Welcome to Christi Phillips, author of THE DEVLIN DIARY.
1. Can you tell us anything about the next or current book you are working on?
My next book takes place in seventeenth-century France. This one will be set entirely in the past.
2. What have you just finished reading?
I just finished “Revenge of the Spellmans” by Lisa Lutz. It was charming, funny, suspenseful and poignant.
3. What books would you say made the biggest impression on you, especially starting out?
The books I read as a child had the most influence on me. I knew I wanted to be a writer by the time I was ten.
4. What gets you started on a new book?
A new character. Even though I set my books in other times and other places, it’s the character who drives the story and makes it compelling for me. In part, I write the book to find out who she is, what motivates her? What’s going to happen to her, what is she going to do?
5. What is something about you that you would want people to know about you that we probably don’t know?
I’m a very happy person who feels lucky to be doing what I love—writing novels.
6. What is your best advice to anyone, including young people, who want to be writers?
Read as much as you can. Read everything. Read outside your comfort zone. Then write as much as you can. Don’t get too caught up in others’ criticism or praise of your work. Develop your own sense of what’s good: what works for you as a writer and what’s pleasing to you as a reader. Even though others can help you, guide you and offer suggestions, ultimately, you’ll have to rely on your own judgment.
Thank you so much to Christi Phillips for taking time from her busy schedule to answer my questions.
Now for those of you who entered for THE DEVLIN DIARY GIVEAWAY, remember you have 3 chances to enter. One was yesterday at the initial post and you can still enter there if you didn't yesterday.
FOR ONE ENTRY TODAY: Think about something that you learned about Christi Phillips from her interview. NOW go back to yesterday's initial post on THE DEVLIN DIARY (Click here) and comment THERE about something about the author for your second entry. COMMENTS entered below WILL NOT COUNT toward entry although I like hearing from you about other things!
DON'T FORGET...come back on July 2 to read my review and get a third chance to enter. Winners will be posted following that day on July 3!
THE DEVLIN DIARY by Christi Phillips BLOG TOUR and GIVEAWAY
TOUR BUS LEAVING NOW!
ABOUT THE BOOK:
From the acclaimed author of The Rossetti Letter comes a dazzling novel of intrigue, passion, and royal secrets that shifts tantalizingly between Restoration-era London and present-day Cambridge.
London, 1672. The past twelve years have brought momentous changes: the restoration of the monarchy, a devastating plague and fire. Yet the city remains a teeming, thriving metropolis, energized by the lusty decadence of Charles II's court and burgeoning scientific inquiry. Although women enjoy greater freedom, they are not allowed to practice medicine, a restriction that physician Hannah Devlin evades by treating patients that most other doctors shun: the city's poor.
But Hannah has a special knowledge that Secretary of State Lord Arlington desperately needs. At the king's Machiavellian court, Hannah attracts the attention of two men, charming courtier Ralph Montagu and anatomist Dr. Edward Strathern, as well as the attention of the powerful College of Physicians, which views her work as criminal. When two influential courtiers are found brutally murdered, their bodies inscribed with arcane symbols, Hannah is drawn into a dangerous investigation by Dr. Strathern, who believes the murders conceal a far-reaching conspiracy that may include Hannah's late father and the king himself.
Cambridge, 2008. Teaching history at Trinity College is Claire Donovan's dream come true -- until one of her colleagues is found dead on the banks of the River Cam. The only key to the professor's unsolved murder is a seventeenthcentury diary kept by his last research subject, Hannah Devlin, physician to the king's mistress. With help from the eclectic collections of Cambridge's renowned libraries, Claire and historian Andrew Kent follow the clues Devlin left behind, uncovering secrets of London's dark past and Cambridge's equally murky present, and discovering that events of three hundred years ago may still have consequences today....
A suspenseful and richly satisfying tale brimming with sharply observed historical detail, The Devlin Diary brings past and present to vivid life. With wit and grace, Christi Phillips holds readers spellbound with an extraordinary novel of secrets, obsession, and the haunting power of the past.
THIS BLOG TOUR WILL HAVE MANY INTERESTING THINGS TO EXPLORE AT THE DIFFERENT SITES. SOME PEOPLE WILL HAVE GAMES AND INTERVIEWS AND ALL KINDS OF THINGS HAVING TO DO WITH THE BOOK,
THE DEVLIN DIARY!
TRY AND VISIT AS MANY SITES AS YOU CAN BUT DON'T FORGET TO COME BACK TO BOOKIN' WITH BINGO AS I WILL HAVE THREE ADVANCED COPIES TO GIVE AWAY!
WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED JULY 3!
TOMORROW I WILL BE POSTING A PERSONAL INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, CHRISTI PHILLIPS AND IN THERE WILL BE A SECOND ENTRY INTO MY GIVEAWAY!
TOMORROW I WILL ALSO ANNOUNCE THE DATE I WILL POST MY OWN REVIEW OF THE DEVLIN DIARY AND YOU WILL FIND A THIRD CHANCE TO ENTER THERE!
HERE ARE MY SIMPLE RULES: ---U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY ---NO P.O. BOXES, PLEASE ---YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS MUST BE IN YOUR COMMENT SO I KNOW HOW TO FIND YOU WHEN YOU WIN!
FOR TODAY'S ENTRY ---JUST TELL ME ONE THING YOU LEARNED FROM THE VIDEO OR DESCRIPTION ABOUT THIS BOOK THAT MADE YOU WANT TO WIN IT. BE SURE AND PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN IT. ---THAT'S IT! JUST ONE COMMENT TODAYBUT COME BACK TOMORROWTO EARN A SECOND ENTRY! GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY TRAVELS! CLICK ON THE BUS TO SEE ALL THE SITES YOU CAN VISIT FOR THIS TOUR
Alexandrine Marit is a witch in mortal danger. An evil mage craves the powerful, mysterious talisman that supplies her magic, and the only person who can keep her safe is a dark and dangerous fiend called Xia. With his fierce animosity toward witches, he's hardly the ideal bodyguard. Yet as days turn into nights, she can't deny the white-hot passion between them.
DESIRE AND TEMPTATION Xia hates witches. They enslave and mercilessly kill his kind. But he's been ordered to protect Alexandrine, who, to his surprise, has a spirit he admires and a body he longs to possess. With the mage and his henchmen closing in, Alexandrine and her protector must trust the passion that can unite them...or risk losing everything to the enemies who can destroy them both.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Carolyn has been writing stories ever since she could scribble. Now that she's grown up (mostly) she writes historical and paranormal romance because she loves history and imagining the lives of people who lived in years past, and because she's fascinated by the loves and travails of the not-exactly-human in any time period. Carolyn lives in Northern California with her son, three cats, a border collie, several chickens, some sheep and various strays and other rescued critters. Ms. Jewel is also a Microsoft SQL Server Database Administrator who specializes in, uhm, administering MS SQL Server databases. It's not nearly as exciting as writing. She loves to hear from readers, so don't hesitate to email!
FIVE FUN FACTS FROM THE AUTHOR:
1. The 1968 Chevy pickup Xia drives (first introduced in My Wicked Enemy) is based on a car that belonged to my father. My father is a physician, now retired, who made house calls throughout his career. He would also check in on elderly neighbors from time to time. He often took his beloved dog, Duncan, with him when he made these visits. One of these elderly patients left Duncan (yes, the dog) his 1968 Chevy pickup which my father obligingly drove for Duncan for many years. One of the side view mirrors was held on with a shoelace and bailing wire and he kept a block of wood in the cab to stick behind the tire because the brakes weren’t reliable.
2. The house in Sausalito is based on a description of a house a friend of mine was lucky enough to stay in for a bit. I made up the black bathroom, but not the views.
3. The description of the alternate route to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge comes from my experience getting from San Francisco to Berkeley the night of the Loma Prieta earthquake. At the time, I worked in San Francisco and lived in Berkeley and took the bus into the city and back. BART was shut down and approaches to the Bay Bridge were closed due to freeway collapses. The only open bridges were the Golden Gate Bridge and the Richmond Bridge, but, of course, that’s a mighty long walk. In short, it looked like I was going to spend the night on the street or until whenever public transportation was back. I ended up getting a ride in a car driven by a woman heading to the East Bay who had room for one more person. I happened to have a prime spot on the curb where she stopped to look for one more passenger. It’s been my experience that in a disaster people are kind and actively looking to help. She didn’t have to take anyone, but she loaded up her car with as many people as she had room for. She’d once been a cab driver in the City (San Francisco) and she knew all the alternate routes that got us around the closed and destroyed streets and onto the Golden Gate Bridge and then along this unknown-to-me route to the Richmond Bridge and, at last, home.
4. The jaguar talisman comes more or less directly from a picture of an ancient artifact I ran across on the net, slightly altered for the purposes of my story.
5. The house in Tiburon is based on a spectacular house in Tiburon that was, among other things, once on the cover of Architectural Digest and also once owned by one of the members of the band Metallica. Under circumstances I am not at liberty to disclose, I learned many, many details about the interior of the house, many of which I used without the need for embellishment because, really, when a house is worth millions of dollars, there’s generally not much embellishment needed.
THANKS TO ANNA AT THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE 5 COPIES OF THIS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY. FOLLOW REALLY SIMPLE RULES AND ONE OF THEM COULD BE YOURS!
RULES ARE...
--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY --NO P.O. BOXES PLEASE --YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS MUST BE IN YOUR ENTRY SO I CAN FIND YOU --ALL ENTRIES MUST BE IN SEPARATE COMMENTS IN ORDER TO COUNT
+1 ENTRY BY TELLING ME ONE THING ABOUT THIS BOOK FROM WHAT YOU READ OR WATCHED ON THIS POST
+ MORE ENTRY BY FOLLOWING MY BLOG AND TELLING ME WHERE
THAT'S IT! BE SURE AND ENTER BY 6 PM, EST, JULY 9 GOOD LUCK!
GIVEAWAY CLOSED ENLIGHTENMENT FOR IDIOTS by Anne Cushman
A GIVEAWAY
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Nearing age thirty, Amanda thought she’d be someone else by now. Instead, she’s just herself: an ex-nanny yogini-wannabe who cranks out “For Idiots” travel guides just to scrape by. Yes, she has her sexy photographer boyfriend, but he’s usually gone—shooting a dogsled race in Alaska or a vision quest in Peru—or just hooking up with other girls. However, she’s sure her new assignment, “Enlightenment for Idiots,” will change everything; now she’ll become the serene, centered woman she was meant to be. After some breakup sex, she’s off to India to find a new, more spiritual life.
What she finds, though, is an ashram run by investment bankers, a yoga master who trashes her knee, and a guru with a weakness for fashion models. She escapes a tantra party at the Taj Hotel, has a nasty argument outside the cave where the Buddha used to meditate, then agonizes through the ten-day silent retreat that’s supposed to make her feel better.
No, India is not what she had pictured. But she finds a friend in Devi Das, a redheaded sadhu who refers to himself as “we.” And when a holy lunatic on the street offers her an enigmatic blessing, Amanda realizes a new life may be in store for her—just not the one she was expecting.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR-ANNE CUSHMAN:
As a writer and teacher of yoga and meditation, Anne Cushman explores the poignant intersection between the lofty ideals of spiritual practice and the gritty, comical, and heartbreaking details of ordinary life. She is a contributing editor to both Yoga Journal and Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and the coauthor of From Here to Nirvana, a seeker’s guide to spiritual India. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, theSan Francisco Chronicle, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Salon.com, and have been anthologized in Best Buddhist Writing 2004 and 2006, A Woman’s Path: Best Women’s Spiritual Travel Writing, Traveling Souls: Contemporary Pilgrimage Tales, and other books. She co-directs the Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California; and lives in nearby Fairfax with her son, Skye.
THE GIVEAWAY
I HAVE 3 COPIES TO GIVEAWAY
Thanks to Priya at Crown Books at Random House
RULES: --U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY --NO P.O. BOXES, PLEASE --ALL ENTRIES MUST BE IN SEPARATECOMMENTS IN ORDER TO COUNT --YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS MUST BE INYOUR COMMENT SO I CAN CONTACTYOU WHEN YOU WIN!!!
ENTRIES:
+1 ENTRY: COMMENT AND TELL ME WHAT YOU FIND INTERESTING IN THE DESCRIPTION THAT MAKES YOU WANT THIS BOOK +1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG ABOUT THIS CONTEST OR TWEET AND LEAVE A LINK IN YOUR COMMENT (THANK YOU IF YOU DO BOTH BUT ONLY ONE WILL COUNT TO BE FAIR TO ALL AS SOME DON'T HAVE BLOGS BUT THEY CAN TWEET) +1 MORE ENTRY:FOLLOW WITH MY GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT IN THE LEFT COLUMN OR TELL ME IF YOU ALREADY FOLLOW THERE--EVERYONE CAN DO THIS AND IT IS EASY (AM TRYING TO HIT 300 SOME DAY)
GOOD LUCK TO ALL BE SURE YOU ENTER BY6 PM, EST, JULY 18
THANK YOU TO ELENI, AT /-LA FEMME READERS-/ HERE IS WHAT ELENI SAID ABOUT THIS VERY KIND AND SPECIAL AWARD:
"I made the Humane Award in order to honor certain bloggers that I feel are kindhearted individuals. They regularly take part in my blog and always leave the sweetest comments. If it wasn't for them, my site would just be an ordinary book review blog. Their blogs are also amazing and are tastefully done on a daily basis. I thank them and look forward to our growing friendships through the blog world."
As a Recipient of this new award, it is my honor to nominate, as instructed, 10 bloggers who I think represent these attributes Bloggers who I have nominated:( Whoever has been nominated must now nominate 10 bloggers they feel deserves the Humane Award. )
Congratulations to you all and thank you for being so supportive and for having blogs that I look up to as well as that serve as great examples of what a good blog should be. I know you will pass them on to other deserving blogs as there are so many wonderful ones out there! Thank you again, friend Eleni!
ABOUT THE BOOK: 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. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Laurie Sandell is a contributing editor at Glamour, where she writes cover stories, features, and personal essays. She has also written for Esquire, GQ, New York and In Style, among others. In her twenties, she spent four years traveling around the world, having unsavory experiences she later justified as "material."
JULIE AND JULIA by Julie Powell
ABOUT THE BOOK: 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 newfound 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. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: After spending a long, long time working as a temp, Julie Powell now writes in her pajamas at her home in Queens, New York, and occasionally serves as a butcher's apprentice.
THANKS TO ANNA AND THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE 5 COPIES OF EACH BOOK TO GIVE AWAY!
IN YOUR COMMENTS, PLEASE TELL ME WHICH BOOK YOU WOULD LIKE TO WIN THE MOST...ONE LUCKY PERSON WILL WIN BOTH MEMOIRS SO ENTER BY JULY 18 AND BE SURE AND FOLLOW THE SIMPLE RULES!
RULES: --U.S. and CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY --NO P.O. BOXES, PLEASE --ALL ENTRIES MUST BE IN SEPARATE COMMENTS IN ORDER TO COUNT --YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS MUST BE IN YOUR COMMENT SO I CAN CONTACT YOU WHEN YOU WIN!!!
+1 ENTRY: COMMENT AND TELL WHICH OF THE TWO MEMOIRS YOU WANT +1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG ABOUT THIS CONTEST OR TWEET AND LEAVE A LINK IN YOUR COMMENT (THANK YOU IF YOU DO BOTH BUT ONLY ONE WILL COUNT TO BE FAIR TO ALL AS SOME DON'T HAVE BLOGS BUT THEY CAN TWEET) +1 MORE ENTRY: FOLLOW WITH MY GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT IN THE LEFT COLUMN OR TELL ME IF YOU ALREADY FOLLOW THERE--EVERYONE CAN DO THIS AND IT IS EASY (AM TRYING TO HIT 300 SOME DAY)
GOOD LUCK TO ALL BE SURE YOU ENTER BY 6 PM, EST, JULY 18
CLICK ON GRAD BEAR FOR A FREE ENTRY IN DADS & GRADS GIVEAWAY JUST PUT "BOOK BUDDY" IN YOUR COMMENT THERE TO COUNT
SECRETS TO HAPPINESS BLOG TOUR WINNERS
BY NOW, ALL ENTRANTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THE REAL DOG ON SARAH DUNN'S BOOK SECRETS TO HAPPINESS (but you-know-who wanted a few more chances at fame...sigh!)
AND SO, THANKS TO MIRIAM AND THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, AND TO ALL WHO ENTERED...
NOTE: WITH SO MANY STOPS ON THE TOUR, IF WINNERS HAVE ALREADY WON, I WILL HAVE TO DRAW NEW NAMES SO DON'T GIVE UP HOPE, YOU MAY STILL WIN EVEN IF YOU AREN'T LISTED BELOW... I HOPE ALL WHO ENTERED ON ONE OF THE TOUR STOPS WINS!
NOW MY WINNERS ARE:
#3 holdenj
#18 Scottsgal SORRY, NO REPLY NEW WINNER IS #4 Kristen
#17 JessicaLeigh
#39 nfmgirl
#8 rhapsodyinbooks
CONGRATULATIONS! ALL OF THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED BY EMAIL AND HAVE UNTIL NOON, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, TO REPLY WITH THEIR ADDRESSES OR NEW WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW OVER GET A FREE ENTRY TO DADS & GRADS GIVEAWAY CLICK ON "DAD" ABOVE AND COMMENT THERE JUST PUT "DAD" IN COMMENT
HOW TO SCORE by Robin Wells
MAKE POINTS THIS SUMMER WITH THIS GIVEAWAY!
ABOUT THE BOOK:
HER LIFE COACH
Museum curator Sammi Matthews isn't just in a dating slump, she's putting men on the injured list. After giving one date a black eye and cracking another's rib, Sammi decides she needs professional help. Enter life coach Luke Jones, who advises Sammi on how to overcome her klutziness. And their phone sessions work! Sammi soon meets a sexy FBI agent who seems to know just what she needs.
IS CHANGING HER LIFE
When his brother Luke goes into federal protection, FBI Special Agent Chase Jones agrees to cover for him. Then Sammi's hot voice sizzles down the line, and the usual "phone only" rule is out. With "Luke" coaching her by day, and Chase dating her by night, Sammi's confidence soars, along with her appeal. Chase falls hard, but how will Sammi feel if and when he comes clean? Chase would rather she break all his bones than risk breaking her heart.
IN WAYS SHE'S NEVER IMAGINED
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Before becoming a full-time writer, Robin Wells was an advertising and public-relations executive. Robin has won the RWA Golden Heart Award, two National Readers' Choice Awards, the Holt Medallion, and CRW's Award of Excellence. Robin currently lives just outside of New Orleans, Louisiana with her husband and two daughters. For more information please visit http://www.robinwells.com/
WANT TO WIN A COPY? Thanks to Anna and the Hachette Book Group, I have 5 copies to Giveaway of HOW TO SCORE
HERE IS ALL YOU HAVE TO DO!
FIRST, REMEMBER THE RULES
1)U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY 2)NO P.O. BOXES, PLEASE 3)YOU MUST PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT 4)ALL ENTRIES MUST BE IN SEPARATE COMMENTS TO COUNT!
+1 ENTRY: Tell me one thing you learned reading "ABOUT THE BOOK" or by watching the short video +1 MORE ENTRY: Go here and read the "5 FUN FACTS" about author Robin Wells and comment on one of them
CLICK ON GRAD BEAR
AND GET A FREE ENTRY
IN DADS & GRADS GIVEAWAY
JUST SAY "SWIMSUIT" IN
YOUR COMMENT
SWIMSUIT by James Patterson
& Maxine Paetro
A Review by BINGO
GIVEAWAY WINNERS TO FOLLOW
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro pair once more for a big summer splash called SWIMSUIT. Kim McDaniels is a gorgeous swimsuit model who is on a shoot in Hawaii when she suddenly turns up missing. Her parents rush to the islands after receiving a disturbing phone call that someone has their beloved daughter. Upon arriving in Hawaii and getting little to no information to satisfy them about how the authorities are looking for Kim, they are befriended by Ben Hawkins. Ben is a writer for the LA Times who was a cop at one time. He has been sent to Hawaii to cover the case of the missing, assumed kidnapped, model. Kim’s parents are so intent on finding her, that they aren’t careful when following leads and find themselves in the hands of the maniac who we find out really didn’t kidnap Kim, but rather murdered her.
It is when we meet the man of many faces, Henri Benoit, and realize he is a hired killer who works for a group known as The Alliance that the real twists and turns begin in this fast moving, typical page turning Patterson book. Benoit enjoys the work he does for an elite, while sick, group of people, for as he finds different ways of killing young women, he always videotapes it and sends it to The Alliance and is paid well in return. Benoit not only kills the woman, but after deciding on the next pick--always young, always attractive--he drugs them, or engages them to the point of trusting him, and then rapes them in a sick variety of ways. Here is where we see Patterson’s writing became a great deal more graphic than before, both in violence and at some times in gratuitous sex. However, it does tend to keep up the excitement and the story moving so it isn’t that inappropriate, just unusual for a James Patterson book.
Once Ben Hawkins leaves the islands, he thinks he has left the sick serial killer behind only to find it isn’t the end of things. The writers develop Ben Hawkins’ character very well as the reader will find themselves liking him and his girlfriend, Amanda. Hawkins is tough, but loving, and a character that you can believe could be real. When Ben and Amanda become targets of the serial killer, things really accelerate!
Several shocking things occur that make you ask yourself if you thought that was going to happen all along, or was it really a complete surprise? (and many things were a surprise to me)! At this point, we now have Benoit wanting immortality in some way as he captures Ben and threatens him, using Amanda of course, to get Ben to write his sick life story. Ben is cautious but almost finds himself intrigued in the sick revelations this killer tells and shows him. The writer in him, I believe, is almost convinced for a very brief time of what a good horror story this will all make.
However, when Ben realizes that Benoit has no intention of letting him and Amanda live once the story is finished, he takes on his old role of a cop and goes after the deranged killer. How the story twists and turns and culminates is exciting up to a point. However, this is where my only complaint, and, I think, it can be an important one, comes in. It is that I felt a little cheated by the authors. I felt like they ended the story much too quickly in a less than satisfying manner. It was almost as if the clock ran out of time to get things to the printer. I KNOW this could have been done better and it makes me wonder why it wasn’t. It also crossed my mind that some of what was left out may have been done so that Ben Hawkins might come back and become a new series for Patterson and Paetro. I think he is an interesting enough, engaging and likable character that just might join the ranks of Alex Cross and the Women’s Murder Club eventually. That remains to be seen. But all and all, I would recommend this book as it kept my attention and I wanted to, as always, read one more, short chapter, which would turn into ten, late into the night! SWIMSUIT is certainly a good summer beach book, and one that will make you glad that you are sipping a cool drink as you read it!
GIVEAWAY WINNERS
FOR
SWIMSUIT
THANKS TO MIRIAM AND THE
HACHETTE READING GROUP FOR
SPONSORING THIS GIVEAWAY
WINNERS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED
BY EMAIL AND HAVE UNTIL NOON,
SATURDAY, JUNE 27, TO SEND
THEIR ADDRESS OR A NEW WINNER
WILL BE CHOSEN
by STEPHANIE MEYER GIVEAWAY AND A TWILIGHT BONUS ENDS JULY 15
ABOUT THE BOOK: The author of the Twilight series of # 1 bestsellers delivers her brilliant first novel for adults: a gripping story of love and betrayal in a future with the fate of humanity at stake. Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves-Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stephenie Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English literature. After the publication of her debut novel, Twilight, booksellers chose her as one of the "most promising new authors of 2005" (Publishers Weekly). She lives with her husband and three young sons in Arizona
THANKS TO MIRIAM AND THE HATCHETTE BOOK GROUP FOR SPONSORING THIS GIVEAWAY
I HAVE 5 COPIES TO GIVE AWAY AND ONE LUCKY WINNER WILL ALSO RECEIVE A BRAND NEW COPY OF TWILIGHT FROM ME!
GIVEAWAY RULES --U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY --NO P.O. BOXES, PLEASE --EMAIL CONTACT MUST BE INCLUDED IN COMMENT SO I CAN FIND YOU --ALL ENTRIES MUST BE SEPARATE TO COUNT
+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ABOUT WHY YOU SHOULD GET THE BONUS OF A BRAND NEW COPY OF TWILIGHT
+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND LEAVE A LINK FOR ME TO FOLLOW
STAND THE STORM by Breena Clarke GIVEAWAY IS OVER WINNERS ANNOUNCED SOON! A NEW GIVEAWAY! ENTER BY JULY 15!
ABOUT THE BOOK: Even though former slaves Annie Coats and her son Gabriel have managed to buy their freedom, their lives are still marked by constant struggle and sacrifice--to the extent that Annie secretly recalls her days on the plantation with fondness. Washington's Georgetown neighborhood, where the Coatses are seeking to build their new lives--with Gabriel, a tailor, producing uniforms for soldiers and fine suits for pompous politicians, and Annie, a seamstress and laundress, catering to the nearby brothels and stately homes--is supposed to be a safe haven, a "promised land" for former slaves, but is effectively a frontier town, gritty and dangerous, with no laws protecting black people. In fact, the city's own emancipation efforts in 1862 serve only to compromise the Coats family's status, putting Gabriel's three young daughters (each of them born free of free parents) at risk of becoming the property of the Coatses' former master. The remarkable emotional energy with which the Coatses rise their daily battles--as they negotiate with their former owner, as they assist other former slaves en route to freedom, as they prepare for the encroaching war, and as they struggle to love each other enough--is what fuels this novel and makes its tragic denoument so devastating.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Breena Clarke grew up in Washington, DC, and was educated at Webster College and Howard University. Her one previous novel, RIVER, CROSS MY HEART, was a selection of Oprah's Book Club and became an international bestseller.
THANKS TO VALERIE AND THE
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP FOR SPONSORING THIS GIVEAWAY
DEADLINE TO ENTER: 6 PM, EST, FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2009
FIVE LUCKY PEOPLE WILL WIN! HERE'S HOW TO DO IT!
HERE ARE THE RULES!
---U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
---NO P.O. BOXES,PLEASE
---EMAIL ADDRESSMUSTBE WITH YOUR COMMENT
---ALL ENTRIESMUST BE SEPARATETO COUNT
+1 ENTRY: LEAVE A COMMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
+1 MORE ENTRY: FOLLOW OR TELL WHERE YOU ALREADY FOLLOW +2 MORE ENTRIES: BECOME A NEW FOLLOWER...VIA GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT IN THE LEFT HAND COLUMN OF THIS BLOG!
OR (please do only one +2 ENTRY ONLY)
+2 MORE ENTRIES: POST ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY ON YOUR BLOG--THIS IS FOR BLOGGERS ONLY THIS TIME
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! MY NAME IS WILL A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare by Jess Winfield A NEW GIVEAWAY! ENTER BY JULY 10!
ABOUT THE BOOK: A Tale of two Shakespeares... Struggling UC Santa Cruz grad student Willie Shakespeare Greenberg is trying to write his thesis about the Bard. Kind of... Cut off by his father for laziness, and desperate for dough, Willie agrees to deliver a single giant, psychedelic mushroom to a mysterious collector, making himself an unwitting target in Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs. Meanwhile, would-be playwright (and oppressed Catholic) William Shakespeare is eighteen years old and stuck teaching Latin in the boondocks of Stratford-upon-Avon. The future Bard's life is turned upside down when a stranger entrusts him with a sacred relic from Rome... This, at a time when adherents of the "Old Faith" are being hanged, drawn, and quartered as traitors. Seemingly separated in time and place, the lives of Willie and William begin to intersect in curious ways, from harrowing encounters with the law (and a few ex-girlfriends) to dubious experiments with mind-altering substances. Their misadventures could be dismissed as youthful folly. But wise or foolish, the bold choices they make will shape not only the 'Shakespeare' each is destined to come... but the very course of history itself.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: As a founding member of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, Jess Winfield co-created the full-length show The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1987 and became an international sensation, leading to multiple world tours and engagements. After leaving the RSC, Winfield spent ten years writing and producing award-winning cartoons for the Walt Disney Company. He left Disney to write this, his first novel. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife.
THANKS TO VALERIE AND THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP FOR SPONSORING THIS GIVEAWAY
DEADLINE TO ENTER: 6 PM, EST, FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2009
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Now I think I shall take some time this weekend to rest and then get back to my chores. Company coming soon, house to clean...but it can wait a little bit.
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