GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE “THE SECOND WORLD WAR” by Antony Beevor ENDED

CMash June 14, 2012 24 Comments

JUNE 14th to JUNE28th, 2012

THE SECOND WORLD WAR
by ANTONY BEEVOR

SYNOPSIS (from publisher):

Over the past two decades, Antony Beevor has established himself as one of the world’s premier historians of WWII. His multi-award winning books have includedStalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945. Now, in his newest and most ambitious book, he turns his focus to one of the bloodiest and most tragic events of the twentieth century, the Second World War.
In this searing narrative that takes us from Hitler’s invasion of Poland on September 1^st, 1939 to V-J day on August 14^th, 1945 and the war’s aftermath, Beevor describes the conflict and its global reach–one that included every major power. The result is a dramatic and breathtaking single-volume history that provides a remarkably intimate account of the war that, more than any other, still commands attention and an audience.
Thrillingly written and brilliantly researched, Beevor’s grand and provocative account is destined to become the definitive work on this complex, tragic, and endlessly fascinating period in world history, and confirms once more that he is a military historian of the first rank.

THANKS TO ANNA , AND THE VERY GENEROUS

PEOPLE AT THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP

I HAVE THREE ( 3) COPIES OF THIS
HISTORICAL BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.
HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.

*USE THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW
IN ORDER TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY*
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL

ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: IS AND/OR WAS ANYONE IN YOUR
FAMILY A VETERAN OF WORLD WAR II ?*

*U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*

**PER PUBLISHER**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

*GIVEAWAY JUNE 28th DATE AT 6PM EST*

WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RAFFLECOPTER AND NOTIFIED
VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND
OR ANOTHER NAME WILL BE CHOSEN

DISCLAIMER / RULES

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.

I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed

YOUR JAVA SCRIPT MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED
IF YOU AR EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY
USING THE RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM

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Booking Thru Thursday, Meme, Thursday Memes

Booking Through Thursday

CMash June 14, 2012 8 Comments

http://btt2.wordpress.com

Today’s question:
A while ago, I interviewed my readers for a change, and my final question was, “What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask?” I got some great responses and will be picking out some of the questions from time to time to ask the rest of you. Like now.
Sally asks:
Have you ever bought a book, started reading it and then realised you have already read it? If so, how far did you get? (Can you tell this happened to me for the first time ever this week!?!)

My answer:
Unfortunately, many times. I usually knew by the end of the 2nd-3rd chapter. After doing this far too many times, I bought a small, thick notebook and divided it into letters of the alphabet for authors and titles. I would write down books I wanted to read and cross off those I had read. It came with me when I visited bookstores and the library. Now, since everything is done online, including purchasing books, I have a spreadsheet. However, I still have those notebooks to reference for older books.

What about you? Has this happened to you too?

Guest Author, Showcase, The Hachette Book Group

Guest Author Elin Hilderbrand

CMash June 13, 2012 1 Comment

What a day!! Are you sitting down? If not, you should, because I have a very special, talented and amazing author visiting today as she kicks off her summer tour. Plus some very nice giveaways. Please help me in welcoming Ms. Elin Hilderbrand to the CMash blog!!!

ELIN HILDERBRAND

Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her five previous novels. Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa.
Visit Ms. Hilderbrand on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A warm June evening, a local tradition: the students of Nantucket High have gathered for a bonfire on the beach. But what begins as a graduation night celebration ends in tragedy after a horrible car crash leaves the driver of the car, Penny Alistair, dead, and her twin brother in a coma. The other passengers, Penny’s boyfriend Jake and her friend Demeter, are physically unhurt – but the emotional damage is overwhelming, and questions linger about what happened before Penny took the wheel.

As summer unfolds, startling truths are revealed about the survivors and their parents – secrets kept, promises broken, hearts betrayed. Elin Hilderbrand explores the power of community, family, and honesty, and proves that even from the ashes of sorrow, new love can still take flight.
Read my review here.

Read an excerpt:

SUMMERLANDBy Elin HilderbrandExcerpt: Opening Section
NA N T UC K E T
Nantucket: The name of the island brought to mind rolling surf, cobblestone streets, the brickmansions of whaling captains, a battered Jeep Wrangler with a surfboard strapped to the rollbars. It brought to mind cocktail parties on undulating green lawns, investment bankerswearing faded red slacks and dock shoes without socks, a tow-headed little girl holding a grapepopsicle that dripped down the front of her seersucker dress. Nantucket: It was the land of wealth and privilege, a summer playground for those with a certain prep-school, old-money, I-used-to-row-with-him-on-the-Charles-type pedigree.So few outsiders (and by outsiders, we meant everyone from the casual daytripper from West
Bridgewater, to Monica “Muffy” Duncombe
-Cabot, who had been summering on the islandsince she was in utero in 1948) understood that Nantucket was a real place, populated by realpeople. Like anywhere else, we were home to doctors and taxi drivers and a police chief andplumbers and dishwashers and insurance agents. We were home to mechanics and physicaltherapists and schoolteachers and bartenders. That was the real Nantucket: the ministers andthe garbage collectors and the housewives and the crew who filled in the potholes on SurfsideRoad.Nantucket High School had a senior class of seventy-seven students graduating on Junefifteenth. This turned out to be one of the first balmy days of the year
—
warm enough to sit on
the football field and wish that you, like Garrick Murray’s grandmother, had worn a wide
-brimmed straw hat.Up on the podium stood Penelope Alistair. Although she was only a junior, Penny had beenasked to sing the national anthem. Hers was the voice of Nantucket, her tones so pure and
ethereal that she didn’t need any accompaniment. We mouthed the words
along with her, but
no one dared to sing out loud because no one wanted to hear any voice but Penny’s.

When Penny finished singing, there was a beat of thrumming silence, and then we all cheered.The seniors, sitting in neat rows on a makeshift stage behind the podium, whooped until thetassels on their caps shimmied.Penny sat down in the audience between her twin brother, Hobson Alistair, and her mother,
Zoe. Two chairs away sat Penny’s boyfriend, Jake Randolph, who had attended the ceremony
with his father, Jordan Randolph, publisher of the
Nantucket

Standard.
Patrick Loom, valedictorian of the senior class, took the podium, and some of us felt tears prick
our eyes. Who among us didn’t remember Patrick Loom as a child, in his Boy Scout uniform,
collecting money in a mayonnaise jar for the victims of Hurricane Katrina? These were our kids,
Nantucket’s kids. This graduation, like other graduations, was part of our collective experience,
our collective success.Twenty- three of the seventy- seven graduating seniors had written a college essay entitled,
“What It’s Like Growing Up on an Island Thirty Miles Out to Sea.” These were kids who had
been born at the cottage hospital; they had sand running through their veins. They were on
intimate terms with Nor’e
asters and fog. They knew that north was marked by theCongregationalists, and south by the Unitarians. They lived in gray-shingled houses with whitetrim. They could distinguish bay scallops (small) from sea scallops (big). They had learned todrive on streets with no traffic lights, no off- ramps or on-ramps, no exits. They were safe fromaxe murderers and abductors and rapists and car thieves
—
as well as the more insidious evilsof fast food and Wal-Mart and adult bookstores and pawnshops and shooting ranges.Some of us worried about sending these kids out into the wider world. Most of the seniorswould go to college
—

Boston University or Holy Cross or, in Patrick Loom’s case, Georgetown—
but some would take a year off and ski in Stowe, and still others would remain on Nantucketand work, living lives not so different from those of their parents. We worried that thecelebration surrounding graduation weekend would lead our seniors to drink too much, haveunprotected sex, experiment with drugs, or fight with their parents because they wereeighteen, goddamn it, and they could do what they wanted. We worried they would wake upon Monday morning believing that the best years of their lives were behind them. The electricbuzz they felt on the first Friday night football game under the lights when they ran out onto

the field or led the crowd in cheering
—
those moments were gone forever. Next Septemberthe Nantucket Whalers would play again, the weather would be crisp again, the air would smelllike grilled hotdogs again, but there would be a new guard, and the seniors who were, as wewatched now, walking across the stage for their diplomas, would be old news.Alumnae.High school was over.There was a bittersweet element to June fifteenth, graduation day, and as we walked off thefield at the end of the ceremony, some of us said we would never forget this one in particular
because the weather had been the most spectacular, or because Patrick Loom’s speech had
been so poignant.It was true that we would always remember graduation that year, but not for these reasons.We would remember graduation that year because it was that night, the night of June fifteenth,that Penelope Alistair was killed.
What?
the world cried out in disbelief. The world wanted the Nantucket that resided in theirimagination: the icy gin and tonic on the porch railing, the sails billowing in the wind, ripetomatoes nestled in the back of the farm truck. The world did not want a seventeen-year-oldgirl, dead, but the world needed to know what we knew: Nantucket was a real place.Where tragic things, sometimes, happened.

THANKS TO ANNA AND THE GENEROUS PEOPLE
AT THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I AM HOSTING
A HUMONGOUS AND FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY!!!!

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO THE GIVEAWAY
ENTRY PAGE TO SEE WHAT YOU CAN WIN!!!!

DISCLAIMER

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners

via publisher, agent and/or author. This blog hosts

the giveaway on behalf of the above.

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,

in exchange for my honest review.

No items that I receive

are ever sold…they are kept by me,

or given to family and/or friends.

Giveaway, Hachette Giveaway

GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE “SUMMERLAND” by Elin Hilderbrand ENDED

CMash June 13, 2012 45 Comments

JUNE 30th to JUNE 27th, 2012

SUMMERLAND
by ELIN HILDERBRAND

SYNOPSIS:

A warm June evening, a local tradition: the students of Nantucket High have gathered for a bonfire on the beach. But what begins as a graduation night celebration ends in tragedy after a horrible car crash leaves the driver of the car, Penny Alistair, dead, and her twin brother in a coma. The other passengers, Penny’s boyfriend Jake and her friend Demeter, are physically unhurt – but the emotional damage is overwhelming, and questions linger about what happened before Penny took the wheel.

As summer unfolds, startling truths are revealed about the survivors and their parents – secrets kept, promises broken, hearts betrayed. Elin Hilderbrand explores the power of community, family, and honesty, and proves that even from the ashes of sorrow, new love can still take flight.

THANKS TO ANNA, AND THE AMAZING

FOLKS AT THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP

I AM HOSTING A FANTASTIC AND HUMONGOUS GIVEAWAY!!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER WILL RECEIVE THE FOLLOWING:
HARD COVER OF SUMMERLAND
TPB of SILVER GIRL
TPB of THE ISLAND
PB of CASTAWAYS
PB of A SUMMER AFFAIR

2nd and 3rd PRIZE WINNERS WILL RECEIVE:
COPY OF SUMMERLAND

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.

*USE THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW
IN ORDER TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY*
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL

ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: HAVE YOU AND/OR SOMEONE
YOU KNOW BEEN AFFECTED BY A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT?*

*U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*

**PER PUBLISHER**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

*GIVEAWAY ENDS JUNE 27th AT 6PM EST*

WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RAFFLECOPTER AND NOTIFIED
VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND
OR ANOTHER NAME WILL BE CHOSEN

DISCLAIMER / RULES

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.

I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed

YOUR JAVA SCRIPT MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED
IF YOU AR EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY
USING THE RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review, The Hachette Book Group

Review “Summerland” by Elin Hilderbrand

CMash June 13, 2012 3 Comments

Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand
Published by: Reagan Arthur Books
Publication Date: June 26, 2012
ISBN-10: 031609983X
ISBN-13: 978-0316099837
Pages: 400 pages
Review Copy from: The Hachette Book Group
Edition: ARC TPB
My Rating: 5

Synopsis (from IndieBound):
A warm June evening, a local tradition: the students of Nantucket High have gathered for a bonfire on the beach. But what begins as a graduation night celebration ends in tragedy after a horrible car crash leaves the driver of the car, Penny Alistair, dead, and her twin brother in a coma. The other passengers, Penny’s boyfriend Jake and her friend Demeter, are physically unhurt – but the emotional damage is overwhelming, and questions linger about what happened before Penny took the wheel.

As summer unfolds, startling truths are revealed about the survivors and their parents – secrets kept, promises broken, hearts betrayed. Elin Hilderbrand explores the power of community, family, and honesty, and proves that even from the ashes of sorrow, new love can still take flight.

My Thoughts and Opinion: Perfect summer read!! Ms. Hilderbrand brings her characters to life in this heart wrenching read. The narrative interweaves that fateful night and what follows from the characters’ perspectives. Three families receive the phone call, that is every parents’ worst fear, is made and alters their lives forever. Emotion packed and page turning to find out the why. What happened that night when Penny, a 17 year old junior in high school, got behind the wheel that caused the fatal accident? This read was the type of novel where you become invested in the characters’ lives. Their feelings of love, loss, guilt, anger, remorse, secrets, denial, betrayals and acceptance are believable and palpable. Full of relationship dynamics of many levels. The back drop of Nantucket beautiful, and due to the descriptive writing, I felt as I was part of the setting. An intense, passionate, touching and moving story. A powerful read for many, especially if you are a parent and/or a young adult. Highly recommend!!

DISCLAIMER

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,

in exchange for my honest review.

No items that I receive

are ever sold…they are kept by me,

or given to family and/or friends.

(2012 Challenges: In A Name, FreeReads, Where Are You, A-Z, 52 in 52, Outdo Yourself, 100+, Reagan Arthur)

Meme, W.W.W. Wednesdays

W.W.W. Wednesday

CMash June 13, 2012 1 Comment

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

What are you currently reading?

Shop Indie Bookstores

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What do you think you’ll read next?

Giveaway, Winners

And the winners are…….

CMash June 12, 2012 2 Comments

…….of Section 132 by Helga Zeiner

12 Sheila Korman Leave a Blog Post Comment

6 Rhonda Lomazow “Like” the Blog Post

An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. Thank you to those that entered.

06/13/12 Addendum
A new winner has been chosen due to misunderstanding of book version. The new winner is:

17 Jan Leave a Blog Post Comment

Uncategorized

Review “Banal” by Vincent Zandri

CMash June 12, 2012 2 Comments

Banal by Vincent Zandri
Published by: Bear Media
Publication Date: June 9, 2012
ASIN: B008ADGPT4
File size: 91 KB
Review Copy from: Author
Edition: Kindle
My Rating: 4

Synopsis:
Is a writer suffering from a never ending bout of writer’s block capable of murder? Or is he simply bored with his life? In this previously published short story by bestselling noir author, Vincent Zandri, a writer commits the ultimate act of destruction to a neighbor and friend if only to finally uncover the one story he needs to write himself out of his troubles. But then, not all murders are what they appear to be. Nor are all stories.

My Thoughts and Opinion:
If you are a regular follower of my blog, you know that Vincent Zandri is my Number 1 author of mystery. My thoughts on his writing is that he is abundantly talented and has a gift. Each book, once you pick it up, have no clue where it is going to take you. Each book has a slightly different tone and writing style, so his books, in my opinion are unique. You won’t get the “same ole, same ole”.

Banal, a digital short story, is a psychological thriller that is fully packed with an intense descriptive narrative within it’s few pages. The setting and characters brought to life with the author’s depiction and presentation. What amazed me, was that I was able to create such a vivid imagery, due to the writing style, within those few pages. The plot, deep, dark and chilling, again within only several pages. The story line and conclusion had me shaking my head as to the interpretation. Not only did the author pen a calculated psychological tale, but he also, in his creative style, played the reader in a cognitive manner as to what exactly transpired in those few short pages. What was imaginary and/or real. But in true Zandri style, the author leaves the reader wanting more of his work!! Another phenomenal and brilliant piece of literary work!! He is the master of his craft!! Incredible!! A profound read!!