July Giveaway: Fantastic Fiction Summer Reading Picks!

A Tale of two Shakespeares...

Struggling UC Santa Cruz grad student Willie Shakespeare Greenberg is trying to write his thesis about the Bard. Kind of...

Cut off by his father for laziness, and desperate for dough, Willie agrees to deliver a single giant, psychedelic mushroom to a mysterious collector, making himself an unwitting target in Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs.

Meanwhile, would-be playwright (and oppressed Catholic) William Shakespeare is eighteen years old and stuck teaching Latin in the boondocks of Stratford-upon-Avon. The future Bard's life is turned upside down when a stranger entrusts him with a sacred relic from Rome... This, at a time when adherents of the "Old Faith" are being hanged, drawn, and quartered as traitors.

Seemingly separated in time and place, the lives of Willie and William begin to intersect in curious ways, from harrowing encounters with the law (and a few ex-girlfriends) to dubious experiments with mind-altering substances. Their misadventures could be dismissed as youthful folly. But wise or foolish, the bold choices they make will shape not only the 'Shakespeare' each is destined to come... but the very course of history itself.

For more info, please visit Jess Winfield's website and blog.

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Acclaimed novelist Anne Rivers Siddons's new novel is a stunning tale of love and loss.

For as long as she can remember, they were Cam and Lilly--happily married, totally in love with each other, parents of a beautiful family, and partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage, it ended as every great love story does...in loss. After Cam's death, Lilly takes a lone road trip to her and Cam's favorite spot on the remote coast of Maine, the place where they fell in love over and over again, where their ghosts still dance. There, she looks hard to her past--to a first love that ended in tragedy; to falling in love with Cam; to a marriage filled with exuberance, sheer life, and safety-- to try to figure out her future.

It is a journey begun with tender memories and culminating in a revelation that will make Lilly re-evaluate everything she thought was true about her husband and her marriage.

Click here to read an interview with the author and be sure to visit her website.

I have five copies of each of these fantastic fiction titles to give away. You can enter for one or both, just leave me a comment telling me which ones you want to be entered for. I will give an extra entry to anyone who becomes a follower (all current followers who enter will automatically get this), tweets the giveaway on twitter or blogs about it. If you tweet or blog please leave me a separate comment with the link. You can enter until midnight eastern on July 27. Winners will be drawn at random and must have a US or Canada mailing address (no PO Boxes). Thanks so much to Valerie at Hachette for providing the books! Thanks for entering and best of luck.

Review: The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer

When Waldo Hawkridge comes to inspect his newly inherited country estate, he causes quite a stir with the local gentry. Sir Waldo has an immense fortune and excels at sporting pursuits, he is well known to be the best driver in the country. Hence his nickname, the Nonesuch:

"It means being the greatest Go among all the Goers!' stated Courtenay. 'Particularly on the roads - though they say the Nonesuch is a clipping rider to hounds too...in harness and out no man can do more with a horse than the Nonesuch."

An admired and respected man who, at thirty five years old, is a great catch for all those country mamas with daughters to marry off. Accompanying him is his young cousin, Julian, a Lord whose love of the countryside and country life means that he is completely happy to fish and ride while Sir Waldo is seeing to his business.

Julian's eye is caught almost immediately by the beautiful Tiffany Wield, who lives with her aunt, Mrs. Underwood, her cousins, and her governess, Miss Ancilla Trent. Tiffany is the most beautiful girl around, easily eclipsing every other girl in the county. Too bad she doesn't have a disposition to match her lovely face. Miss Trent is constantly trying to gently make Tiffany aware that her scheming and her selfish, boorish behavior are unbecoming, but to little avail.

It surprises everyone that Sir Waldo seems to be interested in the penniless but lovely and levelheaded Ancilla. He has been known to be something of a flirt in the past, mostly turning his attentions to married ladies, which hasn't helped his reputation. But he sees, much to his own surprise, something special in Miss Trent. She, in turn, is irritated by her own inability to control her emotions as she falls deeply in love for the first time in her twenty six years with a man whom she knows will never be hers.

There is no doubt that Georgette Heyer is the queen of witty banter and sparkling repartee. Her wonderful use of language leads to a light and frothy novel that is so enjoyable that it is impossible to read it without smiling. The convoluted romantic entanglements are delightful and the use of period slang is nothing but pure fun:

"A very good sort of boy: nothing of the rum 'un about him! But as for Laurence -! Upon my word, Waldo, I wonder that you should bear with him as you do! Well, I was used to think him more flash than foolish, but after listening to his damned insolence today I think him the most buffleheaded clunch I ever saw in my life! If there's one person anybody but a sapskull would have taken precious care not to rub against, it's you! Good God, where does he think he'd be, if you was to abandon him? Don't you tell me he hasn't cost you a small fortune, because I'm not a gapeseed!"

Delightful and so, so enjoyable! If you haven't tried Georgette Heyer yet, you are missing out! She wrote fantastic romances, historical fiction novels and mysteries, over fifty books in her lifetime! Sourcebooks is reissuing these classics in lovely trade paperbacks. Thank you Sourcebooks, and to Danielle for sending me The Nonesuch for review!

The Nonesuch is published by Sourcebooks Casablanca. ISBN 978-1-4022-1770-8.

Review & Giveaway: The Swan Maiden by Jules Watson

Many years ago, Conor, king of the Uliad, received a prophecy concerning a baby girl, Deirdre. The druids proclaimed that she would cause strife amongst his Red Branch warriors and bring ruin to his kingdom. Ignoring their warnings, Conor fostered the baby with two peasants deep in the forest and sent a female druid, Levarcham, to instruct her and groom her to become his wife when she reached an appropriate age for marriage.

Nearly twenty years have passed and Deirdre has grown into a stunningly beautiful young woman who is talented in the arts of the druids. Conor has been a frequent visitor and is eager to take her into his bed. Levarcham has put him off for as long as she dares, she knows that Conor obsessiveness will quickly break Deirdre's spirit.

By chance, Deirdre comes across three of the Red Branch warriors when they are hunting in the forest. The three are brothers: Naisi, Ainnle and Ardan. As she eavesdrops on their fireside banter, she realizes the kind of life that she is about to be committed to and is struck by the strong urge to rebel against it. She has no desire to become Conor's wife, he is a bitter, hard old man and the thought of being with him makes Deirdre ill. So she convinces the brothers to rescue her, to escort her to a neighboring kingdom where she can take refuge.

Helping her goes against every tenant of the Red Branch warrior code, but the brothers still agree to do it. They have become increasingly unhappy with Conor's abilities as King. Naisi, in particular, feels this way and Deirdre offers him an opportunity to highlight the growing dissatisfaction toward the King.

Little do any of them know that their plan will take them far from home, sundering them from all they hold dear. Except each other, though those relationships are also strained by their long journey. Naisi and Deirdre form such a strong romantic bond that it becomes the stuff from which legends are made. But it also means that they can never return to Emain Macha unless they face the wrath of Conor, who will have the power of a kingdom behind his vengeance.

More and more, I find this particular genre to be a favorite of mine. Historical fiction with just a touch of fantasy thrown it, set in a time when magic was believed in, it was still part of daily life. I love to see the author's interpretation of how a myth or folktale might have at its heart an actual occurrence, as if you could wipe away the embroidering that comes from years of retelling and see the spark of what started it all. Jules Watson does just this and does it so well that I could hardly put the book down. It is an excellent story, brilliantly told and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Visit the author's website for more information about her and her books. She is also the author of the wonderful Dalriada Trilogy, set in Ancient Scotland: The White Mare, The Dawn Stag, and The Boar Stone (titled The Song of the North in the U.S.). Her next book, The Raven Queen, will be published in 2010 by Bantam.

The Swan Maiden is published by Bantam. ISBN 978-0-553-38464-2

Now for the giveaway. To enter, just leave a comment that includes your email address, telling me why you would like to read this book. An additional entry will be given to anyone who becomes a follower (any current followers who enter will automatically get this), tweets the giveaway on twitter or blogs about it. If you do tweet or blog, please leave me a separate comment with the link. You can enter until midnight eastern time on July 16, you must have a US mailing address to win (sorry!). Winner will be drawn at random. Good luck everyone. Thanks so much to Jules and Bantam for providing my review copy and the book for this giveaway!

**Edited to add that I just got an email from the author, she will be sending me a signed bookplate for the winner of this giveaway! YAY! Thank you, Jules!

100th Review Mega Giveaway!!

Hello everyone! Just posted my 100th review and I couldn't be happier! I can't believe that I started this blog just over a year ago, time has really flown by. Want to help me celebrate...and help me clear out some of these books? I thought you might! :)

So, this is the scoop. I have quite a lot of extra books hanging around. There are several reasons for this:

1. My Mom gets a lot of the same review copies that I do and she sends them on to me when she is done. (Thanks Mom!!)

2. For some reason I frequently receive review copies twice. I've been hoarding all of Mom's books and the extra copies I have received for this giveaway.

3. I picked up quite a few books at Book Expo America to add to this giveaway.

(If you are a publisher/publicist and see a book on this list that is pending my review, don't panic! I'm not giving away any of my review copies of books that I haven't reviewed yet. These are all extra copies.)

Most of the books on this list are Advanced Review Copies (called ARCS or uncorrected proofs). This means that they are not the finished format and may have typos and other errors in them. Some of them have been read. Some books on the list are older books that I have read and don't have room to keep or accidentally bought two copies of (this happens waaaayyy too often). Most are paperback but there are a few hardcovers in the mix.

Now for the exciting news:

I will be giving away ten books to each winner. This will be a progressive giveaway, the more entries I get, the more winners there will be. One name will be drawn for the first twenty entries and for every twenty entries after that I will add another winner, up to a total of 10 winners (so, there can be an unlimited number of entries but after 200 entries there will not be any additional winners). No extra entries this time for blogging or tweeting, but it is in your best interest to spread the word, the more individual entries, the more winners there will be. So here are the rules (these are important, please read them!!):

1. USA only. I'm very sorry about this but am bearing the cost of this myself and it just is too expensive to ship heavy books outside of the US. It's a bummer, I know.

2. ONLY LEAVE ONE COMMENT ON THIS POST. If you leave a second comment, I will remove it. This is the easiest way for me to keep track of the number of entries, and multiple comments will mess up the counting. Please, one comment only. I'm begging here.

3. In your comment, include two or three titles from the list that you would most like to win as well as your favorite genre or genres. I will do my best to insure that each winner receives at least two books that they asked for or in their favorite categories. I can't make any promises, the ten books each winner gets will be a mix, but I will make every attempt to include something you really want! :) Also, please leave your email address or be sure it is available in your blogger ID, I need to be able to contact you if you win.

4. Now, I know you love to get extra entries, so this is how it will work for this giveaway. I will give you an extra entry for EACH COMMENT that you leave on any of my previous BOOK REVIEWS or GUEST POSTS between today, June 30, and the end of the giveaway on July 21st. Here's the hard part: you have to read the review or guest post and leave a thoughtful comment. I mean it, do not leave just leave "good/great/happenin'/interesting review" or "please enter me." I will not count any simplistic entries like these. A thoughtful comment, please, is all that is required. You can find a list of my 2009 reviews on the left sidebar, my 2008 reviews are here.

5. Best of luck to everyone! Many, many thanks for helping me to clear out a little space in my over crowded (with books) home and for being the wonderful followers, readers and commenters that you are!!

Okay, enough of the rules, here is the list of books:

American Rust by Philipp Meyer
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
A Trust Betrayed by Candace Robb
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors
Bones by Jonathan Kellerman
Bookends by Jane Green
Book: The Sequel (First Lines from the Classics of the Future by Inventive Impostors)
Born in Death by J.D. Robb
Bo's Cafe by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNichol & John Lynch
By a Spider's Thread by Laura Lippman
City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin
Conflict of Interest by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg
Creepers by Joanne Dahme
Darling Jim by Christian Moerk

Death of a Bore by M.C. Beaton

Death of a Celebrity by M.C. Beaton

Death of an Addict by M.C. Beaton

Death of a Village by M.C. Beaton
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Eon:Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
Etta by Gerald Kolpan
Farewell the Tranquil Mind by R.F. Delderfield
First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
I Had to Row Across the Ocean by Tori Murden McClure
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea (THIS ONE IS SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR!)
Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth
Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein
Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear
Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper
Morning Sunshine! by Robin Meade
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr
One More Year by Sana Krasikov
On the Line by Serena Williams with Daniel Paisner
Peter and the Sword of Mercy by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson

Peter Loon by Van Reid
Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs
Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink
Quantum Wellness by Kathy Freston
Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn
Sizzle and Burn by Jayne Ann Krentz
Smart Girls Marry Money by Elizabeth Ford and Daniela Drake
So Long at the Fair by Christina Schwarz
Something Like Beautiful by Asha Bandele
Songs for the Missing by Stewart O'Nan
Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
Spooner by Pete Dexter
Stealing Athena by Karen Essex
Sudden Death by Allison Brennan
The Appeal by John Grisham
The Christmas Shoes by Donna Van Liere
The Crimes of Paris by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler
The Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
The Gates of Hell by Paul Doherty
The General's Daughter by Nelson Demille
The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters by Lorraine Lopez
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson
The Glister by John Burnside
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
The King's Grace by Anne Easter Smith
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King
The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll
The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
The Promise of Wind Energy by Postmodern Library
The Religion of Thinness by Michelle M Lelwica
The Seducer by Madeline Hunter
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
The Weight of a Mustard Seed by Wendell Steavenson
The White Mary by Kira Salak
This Christmas by Jane Green, Jennifer Coburn & Liz Ireland
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
Whom the Gods Love by Kate Ross
Women are Crazy, Men are Stupid by Howard J. Morris & Jenny Lee

There are some fantastic titles here! Those of you with sharp eyes will see that there is not quite 100 books on this list. That is because I have more than one giveaway copy of some of these titles. See, I really needed to do this giveaway!

If I get less than 200 entries, I will take the remainder of the books and donate them to my local library for their yearly booksale. If you are a winner and receive a book that you have already read or already have, may I suggest that you pass it on to a friend or donate it to your local library? Share the love!

Review: The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips (This is my 100th Review! YAY! Look for details of my MEGA GIVEAWAY coming soon!!)

No matter how wealthy a person might be, life in Charles II's Restoration London is still a struggle. Hannah Devlin is the daughter of two physicians and is a talented doctor herself. But she has lost so much. Her husband, her baby girl and her father, all dead in the last couple of years. And her mother has lost her mind and requires constant care. Hannah has begun to suffer debilitating headaches. Her self treatment is having limited success but she refuses to allow her own pain to interfere with her treatment of London's poor, suffering masses.

She is alarmed when she is practically kidnapped one night by Lord Arlington, the King's Secretary of State. The last thing she wants is to be brought to the attention of the powerful men who control the government and the board of Physicians. Female doctors are not allowed to practice the male dominated medical profession. Her unease grows when she is brought to the bedside of the King's most recent mistress, Louise de Keroualle, who is very ill. Hannah determines that the young woman is suffering from venereal disease and sets out to cure her, all the while trying to decipher the swirling power currents that exist within the court.

In modern day Cambridge, Claire Donovan has landed her dream job. She is to be an associate History lecturer at prestigious Cambridge University, a position that comes complete with snug quarters, meals and keys to the oldest and most interesting areas of the college. While exploring an uncatalogued collection in one of the libraries, she comes across a coded diary from 1672. It catches her interest and she shares her discovery with a fellow teacher over dinner. Turns out he is a slimy fellow teacher, he steals her idea and pursues it as his own. Claire is furious when she finds out, of course, and can't resist punching the jerk in the nose. Unfortunately his dead body turns up shortly thereafter, and he has a copied page of the coded diary in his pocket.

With the help of Andrew Kent, whom she originally met in Venice (their adventures are the subject of the author's first book, The Rossetti Letter), Claire tries to decode the diary. What information could possibly be contained within it that could inspire murder hundreds of years later?

This is a intriguing story that weaves sections of Hannah's diary in with Claire's modern experiences, with murder mysteries being solved in both time periods. The two women are both smart and confident in their professions but both have the weakness of being misled by a charming and unscrupulous man. If they could reach out and meet across the years, it feels like they would have been friends. I love the author's treatment of the value of the written word and the importance of its conservation. Here is my favorite passage from the book:

"Although she was a logical, practical person, she believed that in books there existed a kind of magic. Between the aging covers on these shelves, contained in tiny, abstract black marks on sheets of paper, were voices from the past. Voices that reached into the future, into Claire's own life and heart and mind, to tell her what they knew, what they'd learned, what they'd seen, what they'd felt. Wasn't that magic?"

Indeed it is magic! If you love historical fiction or historical mysteries, add The Devlin Diary to your reading list!

Many thanks to Sarah at Pocket Books for sending me the review copy. For more information on the author and her books, please visit her website. This review is part of a blog tour, for a complete list of the blogs participating, please click here.

The Devlin Diary is published by Pocket Books. ISBN 978-1-4165-2739-8.

Review and Giveaway: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

This novel takes place on an Earth that is radically different from our own. Different because it has been invaded by an alien parasite. The alien, a three inch long slim mass with threads or tentacles, is inserted into the human body, then the alien takes control and the human consciousness just fades away.

That's the way it is supposed to work. The aliens, or "Souls" as they call themselves, have inhabited beings on many planets. And usually the relationship works well for both parties. But for some reason, things are not working one hundred percent to plan on the human species. Some humans resist with a power that has never been seen by the Souls before.

Wanderer has lived on eight planets, she is used to inhabiting different bodies. Even among her kind, she is something of an anomaly, most Souls settle to one place after just a few worlds. For her ninth planet, Earth, Wanderer is inserted into a recently caught human. Uninhabited adult humans are so few now, most of the planet has been settled by the alien and rebel humans are fairly rare. The body Wanderer receives is twenty year old Melanie Stryder and she is NOT happy at being invaded. She resists and proves so strong that Wanderer is unable to suppress her.

Through Melanie, Wanderer (or Wanda, as she is eventually called) begins to see exactly what her kind have taken from the humans. The Souls are a peaceful and rational race, they aren't malicious in their takeover, they think they are doing great good:

"We did make whatever we took better, more peaceful and beautiful. And the humans were brutish and ungovernable. They had killed one another so frequently that murder had been an accepted part of life. The various tortures they'd devised over the few millennia they'd lasted had been too much for me; I hadn't been able to bear even the dry official overviews. Wars had raged over the face of nearly every continent. Sanctioned murder, ordered and viciously effective. Those who lived in peaceful nations had looked the other way as members of their own species starved on their doorstep. There was no equality to the distribution of the planet's bounteous resources. Most vile yet, their offspring--the next generation, which my kind nearly worshipped for their promise--had all too often been victims of heinous crimes. And not just at the hands of strangers, but at the hands of the caretakers they were entrusted to. Even the huge sphere of the planet had been put into jeopardy through their careless and greedy mistakes. No one could compare what had been and what was now and not admit that Earth was a better place thanks to us."

But what Wanda discovers, what no Soul has ever understood before, is the complex emotional makeup of a human being. Compelled by Melanie, Wanda heads into the desert to try to find Melanie's family. Though she almost dies in the attempt, she is found by the humans and taken to their underground hideout.

They know that Melanie is gone and that Wanda is using her body, and they are not about to trust her. It is a shock to Wanda to realize that it is not just Melanie's consciousness that loves her family, but her entire body. Wanda can't help but love them, too. She must convince them that she wants what is best for Melanie and all the humans there, before they kill her for being the enemy.

I haven't read any of Ms. Meyer's Twilight series yet. Everyone raves about them, but before I took time out of my schedule to read the whole series, I wanted to try this stand alone novel. I'm so glad that I did! She is a fantastic story teller, this novel almost crackles with energy and excitement. I could hardly put it down. I liked the way the themes of conflict, duty, citizenship and humanity were explored, it was extremely interesting and thought provoking. Twilight, here I come!

The Host is published by Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-06804-8.

So, now for the giveaway! I have five copies that will go to five randomly chosen lucky winners. To enter, just leave me a comment here telling me your favorite classic sci-fi or paranormal book. There is an extra entry for anyone who becomes a follower (all current followers who enter will get this automatically), blogs about the giveaway or tweets it on twitter. Please leave a separate comment with the link for a blog post or tweet if you do either of those. You can enter until midnight on July 15. Winners must have a US or Canada mailing address (no PO Boxes). Good luck everyone and thanks for entering! Many thanks to Miriam at Hachette for sending me The Host for review and providing the books for the giveaway.

Review: Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl with April Henry

Katie Converse is a smart, beautiful, seventeen year old Senate page from Portland, Oregon. At home in Portland for Christmas, she disappears while walking the dog. Her parents immediately raise the hue and cry and a desperate search begins.

Local Portland television reporter Cassidy Shaw announces the story of Katie's disappearance on the air. The media firestorm that follows could be the making of her career, if she can keep herself at the forefront of the action. Good thing for Cassidy that her two best friends become involved in the case, as well. Federal prosecutor Allison Pierce and FBI agent Nicole Hedge are Cassidy's buddies. As a group the call themselves "The Triple Threat Club" and they get together regularly to try to sort out the difficulties of their crazy lives. Cassidy is able to glean important bits of information about the case from Allison and Nicole because both women are soon sucked into the investigation that mushrooms around the case.

When Nicole discovers that Katie had a Myspace page that she posted on regularly, things really start to heat up. Turns out Katie was having a little fling with "Senator X." It isn't too hard to figure out that "Senator X" is actually Senator Fairview, who sponsored Katie's page application. Suddenly the case has taken on a whole new aspect, the well known Senator has motive and opportunity. His relationship with Katie is certainly a juicy scandal, but is he really her killer?

This fast paced, interesting suspense novel has a premise that could easily have been ripped from the headlines. All of the characters are well-rounded and their relationships feel authentic. The point of view rotates between Cassidy, Allison and Nicole so the reader gets to know the personal struggles of each woman and how they relate to each other as a group of close friends. Cassidy is a beautiful girl with a promising career, but she is stuck in an abusive relationship. Allison and her husband have been struggling with infertility, under the stress of trying to have a baby for the past several years. Nicole is a single mom, juggling parenting her child and the demands of her job. She doesn't seem to have any time left over for a personal life. Because of their unique relationship they are able to put their heads together and figure out what happened to Katie Converse. Interspersed between the chapters are Katie's Myspace pages. Through these, the reader gets to know a little about Katie's life.

The action keeps the reader guessing and turning pages in this absorbing tale. Ms. Wiehl's experience with the media and the government are apparent and lend the book a veracity that makes it seem to almost read like a non-fiction story.

Looking for an exciting contemporary mystery with strong female characters? Add Face of Betrayal to your summer reading list!

Face of Betrayal is published by Thomas Nelson, ISBN 9781595547057.

This review was originally published at Curled Up With a Good Book.

Read the book BEFORE you see the movie giveaway: Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

Julie & Julia, the bestselling memoir that's "irresistible....A kind of Bridget Jones meets The French Chef" (Philadelphia Inquirer), is now a major motion picture. Julie Powell, nearing thirty and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, resolves to reclaim her life by cooking in the span of a single year, every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child's legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her unexpected reward: not just a newfound respect for calves' livers and aspic, but a new life-lived with gusto. The film version is written and directed by Nora Ephron and stars Amy Adams as Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia.

I have this wonderful book sitting here and I have been meaning to read it. But you know how it goes, I just haven't gotten to it yet! I simply have to make more time to read (anyone know how to add a couple of hours to the day?). Anyway, I have a little OCD about seeing movies that started out as books. I need to read the book first. I just do. For some reason, once the book is in my imagination I have no trouble watching someone else's imagining of it. But if I see the movie first, then my imagination never gets to do the work and it ruins things for me. Soooooo....

The movie is scheduled for release on August 7. This giveaway will be open until midnight eastern time on July 5, that should give the five lucky winners time to read the book before they see it! So leave me a comment here to enter! For an extra entry you can become a follower (if you follow already, you get the extra entry automatically), blog about the giveaway or tweet it on twitter. If you blog or tweet please leave a separate comment with the link. Winners will be drawn at random and must have a US or Canada mailing address (no PO Boxes). Many thanks to Anna at Hachette for providing the books for this giveaway! Good luck everyone and be sure to visit Julie's fantastic blog (that's how I know I am going to love this book, I already love her blog!).