First line: “Nothing too hard.” From the back cover: Trina Stewart needs cash. Fast. She’s barely got enough dough to keep her fanny off the streets, let alone any spending money for hot nights clubbing on Sunset Strip. And her job teaching English as a Second Language is seriously lacking in both pay and glamour. But not just any job will do. She’s after a real Hollywood job. The kind…
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It’s been a while since I’ve participating in the hop, but I couldn’t resist this week. Brought to you by Jennifer at Crazy For Books, the Book Blogger Hop is a fun way to get to know other book bloggers. This week’s question: “If you find a book that looks interesting but is part of a series, do you always start with the first title?” ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY YES! I…
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December is my favorite time of year – I love everything about the holiday season, from decorating the house to shopping for gifts for loved ones to baking yummy holiday treats, plus my birthday also happens to be during this time! I saw a few blogs mentioning some holiday goings-on, so I decided to check them on. I am participating in the Book Blogger Holiday Swap for the first time.…
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First line: Things aren’t always as they appear. From the inside cover: How does it feel to be desired by ever man and envied by every woman? Wonderful. This is the life Nora Sinclair has dreamed about, the life she’s worked hard for, the life she will never give up. When FBI agent John O’Hara first sees her, she seems perfect. She has the looks. The career. The clothes. The…
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CONGRATULATIONS to Mary winner of The Life O’Reilly by Brian Cohen Random.org selected the winner. Thanks to all who entered the giveaway!
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First line: The willingness of a Wall Street investment bank to pay me hundreds of thousands of dollars to dispense investment advice to grown-ups remains a mystery to me to this day. From the inside cover: When the crash of the U.S. stock market became public knowledge in the fall of 2008, it was already old news. The real crash, the silent crash, had taken place over the previous year,…
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Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!! A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment. THIS WEEK’S LETTER IS: “N” My book is: Vision in White by Nora Roberts Synopsis from Amazon: The frighteningly prolific Roberts kicks off a frothy series about four friends who form an all-inclusive wedding service called Vows. Mackensie ‘Mac’…
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FIR is hosted by Katrina atCallapidderdays. Every Tuesday this fall, Katrina will be posting a question about reading. Today’s question:How did you get into reading? When and how/why did you really become “a reader”? I don’t remember at what age I actually learned to read, but I can always remember having books around me. My father was a teacher when we were younger and I always remember him bringing home…
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MizB of Should Be Reading hosts Teaser Tuesday. 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…
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It’s Monday What Are you Reading 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. Books Completed Last Week: The Big Short by Michael Lewis (library, book club book) Honeymoon by James Patterson (mine)…
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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) Murder on the Down Low by Pamela Samuels Young Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky Library (1) Little Bee by Chris Cleave Purchased (2) – The Queen’s Captive by Barbara Kyle Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts From Paperback Swap –…
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Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!! A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment. THIS WEEK’S LETTER IS: “M” My book is: Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy Synopsis from Amazon: Bestselling author Binchy (Tara Road, etc.) again explores the depths of family relationships in an 11th warm, involving drama. Set in contemporary Ireland…
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FIR is hosted by Katrina atCallapidderdays. Every Tuesday this fall, Katrina will be posting a question about reading. Today’s question:Where do you love to read? Note: I don’t mean where do you actually do most of your reading, because that might be the carpool line, the work cafeteria, or even the bathroom (if you have to escape from a few small children in order to read a chapter of your…
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MizB of Should Be Reading hosts Teaser Tuesday. 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…
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Here are my reading stats for October! Books read: 11 Books I read (reviewed ones have * and link to review) Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return* by Marjane Satrapi Love Means Zero* by Daisy Jordan Mini Shopaholic* by Sophie Kinsella Let’s Eat* by Denise Burroughs Devil’s Food Cake* by Josi S. Kilpack Don’t Blink* by James Patterson The Life O’Reilly* by Brian Cohen Perfection* by Julie Metz Love…
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First line: This was going to be a solo show. From the back cover: Alice Cohen was happy for the first time in years. After a difficult divorce, she had a new love in her life, she was raising a beloved adopted daughter, and her career was blossoming. Then, she started experiencing mysterious symptoms. After months of tests, X-rays, and inconclusive diagnoses, Alice was sent for an emergency CAT scan…
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First line: Almost home. From the back cover: Dear Reader, Guess what? I’m falling in love! With Mack McAfee. My baby daughter, Noelle, and I have been living next door to Mack since the spring. I’m still a little wary about our relationship, because I haven’t always made good decisions when it comes to men. My baby’s father, David Rhodes, is testament to that. I’m so worried he might sue…
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First line: Lombardo’s Steakhouse on Manhattan’s tony Upper East Side was justly famous for two things, two specialties of the house. From the inside cover: Lombardo’s Steakhouse in New York is famous for three reasons: the menu, the clientele, and now, the gruesome murder of an infamous mob lawyer. Effortlessly, the assassin slips through the police’s fingers, and his absence sparks a blaze of accusations about who ordered the hit.…
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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 (0) Library (0) Purchased (0) – From Paperback Swap – (0) Won (1) – The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (from CMash Loves to Read) What’s in your mailbox?
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First line: As the elite of Manhattan sipped champagne and whispered in hush tones, Rafe Mancuso patted the Glock hidden beneath his tuxedo jacket. From the back cover: When hostage negotiator Rafe Mancuso takes a bullet to save Sara Rios, his former partner, his actions make him a bona fide hero – and New York City’s newest most eligible bachelor. Then Rafe admits that Sara is much more than just…
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First line: “Have you seen Thom yet?” Sadie asked, craning her neck to peer into the corners of the temporary stage set up at the front of the ballroom at the Carmichael Hotel. From the back cover: Calling All Book Lovers! Please join us this Friday as the Garrison Library welcomes favorite son Thom Mortenson for a special appearance to discuss his bestselling novel Devilish Details. It’s guaranteed to be…
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It’s been a while since I’ve participating in the hop, but I couldn’t resist this week. Brought to you by Jennifer at Crazy For Books, the Book Blogger Hop is a fun way to get to know other book bloggers. This week’s question: What is the one bookish thing you would love to have, no matter the cost? I would absolutely love to have a reading room in my house…
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First line: OK. Don’t panic. From the inside cover: Sophie Kinsella has dazzled readers with her irresistible Shopaholic novels – sensational international bestsellers that have garnered millions of devoted fans and catapulted her into the first rank of contemporary storytellers. Now her beloved heroine Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) returns in a hilarious tale of married life, toddlerhood, and the perils of trying to give a fabulous surprise party – on…
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First line: It happened like this: Henry’s footsteps on the old wooden floorboards. From the back cover: Julie Metz’s life changed forever on one ordinary January afternoon when her husband, Henry, collapsed on the kitchen floor and died in her arms. Suddenly, this mother of a six-year-old became the young widow in her bucolic small town. But that was only the beginning. Seven months after Henry’s death, just when Julie…
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Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!! A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment. THIS WEEK’S LETTER IS: “L” My book is: Peony in Love by Lisa See Synopsis from Amazon: Set in 17th-century China, See’s fifth novel is a coming-of-age story, a ghost story, a family saga and a work of musical…
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A Week in Books WWW Wednesdays is hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions… What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next? What are you currently reading? 1022 Evergreen Place by Debbie Macomber What did you recently finish reading? Love Me If You Dare by Carly Phillips What do…
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First line: “There has to be a better way,” I muttered, as I replaced the phone receiver on its cradle. From the back cover: On the outside, Nick O’Reilly has it all: a high-flying legal career, as a partner of an elite Wall Street law firm, and financial security, with an apartment overlooking Central Park. Having grown up in a working-class family, as far back as Nick can remember this…
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FIR is hosted by Katrina atCallapidderdays. Every Tuesday this fall, Katrina will be posting a question about reading. Today’s question: When you read a book, do you read EVERYTHING? In other words, do you read the dedication, the acknowledgment, the foreword, the afterword, the prologue, the epilogue, the appendices, etc.? Or do you just read the “meat” of the book? Or is your approach somewhere in between? I read almost…
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MizB of Should Be Reading hosts Teaser Tuesday. 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…
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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) Hollywood Ending by Lucie Simone A Royal Likeness by Christine Trent Library (0) Purchased (0) – From Paperback Swap – (0) Won (0) – ***While my mailbox is quite light this week, I am ecstatic that I received the new Christine…
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First line: November 1984. I am in Austria. From the inside cover: In Persepolis, heralded by the Los Angeles Times as “one of the freshest and most original memoirs of our day,” Marjane Satrapi dazzled us with her heartrending memoir-in-comic-strips about growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Here is the continuation of her fascinating story. In 1984, Marjane flees fundamentalism and the war with Iraq to begin a…
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First line: This is me when I was ten years old. From the inside cover: Originally published to wide critical acclaim in France, where it elicited comparisons to Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s wise, funny, and heartbreaking memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years…
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Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!! A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment. THIS WEEK’S LETTER IS: “K” My book is: Secrets of the Tudor Court: The Pleasure Palace by Kate Emerson Synopsis from Amazon: Eight-year-old Jane Popyncourt travels with her mother from France to the English court of Henry VII. She…
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A Week in Books WWW Wednesdays is hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions… What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next? What are you currently reading? Don’t Blink by James Patterson What did you recently finish reading? Devil’s Food Cake by Josi S. Kilpack What do you think…
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First tip: Always keep your cooking area clean to prevent cross contamination. About the book: Denise Burroughs combines her rich Italian heritage with years of southern tradition in Let’s Eat!, her debut cookbook. Her love for cooking shines through in this comprehensive book, suitable for all levels of cooking experience. Let’s Eat! provides readers with simple, inexpensive dishes. Recipes range from “Potato Flake Chicken” to “Chocolate Italian Cookies.” Her strong…
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FIR is hosted by Katrina atCallapidderdays. Every Tuesday this fall, Katrina will be posting a question about reading. Today’s question: Do you ever dog-ear the corners of book pages to mark your spot? Or are you a faithful bookmark user, refusing to damage the pages of your books? OR do you have another way to keep track of where you are in a book? I am a faithful bookmark user.…
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MizB of Should Be Reading hosts Teaser Tuesday. 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…
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First line: In the fall of 1995, after resigning from my last academic post, I decided to indulge myself and fulfill a dream. From the back cover: Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran,…
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This week’s musing asks: Do you prefer hardcovers, trade paperbacks (the bigger ones), or mass market paperbacks (the smaller ones)? Why? 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 hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading The short answer is it all depends…there…
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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) The Love Goddess’ Cooking School by Melissa Senate Library (1) The Big Short by Michael Lewis Purchased (1) – Killer Heat by Brenda Novak Borrowed from family member (2) Peony in Love by Lisa See Charade by Sandra Brown …
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FIR is hosted by Katrina atCallapidderdays. Every Tuesday this fall, Katrina will be posting a question about reading. Today’s question: Do you eat/drink while reading? If so, do you have some favorite reading snacks? The short answer is yes to the drink and sometimes to the food. I always have a drink near me – either a glass of water or a cuppa tea or sometimes a glass…
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MizB of Should Be Reading hosts Teaser Tuesday. 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…
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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) The Life O’Reilly by Brian Cohen Perfection by Julie Metz Library (0) Purchased (0) – Borrowed from family member (1) The White Queen by Philippa Gregory From Paperback Swap – (0) Won (0) – What’s in your mailbox?
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First line: “Agh, you guys are so lucky,” Kelsey said. From the back cover: A chance encounter in a Rome hotel, two tremendously damaging photographs, and Hilton Joliet’s life is instantly altered. Previously working a dead-end job as an assistant in a portrait studio, she is now a freelance photographer for Game Set Match magazine, “the Us Weekly of tennis,” as she calls it. Thrown rapidly into a jet-setting life…
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Please join me in welcoming Daisy Jordan, author of Love Means Zero to Always With a Book! I will be reviewing Love Means Zero tomorrow. Today Daisy guest blogs about the characters we love to hate. The Characters You Love to Hate All of my books have hateable characters. Haidin, Aubrey, Natalie, Melanie, Brooke…these are a few that stand out to me. And readers really dohatethese characters. I give out…
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Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!! A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment. THIS WEEK’S LETTER IS: “I” My book is: A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff Synopsis from Amazon: When vintage clothing expert Phoebe Swift decides to abandon her career as a Sotheby’s auctioneer, she opens London’s Village Vintage, selling only…
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A Week in Books WWW Wednesdays is hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions… What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next? What are you currently reading? Love Means Zero by Daisy Jordan What did you recently finish reading? Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi…
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FIR is hosted by Katrina atCallapidderdays. Every Tuesday this fall, Katrina will be posting a question about reading. Today’s question: What do you think about e-books? Do you engage in e-reading or do you prefer to stick to good ol’ physical books? I do not have an e-reader and am 50/50 about getting one. I love the feel and smell of new books and even older ones for…
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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) Let’s Eat by Denise Burroughs Library (2) Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi Purchased (1) – Don’t Blink by James Patterson From Paperback Swap – (0) Won (0) – What’s in your…
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Thank you to all of you who entered to become a finalist in the Wind Warrior Giveaway. I have selected the 5 finalists from this site who while be entered into the Grand Prize drawing and be notified by Cynthia Roberts if they have won on October 2nd. Spamgirl Michele Dani Jan Pippirose Good luck to all of you!
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