get drawn into the Bible story,

the harder it will be to ignore the invitation to join the ride of our lives in God’s big

plan for the universe.

TRAVEL JOURNAL: Genesis 1:1–31
1. God is introduced as the lead character in the story of the Bible.
How does this story seek to inspire awe in you as you read?
(See verses 1, 3 and 16.)

2. The story of the beginning of the universe is told with great
artistry. Where do you notice repetitions, poetry or unusual turns
of phrase?

3. The hinge-point of the story seems to be the creation of human
beings (verses 27–31). Find four differences compared to the
rest of creation. Why are they significant?

4. Use the five points about how stories help us to engage with
Genesis 1. How does this story:

⊕ reveal God’s character?
⊕ draw us into relationship?
⊕ draw us into the story?
⊕ make us who we are?
⊕ change our lives?



Day 2: Mirror, signal, manoeuvre

Of the 4,000 or more volumes that my wife and I own, there is one that I

particularly treasure. It is one of my smallest and scruffiest books and even the

letters on its spine have been rubbed away. But every time I see it, I remember the

romance of a day twenty years earlier. I was in Shakespeare’s Stratford with my

soon-to-be fiancée when we discovered this compact copy of Romeo and Juliet in

a second-hand shop. Sitting by the river in view of the Swan Theatre, I gave that

book as a farewell present to my girlfriend as she left to spend a year working in

Germany. Somehow we survived the long-distance relationship and that copy of

Romeo and Juliet now sits on our shelf reminding us of young love, of the pain of

separation, and of the hope of return.

If I were to tell you that some recent visitors to my home spotted that famous

romantic tragedy on my bookshelf, and had never heard of it before, I guess you

would be surprised. But imagine your shock if I then added that I could summarize

the play in just thirteen words:

⊕ Hate destroys families.

⊕ Love is stronger than hate.

⊕ Love is stronger than death.

The statements are true enough, but the story has been stripped of its plot, its

suspense, its beauty, its emotions, its characters, and its context. My summary may

have left my visitors a little more informed, but I doubt I would have inspired them

to go away and discover the play for themselves.

Many of the sermons I hear, and even many I have preached, easily end up

as a bland set of bullet-points, often handily beginning with the same letter!

For example, you could go away from a sermon based on the story of the call of

Abraham in Genesis 12 with these lessons:

⊕ God is patient.

⊕ God is generous.

⊕ God is missionary.

Here are three true statements,15 but the Bible passage, which started out as a

story, has ended up as systematic theology. This is as dissatisfying as going into

a restaurant and ordering their best soup, and being given instead a list of the

ingredients. Or visiting the Louvre to see a Renaissance masterpiece, only to

discover that scientists had immortalized the exhibits by distilling the paints into

test-tubes arranged in alphabetical order of their chemical composition. Sometimes

we are in danger of reducing the Bible so much, that although we may find a truth,

we lose the sensation and the impact that the story was supposed to produce.16

It is the basic assumption in this book that God in his wisdom inspired the

Scriptures and gave us just the kind of book that we needed. It is no accident or

mistake that God inspired so much of the Bible to be in story form and preserved

those stories over the millennia so they would be handed down in the format we

see in front of us. Of course God could have sent us bullet-points instead, but he

chose not to. God’s aim was not that we boil these stories down to their bare

minimum ingredients. God’s aim was the opposite – that the stories could boil over

into the messy reality of our lives.

In order to understand Romeo and Juliet, we need to understand the language

and the culture that Shakespeare was writing in. But that tragic play set in the

fifteenth century, with its rigid conventions of marriage, still has an impact in our

more liberal society. The stories of the Bible are not human works of fiction, like

Shakespearean plays, but divine accounts of history and therefore have endless

potential to impact our own lives. Nevertheless, we still need to acknowledge the

presence of the two worlds, whichever part of the Bible narrative we are reading:

the world of the Bible text with its language, culture and time in history, and our

world with its very different language, culture and time in history.17 The following

tool of narrative Bible study is adapted from that vital all-terrain habit I learned in

my driving lessons: “Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre”.

⊕ MIRROR: Look back and try to understand how the original audience would
have experienced the Bible passage.

⊕ SIGNAL: Ask God to help you to understand the passage’s significance
today. How is the story used elsewhere in the Bible? How does the story set
the course for our lives today?

⊕ MANOEUVRE: What are you going to do now to change your actions,
attitude or understanding as a result of this Bible passage?
Looking back to what a story meant to its first hearers before we look to our own
situation may take some getting used to. However awkward and time-consuming it
may feel to first look back, and then look around before looking forward, this art
of time travel will protect us from the dangers of misapplying the Bible, and will
resource us to move forward confidently.

TRAVEL JOURNAL: Genesis 12:1–9
1. Flick back through chapters 9–12. What do we learn about the
world as Abram saw it? How do you imagine Abram felt about
God’s call in verse 1, and the promises in verses 2–3 and 7?
From Abram’s perspective, how does the story work out for him?
(Scan through Genesis 12–25.)

2. How does Abram’s call set the direction for how we understand
the life of faith? (See Galatians 3 and Romans 4.)

3. Ultimately God’s promise will be fulfilled at the end of time. How
is Abram’s call therefore still applicable to those of us who are
his spiritual descendants? (See especially Genesis 12:2–3.)

4. How does Hebrews 11:8–12 help us to live out this story? What
are you going to do about this?

Notes
12 See Newbigin, L., 1989, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, SPCK, p. 99.

13 See Sweet, L., McLaren, B. & Hasselmayer, J., 2003, A is for Abductive: The Language of the Emergent Church, Zondervan, pp. 31–33.

14 See Bartholomew, C. & Goheen, M., 2006, The Drama of Scripture: Finding our place in the biblical story, SPCK, p. 1.

15 Kevin Vanhoozer puts it well: “The gospel is informative: ‘he is risen.’ Without some propositional core, the church would lose its raison
d’être, leaving only programs and pot-lucks. At the same time, to reduce the truth of Scripture to a set of propositions is unnecessarily reductionist.”
Vanhoozer, K., 2005, “Lost in Interpretation? Truth, Scripture and Hermeneutics”, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 48/1, March 2005,
p. 100.

16 For more on this theme see Arthurs, J. D., 2007, Preaching with Variety: How to recreate the Dynamics of Biblical Genres, Kregel.

17 Stott, J., 1998, I Believe in Preaching, Hodder & Stoughton.



Route 66
Publisher/Publication Date: July 2011, Monarch Books
ISBN: 978-0-85721-018-0
192 pages

Waiting on Wednesday: Shelter

This week's pre-publication can't wait to read selection is:

Shelter

by Harlan Coben

Publication Date: Sept 6, 2011

A young adult debut from internationally bestselling author Harlan Coben


Mickey Bolitar's year can't get much worse. After witnessing his father's death and sending his mom to rehab, he's forced to live with his estranged uncle Myron and switch high schools.


A new school comes with new friends and new enemies, and lucky for Mickey, it also comes with a great new girlfriend, Ashley. For a while, it seems like Mickey's train-wreck of a life is finally improving - until Ashley vanishes without a trace. Unwilling to let another person walk out of his life, Mickey follows Ashley's trail into a seedy underworld that reveals that this seemingly sweet, shy girl isn't who she claimed to be. And neither was Mickey's father. Soon, Mickey learns about a conspiracy so shocking that it makes high school drama seem like a luxury - and leaves him questioning everything about the life he thought he knew.


First introduced to readers in Harlan Coben's latest adult novel, Live Wire, Mickey Bolitar is as quick-witted and clever as his uncle Myron, and eager to go to any length to save the people he cares about. With this new series, Coben introduces an entirely new generation of fans to the masterful plotting and wry humor that have made him an award-winning, internationally bestselling, and beloved author.

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Teaser Tuesday (August 23, 2011)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then visit MizB and add your link!

Despite all their creativity, teachers and staff were so busy taking care of moment-to-moment tasks like supervision and student discipline that they couldn't take care of chronic issues like fixing the curriculum skills class, coming up with a system to track detention time, or figuring out which teachers were floundering worse than others.  Professional development sessions were planned and pulled together in a rush at the last minute. (Stray Dogs, Saints and Saviors: Fighting for the Soul of America's Toughest High School p100)

Tuesday Recap

Today was the first day of First Grade! It was all I could do to get him to stand still for this picture!

And I thought that even though it was a half day, that I would be able to get some reading done for the readathon this week.  Wrong! 

My middle daughter called from school.  She was dizzy, short of breath, tingly hands - so the school nurse sent her home and I had to take her to the doctor.  (This is the daughter who is pregnant).  After about 45 minutes at the doctors, she sent us on to the hospital for some additional lab work just to make sure she didn't have pre-eclampsia.  She is at high risk because of her age and because I had pre-eclampsia with her.  Thankfully everything came back fine and she was just told not to push herself like she might do if she wasn't pregnant.  (Maybe hearing it from someone other than mom it might sink in!)  So we were at the hospital for about 3-4 hours - my neighbor had to get my son off the bus and then my husband left work early to go home and get him.  So it is 9pm and I am just getting to sit down at the computer!  I did get a little reading done at the hospital, but not anything to write about!

But - I do have BIG NEWS!  I started work yesterday as the Library Aide at my son's school!  How cool is that??  It is only 12 hours a week, but it is going to be a lot of fun!  It should be approved by the school board tomorrow, but since the Superintendent introduced me at the all district staff meeting yesterday with the rest of the hires, I figured it was ok to announce it here now.   

It's Monday! What are you reading? (Aug 22, 2011)

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!  Hasn't been much change in this post from last week.  Still behind on reviews.  Hoping to catch up before the end of the month!  I am beginning to forget the details of some of the books - I can remember if I liked them or not, but not specifically why!

Currently Reading:
Stray Dogs, Saints and Saviors by Alexander Russo
Route 66 by Krish Kandiah

Next Up:
In Search of Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault
Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen

E-Book:
Singular by David Porteous
Reversible Skirt by Laura McHale Holland

Bathroom Book:
Pie Town by Lynne Hinton

Reviewed Since Last Post:
The Arrivals: A Novel by Meg Mitchell Moore
The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain
Following Polly By Karen Bergreen
Summer in the South by Cathy Holton


Children's Books Reviewed Since Last Post:



Waiting for Reviews:
 White Sleeper by David R. Fett and Stephen Langford
The Place of Belonging by Jayne Pearson Faulkner
The Blackberry Bush by David Housholder
The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman
Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Airmail by Naomi Bulger

E-books waiting for review:
Sudden Moves by Kelli Sue Landon
This World We Live In (The Last Survivors, Book 3) by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Children's Books waiting for review:
Pearl's Wisdom by Auntie LuLu
Bug Meets His Friend (Bug's Adventure Series) by K.M. Groshek

READY - SET - READ!

Dear Anonymous

I recently received this comment on a blog post which ended up in my spam mailbox -

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Mailbox Monday (Aug 22, 2011)":
I think you should stop spamming other people's blog with back links to your own. I already reported your blog to google as a spam and they are investigating. You can read this forum and see how other people are complaining about your abuse of "link to this post" on others' blogs.

So Dear Anonymous,

This is the way that I understand back links.  Evidently I follow your blog or have linked to your blog in someway on mine - whether it is in a sidebar or in an actual post or my blog roll. This is what creates the back link.  It is not a person, physically going to your blog and adding a link - although I do believe they can be added that way also.  Since you are "anonymous", I have no way of knowing whether you are on my blogroll or not.  The forum that you referred me to in your comment is from March of 2010 and I have no idea whether or not I was the "Needlepoint Lady" referred to in the forum. I am guessing that I am though as the person originating that forum had been in my blogroll.  If they would have taken the time to actually read my blog and not just the name, they would have seen that my blog is more about Books and Book Blogging than Needlepoint and as they were a writer, maybe would have liked knowing that they were in my blogroll.  (I have since removed them from my blogroll as it seemed to cause them issues). 

I do not have the time or the inclination to journey around the blogosphere and leave links randomly here and there, and I would never post a link on someone else's site without their permission first.  Blogging to me is a community, and whatever we can do to support one another is high up on my list.  If you would like to contact me at my email address - clearly listed in my profile - I would be more than happy to try to figure out why my links are showing up on your blog and remove that information from mine.

Meanwhile, if any of my readers understand the issue of backlinks, or can explain it better - please feel free to jump in here.


Now maybe I can get back to reading. . .

Mailbox Monday (Aug 22, 2011)

 Mailbox Monday's host for August is Staci at Life in the Thumb. In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren. Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week! 

The Most Dangerous Thing

by Laura Lippman

 

 

Years ago, they were all the best of friends.  But as time passed and circumstances changed, they grew apart, became adults with families of their own, and began to forget about the past -- and the terrible lie they all shared.

 

But now Gordon, the youngest and wildest of the five, has died and the others are thrown together for the first time in years.

 

And then the revelations start.

 

Could their long-ago lie be the reason for their troubles today?  Is it more dangerous to admit to what they've done or is it the strain of keeping the secret that is beginning to wear on them and everyone close to them?

 

Each one of these old friends has to wonder if their secret has been discovered -- and if someone within the circle is out to destroy them.

 

 

A Bitter Truth

by Charles Todd

 

When battlefield nurse Bess Crawford returns from France for a well-earned Christmas leave, she finds a bruised and shivering woman huddled in the doorway of her London residence.  The woman has nowhere to turn, and propelled by a firm sense of duty, Bess takes her in.

 

Once inside Bess's flat, the woman reveals that a quarrel with her husband erupted into violence, yet she wants to return home -- if Bess will go with her to Sussex.  Realizing that the woman is suffering from a concussion, Bess gives up a few precious days of leave to travel with her.  But she soon discovers that this is a good deed with unforeseeable consequences.

 

What Bess finds at Vixen Hill is a house of mourning.  The woman's family has gathered for a memoiral service for the elder son, who died of war wounds.  Her husband, home on compassionate leave, is tense, tormented by jealousy and his own guilty conscience.

 

Then, when a troubled houseguest is found dead, Bess herself becomes a prime suspect in the case.  This murder will lead her to a dangerous quest in war-torn France, an unexpected ally, and a startling revelation that puts her in jeopardy before a vicious killer can be exposed.

 

 

Sanctus

by Simon Toyne

 

The certainties of modern life are about to be shattered by an ancient conspiracy that has been nurtured by blood and lies.

 

A man climbs a cliff face in the oldest inhabited place on earth, a mountain known as the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in contemporary Turkey.  But this is no ordinary ascent.  It is a dangerous, symbolic act.  And thanks to the media, it is witnessed by the entire world.

 

And few people understand its consequence.  For foundation worker Kathryn Mann and a handful of others, it's evidence that a hopeful, new beginning is at hand.  For the cowled and secretive monks who live inside the Citadel, it could mean the end of everything they have built -- and they will break every law in every country and even kill to stop it.  For reporter Liv Adamsen, it spurs the memory of the beloved brother she has lost and begins the next stage of a journey into the heart of her own identity.

 

At that journey's end lies a discovery that will change everything. . .

 

 

 

All These Things I've Done

by Gabrielle Zevin

 

In 2083, chocolate and caffeine are illegal, water is carefully rationed, books are scarce, and New York City is rife with poverty and crime.

 

And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine.  But when she finds herself falling for the son of the new assistant district attorney, and her ex-boyfriend is poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures, Anya is unwillingly thrust into the spotlight -- in the news, and, more important, within her mafiya family.

 

 

 

52 Things Kids Need From a Mom

by Angela Thomas

 

Mom, do you need inspiration? encouragement? affirmation?

 

Angela Thomas, bestselling author and mother of four, draws on personal experience and biblical principles to help you raise healthy, responsible kids and establish strong family ties.  Whether you have one baby or six children, you'll enjoy insightful stories, practical information, and loads of encouragement in each short reading.  Covering childhood through the teen years, the 52 chapters are packed with specifics to help you:

• make your children feel loved and secure
• teach and encourage communication
• establish a positive, wholesome atmosphere
• know when and how to correct behaviour and set consequences
• help your kids persevere and succeed.

52 Things Kids Need from a Mom is upbeat, guilt-free, and designed to be read in short bursts -- perfect for today's busy schedules.  You'll discover how to lead with God's love and grace and create family moments that will be recalled with delight for years to come.

 

 

 

Darn Good Cowboy Christmas

by Carolyn Brown

 

He's one hot cowboy. . .

Raylen O'Donnell is one smokin' cowboy.  He could have any woman he wants, but he's never been able to forget a certain dark-haired girl who disappeared from his life.  So when she suddenly returns to the ranch next door, Raylen's not fixing to let her get away again. . .

 

And she's out for a sizzlin' Christmas

Raised in a traveling carnival, Lizelle Hanson thought all she wanted was a house that didn't have wheels and a sexy cowboy for her very own.  But settling down's going to take some getting used to, and catching Raylen, the hotter-than-hell cowboy next door, might just take a little holiday magic. . .

 

 

Thunder of Heaven

by Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall

In the sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel -- Edge of Apocalypse, homeland America is under attack.

Joshua Jordan's reputation is on the line when his controversial RTS system fails to protect Flight 199 as it takes off from Chicago and is shot down by a terrorist missile.  The government is taking no chances and starts an investigation of Joshua's entire defense program. Unfortunately, the Israelis, longtime allies of the United States, are desperate for the technology.  When Joshua flies to the Middle East to assure them of the RTS's reliability, he is captured by Iranians who want the secret for the defense tool for their own use.

With Joshua out of the country, Abigail Jordan is left in charge of the Roundtable and sets out to defend her husband to the media and to the commission set up to investigate RTS.  But America is under attack -- a bombing in the Mall of America and rumors of even more potential atrocities have this covert team desperate to find additional bombs before they are set off.

As man vs. man and nation vs. nation come together in an epic battle, nature takes over and makes the final blow.  And as world events begin setting the stage for the "end of days" foretold in Revelation, Joshua Jordan must weigh the personal price he must pay to save the nation he loves.

What books came home to you this week?

Summer in the South by Cathy Holton (Book Review)

Title: Summer in the South

Author: Cathy Holton
Publisher: Ballantine


About the book: After a personal tragedy, Chicago writer Ava Dabrowski quits her job to spend the summer in Woodburn, Tennessee, at the invitation of her old college friend Will Fraser and his two great-aunts, Josephine and Fanny Woodburn.  Her charming hosts offer Ava a chance to relax at their idyllic ancestral estate, Woodburn Hall, while working on her first novel.


But Woodburn is anything but quiet: Ancient feuds lurk just beneath its placid surface, and modern-day rivalries emerge as Ava finds herself caught between the competing attentions of Will and his black-sheep cousin Jake.  Fascinated by the family's impressive history -- their imposing house filled with treasures, and their mingling with literary lions Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner -- Ava stumbles onto rumors about the darker side of the Woodburns' lore.  Putting aside her planned novel, she turns her creative attentions to the eccentric and tragic clan, a family with more skeletons (and ghosts) in their closets than anyone could possibly imagine.  As Ava struggles to write the true story of the Woodburns, she finds herself tangled in the tragic history of a mysterious Southern family show secrets mirror her own.

My thoughts: Ava and Will have been friends for many years.  He has been inviting her to visit his home since they got out of college. One day he catches her during a crisis and she accepts his invitation to come South and stay with his aunts to work on her novel. She arrives in Woodburn and it is like entering another world.  People are friendly and unhurried.  Everybody knows everybody's history, and you have to read between the lines of what they say to get to what they really mean.

Ava is definitely different.  She doesn't dress like the women in the South.  She is very direct with what she says.  But the biggest difference is that she really doesn't know anything about her family outside of her mother.  They traveled a lot when Ava was a child and never really settled down.  Her mother told her that her father died when she was ten.  I think this is the reason that she becomes so enthralled with the Woodburn family.  Their history goes back for generations and the aunts, Josephine and Fanny have kept a lot of it right in the house where she is staying.  There are journals and photographs, and they just ignite the writer in her. 

Somewhere along the way she meets Jake.  He is from the "bad" side of the Woodburn family.  He looks a lot like Will, but with dark hair and dark eyes.  Where she has never really felt an attraction to Will, she feels an attraction to Jake.  Jake is also more willing to talk about some of the tragedies in the family's past than Will and his aunts.

All of the talk about the family and the mysteries gave this book a very Gothic feel to me.  I kept expecting some dark magic to surface to make Ava become posessed with one of the spirits/souls of the older generation.  I know, nothing like this happens!  There are just times when the spirits seem to come alive in the story. 

You learn about what really happened in the past through flashbacks.  Meanwhile, as Ava is trying to discover what really happened in the past, she finds herself in between Will and Jake and the bad history that they share - which neither is very forthcoming about.

I enjoyed this book except for one thing.  Ava had sleep paralysis throughout - something she had had as a child.  I am not quite sure what to make of those scenes or what we were supposed to take away from them.   I do see the possibility for completely new books based on some of the characters from this one though.

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

About the author: Cathy Holton, the author of Beach Trip, Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes, and the Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes, was born in Lakeland, Florida, and grew up in college towns in the South and the Midwest.  She attended Oklahoma State University and Michigan State University where she studied creative writing.  She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with her husband and their three children.

You can find her at her blog The Surly Wench Journal or her Facebook page for Summer in the South.

Summer in the South: A Novel by Cathy Holton
Publisher/Publication Date: Ballantine Books, May 2011
ISBN: 978-0-345-50601-6
340 pages

Following Polly by Karen Bergreen (Book Review)

Title: Following Polly
Author: Karen Bergreen
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

About the book: Would you call Alice Teakle a stalker?  Or just someone with an, um, unhealthy obsession with golden girl Polly Linley Dawson?  No one much notices Alice: not her boss, not the neighbors, not even her mother.

Besides, everyone follows Polly and everything about her: her business selling high-end lingerie you can imagine only her elegant self wearing, her all-over-the-social-pages marriage to movie director Humphrey Dawson, her chic looks, her wardrobe.  Alice just follows her a little more. . . closely.

Yet one Manhattan autumn afternoon when Alice loses her job and starts to follow Polly, she stumbles on the object of her attention sprawled dead on the floor of a boutique and is forced to become truly beneath anyone's notice.  Invisible, in fact.  Because she's accused of murder.

But can another obsession help save Alice with the fallout?  Charlie is Alice's longtime unattainable crush.  He might be able to help her out of the mess she's in. . . in return for a favor or two, that is.  But how will Alice find out if Charlie is really the man she thinks he is?

My thoughts: This book was a great summer read.  I started it while on vacation and finished reading it in the car on the way home.  Normally I can only read for a little while in the car, before I either get restless or a headache - but not with this book - I read it right through to the end of the book!

Alice has lost her job and is just sort of floating, not really sure where she wants to land, when she sees Polly Dawson.  Polly is sort of her long-time nemesis from college - the one who always had everything, perfect looks, perfect clothes, perfect life, etc, so she decides to follow her.  Before she knows it, it has become an everyday obsession.  She probably knows more about where Polly goes than even her husband!  And Polly never notices her.  Unfortunately, it seems someone else has and she becomes framed for Polly's murder.

Alice goes into hiding, sort of. She camps outside of her college crush's apartment (he is/was a lawyer).  He eventually confronts her, not remembering her from college, and for some reason believes her story and takes her in.  He has his own ulterior motives for helping her. 

There are a couple of mysteries happening - first off is the obvious - who killed Polly and framed Alice - and the second is what's up with Charlie's father and will Alice be able to help Charlie find out the truth? 

There is alot of humor in this story.  It is kind of a dry humor in face of the dire situation that Alice is facing.  I especially liked this part - Alice has asked that Charlie get in touch with her best friend, Jean, to let her know that she is okay.

"Hi, Jean.  I don't know if you remember me.  My name is Walter Redwin.  We went to Harvard Law School together."

Jean pauses for a second.  I know that she's dying to get in touch with me to tell me that my Charlie called her.

This is where Charlie's part gets tricky.

"You may know me as Charlie."

Now, I know you may be wondering how I managed to get Charlie to identify himself by his crush-name.

"Just introduce yourself to her on the phone," I instructed him casually just minutes ago. "And then tell her that she may know you as Charlie."

"Why Charlie?"

"Oh, it's this thing with me and Jean."

"What kind of thing?"

A thing where I made up a name for you when I decided to become obsessed with you.

"I promise I will tell you the second I get out of trouble."  Curiosity is a great motivator.  (p148-149, Following Polly)

Now maybe you need to read more of the story to appreciate it, but Alice's character is definitely quirky.  But it is a good quirky.  During the story you get to see her grow and to embrace who she really is.  There are a couple of twists at the end, but one I definitely did not see coming.  The book wrapped up nicely.  I will definitely be watching for another book by Karen Bergreen.

~ I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and Library Thing Early Reviewers.~

About the author: Karen Bergreen is a stand-up comedian and a former lawyer.  She lives in New York City with her husband and two sons.

You can find her on Facebook and  Twitter.

Following Polly came out in paperback on August 16th!

Following Polly: A Novel by Karen Bergren
Publisher/Publication Date: St. Martin's Press, June 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-57109-2
309 pages

The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain (Book Review)

Title: The Midwife's Confession
Author: Diane Chamberlain
Publisher: Mira Books

Dear Anna,

What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry. . .


The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide.  Everything they knew about Noelle -- her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family -- described a woman who embraced life.

Yet there was so much they didn't know.

With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle's friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives -- and the life of a desperate stranger -- with love and betrayal, compassion and deceit.

My thoughts:  When Noelle commits suicide, seemingly out of the blue, her two best friends try to uncover the Noelle they thought they knew.  The face Noelle presented to the world was that of midwife, supporter of causes - especially ones involving babies, good friend to Tara and Emerson - was not the true Noelle.  For years she has had to deal with the guilt of something she was responsible for - a secret that no one else knew.

After finding a partial letter that Noelle had written before she died, Tara and Emerson set out on a path to try to figure out their best friend.  The story is told from different points of view, but comes together beautifully.  This was a book that I did not want to put down.  I thought I had it figured out, but in the end, I was wrong.

This is a great book exploring the relationships between mothers and daughters, and between women in general.  Again - this would be a great book club pick.  If you haven't read anything by Diane Chamberlain - this would be a good place to start!

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

The Midwife's Confession
Publisher/Publication Date: Mira Books, Apr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2986-2
416 pages

The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore (Book Review)

Title: The Arrivals
Author: Meg Mitchell Moore
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

About the book: It's the start of summer when Ginny and William Owen's quiet, peaceful life in Burlington, Vermont, comes to an abrupt halt.

First, their eldest daughter, Lillian, shows up, with her two children in tow, to escape her crumbling marriage.  Next, Lillian's  younger brother, Stephen, arrives for the weekend, accompanied by his pregnant wife, Jane, an ambitious and misunderstood Wall Street workaholic -- but their visit is extended indefinitely when Jane is put on mandatory bed rest.

And by the time Rachel, the youngest Owen sibling, appears, fleeing the difficulties of her single life in New York City, the senior Owens are once again consumed by the chaos and stress of their early parenting days -- only this time around, their house is filled with grown-up children and their adult problems.

Meg Mitchell Moore's absorbing debut offers acute observations on the workings of a modern family, the challenges of parenting, and the continual struggles of growing up.  By summer's end, the Owen family will have new ideas about loyalty, responsibility, and how you survive the people you love most.  The old adage "once a parent, always a parent" has never rung so true.

My thoughts:  This is a debut novel for Mrs. Moore and I for one, cannot wait to see what else she has in store.  I enjoyed the interaction this family shared and how they all came home one by one.  While we know why they are there, it is revealed to other members of the family slowly.  All of the children are wrapped up in their own problems, but at the same time they are able to come to realize that supporting their siblings is important as well. 

Ginny and William (parents) take it all in stride.  I cannot believe the amount of patience they showed.  If I am remembering the story correctly, I read this awhile ago, I am not sure that they had any warning that their kids were coming - and they sure weren't expecting them to stay for the summer! Looking back on my own life though, there was a couple of times that I found myself back at my mom's for an extended stay of a month or two and we got along quite well.  I hope that in the future I could extend that hospitality to my own kids (of course, they have to move out first!)

I enjoyed this book, I do remember that - that it was an easy read - one that I looked forward to getting back into.  I think it would be a good book for book clubs as there is lots of discussion material revolving around family relationships, troubles, and how to solve/deal with them.

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

About the author: Meg Mitchell Moore worked for several years as a journalist.  Her articles have been published in a wide variety of business and consumer magazines.  She received a master's degree in English literature from New York University.  She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and their three children.  The Arrivals is her first novel.

You can find her at her website.

The Arrivals: A Novel by Meg Mitchell Moore
Publisher/Publication Date: Little, Brown and Company, May 2011
ISBN: 978-0316097710
336 pages

Bout of Books Readathon

I came across this readathon today as I was finally getting to read some blogs.  My oldest daughter took my littliest one to Key Lime Cove today (where she works) to go swimming.  This was his last week of summer vacation and it seems like we have been trying to squeeze everything in!  So, I am still behind on my reviews, my reading, etc - so when I saw this readathon, I thought - what better way to spend the first week of school?  I have some other news regarding next week - but since it is not "official" yet I don't want to jinx it by posting here!

Anyway - here is some info regarding the Bout of Books Readathon that runs from Aug 22 to Aug 28. It is being hosted at On a Book Bender by Amanda.

Read as much as you can whenever you can between 12:00am 8/22 and 11:59pm 8/28 (your time zone).

There is no pressure! Participate even if you can only spare a day or two, a few hours, or even just a few minutes. Use it an excuse to read. Whatever works for you. If you plan to read at all between 8/22 and 8/28, sign up!

Head on over to On a Book Bender to sign up and see about the challenges, giveaways and places you can post your progress.

You can find the official Bout of Books schedule here.  Hope to see ya around next week!  Happy reading!

Teaser Tuesday: Pie Town (Aug 16, 2011)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then visit MizB and add your link!

"I think age is just a way we use to judge people.  You hear how old somebody is, and based on their answer, you decide that they must be a certain way.  If we never knew the ages of each other, maybe we wouldn't be so, I don't know, critical."  (Pie Town by Lynne Hinton, p 61)