Winner: Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Random.org gave me #2 which is Mary - TheGhostBlogger. I have emailed her and received her address so Admission will be going out to her in the next few days.

To all others who entered - thank you very much and check out my current giveaways over in my sidebar and stay tuned for more giveaways coming soon. I have more ARCs and other books received from publishers plus a few others I plan on giving away!

To those who could not enter - I have fixed my comments and you don't have to have a blogger id to enter - it's now open to everyone. Sorry about that mistake - I didn't realize that was an option or it was a problem for anyone to enter.

What Are You Reading Monday - June 8

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:

Missing Pieces by Joy Fielding - Suspense - I'm reading her backlist from the library and this was a nail biter. Great book and great twists and turns. Review soon.

A Morning Like This by Deborah Bedford - Romance, Christian Fiction - I received this from the publisher (Faithwords) and it was a great read. I couldn't put it down. Review and giveaway here.

I Like it Like That by Cecily Von Ziegesar - Young Adult - Book #5 of the Gossip Girl series. This was a so-so entry - it didn't catch my interest as much as some of the others, but it was still enjoyable and I will keep reading the series. Review to come.

Flirting with Temptation by Kelley St. John - Romance - What can I say - this was a fun read. I laughed throughout the book and just can't say enough about this fun and flirty read. Review here.

The Actor and The Housewife by Shannon Hale - Fiction - I receved this from the publisher and it is a wonderful read, I finished it Saturday and it is still sticking with me - I find myself thinking about various aspects of the book out of the blue - that makes a good book! Review and giveaway here.

You're the One that I Want by Cecily Von Ziegesar - Young Adult - Book #6 in the Gossip Girl series. I can't seem to get enough of these - they are quick easy reads and enjoyable for me to keep up with the world of Serena, Blair, Nate, Chuck, Jenny, Dan and Vanessa. Review will be posted later today.

Reading Now:

Once Smitten, Twice Shy by Lori Wilde - book 2 in Wedding Veil wishes series (review of book 1: There Goes the Bride here.)
Vision in White by Nora Roberts - book 1 in the Bride Quartet

Next:
Gifts of War by Mackenzie Ford - arc from publisher
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin - Goodreads giveaway
I Apolgize by Bradley Booth - Librarything member giveaway from author

Summary - 6 books read this week and 3 reviews written. I'm going to work hard this week on my reading (I have several ARCs to read) and getting my reviews caught up.

Mailbox Monday - June 8th

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

Another good week. First the ARCs I received this week:

Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat - by Gwen Cooper - Delacorte Press - Publish Date: 8/25/09 - I must admit I don't read much non-fiction, but I can't wait to dive into this. It helps that the cat on the cover looks like our baby cat! Just from flipping through the chapter names are clever and it makes me antsy to read this.







I Apologize by Bradley Booth - Affluent Publishing - June 1, 2009 - I received this through the reader giveaways on Library Thing from the author. I love what the author wrote on the blank page where he signed the book for me - "Love is the elixir that makes life worth living" - This looks to be a very good book and is close to the top of my tbr review pile. This is also based on what the author went through after losing his fiancee to a rare form of leukemia.











Gifts of War by Mackenzie Ford - Nan A. Talese/Doubleday Publishing - Publish Date: 6/23/09 - Set during World War I - this sounds like a wonderful book and love story. It is written by a well-known historian (Mackenzie Ford is his nom de plume) so it should be rather factual and I look forward to the story and learning more about this period of time that I know little about (we never seemed to get that far in any of my history classes in high school).






I also made a library trip with my sweetie to get more books (like I need them), but sweetie is taking good care of me while I am awaiting my surgery so he indulges me by taking me to the library (not like he didn't come out with about 8 books). Here is what I got:

• Black Cross by Greg Iles - I've read most of his books
• The Bay at Midnight by Diane Chamberlain
• Grand Avenue by Joy Fielding - I'm working my way through her backlist
• The Genesis Code by John Case
• The Second Opinion by Michael Palmer - love his books
• The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
• Highland Fling by Katie Fforde
• Improbably by Adam Fawer
• The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry - working my way through his backlist also - read all of the Cotton Malone books and love them
• Sailing to Capri by Elizabeth Adler

From Paperbackswap:

• Dead Before Dark by Wendy Corsi Staub
• Dressmaking: A Step-by-Step Course by Leila Aitken - I'm a sewer and it looks to be a good book
• Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

48HBC Post #5 - Wrap Up

Well I didn't get to participate near as much as I had hoped to, but the participating I did was fun. I've been at my parents today and did manage a little reading to add to my final total but did not make 12 hours boo hoo :) Well there is always next time. Now I'm going to finish up my Gossip Girl book and cruise around the blogs for the challenge, but first I will wrap up with my totals:

48-hour book reading challenge wrap-up:
Books completed: 2
Reviews completed: 2
Hours spent so far: 10:38
Pages Read: 575
Fun had: THIS MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to do it again and hopefully have more time! My hats off to all of you who really put the time into this. I think I could have done better but I heard about it on Twitter on Friday afternoon so I didn't have any planning going into it. But I will know more next time and the great thing - I have more tweeters and blogs to follow - oh the fun!!! Which means more books and what is better than more books. :)

48HBC Post #4 - Book Review: The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale and a GIVEAWAY

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
# Pages: 339
Genre: General Fiction (humor, romance, serious topics, lots of fun)
Binding: Hardcover
Publish Date: June 9th, 2009



From the book flap:

Mormon Housewife Becky Jack is seven months pregnant with her fourth child when she meets celebrity heartthrob Felix Callahan. A few hours, one elevator ride, and one alcohol-free dinner later something has happened, though nothing has happened . . . It isn't sexual. It isn't even quite love. But soon Felix shows up in Salt Lake City to visit and before they know what's hit them, Felix and Becky are best friends - talk-on-the-phone, drop-everything-in-an-emergency, laugh-out-loud-at-stupid-jokes best friends.
Becky's loving and devoted husband, Mike is mostly unconcerned. Her children roll their eyes. Her large extended family and neighbors gossip endlessly. But Felix an Becky have something special, something unusual, something that seems from the outside and sometimes from the inside too - completely impossible to sustain.

On the surface, Becky's story of a steadfast housewife and the handsome star is the ultimate romantic fantasy. But the depth of emotion that Shannon Hale shows us in Becky is the strength that underpins only the strongest relationships. It is what makes this story resonate beyond the glitter of Felix's movie-stardom to the deeper understanding of the kinds of true love we all dream of having.

Shannon Hale has created a magical and often hilarious story that explores what might happen when your not-so-secret celebrity crush walks right into real life, and changes everything.

First I don't want to dwell too much on plot in this review, because I don't want to give it away. Just know that this book will never bore you, it just keeps moving along and a great pace. I did not want to put it down and carried it with me everywhere while I was reading it. There is always something going on to drive the story further and keep you interested.

I am choosing to emphasize the characters more as this seems to be a character driven novel. First off there is Becky Jack, the Mormon housewife from Utah that meets Felix Callahan in LA where she is signing a contract for a screenplay she has written. From their first meeting there is a connection. I love the banter between these two people who start as strangers and eventually become best friends. I love the supporting cast, Mike, Becky's very supporting husband and love of her life, the children who provide laughs and wisdom too, Celeste, Felix's model wife who should be intimidating but is not and of course Becky and Mike's extended family along with others in their Mormon ward.

This story is amusing and touching and it makes you really look at the different relationships you can have. It of course tackles the age-old question of whether men and women can be friends when at least one of them is married. I think this is handled well and you see some of both sides. But I think the degrees of relationships are what come to the real forefront of all of this. And though I think it can be seen from the book jacket description, don't think for one minute this book condones extramarital affairs, because it does not. Becky has a very strong moral conviction and she never strays from it.

I just think this is a must read book - so many things happen and I fell in love with the entire Jack family and also with Felix. You see changes in everyone by the end of the book and you feel like you have gained new friends (at least I did).

This one comes out on Tuesday and I have heard raves about Mrs. Hale's earlier books, so I will be checking those out to read in the near future and will definitely be on the lookout for anything else new by her that comes out.

The Actor and the Housewife has such a darling cover with no faces in view but the two obviously different people on the cover, I think that it's just a real grabber. Take the time, go out and buy this and enjoy it. I truly did.

Finally, thank you to Kristina M. Jutzi at Bloomsbury USA for sending me a copy of this book for review!

And of course that is not all - you know I love to giveaway my books when I finish with them, so here's your chance to win this wonderful hardback book (not an ARC).

Contest will run through next Saturday at midnight and I'll draw the winners and post on either Sunday or Monday (I never know how my weekends will go)
For entries:

1. Leave a comment (and make sure I have a way to contact you)
2. Become a follower or if you are already a follower let me know (for an additional entry)
3. Twitter about the contest (use @cfulcher so I will see it) and let me know about it (for an additional entry)
4. Blog about the contest (for an additional entry)
5. Tell me whether you think men and women can be friends if one or both are married (there is no right or wrong here, I'm just curious and it'll get you an additional entry)

48-hour book reading challenge update:
Books completed: 2
Reviews completed: 2
Hours spent so far: 8:18
Pages Read: 439

48HBC Post #3 - Hour #3 update

So I slept in late and I just finished hour #3 of the 48 hour book challenge. Here are my stats:

48-hour book reading challenge update:
Books completed: 1
Reviews completed: 1
Hours spent so far: 3:00
Pages Read: 180

Currently Reading: The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale - p.80

I'm loving the challenge so far - I have to leave in an hour for a after-baseball pool party, but will be back to it this afternoon.

48HBC Post #2 Book Review - Flirting with Temptation by Kelley St. John

Flirting with Temptation by Kelley St. John

rating: 4 of 5 stars
From the back of the book:

She's Playing it cool.

Wild Child Babette Robinson doesn't do relationships, but she does have a knack for helping other peole with theirs. When she opens her own match-mending business and dubs herself "The Love Doctor," she becomes the biggest name in Birmingham. She even attracts the attention of socialite Kitty Carelle, who hires her to fix her broken engagement to Jeff Eubanks - Babette's ex!

He's Turning Up the heat.

Three years ago, Jeff and Babette's chemistry was off tthe charts, but though she based in his sexy charm nad wicked wit, she couldn't commit to a deeper relationship. Covinced that all women have wandering eyes, Jeff issues a challenge: He'll do as Babette askes and talk to Kitty, if Babette abstains from all flirting for one whole week. With Jeff doing his best to make her melt in his arms, will this sassy vamp be able to save her business? And after seven tempting nights, will sh want to give up the man she once tossed away?

What a fun book - it's loaded with everything a lighthearted contemporary romance needs. It has a great heroine and hero, good characterization, fun secondary characters, some of which come from an earlier book, it has a plot that moves along steadily, it has humor and so much more.

I really liked Babette as the heroine. She's confident and spunky, but she still has doubts about herself so she feels like a normal woman, one anyone can relate to. I also like Jeff, he seems torn and bitter, but Babette seems to bring out the best in him and he in her.

I loved the journey to get them back together, with Babette trying to get him back together with Kitty to prove she can commit to something (her job). I also enjoyed the side story of Granny Gert, who is very amusing. And the additional characters from Sunny Beaches, the retirement type community next door to Jeff's condo are great. I love Rose especially when Babette first gets there and they are spying on Jeff. That scene is just hysterical.

So if you enjoy humor and love mixed together, this is just the book for you. I have read several books by Kelley St. John and not a one of them has disappointed and this one by far does not. I was sad when it was over, I want more of the Robinson family, but it ends in a good way and I am satisfied there.

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
# Pages: 297
Genre: Contemporary Romance (humor too)
Binding: Paperback

48-hour book reading challenge update:
Books completed: 1
Reviews completed: 1
Hours spent so far: 1:45
Pages Read: 145