Mailbox Monday 4-13-09

It is time for another edition of Mailbox Monday hosted by The Printed Page or In Your Mailbox hosted by The Story Siren. Please stop by those posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week! I had a fantastic week and got some great looking books! Some that weren't even expected!

The Moon Looked Down by Dorothy Garlock

(Hachette Books)

Threatened and hounded out of their home in Germany in1933, the Hellers fled to small-town America. Here in Victory, Illinois, they started anew as farmers. . .and took great pride in becoming citizens of their new country. But ten years later, with World War II raging, they have become the target of vicious attacks perpetrated by a handful of small-minded men. Will the Hellers be forced to escape once more? And how will the blossoming romance of twenty-year-old Sophie Heller and schoolteacher Cole Ambrose withstand the danger that now follows them with every step?

Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory

(Hachette Books)

FEARLESS IN BATTLE

His surcoat still bloody from battle, William FitzAlan comes to claim the strategic borderlands granted to him by the king. One last prize awaits him at the castle gates: the lovely Lady Catherine Rayburn.

TENDER IN BED

Catherine risked everything to spy for the crown. Her reward? Her lands are declared forfeit and she is given this choice: marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Catherine agrees to give her handsome new husband her body, but she's keeping secrets, and dare not give him her heart.

As passion ignites and danger closes in, Catherine and William must learn to trust in each other to save their marriage, their land, and their very lives.

One Scream Away by Kate Brady

(Hachette Books)

Killer Chevy Bankes is a master of disguise, and just paroled, he's coming after the woman who sent him to jail, the beautiful antiques expert Beth Denison. A set of antique dolls brings Beth into his sight, and inspire Chevy's disturbing crimes as he draws closer to Beth and her young daughter. Chevy sends the dolls to Beth one-by-one and she soon realizes that these antiques carry the same marks as his victims, signaling that the final piece in his collection will be for her.

Neil Sheridan gave up his FBI shield five years ago, but his best friend Rick, a cop, pulls him in as a consultant on a case involving a serial killer who is eerily similar to a murderer Neil encountered in the past. The investigation leads Neil to Beth's doorstep, and he is certain she isn't telling him the truth. Neil is the only one who can get through Beth's defenses and, as they grow closer, discover the secrets that Beth is hiding about her fateful night with Chevy.
(description from Hachette website)

Tame by a Laird by Amanda Scott

(Hachette Books)

Jenny Easdale is ready to accept her fate. She's agreed to marry a man she will never love - yet not before slipping away for one last adventure. Following a traveling minstrel troupe, she's whisked into a world of intoxicating freedom. Then, all too soon, she finds herself in danger - from a vengeful political plot against Scotland and from the man who has come to take her home.

Duty bound to return with his brother's wayward bride, Sir Hugh Douglas is not prepared for how her quick wit, courage, and laughing eyes touch his warrior heart. Now, as the merry minstrels play matchmaker and passion sparks between Hugh and Jenny, the conspiracy against Scotland builds. . . and threatens all they hold dear.

Jantsen's Gift by Pam Cope with Aimee Molloy
(Hachette Books)

Ten years ago, Pam Cope owned a cozy hair salon in the tiny town of Neosho, Missouri, and her life revolved around her son's baseball games, her daughter's dance lessons, and family trips to places like Disney World. She had never been out of the country, nor had she any desire to travel far from home.

Then, on June 16th, 1999, her life changed forever with the death of her 15-year-old son from an undiagnosed heart ailment.

Needing to get as far away as possible from everything that reminded her of her loss, she accepted a friend's invitation to travel to Vietnam, and, from the moment she stepped off the plane, everything she had been feeling since her son's death began to shift. By the time she returned home, she had a new mission: to use her pain to change the world, one small step at a time, one child at a time. Today, she is the mother of two children adopted from Vietnam. More than that, she and her husband have created a foundation called "Touch A Life," dedicated to helping desperate children in countries as far-flung as Vietnam, Cambodia and Ghana.

Pam Cope's story is on one level a moving, personal account of loss and recovery, but on a deeper level, it offers inspiration to anyone who has ever suffered great personal tragedy or those of us who dream about making a difference in the world.

(Description from Hachette website)

Enduring Justice by Amy Wallace
(Waterbrook Multnomah)

A PAINFUL PAST
Hanna Kessler’s childhood secret has remained buried for over two decades. But when the dark shadows of her past threaten to destroy those she loves, Hanna must face the summer that changed her life and the man who still haunts her memories.

A RACIALLY-MOTIVATED KILLER
As a Crimes Against Children FBI Agent, Michael Parker knows what it means to get knocked down. Difficult cases and broken relationships have plagued his entire year. But when the system fails and a white supremacist is set free, Michael’s drive for retribution eclipses all else.

A LIFE-ALTERING CHOICE
A racist’s well-planned assault forces Hanna and Michael to decide between executing vengeance and pursuing justice. The dividing line between the two is the choice to heal. But when the attack turns personal, is justice enough?

Mama's Got a Fake I.D. by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira

(Waterbrook Multnomah)

No one begins life as a mom. Before you have children, you are an amazing combination of friend, daughter, confidant, visionary, encourager, and thinker. You start out in life using your gifts and abilities in a surprising variety of settings.

Then you have children and the role of mom–as wonderful as it is–seems to consume you. It’s easy to lose your identity when others see you as a mom and little else. What happened to the artist, the team-builder, the organizer, the entrepreneur, the leader–the person you’ve lost touch with?

In Mama’s Got a Fake I.D., Caryn Dahlstrand Rivedeneira helps moms like you reclaim the person God made you to be. God still wants to use you in ways that let your gifts, passions, and personality shine.

This inspiring and practical guide will show you how to break free from false guilt, learn a new language to express your true identity, and follow God’s lead in sharing who you really are. God wants you to discover who he made you to be–in your family and beyond. It’s time to reveal the woman who got hidden behind all that mom.

Dear Mom by Melody Carlson
(Waterbrook Multnomah)

Hear your daughter’s heart…without the angst, arguments, or arm-wrestling

Raising a teen daughter can be like trying to chart a course underwater. You can drown in an ocean of one-word answers, defensive conversations, and unpredictable outbursts, and never get anywhere. Popular teen girls’ novelist Melody Carlson helps you cut through murky, deep, uncharted and seemingly unsafe waters so you can hear what your daughter’s really trying to tell you through her anger, silence, and mixed messages:

“I need you, but I won’t admit it.”
“I’m not as confident as I appear.”
“I have friends. I need a mother.”

Instead of focusing on outward behaviors, Dear Mom captures your daughter’s heart and soul. You can know your daughter’s hopes and fears, doubts and dreams about her identity, guys, friendships, and even you. And you can connect on a deeper, more intimate level that will carry both you and your daughter through the stormy seas of life.

Angels of Destruction by Keith Donohue
(Shelf Awareness/Shaye Areheart Books)

Keith Donohue’s first novel, The Stolen Child, was a national bestseller hailed as “captivating” (USA Today), “luminous and thrilling” (Washington Post), and “wonderful...So spare and unsentimental that it’s impossible not to be moved (Newsweek. His new novel, Angels of Destruction, opens on a winter’s night, when a young girl appears at the home of Mrs. Margaret Quinn, a widow who lives alone. A decade earlier, she had lost her only child, Erica, who fled with her high school sweetheart to join a radical student group known as the Angels of Destruction. Before Margaret answers the knock in the dark hours, she whispers a prayer and then makes her visitor welcome at the door.

The girl, who claims to be nine years old and an orphan with no place to go, beguiles Margaret, offering some solace, some compensation, for the woman’s loss. Together, they hatch a plan to pass her off as her newly found granddaughter, Norah Quinn, and enlist Sean Fallon, a classmate and heartbroken boy, to guide her into the school and town.

Their conspiracy is vulnerable not only to those children and neighbors intrigued by Norah’s mysterious and magical qualities but by a lone figure shadowing the girl who threatens to reveal the child’s true identity and her purpose in Margaret’s life. Who are these strangers really? And what is their connection to the past, the Angels, and the long-missing daughter?

Angels of Destruction is an unforgettable story of hope and fear, heartache and redemption. The saga of the Quinn family unfolds against an America wracked by change. As it delicately dances on the line between the real and the imagined, this mesmerizing new novel confirms Keith Donohue’s standing as one of our most inspiring and inventive novelists.

(From Random House website)

Spiced by Dalia Jurgensen
(Shelf Awareness/G.P. Putnam's Sons)

Spiced is Dalia Jurgensen's deliciously entertaining memoir of leaving her office job and pursuing her dream of becoming a chef. On her path to earning spots in world-class New York kitchens, she reveals in witty detail the dry cakes and burnt posts of her early internships, and the secrets to holding her own in male-dominated kitchens, and divulges what life in chef whites is really like - from the sweet to the less-than-savory. Find out what happens in the kitchen when a restaurant critic is spotted in the dining room, how great food is made, what the staff eats at "family mean," why cooks hate waiters, and what happens after the last customer leaves.

The Lake That Stole Children by Douglas Glenn Clark
(Bostick Communications/CreateSpace)

The Lake That Stole Children blends the magic of Disney's Pinocchio with the magnificent quest of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. It begins with a boy's deep yearning and leads to a grown man's startling discovery. The story begins with a town troubled by a big secret. Children have been disappearing and no one knows why. A fisherman, who lives with his family on the outskirts of town, cared nothing about the town's troubles - until he too lost a son. Following a dangerous search on a nearby lake, the fisherman believes he knows where the children may be and vows to save them. When the town refuses to help in his quest, the fisherman realizes that to save his son he must face one seemingly insurmountable obstacle - himself.

(description from Amazon)

"You Wanna Go To Willard?" by Linda M. Holbrook

(Bostick Communications/BookSurge Publishing)

Growing up, Laura felt different, even abnormal. She was the third child of four and the oldest girl. Her mother conditioned her to respect elders. It was required to always use proper behavior and articulate manners. Laura lived with the notion of a reward for good behavior. People liked children that behaved meticulously. Her life was focused on doing all the things people asked of her. She never objected or even questioned why. Convinced everyone would like her if she did. But the older she got, and the harder she tried, the worse it became. Haunted by her thoughts of being retarded, she struggled to find an answer.

Through trial and error decisions she wandered down dark paths of repeated disappointments. With years of trying too hard, she wanted the truth about whom she was or who she was supposed to be.

Was happiness a myth? Her persistence pushed her over the hurdles in her life. Something inside told her she would find it. The happiness she wanted and desperately needed.

Teenagers Suck by Joanne Kimes and R.J. Colleary

(Bostick Communications/Adams Media)

Moodswings? Check. Eye rolls? Check. Slamming doors and easily annoyed teens? Check. Check.

Let's face it: Teenagers Suck. Tacklers of Teenage Terrors R.J. Colleary and Joanne Kimes take readers on a humorous but helpful ride through teenage troubles, such as how to:

• Pick your battles (do you ignore or forbid the bellybutton ring and lower back tattoo?)
• Handle the Clash of the Curfew
• Talk to your teens when he's constantly text messaging
• Tackle the oh-so-uncomfortable but very important topic of teen sex
• Address peer pressure (because their friends are doing way worse things that jumping off that proverbial bridge!)
  
  With an equal dose of empathy and humor, Colleary and Kimes will expertly guide parents through this traumatic, tender, and (dare we say it) sometimes terrific part of raising kids.
  

Why Shoot a Butler? by Georgette Heyer
(Sourcebooks)

Every family has secrets, but the Fountains' are turning deadly…
On a dark night, along a lonely country road, barrister Frank Amberley stops to help a young lady in distress and discovers a sports car with a corpse behind the wheel. The girl protests her innocence, and Amberley believes her—at least until he gets drawn into the mystery and the clues incriminating Shirley Brown begin to add up…

In an English country-house murder mystery with a twist, it's the butler who's the victim, every clue complicates the puzzle, and the bumbling police are well-meaning but completely baffled. Fortunately, in ferreting out a desperate killer, amateur sleuth Amberley is as brilliant as he is arrogant, but this time he's not sure he wants to know the truth…

Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer

(Sourcebooks)

A surprising invitation

Kate Malvern is rescued from penury by her unt Minerva, who brings her to stay at Staplewood. But the household is strange and strained - Kate's uncle lives in his own private wing, and her handsome, moody cousin Torquil lives in another.

A dark family secret

As bizarre events ufold and Kate begins to question the reasons for her aunt's unexpected generosity, she has no one to confide in but her cousin Philip. Sympathetic though he may appear, will he tell her what she needs to know. . .before it's too late?

Frederica by Georgette Heyer

(Sourcebooks)

One of readers favorites, Frederica is full of surprises

When Frederica brings her younger siblings to London determined to secure a brilliant marriage for her beautiful sister, she seeks out their distant cousin the Marquis of Alverstoke. Lovely, competent, and refreshingly straightforward, Frederica makes such a strong impression that to his own amazement, the Marquis agrees to help launch them all into society.

Lord Alverstoke cant resist wanting to help her

Normally wary of his family, which includes two overbearing sisters and innumerable favor-seekers, Lord Alverstoke does his best to keep his distance. But with his enterprising - and altogether entertaining - country cousins getting into one scrape after another right on his doorstep, before he knows it the Marquis finds himself dangerously embroiled...

The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer

(Sourcebooks)

Horatia Winwood is simply helping her family

When the Earl of Rule proposes marriage to her sister Lizzie, Horatia offers herself instead. Her sister is already in love with someone else, and Horatia is willing to sacrifice herself for her family's happiness. Everyone knows she's no beauty, but she'll do her best to keep out of the Earl's way and make him a good wife. And then the Earl's archenemy, Sir Robert, sets out to ruin her reputation...

The Earl of Rule has found just the wife he wants

Unbeknownst to Horatia, the Earl is enchanted by her. There's simply no way he's going to let her get into trouble. Overcoming some misguided help from Horatia's harebrained brother and a hired highwayman, the Earl routs his old enemy, and wins over his young wife, gifting her with a love that she never thought she could expect.

I would love to hear about the books that you got this week!

(All descriptions are from book covers unless otherwise noted.)

The Friday 56 4-10-09

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.

"Looks like . . . she's been here . . . a couple of days at least."

Riley nodded. The stench of decomposing flesh had already confirmed that fact. (Fatal Illusions by Adam Blumer, p56)

How's that for a grabber - this would have been a good Teaser Tuesday!

Friday Finds 4-10-09

Boy, there were a lot of great books out there this week! This is just a few of my finds!

Madapple by Christina Meldrum.

I "found" this one at Fizzy Thoughts.

THE SECRETS OF the past meet the shocks of the present.Aslaug is an unusual young woman. Her mother has brought her up in near isolation, teaching her about plants and nature and language—but not about life. Especially not how she came to have her own life, and who her father might be.

When Aslaug’s mother dies unexpectedly, everything changes. For Aslaug is a suspect in her mother’s death. And the more her story unravels, the more questions unfold. About the nature of Aslaug’s birth. About what she should do next.

About whether divine miracles have truly happened. And whether, when all other explanations are impossible, they might still happen this very day.

Addictive, thought-provoking, and shocking, Madapple is a page-turning exploration of human nature and divine intervention—and of the darkest corners of the human soul. (Description from Randomhouse.)

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

I "found" this one at Bellas Novella.

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.

Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.

What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story. A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor. (Description from Scribner)

Buffalo Lockjaw by Greg Ames.

I "found" this over at Caribou's Mom.

James Fitzroy isn’t doing so well. Though his old friends in Buffalo believe his life in New York City is a success, in fact he writes ridiculous taglines for a greeting card company. Now he’s coming home on Thanksgiving to visit his aging father and dying mother, and unlike other holidays, he’s not sure how this one is going to end. Buffalo Lockjaw introduces a fresh new voice in American fiction. (Description from Hyperion)

The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer.

I "found" this one over at Booking Mama.

For a group of four New York friends the past decade has been defined largely by marriage and motherhood, but it wasn’t always that way. Growing up, they had been told that their generation would be different. And for a while this was true. They went to good colleges, and began high-powered careers. But after marriage and babies, for a variety of reasons, they decided to stay home, temporarily, to raise their children. Now, ten years later, they are still at home, unsure how they came to inhabit lives so different from the ones they expected—until a new series of events begins to change the landscape of their lives yet again, in ways they couldn’t have predicted.

Written in Meg Wolitzer’s inimitable, glittering style, The Ten-Year Nap is wickedly observant, knowing, provocative, surprising, and always entertaining, as it explores the lives of its women with candor, wit, and generosity. (Description from Penguin Group )

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

Rachel's Tears by Beth Nimmo and Darrell Scott (Book Review)

Title: Rachel's Tears
Authors: Beth Nimmo and Darrell Scott
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Genre: Biography/Religious
ISBN: 978-1-4003-1347-1
This book was made available for me to read from Thomas Nelson.

First sentence: The events of April 20, 1999, have generated miles of print in newspapers and magazines and months' worth of coverage on TV and radio all over the world.

In a few days, on April 20th, it will be the tenth anniversary of the Columbine tragedy. Two boys, armed with guns and bombs, killed 12 students and a teacher before turning the guns on themselves. One of those students was Rachel Joy Scott.

Rachel was not the most popular, or the smartest, or the prettiest - but she had a light shining within her. This light was the love and personal relationship she with the Lord. This light was Jesus living inside her.

Not until after her death did her parents even realize the depth of Rachel's personal relationship with Christ. This was discovered through the numerous journals and drawings that she left behind.

Rachel's Tears gives us a glimpse of this amazing girl's short life. Told through stories and observations from her parents, family and close friends, we see what a special girl Rachel was. She reached out to anyone who was needing, regardless of race, popularity, looks, etc.

Through writings from her journals we see her deep love for God and her willingness to serve Him and do His will. We also her humility and her struggles.

Dear God,

Why do I feel dry in Your Spirit? Why do I feel that the fire has died withing me, yet so many claim they see he light of You, oh God, burning brightly? Why do I have to feel moments of doubt, distrust, disbelief, stages of anger and stages of loneliness when it comes to You, Father? Why do I lose focus of you during praise and worship as well as prayer? Why can't I completely be consumed by You? Why can't I be used by You? Why do I feel self-righteous at times? Why do I feel afraid? (Rachel's Tears, p111 - an entry from her journal)

This book has touched me in many ways. It makes me see how I would like to be with my walk with God - how I would like my family to be. It shows how God can take a tragic situation and use it for His good. It shows how one person, one child, can change so many.

Winner! - 10 Things I Hate About Christianity

Congratulations to NotNessie! She was lucky number 7 - which is the number randomizer picked for the winner. She has been emailed for her information!

Wondrous Words 4-8-2009

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. To join in the fun, post your words on your blog and then leave a message over at Bermudaonion's Blog!

My first words this week are from An Offer You Can't Refuse by Jill Mansell.

1. Salutary - Used like this: Mind you, it was a salutary experience dressing up like a rabbit.

Definition - Producing a beneficial effect.

2. Pantechnicon - Used like this: Gabe felt he was being more than generous; with all the stuff she'd strewn around his flat he'd need a pantechnicon.

Definition - Brit a large van used for furniture removals

3. Frisson - Used like this: And he had buckets of money ... why, why couldn't she look at him and feel a frisson of lust?

Definition - A moment of intense excitement; a shudder.

4. Harridan - Used like this: Sally's heart melted at the thought of this wonderful man wanting children and being cruelly denied them by his cold-hearted career-driven harridan of an ex.

Definition - A woman regarded as scolding and vicious.

The next words are from Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr.

5. Pastiche - Used like this: The outside was decorated in murals that ran the gamut from anime to abstract; beautiful and unexpected, they faded into one another like a collage that begged the viewer to make sense of images, to find an order behind the colorful pastiche.

Definition - a hodgepodge

6. Labret - Used like this: "You ready for a labret yet?"

Definition - An ornament inserted into a perforation in the lip.

7. Mien - Used like this: Despite their cadaverous mien, they were eerily beautiful to watch.

Definition - An appearance or aspect.

8. Liege - Used like this: "I am the Summer King's oldest advisor, and" - Tavish stopped himself, sighing as he realized that he was only underlining Niall's point - "try the boy's advice first, my liege."

Definition - A vassal or subject owing allegiance and services to a lord or sovereign under feudal law.

Have you learned any new words this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: Last Night in Montreal

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

Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

Publisher: Unbridled Books

Available: June 2, 2009

Lilia Albert has been leaving people behind for her entire life. She spends her childhood and adolescence traveling constantly and changing identities. In adulthood, she finds it impossible to stop. Haunted by an inability to remember her early childhood, she moves restlessly from city to city, abandoning lovers along with way, possibly still followed by a private detective who has pursued her for years. Then her latest lover follows her from New York to Montreal, determined to learn her secrets and make sure she’s safe. Last Night in Montreal is a story of love, amnesia, compulsive travel, the depths and the limits of family bonds, and the nature of obsession. In this extraordinary debut, Emily St. John Mandel casts a powerful spell that captures the reader in a gritty, youthful world—charged with an atmosphere of mystery, promise and foreboding—where small revelations continuously change our understanding of the truth and lead to desperate consequences. Mandel’s characters will resonate with you long after the final page is turned.

What are you waiting for? Waiting on Wednesdays is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

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.

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