Author: Cindy

It’s Monday What are you reading? #24

Posted on by Cindy


It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with blog to find out all the details on how to take part in this fun weekly meme. I should warn you though that this can add to an ever increasing TBR pile or wish list.

The wonderful host of this weekly meme is Shelia from Book Journey. You can check out her blog and see what other bloggers are reading this week and what they have read last week.

Wow I can’t believe I am sitting here writting up another It’s Monday, what are you reading? Post. Where did the week go?

It was another busy week here and not alot of reading got done. I can honestly say that I am looking forward to June 23rd when Michael will be done school so that I can get a little more reading done while I am at the pool for his swimming lessons.

Last week I did manage to read:

If you remember I got click from Tina at our last meet up and I couldn’t resist not reading it as it looked like a quick and fun read. The whole book is done in email format.

Right now I am currently reading:

After that I plan on reading:

What about you?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Review) Sisters of the Sari

Posted on by Cindy


Title: Sister of the Sari
Author: Brenda L. Baker
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 352
Pub Date: June 2011

Source: I received a finished copy of the book from Penguin USA for my honest and sincere review.

About the Book:
A debut novel about an American woman and an Indian woman who are about to dramatically change each other’s lives-along with the lives of those around them.

While vacationing in India, Kiria Langdon, the opinionated and driven CEO of a major company, meets Santoshi, a former slave who now works as a cleaning lady and lives in a shelter for homeless women in Chennai. Appalled by the conditions in the shelter, Kiria becomes obsessed with the idea of building decent housing for poor working women in India. Santoshi reluctantly agrees to help, even though she thinks Kiria’s ideas are too crazy to succeed.

Embarking on a rich journey of personal discovery, both women will learn invaluable lessons about themselves as they forge a powerful bond of sisterhood across the barriers of language and culture-a bond that makes anything possible.

I was instantly drawn to the cover when I got pitched this book. I love the pink and the bangles. The premis of the story also intrigued me so I accepted the request to review the book and knowing that Brenda lives in Canada now always was a huge plus for me.

I managed to read the book pretty quickly. I really wanted to love this book but I just couldn’t and this will be surprising to my readers because I always seem to enjoy or love the books that I read here so this is rare for me.

Kiria (the main character) is a successful American woman who is the CEO of NOVIO, her own company. Kiria has no ties so nothing holds her back so she does what she wants even taking a trip to India.

During a trip to India she meets Santoshi by a chance encounter. Kiria is drawn to this woman and is determined to find out more about her and she almost stops at nothing to find out what she can. She finds out that alot of the women live in a shelter system instead of living on the streets. Although some will turn to the streets to live because they have no other option.

There is something about Santoshi that draws Kiria to her and she wants Santoshi to become better and more independent for herself. With her sight set on helping out Santoshi, Kiria decides that the other women need that same chance so she decides to open her own shelter that would allow these women to become dependant individuals.

Kiria’s friends are sure that this venture will fail but she is out to prove them wrong. Things come to a head when Santoshi informs Kiria that she will not live with anyone below here and that many of the women will feel the same way. This hits Kiria the wrong way and she is not going to turn anyone away that can use her help. Will she be able to help these women out or will she get burned in the process?

I have to admit that there was alot happening in this book with numerous characters being introduced with there own story lines and at times I was a little unsure how they would fit in. Perhaps this was one of the reasons I didn’t really enjoy the book.

I feel bad that I didn’t enjoy the book more because I know tons of people who loved the book from reading their reviews.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Guest Post) Brenda L. Baker

Posted on by Cindy


Title: Sisters of the Sari
Author: Brenda L. Baker
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Pub Date: June 7th 2011 (US)

Today I am very honored to have Brenda L. Baker stop by Cindy’s Love of Books to do a guest post for me. This is Brenda’s debut novel. Please come back tomorrow for my review of Sisters of the Sari.

I got to ask Brenda about her experiences of teaching in India and this is what she had to say:

Here’s a confession – when I signed up as a volunteer tourist in India, it was the tourist part of the assignment I was interested in. I travel to meet people and volunteering seemed like the perfect way to meet lots of them. If anyone got helped along the way, that would be gravy.

On my first day at the Madras Christian Council of Social Service in Chennai, I met the social workers and office staff (plus), discovered the office language was Tamil (minus) and learned my laptop was going to be more useful to my new friends than I was. The office had five, vintage, virus-laden computers loaded with antique pirated software and only sporadically connected to the internet. My VIAO was an object of wonder. Isabel, the woman who ran the organization, suggested I try my hand at teaching English to the women in two shelters run by the social workers, probably to get my laptop out of the office so people would get back to work. I’d never taught anyone in my life, but I knew the subject pretty well. How hard could it be?

When I walked across the street to the shelters – they were upstairs and downstairs in the same building – I found out exactly how hard it would be. The warden gave me a blackboard that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Victorian schoolroom circa 1850, and a one inch piece of chalk, then placed me in front of forty women in nightgowns and left. The blackboard was so cracked and warped the words I wrote on it looked like they were underwater, but this didn’t really matter because there were no notebooks and pens for my students to write with.

I asked if anyone spoke English. A sleepy young woman named Viji held up her hand and instantly became the official student-translator. I set out to learn my students’ names and find out how much they knew. Some of them were illiterate not only in English, but in their native language of Tamil. A few knew the English alphabet. A few more knew stilted phrases like “How do you do?” and “What is your good name?”, invariably spoken with a weird semi-British accent, the verbal equivalent of extending a pinky when lifting a teacup. About halfway through the introductions, my translator fell asleep. (I later found out she was on medication.) I finished up the lesson by teaching them the alphabet song, then went back to the office to ask for notebooks and pens and more chalk.

When I carried the new supplies over to the shelter the next day, only twenty women sat around me in a semi-circle. The rest were sleeping or sitting against the far wall chatting. Viji managed to stay awake a little longer and by the end of the lesson, everyone had taken a turn at saying “Hello. My name is ____” and could recognize at least some letters of the English alphabet. In exchange, they taught me the same phrase in Tamil and started me out with my first two letters in the in the two-hundred plus Tamil alphabet.

Lesson three was given to fifteen women, only three of whom still had their notebooks and pens. The rest had been “lost” or “stolen”. I learned two more Tamil letters and we exchanged words for body parts. Lesson four was given to twelve women, ten of whom had managed to retain the replacement notebooks and pens I’d handed out. I learned two more Tamil letters and the Tamil words for beautiful and happy. Not sure what they learned.

Over the next three months, I tried everything I could think of to teach my students English without textbooks and teaching aids. We played games and had contests. I gave one-question tests and handed out prizes for passing. I think most of the women attended class for the comedy value of watching me act out vocabulary words after Viji fell asleep. Eventually even that paled. One day I walked over to the shelter and no one had turned up for class, my last three die-hard students had found part-time jobs.

I took my laptop back into the office and spent the rest of my volunteer tour creating PowerPoint presentations for Isabel to use when she gave talks and writing funding proposals for various projects managed by the organization. This turned out to be a much more productive use of my time, since Isabel’s illustrated talks helped raise awareness, and one of my proposals encouraged the Tamil Nadu government to cough up funding for a project.

Was my teaching effort wasted? Heck no. For one thing, I learned a little Tamil. More importantly, by showing up every day, I gained acceptance in the shelters, became part of their daily life. I still went to visit them after working in the office. With no agenda and no sense of responsibility, I began to look forward to these social afternoons. I played with their children, admired their singing and dancing and learned about their hopes and dreams when someone was around to translate. At Christmas, the shelter received a donation of new clothing from a local school. I funded a bus trip to a carnival so they could show off their new outfits and in return, had one of my happiest days in India as I watched them enjoy the novelty of an outing.

As far as I’m concerned, my brief foray into teaching was a howling success. I did what I set out to do – met lots of wonderful people

Thanks again to Brenda L. Baker for stopping by and be sure to check out her site and don’t forget to come back tomorrow for my review of Sister of the Sari.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Review & Give Away) Heart of the Highland Wolf

Posted on by Cindy


Title: Heart of the Highland Wolf (book 7 in the Werewolf Series)
Author: Terry Spears
Pub Date: June 2011
Pages: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Source: I received an ARC copy from the publisher for my honest and sincere review. Thank you Danielle for sending this my way.

About The Book:
It’s a matter of pride…

Modern day werewolf laird Ian MacNeill reluctantly allows a film production company to use his castle, but he knows his secretive clan has a big problem when a beautiful red werewolf female who insists she’s working on the film keeps showing up in the wrong places…

And a matter of pleasure…

Julia Wildthorn is not who she says she is—she’s sneaking into Argent Castle to steal an ancient relic for her grandfather and to do research for her next werewolf romance novel. When she catches a glimpse of Ian, she realizes he’s the perfect hero…

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will notice that I don’t read/review romance books and that is only because its a genre I never really got into until I read To Tempt The Wolf. I fell in love with the book and the author. Terry’s books are the only romance books I will read and highly recommend.

Heart of the Highland Wolf did not disappoint. I devoured this book within two days and if I could I think I would have stayed up all night to read it. After reading this I had a sudden urge to want to visit Scotland.

What I love about this series is that you really don’t need to read the previous books in order to follow along because each book deals with a different set of characters and yes some characters carry over into other books but its nothing major. Each book is fresh and exciting.

Julia the main character is a romance writer who writes about werewolves. She has developed writers block and thinks that hopping on a plane to Scotland with her friend Maria and the film crew will help her over come this. They are going to Scotland to film a historical movie at Agent Castle. Little does everyone else know but Julia is also going over for another reason. Its sort of like a secret family mission.

Although once they land in Scotland strange things begin to happen to Julia. A strange man at the airport who Julia feels is being a little to possessive in his manner and then a car accident. Are all these things linked or is it just a fluke? Is there more to this then Julia realizes?

In Julia’s eyes she is hoping that Ian (Laird, Ian MacNeill) will become the hero in her book and little does Julia realize that during the course of time he will become that and then some for her in real life.

Ian has given up on ever finding his true love because in the past something has always happened and he was left behind to pick up the pieces but when he sees Julia he knows that she is the one. He knows there is more behind her then she is telling. What will he do when he uncovers the truth?

For me I loved Julia and Ian. There relationship started out light and flirty but quickly heated up. One thing I love about Terry’s books is that she leaves alot to the imagination. There isn’t alot of over the top sex scenes just enough to satisfy the reader.

I am really looking forward to discover more about the MacNeill brothers such as Duncan, Gutherie, and Cearnach in her upcoming highland books.

Other Books in the Werewolf series:
1. Heart of the Wolf
2. Destiny of the Wolf
3.To Tempt The Wolf
4.Legend of White Wolf
5. Seduced by the Wolf
6. Wolf Fever
7. Heart of the highland Wolf
8. Dreaming of the Wolf (December 2011)
9. The Wolf and the Seal (2012)
10. Highland Wolf in Paradise (2012)
11. Hero of the Highland wolf (future release)
12. Silence of the Wolf (future release)
13. Rogue of the Highland Wolf (future release)

Give Away time:

Thanks to Sourcebooks and Danielle I am able to give away 2 copies of Heart of the Highland Wolf to 2 lucky readers. So that means I will be giving one away to a Canadian reader and a US reader with a valid mailing address. Sorry no PO Boxes.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Author Interview) Terry Spears

Posted on by Cindy

Title: Heart of the Highland Wolf
Author: Terry Spears
Pub Date; June 2011
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Today on Cindy’s Love of Books I am very honored once again to have the amazing Terry Spears stop by for a interview.

If you know me and this blog you will know I don’t read very much romance, the exception to this rule is Terry Spears. I absolutely love her books and I am so happy that I discovered them two years ago.

I want to thank Danielle at Sourcebooks for arranging this interview for me and for Terry taking the time out of her very busy schedule to this interview with me.

Here is the link for my previous interview with Terry Spears.

What would the reader be surprised to discover about Heart of the Highland Wolf that they might not know about?

TS: I’ve read about a lot of castles in Europe, and one that stuck in my mind was where a king had the hidden entrance to his chamber sealed off because he would lose his golf balls down there. When an assassination attempt was made on his life, he tried to escape through the secret tunnel, but he realized too late that he couldn’t and was murdered. But there are several stories about the use of secret tunnels, even one where the tunnels were used during WWI, I believe, at one of the castles. So when I wrote Heart of the Highland Wolf, I wanted to have full use of a secret tunnel. 🙂

If your main characters Ian and Julia had a theme song what would it be and why?

TS: It would be anything Celtic. I watched River Dance in Las Vegas and it was awe-inspiring.

As I was reading Heart of the Highland Wolf I discovered that you mention Prince Edward Island in the book (I’m from Canada!) was there was a reason behind that?

TS: We may be related! Never know! The MacNeills settled there. The duke of Argyll’s daughter married a commoner MacNeill and she and he paid for passage to the Carolinas. The captain of the ship was the brother of the man who owned land in PEI and desperately needed settlers to keep the land. So he diverted his passengers to PEI. The ship landed, wrecked, there, and Lady Elizabeth died because of the harsh conditions. But she and Malcolm MacNeill had two sons and a very young daughter, and we descended from the youngest son. So my mother’s family on her mother’s side had settled in PEI, then moved to Ontario and then onto Manitoba. My mother was born in Alberta. 🙂

You never know about us being related. LOL When you’re not writing your own books, what do you read? Current read? Favorite read?

TS: I read everything from true stories to fantasy and romance, time travels and historical romance. Right now I’m listening to Amanda Quick latest audiobook. I love all her books.

I have never read anything by Amanda Quick. I think I might have to pick up something of hers and read it. Are you working on anything currently? If so are you able to share with us?

TS: I’m always working on something “currently!” Right now it’s Heart of the Jaguar, the first of the three jaguar stories contracted with Sourcebooks Casablanca. So it’s been hot and steamy in the jungle and other locations. Did you know jaguar shifters can be as hot as wolf shifters?

I did not know that but after hearing about jaguar shifters I am dying to read about it. I was super excited to read that Sourcebooks bought five more books from you, what was getting that news like?

TS: Oooh, 6, Cindy! 🙂 Three more wolf books, and three new jaguar books. I was in shock! I had pitched the blurbs for the three wolf books, then my editor, Deb, asked if I had a new idea to pitch. So I came up with the general idea of a jaguar shifter series and she pitched both to the staff. I thought she wasn’t pitching the wolf stories and was disappointed. But when she came back with an offer to buy all six stories, I was totally in shock! She probably wondered why I didn’t act more excited. I was in shock! 🙂 Truly. But of course in a very good way!

Terry I am so sorry, I misread that. I am super excited to hear that it will be six books. If you could have dinner with any of your characters from any of your books who would it be and why?

TS: Well, I can’t help it, but a Highlander in a kilt. Actually, I wouldn’t mind having dinner with the whole clan!!! In kilts. 🙂

I would love to be invite to that dinner. How much research went into Heart of the Highland Wolf?

TS: I always do a lot of research—in this case about the area, weather for that time of year, flora and fauna in the area, talked with lots of people who either visit Scotland on a regular basis or live there. There’s a scene where they remove their shirts to soak up the sun, and that came from one of our library patrons who said on a visit to Scotland, guys were resting on a grassy area, all with their shirts off. So the comments that were made in the story, were really made in real life. I actually visited several castles in Scotland, took the guided tours in some, marveled at the ruins in others. I always find the research fascinating and often in doing it, I pick up things I didn’t know to add to the story—like the sunbathing Scots. It’s just too much fun!

After reading Heart of the Highland Wolf I was suddenly wishing I was in Scotland. Thanks so much Terry for doing this interview with me. I love your books and I can’t wait to read your upcoming books. I truly appreciate the time you take out of your schedule do do these with me.

Thanks, Cindy! I love visiting with you and your readers! I just wish we could get together in person, and I could bring along some Highland hunks so that we could have a cup of tea together. Although they might add a little whiskey to theirs. 🙂 Thanks so much for loving my books and for having me here today!!

HEART OF THE HIGHLAND WOLF BY TERRY SPEAR – IN STORES JUNE 2011

Each holds a secret they can’t possibly overcome alone…

Julia Wildthorn is sneaking into Argent Castle to steal an ancient relic, but reluctant laird Ian MacNeill may be the key to unlocking the one answer she really wants discovered…

From brilliant storyteller Terry Spear, modern day werewolves meet the rugged Highlands of Scotland, where instinct meets tradition, and clan loyalties give a whole new meaning to danger…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry Spear has an MBA from Monmouth College. An eclectic writer with a PW Best Book of 2008 (Heart of the Wolf), she writes paranormal romance as well as historical and true life stories for both teen and adult audiences. Spear lives in Crawford, Texas. For more information, please visit

http://www.terryspear.com/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/terry.spear

https://twitter.com/#!/TerrySpear

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tspea

Check back tomorrow for my review of Heart of the Highland Wolf.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Local Blogger Meet Up

Posted on by Cindy


This morning I got to meet up with Tina from Bookshipper and Amanda from Tales and Treats for a quick breakfast.

Its been awhile since I have seen Amanda so it was nice to catch up with her.

Of course a bunch of books followed me home along with two coupons one for a free nesquick drink and the other for a free flavur drink along with some samples of Vichy lift activ (skin stuff).

Here are the books I brought home with me:

Thanks Tina for the above goodies. I can’t wait to dig into those books. They all sound so good.

One of the best things with meeting up with friends is sitting back and talking about anything and everything and that is what we did. Its amazing how fast the time passes by.

Stay tuned for some more meet up posts.

One of the things we talked about was BEA and I thought since it was mentioned that I would share with you my BEA bank:

Michael picked this out for me and he said it would make the perfect bank for BEA/NYC because it looks like a suitcase. You probably can’t see the plastic handles on it but I think he might be right about that.

So I have officially started to put money away and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised with what I have put away. So please feel free to cheer me on, I will need it as I am attempting to put myself on a book buying ban. Wish me luck LOL

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

It’s Monday What are you reading? #23

Posted on by Cindy


It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

The wonderful host of this weekly meme is Shelia from Book Journey. You can check out her blog to find out all the details on how to take part in this fun weekly meme. I should warn you though that this can add to an ever increasing TBR pile or wish list.

Wow I can’t believe I am sitting here writting up another It’s Monday, what are you reading? Post. Where did the week go?

I know it feels strange posting this on Sunday but tomorrow I have an author interview with Terry Spears scheduled and then Tuesday I have a review of her book. Be sure to come back and check those out.

I have to say not much reading got done this past week because it was such a busy week. Wednesday night I had to endure the craziness of registering for the summer reading program at our library. Then Thursday I had out of town family coming in so it was cleaning and visiting with them the rest of the week. Saturday was super busy because once a month Michael takes part in the Home Depot kids workshop and then he had two birthday parties to attend plus squeeze in some visiting with our out of town family. We are all tired today.

So last week I mentioned this book:

I actually read this and hopefully a review will be up soon for this.

I am thinking about picking up:

This has been sitting for a little while now.


Then I am thinking of these two books since they look like quick and easy reads.

So this is what I read and plan to read, what about you?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.