Just other stuff

Over at an adventure in reading raidergirl3 has blog series "It's Tuesday, where are you?" Every Tuesday she asks where you are in your book. Right now I am in 1970 Palo Alto, CA while reading The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. I started it yesterday and read over 160 pages which is a lot for me in one day. Where are you?

J Scott Savage, author of the forthcoming Farworld series, says that ARCs will be on the way soon. I am very excited to be involved in his Blog Tour. You can read a sneak-peek in this post and see the bookmarks in this one.

• I have finished Murder at the Bad Girl's Bar & Grill by NM Kelby. Great mystery... more on this book later in the week.
• Click here if you would like to enter to win my copy of Dancing Above the Waves. Make sure I have a way to contact you.
• I am currently on page 190 of The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. WONDERFUL.
• Don't forget to vote in the Summer Reading round 2 poll! We're narrowing down our choices.
  

Summer Reading Poll #2 - and other stuff

Hello Book Buddies-

There was a decent turn out for our first poll. I have already tallied and deleted our first poll and created a second poll with only 10 choices. You can still vote for as many as interest you, but try to limit it to 4 books. You don't NEED to have a teen to participate in Summer Reading. This idea just branched off my desire to do something bonding this summer with my oldest daughter before she starts high school (YIKES!). I have gotten reading guides for all of the 10 choices in this round. As with the last poll, it will be available until whenever I log on Friday morning (May 30).Please spread the word to others that you think may be interested in joining our Summer Reading fun!

OTHER STUFF:

• Also see the post below for info on my very first giveaway!
• One of my current reads is Murder at the Bad Girl's Bar & Grill by N.M. Kelby available June 3, 2008. My contact at her publisher has agreed to let me raffle off my copy when I am finished! I'm just over 1/4 of the way through it and am loving it. So stay tuned for my review and raffle!
• Don't forget to vote in the survey for Summer Reading, spread the word and comment on the post below to enter to win Dancing Above the Waves.

UPDATE [5PM eastern]: The link is working and page totals [in the widgets to the right] are current!

Dancing Above the Waves Susan Wallerstein

Title: Dancing Above the Waves
Author: Susan Walerstein
ISBN: 978-0-595-44940-8
Format: Paperback
Publisher: iUniverse
Price: $15.95

Dancing Above the Waves by Susan Walerstein is a terrific mystery. I don’t know if it’s because I read so many mysteries, but I generally figure out who the ‘bad guy’ (in this case a blackmailer) is well before the end. This was not the case with Dancing Above the Waves. I had it narrowed down to 4 people, but that’s as close as I could get.

From the Back:

Wealthy Bostonian Jack "Scooter" McCalister has it all - money, charm, and the devotion of two different women: Sherry, his high-society wife, and Erica, his island-born mistress. But while driving recklessly to catch a ferry one rainy morning, Jack strikes a young girl and leaves the scene of the accident, not even bothering to see if she is alive or dead. With this one fateful decision, Jack's perfect world shatters.

Like a coastline lashed by a wintry sea, guilt and confusion wreak havoc on Jack's carefully managed existence. He struggles to keep the pieces of his life together until a dangerous witness to the accident begins blackmailing him, threatening to expose the truth. Pushed to the brink by his unknown tormentor, a double life, a faltering magazine business, and his ever-present remorse, Jack is caught in a web of lies. Now, Jack must break free before he loses his career, his sanity - and his life.

I really enjoyed Dancing Above the Waves. Susan Walerstein does a wonderful job of immersing us in Jack and Sherry’s world of wealth and privilege. She does an equally wonderful job of showing us Erica and Carrie’s world of the blue-collar. There was a little bit of awkwardness in the teenage dialogue in my opinion, but not enough to pull the reader out of Clary’s Cove.

I don’t want to give too much away. I will say that any mystery/thriller fan should be sure pick up a copy of Dancing Above the Waves.

It's the End of the World Challenge

Since I have revamped my book related goal for this year, I thought I would join a challenge I discovered while blog hopping this afternoon. Becky at Becky's Book Reviews is hosting a challenge titled "It's the End of the World (As We Know It) Challenge". Do you have REM song in your head like I do? Between now and September 15th I need to read at least 3

books about "the end of the world." This includes both apocalyptic fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction. There is some overlap with dystopic fiction as well. The point being something--be it coming from within or without, natural or unnatural--has changed civilization, society, humanity to such a degree that it radically differs from "life as we know it." (Aliens, evil governments, war, plague, natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, hurricanes, depletion of resources, genetic manipulation, etc.) Here is a wikipedia article on the subject. Also see here.

I already know 1 book that I'll be reading; Scott Westerfeld's The Uglies. My oldest has the first 3 in a boxed set on her bookcase. I'd also like to read Stephanie Meyer's The Host if I can get my paws on it before the deadline. I've already read the teaser. I should come up with 2 more (in case I can't get The Host) any help would be appreciated. kylee[DOT]books[AT]gmail[DOT]com


Now, I'm off to enjoy my Pomegranate Pizzazz and Dancing Above the Waves on this chilly, rainy afternoon.

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UPDATE: May 21, 2008

Earlier today I commented on a post on Blogger News Network (this post) about Susan Walerstein's Dancing Above the Waves. Paula with Author Marketing Experts, Inc saw my comment, Ms. Walerstein is one of their clients. Paula also saw this here post about Becky's Challenge, saw I was still looking for suggestions and told me about a book by another of their clients, Dan Ronco. The book is Unholy Domain and is perfect for the challenge and the trailer creeped me out, in the best sense of the phrase. She's mailing it out to me. Is there anything better for a bibliophile than free books?!

So that makes 2 definites on my list:

• Unholy Domain by Dan Ronco
  
• The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

UPDATE May 25, 2008:
I have my 3!

• Unholy Domain by Dan Ronco
• The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
  

What Your Mother Never Told You Richard M Dudum - review

I read/reviewed this for Amateur de Livre.

Richard Dudum does a fantastic job of talking to young women in this book. The language, on occasion, is blunt and may put off some parents reading this book, but please do not let that stop you.

I have a 14 year old daughter who will be starting high school in the fall and she WILL be reading What Your Mother Never Told You this summer. Mr Dudum makes so many great points in this book. This book is broken up into 10 parts (11 if you include the section of Appendices) beginning with “Perceptions and Communication Skills” which deals with, in part, “Body Language”. I think few girls understand that how they dress and act (flirting, etc) effect how boys will treat them. Should everyone treat everyone else the same, yes, do they, no.

With other subjects, such as “Your Parents”, Mr Dudum let’s the girls in on the secret that they didn’t come to us with a manual. We don’t know what we’re doing most of the time; most of us are winging it. He gives them tricks and tools for dealing with us.

In the Prologue Richard M Dudum states his wish that this book would become required reading for middle school girls. I wholeheartedly agree with him. This book is chock full of helpful and important information for young girls/women. In my humble opinion, this book should be in every middle school library for 8^th grade girls to read. It should be in every high school library as well. What Your Mother Never Told You should become a reference book for these young women. A book to turn to when they are having trouble, because let’s face it, as much as we wish and want our children to turn to us when they have a question, they don’t always feel like we’ll listen to them. With this book in your home, you have a tool for your girls to begin a dialogue with you in an effortless manner (leave it out in the living room/kitchen with a bookmark in the appropriate chapter).

Thank you Richard M Dudum!

Poll Time

Here is the LINK to a survey that I created.

I'm hoping that you'll join me (and my oldest daughter) in a group read this summer. This will be the first of no more than four surveys to narrow down the choices. I'll leave the survey active until early Thursday (May 22) morning when I will create a new one with just the winners and put the link in a new post.

NOTE: You do not need to sign up after you fill in the survey. After you click submit it will bring you to the site that I created the survey on and it asks you to create an account. DO NOT create an account (unless you want to); it is not necessary to participate in my survey. Your answers will be recorded either way.

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory - NKOTB - what I'm reading

I've been putting off writing my review of The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory; I finished it last Thursday (May 8th). I think I was hoping that my opinion would improve. I've read a few of her other Tudor books (The Constant Princess, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Virgin's Lover and The Queen's Fool) and really enjoyed them all except The Virgin's Lover.

It boiled down to the same issue with both of these books. Annoying , uninteresting main characters. The Boleyn Inheritance is written from 3 different points of view; Lady Jane Rochford (she is George Boleyn's widow and gave evidence against him and his sister Anne), Katherine Howard and Anne of Cleves. Of the 3 women, I only found one of the interesting. I really liked Anne of Cleves; she seems to be the only one willing to have and acknowledge her own opinions and desires. Katherine was 15 when she married King Henry VIII and sounds like every other self-absorbed, whiny teenager. Jane does what she's told and there is something else about her that just rubs me the wrong way... I can't put my finger on it though.

On a completely unrelated subject. I have NKOTB fever. I have been playing their new single "Summertime" over and over on my MySpace page. I saw them almost 19 years ago (speaking of whiny teenagers) and I'm excited that they have gotten back together. I wish I could see them in concert, but I doubt that will happen... I still love Danny, used to hate Donnie, now he's my favorite... go figure.

Currently Reading:

• What Your Mother Never Told You by Richard Dudum - for Amateur de Livre
• Dancing Above the Waves by Susan Walerstein - GoodReads find
• Requiem for the Sun by Elizabeth Haydon - 4th in a series that I love!
• When We're in Public, Pretend You Don't Know Me by Susan Borowitz - because I need this book