Mailbox Monday (April 23, 2012)

 Mailbox Monday will be hosted in April by Cindy at Cindy's Love of  Books.  In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren.  I got some more nice wins this week and a couple of review books.  Come on in and take a look!


Review books first:




(NO PICTURE AVAILABLE)
Mind Monsters: Conquering fear, worry, guilt and other negative thoughts that work against you
by Kevin Gerald


Every day we are bombarded with negative messages—from society, the media, and even from self-talk in our own minds. Take a minute to think about these questions:
 


Do you lack peace because of your perspective? Do you focus on the problems around you? Do you have trouble recognizing the good things in your life? Do you feel despair or depression, despite your blessings?


 Answering yes to questions like these is evidence of mind monsters. Mind monsters are those negative thoughts we all battle, the creeping shadows in the corners of our minds that feed our insecurities, worries, and fears. They will steal your life…if you let them. But there is good news! You can take control. In Mind Monsters Kevin Gerald shows you how to recognize destructive thoughts, take them captive, and use biblical truths to overcome them.
 
Today you have a choice: Will you allow your mind monsters to take up residence, affecting who you are and God’s plan for your life, or will you conquer them and experience a life that is positive, abundant, joyful, and overflowing with peace?




(NO PICTURE AVAILABLE)


Listening to Africa


by Diana M. Raab


Poet Diana M. Raab travels to the heart of Africa with her family to experience the beauty and fascination of another world. During her safari, she observes the distress, the delight, and the dignity of the humans and animals who live there and parallels them with her own quest for health.

The Sausage Maker's Daughters

by AGS Johnson

The sausage maker's youngest daughter is heading for the fight of her battle-scarred life. It's the era of the counterculture and Vietnam. But twenty-four-year-old Kip Czermanksi is nowhere near her home in California. She's in a jail cell in her hometown in Wisconsin awaiting a court appearance in the mysterious death of her ex-lover, who happened to be her brother-in-law. Given her father is the small town's leading citizen; Kip isn't overly worried, at first. But the personal grudge the DA holds for all the Czermanskis is about to find a foil Kip. What follows is a wild ride through Kip's present predicament and her past. She'll come to regret leaving her life in LA, regardless of the good reason for which she returned, when family dynamics and sibling rivalries, magnified by her counterculture attitudes and feminist beliefs, lay Kip's life bare before the courtroom. Distrusting her legal team, her rebellious history well known, things both personal and legal spiral out-of-control. It doesn't look good for Kip Czermanski.

The Get Yourself Organized Project:

21 Steps to Less Mess and Stress

by Kathi Lipp

Finally, an organizational book for women who have given up trying to be Martha Stewart but still desire some semblance of order in their lives.

Most organizational books are written by and for people who are naturally structured and orderly. For the woman who is more ADD than type A, the advice sounds terrific but seldom works. These women are looking for help that takes into account their free-spirited outlook while providing tips and tricks they can easily follow to live a more organized life.

Kathi Lipp, author of The Husband Project and other "project" books, is just the author to address this need. In her inimitable style, she offers

easy and effective ways women can restore peace to their everyday lives 
simple and manageable long-term solutions for organizing any room in one's home (and keeping it that way) 
a realistic way to de-stress a busy schedule 
strategies for efficient shopping, meal preparation, cleaning, and more 

Full of helpful tips and abundant good humor, The Get Yourself Organized Project is for those who want to spend their time living and enjoying life rather than organizing their sock drawer.

Goodbye For Now


by Laurie Frankel

Sam Elliot works for an internet dating company, but he still can't get a date. So he creates an algorithm that will match you with your soul mate. Sam meets the love of his life, a coworker named Meredith, but he also gets fired when the company starts losing all their customers to Mr. and Ms. Right.

When Meredith's grandmother, Livvie, dies suddenly, Sam uses his ample free time to create a computer program that will allow Meredith to have one last conversation with her grandmother. Mining from all her correspondence—email, Facebook, Skype, texts—Sam constructs a computer simulation of Livvie who can respond to email or video chat just as if she were still alive. It's not supernatural, it's computer science.

Meredith loves it, and the couple begins to wonder if this is something that could help more people through their grief. And thus, the company RePose is born. The business takes off, but for every person who just wants to say good-bye, there is someone who can't let go. 

In the meantime, Sam and Meredith's affection for one another deepens into the kind of love that once tasted, you can't live without. But what if one of them suddenly had to? This entertaining novel, delivers a charming and bittersweet romance as well as a lump in the throat exploration of the nature of love, loss, and life (both real and computer simulated). Maybe nothing was meant to last forever, but then again, sometimes love takes on a life of its own.

The Innocents


by Francesca Segal

A smart and slyly funny tale of love, temptation, confusion, and commitment, "The Innocents" is a generous and deeply satisfying look at a close-knit society in which one young man's pre-wedding panic illuminates the universal conflict between responsibility and passion.

Newly engaged and unthinkingly self-satisfied, twenty-eight-year-old Adam Newman is the prize catch of Temple Fortune, a small, tight-knit Jewish suburb of London. He has been dating Rachel Gilbert since they were both sixteen and now, to the relief and happiness of the entire Gilbert family, they are finally to marry. To Adam, Rachel embodies the highest values of Temple Fortune; she is innocent, conventional, and entirely secure in her community—a place in which everyone still knows the whereabouts of their nursery school classmates. Marrying Rachel will cement Adam’s role in a warm, inclusive family he loves. 
But as the vast machinery of the wedding gathers momentum, Adam feels the first faint touches of claustrophobia, and when Rachel’s younger cousin Ellie Schneider moves home from New York, she unsettles Adam more than he’d care to admit. Ellie—beautiful, vulnerable, and fiercely independent—offers a liberation that he hadn’t known existed: a freedom from the loving interference and frustrating parochialism of North West London. Adam finds himself questioning everything, suddenly torn between security and exhilaration, tradition and independence. What might he be missing by staying close to home?

Momnesia was won from the author Lori Verni-Fogarsi in the Hoppy Easter Giveaway!

Momnesia


by Lori Verni-Fogarsi

She's smart, pretty, and runs her own business. So then why does she feel so dead inside? Between work, two kids, and a husband who finds her about as exciting as furniture shopping, this is the story of a (formerly-exciting but now way-too-typical) suburban mom who diagnoses herself with "Momnesia" and sets about finessing a new version of her old vivaciousness:

MOMNESIA (mahm-nee-zhuh) -noun-
Loss of the memory of who you used to be. Caused by pregnancy, play dates, and trying to keep the house cleaner than the Joneses.

She finds some adventure pursuing her own interests, and does make some new friends (including the battery operated variety), but still feels like nothing more than a caretaker.

In between dealing with her husband's manic-depressive behavior, drama with her friends, and some naughty Internet escapades, she keeps facing the question, "Is it that I haven't been myself? Or is it that I am being myself but just different than I used to be?" It isn't until she tosses the Invisible Rule Book altogether that she discovers life--and love--have more to offer than she ever imagined!

The next two books I won from Kathi at I am a Reader, Not a Writer from the Autism Awareness Giveaway: 

The Legend of Mickey Tussler


by Frank Nappi

Seventeen-year-old Mickey Tussler is recruited to play for a minor league affiliate of the Boston Braves. Arthur Murphy swears Mickey has the greatest arm he has ever seen, that anybody has ever seen.  And it might be true.  But Mickey's autism is prohibitive.  It keeps him sealed off from a world he scarcely understands.  Lost both in the memory of his former life with an abusive father and the challenges of a new world filled with heckling teammates, opponents and fans, there's no way Mickey can succeed.  But his inimitable talent -- one of the most gifted arms in the history of baseball -- gives him a chance. Can he survive a real life dream?  Or are the harsh realities of life too much for him?  This is the powerful underdog story of how a young man with an extraordinary gift comes of age in a harsh and competitive world.

Sophomore Campaign


by Frank Nappi

It s 1949 and eighteen-year-old pitching phenomMickey Tussler is back with the rejuvenated minorleague Brewers in the sequel to The Legend of MickeyTussler (the basis for the television movie A Milein His Shoes). Despite Mickey s proclamation thathe will never play baseball again after last season sviolent conclusion, his manager and now surrogatefather Arthur Murphy cajoles the emotionallyfragile, socially awkward boy with autism into givingit another shot. Mickey reluctantly returns to thefield and must once again cope with the violenceand hatred around him. When a young AfricanAmerican player joins the team, the entire team issubjected to racial threats and episodes of violence, one of which Mickey witnesses firsthand. Strugglingto understand such ugliness and hatred, and fearfulof reprisal should he tell anyone about what he hasseen, the boy s performance on the field suffers.Mickey now must deal with a side of human naturehe scarcely comprehends.

Happy Reading!

Titanic 2012 by Bill Walker (Book Review and Excerpt))

Title: Titanic 2012
Author: Bill Walker
Publisher: Bill Walker Designs


About the book: Best selling mystery novelist Trevor Hughes has no idea that attending his twentieth reunion at Harvard will forever change his life.


 Persuaded to go by his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Dr. Julia Magnusson, he meets up with three old friends: Solly Rubens, a self-made Wall Street millionaire; Ken Faust, a successful software entrepreneur; and Harlan Astor, New York real estate tycoon and the glue that holds their circle together. 


 That afternoon, over drinks at the Harvard Club, Harlan drops his bombshell: He is doing what James Cameron did not he is rebuilding the Titanic, and sailing the ship on the hundredth anniversary to honor those who died, including his great-grandfather, John Jacob Astor IV. Only Trevor is intrigued by Harlan's audacity. Touched by his friend's interest and concern, Harlan invites him on the maiden voyage to serve as the official chronicler. 


 On April 10, 2012, Trevor journeys to Southampton and, along with the hundreds of handpicked passengers, boards the Titanic. He is overawed by the immensity of the ship and the feelings that well up in him. His friend has made his grand dream a reality. 


 During the journey, armed with his DVD recorder, Harlan interviews both passengers and crew, eager to learn the reasons why they chose to sail on the reborn ship.


 Nearly every one of them claims to have been profoundly affected by Cameron's film, wanting to recapture the magic for themselves. And some of them are dying their last wish to be on the maiden voyage of the new Titanic. 


 Trevor is touched that his friend has allowed these people to come aboard, and is unprepared when he meets Madeleine Regehr, a beautiful, free-spirited woman who resists his entreaties to be interviewed, intriguing Trevor all the more. Slowly, and inexorably, Maddy draws him out of his shell, allowing him to love deeply and completely, for the very first time in his life. 


 But Trevor soon discovers a darker purpose for the voyage, a purpose that threatens to destroy him and the woman he loves. 


 In a race against time that pits friend against friend, Trevor must stop the unstoppable or risk a horrific replay of history.... --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


My thoughts: I could not tell you how many times that I have personally seen the movie, Titanic, but I have to tune in every time that I see it is on TV.  It does not matter at what point it is at in the movie, it is just a must watch for me.  So this book was an easy choice for me to read.

The beginning sets the scene that something has already happened aboard the Titanic, and Trevor must decide how or even if he wants to tell the story -- from there we kind of lapse back to the actual voyage.  Having seen the movie so many times, it was very cool to be able to imagine all the places that Trevor went to on the ship. To imagine what it would be like to see them in person, from the bow to the cargo holds. He explores them all -- except for the room behind the guarded and locked door.  He can't imagine what Harlan has locked up on the ship.

So he begins his interviews of the passengers -- meeting Maddy, a particularly engaging young woman to whom he is instantly attracted.  Underneath it all though he is uneasy, it seems like there is something out of place, but he just can't seem to put his finger on it.  He is a very curious one though, as I am guessing most writers are, and will not rest until he figures out what it is that is making him a little uneasy.

I really enjoyed Trevor's character and felt like he is someone that you could easily meet in your own neighborhood.  He was very down to earth -- not pretentious or uptight -- and always seemed to want to do the right thing.  He was also very much a Titanic fan and it wasn't hard for him to be swept up in the romanticism aboard the ship.

We don't get to know the other passengers as well as we know Trevor, as the book is from his point of view, but we do get some glimpses of them from their interviews.  It almost seemed like there wasn't enough material to fill the book, as there were some large chunks of time that Trevor slept through -- I found that a little odd, even though it did play into the story -- just didn't seem like it was flushed out like it could have been.

I did enjoy the book though and it makes me want to go back and watch the movie yet again.

~I received a complimentary ebook of Titanic 2012 from Partners in Crime Book Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~

About the author:  A graduate of Emerson College's prestigious film school, Bill wrote and directed his first feature film, Pawn, while still a student. After graduation, he co-founded Newbury Filmworks, Inc., an award-winning production company renowned for making high-quality corporate films and commercials. 

In 1990, Bill relocated to Los Angeles, and began a freelance story analysis career for various studios and independent production companies, while devoting his spare time to the writing of novels, short stories, and screenplays. He is also a highly-respected graphic designer, specializing in book and dust jacket design. He has worked on books by such luminaries as: Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King. In addition, Bill is a member of the Authors Guild. 

He has won awards for his screenwriting, his two short story collections for Mid-Graders, Five-Minute Frights and Five-Minute Chillers, are perennial Halloween favorites, and his first novel, Titanic 2012 was enthusiastically received by readers. His second novel, Camp Stalag was released in 2001. Bill lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Debbie, and their sons, Jeffrey and Brian.

You can find Mr Walker on the web at Bill Walker Novels and on Facebook.

Please enjoy this excerpt from Chapter One:

Chapter One

 The furor in the media had just died down when Solly’s call came that rainy midweek day. I’d been hiding from the wolves of the fourth estate for nearly three weeks, holed up in my book-filled condo/prison in Charlestown, unable even to slip outside for a breath of fresh air without some cookie-cutter reporter, with a paint-by-numbers smile, sticking a microphone in my face and asking me the same tired question: "What was it like?"
As if the whole of my experience could be quantified in a sound bite. Truth was I was avoiding everyone, even Julia and her earnest attempts to help me sort through the miasma of doubt and pain.
Sweet Julia.
We’ve been on-and-off again for the last five years. And I hadn’t seen her for the better part of a year. I¬¬ guess she thought now was as good a time as any to mend fences. Christ, if she only knew....
And what was worse, the book I’d promised my publisher, the one that was supposed to chronicle all I’d been through, lay like a beached whale on the shore of my imagination. I was standing at the bay window overlooking the harbor, watching the rain sluice down the glass, wondering if I would ever have the courage to write again, when my gaze shifted to the pile of DVDs lying in a scattered heap on the teakwood coffee table.
My eyes filled with tears yet again.
"I’m so sorry, Maddy," I groaned, knocking my forehead against the cool glass. "I’m so goddamned sorry."
"You have a call," the computer intoned in a quiet contralto, making me wince. Even the goddamned computer’s voice reminded me of Madeleine. "Who is it?" I asked, expecting to hear it was yet another call from the Globe. Hometown reporters were the worst, the most ravenous.
And then I remembered I’d instructed the computer to screen all calls, allowing access to only a select few. "The caller has an Identity Block in place. Shall I take a message?"
I sighed.
To hell with it. I had to rejoin the human race at some point, even if I felt as if I no longer belonged in it. "Put it through," I said, making my way over to the sleek MacBook Pro sitting atop my writing desk. The screen came to life and Solly Rubens’ round face filled the screen. His saturnine looks were etched with concern, an expression that somehow looked ominous on him.
"Hey, Hughes, you okay? How are you holding up?"
The tiny "picture-in-picture" in the upper left-hand corner of the screen showed me what Solly was seeing, rendering his question moot.
I looked as if I’d taken the cook’s tour of Hell: blue eyes¬¬--red-rimmed and puffy--surrounded by dark circles, sandy hair greasy and disheveled, three-day growth of a patchy red-flecked beard, and the same clothes I’d worn since Monday. I looked sixty-two, instead of forty-two. All in all, I presented a picture about as far as one could get from what Boston magazine had called: "The World’s Most Eligible Author."
"How the hell do you think I’m holding up?" I said, staring back at Solly. His eyes blinked rapidly and I debated whether or not to instruct the MAC to disconnect, when he spoke again.
"Aw, man, I’m sorry. I really put my foot in it, didn’t I?" he said, trying to appear contrite. "Listen, I know we’ve never been the best of pals, but we had some good times back in school, didn’t we? I mean, Christ, we’ve been through a hell of a lot since Harvard. You a hotshot writer. Me hittin’ the big time. I still can’t believe it’s been a year--"
"What do you want, Solly?"
His porcine eyes darted somewhere off-screen, then riveted onto mine. "Ken and I thought you should get out of the house, maybe meet us at the Harvard Club. What do you say?"
"I don’t want to talk about it."
"You gotta talk about it sometime," he said, his Brooklyn tenor rising in pitch. "You’ve been avoiding us for weeks, you look like crap, and everybody--and I mean everybody’s--been trying to find out what the hell happened out there. And what about Julia? You shutting her out? You treatin’ her like dirt, too?"
I resented him bringing her name up, only because I knew he was using her as leverage, and not out of any real concern for her feelings.
Not that I was any better.
"She’s none of your business, Solly. Leave her out of this."
"All right, I’m sorry. But you know I’m right. You gotta get on with your life, for Christ’s sake. If you’re not gonna do it for yourself, do it for Harlan."
I leaned forward, my nose practically touching the screen. "Where were you when Harlan needed the three of us? Huh? Where the hell were you when the chips were down? Taking Karen to another Broadway show?" Solly’s lips compressed into a thin angry line. "Okay, I deserved that. But Ken and I have a right to know what happened."
So, that was it. Like everyone else, they wanted to know the truth about Harlan’s death--wanted to know all the gory details. Christ, they were no better than the goddamned muckrakers slinking around my front door. And why was it so important to Ken and Solly, anyway?
Would it bring Harlan back? Would it bring any of them back? Why the hell couldn’t they just leave me alone?
And then, all at once, the anger passed, as if someone had thrown a switch inside me. Suddenly, I wanted very badly to tell someone--anyone. And perhaps it was more than fitting to do it where it all began.
"All right," I said. "I’ll meet you guys at the club, Friday night at six." Solly cracked a grin, revealing crooked yellow teeth. "It’ll do you good, Hughes, you’ll see."
"Maybe.... But drinks and dinner are on you."
He chuckled.
"My pleasure. See you there."
The screen went dark, and I sat there for a long moment, wondering if I shouldn’t blow them off. And then I realized Harlan would want me to go. I doubted very much, however, once they heard the whole story, it would be any pleasure for any of us....

Titanic 2012
Publisher/Publication Date: Bill Walker Designs, Jan 2012
ISBN: 978-0615592398
288 pages

Mid way through Hour 7

and I still haven't finished a book - I have taken my son to his soccer game and watched him play his best game ever (in all of his 7 year old life!)  lol.   I then brought him home, fed him, and got him packed to go to my sister's house for the night - Then took phone calls from BOTH of my sisters - the one who is going to be entertaining for the evening telling me she is going to at least another hour before she can come get him.  Then I played some Ipad with the boy and decided I should do a check in.

I am reading a book on my Kindle right now and have read about 40% of it - which translates to about 115 pages.  UGH!  And I had such big plans.  I have read more than that in a morning when it WASN'T a readathon.  Oh well, life is messy!

Happy reading!

And so it begins. . .

8:15 am   Well, I am off to a late start for the readathon - tossed and turned for about 2 hours last night between 3:30 and 5:30 am.  Finally fell asleep only to have my daughter's alarm wake me - then back to sleep.  I figured I needed to sleep in a little bit this morning or I would be wiped really early.  I am going to go finish Titanic 2012!  Happy reading everyone!


So for some introductions -
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?  Northern Illinois

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?  Bloom

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Popcorn or Cadbury Creme Eggs (lol)

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  I have been reading about 43 years (or so my mom tells me)  I have 3 kids -- all of which are going to be otherwise occupied by about noon today, so that I can be free to read.  I also am a fairly new grandma - my granddaughter is 5 1/2 months old -- you will probably hear more about her in the coming weeks.  I work as a library aide at my son's school- and I absolutely love it!

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?  I think this is my 3rd or 4th readathon and I haven't stumbled on to anything I like particularly well yet.  I haven't decided if I am going to try the mini challenges or just read, depends on how I feel.  I think I will probably just continue to update this post for a few hours - then start a new one, rather than have a whole ton of little update posts though.

Dewey's Readathon 2012

The readathon starts in a few hours - are you ready?  I am getting my pile of books set, the goodies have been purchased, drinks refrigerated - now all I have to do is get some sleep - and that is going to be happening here very shortly.  Just wanted to let you all know what I am going to be reading tomorrow.


Finishing up Titanic 2012 by Bill Walker -

New books to read:
The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
Grave Mercy by R.L LaFevers
Bloom by Kelle Hampton
More Like Her by Liza Palmer
The Bond by Wayne Pacelle
The Second Time We Met by Leila Cobo
Secret Heroes by Paul Martin
The Inquisitor by Mark Allen Smith


If I can get through 2 of these I will be doing good!  LOL  But it is always good to have some variety in case something just doesn't pull me in!

Night all!

Shower of Books Giveaway Hop!

Is it raining where you are?  It is raining here, so it is a perfect time to have the Showers of Books Giveaway Hop.  This hop is hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer and One a Day YA.

I thought this would be a good time to weed through my stack of arcs and giveaway more than one book - so one winner will win three books!   You must be a follower to enter this giveaway.  It is open to U.S. only and will end at midnight on April 25th.

The three books that I am giving away are - you can click on the covers to be taken to my reviews.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Now that you have entered my giveaway - hop on over to some others! Happy reading!

Banana Split by Josi S. Kilpack (Book Review)

Title: Banana Split
Author: Josi S. Kilpack
Publisher: Shadow Mountain


About the book: Sadie Hoffmiller has survived eighteen months of nonstop adventures filled with murder, deceit, and danger.  She could really use some rest -- and maybe even some time to heal -- relaxing in the tropical paradise of Kaua'i.  However, palm trees and sunshine are not as effective a medication as Sadie had hoped.  And when she finds herself entangled -- literally -- with a dead body, she is forced to face the compounding fears and anxieties that are making her life so difficult to live.


Her determination to stay out of danger and to focus on overcoming her anxieties soon takes a backseat when she meets eleven-year-old Charlie, the son of the woman whose body she discovered near Anahola Beach.  Charlie has some questions of his own about what happened to his mother, and he is convinced that only Sadie can help him.  If only Sadie were as confident in her abilities as Charlie is.


With the help of her best friend and a local social worker, Sadie dives into another mystery with the hope that, at the end, she'll be able to find the peace and closure that has eluded her. 


Buy the book!


About the author: Josi S. Kilpack hated to read until her mother handed her a copy of The Witch of Blackbird Pond when she was 13. From that day forward, she read everything she could get her hands on and accredits her writing “education” to the many novels she has “studied” since then. She began writing her first novel in 1998 and never stopped. Her novel, Sheep’s Clothing won the Whitney Award 2007 for Mystery/Suspense. Lemon Tart, the first book in the Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery series was a finalist in 2009.  Her most recent book, Blackberry Crumble, is the fifth book in the Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery Series. Josi currently lives in Willard Utah with her husband, four children, one dog, and varying number of chickens. (from her website)


You can find Josi on the web at her blog and on twitter. 


My thoughts:  This was my first Sadie Hoffmiller mystery, and from what I can gather it is very different from the other mysteries.  In this one, Sadie has had some pretty traumatic experiences over the last year and a half.  She is suffering from depression and probaby post traumatic stress and has gone to Hawaii to try to relax and get back to her old self.  After being there for a couple of months though, she is more anxious than ever and spends much of her time locked in her condo.  On one of her few outings though, she has the misfortune of discovering a dead body.  For a short time this throws her anxiety into overdrive -- until she is visited by Charlie, the preteen son of Noelani, the woman she discovered.


Something about needing to help Charlie find closure propels her to find out more about Noelani and how/why she died.  The police, as well as many of the people who knew Noelani feels that it is a open and shut case of overdose.  You see, Noelani is a recovering drug addict - but she had been clean for quite a while and was working to be reunited with  Charlie.  Sadie meets a variety of people in her quest, from a womanizing preacher and his beautiful, but jealous wife; Olie, the social worker assigned to Charlie's case, Noelani's fellow employees and boss at the Sand and Sea Motel. We get to go along with Sadie, as she begins to overcome her anxieties and fears and begins investigating Noelani on her own.


The suspects are wide and varied in this book and I even wondered if Noelani was the victim or not.  It started off quickly and pulled me in, but I will admit that I got kind of bogged down in the middle and it seemed to drag for awhile.  As it got closer to the end though, the twists kept coming and I had to find out what was really going on!  I am definitely going to go back and find the first books in this culinary series.  


Oh- and as a bonus - the book is filled with yummy recipes that I can't wait to try!

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tristi Pinkston Book Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~

Banana Split

Publisher/Publication Date: Shadow Mountain, March 2012

ISBN: 978-1-60908-903-0

368 pages

It's Monday! What are you reading? (Late post)

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

It's Tuesday already??  I need that day back!  Hopefully I will get it with Dewey's readathon coming up this weekend. (Go here to sign up!)  I am going to try to finish the current reading titles and work on some missed titles and net galley titles during the readathon.  

I have some giveaways going on right now, but blogger won't let me change my layout to update the giveaways at the top of the page - so if you click here you will be taken to all of them.  Thanks!

Currently reading: 

City of Scoundrels: The Twelve Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago by Gary Krist

Banana Split: A Culinary Mystery by Josi Kilpack

Titanic 2012 by Bill Walker

Books I need to finish:  (I decided to add a new category for those books that seem to languish from week to week!)

The Priest and the Peaches by Larry Peterson

May the Road Rise Up to Meet You by Peter Troy

The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose

Blood Orchids by Toby Neal

Books to consider reading during weekend Readathon:
The Bond by Wayne Pacelle
Bloom by Kelle Hampton
Secret Heroes by Paul Martin
White Horse by Alex Adams
More Like Her by Liza Palmer
The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
The Second Time We Met by Leila Cobo
The keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall
The Lost Ones by Ace Atkins
A Sense of Direction by Gideon Lewis-Kraus
Grave Mercy by Robin Lefevers

Bathroom Book:

The Killing Circle by Andrew Pyper

Books read and reviewed since last week:

Until Next Time by Amy Lignor

Girl Unmoored by Jennifer Gooch Hummer

A Grand Murder by Stacy Verdick Case

Kids books read:

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Until next week ----  Ready - Set - Read!

No Strings Attached Giveaway Hop - $10 Amazon GC

Welcome to the No Strings Attached Giveaway Hop, 

hosted by Kathy at I am a Reader, Not a Writer.

There are about 75 blogs signed up to host a giveaway - and that giveaway must be something a reader, blogger, or author would enjoy.  All you have to do is leave your name and email address in the rafflecopter form!  Easy peasy!  No following required! This giveaway will end at midnight on April 22, 2012 and is open internationally!

 Oh, forgot to tell you - I am giving away a $10 GC on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or a book from the Book Depository for under $10 (you must check to make sure they ship to your country). 


Please enter my other giveaways while you are here also.

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Now that you have entered my giveaway - go take your luck at some others!

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan (GIVEAWAY!)

The Lifeboat

by Charlotte Rogan

Grace Winter, 22, is both a newlywed and a widow. She is also on trial for her life.

In the summer of 1914, the elegant ocean liner carrying her and her husband Henry across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize is over capacity. For any to live, some must die.

As the castaways battle the elements, and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met, and the new life of privilege she thought she'd found. Will she pay any price to keep it?

The Lifeboat is a page-turning novel of hard choices and survival, narrated by a woman as unforgettable and complex as the events she describes.

A big thank you to Hachette Books for providing two copies of The Lifeboat to be given away to my readers!

To sign up for the giveaway - just fill out the rafflecopter form below.  Most giveaways are for my followers only - so must follow through GFC to enter.

This giveaway is open to US/Canada only and will end at midnight CST on April 29, 2012.

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Mailbox Monday (April 16, 2012)

 Mailbox Monday will be hosted in April by Cindy at Cindy's Love of  Books.  In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren.  I got some more nice wins this week and a couple of review books.  Come on in and take a look!


First the review books:

The Good Father
by Diane Chamberlain


A beloved daughter. A devastating choice. And now there's no going back.Four years ago, nineteen-year-old Travis Brown made a choice: to raise his newborn daughter on his own. While most of his friends were out partying and meeting girls, Travis was at home, changing diapers and worrying about keeping food on the table. But he's never regretted his decision. Bella is the light of his life. The reason behind every move he makes. And so far, she is fed. Cared for. Safe.But when Travis loses his construction job and his home, the security he's worked so hard to create for Bella begins to crumble….Then a miracle. A job in Raleigh has the power to turn their fortunes around. It has to. But when Travis arrives in Raleigh, there is no job, only an offer to participate in a onetime criminal act that promises quick money and no repercussions.With nowhere else to turn, Travis must make another choice for his daughter's sake.Even if it means he might lose her.

The Midwife of Venice


by Roberta Rich


Hannah Levi is renowned throughout Venice for her gift at coaxing reluctant babies from their mothers -- a gift aided by the secret "birthing spoons" she designed.  But when a count implores her to attend to his wife, who has been laboring for days to give birth to their firstborn son, Hannah is torn.  A Papal edict forbids Jews from rendering medical treatment to Christians, but the payment he offers is enough to ransom her beloved husband, Isaac, who has been captured at sea.  Can Hannah refuse her duty to a suffering woman?  Hannah's choice entangles her in a treacherous family rivalry that endangers the baby and threatens her voyage to Malta, where Isaac, believing her dead in the plague, is preparing to buy his passage to a new life.  Not since The Red Tent or People of the Book has a novel transported readers so intimately into the complex lives of women centuries ago or so richly into a story of intrigue that transcends the boundaries of history.

A Chance in the World
An Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past and How He
 Found a Place Called Home


by Steve Pemberton

From the day he is five-years-old and dropped off at his foster home of the next eleven years, Stephen is mentally and physically tortured. No one in the system can help him. No one can tell him if he has a family. No one can tell him why, with obvious African-American features, he has the last name of Klakowicz.

Along the way, a single faint light comes only from a neighbor’s small acts of kindness and caring—and a box of books. From one of those books he learns that he has to fight in any way he can—for victory is in the battle. His victory is to excel in school.

Against all odds, the author succeeded. He attended college, graduated, became a successful corporate executive, and married a wonderful woman with whom he established a loving family of his own. Through it, he dug voraciously through records and files and found his history, his birth family—and the ultimate disappointment as some family members embrace him, but others reject him.

Readers won’t be the same after reading this powerful story. They will share in the hurts and despair but also in the triumph against daunting obstacles. They will share this story with their family, with their friends, with their neighbors.

These are the books I won:

I won this from Celtic Lady's Reviews

Catriona


by Jeanette Baker


Kate Sutherland always felt out of place in brash and modern Southern California. But when she comes to her ancestral home in the Shetland Islands to seek a mystical guide who may shed light on her true heritage, Kate is plagued with visions of a life from five centuries past.... A fiery young woman of royal English blood, Catriona Wells is determined to save her family from the deadly political clashes of 15th-century Britain. But Cat's cunning is no match for Scottish border lord Patrick MacKendrick. When this powerful warrior betroths her against her will, Cat must decide whether she dares to love him -- and to trust him with lives that are more precious to her than her own.

Meanwhile Kate, whose dreams rapidly take on a reality of their own, is caught between a present-day attraction to a charming Scottish historian -- and risking everything in Catriona's dangerous world of passion and bloodshed.




I won the following two young adult books from The Unread Reader.

Forgive My Fins


by Tera Lynn Childs


Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

The Way We Fall


by Megan Crewe


It starts with an itch you just can’t shake. Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat. A few days later, you’ll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they’re old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in.

And then you’re dead.

When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn’s community, the government quarantines her island—no one can leave, and no one can come back.

Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival. As everything familiar comes crashing down, Kaelyn joins forces with a former rival and discovers a new love in the midst of heartbreak. When the virus starts to rob her of friends and family, she clings to the belief that there must be a way to save the people she holds dearest. 

Because how will she go on if there isn’t?




What books came home to you this week?