Mailbox Monday-June 7

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 recently in my mailbox:

The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick

Pendragon's Banner by Helen Hollick

Shadow of the King by Helen Hollick

Yes, I was one of the lucky recipients to win this whole trilogy and I can't wait to kick back and get lost in the time of King Arthur!  So what was in your mailbox?

I am soooo glad that Blogger is fixed so I could finally post this!

Winners of The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker!

I am so happy to announce the winners of The Bride Collector audiobooks by Ted Dekker! 

They are:

Bermudaonion

lag123

Rubynreba

Congratulations everyone!  I will be emailing you shortly to get your mailing information to forward to the publisher.  Thanks again to Anna from Hachette for offering these giveaways on my blog!

Winner of A Change in Altitude!

And the winner of A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve is.......................

Sharon54220

Congratulations Sharon!  I will be emailing you shortly to get your mailing information to forward to the publisher. Thanks again to Valerie  from Hachette for offering this giveaway on my blog!

Audiobook Review: Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner

Here is a summary of Goodnight Nobody from ReadingGroupGuides.com:

Life in suburban Upchurch is anything but picturesque for Kate Klein. Along with three small children and a husband who is hardly at home, Kate has to contend with living up to the standards set by her fellow Upchurch mothers. They're designer-clad, perfectly coiffed---at the playground---and feed their kids organic food. They make motherhood look effortless while Kate, with uncombed hair and a stash of bribe lollipops, "hasn't done one single thing right" since moving from Manhattan to this small Connecticut town.

When Kate arrives for lunch at the home of Kitty Cavanaugh and finds the Upchurch mom murdered, she's jolted from her malaise and sets out to uncover the killer. As her investigation heats up, Kate finds out not only that Kitty had a few dark secrets but that they had a mutual acquaintance---a man from Kate's past who will lead her to reexamine the life she's chosen.

In Goodnight Nobody, Jennifer Weiner brings together two compelling tales---an engrossing murder mystery and a poignant story about one woman's quest to save her sanity and sense of self amidst the challenges of motherhood, marriage, and suburbia.

My Review:
I will have to admit that when I first started listening to this book I didn't think that I would enjoy it.  So I can honestly tell you that I think I enjoyed listening to this book more than I would have liked actually reading it.  I try not to read too much light fiction, but the mystery aspect of this book held my attention.

It seems that Kate lives in the perfect suburb with her husband and three children.  Kate finds herself wanting to fit in with the other mothers that she meets at the playground, but with their perfect bodies, children that could do no wrong, and spotless clean homes, she realizes that she could never be like them.  When Kitty, who is beautiful on both the outside and inside, invites Kate over to her home, she jumps at the chance of friendship with an adult.  Unfortunately, Kate arrives to find Kitty murdered in her home so the friendship was over before it began!

After the murder takes place, Kate takes it upon herself to find out why Kitty was murdered and by whom.  Kate loves her children but is just not feeling fulfilled with her daily parenting activities.  She finds that by focusing on trying to solve this murder case her life once again has more meaning and purpose.  She also learns through her investigation that residents in the Upchurch community are not quite as perfect as they appear.

Kate calls on the assitance of her best friend Janie, who is a very interesting character.  I couldn't help but laugh when Janie drops some Ecstacy into a drink at Kate's home, that happened to be consumed by Kate's mother.  She was one of a kind but you got the sense that Janie would be there and do what needed to be done for her friends.

We also get a glimpse into Kate's past when she finds herself looking for help from a man that she never imagined that she would have to see again.  When she gave him her heart years ago, only to turn his back on her, she really wasn't sure how a professional relationship would work with Evan today.  As the attraction between Evan and Kate builds throughout the novel Kate begins scrutinizing her marriage and pondering whether her decision to marry was made in haste.

This was an interesting story and although the mystery was solved in a way that seemed reasonable, Kate was still sorting through her personal life at the end of the book and trying to figure out what direction to take.  I think I would consider this book a 'cozy mystery', which I don't think I would have enjoyed actually reading, but it was a fun audiobook to listen to.

My Rating: 3/5

Disclosure:  I borrowed this book from the library and listened to it for my own entertainment.

Audiobook Giveaway: Men and Dogs by Katie Crouch

Thanks to Anna from Hachette I am able to give away up to three copies of this unabridged audiobook on Jo-Jo Loves to Read!!!

Here is a summary of Men and Dogs by Katie Crouch from the Hachette website:

In April of 1985, Buzz Legare went fishing. The next day all that was found was his boat and his waiting, faithful dog.

Twenty years later, his daughter Hannah still finds hope in believing, alone among her family, that he's still alive somewhere. She has a smart husband, a thriving business, a beautiful home in San Francisco-and a huge hole in her troubled heart. True to her trademark talent for self-sabotage, she finds herself one starry night climbing up the fire escape in a desperate (and drunken) attempt to win back her own husband--and failing disastrously.

Slightly worse for the wear, Hannah returns to Charleston to salve her wounds. There, old loves, unrepented crimes, and family legends are stirred up from the dust. Hannah's brother Palmer, the stoic with a secret of his own, cannot dissuade her from a manic search to uncover clues to the past, and they will both face shocking discoveries that lead them to reconcile their very different notions of loyalty and blind faith.

As she did so memorably in her bestselling debut, Girls in Trucks, Katie Crouch has created another great voice--spiky, tender, and hilarious--in the screwball heroine Hannah Legare. Much like Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding, Hannah follows the misguided impulses of a heart that's in the right place.

Now on with the giveaway!

I will be giving away one book for every 10 entries with a maximum of three books to give away.

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.

You will have until June 19th to enter and I will draw for winners on June 20th.

Good luck everyone!

**This giveaway is closed.

Wondrous Words Wednesday-June 2

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 learned a few new words last week while I was reading The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi:

Triumvirate: 1. any association of three in office or authority.

2. any group or set of three.

Here is how triumvirate was used on page 11:

His baba points up to the triumvirate of human men sculpted shoulder to shoulder in the stone.

Raillery:  good-humored ridicule; banter.

Here is how raillery was used on page 60:

They set up no tents and light no fires and sing no songs and play only silent games free of raillery and maintain an invisibility so pristine the boy wonders if they exist at all. 

Lackadaisical:  1.without interest, vigor, or determination; listless; lethargic

2. lazy; indolent

Here is how lackadaisical was used on page 102:
The captain, with his long face and sunken eyes that forever peer past the boys, and the childlike colonel, who leans up against the wall in his chair, his heavy body delicately balanced in a lackadaisical pose that makes Reza nervous.

So did you learn any new words in your reading journey this last week?

Teaser Tuesday-June 1

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 Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons:
I tried not to think and work at the same time because that made me slow.  If I did think though I wondered about Roy and Julia and how the chickenshit worked out.

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