The Winner is . . .

Alicia - I've emailed you for your address and will get the book out as soon as possible. It's a great one.

Thanks everyone for entering my contest. I hope to have a new one up soon and a review of this wonderful Travis Thrasher book in the next few days. It comes out next Tuesday and you don't want to miss it!

Sorry for the delay - I am having some health difficulties but I'm able to read like a bandit at the moment. Lots of reviews coming and more giveaways. Stay tuned!

All giveaways will be announced on Twitter so follow me there to be the first to hear!

Audiobooks

First - don't forget my Ghostwriter contest in the post below - win a copy of Travis Thrasher's Ghostwriter before it's even out - contest runs through next Tuesday!

So audiobooks - I love them, they get me through my short commute and some days make me want to stay in the car longer. This week they are helping me during my commute as they are working on a bridge which is the only way about half of our county can get into "town" as we say. So my commute has stretched from the normal 20 minutes to about 45 minutes. Fun - but in a way it is - I don't have a specific time to be at work, so that is not stressful and what it is giving me is time to listen to my current audiobook - Montana Sky by Nora Roberts. This is a wonderful book and I am enjoying it and the reader.

I get most of my audiobooks either from the library or from Audible (which has a wonderful subscription program and also a lot of sales). The ones from audible go on my mp3 player and I use a tape player adapter to listen in the car. CDs or tapes are played in my car also (I have a pre-2000 van that has both tape and CD).

So my question to you is what are some of your favorite audiobooks and audiobook readers? I love the David Baldacci books read by Scott Brick and I will pick up anything that Scott Brick reads now, because I enjoy him so much. I also enjoy the Stephanie Plum books which are read by C.J. Critt. Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult was also wonderful and they used several readers for the different voices (each chapter was a different person in the story and a different reader to go with that character).

So what do you love about audiobooks and give me your suggestions, I'm always looking for suggestions of things to read!

Contest - Ghostwriter by Travis Thrasher

Oh my goodness - I just finished Ghostwriter by Travis Thrasher last night (thank you Faithwords for the arc!) and I cannot say enough about this book. I will post my review next week, but until then I would like to help build the interest in this book, so I'm having a contest to win one of my two arcs of this wonderful, scary and gripping book. Here is the summary of the book from the Hachette book website:

For years Dennis Shore has thrilled readers with his spooky bestselling novels. Now a widower, Dennis is finally alone in his house, his daughter attending college out of state. When he's stricken by a paralyzing case of writer's block and a looming deadline, Dennis becomes desperate. Against better judgment, he claims someone else's writing as his own, accepting undeserved accolades for the stolen work. He thinks he's gotten away with it . . . until he's greeted by a young man named Cillian Reed--the true author of the stolen manuscript.
What begins as a minor case of harassment quickly spirals out of control. As Cillian's threats escalate, Dennis finds himself on the brink of losing his career, his sanity, and even his life. The horror he's spent years writing about has arrived on his doorstep, and Dennis has nowhere to run.

Let me tell you that this is a wonderful book and you really want to read it. It's release date is 5/28/2009. But you can get it a little early by entering and winning.

So here are the ways you can enter:

1. Comment for the first entry (make sure I have a way to contact you)
2. Become a follower or subscribe to my blog for another entry (or let me know you are currently a follower/subscriber).
3. Follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/cfulcher) (or let me know if you already follow me)
4. Tweet about this giveaway or post on your blog about this contest (+1 for each)

The contest will go through next Tuesday, May 19th and I'll announce the winner on the 20th.

Musing Mondays - May 4

Musing Mondays is hosted by Rebecca at Just One More Page. You can click on the link (or the picture) to see her blog and read everyone's Musing Monday post.

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about your to be read list…

How many books (roughly) are in your tbr pile? Is this in increasing number or does it stay stable? Do you ever experience tbr anxiety in the face of this pile? (question courtesy of Wendy)

I have absolutely no idea how big my tbr pile is since it encompasses numerous bookshelves and stacks around the house. I do have a smaller pile on my nightstand and dresser that contains my books from booksfree, review books and other books I am dying to read. I consult this first to pick my next book, but sometimes make my way to my shelves. Sometimes just looking at my shelves makes me want to read - not out of anxiety, but just because I love to read and love looking at my books.

I don't have anxiety because I look at all the books as an investment. One day I may not have money to freely buy books and then I have plenty of books to read. I don't seem to make headway because I am always adding, but I'm okay with that, I know I have plenty of entertainment for the years to come!

Have a great Monday!

Where have I been?

Wow - I didn't mean to but I let the blog slide. I will be back though starting next week hopefully. I'm still reading and writing reviews that I will post through time. It's just been busy around here. My youngest turned 4, the oldest is playing baseball and I have a chronic health problem plaguing me on top of the new diagnosis of something wrong with my C6/C7 vertebrae. Fun stuff and lots of doctor's appointments. Work is also crazy so forgive me for the moment.

And thanks to everyone for the blog awards. I will post them in the next few days. I just wanted to say I haven't given up and I'm not ignoring anyone, but life interferes from time-to-time.

Take care all and have a wonderful weekend.

Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar

From the book:

Welcome to New York City's Upper East Side, where my friends and I live, go to school, play, and sleep--sometimes with each other.
S is back from boarding school, and if we aren't careful, she's going to win over our teachers, wear that dress we couldn't fit into, steal our boyfriends' hearts, and basically ruin our lives in a major way. I'll be watching closely...
You know you love me,
gossip girl

Wow - young adult books have changed a lot since I was a young adult (don't ask how many years that has been). Or maybe there just weren't too many young adult books and I moved on to adult books. Either way I think that it's wonderful that there are so many young adult books out there for adults and teenagers to choose from. So - I heard about this series and wanted to read it. The first one was definitely interesting. It seems so different from how it was when I was a teenager, but then again I didn't live in New York or have extremely wealthy parents, so these kids are different from me. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading about them. Remove the fast and rich lifestyle and they have the same problems as any other teenager, plus there own set of problems. This book does not glamorize the life of the rich, but shows how these kids are like other kids. They are insecure, they do dumb things, they fall in love, make tough decisions and decide on the path their life will take them. They have trouble with friends and with boyfriends, they pick on other kids, sometimes they are picked on. Their parents fight, divorce, date, sometimes act like parents and embarass them.

So I really enjoyed reading about Blair, Nate, Serena and the other characters. The book centers around gossip that is reported and how it can be expounded upon and everyone seems to believe it. Thankfully as the reader you have a little more insight into the characters and you can see that the gossip hurts. But it sucks you in. I flew through this book and have the second one on the way so I can learn more about this crowd. It's a worthwhile, fun read and I can't wait to read more about them.

Rating: 4/5
Reading level: Young Adult
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 224 pages
Publisher: Poppy
Publication Date: April 1, 2002
ISBN-10: 0316910333

Winner: Threshold by Bonnie Kozek

From Random.org, the winner is:

1. Wendy

Thanks to everyone who entered! I should have a new contest up this week or next.