Review Copy Arrival: A Climate For Change by Katharine Hayhoe & Andrew Farley

A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions by Katharine Hayhoe and Andrew Farley

I received this for review from Valerie Russo at Hachette books and currently have a giveaway going for three copies of this book here.

Release: October 29, 2009
Publisher: Faithwords
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 224

Global warming: it's one of the hottest scientific and political issues of today. And yet we've all found ourselves asking . . .

- It's freezing outside--where's global warming now?
- Climate is always changing--how do we know this isn't just a cycle?
- Why should Christians care about global warming when we know the world won't end that way?

For all the talk about climate change, there's still a great deal of debate about what it all means, especially among Christians. A CLIMATE FOR CHANGE offers straightforward answers to these questions, without the spin. This book untangles the complex science and tackles many long-held misconceptions about global warming. Authored by a climate scientist and a pastor, A CLIMATE FOR CHANGE boldly explores the role our Christian faith can play in guiding our opinions on this important global issue.

Review Copy Arrival: Through the Triangle by C.P. Stewart

Through the Triangle by C.P. Stewart

I received this book from the author through Bostick Communications.

Mysterious places exist in this world, where the unexplained is more common than one would expect. There are areas where people, watercraft, and airplanes have vanished, as if they never existed. Three of these areas lie in and around Alaska, Japan, and Florida. The latter of these three is widely known as the Bermuda Triangle, or Devil's Triangle, in which ships, planes, and more than a thousand people on them have disappeared without a trace. These people have become statistics, but were actual living breathing people with families, friends, and acquaintances. Reflect for a moment on what these people experienced as they transitioned from being a normal person to a memory in the blink of an eye. Did they cease to exist? Theories abound on the reason for the disappearances, ranging from the natural -- weather and methane gas, to the more radical UFO abductions.

About the Author: C. P. Stewart taught chemistry and physics in high school and occasionally at the university level. He is a lifelong resident of western Pennsylvania and has been captivated by these areas of mysterious disappearances, in particular the Bermuda Triangle. He is not alone, because fascination with the Bermuda Triangle has spawned legends, books, movies, songs, websites, plays, television specials, a mini-series, and even a magic trick by David Copperfield. Before writing Through the Triangle, which allows the reader to follow five individuals as they experience the Triangle’s capriciousness and consequences, he performed abundant research by studying writings of noted physicists on the topics of String (Membrane) Theory and the latest discoveries dealing with Spacetime. He also was particularly interested in written accounts of individuals who experienced close encounters within the Bermuda Triangle and survived. In one such confrontation, a pilot claims to have moved thirty minutes forward in time while in an encompassing fog, which he referred to as an electronic fog, or Timestorm.

Read-A-Thon

It's official - I'm joining in the 24-hour Read-a-Thon this weekend as a reader. I was telling my husband about it this morning and his question was "What is a read-a-thon". I told him it was a bunch of us on the internet getting together to read and blog for a 24-hour period. He just looked at me like I was crazy, but he's a Viking reenactor now so I can't be too crazy (actually I think the Viking thing is cool). So I'm looking forward to it - it's my time to socialize with like-minded people and spend my time reading.

The good news is DH and DS#1 will be hunting together all day so that just leaves me and DS#2 and DS#2 is very low maintenance when his older brother is not around. So I am looking forward to an enjoyable day.

Will I read for 24-hours. Nope, I have to sleep and feed the kids and do other things, but I plan to read as much as I can and blog too. I'll probably turn in around 11pm that night and maybe get up a little early and read some more, but I'm not sure. But I will be reading and blogging.

I participated in a limited fashion in the spring but plan to be more involved this time (I have a laptop!)

So what am I planning on reading? (in no particular order)

1. Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich (library)
   
2. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (library)
   
3. Black Hills by Nora Roberts (library)
   
4. Sex, Drugs and Gefilte Fish (review)
   
5. Spinning Forward by Terri DuLong (review)
6. The Maze Runner by James Dasher (review)
7. Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan (library)
8. Always Watching by Brandilyn and Amberly Collins (library)
9. Last Breath by Brandilyn and Amberly Collins (review)
10. The Christmas Clock by Kat Martin (review)

Okay I probably won't get through all of those obviously, but that's the list I want to tackle. I tried to mix various genres and lengths in there so I won't be bored. Some books I have to get read for reviews next week and some need to go back to the library so I will have a purpose on Saturday.

So are you joining in? Do you have your reading list or do you plan on cheerleading?

Review: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe


My rating: 4.0/5.0
A very interesting look at the time of the Salem Witch trials mixed with somewhat current day research.



About the Book:

Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest--to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.

As the pieces of Deliverance's harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and she begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem's dark past then she could have ever imagined.

My Review:

I had heard of this book when it came out - it was all over the blogs and finally my time came up on the library list. I anxiously awaiting reading this book and finally I did. It's a wonderful book. I enjoyed learning more about Connie and the women she was researching starting with Deliverance Dane. I loved the look at the Salem witches which I actually know very little about besides the fact that they held trials and murdered innocent people. The look into the life of Deliverance was fascinating and the search for the book written by her was very suspenseful and kept me reading until the end.

I loved the characters, Connie made a great heroine of the book - she was unsure of herself and her place in life and the search for the book and the history really helped her grow as a person. I found her to be a little slow at times but still liked her. I loved her flighty mother and her best friend Liz.

The plot moves quickly and switches back and forth in time from 1991 (present) to 1692 when the witch trials where taking place. As Connie slowly pieces things together it's like a slower Da Vinci code search kind of feel. I loved seeing where the research took her next, what bombshell might be dropped, and was evil lurking just around the corner. The magic and Christian witches sideline made a very interesting plot line and didn't bother me a bit. It just made things interesting and gave an interesting look into a time I am unfamiliar with.

Challenges:
100+ Book Challenge
Support Your Local Library Challenge
Fall Into Reading Challenge 2009

Review: Hell's Gate by Stephen Frey

Hell's Gate: A Novel by Stephen Frey


My rating: 3.75/5.0
I love Stephen Frey's Christian Gilette series and ever since I read the first one of those, I have picked up all of his new books to read and I am working on his backlist.


About the Book:

When thirty-five-year-old lawyer Hunter Lee decides to turn his back on the New York City rat race that has made him rich but cost him his marriage, he takes his brother's advice and sets out to build a new life in the beautiful but isolated town of Fort Mason, Montana. However, escape is hardly what he finds there.

Hunter befriends Paul Brule, a Fire Jumper -- one of an elite corps of firefighters who parachute into remote wilderness areas to put out blazes before they become infernos -- and gets a terrifying firsthand look at the reality of vast tracts of forest being reduced to ash in seconds by hundred-foot walls of flame. In this tiny town where everyone seems to have a secret, Hunter comes to suspect that this particular rash of summer fires is anything but accidental and could, in fact, be serving a more sinister purpose.

As Hunter follows his instincts, Montana becomes a crucible where good and evil collide -- and where one man, running from his past, takes on the burden of exposing the guilty while saving himself and those he cares about most from the greatest danger they have ever faced.

My Review:

Hell's Gate is a departure from the business world in a way and in a way it's not. It is because the main characters are not in big business. Hunter is a big-city lawyer out for trial in Big Sky Country and stays to visit his brother. While there he learns from his brother and his brother's friend Paul that numerous forest fires have been popping up the Pacific Northwest and they feel they have been started on purpose. But the problem is there are several people in Fort Mason, Montana that could be behind it. That is where the business world comes in. All the people it could be are involved in some way in a business that could prosper by the setting of the fires. It's up to Paul and Hunter to figure out who the perpetrator is before it's too late.

What follows in this book is a great thrill ride. I never quite knew who it would be since great reasons were brought up for each one and each seemed suspicious in their actions. Frey did a great job setting up the plot and executing it. My only problem is I wish there was a little more at the end. It seems things were tidied up and ended in a hurry and I could have learned a lot more. But all-in-all it was a great book and the characters are ones I would love to learn more about.

Challenges:
100+ Book Challenge
Support Your Local Library Challenge
Fall Into Reading Challenge 2009

Giveaway - Sex, Drugs and Gefilte Fish

Sex, Drugs and Gefilte Fish - The Heeb Storytelling Collection

Thanks to Brianne Beers at Hachette Book Group I have three copies of this book to giveaway. I have my review copy and will be posting my review next Monday when the book releases.

Scoring weed for your uncle...Hanging out with porn stars on Christmas Eve...Eating nachos with the Mossad...Observing the Dyke Days of Awe...Getting held up at a Weight Watcher's meeting...Spying on your naked Hebrew School teacher.

From Heeb magazine--the definitive voice of a proud, searching, and irreverent new generation of American Jews--this first-of-a-kind fast and fun showcase spotlights the hilarious and heartful raconteurial gifts of many of today's leading writers, comedians, actors, artists, and musicians. Laura Silverman, Michael Showalter, Andy Borowitz, Joel Stein, Ben Greenman, Darrin Strauss, and others navigate sex, drugs, work, youth, family, and, on the lighter side, body and soul. You'll never bleach your arm hair again.

Giveaway open to the US and Canada (no PO Boxes) and will go through 10/30. To enter simply leave a comment with your email.

Additional entries for

• following (new or already following) me by google, rss, email, twitter (see sidebar) (+1 per follow)
• tweeting (+3, 1 entry per day)
• linking to my contest on your blog or sidebar (+5)

I'll count up all your entries and give you credit for them so you can leave all your entries in one post (or additional posts for tweets).

Thanks!

Winners!

It's time to announce winners again. I am a little behind on announcing as usual so here goes:

Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle - plb8156 (who wanted it for her daughter - yay!)

Stretch Marks by Kimberly Stuart - Julie P

Silent Killer by Beverly Barton - Lee P

Emails have been sent (in the case of Luv Ya Bunches it was a week or two ago) to the winners.

I have more contests going at the moment see the sidebar for details.

Teaser Tuesday - October 20

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

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

Bosch lowered the window. He held the pillow up and pressed the muzzle into the padding. He fired twice, the stadard double pull he employwed to check the mechanism of a gun. The bullets snapped off the tunnel's tiled walls.
Even with the wadding around the gun, the two reports echoed loudly in the car. The car swerved slightly as Sun looked into the backseat. And Eleanor yelled.

From Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly which I should finish today and my review for the book tour goes up tomorrow.