Giveaway - The Imposter's Daughter by Laurie Sandell

Thanks to Anna and Hachette Book Group I have 3 copies of The Imposter's Daughter by Laurie Sandell. This contest will run until July 23rd at 11:59 p.m. Central time.

Laurie Sandell grew up in awe (and sometimes in terror) of her larger-than-life father, who told jaw-dropping tales of a privileged childhood in Buenos Aires, academic triumphs, heroism during Vietnam, friendships with Kissinger and the Pope. As a young woman, Laurie unconsciously mirrors her dad, trying on several outsized personalities (Tokyo stripper, lesbian seductress, Ambien addict). Later, she lucks into the perfect job--interviewing celebrities for a top women's magazine. Growing up with her extraordinary father has given Laurie a knack for relating to the stars. But while researching an article on her dad's life, she makes an astonishing discovery: he's not the man he says he is--not even close. Now, Laurie begins to puzzle together three decades of lies and the splintered person that resulted from them--herself.

To enter the giveaway:

**Leave a comment answering the question What would be your perfect job? (I am in my 30's and besides dreaming that I could get paid for this blog I still don't know my perfect job) Don't forget to leave your email.

**For an extra entry sign up to publicly follow my blog. 2 entries if you already follow.

**Tweet or Blog about this giveaway and send me the link for another entry.

This contest is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada. No P.O. boxes. The publisher will send the books directly to you.

I will randomly draw the winners on July 24th and will send you an email. You must respond within 3 days.

Giveaway - Julie and Julia by Julie Powell

Thanks to Anna and Hachette Book Group I have 3 copies of Julie and Julia by Julie Powell to giveaway. Contest ends July 23rd at 11:59 p.m. Central time.

Julie & Julia, the bestselling memoir that's "irresistible....A kind of Bridget Jones meets The French Chef" (Philadelphia Inquirer), is now a major motion picture. Julie Powell, nearing thirty and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, resolves to reclaim her life by cooking in the span of a single year, every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child's legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her unexpected reward: not just a new found respect for calves' livers and aspic, but a new life-lived with gusto. The film version is written and directed by Nora Ephron and stars Amy Adams as Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia.

To enter this giveaway:

**Leave me a comment and answer the question: What is the most difficult recipe you have ever followed (did it turn out LOL)? Don't forget to leave your email.

**Extra entry if you sign up to publicly follow my blog. 2 entries if you already follow.

**Another entry if you blog or tweet about this giveaway. Give me the link.

I will randomly pick 3 winners on July 24th. I will contact you by email and you will have 3 days to respond.

This contest is only open to U.S. and Canada and winners can't be sent to P.O. Box. The books will be sent by the publisher.

Good luck!

Giveaway - Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons

Thanks to Valerie and Hatchette Book Group I have 5 copies of Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons. This giveway will run until July 25th at 11:59 p.m Central time.

Book Information:

Acclaimed novelist Anne Rivers Siddons's new novel is a stunning tale of love and loss.

For as long as she can remember, they were Cam and Lilly--happily married, totally in love with each other, parents of a beautiful family, and partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage, it ended as every great love story does...in loss. After Cam's death, Lilly takes a lone road trip to her and Cam's favorite spot on the remote coast of Maine, the place where they fell in love over and over again, where their ghosts still dance. There, she looks hard to her past--to a first love that ended in tragedy; to falling in love with Cam; to a marriage filled with exuberance, sheer life, and safety-- to try to figure out her future.

It is a journey begun with tender memories and culminating in a revelation that will make Lilly re-evaluate everything she thought was true about her husband and her marriage.

To be signed up for the giveaway:

**Please post a comment answering this question: If you could travel anywhere to get time to reflect on your life to this point where would you go? Don't forget to give me your email address.

**For an additional entry follow my blog publicly and let my know by leaving a comment. If you already follow you get 2 extra entries.

**For another entry blog or tweet about this giveaway and send me the link.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only. No PO Boxes. The books will be shipped to the winners directly from the publishers.

I will randomly pick the winners and email them! You must reply within 3 days with your mailing address or a new winner will be picked.

Thanks and GOOD LUCK!

A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi

The sleepy town of Newbury, Connecticut, is shocked when a little girl is found brutally murdered. With the murderer on the loose, the police desperately look for any clues to lead to his identity. Meanwhile, a psychiatrist in a nearby hospital is also in a desperate search to find the cause of seven-year-old Naya Hastings s devastating nightmares. Afraid that she might hurt herself in the midst of a torturous episode, Naya s parents have turned to the bright young doctor as their only hope. When these two situations converge, they set off an alarming chain of events. In this stunning psychological thriller, innocence gives way to evil, and trust lies forgotten in a web of deceit, fear, and murder.
www.acircleofsouls.com

This is Preetham Grandhi's debut novel, and if this is any sign of what his future will be...it looks bright.

This novel pulled me in from the very beginning. It opened with a prologue that had me asking questions, and then immediately followed with the disappearance of a young girl. By chapter three Naya,a young girl with sleep walking and talking, had been added into the mix. I knew these sections were related to each other, but it took me the entire novel to figure out exactly what was going on.

Can Naya's dreams really be communication with the dead? Who could the slaaf be and who is his master? These are the two main questions in the novel. I knew from the beginning that the young girl was murdered by the slaaf and that somehow Naya seemed to be channeling the spirits of the dead. It was the way that Mr. Grandhi took his time weaving the story together and slowly exposing more that kept me pulled in. Mr. Grandhi's background as a child psychiatrist made the many scenes in the psychiatric unit of the hospital easy to follow and believable. He did a wonderful job of character and relationship building and made me feel as if I knew them. Near the end I thought I had determined the guilty party, but the twists and turns left me with enough of a question that I wasn't sure until it was revealed.

There were a couple of things about the novel that I really liked besides the story itself. First, it has short chapters that flowed together well. The chapters switched from one character to another, but were easy to follow. I also appreciated that the gore was kept to a minimum. Several gory things occurred, but the novel wasn't hard to read. The scenes were described in a way that left you with no doubt as to what happened, but didn't get lost in unnecessary gruesome details.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves a good mystery. This is a psychological thriller that makes you think about exactly what the mind can do, and what exactly your dreams may mean.

Nothing but Ghosts - Beth Kephart

Yesterday - July 4, 2009 - I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's and an infection. I felt loss. When I returned to my mother's house I was drawn to Ms. Kephart's book. She is lyrical and insightful and healing. So, please forgive me if this review strays a little off the path, but I assure you that what I write is where the book led me. Thank you Beth Kephart.

This novel is depth and simplicity in one. It takes the tragic loss of losing a mother and walks us through the grieving of a husband and a daughter. It also takes us down a path of making the decision of what life you choose to live after loss.

Katie spends most of the novel searching for a mother who has "disappeared". She knows that she has lost her to cancer, but has yet to come to terms with losing a loving, full of life mother. There is no blame or anger just a sadness and loss that grips her heart and makes her almost afraid to live too fully anymore. She has closed off from friends and a "normal" teenage life. She decides to begin working in the garden of the town recluse and soon finds that this home also holds a mystery that she feels drawn to solve. While solving the mystery she becomes close with a teenage boy who also works in the garden and spends time in the library with Ms. McDermott. Her father also begins to solve a connected mystery when he is given a painting to restore and finds it was painted by the father of the recluse she is researching.

I can't give more details of the story without feeling like I tell too much, but I will tell you what I learned and what I think Ms. Kephart was trying to instill in each of us with this novel. Death is inevitable and many times unexpected...even if we know it is coming. It is how we live our lives after a loss that can bury us away from our own lives or let us live life fully.

There is more than one loss in this novel. In one loss, the loved ones left behind chose to close themselves off from the world and bury all that would remind them of the pain and suffering. With the loss of the one they loved they were breathing but dead as well. In the other story is Katie. She hasn't come to terms with her grief and is trying to decide which path she will follow. It is when she makes this promise "to live my life with my eyes wide open. To honor exuberance, and color." that she begins to live again. One choice presents a life of pain and regret the other presents a life of love and rememberance and healing.

This novel is full of symbolism and lyrical phrases that are beautiful. The poetry of her words are there, but not overwhelming to the reader. It is beauty and knowledge and love all together.

It is with this review that I say. Grandma I promise "to live with my eyes wide open. To honor exuberance, and color." I promise to keep you in my heart and never bury you in the past. You were truly a blessing from Above and will be missed. God has brought you home and you are now free of pain and suffering and where you belong. I choose life, I choose love. When something reminds me of you I promise to smile and say "Hi Granny....life's good.".

Book Description from Amazon:

Ever since her mother passed away, Katie's been alone in her too-big house with her genius dad, who restores old paintings for a living. Katie takes a summer job at a garden estate, where, with the help of two brothers and a glamorous librarian, she soon becomes embroiled in decoding a mystery. There are secrets and shadows at the heart of Nothing but Ghosts: symbols hidden in a time-darkened painting, and surprises behind a locked bedroom door. But most of all, this is a love story—the story of a girl who learns about love while also learning to live with her own ghosts.
This is a heartfelt, lyrical tale from the National Book Award-nominated author of Undercover and House of Dance.

ARC that spells FREE got my first Free Book Baby! (to the credit report svc song)LOL

Ok, today I got my first request to read and review an ARC. I am super siked! The reality is that an ARC isn't really free. It comes with a great responsibility. You must read the book in a timely manner and provide a review. You can be honest if you didn't enjoy the book, but you cannot- I repeat CANNOT- trash the author. It is rude and unprofessional. Plus, they are trusting you with something they have poured their life and soul into. So, any author can trust me to be honest, but professional in my opinion either way.

The way I see it as a new blogger I am following the 3 R's:

Responsibility: If you say you will review a book then do it. Also, do it within a decent time frame. If you know you won't have time or it is a genre you don't like then don't take the book. The offer is so cool, but not always meant for you.

Respect: Be sure to show respect the author as I stated above. They are trusting you and you should not let them down. Not enjoying something doesn't mean you have to be rude.

Real: With that being said, receiving a book to review doesn't automatically mean you are required to love it. Write your honest opinion. If there are some things done well on a book you don't like or you think it really targets a specific audience then say that. Even if you love the book be sure to mention why so others will be able to use your review in deciding to read it themselves

As I go along I am sure I will learn much more, but that is where I am starting...

Here's the book that is on the way to my house. Please look at the site and if it looks awesome be ready to buy it!! It is available now and has awesome reviews on Amazon...right now almost out of stock even! My review will be out after I get it and get a chance to read.

Book: Circle Of Souls
Author: Preetham Grandhi

Beth Kephart is Awesome!

Well, last night My Friend Amy hosted a chat with Beth Kephart, author of Nothing But Ghosts. Beth was so wonderful to chat with all of us and answer all of our questions. What a group of great ladies and I believe at least one gentleman on the chat! I should recieve this book soon and as I said before I will review it on here. I hope I love it, because I certainly enjoyed learning more about Beth as an author and a person.
Thanks to My Friend Amy for the set-up! She is also holding a book drive for this book, so if you are interested in buying check out her site.