Have a Great Weekend...we are working away...

We are working away this weekend. I hope you are doing something fun.

Book Review - Pie Town - Lynne Hinton

Title: Pie Town

Author: Lynne Hinton

Review: The characters in this book were sweet and endearing at times, but just a bit one sided and flat at the others. I found this book to be difficult to really get into and the lives of the people to be quite predictable. Otis was sweet and silly, but you really didn’t get much deeper than that into his character and while everyone adored Alex…Why did they adore Alex except for the fact that he was born ill and wise beyond his years and …I didn’t really understand that bit at all. The priest who had issues mixed with the run-away with issues, mixed with a town that doesn’t serve pie, mixed with a happy divorced couple that …well I’m not really sure about them either. A seriously messed up daughter who leaves her son with his grandparents and a town that is unfriendly at best, makes for an interesting setting that didn't deliver, in my opinion.

The end I saw coming from the first chapter. I think that this could have been a much better story with a few less quirky characters that really never morphed into more than that. The ending wrapped everyone and everything up in a happy little neat package and I love happily ever after stories, but this one fell short of my expectations. It just wasn't my thing.

The recipes in the back of the book sound interesting and I think I will give one or two of them a try. I will be offering this book on Goodreads swap. If you like happy endings, feel good messages about a hard working town coming together to help everyone, you may enjoy this book.

Publisher: Published June 7th 2011 by HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN: 0062045083

Copyright: 2011

Pages: 384

Quick Review: 2 1/2 stars (out of 5)

Why I Read It: I signed up to win this at Goodreads, it sounded interesting.

Where I Obtained the Book: I won it and it was sent by the publisher.

Synopsis: Pie Town, New Mexico, was once legendary for its extraordinary pies. But it's been a while since these delectable desserts graced the counter at the local diner. The townspeople—a hearty mix of Anglos, Hispanics, and Native Americans—like to think of themselves as family, especially when it comes to caring for Alex, a disabled little boy being raised by his grandparents. But, unforeseen by all, Pie Town's fortunes are about to take a major turn—due to the arrival of a new priest, Father George Morris, who seems woefully unprepared for his first assignment, and the young hitchhiker Trina, who some townsfolk just know is trouble. . . .

Author Biography: Lynne Hinton is the pastor of St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The author of numerous novels including Friendship Cake, Hope Springs, Forever Friends, Christmas Cake, and Wedding Cake, she lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Other Reviews:

Bookin with Bingo

Book Lovers Blog

Genre Go Around

TLC Book Tour - Review - Shout Her Lovely Name - Natalie Serber

Title:  Shout Her Lovely Name

Author: Natalie Serber

Review:  I have to be honest, I tried to finish this book but I just couldn't do it. This book, albeit interesting and extremely real, dropped the F-word way too many times for me. I tried to ignore it, but after ignoring it over and over again, the F-word was paired up with taking the Lord's name in vain. I shut the book and was done. I honestly don't understand the need to include vulgarities such as this. It does nothing to further the story. I would love to finish this book sans the F-word. I was taken in by the honesty of the book, the reality of her stating people’s deepest thoughts out loud. These thoughts that we would never want to admit to having. It is truly fascinating.

Thank you Heather for this review.

**As a response to a question from the publisher about my review of Shout Her Lovely Name, I decided I needed to clarify my post and why I rated it only One Star.

  I should note that I read about a third of the book. The first story had language that bothered me a little bit. I thought that the stories themselves were very interesting and I honestly think I would have enjoyed them if it weren't for the language.

I rate the first story two stars. It was a fascinating look into a mother's perspective of her child's struggle with anorexia. It gave us a glimpse of her thoughts of this hardship and how she blamed herself for the hardships anorexia put the family in. 

I give the second story three stars. I enjoyed the second story about Ruby and her struggle to accept an unwanted pregnancy. She smokes, drinks and basically tries to have a "natural miscarriage." We follow her intimate thoughts about whether she will keep the baby, stay with her absent boyfriend, or make her way on her own. It is a good story. I realize that this story is continued in the book, but I have not read the rest of it.

The third story I rate one star. Having suffered from post postpartum depression myself, I related to the woman in the third story about her thoughts as she boards an airplane with her newborn son. She thinks about dropping the baby over the banister and how she honestly doesn't care about what is going on around because all she can think about is her annoying sucking child and her hurting nipples. She thinks about these types of things, but doesn't voice them for fear of her husband overreacting. This is why I was so disappointed to have to put the book down. I felt connected to the women and wanted to get to know her more, but I could not ignore the vulgarity. I do not use or even think that kind of language, and I do not want to hear or read it.

As a general note about the book, while I appreciated the stories I read, I had a difficult time discerning when one story started and another ended. I would rather have had a more clear cut ending and start to the stories. I found myself flipping back to find out who the character was I was reading about only to realize I had started a different tale. It is possible that if I finished the book all the stories would come together nicely but with the difficulty I had from this as well as the vulgar language, I couldn't finish the book and I can only give the book (the 1/3 I read of it) one star.

-Heather

Publisher: Published June 26th 2012 by HoughtonMifflin Harcourt

ISBN: 9780547634524

Copyright: 2012

Pages: 240

Quick Review: 1 stars (out of 5)

Why I Read It:  Sent by the publisher for review.

Synopsis: Mothers— both reluctant and euphoric — ride the familial tide of joy, pride, regret, guilt, and love in these stories of resilient and flawed women. In a battle between a teenage daughter and her mother, wheat bread and plain yogurt become weapons. An aimless college student, married to her much older professor, sneaks cigarettes while caring for their newborn son. On the eve of her husband’s fiftieth birthday, a pilfered fifth of vodka, an unexpected tattoo, and rogue teenagers leave a woman questioning her place. And in a suite of stories, we follow capricious, ambitious single mother Ruby and her cautious, steadfast daughter Nora through their tumultuous life—stray men, stray cats, and psychedelic drugs—in 1970s California.

Gimlet-eyed and emotionally generous, achingly real and beautifully written, these unforgettable stories cut to the heart of the connection and conflict in families. Shout Her Lovely Name heralds the arrival of a stunning new writer.

 

Author Biography:  I grew up in Santa Cruz, California, an only child of a single mother, I spent my youth riding my bike and reading incessantly. My college days were spent at University of California at Irvine where I studied English with a writing emphasis and then I studied at UC Santa Cruz taking a degree in education. I imagined I would be a teacher like my mother, or maybe I would write for magazines. When I had my children, I loved being a stay-at-home parent. I gardened, cooked, volunteered at their schools. When my youngest entered preschool, I took a writing class and then I took another. Soon I gave up gardening and took up early rising to write at my desk. With my kids in elementary school I wrote in coffeehouses and at the library, in the parking lot where I waited for them after school. I published in small journals, The Bellingham Review, Inkwell Magazine, Third Coast, Fourth Genre, Hunger Mountain to name a few, and those publications sustained me, they allowed me to continue believing in my work. I was lucky enough to win some prizes, John Steinbeck Award, Tobias Wolff Award, H.E. Francis Award, I was short listed in Best American Short Stories. All of this led me to Warren Wilson College for graduate school where I received my MFA in fiction. Through the raising of my family I continued writing. Now as my youngest enters college and I teeter on the cusp of an empty nest and a new decade of my life, my book, SHOUT HER LOVELY NAME is forthcoming with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. There’s a lovely symmetry to my timeline and if I wrote it in a story, no one would believe it.

Other Reviews:

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Self-Awareness

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TLC Book Tour - Review - A Night Like This - Julia Quinn

Title:    A Night Like This

Author:  Julia Quinn

Review:  It is official!   I am a huge regency romance fan!!   I should have realized that after I read Pride and Prejudice a dozen times.  This book is a great romance with hot men and beautiful women who have issues and cannot allow themselves to fall for the hot man.  Rescues, stolen kisses, death threats and a bit of sex, everything that makes a romance a romance.

I am a sucker for a man that falls for a women and then does everything in his power to make her his.  Yes this is one of those romances and I have to say that it is a good one.  I did not expect an intellectual story, or to learn something new.  I knew that this book would be a romance and it is a great one of those.  The description of the houses, clothes, dishes, expectations of the day…all of these were clear and I enjoyed this book.

I will be reading this author again and putting her name on my top regency romance author lists.  A wonderful look at the regency era and the rules that governed those of nobility and gentry.  If you enjoy this type of romance you will love this one….give it a try it reads really fast.

Publisher:  Published May 29th 2012 by HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright: 2012

Pages:  373

ISBN:    9780062072900

Quick Review: 4 Stars out of 5. 

Where Did I Get the Book:  Sent by the TLC Tour for review.

Synopsis: Anne Wynter might not be who she says she is…

But she's managing quite well as a governess to three highborn young ladies. Her job can be a challenge — in a single week she finds herself hiding in a closet full of tubas, playing an evil queen in a play that might be a tragedy (or might be a comedy—no one is sure), and tending to the wounds of the oh-so-dashing Earl of Winstead. After years of dodging unwanted advances, he's the first man who has truly tempted her, and it's getting harder and harder to remind herself that a governess has no business flirting with a nobleman.

Daniel Smythe-Smith might be in mortal danger…

But that's not going to stop the young earl from falling in love. And when he spies a mysterious woman at his family's annual musicale, he vows to pursue her, even if that means spending his days with a ten-year-old who thinks she's a unicorn. But Daniel has an enemy, one who has vowed to see him dead. And when Anne is thrown into peril, he will stop at nothing to ensure their happy ending…

 

Author Biography:  #1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn loves to dispel the myth that smart women don't read (or write) romance, and in 2001 she did so in grand style, competing on the the game show The Weakest Link and walking away with the $79,000 jackpot. She displayed a decided lack of knowledge about baseball, country music, and plush toys, but she is proud to say that she aced all things British and literary, answered all of her history and geography questions correctly, and knew that there was a Da Vinci long before there was a code.

Ms. Quinn's books have been translated into 22 languages, and she has been profiled in USA Today and TIME Magazine. More recently, her novel What Happens in London was selected by the American Library Association for a RUSA Award, honoring the best in genre fiction.

In 2010, Ms. Quinn won her third RITA award in four years and became the youngest member of Romance Writers of America's Hall of Fame.

Other Reviews:  Smexy Books, The Romance Reader, The Good the Bad and the Unread.

Book Review - Midwinter Blood - Mons Kallentoft

Title:  Midwinter Blood 

Author: Mons Kallentoft 

Short Review: Solid crime fiction, classic Swedish mystery, interesting POV choices. 

Long Review: 

Midwinter Blood is a solid example of a police procedural as well as a Swedish mystery. A dead body hanging naked (and frozen) from a tree greets Inspector Fors morning.  Was it suicide, murder, ritual?  Fors begins her case by understanding the victim and then branching out to all possible suspects.  Methodically she winnows down her list until the final climatic conclusion bringing you the reader along for the ride. 

Two things made this book stand out from its peers. First in the course of investigating the various suspects the police run into a lot of petty crimes. Being a dead end to the main crime these plot lines are typically abandon. Kallentoft sticks with these avenues until the end which really helps to build the world around crime and the characters, but yet always leaving doubt in the back of your mind.  You are never quite sure you have “figured it out.”  I imagine real police work follows the same path, accidently running into crimes when looking for something else.  It also goes to show how much goes unnoticed in society. 

The second thing was how the author played with point of view.  Malin Fors is the central character of the book and we experience 90% through the prism of her eyes.  She is a driven person constantly trying to appease her life outside of her job (as the crime takes over her life).  She deals with family, coworkers, and suspects with the same questioning attitude, pushing to the truth.  On occasion the author briefly switches to one of the many other characters to get their reaction to events.  The victim even turns up on occasion and it turns out you can be pretty forgiving when you are dead. 

All the hallmarks of a great Nordic mystery are present: Malin Fors has issues with her personal life, the bad guys are never truly bad, but rather regular people making bad choices in a bad situation, and even the weather plays a supporting role (it gets very cold in Northern Sweden). Through it all Malin keeps plugging away doggedly, eventually coming at some semblance of the truth. With this debut novel Kallentoft has created a solid community of characters and place, that it should lead to a lot of great stories. 

Publisher: Atria 

Copyright: 2007 (translated 2011) 

Pages: 454 

ISBN: 978-1-4516-4247-6 

Quick Review: 4 Stars out of 5. 

Why I Read it: Love the Nordic police procedural. 

Where I Obtained the Book: Sent to me by the publisher for review 

Synopsis: Meet Malin Fors. Be careful, though, she’s addictive. Thirty-four years old, blond, single, divorced with a teenaged daughter, Fors is the most driven superintendent who has ever worked at the police force in her small, isolated town. And the most talented. In her job, she is constantly moving through the borderland between life and death. Her path in life is violent and hazardous.

It is the coldest February in recent memory. In the early hours of a particularly frigid night, the body of an obese man is found hanging from lone oak tree in the middle of a withered, windswept plain. Malin Fors is called to the scene.

Together with her colleagues of the Violent Crime Squad at Linköping Police Department, they must find out who the man in the tree is, and how he got there. Their manhunt in the frigid wake of a ruthless killer brings Malin Fors to the brink, and into some of the darkest corners of the human heart. The first in a series of four books, Midwinter Blood will keep readers coming back for more, again and again.

Author Biography: After being awarded the Swedish equivalent to the Whitbread Award for his debut novel Pesetas, Mons Kallentoft chose to give his own unique take on the classic Scandinavian crime novel. His success was immediate. The first book in the series about superintendent Malin Fors received unanimous praise from the national critics; it also conquered the bestseller charts and has today sold more than 300,000 copies in Sweden alone.

Was Mons Kallentoft born to be a storyteller? Yes, perhaps. Because, considering his upbringing, literature was not the obvious path in life. Mons grew up in a working-class home in the provincial town of Linköping, Sweden. Books were a rare phenomenon in his house; instead the young author spent his time playing football and ice hockey.

He discovered literature when he was about fourteen, and bedridden following a severe sports injury. Kafka, Hemingway and George Orwell introduced the young man to a whole new world.

The path to his own authorship led him through the advertising business, journalism and the shady side of Madrid. His debut, Pesetas, which was awarded the Swedish equivalent to the Whitbread Award, takes place among cocaine dealers and bankrobbers in the Spanish capital.

FYI: Interview in Shots Ezine

Monday Musing

I am working at a Summer Day Camp this summer and I have to tell you all that those kids are kicking my butt.  I am exhausted everyday and look forward to the weekends - but then my kids or

husband have things planned that keep me from resting up for the next crazy week.

  I take four of my kids with me to 

Day Camp so I get to spend lots of time with them all.  Two if them are teen helpers and two 

are campers.  Things are bit crazy at this house 

and I am depending more and more

on my other reviewers which I appreciate more and more everyday.

We will do our best keeping up with posting, reading and reviewing.

Some days will go well and others will be a bit behind.  Hang in there with us.

And have a great sunny summer.

Thanks for understanding!!!

**except About a Boy by Nick Hornby because that movie was awesome

Happy Weekend

Have a great day!!  Put up your feet and read a good book!!!

We may have a few suggestions for you.

Book Review - Death of a Serpent (Serafina Florio Mysteries #1 - Susan Russo Anderson

Title:    Death of a Serpent (Serafina Florio Mysteries #1)

Author:  Susan Russo Anderson

Review:  For starters I enjoyed this mystery and found the characters interesting along with the Madam.  I was confused at a few spots and needed to read some of the book again.  The mystery was enough to keep me guessing but I really missed the boat on who the killer was.  I was surprised and needed to go back and figure out where we had met this character, the name was familiar I just couldn't place them.

I read this at night before bed and I hate to say it, but I kept falling asleep and waking up with my Kindle in my face.  I think that this author is going to get better at her writing and I look forward to that.  Watching an author grow as a writer is fulfilling for earlier readers.

The mystery centered around the deaths of the working girls at a high end brothel.  Serafina is a widow who owes the madam for help.  She goes around trying to find the killer with little help from the local police.  Her family is sweet and the kids all have a special talent that they use to help the family make it without a father.  I see Serafina as a character that will grow with the author and become someone we look forward to reading about.

Mysteries are fun and this one isn’t bad…but the next one will be even better.

Publisher:  Published January 7th 2012 by Concad'Oro Publishing

Copyright: 2012

Pages:  Kindle Edition

ISBN:    B006V3XOKI

Quick Review: 3 Stars out of 5. 

Where Did I Get the Book:  Sent by the author for review.

Synopsis:   Serafina Florio is a widowed midwife-turned-sleuth living in nineteenth-century Sicily. After grappling with the Mafia and other murderers to solve mysteries in her native town, she moves her family of seven to the Lower East Side where she defies the Black Hand to uncover the truth.

Born in 1827, Serafina lived the first part of her life in Oltramari, a fictional city near Palermo. Her father, a visiting professor at the University of Turin, died in the January 1848 revolution; her mother, a midwife, in the cholera epidemic of 1865.

In 1847, Serafina married Giorgio Florio, the apothecary’s oldest son, who, like Serafina, was a member of the merchant class. After marriage, Serafina remained a midwife, refining her skills, delivering healthy babies.

In 1866—a horrific year in Sicily’s history—three prostitutes were knifed to death, their foreheads gouged with a strange, spiraling mark, their bodies dumped on the madam’s doorstep. When the police did nothing to solve the murders, Rosa—Serafina’s oldest, dearest friend—asked for her help. How could she refuse?

After her husband died, Serafina and her children emigrated to New York where she continued to direct births and solve mysteries until her death in 1914—which she survives.

Her memory is long, her perspective, grand, her penchant for quibbling with Rosa, undiminished, her gift for numbers, still meager.

 

Author Biography:  I was born in Evanston, Illinois. After attending Marywood High School for Girls and St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, I received a B.A. in English Literature from Marquette University.

I am a writer, a mother, a grandmother, a widow. I’ve taught language arts and creative writing, worked for a publisher, an airline, an opera company. Traveled. Grew up on the north side of Chicago, but lived most of my adult life in the east. So, like Faulkner’s Dilsey, I’ve seen the best and the worst, the first and the last. I've seen worlds blow apart and life turn inside out in less time than it takes to type this sentence. Through it all, and to understand it somewhat, I write.

DEATH OF A SERPENT, the first in the Serafina Florio series, published January 2012. It began as a painting of the Lower East Side and wound up as a mystery story. I just published NO MORE BROTHERS, a novella, the second in the Serafina Florio series and am working on another novel, DEATH IN BAGHERIA.

In between writing, revising and editing, I blog and review books. My reviews can be read at Amazon, LLBook Review, and here.

Other Reviews:  The LL Bookreview, Amazon

Book Review - The Son of Neptune - Rick Riordan

Title:  The Son of Neptune

Author: Rick Riordan

Review:  I have enjoyed all the Percy Jackson books so far and this one is just as good as the rest.  Finding out you are a DemiGod is exciting and who hasn’t wished that they were someone important?  Especially as a child or teenager, when you sometimes felt like you didn’t really fit in anywhere or with anyone.  Well Percy certainly didn’t fit in with regular-normal children.  He was different and as the series progresses you see how different and how unique he truly is.  He had the power of Achilles in the last book, but well I don’t want to ruin it for you….but he is on his own again.  Oh except for the new characters that he meets along the way of course. 

I think that anyone would enjoy this fast moving, exciting series about kids that have to rise above the norm to save the world as we know it.  My children are excited when a new book is being released and they always read it ahead of me.  Get this series and get this book if you haven’t read it yet.  Olympus, Greek and Roman Gods…what’s not to love about that?  Mythology brought to life…come on I know you want to read them now.

Publisher: Published October 4th 2011 by HyperionBook CH

ISBN: 9781423140597

Copyright: 2011

Pages: 521

Quick Review: 41/2  stars (out of 5)

Why I Read It:  I have read the previous books in the series.

Where Did I Get the Book:  My local library.

Synopsis:

 Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,

To storm or fire the world must fall.

An oath to keep with a final breath,

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

Percy is confused. When he awoke from his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa told him he is a demigod and trained him to fight with the pen/sword in his pocket. Somehow Percy manages to make it to a camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he has to keep killing monsters along the way. But the camp doesn't ring and bells with him. The only thing he can recall from his past is another name: Annabeth

Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn't do a very good job of it. Sure, she was an obedient daughter, even when her mother was possessed by greed. But that was the problem - when the Voice took over her mother and commanded Hazel to use her "gift" for and evil purpose, Hazel couldn't say no. Now because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk. Hazel wished she could ride away from it all on the stallion that appears in her dreams.

Frank is a klutz. His grandmother says he is descended from heroes and can be anything he wants to be, but he doesn't see it. He doesn't even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery - although not good enough to win camp war games. His bulky physique makes him feel like an ox, especially infront of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely - enough to share the secret he holds close to his heart.

Beginning at the "other" camp for half-bloods and extending as far as the land beyond the gods, this breathtaking second installment of the Heroes of Olympus series introduces new demigods, revives fearsome monsters, and features other remarkable creatures, all destined to play a part in the Prophesy of Seven

 

Author Biography: Rick Riordan is an American author from Texas famous for his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian). He attended The University of Texas at Austin in 1986, where he double-majored in English and History He also wrote The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles) and, most recently, The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus). He also wrote the Tres Navarre series for adults and helped to edit Demigods and Monsters, a collection of essays on the topic of his Percy Jackson series. He also wrote book one of the 39 Clues (The Maze of Bones) and co-wrote book eleven (Vespers Rising) published by Scholastic Corporation.

Other Review:

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Book Review - We Learn Nothing: Essays and Cartoons - Tim Kreider

Title:    We Never Learn

Author:  Tim Kreider

Review:  We Learn Nothing is a collection of essays about a man growing up.  Tim Kreider is a political cartoonist (who definitely leans liberal) who spent his youth stridently convinced of his position and opinions.  But as life happens, as it does to all, he learns that the black and white of youth gives way to gray.

In the essay Escape from Pony Island he learns there is a limit to his political convictions.  A good friend becomes fully committed to the Peak Oil movement and with relentless passion tries to influence all his friends.  Ultimately he must let the friendship go and the heartbreak is palpable.  On the other hand in Chutes and Candyland he discovers new depths to his empathy and friendship as he helps nurse a good friend through a male to female gender reassignment surgery.  It is one of those life events we assume we will never experience, but when presented with it Tim stepped up and was there for his friend.

Throughout the book we get glimpses of both the man Tim was and we can also see who he is becoming, reiterating that we are all on a journey to find our true selves.  Every day is an opportunity to be our true self.  In Sister World Tim learns who his biological mother is and discovers he has two younger half sisters.  This allows him to be the brother again and fix the mistakes he made with his own sister.  Not often do we get a chance to revisit the past so directly, to be given a cosmic redo.

I really liked Reprieve, in which he documents being stabbed in the throat as a younger man.  The story is great on its own, but I like the great truth he puts in his accompanying cartoon about it (did I mention he is a cartoonist?).  When we tell stories we always change and shape them for entertainment purposes, much like a stand up comedian honing their act down to just the right words for the biggest laugh.  Truth, like memory, is extremely malleable.

This collection has two things really going for it, Kreider is both brutally honest, about himself and others, and he is extremely funny.  If you have never tried essays before this is a fantastic place to start.  

Publisher:  Free Press

Copyright: 2012

Pages:  218

ISBN:    978-1-4391-9870-4

Quick Review: 4 Stars out of 5. 

Where Did I Get the Book:  Sent by the publisher for review.

Synopsis: In We Learn Nothing, satirical cartoonist Tim Kreider turns his funny, brutally honest eye to the dark truths of the human condition, asking big questions about human-sized problems: What if you survive a brush with death and it doesn’t change you? Why do we fall in love with people we don’t even like? What do you do when a friend becomes obsessed with a political movement and won’t let you ignore it? How do you react when someone you’ve known for years unexpectedly changes genders? Irreverent yet earnest, he shares deeply personal experiences and readily confesses his vices— betraying his addiction to lovesickness, for example, and the gray area that he sees between the bold romantic gesture and the illegal act of stalking. In these pages, we witness Kreider’s tight-knit crew struggle to deal with a pathologically lying friend who won’t ask for help. We watch him navigate a fraught relationship with a lonely uncle in jail who—as he degenerates into madness— continues to plead for the support of his conflicted nephew. And we cringe as he gets outed as a “moby” at a Tea Party rally. In moments like these, we can’t help but ask ourselves: How far would we go for our own family members, and when is someone simply too far gone to save? Are there truly “bad people,” and if so, should we change them? With a perfect combination of humor and pathos, these essays, peppered with Kreider’s signature cartoons, leave us with newfound wisdom and a unique prism through which to examine our own chaotic journeys through life. Uncompromisingly candid, sometimes mercilessly so, these comically illustrated essays are rigorous exercises in self-awareness and self-reflection. These are the conversations you have only with best friends or total strangers, late at night over drinks, near closing time.

Author Biography:   Tim Kreider’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Film Quarterly, The Comics Journal, and Nerve.com. His popular comic strip The Pain—When Will It End? ran in alternative weeklies and has been has been collected in three books by Fantagraphics. He divides his time between New York City and the Chesapeake Bay area.

Author Spotlight - Carl Alves - Book Giveaway - Pump Up Your Book Tours

ABOUT CARL ALVES

Carl went to Boston University majoring in Biomedical Engineering. Carl graduated with a BS degree, and has since worked in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries. He later graduated from Lehigh University with an MBA degree.

His debut novel “Two For Eternity” was released in 2011 by Weaving Dreams Publishing. His novel “Blood Street” will be published by True Grit Publishing in November, 2012. His short fiction has appeared in various publications such as Sinister City, Alien Skin and Glassfire Anthology. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association and has attended the Penn Writers Conference.

You can visit his website at www.carlalves.com.

ABOUT TWO FOR ETERNITY

Two for Eternity is a historical as well as a contemporary, fantasy thriller that takes many controversial interpretations of history.

From ancient Egypt and Babylon, through the time of Christ in Judea, spanning the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and through World War II, Raiken and Vrag engage in inhuman battles of will. Vrag pulls the strings of malevolent leaders, and causes endless destruction and chaos. His immortal counterpart and enemy, Raiken, defends humanity and opposes him at every turn.

The stakes have never been higher, as Vrag sets his sights on the destruction of society. The twin brothers battle one last time to settle their score for eternity.

To win a copy of this book-Please leave your name, contact information and how you follow this blog in the comment section.  That is it and good luck.

Book Tour

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Monday on a Tuesday in my mailbox

Here are some of the books we have gotten lately...what are you reading?
And her older sister Bella couldn’t be more excited. Not only will Polly be home after five years in New York, but she’s coming back to marry the most perfect man on the planet, Dev. Dresses, cake, first dance … Bella’s looking forward to getting stuck into the arrangements.

Polly's best friend Grace is just as excited. She’s can’t wait to walk down the aisle behind her childhood ally, especially as the stylish Polly wouldn’t dream of dressing her bridesmaids in anything but the best, which will make a welcome change to the ‘mum-wear’ she’s adopted since her second child was born.

The only person who doesn’t seem to be bursting with enthusiasm is Polly. Which is why, before things can get any more chaotic, she calls the whole thing off. And there’s no way she’s going to tell them why. Some secrets are best kept hidden.

But she’s reckoned without Grace and Bella, who are determined to get Polly and Dev back together if it's the last thing they do. After all, solving someone else’s problems has got to be better than dealing with their own …?

Mothers— both reluctant and euphoric — ride the familial tide of joy, pride, regret, guilt, and love in these stories of resilient and flawed women. In a battle between a teenage daughter and her mother, wheat bread and plain yogurt become weapons. An aimless college student, married to her much older professor, sneaks cigarettes while caring for their newborn son. On the eve of her husband’s fiftieth birthday, a pilfered fifth of vodka, an unexpected tattoo, and rogue teenagers leave a woman questioning her place. And in a suite of stories, we follow capricious, ambitious single mother Ruby and her cautious, steadfast daughter Nora through their tumultuous life—stray men, stray cats, and psychedelic drugs—in 1970s California.

Gimlet-eyed and emotionally generous, achingly real and beautifully written, these unforgettable stories cut to the heart of the connection and conflict in families. Shout Her Lovely Name heralds the arrival of a stunning new writer.

Following in the footsteps of The Birth House, her powerful debut novel, The Virgin Cure secures Ami McKay's place as one of our most beguiling storytellers. (Not that it has to… that is pretty much taken care of!)

"I am Moth, a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart." So begins The Virgin Cure, a novel set in the tenements of lower Manhattan in the year 1871. As a young child, Moth's father smiled, tipped his hat and walked away from his wife and daughter forever, and Moth has never stopped imagining that one day they may be reunited – despite knowing in her heart what he chose over them. Her hard mother is barely making a living with her fortune-telling, sometimes for well-heeled clients, yet Moth is all too aware of how she really pays the rent.

Life would be so much better, Moth knows, if fortune had gone the other way - if only she'd had the luxury of a good family and some station in life. The young Moth spends her days wandering the streets of her own and better neighbourhoods, imagining what days are like for the wealthy women whose grand yet forbidding gardens she slips through when no one's looking. Yet every night Moth must return to the disease- and grief-ridden tenements she calls home.

The summer Moth turns twelve, her mother puts a halt to her explorations by selling her boots to a local vendor, convinced that Moth was planning to run away. Wanting to make the most of her every asset, she also sells Moth to a wealthy woman as a servant, with no intention of ever seeing her again.

These betrayals lead Moth to the wild, murky world of the Bowery, filled with house-thieves, pickpockets, beggars, sideshow freaks and prostitutes, but also a locale frequented by New York's social elite. Their patronage supports the shadowy undersphere, where businesses can flourish if they truly understand the importance of wealth and social standing - and of keeping secrets. In that world Moth meets Miss Everett, the owner of a brothel simply known as an "infant school." There Moth finds the orderly solace she has always wanted, and begins to imagine herself embarking upon a new path.

Yet salvation does not come without its price: Miss Everett caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for companions who are "willing and clean," and the most desirable of them all are young virgins like Moth. That's not the worst of the situation, though. In a time and place where mysterious illnesses ravage those who haven't been cautious, no matter their social station, diseased men yearn for a "virgin cure" - thinking that deflowering a "fresh maid" can heal the incurable and tainted. 

Through the friendship of Dr. Sadie, a female physician who works to help young women like her, Moth learns to question and observe the world around her. Moth's new friends are falling prey to fates both expected and forced upon them, yet she knows the law will not protect her, and that polite society ignores her. Still she dreams of answering to no one but herself. There's a high price for such independence, though, and no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street.
Possessed of a luminous beauty and a delicate grace, Tess Bradford left Maryland for London with but one purpose, to secure the release of her husband, a devout American patriot, who had been seized by the British navy. Only one man could help her secure his release, James Devereaux, Duke of Langley, former aide to Wellington. But Tess wasn't prepared for the passion that burned beneath Devereaux's implacable demeanor.
Jenny's allegiance lay with the Confederate Army. But her heart belonged to the enemy. Faithful to her family and the land of her birth, young Jenny Jordan covers for her father's Confederate spy missions. But as she grows closer to handsome Union soldier Buck Brownell. Jenny finds herself torn between devotion to the South and her feelings for the man she is forbidden to love. Overwhelmed by pressure to assist the South, Jenny agrees to carry critical information over enemy lines. But when she is caught in Buck Brownell's territory, will he follow orders to execute the beautiful spy or find a way to save his Beloved Enemy?
ut she's managing quite well as a governess to three highborn young ladies. Her job can be a challenge — in a single week she finds herself hiding in a closet full of tubas, playing an evil queen in a play that might be a tragedy (or might be a comedy—no one is sure), and tending to the wounds of the oh-so-dashing Earl of Winstead. After years of dodging unwanted advances, he's the first man who has truly tempted her, and it's getting harder and harder to remind herself that a governess has no business flirting with a nobleman.


Daniel Smythe-Smith might be in mortal danger…

But that's not going to stop the young earl from falling in love. And when he spies a mysterious woman at his family's annual musicale, he vows to pursue her, even if that means spending his days with a ten-year-old who thinks she's a unicorn. But Daniel has an enemy, one who has vowed to see him dead. And when Anne is thrown into peril, he will stop at nothing to ensure their happy ending…
In We Learn Nothing, satirical cartoonist Tim Kreider turns his funny, brutally honest eye to the dark truths of the human condition, asking big questions about human-sized problems: What if you survive a brush with death and it doesn’t change you? Why do we fall in love with people we don’t even like? What do you do when a friend becomes obsessed with a political movement and won’t let you ignore it? How do you react when someone you’ve known for years unexpectedly changes genders? Irreverent yet earnest, he shares deeply personal experiences and readily confesses his vices— betraying his addiction to lovesickness, for example, and the gray area that he sees between the bold romantic gesture and the illegal act of stalking. In these pages, we witness Kreider’s tight-knit crew struggle to deal with a pathologically lying friend who won’t ask for help. We watch him navigate a fraught relationship with a lonely uncle in jail who—as he degenerates into madness— continues to plead for the support of his conflicted nephew. And we cringe as he gets outed as a “moby” at a Tea Party rally. In moments like these, we can’t help but ask ourselves: How far would we go for our own family members, and when is someone simply too far gone to save? Are there truly “bad people,” and if so, should we change them? With a perfect combination of humor and pathos, these essays, peppered with Kreider’s signature cartoons, leave us with newfound wisdom and a unique prism through which to examine our own chaotic journeys through life. Uncompromisingly candid, sometimes mercilessly so, these comically illustrated essays are rigorous exercises in self-awareness and self-reflection. These are the conversations you have only with best friends or total strangers, late at night over drinks, near closing time.
1st chapter to Dead Awakening.