Friday, July 30, 2010

Men and Dogs Giveaway (ends 8/22 )

































Publisher's Summary. When Hannah Legare was 11, her father went on a fishing trip in the Charleston harbor and never came back. And while most of the town and her family accepted Buzz's disappearance, Hannah remained steadfastly convinced of his imminent return.

Twenty years later Hannah's new life in San Francisco is unraveling. Her marriage is on the rocks, her business is bankrupt. After a disastrous attempt to win back her husband, she ends up back at her mother's home to "rest up", where she is once again sucked into the mystery of her missing father. Suspecting that those closest are keeping secrets--including Palmer, her emotionally closed, well-mannered brother and Warren, the beautiful boyfriend she left behind--Hannah sets out on an uproarious, dangerous quest that will test the whole family's concepts of loyalty and faith.


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 August 8th. Good Luck!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Shutter Island Movie Review






















Review.
There are few movies that I watch a second time and fewer still that I want to own. Shutter Island, however, is one of those rare films. Recently, I watched Shutter Island for the first time (and the next night for the second time) and found Leonardo Dicaprio’s performance nothing short of amazing! I would put it in the same category as Bruce Willis’s in the Sixth Sense – an acting job so impressive that you probably will want to watch it again to see what really happened.

In the movie, which is set in the 50’s, Dicaprio is a detective who is assigned to find the missing escapee (a criminally insane patient) from the Alcatraz –like Island. Sir Ben Kingsley plays the head psychiatrist and main foil to Dicaprio. I don’t think I can say much more with giving away spoilers. However, I recommend playing close attention to everyone in the movie and not jumping to conclusions.

In sum, if you’re looking for an exciting thriller that will leave you guessing until the end (and maybe after that) then rent Shutter Island!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Put on Your Crown



































Publisher's Summary. Modeled after Maria Shriver's Just Who Will You Be, Queen Latifah's goal with Put On Your Crown is to help young women build a strong sense of self-esteem. A US Dept. of Justice survey found that females ages 16-24 are more vulnerable to partner violence than any other group, almost triple the national average. Cases like Chris Brown's assault on pop star Rihanna showed an ugly side of adolescent life. However, Queen Latifah has always been a shining example of a woman happy with herself and unwilling to compromise to fit into the "hollywood ideal" of what a confident beautiful woman should look like.

Review. I know this book is marketed to the 16-24 year old female demographic, but as a woman long past that age range I still thoroughly enjoyed Put on Your Crown by Queen Latifah aka Dana Owens. I listened to the audio book version which Owens narrates in a plain spoken and sincere way (girlfriend to girlfriend is how I would describe it).

Put on Your Crown addresses important moments in Owens’ life, including, the sudden death of her brother; going broke; body image issues; her parents’ divorce; growing up in the ‘hood and celebrity. She also shares literary (and audio) space with her resilient and inspiring mother, Ms. O, who also offers stories and life lessons.

While I am not familiar with Owens’ hip hop music and have only seen a few of her acting roles I grew to admire her by the book’s conclusion. She comes across as a friend who has experienced both the highs and lows of life, but still has both feet planted solidly on the ground. I especially liked when she spoke about her close relationships with her mother and late brother. For the most part, Owens seems candid about the matters she addresses: the pressure to be thin in Hollywood; the need to watch one’s money no matter how much one has; the need to take breaks to avoid burnout and chemical dependency etc. She also offers a uniquely positive message – that learning to cope with her early failures helped her later to be unafraid in the public arena.

Put on Your Crown is an authentic and powerful message for women of all ages!




Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (May 6, 2010), 208 pages.
Review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Put on Your Crown Giveaway (ends August 14th)




































Publisher's Summary. Modeled after Maria Shriver's Just Who Will You Be, Queen Latifah's goal with Put On Your Crown is to help young women build a strong sense of self-esteem. A US Dept. of Justice survey found that females ages 16-24 are more vulnerable to partner violence than any other group, almost triple the national average. Cases like Chris Brown's assault on pop star Rihanna showed an ugly side of adolescent life. However, Queen Latifah has always been a shining example of a woman happy with herself and unwilling to compromise to fit into the "hollywood ideal" of what a confident beautiful woman should look like.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away THREE copies of this inspiring 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 August 14th. Good Luck!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Mailbox Monday -- July 26th








The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page and In My Mailbox hosted by the Story Siren. Below are the following advance review copies that I received this week:

1) Bad Boy by Peter Robinson. Publisher's Summary. A distraught woman arrives at the Eastvale police station desperate to speak to Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. But since Banks is away on holiday, his partner, Annie Cabbot, steps in. The woman tells Annie that she's found a loaded gun hidden in the bedroom of her daughter, Erin—a punishable offense under English law. When an armed response team breaks into the house to retrieve the weapon, the seemingly straightforward procedure quickly spirals out of control.

But trouble is only beginning for Annie, the Eastvale force, and Banks, and this time, the fallout may finally do the iconoclastic inspector in. For it turns out that Erin's best friend and roommate is none other than Tracy Banks, the DCI's daughter, who was last seen racing off to warn the owner of the gun, a very bad boy indeed.

Thrust into a complicated and dangerous case intertwining the personal and the professional as never before, Annie and Banks—a bit of a bad boy himself—must risk everything to outsmart a smooth and devious psychopath. Both Annie and Banks understand that it's not just his career hanging in the balance, it's also his daughter's life.

Thanks to Harper Collins!

2) Hailey's War by Jodi Compton. Publisher's Summary. Hailey Cain has a history of testing the limits of her fate: as a fearless bike messenger on the twisted, competitive streets of San Francisco; as a young female cadet in a sea of men at West Point. But Hailey also has secrets--the biggest of which led her to leave the academy just two months short of graduation, two months away from becoming a lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Now, scraping and fighting her way through life, Hailey finds focus only when she's in motion. When an old friend from her former life in Los Angeles calls in a favor, Hailey doesn't have to think too long before she accepts the mission. She will escort a young Mexican woman across the border to a remote mountain town in Sierra Madre. But what happens there will alter Hailey's life irrevocably.

From the dustiest Mexican roads to the meanest streets of East L.A., Hailey finds herself ensnared in a war more deviant and ugly than any she trained for as a cadet. Deep in the gang underworld, pusued by mobsters and authorities alike, Hailey must use her instincts to stay alive--and to protect the innocent from a past that still haunts her.

Awash in sharp gangland details and unrelenting in its pace, Hailey's War introduces one of the most memorable heroines in recent crime fiction. Hailey Cain is complicated, tough, and unnerving--and her journey into the depths of despair and desperation is as harrowing as it is impossible to put down.

Thanks to Crown Publishing!

3) Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin. Amazon Product Description. In a small Mississippi town, two men are torn apart by circumstance and reunited by tragedy in this resonant new novel from the award-winning author of the critically-acclaimed Hell at the Breech.

Larry Ott and Silas ''32'' Jones were unlikely boyhood friends. Larry was the child of lower middle-class white parents, Silas the son of a poor, single, black mother -- their worlds as different as night and day. Yet a special bond developed between them in Chabot, Mississippi. But within a few years, tragedy struck. In high school, a girl who lived up the road from Larry had gone to the drive-in movie with him and nobody had seen her again. Her stepfather tried to have Larry arrested but no body was found and Larry never confessed. The incident shook up the town, including Silas, and the bond the boys shared was irrevocably broken.

Almost thirty years have passed. Larry, a mechanic, lives a solitary existence in Chabot, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion, the looks of blame that have shadowed him. Silas left home to play college baseball, but now he's Chabot's constable. The men have few reasons to cross paths, and they rarely do -- until fate intervenes again.

Thanks to the Publisher!

4) When I Stop Talking You'll Know I'm Dead by Jerry Weintraub. Publisher's Summary. Here is the story of Jerry Weintraub: the self-made, Brooklyn-born, Bronx-raised impresario, Hollywood producer, legendary deal maker, and friend of politicians and stars. No matter where nature has placed him--the club rooms of Brooklyn, the Mafia dives of New York's Lower East Side, the wilds of Alaska, or the hills of Hollywood--he has found a way to put on a show and sell tickets at the door. "All life was a theater and I wanted to put it up on a stage," he writes. "I wanted to set the world under a marquee that read: 'Jerry Weintraub Presents.'"

In WHEN I STOP TALKING, YOU'LL KNOW I'M DEAD, we follow Weintraub from his first great success at age twenty-six with Elvis Presley, whom he took on the road with the help of Colonel Tom Parker; to the immortal days with Sinatra and Rat Pack glory; to his crowning hits as a movie producer, starting with Robert Altman and Nashville, continuing with Oh, God!, The Karate Kid movies, and Diner, among others, and summiting with Steven Soderbergh and Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen.

Along the way, we'll watch as Jerry moves from the poker tables of Palm Springs (the games went on for days), to the power rooms of Hollywood, to the halls of the White House, to Red Square in Moscow and the Great Palace in Beijing-all the while counseling potentates, poets, and kings, with clients and confidants like George Clooney, Bruce Willis, George H. W. Bush, Armand Hammer, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, John Denver, Bobby Fischer . . .well, the list goes on forever.

And of course, the story is not yet over . . .as the old-timers say, "The best is yet to come."

As Weintraub says, "When I stop talking, you'll know I'm dead."

With wit, wisdom, and the cool confidence that has colored his remarkable career, Jerry chronicles a quintessentially American journey, one marked by luck, love, and improvisation. The stories he tells and the lessons we learn are essential, not just for those who love movies and music, but for businessmen, entrepreneurs, artists . . . everyone.

5) The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace. Publisher's Summary. The "dazzling, exhilarating" (San Francisco Chronicle) debut novel from the bestselling author of Infinite Jest, available for the first time as an audiobook.

At the center of The Broom of the System is the betwitching (and also bewildered) heroine, Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman. The year is 1990 and the place is a slightly altered Cleveland, Ohio, which sits on the edge of a suburban wasteland-the Great Ohio Desert. Lenore works as a switchboard attendant at a publishing firm, and in addition to her mind-numbing job, she has a few other problems. Her great-grandmother, a one-time student of Wittgenstein, has disappeared with twenty-five other inmates of the Shaker Heights Nursing Home. Her beau (and boss), editor-in-chief Rick Vigorous, is insanely jealous. And her cockatiel, Vlad the Impaler, has suddenly started spouting a mixture of psychobabble, Auden, and the King James Bible, which may propel him to stardom on a Christian fundamentalist television program.

Fiercely intelligent and entertaining, this debut novel from one of the most innovative writers of our generation explores the paradoxes of language, storytelling, and reality.

6) Backseat Saints by Joshlyn Jackson. Publisher's Summary. Rose Mae Lolley is a fierce and dirty girl, long-suppressed under flowery skirts and bow-trimmed ballet flats. As "Mrs. Ro Grandee" she's trapped in a marriage that's thick with love and sick with abuse. Her true self has been bound in the chains of marital bliss in rural Texas, letting "Ro" make eggs, iron shirts, and take her punches. She seems doomed to spend the rest of her life battered outside by her husband and inside by her former self, until fate throws her in the path of an airport gypsy---one who shares her past and knows her future. The tarot cards foretell that Rose's beautiful, abusive husband is going to kill her. Unless she kills him first.

Hot-blooded Rose Mae escapes from under Ro's perky compliance and emerges with a gun and a plan to beat the hand she's been dealt. Following messages that her long-missing mother has left hidden for her in graffiti and behind paintings, Rose and her dog Gretel set out from Amarillo, TX back to her hometown of Fruiton, AL, and then on to California, unearthing a host of family secrets as she goes. Running for her life, she realizes that she must face her past in order to overcome her fate---death by marriage---and become a girl who is strong enough to save herself from the one who loves her best.

BACKSEAT SAINTS will dazzle readers with a fresh and heartwrenching portrayal of the lengths a mother will go to right the wrongs she's created, and how far a daughter will go to escape the demands of forgiveness. With the seed of a minor character from her popular best-seller, GODS IN ALABAMA, Jackson has built a whole new story full of her trademark sly wit, endearingly off-kilter characters, and utterly riveting plot twists.

7) Hitch 22 by Christopher Hitchens. Publisher's Summary. Over the course of his 60 years, Christopher Hitchens has been a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been both a socialist opposed to the war in Vietnam and a supporter of the U.S. war against Islamic extremism in Iraq. He has been both a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most dangerous places and a legendary bon vivant with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol and literature. He is a fervent atheist, raised as a Christian, by a mother whose Jewish heritage was not revealed to him until her suicide.

In other words, Christopher Hitchens contains multitudes. He sees all sides of an argument. And he believes the personal is political.

This is the story of his life, lived large.

8) The Body Shop by Paul Solotaroff. Publisher's Summary. As a scrawny college freshman in the mid-1970s, just before Arnold Schwarzenegger became a hero to boys everywhere and Pumping Iron became a cult hit, Paul Solotaroff discovered weights and steroids. In a matter of months, he grew from a dorky beanpole into a hulking behemoth, showing off his rock hard muscles first on the streets of New York City and then alongside his colorful gym-rat friends in strip clubs and in the homes of the gotham elite. It was a swinging time, when "Would you like to dance?" turned into "Your place or mine?" and the guys with the muscles had all the ladies--until their bodies, like Solotaroff''s, completely shut down.

But this isn't the gloom-and-doom addiction one might expect--Solotaroff looks back at even his lowest points with a wicked sense of humor, and he sends up the disco era and its excess with all the kaleidoscopic detail of Boogie Nights or Saturday Night Fever.

Written with candor and sarcasm, THE BODY SHOP is a memoir with all the elements of great fiction and dazzlingly displays Paul Solotaroff's celebrated writing talent.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Winners!












Congrats to the winners of 101 Things I Learned in Culinary School:
carolsnotebook
diaryofaneccentric
laura

Hope you enjoy your book!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Eco-Friendly Lunch Box Review & Giveaway (ends 8/15)





















As a 9-5 commuter I pack my lunch almost every day. I choose to “brown bag it” because my home cooked leftovers or freshly made sandwiches and salads are healthier than most take-out fare; cheaper; greener for the planet; and more convenient for my workday. But there are a few pitfalls to bringing one’s lunch, such as, the occasional crushed sandwich or running out of paper bags. However, these problems are behind me now that I am the proud owner of a new Easy Lunchbox System.

When I received an opportunity to review the eco-friendly lunch box from EasyLunchboxes.com I jumped on it. The Easy Lunchbox System is comprised of a BPA- free plastic bento box that is transported in a vinyl-free insulated cooler. With five colors to choose from for the coolers, the Easy Lunchbox System is a stylish alternative to brown bagging it. In addition, the cooler is large enough to house an ice pack or a bottle or can of your favorite beverage. The bento lunch box is sturdy (no more crushed sandwiches!); large enough to satisfy even the heartiest of eaters; and microwave and dishwasher safe!

In the past few weeks that I have been using the Easy Lunchbox System I can honestly say that I will never go back to paper bags again!

Giveaway Rules: Thanks to the CEO and creator of the Easy Lunchbox System Kelly Lester, I am thrilled to be able to offer my readers an opportunity to win an Easy Lunchbox System: 1 set of the bento lunch boxes and 1 cooler in the color a selected color choice.

Giveaway is open to US and Canada resident only.
The winner must not have previously won or received a free product from Easy Lunchboxes.com in the past three months.


First Entry (Required): Visit EasyLunchboxes.com, come back and leave a comment as to what color cooler bag you would like if you win. Also, you must leave your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not visit the site; list a color preference and include your email address in your comment the entry will not count, so be sure to include these items.

Extra Entries:

Extra Entry #1: 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.

Extra Entry #2: Sign up to follow me – DCMetroreader -- on Twitter. Please include your Twitter name. NOTE: This extra entry MUST be left in a separate comment or it will not count.

Extra Entry #3: Like me on Facebook (I’m Metroreader). NOTE: This extra entry MUST be left in a separate comment or it will not count.




Disclaimer: EasyLunchboxes.com provided me with a complimentary 4-container set and cooler in order to facilitate my review. The review, however, is my personal honest opinion. Lastly, I was not monetarily compensated to write this review.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Two Giveaways Ending Today!































Today is the last day to enter to win a copy of The Impostor's daughter, here, and Trapped on Mystery Island, here.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Stephen King's Summer Must Reads




















For your summer reading pleasure, the scaremaster Stephen King has drafted a must read list. Topping the list, surprise surprise, are the Stiegg Larsson books (Note to self: must read these so that I won't be the only person on the planet who hasn't :-)). In addition, also making the short list is Justin Cronin's The Passage (also on my TBR list). Feel free to check out the rest of the list, published in Entertainment Weekly, here. Happy reading and don't forget to reapply the sunblock!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Guest Post by Andrea D. Lyon













Today I am pleased to be hosting an article (first published in the Huffington Post) by Andrea D. Lyon, author of Angel of Death, which is based on her experiences as a Public Defender.

Fighting the Death Penalty: Hope for Change
By Andrea D. Lyon,
Author of Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer


I have spent most of my professional life trying to save my clients from the death penalty. I often get asked questions like how can I do this work? Wouldn't I want death for someone who killed one of my family? And sometimes the questions are more pejorative than that.

In circumstances where I have been asked to debate the death penalty, I have found recently that proponents of the death penalty have stopped trying to argue it deters crime -- they know it doesn't, or that it costs less -- they know that isn't true either (See for example "The Cost of the Death Penalty in Maryland" which estimates 37 million for one execution). They also have stopped saying that all victims want this, because while some do, many do not. In fact all of the justifications for the death penalty come down to just one which they effectively argue; retribution. Put another way, many people feel that some people just shouldn't be on this earth, what they did was just too awful. The desire for retribution is a powerful one, and trying to deny someone the "right" to feel that way is foolish.

But here is what I know -- most people don't know these defendants intimately. They don't know their life stories, what circumstances drove them to be where they were and now are, and can't see their humanity until it's placed before them in a sentencing hearing -- if they are lucky enough to see a sentencing hearing done by someone competent and who cares.

It's a selective blindness that we develop -- we can't absorb all the pain around us, so we just don't look. We don't see the homeless man we pass by, or the mentally ill woman who is talking wildly to herself, or the children going to school day after day in the same clothes where they will eat their only meal -- the free school lunch. I am not saying that this blindness, this choice not to see the truth makes us bad, or inhumane -- we have to defend ourselves from overload or we can't do anyone any good. But while no one can do everything, everyone can do something.

And I have chosen to try to tell my clients stories, to help other lawyers tell their clients' stories and teach my students of the value of each of our clients' lives. I have represented gang members, a serial rapist-murderer, several paranoid schizophrenics, battered and abused women, and battered and abused men. Their stories are shocking, desperately moving and occasionally, in spite of everything, downright funny. Some, indeed, committed the acts they were accused of, and some did not. But no matter what they did or did not do, I believe that every person I have defended is a human being of value. Some are terribly damaged; some lack even tenuous connections with reality. Each of their lives tells us about the ways in which individuals and institutions can go horribly astray, but they also reveal what remains human and noble in the midst of such waste.

Once, I defended a young woman for killing the father who had been molesting her since she was five years old. Unfortunately, I made mistakes during the trial and I lost the case. At its conclusion, I rushed to reassure her that we would appeal. What did she say to me -- this young woman facing many many years in prison? "Are you okay? Are you all right to drive? I don't want you to be home alone tonight." She was more worried about me than about her own sad fate. Happily, I did get her conviction reversed on appeal, and we settled for time served in lieu of a new trial.

What this story demonstrates to me is that even people facing the most horrendous prospects are still capable of caring about someone other than themselves. Time and time again, I have seen incarcerated people find within themselves unexpected capacities. Some counsel younger inmates; some mediate family conflicts; many make a positive contribution to the world. And even those who have demonstrated total indifference to the lives of others can change. Redemption is possible. As long as there is life, even if it is a life in prison with no chance of parole, there is hope for change.

© 2010 Andrea D. Lyon, author of Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer

Author Bio
Andrea D. Lyon, author of Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer, is Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Center for Justice in Capital Cases, and Associate Dean for Clinical Programs at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. She began her career at the cook County Public Defender's Office, working her way up to Chief of the Homicide Task Force, a 22-lawyer unit that represents people accused of homicide. Lyon has tried more than 130 homicide cases, both within the public defender's office and elsewhere. She has defended more than 20 potential capital cases at the trial level. Of these, she has taken 19 through the penalty phase, and won them all. She lives in Flossmoor, Illinois.
For more information please visit www.andrealyon.com.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The I Hate to Cook Book Giveaway (ends August 7th)































Publisher's Summary. "There are two kinds of people in this world: the ones who don't cook out of and have NEVER cooked out of THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK, and the other kind...The I HATE TO COOK people consist mainly of those who find other things more interesting and less fattening, and so they do it as seldom as possible. Today there is an Annual Culinary Olympics, with hundreds of cooks from many countries ardently competing. But we who hate to cook have had our own Olympics for years, seeing who can get out of the kitchen the fastest and stay out the longest."

- Peg Bracken

Philosopher's Chowder. Skinny Meatloaf. Fat Man's Shrimp. Immediate Fudge Cake. These are just a few of the beloved recipes from Peg Bracken's classic I HATE TO COOK BOOK. Written in a time when women were expected to have full, delicious meals on the table for their families every night, Peg Bracken offered women who didn't revel in this obligation an alternative: quick, simple meals that took minimal effort but would still satisfy.

50 years later, times have certainly changed - but the appeal of THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK hasn't.

This book is for everyone, men and women alike, who wants to get from cooking hour to cocktail hour in as little time as possible.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away TWO copies of this classic cookbook!

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 August 7th. Good Luck!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Mailbox Monday -- July 19th







The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page. Below are the following advance review copies that I received this week:

1) All Over the Map by Laura Fraser. Publisher's Summary. On a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, to celebrate her fortieth birthday, Laura Fraser confronts the unique trajectory of her life. Divorced and childless in her thirties, she found solace in the wanderlust that had always directed her heart—and found love and comfort in the arms of a dashing Frenchman. Their Italian affair brought her back to herself—but now she wonders if her passion for travel (and for short-lived romantic rendezvous) has deprived her of what she secretly wants most from life: a husband, a family, a home.

When her Parisian lover meets her in Oaxaca and gives her news that he’s found someone new, Laura is stunned and hurt. Now, it seems, she has nothing but her own independence for company—and, at forty, a lot more wrinkles on her face and fewer years of fertility. How is Laura going to reconcile what seem to be two opposite desires: for adventure, travel, great food, and new experiences, but also a place to call home—and a loving pair of arms to greet her there?

And so, she globe hops. What else is a travel writer to do? From Argentina to Peru, Naples to Paris, she basks in the glow of new cultures and local delicacies, always on the lookout for the “one” who might become a lifelong companion. But when a terrible incident occurs while she’s on assignment in the South Pacific, Laura suddenly finds herself more aware of her vulnerability and becomes afraid of traveling. It seems as if she might lose the very thing that has given her so much pleasure in her life, not to mention the career she has built for herself as a world traveler and chronicler of far-flung places.

Finding herself again will be both more difficult and more natural than she imagined. Ultimately, Laura realizes the most important journey she must take is an internal one. And the tale of how she reaches that place will captivate every woman who has ever yearned for a different life.

Thanks to Random House!

2) Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel. Publisher's Summary. "Throughout all my histories, I found no one I loved more than you...no one."

Those were some of Rhode's last words to me. The last time he would pronounce his love. The last time I would see his face.

It was the first time in 592 years I could take a breath. Lay in the sun. Taste.

Rhode sacrificed himself so I, Lenah Beaudonte, could be human again. So I could stop the blood lust.

I never expected to fall in love with someone else that wasn't Rhode.

But Justin was...daring. Exciting. More beautiful than I could dream.

I never expected to be sixteen again...then again, I never expected my past to come back and haunt me...

Thanks to the Publisher!

3) Leaving the World by Douglas Kennedy. Publisher's Summary. On the night of her thirteenth birthday, Jane Howard made a vow to her warring parents: she would never get married, and she would never have children.

But life, as Jane comes to discover, is a profoundly random business. Many years and many lives later, she is a professor in Boston, in love with a brilliant, erratic man named Theo. And then Jane becomes pregnant. Motherhood turns out to be a great welcome surprise—but when a devastating turn of events tears her existence apart she has no choice but to flee all she knows and leave the world.

Just when she has renounced life itself, the disappearance of a young girl pulls her back from the edge and into an obsessive search for some sort of personal redemption. Convinced that she knows more about the case than the police do, she is forced to make a decision—stay hidden or bring to light a shattering truth.

Leaving the World is a riveting portrait of a brilliant woman that reflects the way we live now, of the many routes we follow in the course of a single life, and of the arbitrary nature of destiny. A critically acclaimed international bestseller, it is also a compulsive read and one that speaks volumes about the dilemmas we face in trying to navigate our way through all that fate throws in our path.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster!

4) Queen Pin by Jemeker Thompson-Hairston. Publisher's Summary. Jemeker Thompson-Hairston paid a heavy price for her involvement in the drug game. Learning from her sources of a federal investigation, Jemeker went on the run. It was love for her young son that brought her back to Los Angeles, even though she knew she would be arrested. A subsequent 12-year sentence would cost her not only her legitimate business and the fortune she'd amassed through the drug trade, but the most precious thing of all: time with her child. But not all was lost. Fortunately, while Thompson-Hairston was serving out her sentence, one pivotal moment helped her turn her life around, setting her on a path to help and inspire others like her.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

5) Think of a Number by John Verdon. Publisher's Summary. Arriving in the mail one day is a taunting letter that ends with a simple declaration "See how well I know your secrets-just think of a number." Eerily, those who comply find that the letter writer has predicted their random choice exactly. For Dave Gurney, just retired as the NYPD's top homicide investigator and forging a new life with his wife, Madeleine, in upstate New York, the letters are oddities that begin as a diverting puzzle but quickly ignite a massive serial-murder investigation. Brought in as an investigative "consultant," Gurney soon accomplishes deductive breakthroughs that have local police in awe. Yet, with each taunting move by his seemingly clairvoyant opponent, Gurney feels his tragedy-marred past rising up to haunt him, his marriage approaching a dangerous precipice, and, finally, a dark, cold fear building that he's met an adversary who can't be stopped.

Thanks to Crown Publishing!

6) Pun Enchanted Evening by David Yale. Publisher's Summary. * 746 wildly original puns on every subject from Arizona to zealous crusaders!

* 14 ant puns certain to start a new fad!

* Bi-lingual puns in English and Spanish, French, Chinese, Latin, Yiddish!

* The best new moron puns since the Fifties!

* You'll laugh out loud -- guaranteed!

* Plus information on the first scientific studies showing the mental superiority of pun-lovers!

Most of the puns in this Book are fine for children. But a couple of dozen of them are slightly to somewhat off-color: Numbers 18, 20, 55, 66, 102, 103, 164, 210, 216, 269, 334, 354, 376, 470, 488, 540, 555, 572, 578, 588, and 627 in particular. Please consider this before buying this Book for children.

Thanks to the Publicist!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Last Day to Win 101 Things I Learned in Culinary School


















Today is your last chance to win a copy of this informative book, so be sure to get your entry in here.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Spent

































Publisher's Summary. As a child, Avis Cardella devoured the glamorous images in her mother's fashion magazines. She grew up to be one of the people in them, living a life that seemed to be filled with labels and luxury. But shopping had become a dangerous addiction. She forwent food for Prada. Credit card debt blossomed like the ever-increasing pile of unworn shoes and clothing in the back of her closet. She defined herself by the things she owned and also lost herself in the mad hunt for the perfect pair of pants or purse that might make her feel whole.

Spent is Avis Cardella's timely, deeply personal, and shockingly dramatic exploration of our cultural need to spend, and of what happens when someone is consumed by the desire to consume.

Review. Shopaholism in fiction is fun to read, but in real life it is no joke. Author Avis Cardella is a self-confessed reformed shopaholic. In the memoir Spent, Cadella details her decades long addiction to purchasing designer goods that she couldn’t afford.

When Cardella was growing up she idolized the images in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. She longed to look like the models in the fashion pages. This was both good and bad. The positive aspect of her fashion lust is that it led to a career as a fashion photography commentator. The negative aspect drove her to continually prowl the aisles of Bloomingdales and Bergdorf Goodman for the latest designer goods. And after her mother’s untimely passing her shopaholism really spun out of control as a way to avoid her grief.

Spent is a sad tale, but not a particularly interesting one. While Cardella does a decent job of describing her constant shopping trips after awhile they all blended together. I suppose part of my lack of interest had to do with the lack of drama (e.g. she became homeless or passed on critical surgery to go shopping). I admit this is probably shallow, but I like my tales of redemption to include deep valleys and tall summits. The lowest Cardella sinks is giving magazines as Christmas gifts to her family; eating the same food every week (because she knew how much it cost); and skipping necessary dermatology treatment. This is not exactly fodder for a compelling Lifetime movie.

Spent is a sincere, but largely unremarkable memoir.



Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (May 14, 2010), 272 pages.
Advance review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Winners!













Congrats to the confirmed winners of 101 Things I Learned in Fashion School:

kakihararocks
delilah0180
cams1031

You're Broke Because You Want to Be
















Amazon Product Description. More than 40 percent of families today are feeling financial pressure: spending more than they earn, and worrying about retiring and being dependent on the government, family, or charity. Larry Winget knows. He grew up poor, then made and lost a fortune when a business in which he’d invested went bankrupt. But he worked his way back from rock bottom to become a multimillionaire.

In You’re Broke Because You Want to Be, Winget expands on the ideas that have made his popular television show Big Spender a hit and offers straightforward talk about coming to grips with your finances, such as:

· Feel bad. Have remorse. You need to feel deep emotion to take action. So start crying and take responsibility.

· Figure out who you owe and how much you owe. It’ll be a scary number to face, but you need to know where you are and what you have.

· “People are stupid, lazy, or they don’t give a damn.” You already know you need to do something; Larry will help you finally do something.

· Are you more interested in looking cool and being cute or providing a financially secure future for your family? How you spend your money will tell you that. With a boot-camp regimen that is steeped in personal accountability, Winget cuts through the double-talk contained in most finance books and presents a simple, guided program that is sure to motivate anyone out of their money problems.

Review.
These days a lot of folks (and big banks!) can use some good financial advice. Stepping into that void is Larry Winget with You’re Broke Because You Want to Be. For the unfamiliar, Winget bills himself as the pit bull of personal finance because he utilizes the in your face approach to finance reform.

As Winget lectures:

Books don’t make you rich. Sooner or later, like it or not, it always comes down to work. Sadly, most people won’t put in the time or the effort to get what they want. I don’t make many guarantees in life or in my book. But I will make this one: If you stick with me . . . fill out the forms, and dare to do what I ask, then you will be better financially.

Well, ok that seems reasonable. Winget largely preaches the meat and potatoes of personal finance reform: cut expenses and create more income. These methods, while not easy, do work! However, almost none of Winget’s book contains new information. Rather it is akin to “old wine in new bottles.” Moreover, not everyone is in debt due to spendaholic ways. If you’re looking for novel approaches to reducing your debt or a sympathetic ear you won’t find it here.

Still Winget is an talented motivational writer. And if what you need is some tough love to jump start your paying down debt strategy Winget will supply the swift kick in the pants!




Publisher: Gotham; Reprint edition (December 30, 2008), 224 pages.
Review based on personal copy.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Impostor's Daughter



































Publisher's Summary. Laurie Sandell grew up in awe (and sometimes in terror) of her larger-than-life father, who told jaw-dropping tales of a privileged childhood in Buenos Aires, academic triumphs, heroism during Vietnam, friendships with Kissinger and the Pope. As a young woman, Laurie unconsciously mirrors her dad, trying on several outsized personalities (Tokyo stripper, lesbian seductress, Ambien addict). Later, she lucks into the perfect job--interviewing celebrities for a top women's magazine. Growing up with her extraordinary father has given Laurie a knack for relating to the stars.

Review.
Growing up in the shadow of a parent’s celebrity or wealth is both a blessing and a burden, but what if the fame and fortune is a lie? In The Impostor’s Daughter Laurie Sandell shares her “if it wasn’t true you’d never believe it” childhood of being raised by a father who fabricated almost everything he uttered.

According to Sandell, her father claimed to have a law degree from New York University; a PhD from Columbia; written papers for Kissinger; served on the National Security Council; and held a Mensa membership. Sandell’s father was not only book smart, but a modern day Rambo as well including serving as a Green Beret. Eventually, Sandell learns that none of her father’s tall tales contain even a kernel of truth. Sadly, her father is a con man/swindler with a grandiose fantasy life. Although Sandell is repulsed by her father’s web of lies she also enjoys the drama. This leads her to engage in some reckless behavior before cleaning up her act.

The Impostor’s Daughter is an interesting mix of pathos and humor. There are points in the story when the reader wants to shake the truth out of Sandell’s father. While at other times, the whoppers are the stuff of situation comedy scripts. One of the most telling passages occurred when Sandell joins the Brownies. Shortly thereafter her father gives her a sash full of Brownie badges. When Sandell protests that she needs to earn the badges her father retorts that she did earn them. This appears to be Sandell’s father’s rationale for his mendacity.

The Impostor’s Daughter is uniquely suited to the graphic novel format. The drawings, penned by Sandell, add another dimension to the story. First, the illustrations heighten the surrealism of the narrative. The pictures also help to tell a story which is told in far less words than a traditional memoir. Lastly, the cartoons showcase Sandell’s sharp wit.

The Impostor’s Daughter is a highly unorthodox, but entertaining memoir!




Publisher: Back Bay Books (July 12, 2010). 272 pages.
Advance review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The 9th Judgment Giveaway (ends August 1st )

































Publisher's Summary. The most personal

A young mother and her infant child are ruthlessly gunned down while returning to their car in the garage of a shopping mall. There are no witnesses, and Detective Lindsay Boxer is left with only one shred of evidence: a cryptic message scrawled across the windshield in bloodred lipstick.

The most dangerous

The same night, the wife of A-list actor Marcus Dowling is woken by a cat burglar who is about to steal millions of dollars' worth of precious jewels. In just seconds there is a nearly empty safe, a lifeless body, and another mystery that throws San Francisco into hysteria.

The most exciting Women's Murder Club novel ever

Lindsay spends every waking hour working with her partner, Rich--and her desire for him threatens to tear apart both her engagement and the Women's Murder Club. Before Lindsay and her friends can piece together either case, one of the killers forces Lindsay to put her own life on the line--but is it enough to save the city? With unparalleled danger and explosive action, The 9th Judgment is James Patterson at his compelling, unstoppable best!

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 August 1st. Good Luck!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Mailbox Monday -- July 12th








The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page. Below are the following advance review copies that I received this week:

1) Be Bodacious by Steven D. Wood. Author's Summary. What does it mean to be a “Bodacious Leader?” A bodacious leader is dedicated to creating an extraordinary, unrestrained, and bold team. Bodacious leaders are great communicators; they instill confidence by being genuine and speaking in an honest, open manner and by never using political talk to side step the issues.

Thanks to the Cadence Group!

2) Angel of Death by Andrea D. Lyon. Amazon Product Description. Nineteen times, death penalty defense lawyer Andrea D. Lyon has represented a client found guilty of capital murder. Nineteen times, she has argued for that individual’s life to be spared. Nineteen times, she has succeeded.

Dubbed the “Angel of Death Row” by the Chicago Tribune, Lyon was the first woman to serve as lead attorney in a death penalty case. Throughout her career, she has defended those accused of heinous acts and argued that, no matter their guilt or innocence, they deserved a chance at redemption.

Now, for the first time, Lyon shares her story, from her early work as a Legal Aid attorney to her founding of the Center for Justice in Capital Cases. Full of courtroom drama, tragedy, and redemption, Angel of Death Row is a remarkable inside look at what drives Lyon to defend those who seem indefensible—and to win.

There was Annette who was suspected of murdering her own daughter. There was Patrick, the convicted murderer who thirsted for knowledge and shared his love of books with Lyon when she visited him in jail. There was Lonnie, whose mental illness made him nearly impossible to save until the daughter who remembered his better self spoke on his behalf. There was Deirdre, who shared Lyon’s cautious optimism that her wrongful conviction would finally be overturned, allowing her to see her grandchildren born while she was in prison. And there was Madison Hobley, the man whose name made international headlines when he was wrongfully charged with the murder of his family and sentenced to death.

These clients trusted Lyon with their stories—and their lives. Driven by an overwhelming sense of justice, fairness, and morality, she fought for them in the courtroom and in the raucous streets, staying by their sides as they struggled through real tragedy and triumphed in startling ways. Angel of Death Row is the compelling memoir of Lyon’s unusual journey and groundbreaking career.

Thanks to FSB Associates!

3) The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart. Publisher's Summary. Balthazar Jones has lived in the Tower of London with his loving wife, Hebe, and his 120-year-old pet tortoise for the past eight years. That’s right, he is a Beefeater (they really do live there). It’s no easy job living and working in the tourist attraction in present-day London.

Among the eccentric characters who call the Tower’s maze of ancient buildings and spiral staircases home are the Tower’s Rack & Ruin barmaid, Ruby Dore, who just found out she’s pregnant; portly Valerie Jennings, who is falling for ticket inspector Arthur Catnip; the lifelong bachelor Reverend Septimus Drew, who secretly pens a series of principled erot­ica; and the philandering Ravenmaster, aiming to avenge the death of one of his insufferable ravens.

When Balthazar is tasked with setting up an elaborate menagerie within the Tower walls to house the many exotic animals gifted to the Queen, life at the Tower gets all the more interest­ing. Penguins escape, giraffes are stolen, and the Komodo dragon sends innocent people running for their lives. Balthazar is in charge and things are not exactly running smoothly. Then Hebe decides to leave him and his beloved tortoise “runs” away.

Filled with the humor and heart that calls to mind the delight­ful novels of Alexander McCall Smith, and the charm and beauty of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise is a magical, wholly origi­nal novel whose irresistible characters will stay with you long after you turn the stunning last page.

Thanks to Random House!

4) Dracula in Love by Karen Essex. Publisher's Summary. From the shadowy banks of the river Thames to the wild and windswept Yorkshire coast, Dracula’s eternal muse, Mina Murray, vividly recounts the intimate details of what really transpired between her and the Count—the joys and terrors of a passionate affair that has linked them through the centuries, and her rebellion against her own frightening preternatural powers.

Mina’s version of this gothic vampire tale is a visceral journey into Victorian England’s dimly lit bedrooms, mist-filled cemeteries, and asylum chambers, revealing the dark secrets and mysteries locked within. Time falls away as she is swept into a mythical journey far beyond mortal comprehension, where she must finally make the decision she has been avoiding for almost a millennium.

Bram Stoker’s classic novel offered one side of the story, in which Mina had no past and bore no responsibility for the unfolding events. Now, for the first time, the truth of Mina’s personal voyage, and of vampirism itself, is revealed. What this flesh and blood woman has to say is more sensual, more devious, and more enthralling than the Victorians could have expressed or perhaps even have imagined.

Thanks to Random House!

5) One Season of Sunshine by Julia London. Publisher's Summary. Adopted as an infant, Jane Aaron longs to know the identity of her birth mother and why she gave her up. Her only clue is the name of the small Texas town where she was born, so she's come to Cedar Springs for answers.

Handsome ad executive Asher Price lost his wife, the beautiful, mysterious Susanna, in a terrible car crash eighteen months ago. When he hires Jane as the nanny for his two children, sparks fly. Jane finds herself falling in love with both Asher and his children, but begins to suspect that Susanna was not the perfect mother and wife the family portrays her to have been.

As Jane gets closer and closer to finding out the truth about both her own and Susanna's past, devastating secrets begin to emerge that may be more than anyone can bear. Will the truth bring Jane and Asher closer together or tear them apart forever?

Thanks to Simon and Schuster!

6) The I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken. Publisher's Summary. "There are two kinds of people in this world: the ones who don't cook out of and have NEVER cooked out of THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK, and the other kind...The I HATE TO COOK people consist mainly of those who find other things more interesting and less fattening, and so they do it as seldom as possible. Today there is an Annual Culinary Olympics, with hundreds of cooks from many countries ardently competing. But we who hate to cook have had our own Olympics for years, seeing who can get out of the kitchen the fastest and stay out the longest."

- Peg Bracken

Philosopher's Chowder. Skinny Meatloaf. Fat Man's Shrimp. Immediate Fudge Cake. These are just a few of the beloved recipes from Peg Bracken's classic I HATE TO COOK BOOK. Written in a time when women were expected to have full, delicious meals on the table for their families every night, Peg Bracken offered women who didn't revel in this obligation an alternative: quick, simple meals that took minimal effort but would still satisfy.

50 years later, times have certainly changed - but the appeal of THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK hasn't.

This book is for everyone, men and women alike, who wants to get from cooking hour to cocktail hour in as little time as possible.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Winners!














Congrats to the confirmed winners of The Language God Talks:

tbranco@hughes.net>,
enyl, and
myfunnydadharry.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Last day to Win 101 Things I Learned in Fashion School


















Today is the last day to enter to win a copy of 101 things I Learned in Fashion School, so be sure to get your entry in here.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Jan's Story



















Publisher's Summary. In Jan’s Story you will meet an amazing, lively and vivacious woman who loved her husband and her life, and who globe-trotted from country to country with aplomb. Jan laughed easily and thought life was about adventure and relished every new one that came along as she and Barry moved from postings in San Francisco to Tokyo to Moscow to London and back to Japan and China.

There was no dramatic moment, no instant of knowing how much life would change with the 2005 diagnosis of Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, when Jan was only 55. At first, she fought against the deterioration as best she could. But the medicines could not cure, only slow the disease.

And Barry, a journalist who had seen the worst of the world, from wars and genocide to the murder of innocent children, was not prepared for watching and enduring Jan’s fading away.

There was her unpredictable behavior that got worse, the caregiving that seemed controllable in the beginning and ended up sapping both his mental and physical health, the aching and inevitable decision that Jan needed to go into an assisted living facility. For Barry, then living in Tokyo, it meant moving her back to America, half a world away from him.

There were tough decisions along the way that some applauded and others condemned. There were friends who saw what he was enduring and offered not just advice, but their own suggestions of hope. There were fellow travelers on the same journey as caregivers who reached out to comfort and share what they had learned.

As Jan deteriorated to the point of not even remembering him, Barry finally reached the lonely dangerous midnight of a saddened and defeated soul, and he had to decide…to surrender…or survive.

His answer is Jan’s Story.

Review.
“Until death do we part” is a standard pledge in many marriage ceremonies, but what does this vow mean when your spouse doesn’t remember who you are? How does one remain true to one’s partner while at the same time acknowledging that the marital relationship is gone forever? When Barry Petersen’s wife Jan, is diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s (“the Disease”) at age 55, the author is eventually faced with this heartbreaking dilemma.

According to Petersen, his wife and he were the “darling and darling couple” -- a married pair who never tired of each other’s company – that is until the day in 2005 when the Disease reared its ugly head. As Petersen confesses:

The Disease progresses no matter how hard you push back.

If I had to paint a picture of my life in those first weeks and months, it would look like something from kindergarten. I would take all the beautiful colors of Jan; our experiences and remembrances, our plans, our intense love, the sound of her voice, how she felt in my arms, how in the middle of the night when she was asleep I could snuggle against her back and she would readjust to fold tight against me and then I could wrap my arm around her.

And I would twist the brush in vicious strokes, back and forth, until all those beautiful colors were a mix of bright and dark that no longer makes sense.

During the next several years Petersen tries to keep Jan and their life as a couple intact. First by being her sole caregiver, then with hired “buddies” (paid caregivers), and finally with Jan’s placement in an assisted living community.

Jan’s Story does not provide easy answers to the above questions and some readers may disagree with how Petersen chose to answer his dilemma, but the majority of readers should appreciate his candor in dealing with a situation no spouse should face.




Publisher: Behler Publications (June 15, 2010), 206 pages.
Advance review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Trapped on Mystery Island Review & Giveaway (ends 7/23)





















Amazon Product Description. The first of a series of mystery thrillers, featuring Police Sergeant Merryll Manning of the Paradise Police Department. (Paradise is the author's fictional capital city of Florida, and is not based on Miami). The action takes place on an otherwise deserted island in the Florida Keys, where a number of guests assemble in an old Dominican Priory for a "mystery weekend".

Review.
When a real murder occurs during the murder mystery weekend on Paradise Island the guests/players get more than they bargained for: a mystery their lives depend on solving. Because for the duration of the weekend they are marooned on the island with the murderer until Mr. Mystery (the host) returns.

Lucky for the participants one of the attendees is police sergeant Meryll Manning. He enlisted in the mystery adventure to please his petulant girlfriend Susan and claim the $5,000 prize. However, he is soon is in charge of determining who of the cast of misfits has done the deed. Manning is a colorful character who fights with the other guests (including a priest); is in a love-hate relationship with his girlfriend; but also possess a razor sharp mind. Mystery lovers will enjoy the quirky characters and should find this book a suspenseful read that keeps one guessing until the very end.

Trapped on Mystery Island, the first in the mystery series, is a classic whodunit!


Giveaway Rules: John Howard Reid, the author of Trapped on Mystery Island, has generously provided two copies for giveaway. In addition, this giveaway is open to all – so international readers feel free to toss your hat into the ring!

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.

Giveaway ends July 23rd. Good Luck!


Publisher: Lulu.com (June 24, 2008), 200 pages.
Review copy provided courtesy of the author.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

CSN





















Recently, I was contacted by CSN stores to do a review. As a reader browsing the CSN sites I was immediately attracted to the above light from CSN's lighting section.

Currently, I have a similar lamp above my bed's headboard and I love it! It provides just the right amount of light without illuminating the whole room. CSN lighting also offers a wide assortment of other lighting selections including: ceiling lights, wall lights, outdoor lighting, fans, under the cabinet lighting, recessed lighting, and, of course, lamps.

If you are in the market for lighting or just about anything else, head on over to CSN stores as they are likely to have exactly what you're looking for!




Disclosure: I will receive a complimentary product (not shown above) from CSN stores so that I may provide an unbiased review.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Road Trippin






















Amazon Product Description. What is a Road Trip...Anyway? A question of almost Talmudic proportions. Well, then, let's talk Road Trips. Not the "Load-the-Kids-in-the-Mini-VanTurn-on-the-DVD-and-Rush-to-Some-Far-Off-Theme-Park-Eating-Fast-Food-All-the-Way-on-the-Interstate-with-the-Cruise-Control-On-and-Yakking-on-Cell-Phone-Road-Trips;" trips that confirm Steinbeck's sad prediction: "Soon, we will be able to drive coast to coast and never see anything." No, real Road Trips. Road Trips on back roads. Road Trips eating at Mom and Pop diners. Road Trips of odd souvenir stands and picnic lunches. Road Trips of spectacular scenery where the journey itself is the reward, and to top it off, ya have to do it in a Real Car. So come drive the best backroads of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon. This guide comes complete with detailed route instructions, ideas on where to eat, where to stay, and funky things to do.

Review. Summer is here, gas prices are reasonable (for the moment anyway), so the time is ripe for a classic road trip! And if you are planning a West Coast adventure, then Steve McCarthy’s Road Trippin’ is a must have book. It covers back road journeys with turn by turn directions: California coastal trips; other California trips; and outside of California trips (including that quintessential road trip: Route 66). In short, if it is on the West Coast it is probably included.

McCarthy, a road trip veteran, shares his secrets for planning a memorable journey. Road Trippin’ covers virtually aspect of an asphalt vacation, from preparation/safety to the perfect soundtrack (e.g. Hot Rod Lincoln, Mustang Sally, and Little Deuce Coupe). The Appendix also includes a wealth of information such as: motels; restaurants; must see “funky stuff” (for instance, a drive thru tree park and a James Dean Memorial); and for the-not-so-geographically inclined a basic map.

And if after reading Road Trippin’ you’re still not convinced to take the long way around McCarthy succinctly explains the lure of the open road:

We’re talking about using cars for their intended purpose. Driving. We are also talking about nostalgia. A desire to turn back the clock to the era of our youths, or to an era we wish we had experienced . . . . These roads, and the surrounding scenery, are indeed magnificent and worth every gallon of fuel, every extra hour of drive time, every bump, every pothole, every possible frustration.

Road Trippin’ is an informative and fun to read book that demonstrates that the journey really is the destination!



Publisher: CreateSpace (March 8, 2010), 102 pages.
Advance review copy provided courtesy of the author.

Monday, July 5, 2010

The Impostor's Daughter Giveaway (ends 7/23)

































Publisher's Summary. Laurie Sandell grew up in awe (and sometimes in terror) of her larger-than-life father, who told jaw-dropping tales of a privileged childhood in Buenos Aires, academic triumphs, heroism during Vietnam, friendships with Kissinger and the Pope. As a young woman, Laurie unconsciously mirrors her dad, trying on several outsized personalities (Tokyo stripper, lesbian seductress, Ambien addict). Later, she lucks into the perfect job--interviewing celebrities for a top women's magazine. Growing up with her extraordinary father has given Laurie a knack for relating to the stars.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away FIVE copies of this fantastic 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 July 23rd. Good Luck!

Mailbox Monday -- July 5th







The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page and In My Mailbox hosted by the Story Siren. Below are the following advance review copies that I received this week:

1) Jan's Story by Barry Petersen. Publisher's Summary. Jan’s Story you will meet an amazing, lively and vivacious woman who loved her husband and her life, and who globe-trotted from country to country with aplomb. Jan laughed easily and thought life was about adventure and relished every new one that came along as she and Barry moved from postings in San Francisco to Tokyo to Moscow to London and back to Japan and China.

There was no dramatic moment, no instant of knowing how much life would change with the 2005 diagnosis of Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, when Jan was only 55. At first, she fought against the deterioration as best she could. But the medicines could not cure, only slow the disease.

And Barry, a journalist who had seen the worst of the world, from wars and genocide to the murder of innocent children, was not prepared for watching and enduring Jan’s fading away.

There was her unpredictable behavior that got worse, the caregiving that seemed controllable in the beginning and ended up sapping both his mental and physical health, the aching and inevitable decision that Jan needed to go into an assisted living facility. For Barry, then living in Tokyo, it meant moving her back to America, half a world away from him.

There were tough decisions along the way that some applauded and others condemned. There were friends who saw what he was enduring and offered not just advice, but their own suggestions of hope. There were fellow travelers on the same journey as caregivers who reached out to comfort and share what they had learned.

As Jan deteriorated to the point of not even remembering him, Barry finally reached the lonely dangerous midnight of a saddened and defeated soul, and he had to decide…to surrender…or survive.

His answer is Jan’s Story.

Thanks to the Publicist!

2) Trapped on Mystery Island by Merryll Manning. Amazon Product Description. The first of a series of mystery thrillers, featuring Police Sergeant Merryll Manning of the Paradise Police Department. (Paradise is the author's fictional capital city of Florida, and is not based on Miami). The action takes place on an otherwise deserted island in the Florida Keys, where a number of guests assemble in an old Dominican Priory for a "mystery weekend".

Thanks to the author!

3) Road Trippin' by Steve McCarthy. Amazon Product Description. What is a Road Trip...Anyway? A question of almost Talmudic proportions. Well, then, let's talk Road Trips. Not the "Load-the-Kids-in-the-Mini-VanTurn-on-the-DVD-and-Rush-to-Some-Far-Off-Theme-Park-Eating-Fast-Food-All-the-Way-on-the-Interstate-with-the-Cruise-Control-On-and-Yakking-on-Cell-Phone-Road-Trips;" trips that confirm Steinbeck's sad prediction: "Soon, we will be able to drive coast to coast and never see anything." No, real Road Trips. Road Trips on back roads. Road Trips eating at Mom and Pop diners. Road Trips of odd souvenir stands and picnic lunches. Road Trips of spectacular scenery where the journey itself is the reward, and to top it off, ya have to do it in a Real Car. So come drive the best backroads of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon. This guide comes complete with detailed route instructions, ideas on where to eat, where to stay, and funky things to do.

Thanks to the author!

4) Room by Emma Donoghue. Publisher's Summary. To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

5) Twenty Nine by Adena Halpern. Publisher's Summary. What if you closed your eyes, blew out the candles, and your wish came true?

Ellie Jerome is a young-at-heart seventy-five-year-old who feels she has more in common with her twenty-nine-year-old granddaughter, Lucy, than her fifty-five-year-old daughter, Barbara. Ellie’s done everything she can to stay young, and the last thing she wants is to celebrate another birthday. So when she finds herself confronted with a cake full of candles, Ellie wishes more than anything that she could be twenty-nine again, just for one day. But who expects a wish like that to come true?

29 is the story of three generations of women and how one magical day shakes up everything they know about each other. While Ellie finds that the life of a twenty-something is not as carefree as she expected, the sheer joy of being young again prompts her to consider living her life all over. Does she dare stay young for more than this day, even if it means leaving everyone she loves behind?

Fresh, funny, and delightful, 29 is an enchanting adventure about families, love, and the real lessons of youth.

6) The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom. Publisher's Summary. When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family.

Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin.

Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster!

The Kitchen House is a tragic story of page-turning suspense, exploring the meaning of family, where love and loyalty prevail.

7) All the Queen's Players by Jane Feather. Publisher's Summary. At Queen Elizabeth’s palace, intrigue abounds. And when a naive girl with a gift for keen observation enters the court, she can hardly imagine the role she will play in bringing England—indeed, the whole of Europe—to the brink of war. Nor can she foresee her own journey to the brink of ecstasy and beyond. . . .

When she becomes a junior lady of Queen Elizabeth’s bedchamber, Rosamund is instructed by her cousin, the brilliant and devious secretary of state Sir Francis Walsingham, to record everything she observes. Her promised reward: a chance at a good marriage. But through her brother Thomas, Rosamund finds herself drawn to the forbidden, rough-and-tumble world of theatre, and to Thomas’s friend, the dramatic, impetuous playwright Christopher Marlowe. And then Rosamund meets Will Creighton—a persuasive courtier, poet, and would-be playwright who is the embodiment of an unsuitable match.

The unsanctioned relationship between Rosamund and Will draws the wrath of Elizabeth, who prides herself on being the Virgin Queen. Rosamund is sent in disgrace to a remote castle that holds Elizabeth’s cousin Mary Stuart, the imprisoned Queen of Scots. Here, Walsingham expects Rosamund to uncover proof of a plot against Elizabeth. But surely, nothing good can come of putting an artless girl in such close proximity to so many seductive players and deceptive games. Unless, of course, Rosamund can discover an affinity for passion and intrigue herself. . . .

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jane Feather conspires with history to tell this dazzling story about two very real, very wily queens— and one impassioned young woman whose life they change forever.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Last Day to Win the Language God Talks































Be sure to submit your entry in here for a chance to win a copy of this enlightening book.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Winners! Winners!


















I've been super busy this week, but here are the confirmed winners of The Castaways & Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter giveaways:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter:

kstewart
bloggyig
andie.v107

The Castaways:
kdurham2
dcf_beth
mynewhomeiowa

Congrats to the winners!