It's Monday! What are you reading? (Feb 3, 2014)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. 

Where did January go?  I didn't get near as much read this month as I wanted to!  How about you?  Did anyone reach their reading goals for January?

Glasses did help this week - but still ended up with a headache on Friday - I think it is time to visit the chiropractor!  Seems to be coming from my upper back/neck.  My "free day for reading" last week didn't garner me as much reading time as I would have liked!  Such is the life of a mom. . .

Temp today:  1 degree F, feels like 1 degree F - but hey - at least we are above 0!

Currently reading (still): 

Finished Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi - loved it!

The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy

This is good - but not sure I have the wherewithall to stay with it. . .

Will probably start this one this week: 

Into the Still Blue
by Veronica Rossi

The earth-shattering conclusion to Veronica Rossi's "masterpiece" Under the Never Sky trilogy and sequel to the New York Timesbestselling Through the Ever Night (Examiner.com).

Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it's time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to bring balance to their world.

The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe-haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do-and they are just as determined to stay together.

Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. And when Roar returns to camp, he is so furious with Perry that he won't even look at him, and Perry begins to feel like they have already lost.

Out of options, Perry and Aria assemble a team to mount an impossible rescue mission-because Cinder isn't just the key to unlocking the Still Blue and their only hope for survival, he's also their friend. And in a dying world, the bonds between people are what matter most.

In this final book in her stunning Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi raises the stakes to their absolute limit and brings her epic love story to an unforgettable close.

Bathroom Book:

Finished First Love - it quickly became my "carry where ever I go, have to finish book."

The View from Saturday
by E.L. Konigsburg

How had Mrs. Olinski chosen her sixth-grade Academic Bowl team?  She had a number of answers. But were any of them true?  How had she really chosen Noah and Nadia and Ethan and Julian?  And why did they make such a good team?

It was a surprise to a lot of people when Mrs. Olinski's team won the sixth-grade Academic Bowl contest at Epiphany Middle School.  It was an even bigger surprise when they beat the seventh grade and the eighth grade, too.  And when they went on to even greater victories, everyone began to ask:  How did it happen?

It happened at least partly because Noah had been the best man (quite by accident) at the wedding of Ethan's grandmother and Nadia's grandfather.  It happened because Nadia discovered that she could not let a lot of baby turtles die.  It happened when Ethan could not let Julian face disaster alone.  And it happened because Julian valued something important in himself and saw in the other three something he also valued.

Mrs. Olinski, returning to teaching after having been injured in an automobile accident, found that her Academic Bowl team became her answer to finding confidence and success.  What she did not know, at least at first, was that her team knew more than she did the answer to why they had been chosen.

This is a tale about a team, a class, a school, a series of contests and, set in the midst of this, four jewel-like short stories -- one for each of the team members -- that ask questions and demonstrate surprising answers. 

E-read:

This is up in the air right now - Never really got into Last Night at the Blue Angel.  I think it will be a good book, just not the right time for me - might give it another shot later this year. I have a couple of E-books to read for review this month so will probably start one of these - Which would you choose? 

Her Secret Cowboy
by Marin Thomas

The Cowboy And The Preacher's Daughter.

Years ago, Will Cash wasn't interested in being a dad. So Marsha Bugler left town to raise her baby alone. But when her father's health begins to fail, she realizes she needs to return to Arizona and introduce Will to his boy. Marsha is nervous to face Will not only because she lied, but because she's never stopped thinking about her cowboy crush.

Will is shocked to discover he has a son. And he can hardly believe the changes in Marsha. She's strong, sexy and a Ph.D., while Will's still a part-time cowboy living in a bunkhouse with his brothers. What does he have to offer her and his teenage son? Will has a lot to prove if he's going to get what he wants - the family he never knew he had.

A Seal's Salvation
by Tawny Weber

Subject: Navy SEAL Petty Officer Brody Lane 

Current Status: On leave 

Obstacle: The one girl who was off-limits… 

Where navy SEAL "Bad Ass" Brody Lane goes, trouble follows. Being run out of his hometown years ago for misbehaving with Genna Reilly—the sheriff's daughter—was one thing. Now Brody is about to step into real danger. Not the suggestive letters he's been exchanging with Genna, but the kind of trouble that can send a soldier home injured and broken inside… 

Genna's entire life has been orchestrated by her family. The right job. The right friends. Enough! Brody's return offers the promise of lust-filled pleasures. Of flesh teased and tasted. She's not expecting to find a soldier with distant eyes who has secluded himself from the world. But this good girl knows exactly how to bring a bad boy back to life…. 

Uniformly Hot! The Few. The Proud. The Sexy as Hell.

As far as my projects go - I did get the hat finished for the snowman, but spent another week of doing nothing on the needlepoint. . .

I need to do the scarf and add his eyes now. . .

I may be putting this one away as I need to get started on a project for which I am a pilot stitcher. 

A Winter's Respite Read-a-thon - Wrap Up Post

Well, I think this is the first week long readathon that I actually finished!  Didn't do as well as I wanted, but did finish two books - so that is pretty good.

Total read: 6 hours 15 min (Boy, not even an hour a day)

Pages read: 504 pages

Books finished: Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

First Love by James Patterson

Hard to say which was my favorite book as I loved them both!

Entangled is turning 3!

Entangled launched in 2011 and we’re celebrating! Two years ago this February, we launched our first category imprint with Indulgence. The Marriage Bargain, one of our first releases in Indulgence, went on to be one of the top selling books of 2012 and catapulted Jennifer Probst to the USA Today and NY Times bestseller lists.  Since then, we’ve grown to have six category romance imprints, as well as single title books for teens and adults in our Select, Edge, and Teen imprints, and have had multiple USA Today and NY Times bestsellers.  We’re in our third year and it’s been a wild ride, and it’s just the beginning.

What better month to begin celebrating our third year than February?

We’re celebrating! All month long, our February new releases, as well as select titles on our Steals and Deals page, are just 99 cents!

Yes, you read that right. Every new release will be offered at an introductory price of just 99 cents!

Be sure to join our big Facebook celebration from February 24th-28th with scavenger hunts, authors, games, gossip, and lots of fun! 

Explore our new website and prepare to find romance, because we have something for everyone and join our “Steals and Deals” newsletter.

***



We’re kicking off the month-long celebration with three new Brazens, each with a smoking hot military man front and center and each for just 99 cents!

Marine for Hire

 by Tawna Fenske

She thought she’d sworn off military men for good…

Sam Kercher is every inch a wickedly hot Marine. Tall. Sexy. Lethal. When his best friends call in a favor, Sam is forced to face an entirely new line of duty—playing nanny for their newly divorced sister and her squirming seven-month-old twin boys. If Sam can dissemble an M16 in his sleep, diaper duty should be a cakewalk…right?

Unfortunately, Operation Nanny isn’t quite that simple. Sheridan has sworn off overbearing military men, so Sam must protect her from her dirtbag ex without revealing just how much he has in common with her brothers. Or that he’s been ordered not to touch her. Ever. Problem is, Sheri’s one hell of a gorgeous woman, capable of making this hard-bodied Marine even harder. And Sam wants her bad.

Protect the girl. Care for the babies. Hide his identity. And keep his hands off. But even the most disciplined Marine has weaknesses...and Sheridan is one Sam might not be able to resist.

 

Staking His Claim

 by Tessa Bailey

He wants her. All of her.

NYPD sniper Matt Donovan is in Hell. Instead of driving his best friend’s little sister home from college, he’s stuck with her roommate—a fresh-faced ray-of-sunshine with a body that makes grown men weep. There’s no way he’ll allow himself to taint the little vixen, no matter how hard she tries to tempt him, so he resigns himself to the longest—and hardest—drive of his life.

Matt’s obvious attraction suits grad student Lucy Mason just fine. She had no idea her brother’s best friend was so deliciously hot. Knowing he’d never have his wicked way with his buddy’s sister, she lies about her identity and seduces him. But Matt’s no fumbling college boy. His desires run deep—and dark—and he wants to teach Lucy what wicked really means.

Matt’s demanding appetites only make Lucy want more. But when her cover's blown, he’s furious—even as his hunger for her becomes insatiable. Matt can’t trust anyone, least of all himself. And he knows all too well that darkness always destroys the light…

 

Temporarily Yours

 by Jen McLaughlin, writing as Diane Alberts

This soldier’s the perfect hoax…if she doesn’t fall for him first.

Stats whiz Kayla Moriarity knows her way around numbers and algorithms. Men, on the other hand, are unsolvable equations. Now Kayla’s en route to her sister’s wedding—without the fictional boyfriend she invented for her family. Fortunately, her plane comes complete with complimentary cocktails and a ridiculously hot ex-marine in the seat beside her. And that’s all it takes for Kayla’s inhibitions to go sailing out the airlock...

Cooper Shillings has soft spot for people in trouble, but he certainly wasn’t expecting to land in it himself—and definitely not while getting naughty mid-air with a sexy southern belle. When he hears Kayla’s predicament, however, he offers his services as a stand-in boyfriend. After all, he’s heading overseas soon...and how could he refuse a little no-strings wickedness?

It’s the perfect plan. And all Kayla has to do is ensure her family falls for the ultimate bluff, without falling for it—and Cooper—in the process...

 

We appreciate you and want readers to be able to fill up their eReaders all month long with great books at introductory prices. Thank you for an amazing first three years. This is just the beginning.

~The Entangled ‘Love’ Team

Cover Reveal: Now That You're Here by Amy K. Nichols (w/giveaway)

Now That You're Here

by Amy K. Nichols

Danny and Eevee are meant to be together . . . Just not in this universe.

Eevee Solomon has high school down to a science. Get the grades. Get the recommendations. Get into an Ivy League college, and eventually land a killer job at NASA.

Then Danny Ogden enters the equation.

Danny is a street-smart graffiti artist. He’s always managed to stay out of serious trouble, but this time he’s out of luck. One minute he’s running from the cops, and the next, he jolts awake in an unfamiliar body–his own, but different. Somehow, he’s crossed into a parallel universe. Now his friends are his enemies, his parents are long dead, and coolheaded Eevee is not the brazen girl he once kissed back home. Then again, this Eevee may be his only hope of getting home.

Eevee tells herself she’s only helping him in the name of quantum physics, but there’s something undeniably fascinating about this boy from another dimension . . . a boy who makes her question who she is, and who she might be in another place and time.

About Amy Nichols: Amy has been crafting stories for as long as she can remember. She earned a Master's in literature and worked for years as a web designer, though, before realizing what she really wanted to be was an author. Her first novel, YA sci-fi thriller Now That You're Here, will be published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on December 9, 2014. The follow-up, While You Were Gone, will be published in 2015. She is mentored by award-winning crime novelist James Sallis.

Amy is represented by Quinlan Lee of Adams Literary. She's an active member of SCBWI and SFWA, as well as a member of the Class of 2k14 debut authors. 

Social Media Links:

Website 

Blog 

Twitter

Facebook

Class of 2k14 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Waiting on Wednesday (Jan 29, 2014)

 "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  It spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Servants of the Storm
by Delilah S. Dawson
Expected publication: August 5th 2014 by Simon Pulse

A year ago Hurricane Josephine swept through Savannah, Georgia, leaving behind nothing but death and destruction — and taking the life of Dovey's best friend, Carly. Since that night, Dovey has been in a medicated haze, numb to everything around her. 

But recently she's started to believe she's seeing things that can't be real ... including Carly at their favorite cafe. Determined to learn the truth, Dovey stops taking her pills. And the world that opens up to her is unlike anything she could have imagined. 

As Dovey slips deeper into the shadowy corners of Savannah — where the dark and horrifying secrets lurk — she learns that the storm that destroyed her city and stole her friend was much more than a force of nature. And now the sinister beings truly responsible are out to finish what they started.

Dovey's running out of time and torn between two paths. Will she trust her childhood friend Baker, who can't see the threatening darkness but promises to never give up on Dovey and Carly? Or will she plot with the sexy stranger, Isaac, who offers all the answers — for a price? Soon Dovey realizes that the danger closing in has little to do with Carly ... and everything to do with Dovey herself.

Teaser Tuesday (Jan 28, 2014)

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 & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The moment we stepped inside, we were in yet another world. The sound of pinging slot machines, the smells of air-conditioning and sweat, the flashing lights above the pits: it was total sensory overload. (p92, First Love by James Patterson) 

Tuesday Intros (Jan 28, 2014)

First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are reading or are thinking about reading.  Link up at Bibliophile by the Sea and check out some other firsts!




I will be sharing the first paragraph from The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.

May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month.  The days are long and humid.  The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees.  Red bananas ripen.  Jackfruits burst.  Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air.  Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, fatly baffled in the sun. 

A Winter's Respite Update Page (Jan 27 - Feb 2)

Well, my free day of reading got sidetracked!  I have yet to pick up a book today, so figured would go ahead and create my tracking page.  I plan to start reading as soon as I am done with this!

Monday:

Read: 2 hours 15 min
Pages read: 193
Books finished: Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

Tuesday:
Read: 1 hour
Pages read: 58
Books finished: None

Wednesday:

Read: 30 minutes
Pages read: 23
Books finished: None

Thursday:
Read: 0  :(

Friday:

Read: 0 :(

Saturday:

Read: 2 hours
Pages read: 190
Books finished: First Love by James Patterson

Sunday:
Read: 30 min
Pages read: 40
Books finished: None

A Winter's Respite Read-a-thon (Jan 27 - Feb 2)

A Winter's Respite Read-a-thon starts tomorrow and runs through Feb 2.  I had been waiting to sign up to see how my week was going to look and whether or not I was going to have my glasses.  Well - Both of the places I work at are closed tomorrow due to the weather (and most likely Tuesday as well), I got my new glasses today!!  and my son is having a friend over to play tomorrow for a few hours so this all adds up to EXTRA READING TIME!  

The read-a-thon is hosted by Seasons of Readings and is pretty loose as far as rules.  You can read anytime throughout the week - novels, novellas; adult, young adult, children's books also (as long as you have read some adult books!)  You should sign in at the sign up post and do a wrap up post at the end. There will be a starting line sign in that you must sign in at.  

I hope to finish these books this week:

And possibly start these:

Happy Reading Y'all!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Jan 27, 2014)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. 

I got my new glasses yesterday (Yah!). Doc says that they changed about 20% (in just two years!) and that could definitely have been causing my headaches.  This and the fact that they have already cancelled school here tomorrow and closed the library that I work at means a free day of reading!  Woot!

Temp forecast for Monday morning 8am: -2, feels like -24 with temperatures continuing to drop throughout the day. 

Currently reading (Still):

Through the Ever Night
by Veronica Rossi

AND

The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy

Bathroom Book:

Finished The One and Only Ivan and will be reviewing soon.

First Love
by James Patterson

An extraordinary portrait of true love that will move anyone who has a first love story of their own. Axi Moore is a "good girl": She studies hard, stays out of the spotlight, and doesn't tell anyone how all she really wants is to run away from it all. The only person she can tell is her best friend, Robinson--who she also happens to be madly in love with. 

When Axi spontaneously invites Robinson to come with her on an impulsive cross-country road trip, she breaks the rules for the first time in her life. But the adventure quickly turns from carefree to out of control after the teens find themselves on the run from the police. And when Robinson suddenly collapses, Axi has to face the truth that this trip might be his last.

A remarkably moving tale very personal to James Patterson's own past, FIRST LOVE is testament to the power of first love--and how it can change the rest of your life.

E-read (Still):

Last Night at the Blue Angel
by Rebecca Rotert

Haven't gotten much further in this book due to my tired eyes - but hope to change that this week with my new glasses!

Life as We Knew It
by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Wanted to start this last week, but just got the nod that it was waiting for me to download from our library - so hopefully will get this one going this week as well!

Working on:

I have done absolutely nothing on either one of these projects this week. . .
no excuses. . .

Waiting on Wednesday (Jan 22, 2014)

 "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  It spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Two Sisters

by Mary Hogan

On Sale Date: March 4, 2014

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

A powerful and poignant debut novel about two sisters learning how to live with the emotional damage caused by years of keeping family secrets

The third child in a family that wanted only two, Muriel Sullivant has always been the outsider. Single, twenty-three, she's living in a New York City rent-stabilized walk-up, a bird's nest of an apartment outfitted as much by serendipity as by intent: note the three-legged bedside table, her squat hand-painted pine dresser, a splotchy framed mirror, the spindled bathroom corner shelf-all found curbside on garbage day.

Her perfect older sister, Pia, lives in an endless house in Connecticut with her handsome, thick-haired husband, Will, her tween daughter, Emma, and a frothy, russet-colored Labradoodle named Root Beer. Pia is altogether Muriel's opposite. Muriel eats takeout from the carton; Pia makes salads from the microgreens in her garden. Pia takes "me" time to pray and do yoga. She believes every word in the bible, her faith pure and unquestioning. Pia is remarkably like their mother, Lidia. Or so Lidia would have Pia believe. Muriel knows better. Years earlier she discovered the truth about her mother's lies-not that she'll ever tell.

The story begins on an ordinary Saturday which turns out to be anything but. When Pia calls Muriel out of the blue, Muriel expects the same lecture about slimming down, toning up, highlighting her hair, getting a better job, and moving into an elevator building. Only this time it's different. Distressingly so. Pia takes the train into the city to visit her sister and leave her with-yet another-terrible secret she is sworn to keep.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Book Review)

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

by Elizabeth George Speare

first published in 1958

Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1687.  Alone and desperate, she has been forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met.  Kit's unconventional background and high-spirited ways immediately clash with the Puritanical lifestyle of her uncle's household, and despite her best efforts to adjust, it seems that Kit will never win the favor of those around her.

Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be true to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place, and just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit.  But Kit's friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty.

I chose this book to read as it is a Newbery Award winner.  I was pleasantly surprised how a book written in 1958 - about 1687 - still touched on many issues that can be found in today's society - prejudice, religious freedom/persecution, trying to find out where we fit in, love and loyalty.  Why is it that the more things change, the more they stay the same?  The persecution of the Quakers in 1687 - Jews in Hitler's Germany - and some would say Christians in America today. And I bet that everyone could name at least one person who had suffered prejudice in some way, shape or form.

Kit is targeted as being a witch on the ship over by a mean-spirited woman for the simple reasons that she can swim and read. Evidently if you don't "sink" in the water, it means you are a witch. Being raised in Barbados though, Kit grew up in the water and swimming was second nature to her. She was forced to leave Barbados though when her grandfather died and she was forced to sell off everything to pay his debts.

She makes her way to the home of her mother's sister, a woman she has never met, but to whom she has corresponded. They were not aware that she was coming for a visit, let alone an extended stay. But as she is family, they cannot turn her away.

Kit has a hard time fitting in her new family.  Her clothes are more flamboyant than the Puritan community where she now finds herself.  She has no work ethic as she had been allowed to run free on the island until her grandfather died.  She feels she is working from sun up to sun down and is still a burden on the family.  With what free time she does have, she finds herself in a nearby meadow befriending an old woman, Widow Tupper.  Because she is a Quaker, the townspeople believe she is a witch and avoid her at all costs.  She also has garnered the unwanted attention of a local boy, William, who seems to have set his sights on her as his future wife.

Whew, how much can a teenage girl handle in just a few months?  I really enjoyed the final conflict in the book and how loyalties are shown and love is offered. I am glad that I chose this book for my first Newbery Medal Winner to read.