Lucianne Rivers - Sister, Sister (Guest Post and Giveaway!)

I'm an only child. So why did I write about three sisters? Well, Jane, Margo and Allison Caldwell are three extraordinarily different women with a common goal. Bonded by their love for their recently deceased mother, each sibling embarks on a journey across the world to find their long-lost and presumed dead father, Zach, finding love and danger on the way.

Jane is the well-kept, refined, all-American news anchor knocked off her perfectly chiseled high heels by the mysterious Harrison DeNeuve in the Guatemalan jungle. Margo is the potty-mouthed, tough as nails police detective who meets her match in sea captain, Adrian Prince on the treacherous waters near St. Thomas, VI. And Allison, the stay-at-home rancher, melts the heart of jaded ex -navy SEAL, Robert Rivera in the

barren mountains of Afghanistan.

Each sister is motivated by familial devotion and finds love in the wonderful form of a strong, hot, loving man.

Not having had sisters (nor the love of a wonderful, strong, hot loving man) I had to use my vivid imagination while writing the sisterly affection on the pages of HOLD ME, THRILL ME, ENTICE ME.

For my readers out there, I'd like to hear your tales of sibling rivalry and love. The most interesting comment wins a copy of HOLD ME, THRILL ME, ENTICE ME (all three novellas).

Thanks for stopping by.
Lucy

Author bio: Lucianne writes romantic suspense for Entangled Publishing and Cobblestone Press. Born and raised in Ireland, she currently lives in New Mexico with her young daughter.

Formerly a stage and television actress, she now manages a non-profit and is NM State Champion in her weight class for Olympic style weightlifting. Long story. Recently she has taken up Crossfit, Jiu Jitsu and boxing.

ENTICE ME by Lucianne Rivers

Heartsick over the untimely death of her mother, Allison Caldwell is blindsided again by the secret revealed in her mom’s will. Her supposedly dead father is alive, and she and her two sisters must find him in order to settle the Caldwell estate.

Robert Rivera, private investigator and former Navy SEAL, alerts Allison to new intel identifying her father as a P.O.W. in Afghanistan. With her sisters out of the country pursuing leads, Allison insists on heading to the war-ravaged country to find him. Robert doesn’t want his naïve client to take the risk. He knows what danger lays in that godforsaken land…he’s lived through it. Barely.

But Allison is determined to go, and Robert can’t let her travel alone. Reluctantly appreciative, Allison quickly realizes how much she needs his guidance and protection, and how deeply she longs for his love. Robert struggles to understand her effect on his battle-weary heart.

The path to Allison’s father is blocked by terrorists, traps and treachery—all demons of Robert’s past. Can he survive a second round with the enemy and keep Allison out of harm’s way?

Title: Entice Me (Caldwell Sisters, #3)
Author: Lucianne Rivers
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novella
Launch Date: October 2011
ISBN: 978-1-937044-32-9

To purchase:
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
Diesel

Author's Links
Web: www.luciannerivers.com
Blog: www.viceandvalkyries.blogspot.com

I'm a Grandma!

Isn't she beautiful! Kalii Faith was born at 5:15pm this evening. She is 7 lbs 3 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Mother and baby are both healthy and doing fine!

Love Out Loud by Joyce Meyer (Book Review)

Title: Love Out Loud: 365 Devotions for Loving God, Loving Yourself and Loving Others
Author: Joyce Meyer
Publisher: Faith Words

About the book: Jesus said, "You must love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." - Luke10:27

If one had to choose a single verse in the Bible that is a formula for successful living, this would be the one to live by, says Joyce Meyer: love God, yourself and others - in that order.

Many Christians get mixed up about love. They know they should love God and others, but many do not understand that loving oneself is one-third of God's equation. They mistakenly think of it as selfishness or self-aggrandizement.

Joyce Meyer believes that this misconception is one of the greatest pitfalls in the Christian journey. Loving oneself in a balanced, healthy manner is essential in order to have healthy relationships with God, ourselves and others.

Drawing upon her previous work and teaching series as well as original devotions, the author of Power Thoughts examines the three loves that we've been commanded to exhibit.

My thoughts:  What better thing to immerse yourself in learning about, for a year no less, than love.  With a devotion for every day of the year, Joyce Meyer once again is able to to hone in and give us nuggets to ponder each day. 

Each devotion is just a page long, beginning with a scripture, followed by words of wisdom from Joyce, and ending with some direction on who to love for that day (God, others or self) and some leading in how to do that.

Whether you are looking for a devotional for yourself or for someone you love, this would make a great gift.  I think it is applicable for a man or woman, or a mature teen looking to grow their relationship with God. 

You can find Joyce Meyer online at http://joycemeyer.org/ on Facebook, or Twitter.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Faith Words in exchange for my review.~

Love Out Loud

Publisher/Publication Date: Faith Words/Nov 2, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-446-53847-3

368 pages

Jodi Thomas on The Comforts of Home

THE COMFORTS OF HOME will be hitting the stands on Nov. 1, 2011 and I’m very excited to see my people of Harmony, Texas come alive. In my mind they already are and sometimes I feel like they’re so real that I could pack my bag and go down for a visit any time I liked.

With writing it’s always been that way for me. I don’t really feel like I create characters, I feel like I just meet people and get to know them. If I’m lucky they tell me their story. When I meet people who read and love my books I always like to hug them. After all, we have friends in common.

In THE COMFORTS OF HOME I wrote about people who probably live all around us but we never take the time to know. One was Ronelle Logan. She’d lived and worked at the post office without anyone noticing her. She solved the funeral home’s crossword puzzles before she handed over the magazines, but no one complained. Tyler Wright, the funeral director, just brought her a huge crossword puzzle book. He was a kind man who tried to help everyone he came across. In the lives of these people now and then, wonder happens, brightening the world around.

In a closing note, I’d like to add that you are going to love a new character I introduce. He’s just a kid (17) with long hair, and a dream to make it big in the music world. We’ll be watching him grow up and fall in love several times before he figures women out.


Come along with me to Harmony. We’ll have a grand visit with the people there.

Wishing you much love and laughter in your life,

Jodi Thomas

www.jodithomas.com

www.facebook.com/JodiThomasAuthor

Waiting on Wednesday: 77 Shadow Street

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

77 Shadow Street

by Dean Koontz
Publication Date: Dec 27, 2011

I am the One, the all and the only. I live in the Pendleton as surely as I live everywhere. I am the Pendleton's history and its destiny. The building is my place of conception, my monument, my killing ground. . . .

The Pendleton stands on the summit of Shadow Hill at the highest point of an old heartland city, a Gilded Age palace built in the late 1800s as a tycoon’s dream home. Almost from the beginning, its grandeur has been scarred by episodes of madness, suicide, mass murder, and whispers of things far worse. But since its rechristening in the 1970s as a luxury apartment building, the Pendleton has been at peace. For its fortunate residents—among them a successful songwriter and her young son, a disgraced ex-senator, a widowed attorney, and a driven money manager—the Pendleton’s magnificent quarters are a sanctuary, its dark past all but forgotten.

But now inexplicable shadows caper across walls, security cameras relay impossible images, phantom voices mutter in strange tongues, not-quite-human figures lurk in the basement, elevators plunge into unknown depths. With each passing hour, a terrifying certainty grows: Whatever drove the Pendleton’s past occupants to their unspeakable fates is at work again. Soon, all those within its boundaries will be engulfed by a dark tide from which few have escaped.

Dean Koontz transcends all expectations as he takes readers on a gripping journey to a place where nightmare visions become real—and where a group of singular individuals hold the key to humanity’s destiny. Welcome to 77 Shadow Street.

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

What are you waiting for?

The Comforts of Home by Jodi Thomas (Book review)

Title: The Comforts of Home

Author: Jodi Thomas
Publisher: Penguin


About the book: In Harmony, Texas, twenty-year-old Reagan Truman has found her place and her family. But with her uncle taken ill and her friend Noah lost and disheartened with his life, Reagan is afraid of ending up alone again -- and she's not the only one. Harmony seems to be full of people yearning to make a connection. Like funeral director Tyler Wright, who longs to take his relationship with his friend Kate to the next level, but doesn't know how. And Ronelle Logan, a woman frightened of everyday human interactions, until she meets an angry, lonely man -- someone just like her.

When a terrible storm threatens the town, the residents of Harmony are forced to really think about what they truly want. Because making the connections they so desperately desire mean putting their hears at risk.

My thoughts:  I really like the way that Jodi brings her characters to life.  You learn a little more about some of the characters that were introduced in the first book, Welcome to Harmony, and get to know some other characters like Ronelle Logan.

 I really liked Ronny, she was probably my favorite character in this book.  She starts out as this lonely girl, who just sort of goes along in the world, trying to stay hidden - and either being verbally abused by her mother or virtually ignored.  Out of chance, she delivers the mail to a wheelchair bound man one day who truly sees her, and a friendship is born.  It was really neat to see her start to come out of her shell, sort of like a turtle, very slow, thinking she might pull her head back in at any time.

Then there is Autumn, who is found at the cemetary by none other than the local mortician.  She is very sick, very nearly frozen, and newly pregnant.  With no where to go and an abusive boyfriend looking for her, she takes up residence at the funeral home and soon has created a new atmosphere there with her spot-on cooking and unobtrusive ways.

These are just two of the inhabitants of Harmony that you get to know - and these are people that you want to know.  It makes you want to live in a small town, where the comforts of home can be found in more places than just where you grew up.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for my review.~

If this sounds like a good book - please watch for the Giveaway Hop Nov 8 - 11th, (hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Tristi Pinkson), where I will be giving away a copy!

Books in the Harmony series:

Welcome to Harmony - Book 1

Somewhere Along the Way - Book 2

The Comforts of Home - Book 3

Find Jodi on Facebook, Twitter, her website.

The Comforts of Home

Publisher/Publication Date: Penguin, Nov 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-425-24448-7

320 pages

Teaser Tuesday (Nov 1, 2011)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then visit MizB and add your link!

Something jingled -- probably jewelry -- and her long, curly gray hair hung in a loose ponytail, tied midway with a loopy piece of purple cloth.  Her feet shuffled along the wood floor, not bare today -- but wearing sandals in mid-November?  (The Christmas Shoppe, p81 by Melody Carlson)

Title: The Christmas Shoppe
Author: Melody Carlson
Publisher/Publication Date: Revell, Sept 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8007-1926-5
168 pages

It's Halloween! What are you reading? (Oct 31, 2011)

I have to start out with some Halloween pictures for this post today - enjoy!

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!  I have some new giveaways going on, so be sure to check the right sidebar!  I am going to try a new format and new reading schedule this month.  I will let you know how it goes.

Currently reading:

Collecting Innocents by CK Webb (on Nook)

Books up this week:

The Christmas Shoppe by Melody Carlson

Breaking the Code by Karen Fisher-Alaniz

Remembering Christmas by Dan Walsh

Promissory Payback by Laurel Dewey

Unrevealed by Laurel Dewey

Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire

Bathroom Book:

Good Graces by Lesley Kagen

Books finished last week:

The Comforts of Home by Jodi Thomas

The Kingdom of Childhood by Rebecca Coleman

Disrupted Lives by Brenda Youngerman

Did I review anything last week?

Nope - just checked - not a thing. . .

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



Bout of Books Read-a-thon (Oct 24 - 30)

(This post will stay at the top for this week as I will be updating it daily.)

I figured since I was going to be reading this week anyways - might as well do it for another read-a-thon!  Besides, it will keep my mind off of my daughter's due date!

Bout of Books will run from 12:01am 10/24 through 11:59 pm 10/30 (your time zone)

Read as much as you can whenever you can.    The only person you are competing against here is yourself. There is no pressure.

Bout of Books should be about networking with fellow bloggers in addition to reading. You were going to read that week anyway, right? Bout of Books gives you the opportunity to share your reading experience with other readers.

Use #boutofbooks on Twitter to update people on your progress and what you are reading.  Here is the Bout of Books Twitter list.

Each day during Bout of Books has a different co-host. They are in charge for the day, and will offer you a place for you to share your daily progress if you wish as well as a challenge. 

Check out the Bout of Books schedule

Say hi to other Bout of Books readers.

You can see all this and more at On a Book Bender - the host for this readathon.

Okay - so I am going to try to set myself some goals for this readathon:

Finish these books:  The Comforts of Home by Jodi Thomas, Disrupted Lives by Brenda Youngerman, The Kingdom of Childhood by Rebecca Coleman and Good Graces by Lesley Kagan

Read at least 3 more off of this list:
My Life Undecided  by Jessica Brody
Skeleton Letters by Laura Childs
If I Tell by Janet Gurtler
The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow
Ghost Files by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson
Ghost Trackers by Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, and Tim Waggoner
Wishes and Stitches by Rachel Herron
Anything by Michael Baron
Falling Together by Marissa de los Santos

I am going to borrow the format that the host is using for updates, and all my updates will be on this page:

10/24
Number of pages read: 100
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Books:  Finished The Comforts of Home by Jodi Thomas

10/25
Number of pages read: 125 pages
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Books: Finished The Kingdom of Childhood

10/26
Number of pages read: only about 10 (got to go see STOMP! tonight though!)
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Books:

10/27
Number of pages read: again only about 10
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Books:

10/28
Number of pages read: 165 pages
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Books: Finished Disrupted Lives and continued on in Good Graces

10/29
Number of pages read: only about 40
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Total number of books I’ve read:3
Books: read from Good Graces

10/30
Number of pages read: 40 pages
Number of books read today: 0
Total number of books I've read: 3
Books: read from Collecting Innocents and The Christmas Shoppe


WRAPUP
Number of pages read: 490
Number of books read:  Finished 3, read from 3 others
I at least finished 3 of the 4 books that I wanted to finish - The Comforts of Home, The Kingdom of Childhood and Disrupted Lives.  Unfortunately, didn't get much else accomplished!

Destined by P.C. and Kristin Cast (Giveaway!)

Destined (House of Night - Book 9)

by P.C. and Kristin Cast

"...Zoey is finally home where she belongs, safe with her Guardian Warrior, Stark, by her side, and preparing to face off against Neferet – which would be a whole lot easier if the High Counsel saw the ex-High Priestess for what she really is. Kalona has released his hold on Rephaim, and, through Nyx's gift of a human form, Rephaim and Stevie Rae are finally able to be together – if he can truly walk the path of the Goddess and stay free of his father's shadow…"

Please fill out the form to be entered in the giveaway!

Mailbox Monday (Oct 30, 2011)

 Mailbox Monday's host for October is Savvy Verse and Wit. In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren. Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week! 

 

 

Out of Oz

by Gregory Maguire

 

The marvelous land of Oz is knotted with social unrest: The Emerald City is mounting an invasion of Munchkinland, Glinda is under house arrest, and the Cowardly Lion is on the run from the law. And look who’s knocking at the door. It’s none other than Dorothy. Yes, that Dorothy.

Amid all this chaos, Elphaba’s granddaughter, the tiny green baby born at the close of Son of a Witch, has come of age. Now, Rain will take up her broom in an Oz wracked by war.

The stirring, long-awaited conclusion to the extraordinary bestselling series begun with Wicked, Out of Oz is a magical journey rife with revelations and reversals, reprisals and surprises — the hallmarks of the brilliant and unique imagination of Gregory Maguire.

 

 

 

Love Out Loud

 365 Devotions for Loving God, Loving Yourself, and Loving Others

by Joyce Meyer

 

Jesus said, "You must love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." - Luke10:27

If one had to choose a single verse in the Bible that is a formula for successful living, this would be the one to live by, says Joyce Meyer: love God, yourself and others - in that order.

Many Christians get mixed up about love. They know they should love God and others, but many do not understand that loving oneself is one-third of God's equation. They mistakenly think of it as selfishness or self-aggrandizement.

Joyce Meyer believes that this misconception is one of the greatest pitfalls in the Christian journey. Loving oneself in a balanced, healthy manner is essential in order to have healthy relationships with God, ourselves and others.

Drawing upon her previous work and teaching series as well as original devotions, the author of Power Thoughts examines the three loves that we've been commanded to exhibit.

Family Storms (Storms #1)

By V.C. Andrews

 

In the eye of the storm . . .

Living on the streets with her destitute mother, selling knickknacks and trinkets just to survive, Sasha Porter dreams of someday having a normal life, with a real house and family. But she never dreamed a devastating tragedy would bring her those very things: on a stormy night by a rainspattered highway, a speeding car veers out of control, striking and killing her mother and badly injuring Sasha.

. . . is anywhere truly safe?

In the hospital, Sasha is whisked off to a fancy private suite at the request of wealthy Mrs. Jordan March, a complete stranger who keeps watch by Sasha’s bedside and insists she come live at her family’s sprawling, luxurious mansion. Sasha soon learns Mrs. March never recovered from the loss of her daughter Alena, and with nowhere else to go, Sasha agrees to use Alena’s room, sleep in her bed, and wear her clothes. But someone will make sure that Sasha never takes Alena’s place: a jealous sister dead set on making Sasha’s life a living hell.

 

In the eye of the storm . . .

Living on the streets with her destitute mother, selling knickknacks and trinkets just to survive, Sasha Porter dreams of someday having a normal life, with a real house and family. But she never dreamed a devastating tragedy would bring her those very things: on a stormy night by a rainspattered highway, a speeding car veers out o...more

 

 

 

Cloudburst (Storms #2)

By V.C. Andrews

 

The follow-up to Family Storms from New York Times bestselling author V.C. Andrews features high school senior Sasha Porter in search of her sister—but instead she learns secrets that could tear her family apart.

Sasha is a popular senior in high school, with excellent grades and no more secrets to hide. She finds herself more and more interested in one boy, Duane Banks, who stands out not because he flaunts his good looks and his achievements at the school like so many, but because he is shy and somewhat withdrawn.

When auditions for the new school play begin, she and Duane both get parts and with the rehearsals, Duane seems to be coming out of his shell, permitting himself to hope and succeed at something. Sasha and Duane become a couple, and their relationships continues to grow.

When the play opens, Sasha’s foster parents attend, but neither of Duane’s parents show up. Duane goes into a depression, and he begins to ignore not only his schoolwork, but also his appearance. She tries to warn his mother to be more concerned, but she resents Sasha’s inserting herself into their private lives and does nothing. Meanwhile, things take a bizarre turn at home for Sasha and then a sudden tragedy makes her wonder whether there’s anybody she can truly trust.

 

 

 

As the Pig Turns

by M.C. Beaton

 

Winter Parva is a “picturesque” (touristy) Cotswold village with gift shops, a medieval market hall, and thatched cottages. After a disappointing Christmas season, the parish council has decided to hold a special event in January, complete with old-fashioned costumes, morris dancing, and a pig roast on the village green.

Always one for a good roasting, Agatha Raisin organizes an outing to enjoy the merriment. The rotary spit turning over a bed of blazing charcoals is sure to please on this foggy and blistery evening. But as the fog lifts slightly, the sharp-eyed Agatha notices something peculiar about the pig: a tattoo of a heart with an arrow through it and the name Amy.

“Stop!” she screams suddenly. “Pigs don’t have tattoos.”

The “pig,” in fact, is Gary Beech, a policeman not exactly beloved by the locals, including Agatha herself. Although Agatha has every intention of leaving matters to the police, everything changes when the Gary’s ex-wife, Amy, hires Agatha’s detective agency to investigate—and another murder ensues. With that provocation, how could any sleuth as vain and competitive (and secretly insecure) as Agatha do anything other than solve the case herself?

The Sleepwalkers

by Paul Grossman

 

In the final weeks of the Weimar Republic, as Hitler and his National Socialist party angle to assume control of Germany, beautiful girls are seen sleepwalking through the streets. Then, a young woman of mysterious origin, with her legs bizarrely deformed, is pulled dead from the Havel River. Willi Kraus, a high ranking detective in Berlin's police force, begins a murder investigation. A decorated World War I hero and the nation's most famous detective, Willi also is a Jew. Despite his elite status in the criminal police, he is disturbed by the direction Germany is taking. Working urgently to solve the murder, Willi finds his superiors diverting him at every turn. As he moves through darkness closer to the truth, Willi begins to understand that much more than the solution to a murder is at stake. What he discovers will mean that his life, the lives of his friends and family, and Germany itself will never be the same.

 

 

What books came home to you this week?

 

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Oct 24, 2011)

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!  I have some new giveaways going on, so be sure to check the right sidebar!

Currently Reading:
The Comforts of Home by Jodi Thomas - such a good book!  Should be done before dinner!

The Kingdom of Childhood  by Rebecca Coleman


Next Up:
Skeleton Letters by Laura Childs
Ghost Files by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson

Audio Book:
A Discovery of Witches: A Novel  by Deborah Harkness

E-Book:
Disrupted Lives by Brenda Youngerman

Next e-books up:
If I Tell by Janet Gurtler
An Accidental Mother  by Katherine Anne Kindred
Ladies and Gentlemen. . . the Redeemers by Michael Scott Miller

Bathroom Book:
Good Graces  by Lesley Kagen


Reviewed Since Last Post:
Knit with Love by Lisa Bogart
A Dog's Way Home by Bobbie Pyron

Waiting for Reviews:
 The Place of Belonging by Jayne Pearson Faulkner
The Blackberry Bush by David Housholder
The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman
Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Airmail by Naomi Bulger
Pie Town by Lynne Hinton
Chasing the Red Car by Ellen Ruderman
Whistling In the Dark  by Lesley Kegan
Darkness, My Old Friend: A Novel by Lisa Unger
Atonement by Ian McEwan
How Can You NOT Laugh at a Time Like This?: Reclaim Your Health with Humor, Creativity, and Grit by Carla Ulbrich

E-books waiting for review:
Sudden Moves by Kelli Sue Landon
This World We Live In (The Last Survivors, Book 3) by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Children's Books waiting for review:
Pearl's Wisdom by Auntie LuLu
Bug Meets His Friend (Bug's Adventure Series) by K.M. Groshek
Multiply on the Fly by Suzanne Slade
Ten for Me by Barbara Mariconda
Animalogy by Marianne Berkes
Prairie Storms by Darcy Pattison

READY - SET - READ!