Tuesday, November 30, 2010

My Super 1000 Follower GIVEAWAY



And here it is....my SUPER HUGE, SUPER THANKS to all of you -1000 follower giveaway. I'm giving away my hardly used, but in pristine condition Sony Pocket Edition E-Reader.  And not only am I giving it away (I've since gotten a Kindle & a Ipad), I'm also giving it away loaded with the following books ~

50 Ways to Hex Your Lover by Linda Wisdom
Alibi in High Heels by Gemma Halliday
Candy Cane Murder by Laura Levine, Joanne Fluke & Leslie Meier
Henry's Sisters by Cathy Lamb
Hex Appeal by Linda Wisdom
Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb
Wicked by Any Other Name by Linda Wisdom

The e-reader will come with a nice black case, cables to connect to your computer and an extra wall charger.  I'm very careful with my gadgets, so it will be hard to tell that this has ever been used. I'm not sure I have the box (I have to go a hunting) but it will be packaged very well for shipping (via UPS).

Any questions - please use the contact button to email me and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

GIVEAWAY  Rules for entering:

  • This contest is open to residents of USA  residents only!
  • Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
  • The contest will end on December 23, 2010 at 11:59PM EST; 1 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
  • Once the winner is contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
  • Book will be shipped directly from  ME.



Monday, November 29, 2010

Show Me The Money MONDAY Giveaway ~ November 29th - Dec 3rd

About Show Me The $$$$ Monday ~

Welcome back to Show Me The $$$ Monday.  Each week I'll be giving away either a $10Amazon Gift Card (if you're a resident of the US) or a book worth up to $10 from the Book Depository (if you live outside of the US).  

The contest will run from Monday ~ Friday each week with the winner announced on Saturday.  Then the following Monday a new contest will start.

This isn't just about entering a contest for a chance to win. (Although of course who wouldn't want to win?) It's also a chance to get to know other bloggers and blog followers out there.  Most of us have one "type" of blog that we typically visit all the time - book blogs, product review blogs, mommy type blogs, etc. This will be a way for us to all come together and take the chance to explore other types of blogs we may not have checked out before. Who knows - you might even find a new restaurant in your area to try, a way to make homemade baby food or a review for a book you've been dying to read. 

The RULES for entering are simple.

1.  Enter your blog OR email address in the Linky List below.
 
Put the name of your blog and what type of blog you have.  Ex ~ Lori's Book Blog (book reviews, contests).  Then the link to the home page of your blog. You don't have to list everything that your blog covers, just one or two items so that other bloggers will get a chance to know what you're about.  You don't need to post about this on your blog, but it would be a nice way of spreading the word.  If you don't have a blog, you can still enter, but there must be a way in which I can get in touch with you left in the link in case you win. You can enter your email address in the top line and then any website address in the linky line (amazon, yahoo, etc)
2.  You must post your info in the Linky Form. If you post it in the comments, it will not count.
 

Visit other blogs on the list to find new sites and meet new friends.


The winner will be chosen by Random.org. Whatever number the randomizer picks will be matched up to the number on the linky list and VIOLA - a winner is chosen :)
It's as simple as that.

WINNERS !!!!!!


Love You More by Lisa Gardner

Cheryl K.

Gratitude Giveaway 

   Sandee61

Show Me the Money Monday

Good Family Reads 

All winners have been notified. They have 48 hrs to respond to my emails or another winner will be chosen. Thank you to everyone who entered.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Little Stranger - WINNERS



Congratulations

Breanne T
Angela W

The winners have been notified. They have 72 hrs to respond to my email (extra time due to the holiday) or another winner will be chosen. Thank you to all that have entered. 

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Author Spotlight ~ W.S. Martin



Author W.S. Martin is posthumously touring the blogosphere this month on his first virtual tour thanks to his publisher, Nordskog Publishing, Inc. 

About the author ~ 






Not much is known about the author. Mr. W. Stanley Martin was a stationer and was partner in the City of London firm, Martin & Purnham.  He spent his last days in Felpham in Sussex, England and used to attend services at the Chapel of the Bannister, Theological College in Felpham.


You can visit the publisher online at www.NordskogPublishing.com to learn more about the Brave Boys of Derry or No Surrender!


The Book ~

Brave Boys of Derry or No Surrender!



The story of the 1689 siege of Londonderry proclaims the power of God in the incredible resistance of the City of Londonderry against the attempted Jacobite conquest of Ireland by the deposed King James II of England.  While the city leaders vacillated, thirteen bold and brave young apprentices took the initiative to close the city gates.  “No surrender!” became the rallying cry.  Faith in Christ gave the people of Derry the courage to resist in the face of extended siege, blockade, starvation, and disease.  Liberty lovers—young and old—should read this book.
"Inside the city all was stir and bustle; the action of the apprentice lads had been like a spark to a barrel of gunpowder. The whole city was up. The gauntlet had been thrown down, and it was now to be a fight." P. 15

"But one of the greatest dangers was that some of the inhabitants were in league with the enemy; there were traitors in the town; and you know a secret enemy within the gates is far more dangerous than an open enemy outside." P. 20

Read the Excerpt

It was now clear that the city was not to be taken by assault.  Other means must be tried.

It was not only the enemy outside the walls that the brave defenders had to contend with; remorseless foes, in the shape of hunger and fever, came to the aid of the Irish, and it was now evident that the besieged would have to be starved out of their position.  The most extraordinary means were adopted to prevent any food being taken into the town.


Brave Boys of Derry, or No Surrender! was written around 1900, and according to Marion Hyde, Librarian of The Gospel Standard Baptist Library who have an undated original, was first published by Morgan Scott, London.

Other works by W. Stanley Martin ~ Editor of "Uncle Ben's Budget," 226 issues from March 1898 through Dec. 1916; and Author of "The Story of the Light That Never Went Out" with Augusta Cook; and "Some Famous Bonfires"; "Turn or Burn"; "Fireships, Fireworks, and Firebrands"; "The Man Who Fought the Giants" [Luther]; "Torchbearers of France and the Netherlands"; "William the Silent and Holland's Fight for Freedom," 1907; "The Tinker of Bedford and the Book that He Wrote" [Bunyan]; etc.




Monday, November 22, 2010

Guest Post & Giveaway ~ A Holiday Yarn by Sally Goldenbaum


Readers

Readers….
I love readers.
And I love hearing from readers.
And here’s why:

First, when I’m in the middle of a book and the only person I’ve talked to for weeks (besides my spouse and a writing friend) is the barista at my neighborhood coffee shop, readers convince me I’m not really dead and that there are living, breathing souls out there. That’s a good thing.

And second, readers are living souls who actually love new books. So when I go into a bookstore and am so absolutely overwhelmed that I want to turn and run—and my brain is being pummeled with the thought that the world cannot possibly need one more book, readers convince me that, yes, indeed, it does. Or at least some wonderful readers do.

Third, readers help keep me honest and exact in my writing. They graciously point it out when I take a tad too much leeway with a colloquialism or do damage to a Massachusetts saying.

And finally, readers let me share in their amazing and unique lives. And sometimes that’s missing when the writing life narrows your world during those stretches of imagining and writing.

And I love that. I love knowing that someone was born on Cape Ann, MA, where my Seaside Knitting series is set, and hasn’t been back for years and years, but reading one of the mysteries allowed her a quick visit, to feel the sand and salt air—albeit through print (but certainly less expensive than an airline ticket from California or Arizona would have been).

I love that a reader will take the time to tell me that in Massachusetts no one ever refers to a grocery store bag as a “sack.” It’s always “bag,” they tell me, and that’s all the knitters carry now—whether it’s brown paper or cloth.

Another conscientious reader graciously pointed out that Pelican Pier, which anchors the harbor in the fictitious town of Sea Harbor, was misnamed. “There are no pelicans this far north,” sweet Caren wisely wrote. Shamefaced, I admitted I must have been so taken by the alliteration, that I didn’t stop to think that any self-respecting pelican would prefer the warmer Florida waters. But not to be totally undone, a little research revealed that years ago a brown pelican had been spotted off the waters of Cape Ann. One. And in the next book, Moon Spinners, Birdie Favazza—the oldest of the Seaside Knitters—explains to her friends that her dearly departed husband Sonny was one of the ‘spotters’ of that misdirected pelican, and when Sonny donated the pier to the town, he insisted it be called Pelican Pier, a tongue-in-cheek reference to his spotting. (Ah, the wonderful world of writing fiction. It allows one to make right all the wrongs in the world—or, at the least, in an author’s books.)

Then there was M.K., a reader from Missouri, who felt a shiver run down her spine, she said, by the mention of a fishermen, Joey Palazolla, who was swept away to sea in Patterns in the Sand. She said he had the same name as a little round “Pillsbury-type” boy who had a crush on her in second grade. And she was never nice to him, she wrote with dismay, and wondered if I knew the real one … and where he might have ended up? Maybe she could get in touch with him? I didn’t, but we discovered we actually did know some of the same people in that crazy six-degrees of separation way, though Joey, sadly, wasn’t among them.

I loved hearing from a reader in Maine who claimed that filling her hospital bed stand with cozy mysteries helped her through a lingering illness with her sense of humor intact.

And a reader in Florida, a gracious lovely woman, has become an email friend. She has shared her husband’s illness and dying with me in the most amazing, thoughtful, and even uplifting way over the months. A truly amazing woman from whom I’ve learned so much.

Writing the Seaside Knitters Mystery Series has meant many things to me. But at the very top of the long list are the people with whom these four women knitters have brought me in contact. Readers.
Amazing readers.

Sally's Bio ~ 

I am quite inept at writing about my life--it's been a very nice one so far, but in the repeating it may sound a bit tedious. So I will hit the highlights and offer you a very speedy read.
I was born in Manitowoc, Wisc, a small city on the shores of Lake Michigan where my father was a shipbuilder. We spent summers baking on Lake Michigan (before the days of sun alerts) and enjoyed the perks that growing up in a small town provides. I went to high school in Green Bay, Wisc, a boarder in an all-girls academy, just like my sister, mother and her seven sisters before her had done.

College was Fontbonne in St. Louis, and graduate school (philosophy) was Indiana U in Bloomington where I met my husband. In between all of that I was a Catholic nun for several years. A checkered past, to be sure.

Writing...

has always been a part of my life, from fictionalizing my diary when I was a teen to working in public television in Pittsburgh, Pa, to teaching philosophy, to editing a bioethics journal. I always wrote. And in the back of my head was the novel I'd write someday. But it didn't happen until one day when I was sitting in a sandbox in a park, watching my children play. I was new to Kansas CIty, looking for company. There was another mother there, Adrienne Staff, a transplanted New Yorker. And as those things go, the ex-nun and nice Jewish girl from New York  glommed on to each other and discovered we not only liked one other a lot, but we both had a burning desire to write. And so we did. Together. We found a wonderful agent and published (some together, some alone) 25 to 30 novels.

Though Adrienne went on to other things, I started writing mysteries some 10 years later, again inspired and helped along by a life-time friend, this time Nancy Pickard (See "Sally's Porch" for Nancy's mug shot).

My life today...

After lots of years of writing early in the morning before heading out to my editing job in a publishing house, I now have the wonderful luxury of writing full-time--sitting on my porch or in a coffee shop or library. Or tootling off to Cape Ann (where the seaside knitters series is set) to research new adventures for the knitters, and in between, to visit my daughter Aria, her husband John--and Luke and Ruby—who live in Gloucester on Cape Ann.

My son Todd lives in California with his wife, Laila, and Danny, our youngest, is here in Kansas City with Claudia and their two sons, Atticus and Julian. It's a lovely time of life for Don and me, filled with the joy four grandchildren bring--and their parents and our children and spouses are pretty terrific people as well. Photos on the right are the lights of our life (from top to bottom): Atticus Sage, Ruby Jane, Luke Robert, and Julian James.

And that's all she wrote....for now....

Lori—thanks for inviting me to stop by. Your blog is a warm and friendly place. All I need is a cup of cinnamon tea!

Visit Sally's Website
Friend her on Facebook
Check out her blog ~  Sally's Porch
Contact Sally
 

Her latest book (available NOW) ~

A Holiday Yarn: A Seaside Knitters Mystery


A special event in the national bestselling mystery series! Craft away the holiday season with the Seaside Knitters.

With the Seaside Knitters' help, Mary Pisano converts her charming inherited home into a B&B. Her first week is booked by her very own family, in town to discuss their grandfather's will. She's hoping the tranquility of the setting will smooth over ill feelings among family members. But when her cousin Pam-a Sea Harbor, Massachusetts, native-is found murdered, she realizes she was dead wrong...

With the holiday cheer severely disrupted, Mary relies on the Seaside Knitters to set things right. They gladly offer their skill for unraveling crime, but it'll take all their crafty know-how to unravel this deadly tangle. 


Sally's other books ~ 

 




Thanks to Penguin, I have two (2) copies of this book to give away.


GIVEAWAY  Rules for entering:

  • This contest is open to residents of USA  residents only!
  • Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
  • The contest will end on December 6, 2010 at 11:59PM EST; 2 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
  • Once the winner is contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
  • Book will be shipped directly from the publisher.

Show Me The Money Monday Giveaway ~ Nov 22nd - 26th

About Show Me The $$$$ Monday ~

Welcome back to Show Me The $$$ Monday.  Each week I'll be giving away either a $10Amazon Gift Card (if you're a resident of the US) or a book worth up to $10 from the Book Depository (if you live outside of the US).  

The contest will run from Monday ~ Friday each week with the winner announced on Saturday.  Then the following Monday a new contest will start.

This isn't just about entering a contest for a chance to win. (Although of course who wouldn't want to win?) It's also a chance to get to know other bloggers and blog followers out there.  Most of us have one "type" of blog that we typically visit all the time - book blogs, product review blogs, mommy type blogs, etc. This will be a way for us to all come together and take the chance to explore other types of blogs we may not have checked out before. Who knows - you might even find a new restaurant in your area to try, a way to make homemade baby food or a review for a book you've been dying to read. 

The RULES for entering are simple.

1.  Enter your blog OR email address in the Linky List below.
 
Put the name of your blog and what type of blog you have.  Ex ~ Lori's Book Blog (book reviews, contests).  Then the link to the home page of your blog. You don't have to list everything that your blog covers, just one or two items so that other bloggers will get a chance to know what you're about.  You don't need to post about this on your blog, but it would be a nice way of spreading the word.  If you don't have a blog, you can still enter, but there must be a way in which I can get in touch with you left in the link in case you win. You can enter your email address in the top line and then any website address in the linky line (amazon, yahoo, etc)
2.  You must post your info in the Linky Form. If you post it in the comments, it will not count.
 

Visit other blogs on the list to find new sites and meet new friends.


The winner will be chosen by Random.org. Whatever number the randomizer picks will be matched up to the number on the linky list and VIOLA - a winner is chosen :)
It's as simple as that.

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.
We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week. (the past two weeks)
 
 
Worth Dying ForWorth Dying For  by Lee Child ~ #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child follows the electrifying 61 Hours with his latest Reacher thriller - a story that hits the ground running and then accelerates all the way to a colossal showdown. There's deadly trouble in the corn country of Nebraska ... and Jack Reacher walks right into it. First he falls foul of a local clan that has terrified an entire county into submission. But it's the unsolved case of a missing child, already decades-old, that Reacher can't let go. The Duncans want Reacher gone - and it's not just past secrets they're trying to hide. They're awaiting a secret shipment that's already late - and they have the kind of customers no one can afford to annoy. For as dangerous as the Duncans are, they're right at the bottom of a criminal food chain stretching halfway around the world. For Reacher, it would have made much more sense to keeping on going, to put some distance between himself and the hardcore trouble that's bearing down on him.For Reacher, that was also impossible.WORTH DYING FOR is the kind of explosive thriller only Lee Child could write and only Jack Reacher could survive - a heart-racing page-turner no suspense fan will want to miss.
 
Marked By The Moon (Nightcreature) Marked By The Moon (Nightcreature) by Lori Handeland (for review) ~ Julian Barlow was once a Viking. Then he watched his brother fall in battle, shouted his fury to the heavens and changed. He became the berserker of legend, a warrior who, in the heat of combat, transforms into a wolf. Centuries later, he's settled into his own Alaskan village full of werewolves; he has a wife he adores. Until Alexandra Trevalyn, werewolf hunter, kills her. Dying is too easy for the woman who murdered his wife, so Julian devises a better way for Alex to suffer. He'll make her just like him.
 
Prince Charming Doesn't Live Here (The Others)Prince Charming Doesn't Live Here (The Others)  by Christine Warren (for review) ~
Danice Carter is not one for glass slippers. A stilettos-wearing lawyer at one of Manhattan’s most elite establishments, Danice has a very strong grip on reality. So when she’s asked by one the firm’s founding partners to take on a personal case, Danice knows she’s in for the opportunity of a lifetime. All she has to do is convince her top boss’s granddaughter, Rosemary, to file a paternity suit. Sounds simple enough…until Danice arrives at Rosemary’s home and is pounced on by a handsome stranger. Private investigator McIntyre Callahan’s was only following his powerful client’s orders: Find Rosemary—at all costs. Instead, he’s found a super-hot lawyer prowling around looking for answers he can’t give. The half-human, half-Fae Mac tries to warn Danice that she’s way in over her head—that Rosemary may roam among The Others, and may have dangerous ties to the Unseelie Court—but she won’t be deterred. Even if that means following Mac to the ends of the earth to find Rosemary…or surrendering to his supernatural powers of temptation…until death do they part.

When Harry Met Molly (Impossible Bachelors) When Harry Met Molly (Impossible Bachelors) by Kieran Kramer (for review) ~ Dashing Lord Harry Traemore is perfectly content to live out his days in the pursuit of pleasure. But when he's named by the Prince regent as one of society's 'Impossible bachelors', Harry is drafted into a ribald romantic wager. The rules of engagement are scandalously simple: the bachelor whose mistress wins the title of 'Most Delectable Companion' gets to remain unmarried. Harry is utterly unconcerned about his status...until his latest lightskirt abandons him. Enter Ladt molly Fairbanks. Harry's childhood friend actually, 'foe' is more like it - is the most unlikely companion of all. She's attractive but hot-headed, and in no mood for games. Besides, what could the self-indulgent harry possible know about what makes a woman delectable? It's time for Molly to teach him a lesson once and for all...but will lead to 2happily ever after?

Sing You Home: A Novel  by Jodi Picout (ARC) ~ Zoe Baxter has spent ten years trying to get pregnant, and after multiple miscarriages and infertility issues, it looks like her dream is about to come true – she is seven months pregnant. But a terrible turn of events leads to a nightmare – one that takes away the baby she has already fallen for; and breaks apart her marriage to Max. In the aftermath, she throws herself into her career as a music therapist – using music clinically to soothe burn victims in a hospital; to help Alzheimer’s patients connect with the present; to provide solace for hospice patients. When Vanessa – a guidance counselor -- asks her to work with a suicidal teen, their relationship moves from business to friendship and then, to Zoe’s surprise, blossoms into love. When Zoe allows herself to start thinking of having a family, again, she remembers that there are still frozen embryos that were never used by herself and Max. Meanwhile, Max has found peace at the bottom of a bottle – until he is redeemed by an evangelical church, whose charismatic pastor – Clive Lincoln – has vowed to fight the “homosexual agenda” that has threatened traditional family values in America. But this mission becomes personal for Max, when Zoe and her same-sex partner say they want permission to raise his unborn child. SING YOU HOME explores what it means to be gay in today’s world, and how reproductive science has outstripped the legal system. Are embryos people or property? What challenges do same-sex couples face when it comes to marriage and adoption? What happens when religion and sexual orientation – two issues that are supposed to be justice-blind – enter the courtroom? And most importantly, what constitutes a “traditional family” in today’s day and age?Also – in a very unique move – readers will get to literally hear Zoe Baxter’s voice. I am collaborating with Ellen Wilber, a dear friend who is also a very talented musician, to create a CD of original songs, which will correspond to each of the chapters. This CD will be packaged with each hardcover book. So – literally – stay tuned! Release date - March 1

Amy InspiredAmy Inspired  by Bethany Pierce (for review) ~ Amy Gallagher is an aspiring writer who, after countless rejections, has settled for a career as an English professor in small-town Ohio just to pay the bills. All her dreams suddenly start to unravel as rejections pile up--both from publishers and her boyfriend. But just as Amy fears her life is stuck in a holding pattern, she meets the mysterious, attractive, and unavailable Eli. She struggles to walk the fine line between friendship and something more with Eli, even as staying true to her faith becomes unexpectedly complicated. When secrets, tragedy, and poor decisions cause rifts in Amy's relationships, she must come to terms with who she's become, her unrealized aspirations for her life, and the state of her faith. Can she dare to hope that she will find love and fulfillment despite it all?

If Walls Could Talk: A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery (Haunted Home Repair Mystery) If Walls Could Talk: A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery (Haunted Home Repair Mystery) by Juliet Blackwell (for review) ~ Melanie Turner has made quite a name for herself remodeling historic houses in the San Francisco Bay Area. But now her reputation may be on the line.  At her newest project, a run-down Pacific Heights mansion, Mel is visited by the ghost of a colleague who recently met a bad end with power tools. Mel hopes that by nailing the killer, she can rid herself of the ghostly presence of the murdered man-and not end up a construction casualty herself... Release date - Dec 7th.




One Grave Less: A Diane Fallon Forensic InvestigationOne Grave Less: A Diane Fallon Forensic Investigation  by Beverly Connor (for review) ~ Forensic anthropologist Diane Fallon has tried to put the past behind her, establishing herself as head of the River Trail Museum of Natural History. Late one night at the museum, Diane hears terrified cries and finds an injured man-a former coworker from her time as a human rights activist in South America. Left with a body, a bone, and a cryptic message, Diane has to dig back into her past with World Account International, before the next human rights abused are hers... Release date - Dec 7th


Bedeviled Eggs (A Cackleberry Club Mystery)Bedeviled Eggs (A Cackleberry Club Mystery)  by Laura Childs (for review) ~ The ladies at the Cackleberry Club café are busy preparing for Halloween. But someone's jumped the gun on the tricks. As mayoral candidate Chuck Peebler leaves the café, he gets struck with a crossbow arrow and is killed instantly. And when another murder occurs on the historical society's Quilt Trail, the Cackleberry Club needs to sniff out the bad egg-before he strikes again. Release date - Dec 7th

Celebrity Sudoku (A Sudoku Mystery)


 Celebrity Sudoku (A Sudoku Mystery) by Kaye Morgan (for review) ~ Small-town Sudoku expert Liza Kelly flies to Los Angeles to appear on TV. But when a celebrity is found dead, she has a far more serious puzzle to solve. Release date ~ Dec 7th.


The Diva Cooks a Goose (A Domestic Diva Mystery)The Diva Cooks a Goose (A Domestic Diva Mystery)  by Krista Davis (for review) ~ A Scrooge steals presents right from under Sophie Winston's family Christmas tree. Then her sister-in-law's father show's up with a diva girlfriend just a month after his separation. More than one person is thinking of committing a merry murder-until it actually happens! With many under suspicion for the deadly deed, can Sophie find the murderer and restore the Christmas spirit before it's too late? Release date - Dec 7th.




A Killer Crop (An Orchard Mystery)A Killer Crop (An Orchard Mystery)  by Sheila Connolly (for review) ~ After an English professor-and old friend of her mother-is found dead in a cider house, orchard owner Meg Corey starts to wonder: Could her own mother have committed murder?  Release date - Dec 7th




You Better Knot Die (A Crochet Mystery)You Better Knot Die (A Crochet Mystery)  by Betty Hechtman (for review) ~ Her crochet group, The Tarzana Hookers, is working overtime for the holidays-but Molly Pink is having trouble finding time to crochet so much as a snowflake. The bookstore where she works is adding a yarn department, and planning a huge launch party where the mysterious author of a popular series will reveal his or her true identity. But before the author appears, another person disappears. The husband of Molly's neighbor is missing. When a suicide note arrives, it appears the husband has jumped off the Catalina Ferry- but Molly smells something fishy. Despite the protestations of her detective boyfriend, Molly's soon hooked on unraveling another mystery. She better watch out-or her sleuthing may get her on someone's naughty list...

In Office HoursIn Office Hours  by Lucy Kellaway (for review) ~ IN OFFICE HOURS is the story of Stella and Bella, two intelligent working women who each fall for impossible lovers--at work. Kellaway's keen observations on the way in which affairs move from state to state are a sort of masterclass in office love, bringing to life both the excitement of illicit romance and the ridiculousness of business behavior and language with a sharp sense of humor. IN OFFICE HOURS is intelligent, funny, moving and agonizing, but it's also so painfully reconizable to any woman who has ever worked in an office or ever been in love. Kellaway hits a real nerve with her depictions of how people come to get into the emotional messes that we do and then how very difficult it is to get out again. Release date - Feb 7th.


The Inner CircleThe Inner Circle  by Brad Meltzer (for review) ~ There are stories no one knows. Hidden stories. I love those stories. And since I work in the National Archives, I find those stories for a living. Beecher White, a young archivist, spends his days working with the most important documents of the U.S. government. He has always been the keeper of other people's stories, never a part of the story himself... Until now.When Clementine Kaye, Beecher's first childhood crush, shows up at the National Archives asking for his help tracking down her long-lost father, Beecher tries to impress her by showing her the secret vault where the President of the United States privately reviews classified documents. After they accidentally happen upon a priceless artifact - a 200 hundred-year-old dictionary that once belonged to George Washington, hidden underneath a desk chair, Beecher and Clementine find themselves suddenly entangled in a web of deception, conspiracy, and murder. Soon a man is dead, and Beecher is on the run as he races to learn the truth behind this mysterious national treasure. His search will lead him to discover a coded and ingenious puzzle that conceals a disturbing secret from the founding of our nation. It is a secret, Beecher soon discovers, that some believe is worth killing for. Gripping, fast-paced, and filled with the fascinating historical detail for which he is famous, THE INNER CIRCLE is a thrilling novel that once again proves Brad Meltzer as a brilliant author writing at the height of his craft. Release date - Jan 11th

Identity CrisisIdentity Crisis  by Debbie Mack (for review) ~ IDENTITY CRISIS introduces attorney Stephanie Ann "Sam" McRae. A simple domestic abuse case turns deadly when the alleged abuser is killed and Sam's client disappears. When a friend asks Sam to find Melanie Hayes, the Maryland attorney is drawn into a complex case of murder and identity theft that has her running from the Mob, breaking into a strip club and forming a shaky alliance with an offbeat private investigator to discover the truth about Melanie and her ex-boyfriend.With her career and life on the line, Sam's search takes her from the blue-collar Baltimore suburbs to the mansions of Gibson Island. Along the way, she learns that false identities can hide dark secrets, and those secrets can destroy lives.

The Fall GuyThe Fall Guy  by Simon Wood (for review) ~ Todd Collins has failed in every job he's ever undertaken, but that all changes when he backs his jalopy in a shiny, new Porsche belonging to a drug dealer. When the police stop the drug dealer for a broken taillight that Todd has caused and discover a cocaine shipment, a West Coast kingpin holds Todd responsible. On the run from organized crime, Todd discovers his true calling.


No Evidence of a CrimeNo Evidence of a Crime by S. Connell Vondrak (for review) ~ As Washington, D.C. detectives investigate the murder of a beautiful, young congressional aide shot dead near the Capital Mall, subtle discrepancies with the evidence show up. The murder weapon is identified as a Glock, but an eyewitness places the shooter too far away to have used a handgun. The slain woman was a player in high-stakes D.C. politics, yet DNA results reveal she was pregnant and the baby's father was a gang member. The detectives bring in a forensic scientist to retest the samples, and determine someone at the crime laboratory is altering evidence. Detectives Jarrod and Jackson must find out who is tampering with the facts...and why.

The End of Marking TimeThe End of Marking Time  by C.J. West (for review) ~ Gifted housebreaker, Michael O'Connor, awakens inside an ultramodern criminal justice system where prison walls are replaced by surveillance equipment and a host of actors hired to determine if he is worthy of freedom. While he was sleeping, the Supreme Court declared long term incarceration to be cruel and unusual punishment and ordered two million felons released. The result was utter chaos and the backlash from law-abiding citizens and police departments reshaped the United States. Felons now enter reeducation programs where they live freely among the population. At least that's what they think. In reality they are enslaved to an army of counselors and a black box that teaches them everything they failed to learn from kindergarten through adulthood. Michael believes he's being tested by the black box, but what he slowly begins to realize is that everything he does is evaluated to determine whether he lives or dies.

A Secret in SalemA Secret in Salem  by Sheri Anderson (for review) ~ Marlena & John have never been so close, and yet so far apart..Marlena's love, John, has been paralyzed for two years, and she is becoming desperate. Although her love for him has never waned, she must find a cure before they drift too far apart as man and wife. But John's illness may not be all that it seems, and the truth could tear them apart forever. On the winding roads leading to Monte Carlo...
Charlotte Gaines, daughter of one of the world's richest men and one of the hottest fashion designers, discovers a hidden truth about her family that she never suspected. It sets her on a quest that will uncover long-buried secrets, hidden passions, and dangerous mysteries...all leading to a city called Salem, and a revelation that will change all of their lives forever.