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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!!

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

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…….of Section 132 by Helga Zeiner

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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

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!!

(2012 Challenges: EBook, FreeReads, A-Z, 52 in 52, Outdo Yourself, 100+)

I have seen this book all over cyberland, as I am sure you have too.  That’s why today you are in for a treat.  The author is stopping by to tell us about her book.  I ask that you please help me in welcoming Ms. Laurie Frankel to our group.

LAURIE FRANKEL

Laurie Frankel lives in Seattle with her husband, her three-year-old son, her border collie, and many, many books. She’s an East coaster originally, a fact people often guess before she’s even opened her mouth. Her second novel, Goodbye For Now, comes out August 2012 in the U.S. The film has been optioned and translation rights have sold in 25 countries. Laurie was just named one of ten women to watch in 2012. She is a proud core member of the Seattle7Writers. Her first novel, The Atlas of Love, came out in August 2010, so August seems to be her month. Until last June, she was teaching writing, literature, and gender studies at the college level. Now she is thrilled, honored, grateful, and occasionally terrified to be writing full-time. It’s quite something.
Connect with Ms. Frankel at her website, Facebook and Twitter.

GUEST POST

I’m never sure whether people will be more interested to hear about the book or its author. As the author, I’m pretty qualified to talk about both, but neither one is as easy as it sounds like it should be. It’s hard to talk about yourself, first off because it’s unseemly to appear so self-satisfied and boastful but also because it’s hard to know where to start: I know a lot about myself. But it’s tough to talk about the book too. I know a lot about that as well having thought about little else for quite a while here. And I was an English teacher for a long time — I’m better at asking questions about books than I am at giving out answers. So here’s a little bit of both — me and the book and how it came to be.

I am a novelist, in Seattle now with my husband and my three-year-old and my border collie, but I’m an East Coaster in the first place. I taught college for a dozen-ish years — writing (fiction, playwriting, rhetoric), literature, and gender studies. I wrote my first novel, THE ATLAS OF LOVE, while teaching full-time. It took a while. I wrote my second novel, GOODBYE FOR NOW, much more quickly because I’d left my day job. Being a full-time writer is wonderful. And terrifying.

GOODBYE FOR NOW is the story of Sam Elling, a software engineer who invents a way for people to email — and later video chat — with their dead loved ones. He creates an algorithm that can make a projection of a person based on their electronic archive: all their old emails and Facebook posts and tweets and video chats. It’s also a love story. I wrote it because it seems so logical to me that this technology should exist. So much of our lives are lived online, so many of our relationships exist primarily on Facebook and other social media sites. I started to ask myself: if the person went away but the online presence stayed, what exactly would the difference be?

My grandmother and I were very close. And we emailed each other a lot. After she died, I just wanted more emails from her. And I thought they could be so convincingly and easily faked, I was amazed that no one had invented that service yet, but since no one else had, I did, and since I’m a writer and not a software engineer, I did it in novel form.

One of the best things about the book is it’s about blogs and social media, connecting online and virtual technologies, so I’m looking especially forward to connecting with readers through those mediums. Welcome — it’s great to meet you, however electronically.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the spirit of ONE DAY, comes a fresh and warmhearted love story for the 21st century. Sometimes the end is just the beginning . . .

Sam Elling works for an internet dating company, but he still can’t get a date. So he creates an algorithm that will match you with your soul mate. Sam meets the love of his life, a coworker named Meredith, but he also gets fired when the company starts losing all their customers to Mr. and Ms. Right.

When Meredith’s grandmother, Livvie, dies suddenly, Sam uses his ample free time to create a computer program that will allow Meredith to have one last conversation with her grandmother. Mining from all her correspondence—email, Facebook, Skype, texts—Sam constructs a computer simulation of Livvie who can respond to email or video chat just as if she were still alive. It’s not supernatural, it’s computer science.

Meredith loves it, and the couple begins to wonder if this is something that could help more people through their grief. And thus, the company RePose is born. The business takes off, but for every person who just wants to say good-bye, there is someone who can’t let go.

In the meantime, Sam and Meredith’s affection for one another deepens into the kind of love that once tasted, you can’t live without. But what if one of them suddenly had to? This entertaining novel, delivers a charming and bittersweet romance as well as a lump in the throat exploration of the nature of love, loss, and life (both real and computer simulated). Maybe nothing was meant to last forever, but then again, sometimes love takes on a life of its own.

THANKS TO ANDREW and DOUBLEDAY BOOKS, I HAVE
THREE (3) COPIES OF THIS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

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Hi All:  
You may have noticed a couple of changes on my blog lately, and if not, I would like to bring it to your attention and give those responsible, the credit they deserve.   Change is good, right?  I would love to hear what you think and then I have a huge question to ask and would like your honest opinion.

First, you may have seen a different format for my reviews.  I have to thank Diane from Bibliophile By The Sea.  I had visited her one day and saw her format and thought it was such a clean crisp look to her reviews.  I emailed her and told her what I thought and asked for her permission if I could borrow her format with some modifications.  She generously said yes.  Thank you Diane!

Another change that has been implemented, by my computer angel, Gina from Hott Books, has installed a calendar on the left sidebar.  If you hover over a day, that is highlighted in green, you will see what events are upcoming, such as Guest Authors and giveaways.  She also designed my color templates for the new book reviews.  Thank you Gina!!   She is awesome with blog designs, so if you are thinking of a new look or switching to wp, check out her design site here.

Talking about designs, I have been contemplating if I should go with a different header/look since I have had this one for almost 2 years.  What do you think?  Yes? No?  Would love to hear since you are the one that looks at it.  All comments welcomed!

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
*Grab your current read
*Open to a random page
*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
*BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
*Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

  Once upon a time, in the dark obscurity of a mid-winter morning, a writer walked away from his writing room and slipped outside by way of the back door. He was about to commit a murder.
He was in search of a story.
He left home, but not for good.

First three opening sentences.