In My Mailbox/Mailbox Mondays (April 5 - 17)

In My Mailbox is hosted at The Story Siren. 

Mailbox Monday is hosted at The Printed Page . Please visit Kristi and Marcia  and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week!

Due to the Read-a-thon last week I wasn't able to get a Mailbox post up last weekend - so this post will cover what I received in the last 2 weeks!

The Legacy of Beezer and Boomer: Lessons on Living and Dying from My Canine Brothers

by Doug Koktavy

When Doug Koktavy reluctantly brought home two sibling Labrador retriever pups on his wife's urging, he was sure the dogs would create upheaval in his already hectic life. He could not have known the dogs would become cherished family members -- and take him on a wild ride that would change his life forever.

The trouble began when Beezer, at age nine, was diagnosed with kidney disease and given ninety days to live. Doug, by then divorced and self-employed, tried to manage the downward spiral of his beloved pet the way he did everything -- by controlling it. He called vet after vet, searching for hope. He spent hours online, researching treatments. He enlisted animal communicators to help him converse with the Beez.

As Beezer worsened, Doug agonized over what he might have neglected in caring for him. Guilt crept into his life. Thinking about the future without his best friend, he grew frantic with fear. His legal work and his own health began to suffer. 

Yet, it was the caring for Beezer that eventually led to an awakening for this ego-driven attorney. Beezer needed subcutaneous drip treatments, which Doug administered in the evenings. As they snuggled on the couch during those sessions, Doug poured out his soul to him. He also began to listen to his buddy.  Even as Beezer was dying, he was teaching Doug about his life.

The story does not end there. Not long after Beezer passed, the universe had another punch for Doug. Now Boomer was ill. Had Doug learned Beezer's lessons well enough? Could he meet this new challenge with acceptance and peace?

~

Many books deal with the death of a companion animal and subsequent grieving. This groundbreaking memoir on the dying of a pet invites you to share the author's pain and discoveries during that difficult period between diagnosis and the last goodbye.

Still Missing
by Chevy Stevens

On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a thirty-two year old realtor, had three goals—sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever- patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent as the captive of psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape—her struggle to piece her shattered life back together and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor.



The truth doesn’t always set you free.

Still Missing is that rare debut find--a shocking, visceral, brutal and beautifully crafted debut novel.

Finding Jeena

by Miralee Ferrell

New job. New townhouse. New car. the perfect new life. . .right?

Jeena Gregory thought she'd made it. She has everything a woman could ask for and a budding career promises more. But when rumors around town cast her boss in a shady light, Jeena starts to question her employer's integrity. Was she wrong to trust this man and this job?

When the boss disappears, salaries go unpaid, and Jeena overhears several hush-hush phone calls, she realizes her carefully crafted world is crumbling. Shaken to the core at the threat of losing everything. Jeena is suddenly confronted with her prejudices -- and with a God she had long forgotten.

Easy as Pi: The Countless Ways We Use Numbers Every Day

by Jamie Buchan

Count the ways. . .

Have you ever stopped to think how many countless ways we use numbers? From the ring of the alarm clock in the morning to the numbers triggering our cell phones, our world is designed with numbers in mind. With Easy as Pi, you'll get the 4-1-1 on the fascinating origin of many of the numbers we use or read about every day:

• What makes "cloud nine" and "seventh heaven" so blissful?
• Why is number 7 so lucky and 13 so unlucky?
• Is "fourth-dimensional thinking" really out of this world?
• What prompted Ray Bradbury to call his novel Fahrenheit 451?
• How did 007 become James bond's number?

For the math averse: Be not afraid. Easy as Pi is not a textbook but rather a lively look at the derivation of numerical expressions and their inescapable influence on our culture -- from book titles to bus schedules. To sum it up, easy as Pi equals one clever and often hilarious collection.

Refuge on Crescent Hill

by Melanie Dobson

This homecoming wasn't what she expected. . .

Jobless, homeless, and broke, Camden Bristow decides to visit the grandmother she hasn't seen in years. But when Camden arrives in Etherton, Ohio, she discovers that her grandmother has passed away, leaving her the 150-year-old mansion on Crescent Hill.  The site of her happiest summers as a child, the run-down mansion is now her only refuge.

When Camden finds evidence that she may not be the mansion's only occupant, memories of Grandma Rosalie's bedtime stories about secret passageways and runaway slaves fuel her imagination. What really happened at Crescent Hill? Who can she turn to for answers in this town full of strangers? And what motivates the handsome local Alex Yates to offer his help?  As she works to uncover the past and present mysteries harbored in her home, Camden uncovers deep family secrets within the mansion's walls that could change her life -- and the entire town -- forever.

Seduced by the Wolf
by Terry Spear


She'll do anything to help wolves. . .


Biologist Cassie Roux has dedicated her life to protecting wolves in the wild. On a despearate mission to help a she-wolf with newborn pups, the last thing Cassie needs right now is a nosy and entirely too attractive werewolf pack leader trying to track her down. . .


His first priority is to protect his pack. . .


Werewolf pack leader Leidolf Wildhaven has just taken over a demoralized pack. With rogue wolves on the loose causing havoc and the authorities from the zoo suddenly zeroing in on the local wolf population, the last thing he needs in his territory is a do-gooder female, no matter how beautiful and enticing she is. . .

Hell, Yeah

by Carolyn Brown

He lives the good life. . .

Gorgeous and rich, Travis Henry travels the country unearthing oil wells and then moving on. Then the beautiful blue-eyed new owner of the Honky Tonk beer joint becomes his best friend and so much more. When his job is done in Texas, how is he ever going to hit the road without her?

She's finally found a place that feels like home. . .

When Cathy O'Dell buys the Honky Tonk, the nights of cowboys and country tunes come together to create the home she's always wanted. Then in walks a ruggedly handsome oil man who tempts her to trade in the happiness she's found at the Honky Tonk for a life on the road with him. . .

Will a sexy showdown persuade two stubborn lovers to reveal their true hearts' desires, or will they both be left singing the blues?

The Cradle

by Patrick Somerville

Early one summer morning, Matthew Bishop kisses his pregnant wife and sets out in search of the antique cradle that used to be hers. Although the cradle has been missing for many years, she is determined that Matt find it before the arrival of their first child.

A decade later, Renee Owen, a successful writer of children's books, prepares for her only son's deployment to Iraq, and his departure brings to the surface memories of a lost love, an old truth, and a long-hidden life.

This widely acclaimed novel radiates with wry wisdom as it takes the reader on a surprising journey into the heart of marriage, parenthood, and what it means to be a family.

Foxy

by Pam Grier

Some may know her as hot, gutsy, gun-totin' Foxy Brown, Friday Foster, Coffy and Jackie Brown. Others may know her from her role as Kit Porter on The L Word. But that only defines one part of the legend that is Pam Grier.

FOXY is Pam's testimony of her life, past and present. In it, she reveals her relationships with Richard Pryor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Freddie Prinze Sr., among others.  She unveils her experiences as a backup singer and a blaxploitation star. In particularly candid and shocking chapters, she shares -- for the first time -- her view of those films and the persecution that blacks, especially women, needed to endure to make a name for themselves. . . including how it felt to be labeled one of the most beautiful women alive, yet not be permitted to try on clothes in a department store because of the color of her skin. And in words sure to inspire many, she tells the story of her ongoing battle with cancer.

From her disappointments to her triumphs, nothing is held back.  with FOXY, Pam wishes to impart life lessons to her readers -- and hopes to touch their hearts.

The Art of choosing (audio version)

by Sheena Iyengar

Read by Orlagh Cassidy

Life is full of choices. How do we make them?

An Apple Store customer asks for the latest iPhone in black but suddenly changes his preference to white when he sees the choices others are making. A resident of a former communist country is offered a fizzy drink from a wide selection but picks at random. Though the child knows she shouldn't press the big red button, she finds her hand inching forward. A young man and woman decide to marry -- knowing that the first time they meet will be on their wedding day.

How did these people make their choices? How do any of us make ours? Choice is a powerful tool to define ourselves and mold our lives -- but what do we know about the wants, motivations, biases, and influences that aid or hinder our endeavors?

In THE ART OF CHOOSING, Columbia University professor Sheena Iyengar, a leading expert on choice, sets herself the Herculean task of helping us become better choosers. She asks fascinating questions: Is the desire for choice innate or created by culture? Why do we sometimes choose against our best interests? How much control do we really have over what we choose? Ultimately, she offers unexpected and profound answers, drawn from her award-winning, discipline-spanning research.

Here you'll learn about the complex relationship between choice and freedom, and why one doesn't always go with the other. You'll see that too much choice can overwhelm us, leading to unpleasant experiences. Perhaps most important, you'll discover how our choices -- both mundane and momentous -- are shaped by many different forces, visible and invisible.

Blood Oath

by Christopher Farnsworth

The Ultimate Secret. The Ultimate Agent.

The President's Vampire.

Incredibly clever and compulsively readable, Blood Oath is a debut political thriller packed with enough action to out-Bourne Jason Bourne and out-Bauer Jack Bauer.

Zack Barrows is an ambitious young White House staffer whose career takes an unexpected turn when he's partnered with Nathaniel Cade, a secret agent sworn to protect the president. But Cade is no ordinary civil servant. Bound 140 years ago by a special blood oath, Nathaniel Cade is a vampire. He battles nightmares before they can break into the daylight world of the American dream, enemies far stranger -- and far more dangerous -- than civilians have ever imagined.

Blood Oath is the first in a series of novels featuring Nathaniel Cade, the president's vampire.

The Hypnotist

by M.J. Rose

An FBI agent, tormented by a death he wasn't able to prevent, a crime he's never been able to solve and a love he's never forgotten, discovers that his true conflict resides not in his past, but in a . . . past life.

Haunted by a twenty-year-old murder of a beautiful young painter, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work as a special agent with the FBI's Art Crime Team.  Currently investigating a crazed art collector who has begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiation that takes him undercover at the Phoenix Foundation -- dedicated to the science of past life study -- where, in order to maintain his cover, he agrees to submit to the treatment of a hypnotists.

Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to nineteenth-century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of the world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him at the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history -- the theft of a 1,500-year-old sculpture from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

International bestselling author M.J. Rose's The Hypnotist is her most mesmerizing novel yet. An adventure, a love story, a clash of cultures, a spiritual quest, it is above all a thrilling capstone to her unique Reincarnationist novels, The Reincarnationist and The Memorist.

Hannah's List

by Debbie Macomber

My darling Michael, I know this letter will come as a shock to you. . .

On the anniversary of his beloved wife's death, Dr. Michael Everett receives a letter Hannah had written him.

In it she reminds him of her love and makes one final request. An impossible request -- I want you to marry again. She tells him he shouldn't spend the years he has left grieving her. And to that end she's chosen three women she asks him to consider.

First on Hannah's list is her cousin, Winter Adams, a trained chef who owns a cafe on Seattle's Blossom Street. The second is Leanne Lancaster, Hannah's oncology nurse. Michael knows them both. But the third name is one he's not familiar with -- Macy Roth.

Each of these three women has her own heartache, her own private grief. More than a year earlier, Winter broke off her relationship with another chef.  Leanne is divorced from a man who defrauded the hospital for which she works. And Macy lacks family of her own, the family she craves, but she's a resucer of strays, human and animal.  Macy is energetic, artistic, eccentric -- and couldn't be more different from Michael.

During the months that follow, he spends time with Winter, Leanne and Macy, learning more about each of them --- and about himself.  Learning what Hannah already knew.  He's a man who needs the completeness only love can offer. And Hannah's list leads him to the woman who can help him find it.

What great things did you find in your mailbox this week?

Too Close to Home by Lynette Eason (Book Review)

Title: Too Close to Home
Author: Lynette Eason
Publisher: Revell

About the book: The FBI has a secret weapon. But now the secret's out.

When missing teens begin turning up dead in a small Southern town, the FBI sends in Special Agent Samantha Cash to help crack the case. her methods are invisible, and she never quits until the case is closed.

Homicide detective Connor Wolfe has his hands full.  His relationship with his headstrong daughter is in a tailspin, and the string of unsolved murders has the town demanding answers.  Connor is running out of ideas -- and time. 

Samantha joins Connor in a race against the clock to save the next victim.  And the killer starts to get personal.

Too Close to Home ratchets up the suspense with each page even as love blossoms in the face of danger. Read this one with the lights on!

Available April 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

My thoughts:  This one gets off to a quick start with the discovery of a victim in a trash dumpster.  From there it only gets better.  I found this one hard to put down and carried it with me just about everywhere I went.  This book has everything from the hardships of being a single father to a teenage girl (it is hard enought to just parent teenage girls!) - and then having this same father on the search for a serial killer who seems to be targeting teenage girls!  There is a little romance - lots of mystery and suspense.  You should read this one if you are a fan of suspense - and if you are not - read it anyway - it just might hook you!  What's even better is that this is the first in a new series - Women of Justice (this would be a good name for a TV series don't you agree?)  Don't Look Back is coming in October!

~I received this book for review from Baker Publishing.~

Too Close to Home
Publisher/Publication Date: Revell, Apr 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8007-3369-8
332 pages

A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi" by Chloe Rhodes (Book Review)

Title: A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi": The Origin of Foreign Words Used in English
Author: Chloe Rhodes
Publisher: Reader's Digest

Rather than give you a synopsis of the book - I thought I would share this article that the author wrote that was passed along to me for possible publication.

A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi"

By Chloe Rhodes,

Author of A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi": The Origin of Foreign Words Used in English

Picture this scenario: You're having a tête-à-tête with an old friend from your alma mater, who is a wine aficionado. So you pick an al fresco table at a chic little café, and order from the a la carte menu. However, your companion won't stop exchanging double entendres with the woman in the sarong at the next table. So you're stuck listening to the klutz of a waiter droning on ad nauseam about the soup du jour. At that point, you're ready to say hasta la vista -- but you don't want to seem like a diva.

Try to say all that in "English." You probably wouldn't change a single word. How else would you describe such a scene if it weren't for the thousands of foreign words and phrases we've snuck into our conversations over the years? We all use them without a second thought. But how much do you really know about the origins of the borrowed words and phrases you use every day?

Did you know, for example, that when you place an order for apple pie a la mode, that you are using a phrase that dates back to the days of King Louis XIV? His court became such a standard of good taste that the British aristocracy wanted to do more than dress in French fashion; they wanted to use their phrase for it, too. In the seventeenth century the term was anglicized to become alamode -- a light silk used to make scarves. And at some point in small-town America, the combined flavors of cooked apple, sweet pastry, and cool, creamy vanilla represented the very latest in fashionable, cutting-edge gastronomy, giving the term its modern meaning of "with ice cream."

And there's hundreds of other examples from France: laissez faire, joie de vivre, fait accompli, faux pas, I could go on but you'd only become blasé. And with good reason; English speakers have been word collectors since the fifth century, when the dialects of Anglo-Saxon settlers, Celts, and Norse invaders were cobbled together to create Old English. When the Norman conquerors arrived in 1066 it must have seemed natural to steal some of their vocabulary, too. By the end of the thirteenth century, more than 10,000 French words were absorbed into English -- and we still use 75 percent of them today.

But we've done more than add a French lilt to our lingo. Those Normans also introduced us to Latin. In medicine, we have words like post-mortem and placebo, while in legal language, Latin phrases such as in camera and quid pro quo are still bounced around the courtroom. And others have crossed over into broader use; an agreement or contract signed in good faith is said to be bona fide. However, in everyday use, the phrase has become interchangeable with the word genuine and usually describes someone or something whose authenticity can be trusted.

More foreign phrases joined the fray during the marauding, seafaring days of our English-speaking ancestors, who filled their boats with strange Asian spices, exotic fabrics, and loads of new words for all the animals, garments and foods they had discovered.

Even ketchup, that favorite sidekick of French fries, is an import, starting life as a spicy pickled fish sauce in seventeenth-century China. The word is a Westernized version of the Malay word kichap, which came from koechiap, meaning fish brine. The sweet red version we love with began to take shape when American sailors added tomatoes, which are excellent for preventing scurvy. In 1876 John Heinz launched his infamous tomato ketchup and the rest, as they say, is history.

And there are stowaway words in your wardrobe as well as your pantry; your pajamas, dungarees, and even your bandanna have their origins on foreign shores. Bandanna comes from the Sanskrit word bandhana, meaning to tie, from the tie-dying technique used to decorate scarves and handkerchiefs in India. The anglicized "bandanna" was incorporated into the English language during the days of the British Raj, though they're now more popular with wrestlers and cowboys who want to give their look a certain panache.

And while the Brits went abroad to gather additions for their dictionary, in seventeenth-century North America, words were coming to the English language by the boatload. Soon words from Italy, Poland, German, and Eastern Europe were leaping off immigrant ships and landing in the American English lexicon. To uncover the backstory on some of these, from alter ego to zeitgeist, explore the pages of A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi -- The Origin of Foreign Words Used in English by Chloe Rhodes, published by Reader's Digest, and voilá! Soon you'll easily be able to schmooze with everyone at the next cocktail party without making a single faux pas.

My thoughts: This was a fun book to read.  I admit that I usually don't give a second thought as to where the origins of words come from  - even if it is obvious they aren't of English origin.  It was interesting to learn where they originated - and I learned what some meant that I had encountered in my reading, but was just too lazy 

not somewhere that I could look up the meaning.  The only thing that I wish the book would have included would be the correct pronunciations of the words.  If you have a love for words, or even a curiousity, you should check out this book!

A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi"
Publisher/Publication Date: Reader's Digest, Mar 2010
ISBN: 978-1606520574
176 pages

Forget Me Not by Vicki Hinze (Book Review)

Please see my giveaway of this book!

Title: Forget Me Not
Author: Vicki Hinze
Publisher: WaterBrook/Multnomah

About the Book: Crossroads Crisis Center owner Benjamin Brandt was a content man -- in his faith, his work, and his family.  Then in a flash, everything he loved was snatched away.  His wife and son were murdered, and grief-stricken Ben lost faith.  Determination to find their killers keeps him going, but after three years of dead ends and torment, his hope is dying too. Why had he survived? He'd failed to protect his family.

Now, a mysterious woman appears at Crossroads seeking answers and help -- a victim who eerily resembles Ben's deceased wife, Susan.  A woman robbed of her identity, her life, of everything except her faith -- and Susan's necklace.

The connections between the two women mount, exceeding coincidence, and to keep the truth hidden, someone is willing to kill.  Finding out who and why turns Ben and the mysstery woman's situation from dangerous to deadly.  Their only hope for survival is to work together, trust each other, and face whatever they discover head on, no matter how painful.  But will that be enough to save their lives and heal their tattered hearts?

My thoughts:  I like thrillers a lot, but this one struggled to keep my attention.  I think it was mainly because I kept losing track of who everybody was.  There were a lot of characters - first were the good guys - then there were the bad guys - then there were the bad guys who were trying to be good, etc, etc.  I was more than halfway through the book before I could stop turning back to previous pages to try to figure out who was who.  Once that far though, I didn't want to give up on it - It had grabbed my interest enough that I wanted to find out what the connections between all of them were.  There was a message of faith throughout - and how even in your worst place there will always be someone to lean on and carry you through.

~I received a copy of this for review from WaterBrook Multnomah.~

Forget Me Not
Publisher/Publication Date: Waterbrook Multnomah, March 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60142-205-7
336 pages

Friday Finds: 4-16-2010

Here are my finds this week!

Angel Lane
by Sheila Roberts

Keep the heart in Heart Lake. That’s exactly what three small-town shop owners hope to do when they launch their crazy-ambitious “Have a Heart” campaign—asking neighbors to commit one random act of kindness every day. Emma, Sarah, and Jamie love their lakeside community, but the little town is growing too big too fast, and a doing a good deed never hurt anyone. Or so they thought…


When Emma slashes prices at her quilt shop, practically giving away blankets to anyone who looks vaguely cold, she almost stitches her way into bankruptcy. Sarah’s free cooking class boils down to a hotbed of crime when some punk kid swipes her favorite heirloom. And at Jamie’s chocolate shop, things take a bittersweet turn when a local policeman starts giving her grief, stirring up feelings she’s tried to forget—and slowly melts away her defenses…

With irresistible humor, warmth, affection—and recipes!—author Sheila Roberts serves up a generous, open-hearted story about the friendships we make, the chances we take, and the lives we touch every day.

The Lake Shore Limited

by Sue Miller

Four unforgettable characters beckon you into this spellbinding new novel from Sue Miller, the author of 2008's heralded best seller The Senator's Wife. First among them is Wilhelmina—Billy—Gertz, small as a child, fiercely independent, powerfully committed to her work as a playwright. The story itself centers on The Lake Shore Limited—a play Billy has written about an imagined terrorist bombing of that train as it pulls into Union Station in Chicago, and about a man waiting to hear the fate of his estranged wife, who is traveling on it. Billy had waited in just such a way on 9/11 to hear whether her lover, Gus, was on one of the planes used in the attack.

The novel moves from the snow-filled woods of Vermont to the rainy brick sidewalks of Boston as the lives of the other characters intersect and interweave with Billy's: Leslie, Gus's sister, still driven by grief years after her brother's death; Rafe, the actor who rises to greatness in a performance inspired by a night of incandescent lovemaking; and Sam, a man irresistibly drawn to Billy after he sees the play that so clearly displays the terrible conflicts and ambivalence of her situation.

How Billy has come to create the play out of these emotions, how it is then created anew on the stage, how the performance itself touches and changes the other characters' lives—these form the thread that binds them all together and drives the novel compulsively forward.

A powerful love story; a mesmerizing tale of entanglements, connections, and inconsolable losses; a marvelous reflection on the meaning of grace and the uses of sorrow, in life and in art: The Lake Shore Limited is Sue Miller at her dazzling best.








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

Heart of My Heart by Kristin Armstrong - Giveaway!

Heart of My Heart:

365 Reflections on the Magnitude and Meaning of Motherhood

A Devotional

by Kristin Armstrong

Whether God is using Kristin to raise children or the children to grow Kristin, He is present in every moment and every page. This warm, real, and insightful devotional celebrates the journey of growth mothers take with their children. Since their births, Kristin realized she has "discovered more about myself and my God in the pursuit of discovering my children." Each entry in this 365-day devotional contains a Bible verse and a personal reflection from Kristin. It is on this intimate, daily walk that mothers can gain the courage to rely on God and emerge as a better woman.

Read an excerpt

Giveaway

I have three copies of this book to giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT)do you have a favorite Bible verse?  Please leave your email address.

For additional entries:
1. Sign up to follow through Google Friend Connect (old followers let me know) - 2 entries for this one. (leave 2 comments)

2. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about it. Please leave link in comments.
3. Post it on your blog - please leave link in your comments.

BONUS ENTRIES:  Follow Kristin on Twitter or her blog Mile Markers.

Each entry must have it's own comment. (Seven entries total.)

This giveaway is for U.S/Canada only - no PO boxes.

It ends May 3.

Eat the Cookie. . . Buy the Shoes (and win the book!)

Eat the Cookie. . . Buy the Shoes:

Giving Yourself Permission to Lighten Up

by Joyce Meyer

Engrained in our culture is the belief that unbending discipline is the only sure way to success. You must go to the gym five times a week, never order the dessert, and don't even think about buying that dress you keep staring at in the store window. Breaking from such a regimented lifestyle is a sign of weakness, right? Wrong!-and Joyce wants to tell us why...

Though setting rules in our lives are important, it's just as important that we break them from time-to-time. Structure is a powerful tool, but when diverging from your own goals is seen as catastrophic, it can have a hugely negative effect on us. Balance is a core value in life and every once in awhile we deserve to indulge in a guilty pleasure or two. So don't feel bad about straying from your goals every once-in-awhile and in fact, embrace it: eat the cookie and buy the shoes!

Listen to an excerpt

Giveaway

I have three copies of this book to giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT) how do you give yourself a break? Do you ever do anything special just for you? Please leave your email address.

For additional entries:
1. Sign up to follow through Google Friend Connect (old followers let me know) - 2 entries for this one. (leave 2 comments)
2. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about it. Please leave link in comments.
3. Post it on your blog - please leave link in your comments.

BONUS ENTRY: Fan Joyce Meyer Ministries on Facebook and/or Twitter!

Each entry must have it's own comment. (Seven entries total.)

This giveaway is for U.S/Canada only - no PO boxes.

It ends May 3.

Interview (and Giveaway!) with the Charming Ladies who comprise Lydia Dare

I would like to welcome "Lydia Dare" to Books and Needlepoint today.  Her latest book, A Certain Wolfish Charm, came out April 6.

Thank you so much for having us! You heard right. I said “us”. Two of us make up the writing team Lydia Dare. We’ll try to make it clear which of us is speaking.

1. That is a surprise!  Hopefully I can interview you again in the future and talk about the difficulties/advantages of collaboration!  If someone would have told you 10 years ago that you would be a published author - what would you have said?

Lydia/Jodie: I would have thought they were crazy! Ten years ago I had already given up my writing to raise my son. My creativity just disappeared one day. It wasn’t until just a few years ago, that I picked up a pen once more.


Lydia/Tammy: I probably would have said something like “You really think I could?” I actually had a coworker around this time read something of mine and say “You are in the wrong profession!” And that comment has stuck with me from that moment forward. (I probably should tell her she was right at some point.)

2. Jodie - I know what you mean about having your creativity disappear when you have kids - I didn't needlepoint for YEARS after my first child was born!  Do you have a job outside of being an author?

Lydia/Jodie: I work a day job as a meeting planner and travel manager for an IT consulting firm.


Lydia/Tammy: I have been self-employed for about six years. I love working for myself and really consider myself to be incredibly fortunate to be able to earn an income, set my own schedule, and work from home. Jodie and I both have the hardest jobs on earth as well as working full time – we’re both moms. There’s no job more rewarding or more challenging.

3. Tammy - You are very lucky to be self-employed and able to work from home!  I would love to find something where I could work from home!  Where is your favorite place to write - and do you need anything special while writing?

Lydia/Jodie: My favorite place to write is in a local coffee shop. Unfortunately, I don’t get there as often as I’d like, and I end up writing at home more often than not.


Lydia/Tammy: I need quiet. That’s my only requirement. No TV. No radio. No kids. Aside from that, I could write in a wind tunnel, I think. Unless it’s a noisy one.

4. Jodie - I like the coffee shop idea.  I have thought about going there to blog occasionally, but have not done it yet! What would you tell a beginning writer?

Lydia/Jodie: My best advice for a beginning romance writer is to join your local RWA chapter if there is one in your area. I know that I wouldn’t be sitting where I am today without the Raleigh Chapter – Heart of Carolina Romance Writers.


Lydia/Tammy: The best advice I could give is to find other like-minded people who have similar goals, but try to find a group with writers at all stages of their career. Our local RWA chapter is full of brilliant minds we picked throughout the writing process, the selling process, and now we’re on to marketing. I can’t count the number of times I’ve sat down with one of the members and said “Hey, can I ask you a question?” And I don’t think anyone has ever turned me down. While writing is somewhat a solitary pursuit, you’ll get much farther if you find people with similar goals. Some day, it could be you who’s mentoring a new writer.

5. Do you have plans to write any other genre?

Lydia/Jodie: I’m pretty stuck in the Regency era. Tammy likes to joke that I live in the 19th Century and in a lot of ways she’s right. So if I wasn’t writing paranormal Regencies, I’d be writing Regency Historical romance.

Lydia/Tammy: I don’t know if I could not write romance. But if I did, I’d like to try teen fantasy. I like to build worlds and change the rules a bit, stepping outside the norm.

6. Well, I am sure my readers will agree with me, that we love you both writing paranormal romance!  I love the covers of your books! Did you get to have any input on them or the titles?

Lydia/Jodie: Thanks! We’re really happy with the covers too. We have had some input on covers and titles.

Lydia/Tammy: The folks at Sourcebooks have a fabulous team that asks for our input and then builds on it. They turned out great!

7. What were your favorite books growing up?

Lydia/Jodie: I think like most regency lovers – I have to say Pride and Prejudice, but I was also a huge fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.

Lydia/Tammy: When I was really young, I read every book at the school library. There wasn’t one piece of fiction in elementary school that I hadn’t turned the pages on. When I was a little older… Oh, my mother’s romance novels! The ones with the really scrumptious covers, I snuck those away long enough to devour them and then returned them. I think she always knew, though.

8. Do you have any books on your nightstand right now?

Lydia/Jodie: I have research books on my nightstand. The one I thumb through often is Ian Gordon Lindsay’s Georgian Edinburgh.


Lydia/Tammy: My books are my night stand. I have a pile of them beside the bed and they’re stacked up about 10-tall. There’s usually a cup of water that sits precariously on the top.

9. Tammy - I like the idea of using books as a night stand!  Get rid of the furniture and get more books! Is there anything else that you would like our readers to know?

Lydia/Jodie and Tammy: We had the BEST time writing this series, and hope readers have as much fun reading the books as we did writing them.


10. Thank you Lydia and congrats on your new series!

Lydia/Jodie and Tammy: Thank you, again, for having us!

A CERTAIN WOLFISH CHARM

by LYDIA DARE—IN STORES APRIL 2010!

He gets crankier and crankier as the moon gets full…
The rules of society can be beastly—especially when you’re a werewolf and it’s that irritating time of the month. Simon Westfield, the Duke of Blackmoor, is rich, powerful, and sinfully handsome, and has spent his entire life creating scandal and mayhem. It doesn’t help his wolfish temper at all that Miss Lily Rutledge seems not the least bit afraid of him, and in fact, may be as untamable as he is…


A woman whose charm is stronger that the moon…
When Lily’s beloved nephew’s behavior becomes inexplicably wild, she turns to Simon, the boy’s cousin and guardian, for help. But Simon’s idea of assistance is far different than hers, and Lily finds herself ensconced in his house and engaged to the rogue.

They both may have bitten off more than they can chew when each begins to discover the other’s darkest secrets…

About the Author

Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in Spring 2010! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.

You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.


A Certain Wolfish Charm - available Now!
Tall, Dark and Wolfish - available May 2
The Wolf Next Door - available June 6
The Taming of the Wolf - available Nov 2

Now for the Giveaway!

Thanks to Danielle and Sourcebooks I have 2 copies of A Certain Wolfish Charm to share with 2 lucky readers!  This giveaway is for U.S./Canada only and will end May 3.

Let's show these authors some love - for your first entry, please either friend them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter! 

For an additional entry, sign up to be a Google Friend Connect follower - or let me know if you already are!

Latest Winners!

Here Burns My Candle - Winner -
#34 ossmcalc/Christine

Montana Legacy- Winners -
59 - Lady_Graeye
44 - Tabathia
48 - Linda Kish
11 - Virginia C
64 - Anita Yancey

I had to redraw a winner for Laura Rider's Masterpiece and that winner is:

13 - Bethie







I will be emailing you all in minutes.  You will have 48 hours to get me your mailing info or I will need to draw new winners.

Alexandra, Gone by Anna McPartlin (Book Review)

Title: Alexandra, Gone
Author: Anna McPartlin
Publisher: Downtown Press

My synopsis: A disappearance and a chance blackout unites an unlikely group to form an alliance to search for one man's missing wife, Alexandra.

Tom, Alexandra's husband, has been looking for her for a couple of months.  He is handing out flyers at a Jake Lukeman concert - who is his wife's favorite musician.  He hands out the last couple and gets on a lift with 3 other women.  Before they reach their destination their lives all become entwined.

Jane and Elle are two sisters on the lift.  When the blackout happens and the elevator stops, Jane begins to have a panic attack.  Elle is at a loss as to how to help her - as it is usually Jane getting Elle out of scrapes, but then Leslie steps in.

Leslie is the third woman in the lift.  She is only there because she is the webdesigner for Jack Lukeman's website.  She hasn't ventured out of her apartment much in the last 18 years - since her sister Imelda died.  Imelda had been preceded in death by their sister Nora, and their mom and dad - all from cancer.

Tom's missing wife just happens to be Jane's childhood friend.  They lost contact after Jane got pregnant at 17 and stayed home to have the baby while Alexandra went off to university.  When they discover their connection, she and Elle promise to help in whatever way they can.  Elle reels Leslie in by pure force.

These three women have each had a tough life in their own way.  Jane had a son at 17, which she raised alone (even though she lived with her mother).  When Kurt was 4, his father Dominic reappeared in his life.  They had had a good relationship since, with Jane and Dominic being best friends with benefits whenever it suited Dominic.  Jane was also responsible for her alcoholic mother, Rose,  who lived in the downstairs flat and her sister Elle, who was an artist with all the stereotypical quirks.  At 17, she had grown up fast.

Elle had never had to be responsible for anything.  She painted and Jane handled the rest.  She went through money like it was water and had relationships with whomever she wanted.  When the mood struck, she would go away for extended periods of time, never telling anyone where she went.

Leslie, being the sole survivor of her family of five, had closed herself off from the world, just waiting for the cancer (for which she carried the gene) to come for her also.  She had vowed to never hurt anyone like she had watched both her sisters hurt their husbands as they deteriorated and died.

Together they search for Alexandra, but also confront their individual demons as life goes on.

My thoughts: Although the title is Alexandra, Gone - I felt the story centered more around Jane, from whom Alexandra had been gone for 18 years. Jane seemed to be the pivotal person around which her family (Elle, Rose, Kurt and Dominic) rotated.  Tom joined that group as did Leslie through her friendship with Elle.

I did enjoy this book and appreciated the humor that the author weaved into the story - especially the banter between Jane and Rose.  Even though it was often acerbic, you could still feel the underlying love that held the family together. There was not a lot of action or suspense in the story, that you might expect in a missing person's case, but Alexandra missing was not the main storyline, it was just the catalyst that brought these people together. 

~I was provided a copy of this book for review from Pocket Books.~

Alexandra, Gone
Publisher/Publication Date: Downtown Press, April 13, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4391-2333-1
368 pages

God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours - GIVEAWAY!!!

God Never Blinks:

50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours

by Regina Brett

Already an internet phenomenon, these wise and insightful lessons by popular Cleveland newspaper columnist, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and cancer survivor Regina Brett will make you see the possibilities in your life in a whole new way.

When Regina Brett turned 50, she wrote a column on the 50 lessons life had taught her. She reflected on all she had learned through becoming a single parent, looking for love in all the wrong places, working on her relationship with God, battling cancer and making peace with a difficult childhood.

It became one of the most popular columns ever published in the newspaper, and since then the 50 lessons have been emailed to hundreds of thousands of people. Brett now takes the 50 lessons and expounds on them in essays that are deeply personal. From "Don't take yourself too seriously-Nobody else does" to "Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift," these lessons will strike a chord with anyone who has ever gone through tough times--and haven't we all?

Regina Brett has been a newspaper columnist for fourteen years, eight of them for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where her column appears three times a week and where she was a finalist in 2008 and 2009 for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary. She also hosts a weekly radio show, "The Sound of Ideas," on the Cleveland NPR affiliate and speaks regularly to companies and not-for-profit organizations.

Find Regina Brett on Twitter and Facebook.

Giveaway

I have three copies of this book to giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT) are there any life lessons that you have to share? Please leave your email address.

For additional entries:

1. Sign up to follow through Google Friend Connect (old followers let me know) - 2 entries for this one. (leave 2 comments)
2. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about it. Please leave link in comments.
3. Post it on your blog - please leave link in your comments.

Each entry must have it's own comment. (Five entries total.)

This giveaway is for U.S/Canada only - no PO boxes.

It ends Apr 27.

Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz - Giveaway!

Admission

by Jean Hanff Korelitz

For years, thirty-eight-year-old Portia Nathan has hidden behind her busy -- and sometimes punishing -- career as a Princeton University admissions officer and her less than passionate relationship.  Then suddenly, the piece of her past that she has tried so hard to bury resurfaces, catapulting her on an extraordinary journey of the heart that challenges everything she ever thought she believed.  Soon, just as Portia must decide on the fates of thousands of bright students regarding their admission to Princeton, so too must she confront the life-altering decision she made long ago.

Admission is at once a fascinating look at the complex college admissions process and an emotional examination of what happens when the secrets of the past return and shake a woman's life to its core.

Jean Hanff Korelitz is the author of The White Rose, The Sabbathday River, and A Jury of Her Peers, as well as a children's novel and a poetry collection.  She was a part-time reader for Princeton's Office of Admission during the 2006 and 2007 admissions seasons.

Grand Central Publishing's interview with Jean on Blog Talk Radio.

You can find here a Reading Group Guide for Admission.

Giveaway

I have three copies of this book to giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT) let's talk about colleges - If you went to college - where did you go? Or do you have kids in college now? (I attended Cornell College in Iowa, Sand Diego City College in San Diego and Barat College in Illinois) Please leave your email address.

For additional entries:

1. Sign up to follow through Google Friend Connect (old followers let me know) - 2 entries for this one. (leave 2 comments)

2. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about it. Please leave link in comments.

3. Post it on your blog - please leave link in your comments.
 

Each entry must have it's own comment. (Five entries total.)

This giveaway is for U.S/Canada only - no PO boxes.

It ends Apr 27.

How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly by Connie May Fowler (Book Review)

Title: How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly
Author: Connie May Fowler
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

My synopsis: Clarissa awoke on the summer solstice just as she had every other day for awhile now.  Unsatisfied with her marriage, unable to write, and unaware that these were not entirely her fault.

Her husband, Iggy, was an "artist".  If you consider taking pictures and video of nude women art, which Clarissa did not - not anymore.  As it didn't bring in much money, it was Clarissa's writing that supported them both.

They - or really she - had bought a lovely old house in Northern Florida.  At the time, she did not know it's tragic history, or that a family of ghosts were still trapped there - just awaiting the time when the big old oak in the backyard would die and release them.

Olga Villada, the mother ghost, tried to influence Clarissa, ever so gently, to read the dossier on the house - hoping that someday Clarissa would write their story.

Over the course of 24 hours, through various run-ins with her husband, run-ins with ghosts, run-ins with strangers while driving her junk heap of a truck, Clarissa begins to gain some confidence.  She slowly begins to take a long hard look at the state of her marriage.

Before the day is over, as her marriage dies, as the tree dies, will it also be the death of her?

My thoughts: At first I was frustrated because there were not any traditional chapters in this book (I am a big chapter person.)  But then, as I realized that the book covered one day - it would not have read the same if there had been "breaks" along the way.  It really needed to flow along.

It was entertaining the way the narrator included things about the insects and what they were doing in relation to Clarissa throughout the book. It will make me look at flies differently in the future.l

I could feel the change in the story as the day went on.  It was almost as if you could feel Clarissa's courage expanding - like the hot air of the day was expanding.  Even when didn't quite know what was happening.

I cried with her and cheered with her along the way - not knowing how it was all going to end - but hoping for the best.  Iggy was perfect as the husband/man that you love to hate.  I don't think he gave me any reason throughout the book to even consider liking him!

Highly recommended.  Read it as close to one sitting as you can.

~I was provided a copy of this book from Hachette Books for my review.~

How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly
Publisher/Publication Date: Grand Central Publishing, Apr 2, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-54068-1
288 pages

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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

Don't forget to check out all the giveaways in my right sidebar - especially my Big Birthday Bash!

Currently Reading:
Alexandra, Gone by Anna McPartlin - Good book so far - hope to finish it for the Pocket Tour tomorrow.

This World We Live In (The Last Survivors, Book 3) - Net Galley - It is just proving harder that it should to actually read abook on my computer!

My Own Personal Soap Opera: Looking for reality in all the wrong places by Libby Malin - If you missed my interview and giveaway - please check the right sidebar!

New this week:

Too Close to Home (Women of Justice Series #1) by Lynette Eason

Forget Me Not: A Novel (Crossroads Crisis Center) by Vicki Hinze

A Certain Wolfish Charm by Lydia Dare - watch for an interview and giveaway with her later this week.

Current audio books:

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) - Still listening to this with my daughter.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - I have just gotten this one loaded and ready to go!

Books finished last week and waiting for reviews:

How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly by Connie May Fowler - this review will be posting tomorrow.

The Poacher's Son (Mike Bowditch Mysteries) by Paul Doiron


Is there a monster over there? by Sally O. Lee

A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi": The Origin of Foreign Words Used in English by Chloe Rhodes

I Has a Hotdog: What Your Dog Is Really Thinking by Professor Happycat

Books finished and reviewed last week:

The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker - Excellent Book!

Asking for Trouble by Sandra Byrd

This Little Prayer of Mine by Anthony deStefano

The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister

Waiting for review:

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

101 Glam Girl Ways to an Ultra Chic Lifestyle: A Cheeky Book with Tidbits of Advice for a Glamorous Lifestyle by Dawn Del Russo

Disrupting Grace: A Story of Relinquishment and Healing by Kristen Richburg

Giveaway of The Cradle by Patrick Somerville

The Cradle

by Patrick Somerville

Early one summer morning, Matthew Bishop kisses his still-sleeping wife Marissa, gets dressed and eases his truck through Milwaukee, bound for the highway. His wife, pregnant with their first child, has asked him to find the antique cradle taken years before by her mother Caroline when she abandoned Marissa, never to contact her daughter again. Soon to be a mother herself, Marissa now dreams of nothing else but bringing her baby home to the cradle she herself slept in. His wife does not know-does not want to know-where her mother lives, but Matt has an address for Caroline's sister near by and with any luck, he will be home in time for dinner.

Only as Matt tries to track down his wife's mother, he discovers that Caroline, upon leaving Marissa, has led a life increasingly plagued by impulse and irrationality, a mysterious life that grows more inexplicable with each new lead Matt gains, and door he enters. As hours turn into days and Caroline's trail takes Matt from Wisconsin to Minnesota, Illinois, and beyond in search of the cradle, Matt makes a discovery that will forever change Marissa's life, and faces a decision that will challenge everything he has ever known.

Elegant and astonishing, Patrick Somerville tells the story of one man's journey into the heart of marriage, parenthood, and what it means to be a family. Confirming the arrival of an exuberantly talented new writer, THE CRADLE is an uniquely imaginative debut novel that radiates with wisdom and wonder.

Reading Group Guide

Giveaway


I have three copies of this book to giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT)if you have children, was there anything that you REALLY wanted when you brought your baby(babies) home from the hospital?   Please leave your email address.


For additional entries:

1. Sign up to follow through Google Friend Connect (old followers let me know) - 2 entries for this one. (leave 2 comments)

2. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about it. Please leave link in comments.

3. Post it on your blog - please leave link in your comments.

Each entry must have it's own comment. (Five entries total.)


This giveaway is for U.S/Canada only - no PO boxes.
It ends April 26.

How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly - Blog Tour (Apr 12 - 16)

How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly

by Connie May Fowler

Touring Apr 12 - 16

New York Times bestselling writer Connie May Fowler delivers a transcendent novel about one fateful day in the life of a woman -- and the extraordinary life change it brings about.

Set amidst the lush pine forests and rich savannahs of Florida's Northern Panhandle, this is the story of one woman whose existence until now has seemed fairly normal: She is thirtysomething, married, and goes about her daily routine as a writer. But we soon learn that ghosts, an indifferent husband, and a seemingly terminal case of writer's block are burdening Clarissa's life. She awakes on the summer solstice and, prodded by her own discontent and one ghost's righteous need for truth, commences upon a twenty-four-hour journey of self-discovery.  Her harrowing, funny, and startling adventures lead Clarissa to a momentous decision: She must find a way to do the unthinkable.  Her life and the well-being of a remarkable family of blithe spirits hang in the balance.

In How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, Connie May Fowler once again demonstrates her keen abilities as a storyteller. A remarkably original and empowering novel about an unexpected midlife awakening, it will resonate and be discussed for years to come.

Connie May Fowler is an essayist, screenwriter, and novelist. She is the author of five novels, most recently The Problem with Murmur Lee, and a memoir, When Katie Wakes. Her 1996 novel, Before Women Had Wings, became a bestseller in paperback and was adapted into a successful Oprah Winfrey Presents movie. She also founded the Connie May Fowler Women with Wings Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding women and children in need.

Participating Sites:

April 12
Readaholic
Frugal Plus
Review From Here
Foreign Circus Library
A Mom After God's Own Heart
You wanna know what I think?
Rundpinne
The Cajun Book Lady
The Tome Traveler's Weblog


April 13
Reading at the Beach
One More Foggy Notion
Red Lady's Reading Room
Libby's Library News
Books and Needlepoint
Along the Way
Chaotic Book Obsession
Busy Julie


April 14
Bella's Novella
Bookhounds
Just One More Paragraph
My Book Views
Starting Fresh
BookNAround
Booktumbling
Distracted Musician

April 15
Bookin with Bingo
Joseph's Reviews Blog
Bless Their Hearts Mom
Delgal's Book Reviews
Just Jennifer Reading
Debshere
Simply Stacie
O' Joy of My Life

April 16
Just Short of Crazy
My Life in Not So Many Words
Freda's Voice
The Avid Reader
Lori's Reading Corner
Just Another New Blog
The Book Tree
My Book Buddies
Arms of a Sister
Wise Owl Book Review
Must Read Faster

Forget Me Not - Blog Tour and Giveaway! (tour Apr 12 - 16)

Forget Me Not

by Vicki Hinze

Touring Apr 12 - 16

 

A mother who cannot face her future.

THEIR ELUSIVE ENEMIES TOOK EVERYTHING. NOW THEY WANT MORE.

Crossroads Crisis Center owner Benjamin Brandt was a content man—in his faith, his work, and his family. Then in a flash, everything he loved was snatched away. His wife and son were murdered, and grief-stricken Ben lost faith. Determination to find their killers keeps him going, but after three years of dead ends and torment, his hope is dying too. Why had he survived? He’d failed to protect his family.

Now, a mysterious woman appears at Crossroads seeking answers and help—a victim who eerily resembles Ben’s deceased wife, Susan. A woman robbed of her identity, her life, of everything except her faith—and Susan’s necklace.

The connections between the two women mount, exceeding coincidence, and to keep the truth hidden, someone is willing to kill. Finding out who and why turns Ben and the mystery woman’s situation from dangerous to deadly. Their only hope for survival is to work together, trust each other, and face whatever they discover head on, no matter how painful. But will that be enough to save their lives and heal their tattered hearts?

Vicki Hinze is an award-winning author of twenty-three novels, three nonfiction books, and hundreds of articles. Selected for Who’s Who in America in 2004 as a writer and educator, Hinze is active in Romance Writers of America and serves as a Vice President on the International Thriller Writers Board of Directors. Vicki lives in Florida with her artist husband, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel.

I have one extra copy of this book to giveaway so just leave me a comment if you are interested.  Please leave your email address.

This giveaway is open to U.S. only and will end April 26.