Tuesday Books and Other Things

Thanks to The Purple Princess for hosting Teaser Tuesday at her blog, The Purple Booker.  Thanks to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea for hosting FCFP.

Thanks to Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me for hosting this link-up!  (Actually, it's hosted on a baker's dozen or so of blogs, so I guess I'll have to rotate where the link goes each week.  That's actually a 'note to self' because sure as shootin' I'll forget.

~~~oOo~~~

This book (or series?) is rather interesting.  They call it a 'serial novel', published in eight novella length installments, and written by a total of 4 different authors!  Both quotes are from part 1.)

SYNOPSIS

FBI Special Agent Lara Grant thought that she'd put her past behind her--finally--with her last case. But now a serial bomber is targeting Manhattan's elite power players, offering them a choice between saving hundreds of lives or seeing their darkest secrets exposed. Lara is working with the Crisis Management Unit to stop the bomber, but how will she react when she's the one who has to choose between truth...or death? 

As the clock ticks down, Lara braces for another confrontation with evil. And no matter what, she'll make sure her enemy's first mistake is also his last...

~~~oOo~~~

(***FYI - the book quotes contain two mild instances of 'adult language'.  If this may offend you, please skip directly to the bottom for the 'Tuesday Talk' section.  In movie rating speak, it would probably get a PG or PG13.)  

TEASER TUESDAY

from ~location 604 on the Kindle:

He left the bathroom and noticed that her spare bedroom door was cracked open a bit.  He'd never been in there and had assumed she either used it as a workout room or a home office.  The door had always been completely closed before.  

Curious, he shoved the door open a little farther and then froze.

What in the hell?

His heart dropped to the floor as he stared around the room in disbelief....

~~~oOo~~~

FIRST CHAPTER, FIRST PARAGRAPH

From the prologue:

Dammit, he'd been so careful.  And now this.

From yourworstnightmare@nowhere.net: 

I know what you did with all that money.  I'll keep your secret but it will cost the lives of innocent people.  Or confess to the press and nobody gets hurt.  The choice is yours.  You have until noon tomorrow.

~~~oOo~~~

TUESDAY TALK

My 2017 BetterWorldBooks Reading Challenge Sign-Up Etc

This is cool!  The graphic for the challenge also has the book list on it, so...not a lot of typing for me! I'll keep track of my books for this challenge on this post.  You can click on the button to get more information about the challenge.

My Booklist (section added 1/4/2017)

1.  A collection of short stories - The Best American Humorous Short Stories

2.  A young adult novel - The Parting by Beverly Lewis

3.  A book with a color in the title - Night of the Purple Moon 

4.  A book that's more than 100 years old - Unknown to History by Charlotte Mary Yonge - pub 1882

5.  A book you picked based on its cover

6.  A book set in a place you want to visit - A King Ensnared by JR Tomlin (Scotland)

7.  A book based on a fairy tale - Swept Away by Vanessa Riley

8.  A National Book Award Winner - 

9.  A book that takes place in a forest - ALTDORF: The Forest Nights #1 by JK Swift

10. A romance that takes place during travel

11.  A book under 200 pages

12.  A book over 400 pages - 

13.  A banned book - 

14.  A nonfiction book about nature

15.  A fantasy novel - Gateway to Nifleheim by Glenn G. Thater

16.  A book by a person of color - 

17.  A book by a female writer - My Father's House by Rose Chandler Johnson

18.  A book of poetry - Autumn Poetry by Jan Darrow 

19.  A book set in Asia

20.  A book about immigrants - 

21.  A book about a historical event - The Voyage by Roberta Kagan

22.  A book with a child narrator -

23.  A book translated from another language - 

24.  A book that's been adapted into a movie - 

And since that took a LOT less time to set up than I thought it would, I'm going to add...

~~~oOo~~~

MY TUESDAY BOOKISH LINK-UPS!!!

(edited 3 January 2017 @ 1122 hrs to reflect change of link-up host!)

Thanks to The Purple Princess for hosting Teaser Tuesday at her blog, The Purple Booker.

Thanks to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea for hosting FCFP.

~~~oOo~~~

In this thrilling and candid memoir, world record-holding and controversial Big Wave surfer Garrett McNamara chronicles his emotional quest to ride the most formidable waves on earth.

~~~oOo~~~

TEASER TUESDAY

(from page 143)

"I was standing in line at Foodland on a January day in 1990 and heard the checker tell the person in line in front of me that the Eddie was on.  Foodland is the only grocery store on the North Shore, not far from Shark's Cover where Pupu-kea Road meets Kam Highway.  Every surfer who winds up on the North Shore, which is to say pretty much every big-name surfer in the world, finds himself or herself buying some orange juice or tortilla chips at Foodland now and then.  The checkout clerks hear it all and they know everything."

~~~oOo~~~

FIRST CHAPTER, FIRST PARAGRAPH

(from the books prologue on page 1)

"Everyone wonders where you go when you die.  I had a preview.  I was standing in the living room of my mom's house in Pupu-kea, on the North Shore of O'ahu, talking on the phone to my doctor when suddenly the lights went out.  I apprently dropped to the floor.  There was no going toward the light, no reaching for a bright spot at the end of life's long tunnel.  This new place was velvet black, calm and pain-free.  The lack of pain was everything.  I lay there, at peace.

Then I woke up to my brother Liam crying my name."

~~~oOo~~~

So, I'm wondering....

Which reading challenges are you participating in this year?

Have you or someone you know ever surfed?

Tuesday Books and Talk - May 10, 2016

This is week 4 of the Between the Lines series, hosted at Katherine's Corner.

Between the Lines features bloggers 'of a certain age', or in other words, 50+, whom you should be following, niche or no!

~~~oOo~~~

Thanks to Jenn for hosting Teaser Tuesday at her blog, Books and a Beat. Thanks to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea for hosting FCFP. Click on their buttons to get all the details, to see what books others have found and to join in the fun!

My next review up is for an anthology, called, Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries, so I'll take the Tuesday bookish info from the first full-length book in the group, called, "Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun", by Lois Winston.  Here are the covers for the anthology and the book, respectively:

  

FCFP TUESDAY

I hate whiners.  Always have.  So I was doing my damnedest not to become one, in spite of the lollapalooza of a quadruple whammy that had broadsided me last week.  Not an easy task, given that one of those lollapalooza whammies had barged into my bedroom and was presently hammering her cane against my bathroom door.

TEASER TUESDAY

This is from location 427 in the MOBI file of the anthology:

Why is it that guys with wrinkles look sexy, but when women get wrinkles, they just look old?

And why on earth was I thinking of such things when my life was turning to week-old crap?  Maybe my brain decided I needed a shot of serotonin to give me a brief respite from the more pressing problems of newly acquired poverty and how to avoid being fitted for cement Manolos.

~~~oOo~~~

Reading challenges, read-a-thons and blogging link-ups.  Three things I love!  I participated in the following last Tuesday, but had already finished the post so I didn't add the graphic.  I know.  Forgive me. :O)  So I'm making it official!

Thanks to Keri Lynn at Our Pretty Little Girls for hosting this link-up!  (Actually, it's hosted on a baker's dozen or so of blogs, so I guess I'll have to rotate where the link goes each week.  That's actually a 'note to self' because sure as shootin' I'll forget.

Since this is the first 'official' link-up for me, I thought I'd add a little bit about how I found Tuesday Talk and why I've gone back.  So sit back and relax.  Get a drink if you're thirsty.  I'll wait.  (No worries, it won't be that long a story.)

Katherine at Katherine's Corner is running a multiple week series on bloggers who are 50+.  Since I myself am 50+, I think it's a swell idea!  But I have met some really nice women and bloggers in the last four weeks and I truly am grateful to have some new bloggy friends.  (Nothing against younger women and nothing against the men...it's just nice to know have some women acquaintances who know that when someone says "911" they are not necessarily referring to the emergency services telephone number.  But I digress...

One of the bloggers who was featured in the same week as me, is Michelle at Grammie Time.  When I visited her blog as part of the tour, I found out she linked up to "Tuesday Talk".  And, link-up aficionado that I am, I stalked followed her and the rest is history!  (Or is that herstory?)

(And I actually found another link up while I was visiting Tuesday Talk links, but that's a story for another day.)

Tuesday Bookish Post - Auguest 19, 2016

Thanks to Jenn for hosting Teaser Tuesday at her blog, Books and a Beat.

Thanks to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea for hosting FCFP.

~~~oOo~~~

Tuesday Bookish Post - March 1, 2016

Thanks to Jenn for hosting Teaser Tuesday at her blog, Books and a Beat.

Thanks to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea for hosting FCFP.

SYNOPSIS

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.&nbsp

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?

~~~oOo~~~

FIRST CHAPTER, FIRST PARAGRAPH

"Are you sure they're gonna come through here, Jacks?" Davey Hume asked for the tenth time.

"Positive."

Davey shook his head.  "I hope so, or Pinkerton's gonna have our asses!  If we let that gang stroll out of the Mercantile after they robbed it, after he told us they were gonna do it, we're gonna be close enough to dead to reach out and touch his whiskers!"

~~~oOo~~~

TEASER TUESDAY

 (this is from 45% on the Kindle, in Chapter 24)

"I believe in my gun and my brain.  After that comes my horse, dynamite, and a lucky guess, not necessarily in that order."

Running Wolf didn't laugh.  "Your spirit is hollow without a faith in things you cannot see or control.  How have you survived?"

FCFP/Teaser Tuesday - Pale Highway by Nicholas Conley

Gabriel Schist is spending his remaining years at Bright New Day, a nursing home. He once won the Nobel Prize for inventing a vaccine for AIDS. But now, he has Alzheimer’s, and his mind is slowly slipping away.

When one of the residents comes down with a horrific virus, Gabriel realizes that he is the only one who can find a cure. Encouraged by Victor, an odd stranger, he convinces the administrator to allow him to study the virus.  Soon, reality begins to shift, and Gabriel’s hallucinations interfere with his work.

As the death count mounts, Gabriel is in a race against the clock and his own mind. Can he find a cure before his brain deteriorates past the point of no return?

~~~oOo~~

"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesdays" is a linkup hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea.

I'm going to use the first paragraph of the books prologue, because it is more ... evocative.  Let me show you what I mean....

"The patient had charcoal-black eyes, hard and cold, as if rounded chunks of volcanic rock and been shoved inside her eye sockets.  Her skin possessed a sickly white pallor, as if it had been sucked dry of all its nutrients and hung up on a clothesline.  Dark veins crawled over her body like wriggling snakes, pulsing with every unsteady heartbeat.  Her mouth hung open, and a pockmarked grey tongue hung uselessly over her lower lip.  Her bedridden form emitted the stench of necrotic flesh. 

Glenda Alvarez was 63 years old, young compared to the other residents.  Just last week she'd had her hair permed and her nails manicured.  The virus had hit fast."

~~~oOo~~~

"Teaser Tuesdays" is a linkup hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm.

This is from approximately 58% on the mobi file:

"If he died tomorrow, his nudity would be all they would remember, not the Nobel Prize, not the Schist vaccine.  No, his humiliation would be his legacy."

~~~oOo~~~

So, what do you think?  Too far out for you?  Not far enough?

~~~oOo~~~

Here's a little about the author:

Originally from California, Nicholas Conley has currently made his home in the colder temperatures of New Hampshire. He considers himself to be a uniquely alien creature with mysterious literary ambitions, a passion for fiction, and a whole slew of terrific stories he’d like to share with others. 

When not busy writing, Nicholas is an obsessive reader, a truth seeker, a sarcastic idealist, a traveler, and — like many writers — a coffee addict.

~~~oOo~~~

So, how did I come by this read, do you ask?  The book will be on tour (via Sage's Blog Tours) and I will post a review here on the porch this coming, Sunday, November 22, 2015.

Teaser Tuesday/1st Chapter 1st Paragraph/Top Ten Tuesday

Every Tuesday, Bibliophile by the Sea hosts the First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where readers share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book s/he is reading or thinking about reading soon. Care to join us?  

The early morning sun spattered honeyed light over the village as Lucy steered off the road near the town's sole church.  Fromelles was like many of the rural communities Lucy passed en route from Paris, seemingly unremarkable aside from the blood-soaked history entrenched in the soil.

Lucy locked her car, headed across the lush fields where, within the earth, soldiers' remains have laid in wait for nearly one hundred years.  She beheld the red-brick perimeter walls of the unfinished cemetery, gaze drawn to the Cross of Remembrance.  it pulled her towards it, like a beacon beckoning.

Click on the cover to see the book on GoodReads.  I will post a review of Beyond Coincidence tomorrow, September 24th.

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!

- Click on the button above to go to the linkup!

"That would explain why he vanished," said Melody, so softly she might have been talking to herself, "I couldn't understand.  I thought he was still beside me.  And then he was gone...."

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week they will post a new Top Ten list. Everyone is welcome to join. All they ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

TOP TEN BOOKS ON MY FALL TBR LIST

1.  The Unexpected Earl by Philippa Jane Keyworth (review/interview posting 9/26)

2.  Montreal: Street Photography by Debra Schoenberger (review posting 9/30)

3.  Catwalk (An Animals in Focus Mystery #3) by Sheila Webster Boneham (review posting 10/1)

4.  Embellished to Death (Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery #3) by Christina Freeburn (review/interview posting 10/1)

5.  The Heavens are Telling by B. D. Riehl (review posting 10/4)

6.  Fit to Be Dead by Nancy G. West (review posting  10/7)

7.  Lost Under a Ladder by Linda O. Johnston (review posting 10/8)

8.  Yakimali's Gift by Linda Covella (review posting 10/9)

9.  Captain Shelby by Jesse Giles Christiansen (review posting 10/10)

10.  A Tangled Web: Allan's Miscellany 1846 by Sandra Schwab (review posting 10/10)

Three things of note:

1.  I've got several books that I've already finished to be reviewed in this same time frame.

2.  Although I generally do enjoy the books I review, I'd like to fit in at least one "just for fun".

3.  Omigosh, I'd better GET READING!

Teaser/First Chapter Tuesdays - Thread End

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!

p. 215

"You weren't ready for your mother and me to meet when she came into the shop the other day."

"You sound like we're going to a war zone rather than out to dinner."

~~~oOo~~~

Every Tuesday, Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where she shares the first paragraph or (a few) of a book she is reading or thinking about reading soon. Care to join us?

My selection for today is from the above book, "Thread End":

It was almost lunchtime on Friday, and I was pacing.  The museum exhibit I'd been anticipating for two months was finally opening that evening!  My boyfriend, Ted; my friend Rajani "Reggie" Singh; her husband, Manu; and I were all going together.  The guys weren't overly excited about the Padgett Collection textile exhibit, but they knew we were - and they were great guys, so they were taking us.  Reggie was library director for Tallulah Falls's one and only library, Manu was chief of police and Ted was his head detective.  I almost felt that we should be VIP guests, given the extra security Reggie and I would be bringing along.

Angus, my Irish wolfhound, could sense my excitement, and he paced with me.  I perched momentarily on one of the red club chairs that helped make up my embroidery shop's sit and stitch square, and he sat and placed his head on my lap.

"It's all right," I said soothingly as I scratched his head.  "I'm just excited about tonight.  Reggie will be here to see you soon.  Yes, she will!  She's bringing lunch!"

Another book in this series, "Thread on Arrival" was one of the first books I read when I discovered reading for myself again, and reading challenges.  It is also one of the first cozies to land on my shelf.

Come back next Monday for my review of "Thread End".

FCFP Tuesday Intros - Murder at Honeychurch Hall

This is my first time participating in First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesdays, a link-up hosted at Bibliophile by the Sea.

I must begin with a bit of a story.  About a week ago, I received an email from one of the book tour blogs to which I subscribe, telling of an upcoming book tour for Murder at Honeychurch Hall.  I love me some cozy mysteries, so I responded quite quickly, and was a little saddened to find out that the tour was already full!  Well, I had already done the rounds of the authors website and GoodReads page, etc.  A short time later, I received an email from Hannah Dennison herself, thanking me for making the first comment at her new site, and offering to send me an advanced reading copy of the selfsame book!  And guess what came in my mail today?  WOOHOO!  I tried to explain my glee to my 11 year old daughter by saying it would be like her getting a preview of the newest Halo toy before the general public.

On to the book!  The scheduled publication date is May 13, 2014, but is available for pre-order now!

Description from the back cover of the book:

Murder at Honeychurch Hall former TV celebrity host Kat Stanford is just days away from starting her dream antique business with her newly widowed mother Iris when she gets a huge shock. Iris has recklessly purchased a dilapidated carriage house, on an isolated country estate, Honeychurch Hall, several hundred miles from London. When Kat arrives at the house, she discovers that Iris has yet another surprise in store. Iris has been writing in secret for years and reluctantly reveals that she’s actually Krystalle Storm, the famous bestselling author of steamy bodice-rippers. The gentry upstairs and those below stairs at Honeychurch Hall regard the newcomers with suspicion and distrust. When the nanny goes missing, the loyal housekeeper ends up dead, and Iris is accused of the murder, Kat realizes she hardly knows her mother at all and wonders if she is—indeed—guilty. Although the six hundred year old estate has endured wars, corruption and Royal favors, it’s the scandals, secrets and lies of the last few decades that must remain buried at all costs.

So I tore open the envelope and delved into the book.  First chapter having been read, I sat down here to wax lyrical about it.  Since I had already read the first couple of paragraphs on the book tour announcement, I thought I would include a few short paragraphs from the middle of Chapter 1.

"And besides," she added.  "Alfred helped."
"And Alfred is whom? Your Spanish boyfriend?"  Nothing would surprise me at this point.
"Alfred is hardly a Spanish name, dear.  A Spanish name would be Juan or perhaps Pablo," said Mum mildly.  "Alfred is my brother."
I swear I stopped breathing.  "I didn't know you had a brother."
"Well, I do," said Mum.  "As a matter of fact I had two - though Billy's dead and gone.  Aneurism on Blackpool Pier.  He died young.  So very sad."
"So I must have cousins.  I'd love to have cousins."
"You wouldn't like them."
"I would like them."  I could feel my temper rising as I remembered envying my friends' big families, especially at Christmas.  I hated being an only child.  Did Dad know you had brothers?"
"Of course he knew.  He just didn't like them so we didn't see them," said Mum.  "Does it matter?"
"Actually, it does matter,"  I said.  "I always thought you and Dad were orphans."
"Really?  I wonder why?"
"Because that's what you told me," I shouted.
"Well, never mind all that," said Mum briskly.  "You'd better get cracking if you want to be here in time for tea."

I hope you enjoyed this preview.  Here are a picture and some links for you to check out:

HANNAH DENNISON

GoodReads - Amazon - Website -  Author GR page - Twitter- Facebook