1. Oblivion Road by Alex McAulay - 4 stars
2. The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott - 4 stars
3. In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth- 4 stars
4. Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge - 4 stars
5. 9th Judgment by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro - 4 stars
6. A Note From An Old Acquaintance by Bill Walker - 4.5 stars
7. Shakespeare's Champion by Charlaine Harris - 2.5 stars
8. Scandal Sheet by Gemma Halliday - 3 stars
9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - 5+ stars

Favorite Book of March:   
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 
Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
Publication Date:  July 6, 2010
St. Martin's Press
ISBN:  978-0312595678

I saw this posted over at Hey Lady and HAD to use it for my WOW pick this week.  This book looks utterly fascinating and un-put-downable.  I can't wait to get my hands on this one!!

On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a thirty-two-year-old realtor, had three goals—sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she’s about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent as the captive of a psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape—her struggle to piece her shattered life back together and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor. The truth doesn’t always set you free. Still Missing is that rare debut find—a shocking, visceral, brutal, and beautifully crafted novel.

 
Oblivion Road by Alex McAulay
Genre:  Young Adult
Publisher:  MTV Books
Publication Date:  November 13, 2007
ISBN:  978-1416548065
293 pages

My Rating:  4 Stars

Five stranded teenagers must battle for their lives against a group of escaped convicts, and each other, in this shocking survival thriller from the author of Bad Girls and Lost Summer.

Courtney Stanton thinks she's on just another ski trip with her friends -- until a horrific car accident strands them all on an isolated Colorado road during a blizzard. Frightened but alive, Courtney and her companions discover an abandoned vehicle nearby, and seek help. But the vehicle turns out to be a prison van, with the inmates missing, and the guard's dead body in the front seat.

Soon after, a stumbling figure emerges from the snow, a handcuffed refugee from the van. He says he's been in prison for selling meth, but that he once served in the army. Dare they trust him? He pleads innocence about the guard's murder, warns them about the other fugitives, and promises he will help guide them out of the wilderness. But as the group begins a nightmare trek across the frozen landscape, they start to get the feeling he hasn't told them the entire truth, and someone -- or something -- is secretly watching their every move.

Reading this book made me think of those teenage horror flicks I used to watch as a young adult.  Every scene in the book I could picture on the big screen.  It's one of those that I would be gripping my husband's hand next to me as I sit on the edge of my seat, waiting for the next ball to drop, trembling with anticipation.  The author created such a suspenseful, tense storyline that kept me up until 1:00am on a work night, because I HAD to know how it ended!

I loved this book!  I will admit that I figured out what was going on about midway through, but I didn't know for sure, so I was furiously turning the pages to see if I was right!  The author's pacing of the story was spot on and kept me intrigued page after page.  I love how the chapters ended on a cliffhanger, so I had to continue reading to see what happened next!  Hence, the staying up until 1:00am part!

I'm not going to recap the book as I think the synopsis is spot on and covers it all perfectly.  I love suspenseful novels and this one definitely fit the bill.  This is the first book I read by this author and I will definitely be looking for his others.  This is a great young adult book, with some fairly gruesome scenes, so be forewarned!!  It reads very quickly and easily and will keep you on the edge of your seat.  Recommended!!

I received this book from Other Shelf Tours, a book touring site.

Happy Monday (not!)!  I was just thinking about something and wanted to put it out there for my readers.  Are you interested in seeing guest posts from other bloggers or Q&As from other bloggers?  I've seen this done on other blogs and it intrigued me, so I thought I would ask. 

If so, are you a blogger who is interested in guest posting on my blog?  Email me with your thoughts!

I could also do a Q&A about myself where I can answer your questions!

What do you think?  Do you like these more personal posts?  Would you love to see my dogs?!  LOL  :)  Let me know!  I'm curious!!

Have a great day!!
Jennifer

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where we highlight what books we bought, received, or picked up at the library in the last week.

Marcia of The Printed Page hosts Mailbox Monday, the gathering place for readers to share books that came into our homes last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Here's what I got this week!


 
Black Smoke by Robin Leigh Miller

Samantha Wells has lived through more hell in her short life than most. At the age of eight her serene life was turned upside down. Her parents were brutally murdered and Sam barely escaped with her life. But she didn't do it alone - a soft calm voice led her to safety, the voice of her spirit guide. Disguised by a black mask and the handle Black Smoke, with the help of her spirit guide Sam rescues those unfortunate people who find themselves in the hands of humanity's worst. Life is good until Sam is called on to assist a small covert military team in recovering a kidnapped scientist in Afghanistan. Lt. Mark Lowe (Kong) is less than thrilled to be placing his team's lives in the hands of a woman, much less one as beautiful and sexy as Sam. He quickly learns there is more to this woman than meets the eye. She not only infiltrates enemy bases - she's infiltrated his heart. Kong retreats to safer ground, leaving Sam heartbroken. Distant and unwilling to listen to anyone, Sam delves headfirst into a hell that only Kong can pull her from. 

 
The Language of Secrets by Dianne Dixon

From a fresh and exciting new voice in women's fiction, The Language of Secrets unflinchingly examines the lifelong repercussions of a father's betrayal.

Justin Fisher has a successful career as the manager of a luxury hotel, a lovely wife, and a charming young son. While all signs point to a bright future, Justin can no longer ignore the hole in his life left by his estranged family. When he finally gathers the courage to reconnect with his troubled past, Justin is devastated to learn that his parents have passed away. And a visit to the cemetery brings the greatest shock of all—next to the graves of his father and mother sits a smaller tombstone for a three-year-old boy: a boy named Thomas Justin Fisher.

What follows is an extraordinary journey as Justin struggles with issues of his own identity and pieces together the complex and heartbreaking truth about his family. With great skill and care, Dianne Dixon explores the toll that misunderstandings, blame, and resentment can take on a family. But it is the intimate details of family life—a mother's lullaby for her son, a father's tragic error in judgment—that make this novel so exceptional and an absolute must for reading groups everywhere.

The Language of Secrets is the story of an unspeakable loss born of human frailty and an ultimate redemption born of human courage. 

 
The Year of Ice by Brian Malloy

It is 1978 in the Twin Cities, and Kevin Doyle, a high school senior, is a marginal student in love with keggers, rock and roll, and-unbeknownst to anyone else-a boy in his class with thick eyelashes and a bad attitude. His mother Eileen died two years earlier when her car plunged into the icy waters of the Mississippi River, and since then Kevin's relationship with his father Patrick has become increasingly distant. As lonely women vie for his father's attention, Kevin discovers Patrick's own closely guarded secret: he had planned to abandon his family for another woman. More disturbingly, his mother's death may well have been a suicide, not an accident.

Complicating the family dynamic is the constant meddling of Kevin's outspoken Aunt Nora-who will never forgive Patrick for Eileen's death-along with Patrick's inability to stay single for very long. His loyalties divided between his father and his aunt, between his internal reality and his public persona, Kevin is forced to reevaluate his notions of family and love as painful truths emerge about both.

Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn’t know her mother? From the author of the smash-hit bestseller Firefly Lane and True Colors comes a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.

 
The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott
Genre:  Young Adult
Publication Date:  March 16, 2010
Publisher:  Simon Pulse
ISBN:  978-1416978916
206 pages
Softcover ARC received from Around the World Tours
Follow Elizabeth Scott online:  Website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

Everyone knows the unwritten rule: You don't like your best friend's boyfriend.

Sarah has had a crush on Ryan for years. He's easy to talk to, supersmart, and totally gets her. Lately it even seems like he's paying extra attention to her. Everything would be perfect except for two things: Ryan is Brianna's boyfriend, and Brianna is Sarah's best friend.

Sarah forces herself to avoid Ryan and tries to convince herself not to like him. She feels so guilty for wanting him, and the last thing she wants is to hurt her best friend. But when she's thrown together with Ryan one night, something happens. It's wonderful...and awful.

Sarah is torn apart by guilt, but what she feels is nothing short of addiction, and she can't stop herself from wanting more...

I really enjoyed this story a lot more than I thought I would!  I wasn't sure how I would be able to relate to the characters, but I became completely engrossed in the story and couldn't put the book down!  I was cheering for Sarah and yelling at her best friend, Brianna, throughout the whole book!  I could really feel the emotions that the characters were feeling.  I was able to really relate to Sarah and how she was feeling - not wanting to betray her best friend, but really wanting to see where things go with Ryan.  It was a struggle for her and I really connected to her feelings.

The character who really stood out to me was Brianna, Sarah's best friend.  I alternated between feeling bad for her due to her family situation and disliking her for the way she treated Sarah, who is supposedly her best friend.  She is a complex character with many dimensions.  I could really feel for her; putting on a brave front and trying to be strong, but on the inside she is really hurting.  I know the reader was probably supposed to dislike Brianna, but I felt bad for her more than I hated her.  She is an interesting girl and I'm curious what other readers thought about her.

Overall, this is a wonderful young adult story about first loves and best friends.  I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it!

First things first, I'm sure you noticed the new graphic!!  Don't you just LOVE it?!  I burst out laughing when I first saw it!  Louise from Adori Graphics is such a talented artist and I highly recommend her!!  So, feel free to grab it and use it on your blog!!

Onto the rules.  PLEASE READ THE RULES BEFORE ENTERING YOUR LINK!!!

I don't expect everyone to visit and follow every single blog listed on the Hop MckLinky.  Believe me, my Google Reader is out of control, so I understand!  The Hop isn't just for you to throw your link in there and not visit any other blogs.  It's all about networking and finding new blogs that are of interest.  So, in the spirit of the Hop, try to make some time to visit other blogs and don't post your link if you are not planning on visiting other blogs in the Hop that week.  This is a weekly event, so if you don't have time this week, that's fine!  We'll see you next week!

If you sign MckLinky, please share the love and POST ABOUT THE HOP ON YOUR BLOG!  How else will anyone else find out about it and come join the party?  I've visited lots of blogs, but have seen quite a few not sharing the love and it bummed me out a bit.

PLEASE USE THIS NEW FORMAT WHEN ENTERING YOUR LINK BELOW:



example:  
(Old) Crazy-for-Books (Variety, not paranormal/scifi/fantasy)

I'll setup MckLinky to allow extra characters in the post, but don't go crazy.  I have a wide range of genres I like, but I don't read paranormal/science fiction/fantasy, so it was easier for me to state what I DON'T review!  LOL

This is a new weekly meme hosted by He Follow Me Home to share the best posts you've come across this week. Let's spread the love and support those awesome posts out there!

Here are some great posts I've found this week!

Louise from Adori Graphics posted why in BlogLand Smaller is {Sometimes} Better.  And, while you are there, check out her awesome designs!!  She is one talented lady!  She is also the woman who designed my Book Blogger Hop button, to be unveiled VERY soon!!

Jamie over at The Book Junkie's Bookshelf wrote a review on the Barnes and Noble Nook - I have one, too, and I LOVE it!  I never thought I would really get into e-readers, but I'm a fan now!  I will never give up my print books, but having an e-reader is really handy when traveling!  No more bags of books when I go on vacation!  My family is more excited than me, I think!

Jennifer at Reading with Tequila posted Books That'll Give You Nightmares.

Shameless plug - I posted an article about Contemporary Women's Fiction!  I love this genre and would love to connect with others who do as well!

I hope you all had a wonderful week!  Enjoy your weekend!!

Hi Crazy Readers!  :)  I'm really trying to work out the issues with my site loading slow in IE.  I did a few updates, so those of you who use IE, can you tell me if it is loading any faster?

If it loads slow in any other browser, please let me know.  Thanks for your help!!

 
In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth
Genre:  Young Adult
Softcover ARC/Uncorrected Proof
Received From:  Around the World Tours
ISBN: 978-0-8027-2068-9
195 pages

My Rating:  4 Stars

When a small mistake costs sixteen-year-old Eagan her life during a figure-skating competition, she leaves many things unreconciled, including her troubled relationship with her mother. From her vantage point in the afterlife, Eagan reflects back on her memories, and what she could have done differently, through her still-beating heart.

When fourteen-year-old Amelia learns she will be getting a heart transplant, her fear and guilt battle with her joy at this new chance at life. And afterwards when she starts to feel different—dreaming about figure skating, craving grape candy—her need to learn about her donor leads her to discover and explore Eagan’s life, meeting her grieving loved ones and trying to bring the closure they all need to move on.

Told in alternating viewpoints, In a Heartbeat tells the emotional and compelling story of two girls sharing one heart.

Eagan is a 16 year old star figure skating with dreams of the Olympics.

Amelia is 14 years old and will die in months unless she receives a heart transplant.

A small mistake while figure skating costs Eagen her life.  But through this tragedy, Amelia gets to live.  She gets Eagan's heart.

What follows is an emotional, moving story about life and death.  Told in alternating chapters, Eagan and Amelia share their stories; Eagen from the "other side", reflecting back on her young life; Amelia from the hospital and afterward, struggling a bit with "survivor's guilt" and trying to understand her new personality.  Amelia has changed since the transplant.  She seems to have taken on some of Eagan's personality traits and Eagan's likes/dislikes.  Is this possible?  I thought it was fictionalized in the story, but this is really a true phenomenon called cellular memory!  It sounds fascinating and I'm really interested in reading more about it!

I loved this story and at 195 pages, it is a really quick read.  Eagan and Amelia will tug at your heart and you'll be rooting for both of them.  I'd definitely recommend this story, especially to those who enjoy more serious young adult fiction.

One of my favorite genres is contemporary women’s fiction.  But, what is it?  How do you define this genre?  Is women's fiction another term for romantic fiction? 

According to Wikipedia, women’s fiction is defined as:  “an umbrella term for a wide-ranging collection of literary sub-genres that are marketed to female readers, including many mainstream novels, romantic fiction, "chick lit," and other sub genres.”

Lisa Craig wrote a very thorough article about the difference between women’s fiction and romance.  In her article, she states “Women's fiction, however -- like the women who read it -- has evolved to include subjects and themes that range far beyond romance.”  Many women’s fiction novels that I’ve read deal with very serious issues, including domestic violence, infidelity, death, disabilities, infertility, pregnancy, divorce, etc.  The list could go on and on.  I feel that women’s fiction is fundamentally different from romance.  Romance, generally, has a hero and heroine who find each other and work through some issues before they decide they want to be together forever.  There’s usually always a happy ending and the hero and heroine live happily ever after.  That’s my opinion, in a nutshell.  I know a lot of romance does have elements of women’s fiction.  However, I define romance and women’s fiction differently.  If the relationship between the hero and heroine is secondary to other plotlines, then I would define it as “women’s fiction”.  If the relationship between the hero and heroine is what drives the story, I would define it as “romance”.  I’ve also noticed that the romance genre contains many more love scenes that a women’s fiction novel.  The scenes go on for many pages and contain more detail than what I normally find in a women’s fiction novel.


A question I asked myself recently after reading the amazing book, Between Friends, by Kristy Kiernan, is why do I read this genre?  Women’s fiction is emotional; it makes me happy, sad, and angry all in the course of one book.  Why do I like to read books that make me cry hysterically at some point?  What is it about the lure of these novels that I just can’t get enough of them?

To answer this, I’d have to say it parallels real life.  I like to see how characters deal with a situation that *I* might find myself in.  Another reason is the author  The author’s ability to engage the reader, drawing you into the story and making you feel like you are a part of it.  I get so engrossed in these books that I feel as if the characters are my friends.  I feel their ups and downs as if I’m really experiencing the situation in real life.  If the author has the ability to make a reader feel that connected to the story, he or she is truly talented.  I love emotional stories.  I love reading about relationships between friends and families.  They are more true to life and I think that’s why I enjoy them so much.  I could actually picture these situations happening.  There isn’t always a happy ending.  The stories can be tragic.  BUT, it’s the journey of the characters; the resolution at the end that drives the story and keeps me turning the pages.

I recently came upon an interesting article entitled:  Why is women’s fiction so miserable?
I don't feel that women's fiction is miserable!  It's emotional and really makes you think about true-to-life issues.  A lot of this genre comes from real life stories.  I found this article interesting and you may, too!


All in all, I love this genre and I can't get enough of it.  What is your favorite women's fiction novel?  I'm always looking for suggestions!  Let me know if you read this genre, as I'd love to find others who enjoy this as much as I do!

I have lots of review books to read and not enough time to read them!  In hopes of getting myself to read faster, I'm going to hold some contests to try and get these review books read, reviewed, and cleared out of my house!

The contest is:  What book should I read next?

It's very simple.  I will post a poll with a list of books that I need to read very soon.  The order in which I read them will depend on you, my faithful blog readers!  The people that choose the book with the most votes will get a chance to win that book once I am done reading and reviewing it!

I currently have 3 books in my queue to read, but after that, YOU will pick my next book!  Fill out the form below with your ONE book selection!  I'll keep the voting open at least a few days!  Here are the books to choose from:

Keeping the Feast:  One Couple's Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy by Paula Butturini

 A story of food and love, injury and healing, Keeping the Feast is the triumphant memoir of one couple's nourishment and restoration in Italy after a period of tragedy, and the extraordinary sustaining powers of food, family, and friendship.

Paula and John met in Italy, fell in love, and four years later, married in Rome. But less than a month after the wedding, tragedy struck. They had transferred from their Italian paradise to Warsaw and while reporting on an uprising in Romania, John was shot and nearly killed by sniper fire. Although he recovered from his physical wounds in less than a year, the process of healing had just begun. Unable to regain his equilibrium, he sank into a deep sadness that reverberated throughout their relationship. It was the abrupt end of what they'd known together, and the beginning of a new phase of life neither had planned for. All of a sudden, Paula was forced to reexamine her marriage, her husband, and herself.

Paula began to reconsider all of her previous assumptions about healing. She discovered that sometimes patience can be a vice, anger a virtue. That sometimes it is vital to make demands of the sick, that they show signs of getting better. And she rediscovered the importance of the most fundamental of human rituals: the daily sharing of food around the family table.

A universal story of hope and healing, Keeping the Feast is an account of one couple's triumph over tragedy and illness, and a celebration of the simple rituals of life, even during the worst life crises. Beautifully written and tremendously moving, Paula's story is a testament to the extraordinary sustaining powers of food and love, and to the stubborn belief that there is always an afterward, there is always hope.

Surviving Paradise:  One Year on a Disappearing Island by Peter Rudiak-Gould

Just one month after his 21st birthday, Peter Rudiak-Gould moved to Ujae, a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands located 70 miles from the nearest telephone, car, store, or tourist, and 2,000 miles from the closest continent. He spent the next year there, living among its 450 inhabitants and teaching English to its schoolchildren.

At first blush, Surviving Paradise is a thoughtful and laugh-out-loud hilarious documentation of Rudiak-Gould’s efforts to cope with daily life on Ujae as his idealistic expectations of a tropical paradise confront harsh reality. But Rudiak-Gould goes beyond the personal, interweaving his own story with fascinating political, linguistic, and ecological digressions about the Marshall Islands. Most poignant are his observations of the noticeable effect of global warming on these tiny, low-lying islands and the threat rising water levels pose to their already precarious existence.

An Eat, Pray, Love as written by Paul Theroux, Surviving Paradise is a disarmingly lighthearted narrative with a substantive emotional undercurrent.

He Who Sings Last by Lisa Laird DiRosso

Just how far will one fan go to prove her loyalty? In her novel He Who Sings Last, Lisa Laird DiRosso expertly knits a blanket of obsession laced with suspicion and murder in a suspenseful crime novel centered on has-been celebrity Jimmy Covelli. He leads a quiet, post-fame existence until some ghosts from his past come back to haunt him after nineteen years, when an unsolved murder case is reopened by a zealous New York detective. Covelli charms and harms wherever he goes, and in his destructive path, he leaves behind a host of resentful family members and brokenhearted fans. Will the detective catch him and be able to prove his guilt? Find out in He Who Sings Last.

Sensitivity 101 for the Heterosexual Male by Philip Nork

The journey we are on is a difficult one, even more so for those of a broken family. Follow the adventures of one such boy as he searches for the two desires we all have in common: to be accepted by others and to be truly happy.

 

The Bread of Angels:  A Memoir of Love and Faith in Damascus by Stephanie Saldana

A gorgeous, romantic memoir of a young woman's year in Damascus, where she studied the Muslim Jesus, fled to an ancient desert monastery to heal her past, and unexpectedly found herself in love with a French novice monk.

In 2004, twenty-seven-year-old Stephanie Saldaña traveled to Damascus, Syria, on a Fulbright fellowship to study the role of the prophet Jesus in Islam. She was also fleeing a broken heart. It was not an ideal time to be an American in the Middle East-the United States had recently invaded Iraq, refugees were flooding into Damascus, and dark rumors swirled that Syria might be next to come under American attack. Miserable and lonely, Stephanie left Damascus to visit an ancient Christian monastery carved into the desert cliffs. In that beautiful, austere setting, she confronted her wavering faith and met Frederic, a young French novice monk. As they set out to explore the mysteries entwining Christianity and Islam, Stephanie slowly realized that she had found God again-and that she was in love with Frederic. But would Frederic choose God or Stephanie?

The Bread of Angels sweeps readers into the violent extremes of a war-torn region and renews their belief in faith, self-discovery, and the possibility of true love.

Those are the choices!  Pick your favorite and you just may win it!

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!! LOOK FOR ANOTHER ONE VERY SOON!