Silenced by Syrah by Michele Scott

Copyright: 2007
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 256 pg
Challenges: Read your own books, Series Challenge 3
New-to-me Author: No
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Nikki Sands works at a winery in Napa Valley. She is the manager and she loves it. Recently a hotel and spa was built on the property and also a restaurant. Nikki likes the restaurant owner although she know he is hard on those who work for him and can cause some to dislike him. She never thought somebody would turn to murder though. But..when she finds Georges murdered in the Spa, she realizes at least 1 person disliked Georges enough to get rid of him. She decides to look into the murder, not only because of her curiosity but also because the detective told her to mind her own business. Mixed in with all of this is Nikki's love life. She's been dating Andre' but isn't able to commit yet. That's exactly what he wants of her though. He wants her to go to Spain with him for 6 months. Nikki likes him, but she also has feelings for her boss. She hasn't done anything with those feelings though because she doesn't believe her boss feels the same way about her.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

I really like this series. This author has two series, this one and a horse lover's series and I loved both right from the first book. You can't help but love the characters even though some can make you crazy sometimes. I like that in this one Nikki admits that she's doing the snooping just because she is interested in knowing what happened. I like Nikki and I'm glad that the cliff hanger at the end leaves you knowing that she will make a decision on which guy she wants.

In my opinion this is a great cozy mystery series, one that I think most cozy lovers will enjoy. Definitely start from the beginning of the series though, but then, you were all probably going to do that anyway. haha!

This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich

Copyright: 2007

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Genre: Mystery
Pages: audio
Challenges: Stephanie Plum Challenge
New-to-me Author: No
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Stephanie has only one person she has to find for her job as a bounty hunter. When Diesel shows up in her apt, he tells her he has the lady, Hart, however Stephanie has to do him a favor first. Diesel is currently protecting Hart from somebody else and needs Stephanie's help to trap the other person as well as finish up some relationship issues Hart is working on. So Stephanie agree's and she starts to play cupid for 3 people, the 4th is Albert Clown, who is engaged to Stephanie's sister.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

I really didn't feel like doing a good description of this one, or at least a more detailed one that I gave. Here's the thing..this is one of the in-between novels and for the most part I just don't get them. They are ok, I just don't see the point of them. I would prefer the author just continue writing the normal stories and put more effort into those. I mostly read this one as part of the Stephanie Plum challenge I am doing, otherwise I think I would have skilled it and moved right on to #14 which is the next in the series that I need to read. I did enjoy it, just not as much as the normal ones. This book was also very short, I think it was only 3 disks and it only took me 2 days to listen to it.

This audio book was rented from my local library.

Friday Smile -

I think this is such a cute picture! Of course, it's of one of my nephews, Oliver. He's a bit shy and was hiding from me.

The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig

Copyright: 2007
Publisher: Dutton
Genre: Fiction
Pages: audio version
Challenges: Read Your Own Books
New-to-me Author: no
Author's Website



Simple Description:
This is the third book in the series by Lauren Willig. In this one, Letty tries to keep her sister from enloping with Lord Jeffery Pinchingdale-Snipe, but somehow ends up being compromised and is forced to marry Lord Pinchingdale-Snipe herself! On their wedding night, Jeffery leaves for Ireland. He doesn't even tell his wife, he just disappears. Of course, he is very unhappy with the situation and believes Letty wanted to be compromised so he would have to marry her. Letty decides to go after him, because it's far to embarrassing to remain at home and have everyone learn that he ran off already. So she goes under a different name and pretends to be a widow. Once in Ireland, she attends a party and finds her husband there...flirting with another woman, somebody far more beautiful than Letty.

When Jeffery notices Letty, he is very upset. He is actually working in Ireland, he is on a secret mission for the League of the Purple Gentian. Letty doesn't even know he works for them and she could ruin everything. The beautiful women he is flirting with, is actually Jane - the Pink Carnation. She is under an assumed name. While it appears they are flirting..they really aren't..they are passing important, spy-worthy information back and forth.

Switching back into real day, we have Eloise who is researching The Pink Carnation and The League of the Purple Gentian. She is secretly in lust with Collin Selwick but isn't sure he returns the feelings. Collin is a ancestor to those she is researching and she has been using the family archives to help with the research. He isn't happy she is messing around with his family history or archives however in this book he does show interest in what she is finding in her search at the British Library.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

I loved this book! This is one of my favorite series, so far. It's so fun to read about the spy's and what is going on. I love the romance part of it...sure you can guess what is going to happen but it's still fun to go along for the ride with the characters as they figure it. I definitely recommend these books to others.

I also found the whole idea of Letty being compromised just by kissing a boy rather funny. If that happened now-a-days, we would have a ton of forced marriages. haha! It's so fun to read about the customs of days gone by and compare them to the way things are done now.

This is the first time I have listened to the audio version of this series and I must say that the reader did an excellent job. I'm very tempted to get the rest on audio from the library now. The reader changed her voice for the different characters, which is something that I love.



This audio book was rented from my local library, although I do own a copy of this book as well.

Killer Summer by Ridley Pearson

Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Putnam
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 367
Challenges: None
New-to-me Author: No
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Walt Fleming, local sheriff in Sun Valley Idaho, is fishing with his nephew when he notices a wrecker going across the bridge. He finds this very very strange because they are off the beaten path and the wrecker isn't from a local company. He decides to investigate and finds a man passed out in the car that is being towed and those driving the wrecker have fled. There is a sealed, metal briefcase in with the man who was passed out. He takes this into custody but is unable to open it. When he does track down who the case was supposed to be delivered to, he finds that it contains two very expensive bottles of wine.

Soon he finds out that there are some who think the wine is a forgery. However, before he can look into that closer, he finds that his nephew is in trouble. It seems he was helping a girl run away, but when they were in her father's lear jet, three men stole the jet, kidnapping the two teenagers. Now Walt must find the two teenagers and figure out why the jet was stolen.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

This is the 3rd novel with Walt Fleming. I read Killer Weekend (in 2007! wow! I thought it as lat year. haha!) and enjoyed it. I was given the opportunity to review Killer Summer and grabbed. I didn't read the 2nd in the series, you know how that is, however it didn't matter. I was still able to follow the story and think the book works fine as a stand alone.

I thought this was an excellent mystery. I enjoyed the characters and the story seemed to be constantly moving. I loved how parts of it are told from the Sheriff's view point, so you can see what is happening with the investigation and parts are told from the teenagers point of view, so you can see what they are doing to save themselves.

My only complaint, is that it never seems clear to me exactly who was behind the mastermind of stealing the wine bottles. I could have just missed that though.

But...even with a complaint, I still highly recommend this book. Not just because I like to support authors from my home town (woohoo! Go St. Louis!) but because I really enjoyed the book.

Thanks to Nicole from Authors on the Web for providing this book for review.

Hooked on House Tours - Fall edition

I happened upon a blog titled Hooked on Houses and jumped at the chance to show off my house (again) for their fall edition of house tours. Everyone loves to look at others houses right? Now you can do it from the comfort of your own home! If you click on the tag, you will be taken to Hooked on Houses Tours - fall edition, where you can click on the others who are participating and see how others live.

As most of you are aware, husband and I bought a new house not too long ago, April of last year to be exact. Since then we have done some major, and not so major renovations. I'm still waiting on my custom built bookshelves for the library, which we haven't ordered yet because of cost. haha! Otherwise I would show off the library because that's my favorite room in the house. Instead, I'm showing off the kitchen. This is the room that took the most work and is the biggest renovation we did to the house. (And.....stay tuned because we are going to be re-doing the master bath this winter...so I'll have pictures of that at some point)

I'm going to start off by showing you the before pictures. Otherwise you just aren't going to be as impressed with what we did! As some background info, the house is 20 years old and at the time we bought it, the house had not been updated at all. Apparently, the original owners loved pink. Husband and I? not so much.

So this is the kitchen. yeah. Need I say more? Lots of pink. Plus, what is going on with that island? It's so small...too small for the room. Plus we didn't like how the stove was in front of the fridge, no way you could get access to the fridge if somebody was cooking at the stove. Where the hanging (pink) light is, is where a table was supposed to go.

This is another view of the kitchen. I'm basically showing you this picture because we did make some changes to that wall. Keep looking...you'll see.

This shows the sun room, at least that's what we assume it was. See the pink blinds. Yeah. We didn't see a need for the sun room, didn't think it would ever be used. Sure, it could be a nice place to sit and read..all those windows. Except...we were (and did!) planning to convert the living room into a library with a place to read.

OK...now here are the after pictures! Major difference don't you think? (psstt..pay no mind to the spakling on the wall - I forgot it was there when I took the picture). As you can see we made the island twice as big and we moved the stove so it was near the sink instead of the fridge. We made sure there was enough room that somebody can be cooking and somebody else could be at the sink (and there's even enough room to load/unload the dishwasher!). Don't you just love the crown molding on top of the cabinets? It really made a difference. The countertop is granite, Labrador green. I had wanted the black one with sparkles in it, alas that didn't happen because it's way to expensive, but we are happy with what we got. We also added a spot for the microwave to be off of the counter. Notice it? Love it there.

Remember the picture of the walls? Here's the renovated picture! We closed off the original door to the family room and put a bar there. We then took out part of the wall to make a big opening to the kitchen. Now when you are in the family room, you can easily see in the kitchen and spy on the cook...and the cook can watch tv or spy on you. I wanted it so when we have a kid we can easily keep an eye on the baby/kid, I think husband wanted it so he could see the tv.

Lastly, remember the sun room we didn't think we would use? It's now part of the kitchen. Tada! We took down that partial wall, replaced the blindes and the light. Now the kitchen is perfect for family gatherings! At the last gathering I was able to put a card table in the space between the island and table and we could all eat comfortably in the same room. (ok..I know..the chair is missing from the table. My husband likes to watch tv when eating...and there is an opening into the family room there...so he can watch tv. But..if you put a chair on the end of the table it's in his way. alas...the chair is stuck in the corner)

So that's it! I hope you enjoyed the house tour! Thanks for stopping by.

Friday Smile - pumpkin patch

Why oh why can't I pick up this pumpkin!!!!!

Death Waxed Over by Tim Myers

Copyright: 2005
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 219
Challenges: Series Challenge,
New-to-me Author: No
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Harrison Black has some new competition. Gretel Barnett has recently opened up a candle shop in their small town and she is determined to run his candle shop out of business. They both have a booth at the Founder's Day parade and unfortunately for Harrison, Gretel is murdered when he is walking behind her booth and he is immediately fingered as the prime suspect.

After a couple of days people begin to realize it wasn't him and the police start to look into somebody else. Unfortunately this other person is Harrison's friend and handyman at River's Edge. Harrison does some investigating on his own in hopes of clearing his friends name.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

I really enjoy Tim Myer's books. I think it definitely takes a cozy mystery lover to like the books though. I don't think there is enough to them for others to like them, although that's my opinion.

However, for those of us who are fans of cozy mysteries and love the mystery thrown in along with all the normal day activities, this is a great series.

This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Water Witch by Deborah Leblanc

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Leisure books
Genre: mystery
Pages: 290
Challenges: None
New-to-me Author: Yes
Author's Website



Simple Description:

(I have taken the following from the author's website)

Dunny knew from an early age what it meant to be an outsider. Her special abilities earned her many names, like freak and water witch. So she vowed to keep her powers a secret.

Now, though, her talents may be the only hope for two missing children. A young boy and girl have vanished, feared lost in the mysterious bayous of Louisiana. But they didn’t just disappear; they were taken. By something far more dangerous than the ghosts and spirits living in the swamp. Something with very special plans for the children—and for anyone who dares to interfere . . .

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

I'm undecided about this book, which is part of the reason it has taken me so long to write my review. I like the idea. I liked that this girl has a "special power" and she wants to save these young kids. I liked the relationship between Dunny and her sister. I even liked the Grandma, although she had to grow on me.

I didn't like all the extra stuff that was thrown in. There seemed to be a lot of filler info and filler story lines that really didn't have anything to do with the main storyline - the missing kids. I also didn't really like the ending. Well..I liked the very end with everything was wrapped up. I liked that. I didn't like the almost end where, um, I don't want to give anything away so I'm not going to say.

So..it's hard. I think the book was interesting, the story was interesting, but I think it needed to be cleaned up a bit.

I do encourage you to check out the reviews on amazon though. If your interest is peaked, even just a little, check it out on amazon and read some of the other reviews to get other opinions.

Thanks to Anna at FSB Associates for providing this book for review.

Cirque de Freak - winners!

Thank you everyone for you patience. I should have picked the winners and put this post up on Friday however, if you read my post on Friday I'm sure you can understand that I wasn't really in the right frame of mind to do so.

So...today I have the winners for you!

Thank you all who voted and those of you entered for a chance to win.

The two lucky winners were #3 and #19 on the list, they are:

Julie H.

Kayleen G.

Congratulations!!!!!! I will be getting your address info to my contact and they will be sending out your prize. I forgot to get your email address, so I can't notify you that way, but if there is an issue I'll just post something on my blog.

Honor our fallen and pray for their familes

Usually on Fridays I try to share a picture that makes me smile or that I enjoy. Today is a bit different. I learned earlier today that one of my friends received devistating news yesterday. Her son, Brandon, was killed in action. He was serving in Afghanistan.

So today I ask that you honor the fallen soldiers who are fighting for our freedom and for the freedom of others. I ask that you remember their families because they are going through a tough time. I don't live in the same state as my friend, so I can't be there for her. I'm actually not sure what I can do although I want to do something. I ask that you just keep her and her family in your thoughts. For those of you who pray, I ask that you send a brief prayer for my friend and her family. Thank you.

Update - if anybody is interested - here's an article on my friend's son, click here.

Cirque du Freak - GIVEAWAY - The Vampire's Assistant

***The Giveaway has ended***

I am happy to be hosting another give away on my blog. While I haven't had the chance to get my hands on a copy of these books, I've heard they are good and thought several of my readers would probably enjoy the chance to win the box set. Plus...did you know they made the series into a movie? Yup..it comes out Oct 23rd. Now aren't you even more excited to get your hands on a copy of the series?

So what do you get in this give away? Two lucky winners will win:

Cirque du Freak book Set (3 titles in one book) and

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant Locker Mirror

Please note:

The Vampire’s Assistant giveaway is open to legal US residents who are at least 13 years of age as of October 1st. Prizing is only available to United States mailing address only. (International readers can enter if they have a friend in the States who can accept their prizes by mail.)

What do you have to do to get entered into the drawing? It's easy..I swear.

1) Fill out the form you will find below. If you have entered contests on my blog before than you know I ask for your address up-front, again I will promise you that I don't share it with anybody except the person who will be mailing the items (if you are the winner). I just find it easier this way.

2) Please vote for your favorite t-shirt saying.

3) For an extra entry into the drawing, for those of you who blog, please create a post telling others about this give-away and linking to my website. (I have the opportunity to win an ipod touch and would really really like one, so that's the only reason I'm asking you to tell others about this contest..normally I don't). If you do #3, please leave a comment with a link to your blog post. Thanks!

4) This contest runs Oct 1- Oct 15 (midnight)

That's it! If you have any questions, please let me know.

Now..for some fun stuff.

First...Please vote for your favorite t-shirt saying!!!!!

Second..please fill out this form in order for a chance to win.

Here's some extra info for you:

THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE

http://vampiresassistant.net/

ABOUT THE MOVIE

In theaters October 23^rd

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, based on the popular series of books by Darren Shan, is a fantasy-adventure about a teenager who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and grotesque creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares.

CIRQUE DU FREAK has been rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned - Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13) for sequences of intense supernatural violence and action, disturbing images, thematic elements and some language.

War Through the Generations - wrap-up post

I finished the War Through the Generations reading challenge. The goal was to read 5 books that deal with WWII.

Here's the list of books I read, click on the title to be taken to my review.

Love and Sand by Howard M. Layton

Germania by Brendan McNally

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

Thanks to Anna and Serena for coming up with this challenge and hosting it. I loved it and I can't wait to do the challenge again next year -with another war.

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

Copyright: ?
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Mystery
Pages: audio
Challenges: TBR Challenge, 1st in a series
New-to-me Author: No
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Jack Spratt is the detective in charge of the NCD, Nursery Crime Division, of the local police. He is called to the wall where Humpty Dumpty has, well, fallen and died. He starts to investigate and soon learns that Dumpty was murdered. The more he looks into the case, the more confusing it gets. Detective Mary Mary is assigned to the NCD early in the book. She doesn't' want to work for the NCD but had to get away from her last position. She really wants to work with another detective that is very well known and loved. She has the opportunity to do some dirty work for this detective, but it would require her to go against Spratt.

During this investigation, Spratt and Mary come across a goose that lays golden eggs, giants, bean stocks, the Jelly Man, and evil doctors. Just when they think they have it figured out, things take a turn for the worse and they realize it isn't all as it seems

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

This book was really hard to explain, so please forgive my description. I thought the book was great! I love nursery rhymes, although I haven't read them in years. This book was fun because I recognized a lot of the nursery crime characters in it and it was fun to see how Fforde manipulated the stories. I thought the story kept moving and didn't get boring or stall at all. I've only read one of his Thursday Next books so I don't really have an opinion as far as "if you like Thursday Next you'll enjoy this series too" etc. I personally thought it was a lot of fun and think it's something most would enjoy reading just for the fun factor. I'll definitely be reading more in this series.

I actually own this book, it is part of my collection and was bought by myself, however I did listen to the audio book which was rented from my local library.

The Madannas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

Copyright:2006
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 231
Challenges: War Through the Generations
New-to-me Author: Yes
Author's Website


Simple Description:
This book flips back and forth between present day and the early 1940's- during WWII. The main character is Marina.

She was in her early 20's in 1941 when Leningrad was first surrounded by the Nazi's and bombing started. Her fiance, Dimitri had just left the city to fight in the Russian Army. She works for the State Hermitage Museum as a tour guide and has a love of art. As the story unfolds she is helping to pack up the priceless pieces of art so they can be removed from the city and taken somewhere safe. As the city is under attach, herself and her family end up living in the basement of the museum with several others. She is often on night watch, watching for incoming planes and then the locations of fires so they can be put out. She is a worker, so luckily that means her family gets a bit more food. However, due to the bombing and the harsh winter there isn't very much to go around. Several in the city die of starvation and cold every day. The thing that seems to help Marina is memorizing the artwork that used to hang in the halls.

The alternating story is present day Marina. She lives in the USA with her husband, Dimitri. She is old now, and suffers from Alzheimer. She goes in and out of present day and remembering the time during the war. She is often confused and believes the paintings are real.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

I thought the story was good but had some issues with how the author wrote it. The flashbacks aren't separated from the current day story. You can be reading the current day and the next paragraph is back in the 1940's. This took a bit for me to get used to, however once I was used to it it was easy to go back and forth. I just prefer when this is clear cut and the reader doesn't have to "think" about it. I can see how it works with the story, it's just not the style I prefer.

However, the story itself was very good. I haven't read much about the Soviet Union and WWII, guess I focus more on the American involvement. It was interesting to get some info on what happened in Leningrad during that time. Even though Marina is a fictional character I enjoyed seeing how she was able to deal with the things she went through by focusing on the artwork.

I also thought it interesting to see how Marina and her husband dealt with the war once it was over. You learn about this, just a little, through their daughter. You learn how they never talked about it, how they wouldn't waste any food and were very frugal. I've heard stories of those same types of things happening with people who had a rough time during the Great Depression. so it's definitely something I can see as happening in real life and thought it was a great addition to the story.

I really enjoyed the story and was glad I read it for the War Through the Generations challenge. I definitely recommend this book to others who enjoy reading about WWII.

This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Win free books for a year? Heck yeah!

Turner Publishing is holding a contest where they will give one lucky winner 1 free book per month for a year! Who wouldn't want a chance like that?

All you have to do is visit their website and fill out the form, easy as can be. Oh, and the contest ends on 10/31.

Click HERE to go directly to the form or click HERE to go to their home page and there is a link on the right side.

I've personally read several good books published by Turner this year and think this is a great contest.

Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti

Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 209
Challenges: None
New-to-me Author: Yes
Author's Website


Simple Description:
Desiree's husband has passed away and left her a widow in her early 30's and with no children and a ticking biological clock. The thing is, she isn't all that upset that he isn't there, just guilty that she feels that way. One day while visiting his grave she meets Benny. He tends the grave next to her husbands. Soon Desiree and Benny are seeing each other. Here's the thing though, they are complete opposites. Benny owns a dairy farm outside of town and never went to collage. He works all day and is looking for a wife who is able to cook for him and take care of the house and help him on the farm. Desiree is an educated woman who works in the library. She went to college and loves to read. She can't cook or keep house. Their relationship is a bit weird. They mostly only see each other on the weekends and maybe once during the week. Right away they know the relationship probably can't work, but the attraction they feel is so strong. Soon you can see that things might end up disastrous but it's like a car wreck...you have to keep going.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

There is a quote on the front cover of the book that says "Offbeat, charming and fun - and also seriously addictive." That definitely sums up this book! You can't help but enjoy each of the main characters, Benny and Desiree (Shrimp). Each is funny and charming in their own way. One thing I loved about this book is that each chapter (each are rather short) alternates from being Desiree or Benny's point of view. The cool thing about this is that something will happen in one chapter and you get that character's point of view. Then the next chapter is the other character and you get their view on what happened too. I loved that!

I definitely recommend this one to others, it's a quick read, a fun book, I think several of you will enjoy it.

Thanks to Caitlin at FSB Associates for providing this book for review.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Riverhead
Genre: Fiction
Pages: none - audio
Challenges: none
New-to-me Author: Yes
Author's Website


Simple Description:
This is the story about how Dr. Faraday becomes involved in the lives of the Ayres and their house, Hundreds Hall. He is called in to treat their maid and then gradually becomes the family doctor and becomes part of their lives. Weird things happen at Hundred's. There is a dinner party and the dog attacks a little girl. Only nobody can figure out why because the dog is very gentle. They don't know why he suddenly attacked somebody. Then Rodderick, the heir to the house and only man in the family, starts acting weird. He seems to think there is something in the house that caused the dog to attack the girl. He thinks something is out to get him and his family. Soon his condition is so bad that Dr. Faraday thinks it is best to have him hospitalized, get him away from the house. This happens, but things continue to get worse. Now it is the mother who is being effected. She has bruises and scratches on her body but swears that she didn't do them herself. She thinks her little girl, the one who passed away as a child, is haunting her. Not only does this happen but the maid and other helper are hearing things. Strange things are happening in the house. Dr. Faraday thinks there has to be a logical, scientific reason, for this but not everyone agrees with him. There is also a bit of a romance between Faraday and Caroline, the other Ayers family member.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
This book is said to be a ghost story, the house is haunted. I thought this was more of a story about Dr. Faraday. Sure, the house is haunted and that is important to the story however, I didn't think of it as a ghost story. It just seemed more to be about Faraday and his involvement with the Ayers. So..now that I have told you that. I must say that I really enjoyed the book. I thought the story was great. It wasn't fast paced but the story kept going for me, it definitely kept my interest. It's the first I have read by the author, so I can't tell you if it is as good as the others, but it was good enough for me to plan on reading more. In fact, I think several years ago that I tried to read one of her other books..Fingersmith...and stopped because I wasn't "in to it". Now though, after reading this one, I'm going to attempt it again.

This audio book was rented from my local library.

Big Brother is watching

This is probably going to get a lot of attention in the next couple of months and I wanted to, briefly, touch on it here at Not Enough Books.

Starting Dec. 1, 2009 Big Brother ( aka the FTC) will be requiring bloggers to put a disclosure in their post whenever they review a product. We will have to tell our readers if we received the product for free and if so, who we received it from. At least, that's it in a nutshell. I read through most of the document, skimmed it really, and encourage others to do so. It can be found on the FTC website, here's a direct link to it. I also did go to the FTC GOV website and found it myself just to make sure it was a real document.

So what does that means for my readers. I admit, and have done so in the past, that I receive books to review. I love receiving free books, gives me more money to spend at the scrapbooking store. haha! However, I rarely mention in my reviews if the book was one I was asked to review or if I bought it myself. My reasoning was that I didn't want people to think I gave a book a positive review just because I received it for free. I'm not saying you would think that, but I didn't even want to give you the option to think that. In the past I have given review books negative reviews, I've even quit on some and marked them as DNF. I've also reviewed several that I loved and encourage others to read. Rest assured, my reviews are honest regardless of how the book happened to get into my greedy little hands. Oh...but on to what that means for you. That means that starting now, because I want to be in the habit, I'll be disclosing if a book was given to me for free to review or if I bought it myself (or I guess was given a copy or rented the audio book from the library..whatever). It won't be a big change, probably just 1 sentence in my review.

Now...what do I think of this? I personally can understand why they are doing this. I don't think it's very relevant to those of us who receive books to review because the cost is very low. I can see them wanting to crack down on those getting free trips and items that cost a butt load of money. But...even though I can understand it, I still think it sucks and think they should stay out of my business. I don't think these laws/rules/whatever should go into effect, but I don't think they asked my opinion did though?

101 Fantasy Ready Challenge

Yup...found another challenge I'm too excited about to pass up. The 101 fantasy challenge is being hosted by The True Book Addict. Click HERE to be taken to the sign-up page if you wish to join after reading my post.

Challenge info and rules:

1. Pick the number of books you want to read. It can be a mixture of the top 101, and/or the whole list. For example, you might want to aim to read 5 from the top 101 and 5 from the rest of the list.
2. Create a list of the books you want to tackle. You can create a list now, or add them as you go. Completely up to you.
3. The challenge runs from 10/10/09 to 10/10/10.
4. Please post the direct link to your 101 Fantasy Reading Challenge post. (so that other participants can visit and see what you are reading)

I've decided not to make a tentative list. Since the rules say you can add as you go or create the list, I figured if I create a tentative list than I have liberties to make changes to it as I go. haha! I love that the challenge starts this year and ends a year from now. It looks like maybe that's a new trend...I've signed up for several like this. I'm hoping that I can get some read by doubling up on ones I already plan to read for challenges this year and could possible read for other challenges next year. Yup...that's me...planning ahead.

I am going to read 7 books for this challenge.

My tentative list is:

Eldest by Christopher Paoline

Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce

Night Huntress by Yasmine Galenorn

At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene frost

Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

The coolest thing about this list and this challenge is that I already own 6 of the books I plan to read. woohoo! This is going to help me read some of my own books and get caught up on some of the series I started and enjoyed but haven't continued with for some reason.

Cold Rock River by Jackie Lee Miles

Copyright: 2006
Publisher: Cumberland House
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 281
Challenges: none (sniff sniff)
New-to-me Author: Yes
Author's Website


Simple Description:
Adie has the misfortune to do what sometimes happens to teenage girls, she gets pregnant at age 17. This was the early 60's and it wasn't accepted, if that's even the right word, like it is now and she was forced to marry the father, Buck. She moves in with him and his Mom, and they move back to the small town that Buck grew up in. She doesn't get along with her mother-in-law but has to deal with it, because what is a 17 year pregnant girl going to do? As luck would have it, one day while doing the grocery shopping she meets somebody who tells her about a shack that her and Buck could probably rent. She is taken to the shack and finds it acceptable. It needs some work, but it's better to have her own place than to live with a mother-in-law who doesn't like her. However, the day she is taken to the shack she is left alone there and she goes into labor. Luckily Murphy, the one who is going to rent it to her, sent Willa Mae to check on Adie. Willa Mae was his nanny and now that he is man of the farm, he looks out for her and build her a house closer to his. When Willa Mae shows up she finds Adie in labor. In order to help with the pain Willa Mae starts to read to her form a diary that she owns. It's the diary of Temp, a slave girl who grew up during the civil war.

Without going into much detail...let's just say that book takes you through the labor of the first child, how Adie has to learn to support herself and her daughter because Buck is more interested in running around on her than in taking care of his family. Soon Adie and Murphy have feelings for each other but Adie doesn't want to acknowledge them because she is married to Buck, even though Buck isn't much of a father or husband. All through the book you are given info on what is going on with Adie and you are able to read the diary along with her. So you really get to learn about two 17 year old girls and the things they went through at a young age.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

I thought the book was really good and recommend it to others. There is one thing that bothered me about the book and I want to tell you about it so that there aren't any surprises if you decide to give this book a try. What bothered me was that Adie is constantly warning you about things that are going to happen. There are things like "If I had known then what was going to happen, I would have...." Stuff like that. I wanted her to stop warning me that things were going to happen and just tell the story. haha! It was frequent enough to annoy me but not enough to ruin the story. The story was good...loved how it ended and the different things Adie had to do throughout the story that forced her to grow up. Definitely think it's worth checking out.

Cozy Mystery Challenge - Thanks and wrap-up

Thank you to all who participated in my cozy mystery challenge! From all of your wrap-up posts it sounds like you enjoyed it and the challenge was a hit. Woohoo!

The following have completed the challenge and will be getting their bookmarks mailed within the next couple of weeks. (at least..these are the ones who finished and completed the form...if your name isn't on this list..please complete the form and also either leave a comment or send me an email so I know and can get the bookmark mailed)

Congratulations to:

Diane M.

Karen G.

Yvonne H.

Dorte J.

Gina F.

Carol P.

Janel G.

Candace L.

Stacy S.

Katie G.

Lynda D.

Pamela S.

Ana T.

Now...to those who participated and would like to do this challenge again, I definitely plan to do it agian next year. In fact..I already created a dedicated blog for it. I do have a question for you.

would you like this challenge to:

A) Be the same as it was this year - read 6 books between April - September or

B) Read 6 books but have the challenge go from January - September to give you more time.

Leave a comment and let me know!

Challenge Roundup - update #9 - September

This challenge is being hosted by book-a-rama.

Overall Progress?

I didn’t complete the Non-Fiction 5 challenge. I read 3 out of 5 books, which is pretty good for me. I’m disappointed that I didn’t finish it but I’m glad I read at least 3 books and tried.

I also didn’t read that many of my challenge books this past month, which I’m bummed about. Fingers crossed I can fit more in this month.

Total challenges that I'm competing in as of September 1st:

11(this doesn’t count the completed challenges from earlier in the year)

Completed Challenges in September:

None…sniff sniff

Total completed challenges in 2009:

20 Books in 2009 - Challenge completed 02/2009

The Pub Challenge - challenge completed 05/2009

Love Bites – Challenge completed 06/2009

Paranormal Challenge – challenge completed 07/2009

Young Adult Challenge – challenge completed 07/2009

Cozy Mystery Challenge – challenge completed in 08/2009

Challenges I read a qualifying book for in September:

TBR Challenge

I read 4 books (Savannah Blues, Motif for Murder, Tunnels, The Presence)

At the end of September I had 11/24 completed (I'm counting my main list and alternate list since I'm going to try and read all of them)

Series Challenge 3

I read 1 book (Motif for Murder)

At the end of September I had 14/21 books completed, 7/12 series completed.

1st in a series challenge

I read 2 books (Savannah Blues, Tunnels)

At the end of September I had 9/12 completed

Progress for challenges that I didn't read a book for in September:

9 books for 2009: At the end of September I had 5/9 completed

Read-Your-Own Books: At the end of September I had 15/26 completed

War Through The Generations: At the end of September I had 4/5 completed

Chunkster Challenge: At the end of September I had 2/3 completed

Arthurian Challenge (April 2009 – March 2010): At the end of September I had 0/2 completed

Stephanie Plum Challenge (2009 – 12/2010): At the end of September I had0/5 completed

Reliquiae Challenge (July 15th 2009 – January 15th 2010): At the end of September I had 0/3 completed

Reads for September

I got my swing back this last month. I enjoyed most of what I read, I was interested and wanting to read again. I love that feeling. I hope this mood continues for the rest of the year.

Fun Reading Facts for September 2009

Total books read: 11

New Authors: 6

Mystery: 3

Non-Fiction: 0

Fiction: 6

Young Adult: 1

Audio: 2

Pages: 2371

DNF: 1

Grave Woods by Ariana Franklin

The Christmas Clock by Kat Martin

The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes

Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews

Motif for Murder by Laura Childs

Deadly Charm by Claudia Mair Burney

Queen Takes King by Gigi Levangie Grazer

Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams

Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michele Moran

The Presence by Heather Graham

The Divorce Party by Laura Dave

Coupon savings for September

Overall this was a good month as far as savings goes. I didn't save as much in grocery because I didn't have to do as much grocery shopping (I actually only went twice last month – that felt great!).

In total I saved $177.38 this month. This brings savings to a total of $1814.81 for the year.

Grocery store:

09/10 - $18.89
09/20 - $1.75
Total: $20.64

Walgreens/Target:
09/10 - $3
09/13/09 - $7
09/20 - $1
09/20 - $9.52
09/27 - $27.50
Total: $48.02

Books:
09/27 - $7.48

Scrapbooking/Hobbies:

09.23/09 - $2.8
09/27/09 - $3.94
Total: $6.74

Misc. House:
09/20 - $8
09/27 - $31.5
09/27 - $10
09/27 - $30
09/30 - $15
Total: $94.5