Sykosa by Justin Ordoñez (book excerpt and giveaway)

I just finished this book yesterday. Though the main characters are juniors in high school, this is definitely an 18+ book. I would be putting it mildly to say there are a lot of references to sex in it. Though it is not something that I would usually pick up, it hooked me and now I have to wait for the second book to come out! I will be reviewing it tonight or tomorrow.

  Warning: Excerpt below contains adult subject matter and some profanity.

Sykosa

by Justin Ordonez

Please enjoy this excerpt from Sykosa, a YA novel (for 18+ readers), by Justin Ordoñez. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including $550 in Amazon gift cards, a Kindle Fire, and 5 autographed copies of the book.

 First period. American history.

Who knows which is worse. At this hour, it’s too early to care. Luckily, it’s never too early to bitch and moan. And she would do so, save her teacher is already on it. He’s up at the board—in shock that not a pupil noticed how his cuff smudged all his bullet points. Like wrist trajectory were her problem. That’s a math problem. And math problems aren’t her problem for another two hours. Yawn. He’s still going on—something about full attention being on…

Her fingernails.

Fingernails, you see, are better than lectures.

Particularly these lectures. Particularly this class.

She wishes nail polish didn’t break the Academy’s Personal Code, then her fingernails could be pretty colors, and she’d feel like a pretty girl. They should let her do her nails in class. It’s no different from doodling. It also increases hygiene, and in high school, that’s nothing to scoff at. She may paint her fingernails this afternoon, just for fun, then remove it and—

Hang on. Her teacher said something will be on a test.

Never mind, she already knows it.

Anyhow, if she does do her nails, she has a problem. She doesn’t know what to do. However, she does know she doesn’t want to do something she’s already done. If she’s gonna do her nails for one night, then it’d be nice if it were a departure of some type. Alas, her brain has no ideas. Being pretty is hard! Yet, she likes it so very much. That does it. She needs to talk to Niko. For one, Niko’s her best friend. Two, Niko’s gifted in the department of being glamorous. And luckily, Niko’s her neighbor, so she drafts a note that she passes across the table.

What should I do with my fingernails?

Niko reads the note in delight, then dies of boredom.

I thought you were gonna share good gossip or something.

No, I want to do my fingernails.

Do something slutty. That’s always good for a thrill.

That’s a good idea.

Niko always has good ideas. Niko’s brilliant!

She wishes she were Niko.

And Niko wishes she were Sykosa’s breasts. That’s me, Sykosa! Well, technically, it’s my breasts. Breasts are an urgent topic for Niko, seeing as her prime puberty years have passed, and to Niko’s horror, she’s all As in the bra and all Ds on her report card. That’s harder on a girl than people think. And it’s why Niko collapses her cheek on her hand, then inconspicuously stares at those far-bigger boobs. Niko thinks she does it for a second or two. In reality, it’s seven or eight. Now, before anyone makes any assumptions, Niko’s not gay. She’s about as boy-crazy as a girl gets. To the point that she collects boyfriends as if they were Girl Scout badges.

And to be fair, this breast-staring is harmless.

Though every girl has her limits.

Hers have been exceeded. Not by Niko, but by Tom. He also has his cheek in hand, his eyes overcome by her chest—for what is maybe ten or eleven seconds.

Unlike Niko, he’s thinking of her as if she were some toy.

He may be right.

In the only snowstorm of the year, as the Academy froze under the sickly sweet smell of a dysfunctional oil furnace, she retreated behind the two bell towers of the Academy chapel. And on that very day, this very boy—in his ski jacket laden with those sticky tags they put on bags at airports—stumbled onto her smoking self and put his tongue in her mouth. It was a bold move. And it impressed her. They didn’t need to “talk.” Besides, it woulda fucked up the moment. I get shy fast. Accordingly, she kissed him until her heart beat so hard she became faint. It meant something. This feeling. She caught her breath. They sat beside each other. Seconds later, she wished they hadn’t stopped, so they restarted, then kept at it.

This time without the tongue.

Niko steals the note, then writes a new one.

Why is he looking at you like that? Only I’m supposed to look at you like that!

Niko’s the type who admits her faults shamelessly. While it’s slightly backward, Niko does so not as a deterrent from such behaviors, but to enable them. She rarely complains. Because that’s Niko. And somehow that excuses everything Niko does. That said, she supposes she’s predisposed to Niko’s jealously over her body, perhaps to the point of flattery. You see, this Tom-thing is nothing. Or if it is something, it’s certainly not enough of something. Not enough for her to buy a prom dress.

Why do you think he is looking at me like that?

Because you * him.

Not to delve too far into the well of note-passing dynamics, but she—and the Queens—use secret codes in case of confiscation. “*” means fuck, in all forms and conjugations. She has not * Tom. She has not * anybody. Her lips quiver at the *. It feels like something she’ll put off until she is thirty. Simultaneously, she also feels like it could happen in the immediate future.

Sometimes she just “knows.”

Gross.

Afraid?

No!

But, she is afraid. Everything is too complicated. It should not have to be. She goes behind the chapel. He goes behind the chapel. They make out. Simple, right? It’s not. Regardless, if even that must be complicated, then certainly the concept that she wants to go to Prom, thus he should ask her to Prom and then they should go to Prom is simple, right? It’s not. You see, he has this best friend, this confidante, this main focus, this everything—and her name is not Sykosa, but Mackenzie.

Or as you will soon find out: “M.” That’s what he calls her.

 

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the Sykosa eBook edition is just 99 cents this week. What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include $550 in Amazon gift cards, a Kindle Fire, and 5 autographed copies of the book.

All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win!

To win the prizes:

1. Purchase your copy of Sykosa for just 99 cents
2. Fill-out the simple form on Novel Publicity
3. Visit today’s featured social media event
4. BONUS: Leave a comment on this post*

Leave a comment, win $100:

One random tour commenter will win a $100 Amazon gift card. Just leave a comment on this post, and you'll be entered to win. For a full list of participating blogs, check out the official tour page. You can enter on just my blog or on all of them. Get out there and network!

About the book: YA fiction for the 18+ crowd. Sykosa is a sixteen-year-old girl trying to reclaim her identity after an act of violence shatters her life and the lives of her friends. Set at her best friend’s cottage, for what will be a weekend of unsupervised badness, Sykosa will have to finally confront the major players and issues from this event, as well as decide if she wants to lose her virginity to Tom, her first boyfriend, and the boy who saved her from danger. Get it on Amazon.

About the author: Sykosa is Justin Ordoñez's life's work. He hopes to one day settle down with a nerdy, somewhat introverted woman and own 1 to 4 dogs. Visit Justin on his website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.

The Story That Made Me Smile (Guest Post) by Julie Anne Lindsey

The Story that Made Me Smile

I’m an author. Writing is a business. A smart author examines the market carefully, looking for where there’s room for a fresh voice. I do this now. I look at what I love to read and ask myself where it fits into the current marketplace. Is it too crowded? Can I finally write that story about the sparkly vampire I have in my heart? No? Hmm. *taps chin* Then where can I slide in and fill a need? I even have a spreadsheet now. No joke. It’s serious business over here. Now.

This is now.

Then wasn’t like Now. At all.

Then was the time when I wrote a crazy story about an angel-faced suburban woman who killed people with her cupcakes. By day she volunteered for local charities. By night, she bumbled haplessly, fudging her every attempt to teach anyone a lesson, give them a touch of a tummy “thing” or just show off her mad skills. Quite the contrary.  She is a mess.

I liked Then a lot. I wasn’t encased in the business of it all. I was free to try anything. My one and only goal: make someone smile. Mischief makes me smile, so I added several healthy doses of that, tossed in enough irony to make me drop my chin and sprinkled it all with wine. In the end, I’d created a snowball of a story. One I love all the more today for its confidence to be unique in an overcrowded book world.

Ruby and Charlotte are the best of friends, and they accept each other – body count and all. They stand together. Work together. Plot together : ) In the end, I hope they get the heck out of Dodge because, let’s face it, they aren’t criminals. What they are is endlessly inept and the dearest of characters I hope to never meet, or at least never cross.

If you’re in the mood to let loose and smile at the inconceivable, try my sweet ladies. But don’t try their goodies. You have been warned. LOL Death by Chocolate is available now on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble. I hope it will make you smile : )

Death by Chocolate

Ruby Russell has reached her limit. When she discovers her hipster husband has a dirty little secret, she whips him up a Viagra-infused-chocolate mousse punishment, but in the morning, her husband's a stiff. Armed with a lifetime of crime show reruns and Arsenic and Old Lace on DVD, Ruby and her best friend Charlotte try to lay low until after Ruby's son's wedding, but a nosy therapist, meddling minister and local news reporter are making it very difficult to get away with murder.

About Julie:

I am a mother of three, wife to a sane person and Ring Master at the Lindsey Circus. Most days you'll find me online, amped up on caffeine & wielding a book.

You can find my blogging about the writer life at Musings from the Slush Pile

Tweeting my crazy at @JulieALindsey

Reading to soothe my obsession on GoodReads

And other books by me on Amazon

It's Monday! What are you reading? (April 2, 2012)

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! 

Okay - so the only thing I finished last week was The Thirteen (and some other stuff that wasn't even on my list!)  It was Spring Break here and while in my mind that translated into lots of reading - the translation didn't seem to come out the same in the mind of my family!  In addition I had extra family here all week.  I feel like I spent the whole week in the kitchen!

Currently reading: 

Sykosa by Justin Ordonez

Books I need to finish:  (I decided to add a new category for those books that seem to languish from week to week!)

The Priest and the Peaches by Larry Peterson

May the Road Rise Up to Meet You by Peter Troy

The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose

Blood Orchids by Toby Neal

Books up this week:
Gods and Fathers by James LePore
The Song Remains the Same by Allison Winn Scotch

Bathroom Book:

The Killing Circle by Andrew Pyper

Books read and reviewed since last week:

The Thirteen by Susie Moloney

Aquamarine by Carol Anshaw

Samplers and Samplermaking by Mary Jaene Edwards

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

Mailbox Monday (April 2, 2012)

 Mailbox Monday will be hosted in April by Cindy at Cindy's Love of  Books.  In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren.  Hopefully you will find some must reads in the variety that I received this week.  There are a couple that I can't wait to dive into!

Bloom
by Kelle Hampton


From the outside looking in, Kelle Hampton had the perfect life: a beautiful two-year-old daughter, a loving husband, a thriving photography career, and great friends.  When she learned she was pregnant with her second child, she and her husband, Brett, were ecstatic.  Her pregnancy went smoothly and the ultrasounds showed a beautiful, healthy, high-kicking baby girl.


But when her new daughter was placed in her arms in the delivery room, Kelle knew instantly that something was wrong.  Nella looked different than her two-year-old sister, Lainey, had at birth.  As she watched her friends and family celebrate with champagne toasts and endless photographs, a terrified Kelle was certain that Nella had Down syndrome -- a fear her pediatrician soon confirmed.  Yet gradually Kelle's fear and pain were vanquished by joy, as she embraced the realization that she had been chosen to experience an extraordinary and special gift.


Bloom takes readers on a wondrous journey through Nella's first year of life -- a gripping, hilarious, and intensely poignant trip of transformation in which a mother learns that perfection comes in all different shapes.  It is a story about embracing life and really living it, of being fearless and accepting difference, of going beyond constricting definitions of beauty, and of the awesome power of persepctive.  As Kelle writes, "There is us.  Our Family.  We will embrace this beauty and make something of it.  We will hold our precious gift and know that we are lucky."

A Land More Kind Than Home

by Wiley Cash

For a curious boy like Jess Hall, growing up in Marshall means trouble when your mother catches you spying on grown-ups.  Adventurous and precocious.  Jess is enormously protective of his older brother, Christopher, a mute whom everyone calls Stump.  Though their mother has warned them not to snoop, Stump can't help sneaking a look at something he's not supposed to -- an act that will have catastrophic repercussions, shattering both his world and Jess's.  It's a wrenching event that thrusts Jess into an adulthood for which he's not prepared.  While there is much about the world that still confuses him, he now knows that a new understanding can bring not only a growing danger and evil -- but also the possibility of freedom and deliverance as well.

Told by three resonant and evocative characters -- Jess; Adelaide Lyle, the town midwife and moral conscience; and Clem Barefield, a sheriff with his own painful past -- A Land More Kind Than Home is a haunting tale of courage in the face of cruelty and the power of love to overcome the darkness that lives in us all.  These are masterful portrayals, written with assurance and truth, and they show us the extraordinary promise of this remarkable first novel. 

Oklahoma City:

What the Investigation Missed -- and Why It Still Matters

by Andrew Gumbel & Roger G. Charles

In the early morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh drove into downtown Oklahoma City in a rented Ryder truck containing a deadly fertilizer bomb that he and his army buddy Terry Nichols had made the previous day.  He parked in a handicapped-parking zone, hopped out of the truck, and walked away into a series of alleys and streets.  Shortly after 9:00 A.M., the bomb obliterated one-third of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people, including 19 infants and toddlers.  McVeigh claimed he'd worked only with Nichols, and at least officially, the government believed him. But McVeigh's was just one version of events.  And much of it was wrong.

In Oklahoma City, veteran investigative journalists Andrew Gumbel and Roger G. Charles puncture the myth about what happened on that day -- one that has persisted in the minds of the American public for nearly two decades.  Working with unprecedented access to government documents, a voluminous correspondence with Terry Nichols, and more than 150 interviews with those immediately involved, Gumbel and Charles demonstrate how much was missed beyond the guilt of the two principal defendants: in particular, the dysfunction within the country's law enforcement agencies, which squandered opportunities to penetrate the radical right and prevent the bombing, and the unanswered question of who inspired the plot and who else might have been involved.

To this day, the FBI heralds the Oklahoma City investigation as one of its great triumphs.  In reality, though, its handling of the bombing foreshadowed many of the problems that made the country vulnerable to attach again on 9/11.  Law enforcement agencies could not see past their own rivalries and underestimated the seriousness of the deadly rhetoric coming from the radical far right.  In Oklahoma City, Gumbel and Charles give the fullest, most honest account to date of both the plot and the investigation, drawing a vivid portrait of the unfailingly compelling -- driven, eccentric, fractious, funny, and wildly paranoid -- characters involved. 

More Like Her

by Liza Palmer

In Frances's mind, beautiful, successful, ecstatically married Emma Dunham is the height of female perfection.  Frances, recently dumped with spectacular drama by her boyfriend, aspires to be just like Emma.  So do her close friends and fellow teachers, Lisa and Jill.  But Lisa's too career-focused to find time for a family.  And Jill's recent unexpected pregnancy could have devastating consequences for her less-than-perfect marriage.

Yet sometimes the golden dream you fervently wish for turns out to be not at all what it seems -- like Emma's enviable suburban postcard life, which is about to be brutally cut short by a perfect husband turned killer.  And in the shocking aftermath, three devastated friends are going to have to come to terms with their own secrets. . .l and somehow learn to move forward after their dream is exposed as a lie. 

Secret Heroes:

Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World

by Paul Martin

Not all American heroes appear in the standard history texts.  Their achievements aren't celebrated like the monumental exploits of presidents, generals, and founding fathers.  But for as long as this great nation has existed, ordinary citizens have done extraordinary things.  In Secret Heroes, author Paul Martin spotlights thirty overlooked Americans, all of whom had an impact on their world and ours, including:

Hercules Mulligan, the New York tailor and spy who saved George Washington's life. . . twice!

Jimmie Angel, the gold seeking bush pilot who, in 1933, discovered the world's highest waterfall in Venezuela.

Carl Akeley, a pioneering taxidermist who killed a leopard with his bare hands and inspired Africa's first national park.

Eliza Scidmore, who convinced the government to plant cherry trees in Washington, D.C. . . . after twenty-four years of lobbying!

The Bond:

Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them

by Wayne Pacelle

In countless fascinating ways, our relationship with animals is an essential part of the human experience.  Now, one of the world's leading champions of animal welfare offers a dramatic examination of our age-old bond to all creatures.  Wayne Pacelle explores the many ways animals contribute to our happiness and well-being, and he reveals scientists' newfound understanding of their remarkable emotional and cognitive capacities.  Pacelle also takes on animal cruelty in its many varieties, as well as stubborn opponents of animal protection -- from multinational agribusiness corporations to the National Rifle Association and even our own government.  An instant classic, The Bond reminds us that animals are at the center of our lives, not just a backdrop, and how we treat them is one of the great themes of the human story.

Winged Obsession:

The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler

by Jessica Speart

One of the world's most beautiful endangered species, butterflies are as lucrative as gorillas, pandas, and rhinos on the black market.  In this cutthroat $200 million business, no one was more successful -- or posed a greater ecological danger -- than Yoshi Kojima, the kingpin of butterfly smugglers.

In Winged Obsession, author Jessica Speart tells the riveting true story of rookie U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent Ed Newcomer's determined crusade to halt the career of a brazen and ingenious criminal with an almost supernatural sixth sense of survival.  But the story doesn't end there.  Speart chronicles her own attempts, while researching the book, to befriend Kojima before betraying him -- unaware that the cagey smuggler had his own plans to make the writer a player in his illegal butterfly trade. 

Fated (The Soul Seekers, #1)

by Alyson Noel

At the center of it all is Daire Santos, a 16-year-old girl whose life has taken a bizarre turn -- animals follow her, crows mock her, glowing people appear out of nowhere -- and the disturbing visions are getting worse.  Sent to stay with her grandmother in the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico, it is there that Daire learns of her true calling as a Soul Seeker -- one who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead.  Now she must embrace her fate and find out if Dace, the boy in her dreams, is her one true love. . . or if he is allied with the enemy she is destined to destroy. 

 

An Unexpected Guest

by Anne Korkeakivi

Clare Moorhouse is an American in Paris who has been leading a graceful life abroad.  There are pleasures to being married to a high-ranking diplomat, but there are also appearances to be upheld and responsibilities to be executed -- like tonight's unexpected dinner party, one crucial to her husband's career.  As Clare navigates the spring-green streets of Paris, shopping for fresh stalks of asparagus, the right cheeses, and flowers for the table, she is haunted by a brief period of violence in her past that threatens to resurface and crack the immaculate veneer she's worked so hard to achieve.  At tonight's dinner, her husband hopes to receive a new posting.  But to Clare, the potential move means wrestling with a secret that has been deeply and carefully buried for twenty-five years -- or so she thought.

The myriad preparations for dinner are only the beginning of her day's complications.  Clare's son appears on her doorstep, absent without permission from his boarding school.  But much more unsettling is a face in the crowd that she glimpses again and again.  A face that belongs to that other, darker era of her life, and one she never expected to see again.

Like Virginia Woolf did in Mrs. Dalloway, Annd Korkeakivi brilliantly weaves the complexities of an age into an act as deceptively simple as hosting a dinner party in this alluring and timely debut. 

Great-Aunt Sophia's Lessons for Bombshells

by Lisa Cach

When Grace Cavanaugh agrees to be a summer companion to her elderly, wealthy Great-Aunt Sophia, she envisions plenty of time to finish her dissertation on sexual politics.  But Sophia has other plans.  With a tart tongue that would put Bette Davis to shame, she sets about transforming her frumpy great-niece into a modern version of the B-movie bombshell Sophia once was, teaching her about men, sexual liberation, and power.  Two very different men provide opportunities for Grace to practice her new skills, but can she truly be both seriously bookish and seriously sexy?  and what does she do when she's attracted to both men?

Wife 22

by Melanie Gideon

Maybe it was my droopy eyelids.

Maybe it was because I was about to turn the same age my mother was when I lost her.

Maybe it was because after almost twenty years of marriage my husband and I seemed to be running out of things to say to each other.

But when the anonymous online study called "Marriage in the 21st Century" showed up in my inbox, I had no idea how profoundly it would change my life.  It wasn't long before I was assigned both a pseudonym (Wife 22) and a caseworker (Researcher 101).  And, just like that, I found myself answering questions. . .

7.  Sometimes I tell him he's snoring when he's not snoring so he'll sleep in the guest room and I can have the bed all to myself.

61.  He was cutting peppers for the salad.  I looked at those hands and thought, I am going to have this man's children.

32.  That if we weren't careful, it was possible to forget one another.

Before the study, my life was an endless blur of school lunches and doctor's appointments, family dinners and budgets.  I was Alice Buckle: spouse of William and mother to Zoe and Peter, drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions.

But these days, I'm also Wife 22.  And somehow, my anonymous correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpected turn.  Soon, I'll have to make a decision -- one that will affect my family, my marriage, my whole life.  But at this moment, I'm too busy answering questons.

As it turns out, confession can be a very powerful aphrodisiac. 

What books came home to you last week?

Samplers & Samplermakers by Mary Jaene Edmonds (Book Review)

Title: Samplers & Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art 1700 - 1850
Author: Mary Jaene Edwards


About the Book: The history of samplermaking in this country is inextricably tied to the history of women's education, for samplers were made in classrooms and were often the first -- and sometimes only -- step in a young woman's education.

Samplers, which are oblong pieces of linen embellished with patterns embroidered in silk threads, were first brought to America in the seventeenth century by settlers from England and northern Europe.  Their very existence is evidence of early schooling for women in this country.

The first samplers stitched in America were nearly identical in style to their Old World counterparts, but within a few decades they began to take on distinctively American characteristics.  The traditional long, narrow format became larger and wider; brilliant colors were employed with abandon; patterns grew more elaborate; and gradually, the staid vignettes of European embroidery gave way to lively, whimsical scenes of great charm and enormous originality.  By 1776, the formally patterned, exquisitely stitched British sampler had disappeared from the colonies, leaving in its place the most delightful sampler embroideries the world has ever seen.

For over two hundred years, a multitude of remarkable women teachers guided the development of this art form in America, carefully composing the beautiful sampler designs and supervising their execution by young female pupils.  Despite the domestic nature of the craft, samplers were not made at home but were taught and made exclusively in private schools for girls.  As school mistresses and the locations of their early American classrooms have gone largely unrecorded, these astonishing embroideries - which are usually signed, dated, and even sometimes inscribed with the names of the towns in which they were worked and the names of the embroiderers' teachers - serve as historic documents, attesting to the existence of colonial education for women.

My thoughts: As you may have guessed by the name of my blog, I enjoy many forms of needlepoint and samplers have always interested me.  I was very naive in what I knew about samplers though and never realized the importance they played in documenting a young girl's education.  I thought they were taught at home, to teach a girl the alphabet and numbers and also sewing skills at the same time. I never considered they were taught in schools.

It was interesting to learn that you can tell what area of the country as well as when a sampler was stitched based on the patterns and symbols used in the design. This book contains more information that can possibly be absorbed in one reading.  It also contains pages upon pages of beautiful samplers, many of them over a hundred years old.

I have a feeling that this will be a book I revisit as I continue to explore different forms of needlepoint and begin to experiment with making my own samplers.

Samplers & Samplermaking
Publisher/Publication Date: Rizzoli International, 1991
ISBN: 978-0-8478-1396-7
168 pages

Aquamarine by Carol Anshaw (Book Review)

Title: Aquamarine
Author: Carol Anshaw

About the Book: Imagine how different your life might be if you had taken another path at a crucial turning point in the past.


With dazzling ingenuity and a bittersweet sense of regret, Aquamarine explores the intricate ways early choices -- made impulsively or agonizingly -- reverberate throughout a life.  Shown in triptych is Jesse Austin, on the verge of turning forty in 1990, inhabiting three equally possible lives, each aching with past loss, each defined by headlong love.


Jesse's choices have variously brought her to marry, divorce, or remain single, to love men or women, to live close to her Missouri hometown or deliberately away from it.  But present circumstances can't dispel her deep restlessness.  Jesse is always haunted by the moment she can't get back to, the moment hidden behind the aquamarine, when she lost the gold medal for the hundred-meter freestyle at the 1968 Olympics to a fatally seductive Australian swimmer named Marty Finch.


Aquamarine magically weaves together three scenarios of options embraced or discarded, seamlessly connected by the emotional ties that bind Jesse to the people in her past: her eccentric godmother, her adoring retarded brother, her withholding mother, and, most important, the elusive Marty Finch.


Infused with warmth, wit, and wry affection, Aquamarine plays exhilaratingly original variations on the themes of lost love and the unlived lives running parallel to the ones we have chosen. 

My thoughts:  I found it appropriate to be writing a review of this book today, as it is my birthday.  How often on birthday's do we look back and think where we might have been had we made different choices? Well, with Aquamarine, we get to see what different paths Jesse's life might have taken.

In each story, her relationship with Marty Finch right before the 1968 Olympics and her loss of the gold medal to her seems to haunt her and overshadow her current life.  She doesn't seem to be able to live fully in the moment, but always seems to be searching for someone or something more.  Her restlessness drives her to sabotage her current relationships (or at least be paranoid about them) whether those relationships are with a husband, lover, or child.  I liked that the peripheral characters all seemed to follow very closely to the same path regardless of the one she chose.  It was interesting to see how her attitudes differed toward these people - or more how their attitudes towards her changed because of her different lifestyles.

This isn't a book that I would have normally picked up.  It was chosen because of a book challenge, but I did find it an interesting read.

Aquamarine
Publisher/Publication Date: HMH/1992
ISBN: 978-0-395-58562-7
197 pages

The Thirteen by Susie Moloney (Book Review)

Title: The Thirteen: A Novel
Author: Susie Moloney
Publisher: William Morrow


About the Book: Haven Woods is suburban heaven, a great place to raise a family. It's close to the city, quiet, with great schools and its own hospital right up the road. Property values are climbing, and the crime rate is practically nonexistent.

Paula Wittmore hasn't been back to Haven Woods since she left as a disgraced teenager. Now she's returning to care for her suddenly ailing mother, and she's bringing her daughter and a pile of emotional baggage. She's also bringing, unknowingly, the last chance for her mother's closest frenemies . . . twelve women bound together by a powerful secret that requires the sacrifice of a thirteenth.

My thoughts: This was definitely a creepy read.  I finished it late at night and didn't really want to let the dog out one more time before I went to bed!  Haven Woods is home to The Thirteen - Thirteen women that have changed over time, adding members when necessary to keep the number current, each sacrificing something along the way.  These women are drawn in, the younger ones because of selfish desires, their priorities not quite what they should be - the older ones who were searching for a better life for their families.  

Now, Chick, one of the older thirteen, has just buried her husband and goes to bed with Valium and a Zippo lighter.  Soon after, Audra, her best friend and also a widow, gets struck with an unknown affliction and is hospitalized.  Izzy, one of the original thirteen, gets Paula, Audra's daughter, to return to Haven Woods with her daughter Rowan.  You see, Izzy needs Paula and her daughter.  The Thirteen are starting to fall apart and they need Paula . . . and Rowan.

Now, I liked Paula, even though she was a little clueless.  I understand that she had a lot on her mind - no job, no place to live, daughter getting suspended - and then having to return to a place where she had no desire to be to take care of her sick mom -- but she closed her eyes to some obvious things that weren't right, even in suburbia.  I really like Rowan.  She was wise enough to be suspicious of things that didn't feel right, and yet innocent enough to accept the paranormal when she learned about them. 

It has been awhile since I have read a "witch" book and I found this one fun and a little creepy - without all the seriousness that some of the witch books bring with them.

~I received a complimentary ecopy of this book from William Morrow in exchange for my review.~

The Thirteen: A Novel

Publisher/Publication Date: William Morrow, Mar 27, 2012

ISBN: 978-0062117663

336 pages

It's Monday! What are you reading? (Mar 26, 2012)

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! 

Currently reading: 

The Priest and the Peaches by Larry Peterson

May the Road Rise Up to Meet You by Peter Troy

The Thirteen by Susie Moloney

The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose

Blood Orchids by Toby Neal

Books up this week:
My goal this week is just to finish all the books I've started!

Bathroom Book:

The Turquoise Mask by Phyllis Whitney

Books read and reviewed since last week:

Shore Excursion by Marie Moore

You're Already Amazing by Holley Gerth

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

Mailbox Monday (Mar 26, 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.


The first book that I got was from Paperback Swap

The Last Thing I Remember
by Andrew Klavan


Charlie West just woke up in someone else's nightmare.


He's strapped to a chair.  He's covered in blood and bruises.  He hurts all over.  And a strange voice outside the door just ordered his death.


The last thing he can remember, he was a normal high-school kid doing normal things -- working on his homework, practicing karate, daydreaming of becoming an air force pilot, writing a pretty girl's number on his hand.  How long ago was that?  Where is he now?  Who is he really?


And more to the point. . . how is he going to get out of this room alive?

After the Fog
by Kathleen Shoop


The sins of the mother. . .


In the steel mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania, site of the infamous 1948 "killing smog,"  headstrong nurse Rose Pavlesic tends to her family and neighbors.  Controlling and demanding, she's created a life that reflects everything she missed growing up as an orphan.  She's even managed to keep her painful secrets hidden from her loving husband, dutiful children, and large extended family.


When a stagnant weather pattern traps poisonous mill gasses in the valley, neighbors grow sicker and Rose's nursing obligations thrust her into conflict she never could have fathomed.  Consequences from her past collide with her present life, making her once clear decisions as gray as the suffocating smog.  As pressure mounts, Rose finds she's not the only one harboring lies.  When the deadly fog finally clears, the loss of trust and faith leaves the Pavlesic family -- and the whole town -- splintered and shocked.  With her new perspective, can Rose finally forgive herself and let her family's healing begin?

Barefoot in the Sand
by Roxanne St. Claire


When all you hold dear is taken away. . .


When a hurricane roars through Lacey Armstrong's home on the coast of Barefoot Bay, she decides all that remains in the rubble is opportunity.  A new hotel is just what Mimosa Key needs, and Lacey and her teenage daughter are due for a fresh start.  And nothing, especially not a hot, younger architect, is going to distract Lacey from finally making her dreams a reality.


A second chance is the only thing you have left.


Love has already cost Clay Walker everything.  And if he's going to have any chance of picking up the pieces of his life, he needs the job as Lacey Armstrong's architect.  What's not in the plans is falling for the headstrong beauty.  Her vision of the future is more appealing than anything he could have ever drafted for himself.  Will Clay's designs on Lacey's heart be more than she can handle, or will she trust him to build something that will last forever?

The Song Remains the Same
by Allison Winn Scotch


She's a wife, a sister, a daughter. . . but she remembers nothing.  Now she must ask herself who she is and choose which stories -- and storytellers -- to trust.


From the New York Times-bestselling author comes a novel that asks:  Who are we without our memories?  And how much of our future is defined by our past?


One of only two survivors of a plane crash, Nell Slattery wakes in the hospital with no memory of it -- or who she is, or was.  Now she must piece together both body and mind -- with the help of family and friends who all have their own agendas.  Her husband, Peter, is trying to erase his recent affair and pending divorce from their marital history.  Her mother is trying to sweep the real story of Nell's long-lost father under the rug.  And Rory, her sister and business partner, is trying to protect their volatile relationship with stories of her own.  Although Nell can't remember all that came before, wondering just doesn't sit right with their version of her history. . . 


Desperate for a key to unlock her past, Nell filters through photos, art, and music -- anything to puzzle together the woman she truly was.  The woman she is.  In the end, she will learn that forgiving betrayals small and large is the only true path to healing herself -- and to finding happiness. 

The Side-Yard Superhero
by Rick D. Niece


Although life's journey took him far from his childhood home, Rick D. Niece, Ph.D., never forgot the people he met and the lessons he learned growing up in picturesque DeGraff, Ohio, population 900.  A small-town newspaper boy who became a lifelong educator himself, Dr. Niece was deeply touched by the endearing residents of DeGraff who shaped his youth -- especially a young man named Bernie Jones.  Confined to a wheelchair with severe cerebral palsy, Bernie became Rickie's friend, inspiration and superhero, opening a world of compassion, trust and adventure to them both.


Sharing his carefully pocketed memories with fond nostalgia, Niece invites readers from all walks of life to join him as he pays tribute to small-town America, the unbreakable bonds of friendship, and the triumph of the human spirit. 

Kingdom Keepers V: Shell Game
by Ridley Pearson


As the five Kingdom Keepers enter high school, everything is about to change.  The Maintenance Base that controls all four parks in Disney World is under attack by the Overtakers, a group determined to change Disney forever.  Relationships between the Keepers are no longer as simple as they once were.  In fact, nothing is as simple as it once was.


An after-hours visit to Typhoon Lagoon is a game changer.  The Keepers lose one of their most valuable supporters.  But there's work to do. . .


the Disney Dream leaves Port Canaveral on an historic cruise to Los Angeles with a special treat in store for guests:  the Disney Host Interactive teenage guides are on board.


Finn, Maybeck, Charlene, Willa, and Philly join celebrity guests as the DHI experience moves to one of the most advanced cruise ships in the world.


But all is not right below decks.  Strange things are happening.  Unexplained phenomena.  Only the Kingdom Keepers know the truth behind their invitation to be in attendance; nearly ever Disney villain is aboard the ship, including Maleficent.


the Overtakers have infiltrated the cast and crew.  And no one knows what they have planned.


The Dream sets sail filled with enthusiastic guests and crew.  But not for long.  Maleficent takes over a video screen and warns the guests of trouble to come.  With the ship arriving at the beaches of Castaway Cay -- its first of many exotic ports of call -- the Kingdom Keepers are under attack; back home the Base is threatened and about to fall.  The Overtakers have expanded in ways never foreseen, and it's clear they intend to use this element of surprise to accomplish what has eluded them so far: victory.


But not if Finn Whitman and friends have anything to say about it. 

Full Body Burden: Growing up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
by Kristen Iversen


Full Body Burden is a haunting work of narrative nonfiction about a young woman growing up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear-weapons plant once designated "the most contaminated site in America."  It's the story of growing up in the shadow of the Cold War, in a landscape at once startlingly beautiful and -- unknown to those who lived there -- tainted with invisible yet deadly particles of plutonium.


It's also a book about the destructive power of secrets -- both family secrets and government secrets. Her father's hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what they made at Rocky Flats (cleaning supplies, her mother guessed) -- best not to inquire too deeply into any of it.  But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions.  And as this memoir unfolds, it reveals itself as a brilliant work of investigative journalism -- a shocking account of the government's sustained attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic and radioactive waste released by Rocky Flats, and of local residents' vain attempts to seek justice in court.  Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book promises to have a very long half-life. 


What books came home to you this week?

Recent Winners!

I have been lax in posting the winners of some of the last giveaways - so here they are all together!  They have all been notified.

Winner of All He Saw Was the Girl by Peter Leonard - Julie Le

Winner of Hades (YA Paranormal Activity Blog Hop) - Maritza Robinson

Winner of the short story - Leslie and the Lion - Sara Kovach

Winner of 3 Carol Mason e-books (Lucky Leprechaun Blog Hop) - Kaerah Lopez

You're Already Amazing by Holley Gerth (Book review)

Title: You're Already Amazing: Embracing Who You Are, Becoming All God Created You to Be
Author: Holley Gerth
Publisher: Revell


About the book: Pssst. . .pull up a chair and I'll tell you a secret.  You'd better lean in close for this one.


Ready?


You don't have to do more, be more, have more.


I'm sure there are security alarms going off somewhere.  You should probably hide this book when your in-laws come over.


But it's true.


It's the kind of true that will change your life, set you free, and make you wake up smiling for the first time in a long time.  I know because that'ss what it did for me. . .


So watch out, sister.  If you keep reading, you just might be next.

With this heart-to-heart message, Holley Gerth invites you to embrace one very important truth -- that you truly are already amazing.  Like a trusted friend, Holley gently shows you how to forget the lies and expectations the world feeds you and instead believe that God loves you and has bigger plans for your life than you've even imagined.

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

My thoughts: I love these type of books, but I always have a hard time reviewing them.  I think it is because different parts of the book can speak differently to everyone.  So I guess I will just tell you what part touched me and then give you an overview of the book's layout.

I have been having a tough time lately and my emotions have been all over the place. My daughter recently entered into an open adoption with a local couple and we have been dealing with the facts that what open adoption means to us, does not mean the same to them.  Even though we had plenty of discussions before hand and thought we were all on the same page.  So anyway, I cried through out the entire first chapter. And it really hadn't even started to get to the meat of the subject.

The chapter that really got to me was "Why Do I Feel This Way?".  Did I mention that I have been really emotional lately?  I did?  Okay - well, at one point in the chapter she says - Your emotions have nothing to do with reality right now.  Does that ever happen to you?  You get all bent out of shape emotionally, but when you really think about it, you are not quite sure why?

Another question that she posed in the book was, and this one is from memory because I couldn't find it, but it had something to do with what is behind the way you are feeling right now - what is driving your emotions.  (and I was thinking that a lot of my emotions right now are being driven by fear - afraid that I won't get to know my granddaughter like I want to, afraid that my daughter will not be able to move forward, afraid that she will think she did the wrong thing) It made me take a step back and try to put some perspective on everything and, not that I have completely surrendered it to God, I am on a better track.  I still have a little stubborn streak that I have to let go of, but I am aware of it and know I will get there.

This is definitely a book that I would love to share in a Bible study with a group of women, but at any rate, I plan on going back and spending a little more quality time in each chapter. There is a "Go Deeper Guide" in the back of the book that would be great for either a group or for my individual use.

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

You're Already Amazing

Publisher/Publication Date: Revell, March 2012

ISBN: 978-0-8007-2060-5

216 pages

Shore Excursion by Marie Moore (Book Review)

Shore Excursion 

(Sidney Marsh Mystery #1)

Marie Moore

Camel Press

Travel agents are a vanishing breed, but Sidney Marsh, a New York transplant from Mississippi, is holding her ground--at least on land. She is the tour leader on a cruise through Scandinavia for a group of eccentric senior citizens who call themselves the High Steppers. Sidney expects her days to be filled with long meals, shopping expeditions and visits to museums, churches and fjords. But this cruise is anything but routine. There is a killer on board, targeting the High Steppers and quite possibly herself.

After the first suspicious death, the captain and his crew are grimly determined to carry on as usual. Disgusted with their inaction, Sidney decides to take matters into her own hands and launch her own investigation. She enlists the halfhearted help of her friend and business partner, the flamboyant and fun-loving Jay Wilson. Suspects abound. What about those two handsome young men who stay mysteriously aloof? One of them has his eye on Sidney. So does another passenger, far too charming and again too young to fit the "High Stepper" mold. Then there's Captain Vargos, the arrogant ladies' man whose plans to thwart Sidney's investigation might include seduction.

Who is that crew member shadowing Sidney? Is the theater really haunted? Even the High Steppers themselves are not as predictable or harmless as they seem. The closer Sydney gets to the truth, the less she understands. Shore Excursion is the first book in a new mystery series featuring amateur sleuth Sidney Marsh.

Marie Moore Bio:

Shore Excursion is Marie Moore’s first novel, but not her first writing experience, and like Sidney Marsh, she is a native Mississippian. She graduated from Ole Miss, married a lawyer in her hometown, taught junior high science, raised a family, and worked for a small weekly newspaper, first as a writer and later as Managing Editor. She wrote hard news, features and a weekly column, sold ads, did interviews, took photos, and won a couple of MS Press Association awards for some of her stories.

In 1985, Marie left the newspaper to open a retail travel agency. She completed agency and computer training with Airlines Reporting Corporation, Delta Airlines and TWA, earned her CTC (Certified Travel Counselor) designation, and joined the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), International Air Transport Association (IATA), and Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). For the next 15 years, she managed her agency, sold travel, escorted group tours, sailed on 19 cruises, and visited over 60 countries. Much of the background of Shore Excursion comes from that experience.

Marie also did location scouting and worked as the local contact for several feature films, including Heart of Dixie, The Gun in Betty Lou’s Handbag, and Robert Altman’s Cookie’s Fortune.

In mid-1999, because of her husband's work, Marie sold the travel agency and moved to Jackson, MS, then New York City, Anna Maria Island, FL, and Arlington, VA. She and her husband now live in Memphis, TN and Holly Springs, MS.

Marie is a member of Sisters in Crime. 

You can find her at her website: http://www.mariemooremysteries.com/

~I received a complimentary ebook from Tribute Books in exchange for my review.~

My thoughts: This was a fun cozy mystery to read and you got to learn a little about a lot of foreign places on the way.  You know how when you first start to read a book you begin to picture the characters in your head?  For some reason, I was never able to do this with Sydney.  She didn't seem to be hung up on her looks at all, but seemed to get her share of attention from the opposite sex and evidently cleaned up nicely.  I just could never get a picture of her in my head!  

At first there were a lot of characters because of all the High Steppers, but I quickly sorted out who was who.  They seemed like they would be an interesting lot to travel with, with all of their quirkiness.      

I thought that I had it all figured out and that it was taking Sydney, with Jay's on again, off again help, an awfully long time to catch up to what was going on.  But, as usual, I was wrong.  I liked Sydney and the fact that she didn't really take herself too seriously.  She enjoys her work as a travel agent and gets along well with the High Steppers, even though the majority of them are much older than herself. She trusts her instincts when it comes to men, and this usually lands her in hot water as her instincts are pretty fallible.  I think this makes her a little less confident in her professional life than she should be.  What she should do is trust her business instincts and question her personal ones!  

All in all it was an enjoyable read and I would definitely read another Sydney Marsh mystery!

Shore Excursion

Publisher/Publication Date: Camel Press, April 1, 2012

ISBN: 978-1-60381-874-2

230 pages