Author: CMash

An avid reader for many years. Married for 31 years with 2 fantastic adult sons who I am so very proud of with great gfs. Am disabled. Found this wonderful community of book blogging in approximately December 2009 and have loved every minute of it. Am now a reviewer for authors, publishers, publicists, etc. And am also a partner in a Virtual PR tour company, Partners In Crime Tours for authors of novels of mystery, suspense and crime (www.Partnersincrimetours.net)

Friday Memes

FRIDAY
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Hosted by An Island Life

 From An Island Life:
  In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.
  If you’d like to participate, visit An Island Life answer the question and then post your own question on your blog and leave your link below. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!


MY QUESTION:
Name one of your favorite “event, meme, item, etc., that you
  look forward to doing on and/or participating in on your blog?
MY ANSWER:
My weekly Sunday’s Shining Star
where I showcase another blogger.

Book Blogger Hop
Hosted by Jennifer from CRAZY FOR BOOKS

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and find new book-related blogs that we may be missing out on! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed! So, grab the logo, post about the Hop on your blog, and start HOPPING through the list of blogs that are posted in the Linky list below!!
Your blog should have content related to books, including, but not limited to book reviews.
Your blog should have content related to books, including, but not limited to book reviews.


This week’s question:
Will update when question is posted………..
My answer:
TYPE HERE.

And the winner is……..

…………for TOYS by James Patterson & Neil McMahon
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Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

28

Timestamp: 2011-04-07 22:05:22 UTC

Wrighty said… 28 I follow on GFC.

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

And the winner is……..

…………for TOYS by James Patterson & Neil McMahon
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Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

28

Timestamp: 2011-04-07 22:05:22 UTC

Wrighty said… 28 I follow on GFC.

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

Guest Author Steve O’Brien

I have been bestowed with the honor from Rebecca at The Cadence Marketing Group asking if I would introduce everyone to a  very talented, diverse and author who is getting great reviews on his latest book.  And knowing that I have the most fantastic and fabulous visitors, of course, I said YES!.  So, let’s give Mr. Steve O’Brien a CMash warm welcome!!!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
     Steve O’Brien is a lawyer specializing in international corporate law and litigation. He has extensive experience in overseas business, including joint ventures, acquisitions, and start-ups in twenty-nine countries. He has in-depth expertise in risk management, corporate ethics, governance, and intellectual property. As a litigator he has chaired more than twenty state and federal jury trials and argued seven appellate cases before state supreme courts and US circuit courts of appeal.

     O’Brien earned his juris doctorate from George Washington University Law School and served on the editorial board of The George Washington International Law Review. He has written commentaries and perspectives for prestigious publications such as The National Law Journal, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many magazines. He currently serves as General Counsel for a global consulting company. O’Brien lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Becky; they have two children.
Elijah’s Coin is his first novel.
Visit his site:  http://www.aandnpublishing.com/blog

GUEST POST
  I guess you could say horse racing is in my blood.   I grew up in a tiny town in Nebraska that had a five-eighths mile racetrack and the meet was held in the Spring of each year. Truancy officers from the high school looked for me and my pals who had announced we were going out for the golf team, but only made it as far as the racetrack.  I suppose it was inevitable that I would write a suspense mystery set at a racetrack.

  Over the years I have read all the horse racing novels, Dick Francis, William Murray, Stephen Dobyns, even Willie Shoemaker published a series of racetrack novels.  I also spent quite a bit of time over the years at racetracks. For a period of time I owned some racehorses in partnership with a group of friends. We were unusually lucky to have a few good runners.
  Okay, we were stupid lucky.
  One is still among the all time money winners for Nebraska bred horses. Another broke three different track records at three different distances at three different racetracks. Try that one.
  Another was a filly which, I guess, inspired part of the story of Bullet Work. We purchased a
Nebraska bred filly for the princely sum of $1200. She was not regally bred, but had the heart of
a champion.  She won her first two races and we shipped her to Remington Park in Oklahoma City for a big
stakes race. Another undefeated filly was shipped in as well. She was a $500,000 Kentucky bred yearling named Remember the Day. Of course that horse was a huge betting favorite. Just like a Disney script, our little Nebraska bred filly stole the show, leading every step of the way at 15-1.
  We were also fortunate to have Willie Shoemaker ride one of our horses when he was doing his
farewell tour prior to his retirement. That race didn’t come out as well as we’d hoped, but it was
still a thrill.
  Bullet Work mixes in many of the lessons I learned about thoroughbreds and racing over the
years, but is an entirely fictional story–nothing autobiographical here. I tried to capture the
drama, the competition, the language, the relationships on the backside, and above all the love
the caregivers have for the animals.
  No story is easy to write. In fact, I can easily say I worked on this novel off and on for decades.  But despite the starts and stops, I truly enjoyed creating these characters and this story, because they are people, places and things I have known and enjoyed nearly all of my life.

Steve O’Brien is a lawyer and fiction writer. His first book Elijah’s Coin received nine literary awards. Bullet Work, his second novel, will be released in Spring 2011.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
From the Author:
Behind the glamorous exterior of horseracing lies the gritty reality of the backside. Within this fiercely competitive world of owners, trainers, vets, and jockeys something has gone terribly wrong. As opening day approaches, one racehorse is poisoned, another has her leg crushed by a lead pipe and a third mysteriously disappears. Shock and horror grip the racing community. Despite all security efforts, the brutal killings continue.

For Dan Morgan it becomes personal when his precocious two-year-old filly is targeted. Dan befriends AJ Kaine, a lonely, “horse whispering” young man. AJ is a hotwalker, the lowest of jobs in the backside food chain. But AJ has a secret—perhaps a secret that can corner a killer. With AJ’s help, Dan must crack the extortion scheme or risk becoming the next victim.

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 ENTRY PAGE "BULLET WORK" ENDED

APRIL 7th to APRIL 21st
BULLET WORK
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by STEVE O’BRIEN
SYNOPSIS:
From the Author:

  Behind the glamorous exterior of horseracing lies the gritty reality of the backside. Within this fiercely competitive world of owners, trainers, vets, and jockeys something has gone terribly wrong. As opening day approaches, one racehorse is poisoned, another has her leg crushed by a lead pipe and a third mysteriously disappears. Shock and horror grip the racing community. Despite all security efforts, the brutal killings continue.
  For Dan Morgan it becomes personal when his precocious two-year-old filly is targeted. Dan befriends AJ Kaine, a lonely, “horse whispering” young man. AJ is a hotwalker, the lowest of jobs in the backside food chain. But AJ has a secret—perhaps a secret that can corner a killer. With AJ’s help, Dan must crack the extortion scheme or risk becoming the next victim.

THANKS TO REBECCA AND THE AMAZING
PEOPLE FROM THE CADENCE MARKETING GROUP
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I HAVE ONE (1) COPY OF THIS
GRIPPING BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.
HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.
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*ALL COMMENTS TO BE SEPARATE*
AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: HAVE YOU OR WOULD
YOU ENJOY SEEING A PROFESSIONAL HORSE RACE?*
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*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 AND WHERE.

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.

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*U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*
**HONOR SYSTEM**
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.
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*GIVEAWAY ENDS APRIL 21st 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

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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

Thursday Memes

THURSDAY
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This week’s question:
So … the books that you own (however many there may be) … do you display them proudly right there in plain sight for all the world to see? (At least the world that comes into your living room.)
Or do you keep them tucked away in your office or bedroom or library or closet or someplace less “public?”
My answer:
Until just recently they were overflowing in out bookcase in our family room.  But when we became empty nesters, we redid one of the boy’s bedrooms into a “reading room / library /office  for me.  We still have books in the family room’s bookcase but they are mainly text books from when hubby and I were in college, cookbooks, and some overflow books of mine.  I do, however, proudly show off MY room, because it was something I always wanted.  Someday when the hubby gets the camera fixed, which better be soon for our trip, I will post pictures of where I read and blog. 
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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 32 QUESTIONS

1. Do you eat breakfast every morning?
I usually have cereal and a banana but for the past couple of months I have been eating less in preparation for our vacation.
2. What is your favorite breakfast cereal?
3. What is your favorite brand and flavor of yogurt?
I have a few that I eat throughout the day.  The Yoplait Chocolate Mousse is my dessert at night.

Guest Author Steve O’Brien

I have been bestowed with the honor from Rebecca at The Cadence Marketing Group asking if I would introduce everyone to a  very talented, diverse and author who is getting great reviews on his latest book.  And knowing that I have the most fantastic and fabulous visitors, of course, I said YES!.  So, let’s give Mr. Steve O’Brien a CMash warm welcome!!!

Photobucket
Photobucket
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
     Steve O’Brien is a lawyer specializing in international corporate law and litigation. He has extensive experience in overseas business, including joint ventures, acquisitions, and start-ups in twenty-nine countries. He has in-depth expertise in risk management, corporate ethics, governance, and intellectual property. As a litigator he has chaired more than twenty state and federal jury trials and argued seven appellate cases before state supreme courts and US circuit courts of appeal.

     O’Brien earned his juris doctorate from George Washington University Law School and served on the editorial board of The George Washington International Law Review. He has written commentaries and perspectives for prestigious publications such as The National Law Journal, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many magazines. He currently serves as General Counsel for a global consulting company. O’Brien lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Becky; they have two children.
Elijah’s Coin is his first novel.
Visit his site:  http://www.aandnpublishing.com/blog

GUEST POST
  I guess you could say horse racing is in my blood.   I grew up in a tiny town in Nebraska that had a five-eighths mile racetrack and the meet was held in the Spring of each year. Truancy officers from the high school looked for me and my pals who had announced we were going out for the golf team, but only made it as far as the racetrack.  I suppose it was inevitable that I would write a suspense mystery set at a racetrack.

  Over the years I have read all the horse racing novels, Dick Francis, William Murray, Stephen Dobyns, even Willie Shoemaker published a series of racetrack novels.  I also spent quite a bit of time over the years at racetracks. For a period of time I owned some racehorses in partnership with a group of friends. We were unusually lucky to have a few good runners.
  Okay, we were stupid lucky.
  One is still among the all time money winners for Nebraska bred horses. Another broke three different track records at three different distances at three different racetracks. Try that one.
  Another was a filly which, I guess, inspired part of the story of Bullet Work. We purchased a
Nebraska bred filly for the princely sum of $1200. She was not regally bred, but had the heart of
a champion.  She won her first two races and we shipped her to Remington Park in Oklahoma City for a big
stakes race. Another undefeated filly was shipped in as well. She was a $500,000 Kentucky bred yearling named Remember the Day. Of course that horse was a huge betting favorite. Just like a Disney script, our little Nebraska bred filly stole the show, leading every step of the way at 15-1.
  We were also fortunate to have Willie Shoemaker ride one of our horses when he was doing his
farewell tour prior to his retirement. That race didn’t come out as well as we’d hoped, but it was
still a thrill.
  Bullet Work mixes in many of the lessons I learned about thoroughbreds and racing over the
years, but is an entirely fictional story–nothing autobiographical here. I tried to capture the
drama, the competition, the language, the relationships on the backside, and above all the love
the caregivers have for the animals.
  No story is easy to write. In fact, I can easily say I worked on this novel off and on for decades.  But despite the starts and stops, I truly enjoyed creating these characters and this story, because they are people, places and things I have known and enjoyed nearly all of my life.

Steve O’Brien is a lawyer and fiction writer. His first book Elijah’s Coin received nine literary awards. Bullet Work, his second novel, will be released in Spring 2011.
Photobucket
ABOUT THE BOOK
From the Author:
Behind the glamorous exterior of horseracing lies the gritty reality of the backside. Within this fiercely competitive world of owners, trainers, vets, and jockeys something has gone terribly wrong. As opening day approaches, one racehorse is poisoned, another has her leg crushed by a lead pipe and a third mysteriously disappears. Shock and horror grip the racing community. Despite all security efforts, the brutal killings continue.

For Dan Morgan it becomes personal when his precocious two-year-old filly is targeted. Dan befriends AJ Kaine, a lonely, “horse whispering” young man. AJ is a hotwalker, the lowest of jobs in the backside food chain. But AJ has a secret—perhaps a secret that can corner a killer. With AJ’s help, Dan must crack the extortion scheme or risk becoming the next victim.

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 ENTRY PAGE "BULLET WORK" ENDED

APRIL 7th to APRIL 21st
BULLET WORK
Photobucket
by STEVE O’BRIEN
SYNOPSIS:
From the Author:

  Behind the glamorous exterior of horseracing lies the gritty reality of the backside. Within this fiercely competitive world of owners, trainers, vets, and jockeys something has gone terribly wrong. As opening day approaches, one racehorse is poisoned, another has her leg crushed by a lead pipe and a third mysteriously disappears. Shock and horror grip the racing community. Despite all security efforts, the brutal killings continue.
  For Dan Morgan it becomes personal when his precocious two-year-old filly is targeted. Dan befriends AJ Kaine, a lonely, “horse whispering” young man. AJ is a hotwalker, the lowest of jobs in the backside food chain. But AJ has a secret—perhaps a secret that can corner a killer. With AJ’s help, Dan must crack the extortion scheme or risk becoming the next victim.

THANKS TO REBECCA AND THE AMAZING
PEOPLE FROM THE CADENCE MARKETING GROUP
Photobucket
I HAVE ONE (1) COPY OF THIS
GRIPPING BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.
HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.
Photobucket
*ALL COMMENTS TO BE SEPARATE*
AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: HAVE YOU OR WOULD
YOU ENJOY SEEING A PROFESSIONAL HORSE RACE?*
Photobucket
*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 AND WHERE.

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.

Photobucket
*U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*
**HONOR SYSTEM**
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.
Photobucket
*GIVEAWAY ENDS APRIL 21st 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

Photobucket
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