Loitering with Intent

LibraryThing book review...
Loitering with Intent
by Stuart Woods

Stone Barrington has just gotten dumped by his girl at his favorite restaurant in New York, Elaine's. So, he is quite happy to get an assignment that takes him out of New York for a bit and into the sunshine of Key West. It seems like a pretty easy job. All he has to do is get Evan Keating to sign a document that will allow his father to sell the family business. Dino and Stone head to Key West, find Evan eventually, but he refuses to sign. It then gets even more complicated...

Ahhh, Stone Barrington, I just love him! I must admit, however, that this series is getting a bit repetitive. I enjoy Stone and his adventures, but it would be nice to read more substance, more details, more of everything. It would also be nice to see Stone have more compassion...his girlfriend gets killed and it seems to be no big deal to him-have a heart! Maybe next time...

The Humane Award~thanks!!!

THANK YOU TO Karen @ Bookin' with Bingo & Cathy @ One Eyed Stuffed Bunny and... who passed this award on to me!

Eleni @ /-LA FEMME READERS-/ made this award & here is what she said about this special award:

"I made the Humane Award in order to honor certain bloggers that I feel are kindhearted individuals. They regularly take part in my blog and always leave the sweetest comments. If it wasn't for them, my site would just be an ordinary book review blog. Their blogs are also amazing and are tastefully done on a daily basis. I thank them and look forward to our growing friendships through the blog world."

As a Recipient of this new award, it is my honor to nominate, as instructed, 10 bloggers who I think represent these attributes Bloggers who I have nominated:( Whoever has been nominated must now nominate 10 bloggers they feel deserves the Humane Award. )

Dar @ Peeking Between the Pages
Teddy Rose @ So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
Diane @ Bibliophile By the Sea
Jenni @ Falling Off The Shelf
Kaye @ Pudgy Penguin Perusals
Wendy @ Wendy's Minding Spot
Wendy @ Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Marie @ The Boston Bibliophile
Kelly @ The Novel Bookworm

Caspette @ The Narrative Causality

Congratulations to you all and thanks for being so sweet! I love all of your blogs and enjoy checking them out for new books, contests, and reviews.

The Diary

LibraryThing book review...

The Diary

by Eileen Goudge

Sisters Emily and Sarah discover the diary of their mother while cleaning out their mother's attic. Their mother, Elizabeth, has had a stroke and is in a nursing home close to death. The sisters begin reading the diary and are surprised to find that their mother had fallen in love with another man, her true love, not their father. Both are shocked and begin to question all that they have known about their parents...and about themselves.

This is a sweet, sweet story from one of my very favorite authors. It is a quick read, but one that will melt your heart. I do think we all forget that our own parents were once young and madly in love-this story reminds us. The Diary tells two stories; the past through Elizabeth's diary and the present through sisters Emily and Sarah. I only wish this book had told us more, I wanted more details and I wanted more about Elizabeth and her husband. The ending is a lovely surprise, an unexpected gift.

Swimsuit audiobook giveaway!!!

I love James Patterson books, so I just HAD to do this audiobook giveaway~compliments of Anna @ Hachette:)

Swimsuit (Unabridged)By James Patterson, read by Christian Rummel

A heart-pounding story of fear and desire, SWIMSUIT transports listeners to a chilling new territory where the collision of beauty and murder transforms paradise into a hell of unspeakable horrors.

The rules are simple...
Just comment below for one entry...
Become a follower for one more entry...
Post giveaway on your blog for one more entry!

Please only US and Canadian addresses. No P. O. Boxes.
Giveaway ends Saturday, July the 4th.
Available in CD and Digital Download formats.
Listen to an excerpt.
Visit James Patterson’s website at http://www.jamespatterson.com/

Friday Fill-ins #130

1. She had a great idea

2. Hannah & Zoe, my dogs, are by my side, always.

3. I know this: summer is going way too fast!!!
4. All is still.

5. These words apply to me: creative, calm, fun.

6. Today the sun was shining.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading my trashy magazines, tomorrow my plans include cleaning my scrapbook room and Sunday, I want to read & cuddle all day long!

LibraryThing book review...
Anybody Any Minute by Julie Mars

Ellen Henry tells her boss off, gets fired, and buys an old, beat-down cottage on the way to visit her sister in Montreal. (with a credit card line of credit, no less) She leaves her husband, Tommy, for the summer so she can spend time finding herself. She makes friends with two local fellas, adopts a mutt, and ends up caring for her sister's 2-year old son, Olivier. Tommy admits to having met someone special, his yoga teacher and Ellen finds herself deep in a marital crisis. Ellen always gets herself involved in everybody's problems, but this time she has quite a few of her own to figure out.

Anybody Any Minute is a charming, fun, and light-hearted story. It has several colorful characters who make the story very interesting. I really enjoyed Ellen most of the time, although sometimes I really had to wonder what she was thinking! I think, at times, we would all like to run away from our "real" lives...Ellen does and we all get to experience it through her.

WINNERS!!!

We have 2 winners of Hedge Fund Wives by Tatiana Boncompagni!!! They are...

1st place-holdenj

2nd place-CherylS22

Congratulations!!! Please e-mail me your addresses and I will get your books in the mail. Enjoy:)

Shanghai Girls

LibraryThing book review...

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Shanghai Girls is the story of two sisters, May and Pearl, who are living a pretty good life in Shanghai. Pearl is the older sister, educated, tall, and born in the Year of the Dragon. May is shorter, beautiful, and born in the Year of the Sheep. They really want for nothing. Their father gambles away the family money and forces the sisters to marry brothers living in the United States. The Japanese invasion of Shanghai makes leaving their home very complicated. They find themselves in several horrible situations and most do not end well.

Shanghai Girls is a compelling read and I was interested in their story throughout. The relationship between Pearl and May is fascinating and we come to know these sisters very well. The story is pretty sad and it is sad throughout the book. The history, I found, fascinating. The ending, however, I did not care for-it is not bad, just left open...very frustrating!

Of Bees and Mist

LibraryThing book review...
Of Bees and Mist
by Erick Setiawan

Meridia grows up in a family where her mother and father both treat her horribly. Her parents seem to forget that Meridia even exists. She then meets Daniel and hopes that her life will change for the better. She moves in with Daniel's family and soon things are worse than they were with her own parents. Daniel's mother is wonderful at first, then her true colors start showing and Meridia is stuck between her husband and her mother-in-law. It is a war and both women are determined to win...

I am probably the only person on the planet who didn't just love this book! I read it for the Barnes & Noble First Look program and I thought it was just plain strange. There are lots of unusual things happening in this story from mysterious mists, to swarms of bees, and all kinds of other strange things. I got frustrated with the never ending obstacles facing Miridia-she goes from one battle to the next. She never seems to catch a break and it gets old after a while. The characters were vibrant and very real, but the story just didn't do it for me.

Friday Fill-ins #129

1. All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting a diaster.
2. Show me a good loser and I will show you another person, not me!
3. Eating too much of anything is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one time.

4. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy being moms and dads.

5. I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine work and play.

6. It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without cheese or meat in it.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to resting after helping Mel move classrooms, tomorrow my plans include finishing up some painting and Sunday, I want to read all day long!

Book Giveaway!!!

Hedge Fund Wives by Tatiana Boncompagni

I have 2 copies of Hedge Fund Wives to give away, complements of TJ Dietderich, marketing associate. 1st place will get a brand new copy of the book & 2nd place will get a gently used copy of the book-the copy I read!!!

...to enter, just leave a comment. For an extra entry, become a follower. The giveaway will end on June 24th.

p.s. my review is right below...

LibraryThing book review...
Hedge Fund Wives
by Tatiana Boncompagni

Marcy and her husband, John have moved from Chicago to the big city of New York. John is a hedge fund manager and they are in the big time (like RICH!) now. The only problem is that Marcy just doesn't fit in. She is bored, wants to go back to work, and can't stand most of the other hedge fund wives. Problems arise when John becomes distant and Marcy isn't sure why.

I read Gilding Lily (Boncompagni's 1st novel) and really enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy Hedge Fund Wives as much. It was good, just not as good as I thought it would be. Marcy is an enjoyable and likeable character, but I found little things irritating. I mean she gets a $15 million divorce settlement and she can't afford gourmet cheese??? Really? The book just didn't do it for me, not completely, anyways. It may do it for you, though!

Friday Fill-ins #128

1. I grew up thinking my parents knew everything, until I was a teenager, of course!

2. LibraryThing was the last website I was at before coming here.

3. Why don't you help me paint this room?

4. Reading helps me relax.

5. Thanks for the water heater, Mom and Dad:)

6. I find people who talk too much very off-putting.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to painting, tomorrow my plans include painting and Sunday, I want to finish painting!

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS : Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading ~ I always look forward to reading everyone's teasers!

My 2 “Teaser” Sentences for today:

Up in her room, eyes swollen from crying, Meredia let the curtain fall from her fingers. How long would it take until his name was erased from her lips, his face reduced to a shimmer of a dream?

~ p. 158, “Of Bees and Mist" by Erick Setiawan

The Forgotten Garden

LibraryThing book review...
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

A little girl is left alone on a dock with only a small, white suitcase. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife, but she never tells her name and becomes "Nell." Nell passes on and leaves a cottage in Cornwall to her granddaughter, Cassandra. Cassandra makes the journey to England to solve the mystery of Nell's origins.

This is one complicated story that can't be summed up in just a few sentences. I couldn't wait to read "The Forgotten Garden" because I loved Kate Morton's first book, "The House at Riverton." This story, however, just didn't do it for me. It was really long and the last half of the book dragged for me. The switches in time and place were somewhat confusing. There are many characters and I found it hard to keep track of all of them. Nell and Cassandra were my favorites, though, great characters.

Friday Fill-ins #127

1. I can't wait to get home.

2. My favorite thing for dinner lately has been pasta.

3. My 2 little girls love to go... bark! bark! bark!

4. A nice long walk is good for my soul and my dogs also love it.

5. We could all use some good news.

6. When all is said and done, I love my job.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to officially beginning my summer, tomorrow my plans include sleeping in really late and Sunday, I want to putter in my yard!

Thanks!!!

Wendy @ Wendy's Minding Spot was sweet and generous to pass this sexy angel to me! Thanks Wendy~YES!! I'm going to send this Angel on My Blog Award to a few friends who have been angels to me:

Caspette @ The Narrative Causality

Bookin' with "Bingo"

Dar @ Peeking Between the Pages

Teaser Tuesdays

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!

My teasers:

"Eliza was right: the name 'Rose' was well suited to a fairy-tale princess, and certainly Rose Mountrachet enjoyed the uncommon privilege and beauty befitting the part. Sadly, though, for little Rose, the first eleven years of life had been anything but a fairy story."

~p. 236, "The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton