Last Post of the Decade!

Tonight we will usher in not only a new year, but a new decade too! Before a new year begins I often like to reflect on the one soon to be written into the history books.

Never has my reflecting urge been stronger then now that I am blogging. One hundred forty blog posts later, I am so very grateful . First to be a member of such a giving community. I never cease to be inspired by my fellow bloggers. A special shout out to Marcia at the Printed Page for hosting Mailbox Mondays. My week would be so less interesting without this weekly posting. Another special shout out to Yvette at True Crime Reviews for giving me my first award and for her friendship. Thank you also to my commenters who share their thoughts with me. It is truly gratifying to read your words of wisdom. And thank you also to the publishers, publicists, and authors who have given me the opportunity to expand my reading horizons.

This past year I have reviewed some incredible books that I would like to spot light once again before its lights out for the decade. In no particular order, here are a few books that have stayed with me long after I have returned them to the book shelf.

Most Inspirational Book of 2009: Jantsen’s Gift by Pam Cope with Aimee Molloy. My very first book review and also the book that has stayed most in my thoughts ever since. When I picked up Jantsen’s Gift I never suspected the depth of the story contained within the pages or how much I would love it. If I can recommend only one book for your reading pleasure from 2009, then Jantsen’s Gift is that book!

Best Noncookbook Cookbook of 2009: I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci. While I loved Melucci’s confessional of the dating travails of a New York singleton, the recipes are what keep me reaching again and again for this book. Consequently, my copy of I Loved, I Lost has reached the state of my favorite cookbooks: “well spackled with food stains.” Buon Appetito!

Best Vacation in a Book: The Motion of the Ocean by Janna Cawrse Esarey. While I was reading about Graeme and Janna Cawrse Esarey’s B-HAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) to sail away to the South Pacific on a small boat I became their third mate. This landlubber thanks you Janna and Graeme!

The Book I Would Buy For Someone Seriously Ill: The Body Broken by Lynne Greenberg. Sometimes life never returns to what it was before, but as poignantly detailed by Greenberg “you can learn to live with what you can’t rise above.”

The Book I Would Buy for Someone Seriously Ill Who Shares My Dark Sense of Humor: The Book of Dahlia by Elsa Albert. Slacker Dahlia Finger is dying from a brain tumor, but before she does she skewers nearly everyone in her line of fire: doctors, self-help authors, relatives, frenemies and more.

The Book I Wasn’t Prepared to Enjoy So Much: How It Ends by Laura Wiess. It has been a long time since I have read anything with a “YA” label on it, so when I received How It Ends, I was a little skeptical. I should not have been so concerned, because this is a book, which alternates between a teen perspective and a senior one, that both young and old can enjoy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Last Day for Two Great Giveaways

If you haven't done so already, be sure and enter these terrific giveaways that I am hosting:

1) Win one of THREE copies of Hope for the Animals here.

2) Win one of THREE copies of What the Dog Saw here.

Good Luck!

Cowboy & Wills

Publisher's Summary. In this exceptionally touching memoir, critically acclaimed author Monica Holloway shares the extraordinary, deeply moving story of Cowboy, the golden retriever puppy who changed her son's life.

The day Monica learns that her lovable, brilliant three-year-old son, Wills, has autism spectrum disorder, she takes him to buy an aquarium. It's the first in a string of impulsive trips to the pet store to buy animals as a distraction from the uncontrollable, crushing reality of Wills's diagnosis. But while Wills diligently tends to the growing menagerie, what he really wants is a puppy. And one Christmas, when Wills is six, Cowboy Carol Lawrence joins their family.

Like all dynamic duos, Cowboy and Wills complement each other perfectly. Wills is cautious, fastidious, and irresistibly tenderhearted. Cowboy, a rambunctious golden retriever, is overeager, affectionate, and impulsive. And from the moment Cowboy enters their lives, Monica sees her son step a little farther into the world. Soon, the boy who could barely say hello to his classmates in kindergarten is sharing stories of his new "sister" Cowboy during morning circle. Children crowd around them at the park, and instead of running away, Wills, holding Cowboy's leash in his sweaty fist, proudly answers all of their questions. With Cowboy, he finds the courage to invite kids over for playdates, overcomes his debilitating fear of water to swim along beside her in the family pool, and, after years of gentle coaxing, Wills finally sleeps in his own bed with Cowboy's paws draped across his small chest.

Through it all, Cowboy is there, dragging him toward other children, giving him the confidence to try new things and the courage to face his worst fears. And when Cowboy turns out to need her new family as much as they need her, they discover just how much she has taught them -- about devotion, about loyalty, and about never giving up.

Sometimes it's what you don't know to hope for that saves you. For Monica, her husband, Michael, and their son, Wills, salvation came in the form of a puppy with pale blond fur, chocolate brown eyes, a fondness for chewing the crotch out of underpants, and a limitless capacity for love.

Review. Full disclosure: I am a pet owner. Specifically, I have three cats (two Siamese and one domestic shorthair) and two dogs (both Labrador Retrievers). The joy that my furry crew bring into my life is commensurate with the destruction that they cause (carpets used as scratching posts, furniture as teething toys and assorted electronics and apparel as edible snacks). And don’t get me started on the retirement funds spent on vet bills (the local emergency vets know my gang by name!). Still I have never in my life been petless – a furry face has always been a part of my family. All this is my longwinded way of saying that any book that features a furry face has me from the cover, so with my admitted bias, below is my review of Cowboy & Wills.

When Monica Holloway’s son, Wills, is diagnosed with autism she flees to the pet store to purchase an aquatic fish wonderland. This is a pattern that repeats itself with each blow that the family suffers – bad news leads to a new fill-in-the-blank pet: hermit crab; land turtle; hamster; rabbit; and, eventually, the top of Wills’ pet wish – a puppy!

When Cowboy Carol Lawrence, a female golden retriever, enters Wills’ life he begins to enter the world around him. Holloway describes the stark transformation:

With Cowboy in between himself and the crowd, Wills was able to answer most of their [his classmates’] questions. Everyone suddenly now knew Wills. We’d hit an unexpected gold mine. Wills was making his social debut. Cowboy on her purple leash, was leading Wills into the world of his peers, one that both terrified and beckoned him.

Without revealing any spoilers, Cowboy & Wills is a touching three hanky tribute to the powerful bond of a boy and his dog.

Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment (October 6, 2009), 288 pages.
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.

Mailbox Monday -- December 28th

Thanks to host Marcia at The Printed Page I'm participating in the Mailbox Monday round up. This week I received the following advance review copies:

1) Truly Madly by Heather Webber. Amazon Product Description. Lucy Valentine is as smart as can be, as single as you can get, and so not qualified to run a matchmaking service. But when her parents temporarily step down from the family business, Valentine, Inc., it’s Lucy’s turn to step up and help out—in the name of love.

Plus, her rent is due.

Here’s the problem: Lucy doesn’t have the knack for matchmaking. According to family legend, every Valentine has been blessed by Cupid with the ability to read “auras” and pair up perfect couples. But not Lucy. Her skills were zapped away years ago in an electrical surge, and now all she can do is find lost objects. What good is that in the matchmaking world? You’d be surprised. In a city like Boston, everyone’s looking for something. So when Lucy locates a missing wedding ring—on a dead body—she asks the sexy private eye who lives upstairs to help her solve the perfect crime. And who knows? Maybe she’ll find the perfect love while she’s at it…

Thanks to St. Martin's Press.

2) Not So Common Courtesy by Mitzi Taylor. Amazon Product Description. Where in the world did Common Courtesy go?! I don't want to ruin this story for you, but I found out Common Courtesy is dying a slow and painful death. I want it back, so welcome to my journey. I did find pockets of courtesy here and there that are fairly healthy, but it is definitely no longer 'common'. Common Courtesy used to describe behaviors that everyone was expected to know and practice, hence the word 'common'. There was a personal accountability to being courteous. Your manners and etiquette were not just about how you treated others, it was a show of your attitude in general. This book is about finding Common Courtesy and putting it back on the road to good health. Topics include: Communication Courtesy, Public Places, Traveling and Personal Courtesy. I have made this interactive for the reader (e.g. sign the front of the book, adding ideas in certain sections, Pass-it-Along Pages, etc.). Have fun! As Gandhi would and did say, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Thanks to the Author.

3) Denise's Daily Dozen by Denise Austin. Amazon Product Description. From Denise Austin comes the perfect health book for anyone who wants to live better but just can't seem to find the time. Much more than just another excercise book, Denise's Daily Dozen covers a whole range of health and diet related concepts yet manages it all in a no-stress, time-conscious program of 12's. At it's core, this book contains the minimum daily requirements to keep the reader flexible, strong and trim. Organized simply into seven chapters, which equal the seven days of the week, it covers a full week in daily allotments. Each day will have it's own focus from Monday being "fat burning day" to Sunday's "recharge and rejuvenate."

Denise has created a total body program, including a 7-day balanced meal plan that includes healthy recipes, and a workout that encompasses 12 exercises done in 12 minutes each day. Everyone can take just 12 minutes, at whatever time of the day works for them, and turn it over to these simple and fun exercises. Cardio, toning, yoga and breathing exercises...they're all here but in a way the maximizes effect while minimizing time.

Beyond a dozen exercises for each day of the week this book will include many other of Denise's dozens for each day.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group.

4) The Bread of Angels by Stephanie Saldana. Publisher's Summary. A gorgeous, romantic memoir of a young woman's year in Damascus, where she studied the Muslim Jesus, fled to an ancient desert monastery to heal her past, and unexpectedly found herself in love with a French novice monk.

In 2004, twenty-seven-year-old Stephanie Saldaña traveled to Damascus, Syria, on a Fulbright fellowship to study the role of the prophet Jesus in Islam. She was also fleeing a broken heart. It was not an ideal time to be an American in the Middle East-the United States had recently invaded Iraq, refugees were flooding into Damascus, and dark rumors swirled that Syria might be next to come under American attack. Miserable and lonely, Stephanie left Damascus to visit an ancient Christian monastery carved into the desert cliffs. In that beautiful, austere setting, she confronted her wavering faith and met Frederic, a young French novice monk. As they set out to explore the mysteries entwining Christianity and Islam, Stephanie slowly realized that she had found God again-and that she was in love with Frederic. But would Frederic choose God or Stephanie?

The Bread of Angels sweeps readers into the violent extremes of a war-torn region and renews their belief in faith, self-discovery, and the possibility of true love.

Thanks to Random House.

5) A Mountain of Crumbs by Elena Gorokhova. Amazon Product Description. A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a young Soviet girl's discovery of the hidden truths of adulthood and her country's profound political deception.

Elena, born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders, finds her passion in the complexity of the English language -- but in the Soviet Union of the 1960s, such a passion verges on the subversive. Elena's home is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars. Instead, it is a nation humiliated by its first faltering steps after World War II, putting up appearances for the sake of its regime and fighting to retain its pride.

In this deeply affecting memoir, Elena re-creates the world that both oppressed and inspired her. She recounts stories passed down to her about the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution and probes the daily deprivations and small joys of her family's bunkerlike existence. Through Elena's captivating voice, we learn not only the personal story of Russia in the second half of the twentieth century, but also the story of one rebellious citizen whose love of a foreign language finally transports her to a new world.

6) Blacklands by Belinda Bauer. Amazon Product Description. EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, Billy Peters disappeared. Everyone in town believes Billy was murdered -- after all, serial killer Arnold Avery later admitted killing six other children and burying them on the same desolate moor that surrounds their small English village. Only Billy's mother is convinced he is alive. She still stands lonely guard at the front window of her home, waiting for her son to return, while her remaining family fragments around her.

But her twelve-year-old grandson Steven is determined to heal the cracks that gape between his nan, his mother, his brother, and himself. Steven desperately wants to bring his family closure, and if that means personally finding his uncle's corpse, he'll do it.

Spending his spare time digging holes all over the moor in the hope of turning up a body is a long shot, but at least it gives his life purpose.

Then at school, when the lesson turns to letter writing, Steven has a flash of inspiration...Careful to hide his identity, he secretly pens a letter to Avery in jail asking for help in finding the body of "W.P." -- William "Billy" Peters.

So begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game.

Just as Steven tries to use Avery to pinpoint the gravesite, so Avery misdirects and teases his mysterious correspondent in order to relive his heinous crimes. And when Avery finally realizes that the letters he's receiving are from a twelve-year-old boy, suddenly his life has purpose too.

Although his is far more dangerous...

Blacklands is a taut and chillingly brilliant debut that signals the arrival of a bright new voice in psychological suspense.

7) The Girl Next Door by Elizabeth Noble. Amazon Product Description.
What makes a house a home?

For Eve Gallagher, home is miles away in England since she and her husband relocated to an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side. And life isn't coming up roses.

What makes a neighbor a friend?

Violet has lived in the building for decades, but she's always kept herself apart, until Eve's loneliness touches her heart.

What makes a wife a lover?

Jason Kramer in apartment 6A is no longer sure he loves his wife, but he's head over heels for Rachel Schulman in 6B.

What makes the girl next door the woman of your dreams?

Meeting Emily Mikanowski from 3A turns Trip Grayling's world upside down. It's love at first sight, but he needs help from Charlotte, the shy romance novel addict in 2A, if he's going to get his girl.

What they all have in common is an address, but it is also a home where their lives and secrets intertwine. Come in and enjoy this bittersweet story of friendship and love.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster.

Over the Gap

Product Description
An advanced career change, planning, and outplacement handbook for transitioning executives and professionals. Includes assessments, interactive tools, special bonuses and more. Facing layoff or a career change? Over the Gap shares a wealth of timely, practical specifics for standing out from the crowd, assessing your market value, and tracking your progress. This step-by-step process also includes up to 90 minutes of free coaching and assessment with a certified career coach to help focus your efforts and launch your career change. Over the Gap offers: • A proven, systematic process to ensure your success • Career planning, target marketing, tracking, and soft skills enhancement • Interactive forms and networking strategies • Personalized programs, free resources and one-on-one coaching • Branding and personal value proposition development • A money-saving alternative to corporate severance packages "Beyond the search for a new job, Over the Gap introduces a career transition process, complete with powerful tools and concrete examples, which provides a roadmap and a bridge to new career opportunities." Helen Crompton, LPC, NCC Licensed Practicing Counselor, Nationally-Certified Career Counselor and Executive Coach

Review. Over the Gap by Dave Patterson is like having your own personal career coach. This is probably due to the fact that author Patterson is also a Certified Business, Executive, and Career Coach.

The chapters are a step by step guide on how to land your dream job:
CEO of Me, Inc.;
Finding the Right Fit;
Branding Yourself;
Crafting a Message that Sells Your Brand; Promoting Your Brand;
Doing Your Homework; Defining Your Target Market;
Networking for Results;
Creating a Position for Yourself;
Interviewing; and
The Benefits of Personal Coaching.

In today's tight job market both experienced workers and new entrants need not only the right credentials, but the right marketing strategy. Over the Gap fills that gap!



Publisher: DPA Media (September 30, 2009), 136 pages
Advance review Copy provided courtesy of the author.

Surviving Paradise

Publisher's Summary. ust one month after his 21st birthday, Peter Rudiak-Gould moved to Ujae, a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands located 70 miles from the nearest telephone, car, store, or tourist, and 2,000 miles from the closest continent. He spent the next year there, living among its 450 inhabitants and teaching English to its schoolchildren. At first blush, Surviving Paradise is a thoughtful and laugh-out-loud hilarious documentation of Rudiak-Gould’s efforts to cope with daily life on Ujae as his idealistic expectations of a tropical paradise confront harsh reality. But Rudiak-Gould goes beyond the personal, interweaving his own story with fascinating political, linguistic, and ecological digressions about the Marshall Islands. Most poignant are his observations of the noticeable effect of global warming on these tiny, low-lying islands and the threat rising water levels pose to their already precarious existence. An Eat, Pray, Love as written by Paul Theroux, Surviving Paradise is a disarmingly lighthearted narrative with a substantive emotional undercurrent.

Peter Rudiak-Gould is currently pursuing a doctorate in anthropology at Oxford, focusing on Marshallese understandings of global warming and sea level rise. In the summer of 2007, he interviewed the President of the Marshall Islands regarding the effects of climate change. Proficient in Marshallese, the native language of the Marshall Islands, he is the author of the language textbook used by the WorldTeach volunteer organization as its official language manual for the Marshall Islands program.

Review. When Peter Rudiak-Gould decamps to Ujae Island, of the Marshall Islands, South Pacific, to teach English for a year he learns the limits and the bounties of residing on a remote island “paradise.” According to the author, Ujae is a third of a square mile in size and populated by approximately 450 citizens.

In Surviving Paradise Rudiak-Gould summarizes the book as:

"My portrait of one Marshall Island at the turn of the twenty-first century, and how it felt to live alone in this alien culture on a remote speck of land at a rather tender age – how it was just like a rocky first romance, complete with infatuation and disillusionment."

Still later Rudiak-Gould confesses, “I wanted Ujae to be my far-off paradise. Ujae wanted me to be its English teacher. So we married and we met, in that order.”

It soon becomes clear to the author that Ujae is no Fantasy Island. While the author notes that he found great pleasure in "the unrushed friendliness, the fishing and chatting and lore, but many of the values and practices . . . [upset him] with unrelenting intensity. The pains of children, always and everywhere seen, but never addressed; the school’s black hole of apathy; the tacit neglect of what appeared to [be] . . . obvious and fixable problems . . . ."

Surviving Paradise is a thoughtful account of a Westerner living the reality of life on a remote tropical island.



Publisher: Union Square Press; 1 edition (November 3, 2009), 256 pages.
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.

A Christmas Carol

Publisher's Summary. "We heartily recommend this little volume as an amusing companion, and a wholesome monitor,to all who would enjoy in truth and in spirit 'A merry Christmas and a happy New Year.'"
--Charles Mackay, Morning Chronicle, December 19, 1843

Since its publication in 1843, the tale of a miserly old man and the ghosts who visit him has been bringing the true spirit of Christmas into hearts and homes. Whether you've read the story a thousand times or have only seen the movie, A Christmas Carol Special Edition will enrich your enjoyment of this holiday favorite with:

* The complete text of the Charles Dickens classic.
* Annotations offering interesting insight into the story's biblical allusions, the author's faith, and compelling Christian themes throughout.
* Discussion questions designed to engage and promote dialogue among readers of all ages on such subjects as regret, repentance, and redemption.
* A list of related resources to enhance your study.

Enjoy A Christmas Carol Special Edition in your home, study group, book group, or Advent celebration and learn how to say with Scrooge:

"I will honour Christmas in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year."

Review. A Christmas Carol Special Edition by Charles Dickens with Stephen Skelton, an annotated version with the original 1843 text, is a treasure trove of information. Like many others I was very familiar with the story via the various movie adaptations, but I had never actually read this seasonal classic.

What a treat it was to not only read the original text, but to have a knowledgeable guide, Stephen Skelton, provide definitions, insights, and thought provoking discussion topics! As Skeleton explains:

Through the study of this work . . . we will discover the spiritual depth of Dickens and his writing and learn what lessons of Christ are woven in among the scenes of Christmas Splendor and the soul searching of a Scrooge. The notes also offer some help to twenty-first century readers in understanding some of the obscure words and phrases that appear in this presentation of the original 1843 text . . . .

A Christmas Carol Special Edition by Charles Dickens with Stephen Skelton will delight both old and new readers of this classic!


Publisher: Standard Publishing; Annotated ed. (September 1, 2009), 128 pages.
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of FSB Associates.

The Christmas Cookie Club

Publisher's Summary. Mark your calendar. It's the Christmas Cookie Club! Every year on the first Monday of December, Marnie and her twelve closest girlfriends gather in the evening with batches of beautifully wrapped homemade cookies. Everyone brings a dish, a bottle of wine and their stories. This year, the stories are especially important. Marnie's oldest daughter has a risky pregnancy. Will she find out tonight how that story might end? Jeannie's father is having an affair with her best friend. Who else knew about the betrayal, and how can that be forgiven or forgotten, even among old friends such as these? Rosie's husband doesn't want children, and she has to decide whether that's a deal breaker for the marriage. Taylor's life is in financial freefall. Each woman, each friend has a story to tell, and they are all interwoven, just as their lives are. On this evening, at least, they can feel as a group the impulses of sisterly love and conflict, the passion and hopefulness of a new romance, the betrayal and disillusionment some relationships bring, the joys and fears of motherhood, the agony of losing a child and above all, the love they have for one another. As Marnie says, the Christmas Cookie Club, if it's anything, is a reminder of delight. The Christmas Cookie Club is about the paths Marnie and her friends have taken, the absolute joy they take in life. Ultimately, The Christmas Cookie Club is every woman's story. Celebrating courage and joy in spite of hard times and honoring the importance of women's friendships and the embracing bonds of community, you'll see yourself and some of the ingredients of your own story.

Review. On the first Monday in October the Supreme Court begins a new session. After a long summer away, the Supremes regroup to hear an array of cases hand selected by the jurists. And while the individual Supremes change over the years, the traditions and rules march on. On the first Monday in December The Christmas cookie club holds its annual party. After a year spent pondering what to make, the cookie members rejoin to share the specially chosen cookies and their stories. And while individual members come and go, the traditions (e.g. no chocolate chip or bar cookies) and the party continues.

As Marnie, the leader of the Christmas cookie club explains:

Twelve of us gather with thirteen dozen cookies wrapped in packages. Homemade of course . . . .

We take turns telling the story of the cookie we have made. Somehow each story is always emblematic of the year. We pass out our packages and donate the thirteenth dozen to our local hospice . . . .

The Christmas cookie club is about giving, not just the yummy morsels we share with our girlfriends and our families but also with people we don’t know who are having a bleak time and might appreciate a wrapped sweet.

Each chapter in The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman is devoted to one of the twelve club members. The chapters start with a cookie recipe followed by an adversity the woman faced during the year and concludes with a brief history of a cookie ingredient used in the recipe, such as flour, almonds, cinnamon, etc. While this layout is unusual it makes for a rich novel on three levels: interesting recipes; compelling fiction; and fascinating non-fiction.

My main criticism of the novel is that by focusing on a chapter on each member it is often confusing to keep track of twelve different plotlines. Also, because of the need to shift to the next character’s story, I did not bond with any of the characters apart from the narrator Marnie who shares each woman’s story. In addition, some readers may be offended by the strong profanity used in parts of the novel. While other readers looking for light seasonal fare may be troubled by the serious issues the women face (e.g. death, infidelity, financial disaster, cancer, betrayal).

Overall, The Christmas Cookie Club captures the true spirit of the season: the importance of good friends and family to see one through life’s trials and rejoice in the blessings.


Publisher: Atria (October 20, 2009), 288 pages
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.

Mailbox Monday -- December 21st

Thanks to Marcia at The Printed Page I'm participating in the Mailbox Monday round up. This week I received the following advance review copies:

1) Rion by Susan Kearney. Publisher's Summary. Marisa Rourke is a beautiful, fearless telepath who tames dragonshapers on Earth. Rion is a tall, dark, and sexy space explorer whose home planet is a galaxy away. The attraction between them is undeniable, but Rion is hiding a desperate secret that will change Marisa's life forever.

Marisa's gift is the only way Rion can communicate with his people, enslaved by a powerful enemy. He knows that kidnapping her is wrong, but saving his planet is worth sparking the fiery clairvoyant's fury. Yet hotter-and more explosive-is the psychic bond growing between Marisa and Rion. Could their passion be the key to freeing Rion's people? Only if he and Marisa can discover how to channel their desire . . . before a vicious enemy destroys them all.

2) A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents by Liza Palmer. Publisher's Summary. Grace Hawkes has not spoken to her previously tight-knit family since her mother's sudden death five years ago. Well, most of the family was tight-knit-- her father walked out on them when she was 13 and she and her two brothers and sister bonded together even closer with their mother as a result.

She's been doing her best to live her new life apart from them, but when their estranged father has a stroke and summons them, Grace suddenly realizes she's done the same thing he had done...abandoned those who need her most.

And need her they do, for inside the hospital walls, a strange war is unfolding between the pseudo-kindly woman who is their father's second wife and the rest of the original Hawkes clan. Upon reconnecting with her brother and sisters, Grace will find a part of herself she thought was lost forever. As they unravel the manipulative deception of the second Mrs. Hawkes, Grace will finally be able to stand up for her family-- and to remember what a family is, even after all these years.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group.

A Highlander's Temptation

Publisher's Summary. Darroc MacConacher spends sleepless nights dreaming of a raven-haired beauty who makes him ache with desire. Then his dream comes true: the lady with her lush curves and fair skin appears shipwrecked on his shores. Darroc is immediately drawn to her strength and beauty, and from the moment she lays eyes on this powerful, broad-shouldered warrior, Lady Arabella MacKenzie knows she'll never want another man.

But theirs is a forbidden love. The MacKenzies drove the MacConachers from their lands and destroyed their honor. Now, Darroc can use this sapphire-eyed seductress to shatter his foes. Yet how can he deny the passion that burns between him and Arabella, and ruin the one woman who touches his very soul?

Review. by Renee A.J. Lady Arabella, the beloved and beautiful older daughter of Duncan MacKenzie and Lady Linnet, is ready for adventure. Her younger sister is married and pregnant with her first child, while Lady Arabella awaits a new round of suitors, who (hopefully) won't be chased away by her father's fierce and protective ways. In A Highlander's Temptation, the author aptly describes the desire for an intimate love and blazing passion that motivates Lady Arabella to demand that her father allow her to visit the Seal Isles. Although this is a historical romance, modern readers will be able to identify with the heroine's need to escape from her younger sister’s descriptions of passionate newlywed encounters and overprotective parents. With the grudging permission of her father and the firm support of her mother, Lady Arabella and her guardsmen set off to tour the Seal Isles.

Unfortunately, her ship is attacked by Vikings; she is swept into the violent seas and almost drowns. Luckily for Lady Arabella she washes ashore on the sheltered island, MacConacher’s Isle, the home of Darroc MacConacher and the remnants of the MacConacher Clan. The two are instantly attracted – she with his tall and powerful build and he with her glossy raven curls and eyes of the deepest blue. Yet the course of passion, attraction, and love rarely runs smoothly. As she slowly regains her strength and charms the MacConacher Clan, she learns that the Clan is low in number, their lands taken by the Crown because they supported an upstart seeking to be king and many were slain by her grandfather due to a feud. Darroc fights his feelings for her – knowing that her MacKenzie Clan had driven his family from their lands. Yet the two are able to overcome the feuds of the past and discover the intimacy, passion, and love that seems predestined for them.

With the help of a band of Norsemen, Clan MacConacher defeats the Black Vikings, restoring the fortunes of their clan. Darroc, however, has come to believe that Lady Arabella only wants him because she is under the spell of the magic relic he holds as leader of his clan. His honor forces him to return Lady Arabella to her family, because he believes that her love is only a fiction brought on by the relic. Ignoring her protests – he tells her that he doesn't love her and sends his men to deliver her to her father. As several days pass without her he realizes that “unless he wished to live the rest of his life in darkness, he really had no choice but go after her.” Of course, as any good romance should end – Darroc mans a ship and goes after his heart’s desire - overcoming her father’s gruffness and publicly declaring his love for Lady Arabella.

A Highlander’s Temptation is an old-fashioned historical romance that quietly works to restore one’s faith in the sweetness of true love.


Publisher: Forever, Hachette Book Group (October 1, 2009), 400 pages
Review copy provided courtesy of the Publisher.

A Highlander Christmas

Publisher's Summary. Camry MacKeage has absolutely no intention of telling her parents that she left her job as a NASA physicist for the small-town life of a dog-sitter -- which is why she's spending the holidays alone in coastal Maine with her furry friends Tigger and Max. Unfortunately, her irresistibly handsome rival, scientist Luke Pascal, accidentally spilled the beans. Now he's on a mission from her mother to tempt Camry home for the family's annual winter solstice celebration. But Luke is hiding his own secret, and he'll need a little bit of magic to earn Camry's trust...and a whole lot of mistletoe to seduce his way into her heart.

Review. In A Highlander Christmas by Janet Chapman, heroine Camry MacKeage is in the midst of a mid-life crisis. After a fellow rocket scientist, Lucian Pascal Renoir (“Luke”), reveals a flaw in Camry’s ion propulsion work, she is fired from her job at NASA. Thereafter, she flees to a small town in Maine to dog-sit, tend bar, and hide from life.

When Luke inadvertently breaks the news to Camry’s parents, they send him on a quest to bring Camry home for the annual winter solstice celebration. Sparks quickly fly between Luke and Camry when they first meet in person. The pair rapidly falls in lust-love, but Camry is no ordinary beautiful rocket scientist. Strange occurrences, such as, the disappearance and reappearance of transmitters, cabins, and even people, follow Camry wherever she goes. Believing in the “magic,” as Camry calls these events is a problem for logical minded Luke.

As a reader, unfamiliar with the Highlander series (this is the seventh book in the series), I was able to enjoy the novel. That is, the story stands alone for new readers while at the same time should not disappoint longtime fans. The romance between Camry and Luke is cut from the same cloth as the famous Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey pairings: two strong willed characters who challenge and fulfill each other. The magical elements of the novel provided an interesting twist to the plot. The only minor criticism I have is the frequent references to condoms. While I suspect this was the author’s attempt at public service the references were so numerous that it became a bit distracting.

A Highlander Christmas is an enjoyable seasonal fare for romance lovers!


Publisher: Pocket Star (October 27, 2009), 352 pages
Advance Review Copy Provided Coutesy of the Publisher.

Tomorrow is the Last Day to Enter Four Giveaways

If you haven't done so already, be sure and enter these fabulous giveaways that I am hosting:

1) Win one of FIVE copies of Cheating Death here

2) Win one of FIVE copies of How to be Famous here

3) Win one of THREE copies of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men here

4) Win a child's Ivy & Bean T Shirt here

What the Dog Saw Giveaway (ends 12/31)

Publisher's Summary. What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century?

In the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has written three books that have radically changed how we understand our world and ourselves: The Tipping Point; Blink; and Outliers. Now, in What the Dog Saw, he brings together, for the first time, the best of his writing from The New Yorker over the same period.

Here is the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzling inventions of the pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz. Gladwell sits with Ron Popeil, the king of the American kitchen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secrets of Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand. He explores intelligence tests and ethnic profiling and "hindsight bias" and why it was that everyone in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate.

"Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head." What the Dog Saw is yet another example of the buoyant spirit and unflagging curiosity that have made Malcolm Gladwell our most brilliant investigator of the hidden extraordinary.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away THREE copies of this thought provoking audiobook.

Entry: Comment with your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.
NO P.O. Boxes for the winner’s mailing address.

Giveaway ends 12/31. Good Luck!

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

Publisher's Summary. David Foster Wallace made an art of taking readers into places no other writer even gets near. In his exuberantly acclaimed collection, BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN, he combined hilarity and an escalating disquiet in stories that astonish, entertain, and expand our ideas of the pleasures that fiction can afford.

Review. David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is a compilation of vignettes/interviews told entirely from the male point of view. And yes, these men are truly hideous! The cast of male narrators range from the garden variety exploitative womanizer/woman-hater, to the seriously deranged, to the truly frightening!

Each story/interview is compelling in the same way that rubberneckers are drawn to vehicular accidents: shock and horror are mixed with fascination. Women readers in particular will appreciate Wallace’s laser penetration into the dark recesses of men’s souls. One interviewee calls his deformed arm “the asset” because he uses it to manipulative women into sleeping with him. Another male narrator brags about sexually exploiting a hysterical jilted woman. Several stories are detailed rants from men who hate women.

While the interviewees/narrators are various degrees of repugnant the stories themselves, however, are exquisitely crafted with layers upon layers of details. For example, one story is a lengthy exposition on diving that is also about suicide. Wallace’s craftsmanship is truly impressive!

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is a fascinating, albeit disturbing, examination of the dark side of the male psyche.


Hachette Audio; Unabridged edition (September 8, 2009)
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.

Hope for Animals and Their World Giveaway (ends 12/31)

Publisher's Summary. At a time when animal species are becoming extinct on every continent and we are confronted with bad news about the environment nearly every day, Jane Goodall, one of the world's most renowned scientists, brings us inspiring news about the future of the animal kingdom. With the insatiable curiosity and conversational prose that have made her a bestselling author, Goodall-along with Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard-shares fascinating survival stories about the American Crocodile, the California Condor, the Black-Footed Ferret, and more; all formerly endangered species and species once on the verge of extinction whose populations are now being regenerated.

Interweaving her own first-hand experiences in the field with the compelling research of premier scientists, Goodall illuminates the heroic efforts of dedicated environmentalists and the truly critical need to protect the habitats of these beloved species. At once a celebration of the animal kingdom and a passionate call to arms, HOPE FOR ANIMALS THEIR WORLD presents an uplifting, hopeful message for the future of animal-human coexistence.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away THREE copies of this memorable audiobook.

Entry: Comment with your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.
NO P.O. Boxes for the winner’s mailing address.

Giveaway ends December 31st. Good Luck!

Mailbox Monday -- December 14th

Thanks to Marcia at The Printed Page I'm participating in the Mailbox Monday round up. This week I received the following advance review copies:

1) The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova. Publisher's Summary. Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves, has a solitary but ordered life. When renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient, Marlow finds that order destroyed. Desperate to understand the secret that torments the genius, he embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism. Kostova's masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy, from the late 19th century to the late 20th, from young love to last love.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group.

2) A Highlander Christmas by Janet Chapman. Publisher's Summary. Camry MacKeage has absolutely no intention of telling her parents that she left her job as a NASA physicist for the small-town life of a dog-sitter -- which is why she's spending the holidays alone in coastal Maine with her furry friends Tigger and Max. Unfortunately, her irresistibly handsome rival, scientist Luke Pascal, accidentally spilled the beans. Now he's on a mission from her mother to tempt Camry home for the family's annual winter solstice celebration. But Luke is hiding his own secret, and he'll need a little bit of magic to earn Camry's trust...and a whole lot of mistletoe to seduce his way into her heart.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster.

Strictly Sundays

Author's Summary. Strictly Sundays is a special occasion cookbook designed for and by a family chef. Joe Fitzpatrick has been working wonders in the kitchen and on the grill for decades – now you can too. Serve real food that fills the belly, satisfies the soul and wins the day. Any day. Not just Sunday.

Review. Strictly Sundays by Joe Fitzpatrick aka “The Blue Collar Gourmet” answers the question of what to serve for entertaining-at-home. This gorgeously photographed cookbook features a wide of assortment of relatively easy recipes that will satisfy even the most discriminating of palates.

The cookbook is divided into six sections: appetizers; main dishes; salads; soups; side dishes; and salsas. The recipes call for commonly available ingredients and, generally, are prepared in a few easy steps. The results, however, are of restaurant quality. A few recipes that particularly stood out are: tenderloin steaks with brandy cream sauce; champion smoked chicken; veal scaloppini marsala; and salmon in cranberry Dijon sauce. With recipes like these friends and family will be begging to dine at your house!

Strictly Sundays is simply scrumptious!


Publisher: Book Publishers Network; 1st edition (September 25, 2009), 146 pages
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Author.

Across the Endless River

Publisher's Summary. Born in 1805 on the Lewis & Clark expedition, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau was the son of the expedition’s translators, Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. Across The Endless River evokes the formative years of this mixed-blood child of the frontier, entering the wild and mysterious world of his boyhood along the Missouri. Baptiste is raised both as William Clark’s ward in St. Louis and by his parents among the villages of the Mandan tribe on the far northern reaches of the river.

In 1823, eighteen-year-old Baptiste is invited to cross the Atlantic with the young Duke Paul of Württemberg, whom he meets on the frontier. During their travels throughout Europe, Paul introduces Baptiste to a world he never imagined. Increasingly, Baptiste senses the limitations of life as an outsider; only Paul’s older cousin, Princess Theresa, understands the richness of his heritage. Their affair is both passionate and tender, but Theresa’s clear-eyed notions of love, marriage, and the need to fashion one’s own future push Baptiste to consider what he truly needs.

In Paris, he meets Maura Hennesy, the beautiful and independent daughter of a French-Irish wine merchant. Baptiste describes his life on the fast-changing frontier to Maura, and she begins to imagine a different destiny with this enigmatic American. Baptiste ultimately faces a choice: whether to stay in Europe or to return to the wilds of North America. His decision will resonate strongly with those who today find themselves at the intersection of cultures, languages, and customs

Review. by Renee A.J. Across the Endless River is an articulate, extraordinarily well-written historical novel set in the 1800s, which provides a unique view of both the American frontier and Europe through the life experiences of the central character, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau. The opening scene begins with the guttural cries of Sacagawea; the 15-year old Shoshone Indian wife to French trapper Charbonneau is immersed in a painful and life-threatening labor. As the Shoshone translator for the 1805 Lewis and Clark expedition, if she dies, the party will not be able to negotiate with the tribe to obtain the horses needed to cross the mountains. Her husband, Charbonneau, is of little help during her labor, but Captain Lewis remains with her. Through the aid of Lewis and the help of both Indian and white medicines Sacagawea is able to give birth to a healthy baby boy and to recover afterwards.

Charbonneau names his son, Jean-Baptiste, after his French grandfather. “His father called him Baptiste, but his mother called him Pompy. “Little Chief,” the Shoshone name she chose to honor the tribe into which she had been born. “Baptiste’s birth becomes the pattern for his life – he survives and thrives by interweaving knowledge and philosophy from both his Indian and European heritages to become a unique individual – not like either of his parents, but taking the best from both. The baby’s becomes a young adventurer, as his parents continue to travel with the Lewis and Clark expedition during his first 16 months of life. When the successful expedition returns, white traders and Indians alike are amazed that Sacagawea and her infant were able to survive. It is noted that the success gave Sacagawea, her trader husband, Charbonneau and Baptiste great status.

Later, Captain Clark stands as baby Baptiste’s godfather and he encourages Sacagawea and Charbonneau to make sure that their mixed-blood son learns “the white man’s ways.” During his early childhood Pompy stays with his parents – learning the ways of his Indian heritage and his French trader father as they trade with various Indian tribes in what was Oregon country and the Louisiana Purchase in 1800s America. When Pompy is five, his parents send him to live with his Captain Clark in St. Louis and he becomes Baptiste. He learns to wear hard shoes, socks, shirts, corduroy pants, a woolen coat, and a brimmed hat. Languages and writing came to him easily - French, English, and the languages of several Indian tribes. Baptiste learns to keep his eyes and ears open and understands that he is different. Like many of us, these basic lessons become central to his life experience.

Over the following years, Baptiste adopts the habit of keeping a journal, which serves as the point of view for Across the Endless River. Although he stays in St. Louis under the sponsorship of Captain Clark and the tutelage of an English schoolteacher, he spends the warm months each year with his parents traveling up the Missouri River and becomes comfortable alternating between the “white man’s world” the Indian/French tracker lifestyle of living off the land. As a man of 18, Baptiste is often paid to accompany expeditions of traders, explorers, and others who want to travel up the river or through Indian lands. Thus, it is no surprise when Baptiste and his father are hired to accompany Paul Wilhelm, a duke from a German-speaking kingdom east of France, who wants to acquire Indian goods and explore the natural habitat of the American frontier. The immense herds of buffalo, wide open lands, canoe travels, Indian hospitality, and expert aid from Baptiste ensures that Paul obtains the experience and specimens that he seeks. At the end of his expedition, Paul asks Baptiste to accompany him back to his European home to help him organize his collection of specimens and prepare his notes for publication as a book. Captain Clark encourages Baptiste to take advantage of the opportunity to travel in Europe as the duke’s protégé. Baptiste accepts the invitation and the remainder of this novel details a uniquely American view of Europe – it’s people, terrain, royalty, architecture – and of course the two romantic relationships that our hero develops over the five year journey.

The author uses this European journey to advance the idea that there is much to gain if one partakes in the surrounding multiple worlds and cultures. Specifically, the story aptly illustrates that travel “opens the door to chance” – to encounter new experiences, meet new people, and obtain new insights will lead one to a richly rewarding life well lived. I look forward to reading more of Thad Carhart’s nuanced and quietly entrancing writing!


Publisher: Doubleday; (September 1, 2009), 320 pages
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the publisher and FSB Associates.

Ivy and Bean Blog Tour: Review and Giveaway (ends 12/18)

Publisher's Summary. Ivy and Bean Doomed to Dance -- Finally! After begging their parents for ballet lessons, Ivy and Bean finally get what they want...well, not exactly. Much to their surprise, it turns out ballet lessons do not include karate chops and roundhouse kicks to the villain's heart. The girls have no interest in learning how to dance gracefully, but they promised their parents they would finish the entire ballet course! When it comes time for Ivy and Bean to participate in the ocean-themed class recital, the girls must figure out a way to get out of it without breaking their promises.


Annie Barrows lives in Northern California with her husband and two daughters. She is also the co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Sophie Blackall is an Australian illustrator whose previous books include Ruby's Wish and Meet Wild Boars. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Review. Doomed to Dance by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall is the latest installment in the Ivy and Bean series. In Doomed to Dance the girls enroll in ballet lessons assuming that ballet is a form of karate in costumes and set to music. Upon discovering the true nature of ballet they scheme to evade performing their assigned squid roles in the class recital. The girls initially plot to escape their fate by trying for bodily injury or illness. When these attempts are thwarted they decide to runaway on the school field trip to the local aquarium. The girls decide that living in the aquarium is the perfect hideaway. The fun really begins with the girls’ adventures at the aquarium where they learn about real life squids.

Doomed to Dance is a delightful tale for age appropriate readers. Parents will also appreciate the book’s educational value. The class field trip to the aquarium defines “Coastal Zones” (tide pools); uses the term “sea anemone” (water dwelling predatory animals) and vividly describes the squid the girls encounter. In short, it is clear that the authors did their aquatic homework – in fact they even thank Dr. George Matsumoto of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute “for useful information regarding squid.”Careful readers will also catch the book’s reference to the classic children’s book: The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.

Doomed to Dance is an engaging story for readers both young and old!




Publisher: Chronicle Books (October 14, 2009), 122 pages
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.


Giveaway Rules: Today I am giving away one child's size Ivy and Bean T shirt.

Single Comment Entry Only: Comment with your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

Note: One entry per household only please.

This giveaway is open to All -- including International readers.
You must be 18 years of age or older.

Giveaway ends December 18th. Good Luck!

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men Giveaway (ends 12/18)

Publisher's Summary. David Foster Wallace made an art of taking readers into places no other writer even gets near. In his exuberantly acclaimed collection, BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN, he combined hilarity and an escalating disquiet in stories that astonish, entertain, and expand our ideas of the pleasures that fiction can afford.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away THREE copies of this fabulous audiobook.

Entry: Comment with your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.
NO P.O. Boxes for the winner’s mailing address.

Giveaway ends December 18th. Good Luck!

Mailbox Monday-- December 7th!

Thanks to host Marcia at The Printed Page I'm participating in the Mailbox Monday round up. This week I received the following advance review copies:

1) Strictly Sundays by Joe Fitzpatrick: Product Description. Strictly Sundays is a special occasion cookbook designed for and by a family chef. Joe Fitzpatrick has been working wonders in the kitchen and on the grill for decades – now you can too. Serve real food that fills the belly, satisfies the soul and wins the day. Any day. Not just Sunday.

Thanks to the author.

2) You're Not Going Crazy You're Just Waking Up! by Dr. Michael Mirdad. Amazon Product Description.
This book explains why the challenges in your life (and in your heart) may make you feel as though you are going crazy. The Five Stages of the Soul Transformation Process guides you through such challenges and leads you to the light at the end of the tunnel; wherein you gain a new perspective of your life, yourself, and your purpose. The soul transformation process includes: dismantling, emptiness, disorientation, re-building, and a new life. This process assists you in rising to new levels of spiritual mastery where you become an active participant in re-building a new life, a life that resonates with your highest good. Forward written by Gary Renard, author of, The Disappearance of the Universe.

Thanks to the Publisher.

3) The Hollow by Jessica Verday. Amazon Product Description. When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead?and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special.

Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her—one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster.

4) Seven by Jacqueline Leo. Publisher's Summary. What is it about the number seven that has such a hold on us? Why are there seven deadly sins? Seven days of the week? Seven wonders of the world, seven colors of the spectrum, seven ages of man, and seven sister colleges? Why can we hold seven numbers or words in our working memory--but no more? Author Jackie Leo explores everything about this mystical, magical, useful, and fun number in her new book.

SEVEN REASONS YOU NEED THIS BOOK

1. SEVEN is a tool to improve the quality of your life. It is a way to define time, synthesize ideas, and keep your mind performing at top speed in an era of distractions.

2. SEVEN is culturally significant. It pops up everywhere, structuring our world in ways so fundamental, we notice them only when we pause to look. Across the ages and across cultures, the number has acquired a huge scientific, psychological, and religious significance.

3. SEVEN is intriguing. Why, out of hundreds of recipes in a cookbook, do people return to the same seven, over and over? Why, when asked to choose a number between one and ten, does such a large majority of people choose seven? Why does it take seven rounds of shuffling to obtain a fully mixed deck of cards?

4. SEVEN is influential. You'll learn how the number seven shapes our thinking, our choices, and even our relationships.

5. SEVEN is practical. Throughout this book are Top Seven lists covering the best ways to get someone's attention, to build your personal brand, and to put yourself in the path of prosperity and good luck.

6. SEVEN is fun. You'll encounter surprising facts, intriguing puzzles, and hilarious anecdotes.

7. SEVEN is wise. You'll hear stories about the meaning of seven from Mehmet Oz, Sally Quinn, Liz Smith, Christina Ricci, and many others.
Artfully designed and full of enough insights to keep you engaged in conversation at the water cooler for years, SEVEN will provoke, enlighten, and amuse.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group.

The Smart One and the Pretty One Winners

The winners for The Smart One and the Pretty One are: Sheila, Wan-ling, Wanda, Erin, and Janet.


Congrats to the winners!

Children of Dust

Author's Biography. Ali Eteraz is a writer and free-lance journalist. Born into a nomadic family in Lahore, Pakistan, he was raised in the Middle East, Pakistan and the Caribbean, and has lived in ten American states. He studied philosophy in college, where he wrote his honors thesis on Nietzsche. Later he attended law school where he earned a fellowship in public service and interned on human rights cases. After a short stint working in the area of corporate litigation he switched to a writing career. He is currently a contributor to The Guardian, True/Slant, and Dawn, Pakistan’s largest and oldest English language daily. His articles have appeared in Dissent, Foreign Policy, Parabola, Open Democracy and Alternet, among others, and have been linked by hundreds of blogs, including NYTimes, The Atlantic and Time Magazine.

Ali is the author of the prose work Children of Dust, which is scheduled to be released on October 13 2009 by Harper One, an imprint of Harper Collins. Upon reading an early excerpt from the book, the late philosopher and literary critic, Richard Rorty, stated he was “particularly impressed” by the “powerfully written” work.

Review. Before Ali Eteraz aka Amir ur Islam aka Abu Bakr Ramaq aka Amir aka Abir ul Islam was born his father promised God that he would be a great leader and a servant of Islam. Children of Dust by Ali Eteraz is a memoir of the author’s coming to terms with that accord or mannat.

The Table of Contents reads like a map of Eteraz’s geographical and personal journey. In Book One: The Promised -- Abir ul Islam (Perfume of Islam) he is a child living in Pakistan attending a religious school (madrassa) to memorize the Quran. In Book Two – The American – Amir, he is a teen living in the Bible Belt trying to blend in with his new American peers. In Book Three – The Fundamentalist – Abu Bakr Ramaq (Spark of Light) he is attending college in Manhattan and embraces Islamic fundamentalism. Book Three follows his disappointing return to Pakistan where his old friends reject him as “too American.” In Book Four – The Post Modern – Amir ul Islam he inwardly adopts anti-Islamic ideas at his new university while outwardly feigning Islamic piety. The final book, Book Five details the author’s transformation to Ali Eteraz (Noble Protest) in which he becomes an activist against the violence committed in the name of Islam.

Eteraz is a gifted writer covering a wide swath of emotions in Children of Dust. When describing an unexpected emotional awakening at party in Dubai with Pakistani laborers, Eteraz lyrically writes:

It [a song] melted away my skin and sinew and made me a part of the men around me. These men who were raised from dust, lived in dust, and would eventually rest in dust. I felt one with them. I was not alone. We were many. We were all children of dust.

At other turns, Eteraz hones a light comedic touch such as this passage:

A Muslim leader [he was president of his university’s Muslim Students Association] . . . had to be what others thought a perfect Muslim should be. The trouble, of course, was that I was far removed from piety . . . and therefore the only solutions were to genuinely achieve piety or fake.

As a true postmodernist I opted for the latter and called it art . . . .

The only disappointment came at the end of the book when Eteraz leaves loose ends concerning his family.

Overall, Children of Dust is a riveting story of one man’s quest to fulfill his pre-birth covenant.


Publisher: HarperOne; 1st edition (October 13, 2009), 352 pages
Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the publisher and FSB Associates.

How to be Famous

Publisher's Summary. From braving the wilds of Los Angeles to the Costa Rican jungle, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt have learned a thing or two about reality...television, that is. But while dominating the airwaves and tabloid covers every week may look like all fun and mind games, Speidi is here to tell you: becoming wildly famous requires hard work and a no-fail blueprint for success. Now, for the first time ever, Heidi and Spencer invite you behind the scenes as they reveal the ten-step plan that took them from nobodies to notorious! You will:

* Learn how to say I hate you without opening your mouth--Heidi's exclusive tutorial
* Increase your capacity for evil with Spencer's "Villain-o-meter"
* Discovery why getting and talking about plastic surgery is a must
* Unlock the secrets of celebrity couple math (e.g. Speidi > Heidi + Spencer)
* Mesmerize the media with outrageous behavior
* Bow down to the power of the paparazzi

...and much, much more!

With Heidi and Spencer as your personal coaches, you, too, can transform yourself into a red-carpet-ready superstar!

Review. How to be Famous by Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt is a tongue-in-cheek guide for would be tabloid stars. As the authors gush, “whether you love us, hate us, or love to hate us, there is a recipe for infiltrating Hollywood, and we’ve got it.”

Montag and Pratt caution, “if you fail to churn out the drama that got people interested in the first place, you’re doomed to never see your sixteenth minute [of fame].” Thankfully, How to be Famous reveals how to keep churning out the drama for future Enquirer stories. With illustrative chapter teachings on: Your Point of Entry; Spencer’s Guide to Playing the Villain; Heidi’s Guide to Playing the Bombshell; Pretty on the Outside; The Paps are Your Friends; Tell Your Story; Couple Power; Building Your Brand; Getting Work Done is Your Job; and Famously Ever After, you too can be tabloid fodder.

How to Be Famous is a quick,glossy, satiric read (I read it from start to finish on a two hour plane flight and had time to spare) for the You Tube generation.



Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (November 16, 2009), 144 pages
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.

How to be Famous Giveaway (ends 12/18)

Publisher's Summary. From braving the wilds of Los Angeles to the Costa Rican jungle, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt have learned a thing or two about reality...television, that is. But while dominating the airwaves and tabloid covers every week may look like all fun and mind games, Speidi is here to tell you: becoming wildly famous requires hard work and a no-fail blueprint for success. Now, for the first time ever, Heidi and Spencer invite you behind the scenes as they reveal the ten-step plan that took them from nobodies to notorious! You will:

* Learn how to say I hate you without opening your mouth--Heidi's exclusive tutorial
* Increase your capacity for evil with Spencer's "Villain-o-meter"
* Discovery why getting and talking about plastic surgery is a must
* Unlock the secrets of celebrity couple math (e.g. Speidi > Heidi + Spencer)
* Mesmerize the media with outrageous behavior
* Bow down to the power of the paparazzi

...and much, much more!

With Heidi and Spencer as your personal coaches, you, too, can transform yourself into a red-carpet-ready superstar!

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away FIVE copies of this fun book.

Entry: Comment with your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.
NO P.O. Boxes for the winner’s mailing address.

Giveaway ends December 18th. Good Luck!

Cheating Death

Publisher's Summary. An unborn baby with a fatal heart defect . . . a skier submerged for an hour in a frozen Norwegian lake . . . a comatose brain surgery patient whom doctors have declared a "vegetable." Twenty years ago all of them would have been given up for dead, with no realistic hope for survival. But today, thanks to incredible new medical advances, each of these individuals is alive and well . . .Cheating Death.

In this riveting book, Dr. Sanjay Gupta-neurosurgeon, chief medical correspondent for CNN, and bestselling author-chronicles the almost unbelievable science that has made these seemingly miraculous recoveries possible. A bold new breed of doctors has achieved amazing rescues by refusing to accept that any life is irretrievably lost. Extended cardiac arrest, "brain death," not breathing for over an hour-all these conditions used to be considered inevitably fatal, but they no longer are. Today, revolutionary advances are blurring the traditional line between life and death in fascinating ways.

Drawing on real-life stories and using his unprecedented access to the latest medical research, Dr. Gupta dramatically presents exciting accounts of how pioneering physicians and researchers are altering our understanding of how the human body functions when it comes to survival-and why more and more patients who once would have died are now alive. From experiments with therapeutic hypothermia to save comatose stroke or heart attack victims to lifesaving operations in utero to the study of animal hibernation to help wounded soldiers on far-off battlefields, these remarkable case histories transform and enrich all our assumptions about the true nature of death and life.

Review. Cheating Death by Sanjay Gupta, M.D. would be considered science fiction if the stories were not true. The dramatic vignettes include: a skier submerged in icy waters for over an hour without a pulse; a man with an invariably lethal brain tumor who lives to celebrate the thirteenth anniversary of his diagnosis; and a “hopeless” neurological patient who returns to his medical practice. These “medical miracles” occurred in large part due to the interruption of the death domino chain. As Gupta explains,

Death is not a single event, but a process that may be interrupted, even reversed. And . . . at any point during this process, the course of what seems inevitable can be changed. That is precisely what . . . the book [is about]: the possibility of cheating death.

In addition, to the compelling personal survival stories, Gupta also highlights exciting new medical research that may save scores of lives in the future. The chapter on suspended animation (a medically induced “safe cocoon”) is particularly exciting! Suspended animation involves turning the heart off for an extended period of time and later restarting it. As one researcher reflects, “the whole of emergency medicine is a time dependent thing . . . . [And] things that can’t be fixed now, we could fix with more time. There’s no question.”

Cheating Death is an entertaining and eye opening read into the medical advances of today and a glimpse into the promise of tomorrow.





Publisher: Wellness Central, Hachette Book Group (Oct. 12, 2009), 282 pages.
Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.

Cheating Death Giveaway (ends 12/18)

Publisher's Summary. An unborn baby with a fatal heart defect . . . a skier submerged for an hour in a frozen Norwegian lake . . . a comatose brain surgery patient whom doctors have declared a "vegetable."
Twenty years ago all of them would have been given up for dead, with no realistic hope for survival. But today, thanks to incredible new medical advances, each of these individuals is alive and well . . .Cheating Death.
In this riveting book, Dr. Sanjay Gupta-neurosurgeon, chief medical correspondent for CNN, and bestselling author-chronicles the almost unbelievable science that has made these seemingly miraculous recoveries possible. A bold new breed of doctors has achieved amazing rescues by refusing to accept that any life is irretrievably lost. Extended cardiac arrest, "brain death," not breathing for over an hour-all these conditions used to be considered inevitably fatal, but they no longer are. Today, revolutionary advances are blurring the traditional line between life and death in fascinating ways.

Drawing on real-life stories and using his unprecedented access to the latest medical research, Dr. Gupta dramatically presents exciting accounts of how pioneering physicians and researchers are altering our understanding of how the human body functions when it comes to survival-and why more and more patients who once would have died are now alive. From experiments with therapeutic hypothermia to save comatose stroke or heart attack victims to lifesaving operations in utero to the study of animal hibernation to help wounded soldiers on far-off battlefields, these remarkable case histories transform and enrich all our assumptions about the true nature of death and life.

Giveaway Rules: Today I am giving away FIVE copies of this fabulous book.

First Entry: Comment with your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

Extra Entry: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower). NOTE: This extra entry MUST be left in a separate comment or it will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.
NO P.O. Boxes for the winner’s mailing address.

Giveaway ends December 18th Good Luck!

Last Day to Win a Copy of the Smart One and the Pretty One

Today is the last day to enter to win one of FIVE copies of The Smart One and the Pretty One. So if you haven't already go here win a copy. Good Luck!

Mailbox Monday -- November 30th

Thanks to Marcia at The Printed Page I'm participating in the Mailbox Monday round up. This week I received the following advance review copies:

1) The Living Testament: Trading Dollars for Change by Jacob Isom: Author's Summary. This book touches on the history of our most pressing issues including family, religion, politics, race as well as others. It openly and honestly discusses why some things haven't change and the change that needs to occur. It addresses this issues from a social standpoint as well as a moral and psychological view. The Living Testament talks about the destructive lifestyles are society has come familiar with and what we can do to alter this.

Thanks to the author.

2) End the Fed by Ron Paul. Publisher's Summary. In the post-meltdown world, it is irresponsible, ineffective, and ultimately useless to have a serious economic debate without considering and challenging the role of the Federal Reserve.

Most people think of the Fed as an indispensable institution without which the country's economy could not properly function. But in END THE FED, Ron Paul draws on American history, economics, and fascinating stories from his own long political life to argue that the Fed is both corrupt and unconstitutional. It is inflating currency today at nearly a Weimar or Zimbabwe level, a practice that threatens to put us into an inflationary depression where $100 bills are worthless. What most people don't realize is that the Fed -- created by the Morgans and Rockefellers at a private club off the coast of Georgia -- is actually working against their own personal interests. Congressman Paul's urgent appeal to all citizens and officials tells us where we went wrong and what we need to do fix America's economic policy for future generations.

3) What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. Publisher's Summary. What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century?

In the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has written three books that have radically changed how we understand our world and ourselves: The Tipping Point; Blink; and Outliers. Now, in What the Dog Saw, he brings together, for the first time, the best of his writing from The New Yorker over the same period.

Here is the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzling inventions of the pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz. Gladwell sits with Ron Popeil, the king of the American kitchen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secrets of Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand. He explores intelligence tests and ethnic profiling and "hindsight bias" and why it was that everyone in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate.

"Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head." What the Dog Saw is yet another example of the buoyant spirit and unflagging curiosity that have made Malcolm Gladwell our most brilliant investigator of the hidden extraordinary.

4) How to be Famous by Heidi Montag & Spencer Pratt. Publisher's Summary. From braving the wilds of Los Angeles to the Costa Rican jungle, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt have learned a thing or two about reality...television, that is. But while dominating the airwaves and tabloid covers every week may look like all fun and mind games, Speidi is here to tell you: becoming wildly famous requires hard work and a no-fail blueprint for success. Now, for the first time ever, Heidi and Spencer invite you behind the scenes as they reveal the ten-step plan that took them from nobodies to notorious! You will:

* Learn how to say I hate you without opening your mouth--Heidi's exclusive tutorial
* Increase your capacity for evil with Spencer's "Villain-o-meter"
* Discovery why getting and talking about plastic surgery is a must
* Unlock the secrets of celebrity couple math (e.g. Speidi > Heidi + Spencer)
* Mesmerize the media with outrageous behavior
* Bow down to the power of the paparazzi

...and much, much more!

With Heidi and Spencer as your personal coaches, you, too, can transform yourself into a red-carpet-ready superstar!

Thanks to Hachette Book Group.

5) The Secret of Joy by Melissa Senate. Amazon Product Description. As 28 year old New York paralegal Rebecca Strand's widowed father lays dying, he confesses a secret: he had an affair 26 years earlier when Rebecca was just a toddler. Now he wants Rebecca to deliver the secret stash of letters he wrote, but never mailed, to the daughter he fathered. Rebecca's lawyer boyfriend, Michael, is adamant that she forget the woman exists. He's sure the woman will be an opportunist who will demand half of Rebecca's father's million-dollar estate. But Rebecca, now without any family in the world, can't help but wonder about her one living relative. With her relationship with Michael in tatters, Rebecca drives from New York City to Maine to find Joy Jayhawk, who operates a Weekend Singles Tour service out of an orange mini-van that her regulars dub "The Love Bus." Enter a cast of lovable, colorful characters, from Joy's eccentric mother to the singles on The Love Bus, and a sexy carpenter for whom Rebecca finds herself unexpectedly falling in love...

Thanks to Simon and Schuster.

6) Ivy & Bean: Doomed to Dance by Annie Barrows & Sophie Blackall. Amazon Product Description. Finally! After begging their parents for ballet lessons, Ivy and Bean finally get what they want...well, not exactly. Much to their surprise, it turns out ballet lessons do not include karate chops and roundhouse kicks to the villain's heart. The girls have no interest in learning how to dance gracefully, but they promised their parents they would finish the entire ballet course! When it comes time for Ivy and Bean to participate in the ocean-themed class recital, the girls must figure out a way to get out of it without breaking their promises.

Thanks to the Publisher.