Review: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

First line: I wasn’t thinking about the man who’d blown himself up. From the back cover: Her life is devoted to justice – for those she never even knew. In the year since Temperance Brennan left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Quebec. When a female corpse is discovered meticulously dismembered and stashed in trash bags, Tempe detects an alarming…

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Musing Mondays (4.25.11)

This week’s musing asks:  Do the members of your family read? Do you think it was passed down to you? ((or, if you want you can answer this: Who do you think influenced you as a reader?))   PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks.  **MUSING MONDAYS is…

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It’s Monday – What Are You Reading? (4.25.11)

It’s Monday What Are you Reading , hosted by Sheila, is the perfect way for me to begin my week and allows me to focus on what needs to be read and to see what I have or have not accomplished the previous week. I also enjoy discovering new books by visiting other participants blogs. We went up to our cabin this past weekend which was so relaxing – no…

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In My Mailbox (51) 4.24.11

In My Mailbox (IMM) is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. Every week I’ll post what books I’ve received either by mailbox/library/store. For Review (1) Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax Library (1) Driftwood Cottage by Sherryl Woods Purchased (0) Free Downloads (0) Borrowed from family member (0) From Paperback Swap – (1) The Quilter’s Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini Won (0) –    What’s in your…

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Review: The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs

First line: Dan says I should quit reading all those homemaker magazines. From the back cover: Linda Davis’s local fabric shop is a place where women gather to share their creations: wedding quilts, baby quilts, memorial quilts, each bound tight with dreams, hopes and yearnings. Now, as her only child readies for college, Linda is torn between excitement for Molly and heartache for herself. Who will she be when she…

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Review: Family Affair by Debbie Macomber

First line: “I’ve got the backbone of a worm,” Lacey Lancaster muttered as she let herself into her apartment. From the inside cover: Lacey Lancaster has always longed to be a wife and mother. However, after a painful divorce, she decides it’s time to lay low for a while in her charming San Francisco apartment with her beautiful Abyssinian cat, Cleo. Everything would be wonderful, except for her utterly impossible…

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Review: Bedeviled Eggs by Laura Childs

First line: “He reads Mario Puzzo,” Suzanne murmured, focusing on a couple that was eyeing each other warily. From the back cover: After losing their husbands, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra bonded, gaining a newfound independence as well as a wealth of support, inspiration, home baked goods, and their own business. but who would have dreamed that when the Cackleberry Club cafe opened its doors, the three women would be serving…

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Review: Already Home by Susan Mallery

First line: “What do you think?” Jenna Stevens asked, doing her best to sound confident. From the back cover: After nearly a decade as a sous chef in a trendy eatery, Jenna is desperate for a change. She’s supported her ex-husband’s dreams for so long that she can’t even remember her own. Until she sees a for-lease sign near her parents’ home and envisions her very own cooking store. Her…

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It’s Monday – What Are You Reading? (4.18.11)

It’s Monday What Are you Reading , hosted by Sheila, isthe perfect way for me to begin my week and allows me to focus on what needs to be read and to see what I have or have not accomplished the previous week. I also enjoy discovering new books by visiting other participants blogs. It was a pretty productive week last week and I’m hoping this week coming up will…

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In My Mailbox (50) 4.17.11

In My Mailbox (IMM) is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. Every week I’ll post what books I’ve received either by mailbox/library/store. For Review (1) Releasing Gillian’s Wolves by Tara Woolpy Library (4) Promises to Keep by Jane Green (audio book) Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie (audio book) We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg (audio book) Family Affair by Debbie Macomber Purchased (0)…

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Review: Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult (audio book)

From back of audio case: From critically acclaimed, New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult comes a novel hailed as “absorbing and affecting” by Entertainment Weekly. Plain Truth is the engrossing tale of a murder that sends shockwaves through Pennsylvania Amish country. Eighteen-year-old, unwed Katie Fisher is accused of birthing and then smothering her baby at the family dairy farm. But not only does Katie claim her innocence, she also…

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Review: Hannah’s List by Debbie Macomber

First line: I am not a sentimental guy. Synopsis from Barnes & Noble: On the anniversary of his beloved wife’s death, Dr. Michael Everett receives a letter Hannah had written him. In it she reminds him of her love and makes one final request. An impossible request. I want you to marry again. She tells him he shouldn’t spend the years he has left grieving—and she’s chosen three women she…

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Virtual Tour and Guest Post: Nell Walton

Please join me in welcomingNell Walton, author of the new book, The Bone Trail to Always With a Book! If you missed my review, you can read it here. Today Nell talks about the use of dialog in fiction. Dialog in Fiction   When I first sent my manuscript of The Bone Trail to beta readers for feedback, I found myself in a quandary.  Some of the negative feedback I…

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Virtual Tour and Review: The Bone Trail by Nell Walton

First line: On the afternoon of the last day of Lindy Abraham’s life, she stood leaning against an old Jeep Cherokee, once red, now faded to kind of a dusky umber, tapping her heel impatiently against a tire. From the back cover: Inspired by actual events, The Bone Trail is the story of investigative journalist and horsewoman, Kate Wyndham, who is sent to northern Nevada to do a story on…

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It’s Monday – What Are You Reading? (4.11.11)

It’s Monday What Are you Reading , hosted by Sheila, isthe perfect way for me to begin my week and allows me to focus on what needs to be read and to see what I have or have not accomplished the previous week. I also enjoy discovering new books by visiting other participants blogs. Spring finally seems to have come to the Northeast and I am able to enjoy sitting…

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In My Mailbox (49) 4.10.11

In My Mailbox (IMM) is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. Every week I’ll post what books I’ve received either by mailbox/library/store. For Review (2) Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks The Civilized World by Susi Wyss Library (0) Purchased (1) The Knitting Diaries by Debbie Macomber, Susan Mallery, Christina Skye Free Downloads (0)  Borrowed from family member (0) From Paperback Swap – (0) Won (0) – …

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Review: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

First line: You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain’t no matter. From the back cover: You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.…

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Virtual Tour and Review: Blackberry Crumble by Josi S. Kilpack

First line: “Quiz me,” Sadie said, straightening the row of cherry chocolate chip cookies she’d laid out on the platter. From the back cover: Modern Miss Marple: A Magnet For Murder? by Jane Seeley, feature reporter, The Denver Post Local “celebrity” Sadie Hoffmiller has been involved in a number of unfortunate situations that have taken her to crime scenes from London, England, to Miami, Florida, and even in her own…

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Review: Brooklyn Story by Suzanne Corso

First line: Some people lived in the real world and others lived in Brooklyn. From the inside cover: It’s the summer of 1978, and Samantha Bonti is fifteen years old, half Jewish and half Italian, whose dreams of something more are bigger than the neighborhood girls’ teased hair. She lives in Bensonhurst with her mother, Joan, a woman abandoned and scarred in a ruinous marriage, poisoned with cynicism, and shackled…

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Guest Post: Ed Lynskey

Please join me in welcoming Ed Lynskey, author of the new book, Quiet Anchorage to Always With a Book! Today Ed talks about writing Quiet Anchorage.                             A Small Town Named Quiet Anchorage            As far as I know, no small town exists that’s called Quiet Anchorage. Just plain Anchorage in Alaska, sure, but not Quiet Anchorage. How I derived the name is lost to my memory. Perhaps I…

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Book Spotlight: Ordinary Angels by India Drummond

About the book:  An urban fantasy / paranormal novel in which Zoë Pendergraft falls in love with an angel, frees a soul from necromancers, releases a ghost trapped in the Void, and saves his living grandson from demons. An angel is about to fall… Although most of Zoe Pendergraft’s friends are dead, that means nothing to her. After all, they died long before she meet them. What does matter is the…

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It’s Monday – What Are You Reading? (4.4.11)

It’s Monday What Are you Reading , hosted by Sheila, is the perfect way for me to begin my week and allows me to focus on what needs to be read and to see what I have or have not accomplished the previous week. I also enjoy discovering new books by visiting other participants blogs. Another crazy week – so reading productivity was down…hoping this week is a little calmer…

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Month in Review: March 2011

Here are my reading stats for March! Books read:  9 Books I read (reviewed ones have * and link to review) The Paris Wife* by Paula McLain The Lady Elizabeth* by Alison Weir Stilettos & Scoundrels* by Laina Turner Molaski The Last Time I Saw You* by Elizabeth Berg Love You More* by Lisa Gardner The Secret Lives of Dresses* by Erin McKean Brooklyn Story by Suzanne Corso Adventures of…

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