Guest Post and Lone Star Legend Giveaway!

I am so exited to welcome Gwedolyn Zepeda to Jo-Jo Loves to Read!  If you missed my review, you can read it here.  In her guest post she has decided to share a little more information about the chupacabra.  So if this legend is new to you I suggest you read the following guest post.

Here is what Gwendolyn wants to share with us:

In my latest novel, Lone Star Legend, protagonist Sandy Saavedra is trying to embark on a career as a serious journalist who tackles Latino issues, and then the news organization she works for is taken over by a gossip blog conglomerate. Sandy is asked to write “snarky” pieces about celebrities, and she finds that a little demeaning, but she’s willing to rise to the challenge. So I had all that in place, and then I thought: What would be even more demeaning to someone likeSandy than writing gossipy blog posts? And the answer was a chupacabra story. It would be like asking Anderson Cooper to go on location with the Loch Ness Monster, in her mind. 

I live in Texas, and there are periodic chupacabra claims here, of course. Before I started writing this novel, there was an alleged chupacabra sighting out in the Hill Country somewhere. Every time that happens, I feel kind of embarrassed trying to explain the legend to my non-Latino friends, because it’s pretty silly, and they ask if I believe in chupacabras, and I get defensive and ask if they believe in Bigfoot, and then they ask what the word chupacabra means, and I say “Goat sucker,” and then they make dirty jokes, and etc., etc. So I’m always a little annoyed when there’s a chupacabra story on the news. But after this one sighting, right before I started writing this novel, a lot of Mexican bars and restaurants turned it to their advantage by offering chupacabra-themed drink specials and t-shirts. And I thought that was a good way to rise above a silly situation. So I wanted to give Sandy an opportunity to do that, too, by finding her own chupacabra and turning it into a story to be proud of.

Fun Fact #1: The working title of this novel’s manuscript was “Chupacabras in Love.” But my New-York-based publisher worried that not enough readers outside the Southwest would know what the word meant, so we changed it to Lone Star Legend.

Fun Fact #2: Just yesterday morning, workers in Bridgeport, Texas found what seemed to be the body of a dead chupacabra. Biologists have determined that it’s actually a rare hairless raccoon.

Thanks for stopping by today Gwendolyn!  I am always excited to learn about a new legend and this one was sure new to me!

Now let's get on with the Giveaway! Miriam from Hachette has offered to give 3 copies of Lone Star Legend away to my readers!  Thanks again Miriam!

To enter this contest you must be at least 18 and live in the U.S. or Canada.  No PO boxes please.

For one entry leave me a comment including your email address below.

For an additional entry share a legend that you know of.

For two additional entries, blog about this contest or add the link to your sidebar.

Please include your email so I will have a way to contact you if you win.

You will have until February 12th to enter and I will draw for winners on February 13th.

Good luck everyone!

Blog Tour and Review: Lone Star Legend by Gwendolyn Zepeda

I would like to thank Hachette Book Group for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Lone Star Legend by Gwendolyn Zepeda.  Here is a summary of the book from the Hachette website:

When Sandy Saavedra lands her dream job with the popular website ¡Latino Now!, she can't wait to write hard-hitting pieces to combat all those stupid Latino stereotypes. While visions of Pulitzers dance in her head, her editor in chief is suddenly laid off, replaced by the infamous Dolores Villanueva O'Sullivan. Dolores has one mission: make ¡Latino Now! an internet phenomenon, no matter how many pandering puff pieces she has to pack onto its pages. Sandy doesn't see how she can keep this job without losing her soul, especially when she's sent to Middle-of-Nowhere Texas to investigate the dumbest legend her people ever created, the Chupacabra.

My Review:
I have always enjoyed books that give me a taste of other cultures and Lone Star Legend not only touched on the hispanic culture, but legends as well.  Before reading this book I had no idea what a Chupacabra was, and for your information here is the definition: a purported creature resembling a gargoyle, said to exist in parts of Mexico and on Puerto Rico.

The main character in this novel is Sandy, an aspiring writer who happens to live in an apartment above her mother's garage.  Life doesn't seem too difficult for Sandy, as the rent is very low so she doesn't have many expenses.  She also has a decent job as a writer on a website and a boyfriend who happens to be a writing professor at a nearby college.  If only her boyfriend could look past his own aspirations and find some respect for the work she does, she would be much happier with that relationship.

After Sandy's aunt passes away, the opportunity arises for Sandy and her mother to take a little roadtrip to Aunt Linda's home to take care of some housekeeping items.  They arrive to find that basically everything has been taken care of by Linda's neighbor Jaime.  This becomes the first of many visits that Sandy will make to Jaime as they develop a lasting friendship.

When Sandy returns to her job she finds that she has a new boss and the company has decided to change the way they operate.  They are basically turning their website into an outlet for gossip and trashing the latino celebrities.  Although Sandy finds this type of assignment a struggle, she does find a way to persevere and deliver the type of articles that her boss is looking for.

Trouble starts to brew for Sandy as she becomes one of the more popular authors on the website.  Up until she became a celebrity of some sort, she maintained a blog in which she was able to retain complete anonymity.  After a couple of hints about her blog were dropped by a close friend her identity was revealed and her personal information that she shared on her blog was available for the whole public to see.  Some things that she wrote about on her blog she wouldn't have otherwise shared with anyone knowing that she would remain anonymous.  This was obviously a humbling experience for Sandy that changed her outlook on how she was living her life.

I found myself enjoying this story that had themes of forgiveness, starting over, and making the right choices in life.  I think that those of us that have a blog can easily understand how things could get so quickly out of control if you don't monitor your posts.  This was a fun book to read that besides the story itself, also included posts and comments from both the website Sandy worked for and her personal blog.  A reading group guide is provided at the end of the book and I think it would make an entertaining group discussion.  Be sure to stop by later today if you are interested in winning a copy of this book for yourself.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  This book was provided to me from Miriam of Hachette in exchange for an honest review.

Book Club Chatter

Welcome to another week of Book Club Chatter where I hope to discuss all things book club on a weekly basis. I thought this would  be a fun way for each of us to share one little tidbit every week.


So here is my question for you this week:

Question:  Does your group that meets in person usually meet at one of your members homes or a public location?  And how do you decide where you are meeting?

My Answer:  When we first started meeting we always met at the same member's home.  After a year or so another gal offered her home for us to meet, so we started to alternate between them.  Just this year we decided that whoever is hosting should have the opportunity to host in her home, if that is what she wishes.  I think a few of our ladies are still a bit uncomfortable when it comes to hosting a meeting in their home so they will usually host the meeting from one of the members homes that lives in a pretty general location.


There is not a deadline as to when you need to post or answer this question, so please feel free to join in at your convenience. You can either leave your answer in the comments below or post your answer on your blog and leave the link below.

Wondrous Words Wednesday-Jan. 27

Bermudaonion asks you to share new words that you have learned during your reading adventures in the last week. Feel free to join in the fun!

Here are some new words that I learned while reading Matrimony by Joshua Henkin:

Eviscerate:   to remove the entrails from; disembowel.

Here is how eviscerate was used on page 61:
...the Pocahontas Pinata hanging from a tree next to Thompson Hall, waiting for classes to end and the students to eviscerate it.

Enervation:  to deprive of force or strength; weaken.

Here is how enervation was used on page 74:
And Cynthia, her friend back home, whose mother endured what lay in wait for Mia's mother, the enervation and nausea, the wasting away, the hair falling out, the vomiting.

Pugilist:  a person who fights with the fists; a boxer, usually a professional.

Here is how pugilist was used on page 91:
The neighborhood extended south, where Julian was headed now, bent forward like a pugilist, taking on the weather.

Cuneiform: (I believe the following definition is correct for how it is used in this book)Being a character or characters formed by the arrangement of small wedge-shaped elements and used in ancient Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian writing.

Here is how cunieform is used on page 179:
It was filled with mistakes, no doubt, but it was a Japanese letter, written in a script that until recently had been no more familiar to her than cuneiform.


So did you learn any new words last week?

Teaser Tuesday-Jan. 26

Check out Teaser Tuesdays from Should Be Reading.  TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

This week my teaser is from Matrimony by Joshua Henkin:
Mia would come home to find him with flour across his face and herbs from the windowsill lined up in glasses, Julian with baking soda in one hand and baking powder in the other, unsure what the difference was.  He appeared unable to distinguish between a garlic clove and a garlic bulb, because one time Mia found him peeling clove after clove of garlic-the recipe had called for three cloves but Julian was peeling three bulbs-and he suspected his error only once he saw the recipe was supposed to take an hour and he'd spent an hour just peeling the garlic.

pg. 113

Mailbox Monday-Jan. 25

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting the Mailbox Monday Meme that has us list the books that we received last week. You can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along.

So here is what I found in my mailbox:

The Smart One and the Pretty One  by Claire LaZebnik

The Sweet By and By  by Todd Johnson

So what was in your mailbox last week?

Current Giveaways!!!

Here are a few giveaways that I found this last week out in blogland:

Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell  is giving away a trio of books by Sharon Lathan--HURRY-this contest ends today-1/22!

Bermudaonion is giving away The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova--Contest ends 1/31.

Bermudaonion is giving away Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman--Contest ends 1/31.

Stacy's Bookblog is giving away Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman--Contest ends 2/1.

A Circle of Books is giving away American Rust by Philipp Meyer--Contest ends 2/5.

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away the audioversion of The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova--Contest ends 2/7.

One Person's Journey is giving away American Rust by Philipp Meyer--Contest ends 2/17.

Don't forget about my giveaway for A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal that you can enter here until 1/31.  And keep checking back because there will be a couple more giveaways in the next week or so.

Good luck everyone!

Friday Finds-Jan. 22

Should Be Reading asks you to share what books you discovered this week that interest you!

The book that most recently caught my eye is Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez that I first spotted over at Bookin' With Bingo, and now I've actually won this book from Karen so before you know it I will be posting about this in my Mailbox Monday post!

Here is a summary of the book from the HarperCollins website:

An ambitious and startling debut novel that follows the lives of four women at a resort popular among slaveholders who bring their enslaved mistresses

wench \'wench\ n. from Middle English "wenchel," 1 a: a girl, maid, young woman; a female child.

Tawawa House in many respects is like any other American resort before the Civil War. Situated in Ohio, this idyllic retreat is particularly nice in the summer when the Southern humidity is too much to bear. The main building, with its luxurious finishes, is loftier than the white cottages that flank it, but then again, the smaller structures are better positioned to catch any breeze that may come off the pond. And they provide more privacy, which best suits the needs of the Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their black, enslaved mistresses. It's their open secret.

Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at Tawawa House. They have become friends over the years as they reunite and share developments in their own lives and on their respective plantations. They don't bother too much with questions of freedom, though the resort is situated in free territory–but when truth-telling Mawu comes to the resort and starts talking of running away, things change.

To run is to leave behind everything these women value most–friends and families still down South–and for some it also means escaping from the emotional and psychological bonds that bind them to their masters. When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, the women of Tawawa House soon learn that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the most inhuman, brutal of circumstances–all while they are bearing witness to the end of an era.

An engaging, page-turning, and wholly original novel, Wench explores, with an unflinching eye, the moral complexities of slavery.

I can't wait to dive into this book!  So has anything caught your eye recently?

Book Club Chatter

Welcome to another week of Book Club Chatter where I hope to discuss all things book club on a weekly basis. I thought this would  be a fun way for each of us to share one little tidbit every week.   First of all I want to thank the most wonderful Katrina from Bloody Bad for creating this beautiful button for me!  I think it's just wonderful and fits in perfectly on Jo-Jo Loves to Read!

So here is my question for you all this week:

When finalizing your book club selections is your group influenced as to whether the book is available in hardcover or paperback?  If so, please explain.

My answer:
It makes a difference to my group in that we will delay reading a specific book until it is available in paperback.  Many of us enjoy purchasing our book club selections so the more money we can save, the better! 

There is not a deadline as to when you need to post or answer this question, so please feel free to join in at your convenience.  You can either leave your answer in the comments below or post your answer on your blog and leave the link below.

Review: The Cost of Dreams by Gary Stelzer

Here is a summary of The Cost of Dreams for Gary Stelzer's website:

This is a tale about the extraordinary fate and survival of a young woman fleeing the cataclysm of civil war in Central America, and about the strangers who risk everything to rescue and mend her.

Kate Bowman, in her mid-forties, travels to Central America with her brother’s favorite son, a tall handsome 22-year-old engineering graduate from the University of Illinois.  Bowman, a wildlife biologist from the upper Midwest, teaches literacy classes in the midst of a three-week long medical aid mission sponsored by healthcare teams from Chicago and California.  The moment Andrew Gustafson sets foot in the village of Talapa, a young Mayan teen named Flora Enriquez follows his every move, enthralled by him.  The small dark eyed girl demonstrates for Kate Bowman that she already reads, taught by a priest two years prior, even inheriting the deceased clergyman’s books. 

Andrew quickly discovers his own project, planning and preparing for the installation of a hydroelectric turbine on the village stream to deliver electricity to the remote community in the land of volcanoes.  He declines to travel home with his aunt and the rest of the aid party, insisting on remaining in the dangerous and beautiful jungle highlands.  Sick at heart, Kate boards a plane to return to her home on northern Lake Michigan, terrified for her nephew left behind in a country convulsing in a murderous civil war.

Then the midnight call comes from the aid director in Chicago ten days after her return.   Andrew has gone missing, never to be seen again.  And Kate falls under the blaming cloud of her extended family forever.

Then, some years later, a wretchedly wounded Flora Enriquez unexpectedly reenters Kate’s life, the younger woman having fled the land of volcanoes that erupted in civil conflagration.  The young Mayan, desirous of healing for her horrifying injuries and desperate to restore what remains of her family, reignites a fire in Kate to determine the fate her long lost nephew.

The harrowing journey for the two women on the healing and search mission, and employing a wounded Viet Nam veteran to help them, utterly consumes them.

My Review:
This is a story that takes us along the life journey of a woman named Flora who happened to flee from her country at an early age.  When many of her family members are murdered in her village in Mexico, a group from her tribe, including her brothers, decide to embark on the journey to the United States.  Knowing that they will be entering the country illegally, they hire a guide to help them with the trip.  They have know idea what lies ahead for them and as events take a turn for the worst, they become separated and it will be many years before Flora sees her brothers again.

Flora is able to make a life for herself when she arrives in California.  Fortunately a young family finds her and decides to hire her as a servant to help with the housework and raise their child.  She knows she wants more out of life so she stipulates to her employers that if they expect her to stay on at their home working for meager wages they will have to help pay for her to attend college.  They agree to her wishes and before you know it Flora is graduating with a teaching degree.

When Flora meets Monte, I don't think she really loved him but he seemed to be able to offer her the security that she had never experienced within her lifetime.  They eventually marry and move to a small town in Texas and find themselves raising a family while Flora also gets herself a good teaching job at the local school.  Little does she know that Monte has a brother that follows a lifestyle that tempts the wrong side of the law who will put her life on a path that she never would have expected.

Kate Bowman is a woman who has done some missionary work throughout her life, and many years before she had an experience in Mexico, the very same village where Flora grew up, that left her shaken to the core.  When Flora appears wounded and broken in her small town in Wisconsin, she is amazed that this girl has been put into her life once again.  As she is needed to help save Flora, she finds that she needs Flora just as much to help explain what happened those many years ago so she can finally find some peace in her own life.

This was an interesting novel that kept me turning the pages because I needed to find out how everything was going to turn out.  I do think that some of the characters could have been developed a bit more, especially Kate Bowman.  Even though I enjoyed the story I found that some things were lacking within the novel for me to fully enjoy it.  I have heard many stories of the horrendous journey that many people find themselves on as they try to enter our country illegally and this book brought that to life for me.  With themes of forgiveness, compassion, and survival it made for a very engaging read. 

My Rating:  3/5

Disclosure:  This book was provided to me by Robin of Carol Fass Publicity and Public Relations, Inc. in exchange for an honest review.

Wondrous Words Wednesday-Jan. 20

Bermudaonion asks you to share new words that you have learned during your reading adventures in the last week. Feel free to join in the fun!

I've learned a few new words as I've been reading Matrimony by Joshua Henkin:

Pusillanimous:  lacking courage or resolution; cowardly; faint-hearted; timid.

Here is how pusillanimous was used on page 12:
"'Sophmoric' and 'pusillanimous.' Do you know what those words mean?"
"They mean Chesterfield thinks we suck."

Petard(although there are a couple of meanings to this word,the following definition relates to how it is used in this sentence): hurt, ruined, or destroyed by the very device or plot one had intended for another.

Here is how petard was used on page 33:
"You act presumptuous with a girl and you end up hoist with your own petard."

Jejune: without interest or significance; dull; insipid.

Here is how jejune was used on page 36:
Emboldened, Julian explained to Pilar that there were certain words he liked. "Sullied," for instance. And "jejune."

So did you learn any new words this week?

Teaser Tuesday-Jan. 19

Check out Teaser Tuesdays from Should Be Reading.  TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

This week my teaser is a quote by Jon Bon Jovi from Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful by Bon Jovi:
Daddy doesn't know best.  I learn by trial and error.  I screw up as much as, or more than, anyone else does, but I've had a vision and that vision seems to work.

pg. 60

Mailbox Monday-Jan. 18

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting the Mailbox Monday Meme that has us list the books that we received last week. You can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along.

So here is what was in my mailbox last week:

The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White

Children of Dust  by Ali Eteraz

I also received a beautiful hand-made bookmark from Jenn's Bookselves, who sent this book to me!  Thanks so much Jenn, it really is beautiful!

So what was in your mailbox last week?

Current Giveaways!

Here are some giveaways that I found this last week:


Bookin' with Bingo  is giving away The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker--HURRY-because this contest ends today, 1/15.

So Many Precious Books, So Little Time is giving away Roses by Leila Meacham--HURRY-because this contest ends today, 1/15.

Laura's Reviews is giving away Roses by Leila Meacham--Contest ends 1/22.

Chick with Books  is giving away The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker--Contest ends 1/23.

Luxury Reading is giving away Shanghai Girls by Lisa See--Contest ends 1/23.

A Circle of Books is giving away The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker--Contest ends 1/29.

Starting Fresh  is giving away The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker--Contest ends 1/31.

Stacy's Bookblog  is giving away Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier--Contest ends 2/1.

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away Roses by Leila Meacham--Contest ends 2/6.

One Person's Journey  is giving away The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker--Contest ends 2/10.

Good luck everyone!

Book Club Chatter

I'm so excited to bring you the first of hopefully a weekly event that I will be posting here.  I hope to cover all things book club with the questions that I will be asking to give everyone a chance to participate every week.  I think that all of our groups are special in their own ways and maybe we can help each other out once and a while by sharing one little tidbit a week.   Feel free to answer the following question in the comment section below, or post it on your own blog and leave the link below.

So here is my first question:  I have noticed that many groups have very creative names for there book clubs and I am wondering if your group has a name?  If so, is there a story behind the name?

Answer:  My book club is named Sweet Connections.  We thought 'connections' would be appropriate because we thought we would connect with books and each other on a different level, and of course 'sweet' comes from the fact that we planned on serving dessert at every meeting!

There is not a deadline as to when you need to post or answer this question, so please feel free to join in at your convenience.  I'm presently working on an idea for a button with another blogger since I am technologically challenged, but hopefully there will be a pretty one here for you soon.

Audiobook Review: The Face by Dean Koontz

Here is a summary of The Face from the Random House website:

He’s Hollywood’s most dazzling star, inspiring the worship of millions and the hatred of one twisted soul. His perfectly ordered existence is under siege as a series of terrifying “messages” penetrates the security of his legendary estate. All that stands between him and an insidious killer is a weary ex-cop who has already seen his own death.

Enter a world of marvelous invention, enchantment, and implacable intent, populated by murderous actors and the walking dead, hit men and heroes, long-buried dreams and never-dying hope. Dean Koontz takes readers on an unforgettable journey to the heart of darkness and to the pinnacle of grace, with a brilliantly observed chronicle of good and evil in our time, of illusion and everlasting truth.

My Review:
This was another Dean Koontz novel that made quite an intense audiobook.  This book has you questioning from the very beginning whether certain events have actually happened or how one could have such a vivid memory of an incident if it didn't occur.  Ethan Truman is an ex-cop who is now the head of security for the famous Hollywood star, Channing Mannheim.  Ethan finds himself on a journey of unexpainable events after odd packages containing hidden messages start to appear at the actor's home.  These boxes contain strange items from dried up foreskins to scrabble tiles that obviously are meant to be deciphered into a message of dire warning.

Fric is the son of the famous Mannheim actor and may have been my favorite character in this book.  He is such a sweet boy, but yet so lonely and his sarcastic humor just jumps off the page (or radio speakers in my case).  It seemed to me that the staff that worked on the Mannheim estate were more of a family than his father was, as he was hardly ever home.  Fric is aware that impending danger lies in his future when he receives an anonymous phone call informing him that he needs to find a hiding spot in the mansion so he is not captured by the 'beast in yellow'. 

Odd things happen to both Fric and Ethan that neither of them seem to understand.  They start to see images appearing in mirrors and other events that they know are not possible within the physical realm that we live.  When the 'beast in yellow' does appear at the Mannheim estate Ethan and Fric find that they will need to get help from each other and other sources in order to persevere from the attack.  In the end they both find themselves surprised, grateful, and in a spiritual state of amazement.

This made an enjoyable audiobook that really brought out emotions of sadness, gratefulness, and terror.  I find it interesting how Koontz can spin a story that includes all of these elements.  I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed reading this one as much as listening to it so this one receives an audio recommendation from me.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  This was an audiobook that I borrowed from the library and listened to for my own entertainment.  

Wondrous Words Wednesday-Jan. 13

Bermudaonion asks you to share new words that you have learned during your reading adventures in the last week. Feel free to join in the fun!

Here is a new word I learned while I was reading The Cost of Dreams by Gary Stelzer:

Oligarchy:  a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.

Here is how oligarchy was used on page 12: 
He had finally spun out of the oligarchy's control and ordered the shooting of Indians thought be under the influence of foreigners, over the age of twelve, and caught in traditional native wear, liabilities that the village from which the siblings had traveled only learned about too late.

So did you learn any new words in your reading adventures?

Teaser Tuesday-Jan. 12

Check out Teaser Tuesdays from Should Be Reading.  TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

This week my teaser is from Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman:
As I stood at the window and watched her disappear, the truth blazed in my mind.  There would never be a better day, because no matter what day it was, my mother, Camille Sugarbaker Honeycutt, the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen, was crazy.

pg. 21
***Please note that this is from an Advanced Reading Copy so the final printing may change.

Mailbox Monday-Jan. 11

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting the Mailbox Monday Meme that has us list the books that we received last week. You can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along.

Here is what was in my mailbox:

Denise's Daily Dozen  by Denise Austin

So let's hope that I listen to what Denise has to say so I will be all ready for my Mexican vacation! What was in your mailbox last week?

Giveaway: A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal

I want to offer a giveaway of my gently used copy of this wonderful hardcover book.  You can read a summary from the Hachette website and you can read my review here.

Now let's get on with the Giveaway!

To enter this contest you must be at least 18 and live in the U.S. or Canada.

For one entry leave me a comment including your email address below.

For two additional entries, blog about this contest or add the link to your sidebar.

Please include your email so I will have a way to contact you if you win.

You will have until January 31st to enter and I will draw for a winner on February 1st.

Good luck everyone!

Winner of my New Year Giveaway!

And the winner of my New Year Giveaway is......

nfmgirl

Congratulations!  I will be emailing you shortly to find out which book you would like and to get your mailing information!  Thanks to everyone that entered and stay tuned, because I will have another giveaway starting soon!

Java with Jo

I know that most of you already know how important my book club is to me, and it is quite obvious that many of you belong to similar groups.  Not only do I enjoy being able to have an in-depth conversation with these special ladies about a book that we all read, but the relationships that we have created are equally important.  I thought it would be fun to start a weekly meme that asked a new book club related question every week for everyone to answer.  This way we all would get a chance to share a little bit more about our book club every week. I'm thinking of naming this segment Book Club Chatter, but I am curious to see if this sounds like something you would be interested in participating in.

I'm looking forward to an evening of fun as we have mixed couples bowling tonight.  It has been a few weeks since we have bowled so wish us luck!  Otherwise I don't have a lot planned for the weekend, except for just getting some housework done, getting caught up on some reading, and maybe a couple of book reviews.

It's been a very long week, especially going back to work after having more than a week off of doing not much of anything.  One of my New Year's goals is to try to get back into my exercise routine, which has started off pretty good this week.  I will be satisfied if I can stay on track with three regular workouts per week. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Review: 'Tis the Season! by Lorna Landvik

Here is a summary of 'Tis the Season! from the Random House website: 

Bestselling author Lorna Landvik shines in this delightful holiday novel of redemption and forgiveness.


Heiress Caroline Dixon has managed to alienate nearly everyone with her alcohol-fueled antics, which have also provided near-constant fodder for the poison-pen tabloids and their gossip-hungry readers. But like so many girls-behaving-badly, the twenty-six-year-old socialite gets her comeuppance, followed by a newfound attempt to live a saner existence, or at least one more firmly rooted in the real world.

As Caro tentatively begins atoning for past misdeeds, she reaches out to two wonderful people who years ago brought meaning to her life: her former nanny, Astrid Brevald, now living in Norway and Arizona dude ranch owner, Cyril Dale. While Astrid fondly remembers Caro as a special, sweet little girl left in her charge, Cyril recalls how he and his late wife were quite taken with the quick-witted teenager Caro had become when she spent a difficult period in her life at the ranch as her father was dying.

In a series of e-mail exchanges, Caro reveals the depth of her pain and the lengths she went to hide it. In turn, Astrid and Cyril share their own stories of challenging times and offer the unconditional support this young woman has never known. The correspondence leads to the promise of a reunion, just in time for Christmas. But the holiday brings unexpected revelations that change the way everyone sees themselves and one another.

At once heartfelt and witty, ’Tis the Season bears good tidings of great joy about the human condition–that down and out doesn’t mean over and done, that the things we need most are closer than we know, and that the true measure of one’s worth rests in the boundless depths of the soul.
 
My Review:
I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book, because when I first opened it I noticed that it was compiled of letters, emails, magazine articles, and invitations only.  This is my first experience with this type of book, and maybe it is just the madness of the holiday season, but I found that I really enjoyed it.  I am also pleased to share that my entire book club liked this book also. 

Caro Dixon is a young starlett, who like so many of her peers finds herself living the party lifestyle and not really caring about those that get in her way.  She just wants to know when the next mind-numbing experience will be so she won't miss it.  Unfortunately for Caro, a writer from a gossip magazine happens to find out about every mistake she makes in the world and adds a spin to it that keeps readers intrigued.

When things have finally gone too far, Caro finds herself in a rehabilitation clinic hoping to change her ways.  She reaches out to people from her past as she makes amends to as many individuals as possible.  She is thankful when she finds that she can confide in her former nanny Astrid, and Cyril who owns a dude ranch where she spent time at as a young girl.  Cyril and Astrid don't condemn Caro for her recent mistakes, but only remember her as the young, innocent girl that they both cared for.  When things become a little rocky after Caro leaves the clinic, and it appears that she may give in to her weaknesses once again, Cyril decides to invite both her and Astrid to his ranch to spend Christmas.

Even though this book consisted of correspondence you can feel the love and strength that Cyril and Astrid both provided.  The Christmas that they spend together was really a magical time that brought the most unusual people together.  There were a couple of other surprises in this book that I won't reveal, but I will say that this was a very quick and enjoyable Holiday book.  I have come to not expect a lot out of Holiday books, but this one kept me engaged and it only took me a couple of days to read, so in the Holiday genre I definitely recommend it.

My Rating: 4/5

Disclosure:  I read this book for my own entertainment (actually it was a book club selection) and it is part of my personal collection.

Current Giveaways!!!

I have found quite a few new giveaways to help us start out the new year:

Drey's Library  is giving away The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker--Contest ends 1/10.

Passages to the Past  is giving away Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper--Contest ends 1/11.

Savvy Verse and Wit is giving away Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Abigail Reynolds--Contest ends 1/11.

A Circle of Books is giving away A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick--Contest ends 1/15.

Readoholic is giving away The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova--Contest ends 1/15.

Bookin' With Bingo is giving away Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez--Contest ends 1/19.

Redlady's Reading Room is giving away When She Flew by Jennie Shortridge--Contest ends 1/19.

Books and Needlepoint is giving away an audioversion of Cleaving by Julie Powell--Contest ends 1/22.

Library Girl Reads has a January Book Giveaway--Contest ends 1/27.

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker--Contest ends 1/31.

And then don't forget about my New Year Giveaway that ends on 1/9.

Good luck everyone!

Teaser Tuesday-Jan. 5

Check out Teaser Tuesdays from Should Be Reading.  TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

This week my teaser is from The Cost of Dreams by Gary Stelzer:
But his pathetically dogtorn backside wracked a quarter of his body in an awful agony.  A terrible fire, like an ember of white-hot charcoal buried in muscle, burned from within his right buttock through to his rectum and to the bottom of his heel.

pg. 59

Mailbox Monday-Jan. 4

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting the Mailbox Monday Meme that has us list the books that we received last week. You can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along.
Here is what was in my mailbox:

Thousand Pieces of Gold  by Ruthanne Lum McCunn

I only received one book last week but it sure looks like a good one to me!

Java with Jo

Well the Christmas season is over and it certainly was a whirlwind!  I certainly did not get a chance to get nearly as much reading done during my 10 day holiday break as I had intended, since I am still reading the same book before the vacation!  That's ok, I'm hoping to finish that one up today.

Many of you have asked how my Grandma is doing, and I am pleased to share that she is doing quite well.  They were able to put a pacemaker in last week, so hopefully with that she will be able to get the rest of her bodily functions back to where they should be.  My kids and I went to visit her at the hospital yesterday and she sure was spunky!  It's good to see that she is getting back to herself again.  Since I go back to work tomorrow my husband will be going to pick her up to take her to the nursing home for the rest of her rehabiliation before she can come back home again.  But so far things appear to being going well.

My daughter left after church today to go back to school, so it will be a little quieter in our home.  My son will be here for a couple more weeks and then it will be super quiet when he is gone!  It's always an adjustment again after everyone leaves, isn't it?

A couple of months ago I had the honor of having my book club featured on the Book Club Exchange over at Booking Mama.  Ever since then I have wanted to post an updated picture that shows more of our book club members.  So here is a picture that we took just a couple of months ago when I hosted the book club night in my home.

We were missing only one gal this evening so I figured that was a good night to get a photo.  In the front row starting from the left we have Deb, Hillary, and Terri.  Back row from the left is Donna, Bonnie, Pat, Alice, and Joanne (otherwise known as Jo-Jo).  Hillary has been gracious enough to bring baby Adam to book club a couple of times so he is our first Book Club Baby!  I can't wait to get together with these ladies Wednesday evening!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!  I am going to go and enjoy the rest of my Sunday before I have to head back to the grind of work tomorrow.

Books Won Reading Challenge

With all of the books that I have won this last year, I thought this would be a great challenge to participate in.  So Many Precious Books, So Little Time is hosting the Books Won Challenge.  I think this is a great idea!

Here are the levels of participation:

Honorable Mention: Read 1-3 book you won.

Bronze: Read 4-6 books you won.

Silver: Read 7-9 Books you won.

Gold: Read 10 or more books you won.

 Here is the list of books that I am going to start with for this challenge:

Matrimony by Joshua Henkin--Completed 1/27/2010
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris--Completed 3/14/2010
The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova--Completed 5/17/2010
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith--Completed 6/2/2010
Cross Country by James Patterson--Completed 6/19/2010
Absolute Power by David Baldacci--Completed 7/20/2010
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Crying Tree by Nassem Rakha
Cult Insanity by Irene Spencer
The Tudor Rose by Margaret Campbell Barnes

So I am signing up for the Bronze Level and we can even change titles later if that is what we wish.  I love flexible challenges!  If you think that you may be interested in this challenge you can sign up yourself and view the complete rules here.  I will update this post as I make progress with the challenge.

New Year Giveaway!

I've decided to have a little giveaway to celebrate the the start of a new this year.  I am going to give one of my readers the chance to win one of the following books.  You should be able to click on the title to view my review.

This One is Mine by Maria Semple (hardcover book that I received for review from Hachette)

Cutting Loose by Nadine Dajani (trade paperback that I received for review from the author)

Bedlam South by Mark Grisham and David Donaldson (Advance reading copy that I received from Author Marketing Experts for review.




Now let's get on with the Giveaway!

To enter this contest you must be at least 18 and live in the U.S. or Canada.

For one entry leave me a comment including your email address below.

For two additional entries, blog about this contest or add the link to your sidebar.

Please include your email so I will have a way to contact you if you win.

You will have until January 9th to enter and I will draw for a winner on January 10th.

Good luck everyone!