7th Heaven Winners!



And the Winners Are......
  1. Marjorie
  2. Rubynreba
  3. Lindsay's Photography
  4. JoanneR
  5. A Mom After God's Own Heart
I will send out emails and winners have 48 hours to email me mailing information. Soon as I get everyone's information, I'll send it out to Hachette.
Posted by Zia at Thursday, December 17, 2009 7:59 PM 2 comments

The Better Part Of Darkness Blog Tour December 17, 2009

A Better Part Of Darkness - Kelly Gay (Blog tour from Pocketbooks)

Product Details (from B&N website)

  • Pub. Date: November 2009
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback, 416pp

Synopsis (from B&N website)

Atlanta: it's the promised city for the off-worlders, foreigners from the alternate dimensions of heaven-like Elysia and hell-like Charbydon. Some bring good works and miracles. And some bring unimaginable evil....

Charlie Madigan is a divorced mother of one, and a kick-ass cop trained to take down the toughest human and off-world criminals. She's recently returned from the dead after a brutal attack, an unexplained revival that has left her plagued by ruthless nightmares and random outbursts of strength that make doing her job for Atlanta P.D.'s Integration Task Force even harder. Since the Revelation, the criminal element in Underground Atlanta has grown, leaving Charlie and her partner Hank to keep the chaos to a dull roar. But now an insidious new danger is descending on her city with terrifying speed, threatening innocent lives: a deadly, off-world narcotic known as ash. Charlie is determined to uncover the source of ash before it targets another victim -- but can she protect those she loves from a force more powerful than heaven and hell combined?

My Thoughts:

This blog tour came at the perfect time for me. This book was exactly what I needed to clear my head after my last book. I really enjoyed reading it. Charlie is feisty, if sometimes rash character, and she can kick a little butt. Heck she can kick a lot more than a little. Hank her partner is just as well written and I find I have a soft spot for him. There were a slew of other characters I really liked. Charlie's sister Bryn, and Rex were fantastic.

The story was engaging and I was drawn into the world. I had a hard time picturing some of the characters but it didn't distract me enough to stop my enjoyment of the story.

I fantastic debut! I hope to get a chance to read more from Kelly.

Participating Blogs:

Parajunkee’s View: http://parajunkee.blogspot.com/
Crazy Books & Reviews: http://lindsayphotobook.blogspot.com/
The Book Tree: http://thebooktree.blogspot.com/
Book Junkie: http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com/
Jeanne's Ramblings: http://www.jeannesramblings.com
Drey’s Library: http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com/
Poisoned Rationality: http://lastexilewords.blogspot.com
Found Not Lost: http://jmomfinds.amoores.com/
A Book Bloggers Diary: http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com/
Booksie’s Blog: http://booksiesblog.blogspot.com/
The Life (and Lies) of an Inanimate Flying Object: http://haleymathiot.blogspot.com/
My Adventures in Mommyland: http://musingmainiac.blogspot.com/
I Heart Book Gossip: http://juniperrbreeeze.blogspot.com/
All About {n}: http://www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/
The Bibliophilic Book Blog: http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/
Jen’s Book Talk: http://jensbooktalk.blogspot.com/
Readaholic: http://bridget3420.blogspot.com/
Chick with Books: http://www.chickwithbooks.blogspot.com/
Reading with Tequila: http://readingwithtequila.blogspot.com/
Pick of the Literate: http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/
Books Gardens & Dogs: http://maryinhb.blogspot.com/
Wendy’s Minding Spot: http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/
Revenge of the Booknerds: http://booknerdextraordinaire.blogspot.com/
You Wanna Know What I Think?: http://www.kballard87.blogspot.com/
Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm: http://fayeflamereviews.blogspot.com/
Patricia’s Vampire Notes: http://patricias-vampire-notes.blogspot.com/
SciFi Guy: http://www.scifiguy.ca/
The Wayfaring Writer: http://moonsanity.blogspot.com/
Book Soulmates: http://booksoulmates.blogspot.com/
Posted by Zia at 1 comments

The Road Audiobook - A Review

The Road - Cormac McCarthy (Own)
  • Audio CD
  • Publisher: Recorded Books; Unabridged edition (September 26, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1428112782
  • ISBN-13: 978-1428112780

Synopsis (from Barnes & Noble website)

The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

My Thoughts:

This is going to be a tiny review. If you are looking for a happy go lucky book, this ain't it. I really enjoyed it, but it is dark, dank, and dreary.

I listened to it in a few days, which for an audiobook is amazing for me. It had me hooked from the get go. It's just so sad. I had to fight back tears in some spots. I will say one thing, I really liked is they didn't give the characters names. It was just "the boy" and "Papa". I don't know why but this fit the book very well. The lengths that the father went to so he could protect his son were heartwarming and something that stayed with me during and after finishing the book.

I'm putting a warning on this because there are few disturbing scenes in the book and I can honestly say a couple of them will stick with me for a long time to come. The scenes aren't long in length but they pack a punch.
Posted by Zia at Wednesday, December 16, 2009 6:00 AM 1 comments

A to Z Wednesday



Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment.
(We all love comments, don't we?)
Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.

THIS WEEKS LETTER IS: S
Soulless - Gail Carriger

Product Details

  • Pub. Date: October 2009
  • Publisher: Orbit/Yen
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback, 384pp

Synopsis

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

This book is in my TBR pile. I'm so anxious to read it, that it has it's own spot next to my desk with a few other top of my pile books.

Posted by Zia at Tuesday, December 15, 2009 9:00 PM 15 comments

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading and it asks us to...


  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here's my teaser this week:

"It's either that or nothing at all. Your choice."

I lifted an eyebrow, standing toe-to-toe with all six foot four inches of him. "Forget it. I'm not changing."

The Better Part of Darkness - Kelly Gay, pg 86
Posted by Zia at Monday, December 14, 2009 10:51 PM 9 comments

Mailbox Monday & What Are You Reading

This is a weekly meme hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. Join the fun and post what you got in your mailbox last week!

I got a few book things this week. Some contest wins, A couple review books, and one I bought.







Beautiful Creatures - Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Bought)
















The Heretic's Daughter - Kathleen Kent (Contest win)
















The Poison Eaters - Holly Black (Library Thing Early Reviewer)
















My Soul To Take - Rachel Vincent (Contest win)
















Dear John Audiobook - Nicholas Sparks (Hachette for review)









Last but certainly not least I received two bookmarks from a contest win over at Literate Housewife. One Coraline bookmark and one WWNR (What Would Neil Read) bookmark that she made herself! I love them both!

It's Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event hosted by J. Kaye of J. Kaye's Book Blog to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.









Books I finished last week:
Under The Dome - Stephen King
Candor - Pam Bachorz

Currently Reading:
The Better Part of Darkness - Kelly Gay
The Secret of a Christmas Box - Steven Hornby
The Road - Cormac McCarthy Audiobook


Books to Finish this Week:
The Better Part of Darkness and The Road. I would love to get both of these finished this week.
Posted by Zia at Sunday, December 13, 2009 9:30 PM 29 comments

Weekend Roundup

















So this has been a heck of a week for us. We've had sub freezing temperatures and in Oregon that usually means pipe issues, well it did for us anyways.

We woke up Wednesday to frozen pipes for the second year in a row, even though we did preparations after last years. Move forward to today, I woke up and our water pressure was like half of it's normal pressure. I sent my husband under the house and all the pipes looked good. He then went out back and found our outside faucet spraying water everywhere. We figured the spigot broke. We took off to our local hardware store and got a new one to put on. Did that and turned our water back on and I heard water spraying everywhere. We then learned our outside faucet goes into what used to be the pump house. Our house used to be on well water. Seems not only did our spigot break but the on/off valve did as well. So back to the hardware store for more parts. With the help of one of our closest friends, 20 bucks and a few hours of our time, we now have water back to our house and none spraying all over.

So total bill this week for plumbing 135 dollars. If our pipes freeze again I'm thawing them myself. Can't afford another 115$ plumber bill for 15 min that it takes to thaw the problem pipe.

It's now 5pm our time and I'm just getting sat down to relax for the remainder of the weekend. I did get a little bit of reading done but not nearly as much as I had hoped.

The lovely picture above is from this same time a year ago. We had several inches of snow last Christmas. Very, very rare for the Willamette Valley. It pretty much shut us down a few days. My son and I took the city bus downtown and got some great shots out at Riverfront Park. This lovely boat is the Willamette Queen. We hope to take a lunch cruise on it one of these days.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and here's some good vibes for a great week ahead!
Posted by Zia at 2 comments

Under The Dome - A Review

Under The Dome - Stephen King (Bought)

  • Pub. Date: November 2009
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
  • Format: Hardcover, 1088pp
  • Sales Rank: 12

Synopsis


On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

My Thoughts:

Yes! I finally got this monster finished! I was beginning to think I wouldn't get to read anymore books this year at the rate I was going.

This was a huge undertaking for me. It has been a very long time since I read a book of this length. Two weeks later I have completed this monstrosity of a book. Mr King gives the reader so much information that for me, I have to slow my reading way down just to take it all in. I had to read in shorter bursts so I could digest it. You've got your main plot and then you have several smaller plots building through out that mix in with the main plot.

The premise of the story itself is interesting. The idea of being shut off from the outside world and see how you and your town would react to such a situation, I find intriguing. The characters all had varying reactions, all of which felt fairly plausible. I liked this. It gave the book a sense of realness.

I found the little snippets of political and literary views to be humorous, although It wouldn't surprise me if some people found it irritating on some level. But I definitely saw this scattered here and there throughout the book.

On to the characters. There's not a whole lot to say you either love them or you hate them. You get a pile of both in the book. One minute your all into the story and the next some idiot character has you seething. Boy did some characters have me seething so bad at times, I wanted to reach into the pages and throttle them!

Well this review went a little off course from my usual reviews. A little on the technical side for me. So my final thoughts, I liked it. It was long and the ending was a bit strange but all in all I really enjoyed it, even if it took me nearly two weeks to read.

~Special note for J. Kaye~ Yes it has an ending, a bit strange, but an ending was had.

~EDIT~ I forgot to mention there should probably be some warning for voilence, some sexual violence. It is Stephen King so violence and gore is normal but I decided I should note this just in case some don't know his writing style.

Posted by Zia at Friday, December 11, 2009 6:00 AM 11 comments

A to Z Wednesday



Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment.
(We all love comments, don't we?)
Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.

THIS WEEKS LETTER IS: R

Product Details from B&N website

  • Pub. Date: March 2005
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback, 384pp
  • Sales Rank: 9,986

Synopsis from B&N website

R is for Ricochet is another thrilling installment in Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series.

Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but he wasn't there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institute for Women. Now, at thirty-two, she is about to be paroled, having served twenty-two months of a four-year sentence. Nord Lafferty wants to be sure she stays straight, stays at home and away from the drugs, the booze, the gamblers.

It seems a straightforward assignment for Kinsey: babysit Reba until she settles in, make sure she follows all the rules of her parole. Maybe all of a week's work. Nothing untoward–the woman seems remorseful and friendly. And the money is good. But life is never that simple, and Reba is out of prison less than 24 hours when one of her old crowd comes circling around.

I love this series. I'm a couple books behind now that her new one is out, but I'll be caught up by the next one.
Posted by Zia at Tuesday, December 8, 2009 9:00 PM 13 comments

Candor - A Review

Candor - Pam Bachorz (Audiobook- Own)

Product Details (from B&N website)

  • Pub. Date: September 2009
  • Publisher: EgmontUSA
  • Format: Hardcover, 256pp
  • Age Range: 12

Synopsis (from B&N website)

In the model community of Candor, Florida, every teen wants to be like Oscar Banks. The son of the town's founder, Oscar earns straight As, is student-body president, and is in demand for every club and cause.
But Oscar has a secret. He knows that parents bring their teens to Candor to make them respectful, compliant–perfect–through subliminal Messages that carefully correct and control their behavior. And Oscar' s built a business sabotaging his father's scheme with Messages of his own, getting his clients out before they're turned. After all, who would ever suspect the perfect Oscar Banks?
Then he meets Nia, the girl he can't stand to see changed. Saving Nia means losing her forever. Keeping her in Candor, Oscar risks exposure . . . and more.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book even if it creeped me out. The characters were engaging and I found myself listening longer than I intended to find out what happened next. It was interesting to watch Oscar struggle with the voices he's hearing and decide whether to listen or not to listen to them. The ending actually caught me off guard. That really surprised me. Usually by the end of a book you have a full sense of how it's going to end. I didn't have that with this one. A very nice change of pace.

The premise behind this book kind of freaks me out. It's just plain creepy. These are the kind of stories that scare me. The what if this actually happens. What if somewhere there is a town just like this. Where you don't make your own choices but instead do what you are subliminally told to do? What if?
Posted by Zia at 3 comments
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