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

Review: Southern Lights by Danielle Steel

Southern Lights: A Novel by Danielle Steel



My rating: 4.0/5.0

I checked Southern Lights out from my local library system.



I started reading Danielle Steel as a teenager. I think I read Star and was enthralled and started on her backlist. I regularly got her new books as Christmas gifts and truly enjoyed her books as a teenager. Eventually I branched out, found other authors and other genres. I've heard the complaints about Danielle Steel through the years, but continued to pick up her books from time-to-time. Some were wonderful, some not so much, but it can be like that with any author.

I recently checked out her two books from this year from the library. I read Matters of the Heart a week or so ago and picked up Southern Lights to read over the weekend. Southern Lights was like coming home. I really enjoyed this story of the mother Alexa, and her daughter Savannah. Watching them both grow and change and overcome adversity when they needed to was very enjoyable. The secondary characters were also varied and really added to the story. I enjoyed reading of Savannah's time in Charleston and also the good mother-daughter relationship that Alexa and Savannah share (and also Alexa and her mother Muriel). It's nice to see that for a change in books.

It's not deep reading, but it's entertaining. It could be repetitious at time, but the wonderful characters outweighed the repetition and the book was thoroughly enjoyed.

About the Book:

Danielle Steel sweeps us from a Manhattan courtroom to the Deep South in her powerful new novel—at once a behind-closed-doors look into the heart of a family and a tale of crime and punishment.

Eleven years have passed since Alexa Hamilton left the South behind, fleeing the pain of her ex-husband’s betrayal and the cruelty of his prominent Charleston family. Now an assistant D.A. in Manhattan, Alexa has finally put her demons to rest, making a name for herself as a top prosecutor, handling the city’s toughest cases while juggling her role as devoted single mom to a teenage daughter.

But everything changes when Alexa is handed her latest case: the trial of accused serial killer Luke Quentin. Sifting through mountains of forensic evidence, Alexa prepares for a high-stakes trial…until threatening letters throw her private life into turmoil. The letters are addressed to her beautiful seventeen-year-old daughter, Savannah, whom Alexa has been raising alone since her divorce. Alexa is certain that Quentin is behind the letters—and that they are too dangerous to ignore. Suddenly she must make the toughest choice of all—and send her daughter back to the very place she swore she would never return to: the place where her marriage ended in heartbreak…her ex-husband’s world of southern tradition, memories of betrayal, and the antebellum charm of Charleston.

Now, while Alexa’s trial builds to a climax in New York, her daughter is settling into southern life, discovering a part of her family history and a father she barely knows--from the ice-cold stepmother who stole him away to a fascinating ancestry and a half-sister and half-brothers she comes to love. As secrets are exposed and old wounds are healed, Alexa and Savannah, after a season in different worlds, will come together again—strengthened by the challenges they have faced, changed by the mysteries they have unraveled, and with Savannah now at home in the southern world her mother fled.

Challenges:
100+ Book Challenge
Support Your Local Library Challenge
Fall Into Reading Challenge 2009
Countdown Challenge 2010 

Review and Giveaway winner announced: A Precious Jewel by Mary Balogh

 

 

A Precious Jewel: A Novel by Mary Balogh

My rating: 3.75/5.0


First - the winner of a copy of A Precious Jewel by Mary Balogh is:  Dixie - I have emailed you for your address to pass on to the publisher.  Congratulations - I think you will enjoy this book.

This was a very enjoyable historical romance, it read fast and I truly enjoyed watching Gerald and Prissy fall in love. I also loved the secondary character of Miles.

I loved the character of Prissy - she is a no-nonsense do what she has to woman. She also has her own pursuits that once she is a mistress instead of a woman in an upscale brothel she gets to pursue. She is her own woman. She does not delude herself that she is falling in love with Gerald, though she does try to remain practical about it and remain what she was hired to be. She was an amazing character to watch during the book and I loved everything about her.

Gerald is a good character too, he is obviously a troubled hero, and different to me because he is not exceptionally smart or good-looking (though I have no problem with the handsome part - we all find something different beautiful in people. He has trouble forming relationships due to his mother's death and circumstances behind it and a father that was never pleased with him. His one relationship is with his best friend, Miles, the Earl of Severn. I enjoyed watching Gerald grow in the book and try to become a better man and learn about loving. That part was good, but his high-handedness with Prissy and his constant reminders that she is his mistress were my main fault with the book.

The romance is beautiful once it takes off and I enjoyed seeing things from both Prissy and Gerald's point-of-view. I also loved Miles, he was a true gentleman and a definite good addition to the whole storyline.

This is my second book about courtesans in a months time and it's a whole new world for me in historical romance. I have never read this plotline before but I must say I enjoy it. Especially when the man overcomes the social stigma to go after the one he loves for the inevitable happy ending that romance books provide.

For more information about the book and the author see my tour post.

Thanks to the author and Pump Up Your Book Promotions for sending me this book for review and allowing me to offer a giveaway.

Thanks also to all of you who are followers and those who tweeted!

What are you Reading Monday - December 14

Come post weekly and see what others are reading too just so you can add to your tbr - I always do! For more information see J.Kaye's Book Blog and join in!

Books Completed Last Week:

• Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz (library)
• Blind Sight by James H. Pence (review)
• The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox (review)
• A Precious Jewel by Mary Balogh (review)
• A Blue and Gray Christmas by Joan Medlicott (review)
  

Reading Now:

• Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough (review)
• Permission Slips by Sherri Shepherd (audiobook - review)
• Southern Lights by Danielle Steel (library)
• The Sherriff's Surrender by Susan Page Davis (review)

Reviews Completed Last Week

• World War II Heroes of Southern Delaware by James Diehl
• I Run to the Hills by C. Maggie Woychick
• The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox (5.0/5.0)
• Blind Sight by James H. Pence (4.25/5.0)
  
  

Next:

• Wisdom Hunter by Randall Arthur
  
• Highlander Christmas by Janet Chapman
  
• Essie in Progress by Marjorie Presten
• Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
  
• The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman
• Under the Dome by Stephen King
• Kissing Games of the World by Sandi Kahn Shelton
• The Silent Gift by Michael Landon and Cindy Kelley

Reviews to do:

• Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz
• Blind Sight by James H. Pence
• Tempted by P.C. and Kristin Cast
  
• 13 1/2 by Nevada Barr
• Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• Only In Your Dreams by Cecily von Ziegesar
• Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Summary -

A good reading week.  I actually spent more time sleeping than I thought I would, but that is recovery for you.  My children come back this week so I will be enjoying them and the Christmas season, but have a full week of reviews so I will be busy reading too.