Tuesday, March 29, 2011

E-Book Challenge

EBookReadingChallenge


With all the books I have on my Kindle at the moment, I thought that this would be a perfect challenge for me.  I can complete the challenge and read the majority (hopefully) of the books on my Kindle.

The challenge runs all year and ends on December 31, 2011.  It is being hosted over at The Ladybug Reads.
Want to join? Head on over to The Ladybug Reads and sign up!

Challenge Guidelines:

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.

--Non-bloggers: Include your information in the comment section.

2. There are seven levels:


-- Curious – Read 3 e-books.

-- Fascinated – Read 6
e-books.

-- Addicted – Read 12
e-books.

-- Obsessed – Read
20 e-books.

-- Possessed – Read
50 e-books.

-- Fanatical – Read
75 e-books.

-- Monomaniacal – Read
100 e-books.

3. Any genre counts.

4. You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.

5. Challenge begins January 1, 2011 and lasts until December 31, 2011.
I'm going with Obsessed and read 20 books......... even though I have way more than 20 on my Kindle. :)

I will list the books as I finish them.

1. The Darkest Night
2. The Darkest Fire
3. Firespell
4. The Darkest Kiss
5. A Scattered Life
6. She Smells the Dead
  7. Hereafter


Monday, March 28, 2011

In My Mailbox 3-28-11


"In My Mailbox" is a fun weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren where we get to see what goodies everyone has gotten the past week.  The books shared can be ones that were bought, borrowed, won, or received to review.

Yes, I know, I'm a day late..........Oh well, forgive me this time!

This week I was so surprised to receive 4 not yet released books from publishers.  All 4 of them I can't wait to read.



the upright piano player
Release date: June 7, 2011  Doubleday

Henry Cage seems to have it all: a successful career, money, a beautiful home, and a reputation for being a just and principled man. But public virtues can conceal private failings, and as Henry faces retirement, his well-ordered life begins to unravel. His ex-wife is ill, his relationship with his son is strained to the point of estrangement, and on the eve of the new millennium he is the victim of a random violent act which soon escalates into a prolonged harassment.

As his ex-wife's illness becomes grave, it is apparent that there is little time to redress the mistakes of the past. But the man stalking Henry remains at large. Who is doing this? And why? David Abbott brilliantly pulls this thread of tension ever tighter until the surprising and emotionally impactful conclusion. The Upright Piano Player is a wise and acutely observed novel about the myriad ways in which life tests us—no matter how carefully we have constructed our own little fortresses.





Release May 1, 2011  Greenleaf Book Group

here home hopeKelly Mills Johnson becomes restless in her thirty-ninth year. An appetite for more forces her to take stock of her middling middle-American existence and her neighbors' seemingly perfect lives. Her marriage to a successful attorney has settled into a comfortable routine, and being the mother of two adorable sons has been rewarding. But Kelly's own passions lie wasted. She eyes with envy the lives of her two best friends, Kathryn and Charlotte, both beautiful, successful businesswomen who seem to have it all. Kelly takes charge of her life, devising a midlife makeover plan.
From page one, Kelly's witty reflections, self-deprecating humor, and clever tactics in executing that plan--she places Post-it notes all over her house and car--will have readers laughing out loud. The next instant, however, they might rant right along with Kelly as her commitment to a sullen, anorexic teenager left on her doorstep tries her patience or as she deflects the boozy advances of a divorced neighbor. Readers will need to keep the tissue box handy, too, as Kelly repairs the damage she inflicted on a high school friend; realizes how deeply her husband, Patrick, understands and loves her; and ultimately grows into a woman empowered by her own blend of home and career.
Here, Home, Hope will surely appeal to readers of chick lit and other women's fiction titles who are ready to transition into something new in their own life.


dreams of joy

Release May 31, 2011 Random House

In her beloved New York Times bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and, most recently, Shanghai Girls, Lisa See has brilliantly illuminated the potent bonds of mother love, romantic love, and love of country. Now, in her most powerful novel yet, she returns to these timeless themes, continuing the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl’s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy.

Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, and anger at her mother and aunt for keeping them from her, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father—the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the communist regime.

Devastated by Joy’s flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter the personal cost. From the crowded city to remote villages, Pearl confronts old demons and almost insurmountable challenges as she follows Joy, hoping for reconciliation. Yet even as Joy’s and Pearl’s separate journeys converge, one of the most tragic episodes in China’s history threatens their very lives.


dominance





Release July 5, 2011  Simon & Schuster

From the New York Times bestselling author of Obedience comes a new puzzle thriller that will keep you guessing until the final terrifying moments.










Hope you all got some great reads this week!!


Saturday, March 26, 2011

On My Wishlist 3-26-11


On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. 


On my wish list this week: All synopsis from Goodreads




soldiers wifeVivienne de la Mare lives at Le Colombier, an old farmhouse in a secluded valley on Guernsey in the Channel Islands, with her two daughters and her acerbic mother-in-law who suffers from dementia. Vivienne's husband is away in the army, and the marriage is an unhappy one, regardless. And then the Germans arrive. Vivienne does what she can to “keep up the side.” She rations, grows vegetables, and looks out for her children and neighbors. But she did not expect to fall in love with Gunther, the handsome, brooding German officer who has moved in next door. Though she knows the perils of their love, she believes that she can keep their relationship—and her family—safe. But when she becomes aware of the full brutality of the Occupation, Vivienne must decide if she is willing to risk her personal happiness for the life of a stranger. A novel of grand passion and dark secrets, The Soldier's Wife hauntingly asks, What would you do for your family? What should you do for a stranger?



red wolfIn the middle of the freezing winter, a journalist is murdered in the northern Swedish town of Lulea. Crime reporter Annika Bengtzon suspects that the killing is linked to an attack against an air base in the late sixties. Against the explicit orders of her boss, Annika continues her investigation of the death, which is soon followed by a series of shocking murders.

Annika quickly finds herself drawn into a spiral of terrorism and violence centered around a small communist group called The Beasts. Meanwhile, her marriage starts to slide, and in the end she is not only determined to find out the truth, but also forced to question her own husband's honesty.




waterfall

Lisa Tawn Bergren's new YA series, River of Time, is romantic, historical fiction in which the plucky heroine doesn't have to fear a vampire's bite but must still fight for her life.

In Waterfall, American teenager Gabi Betarrini accidently finds herself in Fourteenth-Century Italy . . . Knights. Swords. Horses. Armor. And Italian hotties. Most American teens want an Italian vacation, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives there with their archaeologist parents. Stuck on yet another hot, dusty dig, they are bored out of their minds... until they place their hands atop handprints in an ancient tomb and find themselves catapulted into the Fourteenth Century and in the middle of a fierce battle between knights bent on killing one another.


Sunday, March 20, 2011

Review: The Darkest Kiss

The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld,  #2)The Darkest Kiss by Gena Showalter

This is the second book in The Lords of the Underworlds. It follows Lucien aka The Keeper of Death.

The story picks up where book 1 left off with the Lords still searching for clues to the wherabouts of Pandora's Box. The story also introduces us to Anya, a minor Goddess who is enamored with Lucien.

Luciens story was interesting to read after not liking him too much in book 1. His darkness is explained and lets us know about his scars, his reason for not allowing a woman close to him for thousands of years.


Anya has secrets and a curse of her own that she has to deal with throughout the book. Anya was the perfect mate for Lucien. She was funny, witty, strong, stubborn and a kick ass warrior in her own right. She always had Lucien on his toes and wondering what she would do next.

Even though the book was Luciens, in a way, I felt that it was more about Anya. It seemed to give more detail about her than Lucien, she seemed to fight her curse/demons more than he did. But it didn't stop the fun of reading the book.

It was the perfect pairing for fun, love and fighting the Gods that has me excited to read the next book in the series.





View all my reviews

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday 3-16-11

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @ Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
 
This week my picks are:
 
Dreams of Joy: A Novel

Release: May 31, 2011

Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, and anger at her mother and aunt for keeping them from her, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father—the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the communist regime.

Devastated by Joy’s flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter the personal cost. From the crowded city to remote villages, Pearl confronts old demons and almost insurmountable challenges as she follows Joy, hoping for reconciliation. Yet even as Joy’s and Pearl’s separate journeys converge, one of the most tragic episodes in China’s history threatens their very lives.

Acclaimed for her richly drawn characters and vivid storytelling, Lisa See once again renders a family challenged by tragedy and time, yet ultimately united by the resilience of love. 





Blood Magic (The Blood Journals 1)

Release: May 24, 2011

This page-turning debut novel will entice fans who like their paranormal romances dark and disturbing. It's a natural next-read for fans of Stephanie Meyer, Carrie Jones, and Becca Fitzpatrick. But instead of mythical creatures, blood magic has everything to do with primal human desires like power, wealth, and immortality. Everywhere Silla Kennicott turns she sees blood. She can't stop thinking about her parents alleged murder-suicide. She is consumed by a book filled with spells that arrives mysteriously in the mail. The spells share one common ingredient: blood, and Silla is more than willing to cast a few. What's a little spilled blood if she can uncover the truth? And then there's Nick—the new guy at school who makes her pulse race. He has a few secrets of his own and is all too familiar with the lure of blood magic. Drawn together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick must find out who else in their small Missouri town knows their secret and will do anything to take the book and magic from Silla.


Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood #9) 

Release: March 29. 2011
 
Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark, warrior cloth as her brother: A fighter by nature, and a maverick when it comes to the traditional role of Chosen females, there is no place for her on the Far Side… and no role for her on the front lines of the war, either.

When she suffers a paralyzing injury, human surgeon Dr. Manuel Manello is called in to treat her as only he can- and he soon gets sucked into her dangerous, secret world. Although he never before believed in things that go bump in the night- like vampires- he finds himself more than willing to be seduced by the powerful female who marks both his body and his soul.

As the two find so much more than an erotic connection, the human and vampire worlds collide … just as a centuries old score catches up with Payne and puts both her love and her life in deadly jeopardy.



So tell me, what are YOU waiting on???


Sunday, March 13, 2011

In My Mailbox 3-13-11



"In My Mailbox" is a fun weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren where we get to see what goodies everyone has gotten the past week.  The books shared can be ones that were bought, borrowed, won, or received to review.

From NetGalley:



midnight palace-crzmercy/goddess test
die for mehereafterstarcrossed


I have to say... these covers are absolutely GORGEOUS!!


From authors for review:





between shades of gray



trouble with spells


Won from Brandy @ Blkosiner"s Book Blog. Thank you sooooo much!!


mieradome


So what did YOU get this week????? 
Now, if you will all excuse me, I have some reading to do!!!



Saturday, March 12, 2011

On My Wishlist 3-12-11






On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. 


On my wish list this week: All synopsis from Goodreads
 


 A story of huge emotional power set against the road to Magna Carta and the fight to bring a tyrant king to heel. The privileged daughter of one of the most powerful men in England, Mahelt Marshal's life changes dramatically when her father is suspected by King John. Her brothers become hostages and Mahelt is married to Hugh Bigod, heir to the earldom of Norfolk. Adapting to her new life is hard, but Mahelt comes to love Hugh deeply; however, defying her father-in-law brings disgrace and heartbreak. When King John sets out to subdue the Bigods, Mahelt faces a heartbreaking battle, fearing neither she, nor her marriage, is likely to survive the outcome ..











 Beautiful. Seductive. Innocent. Jane Popyncourt was brought to the court as a child to be ward of the king and a companion to his daughters -- the princesses Margaret and Mary. With no money of her own, Jane could not hope for a powerful marriage, or perhaps even marriage at all. But as she grows into a lovely young woman, she still receives flattering attention from the virile young men flocking to serve the handsome new king, Henry VIII, who has recently married Catherine of Aragon. Then a dashing French prisoner of war, cousin to the king of France, is brought to London, and Jane finds she cannot help giving some of her heart -- and more -- to a man she can never marry. But the Tudor court is filled with dangers as well as seductions, and there are mysteries surrounding Jane's birth that have made her deadly enemies. Can she cultivate her beauty and her amorous wiles to guide her along a perilous path and bring her at last to happiness? Basing her gripping tale on the life of the real Jane Popyncourt, gifted author Kate Emerson brings the Tudor monarchs, their family, and their courtiers to brilliant life in this vibrant new novel.


 Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.








Theia Alderson has always led a sheltered life in the small California town of Serendipity Falls. But when a devastatingly handsome boy appears in the halls of her school, Theia knows she's seen Haden before- not around town, but in her dreams.

As the Haden of both the night and the day beckons her closer one moment and pushes her away the next, the only thing Theia knows for sure is that the incredible pull she feels towards him is stronger than her fear.

And when she discovers what Haden truly is, Theia's not sure if she wants to resist him, even if the cost is her soul.


Thursday, March 10, 2011

TGIF!!

Wow, what a week this has been...... I was on vacation last week, and this week back at work was CRAZY!
But what a better way to start the weekend than with our weekly Friday hops!








This one hosted by Rachel @ Parajunkee's View.  This week the question is:

Q. Just like Ashley said (love it) "Ashley the girl..." who are You the Boy/Girl, instead of You the Blogger?



I'm Kat.... I'm the mom of two boys that are 21 and 19... yes, they are older than some of the bloggers that I follow :)  I have been a nurse for 18 years this year, and I am also in graduate school working on my doctorate.






Book Blogger Hop 
 
 
Our other weekly hop is hosted by Jennifer @ Crazy-forBooks 
The question there this week is:


"If I gave you £50 (or $80) and sent you into a bookshop right now, what would be in your basket when you finally staggered to the till?"




Hmmmmmmmmm..... let's see.....















Did You Guess??


This is a feature that will be posted twice weekly on Mondays and Thursdays.  The idea is to spotlight authors from all genres and to possibly introduce you to new authors.
 
Did you guess correctly on the author featured on Monday?? 
Here are the clues again....
 
 
--I was born into nobility
--My family home still contains our library with over 20,000 books
--I served in the military
--I did not marry until I was 34
--I fathered 12 children with my wife, who I was married to for 48 years
--I was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church
--Believed in non-violence and peace
 
I am: 

Leo Tolstoy 1828-1910
 
 
 
 

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian novelist, philosopher, Christian anarchist, pacifist, educational reformer, vegetarian, moral thinker and an influential member of the Tolstoy family. Tolstoy is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all novelists, particularly noted for his masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina; in their scope, breadth and realistic depiction of Russian life, the two books stand at the peak of realistic fiction. As a moral philosopher he was notable for his ideas on nonviolent resistance through his work The Kingdom of God is Within You, which in turn influenced such twentieth-century figures as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

 **Info taken from Wikipedia; ArtInThePicture; & The Literature Network.
 
*******************************************

Thursday edition:  Can you guess who I am? 
 
--Born in Michigan; child of an immigrant
--I have lived in Europe
--I worked in the music industry
--I have been to 41 countries & 6 continents
--I teach at a university
--I love Emily Bronte

Who Am I?
 
Tune in Monday to find out..........



Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday 3-9-11

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
 
 
My choices this week: 
 
 
 
The time: the present. The place: a Balkan country ravaged by years of conflict. Natalia, a young doctor, is on a mission of mercy to an orphanage when she receives word of her beloved grandfather’s death far from their home under circumstances shrouded in confusion. Remembering childhood stories her grandfather once told her, Natalia becomes convinced that he spent his last days searching for "the deathless man," a vagabond who claimed to be immortal. As Natalia struggles to understand why her grandfather, a deeply rational man, who go on such a farfetched journey, she stumbles across a clue that leads her to the extraordinary story of the tiger’s wife.
 
Release March 2011 






 The Daughter of Siena

Amid the intrigue and danger of 18th-century Italy, a young woman becomes embroiled in romance and treachery with a rider in the Palio, the breathtaking horse race set in Siena....
It’s 1729, and the Palio, a white-knuckle horse race, is soon to be held in the heart of the peerless Tuscan city of Siena. But the beauty and pageantry masks the deadly rivalry that exists among the city’s districts. Each ward, represented by an animal symbol, puts forth a rider to claim the winner’s banner, but the contest turns citizens into tribes and men into beasts—and beautiful, headstrong, young Pia Tolomei is in love with a rider of an opposing ward, an outsider who threatens the shaky balance of intrigue and influence that rules the land.

Release May 2011






Anna Dressed in Blood

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story. . .

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

Release September 2011


So what are you waiting on this week???


Monday, March 7, 2011




Photo taken by Stephen Rothfeld, courtesy of Simon & Schuster

Today, I am handing over the reigns of my blog to author Elle Newmark. 
Elle is an award-winning writer whose books are inspired by her travels.
Today she talks about the inspiration in writing her book The Sandalwood Tree, that is expected to be published April 2011 by Simon & Schuster.


Epiphany in Old Delhi

In Old Delhi, where the streets are too narrow for cars, my husband and I climbed into a bicycle rickshaw and then bumped along alleys packed, shoulder-to-shoulder with shoppers dressed in a rainbow of turbans and veils. The lanes were packed full of tiny shops open to the street and spilling over with color and sparkle. There is so much glitter in an Indian bazaar I got the feeling that if I dropped a leg of lamb it would come up with gems stuck all over it like a meaty scepter.

The air smelled like dung fires, boiling oil, curry, and incense, and the women, in their brilliant saris, looked like tropical birds fluttering through veils of dust. I held on tight while the rickshaw bucked and rumbled down Silk Street, Paper Street, Bird Street, Tassel street, Shoe Street, Barber Street, Samosa Street...you get the idea. I was the very picture of a wide-eyed, rubbernecking tourist, and still I couldn’t take it all in. It was just too much, a sensory overload, and I wondered again whether I had made a colossal mistake and wasted two years researching a novel set in India. How could I write a book about a place comprised of layer upon layer of exotic riddles.

What could I have been thinking? What hubris allowed me to attempt a novel set in such baffling place. How could my one month there even scratch the surface of this rich, complicated mix of cultures that stretched back into pre-history? Yet there I was, having already given two years to research and now sitting in a rickshaw in Old Delhi. It was too late to turn back.

Instead, we turned down a quiet and deserted lane, and I naturally assumed we would now be murdered for our credit cards and passports. (Surprising myself, I became curiously philosophical. Oh, well, it had been an interesting life and I probably couldn’t pull off a book about India anyway.) But the sweating rickshaw wallah, dismounted and gestured graciously for us to enter an unmarked shop. We walked into a small room lined with shelves of luxurious Kashmiri needlework—pashminas, tablecloths, pillow covers, bedspreads…a breathtaking abundance.
The merchant wore kurta pyjamas and had orange henna hair, and he stood behind the counter with his perfectly beautiful eight-year-old son who had big, dark, liquid eyes. The man spread out his wares and I selected a one-of-a-kind-dear-god-that’s-gorgeous pashmina. I’m not going to wear it; I’m going to frame it.
The orange-haired merchant served chai and invited us to visit him at his home in Kashmir. I had always wanted to see Srinagar—the elaborate houseboats furnished with crystal chandeliers and velvet settees, the ghost of George Harrison playing a sitar… Outside I’d see the faded Moghul palaces reflected in the water, and in the background the mighty Himalayas, enormous and powerful, a white mirage hard against a blue sky. Tempting.
I thanked the merchant but suggested that it might not be the best time for an American to go to Kashmir, which is still hotly disputed between India and Pakistan and shares a border with Afghanistan. He shrugged, as if I was being overly cautious. For him, a Kashmiri, ongoing war was a way of life. He said, “Come anytime. You only have to know someone.”
And again I wondered, how many someones must I know to write a book about India? How many will it take to help me understand how the Indian worldview, or if there even was such a thing. Perhaps they had as many views as gods and it would take a lifetime simply to catalogue them. How could I learn enough to write a book about this phantasmagorical place?
Putting Srinigar on hold, the merchant took me on a tour of his Delhi house, of which the shop was only one ground-floor room. The building was a long-ago-Moghul-mansion that had been sectioned off into apartments, and his family lived on two floors of rooms that opened onto a cracked cement courtyard. He was justifiably proud of his home in a city where millions live under a tarp thrown across a couple of shaky bamboo poles. He grinned and pointed proudly to a dusty houseplant, listing in a corner, and said, “See? Greenery everywhere!”
The friendly merchant let me take pictures of everything and everyone, and we talked about Indian history. I asked him what he thought of Partition (Great Britain’s division of India between Hindus and Muslims) and he said it was the worst thing that ever happened to India. He said, “When you create a border based on ideology, you create something to fight over. When you live side by side you create a reason to get along.”
I looked at him, his orange hair and kurta pyjamas, his shy son, quiet brother, and proud, if withered, mother, and I had the sudden thought that maybe India wasn’t really so different after all. It runs on human reasoning, human love and hate, human greed and generosity, human war and peace.
And that’s when I knew I could write The Sandalwood Tree. As any novel worth its salt should be, The Sandalwood Tree not about a place, it’s about being human—in India.

***********************************************
Synopsis from Goodreads:  
A sweeping novel that brings to life two love stories, ninety years apart, set against the rich backdrop of war-torn India. In 1947, American historian and veteran of WWII, Martin Mitchell, wins a Fulbright Fellowship to document the end of British rule in India. His wife, Evie, convinces him to take her and their young son along, hoping a shared adventure will mend their marriage, which has been strained by war.
But other places, other wars. Martin and Evie find themselves stranded in a colonial bungalow in the Himalayas due to violence surrounding the partition of India between Hindus and Muslims. In that house, hidden behind a brick wall, Evie discovers a packet of old letters, which tell a strange and compelling story of love and war involving two young Englishwomen who lived in the same house in 1857.
Drawn to their story, Evie embarks on a mission to piece together her Victorian mystery. Her search leads her through the bazaars and temples of India as well as the dying society of the British Raj. Along the way, Martin’s dark secret is exposed, unleashing a new wedge between Evie and him. As India struggles toward Independence, Evie struggles to save her marriage, pursuing her Victorian ghosts for answers.
Bursting with lavish detail and vivid imagery of Calcutta and beyond, The Sandalwood Tree is a powerful story about betrayal, forgiveness, fate, and love.

**********************************************
Now, I LOVE historical fiction... I am so excited to read this book and I am honored for Elle to have posted on my blog today. I really want to see her framed pashmina.... I also want to be a stow-a-way on her next adventure!!

**Thank you to Tracee @ Pump Up Your Book Promotions for helping make this post possible. 



Sunday, March 6, 2011

Who Am I (1)

This is a feature that will be posted twice weekly on Mondays and Thursdays.  The idea is to spotlight authors from all genres and to possibly introduce you to new authors.

Can you guess who I am?


--I was born into nobility
--My family home still contains our library with over 20,000 books
--I served in the military
--I did not marry until I was 34
--I fathered 12 children with my wife, who I was married to for 48 years
--I was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church
--Believed in non-violence and peace


Quotes by me:
                “I cannot recall those years without horror, loathing, and heart-rending pain. I killed people in war, challenged men to duels with the purpose of killing them, and lost at cards; I squandered the fruits of the peasants' toil and then had them executed; I was a fornicator and a cheat. Lying, stealing, promiscuity of every kind, drunkenness, violence, murder — there was not a crime I did not commit... Thus I lived for ten years.”

                “One thing only is needful: the knowledge of the simple and clear truth which finds place in every soul that is not stupefied by religious and scientific superstitions — the truth that for our life one law is valid — the law of love, which brings the highest happiness to every individual as well as to all mankind.”

                “History is the life of nations and of humanity. To seize and put into words, to describe directly the life of humanity or even of a single nation, appears impossible.”

                “The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.”

                “Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love...”

Who Am I?

Tune in Thursday to find out....


New Feature

Hi everyone!  I hope that you have had a great weekend and that your evening is settling down on this Sunday.  I have been trying to think of something specific for this blog that I can post a couple of times a week that will take us on a "Journey Into Reading". 

This is what I have come up with: 


"Who Am I?" will be posted twice weekly.  In the feature, I will provide some information on an author that you may or may not know.  I don't read one specific genre, so the author may be from classics, young adult, historical fiction, paranormal...basically ANY genre. 

The idea is for little tidbits to be given that you may not know about an author, or to introduce you to new authors that you have not tried, or that you have been afraid to try (umm, classics anyone?).

I plan on posting Monday and Thursdays.  The author of the day for Monday will be revealed on Thursday and of course the author spotlighted on Thursday will be revealed on Mondays.

I hope that you play along, and let's see who can guess correctly!  If there is an author that you would like to see, let me know.   I will post the first one a little bit later this evening, so be on the look out!


Saturday, March 5, 2011

In My Mailbox 3-6-11

"In My Mailbox" is a fun weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren where we get to see what goodies everyone has gotten the past week.  The books shared can be ones that were bought, borrowed, won, or received to review.

This week my mailbox was a little full........... Love gift cards!  Hello, my name is Kat and I am a book-a-holic who spends way too much at the bookstores (online and in person)....  


Bought: All synopsis from Goodreads


Born to rough cloth in working-class London in 1748, Mary Saunders hungers for linen and lace. Her lust for a shiny red ribbon leads her to a life of prostitution at a young age. A dangerous misstep sends her fleeing to Monmouth and the refuge of the middle-class household of Mrs. Jones, her mother's childhood friend. There she becomes the seamstress her mother always expected her to be and lives the ordinary life of an ordinary girl.Although Mary becomes a close confidante of Mrs. Jones and has a catalytic effect on the entire household, her desire for a better life leads her back to prostitution. Ultimately, Mary remains true only to the three rules she learned on the streets of London: Never give up your liberty. Clothes make the woman. Clothes are the greatest lie ever told. And it is clothes, their splendor and their deception, that will finally lead Mary to disaster.

the other queen
This dazzling novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory presents a new and unique view of one of history's most intriguing, romantic, and maddening heroines. Biographers often neglect the captive years of Mary, Queen of Scots, who trusted Queen Elizabeth's promise of sanctuary when she fled from rebels in Scotland and then found herself imprisoned as the "guest" of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and his indomitable wife, Bess of Hardwick.
The newly married couple welcome the doomed queen into their home, certain that serving as her hosts and jailers will bring them an advantage in the cutthroat world of the Elizabethan court. To their horror, they find that the task will bankrupt them, and as their home becomes the epicenter of intrigue and rebellion against Elizabeth, their loyalty to each other and to their sovereign comes into question. If Mary succeeds in seducing the earl into her own web of treachery and treason, or if the great spymaster William Cecil links them to the growing conspiracy to free Mary from her illegal imprisonment, they will all face the headsman.

the lotus eaters
A unique and sweeping debut novel of an American female combat photographer in the Vietnam War, as she captures the wrenching chaos and finds herself torn between the love of two men.On a stifling day in 1975, the North Vietnamese army is poised to roll into Saigon. As the fall of the city begins, two lovers make their way through the streets to escape to a new life. Helen Adams, an American photojournalist, must take leave of a war she is addicted to and a devastated country she has come to love. Linh, the Vietnamese man who loves her, must grapple with his own conflicted loyalties of heart and homeland. As they race to leave, they play out a drama of devotion and betrayal that spins them back through twelve war-torn years, beginning in the splendor of Angkor Wat, with their mentor, larger-than-life war correspondent Sam Darrow, once Helen's infuriating love and fiercest competitor, and Linh's secret keeper, boss and truest friend.
Tatjana Soli paints a searing portrait of an American woman’s struggle and triumph in Vietnam, a stirring canvas contrasting the wrenching horror of war and the treacherous narcotic of obsession with the redemptive power of love. Readers will be transfixed by this stunning novel of passion, duty and ambition among the ruins of war.

sea of poppies
At the heart of this vibrant saga is a vast ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean; its purpose, to fight China’s vicious nineteenth-century Opium Wars. As for the crew, they are a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts.

In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners, from a bankrupt raja to a widowed tribeswoman, from a mulatto American freedman to a free-spirited French orphan. As their old family ties are washed away, they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais, or ship-brothers. An unlikely dynasty is born, which will span continents, races, and generations.
The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, the exotic backstreets of China. But it is the panorama of characters, whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, that makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive -- a masterpiece from one of the world’s finest novelists

interpretation of murder
It has been said that a mystery novel is "about something" and a literary tale is not. The Interpretation of Murder has legitimate claims to both genres. It is most definitely about something, and also replete with allusions to and explications of Shakespeare, to the very beginnings of psychology, to the infighting between psychoanalytic giants--all written in a style that an author with literary aspirations might well envy. In 1909, Drs. Freud and Jung visit Manhattan. They no sooner arrive when a young socialite is murdered, followed by another attempted murder, bearing the same characteristics. In the second case, the victim lives. She has lost her voice and cannot remember anything. The young doctor, Stratham Younger, who has invited Freud to speak at his University, soon involves Dr. Freud in the case. Freud, saying that Nora's case will require a time committment that he does not have, turns her over to Younger. The rudiments of Nora's case are based on Freud's famous Dora, complete with sexual perversions, convoluted twists and turns and downright lies.


So what did you get this week????