Booking Thru Thursday, Meme, Thursday Memes

Booking Through Thursday

CMash October 25, 2012 2 Comments

http://btt2.wordpress.com

This week’s question:
The flip side of last week’s …
Are there any good books that you read IN SPITE OF the cover and ended up wondering what on earth the artist and publisher were thinking to pair up a cover that so badly represented a perfectly good book?
And … if you didn’t like the cover, what made you pick up the book? The author? Assigned reading from school? A recommendation from a friend?

My answer:
Unfortunately, yes. And quite a few. BB (before blogging), I will admit, when purchasing a book, I would first pick up a book because of it’s cover and then read the synopsis. Unless it was a writer that was on my “authors to read” list.

However, for the past 3 years, since becoming an active participant in the online book blogging community and accepting requests to review, it’s the synopsis and/or reviews from other bloggers that influence me. After receiving said books, there have been a few times where I have thought, “what were they thinking?” I also wonder if the cover is any indication of what kind of read it is going to be. And in those circumstances when the book is a 4-5 star, I then think “the cover is going to hurt the sales of a book” putting myself in a consumer’s “shoes”. Even though I loved the book, I know I would have missed out on a good read if I saw it on the shelves.

In my opinion, even though you aren’t supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, when I see a poorly designed cover, I automatically think that the caliber of writing will probably be amateurish especially in today’s market where anyone can self publish.

What about you? Do covers influence you? Have you read a 5 star novel but hate the cover? What are your thoughts on poorly designed covers?

Giveaway, Winners

And the winner is…..

CMash October 24, 2012 Leave a Comment

….of Televenge by Pamela King Cable

21 Mya Murphy Be a Public Follower of ‘CMASH Loves to Read’

An email has been sent to the winner and has 48 hours to respond with a mailing address or another winner will be chosen. Thank you to author, Pamela King Cable, and all that entered.

Meme, W.W.W. Wednesdays, Wednesday Memes

W.W.W. Wednesday

CMash October 24, 2012 1 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?

Blog Hop Giveaways, Giveaway

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop ENDED

CMash October 23, 2012 21 Comments

OCTOBER 24th to OCTOBER 31st, 2012

Hosted by Kathy @ I Am A Reader Not A Writer

WINNER WILL WIN THE FOLLOWING TWO (2) BOOKS

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: WHO IS ONE YOUR FAVORITE

AUTHORS OF MYSTERY/SUSPENSE ?*

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

*GIVEAWAY ENDS OCTOBER 31st AT MIDNIGHT*

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

Giveaway, Winners

And the winners are…….

CMash October 23, 2012 1 Comment

…..of In His Stead by Judith Sanders

16 Anita Yancey Tweet About the Giveaway

43 Tony L Smoaks Be a Public Follower of ‘CMASH Loves to Read’

An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen. Thank you to all that entered!!!

Guest Author, The Book Trib/Media Muscle

Guest Author Rebecca Coleman

CMash October 23, 2012 Leave a Comment

Rebecca Coleman last visited in September of 2011 so when Alissa from The Book Trib contacted me, to be part of Ms. Coleman’s latest tour, it was an automatic yes!! So without further ado, Ms. Rebecca Coleman!!

REBECCA COLEMAN

A New Yorker by birth, Rebecca Coleman grew up in the close suburbs of Washington, D.C., in an academic family. A year spent in Germany, at the age of eight, would later provide the basis for the protagonist’s background in “The Kingdom of Childhood.” She first learned about the Waldorf School movement at age 14 and quickly developed a fascination with its culture and philosophies. After studying elementary education for several years at the University of Maryland, she graduated with a degree in English, awarded with honors. She lives in suburban Maryland with her husband and their four young children.
Visit Rebecca at her website and follow her tour here.

GUEST POST

How can we as a society be more supportive of veterans?

Not long ago I clicked through a Facebook link to read the heartbreaking and deeply moving love story of Taylor Morris, a U.S. soldier rendered quadruple amputee by an IED in Afghanistan, and his girlfriend Danielle. Told in a series of photographs, the story of love and sacrifice and resilience moved me to tears, and I was thrilled to see that readers of the website The Chive had raised over $250,000 to buy Taylor his dream cabin beside a lake. The story is beautiful by any measure, but I am a hopeless softy for any story of a soldier’s homecoming. Turn on a video of a dog bounding out of the house to greet his returned master, and I’m blubbering within seconds.

The trouble with these things, and the sense of triumph and comfort they leave us with– that they’re home, that they’re bouncing back, that everything can go back to normal now– is that it’s false. Rubbing the dog’s belly isn’t the last scene in that soldier’s personal war movie; most likely, it’s somewhere in the middle. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs statistics show that between 25 and 30% of soldiers display symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and many don’t seek treatment in the first place. Of those that do, many receive ineffective or halfhearted treatment. While researching my novel Heaven Should Fall, I was determined to paint an accurate picture both of PTSD and of the VA’s typical handling of it in a soldier reluctant to admit his need for help. The result of that is Elias Olmstead, a young guy full of loves and hopes and pain he can’t articulate, who patrols his own house at night, sleeps in his sneakers, and struggles not to freak out at loud noises and throttle his sister’s kids.

The thing about PTSD is, it affects not only the soldier who suffers from it, but that soldier’s entire family. Husbands or wives welcome home a partner who can seem very unlike the loved one they sent off to war, and the resulting friction impacts the kids. A soldier’s parents, too, can feel helpless and deeply troubled to see an adult son or daughter carrying the invisible scars of battle– all the more if they encouraged or warned against it. The suicide rate among active-duty soldiers and combat veterans is climbing to an alarming level. And as community mental health services become, more and more, the victims of budget cuts, these families are left with fewer and fewer resources from which to seek help. Especially in rural areas, these facilities are often the lifeline for families who live far from a VA hospital or who– in the case of unmarried partners, for example– aren’t eligible for those benefits. To put it bluntly, those who claim to support military families, but favor candidates who want to paint every social service as a frivolous use of tax dollars, are escalating the problem. Never in our nation’s history has there been a more important time to support community-based mental health care than now.

I know that the picture I’m painting is a grim one, but positive change is within our grasp. We can support organizations like the Wounded Warrior Project and the Coming Home Project, and we can stay mindful, this election season, of how our votes will impact the resources that military families depend on to help their soldiers come home in mind as well as body. Because the feel-good stories feel best when we know there’s substance to our actions, and that we’re here for them, as long as it takes.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Alone since her mother’s death, Jill Wagner wants to eat, sleep and breathe Cade Olmstead when he bursts upon her life—golden, handsome and ambitious. Even putting college on hold feels like a minor sacrifice when she discovers she’s pregnant with Cade’s baby. But it won’t be the last sacrifice she’ll have to make.

Retreating to the Olmsteads’ New England farm seems sensible, if not ideal: Jill and Cade will regroup and welcome the baby, surrounded by Cade’s family. But the remote, ramshackle place already feels crowded. Cade’s mother tends to his ailing father, while Cade’s pious sister, her bigoted husband and their rowdy sons overrun the house. Only Cade’s brother, Elias, a combat veteran with a damaged spirit, gives Jill an ally amidst the chaos, along with a glimpse into his disturbing childhood. But his burden is heavy, and she alone cannot kindle his will to live

The tragedy of Elias is like a killing frost, withering Cade in particular, transforming his idealism into bitterness and paranoia. Taking solace in caring for her newborn son, Jill looks up to find her golden boy is gone. In Cade’s place is a desperate man willing to endanger them all in the name of vengeance…unless Jill can find a way out.

EXCERPT

“We both run, too,” I told him. “I ran track in high school, and Cade’s always training for some half marathon or another. So we go running together a lot.”

“I bet Cade tries to outrun you,” Elias said, “competitive son of a bitch that he is.”

“And you wonder why I don’t bring you home to meet my family,” Cade said to me. “You hear the stuff they say about me?”

Elias laughed low. “Just speaking the truth, bro. She’s got to learn it sometime.”

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.

Guest Author, Partners In Crime Tours, Showcase

Guest Author Vincent Zandri

CMash October 22, 2012 Leave a Comment

WooHoo!!! Heeeee’s baaack! If you follow me, then you know how much I enjoy Vincent Zandri’s novels. I have read every single book except one and that is waiting for me in my Kindle. And today is super special because not only is he back to talk about one of newly published books, today he kicks off his tour with Partners In Crime Tours. So please help me give a very warm welcome to author and friend, Vincent Zandri!!

VINCENT ZANDRI

Vincent Zandri is the No. 1 International Bestselling Amazon author of THE INNOCENT, GODCHILD, THE REMAINS, MOONLIGHT FALLS, CONCRETE PEARL, MOONLIGHT RISES, SCREAM CATCHER, BLUE MOONLIGHT and MURDER BY MOONLIGHT. He is also the author of the Amazon bestselling digital shorts, PATHOLOGICAL, TRUE STORIES and MOONLIGHT MAFIA. Harlan Coben has described THE INNOCENT (formerly As Catch Can) as “…gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting,” while the New York Post called it “Sensational…Masterful…Brilliant!” Zandri’s list of publishers include Delacorte, Dell, StoneHouse Ink, StoneGate Ink and Thomas & Mercer. An MFA in Writing graduate of Vermont College, Zandri’s work is translated into many languages including the Dutch, Russian, and Japanese. An adventurer, foreign correspondent, and freelance photo-journalist for RT, Globalspec, IBTimes and more, he lives in Albany, New York. For more go to WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

Visit Vin at his website, Facebook and Twitter.

Follow Vincent Zandri’s tour here and enter to win a copy of Concrete Pearl, Moonlight Rises and/or Blue Moonlight.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Now you see her. Now you don’t…

Captain Nick Angel has finally made a separate peace with the war in Afghanistan. Since having been ordered to bomb a Tajik village which resulted in the death of a little boy of no more than two, he’s been suffering from temporary bouts of blindness. Knowing the he needs time to rest and recover from his post traumatic stress, the US Army decides to send him to Venice along with his fiancee, the artist, Grace Blunt. Together they try and recapture their former life together. But when Grace suddenly goes missing, Nick not only finds himself suddenly alone and sightless in the ancient city of water, but also the number one suspect in her disappearance.

A novel that projects Hitchcockian suspense onto a backdrop of love and war, The Disappearance of Grace is a rich, literary thriller of fear, loss, love, and revenge. From the war in the Afghan mountains to the canals of romantic Venice, this is a story that proves 20/20 eyesight might not always be so perfect and seeing is not always believing.
See my review here.

Read an excerpt:

The wind picks up off the basin.
It seems to seep right through my leather coat into flesh, skin and bone. I try and hold my face up to the sun while the waiter takes our orders. Grace orders a single glass of vino russo and a pancetta and cheese panini. I forgo the Valpolicella and order a Moretti beer and a simple spaghetti pomadoro. The waiter thanks us and I listen to him leaving us for now.We sit in the calm of the early afternoon, the sounds of the boat traffic coming and going on the basin filling my ears. People surround us on all sides. Tourists who have come to San Marco for the first time and who’ve become mesmerized by it all. I don’t have to physically see them to know how they feel. The stone square, the Cathedral, the bell tower, the many shops and high- end eateries that occupy the wide, square-shaped perimeter. The pigeons. The people. Always the throngs of people coming and going amidst a chorus of bells, bellowing voices, live music emerging from trumpets, violins, and guitars, and an energetic buzz that seems to radiate up from underneath all that stone and sea-soaked soil.It’s early November.Here’s what I know about Venice: In just a few week’s’ time, the rains will come and this square will be underwater. The ever sinking Venice floods easily now. The only way to walk the square will be over hastily constructed platforms made from cobbled narrow planks. Many of the tourists will stay away and the live music will be silenced. But somehow, that’s when Venice will come alive more than ever. When the stone is bathed in water.The waiter brings our drinks and food.
With the aroma of the hot spaghetti filling my senses, I dig in and spoon up a mouthful. I wash the hot, tangy sauce-covered pasta down with a swallow of red wine.

“Whoa, slow down, chief,” Grace giggles.

“Eating, smiling, making love to me. What’s next? Writing?”

“Don’t press your luck, Gracie,” I say. “The sea change can occur at any moment. Just don’t start asking me to identify engagement rings.”

She laughs genuinely and I listen to the sounds of her taking a bite out of her sandwich. But then she goes quiet again. Too quiet, as if she’s stopped breathing altogether.

“There’s someone staring at us,” she says under her breath.

“Man or woman?” I say, trying to position my gaze directly across the table at her, but making out nothing more than her black silhouette framed against the brightness of the sun. Later on, when the sun goes down, the image of her will be entirely black. Like the blackness of the Afghan Tajik country when the fires are put out and you lie very still inside your tent without the benefit of electronic night vision, and you feel the beating of your never- still heart and you pray for morning.

“Man,” she whispers.

“What’s he look like?”

“It’s him again. The man in the overcoat who was staring at us yesterday.”

A start in my heart. I put my fork down inside my bowl. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I think. He’s wearing sunglasses this time. So,. I think it’s him.”

“What’s he look like?”

“He’s a thin man. Not tall. Not short. He’s got a dark complexion.”

“Black?”

“No. More like Asian or Middle Eastern. He’s wearing sunglasses and that same brown overcoat and a scarf. His hair is black and cut close to his scalp. His beard is very trim and cropped close to his face.” She exhales. I hear her take a quick, nervous sip of her wine. “He keeps staring at us. At me. Just like yesterday, Nick.”

“How do you know he’s staring at you? It could be something behind you, Grace. We’re in Venice. Lots going on behind you. Lots to see.”

She’s stirring in her chair. Agitated.
“Because I can feel him. His eyes…I. Feel. His. Eyes.”

I wipe my mouth clean with the cloth napkin. I do something entirely silly. I turn around in my chair to get a look at the man. As if I have the ability to see him right now, which I most definitely do not.

“What are you doing?” Grace poses, the anxiety in her voice growing more intense with each passing second.

“Trying to get a look at him.”

“You’re joking, Nick.”

I turn back, try and focus on her.

“You think?”

We sit silent.
Once more I am helpless and impotent.

“I’m sorry,” she says after a time. “I’m not trying to insult you. This isn’t like yesterday with the ring. But this man is at the same café we’re at two days in a row? This is really starting to creep me out, babe.”

My pulse begins to pump inside my head. Not rapid, but just enough for me to notice. Two steady drum beats against my temples. I find myself wanting to swallow, but my mouth has gone dry. I take a sip of beer thinking it will help.

“He’s coming towards us, Nick. I don’t like it.”

Heart beat picks up. I feel it pounding inside my head and my chest.

“Are you sure he’s coming towards us, Grace?” I’m trying not to raise my voice, but it’s next to impossible.

“He’s looking right at me. His hands are stuffed in the pockets of his overcoat. And he’s coming.”

I feel and hear Grace pulling away from the table. She’s standing. That’s when the smell of incense sweeps over me. A rich, organic, incense-like smell.

There comes the sound of Grace standing. Abruptly standing. I hear her metal chair push out. I hear the sound of her boot heels on the cobbles. I hear the chair legs scraping against the stone slate. I hear the sound of her wine glass spilling.

“Grace, for God’s sakes, be careful.”

But she doesn’t respond to me. Or is it possible her voice is drowned out by what sounds like a tour group passing by the table? A tour group of Japanese speaking people. But once they pass, there is nothing. No sound at all other than the boats on the basin and the constant murmur of the thousands of tourists that fill this ancient square.

“Grace,” I say. “Grace. Stop it. This isn’t funny. Grace.”

But there’s still no response.
The smell of incense is gone now.
I make out the gulls flying over the tables, the birds shooting in from the basin to pick up scraps of food and then, like thieves in the night, shooting back out over the water. I can hear and feel the sound-wave driven music that reverberates against the stone cathedral.

“Grace,” I repeat, voice louder now. “Grace. Grace…Grace!”

I’m getting no response.

It’s like she’s gone. Vanished. But how can she be gone? She was just sitting here with me. She was sitting directly across from me, eating a sandwich and drinking a glass of wine. She was talking with me.
The waiter approaches.

“The signora is not liking her food?” he questions.

I reach out across the table. In the place where she was sitting. She is definitely not there.

“Is there a toilet close by?” I pose. “Did you see my fiancée leave the table and go to the toilet?”

The waiter pauses for a moment.

“I am sorry. But I did not. I was inside the café.”

“Then maybe somebody else saw her. Maybe you can ask them.”

“Signor, there are many tables in this café and they are all filled with people. And there are many people who walk amongst the tables who can block their view. I am looking at them. No one seems to be concerned about anything. Sometimes there are so many people here, it is easy to get lost. Perhaps she just went to the toilet like you just suggested, and she got lost amongst the people. I will come back in moment and make sure all is well.”

I listen to the waiter leaving, his footsteps fading against the slate.
Grace didn’t say anything about going to the toilet or anywhere else. Grace was frightened. She was frightened of a man who was staring at her. A man with sunglasses on and a cropped beard and a long brown overcoat. He was the man from yesterday. The man with black eyes. He was approaching us, this man. He came to our table and he smelled strongly of incense. He came to our table. There was a slight commotion, the spilling of a glass, the knocking over of a chair, and then Grace was gone.

I sit and stare at nothing. My heart is pounding so fast I think it will cease at any moment. What I have in the place of vision is a blank wall of blurry illumination no longer filled with the silhouette of my Grace.

I push out my chair. Stand. My legs knock into the table and my glass spills along with Grace’s.

I cup my hands around my mouth.

“Grace!” I shout. “Grace! Grace!”

The people who surround me all grow quiet as I scream over them.

The waiter comes running back over.

“Please, please,” he says to me, taking me by the arm. “Please come with me.”

He begins leading me through the throng of tables and people. He is what I have now in the place of Grace. He is my sight.

“She’s gone, isn’t she?” I beg. “Did you check the toilets?”

“We checked the toilets. They are empty. I am sorry. I am sure there is an explanation.”

“Grace is gone!” I shout. “A man took her away. How could no one have seen it?”

“You’re frightening the patrons, signor. Please just come with me and we will try and find her.”

“She’s gone,” I repeat. “Don’t you understand me? My. Grace. Is. Gone.”

Purchase links: AMAZON link B&N link

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.

ADDENDUM

I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or

Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affliate.

I am providing link(s) solely for visitors

that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

Author, Book Review, Partners In Crime Tours

Review “The Disappearance Of Grace” by Vincent Zandri

CMash October 22, 2012 3 Comments

The Disappearance of Grace by Vincent Zandri
Published by: StoneHouse Ink
Publication Date: September 11, 2012
ASIN: B0099C5UFU
Pages: 271
Review Copy from: Author
Edition: Kindle
My Rating: 5

Synopsis:
Now you see her. Now you don’t…

Captain Nick Angel has finally made a separate peace with the war in Afghanistan. Since having been ordered to bomb a Tajik village which resulted in the death of a little boy of no more than two, he’s been suffering from temporary bouts of blindness. Knowing the he needs time to rest and recover from his post traumatic stress, the US Army decides to send him to Venice along with his fiancee, the artist, Grace Blunt. Together they try and recapture their former life together. But when Grace suddenly goes missing, Nick not only finds himself suddenly alone and sightless in the ancient city of water, but also the number one suspect in her disappearance.

A novel that projects Hitchcockian suspense onto a backdrop of love and war, The Disappearance of Grace is a rich, literary thriller of fear, loss, love, and revenge. From the war in the Afghan mountains to the canals of romantic Venice, this is a story that proves 20/20 eyesight might not always be so perfect and seeing is not always believing.

My Thoughts and Opinion:

Caveat: If you visit often, then you know Vincent Zandri has been a favorite author of mine, since I read his first book Moonlight Falls back in May of 2010. Since then I have read most of his books and enjoyed each and every one. One thing I want to stress is, that just because it is a Vincent Zandri novel, I will always write an honest review as to what my thoughts are on any particular book.

This book wasn’t just a romance. This book wasn’t just a psychological thriller. This book wasn’t just a suspenseful mystery. It was all those and more! Riveting!!! As in all of Vincent Zandri’s books, he grabs the reader within the first few paragraphs and literally does not let go until the final word. The chapters short with little cliff hangers whereas you HAVE to read a couple more chapters, and then find yourself with half the book read. The suspense mounted and the pages just kept turning.

Because I have read most of his books, other than the Moonlight series, I can see slight differences in his stand alone novels. His writing is just a bit difference, which makes for a new reading experience with every story. For me, that is a talent and gift of master story telling. The difference in this book was the subplot of a romance. I feel I also experienced one other change. Even though I was reading a psychological thriller, I felt that the author was also “playing the reader”. I found myself wondering, if the story that I was reading, was at “face value” or something different, which led to reading this book in 2 sittings. Heart pounding!!!

The plot was intense!! Nick and Grace sitting in an outside cafe in Venice, trying to accept Nick’s blindness after being affected by PTSD during the war. And the love of your life disappears right in front of you. But you don’t see a thing. Neither do those also sitting at the cafe. How does Nick, with his blindness, begin to look for her? The police nor the Embassy seem to believe him. Did she just leave? Or was she kidnapped? A white knuckle read!!

Zandri delivers another knock out novel. And in the first round!!! Thrilling and chilling!!!