RYOB 2010 Challenge Completed!

MizB was gracious enough to host the 2010 RYOB Challenge this year and knowing that this is one of the challenges that I completed last year I wasn't going to miss out!  I signed up to read 30 of my own books and so far I have read more than 35 and I intend to keep adding to this list for the remainder of the year.  If I have already posted a review for a book that I have read for this challenge, you should be able to click on the title to read the review if you are interested.

Here is the list of my own books that I have read this year:

1. The Cost of Dreams by Gary Stelzer-completed 1/10/2010

2. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman-completed 1/16/2010

3. Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful by Bon Jovi-completed 1/17/2010

4. Matrimony by Joshua Henkin-completed 1/27/2010

5. The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley-Completed 2/5/2010

6. Denise's Daily Dozen by Denise Austin-Completed 2/22/2010

7. The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani--Completed 3/2/2010

8. The Circle of Friends Book V: Heather by L. Diane Wolfe--Completed 3/13/2010

9. The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris--Completed 3/14/2010

10. The Sweet By and By by Todd Johnson--Completed 3/28/2010

11. The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini--Completed 3/31/2010

12. Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani--Completed 4/17/2010

13. Where Grace Abides by BJ Hoff--Completed 4/20/2010

14. Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge--Completed 4/27/2010

15. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova--Completed 5/17/2010

16. Black Hills by Dan Simmons--Completed 5/17/2010

17. The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi--Completed 5/28/2010

18. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons--6/1/2010

19. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith--Completed 6/2/2010

20. The Life O'Reilly by Brian Cohen--Completed 6/13/2010

21. Cross Country by James Patterson--Completed 6/19/2010

22. The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais--Completed 6/30/2010

23. Absolute Power by David Baldacci--Completed 7/20/2010

24. 31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan--Completed 7/22/2010

25. Labor Day by Joyce Maynard--Completed 7/26/2010

26. Men and Dogs by Katie Crouch--Completed 8/9/2010

27. Home in Carolina by Sherryl Woods--Completed 8/30/2010

28. The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker--Completed 9/1/2010

29. Finny by Justin Kramon--Completed 9/13/2010

30. The Passage by Justin Cronin--Completed 9/19/2010

31. Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson--Completed 9/24/2010

32 Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi--Completed 10/5/2010

33. The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Angels Anglada--Completed 10/12/2010

34. The Island by Elin Hilderbrand--Completed 10/28/2010

35. The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent--Completed 11/1/2010

36. How to be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway--Completed 11/8/2010

37. Private by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro--Completed 11/9/2010

38. Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani--Completed 11/17/2010

39. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith--Completed 11/28/2010

40. Oogy by Larry Levin--Completed 12/9/2010 

41. The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund--Completed 12/26/2010

42. The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw--Completed 12/27/2010

43 Comfort and Joy by Kristin Hannah--Completed 12/28/2010

So are there any challenges that you are trying to wrap up for this year?

The Winners of My Blogiversary Giveaway!

Let's give it up for the winners of my 2 year Blogiversary Contest!

The winner of the $20 Amazon gift card is:

Ninefly

The $10 Amazon gift card goes to:

Cheryl F.-The Lucky Ladybug

And the 3rd place winner who will be able to choose between four books is:

Dizzy C.

Congratulations to all of the winners!  I will be emailing you shortly with your gift card information or to get your mailing address.  Thanks to everyone for making this blogging community a great place to be a part of! 

Mailbox Monday-Dec. 29

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for starting the Mailbox Monday Meme that has us list the books that we received last week. Although Marcia isn't going to be hosting Mailbox Monday any longer, she set it up so different bloggers have the opportunity to host this meme for a month at a time.  This month the host is Knitting and Sundries so head on over to her blog to see what everyone else got or to play along!


Only one book again this week but that is just fine with me!  Here is what I got:

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

So did you get anything exciting in your mailbox last week?

Audiobook Giveaway: The Brave by Nicholas Evans

Thanks to Anna from Hachette I am able to give away up to 2 copies of this book!  Here is a summary of The Brave from the Hachette website:

Tom Bedford is living alone in the isolated wilds of Montana. Having distanced himself from his own troubled past, he rarely sees his ex-wife, and his son, Danny, is away in Iraq and hasn't spoken to him for years. Tom hasn't always been so removed from society. As a boy, his mother was a meteoric rising star in the glitzy, enchanted world of 1960s Hollywood. There, she fell in love with the suave Ray Montane, who played young Tom's courageous onscreen hero, Red McGraw, the fastest draw around. Tommy and his mother lived in a glamorous, Hollywood version of the Wild West. Everything was perfect, until the gold flaking on their magical life began to chip away, revealing an uglier truth beneath. Ray was not who he seemed. Tommy and his mother fell into a deadly confrontation with him, and they fled Hollywood forever, into the wilderness of the real West.

As a man, Tom has put all of that behind him--or so he thinks. Unexpectedly, his ex-wife calls, frantic: Danny has been charged with murder. In the chaos of war, his son has been caught in a violent skirmish gone bloodily awry. The Army needs someone to pay for the mistake. Tom, forced into action, is now suddenly alive again and fighting to save the son he'd let slip away. To succeed, he must confront the violence in his own past, and he finds that these two selves--the past and the present--which he'd fought so long to keep separate, are inextricably connected. As father and son struggle to understand one another, both are compelled to learn the true meaning of bravery.

Beautifully interlacing the past and present, the author of The Horse Whisperer reminds us that we are tied to the glories and mistakes of our own history. The Brave lives up to its name, as one the most courageous and full-hearted novels of our time.

Now for the giveaway:
I will be giving away one book for every 10 entries with a maximum of two audiobooks to give away.

Winners will be subject to the one copy per household, which means if you win the same title on another blog you will receive only one copy of the title.

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 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. Use a spam-thwarting format such as myemail.address AT gmail DOT com or myemail.address [at] gmail [dot] com.

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

**This giveaway is closed.**

Audiobook Review: Four to Score by Janet Evanovich

Here is a summary of Four to Score from Janet Evanovich's website:

Working for her bail bondsman cousin, Vinnie, Stephanie is hot on the trail of revenge-seeking waitress Maxine Nowicki, whose crimes include bail jumping, theft, and extortion. Someone is terrifying Maxine's friends, and those who have seen her are turning up dead. Also on the hunt for Maxine is Joyce Barnhardt, Stephanie's archenemy and rival bounty hunter. Stephanie's attitude never wavers - even when aided by Grandma Mazur, ex-hooker and wannabe bounty hunter Lula, and transvestite rock musician Sally Sweet - and even when Stephanie makes an enemy whose deadly tactics escalate from threatening messages to firebombs. All of this pales in comparison, though, with an even greater danger Stephanie faces, when, homeless and broke, she and her hamster Rex move in with vice cop Joe Morelli.

My Review:
Four to Score was another entertaining installment to the Stephanie Plum series that was read by C.J. Critt.  As Stephanie finds herself on a quest to find Maxine Nowicki, we are reunited with returning characters that include Grandma Mazur, Lula, and even that hot and sexy Joe Morelli.  A couple of transvestites are introduced into this novel and I will be curious to see if they return in the future.

As Stephanie searches for Maxine there is never a dull moment.  Stephanie seems to be prone to having her car blown up and in this novel not only does her car get blown to bits, but Lula's car also falls victim!  When the perp realizes that Stephanie wasn't in the car at the time of the explosion, he (or she) decides to pull a similar ploy on her apartment.  Danger is following Stephanie in every direction and not wanting to endanger any of her close friends and family she finds herself looking to Joe Morelli for a place to stay until her apartment is refurbished.

As Stephanie gets closer to finding Maxine she crosses pathes with her greatest enemy Joyce Barnhardt.  Who would ever think that Joyce of all people would end up becoming a bounty hunter too?  This was a very interesting mystery that uncovers the true reason for Maxine's disappearance and all of those involved.  I just can't wait to see how the relationship between Morelli and Stephanie progresses in future segments.  I try not to read many series but I am really enjoying this one on audio and I am looking forward to the next one.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  I borrowed this audiobook from the library to listen for my own entertainment.

Teaser Tuesday-Nov. 23

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 Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith:
Ever since he had joined the staff of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency-even in his ill-defined adjunct role-he had been waiting for something like this.  Murder was what detectives were meant to investigate, was it not, and now at last they were embarked on such an enquiry.

pg. 45

This is another heartfelt installment in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.  Smith's books are always such a refreshing change from my normal reading genre.

Current Giveaways!!!

Here are a few giveaways that are going on right now!  Please feel free to link your giveaway in the comment section below if I didn't include it in this post.

Red Headed Book Child is giving away The Dressmaker by Posie Graeme-Evens--Contest ends 11/23.

Reviews From the Heart is giving away Outside the Ordinary World by Dori Ostermiller--Contest ends 11/24.

Lost in Books is giving away the audioversion of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold--Contest ends 11/25.

Knitting and Sundries is giving away Lipstick in Afganistan by Roberta Gately--Contest ends 11/25.

Don't forget to check out my giveaways on the sidebar and good luck everyone.  I usually don't post about other giveaways on a Monday, but you guessed it...I didn't have ANY books in mailbox last week!