Wednesday, March 30, 2016

2016 Read the Nobels Challenge Sign-Up


HOW TO JOIN ...

1. Pick one of the reading levels below.

Decide how many books authored by a Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature you want to read in 2016.

  • Nobel dabbler: 1 to 3 books 
  • Nobel keener : 4 to 8 books 
  • Nobel enthusiast: 9 to 13 books 
  • Nobel devotee: 14 to 18 
  • Nobel zealot: More than 19
2. Grab the challenge button and write a post.

You can write the post on your blog, website, Facebook or Google+ or any other social media.

Make sure you show your support and help spread the word by including the challenge button in your posts. You can also add the button in your sidebar.

3. Register for this challenge at Guiltless Reading.

I totally blame have Sharon at Faith, Hope and Cherry Tea to thank for my participation in this reading challenge.  She always seems to find this wonderful niche reading challenges.  And I am a reading challenge addict.

But really, the theme of this challenge will help me out with a bucket list item:  Read a book authored by and/or set in each country in the United Nations.  And I'm thinking of going for the:

"Nobel keener:4-8" level.

Why?  Because I got the idea to read a book from the Nobel Laureate from each of the years that the folks in my family were born.  So that would be:

1961 - Ivo Andric
1967 - Miguel Angel Asturias
1996 - Wislawa Symborska
1998 - Jose Saramago
2003 - John M. Coetzee

Anyway, y'all are welcome to join as well! There's even going to be a mini-challenge in April to read 1 book written by a Nobel Laureate for Literature. I'm going to try that one too, but April is a busy, busy month for me.  I've got 13 blog tours going and then there's the A to Z Challenge, whereby you sign up to write a blog post every day in April besides Sundays.  The first post begins with A, the second with B, etc., until you've gone through the entire alphabet.  Here's the button for that challenge.

Where in the world will your Nobel take you?

Galatea's Revenge by Kelly McClymer - Happy Book Birthday!

  


Plucked from the gutters of London as a child, Elspeth was taught to be a lady, and married to the son of her benefactor. When she realizes her husband will never consider her anything more than a gutter brat, she demands that he undo all that his father did in teaching her to be a lady so she can once again survive on the streets of London. Can seeing his wife on the streets of London finally show Damian the true lady within his guttersnipe bride?

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Death by Sunken Treasure by Kait Carson - #review


When Hayden Kent’s mentor and friend discovers her son Mike’s dead body, dressed in full scuba attire, washed up on Pigeon Key, she needs Hayden. Her paralegal and dive skills may help unravel the tragedy of Mike’s last days. He’d recently discovered a sunken Spanish galleon and rumors that he hit the mother lode ran through the Keys like wildfire.

Hayden’s dive on the treasure site uncovers gold, and clues that Mike’s death was something far more sinister than an accident. When two different wills, both signed the day Mike died, are delivered to the courthouse, the suspect list grows, as do the threats against her. The danger escalates as she tries to save herself, discover the motive, and find the killer.

Monday, March 28, 2016

Outrageous: The Victoria Woodhull Story Vol. I by Neal Katz - #review


Historical fictionalized account of Victoria Woodhull’s rise to presidential candidate and wealth, coming from poverty and abuse.

What compels a woman and her youngest sister to overcome abject poverty and violent abuse to grow up to defy convention and obliterate every barrier to become the first women to own and operate a Wall Street brokerage firm and publish their own newspaper?

How did Victoria Claflin Woodhull (1838 – 1927) become the first woman invited to speak to the United State Congress, and then the first female to run for president. What made Tennessee Celeste Claflin (1845 – 1923) so beguiling that the richest man in America, Cornelius Vanderbilt, fell completely in love with her?

What caused the sisters to live out their long lives as royalty and peerage in Europe. Victoria living as landed gentry outside of London, and Tennessee in a huge castle like a queen? Why aren’t these empowered and independent women iconic in our culture?

Volume One of The Victoria Woodhull Saga tells the poignant, lascivious, and compelling inside story of how the sisters worked closely with Cornelius Vanderbilt, who at age 74 fell in love with the beguiling 24-year old Tennessee. Victoria provided the titan of industry “Inside Her Information” gathered through the soiled sisterhood, the ladies of the evening working at the top seven brothels servicing the rich and famous of New York City.

This relationship resulted in the great lion of industry having his last public roar as together they manipulated the financial markets and created the impending collapse of the U.S. economy in the gold scandal of 1869. To avert the crash, President Ulysses S. Grant provides the richest man in America insider information on the gold market and telegrams Vanderbilt that his railroad company is “Too Big To Fail!” Vanderbilt was proclaimed “The Savior of the American Economy” for intervening in a crisis he helped create.

View Victorian America through the eyes and thoughts of one of its leading heroines., Victoria Woodhull. Watch as the infighting and elitism of the earliest suffrage women denigrating, castigating, and denouncing other passionate suffrage rights women delayed woman suffrage and equal legal standing for five decades. Learn wonderful anecdotes of the origins of products and phrases used today. Learn the story of Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, the most popular man in America, who transformed Christianity from his father’s “fire and brimstone” theology to one of a compassionate and loving Jesus, who will redeem all who turn to salvation with complete confession of their sins. The reverend’s personal life did not imitate his lofty and popular theology of his weekly sermons at Plymouth Church. He was a notorious womanizer, often bedding, and sometimes impregnating the wives, sisters, and daughters of his most ardent trackers and deacons of the church.

Written in the first person from Victoria’s viewpoint, Neal Katz weaves a compelling page-turning story that cleverly unfolds history while providing a wonderfully entertaining ride. Katz has pledged one half of book sale proceeds to charities dedicating to the empowerment and sustainable economic improvement of women, especially single mothers.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Friday Bookish Post - March 25, 2016

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-up!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.


SYNOPSIS

When Hayden Kent’s mentor and friend discovers her son Mike’s dead body, dressed in full scuba attire, washed up on Pigeon Key, she needs Hayden. Her paralegal and dive skills may help unravel the tragedy of Mike’s last days. He’d recently discovered a sunken Spanish galleon and rumors that he hit the mother lode ran through the Keys like wildfire.

Hayden’s dive on the treasure site uncovers gold, and clues that Mike’s death was something far more sinister than an accident. When two different wills, both signed the day Mike died, are delivered to the courthouse, the suspect list grows, as do the threats against her. The danger escalates as she tries to save herself, discover the motive, and find the killer.


BOOK BEGINNINGS

This is the book's second paragraph:

"Of all the mornings to be late.  I scooted past her into my office, dumped my burdens on one of the guest chairs, rounded my desk, and punched the button to activate my computer.  Our email program recorded all voicemails.  The computer was going through its usual beeps and boops when my boss and supervising attorney, Grant Huffman, pushed open my door, a pink message slip clutched in his hand.  He had his jacket off and the sleeves of his shirt cuffed back to just below the elbow.  I knew instantly something was wrong.  The light banter of questions about his weekend died on my lips."

FRIDAY 56

"Judge, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I have a few questions about a restraining order against my paralegal, Hayden Kent. .... Judge Rodriguez entered the order ex parte because Lisa said she felt threatened that you went to her house and her child was present."

NOTE:  I will review this book on the blog on Monday and you are all invited back!

~~~oOo~~~


Book Blogger Hop   

Thanks to Billy B at the "Coffee Addicted Writer" and Ramona at "Create With Joy" for hosting these link-ups!  Click on the buttons above to go to their blogs.


This week's question submitted by Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews:

How much of your day is devoted to your blog, and how much is devoted to reading? 

My Answer:

I am something of an introvert, so the solitary act of reading better suits my temperament than does blogging.  Part of me gets a little nervous when I think that there may be (hopefully) some (many?) reading what I write, and the "is it good enough" voice tries to speak up.  So it brings up a little anxiety for me actually, to hit the 'publish' button.

But I have tried, somewhat successfully, to try not to let anxiety or fear dictate my actions.  The greatest successes of my life have come when I was afraid or anxious, but did the event anyway.

So, that's my long-winded way of saying I spend more time reading than blogging ... maybe 2:1 reading:blogging, maybe a higher ratio.

~~~oOo~~~

Great News!

Extra special thanks to Ramona of "Create With Joy" for making me 'Friend of the Week' on her Friendship Friday Link-up!  I first started doing link-ups for the three that she hosts on her blog each week:  "Inspire Me Monday" (last Monday had 318 links), "Wordless Wednesday" (last Wednesday had 76 links) and "Friendship Friday" (221 links last week).  She works tirelessly on behalf of her blogging friends and I respect her enormously.

Epstein's Pancake by Bjarne Rostaing - #review #interview


It's the end of the Reagan years, with Iran-contra still smoldering, and G.H.W. Bush looking like a winner. Rob Price is a Nam vet with attitude who's lost his Wall Street job and takes one with a small obscure government agency. Something's going on, and before he finds out what it is, a fellow agent is killed and Rob disappears himself with a satchel of black money. When he turns whistleblower he finds himself with a corporate tiger by the tail and a Eurasian martial artist girlfriend that other guys envy.


~~~oOo~~~

MY REVIEW

Reagan.  HW.  Iran-Contra.  North.  Viet Nam.  Wow, those names take me back!

I appreciate the fact that sometimes governments have to do things that rank-and-file 'good citizens' might find distasteful.  The bitter disappointment comes in when it seems that a (vast?) majority of our representatives (US/World) are in power as much or more for themselves as for their constituents - and are willing to protect or improve their perceived situation - no matter the cost to others!

Historical fiction that highlights the lives of ordinary (and extraordinary) folks against a backdrop of a famous event has quickly become a favorite of mine.  I can think of no better example of this than Bjarne Rostaing's political thriller, Epstein's Pancake.

At first, the title threw me.  How could any book with the word 'pancake' in the title be a thriller?  Heretofore any book I read whose title included the work 'pancake' usually was something like "101 of the Food Channel's Favorite Pancake Recipes".  Epstein isn't even mentioned in the first two-thirds of the story and his pancake doesn't make an entrance until later.  And don't even unpack your syrup because there will be no taste-testing today.

Actually, the pancake refers to an emerging technology that most of the powers that be in the world were ready to bribe, blackmail, steal or kill to get their hands on - before anyone else.

Enter Rob Price, a veteran of the Viet Nam era, who was recruited to be a courier for a small, unnamed (at the time) government agency.  (If someone, someday approaches you with the same offer, you better hope your bicycle is heavily armored and has a few weapons caches, because you will not just be transporting packets of information from one spot to another.)  

The security agencies (aka spies) of several nations are on Rob from almost day one.  His brushes with death become closer and closer as the book goes on, and it is only his professional paranoia, make that skills of observation, that keep him alive.  What Price endures in the book makes it hard to understand how anyone with a conscience would want to be a spy.  The place where you live has to be your little secret.  No friends, nor even co-workers can know its location.  The people with whom you work are almost certainly 'more' than the public face they present - and you really don't know from one day to the next who might turn on you.

All this ethically messy morality of the Iran-Contra era is masterfully written up by Bjarne Rostaing.  Having lived through that time, I can honestly say that he pegs the history perfectly.  I became more and more intellectually and psychologically involved as the chapter numbers grew, and experienced (nearly) the same emotions Rob did at each adverse event that happened to him.

I read a lot of historical fiction and cozy mystery books, where the endings are 99% 'Happily Ever After'.  That is not the case in this book, but then life is rarely all hearts and flowers either.  This story could easily play out in real life.

If you enjoyed the 'Jack Ryan' series of books and movies, or anything with the name 'John le Carre' attached to it, you will enjoy Epstein's Pancake.

~~~oOo~~~

MEET THE AUTHOR



Bjarne Rostaing was an editor at the SoHo Weekly News, won a First Place AFI Award for a sports video and worked with Uma Thurman in Kiss Daddy Goodnight. As a sports writer, he exposed the 1984 US Olympic blood doping scandal in Sports Illustrated. His previous books include Breeders (St. Marks Press), Phantom of the Paradise with Brian DePalma (Dell) and Bill Walton's Book of Bicycling (Bantam). He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

~~~oOo~~~

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

1.  What made you decide to the Iran-Contra backdrop in Epstein's Pancake?

I think the mess we’re in today comes out of it, going back back to the arms-for-hostages deal. The extent of the corruption and cover-up were unique. By comparison, Watergate was clean, politicians rose above party lines, the system worked, and Nixon was gone. Ten years later it didn’t, at all. Those contras were a nasty bunch – allies of a brutal dictator we supported. CIA stopped at nothing, traded cocaine for arms.

We were also doing extremely illegal business with Iran. When Amiram Nir (the key Israeli), was assassinated after threatening to blow the whistle, the stench was unbelievable, and it went far up into the administration. Secretary of State Schultz was in a blind rage, but Bush 43 was lifetime CIA, and agency head for a while and managed it. John Poindexter, a brilliant man, had to be pardoned by Bush, along with many others, plus those pardoned earlier. Iran-contra set a tone for the election of ’88, which is the start of my book. The Bush/Dan Rather TV confrontation said it all -- Rather was old-school, did his homework and had the goods. Bush screamed at him as if journalists whose facts got in the way were contemptible slime.

2. Music.

Before I started writing, it shaped my life – I spent decades trying to be a horn player. Now I listen to everything, and I’m more concerned with quality than what kind of music it is. Led Zep, Satie, Stones, Mozart, Thelonious Monk, Bird, Bach. String quartets especially.

3.  If you could invent any writer from history to your house for supper and conversation, whom would you invite and what would you discuss?

I would not have the balls to waste their time. The list of writers I respect is endless, but what would I say?

“Do you roll out of bed hangover-and-all and start writing, Mr. Faulkner?” … “How did you manage to have all those affairs at once when you were dying of TB, Mr. Camus?” … “I keep trying but I just can’t finish your book, Mr. Proust.” ... "How did you write a vast and comic masterpiece on your death bed waiting for a replacement liver that never came, Mr. Bolanos?"

4.  Who are your other favorite writers?

The list is endless. I like Burdett’s current Bangkok sex and crime series, and admire his style. Pungent and clear.

5.  How do you handle bad reviews?

I reviewed for Kirkus, so I know the game. What can you do? Whitman had the best plan – he wrote most of them himself.

6.  Do you outline your work before starting or just sit down and write what comes to mind?

Both – it’s a messy process. I try to save the parts that have the most buzz, and build off them.

7.  Do you prefer traditional or independent publishing?

I bailed on my publisher years ago when we didn’t see eye to eye. I liked 20th century publishing but what I see now is people who are more concerned with promoting themselves via social media, which I totally fucking detest, rather than actually writing.

8.  If you could go back to a period of your life and change the way things happened, would you do so and why?

Sure, wouldn’t anyone? But it just cain’t be did. Mainly I’m concerned with people that I hurt, and of course the squandered opportunities.

9.  Do you speak any other languages?

If I did I’d probably be somewhere else.

10. What's next for Bjarne Rostaing, author?

Art crime. I once ran a gallery in Soho, which is now a kind of mall full of tourists. It was pretty light-hearted until a seriously hot painting showed up and I got to see the underside of that world.

~~~oOo~~~

(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers in exchange for an objective review.)

This book helps me fulfill the following 2016 Reading Challenges:
-2016 GoodReads Challenge
-2016 52 Books in 52 Weeks
-2016 Literary Loners Reading Challenge
-2016 New (to me) Authors Reading Challenge
-2016 Read Harder Challenge (politics)

Monday, March 21, 2016

The Skeleton Garden by Marty Wingate - #review


USA Today bestselling author Marty Wingate’s Potting Shed series continues as expert gardener Pru Parke digs up a Nazi warplane—and a fresh murder.

Texas transplant Pru Parke has put down roots in England, but she never dreamed she’d live in a grand place such as Greenoak. When her former employers offer Pru and her new husband, former Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Pearse, the use of their nineteenth-century estate while they’re away for a year, she jumps at the chance. Sweetening the deal is the prospect of further bonding with her long-lost brother, Simon, who happens to be Greenoak’s head gardener. But the majestic manor has at least one skeleton in its closet—or, rather, its garden.

Working on renovations to the extensive grounds, siblings Pru and Simon squabble about everything from boxwood to bay hedges. But when the removal of a half-dead tree turns up the wreckage of a World War II–era German fighter plane and a pile of bones, the arguments stop. That is, until a rival from Simon’s past pays a surprise visit and creates even more upheaval. It’s suddenly clear someone is unhappy their secrets have been unearthed. Still, Pru’s not about to sit back and let Simon take the fall for the dirty deed without a fight.

Friday, March 18, 2016

I am Loved and Blessed! - #review #giveaway

One day last week, I found this hot pink box in my mailbox.  It said 'Loved and Blessed" on the outside.  I was curious because I had looked at a website that helped people set up their own subscription box businesses and I believe the L&B was one of them.  For a while, I wondered if I had signed up for a subscription and it had slipped my mind!

Here are the contents:


  • a theme card inside the box lid (beauty was the theme of this box)
  • a mini poster
  • a reminder sticker
  • a scripture card
  • a silicone bracelet with the words "loved and blessed" printed on
  • a prayer journal
  • a compact mirror with "you are beautiful" printed on it

Now, I don't know about you, but I occasionally have self-esteem issues.  Every day I see more wrinkles and try not to judge myself against the air-brushed young models in magazine advertisements.

In a group of women, sometime last year, we tried an experiment.  Going around the room, each person would give a compliment to one of the other ladies present.  The receiver could not try to negate the compliment, "Oh...this old thing," "I look better when I...," or "I used to be able to run x miles".  It was harder than you might think not to find some reason why they were well-intentioned...but w.r.o.n.g.

So, sometimes when we are in that kind of self-denigrating place, it takes a little little push from a source that won't hear us when we attempt to say 'that's not true'...which is where the "Loved and Blessed" box comes in. 

Every single item in the box brought a smile to my face.  God does not require us to be perfect to be acceptable to Him.  We are made in the image of God and everything that he made is good.  This kind of reminds me of the poster of the young, sad child and the tagline goes something like,  "I know I'm good because God doesn't make crap!"

  




You can go month-to-month or get a 3-, 6- or 12-month subscription.  The monthly boxes run $12.00, which makes it one of the more economical box subscriptions out there, something I definitely appreciate.

Links of Interest


Social Links


~~~oOo~~~

What is the price by the box?  $12.00

What is the value of the encouragement?  Priceless!

~~~oOo~~~

GIVEAWAY!!!!

The company which makes the boxes is having a giveaway for A Year of Encouragement (12 free boxes!).  Click and fill out the giveaway form to enter!

~~~oOo~~~

(Disclosure:  I received the above box at no charge in exchange for an honest review. )


~~~oOo~~~

Also sharing with:


Wednesday, March 16, 2016

The Semester of Our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn - #review #giveaway


English professor Lila Maclean is thrilled about her new job at prestigious Stonedale University, until she finds one of her colleagues dead. She soon learns that everyone, from the chancellor to the detective working the case, believes Lila—or someone she is protecting—may be responsible for the horrific event, so she assigns herself the task of identifying the killer.

More attacks on professors follow, the only connection a curious symbol at each of the crime scenes. Putting her scholarly skills to the test, Lila gathers evidence, but her search is complicated by an unexpected nemesis, a suspicious investigator, and an ominous secret society. Rather than earning an “A” for effort, she receives a threat featuring the mysterious emblem and must act quickly to avoid failing her assignment…and becoming the next victim.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Monday Bookish Post - March 14, 2016

     



Thanks to Robert of Tynga's Reviews, Kathryn at Book Date and Ramona at Create With Joy for hosting these respective link-ups!  (Click on the buttons to go to the respective blogs.)

~~~oOo~~~

STACKING THE SHELVES

(click the cover to go to GoodReads; I got this book from NetGalley and will post a review on April 27th.)

Business has never been better for home stager Caprice De Luca, but her personal life could stand a few renovations. Just when she thought things were getting serious with her boyfriend Grant, his pretty ex-wife swoops into town and nabs his attention. Uncle Dom is living with her parents and desperately needs a new job. And her sister Nikki's catering business is threatened when rival Drew Pierson starts eating away at her share of the market. Things could not possibly get more chaotic when Drew is found  bludgeoned to death by one of his grandmother's antique Tiffany lamps--and Nikki is the number one suspect. Now, Caprice must act fast to illuminate the truth and clear her sister's name--before a cold-blooded killer puts her lights out next.


(click the graphic to go to Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour, through which I received the MOBI file.  I will review this collection on May 11.)

Sleuthing Women is a collection of 10 full-length mysteries featuring murder and assorted mayhem by 10 critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling authors. Each novel in this set is the first book in an established multi-book series—a total of over 3,000 pages of reading pleasure for lovers of amateur sleuth, caper, and cozy mysteries.

(And here I thought it was a collection of short stories.  Haha!  Joke's on me! :O))



(Click on cover to go to GoodReads.  MOBI from NetGalley.  Reviewing on May 13.)

Walking the red carpet at the Academy Awards with a bow-tied Bullmastiff draws Nic and Nigel Martini plenty of attention from the press. But that's nothing compared to the attention they receive at the A-list after party, when Hollywood royalty learn that Nic and Nigel have discovered behind the scenes footage from A Winter's Night, an acclaimed film known for backstage love triangles and the tragic death of its original star, Melanie Summers.

Returning home after the party, Nic and Nigel find their house in shambles and their employee DeDee Evans beaten within an inch of her life. And when the weapon used to pummel DeDee implicates beloved actress Christina Franklin, Nic and Nigel drink and banter their way into a modern-day version of a golden-era crime caper.

~~~oOo~~~

IT'S MONDAY, WHAT ARE  YOU READING?

I just finished:

(Click on the cover to go to the GoodReads page; Revewing on March 24.)

It's the end of the Reagan years, with Iran-contra still smoldering, and G.H.W. Bush looking like a winner. Rob Price is a Nam vet with attitude who's lost his Wall Street job and takes one with a small obscure government agency. Something's going on, and before he finds out what it is, a fellow agent is killed and Rob disappears himself with a satchel of black money. When he turns whistleblower he finds himself with a corporate tiger by the tail and a Eurasian martial artist girlfriend that other guys envy.

Next up will be:

(MOBI from author.  Reviewing on April 1.)

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders - human intruders - in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

~~~oOo~~~

So, friends, what are you reading this week?

Friday, March 11, 2016

Friday Bookish Post - March 11, 2016

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-up!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.


SYNOPSIS

English professor Lila Maclean is thrilled about her new job at prestigious Stonedale University, until she finds one of her colleagues dead. She soon learns that everyone, from the chancellor to the detective working the case, believes Lila—or someone she is protecting—may be responsible for the horrific event, so she assigns herself the task of identifying the killer.

More attacks on professors follow, the only connection a curious symbol at each of the crime scenes. Putting her scholarly skills to the test, Lila gathers evidence, but her search is complicated by an unexpected nemesis, a suspicious investigator, and an ominous secret society. Rather than earning an “A” for effort, she receives a threat featuring the mysterious emblem and must act quickly to avoid failing her assignment…and becoming the next victim.


BOOK BEGINNINGS

When summoned by the department chair, one shows up on time.  I hurried past the row of faculty mailboxes with minutes to spare and greeted Millicent Quayle, a squarish middle-aged woman whose dull brown hair perfectly matched her suit.  As executive assistant, Millicent presided over the front desk that guarded our leader's inner sanctum.  She was practically humming with efficiency as her fingers flew over the keyboard, and I stood quietly until she mustered up the will to drag her attention away from the computer screen.

FRIDAY 56

I picked up my bag, turned off the bulb and pulled the door shut behind me, noticing that there was light spilling into the hallway through the half-open door to the next room.

That light had not been on before.

Was someone else down here?

~~~oOo~~~

Book Blogger Hop   

Thanks to Billy B at the "Coffee Addicted Writer" and Ramona at "Create With Joy" for hosting these link-ups!  Click on the buttons above to go to their blogs.

This week's BBH question from Vicki Lee @VLZBooks.com:

Do you believe audio books are the future and why do believe? 

If we're talking audio will dominate the book world and make print and e-books obsolete, no I do not believe that.  Many people predicted that ebooks would be the death of print, but that hasn't turned out to be true either.  Each media in which a book appears (print, ebook, audio, video, etc.) brings something unique to the table.

Sometimes there's just nothing like holding a physical book (aka 'bookbooks') with a glass of my favorite cold beverage (or cup of my favorite hot beverage), putting up my feet and getting lost in the pages.

I love my ereader because it allows me to store a ton of books.  Seriously, if I had to have physical copies of each book in the house, they could probably be stacked from floor to ceiling and cover every inch of available wall space in one of our rooms.

Video books  (movies, etc.) have the added benefit of a visual as well as an audio component.  Sound and visual effects can be powerful conveyors of a book's message.

On a Desert Shore by S.K. Rizzolo - #review


Protecting an heiress should be an easy job for Bow Street Runner John Chase. But the heiress—daughter of rich London merchant Hugo Garrod and a slave-housekeeper on his Jamaican property—is no conventional society miss. Educated to take a place among Regency England’s upper crust and marry well, she has failed at London’s social scene and lives isolated among the Garrod family in Clapham. And someone is playing her malicious tricks, some of which recall her island heritage of Obeah.

John Chase needs to determine whether Marina is indeed a victim—or is herself a delusional and malicious trickster. If the trickster is real, is it her rejected suitor and cousin Ned Honeycutt? His demure sister? Their devoted aunt who acts as the Garrod housekeeper? A clergyman friend? Everyone around Hugo Garrod has a stake in how he disposes of his immense wealth.

Meanwhile Mrs. Penelope Wolfe, an abandoned wife, flouts convention by earning her living with her pen. She’s in love with barrister Edward Buckler and hesitant to further scandalize society by breaking any more rules. Hugo Garrod invites her to join his household and put her pen to work. Her assignment takes her into an exotic world where menace lurks at every turn of the garden path and the façade of propriety masks danger.

To solve the case, Chase must grasp the enigma of Marina, an expert in self-concealment, who challenges his assumptions and confronts him with difficult truths. And, with the aid of Penelope and Edward Buckler, reveal a clever killer.

On a Desert Shore stretches from the brutal colony of Jamaica to the prosperity and apparent peace of suburban London. Here a father’s ambition to transplant a child of mixed blood and create an English dynasty will lead to terrible deeds.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Those Who Walk in Darkness by Joyce and Jim Lavene - #review #characterguestpost #giveaway


Three years ago, Julia Jackson was a well to do young woman from Boston whose fiancé, Jonathon, was killed right before her eyes. Obsessed with finding the killer, a man whose face she saw only in a flash as he walked up and shot Jonathon, she leaves her family and her life behind. She starts a new life as ‘Jacks’ Jackson—a cigar smoking, dead eye, female Pinkerton agent…pretending to be a man.

Now Allan Pinkerton needs Jacks to find the man who kidnapped the wife and son of a railroad official, David Boyd. Their only clues are the severed finger from the man’s wife, complete with wedding ring, and a map of the Qualla boundary, the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina.

Jacks doesn’t like the way the whole thing sounds from the beginning. David Boyd isn’t important enough to target for a kidnapping. And why travel so far with two hostages?

But Pinkerton tells her that he believes the man responsible for the kidnapping worked with Jonathon’s murderer in a train robbery five years ago. Jacks agrees to go after the kidnapper with hopes of catching him before he can reach his home grounds.

Pinkerton insists that Jacks bring three men with her—Boyd, her new partner, and a Cherokee guide named Running Wolf, who’s always watching her, like he’s trying to figure it out.

Can Jacks catch the kidnapper with her secret—and her life—intact?

Friday, March 4, 2016

Friday Bookish Post - March 4, 2016

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-up!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.



SYNOPSIS

Texas transplant Pru Parke has put down roots in England, but she never dreamed she’d live in a grand place such as Greenoak. When her former employers offer Pru and her new husband, former Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Pearse, the use of their nineteenth-century estate while they’re away for a year, she jumps at the chance. Sweetening the deal is the prospect of further bonding with her long-lost brother, Simon, who happens to be Greenoak’s head gardener. But the majestic manor has at least one skeleton in its closet—or, rather, its garden.

Working on renovations to the extensive grounds, siblings Pru and Simon squabble about everything from boxwood to bay hedges. But when the removal of a half-dead tree turns up the wreckage of a World War II–era German fighter plane and a pile of bones, the arguments stop. That is, until a rival from Simon’s past pays a surprise visit and creates even more upheaval. It’s suddenly clear someone is unhappy their secrets have been unearthed. Still, Pru’s not about to sit back and let Simon take the fall for the dirty deed without a fight.

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Book Beginnings

The large terra-cotta pot, weathered from the seasons, sported an inch-wide crack that strained at the wire wrapped around its circumference.  Roots of the bay tree, seeking to break free from their encircling confinement, had insinuated themselves through the crack, found open air, and dried up.  The small tree itself seemed to slump, as if resigned to a second-class existence.  Pru and her brother, Simon, stood gazing at it in silence.

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Friday 56

The figure lunged and shoved her away.  She fell back and landed on her bottom in the gravel, shouting in alarm.  As the person ran past her toward the opening, she managed to grab his ankle, and she struggled to stand and keep hold.  The figure kicked loose from her grasp, and the force sent her staggering.  She caught her foot on a guy rope from the marquee, danced a few steps, and went down hard on her stomach.

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Book Blogger Hop   

Thanks to Billy B at the "Coffee Addicted Writer" and Ramona at "Create With Joy" for hosting these link-ups!  Click on the buttons above to go to their blogs.

This week's question for the Book Blogger Hop is:

Do you tend to read more in the winter or in the summer months? 

The amount of reading I do does not really change, but the location might.  In winter, I read almost exclusively indoors.  During the summer, I love to sit on the side porch for hours and read. ;)

Outrageous: The Victoria Woodhull Saga by Neal Katz - #bookblast #giveaway

02_Outrageous

Outrageous: The Victoria Woodhull Saga, Volume I: Rise to Riches by Neal Katz

Publication Date: October 1, 2015 Top Reads Publishing Hardcover, Paperback, Ebook; 344 Pages Series: The Victoria Woodhull Saga (Vol I) Genre: Historical Fiction

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Historical fictionalized account of Victoria Woodhull's rise to presidential candidate and wealth, coming from poverty and abuse.

What compels a woman and her youngest sister to overcome abject poverty and violent abuse to grow up to defy convention and obliterate every barrier to become the first women to own and operate a Wall Street brokerage firm and publish their own newspaper?

 How did Victoria Claflin Woodhull (1838 - 1927) become the first woman invited to speak to the United State Congress, and then the first female to run for president. What made Tennessee Celeste Claflin (1845 - 1923) so beguiling that the richest man in America, Cornelius Vanderbilt, fell completely in love with her?

What caused the sisters to live out their long lives as royalty and peerage in Europe. Victoria living as landed gentry outside of London, and Tennessee in a huge castle like a queen? Why aren't these empowered and independent women iconic in our culture?

Volume One of The Victoria Woodhull Saga tells the poignant, lascivious, and compelling inside story of how the sisters worked closely with Cornelius Vanderbilt, who at age 74 fell in love with the beguiling 24-year old Tennessee. Victoria provided the titan of industry "Inside Her Information" gathered through the soiled sisterhood, the ladies of the evening working at the top seven brothels servicing the rich and famous of New York City.

This relationship resulted in the great lion of industry having his last public roar as together they manipulated the financial markets and created the impending collapse of the U.S. economy in the gold scandal of 1869. To avert the crash, President Ulysses S. Grant provides the richest man in America insider information on the gold market and telegrams Vanderbilt that his railroad company is "Too Big To Fail!" Vanderbilt was proclaimed "The Savior of the American Economy" for intervening in a crisis he helped create.

View Victorian America through the eyes and thoughts of one of its leading heroines., Victoria Woodhull. Watch as the infighting and elitism of the earliest suffrage women denigrating, castigating, and denouncing other passionate suffrage rights women delayed woman suffrage and equal legal standing for five decades. Learn wonderful anecdotes of the origins of products and phrases used today. Learn the story of Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, the most popular man in America, who transformed Christianity from his father's "fire and brimstone" theology to one of a compassionate and loving Jesus, who will redeem all who turn to salvation with complete confession of their sins. The reverend's personal life did not imitate his lofty and popular theology of his weekly sermons at Plymouth Church. He was a notorious womanizer, often bedding, and sometimes impregnating the wives, sisters, and daughters of his most ardent trackers and deacons of the church. 

Written in the first person from Victoria's viewpoint, Neal Katz weaves a compelling page-turning story that cleverly unfolds history while providing a wonderfully entertaining ride. Katz has pledged one half of book sale proceeds to charities dedicating to the empowerment and sustainable economic improvement of women, especially single mothers.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo


Praise

"Victoria Woodhull is one of the most fascinating but forgotten characters in American history. She deserves to be better known by anyone who cares about gender equality and the ongoing fight to make America a more tolerant and just country--kudos to Neal Katz for bringing her story to life for a new generation of readers."
-Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher 

 "I can't believe this is Neal's first book. Incredibly well written, this is an important work. I see a National bestseller and a long running series."
-Victor Villasenor, National bestselling author of Rain of Gold,Three time Pulitzer Prize nominee, and author of Revenge of a Catholic Schoolboy


About the Author

03_Neal Katz

Neal Katz is a semi-retired, serial entrepreneur, CEO with a passion for women rights. He lives a life based on self-awareness and Love. He practices Yoga, meditates daily, has taught A Course in Miracles, produced Oregon wines, enjoys being a gourmet chef, recites Vedic sutras, and writes his own inspirational poetry.

The saga of Victoria Woodhull appeals to Neal, as it serves three purposes. First, the story provokes public awareness of the historical and continuing denigration and subjugation of gender prejudice. Second, the tale exposes the historical basis for the manipulation of the free markets of stocks, bonds and commodities. Third, the story shows how existing financial and political power structures used prison and seizure of assets to prevent innovation and social change. Victoria Woodhull overcame all these obstacles in a remarkable life.

Neal chose to write in first person using Victoria s words, thoughts, and point of view to tell the tale, inviting the reader to see through her eyes. The style is magic realism along the lines of Allende, Marquez, and Kathleen McGowan (The Magdalene Trilogy). This is an expression of the HeForShe solidarity movement for gender equality championed by Emma Watson, and Neal proudly proclaims himself a male feminist!

Neal has pledged fifty percent (50%) of his author's royalties from book sales and all ancillary revenues, including foreign print distribution and Hollywood rights to a foundation formed in tribute to Victoria Woodhull and her passion for woman rights. The foundation will promote and prove programs for the empowerment and sustainable economic improvement of women, especially single mothers.

For more information visit http://outrageousthebook.com/. You can also follow the author on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Book Blast Schedule

Monday, February 22 Passages to the Past 
Tuesday, February 23 Just One More Chapter The Never-Ending Book
Wednesday, February 24 Back Porchervations
Thursday, February 25 I Heart Reading
Friday, February 26 Beth's Book Nook Blog
Saturday, February 27 With Her Nose Stuck In A Book
Monday, February 29 Book Nerd
Tuesday, March 1 The Book Connection
Wednesday, March 2 Boom Baby Reviews Svetlana's Reads and Views
Thursday, March 3 CelticLady's Reviews
Monday, March 7 A Holland Reads
Tuesday, March 8 A Literary Vacation
Friday, March 11 I'm Shelf-ish

Giveaway

To win a signed Hardcover copy of Outrageous: The Victoria Woodhull Saga, Book One please enter the giveaway via the GLEAM form below. Five copies are up for grabs! Rules Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on March 11th. You must be 18 or older to enter. Giveaway is open to US addresses only. Only one entry per household. All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

Outrageous Book Blast

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Thursday, March 3, 2016

Between Good and Evil by R. Michael Phillips - #bookblast


Crime – Mystery
Sunbury Press, Inc. (January 24, 2016)
Hardcover: 224 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1620066607
Paperback: 222 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1620067291
E-Book ASIN: B01B12YPTC

Years after the Willis Asylum closed, the secrets of its past lingered in its decaying halls as a reminder to the good people of Auburn Notch—when Evil closes a door, he also opens a window. Sheriff Promise Flynn was new to the town, and she was about to find out some windows should never be opened.

Promise Flynn is an overly impulsive Metro Detective whose disregard for procedure finally resulted in her being shot and left for dead during an investigation. To repair her bruised ego and splintered confidence she abandons the callous dark alleys of Chicago to patrol the quiet, birch-lined streets of Auburn Notch—a favorite vacation spot of her youth. For two years everything was idyllic, until the body of a young girl found in the abandoned asylum outside of town awakens the insecurities she thought her new life would insulate her from.

As the new Sheriff she begins her investigation refusing to accept the similarities between the young woman’s death and her own case, oblivious to being unexpectedly recognized and penciled in at the top of a clever murderer’s To-Do list. Her internal struggle intensifies when a discredited crime reporter from the past suspiciously arrives in town to resurrect his threadbare reputation, along with an FBI agent chasing down a lead in a cold case. Both men quickly become entangled in Flynn’s investigation and her attempts to finally put her past to rest.

Flynn reluctantly accepts the murder of the young girl might be the work of the two men responsible for her hasty departure from Chicago, but Agent MacGregor insists the evidence points to a man he’s been chasing. As the rising current of her past threatens to pull her under, Flynn finds herself unprepared for option three.


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MEET THE AUTHOR


Michael is a classically trained artist turned mystery writer. By combining his creative talents with a passion for mysteries he conceived his first series—The Ernie Bisquets Mysteries. It introduced Ernie Bisquets, a retired London pickpocket who decided he was going to assist the London police with their most difficult cases—whether they want his help or not. Michael has completed 3 books in the series, and has plans for at least five additional books.

Michael travels a bit, especially to Great Britain, but also has a fondness for New England. He spent many winters in the shadow of the White Mountains, skiing and enjoying the beautiful countryside. Those fond memories are the backdrop now for the new Auburn Notch Mysteries being published by Sunbury Press. The main character is Sheriff Promise Flynn—an ex-metro detective who left a dark past and her big-city detective shield behind and moved to a small New England town. What follows is anything but therapeutic.

When he’s not painting or writing Michael is an avid antique collector, filling his current home—an 1894 Queen Ann Victorian he, his wife, and son are restoring—with an assortment of antiques from around the world. Michael also enjoys cooking, working in the garden, and playing in the yard with their two rescues, Beau and Pup.

More Books by R. Michael Phillips 


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