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

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Mailbox Monday (March 19, 2012)


 Mailbox Monday will be hosted in March by Anna at Diary of an Eccentric.  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! I had a fantastic week this week (as well as last) and am looking forward to doing some Spring Break reading soon!



The Land of Decoration
by Grace McCleen

A mesmerizing debut about a young girl whose steadfast belief and imagination bring everything she once held dear into treacherous balance. 

In Grace McCleen's harrowing, powerful debut, she introduces an unforgettable heroine in ten-year-old Judith McPherson, a young believer who sees the world with the clear Eyes of Faith. Persecuted at school for her beliefs and struggling with her distant, devout father at home, young Judith finds solace and connection in a model in miniature of the Promised Land that she has constructed in her room from collected discarded scraps—the Land of Decoration. Where others might see rubbish, Judith sees possibility and divinity in even the strangest traces left behind.

As ominous forces disrupt the peace in her and Father's modest lives—a strike threatens her father's factory job, and the taunting at school slips into dangerous territory—Judith makes a miracle in the Land of Decoration that solidifies her blossoming convictions. She is God's chosen instrument. But the heady consequences of her newfound power are difficult to control and may threaten the very foundations of her world. 

With its intensely taut storytelling and crystalline prose, The Land of Decoration is a gripping, psychologically complex story of good and evil, belonging and isolation, which casts new and startling light on how far we'll go to protect the things we love most. 



The Inquisitor
by Mark Allen Smith

A spectacularly original thriller about a professional torturer who has a strict code, a mysterious past, and a dangerous conviction that he can save the life of an innocent child.

Geiger has a gift: he knows a lie the instant he hears it.  And in his business -- called "information retrieval" by its practitioners -- that gift is invaluable, because truth is the hottest thing on the market.

One of Geiger's rules is that he never works with children.  So when his partner, former journalist Harry Boddicker, unwittingly brings in a client who demands that he interrogate a twelve-year-old boy, Geiger responds instinctively.  He rescues the boy from his captor, removes him to the safety of his New York City loft, and promises to protect him from further harm.  But if Geiger and Harry cannot quickly discover why the client is so desperate to learn the boy's secret, they themselves will become the victims of an utterly ruthless adversary.

Mesmerizing and heart-in-your-throat compelling, The Inquisitor is a completely unique thriller that introduces both an unforgettable protagonist and a major new talent. 


Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms
By Lissa Evans

The telephone cord was hanging from the receiver,
wires sticking out of the broken, dangling end.

Time to go, Stuart thought.
And then the phone rang.

When ten-year-old Stuart stumbles upon a note daring him to find his great-uncle's hidden workshop full of wonderful mechanisms, trickery, and magic, he sets out on a Willy Wonka-like adventure of a lifetime.  In order to find the place, Stuart must believe the unbelievable -- while dodging the annoyingly prying eyes of his triplet neighbors, April, May and June.  With clues to follow, puzzles to solve, and the quirkiest of characters, this uniquely charming fiction debut by comedienne Lissa Evans is sure to enchant middle-grade readers -- and believers -- everywhere. 



Calico Joe
by John Grisham

A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball…
 
 
Whatever happened to Calico Joe?
 
     It began quietly enough with a pulled hamstring. The first baseman for the Cubs AAA affiliate in Wichita went down as he rounded third and headed for home. The next day, Jim Hickman, the first baseman for the Cubs, injured his back. The team suddenly needed someone to play first, so they reached down to their AA club in Midland, Texas, and called up a twenty-one-year-old named Joe Castle. He was the hottest player in AA and creating a buzz.
 
In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen.  The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.
 
Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his Dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever…
 
In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes CALICO JOE a classic. 



Dancing on Broken Glass
by Ka Hancock

Lucy Houston and Mickey Chandler probably shouldn't have fallen in love, let alone gotten married.  They're both plagued with faulty genes -- he has bipolar disorder; she, a ravaging family history of breast cancer.  But when their paths cross on the night of Lucy's twenty-first birthday, sparks fly, and there's no denying their chemistry.

Cautious every step of the way, they are determined to make their relationship work -- and they put their commitment in writing.  Mickey will take his medication.  Lucy won't blame him for what is beyond his control.  He promises honesty.  She promises patience.  Like any marriage, there are good days and bad days -- and some very bad days.  In dealing with their unique challenges, they make the heartbreaking decision not to have children.  But when Lucy shows up for a routine physical just shy of their eleventh anniversary she gets an impossible surprise that changes everything.  Everything.  Suddenly, all their rules are thrown out the window and two of them  must redefine what love really is. 



Playdate
by Thelma Adams

A smart and witty debut, Playdate is a family drama set against looming Santa Ana winds, which threaten a utopian Southern California community.  Inside a well-manicured home, Belle is a sharp-tongued tween, who is mortified by her dad, Lance, a former weatherman turned stay-at-home dad who practices yoga.  Darlene is a classic workaholic, but with her hours neatly penciled in, she has little patience for the needs of her husband and daughter.

Managing their own suburban paradise is Alec, a womanizing businessman and financial backer -- and sometimes more -- behind Darlene's burgeoning empire.  His wife, Wren, is an eager yogi ready to lay down the mat for a quick session with Lance.  When the fires reach the confines of this seemingly blissful neighborhood, passions and true desires are brought to the surface.  What happens next door, beyond the hedges, in the romper room and executive office -- it's all as combustible as a quick brush fire on a windy day.



The Goodbye Man
by Chad Barton

"As more people filled the packed church, Jack was forced to move down the wall toward the front, until he was very near the altar.  From that vantage point, he could see the young mother's face.

He found himself staring at her, unable to look away.  He didn't know why.  Perhaps it was the terrible sadness in her face.  He watched her intently as she clutched a little brown teddy bear and a picture of her daughter, who now lay only feet away in a small casket.  The size of it made him wince.  Jack felt the anger rise within him."

At sixty years old, Jack Steele has long since retired from putting criminals -- especially those that hurt children -- in prison.  Following his retirement from law enforcement, he built a successful multimillion-dollar company, allowing him financial freedom in his golden years.  Following the unexpected loss of his wife, Sarah, however, he withdraws into himself.  He becomes a loner whose only companion is his German shepherd dog.

Sick of a court system that lets monsters out of prison to torture and kill again and again, he decides there is only one way to stop them.  Using his own resources, his credentials as a retired police officer, and his .380 Walther, he and his dog begin to hunt -- bringing justice to those whom the system cannot control.



The Immortal Rules
by Julie Kagawa

In a future world, vampires reign.

Humans are blood cattle.

And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.

An unforgettable new series from the bestselling author of the Iron Fey.

My vampire creator told me this: "Sometime in your life, Allison Sekemoto, you will kill a human being.  The question is not if it will happen, but when.  Do you understand?"

I didn't then, not really.

I DO NOW.



The Orchid House
by Lucinda Riley

Spanning from the 1930s to the present day, from the Wharton Park estate in England to Thailand, this sweeping novel tells the tale of a concert pianist and the aristocratic Crawford family, whose shocking secrets are revealed, leading to devastating consequences.

As a child, concert pianist Julia Forrester spent many idyllic hours in the hothouse of Wharton Park, the grand estate where her grandfather tended exotic orchids.  Years later, while struggling with overwhelming grief over the death of her husband and young child, she returns to this tranquil place.  There she reunites with Kit Crawford, heir to the estate and her possible salvation.

When they discover an old diary, Julia seeks out her grandmother to learn the truth behind a love affair that almost destroyed the estate.  Their search takes them back to the 1940s when Harry, a former heir to Wharton Park, married his young society bride, Olivia, on the eve of World War II.  When the two lovers are cruelly separated, the impact will be felt for generations to come.

This atmospheric story alternates between the magical world of Wharton Park and Thailand during World War II.  Filled with twists and turns, passions and lies, and ultimately redemption, The Orchid House is a beautiful, romantic, and poignant novel.



Norah: The Making of an Irish-American Woman in 19th-Century New York
by Cynthia G. Neale

This is the story of Norah McCabe, who along with thousands of Irish immigrants, comes to New York with her family in the mid-1800s having escaped the potato famine that killed over a million people in their native land.  Defenseless and poor, they arrived in New York City to try and create a better life.  The McCabe's determined, imaginative and hopeful daughter Norah begins to rebuild her life in America.  Her story is one of desperation, cruelty, and ultimately hope and survival.  The novel chronicles her struggles with the issues of abolitionism and feminism.  Determined that her appearance be equal to the women around her, Norah worked hard and feverishly to become their equal.  The author's research found that Irish women far exceeded other female ethnic groups in education and economics.  "They climbed up in the world come hell or high water!  They paraded down Fifth Avenue dressed in Paris fineries bought from the money they saved (still sending money back to Ireland), and aristocratic Protestant ladies were incensed that the Irish maids looked just like them," says Neale.



As the Crow Flies
by Craig Johnson

Embarking on his eighth adventure, Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire has a more important matter on his mind than cowboys and criminals.  His daughter, Cady, is getting married to the brother of his undersheriff, Victoria Moretti.  Walt and old friend Henry Standing Bear are the de facto wedding planners and fear Cady's wrath when the wedding locale arrangements go up in smoke two weeks before the big event.

The pair set out to find a new site for the nuptials on the Cheyenne Reservation, but their scouting expedition ends in horror as they witness a young Crow woman plummet from Painted Warrior's majestic cliffs.  It's not Walt's turf, but the newly appointed tribal police chief and Iraqi war veteran, the beautiful Lolo Long, shanghais him into helping with the investigation.  Walt is stretched thin as he mentors Lolo, attempts to catch the bad guys, and performs the role of father of the bride.





The Paris Directive
by Gerald Jay

Two former French intelligence officials hire a ruthlessly effective hit man to kill an American industrialist vacationing in the Dordogne.  Things do not go as planned. . .

Klaus Reiner easily locates his target in the small village of Taziac, but the hit is marred by complications and collateral damage.  Enter Inspector Paul Mazarelle, formerly of Paris but now living in Taziac, charged with bringing his experience and record of success in the capital to bear on the gruesome quadruple homicide at the height of tourist season.

Both Mazarelle's investigation and Reiner's job are complicated when Molly, a New York City district attorney and daughter of two of the victims, arrives to identify the bodies and begins asking questions.  All evidence points to Ali Sedak, a local Algerian handyman, but Mazarelle and Molly have doubts, and Reiner must return to Taziac to ensure they see things as he arranged them, or keep quiet.  Little does anyone in the picturesque French countryside know just how politically charged this crime is; its global ramifications, stemming from the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, could overshadow everything.

Tailored in crisp prose and possessing all the luxury refinements of the best international intrigue, Jay's novel chills, excites, and engrosses, pitting a smooth, calculating villain against an earthy, sympathetic Frenchman whose twilight career is suddenly heating up.



Woodrose Mountain
by RaeAnne Thayne

Evie Blanchard was at the top of her field in the city of angels.  But when an emotional year forces her to walk away from her job as an occupational therapist, she moves from Los Angeles to Hope's Crossing seeking a quieter life.  So the last thing she needs is to get involved with the handsome, arrogant Brodie Thorne and his injured daughter, Taryn.

A self-made man and single dad, Brodie will do anything to get Taryn the rehabilitation she needs. . . even if it means convincing Evie to move in with them.  And despite her vow to keep an emotional distance, Evie can't help but be moved by Taryn's spirit, or Brodie's determination to win her help -- and her heart.  With laughter, courage and more than a little help from the kindhearted people of Hope's Crossing, Taryn may get the healing she deserves -- and Evie and Brodie might just find a love they never knew could exist. 



Just Down the Road
by Jodi Thomas

Harmony, Texas, is a place where dreams are born.  As the townspeople face unexpected endings and new beginnings, they also come face-to-face with themselves -- and with what's most important in life. . .

When Tinch Turner lost his wife, he gave up on living.  Now he spends his nights brooding, boozing, and brawling.  When one of his escapades lands him in the ER, he finds himself staring up at the beautiful new doctor in town. For the first time in years, he feels a spark, but Addison Spencer wants nothing to do with the unruly rancher -- or any man for that matter.  She's only going to be Harmony for four months, long enough for the trouble she left behind to settle down.  But then a vulnerable little boy barrels into both their lives, forcing them out of the past -- and into a future where love is just down the road. . .

In the meantime, as Reagan Truman grieves for her beloved uncle, she finds comfort in the makeshift family she's made in Harmony -- and a new baby, the first in the Wright Funeral Home in forty-five years, proving that life does go on. . .



Waterproof: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood
by JR Coopey

Fifty years after an earthen dam broke and sent a thirty foot wall of raging destruction down on the city of Johnstown, PA, Pamela McRae looks back on the tragedy with new perspective.

This fast-moving retrospective propels the reader along, much as did the flood itself.

When the Johnstown flood hit, it wiped out Pam's fondest hopes, taking her fiancé and her brother's lives and her mother's sanity, and within a year her father walked away leaving his daughter -- now the sole support of her mother -- to cope with poverty and loneliness.

The arrival of Katya, a poor Hungarian girl, running away from an arranged marriage, finally gives Pam the chance she needs to get back into the world.  Katya can care for her mother, and Pam can go to work for the Johnstown Clarion as a society reporter.

Then Davy Hughes, Pam's fiancé before the flood, reappears, but instead of being the answer to her prayers, he further complicates her life.  Someone is seeking revenge on the owners of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the millionaires who owned the failed dam.  And Pam is afraid Davy has something to do with it.

What books came home to you this week?

Friday, March 16, 2012

Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop (Mar 17 - 22)


Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I may not be full blown Irish, but am more Irish than anything else - so I had to  be part of this hop hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer, Books Complete Me and Author Cindy Thomas.

I am offering for giveaway a set of 3 Kindle books by Carol Mason. These books are The Love Market, The Secrets of Married Women and Send me a Lover.  All are bestsellers in Canada and internationally published.  For the month of March, Carol is donating 50% of her net proceeds to breast cancer.  You can visit her website www.carolmasonbooks.com for more details.  So if you do not win them here, you will still have time to purchase them before the end of the month.  Just email Carol at Carol@carolmasonbooks.com with proof of purchase and she will do the rest at the end of the month.

The Love Market

When a marriage ends and a first love reappears, Celine Lewis is about to learn that moving on is as complicated as going back. 

Three years after seeing her first love, Patrick, quite by chance in London, Celine's ten-year marriage to Mike is over and she is running her own business, called The Love Market, a professional matchmaking service in Northern England. She's coping with the unanticipated heartbreak of a marriage ending, and her quirky twelve-year-old daughter who seems to blame her for the split. 

Then, out of the blue, Patrick emails. Tempted to find out if all the old feelings can possibly still be there, she's thrown into tailspin again when Mike has an unusual proposition for her, forcing her to question whether a divorce really means it's over.  


Send Me a Lover


We love. We lose. And sometimes we love again...Back when neither could have imagined what lay ahead, Angela's husband Jonathan made her a promise - that if he died before she did, he would see to it that she wasn't on her own. He would send her someone to love. Now two years have passed since Jonathan's sudden death, but the pain of losing him is as sharp as ever. Feeling cut adrift in his native Canada, Angela whisks her vivacious mother off to a Greek island, thinking a holiday might be just the prescription she needs. But being with your mum who's afraid of dying, when you yourself are afraid of living, is hardly the formula for a laid-back week in the sun. It's only when Angela meets two very different men who seem to have the uncanny ability of seeing right into her soul, that she starts to think about Jonathan's promise to her. Can something magical be happening? Is one of these men the lover her husband has sent for her?

Buy at Amazon 


The Secrets of Married Women


'Affairs are easier to have than you'd think.' Jill and Rob are happily married - until they discover that it's Rob's fault they can't have kids. It isn't the end of the world for Jill. She's just happy to have a trustworthy husband who loves her deeply and presses all the right buttons in the bedroom. But Rob's gone off sex and refuses even to discuss it. In fact, all communication between them has come to an infuriating halt. And Jill just yearns for a bit of fun. It wouldn't be so bad if one of her best friends wasn't having the best sex of her entire life (albeit behind her husband's back) while her other friend has a stunning husband who she's still in lust with. But are things ever what they seem? How well do we ever know our husbands, our best friends or even ourselves? Jill is about to find out when she faces infertility, infidelity and the truth head on... 

Buy at Amazon


So - once you have entered my rafflecopter giveaway below - be sure to follow the linky link to another giveaway!  Happy Hopping!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Write What You Know. . .

. . . And Sometimes What You Don't Know
by Jennifer Walker

One of the most common pieces of advice bandied about by experienced authors is that you should write about what you know. This is definitely a good piece of advice! It drives me crazy when I read a book or see a movie with wildly inaccurate facts...horses that do things real horses don't do, dance scenes that don't look anything like the dance they're supposed to portray, etc. Some of these things would be so easy to correct with a modicum of research.

Beyond getting the basic facts right, when you live something, there is a depth of knowledge you have that cannot be replicated by someone who has never spent much time with that thing. For example, my thing is horses (big surprise if you've read anything about my books). One thing that is common among reactions to the books is that my knowledge of horses comes through. On the other side of the coin, I was once asked to write some reviews of high end luxury sports cars for a magazine. I knew I couldn't do justice to them, so I handed the assignment over to my husband. He claims he's not a car guy, but secretly he is. He did a fantastic job--way better than I could have done. I could have presented the facts about the cars OK, but when he did it, his enthusiasm for the subject matter shone through because he's spent a lot more time studying and drooling over cars than I have.

All that said, I think it's good to step outside of your comfort zone every once in a while. For NaNoWriMo this last year, I wrote a middle grade fiction that had no horses whatsoever. That took some effort! I also have some other story ideas that are way outside my comfort zone. I'm going to have to do a lot of research, because I want to get everything exactly right. And that's the key right there: if you do decide to go into unknown territory, make sure you do your research. If you're talking about something you don't have a background in, you might find a beta reader who knows the subject well just to check on you so your story rings true.

Above all, keep writing...no matter what the topic!


Jennifer is the author of the Green Meadow Series (for middle grade girls), one of which I recently read and reviewed - Bubba to the Rescue.  There is still time to comment to win a copy of her short story, Leslie and the Lion.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

How to Eat a Cupcake by Meg Donahue (Book Review)

Title: How to Eat a Cupcake
Author: Meg Donohue
Publisher: Harper Collins


About the book: Funny, free-spirited Annie Quintana and sophisticated, ambitious Julia St. Clair come from two different worlds. Yet, as the daughter of the St. Clair’s housekeeper, Annie grew up in Julia’s San Francisco mansion and they forged a bond that only two little girls who know nothing of class differences and scholarships could—until a life-altering betrayal destroyed their friendship. 

A decade later, Annie is now a talented, if underpaid, pastry chef who bakes to fill the void left in her heart by her mother’s death. Julia, a successful businesswoman, is tormented by a painful secret that could jeopardize her engagement to the man she loves. When a chance reunion prompts the unlikely duo to open a cupcakery, they must overcome past hurts and a mysterious saboteur or risk losing their fledgling business and any chance of healing their fractured friendship.

My thoughts:  I really liked the way that the author told Annie and Julia's story.  The timeline went from June to May with the chapters alternating between the two young women.  It was almost as if they were sitting in front of you, telling you the story as a friend.  There were times I wanted to laugh and times I wanted to cry and times I wanted to shake one of them to open up their eyes as to what was in front of them!  

The girls grew up together since they were babies - they might as well have been sisters.  Annie got to do a lot of the same things that Julia did, thanks to Lolly and Tad - Julia's parents.  Over time, Lucia, Annie's mom, though employed by the St. Clair's, became Lolly's best friend.  When the girls entered high school though, the dynamic between the two of them began to change.  They went to a private high school, Devon Prep, and for Julia, it was like coming home.  She fit in perfectly and didn't think about pulling Annie along with her.  Annie, being the daughter of the housekeeper, was only at Devon Prep thanks to Lolly and Tad.  She didn't fit in well, but adjusted, until rumors blew her life apart her senior year.  Her mother died that summer and she left soon after for college, and did her best to not look back.

Lolly St. Clair, however, kept tabs on Annie, and urged her to provide the cupcakes for one of her charity functions.  This is where the story really begins - the above you learn through flashbacks.  Annie reluctantly caters the function and runs into Julia, whom she didn't know was back in town.  Julia hasn't thought much about how her actions in high school almost derailed Annie for good, and can't understand why Annie is still holding a grudge.  
"Of course, that was back when I still cared about making Julia happy, before I realized that the person releasing that peal of laughter was a manipulative, lying, cruel young woman who was trying her damnedest to ruin my life." (p14 - Review copy)

Julia is actually in town to plan her wedding to Wes, a southern charmer who adores her.  She is keeping a secret from him though, and the more time that passes, the harder it is to tell him.  Instead of planning a wedding she decides she needs something else to occupy her mind.  Since she is in love with Annie's cupcakes, she decides that her and Annie should go into business.  She would provide the capital and after a year, Annie could buy her out and she would go on with her new married life.  She sees no problems with this, as Julia has usually gotten whatever she wanted.  I thought this passage described her pretty well:
"I had, I'll admit, affected a certain style - a  method, if you will - of cupcake eating.  To begin, you remove the cupcake liner carefully so as not to unnecessarily crumble the cake, and set it aside.  You then turn the cupcake slowly in your hand, taking bites along the line where cake meets icing, your mouth filling with a perfect combination of both components. Once you've come full circle, you gently twist off the bottom half inch of cake, a move that takes considerable finesse -- leaving a delicate sliver of cake -- the ideal size for lying flat on your tongue and allowing it to slowly dissolve, building anticipation for that final bite.  To finish you are left with the center cylinder of cake and icing, the cupcake's very heart, sometimes filled with a surprising burst of custard or jam or mousse, sometimes not, but always, always, the most moist, flavorful bite of the entire cupcake.  Take a breath before diving into that final perfect bite, it is to be savored for as long as possible.  Finally, of course, you scavenge the crumbs from the cupcake liner you set aside during step one, then ball the liner into your fist and overhand it into the nearest receptacle.  Make the shot?  You get another cupcake." (p30 - Review copy)

Can't you just picture this woman in your head?  I know that I don't eat a cupcake this way (well, I will admit, I did try it today!)  Annie is nothing like this, diving right into her cupcake and eating away.  This was their take on life as well.  Julia's was planned out, well, had been planned out until something happened that made her unable to see her future and really making her wonder about her upcoming wedding and future.  And Annie, who has worked multiple jobs just to be able to pay rent, never knowing if she would have enough for the next month.  Add to those differences the slight Annie still feels from high school and you have a recipe for an upside down cake!

I liked Annie right off, but took a little while to warm up to Julia.  Even by the end of the book, I liked her better, but still wondered if she truly knew, or could even fathom, what she had done to Annie in high school.  Coming from her background, I am not sure that is something she could really understand.  Oh, and you think you have a nice little chick lit book here, and then the suspense starts to build toward the end as the vandal who has been doing a little nuisance vandalism to their cupcakery ratchets up his game a notch.

This is Mrs. Donahue's first novel and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future!
You can find her at her website - http://www.megdonohue.com/ or on twitter @megdonohue.

~I received a complimentary ecopy of this book from Harper Collins.~

Publisher/Publication Date: Harper Collins, Mar 13, 2012
ISBN: 9780062069283
320 pages


Monday, March 12, 2012

It's Monday! What are you reading?



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 didn't get as much reading done this week as I wanted to.  We went skiing at Big Powderhorn Mountain in Michigan and I came home with two injured family members -- which also meant I got to drive the 6 hours home and didn't get to read in the car like I usually do!  We have been going skiing for at least 12 years - and this is the first time anyone has gotten hurt! I will have a picture posted later.


Currently reading: 




Books up this week:
Losing Clementine by Ashley Ream
The Agony of the Leaves by Laura Childs
Being Lara by Lola Jaye
You're Already Amazing: Embracing Who You Are, Becoming All God Created You to Be by Holly Gerth




Audio Book:
Graceling by Kristin Cashmore



Bathroom Book:

Books finished and reviewed since last post:



Children's Books read and/or reviewed since last post:
If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff




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


Sunday, March 11, 2012

Mailbox Monday (Mar 12, 2012)


 Mailbox Monday will be hosted in March by Anna at Diary of an Eccentric.  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! 




The Thirteen
by Susie Moloney


Desperate Housewives meets The Witches of Eastwick in this novel about a woman who returns with her teenage daughter to her childhood home, not knowing that she's stepped back into a community run by a group of witches.


Haven Woods is suburban heaven, a great place to raise a family.  It's close to the city, quiet, with terrific schools and its own hospital right up the road.  Property values are climbing.  The crime rate is practically non-existent, unless you count the odd human sacrifice dismemberment and/or blood atonement.  When Paula Wittmore goes home to Haven Woods to care for her suddenly ailing mother, she brings her daughter and a pile of emotional baggage.  She also brings the last chance for twelve of her mother's closest frenemies.

A circle of friends will suport you through bad times.  A circle of witches can drag you through hell.






City of Scoundrels: 
The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago
by Gary Krist


The masterfully told story of 12 volatile days in the life of Chicago, when an aviation disaster, a race riot, a crippling transit strike, and a sensational child murder transfixed and roiled a city already on the brink of collapse.


Summer 1919: the city of Chicago seemed on the verge of transformation.  Modernizers had an audacious, expensive plan to turn the city from a brawling, unglamorous place into "the Metropolis of the World."  But just as the dream seemed with in reach, pandemonium broke loose -- the city's highest ambitions were suddenly under attack by the unbridled energies that had given birth to them in the first place. 


It began on a balmy Monday afternoon when a blimp in flames crashed through the roof of a busy downtown bank, incinerating those inside.  Within days, a racial incident at a hot, crowded SOuth Side beach spiraled into one of the worst urban riots in American history, followed by a transit strike that paralyzed the city.  Then, when it seemed as if things could get no worse, police searching for a six-year-old girl discovered her body in a dark, North Side basement.


Meticulously researched yet expertly paced, City of Scoundrels captures the tumultuous birth of the modern American city, with all of its light and dark aspects in vivid relief. 







Missing (The Secrets of Crittenden County - Book 1)
by Shelley Shepard Gray


In the first book in her new Secrets of Crittenden County series, the beloved author delivers another page-turning romance set in Amish country.


When the body of Perry Borntrager is discovered in an abandoned well, the quiet Amish community of Crittenden, Kentucky, is thrown into turmoil.  Perry had been missing for six months, and everyone in the town believed he'd left the order, seduced by the wider world he discovered during his rumspringa.


Overwhelmed by grief, Perry's family and friends and the rest of the stunned community struggle to understand how such a terrible tragedy-- the first death by mysterious circumstance to strike their placid small town in more than twenty years -- could have happened.  But the death has not only shaken the town, it has invited the scrutiny of the outside world when a homicide detective arrives to investigate the crime.


Lydia Plank, Perry's former girlfriend, and Walter Anderson, an Englisher who was Perry's best friend, are the first suspects in the crime.  Drawn together by the suspicions of both the authorities and the community, they discover an unlikely companionship that offers solace, understanding, and the promise of something more during the hardest of days. 







Boneyard 11
by Linton Robinson



BONEYARD 11 can't seem to escape getting called "Pretty Woman" meets "The Godfather", and that has a lot to do with it. But it's much more than that.  We think you'll find Nan to be a character that lingers in your memory when a lot of ripped bodices have been forgotten.  She's a high-priced call girl that ends up getting selected for a behind-bars wedding when border crime kingpin Gaspar find himself in prison and divorced.  Beautiful and gracious, Nan is all a gangster could want in the conjugal visitation area--"boneyard" in convict slang.  But so much more than that.  When he is attacked and disabled by a rival organization, she first shows a touching kind of tough love in re-uniting him with his estranged children, then turns a steely fury on the attackers, bathing the border in flame and blood.  And all she really asks of life is a good night's sleep.

Her damaged and untried heart has opened somewhat to her husband of convenience, but suddenly ambushed by the gorgeous, athletic Fed attached to the task of cracking her hubby's links and networks.  A very dangerous temptation... and not just to her physical self.
If you liked Vivian in "Pretty Woman" Nan will delight you.  Her gangster husband, the Feds, local border cops, the corrupt DEA agent out to score, the local lowrider gang, the scary international swarm known as Mara Salvatrucha, even her jolly ex-madam,  all get far more from Nan that here serenely beautiful face led them to suspect.  And many of them didn't survive the surprise.  And others still find them themselves loving her and laughing at her wry humor.  Among the latter will be you and your readers.  Promise.






Chasing Vegas
by Tad Vezner


When Ricky Vegas got out of jail, his parole officer told him to get a job and stay in Nevada. Hours later police spot Vegas entering Horizon Station - a tower of interstellar transit stretching to the stratosphere. He could only be going one direction: away. When the search for Vegas turns into a manhunt of epic proportions, his parole officer, Geoffrey Sink, wonders why all the fuss for a simple fugitive. He stops wondering after a series of violent, bloody incidents lock the station down - and starts worrying when he realizes Vegas's flight up Horizon coincides with a rare appearance by the most recognizable people on Earth. The Originals - the first astronauts to return from deep space; the faces everyone thinks of when they stare up at the stars - arrive on Horizon to deliver their first speech since touching down in the desert five years ago. And when Vegas gets accused of trying to kill them, Sink realizes there's more to chasing this ex-con than he ever wanted to know.







Dreams of Gold
by Jonathan Chamberlain


Heart-warming, surreal and very, very funny.
How The London 2012 Olympics were saved from the bizarre schemes of a mad dictator
P.G.Wodehouse meets Tom Sharp with a dash of Spike Milligan.
Wales - the land of poets and sporting heroes . Rowan Jones, the up-and-coming Welsh poet, accidentally finds himself attracting a motley crew of disaffected athletes from all over the world to his eccentric farmhouse deep in the heart of Wales. 
There's Jeremiah the Tennessee backwoodsman, Marguerite the French existentialist, Yoshi and Toshi, the Japanese identical twins, Leonardo the Italian hunk, Solomon, the Hassidic weight-lifter, and Mad Mike and Jade and Kono and Ayesha and all the rest of them....
And then there is the mad dictator, Osmanakhian.
And Perkins, the quintessential English butler, is not all he seems.
And what about Anna? Well, Anna is... Oh dear, it's much too complicated. I'm afraid, you'll just have to read this book to find out.





Tyler's Mountain Magic
by Malcolm Ater


No one at Harpers Ferry Junior High knew why Tyler wanted to wrestle when he had cystic fibrosis. Maybe he wanted to do something with his life while he still had time. We just knew that he loved wrestling and being a part of our team. But whenever he went to the hospital, we always expected him to come back home to Blue Ridge Mountain. We also knew that Tyler had a dream. He always said that if we all stuck together, something would happen to our team that people would never forget. He was right about that. It was funny, because Tyler wasn't a very good wrestler, at least not in the beginning, but neither were most of us. But for three years we stuck together. It was Tyler who helped us overcome the curse of John Brown and the constant beatings by our hated county rival, Mecklenburg Junior High. He led us through a major cheating scandal that was reported in every newspaper in the state, and all the finger-pointing that divided our county and brought our coaches to the brink of resigning. Tyler was some kind of kid. It was that last year together that we will always remember, both the good and the bad. Certainly we went on the most magical sports ride in West Virginia public school history. But as we battled the brutal winter trying to accomplish something that had never been done before, it took something terrible to bring everyone to their senses. Along the way we learned about friendship and courage and holding on to the important things in life. And more importantly, we did the impossible. We made Tyler's dream come true. You won't see any signs in our little town honoring John Brown and his infamous raid that ignited the Civil War. But you will see a sign at the entrance to Harpers Ferry honoring a teenage boy who had a dream and ended a war in our county that had been going on forever. Call it Tyler's Mountain Magic. Unfortunately, we learned that everything comes with a price.




Doxology
by Brain Holers


Vernon Davidson is an angry man. After a lifetime of abuse and loss the 61-year-old is ready to get back at God, his co-workers, and everyone else is in his north Louisiana hometown. He drinks too much to numb the pain, shuns his friends and embarrasses himself in the community. The once-cautious Vernon spirals into a reckless mess.  Only when he is reunited with his estranged nephew Jody is he forced to confront his situation. Jody is struggling in equal parts after inflicting a self-imposed exile upon himself by fleeing the family, and thereby himself, for a new life thousands of miles away. Now his father, Vernon's brother, is dying and Vernon agrees to retrieve him for his brother's sake. Jody embarks on a reluctant journey back to his Louisiana home and the two men together embark on a journey that will ultimately change their lives.  Brian Holers's Doxology examines an impossibly difficult question: how does a man go about forgiving a God he has grown to despise after the tragedies and endless disappointments he has faced? Follow Vernon and Jody on their road from loss to healing in this deep and moving book that will challenge and surprise you, as it takes you deep into the backwaters of rural Louisiana. Doxology does for small town Louisiana men what Steel Magnolias did for small-town Louisiana women, exposing flaws while showcasing their inner strengths.  It is a tale of grandfathers, fathers, sons and brothers, and recreates family dynamics and memories in a way that forms a doxology, a song of praise for the male family bond, the emotional ties men conceal from the world and each other.




Wings of Hope
by Hillary Peak


Wings of Hope is the journey of a daughter who has the remarkable opportunity to realize that the man she thought she knew from holidays and spring breaks is more than simply her father and who finds out that death is sometimes the most heartbreakingly beautiful part of life. Jules knows her father as a physician, but she never dreamed he had liberated a concentration camp, dealt cards to Bugsy Siegel or saved the life of a Black panther. Wings of Hope takes you on a road trip through the memories of a man making peace with his life through his conversations with his daughter. Hope is the last gift of a father to his daughter--the power to reach for her dreams.




Ida Mae Tutweiler and the Traveling Tea Party
by Ginnie Siena Bivona


The book opens with Ida Mae Tutweiler preparing for a tea-time visit with her life long best friend Jane Tetly. Jane and Ida Mae are an unlikely pair; Jane is a glamerous actress in a day-time soap opera, much married, and naturally adventurous. Ida Mae is reserved and steady, a successful businesswoman. She owns a charming Victorian tearoom called Ladyfingers, in the town she was born in. She has never left Walton Falls, Ohio, nor does she care to. She is content to let Jane be her window on the world. And Jane needs Ida Mae's steadfast love, her anchor in a whirlwind life. Jane is rhinestones and red chiffon and Ida Mae is a simple well worn navy blue suit. 


Woven through the pages is the story of Ida Mae's life, her failed first marriage to her her high-school boyfriend, the tragic death of her beloved Mum shortly before the birth of her adored daughter Kate,and the somewhat less than gracious support of her haughty Aunt Germaine. There is a passionate love affair that ends badly when her lover refuses to file for a divorce from his separated wife. And there is the satisfying and hilarious ending of her Cousin Bernadette's abusive marriage. But throughout it all there is her beloved Jane, flashing in and out of Walton Falls "like a comet, trailing stars and small planets in her wake". Jane arrives in a whirl of expensive gifts and the two women settle down for tea. But the visit is not what Ida Mae expects, because Jane tells her that she has breast cancer that has progressed beyond help and she is going away to die. Ida Mae is stunned, and desperate...how can she live with out her Jane? 


How Ida Mae deals with this terrible news, and the wonderful events she creates for her dearest friend before she must leave is the warp of this story, woven in and out with the threads of their past taken from the pages of Ida Mae's diary. Written for today's woman the book celebrates the releationship between best friends, mothers and daughters, men and women, and the struggle to find hope in a time of loss. It's the tender story of two beautiful women, discovering what their lives were all about, before they must say a final goodbye. And becaues it's about the comfort to be found in a nice hot cup of tea, the book includes a small collection of delicious tea-time recipes. Brew up a nice hot cup of Earl Grey tea, grab a box of Kleenex, curl up in a quiet corner and enjoy a different kind of love story.



Saturday, March 10, 2012

Sarai by Jill Eileen Smith (Book Review)

Title: Sarai
Author: Jill Eileen Smith
Publisher: Revell


About the Book: Sarai, the last child of her aged father, is beautiful, spoiled, and used to getting her own way. Even as a young girl, she is aware of the way men look at her, including her half-brother Abram. When Abram finally requests Sarai's hand, she asks one thing--that he promises never to take another wife as long as she lives. Even her father thinks the demand is restrictive and agrees to the union only if Sarai makes a promise in return--to give Abram a son and heir. Certain she can easily do that, Sarai agrees.


But as the years stretch on and Sarai's womb remains empty, she becomes desperate to fulfill her end of the bargain--lest Abram decide that he will not fulfill his. To what lengths will Sarai go in her quest to bear a son? And how long will Abram's patience last?

Jill Eileen Smith is the author of the bestselling Michal, Abigail and Bathsheba, all part of The Wives of King David series. She has more than twenty years of writing experience, and her writing has garnered acclaim in several contests. Her research into the lives of biblical women has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times. Jill lives with her family in southeast Michigan.

Available March 2012  at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

My thoughts: I really enjoy Biblical fiction books and this one was no exception.  While there is no replacement for reading the true story from the Bible, for me, it is a lot of fun to read the stories with all the added dimensions that the authors bring to them. It is fun to imagine along with the author what the characters may have been thinking, and learning more about the times in which the people lived. 

This is the story of Sarai, wife (and half-sister) of Abram.  The prologue starts out with the wedding of Lot (Sarai and Abram's nephew) to his wife Melah - then it jumps 15 years into the future.  Melah is trying to get Sarai to make a sacrifice to her (Melah's god) to try to help her conceive a child.  Sarai gets as far as the temple steps and then turns and runs.  She cannot be unfaithful to Abram's God, Adonai.  

The theme running through the story is about Abram and Sarai's vows - that Sarai would give Abram a son and that if she did, then Abram would never take another wife.  Abram had also received a promise from Adonai that he would have a son and his descendants would be great, but that he needed to leave his father's household and go to a land that He would tell him to go to. Sarai and Abram go through many many years waiting for the promise of a son.  They travel through many lands, including Egypt, where Abram almost loses Sarai to the Pharoah because he claims Sarai is his sister, not his wife.  He thought he could protect her better that way -- but Adonai sends an illness to the wives and children of the Pharaoh and the truth comes out.  Sarai and Abram are sent on their way, unharmed.

I don't think that I would be spoiling this for anyone if I tell them that Sarai does eventually bear a son, Isaac, in her old age, just as God had promised.  This is where the book comes to a satisfying conclusion.  I hope that I get to read more of the Wives of the Patriarch books in the future. 

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Donna at and Revell Blog Tours in exchange for my review.~

Publisher/Publication Date: Revell, March 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8007-3429-9
320 pages

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