Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

New Giveaway: To Beguile a Beast

To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

Thank you Hachette Books and Anna for allowing me to give away 5 copies of this romance!

CAN A WOUNDED BEAST . . .

Reclusive Sir Alistair Munroe has hidden in his castle ever since returning from the Colonies, scarred inside and out. But when a mysterious beauty arrives at his door, the passions he's kept suppressed for years begin to awaken.


TRUST A BEAUTY WITH A PAST . . .


Running from past mistakes has taken legendary beauty Helen Fitzwilliam from the luxury of the ton to a crumbling Scottish castle . . . and a job as a housekeeper. Yet Helen is determined to start a new life and she won't let dust-or a beast of a man-scare her away.


TO TAME HIS MOST SECRET DESIRES?


Beneath Helen's beautiful façade, Alistair finds a courageous and sensual woman. A woman who doesn't back away from his surliness-or his scars. But just as he begins to believe in true love, Helen's secret past threatens to tear them apart. Now both Beast and Beauty must fight for the one thing neither believed they could ever find-a happy ever after.

About the author: Elizabeth Hoyt/Julia Harper lives in central Illinois with three untrained dogs, two angelic, but bickering children, and one long-suffering husband.

Rules
  1. Giveaway open only to U.S. and Canada.
  2. No P.O. Boxes
  3. Five (5) copies to giveaway!
  4. Giveaway will end - Friday June 5th at 11:59PM CST.
How to enter: (PLEASE PUT ALL ENTRIES INTO ONE COMMENT)
  1. Enter once just by commenting below Leave E-mail address in comment!
  2. If you follow my blog through google, RSS, E-mail - whichever way - 2 entries (this counts for new and old followers - be sure to mention it either way!)
  3. Twitter or blog about it - 2 more entries.
  4. MAX OF 5 ENTRIES ONLY.

Waiting on Wednesday: Dismantled



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

Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: June 16, 2009

The New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Island of Lost Girls and Promise Not to Tell returns with a chilling novel in which the secrets of the past come back to haunt a group of friends in terrifying ways.

Dismantlement = Freedom

Henry, Tess, Winnie, and Suz banded together in college to form a group they called the Compassionate Dismantlers. Following the first rule of their manifesto—"To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart"—these daring misfits spend the summer after graduation in a remote cabin in the Vermont woods committing acts of meaningful vandalism and plotting elaborate, often dangerous, pranks. But everything changes when one particularly twisted experiment ends in Suz's death and the others decide to cover it up.

Nearly a decade later, Henry and Tess are living just an hour's drive from the old cabin. Each is desperate to move on from the summer of the Dismantlers, but their guilt isn't ready to let them go. When a victim of their past pranks commits suicide—apparently triggered by a mysterious Dismantler-style postcard—it sets off a chain of eerie events that threatens to engulf Henry, Tess, and their inquisitive nine-year-old daughter, Emma.

Is there someone who wants to reveal their secrets? Is it possible that Suz did not really die—or has she somehow found a way back to seek revenge?

Full of white-knuckle tension with deeply human characters caught in circumstances beyond their control, Jennifer McMahon's gripping story and spine-tingling plot prove that she is a master at weaving the fear of the supernatural with the stark realities of life. (from HarperCollins website)



Dismantled: A Novel
ISBN-13: 9780061689338
Publication Date: June 16, 2009
432 pages


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

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

ARC Arrival: Last Night in Montreal


Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

Publisher: Unbridled Books

A big thanks to Caitlin and Unbridled Books for this one. It is scheduled for a blog tour in June.

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

About the author: Emily St. John Mandel was born on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada, in 1979. She studied dance at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre and lived briefly in Montreal before relocating to New York. She lives in Brooklyn.

Last Night in Montreal
Publication Date: June 2, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-1-932961-68-3
256 pages

Wonderful Win: Girls in Trucks


Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

Published by Hachette Book Group

I won this book from S. Krishna at S. Krishna's Books. There are still some great giveaways going on over there - and you can always find another good book to read from the reviews!

About the book: Sarah Walters, the narrator of GIRLS IN TRUCKS, is a reluctant Camellia Society debutante. She has always felt ill-fitted to the rococo ways of Southern womanhood and family, and is anxious to shake the bonds of her youth. Still, she follows the traditional path laid out for her. This is Charleston, and in this beautiful, dark, segregated town, established rules and manners mean everything.

But as Sarah grows older, she finds that her Camellia lessons fail her, particularly as she goes to college, moves North, and navigates love and life in New York. There, Sarah and her group of displaced deb sisters try to define themselves within the realities of modern life. Heartbreak, addiction, disappointing jobs and death fail to live up to the hazy, happy future promised to them by their Camellia mothers and sisters.

When some unexpected bumps in the road--an unplanned birth, a family death--lead Sarah back home, she's forced to take another long look at the fading empire of her youth. It takes a strange turn of events to finally ground Sarah enough to make some serious choices. And only then does she realize that as much as she tried to deny it, where she comes from will always affect where she ends up. The motto of her girlhood cotillion society, "Once a Camellia, always a Camellia," may turn out to have more wisdom and pull to it than she ever could have guessed. (from Barnes and Noble)


About the author: Katie Crouch was raised in Charleston, South Carolina, where she attended Cotillion training but was never a debutante. She studied writing at Brown and Columbia universities and now lives in San Francisco. (from book cover)


Girls in Trucks
Publication Date: April 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0-316-00212-7
272 pages

Wonderful Win: What Would Jane Austen Do?

What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

I won this book from Book Maniac at A Blog of Books. There are some great giveaways going on over there right now - and there are always good reviews - so if you haven't checked out this blog yet, now's the time!

About the Book:

Surely Jane Austen would know how to handle such a rake...

From the author of Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake, a new time travel romance featuring a modern day career woman swept back in time to Regency England, where she thwarts a Napoleonic spy, chats with Jane Austen, and falls in love with a notorious rake.

Eleanor is a costume designer in England for the Jane Austen festival, where her room at the inn is haunted. In the middle of the night she encounters two ghost sisters whose brother was killed in a duel over 200 years ago. They persuade her to travel back in time with them to prevent the duel. Eleanor is swept into a country house party, presided over by the charming Lord Shermont, where she encounters and befriends Jane Austen. But there's much more to Lord Shermont than the ghosts knew, and as Eleanor dances and flirts with him, she begins to lose her heart. (from the publisher)

About the author: Laurie Brown teaches writing classes at the college level, has presented seminars at conferences all over the country, and has three published romance novels. She has been a Golden Heart finalist twice and has received the Service Award from the Chicago-North Chapter of RWA. She resides in Illinois.


What Would Jane Austen Do?
Publication Date: May 2009
ISBN-13: 9781402218316
For anyone who likes romance/historicals
352 pages

ARC Arrival: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson

Publisher: Hachette Book Group

I received this book for review from Valerie at Hachette!

Laurel Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she's helping her mother make sure the literal family skeleton stays in the closet or turning scraps of fabric into nationally acclaimed art quilts. Her estranged sister Thalia, an impoverished Actress with a capital A, is her polar opposite, priding herself on exposing the lurid truth lurking behind middle class niceties. While Laurel's life seems neatly on track--a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in suburban Victorianna--everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 13-year old neighbor Molly Dufresne. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is inexplicable--an unseemly mystery Laurel knows no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Only her wayward, unpredictable sister is right for the task, but calling in a favor from Thalia is like walking straight into a frying pan protected only by Crisco. Enlisting Thalia's help, Laurel sets out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about her family's guarded past, the true state of her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

Richer and more rewarding than any story Joshilyn Jackson has yet written, yet still packed with Jackson's trademarked outrageous characters, sparkling dialogue, and defiantly twisting plotting, THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING is destined both to delight Jackson's loyal fans and capture a whole new audience. (description from publisher's website)


About the author: During her trek from a tiny town in Alabama to a university in the big city of Chicago, Arlene Fleet makes a deal with God: If she agrees to never lie, never fornicate again, and never return to that little Alabama town, than God will agree to ensure that a certain corpse is never unearthed. Perhaps this is not the kind of deal to be made by a good southern girl, but Arlene Fleet isn't quite a good southern girl. She is, however, the central character in Joshilyn Jackson's breakthrough debut novel, Gods in Alabama.

Jackson wrote Gods in Alabama after a journey up north of her own. Much like Arlene, she was born in the South, and according to her official biography, "raised by a tribe of wild fundamentalists." Also like Arlene, Jackson eventually moved to Chicago, where she taught English at UIC. However, Arlene is no mere stand-in for the author. Although she is often asked if she based the character upon herself, Jackson is ready to admit that she does not have much in common with the promiscuous girl who may or may not be a murderer. In fact, when Arlene Fleet made her very first appearance in a short story titled "Little Dead Uglies," the narrator makes no bones about loathing her. Nevertheless, Jackson became fascinated with the character. "She wouldn't leave me alone," she explained to readersroom.com. "She's such a TINY part of that story. A few sentences. But every time I would go back to work on that story, she would kinda glitter at me... I KNEW she had a secret, and I knew she was something big, a novel waiting to happen. If only I had known what her secret was."

Jackson explored both the character and that secret in Gods in Alabama, and the results are a playful but dark dose of southern gothic humor. It also became Jackson's first published novel after two previous efforts failed to sell. Gods in Alabama more than makes up for any previous failures, though, as both a commercial and critical success and a No. 1 pick at Booksense.com.

Now Jackson, who is also an accomplished actor and playwright, is offering up her second novel, which once again finds the writer stirring up her southern heritage to create a sort of modern take on the infamous rivalry between the Hatfields and the McCoys. In Between, Georgia, Nonny Frett is caught between to feuding families: the Fretts, the family that provided her with a good southern upbringing after stealing her as a child, and the Crabtrees, the family that lost her and wants revenge. Once again, Jackson has crafted another unique and witty novel. Publishers Weekly has called Between, Georgia a "theatrical and well-paced Southern family drama" with "plenty of Southern sass." Jackson, for one, is quick to ensure those who were delighted by the one-of-a-kind voice that she established in Gods in Alabama that Between, Georgia will not disappoint. "It's a different book, but at the same time, I think it's pretty obvious I wrote it," she told southernlitreview.com. "It's that same odd blend of humor and violence." (from Barnes and Noble)



The Girl Who Stopped Swimming
Publication Date: May 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0-446-69782-8
For adults
336 pages



ARC Arrival, Wonderful Wins, and Tome Travelers have taken place of my Mailbox Monday/In Your Mailbox posts.

Winners: Made in the USA



Randomizer has chosen five winners for me for Made in the USA and they are:
marie
teabird
pam
Samantharae
Kitten22

Kitten22 has already won this book - so the next name from randomizer is. . .
quelleheure4

Okay - my replacement winner has also already won it - so let's try again!
Anna


All the winners have been emailed and have until Friday morning to send me their mailing addresses or new winners will be drawn.

Thanks for entering and keep watching as I have some new giveaways from Hachette coming up this week!

Teaser Tuesday 5-19-2009


TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!



It has been troubling me a good deal, if Imay say so. The young gentleman attempted to shoot me, as you, sir' - he bowed to Amberley - 'will no doubt remember. (Why Shoot a Butler? p143)

First Wild Card Tour: Gold of Kings by Davis Bunn

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!



You never know when I might play a wild card on you!





Today's Wild Card author is:





and the book:



Gold of Kings

Howard Books (May 12, 2009)



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:








Davis Bunn is the author of over nineteen national bestsellers, and his books have sold over six million copies in sixteen languages. The recipient of three Christy Awards, Bunn currently serves as writer-in-residence at Oxford University.



Visit the author's website.



Product Details:



List Price: $24.00

Hardcover: 352 pages

Publisher: Howard Books (May 12, 2009)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1416556311

ISBN-13: 978-1416556312



AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:





The rain pelting Seventh Avenue tasted of diesel and big-city friction. Sean Syrrell stared out the limo’s open window and let the day weep for him.



Sean gripped his chest with one hand, trying to compress his heart back into shape. His granddaughter managed to make the end of the block only because her aunt supported her. They turned the corner without a backward glance. Not till they were lost from view did Sean roll up his window.



Storm’s survival demanded that she be cut loose. He had fired her because it was the only way he could protect her. Sean knew the enemy was closing in. He had felt the killer’s breath for days. Storm was his last remaining hope for achieving his lifelong dream, and establishing his



legacy.



But the knowledge he had been right to fire her did little to ease the knife-edged pain that shredded his heart.



The driver asked, “Everything okay, Mr. Syrrell?”



Sean glanced at the young man behind the wheel. The driver was new, but the company was the only one he used ever since the danger had been revealed. If the enemy wanted a way to monitor his movements in New York, he’d handed it to them on a platter. “Why don’t you



go for a coffee or something. I’d like a moment.”



“No can do, sir. I leave the wheel, they pull my license.”



Sean stared blindly at the rain-streaked side window. He could only hope that one day Storm would understand, and tell Claudia, and the pair of them would forgive him.



Unless, of course, he was wrong and the threat did not exist.



But he wasn’t wrong.



“Mr. Syrrell?”



Sean opened his door and rose from the car. “Drop my bags off at the hotel. We’re done for the day.”



Sean passed the Steinway showroom’s main entrance, turned the corner, pressed the buzzer beside the painted steel elevator doors, and gave his name. A white-suited apprentice grinned a hello and led him downstairs. Sean greeted the technicians, most of whom he knew by



name. He chatted about recent acquisitions and listened as they spoke of their charges. The ladies in black. Always feminine. Always moody and temperamental. Always in need of a firm but gentle hand.



Among professional pianists, the Steinway showroom’s basement was a place of myth. The long room was clad in whitewashed concrete. Beneath exposed pipes and brutal fluorescent lights stood Steinway’s most valuable asset: their collection of concert pianos.



All but one were black. The exception had been finished in white as a personal favor to Billy Joel. Otherwise they looked identical. But each instrument was unique. The Steinway basement had been a place of pilgrimage for over a hundred years. Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir



Horowitz, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Leon Fleisher, Elton John, Glenn Gould, Alfred Brendel, Mitsuko Uchida. They all came. An invitation to the Steinway basement meant entry to one of the world’s most exclusive musical circles.



Sean Syrrell had not been granted access because of his talent. As a pianist, he was mechanical. He did not play the keys so much as box with the music. He lacked the finesse required for greatness. But fifteen years ago, he had done Steinway a great favor. He had located and salvaged the grand that had graced the White Palace, summer home to the Russian czars.



After the Trotsky rebellion, the piano had vanished. For years the world believed that Stalin had placed it in his dacha, then in a drunken rage had chopped it up for firewood. But Sean had found it in a Krakow junk shop the year after the Berlin Wall fell, just one more bit of communist flotsam. He had smuggled it west, where Germany’s finest restorer had spent a year returning it to its original pristine state. It was now housed in the Steinway family’s private collection.



The basement was overseen by Steinway’s chief technician. He and an assistant were “juicing” the hammers of a new concert grand. Sean spent a few minutes listening and discussing the piano’s raw tones. Then he moved to his favorite. CD‑18 was more or less retired from service after 109 years of touring. Occasionally it was brought out as a favor to a special Steinway client. The last time had been for a voice-piano duet—Lang Lang and Pavarotti. For fifteen years, Van Cliburn had begged Steinway to sell him the instrument. Yet here it remained.



Sean seated himself and ran through a trio of exercises. His hands were too stubby for concert-quality play, his manner at the keys too brusque. Added to that were his failing ears, which had lost a great deal of their higher-range tonality. And his strength, which these days was



far more bluster than muscle. And his heart, which still thudded painfully from firing Storm.



This time, it took a great deal longer than usual to leave the world behind. He hovered, he drifted, yet he was not transported. The tragic elements of his unfolding fate held him down.



When peace finally entered his internal realm, Sean switched to an étude by Chopin. It was a courtly dance, even when thumped out by his bricklayer’s hands. The instrument was bell-like, a radiant sound that caused even his antiquated frame to resonate.



Between the first and second movement, his playing transported him away from the realm of business and debt and his own multitude of failings. He knew others believed he harbored an old man’s fantasy of playing on the concert stage. But that was rubbish. He was here because twice each year, for a few treasured moments, an instrument brought him as close to divinity as Sean Syrrell would ever come. At least, so long as he was chained to this traumatic ordeal called life.



Sean detected a subtle shift in the chamber’s atmosphere. He was well aware of what it probably meant. He shut his eyes and turned to his favorite composer. Brahms was so very right for the moment, if indeed he was correct in thinking the moment had arrived.



Brahms above all composers had managed to form prayer into a series of notes. Yet Brahms had always been the hardest for Sean to play. Brahms required gentle eloquence. Normally Sean Syrrell played with all the gentleness of a drummer.



Today, however, Sean found himself able to perform the melody as it should be performed, as a supplicant with a lover’s heart.



Then Sean heard a different sound. A quiet hiss, accompanied by a puff of air on his cheek.



Sean opened his eyes in time to see a hand reflected in the piano’s mirrored surface, moving away from his face. It held a small crystal vial.



Sean’s cry of alarm was stifled by what felt like a hammer crashing into his chest. He doubled over the instrument, and his forehead slammed into the keyboard. But he heard none of it.



His entire being resonated with a single clarity of purpose, as strong as a funeral bell. He had been right all along.



Sean did not halt his playing. Even when his fingers slipped from the keys, still he played on.



His final thought was of Storm, which was only fitting. She was, after all, his one remaining earthbound hope.



He was carried along with notes that rose and rose until they joined in celestial perfection, transporting him into the realm he had prayed might find room for him. Even him.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Wonderful Win: Little Pink Books (Peter Pauper Press)




I was the lucky recipient of the above three Little Pink Books from Peter Pauper Press that were being given away over at 5 Minutes for Books! If you haven't been to Peter Pauper Press you really should click over there and check them out! They have a variety of Little Pink Books and Little Black Books as well as stationary, journals, kids stuff, Christmas cards and more. They even have bookmarks! (you can never have too many bookmarks!) My favorite one is below - come on - give it up - you know you all have a book you keep in the bathroom!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Jenn's Bookshelf is having a Huge Giveaway!

You have to head on over to Jenn's Bookshelf where she is giving away 22 books to one lucky reader in honor of her 200th post! So get over there and get entered in the drawing!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

The Four Corners of the Sky by Michael Malone (Book Review)


Title: The Four Corners of the Sky
Author: Michael Malone
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publication Date: May 12, 2009
ISBN-13: 9781570717444
Genre: Fiction


First sentence: In small towns between the North Carolina Piedmont and the coast the best scenery is often the sky.

Jack Peregrine was a con man - not just any con man - but one with a six year old daughter, Annie. When danger gets too close, Jack takes Annie to Emerald and Pilgrim's Rest (his childhood home) and leaves her with his sister Sam and her friend Clark. He promises to return for her, but in the meantime, as it was her 7th birthday, he gives her an airplane, The King of the Sky. This plane has been housed in Sam and Clark's barn since Annie was just a baby.

Sam and Clark have shared a residence for many years - but Sam is gay and Clark is once widowed and once divorced. They raise Annie as their own, eventually adopting her. Annie only sees her father once, briefly, while she is in high school. She has raced through life at top speed and continues when she heads off to Annapolis to become a Navy pilot. At 26, she finds herself headed back to Pilgrim's Rest for her b-day, having even raced through her first marriage - now headed for divorce. I believe when she arrives back at Pilgrim's Rest, that this is where the story really begins. She is greeted with a FedEx from her father, balloons from Sam and Clark, and a tornado (which will symbolize her next few days!) The FedEx from her father states that he is dying and would like her to fly The King of the Sky to St. Louis and meet him there.


This book started out great for me. I flew (no pun intended) through the first 100 pages and couldn't wait to keep going. Then I hit the middle and felt like the air went out of my balloon. It picked up speed again though and I soared to the end. (ok, I'll stop with the puns. . .) I am glad that I finished it.

My favorite character was probably Dan Hart, even though we do not get to see much of him. He is the Miami detective who has been tracking Annie's father. I enjoyed his instant rapport with Annie and their attraction. I also enjoyed steadfast, no-nonsense Clark. He was always there for Annie and even though his puns were corny, you knew you could always count on him (like the one that went something like this "It is better to have loved a short man than not a tall.")

I am not sure how I felt about Annie. I don't really felt like I really got to know her - that I never really got below the surface. Now maybe this was the point - because of her dad "abandoning" her and never even knowing who her mother was - she kept everyone at arm's length.

I can say that I liked this book - I didn't love it like I thought I would, but I am glad that I stuck with it all the same. The thing that bothered me from the beginning - was that in 1982 one of Annie's favorite movies was Top Gun - and the movie didn't come out until 1986. (I remember where I was when I saw it the first time - only because I was a later Navy wife and was in the bathroom at NTC, San Diego where the "famous" bathroom scene was filmed - there is even a plaque in it!) Now I was reading an uncorrected advance copy, so maybe this has been changed in the final version. . . Michael Malone has won the Edgar, the O. Henry, the Writer's Guild Award and the Emmy - so I am sure that I will give him another try! (As an aside - I will say that I have struggled with a headache all week as I was trying to read this, so that may have had an effect on my perceptions!)

Winners! The Girl Who Stopped Swimming





Five winners of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming have been chosen and they are:
Clenna
Kitten22
Nightdweller20

CarrieK
RoylSue
Two of my winners have won elsewhere - so I had to Randomize two new names and they are:
Olympianlady
KatBryan
Let's try again! One of my "new" winners has also already won - so the REAL lucky person is:
Auntrene

Congrats winners! They have all been emailed and have 3 days to get me their mailing info or new winners will be chosen. Thanks for entering and watch for some new giveaways coming soon!

Friday, May 15, 2009

First Wild Card Tour: On the Run by Bill Myers

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!



Watch for my review soon!

Today's Wild Card author is:


and the book:


On the Run-book 1 in new series: The Elijah Project

Zonderkidz (May 1, 2009)


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:





Bill Myers is a bestselling author and award-winning writer/director whose work has won forty national and international awards. His books and videos have sold eight million copies and include such titles as The Seeing, Eli, The Voice, My Life as…series, and McGee and Me.


Visit the author's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $4.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Zonderkidz (May 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310711932
ISBN-13: 978-0310711933
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:


“Beginnings …”


Zach Dawkins headed for the schools.

“Schools” as in the high school, junior high, and elementary school that were all lined up side by side on the same street. “Death Row,” he called it.

Zach was pretty good looking—sixteen with dark hair that stuck out in so many directions it looked like it got cut by a lawnmower gone berserk. It’s not that Zack was sloppy … he just had better things to do than worry about his looks—especially when he was late for school, which was like every day.

Zach wasn’t exactly the responsible type.

Unfortunately, Piper, his thirteen-year-old sister, was.

It seemed her job was to remember everything Zach and the rest of her family forgot. Like her brother, she was good-looking (though you couldn’t convince her of that). She had these chocolate brown eyes that were incredible … but you had to work hard to find them beneath all that hair she hid under.

Piper was a bit on the self-conscious side.

At the moment, she was trying to keep up with Zach while also shouting back to her little brother. “Elijah, come on, hurry up!”

As usual, six-year-old Elijah dragged behind them. Nothing new there. The guy was always lost in his own world and he hardly, if ever, talked. Piper loved him fiercely and she always looked out for him.

But there was no getting around it—the kid was weird.

“Come on,” she called. “We’re going to be late!”

Elijah nodded and then immediately slowed to watch a butterfly.

Piper blew the hair out of her eyes and stopped with her hands on her hips. “Elijah … ” She was about to traipse back and get him when she heard Zach use that voice he reserved only for making her life miserable.

“Well, well, lookie here …”

With a certain dread she turned to her older brother … and cringed.

Cody Martin, the all-school heartthrob, walked just across the street. He was tall with deep blue eyes and a smile that literally made it hard for Piper to breathe. Of course he didn’t know her from Adam, or Eve, but that didn’t stop her from pulling up her sweatshirt hood or ducking further under her hair whenever he was around.

Unfortunately, she had stupidly asked her brother about him when the two had played baseball together. And that was all the ammunition Zach needed.

“Look who’s across the street,” he teased.

“Who?” Piper asked, trying to sound bored. “Oh, you mean Cody. What do I care?”

“Yeah, right,” Zach snorted. “So you don’t mind if I call him over?”

Suddenly her heart was in her throat. “Zach!”

With a sly grin, he shouted, “Yo, Cody. What’s up?”

Cody turned and spotted them. “Hey … Zach?” Then, nodding to Piper, he added, “How’s it going, Patty?”

“Piper,” Zach corrected.

She turned away, whispering between her teeth. “Zach!”

“What?” Cody asked him.

“My sister’s name, it’s Piper. Actually, it’s Naomi Sue, but if you don’t want her to beat the tar out of you, I’d stick with Piper.”

“Gottcha,” Cody grinned.

Zach turned to her and whispered, “So do you want me to call him over?”

“Please, no!” She begged.

“Then you admit you’ve got a crush on him?”

“No, I just—”

He turned back to Cody and yelled. “So, Cody—”

“Yeah?”

“Alright,” Piper whispered, “Alright, I admit it!”

Zach grinned. “Nothing. Just wondering if you were going to play ball this spring.”

“Probably. You?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Cool.” Then, spotting a geeky, overweight friend, Cody speeded up to join him. “Take care.”

“Right,” Zach called.

“You, too … Piper.”

Piper’s head snapped up to him. The only thing more startling than hearing him speak her name was the grin he flashed her before moving on.

He had grinned .... at … her.

Suddenly Piper’s hood was up, her hair was down … and her knees were just a little wobbly.

It wasn’t until she heard Zach snicker that she came to earth and turned on him. “Is it your goal to be the jerkiest brother on the face of the planet?” She demanded.

Zach laughed. “It’s not a goal. It’s a duty.”

She blew the hair out of her eyes. Looking back to their little brother she called, “Elijah, please hurry!”

Elijah came to attention and ran toward them. That’s when Piper noticed the KWIT-TV news van heading up the street.

So did Zach—which explained him immediately waving and shouting. “Hey, TV news guys! Over here. Check me out. You’re next TV star is right here!”

Piper gave another sigh. What was God thinking when he made older brothers?

Suddenly, she noticed a small Cocker Spaniel puppy running into the street in front of them. It was followed by a little girl, probably in kindergarten.

Neither of them saw the car coming from the opposite direction.

“Watch it!” Piper shouted.

The little girl looked up but was too late.

The car hit the brakes, tires screeching. Its right front wheel ran over the dog with a sickening K-Thump while the front bumper hit the little girl. It knocked her hard to the ground causing the back of her head to slam onto the concrete.

Neither the girl nor the dog moved.

The shaken driver opened his car door and slowly stepped out. The crossing guard, who had seen the whole thing, began running toward them. And the news van had jerked to a stop with the woman reporter now leaping out.

“Get the camera rolling!” She called over her shoulder.

“I’m on it!” the cameraman shouted just behind her.

Students quickly gathered, pressing in around the car and little girl. By the time Zach and Piper arrived, the crossing guard was already shouting, “Stand back! Give her air! Everybody, stand back!”

Piper glance around for her little brother, but he was no where to be found.

“Elijah?” She called. “Elijah?”

She turned to Zach but he was too busy trying to get a look at the girl to pay attention.

“Elijah!”

The news crew pushed past them for a closer shot.

“Hey, check it out,” the reporter pointed. But she wasn’t pointing at the little girl. She had noticed something across the crowd and on the other side of the street.

Piper followed her gaze to see … Elijah.

He sat on the curb holding the dead puppy. But instead of crying, his lips quietly moved—almost like he was whispering to it. And then, to Piper’s astonishment, the puppy began to move. A little at first, but it soon began wiggling, squirming, and even lifting up its head to lick Elijah’s face.

“Did you see that?” The reporter cried.

“I’ve got it!” The cameraman shouted.

“It’s like he healed it or something!” She exclaimed.

With a grin, Elijah set the dog down. It began jumping and running around like it had never been hurt.

“Get in closer,” the reporter ordered. “I’m going to talk to him.”

Only then did Piper realize what she had to do. “Elijah!” She brushed past the reporter and raced for her little brother. “Elijah, come on!”

The little boy looked up, grinning even bigger.

“Excuse me?” The reporter called from behind her. “May I ask you a few questions?”

Piper ignored her. “Come on little guy,” she said as she arrived. She put her hand on his shoulder, looking for a way to get out of there. “Mom and Dad won’t like this. Not one bit.”

“Excuse me!” the reporter shouted.

Spotting the school, Piper figured it was better than nothing, and started toward it. “Let’s go.”

“Excuse me?”

They walked faster.

“Excuse me!”

They started to run, neither turning back.


* * * * *


Judy Dawkins was struggling with the vacuum cleaner when her husband burst through the front door.

She looked up startled. Seeing the expression on his face, she asked, “Mike, what’s wrong?”

He tried to smile, but something was up.

“Mike, what is it?”

He walked over to the TV remote. Without a word, he snapped it on and found the news. Finally, he spoke. “They’ve been playing this all morning.”

An anchorman with gray hair was addressing the camera: “Carly Tailor, our Newsbeat reporter is still on the scene. Carly?”

A young woman appeared on the screen. She stood perfectly poised in front of the news van. “Thank you, Jonathan. As we’ve been saying, something very strange happened over on Walnut Boulevard this morning. Let’s roll the footage, please.”

The scene cut to an accident sight where a little girl was being loaded into an ambulance.

The reporter continued. “At approximately 8:00 this morning, LeAnne Howard ran into the street after her dog and was struck by an oncoming car. From there she was taken to St. Jerome’s Hospital where her condition is reported as critical. There is speculation that she will shortly be transported to the Children’s Surgical Unit at Eastside Memorial. But there is another issue to this story that we found most interesting . . .”

The scene cut to a Cocker Spaniel lying if front of a car.

“This footage was taken immediately after the accident. As you can see, the dog looks … well, he looks dead … or, at least severely injured.”

Again the picture changed. This time a little boy sat on the curb holding the dog and whispering to it.

“Oh no.” Mom brought her hand to her mouth. “It’s Elijah!”

The reporter continued, “But moments later, as people were trying to help the girl, this small boy picked up her dog and … you’ll have to see for yourself. This is simply unbelievable.”

Tears filled Mom’s eyes as she watched the dog suddenly sitting up in Elijah’s lap and then lick his face.

“That’s amazing,” the anchorman said. “Let’s see it again.”

While the scene replayed, the reporter continued. “We tried to interview the boy, but a girl, the girl you see here, led him off.”

Mom stared at the screen as Piper appeared and hurried Elijah away from the camera and toward the school.

The report continued but Mom no longer heard. Tears blurred her eyes as her husband wrapped his arm around her.

“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” he said. “We knew this day would happen, didn’t we?”

She tried to answer, but her throat was too tight with emotion.

Dad repeated the words more softy. “Sooner or later we knew it would happen.”


* * * * *


Monica Specter and her two male assistants sat in the dingy, cockroach-infested hotel staring at the same newscast.

With a sinister grin, she switched off the television. “Alright team, the objective’s been sighted.” She rose and started for the adjacent room. “Pack up. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”

Bruno answered. He was a hulk of a man, whose neck was as thick as most people’s thighs and whose upturned nose looked like he’d run into a brick wall as a child (several times). “Uh … okay. Where are we goin’?”

Monica stopped, flipped aside her bright red hair, and stared at him in unbelief. “Santa Monica, you dolt. You saw the news. The boy we’re tracking is in Santa Monica.”

Bruno nodded. “Uh ... right.”

She looked at him another moment. Then, shaking her head, she disappeared into the other room.

Silas, their skinny partner with a long, pointed nose, shut down his laptop. “You shouldn’t ask stupid questions like that,” he said to Bruno.

Bruno nodded then stopped. “But how do I know they’re stupid if I don’t ask ‘em?”

Silas sighed. “Because you’re going to try something brand new.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ll try thinking before you speak.”

Bruno frowned, not completely sure he understood the concept. Then summoning up all his brain cells, he answered, “Huh?”

Silas answered. “We’ve been looking for this kid eight months now—checking newspaper articles, surfing the net … and, then out of the blue, he suddenly winds up on TV?”

Bruno grinned. “Yeah, some coincidence, huh?”

“Yeah, right. That was no coincidence.”

“You think Shadow Man had something to do with it?”

Silas shrugged. He never liked talking about the head of their organization. To be honest, the man gave him the willies.

“Come on,” he said, changing the subject. “Let’s get packed and grab the kid.”



Wonderful Win: Going too Far


Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

I won this book from Tina at Fantastic Book Review. She has some great giveaways and if you haven't been there, you should go check out her blog!

About the book: HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?

All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far...and almost doesn't make it back.

John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge — and over....

About the author: Jennifer Echols is the author of Major Crush and The Boys Next Door. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

Going Too Far
Publication Date: March 2009
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-7173-5
For Young Adults
245 pages

ARC Arrival: Neil Armstrong is My Uncle

Neil Armstrong is My Uncle & Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

I received this book from Roaring Book Press via Shelf Awareness.

Muscle Man McGinty is a squirrelly runt, a lying snake, and a pitiful excuse for a ten-year-old. The problem is that no one on Ramble Street knows it, but me.

Tamara Ann Simpson is tired of all the lies. And boy, oh boy, can Muscle Man McGinty tell some whoppers! When he does the unthinkable and challenges the entire block to a game of kickball, Tamara knows she's found her opportunity to prove to everyone what a wormy little liar Muscle Man really is. Of course things would be a lot easier if her best friend Kebsie Grobser were here to help her. . .

It's the summer of 1969 and the world is getting ready for a young man named Neil Armstrong to make history by walking on the moon. But change happens a bit more slowly in Massapequa Park, and it'll take one giant leap for Tamara to understand the likes of Muscle Man McGinty.

About the Author: Nan Marino grew up in Massapequa, New York, the same town as Jerry Seinfeld, the Baldwin brothers, and the musical group, The Stray Cats. While they were preparing for fame and fortune, Nan spent her childhood daydreaming in oak trees and on top of garage roofs. She did come down to earth for an occasional game of kickball. A librarian with degrees in library science and educational technology, Nan lives at the Jersey shore, with her husband and a very hyper dog. This is her first novel.

Neil Armstrong is My Uncle
Publication Date: May 2009
ISBN-13:978-1-59643-499-8
For ages 8-12
154 pages

ARC Arrival: 20 Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler


Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Publisher:
Little, Brown Young Readers

I received this book from Caitlin at FSB associates for a blog tour in June.

"Don't worry, Anna. I'll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it."
"Okay."
"Promise me? Promise you won't say anything?"
"Don't worry." I laughed. "It's our secret, right?"

According to her best friend Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy ever day, there's a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie---she's already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

Beautifully written and emotionally honest, this is a debut novel that explores what it truly means to love someone and what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every single moment this world has to offer.(description from back cover)

About the Author: Sarah Ockler wrote and illustrated her first book at age six-an adaptation of Steven Spielberg's E.T. Still recovering from her own adolescence, Sarah now writes for young adults. While nomadic at heart, she currently lives in Upstate New York with her husband Alex and an ever-expanding collection of sea glass. Visit her online at SarahOckler.com

Twenty Boy Summer
Publication Date: June 2009
ISBN:978-0-316-05159-0
For ages 12 and up
290 pages

FYI for future posts

As I mentioned a few days ago - as the days get longer, my time on the computer gets shorter - so quicker posts will have to be the answer. I am going to start doing posts on mailed books, purchased books, or giveaways I have won as I receive them. I think these are the names I am going with:

ARC Arrival - ARC's I receive from various places
Tome Travelers - used books that I buy
Giveaway Grabs - books that I win

I still am undecided about Library books - probably will still go with Library Loot - but it probably won't be on specific day. I also need a name for new books that I might buy. . .

Ok - not sure anyone cares - but if you see these titles to posts, that's what they are for. It mainly just takes out Mailbox Monday/In Your Mailbox - This post just seemed to take a lot of time to prepare each week.

Bye for now!~

Friday Finds 5-15-2009


Here are my finds this week!


Secrets She Left Behind by Diane Chamberlain
Publisher: Mira
Found through Shelf Awareness

I could not find a synopsis of this book - but did find some others by this author that looked good too!


The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

An unsolved murder.

A missing child.

A lifetime of deception.

In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared. Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child.

CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she also knows what happened to the missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own. Now Timothy Gleason is facing the death penalty, and she has another choice to make. Tell the truth, and destroy her family. Or let an innocent man die in order to protect a lifetime of lies…


Before the Storm

Fifteen-year-old Andy Lockwood is special.

Others notice the way he blurts out anything that comes into his mind, how he cannot foresee consequences, that he's more child than teenager. But his mother sees a boy with a heart as open and wide as the ocean.

Laurel Lockwood lost her son once through neglect. She's spent the rest of her life determined to make up for her mistakes, and she's succeeded in becoming a committed, protective parent—maybe even overprotective. Still, she loosens her grip just enough to let Andy attend a local church social—a decision that terrifies her when the church is consumed by fire. But Andy survives…and remarkably, saves other children from the flames. Laurel watches as Andy basks in the role of unlikely hero and the world finally sees her Andy, the sweet boy she knows as well as her own heart.

But when the suspicion of arson is cast upon Andy, Laurel must ask herself how well she really knows her son…and how far she'll go to keep her promise to protect him forever.



The Courage Tree

Eight-year-old Sophie Donohue just wanted to be like every other little girl. Which is why her mother, Janine, reluctantly agreed to let her go on the weekend camping trip with her Brownie troop. But when Janine arrives to pick up Sophie after the trip, her daughter is not with the others. Somehow, along the forested route from West Virginia, Sophie has disappeared.

But Sophie is no ordinary eight-year-old. She suffers from a rare disease, and Janine has recently enrolled her in an experimental treatment as a last effort to save her life—despite the vehement objections of her ex-husband, Joe. Without her medication, Sophie cannot survive long. All her mother's instincts tell Janine that Sophie is alive, but time is running out.

Deep in the Virginia forest, another drama unfolds. Sophie finds refuge in a remote cabin inhabited by Zoe, a woman who wants nothing to do with the child. Zoe is struggling to save her own daughter from the law, and Sophie's presence jeopardizes any chance of that happening. She is as determined to save her daughter as Janine is to save Sophie…and only one of them can succeed.

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


All descriptions are from the Mira website.

The Friday 56 5-15-2009



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


"Parking lot?" Sounded so normal.
"You were expecting to ride out on a river of fire? On hellhounds, maybe? (p56 Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione)




This book is closest to me this morning as it is waiting to be reviewed. I actually liked it a lot more than I thought I would!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Blog Changes

First, I just wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful suggestions and support yesterday on my reading slump. I am not out of it and still fighting the headache, but I have an appointment tomorrow with a ENT so hopefully that will help! (the headache - not the reading slump. . .)

Has anybody noticed my blog changes? (Thanks Teddyrose for liking the new header!) I am trying to get the header smaller but haven't had any luck! I have also added tabs across the top to try to clean up my sidebars and have a label cloud now. Are there suggestions for any other changes? And can anyone tell me how to create a favicon?

As summer approaches I am going to have less time to post as I will have my munchkins around a lot more, so I thought that I would try to get away from doing the weekly memes and just post when I had the chance. I want to try to spotlight the ARCs or other books as I get them and not just once a week - so I am looking for some catchy names - like maybe Tome Travelers for the used books I pick up. I need a name for the ARC post (maybe Arriving ARCs?) and for books I have won, etc. So come on, I know you are all creative! (and to entice you, there might even be a giveaway if I use your suggestion!)

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Reading Slump

I am in a reading slump right now. I am in the middle of 3 books - The Four Corners of the Sky, Thimble Summer, and Pleasure Unbound (well, this one I am almost done) and I seem to be avoiding reading. I have been fighting a semi-headache for a couple of days - Tylenol seems to be keeping it at bay - but that isn't helping. I feel like I am doing everything I can to avoid reading (i.e. - all the changes on my blog...) Any suggestions on how to get out of this??

Happy Birthday Daphne du Maurier!

Webfetti.com


Today is Daphne du Maurier's 102nd Birthday! In honor of her, Sourcebooks is giving away one copy of Frenchman's Creek to a reader and one copy of My Cousin Rachel to a reader!

It is easy to enter - just tell me some fact about Daphne or something about one of her books - I don't care if you google her and find info that way - but then we can all learn more about this amazing author.

One entry per person - open to U.S. or Canada only. Contest will run for one week - ending May 20th at 6pm CST. MUST LEAVE EMAIL ADDRESS IN COMMENT!

Now, a little about the books.




Jaded by the numbing politeness of Restoration London, Lady Dona St. Columb revolts against high society. She rides into the countryside, guided only by her restlessness and her longing to escape.

But when chance leads her to meet a French pirate, hidden within Cornwall's shadowy forests, Dona discovers that her passions and thirst for adventure have never been more aroused. Together, they embark upon a quest rife with danger and glory, one which bestows upon Dona the ultimate choice: sacrifice her lover to certain death or risk her own life to save him.

Frenchman's Creek is the breathtaking story of a woman searching for love and adventure who embraces the dangerous life of a fugitive on the seas. (synopsis from book cover)





Philip Ashley's older cousin Ambrose, who raised the orphaned Philip as his own son, has died in Rome. Philip, the heir to Ambrose's beautiful English estate, is crushed that the man he loved died far from home. He is also suspicious. While in Italy, Ambrose fell in love with Rachel, a beautiful English and Italian woman. But the final, brief letters Ambrose wrote hint that his love had turned to paranoia and fear.

Now Rachel has arrived at Philip's newly inherited estate. Could this exquisite woman, who seems to genuinely share Philip's grief at Ambrose's death, really be as cruel as Philip imagined? Or is she the kind, passionate woman with whom Ambrose fell in love? Philip struggles to answer this question, knowing Ambrose's estate, and his own future, will be destroyed if his answer is wrong. (synopsis from book cover)




It's time to tell me what you know!



Waiting on Wednesday: Abbeville



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


Abbeville by Jack Fuller
Publisher: Unbridled Books
ISBN: 978-1-932961-90-4
Available: August 2009

A story of our time. A novel for all times.

When the economy collapsed, it threatened everything George Bailey held dear. Returning to the little Central Illinois farm town where his grandfather had first prospered and then fallen into ruin during the Great Depression, George seeks out the details of this remarkable man's rise, fall and spiritual rebirth, hoping to find a way to recover himself. Abbeville is the story of a man caught by the tidal wave of economic disaster, and the meaning he finds in his quest for personal survival is as timely as today's news.

Author info: Jack Fuller has published six critically acclaimed novels and one book of non-fiction about journalism. He has been a legal affairs writer, a war correspondent in Vietnam, a Washington correspondent, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer. A graduate of NOrthwestern University and Yale Law School, he lives in Chicago wth his wife, Debra Moskovits. He has two children, Tim and Kate.




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

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...