Teaser Tuesday - September 8

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!

As the ship approached the harbor for the first time in weeks, Alexander and I rushed to the prow.

"Is this Rome?" I asked. There was no Museion gleaming in the afternoon light, and the villas that hugged the vast stretches of shore were plain, without columns or ornamentation. There was nothing to distinguish one squat white building from the next except the colors of their wind-beaten shutters.

My brother shook his head. "Brundisium. I heard it's another ten days by litter to Rome."

From Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

See more teasers here.

Winners: The Heretic Queen and Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

I have 100 pages left in Cleopatra's Daughter and have to say it is wonderful. I am enjoying the book so much. Review will come in the next few days and then I am off to find The Heretic Queen for myself.

Thank you so much Michelle for sending me a beautiful review copy of Cleopatra's Daughter and thank you for letting me hold a giveaway of your amazing books.

So without further ado, the winners are:

The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran - ludeluh

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran - The Book Pixie

Emails have been sent to the winners. Thanks everyone for entering and for those of you who didn't win - Cleopatra's Daughter goes on sale next Tuesday and The Heretic Queen is currently out in paperback - go and check them out!

Mailbox Monday - September 7th - Happy Labor Day!

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. To see this weeks list of participants go here.

ARC/Review Copies of:

From Booksfree I received:



And from Paperbackswap I received:



Books I Won and Received:

Review: Magic Treehouse - Christmas in Camelot by Mary Pope Osborne

Christmas in Camelot (Magic Treehouse) by Mary Pope Osborne


rating: 4.0/5.0




From Goodreads:

A cup, a compass, a key: the magic tree house has brought siblings Annie and Jack to Camelot, where they embark on a mysterious mission to find these enigmatic gifts. In this special hardcover addition to the bestselling Magic Tree House series, the young adventurers must travel to the Otherworld, an "ancient, enchanted land beyond the edge of the Earth, the place where all magic began" to save Camelot from dark wizard Mordred's evil spell. If they fail, Camelot will be forgotten forever.

DS and I listened to this on audio from the library. We both enjoyed it. The voices are well done and it's very engrossing to both me as a parent and my son the 8-year-old. I like the fantasy-world aspect and I also enjoyed the authors talk at the end about Camelot and how it came from history and from story-telling. Very fascinating. Another great read for DS and I to enjoy in the car on the way to and from school. And it offers a great jumping off point for some discussions.

Binding: Paperback
On-sale Date: 2001
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Age Level: 6-9
Pages: 128

Review Book Arrival: Mom Needs Chocolate by Debora M. Coty

Mom Needs Chocolate by Debora M. Coty

I received this from Rebeca Seitz at Glass Road Publications as part of the First Wild Card Tours tour for this book.

Publisher: Regal
Publish Date: April 1, 2009

What's a rundown, run-ragged mom to do? Her spirit yearns to soar, but her feet---and faith---are stuck in the diaper-by-diaper mud of everyday responsibilities. How can she de-muck when she's chronically exhausted and relentlessly robbed of abundant life by the joy-sucking dully-funks? This offbeat glimpse of reality with a tangy twist pitched in to help busy mothers get in touch with rejuvenating joy and empowering faith! In mom-to-mom, smile-eliciting style, humorist Debora Coty doesn't lolly gag around the hot topics such as enduring marriage, embarrassing children, defeating depression and grossfully (er, gracefully) aging. Unique insights and outrageous coping tips are shared alongside sisterly hugs and warm encouragement. Mom Needs Chocolate is a veritable grocery list of mud-between-your-toes issues, tackled with witty frankness and wild abandon. Young-at-heart mothers of all ages will enjoy hilarious and heartwarming stories that apply Scripture to real life and remind them how to hear God's still, small voice about blathering kids, howling pets and snarling traffic!

Book Arrival: Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

I received this through Paperbackswap.com

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publish Date: June 1, 2009
Reading Level: Young Adult

While on vacation in California, sixteen-year-old best girlfriends Anna and Frankie conspire to find a boy for Anna's first summer romance, but Anna harbors a painful secret that threatens their lighthearted plan and their friendship.

Beautifully written and emotionally honest, this is a debut novel that explores what it truly means to love someone and what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every single moment this world has to offer.

Review: A to Z Mysteries - The Deadly Dungeon, The Empty Envelope, The Falcon's Feathers, The Goose's Gold by Ron Roy

Review: A to Z Mysteries - The Deadly Dungeon, The Empty Envelope, The Falcon's Feathers, The Goose's Gold by Ron Roy (on audio)

rating: 4.0/5.0

This was my first exposure to The A to Z Mystery series which is a set of children's chapter books focusing on friends Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose who always end up trying to solve some sort of mystery. My oldest son (8) has read some of these before and was thrilled to see this set at the library when we went a few weeks ago. I thought it would be great for us to share the time spent in the car listening to books and then I didn't have to worry so much about him listening to the books I typically listen to. I was right - this is wonderful. The books are fun and we both work to figure out who did it in each one. We'll pause and talk about it and then finish up the book. The reader is wonderful, the stories easy to follow and suspenseful for a 3rd grader without being frightening.

I can't recommend these enough for those of you with children with budding interests in mysteries - it's fun time for you to share with them whether you are reading them or listening to them on tape.

After the first one was finished my DS was asking if the library had more of these. Sadly they only have I-J on audiobook, but they have the rest of the series in books. So I have the audiobooks, and we'll finish up reading because I want to know more about the adventures of Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose.

Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Random House for Young Readers
Pages: 96 per book