When You Were Older by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Russell Ammiano could not be more happy to have left his tiny Kansas town of Norville—or Nowhere-ville, as he calls it—behind forever. But on the morning of September 11th, 2001, a phone call makes him late to work. It’s from a neighbor in Norville. Russell’s mother has passed away suddenly. Russell must come home immediately, because someone has to take care of his older brother, Ben. Russell books a flight. But before he can even head for the airport, two planes hit the World Trade Center, where Russell worked. Russell would have been there, if not for the phone call. The life he’s so carefully built as a successful young ad executive comes tumbling down, literally. He hitchhikes all the way home.

His 30-year-old brother Ben, brain damaged in a childhood accident, hasn't changed a bit. And he never will. Russell has to try to figure out how his mother took care of Ben, without any “manual” of instructions. It’s not easy.

The town is a little different. Three of Russell’s high school friends are National Guard, and soon to ship out to Afghanistan. The old dry cleaners has been replaced by a bakery owned by naturalized Egyptian Nazir El Sayed and his daughter Anat. Russell befriends the two, and finds himself caught in the middle when post-9/11 fervor targets them for abuse. But the situation is further complicated when Russell falls for Anat, and she for him, challenging her traditional Egyptian upbringing. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about When You Were Older ~~

I read another one of Catherine's book a while back (Don't Let Me Go ~ my thoughts are here) and I loved it. I wasn't really expecting to but I love when that happens, don't you?

Well, here is her newest book, When You Were Older - and I have to say, I think I love this one even more! I started reading it over the weekend, when I still had so much Christmas stuff to do and I did not want to put it down. But I do have my priorities ~ and my top priority last weekend was to get to the end of this story!

I immediately loved Russell and empathized with him in his struggle to get home after 9/11. That morning, he was running behind schedule and was still home when he gets a phone call telling him that his mother has died and that he needs to come home to take over the care of his brother. If he hadn't been home to take that call, he would have been in one of the Towers when it was hit and he would have died along with all of his coworkers. He just wants to get home, take care of things and then get back to his life.

Well ...... things are not that easy.

I also loved this story because it took me back to the time of 9/11 and made me remember what a sad, crazy time it was. It was also a wonderful time for the United States because we all came together and became more patriotic. When You Were Older reminded me also that this time was not easy for everyone. People were shunned and hurt. And life goes on. And all we want is to be happy.

This story is fabulous and different from anything I have read in quite a while. Catherine is a wonderful writer and her stories are so enjoyable to read and so easy to get lost in. I can't wait to read more of her stories! She is my new 'must-read-everything-she-writes' author! Thank you Catherine, for another wonderful story!

Author Bio

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of 18 published and forthcoming books. Her newest releases are When You Were Older, Don’t Let Me Go, Jumpstart the World, When I Found You and Second Hand Heart. Forthcoming is Walk Me Home (Transworld UK, Spring 2012).

Other newer novels are Becoming Chloe, Love in the Present Tense, The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance, Chasing Windmills The Day I Killed James, and Diary of a Witness. Both Becoming Chloe and Jumpstart the World were included on the ALA’s Rainbow List. Jumpstart the World was chosen as a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards, received a third place Rainbow Award for Young Adult/Coming of Age Fiction and a tie for first place in Bisexual/Transgender Fiction. Love in the Present Tense enjoyed bestseller status in the UK, where it broke the top ten, spent five weeks on the national bestseller list, was reviewed on a major TV book club, and shortlisted for a Best Read of the Year Award at the British Book Awards.

Older works include the story collection Earthquake Weather, and the novels Funerals for Horses, Pay it Forward, Electric God, and Walter’s Purple Heart.

Pay It Forward was adapted into a major motion picture starring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt, chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than 23 languages for distribution in over 30 countries. The mass market paperback was released in October 2000 by Pocket Books and quickly became a national bestseller. It is still in print, and was rereleased in a trade paperback edition in April of 2010.

More than 50 of her short stories have been published in The Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, The Sun and many other journals, and in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts and the bestselling anthology Dog is my Co-Pilot. Her stories have been honored in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest and the Tobias Wolff Award and nominated for Best American Short Stories, the O'Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Three have been cited in Best American Short Stories.

She is founder and former president (2000-2009) of the Pay It Forward Foundation. As a professional public speaker she has addressed the National Conference on Education, twice spoken at Cornell University, met with Americorps members at the White House and shared a dais with Bill Clinton.

Connect with Catherine!

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On Tour and a Giveaway: Unmasking Maya by Libby Mercer

Defamed, Disgraced and Displaced...

Fresh from a career-killing scandal, New York fashion girl, Maya Kirkwood, arrives in San Francisco to reinvent herself as a fine artist. She's offered the opportunity to create an installation at the Silicon Valley headquarters of a hot new tech company. Fabulous, right?

Not so much.

She can't stand Derek Whitley - wunderkind software genius and CEO of the company. Hot as he may be on the outside, inside the man is a cold, unemotional, robotic type. Way too left-brained for her right-brained self.

As Maya and Derek get to know each other, however, their facades begin to crack. She catches her first glimpse of the man behind the superhuman tech prodigy, and he starts to see her as the woman she used to be. But is this a good thing? Once that last secret is revealed, will it bring them closer together or will it tear them apart? ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Unmasking Maya ~~

I loved how this story started. We are at an art show. The artist, who wants to remain unknown to those attending the show, runs across the gentleman from a Silicon Valley business who wants to hire her. Yep, you guessed it, they start off on the wrong foot. He can't stand the art work he is looking at but he doesn't know that he is voicing all this negativity to the actual artist of the pieces he says he doesn't like. And then she finds herself too far into the conversation to let him know who she really is.

So, Maya starts off their relationship, both their business one and their personal one, by keeping secrets. But wait, Derek has his own secrets. And the two of them are as different as night and day, she is very artsy and he is very techy. There is a lot of chemistry under the surface but can they overcome their differences and get past all of their secrets?

Okay, so you can probably guess how this story turns out but let me tell you, it was a whole lot of fun getting to that ending and seeing how they go about figuring it all out. Libby does an excellent job with her story telling and this was a fabulous, enjoyable read. Libby has her next novel coming out in 2013 and I am definitely going to be watching for it!

About the author

Born and raised in the Midwest, Libby Mercer’s adventurous spirit kicked in after graduating from high school, and she’s since lived in Boston, NYC and London. San Francisco is the city she currently calls home. For several years, Libby worked in fashion – first as a journalist and then as a shopkeeper. She also dabbled in design for a while. Even through the crazy fashion years, Libby never let go of her dream of being a published author, and has since developed her signature writing style, crafting quirky chick lit/romance hybrids. Fashioning a Romance was her first published novel, and Unmasking Maya will be her second. Libby has a third novel, The Karmic Connection, scheduled for release in 2013.

Connect with Libby

Blog | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon

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Unmasking Maya | Fashioning a Romance

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And now for the most awesome giveaway!!

Libby is giving one lucky winner

a 9 piece box of Ghirardelli Chocolates

Click here to see what you could win!

Ghirardelli Chocolates is a San Francisco institution. During the California Gold rush in the mid-1800s, Domingo Ghirardelli shrewdly discovered that the exhausted miners in from the fields were starved for luxuries and needed something to spend their gold dust on. To capitalize on this opportunity, he stocked chocolate delicacies to ensure that they solicited his shop.

How about that for awesome marketing!

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On Tour and a Giveaway: A Desire Path by Jan Shapin

What makes women fall for men who are tied to political causes? “It’s called a desire path,” she said, indicating a trace of beaten earth that disappeared into the woods. “A landscaping term my mother used. Not ‘shortcut’ — that implies convenience. Desire is rarely a convenience.”

Set in the Depression and WWIIs aftermath, A Desire Path traces a love affair between Ilse, a New England housewife, and Andy, an itinerant union organizer who has grown disillusioned by the infighting in the nation’s capital. Ilse’s husband, Leo, a powerful Washington lawyer, retaliates by destroying Andy’s livelihood. Still in love with him, Anna Mae, a journalist friend of Andy’s, returns from Moscow to tend an increasingly senile father only to confront the horrific past that first prompted her escape to the Soviet Union.

Over the years Ilse witnesses Anna Mae’s flailing adherence to Communist doctrine, even as she comes to see her own marriage as so much empty dogma. She rediscovers her love for Andy and the tension builds as she attempts to break free of Leo’s domination. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about A Desire Path ~~

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I guess it wasn't what I was expecting but once I wrapped my head around that, I was able to get into the story.

The story basically takes place in the 30's and 40's, the Depression era and WWII times. There are three main characters, Anna Mae, Ilse, and Andy with Ilse's husband Leo thrown in there a bit too. The story is broken up into 3 sections and each section is told from the point of view of one of the main characters. I loved the way the author wrote the story that way. It was interesting getting different perspectives on the same situations that they each lived through. So we first get to know Andy, then Anna Mae, and then Ilse and learn each one's take on what was happening.

I would have to say that Anna Mae evoked the strongest emotion from me - could not stand that woman! Very self-centered and conniving. I really liked Ilse but wished she could have been a little bit stronger so that she could have gotten what she wanted out of life, instead of always living in Leo's shadow.

The parts of the story that were hard for me were the sections written about the history of Unions in the United States and the Communist doctrine, here in the US and in the Soviet Union. This is not a negative reflection on the author or the story. I just sort of glossed over history in school, it was not one of my favorite subjects. I do have to say that I did learn quite a bit, it's just that I enjoyed the more personal story lines better.

Jan is a very good writer and wrote a interesting story. I think anyone who knows anything about what was going on in the early days of union organizing and the McCarthy era will enjoy this story. It puts a personal spin on that part of history.

About the author

Jan Shapin has been writing plays and screenplays for over twenty years. More recently she has turned her attention to fiction. She has studied playwriting at Catholic University in Washington, DC, screenwriting at the Film and Television Workshop and University of Southern California, and fiction writing at a variety of locations including Brown University, Barnard's Writers on Writing seminar, Sewanee Writers' Conference and Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. She has two grown children and lives in Newport, RI with her husband, a photographer.

Connect with Jan

Website | E-mail |

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Vision by Snowden & Newcomb and a Giveaway!

Madi sees demons, the very embodiment of the vices that stalk humanity. Gift or curse, it has never done anything good for her—only shown her how ugly the world truly is.

Her visions might have helped the night of Cassi’s accident—maybe she could have seen something, stopped it. But she ran—like always.

Now, with Cassi clinging to life, Madi struggles to keep herself and Vision Records from falling apart. The demons, however, have plans of their own. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Vision ~~ 

My daughter and I were at the South Dakota Festival of the Book in September, walking around the author area. There were all these tables set up with authors promoting their books. I hate to admit it but I walked by most of them. But then I saw a table poster of the book, Vision, and I was immediately drawn to it. I love this cover! (and you all know how much I am a sucker for a gorgeous cover) We ended up talking to Cathy, one of the author's of this book and she contacted me later to ask if I would be interested in reading her book. Of course I said yes! And she graciously send me 2 copies - one for me and one for one of you!!  

So anyway - the book. Three words - I loved it! Okay, seriously, I never, never would have thought I would say that about a book about demons. There are just some parts of the whole YA, paranormal genres that I will not read ~ zombies, vampires, werewolves. I probably would have lumped demons in there with them too. But, like I said, the cover grabbed me and the author was so nice - I had to give it a shot.   

I immediately loved Madi and admired how devoted she was to her best friend, Cassi, who was in a coma in the hospital. Madi works really hard to keep Cassi's dream business going until Cassi gets week and can come home. And the demons weren't real creepy and gross, they basically were just there hanging out around the people that Madi had to deal with, sort of their evil alter-egos.  

As Madi tries to keep the business going for Cassi, she has to learn to lean on and trust the people in her life. That doesn't come easy for her. She grows a lot as she learns to rely on others and to reach out to those around her. She starts to see past the demons and to see the good in people.  

Visions really made me stop and think about good vs. evil and how evil is all around us, all the time. What matters is how we live our lives and what we do with what we've got. This is really an awesome book, especially for the YA audience, the age group that can be so easily swayed to bad. This book shows us the importance of good. 

I am so very glad that this cover caught my eye and that I was able to read this amazing book. I wish all the best for these two authors, Cathy Newcomb and Galen Snowden. I really hope they write more books in the future and that I get a chance to read whatever's next.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my review

Connect with the authors 

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Lionel's Christmas Adventure by Paul R. Hewlett

Have you ever wanted something you couldn't have? Meet Lionel, a loveable bully-magnet who desperately wants a new sled and will do anything to get it.This fun Christmas book follows Lionel from Larrystown to the North Pole. His magical Three-Toed-Potbellied Walbaun foot is back and is as unpredictable as ever. Whether Lionel's sledding, ice skating, or in a life-sized gingerbread village, it takes him on some grand adventures.

Filled with great Christmas imagery, this book is perfect for young readers and family story time. This 2012 holiday, be careful what you wish for, you never know what might happen! ~~synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Lionel's Christmas Adventure ~~

Look at Lionel up there! Isn't he just adorable? I have not read any of the other books about Lionel and his adventures but after reading this one, I am going to do just that. Love that little guy!

All Lionel thinks about and wants for Christmas is a Turbo 5000 sled. It's kind of pricey but that doesn't matter to him, it's what he wants and he feels like he deserves it. He does have a Three-Toed-Potbellied Walbaun foot, his good luck charm. It is magical but, well, unpredictable, granting his wishes in it's own weird way.

Lionel's best friend, Skip and his family are like a second family to him. They invite Lionel to come over and spend Christmas day with them. He's hoping they will be the ones to get him the Turbo 5000 sled, even though he knows they can't afford it. But they have different ideas about how to spend Christmas.

Lionel does use his Three-Toed-Potbellied Walbaun foot to wish for what he has always wanted but he couldn't have imagined how it would show him that the sled isn't what he really wanted. What an adventure it takes him on and shows him what Christmas is really all about.

I loved reading about Lionel and his adventure. And I love a good Christmas story. I got both in this one amazing book! This book is geared for the 6-10 age group and would be a great read for boys in that age range. I am excited to get a hold of more Lionel books and read about his other adventures and to see what other lessons he, and the reader, learns.

About the author 

Paul R. Hewlett is the author of the Lionel’s Grand Adventure series. Lionel’s Christmas Adventure: Lionel Learns the True Meaning of Christmas is the third book in the series. His debut book Lionel’s Grand Adventure: Lionel and the Golden Rule was released in December of 2011, followed by Lionel Turns the Other Cheek in March of 2012. In addition to writing the Lionel’s Grand Adventure books, Paul co-authors a middle grade/young adult blog called Sher A. Hart: My Written Art.

Lionel's Grand Adventure Facebook Page

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Sher A. Hart: My Written Art blog

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Google+ Author Page

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Lionel's Grand Adventure: Lionel and the Golden Rule

Lionel's Grand Adventure: Lionel Turns the Other Cheek

Lionel's Christmas Adventure: Lionel Learns the True Meaning of Christmas

Review and a Giveaway: North Pole High by Candace Jane Kringle

Meet sixteen-year old Candycane Claus. She's the most popular girl at North Pole High. Her father is world-famous. And every day is Christmas. What more could any girl want?

BOYS! And the new boy, Rudy Tutti, is hot chocolate. But he hates anything to do with Christmas!

When Candy and Rudy are forced to work together on a school Christmas-tree project, her world is turned upside down: Her grades start to suffer, she loses her taste for ice cream, and now the two North-Star-cross'd teens must contend with her overprotective father — Santa Claus — before Christmas is ruined for EVERYONE! ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about North Pole High ~~ (and stop by tomorrow to see what Candace has to say about her voices)

Okay, let me just start off by saying that I love the Christmas season and that I still believe in Christmas magic. When Candace asked me to read her book, I just knew it was going to be fun!

Candycane is a high school student at North Pole High. She has all the joys and problems of being a teenage as well as being the daughter of Santa Claus. (How awesome would that be!!)

And she puts out a disclaimer right off the bat ~

'The other thing I need to make clear up up front is: If you're one of those people who thinks my dad doesn't exist, you might as well stop reading now.'

Well .... I believe, so I just kept on reading!

I really, really enjoyed this book so much! The author has such a wonderful sense of humor and a great imagination. Where else but the North Pole could you find a seven-foot-tall penguin named Chefy who is the chef for the North Pole, as well as being Santa's right hand man running the household. And a eight-and-a-half-foot tall shaggy white polar bear named, what else, Mr. Polar Bear, as one of the high school teachers.

Candycane has to try to convince Rudy that the Christmas spirit is a good thing. It's not going to be easy. Rudy is the new kid in town.

'Poor Rudy. All the other children laughed and called him names, and it was partly my fault.'

I love all the subtle and sometimes not so subtle references to all things related to Christmas, Santa, and the North Pole. Check these out!

Pizza at T.G.I Fruitcake

Maid-A-Milking Massage Parlor

Chocolate noodle soup

Music being spun by Kayne North, the DJ seal

Hanukkah the Outcast Elf

Queero the Flamboyantly Gay Polar Bear

And they feed the reindeer cocoa beans so then they poop out the best chocolate in the world! Isn't that a hoot??

Love, love, love North Pole High and am looking forward to reading the further adventures of Candycane and her friends.

Probably one of the best lines in the book and one I want to leave you with is ~~

'People don't outgrow Christmas. Sometimes they set it aside and forget. But it always comes back.'

About the author

Candace Jane Kringle is a junior at North Pole High. She likes candy canes, unicorn races, and making snow angels. Her father is the most well-known and beloved toymaker and toy distributor in the world. Her memoir, North Pole High: A Rebel Without a Claus, is her first book. After high school, she plans to enroll at North Pole University and write more books, maybe even some fiction.

Connect with Candace

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On Tour and a Giveaway: Lasso the Stars by L.L. Nielsen

“As life seems to be fading, the hope you need to survive may be all in your head. Lasso the Stars is a novel following weakening cancer patient Dina, who has little hope for survival. When Gil enters her life, a literal angel turned cowboy, Dina finds love and hope once more, a relationship that no one around her believes is real. A spiritual romance with a thoughtful message, Lasso the Stars is a choice read for anyone seeking romance with a divine twist, much recommended.” – Midwest Book Review, Book Watch, March 2012, Reviewer: Michael Dunford

Dina’s life is nearing its end. But for Dina, the end is really just the beginning. For months, she’s been fighting terminal cancer. She’s finally resigned herself to preparing for the final stages. Her last few weeks are going to be with her sisters, sharing the happy memories of a life well spent.

Men are the last thing on her mind. That is, until an afternoon walk along a dusty, country road brings her face to face with an angel. Only this angel is nothing like Dina ever pictured angels would be. ‘The man had an easy-going smile. A pair of aviator sunglasses rested on his nose. His dusty Levi’s covered long legs that ended in well-worn cowboy boots…He stepped down off the gate and held his hand out. ‘Gil.”

Preferring boots and spurs to harps and wings, Gil takes Dina horseback riding. She begins to feel new energy surge through her. And before she realizes it, Dina falls head over heels for Gil. Gil is falling for her too, but his secret identity may get in the way of his feelings.

Gil knows he can’t hide who he is for much longer. But how can he tell her? Are angels even allowed to fall in love with humans? When Gil leaves to find answers, Dina is devastated. She confides in her sisters, but they think her cancer meds made her dream up the whole relationship. Even though Dina knows the truth, she’s growing weaker every day, and the only one who can help her has disappeared.

Will tonight’s sky be the last one she looks upon? Or will Gil Lasso the Stars for Dina? ~~ synopsis from author's website

My thoughts about Lasso the Stars ~~

Once again, a cover captured my attention, but oh my, there is such a beautiful story inside this cover as well. Lasso the Stars is a wonderful, spiritual story about a woman dying of cancer. Dina has an angel who has been watching over her, her entire life. He is there for her now during her final days. This story of her last days and what she experiences is one of hope and serenity.

I don't consider myself a real spiritual person but this book gave me peace about what comes after this life and about our transition from one place to the next. Lasso the Stars is not a religious, preachy book but a beautiful love story. There is the love of Dina and Will, her angel, but also the love of Dina and her sisters.

Normally as I read books, I tab passages in the book that speak to me or that I wonder about. Seriously, I marked more spots in this book than any other book I have ever read. There are just so many beautiful lines in this book. Here are just a few that I enjoyed ~~.

'Life can be a tangle of emotions or sweet as honey, but usually Miss Dina, it's everythin' in between.'

'Halos are for children. They're a starting place. As you grow, the light comes inside, and you shine from within.'

'When you have time to appreciate the small things is when you're dying. That's when you become keenly aware of the world around you because you know it's all going away. There's a message in what I just said. There is also an injustice.'

'It's hard to live in this world and be so close to the next world at the same time. A person can only truly be in one place.'

Lasso the Stars is such a beautiful, peaceful story, about life, love, death and angels. And I do believe in angels!

About the author

Lasso the Stars was born in the Pastures of Heaven, a small peaceful valley between Monterey and Salinas, California, made famous by John Steinbeck. But the book actually began much earlier, when two dear friends passed away from cancer. They often said they could either give in or fight. Both chose to wage a courageous battle; they became more spiritual; saw what others couldn't see. The thoughts they shared stayed with me.

I took up walking along the curving, dusty road that ran the length of the valley in the Pastures of Heaven. I discovered a run-down corral, a horse named Destiny and an old gate that led nowhere. Words and feelings continued to surface in my mind and an idea formed. Armed with memories of my friends and charged with a new responsibility to honor my friends’ lives and perceptions, I began the journey of writing my first novel.

Eventually, I filed the manuscript and pursued other endeavors, until I moved to the Sierra Foothills. There, daily walking the old mountain roads, memories of my friends once again joined me and Lasso the Stars came out of seclusion, took flight and comes to you, now, on angel’s wings.

Connect with Linda

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Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

One miscarriage too many spelled the end of Max and Zoe Baxter's marriage. Though the former couple went quite separate ways, their fates remained entangled: After veering into alcoholism, Max is saved in multiple senses by his fundamentalist conversion; Zoe, for her part, finds healing relief in music therapy and the friendship, then romantic love with Vanessa, her counselor.

After Zoe and Vanessa, now married, decide to have a baby, they realize that they must join battle with Max, who objects on both religious and financial grounds. Like her House Rules and several other previous Jodi Picoult novels, Sing You Home grapples with hot button issues.

The novel also includes a CD of songs, each matched with a chapter in the book. Perfect for book clubs. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Sing You Home ~~

You just have to love how Jodi Picoult takes a topic that is controversial and writes a beautiful story about it. And makes it heart-wrenching. I don't think I have read any of Jodi's books without becoming emotionally involved in the story and the character's lives.

Sing You Home is another wonderful Picoult book. And this one comes with a music CD with song tracks for each chapter. It was interesting listening to each song as I was reading the book to see how it tied into the story. Zoe, the main female character is a music therapist so the music CD made sense and was a nice addition to the whole book.

I have another Picoult book, Lone Wolf, sitting on my bookshelf. I want to get that one read here soon too. I love Jodi's books!

About the author

Jodi Picoult, 44, is the bestselling author of eighteen novels, the last five of which debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

Picoult studied creative writing with Mary Morris at Princeton, and had two short stories published in Seventeen magazine while still a student. Realism - and a profound desire to be able to pay the rent - led Picoult to a series of different jobs following her graduation: as a technical writer for a Wall Street brokerage firm, as a copywriter at an ad agency, as an editor at a textbook publisher, and as an 8th grade English teacher - before entering Harvard to pursue a master’s in education. She married Tim Van Leer, whom she had known at Princeton, and it was while she was pregnant with her first child that she wrote her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale.

In 2003 she was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction. She has also been the recipient an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association, sponsored by the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust and Booklist, one of ten books written for adults that have special appeal for young adults; the Book Browse Diamond Award for novel of the year; a lifetime achievement award for mainstream fiction from the Romance Writers of America; Cosmopolitan magazine’s ‘Fearless Fiction’ Award 2007; Waterstone’s Author of the Year in the UK, a Vermont Green Mountain Book Award, a Virginia Reader’s Choice Award, the Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award, and a Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award. She wrote five issues of the Wonder Woman comic book series for DC Comics. Her books are translated into thirty four languages in thirty five countries. Four – The Pact, Plain Truth, The Tenth Circle, and Salem Falls - have been made into television movies. My Sister’s Keeper was a big-screen released from New Line Cinema, with Nick Cassavetes directing and Cameron Diaz starring, which is now available in DVD. She received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Dartmouth College in 2010 and another from the University of New Haven in 2012.

She and Tim and their three children live in Hanover, New Hampshire with two Springer spaniels, a rescue puppy, two donkeys, two geese, one duck, eight chickens, and the occasional Holstein.

Connect with Jodi 

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

Timeless (Transcend Time Saga #3)

IT'S A RACE AGAINST TIME.

In Remembrance, Lizzie and Drew changed the course of fate so they could be together.

In Vengeance, Chelsea set fate back on its original, deadly path.

Now, strange things keep happening to Lizzie. Things that are omens of darkness to come. A curse has doomed her to die an early death, just as she did in her past life. To make things worse, even if she can figure out who cast the curse, it's irreversible. There's only one option left for her to save herself. It's crazier than anything she's heard yet, and to do it, she'll need Drew and Chelsea's help.

Because to make things right, they must go back to when it all began. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Timeless ~~

(Although it is not intentional, there could be spoilers here if you have not read books one and two.)

Michelle has done it again! Timeless is a great story that ends the Transcend Time Saga. All three books are wonderful reads! My thoughts about books one and two are here and here.

I love the time travel element to the story. To be able to go back in time to live your other life, how amazing would that be?

'There are days when I wonder if it's actually possible, that I have memories of a life in a time so different from my own. Things like that are fun to read about in stories, but knowing it happened to me is beyond belief.'

Timeless has it all - best friends who need to rediscover that friendship all over again; romance in the present, and the past; jealousy; secrets; murder.

'Did anyone else have these moments of amazement over the existence of humanity, when they are in awe of how they are here, and alive, even if it's only for a short while?'

There are so many beautifully written passages in this book, I just wanted to savor each page. Michelle has such a talent for writing and I am excited to see what she writes next!

The only thing about book three that disappointed me, just a little bit, was the cover. It is so different from books one and two. It's a great cover, don't get me wrong, but it would have been awesome to have another close up of one of those beautiful masks, like the first two books, so they would all match. But in the end, it's all about what's inside the covers that counts, right? And book three definitely lives up to the other two books, so it's all good!

Great job, Michelle!!

About the author

Michelle Madow was inspired to write Remembrance after seeing Taylor Swift's "Love Story" music video while a junior at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. The song and video gave her the story idea about a high school girl reincarnated from Regency Era, England. She handed in the first chapter as a homework assignment for class, and when her teacher and fellow classmates wanted her to continue writing, she decided to go for it. By the end of the school year, her first novel was completed!

Along with the Transcend Time Saga, Michelle Madow has written two other young adult novels, both which will be developed into series.

Michelle Madow graduated from the Park School of Baltimore in 2005, where she always took two English classes each semester. She graduated from Rollins College in 2010, cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English. At Rollins she was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and a member of the International English Honor Society Sigma Tau Delta.

She received the Charles Hyde Pratt Award for Excellence in Creative Writing in 2010.

Michelle lives in Florida, where she is hard at work writing more novels for young adults.

Connect with Michelle

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Viewer Discretion Advised by Cindy Roesel and a Giveaway!

Live from Miami...

The sensationalism shown on television can only be topped the the drama that happens behind the camera. After being fired from her job in Los Angeles, Charlene “Charley” Thomas moves to sizzling Miami and begins working as a news director at a local television station.

While getting used to her new gig, Charley wakes up to the fact that her station manager, Jonathan Lefton, is the boss from hell who will do anything for a story no matter who gets hurt in the process. When nude photos of noon anchor, Miranda Andrews, are discovered in the men’s room of a Key West bar, all hell breaks loose. They end up on Lefton’s desk and soon he promotes her over the main anchor, sparking off a firestorm. Miranda’s quickly thrown into the mix and assigned special reports.

Charley finds herself overseeing an investigation that could shine light on the guilt of a dirty cop. Real life begins to mimic the drama of broadcast news when station personalities face life and death all for ratings and Emmys!

My thoughts about Viewer Discretion Advised ~~

Whew! I need to catch my breath after reading this book. Viewer Discretion Advised is set in a television newsroom which I always imagine and assume is super crazy with deadlines and tons of activity everywhere. The author does a great job in capturing that feeling in this story. I found myself, not necessarily reading fast, but really feeling the craziness and stress that a newsroom would have. Cindy obviously knows what she is writing about.

This book really has it all - the newsroom stress, best friends, romance, murder, a potentially creepy guy who may or may not have committed murder and a stripper, er, I mean dancer. There is a lot going on in this story but that didn't make it complicated. The story-line was easy to follow but it was a hard book to put down. I found myself wanting to read 'just one more chapter'.

So, if you are looking for a fast paced, sometimes intense story with some quirky characters, you really will want to read Viewer Discretion Advised. It has it all!

Okay, so Charley's favorite candy is M&Ms and we find her eating them throughout the book. I love them too. And guess what? Cindy included a bag of M&Ms for me when she sent me her book!

How awesome is that?!

About the author

I was an intern at CNN in NYC when they first started in1985 before I landed my first job in Tyler, Texas as a reporter. After Texas, I went to KLAS, Las Vegas where I was a news producer. I moved on to WGGB Springfield MA and then to WTNH New Haven, CT where I won my first Emmy. I joined WSVN, Miami in 1991 as a senior producer. I reformatted the local evening news/entertainment show,”7:30” which consistently beat “ET” in the ratings. I returned to the front of the camera in 1995 at WPLG as their Style Reporter. In addition, I have worked for Fox News Channel as a Features Reporter and the All News Channel as Weekend Anchor.

Connect with Cindy

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I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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The Shortest Way Home by Juliette Fay and a Giveaway

A novel full of humor and hope for finding yourself where you least expected.

Sean has spent twenty years in Third World war zones and natural disaster areas, fully embracing what he'd always felt was his life’s mission. But when burnout sets in, Sean is reluctantly drawn home to Belham, Massachusetts, the setting of Fay’s much-loved Shelter Me.

There, he discovers that his steely aunt, overly dramatic sister, and quirky nephew are having a little natural disaster of their own. When he reconnects with a woman from his past, Sean has to wonder if the bonds of love and loyalty might just rewrite his destiny. Completely relatable,

The Shortest Way Home is another perfect serving of a slice of life from the irresistible Fay. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about The Shortest Way Home ~~

I had already read one of Juliette's books, Deep Down True. (you can read a synopsis and my thoughts here) I thoroughly enjoyed it and have her books on my 'must be read' list. When this one came along to review, I just had to read it.

I loved this story for a lot of reasons but there was one in particular that I kept thinking about the whole time I was reading it ~ the main character in The Shortest Way Home is a male. It seems like it has been quite a while since I have read a book from a male's perspective. It was refreshing.

Sean suffers some burnout and decides to go home for a little bit to regroup. Things don't go as smoothly as he had thought they would and he found himself with more responsibilities than he had ever had to face before. There are a lot of family issues and problems that have to be dealt with and he finds himself having a hard time walking away from the family who now needs him.

This is a wonderful story with a lot of great characters who are just trying to figure it out and who hope to, maybe, end up happy. Like I said before, I enjoyed reading this from a male's POV but I liked all of the people in the story. I would probably have to say one of my favorites was Sean's nephew Kevin. Kevin just wanted to be a normal sixth grader but he has some sensory issues. I really felt for Kevin as he tried to fit in while dealing with those issues. He really was a wise little boy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and Juliette has done it again with another fabulous book. I have to confess that I stayed up way too late reading this book. It was a hard one to put down!

Thank you, Juliette for another great read!

Book trailer for The Shortest Way Home

About the author

Juliette Fay, author of The Shortest Way Home, won the 2009 Massachusetts Book Award Book of the Year for her first novel, Shelter Me. Her second novel, Deep Down True, was short-listed for the Women's Fiction Award by the American Library Association. She received a bachelor's degree from Boston College and a master's degree from Harvard University. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and four children. The Shortest Way Home is her third novel.

Connect with Juliette

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I received a copy of The Shortest Way Home from
FSB Associates in exchange for my honest opinion.

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On Tour and a Giveaway: Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos

From their first day of college orientation, Pen, Cat and Will seemed born to be close friends. Eventually though, Cat's decision to marry an unpleasant mate had loosened their magical bond and without its center, the group had drifted away from each other.

Now, six years later, when Cat emails her former cronies, asking them to join her at their college reunion, they cannot resist. Whatever nostalgic dreams the pair nurtured, however, dissolve when they are forced to confront a dangerous situation in which everything they believed about themselves and each other is brought into question.

With its vividly drawn characters; plausible plot developments, another triumph for the author of Belong to Me. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Falling Together ~~

Oh - my - goodness! What a beautiful book this was to read!

I have been wanting to read Falling Together for quite awhile and when I saw that it was on tour, well .... that was the perfect opportunity to make it a 'must-read'. This is a story about three college friends who had a falling out and who have not seen each other for six years. A reunion pulls them back together. I love books that deal with relationships and all that goes into tearing them apart or bringing them back together.

I thought this would be an easy, fast read. Well, I was totally wrong about that! This is a book so beautifully written that I was going back to reread parts that went by too quickly. And then I started reading each page slowly so that I could savor every word.

'... when the three of them parted ways, first Cat leaving, then Will, they had agreed to make it final, to never get in touch, not years later, not ever.'

What tore this close friendship apart? And what makes them come together again after not being in each other's lives for six years? The story flows very gently from the present to the past as we come to understand Pen, Cat and Will. Has the past changed them? And can they recapture the closeness that they once had?

'I don't know how to be with you without her.'

Can just two of the three be friends if the other one is not there? Does this once fabulous friendship only work if all three of them are together?

As you can tell, I love Falling Together and I love the story of Pen, Cat and Will. Marisa is such a beautiful writer and I can't wait to read more of her books. I actually have one of her other books, Belong to Me, on my shelf already. What am I waiting for?

About the author

Marisa de los Santos was a poet for a very long time, with an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D. from the University of Houston. Her first book, FROM THE BONES OUT, a collection of poems, was published in 2000.

She and her husband, writer David Teague, lived in Center City, Philadelphia for a number of years before moving to Wilmington, Delaware in spring of 2003. That summer, Marisa began writing what would become her first novel LOVE WALKED IN (Dutton, 2006). LOVE WALKED IN was translated into fourteen languages, was optioned by Paramount pictures, and was a trade paperback bestseller. William Morrow published her second novel BELONG TO ME in April 2008, and it was an instant New York Times Bestseller.

Marisa, David, and their two children, Charles and Annabel, live in Wilmington, where Marisa takes as many ballet classes as she can, volunteers at her kids' school, and is working on her third novel.

Connect with Marisa

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I received a copy of this book from TLC Book Tours

in exchange for an honest review.

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