What Are You Reading Monday - October 12

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:

• Buffalo Before Breakfast by Mary Pope Osborne (audiobook with DS)
• Against the Odds by Irene Hannon (booksfree)
• Stretch Marks by Kimberly Stuart (review)
• Tigers at Twilight by Mary Pope Osborne (audiobook with DS)
• Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz (library)
• Twister on Tuesday by Mary Pope Osborne (audiobooks with DS)
• Would I Lie to You by Cecily von Ziegesar (booksfree)
• Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris (audiobook)

Reading Now:

• Purity in Death by J.D. Robb (audiobook)
  
• The Maze Runner by James Dasher (review)
• Hell's Gate by Stephen Frey (library)
  

Reviews Completed Last Week

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen
• The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• Stretch Marks by Kimberly Stuart
• Silent Killer by Beverly Barton

Next:

• Breaking the Bank by (review)
  
• Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (review)
  
• The Well-Behaved Child by (review)
  
• Love Your Body, Love Your Life by (review)
  
• The Last Word by Kathy Herman (review)

Reviews to do:

• Magic Treehouse books #17-20
• Against All Odds by Irene Hannon
• Only In Your Dreams by Cecily von Ziegesar
• Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning
• Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Relentless by Dean Koontz
• Hunted by P.C. and Kristin Cast
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• True Colors by Kristen Hannah
  

Summary - It was a great reading week - I enjoyed all of my books and DS enjoyed a few along with me. I'm looking forward to more great reading this week.

Book Review and Giveaway: Silent Killer by Beverly Barton

Silent Killer by Beverly Barton



My rating: 4.0/5.0
This is part of the Griffin Powell series, but I have only read one other book in the series (the one before this one) and I don't feel lost. I do want to know the history so I will go back and read the first four books.



This book centers on Cathy Cantrell, her son Seth and Jackson Perdue. I loved the small town, everyone knows your business setting. It really works for this book. There were a lot of people to keep track of and that made it confusing a few times, but once I got the hang of everyone and the storylines, it all came together.

I liked getting to know the characters, Cathy finally becoming confident was great and Jackson made an amazing hero. Seth really adds to the story too.

It's exciting, page turning, and suspenseful. If you enjoy slightly darker romantic suspense then this is a book for you.

I won this through Bookreporter.com.

I will also be giving my copy away. It's gently used, but has a bunch of reading left in it. Open to US and Canada only and it ends on 10/16. So if you would like to win here's how you can (you can do it all in one post - I'll count up and credit you for additional entries):

• Leave your email (+1)
• Follow me by rss feed, email or on blogger (+2)
• Follow me on twitter (+2)
  
• Tweet or blog this giveaway (+3) (limit one tweet for +3 per day)
• Have you read the any of the Griffin Powell series and if you did, how did you like the books?(+5)

Friday Finds (Oct. 9)

Friday Finds is hosted over on Should Be Reading. It's all about what great books you have heard about/discovered in the past week. Here is my entry, and head over to the Should Be Reading Blog to read others and find books to add to your TBR pile!

So here are a few of my finds:


After seeing the book review for The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield at I'm Booking It, I remembered that I really wanted to read this one so it's on my list.

I have Fairest by Gail Carson Levine that I bought at my son's Spring Scholastic Book Fair (for myself) but haven't read it yet. Then I learned on A Bookshelf Monstrosity that Ella Enchanted should be read first (not a must, but it's helpful) so I quickly reserved this at my library and should pick it up today.





And finally from a Waiting on Wednesday post (I'm sorry I can't remember whose it was), When She Flew by Jennie Shortridge - this looks so good I can't wait until it's out.







So what did you find this week?

Review Copy Arrival: Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly

Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Release: October 13, 2009

I received this from Miriam Parker at Hachette Books for a Blog Tour Stop on October 21, 2009.

About the Book:

Harry Bosch is assigned a homicide call in South L.A. that takes him to Fortune Liquors, where the Chinese owner has been shot to death behind the counter in an apparent robbery.

Joined by members of the department's Asian Crime Unit, Bosch relentlessly investigates the killing and soon identifies a suspect, a Los Angeles member of a Hong Kong triad. But before Harry can close in, he gets the word that his young daughter Maddie, who lives in Hong Kong with her mother, is missing.

Bosch drops everything to journey across the Pacific to find his daughter. Could her disappearance and the case be connected? With the stakes of the investigation so high and so personal, Bosch is up against the clock in a new city, where nothing is at it seems.

Review Copy Arrival: The Sugarless Plum by Zippora Karz

The Sugarless Plum by Zippora Karz

I received this from Caitlin Price at FSB Associates.
Release: November 1, 2009
Publisher: Harlequin

About the Book:

For dancer Zippora Karz, a rising young star with the famed New York City Ballet, being diagnosed with diabetes could easily have ended all her dreams. She was just twenty-one when she was plucked from the corps de ballet to dance solo roles like the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker. It was near the end of a grueling season when she became exhausted, dizzy, and excessively thirsty. Heavy pancake makeup covered the sores under her arms that would not heal, but still Karz neglected to return her doctor s urgent calls. When she finally went to the doctor, she learned that her blood sugar was excessively high. If she continued to ignore her symptoms, Karz risked heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, and amputation of toes, feet, and legs. Because she was over twenty, doctors misdiagnosed her with Type 2 diabetes, when in fact she had juvenile (or Type 1) diabetes. Her weight dropped and she became dangerously ill as a result of being prescribed the wrong treatment. Once correctly diagnosed and placed on an insulin regimen, she would inject herself with unsafe doses before going on stage in ill-judged attempts to obtain peak performance. The potentially fatal result of Karz s self-experimentation became all too real when she nearly put herself into a coma.

Balancing ballet and her blood sugar would be a long and difficult struggle for Karz, but eventually she learned to value her body and work with it, rather than rage at its limitations. In The Sugarless Plum, Karz shares her journey from denial, shame and mis-education about her illness to how she lead an active, balanced, and satisfying life as an insulin-dependent diabetic and ballet star. Through her fascinating story, those struggling with diabetes and other serious illnesses can find encouragement and inspiration as well as practical advice on achieving physical and emotional wellness.

After sixteen years with the New York City Ballet, Karz retired and took her passion and skills into a whole new arena as a diabetes educator and advocate, where today she inspires people to not just manage their illness, but to thrive and fulfill their passions. The Sugarless Plum takes readers deep into the heart and soul of a young dancer, and is a remarkable testament to determination and perseverance.

Win Arrival: So Into You by Sandra Hill

I won this from Nely at All About {n} - Thank you Nely!

About the book:

Angel Sabato has been in love with best friend Grace O'Brien for 10 years--but he's only just realized it. Too bad she doesn't take him seriously when he tells her about his feelings. Reeling from the rejection, Angel hightails it out of town.

Now Grace is left to wonder if her problems from the past are keeping her from opening herself to love. But she brushes these "useless" musings aside, concentrating instead on the work she's doing as an apprentice to folk healer Tante Lulu and keeping up with the old woman's good deeds.

Such as starting a foundation to help families still homeless after Hurricane Katrina. One family consists of 5 children who lost their parents. The eldest, only seventeen, has been struggling to take care of her siblings and lying like heck to the state agencies in order to keep everyone together. Tante Lulu and Grace take the children under their wings and decide the foundation will build a house for them.

Re-enter Angel, who helps with the construction. Unbeknownst to Grace, Tante Lulu has decided to try her hand at matchmaking again. And Tante Lulu has never failed before!

Review and Giveaway - Stretch Marks by Kimberly Stuart

Stretch Marks: A Novel by Kimberly Stuart


My rating: 5.0/5.0
Mia is a eco-conscious vegetarian living in Chicago with her boyfriend and doing her best to avoid her cruise hospitality director mother. This all works out fine until she finds herself pregnant, without said boyfriend and with her mother on her doorstep. That's when Mia's life starts to change.


I really enjoyed this book and I really like the direction Christian fiction titles like this are going. There was a realism to this book. Mia didn't not believe but she didn't believe either. Her mother was a Christian, but she didn't go to church all the time, yet she was a moral person. Mia was a moral person to in many ways. Through the book we see both of them grow spirtually but very it's in the background. This is not an in-your-face preachy book, but a subtle way your life changes with God in it. More like real life. I loved the characters. Loved her mom, Babs outspokenness and Mia's trying to hold onto herself even with her mom around and with her body changing. Lars the boyfriend rings close to real-life as he leaves when Mia finds herself pregnant.

Rounding out the cast is Silas, Mia's neighbor and Adam, the guy who works at the grocery store that Mia frequents and remains her true friend throughout the book.

A wonderful, funny and moving story that shows how babies change us and how we can change when situations are not ideal. I loved this and I will be seeking out other Kimberly Stuart novels.

More information on this book in my FIRST Wild Card Tour post.

I will also be giving my copy away. It's gently used, but has a bunch of reading left in it. Open to US and Canada only (sorry international - things are tight at the moment) and it ends on 10/15. So if you would like to win here's how you can (you can do it all in one post - I'll count up and credit you for additional entries):

• Leave your email (+1)
• Follow me by rss feed, email or on blogger (+2)
• Follow me on twitter (+2)
  
• Tweet or blog this giveaway (+3) (limit one tweet for +3 per day)
• Tell me another Christian fiction book that deals with a real issue that's not usually covered in Christian fiction(+5)