Win All 5 Autographed Breathless Reads Books

Want to win a signed copy of each of these wonderful books?  Check out Beth Revis' website and find out how you can enter to win.  I entered, have you?

Saturday Giveaway

First off, last week's giveaway winner is:  

Marjorie (cenya2@)

Marjorie has been contacted and will make her selection.

This giveaway seemed to work well so I'm hoping to make this a weekly feature.  It's simple, fill out the form and you are entered.  Open to US/Canada only due to lack of funds. Following is not required, nor is tweeting or anything like that but if you would like to, I would be thrilled.

So what is up for grabs this week, your choice of one of the following:

           

Please note that Patchwork Dreams, Love You More, The Kensei and A Creed in Stone Creek are ARCs.  Giveaway open through next Friday, March 18 at 11:00pm so I can draw the winner and announce with my new Saturday giveaway next week.  A little something for everyone.  If you win, I'll email and ask your choice.  It's simple.

If you can't see the form, you can find it here.

Book Tour, Review & Giveaway: Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing by Kathy Cano-Murillo

 
Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing by Kathy Cano-Murillo

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Publish Date: March 8, 2011

Paperback, 352 pages 
Fiction, Women's Fiction
ISBN: 978-0446509237

My Review:
Why I read this: I sew and I was intrigued by the title and the blurb.



My thoughts:  Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing is everything I thought it would be and so much more.  It's a light, fun story with interesting characters, yet there is a serious tone to it as well with lessons learned, love and friendship.  But I think the main thing is this book is a pleasure to read from start to finish.  I found myself feeling like I was right there among the characters, and sharing life and love with them while learning Miss Scarlet's patternless sewing method.

If you don't sew or aren't crafty - don't worry - this book is about so much more than sewing or crafting.  It is a thread that runs through the book but it does not take over.  It's just like that extra added bonus for those of us who do sew.

The characters are outstanding.  I loved Scarlet and watching her grow and learn through this book.  She is so spunky and sure of herself that I want to be her when I grow up.  I like that she never lets her spunky side go even when times are hard.  I like to hear how she dresses and found descriptions of her house, her clothes and her family to be a lot of fun.  I also love Mary Theresa and see a lot of myself in her as she is in the beginning, so tight and order driven.  I love how she changes and grows and learns to let go a little and becomes a whole new person while staying true to herself.  It's a tough process but I loved her as she changed.  Rosa is also an amazing character - the little old lady with spunk who attends the class and captures everyone's heart.  Add to that two teenage sisters and Olivia, who is spunky in her own way and uses her life lessons to help teach Scarlet and Mary Theresa lessons along the way.

The plot is wonderful as well - will Scarlet get the money to go to her dream sewing internship?  That seems to be the main question along with wondering if she will stay true to herself and also who exactly is Rosa?  I love how the plot weaves the lives of the sewing classmates lives together and how they all become friends out of class - friends that will help each other when situations are bad.  There are some very humorous scenes in the book, I laughed and laughed at times and at other times I was so touched I was in tears.

What else can I say - I loved this book - it's a great women's fiction book.  It's the tale of life, love, family and friendship and everyone learns valuable lessons.  Ms. Cano-Murillo weaves this magic tale in a wonderful way that had me turning page after page to see what would happen next to the members of the sewing class and Miss Scarlet.  I can't say enough about the feel-good quality of this book.  It's just one of those books that you sigh with happiness at the end and then you want more and more of the characters.  I would say these characters will stick with you for quite awhile, and feel like friends when the book is over.  Thank you Cathy Cano-Murillo for your wonderful book and I look forward to more fiction titles in the future!


My Rating: 5.0/5.0


About the Book:

Sometimes to find your life's true path, you have to stray outside the lines . . .

Scarlet Santana is never happier than when creating fabulous fashions for women of all shapes and sizes. Now, after years of hard work, she finally has the chance to live her dream and study under the hottest designer in New York. To raise money for her move, Scarlet opens an after-hours sewing school in a local record shop, teaching a type-A working mom whose rigid parenting style is causing her family to unravel and an enigmatic seamstress with a mysterious past.

But as stitches give way to secrets and classmates become friends, the women realize an important truth: There is no single pattern for a good life. Happiness is always a custom fit.

About the Author: 

With a life motto of “Crafts! Drama! Glitter!” Crafty Chica Kathy Cano-Murillo is a creative force of nature. A former syndicated columnist for The Arizona Republic, she is the founder of the award-winning Web site, CraftyChica.com and the author of seven nonfiction craft books and a Web series on LifetimeTV.com. Kathy has a Crafty Chica line of art supplies that are sold nationwide. She also has been featured in numerous media outlets such as The New York Times Magazine, NPR’s Weekend Edition, USA Today, Bust, and Latina magazine. She has shared her crafty ideas on local television, as well as on Sí TV, HGTV, and DIY network. She has been writing stories longer than she has been crafting. Inspired by Judy Blume and Erma Bombeck, she caught the literary bug in grade school, where she used to draw a picture and then write a colorful story to go with it. It’s a creativity exercise she still practices to this day! Kathy lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband, two kids, and five Chihuahuas.

Reading Group Guide

Author Bio and Photo

@CraftyChica

Facebook Page

Craftychica.com

Crafty Chica's photostream on Flickr

Crafty Chica YouTube Channel

Giveaway 

The publisher (Hachette Books) is giving away a package that includes 1 copy of Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing & 1 copy of Waking Up in the Land of Glitter to two lucky entrants from my blog.  US/Canada only, no P.O. boxes.  Simply fill out the form below and I will draw a winner next Saturday, so the giveaway runs through 3/18 a 11:59pm EDT.

If you can't see the form, you can find it here.

FTC Information: I received this book from the publisher for a honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.

Book Review: The Kensei by Jon F. Merz

The Kensei by Jon F. Merz

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Publish Date: January 18, 2011

Paperback, 304 pages 
Urban Fantasy, Suspense, Paranormal
A Lawson Vampire Novel #5
ISBN: 978-0312662233

My Review:
Why I read this: When the author contacted me I read the blurb and thought it sounded like a novel I would enjoy.  As I got closer to reading it I wondered if I would enjoy it (a mood thing).  I'm glad I got a chance to read it because I am now sold on this series.


My thoughts:
I really enjoyed reading The Kensei.  The action starts from just about the first page and continues through the book.  However, The Kensei is not all about the action.  I loved the fact that there is a continuing romance and also good character development through the book.  Add to that the excellent action scenes that I could easily picture in my head and you have one great book that will appeal to male and females, young and older alike.

The Kensei is actually the 5th book in the series, but you can read it as a stand-alone.  I did.  I also went and purchased the first book in the series for my Kindle at the great price of $2.99 as soon as I finished The Kensei.  If I had a little more money I would have purchased the whole series.  That is how much I enjoyed The Kensei and I look forward to going back and getting to know Lawson better.

As for genre, I would say urban fantasy.  It's set in today's world with the addition of vampires being a part of the world, but not known to the humans in the world.  I found it interesting that I could never really pin down an age for the characters.  Of course, being a vampire Lawson is much older, but is he in his teens, 20s, 30s or 40s, I never could quite figure out.  It really doesn't matter because I think it helps his universal appeal to be ageless.  Talya is the same way.  I love the fact that she is a strong and competent female, yet she is loving and caring.  You always seem to have one or the other in characters and I like that Mr. Merz was able to combine those characteristics and make Talya a very realistic and likable character.

The setting of Tokyo was also great - it's not a city I know much about but to see it through Lawson's eyes was great.  Getting to know the ins and outs of the society was fascinating as well.  From the police to the mob, it made an interesting storyline.

My favorite part - Lawson's wisecracking attitude.  An example from the first few pages that made me laugh:

I dropped down the stairs, passing slower moving travelers on the way.  Japan's nice about stuff like that.  If you don't want to hustle your a$$ around, stay to the right on the stairs and let everyone pass you on the left.  The same idea use to hold true for U.S. highways, but apparently that was a relic now, too.

I just love Lawson, he's a sexy vampire, he's intelligent, brave, strong and he has a killer sense of humor.  What more could you ask for?

So if you like Urban Fantasy and haven't tried out the Lawson Vampire series, give The Kensei a try, I think it is guaranteed to please and have you searching for the first four titles as well as clamoring for a new installment.

My Rating: 4.75/5.0


About the Book:

Meet Lawson. A cynical, wise-cracking vampire charged with protecting the Balance between vampires and humans, he is part cop, part spy, and part commando -- James Bond with fangs. Lawson mixes shrewd cunning with unmatched lethality to get his job done. He tries his best to dismantle conspiracies, dispatch bad guys, and live long enough to get home. In The Kensei, a battle-weary Lawson heads to Japan for a little rest and some advanced ninja training. But he no sooner steps off the plane than lands in the midst of a Yakuza turf war orchestrated by a shadowy figure known as the Kensei. With the help of Talya, a former KGB-assassin, Lawson must put a stop to the Kensei’s organ trafficking networks, prevent the creation of an army of vampire-human hybrids, and save his own skin in the process.

About the Author: 

Jon F. Merz is a writer with over a dozen  published novels, a producer for New Ronin Entertainment and a trained black belt ninja. He has taught defensive tactics to civilian crime watch groups, police, military units, and agencies like the US Department of State, the Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Prisons. In his past, Jon served with the United States Air Force, worked for the US government, and handled executive protection for Fortune 500 clients. He lives with his wife and two sons in suburban Boston.

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FTC Information: I received this book from the author for a honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.

Winner: $50 CSN Store credit

The winner of the $50 CSN Store credit:

Ashley (hewella1@...)


Ashley has been emailed.  Thank you all for entering.

It's Almost Read-a-Thon Time!

Read-a-thons are like Christmas to me and I love the twice-a-year Dewey's Read-a-Thon.  I think I have participated in two or three now.  The first one after I started blogging unfortunately fell on cub scout campout weekend, but I have lucked out since then.  If you haven't participated, come give it a try - it's fun to read, read, read and blog (if you blog) and read blogs.  It's rather informal - you don't have to forgo all family activities (though you can if you want).  The main thing is to have fun and read.

How do you participate? Simply go to the blog and sign up and read more about the read-a-thon.  It's coming up on April 9th so mark your calendars and come join us.  I may be in and out during that time - I think that is opening weekend for little league around here and both of my boys are participating so that means I'll be gone a little while and if the boys have games I'll be out of it more than planned, but hey I'm excited about seeing my boys play.  And I'll read as much as I can as well :)

Book Tour and Review: Love You More by Lisa Gardner

Love You More by Lisa Gardner

Publisher: Bantam

Publish Date: March 8, 2011 (today!)

Hardcover, 368 pages 
Suspense
D.D. Warren, #5
ISBN: 978-0553807257

My Review:
Why I read this:  It's Lisa Gardner - I love her books and love the D.D. Warren series.

My thoughts:  Wow, buckle your seat belt, because you are in for one crazy ride when you start this book!


I love Lisa's books and my love continues and may have even grown after reading Love You More.  This is one spine-tingling book.  First thing I love, the chapters alternate from D.D. Warren and her partner for this book (and familiar partner through this series), Bobby Dodge and the State Police Officer accused of murdering her husband, Tessa Leoni.  This made the book very gripping because I would get to an interesting break that D.D. and Bobby would make and the next chapter would either give me more insight into Tessa or show what she was going through at the moment.  This method of alternating chapters does a marvelous job weaving both stories together in an amazing way.


I love D.D. as a character.  She's tough and she's a great detective but she's still trying to figure out where she fits in life and this book offers up a new surprise in her personal life.  I liked this and liked seeing how D.D. approached things a little different and changed some during this book.  Bobby is there through the book and I liked seeing him again and his insights that help D.D. are always great now that he is settled down and has a child.  Tessa made an intriguing character and I quickly learned to let all my assumptions about her go because as soon as I assumed something, Ms. Gardner did a nice surprise twist and I learned something new about her.  At times I didn't like her, some times I understood her and sometimes I learned to like her.  All-in-all, she makes a great character addition to Love You More and I enjoyed learning her story piece-by-piece.

 
As for the plot - just amazing.  As I mentioned before, as soon as I assumed something, I learned something different.  The twists and turns are just mind-boggling, but they make sense when you think about them.  I was enthralled with this book and found it hard to put down to take care of family things on Saturday.  I love the psychological type thrillers that are mixed with police procedural.  Ms. Gardner is a master of this and I found her Acknowledgments really fascinating as well.  She does a lot of research when she writes these books and I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if there are mistakes (which she claims as her own), but everything in the book seems plausible to me.  I love the way Ms. Gardner takes you through the story.  She does great with the alternating points-of-view and mixing the personal aspects of the characters with the murder mystery at hand.

Are you ready for page-turning suspense, then read Love You More by Lisa Gardner.  Haven't read any of the earlier books in the series? Don't worry - Love You More can stand-alone.  Yes there is some development of characters in the earlier books, but Ms. Gardner does a great job of getting you into the characters in this book without having to read any of the earlier books.  Though I do recommend those as well.  But this may very well be one of my favorites in the series so run, don't walk to your bookstore or to your favorite online bookseller and check out Love You More.

My Rating: 5.0/5.0


About the Book:

WHO DO YOU LOVE?

One question, a split-second decision, and Brian Darby lies dead on the kitchen floor. His wife, state police trooper Tessa Leoni, claims to have shot him in self-defense, and bears the bruises to back up her tale. For veteran detective D. D. Warren it should be an open-and-shut case. But where is their six-year-old daughter?

AND HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO . . .

As the homicide investigation ratchets into a frantic statewide search for a missing child, D. D. Warren must partner with former lover Bobby Dodge to break through the blue wall of police brotherhood, seeking to understand the inner workings of a trooper’s mind while also unearthing family secrets. Would a trained police officer truly shoot her own husband? And would a mother harm her own child?

. . . TO SAVE HER?

For Tessa Leoni, the worst has not yet happened. She is walking a tightrope, with nowhere to turn, no one to trust, as the clock ticks down to a terrifying deadline. She has one goal in sight, and she will use every ounce of her training, every trick at her disposal, to do what must be done. No sacrifice is too great, no action unthinkable. A mother knows who she loves. And all others will be made to pay.

Love you more . . .


About the Author: 

Lisa Gardner is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen novels. Her Detective D. D. Warren novels include Live to Tell, Hide, Alone, and the International Thriller Writers’ Award-winning novel The Neighbor. Her FBI Profiler novels include Say Goodbye, Gone, The Killing Hour, The Next Accident, and The Third Victim. She lives with her family in New England.
Lisa’s latest book is Love You More.

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Read an excerpt!

1
Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren prided herself on her excellent investigative skills. Having served over a dozen years with the Boston PD, she believed working a homicide scene wasn’t simply a matter of walking the walk or talking the talk, but rather of total sensory immersion. She felt the smooth hole bored into Sheetrock by a hot spiraling twenty-two. She listened for the sound of neighbors gossiping on the other side of thin walls because if she could hear them, then they’d definitely heard the big bad that had just happened here.
D.D. always noted how a body had fallen, whether it was forward or backward or slightly to one side. She tasted the air for the acrid flavor of gunpowder, which could linger for a good twenty to thirty minutes after the final shot. And, on more than one occasion, she had estimated time of death based on the scent of blood–which, like fresh meat, started out relatively mild but took on heavier, earthier tones with each passing hour.
Today, however, she wasn’t going to do any of those things. Today, she was spending a lazy Sunday morning dressed in gray sweats and Alex’s oversized red flannel shirt. She was camped at his kitchen table, clutching a thick clay coffee mug while counting slowly to twenty.
She’d hit thirteen. Alex had finally made it to the front door. Now he paused to wind a deep blue scarf around his neck.
She counted to fifteen.
He finished with the scarf. Moved on to a black wool hat and lined leather gloves. The temperature outside had just crept above twenty. Eight inches of snow on the ground and six more forecasted to arrive by end of the week. March didn’t mean spring in New England.
Alex taught crime-scene analysis, among other things, at the Police Academy. Today was a full slate of classes. Tomorrow, they both had the day off, which didn’t happen much and warranted some kind of fun activity yet to be determined. Maybe ice skating in the Boston Commons. Or a trip to the Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum. Or a lazy day where they snuggled on the sofa and watched old movies with a big bowl of buttered popcorn.
D.D.’s hands spasmed on the coffee mug. Okay, no popcorn.
D.D. counted to eighteen, nineteen, twent–
Alex finished with his gloves, picked up his battered black leather tote, and crossed to her.
“Don’t miss me too much,” he said.
He kissed her on the forehead. D.D. closed her eyes, mentally recited the number twenty, then started counting back down to zero.
“I’ll write you love letters all day, with little hearts over the ‘i’s,” she said.
“In your high school binder?”
“Something like that.”
Alex stepped back. D.D. hit fourteen. Her mug trembled, but Alex didn’t seem to notice. She took a deep breath and soldiered on. Thirteen, twelve, eleven . . .
She and Alex had been dating a little over six months. At that point where she had a whole drawer to call her own in his tiny ranch, and he had a sliver of closet space in her North End condo. When he was teaching, it was easier for them to be here. When she was working, it was easier to be in Boston. They didn’t have a set schedule. That would imply planning and further solidify a relationship they were both careful to not overly define.
They enjoyed each other’s company. Alex respected her crazy schedule as a homicide detective. She respected his culinary skills as a third-generation Italian. From what she could tell, they looked forward to the nights when they could get together, but survived the nights when they didn’t. They were two independent-minded adults. She’d just hit forty, Alex had crossed that line a few years back. Hardly blushing teens whose every waking moment was consumed with thoughts of each other. Alex had been married before. D.D. simply knew better.
She lived to work, which other people found unhealthy, but what the hell. It had gotten her this far.
Nine, eight, seven . . .
Alex opened the front door, squaring his shoulders against the bitter morning. A blast of chilled air shot across the small foyer, hitting D.D.’s cheeks. She shivered, clutched the mug more tightly.
“Love you,” Alex said, stepping across the threshold.
“Love you, too.”
Alex closed the door. D.D. made it down the hall just in time to vomit.
Ten minutes later, she remained sprawled on the bathroom floor. The decorative tiles were from the seventies, dozens and dozens of tiny beige, brown, and harvest gold squares. Looking at them made her want to puke all over again. Counting them, however, was a pretty decent meditative exercise. She inventoried tiles while she waited for her flushed cheeks to cool and her cramped stomach to untangle.
Her cellphone rang. She eyed it on the floor, not terribly interested, given the circumstances. But then she noted the caller and decided to take pity on him.
“What?” she demanded, her usual greeting for former lover and currently married Massachusetts State Police Detective Bobby Dodge.
“I don’t have much time. Listen sharp.”
“I’m not on deck,” she said automatically. “New cases go to Jim Dunwell. Pester him.” Then she frowned. Bobby couldn’t be calling her about a case. As a city cop, she took her orders from the Boston turret, not state police detectives.
Bobby continued as if she’d never spoken: “It’s a fuckup, but I’m pretty sure it’s our fuckup, so I need you to listen. Stars and stripes are next door, media across the street. Come in from the back street. Take your time, notice everything. I’ve already lost vantage point, and trust me, D.D., on this one, you and I can’t afford to miss a thing.”
D.D.’s frown deepened. “What the hell, Bobby? I have no idea what you’re talking about, not to mention it’s my day off.”
“Not anymore. BPD is gonna want a woman to front this one, while the state is gonna demand their own skin in the game, preferably a former trooper. The brass’s call, our heads on the block.”
She heard a fresh noise now, from the bedroom. Her pager, chiming away. Crap. She was being called in, meaning whatever Bobby was babbling about had merit. She pulled herself to standing, though her legs trembled and she thought she might puke again. She took the first step through sheer force of will and the rest was easier after that. She headed for the bedroom, a detective who’d lost days off before and would again.
“What do I need to know?” she asked, voice crisper now, phone tucked against her shoulder.
“Snow,” Bobby muttered. “On the ground, trees, windows . . . hell. We got cops tramping everywhere–”
“Get ‘em out! If it’s my fucking scene, get ‘em all out.”
She found her pager on the bedside table–yep, call out from Boston operations–and began shucking her gray sweatpants.
“They’re out of the house. Trust me, even the bosses know better than to contaminate a homicide scene. But we didn’t know the girl was missing. The uniforms sealed off the house, but left the yard fair play. And now the grounds are trampled, and I can’t get vantage point. We need vantage point.”
D.D. had sweats off, went to work on Alex’s flannel shirt.
“Who’s dead?”
“Forty-two-year-old white male.”
“Who’s missing?”
“Six-year-old white female.”
“Got a suspect?”
Long, long pause now.
“Get here,” Bobby said curtly. “You and me, D.D. Our case. Our headache. We gotta work this one quick.”
He clicked off. D.D. scowled at the phone, then tossed it on the bed to finish pulling on her white dress shirt.
Okay. Homicide with a missing child. State police already on-site, but Boston jurisdiction. Why the hell would the state police–
Then, fine detective that she was, D.D. finally connected the dots.
“Ah shit!”
D.D. wasn’t nauseous anymore. She was pissed off.
She grabbed her pager, her creds, and her winter jacket. Then, Bobby’s instructions ringing in her head, she prepared to ambush her own crime scene.

For more tour stops see the Pump Up Your Book Website

FTC Information: I received this book through Pump Up Your Book Online Publicity Tours for a honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.