Going on right now - over at Bitten by Books - is a great contest for a Kindle (I have decided it would be kind of cool to have one of these - not to replace books, but just to complement them.. .). They are talking about Louise Marley's latest book - Mozart's Blood - about a vampire opera singer! So head on over and get in on the fun!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Forget You by Jennifer Echols (Book Review)
Author: Jennifer Echols
Publisher: MTV Books
My synopsis: Zoey's family is falling apart - her dad has gotten a girl not much older than herself pregnant, her mom had a nervous breakdown and tried to kill herself, and there is a boy at school, Doug, who seems to always be making trouble for her.
Zoey is trying to handle all of this on her own and not cause any more problems. She ends up hooking up with a good friend, Brandon, and loses her virginity to him. Brandon is somewhat of a player, but Zoey doesn't think he would play her because they had been such good friends. Next thing you know, Zoey is in a car accident - but who was she with?
Zoey gets taken to the emergency room and is soon released, but she can't remember anything about the night before. She doesn't want to tell her dad because he is leaving for Hawaii with his girlfriend to get married. Her mom is in a facility for her nervous breakdown so she can't tell her either. She remembers making plans to go parking with Brandon, so operates under the assumption that that is what happened. She is a little confused as to why Doug pulled her out of the wrecked car, but just figures he was in the car that she hit. What really happened that night?
My thoughts: This book was good enough to keep me interested, but I wouldn't say it was one of the best YA books I have read this year. I wasn't sold on the fact that nobody figured out that she had lost her memory of that night. I can see her trying to hide it, but it took her an awful long time to get details out of anyone else. I would think the whole night would have been the gossip around school the next few days - but everyone seems pretty mum about it. I did like Doug's character - but I have always liked dark-haired bad boys! He was the only one who seemed to be honest and true to himself. Zoey seemed a little clueless, and while she was dealing with a lot of bad stuff, she seemed a little selfish (of course, I know teens tend to be egocentric - just felt she was a little much).
~I received a copy of this book from Pocket Books in exchange for my review.~
Forget You
Publisher/Publication Date: MTV Books, Jul 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4391-7823-2
292 pages
School Started!
I can't believe that today was the first day of school for my sophomore! Where did summer go? It is strange to think also that my oldest daughter won't be going to school for the first time in 13 years either! Well, we had to take a couple of pictures this morning so I had to share!
First Wild Card Tour: Solitary by Travis Thrasher
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:
David C. Cook; New edition (August 1, 2010)
***Special thanks to Audra Jennings Senior Media SpecialistThe B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Travis Thrasher is an author of diverse talents with more than twelve published novels including romance, suspense, adventure, and supernatural horror tales. At the core of each of his stories lie flawed characters in search of redemption. Thrasher weaves hope within all of his tales, and he loves surprising his readers with amazing plot twists and unexpected variety in his writing. Travis lives with his wife and daughter in a suburb of Chicago. Solitary is his first young adult novel.Visit the author's website.
Product Details:
List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (August 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1434764214
ISBN-13: 978-1434764218
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:
1 . Half a Person
She’s beautiful.
She stands behind two other girls, one a goth coated in black and the other a blonde with wild hair and an even wilder smile. She’s waiting, looking off the other way, but I’ve already memorized her face.
I’ve never seen such a gorgeous girl in my life.
“You really like them?”
The goth girl is the one talking; maybe she’s the leader of their pack. I’ve noticed them twice already today because of her, the one standing behind. The beautiful girl from my second-period English class, the one with the short skirt and long legs and endless brown hair, the one I can’t stop thinking about. She’s hard not to notice.
“Yeah, they’re one of my favorites,” I say.
We’re talking about my T-shirt. It’s my first day at this school, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think carefully about what I was going to wear. It’s about making a statement. I would have bet that 99 percent of the seven hundred kids at this high school wouldn’t know what Strangeways, Here We Come refers to.
Guess I found the other 1 percent.
I was killing time after lunch by wandering aimlessly when the threesome stopped me. Goth Girl didn’t even say hi; she just pointed at the murky photograph of a face on my shirt and asked where I got it. She made it sound like I stole it.
In a way, I did.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” Goth Girl asks. Hersparkling blue eyes are almost hidden by her dark eyeliner.
“Did the shirt give it away?”
“Nobody in this school listens to The Smiths.”
I can tell her that I stole the shirt, or in a sense borrowed it, butthen she’d ask me from where.
I don’t want to tell her I found it in a drawer in the house we’re staying at. A cabin that belongs to my uncle. A cabin that used to belong to my uncle when he was around.
“I just moved here from a suburb of Chicago.”
“What suburb?” the blonde asks.
“Libertyville. Ever hear of it?”
“No.”
I see the beauty shift her gaze around to see who’s watching. Which is surprising, because most attractive girls don’t have to do that. They know that they’re being watched.
This is different. Her glance is more suspicious. Or anxious.
“What’s your name?”
“Chris Buckley.”
“Good taste in music, Chris,” Goth Girl says. “I’m Poe. This is Rachel. And she’s Jocelyn.”
That’s right. Her name’s Jocelyn. I remember now from class.
“What else do you like?”
“I got a wide taste in music.”
“Do you like country?” Poe asks.
“No, not really.”
“Good. I can’t stand it. Nobody who wears a T-shirt like that would ever like country.”
“I like country,” Rachel says.
“Don’t admit it. So why’d you move here?”
“Parents got a divorce. My mom decided to move, and I came with her.”
“Did you have a choice?”
“Not really. But if I had I would’ve chosen to move with her.”
“Why here?”
“Some of our family lives in Solitary. Or used to. I have a couple relatives in the area.” I choose not to say anything about Uncle Robert. “My mother grew up around here.”
“That sucks,” Poe says.
“Solitary is a strange town,” Rachel says with a grin that doesn’t seem to ever go away. “Anybody tell you that?”
I shake my head.
“Joss lives here; we don’t,” Poe says. “I’m in Groveton; Rach lives on the border to South Carolina. Joss tries to hide out at our places because Solitary fits its name.”
Jocelyn looks like she’s late for something, her body language screaming that she wants to leave this conversation she’s not a part of. She still hasn’t acknowledged me.
“What year are you guys?”
“Juniors. I’m from New York—can’t you tell? Rachel is from Colorado, and Jocelyn grew up here, though she wants to get out as soon as she can. You can join our club if you like.”
Part of me wonders if I’d have to wear eyeliner and lipstick.
“Club?”
“The misfits. The outcasts. Whatever you want to call it.”
“Not sure if I want to join that.”
“You think you fit in?”
“No,” I say.
“Good. We’ll take you. You fit with us. Plus … you’re cute.”
Poe and her friends walk away.
Jocelyn finally glances at me and smiles the saddest smile I’ve ever seen.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified.
I might look cool and nonchalant and act cool and nonchalant, but inside I’m quaking.
I spent the first sixteen years of my life around the same people, going to the same school, living in the same town with the same two parents.
Now everything is different.
The students who pass me are nameless, faceless, expressionless. We are part of a herd that jumps to life like Pavlov’s dog at the sound of the bell, which really is a low drone that sounds like it comes from some really bad sci-fi movie. It’s hard to keep the cool and nonchalant thing going while staring in confusion at my school map. I probably look pathetic.
I dig out the computer printout of my class list and look at it again. I swear there’s not a room called C305.
I must be looking pathetic, because she comes up to me and asks if I’m lost.
Jocelyn can actually talk.
“Yeah, kinda.”
“Where are you going?”
“Some room—C305. Does that even exist?”
“Of course it does. I’m actually heading there right now.” There’s an attitude in her voice, as if she’s ready for a fight even if one’s not coming.
“History?”
She nods.
“Second class together,” I say, which elicits a polite and slightly annoyed smile.
She explains to me how the rooms are organized, with C stuck between A and B for some crazy reason. But I don’t really hear the words she’s saying. I look at her and wonder if she can see me blushing. Other kids are staring at me now for the first time today. They look at Jocelyn and look at me—curious, critical, cutting. I wonder if I’m imagining it.
After a minute of this, I stare off a kid who looks like I threw manure in his face.
“Not the friendliest bunch of people, are they?” I ask.
“People here don’t like outsiders.”
“They didn’t even notice me until now.”
She nods and looks away, as if this is her fault. Her hair, so thick and straight, shimmers all the way past her shoulders. I could stare at her all day long.
“Glad you’re in some of my classes.”
“I’m sure you are,” she says.
We reach the room.
“Well, thanks.”
“No problem.”
She says it the way an upperclassmen might answer a freshman. Or an older sister, her bratty brother. I want to say something witty, but nothing comes to mind.
I’m sure I’m not the first guy she’s left speechless.
Every class I’m introduced to seems more and more unimpressed.
“This is Christopher Buckley from Chicago, Illinois,” the teachers say, in case anybody doesn’t know where Chicago is.
In case anybody wonders who the new breathing slab of human is, stuck in the middle of the room.
A redheaded girl with a giant nose stares at me, then glances at my shirt as if I have food smeared all over it. She rolls her eyes and then looks away.
Glancing down at my shirt makes me think of a song by The Smiths, “Half a Person.”
That’s how I feel.
I’ve never been the most popular kid in school. I’m a soccer player in a football world. My parents never had an abundance of money. I’m not overly good looking or overly smart or overly anything, to be honest. Just decent looking and decent at sports and decent at school. But decent doesn’t get you far. Most of the time you need to be the best at one thing and stick to it.
I think about this as I notice more unfamiliar faces. A kid who looks like he hasn’t bathed for a week. An oily-faced girl who looks miserable. A guy with tattoos who isn’t even pretending to listen.
I never really fit in back in Libertyville, so how in the world am I going to fit in here?
Two more years of high school.
I don’t want to think about it.
As the teacher drones on about American history and I reflect on my own history, my eyes find her.
I see her glancing my way.
For a long moment, neither of us look away.
For that long moment, it’s just the two of us in the room.
Her glance is strong and tough. It’s almost as if she’s telling me to remain the same, as if she’s saying, Don’t let them get you down.
Suddenly, I have this amazingly crazy thought: I’m glad I’m here.
I have to fight to get out of the room to catch up to Jocelyn.
I’ve had forty minutes to think of exactly what I want to say, but by the time I catch up to her, all that comes out is “hey.”
She nods.
Those eyes cripple me. I’m not trying to sound cheesy—they do. They bind my tongue.
For an awkward sixty seconds, the longest minute of my sixteen years, I walk the hallway beside her. We reach the girls’ room, and she opens the door and goes inside. I stand there for a second, wondering
if I should wait for her, then feeling stupid and ridiculous, wondering why I’m turning into a head of lettuce around a stranger I just met.
But I know exactly why.
As I head down the hallway, toward some other room with some other teacher unveiling some other plan to educate us, I feel someone grab my arm.
“You don’t want to mess with that.”
I wonder if I heard him right. Did he say that or her?
I turn and see a short kid with messy brown hair and a pimply face. I gotta be honest—it’s been a while since I’d seen a kid with this many pimples. Doctors have things you can do for that. The word pus comes to mind.
“Mess with what?”
“Jocelyn. If I were you, I wouldn’t entertain such thoughts.”
Who is this kid, and what’s he talking about?
And what teenager says, “I wouldn’t entertain such thoughts”?
“What thoughts would those be?”
“Don’t be a wise guy.”
Pimple Boy sounds like the wise guy, with a weaselly voice that seems like it’s going to deliver a punch line any second.
“What are you talking about?”
“Look, I’m just warning you. I’ve seen it happen before. I’m nobody, okay, and nobodies can get away with some things. And you look like a decent guy, so I’m just telling you.”
“Telling me what?”
“Not to take a fancy with the lady.”
Did he just say that in an accent that sounded British, or is it my imagination?
“I was just walking with her down the hallway.”
“Yeah. Okay. Then I’ll see you later.”
“Wait. Hold on,” I say. “Is she taken or something?”
“Yeah. She’s spoken for. And has been for sometime.”
Pimple Boy says this the way he might tell me that my mother is dying.
It’s bizarre.
And a bit spooky.
I realize that Harrington County High in Solitary, North Carolina, is a long way away from Libertyville.
I think about what the odd kid just told me.
This is probably bad.
Because one thing in my life has been a constant. You can ask my mother or father, and they’d agree.
I don’t like being told what to do.
She’s beautiful.
She stands behind two other girls, one a goth coated in black and the other a blonde with wild hair and an even wilder smile. She’s waiting, looking off the other way, but I’ve already memorized her face.
I’ve never seen such a gorgeous girl in my life.
“You really like them?”
The goth girl is the one talking; maybe she’s the leader of their pack. I’ve noticed them twice already today because of her, the one standing behind. The beautiful girl from my second-period English class, the one with the short skirt and long legs and endless brown hair, the one I can’t stop thinking about. She’s hard not to notice.
“Yeah, they’re one of my favorites,” I say.
We’re talking about my T-shirt. It’s my first day at this school, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think carefully about what I was going to wear. It’s about making a statement. I would have bet that 99 percent of the seven hundred kids at this high school wouldn’t know what Strangeways, Here We Come refers to.
Guess I found the other 1 percent.
I was killing time after lunch by wandering aimlessly when the threesome stopped me. Goth Girl didn’t even say hi; she just pointed at the murky photograph of a face on my shirt and asked where I got it. She made it sound like I stole it.
In a way, I did.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” Goth Girl asks. Hersparkling blue eyes are almost hidden by her dark eyeliner.
“Did the shirt give it away?”
“Nobody in this school listens to The Smiths.”
I can tell her that I stole the shirt, or in a sense borrowed it, butthen she’d ask me from where.
I don’t want to tell her I found it in a drawer in the house we’re staying at. A cabin that belongs to my uncle. A cabin that used to belong to my uncle when he was around.
“I just moved here from a suburb of Chicago.”
“What suburb?” the blonde asks.
“Libertyville. Ever hear of it?”
“No.”
I see the beauty shift her gaze around to see who’s watching. Which is surprising, because most attractive girls don’t have to do that. They know that they’re being watched.
This is different. Her glance is more suspicious. Or anxious.
“What’s your name?”
“Chris Buckley.”
“Good taste in music, Chris,” Goth Girl says. “I’m Poe. This is Rachel. And she’s Jocelyn.”
That’s right. Her name’s Jocelyn. I remember now from class.
“What else do you like?”
“I got a wide taste in music.”
“Do you like country?” Poe asks.
“No, not really.”
“Good. I can’t stand it. Nobody who wears a T-shirt like that would ever like country.”
“I like country,” Rachel says.
“Don’t admit it. So why’d you move here?”
“Parents got a divorce. My mom decided to move, and I came with her.”
“Did you have a choice?”
“Not really. But if I had I would’ve chosen to move with her.”
“Why here?”
“Some of our family lives in Solitary. Or used to. I have a couple relatives in the area.” I choose not to say anything about Uncle Robert. “My mother grew up around here.”
“That sucks,” Poe says.
“Solitary is a strange town,” Rachel says with a grin that doesn’t seem to ever go away. “Anybody tell you that?”
I shake my head.
“Joss lives here; we don’t,” Poe says. “I’m in Groveton; Rach lives on the border to South Carolina. Joss tries to hide out at our places because Solitary fits its name.”
Jocelyn looks like she’s late for something, her body language screaming that she wants to leave this conversation she’s not a part of. She still hasn’t acknowledged me.
“What year are you guys?”
“Juniors. I’m from New York—can’t you tell? Rachel is from Colorado, and Jocelyn grew up here, though she wants to get out as soon as she can. You can join our club if you like.”
Part of me wonders if I’d have to wear eyeliner and lipstick.
“Club?”
“The misfits. The outcasts. Whatever you want to call it.”
“Not sure if I want to join that.”
“You think you fit in?”
“No,” I say.
“Good. We’ll take you. You fit with us. Plus … you’re cute.”
Poe and her friends walk away.
Jocelyn finally glances at me and smiles the saddest smile I’ve ever seen.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified.
I might look cool and nonchalant and act cool and nonchalant, but inside I’m quaking.
I spent the first sixteen years of my life around the same people, going to the same school, living in the same town with the same two parents.
Now everything is different.
The students who pass me are nameless, faceless, expressionless. We are part of a herd that jumps to life like Pavlov’s dog at the sound of the bell, which really is a low drone that sounds like it comes from some really bad sci-fi movie. It’s hard to keep the cool and nonchalant thing going while staring in confusion at my school map. I probably look pathetic.
I dig out the computer printout of my class list and look at it again. I swear there’s not a room called C305.
I must be looking pathetic, because she comes up to me and asks if I’m lost.
Jocelyn can actually talk.
“Yeah, kinda.”
“Where are you going?”
“Some room—C305. Does that even exist?”
“Of course it does. I’m actually heading there right now.” There’s an attitude in her voice, as if she’s ready for a fight even if one’s not coming.
“History?”
She nods.
“Second class together,” I say, which elicits a polite and slightly annoyed smile.
She explains to me how the rooms are organized, with C stuck between A and B for some crazy reason. But I don’t really hear the words she’s saying. I look at her and wonder if she can see me blushing. Other kids are staring at me now for the first time today. They look at Jocelyn and look at me—curious, critical, cutting. I wonder if I’m imagining it.
After a minute of this, I stare off a kid who looks like I threw manure in his face.
“Not the friendliest bunch of people, are they?” I ask.
“People here don’t like outsiders.”
“They didn’t even notice me until now.”
She nods and looks away, as if this is her fault. Her hair, so thick and straight, shimmers all the way past her shoulders. I could stare at her all day long.
“Glad you’re in some of my classes.”
“I’m sure you are,” she says.
We reach the room.
“Well, thanks.”
“No problem.”
She says it the way an upperclassmen might answer a freshman. Or an older sister, her bratty brother. I want to say something witty, but nothing comes to mind.
I’m sure I’m not the first guy she’s left speechless.
Every class I’m introduced to seems more and more unimpressed.
“This is Christopher Buckley from Chicago, Illinois,” the teachers say, in case anybody doesn’t know where Chicago is.
In case anybody wonders who the new breathing slab of human is, stuck in the middle of the room.
A redheaded girl with a giant nose stares at me, then glances at my shirt as if I have food smeared all over it. She rolls her eyes and then looks away.
Glancing down at my shirt makes me think of a song by The Smiths, “Half a Person.”
That’s how I feel.
I’ve never been the most popular kid in school. I’m a soccer player in a football world. My parents never had an abundance of money. I’m not overly good looking or overly smart or overly anything, to be honest. Just decent looking and decent at sports and decent at school. But decent doesn’t get you far. Most of the time you need to be the best at one thing and stick to it.
I think about this as I notice more unfamiliar faces. A kid who looks like he hasn’t bathed for a week. An oily-faced girl who looks miserable. A guy with tattoos who isn’t even pretending to listen.
I never really fit in back in Libertyville, so how in the world am I going to fit in here?
Two more years of high school.
I don’t want to think about it.
As the teacher drones on about American history and I reflect on my own history, my eyes find her.
I see her glancing my way.
For a long moment, neither of us look away.
For that long moment, it’s just the two of us in the room.
Her glance is strong and tough. It’s almost as if she’s telling me to remain the same, as if she’s saying, Don’t let them get you down.
Suddenly, I have this amazingly crazy thought: I’m glad I’m here.
I have to fight to get out of the room to catch up to Jocelyn.
I’ve had forty minutes to think of exactly what I want to say, but by the time I catch up to her, all that comes out is “hey.”
She nods.
Those eyes cripple me. I’m not trying to sound cheesy—they do. They bind my tongue.
For an awkward sixty seconds, the longest minute of my sixteen years, I walk the hallway beside her. We reach the girls’ room, and she opens the door and goes inside. I stand there for a second, wondering
if I should wait for her, then feeling stupid and ridiculous, wondering why I’m turning into a head of lettuce around a stranger I just met.
But I know exactly why.
As I head down the hallway, toward some other room with some other teacher unveiling some other plan to educate us, I feel someone grab my arm.
“You don’t want to mess with that.”
I wonder if I heard him right. Did he say that or her?
I turn and see a short kid with messy brown hair and a pimply face. I gotta be honest—it’s been a while since I’d seen a kid with this many pimples. Doctors have things you can do for that. The word pus comes to mind.
“Mess with what?”
“Jocelyn. If I were you, I wouldn’t entertain such thoughts.”
Who is this kid, and what’s he talking about?
And what teenager says, “I wouldn’t entertain such thoughts”?
“What thoughts would those be?”
“Don’t be a wise guy.”
Pimple Boy sounds like the wise guy, with a weaselly voice that seems like it’s going to deliver a punch line any second.
“What are you talking about?”
“Look, I’m just warning you. I’ve seen it happen before. I’m nobody, okay, and nobodies can get away with some things. And you look like a decent guy, so I’m just telling you.”
“Telling me what?”
“Not to take a fancy with the lady.”
Did he just say that in an accent that sounded British, or is it my imagination?
“I was just walking with her down the hallway.”
“Yeah. Okay. Then I’ll see you later.”
“Wait. Hold on,” I say. “Is she taken or something?”
“Yeah. She’s spoken for. And has been for sometime.”
Pimple Boy says this the way he might tell me that my mother is dying.
It’s bizarre.
And a bit spooky.
I realize that Harrington County High in Solitary, North Carolina, is a long way away from Libertyville.
I think about what the odd kid just told me.
This is probably bad.
Because one thing in my life has been a constant. You can ask my mother or father, and they’d agree.
I don’t like being told what to do.
Maid of Murder by Amanda Flower (Book Reviews)
Title: Maid of Murder (An India Hayes Mystery)Author: Amanda Flower
Publisher: Five Star
Synopsis (from back cover): India Hayes is a lot of things. . . starving artist who pays the rent as a college librarian, daughter of liberal activists, sister of an emotional mathematician, tenant of a landlady who has kissed the Blarney Stone one too many times, and a bridesmaid six times over. But she's about to step into the most challenging role of her life: amateur sleuth.
Childhood friend and now knockout beauty, Olivia Blocken is back in town to wed her bodybuilder fiance with India a reluctant attendant. . . not just because the bridesmaid's dress is a hideous mess, but because she's betraying her brother. Mark still carries a torch for the bride who once broke his heart and sent his life into a tailspin.
When Olivia turns up dead in the Martin College fountain and the evidence points to Mark, India must unmask the real culprit while juggling a furious and grieving Mother of the Bride, an annoyingly beautiful Maid of Honor, a set of hippie-generation parents, the police detective who once dated her sister and is showing a marked liking for her, and a provost itching to fire someone, anyone -- maybe even a smart-mouthed librarian.
India's investigation leads her on a journey through childhood memories that she'd much rather have left in the schoolyard, but to avoid becoming the next victim, it is a path she must follow.
Maid of Murder is a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud mystery set in an amusing world of academia. Readers will fall in love with India Hayes' fierce loyalty and wit.
My thoughts: I thought this debut novel was a lot of fun. I love that the amateur sleuth is a librarian. I worked in a library in high school and would love to be a librarian. There is just something trustworthy and loyal about someone who loves books. Anyway - India's family, inspite of all their eccentricities, really care for each other and and India really goes all out to prove that Mark is innocent. But don't think just because it is a cozy mystery that you will figure it out quickly. It kept me guessing. I look forward to reading more India Hayes mysteries!
About the author: Author Amanda Flower, a native of Akron Ohio, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Like her main character India Hayes, Amanda is an academic librarian for a small college near Cleveland. When she is not at the library or writing her next mystery, she is an avid traveler who has been to seventeen countries, forty-eight U.S. states, and counting. Maid of Murder is her debut novel and the first in a series featuring amateur sleuth India Hayes. Amanda is also currently seeking a publisher for her middle-grade children’s mystery, The Mystery of the First Andora. She lives and writes near Akron.
You can find Amanda at her website, Amanda Flower, or on Facebook.
You can find Amanda at her website, Amanda Flower, or on Facebook.
~I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review.~
Publisher/Publication Date: Five Star, June 16, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59414-864-4
282 pages
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Final Touch by Brandilyn Collins and Amberly Collins (Book Review)
Authors: Brandilyn Collins and Amberly Collins
Publisher: Zondervan
My synopsis: Shaley's dad, Gary, had just recently come into her life and back into her mother, Rayne's, life. They had fallen in love all over again and were set to be married. On their wedding day, at a mansion surrounded with security, Shaley is kidnapped.
The kidnapper seems to be able to stay one step ahead of the police and FBI. He has told Shaley that he is a preacher and has chosen Shaley for his wife. He is taking her to the home of his new church in Montana. He claims that all his actions are for God and he is going to teach Shaley the true meaning of religion.
Shaley, however, has her own personal relationship with God and her mom and dad both recently committed their lives to God also. Shaley prays that someone will be able to find her even as both her parents and Rayne's band pray for her safe return. Will it be enough to bring Shaley home?
My thoughts: I enjoyed reading this YA trilogy. Even though Shaley doesn't live the life of a typical teenager, I like the way that it shows her turning to God in all situations. With an imperfect family, and being raised by a rock-n-roll single mom, Shaley still manages to keep God the center of her life. Something that is hard enough to do as a "normal" teenager. Nice trilogy for tween/teen readers.
You can read the first chapter of Always Watching, Last Breath and Final Touch, the three books in the Rayne series.
***Special thanks to Krista Ocier of Zondervan for sending me a review copy.***
Final Touch
Publisher/Publication Date: Zondervan, May 2010
ISBN: 978-0-310-71933-5
210 pages
Sunday, August 15, 2010
It's Monday! What are you reading? (Aug 16, 2010)
What are you reading on Mondays is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey - You can hook up with the Mr. Linky there with your own post - but be sure and let me know what you are reading too!
Well, due to a migraine I missed last weeks It's Monday post. It threw a curve ball into my entire week and don't feel like I got much reading done at all! Definitely am behind on some reviews! (Though I did manage to get some new giveaways up!) I am way behind on my reading and hope to catch up with that soon also!
Currently Reading:
Maid of Murder 
by Amanda Flower - Cozy mystery that is good so far.
by Amanda Flower - Cozy mystery that is good so far.The Hanging Tree
by Bryan Gruley - haven't read any in this for awhile, but hope to get back to it soon!
by Bryan Gruley - haven't read any in this for awhile, but hope to get back to it soon!I Love this Bar 
by Carolyn Brown - missing book that my mom found in her suitcase!
by Carolyn Brown - missing book that my mom found in her suitcase!The Little Giant of Aberdeen County 
by Tiffany Baker - Good book, but it is going to be shelved for awhile until I get caught up.
by Tiffany Baker - Good book, but it is going to be shelved for awhile until I get caught up.Roseflower Creek 
by Jackie Lee Miles - promising start - Hope to get back to it soon!
by Jackie Lee Miles - promising start - Hope to get back to it soon!Lowcountry Summer
by Dorothea Benton Frank - I am going to put this one away for awhile as it just isn't jiving with me right now.
by Dorothea Benton Frank - I am going to put this one away for awhile as it just isn't jiving with me right now.Bathroom Book:
Holly's Inbox: Scandal in the City 
by Holly Denham - another book written entirely in emails. Very funny!
by Holly Denham - another book written entirely in emails. Very funny!Audio Book:
The Scarecrow 
by Michael Connelly - Figure I am not going to have time for any audio books again until school starts!
by Michael Connelly - Figure I am not going to have time for any audio books again until school starts! New this week:
Books Reviewed Last (2) Week:
Waiting to Be Reviewed:
Final Touch by Brandilyn Collins and Amberly Collins - Thought I had reviewed this! But discovered I started the post and never finished it!
by Brandilyn Collins and Amberly Collins - Thought I had reviewed this! But discovered I started the post and never finished it!Masked 
by Lou Anders
by Lou AndersReady - Set - Read!
The Mailbox by Marybeth Whalen (Book Review)
Author: Marybeth Whalen
Publisher: David C. Cook
My synopsis: Lindsey and Campbell shared a summer romance when she was 15 and he was 16. She was staying with her aunt and uncle at Sunset Beach, North Carolina where he lived. They were quickly inseparable and swore that they would love each other forever. That they would make the long distance thing work. Before they parted for the year, Campbell took her to the beach and shared with her the Mailbox and the Kindred Spirit. Nobody knew who put the mailbox on the beach, or who collected the letters and notes that were left there. Lindsey quickly took out a notebook and began her first letter to the Kindred Spirit. She filled it with all her feelings about Campbell and how she had resented her mom for making her come to the beach to begin with - but how she felt so different now and didn't want to leave.
The next summer was the same, except that there was another girl, Ellie, that Lindsey tried to warn Campbell about. She told him that Ellie was after him, but Campbell did not believe her. Before she went home for the year, she again went to the mailbox to tell the Kindred Spirit all her thoughts and feelings about the last year and the summer. Except this time when she went home, Campbell's letters stopped coming so frequently and he called even less. He was feeling guilty because he had gotten drunk one night and had ended up sleeping with Ellie. Then he finds out that she is pregnant and chooses to "do the right thing" and marry her. He can't stand the thought of telling Lindsey and breaking her heart, so he writes her a letter instead.
Lindsey continues to come to Sunset Beach every summer, first with her best friend Holly - mainly as comfort in case she runs into Campbell. Holly has been her rock and always lets Lindsey know that she is praying for her and that God could be a comfort to her also. It isn't until college that she meets a boy who made her feel anything like Campbell did. Her and Grant marry after college and still come to Sunset Beach every summer. Every year she makes a trek to the Mailbox to leave the Kindred Spirit a letter. Even though her and Campbell's lives have taken different paths, she usually reminisces about him in her letters.
Now, Grant and Lindsey have divorced and Lindsey is coming to Sunset Beach with just her children. She is hoping to be able to finally close the door on her marriage. Unbeknownst to her, Campbell and Ellie had divorced many years before. He is still living in Sunset Beach and is working on a relationship with his daughter Nikki. Both of them have come to have a personal relationship with God, but neither believe that they are worthy of any kind of second chance in their lives. Campbell and Lindsey soon run into each other and decide to go out on a date. Everything seems as perfect as it did when they were teenagers. But before they get in too deep, Grant reappears and tells Lindsey he was wrong and wants her back. As Lindsey prays for some clarity as to which path she should take, will she be able to convince herself that she is worthy of a second chance with either of them?
My thoughts: I loved this book. Who doesn't remember at least one summer romance? (Mine was when I was 13 and was over much quicker than Lindsey's!) I like the way that we learn about Lindsey's and Campbell's lives in flashbacks and also what we learn through Lindsey's letters to the Kindred Spirit. Each chapter started off by telling you what year you were in, and were that was confusing to me at first, I quickly fell into the rhythm of the story. Being divorced myself, I could relate to all the feelings that Lindsey had as to what she should do for her children - Was she being unfair by robbing them of the chance to have a real family with their father. I believe that this is her first fiction book, though she does have some non-fiction under her belt. I look forward to reading another one by this author!
~I received a complimentary copy of this book from TBB Media in exchange for my unbiased review.~
About the author: Marybeth Whalen speaks regularly through her association with Proverbs 31 Ministries, and she served as the general editor of For the Write Reason and The Reason We Speak. She and her husband, Curt, have six childrenand are active in their community near Charlotte, North Carolina. She has been visiting the Kindred Spirit mailbox for years.
The Mailbox
Publisher/Publication Date: David C. Cook, June 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7814-0369-6
303 pages
Mailbox Madness (Aug 9 - 15)
In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren. Mailbox Monday's host for August is Chick Loves Lit. Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week!
by Maureen Lang
BELGIUM, 1916
The German Imperial Army may have conquered Belgium on its march through Europe, but it can't crush their spirit. An underground newspaper surfaces to keep patriotism alive and bring hope and real news of the war to the occupied country. It may be a whisper among the shouts of the German army, but it's a thorn in their side nonetheless, and Edward Kirkland will do anything to keep it in print -- even risk his life.
Isa Lassone's family fled Europe at the first rumblings of war. Now, two years later, she sneaks back across enemy lines, determined to rescue Edward -- the man she has loved from afar since she was a child.
But will he ever see her as more than the wealthy, silly girl his mother once cared for as a daughter?
When Edward refuses to leave, so does Isa, and soon she is drawn into his dangerous double life. As the Germans close in, Edward realizes he's put more at risk than he'd planned. . . especially the beautiful, smart, yet obstinate young woman who has inconveniently managed to work her way into his life -- and his heart.
by Glenn Plaskin
A personal memoir by bestselling author and celebrity journalist Glenn Plaskin, KATIE is a moving story about a man who discovers the true meaning of family after adopting a cocker spaniel puppy. Through the magnetic personality of his mischievous dog, the author soon makes emotional connections with several of his down-the-hall neighbors in a high-rise located in the unique Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. First, Katie trots into the lives of Pearl and Arthur, a warmhearted elderly couple just a few doors down from Glenn. Later, John, a single dad, and his rambunctious young son, Ryan, move in and are seduced by Katie's charms.
All their lives profoundly change as they are transformed from neighbors to friends to family, with Pearl as matriarch. The motherless boy finds a "Granny," his dad inherits a mother, Glenn discovers a confidante. Set in New York City, we witness nearly sixteen years of antics and family adventures spanning Hollywood high times, bad health, accidents, blustery winters, even the terrors of 9/11. Through it all, the family clings to one another, sharing a deep bond that gives each comfort, support, and security.
Based on a widely read article in Family Circle, here is an unforgettable story about the love that makes a family -- one that transcends the hard realities of time, tragedy, and inevitable loss.
by Rosemary Harris
Welcome back to Springfield, Connecticut, where weary suburbanites can rest in peace. . .
New York media exec-turned-gardener Paula Holliday is thrilled when her friend Lucy asks her to tag along on an all-expenses-paid junket to the Titans Hotel. On display is the rare titan arum, a notoriously pungent plant known as the "corpse flower." Unfortunately, the flower isn't blooming -- and the only thing Paula smells is a real corpse.
Lucy's would-be suitor has been found dead -- with a hole in his head -- and Lucy has mysteriously disappeared. Now Paula has to start digging up clues before the police's worst suspicions take root. Even if the odious flower finally blooms, Paula has more important things to tend to. Because murder, by any other name, really stinks. . .
by Kathy Charles
IN THE END WE ALL FADE TO BLACK.
Pink-haired Hilda and oddball loner Benji are not your typical teenagers. Instead of going to parttes or hanging out at the mall, they comb the city streets and suburban culs-de-sac of Los Angeles for sites of celebrity murder and suicide. Bound by their interest in the macabre, Hilda and Benji neglect their schoolwork and their social lives in favor of prowling the most notorious crime scenes in Hollywood history and collecting odd mementos of celebrity death.
Hilda and Benji's morbid pastime takes an unexpected turn when they meet Hank, the elderly, reclusive tenant of a dilapidated Echo Park apartment where a silent movie star once stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors. Hilda feels a strange connection with Hank and comes to care deeply for her paranoid new friend as they watch old movies together and chat the sweltering afternoons away. But when Hank's downstairs neighbor Jake, a handsome screenwriter, inserts himself into the equation and begins to hint at Hank's terrible secrets, Hilda must decide what it is she's come to Echo Park searching for. . . and whether her fascination with death is worth missing out on life.
by Matt Hilton
After barely escaping with his life while trying to save his half brother from a deranged killer, former-military-operative-turned-problem-solver Joe Hunter has a new life -- and hopefully a quieter one -- in Florida. But he's soon approached by a man who wants Hunter to bring his daughter, Marianne, home. He claims that her boyfriend, millionaire Bradley Jorgenson, is a twisted, abusive man, and he hints that Hunter should use whatever force is necessary to rescue the girl. The problem is, when Hunter finds the couple, Marianne appears happy, and Hunter can find no signs that Jorgenson has hurt her.
Things get even more complicated when a crafty contract killer by the name of Dantalion shows up at Jorgenson's exclusive island residence with his sights set on Jorgenson and Marianne. Dantalion has an agenda of his own, and nobody is going to stand in his way. Not even Joe Hunter.
When Hunter steps in and saves the couple, what started as a simple mater of snatch-and-grab turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that sets the hunter and the hunted on a grueling chase deep within the Florida swamplands.
In this pulse-pounding follow-up to Dead Men's Dust, the smashing debut that introduced Joe Hunter, Matt Hilton delivers an explosive white-knuckled thrill ride that will have readers gasping for breath all the way to the electrifying conclusion.
by Emma Campion
History has not been kind to Alice Perrers, the notorious mistress of King Edward III. Scholars and contemporaries alike have deemed her a manipulative woman who used her great beauty and sensuality to take advantage of an aging and increasingly senile king. But who is the woman behind the scandal? A coldhearted opportunist or someone who was fighting for her very survival?
Like most girls of her era Alice is taught obedience in all things. At the age of fourteen, she marries the man her father chooses for her, dutifully accepting the cost of being torn from the family she holds so dear and losing the love of her mother forever. Despite these heartbreaks Alice finds that merchant Janyn Perrers is a good and loving husband and the two settle into a happy life together. Their bliss is short-lived, however, unraveled the dark day a messenger appears at Alice's door and notifies her of Janyn's sudden disappearance.
In the wake of this tragedy, Alice learns that her husband kept many dangerous secrets -- secrets that have resulted in a price on her head and that of her beloved daughter. Her only chance to survive lies in the protection of King Edward and Queen Philippa, but she therefore must live at court as a virtual prisoner. When she is singled out by the king for more than just royal patronage, the stakes are raised.
Emma Campion paints a colorful and thrilling portrait of the court of Edward III -- with all of its extravagance, scandalous love affairs, political machinations, and murder -- and the devastating results of being singled out by the royal family. At the center of the storm is Alice, surviving by her wits in this dangerous world where the choices are not always of her own making. Emma Campion's dazzling novel shows that ther is always another side to the story.
by Kelly Gay
It takes a strong woman to keep the peace in a city of endless night. . .
Deep beneath Underground, a cunning bid for power and revenge has begun -- one that threatens to make Atlanta the new battleground in the ultimate confrontation between good and evil. The powers of hellish Charbydon have the upper hand after plunging the city into primordial night. And under the cover of darkness, a serial killer targets the most powerful Elysians in the city, the angelic Adonai. For Detective Charlie Madigan and her siren partner Hank, tracking deadly predators is all in a day's work -- but this case will test the limits of their strength and friendship as it draws them into a deadly world of power plays, ancient myths, explosive secrets, and a race against time that risks all that Charlie holds dear.
by Mary Beth Chapman
From the beginning, Mary Beth Chapman's life was not how she planned. All she wanted was a calm, peaceful life of stability and control. Instead, God gave her an award-winning singer/songwriter husband, crazy schedules, and a houseful of creatively rambunctious children. And then, she experienced the tragedy she never could have imagined.
In Choosing to See, Mary Beth unveils her struggle to allow God to write the story of her life, both the happy chapters and the tragic ones. And as the story unfolds, she's been forced to wrestle with some of life's biggest questions: Where is God when things fall apart? Why does God allow terrible things to happen? How can I survive hard times?
No matter where you find yourself in your own life story, you will treasure the way Mary Beth shows that even in the hard times, there is hope if you choose to SEE.
by Faye Kellerman
Fifteen years ago, high school senior Chris Whitman went to jail for murdering his girlfriend, Cheryl Diggs. Propelled by a misquided sense of chivalry, he confessed, determined to save another classmate, the beautiful and vulnerable Terry McLaughlin, from having to testify at his trial. When the truth came out, Chris was released from prison, married Terry -- pregnant with his child -- and changed his last name to Donatti. He also became a professional killer.
Peter Decker was the detective on the case, and over the years, he and Terry kept in touch. Now his friend is in L.A. and asking for a favor. Though Decker knows full well that getting involved will bring Terry's sociopathic husband back into his life, the obsessive and duty-bound LAPD lieutenant reluctantly agrees. The favor soon becomes complicated when Terry goes missing and Donatti disappears, leaving their fourteen-year-old son Gabe, with no one to turn to except Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus.
But Peter's search for Terry must share center stage with a gruesome murder. Adrianna Blanc, a neonatal nurse at St. Timothy's Hospital, had signed off her night shift at eight A.M. Six hours later, a foreman supervising the construction of a house in a nearby suburb discovered her body swinging from the rafters, a cable wire around her neck. Her car was found where she had parked it the night before, with no signs of foul play.
A dedicated and conscientious professional, Adrianna had a circle of close friends. yet as Decker and his able team soon learn, the young woman also had her share of detractors. A party-hearty girl, she enjoyed booze, kinky sex, and revenge-cheating on her boyfriend, Garth Hammerling, another nurse at St. Tim's. Suspicions heat up when Decker and his team find that one of Adrianna's last phone calls was a provocative and disturbing message to her vacationing boyfriend -- who himself has vanished without a trace. Was Adrianna's death something personal because of her carefree lifestyle? Or was this unusually cruel and very dramatic murder the first signs of a serial killer? With lives hanging in the balance, Decker and his colleagues, Sergeant Marge Dunn and Detective Scott Oliver, need to find answers and fast.
As if juggling two investigations weren't enough for the lieutenant (not to mention turning sixty!), things are becoming even more dangerous with his precarious home life. Ever the concerned parent, Decker wants to look after Terry's son, Gabe. Yet who will protect his own family? Because if there's one thing he knows for sure, with a socipath like Donatti on the loose, no one is ever really safe.
by Laura Lippman
Eliza Benedict cherishes her peaceful, ordinary suburban life with her successful husband and children, thirteen-year-old Iso and eight-year-old Albie. But her tranquillity is shattered when she receives a letter from the last person she ever expects -- or wants -- to hear from: Walter Bowman. There was your photo, in a magazine. Of course, you are older now. Still, I'd know you anywhere.
In the summer of 1985, when she was fifteen, Eliza was kidnapped by Walter and held hostage for almost six weeks. He had killed at least one girl and Eliza always suspected he had other victims as well. Now on death row in Virginia for the rape and murder of his final victim, Walter seems to be making a heartfelt act of contrition as his execution nears. Though Eliza wants nothing to do with him, she's never forgotten that Walter was most unpredictable when ignored. Desperate to shelter her children from this undisclosed trauma in her past, she cautiously makes contact with Walter. She's always wondered why Walter let her live, and perhaps now he'll tell her -- and share the truth about his other victims.
Yet as Walter presses her for more and deeper contact, it becomes clear that he is after something greater than forgiveness. He wants Eliza to remember what really happened that long-ago summer. He wants her to save his life. And Eliza, who has worked hard for her comfortable, cocooned life, will do anything to protect it -- even if it means finally facing the events of that horrifying summer and the terrible truth she's kept buried inside.
An edgy, utterly gripping tale of psychological manipulation that will leave readers racing to the final page, I'd Know You Anywhere is a virtuoso performance from acclaimed, award-winning author Laura Lippman that is sure to be her biggest hit yet.
by Paul Auster
Sunset Park follows the hopes and fears of a cast of unforgettable characters brought together by the mysterious Miles Heller during the dark months of the 2008 economic collapse.
An enigmatic young man employed as a trash-out worker in southern Florida obsessively photographing thousands of abandoned objects left behind by the evicted families.
A group of young people in a squat in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
The Hospital for Broken Things, which specializes in repairing the artifacts of a vanished world.
William Wyler's 1946 classic The Best Years of Our Lives.
A celebrated actress preparing to return to Broadway.
An independent publisher desperately trying to save his business and his marriage.
These are just some of the elements Auster magically weaves together in this immensely moving novel about contemporary America and its ghosts. Luminous, passionate, expansive, an emotional tour de force, Sunset Park confirms Paul Auster as one of our greatest living writers.
What came in your mailbox last week?
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