Friday, April 30, 2010

This One is Mine Giveaway (ends 5/22)
































Publisher's Summary.
Violet Parry is living the quintessential life of luxury in the Hollywood Hills with David, her rock-and-roll manager husband, and her darling toddler, Dot. She has the perfect life--except that she's deeply unhappy. David expects the world of Violet but gives little of himself in return. When she meets Teddy, a roguish small-time bass player, Violet comes alive, and soon she's risking everything for the chance to find herself again. Also in the picture are David's hilariously high-strung sister, Sally, on the prowl for a successful husband, and Jeremy, the ESPN sportscaster savant who falls into her trap. For all their recklessness, Violet and Sally will discover that David and Jeremy have a few surprises of their own. THIS ONE IS MINE is a compassionate and wickedly funny satire about our need for more--and the often disastrous choices we make in the name of happiness.

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

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 May 22nd. Good Luck!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Dirty Little Secrets























Amazon Product Description. Everyone has a secret. But Lucy’s is bigger and dirtier than most. It’s one she’s been hiding for years—that her mom’s out-of-control hoarding has turned their lives into a world of garbage and shame. She’s managed to keep her home life hidden from her best friend and her crush, knowing they’d be disgusted by the truth. So, when her mom dies suddenly in their home, Lucy hesitates to call 911 because revealing their way of life would make her future unbearable—and she begins her two-day plan to set her life right.

With details that are as fascinating as they are disturbing, C. J. Omololu weaves an hour-by-hour account of Lucy’s desperate attempt at normalcy. Her fear and isolation are palpable as readers are pulled down a path from which there is no return, and the impact of hoarding on one teen’s life will have readers completely hooked.

Review. Buried under a mountainous pile of National Geographics lies the body of sixteen year old Lucy’s mom; her death the result of an apparent asthma attack. Dirty Little Secrets, the debut novel by C.J. Omololu, details the next critical twenty four hours of Lucy’s young life.

When Lucy returns home to find her mother’s body she is thrust into a moral crossroads: to call or not call 911? The reason Lucy hesitates is due to her fear of what others will think of her family. As Lucy notes: “Our little gray and white house really didn’t look that bad from [the outside] . . . . All of our secrets started at the front door.” Behind the closed doors, Lucy and her mother live surrounded by toppling piles of newspapers, magazines, thrift shop stuff and other assorted debris. They live in primitive conditions, without heat and hot water, because no repairman can access the furnace which is surrounded by “stuff.”

And now Lucy’s mother’s body cannot be removed from the house because it is engulfed by stuff. It is at this juncture that Lucy makes her decision to delay summoning 911 until she can clean up the house. Lucy explains her choice as follows:

“Mom was dead – there was nothing I could do about that. Local history would either remember us either as that garbage-hoarding freak family on Collier Avenue, or as the nice oncology nurse with the lovely children.”

Hoarding is a form of the obsessive compulsive disorder mental illness. It is generally hidden from public view because of the stigma. Omololu does a fantastic job of conveying the shame and isolation which propel Lucy’s actions. In page after page the reader is confronted with detailed depictions of the house’s sad state and Lucy’s mind frame. For example, when comparing the stigma of hoarding versus alcohol or drug addiction Lucy observes: “Maybe someone could forgive an addiction, but nobody was going to understand how we lived under a mountain of garbage for so long. It was different. It made us too different.”

Dirty Little Secrets is an enthralling story and must read for anyone seeking to understand this often hidden mental illness.



Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (February 2, 2010), 224 pages
Review book acquired from a local public librabry.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Worst Case


































Publisher's Summary. Best case: survival

The son of one of New York's wealthiest families is snatched off the street and held hostage. His parents can't save him, because this kidnapper isn't demanding money. Instead, he quizzes his prisoner on the price others pay for his life of luxury. In this exam, wrong answers are fatal.

Worst case: death

Detective Michael Bennett leads the investigation. With ten kids of his own, he can't begin to understand what could lead someone to target anyone's children. As another student disappears, one powerful family after another uses their leverage and connections to turn the heat up on the mayor, the press--anyone who will listen--to stop this killer. Their reach extends all the way to the FBI, who send their top Abduction Specialist, Agent Emily Parker. Bennett's life--and love life--suddenly get even more complicated.

This case: Detective Michael Bennett is on it

Before Bennett has a chance to protest the FBI's intrusion on his case, the mastermind changes his routine. His plan leads up to the most devastating demonstration yet--one that could bring cataclysmic devastation to every inch of New York. From the shocking first page to the last exhilarating scene, Worst Case is a non-stop thriller from "America's #1 storyteller" (Forbes).

Review.
Have you ever taken a test where you felt like your life depended on the results? In Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, whether the kidnapping victims (only children of the rich and famous) live or die literally depends on their “test” scores. The test, administered by serial killer and former 60’s radical Francis X. Mooney, queries the Paris Hilton cohorts on their social awareness. With questions such as how many gallons of water it takes to wash a pair of Abercrombie & Fitch jeans it is no surprise that the privileged kiddos’ scores are not impressive.

Called in to solve the unusual kidnapping and killing spree is Irish Catholic NYPD Detective Michael Bennett. Additionally, Bennett’s personal life, he is a widower with ten adopted children, is used to add a fun romantic element to the novel. When FBI Special Agent Emily Parker, an attractive divorced single mom, is summoned to help Bennett solve the crimes, the romantic sparks soon fly. Their witty banter, simmering romantic attraction, plus the complication of Bennett’s feeling for his nanny Mary Catherine, add an exciting romantic twist to the story.

Worst Case is the third in the Bennett series, but functions as a stand alone thriller. Bennett is an intelligent and likeable “hero,” who seems like a real person (harried – with 10 kids who wouldn’t be -- and romantically a little tone deaf – he sometimes gets his singles crossed with Agent Parker & Nanny Mary Catherine). I look forward to following Bennett on future outings.

Worst Case is an enjoyable combination of suspense and romance!




Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (February 1, 2010), 368 pages.
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Worst Case Giveaway (ends May 15th)


































Publisher's Summary.

Best case: survival

The son of one of New York's wealthiest families is snatched off the street and held hostage. His parents can't save him, because this kidnapper isn't demanding money. Instead, he quizzes his prisoner on the price others pay for his life of luxury. In this exam, wrong answers are fatal.

Worst case: death

Detective Michael Bennett leads the investigation. With ten kids of his own, he can't begin to understand what could lead someone to target anyone's children. As another student disappears, one powerful family after another uses their leverage and connections to turn the heat up on the mayor, the press--anyone who will listen--to stop this killer. Their reach extends all the way to the FBI, who send their top Abduction Specialist, Agent Emily Parker. Bennett's life--and love life--suddenly get even more complicated.

This case: Detective Michael Bennett is on it

Before Bennett has a chance to protest the FBI's intrusion on his case, the mastermind changes his routine. His plan leads up to the most devastating demonstration yet--one that could bring cataclysmic devastation to every inch of New York. From the shocking first page to the last exhilarating scene, Worst Case is a non-stop thriller from "America's #1 storyteller" (Forbes).

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

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 May 15th. Good Luck!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Mailbox Monday -- April 26th

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) Still Missing by Chevy Stevens. Amazon Product Description. On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a thirty-two year old realtor, had three goals—sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever- patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent as the captive of psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape—her struggle to piece her shattered life back together and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor.

The truth doesn’t always set you free.

Still Missing is that rare debut find--a shocking, visceral, brutal and beautifully crafted debut novel.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press!

2) A Man and His Maniac: The Bunkie Story by Charles Franklin Emery III. Amazon Product Description. "A Man and His Maniac: The Bunkie Story" Second Edition is a humorous stand-alone memoir of Bunkie, the yellow Labrador Retriever wonder dog. This memoir was penned by Bunkie's owner and buddy Charles Frankin Emery III (or just Chuck to those folks that know him). This book deals with the travails and blessings that our furry compatriots impart to our lives.

Thanks to the author!

3) Spaceheadz by Jon Scieszka. Amazon Product Description. The perfect combination of the age old experience of holding and pouring over a physical book with newest media technology that kids love!

Michael K. just started fifth grade at a new school. As if that wasn't hard enough, the kids he seems to have made friends with apparently aren't kids at all. They are aliens. Real aliens who have invaded our planet in the form of school children and a hamster. They have a mission to complete: to convince 3,400,001 kids to BE SPHDZ. But with a hamster as their leader, "kids" who talk like walking advertisements, and Michael K as their first convert, will the SPHDZ be able to keep their cover and pull off their assignment?

Thanks to Simon & Schuster!

4) Treading Water Today by Emily Angelica Roldan. Amazon Product Description. This collection is presented from a teen's view of life. From love, to pain, to joy, to loneliness. visit www.treadingwatertoday.com Emily would love to hear from all of her readers!

Thanks to the author!

5) The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker. Publisher's Summary. When Truly Plaice's mother was pregnant, the town of Aberdeen joined together in betting how recordbreakingly huge the baby boy would ultimately be. The girl who proved to be Truly paid the price of her enormity; her father blamed her for her mother's death in childbirth, and was totally ill equipped to raise either this giant child or her polar opposite sister Serena Jane, the epitome of femine perfection. When he, too, relinquished his increasingly tenuous grip on life, Truly and Serena Jane are separated--Serena Jane to live a life of privilege as the future May Queen and Truly to live on the outskirts of town on the farm of the town sadsack, the subject of constant abuse and humiliation at the hands of her peers.

Serena Jane's beauty proves to be her greatest blessing and her biggest curse, for it makes her the obsession of classmate Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest in a line of Robert Morgans who have been doctors in Aberdeen for generations. Though they have long been the pillars of the community, the earliest Robert Morgan married the town witch, Tabitha Dyerson, and the location of her fabled shadow book--containing mysterious secrets for healing and darker powers--has been the subject of town gossip ever since. Bob Bob Morgan, one of Truly's biggest tormentors, does the unthinkable to claim the prize of Serena Jane, and changes the destiny of all Aberdeen from there on.

When Serena Jane flees town and a loveless marriage to Bob Bob, it is Truly who must become the woman of a house that she did not choose and mother to her eight-year-old nephew Bobbie. Truly's brother-in-law is relentless and brutal; he criticizes her physique and the limitations of her health as a result, and degrades her more than any one human could bear. It is only when Truly finds her calling--the ability to heal illness with herbs and naturopathic techniques--hidden within the folds of Robert Morgan's family quilt, that she begins to regain control over her life and herself. Unearthed family secrets, however, will lead to the kind of betrayal that eventually break the Morgan family apart forever, but Truly's reckoning with her own demons allows for both an uprooting of Aberdeen County, and the possibility of love in unexpected places.

Thanks to the publicist!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Winners!















Congrats to the confirmed winners of the Undervalued Self Giveaway!


ludeluh
spynaert
bgcchs

Friday, April 23, 2010

Kissing Frogs in Cyberspace
































Amazon Product Description. In today's age of virtual hook-ups and online encounters, it is no surprise that there are thousands of web sites devoted to Internet dating. Told in a series of vignettes, Kissing Frogs in Cyberspace, Dianne Sweeney's revealing account of dating in the 21st century takes you on a hilarious, often poignant journey of online dates, dumps, and disasters. As she discovers the world of Internet dating is blessed by those seeking true love and plagued by those just seeking. Kissing Frogs in Cyberspace uncovers the reality of online dating--its pleasures, its horrors, and all the quirky stuff in between.

Review.
Dianne Sweeney is a thirtysomething singleton who is looking for a love connection via cyberspace. With a hopeful heart and keen sense of the absurd Sweeney embarks on a six month internet dating quest to see if the virtual world can link to a real world life partner. Along the journey Sweeney matches with numerous bullfrogs, croakers, polliwogs, and toads, but is always ready with a quick quip!

Sweeney’s cyberspace dating misadventures are detailed in entertaining vignettes. I love this passage on her date with The Joker:

Red Flag #1

The Joker and I are munching on popcorn [in a movie theatre] . . . during that PSA when the onscreen cell phone rings. In an instant, The Joker is on his feet and yelling out, “Put your cell phone away, now! Damn it!”

Red Flag # 2

[After the movie The Joker invites Sweeney to dinner] Not missing a beat he says, “We have to take your car, though. I drive a sh*t box, and it stalled two times on the way over here.

Red Flag # 3

[During dinner The Joker tells Sweeney] “I want you to know I’m a very sexual person. For Christmas, I gave my mother and sister a dildo.”

Needless to say the above was the first and only date Sweeney shared with The Joker


Kissing Frogs in Cyberspace is a witty memoir that both singletons and non-singletons will appreciate.




Publisher: Adelmore Press; First edition (December 11, 2009), 216 pages.
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of Pump Up Your Book Publicists.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

I Has A Hotdog

























Publisher's Summary. I HAS A BWAIN!!1! An you thawt we dint! Now Professor Happycat tells you what's in it and, from I HAS A HOTDOG.com and beyond, lets over 200 LOLdogs loose on the world, all barking the truth about kibble, toys, and bad kitties. This collection of favorites and never-before-seen photos will have you barking for more!

For all you hoomins, a LOLdog is a kay-nine picture with a funny, misspelled caption.

Review.
Mix two parts cute (adorable doggies) with one part silly (captions of what they’re really thinking) and the result is I Has a Hot Dog by Professor Happy Cat. This hysterical little picture book is just what the doctor ordered for a quick pick-me-up. While perusing this book in public I had to stifle my laughs because they just kept coming!

I Has a Hot Dog is the perfect gift for dog lovers everywhere!



Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (April 20, 2010), 192 pages.
Advance review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I Has A Hotdog Giveaway (ends May 8th)

























Publisher's Summary. I HAS A BWAIN!!1! An you thawt we dint! Now Professor Happycat tells you what's in it and, from I HAS A HOTDOG.com and beyond, lets over 200 LOLdogs loose on the world, all barking the truth about kibble, toys, and bad kitties. This collection of favorites and never-before-seen photos will have you barking for more!

For all you hoomins, a LOLdog is a kay-nine picture with a funny, misspelled caption.

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

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 May 8th. Good Luck!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Winners!













Here are the confirmed winners of the 3-Day Cleanse Giveaway:

VanRoth
bibliophilebythesea
s.mickelson


Congrats to the winners!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Mailbox Monday -- April 19th!

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) The Walk by Richard Paul Evans. Publisher's Summary. "My name is Alan Christoffersen. You don’t know me. ‘Just another book in the library,’ my father would say. ‘Unopened and unread.’ You have no idea how far I’ve come or what I’ve lost. More important, you have no idea what I’ve found." —Prologue

What would you do if you lost everything—your job, your home, and the love of your life—all at the same time? When it happens to Seattle ad executive Alan Christoffersen, he’s tempted by his darkest thoughts. A bottle of pills in his hand and nothing left to live for, he plans to end his misery. Instead, he decides to take a walk. But not any ordinary walk. Taking with him only the barest of essentials, Al leaves behind all that he’s known and heads for the farthest point on his map: Key West, Florida. The people he encounters along the way, and the lessons they share with him, will save his life—and inspire yours.

Richard Paul Evans’s extraordinary New York Times bestsellers have made him one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. A life-changing journey, both physical and spiritual, The Walk is the first of an unforgettable series of books about one man’s search for hope.

2) Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. Publisher's Summary. One of the most unforgettable characters in contemporary literature” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the hard years following World War Two. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America, she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind.

Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street, and when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, who loves the Dodgers and his big Italian family, slowly wins her over with patient charm. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love, devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her future.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster!

3) The Passage by Justin Cronin. Publisher's Summary. First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

Thanks to Random House!

4) My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares. Amazon Product Description. Daniel has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after life, crossing continents and dynasties, he and Sophia (despite her changing name and form) have been drawn together-and he remembers it all. Daniel has "the memory", the ability to recall past lives and recognize souls of those he's previously known. It is a gift and a curse. For all the times that he and Sophia have been drawn together throughout history, they have also been torn painfully, fatally, apart. A love always too short.

Interwoven through Sophia and Daniel's unfolding present day relationship are glimpses of their expansive history together. From 552 Asia Minor to 1918 England and 1972 Virginia, the two souls share a long and sometimes torturous path of seeking each other time and time again. But just when young Sophia (now "Lucy" in the present) finally begins to awaken to the secret of their shared past, to understand the true reason for the strength of their attraction, the mysterious force that has always torn them apart reappears. Ultimately, they must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are ever to spend a lifetime together.

A magical, suspenseful, heartbreaking story of true love, My Name is Memory proves the power and endurance of a union that was meant to be.

Thanks to the Penguin Group!

5) I Has a Hot Dog by Professor Happycat. Publisher's Summary.
I HAS A BWAIN!!1! An you thawt we dint! Now Professor Happycat tells you what's in it and, from I HAS A HOTDOG.com and beyond, lets over 200 LOLdogs loose on the world, all barking the truth about kibble, toys, and bad kitties. This collection of favorites and never-before-seen photos will have you barking for more!

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

For all you hoomins, a LOLdog is a kay-nine picture with a funny, misspelled caption.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Last Day to Enter a Great Giveaway!

































Today is your last chance to enter to win a copy of this terrific book, but you can't win unless you enter here.

Good Luck!

Friday, April 16, 2010

The Currency of Time
















Publisher's Summary. When 70-year-old Patrick Felson suffers a stroke and suddenly finds himself waking up each morning in a previous decade of his life, he is plunged into reliving some of his most influential and difficult days. Forced to make crucial decisions, despite already knowing how those days unfolded the first time around, Patrick is given the opportunity to make peace with his mistakes and develop a true appreciation for spending his gift of time wisely.

The Currency of Time is based on the concept that in many ways, our time is similar to a currency. We spend, waste and allocate our time, however we do so without ever knowing how much of it we have left. The novel reflects the importance of our decisions, and the value of our most precious resource.

Review. If you could go back and redo pivotal moments in your life with 20/20 hindsight how would you do things this time around? And how would any changes made affect your loved ones? This is the premise behind The Currency of Time by Brandon Stuart.

The novella is sort of a cross between “This is Your Life” and “Quantum Leap” with the hero leaping through the decades to correct past mistakes. When 70 year old widower Patrick Felson suffers a stroke his personal time travel journey begins. He must relive an important day from each of his seven decades. Patrick is a good, but deeply flawed man who loves his family, but was never able to show his true feeling to them. Thus, with a lot of regrets borne of an abusive childhood and a drinking problem, Patrick tries to “get things right” this time around. Some events turn out better, some remain unchanged, but in every redo Patrick gains new insight into himself and his family members.

The Currency of Time is a poignant novella that insightfully explores the universal theme of regret.




Publisher: Self-Published; 1ST edition (2009), 95 pages.
Review copy sent courtesy of the author.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Bag Lady Papers
























Publisher's Summary. In December 2008, my worst nightmare came true . . .

How do you pick yourself up after the one thing you most feared happens to you? Alexandra Penney’s revealing, spirited, and ultimately redemptive true story shows us how.

Throughout her life, Alexandra Penney’s worst fear was of becoming a bag lady. Even as she worked several jobs while raising a son as a single mother, wrote a bestselling advice book, and became editor in chief of Self magazine, she was haunted by the image of herself alone, bankrupt, and living on the street. She even went to therapy in an attempt to alleviate the worry that all she had worked for could crumble.

And then, one day, that’s exactly what happened.

Penney had taken a friend’s advice and invested nearly everything she had ever earned—all of her savings—with Bernie Madoff. One day she was successful and wealthy; the next she had almost nothing. Suddenly, at an age when many Americans retire, Penney saw her worst nightmares coming true. Based on her popular blog posts on The Daily Beast, this memoir chronicles Penney’s struggle to cope with the devastating financial and emotional fallout of being cheated out of her life savings and illuminates her journey back to sanity, solvency, and security.

“I will work harder than I ever have before—which was pretty hard indeed—and see what happens. I have the feeling something good will come of it: tough, challenging work and laserlike focus have always paid off for me. . . . Was it better to have it and then lose it? Yes, yes, yes! Even though I lived with horrible bag lady fears of losing it all, now that those financial fears have materialized, I’m in pretty good shape and looking to what’s next. Experiences—good and bad, exciting and boring, tragic and absurd—make up a life. Not to have lived to the fullest is the saddest, most irresponsible life I can think of.”

Review.
Alexandra Penney lost her life savings in the Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme. How much did she lose? Why do you want to know Penney asks? Umm, maybe because she is publically selling her story? Well, too bad because Penney can’t give exact amounts (or even a ball park idea) because of “legal reasons.” So have fun speculating on the enormity of her loss! And how old is Penney? Is she able to mitigate her losses as she has many years of career life ahead or is she in the retirement stage of life? Her age, Penney retorts, isn’t any of your business either because “the surface facts of chronological age are meaningless . . . you are what age you think you are.” Okay so forget about facts and indulge in vanity seems to be Penney’s modus operandi.

So what exactly does Penney share in The Bag Lady Papers? Her fear of becoming a bag lady ala Park Avenue style. Apparently, in certain monetary circles, being a bag lady means selling the “cottages” in Florida and Long Island, contemplating releasing one’s housekeeper (who will iron the white shirts, change the Frette sheets, and polish the wood floors to dark gleam?!), giving up premier cable and terminating the New York Times subscription. Thankfully, Penney gets by with a little help from her friends with the necessities in life such as highlights from Kyle the hair colorist; a lift on a private jet to warmer climes during the winter; gratis dinners featuring $200 bottles of Cristal; and new Brooks Brothers white shirts.

Penney has suffered a significant and unanticipated monetary loss at the hands of the greedy and unscrupulous investment guru Madoff. Moreover, the lost money was earned through years of hard work. For this Penney has my sincere sympathy. However, she is as close to becoming a bag lady as I am to winning the Powerball lottery (and I don’t buy lotto tickets). Penney’s whining of losing it all is disingenuous as she still has a fair amount of assets (the proceeds from the Florida “cottage,” not to mention the luxury personal property including fine china, crystal, sterling silver crockery and Hermes handbags). While she may not be able to afford overseas travel and the rent on her SoHo art studio, she may develop an appreciation for the “simpler” things in life that satisfy most Americans.

The Bag Lady Papers is heavy on the histrionics and light on substance.





Publisher: Voice (February 16, 2010), 240 pages.
Review based on borrowed public library copy.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Flawless Giveaway (ends 5/1)





















Publisher's Summary. On February 15, 2003, a group of thieves broke into an allegedly airtight vault in the international diamond capital of Antwerp, Belgium and made off with over $108 million dollars worth of diamonds and other valuables. They did so without tripping an alarm or injuring a single guard in the process. Although the crime was perfect, the getaway was not. The police zeroed in on a band of professional thieves fronted by Leonardo Notarbartolo, a dapper Italian who had rented an office in the Diamond Center and clandestinely cased its vault for over two years. The “who” of the crime had been answered, but the “how” remained largely a mystery.Enter Scott Andrew Selby, a Harvard Law grad and diamond expert, and Greg Campbell, author of Blood Diamonds, who undertook a global goose chase to uncover the true story behind the daring heist. Tracking the threads of the story throughout Europe—from Belgium to Italy, in seedy cafés and sleek diamond offices—the authors sorted through an array of conflicting details, divergent opinions and incongruous theories to put together the puzzle of what actually happened that Valentine’s Day weekend.This real-life Ocean’s Eleven—a combination of diamond history, journalistic reportage, and riveting true-crime story—provides a thrilling in-depth study detailing the better-than-fiction heist of the century.

Giveaway Rules: Today I am giving away a copy 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 US residents only.

P.O. Boxes allowed for the winner’s mailing address.

Giveaway ends May 1st. Good Luck!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Mailbox Monday -- April 12th

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

1) The Blue Orchard by Jackson Taylor. Publisher's Summary. On the eve of the Great Depression, Verna Krone, the child of Irish immigrants, must leave the eighth grade and begin working as a maid to help support her family. Her employer takes inappropriate liberties, and as Verna matures, it seems as if each man she meets is worse than the last. Through sheer force of will and a few chance encounters, she manages to teach herself to read and becomes a nurse. But Verna’s new life falls to pieces when she is arrested for assisting a black doctor with "illegal surgeries." As the media firestorm rages, Verna reflects on her life while awaiting trial.

Based on the life of the author’s own grandmother and written after almost three hundred interviews with those involved in the real-life scandal, The Blue Orchard is as elegant and moving as it is exact and convincing. It is a dazzling portrayal of the changes America underwent in the first fifty years of the twentieth century. Readers will be swept into a time period that in many ways mirrors our own. Verna Krone’s story is ultimately a story of the indomitable nature of the human spirit—and a reminder that determination and self-education can defy the deforming pressures that keep women and other disenfranchised groups down.

2) Finishing Touches by Hester Browne. Publisher's Summary. A fading English finishing school gets a twenty-first-century makeover in this "modern-day fairy tale" (Romantic Times) from New York Times bestselling author Hester Browne, whose sparkling novels are "charming and feel-good" (Cosmopolitan).

Twenty-seven years ago, an infant turned up on the doorstep of London’s esteemed Phillimore Academy for Young Ladies. Now, Betsy Phillimore returns to the place where she was lovingly raised by Lord and Lady Phillimore, only to find the Academy in disrepair and Lord P. desperate to save his legacy. Enter Betsy with a savvy business plan to replace dusty protocol with the essentials girls need today: cell phone etiquette, eating sushi properly, handling credit cards, choosing the perfect little black dress, negotiating a pre-nup, and other lessons in independent living. But returning to London also means crossing paths with her sexy girlhood crush . . . and stirring up the mystery of who her parents are and why they abandoned her. Will the puzzle pieces of her past fall into place while Betsy races to save the only home she’s ever known?

3) Shadow Princess by Indu Sundaresan. Publisher's Summary. The daughters of the emperor, Jahangir and Roshanara, conspire and scheme against one another in an attempt to gain power over their father's harem. As royal princesses, they are confined in the imperial harem and not allowed to marry. However, this does not stop them from having illicit affairs or plotting who will be the next heir to the throne.

These royal sisters are in competition for everything: control over the harem, their father's affection, and the future of their country. Unfortunately, only one of them can succeed. And despite their best efforts to affect the future, their schemes are eclipsed, both during their lives and in posterity, as they live in the shadow of the greatest monument in Indian history, the Taj Mahal.

With a flair and enthusiasm for history and culture, Sundaresan creates a story full of rich details that brings the reader deep into the world of the lives of Indian women and their struggles for power and the profound history of the Taj Mahal, one of the most celebrated works of architecture in the world.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster!

4) Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah. Isabelle Lee thinks she knows everything about Chinese cuisine. After all, during her Chinese-American childhood, she ate it every day. Isabelle may speak only "kitchen Chinese"—the familial chatter learned at her mother's knee—but she understands the language of food. Now, in the wake of a career-ending catastrophe, she's ready for a change—so she takes off for Beijing to stay with her older sister, Claire, whom she's never really known, and finds a job writing restaurant reviews for an expat magazine. In the midst of her extreme culture shock, and the more she comes to learn about her sister's own secrets, Isabelle can't help but wonder whether coming to China was a mistake . . . or an extraordinary chance to find out who she really is.

Thanks to Harper Collins!

5) Keeper by Kathi Appelt. Amazon Product Description. To ten-year-old Keeper, this moon is her chance to fix all that has gone wrong...and so much has gone wrong. But she knows who can make things right again: Meggie Marie, her mermaid mother who swam away when Keeper was just three. A blue moon calls the mermaids to gather at the sandbar, and that's exactly where she is headed -- in a small boat, in the middle of the night, with only her dog, BD (Best Dog), and a seagull named Captain.

When the riptide pulls at the boat, tugging her away from the shore and deep into the rough waters of the Gulf of Mexico, panic sets in, and the fairy tales that lured her out there go tumbling into the waves. Maybe the blue moon isn't magic and maybe the sandbar won't sparkle with mermaids and maybe -- Oh, no..."Maybe" is just too difficult to bear. Kathi Appelt follows up to her New York Times bestseller, The Underneath, with a tale that will pull right at your very core -- stronger than moon currents -- capturing the crash and echo of the waves and the dark magic of the ocean.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster!

6) Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor. Publisher's Summary. In her critically acclaimed Leaving Church ("a beautiful, absorbing memoir."—Dallas Morning News), Barbara Brown Taylor wrote about leaving full-time ministry to become a professor, a decision that stretched the boundaries of her faith. Now, in her stunning follow-up, An Altar in the World, she shares how she learned to encounter God beyond the walls of any church.

From simple practices such as walking, working, and getting lost to deep meditations on topics like prayer and pronouncing blessings, Taylor reveals concrete ways to discover the sacred in the small things we do and see. Something as ordinary as hanging clothes on a clothesline becomes an act of devotion if we pay attention to what we are doing and take time to attend to the sights, smells, and sounds around us. Making eye contact with the cashier at the grocery store becomes a moment of true human connection. Allowing yourself to get lost leads to new discoveries. Under Taylor's expert guidance, we come to question conventional distinctions between the sacred and the secular, learning that no physical act is too earthbound or too humble to become a path to the divine. As we incorporate these practices into our daily lives, we begin to discover altars everywhere we go, in nearly everything we do.

Thanks to Harper One!

7) The Pocket Therapist by Therese J. Borchard. Amazon Product Description. Whenever Therese Borchard was weathering a personal storm, and help was nowhere to be found, her one guiding light was the question, "What would a therapist say?" The result was a sort of therapy scrapbook for rough days--a quick reference for anyone who needs a dose of encouragement, support and tried and true ways to cope.

THE POCKET THERAPIST is a compact and accessible guide filled with techniques and advice to help combat everything from addictive behavior to negative thinking.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

8) The Executor by Jesse Kellerman. Amazon Product Description. Perpetual graduate student Joseph Geist is at his wit's end. Recently kicked out of their shared apartment by his girlfriend, he's left with little more than a half bust of Nietzsche's head and the realization that he's homeless and unemployed. He's hit a dead end on his dissertation; his funding has been cut off. He doesn't even have a phone. Desperate for some source of income, he searches the local newspaper and finds a curious ad:

CONVERSATIONALIST SOUGHT.
SERIOUS APPLICANTS ONLY.
PLEASE CALL 617-XXX-XXXX
BETWEEN SEVEN A.M. AND TWO P.M.
NO SOLICITORS.

And so Joseph meets Alma Spielman: a woman who, with her old-world ways and razor-sharp mind, is his intellectual soul mate. How is he to know that what seems to be the best decision of his life is the one that seals his fate?

Thanks to Marcia at the Printed Page!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Last Day to Enter Giveaway

































If you haven't done so, be sure to get your entry in here to win a copy of the 3-Day Cleanse.

Good Luck!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Beyond Blue



























Publisher's Summary. Therese Borchard may be one of the frankest, funniest people on the planet. That, combined with her keen writing abilities has made her Beliefnet blog, Beyond Blue, one of the most trafficked blogs on the site.

BEYOND BLUE, the book, is part memoir/part self-help. It describes Borchard's experience of living with manic depression as well as providing cutting-edge research and information on dealing with mood disorders. By exposing her vulnerability, she endears herself immediately to the reader and then reduces even the most depressed to laughter as she provides a companion on the journey to recovery and the knowledge that the reader is not alone.

Comprised of four sections and twenty-one chapters, BEYOND BLUE covers a wide range of topics from codependency to addiction, poor body image to postpartum depression, from alternative medicine to psychopharmacology, managing anxiety to applying lessons from therapy. Because of her laser wit and Erma Bombeck sense of humor, every chapter is entertaining as well as serious.

Review.
Therese Borchard is a bright, funny, writer who suffers from mental illness and fights daily to keep her sanity. In the first half of Beyond Blue, Borchard details her 18 month bout with suicidal depression and her struggle to recover. While the second half of Beyond Blue reads like a self-help guide for dealing with mental illness.

In the memoir part of Beyond Blue, Borchard does a great job of destigmatizing mental illness. And Borchard’s memoir is no disease of the week type memoir; rather her personal scars are served up with wit and empathy. For example, I loved this passage:

“Hi. I’m Therese. I’m a manic-depressive, an alcoholic, and an adult child of an alcoholic; a codependent, a boundaries violator, and a stage-four people pleaser; an information hoarder or a clutter magnet, an Internet abuser, and an obsessive-compulsive or ritual performing weirdo; a sugar addict; a caffeine junkie; a reformed binge smoke, and an exercise fanatic, a hormonally imbalanced female, a PMS-prone time bomb, and a sexually dysfunctional or neutered creature; a workaholic; an HSP (highly sensitive person) and, of course, I’m Catholic. Which could possibly explain some of the above.”

Beyond Blue is the book that I would buy for any friend suffering from depression or other mood disorders.



Publisher: Center Street (January 6, 2010), 288 pages
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Pocket Therapist
































Publisher's Summary. Whenever Therese Borchard was weathering a personal storm, and help was nowhere to be found, her one guiding light was the question, "What would a therapist say?" The result was a sort of therapy scrapbook for rough days--a quick reference for anyone who needs a dose of encouragement, support and tried and true ways to cope.

THE POCKET THERAPIST is a compact and accessible guide filled with techniques and advice to help combat everything from addictive behavior to negative thinking.

Review.
Therese Borchard, author of The Pocket Therapist, is on a mission “to educate folks about mental illness and to offer support to those persons, like myself who struggle with mood disorders, but [to give support] with a sense of humor.” Although Borchard is not a licensed therapist she is a self educated expert on mental illness. Borchard notes that before recovering she had “worked with six psychiatrists, experimented with twenty-one medication combinations, and tried every alternative therapy out there: yoga, acupuncture, homeopathic remedies; Chinese herbs, magnets, visualization techniques, mediation, and cognitive-behavioral therapy.” Wow!

As part of her mission, Borchard wrote The Pocket Therapist as a self described “sanity file.” Each section is 1-2 pages and addresses a specific topic for dealing with the day-to-day issues that arise between therapy sessions. Like a cheat sheet before a particularly exacting final exam, The Pocket Therapist fills a much needed void for those who are suffering.

Reading The Pocket Therapist is like quaffing coffee with a good friend who has been to hell and back, but still can joke about having the T shirt to wear!



Publisher: Center Street (April 15, 2010), 224 pages.
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Winners!














Here are the confirmed winners of the Connected Giveaway:



laura
layersofthought
xoeskie1
leenbeen2001
mckelly74

Congrats to the winners!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

How to Never Look Fat Again Giveaway (ends 4/24)






























Publisher's Summary. The new groundbreaking style-guide from bestseller author Charla Krupp on how to look 10 pounds lighter, 10 years younger and 10 times sexier every day, all year--in summer, winter, at the gym, even in a swimsuit!

You'll never get dressed the same way again once you discover:

*smart, easy ways to hide arm flap, a big bust, a muffin top, back fat, Buddha belly, a big booty, wide hips, thunder thighs, and heavy calves-and that's only half the book.

*which fabrics, colors, and styles make women look fat

*absolutely the best shades, shapes, and brilliant buys to make the pounds invisible

*clever solutions for special fashion situations--workout gear, evening wear, and even swimsuits!

*which products, fashions, and services you shouldn't waste your money on

*the top ten tips that will make you look thinner by tonight!

So, if you've ever put on a piece of clothing and asked "Does this make me look fat?" Finally, here is the book that will answer your question.

Giveaway Rules.
Today I am giving away THREE copies of this terrific self help 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.

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 4/24. Good Luck!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Mailbox Monday -- April 5th

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) Fools Rush In by Bill Carter. Amazon Product Description. When tragedy strikes Bill Carter's life he finds himself drawn to an unlikely place -- Bosnia, in the midst of its civil war. Searching for meaning in the heart of darkness, he manages to find lodging in an abandoned tower block and sets out getting supplies to the starved, besieged citizens of Sarajevo. It is there that Carter emerges from his stupor. Inspired by a community of people working to bring relief to the city, he daringly enlists the help of music group U2 and its lead singer, Bono, who set up satellite links on the band's Zooropa tour that allowed ordinary citizens of Sarajevo to speak unedited and live on 90-foot television screens to thousands of concertgoers worldwide.

Just as Michael Herr's Vietnam memoir Dispatches captured the horror of war for the '60s generation, Bill Carter's Fools Rush In will be the seminal book for this generation on the visceral and transformative impact of war in our time.

Thanks to the Publicist!

2) Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani. Amazon Product Description. Meet the Roncalli and Angelini families, a vibrant cast of colorful characters who navigate tricky family dynamics with hilarity and brio, from magical Manhattan to the picturesque hills of bella Italia. Very Valentine is the first novel in a trilogy and is sure to be the new favorite of Trigiani's millions of fans around the world.

In this luscious, contemporary family saga, the Angelini Shoe Company, makers of exquisite wedding shoes since 1903, is one of the last family-owned businesses in Greenwich Village. The company is on the verge of financial collapse. It falls to thirty-three-year-old Valentine Roncalli, the talented and determined apprentice to her grandmother, the master artisan Teodora Angelini, to bring the family's old-world craftsmanship into the twenty-first century and save the company from ruin.

While juggling a budding romance with dashing chef Roman Falconi, her duty to her family, and a design challenge presented by a prestigious department store, Valentine returns to Italy with her grandmother to learn new techniques and seek one-of-a-kind materials for building a pair of glorious shoes to beat their rivals. There, in Tuscany, Naples, and on the Isle of Capri, a family secret is revealed as Valentine discovers her artistic voice and much more, turning her life and the family business upside down in ways she never expected. Very Valentine is a sumptuous treat, a journey of dreams fulfilled, a celebration of love and loss filled with Trigiani's trademark heart and humor.

3) Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani. Publishers Weekly Summary. Trigiani's sequel to Very Valentine is a sweet second act for shoemaker and designer Valentine Roncalli. Val takes over the New York family-run shoe business with feet-of-clay older brother, Alfred; falls for the dashing, older Gianluca in Italy; and takes a business risk in South America, where she unearths a dusty chapter of family history. There are plenty of picturesque globe-trotting adventures in Tuscany, Manhattan, and Buenos Aires, and, for artistic and independent Val, a grown-up commitment evolves. There is no art without love. Only love can open someone up to the possibilities of living and creating art, Val writes to the wary Gianluca. And the startling twist of family history finally challenges an old-fashioned, insular clan to join the modern world. But it's always the endearing, unnerving and rowdy Roncallis who steal the show. Look for a heartbreaking exit of one beloved character, and a cliffhanger breakup in this charming valentine to love, forgiveness, and family. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Thanks to the Publicist!

4) Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell. Publishers' Summary. Sometimes he dreamt he held her; that he would turn in bed and she would be there. But she was gone and he was old. Nearly seventy. Only cool paint met his fingers. “Ma très chère . . .” Darkness started to fall, dimming the paintings. He felt the crumpled letter in his pocket. “I loved you so,” he said. “I never would have had it turn out as it did. You were with all of us when we began, you gave us courage. These gardens at Giverny are for you but I’m old and you’re forever young and will never see them. . . .”

In the mid-nineteenth century, a young man named Claude Monet decided that he would rather endure a difficult life painting landscapes than take over his father’s nautical supplies business in a French seaside town. Against his father’s will, and with nothing but a dream and an insatiable urge to create a new style of art that repudiated the Classical Realism of the time, he set off for Paris.

But once there he is confronted with obstacles: an art world that refused to validate his style, extreme poverty, and a war that led him away from his home and friends. But there were bright spots as well: his deep, enduring friendships with men named Renoir, C̩zanne, Pissarro, Manet Рa group that together would come to be known as the Impressionists, and that supported each other through the difficult years. But even more illuminating was his lifelong love, Camille Doncieux, a beautiful, upper-class Parisian girl who threw away her privileged life to be by the side of the defiant painter and embrace the lively Bohemian life of their time.

His muse, his best friend, his passionate lover, and the mother to his two children, Camille stayed with Monet—and believed in his work—even as they lived in wretched rooms, were sometimes kicked out of those, and often suffered the indignities of destitution. She comforted him during his frequent emotional torments, even when he would leave her for long periods to go off on his own to paint in the countryside.

But Camille had her own demons – secrets that Monet could never penetrate, including one that when eventually revealed would pain him so deeply that he would never fully recover from its impact. For though Camille never once stopped loving the painter with her entire being, she was not immune to the loneliness that often came with being his partner.

A vividly-rendered portrait of both the rise of Impressionism and of the artist at the center of the movement, Claude and Camille is above all a love story of the highest romantic order.

Thanks to Random House!

5) The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry. Amazon Product Description. Zee Finch has come a long way from a motherless childhood spent stealing boats—a talent that earned her the nickname Trouble. She's now a respected psychotherapist working with the world-famous Dr. Liz Mattei. She's also about to marry one of Boston's most eligible bachelors. But the suicide of Zee's patient Lilly Braedon throws Zee into emotional chaos and takes her back to places she though she'd left behind.

What starts as a brief visit home to Salem after Lilly's funeral becomes the beginning of a larger journey for Zee. Her father, Finch, long ago diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, has been hiding how sick he really is. His longtime companion, Melville, has moved out, and it now falls to Zee to help her father through this difficult time. Their relationship, marked by half-truths and the untimely death of her mother, is strained and awkward.

Overwhelmed by her new role, and uncertain about her future, Zee destroys the existing map of her life and begins a new journey, one that will take her not only into her future but into her past as well. Like the sailors of old Salem who navigated by looking at the stars, Zee has to learn to find her way through uncharted waters to the place she will ultimately call home.

Thanks to the Publisher!

6) She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott. Publisher's Summary. When having money is all that matters, what happens when you lose it all?

Perfect, picturesque Orchard Hill. It was the last thing Ally Ryan saw in the rear-view mirror as her mother drove them out of town and away from the shame of the scandal her father caused when his hedge fund went south and practically bankrupted all their friends -- friends that liked having trust funds and new cars, and that didn't like constant reminders that they had been swindled. So it was adios, Orchard Hill. Thanks for nothing.

Now, two years later, Ally's mother has landed a job back at the site of their downfall. So instead of Ally's new low-key, happy life, it'll be back into the snake pit with the likes of Shannen Moore and Hammond Ross.

But then there's Jake Graydon. Handsome, wealthy, bored Jake Graydon. He moved to town after Ally left and knows nothing of her scandal, but does know that he likes her. And she likes him. So off into the sunset they can go, right? Too bad Jake's friends have a problem with his new crush since it would make Ally happy. And if anyone deserves to be unhappy, it's Ally Ryan.

Ally was hoping to have left all the drama in the past, but some things just can't be forgotten. Isn't there more to life than money?

Thanks to Simon & Schuster!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Winner!


















Congratulations to the confirmed winner of The Life O'Reilly: seknobloch!

Friday, April 2, 2010

The Undervalued Self Giveaway (ends 4/17 )





































Publisher's Summary. Elaine Aron follows up her bestsellers on the highly sensitive person with a groundbreaking new book on the undervalued self. She explains that self-esteem results from having a healthy balance of love and power in our lives. Readers will learn to incorporate love into situations that seem to require power and deal with power struggles that mask themselves as issues of love. From the bedroom to the boardroom, her strategies will enable us to escape feelings of shame, defeat, and depression; dissolve relationship hostility; and become our best selves. With Aron's clear, empathetic writing and extraordinary scientific and human insight, THE UNDERVALUED SELF is a simple and effective guide to developing healthy, fulfilling relationships, and finding true self-worth.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away THREE copies of this thought provoking 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 4/17. Good Luck!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

The Swimming Pool























Publisher's Summary. even summers ago, Marcella Atkinson fell in love with Cecil McClatchey, a married father of two. But on the same night their romance abruptly ended, Cecil's wife was found murdered—and their lives changed forever. The case was never solved, and Cecil died soon after, an uncharged suspect.

Now divorced and estranged from her only daughter, Marcella lives alone, mired in grief and guilt. Meanwhile, Cecil's grown son, Jed, returns to the Cape with his sister for the first time in years. One day he finds a woman's bathing suit buried in a closet—a relic, unbeknownst to him, of his father's affair—and, on a hunch, confronts Marcella. When they fall into an affair of their own, their passion temporarily masks the pain of the past, but also leads to crises and revelations they never could have imagined.

In what is sure to be the debut of the season, The Swimming Pool delivers a sensuous narrative of such force and depth that you won't be able to put it down.

Review. Cape Cod in the Summer, Illicit Entanglements, Family Secrets, Murder Mystery – these are all present in The Swimming Pool, the debut novel by Holly Le Craw. And generally these are all elements of a must read summer novel. Additionally, the book is beautifully written and, with the single exceptions of the murder victim Betsy McClatchery and her son-in-law Billy, the characters are all fully developed. In short, I so wanted to love The Swimming Pool, but . . . I didn’t.

While I have no problem with a few loose ends and drawing my own conclusions at the end of the novel there were too many dangling plot threads for my taste. Without giving away any spoilers, it was never clear to me why the murder victim was ultimately killed. I also had difficulty relating to Marcella Atkinson’s affair with Jed McClatchey, the now grown son of her deceased former lover Cecil Atkinson. Although I do understand what the author wants the reader to believe – that their mutual grief brought them together – it seemed like a funny way of grieving to me. Particularly, as Marcella was significantly older than Jed I felt like she should have been more mature. Moreover, she later learns that her college daughter, Toni, who doesn’t know her mom is “dating” Jed, also has an unrequited crush on him. While I don’t need to approve of the characters’ actions to enjoy a novel I do need to relate, at some level, to their actions and for me Marcella and Jed’s affair just seemed tawdry.

There were, however, aspects of the novel I did enjoy. The post-partum depression that Callie, Jed’s sister, suffered from was very believable. According to an interview, this part of the novel was based, in part, on LeCraw’s personal experience. I also enjoyed the detailed passages depicting Cape Cod. Le Craw was able to make it come alive to me even though I have never (yet) visited the area.

In sum, while The Swimming Pool ultimately didn’t work for me it may work for other readers as there was enough to keeping me reading until the end.



Publisher: Doubleday (April 6, 2010), 320 pages.
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.