1. Hot Blooded ~ Lisa Jackson ~ finished 2-July 2. Bad Mother ~ Ayelet Waldman ~ finished 3-July 3. The Osiris Alliance ~ Jack Ford ~ finished 6-July 4. Assiniboin Girl ~ Kathleen Wallace ~ finished 8-July 5. Kiss of Midnight ~ Lara Adrian ~ finished 8-July 6. Cold Blooded ~ Lisa Jackson ~ finished 15-July 7. The night before ~ Lisa Jackson ~ finished 20-July 8. Benny and Shrimp ~ Katarina Mazetti ~ finished 23-July 9. Wait until Twilight ~ Sang Pak ~ finished 30-July 10. One Scream Away ~ Kate Brady ~ finished 1-August (I am considering this a July read because I finished it at 1:00 a.m.)
I have 2 copies of the book to give away, here are the rules.
Giveaway is open to everyone.
Giveaway starts now and runs to August 14, 2009.
Winners will NOT be notified by e-mail, please check back here after the 14th to see if you have won. If I have not been contacted by the winners by Monday, August 17th, I will draw new names.
To enter post a comment saying you’d like to enter
For a second entry, tell me why you want to read this book.
If you don’t want to wait to win the book, click on the purple button to purchase the book RIGHT NOW!!
Book Description:
When death shatters the serenity of the exclusive moneyed enclave of Tuxedo Park, New York, Eliza Blake, cohost of the country’s premier morning television show KEY to America, is on the scene. While attending a lavish gala at her friends’ newly renovated estate, Pentimento, Eliza’s host is found dead—a grotesque suicide that is the first act in a macabre and intricately conceived plan to expose the sins of the past involving some of the town’s most revered citizens.
Determined to find out the truth, Eliza and her KEY News colleagues—producer Annabelle Murphy, cameraman B.J. D’Elia, and psychiatrist Margo Gonzalez—discover that Pentimento holds the key. Nestled in the park’s sprawling architectural masterpieces, picturesque gardeners’ cottages, and lush, rolling landscape, the glorious mansion is actually a giant “puzzle house,” filled with ingenious clues hidden in its fireplaces, fountains, and frescoes that lead them from one suspicious locale to another—and, one by one, to the victims of a fiendish killer.
As Pentimento gives up its secrets, it becomes clear that no amount of wealth or privilege will keep the residents of Tuxedo Park safe. But just when Eliza unearths one final surprise, she comes face-to-face with a murderer who believes that some puzzles should never be solved.
Trailer for Dying for Mercy:
About the Author:
New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark has written 12 novels, all set in the high stakes world of broadcast journalism. She worked at CBS News headquarters in New York City for three decades, her experience there leading her to create KEY, a fictional television network. What her characters can get involved in as they cover their assignments is as varied as the stories on the morning or evening news. Her media thrillers are published in 22 languages.
Fast-moving, unpredictable, and always changing, the television news world offers a never-ending stream of ideas for Clark’s books. Her writing style has been described as “clear and speedy.” Influenced by years of writing television news stories, where every second counts, she gets right to the action in her suspense novels, in which every word is a clue.
The daughter of a FBI agent, Clark grew up in Westwood, New Jersey, and graduated from the University of Rhode Island. She is the mother of two grown children and lives in New Jersey and Florida. She spends her time researching her next novel, writing, concocting new plots while walking the beach, decorating ,and supporting causes close to her heart, including research for a cure or treatment for fragile X syndrome.
This book is set in Sweden. Benny’s parents have died leaving him to run the family dairy farm by himself. Shrimp is a young widowed librarian who sits in the cemetery and wonders why she doesn’t miss her husband more then she is angry at him for leaving. The cemetery is probably the only thing the two of them have in common, yet they fall in love. But can their love survive the differences in their lives?
Benny and Shrimp is a love story, told from each of their perspectives, alternatively. You read about something that happened from one point of view and then the other. Along the way, they discuss the feelings they have for each other and how their lives and other people in their lives affect these. The story moves along at a comfortable pace, there were some areas where I didn’t quite understand what was being said, but it didn’t detract from the story line or my enjoyment of the book. The author states she wrote a sequel, which I will be looking for as the ending left me wanting more.
Foreign book
Advanced reader copy for review
If you would like this book, send me an e-mail with your name and mailing address and the name of the book. The first person who e-mails will receive my advanced reader copy of this book. It is a trade paperback in excellent condition.
This challenge is for readers who love eBooks or would like to explore more in 2009. I currently have five or six eBooks and this would be a fun way to get them read.
Guidelines:
You can join anytime as long as you don’t start reading your books prior to 2009.
Read 10 eBooks in 2009.
Overlaps with other challenges are fine.
Click the picture above or this link to go to J. Kaye’s Book Blog to sign up.
You do not have to list your books ahead of time. If you decide to, you can change them as you go. Feel free to remove or add titles as needed.
I just got my Sony Reader so I am starting this now.
(The first book in the Savannah series) This book, like so many of Lisa Jackson’s books, starts with a murder, the victim is Caitlyn Montgomery Bandeaux’s ex-husband, a murder clumsily staged to look like suicide, or is that what the killer wants? Caitlyn wakes up the next morning with a pounding headache and covered in blood, in fact her whole bedroom is covered in blood and she is the prim suspect in her ex-husbands murder, a murder she has memories of, but no clear knowledge.
This is not the first time Caitlyn has suffered a blackout, as the book progresses, we learn this is not the first time someone close to her has died mysteriously, and the murders continue, all people close to or related to Caitlyn. Even Caitlyn’s psychiatrist has disappeared. And each time suspicion falls on her. Is she the killer? Or is she being framed by a very clever sociopath?
Once again Lisa Jackson has written a thrilling book. This time she delves into the subject of multiple personalities caused by childhood trauma. This was also the first time that I figured out who did it before it was revealed. Even so, there were twists and turns and an ending that made me sit up and take notice. There were only two things I didn’t like.
One is the romance that is always in her books. But it doesn’t annoy me enough that I am going to stop reading her books. It is rather tastefully done. This book had some gratuitous sex in it, but it not a lot. It helped to round out some of the characters.
The other is this book is also referred to as The third book in the New Orleans series which is why I read it, I am trying to read all the books in the New Orleans series. It takes place in Savannah and the only reason it is called part of the New Orleans series is because detective Reuben Montoya is in it. But he is only in it for like a paragraph and a half! And now that I have read this one, I have to read the next on in the Savannah series. Just because I do.
I would still recommend this book and give it 3.75 stars. I just don’t know how to split my stars so I have 4 stars showing. ENJOY!
This is the second book in the New Orleans series with detectives Rick Bentz and Reuben Montoya, and a serial killer who kills his victims in the way the saints were martyred. A woman named Olivia Benchet can see the murders happen, unfortunately the killer can see her too and now she is on his list of saints to kill.
At first skeptical, as time goes on Bentz and Montoya realize that Olivia is their best chance at catching the killer, something that becomes critical when they realize that Bentz’s 19 year-old daughter Kristi is also on his list.
Jackson seems to have a ‘formula’ for her books, a ritual serial killer with a ‘special name’ in this case The Chosen One, a woman with a connection to the killer, a romantic interest for said woman and a dark secret from the past, usually also tied to the woman. Despite these similarities, Jackson keeps the stories interesting with the variations in her characters. The way each one reacts to the situations and suspects all around. In this case the killer has blue eyes and so do several of the male characters. And even when you know who the killer is, you still don’t really know who he is, until the end.
This book kept me fascinated until the end. When the killer was revealed. You also learn more of Bentz past and a little about Montoya, also a fascinating character.
Very sad news. Frank McCourt, author of the memoirs Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis and Teacher Man, died yesterday at 78 in New York City. He had suffered from metastatic melanoma, according to the New York Times, which has a long obituary and a remembrance called “A Storyteller Even as a Teacher.”
We remember him fondly for his comments at the publication party for Teacher Man, when, with his usual deadpan delivery, he lamented that the fame and fortune that came with Angela’s Ashes hadn’t come earlier in his life, but then said that had this occurred, he would have died long earlier “from drink and fornication.”
Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top, by legendary drummer of Aerosmith, Joey Kramer. Scroll down to see how to enter, to read an excerpt, view a video of Joey Kramer and some more links.
I have 2 copies of the book to give away, here are the rules.
Giveaway is open to US residents only.
Giveaway starts now and runs to July 31, 2009.
Winners will NOT be notified by e-mail, please check back here after the 31st to see if you have won. If I have not been contacted by the winners by Monday, August 3rd, I will draw new names.
To enter post a comment saying you’d like to enter
For a second entry, either name your favorite Aerosmith song or state why you like reading bios auto-bios or memoirs.
If you don’t want to wait to win the book, click on the purple button to purchase the book RIGHT NOW!!
To get a sneak peek, take a look inside: Click here.
Joey Kramer in his own words:
Book Description:
In 1997, amid Aerosmith’s sold-out world tour and number one album release, word about Joey’s troubles was reported in the press. Despite the advice he had received to play it down, Joey revealed in an interview his ongoing struggles with depression. The response from fans and people battling those same internal demons was overwhelming. Joey-who has been the drummer in Aerosmith since it was founded in 1970 and is the first member of the band to release his own book-now tells the complete story: the early days of the band, glamorous drug-addled events leading up to their eventual sobriety, battles within his family and among bandmates, and the explosive internal dynamics in Aerosmith that continue to unleash a fury of endless creativity.
This is not just another rock ‘n’ roll memoir. In addition to the never-before-told Aerosmith war stories that abound in the book, Hit Hard unpacks the history of a rock star who was both fragile and tough, who after years of insane wildness became willing to accept help and finally kick a serious alcohol and drug addiction, only to find that the real terrors and hard work were still ahead. It’s the story of an average kid from an average American suburb who went through physical and emotional trauma. It’s about years of depression and the nervous breakdown at the height of the band’s comeback success. Ultimately, Hit Hard is about how Joey recognized his confusion between love and abuse, awakening to the kind of self-acceptance and compassion that make relationships possible in the “real world” as a member of the biggest band in American history.
I am thrilled to be taking part in my first blog tour! And what a great book to start off with, too.
A Worthy Legacy is the story of Tomi and her grandfather, who is dying of a long-term illness. Tomi’s father calls her at work and tells her that her grandfather wants everyone to come to the village now. She drops what she is doing and goes. The entire family is there and her grandfather shares his last words of wisdom with those he loves the most. Tomi also shares about the secret journal that she shared with her grandfather that made a lasting impression on her.
Tomi took some time to answer a few questions for me.
1. It is evident from your book that you and your grandfather were very close. How much did he influence your decision to write and what you write?
Actually, A Worthy Legacy was written for my dad. He is the grandfather featured in the book and yes we were close. Now to the questions: With regards to A Worthy Legacy, it was written after dad’s death hence he had no influence on its writing. However, the words of A Worthy Legacy come from my notes over the years of things I have learnt from him. In reference to my other works, I wrote about a secret journal in A Worthy Legacy. This is a journal of my other writings that I shared with dad. Whether I wrote a poem or I was writing a story, Dad asked thought provoking questions that stimulated my thinking irrespective of the topic I had chosen to write about. The questions were not in themselves meant to influence my writing pattern. They asked the why, where, how, helping me develop the plot of my story. Much like an artist would talk about perspective; the questions helped me identify the perspective of my writings. They helped me think about what I needed to say and how to say it.
2. I read that you write poetry, I noticed that some parts of “A Worthy Legacy” were written as poetry, was this how your grandfather spoke them or is your interpretation of his words?
As dad’s original words were spoken in my native language, a direct translation to English for all aspects of the book is simply impossible. For this reason, I’d say the writing is a mixture of what he said and my interpretations of them. In explaining some things better, dad had given examples in Yoruba Proverbs and Adages which in themselves are poetry in form. The idea of using poetry in A Worthy Legacy originated from this. Also, since poetry is my first love, it was an easier move for me to use a form I am very familiar with.
Thanks for participating my blog tour.
Post any questions you may have for Tomi in the comments section.
I am reading the Bible, books, magazines, online newspaper articles, blogs, jokes on candy wrappers, ads on the subway, billboards, backs of food boxes, lists of ingredients and recipes, cleaning directions, sayings on shirts, then I write and write. When I'm not reading, I'm experiencing life, trying out new restaurants and getting massages. I write about those places here, take a look, you might find something you like.
On Spoilers
Password protected posts are reviews with spoilers. If you wish to read them, the password is in the tags.
If you have a question you would like to ask me or if you are a book publisher and have a book you would like me to review, click on the link to send me an e-mail.
You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
city girl drinking craft beer 