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Showing posts from May, 2012

Teaser Tuesday May 29

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  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! My teaser Tuesday is from:    Shades of Murder (The Mac Faraday Mysteries) by Lauren Carr Archie said, "Everyone in this painting is a suspect."  "Nah!" Bogie argued, "She painted it before she was murdered."    Question: What do you get the man with everything? Answer: When that man is the heir of the late mystery writer Robin Spencer, retired homicide detective Mac Faraday, you get him cold case...

(38) Code Name Verity

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Title:   Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein Publisher: Disney Hyperion 272 Pages Genre: YA - historical fiction I received an electronic ARC through netgalley for this title.  It was released on May 15. Synopsis:  In exchange for a temporary stay of execution and lesser forms of torture, a young female spy captured in Nazi-occupied France writes a confession of her activities in the Resistance. Her story is that of two women who should never have crossed paths, yet were destined to become the best of friends and embark upon the covert mission. Review: I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through this book in the beginning.  It just seemed to be all over the place and I was finding it hard to follow but it quickly started to make sense.  The first half of the book is told by a woman captured in France as a spy.  She has been tortured and in exchange for the torture to stop she has said she would collaborate.  Throughout  her writing...

Teaser Tuesday May 22

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  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! My teaser Tuesday is from:  Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein    I dreamed I was back at the beginning and they were starting on me all over again, a side effect of having to watch them work on someone else. The anticipation of what they will do to you is every bit as sickening in a dream as when it is really going to happen.    Synopsis: Two young women become unlikely best friends during ...

(37) Torn

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Title:  Torn by Margaret Peterson Haddix  - Book 4 of the Missing series Publisher: Simon & Schuster 324 Pages Genre: YA Time travel, mystery Synopsis:  Still reeling from their experiences in Roanoke in 1600, Jonah and Katherine arrive in 1611 only moments before a mutiny on Henry Hudson’s ship in the icy waters of James Bay. But things are messed up: They’ve lost the real John Hudson, and they find what seems to be the fabled Northwest Passage—even though they are pretty sure that route doesn’t actually exist. Will this new version of history replace everything they’ve ever known? Is this the end of time as we know it? With more at stake than ever before, Jonah and Katherine struggle to unravel the mysteries of 1611 and the Hudson Passage...before everything they know is lost. Review: I love this series.  Based on the idea that time travelers stole key figures from history and brought them forward in time and placed them for adoption with unsuspecting ...

Teaser Tuesday - May 15

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  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! My teaser Tuesday is from:  Torn by Margaret Peterson Haddix  - Book 4 of the Missing series There weren't even any tracers anymore to show how time was supposed to go. "Its weird - this guy never gives his name, but says he's going to hide notes all around the ship, so that the true story of the Discovery will get out even if all the good people are killed, Katherine told him as she pored over the papers. Synopsis: St...

(36)The Guards

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Title:   The Guards: A Novel (Jack Taylor) by Ken Bruen Publisher: Minotaur Books 291 books Genre: Mystery Synopsis: Still stinging from his unceremonious ouster from the Garda Siochana-The Guards, Ireland's police force-and staring at the world through the smoky bottom of his beer mug, Jack Taylor is stuck in Galway with nothing to look forward to. In his sober moments Jack aspires to become Ireland's best private investigator, not to mention it's first-Irish history, full of betrayal and espionage, discourages any profession so closely related to informing. But in truth Jack is teetering on the brink of his life's sharpest edges, his memories of the past cutting deep into his soul and his prospects for the future nonexistent. Nonexistent, that is, until a dazzling woman walks into the bar with a strange request and a rumor about Jack's talent for finding things. Odds are he won't be able to climb off his barstool long enough to get involved with his...

(35) Raising Abel

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Title:   Raising Abel by Carolyn Nash Publisher: CreateSpace 332 pages Genre: Memoir - parenting Synopsis:  A woman of remarkable resourcefulness single-handedly raises a troubled child all the way to manhood in this intimate and inspiring blog-to-book memoir. At 38, Carolyn Nash had a good job, no apparent struggles and few conscious regrets—save, perhaps, her weight and her childlessness. She remedies the latter by fostering and then adopting 3-year-old Abel, a victim of unspeakable parental abuse, most of it sexual. Abel is charmingly innocent yet uncontrollably violent, and as he grows, so do his PTSD symptoms. Through the lens of Abel’s trauma, Nash peers into her own nightmares—she too feels deformed and unlovable—and learns their sick source. Review: This book drew me in from the prologue. Haunting, yet uplifting this book shows the real trauma that happens when children are abused at an early age and the strength, determination and love it takes to help...

(34) Artistic Pursuits

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Title:   Artistic Pursuits by Andrew Grey Publisher: Dreamspinner Press 200 Pages Genre: LGBT I received this ebook through Netgalley Synopsis: An Art Series novel Frank Jennings is an FBI agent looking for redemption. Leslie Carlton is an Interpol agent looking for a thief. Attraction flares from the moment they meet on a case searching for a stolen triptych of unique Tiffany windows, but after a single night of stunning passion, Leslie is called back to London to continue his search there. When the case heats up again, Leslie returns to the States—and to Frank—but their investigation is complicated by their tumultuous feelings. Is it possible for two dedicated detectives to pursue each other while they’re tracking down stolen art and the unscrupulous man who steals it? Review: I found Artistic Pursuits disjointed and a bit hard to follow.  There were many times I thought I missed a page only to realize I was reading an ebook.  Leslie's on again off again a...

(33) Political Savvy

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Title:   Political Savvy: Systematic Approaches to Leadership Behind the Scenes by Joel R. DeLuca, PhD Publisher: Everygreen Business Group 250 Pages Genre: Business Synopsis:  While most people are wary or organization politics, politically savvy leaders know how to manage them. They take initiative, and they forge consensus. Ultimately, they help others maximize their impact, so the organization can continue to thrive in a highly competitive future. Inspirational leadership without a firm grounding in organization politics risks becoming hollow rhetoric. Political Savvy discusses how successful leaders at all levels in the organization operate ethically behind-the-scenes to work the darker side of organizational life. The book helps you analyze your own political style, (yes, everyone has one) and understand the strategies and tactics used by ethical leaders. Through quotes, grids, tools, a case study, mapping techniques and examples, the book provides a sy...

(32) Good Bones

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Title: Good Bones by Kim Fielding Publisher: Dreamspinner Press 200 Pages Genre: LGBT/ supernatural I received this book from netgalley.com Synopsis:  Skinny, quiet hipster Dylan Warner was the kind of guy other men barely glanced at until an evening's indiscretion with a handsome stranger turned him into a werewolf. Now, despite a slightly hairy handicap, he just wants to live an ordinary-if lonely-life as an architect. He tries to keep his wild impulses in check, but after one too many close calls, Dylan gives up his urban life and moves to the country, where he will be less likely to harm someone else. His new home is a dilapidated but promising house that comes with a former Christmas tree farm and a solitary neighbor: sexy, rustic Chris Nock. Dylan hires Chris to help him renovate the farmhouse and quickly discovers his assumptions about his neighbor are inaccurate-and that he'd very much like Chris to become a permanent fixture in his life as well as his home. B...

(31) Love Life

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Title:  LoveLife by Rachel Spangler Publisher: Bold Stroke Books 254 pages Genre: LGBT Romance I received this book through netgalley.com   Synopsis:  Life coach Elaine Raitt is educated, elegant, and dedicated to her profession. Blue-collar boi Joey Lang is too insecure to even approach her—that is until her well-meaning but meddling best friend Lisa decides to break the ice and makes Joey a life-coaching appointment with Elaine. A session meant to bring clarity only leaves them both feeling more confused about their purpose in life and love. Will Joey be able to find the strength to chase the woman of her dreams, and even if she does, will Elaine be willing to risk the life she loves for the woman who could be the love of her life? Review: A well done lesbian romance.  There is a formula to all romance novels gay or straight and this is no exception.  Shy boi Joey meets the girl of her dreams in the coffee shop she works at and with the help of h...

(30) Black Boy, White School

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Title:  Black Boy White School by Brian F. Walker Publisher: Harper Teen 246 pages Genre: YA Synopsis: Anthony "Ant" Jones has never been outside his rough East Cleveland neighborhood when he's given a scholarship to Belton Academy, an elite prep school in Maine. But at Belton things are far from perfect. Everyone calls him "Tony" assumes he's from Brooklyn, expects him to play basketball and yet acts shocked when he fights back. As Anthony tries to adapt to a world that will never fully accept him, he's in for a rude awakening: Home is becoming a place where he no longer belongs. Review: Racism...that dirty work no one likes to talk about or brushes under the rug.  It makes people uncomfortable so we don't talk about it or only talk about it on a superficial level. This is an easy read about a hard subject. "Ant" comes from a rough neighborhood, he doesn't want to go to Maine but after one of his best friends is shot an...

Teaser Tuesday - May 1

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  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! My teaser Tuesday is from:  Black Boy White School by Brian F. Walker "...They think they're supposed to be smarter and richer, live in better houses and everything. When they fall short of all that, they try to blame it on black people so they don't feel so bad about themselves....Its sad, when you really think about it. Expecting to go out and be the king of the world, but ending up stick in East Armpit, Maine."