Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. What books came into your home last week?

Minotaur Books, in their latest "Beast in a Jiffy" mailing, sent me two new ARC's, both from authors I've never read. The first book is by Paul Dorion. I know you're saying, "Paul who?" But don't worry, the fine folks at Minotaur know that none of us have heard of him, and remind us that before The King of Lies, none of us had heard of John Hart either! The other book is by Nancy Martin, in a brand new start of a fun new series.

The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron

Game Warden Mike Bowditch returns home one evening to find a cryptic message on his answering machine from his father, Jack, who he hasn't heard from in two years. The next morning Mike gets a call from the police: a beloved local cop has been killed and his father is their prime suspect. Coming to terms with his haunted past and desperate for answers, Mike and a retired warden pilot journey deep into the Maine wilderness to clear his father's name and find out why Jack is on the run. But the only way for Mike to save his father is to find the real killer before the killer finds him.

Sounds like a good one, doesn't it?


Our Lady of Immaculate Deception by Nancy Martin

Roxy Abruzzo, the grandniece of a Pittsburgh Mafia boss, is trying to go straight--so she can focus on her architectural-salvage business that, for the most part, she runs on the up and up. But old habits die hard, and Roxy's sticky fingers set off a chain reaction of murder and mayhem...with Roxy right in the middle.


I love the title of this book, it looks like its got lots of potential to be my next "Stephanie Plum" type series. I love mysteries with a sense of humor!

Thanks again to Andrew at Minotaur Books for these great mailbox surprises!!

Check out other mailboxes HERE, maybe you'll find your next favorite book!

Friday Finds!

Thanks to MizB for hosting this fun Friday meme!


I was so excited this week to discover that one of my all time favorite authors, James Rollins has a brand spankin' new book coming out in December. This is on the heels of another new book that just came out in June! How does this writer do it?? I have his June book, The Doomsday Key on deck to read next and can't wait to get to it. The Doomsday Key is part of Rollin's Sigma series, and they're all great.

His newest book, the one coming out in December is called Altar of Eden.

From the novel's jacket notes:

From "New York Times"-bestselling author Rollins comes his first stand-alone novel in more than five years. "Altar of Eden" combines the author's trademark elements of science, history, and breakneck suspense in a streamlined narrative.

I can't seem to find much about this book yet, and I really don't care! Because I've gotta tell you, any James Rollins novel is bound to be terrific, and as much as I love his series, his "stand-alones" are even better. Amazonia, Deep Fathom, Subterranean, Ice Hunt and Excavation were all just great and I can't wait to read Altar of Eden!

For a really interesting little peak into the thoughts of James Rollins, take a gander at this video:



WoooHooo!! Can't wait to finally read The Doomsday Key and really can't wait for Altar of Eden...

*Doin' the Snoopy dance......I'm a happy happy reader.....more dancing......*grin...

And check out other Friday Finds here!

Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. What books came into your home last week?

Mistress of the Game by Tilly Bagshawe

The spellbinding sequel to Sidney Sheldon's Master of the Game. One of most glamorous and suspenseful tales ever told! It began with Jamie MacGregor, stealing diamonds in Africa. It continued with his daughter, the powerful Kate Blackwell who grew her father's company into a world wide conglomerate, Now the story passes to the next generation. Spanning the decades and picking--up exactly where Sidney Sheldon's bestselling Master of the Game finished, Mistress of the Game follows the Blackwell family as they, Love, and lose, scheme and murder through the 80's up until the present day.



Evidence of Murder by Lisa Black

Forensic investigator Theresa MacLean takes on the worst kind of murder case - one without clues - in this second novel in a hot new series from Lisa Black

Eight months ago, forensic investigator Theresa MacLean lost her fiancÉ in a bank robbery gone wrong, and she's had trouble concentrating on her work ever since. But now a particularly difficult case may just be what she needs to regain her focus by demanding all her skill, intelligence, and attention.

Jillian Perry has been found dead in the woods, leaving behind a husband of three weeks and a young daughter. The police can't determine how she died - her body shows no visible marks, and the autopsy reveals nothing suspicious - and the leading theory is that she purposely wandered into the forest and succumbed to the freezing weather. But something doesn't feel right to Theresa, and she can't let it go.

To complicate matters, a former boyfriend of Jillian's unexpectedly petitions for custody of the daughter. Obsessed with Jillian, he also suspects foul play in Jillian's death, and now he and Theresa believe Jillian's daughter may be in danger of meeting a similar fate. With a child's life at stake, Theresa must search for evidence of murder - evidence that doesn't seem to exist - before it's too late.

Thanks go out to Shawn Nicholls at Harper Collins books for breaking my drought!! It was nice to see something besides bills and junk mail in the mailbox this week.

Check out other mailboxes HERE, maybe you'll find your next favorite book!

Friday Finds!

Thanks to MizB for hosting this fun Friday meme!

Oh my gosh...I'm doing the Snoopy Happy Dance...lookie--lookie--see what I found??! Pirate Latitudes by...(yes, I mean it...) MICHAEL CRICHTON!!!! Whoopie!!!

From Wikipedia

According to Jonathan Burnham, a publisher of an imprint of HarperCollins, the book was written concurrently with Crichton's most recent novel, Next. The novel stars a pirate named Hunter who, together with the governor of Jamaica, plots to raid a Spanish galleon for its treasure. Burnham goes on to say that it is "thoroughly researched...packed through with great detail about navigation and how pirates operated, and links between the New World and the Caribbean and Spain.”[1]

The novel was discovered on one of Crichton's computers by his assistant after the author's death, along with another unfinished novel slated to be published in the fall of 2010.[1]

Synopsis: The Caribbean, 1665. A remote colony of the English crown, the island of Jamaica holds out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Devoid of London’s luxuries, Port Royal, its capital, is a cutthroat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses. In this steamy climate, life can end swiftly by dysentery—or dagger. But for a daring soul like Captain Edward Hunter, this wild outpost in the New World can also lead to great fortune, if he abides by the island’s code. In the name of His Majesty King Charles II of England, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking and the law of the land rests with those ruthless enough to make it.

Word in port is that the Spanish galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is awaiting repairs in nearby Matanceros. Heavily fortified, the impregnable Spanish harbor is guarded by the bloodthirsty Cazalla, a favorite commander of King Philip IV. With the Jamaican governor’s backing, Hunter assembles a crew of ruffians to infiltrate the enemy island and commandeer the galleon and its fortune in Spanish gold. The raid is as perilous as the bloodiest tales of Matanceros legend, and Hunter will lose more than one man before he makes it onto the island’s shores, where dense jungle and the firepower of Spanish infantry stand between him and the treasure.

With the help of his cunning band, Hunter hijacks El Trinidad and escapes the deadly clutches of Cazalla, leaving plenty of carnage in his wake. But the danger—and adventure—are only just beginning. . .

I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to discover that Michael Crichton, one of the most brilliant writers from our time left us with a couple of books when he passed away.

Crichton died in November of 2008, leaving behind a body of work, thought and speeches that are simply unbelievable. His testimony before the U.S. Senate in 2005 arguing for independent verification of research used for public policy, was genius. (You can see the text of his testimony here.) And while you're on the website, you should read some of his speeches and essays. He was masterful, and I can't wait to read his final works.

Okay..I know..I'm gushing, but when I think back to novels that were almost prescient in their plotting, I think of Michael Crichton. If you're only familiar with the work through Hollywood's interpretation of them...please read his books. Hollywood, has, as usual, totally bolloxed them. In fact, read State of Fear, it's really pertinent to our time.

I came across this video on YouTube, a ten minute film of Crichton's "Unpopular Truth", where he discusses his reluctance to accept some of today's pop science conclusions. The last thirty seconds pretty much say it all!



He was a fascinating man, the world is a lesser place without him.

And check out other Friday Finds here!

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. What books came into your home last week?

A Big Little Life by Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz thought he had everything he needed. A novelist for nearly forty years, with more than twenty #1 New York Times bestsellers to his credit , his career was thriving. He had been married to his high school sweetheart, Gerda, since the age of twenty, and together they had forged a happy life for themselves in their Southern California home. It was the picture of peace and contentment. Then along came Trixie. Dean had been researching his novel Midnight - a book which includes a service dog named Moose - when he came across Canine Companions for Independence. Never having had a pet, the last thing he was looking to do was adopt a dog...but that's what happened a few years later when a beautiful golden retriever named Trixie was retired from CCI service because of an elbow injury - and that put her in need of a home of her own. Once in Dean and Gerda's home, Trixie very quickly found a way into their hearts. A Big Little Life tells the story of unexpectedly falling in love with a dog in middle age. It details Trixie's life with Dean and Gerda, the tremendous impact she had on them, and the things she taught them along the way. A lively and joyful read, it presents Trixie in all her complicated glory - her smarts, her lack of vanity, and her uncanny knack for living in the present. A powerful tribute to a beautiful friend, A Big Little Life will remind readers everywhere that the love of our canine best friends is a love that lasts more than a lifetime.

Okay...I'll 'fess up. The book is in my mailbox, only because I put it there for the picture. I just couldn't stand the idea of another...

zip...
zilch....
nada.....

week, so after I tottered off to the bookstore and bought myself a copy of A Big Little Life, (like I said I was going to), I put the book in my lonely little mailbox. My mailbox thanked me and then I started the book. It's great by the way...review to follow soon.

*sigh...

no books for me....(except what I bought myself)

*sigh...*singing...I'm lonely...oh so lonely.....*sigh....

Ignore my angst and sorrow...go check out other mailboxes HERE, maybe you'll find your next favorite book! *Sigh...sniffle....

Friday Finds!

Thanks to MizB for hosting this fun Friday meme!

This weeks find is Chelsea Cain's newest novel, which goes on sale next Tuesday, Sept. 1, Evil at Heart. I finished the book a couple of nights ago, you can see my review on Sunday. It's absolutely the ultimate in suspense thriller awesomeness. To tide you over...here's a trailer from Youtube for the book.



If they ever make a movie out of this, I'm not going to see it. The book trailer freaked me out enough! (I'm terribly inconsistent, I don't have any problem with scary as heck books, but hate scary movies....go figure..)

And check out other Friday Finds here!

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. What books came into your home last week?

To answer my own question:

El huevo de ganso grande

Le grand oeuf d'oie

Il grande uovo di oca

in any language, otherwise known as.....

The Big Goose Egg

Yup, zip, zilch, nada, nothin'....

*sigh

And although I'm really sorta bummed, its just sorta. I'm almost secretly relieved. The stacks are building up a bit around here and it doesn't hurt to have a quiet catch up week every now and then! (At least that's what I keep telling myself!)

*sigh

Ignore my wee little moment of angst and go check out other mailboxes HERE, maybe you'll find your next favorite book!

Friday Finds!

Thanks to MizB for hosting this fun Friday meme!

On August 25th, Dean Koontz's memoir of Trixie goes on sale, and I'm not going to order it. (That would be because I want to get it that day, I don't want to wait. If you work at my local bookstore, please, be kind and open early that day. Or I'll be standing out there, in the blazing August sun, melting before your eyes waiting...like the old Mervyn's ad, tapping the door and chanting..."Open, open, open...".

Why am I going to do this? Maybe the reasons are best summed up by a newsletter I received in the mail yesterday.

From "Useless News....but you're on our mailing list, and there's nowhere to hide."

7 Reasons Why A Big Little Life Should Be Your August Reading Experience.

1) If you buy A BIG LITTLE LIFE, your dog will love you. Of course, your dog will love you even if you don't buy A BIG LITTLE LIFE, but wouldn't it feel nice to have done something to earn that love?

2) You may be able to get the federal government to pay for this good book as part of their Cash for Clunker Books program. You send the government any seven books that you purchased but found too boring to read, and the government will give you bookstore credit worth $200,000, which you can spend to buy A BIG LITTLE LIFE and other books that are not only fun to read but also make you feel good. A nice extra of this program is that if the bookstore also sells coffee, you are allowed to spend 10% of that $200,000 on cappuccino, though you are required to use a zero-calorie sweetener and recycle your paper cup as a hat.

3) When everyone else if talking about A BIG LITTLE LIFE and you have nothing to talk about except Larry the Cable Guy's most recent fart joke, you will be embarrassed.

4) Evil extraterrestrial bodysnatchers born out of seed pods lack the sense of humor and compassion to be interested in a book like A LITTLE BIG LIFE. So are you human or not? Hmmmmm? Would you give us a blood sample and a snip of brain tissue? Would you submit to exploratory surgery to determine if you are as human inside as out? If no, why not?

5) In 1558, Nostradamus, the famous French astrologer and eerily accurate predictor of the future, wrote this: "And in those days of the new millennium, if A BIG LITTLE LIFE fails to become a #1 bestseller, the world will end in a stupendously horrible fashion that, were I to describe it, would cause my bowels to dissolve with terror." Cone on, folks, let's save the world.

6) Dogs guard the gate to Heaven and review the lives of those arriving, with special emphasis on bookstore purchases. Sit in a room alone for a while and think about that.

7) The respected review service, Booklist, says of A BIG LITTLE LIFE in a starred review: "This story is, or course, another memoir of a beloved pooch, but far from just another. Besides quite regularly manifesting her extraordinariness, Trixie made Koontz ponder the nature of intelligence, interspecies communication, sympathy, intuition, love and the loyalty it engenders, and other species' degree of consciousness, including the knowledge of personal death. Koontz leavens his musings on such weighty themes with plenty of self-deprecating humor and Trixie's comic elan to make this one dog book that everyone other than the most flint-hearted dog haters will deeply enjoy."

What can I add to that? I'm not willing to risk the future immolation of our world...are you?

All "required and necessary" reading will be put aside for a few days next week. I'm clearing my schedule for A BIG LITTLE LIFE.

What great books did you discover this past week? Share your FRIDAY FINDS with us! And check out other Friday Finds here!

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. Check it out, and see what other readers are finding in their mailboxes! I had another terrific week! What books came into your home last week?

The Spire by Richard North Patterson

Both a razor-sharp thriller and a poignant love story, this twisting tale of psychological suspense is Patterson’s most compelling novel in yearsMark Darrow grew up in a small Ohio town with no real advantages beyond his intelligence and athletic ability. But thanks to the intervention of Lionel Farr—a professor at Caldwell, the local college—Darrow became an excellent student and, later, a superb trial lawyer. Now Farr asks his still-youthful protégé for a life-altering favor. An embezzlement scandal has threatened Caldwell’s very existence—would Darrow consider becoming its new president?Darrow accepts, but returning to his alma mater opens old wounds.

I received this one from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. It looks like a good one!

The Atlantis Revelation by Thomas Greanias

From the New York Times bestselling author of Raising Atlantis and The Atlantis Prophecy comes an explosive new international thriller jam-packed with political and prophetic intrigue. Beneath the city of God, A centuries-old secret awaits. And every power on earth wants it. The adventure begins with the wreckage of a sunken Nazi submarine and a shocking legacy of Hitler's quest for Atlantis. Archaeologist Conrad Yeats discovers in the ruins of the Third Reich the key to an ancient conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of every major government. Suddenly Yeats is plunged into a deadly race across the Mediterranean, hunted by the assassins of an international organization that will stop at nothing to ignite global Armageddon and revive an empire. And only Serena Serghetti, the beautiful Vatican linguist he loved and lost, can help him save the world from the Atlantis Revelation.

Thanks go to David Brown for sending this book on to me! I'm really looking forward to reading it!

The Promised World by Lisa Tucker

Brilliant but mercurial Billy Cole, estranged from his wife, Ashley, commits suicide after losing visitation rights to his children. After Billy's death, his fragile twin, Lila, immediately begins to break down, recalling bizarre incidents and feeling overwhelmed by dread. Once her husband, Patrick, who always prized reason over emotion, hears from Ashley that the twins lied about their parents being dead, he connects with Lila's mother, Barbara, and gets a very different picture of the twins' past. By rotating points of view between Lila, Patrick, Billy and Ashley, Tucker fleshes out the story, leaving readers understanding how both guileless and malevolent actions can be misconstrued.


A big thank you to Esther Bochner of Simon and Schuster. I'm a big fan of Lisa Tucker and can't wait to read this one!

The Diary by Eileen Goudge

When the two grown daughters of Elizabeth Marshall discover an old diary of their mother's in her attic, it comes as a shock to learn that the true love of Elizabeth's life was not their father. This is the mystery the two daughters must unravel as they stay up late reading the words penned by Elizabeth so long ago. Their mother can't give them the answers: After a massive stroke, she lies mute and near death in a nursing home. Only the pages of her diary can provide clues to what really happened.

Thanks to TJ Dietderich of Planned TV Arts for this book. It looks to be a really great read!

Check out other mailboxes HERE, maybe you'll find your next favorite book!

Mailbox Monday

I've been doing the Snoopy Happy Dance all week long! Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. Check it out, and see what other readers are finding in their mailboxes! What books came into your home last week?

Hell's Gate by Stephen Frey

From "New York Times"-bestselling author Frey comes a riveting new thriller about a world-weary star litigator who goes west to become a firefighter in the nation's greatest woodland--and stumbles across the toughest case of his career. (See more below in my Friday Finds post!)

David Brown of Simon and Schuster gets a big shout out and THANK YOU for sending this book to me! It's next on the teetering tower o'TBR books!

The Siege by Stephen White

Sam Purdy takes center stage in a story that feels ripped from tomorrow’s headlines. From the first page on, readers need to be buckled in for a nonstop ride full of terror and pathos. As a lovely weekend approaches on the Yale campus it appears that a number of students—including the sons of both the Secretary of the Army and newest Supreme Court justice—may have gone missing. Kidnapping? Terrorism? The authorities aren’t sure. But the high-profile disappearances draw the attention of the CIA and the FBI’s vaunted Hostage Rescue Team. Attention quickly focuses on the fortress-like tomb of one of Yale’s secret societies. Suspended Boulder police detective Sam Purdy soon finds himself in New Haven, where he is quickly snared by an unlikely pair of Feds: FBI agent Christopher Poe and CIA analyst Deirdre Drake. Sam, Poe, and Dee join together, desperately trying to solve the riddle of what is going on inside the windowless stone tomb on the edge of campus. The clock is pounding in their ears. The unknown enemy is playing by no known rules . . . is making no demands . . . is refusing to communicate with the hostage negotiator . . . is somehow anticipating every FBI move . . . is completely unconcerned about getting away . . . And . . . is sending students, one by one, out of the building’s front door to die.

Thanks go out to the wonderful Jamie McDonald,a publicist at Dutton, Penguin!

I Can See You by Karen Rose

The victim of a horrendous attack in "Don't Tell," Evie Wilson retreats into the virtual realm to seek refuge from the public's eye. When homicide detective Noah Webster seeks Evie's technological expertise to help solve a murder, they don't realize the killer is closer than they think.

Thanks to Miriam at Hachette Books! I'm looking forward to reading this book. Karen Rose is a new author to me, and it sounds great!!

Dark Time: Mortal Path by Dakota Banks

It's been 300 years since Maliha Crayne sold her soul to a demon and became its assassin. Now she wants her soul back. A haunted killer with the blood of countless victims on her hands, Maliha has finally discovered a way to nullify the demonic pact that chains her.

Thanks go out to TJ Dietderich of Planned Television Arts for this book. I love series and I think this one looks particularly interesting!

Check out other mailboxes HERE, maybe you'll find your next favorite book!

Friday Finds!

Thanks to MizB for hosting this fun Friday meme!

Stephen Frey has a new book coming out soon! Hell's Gate hits the shelves on August 18th!

From Fantastic Fiction:

It's fire season in Montana...

From New York Times bestselling author Stephen Frey comes a riveting new thriller about a disillusioned star litigator who goes west to forge a new life in Big Sky Country -- and stumbles onto the toughest case of his career.

When thirty-five-year-old lawyer Hunter Lee decides to turn his back on the New York City rat race that has made him rich but cost him his marriage, he takes his brother's advice and sets out to build a new life in the beautiful but isolated town of Fort Mason, Montana. However, escape is hardly what he finds there.

Hunter befriends Paul Brule, a Fire Jumper -- one of an elite corps of firefighters who parachute into remote wilderness areas to put out blazes before they become infernos -- and gets a terrifying firsthand look at the reality of vast tracts of forest being reduced to ash in seconds by hundred-foot walls of flame. In this tiny town where everyone seems to have a secret, Hunter comes to suspect that this particular rash of summer fires is anything but accidental and could, in fact, be serving a more sinister purpose.

As Hunter follows his instincts, Montana becomes a crucible where good and evil collide -- and where one man, running from his past, takes on the burden of exposing the guilty while saving himself and those he cares about most from the greatest danger they have ever faced.

I'll admit the reference to "Big Sky Country" is what caught my eye. You just can't live in Montana's Big Sky Country for thirty years and not be a sucker for Montana based stories. It also helps that I lived within 50 miles of the Smokejumpers base, (we called them smokejumpers, not fire jumpers) and I actually know where Hell Gate is. It was the Hell Gate Treaty is what started the Salish Kootenai Reservation where I was born and lived for thirty years. I'm really looking forward to reading this one! (And just an FYI, I always sort of thought those smokejumpers were a wee bit crazy. Ballsy, yes, but just this side o' looney....)

What great books did you discover this past week? Share your FRIDAY FINDS with us! And check out other Friday Finds here!

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. Check it out, and see what other readers are finding in their mailboxes! What books came into your home last week? I had a spectacular mailbox week!!

Intervention by Robin Cook

It's been more than thirty years since New York City medical examiner Jack Stapleton's college graduation and almost as long since he'd been in touch with former classmates Shawn Doherty and Kevin Murray. Once a highly regarded ophthalmologist, Jack's career took a dramatic turn after a tragic accident that destroyed his family. But that, too, is very much in the past: Jack has remarried - to longtime colleague and fellow medical examiner Laurie Montgomery - and is the father of a young child. But his renegade, activist personality can't rest, and after performing a postmortem on a young college student who had recently been treated by a chiropractor, Jack decides to explore alternative medicine. What makes some people step outside the medical establishment to seek care from practitioners of Eastern philosophies and even faith healers?

Jack's classmate Shawn Doherty is now a renowned archeologist and biblical scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose taste for good wine and generally deteriorating health are taking a toll on his career. He has recently obtained permission for a final dig beneath Saint Peter's, and despite his long-standing grudge against the Catholic Church, begins his research - which eventually takes him to Jerusalem and Venice - only to make a startling discovery with ecclesiastical and medical implications. And when Kevin Murray, now Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, gets wind of Shawn's findings, he's desperate to keep them from the public. Kevin has strong political ambitions within the Church, but his association with Shawn threatens to undermine them. Kevin turns to his old friend Jack to help protect an explosive secret - one with the power to change lives forever.

I am so excited about Intervention!! This is me...doin' the Snoopy Dance!! A huge thank you goes out to Putnam!

After by Amy Efaw

An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .

Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made—Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.

This looked really interesting to me, I can't wait to get into it!

Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

After his surprisingly glorious honeymoon in Paris, life is almost normal for Dexter Morgan. Married life seems to agree with him: he’s devoted to his bride, his stomach is full, and his homicidal hobbies are nicely under control. But old habits die hard—and Dexter’s work as a blood spatter analyst never fails to offer new temptations that appeal to his offbeat sense of justice…and his Dark Passenger still waits to hunt with him in the moonlight.

The discovery of a corpse (artfully displayed as a sunbather relaxing on a Miami beach chair) naturally piques Dexter’s curiosity and Miami’s finest realize they’ve got a terrifying new serial killer on the loose. And Dexter, of course, is back in business.

I'm a big Dexter fan! I can't wait to read this one! Thanks to those wonderful folks over at Doubleday!! (Yep, more Snoopy Dancing...)

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along.

With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

I have high hopes for this one! I'm hoping that I'll find a book that my Twilight loving kid and I can agree on! (i.e. less dopey and fluffy than Twilight...don't yell at me..but really...vampires that "sparkle???")

a Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi

The sleepy town of Newbie, 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.

My kind of book! I'm looking forward to it!

Check out other mailboxes HERE, maybe you'll find your next favorite book!

Friday Finds!

Thanks to MizB for hosting this fun Friday meme!

How in the heck did I miss this??? Lisa Gardner wrote another book...and I didn't know it....arrrrggggghhhh!! Where was I???? I am NOT a happy camper and I have got to get this book. Gardners last book, Say Goodbye, was way past complete and total AWESOME-ness!

This is what happened in the last six hours of the world as I knew it...It was a case guaranteed to spark a media feeding frenzy - a young mother, blonde and pretty, disappears without trace from her South Boston home, leaving behind her four-year-old daughter as the only witness, and her handsome, secretive husband as the prime suspect. But from the moment Detective Sergeant D. D. Warren arrives at the Joneses' snug little bungalow, she senses something off about the picture of wholesome normality the couple worked so hard to create. On the surface, Jason and Sandra Jones are like any other hardworking young couple raising a child. But just under the surface things grow murkier. With the clock ticking on the life of a missing woman and the media firestorm building, Jason Jones seems more intent on destroying evidence and isolating his daughter than on searching for his "beloved" wife. Is the perfect husband trying to hide his guilt - or just trying to hide? And will the only witness to the crime be the killer's next victim?

I HAVE to get this book!!

What great books did you discover this past week? Share your FRIDAY FINDS with us! And check out other Friday Finds here!

Friday Finds!

Thanks to MizB for hosting this fun Friday meme!

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!! There's another Dexter book coming out on September 8th! I know that Dexter is popular now, I mean...he's got his own TV show! But I've been reading the series since its inception and I'm thrilled that there's another one on the way. Creepy, macabre and TOTALLY AWESOME!! But I haven't watched the show....I don't ever seem to have the time)

Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay
Being a blood spatter analyst who hates the sight of blood has always made Dexter's work for the Miami PD tough. But it means he's very neat when it comes to his out-of-hours hobby: murder. Of course, the fact Dexter only kills bad people helps too. Now Dex is facing a disturbing situation. He's used to blood at work, and blood when he's out with the dark passenger (the voice that guides him on his deadly outings). But he's not sure what to make of the man who says blood is art.

Using bodies as his canvas, someone is out there expressing themselves in the most lethal and painful of ways. If Dexter's to escape the scalpel and avoid becoming the latest exhibit, he needs somewhere to run...and he might just have found the perfect place. With his wedding looming, completing his nice-guy disguise, Dexter's honeymoon might just save his skin. From the most original voice in crime fiction, DEXTER BY DESIGN is an enthralling, macabre and gruesomely entertaining thriller.

*edited Because a couple folks asked, there are three other Dexter books,
Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Dearly Devoted Dexter
Dexter in the Dark and now the new one
Dexter by Design.

and yup...I'd read them in order, but that might be because I'm sort of compulsive that way. You'd probably be able to pick any one of them up and know what's up.

What great books did you discover this past week? Share your FRIDAY FINDS with us! And check out other Friday Finds here!

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. Check it out, and see what other readers are finding in their mailboxes! What books came into your home last week?


The Lace Makers of GlenMara by Heather Barbieri.
You can always start again," Kate Robinson's mother once told her, "all it takes is a new thread." Overwhelmed by heartbreak and loss, the struggling twenty-six-year-old fashion designer follows her mother's advice and flees to her ancestral homeland of Ireland, hoping to break free of old patterns and reinvent herself.

She arrives on the west coast, in the seaside hamlet of Glenmara. In this charming, fading Gaelic village, Kate quickly develops a bond with members of the local lace-making society: Bernie, alone and yearning for a new purpose since the death of her beloved husband, John; Aileen, plagued by doubt, helplessly watching her teenage daughter grow distant; Moira, caught in a cycle of abuse and denial, stubbornly refusing help from those closest to her; Oona, in remission from breast cancer, secretly harboring misgivings about her marriage; Colleen, the leader of the group, worried about her fisherman husband, missing at sea. And outside this newfound circle is local artist Sullivan Deane, an enigmatic man trying to overcome a tragedy of his own.


I was so happy to receive this book from Harper Collins, I've heard great things about it!!

South of Broad by Pat Conroy
Against the sumptuous backdrop of Charleston, South Carolina, South of Broad gathers a unique cast of sinners and saints. Leopold Bloom King, our narrator, is the son of an amiable, loving father who teaches science at the local high school. His mother, an ex-nun, is the high school principal and a well-known Joyce scholar. After Leo's older brother commits suicide at the age of thirteen, the family struggles with the shattering effects of his death, and Leo, lonely and isolated, searches for something to sustain him. Eventually, he finds his answer when he becomes part of a tightly knit group of high school seniors that includes friends Sheba and Trevor Poe, glamorous twins with an alcoholic mother and a prison-escapee father; hardscrabble mountain runaways Niles and Starla Whitehead; socialite Molly Huger and her boyfriend, Chadworth Rutledge X; and an ever-widening circle whose liaisons will ripple across two decades-from 1960s counterculture through the dawn of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.

The ties among them endure for years, surviving marriages happy and troubled, unrequited loves and unspoken longings, hard-won successes and devastating breakdowns, and Charleston's dark legacy of racism and class divisions. But the final test of friendship that brings them to San Francisco is something no one is prepared for South of Broad is Pat Conroy at his finest; a long-awaited work from a great American writer whose passion for life and language knows no bounds. .

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I've never read a book by Pat Conroy before..I can't wait to read this one!

Blue Heaven by C.J. Box
A twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother go on the run in the woods of North Idaho, pursued by four men they have just watched commit murder---four men who know exactly who William and Annie are, and who know exactly where their desperate mother is waiting for news of her children's fate. Retired cops from Los Angeles, the killers easily persuade the inexperienced sheriff to let them lead the search for the missing children.

William and Annie's unexpected savior comes in the form of an old-school rancher teetering on the brink of foreclosure. But as one man against four who will stop at nothing to silence their witnesses, Jess Rawlins needs allies, and he knows that one word to the wrong person could seal the fate of the children or their mother. In a town where most of the ranches like his have turned into acres of ranchettes populated by strangers, finding someone to trust won't be easy.

CJ Box is yet another author whose work I'm not familar with. The plot of this book grabs me and I'm really looking forward to reading it!

Friday Finds!

I've enjoyed everyone else's Friday Finds for a while now, and darn it...its time to join this meme!

Thanks to MizB for hosting this fun Friday meme!

I actually read about my find a few weeks ago, but I'm still super excited to read it. My favorite, Dean Koontz has a new book coming out in November, Breathless. I can't wait to get my paws on it!

From Amazon:
Grady Adams lives a simple, solitary life deep in the Colorado mountains. Here the thirty-five-year-old carpenter works out of a converted barn, crafting exquisite one-of-a-kind furniture. There’s little about this strong yet gentle man to suggest the experiences that have alienated him from the contemporary world. But that is about to change.

One day, while hiking, Grady spots a pair of stunningly beautiful furred animals unlike anything he’s ever seen. They flee the instant they detect his presence, but the mystery of that brief encounter remains. In the days ahead, Grady will approach the creatures again, gaining their trust but coming no closer to solving their mystery. For this he enlists the help of an old friend, veterinarian Camellia “Cammy” Rivers, who, in turn, is stunned—and enchanted—by Grady’s new “pets.” But while Grady and Cammy carefully observe these enigmatic animals for clues to their origin, they, too, are being watched.

Soon Grady’s home and hundreds of square miles of surrounding wilderness will be placed under quarantine by Homeland Security. And Grady, Cammy, and the two creatures they’ve come to feel they must protect at all costs find themselves virtual prisoners—and the unwilling focus of an army of biologists, naturalists, and research scientists. But it’s a stunning event no one could have foreseen that convinces Grady and Cammy to do the unthinkable: to escape with the two creatures on a riveting race for freedom

What great books did you discover this past week? Share your FRIDAY FINDS with us! And check out other Friday Finds here!

Mailbox Monday

I've been absent from this meme for far too long, and have missed sharing the books that come into my home. This week I had a couple of books show up, but my stacks of books all around the house have been growing so quickly, I should go back and list everything I haven't listed from the weeks I was absent, but I'm also a bit lazy and just don't want to round them all up for a photo shoot.

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. Check it out, and see what other readers are finding in their mailboxes! What books came into your home last week?



The Rapture by Liz Jensen

It is a June unlike any other before, with temperatures soaring to asphyxiating heights. All across the world, freak weather patterns—and the life-shattering catastrophes they entail—have become the norm. The twenty-first century has entered a new phase.

But Gabrielle Fox’s main concern is a personal one: to rebuild her life after a devastating car accident that has left her disconnected from the world, a prisoner of her own guilt and grief. Determined to make a fresh start, and shake off memories of her wrecked past, she leaves London for a temporary posting as an art therapist at Oxsmith Adolescent Secure Psychiatric Hospital, home to one hundred of the most dangerous children in the country. Among them: the teenage killer Bethany Krall.

Despite two years of therapy, Bethany is in no way rehabilitated and remains militantly nonchalant about the bloody, brutal death she inflicted on her mother. Raised in evangelistic hellfire, the teenager is violent, caustic, unruly, and cruelly intuitive. She is also insistent that her electroshock treatments enable her to foresee natural disasters—a claim which Gabrielle interprets as a symptom of doomsday delusion.

But as Gabrielle delves further into Bethany’s psyche, she begins to note alarming parallels between her patient’s paranoid disaster fantasies and actual incidents of geological and meteorological upheaval—coincidences her professionalism tells her to ignore but that her heart cannot. When a brilliant physicist enters the equation, the disruptive tension mounts—and the stakes multiply. Is the self-proclaimed Nostradamus of the psych ward the ultimate manipulator or a harbinger of global disaster on a scale never seen before? Where does science end and faith begin? And what can love mean in “interesting times”?

With gothic intensity, Liz Jensen conjures the increasingly unnerving relationship between the traumatized therapist and her fascinating, deeply calculating patient. As Bethany’s warnings continue to prove accurate beyond fluke and she begins to offer scientifically precise hints of a final, world-altering cataclysm, Gabrielle is confronted with a series of devastating choices in a world in which belief has become as precious - and as murderous—as life itself.



Sacrifice by S.J. Bolton

After sending an email to Ms. Bolton and thanking her for the opportunity to read her second novel, Awakening, she was kind enough to send me a signed copy of her first novel, Sacrifice. I can't wait to dig into it!

In this masterful debut that starts off as a mystery and becomes much more, Tora Hamilton is an outsider at her new home on the rocky, windswept Shetland Islands, a hundred miles from the northeastern tip of Scotland. Though her husband grew up here, it’s the first time he’s been back in twenty years. Digging in the peat on their new property, Tora unearths a human body, at first glance a centuries-old bog body, interesting but not uncommon. But realizing that the body is in fact much newer, that the woman’s heart has been cut out, and that she was killed within a few days of bearing a child, Tora, herself an obstetrician, becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her—even when the police, her colleagues, and eventually her husband warn her against getting involved.

Sacrifice is a bone-chilling, spellbinding debut about secrets worth killing for that will grip readers from its beginning to its startling end.

Mailbox Monday, May 4, 2009

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. What books came into your home last week?

Not much in the old mailbox this week, but I did receive a wonderful autographed copy of A Thread of Truth from Marie Bostwick. Included was an awesome bookmark/door hanger, on one side it says, “Quilter at Work, Do not disturb unless delivering fabric or chocolates” and the other side says, “Do Not Disturb! (unless delivering books or chocolate) (or a new novel by Marie Bostwick!) *Snoopy dance!!



At twenty-seven, having fled an abusive marriage with little more than her kids and the clothes on her back, Ivy Peterman figures she has nowhere to go but up. Quaint, historic New Bern, Connecticut, seems as good a place as any to start fresh. With a part-time job at the Cobbled Court Quilt Shop and budding friendships, Ivy feels hopeful for the first time in ages. But when a popular quilting TV show is taped at the quilt shop, Ivy's unwitting appearance in an on-air promo alerts her ex-husband to her whereabouts. Suddenly, Ivy is facing the fight of her life - one that forces her to face her deepest fears as a woman and a mother. This time, however, she's got a sisterhood behind her: companions as complex, strong, and lasting as the quilts they stitch...

While you're here visiting, please scroll down and check out my Book a Day in the Month of May giveaway! I'm giving away a book every day this month, and I'd love for you to win one! Come back tomorrow, for new giveaway! You can find a list of all of them by clicking HERE!

Wonderous Words Wednesday!

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Kathy at bermudaonion where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun!

Today's words all come from Latter-Day Cipher by Latayne Scott.

“When Lugosi left the Memphis newspaper to “head west” late last year, Selonnah purged him from her mind and now he seemed resurrected, perennially renascent as his namesake.”

Renascent--being reborn; springing again into being or vigor

“It was as if time were knitting a caesura.”

Caesura -- A pause in a line of verse dictated by sense or natural speech rhythm rather than by metrics. Or A pause or interruption, as in conversation: After another weighty caesura the senator resumed speaking.

“They would have jumped on this, he thought grimly to himself, faster than you could say apostolic interregnum.”

Apostolic-- of or characteristic of an apostle.
Interregnum--A gap in continuity.

I looked up both words…and really, I’m still not too sure what the heck this guy’s talking about!! Maybe a gap in the continuity of the apostles of the church, like one guy dies and it takes some time for another?

“But somebody had actually reified those penalties on the body of an apostate.”

Reify-- to convert into or regard as a concrete thing: to reify a concept.

“With a spiritual dusting off of his resurrected hands, Moroni’s soteriological job was done.”

Soteriological--The theological doctrine of salvation as effected by Jesus.

I don't think I'll ever work these words into a conversation!! Some obscure words, at least for me! (I'm feeling a tad dumbed down today!!)

What new words have you discovered lately?

Check out Kathy's blog for additional posts!

Mailbox Monday, April 6, 2009

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page. What books came into your home last week?


Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad, received from Shelf Awareness ad, (I think).
From the age of three, Norman Ollestad was thrust into the world of surfing and competitive downhill skiing by the intense, charismatic father he both idolized and resented. While his friends were riding bikes, playing ball, and going to birthday parties, young Norman was whisked away in pursuit of wild and demanding adventures. Yet it were these exhilarating tests of skill that prepared "Boy Wonder," as his father called him, to become a fearless champion—and ultimately saved his life.
Flying to a ski championship ceremony in February 1979, the chartered Cessna carrying Norman, his father, his father's girlfriend, and the pilot crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains and was suspended at 8,200 feet, engulfed in a blizzard. "Dad and I were a team, and he was Superman," Ollestad writes. But now Norman's father was dead, and the devastated eleven-year-old had to descend the treacherous, icy mountain alone.
Set amid the spontaneous, uninhibited surf culture of Malibu and Mexico in the late 1970s, this riveting memoir, written in crisp Hemingwayesque prose, recalls Ollestad's childhood and the magnetic man whose determination and love infuriated and inspired him—and also taught him to overcome the indomitable. As it illuminates the complicated bond between an extraordinary father and his son, Ollestad's powerful and unforgettable true story offers remarkable insight for us all.


Ultimatum by Matthew Glass , received from Shelf Awareness ad, (again…I think…my record keeping was atrocious on these two books! I didn’t even remember requesting them! It’s hell getting old!).
From Booklist
In this near-future thriller, Joe Benton, the newly elected president of the U.S., is shocked to learn that his predecessor’s administration has been knowingly underreporting the catastrophic effects of global warming. In truth, the world is dangerously close to disaster, forcing Benton to find a way to broker an accord between the world’s worst polluter, China, and the U.S. But can the new president forge a path to peace with the U.S.’s old enemy? Fans of political thrillers will flock to this one, which combines realistic characters with shrewd political and environmental commentary. Some readers might quibble that the world of 2032 is a bit vaguely formed (with small changes, the novel could as easily have been set next year), but that’s a fairly minor quibble. The novel is propelled by character and dialogue, but it’s solidly plotted, too, and given the current public interest in global warming, it may spark some interesting debate on the subject.

Feeling a might bit irritated by the letter received with Ultimatum…in it the publisher describes the book as a “cross between a Michael Crichton type thriller and the TV show West Wing”. I’ve never seen West Wing, but after reading the book blurb, I have to wonder if the publisher ever read Crichton’s “State of Fear”? Crichton must be rolling over in his grave to have his book mentioned in connection with this book!