Audio Book Challenge 2010

I love audio books so I am jumping at the chance to join Royal Reviews' Audio Book Challenge.  I plan on joining at the Obsessed level which has me listening to 20 audiobooks.  I have an audible membership where I get 1 book a month and I also have a bunch of books ready to go on my mp3 player already.

For more information and to join the challenge go to The Royal Reviews blog.

1.   Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
2.   Smash Cut by Sandra Brown
3.   Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
4.   Portrait in Death by J.D. Robb
5.   Absolute Power by David Baldacci
6.   When Will There Be Good News by Kate Atkinson
7.   True Blue by David Baldacci
8.   The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
9.  Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline
10.   Don't Look Twice by Andrew Gross
11.  Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
12. Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah
13.  Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs
14.  Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs
15.  Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
16.  Tough Customer by Kathy Reichs
17.  Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
18.  Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich
19.  
20. 
    

What's In A Name 3 Challenge

What's in a Name Challenge is now being hosted by Beth F at Beth Fish Reads.  The challenge post to sign up and learn more about the challenge is here.

This should be an interesting one - I've never done a challenge like this before but I look forward to trying it.

So here's how it works: Between January 1 and December 31, 2010, read one book in each of the following categories:

1. A book with a food in the title: Clockwork Orange, Grapes of Wrath, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
2. A book with a body of water in the title: A River Runs through It, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, The Lake House
3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title: The Murder of King Tut, The Count of Monte Cristo, Lady Susan
4. A book with a plant in the title: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Wind in the Willows, The Name of the Rose
5. A book with a place name (city, country) in the title: Out of Africa; London; Between, Georgia
6. A book with a music term in the title: Song of Solomon, Ragtime, The Piano Teacher

The book titles are just suggestions, you can read whatever book you want to fit the category.


Those are the basics.  You can find more about the challenge here.

My list of books will go here:

1. Food: Let Them Eat Fruitcake by Melody Carlson
2. Body of Water:
3. Title: Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt
4. Plant: Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
5. Place name:  Sydney's DC Discovery by Jean Fischer
6. Music Term: Welcome to Harmony by Jodi Thomas

Pocket Books Tour, Review and Giveaway: A Blue and Gray Christmas by Joan Medlicott

A Blue and Gray Christmas by Joan Medlicott




My rating: 3.75/5.0


I received this book for a Pocket Books Tour for December.

This is a Covington Holiday novel and part of a series that I believe centers around 3 friends who met later in life and moved to Covington, NC together to live in a farmhouse that one of the friends inherited.

This was an enjoyable novel, I enjoyed the characters and getting to know them. I also enjoyed the Civil War letters from the two soldiers that were found. I loved learning about the families of the men and how people can come together after never knowing they were related and get along. The book read easily and was a great way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon. I never lost interest in the book or in the characters.

My main complaint with the novel was the fact that there was a lot going on. There were several small story lines that were glossed over and I didn't feel like they truly added to the story. However I don't know that they weren't story lines from previous books being revisited and those that have followed this series may enjoy this book more than someone picking up this book for the first one in the series. You will not be lost if this is the first Covington novel you pick up, you may just not get as much out of it, but on it's own it is still an enjoyable novel.

I will say I enjoyed the characters enough that I do want to know more about them and I will be checking out the earlier books to learn more about this series and these women that are the focus.

About the Book:

When a rusty old tin box is unearthed at the Covington Homestead, longtime housemates Grace, Amelia, and Hannah discover that it contains letters and diaries written by two Civil War soldiers, one Union and one Confederate.

The friends are captivated by the drama revealed. The soldiers were found dying on a nearby battlefi eld by an old woman. She nursed them back to health, hiding them from bounty hunters seeking deserters. At the end of the war the men chose to stay in Covington, caring for their rescuer as she grew frail. But while their lives were rich, they still felt homesick and guilty for never contacting the families they'd left behind.

Christmas is coming, and the letters inspire Amelia with a generous impulse. What if she and her friends were to fi nd the two soldiers' descendants and invite them to Covington to meet? What better holiday gift could there be than the truth about these two heroic men and their dramatic shared fate? With little time left, the ladies spring into action to track down the men's families in Connecticut and the Carolinas, and to make preparations in Covington for their most memorable, most historic Christmas yet.

 Giveaway:

In an effort to keep my bookshelves cleared off, I would like to give away my read one time hard cover of A Blue and Gray Christmas by Joan Medlicott.  Simply say you would like to enter and leave your email address if it's not available in your blogger profile, additional entries for being a follower here on blogger and on twitter, subscribing and tweeting.  Just leave a comment..  Giveaway open worldwide and ends 12/20.  I can't promise you'll get it before Christmas, but I will try.


Challenges:
100+ Book Challenge
Fall Into Reading Challenge 2009

Teaser Tuesday - December 15

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!

For the first time, Cody felt panic. To hide it, he forced a grin and said to Hannah, "I love adventure, but this is a little too much of the good stuff."

From Wisdom Hunter by Randall Arthur