The Sunday Salon: 8-16-2009

Happy Sunday Everyone! I hope that everybody is enjoying what is left of summer. My middle daughter has her first day of high school on Wednesday, so we don't have much summer left here. (Be sure to check out the You Tube Video at the end!) It has been pretty gorgeous all week though so we have spent a lot of time outside! We went to a local festival the last two nights- Friday we got to watch Escape To Witch Mountain on a 40 foot screen in the park and last night we saw some awesome fireworks! Of course my son has been over-tired and sugared up, so he was usually completely wound by the time we got home. Tomorrow we end the weekend with church and then a parade. It is supposed to rain tomorrow though, so hopefully it will hold off until the parade is over.




Let's talk about comments - When you leave a comment on someone's blog do you like to get a response back? And if you do, do you look for that response in your email or back under the comments? I am always unsure as to whether I should leave an answer in the comments or email the person directly. I would love to hear what everyone out there thinks about this.




Ok - let's see. I want to take a minute to thank the Park Avenue Princess for the wonderful award she gave me awhile back. It is the Heartfelt Blogger Award. Thank you so much!

Do you reach for a cup of cocoa or tea when you're relaxing, seeking comfort, sharing a plate of cookies with family and friends? You know that feeling you get when you drink a yummy cup of cocoa, tea or a hot toddy? That is what the Heartfelt award is all about: feeling warm inside!

The Rules:

Put the logo on your blog/post. Nominate up to 9 blogs which make you feel comfy or warm inside. Be sure to link to your nominees within the post. Let them know about the award by commenting on their blog. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

My nominees are:

Sheila from Sheila Deeth
Teabird from Tea Leaves
Sheri from A Novel Menagerie
Wendy from Caribous Mom
Kristi from The Story Siren
Marcia from The Printed Page
Tonya from Storytime with Tonya and Friends
Kathy from BermudaOnion

My list could go on and on and on! If you haven't checked these blogs out, make it a point to do so soon!


What is everyone reading this weekend? I am reading The Blue Enchantress by M.L. Tyndale - I lover the first book to this series The Red Siren and am gobbling this one up too! I have also started The Summer of Two Wishes by Julia London - It is about a woman who is told that her husband has been killed overseas - only to find out three years later that the army was mistaken - he had been a POW and had finally escaped. Only now she is remarried to someone else. Which love does she pick? Can you imagine having to do that? Having 2 husbands that you love and having to pick one? That would be a nightmare - but so far the book is really good!


I am going to leave you all with this YouTube video that they showed at my daughter's freshman orientation that we attended this week. It is an eye opener and really gives you a lot to think about!

The Friends We Keep (Book Review)

Title: The Friends We Keep
Author: Sarah Zacharias Davis
Publisher: Waterbrook Press

First sentence: My eyes flooded with tears that began rolling down my face.

My synopsis: This book was about - you guessed it - friends. But not just any friends - women and their friends. Why we need them, how we make them, how we keep them, and even why we lose them.

Each chapter shared some one's story that was relevant to the point that the author was trying to make. A lot of the stories I could relate to, or at the very least, knew someone who would fit in it. She explores a lot of the different sides to friendships, like the different ways we can love a friend, why we might need a particular friend - or why that friend might need us. What we get from a relationship - do we give or take from it? The book ends with how and why we need to be friends with our self.

The chapter I really like was titled "The Lesson of Lucy Van Pelt". I am sure that many of you remember Lucy from the Peanuts comic strip and what we are talking about here is gossip. This is something that I know I am guilty of and it is so easy to fall into gossiping about someone else. We can cover it up by making it look like we are really just "inquiring" because we are worried about someone or we try to cover up our gossip by "sugarcoating" it.

If you're not from the south, it goes something like this: "Since Anne Marie put on all that weight, she just looks poured into those pants. Someone needs to tell her those look terrible, bless her heart." Or, "Poor Donna Jo's husband has been cheating on her with his secretary, though I can't say I'm surprised. Men like women who cook for them, and she was always a dreadful cook, bless her heart." Add the word "little" and you can get away with saying even worse. "Shelby's wedding was sweet. Such a shame it will never last, bless her little heart." You get the idea. (The Friends We Keep, p44)

She ends this chapter with a story about a woman who had a casual friend that she had known for years. They weren't particularly close, and had really only kept in contact through mutual friends. When the woman was having a tough time in her life she was confiding her problems in only her close friends. This casual friend and her husband were at a dinner party when someone asked about how she was doing. This casual friend immediately jumped in and said that it was not appropriate for dinner conversation, and stopped any story telling that might have occurred. The woman relates "I felt a connection to her, instantly closer than I ever had in all the years I'd known her." (p48) This really touched me and made me take a closer look at things I may or may not have said over the years.

What if connection becomes greater by keeping secrets and sharing something personal to you rather than sharing what is personal to an absent other? What if power comes from empowering others rather than dominating them? What if friendship is cemented by rescuing a friend's reputation when it may be on the line? What if the glue that holds us together is discretion, no disclosure? (p48-49)

My thoughts: This book made me take a closer look at why I feel I don't have a lot of close friends. Even as a teen, I had just a handful of girls that I would call actually friends. I grew up in a small town, where we knew everybody - but I didn't feel like I fit in well with most of them. This feeling continued in college where I still only can recall 3-4 real girlfriends. It did make me see how I could benefit from having more friends, and that I should work on these relationships. Any thing worthwhile does take time. I was surprised by how many responses I have gotten on my give away for this book from women who said that they also did not have many friends, or had trouble making friends. (Giveaway for The Friends We Keep ends August 31)


The Friends We Keep
Publisher/Publication Date: Waterbrook Press, July 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4000-7439-6
224 pages

Win How to Tame a Modern Rogue Right Here!

I am excited to bring you another giveaway from Hachette Books! - How to Tame a Modern Rogue by Diana Holquist!

About the book: Ally Giordano’s beloved grandmother actually believes that she's living in her favorite romance novel in Regency England and Ally doesn't have the heart to set her straight. But now Granny Donny's last wish is for a retreat to the country and Ally can't refuse her...until she demands that Sam Carson accompany them. And though his smiles turn her knees into jelly, Ally knows better than to trust a playboy...and she definitely knows better than to try to change one. Or does she? (Hachette)

Here are some Fun Facts about the book from Hachette:

1. Because Granny Donny thinks she’s living in a regency romance novel, I had to research modern-day horse-and-carriages in New York City. I spent a whole day riding with Daisy, a sweet black Percheron with a thing for carrots.

2. I needed a modern-day equivalent of sword fighting so the men could show their honor and courage. Naturally, I chose soccer. I wrote each soccer scene as if it was an old-fashioned fight to the death.

3. The sub-plot of the carriage driver Mateo was based on a true story. I won’t tell the story here (no spoilers!), but when you read Rogue you might recognize it.

4. In a former life, I used to work in advertising in New York City. We sometimes had low-budget clients, and we had to bend all sorts of rules to “get the shot.” The story of the carriage crossing the Brooklyn Bridge is based on one of those shoots gone terribly wrong.

5. The scene of waltzing at midnight in Central Park is also based on a true story, except that I wasn’t one of the brave souls dancing. I was in a cab, driving through the park. The cab driver was so impressed, he pulled over and we watched. It was a sight (and sound) I swore I’d never forget.

You can also read an excerpt of How to Tame a Modern Rogue before you enter!

Rules for the giveaway:

1. Five copies to giveaway.
   
2. Open only to U.S. and Canada.
   
3. No PO Boxes
4. All entries can be in one comment.
5. +1 Must leave email address in comment.
6. +2 if you are a new or old follower - but please let me know.
7. +3 if you post this on any social network - (limit of 6 entries for this one - so you can post it as many places as you would like, but only 2 will count). If you post on Twitter - please use @kherbrand.
   
8. +3 for referrals of NEW followers - if you already follow, you will not get entries for saying someone referred you - you can however get entries for referring new people...
9. Giveaway ends on Sept 4th.

Friday Finds: 8-14-2009

Here are my finds this week!



Shake the Devil Off: A True Story of Murder that Rocked New Orleans by Ethan Brown

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co

About the book: A charismatic young soldier meets a tragic end in this moving and mesmerizing account of the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and no-safety-net America

Zackery Bowen was thrust into two of America’s largest recent debacles. He was one of the first soldiers to encounter the fledgling insurgency in Iraq. After years of military service he returned to New Orleans to tend bar and deliver groceries. In the weeks before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, he met Addie Hall, a pretty and high-spirited bartender. Their improvised, hard-partying endurance during and after the storm had news outlets around the world featuring the couple as the personification of what so many want to believe is the indomitable spirit of New Orleans.

But in October 2006, Bowen leaped from the rooftop bar of a French Quarter hotel. A note in his pocket directed the police to the body of Addie Hall. It was, according to NOPD veterans, one of the most gruesome crimes in the city’s history. How had this popular, handsome father of two done this horrible thing?

Journalist Ethan Brown moved from New York City to the French Quarter in order to investigate this question. Among the newsworthy elements in the book is Brown’s discovery that this tragedy—like so many others—could have been avoided if the military had simply not, in the words of Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, “absolutely and completely failed this soldier.” Shake the Devil Off is a mesmerizing tribute to these lives lost. (Barnes and Noble)

About the author: Ethan Brown has written for New York magazine, The New York Observer, Wired, Vibe, The Independent, GQ, Rolling Stone, Details, The Guardian, and The Village Voice, among other publications. He is the author of two previous books, Queens Reigns Supreme and Snitch. He lives with his wife in New Orleans. (Barnes and Noble)





By Blood We Live edited by John Joseph Adams

Publisher: Night Shade Books

About the book: Vampires. They are the most elegant of monsters--ancient, seductive, doomed, deadly. They lurk in the shadows, at your window, in your dreams. They are beautiful as anything you've ever seen, but their flesh is cold as the grave, and their lips taste of blood. From Dracula to Twilight, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to True Blood, many have fallen under their spell. Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams brings you 33 of the most haunting vampire stories of the past three decades, from some of today s most renowned authors of fantasy, science fiction, and horror.

Charming gentlemen with the manners of a prior age. Savage killing machines who surge screaming from hidden vaults. Cute little girls frozen forever in slender bodies. Long-buried loved ones who scratch at the door, begging to be let in. Nowhere is safe, not mist-shrouded Transylvania or the Italian Riviera or even a sleepy town in Maine. This is a hidden world, an eternal world, where nothing is forbidden...as long as you re willing to pay the price.

Edited by John Joseph Adams (Wastelands, The Living Dead), By Blood We Live is 245,000 words of the best in vampire fiction. Thirsty? By Blood We Live will satisfy your darkest cravings... (Amazon)

About the author: John Joseph Adams is the editor of the anthologies By Blood We Live, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Living Dead, Seeds of Change, and Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. Forthcoming work includes the anthologies Brave New Worlds, The Living Dead 2, The Mad Scientist s Guide to World Domination, and The Way of the Wizard. He is also the assistant editor at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

He is a columnist for Tor.com and has written reviews for Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Orson Scott Card s Intergalactic Medicine Show. His non-fiction has also appeared in: Amazing Stories, The Internet Review of Science Fiction, Locus Magazine, Novel & Short Story Writers Market, Science Fiction Weekly, SCI FI Wire, Shimmer, Strange Horizons, Subterranean Magazine, and Writer s Digest.

He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Central Florida in December 2000. He currently lives in New Jersey. (Amazon)







Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter by Nancy Atherton

Publisher: Penguin

About the book: The original paranormal detective returns in the latest installment of a beloved mystery series

Lori Shepherd's life in England couldn't be more tranquil or more satisfying— except for one thing. Her five- year-old twins have started school, and Lori fears they'll catch everything from the flu to fleas. What they do come home with, however, is worse: a report of a pale, cloaked figure with bloodstained lips lurking in the woods.

Lori is skeptical at first but soon grows concerned enough to consult with her late (but not entirely departed) Aunt Dimity and her dear friend Kit Smith. The vampire-hunting trail leads to Leo, a charismatic vagabond who just returned to England after a self-imposed exile, a bitter old crone named Lizzie Black, and finally to Aldercot Hall, where a mysterious murder took place forty years ago. With Kit and Aunt Dimity's help, Lori uncovers the secret that will shock everyone—including herself—about the true identity of the twins' vampire.

With its placid English countryside setting, eccentric characters, and lighthearted charm, Atherton's newest novel will enchant cozy mystery aficionados and the many loyal readers of the Aunt Dimity series. (Barnes and Noble)

About the author: Nancy Atherton is the author of twelve other Aunt Dimity mysteries, many of them bestsellers. The first book in the series, Aunt Dimity's Death, was voted "One of the Century's 100 Favorite Mysteries" by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. (Barnes and Noble)










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

ARC Arrival: Cult Insanity by Irene Spencer

Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement by Irene Spencer

Publisher: Center Street

About the book: In Shattered Dreams, Irene Spencer told the devastating story of her arduous life in a polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sect, sharing her husband with nine other women (and fifty-six children) in abject poverty and intense mental and emotional anguish. As harrowing as the story was, it was only just the beginning.

Cult Insanity delves deeper into her story, focusing on the terrifying acts of Ervil LeBaron, her brother-in-law and a self-proclaimed prophet who determined he had been called to set the house of God in order.

The older brother of Irene's husband, Verlan, Ervil LeBaron had a zeal for living and teaching that was at first admired but soon took on a sinister tone. Ervil's ambitions quickly turned lethal when he uncovered a doctrine concerning blood atonement--the act of redeeming a sinner's soul by taking his or her life. Seeing himself as God's avenger, he used the role as a means to terrorize and destroy those who challenged him.

Irene quickly became enveloped in a dark cloud of fear and anguish. Survival for herself and her ever-growing family turned into a constant flight from one desert camp to another across the harsh badlands of Baja, California. Food was scarce and living conditions abhorrent. Irene didn't see her husband for months, never knowing if Ervil would make good on his vow to kill him. (book jacket)

About the author: Irene Spencer resides in Northern California with her husband of twenty-one years, Hector J. Spencer. During the twenty-eight years of her first marriage to a polygamous husband, Irene gave birth to thirteen children (all single births). She additionally adopted a newborn girl, who became her ninth child.

Irene has 123 grandchildren and 60 great-grandchildren. Among her many talents, she is an accomplished seamstress, is a great cook, and is fluent in Spanish, and she has traveled to twenty-three countries and twenty-three states speaking on polygamy and related issues. (book jacket)

Cult Insanity
Publisher/Publication Date: Center Street, August 12, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-446-53819-0
352 pages

ARC Arrival: Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen

Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen

Publisher: Viking Adult

About the book: A mesmerizing novel about estranged sisters and the cultural and family history that binds them.

Van and Linny Luong are as baffling to each other as their parents' Vietnamese legacy is to them both. Van, the quintessential overachiever, has applied the same studied diligence to her law career and marriage--a beautiful idea that vaporized when Mr. Right walked out. Linny--pretty, fashionable, untethered--is grasping for purpose when her affair with a married man takes a humiliating turn. Each is the last person her sister would call, but when Mr. Luong summons them home for his American citizenship party, Van and Linny find themselves communing about their past--their late mother, their father's obsession with his Luong Arm invention for short people, even the irony of their romantic straits. As these unlikely confidantes chart the uncertainty that defines them, they forge a tentative new relationship and the wherewithal to overcome disappointment.

Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as "a writer to watch, a tremendous talent," Nguyen recasts her gifts marvelously in this first novel, infusing it with humor, compassion, and insight into siblings, aging parents, and the desires and ambitions that drive us. (back cover)

About the author: Bich Minh Nguyen (Bit Min Nwin) is the author of the memoir Stealing Buddha's Dinner. She teaches at Purdue University and lives in Chicago and West Lafayette, Indiana, with her husband, the novelist Porter Shreve. (back cover)

Short Girls
Publisher/Publication Date: Viking Adult, July 2009
ISBN: 978-0-670-02081-2
304 pages

ARC Arrivals: Tidings of Great Boys AND The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth

I was so excited when I opened this package! I only expected Book 5 - Tidings of Great Boys - and there was Book 6 also! - The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth! How cool is that!! These books are part of the All About Us series by Shelley Adina.

About Tidings of Great Boys: Finals week is approaching and Mac is still undecided on where to spend the holidays. Normally she'd go home to Scotland, but spending two weeks alone in the castle with her dad isn't as appealing as it used to be. So she invites Carly, Lissa, Gillian, and Shani to join her for the holidays!

Mac is determined to make this the best Christmas ever. She even decides to organize the traditional Hogmany dance for New Year's Eve. If she can get her mother involved in the dance, maybe her parents will finally get back together.

But when Mac and the girls arrive in Scotland, they are faced with bad news: the castle is falling apart and Mac's parents are struggling financially. Not only that, but Shani is in big trouble with Prince Rashid's royal family. Can the girls find a way to celebrate the holidays, get Mac's parents back together, save the castle, and rescue Shani from her relentless pursuers? There's only one way to find out. . . . (Amazon)

About The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth: Lissa Mansfield has come a long way since transferring to SpencerAcademy two years ago. She's made a great group of friends in Gillian, Carly, Mac, and Shani. She's strengthened and grown her relationship with God. She's even gotten over the Callum McCloud "incident" from her first semester. Now, she's ready to graduate and take on college life!

Or is she? With her parents' relationship still on the rocks and the girls about to separate as they head to different colleges, Lissa is faced with some of her biggest challenges yet in her last term at Spencer. Will Lissa put her faith in God to carry her through these difficult times? (Amazon)

Read my previous reviews: It's All About Us (Book 1), The Fruit of My Lipstick (Book 2),Be Strong and Curvaceous (Book 3), and Who Made You a Princess (Book 4).

Tidings of Great Boys
Publisher/Publication Date: Faithwords, Sept 8, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-446-17963-8
256 pages

The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth
Publisher/Publication Date: Faithwords, Jan 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-17964-5
256 pages

ARC Arrival: The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman

The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman

Publisher: Ballantine Books


I received this ARC through Shelf Awareness.

About the book: From the bestselling author of Motherless Daughters, here is the real-life story of one woman’s search for a cure to her family’s escalating troubles, and the leap of faith that took her on a journey to an exotic place and a new state of mind.

In the autumn of 2000, Hope Edelman was a woman adrift, questioning her marriage, her profession, and her place in the larger world. Feeling vulnerable and isolated, she was primed for change. Into her stagnant routine dropped Dodo, her three-year-old daughter Maya’s curiously disruptive imaginary friend. Confused and worried about how to handle Dodo’s apparent hold on their daughter, Edelman and her husband made the unlikely choice to take her to Maya healers in Belize, hoping that a shaman might help them banish Dodo–and, as they came to understand, all he represented–from their lives.

An account of how an otherwise mainstream mother and wife finds herself making an extremely unorthodox choice, The Possibility of Everything chronicles the magical week in Central America that transformed Edelman from a person whose past had led her to believe only in the visible and the “proven” to someone open to the idea of larger, unseen forces. This deeply affecting, beautifully written memoir of a family’s emotional journey explores what Edelman and her husband went looking for in the jungle and what they ultimately discovered–as parents, as spouses, and as ordinary people–about the things that possess and destroy, or that can heal us all. (Ballantine Books)

About the author: Hope Edelman is the author of five nonfiction books, including the bestsellers Motherless Daughters and Motherless Mothers. A graduate of the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program, she has published articles, essays, and reviews in numerous magazines and anthologies. She lives in Topanga, California, with her husband and two daughters. (Ballantine Books)

The Possibility of Everything
Publisher/Publication Date: Ballantine Books, Oct 2009
ISBN: 978-0-345-50650-4
352 pages

Kid's Korner - I Love You More by Laura Duksta (Book Review)

Title: I Love You More
Author: Laura Duksta
Illustrator: Karen Keesler
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

This is an adorable children's book, that my 4 year old son loves. From one direction, it starts with the question from a little boy to his mother "Mommy, just how much do you love me?" With cute rhymes and corresponding pictures, his mother tells him how much she loves him.

In the middle of the book, rather than ending, you flip it over and the mother then asks her son "So, just how much do you love me?" Again, the boy has some great answers with colorful pictures to help tell the story.

It is fun to read with my son, as then we will go about the day making up funny ways to say "I love you". My son's favorite from the book is "I love you longer than the longest lollipop ever lasted. I love you louder than the loudest rocket ship ever blasted."

I give this high marks for keeping a preschoolers attention - fun rhymes, though not too many words, colorful pictures - and a big hug from mom at the end!

To find out more about this author and illustrator team visit Hippie and the Bald Chick.

I Love You More
Publisher/Publication Date: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, Oct 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4022-1126-3

Take a peek in the diary of the Angel of Light

Diary letters from the Angel of Light; the mother of the Valtrez brothers:

Forbidden Marriage:

I knew the moment I looked into Zion’s mesmerizing, dark eyes that our love was forbidden.
That he was a demon who possessed the power of great evil. That if he ever lost himself to the pull of the darkness within him, that he might kill me.
Still I plunged headfirst into his arms and became his lover.
His touch was electric. His voice sultry and enticing. His hunger for me so intense that I couldn’t deny him.
He told me he craved me constantly. He wanted to make me happy. To share a life free of evil.
The day we married, he vowed to love me forever. To fight the bad blood in his veins and protect me from the demons.
And when our first son Vincent was born, and then the twins Quinton and Dante, he cried and held each of them in his arms, refuting his destiny and defying his own evil father.
Then he held me and promised that he was strong enough to overcome the darkness, that nothing would ever tear us apart.
That his sons would never walk with Satan much less become his soldiers.
Still, fear creeps in constantly, and I pray desperately that our love can save him from his destiny.

****

The Demon Attacks:

The demon attacks have heightened. Helzebar, the leader of the underworld, has sent his minions to punish Zion for his defection. To force him to bring his sons into the underworld with him.

He’s been fighting them bravely.
But last night they captured him, tortured him, fed on his flesh so viciously his blood is now infected. He claims he can overcome the sting of the poison.
But I fear that I will lose him to the evil.

****

Zion’s downfall:

My husband is no longer the man I married. The poison has consumed him. I see the difference in his eyes, the dark cravings, the violence, the hunger for blood and destruction. He welcomes pain, enjoys inflicting it upon others.
He hungers for the battle.
Though I still pray that my love can save him, he has grown dangerous to me. And to the boys.
He’s disappeared with Vincent several times lately. I do not know what he does, but Vincent is quiet and withdrawn, angry, now, and I see his own temper emerging.
Last night I tried to talk to Zion, but he threw me against the wall and declared that he will one day become the leader of the underworld. That his sons will rule the underworld with him.
I have to do something to stop him...

****

Saving My Sons:

All I can think about now is that I have to save my sons.
Tonight I found Vincent marked by the demons.
He tried to hide the teethmarks from me, but I saw that his body was bruised and beaten. The bite and claw marks on his back held poison that had already invaded his young body. And whatever torture and punishment Zion had inflicted upon him has begun to eat at his soul.
I cannot let it continue.
Quinton and Dante are too young to understand, to remember, to know what is happening. I must get them away from their father. They will survive without me.
But Vincent – he would know if I abandoned him.
But how can I leave one of my sons, letting him believe that I do not want him, and save the other two?

****

The Monks:

I spoke with the Monks today and they agreed to take the twins and separate them. It is too dangerous for the boys to be together.
Zion will be furious when he discovers my subterfuge. But he is long past saving.
And I will not allow my sons to succumb to Satan and be his soldiers.
I gathered the amulets for the boys’ protection and drove them to the secret meeting place deep in the woods near the Monastery. There I kissed each one of them goodbye, and left their protective amulet with them.
Leaving Quinton and Dante was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. My heart literally felt as if it was being ripped in two, as if it was bleeding. My tears flowed freely and will continue until the day we are reunited.
How can a mother abandon her sons, you wonder?
How could I not? A mother’s love means protecting her children at all costs, even if it means protecting them from their own father and heritage.
It means letting them go even if it kills me...

****

Death:

Last night I found Vincent bloody and bruised again. I must send him away to save him.
But I fear nothing can save me. Zion has threatened my life more than once, has tried to beat the truth out of me, to force me to lead him to Quinton and Dante.
My body is weak, my spirit is low, but my faith is strong. I will take their whereabouts to my grave with me.
I only pray that my sons survive, that Zion never finds them.
And that one day they will find a woman’s love to save their souls so they do not become monsters like their father...

Quinton Valtrez is featured in Dark Hunger - currently on tour! This is book 2 in the Demonborn series. Book 1, Insatiable Desire, featured Vincent Valtrez. I currently have a giveaway running for Dark Hunger - be sure to get in on it today! Forbidden Passion, Book 3 in the Demonborn series is due out in April of 2010.

ARC Arrival: Stray Affections

Stray Affections by Charlene Ann Baumbich

Publisher: Waterbrook Press

I received this from Ashley at Random House for a book tour in September. Thanks Ashley!

About the book: Cassandra Higgins, daycare provider and mother to four little boys, is at a Collectors' Convention when she's utterly charmed by a one-of-a-kind snowglobe containing figures of three dogs and a little girl with hair the color of her own.

She can't resist buying the beautiful globe, and it begins to spark long-dormant memories for Cassandra, of her beloved grandpa, the stray she rescued as a child, and the painful roots strangling her relationship with her mother, "Bad Betty" Kamrowski. When a strange--flurrious, as Cassandra deems it--moment happens with the remarkable snowglobe, Cassandra and the people she loves are swirled into a tumultuous yet grace-filled journey.

With the quirky, close-knit Midwestern small-town feel that made Charlene Ann Baumbich's Dearest Dorothy series so popular, Stray Affections invites you to experience the laughter and the healing of second chances. (book cover)

About the author: Charlene Ann Baumbich is a popular author, speaker, and an award-winning journalist. In addition to her Dearest Dorothy series of novels, she has written six nonfiction books of humor and inspiration. A bungee-jumping, once motorcycle-owning grandma, and unabashed dog lover, Charlene lives with her husband and rescued dog, Kornflake, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. (book cover)

Stray Affections
Publisher/Publication Date: Waterbrook Press, Sept 15, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-307-44471-4
320 pages

Talk About! My next giveaway -So Into You!

Courtesy of Anna and Hachette Books - I have 5 copies of So Into You by Sandra Hill to give to 5 of you!

About the book: Angel Sabato has been in love with best friend Grace O'Brien for 10 years--but he's only just realized it. Too bad she doesn't take him seriously when he tells her about his feelings. Now Grace is left to wonder if her problems from the past are keeping her from opening herself to love. But she brushes these "useless" musings aside, concentrating instead on the work she's doing as an apprentice to folk healer Tante Lulu and keeping up with the old woman's good deeds. Unbeknownst to Grace, Tante Lulu has decided to try her hand at matchmaking again. And Tante Lulu has never failed before! (Hachette)

You can also read the story prequel - SAVING SAVANNAH.

Rules for the giveaway:

1. Five copies to giveaway.
   
2. Open only to U.S. and Canada.
   
3. No PO Boxes
4. All entries can be in one comment.
5. +1 Must leave email address in comment.
6. +2 if you are a new or old follower - but please let me know.
7. +3 if you post this on any social network - (limit of 6 entries for this one - so you can post it as many places as you would like, but only 2 will count). If you post on Twitter - please use @kherbrand.
   
8. +3 for referrals of NEW followers - if you already follow, you will not get entries for saying someone referred you - you can however get entries for referring new people...
9. Giveaway ends on Sept 2nd.

Order book if you just can't wait for the giveaway!~

ARC Arrival: Lori's Song by Lori Foroozandeh

Lori's Song by Lori Foroozandeh

I received this book through Bostick Communications.

About the book: Lori Foroozandeh is a survivor. Her childhood was a horror of neglect, abuse, and molestation, but she was able to escape it at the age of 15. When she was 27, she married an Iranian man and moved to his native country. And then the unthinkable happened. On the day after the World Trad Center bombings, Lori was taken captive and placed in a paramilitary camp, where she was beaten, starved, raped repeatedly, and threatened with death. Even worse--after her rescue, Lori found that her story was considered too politically charged to make public, and she was forced to sign a nondisclosure order before the American Embassy would allow her to enter the United States, Lori's Song, published by Outskirts Press, is her story.

Lori was removed from her family at the age of six months. She was covered with cigarette burns and had been living in a dark closet all her short life. At the age of ten, her adoptive brother began to sexually molest her, and Lori was forced to emancipate herself at the age of 15. The years that followed were difficult; she fell into a pattern of self-destruction that included drug abuse. She had a son, Douglas, but eventually had to leave his father to escape his physical abuse--and because he had slept with her sister. By the time she met her future husband, Lori felt she was on her way to healing and a more sane way of life.

Lori was attending Northern Michigan University in Marquette when she met Mohammad Foroozandeh. As a single mother trying to pursue an education, she thought that Mohammad would be the ideal husband, someone who would love and respect her, and she chose to overlook his drug use. After two years of marriage, he convinced her to move to Iran, assuring her that she could pursue her career there. Lori had left her son with his natural father, thinking that she'd be able to return to the States and visit him soon, but the 14-year-old was filled with bitterness and confusion, and rebelled by committing armed robbery at the age of 17. He will be released in 2010.

Being in Iran was a difficult adjustment for the American woman, especially knowing that her son needed her. The Iranian customs were oppressive, and Lori's new husband became more and more demanding and more and more violent.

The events of 9/11 prompted Mohammad to purchase two bus tickets out of the country. He felt Iran was too dangerous and that they should return to the United States. But before they could escape, armed guards attacked, and captured Lori, taking her to a POW camp in the hills of Iran. There she was tortured and beaten; starved and raped. She watched in horror as a fellow prisoner was killed and her body set on fire. For six weeks, the nightmare continued.

Finally, the family of one of Lori's fellow captives was able to bribe their way out of the camp, and after two days Lori found herself in Ostandary, a place that helps out foreigners in emergency situations. But her freedom was still out of reach. An Iranian woman is not allowed to leave the country without her husband's written permission--and Lori's husband was nowhere to be found.

The American Embassy in Dubai stepped in and paid Lori's way back to the States, but only after she agreed to take a lie detector test and sign a nondisclosure agreement. When she eventually found her way back home, Lori found that "freedom of speech" was not so free. She tried to speak to a reporter from CNN, and was told that her story was too volatile for a country still reeling from 9/11, and that the U.S. couldn't afford a war with Iran at the time. Lori reluctantly complied and, frustrated, maintained her silence for many years. She required a great deal of physical and emotional therapy to deal with the injuries and trauma she suffered, and due in large part to the love and support of her fiance, John, Lori was able to overcome her long-term substance abuse. She realized that telling her story would be the final piece of the puzzle of her recovery, and thus, Lori's Song was born. At 244 pages, it is a testament of the strength and determination of one woman in the face of adversity. (Outskirts Press)

About the author: Lori Foroozandeh lives in Jackson, Michigan with her fiance, John. She is a member of the Iran Politics Club out of San Diego, founded by Ahreeman X, with a following of approximately one million Iranian exiles. Lori has made a major impression n Iranian exiles and those desiring the repression of the "old Iran." Her story is also mentioned in the book, Victimization of the Farsi, Arab, Turanian and Central and Western Asian Peoples by Peter Khan Zendran. (Outskirts Press)

Lori's Song
Publisher/Publication Date: Outskirts Press, July 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4327-3829-7
244 pages

ARC Arrival: 31 Hours by Masha Hamilton

31 Hours by Masha Hamilton

Publisher: Unbridled Books

I received this book from Caitlin at Unbridled Books - Thanks Caitlin!

About the book: When Carol Meitzner jolts awake in the middle of a long night, she knows--as surely as a mother can know--that her son, Jonas, is in danger.

His girlfriend doesn't understand why, but she knows she has somehow lost him. Jonas won't answer his phone. And no matter how carefully she shapes them, he won't return her messages.

His father says it can't be as bad as they fear.

But it is.

Jonas is in a safe-house beneath The Brooklyn Bridge. There, in the belief that he can change the world, he ponders his new found faith--and his specialized training. Over the next 31 hours, he will cleanse himself, mind and body, in preparation for the violent action he means to take when the subways are most crowded.

Jonas's isolation brings on an inevitable cascade of events. And as this stunning novel moves through the streets and subways of New York we see how lives can accidentally intersect--and how they might tragically fail to.

Carried by Masha Hamilton's elegant and powerful prose, 31 Hours is a compelling story about the helplessness and frantic hope of the people who can save Jonas -- and countless other -- if only they can reach him in time. (book jacket)

About the author: Masha Hamilton is the author of three previous novels: Staircase of a Thousand Steps (2001), a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection; The Distance Between Us (2004), named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal; and The Camel Bookmobile (2007), of which the New York Times said: "Hamilton makes us see how much is really at stake in a poverty-stricken place where every possession carries the weight of significance."

Hamilton worked as a foreign correspondent for The Associated Press for five years in the Middle East, where she covered the intefadeh, the peace process and the partial Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. She then spent five years in Moscow, where she was a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and NBC/Mutual Radio. She reported from Afghanistan in 2004 and returned in 2008. (Unbridled Books)

31 Hours
Publisher/Publication Date: Unbridled Books, Sept 2009
ISBN: 978-1-932961-83-6
229 pages

Waiting on Wednesday: Once in a Blue Moon

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

Once in a Blue Moon by Eileen Goudge

Publisher/Publication Date: Vanguard Press, Oct 6, 2009

About the book: Lindsay and Kerrie Ann are sisters who have known hardship from an early age. Without guidance from their neglectful mother, their only aid came from an unlikely source, a retired exotic dancer by the name of Miss Honi Love. When the girls’ mother was sent to prison, Miss Honi tried unsuccessfully to save them from being separated and sent into foster care.

Thirty years later, Lindsay is still trying to reconnect with her sister. The owner of a bookstore in the sleepy California seaside town of Blue Moon Bay, she was lucky enough to have been adopted by a loving couple. Unbeknownst to her, Kerrie Ann has suffered a very different life. Bounced from one foster home to the next, she ran away as a teenager before becoming a drug-addicted single mother. Now, newly sober, Kerrie Ann is fighting to regain custody of the little girl who was taken from her.

Neither sister’s expectations are met when they’re finally reunited. But as the two sisters engage in the fiercest battles of their lives, they are at last drawn together despite their differences, restoring belief in the unshakable bond of family. (Amazon)

About the author: Eileen Goudge is the New York Times bestselling author whose novels include The Diary, Domestic Affairs, Woman in Red, One Last Dance, Garden of Lies, and Thorns of Truth. There are more than five million copies of her books in print worldwide. She lives with her husband, entertainment reporter Sandy Kenyon, in New York City. (Amazon)

Once in a Blue Moon
Publisher/Publication Date: Vanguard Press, Oct 6, 2009
ISBN: 978-1593155346
336 pages

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

Dog Days of Summer are almost over - Back to School here we come!

A few of you enjoyed my first back to school post last week - and whether we like it or not (or are kids like it or not) - it's comin'! I know that I could have benefited from this series of books when I was in school (and probably still could!)

Reverently, Discreetly, Advisedly, Soberly . . . (or, Adverbs)
by Caroline Taggart and J.A. Wines,
Authors of My Grammar and I . . . Or Should That Be Me?: How to Speak and Write It Right

"When it absolutely, positively has to
be there overnight."
-- Federal Express slogan (1978–1983)

An adverb describes a verb, adjective, or adverb. Adverbs answer questions such as how, where, when, how much, how often?

Many, but by no means all, adverbs in English end in -ly (almost, once, twice, never, well, hard, fast, soon, and there are all adverbs), and many but by no means all the words that end in -ly are adverbs (manly, beastly, and holy are adjectives and family, butterfly, and barfly are nouns). But it seems that in everyday speech adverbs are steadily disappearing and the adjectival form is being used instead.

The following are all commonly heard but grammatically incorrect:

He did the task clever and I was real impressed.

He always drives careful so he won't get any points on his license.

It rained so heavy the roof started to leak.

She divided them fair but the children still weren't happy.

They should be:

He did the task cleverly and I was really impressed.

He always drives carefully.

It rained so heavily.

She divided them fairly.

Note that in the first example, cleverly is an adverb describing the verb he did (How did he do the task? Cleverly), and really is an adverb describing the adjective impressed (How impressed was I? Really impressed).

Ones That Got Away

He doesn't play fair.

I've got it bad.

They're going steady.

Go slow!!

All of these are acceptable colloquialisms, but you might think twice about using them in formal writing.

And here's an oddity: She worked extremely hard. Hard is an adverb qualifying the verb worked (How did she work? Hard). And extremely is an adverb qualifying the adverb worked (How hard did she work? Extremely hard). Despite the fact that hard looks like an adjective, we know that it is an adverb because it qualifies the verb. If you invented an adverbial form for it, you would get she worked hardly, which just sounds odd, or she hardly worked, which means something altogether different. Go figure.

The above is an excerpt from the book My Grammar and I . . . Or Should That Be Me?: How to Speak and Write It Right by Caroline Taggart and J.A. Wines. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Copyright © 2009 Caroline Taggart and J.A. Wines, authors of My Grammar and I . . . Or Should That Be Me?: How to Speak and Write It Right

Author Bios
Caroline Taggart, has been an editor of non-fiction books for nearly 30 years and has covered nearly every subject from natural history and business to gardening and astronomy. She has written several books and was the editor of Writer's Market UK 2009.

J. A. Wines is a graduate of Oxford University and the author of several books on grammar and trivia.

The Hope of Refuge by Cindy Woodsmall (Book Review)

Title: The Hope of Refuge
Author: Cindy Woodsmall
Publisher: Waterbrook Press

First sentence: Sunlight streamed through the bar's dirty windows as the lunch crowd filled the place.

My synopsis: Cara felt like she had been on the run with her daughter forever. But now that Mike had found her again, and this time knew her daughter's name and school - she needed to really get lost. Unfortunately Cara had been "lost" her whole life. Her mother died when she was 8 and her father left her at a bus stop and told her to wait for someone named Emma Riehl who was going to come and get her. Emma never showed up and Cara ended up in foster care. It was while she was here that she met Mike. As a teenager she had tried to go to the police about him, but they did not believe her. She married when she was 17 to get protection from him. When her husband died a few years later, she was left to raise their daughter Lori alone. Mike soon found out and began to stalk her again.

Discovering an address in a journal that her mother Malinda had kept, Cara sets out with Lori with little money and just the clothes on their backs. They are headed to Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, an Amish community. Cara has not been able to trust anyone for so long, that when she shows up in Dry Lake she hides out in a barn with her daughter. She feels as if she knows this place though, but doesn't know how or why. They attend a local auction with the hopes of finding some food when Cara hears the name Emma Riehl again. She knows she must get some answers, but doesn't know what she is going to do for food and shelter in the meantime.

Her stay in the barn does not last long as a local has called the police. They claim they have seen a drunken thief in the area and that she appears to be living in this barn. Before the police can take her away, Ephraim steps in and tells them that she and her daughter can stay with him. He is not quite sure why he has done this, as it will cause problems in the community. Especially if she is who he thinks she is - the daughter of Malinda Riehl, who was banished from the community many years before and left much hurt in her wake. He remembers playing with her for a week when he was a child and has never forgotten her.

Cara's presence in Ephraim's household does indeed cause problems. He is shunned, more severely than normal. This means he is not allowed to speak to any other Amish person, nor sit with them at a table, nor take something from their hands or hand them something. He has also been banished from working at his cabinetry business. In spite of all this, he hears "Be Me to her" when he is having his greatest doubts and feels deep inside that he is doing the right thing. He has no clue how all this will end though.

My thoughts: This was really my first "Amish" book - and I know there are a lot out there right now! I really enjoyed it though, and it gave me a look into a world that I did not know anything about. On one hand, I don't know how people live without electricity, cars, TV, etc - but on the other hand life would be so simple! I am not sure that I would be happy like that forever though. I believe in the same God that they believe in, but I am not sure that if you are not born Amish that his would be a society that you would ever truly belong to. This says it is an Ada House novel, so I am hoping that there are more to come. There were a lot of background characters - Deborah (Ephraim's sister), Mahlon (Deborah's fiance), Ada (Mahlon's mom) and Anna Mary (Ephraim's girlfriend) that I would like to learn more about. I have a feeling that there will be some good stories there!

Oh - there is a cute puppy in the book which Ephraim names Better Days which makes for some good one liners!

The Hope of Refuge
Publisher/Publication Date: Waterbrook Press, Aug 11, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4000-7396-2
336 pages

Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz Belinda Acosta?

Please help me welcome Belinda Acosta to Books and Needlepoint today - She is my guest blogger! She is currently on a virtual tour with her debut novel - Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz.

Another interviewer asked me where I appear In Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz. After we talked, she suggested that I am present in Carmen and her cousin Bianca. Carmen is the angry quinceañera in the book—the one who assumes that her mother is to blame for her father’s departure. As it turns out, the interviewer was on to something. I always assumed it was my mother’s doing when my own parents split when I was young. After writing this book, I wonder why my mother didn’t suffocate me in my sleep. I was a moody teenager, and yes, a daddy’s girl. No doubt about it. Still am. Bianca is the lively one, always ready to try something new, always ready to give it her best shot. I felt like it was the Bianca in me that decided to write Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz. Bianca has her own drama with her mother, a secondary story line that rings true for me as well. Overall, the thing that made me get to the center of the teenagers in the book is that sick, sad moment when you discover that your parents are just human, with their own foibles and faults. But the things I’ve come to appreciate about parents, mine and others, is the extraordinary level of patience they must muster, how it’s tested again and again, and how you sometimes have to watch your kid fail in order to allow them to grow.

I don’t have children but I think I’m a pretty cool aunt. I mentor children in the public schools here in Austin, and I am a Godmother to one child. I might make a good mother now that I have the benefit of hindsight, but all in all, I think it’s good that my contact with children has been at a distance. When it comes right down to it, that’s the perfect place from which to observe and write about this most primary of relationships, between mother and child.

Thanks Belinda! You can find Belinda on her blog, follow her on twitter or become a Facebook Fan!