Welcome to BBAW! This is my first year participating and I am really excited. Today's topic is what book blogs mean something to me. Several of my favorites made the shortlist but here are some that didn't (at least I think they didn't - that's a long list):
I love Books and Needlepoint - Kristi has great giveaways and I always enjoy her reviews.
Douglas W. Jacobson is an engineer, business owner and World War Two history enthusiast. Doug has traveled extensively in Europe researching stories of the courage of common people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. His debut novel, Night of Flames: A Novel of World War Two was published in 2007 by McBooks Press, and was released in paperback in 2008. Night of Flames won the 2007 OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD from the Wisconsin Library Association. Doug has also published articles on Belgium’s WW2 escape organization, the Comete Line; Poland’s 1st Armored Division; and the liberation of Antwerp. Doug has just completed his second novel set in Europe at the end of WW2. You can visit his blog at www.douglaswjacobson.blogspot.com.
In 1939 the Germans invade Poland, setting off a rising storm of violence and destruction. For Anna and Jan Kopernik the loss is unimaginable. She is an assistant professor at a university in Krakow; he, an officer in the Polish cavalry. Separated by war, they must find their own way in a world where everything they ever knew is gone.
Anna’s father, a prominent intellectual, is deported to a death camp, and Anna must flee to Belgium where she joins the Resistance. Meanwhile, Jan escapes with the battered remnants of the Polish army to Britain. When British intelligence asks him to return to Poland in an undercover mission to contact the Resistance, he seizes the opportunity to search for his missing wife.
Through the long night of Nazi occupation, Anna, Jan, and ordinary people across Europe fight a covert war of sabotage and resistance against the overwhelming might of the German war machine. The struggle seems hopeless, but they are determined to take back what is theirs.
My Review (4.5/5.0):
This story is so much more that I expected.I wanted to read it and requested it from Pump Up Your Book Promotions.I knew it was a novel of WWII and I knew it involved Poland which I knew little about.I believe reading this have given me a better understanding of some of the lesser known, yet very important battles of WWII.The story moves along at a wonderful pace, always moving forward and it kept me turning the pages.
Anna and Jan are the main characters in this novel, a married couple separated by the war,but always thinking of each other and searching each other out.They never give up even when hopes seem dim.Jan is in the Polish Army when the German occupation takes place and Anna is trying to return from Warsaw to Krakow.The book starts before the occupation and then resumes four years later in Begium and other areas of Europe.I learned a lot of the everyday person in the war.This was not a story of the battles so much as a story of life in an occupied country during the war and the hopes and fears of the people who were the resistance.
A fascinating read with wonderful characters.It’s heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Mr. Jacobson’s characters show what the true human spirit is capable of even in times of true horror. It is well researched and well written.Night of Flames is a book that will stay with you long after reading it.I have recommended it to my husband who is a huge WWII buff and he will be reading it next.
Anna’s eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright. The shrill sound blasted into her brain, penetrating through the fog of sleep like an icy wind. She blinked and looked around the dark room, trying to focus on shadowy images as the sound wailed on and on.
She ran to the window. It was still dark but the night sky held a hint of gray. An early morning mist shrouded the street lamps casting a gloomy, almost spooky glow along the deserted sidewalk below. The grating noise of the air-raid siren raised the hair on the back of her neck and suddenly she was shivering. Anna crossed her arms over her chest and stared into the dull, charcoal sky. Then she heard another sound.
It came from the west, a deep angry drone like a swarm of giant bees, growing louder by the second. Anna tried to move but her feet didn’t respond.
Immobilized, riveted in place, she stared out the open window as the pounding vibration of a hundred propellers enveloped her. The thunderous roar of the bombers drowned out the air raid sirens and the entire building seemed to sway in rhythm with the oscillations.
Anna snapped out of the spell and instinctively reached out to pull the window closed. A flash of light blinded her and an ear-shattering blast threw her backwards amidst a shower of glass and falling plaster. She fell heavily against a small wooden night table and collapsed on the floor.
Watch the trailer!
Pump Up Your Book Promotion would like to thank the following sponsors of Douglas W. Jacobson's NIGHT OF FLAMES VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '09:
(to be announced)
Douglas W. Jacobson NIGHT OF FLAMES VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR '09 will officially begin on September 1 and end on October 30. You can visit Douglas' blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com during the month of September and October to find out more about this great book and talented author!
As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.
I'm such a sucker for challenges and when I saw the Countdown Challenge 2010 from 1 More Chapter I knew I had to join. The rules are:
The goal of this challenge is to read the number of books first published in a given year that corresponds to the last digit of each year in the 2000s — 10 books from 2010, 9 books from 2009, 8 books from 2008, etc. The total number of books required, therefore, is 55.
This challenge lasts from 9/9/09 through 10/10/10.
Crossovers with other challenges are allowed and your lists may change at any time.
Sign up using Mr. Linky.
Have fun reading!
This should be interesting. The total number of books is not a problem, but covering all the years will make it more of a challenge. I look forward to embarking on this one. I'll list my books here as I finish them and mark down my countdown!
Nothing Can Keep Us Together by Cecily von Ziegesar (Gossip Girl)
rating: 4.0/5.0
From Goodreads:
Welcome to New York City's Upper East Side, where my friends and I get everything and everyone we want. Snagging the latest Marc Jacobs bag or your best friends boyfriend isn't pretty, but it's always hot . . . It's almost graduation and our lives are really heating up. Everybody's into college and it's obviously time to party - as if we hadn't been doing that already! Will Blair and Nate's love affair continue? More importantly, will Blair finally get into Yale? Or will Nate and Serena hook up in New Haven and leave Blair alone in the city? And as for the juiciest scoop of all, what's this we hear about Jenny leaving Constance Billard to go to boarding school? Only time will tell how everyone will end up, but one thing's for sure: love is in the air, and it smells a lot like Gucci Envy.
For some reason I am absolutely addicted to this series. I need to check out the tv show too, but right now the books are enough for me.
Nothing Can Keep Us Together is another deliciously decadent installment in the Gossip Girl series following primarily Serena, Nate and Blair, but an additional cast of friends and misfits too. I love how this series has the different types and how this one book in particular shows that all the types no matter the outward display pretty much feel the same towards graduation.
There's more speculation about Nate, Serena and Blair, a new boyfriend for Blair and other breakups and hookups. Add in Jenny looking for a boarding school and it's another wild ride through the lives of those teens who I love to read about.
Light and fluffy is how I describe this - it's my go to book series to put me in a good mood.
Binding: Paperback On-sale Date: 1998 Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers Pages: 240
Thanks to everyone who entered in this giveaway and thanks to Nicole for sending me a copy to review. The winner of Dancing with Ana by Nicole Barker is:
Marjorie!
Marjorie has been notified by email and I'm awaiting her address.
I won this from The Season, a wonderful website for information about historical romances during their recent giveaways.
From the back cover:
A man of action . . .
Fearless. Loyal. Brilliant. Ruthless. Bold words are always used to describe English war hero Captain Chase Eversea. But another word unfortunately plays a role in every Eversea’s destiny: trouble. And trouble for Chase arrives in the form of a mysterious message summoning him to a London rendezvous...where he encounters the memory of his wickedest indiscretion in the flesh: Rosalind March—the only woman he could never forget.
A woman of passion . . .
Five years ago, the reckless, charming beauty once craved the formidable Captain’s attention. But now Rosalind is a coolly self-possessed woman, and desire is the last thing on her mind: her sister has mysteriously disappeared and she needs Chase’s help to find her. But as their search through London’s darkest corners re-ignites long-smoldering passion and memories of old battles, Chase and Rosalind are once again challenged to surrender: to the depths of a wicked desire, and to the possibility of love.
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