Won - Love is a Wounded Soldier by Blaine Reimer

Title: Love is a Wounded Soldier
Author: Blaine Reimer
Publisher: Backroad Books
Release Date: July 31, 2012
Pages: 256 (Paperback)
Date Won: August 19, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

Love is a Wounded Soldier combines the old-fashioned romance of a Nicholas Sparks novel with all the gut-punching grit of Saving Private Ryan to bring you a story of heartbreak and hope.

Despite growing up with an abusive, alcoholic father, and having to cope with the untimely death of his mother, Robert Mattox has retained his innocence and idealism. He woos and marries his first love, Ellen, and it appears his life is set for a happily-ever-after ending.
But World War II is raging, and its vortex snatches him away from his young bride. He finds himself fighting in Europe, witnessing and participating in the unspeakable ugliness and brutality of war. His love for Ellen holds him back from utter despondency, and his will to fight and live draws strength from his desire to return home to her.
When he finally does return home to Kentucky, he's exhausted, jaded, and scarred -- inside and out. His worst fear is how Ellen will respond to the changes in him, but when he gets home he finds that Ellen is different, too -- much different.
Can things between them ever be the same again? Or will their love be the war's most tragic casualty?

Won - Try the Morgue by Eva Maria Staal

Title: Try the Morgue
Author: Eva Maria Staal
Publisher: Liveright
Release Date: October 15, 2012
Pages: 224 (Hardcover)
Date Won: August 17, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads









Summary:
Ten years ago, Eva Maria Staal kept a gun in her purse. It was a present from her boss, Jimmy Liu, the international arms dealer extraordinaire with a taste for high-class male escorts. Together, Jimmy and his devoted assistant traveled the world's most dangerous hotspots, closing deals with ruthless warlords and corrupt generals, and trading Stinger missiles in Karachi, AK-47s in Chechnya, and hollow-point bullets in Islamabad. But burdened by her conscience, Eva Maria finally got out, married an optometrist, and had a baby. Now, assailed with memories of her secret life, she must reconcile her suburban present with a repressed but ineradicable past, one that blasts a hole so deep she doesn't know how to love her own daughter. Writing with a knowing intelligence only an insider could provide, this pseudonymous author has created a debut with remarkable intensity that examines the razor-thin line separating those who are drowned from those who are saved.

Won - Motherland by Amy Sohn

Title: Motherland
Author: Amy Sohn
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: August 14, 2012
Pages: 352 (Hardcover)
Date Won: August 14, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads










Summary:

With her trademark blend of “social satire, interpersonal drama, and urban glamour” (The New York Times), Amy Sohn delivers a candid, unsentimental look at modern marriage. In her acclaimed novels, Amy Sohn has beguiled us with her pinpoint observations of how we live and love, giving voice to our innermost thoughts and everyday anxieties. Now, in Motherland, her most diverting book to date, she introduces us to five mothers and fathers in Cape Cod, Park Slope, and Greenwich Village who find themselves adrift professionally and personally.

Rebecca Rose, whose husband has been acting aloof, is tempted by the attentions of a former celebrity f lame; Marco Goldstein, saddled with two kids when his husband, Todd, is away on business, turns to anonymous sex for comfort; Danny Gottlieb, a screenwriter on the cusp of a big break, leaves his wife and children to pitch a film (and meet young women) in Los Angeles; fallen sanctimommy Karen Bryan Shapiro, devastated by her husband’s infidelity and abandonment, attempts a fresh start with a hot single dad; and former A-list actress Melora Leigh plots a star turn on Broadway to revive her Hollywood career. As their stories intersect in surprising ways and their deceptions spiral out of control, they begin to question their beliefs about family, happiness, and themselves.

Equal parts moving and richly entertaining, Motherland is a fresh take on modern marriage that confirms Amy Sohn as one of our most insightful commentators on relationships and parenting in America today.

Won - Moochie's Place by Jim Murdock

Title: Moochie's Place
Author: Jim Murdock
Publisher: Infinity Pub
Release Date: 2011
Pages: 364 (Paperback)
Date Won: August 12, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads









Summary:

Action Packed Mystery, Suspense, Laughter, with characters driving a page turning Fiction Novel.

Unique characters supported by a loud-mouth parrot start a restaurant only to find a large sum of money hidden in the walls. Their competitor claims the money belongs to him. He tries to drive them out of business by burglary; shooting at one of the owners; birdnapping their pet parrot; torching their building; kidnapping their daughter; and holding them at gun point to recover the money. When his efforts fail, he attempts to kill the two main characters.

Won - Daughter of the Sword by Steve Bein

Title: Daughter of the Sword
Author: Steve Bein
Publisher: Roc Trade
Series: Fated Blades, #1
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Pages: 400 (Paperback)
Date Won: August 8, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary:
Tokyo cop Mariko Oshiro investigates the attempted theft of an old samurai sword — forged by the legendary Master Inazuma, a swordsmith whose blades are rumored to have magical qualities. She is only the latest in a long line of warriors and soldiers to confront this power, and it threatens to turn against her even as she learns to wield the sword herself...

Review - The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Immortal Rules
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Series: Blood of Eden, #1
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Pages: 485 (Hardcover)
Date Read: July 9-11, 2012
Received: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars It was amazing!







Back Cover:
My vampire creator told me this: "Sometime in your life, Allison Sekemoto, you will kill a human being. The question is not if it will happen, but when. Do you understand?"
I didn't then, not really.

I DO NOW.

Inside Cover:
In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.
Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked---and given the ultimate choice. Die...or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend---a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of the humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what--and who---is worth dying for.

Cover Impression: I liked the cover. I've always loved vampire books so I thought this was a unique picture for the cover. Vampires shedding tears of blood when they cry..sad but awesome.

My Thoughts: I loved this author ever since I read the Iron Fey series that I had borrowed from a friend. In the last book, The Iron Knight, there was an excerpt for this book and after reading it, I could not wait for The Immortal Rules to come out! It sounded like a different kind of vampire story but in a good way.

This book has great action, a kick-ass heroine, an amazing romance, and a chance to save the world. The details and the writing in this book are so great, you get sucked into the world with these amazing characters. I wanted to fight alongside Allie with her katana and kick some rabid butt! *hehe* But also at times, I was scared for the characters when they were fighting cause you never know if someone will get hurt from either humans, vampires, rabids, or rabid-disease-zombie-animals D:

Allie is turned into a vampire by Kanin, who is an awesome vampire who you sorta grow to love :) He's one of the main characters in the book. He saved her and also has to teach her everything to being a vampire. He teaches her that the Hunger will never go away unless she feeds on human blood..if she doesn't the Hunger with make her go mad and she will attack and kill anyone.

When Allie has to leave her city, she ends up finding a group of humans who allow her to come along on their journey. In this group, there is a guy who is Allie's age named Ezekiel "Zeke" Crosse. I love when books have cute romances. XD When Allie and Zeke first met, I just knew it was meant to be! But I also knew Allie was a vampire so it is a complete risk and she knows it too. So she had to be smart and not get too close to him. But I'm a sucker for a forbidden romance so I root for them all the way! :P

Allie learns that the group is trying to find Eden, a completely human city, and try find a cure for the disease. I want to tell more but I'd hate to give the rest of the book away D: but there is a crap ton more that I haven't told you so get the book!! I recommend this to everyone!! It is a great read and you will fly through it. I can't wait for the next book to find out more on Allie and everyone! This is my first review so if you have any advice please let me know :) I want to get better at this. Thank you for reading and get the book :P *hehe*

More on this book series check out --> http://www.bloodofeden.com/

Won - After the Fact by Owen J, Hurd

Title: After the Fact: The Surprising Fates of American History's Heroes, Villains, and Supporting Characters
Author: Owen J. Hurd
Publisher: Perigee Trade
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Pages: 272 (Paperback)
Date Won: August 7, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads

Won - Circle of Family by Mia Ross

Title: Circle of Family
Author: Mia Ross
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: August 21, 2012
Pages: 224 (Paperback)
Date Won: August 7, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

With his leather jacket, aviator sunglasses and restored WWII plane, pilot Ridge Collins has everyone in tiny Harland, North Carolina, talking. Especially single mother Marianne Weston's impressionable young kids-who think Ridge would make a fine father. But shy Marianne is afraid to open her heart to the handsome pilot with a harrowing past. For one, he's in town only temporarily. And Marianne is all about roots and Sunday dinners, while Ridge is into seeing what's around the bend. But two sweet kids are set on showing him there's no greater adventure than family.

Enjoy a special 15th anniversary bonus story from Love Inspired Historical, His American Duchess by Anna Schmidt

Won - The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann

Title: The Peculiar
Author: Stefan Bachmann
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Pages: 384 (Hardcover)
Date Won: August 6, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK meets JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL in this gothic steampunk page-turner for readers of all ages.

Bartholomew Kettle won't live long. Changelings never do. The child of a human mother and a faery father, Bartholomew is a secret, despised by both his races. If the English don't hang him for witchcraft, the faerys will do something worse. So his mother keeps him locked away, hidden from the world in the faery slums of Bath.

But one day Bartholomew witnesses a mysterious lady kidnap another changeling through a shadowy portal, and he realizes the danger is closer than ever before. Changelings are surfacing in the rivers, their bodies empty of blood and bone and their skin covered in red markings. A powerful figure sits in the shadows, pushing the pieces in place for some terrible victory. When a sinister faery in a top-hat begins to stalk Bartholomew's steps, he knows it's his turn. Something is coming for him. Something needs him. But when you're a changeling there's no where to run...

Won - The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

Title: The Janus Affair
Author: Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Series: Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, #2
Release Date: May 29, 2012
Pages: 416 (Paperback)
Date Won: August 6, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary:

Evildoers beware Retribution is at hand, thanks to Britain's best-kept secret agents
Certainly no strangers to peculiar occurrences, agents Wellington Books and Eliza Braun are nonetheless stunned to observe a fellow passenger aboard Britain's latest hypersteam train suddenly vanish in a dazzling bolt of lightning. They soon discover this is not the only such disappearance . . . with each case going inexplicably unexamined by the Crown.

The fate of England is once again in the hands of an ingenious archivist paired with a beautiful, fearless lady of adventure. And though their foe be fiendishly clever, so then is Mr. Books . . . and Miss Braun still has a number of useful and unusual devices hidden beneath her petticoats.

Won - Embers Of War by Fredrik Logevall

Title: Embers Of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam
Author: Fredrik Logevall
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Release Date: August 21, 2012
Pages: 864 (Hardcover)
Date Won: August 5, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary:

The struggle for Vietnam occupies a central place in the history of the twentieth century. Fought over a period of three decades, the conflict drew in all the world’s powers and saw two of them—first France, then the United States—attempt to subdue the revolutionary Vietnamese forces. For France, the defeat marked the effective end of her colonial empire, while for America the war left a gaping wound in the body politic that remains open to this day.

How did it happen? Tapping into newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations and making full use of the published literature, distinguished scholar Fredrik Logevall traces the path that led two Western nations to lose their way in Vietnam. Embers of War opens in 1919 at the Versailles Peace Conference, where a young Ho Chi Minh delivers a petition for Vietnamese independence to President Woodrow Wilson. It concludes in 1959, with a Viet Cong ambush on a U.S. outpost outside Saigon and the deaths of two American officers whose names would be the first to be carved into the black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In between come years of political, military, and diplomatic maneuvering and miscalculation, as leaders on all sides embark on a series of stumbles that makes an eminently avoidable struggle a bloody and interminable reality.

Logevall takes us inside the councils of war—and gives us a seat at the conference tables where peace talks founder. He brings to life the bloodiest battles of France’s final years in Indochina—and shows how from an early point, a succession of American leaders made disastrous policy choices that put America on its own collision course with history: Harry Truman’s fateful decision to reverse Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s policy and acknowledge France’s right to return to Indochina after World War II; Dwight Eisenhower’s strenuous efforts to keep Paris in the fight and his escalation of U.S. involvement in the aftermath of the humiliating French defeat at Dien Bien Phu; and the curious turnaround in Senator John F. Kennedy’s thinking that would lead him as president to expand that commitment, despite his publicly stated misgivings about Western intervention in Southeast Asia.

An epic story of wasted opportunities and tragic miscalculations, featuring an extraordinary cast of larger-than-life characters, Embers of War delves deep into the historical record to provide hard answers to the unanswered questions surrounding the demise of one Western power in Vietnam and the arrival of another. This book will become the definitive chronicle of the struggle’s origins for years to come.

Advance praise for Embers of War

“Fredrik Logevall has gleaned from American, French, and Vietnamese sources a splendid account of France’s nine-year war in Indochina and the story of how the American statesmen of the period allowed this country to be drawn into the quagmire.”—Neil Sheehan, author of A Bright Shining Lie, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award

“Fredrik Logevall is a wonderful writer and historian. In his new book on the origins of the American war in Vietnam, he gives a fascinating and dramatic account of the French war and its aftermath, from the perspectives of the French, the Vietnamese, and the Americans. Using previously untapped sources and a deep knowledge of diplomatic history, Logevall shows to devastating effect how America found itself on the road to Vietnam.”—Frances FitzGerald, author of Fire in the Lake, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award

Won - Her Homecoming Cowboy by Debra Clopton

Title: Her Homecoming Cowboy
Author: Debra Clopton
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: July 24, 2012
Pages: 224 (Paperback)
Date Won: August 4, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

After losing his mother, Annie Ridgeway's sweet six-year-old nephew thinks he's an orphan. Turns out the father he never knew is bull rider.

Colt Holden—the boy's hero. Before bringing them together as father and son, Annie has to make sure Colt is as good a man as he is a cowboy. When she arrives in Mule Hollow, she finds the handsome, honorable man guarding his burdened heart against caring for anyone or anything. Will a little boy's devotion be the fighting chance they all need?

Won - Mind The Thorns Issue 1 by Rob Osterman

Title: Mind The Thorns Issue 1
Author: Rob Osterman
Publisher: N/A
Release Date: July 18, 2012
Pages: 52 (Paperback)
Date Won: August 3, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

Regan knew her day was going down hill when she said "I Don't" while all her friends and family expected to hear "I Do", passed a middle when she found herself attacked and killed outside her favorite pub, and hit rock bottom when she awoke in a coffin still in her wedding dress.

In Issue 1: Regan awakens in her coffin, still dressed from her wedding and has no choice but to face her first night as a member of the living dead alone. She will meet other vampires, their thralls and even her former fiance as she tries to understand what she is, and what life or unlife may lay ahead for her.

This is ~Not~ a full novel but chapters 1-3 in the ongoing web serial "Mind the Thorns" hosted at http://www.MindTheThorns.com

Won - Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez

Title: Syndrome E: A Novel
Author: Franck Thilliez, Mark Polizzotti (Translation)
Publisher: Viking Adult
Series: Franck Sharko, #3
Release Date: August 16, 2012
Pages: 384 (Hardcover)
Date Won: August 3, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary:

The classic procedural meets cutting edge science in this huge international bestseller

Already a runaway bestseller in France, Syndrome E tells the story of beleaguered detective Lucie Hennebelle, whose old friend has developed a case of spontaneous blindness after watching an extremely rare—and violent—film from the 1950s. Embedded in the film are subliminal images so unspeakably heinous that Lucie realizes she must get to the bottom of it—especially when nearly everyone who comes into contact with the film starts turning up dead.

Enlisting the help of Inspector Franck Sharko—a brooding, broken analyst for the Paris police who is exploring the film’s connection to five murdered men left in the woods, Lucie begins to strip away the layers of what is perhaps the most disturbing and powerful film ever made. Soon Sharko and Lucie find themselves mired in a darkness that spreads across politics, religion, science, and art while stretching from France to Canada, Egypt to Rwanda, and beyond. And just who is responsible for this darkness will blow readers minds, as Syndrome E forces them to consider: what if the earliest and most brilliant advances and discoveries of neuroscience were not used for good—but for evil.

With this taut U.S. debut, Thilliez explores the origins of violence through cutting-edge and popular science in a breakneck thriller rich with shocking plot twists and profound questions about the nature of humanity.

Won - Two Crosses by Elizabeth Musser

Title: Two Crosses: A Novel
Author: Elizabeth Musser
Publisher: David C. Cook
Release Date: June 1, 2012
Pages: 464 (Paperback)
Date Won: August 1, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:
The glimmering Huguenot cross she innocently wears leads her deep into the shadows. When Gabriella Madison arrives in France in 1961 to continue her university studies, she doesn’t anticipate being drawn into the secretive world behind the Algerian war for independence from France. The further she delves into the war efforts, the more her faith is challenged. The people who surround her bring a whirlwind of transforming forces—a wise nun involved in the smuggling, a little girl carrying secret information, and a man with unknown loyalties who captures her heart. When she discovers a long hidden secret from her past, it all leads to questions about trust, faith in action, and the power of forgiveness to move beyond the pain of the past.

Won - Ghosts of Manhattan by Douglas Brunt

Title: Ghosts of Manhattan: A Novel
Author: Douglas Brunt
Publisher: Touchstone
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Pages: 288 (Hardcover)
Date Won: July 31, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

Delve into the world of high-stakes trading with this wry, comic debut about life on Wall Street and one man too hooked on the money to get out--even as his career threatens to ruin his marriage and corrode his soul.It's 2005 and the living is easy. Nick Farmer is thirty-five years old, in peak condition, and thriving as a successful bond trader with the seemingly unstoppable investment bank Bear Stearns. His nightlife has been a swirl of liquor, hookers, and cocaine. He clears seven figures every year and has become fiercely addicted to his annual bonus. But the lifestyle is taking a toll on him--and his marriage.

When a nerdy analyst approaches him with apocalyptic prognostications about the imminent decline of Bear's high-flying mortgage-backed securities trading, Nick is presented with the kind of ethical dilemma he's spent a lifetime avoiding. Throw in a seductive financial journalist who seems to be more interested in Nick's physical assets than in the percolating financial Armageddon, along with the prospect that his own wife may have found a new romantic interest of her own, and you have the recipe for one man's personal and professional implosion.

In this gripping debut novel, Wall Street insider Douglas Brunt offers an in-depth look at the banking crisis and the reach of its personal impact. By turns hilarious and harrowing, "Ghosts of Manhattan" takes you to the seedy underbelly of the finance world and into the rarified lifestyle of a charming but flawed character as he struggles to find the right path in a complicated urban heart of darkness.

Won - Burning Embers by Hannah Fielding

Title: Burning Embers
Author: Hannah Fielding
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Pages: 269 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 31, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary:

Burning Embers is a contemporary historical romance novel set in 1970s Kenya. It tells the story of the developing love and passion between Coral, a naive, young English girl returning to the place of her birth, and Rafe, the handsome but tortured womanizer to whom Coral is inextricably drawn.

It's a story of long, hot African days and sultry nights; of slumbering beasts and awakening desires; of intrigue and darkness; of journeys beginning and ending; of growing up and letting go; of falling in love, and following your heart.

Won - What I Didn't Say by Keary Taylor

Title: What I Didn't Say
Author: Keary Taylor
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release Date: April 30, 2012
Pages: 336 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 31, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

Getting drunk homecoming night your senior year is never a good idea, but Jake Hayes never expected it all to end with a car crash and a t-post embedded in his throat.

His biggest regret about it all? What he never said to Samantha Shay. He's been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it's too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again.

When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he'll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn't limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she'll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe, if she'll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn't say before, even if he can't actually say it.

Won - The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields

Title: The Age of Desire
Author: Jennie Fields
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Release Date: August 2, 2012
Pages: 368 (Hardcover)
Date Won: July 30, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

For fans of The Paris Wife, a sparkling glimpse into the life of Edith Wharton and the scandalous love affair that threatened her closest friendship.

They say behind every great man is a woman. Behind Edith Wharton, there was Anna Bahlmann—her governess turned literary secretary, and her mothering, nurturing friend.

When at the age of forty-five, Edith falls passionately in love with a dashing younger journalist, Morton Fullerton, and is at last opened to the world of the sensual, it threatens everything certain in her life but especially her abiding friendship with Anna. As Edith’s marriage crumbles and Anna’s disapproval threatens to shatter their lifelong bond, the women must face the fragility at the heart of all friendships.

Told through the points of view of both women, The Age of Desire takes us on a vivid journey through Wharton’s early Gilded Age world: Paris with its glamorous literary salons and dark secret cafés, the Whartons’ elegant house in Lenox, Massachusetts, and Henry James’s manse in Rye, England.

Edith’s real letters and intimate diary entries are woven throughout the book. The Age of Desire brings to life one of literature’s most beloved writers, whose own story was as complex and nuanced as that of any of the heroines she created.

Won - Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas

Title: Rainshadow Road
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Series: Friday Harbor, #2
Release Date: February 28, 2012
Pages: 308 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 29, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary:

Lucy Marinn is a glass artist living in mystical, beautiful, Friday Harbor, Washington, with a boyfriend, Kevin, who she believes is her soul mate. She has always had a magical side - a gift that finds its way into the breathtaking glasswork she creates - and she struggles to keep it contained. But when Lucy is blindsided by the most bitter kind of betrayal, she questions many of her choices. Her boyfriend leaves her and his new lover is none other than Lucy's own sister. Lucy's bitterness over this devastation is multiplied buy the fact that she has constantly made the wrong choices in her romantic life.

Meanwhile, facing the severe disapproval of Lucy's family, Kevin asks his friend Sam Nolan, a local vineyard owner on the San Juan Island, to "romance" Lucy so that she can more easily move on. But when Sam and Lucy begin to feel real sparks between them, Lucy must ask herself if she can easily risk her heart again.

As Lucy questions her beliefs about love, loyalty, and old patterns, mistakes, and new beginnings, she explores the possibility that some things in life - even after are being broken - can be re-made into something beautiful. And that is the only by discovering who you really are that you can find the one who truly deserves you.

Won - God Believes In Love by Gene Robinson

Title: God Believes In Love: Straight Talk About Gay Marriage
Author: Gene Robinson
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Pages: 208 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 28, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary:
From the Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church, the first openly gay person elected (in 2003) to the historic episcopate and the world's leading religious spokesperson for gay rights and gay marriage—a groundbreaking book that lovingly and persuasively makes the case for same-sex marriage using a commonsense, reasoned, religious argument, made by someone who holds the religious text of the Bible to be holy and sacred and the ensuing two millennia of church history to be relevant to the discussion, equally familiar with the secular and political debate going on in America today, and for whom same-sex marriage is a personal issue; Robinson was married to a woman for two decades and is a father of two children and has been married to a man for the last four years of a twenty-three-year relationship.

Won - Brave Fish by Vincent H. Chough

Title: Brave Fish: Identity, Love, Faith
Author: Vincent H. Chough
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release Date: December 20, 2011
Pages: 175 (ebook)
Date Won: July 27, 2012
Received: From Author via e-mail







Summary:

For anyone who seeks courage despite their frailty... there is Brave Fish.

An early spring afternoon... a life altering spiritual encounter. Opening with a story about doing anything for acceptance, including starving himself down to 105 pounds, this bold account follows the author's experience which leads to a lucrative career as a physician that he later abandons.

Brave Fish is an unrestricted exploration of betrayal, hypocrisy, addiction and coming of age in the 80´s in America. Eventually Chough leaves everything behind and moves to Argentina to find his mission in life. In the end healing, truth and love triumph.

Here are a few excerpts:

"It would be easy for me to dismiss the indulgences of my youth. I only sowed my wild oats as so many young people do. But I did not stop there. I then reaped the oat harvest, mashed it into mush and brewed the mush into thick beer full of sediment. Drunk and fat on what I had sowed, I pickled myself thoroughly completely drying out any last juices of the excuse of youth. My fangs sank deep into the smooth, translucent ivory neck of innocence, and I sucked deeply."

"ON crisp autumn days Simon and I would plunge down on our bicycles into the valley behind his home. Our thick knobbed tires rolled and bounced us along into a wooded paradise. Joyfully his dog would surf the descent along side us leaping over trenches in the dirt path with her tongue flapping from between her teeth. Leaves carpeted the valley and reflected the sunlight breaking through a canopy of red, yellow, rust and lime, and the floor shined like liquid gold illuminating upward our cathedral of brotherhood. I never wanted those days to end."

"Is not joy, expressed at its most profound level, nearly indistinguishable from sorrow? We shed tears of pain and joy as our biology employs the same conduits for this expression.
The Man upon the cross. Exquisite joy, triumphant sorrow.
At this moment I do not waver, and I exercise tremendous courage, not from myself but from a higher source within me. If I were to execute this explanation on my own terms, a beautiful soliloquy of betrayal would have been woven into a tapestry already thick with lies. This night, however, I claim victory over my pettiness, over my need to save face, and over the fear of exposing my true self. I finally begin to walk in the sweet pastures of truth and light."

Won - Resurrection Express by Stephen Romano

Title: Resurrection Express
Author: Stephen Romano
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Pages: 416 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 27, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

A cutting edge storm of white-knuckle action and suspense—the year’s most exciting debut thriller!

Meet Elroy Coffin. He’s a twenty-first century high-tech thief with deadly hands. Trained from his youth to be the best there is at what he does. There is no code he can’t break, nothing he can’t hack, no safe he can’t crack. But even the best can fall. Sold up the river after a job by a depraved Texas mob boss, Coffin has spent the past two years incarcerated in a maximum security hellhole, driven to near-madness by the death of his beloved wife. When a mysterious “concerned citizen” arrives at the prison one morning with evidence that Coffin’s wife is still alive, and offers him the chance to find her in return for cracking the most deadly security system ever designed, Coffin knows something big is going down. Back on the street and relentlessly hunted by the same man who left him to rot in jail, Coffin is drawn into a breakneck maelstrom of action, betrayal and intrigue that will test the limits of his skills, and puts him in the center of a death-defying escape through the criminal underworld. But what he doesn’t know is that the men who hired him are running the deadliest game of all time—an endgame that could spell the death of billions, altering the very course of human history. And Elroy Coffin holds the key to it all.

Won - My Not-So-Ordinary Life by Christine Rice

Title: My Not-So-Ordinary Life: An Autobiography
Author: Christine Rice
Publisher: Christine Rice
Release Date: January 19, 2012
Pages: 42 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 26, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:
“My Not-So-Ordinary Life” is an autobiography that tells the author's life story up to age 28. It was composed based on instinct and memory. It shows what the author went through growing up, how she was interested in writing, and how she got through challenging experiences to live the positive life that she lives today. The message of the book is: life may have its ups and downs but, ultimately, you will be okay - and maybe even good - in the end.

Won - The Woman Reader by Belinda Jack

Title: The Woman Reader
Author: Belinda Jack
Publisher: Yale University Press
Release Date: June 30, 2012
Pages: 336 (Hardcover)
Date Won: July 26, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:
This lively story has never been told before: the complete history of women's reading and the ceaseless controversies it has inspired. Belinda Jack's groundbreaking volume travels from the Cro-Magnon cave to the digital bookstores of our time, exploring what and how women of widely differing cultures have read through the ages.Jack traces a history marked by persistent efforts to prevent women from gaining literacy or reading what they wished. She also recounts the counter-efforts of those who have battled for girls' access to books and education. The book introduces frustrated female readers of many eras—Babylonian princesses who called for women's voices to be heard, rebellious nuns who wanted to share their writings with others, confidantes who challenged Reformation theologians' writings, nineteenth-century New England mill girls who risked their jobs to smuggle novels into the workplace, and women volunteers who taught literacy to women and children on convict ships bound for Australia.Today, new distinctions between male and female readers have emerged, and Jack explores such contemporary topics as burgeoning women's reading groups, differences in men and women's reading tastes, censorship of women's on-line reading in countries like Iran, the continuing struggle for girls' literacy in many poorer places, and the impact of women readers in their new status as significant movers in the world of reading.

Won - One Night Rodeo by Lorelei James

Title: One Night Rodeo
Author: Lorelei James
Publisher: Penguin Group
Series: Blacktop Cowboys, #4
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Pages: 304 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 20, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary:

"All it takes is one night to change a cowboy's life..."

Barrel racer Celia Lawson knows better than to tangle with bull rider Kyle Gilchrist. The sexy cowboy's love 'em and leave 'em ways have earned him a reputation on the rodeo circuit, and he's always seen her as his best friend's kid sister. But after one wild, tequila-fueled night, Celia wakes up to find out she's gotten herself hitched--to a man she never should have married

When Celia insists on an annulment, Kyle has no good reason to say no--except he isn't ready to let go of his new bride. But then Kyle inherits a sprawling Wyoming ranch, and seizes the opportunity to enlist Celia's help. She agrees to lend a hand--with two conditions: He has to get up to speed as a rancher within six months; then they'll get a divorce. And their marriage will be in name only.

Kyle gives in to Celia's demand, yet he's ready to prove to her he has what it takes to turn their one night rodeo into a lifetime of love....

Won - Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay

Title: Trust Your Eyes
Author: Linwood Barclay
Publisher: NAL Hardcover
Release Date: September 4, 2012
Pages: 496 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 20, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

The NAL debut and must-read thriller from #1 international bestselling author Linwood Barclay.

Thomas Kilbride is a map-obsessed schizophrenic so affected that he rarely leaves the self-imposed bastion of his bedroom. But with a computer program called Whirl360.com, he travels the world while never stepping out the door. That is until he sees something in a street view of downtown New York City. Thomas's keen eyes have detected an image in a window...an image that looks like a woman being murdered.
Thomas's brother, Ray, takes care of him, cooking for him, dealing with the outside world on his behalf, and listening to his intricate and increasingly paranoid theories. When Thomas tells Ray what he has seen, Ray humors him with a half-hearted investigation. But Ray soon realizes he and his brother have stumbled onto a deadly conspiracy.
And now they are in the crosshairs...

Won - January First by Michael Schofield

Title: January First: A Child's Descent Into Madness And Her Father's Struggle To Save Her
Author: Michael Schofield
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Pages: 304 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 20, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads








Summary:

A brilliant and harrowingly honest memoir, January First is the extraordinary story of a father's fight to save his child from an extremely severe case of mental illness in the face of overwhelming adversity.

At six years old, Michael Schofield's daughter, January, was diagnosed with one of the most severe cases of child-onset schizophrenia that doctors had ever seen. In January's case, she is hallucinating 95 percent of the time that she is awake. Potent psychiatric drugs that would level most adults barely faze her. January, "Jani" to her family, has literally hundreds of imaginary friends. They go by names like 400-the-Cat, 100 Degrees, and 24 Hours and live on an island called "Calalini," which she describes as existing "on the border of my world and your world." Some of these friends are good, and some of them, such as 400, are very bad. They tell her to jump off buildings, attack her brother, and scream at strangers.

In the middle of these never-ending delusions, hallucinations, and paroxysms of rage are Jani's parents, who have gone to the ends of the earth to keep both of their children alive and unharmed. They live in separate one-bedroom apartments in order to keep her little brother, Bohdi, safe from his big sister--and wage a daily war against a social system that has all but completely failed them. January First is the story of the daily struggles and challenges they face as they do everything they can to help their daughter while trying to keep their family together. It is the inspiring tale of their resolute determination and faith.

Won - Prepare by Geoffrey Germann

Title: Prepare
Author: Geoffrey Germann
Publisher: N/A
Series: Prepare, #1
Release Date: February 19, 2012
Pages: 314 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 20, 2012
Received: Author gave it to me on Goodreads








Summary:
As a small boy, Darren Kiel was witness to his father's corruption and contemptible misconduct. As he grew, that experience gave rise to a seething need to atone for his father's crimes, to set the world aright, to enforce order. Now an adult, Darren is thrust into a world far more horrific than he could ever have imagined: The Orchard, a region inundated by crime, violence, poverty, decay, and desperation. With swelling intolerance, hardening resolve, and miraculous technology, Darren sets upon an obsessive crusade to correct what has gone wrong in this society's machine. As the campaign escalates, Darren sees the violence spread to every corner of his life and threaten or destroy everything he's worked for and everyone he holds dear. But is this truly Darren's war or is all this just a small part of a much larger design that he is only now beginning to glimpse?

Won - Agents of Change by Guy Harrison

Title: Agents of Change
Author: Guy Harrison
Publisher: N/A
Series: Agents of Change, #1
Release Date: February 13, 2012
Pages: 380 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 19, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary:

In his debut, Guy Harrison writes a unique tale of corruption and espionage in what's been called "an exciting thriller with plenty of surprises" and "an exciting story packed with twists, disasters and suspense."

An amiable corporate manager by day and a matchmaker whenever he can get around to it, Calvin Newsome's new dream job falls into his lap when he's recruited by a secret worldwide organization whose agents use uncanny abilities to empower and influence everyday downtrodden individuals. Disaster strikes, however, when an elaborate scheme leaves Calvin as a prime murder suspect...and his new employer is presumably to blame.

With the authorities on his heels and his life left in ruin, Calvin uses his new powers to blend in until a journey for freedom becomes a quest for peace. As the agency's rival organization threatens the security of all of earth's inhabitants, he teams up with unlikely allies and battles surprising enemies hellbent on unleashing their power in a twisted version of justice, innocent lives be damned.

Other praise:

"Harrison's writing was non-stop action, and kept me turning pages beginning to end...the themes throughout the book were fantastic." --Underground Book Reviews

"Calvin is a strong character who drives the narrative well." --In Potentia, book blog

Won - What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

Title: What's Left of Me
Author: Kat Zhang
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: The Hybrid Chronicles, #1
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Pages: 356 (Hardcover)
Date Won: July 17, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary:

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t…

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable–hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet…for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

Won - Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman

Title: Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft
Author: Judy Gehrman
Publisher: Magic Genie Books
Series: Book 1
Release Date: June 30, 2012
Pages: 308 (ebook)
Date Won: July 15, 2012
Received: Author gave to me on Smashwords







Summary:
Falling in Love, baking a magical cake, fighting an evil necromancer—it’s all in a day’s work for Audrey Oliver, seventeen-year-old witch-in-training. When her mother goes missing and her twenty-one-year-old witchy cousin shows up out of the blue, Audrey knows something’s gone horribly, dangerously wrong. Now it’s up to her to get her own magical powers up to speed before everyone she loves is destroyed by the sorcerer intricately connected to her mother’s secret past.

Won - 9 Lives by George M. Moser

Title: 9 Lives
Author: George M. Moser
Publisher: iUniverse
Release Date: March 12, 2012
Pages: 364 (Paperback)
Date Won: July 14, 2012
Received: Giveaway on Goodreads







Summary: 
Michael Merlino lives a charmed life with a successful career, beautiful wife, and beloved son-until his dear father passes away; then things turn strange. Michael can't seem to shake this weird feeling, but maybe he just misses his dad, his mentor. He ignores the feeling that something is wrong.

One day, he accidentally kills a stray cat-a sad but everyday sort of accident; he doesn't give it much thought. When another cat appears in Michael's life, however, it makes him wonder whether the stray cat really died, and whether cats actually do have nine lives, as the saying goes. But this isn't your normal stray kitty. This cat is out for revenge. Its spirit wants something from Michael, but what?

When a man has everything to lose, however, it's much easier to make it happen-especially when that man is up against what appears to be a supernatural enemy. As Michael begins to face his own demons via a demon cat that won't die, his work begins to slide. His life at home gets more difficult, even with his wife there to support him. Then, there was that note his father left that told Michael to "drive it." What did the note mean? Could it possibly have been a warning? The mystery must be solved, as the reincarnated cat keeps getting bigger and meaner, threatening not just Michael's life, but his soul in the bargain.