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

Sunday, August 26, 2012

It's Monday! What are you reading? (Aug 27, 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! 

Work was great this week and it got me to be more productive at home too!  Hopefully I can get my reviews caught up this week and I am off to a good start. 

Current Giveaways:
Desert Rice by Angela Scott (please enter and leave a comment - blog with most comments can win a prize!)

Upcoming giveaways - this week:
Back to the Books Giveaway Hop



Currently reading this week: 


Reading for Various read-a-longs in August: I didn't get any further on any of these, but did decide to give up one. 
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (still enjoying this one, just have to remember to put it in my car!)
The Cider House Rules by John Irving - (Haven't progressed much further)


Upcoming books:
The Angry Woman Suite by Lee Fulbright
Mad World: Epidemic by Samaire Provost
Freak by Jennifer Hillier

Bathroom Book:

Books read and needing to be reviewed:
The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter
The Witch is Back by H.P. Mallory
The Search by Shelley Shepard Gray
The Memory Thief by Emily Colin



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


Permanence by Vincent Zandri (Book Review)

Title: Permanence
Author: Vincent Zandri
Publisher: Bear Media, 2 edition

About the book:  Based upon Vincent Zandri's most anthologized Pushcart Prize-nominated short story of the same title, Permanence, is the "Hitchcockian" story of Mary Kismet, a travel agent and grieving mother of a toddler who suffered an apparent accidental drowning. Now, all alone in the world, she attempts to ease the pain of her suffering by immersing herself, body and soul, into a love affair with her psychiatrist, a man haunted by his own demons. A tragic novel of obsession, dark compulsions, and madness, Permanence transports the ill-fated lovers from New York to Venice, Italy, and back again.

My thoughts: I don't know where to start with this one.  It is hard to say that I enjoyed something that was actually very tragic and dark, but I did.  The story is told from Mary's POV, so we really get to see inside her troubled mind.  She has not been able to get over the drowning of her toddler and only child, and the blame that she lays on herself.  Her husband has left her because of it.  She has left her travel agent job and only leaves her apartment to visit her psychiatrist.  A man who has his own dark secrets and for whatever reason has stepped over the boundaries and entered into an affair with Mary.  I am not sure which one of these people to feel more sorry for.

This novella kept me captivated, and as most novella's are, it was a quick read.  Mary stayed with me for quite awhile after I finished it, as part of the ending took me by complete surprise.  And what I found out at the end just added to the tragedy.

~I received a complimentary ecopy of Permanence from Partners in Crime blog tours in exchange for my review~  

Permanence
Publisher/Publication Date: Bear Media, May 2012 (2nd edition)
ASIN:  B0080PZ6XI
143 pages

Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce (Book Review)

Title: Some Kind of Fairy Tale
Author: Graham Joyce
Publisher: Doubleday

About the Book: It is Christmas afternoon and Peter Martin gets an unexpected phonecall from his parents, asking him to come round. It pulls him away from his wife and children and into a bewildering mystery.

He arrives at his parents house and discovers that they have a visitor. His sister Tara. Not so unusual you might think, this is Christmas after all, a time when families get together. But twenty years ago Tara took a walk into the woods and never came back and as the years have gone by with no word from her the family have, unspoken, assumed that she was dead. Now she's back, tired, dirty, dishevelled, but happy and full of stories about twenty years spent travelling the world, an epic odyssey taken on a whim.

But her stories don't quite hang together and once she has cleaned herself up and got some sleep it becomes apparent that the intervening years have been very kind to Tara. She really does look no different from the young woman who walked out the door twenty years ago. Peter's parents are just delighted to have their little girl back, but Peter and his best friend Richie, Tara's one time boyfriend, are not so sure. Tara seems happy enough but there is something about her. A haunted, otherworldly quality. Some would say it's as if she's off with the fairies. And as the months go by Peter begins to suspect that the woods around their homes are not finished with Tara and his family...

My thoughts:  I am not really a fan of fairy tales and this did not make me one.  It was just an okay read for me.  Where I found the prose to be enjoyable, I could not get completely invested in the storyline.  When Tara returns, she tries to spin some story about world travels, but it is not very believable -- especially since there has been no word from her at all in all that time.  (She thought she had only been gone for 6 months when she first returns, as time in the fairy world travels at a different speed).  Maybe it was because she was only 16, but she didn't seem invested in either world very much, she just kind of wandered through both (maybe that is what fairies do. . .)

Her family did try to run some different tests on her and had her visiting a psychiatrist to try to figure out what had happened to her, but nothing was very conclusive.  Her boyfriend and brother both tried to reconnect with her, but neither had much luck.  Maybe if I was a fairy tale fan this would have been a fantastic read, as I did like the author's style -- just couldn't relate to the story.

~I received a complimentary ecopy of this book from Edelweiss/Doubleday in exchange for my unbiased review.~

Some Kind of Fairy Tale
Publisher/Publication Date: Doubleday, June 2012
ISBN: 9780385535786
320 pages


Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog by Lisa Scottoline (Book Review)

Title: Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog
Author: Lisa Scottoline
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

About the book:  A hilarious collection of stories from the life of the New York Times bestselling author of Look Again.

At last, together in one collection, are Lisa Scottoline’s wildly popular Philadelphia Inquirer columns. In her column, Lisa lets her hair down, roots and all, to show the humorous side of life from a woman’s perspective. The Sunday column debuted in 2007 and on the day it started, Lisa wrote, “I write novels, so I usually have 100,000 words to tell a story. In a column there’s only 700 words. I can barely say hello in 700 words. I’m Italian.” The column gained momentum and popularity. Word of mouth spread, and readers demanded a collection. Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog is that collection. Seventy vignettes. Vintage Scottoline.


In this collection, you’ll laugh about:
• Being caught braless in the emergency room
• Betty and Veronica’s Life Lessons for Girls
• A man’s most important body part
• Interrupting as an art form
• A religion men and women can worship
• Real estate ads as porn
• Spanx are public enemy number one
• And so much more about life, love, family, pets, and the pursuit of jeans that actually fit! (description from Goodreads)


My thoughts:  I have had Lisa Scottoline on my TBR list for awhile - but it was her Rosato and Associates series that I thought I would read.  I picked this one up for a reading challenge and laughed all the way through it.  The snapshots that she shares with us of her family include stories about her mom, her brother and her daughter - as well as her much loved dogs.

Surprisingly, I could really relate to many things that she wrote about, as I have college age daughters, a sometimes feisty mother, and much love for my pets.  Through her writings, she seems like someone that, if she lived around here, that I would be friends with.  I am not sure that men would relate to her book, or women of a different age.  But at the stage of life that I am currently in, it definitely rang a bell with me.  I look forward to being able to add some of her thrillers to my "read" list soon!

Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog
Publisher/Publication Date: St. Martin's Press, Nov 2009
ISBN: 978312587482
304 pages



Mailbox Monday (Aug 25, 2012)



Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia from A girl and her books.  This is where I share the titles I have received for review or purchased during the past week.  Mailbox Monday will be hosted in August  byJennifer D at 5 Minutes for Books.


Eve and Adam
by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

In the beginning, there was an apple.

And then there was a car crash, a horrible, debilitating injury, and the hospital.  But before Evening Spiker could even lift her head out of the fog of unconsciousness, there was a strange boy checking her out of the hospital and rushing her to Spiker Biopharmaceuticals -- her mother's research facility.  Just when Eve thinks she will die -- not from her injuries, but from boredom -- her mother gives her a special project:  Create the perfect boy.

Using an amazingly detailed simulation that her mother claims is designed to teach human genetics, Eve starts building a boy from the ground up: eyes, hair, muscles, even a brain, and potential personality traits.  Eve is creating Adam.  And he will be just perfect. . . won't he?


Heaven Should Fall
by Rebecca Coleman

Alone since her mother's death, Jill Wagner wants to eat, sleep and breathe Cade Olmstead when he bursts upon her life -- golden, handsome and ambitious.  Even putting college on hold feels like a minor sacrifice when she discovers she's pregnant with Cade's baby.  But it won't be the last sacrifice she'll have to make.

Retreating to the Olmsteads' New England farm seems sensible, if not ideal:  they'll regroup and welcome the baby, surrounded by Cade's family.  But the remote, ramshackle place already feels crowded. Cade's mother tends to his ailing father, while Cade's pious sister, her bigoted husband and their rowdy sons overrun the house.  Only Cade's brother, Elias, a combat veteran with a damaged spirit, gives Jill an ally amidst the chaos, along with a glimpse in to his disturbing childhood.  But his burden is heavy, and she alone cannot kindle his will to live.

The tragedy of Elias is like a killing frost, withering Cade in particular, transforming his idealism into bitterness and paranoia.  Taking solace in caring for her newborn son, Jill looks up to find her golden boy is gone.  In Cade's place is a desperate man willing to endanger them all in the name of vengeance. . . unless Jill can find a way out. 




A Father First
by Dwyane Wade

Dwyane Wade, the eight-time All-Star for the Miami Heat, has miraculously defied the odds throughout his career and his life.  In 2006, in just his third season in the NBA, Dwyane was named the Finals' MVP, after leading the Miami Heat to the Championship title, basketball's ultimate prize.  Two years later, after possible career-ending injuries, he again rose from the ashes of doubt to help win a gold medal for the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  As co-captain, he helped lead the Heat to triumph in the 2012 NBA Championship.  Little wonder that legendary coach Pat Riley has called Dwyane "B.I.W." -- Best in the World.

As incredible as those achievements have been it's off the court where Dwyane has sought his most cherished goal: being a good dad to his sons, Zaire and Zion, by playing a meaningful role in their lives.  Recounting his fatherhood journey, Dwyane begins his story in March 2011 with the news that after a long, bitter custody battle, he has been awarded sole custody of his sons in a virtually unprecedented court decision.  A Father First chronicles the lessons Dwyane has learned as a single dad from the moment of the judge's ruling that instantly changed his life and the lives of his boys, and then back to the events in the past that shaped his dreams, prayers, and promises.

As the son of divorced parents determined to get along so that he and his sister Tragil could have loving relationships with both of them, Dwyane's early years were spent on Chicago's South Side.  With poverty, violence, and drugs consuming the streets and their mom descending into addiction, Tragil made the heroic decision to take her younger brother to live with their father.  After moving his household to suburban Robbins, Illinois, Dwyane Wade Sr. become Dwyane's first basketball coach.  While this period laid the groundwork for Dwyane's later mission for fathers to take greater responsibility for their kids, he was also inspired by his mother's miraculous victory over addiction and her gift for healing others.  Both his mother and his father showed him that the unconditional love between parents and children is a powerful guiding force.

In A Father First, we meet the coaches, mentors, and teammates who played pivotal roles in Dwyane's stunning basketball career -- from his early days shooting hoops on the neighborhood courts in Chicago, to his rising stardom at Marquette University in Milwaukee, to his emergence as an unheralded draft pick by the Miami Heat.  This book is a revealing, personal story of one of America's top athletes, but it is also a call to action -- from a man who had to fight to be in his children's lives -- that will show mothers and fathers how to step up and be parents themselves.




Every Day
by David Levithan

Every day I am someone else.  I am myself -- I know I am myself -- but I am also someone else.  It has always been like this.

Every morning, A wakes in a different person's body, a different person's life.  There's never any warning about where it will be or who it will be.  A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live:  Never get too attached.  Avoid being noticed.  Do not interfere.

It's all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon.  From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply.  Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with -- day in, day out, day after day.

With his new novel, David Levithan has pushed himself to new creative heights.  He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A's world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day. 



Murder Most Austen
by Tracy Kiely

A dedicated Anglophile and Janeite, Elizabeth Parker is hoping the trip to the annual Jane Austen Festival in Bath will distract her from her lack of a job and her uncertain future with her boyfriend, Peter.

On the plane ride to England, she and Aunt Winnie meet Professor Richard Baines, a self-proclaimed expert on all things Austen.  His outlandish claims that within each Austen novel there is a sordid secondary story is second only to his odious theory on the true cause of Austen's death.  When Baines is found stabbed to death in his Mr. Darcy attire during the costume ball, it appears that Baines's theories have finally pushed one Austen fan too far.  Aunt Winnie's friend becomes the prime suspect, and Aunt Winnie enlists Elizabeth to find the professor's real killer.  With an ex-wife, a scheming daughter-in-law, and a trophy wife, not to mention a festival's worth of die-hard Austen fans, there are no shortage of suspects.

This fourth in Tracy Kiely's charming series is pure delight.  If Bath is the number-one mecca for Jane Austen fans, Murder Most Austen is the perfect read for those who love some laughs and quick wit with their mystery.


What books came home to you this week?

Friday, August 24, 2012

My Writing Quirks and Must Haves (Guest Post by Angela Scott)


My Writing Quirks and Must Haves
by Angela Scott

I am a quirky kinda gal, so yeah, I've got some writing oddities that are part of my daily writing process. I love comfy clothes. I can write a whole better wearing my PJ's than I can wearing jeans, a bra, and a blouse. If I'm comfortable, then my writing flows a lot easier. Weird, but true. On a really good writing day, I wear PJ's well into the mid afternoon. 

Also, I have a desk and I surround it with cute quotes and inspirational sayings to motivate me, but I never write at my desk. Hardly ever. Instead, I prefer sitting on my bed, cross-legged (in my PJ's), with my laptop across my knees. As I said, I'm all for comfort. This probably goes back to my college days when all I had in my dorm room was my bed. That's where I did my homework and studied for tests.

The sound of kids screaming or fighting or the TV turned up and blaring Spongebob zaps all my creativity faster than a cheetah chasing a gazelle. Unfortunately, this is my life, so to counteract the craziness I try to get up before them and get some writing in. If that can't be done (the other day I got up at 6:30am to write and by 6:45am two kids were up—they thwarted my plan), then I make sure they're fed and content before I put in my earbuds and listen to some music. Music drowns out the kids and depending on the song, can really help in the writing process.

Next to me is usually perched a nice frothy glass of Diet Pepsi and a little something to snack on—peanuts, pretzels, carrots. It helps fight off the munchies and keeps me at the laptop where I need to be. If I head to the kitchen for a snack, I get easily distracted and can end up doing a sink full of dishes and mopping a floor and who wants that?

Before I even start typing, I have to check email and facebook. If I don't I will fret and wonder. Most of the time, nothing is happening over there, but I still have to check to ease my mind. This can be dangerous though since , as I've said before, I'm easily distracted and get carried off in the social media world for hours and hours. So this is tricky and has to be handled with care.

For the most part, those are my quirks. Nothing too crazy like singing and chanting to invoke the muses or anything, just me in my PJ's sitting on my bed. It works for me.  


Angela Scott is the author of Desert Rice, currently touring with Reading Addiction Blog Tours.  For more information, please visit my excerpt and giveaway.  

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Desert Rice by Angela Scott - Excerpt and Giveaway!


YA Contemporary 
Title: Desert Rice 
Author: Angela Scott
 Date Published: 8/13/12 


 Synopsis: Samantha Jean Haggert is a beautiful twelve-year-old girl—but no one knows it. All they see is an awkward boy in a baseball cap and baggy pants. Sam’s not thrilled with the idea of hiding her identity, but it’s all part of her older brother’s plan to keep Sam safe from male attention and hidden from the law. Fifteen-year-old Jacob will stop at nothing to protect his sister, including concealing the death of the one person who should have protected them in the first place—their mother. 

 Sam and Jacob try to outrun their past by stealing the family car and traveling from West Virginia to Arizona, but the adult world proves mighty difficult to navigate, especially for two kids on their own. Trusting adults has never been an option; no adult has ever given them a good reason. But when Sam meets “Jesus”—who smells an awful lot like a horse—in the park, life takes a different turn. He saved her once, and may be willing to save Sam and her brother again, if only they admit what took place that fateful day in West Virginia. The problem? Sam doesn’t remember, and Jacob isn’t talking. 


Author Bio


I hear voices. Tiny fictional people sit on my shoulders and whisper their stories in my ear. Instead of medicating myself, I decided to pick up a pen, write down everything those voices tell me, and turn it into a book. I’m not crazy. I’m an author. For the most part, I write contemporary Young Adult novels. However, through a writing exercise that spiraled out of control, I found myself writing about zombies terrorizing the Wild Wild West—and loving it. My zombies don’t sparkle, and they definitely don’t cuddle. At least, I wouldn’t suggest it. 
I live on the benches of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains with two lovely children, one teenager, and a very patient husband. I graduated from Utah State University with a B.A. degree in English, not because of my love for the written word, but because it was the only major that didn’t require math. I can’t spell, and grammar is my arch nemesis. But they gave me the degree, and there are no take backs. As a child, I never sucked on a pacifier; I chewed on a pencil. I’ve been writing that long. It has only been the past few years that I’ve pursued it professionally, forged relationships with other like-minded individuals, and determined to make a career out of it. 
You can find me at my website, where I blog obsessively about my writing process and post updates on my current works. I’m also on Twitter and Facebook, but be forewarned, I tweet and post more than a normal person. 

Contact 
Blog 
Twitter - @whimsywriting
Facebook


Excerpt from Desert Rice

We stopped in a remote town outside of Kansas City, and while Jacob added a few dollars of gas to the car, I went inside the convenience store to use the restroom. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, but when I returned to the car, Jacob kept glancing around, and his hands shook even though the sun hung high in the midday sky.

"We need to go. Get in the car."

His jitteriness made me nervous. I couldn't see anything around that should, but I climbed into the car as he'd told me to. He reached across and locked my door, and I tensed and sat rigid in my seat.

"What's going on?"

"Not now." He started the car and we pulled onto the highway.

He kept looking into the rearview mirror every few seconds, so I turned in my seat and glanced behind us, too. I didn't see a thing. No one followed us.

"Is it the police?"

He didn't say anything, but pressed on the gas to make the car go faster. I continued to watch behind us, but after awhile I gave up and turned back around in my seat. I'd no idea why he acted the way he did.

"You're scaring me." I watched my brother's profile. "What's going on?"

"We're going to have to cut your hair."

That took me by surprise, and I struggled to understand what one thing had to do with the other. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you see how those guys back there looked at you?" He turned and glanced at me before staring ahead again.

"What guys?" I had no idea what he was talking about.

"The ones sitting outside the gas station. They watched you the whole time."

"You mean the guys with the motorcycles?" A couple of bikers parked outside the convenience store hadn't appeared to be doing much of anything, just sitting there. I'd hardly noticed them at all.

He nodded. "They watched everything you did."

"I didn't see them watching me."

He sneered. "That doesn't surprise me. You don't notice anything."

"So what," I argued. "So they were watching me. What's the big deal? Why do I have to cut my hair?"

Jacob breathed deeply and then released it. "Because you didn't see the way they looked at you." He kept driving onward. "Sam, don't you have any better clothes than this?" He tugged on my tank shirt. "You've got to get rid of this and those cutoff shorts too. You're attracting the wrong kind of attention."

"I'm not trying to attract any attention. I'm not doing anything—"

"It's not you, Sam," he interrupted. "It's those perverts that I'm worried about. You're growing up and men are starting to look."

Why would men be looking at a twelve-year-old girl? A chill ran down my spine, and I shivered while looking back out the rear window again. No one followed behind us.

I slumped back down in my seat. "So, why do I have to cut my hair?"

He stared at me and then looked away. "Because, Sam, the best way to keep you safe is to make you look like you're my brother."




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, August 20, 2012

Free Blogger Opportunity!


Jenn's Blah Blah Blog, Diva Fabulosa and Simply Shawn & Jenn are bringing you an awesome FREE Blogger Opportunity! They will be giving away $200, in their Have it your way event! How will this work? Whatever the winner wants, the winner will get! Kindle Fire, PayPal Cash, Amazing, Wal-Mart, Target! Who cares, they get just what they want! Bloggers get FREE Facebook link with the option to purchase additional links! Jenn's Blah Blah Blog had a giveaway just like this called the Sizzling Summer Giveaway that was fabulous, so were going to bring it back over and over and over again! This time Simply Shawn & Jenn has decided to join in the fun to celebrate reaching over 10K fans! About the event
  • Prize: Whatever you want up to $200 (shipping included) Do you want a Kindle Fire? Maybe an iPod, hummm maybe gift card to Target, oh wait Paypal cash? We don't care we want you to have it your way! So let the games begin, and let's have some fun with this one!
  • Event will run from Sept 20th until Oct 20th.
  • Free Facebook
  • Additional likes $2
  • Daily Votes $3
  • Co-host spots $10. (with this you will receive your blog mentioned all blogs posts, FREE Facebook, and FREE Twitter! If you choose this please be sure to add your links in the assigned spots on the form below)
You can sign up for this event, HERE  Please put *Books and Needlepoint* in the "who referred you" line on the form!

Cover Reveal! Conjure by Lea Nolan (and giveaway!)


Conjure
by Lea Nolan
expected publication date: Sept 24, 2012



Be careful what you search for…

Emma Guthrie expects this summer to be like any other in the South Carolina Lowcountry--hot and steamy with plenty of beach time alongside her best friend and secret crush, Cooper Beaumont, and Emma’s ever-present twin brother, Jack. But then a mysterious eighteenth-century message in a bottle surfaces, revealing a hidden pirate bounty. Lured by the adventure, the trio discovers the treasure and unwittingly unleashes an ancient Gullah curse that attacks Jack with the wicked flesh-eating Creep and promises to steal Cooper’s soul on his approaching sixteenth birthday.


When a strange girl appears, bent on revenge; demon dogs become a threat; and Jack turns into a walking skeleton; Emma has no choice but to learn hoodoo magic to undo the hex, all before summer—and her friends--are lost forever.

Well what do you think?  Do you like the cover?  I love the shade of blue, for some reason it makes me think of magic - maybe it is the little twinkling stars with the fog-like blur.  I think it is a great cover and an interesting synopsis - this should be a fun book to read.

You can learn more about it on Goodreads, or connect with the author on her website or Twitter.


Meanwhile - while you are waiting for the book to come out in September, sign up for a digital ARC of Conjure the author is having below! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday, August 19, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Aug 20, 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! 

My sister came out this week at the last minute for a visit, so I hardly read at all as we were too busy visiting and running around!  She goes home tomorrow, but with the start of school (work for me) this week, I am now behind!   

Current Giveaways:

Upcoming giveaways - this week:
Desert Rice by Angela Scott



Currently reading this week: 


Reading for Various read-a-longs in August: I didn't get any further on any of these, but did decide to give up one. 
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (on audio - in the middle of disc 2 - Love it!)
The Cider House Rules by John Irving - (Just starting Chapter 3 and really like it!)
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (This one is still a maybe - haven't started it yet)
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury - (haven't gotten to start this one yet)
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - Gave this one up -too hard to follow on audio and print version was still out at the library. 

Upcoming books:
The Memory Thief  by Emily Colin
And When She Was Good by Laura Lippman




Books reviewed last week: 
Sadly, none

Books read and needing to be reviewed:
Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog by Lisa Scottoline
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce
The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
Permanence by Vincent Zandri
The Witch is Back by H.P. Mallory
The Search by Shelley Shepard Gray



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


Mailbox Monday (Aug 20, 2012)



Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia from A girl and her books.  This is where I share the titles I have received for review or purchased during the past week.  Mailbox Monday will be hosted in August  byJennifer D at 5 Minutes for Books.

I go back to work tomorrow morning!  (Posting this on Sunday night)  I am looking forward to it, but all the sudden it feels like I am really behind on my reading!  I did have a good week in books though - and also was able to hit some garage sales and picked up a few more.



The Roots of the Olive Tree
by Courtney Miller Santo

Meet the Keller family, five generations of firstborn women -- an unbroken line of daughters -- living together in the same house in a secluded olive grove in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California.

Anna, the family matriarch, is 112 and determined to become the oldest person in the world.  An indomitable force, strong in mind and firm in body, she rules Hill House, the family home she shares with her daughter Bets, granddaughter Callie, great-granddaughter Deb, and great-great-granddaughter Erin.  Though they lead ordinary lives, there is an element of the extraordinary to these women:  the eldest two are defying longevity norms.  Their unusual lifespans have caught the attention of a geneticist who believes they hold the key to breakthroughs that will revolutionize the aging process for everyone.

But Anna is not interested in unlocking secrets the Keller blood holds.  She believes there are some truths that must stay hidden, including certain knowledge about her origins that she has carried for more than a century.  Like Anna, each of the Keller women conceals her true self from the others.  While they are bound by blood and the house they share, living together has not always been easy.  And it is about to become more complicated now that Erin, the youngest, is back, alone and pregnant, after two years abroad with an opera company.  Her return and the arrival of the geneticist who has come to study the Keller family ignites explosive emotions that these women have kept buried and uncovers revelations that will shake them all to their roots.

Told from varying viewpoints, Courtney Miller Santo's compelling and evocative debut novel captures the joys and sorrows of family -- the love, secrets, disappointments, jealousies, and forgiveness that tie generations to one another.  




Safekeeping
by Karen Hesse

Radley's parents had warned her that all hell would break loose if the APP took power.  And now, with the president assassinated and the government cracking down on citizens, the news is filled with images of vigilante groups,  frenzied looting, and police raids.  It seems as if all hell has broken loose.

Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents.  Travel restrictions and delays are worse than ever, and by the time Radley's plane lands in New Hampshire, she's been traveling for over twenty-four hours.  Exhausted, she heads outside to find her parents -- who always come, day or night, no matter when or where she lands -- aren't there.

Her cell phone is dead, her credit cards are worthless, and she doesn't have the proper travel papers to cross state lines.  Out of money and options, Radley starts walking. . .

Illustrated with 50 of her own haunting and beautiful photographs, this is a vision of a future America that only Karen Hesse could write:  real, gripping, and deeply personal.





The Reunion
by Dan Walsh

Everything lost can be found.

Aaron Miller knows a thing or two about loss.  He's lost love.  Dignity.  Second, and even third, chances.  Once honored for his heroism, he now lives in near obscurity, working as a handyman in a humble trailer park.

But God is a master at finding and redeeming the lost things of life.  Unbeknownst to Aaron, someone is searching for him.

With deep insight into the human heart, consummate storyteller Dan Walsh gently weaves a tale of a life spent in the shadows but meant for the light.  Through tense scenes of war and tender moments of romance, The Reunion will make you believe that everyone can get a second chance at life and love. 



Fire in the Ashes
by Jonathan Kozol

In this powerful and culminating work about a group of inner-city children he has known for many years, Jonathan Kozol returns to the scene of his prizewinning books Rachel and Her Children and Amazing Grace, and to the children he has vividly portrayed, to share with us their fascinating journeys and unexpected victories as they grow into adulthood.

For nearly fifty years, Jonathan has pricked the conscience of his readers by laying bare the savage inequalities inflicted upon children for no reason but the accident of being born to poverty within a wealthy nation.  A winner of the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, and countless other honors, he has persistently crossed the lines of class and race, first as a teacher, then as the author of tender and heartbreaking books about the children he has called "the outcasts of our nation's ingenuity."  But Jonathan is not a distant and detached reporter.  His own life has been radically transformed by the children who have trusted and befriended him.

Never has this intimate acquaintance with his subjects been more apparent, or more stirring, than in Fire in the Ashes, as Jonathan tells the stories of young men and women who have come of age in one of the most destitute communities of the United States.  Some of them never do recover from the battering they undergo in their early years, but many more battle back with fierce and, often, jubilant determination to overcome the formidable obstacles they face.  As we watch these glorious children grow into the fullness of a healthy and contributive maturity, they ignite a flame of hope, not only for themselves, but for our society.

Jonathan Kozol, the author of Death at an Early Age, Savage Inequalities, and other books on children and their education, has been called "today's most eloquent spokesman for America's disenfranchised." But he believes young people speak most eloquently for themselves; and in this book, so full of the vitality and spontaneity of youth, we hear their testimony.





The Good Woman
by Jane Porter


Is it possible to leave it all behind?

The firstborn of a large Irish-American family, Meg Brennan Roberts is a successful publicist, faithful wife, and doting mother who prides herself on always making the right decisions.  But years of being "the good woman" have taken a toll, and though her winery career thrives, Meg feels burned-out and empty, and more disconnected than ever from her increasingly distant husband.  Lonely and disheartened, she attends the London Wine Fair with her boss, ruggedly handsome vintner Chad Hallahan.  It's here, alone together in an exotic city, far from "real" life, that Chad confesses his long-standing desire for Meg.

Overwhelmed, flattered, and desperately confused, Meg returns home, only to suddenly question every choice she's ever made, especially that of her marriage.  For Meg, something's got to give, and for once in her life she flees her responsibilities -- but with consequences as reckless and irreversible as they are liberating.  Now she must decide whether being the person everyone needs is worth losing the woman she was meant to be.  




Reunion
by Lauraine Snelling

The Sorenson family has always been a tight-knit clan, gathering every year at Dagmar Sorenson's home in Munsford, where her children Keira and Marcus also live.  This year, the first since Dagmar's passing, will be bittersweet.  Keira dutifully sorts through Dagmar's belongings, desperately searching for her birth certificate so she can apply for a passport for a much-dreamed-for trip to Norway.  Why did her mother hide the document?  The fifty-year-old secret shakes her whole world.  Who is she?  Who is her father?  And who was the woman she called Mother?  How can she tell her family the truth?

Her brother, Marcus, and his wife, Leah, have a devastating secret of their own.  Their college-bound daughter, Kirsten, is pregnant.  Has she destroyed the bright future she's earned?  Her father's trust?  And what about his ministry?  

As the reunion draws closer, the secret each family member keeps erodes the solid bonds between them.  Will the truth break them entirely?




Here's to Not Catching Our Hair on Fire
An absent-minded tale of life with Giftedness & Attention Deficit--Oh look! A chicken!
by Stacey Turis

A belly-laugh inducing romp through a life so convoluted and chaotic you know it has to be true.  Stacey Turis's debut gives a voice to the genius yet tormented souls suffering from giftedness,  ADHD, or a combination of both (known as twice exceptional) who are too afraid to speak.  Chronicling her life journey from a state of self-loathing to one of self-acceptance, the stories flow timelessly, always incorporating the resulting lessons and reflections gleaned from each adventure.  Including both the tragic, stomach churning details of a horrifically abusive time in her childhood to comic adventures such as deciding to dye her hair plum the day before an important presentation to a bank only to have it turn purple, her life has never suffered from a dull moment.  Though she often thought Karma was the reason she found herself in so many "pickles," a friend explained to her that when you put yourself out in the world more than anyone else, it's really just a matter of statistics.  Lucky for Turis and the rest of us, putting herself out there all these years allows us to look at life through her pair of less-struggle-more-sass glasses. 





The Sanctuary
by Ted Dekker

The Sanctuary is the gripping story of a vigilante priest, Danny Hansen, who is serving a 50-year prison term in California for the murder of two abusive men.  Filled with remorse, Danny is determined to live out his days by a code of non-violence and maneuvers deftly within a ruthless prison system.

But when Renee Gilmore, the woman he loves, receives a box containing a bloody finger and draconian demands from a mysterious enemy on the outside, Danny must find a way to save her.  They are both drawn into a terrifying game of life and death.  If Renee fails, the priest will die; if Danny fails, Renee will die.

The Sanctuary relentlessly plumbs the depths of punishment and rehabilitation, both in flawed corrections system and in the human heart.  It is Ted Dekker at his best -- a powerful morality tale fueled by consuming writing.



The following four books I purchased at garage sales this weekend:

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Last Days of Freedom Giveaway Hop - INTERNATIONAL - (8/17 - 8/22)


It is time for another giveaway hop!  The Last Days of Freedom Giveaway Hop is being hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer and The Elliot Review.  I haven't done an international one for awhile, so thought I would give away a book of your choice from The Book Depository for $15.00.  So if The Book Depository ships to you, you can sign up for the giveaway!  


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Now that you have entered mine - go enter someone else's!

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