What Are You Reading Monday - June 22

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:
























The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner - I received this ARC in the mail last week and it was a wonderful book - very suspenseful. See my review and Giveaway here.
Avalon High by Meg Cabot - Cute young adult story, quick read and lots of fun. Review here.
Ms. Taken Identity by Dan Begley - Book received for review. Chicklit-ish, and wonderful. Review and Giveaway to be posted later today.

Reading Now:
Gifts of War by MacKenzie Ford - received as an ARC
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris - my current mp3 player audiobook
Uglies by Scott Westerfield - my current computer audiobook
Nobody Does It Better by Cecily Von Ziegesar
All That Glitters by Nicole O'Dell - a young adult "interactive" book from Barbour Publishing

Next:
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin - I have heard wonderful things about htis
I Apologize by Bradley Booth - this looks like a tearjerker and I can't wait to read it
Swimsuit by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro - book from Miriam Parker - see my giveaway here.

Summary -
3 books read last week. Several reviews caught up. I didn't end up having much time for Bloggiesta and I'm sorry about that. But all-in-all it was a good week.

Mailbox Monday - June 22nd

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

ARCs of:

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard - pub date: August 2009: - From the Editor's letter at the beginning of the book:


...which is set during a long weekend in 1987 and tells the simple yet profound story of a thirteen-year-old boy, his mother, and a stranger who suddenly enters their lives--and who is taken from them as unexpectedly as he appeared.






0 to 60 by Susan Slater - Pub Date: July 15, 2009

Shelly Sinclair's life is perfect - one most women would envy - a 35-year marriage to a successful doc, two grown boys, a beautiful home and the security of predictability. Without warning, this world collapses. Her husband of a lifetime announces that he's asked someone to marry him - someone thirty-nine years his junior. And, oh yes, the mother of his four-year-old child. Alone. At sixty. To start over. But maybe, just maybe this can be the best time ever.


The Amen Heresy by W.H. Muhlenfeld - Pub date: October 2009 - From the back:
Ex-priest and dyslexic expert of ancient languages, Jack Fisher, agrees to assist a friend and Israeli professor of religious history; and is drawn into an unsolved mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. His discovery of the true meaning of the copper Scroll threatens to expose the three religions of Abraham as the monotheistic legacy of an ancient, sun-worshiping pharaoh, Amen-hotep IV.

Jack joins forces with a beautiful agent of the Israeli Antiquities Autthority and a Palestinian boy of the streets as they battle a secret cabal of Jerusalem's high clerics and a murderous Egyptian madman for possession of the scroll and its revelations. Fisher wrestles with the demons of his own past as their search leads through the Old City of Jerusalem, onto the Judean Desert, to the tomb of an Egyptian noble and the holy site of the Burning Bush at Mount Sinai. Here the final struggle for possession of the scroll reveals a startling truth, sealing the fate of Jack Fisher, and of three billion Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Surviving a House Full of Whispers by Sharon Wallace - out now

Sharon suffered continual physical and sexual abuse from her stepfather for seven years. Unfortunately, no one would listen to her or believe her story. At age 16, she finally finds the courage to flee from her tormenters. Social Services find her the first of a string of temporary jobs between which she criss-crosses England trying to find a safe haven.

However, she cannot escape her "night devil" completely until she comes to terms with her past. Sharon's growth and recovery from abuse and learning to accept love would be a long road to travel, taking nearly forty years to achieve. She had to learn to trust and love herself before she could another.

Faced with society's judgments against her, Sharon stood alone against the people who abused her for seven years. The truth is, we don't start to heal when taken from an abusive situation; we only start to digest and relive its emotional content. Many go on to live their lives with tortured souls and an inability to trust and love their own children.

Equally, many of us find the inner child that God intended; we pull that child past the empty adult left by years of mutilation of our childhood souls. I was a no-hoper, unjustly cast out into a world of desolation and loneliness that pulled at my heart like a lead weight. I self-harmed and mutilated parts of my mind and body to try and erase memories.

Eventually, I learned that healing was within me and could never be found under that largest or smallest boulder. I have walked the road of hope and desire and looked into the pool of my future. I did not want to be the mother they had raised, or the wife they had created. Slowly, I started to rebuild my life and my wish is that this book offers the same hope to you.

From Booksfree I received:

Nobody Does It Better by Cecily Von Ziegesar (Gossip Girl #7)
Wake by Lisa McMann - I've finished this one and it's good!
both books I cannot wait to read

And from Paperbackswap I received:

Sunset Bay by Susan Mallery
Lip Service by Susan Mallery
Two sewing books

Another really good week - now I just have to get busy reading.

Review: Missing Pieces by Joy Fielding

Missing Pieces by Joy Fielding






Rating: 4.0/5.0

From the book flap:

Family therapist Kate Sinclair reparis other people's troubled lives, all the while reveling in her stable marriage and handsome home. But there are demons in her past that will not stay buried forever, and the carefully constructed edifice of her life comes tumbling down when her half-sister JoLynn announces her plans to marry Colin Friendly, a man on trial for the brutal murders of thirteen Palm Beach women.

Kate soon finds herself embroiled in a desperate struggle to protect her family from Colin's increasingly sinister advances. To make matters worse, her aging mother is losing her tenuous grip on reality and her rebellious daughter Sara is falling under Jolynn's wayward influence - a development that would worry Kate in the best of times, but which in this case might well prove deadly. As the strain begins to tear Kate's marriage apart, into the fray comes the smooth-talking Robert, her high-school crush who soon displays an unhealthy interest in the results of Colin Friendly's trial.

As Kate Sinclair slowly slips across the razor-thin line separating ordinary life from unspeakable terror she realizes that there is no one she can trust, nowhere she can run...and no way she can deny that she and her loved ones may be the next targets of a demented serial killer.

I started reading Joy Fielding books in 2006 when I read Mad River Road. Since then I have read her new releases each year and have really enjoyed them. With my library system requests messed up at this time, I can't seem to get a hold of her newest, so I decided to work my way through her backlist (which my local library has on the shelves). This is how I came acrss Missing Pieces.

Missing Pieces follows Kate Sinclair, who on the outside looks like she has the perfect life but then the cracks start to show. Her oldest daughter is starting to pull away and be independent, tired of being compared to the perfect younger daughter. Her sister who has always been independent and little wild, has developed a fascination with a man being tried as a serial killer, and her mother is slowly falling prey to dementia. And in the middle of all of this, she runs into a man from her past, a relationship that never came to fruition, one of those what if's that most women have.

All of this forms the story as told by Kate. Slowly through the book all the pieces of the story begin to fall into place and it makes for an interesting plot and story to follow. We learn about her family and her past, and all that is going on. I enjoyed reading this book. It is well paced and the characterization is well done. You get to know each of the players at least in some sense, some better than others, but all are well-done.

If you like psychological suspense, this is a book you are sure to enjoy. If you enjoy Joy Fielding and haven't read this, make sure you pick it up. I enjoyed spending my time reading this and wondering what would happen next.

From: Library
Copyright: 1998
Publisher: Bantam books
# of pages: 432
Author's Website

Buy this at IndieBound.
Buy this at Amazon.com

If you have a review of this book, please let me know and I will post a link to it.

Friday Finds - June 19

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!

First I saw this on BookBlips.com last Friday (click on the books to link to more information):

Introducing feminist chick lit in the form of first-time novelist Sullivan’s diverting parody of life at Smith College. When Sally, Bree, April, and Celia meet during first-year orientation, they quickly bond as they navigate the tricky rules of their new home: no “girl-on-girl” showers before 10 a.m.; no meat in the dining hall unless it has a vegan sidekick; no (well, some) clothes during the opening convocation ceremony. As best friends, all their glories and foibles come to light, including Sally’s lurid affair with an aging professor and Bree’s switch from straight to gay despite her family’s frowning disapproval. All postcollege transitions are also captured, from one-night stands to grad schools, first jobs and first homes, a wedding and a baby. When April, the radical in the group, begins to work with her idol, a “divisive” feminist known for extreme tactics, a secondary plot about human trafficking emerges, switching the mood from nostalgia to suspense. Sullivan’s debut crackles with intelligent observations about the inner sanctum of the all-women’s elite (yet scholarship-laden) college life. --Emily Cook

Second Jill posted this, this week on Waiting on Wednesday:

Simon and Emily Bear look like a couple that has it all. Simon is a respected doctor. His wife, Emily, shines as a partner in a premier public relations firm. But their marriage is scarred by hidden wounds. Even as Simon tends his patients’ ills, and Emily spins away her clients’ mistakes, they can’t seem to do the same for themselves or their relationship.

Simon becomes convinced he’s discovered a cure for chronic pain, a finding that could become a medical breakthrough, yet he is oblivious to the pain that he causes at home. Emily, struggling to move beyond the devastating loss she and Simon suffered fifteen years earlier, realizes she hasn’t felt anything for a long time—that is, until a lover from her past resurfaces and forces her to examine her marriage anew.

In a debut novel on par with today’s top women writers, Remedies explores the complicated facets of pain, in the nerves of the body and the longings of the heart. Depicting modern-day marriage with a razor-sharp eye, Remedies is about what it takes, as an individual and as a couple, to recover from profound loss.

Third from Waiting on Wednesday also is one from The Book Pixie

Ever since Viola’s boyfriend broke up with her, she has spent her days silently wishing—to have someone love her again, and, more importantly, to belong again—until one day she inadvertently summons a genie out of his world and into her own. He will remain until she makes three wishes.

But Viola is terrified of wishing, afraid she won't wish for the right thing, the thing that will make her truly happy. As the two spend time together, Jinn can’t deny that he’s slowly falling for Viola. But it’s only after Viola makes her first wish that she realizes she’s in love with Jinn as well…and that if she makes her final two wishes, he will disappear from her life—and her world—forever.

That's it for this week. So what did you find this week?

Bloggiesta Starting Post

Okay - this was supposed to post automatically this morning and it wasn't supposed to be blank. So this is the start of Bloggiesta for me. I had a pre-op appointment out-of-town this morning and that is why the post was automatic. But it's all for the better since I am officially starting now. I'm not sure I will make the prescribed amount of time, but I will be working on my blog a lot tomorrow and touring around the other participants.

I need to catch up on my reviews and create some scheduled posts for next week and I need to do some organizing and cosmetic work on the blog since I am really enjoying it and plan to keep it up. So you will see more of me in the next 36 hours. I look forward to hearing how everyone else is doing also!

Giveaway - Swimsuit by James Patterson

Syd, a breathtakingly beautiful supermodel on a photo shoot in Hawaii, disappears. Fearing the worst, her parents travel to Hawaii to investigate for themselves, never expecting the horror that awaits them.

LA Times reporter Ben Hawkins is conducting his own research into the case, hoping to help the victim and get an idea for his next bestseller. With no leads and no closer to uncovering the kidnapper's identity than when he stepped off the plane, Ben gets a shocking visit that pushes him into an impossible-to-resist deal with the devil.

A heart-pounding story of fear and desire, SWIMSUIT transports readers to a chilling new territory where the collision of beauty and murder transforms paradise into a hell of unspeakable horrors.

So this is the newest James Patterson, due out on June 29th and guess what, I have two copies in hand. I haven't read this yet, but I will for review, but since I got an extra copy, I thought it would be a great time to offer this up as a giveaway.

The contest will go through Tuesday June 29th (release day) at midnight. I will draw one winner on Wednesday or Thursday.

You can enter by:

1. Commenting on my blog, make sure I have a way to contact you. (+1)
   
2. Become a blog follower or let me know if you are already a follower (+1)
3. Tell me the first James Patterson book you read (+1)
4. Tweet about this review and giveaway, use @cfulcher in the tweet so I can find it (you can get one additional entry for each retweet - one a day max, but that gives you quite a few days, just come back and comment here) (+1)
5. Follow me on Twitter (or let me know if you are a current follower) (+1)
6. Blog about this contest and let me know the link (sidebar or post is fine) (+1)

So there you go - 6 ways to get an entry into this contest. You can leave them in separate posts or one post, it doesn't matter, I will make sure you get your entries, just make sure to let me know what you do.

Review: Avalon High by Meg Cabot

Avalon High by Meg Cabot




Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

From goodreads.com:

Avalon High seems like a typical high school, attended by typical students: There's Lance, the jock. Jennifer, the cheerleader. And Will, senior class president, quarterback, and all-around good guy.
But not everybody at Avalon High is who they appear to be ... not even, as new student Ellie is about to discover, herself. What part does she play in the drama that is unfolding? What if the bizarre chain of events and coincidences she has pieced together means -- as with the court of King Arthur -- tragedy is fast approaching Avalon High?
Worst of all, what if there's nothing she can do about it?

I was looking through my stacks of books yesterday for just a quick, fun read and I found it in my library stack. Avalon High is a young adult novel featuring Ellie, a high school junior who finds herself in a new school and in a new town while her parents are on sabbatical in Annapolis, Maryland. What she didn't expect was to be thrown into a story she was more than familiar with in the current time.

Meg Cabot writes a really good young adult story in this one, it's clean and fun. Ellie is one of those ordinary girls who doesn't expect to stick out in a new school. She figures she will join the track team and just be an ordinary girl. But that isn't what happens. Within days of starting at Avalon High she is thrust in with the most popular boy in school, his best friend and his girlfriend. But things aren't always what they seem in this popular crowd.

As Ellie tries to navigate her newfound somewhat popular status, the book develops and other questions begin to form. And all of this moves the book to it's conclusion.

Characterization isn't deep - this is more plot driven, but you do learn about Ellie. The other characters are also enjoyable, Will, Lance, Jennifer, Marco and Mr. Morton all make great characters.

All-in-all, it's a great fast-paced quick young adult read. I enjoyed it and will read more of Ms. Cabot's young adult titles (I believe I have read a lot of her adult titles). In fact I have The Princess Diaries in my library stack also. Read this one afternoon that you just want to read something quick and easy - no death, destruction or deep teenage thinking involved. And sometimes you need a book that is just that.

This book satisfies requirements for the 2009 100+ book challenge and also the 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge.

There are actually more books in this series in the Manga format. I'll have to see about those, I haven't read any Manga, but I'm pretty open to any type of book and I really would like to learn more about Ellie, Will, Jennifer and Lance.

Meg Cabot's website
Avalon High available on IndieBound
Avalon High at amazon.com

Binding: Hardcover
Genre: Young Adult
Copyright: 2006
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 288