Winners! Look Your Best for the Holidays Giveaway

Here are the winners!

Get Positively Beautiful:

1. doozercries
2. blueviolet at A Nut in a Nutshell
3. bakersdozen
4. Crystal Adkins at Book Reviews by Crystal
5. elaine

Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual

1. amber
2. shelley at Coming Home
3. Kelley Y
4. Lenore at Presenting Lenore
5. Mrs Hemphill's Online Classroom at Mrs. Hemphill's Language Arts Classroom

Congratulations to all of the winners, you have all been emailed. Please respond with your mailing address so I can forward them to the publisher. Many thanks to all of you for entering, I wish I could send all of you a book! And thanks, as always, to the wonderful folks at Hachette!

Bleak House Says Happy Holidays With Free Books!

Bleak House Books is giving away free books for the holiday season. They have over 100 mystery titles to choose from! All you do is browse their catalog and then send a request, you will find all the details here. You can send more than one request but each request must be for one book. They do ask you to pay shipping, but the book itself is completely free. If you want to send it as a gift, they will send it to your recipient instead.

Kudos to Bleak House for their holiday spirit, what a generous idea!

I did it! I joined the fun at Twitter!

I can see that this could easily be totally addictive! How I'm going to add twittering to reading, posting, google reader, commenting, not to mention work (the thing that pays for all of the above), I can't imagine. But come follow me, I'll be glad to follow you!! My profile is here.

Review: Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

"It was best to keep on the good side of the Fair Folk, whatever one's opinion of them. The forest of Sevenwaters was as much their home as it was ours. Long ago, our family had been entrusted with the task of keeping the place safe for them. This was one of the last refuges of the ancient races anywhere in Erin, for the great forests were being felled for grazing and the Christian religion had spread widely, displacing druids and wise women. The old faith was practiced only in the most protected and secret pockets of the land. Sevenwaters was one of those."

In ancient Ireland there came a time when the fairy folk, the Old Ones, could no longer inhabit the land. Clodagh's family have protected the forest of Sevenwaters for generations, it is one of the last refuges for the Fair Folk and there has always been an fragile peace. Clodagh is one of six daughters and at long, long last the baby boy that has been so hoped for is born to her parents.

Baby Finbar is only a few days old when he disappears and a doll made of twigs is left in his place. To Clodagh's dismay, she can see that the twig-baby is alive. She can see it breathe and move and hear its hungry cries. No one else can see this, only Clodagh, and she cannot bear to see the little stick baby die. It seems to her that the Fair Folk must want an exchange. While her father and his men search for a missing man that they suspect in the kidnapping, she packs a bag and the twig-baby and sets out to find her tiny brother.

Before long Clodagh meets the fugitive that her farther is looking for, Cathal, in the forest. He claims not to know anything about the baby's disappearance and Clodagh desperately wants to trust him. He becomes her companion in a quest that will require every ounce of their strength and courage if they are going to venture into the fairy realm and return home once again.

Juliet Marillier is one of my favorite authors. She takes ancient folklore tales from Ireland and Britain and breathes life into them. Her books are full of complex and interesting characters who always have a quest or task to complete or a mission to fulfill. The old landscapes and fairy realms are vividly described. This one is no exception. I'm always anxiously awaiting her latest book and have never been disappointed, they are wonderful.

This is the fourth book she has written about Sevenwaters but it is not necessary to have read the others before reading this one. Earlier characters do occur, but only peripherally, and this story stands easily on its own. If you like historical fiction with a little bit of magic thrown in, give these a try!

Visit Juliet Marillier's website here.

Heir to Sevenwaters is published by Roc. ISBN 978-0-451-46233-6

Order Heir to Sevenwaters from Amazon

BUY BOOKS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Review: Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer

Deb Grantham is twenty five years old, beautiful, feisty and unmarried. She lives with her aunt who has opened a gambling establishment in their home in order to cover their living costs. Needless to say, polite society does not approve. Deb presides over some of the tables and is very popular with the clientele. Several men have less than honorable intentions but one young man, Lord Adrian Mablethorpe, is madly in love with her and has proposed marriage.

Adrian's mother is horrified. How can he think to marry a hussy from a gambling den? She sends Adrian's uncle, Max Ravenscar, to buy Deb off. They take an instant dislike to one another and he soon discovers that Deb is more than she seems. Not only will she not take his money, she comes up with an inventive feminine battle plan, determined to best him.

I have heard about Georgette Heyer books for years but this is the first time I have ever read one. I don't know what was keeping me away, maybe they seemed a bit old fashioned. When I first started Faro's Daughter, I wasn't sure that I was going to like it. The use of period slang does take a little getting used to but it adds such atmosphere to the book that it soon seemed a perfectly natural part of the narrative.

This is a witty, light story with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, set in a flawlessly evoked Regency London. Now I see why this author has had legions of fans for well over half a century. I'm thrilled to know that there are fifty more titles to choose from, I will be reading Georgette Heyer books for many years to come.

Faro's Daughter is published by Sourcebooks. ISBN 978-1-4022-1352-6

Order Faro's Daughter from Amazon

BUY BOOKS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Awesome Audiobook Giveaway!

Have you considered listening to an audiobook? They are fantastic for car trips or any time you are busy with your hands, like when you are cooking, knitting, etc. And wouldn't they make a great gift?

Maybe you know someone who doesn't see so well anymore but misses reading great stories. Here's your chance to win one of these great audiobooks from Hachette Book Group! They have provided me with three copies each of A Long Stone's Throw by Alphie McCourt (read by the author) and The Camel Club Audio Boxed Set by David Baldacci.

Just leave me a comment telling me which one you would prefer to win. For an additional three entries you can become a follower of my blog or post about the giveaway and leave the link in the comments. I will separate the entries and randomly choose three from each. Enter until 11:59 pm eastern time on Dec. 14th. Winner must have a US or Canada mailing address (I apologize profusely to international readers, a giveaway is coming that will include you, I promise!). Good luck everyone!

Buy Books for the Holidays

Review: Flirting With Forty by Jane Porter....Read the book, watch the movie!!

It is Christmas and Jackie is having a rough time. She has been divorced for a year and is struggling to raise her two small children while watching her ex strut around with his new hot girlfriend. As if that wasn't enough, in a few short weeks she will be turning the big 4-0. It's a low point, no question.

Fortunately Jackie has friends that love her. They are all married friends from her pre-divorce days but still, they are supportive. When one of them insists on a girls weekend in Hawaii to celebrate the dreaded birthday, Jackie reluctantly agrees. It seems par for the course that her friend has to cancel at the last minute but insists that she go on alone. By herself. Fun, fun, she thinks.

But once there, it's quite nice. Warm sun, blue water. And the surprising surf instructor, Kai, who shows a flattering interest in Jackie. He's gorgeous, ten years younger, but they hit it off and soon a vacation fling has been flung. But to Jackie it feels like more than that. Now she is arranging her schedule so that she can return to Hawaii and spend more time with Kai. Never mind that she has responsibilities, that it can never work out between them. A little happiness after the difficulties that Jackie has been through is what she desperately needs.

This is the story of a woman recreating herself, breaking out of the sameness of her life and learning to reach for the happiness and joy that everyone deserves. It is a thoughtful but fun book that I greatly enjoyed. Jane Porter has a nice way of blending the serious with the playful. Thanks so much to Miriam at Hachette Book Group for sending it to me for review!

This book was made into a movie starring Heather Locklear. It will premiere December 6th at 9pm eastern/8pm central on Lifetime. I'll be watching with my popcorn, how about you? Click on the movie banner below for more info on the movie.

Visit Jane Porter's Blog!

BUY BOOKS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Flirting With Forty is published by 5 Spot. ISBN 978-0-446-69726-2

Order Flirting with Forty from Amazon

Review: The Alchemy of Loss: A Young Widow's Transformation by Abigail Carter

September 11, 2001 changed Abigail Carter's life forever. In the space of one morning she became a widow, the single mother of two small children and she claimed an unwanted spot at the center of a national tragedy. Though she looked for a book that would tell her that her grief and rage were a natural part of the grieving process, she never found exactly what she was searching for.

Shortly after the second anniversary of 9/11 she sat down and started to write, pouring out the changing difficulties of her emotional life. The resulting book is the one she had gone looking for so many months before. This book is her journey through the sadness, grief, rage and guilt felt when a partner is suddenly and inexplicably lost.

The effects of grief rippled out in a great wave that affected her entire family and their relationships with each other. How do you vent your own grief and anger when you are constantly concerned with everyone else's, your children, your parents, your siblings?

She tells her story in an open, honest voice and the result is a book that is touching and courageous. The roller coaster of emotions, as wrenching as they are to experience, prove to be the crucible in which the future is formed.

I am so appreciative that the author was willing to share her story in this way, it will be helpful to so many people. While I did not lose a family member on 9/11, I am a flight attendant and I lost friends and co-workers that were, as so many others, just doing their job. It could quite easily have been me at work that day and going back to work afterward was one of the most difficult things that I have ever done. I am grateful for this honest story of the process of grief and loss that shows the importance of living in the moment and enjoying every day that you are given.

The Alchemy of Loss is published by Health Communications, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7573-0790-4

Visit the author's blog and website. Her complete blog tour schedule is here.

Many thanks to TLC Book Tours for sending me this book for review.

Order The Alchemy of Loss from Amazon