The game works like this: Each week I will choose a word and offer a few titles that I’ve come up with containing that word in the title. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles.) I would also like the author, but that is just so I can find the book if I want to read it.

The current challenge: I challenge you all to reach 32 titles containing the weekly word by midnight Friday, (with no more than 10 titles commented per person and not including *my* titles in the total.)

My forfeit? For this challenge I’d like to do a little something different that will hopefully have the both of us smiling. Right now, Dr. Hal W. Lanse is giving away copies of his book Read Well, Think Well which is a book about helping your child to increase his/her reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

That’s right - by playing the Monday book game, you can enter for your chance to win a copy of this book. (You can also have more chances at getting a copy by going here.)

Whoo-hoo right? Right! As long as you leave a valid email address and are willing to give me your postal address to send the book, then we’re good to go!

So if you’d like a copy of this wonderful book, join in!

If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Monday where you’ll get another chance.

(If you’re feeling pouty about the ten titles per person limit, why not get a friend to come and comment as well? The more, the merrier.)

The word this week is:

South

I Say: Rat Bastards : The Life and Times of South Boston’s Most Honorable Irish Mobster: A Memoir by John “Red” Shea, Mark Wahlberg (Introduction)

You Say…

Check out her site, say hello, and don’t forget to tell her you found out about her from JM!

Hello, fellow book lovers! My name is Lisa Roe and I am an online book publicist. I connect people who write online with the books that I’m working on. I represent the publisher, distributor, or author of a book and work to find various outlets online for them. I work a little different than most. I am actively involved online and take a very personal approach to my work, reading people’s content and familiarizing myself with the interests of the bloggers I work with.

I encourage you to stop by my website: http://onlinepublicist.net. If you find a title that is of interest to you for coverage on your online outlet, send me a note through the contact page. I will then have the book sent your way. Once it arrives, we discuss a review date that fits your schedule. If there is nothing that currently interests you for review, send me a message through the contact page and ask to be added to my email list. I add new titles monthly and will alert you to that as well as any guest posts I may do.

It really is this easy! Feel free to search my name online to see what others have said about working with me. I am passionate, dedicated, and honest in my work. I hope to have the opportunity to add you to my list of online friends!

Before she knows it, she’s on a journey not only to face her fears and come up against strong foes but to save an entire kingdom…

I was a bit unsure about reading (and reviewing) young adult fiction when I sat down to read Sam’s Quest, but Ben Furman quickly reminded me of all the things I liked about the books I read when I was younger. Proving himself to be a true kid at heart, Furman takes you through the vast, beautifully developed lands that lie just below the farm Sam has been on so many times.

While the ‘uncool hero’ has certainly been done before, Furman still pulls it off well with Samantha – ‘Sam’. She doesn’t push the ‘I’m a tomboy’ image that some authors try to force down readers’ throats because at one time, the tomboy hero was new and interesting. Sam is genuinely likeable with all her ‘flaws’ but she has plenty of good points to make her a more real character.

Furman provides landscapes that will tantalize your imagination and characters who are easy to either love or hate. I recommend this book as a great read-along for the younger end of the ‘young adult’ spectrum.

(So what if I get excited about these things…)

On to the question!

I was looking through books yesterday at the shops and saw all the Twilight books, which I know basically nothing about. What I do know is that I’m beginning to feel like I’m the *only* person who knows nothing about them.

Have you ever felt pressured to read something because ‘everyone else’ was reading it? Have you ever given in and read the book(s) in question or do you resist? If you are a reviewer, etc, do you feel it’s your duty to keep up on current trends?

There have been a few times in my life where I have felt pressured to read what ‘everyone else’ is reading. This Twilight incident was just one example. I remember feeling similar around the time the fourth and fifth Harry Potter books came out.

I gave in with the Harry Potter books and read the first two just because a friend of mine was into them so much. I didn’t buy it, though. I waited until it was available in the school library.

As for the reviewer side of things… I don’t think it’s necessary to keep up on all the popular books. They’ll get enough reviews from other people. I think my reviews will be more influential for lesser known authors.

Thanks you so much for the opportunity to be here to introduce my book. Like many other writers who have a project that is a little closer to their hearts than others, this is that book for me. Not because of the writing, or me, but because of the central character who came to me as a fully developed character and always surprised me during the writing process.

One Small Victory was inspired by a true story that I found captivating when I read the small news item a number of years ago. It was about a woman who bullied her way onto a drug task force after her son was killed in an automobile accident and drugs were found in the car. Her efforts helped bring down the main distributor in the area. The difficulties this woman faced came from the dangers she encountered while working as a confidential informant, as well as the fact that she couldn’t tell anyone what she was doing.

As I read the very short news item in the paper, I started wondering what it would have been like to do this, and Jenny Jasick came to life and started telling me. She told me about how difficult it was to pass the physical fitness test. How painful it was to have to lie to her family and her friends. How scared she was when her ex started making threats to take the other children away from her. And how absolutely terrified she was of the scum she had to associate with as she got deeper and deeper into the work.

And she did all this while grieving for the worst loss a woman can experience. That took another whole level of courage. If I lost a child, I might not even have the courage to get out of bed, let alone take on the local bad guys.

The story deals with some difficult issues, but Jenny’s sense of humor is a good antidote to the darkness. When she announces that she wants to do something about the drug problem, her friend asks if she is thinking about going out on the street like some modern-day Wonder Woman. Jenny’s response is, “I would if I didn’t have to wear the steel bra.”

You’ve got to love a woman like that.

One Small Victory can be ordered from most bookstores and online at the major retailers. It is also widely marketed to libraries, so people interested in reading it can request that their local library order copies.

My website is: http://www.maryannwrites.com My blogs are http://themanyfacesofgrief.blogspot.com/ and http://its-not-all-gravy.blogspot.com/.

The book can be purchased by clicking here.

As I mentioned before, while I have scheduled reviews for September, I am taking off October (and probably the rest of this year) from scheduled reviews so I can get caught up on my to be read list. There are authors who have generously donated me their books with no review date, and it’s only right that I make some time to read them.

So hopefully soon you will see my list grow smaller! For now it just grows a bit bigger…

Remember to play the Monday game for your chance to win the book Read Well, Think Well by Dr. Hal W. Lanse.

Reading:
Sabriel – Garth Nix
Savage Survival – Darrell Bain
In Bad Dreams – Horror Anthology – Edited by Mark Deniz and Sharyn Lilley
Xenocide - Orson Scott Card
The Forbidden Daughter - Shobhan Bantwal

Going to Read:
Dead Ringer – Mary Burton
Supernatural – Graham Hancock
Marwan: The Autobiography of a 9/11 Terrorist – Aram Schefrin
Neutron Star – Short story collection – Larry Niven
Firebirds – Fantasy/Sci-fi Anthology – Edited by Sharyn November
The Lab – Jack Heath
Remote Control – Jack Heath
The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
The Jaguar Legacy – Maureen Fisher
Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hilary Clinton – Kathleen Willey
To Truckee’s Trail – Celia Hayes
The Redemption of Althalus – David and Leigh Eddings
The Serpent Bride – Sara Douglass
Loving the Goddess Within – Nan Hawthorne
Bad Girls Club – Judy Gregerson
Stand – Debbie Williamson
Season of Sacrifice – Tristi Pinkston
Copper Star – Suzanne Woods Fisher
Copper Fire – Suzanne Woods Fisher
The Lost Diary of Don Juan – Douglas Carlton Abrams
The Santa Letters – Stacy Gooch-Anderson
The Strand Prophecy – J.B.B. Winner

Upcoming Reviews:
Prosperity - by Deborah Woehr
Sam’s Quest for the Crimson Crystal – Ben Furman

So what’s on your list?

The game works like this: Each week I will choose a word and offer a few titles that I’ve come up with containing that word in the title. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles.) I would also like the author, but that is just so I can find the book if I want to read it.

The current challenge: I challenge you all to reach 32 titles containing the weekly word by midnight Friday, (with no more than 10 titles commented per person and not including *my* titles in the total.)

My forfeit? For this challenge I’d like to do a little something different that will hopefully have the both of us smiling. Right now, Dr. Hal W. Lanse is giving away copies of his book Read Well, Think Well which is a book about helping your child to increase his/her reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

That’s right - by playing the Monday book game, you can enter for your chance to win a copy of this book. (You can also have more chances at getting a copy by going here.)

Whoo-hoo right? Right! As long as you leave a valid email address and are willing to give me your postal address to send the book, then we’re good to go!

So if you’d like a copy of this wonderful book, join in!

If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Monday where you’ll get another chance.

(If you’re feeling pouty about the ten titles per person limit, why not get a friend to come and comment as well? The more, the merrier.)

The word this week is:

Food

I Say: Food You Crave : Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Krieger

You Say…

When Jillian Rivers wakes up, she finds herself bleeding, in pain, and stuck in her mangled car. She screams for help and honks the horn as much as she can, but when she spots movement in the shadows of the woods, her instincts tell her that help is not what has come to find her…

Yet again Jackson has written a book that I was cautious about at first – I’m not usually a murder mystery reader nor a mass market book reader – and ended up barely being able to put down in the end chapters.

While I was a bit surprised at thinking of possibilities pages, and sometimes chapters, before the police in the book did, that did not take away from this being a very satisfying read.

Jackson does a fine job of keeping the reader second-guessing any conclusions s/he tries to make about what’s truly going on in the story which only adds to the tension and sense of anticipation as you’re reading.

One thing that I found annoying while reading this book was Jackson’s habit to repeat names in various ways. Selena Alvarez was mentioned as ‘Selena Alvarez’, ‘Selena’ or ‘Alvarez’ at different times in the book. It would have taken me less time to truly bond to some of the characters if Jackson used the full name once and then stuck to either the first or last name (with the understandable exceptions).

Even so, as the story progressed, I wanted less and less to put the book down. Jackson worked in one of my favourite puzzles to stew over – word puzzles – which kept me interested and thinking about it even when I wasn’t reading it.

Overall, I recommend this book. If I had some sort of start system of rating, it would get four out of five stars. With the amused annoyance of a loyal reader, I shall wait impatiently for 2009 when the second book Chosen to Die comes out.

I hope you all have been having a wonderful last full week of August. As usual for me, I’m facing the end of the month crunch of getting everything back from authors, to tour hosts, putting up last minute posts, and, if I’m a very lucky woman, getting a start on next month’s post.

This month? I’m anything but very lucky. Ack!

But let’s talk about more positive things and get to the question! Courtesy of Booking Through Thursday:

If you’re anything like me, one of your favorite reasons to read is for the story. Not for the character development and interaction. Not because of the descriptive, emotive powers of the writer. Not because of deep, literary meaning hidden beneath layers of metaphor. (Even though those are all good things.) No … it’s because you want to know what happens next?

Or, um, is it just me?

Hm. Well, that’s a bit of a tough question. I both agree and disagree.

I do read stories because I want to know what happens next. If I couldn’t care less about what’s going to happen, I won’t read it (unless it’s a review request…). However, I don’t read just for that, just to see where the plot goes.

I’m a character girl. I care about people, how they relate to each other and how their relationships progress. So while I do read stories to find out what happens next, it’s most often to find out what happens next to the characters.

What about you?

How to Survive Your Freshman Year has become a sort of “bible” of college life for entering freshmen, and we just published its 3rd edition. The book offers hundreds of the best practical tips and fun stories to help entering freshmen better navigate their way through this challenging period.

As with any new (and “high-stakes”) experience or challenge, it makes sense to try to get advice from people who have been there, done that, before you. You can learn from other people’s successes – and their mistakes. This book helps you understand what you’re in for, and how to make the best of it, how to avoid mistakes that others have made.

So, for How to Survive Your Freshman Year, we had our interviewers go out and speak with many hundreds of students at over 120 colleges all across the country - big schools, small schools, Ivies, and state universities; Greeks, geeks, and jocks. Our interviewers spoke with students at college newspapers, kids hanging out in the library or in the rec center, on their way to class or lounging around in the dorm. One headhunter in Pennsylvania offered free pizza for students willing to share their advice. The interviewers asked the students questions about every aspect of college life – about what they would advise incoming freshmen, and why. We also collected tips at our web site, www.hundredsofheads.com.

We then compiled the best material that we felt gives our readers direct, informative and humorous advice they might not get, even from their best friends.

There’s also expert advice, guidance and insightful commentary, from the book’s Special Editor, academic advisor and instructor Frances Northcutt. Fran is an academic advisor in the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York at Hunter College, and has advised students at Wesleyan University, the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

How to Survive Your Freshman Year gives entering freshmen great advice on every aspect of college life, including:

• Getting off to a great start in college
• What to take
• Where to live
• How to get a good roommate
• Dorm Life
• Choosing classes
• When and where to study
• Exams secrets
• Filling free time
• The dating and party scene
• Finances, and
• Choosing a major

The book reflects today’s new freshman lifestyle and experiences, with new chapters covering:

• Social networking and Facebook
• Wireless & digital devices
• Student expectations vs. reality
• Changing the world and environmentalism
• Diversity
• Food, fashion, the party scene - and much more

A new appendix provides useful checklists for incoming freshmen.

How to Survive Your Freshman Year gives high school graduates the confidence to approach freshman year, armed with the experience and advice of hundreds of college students who have ‘been there, done that’ – and lived to tell about it.

The book is basically an easy-to-read “freshman orientation” program – written by the experts!

We’ve found that many thousands of parents, uncles, grandmothers, and friends have chosen to give their special high school graduate a copy of How to Survive Your Freshman Year – it’s one high school graduation gift that kids actually will use and enjoy – and it’ll “keep on giving” throughout that all-important freshman year.

Buy This Book Here