2009 Summary

What an interesting year.  I started blogging regularly and kept it up.  I've made new friends in other book bloggers, authors and people who comment on my blog.  In my personal life I have had two brain surgeries and I am hopefully on the road to recovery finally after 2 years of not knowing exactly what was wrong with me.


Thanks so much to all of you who have stopped by my blog, commented on my blog or to you authors and publicists who have sent me books to review.  I love reading and reviewing and I am looking forward to another great year.


So before I step into that new year - let's see what this past year held for me reading-wise:


Books Read: 208
Books from home (includes review books and my bookshelf): 101
Books from the library: 73
Books from Booksfree.com: 34


Print books read: 169
Audio books read: 37


Total Pages read: 60,373

New-to-me Authors:  101


and here is some breakdown of genres:


Suspense/Thriller/Mystery:  38
Romance:20
Romantic Suspense:  12
Historical Romance: 4
Young Adult: 60
General Fiction: 13
Historical Fiction: 4
Horror: 4
Christian Fiction: 7
Christian Suspense: 9
Christian Historical Romance: 2
Christian Romantic Suspense: 1
Children's Chapter Books: 20
Christian Romantic Suspense:
Non-fiction:

Publish dates:
Before 2000: 25
2001: 4
2002: 4
2003: 12
2004: 7
2005: 4
2006: 9
2007: 14
2008: 39
2009: 85
2010: 2


My favorites from the year:

I'm not going to pick specifics from each genre - I'm just going to go with my most memorable books of the year, in no particular order.  Click on the book for my review if it's available.

The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox
Fatal Gamble by J.P. O'Donnell
The Cutting by James Hayman
Terror by Night by Terry Caffey with James H. Pence
The Secret of Joy by Melissa Senate
The Hunger Games & Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Love's First Light by  Jamie Carie
Easy on the Eyes by Jane Porter
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
Fragment by Warren Fahy
The Actor and The Housewife by Shannon Hale
Deadfall by Robert Liparulo
Isolation by Travis Thrasher

It was a great reading and blogging year and I'm looking forward to another one this year!

Review: Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer


My rating: 4.5/5.0


My review: 

I have never read Georgette Heyer before even though I have seen her books around for a long time. I am glad I finally got a chance to read one of her famous Regency romances through Sourcebooks who kindly sent me this book.

I loved Devil's Cub. It is beautifully written, I truly enjoyed working my way through each page of Ms. Heyer's writing. I also loved the witty conversations and the humor she imparts. I loved the subtleties of it. It reminded me very much of Jane Austen's works with the witty conversations and observations.

The plot also moves along well and has action and romance. The characters of Vidal (Dominic) and Mary are very well done and intriguing characters. I loved watching them materialize and grow in front of me. The romance between the two is also marvelous to watch.

This is a sequel, come to find out, but it reads fine on it's own. I will be finding the first novel, These Old Shades, which is about Vidal's father, The Duke of Avon, for more of the backstory and also for more of Ms. Heyer's magnificent Regency romance.

About the Book: 

Devil's Cub is another of readers', booksellers', and librarians' favorite Georgette Heyers.

In this acclaimed followup to These Old Shades, Dominic Alastair, fiery son of the Duke of Avon, is forced to flee England after a duel. He intends to take and set up as his mistress the young lady whose attentions he's been courting, but her virtuous sister Mary gets in his way and finds herself carried off to France instead.
Discovering that he has met his match when she shoots him in the arm to protect her virtue, Dominic tries to persuade Mary to marry him, but she'll have none of it. A chase ensues that in the end embroils the Duke of Avon himself and his passionate and impetuous wife, Leonie, who is forced to admit that Mary might just be the best thing in the world for her beloved son.

I received my copy of this book from the publisher, Sourcebooks for review.


 

Winners

Here are my latest giveaway winners:

Stacie wins A Blue and Gray Christmas by Joan Medlicott.

plb8156 wins A Highlander Christmas by Janet Chapman

Thanks to all that entered.  More giveaways coming in the next few weeks.

Book Review: Terror By Night by Terry Caffey

Terror by Night: The True Story of the Brutal Texas Murder that Destroyed a Family,  by Terry Caffey



My rating: 5.0/5.0

Terror By Night is an amazing story of how one man lived through a viscious attack on his family and not only survived but slowly learned to love and live again and serve God in the process.

After what happens on that horrible March night, Terry Caffey has every right to be bitter and he is, but the real story in this book is how he comes to terms with his life and his loss.  The brutality of his family's murders is horrible and the only part of the book I had trouble with, though it is not discussed in detail.  I just felt so much for this man and the loss he endured.  But the book turns uplifting as Terry struggles to find his place.  While he never loses his belief in God, he does question God, which would be natural in this circumstance.  But the turn-around in his life due to a chance encounter with a page from a novel given to his wife by author James H. Pence, is nothing short of miraculous.

The book is with Terry every step of the way from the weeks leading up to the murder through the year following and his growth and journey.

It's thought-provoking, awe-inspiring and just plain inspirational to read.  I am very sorry for all that Terry has been through, I can't even imagine losing my family.  But I am glad he lived and got a chance to share his amazing journey.  I wish him well in all he does.

I also read co-author James H. Pence's book Blind Sight a few weeks ago which was the book from which Terry found the page from. It is a wonderful book too and it was really interesting knowing how this book affected Terry Caffey's life.

I highly recommend both books.  They are both honest and very readable.  They aren't preachy, just straight-forward.  Both books involve men trying to make sense of their lives, one fictional and one non-fiction.  I am glad I got a chance to read both.

I received a copy of this book for review from Kathy Carlton-Willis Communications.

Teaser Tuesday - December 29

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!

I had been shot multiple times.  How could anyone live through that?  Someone told me I was a lucky man.

From Terror By Night by Terry Caffey with James H. Pence

This book is really amazing and I am enjoying reading it.

Mailbox Monday - December 28

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

ARC/Review Copies of:

50 Ways to Feel Great Today by David B. Biebel, James E. Dill and Bobbie Dill - received from Revell for a tour later in January

Feeling a little down? Maybe more than a little down? Here are 50 potential remedies. Changing how we feel often begins with a small thing. Listening to a beautiful song. Enjoying a sunset. Making a happy memory. This book helps readers discover how to beat stress, ward off worry, and banish the blues. 50 Ways to Feel Great Today offers medically and scientifically sound advice for giving a blah mood the boot. These time-tested ideas are simple and often low or no cost. While no "be happy" pill exists, the activities in this book equip readers to become their own helping hand.

Jenna's Cowboy by Sharon Gillenwater - from Revell Books for a tour later in January

 Jenna Callahan has a young son and rewarding work on her father's ranch. She's content. But she never expected to see Nate Langley back in town--the first guy she noticed, the one her father sent away all those years ago. And she never thought the attraction they felt would be as strong as ever. Jenna's cowboy has some healing of his own to do, though, after two tours of duty in the armed forces. With the help of good friends, strong faith, and a loving family, he hopes to put the horrors of the past behind him--and become the man Jenna deserves. With an emphasis on simple acts of love, Jenna's Cowboy gives romance readers what they want most: a love story with a Texas touch.

Us: A User's Manual by Daniel L. Tocchini received from The B&B Media Group for a FIRST Wild Card Tour in January.

Daniel Tocchini shows how some basic changes in marital “conversation”—the way couples talk to themselves and each other—can literally transform relationships.

Veteran marriage coach Daniel L. Tocchini doesn’t want to improve marriages. He wants to transform them. Drawing on personal experience and stories from couples he has coached, he offers practical guidance to move couples beyond communication tricks and gimmicks to help them truly understand "Us" for the first time—talking honestly, listening generously, tackling tricky issues, breaking out of ruts, and abandoning self-centered “consumer thinking.” Innovative, insightful, and thoroughly biblical, Tocchini’s approach has helped thousands in his popular seminars. Whether a marriage is in deep trouble or just coasting along, it's time for Christian couples to read the User's Guide that God intended.

 

Screen Play by Chris Coppernoll - received from The B&B Media Group for a FIRST Wild Card Tour in January

After struggling for years to make it as an actress, Harper finally gets her big break—but will she have to sacrifice the love of her life to take it?

At thirty, Harper fears her chances for a thriving acting career and finding true love are both fading fast. When she's handed an unexpected role on Broadway—understudy to New York’s biggest diva––everything changes. She longs for love in the City, but when it doesn't happen, she reluctantly signs up to an online matchmaking site. Frustration mounts when the only men Harper is interested in are on the West coast, thousands of miles away. Harper feels like an actress who doesn’t act, and a woman in love with someone she's never met, but God's about to change all that.

Wins I received:

The Gate House by Nelson Demille - won from Alyce at At Home With Books

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille delivers the long-awaited follow-up to his classic novel The Gold Coast.

When John Sutter's aristocratic wife killed her mafia don lover, John left America and set out in his sailboat on a three-year journey around the world, eventually settling in London. Now, ten years later, he has come home to the Gold Coast, that stretch of land on the North Shore of Long Island that once held the greatest concentration of wealth and power in America, to attend the imminent funeral of an old family servant. Taking up temporary residence in the gatehouse of Stanhope Hall, John finds himself living only a quarter of a mile from Susan who has also returned to Long Island. But Susan isn't the only person from John's past who has reemerged: Though Frank Bellarosa, infamous Mafia don and Susan's ex-lover, is long dead, his son, Anthony, is alive and well, and intent on two missions: Drawing John back into the violent world of the Bellarosa family, and exacting revenge on his father's murderer--Susan Sutter. At the same time, John and Susan's mutual attraction resurfaces and old passions begin to reignite, and John finds himself pulled deeper into a familiar web of seduction and betrayal. In THE GATE HOUSE, acclaimed author Nelson Demille brings us back to that fabled spot on the North Shore -- a place where past, present, and future collides with often unexpected results.

Another great mailbox week with a lot of books I can't wait to get to.

A Tournament of Reading Challenge

It's time to enter another challenge. I just saw this one today and thought it would be a good one to challenge me to expand my reading horizons. The Tournament of Reading Challenge is being hosted at Medieval Bookworm and here is the information about it:

This challenge is designed to get us all reading a little more medieval literature in 2010.  The challenge will run from January 1st to December 31st, 2010, and will be hosted right here at Medieval Bookworm.  Challenge genres include history, medieval literature, and historical fiction.  Medieval, for simplicity of definition, will be from 500-1500, and literature from all over the world is welcome, not just western Europe.  There are 3 levels:

• Peasant – Read 3 medieval books of any kind.
• Lord – Read 6 medieval books, at least one of each kind.
• King – Read 9 medieval books, at least two of each kind.

 I think I will sign up at the Peasant level with aspirations to be a Lord.  I'm going to have to look over the recommendations to make my list which I will post here at a later time.

To join in the challenge go to Medieval Bookworm and sign up and then check out the other participants.

Here are the books I will try to read:

1. The Pillars of the Earth  by Ken Follett
2. World Without End by Ken Follett
3. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

Here are the books I actually read:

1. A Golden Web by Barbara Quick (a fiction retelling of the life of Alessandra Giliani, a great YA historical read)