Booking Through Thursday

CMash August 19, 2010 7 Comments

THURSDAY

I don’t know what I was thinking!! I really need to get my priorities straight lol. We all know that Friday is one of the biggest blog hop days and I foolishly scheduled my surgical follow-up appointment for tomorrow. We will be leaving early in the morning since the hospital/office is approximately 90 minutes away and won’t be back until late afternoon. I will post when we get back. Have fun everyone!!!!

http://btt2.wordpress.com/

Today BTT is very different. Instead of 1 question there are many. So here goes:

From BTT site:

I got this from Lorette‘s blog and couldn’t resist adopting it for all of you.

1. Favorite childhood book?
     Diary of Anne Frank
2. What are you reading right now?
     Live To Tell by Lisa Gardner
3. What books do you have on request at the library?
     None because of all of the books that are in the house now.
4. Bad book habit?
     Reading while sitting on a pool float..it doesn’t stay completely dry.
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
     Nothing
6. Do you have an e-reader?
     Yes.   Hubby bought me a Sony EReader.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
     I’m a one book gal, always have been.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
     Yes. I am more cognizant that I need to read more especially for “requested review books”. But then, I also, have to put time into my blog to keep it current.
9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
     There have been a few, but I will say The Price of Revenge which was a book that I couldn’t finish this week.
10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
     Many!!! But will name the debut authors that I found to be so talented. (No particular order)
     *Bill Walker A Note from an Old Acquaintance and a manuscript he asked me to read, Titanic 2012.
     *Vincent Zandri Moonlight Falls and one that is in my pile which I can’t wait to get to..The Remains
     *Chevy Stevens Still Missing
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
     Rarely
12. What is your reading comfort zone?
     Suspense/Mystery. Contemporary Literature/Romance
13. Can you read on the bus?
     I haven’t been on a bus in a couple of years but I would think I could.
14. Favorite place to read?
     There are few..my reading recliner in my family room, on a float in the pool, bed.
15. What is your policy on book lending?
     I do not lend signed books. But all others, I pass them on.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
     I used to but broke that habit.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
     No
18. Not even with text books?
     That was 30 yrs ago, and yes, I did. I also highlighted.
19. What is your favorite language to read in?
     English, only language I know.
20. What makes you love a book?
     Feeling like I am part of the story, so engrossed that I am not aware of what is going on around me, relatable and come to life characters, what I call “just one more chapter”, a hate to put down.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
     If it is “a must read”
22. Favorite genre?
     Suspense/Mystery
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
     Historical
24. Favorite biography?
     The most recent biography was Audition by Barbara Walters
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
     Yes
26. Favorite cookbook?
     My grandmother’s notebook filled with her recipes. She was a phenomenal cook and I always helped her. Such great memories.
27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
     It was the end of last year and it was The Left Behind Series.
28. Favorite reading snack?
     Fruit, chips
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
     None coming to mind…sorry..only on 1st cup of coffee
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
     Since finding the book blogging community, I consider bloggers critics. And would say the majority of the time
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
     Those are, for me, the hardest to write. I try and find something positive because I understand that every author puts their heart and soul into a book and it’s like their child.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
     Italian since that is my heritage.
33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
     None coming to mind.
34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
     I wouldn’t call it intimidating, but any book for a requested review, that I can’t finish.
35. Favorite Poet?
     Do not read Poetry.
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
     It would be approximately 4-6
37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
     Just a few.
38. Favorite fictional character?
     Alex Cross
39. Favorite fictional villain?
     The monster/freak in Still Missing
40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
     Books of my favorite genre.
41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
     About 5 years ago, I went into a huge slump that lasted close to a year.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
     One that happened this week, The Price of Revenge
43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
     Music
44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
     N/A not a movie person
45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
     N/A
46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
     $70. +
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
     Never
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
     The story drags and I put off picking it back up.
49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
     Absolutely!!!
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
     I usually pass them on.
51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
     No
52. Name a book that made you angry.
     Still Missing because of the premise
53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
     None coming to mind
54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
     The Hypnotist
55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
     I feel that every book is pleasure reading.
Wow!! That took some time….but I got through it and will be sharing with all!!

Booking Thru Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

CMash August 19, 2010 7 Comments

THURSDAY

I don’t know what I was thinking!! I really need to get my priorities straight lol. We all know that Friday is one of the biggest blog hop days and I foolishly scheduled my surgical follow-up appointment for tomorrow. We will be leaving early in the morning since the hospital/office is approximately 90 minutes away and won’t be back until late afternoon. I will post when we get back. Have fun everyone!!!!

http://btt2.wordpress.com/

Today BTT is very different. Instead of 1 question there are many. So here goes:

From BTT site:

I got this from Lorette‘s blog and couldn’t resist adopting it for all of you.

1. Favorite childhood book?
     Diary of Anne Frank
2. What are you reading right now?
     Live To Tell by Lisa Gardner
3. What books do you have on request at the library?
     None because of all of the books that are in the house now.
4. Bad book habit?
     Reading while sitting on a pool float..it doesn’t stay completely dry.
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
     Nothing
6. Do you have an e-reader?
     Yes.   Hubby bought me a Sony EReader.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
     I’m a one book gal, always have been.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
     Yes. I am more cognizant that I need to read more especially for “requested review books”. But then, I also, have to put time into my blog to keep it current.
9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
     There have been a few, but I will say The Price of Revenge which was a book that I couldn’t finish this week.
10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
     Many!!! But will name the debut authors that I found to be so talented. (No particular order)
     *Bill Walker A Note from an Old Acquaintance and a manuscript he asked me to read, Titanic 2012.
     *Vincent Zandri Moonlight Falls and one that is in my pile which I can’t wait to get to..The Remains
     *Chevy Stevens Still Missing
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
     Rarely
12. What is your reading comfort zone?
     Suspense/Mystery. Contemporary Literature/Romance
13. Can you read on the bus?
     I haven’t been on a bus in a couple of years but I would think I could.
14. Favorite place to read?
     There are few..my reading recliner in my family room, on a float in the pool, bed.
15. What is your policy on book lending?
     I do not lend signed books. But all others, I pass them on.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
     I used to but broke that habit.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
     No
18. Not even with text books?
     That was 30 yrs ago, and yes, I did. I also highlighted.
19. What is your favorite language to read in?
     English, only language I know.
20. What makes you love a book?
     Feeling like I am part of the story, so engrossed that I am not aware of what is going on around me, relatable and come to life characters, what I call “just one more chapter”, a hate to put down.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
     If it is “a must read”
22. Favorite genre?
     Suspense/Mystery
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
     Historical
24. Favorite biography?
     The most recent biography was Audition by Barbara Walters
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
     Yes
26. Favorite cookbook?
     My grandmother’s notebook filled with her recipes. She was a phenomenal cook and I always helped her. Such great memories.
27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
     It was the end of last year and it was The Left Behind Series.
28. Favorite reading snack?
     Fruit, chips
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
     None coming to mind…sorry..only on 1st cup of coffee
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
     Since finding the book blogging community, I consider bloggers critics. And would say the majority of the time
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
     Those are, for me, the hardest to write. I try and find something positive because I understand that every author puts their heart and soul into a book and it’s like their child.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
     Italian since that is my heritage.
33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
     None coming to mind.
34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
     I wouldn’t call it intimidating, but any book for a requested review, that I can’t finish.
35. Favorite Poet?
     Do not read Poetry.
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
     It would be approximately 4-6
37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
     Just a few.
38. Favorite fictional character?
     Alex Cross
39. Favorite fictional villain?
     The monster/freak in Still Missing
40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
     Books of my favorite genre.
41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
     About 5 years ago, I went into a huge slump that lasted close to a year.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
     One that happened this week, The Price of Revenge
43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
     Music
44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
     N/A not a movie person
45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
     N/A
46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
     $70. +
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
     Never
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
     The story drags and I put off picking it back up.
49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
     Absolutely!!!
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
     I usually pass them on.
51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
     No
52. Name a book that made you angry.
     Still Missing because of the premise
53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
     None coming to mind
54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
     The Hypnotist
55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
     I feel that every book is pleasure reading.
Wow!! That took some time….but I got through it and will be sharing with all!!

Guest Author

Guest Author Lisa Gardner (posting 1 of 2)

CMash August 18, 2010 6 Comments

I am beyond excited today!! For years I have read this author’s books, a NYT Bestselling author !! And she is with us, here, today, on my little old blog. I am so excited !!! And you will know why in a second…..Please help me give a HUGE welcome to Lisa Gardner !!!! (now you know why I am so excited)

About Lisa Gardner

Lisa Gardner is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels. Her Detective D. D. Warren novels include The Neighbor, Hide, and Alone. Her FBI Profiler novels include Say Goodbye, Gone, The Killing Hour, The Next Accident, and The Third Victim. She lives with her family in New England, where she is at work on her next D. D. Warren novel, Save Me, which Bantam will publish in 2011.

You can find Lisa online at http://www.lisagardner.com/.

About Live to Tell

He knows everything about you—including the first place you’ll hide.
On a warm summer night in one of Boston’s working-class neighborhoods, an unthinkable crime has been committed: Four members of a family have been brutally murdered. The father—and possible suspect—now lies clinging to life in the ICU. Murder-suicide? Or something worse? Veteran police detective D. D. Warren is certain of only one thing: There’s more to this case than meets the eye.
Danielle Burton is a survivor, a dedicated nurse whose passion is to help children at a locked-down pediatric psych ward. But she remains haunted by a family tragedy that shattered her life nearly twenty-five years ago. The dark anniversary is approaching, and when D. D. Warren and her partner show up at the facility, Danielle immediately realizes: It has started again.
A devoted mother, Victoria Oliver has a hard time remembering what normalcy is like. But she will do anything to ensure that her troubled son has some semblance of a childhood. She will love him no matter what. Nurture him. Keep him safe. Protect him. Even when the threat comes from within her own house.
In New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner’s most compelling work of suspense to date, the lives of these three women unfold and connect in unexpected ways, as sins from the past emerge—and stunning secrets reveal just how tightly blood ties can bind. Sometimes the most devastating crimes are the ones closest to home.

Read an Excerpt!

Thursday night, Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren was out on a date. It wasn’t the worst date she’d ever been on. It wasn’t the best date she’d ever been on. It was, however, the only date she’d been on in quite some time, so unless Chip the accountant turned out to be a total loser, she planned on taking him home for a rigorous session of balance-the-ledger.

So far, they’d made it through half a loaf of bread soaked in olive oil, and half a cow seared medium rare. Chip had managed not to talk about the prime rib bleeding all over her plate or her need to sop up juices with yet another slice of bread. Most men were taken aback by her appetite. They needed to joke uncomfortably about her ability to tuck away plate after plate of food. Then they felt the need to joke even more uncomfortably that, of course, none of it showed on her girlish ﬁgure.

Yeah, yeah, she had the appetite of a sumo wrestler but the build of a cover girl. She was nearly forty, for God’s sake, and well aware by now of her freakish metabolism. She certainly didn’t need any soft- middled desk jockey pointing it out. Food was her passion. Mostly because her job with Boston PD’s homicide unit didn’t leave much time for sex.

She polished off the prime rib, went to work on the twice- baked potato. Chip was a forensic accountant. They’d been set up by the wife of a friend of a guy in the unit. Yep, it made that much sense to D.D. as well. But here she was, sitting in a coveted booth at the Hilltop Steakhouse, and really, Chip was all right. Little doughy in the mid¬dle, little bald on top, but funny. D.D. liked funny. When he smiled, the corners of his deep brown eyes crinkled and that was good enough for her.

She was having meat and potatoes for dinner and, if all went as planned, Chip for dessert.

So, of course, her pager went off.

She scowled, shoved it to the back of her waistband, as if that would make a difference.

“What’s that?” Chip asked, catching the chime.

“Birth control,” she muttered.

Chip blushed to the roots of his receding brown hair, then in the next minute grinned with such self-deprecating power she nearly went weak in the knees.

Better be good, D.D. thought. Better be a fucking massacre, or I’ll be damned if I’m giving up my night.

But then she read the call and was sorry she’d ever thought such a thing.

Chip the funny accountant got a kiss on the cheek.

Then Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren hit the road.

■■■

D.D. had been a Boston PD detective for nearly twelve years now. She’d started out investigating traffic fatalities and drug-related homi¬cides before graduating to such major media events as the discovery of six mummiﬁed corpses in an underground chamber; then, more recently, the disappearance of a beautiful young schoolteacher from South Boston. Her bosses liked to put her in front of the camera. Nothing like a pretty blonde detective to mix things up.

She didn’t mind. D.D. thrived on stress. Enjoyed a good pressure-cooker case even more than an all-you-can-eat buffet. Only drawback was the toll on her personal life. As a sergeant in the homicide unit, was the leader of a three-person squad. It wasn’t uncommon for them to spend all day tracking down leads, interviewing informants, or revisiting crime scenes. Then they spent most of the night writing up the resulting interviews, affidavits, and/or warrant requests. Each squad also had to take turns being “on deck,” meaning they caught the next case called in, keeping them stuck in a permanent vortex of top- priority active cases, still- unsolved old cases, and at least one or two fresh call- outs per week.

Didn’t sleep much. Or date much. Or really do anything much. Which had been ﬁne until last year, when she’d turned thirty-eight and watched her ex- lover get married and start a family. Sud¬denly, the tough, brash sergeant who considered herself wed to her job found herself studying Good Housekeeping magazine and, even worse, Modern Bride. One day, she picked up Parenting. There was noth¬ing more depressing than a nearly forty-year-old single, childless homicide detective reading Parenting magazine alone in her North End condo.

Especially when she realized some of the articles on dealing with toddlers applied to managing her squad as well.

She recycled the magazines, then vowed to go on a date. Which had led to Chip—poor, almost- got-his-brains-screwed-out Chip—and now had her on her way to Dorchester. Wasn’t even her squad’s turn on deck, but the notiﬁcation had been “red ball,” meaning something big and bad enough had happened to warrant all hands on deck.

D.D. turned off I-93, then made her way through the maze of streets to the largely working-class neighborhood. Among local ofﬁ¬cers, Dorchester was known for its drugs, shootings, and raucous neighborhood parties that led to more drugs and shootings. BPD’s local ﬁeld district, C-11, had set up a noise reduction hotline as well as a designated “Party Car” to patrol on weekends. Five hundred phone tips and numerous preventive arrests later, Dorchester was ﬁnally seeing a decline in homicides, rapes, and aggravated assaults. On the other hand, burglaries were way up. Go ﬁgure.

Under the guidance of her vehicle’s navigational system, D.D. ended up on a fairly nice street, double lanes dotted with modest stamps of green lawn and ﬂanked with a long row of tightly nestled three-story homes, many sporting large front porches and an occa¬sional turret.

Most of these dwellings had been carved into multiple-living units over the years, with as many as six to eight in a single house. It was still a nice-looking area, the lawns neatly mowed, the front-porch banis¬ters freshly painted. The softer side of Dorchester, she decided, more and more curious.

D.D. spotted a pileup of Crown Vics, and slowed to park. It was eight- thirty on a Thursday night, August sun just starting to fade on the horizon. She could make out the white ME’s vehicle straight ahead, as well as the traveling crime lab. The vans were bookended by the usual cluster of media trucks and neighborhood gawkers.

When D.D. had ﬁrst read the location of the call, she’d assumed drugs. Probably a gangland shooting. A bad one, given that the deputy superintendent wanted all eighteen detectives in attendance, so most likely involving collateral damage. Maybe a grandmother caught sit¬ting on her front porch, maybe kids playing on the sidewalk. These things happened, and no, they didn’t get any easier to take. But you handled it, because this was Boston, and that’s what a Boston detec¬tive did.

Now, however, as D.D. climbed out of her car, clipped her creden¬tials to the waistband of her skinny black jeans, and retrieved a plain white shirt to button up over her date cleavage, she was thinking, Not drugs. She was thinking this was something worse. She slung a light jacket over her sidearm, and headed up the sidewalk toward the lion’s den.

D.D. pushed her way through the ﬁrst wave of jostling adults and curious children. She did her best to keep focused, but still caught phrases such as “shots ﬁred…” “heard squealing like a stuck pig . . .” “Why, I just saw her unloading groceries not four hours before . . .”

“Excuse me, excuse me, pardon me. Police sergeant. Buddy, out of the way.” She broke through, ducking under the yellow tape rop¬ing off portions of the sidewalk, and ﬁnally arrived at the epicenter of crime- scene chaos.

The house before her was a gray-painted triple-decker boasting a broad- columned front porch and large American ﬂag. Both front doors were wide open, enabling better trafﬁc ﬂow of investigative person¬nel, as well as the ME’s metal gurney.

D.D. noted delicate lace curtains framed in bay windows on either side of the front door. In addition to the American ﬂag, the porch con¬tained four cheerful pots of red geraniums, half a dozen blue folding chairs, and a hanging piece of slate that had been painted with more red geraniums and the bright yellow declaration: Welcome. Yep, deﬁnitely something worse than gun-toting, tennis-shoe-tossing drug dealers.

D.D. sighed, put on her game face, and approached the uniformed officer stationed at the base of the front steps. She rattled off her name and badge number. In turn, the officer dutifully recorded the info in the murder book, then jerked his head down to the bin at his feet.

D.D. obediently ﬁshed out booties and a hair covering. So it was that kind of crime scene.

She climbed the steps slowly, keeping to one side. They appeared recently stained, a light Cape Cod gray that suited the rest of the house. The porch was homey, well kept. Clean enough that she sus¬pected it had been recently broom swept. Perhaps after unloading groceries, a household member had tidied up?

It would’ve been better if the porch had been dirty, covered in dust. That might have yielded shoe treads. That might have helped catch whoever did the bad thing D.D. was about to ﬁnd inside.

She took another breath right outside the door, inhaled the scent of sawdust and drying blood. She heard a reporter calling for a state¬ment. She heard the snap of a camera, the roar of a media chopper, and white noise all around. Gawkers behind, detectives ahead, re¬porters above.

Chaos: loud, smelly, overwhelming. Her job now was to make it right. She got to it.

Lisa Gardner’s LIVE TO TELL VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR AUG ‘10 will officially begin on August 2nd and end on August 27th. You can visit Lisa’s blog stops at http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com during the month of August to find out more about this great book and talented author!

Watch for my review of Live To Tell in the next few days!!

W.W.W. Wednesdays

W.W.W. Wednesdays (2 of 2)

CMash August 18, 2010 5 Comments

WEDNESDAY

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

REVISED MANUSCRIPT OF:

What do you think you’ll read next?