Thursday Memes

CMash May 26, 2011 4 Comments

http://btt2.wordpress.com/

This week’s question:

Do you ever feel like you’re in a reading rut? That you don’t read enough variety? That you need to branch out, spread your literary wings and explore other genres, flavors, styles?

My answer:
At times yes. But than on the other hand, there are so many books that I want to read in the genres I enjoy, and honestly feel that I will never get to all of them, that I don’t feel I am missing out on anything.. I have one large 5 shelf packed bookshelf that are divided into one shelf of my requested reviews, the rest are all of my personal personal tbr books. So when I deplete this bookcase, I will consider another genre lol.

Hosted by Lori from Dollycas’s Thoughts

From Lori’s site:
It struck me recently how much time I spend on this computer every day, blogging, chatting or playing games on Facebook, emailing friends and relatives, making cards and calendars, etc. etc. etc.
We depend on each other for book reviews, giveaways, encouragement, friendship, but how well do we really know each other?
So that is what this meme is all about, getting to know each other.

WEEK 39 QUESTIONS

1. If you could meet a famous person who would you like to meet?

This is definitely a hard question and so many possible answers but because this milestone just occurred yesterday, I would say Oprah.

2. Are you planning a summer vacation?

Since we just got back from vacation, our summer plans will be to spend it by our pool.

3. What is your favorite television show?

Piers Morgan Tonight and since the Casey Anthony trial has begun, I do watch Nancy Grace to get the recap of what happened in court.

Winners

And the winners are……

CMash May 25, 2011 Leave a Comment

……….for THE GUARDIAN by Margaret Mallory

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6 28 4

Timestamp: 2011-05-25 22:04:49 UTC

*Gigi Ann said… 6 Without a doubt my Knight in Shining Armor is…Mr. Knightley in Jane Austen’s “Emma”.

*winnie said… 28 My knight in shinning armor (literally wise) would be Bones from the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost because it’s my favourite book series.

*Gina Hott said… 4 I’m a Twitter Follower!

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

5/27/11 ADDENDUM
Due to a duplicate win, another winner was chosen.

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2011-05-27 23:11:22 UTC

Congratulations to:
holls said… 11 How could I not say the my wonderful husband is my shining
An email has been sent and the winner has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

Winners

And the winners are……

CMash May 25, 2011 1 Comment

……….for THE GUARDIAN by Margaret Mallory

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6 28 4

Timestamp: 2011-05-25 22:04:49 UTC

*Gigi Ann said… 6 Without a doubt my Knight in Shining Armor is…Mr. Knightley in Jane Austen’s “Emma”.

*winnie said… 28 My knight in shinning armor (literally wise) would be Bones from the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost because it’s my favourite book series.

*Gina Hott said… 4 I’m a Twitter Follower!

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

5/27/11 ADDENDUM
Due to a duplicate win, another winner was chosen.

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2011-05-27 23:11:22 UTC

Congratulations to:
holls said… 11 How could I not say the my wonderful husband is my shining
An email has been sent and the winner has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

Guest Author

Guest Author Meg Mitchell Moore

CMash May 25, 2011 Leave a Comment

Anna, and the fantastic people from The Hachette Book Group, have made this Wednesday very special by giving me the opportunity of introducing this very talented author to everyone while she stops by while on her virtual tour. So, please, let’s make her Wednesday just as special, by giving Ms. Meg Mitchell Moore a very warm welcome.

ABOUT MEG MITCHELL MOORE

Meg Mitchell Moore worked for several years as a journalist. Her work has been published in Yankee, Continental, Women’s Health, Advertising Age and many other business and consumer magazines. She received a B.A. from Providence College and a master’s degree in English Literature from New York University. The Arrivals is her first novel. Her second novel will be published by Reagan Arthur Books in 2012. Meg lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with her husband, their three children and a beloved border collie.

You can visit her at her website: MegMitchellMoore.com
Follow her on Facebook
Follow @Mmitchmoore on Twitter

GUEST POST
Making it Personal

One thing I’ve learned as a debut novelist is that a few questions come up frequently. Among those questions: how much of my book, The Arrivals, is based on personal experience. I think this is a great question, and it’s one I always enjoy answering. In The Arrivals, three adult siblings return to their parents’ home in Burlington, Vt., over the course of a summer, bringing their grownup problems with them.

My answer to the question of “Is this based on personal experience?” is: not really. Lillian, the eldest Owen sibling, arrives on her parents’ doorstep, a three-year-old and an infant in tow, to escape a marriage that’s in jeopardy. (Unless there’s something nobody is telling me, my marriage is in pretty good shape.) Stephen, the middle sibling, brings his pregnant wife for a short visit that is extended by weeks due to pregnancy complications. (My three pregnancies were relatively uneventful.) Rachel, the youngest sibling, is fleeing heartbreak and personal financial disaster in New York City. (I did live in New York, well, okay, Hoboken, New Jersey, in my twenties, and I sure wasn’t rich, but my situation was less extreme than Rachel’s.) I guess what I’m getting at here is that my life is considerably more boring than those of my characters. My life would make for a pretty dull novel.

Still, I guess you could say that some of the circumstances within the situations—mini-situations, let’s call them—have roots in personal experience. Lillian’s daughter Olivia, who is three, is in some ways a composite of all the three-year-old girls I have known, and I have known plenty. I have three daughters, all of whom by now have passed through the Olivia stage (though the youngest was only one when I started writing the book three years ago). I have dragged my children to my parents’ house on more than one occasion, and I’m sure I have created there the sort of chaos Lillian creates in the Owen household. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine a living room strewn with little baby socks and chirping toddler toys, or a washing machine suffering from overuse, or a kitchen never completely clear of the detritus of somebody’s last meal. And my parents do currently live in Vermont, though not in Burlington, where the book is set. So, I guess my answer to the question above is, as I said: not really. But sort of.

My next book, due out next year, features characters who aren’t anything like me: one is a thirteen-year-old girl, one is a fifty-seven-year-old woman, and one is an Irish immigrant working in domestic service in the 1920s. Their situations are foreign to me, but as I wrote them I sat down and did what any fiction writer tries to do—and, on a good day, achieves—I tried to mine the universal emotions from somebody else’s specific experiences.

ABOUT THE BOOK

SYNOPSIS:

It’s early summer when Ginny and William’s peaceful life in Vermont comes to an abrupt halt.

First, their daughter Lillian arrives, with her two children in tow, to escape her crumbling marriage. Next, their son Stephen and his pregnant wife Jane show up for a weekend visit, which extends indefinitely when Jane ends up on bed rest. When their youngest daughter Rachel appears, fleeing her difficult life in New York, Ginny and William find themselves consumed again by the chaos of parenthood – only this time around, their children are facing adult problems.

By summer’s end, the family gains new ideas of loyalty and responsibility, exposing the challenges of surviving the modern family – and the old adage, once a parent, always a parent, has never rung so true.

THANKS TO ANNA AND THE FANTASTIC

PEOPLE AT THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP

I HAVE TWO (2) BOOKS TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO

THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

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.

Giveaway

GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE "THE ARRIVALS ENDED

CMash May 25, 2011 Leave a Comment

MAY 25th to JUNE 8th, 2011

THE ARRIVALS

by MEG MTCHELL MOORE

SYNOPSIS:

It’s early summer when Ginny and William’s peaceful life in Vermont comes to an abrupt halt.

First, their daughter Lillian arrives, with her two children in tow, to escape her crumbling marriage. Next, their son Stephen and his pregnant wife Jane show up for a weekend visit, which extends indefinitely when Jane ends up on bed rest. When their youngest daughter Rachel appears, fleeing her difficult life in New York, Ginny and William find themselves consumed again by the chaos of parenthood – only this time around, their children are facing adult problems.
By summer’s end, the family gains new ideas of loyalty and responsibility, exposing the challenges of surviving the modern family – and the old adage, once a parent, always a parent, has never rung so true.

THANKS TO ANNA AND THE FANTASTIC

PEOPLE FROM THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP

I HAVE TWO (2) COPIES OF THIS

BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.

*ALL COMMENTS TO BE SEPARATE*

AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN

*LEAVE COMMENT: DO YOU BELIEVE THE ADAGE

“ONCE A PARENT, ALWAYS A PARENT?*

*EXTRA ENTRIES*

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT TO LET ME KNOW THAT YOU THAT
YOU RETWEETED THIS GIVEAWAY @ WHAT NAME.

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.

*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 8th AT 6PM EST*

WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG

AND NOTIFIED VIA EMAIL AND WILL

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,
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.
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

Book Review

Review "The Arrivals" by Meg Mitchell Moore

CMash May 25, 2011 Leave a Comment

THE ARRIVALS by Meg Mitchell Moore

Published by Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown and Company

The Hachette Book Group

ISBN 978-0-316-09771-0

At the request of The Hachette Book Group, a HC was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: It’s early summer when Ginny and William’s peaceful life in Vermont comes to an abrupt halt.

First, their daughter Lillian arrives, with her two children in tow, to escape her crumbling marriage. Next, their son Stephen and his pregnant wife Jane show up for a weekend visit, which extends indefinitely when Jane ends up on bed rest. When their youngest daughter Rachel appears, fleeing her difficult life in New York, Ginny and William find themselves consumed again by the chaos of parenthood – only this time around, their children are facing adult problems.
By summer’s end, the family gains new ideas of loyalty and responsibility, exposing the challenges of surviving the modern family – and the old adage, once a parent, always a parent, has never rung so true.

My Thoughts and Opinion: Having recently started my own chapter of being an empty nester, I was quite interested in the premise of this book. And along that line, I definitely could relate to the parental characters in the novel. It was very easy for me to, what I call being “transported”, into the story line and become part of this family. Which was quite surprising due to the fact that this was the debut novel by this author. There was a situation, where the patriarch character became so frustrated that he finally lost his patience, because his house had been so transformed into a mess. Another plight I could relate to. And how the parents attempted to treat their children as the adults that they were. Except these adult children, never took into consideration that they were giving their parents their responsibilities and problems instead of dealing with them as the adults they were. I felt that there were some family dynamics, and this is only my opinion, that did not resemble real life. The time frame occurred over a few months, and during that time, it was never stated to the parents why their children appeared “back home”. I enjoyed this book due to the story line of the novel, but also felt that it was predictable. No matter what the rating this book gets, like the synopsis states, “once a parent, always a parent”.

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.

W.W.W. Wednesdays

CMash May 25, 2011 Leave a Comment

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Guest Author

Guest Author Meg Mitchell Moore

CMash May 25, 2011 2 Comments

Anna, and the fantastic people from The Hachette Book Group, have made this Wednesday very special by giving me the opportunity of introducing this very talented author to everyone while she stops by while on her virtual tour. So, please, let’s make her Wednesday just as special, by giving Ms. Meg Mitchell Moore a very warm welcome.

ABOUT MEG MITCHELL MOORE

Meg Mitchell Moore worked for several years as a journalist. Her work has been published in Yankee, Continental, Women’s Health, Advertising Age and many other business and consumer magazines. She received a B.A. from Providence College and a master’s degree in English Literature from New York University. The Arrivals is her first novel. Her second novel will be published by Reagan Arthur Books in 2012. Meg lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with her husband, their three children and a beloved border collie.

You can visit her at her website: MegMitchellMoore.com
Follow her on Facebook
Follow @Mmitchmoore on Twitter

GUEST POST
Making it Personal

One thing I’ve learned as a debut novelist is that a few questions come up frequently. Among those questions: how much of my book, The Arrivals, is based on personal experience. I think this is a great question, and it’s one I always enjoy answering. In The Arrivals, three adult siblings return to their parents’ home in Burlington, Vt., over the course of a summer, bringing their grownup problems with them.

My answer to the question of “Is this based on personal experience?” is: not really. Lillian, the eldest Owen sibling, arrives on her parents’ doorstep, a three-year-old and an infant in tow, to escape a marriage that’s in jeopardy. (Unless there’s something nobody is telling me, my marriage is in pretty good shape.) Stephen, the middle sibling, brings his pregnant wife for a short visit that is extended by weeks due to pregnancy complications. (My three pregnancies were relatively uneventful.) Rachel, the youngest sibling, is fleeing heartbreak and personal financial disaster in New York City. (I did live in New York, well, okay, Hoboken, New Jersey, in my twenties, and I sure wasn’t rich, but my situation was less extreme than Rachel’s.) I guess what I’m getting at here is that my life is considerably more boring than those of my characters. My life would make for a pretty dull novel.

Still, I guess you could say that some of the circumstances within the situations—mini-situations, let’s call them—have roots in personal experience. Lillian’s daughter Olivia, who is three, is in some ways a composite of all the three-year-old girls I have known, and I have known plenty. I have three daughters, all of whom by now have passed through the Olivia stage (though the youngest was only one when I started writing the book three years ago). I have dragged my children to my parents’ house on more than one occasion, and I’m sure I have created there the sort of chaos Lillian creates in the Owen household. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine a living room strewn with little baby socks and chirping toddler toys, or a washing machine suffering from overuse, or a kitchen never completely clear of the detritus of somebody’s last meal. And my parents do currently live in Vermont, though not in Burlington, where the book is set. So, I guess my answer to the question above is, as I said: not really. But sort of.

My next book, due out next year, features characters who aren’t anything like me: one is a thirteen-year-old girl, one is a fifty-seven-year-old woman, and one is an Irish immigrant working in domestic service in the 1920s. Their situations are foreign to me, but as I wrote them I sat down and did what any fiction writer tries to do—and, on a good day, achieves—I tried to mine the universal emotions from somebody else’s specific experiences.

ABOUT THE BOOK

SYNOPSIS:

It’s early summer when Ginny and William’s peaceful life in Vermont comes to an abrupt halt.

First, their daughter Lillian arrives, with her two children in tow, to escape her crumbling marriage. Next, their son Stephen and his pregnant wife Jane show up for a weekend visit, which extends indefinitely when Jane ends up on bed rest. When their youngest daughter Rachel appears, fleeing her difficult life in New York, Ginny and William find themselves consumed again by the chaos of parenthood – only this time around, their children are facing adult problems.

By summer’s end, the family gains new ideas of loyalty and responsibility, exposing the challenges of surviving the modern family – and the old adage, once a parent, always a parent, has never rung so true.

THANKS TO ANNA AND THE FANTASTIC

PEOPLE AT THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP

I HAVE TWO (2) BOOKS TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO

THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

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.