Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Waiting on Wednesday: THE LOVE GODDESS' COOKING SCHOOL by Melissa Senate


"WAITING ON WEDNESDAY"
is hosted by Jill from

Join in and tell us . . .

What are you waiting for?

My pick for this week is . . .

Last year I loved reading Melissa Senate's book THE SECRET OF JOY.  I shared it with my sister and she loved it, too. (Click here to read my review.)  Now I'm all a twitter with anticipation for her new novel, THE LOVE GODDESS' COOKING SCHOOL, which will be released in October. It sounds absolutely delicious!



Pub. Date: October 26, 2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Format: Paperback, 352pp
Sales Rank: 291,309
ISBN-13: 9781439107232

Description (from the publisher):

Camilla's Cucinotta: Italian Cooking Classes. Fresh take-home pastas & sauces dailyBenvenuti! (Welcome!)

Holly Maguire's grandmother Camilla was the Love Goddess of Blue Crab Island, Maine—a Milanese fortune-teller who could predict the right man for you, and whose Italian cooking was rumored to save marriages. Holly has been waiting years for her unlikely fortune: her true love will like sa cordula, an unappetizing old-world delicacy. But Holly can't make a decent marinara sauce, let alone sa cordula. Maybe that's why the man she hopes to marry breaks her heart. So when Holly inherits Camilla's Cucinotta, she's determined to forget about fortunes and love and become an Italian cooking teacher worthy of her grandmother's legacy.

But Holly's four students are seeking much more than how to make Camilla's chicken alla Milanese. Simon, a single father, hopes to cook his way back into his daughter's heart. Juliet, Holly's childhood friend, hides a painful secret. Tamara, a serial dater, can't find the love she longs for. And twelve-year-old Mia thinks learning to cook will stop her dad, Liam, from marrying his phony lasagna-queen girlfriend. As the class gathers each week, adding Camilla's essential ingredients of wishes and memories in every pot and pan, unexpected friendships and romances are formed—and tested. Especially when Holly falls hard for Liam . . . and learns a thing or two about finding her own recipe for happiness.


About the author (from the publisher):
Melissa Senate is the author of eight novels, including the bestselling See Jane Date, which was made into an ABC Family TV movie and has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide. She's published short pieces in Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume, It's a Wonderful Lie, Flirting with Pride and Prejudice, and American Girls About Town. A former romance and young adult editor from New York, she now lives on the southern coast of Maine with her son.

Wordless Wednesday: September 15, 2010


(Reminds me of an inner city lot I recently drove by
 - it was planted solid with glorious sunflowers!)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

September Romance Classics Giveaway from Hachette Book Group

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


Thanks to the fun and flirty folks at
I have been authorized to give away 
 three (3) sets of three (3) books in the
 SEPTEMBER
FOREVER ROMANCE CLASSICS
GIVEAWAY.

Here's the scoop on the books
 you could scoop up!

* * *




Format: MASS MARKET
Price: US$6.99/CAN$8.99
ISBN: 9780446618472





Description (from the publisher):
There comes a time in a woman's life when she must do the unthinkable - and find employment. For the widowed Anna Wren, that means taking a job as female secretary for the Earl of Swartingham. Secretaries are always male - never female - as Anna well knows but the real downfall of her career is the realisation that she is falling in love with Edward de Raaf - the Earl. But when she realises that he is going to visit a brothel in London to take care of his 'manly' desires, Anna sees red - and decides to take advantage of the opportunity to also take care of her 'womanly' desires - with the Earl as her unknowing lover.


About the author (from the publisher):
Elizabeth Hoyt lives in central Illinois with three untrained dogs, two angelic, but bickering children, and one long-suffering husband.  

* * *




Format: MASS MARKET
Price: US$6.99/CAN$9.99
ISBN: 9780446617864




Description (from the publisher):
Trophy wife Darcy McDaniel has just discovered that, thanks to her embezzling husband, her posh, upper-class life is gone for good. Now she's trading her suburban palace for a trailer park and her weekly salon appointments for a job. Darcy needs a new man--fast--one who'll keep her in the manner she darn well deserves. Problem is, the hottest prospect around is the my-way-or-the-highway hunk who's making off with her beloved Mercedes!

Ex-cop turned repo man John Stark is sure that hiring the furious blonde in his headlights is a colossal mistake. He knows Darcy's high-maintenance, designer-labels-only type--after all, he's used to taking their cars. But he never expected this hellion to have the smarts and the spunk to go from receptionist to repo agent in record time...or to drive him insane with desire. She's the last thing this tall, dark, and dangerous loner needs...and everything he never knew he wanted.


About the author (from the publisher):
Jane Graves began writing stories at the age of five, and she hasn't stopped since. She's a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a B.A. in Journalism in the Professional Writing program. The author of fifteen novels, Jane is a six-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America's RITA Awards, the industry's highest honor, and is the recipient of two National Readers' Choice Awards, the Booksellers' Best Award, and the Golden Quill. She lives in Texas with her daughter and her husband of twenty-five years.

* * *
 


Format: MASS MARKET
Price: US$6.99/CAN$8.50
ISBN: 9780446540292






Description (from the publisher):

CAUGHT BETWEEN DUTY AND DESIRE . . .

Sophie, the Duchess of Calton, has finally moved on. After seven years mourning the loss of her husband, Garrett, at Waterloo, she has married his cousin and heir, Tristan. Sophie gives herself to him body and soul. . . until the day Garrett returns from the Continent, demanding his title, his lands-and his wife.

TORN BETWEEN TWO HUSBANDS . . .

Now Sophie must choose between her first love and her new love, knowing that no matter what, her choice will destroy one of the men she adores. Will it be Garrett, her childhood sweetheart, whose loss nearly destroyed her once already? Or will it be Tristan, beloved friend turned lover, who supported her through the last, dark years and introduced her to a passion she had never known? As her two husbands battle for her heart, Sophie finds herself immersed in a dangerous game-where the stakes are not only love . . . but life and death.

A HINT OF WICKED


About the author (from the publisher):
As a child, Jennifer Haymore traveled the South Pacific with her family on their homebuilt sailboat. The months spent on the sometimes-quiet, sometimes-raging seas sparked her love of adventure and grand romance. Since then, she's earned degrees in Computer Science and Education and held various jobs from bookselling to teaching inner-city children to acting, but she's never stopped writing.

You can find Jennifer in Southern California trying to talk her husband into yet another trip to England, helping her three children with homework while brainstorming a new five-minute dinner menu, or crouched in a corner of the local bookstore writing her next novel.

* * *

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.

• PLEASE NOTE: One win per household. If you win this title in another contest hosted at another blog, Hachette will only send one (1) set of books per household address.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, October 1, 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.

Who Won What . . .


Graphic courtesy of Cupcakes for Clara.

!!  CONGRATULATIONS !!


THE LION
by Nelson DeMille

#2 Susan
#23 clenna
#41 misskallie2000




- 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 here and at other blogs.


A big thank you to
Anna and Hachette Book Group
 for making this giveaways possible.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Mailbox Monday: September 13, 2010



Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at The Printed Page, is being hosted this month by Kathy at Bermudaonion's Weblog. 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?



GOD AND SEX: What the Bible Really Says
By Michael Coogan

for review from Hachette Book Group






WHAT ALICE KNEW
by Paula Marantz Cohen

for review from Sourcebooks





THE ILLUMINATOR
by Brenda Rickman Vantrease

A win from BookHounds.

Thanks, Mary!!






NANNY McPHEE PRIZE PACK

A win from Bermudaonion's Weblog.

Thanks, Kathy!!  My niece loves it!!



Thank you to the authors, publishers, publicists
for sending me review copies
(and bloggers for hosting such great contests!)!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Mailbox Monday: September 6, 2010


Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at The Printed Page, is being hosted this month by Kathy at Bermudaonion's Weblog. 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?

I know I'm a tad late with this post, but I decided to go ahead and post for 3 reasons:

1. I want to support Kathy at Bermudiaonion's Weblog in her hosting duties this month;

2. I didn't get a post up last week, so this is really two weeks' worth of books; and

3. I won a book from Free Book Friday! Actually, 2 books! I won Beautiful Maria of My Soul, and because it's the 20th anniversary, they threw in The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. I was so excited - I've entered Free Book Friday every week for over 2 years. It only takes a couple of seconds to enter - if you haven't already, go check it out!




THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE
by Oscar Hijuelos



BEAUTIFUL MARIA OF MY SOUL
by Oscar Hijuelos



REVOLUTION
by Jennifer Donnelly







THE DISAPPEARING SPOON
by Sam Kean









EATING ANIMALS
by Jonathan Safran Foer








SIMPLY IRRESISTABLE
by Jill Shalvis







MOTHERS & OTHER LIARS
by Amy Bourret








SAVIOR OF THE RAIN FOREST:
An Adventure of Zalvator the Black Panther
by Bruno Gonzalez





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

Waiting on Wednesday: UP FROM THE BLUE by Susan Henderson


"WAITING ON WEDNESDAY"
is hosted by Jill from

Join in and tell us . . .

What are you waiting for?

My pick for this week is . . .

UP FROM THE BLUE
by Susan Henderson

Pub. Date: September 21, 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Paperback, 336pp
ISBN-13: 9780061984037
ISBN: 0061984035

“Elegant and engrossing….Henderson is a talent to watch.”
—Danielle Trussoni, author of Angelology

“This is not a book you’ll soon forget.”
—Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants

Description (from the publisher):
The gripping debut novel from Litpark.com founder and Pushcart Prize-nominee Susan Henderson, Up From the Blue is a dazzling tour de force that unfolds against the backdrop of 1970s America—a tumultuous era of desegregation, school busing, and the early rise of modern-day feminism. The story of an imaginative young girl struggling to make sense of her mother’s mysterious disappearance, Up From the Blue is enthralling fiction that delves into complex family relationships, in the vein of Jennifer McMahon, Katrina Kittle, and Laura Kasischke.

Tillie Harris's life is in disarray—her husband is away on business, the boxes in her new home aren't unpacked, and the telephone isn't even connected yet. Though she's not due for another month, sudden labor pains force Tillie to reach out to her estranged father for help, a choice that means facing the painful memories she's been running from since she was a little girl.

An extraordinary debut from a talented new voice, Up from the Blue untangles the year in Tillie's life that changed everything: 1975, the year her mother disappeared.





About the author (from the publisher):
Susan Henderson is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the founder of the literary blog LitPark: Where Writers Come to Play (http://www.litpark.com/). Her work has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, the Pittsburgh Quarterly, North Atlantic Review, Opium, and many other publications. Henderson lives in New York, and Up from the Blue is her first novel.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

. . . AND THE WINNERS ARE . . .


Graphic courtesy of Cupcakes for Clara.

!!  CONGRATULATIONS !!


FOLLOW ME

#7 xxsquigglesxx
#12 Traveler
#54 Brenda







NEW TRICKS

#19 Brenda
#42 JHS
#62 409cope





SECRETS TO HAPPINESS

#52 Tiffany
#57 Cindy W.
#67 allisonsbj3







RAVENS

#1 amandawk 
#19 Marjori
#68 Darcie K.







THE LINK

#16 ChristyJan
#23 Nickolay -- as yet unconfirmed -- email has been sent
#28 Darcie K.






FIT FOR LIFE

#14 ChristyJan
#22 Dawn M.
#42 Tara







THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK

#12 Zibilee
#14 Jonita
#52 Cindy





- 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 here and at other blogs.


A big thank you to
Anna, Valerie, and Hachette Book Group
 for making these giveaways possible.

Spotlight and Book Giveaway: TESTIMONY by Anita Shreve

CLOSED.
Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,
I have been authorized to
 give away five (5) copies of
TESTIMONY
by Anita Shreve.

Rules for entering this giveaway
are at the bottom of this post.
(not an image of the actual cover of mass market edition)

Publisher: Little Brown & Company
Category: Fiction
Format: Mass Market
Publish Date: 9/1/2010
Price: $7.99/$8.99
ISBN: 9780316080514
Pages: 352
Size: 4-3/16" x 6-3/4"

Description (from the publisher):
At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.

Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.


Listen to an excerpt

Download a podcast

View the video

Get Reading Group Guide

PRAISE FOR TESTIMONY:

"Shreve, consummate craftsman and frequent provocateur, is on fire in her latest novel, a mesmerizing read centering on a sex scandal at a prestigious Vermont prep school....Shreve views all of the characters, even the most flawed, with a good deal of compassion, revealing the heartbreaking consequences of a single reckless act."--- Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist (starred review)

Anita Shreve is the critically acclaimed author of fourteen novels, including Body Surfing, The Pilot's Wife, which was a selection of Oprah's Book Club, and The Weight of Water, which was a finalist for England's Orange Prize. She lives in Massachusetts.

Visit http://www.anitashreve.com/

Become an Anita Shreve fan on Facebook



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.

• PLEASE NOTE: One win per household. If you win this title in another contest hosted at another blog, Hachette will only send one copy per household address.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday, September 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 Brianne
at Hachette Book Group
for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Spotlight and Audio Book Giveaway: THE POSTCARD KILLERS by Jame Patterson

CLOSED.
Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,
I have been authorized to
 give away three (3) audiobook copies of
THE POSTCARD KILLERS
by James Patterson and Liza Marklund
Read by Katherine Kellgren, Eric Singer and Reg Rogersy

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


Read by Katherine Kellgren, Eric Singer and Reg Rogersy

Publisher:  Hachette Audio
Category: Fiction, Suspense & Thrillers
Format: Audio Book
Subformat: CD (Audio)
Edition: Unabridged
Publish Date: 8/16/2010
Price: $34.98/$41.98
ISBN: 9781607883821
Pages: 0

Description (from the publisher):

Paris is stunning in the summer.

NYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him—he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter's killer.

The killing is simply marvelous.

Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have been found dead. Little connects the murders, other than a postcard to the local newspaper that precedes each new victim.

Wish you were here.

Now Kanon teams up with the Swedish reporter, Dessie Larsson, who has just received a postcard in Stockholm—and they think they know where the next victims will be. With relentless logic and unstoppable action, THE POSTCARD KILLERS may be James Patterson's most vivid and compelling thriller yet.



Click here to listen to an excerpt.

Click here to visit the author's website.

Author Information (from the publisher):
James Patterson is one of the bestselling writers of all time, with more than 170 million books sold worldwide. He is the author of the top-selling detective series of the past twenty years--the Alex Cross novels, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider, both of which were made into hit movies. Mr. Patterson also writes the bestselling Women's Murder Club novels, set in San Francisco, and the new series of #1 New York Times bestsellers featuring Detective Michael Bennett of the NYPD. He won an Edgar Award, the mystery world's highest honor, for his first novel. He lives in Florida.

James Patterson's lifelong passion for books and reading led him to launch a new Web site, ReadKiddoRead.com, which helps parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians find the very best children's books for their kids.

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.

• PLEASE NOTE: One win per household. If you win this title in another contest hosted at another blog, Hachette will only send one copy per household address.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday, September 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 Anna
at Hachette Book Group
for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Spotlight and Book Giveaway: THE UNNAMED by Joshua Ferris

CLOSED.
Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,
I have been authorized to
 give away three (3) copies of
THE UNNAMED
by Joshua Ferris.

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



Publisher: Little Brown & Company
Category: Fiction
Format: Trade Paperback
Publish Date: 9/22/2010
Price: $13.99/$16.99
ISBN: 9780316034005
Pages: 336
Size: 5-1/2" x 8-1/4"

Description (from the publisher):

He was going to lose the house and everything in it.

The rare pleasure of a bath, the copper pots hanging above the kitchen island, his family-again he would lose his family. He stood inside the house and took stock. Everything in it had been taken for granted. How had that happened again? He had promised himself not to take anything for granted and now he couldn't recall the moment that promise had given way to the everyday.

Tim Farnsworth is a handsome, healthy man, aging with the grace of a matinee idol. His wife Jane still loves him, and for all its quiet trials, their marriage is still stronger than most. Despite long hours at the office, he remains passionate about his work, and his partnership at a prestigious Manhattan law firm means that the work he does is important. And, even as his daughter Becka retreats behind her guitar, her dreadlocks and her puppy fat, he offers her every one of a father's honest lies about her being the most beautiful girl in the world.

He loves his wife, his family, his work, his home. He loves his kitchen. And then one day he stands up and walks out. And keeps walking.

THE UNNAMED is a dazzling novel about a marriage and a family and the unseen forces of nature and desire that seem to threaten them both. It is the heartbreaking story of a life taken for granted and what happens when that life is abruptly and irrevocably taken away.


Click here to vist the book's website (very interesting!)

Click here to read an author article.

Click here to visit the author's website.

About the author (from the publisher):
Joshua Ferris's first novel, Then We Came to the End, won the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Barnes and Noble Discover Award, and was a National Book Award finalist. It has been translated into 24 languages. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Best New American Voices, New Stories from the South, Prairie Schooner, and The Iowa Review. He lives in 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.

• PLEASE NOTE: One win per household. If you win this title in another contest hosted at another blog, Hachette will only send one copy per household address.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday, September 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.