Metroreader: Reading One Mile At A Time

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros!

2012-02-14T06:00:00.001-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on the Life with John F. Kennedy:

Jackie when do you think the President first began to think and act seriously about the presidency? When did he begin to see himself, do you suppose, as a possible president?

I think he was probably thinking about it for an awfully long time, long before I even knew, and I say this because I remember the first year we were married, I heard him at the Cape. He was in a room with his father, talking and I came in and they were talking about something -- about the vice presidency. Well, this was just the year after he had been elected a senator.

Mailbox Monday--February 13th!

2012-02-12T09:39:00.000-05:00

Welcome to another week of Mailbox Monday! Happy Valentine's Day (a day or two early)! Is everyone ready for Valentine's Day? I'm not, but hope to be soon (LOL I know I am a big procrastinator).

Below is the Mr. Linky and my Mailbox (actually the received it a few weeks ago, but forget to post then). Leave a comment to be entered for a mystery prize. Also, if you missed leaving a comment on last week's Mailbox Monday feel free to leave one now. I have decided to keep each week's entry post open the whole month of February, so that I only have one trip to make to the Post Office.

1) What Would Jesus Drink? by Brad Whittington. Publisher's Summary. What would Jesus drink? As every new generation arrives at the age of majority, the question is asked again. For the sincere follower of Jesus, the answer is not as easy to find as one might expect.

Was Jesus really the miraculous bartender by creating wine at a wedding, as some have said? Did Jesus really drink wine at the Last Supper? Was the wine in the Bible really grape juice? Is drinking wine, beer or liquor a sin, or just a personal preference? Should a Christian abstain anyway, even if it’s not a sin?

I decided to dig deeper, to find every verse in the Bible that touched on this topic, and figure it out. I set aside any sermons I might have heard, any personal history, any personal preference, and began a search for the truth, committed to following it wherever it might lead.

This book is a quick-read, a chronicle of that search and my conclusions. For those who also want to take the time to dig deeper, at the end of the book I include a list of all 247 verses in the Bible that refer to wine and strong drink so you can easily read them for yourself and go read them in context like I did. I also include a bibliography of other books on the topic, most of which disagree with my conclusions.

Thanks to the author!

Lovesick Blog Tour

2012-02-11T08:00:00.002-05:00

I am thrilled to be today's official stop on the Lovesick Blog Tour. As part of the tour, I have an exclusive excerpt and interview with the author. So come on in and enjoy the party!

First up, the author Spencer Seidel has graciously agreed to answer a few questions:

1. Where do you do most of your writing?

At a small wooden desk my father made for me in a small office with the lights off and the door shut tight.

2. Do you have any quirks that come out while you are writing?

I think I’m secretly half-terrified that some psychologist will casually pick up one of my books and have a long, hard look at those quirks. “Perhaps a long rest in a relaxing countryside villa is in order, Mr. Seidel? Or these medications, maybe?”

3. What is your daily routine as a writer?

When I’m trying to finish a manuscript, I write every day for about two hours when possible. I get uncomfortable missing more than one day of writing because then I risk losing momentum, and that can be a death sentence for a new manuscript, particularly a first draft. Oh, and I’ve begun to write in the evenings, after dinner. I like the open-endedness of writing in the evenings.4. What book are you reading now?

I’m reading “11/22/63” by Stephen King and really digging it, much more than I have other recent novels of his. Lots of resonance in this one because he’s dealing with (mostly) real events. I love the “It” tie ins with the town of Derry. He gets it just right, I think.

5. What are your current projects?

I’m now working on a horror novel, or what you might call a supernatural thriller. It’s not gory, just creepy. It’s a bit of a departure for me, but I’ve been wanting to do it for a while. I’m not quite ready to reveal the plot or title, but I am excited about the project.

Publisher's Summary. Late one night out on the Eastern Promenade Trail in Portland, Maine, the police discover an incoherent teenager sitting in a pool of blood, holding the body of his best friend and the murder weapon. The girl they both love has been missing for weeks.

The kid’s jealousy clearly drove him to murder. He says the missing girl is the love of his life. She also happens to be the girlfriend of the murder victim.

It’s an open and shut case, or so most of Portland thinks.

Dr. Lisa Boyers, forensic psychologist, receives a call from an old friend, a connection to her troubled past. Attorney Rudy Swaner wants her to interview the young killer Paul Ducharme, who is claiming he doesn’t remember the events leading up to the murder.

In her jailhouse interviews, Lisa helps Paul to recover his memories. But something about Paul’s disturbing love story shakes Lisa to the very core of her being. To understand Paul, she is forced to confront her own ugly, violent secrets.

Media attention mounts. Reporters stream into Portland. All eyes turn to the psychologist who seems intent on exonerating the vicious teen killer. Soon Lisa finds herself the focus of an over-zealous reporter with a knack for digging up dirty secrets.

But the killer who has Lisa in the crosshairs already knows them all.

Review: Lovesick is one part murder mystery and one part drama, but all parts a solid read. The plot hooked me from the beginning (always a good sign) which starts with a whodunit scene of the crime. I kept reading, however, because I cared about the characters. I wanted to know if the alleged killer, Paul Duracharme, ever sorted out his feelings about his best friend, Lee, and, Wendy, the girl he loved. I wanted to know what the deal was with Wendy who seemed bent on self destruction with the wrong guy. I also wanted to know if Dr. Lisa Boyers, the forensic psychologist, would confront her bottled up emotions concerning a dark secret in her past. Mainly, however, I just wanted to know how it all ended. Lovesick didn’t disappoint!

Now check out the excerpt below:

The kid was soaked through in blood and looked scared, confused. The knife lay in the little pile of puke next to him. When he got closer, Jimmy saw that the victim had been cut ear to ear. Blood from his sliced neck had poured down his chest in a bloody waterfall.

“Take it easy kid. Just going to put the cuffs on you, okay?” Jimmy said softly.

“My name is Paul. Paul Ducharme,” the kid said, his intense unblinking eyes wide with fear. “And I think there’s something wrong with Lee.”

Continue reading tomorrow at: PS Mom Reviews.

Thanks to the publicist for the advance copy to review!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros!

2012-02-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Last Dog on the Hill by Steve Duno:

Lou's last meal was a sirloin fed to him on the day of his passing. He couldn't walk anymore, but he still could eat, that big-hearted dog, the steak flagging from his jaws like bloody treasure. The sanctity of food: eat through the pain -- that's dog law.

During his sixteen years he battled coyotes and kidnappers, charmed babies and soothed the sick and elderly. He caught rapists, foiled robberies, graced the cover of a book, taught sign language to kids, and peed on knights in shining armor. Lou's intellect and abilities won me a life changing job, which led to my sitting here now writing about him. He danced with wolves, herded sheep, charmed snakes and celebrities, won contests, climbed mountains, got kipnapped, and mastered a vocabularly bigger than that of some people I know. Lou redefined what it meant to be a great dog and a hero. Four years later I can still smell him, still hear his collar jingle, still see his movie star mug looking up at me. Lou deserved that sirloin and a thousand more. I miss him more than I can say.

Mailbox Monday--February 5th!

2012-02-05T09:28:00.000-05:00

Yippee February is here! And I am this month's host for Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia and is gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Below is what I received this week.

Also, if you have trouble with Mr. Linky please let me know as I have never used this before. Lastly, feel free to leave a comment too. And if you do you're entered to win a mystery prize! Thanks for stopping by!

1) The Last Dog on the Hill by Steve Duno. Amazon Summary. Born of guard dogs on a secret marijuana farm in Mendicino County, Lou truly was one dog in a million. On the winter day that the ailing, tick-infested feral pup was rescued by Steve Duno, neither dog nor man had a clue as to what they were getting into, or where the relationship would lead.

Last Dog on the Hill tells the story of an indigent young Rottweiler mix who, after abandoning his pack and the hills of his birth, went on to change the lives of hundreds of people and dogs, including the author’s, whose career as a behaviorist and writer was made possible through Lou’s extraordinary intelligence and heart. Lou won the respect of gang members, foiled an armed robbery, caught a rapist, fought coyotes and kidnappers, comforted elderly war veterans and Alzheimer patients in their final days, taught ASL to kids, learned scores of unique behaviors and tricks, amassed a vocabulary of nearly 200 words, helped rehabilitate hundreds of aggressive dogs and saved them from euthanasia. He was also a clown, consummate performer and Steve’s best friend for sixteen years. His story will make readers laugh and cry in equal measures.

This was a gift.

American Dervish Giveaway Ends Today!

2012-02-04T07:57:00.000-05:00

Don't miss your chance to enter here.

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros!

2012-01-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Lovesick by Spencer Seidel:

Patrolman Jimmy Preece would tell the story for the rest of his life. On his first night out as a rookie cop on the streets of Portland, Maine, he and his partner, a ten-year veteran of Portland PD, discovered a grisly killing on the Eastern Promenade, next to the 295 overpass. It was a murder that would make headlines throughout the Northeast, especially after what happened to that shrink in the weeks afterward.

Mailbox Monday--January 31st!

2012-01-30T08:11:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Mailbox Monday which is hosted this month by At Home with Books. Here is what I received last week:

1) Got a Right to be Wrong by K.L. Brady. Amazon Summary. The sequel to the award-winning book club favorite The Bum Magnet features the return of the smart, quick witted, loveable real estate agent who also has a short fuse and an affinity for Grey Goose vodka.Sassy and successful real estate agent Charisse Tyson is about to tie the knot with sexy undercover agent and man of her dreams, Kevin, but the wedding has everyone, including Charisse, under a lot of pressure. As Charisse and Kevin march toward matrimony, Kevin’s hidden past is revealed, Charisse’s deadbeat father resurfaces, and things heat up with Charisse’s best guy friend. Suddenly Charisse is faced with many new questions regarding her life decisions, and she must figure out just how right or wrong she was all along.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros!

2012-01-24T06:00:00.002-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman:

When I was little, I was so girlie and ambitious, I was practically a drag queen. I wanted to be everything at once: a prima ballerina, an actress, a model, a famous artist, a nurse, an Ice Capades dancer, and Batgirl. I spent inordinate amounts of time waltzing around living room with a doily on my head, imagining in great detail my promenade down the runway as the new Miss America, during which time I would also happen to receive a Nobel Prize for coloring.

The one thing I did not want to be was a hippie.

"For Chrissake, you're not a hippie," said my mother, fanning incense around our living room with the sleeves of her dashiki. "You're four years old. You run around in a tutu. You eat TV dinners and complain when the food doesn't look exactly like it does on the packages. Hippies don't do that," she said. "Hippies don't make a big production out of eating their Tater Tots."

Mailbox Monday--January 23rd!

2012-01-23T06:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Mailbox Monday which is hosted this month by At Home with Books. Here is what I received last week:

1) Girl Land by Caitlin Flanagan. Publisher's Summary. Caitlin Flanagan's essays about marriage, sex, and families have sparked national debates. Now she turns her attention to girls: the biological and cultural milestones for girls today, and how they shape a girl's sense of herself.

The transition from girl to woman is an experience that has changed radically over the generations: everything from how a girl learns about her period to how she expects to be treated by boys and men. Girls today observe these passages very differently, and yet the landmarks themselves have remained remarkably constant-proof, Flanagan believes, of their significance. In a world where protections of girls' privacy and personal freedom seem to disappear every day, the ultimate challenge modern parents face is finding a way to defend both.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

She Can Run Giveaway Ends Today!

2012-01-21T08:27:00.000-05:00

Be sure to get your entry in here

Giveaway: American Dervish (ends 2/4)

2012-01-18T06:00:00.001-05:00

Publisher's Summary. Hayat Shah is a young American in love for the first time. His normal life of school, baseball, and video games had previously been distinguished only by his Pakistani heritage and by the frequent chill between his parents, who fight over things he is too young to understand. Then Mina arrives, and everything changes.

Mina is Hayat's mother's oldest friend from Pakistan. She is independent, beautiful and intelligent, and arrives on the Shah's doorstep when her disastrous marriage in Pakistan disintegrates. Even Hayat's skeptical father can't deny the liveliness and happiness that accompanies Mina into their home. Her deep spirituality brings the family's Muslim faith to life in a way that resonates with Hayat as nothing has before. Studying the Quran by Mina's side and basking in the glow of her attention, he feels an entirely new purpose mingled with a growing infatuation for his teacher.

When Mina meets and begins dating a man, Hayat is confused by his feelings of betrayal. His growing passions, both spiritual and romantic, force him to question all that he has come to believe is true. Just as Mina finds happiness, Hayat is compelled to act -- with devastating consequences for all those he loves most.

American Dervish is a brilliantly written, nuanced, and emotionally forceful look inside the interplay of religion and modern life. Ayad Akhtar was raised in the Midwest himself, and through Hayat Shah he shows readers vividly the powerful forces at work on young men and women growing up Muslim in America. This is an intimate, personal first novel that will stay with readers long after they turn the last page.

Giveaway Rules: Today I am giving away TWO copies of this gripping read!

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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or 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.
Limit one winner per household regardless of the site won from.

Giveaway ends February 4th. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros!

2012-01-17T06:00:00.003-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Late, Late at Night by Rick Springfield:

I tell the small, clear voice in my head to please shut the f**k up. I've heard its haranguing tone before. This voice is what has gotten me into this predicament I now find myself: almost fifteen years into a life in the music business with nothing to show for it but a handful of unrecorded songs, a few guitar licks, two albums that went nowhere, and as much groupie sex as my road-worn penis could handle. That last one being the biggest benefit so far, in my humble opinion. But I am driven. Compelled by a force that still refuses to take no for an answer. I have always had a deep, restless desire to push myself to have a successful music career in music -- to have it be my life; it already is my love. Ever since I first touched a guitar and it touched me at the tender age of eleven, I have wanted this. Wanted to be part of music, the world of the musician, and everything it heralds and promises. But making a living at it has been like trying to suck pregnant goats through a garden hose. Difficult to say the least.

Mailbox Monday--January 16th

2012-01-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Martin Luther King Day and welcome to Mailbox Monday which is hosted this month by At Home with Books. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Half Past Midnight by Jeff Brackett. Publisher's Summary. Half Past Midnight is the story of Leeland Dawcett and his family in the first days and years after the Doomsday War. It’s the story of how one man learns that survival sometimes just isn’t enough. It’s a story of friends who help each other through thick and thin, and the enemies who make life after Doomsday a living hell.

Thanks to the author!

2) Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman. Publisher's Summary. From the author of "Kiss My Tiara" comes a funny and poignant collection of true stories about women coming of age that for once isn't about finding a date.

Thanks to Papberback Swap!

Winners!

2012-01-15T11:23:00.000-05:00

Congrats to the winners of the following giveaways:

Brothers Krimm:
twoofakind12
traceyj40

Rick and Jane Learn to Listen and Talk:
slb3334

Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers with Pasta:
CharlieGurl57

Novica Giftcard:
daveshir2005

Spontaneous Happiness (ends 1/31)

2012-01-11T06:00:00.001-05:00

Publisher's Summary. SPONTANEOUS HAPPINESS is Dr. Weil's paradigm-shifting guide to peak emotional wellness. In the book, he redefines the notion of happiness and demonstrates the limitations of the biochemical model of mental health. He presents a vast, scientifically proven array of integrative treatment strategies for low mood and depression, drawing on techniques from Ayurveda, Buddhism, acupuncture, psychotherapy, mindfulness training, and much more. Dr. Weil offers advice on lifestyle, behavior, and dietary changes, and helps readers assess their own emotional wellness and build personalized step-by-step plans to manage their moods. Whether suffering from mild to moderate depression, or simply seeking greater contentment, Dr. Weil's science-based integrative approach will help readers achieve their goals. With fascinating case studies and a comprehensive program, this guide breaks new ground in the field of happiness.

Giveaway Rules: Today I am giving away THREE copies of this informative 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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or 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.
Limit one winner per household regardless of the site won from.

Giveaway ends January 31st. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2012-01-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Carry the One by Carol Anshaw:

So Carmen was married, just. She sat under a huge butter moon, on a windless night in the summer of 1983, at a table, in front of the remains of some chicken cordon bleu. She looked toward the improvised dance floor where her very new husband was doing the Mexican hat dance with several other large men, three of them his brothers, other Sloans. Matt was a plodding hat- dancer, his kicks threw the others off the beat. In spite of this lack of aptitude, he was waving her over, beckoning for her to join in. She waved back as though she thought he was just saying hi. She was hoping to sit out this early phase of her marriage, the mortifying dances segment.

Mailbox Monday -- January 9th

2012-01-09T06:00:00.003-05:00

Welcome to Mailbox Monday which is hosted this month by At Home with Books. Below are the books I received this week:

1) The Possibility of You by Pamela Redmond. Publisher's Summary. 1916. It was the one thing Bridget was supposed to never let happen. But no matter how many times she replayed the steps in her head, she couldn’t reanimate the small pale boy who lay limp in her arms.

1976. Billie felt as if she’d been wrenched in half more surely than when the baby had been cut from her body. But she felt something else too: happy to think only of her own needs, her own tears. So light she could float away, somewhere no one would ever find her.

The present. Even if Cait never found her birth mother, even if she decided not to have this baby, to leave her lover and kiss her parents good-bye, she was surrounded by so much emotion, so many questions, that she felt as if she might never be free again.

Can we ever atone for the sins of the past? Or does each generation of women invent itself anew? In a complex and beautifully told masterpiece set against key moments for women in the last century, New York Times bestselling author Pamela Redmond intertwines the heartrending stories of Bridget, Billie, and Cait, and explores the ways in which one woman’s choices can affect her loved ones forever. As these three women search for identity and belonging, each faces a very personal decision that will reverberate across generations, tearing apart families, real and imaginary, perfect and flawed, but ultimately bringing them together again.

2) Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich. Publisher's Summary. Hannah Levi is renowned throughout Venice for her gift at coaxing reluctant babies from their mothers—a gift aided by the secret “birthing spoons” she designed. But when a count implores her to attend to his wife, who has been laboring for days to give birth to their firstborn son, Hannah is torn. A Papal edict forbids Jews from rendering medical treatment to Christians, but the payment he offers is enough to ransom her beloved husband, Isaac, who has been captured at sea. Can Hannah refuse her duty to a suffering woman? Hannah’s choice entangles her in a treacherous family rivalry that endangers the baby and threatens her voyage to Malta, where Isaac, believing her dead in the plague, is preparing to buy his passage to a new life. Not since The Red Tent or People of the Book has a novel transported readers so intimately into the complex lives of women centuries ago or so richly into a story of intrigue that transcends the boundaries of history.

Both thanks to Simon & Schuster!

SUVs Suck in Combat Giveaway Ends Today!

2012-01-07T06:00:00.003-05:00

Start the new year off with a great new book by making an entry at the giveaway post.

She Can Run Giveaway (ends 1/21)

2012-01-04T06:00:00.001-05:00

Publisher's Summary. Ten months ago, Elizabeth Baker uncovered a dangerous secret about her politician husband—a secret that nearly got her killed. Now she and her children are running for their lives. When Beth is hired as the caretaker of a remote Pennsylvania estate, she dares to hope she has found a corner of the world where Congressman Richard Baker can’t find them. But when her new boss dies suddenly and his nephew inherits the estate, Beth is faced with outwitting a former homicide detective who is very smart, very suspicious—and very attractive.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away TWO Review (uncorrected proofs) COPIES of this exciting book!

Entry: For this giveaway, you must be a follower of Metroreader. 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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.

Giveaway ends January 21st. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros!

2012-01-03T06:00:00.001-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Hungry Girl by Lisa Lillien:

Who /What is Hungry Girl?

If you're holding this book in your hands, there's a good chance you already know the answer to this question. But for those of you who don't know, Hungry Girl is a free daily email about guilt-free eating. Our news, food finds, recipes, and survival strategies are read by hundreds of thousands of people every day.

Is Hungry Girl a real person? And is she a doctor?

Yes I am a real person. I'm Lisa Lillien, and I'm not a nutritionist or a doctor. I'm just hungry, and a bit obsessed with foods that taste great, but don't pack on the pounds. I'm the nut who watches you shop at the supermarket, comments on your choice of low-fat ice cream, and tells you which brand to buy (FYI: Dreyer's/Edy's Slow Churned is the way to go).

Mailbox Monday -- January 2nd 2012!

2012-01-02T18:49:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the first edition of Mailbox Monday for 2012 hosted this month by At Home with Books. A belated Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone! The past two weeks have been superbusy for me with the holiday prepartions (including making 13 different kinds of cookies!) and company.

But I'm back now and ready to read/blog. After all the Mayan calendar ends this year so I'm trying to cram a lot of reading in because you never know (LOL). By the way if you haven't caught it yet the film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a must see (just be prepared for a few graphic scenes).

Below is the book that I received this week:

1) Hungry Girl by Lisa Lillien. Publisher's Summary.
Do you want to eat burgers, chocolate cake, frozen margaritas, fudge, and French fries—and still fit into your pants? Is life not worth living without brownies and onion rings? Do you want a surefire way to tame your cravings? From breakfast ideas and chopped salads to guilt-free junk food and cocktails, Hungry Girl recipes taste great but are low in fat and calories. Check it out!

• Eggs Bene-Chick: 183 calories
• Bring on the Breakfast Pizza: 127 calories
• Ooey Gooey Chili Cheese Nachos: 216 calories
• Big Bopper Burger Stopper: 202 calories
• Dreamy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge: 65 calories
• Lord of the Onion Rings: 153 calories
• Rockin’ Tuna Melt: 212 calories
• 7-Layer Burrito Blitz: 277 calories
• I Can’t Believe It’s Not Sweet Potato Pie: 113 calories
• Cookie-rific Ice Cream Freeze: 160 calories
• With easy instructions, simple steps, and hilariously fun facts and figures, Hungry Girl recipes are as fun to read as they are to make!

And when you’re not in your kitchen, check out HG’s 10 mini survival guides, plus tips ’n tricks that’ll help you make smarter food choices anywhere, anytime!

Thanks to Paperback Swap!

The Brothers Krimm Giveaway Ends Today!

2011-12-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to make an entry at the giveaway post!

Rick and Jane Learn How to Listen & Talk Giveway ends today!

2011-12-24T06:00:00.004-05:00

Don't forget to put an entry in at the giveaway post!

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Giveaway (ends 1/14)

2011-12-14T06:00:00.001-05:00

Publisher's Summary. This thorough, concise, and easy-to-use guide to capturing digital photographs provides an entire step-by-step course for budding digital photographers. All concepts are fully illustrated with sample work by internationally renowned professionals, representing editorial work, photojournalism, and everything in between. Topics covered include essential information for both film and digital photography, such as exposure controls and shutter speed, as well as digital-specific information on image editing, printing methods, and even file storage. The first digital textbook by legendary photography teacher Henry Horenstein, Digital Photography is the best guide yet for aspiring digital photographers, essential both for photographers transitioning from film to digital and those learning the art of photography for the first time.

Giveaway Rules: Today I am giving away TWO copies of this informative guide!

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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or 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.
Limit one winner per household regardless of the site won from.

Giveaway ends January 14th. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros!

2011-12-13T06:00:00.001-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Angelina's Bachleor's by Brian O'Reilly:

"Perfect," whispered Angelina.

Standing alone in the moonlit warmth of her kitchen, she stroked them each softly in turn an applied the slightest, knowing pressure to each. They were cool to the touch now, all risen to exactly the same height, the same shape and consistency, laid side by side on the well-worn wooden table. The dusky scent of dark chocolate lingered in the air and on her fingers.

Mailbox Monday -- December 12th!

2011-12-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

The reason why I love Mondays: Mailbox Monday, this month hosted by Let Them Read Books. Below are the books that I received:

1) In Her Sights by Robin Perini. Publisher's Summary. Jasmine “Jazz” Parker, Jefferson County SWAT's only female sniper, can thread the eye of a needle with a bullet. But she carries a secret from her past that she thought she buried for good at the age of fifteen. Two years ago she even drove away the one man she believed she could love—ex-Army Ranger turned reporter Luke Montgomery—to keep her past hidden. Now, in a fleeting second, the time it takes for one clean shot, one perfect hit, to save the life of the governor's daughter, Jazz's world begins to crumble around her.

Luke splashes her face and name across the front page of the newspaper, reawakening her past with a vengeance. A vicious enemy is now bent on destroying her life, forcing Jazz to turn to the one man she can never have in order to stop a killer before she and everyone she cares about pays the ultimate price. Full of explosive action and almost unbearable suspense, In Her Sights is a relentless, steamy thriller surprisingly infused with soul and poignancy.

2) She Can Run by Melinda Leigh. Publisher's Summary. Elizabeth was a young widow with two small children when she met Congressman Richard Baker. Handsome and wealthy, with a sparkling public image, Richard seemed like the perfect man to provide the security that Beth and her kids were craving. But when she uncovers a dangerous secret about her new husband, Beth realizes he will go to any lengths—even murder—to keep it. After barely escaping with her life, she and her children flee. They eventually make their way to a secluded estate in the Pennsylvania countryside, where Beth dares to hope she has found a safe place at last…

Forced into retirement by an unexpected injury, Philadelphia homicide detective Jack O’Malley is mourning the loss of his career when his uncle abruptly dies, leaving Jack to dispose of his crumbling country house. Unbeknownst to him, his uncle engaged a caretaker just before his death, a mysterious woman with two children and a beautiful face that haunts his dreams. Determined to know her, Jack begins an investigation into Beth’s past. When he uncovers the shocking truth, and a local woman is viciously murdered, Jack puts his own life on the line to keep Beth and her children safe.

She Can Run is a sexy, satisfying debut from award-winning author Melinda Leigh, packed with enough suspense and romance to get even the tamest heart racing!

Thanks to the Publicists!

Winners!

2011-12-11T13:37:00.001-05:00

Congrats to the winners of the following giveaways:

Help for Writers:
Laura
Diaryofaneccentric
Jpfgvl

See Mix Drink:
Laura
DOD

The Book of Life:
CarolNWong
Kerrie
Vmkids3

Love and Capital:
Abookishaffair
Jim.coyne2
Tracy Schultz

Five Chiefs:
Bibliophilebythesea
Pbclark
Jgoffice

50 Novica Giftcard Giveaway (ends December 31st)

2011-12-09T06:00:00.015-05:00

Still searching for the perfect, unique gift for that certain special someone? Then check out NOVICA, a leading fair trade artisan website, that works with National Geographic to support talented artisans around the world.

Need a special gift for the man in your life? How about a warm, fashionable 100% wool Alpaca scarf? Men's scarves are practical gift that will be worn all winter long. And these wool scarves are sure to be a favorite!

Or how about a pair of men's sterling silver cufflinks? I like these:

Frankly, no matter what you choose you can't go wrong with any of the fabulous options in NOVICA's men's accessories.

And while you are shopping, don't forget yourself! NOVICA has a great assortment of women's accessories too!

Last, but not least, if you are looking to score a little extra cash (and, really, who isn't?) then consider becoming a NOVICA LIVE home consultant. NOVICA LIVE consultants, earn good money while supporting artisans worldwide. Starter kits are only $199 and have over $400 worth of samples and $150 in business materials.

And if you become a Director this year, start packing your bags because you're going to Bali next year! Now how cool is that!

Giveaway Rules: First, you must publicly follow Metroreader to enter this giveaway.

Next, click on one of the links below, tell me what you would buy with a $50 NOVICA Gift Card in that section (e.g. under mens scarves tell me what scarf you would select).

Womens accessories;

Mens accessories;

Mens scarves;

Mens sterling silver cufflinks;

Wool scarves.

Or if you're interested in becoming a NOVICA LIVE consultant click on the link below and tell me what you like about becoming a consultant.

NOVICA Live.

You can click on each link once and leave a comment for a maximum of six entries per person. You must leave each comment separately for it to count.

International followers: this giveaway is probably open to you too. Check here to see if NOVICA ships to your country.

Note: NOVICA does not ship to P.O. boxes.

Giveaway ends December 31st. Good luck!

Disclosure: Gift card provided courtesy of NOVICA. Additionally, while no payment was received for this post, I did receive a NOVICA gift card. All opinions expressed this post are my own.

SUVs Suck in Combat Giveaway (ends January 7th)

2011-12-07T06:00:00.002-05:00

Publisher's Summary. In 2004, a special military unit, the Gulf Region Division (GRD), was created to execute a seemingly impossible mission: the rebuilding of Iraq despite a pervasive insurgency. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Kerry C. Kachejian, a West Point engineer officer, was called back to Iraq to head operations. Comprised mostly of civilian volunteers, the inadequately equipped team was rapidlydeployed into combat, bravely fighting its way each day to hundreds of project sites in high speed, unarmored SUVs to complete its strategic national mission. Some did not survive. A chilling and illuminating narrative complete with scores of action photos, SUVs Suck in Combat recounts the hard lessons learned and is a cautionary tale for future generations. This book recently received the annual Literacy Hero Award.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away TWO COPIES of this engaging book!

Entry: For this giveaway, you must be a follower of Metroreader. 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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.

Giveaway ends January 7th. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros!

2011-12-06T06:00:00.002-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Pure Gold by Holli Pfau:

"I can't see the street addresses," Walter said. He peered through the windshield wipers, while rain pelted down and made the February afternoon even darker.

"Slow down, I think I see her, there on the curb," I said to my husband.

Sure enough, a small, fluffy golden puppy balanced on the curb, tiptoeing through the rain, at the end of a slender blue leash. A young teenager guided her and smiled shyly at us. We parked and stepped forward into our future.

Mailbox Monday -- December 5th

2011-12-05T06:00:00.002-05:00

The reason why I love Mondays: Mailbox Monday, this month hosted by Let Them Read Books. Below is the book that I received:

1) A Good American by Alex George. Publisher's Summary. An uplifting novel about the families we create and the places we call home.

It is 1904. When Frederick and Jette must flee her disapproving mother, where better to go than America, the land of the new? Originally set to board a boat to New York, at the last minute, they take one destined for New Orleans instead ("What's the difference? They're both new"), and later find themselves, more by chance than by design, in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri. Not speaking a word of English, they embark on their new life together.

Beatrice is populated with unforgettable characters: a jazz trumpeter from the Big Easy who cooks a mean gumbo, a teenage boy trapped in the body of a giant, a pretty schoolteacher who helps the young men in town learn about a lot more than just music, a minister who believes he has witnessed the Second Coming of Christ, and a malevolent, bicycle-riding dwarf.

A Good American is narrated by Frederick and Jette's grandson, James, who, in telling his ancestors' story, comes to realize he doesn't know his own story at all. From bare-knuckle prizefighting and Prohibition to sweet barbershop harmonies, the Kennedy assassination, and beyond, James's family is caught up in the sweep of history. Each new generation discovers afresh what it means to be an American. And, in the process, Frederick and Jette's progeny sometimes discover more about themselves than they had bargained for.

Poignant, funny, and heartbreaking, A Good American is a novel about being an outsider-in your country, in your hometown, and sometimes even in your own family. It is a universal story about our search for home.

Thanks to Penguin Book Group!

See Mix Drink Giveaway ends today!

2011-12-03T06:00:00.002-05:00

This is a must have how to guide, so be sure to get your entry in at the giveaway post.

Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers with Pasta Giveaway (ends 12/18)

2011-12-02T07:00:00.002-05:00

During the holiday season my family is even busier than usual. And many time crunched evenings I am sorely tempted to swing by the local fast food eatery for a quick fix. Now, however, thanks to Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ Vegetables with Pasta, serving a delicious quick and healthy meal couldn't be easier.

Green Giant has introduced two great new Pasta and Vegetables Varieties:

Macaroni and Cheese Sauce with Broccoli - classic elbow pasta and broccoli in a mouth watering cheese sauce; and

Pasta and Vegetables with Alfredo Sauce – delicious corkscrew pasta with carrots and broccoli in a savory Alfredo sauce.

My family enjoyed the Pasta and Vegetables with Alfredo Sauce for a yummy and fast dinner!

Giveaway: Today, Green Giant and My Blog Spark is offering one Metroreader follower (Note: to enter the giveaway you must publicly follow Metroreader) a Green Giant Prize pack that includes:

2 Green Giant placemats
Broccoli stress reliever
32 oz. serving bowl
Surprise face serving spoon
A VIP coupon for the new Valley Fresh Steamers with Pasta

Mandatory First Entry: Which Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers with Pasta variety are you most excited to try?

Note: You must list 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 Entries: Follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.

Giveaway ends December 18th. Good Luck!

Disclosure: To facilitate this posting I received a promotional prize pack as described in this review along with product information from General Mills through MyBlogSpark. No compensation was received for the opinions expressed in this posting.

The Brothers Krimm Giveaway (ends December 31st)

2011-11-30T06:00:00.002-05:00

Publisher's Summary. On September 14, 2009, a serial bank bandit scores one of his biggest hauls ever in Williston, N.D. Jimmy Krimm has been robbing banks for most of his adult life, but the biggest crime he ever committed took place before he left his mother's Michigan home decades earlier.

When police deliver the news that her oldest son is dead, Charlene Krimm is left pining for any children he may have fathered, and with the task of breaking the news to her younger son, Rob -- Jimmy's first victim.

"The Brothers Krimm" examines the way childhood sexual abuse forms two men --turning one into a predator -- and the other into the kind of hero whose triumph is found in his will to rise above the past.

In the wake of the events of September 14, 2009, a small town reporter is compelled to dig deeper into the mystery of Jimmy Krimm. Driven by the desire to help his family gain closure, Cecile Wehrman sets out to follow the trail of a serial bank robber -- a trail that leads, inexplicably, to her own doorstep - to the abuse in her own past, and to the very real possibility she could have been Jimmy's next victim.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away TWO COPIES of this gripping true story!

Entry: For this giveaway, you must be a follower of Metroreader. 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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.

Giveaway ends December 31st. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros!

2011-11-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson:

When Paul Jobs was mustered out of the Coast Guard after World War II, he made a wager with his crewmates. They had arrived in San Francisco , where their ship was decommissioned, and Paul bet that he would find himself a wife within two weeks. He was a taut, tattooed engine mechanic, six feet tall, with a passing resemblance to James Dean. But it wasn't his looks that got him a date with Clara Hagopian, a sweet-humored daughter of Armenian immigrants. It was the fact that he and his friends had a car, unlike the group she had originally planned to go out with that evening. Ten days later, in March 1946, Paul got engaged to Clara and won his wager. It would turn out to be a happy marriage, one that lasted until death parted them more than forty years later.

Mailbox Monday -- November 28th

2011-11-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the post-Thanksgiving Mailbox Monday edition. I hope everyone had a great break!

Mailbox Monday is hosted this month by founding meme blogger: Marcia at the Mailbox Monday Blog. Below are the books that I received this week:

1) PostSecret by Frank Warren. Publisher's Summary: The project that captured a nation's imagination.

The instructions were simple, but the results were extraordinary.

"You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything -- as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be legible. Be creative."

It all began with an idea Frank Warren had for a community art project. He began handing out postcards to strangers and leaving them in public places -- asking people to write down a secret they had never told anyone and mail it to him, anonymously.

The response was overwhelming. The secrets were both provocative and profound, and the cards themselves were works of art -- carefully and creatively constructed by hand. Addictively compelling, the cards reveal our deepest fears, desires, regrets, and obsessions. Frank calls them "graphic haiku," beautiful, elegant, and small in structure but powerfully emotional.

As Frank began posting the cards on his website, PostSecret took on a life of its own, becoming much more than a simple art project. It has grown into a global phenomenon, exposing our individual aspirations, fantasies, and frailties -- our common humanity.

Every day dozens of postcards still make their way to Frank, with postmarks from around the world, touching on every aspect of human experience. This extraordinary collection brings together the most powerful, personal, and beautifully intimate secrets Frank Warren has received -- and brilliantly illuminates that human emotions can be unique and universal at the same time.

Thanks to Paperback Swap!

2) Carry the One by Carol Anshaw. Publisher's Summary. Carry the One begins in the hours following Carmen's wedding reception, when a car filled with stoned, drunk, and sleepy guests accidently hits and kills a girl on a dark, country road. For the next twenty-five years, those involved, including Carmen and her brother and sister, connect and disconnect and reconnect with each other and their victim. As one character says, "When you add us up, you always have to carry the one."

Through friendships and love affairs; marriage and divorce; parenthood, holidays, and the modest tragedies and joys of ordinary days, Carry the One shows how one life affects another and how those who thrive and those who self-destruct are closer to each other than we'd expect. Deceptively short and simple in its premise, this novel derives its power and appeal from the author's beautifully precise use of language; her sympathy for her very recognizable, flawed characters; and her persuasive belief in the transforming forces of time and love.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster!

3) Arcadia by Lauren Groff. Publisher's Summary. In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out
to live off the land, founding what would become a commune centered on the
grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Arcadia follows this rollicking,tragic dream from its hopeful start through its heyday and beyond. What unfolds is an astonishingly beautiful novel about happiness and the impossible dream of perfection.

Arcadia’s inhabitants include Handy, a musician and the group’s charismatic leader; Astrid, a midwife; Abe, a master carpenter; Hannah, a baker and historian; and Abe and Hannah’s only child, the book’s protagonist, known as Bit, who is born soon after the commune is created.

While Arcadia rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. If he remains in love withthe peaceful agrarian life in Arcadia and deeply attached to its residents, including Handy and Astrid’s lithe and deeply troubled daughter Helle, how can Bit become his own man? How does he, a sensitive person, make his way through life and through the world outside of Arcadia where he must eventually live?

Thanks to Voice!

The Five Chiefs Giveaway ends today!

2011-11-26T06:00:00.003-05:00

You don't want to miss this giveaway. Be sure to make an entry at the giveaway post!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

Whether you are hosting the feast or attending a dinner, I hope that you're having a wonderful day with family and good friends. For those with loved ones serving on foreign shores, please thank them for me. And I hope that next year they will be home for the holiday! As a bit of holiday inspired nostalgia, here is a 1907 Thanksgiving menu from the U.S.S. Kentucky.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rick and Jane Learn How to Listen & Talk Giveway (ends December 24th)

2011-11-23T06:00:00.001-05:00

Publisher's Summary. In Rick and Jane Learn to Listen and Talk, The First Step to Intimacy, Al and Autumn Ray reveal how you can connect like you did when you were dating.

Following the story of Rick and Jane, a young couple who seek help from their marriage coaches, you will discover how couples must learn to operate from the same playbook to build an intimate relationship. This quick read highlights easy-to-learn
skills and communication “plays” that can transform your marriage into a rewarding relationship where both teammates are winners.

As Rick and Jane learn and practice their new skills, so can you! Conversational and inspiring, this story can help you achieve a winning marriage.

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away TWO copies of this informative self help book!

Entry: For this giveaway, you must be a follower of Metroreader. 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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.

Giveaway ends December 24th. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-11-22T06:00:00.002-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Wendy and the Lost Boys by Julie Salamon:

When Wendy Wasserstein died on January 30, 2006, at age fifty-five, hers was a rare obituary considered important enough to make the front page of the New York Times. Her memorial service, held in the 1,060- seat Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center, packed the house. The overflow was siphoned into a theater across the street at the Julliard School, where an additional five hundred fans joined the other mourners via video monitors.

Strangers wept and columnists eulogized. She was remembered as a significant playwright, but also as a quintessential New Yorker, the toast of the tough and glamorous metropolis. She had an uncanny ability to know almost every major player in theater, publishing, and politics, right up to the White House. Because she wrote about women and the subjects that concerned them, she was designated a feminist. But with Wasserstein everything, including politics, tended to be personal.

Mailbox Monday

2011-11-21T06:00:00.001-05:00

The reason why I love Mondays: Mailbox Monday, this month hosted by founding meme blogger: Marcia at the Mailbox Monday Blog. This week was slow one with only one book (but it is a goodie):

1) Wendy and the Lost Boys by Julie Salamon. Publisher's Summary. In Wendy and the Lost Boys bestselling author Julie Salamon explores the life of playwright Wendy Wasserstein's most expertly crafted character: herself. The first woman playwright to win a Tony Award, Wendy Wasserstein was a Broadway titan. But with her high- pitched giggle and unkempt curls, she projected an image of warmth and familiarity. Everyone knew Wendy Wasserstein. Or thought they did.

Born on October 18, 1950, in Brooklyn, New York, to Polish Jewish immigrant parents, Wendy was the youngest of Lola and Morris Wasserstein's five children. Lola had big dreams for her children. They didn't disappoint: Sandra, Wendy's glamorous sister, became a high- ranking corporate executive at a time when Fortune 500 companies were an impenetrable boys club. Their brother Bruce became a billionaire superstar of the investment banking world. Yet behind the family's remarkable success was a fiercely guarded world of private tragedies.

Wendy perfected the family art of secrecy while cultivating a densely populated inner circle. Her friends included theater elite such as playwright Christopher Durang, Lincoln Center Artistic Director André Bishop, former New York Times theater critic Frank Rich, and countless others.

And still almost no one knew that Wendy was pregnant when, at age forty-eight, she was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital to deliver Lucy Jane three months premature. The paternity of her daughter remains a mystery. At the time of Wendy's tragically early death less than six years later, very few were aware that she was gravely ill. The cherished confidante to so many, Wendy privately endured her greatest heartbreaks alone.

In Wendy and the Lost Boys, Salamon assembles the fractured pieces, revealing Wendy in full. Though she lived an uncommon life, she spoke to a generation of women during an era of vast change. Revisiting Wendy's works-The Heidi Chronicles and others-we see Wendy in the free space of the theater, where her many selves all found voice. Here Wendy spoke in the most intimate of terms about everything that matters most: family and love, dreams and devastation. And that is the Wendy of Neverland, the Wendy who will never grow old.

Thanks to me!

MWF seeking BFF

2011-11-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

Publisher's Summary. When Rachel Bertsche first moves to Chicago, she’s thrilled to finally share a zip code, let alone an apartment, with her boyfriend. But shortly after getting married, Bertsche realizes that her new life is missing one thing: friends. Sure, she has plenty of BFFs—in New York and San Francisco and Boston and Washington, D.C. Still, in her adopted hometown, there’s no one to call at the last minute for girl talk over brunch or a reality-TV marathon over a bottle of wine. Taking matters into her own hands, Bertsche develops a plan: She’ll go on fifty-two friend-dates, one per week for a year, in hopes of meeting her new Best Friend Forever.

In her thought-provoking, uproarious memoir, Bertsche blends the story of her girl-dates (whom she meets everywhere from improv class to friend rental websites) with the latest social research to examine how difficult—and hilariously awkward—it is to make new friends as an adult. In a time when women will happily announce they need a man but are embarrassed to admit they need a BFF, Bertsche uncovers the reality that no matter how great your love life is, you’ve gotta have friends.

Review. MWF Seeking BFF: Must live in Chicago. Must not bring her dog to lunch dates. Fluency in Entertainment Weekly preferred but not required.

Do you fit the criteria of this personal? If so, you may have a BFF waiting in Rachel Bertsche, author of the above ad and the memoir MWF seeking BFF. Bertsche is not friendless; in fact, she has plenty of friends – just not in Chicago her new home. She settled in the Second City after tying the knot with the love of her life. And while Bertsche’s hubby appears to be a real life Prince Charming (i.e. he buys her jewelry just because) he is also a straight man and ergo not BFF material (e.g. he does not like to watch Project Runway or dissect Bertsche’s latest office crisis).

So Bertsche sets out to find a local amigo by going out on 52 different friend dates, one a week, over the course of a year. In search of her Chicago BFF soulmate, Bertsche leaves no stone unturned, besides posting the personal, she: meets friends of friends; goes out with coworkers and yoga class colleagues; joins clubs galore including an Improv group and two book clubs; stalks Meet Up; speed dates for friends; hires a galpal matchmaker; and even employs a “rent-a-friend” (yes, there is such a service).

MWF seeking BFF is a funny and engaging account of a young woman’s search for the Laverne to her Shirley. But what I particularly liked about this memoir, however, is the subject matter. Because while there are thousands (or more) of books devoted to the search for a romantic partner, rare is the memoir that involves a quest for friendship. Moreover, Bertsche is happily married and her mother (whom she adores) lives minutes away. She also keeps in close touch with her out-of-town BFFs. Still Bertsche feels a friendship void and isn’t afraid to devote herself to filling the gap.

With the holidays approaching, here’s a gift tip: buy MWF seeking BFF for your best friend (inscribed with a note of thanks) or, better yet, give it to a BFF to be!

Review based on advance copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

The Book of Life Giveaway ends today!

2011-11-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

Be sure to get your entry in at the giveaway post!

See Mix Drink Giveaway (ends December 3rd)

2011-11-16T06:00:00.001-05:00

Publisher's Summary. Have you tried mixing a Mojito? What about a Rusty Nail? Or a Cosmopolitan? With See Mix Drink, the first-ever cocktail book to offer instruction through info-graphics, making the drinks you love at home is as easy as, well, See, Mix, Drink.

This unique, illustrated guide graphically demonstrates how to make 100 of today's most popular cocktails. For each drink, color-coded ingredients are displayed in a line drawing of the appropriate glassware, alongside a pie chart that spells out the drink's composition by volume for intuitive mixing. No other cocktail book is this easy or fun. Instantly understandable 1-2-3 steps show exactly how each drink is prepared, and anecdotes, pronunciation guides, and photographs of the finished drinks will turn newbie bartenders into instant mixologists.

Giveaway Rules. Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away TWO copies of this informative guide!

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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or 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.
Limit one winner per household regardless of the site won from.

Giveaway ends December 3rd. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres:

The journey up the coastline was choppy, the shrimp trawler too far out to get a good look at the muddy shore. While other passengers rested fitfully in sleeping backs spread out on the deck or in the berths below, fifteen-year-old Tommy Bogue gripped the slick railing, bracing himself against the waves. He'd already puked twice, but was determined not to miss a beat of this adventure. The constellation soared overhead, clearer than he'd ever seen them. He wiped salt spray away from his eyes with an impatient hand and squinted at the horizon. He was still boy enough to imagine a pirate galleon looming towards them, the Jolly Roger flapping in the Caribbean breeze.

This was his first sea journey. His first trip outside the United States. He squinted at South America as it blurred by, vague and mysterious, imagining the creatures that roamed there.

Mailbox Monday -- November 14th

2011-11-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

The reason why I love Mondays: Mailbox Monday, this month hosted by founding meme blogger: Marcia at the Mailbox Monday Blog. Below are the following review copies that I received:

1) Digital Photography by Henry Horenstein. Publisher's Summary. This thorough, concise, and easy-to-use guide to capturing digital photographs provides an entire step-by-step course for budding digital photographers. All concepts are fully illustrated with sample work by internationally renowned professionals, representing editorial work, photojournalism, and everything in between. Topics covered include essential information for both film and digital photography, such as exposure controls and shutter speed, as well as digital-specific information on image editing, printing methods, and even file storage. The first digital textbook by legendary photography teacher Henry Horenstein, Digital Photography is the best guide yet for aspiring digital photographers, essential both for photographers transitioning from film to digital and those learning the art of photography for the first time.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

The Lost Dogs

2011-11-13T06:00:00.004-05:00

Publisher's Summary. The bestselling story of survival and our powerful bond with man's best friend, in the aftermath of the nation's most notorious animal cruelty case. Featuring a new Afterword with updates on the Vick dogs.

Animal lovers and sports fans were shocked when the story broke about NFL player Michael Vick's brutal dog-fighting operation. But what became of the fifty-one dogs who survived? As acclaimed writer Jim Gorant reveals, their story is the truly newsworthy aspect of this case. The Lost Dogs traces the effort to bring Vick to justice and turns the spotlight on these infamous pit bulls, which were saved from euthanasia by an outpouring of public appeals coupled with a court order that Vick pay nearly a million dollars in "restitution" to the dogs.

As an ASPCA-led team evaluated each one, they found a few hardened fighters, but most were lovable, friendly creatures desperate for compassion. In The Lost Dogs, we meet these amazing animals, many of whom now live in loving homes and work in therapy programs. The Lost Dogs exposes the terrible practice of dog fighting and shows us that even after being subjected to heartbreaking abuse, above all, a dog still wants to be man's best friend.

Review.What's in a name? Doesn't a rose smell just as sweet no matter what you call it? Still if that is the case why do so many new parents agonize over the perfect name for their new bundle of joy? Why not randomly draw a name from a hat or better yet use junior's SSN as his moniker? Because names do matter, not just to the parents but to the child too (as many a poorly named offspring can attest).

By now the Michael Vick dog-fighting story is old news, but what happened to the canine victims? That is the real story. When Bad Newz Kennels (Vick's dog fighting ring) was discovered it was assumed that the dogs were killing machines who needed to euthanized as quickly as possible. But that didn't happen here, instead each dog was individually evaluated. The results were remarkable! Far from being attack dogs, most were simply frightened canines who had never been given a chance to thrive. And thanks to public outrage, Vick's deep pockets; a few brave animal activists; and an enlightened judge most of the dogs have went on to happier circumstances.

And it all began with the radical act of naming. As author Jim Gorant notes:

On a piece of paper that listed each dog by its shelter I.D. number, color, and gender. [The animal activists in charge of assessing the dogs] went down the list and gave each dog a name.

Suddenly these were no longer the Bad Newz dogs or those pit bulls from Vick's place. They were Oscar and Rose, and Ernie and Charlie and Ray and Curly and forty two others. They were a no longer a story or a group or a commodity; they were forty eight individual dogs in the same situation.

Here are their names along with their pre-name identities:

Chesapeake 54902: Audie; Chesapeake 54903: Sox; Chesapeake 54904: Curly; Chesapeake 54905 Jonny Justice; Chesapeake 54906: Shadow; Chesapeake 54907: Zippy; Chesapeake 54916: Makevilli; Chesapeake 54917: Little Red; Chesapeake 54918: Grace; Chesapeake 54919: Bonita; Hanover 26: Ginger; Hanover 27: Halle; Hanover 28: Mel; Hanover 29: Oliver; Hanover 30: Squeaker; Hanover 31: Jhumpa Jones; Hanover 32: Uba; Hanover 41: Handsome Dan; Hanover 42: Iggy; Hanover 43: Seven; Hanover 44: Hector; Hopewll 002491: Leo; Suffolk M-0380: Alf; Suffolk F-0381: Gracie; Suffolk M-0382: Ray; Suffolk M-0383: Oscar; Suffolk M-0384: Lance; Sussex 2601: Mabel; Sussex 2602: Sweet Jasmine; Sussex: Sweet Pea; Sussex 2604: Frodo; Sussex 2605: Georgia; Sussex 2606 Ernie; Sussex 2607: Willie; Sussex 2608: Charlie; Sussex 2609: Layla; Sussex 2610: Rose; Sussex 2611: Denzel; Sussex 2612: Meryl; Sussex 2613: Stella; Sussex 2614: Harriet; Sussex 2615: Tug; Sussex 2616: Lucas; Sussex 2619: Mya; Sussex 2620: Ellen; Virginia Beach 27: Cherry Garcia; Virginia Beach 38: Teddles; and Virginia Beach: Red;

As a dog owner two times over and an animal lover in general, there were parts I skipped over because they were too graphic for me. However, the vast majority of the book I gladly consumed because I needed to know whether Jonny Justice found a home and whether Sweet Jasmine ever came out of her shell. In short, I needed to know what happened to each dog.

The Lost Dogs: these are the dogs and these are their stories.

Review based on a borrowed library copy.

Love and Capital Giveaway ends today!

2011-11-12T06:00:00.002-05:00

Don't forget to put an entry in at the giveaway post.

Happy Veterans Day!

2011-11-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

To all those who served in war and peace, THANK YOU!

The Five Chiefs Giveaway (ends November 26th)

2011-11-09T06:00:00.002-05:00

Publisher's Summary. When he resigned last June, Justice Stevens was the third longest serving Justice in American history (1975-2010)--only Justice William O. Douglas, whom Stevens succeeded, and Stephen Field have served on the Court for a longer time.

In Five Chiefs, Justice Stevens captures the inner workings of the Supreme Court via his personal experiences with the five Chief Justices--Fred Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts--that he interacted with. He reminisces of being a law clerk during Vinson's tenure; a practicing lawyer for Warren; a circuit judge and junior justice for Burger; a contemporary colleague of Rehnquist; and a colleague of current Chief Justice John Roberts. Along the way, he will discuss his views of some the most significant cases that have been decided by the Court from Vinson, who became Chief Justice in 1946 when Truman was President, to Roberts, who became Chief Justice in 2005.

Packed with interesting anecdotes and stories about the Court, Five Chiefs is an unprecedented and historically significant look at the highest court in the United States.

Giveaway Rules. Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away THREE copies of this informative memoir!

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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or 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.
Limit one winner per household regardless of the site won from.

Giveaway ends November 26th. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros!

2011-11-08T06:00:00.003-05:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from MWF seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche:

Friend-Date 1. As I approach the restaurant, there's a girl down the block walking in my direction. I squint to make her out through the January flurries. Average height, brown hair, peacoat. An everygirl. That's got to be her. When I enter the market, the new bar near my office, I do a quick once-over of the area near the hostess. Empty. The peacoat girl was definitely Hannah. Shell walk in the door in about 20 seconds. 19 . 18 . . . . My head starts spinning. When she gets here, do we hug? Or a handshake? Hug is a little familiar for someone I've only met over e-mail. But a handshake is pretty formal for potential buddies meeting for a drink. We did exchange 'I feel like I know you already' emails. And when you know someone, you hug them right? 1 . 10 . 9 . . . . I don't want to be overzealous in my hugging though. Definitely don't want to be that girl. What if I lean in for an embrace as she sticks out her hand for a shake? We'll end up in one of those one-arm-around-each other-half hugs. That already happened to me once this week, with a colleague. Yikes!

She's here. We make eye contact. 'Rachel?' 'Hannah?' She goes right in for the hug. I reciprocate. Flawlessly, I might add. There's no sign I spent the last half-minute rehearsing this in my mind.

Mailbox Monday -- November 7th

2011-11-06T15:03:00.002-05:00

Yippee this month's Mailbox Monday is hosted by none other than the founder of Mailbox Monday: Marcia at the Mailbox Monday Blog! Below are the following review copies that I received:

1) The Dressmaker by Kate ALcott. Publisher's Summary. Just in time for the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic comes a vivid, romantic, and relentlessly compelling historical novel about a spirited young woman who survives the disaster only to find herself embroiled in the media frenzy left in the wake of the tragedy.

Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she's had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic's doomed voyage. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly-hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes.

Amidst the chaos and desperate urging of two very different suitors, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat. Tess’s sailor also manages to survive unharmed, witness to Lady Duff Gordon’s questionable actions during the tragedy. Others—including the gallant Midwestern tycoon—are not so lucky.

On dry land, rumors about the survivors begin to circulate, and Lady Duff Gordon quickly becomes the subject of media scorn and later, the hearings on the Titanic. Set against a historical tragedy but told from a completely fresh angle, The Dressmaker is an atmospheric delight filled with all the period's glitz and glamour, all the raw feelings of a national tragedy and all the contradictory emotions of young love.

Thanks to Doubleday Books!

2) Solving the Communion Enigma by Whitley Strieber. Publisher's Summary. The bestselling author probes the ultimate significance behind today's increasing reports of UFOs, alien abductions, crop circles, and other unexplained phenomena-and what they mean for humanity's immediate future.

In 1987 writer Whitley Strieber exposed the world to the truth about alien abduction in his landmark memoir, Communion. For the first time in years, Strieber revisits his encounter with alien intelligences-but now dramatically widens his search to explore how "the visitors" connect with today's persistent and globe-spanning reports of anomalous phenomena, such as crop circles, cattle mutilations, UFO sightings, alien abductions, near-death experiences, close encounters, and unexplained bodily implants.

In his magisterial style, Strieber contextualizes these bizarre and unsettling reports with his own childhood memories of strange schools, sinister experiments, and family secrets. In exploring today's most convincing cases of unexplained phenomena, Strieber reasons that they are not unrelated events. Nor are they the result of mass delusion. In some of his most persuasive writing, Strieber argues that the wave of mysterious episodes marks a transition that humanity is undergoing right now. Against all conscious understanding, we are experiencing a broadened awareness of dimensions of reality that exist beyond our current perceptions.

Thanks to Tarcher Penguin!

Five Chiefs

2011-11-04T06:00:00.001-04:00

Publisher's Summary. When he resigned last June, Justice Stevens was the third longest serving Justice in American history (1975-2010)--only Justice William O. Douglas, whom Stevens succeeded, and Stephen Field have served on the Court for a longer time.

In Five Chiefs, Justice Stevens captures the inner workings of the Supreme Court via his personal experiences with the five Chief Justices--Fred Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts--that he interacted with. He reminisces of being a law clerk during Vinson's tenure; a practicing lawyer for Warren; a circuit judge and junior justice for Burger; a contemporary colleague of Rehnquist; and a colleague of current Chief Justice John Roberts. Along the way, he will discuss his views of some the most significant cases that have been decided by the Court from Vinson, who became Chief Justice in 1946 when Truman was President, to Roberts, who became Chief Justice in 2005.

Packed with interesting anecdotes and stories about the Court, Five Chiefs is an unprecedented and historically significant look at the highest court in the United States.

Review. Boardwalk Empire’s Nucky Thompson occasionally sports one. Conservative commentator George Will wouldn’t be caught dead without one. And Justice John Paul Stevens is a devotee too. Yes, they are all bow-tie loving dudes! Nowadays, apart from black tie affairs, the bow tie is largely absent from the modern man’s wardrobe. This explains why the roaring 20’s character Thompson dons a bow-tie, but what about Will and Stevens? I have two theories: 1) they are metrosexual fashionistas; or 2) they are persnickety-professor types. Based on TV roundtable discussions I have witnessed, I have placed Will in the persnickety column and after reading Five Chiefs I have marked Stevens as persnickety too.

In Five Chiefs, a Supreme Court memoir, the recently retired Supreme Court Justice Stevens shares his personal reflections on the five recent Chief Justices: Fred Vinson (1946-1953); Earl Warren (1953-1969); Warren Burger (1969 – 1986); William Rehnquist (1986-2005); and John G. Roberts (2005 – present). The recollections vary in perspective from law clerk to practicing lawyer to Supreme Court colleague. Specifically, Stevens served as a law clerk to another Supreme Court Justice during Chief Justice Vinson’s tenure; argued before Chief Justice Warren; and was a colleague to the latter three Chiefs.

As the third longest serving Supreme Court Justice Stevens has a bevy of memories to share. Many of the anecdotes are mildly amusing, such as, the permanent ban on basketball playing (there is a basketball court directly above the Court room) while oral arguments are heard which was imposed due to the then law clerk and later Supreme Court Justice Byron White’s playing while the Court was in session. Some memories are insightful such as Chief Justice Burger’s penchant for switching votes during the decision drafting period to ensure that he was, more often than not, on the “winning” side.

Sadly, however, many of Stevens’ memories reveal an exacting and occasionally petty persona. For instance, he spends three pages disparaging a committee’s (composed of three fellow Justices) decision (made without consulting Stevens!) to rearrange the conference room furniture. Apparently, the old setting afforded more spaciousness in the center of the room; easier access to the phone; and freer mingling among the justices during coffee breaks. And at the end of Stevens’ diatribe, he confesses that the table’s new location adversely affected his hearing. Perhaps, this could have been simply noted upfront without the literary temper tantrum? Another example, involves Chief Justice Rehnquist’s decision to decorate his robe with stripes. How dare he! Stevens describes the stripes as “ostentatious and more reflective of the ancient monarchy.” Seriously? The back story is that this decision was made after Rehnquist queried his fellow justices as to whether they would like to change their robes. And while they voted an emphatic no, he modified his. Moving along, Stevens’s pettiness is on full display in his disparaging comments on Justice Thomas. His crime? Thomas had the audacity not to vote as Thurgood Marshall would have voted. Again, how dare he!

In short, although Five Chiefs is written as Stevens’ reflections of others I found it most enlightening about the author.

Review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

The Book of Life Giveaway (ends November 19th)

2011-11-02T06:00:00.001-04:00

Publisher's Summary. Forced together on a trip from Manhattan to Rhode Island, a father and son attempt to renew their bond over lobster, cigarettes, and a buried secret. A pure-hearted artist finds his devotion cruelly tested, while his true love tries to repent for the biggest mistake of her life. Unwittingly thrust into an open marriage, a man struggles to reconnect with his newly devout son. And in the book's daring first story, an arrogant businessman begins a forbidden affair during the High Holidays.

Written in clear, crystalline prose, The Book of Life comprises seven stunning tales about faith, family, grief, love, temptation, and redemption that signal the arrival of a bold and exciting new writer.

Giveaway Rules. Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away THREE copies of this entertaining 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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or 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.
Limit one winner per household regardless of the site won from.

Giveaway ends November 19th. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-11-01T06:00:00.001-04:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Five Chiefs by John Paul Stevens:

It was the fall of 1945, when I was a member of the entering class of freshmen at the Northwestern University School of Law, that I first met Nathaniel Nathanson, the professor who taught constitutional law. Nat was to have a profound influence on my understanding of the law during the ensuing years. His students sometimes referred to his class as "Nat's mystery hour" because he seemed to raise an endless number of questions but provided us with few solutions. He thought it more important to teach us how to find answers for ourselves than to indoctrinate us with his own views. A brilliant and lovable man, he inspired the affection and respect of the entire class. We were so impressed by the fact that in 1934 he had served as a law clerk to Justice Louis Brandeis, a jurist who was then -- and still is -- considered one of America's greatest judges.

In later years, events that were then unpredictable gave me special reason for treating Brandeis as a hero. When Brandeis retired, in 1939, Justice William O. Douglas was selected to fill his vacancy, and after Justice Douglas set the record as the longest serving justice in history -- a record that still stands -- he resigned in 1975, and President Ford nominated me to fill his vacancy. I like to think that I inherited not only Brandeis's seat but also some of his ideas and his respect for the law.

Mailbox Monday -- October 31st -- Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween and Happy Mailbox Monday, hosted this month by Savvy Wit and Verse. Below are the books I received:

1) Bright and Distant Shores by Dominic Smith. Publisher's Summary. In the waning years of the nineteenth century there was a hunger for tribal artifacts, spawning collecting voyages from museums and collectors around the globe. In 1897, one such collector, a Chicago insurance magnate, sponsors an expedition into the South Seas to commemorate the completion of his company's new skyscraper—the world's tallest building. The ship is to bring back an array of Melanesian weaponry and handicrafts, but also several natives related by blood.

Caught up in this scheme are two orphans—Owen Graves, an itinerant trader from Chicago's South Side who has recently proposed to the girl he must leave behind, and Argus Niu, a mission houseboy in the New Hebrides who longs to be reunited with his sister. At the cusp of the twentieth century, the expedition forces a collision course between the tribal and the civilized, between two young men plagued by their respective and haunting pasts.

An epic and ambitious story that brings to mind E. L. Doctorow, with echoes of Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson, Bright and Distant Shores is a wondrous achievement by a writer known for creating compelling fiction from the fabric of history.

2) Triangles by Ellen Hopkins. Publisher's Summary. THREE FEMALE FRIENDS FACE MIDLIFE CRISES IN A NO-HOLDS-BARRED EXPLORATION OF SEX, MARRIAGE, AND THE FRAGILITY OF LIFE.

Holly: Filled with regret for being a stay-athome mom, she sheds sixty pounds and loses herself in the world of extramarital sex. Will it bring the fulfillment she is searching for?

Andrea: A single mom and avowed celibate, she watches her friend Holly's meltdown with a mixture of concern and contempt. Holly is throwing away what Andrea has spent her whole life searching for—a committed relationship with a decent guy. So what if Andrea picks up Holly's castaway husband?

Marissa: She has more than her fair share of challenges—a gay, rebellious teenage son, a terminally ill daughter, and a husband who buries himself in his work rather than face the facts.

As one woman's marriage unravels, another's rekindles. As one woman's family comes apart at the seams, another's reconfigures into something bigger and better. In this story of connections and disconnections, one woman's up is another one's down, and all of them will learn the meaning of friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness.

Unflinchingly honest, emotionally powerful, surprisingly erotic, Triangles is the ultimate page-turner. Hopkins's gorgeous, expertly honed poetic verse perfectly captures the inner lives of her characters. Sometimes it happens like that. Sometimes you just get lost.

Get lost in the world of Triangles, where the lives of three unforgettable women intersect, and where there are no easy answers.

3) The Time in Between by Maria Duenas. Publisher's Summary. Between Youth and Adulthood . . .

At age twelve, Sira Quiroga sweeps the atelier floors where her single mother works as a seamstress. At fourteen, she quietly begins her own apprenticeship. By her early twenties she has learned the ropes of the business and is engaged to a modest government clerk. But everything changes when two charismatic men burst unexpectedly into her neatly mapped-out life: an attractive salesman and the father she never knew.

Between War and Peace . . .

With the Spanish Civil War brewing in Madrid, Sira leaves her mother and her fiancÉ, impetuously following her handsome lover to Morocco. However, she soon finds herself abandoned, penniless, and heartbroken in an exotic land. Among the odd collection of European expatriates trapped there by the worsening political situation back on the Continent, Sira reinvents herself by turning to the one skill that can save her: her gift for creating beautiful clothes.

Between Love and Duty . . .

As England, Germany, and the other great powers launch into the dire conflict of World War II, Sira is persuaded to return to Madrid, where she takes on a new identity to embark upon the most dangerous undertaking of her career. As the preeminent couturier for an eager clientele of Nazi officers' wives, Sira becomes embroiled in the half-lit world of espionage and political conspiracy rife with love, intrigue, and betrayal.

Already a runaway bestseller across Europe, The Time In Between is one of those rare, richly textured novels that enthrall down to the last page. MarÍa DueÑas reminds us how it feels to be swept away by a masterful storyteller.

All thanks to Simon and Schuster!

Cereal Treats Bars Prize Pack Winner!

2011-10-27T12:42:00.000-04:00

Congrats to Molly K!

And if you didn't win this time, there is always the next giveaway. Stay tune for more great giveaways!

Love and Capital Giveaway (ends November 12th)

2011-10-26T06:00:00.009-04:00

Publisher's Summary. Brilliantly researched and wonderfully written, LOVE AND CAPITAL is a heartbreaking and dramatic saga of the family side of the man whose works would redefine the world after his death.

Drawing upon years of research, acclaimed biographer Mary Gabriel brings to light the story of Karl and Jenny Marx's marriage. We follow them as they roam Europe, on the run from governments amidst an age of revolution and a secret network of would-be revolutionaries, and see Karl not only as an intellectual, but as a protective father and loving husband, a revolutionary, a jokester, a man of tremendous passions, both political and personal.

In LOVE AND CAPITAL, Mary Gabriel has given us a vivid, resplendent, and truly human portrait of the Marxes-their desires, heartbreak and devotion to each other's ideals.

Giveaway Rules. Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away THREE copies of this engage 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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or 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.
Limit one winner per household regardless of the site won from.

Giveaway ends November 12th. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-10-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from The Lost Dogs by Jim Gorant:

A brown dog sits in a field. There's a collar around her neck. It's three inches thick and attached to a heavy chain, which clips onto a car axles that's buried so one end sticks out of the ground. As the dog paces in the heat, the axle spins, ensuring that the rattling chain won't become entangled.

The dog paces a lot wearing a circle in the scrubby weeds and sandy soil around the perimeter of the axle. She paces because there's little else to do. Sometimes a squirrel or a rabbit or a snake crosses nearby and she barks and chases it, or she lunges and leaps after the dragonflies and butterflies that zip and flutter past.

Cereal Treats Bars Review and Giveaway (ends 10/26)

2011-10-24T12:00:00.026-04:00

Review: Hip hip hooray! The kids are back in school and the beautiful Fall weather is finally here! For my family, however, Fall also means crazy overfilled schedules and lots of on-the-go snacking. Unfortunately, the snacks aren’t always healthy (you don’t want to know how many calories are in the typical candy bar) or inexpensive (have you surveyed the prices of vending machines snacks lately?).

Recently, however, we were given the opportunity to try Betty Crocker's Cereal Treats Bars in the Lucky Charms and Golden Grahams varieties. And what can I say, but it was love at first bite! We especially loved the Golden Grahams which tasted like portable smores, but with way less calories.

Check out these facts:

Flavor varieties include the ever popular Golden Grahams® (130 calories) and new Lucky Charms® Treats (100 calories), loaded with popular favorites like chocolate and marshmallows.
Cereal Treats Bars contain less than 140 calories per bar and are made with wholesome cereal, making them a snack option that you can feel good about giving your kids.
TWO Box Tops for Education seals on each box of Cereal Treat Bars, making earning cash for your school doubly cool!

For more information head on over to the Betty Crocker website .

Giveaway: Today, Betty Crocker/General Mills and My Blog Spark is offering one Metroreader follower (Note: to enter the giveaway you must publicly follow Metroreader) a Cereal Treats Bars Prize Pack which includes the following:

One box of Lucky Charms^® Cereal Treats Bars

One box of Golden Grahams^® Cereal Treats Bars

Lunch bag

Locker whiteboard

Colored pencil set

Mandatory First Entry: Which Cereal Treats Bars variety are you most excited to try?

Note: You must list 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 Entries: Follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.

Giveaway ends October 26th at noon EDT. Good Luck!

Disclosure: To facilitate this posting I received samples of the Cereal Treats Bars and associated promotional items mentioned in this review along with product information from Betty Crocker through MyBlogSpark. No compensation was received for the opinions expressed in this posting.

Mailbox Monday -- October 24th

2011-10-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hurray Fall weather is finally here! I spent the weekend raking leaves and quaffing Green Mountain coffee's Pumpkin Spice (which is delish) and, of course, reading!

Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Savvy Verse & Wit. Below are the books I received this week:

1) MWF seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche. Publisher's Summary. When Rachel Bertsche first moves to Chicago, she’s thrilled to finally share a zip code, let alone an apartment, with her boyfriend. But shortly after getting married, Bertsche realizes that her new life is missing one thing: friends. Sure, she has plenty of BFFs—in New York and San Francisco and Boston and Washington, D.C. Still, in her adopted hometown, there’s no one to call at the last minute for girl talk over brunch or a reality-TV marathon over a bottle of wine. Taking matters into her own hands, Bertsche develops a plan: She’ll go on fifty-two friend-dates, one per week for a year, in hopes of meeting her new Best Friend Forever.

In her thought-provoking, uproarious memoir, Bertsche blends the story of her girl-dates (whom she meets everywhere from improv class to friend rental websites) with the latest social research to examine how difficult—and hilariously awkward—it is to make new friends as an adult. In a time when women will happily announce they need a man but are embarrassed to admit they need a BFF, Bertshe uncovers the reality that no matter how great your love life is, you’ve gotta have friends.

Thanks to Ballantine Books!

2) See Mix Drink by Brian Murphy. Publisher's Summary. Have you tried mixing a Mojito? What about a Rusty Nail? Or a Cosmopolitan? With See Mix Drink, the first-ever cocktail book to offer instruction through info-graphics, making the drinks you love at home is as easy as, well, See, Mix, Drink.

This unique, illustrated guide graphically demonstrates how to make 100 of today's most popular cocktails. For each drink, color-coded ingredients are displayed in a line drawing of the appropriate glassware, alongside a pie chart that spells out the drink's composition by volume for intuitive mixing. No other cocktail book is this easy or fun. Instantly understandable 1-2-3 steps show exactly how each drink is prepared, and anecdotes, pronunciation guides, and photographs of the finished drinks will turn newbie bartenders into instant mixologists.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

Maggie Wants to Play

2011-10-22T09:52:00.001-04:00

After two weeks of being missiang in action, I had intended to visit some wonderful blogs and work on my blog today, but . . . Maggie wants to play. Now normally I would simply let her and Ashley (my other dog) outside, but this isn't a normal week. On Tuesday Maggie had many, many bladder stones removed and is still recovering from this surgery. So playing isn't on her "To Do" list.

Still I think I will do some yard work today while Maggie and Ashley hang out. So forgive me, but Maggie is waiting.

Mailbox Monday -- October 17th

2011-10-17T07:00:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Savvy Verse & Wit. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Following Atticus by Tom Ryan. Publisher's Summary. A middle-aged, overweight, and acrophobic newspaper editor Tom Ryan and a little dog, Atticus M. Finch, are an unlikely pair of mountaineers, but after a close friend dies of cancer, the two pay tribute to her by attempting to climb all forty-eight of New Hampshire’s four-thousand-foot peaks twice in one winter. Tom and Atticus set out on an adventure of a lifetime that takes them across hundreds of miles and deep into an enchanting but dangerous winter wonderland. Little did they know that their most difficult test would lie ahead, after they returned home. . . .

Following Atticus is ultimately a story of transformation: how a five-pound puppy pierced the heart of a tough-as-nails newspaperman, opening his eyes to the world’s beauty and its possibilities. An unforgettable saga of adventure, friendship, and the unlikeliest of family, it’s an inspiring tale of finding love and discovering your true self.

Thanks to Harper Audio!

2) Five Chiefs by John Paul Stevens. Publisher's Summary. When he resigned last June, Justice Stevens was the third longest serving Justice in American history (1975-2010)--only Justice William O. Douglas, whom Stevens succeeded, and Stephen Field have served on the Court for a longer time.

In Five Chiefs, Justice Stevens captures the inner workings of the Supreme Court via his personal experiences with the five Chief Justices--Fred Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts--that he interacted with. He reminisces of being a law clerk during Vinson's tenure; a practicing lawyer for Warren; a circuit judge and junior justice for Burger; a contemporary colleague of Rehnquist; and a colleague of current Chief Justice John Roberts. Along the way, he will discuss his views of some the most significant cases that have been decided by the Court from Vinson, who became Chief Justice in 1946 when Truman was President, to Roberts, who became Chief Justice in 2005.

Packed with interesting anecdotes and stories about the Court, Five Chiefs is an unprecedented and historically significant look at the highest court in the United States.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

Mailbox Monday -- October 10th -- Happy Columbus Day

2011-10-09T12:00:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Savvy Verse & Wit. Below are the books I received this week:

1) The Winters in Bloom by Lisa Tucker. Publisher's Summary. Together for over a decade, Kyra and David Winter are happier than they ever thought they could be. They have a comfortable home, stable careers, and a young son, Michael, who they love more than anything. Yet because of their complicated histories, Kyra and David have always feared that this domestic bliss couldn't last - that the life they created was destined to be disrupted. And on one perfectly average summer day, it is: Michael disappears from his own backyard.

The only question is whose past has finally caught up with them: David feels sure that Michael was taken by his troubled ex-wife, while Kyra believes the kidnapper must be someone from her estranged family, someone she betrayed years ago.

As the Winters embark on a journey of time and memory to find Michael, they will be forced to admit these suspicions, revealing secrets about themselves they've always kept hidden. But they will also have a chance to discover that it's not too late to have the family they've dreamed of; that even if the world is full of risks, as long as they have hope, the future can bloom.

Lyrical, wise, and witty, The Winters in Bloom is Lisa Tucker's most optimistic work to date. This enchanting, life-affirming story will charm readers and leave them full of wonder at the stubborn strength of the human heart.

Thanks to Atria Books!

2) In Her Sights by Robin Perini. Amazon Product Description. Jasmine “Jazz” Parker, Jefferson County SWAT's only female sniper, can thread the eye of a needle with a bullet. But she carries a secret from her past that she thought she buried for good at the age of fifteen. Two years ago she even drove away the one man she believed she could love—ex-Army Ranger turned reporter Luke Montgomery—to keep her past hidden. Now, in a fleeting second, the time it takes for one clean shot, one perfect hit, to save the life of the governor's daughter, Jazz's world begins to crumble around her.

Luke splashes her face and name across the front page of the newspaper, reawakening her past with a vengeance. A vicious enemy is now bent on destroying her life, forcing Jazz to turn to the one man she can never have in order to stop a killer before she and everyone she cares about pays the ultimate price. Full of explosive action and almost unbearable suspense, In Her Sights is a relentless, steamy thriller surprisingly infused with soul and poignancy.

3) She Can Run by Melinda Leigh. Amazon Product Description. Elizabeth was a young widow with two small children when she met Congressman Richard Baker. Handsome and wealthy, with a sparkling public image, Richard seemed like the perfect man to provide the security that Beth and her kids were craving. But when she uncovers a dangerous secret about her new husband, Beth realizes he will go to any lengths—even murder—to keep it. After barely escaping with her life, she and her children flee. They eventually make their way to a secluded estate in the Pennsylvania countryside, where Beth dares to hope she has found a safe place at last…

Forced into retirement by an unexpected injury, Philadelphia homicide detective Jack O’Malley is mourning the loss of his career when his uncle abruptly dies, leaving Jack to dispose of his crumbling country house. Unbeknownst to him, his uncle engaged a caretaker just before his death, a mysterious woman with two children and a beautiful face that haunts his dreams. Determined to know her, Jack begins an investigation into Beth’s past. When he uncovers the shocking truth, and a local woman is viciously murdered, Jack puts his own life on the line to keep Beth and her children safe.

She Can Run is a sexy, satisfying debut from award-winning author Melinda Leigh, packed with enough suspense and romance to get even the tamest heart racing!

Both thanks to Goldberg McDuffie Communications, Inc.!

Winners!

2011-10-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

Congrats to the winners of the following giveaways:

Wither:
Bermudaonion

The Sun's Heartbeat:
sklyn
tracyschultz
irbratb

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-10-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman by Patricia Bosworth:

She was born Jayne Seymour Fonda on December 21, 1937, by cesarean section at Doctors Hospital in New York. Her thirty-two-year old father, the up-and-coming young actor Henry Fonda paced back and forth outside the delivery room, smoking cigarette after cigarette while the nurses did their best to ignore him. He'd just flown in from Hollywood, where he'd been filming Jezebel opposite Bette Davis. Jane was his first child. Originally he had been nervous about becoming a father. He wasn't sure he was ready. But then he realized how much he wanted to create a family. He'd had it written into his contract that if his wife went into labor during filming, he could be with her in New York.

Mailbox Monday -- October 3rd

2011-10-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Savvy Verse & Wit. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Just My Type by Simon Garfield. Publisher's Summary. Fonts surround us every day, on street signs and buildings, on movie posters and books, and on just about every product we buy. But where do fonts come from, and why do we need so many? Who is responsible for the staid practicality of Times New Roman, the cool anonymity of Arial, or the irritating levity of Comic Sans (and the movement to ban it)?

Typefaces are now 560 years old, but we barely knew their names until about twenty years ago when the pull-down font menus on our first computers made us all the gods of type. Beginning in the early days of Gutenberg and ending with the most adventurous digital fonts, Simon Garfield explores the rich history and subtle powers of type. He goes on to investigate a range of modern mysteries, including how Helvetica took over the world, what inspires the seeming ubiquitous use of Trajan on bad movie posters, and exactly why the all-type cover of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus was so effective. It also examines why the "T" in the Beatles logo is longer than the other letters and how Gotham helped Barack Obama into the White House. A must-have book for the design conscious, Just My Type's cheeky irreverence will also charm everyone who loved Eats, Shoots & Leaves and Schott's Original Miscellany.

Thanks to Gotham Books!

2) Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie. Publisher's Summary. The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at fourteen and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history.

Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into Empress of Russia by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant mind and an insatiable curiosity as a young woman, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire. She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and, surprisingly, the American naval hero, John Paul Jones.

Reaching the throne fired by Enlightenment philosophy and determined to become the embodiment of the “benevolent despot” idealized by Montesquieu, she found herself always contending with the deeply ingrained realities of Russian life, including serfdom. She persevered, and for thirty-four years the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution that swept across Europe. Her reputation depended entirely on the perspective of the speaker. She was praised by Voltaire as the equal of the greatest of classical philosophers; she was condemned by her enemies, mostly foreign, as “the Messalina of the north.”

Catherine’s family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers, and enemies—all are here, vividly described. These included her ambitious, perpetually scheming mother; her weak, bullying husband, Peter (who left her lying untouched beside him for nine years after their marriage); her unhappy son and heir, Paul; her beloved grandchildren; and her “favorites”—the parade of young men from whom she sought companionship and the recapture of youth as well as sex. Here, too, is the giant figure of Gregory Potemkin, her most significant lover and possible husband, with whom she shared a passionate correspondence of love and separation, followed by seventeen years of unparalleled mutual achievement.

The story is superbly told. All the special qualities that Robert K. Massie brought to Nicholas and Alexandra and Peter the Great are present here: historical accuracy, depth of understanding, felicity of style, mastery of detail, ability to shatter myth, and a rare genius for finding and expressing the human drama in extraordinary lives.

History offers few stories richer in drama than that of Catherine the Great. In this book, this eternally fascinating woman is returned to life.

Thanks to Random House!

3) Quiet by Susan Cain. Amazon Product Description. At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who invent and create but prefer not to pitch their own ideas; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled “quiet,” it is to introverts we owe many of the great contributions to society—from Van Gogh’s sunflowers to the invention of the personal computer.

Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with the indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. Susan Cain charts the rise of “the extrovert ideal” over the twentieth century and explores its far-reaching effects—how it helps to determine everything from how parishioners worship to who excels at Harvard Business School. And she draws on cutting-edge research on the biology and psychology of temperament to reveal how introverts can modulate their personalities according to circumstance, how to empower an introverted child, and how companies can harness the natural talents of introverts. This extraordinary book has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

Thanks to Crown Publishing!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-09-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Help! for Writers by Roy Peter Clark:

Writing is not magic. It is a craft, a process, a set of steps. As with any process, things sometimes break down. Even in a good story, the writer runs into problems. So the act of writing always includes problem solving. At times, things get so bad, writers feel as if they're drowning. Before going under, they reach for a lifeline.

This book offers that lifeline.

Mailbox Monday -- September 26th

2011-09-25T12:00:00.001-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Amused by Books. Below are the books I received this week:

1) A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres. Publisher's Summary. I love socialism, and I'm willing to die to bring it about, but if I did, I'd take a thousand with me." —Jim Jones, September 6, 1975

In 1954, a pastor named Jim Jones opened a church in Indianapolis called Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church. He was a charismatic preacher with idealistic beliefs, and he quickly filled his pews with an audience eager to hear his sermons on social justice. After Jones moved his church to Northern California in 1965, he became a major player in Northern California politics; he provided vital support in electing friendly political candidates to office, and they in turn offered him a protective shield that kept stories of abuse and fraud out of the papers. Even as Jones's behavior became erratic and his message more ominous, his followers found it increasingly difficult to pull away from the church. By the time Jones relocated the Peoples Temple a final time to a remote jungle in Guyana and the U.S. Government decided to investigate allegations of abuse and false imprisonment in Jonestown, it was too late.

A Thousand Lives follows the experiences of five Peoples Temple members who went to Jonestown: a middle-class English teacher from Colorado, an elderly African American woman raised in Jim Crow Alabama, a troubled young black man from Oakland, and a working-class father and his teenage son. These people joined Jones's church for vastly different reasons. Some, such as eighteen-year-old Stanley Clayton, appreciated Jones's message of racial equality and empowering the dispossessed. Others, like Hyacinth Thrash and her sister Zipporah, were dazzled by his claims of being a faith healer—Hyacinth believed Jones had healed a cancerous tumor in her breast. Edith Roller, a well-educated white progressive, joined Peoples Temple because she wanted to help the less fortunate. Tommy Bogue, a teen, hated Jones's church, but was forced to attend services—and move to Jonestown—because his parents were members.

A Thousand Lives is the story of Jonestown as it has never been told before. New York Times bestselling author Julia Scheeres drew from thousands of recently declassified FBI documents and audiotapes, as well as rare videos and interviews, to piece together an unprecedented and compelling history of the doomed camp, focusing on the people who lived there. Her own experiences at an oppressive reform school in the Dominican Republic, detailed in her unforgettable debut memoir Jesus Land, gave her unusual insight into this story.

The people who built Jonestown wanted to forge a better life for themselves and their children. They sought to create a truly egalitarian society. In South America, however, they found themselves trapped in Jonestown and cut off from the outside world as their leader goaded them toward committing "revolutionary suicide" and deprived them of food, sleep, and hope. Yet even as Jones resorted to lies and psychological warfare, Jonestown residents fought for their community, struggling to maintain their gardens, their school, their families, and their grip on reality.

Vividly written and impossible to forget, A Thousand Lives is a story of blind loyalty and daring escapes, of corrupted ideals and senseless, haunting loss.

2) Angelina's Bachelor's by Brian O'Reilly. Publisher's Summary.
Sometimes the shortest distance between two people is the length of a kitchen table. . . .

Far too young to be a widow, Angelina D'Angelo suddenly finds herself facing a life without her beloved husband, Frank. Late one night shortly after the funeral, she makes her way down to the kitchen and pours all of her grief and anger into the only outlet she has left—her passion for cooking. In a frenzy of concentration and swift precision, she builds layer upon layer of thick, rich lasagna, braids loaves of yeasty bread, roasts plump herb-rubbed chicken; she makes so much food that she winds up delivering the spoils to the neighbors in her tight-knit Italian community in South Philadelphia.

Retiree Basil Cupertino, who has just moved in with his kindly sister across the street, is positively smitten with Angelina's food. In a stroke of good fortune, Basil offers Angelina (not only husbandless but unemployed) a job cooking for him—two meals a day, six days a week, in exchange for a handsome salary. Soon, word of her irresistible culinary prowess spreads and she finds herself cooking for seven bachelors—and in the process discovers the magical power of food to heal, to bring people together . . . and maybe even to provide a second chance at love.

Filled to the brim with homemade warmth, Angelina's Bachelors is a sweet tale of overcoming grief, redefining family, and following your heart—through food.

3) The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory. Publisher's Summary. Descended from Melusina, the river goddess, Jacquetta always has had the gift of second sight. As a child visiting her uncle, she met his prisoner, Joan of Arc, and saw her own power reflected in the young woman accused of witchcraft. They share the mystery of the tarot card of the wheel of fortune before Joan is taken to a horrific death at the hands of the English rulers of France. Jacquetta understands the danger for a woman who dares to dream.

Jacquetta is married to the Duke of Bedford, English regent of France, and he introduces her to a mysterious world of learning and alchemy. Her only friend in the great household is the duke's squire Richard Woodville, who is at her side when the duke's death leaves her a wealthy young widow. The two become lovers and marry in secret, returning to England to serve at the court of the young King Henry VI, where Jacquetta becomes a close and loyal friend to his new queen.

The Woodvilles soon achieve a place at the very heart of the Lancaster court, though Jacquetta can sense the growing threat from the people of England and the danger of royal rivals. Not even their courage and loyalty can keep the House of Lancaster on the throne. Henry the king slides into a mysterious sleep; Margaret the queen turns to untrustworthy favorites for help; and Richard, Duke of York, threatens to overturn the whole kingdom for his rival dynasty.

Jacquetta fights for her king, her queen, and for her daughter Elizabeth for whom Jacquetta can sense an extraordinary and unexpected future: a change of fortune, the throne of England, and the white rose of York.

A sweeping, powerful story rich in passion and legend and drawing on years of research, The Lady of the Rivers tells the story of the real-life mother of the white queen.

All thanks to Simon & Schuster!

Help for Writers Giveaway (ends 10/15)

2011-09-23T06:00:00.005-04:00

Publisher's Summary. The craft of writing offers countless potential problems: The story is too long; the story's too short; revising presents a huge hurdle; writer's block is rearing its ugly head.

In HELP! FOR WRITERS, Roy Peter Clark presents an "owner's manual" for writers, outlining the seven steps of the writing process, and addressing the 21 most urgent problems that writers face. In his trademark engaging and entertaining style, Clark offers ten short solutions to each problem. Out of ideas? Read posters, billboards, and graffiti. Can't bear to edit yourself? Watch the deleted scenes feature of a DVD, and ask yourself why those scenes were left on the cutting-room floor. HELP! FOR WRITERS offers 210 strategies to guide writers to success.

Giveaway Rules. Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away THREE copies of this informative 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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or 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.
Limit one winner per household regardless of the site won from.

Giveaway ends October 15th. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-09-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Still Life with Brass Pole by Craig Machen:

Dean is driving the Porsche. In the passenger seat, I am drunk, coked to the gills, stoned and completely at ease. The car belongs to my dad, and so does Dean, figuratively speaking. He is Dad’s lover. Of course, I'm not supposed to know this, so I am having to listen to Dean's smoke screen of make-believe female conquests. And in a bizarre way, Dean's performance, sort of like Jim Jay Bullock doing a Don Johnson impersonation, is making it all that much more fun.

Mailbox Monday -- September 19th

2011-09-18T12:00:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Amused by Books. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Help for Writers by Roy Peter Clark. Publisher's Summary. The craft of writing offers countless potential problems: The story is too long; the story's too short; revising presents a huge hurdle; writer's block is rearing its ugly head.

In HELP! FOR WRITERS, Roy Peter Clark presents an "owner's manual" for writers, outlining the seven steps of the writing process, and addressing the 21 most urgent problems that writers face. In his trademark engaging and entertaining style, Clark offers ten short solutions to each problem. Out of ideas? Read posters, billboards, and graffiti. Can't bear to edit yourself? Watch the deleted scenes feature of a DVD, and ask yourself why those scenes were left on the cutting-room floor. HELP! FOR WRITERS offers 210 strategies to guide writers to success.

2) Love and Capital by Mary Gabriel. Publisher's Summary. Brilliantly researched and wonderfully written, LOVE AND CAPITAL is a heartbreaking and dramatic saga of the family side of the man whose works would redefine the world after his death.

Drawing upon years of research, acclaimed biographer Mary Gabriel brings to light the story of Karl and Jenny Marx's marriage. We follow them as they roam Europe, on the run from governments amidst an age of revolution and a secret network of would-be revolutionaries, and see Karl not only as an intellectual, but as a protective father and loving husband, a revolutionary, a jokester, a man of tremendous passions, both political and personal.

In LOVE AND CAPITAL, Mary Gabriel has given us a vivid, resplendent, and truly human portrait of the Marxes-their desires, heartbreak and devotion to each other's ideals.

Both thanks to Hachette Book Group!

3) The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman. Publisher's Summary. Some secrets can’t be kept. . . .

The Most Dangerous Thing

Years ago, they were all the best of friends. But as time passed and circumstances changed, they grew apart, became adults with families of their own, and began to forget about the past—and the terrible lie they all shared. But now Gordon, the youngest and wildest of the five, has died and the others are thrown together for the first time in years.

And then the revelations start.

Could their long-ago lie be the reason for their troubles today? Is it more dangerous to admit to what they’ve done or is it the strain of keeping the secret that is beginning to wear on them and everyone close to them? Each one of these old friends has to wonder if their secret has been discovered—and if someone within the circle is out to destroy them.

Thanks to Harper Audio!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-09-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Here Comes Trouble by Michael Moore.

Wishes for my early demise seemed to be everywhere. They were certainly on the mind of CNN's Bill Hemmer one sunny July morning in 2004. He had heard something he wanted to run by me. And so, holding a microphone in front of my face, on the floor of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, live on CNN, he asked me what I thought about how American people were feeling about Michael Moore:

'I've heard people say they wish Michael Moore were dead.'

I tried to recall if I'd ever heard a journalist ask anyone that question before on live television. Dan Rather did not ask Saddam Hussein that question. I'm pretty sure Stone Phillips didn't ask serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahlmer, either. Perhaps, maybe, Larry King asked Liza once -- but I don't think so.

Mailbox Monday -- September 12th

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Amused by Books. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Coming Up for Air by Patti Callahan Henry. Publisher's Summary. Ellie Calvin is caught in a dying marriage, and she knows this. With her beloved daughter away at college and a growing gap between her and her husband – between her reality and the woman she wants to be – she doesn’t quite seem to fit into her own life.

But everything changes after her controlling mother, Lillian, passes away. Ellie’s world turns upside down when she sees her ex-boyfriend, Hutch, at her mother’s funeral and learns that he is in charge of a documentary that involved Lillian before her death. He wants answers to questions that Ellie’s not sure she can face, until, in the painful midst of going through her mother’s things, she discovers a hidden diary – and a window onto stories buried long ago.

As Ellie and Hutch start speaking for the first time in years, Ellie’s closed heart slowly begins to open. Fighting their feelings, they set out together to dig into Lillian’s history. Using both the diary and a trip to the Summer House, a mysterious and seductive bayside home, they gamble that they can work together and not fall in love again. But in piecing together a decades-old unrequited-love story, they just might uncover the secrets in their own hearts…

Thanks to St. Martin's Press!

2) Northwest Angle by William Kent Krueger. Publisher's Summary. With his family caught in the crosshairs of a group of brutal killers, detective Cork O'Connor must solve the murder of a young girl in the latest installment of William Kent Krueger's unforgettable New York Times bestselling series.

During a houseboat vacation on the remote Lake of the Woods, a violent gale sweeps through unexpectedly, stranding Cork and his daughter, Jenny, on a devastated island where the wind has ushered in a force far darker and more deadly than any storm.

Amid the wreckage, Cork and Jenny discover an old trapper's cabin where they find the body of a teenage girl. She wasn't killed by the storm, however; she'd been bound and tortured before she died. Whimpering sounds coming from outside the cabin lead them to a tangle of branches toppled by the vicious winds. Underneath the debris, they find a baby boy, hungry and dehydrated, but still very much alive. Powerful forces intent on securing the child pursue them to the isolated Northwest Angle, where it's impossible to tell who among the residents is in league with the devil. Cork understands that to save his family he must solve the puzzle of this mysterious child whom death follows like a shadow.

Thanks to Atria Books!

3) Bestiary for Business by Erika Schelby. Author's Summary. The BESTIARY FOR BUSINESS is a collection of fables that look at current economic conditions in an irreverent way. Looking into Aesop’s ancient mirror there to see current fads and follies fused to timeless fables? The BESTIARY FOR BUSINESS is doing just that.

Today, many of us are subjected to a flow of unpleasant news from Wall Street and the financial markets. And all of us are in business in one way or another: we are the captives, participants, cheer leaders, anti-heroes, or the economically injured people in a national and global game. If one listens carefully, one will hear that much of the fun and fairness has gone from economic activities. So if these fifty fables produce some smiles or even relief from annoyance, that would be great. The book deals with a variety of subjects and offers story titles such as “The Belt Tightening”, “Downsizing”, “Globalization”, “Insider Trading”, “MBA Delusion”, and “On Management Styles”. Each fable is seasoned and peppered with concluding quotations that enhance the content.

The players in the Bestiary are (innocent) animals with human characteristics. Now wouldn't it be wonderful if we as a species could advance to capitalism with a more likeable human face?

Thanks to the Author!

4) Taking Time to Live by Ron Fugere. Publisher's Summary. Taking the Time to Live (Bennett & Hastings Publishing, June 30, 2011) is the amusing and sometimes poignant story of sailing vessel Paso Feo’s 2006 voyage. Following the collapse of his 28-year marriage, Ron Fugere embarked on a solo journey without a firm destination or route, leaving navigation to chance, circumstance and whims.

His travels eventually carried him around British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, over a span of five months and 2,6000 nautical miles. In his travels, Captain Ron learned much about navigation and seamanship, but more importantly he gained insight into the power of dreams and discovered truths about matters of the heart.

Taking the Time to Live will warm your heart, tickle your funny-bone and arouse your sense of wanderlust.

Thanks to the Publisher!

5) Brothers Krimm by Cecile Wehrman. Amazon Product Description. On September 14, 2009, a serial bank bandit scores one of his biggest hauls ever in Williston, N.D. Jimmy Krimm has been robbing banks for most of his adult life, but the biggest crime he ever committed took place before he left his mother's Michigan home decades earlier. When police deliver the news that her oldest son is dead, Charlene Krimm is left pining for any children he may have fathered, and with the task of breaking the news to her younger son, Rob -- Jimmy's first victim. "The Brothers Krimm" examines the way childhood sexual abuse forms two men --turning one into a predator -- and the other into the kind of hero whose triumph is found in his will to rise above the past. In the wake of the events of September 14, 2009, a small town reporter is compelled to dig deeper into the mystery of Jimmy Krimm. Driven by the desire to help his family gain closure, Cecile Wehrman sets out to follow the trail of a serial bank robber -- a trail that leads, inexplicably, to her own doorstep – to the abuse in her own past, and to the very real possibility she could have been Jimmy’s next victim. From Chapter 1: "It's a story that will test all of my skills as a researcher. I will have to examine my ethics as a journalist. I will have to open old wounds, personal wounds. My faith will be shaken. Inconsequential things, something as simple as finding a penny, will take on new meaning...And it won't be until many months into it that my research will uncover an inexplicable connection to this robber -- this man who terrorized my neighborhood. It is a piece of evidence so startling it will literally knock me to the ground.” With the cooperation of the Krimm family, through prison documents, police records and even Jimmy’s own words and photos from the road during his final bank robbing spree, Wehrman chronicles the exploits of a modern day Jesse James – dispelling forever the notion of the dashing bank bandit and replacing it with the portrait of a homeless wanderer who took what he needed, no matter who it hurt.

Thanks to the Author!

That Day in September

2011-09-11T11:17:00.000-04:00

Publisher's Summary. We all have our stories to tell of where we were the morning of September 11, 2001. This is one of them. In "That Day In September" Artie Van Why gives an eyewitness account of that fateful morning. From the moment he heard "a loud boom" in his office across from the World Trade Center, to stepping out onto the street, Artie vividly transports the reader back to the day that changed our lives and our country forever. "That Day In September" takes you beyond the events of that morning. By sharing his thoughts, fears and hopes, Artie expresses what it was like to be in New York City in the weeks and months following. The reader comes away from "That Day In September" with not only a more intimate understanding of the events of that day but also with a personal glimpse of how one person's life was dramatically changed forever.

Review. Today is a day of remembering, reflection and mourning, for all who were lost and for the survivors who witnessed events that no one should ever see.

In That Day in September author Artie Van Why, who worked across the street from the World Trade Center, shares his personal eye witness account of that horrific day. From the initial puzzling moments after the first plane crash to watching victims leaping to their deaths to assisting a likely mortally injured man in the street, Van Why sees and describes events that are eerily familiar to anyone who was there or watched the events unfold on the news.

That Day in September cannot be described as an enjoyable or an entertaining read, but it is an important story. One that should be read and not only on memorable anniversaries like today, but on future days too.

September 11th is a story that we as Americans must never forget, today and everyday.

Review copy provided courtesy of the author.

The Sun's Hearbeat Giveaway Ends Today (9/10)

2011-09-10T07:00:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to get your entry in here.

An Accidental Mother

2011-09-09T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher's Summary. After her divorce, Kate Kindred decided that she would live her life without children. But then she fell in love with Jim, a handsome, caring man who had custody of his two-year-old son, Michael. And she fell in love with the boy, too. During the six years they all lived together, Kate learned the deep joys of motherhood—that was the gift that Michael gave her. But when her relationship with Jim ended, he denied her any contact with Michael.

And her heart was broken.

An Accidental Mother beautifully describes the joys of mothering a young boy through complicated times. With sweet simple anecdotes and complex emotions, Kate Kindred marks every page with tears, including those that the most loving laughter can bring to any parent.

Review. Today side-by-side traditional nuclear families are a myriad of other “families.” In the memoir An Accidental Mother by Katherine Anne Kindred, the author shares her experiences as part of one such “nontraditional” family.

After forty-something Kindred’s second marriage dissolved, so did her dream of having a child. Life, however, had other plans for Kindred. When Kindred entered into a relationship with Jim she became a surrogate parent to his motherless, young son Michael. And for the next six years while Kindred cohabitated with Jim and Michael the trio morphed into a cohesive family unit. As Kindred confesses:

He [Michael] did not come from my belly, and we have no genetic link, but he has become my sun, my moon, my stars. And I have become his mother.

Sadly, this loving relationship was terminated by Jim when he and Kindred split.

An Accidental Mother is Kindred’s love letter to Michael. Interspersed between Kindred’s humorous (and not so humorous) recollections and Michael’s artwork, her love and devotion to Michael is apparent. From her daily “Good Morning Sunshine” greeting to rouse the slumbering little boy to the nightly dream stories she created while tucking him into bed, Michael is clearly Kindred’s sun, moon and stars!

Hopefully, someday Michael will have the chance to read this profoundly touching tribute from his "Mom."

Review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?

2011-09-07T12:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher's Summary. "I've been mythicized, Mick-icized, eulogized and fooligized, I've been Cole-Portered and farmer's-daughtered, I've been Led Zepped and 12-stepped. I'm a rhyming fool and so cool that me, Fritz the Cat, and Mohair Sam are the baddest cats that am. I have so many outrageous stories, too many, and I'm gonna tell 'em all. All the unexpurgated, brain-jangling tales of debauchery, sex & drugs, transcendence & chemical dependence you will ever want to hear."

The son of a classical pianist straight out of the Bronx of old Archie comics, Steven Tyler was born to be a rock star. Weaned on Cole Porter, Nat King Cole, Mick—and his beloved Janis Joplin—Tyler began tearing up the streets and the stage as a teenager before finally meeting his "mutant twin" and legendary partner Joe Perry. In this addictively readable memoir, told in the playful, poetic voice that is uniquely his own, Tyler unabashedly recounts the meteoric rise, fall, and rise of Aerosmith over the last three decades and riffs on the music that gives it all meaning.

Tyler tells what it's like to be a living legend and the frontman of one of the world's most revered and infamous bands—the debauchery, the money, the notoriety, the fights, the motels and hotels, the elevators, limos, buses and jets, the rehab. He reveals the spiritual side that "gets lost behind the stereotype of the Sex Guy, the Drug Guy, the Demon of Screamin', the Terror of the Tropicana." And he talks about his epic romantic life and his relationship with his four children. As dazzling, bold, and out-on-the-edge as the man himself, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? is an all-access backstage pass into this extraordinary showman's life.

Review. Draw up a chair and gather round because the Demon of Screamin,' Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler has a story to tell: 64 years of wild living. Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll, as one would expect, are served up in lurid detail. Note: Does the Noise in My Head Bother You is NOT for minors or sensitive readers as Tyler seems unable to converse without using "colorful" terms. Also, some of the topics e.g. groupies and drug use are graphically discussed. Tales of debauchery and drug use, however, are not the only subject's covered. Tyler also shares his surprisingly softer self. He is spiritual and a nature lover. Tyler is also the product of a loving family who encouraged his creativity and is a devoted father and son.

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You is not the conventional memoir in that it does not unfold in a linear fashion. Rather it is told in a conversational freewheeling style -- jumping from topic to topic -- that seems natural although a bit chaotic at times. Additionally, as a listener of the audio version, I loved Tyler's rockin scat- rhymes that are sprinkled throughout the memoir. Narrator Jeremy Davidson does a superb job of conveying Tyler's attitude! The audio book version also includes a don't miss interview with Tyler at the end.

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You is a brash in-your-face memoir that will entertain longtime Aerosmith fans and newbies alike!

Review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-09-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

The I have power again edition (after 6 long days due to Hurricane Irene) of Tuesday Intro. Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from That Day in September by Artie Van Why:

I want it to go away, I don't want it to have happened.
But it won't, and it did, and I was there.

I wanted to catch that falling man with the flailing arms and legs.
But I couldn't, and I didn't, though I was there.

I wanted to be a hero, doing more than I humanly could.
But I wasn't, and I didn't.

I wanted to stay there, in the street, not afraid.
But I didn't, and I was.

I wanted to be there through the end.
But I wasn't.

I wanted to stay and rescue.
But I didn't.

I wanted to be more injured, more dirty, more at risk.
But I wasn't.

I want to imagine being buried, being missing, being gone.
But I can't.

I want to know why I survived, and others didn't.
But I don't.

I want it never to have happened.
But it did.

Mailbox Monday -- September 5th

2011-09-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Amused by Books. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Upper Cut by Carrie White. Publisher's Summary. I was living a hairdresser's dream. I was making my mark in this all-male field. My appointment book was filled with more and more celebrities. And I was becoming competition for my heroes . . .

Behind the scenes of every Hollywood photo shoot, TV appearance, and party in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, there was Carrie White. As the "First Lady of Hairdressing," Carrie collaborated with Richard Avedon on shoots for Vogue, partied with Jim Morrison, styled Sharon Tate's hair before her wedding to Roman Polanski, and got high with Jimi Hendrix. She has counted Jennifer Jones, Betsy Bloomingdale, Elizabeth Taylor, Goldie Hawn, and Camille Cosby among her favorite clients.

But behind the glamorous facade, Carrie's world was in perpetual disarray and always had been. After her father abandoned the family when she was still a child, she was sexually abused by her domineering stepfather, and her alcoholic mother was unstable and unreliable. Carrie was sipping cocktails before her tenth birthday, and had had five children and three husbands before her twenty-eighth. She fueled the frenetic pace of her professional life with a steady diet of champagne and vodka, diet pills, cocaine, and heroin, until she eventually lost her home, her car, her career—and nearly her children. But she battled her way back, getting sober, rebuilding her relationships and her reputation as a hairdresser, and today, the name Carrie White is once again on the door of one of Beverly Hills's most respected salons. An unflinching portrayal of addiction and recovery, Upper Cut proves that even in Hollywood, sometimes you have to fight for a happy ending.

Thanks to Atria Books!

2) Pure Gold by Holli Pfau. Publisher's Summary. A two-hundred-word creative writing assignment describing her dogs, and her participation in the Parade of Rescue Dogs at the Golden Retriever National Specialty show in Snohomish, Washington, prompted Holli to start writing PURE GOLD: ADVENTURES WITH SIX RESCUED GOLDEN RETRIEVERS (October 1, 2011, Glad Dog Press).

It’s taken four years to complete, but the journey has been more than worth its weight in gold. Pure Gold moves from rollicking adventure to bedside vigils in hospitals, from confident, assured partnerships to disastrous outings in the show ring. Whenever she experienced writer’s block, Holli envisioned homeless, abandoned or sick goldens and was always inspired to push on, to help make their lives better. Her engaging story will provide reading pleasure for millions of dog lovers.

Thanks to the Publisher!

3) The Book of Life by Stuart Nadler. Publisher's Summary. Forced together on a trip from Manhattan to Rhode Island, a father and son attempt to renew their bond over lobster, cigarettes, and a buried secret. A pure-hearted artist finds his devotion cruelly tested, while his true love tries to repent for the biggest mistake of her life. Unwittingly thrust into an open marriage, a man struggles to reconnect with his newly devout son. And in the book's daring first story, an arrogant businessman begins a forbidden affair during the High Holidays. Written in clear, crystalline prose, The Book of Life comprises seven stunning tales about faith, family, grief, love, temptation, and redemption that signal the arrival of a bold and exciting new writer. ... more

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

4) Shut Up & Dance by Jamie Rose.
Thanks to Penguin USA!

Wither Giveaway (ends today 9/3)

2011-09-03T08:00:00.001-04:00

Don't miss out on your chance to win this fabulous book here.

Mailbox Monday -- August 29th

2011-08-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Life in the Thumb. Below are the books I received this week:

1) That Day in September by Artie Van Why. Amazon Product Description. We all have our stories to tell of where we were the morning of September 11, 2001. This is one of them. In "That Day In September" Artie Van Why gives an eyewitness account of that fateful morning. From the moment he heard "a loud boom" in his office across from the World Trade Center, to stepping out onto the street, Artie vividly transports the reader back to the day that changed our lives and our country forever. "That Day In September" takes you beyond the events of that morning. By sharing his thoughts, fears and hopes, Artie expresses what it was like to be in New York City in the weeks and months following. The reader comes away from "That Day In September" with not only a more intimate understanding of the events of that day but also with a personal glimpse of how one person's life was dramatically changed forever.

Thanks to the author!

2) Rick and Jane Learn to Listen & Talk by Al & Autumn Roy. Author's Summary. Rick and Jane Learn to Listen and Talk summarizes the lessons learned from our marriage coaching experiences. It is written as a story like “Who Moved My Cheese” and explains Rick and Jane’s decision to see a marriage coach couple to help them work through their issues. It then traces them through their first coaching session where they learn and apply improved communication skills. It clearly illustrates the skills while highlighting the coaching process. Rick and Jane challenge the readers to try the techniques and report back to them on their blog. The book is the first of the ‘Learn to be Married” series. It is a quick read but gives solid examples and ideas for improving a marriage.

Thanks to the author!

3) An Accidental Mother by Katherine Anne Kindred. Publisher's Summary. After her divorce, Kate Kindred decided that she would live her life without children. But then she fell in love with Jim, a handsome, caring man who had custody of his two-year-old son, Michael. And she fell in love with the boy, too. During the six years they all lived together, Kate learned the deep joys of motherhood—that was the gift that Michael gave her. But when her relationship with Jim ended, he denied her any contact with Michael.

And her heart was broken.

An Accidental Mother beautifully describes the joys of mothering a young boy through complicated times. With sweet simple anecdotes and complex emotions, Kate Kindred marks every page with tears, including those that the most loving laughter can bring to any parent.

Thanks to Unbridled Books!

4) Adrenaline by Jeff Abbott. Publisher's Summary. Sam Capra is living the life of his dreams. He's a brilliant young CIA agent, stationed in London. His wife Lucy is seven months pregnant with their first child. They have a wonderful home, and are deeply in love.
They have everything they could hope for...until they lose it all in one horrifying moment.

On a bright, sunny day, Sam receives a call from Lucy while he's at work. She tells him to leave the building immediately. He does...just before it explodes, killing everyone inside. Lucy vanishes, and Sam wakes up in a prison cell. As the lone survivor of the attack, he is branded by the CIA as a murderer and a traitor.

Escaping from the agency, Sam launches into a desperate hunt to save his kidnapped wife and child, and to reveal the unknown enemy who has set him up and stolen his family. But the destruction of Sam's life was only step on in an extraordinary plot-and now Sam must become a new kind of hero.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

Wither

2011-08-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher's Summary. By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband's strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

Review. What’s the problem with starting a great new trilogy series? Waiting for the next installment! Seriously, Lauren Destefano's Wither, book one in the Chemical Garden Trilogy, is that addictive!

This dystopian novel begins about 70 or so years in the future with only the United States in existence because the rest of the world was destroyed in an apocalyptic war. The humans race isn't doing so hot either: life expectancies are 20 years for females and 25 years for males. This dire predicament is the result of genetic engineering which cured nearly all diseases and illnesses in the “First Generation” of artificially conceived children (now gracefully aging adults), but went awry with subsequent progeny who are infected with a mysterious, lethal virus and doomed to die as young adults. While the populace waits for a cure, wealthy First Generationers buy young girls, who have been kidnapped, to betroth their sons in polygamous marriages and bear new offspring.

Sixteen year old Rhine Ellery, one of these brides, has been forced to marry the “nice,” but weak willed Linden, son of the evil First Generation Housemaster Vaughan. She shares Linden with two other sister wives fourteen year old Cecily and eighteen year Jenna. Rhine, however, is determined to flee her gilded mansion-prison and reunite with her twin Rowan.

Wither is not my normal genre and I was a little reluctant to read it. My worries were unfounded, however, because Destefano's characters are engaging and the "end-of-the world-as-we-know- it" plotline was riveting. I especially enjoyed the friendships between the sister wives as they seemed genuine (or as realistic as could be imagined given the unusual circumstances). Each bride dealt with her situation differently and yet they found common ground between them. I was also drawn into Rhine's longing to be free and with her brother -- against all the odds. Each page propelled me to the next, making Wither hard to set aside.

Lastly, Wither works as a stand alone story -- with a beginning, middle and end -- but personally I can't wait for the next chapter in Rhine's quest!

Advance reading copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

Wither Giveaway (ends 9/3)

2011-08-24T06:00:00.003-04:00

Publisher's Summary. By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband's strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away ONE NEW ARC (Advance Review Copy)of this first fantastic book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy!

Entry: For this giveaway, you must be a follower of Metroreader. 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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.

Giveaway ends September 3rd. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-08-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from SUVs Suck in Combat by Kerry Kachejian.

Getting to Baghdad would be a tough, tough journey for me. And while all Americans face adversity during their lives, my family had borne far more than its share. To us adversity was a normal state of affairs, and we faced it head on. My family's collective resilience and ability to cope with tough times often amazed our friends and neighbors. Bur it was this very ability to cope that allowed me to leave my family even in a time of hardship.

My family's challenges can be traced back almost 100 years to a mass genocide that drove my grandparents, Aram Kachejian and Regina Hagopian, out of Armenia and to the United States. They were among the lucky survivors of the 'Starving Armenians.' They opened a shoe shop in Philadelphia and raised their kids during the Great Depression. I owe my grandparents the American life I know today.

Mailbox Monday -- August 22nd

2011-08-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Life in the Thumb. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Pitch Uncertain by Maisie Houghton. Publisher's Summary. Touching and incisive, Pitch Uncertain is a beautifully drawn account of Maisie Houghton's struggle to find her own voice as the middle child of two parents whose marriage and lives she slowly decoded as she came of age in the 1950s. Growing up in the gentle ambience of Cambridge, Massachusetts, spending full summers in Dark Harbor, Maine, and regularly visiting her relatives in the socially polished reaches of greater New York, Maisie and her two sisters had the makings of an ideal childhood. But their parents were an enigma.

One of five sisters, Maisie's mother Sybil Jay was the "gentle doe" of an accomplished New York family that had morphed over the twentieth century into a resilient matriarchy. Charming and independent, Maisie's father, Frankie Kinnicutt, was the handsome, fun loving son of stolid New Yorkers whose emotional reserve and perfectly decorated residences were a stiff contrast to the liveliness of the Jay household. As parents, Sybil was diligent, caring and attentive—an anchor for the family, while Frankie was independent, playful, curious and remote—more sail than anchor.

With a novelist's sense of moment, Maisie explores her individually appealing parents and their estranged but oddly loyal relationship. Pitch Uncertain portrays an era and a genteel culture as much as it deciphers a marriage.

Thanks to FSB Associates!

2) Still Life with Brass Pole by Craig Machen. Author's Summary. I started writing Still Life With Brass Pole as my oldest son was preparing to go to college. Ironically, and totally out of the blue, he wound up going to school in Oklahoma, the very place I started formulating my grand plan to have a family in the first place.

At its heart, the book is about the things that made me want to be a dad, but the logline is, “Young love and coming of age in the strip clubs.” It’s sort of like Almost Famous in the titillation business, or maybe Running With Scissors meets On The Road at a topless bar (with A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and The Last Picture Show waiting in the car).

Thanks to the Author!

3) SUVs Suck in Combat by Kerry Kachejian. Publisher's Summary. In 2004, a special military unit, the Gulf Region Division (GRD), was created to execute a seemingly impossible mission: the rebuilding of Iraq despite a pervasive insurgency. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Kerry C. Kachejian, a West Point engineer officer, was called back to Iraq to head operations. Comprised mostly of civilian volunteers, the inadequately equipped team was rapidly deployed into combat, bravely fighting its way each day to hundreds of project sites in high speed, unarmored SUVs to complete its strategic national mission. Some did not survive. A chilling and illuminating narrative complete with scores of action photos, SUVs Suck in Combat recounts the hard lessons learned and is a cautionary tale for future generations. This book recently received the annual Literacy Hero Award.

Thanks to Smith Publicity.

Winners!

2011-08-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

Congrats to the winners of the following giveaways:

The Upright Piano Player:

irbratb

Flashback:

bibliophilebythesea
twoofakind12
abookishaffair

Night Train:

bermudaonion
hernandezcassandra50
cenya2

The Sun's Heartbeat Giveaway (ends 9/10)

2011-08-17T09:19:00.000-04:00

Publisher's Summary. The beating heart of the sun is the very pulse of life on earth. And from the ancients who plotted its path at Stonehenge to the modern scientists who unraveled the nuclear fusion reaction that turns mass into energy, humankind has sought to solve its mysteries. In this lively biography of the sun, Bob Berman ranges from its stellar birth to its spectacular future death with a focus on the wondrous and enthralling, and on the heartbreaking sacrifice, laughable errors, egotistical battles, and brilliant inspirations of the people who have tried to understand its power.

Giveaway Rules. Giveaway Rules. Today I am giving away THREE copies of this fascinating 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 Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or 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.
Limit one winner per household regardless of the site won from.

Giveaway ends September 10th. Good Luck!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-08-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Grand Pursuit by Sylvia Nasar:

It was the worst of times.

When Charles Dickens returned home from his triumphant American reading tour in June 1842 the specter of hunger was stalking England. The piece of bread had doubled after a string of bad harvests. The cities were mobbed by impoverished rural migrants looking for work or, failing that, charity. The cotton industry was in the fourth year of a deep slump, and unemployed factory hands were forced to rely on public relief or private soup kitchens. Thomas Carlyle, the conservative social critic, warned grimly, 'With millions no longer able to live . . . it is clear that the Nation itself is on the way to suicidal death.'

Mailbox Monday -- August 15th

2011-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Life in the Thumb. Below are the books I received this week:

1) My Long Trip Home by Mark Whitaker. Amazon Product Description. In a dramatic, moving work of historical reporting and personal discovery, Mark Whitaker, award-winning journalist, sets out to trace the story of what happened to his parents, a fascinating but star-crossed interracial couple, and arrives at a new understanding of the family dramas that shaped their lives—and his own.

His father, “Syl” Whitaker, was the charismatic grandson of slaves who grew up the child of black undertakers from Pittsburgh and went on to become a groundbreaking scholar of Africa. His mother, Jeanne Theis, was a shy World War II refugee from France whose father, a Huguenot pastor, helped hide thousands of Jews from the Nazis and Vichy police. They met in the mid-1950s, when he was a college student and she was his professor, and they carried on a secret romance for more than a year before marrying and having two boys. Eventually they split in a bitter divorce that was followed by decades of unhappiness as his mother coped with self-recrimination and depression while trying to raise her sons by herself, and his father spiraled into an alcoholic descent that destroyed his once meteoric career.

Based on extensive interviews and documentary research as well as his own personal recollections and insights, My Long Trip Home is a reporter’s search for the factual and emotional truth about a complicated and compelling family, a successful adult’s exploration of how he rose from a turbulent childhood to a groundbreaking career, and, ultimately, a son’s haunting meditation on the nature of love, loss, identity, and forgiveness.

2) In the Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Gedo. Amazon Product Description. When ten-year-old Enaiatollah Akbari’s small village in Afghanistan falls prey to Taliban rule in early 2000, his mother shepherds the boy across the border into Pakistan but has to leave him there all alone to fend for himself. Thus begins Enaiat’s remarkable and often punishing five-year ordeal, which takes him through Iran, Turkey, and Greece before he seeks political asylum in Italy at the age of fifteen.

Along the way, Enaiat endures the crippling physical and emotional agony of dangerous border crossings, trekking across bitterly cold mountain pathways for days on end or being stuffed into the false bottom of a truck. But not everyone is as resourceful, resilient, or lucky as Enaiat, and there are many heart-wrenching casualties along the way.

Based on Enaiat’s close collaboration with Italian novelist Fabio Geda and expertly rendered in English by an award- winning translator, this novel reconstructs the young boy’s memories, perfectly preserving the childlike perspective and rhythms of an intimate oral history.

Told with humor and humanity, In the Sea There Are Crocodiles brilliantly captures Enaiat’s moving and engaging voice and lends urgency to an epic story of hope and survival.

3) The Things We Cherished by Pam Jenoff. Amazon Product Description. Pam Jenoff, whose first novel, The Kommandant’s Girl, was a Quill Award finalist, a Book Sense pick, and a finalist for the ALA Sophie Brody Award, joins the Doubleday list with a suspenseful story of love and betrayal set during the Holocaust.

An ambitious novel that spans decades and continents, The Things We Cherished tells the story of Charlotte Gold and Jack Harrington, two fiercely independent attorneys who find themselves slowly falling for one another while working to defend the brother of a Holocaust hero against allegations of World War II–era war crimes.

The defendant, wealthy financier Roger Dykmans, mysteriously refuses to help in his own defense, revealing only that proof of his innocence lies within an intricate timepiece last seen in Nazi Germany. As the narrative moves from Philadelphia to Germany, Poland, and Italy, we are given glimpses of the lives that the anniversary clock has touched over the past century, and learn about the love affair that turned a brother into a traitor.

Rich in historical detail, Jenoff’s astonishing new work is a testament to true love under the worst of circumstances.

4) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Amazon Product Description. The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

Night Train Giveaway Ending Today

2011-08-13T08:37:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to get your entry in here.

Skipping A Beat

2011-08-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher's Summary. What would you do if your husband suddenly wanted to rewrite all of the rules of your relationship? This is the question at the heart of Skipping a Beat, Pekkanen's thought-provoking second book.

From the outside, Julia and Michael seem to have it all. Both products of difficult childhoods in rural West Virginia – where they were simply Julie and Mike – they become high school sweethearts and fall in love. Shortly after graduation, they flee their small town to start afresh. Now thirty-somethings, they are living a rarified life in their multi-million-dollar, Washington D.C. home. Julia is a highly sought-after party planner, while Michael has just sold his wildly successful flavored water company for $70 million.

But one day, Michael collapses in his office. Four minutes and eight seconds after his cardiac arrest, a portable defibrillator jump-starts his heart. But in those lost minutes he becomes a different man. Money is meaningless to him - and he wants to give it all away. Julia, who sees bits of her life reflected in scenes from the world's great operas, is now facing with a choice she never anticipated. Should she should walk away from the man she once adored – but who truthfully became a stranger to her long before this pronouncement - or give in to her husband's pleas for a second chance and a promise of a poorer but happier life?

As wry and engaging as her debut, but with quiet depth and newfound maturity, Skipping a Beat is an unforgettable portrait of a marriage whose glamorous surface belies the complications and betrayals beneath.

Review. Second chances are what we all crave at one time or another. In Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen, Michael Dunhill, after dying for 4:08 minutes, is given a second chance at life. But is it too little too late?

Before his near death experience Dunhill, founder and CEO of DrinkUp, a 70 million dollar beverage company, was always chasing the latest idea to expand his corporate empire and enrich his wealth. Along the way Dunhill took some questionable shortcuts. Additionally, Dunhill’s marriage to high school sweetheart Julia has moved in an inverse direction to the success of DrinkUp; to the point where the couple is more like roommates than husband and wife. As Julia reflects:

By the time my husband collapsed at work, he and I hadn’t talked – I mean really talked, one of our all-night heart-to hearts – in years, which is crazy, because talking was all we used to do . . . .

Now when I mentally trace the trajectory of our relationship – and I’ve had plenty of time to do it, lots of silent evenings alone in our home – I realize there wasn’t a sharp breaking point or single furious argument that set us on our current path.

After Dunhill’s Lazarus-like return from the dead, he decides to give away his fortune and start anew with wife Julia. She, understandably, has trouble with the new Michael and is ambivalent as to whether to remain in the marriage. Julia agrees, however, to give Michael three weeks before making a decision. The remainder of the plot details these pivotal three weeks.

Skipping a Beat, told from Julia’s point-of-view, is a thoughtful novel that sweats the details. By that I mean the author delves into a myriad of topics, including opera, Fibonacci numbers, and the beverage industry, to enrich the narrative. She has done her research and it shows! My primary criticism of the novel is that it would have benefitted from alternating the point-of-view to include Michael as I had difficulty appreciating Michael’s eleventh hour change. Another minor criticism is that the character, Noah, seems like a one dimensional plot device.

Overall, however, Skipping a Beat is a realistic depiction of a modern marriage that restores one’s faith in the power to change.

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-08-09T06:00:00.002-04:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from Wither by Lauren Destefano:

I wait. They keep us in the dark for so long that we lose sense of our eyelids. We sleep huddled together like rats, staring out, and dream of our bodies swaying.

I know when one of the girls reaches a wall. She begins to pound and scream -- there's metal in the sound -- but none of us help her. We've gone too long without speaking, and all we do is bury ourselves more into the dark.

Mailbox Monday -- August 8th

2011-08-08T06:00:00.001-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Life in the Thumb. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Strangers at the Feast by Jennifer Vanderbes. Publisher's Summary. On Thanksgiving Day 2007, as the country teeters on the brink of a recession, three generations of the Olson family gather. Eleanor and Gavin worry about their daughter, a single academic, and her newly adopted Indian child, and about their son, who has been caught in the imploding real-estate bubble. While the Olsons navigate the tensions and secrets that mark their relationships, seventeen-year-old Kijo Jackson and his best friend Spider set out from the nearby housing projects on a mysterious job. A series of tragic events bring these two worlds ever closer, exposing the dangerously thin line between suburban privilege and urban poverty, and culminating in a crime that will change everyone's life.

In her gripping new book, Jennifer Vanderbes masterfully lays bare the fraught lives of this complex cast of characters and the lengths to which they will go to protect their families. Strangers at the Feast is at once a heartbreaking portrait of a family struggling to find happiness and an exploration of the hidden costs of the American dream.

Published to international acclaim, Jennifer Vanderbes's first book, Easter Island, was hailed as "one of those rare novels that appeals equally to heart, mind, and soul," by the San Francisco Chronicle. In her second novel, this powerful writer reaches new heights of storytelling. This page-turner wrestles with the most important issues of our time—race, class, and above all else, family. Strangers at the Feast will leave readers haunted and deeply affected.

2) The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison. Publisher's Summary. England, 31st August 1939: The world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade Poland, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Torn from her mother, eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated with other children to a large Yorkshire estate which has been opened up to evacuees by Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, an enigmatic, childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn into their unraveling relationship, seeing things that are not meant for her eyes and finding herself part-witness and part-accomplice to a love affair with unforeseen consequences. A story of longing, loss, and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle psychological observation, The Very Thought of You is not just a love story but a story about love.

3) The Mistress's Revenge by Tamar Cohen. Publisher's Summary. For five years, Sally and Clive have been lost in a passionate affair. Now he has dumped her to devote himself to his wife and family, and Sally is left in freefall.

It starts with a casual stroll past his house, and popping into the brasserie where his son works. Then Sally starts following Clive's wife and daughter on Facebook. But that's alright, isn't it? These are perfectly normal things to do. Aren't they?

Not since Fatal Attraction has the fallout from an illicit affair been exposed in such a sharp, darkly funny, and disturbing way: The Mistress's Revenge is a truly exciting fiction debut. After all, who doesn't know an otherwise sane woman who has gone a little crazy when her heart was broken?

4) The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais. Publisher's Summary.
"That skinny Indian teenager has that mysterious something that comes along once a generation. He is one of those rare chefs who is simply born. He is an artist."

And so begins the rise of Hassan Haji, the unlikely gourmand who recounts his life's journey in Richard Morais's charming novel, The Hundred-Foot Journey. Lively and brimming with the colors, flavors, and scents of the kitchen, The Hundred-Foot Journey is a succulent treat about family, nationality, and the mysteries of good taste.

Born above his grandfather's modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan first experienced life through intoxicating whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to the local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother. But when tragedy pushes the family out of India, they console themselves by eating their way around the world, eventually settling in LumiÈre, a small village in the French Alps.

The boisterous Haji family takes LumiÈre by storm. They open an inexpensive Indian restaurant opposite an esteemed French relais—that of the famous chef Madame Mallory—and infuse the sleepy town with the spices of India, transforming the lives of its eccentric villagers and infuriating their celebrated neighbor. Only after Madame Mallory wages culinary war with the immigrant family, does she finally agree to mentor young Hassan, leading him to Paris, the launch of his own restaurant, and a slew of new adventures.

The Hundred-Foot Journey is about how the hundred-foot distance between a new Indian kitchen and a traditional French one can represent the gulf between different cultures and desires. A testament to the inevitability of destiny, this is a fable for the ages—charming, endearing, and compulsively readable.

All thanks to Simon and Schuster!

33 Days: Touring in a Van. Sleeping on Floors. Chasing a Dream.

2011-08-05T06:00:00.001-04:00

Publisher's Summary. For 33 days in the summer of 1987, Los Angeles indie rock band Divine Weeks toured in a beat up old van, sleeping on strangers’ floors, never sure they’d make enough gas money to get them to the next town. No soundman, no roadies, all they have is their music and each other’s friendship. 33 Days captures the essence of what it is to be 22 and chase a dream, back to a time in life when dreams don’t have boundaries, when everything is possible. The tour is one of those now or never experiences. Take a shot at making the band work or leave it all behind and go your separate ways. Every one of us has that moment where we have to decide to either live our dreams or give up and regret it for the rest of our lives. 33 Days touches that part of us. The road is filled with yuppies, brothels, riots, sleeping on floors, spiked drinks, DJs with no pants, and battles with racism. They set out on the road to discovery to drink in all they could and maybe sell a few records. They grew up instead.

Review.
We busted out of class had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school . . . .
Well maybe we could cut someplace of our own
With these drums and these guitars.
No Surrender by Bruce Springsteen

Dreams -- nearly everyone has a few (or a bushel) -- but few take the chance to turn a dream into more than just pretty thinking. In 33 Days: Touring in a Van. Sleeping on Floors. Chasing a Dream, author/musician Bill See shares his memories from the summer of 1987 when his band, Divine Weeks, embarked on their first tour.

Divine Weeks was a critically-noted L.A. indie band that had just released its first album and was on the cusp of something more. With high hopes and little funds, See and his band mates (Raj Makwana, George Edmondson, and Dave Smerdzinski) set out on a 33 day do-it-yourself tour performing in small venues and outright dives, sleeping on floors and surviving on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

33 Days, however, is much, much, more than a nostalgic rehash of one band’s 80’s road trip. Rather it is about taking chances, triumphing over familial dysfunction, maintaining relationships under adverse circumstances, and measuring one’s life with more than just coffee spoons. In fact, 33 Days reads like a quest novel, with each band member facing a personal challenge while trying to maintain a united force as a group. Especially compelling is Raj’s story of being torn between his band family and his immigrant bio family.

See succinctly captures the memoir’s heart in this passage:

We really do believe we’re operating on a totally different plane than other bands. I know its crazy, and we’re completely full of ourselves, but we do. We know music can’t change the world, but music changed our world, and it could change theirs [the audience’s]. It’s not even like we’re trying to convince anyone our music can change their world. We’re just trying to show people we feel reborn doing what we’re meant to do. So let your dreams take hold and watch what can happen. Take that idea and pass it along to anyone else you know that’s dying out there and too scared to move their feet.

“Doing what you’re meant to do” sounds easy, but in truth is incredibly difficult. And added to this mix were the materialistic/conformist times (Personal digression: During the mid-80’s at my large university a few students erected an anti-apartheid hut on campus as a protest against the South African government which at that time was still segregationist. It lasted less than a week before being vandalized.) and the lack of family support some members experienced, then the journey seems almost Herculean!

33 Days is an incredible story that I wish I had lived, but reading it is the next best thing! Take a chance, hop in the van and enjoy the ride!

Review copy provided courtesy of the author.

Mailbox Monday -- August 1st

2011-08-01T09:04:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Life in the Thumb. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Healer by Carol Cassella. Publisher's Summary. From national bestselling author Carol Cassella comes the story of one doctor's struggle to hold her family together through a storm of broken trust and questioned ethics.

Claire is at the start of her medical career when she falls in love with Addison Boehning, a biochemist with blazing genius and big dreams. A complicated pregnancy deflects Claire's professional path, and she is forced to drop out of her residency. Soon thereafter Addison invents a simple blood test for ovarian cancer, and his biotech start-up lands a fortune. Overnight the Boehnings are catapulted into a financial and social tier they had never anticipated or sought: they move into a gracious Seattle home and buy an old ranch in the high desert mountains of eastern Washington, and Claire drifts away from medicine to become a full-time wife and mother.

Then Addison gambles everything on a cutting-edge cancer drug, and when the studies go awry, their comfortable life is swept away. Claire and her daughter, Jory, move to a dilapidated ranch house in rural Hallum, where Claire has to find a job until Addison can salvage his discredited lab. Her only offer for employment comes from a struggling public health clinic, but Claire gets more than a second chance at medicine when she meets Miguela, a bright Nicaraguan immigrant and orphan of the contra war who has come to the United States on a secret quest to find the family she has lost. As their friendship develops, a new mystery unfolds that threatens to destroy Claire's family and forces her to question what it truly means to heal.

Healer exposes the vulnerabilities of the American family, provoking questions of choice versus fate, desire versus need, and the duplicitous power of money.

2) Sea Escape by Lynne Griffin. Publisher's Summary. Acclaimed novelist and nationally recognized family expert Lynne Griffin returns with Sea Escape—an emotional, beautifully imagined story inspired by the author's family letters about the ties that bind mothers and daughters.

Laura Martinez is wedged in the middle place, grappling with her busy life as a nurse, wife, and devoted mom to her two young children when her estranged mother, Helen, suffers a devastating stroke. In a desperate attempt to lure her mother into choosing life, Laura goes to Sea Escape, the pristine beach home that Helen took refuge in after the death of her beloved husband, Joseph. There, Laura hunts for the legendary love letters her father wrote to her mother when he served as a reporter for the Associated Press during wartime Vietnam.

Believing the beauty and sway of her father's words will have the power to heal, Laura reads the letters bedside to her mother, a woman who once spoke the language of fabric—of Peony Sky in Jade and Paradise Garden Sage—but who can't or won't speak to her now. As Laura delves deeper into her tangled family history, she becomes increasingly determined to save her mother. As each letter reveals a patchwork detail of her parents' marriage, she discovers a common thread: a secret that mother and daughter unknowingly share.

Weaving back and forth from Laura's story to her mother's, beginning in the idyllic 1950s with Helen's love affair with Joseph through the tumultuous Vietnam War period on to the present, Sea Escape takes a gratifying look at what women face in their everyday lives—the balancing act of raising capable and happy children and being accomplished and steadfast wives while still being gracious and good daughters. It is a story that opens the door to family secrets so gripping, you won't be able to put this book down until each is revealed.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster!

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

2011-07-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from the memoir 33 Days: Touring in a Van, Sleeping on Floors, Chasing a Dream by Bill See,

Day One
7/28/87
7:05 a.m.

The time has come to be brave.

For the first time in my life -- all 22 years of it -- I wake up today with this crazy-ass belief. If I can just get myself in that van I might have a chance . . . to make it possible.

Today the door opens. The culmination of three years of maniacial drive towards a singular goal. To get out of this haunted house and get my band, Divine Weeks, on tour. It's all I've thought about the last three years, daydreaming in class and writing out imaginary tour dates. Toiling at my windowless shit day job, shuffling papers everyday, helping rich men get richer while my dream just sits out there waiting for me to seize it.

Mailbox Monday -- July 25th

2011-07-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by A Sea of Books. Below are the books I received this week:

1) To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal. Publisher's Summary. Judith Whitman always believed in the kind of love that "picks you up in Akron and sets you down in Rio." Long ago, she once experienced that love. Willy Blunt was a carpenter with a dry wit and a steadfast sense of honor. Marrying him seemed like a natural thing to promise. But Willy Blunt was not a person you could pick up in Nebraska and transport to Stanford. When Judith left home, she didn't look back.

Twenty years later, Judith's marriage is hazy with secrets. In her hand is what may be the phone number for the man who believed she meant it when she said she loved him. If she called, what would he say?

TO BE SUNG UNDERWATER is the epic love story of a woman trying to remember, and the man who could not even begin to forget.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group!

2) The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin. Publisher's Summary. When Baba Segi awoke with a bellyache for the sixth day in a row, he knew it was time to do something drastic about his fourth wife's childlessness.

Meet Baba Segi . . .

A plump, vain, and prosperous middle-aged man of robust appetites, Baba Segi is the patriarch of a large household that includes a quartet of wives and seven children. But his desire to possess more just might be his undoing.

And his wives . . .

Iya Segi—the bride of Baba Segi's youth, a powerful, vindictive woman who will stop at nothing to protect her favored position as ruler of her husband's home.

Iya Tope—Baba Segi's second wife, a shy, timid woman whose decency and lust for life are overshadowed by fear.

Iya Femi—the third wife, a scheming woman with crimson lips and expensive tastes who is determined to attain all that she desires, no matter what the cost.

Bolanle—Babi Segi's fourth and youngest wife, an educated woman wise to life's misfortunes who inspires jealousy in her fellow wives . . . and who harbors a secret that will expose shocking truths about them all.

Thanks to Harper Collins!

Flashback Giveaway Ending Today!

2011-07-23T09:01:00.000-04:00

Enter here before it is too late!