Category: Books Read-2009

The Lace Reader Tour and Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: July 29,2008 (Hardcover)

Paperback Date: August 18,2009

I have to send a huge thank you to Trish and TLC Book Tours for allowing me to be on this tour.

I had this book on my TBR pile since late last summer and I never got to read it so this was a perfect time to take it down of the shelf and read it.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
In the tradition of The Thirteenth Tale, Brunonia Barry’s bewitching gothic novel, The Lace Reader, is a phenomenon. Called “[a] richly imagined saga of passion, suspense, and magic” by Time Magazine, it is a haunting and remarkable tale told by an unforgettable, if strangely unreliable narrator—a woman from an enigmatic Salem family who can foretell the future in patterns of lace. The Lace Reader was a runaway New York Times bestseller—hitting the top lists in major cities across the country, from Boston to Chicago to Los Angeles—and has immediately established debut author Brunonia Barry as a major force in contemporary American fiction.

Book Description
Every gift has a price . . .
Every piece of lace has a secret . . .
My name is Towner Whitney. No, that’s not exactly true. My real first name is Sophya. Never believe me. I lie all the time. . . .

Towner Whitney, the self-confessed unreliable narrator of The Lace Reader, hails from a family of Salem women who can read the future in the patterns in lace, and who have guarded a history of secrets going back generations, but the disappearance of two women brings Towner home to Salem and the truth about the death of her twin sister to light.

The Lace Reader is a mesmerizing tale that spirals into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths in which the reader quickly finds it’s nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction, but as Towner Whitney points out early on in the novel, “There are no accidents.”

MY THOUGHTS:
I have to admit I didn’t know what to expect when I started to read the book. With an opening line like this:

My name is Towner Whitney. No, that’s not exactly true. My real first name is Sophya. Never believe me. I lie all the time.

It was that line that hooked me into the book. I had a hard time to put the book down and ended up devouring the book in a two day span and that was only because I read this while I was on vacation other wise I am sure I would have read it in a day.

The book takes place in Salem, Massachusetts.

The main character Towner has flown in from California when her brother calls to let her know that Aunt Eva is missing. Towner hasn’t been back to Salem for over a decade and is very reluctant to be back. Towner is staying at her Great Aunt Eva’s house. Towner begins to have visions of past happenings and she also gets visits from Eva’s ghost. At first she thinks they are real until they find her aunts body and she knows differently now.

We begin to see Towner struggling with second-guessing herself because she isn’t sure whether she is going crazy again or if she is really experiencing the events. We discover that Towner was hospitalized after having suffered from depression and hallucinations at the age of 17. Her twin sister had committed suicide just before Towner was hospitalized. She has memory gaps that were caused from the shock-therapy she’d received as part of treatment.

Even though the book is mainly told my Towner, there is also another person who tells some of the story and that is Rafferty (a police officer) and he is involved because he is investing the disappearance of Eva who has turned into a friend to Rafferty.

What really happens? How much is believable and how much is a lie?

This was a great read with a little bit of mystery and love. I love that each chapter began with The Lace Readers Guide. Another thing I enjoyed was the cliches that were said that Aunt Eva use to say, such as “He’s crazy as a loon.”, “Two bricks shy of a load.” and “Not the sharpest tool in the shed.” and many more.

This is Brunonia Barry’s debut novel.

You can see the trailer for the book and other stuff here: The Lace Reader

Soon, LaceReader.com will also have a downloadable t-shirt iron-on design and printable signage for booksellers.

In the September issue of Book Page Contest, there will be a sweepstakes in which the grand prize is a trip for two to Salem, two nights at The Hawthorne Hotel, and a guided Lace Reader tour of Salem with Brunonia. (US only)

Brunonia Barry is going on tour again, and here’s her schedule:
9/8 – Bellingham, WA – Village Books – Reading and Signing
9/10 – Oakland – A Great Good Place for Books – Reading and Signing
9/12 – San Mateo – M is for Mystery…and More – Reading and Signing
9/14 – Los Angeles – Vroman’s Bookstore – Reading and Signing
9/15—Edwards, CO – VIP Customer Book Club Event
9/20—Andover, MA – Meet the Author Benefit for PATHS
10/12 Mequon, WI Next Chapter Bookshop
10/13 Dallas, TX Legacy Books10/20 – Lexington, MA Library
10/22- Swampscott, MA Library10/27- Destination Salem Lunch, Hampton Falls Library
11/18th 10 AM, Exeter Library, Exeter, NH.

Here are some upcoming virtual blog tours of The Lace Reader:
-Sept 3/09 http://www.eclecticbooklover.com/
-Sept 4/09 http://shhhimreading.blogspot.com/
-Sept 7/09 http://literatehousewife.com/
-Sept 9/09 http://bookopolis.blogspot.com/

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.

To Tempt The Wolf Tour and Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: September 1, 2009

Thank You to Danielle at Sourcebooks for sending me To Tempt The Wolf to read, review and for allowing me to be part of the virtual tour of this book.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
In this third in the series, wildlife photographer Tessa Anderson must prove her brother innocent of murder charges. But when she discovers a gorgeous naked man barely alive on her beach, she’s got a new world of troubles to deal with, not least of which is how he affects her with just a look, a touch, or a whispered word.

Hunter Greymore is a lupus garou, a grey werewolf. Hoping to keep a low profile at Tessa’s cabin on the coast, he’s drawn into her life—and into her bed. His animal instincts war with his human half, but in the end, the only thing he can do about this fascinating, adorable woman is to leave her forever —unless she becomes one of them.

MY THOUGHTS:
I didn’t realize that this was the third in the book right away and that really didn’t make a difference in the book for me. It can be read as a stand alone. I do know that I will be ordering the other two previous books.

I really enjoyed the book and I have to admit that I managed to read this in a day. The story line just grabbed be from the beginning. Mind you the cover wasn’t bad to loo at either.

This is the first time I have read anything by Terry Spears and I was not disappointed. She left me wanting more which any great book should do.

The book opens up with Tessa trying to help her brother get out of his wrongly convicted murder charge. When he is convicted she makes it her mission to find the person responsible and get her brother out of jail.

A upcoming storm puts a damper on her mission for a bit because as she is collecting wood she stumbles upon a naked man on the beach that is near her cabin in Oregon. She has no idea and neither does he. All that can seem to recall is his name, Hunter. She recues him and manages to get him back to her cabin.

Hunter has no memory of who he is or where he came from. He does remember that he is the Alpha male in a wolf pack although he can’t remember where the rest of his pack is. As a forest fire has driven the pack apart.

When he realizes he has to protect Tessa because she is being stalked and killed because she appears to know to much. To much about what though? He offers to help Tessa find the person responsible for the murder that her brother is being convicted of and to protect Tessa.

As the book progresses you see that Hunter is starting to fall in love with Tessa and wants no other wolf to claim her as his own. Hunter is a Royal and needs to find a Royal mate. Hunter isn’t the kind of wolf who turns humans into wolves no matter what. Will Hunter change his ways to protect Tessa?

There was alot of action that kept you on the edge of your seat and a little passion as well. I really suggest that when this book comes out on Sept 1 that you pick up a copy you won’t be disappointed.

You can check out Terry Spears next virtual here and reviews below.

August 31—Rhi Reading http://rhireading.blogspot.com/

September 2—The Review from Here/Scribe Vibe http://scribevibe.blogspot.com/

September 3—Yankee Romance Reviewers http://yankeeromancereviewers.blogspot.com/

September 4—Horror and Fantasy Book Review http://horrorandfantasybookreview.blogspot.com/

September 7—Love Romance Passion http://www.loveromancepassion.com/

September 8—Fang-tastic Books http://fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com/

September 9—Books and Needlepont http://booksandneedlepoint.blogspot.com/

September 10—A Journey of Books http://ajourneyofbooks.blogspot.com/

September 14—Morbid Romantic http://www.morbid-romantic.net/

September 17—Romance Reader at Heart’s Novel Thoughts Blog http://novelthoughts.wordpress.com/

If you are looking for more Terry has the following books coming out next year:
-Legend of the White Wolf (Feb 2010)
-Seduced by the Wolf (April 2010)
-Book 6 is set to be released in Fall 2010

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.

undiscovered gyrl Review

Posted on by Cindy

PUB DATE: August 2009

Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett was released yesterday and I was lucky enough to get this copy from Tina who has read and reviewed this book so it see her review please check out her blog.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Only on the internet can you have so many friends and be so lonely. (Is that the turth?)

Beautiful, wild, funny, and lost, Katie Kampenfelt is taking a year off before college to find her passion. Ambitious in her own way, Katie intends to do more than just smoke weed with her boyfriend, Rory, and work at the bookstore. She plans to seduce Dan, a thirty-two-year-old film professor.

Katie chronicles her adventures in an anonymous blog, telling strangers her innermost desires, shames, and thrills. But when Dan stops taking her calls, when her alcoholic father suffers a terrible fall, and when she finds herself drawn into a dangerous new relationship. Katie’s fearless narrative begins to crack, and dark pieces of her past emerge. Sexually frank, often heartbreaking, and bursting with devilish humor, Undiscovered Gyrl is an extraordinarily accomplished novel of identity, voyeurism, and deceit.

http://www.undiscoveredgyrl.com/ for more info.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Allison Burnett is a screenwriter in LA and the author of Christopher, a finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award, and The House Beautiful.

MY THOUGHTS:

When I first saw the trailor for Undiscovered Gyrl, I knew I wanted to read the book. So when Tina offered it up at the meet up I couldn’t pass on the chance to get my hands on it.

The book is about a girl who is 17 years old and she goes by the name of Katie on her blog but apparently her real name is Amy. Katie blogs about her life which at times seems like your watching train wreak waiting to happen.

The whole book is done in blog forum which was really interesting. I found it to be believable and that it could be anyone writting it.

When she announces that she is taking a year off from college her mother tells her that she has to get a job. Lucky enough she stumbles up one at a use book store “Elysium”. When her mother’s boyfriend finds the deal too good to be true he decides to check the owner out and discovers he has a past with a record. Katie is forced to quit her job.

Luckily with a phone call from a guy who interviewed her for the college calls her when he sees that she has defered and is looking for someone to take care of his son for a short term with a possibility for longer. She accepts the job.

Between her drinking, smoking and drugs Katie has numerous sexual encounters with her boyfriend Rory, Dan (an older man), random guys and her boss. She was very detailed in her blog about this. With this I am not sure I would pass this book onto my niece unless I spoke to my sister first and told her about the book.

Its towards the end when its revealed what lead her life this way and its sad and you realize that it could happen to anyone and she tried to deal with it although not to the best of her ability. With and absent father and a mother who for what it appeared could care less about her she was looking for love in all the wrong places.

It was an okay read for me but not a favorite. I thought that Katie was just a little too graphic in details and wonder if it was all for attention or what. There was a few funny spots in the book that made me laugh. It did make me realize how annomymous we are online. We can be who ever we want and can say what ever we want and no one would know the difference.

My favorite quote in the book

We’re all famous in our own minds.

How true is that?

If you have read this book please let me know and I will add your link here.

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.

The Hope of Refuge Blog Tour & Review

Posted on by Cindy

PUB DATE: August 2009

Thank You to Liz at Random House for contacting me about being part of the WaterBrook Multnomah Tour of this book.

This book is coming out today and I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of the book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cindy Woodsmall is the author of When the Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes, and The New York Times Best-Seller When the Soul Mends. Her ability to authentically capture the heart of her characters comes from her real-life connections with Amish Mennonite and Old Order Amish families. A mother of three sons and two daughters-in-law, Cindy lives in Georgia with her husband of thirty-one years.

You can check out Cindy’s site for more info about all kinds of great things.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Raised in foster care and now the widowed mother of a little girl, Cara Moore struggles against poverty, fear, and a relentless stalker. When a trail of memories leads Cara and Lori out of New York City toward an Amish community, she follows every lead, eager for answers and a fresh start. She discovers that long-held secrets about her family history ripple beneath the surface of Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, and it’s no place for an outsider. But one Amish man, Ephraim Mast, dares to fulfill the command he believes that he received from God–“Be me to her”– despite how it threatens his way of life.

Completely opposite of the hard, untrusting Cara, Ephraim’s sister Deborah also finds her dreams crumbling when the man she has pledged to build a life with begins withdrawing from Deborah and his community, including his mother, Ada Stoltzfus. Can the run-down house that Ada envisions transforming unite them toward a common purpose–or push Mahlon away forever? While Ephraim is trying to do what he believes is right, will he be shunned and lose everything–including the guarded single mother who simply longs for a better life?

MY THOUGHTS:
This is Cindy’s fourth book. I have to admit though this is her first book I have read. I actually I have her previous three books (When The Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes and When The Soul Mends) in my TBR pile. Her fifth book The Sound of Sleigh Bells is coming out in October 2009.

I really enjoyed reading “The Hope of Refuge”. I actually got so into the book that I had a hard time putting it down. I think I will have to move her three books up on my TBR pile now. I love to read books with an Amish setting and characters.

Cindy even include some of their language in the book and was kind enough to put Glossary in the back. Most of the words were pretty easy to figure out such as: Daed= dad, denki= thank you, Mamm=mom, kumm=come and a few others.

The main character, Cara is a single mom who fears for her life and her daughters as she struggles to find work and keeping her daughter safe. She is on the run from a guy named Mike. (I am not sure if I missed something but I felt it was never revealed why she was afraid of Mike and why she was running from him.)

Then one day Mike manages to find her and ransacks her apartment and comes to the bar she works at and threatens her. Without a second glance she leaves her job to pick up Lori (her daughter) and leaves town right away with the little money she has and the clothes on their backs.

With her mother’s journal Cara starts to have some flashbacks of her childhood. She wonders what they mean and begins to realize that the key to those flashbacks are in the notes from her mother’s journal that she left Cara with.

When she uncovers a hidden message with an address Cara decides that is the way her and Lori will go so they board a bus. When they get off she realizes that it has lead her to an Amish community.

Cara is very much the outsider with no money or family. So in order to survive for the first few days she basically breaks into the Amish homes to get the supplies she needs for Lori and herself. She is spotted and is called a thief and drunk. She hides in a barn until Ephraim tells her she has to leave but before she is told his father calls the police. She is almost arrested when Ephraim comes to her rescue.

How will Cara react when she finds out that she really does have a family? Will Ephraim risk everything and all that he believes in to help Cara? Can Cara make the change from a modern world full of modern technolgy to live a pure and simple life?

As Cindy was recently covered on ABC Nightline, you can see it in the following link:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7676659&page=1

If you would like to get a copy of the book then please use this link http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400073962 to get a copy.

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.

All That Glitters Review

Posted on by Cindy

PUB DATE: August 2009
Thank you to Nicole O’Dell and Barbour Books for sending me this book to read and review.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Drew Daniels finally has what she thought she wanted—popularity and a cute boyfriend. But now she’s faced with choosing between pleasing her boyfriend and doing what’s right. Tween readers make the choice in this interactive story and see how the consequences change Drew’s life. Includes a contract and prayer to remind the reader of the importance of making godly decisions.

MY THOUGHTS:
This is the second book in the series but you don’t have to read the first book first. They are stand alone and each book is a new situation and new characters. This was another fun and quick read.

All that Glitters is about two twin sisters, Dani and Drew. They are beginning 9th grade. Dani is the quiet reserved twin who likes things the way they are and Drew is wanting to branch out and be her unique self and not be so much referred to as the twin.

The girls go back to school shopping with their mother and agree to share the budget on clothes but Drew has a plan up her sleeve, when they get to the mail she tells them she wants to get her hair cut differently. Which she does and as they are about to leave she asks her mother if they can stay because she wants to get some special clothes. Her mother agrees but she has guidelines to follow. You know this will be trouble but Drew is smart with what she buys knowing that she is buying the wrong clothes but she makes it work so her mother will agree.

Once school begins Drew announces she is going to try out for cheer leading. She makes the team and more. With being in cheer leading she is exposed to the football team and the popular world. Not wanting to be an outcast she does what ever it will take to be with Trevor and that group even if it mean she is lying to her parents and perhaps getting into trouble with the police.

I am really looking forward to reading Magna and Making Waves when they come out.

I think as a parent this is a great book for young girls to read. I know as a parent I am already worrying about this stuff and Michael is only 6.

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.

Truth or Dare Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: August 2009

Thank you to Nicole O’Dell and Barbour Books for sending me this book to read and review.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Lindsay Martin is faced with a tough choice: Does she give in to peer pressure and make her friends happy or does she do what she knows is right—even if it means losing her friends forever? Tween readers make the choice in this interactive story and see how the consequences change Lindsay’s life. Includes a contract and prayer to remind the reader of the importance of making godly decisions.

MY THOUGHTS:
I think that this is a great concept for the book. Its actually two books in one. When you got to the section in the book you could actually choose would Lindsay cave to peer pressure and if she did you got to see what would happen. If you think she won’t you got to see what would happen.

I really enjoyed reading the book and it was a quick and easy read. As I was reading the book I realized that growing up I was never really forced into peer pressure. I think that mainly had to do with the group of people I hung around with. I mean of course there was drugs, alcohol and many other things around me but we chose not to be involved in that. Plus I grew up in a household where alcohol was around and I saw it and realized I didn’t want to be like that.

Truth or Dare is about four girls who are the best of friends: Lindsay, Macy, Sam and Kelly. Of all the girls I could relate the most with Macy. She is the soft spoken one who hates to offend anyone and feelings get easily hurt. That is just like me. (Yea I know hard to believe eh?)

With the girls being in 8th grade they have to celebrate so Sam suggests a sleep over and has a surprise for the girls. So when the girls show up and are wondering about the surprise she tells them they are going to play Truth or Dare.

We all know that playing Truth or Dare will lead to trouble. At first it starts out harmless but then it escalates to some serious illegal stuff. What will happen to the girls? What would you do?

This is a great book for young girls to read and I highly recommend it.

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.

Obama’s Blackberry Review

Posted on by Cindy

PUB DATE: June 2009

When we had our local Book blogger meet up this past weekend, I managed to snag this book from Linda Ellen’s pile of offerings. You can read her review HERE.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

When Obama stated that if elected, he would keep his Blackberry, debate echoed through Washington and among the ranks of the Secret Service.

What would it be like to have a president who could Twitter, send text messages, and navigate the web with ease? What would it be like to receive a text message from inside the Oval Office and, most importantly, what would it say?

Now, for the first time, We The People are privy to our new leader’s epistolary back-and-forths on his wily hand-held device. We’re about to discover that his emails (and the replies, from his wife and daughters, Biden, Palen, Rush, Hannity, the new first puppy, and even Bush) are so tuned in to the language of electronic correspondence they come hilariously close to the brink of legibility.

This giftable, imagined glimpse into Obama’s beloved Blackberry traverses the mundane and momentous contours of the Commander in Chief’s life, from security briefings to spam, basketball practice to domestic bliss, and the panic of oops-I-hit-reply-all, to, of course, the trauma of dealing with the First Mother In Law.

MY THOUGHTS:

This was a quick and easy read. I actually managed to read it in one sitting while getting supper ready Sunday night. The book is entirely fiction and they are not the real messages from Obama’s blackberry.

It was a very light and funny read. One that made me laugh was a text message between Obama and the secret service it was about Obama asking the secret service if they knew where he was and of course they did know from the lincoln bedroom to the china room. The ones from bill Clinton were pretty funny too. Also was Abraham Lincoln from up above.

The author really got the personalities just right when he wrote the text messages and emails. He even included some spam as well. He mentioned Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, his wife, daughter and many others.

I know as I was sitting reading this book I couldn’t help but laugh at some of them and I wonder what his real blackberry would reveal?

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.