A Highlander's Destiny by Melissa Mayhue (Book Review)

Title: A Highlander's Destiny
Author: Melissa Mayhue
Publisher: Pocket Books

About the book: Jesse Coryell, a descendant of the Fae, is a man in search of his destiny. He's tried to lose himself in his work, taking on the worst mankind has to offer, but what he really needs to find is his true love. when he sets out to help a mysterious woman find her sister, what he gets is much more than he bargained for: battling an undeniable attraction to his sexy new client while fighting an ancient evil to keep her safe.

Destiny Noble, abandoned by everyone she's ever loved, will stop at nothing in her desperate quest to find her sister. Authorities have declared Leah a runaway, but Destiny knows better. Her dream visions have shown her the frightening truth. They've also shown her Jesse. But finding her Soulmate could result in the most painful loss of all, when she's forced to choose between loving Jesse and saving Leah.

Jesse and Destiny race against time to save an innocent girl from a powerful ancient evil. Is true love their best weapon...or will they be required to sacrifice their own destiny? (back cover)

My thoughts: I continue to love books about faeries. I don't know what it is about them that appeals to me so much, but I haven't found one yet that I did not like. This is the fifth book in the Daughters of the Glen series and it is a must that I go back and read the first four. A Highlander's Destiny did read very well on its own though, and I did not feel like I was missing any of the story. It was a very gripping story line and kept me turning the pages long after I should have been asleep. If you like paranormal romance with some suspense - this is definitely the book for you!

A Highlander's Destiny
Publisher/Publication Date: Pocket Books, Dec 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4391-4421-3
384 pages

~ I received this book for review from Pocket Books.~

Please visit these other participating bloggers on tour today!

My Book Views: http://my-book-views.blogspot.com/
Brizmus Blogs About Books: http://brizmusblogsbooks.blogspot.com/
Rundpinne: http://www.rundpinne.blogspot.com/
Renee’s Reads: http://www.renees-reads.blogspot.com/
Seductive Musings: http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/
All About {n}: http://www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/
Book Junkie: http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com/
Pam’s Private Reflections: http://hip2bhomeschooling.blogspot.com/
My Book Addiction and More: www.mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com
Starting Fresh: http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/
Frugal Plus: http://frugalplus.com/
Books, Books Everywhere: http://bookbookseverywhere.blogspot.com/
Broken Teepee: http://www.brokenteepee.blogspot.com/
Readaholic: http://bridget3420.blogspot.com/
I Heart Book Gossip: http://juniperrbreeeze.blogspot.com/
My Guilty Pleasures: http://www.mgpblog.com/
Just Another New Blog: http://justanothernewblog.blogspot.com/
My Overstuffed Bookshelf: http://myoverstuffedbookshelf.blogspot.com/
The Bibliophilic Book Blog: http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/
My Own Little Corner of the World: http://molcotw.blogspot.com/
A Book Bloggers Diary: http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com/
Book Soulmates: http://booksoulmates.blogspot.com/
The Cajun Book Lady: http://thecajunbooklady.blogspot.com/
Wendy’s Minding Spot: http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/
Between the Pages: http://www.betweenthelinesandmore.blogspot.com/
Marta’s Meanderings: http://martasmeanderings.blogspot.com/
Chaotic Book Obsession: http://chaoticbookobbsession.blogspot.com/
Savey Spender: http://saveyspender.com/
Sharon's Garden of Book Reviews: http://sharonsgardenofbookreviews.blogspot.com/

Tales for Delicious Girls by Barbora Knobova (Book Review)

Title: Tales for Delicious Girls
Author: Barbora Knobova
Publisher: BK Publishing

About the book: Twenty-five exhilarating real-life stories about delicious women, eccentric men and stubborn dogs.

Tales for Delicious Girls offers witty, refreshing, clever and ironic insight into relationships between men and women from all points of view. The book is a modern relationship manual, providing answers to the most pressing dating and friendship questions that strong, independent, modern women want to know. Tales for Delicious Girls deals with wishes, desires and dreams - as well as hilarious mishaps and dating disasters.

However Tales for Delicious Girls is not simply a humorous book. In addition to entertaining the readers, the tales inspire women to think about their life and relationships, see themselves through different eyes and realize that they are their own best friend, the pillar of their own life, and the only person they can always count on. Tales for Delicious Girls encourages women to love, respect and appreciate themselves, to live the life they have always wanted, and become aware of their true uniqueness and deliciousness. It helps them to realize their own strength and power and overcome difficult life and relationship situations. (back cover)

My thoughts: I did find some of these stories humorous, but I cannot say that I related much to this book. The author has been to many many places and sounds like she has had a variety of men in her life because of her travels. My favorite story was probably Man, Woman, Dog (being a dog lover myself and sharing my life with 2 - dogs, not men - only 1 of those in my life). I loved the way that she told the story about her "Man" and how he failed to understand her "Dog". For those of you with dogs - you know that they think they are human and so have the same rights... This "Man" did not get that - especially when he wanted to read the paper in bed and the dog wanted the lights out to go to sleep!

Overall, she does insist throughout all the stories that we need to be true to ourselves and not shortchange us (or one another as girlfriends) for the sake of a man or a relationship. This would be a fun read for someone who is out there in the dating world - and I may pass it on to my sister.

~I received this book for review from Pump Up Your Book Tours.~

Tales for Delicious Girls
Publisher/Publication Date: BK Publishing, Sept 2009
ISBN: 978-0-578-03339-6
180 pages

Waiting on Wednesday: Winter Garden

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

Winter Garden
by Kristin Hannah
Publisher/Publication Date: St. Martin's Press, Feb 2010

Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn’t know her mother?

From the author of the smash-hit bestseller Firefly Lane and True Colors comes a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are. (Amazon)

Winter Garden
Publisher/Publication Date: St. Martin's Press, Feb 2010
ISBN: 978-0312364120
400 pages

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

Teaser Tuesday: 1-26-2010

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 have given!
Please avoid spoilers!




A cutlass was suddenly a required accessory, and one could not stroll the Retail Embankment nor row down Marleybone High Causeway without hearing the squawk of parrots chattering on the shoulders of kerchiefed beaux. Games of chance and aquatic amusements such as the sea-lion rodeo were less and less in favour, replaced by sword fights, in which the men of the Station tested their mettle--though to come into combat with actual pirates would be the furthest thing from anyone's imagining. (Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters, p217)


Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Publisher/Publication Date: Quirk Books, Sept 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59474-442-6
344 pages

Ecstasy Unveiled Blog Tour (1/25 - 2/7)

Ecstasy Unveiled by Larissa Ione

About the book: Lore is a Seminus half-breed demon who has been forced to act as his dark master's assassin. Now to earn his freedom and save his sister's life, he must complete one last kill. Powerful and ruthless, he'll stop at nothing to carry out this deadly mission.

Idess is an earthbound angel with a wild side, sworn to protect the human Lore is targeting. She's determined to thwart her wickedly handsome adversary by any means necessary-even if that means risking her vow of eternal chastity. But what begins as a simple seduction soon turns into a passion that leaves both angel and demon craving complete surrender.

Torn between duty and desire, Lore and Idess must join forces as they battle their attraction for each other. Because an enemy from the past is rising again-one hellbent on vengeance and unthinkable destruction.

Author Bio (from Hachette):

I began writing the way so many writers do—the moment I learned to wield a pencil. But even as a child, I didn't write "kid" stories. I preferred something more dramatic. Something that didn't include Dick, Jane, and a dog named Spot. I wanted my characters to be named Dracula and my dogs to have names like White Fang or Cujo. I'll always have my parents to thank for that. They never censored my reading material (though I suspect that if they had truly known what was between the covers of some of the books, they'd have been a little more careful,) so when other girls my age were reading Laura Ingalls Wilder and Judy Blume, I was immersing myself in Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

Later, after I'd joined the Air Force and was in dire need of something to read between shifts at the weather station, I continued to read horror, but I'd branched out into fantasy, and then, finally, romance (though I admit I went kicking and screaming to the latter.)

Turned out that I loved romance! So I started writing it, but again, my style and voice leaned toward the dark, paranormal side. Fortunately for me, paranormal romance, as a sub-genre, was booming. I let my imagination fly, and soon I'd sold a series of dark, sexy paranormal romances to Grand Central Publishing.

I still read a lot of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, and in fact, one of my all time favorite books about writing is On Writing, by my favorite childhood horror author, Stephen King. If you're an author or a reader, I highly recommend this book for an insight into an author's mind—which can sometimes be a very scary place.

Go ahead; Seduce your dark side.

Author Website: LarissaIone.com

Follow @LarissaIone on Twitter

Here are some other participating blogs:

http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/ Feature, Giveaway, Q&A 1/25/2010
http://reesspace.blogspot.com Feature, Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://passive-agressiva.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://www.auntpamscloset.com Feature, Review, Giveaway, Q&A 1/25/2010
http://digiscrapping.net/blog Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://zestynachos.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
www.vhubler.blogspot.com Feature, Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://tbfreviews.net Feature, Giveaway 1/26/2010
http://sexywomenread.blogspot.com Giveaway 1/26/2010
http://razloversbookblog.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/26/2010
booksoulmates.com Review, Giveaway 1/27/2010
http://patricias-vampire-notes.blogspot.com/ Feature, Giveaway 1/27/2010
http://thriftyjinxy.blogspot.com/ Feature, Review, Giveaway 1/28/2010
http://smexybooks.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 1/28/2010
www.thebookgirl.net Review, Giveaway 1/29/2010
http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com Feature, Review, Giveaway, Q&A 1/29/2010
http://www.froggaritasbookcase.net Review, Giveaway 1/29/2010
http://chaoticbookobbsession.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway, Q&A 1/30/2010
http://redheadedbookchild.blogspot.com Review 1/31/2010
http://brokenteepee.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 2/1/2010
http://confessionsofanover-workedmom.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 2/1/2010
http://annavivian.blogspot.com/ Giveaway 2/2/2010
http://justanothernewblog.blogspot.com Giveaway 2/2/2010
http://www.readingwithmonie.com Review, Giveaway 2/3/2010
http://www.findthetimetoread.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 2/3/2010
www.bibliophilicbookblog.com Feature, Review, Giveaway, Q&A 2/4/2010
http://www.eclecticbooklover.com Review, Giveaway 2/4/2010
http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com Giveaway 2/4/2010
www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 2/5/2010
http://www.mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com Feature, Review, Giveaway, Q&A 2/5/2010
http://www.kballard87.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 2/5/2010
http:thisbookforfree.com Review, Giveaway, Q&A 2/5/2010
booksandmakeup.blogspot.com Feature, Review, Giveaway 2/5/2010
http://myoverstuffedbookshelf.blogspot.com/ Feature, Review, Giveaway 2/6/2010
http://thecajunbooklady.blogspot.com/ Feature, Review, Giveaway 2/7/2010
http://www.renees-reads.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 2/7/2010
http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com Feature, Giveaway 2/7/2010
www.mgpblog.com Review, Giveaway 2/7/2010
http://reviewfromhere.com Review 2/7/2010
http://mamaof3munchkins.blogspot.com/ Feature, Review 2/7/2010
Global Arts Feature, Review, Giveaway, Q&A 2/7/2010
http://www.bridget3420.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 2/7/2010
http://stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 2/7/2010
http://www.mindingspot.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 2/7/2010
www.stephthebookworm.blogspot.com Review 2/7/2010

Denise's Daily Dozen Blog Tour and Review

Title: Denise's Daily Dozen
Author: Denise Austin
Publisher: Center Street/Hachette Books

About the book: From Denise Austin comes the perfect health book for anyone who wants to live better but just can't seem to find the time. Much more than just another exercise book, Denise's Daily Dozen covers a whole range of health and diet related concepts yet manages it all in a no-stress, time-conscious program of 12's. At it's core, this book contains the minimum daily requirements to keep the reader flexible, strong and trim. Organized simply into seven chapters, which equal the seven days of the week, it covers a full week in daily allotments. Each day will have it's own focus from Monday being "fat burning day" to Sunday's "recharge and rejuvenate."

Denise has created a total body program, including a 7-day balanced meal plan that includes healthy recipes, and a workout that encompasses 12 exercises done in 12 minutes each day. Everyone can take just 12 minutes, at whatever time of the day works for them, and turn it over to these simple and fun exercises. Cardio, toning, yoga and breathing exercises...they're all here but in a way the maximizes effect while minimizing time.

Beyond a dozen exercises for each day of the week this book will include many other of Denise's dozens for each day.



About Denise:

A native of San Pedro, California, Denise started gymnastics at the age of 12 and earned an athletic scholarship to the University of Arizona, graduating in 1979 with an exercise physiology degree. She began her career teaching aerobic exercise classes in the Los Angeles area and went on to cohost the The Jack LaLanne Show, in 1981. (Denise considers Jack LaLanne one of her role models, and she is delighted to still speak regularly with the 94-year-old fitness legend.)

During more than 25 years promoting health and fitness, Denise has created 82 workout videos or DVDs. Her enormous number of sales led to her 2003 induction into the Video Hall of Fame.

Denise has been married for 25 years to Jeff Austin, a sports attorney and brother of tennis champ Tracy Austin. They share a home with their two teenage daughters, Kelly and Katie.

You can follow @DeniseAustin_ on Twitter or find her at her Facebook Fan Page.

My thoughts: I have only read this book, but have not started on the program - I have a respiratory disease and winter months are usually the worst, so I did not want to get discouraged by starting this in January and having to stop - so I plan on trying to start this program in February, because, let me tell you - it looks amazing! When it comes to diet and exercise, I need to be told what to do - every day - or I will stop one day and won't start again. This book does exactly that - it tells you what you should do every day of the week. You, my readers, are going to be holding me accountable. On February 1, which just happens to be a Monday, I will post my weight (ouch) and will try to keep a daily (b)log of my efforts/results.

Usually when I pick up these types of books, they sound good, but if they are not simple enough to follow, then I won't. For some reason, this book has caught me and looks like it will actually be fun. Maybe it is all the pictures of Denise smiling as she is showing the exercises throughout the book. So watch for my workout's and help me count down those pounds!

Here are some more blogs participating in the tour today:

http://mamaof3munchkins.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://www.crazy-for-books.com Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/ Review 1/25/2010
http://therempels4.blogspot Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
www.chickwithbooks.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
momandbeauty@att.net Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://abstract2collective.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://www.hippie-mommy.com Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010

~I received this book for review from Hachette Books.~

It's Monday! What Are You Reading 1-25-2010

What are you reading on Mondays? is hosted by J. Kaye at J. Kaye's Book Blog. If you would like to participate, please leave your link with Mr. Linky at J.Kaye's blog - but you can also leave me a comment - I would love to know what you are reading!

Old Book Reviews:
1. Angel and Apostle by Deborah Noyes
2. Bear Portraits by Jill Greenberg
3. Chocolate: A Love Story by Max Brenner
4. Veracity by Laura Bynum

Still Waiting for a Review:
1. What Your Mother Never Told You: A Teenage Girls Survival Guide by Richard Dudum

Children's Books Read and Reviewed:
1. Z is for Zoom byLaura Purdie Salas

Current Audio Book:
1. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Read and Reviewed Last Week:
1. Knit, Purl, Die by Anne Canadeo
2. Hearing From God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer
3. Thicker than Blood by C.J. Darlington

Still Reading:
1. Samson's Walls by Jud Niremberg- Would like to finish this one, but I still seem to be able to find others I would rather be reading. . .
2. A Hope and a Future: Overcoming Discouragement by Don Wilton
3. The Swan Thieves: A Novel by Elizabeth Kostova
4. A Black Tie Affair by Sherrill Bodine
5. The Marriage Project: 21 Days to More Love and Laughter by Kathi Lipp

Still Waiting to be Started:
1. Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients by Dr. Jeff Hertzberg
2. The Sacred Cipher: A Novel by Terry Brennan
3. The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Kidnapped by Yxta Maya Murray
4. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
5. All About Us #6: The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth: An All About Us Novel by Shelly Adina

New Books for this Week:
1. Denise's Daily Dozen: The Easy, Every Day Program to Lose Up to 12 Pounds in 2 Weeks by Denise Austin
2. Tales for Delicious Girls by Barbara Knobova
3. A Highlander's Destiny (Daughters of the Glen, Book 5) by Melissa Mayhue

Ready - Set - Read!

Thicker than Blood by C.J. Darlington (Book Review)

Title: Thicker than Blood
Author: C.J. Darlington
Publisher: Tyndale Fiction

My synopsis: Christy Williams had left her family when she was just 18. Her family consisted of her 15 year old sister May and her Aunt Edna. Her parents were killed in an alcohol-related car accident coming home for her 18th birthday. For 15 years she tries to live her life, not liking that she has become an alcoholic like her parents, and not wanting her sister May to find out and be disappointed in her. For this reason, even though she lives just a couple of hours away, she does not let May know where she is.

For the last 4 years Christy has worked in a used bookstore at a job that she really loves. She has always had a kinship with books, not just reading them, but learning and enjoying their history. Hunter, her manager, has been taking her on buying trips and for the first time is letting her do the bidding. She is amazed that he trusts her enough for this important task. Unfortunately, her euphoria is short-lived.

Vince, also an employee of the book store and Christy's ex-boyfriend refuses to let her go. He knows about her drinking problem and also about some of the underhanded things she did for a rival bookstore when she first started working for Hunter. He is not against using all of that against her to try to win her back, even if it means getting her fired. When Christy's apartment is burned she hits rock bottom. With no job and no where to live, she heads for home and her sister May.

May has been co-owner of a cattle ranch for a few years. The last couple have been tough and her and her partner have missed some payments. The bank has called in the entire loan amount now and if they can't come up with the money they will lose their ranch. May cannot think of anything worse. For as long as she can remember she has wanted to live on and run a ranch. Normally she would turn to her Aunt Edna for words of wisdom, but her aunt has just passed away. She is trusting in God that he knows what is going to happen and that he has some plan in mind.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed reading this book. You know how some books just feel good in your hands - this was one of those books. It wasn't too heavy and the pages were smooth. Sometimes when reading a paperback I feel like I am breaking the spine to get the book open far enough to be able to read it. Does anyone else know what I am talking about?

Anyway, almost instantly I felt bonded with Christy. Not that I am an alcoholic, or that my parents were, or that I am estranged from my family, but just that I think we have all been on that hard road and felt like things were spirally out of our control - and that we just wanted to be around family, no matter how long it has been. I was cheering for her to really achieve something with her job and was booing Vince as soon as he came into the picture.

This book presents accepting Christ in a very down to earth way - and makes it relatable to all readers, no matter their walks of life or current faith. I did not feel it was preachy in any way, it just was there, take it or leave it and showed that sometimes (I would say most times) accepting Christ is not just a flip of a light switch. It isn't like you go to church one day and say - Yeah - this is what I need - OK - sign me up! It is more of a process of God working on softening your heart until you are ready to admit that you need Him. When you do, He will be there.

~I was provided this book for review by Title Trakk Blog Tours.~


About the Author:
C. J. began writing the story that would become Thicker than Blood (her first novel) when she was a fifteen-year-old homeschool student. She has been in the antiquarian bookselling business for over a decade, scouting for stores similar to the one described in the novel before cofounding her own online bookstore. Thicker than Blood was the winner of the 2008 Christian Writers Guild Operation First Novel.

C. J. co-founded the Christian entertainment Web site TitleTrakk.com with her sister, Tracy, and has been actively promoting Christian fiction through book reviews and author interviews. She makes her home in Pennsylvania with her family and their menagerie of dogs and cats. Visit her website www.cjdarlington.com for more info.

QUICK LINKS:

• The 1st chapter of Thicker than Blood
• The "Story Behind the Story" of Thicker than Blood
• More endorsements from Jenny B. Jones, James Scott Bell, Susan Meissner, and more!
• Our interview with C.J. at TitleTrakk.com
  
• Buy Thicker than Blood at Christianbook.com
• Buy Thicker than Blood at Amazon.com
• List of the other 85+ Thicker than Blood blog tour participants!

See my early post about this blog tour also.

Thicker than Blood
Publisher/Publication Date: Tyndale House Publishers, Dec 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4143-3448-6
400 pages

Mailbox Monday/In My Mailbox 1-25-2010

Mailbox Monday is hosted at The Printed Page or In Your Mailbox at The Story Siren on Sunday. Please stop by those posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week!

The first seven books are for review.
The Last Song
by Nicholas Sparks

Seventeen-year-old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside down when her parents divorced and her father moved to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains alienated from her parents, particularly her father. . .until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she and her brother spent the summer with him. Resentful and rebellious, Ronnie rejects her father's attempts to reach out to her and threatens to return to New York before the summer's end. But soon Ronnie meets Will, the last person she thought she'd ever be attracted to, and finds herself falling for him, opening herself up to the greatest happiness -- and pain -- that she has ever known.

In the tradition of his beloved novel A Walk to Remember, Nicholas Sparks brings us a deeply moving story of a young girl's first encounter with heartbreak -- and love. (back cover)


Then Came the Evening
by Brian Hart

Bandy Dorner, home from Vietnam, awakes with his car mired in a canal, his home reduced to ashes, and his pregnant wife preparing to leave town with her lover. Within moments, a cop lies bleeding on the road.

Nearly two decades later, Bandy is released from prison. His parents are gone, but on the derelict family ranch, Bandy faces a different reunion. Tracy, his now teenage son, has come to claim the father he's never known, and Iona, Bandy's ex-wife, has come on the heels of her son. All three are damaged, hardened, haunted. But amid the ice and rock of the raw Idaho landscape, they attempt to piece back together a family that never was, and to discover if they belong together at all.

With resolute honesty and restrained beauty, Brian Hart explores the hopes and limitations of his characters as they struggle toward a shared future, imbuing this deeply American story with the power of classic Greek tragedy. Then Came the Evening is the first novel of a remarkably accomplished writer -- a stunning debut.




The Long Way Home
by Andrew Klavan

Sometimes you have to go home to find out who you really are.

Charlie West went to bed one night an ordinary high school student. He woke up a hunted man. Terrorists are trying to kill him. The police want to arrest him for the stabbing death of his best friend. He doesn't know whose side he's on or who he can trust. With his pursuers closing in on every side, Charlie makes his way back to his hometown to find some answers. There, holed up in an abandoned mansion, he's joined by his friends in a desperate attempt to discover the truth about a murder he can't remember -- and the love he can never forget. (back cover)


The Highest Stakes
by Emery Lee

The breathtaking origins of thoroughbred horse racing.

A tale of drama, danger, thwarted love, and retribution set in the high stakes gentleman's world of 18th century horse racing, where fortunes could be won. . . and lost. . .

She's lonely and neglected, but she knows horses. . .

Charlotte Wallace is orphaned and alone until a sympathetic stable boy takes her under his wing and teaches her everything about thoroughbred racing. In the process, the two discover in each other a love destined to be thwarted at every turn.

If only he could, he'd take her away with him forever. . .

Robert Devington has tried everything to persuade Charlotte's uncle to allow them to marry. Then an ill-fated friendship, a scandal in the making and one desperate act of folly rob them of their love and his livelihood.

Dead set on retribution, all Robert's hopes are hanging on one small horse -- his only chance to reclaim his land, his dignity, and his love, against all odds. . . (back cover)




The Bride Collector
by Ted Dekker

FBI special agent Brad Raines is facing his most complex case yet. A Denver serial killer has murdered a string of beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each scene, and he's picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines appeals for help to a most unusual source; residents of the Center for Well-being and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill people who are extraordinarily gifted.

It's there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the final moments of a person's life when she touches the dead body.

In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists Paradise's help. Gradually he starts to question whether sanity resides outside the hospital walls. . .or inside.

As the serial killer picks up the pace -- and volume -- of his gruesome killings, the case becomes even more personal to Raines when his friend and colleague, a beautiful young forensic psychologist, becomes the Bride Collector's fourth target. And she isn't the last -- by far. (back cover)




Cole, I Love You to the Moon and Back
by Aaron Dean Ruotsala

Aaron Dean Ruotsala, 24-year-old husband, father, business owner, and pilot shares a true story about a heart-wrenching experience he calls the best and worst experience of a lifetime. This story will provoke you to laughter, tears, and cause you to examine yourself and your role as a human on this temporal journey. His prayer is that all who read this amazing story will learn from the experience in which they had no choice, to realize that when life brings you to the darkest, deepest, loneliest point imaginable, you will recognize what really matters in life. So, please laugh, cry, share, examine, and mostly enjoy this book that is certain to make you ask the question: "What if this happened to me?" The reality is that it could. (back cover)





Arcadia Falls
by Carol Goodman

From the bestselling author of The Lake of Dead Languages comes an enthralling work of literary fiction that follows a mother and daughter as they uncover the sinister secrets of an isolated boarding school.

In debt after her husband's unexpected death, Meg Rosenthal secures a job as a teacher at an upstate New York boarding school. Leaving suburban Long Island, Meg and her teenage daughter, Sally, embark on a new life in Arcadia Falls, a beautiful but isolated small town and the inspiration for a number of magically eerie fairy tales. With a hurtful rift growing between her and her daughter, Meg is hopeful that the change of scene will provide them with a fresh start. But it soon becomes clear to Meg that this isolated community hides deeply rooted and deadly secrets. And after a mysterious death, Arcadia Falls begins to reveal a disturbing dark side.

Returning to the rich psychological territory explored in the beloved The Lake of Dead Languages, Carol Goodman's latest fictional foray is exquisite and haunting. (back cover)



The next three books were all from my wish list at Paperback Swap!

Untamed
by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Life sucks when your friends are pissed at you.

Just ask Zoey Redbird -- she's become an expert on suckiness. In one week she has gone from having three boyfriends to having none, and from having a close group of friends who trusted and supported her to being an outcast. Speaking of friends, of the two Zoey has left, one is undead and one is unMarked. And Neferet has declared war on humans, which Zoey knows in her heart is wrong. But will anyone listen to her? Zoey's adventures at vampyre finishing school take a wild and dangerous turn as loyalties are tested, shocking true intentions come to light, and an ancient evil is awakened in P.C. and Kristin Cast's spellbinding fourth House of Night novel. (back cover)


Pretties
by Scott Westerfeld

Gorgeous. Popular. Perfect. Perfectly wrong.

Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted.

But beneath all the fun -- the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom -- is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.

Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life -- because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this information survive. (back cover)



Specials
by Scott Westerfeld

"Special Circumstances": The words have sent chills down Tally's spine since her days as a repellent, rebellious ugly. Back then Specials were a sinister rumor -- frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, breathtakingly fast. Ordinary pretties might live their whole lives without meeting a Special. But Tally's never been ordinary.

And now she's been turned into one of them: a superamped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.

The strength, the speed, and the clarity and focus of her thinking feel better than anything Tally can remember. Most of the time. One tiny corner of her heart still remembers something more.

Still, it's easy to tune that out -- until Tally's offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she's programmed to complete. Either way, Tally's world will never be the same. (inside cover)

I won this one awhile back from The Book Vault.

The Vampire's Assistant
by Darren Shan

This is a true story. I don't expect you to believe me -- I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't lived it -- but it is. Everything I describe in this book happened, just as I tell it.

Do you love to be scared? Then don't miss the terrifying adventure that begins when Darren and his best friend, Steve, get tickets to the Cirque Du Freak, a wonderfully bizarre and creepy freak show. Brace yourself for thrills and chills as the boys witness a parade of grotesque creatures and face their deepest fears by entering the darkest world of the vampire. In the blood-curdling tradition of Anne Rice and Stephen King, Cirque Du Freak will have you shrieking for the next horror show! (back cover)