Author Interview - Jill Mansell and a Giveaway!

I am so excited to welcome Jill Mansell to Books and Needlepoint for my very first author interview! Jill is the International Bestselling Author of An Offer You Can't Refuse which is being released in the U.S. this week!

1. Jill, where is your favorite place to write?

I make myself very comfortable, either on the sofa in our living room or upstairs in bed, and I always have the TV on while I’m working. It amazes me that successful authors go and work in little sheds in their gardens! Where’s the fun in that!


2. Besides crisps, fruit gums (gum drops) and coffee (and of course, your Harley Davidson pen) is there anything else that you need close by while you write?

That’ll be the TV remote control. I love daytime TV. I’ve just discovered the Ellen Degeneres show on cable. Brilliant.


3. I love it when Ellen dances at the beginning of her show! TV would probably distract me from writing. What is the biggest distraction to your writing?

For the next three weeks my kids are home from school. When they’re fighting and yelling at each other, that’s pretty distracting. Yesterday they managed to break our laptop. Lucky I write my books by hand!


4. I just celebrated my birthday - what is your birthday month and do you do anything special?

Happy birthday! Mine’s in June, which is nice because the weather is usually good. Our favourite thing is to go out to a really good restaurant. Being a writer is like endlessly having to revise for school exams – you feel incredibly naughty whenever you take a day off, but it means you enjoy it all the more!


5. Thanks for the birthday wishes! Do you have any hobbies?

Food! Shopping! Jewelry! Reading books! Jumping on our trampoline! Reading more books!


6. When I was younger I used to jump on our trampoline alot - not so much these days! In the book, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Lola is the manager of a bookstore - do you have a favorite bookstore that you like to go?

I find it physically impossible not to go into any bookstore I happen to pass. I always hope I’ll find a book I haven’t seen anywhere else. I can’t have a favourite – I just love all of them.


7. I know what you mean about bookstores - I even have to go into the used bookstore at our library whenever I am there! You mention the TV show Friends in An Offer You Can't Refuse - do you have a favorite American TV show? British TV show?

Ooh, now you’re asking! I do love Friends. And one of my all-time favourite sit-coms is Veronica’s Closet. I adore The Apprentice but they’ve stopped showing the U.S. version over here now. I’m also a fan of reality TV – I’m just fascinated by people’s characters. And I love The Office.


8. I love Friends also - I miss those types of sitcoms! I usually listen to The Apprentice while I am blogging! Where do you come up with the names for your characters?

I go through my books of names for babies, then my telephone books for surnames. If I happen across a great name I’ll add it to the list I keep in one of my jewelled notebooks.


9. My maiden name was Kendall - hmmm, that would make a great first name too. I'll give you a minute to write that down! Just kidding! I read that your daughter doesn't read your books because she is afraid she will read something that she said - Do you remember ever writing anything she has said and can you share it with us?

Ooh, can’t think of any off-hand, but she finds my books hard to read because they sound so much like me. She’s now typing my manuscripts for me (for money, not for love!) and keeps finding things I say myself, like when a character complains about a banana skin being thrown in a waste paper bin which now smells of bananas. I spend my life moaning about the smell of bananas. And cucumbers. They’re disgusting and should never have been invented. Basically, though, when my daughter was young I dreamed about her reading my books when she was older. And now she’s older, she doesn’t want to read them! Luckily all her friends do. I’m very popular with them!


10. Now there is a job I could get into - typing manuscripts! That is neat that her friends read them! Do you have a favorite book out of the ones that you have written?

Can’t answer that! Cruelty to books!


11. After Miranda's Big Mistake - are there plans for more of your books to be published in the U.S? (keeping fingers crossed)

Yes, there are three being published this year, then another three next year, and hopefully lots more after that. I’m so excited to finally be published in the U.S. – it’s a dream come true. And thank you so much for your lovely review of An Offer You Can’t Refuse – I’m thrilled you liked it!

There you have it! Two more books this year and another three next year! I can't wait to start reading Miranda's Big Mistake!

Now for the giveaway! Sourcebooks is offering one book to a lucky commenter - so to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below pertaining to this post or to my review which is here. Also leave an email address so I know how to reach you! This contest will run until May 1! (Sorry - only available to U.S. and Canada - no P.O. boxes)

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming - Giveaway!

Thanks to Valerie and Hachette Books I have 5 - yes 5 copies of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson to give away!

About the book:

Lauren Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she's helping her mother keep family skeletons in the closet or sewing her acclaimed art quilts. Her estranged sister, Thalia, is her opposite, an impoverished actress who prides herself on exposing the lurid truths lurking behind middle class niceties.

While Laurel's life seems neatly on track-- a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, a lovely suburban home-- everything she holds dear is threatened the night she is visited by the ghost of her 13-year-old neighbor Molly. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly, floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is an unseemly mystery that no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Laurel enlists Thalia's help, even though she knows it comes with a high price tag.

Together, they set out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about their family's haunted past, the true state of Laurel's marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

Visit http://www.joshilynjackson.com/

Follow Joshilyn Jackson's blog on Facebook

I guess we need to have some rules:

1. Must be a resident of the U.S. or Canada
2. No PO Boxes.
3. Giveaway will run until midnight (CST) May 15.

How do you enter:

1. Leave a comment WITH EMAIL ADDRESS!
2. For 2 additional entries - blog or twitter and leave a link back here.
3. For 2 more entries - sign up as a follower over on the left, where I can see your little picture!
4. If you already follow - either by RSS feed, email, etc - let me know and you will get your extra entries also.
5. Maximum of 5 entries possible.

Where are You? 4-7-2009

I am on my currently relaxing on Seth's couch while he tries to make a concoction so that he can see the faeries that I see. I am trying to stay calm, as I have agreed to go to a carnival with Keenan, a faery. He does not know that I know he is a faery though. I am trying to find out what they want with me!

Where is your reading taking you? Stop over at Adventure in Reading and share!

Teaser Tuesday 4-7-2009

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to: Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Please avoid spoilers!

The man's breath smelled like clean dirt. Like most Middle Easterners, he valued cleanliness far more than your typical westerner - even here in the desert, assuming he hadn't been out long enough to have been driven to a city, the man would take care to bathe each day. Ryan could still smell the soap on him. (p26, uncorrected proof, Boneman's Daughter by Ted Dekker)

An Offer You Can't Refuse by Jill Mansell (Book Review)

Title: an offer you can't refuse

Author: Jill Mansell

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Genre: Romantic Fiction

Available: April 2009

ISBN: 9781402218330

This book was made available to me for review from Sourcebooks. Thanks Danielle!

First sentence: There are some places where you might expect to bump into your boyfriend's ultra-posh mother.

Lola and Dougie were very much in love. Though only 17 and 18, they had promised each other forever. This changed in the blink of an eye. Dougie's mother was not a big fan of Lola's. She didn't think that Lola belonged in her son's "privileged" life, so she offers Lola 10,000 pounds to leave Dougie and convince him that it is over. Lola is outraged and is bound and determined to tell Dougie what kind of mother he has. Before she has a chance to speak with him, her circumstances change and she is forced to accept his mother's bribe.

Now, 10 years later she is working as a bookstore manager and living in Notting Hill. Coming to the aide of a woman in distress manages to land her face to face with her old love. Can she fan the flames and reignite his desire for her? Or will the truth of what she did keep them apart forever?

This is a great chick-lit book! The story has a host of secondary characters that are just as entertaining as Lola. They also each have their own story to add to the mix! We have Blythe, Lola's fashion-challenged mother; Malcolm- Blythe's monopoly-loving boyfriend; Gabe - the neat-freak, next door neighbor - who also happens to be Lola's best friend; Sally - Dougie's sister and Gabe's eventual flatmate - and she is as messy as Gabe is neat. Let's not forget Dougie himself and his current girlfriend Isabel - who is both beautiful and intelligent. Throw in a couple of celebrities and a long lost relative and you have a delightful read. I found this book hard to put down. If you like Sophie Kinsella, I think you will like Jill Mansell.

Jill is a current sensation in the UK - this is her first book to be published in the U.S. She has a second one due out in June - Miranda's Big Mistake.

Come back later this week as I will be interviewing Jill Mansell - my first author interview! You can find out how to win a copy of her book then!

For other reviews:

Diary of an Eccentric

My Friend Amy

Bookopolis

Savvy Verse & Wit

A Bookworm's World

Booking Mama

Mailbox Monday 4-6-2009

It is time for another edition of Mailbox Monday hosted by The Printed Page or In Your Mailbox hosted by The Story Siren. I am trying to get caught up on books that I have received in the mail, but have not featured here yet - so here are all the books that I received in February and March from blogger giveaways!

Speaking of giveaways - be sure to check my right sidebar for current giveaways - there will be more added throughout the month of April!






The Suburban Dragon by Garasamo Maccagnone was won from Shannon at Confuzzled Books. I got to choose which book I wanted from Shannon's books. I chose this one for my 4 year old son. He was so excited when I told him that he had gotten a book in the mail. Now when the UPS man comes, he always asks me where his book his! (Hint, hint to any children's book publishers who would like book reviews! (: ) This book is about 3 children whose mother is kidnapped by a dragon on a boring, rainy day.







Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson was won from In Bed With Books.

From Fantastic Fiction: Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend's restless spirit.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia's descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.

Sway by Zachary Lazar was won from Wendy at Wendy's Minding Spot.

From the back cover: At the razor's edge of an era, the worlds of the Rolling Stones and Charles Manson accidentally converged. Sway is the story of those two forces and how they became entwined in the last days of the 1960s. It is the story of the young Rolling Stones - beating out their new sound and their new identities in freezing apartments and tiny clubs - and it is the story of Bobby Beausoleil, a handsome drifter under a dangerous influence. With uncanny artistry, Zachary Lazar weaves scenes from these real lives into a true but heightened reality, making superstars human and demons palpable and restoring mythic events to the scale of daily life.

Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman was won from Mari at Mari Reads.

From the back cover: Something mysterious is happening in Skeleton Creek. Something scary. Something sinister.

Ryan came close to it . . . and nearly died. Now he's trapped in his house. He can't trust anyone -- not even himself.

He is forbidden from seeing his best friend, Sarah. So while Ryan is isolated and alone, she plunges back into the mystery, putting her life on the line to get to the truth.

Ryan is desperately trying to write down the full story. And while he does, Sarah takes videos of what she finds, then sends him the links so he can watch.

Together, they discover: The past is dangerous. The present is haunted. And the future is deadly.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld was won from Lisa at Books on the Brain.

From the back cover: A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice Lindgren has no idea she will one day end up in the White House, married to the president. In her small Wisconsin hometown she learns the virtues of politeness, but a tragic accident when she is seventeen shatters her identity and changes the trajectory of her life. More than a decade later, when the charismatic son of a powerful Republican family sweeps her off her feet, she is surprised to find herself admitted into a world of privilege. And when her husband unexpectedly becomes governor and then president, she discovers that she is married to a man she both loves and fundamentally disagrees with - and that her private beliefs increasingly run against her public persona. As er husband's presidency enters its second term, Alice must confront contradictions years in the making and face questions nearly impossible to answer.

Drood by Dan Simmons was won from Carey at The Tome Traveller's Weblog.

From the inside cover: Drood is the name and nightmare that obsesses Charles Dickens for the last five years of his life.

On June 9, 1865, Dickens and his mistress are secretly returning to London, when their express train hurtles over a gap in a trestle. All of the first-class carriages except the one carrying Dickens are smashed to bits in the valley below. When Dickens descends into that valley to confront the dad and dying, his life will e changed forever. And at the core of that ensuing five-year nightmare is. . .

Drood. . .the name that Dickens whispers to his friend Wilkie Collins A laudanum addict and lesser novelist, Collins flouts Victorian sensibilities by living with one mistress while having a child with another, but he may be the only man on Earth with whom Dickens can share the secret of . . .

Drood. Increasingly obsessed with crypts, cemeteries, and the precise length of time it would take for a corpse to dissolve in a lime pit, Dickens ceases writing for four years and wanders the worst slums and catacombs of London at night while staging public readings during the day, gruesome readings that leave his audiences horrified. Finally he begins writing what would have been the world's first great mystery masterpiece, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, only to be interrupted forever by. . .

Drood.

Based on actual biographical events, Drood explores the still-unresolved mysteries of one of our greatest writer's dark final days in a profoundly original tale that confirms Lincoln Child's assessment of New York Times bestselling author Dan Simmons as "a giant among novelists."

The Terror by Dan Simmons was won from Kalea at Enroute to Life.

From the back cover: The men on board the HMS Terror - part of the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition - are entering a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, stranded in a nightmarish landscape of ice and desolation. Endlessly cold, they struggle to survive with poisonous rations and a dwindling coal supply. But their real enemy is even more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator staking their ship, a monstrous terror clawing to get in.

Staging Your Comeback by Christopher Hopkins was won somewhere but somehow I can't find from whom!

• From the back cover: Known as The Makeover Guy from his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and other national television programs, Christopher Hopkins believes that as they age, women become more beautiful but often feel less attractive. He's out to change that. For more than twenty years he's encouraged women who feel like they have taken a backseat to everything and everyone else to come out of the shadows and take center stage. Now it's your turn. Using Christopher's step-by-step strategies and detailed advice, you will learn to:
• Restore your hair with your ideal cut, color, and style.
• Revamp your wardrobe to flatter a changing body.
• Refresh your face with "visible lift" makeup techniques.
• Renew your spirit and maintain your look using Christopher's revival guide.
  

The Renewal by Terri Kraus was won from Cathy at Word Vessel

From the back cover: A Single mom, a struggling carpenter, and two hearts in need of renewal.

Leslie Ruskin has just purchased the historic Midlands Building, which - like her life - needs a little renovation. She and her five-year-old daughter are starting over after a devastating divorce - but standing on the sidewalk looking up at the seedy downtown brownstone, Leslie wonders if she's done the right thing. It needs work. A lot of work.

Jack Kenyon, a master carpenter, is starting over too. Beginning his own construction business, he seems to be the perfect man for the project. But haunted by loneliness, his past failures, and the lost relationship with his own young daughter, Jack finds it difficult to maintain his sobriety.

As Leslie struggles to manage as a single mom, work begins; she's thrilled when the commercial space rents to experienced restaurateurs and excited when the renovation exposes a mystery on the first floor. But even as Jack an Leslie discover a growing attraction, Jack's old demons begin to surface. Will the whole project derail - or will they find the renewal their lives so desperately need?

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford was won from Katrina at Stone SouP.

From the inside cover: In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes Henry back to the 1940s, when his world was a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who was obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Ranier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship - and innocent love - that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee, certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko, searches the hotel's dark, dusty basement for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice: words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

Polly Dent Loses Grip by S. Dionne Moore was won at Lena Nelson Dooley's blog - A Christian Writer's World.

From the cover: Who says exercise is good for one's health? Certainly not Polly Dent!

Polly Dent Loses Grip on the treadmill and takes a fatal spill that's ruled an accident.

While helping her mother-in-law move into Bridgeton Towers Assisted Living & Nursing, LaTisha Barnhart's nose smells trouble simmering. The residents' gossip is revealing all kinds of motives for murder.

Can LaTisha stay on her achin' feet, and one step ahead of the villain, long enough to solve yet another crime?

The Moment Between by Nicole Baart was won at Trish Perry Books.

From the back cover: Abigail Bennett was completely in control of her life. But then tragedy pushed her to the brink of something she's never experienced: obsession. Now, she's given up everything she's ever worked for to chase down the object of that obsession. His name is Tyler Kamp.

As Abigail follows him across the border into Canada, her journey is awash in memories of family and childhood, especially those of her younger sister Hailey. Even as Abigail races into her future, her past continues to pull her back. Only when she is brought to the edge of her obsession will she be able to come to terms with the tragedy that ignited it.

I Am Feeling Loved!

Thank you so much to all the bloggers who take the time to read and comment on my posts - and thank you even to you that I don't know about, but who just stop by to read. I would like to know about you though, and would love to add you to my blog roll.

I have been trying to add everyone whose little picture appears in my left side bar under the followers. If your picture is there, but you do not see your blog down below in the blog roll - please let me know and I will fix that!

If you would like to be added to my blog roll - but aren't in my followers yet, or maybe follow through a feed or email, just click on the little button and follow me. I will see you are new and get you added!

I have been given 3 new awards in the last few weeks! I love it when I see these pop up in my mailbox!





The first one was from Mo at Unmainstream Mom
Reads. She awarded me the I Love Your Blog award.

To keep this award moving, here are the rules:

Add the logo of the award to your blog.
Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
Add links to those blogs on your blogs.
Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I am awarding this to:
Alyce - At Home With Books
Wendy - Caribou's Mom
Jaime - Confessions of a Bibliophile
Katrina - Stone SouP
Chris - Stuff As Dreams Are Made On
Jessica - The Bluestocking Society

Jennifer of Jennifer's Book Blog awarded me The Splash Award!

The Rules:
1) Put the logo on your blog/post.
2) Nominate up to 9 blogs which allure, amuse, bewitch, impress, or inspire you.
3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4) Let them know that they have been splashed by commenting on their blog.
5) Remember to link to the person from whom your received your Splash award.

This award goes to:
An Iowa Mom
Kathy - Bermudaonion
Amy - My Friend Amy
Shelleen - Shelleen's Musings
Sweetsue
Tammy - Tammy's Book nook
The Book Muncher
Carey - The Tome Traveller's Weblog
Wendi - Wendi's Book Corner

From A Bookish Mom I also received The Lemonade Stand Award!

The Rules:
1) Put the Lemonade Award logo on your blog or post
2) Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude
3) Link to your nominees within your post
4) Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog
5) Share the love and link to the person from who you received your award

I am giving this award to:
Jen - Devourer of Books
Jennifer - Just Jennifer Reading
Relz Reviews
Stacie - Simply Stacie
Peg - Sips 'n Cups Cafe
Sharonanne - Sharon Loves Books and Cats
Kim - Sophisticated Dorkiness
Tonya - Storytime with Tonya
Kelly - The Novel Bookworm
Jessie - Vanderbilt Wife

Please check out all of these fabulous blogs and maybe they will become your favorites too!

March Round Up of Books and a Look at April

I feel like I am so late posting this! Between 2 sick kids, me getting sick, 2 birthdays (my husband's and mine) and Spring Break - all of which happened in the last 7 days - I feel like I have been neglecting visiting all you wonderful bloggers! So on to the round-up so we can start fresh with April!

I only read 9 books in March - which is 3 less than February, yet February had more days - what gives there? Oh well - I did have one that I DNF and it clogged me up for a couple of days as I tried to get through it. I did finish reading one on April 1 though - so it will make my April numbers better!

1. This Side of Heaven - Karen Kingsbury
2. The Kingmaking - Helen Hollick
3. The Stones - Eleanor Gustafson
4. Marked by Passion - Kate Perry
5. Diamonds in the Shadow - Caroline B. Cooney
6. Scream - Mike Dellosso
7. Katt's in the Cradle - Ginger Kolbaba and Christy Scannell
8. Yesterday's Embers - Deborah Ramey
9. Deadly Charms - Claudia Mair Burney

This equals 3436 pages read. Now I see my discrepency - this is 300 more pages than February - duh - longer books!

If you have read and reviewed any of the above books - or any books from my archive - please leave me your link and I will add it to my review!

I had one challenge end in March which I completed - this was the Well-Seasoned Reader.

Here is a list of challenges and progress - you will see that some of them are completed, but I am not going to do a wrap up on them until they are officially over.

Christian Readers Challenge 21/5 - Completed
Book Awards Challenge 6/10
Unshelved Reading Challenge 0/3
Daring Book for Girls 3/9
Themed Reading Challenge 0/4 (6)
Numbers Challenge 0/5
The Countdown Challenge 26/45
Outlander Challenge 0/7
Genre Challenge 8/12
Whitcoull's Challenge 1/7
Chunkster 3/6
Series Challenge Season 3 2
9 Books from '09 7/9
100+ Reading Challenge 35/100
18th and 19th Century Women Writers 0/4
2009 ARC Reading Challenge 27 - Completed
2009 Chick Lit Challenge 16/10 - Completed
2009 Pub Challenge 12/9 - Completed
2009 Suspense and Thriller Reading Challenge 4/12
999 Challenge 33/81
A to Z Challenge (authors) 13/26
A to Z Challenge (titles) 11/26
Art History Reading Challenge 0/6
Audiobook Challenge 2/12
Celebrate the Author challenge 0/12
Centuries Reading Challenge 0/4
Colorful Reading Challenge 2/9
Daniel Defoe 0/2
Decades '09 0/9
Dewey's Books Reading Challenge 1/6
Harlequin/Silhoutte Challenge 0/5
John Steinbeck 0/2
New Author Challenge 29/50
Read Your Name Challenge 6/8
Romance Reading Challenge 10/5 - Completed
Sarah Dessen 0/2
Science Book Challenge 1/3
Scott Westerfeld 0/2
Seconds Challenge 3/12
Serial Readers Challenge 8
Support Your Local Library 8/50
What's in a Name 2/6
World War II Challenge 0/5
YA Challenge 9/12
Young Readers 59/12 - Completed
5 Under 35 0

Books coming up for April:

Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark - Donna Lea Simpson (already finished)
An Offer You Can't Refuse - Jill Mansell (already finished)
Rachel's Tears - Beth Nimmo and Darrell Scott
The Boneman's Daughter - Ted Dekker
Fatal Illusions - Adam Blumer
The Girl She Used to Be - David Cristofano
Unquiet Bones - Mel Starr
The Lost Hours - Karen White
So Not Happening - Jenny B. Jones
New York Debut - Melody Carlson
Fire Me - Libby Malin
Wild Highland Magic - Kendra Leigh Castle
Fragile Eternity - Melissa Marr
Outcasts United - Warren St. John
Sag Harbor - Colson Whitehead
Big Sid's Vincati - Matthew Biberman

I currently have some giveaways posted -

Do Over

Bobbi Brown Living Beauty

How Not to Look Old

10 Things I Hate About Christianity: Working Through the Frustration of Faith

Look for giveaways for these books coming up soon:

An Offer You Can't Refuse

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

Dear Mom

Mama's Got a Fake I.D.

Enduring Justice

I am also going to host my first author (or possible authors, if I can get my act together!) - But Karen White author of The Lost Hours will be here the end of the month - so be sure to watch for her!

Bobbi Brown Living Beauty Giveaway!

Thanks to Anna and Hachette Books - I have up to 5 copies of Bobbi Brown Living Beauty by Bobbi Brown (with Marie Clare Katigbak) to give away!

Bobbi Brown began the trend toward natural-looking cosmetics with a simple philosophy: Women want to look and feel like themselves, only prettier and more confident. Today, top editors at elite fashion magazines--including In Style, Vogue, Allure, and Harpers Bazaar--revere her, and celebrities and millions of regular women throughout the world swear by her beauty advice. Now Bobbi Brown has written THE book redefining beauty for women over 40, BOBBI BROWN LIVING BEAUTY. In this refreshing look at beauty and aging, Bobbi offers specific makeup tricks for a stunning face--showing how makeup can solve most of the flaws that many women go under the knife to fix. In fact, the right makeup can create an even skin tone, lift the cheeks, plump a smile...even take years off any woman's face. The key is to use makeup to enhance each woman's best features and showcase her natural beauty. With step-by-step makeup instructions and quotes from beautiful women like Marcia Gay Harden, Vera Wang, Susan Sarandon, and Lorraine Bracco, Bobbi Browns natural, celebratory approach to aging will enlighten and inspire women everywhere.

Go here to read an excerpt.

Now for the rules!

1. Must be a resident of U.S. or Canada.
2. No P.O. boxes.
3. Giveaway will run until Friday, April 24th at midnight.
4. I will be giving away 3 copies if I get at least 30 people entered. For each 15 after that there will be an extra book - up to 5 books total.

How do you enter? (ALL ENTRIES MUST LEAVE EMAIL ADDRESS!)

1. Just leave me a comment!
2. For 2 additional entries - blog or twitter and leave a link back here.
3. For 2 more entries - sign up as a follower over on the left, where I can see your little picture!
4. If you already follow - either by RSS feed, email, etc - let me know and you will get your extra entries also.
5. Maximum of 5 entries possible.
   

The Friday 56 4-3-2009

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.


"Exactly," said Lacey. "What else do you want, Fran? Sex, deceit, unfair dismissal . . . Like Andy says, it's biblical."

(from Ultimatum by Matthew Glass)

Friday Finds 4-3-2009

Here are my finds for this week - only three as I am still a little under the weather. Thank you to everyone for both the birthday wishes and the get well wishes!

Bedlam South by Mark Grisham and David Donaldson

I just found this one yesterday from At Home With Books.

From the back cover:

Set in the heart of the Confederacy, Bedlam South is the story of ordinary people who fought and suffered, and loved and lost during the Civil War. The novel begins and ends in an insane asylum outside Richmond, Virginia, as it interweaves the fates of its characters in a panoramic view of the Civil War. The asylum's chaos and internal strife echo the military and personal battles taking place over four years.

The story begins in 1862, when Dr. Joseph Bryarly leaves England to head Richmond's Wingate Asylum, run by the sadistic and scarred Captain Samuel Percy. Bryarly launches his own war battling the Captain on behalf of the inmates, while also battling his own demons. On the frontlines near Fredericksburg, seventeen-year-old Zeke Gibson joins his brother, Corporal Billy Gibson. In the midst of heavy fighting, they are separated. Each embarks on a path that will take him deep into lunacy and a struggle for survival as the war progresses and their fates become intertwined with Dr. Bryarly's.

Coventry by Helen Humphreys

I found this at Fresh Ink Books.

Humphreys's lethargic latest depicts the intertwining lives of two British women during the world wars. Harriet and Maeve meet on the streets of Coventry, England, in 1914. Both are of troubled mind: Harriet's husband has just left for the battlegrounds of France, and Maeve can't shake a deep sense of loneliness. The women share laughs on a bus ride, but afterwards their lives continue on different paths. Harriet's husband, Owen, goes missing (and is presumed killed) in action, and Harriet spends the next two decades mourning his loss. Maeve becomes pregnant out of wedlock and works a string of odd jobs to raise her son, Jeremy. In the chaos of the German bombing of Coventry in 1940, Harriet befriends Jeremy, who, at 22, stirs intense memories of Owen. Together, they search the town for Jeremy's mother and forge an intense bond. Humphreys's characters are given to poetic tendencies that occasionally yield interesting insights on the nature of loss and change, though the cast tends toward the indistinct and the narrative feels too in service of the historical record. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Etta by Gerald Kolpan

I found this one at Booking Mama.

Beautiful, elusive, and refined, Etta Place captivated the nation at the turn of the last century as she dodged the law with the Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Her true identity and fate have remained a mystery that has tantalized historians for decades. Now, for the first time, Gerald Kolpan envisions this remarkable woman’s life in a stunning debut novel.

Kolpan imagines that Etta Place was born Lorinda Jameson, the daughter of a prominent financier, who becomes known as the loveliest of the city’s debutantes when she makes her entrance into Philadelphia society. Though her position in life is already assured, her true calling is on horseback. She can ride as well as any man and handle a rifle even better. But when a tragedy leads to a dramatic reversal of fortune, Lorinda is left orphaned, penniless, homeless, and pursued by the ruthless Black Hand mafia.

Rechristened “Etta Place” to ensure her safety, the young woman travels to the farthest reaches of civilization, working as a “Harvey Girl” waitress in Grand Junction, Colorado. There, fate intervenes once more and she again finds herself on the run from the ruthless Pinkerton Detective Agency. But this time she has company. She soon finds herself at the legendary hideout at Hole-in-the-Wall, Wyoming, where she meets the charismatic Butch Cassidy and the handsome, troubled Harry Longbaugh, a.k.a. the Sundance Kid. Through a series of holdups and heists, Etta and Harry begin an epic and ultimately tragic romance, which will be the greatest of Etta’s life. Then, when Etta meets the young and idealistic Eleanor Roosevelt, her life is changed forever.

Blending a compelling love story, high adventure, and thrilling historical drama, Etta is an electrifying novel. With a sweeping 1900s setting, colorful storytelling, and larger-than-life characters, Etta is a debut that is both captivating and unforgettable. (description from Amazon)

What great books did you find this week?? Stop over at Should Be Reading and share yours!