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Another week has flown by!!!    And it was a busy one for me on all fronts, as I recall and will now share what happened.

Reading:
I finished 3 books this week, The Good Father by Noah Hawley and one that has been sitting on my “requested review shelf” for quite some time, The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship by Lisa Verge Higgins and, White Elephants by Chynna Laird.   All great reads.   All with a similar theme and that is relationship dynamics.  I have noticed that lately, instead of my usual suspense/mysteries that I enjoy, I am reading books, which fictionalize kinship connections that are profound.   Maybe it’s due to the time and place that I am in my real life.   But on an overall reading productivity, I hope I don’t jinx myself, but I finally feel that I am back to my regular pace of reading and am finally making some progress with my back log or it could be that all 3 books were excellent.  I just hope that this stride continues.

Blogging:  
I wrote up 2 reviews, hosted 2 Guest Authors, posted 3 giveaways and picked winners for 2 books.   I drafted some posts for future guests and giveaways.  I don’t know about you, but I like to prepare some posts way in advance, just in case real life interferes.  This way I don’t scramble at the last minute trying to pull it all together.  I am getting a bit more comfortable with WordPress, I still have a lot to learn, but it is getting a bit easier since I made the switch.   I also had a lot of work to do with Partners In Crime Tours,  with 2 current tours still in progress and 3 more gearing up for kick off.

Real Life:  
The weather here in New England has been spring like and I’m loving it.  Have the windows opened,  my daffodils  are sprouting and checking the calendar and counting the weeks until my husband and I go on vacation!!   I have already started my mental list on packing, the most important items to pack for me, which books will be coming along.   I have a couple in mind but not going to say until the time gets closer.

I am still in the process of breaking down my Mom’s house, which is hard both physically and emotionally.   I always come away with an array of feelings during this process from sadness to missing my Mom and seeing my childhood home dismantled to relief that I am getting close to being done, to put it on the market.   Trying to accomplish this has been an overwhelming mammoth undertaking, especially due to my own physical limitations and being the sole person responsible.  But I am trying to be optimistic that, with the help of a fantastic estate woman now helping me, we are nearing the end.  During this process, I have also learned a lot more about my Mom that I didn’t know, which makes it so much harder, because now I have so many questions that will not get answers.  Have you been in this position?  Would love to know and share to see how you handled it.  Did you have the same emotions?

How was your week?  Would love to hear!!!

THE PROPER CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF FRIENDSHIP by Lisa Verge Higgins

Published by The Hachette Book Group
ISBN-10: 044656351X
At the request of The Hachette Book Group, a TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.

  Synopsis (from Amazon):
What makes a wife a lover?
For Kate, the spark went out of her marriage long ago but her husband doesn’t seem to notice. Their role as parents consumes their lives so they need to rekindle the romance they once shared.

What makes a woman a mother?
For Jo, a high-powered career has led her to believe that she doesn’t have a single maternal instinct. When an orphan unexpectedly enters her life, she is forced to confront her own unhappy childhood and the walls it has built around her heart.

What makes a man the love of your life?
For Sarah, home is the steamy jungles of Africa while the man of her dreams waits in the air-conditioned confines of Los Angeles. Her longing for this man from the past is blinding her to a new love standing right in front of her.

What these women all have in common is a friend with a generous soul, an irrepressible spirit- and a serious illness. In her final letters, Rachel raises one last question: What makes a friend live in our hearts forever?

  My Thoughts and Opinion: This book, unfortunately, has been sitting in my “review TBR” pile for quite some time, not because I didn’t want to read it but due to getting lost during a year that was full of personal turmoil, much like the characters, and a year where I fell behind.   I saw a review a while back written by Vicki at I’d Rather Be At The Beach, that motivated me to pick it up at this time.   Personally, I found this book to be so enjoyable, that I wish I had read it sooner.

Do you like books with relationship dynamics?   Writing that makes you feel that you know the characters?   Books that are engrossing to the point that you are unaware of your surroundings?   Books that are full of emotions?   Books that you might see a little of yourself in the characters?   Books that you don’t want to end because you have made a connection with the characters, that are so life like, that you want the story to continue to see what happens to your “new friends”?   Books that are a great Chick Lit read?   Then I suggest you read this book!   A great read!!

I just received Michelle from The True Book Addict’s newletter.  One of the items was about this Staples App that determines how fast you read.  She also mentioned how some people feel that they read faster with EReaders than with print versions.  I am one of those people, at least it seems to me that I finish an EBook quicker.  According to the little tool I read 291 words per minute.  However, that was with no distractions.  I am quite sure it would be a lot less when I am actually reading a book.

Link:   Staples eReader Department

Click on the link to see your averages.  And if you would like to share, come on back and tell us how you did.  Good Luck!!!

……..of  THE SECOND TIME WE MET  by Leila Cobo

1 bermudaonion (Kathy) Leave a Blog Post Comment

35 Valerie Taylor Mabrey Leave a Blog Post Comment

33 Ellie Wright Follow @CherylMash on Twitter

• 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.  More giveaways next week!!

When I first found this community of book bloggers I was thrilled because now I could discuss with others, who had the same passion for books as I did, since I am not surrounded by readers.  What I didn’t know was that quite a few of them would become friends.  Another thing I didn’t know back then, was not only other bloggers would become friends, but authors too.   So when Melissa Foster, author of Megan’s Way and Come Back To Me and who has been a frequent visitor here, emailed me about today’s guest along with the synopsis of her book, I invited her to be a guest.

Please help me welcome Ms. Barbara Taylor Sissel to our group!!!

ABOUT BARBARA TAYLOR SISSEL

Barbara Taylor Sissel is a freelance writer, book reviewer, and editor. In addition to The Ninth Step, she is the author of two other novels, The Volunteer and The Last Innocent Hour. A one-time editor for a small regional press, Barbara has written extensively for the public relations field. Her short stories and articles have appeared in a number of venues.

An avid gardener, Barbara is currently working with numerous clients on a variety of projects and writing a new novel. She has two sons and lives in Texas outside Houston.

For more information on past and forthcoming books, visit her website. She also blogs here.

GUEST POST

At the heart of every crime, there’s a family….

I have always been interested in crime, not the police end of it, nor the courtroom drama, although they can be riveting. No, what I always wonder about are the families, the friends and co-workers of the individuals who committed the crime, or the families and others who’ve had someone close be hurt by a crime. How do these people, the ones who suffer collateral damage so to speak, sit down at the dinner table after such a calamity? How do they get out of bed, go to work? Shop, survive. How do they talk about it, think or feel? Do they/can they forgive? Suppose they believe the one they love who stands convicted is innocent? Suppose they think the victim deserved what they got? In each of my novels … The Last Innocent Hour, The Ninth Step, The Volunteer … these are the questions that dominate the stories I write.

At one time I lived with my family on the grounds of a first-offender prison facility where my husband was a warden. It was located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Forest, which is basically the middle of nowhere but breathtakingly beautiful. The nearest town, Frenchburg, had a population of 300 people. Mount Sterling, the closest place to grocery shop, was 35 miles down a winding mountain road. In winter, our small prison community was often isolated for days due to heavy snowfall and icy road conditions. We relied on the inmates for many things, help with frozen water pipes, upkeep on our property, maintenance on our vehicles, even food supplies from the prison’s pantry if our individual stores ran low. Once I skidded off the road and my car turned on its side in a ditch. I was lucky. Had the car skidded the other way, I would have tumbled thousands of feet into a gorge. The inmates pulled the car out and got it fixed up and running again.

Most of the prison’s employees and their families lived on a rise above the actual prison grounds. We called our small enclave “the hill”. The prison grounds themselves were below us but in such close proximity that we got to know the inmates and their families quite well. Because the facility was for first offenders, most of the inmates were young, 17 to 25 or so. They were kids and the surprising thing was seeing how closely these boys were still bound to their families. A lot of them grieved the heartbreak they had brought on their parents and the victims of their crimes. Many of them wanted nothing more than to somehow atone for what they’d done. They wanted to serve their time and be given a second chance to prove they could live a productive life. Because the prison was isolated and the care of these guys was so personal and individual, because their parents were brought into the equation and encouraged to participate in the rehabilitation effort, a good number of these kids never showed up in the Kentucky court system again.

People have asked me since if I wasn’t afraid living there. After all I had two small children and much of the time I was on my own. But I was never afraid, have actually never felt more safe than when I lived there. I felt privileged to be exposed to this experience, to be part of the circle of influence that surrounded these young men. They would come to do work around the house, or to entertain my children–one guy would bring his guitar and sing with the whole group of children who lived on the hill. He recited nursery rhymes with them and told them stories. We got a number of Christmas cards from him after he got out. As far as I know, he never saw the inside of a prison again. Over the handful of years I lived there, I talked on a regular basis with many of the inmates and when they thanked me for listening, for offering support, it was rewarding. I met many of their parents. Certainly, these families were damaged; they were ashamed and hated the crimes their sons had committed; yet many of them found ways to love, to cope, to move past what had happened. They found a way to reclaim their family connection. And sometimes they didn’t. There were hundreds of stories, almost anything you can imagine. Small snippets from these experiences are always finding a home in my fiction. I think the single thing I brought away from that time in my life is an admiration for the resiliency of the human spirit, even when the ending isn’t what we expected or wanted, somehow we manage to pick up, to carry on and to survive. And sometimes, incredibly, we’re able to forgive.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Synopsis –

Livie Saunders is fluent in the language of flowers; she taught the meanings to her fiancé, Cotton O’Dell, but then Cotton vanishes without explanation on their wedding day forcing Livie to learn the language of desolation. Heartbroken, she buries her wedding gown beneath a garden pond and resolves to move on, but there are nights when she slips . . . into a sequined red dress and a pair of stiletto heels, a stranger’s bed, a little anonymous oblivion that is not without consequence. Still, she recovers a semblance of ordinary life and imagines she is content. But then, six years later, Cotton returns and her carefully constructed world shatters. The old questions bite like flies. Questions that Cotton O’Dell prays he can answer. He prays that Livie, whom he has never stopped loving, will be moved to forgive him. But there is more than Livie to be concerned about. There is Cotton’s act of cowardice that caused him to become a fugitive in the first place . . . that crime he committed for which the legal clock is still ticking. That thing he did that will shock Livie to her core once she learns of it. Livie is desperate to trust Cotton, but then he goes missing again. Time telescopes, avenues of escape close, and as lives hang in the balance, choice dithers between mercy and revenge. And a decision that will take only a moment will carry the consequences of a lifetime.

THE NINTH STEP is a story of redemption, of being brought to your knees in the sober light of day to face a monstrous error and yet somehow finding the strength to stand up, to try and make it right. Even if that decision breaks your heart, endangers your freedom and ultimately threatens your life.
Watch for my review next week.

THANKS TO AUTHOR, BARBARA TAYLOR SISSEL,
I HAVE TWO  (2) EBOOKS TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
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Hosted by 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:
Do you believe in an after life?
If yes, have you had any experiences with someone who has passed?

http://btt2.wordpress.com

This week’s question:
A while ago, I interviewed my readers for a change, and my final question was, “What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask?” I got some great responses and will be picking out some of the questions from time to time to ask the rest of you. Like now.
Ted asks:
Have you ever used a book to instruct someone of something or is there anyone for whom you would like to do that? (I don’t mean a text book for a class, but a work of fiction or non-fiction that would get a certain message across either through plot or character). What is the book and what do you wish to impart?

My answer:
Hard question this week.   I really can’t think of a book where I would “instruct” someone.   However, I have strongly encouraged a lot of people to read The Left Behind Series, which is a story that is written as fiction but based upon a non-fictional book, The Revelations in the Bible.

My bff had tried talking me into reading this series for quite a while but I thought it would be full of theology.  She begged for a long time and said to read, at least the 1st book, because she knew “I wouldn’t be able to put it down”.  Knowing she isn’t a reader but so enthusiastic about this book, I had to see.   She loaned me the 1st book.  And she was right, I couldn’t put it down and read the entire 13 books in a matter of weeks. That was 5 years ago and to this day, when something happens in the world, we will call each other to say “that was in the book”.

I strongly suggest (instruct) others, to read this series for both believers and non believers.  What do I wish to impart?   To take stock of one’s life and preparation.