Book Giveaway: THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK by Peg Bracken

CLOSED.

Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,

I have been authorized to
 give away two (2) copies of

THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK
by Peg Bracken.

Rules for entering this giveaway
are at the bottom of this post.

I HATE TO COOK BOOK

50th Anniversary Edition

by Peg Bracken

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Category: Cooking

Format: Hardcover Book

Publish Date: 7/26/2010

Price: $22.99/$27.99

ISBN: 9780446545921

Pages: 224

Size: 5-1/2" x 8-1/4"

Description (from the publisher)

"There are two kinds of people in this world: the ones who don't cook out of and have NEVER cooked out of THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK, and the other kind...The I HATE TO COOK people consist mainly of those who find other things more interesting and less fattening, and so they do it as seldom as possible. Today there is an Annual Culinary Olympics, with hundreds of cooks from many countries ardently competing. But we who hate to cook have had our own Olympics for years, seeing who can get out of the kitchen the fastest and stay out the longest."

- Peg Bracken

Philosopher's Chowder. Skinny Meatloaf. Fat Man's Shrimp. Immediate Fudge Cake. These are just a few of the beloved recipes from Peg Bracken's classic I HATE TO COOK BOOK. Written in a time when women were expected to have full, delicious meals on the table for their families every night, Peg Bracken offered women who didn't revel in this obligation an alternative: quick, simple meals that took minimal effort but would still satisfy.

50 years later, times have certainly changed - but the appeal of THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK hasn't.

This book is for everyone, men and women alike, who wants to get from cooking hour to cocktail hour in as little time as possible.

Meet Peg's daughter, Jo Bracken, by visiting her blog.

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave an original comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

• You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, September 3, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

• Winners are determined using the sequence generator at Random.org.

Thank you to Anna
at Hachette Book Group

for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Book Giveaway: THE LINK by Colin Tudge

CLOSED.

Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,

I have been authorized to
 give away three (3) copies of

THE LINK
by Colin Tudge.

Rules for entering this giveaway
are at the bottom of this post.

THE LINK

Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor

by Colin Tudge

Publisher: Back Bay Books

Category: Science, Social Science

Format: Trade Paperback

Publish Date: 8/11/2010

Price: $15.99/$19.99

ISBN: 9780316070096

Pages: 272

Size: 5-9/16" x 8-15/16"

Description (from the publisher):

For more than a century, scientists have raced to unravel the human family tree and have grappled with its complications. Now, with an astonishing new discovery, everything we thought we knew about primate origins could change. Lying inside a high-security vault, deep within the heart of one of the world's leading natural history museums, is the scientific find of a lifetime - a perfectly fossilized early primate, older than the previously most famous primate fossil, Lucy, by forty-four million years.

About the author (from the publisher):
Colin Tudge is a biologist by education and a writer by inclination--on biology, food and agriculture, and the philosophy of science. His books include The Tree, Feeding People Is Easy, Consider the Birds, and The Time Before History. For more information about the author, go to http://www.colintudge.com/.

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave an original comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

• You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, September 3, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

• Winners are determined using the sequence generator at Random.org.

Thank you to Anna
at Hachette Book Group

for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Book Giveaway: FIT FOR LIFE by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond

CLOSED.

Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,

I have been authorized to
 give away three (3)

FIT FOR LIFE
by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond.

Rules for entering this giveaway
are at the bottom of this post.

FIT FOR LIFE

by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond

Publisher: Wellness Central

Category: Health & Fitness

Format: Trade Paperback

Publish Date: 8/16/2010

Price: $14.99/$17.99

ISBN: 9780446553643

Pages: 336

Size: 5-1/4" x 8"

Description (from the publisher):

It's the program that shatters all the myths: FIT FOR LIFE the international bestseller that explains how to change both your figure and your life. Nutritional specialist Harvey and Marilyn Diamond explain how you can eat more kinds of food than you ever ate before without counting calories...and still lose weight! The natural body cycles, permanent weight-loss plan that proves it's not only what you eat, but also when and how, FIT FOR LIFE is the perfect solution for those who want to look and feel their best. Join the millions of Americans who are FIT FOR LIFE and begin your transformation with:

•The vital principles that bring you permanent weight loss and high energy

•The FIT FOR LIFE secrets of timing and food combining that work with your natural body cycles

•A 4-week meal plan, menus, shopping tips, and exercise

•Delicious recipes and more.

About the authors (from the publisher):
Harvey and Marilyn Diamond are also the authors of the bestselling Fit For Life 2. And, Marilyn also penned The American Vegetarian Cookbook and A New Way of Eating. She is co-author with Dr. Donald Schnell of Fitonics. Marilyn Diamond lives in Beverly Hills, CA. Havery Dimond lives in Florida.

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave an original comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

• You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, September 3, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

• Winners are determined using the sequence generator at Random.org.

Thank you to Anna
at Hachette Book Group

for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Waiting on Wednesday: AN IMPARTIAL WITNESS by Charles Todd

"WAITING ON WEDNESDAY"

is hosted by Jill from

Breaking the Spine.

Join in and tell us . . .

What are you waiting for?

My pick for this week is . . .

I've read this first book in this new series, A DUTY TO THE DEAD, and now I can hardly wait for this next installment. If you've enjoyed Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs novels, you're sure to like these, too.

AN IMPARTIAL WITNESS

A Bess Crawford Mystery

by Charles Todd

Pub. Date: August 2010

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Format: Hardcover, 352pp

Series: Bess Crawford Series, #2

ISBN-13: 9780061791789

ISBN: 0061791784

 
Description (from the publisher):
World War I nurse Bess Crawford, introduced in A Duty to the Dead, returns in an exciting new mystery in which a murder draws her inexorably into the sights of a cunning killer

It is the early summer of 1917. Bess Crawford has returned to England from the trenches of France with a convoy of severely wounded men. One of her patients is a young pilot who has been burned beyond recognition, and who clings to life and the photo of his wife that is pinned to his tunic.

While passing through a London train station, Bess notices a woman bidding an emotional farewell to an officer, her grief heart-wrenching. And then Bess realizes that she seems familiar. In fact, she's the woman in the pilot's photo, but the man she is seeing off is not her husband.

Back on duty in France, Bess discovers a newspaper with a drawing of the woman's face on the front page. Accompanying the drawing is a plea from Scotland Yard seeking information from anyone who has seen her. For it appears that the woman was murdered on the very day Bess encountered her at the station.

Granted leave to speak with Scotland Yard, Bess becomes entangled in the case. Though an arrest is made, she must delve into the depths of her very soul to decide if the police will hang an innocent man or a vicious killer. Exposing the truth is dangerous—and will put her own life on the line.

Guest Post: Shobhan Bantwal - Marriage By Arrangement

Today, I am honored and thrilled to welcome one of my favorite authors, Shobhan Bantwal, to A Sea of Books. Ms. Bantwal has just published her fourth novel, The Unexpected Son. Check back tomorrow for my review. (I'll give you a hint: I loved it!)

Marriage by Arrangement
by Shobhan Bantwal - author of The Unexpected Son

While arranged marriage may seem like an antiquated practice to most Americans, it has been around for thousands of years and has worked rather well in establishing the institutions of family, community, and even entire civilizations. To this day, many conservative Europeans and Jews practice arranged marriage, albeit subtly and not as frequently as they did a hundred years ago.

In my own Indian culture, what started out as a way to assure the compatibility of a couple by matching partners from similar social and economic backgrounds has worked so well over the centuries that it continues in the same vein in contemporary India. The divorce rate in India and similar cultures is a fraction of what it is in the western world.

I had a strictly arranged marriage more than 36 years ago and I'm still happily married to the same man. Arranging a marriage is not some magic formula. It is all based in the fact that family is valued above all else. To preserve that precious unit, people passionately work towards finding partners who will support it and nurture it. And who better than experienced and wise elders to go about seeking a suitable bride for their sons or grooms for their daughters?

Arranging a marriage is serious business in my culture. An intricate network of relatives, neighbors and friends are involved in the process. The horoscopes of the potential bride and groom are often matched, dowries may be discussed behind closed doors (although, not all Indian communities follow the dowry system), educational levels, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and a whole list of items that apply to both parties. Indian marriages are not just between two individuals but two families, and in rural areas, between two communities.

All my books and short stories have some reference to arranged marriage. In my latest novel, The Unexpected Son, the protagonist has a happy arranged marriage, until a shocking letter abruptly turns her cozy life upside down. A closely-guarded secret comes to haunt her after 30 long years.

A Note From Shobhan Bantwal - Information about my books, video trailers, contact, photos from India, reviews, contests, and recipes is available on my website: www.shobhanbantwal.com. All my books can be purchased at any retail bookstore or online bookseller.

For more information about The Unexpected Son virtual tour, visit http://bookpromotionservices.com/2010/07/02/unexpected-son-virtual-tour/

About The Unexpected Son (from the publisher):
What happens when a woman who's realized her dreams wakes up to a shocking truth? It is a morning like any other in suburban New Jersey when Vinita Patil opens the battered envelope postmarked “Mumbai.” But the letter inside turns her comfortable world upside down. It tells Vinita an impossible story: she has a grown son in India whose life may depend on her.

Once upon a time, a naive young college girl fell for a wealthy boy whose primary interests were cricket and womanizing. Vinita knew, even then, that a secret affair with a man whose language and values were different from her own was a mistake. He finished with her soon enough--leaving her to birth a baby that was stillborn. Or so Vinita was told.

Now that child is a grown man in desperate need. How will she confess her secret past to her arranged-marriage husband and her grown daughter? Nonetheless, to help her son, to know him, Vinita must revisit her darkest hours by returning to her battle-scarred homeland--and pray for the faith of the family she leaves behind.

About Shobhan Bantwal (from the publisher):
Shobhan Bantwal calls her writing “Bollywood in a Book,”romantic, colorful, action-packed tales, rich with elements of Indian culture -- stories that entertain and educate.

Her writing career is a “menopausal epiphany,” because she took up creative writing at the age of 50. By day Shobhan works for the government. In the evenings and on weekends she slips into her writer's cape and flies off to Authorland. She loves writing stories about her native India and Hindu culture.

To date, Shobhan has four published novels by Kensington Publishing, with a fifth slated for 2011. Since 2002, Shobhan's articles and short stories have appeared in a variety of publications. Her award-winning stories are available for reading on her website: http://www.shobhanbantwal.com/



Natasha from Princeton Community Television on Vimeo.

For more information about The Unexpected Son virtual tour, visit http://bookpromotionservices.com/2010/07/02/unexpected-son-virtual-tour/

Thank you to Nikki Leigh and Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tours
for organizing this tour.

Mailbox Monday - August 9, 2010

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at The Printed Page, is being hosted this month by Shanyn at Chick Loves Lit. If you'd like to join in, stop by Shanyn's and leave a link - or just browse through the comments to see what new books have been showing up.

What's in your mailbox?

Oh, I received some high-quality reads last week! Summer's not over yet, but I always start thinking of historical fiction toward the fall, and the gods and goddesses (authors and publicists) are paving the way.

THE ELEPHANT KEEPER
by Christopher Nicholson

A win from Grumpy Dan. Thanks for hosting the contest, Dan!

THE QUEEN'S PAWN
by Christy English

(I couldn't wait and am already deeply entrenched in this one.  Thanks so much, Christy!)

THE DOCTOR AND THE DIVA
by Adrienne McDonnell

A BLOODY FIELD BY SHREWSBURY
by Edith Pargeter

DRACULA IN LOVE
by Karen Essex

LOVE FINDS YOU IN VICTORY HEIGHTS, WASHINGTON
by Tricia Goyer and Ocieanna Fleiss

Thank you to the authors, publishers, and publicists for sending me review copies!

And the Winners are . . .

Graphic courtesy of Cupcakes for Clara.

Click here to visit her Etsy shop.

!!  CONGRATULATIONS !!

Here are the winners of the giveaways that ended over the weekend:

Audiobook copies of BACKSEAT SAINTS:

#11 KarenK

#20 librarypat

#61 Esme

Set of 6 Romance Books - The RITA Nominees:

#30 Mary K. from L.A.

#42 Janetfaye

#112 Outnumbered Mama

Audiobook copies of PRIVATE:

#13 Benita

#28 Twifanheather

#37 Darcy K.

Audiobook copies of PUT ON YOUR CROWN:

#7 Amy

#12 librarypat

#25 Nikolay

Audiobook copies of LIVE LONG, FINISH STRONG

#2 Debs Desk

#7 Simpy Stacie

#19 Denny, Alaska

- All winners have been notified and confirmed.

- Thank you to everyone who stopped by and entered. If you weren't one of the lucky ones in this drawing, click here to hop on over to the contest page at Hachette Book Group for listings of other blogs hosting book giveaways.

- Be sure and check my sidebar for other ongoing giveaways.

A big thank you to Anna and Hachette Book Group

 for making these giveaway possible.

Mailbox Monday: August 2, 2010

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at The Printed Page, is being hosted this month by Shanyn at Chick Loves Lit. If you'd like to join in, stop by Shanyn's and leave a link - or just browse through the comments to see what new books have been showing up.

What's in your mailbox?

Things have been a bit dry lately, then suddenly on Thursday and Friday, I got hit with a little avalanche of books!

VIVIAN RISING
by Daniella Brodsky

for a blog tour on August 5th

Thanks to Simon & Schuster!

SHE'S GONE COUNTRY
by Jane Porter

Thank you to Hachette Book Group!

NEW TRICKS
by David Rosenfelt

Thank you to Hachette Book Group!

FOLLOW ME
by Joanna Scott



Thank you to Hachette Book Group!

THE GLAMOUR OF GRAMMAR
by Roy Peter Clark

Thank you to Hachette Book Group!

BARNACLE LOVE
by Anthony De Sa

Thank you, Algonquin Books!

SUBSTITUTE ME
by Lori L. Tharps

Thank you to Simon & Schuster!

RUSSIAN WINTER
by Daphne Kalotay

Thank you to Harper Collins!

NIGHTSHADE CITY
by Hilary Wagner

Thank you to Hilary Wagner!

Spotlight and Book Giveaway: RAVENS by George Dawes Green

Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,

I have been authorized to
 give away three (3) copies of

RAVENS
by George Dawes Green.

Rules for entering this giveaway
are at the bottom of this post.

RAVENS

by George Dawes Green

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Category: Fiction

Format: Trade Paperback

Publish Date: 7/15/2010

Price: $13.99/$16.99

ISBN: 9780446538978

Pages: 352

Size: 5-1/4" x 8"

Last year I rated RAVENS 5 out of 5 stars. Click here to read my review.

Description (from the publisher):
The Boatwrights just won 318 million dollars in the Georgia State lottery. It's going to be the worst day of their lives.

When Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko pull up at a convenience store off I-95 in Georgia, their only thought is to fix a leaky tire and be on their way again to Florida-away from their dull Ohio tech-support jobs. But this happens to be the store from which a 318,000,000 million dollar Jackpot ticket has just been sold -- and when a pretty clerk accidentally reveals to Shaw the identity of the winning family, he hatches a ferociously audacious scheme: He and Romeo will squeeze the family for half their prize.

That night, he visits the Boatwright home and takes the family hostage, while Romeo patrols the streets nearby, prepared to murder the Boatwrights' loved ones at any sign of resistance. At first, the family offers none. But Shaw's plot depends on maintaining constant fear-merciless, unfaltering terror-and soon, under the pressure, everyone's sanity begins to unravel . . .

At once frightening, comic, and suspenseful, RAVENS is a wholly original and utterly compelling novel from one of our most talented writers.

Click here to access the Readers Group Guide.

Click here to visit the author's website.

About the author (from the publisher):
George Dawes Green is a highly acclaimed novelist and poet. He currently divides his time between Georgia and New York.

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave an original comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

• You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, August 27, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

• Winners are determined using the sequence generator at Random.org.

Thank you to Valerie
at Hachette Book Group

for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Spotlight and Book Giveaway: SECRETS TO HAPPINESS by Sarah Dunn

CLOSED.

Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,

I have been authorized to
 give away three (3) copies of

SECRETS TO HAPPINESS
by Sarah Dunn.

Rules for entering this giveaway
are at the bottom of this post.

SECRETS TO HAPPINESS

by Sarah Dunn

Publisher: Back Bay Books

Category: Fiction

Format: Trade Paperback

Publish Date: 7/2/2010

Price: $13.99/$16.99

ISBN: 9780316013604

Pages: 304

Size: 5-1/2" x 8-1/4"

 
Description (from the publisher):
Holly Frick has just endured the worst kind of breakup: the kind where you're still in love with the person leaving you. While her wounds are still dangerously close to the surface, her happily married best friend confesses over a bottle of wine that she is this close to having an affair. And another woman comes to Holly for advice about her love life--with Holly's ex!

Holly decides that if everyone around her can take pleasure wherever they find it, so will she. As any self-respecting 30ish New York woman would do, she brings two males into her life: a flawed but endearing dog, and a good natured, much younger lover. She's soon entangled in a web of emails, chance meetings, and misguided good intentions and must forge an entirely new path to Nirvana.

From the author of The Big Love, Secrets to Happiness is a big-hearted, knife-sharp, and hilariously entertaining story about the perils of love and friendship, sex and betrayal--and a thoroughly modern take on our struggle to be happy.

Click here to access the Reading Group Guide.

Click here to visit the author's website.

About the author (from the publisher):
Sarah Dunn has moved from Los Angeles to New York five times, and from New York back to Los Angeles four times, which means she is happily back in New York, where she lives with her husband, Peter Stevenson, and their son, Harry. Her first novel, The Big Love, has been translated into 23 languages.

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave an original comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

• You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, August 27, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

• Winners are determined using the sequence generator at Random.org.

Thank you to Valerie
at Hachette Book Group

for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.