Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Diva Takes The Cake by Krista Davis


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The Domestic Diva has some wedding advice: Keep the food...lose the groom.

Sophie’s sister Hannah is getting married. But when the groom’s ex-wife is found hanging from a tree, the Domestic Diva fears her sister is about to wed a killer.



May Books Read

  • Best Intentions by Emily Listfield
  • By Hook or By Crook by Betty Hechtman
  • Dead Before Dark by Wendi Corsi Staub
  • Fatal Secrets by Allison Brennan
  • Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child
  • I Can See You by Karen Rose
  • Killer Cuts by Elaine Viets
  • Love In Another Town by Amanda Eyre Ward
  • The Night Watchman by Mark Mynheir
  • The Pretend Wife by Bridget Asher
  • The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
  • Where the Dead Lay by David Levien

Friday, May 29, 2009

Friday Fill-Ins


And...here we go!

1. It's cold and rainy today.

2. I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes.

3. My favorite health and beauty product is my morocan oil for my hair.

4. I love taking a nice long ride.

5. Well, first of all where do I start?

6. Marcia & Pam; those were the cast of characters in a recent dream and it was hysterical.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading and relaxing, tomorrow my plans include a pedicure, a nap, reading and babysitting my niece, and Sunday, I want to sleep and read!

Amish Love


What’s all the hubbub about Amish fiction? Major media outlets like Time and ABC Nightline are covering it, and authors like Cindy Woodsmall are making the New York Times bestseller list regularly. What makes these books so interesting?

Check out the recent ABC Nightline piece here (http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7676659&page=1) about Cindy and her titles When the Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes, and When the Soul Mends. It’s an intriguing look at Amish culture and the time Cindy has spent with Amish friends.

And don’t forget that Cindy’s new book The Hope of Refuge hits store shelves August 11, and is available for preorder now.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Book Giveaway - The Night Watchman - WINNER

Congratulations

Bridget3420

Bridget is the lucky winners of this great book! I've sent her an email requesting her address. If I do not hear back in 48 hrs, a new winner will be chosen. Thank you to everyone who has entered.

Book Giveaway - Still Life by Joy Fielding (ARC) - WINNER

Congratulations

Amy G.

Amy is the lucky winners of this great book! I've sent her an email requesting her address. If I do not hear back in 48 hrs, a new winner will be chosen. Thank you to everyone who has entered.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Night Watchman by Mark Mynheir




Eleven months ago, Ray Quinn was a tough, quick-witted Orlando homicide detective at the top of his game–until a barrage of bullets ended his career…and his partner’s life.

Now medically retired with a painful handicap, Ray battles the haunting guilt for his partner’s death. Numbing the pain with alcohol and attitude, Ray takes a job as a night watchman at a swanky Orlando condo.

But when a pastor and an exotic dancer are found dead in one of the condos in an apparent murder-suicide, Ray can no longer linger in the shadows. The pastor’s sister is convinced her brother was framed and begs Ray to take on an impossible case–to challenge the evidence and clear her brother’s name.

Ray reluctantly pulls the threads of this supposedly dead-end case only to unravel a murder investigation so deep that it threatens to turn the Orlando political landscape upside down and transform old friends into new enemies. As Ray chases down leads and interrogates suspects, someone is watching his every move, someone determined to keep him from ever finding out the truth–at any cost. (From Amazon)

Ray Quinn used to be a homicide detective with the Orlando P.D. That is, until someone gunned him down, leaving him handicapped and at the same time killing his partner Trish. Trish wasn't just his partner on the force, she was his girlfriend too. Now unable to do the job he loved so much, he works as the night watchman at a plush condominium complex and spends his evenings with his roommate Jim (Beam that is). His new "partner" Crevis is an eager, easy to please police junkie ~ unable to pass the test to join the academy.

One a routine night at work, Ray is working on his Sudoku puzzle when a woman begs him to check on her pastor brother. She hasn't heard from him in a few days and is worried. When Ray and Pam enter her brothers apartment they discover the pastor along with a stripper dead from gunshot wounds. But is this really a case of murder-suicide or is something more sinister going on.

Pam begs Ray to look into the case. She knows deep in her heart that there is no way her brother committed this heinous act. At first Ray won't get involved, but the lure of doing detective work again, can't keep him away, especially after looking at the file and noticing that things aren't adding up. After being warned to "stay away" and brutally attacked, Ray is saved be Crevis (much to his surprise). Of course this just fuels Ray's desire to find out what really happened. Ray's digging leads him to the world of exotic dancers to the offices of elected officials. Along the way, Ray finds out information he just can't believe. Is it possible that this murder is related to his near fatal attack and the murder of the woman he loved? Is the information he's been given true ~ that there is a cop on the take? But the main question is ~ when Ray finds out who the killer is, will he seek the ultimate revenge he wants for Trish's death?

While the book is touted as Christian fiction, I didn't find that it overwhelmed the story or beat me over the head with it's message. The Night Watchman is a fast paced thriller written by someone who knows what they're talking about. It's a story of one man's struggle to deal with his past and look forward to his future. I eagerly await the next book in the series to see just what Ray and Crevis get into next.

Book Giveaway - I Can See You by Karen Rose (ARC)

I Can See You by Karen Rose (ARC) ~

Evie Wilson was the victim of the villain in DON'T TELL, an assault which resulted in paralysis on one side of her face. After her injury, Evie retreated into the virtual realm, seeking refuge from the public eye by interacting with online friends. Now, with the help of a surgeon, Evie's face is restored and she is ready to return to the real world. However, she remains connected to the Internet for her graduate thesis on using the virtual world as therapy to improve self-esteem. She has become an online shopkeeper who sells faces and bodies to users interested in building a new avatar on a website called "Shadowland." In her new role, Evie maintains "surveillance" over her test subjects to ensure they don't become too caught up in the intoxicating virtual realm.

Meanwhile, homicide detective Noah Webster has been investigating a string of suspicious suicides that he believes are connected murders. Noah's investigation leads him to Evie when one of her online test subjects is found dead of apparent suicide, but Evie believes otherwise.

Evie is shocked to find herself drawn to someone for the first time in many years and she's reluctant to trust Noah. However, he's the only one who believes her story about the suspicious death of her test subject, and he soon discovers that many of the apparent suicides in his case had avatars in "Shadowland."

As murder victims connected to the website begin to appear more frequently, Noah asks Evie to be his virtual guide in the investigation. However, they don't realize that the killer is closer than they think--and that he holds a special grudge against Evie.
Due out August 5th.

Here's how to enter ~

  • U.S. addresses only please
  • Leave a comment here with your email address or PBS ID (I need to have a way to get in touch with you!)
  • Follow my blog (on lower right sidebar) ~ get an extra entry
  • Rate my blog (on left sidebar)~ get an extra entry
  • Blog about it ~ get an extra entry
Contest open through June 4th. The winners will be announced on June 5th.

Book Giveaway - THE SCARECROW - WINNER

Congratulations

Indigo
Becky
Carol Sue

They're the lucky winners of this great book! I've sent emails to them requesting their address. If I do not hear back in 48 hrs, new winners will be chosen. Thank you to everyone who has entered.

A HUGE thank you to Miriam at Hatchett books for providing these copies for me to giveaway!

Waiting on Wednesdsay


"Waiting on Wednesday" is hosted by Jill @ Breaking The Spine.

This week my pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly


Harry Bosch is assigned a homicide call in South L.A. that takes him to Fortune Liquors, where the Chinese owner has been shot to death behind the counter in an apparent robbery.

Joined by members of the department's Asian Crime Unit, Bosch relentlessly investigates the killing and soon identifies a suspect, a Los Angeles member of a Hong Kong triad. But before Harry can close in, he gets the word that his young daughter Maddie, who lives in Hong Kong with her mother, is missing.

Bosch drops everything to journey across the Pacific to find his daughter. Could her disappearance and the case be connected? With the stakes of the investigation so high and so personal, Bosch is up against the clock in a new city, where nothing is at it seems.

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
  • ISBN-10: 0316166316 ISBN-13: 978-0316166317
  • On Sale: October 13, 2009
  • Price: $18.47 (Amazon)


New Food Fiction Contest

The new Food Fiction Newsletter is out and it's FANTASTIC! Jessica & Michelle did a great job this month! Make sure to check their sites so that you can sign up! You don't want to miss another month! Jessica & Michele.


And now for this months AWESOME giveaways ~

This month, Heather Webber is giving away a signed copy of Trouble in Spades and a signed ARC (advance reader copy) of Digging Up Trouble.


To enter: Send us an E-MAIL (foodfiction AT gmail DOT com) by June 1st with the subject line MAY CONTEST and tell us about your favorite salad/salad dressing. We want to hear what you like! Recipes are welcome!


As usual, the grand prize winner will be chosen at random, but Michele and Jess love a good salad and might dole out a few bonus prizes...(we both ran out of books to give as bonuses this month, but we'll get our hands on more copies soon!)


RULES: One entry per person and U.S. mailing addresses only, please. Please include your mailing address so we can send you your prize! You will be signed up for our guest authors' newsletter (if any) and the the Food Fiction newsletter, if not already. (You can always opt out!) By entering the contest, you give us permission to post your first name, last initial, and state if you are a winner. We may also post your recipe in our newsletter or the Food Fiction site (crediting you, of course!) if you are a winner.

Enter through June 1st.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

By Hook or By Crook by Betty Hechtman


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Meet the happy crafter who believes every mystery should be unraveled.

Molly Pink’s crochet group has a new mystery on their hands when they find a paper bag that contains a note that speaks of remorse, a diary entry of the sorrow of parting, and a complicated piece of filet crochet that offers an obscure clue in pictures. Things get even more complicated when they find the talented crocheter—murdered by a box of poisoned marzipan apples.

Molly Pink can't seem to stay away from a murder investigation. While the Tarzana Hookers are selling their crochet items at a fundraiser for the state park, they find a bag left on their table. Inside they find a diary entry from 20 years ago, a note that has a tone of regret, a beautiful piece of filet crochet filled with clues, in the form of symbols. Determined to return the bag to its rightful owner, Molly and the rest of the Hookers, start trying to figure out what each symbol means. But when Molly shows up at the home of the woman she believes is the owner of the bag, she finds the woman dead. Luckily, this time she isn't considered a suspect. What starts off looking like an accidental death, turns into a case of murder - by poison. Now Molly is more determined than ever to find out the story of its owner, as well as figure out who killed her, regardless of the warnings to stay away. All of the old characters from the previous books are back, along with a few new faces. Including Camille, the super rich daughter & wife of the producer of CeeCee's show, who is doing what her life coach says, and trying to act like the "little people". I love how even in this third outing of this series, Adele still hold a grudge against Molly for taking the job she wanted. To top it all off, Molly's parents have taken over her house for rehearsals for her mothers singing group reunion. And Molly continues to struggle with her feelings for both Barry and Mason. This is a well crafted mystery that gets unraveled one strand at a time, leading to the unfolding of a murderer I never even considered.

Teaser Tuesday

It’s that time of week again, everyone, and time for the Tuesday Teaser.Again the reminder of what this is all about. We are asked to:
  1. Grab your current read.
  2. Let the book fall open to a random page.
  3. Share two teaser sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
  4. Share the title of the book that the “teaser” comes from, so people can find the book if they like the teaser.
  5. And again remember – avoid spoilers.
Here's mine ~

The gate was still in the process of opening as I flew through it. It was only then that I saw the police cruiser pulled into the driveway waiting to come in. I had too much momentum to stop and went running past the black-and-white. Oh no. The door flew open, and two patrol officers jumped out and yelled at me to freeze.

This teaser comes from By Hook or by Crook (A Crochet Mystery) by Betty Hechtman. What's YOUR teaser?

Monday, May 25, 2009

Mailbox Monday


Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.
We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.

Here's what I got ~

Fatal Secrets: A Novel of Suspense by Allison Brennan ~ When a top lieutenant in a notorious ring of human traffickers agrees to turn state’s evidence, Immigration and Customs Enforcement senior agent Sonia Knight believes she’ll finally take down the illegal operation’s devilish mastermind, Xavier Jones. But when an FBI sting on Jones’s criminal enterprise collides with an ICE stakeout, Sonia is enraged: Her informant’s life and her evidence are in grave jeopardy.FBI agent Dean Hooper has been chasing Jones for years on money-laundering and tax-evasion charges and doesn’t need or want a hot-headed ICE agent second-guessing his every move. When the Bureau is ordered to join forces with ICE, Sonia is just as livid: Her job is to save lives, not money. But their team effort pays off as fierce mutual resentment fades and passion flares–along with risk.For Jones is just one piece of a depraved puzzle, answering to an even more dangerous predator. Denied his expected prey, this pitiless fiend intends to make Sonia and Dean pay with their own blood.

Gone Tomorrow (Jack Reacher, No. 13) by Lee Child ~ New York City. Two in the morning. A subway car heading uptown. Jack Reacher, plus five other passengers. Four are okay. The fifth isn’t.In the next few tense seconds Reacher will make a choice--and trigger an electrifying chain of events in this gritty, gripping masterwork of suspense by #1 New York Times bestseller Lee Child.Susan Mark was the fifth passenger. She had a lonely heart, an estranged son, and a big secret. Reacher, working with a woman cop and a host of shadowy feds, wants to know just how big a hole Susan Mark was in, how many lives had already been twisted before hers, and what danger is looming around him now.Because a race has begun through the streets of Manhattan in a maze crowded with violent, skilled soldiers on all sides of a shadow war. Susan Mark’s plain little life was critical to dozens of others in Washington, California, Afghanistan . . . from a former Delta Force operator now running for the U.S. Senate, to a beautiful young woman with a fantastic story to tell–and to a host of others who have just one thing in common: They’re all lying to Reacher. A little. A lot. Or maybe just enough to get him killed.In a novel that slams through one hairpin surprise after another, Lee Child unleashes a thriller that spans three decades and gnaws at the heart of America . . . and for Jack Reacher, a man who trusts no one and likes it that way, it’s a mystery with only one answer–the kind that comes when you finally get face-to-face and look your worst enemy in the eye.

Freudian Slip by Erica Orloff ~ Everyone loves shock jock Julian Shaw…except the guy who shot him.The raunchy radio DJ expects the dark tunnel, white lights—even his late grandmother greeting him at the pearly gates. Instead, he gets a coma, a spirit guide named Gus and a pushy demon with a deal. His assignment: Katie Darby.Katie Darby's best friend just stole her guy! Now she's losing her mind.All she really wants to do is stay in mope mode, but it feels as if someone is watching her, whispering strange thoughts into her head, making her say and do things she would never normally consider. And it's actually making her life better!Now Julian wants another chance to prove he's a good guy. But he just might have to sell his soul to the devil to get it…

Cut, Crop & Die: A Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery by Joanna Campbell Slan ~ All it took was one scone.Tainted icing triggers a rare allergy, and a hobbyist croaks at a scrapbooking crop sponsored by Time in a Bottle, the store where Kiki Lowenstein works. When it comes out that someone swiped the victim's emergency medication, the scrappers realize they have a murder on their hands, and the entire community jumps to point the finger at Kiki and her coworkers. Suddenly, the one anchor in Kiki's stormy life is on the verge of sinking beneath a ruined reputation.But who wouldn't want to kill Yvonne Gaynor? The nasty woman had enough enemies to fill a memory album. Once again, Kiki gets sucked into a mystery that should be left to that dreamy detective, Chad Detweiler—who hasn't tried to kiss her yet. With anti-Semitic threats coming in at the store, a quarrelsome teen daughter at home, and constant financial pressure, Kiki needs to keep her cool if she's going to set things right.

Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham (Blog Tour)~ Denham’s novel, written entirely in e-mails, began as a serialized Web site, www.hollysinbox.com. The story revolves around Holly Denham, the new receptionist at a London bank, and through her correspondence, readers get to know her daily life. She befriends Trish, the other receptionist, and begins a relationship with James, a charming higher-up. Between organizing meetings at the bank, she trades hilarious, risqué e-mails with her friends Jason and Aisha, assures her parents she’s getting along well, helps her grandmother decipher the Internet, and offers her siblings much-needed advice. Her e-mails even reveal a life-altering event from her past. While the premise can be tiresome—who doesn’t have to slog through enough e-mails of their own?—the story becomes more engrossing as fresh details come to light. The author, a placement-agency owner writing under a pen name, explores a new format with compelling results. A second novel is planned, and Holly’s adventures continue online.

Hedge Fund Wives by Tatiana Boncompagni (For Review)~ When Marcy Emerson’s husband, John, is recruited for a new job on Wall Street, they pack up their home in Chicago and move to New York City. He doesn’t want her to work, so she spends her days among the city’s hedge-fund wives. These women are snobby, privileged, and stinking rich, and Marcy doesn’t fit in. John wants her to play nice, though, so she mingles. Marcy wants more than just gobs of cash and designer clothes—a job, a baby, more time with her husband; but John is progressively becoming more distant. He blames his work, but Marcy suspects something else. Is her husband straying with another hedge-fund wife, or is Marcy falling prey to the sneaky, backstabbing behaviors she’s surrounded by every day? It’s hard to feel sympathy for someone dropping $25,000 at Bergdorf Goodman, especially now at a time of financial catastrophe; but Marcy is a strong character who rises above the crowd in Boncompagni’s glitzy and gossipy second novel

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Best Intentions by Emily Listfield


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After tossing and turning all night, thirty-nine-year-old Lisa Barkley wakes up well before her alarm sounds. With two daughters about to start another year at their elite Upper East Side private school and her own career hitting a wall, the effort of trying to stay afloat in that privileged world of six-story town houses and European jaunts has become increasingly difficult, especially as Manhattan descends into an economic freefall.

As Lisa looks over at her sleeping husband, Sam, she can't help but feel that their fifteen-year marriage is in a funk that she isn't able to place. She tries to shake it off and tells herself that the strain must be due to their mounting financial pressures. But later that morning, as her family eats breakfast in the next room, Lisa finds herself checking Sam's voicemail and hears a whispered phone call from a woman he is to meet that night. Is he having an affair?

When Lisa shares her suspicions with her best friend, Deirdre, at their weekly breakfast, Deirdre claims it can't be true. But how can Lisa fully trust her opinion when Deirdre is still single and mired in an obsessive affair with a glamorous photographer even as it hovers on the edge of danger?

When Deirdre's former college flame, Jack, comes to town and the two couples meet to cele-brate his fortieth birthday, the stage is set for an explosiveT series of discoveries with devastating consequences.

Filled with suspense and provocative ques-tions about the relationships we value most, Best Intentions is a tightly woven drama of love, friendship and betrayal. (From Amazon)


Saturday, May 23, 2009

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child


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New York City. Two in the morning. A subway car heading uptown. Jack Reacher, plus five other passengers. Four are okay. The fifth isn’t.

In the next few tense seconds Reacher will make a choice--and trigger an electrifying chain of events in this gritty, gripping masterwork of suspense by #1 New York Times bestseller Lee Child.

Susan Mark was the fifth passenger. She had a lonely heart, an estranged son, and a big secret. Reacher, working with a woman cop and a host of shadowy feds, wants to know just how big a hole Susan Mark was in, how many lives had already been twisted before hers, and what danger is looming around him now.

Because a race has begun through the streets of Manhattan in a maze crowded with violent, skilled soldiers on all sides of a shadow war. Susan Mark’s plain little life was critical to dozens of others in Washington, California, Afghanistan . . . from a former Delta Force operator now running for the U.S. Senate, to a beautiful young woman with a fantastic story to tell–and to a host of others who have just one thing in common: They’re all lying to Reacher. A little. A lot. Or maybe just enough to get him killed.

In a novel that slams through one hairpin surprise after another, Lee Child unleashes a thriller that spans three decades and gnaws at the heart of America . . . and for Jack Reacher, a man who trusts no one and likes it that way, it’s a mystery with only one answer–the kind that comes when you finally get face-to-face and look your worst enemy in the eye. (From Amazon)



Friday, May 22, 2009

Friday Fill-Ins



And...here we go!

1. Moving is a pain in the butt.

2. Nothing in life is free.

3. My best quality is my good heart.

4. Don't sweat the little details.

5. In nearly 10 years, I've finally proven myself.

6. SLEEP is what I need right now!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to playing with my new niece, tomorrow my plans include reading and sleeping and Sunday, I want to read and sleep, and Monday I am going to do more reading and sleeping (love 3 day weekends!)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Fatal Secrets by Allison Brennan


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When a top lieutenant in a notorious ring of human traffickers agrees to turn state’s evidence, Immigration and Customs Enforcement senior agent Sonia Knight believes she’ll finally take down the illegal operation’s devilish mastermind, Xavier Jones. But when an FBI sting on Jones’s criminal enterprise collides with an ICE stakeout, Sonia is enraged: Her informant’s life and her evidence are in grave jeopardy.

FBI agent Dean Hooper has been chasing Jones for years on money-laundering and tax-evasion charges and doesn’t need or want a hot-headed ICE agent second-guessing his every move. When the Bureau is ordered to join forces with ICE, Sonia is just as livid: Her job is to save lives, not money. But their team effort pays off as fierce mutual resentment fades and passion flares–along with risk.

For Jones is just one piece of a depraved puzzle, answering to an even more dangerous predator. Denied his expected prey, this pitiless fiend intends to make Sonia and Dean pay with their own blood. (From Amazon)
"Waiting on Wednesday" is hosted by Jill @ Breaking The Spine.

This week my pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

I, Alex Cross by James Patterson


Alex Cross's niece is found brutally murdered. Overcome with grief, Alex vows to take down her killer before he strikes again. But shortly after he begins the investigation, Alex discovers that his niece had gotten mixed up with some very important, very dangerous people. And she's not the only one who has disappeared.

The hunt for the murderer leads Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, to Washington's most infamous club--a place where every fantasy is possible, if you have the credentials to get in. The killer could be one of their patrons, one of Washington's elite who will do anything to keep their secrets buried.

With astonishing plot twists and electrifying revelations that will keep readers on the edge of their seat, I, ALEX CROSS is James Patterson's most suspenseful Alex Cross novel yet. (From Amazon)

  • Hardcover: 400 pages
  • ISBN-10: 0316018783/978-0316018784
  • On Sale: November 16, 2009
  • Price: $18.47

Book Giveaway - Still Life by Joy Fielding (ARC)

Still Life: A Novel by Joy Fielding (ARC) ~

Casey Marshall has it all: a successful interior-design business; a handsome, loving husband; wonderful friends; and a boatload of family money at her disposal. But just as she’s contemplating starting a family, she’s the victim of a hit-and-run accident that leaves her in a coma. But she’s not completely out of it, so she’s a witness to everything that happens in her hospital room. But is that so bad? Isn’t it everyone’s dream to be a fly on the wall, to hear what might be said at our funerals? Even though Casey is privy to everyone’s “private” remarks and conversations as they visit, she feels trapped and helpless, especially when it becomes abundantly clear that the incident with the car was no accident. Her frustration mounts as her sister, the wayward but bighearted Drew, becomes a suspect, along with everyone close to her. While not narrated in first person, the action revolves around Casey’s experiences and perceptions. Fielding makes the most of this intriguing premise without succumbing to gimmicky plot tricks. The moment that Casey solves her own attempted murder is truly riveting, and the anxiety she feels as she tries to avoid the would-be murderer’s completion of his task is palpable. A heart-pounding mainstream thriller.

Here's how to enter ~

  • U.S. addresses only
  • Leave a comment here with your email address or PBS ID (I need to have a way to get in touch with you!)
  • Follow my blog ~ get an extra entry
  • Rate my blog (on left sidebar)~ get an extra entry
  • Blog about it ~ get an extra entry
Contest open through May 27th. The winners will be announced on May 28th.

Book Giveaway - The Night Watchman

The Night Watchman (Ray Quinn Series, Book 1) by Mark Mynheir ~

Eleven months ago, Ray Quinn was a tough, quick-witted Orlando homicide detective at the top of his game–until a barrage of bullets ended his career…and his partner’s life.

Now medically retired with a painful handicap, Ray battles the haunting guilt for his partner’s death. Numbing the pain with alcohol and attitude, Ray takes a job as a night watchman at a swanky Orlando condo.

But when a pastor and an exotic dancer are found dead in one of the condos in an apparent murder-suicide, Ray can no longer linger in the shadows. The pastor’s sister is convinced her brother was framed and begs Ray to take on an impossible case–to challenge the evidence and clear her brother’s name.

Ray reluctantly pulls the threads of this supposedly dead-end case only to unravel a murder investigation so deep that it threatens to turn the Orlando political landscape upside down and transform old friends into new enemies. As Ray chases down leads and interrogates suspects, someone is watching his every move, someone determined to keep him from ever finding out the truth–at any cost.


Here's how to enter ~

  • U.S. addresses only
  • Leave a comment here with your email address or PBS ID (I need to have a way to get in touch with you!)
  • Follow my blog ~ get an extra entry
  • Rate my blog (on left sidebar)~ get an extra entry
  • Blog about it ~ get an extra entry
Contest open through May 27th. The winners will be announced on May 28th.

A HUGE thank you to Random House for providing me with an extra copy of this book to give away. Check back next week for my review :)

Book Giveaway - Holly's Inbox - WINNER

Congratulations

Wendy

I've sent Wendy an email requesting her address. If I don no hear back from her in 48 hrs, I'll choose another winner. Thank you to those that have entered :)

Book Giveaway - Where The Dead Lay - WINNER!

Congratulations

Erma

I've sent Erma an email requesting her address. If I don no hear back from her in 48 hrs, I'll choose another winner. Thank you to those that have entered :)


Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Guest Blog ~ Bill Surie

About the book ~

Holly’s Inbox by Holly Denham (aka Bill Surie) started out as
a serial website in 2007—at it’s peak it received 90,000 daily views—often causing the site to crash! It was an instant viral sensation in the UK and Bill decided to take his email format and put it into a book.

The amazing thing about this site was that it looked like an
Outlook Inbox! And the emails were released in real time—interspersed with actual present day gossip (watch out Perez), and telling a captivating and sweet story of one lowly London receptionist learning more about her life, love, hopes and dreams! Holly is our funny, flawed best gal and her family, friends and co workers are all people we’ve met in our lives—how could you resist reading her emails?

For the June 2009 USA release of Holly’s Inbox in stores, Bill has done the unthinkable—he’s RESTARTING
www.hollysinbox.com. . . . it’s dangerously addictive, and if you’re at work it looks like an email screen. Check it out and get ready to be consumed with Holly’s office romance, her hilarious best friends, her pesky family members and a secret that she thought was long gone…


Guest blog ~

An email went out to 90,000 people telling them NOT to visit www.HollysInbox.com because unscrupulous IT hacks had posted a live email account of a fellow employee onto the web in total disregard of our privacy laws.


We said - if she was working for your company it was essential you let her know NOW! Before the world discovered what she really thought about her co-workers.


The site went into meltdown.


Having had no success in my ambition to be a writer I had various jobs in different countries and finally took a position as a recruitment consultant. I met a beautiful woman, we got married and very soon we had set up our own recruitment agency which specialised in Receptionists. The idea for the site came one day when we had to trawl through an ex-employees work email account. The woman in question was single, extremely flirtatious and had always loved us to bits. We discovered she was married with four children, and couldn’t stand the sight of us. The life she was leading was so full of mystery, intrigue, romance (and many many lies) that it made me wonder what it would be like to read a story told in this way.


I began writing, and discovered (to my wife’s initial horror) that I loved writing as a woman. The characters began to talk on their own, and were much funnier than I could ever hope to be (I once tried stand up comedy – I died).


The initial plan for the site was just to attract more candidates to our reception agency, nothing else.


The basic plot had around two email exchanges a day and we launched www.HollysInbox.com . The site’s popularity spurred me on, but it soon became obvious I had grossly underestimated the amount of emails I needed each day to keep people on the site… so I began writing in real-time.


Not many people enjoy criticism, and I had always been particularly scared of receiving feedback. However Holly’s Inbox initially had a LIVE forum, where readers could immediately let off steam if they were unhappy, sometimes before I had even finished a sentence. If it wasn’t funny, they would say so (and the emails miraculously disappeared), if it was too obscure I’d make it clearer, too slow and I’d make it faster… basically they taught me to write and I will be eternally grateful to the fantastic forum fans. Holly still keeps in touch with them on Facebook and twitter.


I continued to run the agency whilst writing Holly’s Inbox but became less and less aware of my surroundings, immersing myself in the characters often giggling and occasionally crying in the process. My wife’s favourite story was when she had been interviewing a candidate while just across office I sobbed uncontrollably. The worried candidate had asked her if everything was ok and she had laughed and said I was only crying because I’d finally discovered she was having an affair, then continued with the interview.

Holly’s Inbox follows the life of Holly Denham a new receptionist on the front desk of an investment bank in London. She attempts to retain her sanity, whilst juggling some rather surreal characters in both her personal and work life. Between her gossipy co-workers, supervisors breathing down her neck, and some intriguing emails from a flirtatious VP, Holly is in for more than she ever imagined. And when a secret from her past makes an unwelcome appearance, Holly’s unsure if she has what it takes to survive the corporate workplace.


As the story reached it’s climax I began to panic. The site would be over and I had no idea what I was going to do next, so I began emailing as many agents as possible the web link; without knowing what I wanted from them. At last a wonderful fabulous woman replied and told me it would work in a book… and it did. Holly’s Inbox has now been translated into 6 different languages but the one place I had always dreamed about being published was of course the USA, and Sourcebooks have at last let me achieve this dream!!!!


The site has been re-launched and www.hollysinbox.com is now live with emails being sent and received by Holly Denham, I hope you like it.


About the Author

Bill Surie is the owner of a placement service for receptionists and secretaries in London. He started the Holly’s Inbox website as a place to serialize his first novel. His second novel is now in the works and currently lives in England and Spain.

Teaser Tuesday


It’s that time of week again, everyone, and time for the Tuesday Teaser.Again the reminder of what this is all about. We are asked to:
  1. Grab your current read.
  2. Let the book fall open to a random page.
  3. Share two teaser sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
  4. Share the title of the book that the “teaser” comes from, so people can find the book if they like the teaser.
  5. And again remember – avoid spoilers.
Here's mine ~

*********'s dead eyes stared at me from under the bed. I involuntarily propelled myself back on the carpet, smashing my back into the bureau and making the lamp on it wobble and then fall to the floor with a crash.

This teaser comes from The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly. What's YOUR teaser?

Monday, May 18, 2009

Mailbox Monday


Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.

Here's what I got ~

I Can See You by Karen Rose (ARC) ~ Evie Wilson was the victim of the villain in DON'T TELL, an assault which resulted in paralysis on one side of her face. After her injury, Evie retreated into the virtual realm, seeking refuge from the public eye by interacting with online friends. Now, with the help of a surgeon, Evie's face is restored and she is ready to return to the real world. However, she remains connected to the Internet for her graduate thesis on using the virtual world as therapy to improve self-esteem. She has become an online shopkeeper who sells faces and bodies to users interested in building a new avatar on a website called "Shadowland." In her new role, Evie maintains "surveillance" over her test subjects to ensure they don't become too caught up in the intoxicating virtual realm.Meanwhile, homicide detective Noah Webster has been investigating a string of suspicious suicides that he believes are connected murders. Noah's investigation leads him to Evie when one of her online test subjects is found dead of apparent suicide, but Evie believes otherwise.Evie is shocked to find herself drawn to someone for the first time in many years and she's reluctant to trust Noah. However, he's the only one who believes her story about the suspicious death of her test subject, and he soon discovers that many of the apparent suicides in his case had avatars in "Shadowland."As murder victims connected to the website begin to appear more frequently, Noah asks Evie to be his virtual guide in the investigation. However, they don't realize that the killer is closer than they think--and that he holds a special grudge against Evie.

By Hook or by Crook (A Crochet Mystery) by Betty Hechtman (ARC) ~ Molly Pink’s crochet group has a new mystery on their hands when they find a paper bag that contains a note that speaks of remorse, a diary entry of the sorrow of parting, and a complicated piece of filet crochet that offers an obscure clue in pictures. Things get even more complicated when they find the talented crocheter—murdered by a box of poisoned marzipan apples.

Boston Scream Pie by Rosemary Mild and Larry Mild (For Review) ~ The roiling blizzard toys with the overweight Chrysler, nudging it into a spin. The momentum leads to impact: a thundering, crunching of metal and glass. Caitlin Neuman awakes from this nightmare, wondering if it might be a harrowing memory-she's the lone survivor of a crash that killed her parents and twin sister years earlier. Or could the nightmare be an eerie insight into some family she's never met? Then again, it might just be a bad dream. Caitlin engages retired Detective Paco LeSoto to find out the truth. Paco's clever wife, Molly, tags along, uncovering her share of clues. She spouts her own deliciously skewed English, while Paco suspects her "Mollyprops" are clever contrivances. Their investigation takes them to the Boston family, another set of twins, and a string of suspicious deaths. In a Chesapeake Bay beachside home not far from the Neumans, newlyweds Newton Boston and his blonde bombshell wife, Delylah, grapple with their own family turmoil. Delylah's adult children churn up vicious undercurrents that threaten the entire household. Four deceased husbands lie in Delylah's past. When another family member dies under mysterious circumstances, the clues point to murder. The LeSotos expose the sinister connections. But can they stop yet another killing, bring justice to the culprits and peace to both families?

Bad Things: A Novel by Michael Marshall (For Review & Blog Tour) ~ Three years ago, lawyer John Henderson watched his four-year-old son tumble from a jetty into the lake outside their Washington home. In a terrible instant, a life all too brief and innocent ended. But it wasn't drowning, the fall, or even some previously undetected internal defect that killed the little boy. Scott Henderson had simply, inexplicably . . . died.Today, John is a different man—divorced, living a solitary existence in a beach house in Oregon, working as a waiter in a restaurant that caters to the summer crowd. Withdrawn from a life and past too painful to revisit, he touches no one and no one touches him. Then one night he receives a short and profoundly disturbing e-mail message from a stranger. It reads: I know what happened.It's enough to pull John back to Black Ridge—the one place on earth he'd hoped never to return to—in search of answers to the mystery that shattered his world. In this small, isolated Pacific Northwest community, populated in large part by descendants of the original settlers, the shadows now seem even darker and more sinister than when tragedy first drove him away—and the wind whipping down out of the primal forest can chill a man to his soul. It seems that bad things have always happened in this town of generations-old secrets—and are happening still.The deeper John digs into his own past, and into local history, the more danger he draws toward himself . . . and toward his estranged and helpless family. And though he doesn't know it, he's not the only one who's been called back to Black Ridge.And that's a very bad thing . . .A twisting, relentlessly thrilling, and consistently surprising novel of psychological suspense, Michael Marshall's Bad Things is a masterwork of chilling brilliance that will keep the reader guessing right to the final page. Bad things don't just happen to other people. They're waiting to happen to you, too.

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly (For Review) ~ Forced out of the Los Angeles Times amid the latest budget cuts, newspaperman Jack McEvoy decides to go out with a bang, using his final days at the paperto write the definitive murder story of his career. He focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer in jail after confessing to a brutal murder. But as he delves into the story, Jack realizes that Winslow's so-called confession is bogus. The kid might actually be innocent.Jack is soon running with his biggest story since The Poetmade his career years ago. He is tracking a killer who operates completely below police radar--and with perfect knowledge of any move against him. Including Jack's.