The Book Bag

Monday, August 8, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? August 8, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

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I didn't get as much read this week as I had hoped to. My daughter had surgery on Tuesday and I spent 3 days with her. We had big plans to lay around and read but it just didn't happen. Hubby is going to be gone for a few days this upcoming week so that should get me some quality reading time, I hope. I hope you have a great week and happy reading everyone!

What I'm currently reading/listening to

Results May Vary
by Bethany Chase
My thoughts will be posted on Wednesday.

An Ex to Grind in Deadwood (Deadwood #5)
by Ann Charles
(audiobook)

I love this series!

What I recently finished

Silver Threads (Memory House #5)

by Bette Lee Crosby

I love the Memory House series and Bette has written another wonderful story! My thoughts will be posted soon.

With Love from the Inside

by Angela Pisel

I loved this story! My thoughts will be posted soon.

What I am going to read next

I am not sure what I am going to read next. I have a bit of a lull between scheduled review books so I may look at my NetGalley list and knock some off there.

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Book Spotlight Giveaway! It's Our Prom (So Deal With It) by Julie Anne Peters

I have sooooo many books! I have a ton of print books and probably even more e-books. The Book Spotlight Giveaway feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to clear my shelves and to share some of the many books I have. There are a lot of different reasons that I might be letting some of my books go, the biggest one is that when we moved a little over 2 years ago I discovered how many books I really do have. This feature is a way for my to cull my collection and to give someone else the opportunity to enjoy them.

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The book I am featuring today is an ARC that I received from my daughter when she moved. I haven't read any books by this author. Have you?

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

It's Our Prom (So Deal With it)

It's Our Prom (So Deal With It) by Julie Anne Peters

Print and e-book, 352 pages

Published April 24th 2012 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

When Azure's principal gives her the chance to turn the school's traditional (and boring) senior prom into an event that will appeal to everyone, not just the jocks and cheerleaders, she jumps at the opportunity. Soon Azure manages to convince her best friends, Luke and Radhika, to join the prom committee as well.

Facing heavy opposition and admittedly clueless about prom logistics, the three friends are nonetheless determined to succeed -- if Luke's and Azure's secret crushes on Radhika don't push the committee members, and their friendships, to the breaking point first.

Told in two voices and filled with comical missed connections, It's Our Prom (So Deal With It) explores the ups and downs of planning an alternative prom -- while dealing with an unrequited crush on your best friend -- and shines with National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters's unmistakable wit and insight.

About the author

Julie Anne Peters was born in Jamestown, New York. When she was five, her family moved to the Denver suburbs in Colorado. Her parents divorced when she was in high school. She has three siblings: a brother, John, and two younger sisters, Jeanne and Susan.

Her books for young adults include Define "Normal" (2000), Keeping You a Secret (2003), Luna (2004), Far from Xanadu (2005), Between Mom and Jo (2006), grl2grl (2007), Rage: A Love Story (2009), By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead (2010), She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not... (2011), It's Our Prom (So Deal with It) (2012), and Lies My Girlfriend Told Me (2014). Her young adult fiction frequently deals with LGBT issues. She has announced that she has retired from writing, and Lies My Girlfriend Told Me will be her last novel. She now works full-time for the Colorado Reading Corps.

Connect with Julie

Website | Goodreads | Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Friday, August 5, 2016

Cover Reveal: Slightly South of Simple by Kristy Woodson Harvey and a Giveaway!

Slightly South of Simple

Slightly South of Simple by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Paperback, 384 pages

Expected publication: April 25th 2017 by Gallery Books

From the next “major voice in Southern fiction” (New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand) comes the first in an all-new series chronicling the journeys of three sisters and their mother—and a secret from their past that has the potential to tear them apart and reshape their very definition of what it means to be a family.

Caroline Murphy swore she’d never set foot back in the small Southern town of Peachtree Bluff; she was a New York girl born and bred and the worst day of her life was when, in the wake of her father’s death, her mother selfishly forced her to move—during her senior year of high school, no less—back to that hick-infested rat trap where she'd spent her childhood summers. But now that her marriage to a New York high society heir has fallen apart in a very public, very embarrassing fashion, a pregnant Caroline decides to escape the gossipmongers with her nine-year-old daughter and head home to her mother, Ansley.

Ansley has always put her three daughters first, especially when she found out that her late husband, despite what he had always promised, left her with next to nothing. Now the proud owner of a charming waterfront design business and finally standing on her own two feet, Ansley welcomes Caroline and her brood back with open arms. But when her second daughter Sloane, whose military husband is overseas, and youngest daughter and successful actress Emerson join the fray, Ansley begins to feel like the piece of herself she had finally found might be slipping from her grasp. Even more discomfiting, when someone from her past reappears in Ansley's life, the secret she’s harbored from her daughters their entire lives might finally be forced into the open.

Exploring the powerful bonds between sisters and mothers and daughters, this engaging novel is filled with Southern charm, emotional drama, and plenty of heart.

I absolutely love Kristy's books and am so excited to share the cover of her newest book, Slightly South of Simple, due to be released on April 25th. I know I am going to love this one too - a series about three sisters and their mother and secrets from the past.

Kristy has a wonderful giveaway going on right now on her blog for a $100 gift card and 3 book bundles. Check it out here!

About the author

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the author of Dear Carolina. She blogs at Design Chic about how creating a beautiful home can be the catalyst for creating a beautiful life and loves connecting with readers at kristywoodonsharvey.com. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's school of journalism and holds a Master's in English from East Carolina University. She is a regular contributor for The Salisbury Post, Domino magazine and Houzz. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and three-year-old son.

Connect with Kristy

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Blog |Goodreads | Design Chic

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Release Day: Watching Edie by Camilla Way ~ My Thoughts

Happy Release Day!

Watching Edie

Watching Edie by Camilla Way
Print and e-book, 304 pages
Published: August 2nd 2016 by NAL

For fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train: A dazzling work of psychological suspense that weaves together the past and present of two women’s twisted friendship.

Beautiful, creative, a little wild… Edie was the kind of girl who immediately caused a stir when she walked into your life. And she had dreams back then—but it didn’t take long for her to learn that things don’t always turn out the way you want them to.

Now, at thirty-three, Edie is working as a waitress, pregnant and alone. And when she becomes overwhelmed by the needs of her new baby and sinks into a bleak despair, she thinks that there’s no one to turn to…

But someone’s been watching Edie, waiting for the chance to prove once again what a perfect friend she can be. It’s no coincidence that Heather shows up on Edie’s doorstep, just when Edie needs her the most. So much has passed between them—so much envy, longing, and betrayal. And Edie’s about to learn a new lesson: those who have hurt us deeply—or who we have hurt—never let us go, not entirely…

My thoughts about Watching Edie ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—'Outside my kitchen window the long afternoon empties of light. I look at London stretched out far below, my dripping hands held poised above the sink.'

So.... Watching Edie is being compared to both Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train in all the blurbs I have been seeing. I loved both of those books and loved that the storylines kept me guessing and then left me with my mouth hanging open at the end. What just happened??

Watching Edie did the same thing for me. I knew there was going to be a twist to the story but for the life of me, I could not figure it out. I kept trying to guess who were the good guys and which ones were the twisted ones.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't read fast enough. It just goes to show that no one and nothing is as it seems.

Thank you to First to Read for a copy of Watching Edie in exchange for my honest opinion.

About the author

Camilla Way was born in Greenwich, south-east London, and studied Modern English and French Literature at the University of Glamorgan. Her father was the poet and author Peter Way. Formerly Associate Editor of the teenage girls' magazine Bliss, she is currently an editor and writer on the men's style magazine Arena. Having lived in Cardiff, Bristol, Bath and Clerkenwell, she now lives in south-east London.

Connect with Camilla

Goodreads | Amazon | Publisher

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Monday, August 1, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? August 1, 2016

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We had a wonderful week in The Black Hills last week. We had a great time but weren't expecting the nights to be so cold, not so good when in a tent. Oh well. It was nice to just get away and relax. I got some great reading time in and enjoyed the beautiful area.

I'm not going to bore you with a ton of vacation pictures but here are just a few to show you the beauty I was surrounded by last week.

The view from our campsite.

My reading buddies one day.

Ominous looking but beautiful clouds.

My home for a week.

Sunset in The Hills.

What I'm currently reading/listening to

With Love from the Inside
by Angela Pisel
An amazing story! I don't want to put it down.

An Ex to Grind in Deadwood (Deadwood #5)
by Ann Charles
(audiobook)

I love this series!

What I recently finished

The Return of Kris Kringle

by Caroline Mickelson

(audiobook)

What a fun book to listen to on my road trip.

Be sure to enter my Christmas in July Giveaway. You could win either audiobooks or ebooks of Caroline's Christmas stories!

The Nut Hut
by Kathleen Taylor
This is a South Dakota author who wrote a fun mystery series in the past, which I loved. She's coming to our local library in August to discuss The Nut Hut.